1.
Brooklyn
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Brooklyn is the most populous borough of New York City, with a Census-estimated 2,636,735 residents in 2015. It borders the borough of Queens at the end of Long Island. Today, if New York City dissolved, Brooklyn would rank as the third-most populous city in the U. S. behind Los Angeles, the borough continues, however, to maintain a distinct culture. Many Brooklyn neighborhoods are ethnic enclaves, Brooklyns official motto, displayed on the Borough seal and flag, is Eendraght Maeckt Maght which translates from early modern Dutch as Unity makes strength. Since 2010, Brooklyn has evolved into a hub of entrepreneurship and high technology startup firms. The history of European settlement in Brooklyn spans more than 350 years, the neighborhood of Marine Park was home to North Americas first tidal mill. It was built by the Dutch, and the foundation can be seen today, however, the area was not formally settled as a town. Many incidents and documents relating to this period are in Gabriel Furmans early compilation, what is today Brooklyn left Dutch hands after the final English conquest of New Netherland in 1664, a prelude to the Second Anglo–Dutch War. The English reorganized the six old Dutch towns on southwestern Long Island as Kings County on November 1,1683 and this tract of land was recognized as a political entity for the first time, and the municipal groundwork was laid for a later expansive idea of Brooklyn identity. On August 27,1776 was fought the Battle of Long Island, the first major engagement fought in the American Revolutionary War after independence was declared, and the largest of the entire conflict. British troops forced Continental Army troops under George Washington off the heights near the sites of Green-Wood Cemetery, Prospect Park. The fortified American positions at Brooklyn Heights consequently became untenable and were evacuated a few days later, One result of the Treaty of Paris in 1783 was the evacuation of the British from New York City, celebrated by residents into the 20th century. The New York Navy Yard operated in Wallabout Bay for the entire 19th century, the first center of urbanization sprang up in the Town of Brooklyn, directly across from Lower Manhattan, which saw the incorporation of the Village of Brooklyn in 1817. Reliable steam ferry service across the East River to Fulton Landing converted Brooklyn Heights into a town for Wall Street. Ferry Road to Jamaica Pass became Fulton Street to East New York, Town and Village were combined to form the first, kernel incarnation of the City of Brooklyn in 1834. Industrial deconcentration in mid-century was bringing shipbuilding and other manufacturing to the part of the county. Each of the two cities and six towns in Kings County remained independent municipalities, and purposely created non-aligning street grids with different naming systems and it later became the most popular and highest circulation afternoon paper in America. The publisher changed to L. Van Anden on April 19,1842, on May 14,1849 the name was shortened to The Brooklyn Daily Eagle, on September 5,1938 it was further shortened to Brooklyn Eagle
2.
Los Angeles
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Los Angeles, officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L. A. is the cultural, financial, and commercial center of Southern California. With a census-estimated 2015 population of 3,971,883, it is the second-most populous city in the United States, Los Angeles is also the seat of Los Angeles County, the most populated county in the United States. The citys inhabitants are referred to as Angelenos, historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was founded on September 4,1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence, in 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4,1850, the discovery of oil in the 1890s brought rapid growth to the city. The completion of the Los Angeles Aqueduct in 1913, delivering water from Eastern California, nicknamed the City of Angels, Los Angeles is known for its Mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, and sprawling metropolis. Los Angeles also has an economy in culture, media, fashion, science, sports, technology, education, medicine. A global city, it has been ranked 6th in the Global Cities Index, the city is home to renowned institutions covering a broad range of professional and cultural fields, and is one of the most substantial economic engines within the United States. The Los Angeles combined statistical area has a gross metropolitan product of $831 billion, making it the third-largest in the world, after the Greater Tokyo and New York metropolitan areas. The city has hosted the Summer Olympic Games in 1932 and 1984 and is bidding to host the 2024 Summer Olympics and thus become the second city after London to have hosted the Games three times. The Los Angeles area also hosted the 1994 FIFA mens World Cup final match as well as the 1999 FIFA womens World Cup final match, the mens event was watched on television by over 700 million people worldwide. The Los Angeles coastal area was first settled by the Tongva, a Gabrielino settlement in the area was called iyáangẚ, meaning poison oak place. Gaspar de Portolà and Franciscan missionary Juan Crespí, reached the present site of Los Angeles on August 2,1769, in 1771, Franciscan friar Junípero Serra directed the building of the Mission San Gabriel Arcángel, the first mission in the area. The Queen of the Angels is an honorific of the Virgin Mary, two-thirds of the settlers were mestizo or mulatto with a mixture of African, indigenous and European ancestry. The settlement remained a small town for decades, but by 1820. Today, the pueblo is commemorated in the district of Los Angeles Pueblo Plaza and Olvera Street. New Spain achieved its independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821, during Mexican rule, Governor Pío Pico made Los Angeles Alta Californias regional capital
3.
Agoura Hills, California
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Agoura Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California. Its population was estimated to be at 20,843 in 2014 and it is in the eastern Conejo Valley between the Simi Hills and the Santa Monica Mountains. The city is on the border between the county of Los Angeles to the east, west and south and Ventura County to the north and it is about 30 miles northwest of Downtown Los Angeles and less than 10 miles west of the Los Angeles City limits. Agoura Hills and unincorporated Agoura sit next to Calabasas, Oak Park, the area was first settled by the Chumash Native Americans around 10,000 years ago. In about 1800, Miguel Ortega was granted a Spanish grazing concession called Rancho Las Virgenes or El Rancho de Nuestra Señora La Reina de Las Virgenes. The grant was abandoned after Ortegas death in 1810, and José Maria Dominguez was given Rancho Las Virgenes as a Mexican land grant in 1834, Maria Antonia Machado de Reyes purchased the rancho from Dominguez in 1845. In the 1920s, the community was known as Picture City. Styling himself Don Pierre Agoure, he was a sheep herder and had a reputation as a swashbuckler. Agoura Hills began to grow in the late 1960s after the Ventura Freeway section of U. S. Route 101 was built through the citys heart, the first housing tracts in Agoura were Hillrise, Liberty Canyon and Lake Lindero. Rapid growth continued during the 1970s, when schools were built, in 1978, residents of the Agoura Hills area banded together to lobby Sacramento to widen the Kanan Bridge. Legislation was passed requiring the State Department of Transportation to award contracts for widening of the Kanan Road bridge overpass, over the Ventura Freeway, in 1982, the residents of the City of Agoura Hills voted in favor of cityhood by a 68% majority. Agoura Hills became the 83rd City in Los Angeles County, elected to the first City Council were Mayor Fran Pavley, Mayor Pro Tem Carol Sahm, Councilmembers Ernest Dynda, John Hood, and Vicky Leary. The 1980s was a period of growth, with large land areas being subdivided into housing tracts. In the 1990s, numerous businesses set up shop in the city, in 1995, the murder of Jimmy Farris shook the city and awakened it to a rising drug problem and petty theft crime wave among its young. As a result, the city began sponsoring live music competitions, according to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 8.2 square miles. 8.2 square miles of it is land and 0.04 square miles of it is water Agoura Hills has a mountain called Ballard Mountain named after pioneer settler and freed slave John Ballard. The name of the mountain was changed from Negrohead to Ballard in a ceremony on February 20,2010. Ladyface mountain is another prominent mountain on the west side of the Conejo Valley, Agoura Hills is called the Gateway to the Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area
4.
Rock music
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It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by blues, rhythm and blues and country music. Rock music also drew strongly on a number of genres such as electric blues and folk. Musically, rock has centered on the guitar, usually as part of a rock group with electric bass guitar. Typically, rock is song-based music usually with a 4/4 time signature using a verse-chorus form, like pop music, lyrics often stress romantic love but also address a wide variety of other themes that are frequently social or political in emphasis. Punk was an influence into the 1980s on the subsequent development of subgenres, including new wave, post-punk. From the 1990s alternative rock began to rock music and break through into the mainstream in the form of grunge, Britpop. Similarly, 1970s punk culture spawned the visually distinctive goth and emo subcultures and this trio of instruments has often been complemented by the inclusion of other instruments, particularly keyboards such as the piano, Hammond organ and synthesizers. The basic rock instrumentation was adapted from the blues band instrumentation. A group of musicians performing rock music is termed a rock band or rock group, Rock music is traditionally built on a foundation of simple unsyncopated rhythms in a 4/4 meter, with a repetitive snare drum back beat on beats two and four. Melodies are often derived from older musical modes, including the Dorian and Mixolydian, harmonies range from the common triad to parallel fourths and fifths and dissonant harmonic progressions. Critics have stressed the eclecticism and stylistic diversity of rock, because of its complex history and tendency to borrow from other musical and cultural forms, it has been argued that it is impossible to bind rock music to a rigidly delineated musical definition. These themes were inherited from a variety of sources, including the Tin Pan Alley pop tradition, folk music and rhythm, as a result, it has been seen as articulating the concerns of this group in both style and lyrics. Christgau, writing in 1972, said in spite of some exceptions, rock and roll usually implies an identification of male sexuality, according to Simon Frith rock was something more than pop, something more than rock and roll. Rock musicians combined an emphasis on skill and technique with the concept of art as artistic expression, original. The foundations of music are in rock and roll, which originated in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. Its immediate origins lay in a melding of various musical genres of the time, including rhythm and blues and gospel music, with country. In 1951, Cleveland, Ohio disc jockey Alan Freed began playing rhythm and blues music for a multi-racial audience, debate surrounds which record should be considered the first rock and roll record. Other artists with rock and roll hits included Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Fats Domino, Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis
5.
Pop music
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Pop music is a genre of popular music that originated in its modern form in the United States and United Kingdom during the mid 1950s. The terms popular music and pop music are used interchangeably, although the former describes all music that is popular. Pop and rock were synonymous terms until the late 1960s, when they were used in opposition from each other. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music. Pop music is eclectic, and often borrows elements from other such as urban, dance, rock, Latin. Identifying factors include generally short to medium-length songs written in a format, as well as the common use of repeated choruses, melodic tunes. David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop music as a body of music which is distinguishable from popular, jazz, according to Pete Seeger, pop music is professional music which draws upon both folk music and fine arts music. Although pop music is seen as just the singles charts, it is not the sum of all chart music, the music charts contain songs from a variety of sources, including classical, jazz, rock, and novelty songs. Pop music, as a genre, is seen as existing and developing separately, pop music continuously evolves along with the terms definition. The term pop song was first recorded as being used in 1926, Hatch and Millward indicate that many events in the history of recording in the 1920s can be seen as the birth of the modern pop music industry, including in country, blues and hillbilly music. The Oxford Dictionary of Music states that while pops earlier meaning meant concerts appealing to a wide audience. Since the late 1950s, however, pop has had the meaning of non-classical mus, usually in the form of songs, performed by such artists as the Beatles. Grove Music Online also states that, in the early 1960s pop music competed terminologically with beat music, while in the USA its coverage overlapped with that of rock and roll. From about 1967, the term was used in opposition to the term rock music. Whereas rock aspired to authenticity and an expansion of the possibilities of music, pop was more commercial, ephemeral. It is not driven by any significant ambition except profit and commercial reward, and, in musical terms, it is essentially conservative. It is, provided from on high rather than being made from below, pop is not a do-it-yourself music but is professionally produced and packaged. The beat and the melodies tend to be simple, with limited harmonic accompaniment, the lyrics of modern pop songs typically focus on simple themes – often love and romantic relationships – although there are notable exceptions
6.
Tower Records (record label)
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Tower Records was an American record label from 1964 to 1970. For this reason Tower is often associated with the rock phenomenon of the 1960s. Named after Capitols headquarters building, Tower was formed as a subsidiary to Capitol in 1964, in its early years, it released recordings by British invasion artists like Freddie and the Dreamers, and Tom Jones. It also gave Nilsson his first national releases, Towers first single was Car Party/Outta Gas by The Sunrays, a California pop group produced and managed by Murry Wilson, father of Beach Boys Brian, Dennis and Carl. Tower labels from 1964 to approximately 1968 had a solid brownish-orange color and this design was used for both singles and albums. Starting sometime around late 1968 or early 1969 the design was changed to a multicolored stripe label, and again, the stripe label lasted until Tower ceased operations sometime around 1970. Tower releases have numerous small variations of label type for stereo and mono releases. Minor label variations also sometimes make it possible to determine which of the three Capitol Records factories manufactured each copy, in 1965, Tower made a bit of a risky move by releasing You Turn Me On by Ian Whitcomb, a song that was considered racy by some. Other Tower hits that year included I Live For The Sun by The Sunrays and Dirty Water, in 1966, the label gained what could be called a future cult status, becoming one of the premiere purveyors of what would later be called garage rock. While not releasing recordings from this genre exclusively, it seemed their greatest chart successes came from garage bands, Tower released the first recordings by Pink Floyd in the U. S. in 1967 without success after acquiring the rights from EMIs UK Columbia label. Tower released three Pink Floyd albums, the five Pink Floyd singles on Tower have become the most valuable and sought-after of the labels recordings. Tower released the single See Emily Play three times between July 1967 and late 1968, but each time it failed to reach the top 40. Two other Pink Floyd singles, Flaming and Let There Be More Light are especially rare and were not released at all in the U. K, after the Tower label was dissolved the Pink Floyd albums were re-issued on another Capitol/EMI subsidiary, Harvest Records and later Capitol Records. Several singles by The Chocolate Watch Band were released also in 1967, mississippi sunshine pop group Eternitys Children placed Tower back on the charts with Mrs. Bluebird in the summer of 1968. A&R man Mike Curb joined the label in 1968, Curb had a hand in releasing several soundtracks on the Tower label, most notably, Wild in the Streets, featuring Towers last major hit, Max Frost and the Troopers The Shape of Things To Come. Capitol shut down Tower Records in 1970, in 1992, the original label was used as part of EMIs Legends Of Rock And Roll series of CDs for their Best Of Freddie And The Dreamers compilation. 1965 until 1970, when he was moved to the roster of Towers parent label, Capitol. At some point during Curless tenure with Tower, rhey also acquired Curless earliest recordings, which he had made for the Event and Tiffany labels, and re-issued them in a string of Compilation LPs
7.
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
8.
Mercury Records
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Mercury Records is an American-based record label owned by Universal Music Group. In the United States, it operates through Island Records, in the UK, Mercury Record Corporation was formed in the American city of Chicago in 1945 by Irving Green, Berle Adams, Ray Greenberg and Arthur Talmadge. They were a force in jazz and blues, classical music, rock and roll. Early in the history, Mercury opened two pressing plants, one in Chicago and the other in St. Louis, Missouri. With the use of presses and providing 24-hour turnaround, they went into direct competition with major recording labels such as Columbia, Decca, Capitol. By hiring two promoters, Tiny Hill and Jimmy Hilliard, they penetrated the pop market with such as Frankie Laine, Vic Damone, Tony Fontane. Rather than rely on radio airplay, Mercury initially relied on jukeboxes to promote their music, some early Mercury recordings featured a caricature of him as its logo. In 1947 Jack Rael, a musician and publicist/manager, persuaded Mercury to let Patti Page record a song that had planned to be done by Vic Damone. The budget was too small for them to hire a second singer to provide the parts to Page. The company released a number of recordings under the Mercury label as well as its subsidiaries. In addition, they leased and purchased material by independent labels, under their own label, Mercury released a variety of recording styles from classical music to psychedelic rock. However, its subsidiaries focused on their own specialized categories of music, Mercurys jazz division had two distinct and important fathers. John Hammond brought his expertise and connections when Mercury bought Keynote Records in the late 1940s, and Mercury was the issuing company and distributor for Norman Granzs pre-Norgran/Verve recordings. Although both Hammond and Granz had departed Mercury by the mid-1950s, they established the company in the jazz world, by the early 1960s, Mercury was releasing jazz under the flagship label and was an early leader in the new stereo sound releases. Highlights of the early and mid-1960s included albums by Quincy Jones, Buddy Rich, Cannonball Adderley, Charles Mingus, Dinah Washington, Sarah Vaughan, Max Roach, in the early 1950s, Norman Granz started his own record company, Norgran, which later became Verve. In an ironic twist, both Mercury and Verve are now owned by Universal Music Group and Mercurys jazz library falls under the Verve division. Since the early 1990s, Verve has reissued many Mercury jazz titles on CD, often taking care to use original master tapes, in 1962, Mercury began marketing a line of phonographs made by Philips bearing the Mercury brand name. In July 1967, Mercury Records became the first U. S. record company to release cassette music tapes, in 1969, Mercury changed its corporate name to Mercury Record Productions Inc. while its parent Conelco became North American Philips Corp after Philips brought control of the company
9.
John Lennon
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John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE was an English singer and songwriter who co-founded the Beatles, the most commercially successful and musically influential band in the history of popular music. He and fellow member Paul McCartney formed a songwriting partnership. Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the craze as a teenager, his first band, the Quarrymen, first became the Silver Beatles. After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he added Ono as one of his middle names, Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to raise his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release, Lennon revealed a rebellious nature and acerbic wit in his music, writing, drawings, on film and in interviews. By 2012, Lennons solo album sales in the United States exceeded 14 million and, as writer, co-writer, or performer, he is responsible for 25 number-one singles on the US Hot 100 chart. In 2002, a BBC poll on the 100 Greatest Britons voted him eighth and, in 2008, Rolling Stone ranked him the fifth-greatest singer of all time. He was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987, and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice, in 1988 as a member of the Beatles and in 1994 as a solo artist. Lennon was born in war-time England, on 9 October 1940 at Liverpool Maternity Hospital, to Julia and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman of Irish descent and his parents named him John Winston Lennon after his paternal grandfather, John Jack Lennon, and then-Prime Minister Winston Churchill. When he eventually came home six months later, he offered to look after the family, after her sister, Mimi Smith, twice complained to Liverpools Social Services, Julia handed the care of Lennon over to her. In July 1946 Lennons father visited Smith and took his son to Blackpool, Julia followed them—with her partner at the time, Bobby Dykins—and after a heated argument his father forced the five-year-old to choose between them. Lennon twice chose his father, but as his mother walked away, he began to cry and followed her, according to author Mark Lewisohn, Lennons parents agreed that Julia should take him and give him a home as Alf left again. A witness who was there that day, Billy Hall, has said the scene often portrayed with a young John Lennon having to make a decision between his parents never happened. It would be 20 years before he had contact with his father again, Throughout the rest of his childhood and adolescence he lived at Mendips,251 Menlove Avenue, Woolton with his aunt and uncle, Mimi and George Smith, who had no children of their own. His aunt purchased volumes of stories for him, and his uncle. In September 1980, Lennon commented about his family and his rebellious nature, Part of me would like to be accepted by all facets of society, but I cannot be what I am not. I was the one who all the other boys parents—including Pauls father—would say, the parents instinctively recognised I was a troublemaker, meaning I did not conform and I would influence their children, which I did. I did my best to disrupt every friends home, partly out of envy that I didnt have this so-called home
10.
The Monkees
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The Monkees are an American rock band originally active between 1965 and 1971, with subsequent reunion albums and tours in the decades that followed. They were formed in Los Angeles in 1965 by Bob Rafelson and Bert Schneider for the American television series The Monkees, the musical acting quartet was composed of Americans Micky Dolenz, Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork and British actor and singer Davy Jones. The bands music was supervised by producer Don Kirshner. Dolenz described the Monkees as initially being a TV show about an imaginary band and that wanted to be The Beatles, that was never successful. The actor-musicians, however, soon became a real band, for the first few months of their initial five-year career as The Monkees, the four actor-musicians were allowed only limited roles in the recording studio. This was due in part to the amount of required to film the television series. Nonetheless, Nesmith did compose and produce some songs from the beginning and they eventually fought for and earned the right to collectively supervise all musical output under the bands name. The sitcom was canceled in 1968, but the continued to record music through 1971. A revival of interest in the show came in 1986. Up until 2011 the group had reunited and toured several times, despite the sudden death of Davy Jones on February 29,2012, the surviving members reunited for a tour in November–December 2012 and again in 2013 for a 24-date tour. Nesmith was able to some time up to join them in the latter stages of the US tour. The Monkees have sold more than 75 million records worldwide and had hits, including Last Train to Clarksville, Pleasant Valley Sunday, Daydream Believer. At their peak in 1967, the band outsold the Beatles, aspiring filmmaker Bob Rafelson developed the initial idea for The Monkees in 1962, but was unsuccessful in selling the series. He had tried selling it to Revue, the division of Universal Pictures. In May 1964, while working at Screen Gems, Rafelson teamed up with Bert Schneider, whose father, Abraham Schneider, headed the Colpix Television, Rafelson and Schneider ultimately formed Raybert Productions. The Beatles film A Hard Days Night inspired Rafelson and Schneider to revive Rafelsons idea for The Monkees, as The Raybert Producers, they sold the show to Screen Gems Television on April 16,1965. Rafelson and Schneiders original idea was to cast an existing New York folk rock group, the Lovin Spoonful, however, John Sebastian had already signed the band to a record contract, which would have denied Screen Gems the right to market music from the show. Jones had previously starred as the Artful Dodger in the Broadway show Oliver, which debuted on December 17,1962, and his performance was later seen on The Ed Sullivan Show the same night as the Beatles first appearance on that show, February 9,1964
11.
Van Dyke Parks
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Van Dyke Parks is an American composer, arranger, record producer, instrumentalist, singer-songwriter, author, and actor. He is known for his collaborations with the musician Brian Wilson, in addition to producing records by other artists, Parks has released several studio albums of his own recordings, Song Cycle, Discover America, Clang of the Yankee Reaper, Jump. Tokyo Rose, Orange Crate Art, Songs Cycled, and one album, Moonlighting. He has also established himself in motion pictures and over the years has directed, arranged, produced, on occasion, he has taken small acting roles. Born in 1943 in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, as the youngest of four children, he was raised in Lake Charles and his older brothers played brass instruments. His father Richard Hill Parks III was a doctor who served as chief officer in the Dachau liberation reprisals. Having studied with Karl Menninger, Richards specific medical specialties were neurology and psychiatry, Richard was also a part-time clarinetist and had a dance band to get through med school, Dick Parks and His White Swan Serenaders. Van Dykes mother was a Hebraic scholar, growing up, there were two grand pianos nestled in the family living room, and at age 4, Parks began studying the clarinet. He attended the American Boychoir School in Princeton, New Jersey, studying voice and piano, Parks also was a street urchin in La Bohème at the Metropolitan Opera and sang the title role of Amahl and the Night Visitors at New York City Opera. During his childhood, Parks became extremely fond of old-style American music and this interest in Depression-era songwriting would correlate heavily with his artistic goals and interests during the 1960s and beyond. He was also affected by musicians Spike Jones and Les Paul. Parks has said that the first record he ever purchased may have been Dean Martins Memories Are Made of This and he began his professional career as a child actor. Between 1953 and 1958 he worked steadily in films and television, including the 1956 movie The Swan and he appeared as Ezio Pinzas son Andrew Bonino on the NBC television show Bonino. One of his costars on Bonino was 14-year-old Chet Allen, who appeared as Jerry Bonino, Parks and Allen were roommates at the Boychoir School. Parks also had a role as Little Tommy Manicotti on Jackie Gleasons The Honeymooners. Parks majored in music at the Carnegie Institute of Technology in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1962, Parks began studying acoustic guitar. According to Parks, he learned 50 requinto solos of Mexican boleros, the group included future RCA Records producer and recording artist Rick Jarrard. Parks later said of decision, Going to California meant I escaped John Cage
12.
Phil Spector
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He is acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in pop music history. Spectors other chart-topping singles include Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin, The Long and Winding Road, from 2007 to 2009, Spector was the subject of a trial and retrial for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, of which he was convicted in the second degree. He is serving a sentence of 19 years to life. In 2008, The Washington Times named Spector the second greatest record producer in music history, in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #63 on their list of the Greatest Artists of All Time. In their 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, they included the Spector-produced Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, A Christmas Gift for You, according to BMI, Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin is the song that received the most US airplay in the 20th century. For co-producing Harrisons Concert for Bangladesh, Spector earned the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1989, Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nonperformer. In 1997, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, harvey Phillip Spector was born on December 26,1939 to a first-generation immigrant Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City. His father, Ben, was an ironworker from Russia with the surname Spekter, Spectors father committed suicide on April 20,1949. In 1953, his mother moved the family to Los Angeles where she found work as a seamstress, having learned to play guitar, Spector performed Rock Island Line in a talent show at Fairfax High School, where he was a student. With three friends from school, Marshall Leib, Sandy Nelson, and Annette Kleinbard, Spector formed a group. During this period, record producer Stan Ross — co-owner of Gold Star Studios in Hollywood — began to tutor Spector in record production, in 1958, the Teddy Bears recorded the Spector-penned Dont You Worry My Little Pet, which helped them secure a deal with Era Records. At their next session, they recorded another song Spector had written—this one inspired by the epitaph on Spectors fathers tombstone. Released on Eras subsidiary label, Dore Records, To Know Him Is to Love Him reached number one on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on December 1,1958 and it was the seventh number-one single on the newly formed chart. Following the success of their debut, the signed with Imperial Records. Their next single, I Dont Need You Anymore, reached number 91 and they released several more recordings, including an album, The Teddy Bears Sing. But failed to reach the top 100 in US sales, after the split, Spectors career quickly moved from performing and songwriting to production. While recording the Teddy Bears album, Spector had met Lester Sill and his next project, the Spectors Three, was undertaken under the aegis of Sill and his partner, Lee Hazlewood. In 1960, Sill arranged for Spector to work as an apprentice to Leiber and Stoller in New York, Ronnie Crawford would become Spector’s first true recording artist and project as producer
13.
Ringo Starr
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Richard Starkey, MBE, known professionally as Ringo Starr, is an English musician, singer, songwriter and actor who gained worldwide fame as the drummer for the Beatles. He occasionally sang lead vocals, usually for one song on an album, including With a Little Help from My Friends, Yellow Submarine and their cover of Act Naturally. He also wrote the Beatles songs Dont Pass Me By and Octopuss Garden, Starr was twice afflicted by life-threatening illnesses during childhood, and as a result of prolonged hospitalisations fell behind in school. In 1955, he entered the workforce and briefly held a position with British Rail before securing an apprenticeship at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer, soon afterwards, he became interested in the UK skiffle craze, developing a fervent admiration for the genre. In 1957, he cofounded his first band, the Eddie Clayton Skiffle Group, when the Beatles formed in 1960, Starr was a member of another Liverpool group, Rory Storm and the Hurricanes. After achieving moderate success with that band in the UK and Hamburg, he quit the Hurricanes and joined the Beatles in August 1962, Starr played key roles in the Beatles films and appeared in numerous others. After the bands break-up in 1970, he released several singles including the US number four hit It Dont Come Easy. In 1972, he released his most successful UK single, Back Off Boogaloo and he achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top ten release in both the UK and the US. He has been featured in a number of documentaries and hosted television shows, since 1989, he has toured with twelve variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. Ringos popularity brought forth a new paradigm and we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect. His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and he was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. Starr, who was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988, was inducted for his solo career in 2015. Richard Starkey was born on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle and he is the only child of confectioners Elsie and Richard Starkey. Elsie enjoyed singing and dancing, a hobby that she shared with her husband, an avid fan of swing. Prior to the birth of their son, whom they nicknamed Ritchie, the couple had spent much of their time on the local ballroom circuit. Elsie adopted an approach to raising her son that bordered on fixation. Subsequently, Big Ritchie, as Starkeys father became known, lost interest in his family, choosing instead to spend hours drinking and dancing in pubs
14.
Klaus Voormann
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Klaus Voormann is a German artist, musician, and record producer. He designed artwork for bands including the Beatles, the Bee Gees, Wet Wet Wet. His most notable work as a producer was his work with the band Trio and his association with the Beatles dated back to their time in Hamburg in the early 1960s. Following the bands split, rumours circulated of the formation of a group named the Ladders, consisting of Lennon, Harrison, Starr, in the 1990s, he designed the artwork for the Beatles Anthology albums. In 2009, he released his solo album A Sidemans Journey. Klaus Voormann was born in Berlin, Germany, and raised in the suburbs of North Berlin and his father was a physician and he was one of six brothers. In his July 2010 interview on Talking Germany, Voormann discussed his dyslexia, the Voormann family were interested in art, classical music, and books, with a feeling for history and tradition. His parents decided that instead of studying music it would be best for Klaus to study art in Berlin at the Meisterschule für Grafik und Buchgewerbe. It was in Hamburg that Voormann first met Astrid Kirchherr, after an argument with her and Jürgen Vollmer one day, Voormann wandered down the Reeperbahn, in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg, and heard music coming from the Kaiserkeller club. He walked in on a performance by Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, the next group to play was the Beatles. Voormann was left speechless by the performances and he had never heard rock n roll before, having previously only listened to traditional jazz, with some Nat King Cole and Platters mixed in. Voormann invited Kirchherr and Vollmer to watch the performances the next day, after joining Voormann at a performance, the trio decided upon spending as much time as possible close to the group and immersing themselves in the music. During a break, Voormann tried to talk to Lennon, Lennon took little interest, and brushed Voormann off, suggesting that he talk to Stuart Sutcliffe, who, Lennon said, is the artist round here. Sutcliffe did not share Lennons attitude, and was fascinated by the trio and he later wrote that he could hardly take his eyes off them, and had tried to talk to them during the next break, but they had already left the club. Lennon dubbed the trio the Exies, as a joke about their affection for existentialism, Voormann was in a relationship with Kirchherr at the time, and lived just around the corner from her parents upper-class home in the Altona district of Hamburg. Kirchherrs bedroom, which was all in black, including the walls, after the visits to the Kaiserkeller their relationship became purely platonic, as Astrid started dating Sutcliffe, who was fascinated by her, although she always remained a close friend of Voormann. In the early 1960s, Voormann decided to leave Germany and move to London, Voormann lived with Harrison and Ringo Starr for a time before finding work as a commercial artist and renting an apartment of his own. He returned to Hamburg in 1963, where he founded a band with Paddy Chambers, Voormann and Gibson Kemp called Paddy, in 1966, Voormann returned to London and was asked by Lennon to design the sleeve for the album Revolver
15.
Great American Songbook
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The Great American Songbook, also known as American Standards, is the canon of the most important and influential American popular songs and jazz standards from the early 20th century. They have been recorded and performed by a number and wide range of singers, instrumental bands. The Songbook comprises standards by George Gershwin, Cole Porter, and Irving Berlin, and also Jerome Kern, Harold Arlen, Johnny Mercer, Richard Rodgers, there is no consensus on which songs are in the Great American Songbook. Several music publishing companies, including Hal Leonard, J. W. Pepper & Son, Alfred Music lists the Songbook as its own genre. Music critics have attempted to develop a canon, a composer, Wilder emphasized analysis of composers and their creative efforts in this work. Wilder devotes whole chapters to only six composers, Jerome Kern, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Richard Rodgers, Cole Porter, vincent Youmans and Arthur Schwartz share a chapter, Burton Lane, Hugh Martin and Vernon Duke are covered together in another. Whiting, Ray Noble, John Green, Rube Bloom and Jimmy Van Heusen, Wilder concludes with a catch-all 67-page chapter entitled Outstanding Individual Songs,1920 to 1950, which includes additional individual songs which he considers memorable. From some perspectives, the Songbook era ended with the advent of rock and roll, Radio personality and Songbook devotee Jonathan Schwartz has described this genre as Americas classical music. What makes these songs classic is their lasting value, the following writers and songs are often included in the Great American Songbook, Harold Arlen Irving Berlin Nacio Herb Brown with lyricist Arthur Freed Hoagy Carmichael Cy Coleman J. Many of the songs in the Great American Songbook are in thirty-two-bar form, many were composed for musicals, and some originally included an introductory sectional verse. The sectional verse is an introduction that typically has a free musical structure, speech-like rhythms. The song itself is usually a 32-bar AABA or ABAC form, and the lyrics refer to more universal and timeless situations and themes – typically, for instance. This universality made it easier for songs to be added to or subtracted from a show, a few of the songs which were written with an introductory sectional verse are nearly always performed in full with the introduction. However, the verse, if it exists, is often dropped in performances of Great American Songbook songs outside their original stage or movie context. Whether or not the verse is sung often depends on what the song is. For example, Frank Sinatra never recorded Fly Me to the Moon with the sectional verse. Since the 1930s, many singers have recorded or performed large parts of the Great American Songbook, ella Fitzgeralds popular and influential Songbook series on Verve in the 1950s and 1960s collated 252 songs from the Songbook. These eight collections paid tribute to Cole Porter, Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart, Duke Ellington, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, since the late 20th century, there has been a revival of the Songbook by contemporary singers
16.
Tenor
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Tenor is a type of classical male singing voice whose vocal range is one of the highest of the male voice types. The tenors vocal range lies between C3, the C one octave below middle C, and A4, the A above middle C, in solo work, this range extends up to C5, or tenor high C. The low extreme for tenors is roughly A♭2, at the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C. The tenor voice type is divided into the leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor. The name tenor derives from the Latin word tenere, which means to hold, in medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, until the late 16th century introduction of the contratenor singers, the tenor was usually the highest voice, assuming the role of providing a foundation. It was also in the 18th century that tenor came to signify the male voice that sang such parts, thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked tenor indicated the parts role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the century, partbooks labelled tenor might contain parts for a range of voice types. The vocal range of the tenor is one of the highest of the voice types. Within opera, the lowest note in the tenor repertoire is probably A♭2 in Rossinis rarely performed La donna del lago in the role of Rodrigo di Dhu. Within more frequently performed repertoire, Mime and Herod both call for an A2, a few tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a tenor C. Some of the few top Cs in the operatic repertoire are either optional or interpolated by tradition. However, the highest demanded note in the standard operatic repertoire is D5. Some operatic roles for tenors require a darker timbre and fewer high notes, in the leggero repertoire, the highest note is F5, therefore, very few tenors can, given the raising of concert pitch since its composition, have this role in their repertoire without transposition. Within the tenor voice type category are seven generally recognized subcategories, leggero tenor, lyric tenor, spinto tenor, dramatic tenor, heldentenor, Mozart tenor, Also known as the tenore di grazia, the leggero tenor is essentially the male equivalent of a lyric coloratura. This voice is light, agile, and capable of executing difficult passages of fioritura, the typical leggero tenor possesses a range spanning from approximately C3 to E♭5, with a few being able to sing up to F5 or higher in full voice. In some cases, the chest register of the leggero tenor may extend below C3, voices of this type are utilized frequently in the operas of Rossini, Donizetti, Bellini and in music dating from the Baroque period. Leggero tenor roles in operas, The lyric tenor is a warm voice with a bright, full timbre that is strong but not heavy
17.
Indie rock
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Indie rock is a genre of alternative rock that originated in the United States and the United Kingdom in the 1980s. Originally used to independent record labels, the term became associated with the music they produced and was initially used interchangeably with alternative rock. In the mid-1980s, the term began to be used to describe the music produced on punk and post-punk labels. Some prominent indie rock record labels were founded during the 1980s, during the 1990s, Grunge bands broke into the mainstream, and the term alternative lost its original counter-cultural meaning. The term indie rock became associated with the bands and genres that remained dedicated to their independent status, by the end of the 1990s indie rock developed subgenres and related styles including lo-fi, noise pop, emo, slowcore, post-rock and math rock. In the 2000s, changes in the industry and in music technology enabled a new wave of indie rock bands to achieve mainstream success. In the early 2000s, a new group of bands played a stripped-down. The commercial breakthrough from these scenes was led by four bands, The Strokes, The White Stripes, The Hives, emo also broke into mainstream culture in the early 2000s. By the end of the 2000s the proliferation of bands was being referred to as indie landfill. The term indie rock, which comes from independent, describes the small and relatively low-budget labels on which it is released, the influences and styles of the artists have been extremely diverse, including punk, psychedelia, post-punk and country. Allmusic identifies indie rock as including a number of varying musical approaches compatible with mainstream tastes, in fact, there is an everlasting list of genres and subgenres of indie rock. Many countries have developed a local indie scene, flourishing with bands with enough popularity to survive inside the respective country. However, there are still indie bands that start off locally, Indie rock has been identified as a reaction against the macho culture that developed in alternative rock in the aftermath of Nirvanas success. However, Cortney Harding pointed out that this sense of equality is not reflected in the number of women running indie labels. The BBC documentary Music for Misfits, The Story of Indie pinpoints the birth of indie as the 1977 self-publication of the Spiral Scratch EP by Manchester band Buzzcocks, Indie pop and indie were originally synonymous. In the mid-1980s, indie began to be used to describe the music produced on post-punk labels rather than the labels themselves. The indie rock scene in the US was prefigured by the rock that dominated college radio playlists. In the United States, the term was associated with the abrasive, distortion-heavy sounds of the Pixies, Hüsker Dü, Minutemen, Meat Puppets, Dinosaur Jr
18.
Close and open harmony
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Close harmony is an arrangement of the notes of chords within a narrow range, usually notes that are no more than an octave apart. It is different from open harmony or voicing in that it uses each part on the closest harmonizing note, close harmony or voicing can refer to both instrumental and vocal arrangements. It can follow the standard voice-leading rules of harmony, as in string quartets or Bachs Chorales. In jazz, this influence is reflected in George Gershwins work, origins of this style of singing are found in harmonies of the 1800s in America. Early radio quartets continued this tradition, female harmonists, like the Boswell Sisters. The Hamilton Sisters and Fordyce, then became Three X Sisters, both performed and recorded this style in the 1920s, and continued this onto commercial radio of the 1930s. Close harmony singing was popular in the 1940s with Pop. The Andrews Sisters capitalized on a similar style too with Swing music, many gospel and soul groups in the 1950s and 60s also used this technique, usually 3- or 4-part SSAA or TTBB harmony with one person doing a call-and-response type lead. Examples of this are The Blind Boys of Alabama, a group that is still recording today, the folk-rock duo Simon & Garfunkel used close harmony, echoing their chosen role-models, The Everly Brothers. The Louvin Brothers were a duo that used close harmony in the genre of country music, barbershop can be sung by males or females. Public domain pieces, such as Sweet Adeline, and newer pieces are abundant, national organizations promote the music with local chapters in many communities. Soul and gospel groups flourished in America in the years after World War II, building on the foundation of blues, 1930s gospel songs and big band music. As noted above, they used the more traditional TTBB or SSAA 4-part structure, but with heavy use of solos and call-and-response. These groups sometimes sang a cappella but also used more instrumental backing, Pop music and doo-wop can be seen as a commercialization of this genre. In music, block harmony is close position harmonization, and contrasted with open harmony
19.
Pandemonium Shadow Show
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Pandemonium Shadow Show is the second album by Harry Nilsson. It was the first product of his three-year, $50,000 recording contract with RCA Victor, unlike virtually all his earlier records, Show employed the full potential of Nilssons voice in the recording studio, turning him into what was described as a chorus of ninety-eight voices. Nilsson had hoped to use the title Something Wicked This Way Comes, but approval hadnt come by the release date, so the lesser-known title was chosen instead. Three other songs were written by Jesse Lee Kincaid, Botkin and Garfield, the album debuted to little public attention in the US and England, although it was an immediate hit in Canada, where You Cant Do That was a top 10 hit. A cover of 1941 by Canadian folk/rock artist Tom Northcott charted in both Canada and the US in 1968, fellow musician and earlier collaborator Chip Douglas introduced Nilsson to The Monkees whom he was producing. Nilsson gave an audition of his latest songs. The Monkees covered two of his songs -Cuddly Toy, and later Daddys Song (which appeared on Head - as well as becoming friends. Without Her was covered by Blood, Sweat and Tears on Child Is Father to the Man and Herb Alpert and his early work sold better after Nilsson had become better established through hits like Without You and albums like Nilsson Schmilsson. Nilsson revamped several tracks from his first two albums to one of the first remix albums, Aerial Pandemonium Ballet, in 1971
20.
Randy Newman
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Randall Stuart Randy Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his distinctive voice, mordant pop songs, and for film scores. Since the 1980s, Newman has worked mostly as a film composer and his film scores include Ragtime, Awakenings, The Natural, Leatherheads, Cats Dont Dance, Meet the Parents, Cold Turkey, and Seabiscuit. He has scored seven Disney-Pixar animated films, Toy Story, A Bugs Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, cars, Toy Story 3, and Monsters University, as well as Disneys The Princess and the Frog and James and the Giant Peach. Newman has received twenty Academy Award nominations in the Best Original Score and he has also won three Emmys, six Grammy Awards, and the Governors Award from the Recording Academy. Newman was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2002 for classics such as Short People, Newman was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in April 2013. Newman was born in Los Angeles, the son of Adele Dixie, a secretary, and Irving George Newman and he lived in New Orleans as a small child and spent summers there until he was 11 years old, his family having by then returned to Los Angeles. Newman also shares the same birthday as his father, the paternal side of his family includes grandparents Luba and Michael Newman, and three uncles who were noted Hollywood film-score composers, Alfred Newman, Lionel Newman and Emil Newman. Newmans cousins Thomas, Maria, David, and Joey are also composers for motion pictures and he graduated from University High School in Los Angeles. Newman studied music at the University of California, Los Angeles and his parents were both from Jewish families, but Newmans household was not observant, he has since become an atheist. Newman has been a songwriter since he was 17. He cites Ray Charles as his greatest influence growing up, stating and his first single as a performer was 1962s Golden Gridiron Boy, released when he was 18. The single flopped and Newman chose to concentrate on songwriting and arranging for the several years. The Fleetwoods – Buried Treasure LP and cassette, released in 1982, included Newmans Whos Gonna Teach You About Love and his early songs were recorded by Gene Pitney, Jerry Butler, Petula Clark, Dusty Springfield, Jackie DeShannon, the OJays and Irma Thomas, among others. Price, who was enjoying success in England at the time championed Newman by featuring seven Randy Newman songs on his 1967 A Price on His Head album. In the mid-1960s, Newman was briefly a member of the band the Tikis, Newman kept a close musical relationship with Harpers Bizarre, offering them some of his own compositions, including Simon Smith and Happyland. The band recorded six Newman compositions during their initial career. In this period, Newman began a professional association with childhood friend Lenny Waronker. In 2011 Newman endorsed jazz singer Roseanna Vitros album, The Randy Newman Project, Newmans song compositions are represented by Downtown Music Publishing
21.
Nilsson Sings Newman
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Nilsson Sings Newman is the fifth studio album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released in 1970 on RCA Victor, and featuring compositions written by Randy Newman. Recorded over six weeks in late 1969, the album showcases Nilssons voice multi-tracked in layers of tone and its arrangements are otherwise spare, with most of the instrumentation provided by Newman on piano. The record was not a commercial success, but won a 1970 Record of the Year award from Stereo Review magazine. The LP record cover art was illustrated by Dean Torrence, in 1969, Nilssons album Harry ended with one of Newmans songs, Simon Smith and the Amazing Dancing Bear. Years later, Nilsson told Paul Zollo that he was in awe of Newman writing so many songs, in 1968, Ricky Nelson released his concept album Perspective, a move to expand his musical horizons. On August 20,1969, Nilsson and Newman began to record the album, after basic tracks were laid down, Nilsson spent six weeks overdubbing his voice to create layers and harmonies, line by line. As many as 118 overdubs were laid down for a single song, Nilsson often reminds the listener that he is listening to the recording of a studio album. Nilssons voice in the room is heard on several songs. On the albums final song So Long Dad, amid a chorus of voices. Louder, he counters himself by saying actually I need more current voice, forget the one thats saying more first voice. Besides piano, other instruments were used in the studio, including bass drum, tambourine. Newman was, according to Nilsson, tired of the album when we were finished making it, for him it was just doing piano and voice. Nilsson explained once I got the take down, I knew what I was going to do with it later, Newman said of his experience that he was honored that a writer with Harrys talent would choose to do an album of someone elses songs. Newman continued, he was such a singer, a virtuoso singer, really. A number of takes and songs were recorded but left off the 1970 album. Two such songs were Snow and Linda, Newman wrote one song specifically for the album, Caroline, a straightforward love song. In February 1970, the album was released by RCA Records, the cover art was completed by Dean Torrence, known for his teaming with Jan Berry to create the rock and roll duo Jan and Dean. The car is a 1938 Graham-Paige four-door sedan, rusty but working, the audio equipment and record review magazine Stereo Review named Nilsson Sings Newman their album of the year
22.
The Point!
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The Point. is the sixth studio album by American songwriter and musician Harry Nilsson, released in 1971. It was accompanied by a film adaptation directed by Fred Wolf. Its lead single, Me and My Arrow, peaked at number 34 on the Billboard Hot 100. The Point. is a fable that tells the story of a boy named Oblio, the only round-headed person in the Pointed Village, Nilsson explained his inspiration for The Point. I was on acid and I looked at the trees and I realized that all came to points, and the little branches came to points. Everything has a point, and if it doesnt, then theres a point to it, the round-headed Oblio has had to wear a pointed hat since birth to conceal his pointless condition from his pointy-headed peers. However, Oblio is accepted in the town despite his nonconformity until one day when the son of a count is unwittingly dishonored by Oblio. The counts son challenges Oblio to a game of Triangle Toss where participants catch triangles on their heads. Oblio wins with the help of his dog Arrow, a jury reluctantly convicts both Oblio and Arrow leaving the king with no choice but to send the pair away. Oblio and Arrow are sent to the Pointless Forest, but soon discover that even the Pointless Forest has a point, Oblio and Arrow spend the night in the Pointless Forest, then awaken to a large stone hand with the finger pointing to their destination. They take the road indicated by the hand and make their way back to the Land of Point, where they receive a welcome from the lands citizens. Oblio begins to tell his story but is interrupted by the furious count, Oblio tells the king and the people of the land that everything has a point, including the Pointless Forest, and himself. Angered, the count pulls off Oblios pointed hat but is taken aback when he sees a point on top of Oblios bare head, upon this revelation the points of everyone else in the land disappear and pointed buildings become round. The Nilsson album called The Point, features the same songs as the film, and the same basic fable. However, the device of the father and son is discarded. A comic storyboard, illustrated by Gary Lund, was included with the record when it was first released. All tracks written by Harry Nilsson, the film version of The Point. First aired February 2,1971, on the ABC television network as an ABC Movie of the Week, the film was directed by Fred Wolf and produced by Murakami-Wolf Films in association with Nilsson House Music
23.
Nilsson Schmilsson
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Nilsson Schmilsson is the seventh album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released by RCA Records in November 1971. It was Nilssons most commercially successful work, producing three of his best-known songs, among these was the number 1 hit Without You, written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of the group Badfinger. The album was the first of two Nilsson albums recorded in London and produced by Richard Perry, jump into the Fire and Coconut, both written by Nilsson, also became hits. The album performed well at the 1973 Grammy Awards, earning a nomination for Album of the Year, in 2006, Nilsson Schmilsson was ranked number 84 on Pitchforks Top 100 Albums of the 1970s. All tracks written by Harry Nilsson, except where noted
24.
Son of Schmilsson
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Son of Schmilsson is the eighth album by American singer Harry Nilsson. Nilsson was being pressured to produce an album similar to his 1971 breakthrough, Nilsson Schmilsson. The album was produced by Richard Perry and features contributions from former Beatles Ringo Starr. Other musicians on the recording include Nicky Hopkins, Klaus Voormann, Bobby Keys, among the albums tracks are Youre Breakin My Heart and the US hit Spaceman. Most of the sessions were filmed, at the request of Nilsson. The footage was to be used for a documentary, titled Did Somebody Drop His Mouse. But the film was never released, the album cover for Son of Schmilsson features a photo of Nilsson taken at Harrisons home, Friar Park. The album was remastered and released on CD with two tracks in 2000 and with five bonus tracks in 2006. All tracks written by Harry Nilsson except where noted,6, London, England – choir The Henry Krein Quartet with Klaus Voormann – rhythm section Henry Krein – accordion Paul Keogh – guitar Les Thatcher – guitar Album Single
25.
Without You (Badfinger song)
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Without You is a song written by Pete Ham and Tom Evans of British rock group Badfinger, and first released on their 1970 album No Dice. The song has been recorded by over 180 artists, and versions released as singles by Harry Nilsson, Paul McCartney once described the ballad as the killer song of all time. In 1972, writers Ham and Evans received the British Academys Ivor Novello Award for Best Song Musically and Lyrically, first recorded by the rock group Badfinger, the song was composed by two of its members. Two streams, referring to events in the songwriters lives flowed together to create the song. Pete Ham had written a song originally titled If Its Love, at the time of writing the band shared residence with the Mojos at 7 Park Avenue in Golders Green. One evening, in the midst of the parties, songwriting, touring, in Golders Green, Ham, but just as they were leaving Tom Evans said he had an idea for a song – Ham said, Not tonight, Ive promised Bev. But she thought he would be wondering if he had done the right thing later, if he went out, – she told him – Go into the studio and he said, Your mouth is smiling, but your eyes are sad. if its love. But Pete wasnt happy with the chorus, events in Evans love life would lead to the completion of the track. While Evans was touring in Cologne he had met the woman who would become his future wife, One evening he went to her friend Karen and told Karen, Shes left me. He flew to Bonn to find her – he wrote a song called I Cant Live and its chorus, I cant live, if living is without you, I cant live, I cant give any more. And so the merging of the two songs, Ham and Evans created the hit, hams verse, warm, sweet, sentimental and Evans chorus, – intense, dramatic, heartbreaking. Both Ham and Evans said they did not consider the song to have much potential at the time Badfinger recorded it, badfingers recording of the song, which is more brusque than its successors versions, was not released as a single in Europe or North America. Two writers of the song, Ham and Evans, later committed suicide due to legal and financial issues, in Evans case, it was a dispute over songwriting royalties for Without You that precipitated his action. After realising it was not, he decided to cover the song for his album Nilsson Schmilsson in 1971. The song was released as a single in October 1971, and it stayed at number 1 on the U. S. pop chart for four weeks, the song also spent five weeks atop the U. S. adult contemporary chart. Billboard ranked it as the No.4 song for 1972, in the UK, the song spent five weeks at number 1 on the British pop chart, beginning on 11 March, and sold almost 800,000 copies. It went to Number One in several countries, including Australia, Ireland. The single was produced by Richard Perry, who later explained and it was a big ballad with a heavy backbeat, and although many artists have cut songs like it since, no one was doing it then
26.
Coconut (song)
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Coconut is a song written and first recorded by American singer-songwriter Harry Nilsson, released as the third single from his 1971 album, Nilsson Schmilsson. It was on the Billboard charts for 10 weeks, reaching #8, in 1998, a cover version was released by Australian singer Dannii Minogue as a single, peaking at #62 on the ARIA singles chart. The lyrics feature four characters, three of whom are sung in different voices by Nilsson, the song describes a story in which a girl has a stomachache and calls her doctor who prescribes her a drink. With the help of her brother, they concoct a beverage consisting of lime, when the sister calls the doctor late at night, the doctor laughs her off and recommends that she put the lime in the coconut and drink em both together—then call him in the morning. It has been noted on more than one occasion that the song is symbolic of pregnancy, there are no chord changes in the song, an arpeggiated C7th accompanies the song. When Minogue parted ways with Mushroom Records in 1995 and signed to Eternal Records in 1996, the track was originally used as a hidden bonus track on her third album Girl. In 2009, the version of Coconut was made available on the compilation The 1995 Sessions. The video was not released commercially until 2007, when it appeared on The Video Collection DVD as one of the bonus videos, other cover versions of the song have been recorded by the Baha Men, Fred Schneider, Lazlo Bane, Sprung Monkey, P. M. Dawn, and, according to a Nilsson website, the Alice Cooper Band, kermit the Frog and other Muppet characters covered the song in a video on The Muppet Show. The song was used in commercials for Coca-Cola with Lime. These ads are set in a Coke factory and a boardroom and feature various people incorrectly singing the line as you put the lime in the Coke
27.
Everybody's Talkin'
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Everybodys Talkin is a song written and recorded by singer-songwriter Fred Neil in 1966. A version of the performed by Harry Nilsson became a hit in 1969, reaching No.6 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song, which describes the desire to retreat from other people to the ocean, is among the most famous works of both artists, and has been covered by many other notable performers. The song later appeared in the 1994 film Forrest Gump and is also on the soundtrack album. It also appeared in the comedy film Borat, on The Hangover Part III soundtrack, the song was first released on Neils second album, the self-titled Fred Neil, released in early 1967. It was composed towards the end of the session, after Neil had become anxious to wrap the album so he could return to his home in Miami, manager Herb Cohen promised that if Neil wrote and recorded a final track, he could go. Everybodys Talkin, recorded in one take, was the result, Nilsson was searching for a potentially successful song when Rick Jarrard played the track for him, and he decided to release it on his 1968 album Aerial Ballet. When released as a single in July 1968, it managed to reach No.113 on the Billboard Bubbling Under the Hot 100 chart. The song was used as the song for the movie and became closely identified with it. William J. Mann, in his biography of Schlesinger, noted that one cannot imagine Midnight Cowboy now without Everybodys Talkin, described in The Rock Snob*s Dictionary as an anti-urban plaint, Everybodys Talkin depicts the introverted speakers inability to connect with others. Not hearing or truly seeing them, the speaker declares an intention to leave for the ocean, Nilssons single for the song sold over a million copies and charted on both Billboards Adult Contemporary and Pop Singles charts, reaching numbers 2 and 6 respectively in 1969. Nilssons single also won a Grammy that year, the song became a global success and was followed by international appearances by Nilsson to perform it. After Nilssons death, Billboard noted that Nilsson remained popularly remembered for his covers of Everybodys Talkin, Neil, too, is largely remembered for this song. The song is regarded in the industry, having become a standard. A2006 New York Times article characterizes the song as a landmark of the classic-rock era, the songs usage in Midnight Cowboy has become iconic. In 2004, the song was listed by the American Film Institute as #20 in its top 100 movie songs for the first 100 years of film, Harry Dean Stanton described Everybodys Talkin as a heroin song which he claimed was inspired by Luke Askew, an actor. Since Nilssons version of the song achieved success, the song has been covered by many other artists—almost 100 as of 2006. Nilssons version was sampled in 2002 by Paul Oakenfold on Starry Eyed Surprise, team on Everyones a V. I. P. to Someone
28.
Midnight Cowboy
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Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 American drama film based on the 1965 novel of the same name by James Leo Herlihy. The film was written by Waldo Salt, directed by John Schlesinger, notable smaller roles are filled by Sylvia Miles, John McGiver, Brenda Vaccaro, Bob Balaban, Jennifer Salt and Barnard Hughes. The film won three Academy Awards, Best Picture, Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay and it was the only X-rated film ever to win Best Picture, though its rating has since been changed to R. It has since been placed 36th on the American Film Institutes list of the 100 greatest American films of all time, and 43rd on its 2007 updated version. As the film opens, Joe Buck, a young Texan working as a dishwasher, dresses in new clothing, packs a suitcase. He heads to New York City hoping to succeed as a prostitute, initially unsuccessful, he succeeds in bedding a well-to-do middle-aged New Yorker, but Joe ends up giving her money when he discovers that she is actually a high end call girl herself. Joe then meets Enrico Salvatore Ratso Rizzo, a con man with a limp who takes $20 from Joe by offering to introduce him to a known pimp. Joe flees the encounter in pursuit of Ratso, Joe spends his days wandering the city and sitting in his hotel room. Soon broke, he is locked out of his hotel room and he tries to make money by agreeing to receive oral sex from a young man in a movie theater. When Joe learns that the man has no money, Joe threatens him and asks for his watch. The following day, Joe spots Ratso and angrily shakes him down, Ratso offers to share the apartment in which he is squatting in a condemned building. Joe accepts reluctantly, and they begin a relationship as hustlers. As they develop a bond, Ratsos health, which has never been good, Joes story is told through flashbacks. His grandmother raises him after his mother abandons him, and his grandmother shows him affection and he also has a tragic relationship with Annie, a local mentally unstable girl. Ratsos backstory comes through stories he tells Joe and his father was an illiterate Italian immigrant shoe-shiner, who worked in a subway station. He developed a bad back, and coughed his lungs out from breathin in that wax all day, Ratso learned shoe-shining from his father but wont stoop so low as to do so. He dreams of moving one day to Miami, an unusual couple approach Joe and Ratso in a diner and hand Joe a flyer, inviting him to a party. They enter a Warhol-esque party scene, Joe smokes a joint, thinking its a normal cigarette and, after taking a pill someone offered, begins to hallucinate
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Academy Awards
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The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
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Cover version
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A cover version can also refer to a rerecording of a song by the original artist or performers under a different record company. Originally, Billboard and other magazines that track the popularity of artists and hit tunes measured the sales success of the published tune. Later, they tracked the airplay that songs achieved, some versions being more successful recording than the original song. Before the onset of rock n roll in the 1950s, songs were published and several records of a song might be out by singers of the day. The Hendrix version, released six months after Dylans original, became a Top 10 single in the UK in 1968 and was ranked 48th in Rolling Stone magazines 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. The term cover goes back decades when cover version originally described a version of a tune recorded to compete with the recently released version. The Chicago Tribune described the term in 1952, trade jargon meaning to record a tune that looks like a hit on someone elses label. Examples of records covered include Paul Williams 1949 hit tune The Hucklebuck, both crossed over to the popular Hit Parade and had numerous hit versions. In fact, one of the objects of publishing sheet music was to have a composition performed by as many artists as possible. In previous generations, some artists made very successful careers of presenting revivals or reworkings of once-popular tunes, musicians now play what they call cover versions of songs as a tribute to the original performer or group. Using familiar material is an important method of learning music styles, until the mid-1960s most albums, or long playing records, contained a large number of evergreens or standards to present a fuller range of the artists abilities and style. Artists might also perform interpretations of a favorite artists hit tunes for the pleasure of playing a familiar song or collection of tunes. A cover band plays cover versions exclusively. Some tribute acts salute the Who, The Rolling Stones and many classic rock acts. Many tribute acts target artists who remain popular but no longer perform, many tribute bands attempt to recreate another bands music as faithfully as possible, but some such bands introduce a twist. Dread Zeppelin performs reggae versions of the Zeppelin catalog and Beatallica creates heavy metal fusions of songs by the Beatles, there are also situations in which a member of a tribute band will go on to greater success, sometimes with the original act they tribute. One notable example is Tim Ripper Owens who, once the singer of Judas Priest tribute band British Steel. Cover acts or bands are entertainers who perform a variety of crowd-pleasing cover songs for audiences who enjoy the familiarity of hit songs
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Three Dog Night
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Three Dog Night is an American rock band. They formed in 1967 with a line-up consisting of vocalists Danny Hutton, Cory Wells and this lineup was soon augmented by Jimmy Greenspoon, Joe Schermie, Michael Allsup, and Floyd Sneed. The band registered 21 Billboard Top 40 hits between 1969 and 1975 and it helped introduce mainstream audiences to the work of many songwriters, including Paul Williams, Hoyt Axton, Laura Nyro, Harry Nilsson, Randy Newman, and Leo Sayer. On colder nights they would sleep with two dogs and, if the night was freezing, it was a three dog night. The three vocalists, Danny Hutton, Chuck Negron and Cory Wells first came together in 1967 and made recordings with Brian Wilson. Ron Morgan left the early on and subsequently went on to join the Electric Prunes. Michael Allsup was quickly recruited to replace him on guitar, Three Dog Night earned 12 gold albums and recorded 21 consecutive Billboard Top 40 hits, seven of which went gold. Their first gold record was One, which had been written and recorded by Harry Nilsson. The group had three US #1 songs, each of which featured a different lead singer, Mama Told Me Not to Come, which was also their only Top 10 hit in the UK, Joy to the World, and Black and White. Dunhill Records claimed that 40 million record albums were sold by the band during this time, as its members wrote just a handful of songs on the albums, most songs Three Dog Night recorded were written by outside songwriters. Three Dog Night made its debut in 1968 at the Whiskey a Go Go. They were still in the process of making their first album Three Dog Night when they heard the favorable reactions from the hypercritical audience. The album Three Dog Night was a success with its hit songs One and Nobody and helped the band gain recognition, other damages were sought due to ATI taking deposits for booking Three Dog Night, whom they no longer represented. Joe Schermie was replaced by Jack Ryland in 1973, and the then became an eight-piece with the inclusion of another keyboard player. In late 1974, Allsup and Sneed left to form a new band, SS Fools, with Schermie. New members James Smitty Smith and drummer Mickey McMeel were recruited, by 1976, their run of hit records had ended and Hutton was succeeded by Jay Gruska. Hours before their first concert of their 1975 tour, Chuck Negron was arrested for the possession of narcotics but was released on $10,000 bond. After writing a couple of songs for them, and doing background vocals on one of their albums, I was asked to do a national tour of 10 to 12 thousand seat venues as the ‘3rd Dog’
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The Beatles
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The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. They acquired the nickname the Fab Four as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, from 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road, after their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in November 2001. The Beatles are the band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act, according to the RIAA, the Beatles are also the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazines list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, as of 2016 and they have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and they were also collectively included in Time magazines compilation of the twentieth centurys 100 most influential people. In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a local group was already using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he, in February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, after a month of Harrisons persistence, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennons Quarry Bank friends had left the group, the three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They used the name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer. By early July, they had changed their name to the Silver Beatles, allan Williams, the Beatles unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960
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The Hollywood Vampires
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The Hollywood Vampires was a celebrity drinking club formed by Alice Cooper in the 1970s. The hazing to get into the club was to all the members. According to Cooper in the documentary Prime Cuts, The Speakeasy, there was a little loft at the Rainbow Bar and Grill in LA, they only had that for the club. Cooper listed himself, Keith Moon, Ringo Starr, Micky Dolenz and Harry Nilsson as the principal members, It was that crowd. Every once in a while John Lennon would come into town or Keith Emerson and they still have a plaque there at the Rainbow, where it says The Lair of the Hollywood Vampires. Additional members In 2015, Cooper formed a supergroup named after the club with Johnny Depp and they released their debut studio album, Hollywood Vampires, on September 11
34.
Pussy Cats
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Pussy Cats is the tenth album by American singer Harry Nilsson, released in 1974. It was produced by John Lennon during his Lost Weekend period, the album title was inspired by the bad press Nilsson and Lennon were getting at the time for being drunk and rowdy in Los Angeles. They also included a joke on the cover – childrens letter blocks D and S on either side of a rug under a table − to spell out drugs under the table in code. The album was started in Los Angeles, but Lennon ultimately finished producing it in New York, during the recording sessions, Nilsson ruptured one of his vocal cords but chose to keep this from Lennon. He forced himself to push through the sessions, which caused more damage. Among the many musicians on Pussy Cats are drummers Ringo Starr, Keith Moon and Jim Keltner, other contributors include Jesse Ed Davis, Klaus Voormann, and Bobby Keys. After the first night of recording, March 28, Paul McCartney, bootleg recordings from this session were later released as the album A Toot and a Snore in 74. A quadrophonic version was released on record and eight-track tape, the songs were treated to special mixes for this issue of the album. In June 1999, a commemorative 25th anniversary edition of Pussy Cats was released, in October 2006, a track-by-track cover of the album was released by indie rock band The Walkmen. All tracks composed by Harry Nilsson except where indicated. Many Rivers to Cross –4,56 Subterranean Homesick Blues –3,17 Dont Forget Me –3,37 All My Life –3,11 Old Forgotten Soldier –4,14 Save the Last Dance for Me –4,25 Mucho Mungo/Mt
35.
Murder of John Lennon
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John Lennon was an English musician who gained worldwide fame as one of the members of the Beatles, for his subsequent solo career, and for his political activism and pacifism. On Monday, December 8,1980, Lennon was shot by Mark David Chapman in the archway of the Dakota, Lennon had just returned from Record Plant Studio with his wife, Yoko Ono. After sustaining four major gunshot wounds, Lennon was pronounced dead on arrival at Roosevelt Hospital, at the hospital, it was stated that nobody could have lived longer than a few minutes after sustaining such injuries. Shortly after local news stations reported Lennons death, crowds gathered at Roosevelt Hospital, Lennon was cremated at the Ferncliff Cemetery in Hartsdale, New York, two days after his death, the ashes were given to Ono, who chose not to hold a funeral for him. The first media report of Lennons death to a US national audience was announced by Howard Cosell, photographer Annie Leibovitz went to the Lennons apartment to do a photo shoot for Rolling Stone magazine. Leibovitz promised Lennon that a photo with Ono would make the front cover of the magazine, Leibovitz said, Nobody wanted on the cover. Lennon insisted that both he and his wife be on the cover, and after taking the pictures, Leibovitz left their apartment at 3,30 p. m. After the photo shoot, Lennon gave what would be his last interview, to San Francisco DJ Dave Sholin, for a music show to be broadcast on the RKO Radio Network. At 5,40 p. m. Lennon and Ono, delayed by a late limousine, as Lennon and Ono walked to a limousine, shared with the RKO Radio crew, they were approached by several people seeking autographs. Among them was Mark David Chapman and it was common for fans to wait outside the Dakota to meet Lennon and ask for his autograph. Chapman, a 25-year-old security guard from Honolulu, Hawaii, had travelled to New York to murder Lennon in October. Chapman silently handed Lennon a copy of Double Fantasy, and Lennon obliged with an autograph, after signing the album, Lennon asked, Is this all you want. Chapman smiled and nodded in agreement, photographer and Lennon fan Paul Goresh took a photo of the encounter. According to Chapman, he touched the boys hand. The Lennons spent several hours at the Record Plant studio before returning to the Dakota, Lennon had decided against dining out so he could be home in time to say goodnight to his son, before going on to the Stage Deli restaurant with Ono. The Lennons exited their limousine on 72nd Street instead of driving into the more secure courtyard of the Dakota, the Dakotas doorman, Jose Perdomo, and a nearby cab driver saw Chapman standing in the shadows by the archway. As Lennon passed by, he glanced briefly at Chapman, appearing to him from earlier. Later court hearings and witness interviews did not include either Mr. Lennon or the combat stance description, Chapman has said he does not remember calling out to Lennon before he fired, but he claimed to have taken a combat stance in a 1992 interview with Barbara Walters
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Gun control
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Gun control is the set of laws or policies that regulate the manufacture, sale, transfer, possession, modification, or use of firearms by civilians. Most countries have a restrictive firearm guiding policy, with only a few legislations being categorized as permissive, Gun control refers to domestic regulation of firearm manufacture, trade, possession, use, and transport, specifically with regard to the class of weapons referred to as small arms. Usage of the gun control is sometimes politicized. Some of those in favor of legislation instead prefer to use such as gun-violence prevention, gun safety, firearms regulation, illegal guns. In 2007, it was estimated there were, globally, about 875 million small arms in the hands of civilians, law enforcement agencies. Of these firearms 650 million, or 75%, are held by civilians, U. S. civilians account for 270 million of this total. A further 200 million are controlled by military forces. Law enforcement agencies have some 26 million small arms, non-state armed groups have about 1.4 million firearms. Finally, gang members hold between 2 and 10 million small arms, together, the small arms arsenals of non-state armed groups and gangs account for, at most,1. 4% of the global total. Barring a few exceptions, most countries in the world allow civilians to purchase firearms subject to certain restrictions, in the remaining countries included in the sample, civilian firearm ownership is considered a privilege and the legislation governing possession of firearms is correspondingly more restrictive. During the mid-1990s, however, the United Nations Economic and Social Council adopted a series of resolutions relating to the ownership of small arms. These called for an exchange of data on national systems of firearm regulation, in 1997, the UN published a study based on member state survey data titled the United Nations International Study on Firearm Regulation which was updated in 1999. This study was meant to initiate the establishment of a database on civilian firearm regulations which would be run by the Centre for International Crime Prevention, who were to report on national systems of civilian firearm regulation every two years. These plans never reached fruition and further UN-led efforts to establish international norms for the regulation of firearms were stymied. Although the issue is no part of the UN policy debate. The Bamako Declaration, was adopted in Bamako, Mali, on 1 December 2000 by the representatives of the states of the Organisation of African Unity. High rates of gun mortality and injury are often cited as an impetus for gun control policies. A2004 National Research Council critical review found that some strong conclusions are warranted from current research
37.
Rolling Stone
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Rolling Stone is an American biweekly magazine that focuses on popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner, who is still the publisher. It was first known for its coverage and for political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine shifted focus to a readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors. In recent years, it has resumed its traditional mix of content, Rolling Stone magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and Ralph Gleason. To get it off the ground, Wenner borrowed $7,500 from his own family and from the parents of his soon-to-be wife, Jane Schindelheim. The first issue carried a date of November 9,1967. Some authors have attributed the name solely to Dylans hit single, At Gleasons suggestion, Rolling Stone initially identified with and reported the hippie counterculture of the era. In the very first edition, Wenner wrote that Rolling Stone is not just about the music, in the 1970s, Rolling Stone began to make a mark with its political coverage, with the likes of gonzo journalist Hunter S. Thompson writing for the magazines political section. Thompson first published his most famous work Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas within the pages of Rolling Stone, where he remained a contributing editor until his death in 2005. In the 1970s, the magazine also helped launch the careers of prominent authors, including Cameron Crowe, Lester Bangs, Joe Klein, Joe Eszterhas, Patti Smith. It was at point that the magazine ran some of its most famous stories. One interviewer, speaking for a number of his peers, said that he bought his first copy of the magazine upon initial arrival on his college campus. In 1977, the magazine moved its headquarters from San Francisco to New York City, editor Jann Wenner said San Francisco had become a cultural backwater. During the 1980s, the magazine began to shift towards being an entertainment magazine. Music was still a dominant topic, but there was increasing coverage of celebrities in television, films, the magazine also initiated its annual Hot Issue during this time. Rolling Stone was initially known for its coverage and for Thompsons political reporting. In the 1990s, the changed its format to appeal to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors
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Baroque pop
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Baroque pop is a pop music subgenre that fuses classical music, orchestral pop, rock, and Baroque music. It is identifiable for its use of melodies, functional harmony patterns. The genre emerged in the 1960s after pop musicians and record producers began placing the harpsichord in the foreground of their arrangements, other typical baroque pop instrumentation includes string sections, French horns, and oboes. Baroque pops mainstream popularity faded by the 1970s, partially because punk rock, disco and hard rock took over, nonetheless, music was still produced within the genres tradition. Philadelphia soul in the 1970s and chamber pop in the 1990s both incorporated the spirit of baroque pop while the latter contested much of the low fidelity musical aesthetic. Baroque pop, stylistically, fuses elements of rock with classical music, often incorporating layered harmonies, strings and its prominent characteristics are the use of contrapuntal melodies and functional harmony patterns. It was intended to be a serious and mature outgrowth of rock music. English baroque is used by journalist Bob Stanley to describe a subset that existed between 1968 and 1973, starting in the 1960s, pop musicians and record producers like Phil Spector and the Beach Boys Brian Wilson began placing the harpsichord in the foreground of their arrangements. Harpsichords were widely available in recording studios, and had used in popular music since as early as the 1940s. One of the first pop hits to use a harpsichord was the Jamies Summertime, Summertime. Later examples range from the Beach Boys I Get Around and When I Grow Up to the Righteous Brothers Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin and the Mamas & the Papas Monday, Monday. The Boston Globes Matthew Guerriri speculates that the harpsichord may have been desirable for its buzzing, stinging timbre, slates Forrest Wickman credits Wilson and the Beatles producer, George Martin, as some of the men most responsible for the move into baroque pop. Along with Burt Bacharach, Spector had melded pop music with classical elements before they were melded with rock, writer Andrew Jackson suggests that the era of baroque pop in which rock melded with classical elements was prefaced by the Rolling Stones and Brian Wilson. The Beatles benefited from the music skills of Martin, who played a baroque harpsichord solo on the song In My Life. Author Joe Harrington noted that after its release, many baroque-rock works would soon appear, producer Tommy LiPuma believed, Once the Beatles featured that harpsichord sound on In My Life, pop producers began working it in. The genre is traced to the United States and the United Kingdom, by early 1966, various groups began using baroque and classical instrumentation, described as a baroque rock movement by Gendron. The Zombies single Shes Not There marked a point for British baroque pop. Stanley explains that the song didnt feature any oboes but stuck out rather dramatically in 1964, Shes Not There would inspire New York musician Michael Brown to form the Left Banke, whose song Walk Away Renée is considered by Stanley to be the first recognizable baroque pop single
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Singer-songwriter
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Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose, and perform their own musical material, including lyrics and melodies. The genre began with the folk-acoustic tradition, singer-songwriters often provide the sole accompaniment to an entire composition or song, typically using a guitar or piano. Singer-songwriter is used to define popular music artists who write and perform their own material, such an artist performs the roles of composer, lyricist, vocalist, instrumentalist, and often self-manager. Most records by artists have a similarly straightforward and spare sound that placed emphasis on the song itself. The term has also used to describe songwriters in the rock, folk, and pop music genres including Henry Russell, Aristide Bruant, Hank Williams. Song topics include political protest, as in the case of the Almanac Singers, Pete Seeger, the concept of a singer-songwriter can be traced to ancient bardic oral tradition, which has existed in various forms throughout the world. Poems would be performed as chant or song, sometimes accompanied by a harp or other similar instrument, after the invention of printing, songs would be written and performed by ballad sellers. Usually these would be versions of existing tunes and lyrics, which were constantly evolving and this developed into the singer-songwriting traditions of folk culture. The term singer-songwriter in North America can be traced back to singers who developed works in the blues and folk music style. Early to mid-20th century American singer-songwriters include Lead Belly, Jimmie Rodgers, Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker, Blind Willie McTell, Lightnin Hopkins, Son House, the tradition of writing topical songs was established by this group of musicians. This focus on social issues has greatly influenced the singer-songwriter genre, artists who had been primarily songwriters, notably Carole King, Townes Van Zandt, and Neil Diamond, also began releasing work as performers. In contrast to the approach of most prior country and folk music. The adjectives confessional and sensitive were often used singer-songwriter style, in the rock band era, members were not technically singer-songwriters as solo acts. However, many were singer-songwriters who created songs with band members. Many others like Eric Clapton found success as singer-songwriters in their later careers, there were hints of cross-pollination, but rock and folk music had remained largely separate genres, often with different audiences. An early attempt at fusing elements of folk and rock was highlighted in the Animals House of the Rising Sun, dylan plugged an entire generation into the milieu of the singer-songwriter. In the mid- to late 1960s, bands and singer-songwriters began to proliferate the underground New York art/music scene. Lotti Golden, in her Atlantic debut album Motor-Cycle, chronicled her life in NYCs East Village in the late 60s counterculture, visiting subjects such as gender identity, kate Bush remained distinctive throughout with her idiosyncratic style
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