1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
The 5th Dimension
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The 5th Dimension is an American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire includes pop, R&B, soul, jazz, light opera and Broadway—the melange was coined as Champagne Soul. Formed as The Versatiles in late 1965, the changed its name to the hipper The 5th Dimension by 1966. The five original members were Billy Davis Jr. Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore and they have recorded for several labels over their long careers. Their first work appeared on the Soul City label, which was started by Imperial Records/United Artists Records recording artist Johnny Rivers, the group later recorded for Bell/Arista Records, ABC Records, and Motown Records. Some of the songwriters popularized by the 5th Dimension went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson, who wrote California Soul. In the early 1960s, Lamonte McLemore and Marilyn McCoo got together with three friends from Los Angeles — Harry Elston, Lawrence Summers. and Fritz Baskett — to form a group called the Hi-Fis. In 1963, they sang at clubs while taking lessons from a vocal coach. In 1964, they came to the attention of Ray Charles and he produced a single by the group, Lonesome Mood, a jazz-type song that gained local attention. However, internal disagreements caused Elston to go his way, eventually leading to his forming the Friends of Distinction, with latter day Hi-Fis member, McLemore sought to form another group and started looking for members to join him and McCoo. McCoo, who had studied with the vocal coach Eddie Beal, had appeared in high school. His grandmother fostered his career by arranging for private voice and acting lessons as he grew up, in his teens, he toured with Dorothy Dandridge and Nat King Cole, joined the Wings Over Jordan Choir, and played a small part in the film Porgy and Bess. He demonstrated his skill as a classical artist by placing third in the Metropolitan Opera auditions held in St. Louis, after finishing high school, he worked his way through Lincoln University by conducting the school and church choir. After graduating, he organized his own 25-member gospel choir, another of McLemores friends from St. Louis days, Billy Davis Jr. started singing in gospel choirs at an early age. He later saved enough money to buy a cocktail lounge in St. Louis, when asked to join McLemores new group, he agreed, while hoping for a solo contract from Motown. The members began rehearsing as the Versatiles in late 1965 and auditioned for Marc Gordon, who headed Motowns Los Angeles office. Although the groups demo tape was rejected by Motown, Gordon agreed to them and brought them to the attention of Johnny Rivers. Their first Soul City single, Ill Be Lovin You Forever, was a successful single, in 1965 The Mamas & the Papas first single, lead member John Phillips Go Where You Wanna Go, failed to open the foursomes chart career. The budding songwriter Jimmy Webb supplied the group with their hit, Up, Up and Away
3.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
4.
1972 in music
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This is a list of notable events in music that took place in the year 1972. January 17 – Highway 51 South in Memphis, Tennessee, USA, is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard, january 20 – The début of Pink Floyds Dark Side of the Moon at The Dome, Brighton, is halted by technical difficulties. Dark Side of the Moon would be played in its entirety the following night, january 21 – Keith Richards jumps on stage to jam with Chuck Berry at the Hollywood Palladium, but is ordered off for playing too loud. Berry later claims that he did not recognize Keith and would not have booted him if he did, january 29–31 – The first Sunbury Music Festival is held in Sunbury, Victoria. Performers include Billy Thorpe & The Aztecs, Wendy Saddington, Chain, january 31 – Over 40,000 mourners file past Mahalia Jacksons open casket to pay their respects in Chicagos Great Salem Baptist Church. February 9 – Paul McCartneys new band, Wings, make their debut at the University of Nottingham in England. Its McCartneys first public concert since The Beatles 1966 US tour, february 13 – Led Zeppelins concert in Singapore is canceled when government officials will not let them off the airplane because of their long hair. February 14–18 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-host an entire week of The Mike Douglas Show, february 15 – The United States gives federal Copyright protection to sound recordings. Prior to this, phonograph records were only protected at state level, february 19 Paul McCartneys single Give Ireland Back to the Irish is banned by the BBC. The controversy caused by the banning only increases the songs popularity, Sammy Davis, Jr. makes a guest appearance on the television show All in the Family. February 23 – Elvis and Priscilla Presley separate, february 29 – John Lennons U. S. immigration visa expires, beginning his three-and-a-half-year fight to remain in the country. L. A. disc jockey Robert W. Morgan plays Donny Osmonds Puppy Love non-stop for 90 minutes, police are called, but no arrests are made. March 21 – Terry Knight announces he is launching a $5 million lawsuit against Grand Funks new manager John Eastman and it triggers a series of suits and counter-suits between Knight and the band throughout the coming months. March 25 – The 17th Eurovision Song Contest, held in the Usher Hall, Edinburgh, Scotland, is won by German-based Greek singer Vicky Leandros, the song is subsequently released around Europe, having been recorded in several languages, including in English as Come What May. March 31 – Official Beatles fan club closes down, april 2 – John Lennon and Yoko Ono hold a press conference in New York. The Lennons discuss their appeal against the US Immigration Departments decision to deport John, april 9 – First solo concert of Valery Leontiev. April 16 – Electric Light Orchestra make their debut at the Fox and Greyhound pub in Park Lane, Croydon. April 29 – New York City mayor John Lindsay announces that he is supporting John Lennon, may 2 – Stone the Crows lead guitarist Les Harvey is electrocuted on stage during a show in Swansea, Wales, by touching a poorly connected microphone
5.
Soul music
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Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music, catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and a tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds, Soul music reflected the African-American identity and it stressed the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness led to new styles of music, which boasted pride in being black, Soul music dominated the U. S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U. S. By 1968, the music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more sophisticated, by the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock and other genres, leading to psychedelic soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994, there are also several other subgenres and offshoots of soul music. The term soul had been used among African-American musicians to emphasize the feeling of being an African-American in the United States, according to another source, Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the 60s. The phrase soul music itself, referring to music with secular lyrics, is first attested in 1961. The term soul in African-American parlance has connotations of African-American pride, gospel groups in the 1940s and 1950s occasionally used the term as part of their name. The jazz style that derived from gospel came to be called soul jazz, important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s contributed to the emergence of soul music included Clyde McPhatter, Hank Ballard, and Etta James. Ray Charles is often cited as popularizing the genre with his string of hits starting with 1954s I Got a Woman. Singer Bobby Womack said, Ray was the genius and he turned the world onto soul music. Charles was open in acknowledging the influence of Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style, little Richard and James Brown were equally influential. Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson are also acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the singer of gospel group The Soul Stirrers
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Bell Records
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This article is about the record label active from the 1950s to the 1970s. For the earlier Bell Records labels, see Bell Records and Bell Records. Bell was also a custom label active in the 1940s for recordings by Benny Bell, a British branch was also active in the 1960s and 1970s. Bell Records was reorganized in November 1974, which was the birth of Arista Records, at its inception in 1952, Bell specialized in budget generic pop music, with the slogan music for the millions. Originally sold on seven-inch 78rpm and 45rpm records for 39 cents, sound-alike cover versions of hit records were also issued on 78rpm as well as 45rpm disks priced at 49 cents. One of these records was by Tom & Jerry who would become known using their real surnames. Most Bell and associated label 45rpm records were similarly injection-molded all the way into the 1970s, in 1960, Amy Records was formed as another subsidiary label, focusing on what became known as northern soul and/or blue-eyed soul acts. The following year, Larry Uttal folded his Madison Records label into Bell after purchasing the label, along with its Amy, in March 1969, Columbia Pictures Industries purchased Bell for $3.5 million, retaining Larry Uttal as label president. Later that year, the Mala, Amy, and Bell labels were merged into a single unit, by mid-1971, the assets of the Columbia Pictures owned, but RCA Records distributed, Colgems Records were integrated into the label. By 1970, the Bell label was successful with pop music singles. After a year of declining revenues, Uttal resigned from Bell at the end May 1974 to begin his own label, Private Stock, financed and distributed by EMI. Uttal was replaced a week later by Clive Davis who was hired as a record and music consultant by Columbia Pictures, daviss real goal was to reorganize and revitalize Columbia Picturess music division. The very last releases utilizing the Bell imprint have the designation Bell Records, Distributed by Arista Records,1776 Broadway, New York, the British branch was established in 1967. Previous British releases of Bell recordings were issued on EMIs Stateside Records, bell/Amy/Malas association with EMI dates back to 1964. Bell Records in London was headed by Dick Leahy and distributed by EMI, artists signed to them included the Bay City Rollers, Gary Glitter, Showaddywaddy, the Glitter Band, and American acts Reparata and the Delrons and the Partridge Family with David Cassidy. Other artists on the label included Barry Blue, Barry Manilow, Terry Jacks, Hello, The Piglets, the Pearls and Harley Quinne, the Drifters and the UK releases of the Box Tops. Showaddywaddy released the last Bell single, Under the Moon of Love, the Bell logo has made occasional appearances on the jackets and labels of Arista UK releases. The former catalog of Bell Records and its related labels is now owned by Sony Music Entertainment, Bell Records had at least five dozen subsidiary labels throughout its existence. Among the most familiar labels are, Other subsidiaries include, Academy, Admiral, AGP, Amos, Aquarian, aurora, Bell Country Series, Big Hill, Brookmont, Canusa, Carnation, Chariot, Creative Funk, Cyclone, D. C. S. A
7.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
8.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
9.
The Wrecking Crew (music)
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The Wrecking Crew was a loose-knit circle of Los Angeles top studio session musicians whose services were constantly in demand during their heyday in the 1960s and early 1970s. Usually playing collectively in varying configurations, often anonymously, they backed dozens of acts on numerous top-selling hits of the era. They are now considered one of the most successful session recording units in music history. The Wrecking Crews contributions on so many hit recordings of the era went largely unnoticed until the publication of Blaines memoir, keyboardist Leon Russell and guitarist Glen Campbell later became popular solo acts, while Blaine is reputed to have played on over 140 top ten hits. In 2008, they were the subject of the documentary The Wrecking Crew, the name Wrecking Crew was popularized by drummer and member Hal Blaine in his 1990 memoir, Hal Blaine and the Wrecking Crew. According to biographer Kent Hartman, Some of the studio musicians I interviewed swear they heard it applied to themselves as early as 1963, one says it was never used at all. Blaines memoirs, and the attention that followed, cast new light on the Wrecking Crews role in many famous recordings, guitarist and bassist Carol Kaye has disputed Blaines account of the name and stated, We were never known as that. Sometimes we were called the Clique, but a Hal Blaine invented name for his own self-promotion in 1990, regarding the matter, Songfacts stated, We couldnt find any references to The Wrecking Crew in any publications from the era. In response to Kayes contention that Blaine invented the moniker to sell his book, Blaine denied that anyone had heard the name The Clique. At the time, multi-tracking equipment, though common, was less elaborate, musicians had to be available on call when producers needed a part to fill a last-minute time slot. Songs had to be recorded quickly in the fewest possible takes, the Wrecking Crew were the go to session musicians in Los Angeles during this era. The Wrecking Crews members were musically versatile but typically had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music, the origins of the Wrecking Crew can be traced to the late 1950s with a group headed by bassist and guitarist Ray Pohlman, sometimes referred to as the First Call Gang. Earl Palmer was originally from New Orleans and had recorded on many of the Crescent City rhythm and blues classics, such as with Fats Domino, often recorded at Cosimo Matassas J&M Studio. Along with Pohlman and Palmer, some of the members of the unit in the late 1950s were Barney Kessel, Mel Pollen, Bill Aken. Their home base at the time was Hollywoods General Service Studio, in 1962, Spector started a new label, Philles Records, and set about recording the song Hes a Rebel, which would be credited to the Crystals. He enlisted the aid of his friend, saxophonist Steve Douglas. Douglas helped him corral the backing unit, which included Pohlman, guitarists Howard Roberts, Bill Aken, and Tommy Tedesco, pianist Al De Lory, upright bassist Jimmy Bond, and Hal Blaine on drums. They booked Studio A at Gold Star Studios, known for its deeply reverberant echo chambers, Spectors records backed by the Wrecking Crew usually featured arrangements by Jack Nitzsche
10.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
11.
Music recording sales certification
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Music recording sales certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped or sold a certain number of copies. The threshold quantity varies by type and by nation or territory, almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials. The number of sales or shipments required for these awards depends upon the population of the territory in which the recording is released, typically, they are awarded only to international releases and are awarded individually for each country in which the album is sold. Different sales levels, some perhaps 10 times lower than others, the original gold record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achievements. The first of these was awarded by RCA Victor to Glenn Miller and His Orchestra in February 1942, another example of a company award is the gold record awarded to Elvis Presley in 1956 for one million units sold of his single Dont Be Cruel. The first gold record for an LP was awarded by RCA Victor to Harry Belafonte in 1957 for the album Calypso and these sales were restricted to U. S. -based record companies and did not include exports to other countries. For albums in 1968, this would mean shipping approximately 250,000 units, the platinum certification was introduced in 1976 for the sale of one million units, album or single, with the gold certification redefined to mean sales of 500,000 units, album or single. No album was certified platinum prior to this year, for instance, the recording by Van Cliburn of the Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto from 1958 would eventually be awarded a platinum citation, but this would not happen until two decades after its release. In 1999, the certification was introduced for sales of ten million units. On 14 March 1958, the RIAA certified its first gold record, soundtrack was certified as the first gold album four months later. In 1976, RIAA introduced the platinum certification, first awarded to Johnnie Taylors single, Disco Lady, as music sales increased with the introduction of compact discs, the RIAA created the Multi-Platinum award in 1984. Diamond awards, honoring those artists whose sales of singles or albums reached 10,000,000 copies, were introduced in 1999 and this became much less common once the majority of retail sales became paid digital downloads and digital streaming. In most countries certifications no longer apply solely to physical media, in June 2006, the RIAA also certified the ringtone downloads of songs. Streaming from on-demand services such as Rhapsody and Spotify has been included into existing digital certification in the U. S since 2013, in the U. S. and Germany video streaming services like YouTube, VEVO, and Yahoo. Music also began to be counted towards the certification, in both cases using the formula of 100 streams being equivalent to one download, other countries, such as Denmark and Spain, maintain separate awards for digital download singles and streaming. The International Federation of the Phonographic Industry was founded in 1996, and grants the IFPI Platinum Europe Award for album sales over one million within Europe, multi-platinum Europe Awards are presented for sales in subsequent multiples of one million. Eligibility is unaffected by time, and is not restricted to European-based artists, IMPALA sales awards were launched in 2005 as the first sales awards recognising that success on a pan-European basis begins well before sales reach one million. The award levels are Silver, Double Silver, Gold, Double Gold, Diamond, Platinum, below are certification thresholds for the United States and United Kingdom
12.
Canada
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Canada is a country in the northern half of North America. Canadas border with the United States is the worlds longest binational land border, the majority of the country has a cold or severely cold winter climate, but southerly areas are warm in summer. Canada is sparsely populated, the majority of its territory being dominated by forest and tundra. It is highly urbanized with 82 per cent of the 35.15 million people concentrated in large and medium-sized cities, One third of the population lives in the three largest cities, Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver. Its capital is Ottawa, and other urban areas include Calgary, Edmonton, Quebec City, Winnipeg. Various aboriginal peoples had inhabited what is now Canada for thousands of years prior to European colonization. Pursuant to the British North America Act, on July 1,1867, the colonies of Canada, New Brunswick and this began an accretion of provinces and territories to the mostly self-governing Dominion to the present ten provinces and three territories forming modern Canada. With the Constitution Act 1982, Canada took over authority, removing the last remaining ties of legal dependence on the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Canada is a parliamentary democracy and a constitutional monarchy, with Queen Elizabeth II being the head of state. The country is officially bilingual at the federal level and it is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, the product of large-scale immigration from many other countries. Its advanced economy is the eleventh largest in the world, relying chiefly upon its abundant natural resources, Canadas long and complex relationship with the United States has had a significant impact on its economy and culture. Canada is a country and has the tenth highest nominal per capita income globally as well as the ninth highest ranking in the Human Development Index. It ranks among the highest in international measurements of government transparency, civil liberties, quality of life, economic freedom, Canada is an influential nation in the world, primarily due to its inclusive values, years of prosperity and stability, stable economy, and efficient military. While a variety of theories have been postulated for the origins of Canada. In 1535, indigenous inhabitants of the present-day Quebec City region used the word to direct French explorer Jacques Cartier to the village of Stadacona, from the 16th to the early 18th century Canada referred to the part of New France that lay along the St. Lawrence River. In 1791, the area became two British colonies called Upper Canada and Lower Canada collectively named The Canadas, until their union as the British Province of Canada in 1841. Upon Confederation in 1867, Canada was adopted as the name for the new country at the London Conference. The transition away from the use of Dominion was formally reflected in 1982 with the passage of the Canada Act, later that year, the name of national holiday was changed from Dominion Day to Canada Day
13.
Tokyo
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Tokyo, officially Tokyo Metropolis, is the capital of Japan and one of its 47 prefectures. The Greater Tokyo Area is the most populous area in the world. It is the seat of the Emperor of Japan and the Japanese government, Tokyo is in the Kantō region on the southeastern side of the main island Honshu and includes the Izu Islands and Ogasawara Islands. Formerly known as Edo, it has been the de facto seat of government since 1603 when Shogun Tokugawa Ieyasu made the city his headquarters. It officially became the capital after Emperor Meiji moved his seat to the city from the old capital of Kyoto in 1868, Tokyo Metropolis was formed in 1943 from the merger of the former Tokyo Prefecture and the city of Tokyo. The Tokyo metropolitan government administers the 23 Special Wards of Tokyo, the metropolitan government also administers 39 municipalities in the western part of the prefecture and the two outlying island chains. The population of the wards is over 9 million people. The prefecture is part of the worlds most populous metropolitan area with upwards of 37.8 million people, the city hosts 51 of the Fortune Global 500 companies, the highest number of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked third in the International Financial Centres Development IndexEdit, the city is also home to various television networks such as Fuji TV, Tokyo MX, TV Tokyo, TV Asahi, Nippon Television, NHK and the Tokyo Broadcasting System. Tokyo ranked first in the Global Economic Power Index and fourth in the Global Cities Index. The city is considered a world city – as listed by the GaWCs 2008 inventory – and in 2014. In 2015, Tokyo was named the Most Liveable City in the world by the magazine Monocle, the Michelin Guide has awarded Tokyo by far the most Michelin stars of any city in the world. Tokyo ranked first in the world in the Safe Cities Index, the 2016 edition of QS Best Student Cities ranked Tokyo as the 3rd-best city in the world to be a university student. Tokyo hosted the 1964 Summer Olympics, the 1979 G-7 summit, the 1986 G-7 summit, and the 1993 G-7 summit, and will host the 2020 Summer Olympics, Tokyo was originally known as Edo, which means estuary. During the early Meiji period, the city was also called Tōkei, some surviving official English documents use the spelling Tokei. However, this pronunciation is now obsolete, the name Tokyo was first suggested in 1813 in the book Kondō Hisaku, written by Satō Nobuhiro. When Ōkubo Toshimichi proposed the renaming to the government during the Meiji Restoration, according to Oda Kanshi, Tokyo was originally a small fishing village named Edo, in what was formerly part of the old Musashi Province. Edo was first fortified by the Edo clan, in the twelfth century
14.
World Popular Song Festival
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The World Popular Song Festival, also known as Yamaha Music Festival and unofficially as the Oriental Eurovision, was an international song contest held from 1970 until 1989. It was organised by the Yamaha Music Foundation in Tokyo, Japan from 1970 until 1989, the first edition of the World Popular Song Festival took place on 20,21 and 22 November 1970 with 37 participating countries from all continents. The concert was cancelled in 1988 due to the illness of the Shōwa Emperor, lavi performed the chanson Prends LAmour and ended up 13th in the Grand Final. The Netherlands delegated world-known jazz singer Rita Reys with the song Just Be You, czech singer Helena Vondráčková sang Uncle Charlie a novelty song inspired by Charlie Chaplin. Other famous 1970 participants were 1969 Eurovision winner Frida Boccara for France, Jacques Michel for Canada and Ted Mulry for Australia, winner of the 1st WPSF was Israel with the duo Hedva & David. More than 2 million copies of their winning entry Ani Holem Al Naomi were sold worldwide, thomas, La Toya Jackson, Erasure, Cissy Houston, Italian singer-songwriter Alice and many others. In the history of the WPSF the United Kingdom has been the most successful, the United Kingdom is followed by the United States with 4 Grand Prix victories. Smaller countries won as well, Jamaica in 1972 with Ernie Smith, Norway in 1974 with Ellen Nikolaysen, Cuba in 1981 with Osvaldo Rodríguez and Hungary in 1983 with Neoton Família
15.
The Carpenters
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The Carpenters were an American vocal and instrumental duo consisting of siblings Karen and Richard Carpenter. Producing a distinctively soft musical style, they one of the best-selling music artists of all time. During their 14-year career, The Carpenters recorded 11 albums,31 singles, five television specials, and their career ended in 1983 by Karens death from heart failure brought on by complications of anorexia. Extensive news coverage surrounding the circumstances of her death increased public awareness of eating disorders, the Carpenters had three No.1 singles and five No.2 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 and fifteen No.1 hits on the Adult Contemporary chart. In addition, they had twelve top 10 singles, to date, The Carpenters album and single sales total more than 100 million units. Richard Carpenter was the force behind the Carpenters sound. An accomplished keyboard player, composer and arranger, Richard Carpenter was called by music critic Daniel Levitin one of the most gifted arrangers to emerge in popular music. In a period when music was dominated by heavy rock. Most of Richards arrangements were classical in style, with frequent use of strings and occasional brass, by use of multi-tracked recordings, Richard was able to use Karen and himself for the harmonies to back Karens lead. The overdubbed background harmonies were distinctive to the Carpenters, but it was the soulful, Karen did not possess a powerful singing voice, but close miking brought out many nuances in her performances. Richard Coles, a musician and broadcaster, commented, No singer is so closely miked up so unforgivingly as Karen Carpenter and that is frightening for singers because the closer the microphone the more unforgiving it is in exposing the weaknesses in a singers voice. Karens lower register was warm and distinctive, Richard arranged their music to take advantage of the qualities of said lower register, even if Karens full vocal range spanned over three octaves. Many of the Carpenters songs are in the keys of D, E flat, E, F and he also played the grand piano, Hammond organ, synthesizer and even the harpsichord with the band. In the recording studio, he often would overdub his acoustic piano parts with a Wurlitzer electric piano to thicken the sound, from the mid-1970s, Richard also used Fender Rhodes pianos. While touring, he often would have a piano as well as both a Rhodes and a Wurlitzer electric piano on stage for different songs. Karen was a drummer and initially only played drums. Before 1974, Karen played the drums for a number of their songs, according to Richard, she considered herself a drummer who sang. Although unwilling, she agreed to sing the ballads standing up front
16.
We've Only Just Begun
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Weve Only Just Begun is a hit single by Carpenters written by Roger Nichols and Paul Williams. Ranked at No.405 on Rolling Stone magazines list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time, the song was originally recorded by Smokey Roberds, a friend of Nichols, under the name Freddie Allen. It debuted in a television commercial for Crocker National Bank in California in the winter of 1970 with Williams on vocals. Hal Riney, founder of the San Francisco-based advertising agency Hal Riney & Partners, the song played over footage of a young couple getting married and just starting out. Direct reference to the bank was left out, in part to make the more marketable. The commercial was very popular and Crocker Nationals business flourished, Richard Carpenter saw the commercial and guessed correctly that it was Paul Williams. Carpenter ran into Williams on the record companys lot and asked if a version was available. Although it had two verses and no bridge, Williams stated that there was a bridge and an additional verse, forming a complete song, he. Carpenter selected the composition for the third single and included it on the LP Close to You. Released in the summer of 1970, the single featured Karens lead vocals. It was considered by both Karen and Richard to be their signature song, according to The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits, on the U. S. Adult Contemporary singles chart, it was the duos best-performing tune, the song also helped them to win two Grammy Awards in 1971, for the Best New Artist and Best Contemporary Performance by a Duo, Group, or Chorus. For Williams, the song was a victory, it was his first collaboration with Nichols that resulted in a hit single. In 1998, the recording was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for recordings of lasting quality or historical significance, a 1981 cover version by Lee McDonald has been a modern soul classic for many years. The song was sampled in R&B singer Miguels song How Many Drinks, taken from his Grammy-nominated 2012 album Kaleidoscope Dream. In 2016, the song was used in commercial, this time for Lowes Home Improvement. 23 on the UK charts ODonel Levy, sampled by Pete Rock, Miguel, Craig Mack and it also closed the 2000 gay ensemble, The Broken Hearts Club, A Romantic Comedy, performed by Mary Beth Maziarz. Weve Only Just Begun was featured at the conclusion of the Australian film, The Castle and it was also part of the score of John Carpenters In the Mouth of Madness, where it was heard playing over loudspeakers while the protagonist was committed to a psychiatric hospital
17.
Demo (music)
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A demo is a song or group of songs recorded for limited circulation or reference use rather than for general public release. Demos are typically recorded on relatively crude equipment such as boom box cassette recorders, small four-track or eight-track machines, songwriters and publishers demos are recorded with minimal instrumentation - usually just an acoustic guitar or piano, and the vocalist. Many unsigned bands and artists record demos in order to obtain a recording contract and these demos are usually sent to record labels in hopes that the artist will be signed onto the labels roster and allowed to record a full-length album in a professional recording studio. Many signed bands and artists record demos of new songs before recording an album, Demos may include as few as one or two songs or as many as would be contained on a full-length album. Demo recordings are heard by the public, although some artists do eventually release rough demos in rarities compilation albums or box sets. Other demo versions have been released as bootleg recordings, such as The Beatles The Beatles Bootleg Demos. Several artists have made official releases of demo versions of their songs as albums or companion pieces to albums, such as Florence. The event of a demo tape appearing on eBay has happened in the past, in more underground forms of music, such as noise music, black metal or punk, demos are often distributed by bands to fans as self-releases, or sold at a very low price. Collection of Demo Covers Music From the Demo Scene
18.
Vikki Carr
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Vikki Carr is an American vocalist and humanitarian who has had a singing career for over four decades. She established the Vikki Carr Scholarship Foundation in 1971, cardona was born in El Paso, Texas. After taking the stage name Vikki Carr, she signed with Liberty Records in 1962 and her first single to achieve success was Hes a Rebel, which in 1962 reached #5 in Australia and #115 in the United States. Producer Phil Spector heard Carr cutting the song in the studio, in 1966, Carr toured South Vietnam with actor/comedian Danny Kaye to entertain American troops there. The following year her album It Must Be Him was nominated for 3 Grammy Awards, the title track reached #3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the United States in 1967, sold over 1 million copies, and received a gold disc. She had two other songs make the US Top 40, 1968s The Lesson and 1969s With Pen in Hand, around this time, Dean Martin called her the best girl singer in the business. Carr had 10 singles that made the US pop charts and 13 albums that made the US pop-album charts, in 1968 she taped six specials for London Weekend TV. She appeared on television programs, such as ABCs The Bing Crosby Show in the 1964–1965 season. In 1970, she was named Woman of the Year by the Los Angeles Times and she guest-hosted The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson in 1973. Carr married Michael Nilsson, a paint company executive, on August 20,1979 and she received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1981. Carr also achieved the feat of singing for five presidents during her career, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford, Ronald Reagan, George Bush. She also received Grammy nominations for the discs Brindo a La Vida, Al Bolero, A Ti and her numerous Spanish-language hit singles include Total, Discúlpame, Déjame, Hay Otro en Tu Lugar, Esos Hombres, Mala Suerte and Cosas del Amor. The last song spent more than two months at No.1 on the US Latin charts in 1991, her biggest Spanish-language US hit and her Spanish-language albums have been certified gold and platinum in Mexico, Chile, Puerto Rico, Venezuela, Costa Rica, Colombia and Ecuador. She also voiced Georgette in the Latin American dub of Disneys Oliver, in 1999 she taped a PBS TV special, Vikki Carr, Memories, Memorias, in which she performed popular bilingual tunes from the 1940s and 1950s. Her guests were Pepe Aguilar, Arturo Sandoval, and Jack Jones, in 2001, she released a bilingual holiday album, The Vikki Carr Christmas Album. In 2002, she appeared to acclaim in a Los Angeles production of the Stephen Sondheim musical Follies, which also featured Hal Linden, Patty Duke. In 2006, Carr made a appearance in a straight-to-video thriller called Puerto Vallarta Squeeze. In 2008, Carr hosted a PBS TV special, Fiesta Mexicana, later that year, she was honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Latin Recording Academy
19.
Johnny Mathis
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John Royce Johnny Mathis is an American singer of popular music and jazz. Mathis has sold well over 100 million records worldwide, according to Guinness Book of British Hit Singles writer and charts music historian Paul Gambaccini, Mathis also recorded six albums of Christmas music. In a 1968 interview, Mathis cited Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas, United States, in 1935, the fourth of seven children of Clem Mathis and Mildred Boyd. The family moved to San Francisco, California, settling on 32nd Avenue in the Richmond District and his father had worked in vaudeville, and when he saw his sons talent, he bought an old upright piano for $25 and encouraged him. Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father and his first song was My Blue Heaven. Mathis started singing and dancing for visitors at home, at school, when he was 13, voice teacher Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for work around her house. Mathis studied with Cox for six years, learning scales and exercises, voice production, classical. He is one of the few popular singers who received years of professional voice training that included opera. The first band he sang with was formed by his school friend Merl Saunders. Mathis eulogized him at his funeral in 2008, thanking him for giving him his first chance as a singer, Mathis was a star athlete at George Washington High School in San Francisco. He was a jumper and hurdler, and he played on the basketball team. In 1954, he enrolled at San Francisco State University on a scholarship, intending to become an English teacher. In San Francisco while singing at a Sunday afternoon jam session with a jazz sextet at the Black Hawk Club, Mathis attracted the attention of the clubs co-founder. After repeated calls, Noga finally persuaded Avakian to come hear Mathis at the 440 Club, after hearing Mathis sing, Avakian sent his record company a telegram stating, Have found phenomenal 19-year-old boy who could go all the way. At San Francisco State, Mathis had become noteworthy as a jumper, and in 1956 he was asked to try out for the U. S. Olympic Team that would travel to Melbourne, Australia. Mathis had to decide whether to go to the Olympic trials or to keep his appointment in New York City to make his first recordings, on his fathers advice, Mathis opted to embark on a professional singing career. His LP record album was released in late 1956 instead of waiting until the first quarter of 1957, Mathiss first record album, Johnny Mathis, A New Sound In Popular Song, was a slow-selling jazz album, but Mathis stayed in New York City to sing in nightclubs. His second album was produced by Columbia Records vice-president and record producer Mitch Miller, Miller preferred that Mathis sing soft, romantic ballads, pairing him up with conductor and music arranger Ray Conniff, and later, Ray Ellis, Glenn Osser, and Robert Mersey
20.
St. Martin's Press
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St. Martins Press is a book publisher headquartered in the Flatiron Building in New York City, New York. St. Martins Presss current editor in chief is George Witte, Macmillan Publishers of the United Kingdom founded St. Martins in 1952 and named it after St Martins Lane in London, where associated press Macmillan Publishers was headquartered. Martins as well as some U. S. publishing houses, including Farrar, Straus and Giroux, Holt Publishers, and Tor-Forge Books. Authors published by St. Martin include Sherrilyn Kenyon, M. K. Asante, Charlotte Bingham, John Bingham, Dan Brown, Barbara Taylor Bradford, Ken Bruen, Augusten Burroughs and it also publishes the New York Times crossword puzzle books. In 1984, St. Martins became the first major publisher to release its hardcover books by its in-house mass-market paperback company
21.
International Standard Book Number
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The International Standard Book Number is a unique numeric commercial book identifier. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an e-book, a paperback and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, the method of assigning an ISBN is nation-based and varies from country to country, often depending on how large the publishing industry is within a country. The initial ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 based upon the 9-digit Standard Book Numbering created in 1966, the 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108. Occasionally, a book may appear without a printed ISBN if it is printed privately or the author does not follow the usual ISBN procedure, however, this can be rectified later. Another identifier, the International Standard Serial Number, identifies periodical publications such as magazines, the ISBN configuration of recognition was generated in 1967 in the United Kingdom by David Whitaker and in 1968 in the US by Emery Koltay. The 10-digit ISBN format was developed by the International Organization for Standardization and was published in 1970 as international standard ISO2108, the United Kingdom continued to use the 9-digit SBN code until 1974. The ISO on-line facility only refers back to 1978, an SBN may be converted to an ISBN by prefixing the digit 0. For example, the edition of Mr. J. G. Reeder Returns, published by Hodder in 1965, has SBN340013818 -340 indicating the publisher,01381 their serial number. This can be converted to ISBN 0-340-01381-8, the check digit does not need to be re-calculated, since 1 January 2007, ISBNs have contained 13 digits, a format that is compatible with Bookland European Article Number EAN-13s. An ISBN is assigned to each edition and variation of a book, for example, an ebook, a paperback, and a hardcover edition of the same book would each have a different ISBN. The ISBN is 13 digits long if assigned on or after 1 January 2007, a 13-digit ISBN can be separated into its parts, and when this is done it is customary to separate the parts with hyphens or spaces. Separating the parts of a 10-digit ISBN is also done with either hyphens or spaces, figuring out how to correctly separate a given ISBN number is complicated, because most of the parts do not use a fixed number of digits. ISBN issuance is country-specific, in that ISBNs are issued by the ISBN registration agency that is responsible for country or territory regardless of the publication language. Some ISBN registration agencies are based in national libraries or within ministries of culture, in other cases, the ISBN registration service is provided by organisations such as bibliographic data providers that are not government funded. In Canada, ISBNs are issued at no cost with the purpose of encouraging Canadian culture. In the United Kingdom, United States, and some countries, where the service is provided by non-government-funded organisations. Australia, ISBNs are issued by the library services agency Thorpe-Bowker
22.
Marilyn McCoo
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Since 1969, she has been married to singer Billy Davis, Jr. the founder and co-member of the 5th Dimension. McCoo has a vocal range. Marilyn McCoo was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Waymon and Mary McCoo, at the age of seven, she moved with her parents, two sisters, and brother to Los Angeles, where she commenced singing, piano and dance lessons. At the age of 15, she joined Art Linkletters Talent Show, after graduating from high school, she enrolled in UCLA, where she earned a degree in business administration. In 1962, McCoo entered the Miss Bronze California beauty pageant where she won Miss Grand Talent, in the early and mid-1960s, McCoo was a member of the Hi-Fis, who often opened for Ray Charles. She had been invited to join the group by photographer Lamonte McLemore, other Hi-Fi members included Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, who would go on to form the Friends of Distinction. She met Billy Davis, Jr. in 1966 when he established the 5th Dimension, then called The Versatiles, the groups first big hit was with 1967s Up, Up and Away, written by Jimmy Webb. The song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the track to 5th Dimensions first hit LP. A year later the group covered Laura Nyros Stoned Soul Picnic, a medley of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April to May 1969 and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. The groups cover of Nyros Wedding Bell Blues, featuring McCoos most prominent vocal of that period, topped the Hot 100 in November 1969. By the early 1970s, McCoo began to sing lead on the groups remaining chart-topping singles, One Less Bell to Answer, I Didnt Get to Sleep at All, in 1975, McCoo and Davis left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo. Landing a contract with ABC Records, they recorded their 1976 debut album, the first single was the title track, which was a mid-chart hit. Their follow up, You Dont Have to Be a Star was a bigger hit. McCoo and Davis were awarded a single and a gold album as well as a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They became the first African American married couple to host a television series, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show. They released one album on ABC in 1978, produced by Frank Wilson and containing the popular ballad My Reason To Be by songwriters Judy Wieder. She was the first to record Saving All My Love for You in 1978, the album Marilyn and Billy featured that track as well as a disco hit, Shine On Silver Moon. The pair decided to go solo professionally in the early 1980s with McCoo hosting the popular American syndicated television series Solid Gold from 1981 through 1984 and again from 1986 through 1988
23.
Billy Davis Jr.
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Billy Davis Jr. is an American musician, best known as a member of the 5th Dimension. Along with his wife, Marilyn McCoo, he had hit records during 1976 and 1977 with I Hope We Get to Love in Time, Your Love, Davis and McCoo were married in 1969. They became the first African American married couple to host a television series, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show. That same year, You Dont Have to Be a Star won a Grammy Award, Davis joined the 5th Dimension, then called the Versatiles, in 1966. The groups first big hit was with 1967s Up, Up and Away, the song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the title track to the 5th Dimensions first hit LP. A year later the group recorded Laura Nyros Stoned Soul Picnic, a medley of Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in April to May 1969 and won the Grammy for Record of the Year. The groups recording of Nyros Wedding Bell Blues topped the Hot 100 in November 1969, Davis sang the male lead on the groups singles, Worst That Could Happen, A Change Is Gonna Come/People Got To Be Free, and I’ll Be Lovin You Forever. In 1975, Davis and McCoo left the 5th Dimension and began performing as a duo, landing a contract with ABC Records, they recorded their 1976 debut album, I Hope We Get to Love in Time. The first single was the track, which was a mid-chart hit. Their follow up, You Dont Have to Be a Star, was a bigger hit. Davis and McCoo were awarded a single and a gold album as well as a Grammy Award for Best R&B Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocals. They became the first African American married couple to host a television program, The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show. They released one album on ABC in 1978, produced by Frank Wilson and containing the popular ballad, My Reason To Be by songwriters Judy Wieder. The album Marilyn and Billy featured the track Saving All My Love for You, later sung by Whitney Houston, as well as a disco hit, the pair decided to go solo professionally in the early 1980s. In 1982 Davis recorded an album, Let Me Have A Dream. Davis followed up that project with a guest appearance on an album by Scott Scheer. Davis starred in the musical Blues in the Night at the Old Globe Theatre, in the role of James Thunder Early, he also starred in the North Carolina Theatre production of Dreamgirls. Kay McLain, of the Durham Herald-Sun, wrote, Davis made a character of Early…give him a microphone
24.
Florence LaRue
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Florence LaRue is an American actress, humanitarian, and Grammy Award award-winning singer. She is best known as the female lead singer of The 5th Dimension. LaRue was born in Plainfield, New Jersey, United States and she began her musical education studying dance and violin. Her family moved to Los Angeles, California where she earned an Associates Degree in Music from Los Angeles City College and she later received a Bachelor of Arts in Elementary Education from California State University. In 1966, LaRue was approached by Lamonte McLemore and Marilyn McCoo to join their recently formed group The 5th Dimension, after Marilyn McCoos departure, LaRue was lead singer on hit songs including Love Hangover. She appeared in the CBS movie of the week Happy with Dom DeLuise and she also performed in the national tour of Broadways Tony Award winning musical Aint Misbehavin, starred in the Toronto and Calvary productions of Mo Magic. As of April 2009, the group was touring as Florence LaRue & The Fifth Dimension led by LaRue with Willie Williams, Leonard Tucker, Patrice Morris and she is married to Laurence P. Kantor. She was previously married to Errol Aubry, Marc Gordon, and Bennett Curland, in June 2016, LaRue and the group performed in The Villages, Florida, just days after the 2016 Orlando nightclub shooting. LaRue took the opportunity to share her thoughts on the events and we know what’s happening in the world, but this is a song about good health, love, peace and happiness. We still believe in those things today, she stated before performing one of the hit singles. Florence LaRue at AllMusic Florence LaRue discography, forum, and marketplace at Discogs Florence LaRue at the Internet Movie Database
25.
Ronald Townson
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Ronald Ron Townson was an American vocalist. He was an member of The 5th Dimension, a popular vocal group of the late 1960s and early 1970s, and the first. Born in St. Louis, Townson started singing at age six and was a featured soloist on various choirs throughout his school years and his grandmother inspired him to sing and his parents arranged for him to have private singing and acting lessons. During high school, he appeared for three seasons in productions of Bloomer Girl, Annie Get Your Gun and Show Boat, he won third place in the Missouri State trials for the Metropolitan Opera. Townson toured with Wings Over Jordan for eight years while still in school and was their choir director for 2 years and he worked his way through Lincoln University in Jefferson City, Missouri by conducting the University and Church Choirs, he also played football and ran track in college. Townson left St. Louis to pursue a career in Los Angeles. He met Dorothy Dandridge and toured with her for two years, took part in the Samuel Goldwyn motion picture production of Porgy & Bess and he also organized and conducted his own 35-voice a cappella choir in Los Angeles. In 1965, Townson and fellow St. Louis natives Billy Davis, Jr. and Lamonte McLemore joined female vocalists Marilyn McCoo, the name was a reference to their varied style in music, but producer Johnny Rivers thought the name was outdated. He wanted a name for the group, and they soon came up with The 5th Dimension. They began cutting records for Rivers Soul City Records music label that year, in 1976, after 10 successful years with The 5th Dimension, Townson left the group for a while. During his time away, he made a guest appearance on the TV series Switch, cut records, performed solo, by 1980, he decided to reunite with The 5th Dimension. In 1981, he and fellow group members Joyce Wright, Michael Procter, Florence LaRue, in 1990, the original five members of the group reunited for a New Years Eve performance at Donald Trumps Atlantic City Casino. It was a success and they went on the road for some performances in 1991 as The Original 5th Dimension. That year, the received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1992, Townson appeared in the Warner Brothers film The Mambo Kings, Ron left The 5th Dimension for good in 1997. He involved himself with other ventures and served on the board of directors of the Cambridge-Kilpatrick Acting School. He was honored at Lincoln University with the schools Distinguished Alumni Award, Ron moved to Las Vegas in 1999 and died in his home there on August 2,2001, of renal failure after a four-year battle with kidney disease. A service for him was held on August 11,2001 at the Kingdom Hall of Jehovahs Witnesses, Ronald Townson at AllMusic Ronald Townson discography, forum, and marketplace at Discogs Ronald Townson at the Internet Movie Database Ronald Townson at Find a Grave
26.
Up, Up and Away (The 5th Dimension album)
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Up, Up and Away is the debut album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1967. The title track was released as a single and became a pop hit. The groups first single release on Soul City Records, Train Keep On Moving/Ill Be Loving You Forever was not a success, both songs appear as bonus tracks on a later CD reissue of the album. The first single released from album, Go Where You Wanna Go, was initially recorded by The Mamas & the Papas. The 5th Dimensions version became a Top 20 hit in the US, the groups second release, Another Day, Another Heartache, also charted, peaking at #45. It was their third release, the ubiquitous Up, Up and Away, the group and the song amassed a total of five different Grammy Awards between them in 1967. Many different artists have recorded versions of the song. The group appeared on television shows of the day, including The Hollywood Palace, Shebang, and particularly The Ed Sullivan Show. –2,54 Learn How to Fly –3,01 Poor Side of Town –3,21 CD Reissue Bonus Tracks Ill Be Loving You Forever –3,11 Train Keep on Movin –2,47 Too Poor to Die –1,53 Billy Davis, Jr. F
27.
The Magic Garden
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The Magic Garden is the second album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1967. Considered a concept album, it tells the story of a love. In more recent discussions of the album, that love affair is said to be about Jimmy Webb, the song MacArthur Park is also about that relationship. The only non-Jimmy Webb song on the album, Ticket to Ride, is a track from the groups first album, Up, Up and Away. Carpet Man, the second single, found great success in Canada, charting at #3 on Torontos CHUM chart. The song has been covered by The Nocturnes, The Charade, The Parking Lot, the group performed the song on both Kraft Music Hall, on an episode hosted by John Davidson, and on The Ed Sullivan Show. One of the cuts, The Worst That Could Happen, was culled from the lp and released as a single by Johnny Maestro & the Brooklyn Bridge in January 1969. The 5th would have to wait for their album, Stoned Soul Picnic. To capitalise on the success of The Worst That Could Happen, Soul City Records re-titled The Magic Garden, the re-release reverses the front and back covers of the original lp. Although now titled The Worst That Could Happen on the album cover, the original Magic Garden album was released in both mono and stereo. It is unknown whether its reissue as The Worst That Could Happen was also reissued in mono, stereo copies keep its original matrix number on Soul City / Liberty, all songs were written by Jimmy Webb, except where noted
28.
Portrait (The 5th Dimension album)
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Portrait is the fifth album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1970. This is the groups first album for Bell Records, having switched from the Soul City Records, the cover features an impressionistic portrait by famous artist LeRoy Neiman. The album languished in the mid-60s on the Billboard Top 200 Album Charts after the release of its first three singles, none of which entered the Top 20 of the American pop music charts. The single rose all the way to #2 by Christmas 1970, as a result, Portrait began climbing the charts once again, eventually peaking at #20. The single features Marilyn McCoo on lead vocal, and ushers in The 5th Dimensions transition from pop to contemporary artists. This becomes a source of friction for the group as time goes on, the sketches of the vocal recording sessions included in the album cover art are dated January 13 and January 14,1970. It appears as a track on the CD reissue of Portrait
29.
Earthbound (The 5th Dimension album)
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Earthbound is the twelfth album by American pop group The 5th Dimension, released in 1975 by ABC Records. It is the last album in the groups original line-up with Billy Davis, Jr. Marilyn McCoo, Florence LaRue Gordon, Lamonte McLemore and Ron Townson. After touring with the 5th Dimension in support of album, Billy Davis, Jr. and Marilyn McCoo left the group to work as a duo. In contrast to most of their previous albums, Earthbound features synthesizers prominently in many of its tracks—particularly Magic In My Life and Moonlight Mile. Magic in My Life, the second and final single released from the album, was unusual in that it was the first 5th Dimension single to feature Florence LaRue on the lead. She would frequently be the lead on successive 5th Dimension singles with various line-ups, while the album was not commercially successful, it remains popular among many 5th Dimension fans, who consider it among the groups best work. Other fans take a dim view of it, perhaps owing to its singular status as an ABC Records release, for decades the album remained the only one recorded by the original 5th Dimension line-up to not be issued on CD. It finally was released on CD in June 2014, through Real Gone Music, all songs were written by Jimmy Webb, except where indicated
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