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.
Steve Harley
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Steve Harley is an English singer and songwriter, best known for his work with the 1970s rock group Cockney Rebel, with whom he still occasionally tours. Harley was born Deptford, south London, in 1951, as Stephen Nice, during the summer of 1953, Harley contracted polio, causing him to spend four years in hospital between the ages of three and 16. He underwent major surgery in both 1963 and 1966, at the age of 10, he had received a Spanish, nylon-strung guitar from his parents at Christmas. Harleys mother was a jazz singer, Harley was a pupil of Edmund Waller Primary School in New Cross, London. He then attended Haberdashers Askes Hatcham Boys Grammar School until he was 17, having taken classical violin lessons from the age of 9 to 15, he played the instrument with the school orchestra. He left the school without completing his advanced level exams, in 1968, at the age of 17, Harley began work as a trainee accountant with the Daily Express, which was his first full-time job. This was despite having only gained 24% in his mock O-Level maths exam, from here he progressed to become a reporter, and was initially interviewed by various newspaper editors. Harley finally signed to train with Essex County Newspapers, over this duration of three years Harley worked at the Essex County Standard, the Braintree and Witham Times, the Maldon and Burnham Standard and the Colchester Evening Gazette. He then returned to London to work for the East London Advertiser, Harley became disillusioned when the editor insisted on reporting on a shoplifter who had absentmindedly walked out with a tin of soup and a tin of baked beans. Taking advice from his representative, he stopped wearing a tie. Harley started out playing in bars and clubs in the early 1970s, Harley also busked around London on the Underground and in Portobello Road. In 1971 he auditioned for the folk band Odin as rhythm guitarist and co-singer, which was where he met John Crocker, who would become the first Cockney Rebel violinist. The folk scene proved not to be Harleys preference, and in the midst of writing songs, he formed the band Cockney Rebel, as a vehicle for his own work, in late 1972. Through the band Harley first met drummer Stuart Elliott, who has continued to record, the original Cockney Rebel consisted of Harley, Crocker, Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys and guitarist Nick Jones. The line up of Harley, Crocker, Elliott, Jeffreys, during June and July 1973 the band recorded their debut album, The Human Menagerie, which was released in late 1973. Produced by Neil Harrison, the album included the single Sebastian which became a European hit, although, like the album, it failed to chart in the UK. After EMI expressed the wish for Harley to write a song with hit potential, Judy Teen was released in early 1974, and peaked at No.5 in the UK. The bands second album, The Psychomodo, produced by Harley and Alan Parsons, was released in June 1974, the single Mr. Soft also peaked at No.8 in the UK
3.
The Quality of Mercy (album)
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The Quality of Mercy is the sixth studio album by English rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 2005. Fronted by Steve Harley, the album was the first studio album in 29 years to be released by Harley under the bands name, the existing Cockney Rebel line-up of the time featured all new musicians compared to the best-known Cockney Rebel line-ups of their 1970s heyday. The album was produced entirely by Harley, with Jim Cregan also co-producing the track A Friend for Life, the albums title is based on the Shakespearean phrase. Since 2000, Harley had been working on the recording of a new studio album, in a September 2000 diary entry for his official website, Harley commented, Plans to further the recording career at in hand. Negotiations are taking place daily and constantly, I am determined that A Friend for Life will be available in the shops and on the radio in time for the next Spring band tour, with an album, God willing, in the can. I am the eternal optimist, as you probably know, I have A Friend for Life and When the Halo Slips and several others 90% finished on record. Later in November, Harley revealed, If the deal I want is forthcoming, there are something like 50 songs half-to-75% finished on cassettes and mini-discs around my study, bags, and all around the grand piano. Although the single A Friend for Life was released in April 2001 by Intrinsic Records, between 2001 and 2005, Harley continued to write new material, record in the studio and hold discussions with various record labels. Later in August 2004, Harley commented in a diary entry that he was still writing new material. In February 2005, Harley and his touring band Cockney Rebel went into the Gemini Recording Studio in Ipswich to start recording for what would become The Quality of Mercy. In an entry from that month, Harley commented of the recording session, We are all pretty high. The band have played with spirit and shown an understanding of my new songs that comes best from musicians youve got close to over hundreds of touring concerts, I left six new recordings, all about 70% finished, to go back to soon. By June 2005, recording sessions for the album were coming to an end, in a June diary entry, he commented, I am recording the best album I have ever recorded. I do not know where it is coming from, later in the month, he added, This is a proper record, all right. We have recorded part-analogue, part-digital and have mixed on the highest grade of Pro-tools and it has all cost a lot of money, but sounds like it cost much more. During the summer, British photographer Mick Rock visited London and recorded an episode for Harleys BBC Radio 2 show Sounds of the Seventies, having completed the episode, the pair then went outside Broadcasting House for an impromptu photo session for The Quality of Mercy album cover. The shoot was completed in 20 minutes and it was originally planned for Manfred Esser to shoot the albums cover photo in Germany earlier in April. Harley aimed to complete the album in time for the bands planned touring schedule later in the year, as Harleys biggest UK and European tour since the 1970s, the tour was made up of over 50 dates between late September and early December
4.
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
5.
Compact disc
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Compact disc is a digital optical disc data storage format released in 1982 and co-developed by Philips and Sony. The format was developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data. The first commercially available Audio CD player, the Sony CDP-101, was released October 1982 in Japan, standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres and can hold up to about 80 minutes of uncompressed audio or about 700 MiB of data. The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 millimetres, they are used for CD singles, storing up to 24 minutes of audio. At the time of the introduction in 1982, a CD could store much more data than a personal computer hard drive. By 2010, hard drives commonly offered as much space as a thousand CDs. In 2004, worldwide sales of audio CDs, CD-ROMs and CD-Rs reached about 30 billion discs, by 2007,200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide. In 2014, revenues from digital music services matched those from physical format sales for the first time. American inventor James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record information on an optical transparent foil that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp. Russells patent application was first filed in 1966, and he was granted a patent in 1970, following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russells patents in the 1980s. The compact disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s, although originally dismissed by Philips Research management as a trivial pursuit, the CD became the primary focus for Philips as the LaserDisc format struggled. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the Red Book CD-DA standard was published in 1980, after their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984, by 1988 CD sales in the United States surpassed those of vinyl LPs, and by 1992 CD sales surpassed those of prerecorded music cassette tapes. The success of the disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, who came together to agree upon and develop compatible hardware. The unified design of the disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company. In 1974, L. However, due to the performance of the analog format
6.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
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.
Make Me Smile (Come Up and See Me)
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Make Me Smile is a song by British rock band Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released as the lead single from the bands 1975 album The Best Years of Our Lives. It was written by Harley, and produced by Harley and Alan Parsons, in February 1975, the song reached the number-one spot on the UK chart and received a UK Silver certification. It spent nine weeks in the Top 50, and as of 2015, has sold over 1.5 million copies worldwide, the song was the first single to be released under the name Steve Harley and Cockney Rebel, as opposed to simply Cockney Rebel. In July 1974, the original Cockney Rebel disbanded, and Harley then assembled a new line-up later in the year, Make Me Smile described Harleys feelings on the bands split. For many years, it was believed that Harley purposely chose to disband the original line-up, however, years later, Harley began to reveal the truth behind the bands split. Between May and July 1974, Cockney Rebel embarked on a major British tour to promote their second studio album The Psychomodo, as the tour progressed, the band began facing growing tensions, which ultimately led to their split at the end of the tour in late July. On 18 July, the received a Gold Award for outstanding new act of 1974. Jean-Paul Crocker, Milton Reame-James and Paul Jeffreys had approached Harley, Harley, the bands sole songwriter, felt this was unfair as he had been the one to originally hire the musicians for his group, and explained the deal to them at the time. After the band split, only the original drummer, Stuart Elliott. In a television interview recorded in 2002, Harley described how the lyrics were directed at the former band members who. On The One Show in October 2010, Harley called the lyric a finger-pointing piece of vengeful poetry and its getting off my chest how I felt about the guys splitting up a perfectly workable machine. I wrote it saying Look, youll learn how well were doing here, were doing well and he elaborated, Three of them came to me in a little posse with several ultimatums. They wanted to write songs for the album, and I said Well you know I started the band, and I auditioned you. Were not moving the goal posts here and they knew this, and they came to me demanding that they could write songs too, and I just said Well go and do it then. Harley began writing the only days after the bands split. The original vision for the song was different to the one that was recorded. Harley had written the piece as a blues track with a dark mood. In January 2012, he told Uncut magazine that the first verse was written at four in the morning after a bottle of brandy
10.
United Kingdom
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The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
11.
Poetic Justice (Steve Harley album)
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Poetic Justice is the fourth studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley, released in 1996. Since 1989, Harley made a return to touring with Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. During the middle of the decade, Harley began recording a new album at Berry House Studios in Ardingly. In August 1996, Poetic Justice was released on Transatlantic Records, featuring new songs, three covers and a re-recording of Riding the Waves, most of the new songs had been written by Harley during the bands touring schedule. The albums three covers consisted of the Jimmy Ruffins 1966 song What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted, the Bob Dylans 1965 song Love Minus Zero-No Limit and the Van Morrisons 1970 song Crazy Love. My audience think Ive run out of ideas if I only write eight out of eleven, for the album, Riding the Waves was re-recorded live in the studio. It had originally appeared on Harleys 1978 debut solo album Hobo with a Grin, no singles were released to promote the album, despite Harleys interest in releasing Thats My Life in Your Hands and The Last Time I Saw You. Additionally, Harley had recorded What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted. as a potential single and its hard to get anyone to talk sense. Speaking of Robson & Jerome reaching the UK number one spot with their own 1996 version of What Becomes of the Broken-Hearted, Harley added, Id recorded it long before they turned up. We were saying to the company, Id done this as a single. Three months later it was being played by them, later in 2002, Harley spoke of Poetic Justice in an interview with the online music magazine Perfect Sound Forever. He said, Songwriting is one of the few jobs even in the world of art that we do where you dont get better with age. Its also true perhaps with novelists, that their best work is left behind in their twenties and up to their mid thirties. Thats My Life in Your Hands was written by Harley and Hugh Nicholson, Harley recalled in 2015, Hugh had written another song, same chords, different words and title. I asked permission to change the lyrics and produce my own version, the original song was titled Starlight Jingles, which was recorded by Nicholsons band Blue, during their sessions at Los Angeles between 1979-82. A live version of the song would appear as one of two bonus tracks on the 2000 CD release of Harleys Hobo with a Grin album. On 29 April 1994, The Last Time I Saw You received its live performance at the Mick Ronson Memorial Concert. This live version, along with Harleys performance of Make Me Smile at the same concert, on Harleys 2001 single A Friend for Life, a live version of Safe was added as one of two bonus tracks
12.
Rod Stewart
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Sir Roderick David Rod Stewart, CBE is a British rock singer and songwriter. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 100 million records worldwide. He has had six number one albums in the UK and his tally of 62 UK hit singles includes 31 that reached the top ten. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and he was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity. In October 1963, he joined the Dimensions as a harmonica player, in 1964, Stewart joined Long John Baldry and the All Stars, and in August, Stewart signed a solo contract, releasing his first single, Good Morning Little Schoolgirl, in October. He maintained a career alongside a group career, releasing his debut solo album. Stewarts early albums were a fusion of rock, folk music, soul music, in 2008, Billboard magazine ranked him the 17th most successful artist on the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists. A Grammy and Brit Award recipient, he was voted at #33 in Q Magazines list of the Top 100 Greatest Singers of all time, and #59 on Rolling Stone 100 Greatest Singers of all time. Roderick David Stewart was born at 507 Archway Road, Highgate, North London on 10 January 1945 and his father was Scottish and had been a master builder in Leith, Edinburgh, while Elsie was English and had grown up in Upper Holloway in North London. Married in 1928, the couple had two sons and two daughters living in Scotland, and then they moved to Highgate. Stewart came after a gap following his youngest sibling, he was born at home during World War II. The family was neither affluent nor poor, Stewart was spoiled as the youngest and he had an undistinguished record at Highgate Primary School and failed the eleven plus exam. He then attended the William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School, Muswell Hill and his father retired from the building trade at age 65, buying a newsagents shop on the Archway Road when Stewart was in his early teens, the family lived over the shop. Stewarts main hobby was railway modelling, Stewart was the most talented footballer in the family and was a strong supporter of Arsenal F. C. at the time. Combining natural athleticism with near-reckless aggression, he became captain of the football team. The family were great fans of the singer Al Jolson and would sing. Stewart collected his records and saw his films, read books about him and his introduction to rock and roll was hearing Little Richards 1956 hit The Girl Cant Help It, and seeing Bill Haley & His Comets in concert. In 1960, he joined a group with schoolfriends called the Kool Kats, playing Lonnie Donegan
13.
Another Country (Rod Stewart album)
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Another Country is the twenty-ninth studio album by British singer-songwriter Rod Stewart. It was released on 23 October 2015 through Capitol Records and it was produced by Stewart and Kevin Savigar. Stewart released his studio album, Time, in 2013. The album contained songs written or co-written by Stewart. It also gave me the freedom to experiment with different sounds like reggae, ska, Stewart stated that Batman Superman Spiderman was written about bedtime stories that he would tell his youngest son, Aiden Patrick Stewart, about the three fictional superheroes. Recording sessions for the album took place at Stewarts home, and were produced with Pro Tools, love Is was released as the lead single from Another Country on 23 June 2015. In the United States, the peaked at no.37 on the Adult Contemporary chart. Please and Way Back Home were released as subsequent singles on 1 September and 16 October 2015 respectively, Another Country received mixed reviews from music critics. Hal Horowitz from American Songwriter was highly critical of the album, describing the music as pedestrian to forced, excessively sentimental in parts and he continues to show his range and talent and is a rather pleasant surprise to anyone who was never much of a fan in the past. Magazine praised the album as romantic and charming, while Fiona Shepherd of The Scotsman was critical of the albums nostalgic nature, noting that song, she concluded, Could we have more time in the company of this Rod next time please. Owing to his celebrity status, the new album has been noticed in India as well. While acknowledging the uniqueness of Rods voice, the Daily Post newspaper has given it a review calling the lyrics as cheesy. The paper, however, recommends the album if only for the nostalgia it evokes for Rods earlier work, john Aizlewood of The London Evening Standard stated of the album that the legendary singer rediscovers his twinkly-eyed charm as he continues his return to form. The album was selected as the Album of the Week by both The Independent and The Times newspapers, reviews of the album consistently praised Stewarts voice and/or vocal performance, even if the reviewer was critical of other aspects of the album. All tracks produced by Rod Stewart and Kevin Savigar, except Hold the Line produced by Stewart, Savigar, RedOne, and TinyIsland
14.
Mike Batt
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Michael Philip Batt LVO is an English singer-songwriter, musician, record producer, director, conductor and former Deputy Chairman of the British Phonographic Industry. He is best known for creating The Wombles pop act, writing the chart-topping Bright Eyes, michael Philip Batt was born on 6 February 1949, in Southampton, England. He attended Peter Symonds School, Winchester and his blog refers to his role as cadet Company Sergeant Major at the school. Batt began his career in pop music at the age of eighteen when he answered an advertisement placed by Ray Williams in the New Musical Express on behalf of Liberty Records, Batt initially signed as a songwriter and artist to Liberty, but became head of A&R for the label. He signed and produced Tony McPhees The Groundhogs and produced their first album, in 1969 he took over production duties from Noel Walker on McKenna Mendelson Mainlines first release, Stink. Walker and Batt were credited on the album only as Liberty Staff and he produced and played piano on s second album Western Flier. Also in 1969, Batt released as producer/artist a Liberty single, instead of taking his £200 fee, Batt asked for the character rights for musical production. The choice produced his first hits as a singer/songwriter/producer by The Wombles, the collaboration produced eight hit singles and four gold albums. He produced the hit version of Lilac Wine for Elkie Brooks in 1978, the song was a hit in the UK and across Europe. He wrote the song Bright Eyes for the film version of Watership Down. Recorded by Art Garfunkel, it reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart, Batt also wrote the score for the 1978 film Caravans. As a singer, his albums included Schizophonia and Tarot Suite. From these albums came the European hit songs Railway Hotel, Lady of the Dawn, the latter is telling the story of Moroccans fighting the French colonial power. He worked together quite a few fellow artists on them, e. g. Colin Blunstone. A version of Introduction from Tarot Suite was used as the theme for the Sydney, Australia radio station, Triple M and this was released to air at the end of June 2010. In 1980, Batt released his album, entitled Waves. At the end of that journey, he wrote for the 50th anniversary of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation the musical, Zero Zero. Returning to the UK in 1983, Batt wrote and produced three more Top Ten hits, Please Dont Fall in Love, A Winters Tale and I Feel Like Buddy Holly, in the same year, he helped write lyrics for Abbacadabra
15.
Katie Melua
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Ketevan Katie Melua is a Georgian-British singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen, Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdoms best-selling female artist and her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date has gone platinum four times. Melua released her studio album Pictures in October 2007. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua had a fortune of £18 million and it was reported in 2009 that she may have lost millions as a result of the global economic downturn. As of May 2011, Melua could have a £12m fortune, Ketevan Melua, known as Ketino to her family, was born to Amiran and Tamara Melua in Kutaisi, Georgia, which was then part of the Soviet Union. She spent her first years with her grandparents in Tbilisi before moving with her parents and brother to the town of Batumi, Ajaria, where her father worked as a heart specialist. In 1993, in the aftermath of the Georgian Civil War, the moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland. The family remained in Belfast, living close to Falls Road, during her time in Northern Ireland, Melua attended St Catherines Primary School on the Falls Road and later moved to Dominican College, Fortwilliam. The Melua family then moved to Sutton, London, and some later moved again to Redhill. In 2008, Melua moved out of her parents home in Maida Vale to an apartment in Notting Hill, Melua is fluent in English and Russian, despite still speaking Georgian fluently she has admitted that she cannot write songs in the language. Melua is also partly of Canadian and Russian ancestry, during the South Ossetia War in 2008, Meluas brother and mother were staying with relatives in the Georgian capital, Tbilisi. Melua was due to travel to Georgia herself less than a month later and she is a baptised Georgian Orthodox Christian. Whilst living in Belfast, Melua attended the Roman Catholic schools St Catherines Primary School and Dominican College, Fortwilliam, on 10 August 2005, Melua became a British citizen with her parents and brother. The citizenship ceremony took place in Weybridge, Surrey, becoming a British citizen meant that Melua had held three citizenships before she was 21, first, Soviet, then, Georgian and finally, British. After the ceremony, Melua stated her pride at her newest nationality, as a family, we have been very fortunate to find a happy lifestyle in this country and we feel we belong. We still consider ourselves to be Georgian, because that is where our roots are, and I return to Georgia every year to see my uncles and grandparents, but I am proud to now be a British citizen. Melua is occasionally referred to as a junkie because she enjoys roller coasters and funfairs and often paraglides
16.
The Human Menagerie
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The Human Menagerie is the debut studio album by Cockney Rebel, released in 1973. It was produced by Neil Harrison, after training as a journalist for three years, Steve Harley embarked on his musical career through floor-spotting within London folk clubs in 1971-72. He also had a spell as rhythm guitarist and co-singer in the folk band Odin. It was during this time that Harley began writing his own songs, Most were penned at a time when Harley was on the dole, having left his career in journalism. In 1972, he began busking with his songs in London, in subways and runways under such places as Hyde Park Corner, Marble Arch, Leicester Square, Harley would use busking to test his own songs on an audience, and to supplement his income from benefits. While in Odin, Harley felt he was not suited to the folk scene and he decided to form his own band Cockney Rebel in 1972, as a vehicle for his own songs. With Crocker on board, the advertised and auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys. One of the bands first gigs was at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, Jones was soon replaced by Pete Newnham, however Harley felt the band did not need an electric guitar, particularly with the arrival of keyboardist Milton Reame-James. Therefore, the settled on the combination of Crockers electric violin. During 1972, representatives of the band began to demo tapes to various labels. Mickie Most discovered the band at a London nightclub known as The Speakeasy Club, in turn, this influenced the A&R personnel at EMI Records, who then offered the band a contract in late 1972. The band signed to EMI after having played five gigs together. The three-album deal commenced with the recording of the debut album The Human Menagerie in 1973. The album was recorded in June-July 1973 at Air Studios, London and it was mastered at Capitol Studios. EMI hired their staff producer and A&R man Neil Harrison as the albums producer, Harrison suggested that some of the tracks, notably Sebastian and Death Trip, should feature a large symphony orchestra and choir. Harley agreed, and Harrison was then successful in obtaining a bigger budget from EMI to accommodate the use of a 50-piece orchestra, Andrew Powell was put in charge of the orchestral arrangements. The album was being recorded at Air Studios and we were about three-parts through, I should say, so Neil, my producer, must have known his announcement that afternoon would bowl the young Steve over. But seeing them in there, fifty-plus classical musicians, mostly old enough to be my dad, was a real shocker and we were young and full of dangerous ideas and adventure, ready to experiment without consideration for the consequences or cost
17.
Acoustic and Pure: Live
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Acoustic and Pure, Live is a live acoustic album by English songwriter and musician Steve Harley, released in 2003. The album features ex-Cockney Rebel guitarist Jim Cregan, while certain tracks also include members of Cockney Rebel. During 2002, Harley made plans for an acoustic tour that autumn. This was the first time Cregan toured with Harley since 1976, in early September 2002, Cregan began rehearsing forty songs for the upcoming tour, and later in the month traveled to the UK from Los Angeles. Harley and Cregan settled on a set-list of approximately twenty-five songs each night for the tour and it was also announced that at a small handful of venues, Harley and Cregan would be joined by members of the current Cockney Rebel line-up, including Barry Wickens and James Lascelles. For the recording of the shows, Harley used equipment from FX Rentals in London as well as Sony MD and he later announced in October that he hoped to have the album released a few days after the tours final show. He commented that the album would be a reproduction of this tour. In late 2002, with the ongoing, the album was made available as a pre-order. Soon afterwards, the album was produced, compiled and edited by Harley and it was mastered by Clive at Audio Edit Productions. Originally, the albums pre-orders were due to be dispatched before the end of the year, however, the albums release was delayed by a few weeks due to unforeseen printing issues over the CDs sleeve. Harley and his team had rejected the first two test prints from the company, and settled on the third. Commenting on its release in a January 2003 diary entry, Harley said. We played 22 to 25 tracks each night, on a single CD13 was ample, someone had to decide and it was me. Acoustic and Pure, Live was released in early 2003, featuring thirteen tracks, the album used performances from various recorded concerts on the tour. After its release, Harley commented in a March diary entry and its gratifying to hear the comments made to the Guestbook on this site. We loved that tour and really wanted to put out a record that reflected its atmosphere. Some tracks have their little glitches, but I was determined not to doctor the tapes/mini-discs to the degree, depriving myself, as well as all of you who were there. Jim and I are real musicians, not machines or pre-programmed red-coats miming to a backing-track and my dear friend, the masterful Matt Butler, did a fine job of mixing and cross-fading and correcting little technical nuisances
18.
Anytime! (A Live Set)
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Anytime. is a live acoustic album by Steve Harley, released under the name The Steve Harley Band and featuring members of the Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel line-up of the time. In a June diary entry for his website, Harley revealed that several shows on the tour had been recorded for a future live CD. He commented, Have recorded several shows, the Jazz Café being the really interesting one so far, Worcester is sold-out for this Saturday and we are recording that one, too. Should sound quite fabulous on the digital recording, will decide on tracks a short while after the tour, and mix them with my dear mate, the brilliant Matt Butler. Later in October, Harley announced he was considering releasing a new live album and he also spoke of the possibility of including one or two newly-recorded studio tracks, as well as an unreleased studio track from Harleys sessions with Mickie Most in the mid-1980s. By November, Harley announced in an entry that he was considering mixing the live tracks and getting the album ready for a release in March 2004. During November, work commenced on the recordings, with Harley working with engineer Matt Butler. Harley revealed in a late November diary entry, New album almost ready. My friend and favourite recording engineer, Matt Butler, is working on the Worcester and Jazz Café recordings now and I have to say, the chaps played some beautiful music, didnt they. Havent settled on a list, yet, but if some titles are same as on the last one, thats because this was a different show and the record will be released on a bona fide record label. The Last Feast and A Friend for Life, too, but mostly tracks which did not appear on Acoustic and Pure, in late January, Harley announced the new album was on schedule for being released at the beginning of the upcoming tour. By the end of month, the albums title had been decided upon. Harley commented, I like it a lot, Matt Butler has done a fine job of re-mixing the sound and the Worcester and Jazz Café audiences do more than their bit. There is some brilliant playing from the band. It will be on sale from the first night of the tour, in lobbies around Britain, from Southampton to, well, Glasgow and it features eleven live tracks and a bonus track, Sophistication, which was a previously unreleased studio recording from 1986. To date, it remains exclusive to the album, in June 2005 interview with Record Collector magazines Nick Dalton, Harley spoke of his current musical style, Anytime. is seriously unplugged electro-acoustic. Its similar to original Cockney Rebel – violin, no electric guitar, but I still like playing with my electric band. Im doing Glastonbury again, headlining the acoustic stage for the first time, the previously unreleased track Sophistication, from 1986, was produced by Harley and Mickie Most
19.
Classic Rock (magazine)
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Classic Rock is a British magazine dedicated to rock music, published by Future PLC, who are also responsible for its sister publications Metal Hammer and Prog magazine. Although firmly focusing on key bands from the 1960s through early 1990s, it includes articles and reviews of contemporary. Despite starting as a project it became one of the UKs best selling music magazines. In September 2010 it published its 150th issue and now has a circulation than the NME. Former owner TeamRock bought Metal Hammer, Prog and Classic Rock from Future PLC in 2013, on 19 December 2016, TeamRock called in the administrators with the loss of 73 jobs, after experiencing financial difficulties, and suspended publication of all three titles. On 8 January 2017, Classic Rock, along with sister magazines Metal Hammer and Prog, were bought by previous owners Future Publishing for £800,000, the magazine focuses on established bands with credentials dating back to the 1960s. Indeed, many of the artists who have appeared on its cover are deceased, more recent acts to have been on the cover include The Darkness and Velvet Revolver have been on it twice. Despite the dominating nature of acts undeniably falling into the category of classic rock, Classic Rock reviews any release that even comes close to being classified as rock, including albums, DVDs, concerts and books. It includes an award for best new band. Acts such as Rose Hill Drive, Muse, DragonForce, The Trews, Wolfmother, for the 91st issue, the magazine presented The 100 Greatest British Rock Albums Ever, which were voted for by Classic Rock staff and various people associated with rock music. The magazine decided to let AC/DC be classed as a British act, all of the bands singers and guitarists Angus and Malcolm Young are of UK descent. Led Zeppelins Led Zeppelin IV reached first place, the 100th issue contained all the regular features, but only one article, in which 100 names in rock were asked to write a piece on their nomination for a rock icon. The 200th issue contained short interviews with 200 different rock artists, including Black Sabbath, Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull, Lars Ulrich of Metallica, and Thijs van Leer of Focus. Classic Rock has also published, in conjunction with Metal Hammer, special decade issues featuring 1970s, 1980s, in 2007, three special editions were also published with bonus DVDs for £7.50. These each focussed on one genre of rock music - first blues rock, then progressive rock, a special 2007 collectors edition bookazine was produced entitled High Voltage, featuring stories by Mick Wall and photographs by Ross Halfin on Jimmy Page, Ozzy Osbourne, and Axl Rose. In 2010, Classic Rock partnered with Road Runner Record UK to publish the Classic Rock Presents, the partnership marks the first-time a major album has been released exclusively with a magazine publisher, ahead of general release. The Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards are an awards program established in 2004. Winners of the awards are chosen by the team and voted on by readers of the magazine
20.
Daily Express
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The Daily Express is a daily national middle market tabloid newspaper in the United Kingdom. It is the title of Express Newspapers, a subsidiary of Northern & Shell. It was first published as a broadsheet in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson and its sister paper The Sunday Express was launched in 1918. As of December 2016, it had a daily circulation of 391,626. The paper was acquired by Richard Desmond in 2000, hugh Whittow has served as the papers editor since February of 2011. The papers editorial stances are often seen as aligned to the UK Independence Party, in addition to its sister paper, Express Newspapers also publishes the red top newspapers the Daily Star and Daily Star Sunday. The Daily Express was founded in 1900 by Sir Arthur Pearson, Pearson, who had lost his sight to glaucoma in 1913, sold the title to the future Lord Beaverbrook in 1916. It was one of the first papers to place instead of advertisements on its front page along with carrying gossip, sports. It was also the first newspaper in Britain to have a crossword puzzle, the Express began printing copies in Manchester in 1927 and in 1931, the publication moved to 120 Fleet Street, a specially commissioned art deco building. Under Beaverbrook, the newspaper achieved a high circulation, setting records for newspaper sales several times throughout the 1930s. Its success was due to its aggressive marketing campaign and a vigorous circulation war with other populist newspapers. Beaverbrook also discovered and encouraged an editor named Arthur Christiansen who, at an early age, showed talent for writing. Christiansen became editor in October 1933, under his editorial direction sales climbed from two million in 1936 to four million in 1949. The paper also featured Alfred Bestalls Rupert Bear cartoon and satirical cartoons by Carl Giles which it began publishing in the 1940s, on 24 March 1933, a front page headline titled Judea Declares War on Germany was published by the Daily Express. During the late thirties, the paper was an advocate of the appeasement policies of the Chamberlain government. The ruralist author Henry Williamson wrote for the paper on many occasions for half a century and he also wrote for the Sunday Express at the beginning of his career. In 1938, the moved to the Daily Express Building. It opened a building in Glasgow in 1936 in Albion Street
21.
Uncut (magazine)
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Uncut magazine, trademarked as UNCUT, is a monthly publication based in London. It is available across the English-speaking world, and focuses on music, a DVD magazine under the Uncut brand was published quarterly from 2005 to 2006. Uncut was launched in May 1997 as a magazine aimed at 25- to 45-year-old men that focuses on music and movies. Jones has stated that he idea for Uncut came from my own disenchantment about what I was doing with Melody Maker, according to IPC Media, 86% of the magazines readers are male and their average age is 37 years. Uncuts contents include lengthy features on old albums, interviews with directors, music and film news. Its music features tend to focus on such as Americana, rock. Each month the magazine includes a free CD, which may include new and older music. Uncut underwent a redesign in May 2006, as a result of which the magazine no longer catered for books. Allan Jones writes a monthly column, recounting stories from his long career in music journalism. Uncuts monthly circulation has dropped from over 90,000 in 2007 to 47,890 in the half of 2015. Uncut often produces themed spin-off titles celebrating the career of one artist and this series has been known as Uncut Legends. Artists who have so far had magazines entirely devoted to them include Radiohead, Kurt Cobain, U2, Bruce Springsteen, the Lennon magazine was produced to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the death of the former Beatle. The majority of titles have been produced by magazine editor Chris Hunt. The series started in 2003 with an issue devoted to Bob Dylan. In 2008 Uncut launched their inaugural Uncut Music Award, which is described as a quest to find the most inspiring and rewarding experience of the past 12 months. A list of 25 nominees is selected by a panel of 10 judges, who are all musicians or music industry professionals, past winners have included Fleet Foxes, Tinariwen, Paul Weller and P. J. Harvey. In late 2005, Allan Jones and publishing director Andrew Sumner launched a spin-off of the movies and music magazine. Billed as the great movie magazine, Uncut DVD was designed to compete with such established titles as Ultimate DVD, DVD Review
22.
Official Charts Company
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The OCC is operated jointly by the British Phonographic Industry and the Entertainment Retailers Association. Since 1 July 1997, CIN and then the OCC have compiled the official charts, prior to this date, the charts were produced by a succession of market research companies, beginning with the British Market Research Bureau in 1969, and later by Gallup. All of the OCCs charts are published weekly on Friday nights, from 3 August 1969 until 5 July 2015, the chart week ran from Sunday to Saturday. Genre-specific charts include UK Dance Chart, UK Indie Chart, UK R&B Chart, UK Rock Chart, the Scottish Singles and Albums Charts ― and the former Welsh Singles and Albums Chart ― appears in listings within the Official Charts Company. It is a regional listing reflecting how sales towards the UK Singles Chart, the Welsh Singles and Album Chart served the same purpose in Wales. It also charts the UK DVD Chart and UK Budget Album Chart, while their music charts are now Friday to Thursday, their video charts remain Sunday to Saturday. On 5 September 2008, the Official UK Charts Company rebranded itself as the Official Charts Company and it later dropped the word Company and became just Official Charts. From May 2012, a new chart was launched – the Official Streaming Chart and this counts audio streams from streaming services Spotify, Deezer, Blinkbox Music, Napster, amongst others. In April 2015, the UKs first vinyl record chart was launched by the Official Charts Company due to the surge of interest in the sector. The chart was launched following the growth of the sector in the UK for the year in a row. Beginning in 2017 the Official Charts Company changed its methodology for calculating the Top 40, prior to January 2017,100 streams counted as one sale of a song. From January onward, the ratio became 150,1, UK Albums Chart UK Singles Chart UK Video Charts UK Singles Downloads Chart UK Album Downloads Chart British Phonographic Industry Official Charts Company website
23.
Capitol Records
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Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by three industry insiders named Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs, in 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records, Capitol Records circular headquarter building located in Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of California. Mercer first raised the idea of starting a company while golfing with Harold Arlen. By 1941, Mercer was a songwriter and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store, Wallichs expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists, while Wallichs managed the business side. On February 2,1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures, while DeSylva declined the proposal, he handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27,1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records, in May 1942, the application was amended to change the companys name to Capitol Records. On April 6,1942, Mercer supervised Capitols first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song Moon Dreams, on May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio, one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called Cow-Cow Boogie, on June 4,1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the companys first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, on June 5,1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the recorded five more songs in the studio. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded Jingle Jangle Jingle and Goodbye My Little Cherokee for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitols 110th produced record. 133 - Get On Board Little Chillun - July 31,1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that might be the first rock n roll record and she has sometimes been called the first rock n roll singer. A good example is her 1942 recording of song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie. Bone Walker recorded Mean Old World a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar. The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, Capitols first gold single was Morses Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. Capitols first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Westons Orchestra
24.
Kevin Savigar
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Kevin Savigar is a session keyboardist, record producer, songwriter, and composer based in Los Angeles, CA. Savigar was born in London, England in 1956, Savigar started to play the piano at age five and went on to study classical piano at the prestigious Trinity College of Music. By the age of 17, Savigar had begun his career as a musician in the studios of London. Savigar joined Rod Stewarts touring and recording band in 1978, Savigar worked in collaboration with Stewart, Phil Chen, Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger on Stewarts studio album Foolish Behaviour, which sold more than 5 million albums worldwide. Savigar co-produced Stewarts 2013 studio album Time, including 6 tracks from the album
25.
Foolish Behaviour
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Foolish Behaviour is Rod Stewarts tenth studio album released on 21 November 1980 and on the Riva label in the United Kingdom and on Warner Bros. Records in both The United States and Germany. The tracks were recorded at The Record Plant Studios and Cherokee Studios in Los Angeles from February to September,1980, Passion, My Girl, Somebody Special and Oh God, I Wish I Was Home Tonight were released as singles. The video to another song on the album, She Wont Dance With Me, was the video to be played on MTV when it launched 1 August 1981. The lyrics contain the use of the word fuck which remained unedited in the video. GOD BLESS THEM AND THEIR BICYCLE CLIPS Foolish Behaviour peaked at No.4 in the UK and at No.12 on the US charts. It went platinum on 8 January 1981 in the UK and on 4 March 1981 in the US, the album contained one popular single, Passion, which reached No.5 on the singles chart in the US. The album has sold more 5 million in worldwide, all songs composed by Rod Stewart, Phil Chen, Kevin Savigar, Jim Cregan and Gary Grainger, except where noted. The song Passion was also released as a Promo DJ-Only 12 Single and its basically a continuation of the ad-lib vocals where the LP version fades, continuing to a time length of 7,30. This extended version was a track on the US 8-track release. Oddly, where the album version timed out to 5,29, the Promo 45RPM Single/Radio Edit was shortened to 4,45, vividly editing the piano intro and going into a quick fade-out, just before the closing choruses. The B-side of the Radio Edit Promo was the 5,35 version, ABOUT ROD - Discography, Foolish Behaviour
26.
Irresistible (Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel song)
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Irresistible is a song by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley. It was released three times as a single, with the first being in 1985 as a single under his bands name Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel. In 1986, the track was remixed and released as a new single, later in 1992, Harley released the 1986 version as a single again, after it appeared on his 1992 studio album Yes You Can. Irresistible was written by Harley and produced by English producer Mickie Most, Irresistible was first played live at Cockney Rebels 14 December 1984 performance at the Camden Palace venue in London. This concert was recorded for a special TV broadcast and this live version of the song used lead guitar as a more dominant instrument and featured an extra third verse that was never included on any studio versions or future live performances. He knew how keen Harley was for a hit of his own, during 1984, Harley signed a contract to record five albums for RAK - the record label belonging to Mickie Most. Working with Most at the helm, Irresistible was recorded featuring Harvey Hinsley on guitar, Adrian Lee on keyboards. The song was released in May 1985 as Harleys debut RAK single and it peaked at #81 on the UK Singles Chart and stayed within the Top 100 for five weeks. It had debuted on the chart in mid-June 1985 at #98, the single was released by RAK Records on 7 and 12 vinyl in the UK, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands. The single featured the B-Side Such is Life which was written by Harley. Such is Life was originally debuted live by the band during their 1980 Christmas tour, Harley also introduced My Cold Heart, I Could Be Anyone and a reggae-version of Mr. Soft on the same tour. At the time, Hayes, being the Mickie Mosts son, was a producer at RAK. An additional track included on the 12 version was Sebastian, which was Cockney Rebels 1973 debut single, all versions of the release featured a full colour picture sleeve. Following the songs release as a single, the version made its only appearance on the 1988 Castle Communications compilation The Collection. It has not appeared on any release, and remains unavailable on CD. A music video was filmed to promote the single, which received plays on such as MTV. The video featured Harley performing the song in a room with the use of various lighting. RAK had booked the use of a studio in West London to shoot the video, additionally Harley also appeared on European TV performing the song along with his 1975 UK number one hit Make Me Smile
27.
Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
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Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel are an English glam rock band from the early 1970s. Their music covers a range of styles from pop to progressive rock, over the years they have had five albums in the UK Albums Chart and twelve singles in the UK Singles Chart. Steve Harley grew up in Londons New Cross area and attended Haberdashers Askes Hatcham College and his musical career began in the late 1960s when he was busking and performing his own songs, some of which were later recorded by him and the band. After an initial stint as a music journalist, the original Cockney Rebel was formed when Harley hooked up with his folk music partner, Crocker in 1972. Crocker had just finished a stint with Trees and they advertised and auditioned drummer Stuart Elliott, bassist Paul Jeffreys. This line-up played one of the bands first gigs at The Roundhouse in Chalk Farm, the band was signed to EMI after playing five gigs. Their first single, Sebastian, was a success in Europe. Their debut album, The Human Menagerie, was released in 1973, although not a commercial success they did attract a growing following in London. Harley managed to irritate a significant segment of the press with his self-aggrandisement, even as their music was getting rave reviews. There then followed the album The Psychomodo, a Live at the BBC album from 1995 included material recorded during a 1974 BBC Radio 1 broadcast. Following the European single Psychomodo, a single from the album. Tumbling Down was also issued in America as a promotional single, by this time the problems within the band had already reached a head, and all the musicians, with the exception of Elliott, quit at the end of a successful UK tour. Crocker continued to write songs and perform, forming a duet with his brother, after a brief period with Be-Bop Deluxe in 1974, Reame-James and Jeffreys formed the band Chartreuse in 1976. Harleys next appearance on BBC Televisions Top of the Pops was supported by musicians and Francis Monkman. The bands single Big Big Deal was issued in 1974 and was almost immediately withdrawn, from then on, the band was a band in name only, being more or less a Harley solo project. In 1974, an album, The Best Years of Our Lives was released, produced by The Beatles recording engineer. This included the track Make Me Smile which would go on to be a UK number one single in February 1975, and it sold over one million copies globally. Amongst the backing vocalists on the acts only No.1 was the future chart-topper, changing the band name from Cockney Rebel to Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel for the No.1 hit, the degeneration was rapid
28.
The Psychomodo
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The Psychomodo is the second studio album by Cockney Rebel, released in 1974. It was produced by Steve Harley and Alan Parsons, having signed a three-album deal with EMI Records in late 1972, the band released their debut album The Human Menagerie in November 1973. The album, and the single Sebastian, both failed to enter the UK charts, although the single did become a hit in Continental Europe, the lack of success in the UK led EMI to feel that Harley had yet to record a potential hit single. In response, Harley went away and re-worked an unrecorded song of his called Judy Teen, when Judy Teen was released and began climbing the UK charts, the band had already started recording their second album The Psychomodo. The album was recorded during February and March 1974, at Morgan Studios, Nova Sound Studios and it was mastered at Abbey Road Studios. On the album, Harley received his first production credit, working as producer alongside Alan Parsons, in similarity to the bands debut album, a large symphony orchestra and choir was used on certain tracks, with the orchestral arrangements again conducted by Andrew Powell. In the liner notes for the 2012 compilation Cavaliers, An Anthology 1973-1974, Harley recalled. The Psychomodo, Alan Parsons came in as co-producer/engineer, and his own willingness to accept many offbeat ideas made life easy enough. More strings and horns, and again we had Andrew Powell, with his brilliant classical-rock thinking, I do remember where the songs came from. They came from a young mans dream, where the blending of musical literature and mad, formless imaginings, could hang out together at the folk club. In a 2013 interview with the Birmingham Post, Harley recalled of the first two Cockney Rebel albums, Those first two albums were heavily orchestrated, I was 22 years old, at Abbey Road with a full orchestra and a choir for songs like Sebastian. Id busked with those songs for a year before Cockney Rebel signed to EMI, oh, it was magnificent for a young man. Preceding the album was the title track single Psychomodo, released in mid-May 1974, EMI quickly withdrew the single from sale soon afterwards. Despite this, the single was released across Europe and reached #28 in Belgium, in early June 1974, The Psychomodo was released and proved to be the bands breakthrough album in the UK. It peaked at #8 on the UK Albums Chart, and remained in the Top 50 for twenty weeks, between May and July 1974, Cockney Rebel embarked on a major British tour to promote The Psychomodo. As the tour progressed, the band began facing growing tensions, on 18 July, the band received a Gold Award for outstanding new act of 1974, and a week later they had split-up over their disagreements. Jean-Paul Crocker, Milton Reame-James and Paul Jeffreys quit the band after having demanded to write material for the group, in late July 1974, EMI released the albums second single Mr. Soft. By this time, Cockney Rebel had already disbanded, in August, the song peaked at #8 in the UK, and in Ireland at #16. To perform the song on Top of the Pops, Harley had to form an impromptu line-up of the band, later in the year, Harley formed a new line-up of the band, and renamed them Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel
29.
Timeless Flight
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Timeless Flight is the fourth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976. It was produced by Steve Harley, during their tour for The Best Years of Our Lives, Harley had begun writing new material for the album, some of which was inspired by events and places the band went to on the tour. The band recorded the album at Trident Studios, Abbey Road Studios, the entire album was remixed, mastered and cut at Abbey Road Studios. On the album, guitarist Jim Cregan used a number of guitars, including a Martin D18,1956 Fender Telecaster, Gibson SG Standard and an Ovation acoustic with a built-in pick-up. The albums was created in more of a relaxed environment in comparison with The Best Years of Our Lives. For the liner notes of the 2003 BGO CD release of Timeless Flight, Harley recalled, the songs, many of them being semi acoustic or laid back, I think stemmed as much from that as anything else. It made me a little lethargic, in November 1975, the lead single, Black or White, preceded the album. Despite the previous albums success earlier in the year, Black or White failed to reach the UK Top 50 and it did, however, reach #2 on the BMRBs UK Breakers Chart, which would have been equal to #52 on the main Singles Chart. In a February 1976 interview with Record Mirror & Disc, Harley commented and it turned out to be a stiff. Timeless Flight was released in early February 1976 and would peak at #18 on the UK Albums Chart and it lasted six weeks on the chart, having debuted at #23 on 14 February. In America, it was reported in Record Mirror & Disc that the album had received 40,000 advance orders, despite the bands lack of a hit single or album there. During the middle of February, the second single, White, White Dove, was released. Following the albums release, the band embarked on a British, on the tour, the band hired guitarist Jo Partridge to play rhythm guitar. After a concert at Wembley in April 1976, the band then toured America, Years after its release, Harley revealed that Timeless Flight was his personal favourite album from his own career. In an exclusive 2004 interview for the fan site Harley Fanzone, he said, Well. Its my precious boy, my favourite child and it was such a change for me and the critics werent ready. Its like I heard Mick Jagger say about one of the Stones albums, I never realised it was the favorite album of so many people. Nothing is Sacred is on there and when I started to play that live I sensed it was something they wanted to hear
30.
Love's a Prima Donna
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Loves a Prima Donna is the fifth studio album by Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1976. It was produced by Harley, and would be the bands last album before splitting in 1977, in February 1976, Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel released the album Timeless Flight, which reached the UK Top 20. Having embarked on a tour to promote the album, Harley began writing new material and it was recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London between June and September 1976. While work on the continued, EMI would release the preceding single Here Comes the Sun - a cover of the George Harrison song. Released in July 1976, the version became the most successful UK cover, peaking at #10 in the UK Top 50. In the 11 September 1976 issue of Record Mirror, it was announced that the album had been completed, having finished recording the album, guitarist Jim Cregan left the band to join Rod Stewarts touring band. Released in October, Loves a Prima Donna peaked at #28 on the UK Albums Chart and it became Harleys last studio album to reach the UK Top 100. During the same month, the single, Loves a Prima Donna, was released. Although it failed to reach expectations, it did peak at #41 in the UK Top 50, additionally, EMI had made plans to release Compared with You as the third single, however the release was cancelled. Instead, the song was released as the albums only American single, following the albums release, the band embarked on an eight-date UK tour in December 1976. On the tour, Cregan was replaced by Jo Partridge, having toured with the band for the Timeless Flight tour, Partridge also contributed to two tracks on Loves a Prima Donna. He provided guitar and backing vocals on Here Comes the Sun, during the tour, Harley recorded a number of concerts, which he used to create the double live album, Face to Face, A Live Recording, which was released in 1977. It reached #40 in the UK and includes six tracks from Loves a Prima Donna, the albums concept revolves around the theme of love, including soldier loneliness, true love, lost love, mother-and-child love, valentine sentimentalism and a fans infatuation with a musician. The album also showcases a range of musical styles new to the material, including progressive rock, folk, doo-wop. Speaking to Melody Makers Harvey Kubernik in early 1977, Harley commented, if it only sold three copies, I wouldnt worry. The achievement is more important than the success and this is entirely autobiographical, its the only way I can write. I did a lot of it with the order in mind. I wrote for two months before we went into the studio and the pattern was obvious when I started writing, Seeking a Love had to open the album, theres a lot of different music styles that are confusing some people
31.
Hobo with a Grin
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Hobo with a Grin is the debut solo album by Steve Harley of Steve Harley & Cockney Rebel, released in 1978. The album was produced by Harley, except for Roll the Dice which was produced by Michael J. Jackson, Jackson also acted as additional producer on the album. In July 1977, Harley disbanded his band Cockney Rebel and began working on his solo album. The album was completed by early 1978. In February of that year, Harley flew to Los Angeles to finish working on the album, of the albums nine tracks, six were recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, and the other three were recorded in Los Angeles at Sunset Sound or Record Plant. The album featured a mixture of songs, written when Cockney Rebel were still active. The album was mixed at Sunset Sound and mastered at Capitol Mastering. Soon after the album was completed, Harley decided to leave Britain and he had been first attracted to the city when recording and mixing the Loves a Prima Donna album there in 1976. Purchasing a house in Beverly Hills, he stayed there for nearly a year to gain new experience and inspirations. When Hobo with a Grin emerged in July 1978, it was revealed the album cost £70,000 and took 18 months to make, the album failed to make any chart appearance, as did its two singles. The first, Roll the Dice, was released in July too, while the second, at the time of its release, writer G. Brown reported in The Denver Post that the album was becoming his fastest seller in America yet. Long deemed too British-sounding during the years of Cockney Rebel, Harley felt the situation was changing with the release of Hobo with a Grin, however, after the album failed to make any commercial impact, Harley began to be dismissive of it. Describing the material as laid back Californian stuff, Harley told Superpop magazine in 1978, for the first time in my life I relinquished responsibility, listened to advice and acted on it, rather than do what I thought was right. In November 1978, he told the Daily Star that the album was an experience, in early 1979, he told Maggi Russell in an interview that the album was a difficult album, and hard to market. At the end of 1978, Harley returned to England, during his time living in America, he admitted that he was never inspired to write one single song. Not long after his return, Harley began working on his solo album The Candidate. Speaking to the Evening News in October 1979, Harley admitted, I spent almost a year out there and did nothing except swim and sunbathe. I had a house in Beverley Hills – it was costing me about £300 a week
32.
The Candidate (album)
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The Candidate is the second solo studio album by British singer-songwriter Steve Harley released in 1979. It was produced by Harley and Jimmy Horowitz, having spent almost a year living in Los Angeles, during which time his debut solo album Hobo with a Grin was released, Harley returned to London at the end of 1978. Speaking to the Daily Star in December 1978, Harley described Hobo with a Grin as an experience, adding, Ill get the band together, then record the album in a fortnight - the way I always used to. The Candidate took three weeks to write, while recording took place during February at Abbey Road Studios, the entire album was also mixed and mastered at Abbey Road Studios, except mixing for Freedoms Prisoner, which took place at Morgan Studios. Afterwards, Harley began planning a British and European tour for later in the year, when talking of forming a new Cockney Rebel line-up, Harley commented to Daily Mirrors Pauline McLeod, There will undoubtedly be some of the old group members of the group in the line-up. Maybe Jim Cregan could join up for it if hes not busy recording with Rod Stewart, speaking to Maggi Russell in early 1979, Harley revealed of the new album, I needed the energy that London has. West Coast musicians have done it all before, and theyre very blase, Here people put their heart and soul into their music. Stuart Elliott and Jo Partridge from Cockney Rebel worked on the album with me and its very important when youre spending 12 hours a day in the studio with a bunch of people that you get on well, that you share a sense of humour. Otherwise you all end up having a bad time, Hobo with a Grin was a difficult album, and hard to market. My new album leans more to the early Cockney Rebel sound. I have made a record that I believe in, if the music press review it maturely Ill be glad, but that is doubtful. Im really hoping for a good 1979, and Im putting everything Ive got into it, Im back, and they are all going to know I am. You could spend a lot of time in this business getting affluent with success, I hope my fans like it too. I had a house in Beverley Hills – it was costing me about £300 a week. I then realised that I was getting nowhere fast and booked Londons Abbey Road studios for two months, I called my old Cockney Rebel drummer Stuart Elliott and asked him to put me a band together. I came back to London, and within three weeks I had more than enough songs for an LP. Im pleased with The Candidate – its the best album Ive done in ages, in May 1979, Harley appeared with Peter Gabriel at one of Kate Bushs Hammersmith Odeon concerts in May 1979. It was Harleys first performance on stage in two years, in September, EMI released The Candidate, along with the single Freedoms Prisoner
