Carpenters is the third studio album by The Carpenters. Released on May 14, 1971, the album was successful, reaching #2 on the Billboard 200 chart and #12 in the United Kingdom. With the hit songs "For All We Know," "Rainy Days and Mondays," and "Superstar," Carpenters solidified Karen Carpenter as one of her generation's most endearing pop vocalists. It has been said that the strength of these recordings is what caused Richard Carpenter to ask his sister to front the band instead of playing behind the drums on every live performance. Amongst many fans, the album has simply been referred to as The Tan Album, because the album itself is like a tan envelope, and is presumably a play on The Beatles' so-called White Album. In Cash Box's Top 100 Albums of 1971, Carpenters peaked at #8. This is the first album to feature the familiar Carpenters emblem.
This is not the first album featuring tracks with Richard Carpenter singing lead vocal, with Karen in the background, as opposed to the other tracks. "Druscilla Penny" and "Saturday" are both led by Richard Carpenter, though neither were released as singles nor charted as hits.
Samuel Hui Koon-kit, usually known as Sam Hui, is best known for being a star in the Cantopop and movie industry in Hong Kong's from the 1960s to 1990s. He was born on 6 September 1948. He graduated from the Arts Faculty of University of Hong Kong, Ying Wa College and St Francis Xavier's College in the late 1960s to early 1970s. He and his brothers Michael and Ricky made several comedy blockbusters in the 1970s. He is also acknowledged for popularising Cantopop, by incorporating the then unknown idiosyncrasies of Western popular music into the Cantopop genre.
He started his career as a host to a youth music TV show on TVB. At the time, he was the lead musician of his band named The Lotus. In the early years of his career, he sang Western songs from Britain and the U.S. However, he began singing Cantonese songs when he wrote the theme songs for the comedies produced by his brother Michael Hui.
His music appealed to the Hong Kong masses particularly the working class with its simple lyrics and light-hearted nature which was popular in Hong Kong music in the late 1970s. He penned most of the compositions and personally wrote most of the humorous lyrics that generally encompassed current issues in Hong Kong such as the song Could Not Care Less About 1997 (話知你 97), which literally encourages the Hong Kong public to throw caution to the wind and enjoy their life instead of worrying about the imminent Handover to China in 1997.
On a personal note, he was closer to his middle brother Ricky Hui than to their eldest brother Michael Hui, and he and Michael reportedly fell out with each other after their pre-1985 successes. However, in Michael's Chicken and Duck Talk (1988) Sam appeared in a short 3-minute cameo, playing himself as master of ceremonies at the grand opening of David's Chicken. Then in 1990, the three brothers reunited in 'Front Page', a lampoon on Hong Kong's sometimes over-zealous entertainment news industry.
Sam also collaborated with several popular singers such as Leslie Cheung both musically and on-screen culminating in the hit single co-written by both Hui and Chung entitled Silence is Golden (沉默是金) which Hui also sung as a solo track on his 1987 album Hot Summer, as well as the catchy tune "I've Never Been Afraid". Sam also starred in the Aces Go Places, a series of Hong Kong action–comedies in the 1980s, with Karl Maka.
He held a farewell concert in 1991-92, in which he invited many music celebrities and officially declared that he would not be active in the movie industry nor in Cantopop in the future. He was once seriously injured while filming The Legend of Wisely in Tibet due to lack of oxygen, thereafter falling very ill and many of his fans pointed out that this near fatal accident may have been pivotal on his decision to retire as they superstitiously believed that he was haunted by a spirit.
Despite reiterating his plans for retirement, Hui came back for a short stint in the movie Winner Takes All co-starring Nicholas Tse and Ruby Lin. This he maintained, was a result of being unable to ignore his heart's desire.
In 2007, Hui signed with EC Music and released his first album in 17 years, named "Life is Good" (人生多麼好).
The Wynners are a Hong Kong pop band formed in the 1970s. The five-piece is made up of Alan Tam (vocals), Kenny Bee (vocals), Bennett Pang (guitar), Danny Yip(bass guitar) and Anthony Chan (drums).
Began as an Hong Kong English pop band, The Wynners were assembled by manager Pato Leung in 1973 out of an earlier incarnation of the group, the Loosers. Bee, who was with the Sergeant Majors before joining the Wynners, was the only one not part of the original lineup.
The group soon became one of the most popular teen idol group in Hong Kong at the time. The group's first studio album, Listen to the Wynners, released in 1974, was a commercial success, as were its followups. Their success in music was also translated to other forms of the popular media, including a television show on TVB , the Wynners Specials (1975), and three feature films, Let's Rock (1975), Gonna Get You (1976) and Making It (1978).
In 1978, members of the group went separate ways to develop their solo careers. Alan Tam and Kenny Bee went on to become two of the most popular stars in Hong Kong in the 1980s.
Never formally disbanded, the Wynners have since reunited on stage every five years to sold-out crowds. Most recently, they held a benefit concert for Family Bridges at the Oracle Arena on October 25.
The group sang exclusively in English in their early days, mainly covers of popular songs from other parts of the world. In 1975, the group collaborated with songwriter/lyricist James Wong and released a number of original Cantonese songs for the soundtrack of the movie Let's Rock, which Wong also directed. With lyrics in a light-hearted, colloquial style along the line of those from Sam Hui, these songs defined a signature style of early Cantopop.
Glen Travis Campbell (born April 22, 1936, in Delight, Arkansas) is a Grammy Award, Dove Award winning, and two time nominated Golden Globe Award American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a television variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television.
Campbell's hits include John Hartford's "Gentle On My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Wichita Lineman", Allen Toussaint's "Southern Nights" and Larry Weiss's "Rhinestone Cowboy". Campbell made history by winning a Grammy in both country and pop categories in 1967: "Gentle On My Mind" snatched the country honors, and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" won in pop. He owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the CMA and the ACM, and took the CMA's top honor as Entertainer of the Year.
During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and racked up 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Of his 75 trips up the charts, 27 landed in the Top 10. Campbell was hand-picked by actor John Wayne to play alongside him in the 1969 film True Grit, which gave Campbell a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, and gave Wayne his only Academy Award. Campbell sang and had a hit with the title song (by the same name) which was nominated for an Academy Award. He performed it live at that year's Academy Awards Show.
In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Neil Percival Young OM (born November 12, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician and film director.
Young's work is characterized by deeply personal lyrics, distinctive guitar work, and signature falsetto tenor singing voice. Although he accompanies himself on several different instruments—including piano and harmonica—his claw-hammer acoustic guitar style and often idiosyncratic electric guitar soloing are the linchpins of a sometimes ragged, sometimes polished sound. Although Young has experimented widely with differing music styles, including swing, jazz, rockabilly, blues, and electronic music throughout a varied career, his best known work usually falls into either of two distinct styles: folk-esque acoustic rock ("Heart of Gold", "Harvest Moon" and "Old Man") and electric-charged hard rock (like "Cinnamon Girl", "Rockin' in the Free World" and "Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black)"). In recent years, Young has adopted elements from newer styles like industrial, alternative country and grunge. Young's profound influence on the latter caused some to dub him "the godfather of grunge".
Young has directed (or co-directed) a number of films using the pseudonym Bernard Shakey, including Journey Through the Past (1973), Rust Never Sleeps (1979), Human Highway (1982), Greendale (2003), and CSNY Déjà Vu (2008). He is currently working on a documentary about electric car technology, tentatively titled Linc/Volt. The project involves a 1959 Lincoln Continental converted to hybrid technology, which Young plans to drive to Washington, DC as an example to lawmakers there.
He is also an outspoken advocate for environmental issues and small farmers, having co-founded in 1985 the benefit concert Farm Aid, and in 1986 helped found The Bridge School, and its annual supporting Bridge School Benefit concerts, together with his wife Pegi (in this, Young's involvement stems at least partially from the fact that both of his sons have cerebral palsy and his daughter, like Young himself, has epilepsy).
Although Young sings as frequently about U.S. legends and myths (Pocahontas, space stations, and the settlement of the American West) as he does about his native country, he remains a Canadian citizen and has never wanted to relinquish his Canadian citizenship. He has lived in the U.S. for "so long" and has stated he has "got just as much right to vote in them (American elections) as anybody else."
Duran Duran are an English music group from Birmingham, United Kingdom. They were one of the most commercially successful of the 1980s bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. Since the 1980s they have placed 14 in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100 and have sold more than 70 million records.
The band was created by Nick Rhodes, John Taylor and Stephen Duffy, with the later addition of Roger Taylor, Andy Taylor, and (replacing Duffy) Simon Le Bon. (None of the Taylors are related.) The group has never disbanded, but the line-up has changed to include guitarist Warren Cuccurullo from 1986 to 2001, and drummer Sterling Campbell from 1989 to 1991. The reunion of the original five members in the early 2000s created a stir among the band's fans and music media. Andy Taylor left the band in summer 2006, and London guitarist Dom Brown has been working with the band, as a session player and touring member since. There is no word on any permanent replacement for Andy Taylor.
Bon Jovi is an American hard rock band from Sayreville, New Jersey. Fronted by lead singer and namesake Jon Bon Jovi, the group originally achieved large-scale success in the 1980s. Over the past 25 years, Bon Jovi has sold over 120 million albums worldwide.
Bon Jovi formed in 1983 with lead singer Jon Bon Jovi (born John Francis Bongiovi, Jr.), guitarist Richie Sambora, keyboardist David Bryan, bassist Alec John Such, and drummer Tico Torres. Other than the departure of Alec John Such in 1994 (which pared the lineup down to a quartet), the lineup has remained the same for the past 25 years. After two moderately successful albums in 1984 and 1985, the band scored big with Slippery When Wet (1986) and New Jersey (1988), which sold a combined 19 million copies in the U.S. alone, charted eight Top Ten hits (including four number one hits), and launched the band into global super stardom. After non-stop touring, the band went on hiatus after the New Jersey Tour in 1990, during which time Jon Bon Jovi and Richie Sambora both released successful solo albums. In 1992, the band returned with the double platinum Keep the Faith and has since created a string of platinum albums throughout the 1990s and 2000s.
In 2006, the band won a Grammy for best Country Collaboration for "Who Says You Can't Go Home" with Jennifer Nettles from Sugarland and also became the first rock band to reach #1 on the Hot Country Songs chart with the same song. The band has also received multiple Grammy nominations for music from the albums Crush, Bounce, and Lost Highway.
Throughout their career, the band has released ten studio albums, of which nine have gone platinum in US. They also have seven #1 albums in Australia, six #1 albums in Europe and Canada, five #1 albums in UK, four #1 albums in Japan, and three #1 albums on US Billboard charts. In addition, the band has charted 19 singles to the Top 40 of the Billboard Hot 100, five of which reached #1 - "You Give Love a Bad Name", "Livin' on a Prayer", "Bad Medicine", "I'll Be There for You" and Jon Bon Jovi's solo hit "Blaze of Glory". The band also holds the record for the most weeks for a hard rock album at #1 on the Billboard 200 with Slippery When Wet, as well as the most Top 10 singles from a hard rock album, with New Jersey, which charted five such singles.
Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford, Hertfordshire in 1968. Along with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, they are considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock, although some band members have tried not to categorize themselves as any one genre. The band also incorporated blues-rock, pop and progressive rock elements. They were once listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's loudest band, and have sold over 100 million albums worldwide. Deep Purple was ranked #22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rock program.
The band has gone through many line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus (1976-84). The 1968-76 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV. Their second and most commercially successful line-up featured Ian Gillan (vocals), Ritchie Blackmore (guitar), Jon Lord (keyboards), Roger Glover (bass guitar) and Ian Paice (drums). This line-up was active 1969-73 and was revived from 1984-89 and again in 1993 before the rift between Blackmore and other members became unbridgeable. The current line-up including guitarist Steve Morse has been much more stable, though Lord's retirement in 2002 has left Paice as the only original member.
Sir Elton Hercules John CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist.
In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time. He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards and one Academy Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
Some of the characteristics of John's musical talent include an ability to quickly craft melodies for the lyrics of songwriting partner Bernie Taupin, his former rich tenor (now baritone) voice, his classical and gospel-influenced piano, the aggressive orchestral arrangements of Paul Buckmaster among others and the on-stage showmanship, especially evident during the 1970s.
John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994. He has been heavily involved in the fight against AIDS since the late 1980s, and was knighted in 1998. He entered into a civil partnership with David Furnish on 21 December 2005 and continues to be a champion for LGBT social movements. On 9 April 2008, John held a benefit concert for Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign, raising $2.5 million. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list on which are present Hot 100's top 100 artists and Elton John reached #3, preceded by Madonna and The Beatles.
John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25, 1947, and was raised in Pinner, Middlesex in a council house of his maternal grandparents, with whom his newlywed parents (Sheila Eileen (Harris) and Stanley Dwight) were living. They then moved to a nearby semi-detached house. He was educated at Pinner County Grammar School until the age of 15, before pursuing a career in the music industry.
When John began to seriously consider a career in music, his father tried to steer him toward a more conventional career such as banking. He has stated that his wild stage costumes and performances were his way of letting go after such a restrictive childhood. Both of John's parents were musically inclined, his father having been a trumpet player with a semi-professional big band that played military dances. The Dwights were avid record buyers, exposing John to all the popular singers and musicians of the day. John remembers being immediately hooked on rock and roll when his mother brought home records by Elvis Presley and Bill Haley & His Comets in 1956.
The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in 1962 in London when multi-instrumentalist Brian Jones and pianist Ian Stewart were joined by vocalist Mick Jagger and guitarist Keith Richards. Bassist Bill Wyman and drummer Charlie Watts completed the early lineup. Stewart, deemed unsuitable as a teen idol, was removed from the official lineup in 1963 but continued to work with the band as road manager and keyboardist until his death in 1985.
Jagger and Richards early on formed a songwriting partnership and gradually took over leadership of the band from the increasingly troubled and erratic Jones. At first recording mainly covers of American blues and R&B songs, since 1966's Aftermath, The Rolling Stones new studio releases have had almost exlusively Jagger/Richards songs. Shortly before his death in 1969, the band fired Jones and replaced him with Mick Taylor. Taylor recorded five studio albums with The Rolling Stones before quitting in 1974. Faces guitarist Ronnie Wood replaced Taylor and has since remained with the band. Wyman left the Rolling Stones in 1993; bassist Darryl Jones, who is not an official band member, has worked with the group since 1994.
First popular in the UK and Europe, The Rolling Stones came to the US during the the early 1960s "British Invasion". The Rolling Stones have released 22 studio albums in the UK (24 in the US), eight concert albums (nine in the US) and numerous compilations; and have sold more than 200 million albums worldwide. Their latest album, A Bigger Bang, was released in 2005. Sticky Fingers (1971) began a string of eight consecutive studio albums that charted at number one in the United States. In 1989 The Rolling Stones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 2004 they were ranked number 4 in Rolling Stone magazine's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Their image of unkempt and surly youth is one that many musicians still emulate.
Simon & Garfunkel were an American singer-songwriter duo consisting of Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel. They formed the group "Tom and Jerry" in 1957, and had their first taste of success with the minor hit "Hey, Schoolgirl". As Simon and Garfunkel, the duo rose to fame in 1965, backed by the hit single "The Sounds of Silence". Their music was featured in the landmark film The Graduate, propelling them further into the public consciousness.
They are well known for their close vocal harmonies and sometimes unstable relationship. Their last album, Bridge over Troubled Water, was delayed several times due to artistic disagreements. They were among the most popular recording artists of the 1960s; among their biggest hits, in addition to "The Sounds of Silence", were "I Am a Rock", "Homeward Bound", "Mrs. Robinson", "Bridge over Troubled Water", and "The Boxer". They have received several Grammys and are inductees of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Long Island Music Hall of Fame (2007). In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Simon and Garfunkel #40 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.
They have reunited on several occasions since their 1970 breakup, most famously for 1981's The Concert in Central Park, which attracted about 500,000 people.
Close friends through childhood, Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel grew up in the same Forest Hills neighborhood in Queens, New York, just blocks away from one another. They met in elementary school in 1953, when they both appeared in the school play Alice in Wonderland (Simon as the White Rabbit, Garfunkel as the Cheshire Cat). They were classmates at Parsons Junior High School and Forest Hills High School, and began performing together in their junior year as Tom and Jerry, with Simon as Jerry Landis (whose last name he borrowed from a girl he had been dating) and Garfunkel as Tom Graph (so called because he was fond of tracking ("graphing") hits on the pop charts). They began writing their own songs in 1955, and made their first professional recording, "Hey, Schoolgirl", for Sid Prosen of Big Records in 1957. Released on 45 rpm and 78 rpm vinyl records, with the flip-side song "Dancin' Wild", the recording sold 100,000 copies, hitting #49 on the Billboard Magazine charts. Both Simon and Garfunkel have acknowledged the tremendous impact of The Everly Brothers on their style, and many of their early songs (including "Hey, Schoolgirl") bear the mark of this influence.
They later performed their hit on American Bandstand, right after Jerry Lee Lewis's "Great Balls of Fire".
Subsequent efforts in 1958 did not reach near their initial success, and after high school the duo went to separate colleges, with Simon enrolling at Queens College and Garfunkel at Columbia University. While enrolled in college, they both joined the same fraternity, Alpha Epsilon Pi.
In 1963, they found prominence as part of the Greenwich Village folk music scene. Simon, who had finished college but dropped out of Brooklyn Law School, had—like Garfunkel—developed an interest in the folk scene. Simon showed Garfunkel a few songs that he had written in the folk style: "Sparrow", "Bleecker Street", and "He Was My Brother"—which was later dedicated to Andrew Goodman, a friend of both Simon and Garfunkel and a classmate of Simon's at Queens College, who was one of three civil rights workers murdered in Neshoba County, Mississippi, on June 21, 1964.
These three efforts were among five original songs by Simon included on their first album for Columbia Records, Wednesday Morning, 3 A.M., which initially flopped upon its release on October 19, 1964.
ABBA is a Swedish pop music group. The band consisted of Benny Andersson (Sweden), Björn Ulvaeus (Sweden), Anni-Frid Lyngstad (Sweden, of Norwegian-German origin) and Agnetha Fältskog (Sweden). They topped the charts worldwide from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. The name "ABBA" is an acronym formed from the first letters of each of the group members' given names (Agnetha, Benny, Björn, Anni-Frid).
ABBA gained immense international popularity employing catchy song hooks, simple lyrics, and a Wall of Sound achieved by overdubbing the female singers' voices in multiple harmonies. As their popularity grew, they were sought after to tour Europe, Australia, and North America, drawing crowds of near-hysterical fans, notably in Australia. Touring became a contentious issue, being particularly unpopular with Agnetha, but they continued to release studio albums to great commercial success. At the height of their popularity, however, both marriages of the band members (Benny with Frida, and Björn with Agnetha) failed, and the relationship changes were reflected in their music, as they produced more thoughtful lyrics with different compositions.
They remain a fixture of radio playlists and are one of the world's best selling bands, having sold over 370 million records world wide; they still sell two to four million records a year. ABBA was also the first pop group from mainland Europe to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Their enormous popularity subsequently opened the doors for other Continental European acts.
The music of ABBA has been re-arranged into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that has toured worldwide and had a movie version released in July 2008. All four of the former members of ABBA were present at the Stockholm premieres of both the musical (2005) and the film (2008). The film première took place at the Benny Andersson-owned Rival Theatre at Mariatorget, Stockholm on 4 July 2008.
A new museum devoted entirely to the pop supergroup was scheduled to open in Stockholm in 2009, but the project was postponed as of September 2008.
Olivia Newton-John AO, OBE (born 26 September 1948 in Cambridge, England) is an English-born, Australian singer and actress. She is an avid activist for both environmental issues and breast cancer awareness. Her business interests have included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and opening the Gaia Retreat and Spa in Australia. To date she has sold over 100 million records.
Olivia Newton-John was born in Cambridge, England, to a Welsh-born father, Brinley ("Bryn") Newton-John, and a German-born mother, Irene Born. Newton-John is the youngest of three children, following brother Hugh, a doctor, and sister Rona, an actress once married to Grease co-star Jeff Conaway. Newton-John's mother was the eldest child of Max Born, a German Nobel prize–winning physicist. Newton-John's father was an MI5 officer on the Enigma project at Bletchley Park and was the officer who took Rudolph Hess into custody during World War II. Newton-John's family emigrated in 1954 to Melbourne, Australia, where her father worked as a Professor of German and became the Master of Ormond College at the University of Melbourne.
At 14, Newton-John formed a short-lived all-girl band, Sol Four, with three classmates and often performed in a coffee shop owned by her brother-in-law. She soon became a regular on local Australian radio and television shows including HSV-7's The Happy Show, where she performed as Lovely Livvy. She also appeared on the Go Show, where she met her lifelong friends Pat Carroll and John Farrar. (Carroll and Farrar eventually married.) She entered a talent contest on the television program Sing, Sing, Sing, hosted by 1960s Australian icon Johnny O'Keefe, performing the songs "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses." She won the contest and received a trip to England as the prize. Initially, she was reluctant to go, but her mother encouraged her to broaden her horizons.
Newton-John recorded her first single, "Till You Say You'll Be Mine" b/w "Forever," for England's Decca Records in 1966. Newton-John was homesick in England because she missed Australia and her then-boyfriend, Ian Turpie, with whom she co-starred in an independently produced Australian telefilm, Funny Things Happen Down Under. Her mother cancelled trips back to Australia that Newton-John would repeatedly book. Newton-John's outlook changed when Pat Carroll also moved to England. The two formed a duo and toured nightclubs in Europe until Carroll's visa expired, forcing her to return to Australia. Newton-John remained in England to pursue solo work.
Newton-John was recruited for the group "Tomorrow" — the brainchild of American producer Don Kirshner, creator of The Monkees. In 1970, the group recorded an eponymous album and starred in a "science fiction musical" film also named after the group. The project failed and the group was quickly disbanded.
Howard Andrew "Andy" Williams (born December 3, 1927, in Wall Lake, Iowa) is a legendary American pop singer. Andy Williams has recorded 18 gold and three platinum certified albums. When Ronald Reagan was president, he declared Andy's voice to be "a national treasure". He had his own popular TV variety show from 1962–71.
He also owns his own theater, the Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri.
Williams was the son of Jay Emerson and Florence (nee Finley) Williams. He first performed in a children's choir at the local Presbyterian church. Williams and his three older brothers Bob, Don and Dick formed a quartet, the Williams Brothers, in the late 1930s, and they performed on radio in the Midwest, first at WHO in Des Moines, Iowa, and later at WLS in Chicago and WLW in Cincinnati. Williams graduated from Western Hills High School in Cincinnati. The Williams Brothers appeared with Bing Crosby on the hit record "Swinging on a Star" (1944). This led to a nightclub act with entertainer Kay Thompson from 1947 to 1951.
Johnny Mathis (born John Royce Mathis, September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music.
One of the last in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the 1960s, Mathis concentrated on romantic jazz and pop standards for the adult contemporary audience through to the 1980s. Starting his career with a standard flurry of singles, Mathis was far more popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums receiving gold and platinum status and seventy-three making the Billboard charts to date. Mathis has sold more than 350 million records and albums.
Mathis was born on September 30th, 1935, fourth of seven children in Gilmer, Texas to Clem and Mildred Mathis. The family moved when he was young to San Francisco, California on Post Street, in the famous Fillmore district where he was raised. His father worked for a time in vaudeville, and when he saw the budding talent in his son, the elder Mathis bought an old upright piano for US$25 to encourage his efforts. Mathis began learning from his father songs and routines–his first song being, "My Blue Heaven." Mathis started out singing and dancing for visitors at home, and later publicly, at school and church events.
At thirteen, Mathis was taken to Connie Cox, a San Francisco Bay Area voice teacher, who accepted him as a student in exchange for work he would do around her house. He studied with Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical and operatic skills. He remains one of the few popular singers who has received years of professional voice training that included opera.
At George Washington High School, Mathis was well known not only for his singing abilities, but also as a star athlete. On the track and field team, he was a high jumper and hurdler, and on the basketball team, he earned four athletic letters. In 1954, Mathis enrolled at San Francisco State University on a scholarship with the intention of becoming an English and physical education teacher. Mathis remains an important part of San Francisco State University's sports history—in 1954 he broke future basketball great Bill Russell's high jump record by jumping 6 ft 5 in (1.96 m).
Don McLean (born to Elizabeth and Donald on October 2, 1945 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".
The McLean clan traces its roots to the Isle of Mull in the Scottish Hebrides. Both Don’s grandfather and father were named Donald McLean which sometimes led to confusion as Don was also christened Donald McLean. Don’s mother’s family, the Buccis, came from Abruzzi in southern Italy. They left Italy and settled in Port Chester, N.Y. at the end of the 19th century.
As a young teenager, McLean became interested in folk music particularly the Weavers' 1955 recording "At Carnegie Hall." Childhood asthma meant that Don missed long periods of school and while he slipped back in his studies, his love of music was allowed to flourish. He often performed shows for family and friends. By age 16 he had bought his first guitar (a Harmony acoustic archtop with a sunburst finish) and begun making contacts in the music business, becoming friends with folk singer Erik Darling, a member of the Weavers. McLean recorded his first studio sessions (with singer Lisa Kindred) while still in prep school.
McLean graduated from Iona Preparatory School in 1963, and briefly attended Villanova University, dropping out after four months. While at Villanova he became friends with singer/songwriter Jim Croce.
After leaving Villanova, McLean became associated with famed folk music agent Harold Leventhal, and for the next six years performed at venues and events including the Bitter End and the Gaslight Cafe in New York, the Newport Folk Festival, the Cellar Door in Washington, D.C., and the Troubadour in Los Angeles. Concurrently, McLean attended night school at Iona College and received a Bachelors degree in Business Administration in 1968. He turned down a scholarship to Columbia University Graduate School in favour of becoming resident singer at Café Lena in NY.
In 1968, with the help of a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts, McLean began reaching a wider public, with visits to towns up and down the Hudson River. He learned the art of performing from his friend and mentor Pete Seeger. McLean accompanied Seeger on his Clearwater boat trip up the Hudson River in 1969 to protest environmental pollution in the river. During this time McLean wrote songs that would appear on his first album, Tapestry. McLean co-edited the book “Songs and Sketches of the First Clearwater Crew” with sketches by Thomas B. Allen for which Pete Seeger wrote the forward. Seeger and McLean sang "Shenandoah" on the 1974 Clearwater album.
John Denver (December 31, 1943 – October 12, 1997), born Henry John Deutschendorf, Jr., was an American Country Music/folk singer-songwriter and folk rock musician. He was one of the most popular acoustic artists of the 1970s in terms of record sales, recording and releasing around 300 songs, of which about half were composed by him. He was named Poet Laureate of Colorado in 1977. Songs such as "Leaving on a Jet Plane" (1967), "Take Me Home, Country Roads" (1971), "Rocky Mountain High" (1972), "Sunshine on My Shoulders" (1973), "Thank God I'm a Country Boy" (1974), "Annie's Song" (1974), and "Calypso" (1975) are popular worldwide. Denver has been referred to as "The Poet for the Planet", "Mother Nature's Son" (based on The Beatles song he covered) and "A Song's Best Friend".
Sir James Paul McCartney MBE (born 18 June 1942) is a multiple Grammy Award-winning English singer-songwriter, poet, composer, multi-instrumentalist, entrepreneur, record producer, film producer, painter, and animal rights activist. He gained worldwide fame as a member of The Beatles, with John Lennon, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. McCartney and Lennon formed one of the most influential and successful songwriting partnerships and wrote some of the most popular music in rock and roll history. After leaving The Beatles, McCartney launched a successful solo career and formed the band Wings with his first wife, Linda Eastman McCartney, and singer-songwriter Denny Laine. He has worked on film scores, classical music, and ambient/electronica music; released a large catalogue of songs as a solo artist; and taken part in projects to help international charities.
McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the most successful musician and composer in popular music history, with 60 gold discs and sales of 100 million singles. His song "Yesterday" is listed as the most covered song in history - by over 3,700 artists so far - and has been played more than 7,000,000 times on American television and radio. Wings' 1977 single "Mull of Kintyre" became the first single to sell more than two million copies in the UK, and remains the UK's top selling non-charity single. (Three charity singles have since surpassed it in sales; the first to do so—in 1984—was Band Aid's "Do They Know It's Christmas?", whose participants included McCartney.)
His company MPL Communications owns the copyrights to more than 3,000 songs, including all of the songs written by Buddy Holly, along with the publishing rights to such musicals as Guys and Dolls, A Chorus Line, and Grease. McCartney is also an advocate for animal rights, vegetarianism, and music education; he is active in campaigns against landmines, seal hunting, and Third World debt.
Boney M. is a West Germany-based pop and disco group created by West German record producer Frank Farian. The four original members of the group's official lineup were Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett (Jamaica), Maizie Williams (Montserrat), and Bobby Farrell (Aruba).
Frank Farian (Franz Reuther), German schlager singer, wasn't happy with the choice of material his record company wanted him to sing. He went into the studio in December 1974 and recorded the song single "Baby Do You Wanna Bump?", a monotonous dance track, singing the repeated "Do you do you wanna bump?" in a deep voice (entirely studio created) as well as performing the high female chorus vocals in his falsetto voice. The record came out, credited to "Boney M." Frank Farian had been watching an Australian detective show, where the lead character was called Boney, and Farian decided that this would make a good name for a group, and added the M. After a slow start it became a hit in the Netherlands and Belgium. It was then that Farian decided to hire a team to 'front' the group for TV performances. A booking agency (Katja Wolfe) found model-turned-singer Maizie Williams (originally from Montserrat) and her Jamaican friend and singer Sheyla Bonnick for him, and a dancer called Mike for the first gigs. Also during 1975, a girl named Nathalie joined but was soon replaced by Claudja Barry. Then Bonnick and Mike left, and Maizie Williams brought in an exotic dancer from Aruba, Bobby Farrell. Singer Marcia Barrett (Jamaica) reluctantly joined the group, which went through another change in line-up when Claudja Barry – tired of merely lip-synching – left in February 1976 to pursue a solo career as a disco singer. Finally Liz Mitchell, an unemployed singer and former member of the Les Humphries Singers, stepped in – and the final line-up was found at last with Maizie Williams, Marcia Barrett, Liz Mitchell and Bobby Farrell.
Farian began recording Boney M.'s first LP, Take the Heat Off Me, for which Marcia Barrett had already recorded some songs with Farian: these were the title track and "Lovin' or Leavin'", both previously recorded in German by another Farian act, Gilla. While Maizie Williams' voice wasn't considered good enough for recording purposes by Farian, and a try-out with Bobby Farrell doing "No Woman No Cry" didn't work, Farian decided to use only Liz Mitchell and Marcia Barrett along with his own studio created deep male voice and high falsetto voice to create the Boney M. sound.
The commercial response to the album was initially lukewarm. However, the group rigorously toured discos, clubs and even country fairs, to earn a reputation for themselves. The group's big break came when, at the end of that summer, music-TV-producer Michael 'Mike' Leckebusch of Radio Bremen, requested the group for his show Musikladen. Boney M. appeared on the live music show on September 18, 1976, after 10 pm, in their now trademark daring costumes; by the end of the following week, "Daddy Cool" became Germany's #1 single in the charts. The album was to follow the success of the single.
Bread was a 1970s rock/pop band from Los Angeles, California. They were one of the most popular rock groups of the early 1970s, a primary example of what later was labeled "soft rock", releasing a string of well-crafted, melodic soft rock singles.
The band consisted of David Gates (Vocals, guitar, bass, keyboards, violin, viola, percussion), Jimmy Griffin (vocals, guitar, keyboards, percussion), Robb Royer (bass, guitar, flute, keyboards, percussion, recorder, backing vocals), Mike Botts (drums; joined in 1970), and Larry Knechtel (bass, guitar, keyboards, harmonica; replaced Royer in 1971).
Beginnings and fame
Gates, Griffin, and Royer joined together in 1968 and signed with Elektra Records choosing the name Bread in 1969. Gates and Griffin had both worked with Royer's previous band, The Pleasure Fair. Bread's first single, "Dismal Day", was released in June 1969 but did not chart. Their debut album, Bread, was released in September 1969 and peaked at #127 on the Billboard 200. Songwriting on the album was split evenly between Gates and the team of Griffin-Royer. Jim Gordon, a top session player, accompanied the band on drums for the album.
Bread became a quartet with their second album, On the Waters (peaking at #12 on the Billboard 200), bringing in Botts as drummer. This time their efforts quickly established Bread as a major act, hitting the mainstream with the Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit "Make It with You" in 1970. "Make It With You" would be Bread's only number one hit on the Hot 100.
For their next single, they released a re-recorded version of "It Don't Matter to Me", a Gates song from their first album. This single was a hit as well, reaching #10. Bread began touring and recording the 1971 album titled Manna (#21), which included the Top 5 hit single, "If". As with the first album, songwriting credits were split evenly between Gates and Griffin-Royer.
Royer left the group after three albums; although, he would continue to write with Griffin—and was replaced by Knechtel, a leading session player from the Los Angeles scene. In January 1972, Bread released Baby I'm-a Want You, their most successful album, peaking at #3 on the Billboard 200. The title song was established as a hit in late 1971 before the album was released, also hitting #3. Follow-up singles "Everything I Own" and "Diary" also went top-20. The next album, Guitar Man, was released ten months later and went to #18. The album produced three top-15 singles, "The Guitar Man" (#11), "Sweet Surrender" (#15), and "Aubrey" (#15), with the first two going to #1 on Billboard's adult contemporary chart. The band would have a total of four #1 singles on this chart; "If" and "Baby I'm-a Want You" had also reached the top of the adult contemporary chart during their respective chart runs.
Split and reunion
Despite the band's success, tensions existed between Gates and Griffin. All eleven of Bread's charting singles between 1970 and 1973 had been written and sung by Gates. Elektra Records had invariably selected Gates' songs for the A-sides of the singles, while Griffin felt that the singles should have been split between the two of them.
Sir Cliff Richard OBE (born Harry Rodger Webb on 14 October 1940) is an English singer-songwriter, actor and entrepreneur.
With his backing group The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s, before and during The Beatles' first year in the charts. A conversion to Christianity and subsequent softening of his music led to his having more of a pop than rock image. He never achieved the same impact in the United States despite several chart singles there, but he has remained a popular music, film, and television personality in the United Kingdom and he retains a following in other countries.
During six decades, Cliff Richard has charted many singles, and holds the record (with Elvis Presley) as the only act to make the UK singles charts in all of its decades (1950s–2000s). He alone is the only singer to have had a number one single in the UK in five consecutive decades between the 1950s and the 1990s. If he can chart a single at number one in 2009 he will continue this record to six decades. On the British charts, Richard has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the top 20, more than any other artist. He has sold more than 260 million records.
The Shadows are a British instrumental and vocal group from the 1950s to the 2000s.
Formed as a backing band for Cliff Richard, under the name The Drifters. The members were founder Ken Pavey (born 1932), Terry Smart on drums (born 1942), Norman Mitham on guitar (born 1941), Ian Samwell on guitar and Harry Webb (before he became Cliff Richard) on guitar and vocals. The original Drifters had no bass player. Samwell wrote the group's first hit, "Move It" which is often mistakenly attributed to "Cliff Richard and The Shadows". None of the original Drifters were in the group when they became The Shadows.
Shortly after first manager Johnny Foster discovered them, the name was changed to Cliff Richard and The Shadows due to a name clash with the American group The Drifters. They signed for Jack Good's Oh Boy! television series. Producer Norrie Paramor of EMI signed Richard, and asked Johnny Foster to recruit a better guitarist. Foster went back to Soho's 2i's coffee bar (famed for musical talent performing there, particularly in skiffle) in search of guitarist Tony Sheridan. Sheridan was not there but Foster's attention was caught by another musician, who was tall, good looking, played guitar well and had Buddy Holly glasses.
Hank Marvin was playing in a skiffle band with Bruce Welch. The pair had travelled from Newcastle and were surviving on little money. Foster offered Marvin the job, and he accepted on condition that Welch would also join. New manager Franklin Boyd could see the pair worked well and they were employed as lead and rhythm guitarists. Ian Samwell was moved to bass until he was replaced by the Most Brothers' bass guitarist, Jet Harris. Drummer Terry Smart left shortly afterwards and was replaced at Harris's suggestion by Tony Meehan. The Drifters' professional lineup was now complete, and they became The Shadows in early 1959. Johnny Foster continued for a time as Richard's manager, and Samwell wrote additional songs for The Drifters and The Shadows before writing and producing for others. Meehan recalled that Richard, backed by Marvin, Welch, Harris and himself had played together a year beforehand at least once at the 2i's.
The group started recording and performing with Richard and released two singles in their own right in 1959. ("Feelin' Fine"/"Don't Be A Fool With Love") and ("Jet Black"/"Driftin'"), The first two tracks were vocals and the second pair instrumental. Neither charted. A further (vocal) ("Saturday Dance"/"Lonesome Fella") also failed. The instrumental "Chinchilla" was included on a four-track soundtrack EP by Cliff Richard and the Drifters called Serious Charge released in early 1959 with the film of the same name.
Sir Thomas John Woodward OBE (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer-songwriter, particularly noted for his powerful voice and wide vocal range. He was born in Trefforest, Pontypridd, near Cardiff in Wales.
Since 1965, Jones has sold over 100 million records.
Jones rose to fame in the 1960s, with an exuberant live act that included wearing tight pants or trousers and billowing shirts, in an Edwardian style popular among his peers at the time. He was known for his overt sexuality before it became a common theme among pop artists.
In 1963 Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and The Senators, a local beat group. Clad in black leather, he soon gained a reputation in the South Wales area of the United Kingdom, although the Senators were still unknown in London.
In 1964 they laid down seven tracks with maverick "Telstar" producer Joe Meek, and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. The plan was to release a single, "Lonely Joe / I Was A Fool", but the ever-flighty Meek refused to release the tapes. Only after "It's Not Unusual" became a massive hit was Meek able to sell the tapes to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK). The group returned to South Wales and continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones's manager, and took the young singer to London. He also renamed him "Tom Jones," an ingenious moniker that not only linked the singer to the image of the title character - a good-looking, low-born stud, portrayed in Tony Richardson's film of Henry Fielding's The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, which was a huge contemporary hit - but also subtly emphasized his nationality. Gordon Mills gave many rock stars their stage names, among them Engelbert Humperdinck (born Arnold George Dorsey). The Senators became the Playboys, and later still the Squires. It was the beginning of the second phase in Jones's career.
Record companies were finding his style and delivery to be too abrasive and raw. Jones's vocals were considered to be too raucous, and he moved like Elvis (whom he later cited as one of his influences). But eventually, Decca rekindled their early interest, and Jones recorded his first single, "Chills And Fever" in late 1964.
Helen Reddy (born October 25, 1941) is an Australian/American singer-songwriter. She has won a Grammy Award, been a theatrical stage performer appearing on Broadway, an actress in feature films and credited with writing and singing one of the most iconic and culturally significant songs of the 1970s, "I Am Woman".
Reddy became one of the world's most successful female singers of the early 1970s music scene. Reddy scored many certified gold hit records including three #1 singles and fifteen Top 40 pop singles on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. She has sold more than 15 million albums and 10 million singles worldwide. Selling a total of 25 million records worldwide. She also became the first Australian to have a #1 single in the United States, win a Grammy Award, and have her own variety shows on United States television. Born and raised in Australia, Reddy became a naturalized United States citizen in 1974.
In 2002, she retired from performing concerts and recording and now resides in Sydney, Australia.
She was inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame in 2006.
Beyond was a famous rock band in Hong Kong that was founded in 1983. They have always identified with the people of Hong Kong, as reflected in their songs about social issues, pursuit of dreams, politics, and peace. Wong Ka Kui's " 海闊天空 (Boundless Oceans Vast Skies) & 光輝歲月(Glorious Years) are two of their best known works.
Beyond is also well known for Wong Ka Kui's distinctive vocal, remarkable melodies, meaningful lyrical themes, and their musicianship on their instruments.
Formed in 1983, the original members were Wong Ka Kui (vocals, guitar), Yip Sai Wing (vocals, drums), Lee Wing Chiu (Bass) and William Tang (Guitar). Ka Kui's younger brother Wong Ka Keung (vocals, bass) joined in 1984 followed by Paul Wong Koon Chung (vocals, lead guitar) in 1985. Other members for brief periods have included Owen Kwan,Chan See On and Lau Chi Yuen. Lau Chi Yuen left the band in 1988 to pursue studies in the US (though he made a return later playing instruments and helping to produce 1998's Surprise).
Some of Beyond's very early works are in English, such as "Longway without a Friend" and "Myth". Beyond were initially part of the "band boom" which occurred in Hong Kong in the 1980s, alongside other groups such as Tai Chi, Tat Ming Pair, Blue Jeans, Fundamental, and Raidas.
After couple of flops, Beyond started to gain popularity following the release of the song Dai Dei. Fellow underground musicians started to accuse Beyond of abandoning the rock and roll genre of music, gravitating towards pop. Beyond was unfazed and the few next albums saw several of the most important songs in the history of Hong Kong music.
One of the songs, Glorious Age (Chinese: 光輝歲月), is about racism and the struggle of Nelson Mandela in South Africa. The song, at the time, was a fresh breath of air in the midst of saccharin sweet love songs that were dominating the Hong Kong music scene. Wong Ka Kui won the best lyrics award in the Hong Kong Grammy-equivalent award ceremony. The guitar solo opening for the song paints the loneliness of Mandela's struggle. The guitar solo went on to be one of the most recognizable electric guitar rift in Hong Kong rock music.
In 1991, Beyond released the song Amani in the album Delibrate. The song Amani was written by Wong Ka Kui during Beyond's trip to Tanzania. The lyrics of the song are in Chinese interspersed with words from the Swahili language. The title of the song, Amani means peace in Swahili. As suggested by the title, the song sings about world peace in the plight of the war-ravaged countries in Africa. The song outro of morphing Kakui's to a kid's voice reflects the plea for peace, especially from the next generations. Unlike most of other Beyond's songs, this song is mostly written with open chords in the key of C Major. The simplicity of the structure and the common key instill the feeling of innocence into the song.
In June 1993, Wong Ka Kui sustained massive head injuries after falling from a broken stage on a Fuji Television game show in Japan. Wong Ka Kui fell into a coma and died one week later. He was 31 years old. His funeral procession caused traffic in various major city streets of Hong Kong to grind to a standstill, and almost every famous Hong Kong Cantopop singer was in attendance.
The Japanese will never understand, for us and for Hong Kong, that the incident was not merely about the loss of an artist. It was about losing a music revolutionary, and an age of time. - Paul Wong on the death of Ka Kui
At the time of his death, they were signed to Japanese record label Amuse, having already released several Japanese language singles and an album. The following album, This Is Love I, initially intended to be the first of two parts, was released the day after Wong Ka Kui's death.
There was debate as to whether the remaining three members would continue the band without him, but speculation ended when they reappeared on the 30th of November 1993 in Hong Kong at the Composer's Tribute Night concert. After Ka Kui's death, Beyond's first album produced was 2nd Floor Back Suite (二樓後座). Within this album was a stirring solo tribute to Ka Kui that was written, composed and sung by his younger brother, Ka Keung.
The post-Ka Kui albums have a more 'alternative' feel to the progressive rock sound that preceded them. 1997's Please Let Go of Your Hands (請將手放開)(Hong Kong post-97 sentiment abounding) and 1995's grunge-inspired Sound are examples of this.
They played their last concert in Hong Kong under the Beyond name on 1 February 2005, before embarking on a world tour, including stops in Toronto, Canada and various cities in mainland China, after which the band officially disbanded in their last stop in Singapore.
At present, the band has parted ways, with each member pursuing his own solo career.
Two members of the band (Yip Sai Wing & Paul Wong) held a concert, Beyond Next Stage Live 2008, on 11 Oct 2008 in Genting Highlands, Malaysia and later on 8 Nov 2008 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium in Singapore.
The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. The group chose the name Eagles as a nod to The Byrds (Leadon had been in Dillard & Clark with former Byrds singer Gene Clark and in The Flying Burrito Brothers with former Byrds Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman, and Michael Clarke). Comedian Steve Martin records in his autobiography, Born Standing Up, that Frey was very particular that the name was Eagles and not The Eagles.
With 5 #1 singles and 6 #1 albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful recording artists of the decade. At the end of the 20th century, 2 of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the 10 best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The best-selling studio album Hotel California is rated as the 37th album in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and the band was ranked #75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They also have the best selling album in the U.S. to date with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975.
The Eagles broke up in 1980, but reunited in 1994 for Hell Freezes Over, a mix of live and new studio tracks. They have toured intermittently since then, and were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2007, the Eagles released Long Road out of Eden, their first full studio album in 28 years.
Thomas Lang (born August 5, 1967 in Vienna, Austria) is a professional drummer, frequent drum clinician and a producer.
Thomas Lang was born in Vienna. He grew up in Stockerau, a small town in Austria. He lived in London for ten years and moved to Los Angeles in December 2006. He started playing the drums at the age of five, and after years of private lessons he attended the Vienna Conservatory of Music. Since then he has worked as an independent drummer. His work can also be heard on the solo albums Mediator and Something Along Those Lines.
In 2002, Meinl approached Remo to produce the Thomas Lang Practice Kit, after Lang stated, "When I travel it's hard for me to keep up with my practice because I worry about disturbing people in hotel rooms, or backstage".
Thomas has worked with such artists as Geri Halliwell, Robbie Williams, John Wetton, B*Witched, Bonnie Tyler, Billy Liesegang, The Clash, Falco, Steve Hackett, Nick Kershaw, Robert Fripp, Gianna Nannini, Lighthouse Family, Boyzone, Ronan Keating, Westlife, Kylie Minogue, Asia, Robert Trujillo, Ian Dury, The Blockheads, Cathy O'Meara, Save The Robots, The Vienna Art Orchestra and many more.
Yo-Yo Ma (traditional Chinese: 馬友友) (born October 7, 1955) is a French-born Chinese-American virtuoso cellist and composer and winner of multiple Grammy Awards. He is one of the most revered cello players of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is also a highly accomplished musician on the piano, viola, and violin.
Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris to Chinese parents and had a musical upbringing. His mother, Marina Lu, was a singer, and his father, Hiao-Tsiun Ma, was a professor of music. His family moved to New York when he was four years old.
At a very young age, Ma began studying violin, and later viola, before taking up the cello in 1960 at age four. The child prodigy began performing before audiences at age five, and performed for President John F. Kennedy when he was seven. At age eight, he appeared on American television in a concert conducted by Leonard Bernstein. By fifteen years of age, Ma had graduated from Trinity School in New York and appeared as a soloist with the Harvard Radcliffe Orchestra in a performance of the Tchaikovsky: Rococo Variations.
Ma studied at the Juilliard School of Music with Leonard Rose and attended Columbia University before ultimately enrolling at Harvard University. But, at some point, he began questioning if he should continue his studies, that is until he was inspired by Pablo Casals's performances in the seventies.
However, even before that time, he had steadily gained fame and had performed with most of the world's major orchestras. His recordings and performances of the Johann Sebastian Bach: Cello Suites recorded in 1983 and again in 1994-1997 are particularly acclaimed. He has also played a good deal of chamber music, often with the pianist Emanuel Ax, with whom he has a close friendship back from their days together at the Juilliard School of Music in New York.
He received his bachelor's degree from Harvard in 1976.
In 1991, he received an honorary doctorate from Harvard.
He is married to Jill Horner, a German Language professor.
Tullio De Piscopo (born 24 February 1946) is an Italian drummer and singer.
De Piscopo was born in Naples, the son of a drummer in an orchestra. In 1969 he moved to Turin, where he began a successful career as drummer for several popular artists, including Gerry Mulligan, Astor Piazzolla, Gato Barbieri, Lucio Dalla, Pino Daniele, Manu Chao and others. In 1974-1975 he was a member of New Trolls Atomic System.
He also wrote scores for several movies. His most successful song is "Andamento lento", which won Festivalbar in 1988.
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button is an Academy Award-winning 2008 American drama film, inspired by the 1921 short story of the same name written by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was directed by David Fincher, written by Eric Roth and Robin Swicord, and stars Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett. The film was released in the USA on December 25th, 2008 and in the UK on February 6th, 2009. The film received 13 Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, Best Director for Fincher, Best Actor for Pitt and Best Supporting Actress for Taraji P. Henson.
The Reader is a 2008 British drama film based on the 1995 German novel of the same name by Bernhard Schlink. The film adaptation was written by David Hare and directed by Stephen Daldry. Ralph Fiennes and Kate Winslet star along with the young actor David Kross. It was the last film for producers Anthony Minghella and Sydney Pollack, both of whom died before it was released. Production began in Germany in September 2007, and the film opened in limited release on 10 December 2008.
It tells the story of Michael Berg, a German lawyer who as a teenager in the late 1950s had an affair with an older woman, Hanna Schmitz, who then disappeared only to resurface years later as one of the defendants in a war crimes trial stemming from her actions as a concentration camp guard late in the war. Michael realizes that Hanna is keeping a secret she believes is worse than her Nazi past, a secret that may cost her at the trial.
Winslet and David Kross, who plays the young Michael, have received much praise for their performances. Winslet won the Best Actress Academy Award in 2009 for her role in the film. The film has also been nominated for several other major awards.
WALL-E (promoted with an interpunct as WALL•E) is a 2008 Academy Award winning computer-animated science fiction film produced by Pixar Animation Studios. The film was directed by Andrew Stanton. It follows the story of a robot named WALL-E who is designed to clean up a waste covered Earth far in the future. He eventually falls in love with another robot named EVE, and follows her into outer space on an adventure.
After directing Finding Nemo, Stanton felt Pixar had created believable simulations of underwater physics and was willing to direct a film set in space. Most of the characters do not have actual human voices, but instead communicate with body language and robotic sounds, designed by Ben Burtt, that resemble voices. In addition, it is the first animated feature by Pixar to have segments featuring live-action characters.
Walt Disney Pictures released it in the United States and Canada on June 27, 2008. The film grossed $23.1 million on its opening day, and $63 million during its opening weekend in 3,992 theaters, ranking #1 at the box office. This ranks the third highest-grossing opening weekend for a Pixar film as of July 2008. Following Pixar tradition, WALL-E was paired with a short film, Presto, for its theatrical release. WALL-E has achieved highly positive reviews with an approval rating of 96% on the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes. It grossed $533 million worldwide, won the 2009 Golden Globe Award for Best Animated Feature Film, and the 2009 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, and was nominated for five other Academy Awards.
Vicky Cristina Barcelona is a 2008 Academy Award-winning film written and directed by Woody Allen. The film stars Javier Bardem, Penélope Cruz and Scarlett Johansson.
The plot centers around two American women, Vicky and Cristina, spending a summer in Barcelona, where they meet an artist who is attracted to both of them while still enamored of his mentally and emotionally unstable ex-wife María Elena. The film was shot in Avilés, Barcelona, and Oviedo, and was Allen's fourth consecutive film shot outside of the United States.
The film premiered at the 2008 Cannes Film Festival, then received a rolling worldwide general release that started in August 2008 in the USA, and continued in various countries each month until the June 2009 release in Japan.
Milk is an American 2008 biographical film directed by Gus Van Sant. It is based on the life of the late American politician Harvey Milk, a gay rights activist and the first openly gay man to be elected to public office in California as a member of the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. The film received a limited release on November 26, 2008, the day before the 30th anniversary of the Moscone–Milk assassinations.
Milk has received many awards, as has its leading actor, Sean Penn, an Academy Award win, a Golden Globe nomination, one Screen Actors Guild Award plus two other nominations, and four BAFTA award nominations including Best Film. The film received eight Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, winning two for Best Original Screenplay for Dustin Lance Black and Best Actor in a Leading Role for Sean Penn.
Slumdog Millionaire is an eight-time Academy Award-winning 2008 drama film directed by Danny Boyle, co-directed by Loveleen Tandan, and written by Simon Beaufoy. It is an adaptation of the Boeke Prize-winning and Commonwealth Writers' Prize-nominated novel Q & A (2005) by Indian author and diplomat Vikas Swarup. On February 22, 2009, it received the Academy Awards for Best Picture and Best Director, along with six other Academy Awards.
Set and filmed in India, Slumdog Millionaire tells the story of a young man from the slums of Mumbai who appears on the Indian version of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? (Kaun Banega Crorepati, mentioned in the Hindi version) and exceeds people's expectations, arousing the suspicions of the game show host and of law enforcement officials.
After screenings at the Telluride Film Festival and the Toronto International Film Festival, Slumdog Millionaire initially had a limited North American release on 12 November 2008 by Fox Searchlight Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, to critical acclaim and awards success, and later had a nationwide release in the United States on 23 January 2009 and in the United Kingdom on 9 January 2009. It premiered in Mumbai on 22 January 2009.
Slumdog Millionaire was nominated for ten Academy Awards and won eight, the most of any film that year, including Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Cinematography, Best Sound Mixing, Best Film Editing, Best Original Score, and Best Original Song. It also won five Critics' Choice Awards, four Golden Globes, and seven BAFTA Awards, including Best Film.
The film is also the subject of controversy concerning its portrayal of India and Hinduism as well as the welfare of its child actors.
David Sanborn - Hideaway
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David Sanborn - Hideaway
David Sanborn has been a frequent visitor to the Montreux Jazz Festival,
either headlining in his own right, as a sideman or as p...
