1.
Gospel music
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Gospel music is a music genre in Christian music. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of music varies according to culture. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, Gospel music usually has dominant vocals with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century, with roots in the oral tradition. Hymns and sacred songs were repeated in a call and response fashion, most of the churches relied on hand clapping and foot stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done a cappella, the first published use of the term Gospel Song probably appeared in 1874. The original gospel songs were written and composed by such as George F. Root, Philip Bliss, Charles H. Gabriel, William Howard Doane. The advent of radio in the 1920s greatly increased the audience for gospel music, following World War II, gospel music moved into major auditoriums, and gospel music concerts became quite elaborate. Gospel blues is a form of gospel music. Southern gospel used all male, tenor-lead-baritone-bass quartet make-up, progressive Southern gospel is an American music genre that has grown out of Southern gospel over the past couple of decades. Christian country music, sometimes referred to as gospel music, is a subgenre of gospel music with a country flair. It peaked in popularity in the mid-1990s, bluegrass gospel music is rooted in American mountain music. Celtic gospel music infuses gospel music with a Celtic flair, and is popular in countries such as Ireland. British black gospel refers to Gospel music of the African diaspora, some proponents of standard hymns generally dislike gospel music of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Today, with distance, there is a greater acceptance of such gospel songs into official denominational hymnals. Gospel music in general is characterized by dominant vocals referencing lyrics of a Christian nature, subgenres include contemporary gospel, urban contemporary gospel, Southern gospel, and modern gospel music. Several forms of gospel music utilize choirs, use piano or Hammond organ, tambourines, drums, bass guitar and, increasingly, electric guitar. In comparison with hymns, which are generally of a statelier measure, several attempts have been made to describe the style of late 19th and early 20th century gospel songs in general
2.
Major League Baseball
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Major League Baseball is a professional baseball organization, the oldest of the four major professional sports leagues in the United States and Canada. A total of 30 teams now play in the National League and American League, the NL and AL operated as separate legal entities from 1876 and 1901 respectively. After cooperating but remaining legally separate entities since 1903, the merged into a single organization led by the Commissioner of Baseball in 2000. The organization also oversees Minor League Baseball, which comprises about 240 teams affiliated with the Major League clubs, with the World Baseball Softball Confederation, MLB manages the international World Baseball Classic tournament. Baseballs first professional team was founded in Cincinnati in 1869,30 years after Abner Doubleday supposedly invented the game of baseball, the first few decades of professional baseball were characterized by rivalries between leagues and by players who often jumped from one team or league to another. The period before 1920 in baseball was known as the dead-ball era, Baseball survived a conspiracy to fix the 1919 World Series, which came to be known as the Black Sox Scandal. The sport rose in popularity in the 1920s, and survived potential downturns during the Great Depression, shortly after the war, baseballs color barrier was broken by Jackie Robinson. The 1950s and 1960s were a time of expansion for the AL and NL, then new stadiums, Home runs dominated the game during the 1990s, and media reports began to discuss the use of anabolic steroids among Major League players in the mid-2000s. In 2006, an investigation produced the Mitchell Report, which implicated many players in the use of performance-enhancing substances, today, MLB is composed of thirty teams, twenty-nine in the United States and one in Canada. Baseball broadcasts are aired on television, radio, and the Internet throughout North America, MLB has the highest season attendance of any sports league in the world with more than 73 million spectators in 2015. MLB is governed by the Major League Baseball Constitution and this document has undergone several incarnations since 1875, with the most recent revisions being made in 2012. Under the direction of the Commissioner of Baseball, MLB hires and maintains the sports umpiring crews, and negotiates marketing, labor, MLB maintains a unique, controlling relationship over the sport, including most aspects of Minor League Baseball. This ruling has been weakened only slightly in subsequent years, the weakened ruling granted more stability to the owners of teams and has resulted in values increasing at double-digit rates. There were several challenges to MLBs primacy in the sport between the 1870s and the Federal League in 1916, the last attempt at a new league was the aborted Continental League in 1960. The chief executive of MLB is the commissioner, Rob Manfred, the chief operating officer is Tony Petitti. There are five other executives, president, chief officer, chief legal officer, chief financial officer. The multimedia branch of MLB, which is based in Manhattan, is MLB Advanced Media and this branch oversees MLB. com and each of the 30 teams websites. Its charter states that MLB Advanced Media holds editorial independence from the league, MLB Productions is a similarly structured wing of the league, focusing on video and traditional broadcast media
3.
Gary Sheffield
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Gary Antonian Sheffield is an American retired Major League Baseball outfielder. He played with eight teams in the major leagues from 1988 to 2009 and he currently works as a sports agent. For most of his career, Sheffield played right field, though he has played left field, third base, shortstop. He played for the Milwaukee Brewers, San Diego Padres, Florida Marlins, Los Angeles Dodgers, Atlanta Braves, New York Yankees, Detroit Tigers, and the New York Mets. Sheffield was a pick of the Brewers, who selected him sixth overall in the 1986 amateur draft after a standout prep career at Hillsborough High School in Tampa. Sheffield hit his 500th home run on April 17,2009, as of his last game, Sheffield ranked second among all active players in walks, third in runs, fourth in RBIs, fifth in hits and home runs, and sixth in hit by pitches. Sheffields batting swing was a mix of savage speed and pinpoint control. Despite his high home run total, Sheffield only topped 80 strikeouts twice in 22 seasons, because of his combination of skill, sportswriter Joe Posnanski wrote, I can’t imagine there has ever been a scarier hitter to face. His first manager Tom Trebelhorn said, Gary can turn on a 38-caliber bullet. ”He is the nephew of Dwight Gooden, after retirement, he started to work as an agent. His current clients include Toronto Blue Jays reliever Jason Grilli, Sheffield was born in Tampa, Florida, and grew up in Belmont Heights, near the Ponce de Leon projects. He and his family lived with his uncle, Dwight Gooden and they played baseball frequently and Sheffield learned how to hit a fastball from Gooden, who is only four years older than he is. Sheffield has publicly said that his grandfather had a significant positive impact on his life, influencing him as a person, Sheffield was a good hitter in the Little Leagues. However, Sheffield had problems with his temper and attitude, which would continue in the Major Leagues. Once, when he was late to practice, his coach benched him and Sheffield picked up a bat and chased the coach all over the field, the team made it to the Little League World Series finals, but lost to Taiwan 4–3. He set a record for doubles that would be broken in 2012 by Bradley Smith, in 1983, Sheffield made the Hillsborough High School varsity baseball team. During his junior year, he bulked up to 175 pounds and was a pitcher, during his senior year, his fastball reached the upper 80s and he frequently showed home run power. As a batter, Sheffield hit.500 and 15 home runs, at the end of the season he was named the Gatorade National Player of the Year. After high school, the Milwaukee Brewers drafted Sheffield with the pick of the first round of the 1986 MLB draft
4.
Trinity Broadcasting Network
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The Trinity Broadcasting Network is an international Christian-based broadcast television network. Operating as an independent entity, TBN is also the worlds largest religious television network, TBN was headquartered in Costa Mesa, California until March 3,2017 when it sold its highly visible office park. The broadcaster will retain its Tustin facilities, auxiliary studio facilities are located in Irving, Texas, Hendersonville, Tennessee, Gadsden, Alabama, Decatur, Georgia, Miami, Florida, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Orlando, Florida, and New York City. TBN also offers a range of original programming, and faith-based films from various distributors. TBN owns and operates six broadcast networks, each reaching separate demographics, in addition to the main TBN network, TBN owns Hillsong Channel, Smile, TBN Enlace, TBN Salsa and JUCE TV. It also owns several other networks outside of the United States. Matt Crouch currently serves as TBNs president and head of operations, the Trinity Broadcasting Network was co-founded in 1973 by Paul Crouch, an Assemblies of God minister, and spouse Jan Crouch as KTBN. TBN began their activities by renting time on independent station KBSA in Ontario. After that station was sold, he began buying two hours a day of programming time on KLXA-TV in Fontana, California in early 1974 and that station was put up for sale shortly afterward. Paul Crouch then placed a bid to buy the station for $1 million, initially, the station ran Christian programs for about six hours a day. The fledgling network was so weak in its first days, that, according to Crouch in his autobiography and it almost went bankrupt after just two days on the air. TBN began national distribution through cable providers in 1978. The ministry, which known as the Trinity Broadcasting Network. The network was a member of the National Religious Broadcasters association until 1990, in 1977, the ministry purchased KPAZ-TV in Phoenix, Arizona, becoming its second television station property. TBNs availability eventually expanded to 95% of American households by early 2005, TBNs programming is available by default via a national feed distributed to cable and satellite providers in markets without a local TBN station. Worldwide, TBNs channels are broadcast on 70 satellites and over 18,000 television, the TBN networks are also streamed live on the internet globally, the network also provides select archived shows on demand, through the website and select IPTV services. During 2010, citing economic problems and a lack of donations, TBN closed down, of those,17 were sold to another Christian television network, Daystar. On April 13,2012, TBN sold 36 of its translators to Regal Media, a group headed by George Cooney
5.
The 700 Club
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The 700 Club is the flagship television program of the Christian Broadcasting Network, airing in syndication throughout the United States and available worldwide on CBN. com. Airing each weekday, the magazine program features live guests, daily news, contemporary music, testimonies. Celebrities and other guests are interviewed, and Christian lifestyle issues are presented. The program additionally features major world news stories plus in-depth investigative reporting by the CBN News team and it is hosted by Pat Robertson, Gordon Robertson, Terry Meeuwsen, and Wendy Griffith. Previous co-hosts include Ben Kinchlow, Sheila Walsh, Danuta Rylko Soderman, Kristi Watts, tim Robertson served as host for a year, along with Kinchlow and actress Susan Howard, while Pat Robertson ran unsuccessfully for President of the United States in the 1988 campaign. In 1960, Pat Robertson, the son of former U. S, senator Absalom Willis Robertson, purchased the license for WTOV-TV, channel 27 in Portsmouth, Virginia, which had ceased operation because of poor viewership. Renamed WYAH-TV, the station began broadcasting Christian programming to the Hampton Roads area on October 1,1961, in 1962, the station suffered financially and almost closed. To keep the station on the air, WYAH produced a special edition of the show. For the telethon, Robertson set a goal of 700 members each contributing $10.00 per month, Robertson referred to these members as the 700 Club and the name stuck. The telethon was successful and is held annually. After the telethon in 1966, The 700 Club continued as a nightly, two-hour Christian variety program of music, preaching, group prayer, Bible study, the music was hymns, instrumental pieces, southern gospel music, and urban gospel music. The first permanent host of the program was Jim Bakker who, along with his then-wife Tammy Faye Bakker, the couple left CBN in 1972, reportedly Jim Bakker was fired by Pat Robertson over philosophical differences. The Bakkers then moved on to launch the Trinity Broadcasting Network before starting their own television ministry and signature show. After the Bakkers left, some staffers at the station responded by destroying the Bakkers sets and puppets. Pat Robertson took over as host, and evolved his 700 Club by cutting back on music, Robertson transformed the 700 Club from a nightly religious-themed telethon to a Christian talk show. The 700 Club originally aired only on WYAH-TV and other CBN-owned stations in Atlanta and Dallas, the roster of stations carrying the program grew to over 100 markets by 1976. In some markets, the show aired on stations, choosing between either the full 90-minute version or an edited 60-minute version. In 1977, The 700 Club received additional exposure nationally on the newly launched CBN Cable Network where, like CBNs broadcast outlets, it aired three times daily
6.
NBC
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The National Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcast television network that is the flagship property of NBCUniversal, a subsidiary of Comcast. The network is part of the Big Three television networks, founded in 1926 by the Radio Corporation of America, NBC is the oldest major broadcast network in the United States. Following the acquisition by GE, Bob Wright served as executive officer of NBC, remaining in that position until his retirement in 2007. In 2003, French media company Vivendi merged its entertainment assets with GE, Comcast purchased a controlling interest in the company in 2011, and acquired General Electrics remaining stake in 2013. Following the Comcast merger, Zucker left NBC Universal and was replaced as CEO by Comcast executive Steve Burke, during a period of early broadcast business consolidation, radio manufacturer Radio Corporation of America acquired New York City radio station WEAF from American Telephone & Telegraph. Westinghouse, a shareholder in RCA, had an outlet in Newark, New Jersey pioneer station WJZ. This station was transferred from Westinghouse to RCA in 1923, WEAF acted as a laboratory for AT&Ts manufacturing and supply outlet Western Electric, whose products included transmitters and antennas. The Bell System, AT&Ts telephone utility, was developing technologies to transmit voice- and music-grade audio over short and long distances, the 1922 creation of WEAF offered a research-and-development center for those activities. WEAF maintained a schedule of radio programs, including some of the first commercially sponsored programs. In an early example of chain or networking broadcasting, the station linked with Outlet Company-owned WJAR in Providence, Rhode Island, AT&T refused outside companies access to its high-quality phone lines. The early effort fared poorly, since the telegraph lines were susceptible to atmospheric. In 1925, AT&T decided that WEAF and its network were incompatible with the companys primary goal of providing a telephone service. AT&T offered to sell the station to RCA in a deal that included the right to lease AT&Ts phone lines for network transmission, the divisions ownership was split among RCA, its founding corporate parent General Electric and Westinghouse. NBC officially started broadcasting on November 15,1926, WEAF and WJZ, the flagships of the two earlier networks, were operated side-by-side for about a year as part of the new NBC. On April 5,1927, NBC expanded to the West Coast with the launch of the NBC Orange Network and this was followed by the debut of the NBC Gold Network, also known as the Pacific Gold Network, on October 18,1931. The Orange Network carried Red Network programming, and the Gold Network carried programming from the Blue Network, initially, the Orange Network recreated Eastern Red Network programming for West Coast stations at KPO in San Francisco. The Orange Network name was removed from use in 1936, at the same time, the Gold Network became part of the Blue Network. In the 1930s, NBC also developed a network for shortwave radio stations, in 1927, NBC moved its operations to 711 Fifth Avenue in Manhattan, occupying the upper floors of a building designed by architect Floyd Brown
7.
CBS
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CBS is an American commercial broadcast television network that is a flagship property of CBS Corporation. The company is headquartered at the CBS Building in New York City with major facilities and operations in New York City. CBS is sometimes referred to as the Eye Network, in reference to the iconic logo. It has also called the Tiffany Network, alluding to the perceived high quality of CBS programming during the tenure of William S. Paley. It can also refer to some of CBSs first demonstrations of color television, the network has its origins in United Independent Broadcasters Inc. a collection of 16 radio stations that was purchased by Paley in 1928 and renamed the Columbia Broadcasting System. Under Paleys guidance, CBS would first become one of the largest radio networks in the United States, in 1974, CBS dropped its former full name and became known simply as CBS, Inc. In 2000, CBS came under the control of Viacom, which was formed as a spin-off of CBS in 1971, CBS Corporation is controlled by Sumner Redstone through National Amusements, which also controls the current Viacom. The television network has more than 240 owned-and-operated and affiliated stations throughout the United States. The origins of CBS date back to January 27,1927, Columbia Phonographic went on the air on September 18,1927, with a presentation by the Howard Barlow Orchestra from flagship station WOR in Newark, New Jersey, and fifteen affiliates. Operational costs were steep, particularly the payments to AT&T for use of its land lines, in early 1928 Judson sold the network to brothers Isaac and Leon Levy, owners of the networks Philadelphia affiliate WCAU, and their partner Jerome Louchenheim. With the record out of the picture, Paley quickly streamlined the corporate name to Columbia Broadcasting System. He believed in the power of advertising since his familys La Palina cigars had doubled their sales after young William convinced his elders to advertise on radio. By September 1928, Paley bought out the Louchenheim share of CBS, during Louchenheims brief regime, Columbia paid $410,000 to A. H. Grebes Atlantic Broadcasting Company for a small Brooklyn station, WABC, which would become the networks flagship station. WABC was quickly upgraded, and the relocated to 860 kHz. The physical plant was relocated also – to Steinway Hall on West 57th Street in Manhattan, by the turn of 1929, the network could boast to sponsors of having 47 affiliates. Paley moved right away to put his network on a financial footing. In the fall of 1928, he entered talks with Adolph Zukor of Paramount Pictures. The deal came to fruition in September 1929, Paramount acquired 49% of CBS in return for a block of its stock worth $3.8 million at the time
8.
American Broadcasting Company
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The network is headquartered on Columbus Avenue and West 66th Street in Manhattan, New York City. There are additional offices and production facilities elsewhere in New York City, as well as in Los Angeles and Burbank. Since 2007, when ABC Radio was sold to Citadel Broadcasting, ABC originally launched on October 12,1943, as a radio network, separated from and serving as the successor to the NBC Blue Network, which had been purchased by Edward J. Noble. It extended its operations to television in 1948, following in the footsteps of established broadcast networks CBS, in the mid-1950s, ABC merged with United Paramount Theatres, a chain of movie theaters that formerly operated as a subsidiary of Paramount Pictures. Leonard Goldenson, who had been the head of UPT, made the new television network profitable by helping develop, in 1996, most of Capital Cities/ABCs assets were purchased by The Walt Disney Company. The television network has eight owned-and-operated and over 232 affiliated television stations throughout the United States, most Canadians have access to at least one U. S. ABC News provides news and features content for radio stations owned by Citadel Broadcasting. In the 1930s, radio in the United States was dominated by three companies, the Columbia Broadcasting System, the Mutual Broadcasting System and the National Broadcasting Company. The last was owned by electronics manufacturer Radio Corporation of America, in 1938, the FCC began a series of investigations into the practices of radio networks and published its report on the broadcasting of network radio programs in 1940. The report recommended that RCA give up control of either NBC Red or NBC Blue, at that time, the NBC Red Network was the principal radio network in the United States and, according to the FCC, RCA was using NBC Blue to eliminate any hint of competition. Once Mutuals appeals against the FCC were rejected, RCA decided to sell NBC Blue in 1941, the newly separated NBC Red and NBC Blue divided their respective corporate assets. Investment firm Dillon, Read & Co. offered $7.5 million to purchase the network, Edward John Noble, the owner of Life Savers candy, drugstore chain Rexall and New York City radio station WMCA, purchased the network for $8 million. Due to FCC ownership rules, the transaction, which was to include the purchase of three RCA stations by Noble, would require him to resell his station with the FCCs approval, the Commission authorized the transaction on October 12,1943. Soon afterward, the Blue Network was purchased by the new company Noble founded, Noble subsequently acquired the rights to the American Broadcasting Company name from George B. Meanwhile, in August 1944, the West Coast division of the Blue Network, both stations were then managed by Don Searle, the vice-president of the Blue Networks West Coast division. The ABC Radio Network created its audience slowly, the network also became known for such suspenseful dramas as Sherlock Holmes, Gang Busters and Counterspy, as well as several mid-afternoon youth-oriented programs. S. From Nazi Germany after its conquest, to pre-record its programming, while its radio network was undergoing reconstruction, ABC found it difficult to avoid falling behind on the new medium of television. To ensure a space, in 1947, ABC submitted five applications for television station licenses, the ABC television network made its debut on April 19,1948, with WFIL-TV in Philadelphia becoming its first primary affiliate
9.
WGN-TV
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WGN-TV, virtual channel 9, is an independent television station located in Chicago, Illinois, United States. It is the television property of the Tribune Broadcasting subsidiary of Tribune Media. WGN-TV is also a pioneering superstation, and formerly programmed an alternate feed for cable and satellite throughout the United States. However, WGN-TV regained national availability as the Chicago area feed was included as part of the offerings of Channel Masters LinearTV service. WGNs longtime slogan, Chicagos Very Own, was the basis for an image campaign of the 1980s and 1990s. WGN Television began test broadcasts in February 1948 and began programming on April 5 with a two-hour special, WGN-TV Salute to Chicago. It was founded by the Chicago Tribune – whose slogan Worlds Greatest Newspaper was the basis for the letters used by the television station. WGN-TV originally held dual primary affiliations with CBS and the DuMont Television Network, for its first 13 years on the air, WGN-TV had operated from the Tribune Tower at 435 North Michigan Avenue in downtown Chicago. S. Supreme Court order forced Paramount Pictures to divest its chain of movie theaters – for $6, following a two-month cancellation clause, all of the CBS programs that WGN-TV had been airing were moved to the rechristened WBBM-TV, leaving channel 9 exclusively with DuMont. WGN-TV soon became one of DuMonts strongest affiliates, as well as a production center for that network. WGN-TV had also telecast performances of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, beginning in 1953, the station lost the DuMont affiliation when the network ceased operations on August 6,1956, at that point, WGN-TV became an independent station. For much of its existence, WGN-TV produced a number of its own programs at its studios. During the late 1950s, the station was affiliated with the NTA Film Network. In 1957, WGN-TV became one of the first television stations in the Chicago market to broadcast live programming in color, WGN-TV served as the Chicago affiliate of the United Network for its one month of existence in 1967, airing The Las Vegas Show. From 1974 to 1982, Phil Donahues syndicated daytime talk show Donahue originated from the WGN-TV studios, in 1975, the agriculture program U. S. Farm Report debuted in syndication, also originating from WGN-TVs studios.7 FM. WGN-TV began to be distributed across the United States through cable television in October 1978, after Tulsa, as WGN-TV gained national exposure, the station became vulnerable in the Chicago area and underestimated the ability of UHF competitor WFLD to acquire top-rated syndicated programs. As a result, WFLD edged ahead of WGN-TV in the ratings by the end of 1979, WGN-TV continued with its programming format, competing with WFLD and another UHF independent station, WSNS-TV
10.
People (magazine)
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People is an American weekly magazine of celebrity and human-interest stories, published by Time Inc. With a readership of 46.6 million adults, People has the largest audience of any American magazine, People had $997 million in advertising revenue in 2011, the highest advertising revenue of any American magazine. In 2006, it had a circulation of 3.75 million and it was named Magazine of the Year by Advertising Age in October 2005, for excellence in editorial, circulation and advertising. People ranked #6 on Advertising Ages annual A-list and #3 on Adweeks Brand Blazers list in October 2006, the magazine runs a roughly 50/50 mix of celebrity and human-interest articles. Peoples website, People. com, focuses on celebrity news, in February 2015, the website broke a new record,72 million unique visitors. People is perhaps best known for its special issues naming the Worlds Most Beautiful, Best & Worst Dressed. The magazines headquarters are in New York and it maintains editorial bureaus in Los Angeles, for economic reasons it closed bureaus in Austin, Miami, and Chicago in 2006. In December 2016, LaTavia Roberson engaged in a feud with People after alleging they misquoted and misrepresented her interview online. The concept for People has been attributed to Andrew Heiskell, Time Inc. s chief executive officer at the time, the founding managing editor of People was Richard B. Stolley, an assistant managing editor at Life and the journalist who acquired the Zapruder tapes of the John F. Kennedy assassination for Time Inc. in 1963. Peoples first publisher was Richard J. Durrell, another Time Inc. veteran, Stolley characterized the magazine as getting back to the people who are causing the news and who are caught up in it, or deserve to be in it. Our focus is on people, not issues, stolleys almost religious determination to keep the magazine people-focused contributed significantly to its rapid early success. It is said that although Time Inc. pumped an estimated $40 million into the venture, initially, the magazine was sold primarily on newsstands and in supermarkets. To get the magazine out each week, founding staff members regularly slept on the floor of their offices two or three nights each week and severely limited all non-essential outside engagements. The premier edition for the week ending March 4,1974 featured actress Mia Farrow, then starring in the movie The Great Gatsby and that issue also featured stories on Gloria Vanderbilt, Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn and the wives of U. S. Vietnam veterans who were Missing In Action, the magazine was, apart from its cover, printed in black-and-white. The initial cover price was 35 cents, the core of the small founding editorial team included other editors, writers, photographers and photo editors from Life magazine, which had ceased publication just 13 months earlier. This group included managing editor Stolley, senior editors Hal Wingo, Sam Angeloff and Robert Emmett Ginna, writers James Watters and Ronald B
11.
Sports Illustrated
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Sports Illustrated is an American sports media franchise owned by Time Inc. Its self-titled magazine has over 3 million subscribers and is read by 23 million people each week and it was the first magazine with circulation over one million to win the National Magazine Award for General Excellence twice. Its swimsuit issue, which has published since 1964, is now an annual publishing event that generates its own television shows, videos. There were two magazines named Sports Illustrated before the current magazine began on August 16,1954, in 1936, Stuart Scheftel created Sports Illustrated with a target market for the sportsman. He published the magazine from 1936 to 1938 on a monthly basis, the magazine was a life magazine size and focused on golf, tennis, and skiing with articles on the major sports. He then sold the name to Dell Publications, which released Sports Illustrated in 1949, dells version focused on major sports and competed on magazine racks against Sport and other monthly sports magazines. During the 1940s these magazines were monthly and they did not cover the current events because of the production schedules, there was no large-base, general, weekly sports magazine with a national following on actual active events. It was then that Time patriarch Henry Luce began considering whether his company should attempt to fill that gap, at the time, many believed sports was beneath the attention of serious journalism and did not think sports news could fill a weekly magazine, especially during the winter. A number of advisers to Luce, including Life magazines Ernest Havemann, tried to kill the idea, but Luce, the goal of the new magazine was to be basically a magazine, but with sports. Launched on August 16,1954, it was not profitable and not particularly well run at first, but Luces timing was good. The popularity of sports in the United States was about to explode. The early issues of the magazine seemed caught between two opposing views of its audience, after more than a decade of steady losses, the magazines fortunes finally turned around in the 1960s when Andre Laguerre became its managing editor. A European correspondent for Time, Inc, in May 1956, Luce brought Laguerre to New York to become assistant managing editor of the magazine. He was also one of the first to sense the rise of national interest in professional football, Laguerre also instituted the innovative concept of one long story at the end of every issue, which he called the bonus piece. His genius as an editor was that he made you want to please him, Laguerre is also credited with the conception and creation of the annual Swimsuit Issue, which quickly became, and remains, the most popular issue each year. Regular illustration features by artists like Robert Riger, high school football Player of the Month awards. In 2015 Sports Illustrated purchased a group of companies and combined them to create Sports Illustrated Play. The magazines photographers also made their mark with innovations like putting cameras in the goal at a hockey game, by 1967, the magazine was printing 200 pages of fast color a year, in 1983, SI became the first American full-color newsweekly
12.
InStyle
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InStyle is a monthly women’s fashion magazine published in the United States by Time Inc. Along with advertising, the magazine articles about beauty, fashion, home, entertaining, charitable endeavors. Its editor is Laura Brown, and its publisher is Connie Anne Phillips, after originating in the United States, InStyle has expanded its brand and as of 2012 is distributed as international editions in 17 other countries. It was one of the first magazines of its type to have a musical artist or actor as the cover model. The magazine features celebrities who open their homes to be featured, in 2016, former executive editor of U. S. Harpers Bazaar Laura Brown was announced as the new Editor-in-Chief, taking over for Ariel Foxman, who had been managing editor since 2009. Browns first issue was December 2016, official website Theodora & Callum Interview with Ariel Foxman American InStyle – magazine profile at Fashion Model Directory
13.
Ebony (magazine)
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Ebony is a monthly magazine for the African-American market. It was founded by John H. Johnson and has published continuously since the autumn of 1945, a digest-sized sister magazine, Jet, was founded by the Johnson Publishing Company. After 71 years, in 2016, Johnson sold the publications to private equity firm Clear View Group, the new publisher will be known as Ebony Media Corporation. Ebony was founded by John H. Johnson in 1945, the magazine has evolved over the years, in 1985 Ebony Man was started. In 2010 it began a process to update its longtime brand. In the past, the magazine was persistently upbeat, much like its postwar contemporary Life, Ebony, edited by John H. Johnson, has striven always to address African-American issues, personalities and interests in a positive and self-affirming manner. S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun of Illinois, U. S. President Barack Obama, Zoe Saldana, Tyrese Gibson, for decades, advertisers created ads specifically for Ebony, which featured black models using their products. In the 21st century, many ads in widespread publications already feature black people, in November 2010, the magazine featured a special 65th-anniversary edition cover featuring Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson, Usher and Mary J. Blige. A second cover showcased Nia Long atop a birthday cake – Marilyn Monroe-style, the issue included eight cover recreations from historic and iconic previous covers of Ebony. Blair Underwood posed inside, as did Omar Epps and Jurnee Smollett, Mary J. Blige used her 1940s-style image from Ebony to update her Twitter profile picture. National Public Radio marked this anniversary edition as the beginning of redesign of Ebony, former White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, of the Obama administration, had become the CEO of the magazine. In August 2008 the magazine had published a special edition featuring the 25 Coolest Brothers of All Time. The lineup featured Jay-Z, Barack Obama, Prince, Samuel L. Jackson, Denzel Washington, Marvin Gaye, Muhammad Ali, in the 21st century, Ebony frequently makes headlines in the blogosphere and in the mainstream press. The November 2011 cover featured a pregnant Nia Long, reminiscent of the image of actress Demi Moore featured naked while pregnant on a magazine cover two decades before. Some of Ebony′s more conservative readers disagreed with the choice, stating it inappropriate to feature an unwed. The cover was featured in US Weekly and in a segment on CNN. Zoe Saldana was featured on the August 2011 issue, and some readers questioned a Black latina cover star, however, the Avatar actress seemed to open Ebony to a new segment, Americans of mixed African-American and Hispanic ancestry. Recent issues question whether President Obama is still right for black America, in December 2008, Google announced that it was scanning back issues for Google Book Search, all issues from November 1959 to December 2008 are available for free
14.
Billboard (magazine)
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
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Gospel Music Workshop of America
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Gospel Music Workshop of America is an international music convention founded by Rev. James Cleveland. Active GMWA Membership ranges from professional and amateur Gospel vocalists to instrumentalists, composers, arrangers, directors and producers, according to its official website, approximately 75% of the music on Billboards Gospel Charts is written, arranged, produced, or performed by GMWA members. The GMWA also has chapters in the United States, United Kingdom, the Caribbean, Europe, the GMWA presently meets twice a year. A board meeting is held in the spring and the annual session is held at a major venue beginning on the second Sunday of August. The conventions include workshops and musical performances during the week and attract 12,000 to 15,000 registrants annually, a mass choir of 2,000 to 3,000 vocalists is formed at each GMWA convention, and each year a new recording is produced. GMWA offshoots who also record include GMWA Women of Worship, GMWA Men of Promise, the first GMWA convention was held in Detroit, Michigan in 1968 at King Solomon Baptist Church. The most recent GMWA convention was held in Birmingham, Alabama in 2016 at the Sheraton Hotel, in 2017, the Board Meeting will be held in Las Vegas, Nevada and the 50th Annual Session will be held in the month of July in TBA. GMWA Official Site Gospel Music Workshop of America at AllMusic Gospel music convention underway in Cincinnati
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Patti LaBelle
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Patricia Louise Holt-Edwards better known under the stage name Patti LaBelle, is an American singer, author, actress, and entrepreneur. LaBelle began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and front woman of the group, Patti LaBelle. After the group split in 1976, LaBelle began a solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album. Less than two years later, in 1986, LaBelle scored with the album, Winner in You. LaBelle eventually won a 1992 Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance for her 1991 album, Burnin, followed by a second Grammy win for the live album and her 1990s albums, Burnin, Gems and Flame, continued her popularity with young R&B audiences throughout the decade. LaBelles success has extended as an actress with a role in the film, A Soldiers Story. In 1992, LaBelle starred in her own TV sitcom, Out All Night, a decade later, LaBelle hosted her own lifestyle TV show, Living It Up with Patti LaBelle on TV One. In 2015, LaBelle took part in the competition, Dancing with the Stars. In a career that has spanned fifty years, she has more than 50 million records worldwide. LaBelle has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, the Hollywood Walk of Fame, the Apollo Theater Hall of Fame, in 2005, the World Music Awards recognized her years in the music business by awarding her the Legend Award. Possessing the voice of a soprano, LaBelle was included in Rolling Stone on their list of 100 Greatest Singers, LaBelle is commonly identified as the Godmother of Soul. LaBelle was born Patricia Louise Holte on May 24,1944 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and her father was a railroad worker and her mother was a domestic. Despite enjoying her childhood, LaBelle would later write in her memoirs, Dont Block the Blessings, when Patti was seven, she was sexually molested by a family friend. At twelve, her parents came to an end though Patti remained close to her father. When she was fifteen, she won a talent competition at her high school and this success led to Patti forming her first singing group, the Ordettes, in 1960, with schoolmates Jean Brown, Yvonne Hogen and Johnnie Dawson. The group, with Patti as front woman, became an attraction until two of its members left to marry. In 1962, the Ordettes included three new members, Cindy Birdsong, Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, the two girls having sung for another defunct vocal group. That year, they auditioned for record label owner Harold Robinson
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Lou Rawls
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Louis Allen Lou Rawls was an American recording artist, voice actor, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his ability, Frank Sinatra once said that Rawls had the classiest singing. Rawls released more than 60 albums, sold more than 40 million records and he worked as a television, motion picture, and voice actor. He was also a three-time Grammy-winner, all for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance, Rawls was born in Chicago on December 1,1933, and raised by his grandmother in the Ida B. Wells projects on the citys South Side, after graduating from Chicagos Dunbar Vocational High School, he sang briefly with Cooke in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a local gospel group, and then with the Holy Wonders. In 1951, Rawls replaced Cooke in the Highway QCs after Cooke departed to join The Soul Stirrers in Los Angeles, Rawls was soon recruited by the Chosen Gospel Singers and moved to Los Angeles, where he subsequently joined the Pilgrim Travelers. In 1955, Rawls enlisted in the United States Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division and he left the All-Americans three years later as a sergeant and rejoined the Pilgrim Travelers. In 1958, while touring the South with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, Rawls was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, where he stayed in a coma for five and a half days. It took him months to regain his memory, and a year to fully recuperate, Rawls considered the event to be life-changing. Alongside Dick Clark as master of ceremonies, Rawls was recovered enough by 1959 to be able to perform at the Hollywood Bowl. His first 2 single releases were Love, Love, Love and Walkin on Herb Alperts Shar-Dee label in 1959-60, then 2 more in 1960-61 on Candix with In My Little Black Book and 80 Ways. He was signed to Capitol Records in 1962, the year he sang the soulful background vocals on the Sam Cooke recording of Bring It On Home to Me and Thats Where Its At. Rawls himself charted with a cover of Bring It On Home to Me in 1970, Rawls first Capitol solo release was Stormy Monday, a jazz album with Les McCann in 1962. Went gold, Rawls would not have a hit until he made a proper soul album, appropriately named Soulin. The album contained his first R&B #1 single, Love Is a Hurtin Thing, in 1967 Rawls won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single Dead End Street. In 1967, Rawls also performed at the first evening of the Monterey International Pop Music Festival, in 1969, the singer was co-host of NBCs summer replacement series for the Dean Martin Show along with Martins daughter, singer Gail Martin. After leaving Capitol in 1971, Rawls joined MGM, at which juncture he released his Grammy-winning single Natural Man written for him by comedian Sandy Baron and he had a brief stint with Bell Records in 1974, where he recorded a cover of Hall & Oates Shes Gone. In 1976, Rawls signed with Philadelphia International Records, where he had his greatest album success with the million-selling All Things in Time, subsequent albums, such as 1977s When You Hear Lou, Youve Heard It All yielded such hit singles as Lady Love
18.
BeBe Winans
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Benjamin BeBe Winans is an American gospel and R&B singer. He is a member of the noted Winans family, most members of which are also gospel artists and he released several albums, first with his sister CeCe Winans, and later as a solo artist. Jim Bakkers television show The PTL Club took interest in BeBe, after going to North Carolina to audition they were accepted. BeBe and CeCe moved to the PTL campus in North Carolina, during their time on PTL, BeBe and CeCe recorded Lord Lift Us Up on PTLs label after popular demand on the show. Eventually the success warranted another effort, a full-length album, the album did well on the charts. BeBe and CeCe left PTL to pursue their career and recorded five albums together including self-titled BeBe & CeCe Winans, Heaven, Different Lifestyles, First Christmas. In 1995, BeBe and CeCe split up to solo careers. But in 2009 they did the album Still together, BeBe signed with Atlantic records and delivered a self-titled solo debut in 1997. The album featured the singles In Harms Way, Thank You, the song topped the UK Singles Chart in Eternals native United Kingdom in May 1997. The next album released was the fruit of a new deal with Motown Records, Love & Freedom was released in 2000 and featured production from Warryn Campbell, Brian McKnight, Masters At Work and others. The lead single Coming Back Home was a slow swinging ballad featuring R&B luminaries Brian McKnight, another single was BeBes remake of the Stevie Wonder classic Jesus Children of America featuring his older brother Marvin and Stevie Wonder himself. Two years later, a live album Live & Up Close followed, the album was recorded live at BET studios and featured guests such as his sister Debra Winans-Lowe and Stephanie Mills. The set was released on both CD & DVD, the CD included the studio version of Do You Know Him. which served as the albums first single. By 2003, BeBe had started his own label, The Movement Group, and partnered with Still Waters. The first album under this deal was 2004s largely orchestral holiday album entitled My Christmas Prayer which first appeared exclusively for sale at Starbucks coffee shops nationwide, between releases, BeBe made his film debut with a small role in the 2004 remake of The Manchurian Candidate. Early the next year, BeBe released his third solo album Dream featuring the single I Have A Dream. The song featured samples of the speech by Martin Luther King. The cover of the features a hand painted portrait of BeBe standing in front of a Martin Luther King Jr Blvd
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Sandi Patty
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Sandra Faye Sandi Patty is an American Christian music singer, known for her wide vocal range and expressive flexibility which has led music critics to dub her The Voice. Patty was born in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, into a family of musicians, her father was a minister of music and she first performed at the age of two when she sang Jesus Loves Me for her church, Phoenix First Church of God. After graduating from Crawford High School in San Diego, she attended San Diego State University and Anderson University in Anderson, Indiana, where she studied voice and conducting. While studying at Anderson University, she worked as a musician for area recording studios, singing background vocals and recording commercial jingles. Her reputation as a performer and studio singer grew during the late 1970s, Patty recorded her first album, For My Friends, an independent effort, that landed in the hands of executives at Singspiration. In 1979, she was signed to Singspiration. and released her first professional record, according to the FAQ section on her website, the name on her birth certificate is Sandra Patty. A printers error on the labeling listed her name as Sandi Patti, Pattys career expanded after she won her first two GMA Dove Awards in 1982 and began singing backup for Bill Gaither and the Bill Gaither Trio. She was invited to sing the anthem at the Indianapolis 500 in 1987–88, 1990–92. At the peak of her career, Pattys concerts were so heavily attended that she performed in often sold-out mainstream arenas, in the late 1980s and early 1990s, she averaged over 200 concerts a year, and supported a staff of over 30 that managed her career. In 1992, the news of Pattys divorce from manager John Helvering shocked the music industry. The reason for the split was later revealed to be infidelity which subsequently stalled her career in the mid 1990s, during her marriage, it was later reported that Patty had an extramarital affair with her back up singer, Don Peslis, who was also married at the time. Patty divorced Helvering in 1993 and married Peslis in August 1995, confronted with rumors of the affair just two weeks into her marriage with Peslis, Patty made a full confession to her church congregation. Amidst the trying time, Patty did receive support from a national figure - Charles Schulz and he referenced her in a comic strip, and Patty is quoted in a recent spiritual biography of Schulz as having been touched by the gesture. Patty will again host the extravaganza in December 2017, in 2000, Patty had a guest singing appearance at the end of a 7th Heaven episode. She appeared in the 2006 annual Macys Thanksgiving Day Parade in New York, a televised performance of Sandi Pattys Yuletide Special was filmed for syndication in 2006, with other performers—including the Mormon Tabernacle Choir and the U. S. Air Force Reserve Band. In 2004, Patty was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame, in May 2008, Patty released her 30th studio recording, Songs for the Journey, in which she covers classic hymns of the church and other modern gospel classics. 2008 also saw the release of five separate compilation recordings of past songs taken from previous albums, in 2009, Patty received two GMA Dove Award nominations, Female Vocalist of the Year, and Inspirational Album of the Year. Simply Sandi, an album, is the first solo project to be released on her own record label
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Kirk Franklin
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Kirk Dewayne Franklin is an American gospel musician, choir director, and author. He is known for leading urban contemporary gospel choirs such as The Family, Gods Property and One Nation Crew, a native of Fort Worth, Texas, Franklin was raised by his aunt, Gertrude, having been abandoned as a baby by his mother. Gertrude collected and resold aluminum cans to raise money for Kirk to take lessons from the age of four. Kirk excelled in music, being able to read and write music and he received his first contract offer at the age of seven, which his aunt turned down. He joined the choir and became music director of the Mt. Rose Baptist Church adult choir at the age of twelve. He was accepted and later there was an announcement of a girlfriends pregnancy, Kirk Franklin studied music with Jewell Kelly and the Singing Chaparrals at Oscar Dean Wyatt High School. He was under her tutelage for music direction as she allowed him to be the pianist for the choir, after the shooting death of a friend, Franklin returned to the church, where he began to direct the choir once again. He also co-founded a gospel group, The Humble Hearts, which recorded one of Franklins compositions, impressed, Biggham enlisted him to lead the DFW Mass Choir in a recording of Franklins song Every Day with Jesus. This led to Biggham hiring Franklin, just 20 years old at the time, to lead the choir at the 1990 Gospel Music Workshop of America Convention, in 1992, Franklin organized The Family, which was a seventeen-voice choir, formed from neighborhood friends and associates. In 1993, the group, now known as Kirk Franklin & The Family, released their debut album and it spent almost two years on the Gospel music charts and charted on the R&B charts, eventually earning platinum sales status. It remained at No.1 on the Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart for 42 weeks and it was the first gospel music album to sell over a million units. Two years later, after releasing a 1995 Christmas album entitled Kirk Franklin & the Family Christmas, the album was certified 2x platinum and earned Franklin his first Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album. 1997 brought another album, a collaboration with the vocal ensemble Gods Property, Gods Property from Kirk Franklins Nu Nation was No.1 on the R&B Albums chart for five weeks, No.3 on the Pop charts, and would go on to be certified 3x platinum. It also brought Franklin another Grammy for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album, in 1996, Franklins song Joy was recorded by Whitney Houston and the Georgia Mass Choir. With production by Houston and Mervyn Warren, the composition was included on the soundtrack to the movie The Preachers Wife. On November 2,1998, Gods Property sued Franklin, the lawsuit, filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleges that Franklin induced Gods Property founder Linda Searight into signing an onerous and one-sided contract with B-Rite Music. The Nu Nation Project was released in 1998, together with Crystal Lewis, and the Family, Lean on Me and the second single Revolution were considerable hits, and the album contained a version of another Withers song Gonna Be a Lovely Day. The Nu Nation Project went on to top the Billboard Contemporary Christian Albums chart for 23 weeks and the Billboard Gospel Albums chart for 49 weeks, also in 1998, Franklin had made a guest appearance on the hit television sitcom Sister, Sister
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Yolanda Adams
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Yolanda Yvette Adams is an American gospel singer, record producer, actress, and former radio host of her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show. As of September 2009, she had sold 4.5 million albums since 1991 in the United States, on December 11,2009, Billboard Magazine named her the No.1 Gospel Artist of the last decade. In the same chart, her album Mountain High. Valley Low was acknowledged as the best gospel album, the eldest of six siblings, Adams was born in Houston, Texas. She graduated from Sterling High School in Houston in 1979, after graduating from Texas Southern University, she began a career as a schoolteacher and part-time model in Houston. Eventually she gave up teaching to perform full-time as a lead singer, the choir released the single in 1982 For My Liberty with Adams as the featured vocalist. In 1986, Adams was featured on the Edwin Hawkins Music and Arts Seminar Choir released Give Us Peace, later, she signed a recording contract with Sound of Gospel which yielded her first album Just As I Am in 1987. In 1990, she was discovered by producer/keyboardist Ben Tankard, and signed to his independent label Tribute Records, tankards goal with Tribute Records during this time was to develop an audience for a smoother gospel/jazz sound. He featured Yolandas jazzy vocals on his album and concept video single You Bring Out The Best In Me on his 1994 release Play Me In Your Key, the collaboration received positive response from gospel, jazz and quiet storm formats. One year later, Adams followed with Save the World, which included her first signature song The Battle Is The Lords and her next release was 1995s More Than a Melody, which featured more production work from Tankard with contributions from OLanda Draper, and BeBe Winans. The single Gotta Have Love, from that album featuring Tony Terry on background vocals, gained notoriety and was her first single. Live In Washington, released the year, featured versions of material from her first three albums. The footage from this recording was released as a collection of two videos on VHS initially, and later as a set on DVD and CD. During this time Tribute Records parent company Diadem Music Group merged with Benson Music Group, Songs from the Heart was her final release for Verity Records, including Only Believe, which was popular songs on contemporary radio. The album also included Still I Rise, a dedication to Rosa Parks, Adams first significant attention outside the urban contemporary gospel arena came with the release of Mountain High. Valley Low in 1999 on Elektra Records, several mainstream artists and producers helped in the production of this album including Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis, James Big Jim Wright, Warryn Campbell, and Keith Thomas. The album went 2x Platinum in 2000 and won Adams a Grammy Award, notable singles from the album include Yeah, Fragile Heart, and Open My Heart. Fragile Heart was dedicated to the memory of Adams long-time road manager, in 2000, Adams released a Christmas album, and in 2001 she released a live album. The Experience netted Adams a second Grammy Award for Best Contemporary Soul Gospel Album, Believe, which included the hit Never Give Up was released in 2001 and reached gold status according to the RIAA
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Al Green
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Inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995, Green was referred to on the museums site as being one of the most gifted purveyors of soul music. He has also referred to as The Last of the Great Soul Singers. Green was included in the Rolling Stone list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time, Al Green was born Albert Leornes Greene on April 13,1946, in Forrest City, Arkansas. The sixth of ten born to Cora Lee and Robert G. Greene, Jr. a sharecropper. The Greene family relocated to Grand Rapids, Michigan, in the late 1950s, Al was kicked out of the family home while in his teens, after his religiously devout father caught him listening to Jackie Wilson. I also listened to Mahalia Jackson, all the great gospel singers, but the most important music to me was those hip-shakin’ boys, Wilson Pickett and Elvis Presley. Whatever he got, I went out and bought, in high school, Al formed a vocal group called Al Greene & the Creations. Two of the members, Curtis Rodgers and Palmer James. In 1968, having changed their name to Al Greene & the Soul Mates, they recorded the song Back Up Train, the song was a hit on the R&B charts. However, the groups subsequent follow-ups failed to chart, as did their debut album, while performing with the Soul Mates, Green came into contact with Memphis record producer Willie Mitchell, who hired him in 1969 to be a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchells band. Following the performance, Mitchell asked Green to sign with his Hi Records label, having noted that Green had been trying to sing like Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett and James Brown, Mitchell became his vocal mentor, coaching him into finding his own voice. Before releasing his first album with Hi, Green removed the final e from his name, subsequently, he released Green Is Blues, which was a moderate success. His follow-up album, Al Green Gets Next to You, featured the hit R&B cover of the Temptations I Cant Get Next to You, Greens next album, Lets Stay Together, solidified his place in soul music. The title track was his biggest hit to date, reaching number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and R&B charts, the album became his first to be certified gold. His follow-up, Im Still in Love with You went platinum with the help of the singles Look What You Done for Me and the title track, both of which went to the top ten on the Hot 100. His next album, Call Me, released in 1973, produced three top ten singles, You Ought to Be with Me, Call Me and Here I Am. Greens album Livin for You, released at the end of 1973, was his last album to be certified gold, Green continued to record successful R&B hits in the next several years including Livin for You, Lets Get Married, Sha-La-La, L-O-V-E and Full of Fire. His last Hi Records album, Truth n Time, was released in 1978, two years later, he left Hi for Myrrh Records and recorded only gospel music for the next decade and a half
23.
New York Mets
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The New York Mets are an American professional baseball team based in the New York City borough of Queens. The Mets compete in Major League Baseball as a club of the National League East division. The Mets are one of two Major League clubs based in New York City, the other is the New York Yankees. One of baseballs first expansion teams, the Mets were founded in 1962 to replace New Yorks departed NL teams, the Brooklyn Dodgers and the New York Giants. The Mets colors are composed of the Dodgers blue and the Giants orange, during the 1962 and 1963 seasons, the Mets played their home games at the Polo Grounds. From 1964 to 2008, the Mets home ballpark was Shea Stadium, in 2009, they moved into their current ballpark, Citi Field. In their 1962 inaugural season, the Mets posted a record of 40–120, the Mets made the playoffs in 2006 when they came within one game of the World Series, losing to the eventual champion St. Louis Cardinals in the NLCS. The Mets missed the playoffs with losses on the last day of the season in 2007 and 2008. The Mets made the playoffs in 2015 for the first time in nine years, the team again returned to the playoffs in 2016, this time with a wild card berth. This is the teams second playoff appearance, the first occurring during the 1999 and 2000 seasons. With the threat of a New York team joining a new third league, for the first two years of its existence, the team played its home games at the historic Polo Grounds in Upper Manhattan. In 1964, they moved into newly constructed Shea Stadium in Flushing, Queens, in 2009, the club moved into Citi Field, adjacent to the former Shea Stadium site. During their history, the Mets have won two World Series titles, five National League pennants and six National League East titles, the Mets also qualified for the postseason as the National League wild card team in 1999,2000, and 2016. The Mets have appeared in five World Series, more than any other team in MLB history. Their two championships are the most titles among expansion teams, equal to the tallies of the Toronto Blue Jays, Miami Marlins, the Mets held the New York baseball single-season attendance record for 29 years. They broke the Yankees 1948 record by drawing nearly 2.7 million spectators in 1970, the Mets broke their own record five times before the record was regained by the Yankees in 1999. The 1962 Mets posted a 40–120 record, a record for the most losses in a season since 1899, in 1966, the Mets famously bypassed future Hall of Famer Reggie Jackson in the amateur draft, instead selecting Steve Chilcott, who never played in the majors. But the following year, they acquired future Hall of Famer Tom Seaver in a lottery, in 1973, the Mets rallied from 5th place to win the division, despite a record of only 82–79
24.
New York Knicks
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The New York Knickerbockers, commonly referred to as the Knicks, are an American professional basketball team based in New York City. The Knicks compete in the National Basketball Association as a club of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The team plays its games at Madison Square Garden, located in the borough of Manhattan. They are one of two NBA teams located in New York City, the other is the Brooklyn Nets, along with the Boston Celtics, the Knicks are one of only two original NBA teams still located in its original city. The Knicks were successful during their years and were constant playoff contenders under the franchises first head coach Joe Lapchick. Beginning in 1950, the Knicks made three appearances in the NBA Finals, all of which were losing efforts. Lapchick resigned in 1956 and the team began to falter. It was not until the late 1960s when Red Holzman became head coach that the Knicks began to regain their former dominance, Holzman successfully guided the Knicks to two NBA championships, in 1970 and 1973. The Knicks of the 1980s had mixed success that included six playoff appearances, however, the playoff-level Knicks of the 1990s were led by future Hall of Fame center Patrick Ewing, this era was marked by passionate rivalries with the Chicago Bulls, Indiana Pacers, and Miami Heat. During this time, they were known for playing tough defense under head coaches Pat Riley, during this era, the Knicks made two appearances in the NBA Finals, in 1994 and 1999, though they were unable to win an NBA championship. Since 2000, the Knicks have struggled to regain their former glory, in 2012–13, the franchise won its first division title in 19 years, but was eliminated in the second round of the playoffs by the Indiana Pacers. According to a 2016 Forbes report, the Knicks were the most-valuable NBA franchise, in 1946, basketball, particularly college basketball, was a growing and increasingly profitable sport in New York City. Hockey was another sport at the time and generated considerable profits, however. Max Kase, a New York sportswriter, became the editor at the Boston American in the 1930s. Kase developed the idea of a professional league to showcase college players upon their graduation. Brown, intrigued by the opportunity to attain additional income when the teams were not playing or on the road. Ned Irish, a college basketball promoter, retired sportswriter and then president of Madison Square Garden, was in attendance, Kase originally planned to own and operate the New York franchise himself and approached Irish with a proposal to lease the Garden. Irish explained that the rules of the Arena Managers Association of America stated that Madison Square Garden was required to own any professional teams played in the arena
25.
Toronto Raptors
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The Toronto Raptors are a Canadian professional basketball team based in Toronto, Ontario. The Raptors compete in the National Basketball Association, as a club of the leagues Eastern Conference Atlantic Division. The team was established in 1995, along with the Vancouver Grizzlies, when the Grizzlies relocated to Memphis, Tennessee to become the Memphis Grizzlies in 2001, the Raptors became the only Canadian-based team in the NBA. They originally played their games at the SkyDome, before moving eastward along Bremner Boulevard to the Air Canada Centre in 1999. Carter was instrumental in leading the team to a then-franchise high 47 wins and their first playoff win in 2001. During the 2002–03 and 2003–04 seasons, they failed to make significant progress, after Carter left, Chris Bosh emerged as the team leader. In the 2007–08 season, they advanced to the playoffs again, after Masai Ujiri was brought in as the new General Manager in 2013, he traded Bargnani to the New York Knicks. With a backcourt led by Kyle Lowry and DeMar DeRozan, the Raptors returned to the playoffs, won their second Atlantic Division title, however, they failed for a fourth consecutive time to advance beyond the first round of the playoffs. In the 2015–16 season, they won a franchise record 56 games, Bitove and Allan Slaight of Slaight Communications each owned 44%, with the Bank of Nova Scotia, David Peterson, and Phil Granovsky being minority partners. Wagering on NBA games in Ontario nearly cost Toronto the expansion franchise, as a result, a nationwide contest was held to help name the team and develop their colours and logo. Over 2,000 entries were narrowed down to eleven prospects, Beavers, Bobcats, Dragons, Grizzlies, Hogs, Raptors, Scorpions, T-Rex, Tarantulas, the name Raptor is a common informal name for the velociraptor, a swift medium-sized dromaeosaurid theropod non-avian dinosaur. On May 24,1994, the logo and first General Manager. As part of the deal, Thomas received an option to purchase part of the team and he would purchase 4. 5% in May 1995 and a further 4. 5% in December 1995, half each from Bitove and Slaight, decreasing their share to 39. 5%. The teams colours of red, purple, black, and silver were also revealed, Naismith silver was chosen as an ode to Canadian James Naismith. As General Manager, Isiah Thomas quickly staffed the management positions with his own personnel, the teams roster was then filled as a result of an expansion draft in 1995. Following a coin flip, Toronto was given first choice and selected Chicago Bulls point guard, Armstrong refused to report for training and Thomas promptly traded him to the Golden State Warriors for power forwards Carlos Rogers and Victor Alexander. Thomas then selected a range of players in the expansion draft, including veterans Jerome Kersey, Willie Anderson. Subsequent to the draft, the Raptors landed the seventh pick in the NBA draft lottery, behind their fellow 1995 expansion club
26.
Madison Square Garden
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Madison Square Garden, often called MSG or simply The Garden, is a multi-purpose indoor arena in the New York City borough of Manhattan. Located in Midtown Manhattan between 7th and 8th Avenues from 31st to 33rd Streets, it is situated atop Pennsylvania Station. The Garden is used for basketball and ice hockey, as well as boxing, concerts, ice shows, circuses, professional wrestling and other forms of sports. It is close to other midtown Manhattan landmarks, including the Empire State Building, Koreatown and it is home to the New York Rangers of the National Hockey League, the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association, and residency to singer-songwriter Billy Joel. The Garden opened on February 11,1968, and is the oldest major sporting facility in the New York metropolitan area and it is the oldest arena in the National Hockey League and the second-oldest arena in the National Basketball Association. MSG is the fourth-busiest music arena in the world in terms of sales, behind The O2 Arena. At a total construction cost of approximately $1.1 billion and it is part of the Pennsylvania Plaza office and retail complex. Several other operating entities related to the Garden share its name, Madison Square is formed by the intersection of 5th Avenue and Broadway at 23rd Street in Manhattan. It was named after James Madison, fourth President of the United States, two venues called Madison Square Garden were located just northeast of the square, the first from 1879 to 1890, and the second from 1890 to 1925. The first Garden, leased to P. T. Barnum, had no roof and was inconvenient to use during inclement weather, Madison Square Garden II was designed by noted architect Stanford White. The new building was built by a syndicate which included J. P. Morgan, Andrew Carnegie, P. T. Barnum, Darius Mills, James Stillman and W. W. Astor. It was 200 feet by 485 feet, and the main hall and it had a 1, 200-seat theatre, a concert hall with a capacity of 1,500, the largest restaurant in the city and a roof garden cabaret. A third Madison Square Garden opened in a new location, on 8th Avenue between 49th and 50th Streets, from 1925 to 1968, groundbreaking on the third Madison Square Garden took place on January 9,1925. Designed by the theater architect Thomas W. Lamb, it was built at the cost of $4.75 million in 249 days by boxing promoter Tex Rickard. The arena was 200 feet by 375 feet, with seating on three levels, and a capacity of 18,496 spectators for boxing. Demolition commenced in 1968 after the opening of the current Garden and it finished up in early 1969, and the site is now where One Worldwide Plaza is located. The new structure was one of the first of its kind to be built above the platforms of a railroad station. It was an engineering feat constructed by Robert E. McKee of El Paso, public outcry over the demolition of the Pennsylvania Station structure—an outstanding example of Beaux-Arts architecture—led to the creation of the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission
27.
Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium
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Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Stadium, commonly known as RFK Stadium, is a multi-purpose stadium in Washington, D. C. located about two miles due east of the U. S. Capitol building. It is the current home of D. C, United of Major League Soccer and the AT&T Nations Football Classic. The U. S. mens national team has played 22 matches there from 1977 to 2013. The stadium opened 56 years ago as District of Columbia Stadium in October 1961, armory Board and the U. S. Department of the Interior. It is now owned and operated by Events DC, an organization affiliated with the city government under a long-term lease from the National Park Service. The previous venue for baseball and football in Washington was Griffith Stadium and it has hosted international soccer matches in the 1994 World Cup,1996 Summer Olympics, and 2003 Womens World Cup. It also hosted a college bowl game, the Military Bowl, before its move in 2013 to Navy–Marine Corps Memorial Stadium in Annapolis. The stadium was renamed in January 1969 for U. S, Senator and presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, who had been assassinated in Los Angeles the previous June. The announcement was made by Secretary of the Interior Stewart Udall on January 18, RFK was one of the first major stadiums designed specifically as a multi-sport facility for both football and baseball. As a professional venue, RFK Stadium was home to the NFLs Redskins for 36 seasons. The teams return to prominence as a football power began the year that the original baseball Senators played their final season. The Redskins first game in D. C, Stadium was a 24–21 loss to the New York Giants on October 1,1961. The Beatles performed their last concert in Washington, D. C. on August 15,1966, the teams first win in the stadium was over its future archrival, the Dallas Cowboys, on December 17. This was the win in a 1–12–1 season, and it came on the final weekend of the regular season. The Redskins last win at RFK was a 37–10 victory over the Cowboys on December 22,1996, in its twelfth season, RFK saw its first pro football playoff game on Christmas Eve 1972, a 16–3 win over the Green Bay Packers. The stadium hosted the NFC Championship Game five times and the Redskins won them all, in the Super Bowls that followed, Washington won three of the five. The expansion Washington Senators of the American League played at RFK Stadium from 1962 through 1971 and they played their first season in 1961 at Griffith Stadium, now the site of the medical center for Howard University. In its ten seasons as the Senators home field, RFK Stadium was known as a hitters park
28.
Virtual International Authority File
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The Virtual International Authority File is an international authority file. It is a joint project of national libraries and operated by the Online Computer Library Center. The project was initiated by the US Library of Congress, the German National Library, the National Library of France joined the project on October 5,2007. The project transitions to a service of the OCLC on April 4,2012, the aim is to link the national authority files to a single virtual authority file. In this file, identical records from the different data sets are linked together, a VIAF record receives a standard data number, contains the primary see and see also records from the original records, and refers to the original authority records. The data are available online and are available for research and data exchange. Reciprocal updating uses the Open Archives Initiative Protocol for Metadata Harvesting protocol, the file numbers are also being added to Wikipedia biographical articles and are incorporated into Wikidata. VIAFs clustering algorithm is run every month, as more data are added from participating libraries, clusters of authority records may coalesce or split, leading to some fluctuation in the VIAF identifier of certain authority records
