1.
Sony Music Entertainment
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Sony Music Entertainment is an American music company owned by Sony. It is incorporated as a partnership of Sony Music Holdings Inc. through Sony Entertainment. The company was first founded in 1929 as American Record Corporation and renamed Columbia Recording Corporation in 1938, in 1966, the company was reorganized to become CBS Records. Sony Corporation bought the company in 1987 and renamed it Sony Music Entertainment in 1991, the buyout led to the dissolution of BMG, which relaunched as BMG Rights Management. Sony Music Entertainment is one of the Big Three record companies, being the second largest after Universal Music Group, in 1929, ARC was founded through a merger of several record companies. In 1934, in the midst of Great Depression, the Columbia Phonograph Company, ARC was acquired in 1938 by the Columbia Broadcasting System, which, in turn, had been formed by the Columbia Phonograph Company, but then sold off. ARC was renamed Columbia Recording Corporation, RCA Victor Records executive Ted Wallerstein convinced CBS head William S. Paley to buy ARC and Paley made Wallerstein head of the newly acquired record company. The renamed company made Columbia its flagship label and Okeh its subsidiary label and this allowed ARCs leased labels Brunswick Records and Vocalion Records to revert to their former owner Warner Bros. which sold them to Decca Records. Columbia kept the Brunswick catalogue recorded from December 1931 onward on the Columbia label and he was succeeded by James Conkling as head of Columbia Records. In 1951, Columbia severed its ties with the EMI-owned record label of the same name, Okeh Records continued to be distributed by EMI on the Columbia label. Columbia founded Epic Records in 1953 and in 1956, Conkling left Columbia and he would help establish the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences before eventually becoming the first president of the newly launched Warner Bros. His successor, Goddard Lieberson began the first of two stints as head of the record company, and in 1958, Columbia founded another label, Date Records, which initially issued rockabilly music. In 1960, Columbia/CBS began negotiations with its international distributor Philips Records with the goal of starting its own global record company. Philips acquisition of US-based Mercury Records in 1961 paved the way for this, elsewhere, CBSs Mexican record company, Discos Columbia, was renamed Discos CBS by 1963. In 1964, Columbia set out acquiring record companies in countries for its CBS Records International Unit. EMI continued to distribute Epic and Okeh label material on the Columbia label in the UK until the deal with EMI expired in 1968 when CBS took over distribution. In late 1965, the Date subsidiary label was revived and this label released the first string of hits for Peaches & Herb and scored a few minor hits from various other artists. Dates biggest success was Time of the Season by the Zombies, the label was discontinued in 1970
Sony Music Entertainment
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550 Madison Avenue in
New York City, the headquarters of Sony Music
Sony Music Entertainment
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Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Entertainment
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Primary businesses
2.
Clive Davis
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Clive Jay Davis is an American record producer, A&R executive and music industry executive. He has won five Grammy Awards and is a member of the Rock, from 1967 to 1973, Davis was the president of Columbia Records. He was the founder and president of Arista Records from 1975 through 2000 until founding J Records, from 2002 until April 2008, Davis was the chairman and CEO of the RCA Music Group, chairman and CEO of J Records, and chairman and CEO of BMG North America. Currently Davis is the chief officer of Sony Music Entertainment. He currently plays a part in the careers of TLC, Rod Stewart, Air Supply, Alicia Keys, Barry Manilow, Christina Aguilera, Carlos Santana, Kelly Clarkson, Leona Lewis, Davis is also credited with bringing Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow to prominence. Davis was born in Brooklyn, New York, to a Jewish family and his father was an electrician and salesman. Davis was raised in the neighborhood of Crown Heights, Brooklyn. His mother died at age 47, and his father died the year when Davis was only a teenager. He then moved in with his sister in Bayside, Queens, New York City. He received a scholarship to New York University College of Arts and Science. He received a scholarship to Harvard Law School, where he was a member of the Board of Student Advisers. Davis practiced law in a firm in New York, then moved on to the firm of Rosenman, Colin, Kaye, Petschek. Davis was subsequently hired by a colleague at the firm, Harvey Schein, to become assistant counsel of CBS subsidiary Columbia Records at age 28. As part of a reorganization of Columbia Records Group, group president Goddard Lieberson appointed Davis as administrative vice president, in 1966, CBS formed the Columbia-CBS Group which reorganized CBSs recorded music operations into CBS Records with Davis heading the new unit. The next year, Davis was appointed president and became interested in the newest generation of rock and rock. One of his earliest pop signings was the British folk-rock musician Donovan, in June 1967, at the urging of his friend and business associate Lou Adler, Davis attended the Monterey Pop Festival. The company, which had previously avoided rock music, doubled its share in three years. One of the most commercially successful recordings released during Davis tenure at Columbia was Lynn Andersons Rose Garden and it was Davis who insisted Rose Garden be the country singers next single release
Clive Davis
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Clive Davis in New York City on November 13, 2007
3.
RCA Records
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RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. It is one of SMEs three flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, blues, jazz, the companys name is derived from the initials of the labels former parent company, the Radio Corporation of America. It is the second oldest recording company in US history, after sister label Columbia Records, RCAs Canadian unit is Sonys oldest label in Canada. It was one of only two Canadian record companies to survive the Great Depression, kelly, Enrique Iglesias, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Giorgio Moroder, Jennifer Hudson, DAngelo, Pink, Tinashe, G-Eazy, Pitbull, Zayn and Wizkid. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the worlds largest manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records. The company then became RCA Victor but retained use of the Victor Records name on their labels until the beginning of 1946 when the labels were finally switched over to RCA Victor. With Victor, RCA acquired New World rights to the famous Nipper His Masters Voice trademark, in Shanghai, China, in 1931, RCA Victors British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board, in September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33⅓ rpm records sold to the public, calling them Program Transcriptions. In the depths of the Great Depression, the format was a commercial failure, during the early part of the depression, RCA made a number of attempts to produce a successful cheap label to compete with the dime store labels. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931 sold at Montgomery Ward, in 1932, Bluebird Records was created as a sub-label of RCA Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a blue label. In 1933, RCA reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label, another cheap label, Sunrise, was produced. The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and Bluebird Records still survives eight decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued, RCA also produced records for Montgomery Ward label during the 1930s. Besides manufacturing records for themselves, RCA Victor operated RCA Custom which was the leading record manufacturer for independent record labels, RCA Custom also pressed record compilations for The Readers Digest Association. RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1935, but EMI continued to distribute RCA recordings in the UK, RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV classical recordings on the RCA and HMV labels in North America. During World War II, ties between RCA and its Japanese affiliate JVC were severed, the Japanese record company is today called Victor Entertainment and is still a JVC subsidiary. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban, virtually all union musicians could not make recordings during that period
RCA Records
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Label of an RCA Victor 78 RPM record from the 1950s; RCA manufactured 78s alongside the 45 until 1958.
RCA Records
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Label of an RCA Victor 45 RPM record from the 1950s; RCA used this label for its 45 RPM records from 1954 to at least 1964.
RCA Records
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RCA used this label for its American 45 RPM records during the Dynagroove era.
RCA Records
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RCA's LP label during the Dynagroove era was also used for 45 RPM records of the mid-to-late 1960s in countries such as Argentina, where this single was pressed.
4.
Bertelsmann Music Group
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Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japans Sony Corporation of America on October 1,2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music activities of Bertelsmann. The joint venture with Sony Music was set up in August 2004 and it reduced the Big Five record companies to the Big Four record companies. At that time, the company had a 21. 5% share in the music market. Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned by Sony BMG. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion, and it is focused mainly in BMGs European stronghold markets. The basis of the company was formed through BMGs decision to withhold selected European music catalogues from the former Sony BMG joint venture, also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMGs wholly owned and operated BMG Japan. Sony Music Japan remained independent from the Sony BMG joint venture, therefore BMG, during Sony BMGs buyout, BMG Japan was instead picked up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It briefly continued to operate as an entity until a reorganization in early 2009 folded the company into Sony Music Japan. Barry Weiss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zomba Label Group CEO Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann AGs 50% stake in Sony BMG. BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, the company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries. BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights, BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary Christian music. Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishings Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights, BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into Universal Music Publishing Group. After Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to recordings from the former joint venture. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management, BMG Rights Management now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group. A settlement in 2002 included the publishers and distributors, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups and it is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album
Bertelsmann Music Group
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Primary businesses
Bertelsmann Music Group
5.
RCA/Jive Label Group
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RCA/Jive Label Group was a short-lived American record label group, owned by Sony Music Entertainment and representing the merger of the RCA Music Group and Jive Label Group. The umbrella group was formed in 2007 under the name BMG Label Group, was rebranded as RCA/Jive Label Group in 2009 and those artists on those three labels were moved to the rebranded RCA Records. RCA/Jive configuration began as the BMG Label Group during the last year of the Sony BMG merger, the group was officially formed in September 2007 when Bertelsmann restructured their RCA and Zomba groups into one entity bearing the BMG branding. Bob Anderson and Kevin Twitchell led the department for the new group. By early 2008, the BMG Label Group was said to consist of RCA Records, Jive Records, J Records, LaFace, Arista, Volcano Entertainment, Verity, GospoCentric and Fo Yo Soul. In April 2008, Barry Weiss was promoted to chairman and CEO of the BMG Label Group, Weiss replaced longtime music exec Clive Davis, who became the Chief Creative Officer. In August 2008, BMG sold their half of the Sony BMG merger back to Sony, by early 2010, the Zomba site was completely reworked as the rebranding process was completed. Following the restructuring, Barry Weiss remained head of both RCA/Jive Label Group, and its constituent Jive Label Group, Weiss left the RCA/Jive Label Group in March 2011. In mid-2011, Sony Music split RCA/Jive Label Group, staff and artists associated with Jive were moved to a restructured Epic Records which is aimed to focus on urban music. RCA Music Group remained on its own, and even took on some of the non-urban artist from Jive, L. A. Reid became Chairman and CEO of Epic Records and Peter Edge became Chairman and CEO of RCA Music Group. Instead, both the RCA Music Group and the Jive Label Group operate as standalone units, but shared back-office functions, RCA/Jive consisted of several flagship record labels, which originally formed part of BMG before being absorbed into Sonys operations. RCA Music Group was created by BMG in March 2004 shortly after the formation of Zomba Label Group and it became a part of the BMG Label Group along with Zomba, and remained unscathed after the rebranding. Jive Label Group was founded in 2004 as Zomba Label Group by BMG, when BMG began their integration of Zomba labels into their operations, they created the Zomba Label Group in early 2004. Initially the group consisted of LaFace, Volcano, Silvertone and Jive, in 2005, Zomba Label Group created a gospel division called Zomba Gospel to collate their gospel interests at the time. The group primarily consisted of GospoCentric Records and Verity Records, after being shuffled under Sony in late 2008, the Zomba Label Group began rebranding to the Jive Label Group. Additionally, Zomba Gospel was rebranded as the Verity Gospel Music Group, in mid-2011, Jive Label Group was separated from the RCA Music Group and joined Epic Records under the newly formed Epic Label Group. Because of the focus of the new group, some of Jives non-urban artists, such as Britney Spears. List of RCA Records artists The record labels under RCA/Jive have been releasing material since before the entitys existence, for detailed discographies of those labels, please visit their respective pages
RCA/Jive Label Group
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RCA Music Group
RCA/Jive Label Group
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RCA/Jive Label Group
RCA/Jive Label Group
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From 2004 until 2009, Jive Label Group was known as Zomba Label Group.
RCA/Jive Label Group
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Primary businesses
6.
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
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Sony BMG Music Entertainment was a record music company, which was a 50–50 joint venture between the Sony Corporation of America and Bertelsmann AG. The ventures successor, the again-active Sony Music Entertainment, is 100% owned by the Sony Corporation of America, Sony BMG Music Entertainment began in Skem as the result of a 50–50 joint venture between Sony Music Entertainment and Bertelsmann Music Group completed on March 4,2004. The merger affected all Sony Music and Bertelsmann Music Group companies worldwide except for Japan, financial analysts covering the merger anticipated that up to 2,000 jobs would be cut as a result, saving Sony BMG approximately $350 million annually. The companys chief executive officer is Rolf Schmidt-Holtz, who succeeded Andrew Lack on February 10,2006, in the first half of 2005, the companys share of new releases in the United States declined from 33% to 26% according to Nielsen SoundScan. This, and Lacks negotiation of what called a ill-conceived deal with Bruce Springsteen led to Bertelsmann informing Sony that it would not renew Lacks contract. The company signed a content deal with the video sharing community YouTube. On August 5,2008 Sony Corporation agreed to buy Bertelsmann AGs 50 percent stake in the company for $1.2 billion to get full control. The music company was renamed Sony Music Entertainment and became a unit of Sony Corporation of America, epic Records, one of their labels, was specifically cited for using fake contests in order to hide the fact that the gifts were going to disc jockeys rather than listeners. A scandal ensued over digital rights management software produced and shipped by Sony BMG that automatically installed itself on peoples computers, the scandal and attendant controversy about the practice of software auto-installation spawned several lawsuits. Sony BMG eventually recalled all of the affected CDs, uS-CERT advised, Do not install software from sources that you do not expect to contain software, such as an audio CD. In its Top Flops of 05 issue, the enterprise newsweekly eWeek had to create a new category for the Sony BMG root-kit fiasco, peter Coffee, of eWeek Labs reported, The Sony brand name was already in trouble—it lost 16 percent of its value between 2004 and 2005. Now it has taken a blow among tech-product opinion leaders, weve never done it before, and we hope well never have occasion to do it again but, for 2005, eWeek Labs awards a Stupid Tech Trick grand prize to Sony. EWeek Vol.22, No.50 In October 2007, Sony BMG, alongside other large music firms, successfully sued Jammie Thomas. Ms. Thomas – who made US$36,000 a year – was ordered to pay US$222,000 in damages for making 24 songs available for download on the Kazaa file-sharing network. Thomas had allegedly shared 1702 files in total, the court upholding the award called it a case of willful infringement. Sony did not restrict minor childrens participation in its websites, Sony paid a $1 million fine. Sony Commercial Music Group – Official Site Sony Music Entertainment, Incorporated – Company Profile on Yahoo
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
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Primary businesses
Sony BMG Music Entertainment
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Sony BMG Music Entertainment
7.
BMG Japan
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Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japans Sony Corporation of America on October 1,2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music activities of Bertelsmann. The joint venture with Sony Music was set up in August 2004 and it reduced the Big Five record companies to the Big Four record companies. At that time, the company had a 21. 5% share in the music market. Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned by Sony BMG. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion, and it is focused mainly in BMGs European stronghold markets. The basis of the company was formed through BMGs decision to withhold selected European music catalogues from the former Sony BMG joint venture, also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMGs wholly owned and operated BMG Japan. Sony Music Japan remained independent from the Sony BMG joint venture, therefore BMG, during Sony BMGs buyout, BMG Japan was instead picked up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It briefly continued to operate as an entity until a reorganization in early 2009 folded the company into Sony Music Japan. Barry Weiss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zomba Label Group CEO Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann AGs 50% stake in Sony BMG. BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, the company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries. BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights, BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary Christian music. Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishings Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights, BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into Universal Music Publishing Group. After Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to recordings from the former joint venture. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management, BMG Rights Management now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group. A settlement in 2002 included the publishers and distributors, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups and it is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album
BMG Japan
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Primary businesses
BMG Japan
8.
RCA Music Group
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RCA Music Group was created by BMG in March 2004 shortly after the formation of Zomba Label Group. It became a part of the BMG Label Group along with Zomba, in 2008, BMG sold their half of the Sony BMG merger back to Sony, but retained the use of the BMG name. Thus, in early 2009, the BMG Label Group was rebranded to the RCA/JIVE Label Group, in mid-2011, Sony announced that they were again restructuring RCA/JIVE Label Group. Some artists moved under a restructured Epic Records which is now headed by L. A. Reid, Epic will focus on urban music while the RCA Music Group continued on its own. JIVE Records was moved under RCA Music Group, minus those artists who were moved to Epic. Some of JIVEs urban artists such as Usher moved to RCA, while other JIVE pop artists, including Britney Spears & P. nk, Peter Edge serves as CEO of the company. The company was expected to start releasing all of its recordings under RCA Records, Arista Records, J Records and JIVE Records have been shut down with all of their artists moving to RCA. In August 2011, RCA laid off 20 members of its staff, RCA Records Arista Records LaFace Records J Records JIVE Records Peter Edge, Chairman & CEO Tom Corson, President & COO RCA/JIVE Label Group Epic Records Columbia Records
RCA Music Group
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RCA Music Group
RCA Music Group
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Primary businesses
9.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
Columbia Records
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Original home of Columbia in Washington, D.C., in 1889
Columbia Records
Columbia Records
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A Columbia type AT cylinder
graphophone, first released in 1898
Columbia Records
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This article is about the American record label active worldwide except in Japan. For the Columbia label which was a unit of EMI, see
Columbia Graphophone Company. For the Columbia label in Japan, see
Nippon Columbia.
10.
United States
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Forty-eight of the fifty states and the federal district are contiguous and located in North America between Canada and Mexico. The state of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east, the state of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U. S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean, the geography, climate and wildlife of the country are extremely diverse. At 3.8 million square miles and with over 324 million people, the United States is the worlds third- or fourth-largest country by area, third-largest by land area. It is one of the worlds most ethnically diverse and multicultural nations, paleo-Indians migrated from Asia to the North American mainland at least 15,000 years ago. European colonization began in the 16th century, the United States emerged from 13 British colonies along the East Coast. Numerous disputes between Great Britain and the following the Seven Years War led to the American Revolution. On July 4,1776, during the course of the American Revolutionary War, the war ended in 1783 with recognition of the independence of the United States by Great Britain, representing the first successful war of independence against a European power. The current constitution was adopted in 1788, after the Articles of Confederation, the first ten amendments, collectively named the Bill of Rights, were ratified in 1791 and designed to guarantee many fundamental civil liberties. During the second half of the 19th century, the American Civil War led to the end of slavery in the country. By the end of century, the United States extended into the Pacific Ocean. The Spanish–American War and World War I confirmed the status as a global military power. The end of the Cold War and the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 left the United States as the sole superpower. The U. S. is a member of the United Nations, World Bank, International Monetary Fund, Organization of American States. The United States is a developed country, with the worlds largest economy by nominal GDP. It ranks highly in several measures of performance, including average wage, human development, per capita GDP. While the U. S. economy is considered post-industrial, characterized by the dominance of services and knowledge economy, the United States is a prominent political and cultural force internationally, and a leader in scientific research and technological innovations. In 1507, the German cartographer Martin Waldseemüller produced a map on which he named the lands of the Western Hemisphere America after the Italian explorer and cartographer Amerigo Vespucci
United States
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Native Americans meeting with Europeans, 1764
United States
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Flag
United States
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The signing of the
Mayflower Compact, 1620.
United States
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The
Declaration of Independence: the
Committee of Five presenting their draft to the
Second Continental Congress in 1776
11.
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
United Kingdom
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Stonehenge, in
Wiltshire, was erected around 2500 BC.
United Kingdom
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Flag
United Kingdom
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The
Bayeux Tapestry depicts the
Battle of Hastings, 1066, and the events leading to it.
United Kingdom
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The
Treaty of Union led to a single united kingdom encompassing all Great Britain.
12.
Legacy Recordings
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Legacy Recordings is a division of Sony Music. It also handles the catalog of recordings produced by Phil Spector and this is not to be confused with the defunct British independent label Legacy Records. The Essential series are one-to-two disc compilations of an extensive catalog. On occasion, albums in series would have a limited edition third disc. As of 2015, several volumes in the Essential series are available on Vinyl LP. A spinoff series, Setlist, features compilations of live performances. The first several albums come in a special Eco-packet and to save paper, a PDF file is included on the disc, containing photographs, credits and this was met with criticism as the discs were easily scratched. Thus, in recent years, Playlist albums came packaged in standard, reception on the Playlist series varies between editions. See individual pages for more information, list of record labels Lawrence Cohn, previous head of Legacy Recordings This Is Jazz Official Site US Official Site UK Company Blog Podcast Site
Legacy Recordings
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Primary businesses
Legacy Recordings
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Legacy Recordings
13.
Columbia Pictures
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The studio was founded in 1918 as Cohn-Brandt-Cohn Film Sales by brothers Jack and Harry Cohn and Jacks best friend Joe Brandt, released its first feature film in August 1922. It adopted the Columbia Pictures name in 1924, and went public two years later and its name is derived from Columbia, a national personification of the United States, which is used as the studios logo. In its early years, it was a player in Hollywood. With Capra and others, Columbia became one of the homes of the screwball comedy. In the 1930s, Columbias major contract stars were Jean Arthur, in the 1940s, Rita Hayworth became the studios premier star and propelled their fortunes into the late 1950s. Rosalind Russell, Glenn Ford, and William Holden also became major stars at the studio, in 1982, the studio was purchased by The Coca-Cola Company, and launched TriStar Pictures as a joint venture with HBO and CBS. Five years later, Coca-Cola spun off Columbia, which was sold to Tri-Star, after a brief period of independence with Coca-Cola maintaining a financial interest, the combined studio was acquired by Sony in 1989. It is one of the film studios in the world. It was one of the so-called Little Three among the eight major film studios of Hollywoods Golden Age, Brandt was president of CBC Film Sales, handling sales, marketing and distribution from New York along with Jack Cohn, while Harry Cohn ran production in Hollywood. The studios early productions were short subjects, Screen Snapshots, the Hall Room Boys. The start-up CBC leased space in a Poverty Row studio on Hollywoods famously low-rent Gower Street, among Hollywoods elite, the studios small-time reputation led some to joke that CBC stood for Corned Beef and Cabbage. Brandt eventually tired of dealing with the Cohn brothers, and sold his stake to Harry Cohn. In an effort to improve its image, the Cohn brothers renamed the company Columbia Pictures Corporation on January 10,1924, Cohn remained head of production as well, thus concentrating enormous power in his hands. He would run Columbia for the next 34 years, the second-longest tenure of any studio chief, even in an industry rife with nepotism, Columbia was particularly notorious for having a number of Harry and Jacks relatives in high positions. Humorist Robert Benchley called it the Pine Tree Studio, because it has so many Cohns, Columbias product line consisted mostly of moderately budgeted features and short subjects including comedies, sports films, various serials, and cartoons. Columbia gradually moved into the production of higher-budget fare, eventually joining the tier of Hollywood studios along with United Artists. Like United Artists and Universal, Columbia was an integrated company. It controlled production and distribution, it did not own any theaters, helping Columbias climb was the arrival of an ambitious director, Frank Capra
Columbia Pictures
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The current Columbia Pictures logo.
Columbia Pictures
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The original CBC Film Sales logo used from 1919 through 1924
Columbia Pictures
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Stock certificate in 1965
14.
Colgems Records
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Colgems Records was a record label that existed from 1966 to 1971. It was a joint venture between Screen Gems, the division of Columbia Pictures, and RCA Records to issue records by the Monkees. The label would also issue soundtrack recordings for Screen Gems and Columbia Pictures productions, RCA acted as manufacturer and distributor for Colgems. An earlier label, Colpix Records, was dissolved to make way for the new company, even before the Monkees began, Colpix had signed two future members – Davy Jones, recruited to Screen Gems by Ward Sylvester, and Michael Nesmith, who recorded as Michael Blessing. Eventually, the Colpix catalog was sold to Roulette Records, today, the Colpix catalog is owned jointly by Rhino/Warner and EMI. The non-Monkees Colgems roster included Sally Field, Jewel Akens, Sajid Khan, Paula Wayne, limited, the Hung Jury, Fountain of Youth, The Lewis & Clarke Expedition, Hoyt Axton, Alex Keenan and comedian Rich Little. In Cold Blood, Head and Guess Whos Coming to Dinner were also released on Colgems, Colgems Records slumped after the critical and commercial failure of the final Monkees album Changes, which featured only Davy Jones and Micky Dolenz. The labels last release, titled Barrel Full of Monkees and showcasing its flagship act, appeared in 1971, Colgems then closed, and its master recordings and artists were folded into the Bell Records family, which, unlike Colgems, was wholly owned by Columbia Pictures. Bell itself was closed, and Columbias music division was reorganized into Arista Records. In 1979, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to BMG-owned Ariola Records, six years later, Ariolas parent company, BMG, merged with RCA Records. Today, the assets of Colgems Records is controlled by Sony Music Entertainment, the parent company, Sony, acquired Columbia Pictures in 1989. All of The Monkees recordings are currently owned by Rhino Records, Rhino acquired the entire Monkees audio catalog, The Monkees TV series, their 1968 feature film Head, and the rights to The Monkees name and logo, in August 1994. SME merged Arista into RCA Records in 2011, a label related to Colgems was SGC Records. SGC issued albums by Nazz through Atlantic Records in a deal similar to the one Screen Gems held with RCA. List of record labels The Colpix/Colgems story
Colgems Records
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Colgems Records
15.
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
Bell Records
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Bell Records
Bell Records
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"Cara Mia" by
Helen Forrest. The sleeve promoted Bell artists
the Dorsey Orchestra. A 7-inch Bell 78 rpm record priced at 39 cents US.
Bell Records
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1970s thick-stripe version of the US record label. The UK label had a similar design.
16.
Erasmus Hall High School
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Erasmus Hall High School was a four-year public high school located at 899-925 Flatbush Avenue between Church and Snyder Avenues in the Flatbush neighborhood of the New York City borough of Brooklyn. It was founded in 1786 as Erasmus Hall Academy, an institution of higher learning named for the scholar Desiderius Erasmus. The school was the first secondary school chartered by the New York State Regents, the clapboard-sided, Georgian-Federal-style building, constructed on land donated by the Flatbush Reformed Dutch Church, was turned over to the public school system in 1896. In 1904, the Board of Education began a new building campaign to meet the needs of the student population. The original Academy building, which stands in the courtyard of the current school. Now a designated New York City Landmark and listed in the National Register of Historic Places, a statue of Erasmus, cast from the 1622 original in Rotterdam by Hendrick de Keyser and donated by Richard Young, an alumnus of the school, stands in the school’s courtyard. Due to poor scores, the city closed Erasmus Hall High School in 1994, turning the building into Erasmus Hall Educational Campus. The wood-framed, clapboard-sided, Georgian and Federal style school building, through the years, various wings were added to the Academy building and later removed. Erasmus Hall Academy began accepting students in 1801, and in 1803 it incorporated the village school of Flatbush. The village evolved into a city, and started a school system that competed with Erasmus for its student body. As a result, there was a decline in its enrollment until in 1896 enrollment was reduced to 150 boys and girls. Following the agreement with the Erasmus Hall Board of Trustees, the Board of Education of the City of Brooklyn requested proposals for a design for a new school building, twenty architects responded with plans, several of which were published in contemporary architectural periodicals. It soon became clear that none of these plans could be erected for less than a million dollars, and since that was considered too expensive, the project was dropped. With the consolidation of the City of New York in 1898, at the same time, New York City was experiencing a huge influx of immigrants, and the schools were expected to help Americanize these new students. They also used classrooms in other schools, such as P. S, the modern high school was designed in the Collegiate Gothic style that Snyder used on many of his buildings. On August 17,1904, the New York City School Board’s Committee on Buildings presented its plans for a new campus for Erasmus Hall High School. It was designed to be constructed around the existing, centrally-located buildings, the plan called for a full quadrangle of buildings along the perimeter of the large lot. It was constructed during four periods, 1905-1906, 1909-1911, 1924-1925, the first buildings would be constructed along Flatbush Avenue, with others added over time, as the need became clear and funds became available
Erasmus Hall High School
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Erasmus Hall Academy and Erasmus Hall High School
Erasmus Hall High School
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The main tower
Erasmus Hall High School
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Original blueprint of Erasmus Hall at the Williamsburg Art & Historical Center
17.
David Cassidy
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David Bruce Cassidy is a retired American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He later had a career in acting and music. Cassidy was born at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City and his father was of half-Irish and half-German ancestry, and his mother was of mostly Colonial American descent, along with smaller amounts of Irish and Swiss. Some of his mothers ancestors were among the founders of Newark, as his parents were frequently touring on the road, he spent his early years being raised by his maternal grandparents in a middle-class neighborhood in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1956, he found out from neighbors children that his parents had been divorced for two years and had not told him. Davids parents had decided because he was at such a young age and they were gone often with theater productions and home life remained the same. In 1956, his father married singer and actress Shirley Jones, David remained there seeking fame as an actor/musician while simultaneously working half-days in the mailroom of a textile firm. He moved out when his career began to flourish, Cassidys father Jack is credited with setting his son up with his first manager. Aarons had represented Jack and Shirley Jones for several years prior, aarons became an authority figure and close friend to Cassidy, and proved to be the fighting force behind his on-screen success. On January 2,1969, Cassidy made his debut in the Broadway musical The Fig Leaves Are Falling. It closed after four performances, but a casting director saw the show, in 1969, he moved to Los Angeles. After signing with Universal Studios in 1969, Cassidy was featured in episodes of the TV series Ironside, Marcus Welby, M. D. Adam-12, and Bonanza. In 1970, he took the part of Keith Partridge, son of Shirley Partridge, shortly after production began, though, Cassidy convinced music producer Wes Farrell that he was good enough and he was promoted to lead singer for the shows recordings. Once I Think I Love You became a hit, Cassidy began work on solo albums, as well. Within the first year, he had produced his own single, Cherish and he began tours that featured Partridge tunes and his own hits. Ten albums by The Partridge Family and five albums were produced during the show. Internationally, Cassidys solo career eclipsed the already success of The Partridge Family. He became an instant drawcard with spectacular sellout concert successes in major arenas around the world and these concerts produced mass hysteria, resulting in the media coining the term Cassidymania
David Cassidy
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Publicity photo for
The Partridge Family, 1972
David Cassidy
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Cassidy in 1974
David Cassidy
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Cassidy performing in Hamburg, 1973
18.
Tony Orlando and Dawn
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Tony Orlando and Dawn is an American pop music group that was popular in the 1970s. Their signature hits include Candida, Knock Three Times, Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree, Tony Orlando was born Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis on 3 April 1944. After almost a decade of singing and with only three Top 40 hits, two in 1961 and another in 1969 as the singer for the studio group Wind. He stopped singing entirely, and by 1970 he was a demo singer. He began publishing music for April-Blackwood Music, a division of Columbia Records, then Orlando received Candida, a song that other producers and singers had turned down. Originally, Orlando was not able to lend his name to the song, as he was working for April-Blackwood, the background singers on the track were Sharon Greane, Linda November, Jay Siegel, and Toni Wine, who co-wrote the song. Phil Margo played drums on the session, and the arranger was Norman Bergen. After the single hit No.3 on the Billboard Hot 100, the ensemble then recorded the follow-up song Knock Three Times, which topped the Hot 100 on 23 January -6 February 1971. Bell Records was desperate to have an act to promote Dawns records. Orlando asked former Motown/Stax backing vocalists Telma Hopkins and Joyce Vincent Wilson to become Dawn, the threesome then went on the road after Candida and Knock Three Times. After a tour of Europe, Hopkins and Vincent assumed background vocal duties in the studio as well and they were joined in the studio by Vincents sister Pamela Vincent, who in addition to singing, arranged all the backing vocals. Prior touring commitments with Aretha Franklin prevented Vincent from appearing with Dawn on tour, the first single with their voices in the background was Runaway/Happy Together in 1972. The group released another single in 1973, and it became their next No.1 single — Tie a Yellow Ribbon Round the Ole Oak Tree. In terms of sales, this single was the most successful in the groups career, the groups next single, Say, Has Anybody Seen My Sweet Gypsy Rose, went to No. CBS gave the group a television variety show from the summer of 1974, after The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour ended its run, the show was in the same vein as its predecessor and became a Top 20 hit. In 1975 a remake of the Sam Cooke song Cupid became the groups last Top 40 single on the Hot 100, Sing reached No.7 on the Adult Contemporary Chart in 1977. The group went their separate ways later that year and would have one more single. Orlando is still a popular performer on tour regularly with the Lefty Brothers
Tony Orlando and Dawn
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Telma Hopkins,
Tony Orlando and
Joyce Vincent Wilson at the premiere of their television show, 1974.
19.
Elektra Records
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Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group, founded in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt. It played an important role in the development of folk music. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMGs Atlantic Records Group, after five years of dormancy, the label was revived as an imprint of Atlantic in 2009. The label has been run by Gregg Nadel since 2015 who officially became its president in 2017, Elektra was formed in 1950 by Jac Holzman and Paul Rickolt in Holzmans St. Johns College dorm room. The usual spelling of the Greek mythological Pleiad Electra was changed, Holzman famously explained, I gave her the ‘K’ that I lacked. He found the C in the name too soft but liked the solid bite of the letter K. The first Elektra LP, New Songs, was a collection of Lieder and similar art songs, Holzman also recorded Josh White, who was without a record deal as a result of McCarthyite blacklisting. In 1964, Elektra launched Nonesuch Records and this classical budget label was the best-selling budget classical label of the era. In 1965, Elektra began a joint venture with Survey Music called Bounty Records which was Elektras first foray into pop music. The most notable signing for Bounty was the Paul Butterfield Band who was moved over to Elektra when Bounty folded, the labels most important signings were the Chicago-based Paul Butterfield Blues Band, the Los Angeles bands Love and The Doors, and the Detroit bands The Stooges and MC5. Included in Elektras LA signings were Tim Buckley and Bread, in 1968, the label also signed pioneering rock guitar soloist Lonnie Mack to a three-album deal. Also in 1967, Elektra launched its influential Nonesuch Explorer Series, excerpts from several Nonesuch Explorer recordings were later included on the two Voyager Golden Discs which were sent into deep space in 1977 aboard the Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 space probes. Elektra, along with its Nonesuch Records subsidiary, was acquired by Kinney National Services in 1970, soon afterwards, Kinney consolidated their label holdings under the Warner-Elektra-Atlantic umbrella. Holzman remained in charge of Elektra until 1972, when it merged with Asylum Records to become Elektra/Asylum Records, Asylums founder, David Geffen, would head the newly combined label. Holzman, in the meantime, was appointed vice president and chief technologist for Warner — ushering the company into home video. Holzman also went on to acquire Discovery Records, in 1975, Geffen stepped down due to health problems. He would be replaced by Joe Smith, who went on to become CEO of Capitol Records. Although the company was listed as Elektra/Asylum Records on the label credits
Elektra Records
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Elektra Records logo
20.
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
The 5th Dimension
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The 5th Dimension in 1969. Back row: Townson and McLemore. Front row: LaRue, Davis, and McCoo.
21.
ABC Records
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ABC Records was an American record label founded in New York City in 1955. It originated as the popular music label operated by the Am-Par Record Corporation. It acquired many labels before ABC was sold to MCA Records in 1979, ABC produced music in a variety of genres, pop, rock, jazz, country, rhythm and blues, soundtrack, gospel, and polka. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theaters is an antecedent of the American Broadcasting Company and it evolved from federal antitrust actions taken against the movie studios and broadcasting companies in the 1940s and early 1950s. Blue was purchased by the businessman Edward J. Noble, in 1953 ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, the divested former exhibition/cinema division of Paramount Pictures. American Broadcasting-Paramount Theatres formed a division in 1955 with Samuel H. Clark as its first president. The division was incorporated on June 14,1955 as Am-Par Record Corporation, in addition to producing records, ABC licensed masters from independent record producers, and purchased regionally released records for national distribution. Am-Par Record Corporation was changed to ABC-Paramount Records, Inc. on December 7,1961, in 1965, Clark was promoted to vice-president in charge of AB-PTs non-broadcast operations. National sales manager Larry Newton was named ABC-Paramount president. In April 1966, the label was renamed ABC Records in June 1966. In 1970, ABC and Dunhill moved its headquarters to Los Angeles, Newton was promoted to vice-president in charge of ABC Pictures. Dunhill co-owner Jay Lasker was named president and referred to the operations as ABC/Dunhill. At that time ABC had another five labels, Westminster, Command, Probe, Impulse, by May 1972, ABC formed the ABC Leisure Group, which included ABC Records, Anchor Records, and ABC Records and Tape Sales, plus a new retail record-store division. Lasker left ABC to join Ariola America Records in 1975 and he was succeeded by Jerry Rubinstein, who served as company head until 1977. In November 1972, ABC bought country music company Cartwheel Records, as a cost-cutting measure, ABC Records discarded many master tapes in the 1970s to save storage space. When these recordings were reissued on disc in the 1980s. The companys last president, Steve Diener, was named president in 1977 after serving as head of ABC Records international division, because of financial problems, ABC Records was sold on January 31,1979 to MCA Records, which discontinued the ABC label on March 5,1979. The bestselling albums in the ABC catalog were reissued on MCA, ABC Records sub-labeled Apt Records to release singles. In the early 1960s, it bought Westminster Records, a music label
ABC Records
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ABC Records
22.
Suzi Quatro
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Susan Kay Suzi Quatro is an American rock singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and actress. She was the first female player to become a major rock star. In the 1970s, Quatro scored a string of hit singles that found success in European and Australian territories than in her homeland. She reached no.1 in the UK and other European countries and Australia with her singles Can the Can and Devil Gate Drive. Following a recurring role as bass player Leather Tuscadero on the popular American sitcom Happy Days, Quatro released her eponymous debut album in 1973. Since then, she has released fifteen albums, ten compilation albums. Her solo hits include Can the Can,48 Crash, Daytona Demon, Devil Gate Drive, between 1973 and 1980, Quatro was awarded six Bravo Ottos. In 2010, she was voted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends online Hall of Fame, Quatro has sold over 50 million albums and continues to perform live, worldwide. Her most recent studio album was released in 2011 and she continues to present new radio programmes. Quatro says she was influenced at the age of six by the American singer and actor Elvis Presley, Quatro received formal training in playing classical piano and percussion. She is a player of the bass and guitar. Her father gave her a 1957 Fender Precision bass guitar in 1964 and she played drums from an early age as part of her fathers jazz band, the Art Quatro Trio. Sources vary regarding whether her playing in the band began at the age of seven or eight, subsequently, she appeared on local television as a go-go dancer in a pop music series. In 1964, after seeing a performance by the Beatles, Quatros older sister. Quatro joined too and assumed the name of Suzi Soul. Suzi would sing and play bass in the band, the band also later featured another sister, Arlene. Many of their performances were in cabaret, where attention was focused more on their looks than their actual music. They sometimes had to wear miniskirts and hair wigs, which Quatro later considered to be necessary evils in the pursuit of success, however, they would become well-known fixtures in the burgeoning and exploding Detroit music community
Suzi Quatro
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Suzi Quatro performing at the
AIS Arena,
Canberra, Australia on 26 September 2007.
Suzi Quatro
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Suzi Quatro, at far right, pictured, along with two of her sisters, Patti and Arlene, and Eileen Biddlingmeier (center), in the Pleasure Seekers, 1966.
23.
Barry Manilow
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Barry Manilow is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, musician, and producer with a career that has spanned over 50 years. He is best known for a string of hit recordings such as Mandy, Cant Smile Without You. He has recorded and released 47 Top 40 singles, including 12 that hit number one and 27 of which appeared within the top ten, and has released many multi-platinum albums. He is ranked as the top Adult Contemporary chart artist of all time, according to R&R and Billboard magazines, Manilow has been praised by several well-known entertainers, including Sinatra, who was quoted in the 1970s saying, Hes next. In 1988, Bob Dylan stopped Manilow at a party, hugged him and said, Dont stop what youre doing, as well as producing and arranging albums for other artists, including Bette Midler and Dionne Warwick, Manilow has written songs for musicals, films, and commercials. From February 2005 to December 2009, he was the headliner at the Las Vegas Hilton, since March 2010, he has headlined at the Paris hotel in Las Vegas. He has sold more than 80 million records worldwide, making him one of the worlds best-selling artists of all time, Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17,1943, in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Edna Manilow and Harold Pincus. His father was born to a Jewish father and an Irish-American Catholic mother, Barry adopted his mothers maiden name, Manilow, at the time of his bar mitzvah. Manilow grew up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn and attended Eastern District High School and that same year, he enrolled in the City College of New York where he briefly studied before entering the New York College of Music. He also worked at CBS while he was a student in order to pay his expenses, according to one source, he married Susan Deixler that year, with the marriage lasting only one year. Another source says Manilow got an annulment from Deixler in 1966 after two years of marriage and he later studied Musical Theater at the Juilliard performing arts school. In 1964, Manilow met Bro Herrod, a CBS director, instead, Manilow wrote an entire original score. Herrod used Manilows composition in the Off Broadway musical, which enjoyed a run at New Yorks 13th Street Theatre. Manilow then earned money by working as a pianist, producer and arranger, during this time, he began to work as a commercial jingle writer, continuing well into the 1970s. Many of the jingles he wrote and/or composed he would perform, including State Farm Insurance. A1965 Polaroid Swinger commercial featuring Manilows Meet The Swinger jingle starred a young Ali MacGraw and his singing-only credits include commercials for Kentucky Fried Chicken, Pepsi, Dr Pepper, and the famed McDonalds You Deserve a Break Today campaign. Manilow won two Clio Awards in 1976 for his work for Tab and Band-Aid, by 1967, Manilow was the musical director for the WCBS-TV series Callback, which premiered on January 27,1968. He next conducted and arranged for Ed Sullivans production company, arranging a new theme for The Late Show, while writing, producing, and singing his radio and television jingles
Barry Manilow
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Manilow performing live in 2008 at the
Xcel Energy Center,
St. Paul, Minnesota.
Barry Manilow
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Barry Manilow live in 2008 during a 1960s sketch
Barry Manilow
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Barry Manilow at the piano, live in 2008
24.
Bay City Rollers
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The Bay City Rollers are a Scottish pop band whose popularity was highest in the mid 1970s. For a relatively brief, but fervent period, they were worldwide teen idols, in 1966 bassist Alan Longmuir, his younger brother, drummer Derek Longmuir and their schoolfriend, lead singer Gordon Nobby Clark, founded The Saxons in Edinburgh, Scotland. Soon after, they changed to The Bay City Rollers by throwing a dart at a map of the United States, the Bay City Rollers first manager was Tam Paton, himself a former big band leader. Short-term members from this period included bassist David Paton and keyboardist Billy Lyall, after signing with Bell Records, the bands first hit was Keep On Dancing, a cover of a 1965 hit by The Gentrys, recorded with record producer Jonathan King. Clark was backed on vocals on Keep On Dancing by King, upon this releases success, they made appearances on BBC Ones Top of the Pops. The group then won a Radio Luxembourg-sponsored song contest with the tune Mañana, several non-charting singles were released over the following two years. This period saw the addition of long term member guitarist Eric Faulkner, by the end of 1973, Clark had become disillusioned with the bands musical direction and decided to leave just when his recording of Remember zoomed up the charts to No.6. He was replaced as lead singer by Les McKeown, a couple of months later, in early 1974, what became known as the classic line-up was completed when guitarist John Devine was replaced by Stuart Woody Wood. In late 1973 McKeown recorded lead vocals on Remember, and a lead-in to a series of UK chart hits, the successful Classic Five line up consisted of Alan Longmuir, Derek Longmuir, Stuart Woody Wood, Eric Faulkner and Les McKeown. Beginning with Remember, the Rollers popularity exploded, and they released a string of hits on the UK chart, following in succession were Shang-a-Lang, Summerlove Sensation, and All of Me Loves All of You. By early 1975, they were one of the acts in the UK. That year saw a successful UK tour, which prompted newspaper headlines about the rise of Rollermania, the Rollers were the subject of a 20-week UK television series, Shang-a-Lang. A cover of the Four Seasons Bye, Bye, Baby stayed at No.1 hit, two full-length LPs were produced during this period, Once Upon a Star and Wouldnt You Like It. Faulkner and Wood undertook the majority of the songwriting duties, by this time, Bay City Roller fans had a completely distinctive style of dress, the main elements of which were calf-length tartan trousers and tartan scarves. English singer-songwriter Nick Lowe wrote a paean to the band titled Bay City Rollers We Love You. The track was carefully sculpted to be enough to get Lowe out of a recording contract with United Artists. UA issued the record as by The Tartan Horde, which was the given to Rollers fans in England. Lowe was obliged to record a song called Rollers Show
Bay City Rollers
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Bay City Rollers in the Netherlands (1976) (Photo by Rob Bogaerts)
25.
Melissa Manchester
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Melissa Manchester is an American singer-songwriter and actress. Beginning in the 1970s, her songs have carried by adult contemporary radio stations and she has also appeared as an actress on television, in films, and on stage. Manchester was born in The Bronx, a borough of New York City and her father was a bassoonist for the New York Metropolitan Opera. Her mother was one of the first women to design and found her own clothing firm, Manchester hails from a Jewish background. Manchester started a career at an early age. She studied songwriting at New York University with Paul Simon, Manchester played the Manhattan club scene where she was discovered by Barry Manilow who introduced her to Bette Midler. In 1971 she became a member of the Harlettes, the singers for Midler. Manchester made a speaking appearance as Yoko Ono on the 1972 album National Lampoon Radio Dinner, on the track entitled Magical Misery Tour. Her debut album, Home to Myself, was released in 1973, two years later, Manchesters album Melissa produced her first top ten hit, Midnight Blue, which enjoyed 17 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. The songs peak-position was #6 for the week of August 9,1975 and she also performed the song live on Burt Sugarmans television series Midnight Special in 1974. Manchester collaborated with Kenny Loggins to co-write Loggins 1978 hit duet with Stevie Nicks and she would later record this for her 1979 Melissa Manchester album. She guest-starred on the CBS-TV daytime soap opera Search for Tomorrow to teach a main character, who played a singer-songwriter, the essentials of the craft. In 1979, Manchester reached #10 with her version of Peter Allens Dont Cry Out Loud, in 1979, she performed two nominated songs on the Academy Awards show, Ill Never Say Goodbye and Through the Eyes of Love. The winning song that year was It Goes Like It Goes, the song itself reached #4 in Cash Box and #5 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart as well as #10 Adult Contemporary. Manchester continued to place singles on the Adult Contemporary charts throughout the 1980s, another top 10 entry on the AC chart was a 1989 updating of Dionne Warwicks Walk on By. The single was pulled from album Tribute, which honored some of the singers that influenced her style, in 1992 she sang the title song for the animated musical, Little Nemo, Adventures In Slumberland written by the Sherman Brothers and accompanied by the London Symphony Orchestra. In 2004, Manchester returned with her first album in 10 years, while touring to support the album, she was praised for her still powerful voice and for reinventing while staying true to what made popular. She appeared as herself during a two-day guest appearance on the ABC-TV daytime soap General Hospital to sing the song for Robin Scorpio and her AIDS-afflicted boyfriend Stone Cates
Melissa Manchester
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Manchester in concert on October 28, 2009 in Annapolis, Maryland
26.
Air Supply
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Air Supply is an Australian soft rock duo, consisting of singer-songwriter and guitarist Graham Russell and lead vocalist Russell Hitchcock. They had a succession of hits worldwide, including eight Top Ten hits in the United States and they formed in Australia in 1975 and have included various accompanying musicians and singers. The Australian Recording Industry Association inducted Air Supply into their Hall of Fame on 1 December 2013 at the annual ARIA Awards. Chrissie Hammond, Russell Hitchcock, and Graham Russell met in May 1975 while performing in the Australian production of the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. With Hammond and Hitchcock on vocals and Russell on guitar, they formed a vocal group in Melbourne. Hammond left the group to form Cheetah and was replaced by Jeremy Paul on bass guitar. Together, Hitchcock, Russell and Paul formed Air Supply, the groups first single, Love and Other Bruises, was released in November 1976 and peaked at No.6 on the Australian Kent Music Report Singles Chart in January 1977. It was followed by Air Supply, their album, in December. The album was produced by Peter Dawkins with Air Supply line-up as Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and drummer Jeff Browne, guitarist Mark McEntee and keyboardist, Other singles were If You Knew Me, Empty Pages and Feel the Breeze but none reached the Top 40. A national tour followed with Hitchcock, Paul, Russell and Scott joined by Nigel Macara on drums, the album spawned the singles Do What You Do, Thats How the Whole Thing Started and Do It Again but neither album nor singles charted into the Top 40. From late 1977, the group supported Rod Stewart during his tour of Australia—he invited them to continue to the United States, Paul, in 1980, recruited fellow former Air Supply bandmate McEntee in the line-up of Divinyls, fronted by Chrissie Amphlett. Air Supply performed in London supporting Chicago and Boz Scaggs, by early 1978, the line-up was Hitchcock, Russell, and Macara with George Terry and Joey Murcia on guitar, George Bitzer on keyboards and Harold Cowart on bass guitar. However, by mid-1978, only Hitchcock and Russell remained in the line-up, backed by Ralph Cooper on drums and former Sailor members Brian Hamilton on bass guitar and vocals and David Moyse on guitar. In April 1979, the band released Life Support, an album which included a picture disc on its first printing. The album was recorded at Trafalgar Studios in Sydney, the album had a five-and-a-half-minute version of Lost in Love, written by Graham Russell in 15 minutes, it was released as a single and peaked at No.13 in Australia and No.13 in New Zealand. The track caught the attention of Arista Records boss Clive Davis, in late November 1979 Russell was embroiled in a bitter court case with Samuel Nay over accusations of assault at a backstage meet and greet in Oklahoma. Nay would later pass away during the case and all charges were dropped. The line-up for the album kept Hitchcock, Russell, Cooper, and Moyse, Esler-Smith had previously known Hitchcock and Russell from working with them in Jesus Christ Superstar
Air Supply
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Graham Russell (left) and Russell Hitchcock (right) of Air Supply, 2006
Air Supply
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Air Supply at the Subic Convention Center, Philippines on 12 June 2008.
Air Supply
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Air Supply live in
Napa, California in 2015
27.
The Kinks
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The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, North London, in 1964 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most important and influential bands of the era. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat and their third single, the Ray Davies-penned You Really Got Me, became an international hit, topping the charts in the United Kingdom and reaching the Top 10 in the United States. Between the mid-1960s and early 1970s, the released a string of hit singles, studio albums drew good reviews. Their music was influenced by a range of genres, including rhythm and blues, British music hall, folk. They gained a reputation for reflecting English culture and lifestyle, fuelled by Ray Davies observational writing style, in addition, groups such as Van Halen, the Jam, the Knack, the Pretenders and the Fall covered their songs, helping to boost the Kinks record sales. In the 1990s, Britpop acts such as Blur and Oasis cited the band as a major influence, the Kinks broke up in 1996, a result of the commercial failures of their last few albums and creative tension between the Davies brothers. Ray Davies and Dave Davies remained members throughout the groups 32-year run, longest-serving member Mick Avory was replaced by Bob Henrit, formerly of Argent, in 1984. Original bassist Pete Quaife was replaced by John Dalton in 1969, session keyboardist Nicky Hopkins accompanied the band in the studio for many of their recordings in the mid-to-late 1960s. In 1969 the band became an official five-piece when keyboardist John Gosling joined them, being replaced by Ian Gibbons in 1979, the group had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40, in the UK, the group had seventeen Top 20 singles and five Top 10 albums. Four of their albums have been certified gold by the RIAA and have gone on to sell over 50 million albums worldwide, among numerous honours, they received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Service to British Music. In 1990, the four members of the Kinks were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Davies brothers were born in suburban North London on Huntingdon Road, East Finchley and their parents, Frederick and Annie Davies, moved the family to 6 Denmark Terrace, Fortis Green, in the neighbouring suburb of Muswell Hill. At home they were immersed in a world of varied styles, from the music hall of their parents generation to the jazz and early rock. Both Ray and his brother Dave, younger by almost three years, learned to play guitar, and they played skiffle and rock and roll together. The brothers attended William Grimshaw Secondary Modern School, where formed a band. Their debut at a dance was well received, which encouraged the group to play at local pubs
The Kinks
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Original line-up in 1965. From left: Pete Quaife, Dave Davies, Ray Davies, Mick Avory.
The Kinks
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6 Denmark Terrace, the childhood home of the Davies brothers. The front room is where the family's frequent Saturday night parties were held.
The Kinks
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Publicity photo taken during a Swedish tour in 1965
The Kinks
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With the newly hired John Dalton in 1969. From left: Dave Davies, Ray Davies, Dalton, Mick Avory
28.
Dionne Warwick
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Dionne Warwick is an American singer, actress and TV-show host, who became a United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, and a United States Ambassador of Health. Having been in a partnership with songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Warwick ranks among the 40 biggest hit makers of the rock era. She is second only to Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist of all time. Marie Dionne Warrick, later Warwick, was born on December 12,1940 in East Orange, New Jersey, to Mancel Warrick and her mother was manager of the Drinkard Singers, and her father was a Pullman porter, chef, record promoter and CPA. She was named after her aunt on her mothers side, Dionne had a sister Delia who died in 2008 and a brother, Mancel Jr. who was killed in an accident in 1968 at the age of 21. Her parents were both African American, and she also has Native American, Brazilian and Dutch ancestry, after finishing East Orange High School in 1959, Warwick pursued her passion at the Hartt College of Music in Hartford, Connecticut. She also landed work with her group singing backing vocals for recording sessions in New York City. During one session, Warwick met Burt Bacharach, who hired her to record demos featuring songs written by him, much of Warricks family were members of the Drinkard Singers, a renowned family gospel group and RCA recording artists that frequently performed throughout the New York metropolitan area. The original group consisted of Cissy, Anne, Larry, and Nicky, but later included Warwicks grandparents, Nicholas and Delia Drinkard, Marie instructed the group and they were managed by Lee. As they became successful, Lee and Marie began performing with the group, and they were augmented by pop/R&B singer Judy Clay. Elvis Presley eventually expressed an interest in having them join his touring entourage, Dionne began singing gospel as a child at the New Hope Baptist Church in Newark, New Jersey. After personnel changes, the Gospelaires became the group the Sweet Inspirations, which had some chart success. And we left and did the session, I wish I remembered the gentlemans name because he was responsible for the beginning of my professional career. The backstage encounter led to the group being asked to sing background sessions at recording studios in New York, the background vocal work would continue while Warwick pursued her studies at Hartt. According to a July 14,1967 article on Warwick from Time, Bacharach stated, She has a strong side. Musically, she was no play-safe girl, what emotion I could get away with. And what complexity, compared with the run of pop songs. During the session, Bacharach asked Warwick if she would be interested in recording demonstration recordings of his compositions to pitch the tunes to record labels
Dionne Warwick
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Warwick in 2012
Dionne Warwick
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Warwick with First Lady
Pat Nixon, 1971
29.
Aretha Franklin
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Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Franklin began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklins church as a child, in 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with such as Respect, A Natural Woman. These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade, in 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria Nessun dorma, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with A Rose Is Still a Rose, Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and she was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Barbara and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Her father, who went by the nickname, C. L. was an itinerant preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was a piano player. Alongside Franklin, her parents had three children while both C. L. and Barbara had children from outside their marriage. The family relocated to Buffalo, New York when Franklin was two, before her fifth birthday, C. L. Franklin permanently relocated the family to Detroit, Michigan where he took over the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church. Franklins mother died on March 7,1952, before Franklins tenth birthday, several women, including Franklins grandmother Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time, Franklin learned how to play piano by ear, Franklins fathers emotionally driven sermons resulted in him being known as the man with the million-dollar voice and earning thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. Just after her mothers death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn, Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me. Four years later, when Franklin was 14, her father began managing her and he helped his daughter get signed to her first recording deal with J. V. B. Records, where her first album, Songs of Faith, was issued in 1956, two singles were released to gospel radio stations including Never Grow Old and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Franklin sometimes traveled with The Caravans and The Soul Stirrers during this time and developed a crush on Sam Cooke, after turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records. Franklin was signed as a five-percent artist, during this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances
Aretha Franklin
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Franklin's birthplace at 406 Lucy Ave. in
Memphis, Tennessee.
Aretha Franklin
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Aretha Franklin in 1967
Aretha Franklin
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Franklin performing on April 21, 2007, at the Nokia Theater in Dallas, Texas
Aretha Franklin
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Franklin singing at the 2009 inauguration of President Obama
30.
Atlantic Records
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Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American major record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. In 2004, Atlantic Records and its sister label Elektra Records merged into Atlantic Records Group, craig Kallman is currently the chairman of Atlantic Records. Ahmet Ertegün served as founding chairman until his death on December 14,2006, the brothers had become ardent fans of jazz and rhythm & blues music, amassing a collection of over 15,00078 RPM records. He convinced the family dentist, Dr Vahdi Sabit, to invest $10,000 and recruited Herb Abramson, Abramson had worked as a part-time A&R manager/producer for the jazz label National Records, signing Big Joe Turner and Billy Eckstine. He founded Jubilee Records in 1946, but had no interest in its most successful artists, so, in September 1947, he sold his share in Jubilee to his partner, Jerry Blaine, and invested $2500 in the new Atlantic label. When interviewed in 2009 she attributed her reputation to the companys chronic cash-flow shortage, most of the problems we had with artists were that they wanted advances, and that was very difficult for us. We were undercapitalized for a long time, the labels original office in the Ritz Hotel, Manhattan proved too expensive so they relocated to an $85 per month room in the Hotel Jefferson. In its early years Atlantic focused principally on modern jazz although it released some country and western and spoken word recordings. The union action forced Atlantic to use almost all its capital to cut and stockpile enough recordings to last through the ban, Ertegun and Abramson spent much of the late 1940s and early 1950s scouring nightclubs in search of talent. Ertegun composed many songs under the alias A, in early 1949 a New Orleans distributor phoned Ertegun trying to obtain Stick McGhees Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee, which was unavailable due to the closure of McGhees previous label. Ertegun knew Sticks younger brother Brownie McGhee, with whom Stick happened to be staying, so he contacted the McGhee brothers, Ertegun asked about artists royalties, which he paid, which surprised Columbia executives, who did not, which scuttled the deal. On the recommendation of broadcaster Willis Conover, Ertegun and Abramson went to see Ruth Brown at the Crystal Caverns club in Washington and she was badly injured in a car accident en route to New York but Atlantic supported her for nine months and then signed her. Her first release for the label So Long, cut at her second Atlantic session on May 25,1949 with the Eddie Condon band, was a major hit, reaching #6 on the R&B chart. Brown went on to more than eighty songs for the label, becoming the most prolific. So significant was Browns success to Atlantics fortunes that the label became known colloquially as The House That Ruth Built. The Clovers Dont You Know I Love You became the labels first R&B #1 in September 1951 and she hit #1 again in March–April 1952 with 5-10-15 Hours. After she left the label in 1961 Browns fortunes declined rapidly - within a few years was reduced to working as a cleaner and bus-driver to support her children. Brown eventually received a payment of $20,000 and founded a charity
Atlantic Records
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"Weird Al" Yankovic edits the Atlantic Records' Wikipedia page to read "YOU SUCK!" in the music video for the song "
White & Nerdy "
Atlantic Records
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Atlantic Records logo as of 2015.
31.
Whitney Houston
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Whitney Elizabeth Houston was an American singer, actress, producer, and model. In 2009, Guinness World Records cited her as the most awarded female act of all time, Houston is one of pop musics best-selling music artists of all-time, with an estimated 170–200 million records sold worldwide. She released seven albums and two soundtrack albums, all of which have diamond, multi-platinum, platinum or gold certification. Houston is the only artist to chart seven consecutive No.1 Billboard Hot 100 hits and she is the second artist behind Elton John and the only woman to have two number-one Billboard 200 Album awards on the Billboard magazine year-end charts. Houstons debut album, Whitney Houston, became the debut album by a woman in history. Rolling Stone named it the best album of 1986, and ranked it at number 254 on the magazines list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Her second studio album, Whitney, became the first album by a woman to debut at number one on the Billboard 200 albums chart, Houstons first acting role was as the star of the feature film The Bodyguard. The films original soundtrack won the 1994 Grammy Award for Album of the Year and its lead single, I Will Always Love You, won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year and became the best-selling single by a woman in music history. With the album, Houston became the first act to sell more than a million copies of an album within a week period under Nielsen SoundScan system. The album makes her the top female act in the top 10 list of the albums of all time. Houston continued to star in movies and contribute to their soundtracks, including the films Waiting to Exhale, the Preachers Wife soundtrack became the best-selling gospel album in history. On February 11,2012, Houston was found dead in her guest room at the Beverly Hilton, in Beverly Hills, the official coroners report showed that she had accidentally drowned in the bathtub, with heart disease and cocaine use listed as contributing factors. News of her death coincided with the 2012 Grammy Awards and featured prominently in American, Whitney Houston was born on August 9,1963 in what was then a middle-income neighborhood in Newark, New Jersey. She was the daughter of Army serviceman and entertainment executive John Russell Houston, Jr. and her elder brother Michael is a singer, and her elder half-brother is former basketball player Gary Garland. Her parents were both African American, through her mother, Houston was a first cousin of singers Dionne Warwick and Dee Dee Warwick. Her godmother was Darlene Love and her aunt was Aretha Franklin. Houston was raised a Baptist, but was exposed to the Pentecostal church. After the 1967 Newark riots, the moved to a middle-class area in East Orange, New Jersey
Whitney Houston
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Houston performing at
Welcome Home Heroes with Whitney Houston in 1991
Whitney Houston
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New Hope Baptist Church
Whitney Houston
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Houston performing "
Saving All My Love for You " on the Welcome Home Heroes concert in 1991
Whitney Houston
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Houston performing "
My Love Is Your Love " with her daughter
Bobbi Kristina Brown on
Good Morning America, September 1, 2009
32.
Recording Industry Association of America
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The Recording Industry Association of America is a continental North and South American trade organization that represents the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA says create, the RIAA headquarters is in Washington, D. C. The RIAA was formed in 1952 and its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3 rpm,45 rpm. Since 2001, the RIAA has spent $2 to $6 million each year on lobbying in the United States, the RIAA also participates in the collective rights management of sound recordings, and it is responsible for certifying Gold and Platinum albums and singles in the United States. Cary Sherman has been the RIAAs chairman and CEO since 2011, Sherman joined the RIAA as its general counsel in 1997 and became president of the board of directors in 2001, serving in that position until being made chairman and CEO. Mitch Glazier has been the RIAAs senior executive vice president since 2011 and he served as executive vice president for public policy and industry relations from 2000 to 2011. The past RIAA chairman and CEO is Mitch Bainwol, who served from 2003 to 2011 and he left in 2011 to become president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The board of directors consists of 26 members of the board, the RIAA operates an award program for albums that sell a large number of copies. The program originally began in 1958, with a Gold Award for singles, the criterion was changed in 1975 to the number of copies sold, with albums selling 500,000 copies awarded the Gold Award. In 1976, a Platinum Award was added for one million sales, the awards are open to both RIAA members and non-members. Since 2000, the RIAA also operates a program for Latin music sales. Currently, a Disco De Oro is awarded for 30,000 units, the RIAA defines Latin music as a type of release with 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish. In 2006, digital ringtones were added to branch of certification. In the same year, the RIAA introduced the Latin Digital Award for digital recordings in Spanish and this release format includes DVD and VHS releases, and certain live albums and compilation albums. The certification criteria is different from other styles. Gold,50,000 Platinum,100,000 Multi-Platinum,200,000 copies The RIAA opposes unauthorized sharing of its music, studies conducted since the association began its campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing have concluded that losses incurred per download range from negligible to moderate. The association has commenced high-profile lawsuits against file sharing service providers and it has also commenced a series of lawsuits against individuals suspected of file sharing, notably college students and parents of file sharing children
Recording Industry Association of America
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Recording Industry Association of America
33.
GRP Records
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GRP Records is a jazz record label founded by Dave Grusin and Larry Rosen in 1978. GRP was known for its recordings and jazz-pop sound. When they founded GRP in 1978, they continued to concentrate on this fusion of jazz, pop, GRP was distributed by Arista until 1982. It was independent until 1987, when it made a deal with MCA Distributing, in 1990 MCA bought GRP, giving the latter use of the catalogues of Impulse. and Decca, which GRP began to reissue on CD. GRPs use of Soundstream and digital recording contributed to the success of the label, grusins album Mountain Dance was one of the earliest all-digital recordings outside of classical music. They also released the album of Cuban trumpet player Arturo Sandoval entitled Flight to Freedom in 1991 after he. The HBO film For Love or Country, The Arturo Sandoval Story told his story in 2001, GRP celebrated its 10th anniversary by recording an album and video with many of the musicians on its roster forming the GRP All-Star Big Band. The label also reissued Glenn Millers In the Digital Mood on a special edition gold CD, GRP was the top contemporary jazz label on Billboard magazines charts for five consecutive years and increased the demand for smooth jazz music. When Grusin and Rosen left in 1995, they were replaced by producer Tommy LiPuma, the label added George Benson, Chris Botti, Al Jarreau, Diana Krall, and Joe Sample. With Universal Music Groups acquisition of PolyGram in 1998, GRP became one of a series of labels managed by the Verve Music Group and its output today is primarily smooth jazz under the moniker of Great Records, Period. GRP currently manages most of the back catalog that Universal owned before the PolyGram merger. The jazz holdings of ABC Records are issued on Impulse and this includes the jazz back catalog of Famous Music Group, which ABC purchased from Gulf+Western in 1974, and the Arista-distributed GRP recordings, which is controlled by Sony Music Entertainment. 1978 in music The Dave Grusin Archive Official site of co-founder Larry Rosen
GRP Records
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The GRP Records label's logos.
GRP Records
34.
Arista Nashville
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Arista Nashville is an American record label that is a wholly owned division of Sony Music Entertainment, operated under the Sony Music Nashville division. Formed in 1989, the label specializes in music artists, including Alan Jackson, Brooks & Dunn, Brad Paisley. The label used to operate three sister labels, Career Records, Arista Austin and Arista Latin and it was a subsidiary of Arista Records, but after the dissolution, it was not affected and remains a Sony Music label. Arista Nashville was formed in 1989 by Tim DuBois and Clive Davis, Alan Jackson was the first artist signed to the label. Brooks & Dunn remained with the label for the entirety of their career, the label founded Arista Texas in 1993, a sub-label specializing in Texas music artists. In 1997, it was split into Arista Austin, which featured Jeff Black, Robert Earl Keen and Abra Moore, foster also moved to Arista Austin from Arista Nashville in 1997. In 1995, Arista Nashville founded a label called Career Records. Parnell was transferred to this label upon its foundation, while Brett James, all three artists moved back to Arista Nashville when Career Records was disestablished. While Graham and James were dropped from it afterward, James re-signed to Arista Nashville between 2002 and 2003. From 2005 to 2017, Arista Nashville, Arista Records and 19 Recordings promoted and distributed recordings by American Idol winner Carrie Underwood, in late 2009, Brad Paisley launched a personal label, Sea Gayle, which is distributed through Arista. The labels first signee is Jerrod Niemann, after the dissolution of Arista Records in 2011, Arista Nashville remains Sony Musics only current label with the Arista name
Arista Nashville
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Arista Nashville
Arista Nashville
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Primary businesses
35.
Jive Records
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Jive Records was an American record label under the RCA Music Group formed in 1981 by Zomba Records. Formerly headquartered in New York City, the label was best known for a string of successes with hip hop artists in the 1980s, and also in teen pop and boy bands during the 1990s, jIVEs best-selling artists worldwide were the Backstreet Boys, *NSYNC, and Britney Spears. Today, the Jive brand is being used under the Sony Music France division under the name JIVE Epic France. In 1971, South African musicians Clive Calder and Ralph Simon began a publishing and it was named Zomba Records and relocated to London, England, four years later, their first client was a young Robert Mutt Lange. Zomba originally wanted to record labels, choosing instead to focus on their songwriters and producers while allowing other established labels to release the material. Later that decade, the opened offices in the US. In 1981, Zomba formed JIVE Records, whose operations began with the release of British dance and pop music such as Q-Feel, A Flock of Seagulls and its name was inspired by township JIVE, a type of music that originated in South Africa. Davis had hoped that Zombas connection with Mutt Lange would help alleviate the difficulties Arista was having finding potentially successful rock acts. By 1982, Calder was introduced to Barry Weiss, a college graduate who took Calder out to hip-hop clubs in New York City for his job interview with Zomba. He was immediately impressed, Together, they began grooming musicians for what would eventually become Whodini, after two days, the group created and recorded its hit single Magics Wand. While the group would eventually leave JIVE, the success allowed the label to focus on hip-hop artists throughout the 1980s. In 1987, JIVE cut distribution ties with Arista, effectively separating them from Daviss authority, who eschewed hip-hop. As the 1980s drew to a close, the label entered a deal with RCA Records, by the late 1990s, JIVE began signing pop acts Backstreet Boys, NSYNC, and Britney Spears. All three achieved massive success as the 2000s dawned, becoming the three best-selling acts in the labels history, in 1991, Barry Weiss became CEO and president of JIVE Records. After two decades, he left JIVE in March 2011 for Universal Music Group, the company was later reorganized with some artists moving to a restructured Epic Records, while others stayed with JIVE as it moved under the RCA Music Group. In April 2011, it was reported that Jay-Z had outbid executives at JIVE to acquire independent record label Block Starz Music. On October 7,2011, it was announced that JIVE, along with Arista and J Records would be shut down to refresh, all artists on those labels were moved to RCA Records. JIVE Records remains active in France as JIVE Epic, serving as the label for international pop
Jive Records
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Primary businesses
Jive Records
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Jive Records
36.
Rowdy Records
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Rowdy Records is an independent record label, distributed through Motown Records. Formed in 1992 by producers Dallas Austin and L. A. Reid, at the time, Austin had gained notoriety for writing and producing hits for acts like Monica, Another Bad Creation, Boyz II Men, Joi, For Real, Da King & I and TLC. Reid, meanwhile, was running the fledging LaFace Records. In 1993, Reid stepped down to continue focusing his energies on LaFace, Rowdy shot to success in 1995 with the release of the triple platinum debut album from fourteen-year-old R&B singer Monica entitled Miss Thang. Other acts on the included, Yall So Stupid, Illegal, For Real, Fishbone. The label also released the soundtrack to the motion-picture Fled, in spite of the labels strong buzz in the industry, by 1997 Rowdy began to flounder, as Monicas debut album had been its biggest release to date—and arguably the companys only success. Creative differences with Arista subsequently caused Rowdy to vacate its fold, without a major distributor, Rowdy briefly went the independent route before stalling completely. Austins career, meanwhile, continued to thrive as he remained a sought after producer. In 1998, Rowdy closed its doors and he then started the short-lived record label Freeworld Entertainment after the dissolution of Rowdy. In 2005, when a fledgling Decatur, Georgia based hip-hop group called Da BackWudz caught Austins attention, upon its reactivation, Rowdy took up distribution with Motown Records. Da BackWudz Sy Scott Vonzell Solomon Colin Munroe References, Q-PID Yall So Stupid Sammie GSR Muzza Chunka Monica Da King & I Stick Illegal Rampage the Last Boy Scout Jamal a. k. a. Mally G For Real Dallas Austin Spearhead X Arnold Hennings Tim & Bob Mario Winans List of record labels
Rowdy Records
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Rowdy Records
37.
General Electric
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General Electric, often abbreviated as GE, is an American multinational conglomerate corporation incorporated in New York and headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts. In 2011, GE ranked among the Fortune 500 as the 68th-largest firm in the U. S. by gross revenue, as of 2012, the company was listed the fourth-largest in the world among the Forbes Global 2000, further metrics being taken into account. The Nobel Prize has twice been awarded to employees of General Electric, Irving Langmuir in 1932, on January 13,2016, it was announced that GE will be moving its corporate headquarters from Fairfield, Connecticut to the South Boston Waterfront neighborhood of Boston, Massachusetts. The first group of workers arrived in the summer of 2016, morgan and the Vanderbilt family for Edisons lighting experiments. The new company also acquired Sprague Electric Railway & Motor Company in the same year, both plants continue to operate under the GE banner to this day. The company was incorporated in New York, with the Schenectady plant used as headquarters for years thereafter. Around the same time, General Electrics Canadian counterpart, Canadian General Electric, was formed, in 1896, General Electric was one of the original 12 companies listed on the newly formed Dow Jones Industrial Average. After 120 years, it is the one of the original companies still listed on the Dow index. In 1911, General Electric absorbed the National Electric Lamp Association into its lighting business, GE established its lighting division headquarters at Nela Park in East Cleveland, Ohio. Nela Park is still the headquarters for GEs lighting business, owen D. Young, through GE, founded the Radio Corporation of America in 1919 to further international radio. GE used RCA as its retail arm for radio sales from 1919, in 1927, Ernst Alexanderson of GE made the first demonstration of his television broadcasts at his General Electric Realty Plot home at 1132 Adams Rd, Schenectady, NY. The sound was broadcast on GEs WGY, experimental television station W2XAD evolved into station WRGB which—along with WGY and WGFM —was owned and operated by General Electric until 1983. GEs history of working with turbines in the field gave them the engineering know-how to move into the new field of aircraft turbosuperchargers. Led by Sanford Alexander Moss, GE introduced the first superchargers during World War I, superchargers became indispensable in the years immediately prior to World War II, and GE was the world leader in exhaust-driven supercharging when the war started. This experience, in turn, made GE a natural selection to develop the Whittle W.1 jet engine that was demonstrated in the United States in 1941, GE ranked ninth among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. In 2002, GE acquired the assets of Enron during its bankruptcy proceedings. Some consumers boycotted GE light bulbs, refrigerators and other products in the 1980s and 1990s to protest GEs role in weapons production. With IBM, Burroughs, NCR, Control Data Corporation, Honeywell, RCA and UNIVAC, GE had a line of general purpose and special purpose computers
General Electric
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General Electric in Schenectady, NY, aerial view, 1896
General Electric
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General Electric Company
General Electric
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Plan of Schenectady plant, 1896
General Electric
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A 23-ton
diesel-electric locomotive made at the General Electric Corp. plant in
Schenectady, New York
38.
Northwestside Records
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/ˈɛ. rɪ. stə/ was a major American record label. It was a wholly owned unit of Sony Music Entertainment and was handled by Bertelsmann Music Group. The company operated under the RCA Music Group until 2011, the label was founded in 1974 by Clive Davis, who formerly worked for CBS Records. Until its demise in 2011, it was a distributor and promoter of albums throughout the United States. Today, the labels reissues and catalogue releases are handled by RCA Records, after being fired from CBS Records, Clive Davis was hired by Columbia Pictures in June 1974 to be a consultant for the companys record and music operations. The label was named Arista after New York Citys secondary school honor society, in early 1975, most of the artists who had been signed to Bell were let go, except David Cassidy, Tony Orlando and Dawn, and the 5th Dimension. Others, such as Suzi Quatro and Hot Chocolate, were farmed out to the Bell/Arista-distributed label, several Bell acts, such as Barry Manilow, the Bay City Rollers, and Melissa Manchester moved to Arista. The British Bell label kept that name for a couple of years before changing its name to Arista, the label was immortalized in the 1978 Rockpile song They Called It Rock, in the lyric, Arista says they love you/But the kids cant dance to this. In addition to Manilow, the Kinks, and Dionne Warwick, Arista signed Aretha Franklin in 1980, the labels most significant acquisition came in 1983 when Davis signed Warwicks cousin, Whitney Houston. Houston would eventually become Aristas biggest-selling recording artist, with sales of 200 million records worldwide, Arista had an imprint label in the 1970s called Arista Novus, which focused on contemporary jazz artists. A country music division, Career Records, was merged into the Arista Nashville division in 1997, Arista Austin was used in the late 1990s as a country label. Additionally, Arista was the North American distributor of Jive Records from 1981 until 1987, during the 1990s, Arista also distributed Logic, Rowdy and Heavenly Recordings. Looking to stave off bankruptcy, Columbia Pictures sold Arista to German-based Ariola Records in 1979, after Ariola purchased General Electrics RCA Records in 1986, the combined company was renamed Bertelsmann Music Group, though Aristas U. S. releases would not note BMG until 1987. Into the 1980s, Arista continued its success, including major UK act Secret Affair, over the years it acquired Northwestside Records, deConstruction Records, First Avenue Records, and Dedicated Records in the UK. In 1989, Arista entered into a joint venture with Antonio L. A. Reid and Babyface in the creation of LaFace Records record company of TLC, in 1993, Arista also entered into a joint-venture with Sean P. Diddy Combs to form Bad Boy Records. In 1997 Arista acquired Profile Records, the home of Run-D. M. C. in 1989, Arista signed Milli Vanilli, a duo consisting of Rob Pilatus and Fab Morvan that was based in Germany. The label released its album, Girl You Know Its True, which was a remixed and re-edited version of All or Nothing. The album was certified platinum in the U. S. and charted five top-ten singles
Northwestside Records
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Primary businesses
Northwestside Records
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Arista Records
39.
DeConstruction Records
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Deconstruction Records is a British record label founded in 1987 by Pete Hadfield and Keith Blackhurst, together with Mike Pickering of M People. According to DJ Magazine it is best remembered for marrying underground credibility and diversity with an attitude towards pop. It initially specialised in house anthems such as K Klasss Rhythm Is A Mystery, as well as M Peoples output, but also had a record in promoting underground dance acts such as Dave Clarke. Hits included Robert Miless UK No.2 hit Children, Felixs twice UK Top Ten hit Dont You Want Me and Italian techno act U. S. U. R. A. s UK No.7 hit, Open Your Mind. It was home to Kylie Minogue in the mid-late 1990s, when working with Saint Etienne, Brothers in Rhythm, among the other artists to record for the company were Guru Josh, Black Box, M People, Way Out West, Sasha, and Republica. It also released recordings by Lionrock, Death in Vegas and Dub Pistols through its Concrete Records subsidiary, distribution was via label deals with Parlophone, for acts such as K-Klass and Bassheads, and RCA Records for everybody else. It was acquired by BMG in 1993, and its operations reduced in 1998, Sony Music then acquired BMGs stake in Sony BMG Music Entertainment in 2008, which led to the closure of both Deconstruction and Concrete. They relaunched some of its catalogue, and announced some new signings in late 2009, including Axwell, Diagram of the Heart, Retro/Grade. In May 2010, it was announced that Calvin Harris was signed the head of the A&R team at the newly relaunched Deconstruction label
DeConstruction Records
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Kylie Minogue
40.
Antonio Reid
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Antonio Marquis L. A. Reid is an American music executive, musician, songwriter, record producer, author and former television music competition judge. He is currently the chairman and CEO of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment. Reid was also the founder and CEO of Hitco Music Publishing, based in New York, Reid first began his music career as a drummer, with his first appearance on record being with the Cincinnati funk rock outfit Pure Essence. Pure Essence released one solitary 45 in the mid-1970s and they later appeared on local FM rock radio station WEBNs second annual LP compilation, but the group was renamed Essence. Reid would experience more success when he became a member of the 1980s R&B band The Deele, best known for their 1988 hit Two Occasions. The band had broken up before the success of the single, the song peaked at number 10 on the Billboard Hot 100. After The Deele disbanded, Reid and band mate Kenneth Babyface Edmonds founded LaFace in 1989 through a joint venture with Arista Records, with funding from Arista Records creator Clive Davis. The label soon became one of the destinations for popular African-American entertainers who created Black Pop music that was easily accessible to both Urban and Top 40 radio formats. Reid signed 14-year-old Usher to the label, whose six album releases have sold 65 million units worldwide, other popular acts on the label during its peak include Toni Braxton, TLC, and Outkast. Both TLC and Toni Braxton went on to more than 65 million records each. Initially headquartered in Atlanta, the played a significant role in building the current landscape of the Atlanta music industry. Hitco Publishing Group With the belief that good songwriting is essential to the success of recording artists, Reid formed the Hitco Publishing Group in 1996 and he gave the future senior vice president of Island Def Jam Music Group his first position as an inter-level creative person at Hitco. In May 2000, Edmonds and Reid sold their remaining 50% stake in LaFace to parent company BMG, the label became an imprint of Arista Records, with Arista taking on sales, marketing, and promotional duties for its acts. At this time, Reid also succeeded his mentor Clive Davis as president of Arista Records, in 2000, LaFace was merged into Arista Records with Reid being promoted to president and CEO of Arista Records. In 1997 Reid was accepted to the Harvard Business School Advanced Management Program in preparation to become CEO of Arista Records in 2000, Reid signed his first unknown artist, pop/rocker Avril Lavigne, to Arista. Her debut album Let Go sold 6 million copies in the United States, as president of Arista Records, Reid brought the company great success by signing artists such as P. nk and Ciara. Outkasts Speakerboxxx/The Love Below also went on to sell 10 million copies and won a Grammy Award for Album of the year. Following the merger of Sony and BMG, L. A. Reid was released from his contract at Arista in 2004 and quickly became the chairman, Reid stepped down as Chairman/CEO of Island Def Jam in March 2011
Antonio Reid
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Reid at
The X Factor in June 2011
Antonio Reid
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L.A. Reid and
Mariah Carey in 2005
41.
Kenneth Edmonds
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For the guitarist and Beard Of Wales, see Thee Faction. Kenneth Brian Edmonds, known professionally as Babyface, is an American singer, songwriter and he has written and produced over 26 number-one R&B hits throughout his career, and has won 11 Grammy Awards. Edmonds was born on April 10,1959, in Indianapolis, Indiana, to Marvin, Barbara was a production operator at a pharmaceutical plant. Edmonds, who is the fifth of six brothers, attended North Central High School in Indianapolis, Indiana, when he was in eighth grade, Edmonds father died of lung cancer, leaving his mother to raise her sons alone. At this stage, Edmonds became determined to have a career in music, Edmonds later played with funk performer Bootsy Collins, who tagged him Babyface because of his youthful look. He also performed in the group Manchild as a guitarist and he played keyboards in the light-funk and R&B group the Deele. One of his first major credits as a songwriter for outside artists came when he wrote the tune Slow Jam for the R&B band Midnight Star in 1983, Babyface remained in the Deele until 1988, when both he and Reid left the group. His album Playlist consists of eight songs and two original works. It was released on September 18,2007 and it was the first album on the newly re-launched Mercury Records label. On February 4,2014, he released a Grammy Award-winning duet album with Toni Braxton titled Love, Marriage & Divorce on Motown Records. In the late 1980s, he contributed to the creation of new jack swing, writing and producing music for the likes of Bobby Brown, Karyn White, Pebbles, Paula Abdul, in 1989, Edmonds co-founded LaFace Records with Reid. Three of the early artists TLC, Usher, and Toni Braxton were very successful. TLCs second album CrazySexyCool, for which he wrote and produced some of the hits, under his direction, TLC was able to sell more than 60 million albums worldwide, and a combined total of 75 million records. Toni Braxtons first two albums, Toni Braxton and Secrets, for which he wrote the majority of the songs, Babyface helped form the popular late-1990s R&B group Az Yet. Edmonds also helped to mold and work some of his then-wife Tracey Edmonds acts, such as Jon B. Edmonds has worked with many performers in contemporary music. “I’m Your Baby Tonight”, produced for Whitney Houston, was his first No.1 Top 40 hit in the US. He also wrote and produced Boyz II Mens 1992 End of the Road and 1994 Ill Make Love to You and he received three consecutive Grammy Awards for Producer of the Year from 1995 to 1997
Kenneth Edmonds
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Edmonds in May 2013
Kenneth Edmonds
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Edmonds performing in 2009
42.
LaFace Records
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LaFace Records was an American record label based in Atlanta, Georgia that operated as a unit of Sony Music Entertainment and was historically a part of Bertelsmann Music Group from 1989 to 2004. It was most active and achieved its greatest commercial success during the 1990s and it was originally distributed by its co-creator Arista Records from 1989 through 2001, after which it was shuttered and absorbed into Arista. In 2004, the label was rebooted, and it began operating through Jive Records until both were absorbed into RCA Records in 2011, today, the labels back catalog and reissues are managed by Legacy Recordings. LaFace was formed in 1989 as a joint venture between the producing duo Antonio L. A. Reid & Kenneth Babyface Edmonds, and Arista Records, the combined nicknames of the duos successful production company inspired the name of the label. Towards the end of the decade LaFace produced fewer artists, while Babyface began to more on his own music career. The label was acquired completely by Arista and BMG in 1999, in 2001, L. A. Reid was appointed Chairman/CEO of Arista. As a result of Reids promotion, LaFace was dissolved as most of its prominent acts moved up to the main Arista label to continue to work under Reid. In 2004, after the restructuring of the BMG labels. Most of its roster had moved on to Arista returned to the company upon its reactivation. In 2011, LaFace was again shuttered, this time being absorbed into RCA Records, the following is a list of artists who have recorded for LaFace Records. L. A. Reid Babyface Daryl Simmons Kayo Dallas Austin Organized Noize List of record labels Rosa Parks v. LaFace Records
LaFace Records
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Primary businesses
LaFace Records
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LaFace Records
43.
TLC (band)
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TLC is an American girl group whose original line-up consisted of Tionne T-Boz Watkins, Lisa Left Eye Lopes and Rozonda Chilli Thomas. Formed in Atlanta, Georgia, in 1991, the group was successful during the 1990s and early 2000s in spite of numerous spats with the law, each other. They scored nine hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including four number-one singles Creep, Waterfalls, No Scrubs. TLC also became the first R&B group in history to receive Million certification from the Recording Industry Association of Japan for FanMail, having sold over 65 million records worldwide, TLC is the best-selling American girl group and second worldwide to the English group Spice Girls. VH1 ranked TLC as the greatest female group, placing them at number 12 on the list of 100 Greatest Women in Music, Billboard magazine ranked TLC as one of the greatest musical trios, as well as the seventh most successful act of the 1990s. The groups accolades include five career Grammy Awards, five MTV Video Music Awards, twenty years after their debut, TLC was honored with Outstanding Contribution to Music at the 17th MOBO Awards and Legend Award at the 2013 MTV Video Music Awards Japan. All three members of TLC are considered irreplaceable by the members, and each of them have contributed equally to the group. Following Lopes death in 2002, instead of replacing her, the members chose to carry on as a duo. In 2017, they are set to release their album as TLC. Jones put out a call for two girls to join her in this trio. Calling the group 2nd Nature, Jones, Watkins, and Lopes began working with producers Jermaine Dupri, impressed by the girls, Reid renamed the group TLC-Skee, with TLC being an Initialism for the names Tionne, Lisa, and Crystal. Reid arranged an audition for them with local record label LaFace Records, run by Kenneth Babyface Edmonds and Reids then-husband, Antonio Reid saw potential in Watkins and Lopes as performers, but felt that Jones should be replaced. According to Jones, things began to unravel for her after Pebbles denied the group the opportunity to take home the contracts that Pebbitone had drafted, Jones did not want to sign before having the contract reviewed by others and perhaps a lawyer. In contrast, Watkins recollection of Jones departure is that both she and Lopes asked Jones to leave the group before their contracts were negotiated. On February 28,1991, Watkins and Lopes signed production, management, as they looked for a replacement for Jones, the two-member TLC-Skee made its first recorded appearance on a track for LaFace act Damian Dames self-titled 1991 LP. Pebbles found the third member in Rozonda Thomas, one of Damian Dames part-time backup dancers, Thomas was signed to the act in April 1991, at about which time the groups name was shortened to TLC. To maintain TLCs name as an acronym for the names, Watkins became T-Boz, Lopes became Left-Eye. The girls were signed to LaFace in May through the production deal with Pebbitone
TLC (band)
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From left to right:
Tionne Watkins,
Rozonda Thomas,
Lisa Lopes
44.
P. Diddy
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Sean John Combs, also known by his stage names Puff Daddy, Puffy, P. Diddy and Diddy, is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, actor, record producer and entrepreneur. He was born in Harlem and was raised in Mount Vernon and he worked as a talent director at Uptown Records before founding his label Bad Boy Entertainment in 1993. His debut album No Way Out has been certified seven times platinum and was followed by successful albums such as Forever, The Saga Continues. in 2009 Combs formed the musical group Diddy – Dirty Money and released the critically well-reviewed and commercially successful album Last Train to Paris. Combs has won three Grammy Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards, and is the producer of MTVs Making the Band, in 2016 Forbes estimated Combs net worth at $750 million. Sean John Combs was born on November 4,1969 in Harlem in Manhattan, New York City, and was raised in Mount Vernon, New York. His mother, Janice, was a model and teachers assistant and his father, at age 33, Melvin was shot to death while sitting in his car on Central Park West, when Combs was 2 years old. Combs graduated from the Roman Catholic Mount Saint Michael Academy in 1987 and he played football for the academy, and his team won a division title in 1986. Combs said that he was given the nickname Puff as a child, after dropping out of Howard University in 1990, after two years as a business major, Combs became an intern at New Yorks Uptown Records. While talent director at Uptown, he helped develop Jodeci and Mary J. Blige, in his college days Combs had a reputation for throwing parties, some of which attracted up to a thousand participants. In 1991, Combs promoted an AIDS fundraiser with Heavy D held at the City College of New York gymnasium, the event was oversold, and a stampede occurred in which nine people died. In 1993, after being fired from Uptown, Combs established his new label Bad Boy Entertainment as a joint venture with Arista Records, taking then-newcomer The Notorious B. I. G. with him. Both The Notorious B. I. G. and Craig Mack quickly released hit singles, followed by successful LPs, Combs signed more acts to Bad Boy, including Carl Thomas, Faith Evans,112, Total, and Father MC. The Hitmen, his production team, worked with Jodeci, Mary J. Blige, Usher, Lil Kim, TLC, Mariah Carey, Boyz II Men, SWV, Aretha Franklin. Mase and The Lox joined Bad Boy just as a widely publicized rivalry with the West Coasts Death Row Records was beginning, Combs and The Notorious B. I. G. were criticized and parodied by Tupac Shakur and Suge Knight in songs and interviews during the mid-1990s. During 1994–1995, Combs produced several songs for TLCs CrazySexyCool, which finished the decade as number 25 on Billboards list of top pop albums of the decade, in 1997, under the name Puff Daddy, Combs recorded his first commercial vocal work as a rapper. His debut single, Cant Nobody Hold Me Down, spent 28 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and his debut album, No Way Out, was released on July 1,1997, through Bad Boy Records. Originally titled Hell up in Harlem, the album underwent several changes after The Notorious B. I. G. was killed on March 9,1997, several of the labels artists made guest appearances on the album. No Way Out was a significant success, particularly in the United States, four other singles, Cant Nobody Hold Me Down, Its All About the Benjamins, Been Around the World, and Victory, were also released
P. Diddy
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Combs performing in December 2010
P. Diddy
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Bad Boy Entertainment Worldwide headquarters on
Broadway near
Times Square. A billboard of Combs is in the distance.
P. Diddy
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Combs with his sons Christian and Justin at the
Spider-Man 3 premiere (2007)
P. Diddy
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Combs' star on the
Hollywood Walk of Fame
45.
Bad Boy Records
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Bad Boy Entertainment is an American record label founded in 1993 by Sean Combs. Today, it operates as an imprint of Epic Records, a division of Sony Music Entertainment, after his climb from a non-paying internship to becoming an A&R executive at Uptown Records, Sean Puff Daddy Combs was fired in 1993 by Andre Harrell. Combs soon founded Bad Boy Records in 1993, the label’s first release was Flava In Ya Ear by Craig Mack, followed quickly by Macks debut album, Project, Funk Da World in 1994. On the heels of these releases came Juicy and Ready to Die, while Macks album went gold, Ready to Die achieved multi-platinum success. Dominating the charts in 1995, B. I. G. became one of the genre’s biggest names of the day, also in 1995, the label continued its success with platinum releases by Total and Faith Evans. The rapid success of Notorious B. I. G. and Bad Boy as a company, raised some tensions, for two years leading up to 1995, West Coast hip hop, dominated by Death Row, had been preeminent in mainstream rap music. Suge Knight, CEO of Death Row Records, held Combs responsible for the death of his friend Jake Robles. After the June 1996 release of Hit Em Up, smearing Bad Boy, Tupac was shot in Las Vegas on September 7,1996 soon after attending the Mike Tyson-Bruce Seldon boxing match at the MGM Grand Hotel and Casino. Tupac was pronounced dead on September 13, Bad Boy Records issued a statement of condolences. On March 9,1997, while Bad Boy were preparing the release of Biggies double album Life After Death, he was shot, the deaths of Biggie and Tupac left many to speculate if the coastal hostility had been responsible for their murders. The police investigations were criticized by public and judicial sources, posthumously, Biggie’s Life After Death reached number one on the Billboard Top 200. Its first two singles, Hypnotize and Mo Money, Mo Problems also topped the singles charts, the album eventually sold over 10 million copies in the United States alone, and is one of the highest selling rap albums ever in the U. S. In 1996, Puff Daddy had begun recording his own debut album. The first single, Cant Nobody Hold Me Down, peaked at one on the rap, R&B. In response to Biggie’s death, the label rush-released a Puff Daddy tribute song, Ill Be Missing You, which featured Biggies widow, Faith Evans, and Bad Boys R&B singing group 112. The single topped the charts for weeks and became the hasty second single from Combs’ album, No Way Out. Mase, Combs’ newest protégé, in the meantime was immediately thrust into the void that Biggie left and his own debut album, Harlem World, also released the same year, would go 4x platinum. Due to the successes of Life After Death, No Way Out and Harlem World, by the end of 1997, Bad Boy as a label
Bad Boy Records
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Bad Boy Records
46.
Run-D.M.C.
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Run–D. M. C. was an American hip hop group from Hollis, Queens, New York, founded in 1981 by Joseph Simmons, Darryl McDaniels, and Jason Mizell. The group is widely acknowledged as one of the most influential acts in the history of hip hop culture. Run-D. M. C. is one of the most well-known hip hop acts of the 1980s who, along with LL Cool J, The Beastie Boys and they were the first group in the genre to have a gold album and be nominated for a Grammy Award. Run-D. M. C. was the hip hop act to perform at Live Aid in 1985. The group was among the first to highlight the importance of the MC, in 2004, Rolling Stone ranked them number 48 in their list of the greatest musical artists of all time. In 2007, Run-D. M. C. was named The Greatest Hip Hop Group of All Time by MTV. com, on April 4,2009, rapper Eminem inducted them into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Became only the second hip hop group in history to be inducted, after Grandmaster Flash, as a teenager, Simmons was recruited into hip-hop by his older brother, Russell, who was then an up-and-coming hip-hop promoter. Simmons appeared onstage as a DJ for rapper Kurtis Blow, who was managed by Russell, known as DJ Run, Son of Kurtis Blow, Simmons soon began performing with Kurtis Blow. Previously, McDaniels had been focused on athletics than music. Simmons convinced McDaniels to start rapping, and though McDaniels would not perform in public, Mizell was known for his flashy wardrobe and b-boy attitude, which led to minor legal troubles as a teen. Thereafter, he decided to pursue music fame and began entertaining in the soon after. Eventually, Simmons and McDaniels rapped in front of Mizell at the park, following Russells success managing Kurtis Blow, he helped Run record his first single, a song called Street Kid. The song went unnoticed, but despite the failure, Runs enthusiasm for hip-hop was growing. Simmons soon wanted to record time with McDaniels, but Russell refused. After they completed school and started college in 1982, Simmons and McDaniels finally convinced Russell to let them record as a duo. A year later, in 1983, Russell agreed to help record a new single and land a record deal. A name which, incidentally, the group hated at first, DMC said later, We wanted to be the Dynamic Two, the Treacherous Two — when we heard that s**t we was like, Were gonna be ruined. After signing with Profile Records, Run-D. M. C, released their first single Its Like That/Sucker MCs, in late 1983
Run-D.M.C.
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Run-D.M.C. in a promotional shot. From left to right:
Jam Master Jay,
Darryl McDaniels, and
Joseph Simmons.
Run-D.M.C.
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Album cover for the group's single "My Adidas"
Run-D.M.C.
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A
test pressing release for the single
"Faces" from the album Back from Hell
Run-D.M.C.
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A single from Run–D.M.C.'s final album Crown Royal
47.
Poor Righteous Teachers
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Poor Righteous Teachers is a hip hop group from Trenton, New Jersey, founded in 1989. Often referred to as PRT by its fans, Poor Righteous Teachers is known as a conscious hip hop group, with musical content inspired by the teachings of the Nation of Gods. Wise Intelligent, as the lead MC, is the most visible, culture Freedom provides backing vocals and production, and Father Shaheed serves as a DJ and producer. About. com ranked the groups lead MC, Wise Intelligent, #5 on its list of the 10 Most Underrated Rappers, PRT debuted in 1989 with the release of the single Time to Say Peace b/w Butt Naked Booty Bless. While not as successful as these albums, Holy Intellect received critical acclaim and spawned the groups only major radio hit. PRT returned in 1991 with its album, Pure Poverty. The album was not as successful as its debut, and was not as acclaimed. The lead single Shakiyla, became a rap hit that year. The groups third, and possibly most successful release to date, sales were once again limited, but the album was a critical success. The albums lead single, Nobody Move, received radio airplay. After a three-year hiatus, PRT returned as a group in 1996 with its fourth album, released in a new Hip Hop era, the album received little attention, failing to reach the Billboard 200 album chart. The albums lead single, Word Iz Life, was able to reach the Hot Rap Singles chart, peaking at the charts lowest position. Despite the lack of significant attention, the album, like its past releases, in 2001, Poor Righteous Teachers dropped the rare underground release Declaration of Independence. In 2006, Cha-Ching Records released Rare & Unreleased, a compilation of rare Poor Righteous Teachers songs, PRT had a short feud with rapper YZ over reels of tapes that YZ would not give back to its owner, PRT. Father Shaheed died on May 26,2014, from a motorcycle accident
Poor Righteous Teachers
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Poor Righteous Teachers
48.
Milli Vanilli
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Milli Vanilli was a German R&B duo from Munich. The group was founded by Frank Farian in 1988 and consisted of Fab Morvan, the groups debut album Girl You Know Its True achieved international success and earned them a Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 21 February 1990. Milli Vanilli became one of the most popular pop acts in the late 1980s and their success quickly turned to infamy when Morvan, Pilatus and their agent Sergio Vendero confessed that Morvan and Pilatus did not sing any of the vocals heard on the record. This resulted in the group being stripped of their Grammy Award for Best New Artist, the group recorded a comeback album in 1998, but Rob Pilatus died before the album was released. According to VH1s Behind the Music, the single Girl You Know Its True was first produced by Jesse Powell and had already been completed before Rob Pilatus, Frank Farian felt that no efforts should be focused on refining Pilatus and Morvans voices. Farian added his own studio-augmented voice to recordings, using back-up singers to hide the two members voices live. In 2011 Morvan claimed that Farian manipulated the two by giving them an advance when he signed them. We were not hired, we were trapped Morvan recalled, the first public sign that the group was lip-synching came on 21 July 1989, during a live performance on MTV at the Lake Compounce theme park in Bristol, Connecticut. They continued to pretend to sing and dance onstage for a few more moments, unlike the international release of All or Nothing, the inserts for the American version of the album explicitly attributed the vocals to Morvan and Pilatus. This prompted singer Charles Shaw to reveal in December 1989 that he was one of the three singers on the album and that Pilatus and Morvan were impostors. Farian reportedly paid Shaw $150,000 to retract his statements, as a result of American media pressure, Milli Vanillis Grammy was withdrawn four days later. However, their three American Music Awards were never withdrawn because the organizers felt the awards were given to them by music consumers. After these details emerged, at least 27 different lawsuits were filed under various U. S. consumer fraud protection laws against Pilatus, Morvan, on 12 August 1991, a proposed settlement to a refund lawsuit in Chicago, Illinois, was rejected. This settlement would have refunded buyers of Milli Vanilli CDs, cassettes, records, however, the refunds would only be given as a credit for a future Arista release. On 28 August, a new settlement was approved, it refunded those who attended concerts along with those who bought Milli Vanilli recordings, an estimated 10 million buyers were eligible to claim a refund and they could keep the refunded recordings as well. The deadline to claim refunds passed on 8 March 1992, the resulting album, released in Europe in early 1991, was renamed The Moment of Truth and spawned three singles, Keep On Running, Nice n Easy and Too Late. A Morvan/Pilatus lookalike named Ray Horton was depicted on the cover along with the singers, Brad Howell. In addition, the featured rappers Icy Bro on Hard as Hell
Milli Vanilli
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Fab Morvan (left) and Rob Pilatus (right) with
NARAS President C. Michael Greene, February 1990
49.
Rob Pilatus
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Robert Rob Pilatus was a German model, dancer, and singer. Pilatus was half of the pop music duo Milli Vanilli, Rob Pilatus was born in Munich, Germany, the son of an African American soldier and a white German dancer. He was adopted as an infant by a German family, Pilatus and Morvan were noticed by music producer Frank Farian, who signed them to be part of a musical act. Shortly after a trip to Turkey, where the duo reputedly took its name from an advertising slogan. Pilatus and Morvan served as the faces for singers Charles Shaw and Brad Howell. The first Milli Vanilli platinum album was Girl You Know Its True, the album produced five hit singles including three number 1 hits, Girl Im Gonna Miss You, Baby Dont Forget My Number and Blame It On The Rain. Milli Vanilli won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 21 February 1990, despite the enormous success, the duo were a frequent target of rumours and allegations of onstage lip-synching and not having sung on the album. Charles Shaw, one of the vocalists, told a reporter the truth. When Pilatus and Morvan pressured Farian to let them sing on the next album, a court ruling in the United States allowed anyone who had bought the album to receive a refund. Farian later attempted a comeback for the group without Pilatus. Months after the scandal, Pilatus and Morvan appeared in a commercial for Carefree sugarless chewing gum, in it the duo lip-synched to an opera recording. An announcer asked, How long does the taste of Carefree Sugarless Gum last, the record began to skip and the announcer added, Until these guys sing for themselves. In 1992, Pilatus and Morvan signed with a new label, Taj, and released Rob & Fab, an album featuring their own voices, the label went bankrupt shortly thereafter. In the years following the collapse of Milli Vanilli, Rob Pilatus struggled with substance abuse, after their unsuccessful comeback, Morvan and Pilatus stopped speaking to each other. In 1996, Pilatus served three months in prison for assault, vandalism, and attempted robbery, Morvan paid for Pilatus to spend six months in drug rehabilitation, before returning to Germany from the United States. Back and in Attack has never been released and he was survived by his son and his sister. Pilatus is buried on the Waldfriedhof in Munich, Germany, on 26 March 2007, the Greatest Hits album was released
Rob Pilatus
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Pilatus, right
50.
Fab Morvan
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Fabrice Fab Morvan is a French singer-songwriter, dancer and model. He was half of the pop duo Milli Vanilli, with Rob Pilatus, however, he was later involved in one of the largest scandals in pop music history when it was revealed that neither he nor Pilatus had actually sung on any of Milli Vanillis recordings. After the scandal, the group reformed as Rob & Fab in the 1990s with limited success, Morvan had a solo comeback in the 2000s releasing his first solo album, Love Revolution. Morvan was born in 1966 in Paris, France, to parents from Guadeloupe, at 18, he moved to Germany, where he was a dancer and model, and was influenced by funk, soul, rap and pop music. He met Rob Pilatus in a nightclub in Munich and they decided to form a rock/soul group. Morvan and Pilatus were noticed by music producer Frank Farian, who signed them as part of a musical act, shortly after a trip to Turkey, where they reputedly got the bands name from a local advertising slogan, Milli Vanilli was born. Morvan and Pilatus served as the faces for singers Charles Shaw, John Davis, and Brad Howell. The first Milli Vanilli album was Girl You Know Its True, despite critical derision, Milli Vanillis fame continued to grow worldwide. The album had four hit singles, the track. Milli Vanilli won the Grammy Award for Best New Artist on 22 February 1990 for Girl You Know Its True, Morvan and Pilatus were a frequent target of rumours and allegations of on-stage lip-synching and not having sung on the album. Shaw told a reporter the truth about Milli Vanilli, but recanted after Farian paid him $150,000 to do so. When Morvan and Pilatus pressured Farian to let them sing on the album, Farian admitted to reporters on 15 November 1990 that Morvan. Milli Vanillis Grammy was withdrawn four days later, a court allowed any American who bought the album to get a refund. Farian would later attempt a comeback for the group without Morvan. Months later, Morvan and Pilatus parodied the scandal in a commercial for Carefree sugarless gum and they began to lip sync to an opera recording. An announcer asked as they were lip synching, How long does the taste of Carefree sugarless gum last, the record then began to skip and the announcer answers, Until these guys sing for themselves. They then moved to Los Angeles, where they released an album under the name Rob & Fab. Despite positive reviews critics, the album failed due to financial constraints, poor promotion
Fab Morvan
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Fab Morvan at the 79th Annual Academy Awards, Children Uniting Nations/ Billboard afterparty, 2007.
