1.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
2.
The Spinners (American R&B group)
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The Spinners are an American rhythm and blues vocal group that formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1954. They enjoyed a string of hit singles and albums during the 1960s and 1970s, the group continues to tour, with Henry Fambrough as the only original member. The group is listed as the Detroit Spinners and the Motown Spinners. These other names were used in the UK to avoid confusion with a British folk group also called The Spinners, in 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1954, Billy Henderson, Henry Fambrough, Pervis Jackson, C. P. Spencer, and James Edwards formed The Domingoes in Ferndale, Michigan, the friends resided in Detroits Herman Gardens public housing project and came together to make music. James Edwards remained with the group for a few weeks and was replaced by Bobby Smith, Spencer left the group shortly after Edwards, and later joined the Voice Masters and the Originals. George Dixon replaced Edwards, and the group renamed themselves the Spinners in 1961, the Spinners first single, Thats What Girls Are Made For, was recorded under Harvey Fuquas Tri-Phi Records. The single peaked at number 27 on the Top 100 chart in August 1961, Smith sang lead vocal on this track, coached by Fuqua. The groups follow-up single, Love I Found You, also featured vocals by Smith. This song reached number 91 that November, and was the last Tri-Phi Records single to reach the Top 100 charts, sources debate the extent to which Fuqua became a member of the group during its stay at Tri-Phi. Fuqua sang lead on some of the singles and considered himself a Spinner, in the credits on Tri-Phi 1010 and 1024, the artist was credited for the first two singles and listed as Harvey. However, most sources do not list him as an official member, in 1964, the Spinners made their debut at the Apollo Theater and were received with high favor. Ill Always Love You, hit number 35 in 1965, from 1966 to 1969, the group released one single a year, but only the 1966 single Truly Yours peaked on the Billboard 100 R&B chart at number 16. With limited commercial success, Motown assigned the Spinners as road managers, chaperones, and chauffeurs for other groups, cameron replaced Edgar Chico Edwards in 1967, and in 1969, the group switched to the Motown-owned V. I. P. However, these were their last two singles for V. I. P, shortly after the release of 2nd Time Around, Atlantic Records recording artist Aretha Franklin suggested the group finish out their Motown contract and sign with Atlantic. The Bobby Smith-led Ill Be Around, their first top ten hit, was actually the B-side of their first Atlantic single, How Could I Let You Get Away. Radio airplay for the B-side led Atlantic to flip the single over, with Ill Be Around hitting number 3, Ill Be Around was also the Spinners first million-selling hit single. It was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA on October 30,1972, following their Atlantic successes, Motown also issued a Best of the Spinners LP which featured selections from their Motown/V. I. P
3.
2nd Time Around (album)
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2nd Time Around is a studio album recorded by the American R&B group The Spinners, released in October 1970 on Motowns V. I. P. This is their album with G. C. This is also the groups last album made while they were under contract with Motown Records, by the time of their next album, they had signed at Atlantic Records. The album includes the first of the string of 1970s hits, the Stevie Wonder produced Its a Shame. Pop top-twenty hit, as well as most of the singles released between 1968-1971. Also in 1973, the released a second version of Its a Shames B-side, Together We Can Make Such Sweet Music. The album was also the first of fourteen studio albums to make the Billboard 200
4.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
5.
Detroit
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Detroit is the most populous city in the U. S. state of Michigan, the fourth-largest city in the Midwest and the largest city on the United States–Canada border. It is the seat of Wayne County, the most populous county in the state, the municipality of Detroit had a 2015 estimated population of 677,116, making it the 21st-most populous city in the United States. Roughly one-half of Michigans population lives in Metro Detroit alone, the Detroit–Windsor area, a commercial link straddling the Canada–U. S. Border, has a population of about 5.7 million. Detroit is a port on the Detroit River, a strait that connects the Great Lakes system to the Saint Lawrence Seaway. The Detroit Metropolitan Airport is among the most important hubs in the United States, the City of Detroit anchors the second-largest economic region in the Midwest, behind Chicago, and the thirteenth-largest in the United States. Detroit and its neighboring Canadian city Windsor are connected through a tunnel and various bridges, Detroit was founded on July 24,1701 by the French explorer and adventurer Antoine de la Mothe Cadillac and a party of settlers. During the 19th century, it became an important industrial hub at the center of the Great Lakes region, with expansion of the American automobile industry in the early 20th century, the Detroit area emerged as a significant metropolitan region within the United States. The city became the fourth-largest in the country for a period, in the 1950s and 1960s, suburban expansion continued with construction of a regional freeway system. A great portion of Detroits public transport was abandoned in favour of becoming a city in the post-war period. Due to industrial restructuring and loss of jobs in the auto industry, between 2000 and 2010 the citys population fell by 25 percent, changing its ranking from the nations 10th-largest city to 18th. In 2010, the city had a population of 713,777 and this resulted from suburbanization, corruption, industrial restructuring and the decline of Detroits auto industry. In 2013, the state of Michigan declared an emergency for the city. Detroit has experienced urban decay as its population and jobs have shifted to its suburbs or elsewhere, conservation efforts managed to save many architectural pieces since the 2000s and allowed several large-scale revitalisations. More recently, the population of Downtown Detroit, Midtown Detroit, paleo-Indian people inhabited areas near Detroit as early as 11,000 years ago. In the 17th century, the region was inhabited by Huron, Odawa, Potawatomi, for the next hundred years, virtually no British, colonist, or French action was contemplated without consultation with, or consideration of the Iroquois likely response. When the French and Indian War evicted the Kingdom of France from Canada, the 1798 raids and resultant 1799 decisive Sullivan Expedition reopened the Ohio Country to westward emigration, which began almost immediately, and by 1800 white settlers were pouring westwards. By 1773, the population of Detroit was 1,400, by 1778, its population was up to 2,144 and it was the third-largest city in the Province of Quebec
6.
Michigan
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Michigan /ˈmɪʃᵻɡən/ is a state in the Great Lakes and Midwestern regions of the United States. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, Michigan is the tenth most populous of the 50 United States, with the 11th most extensive total area. Its capital is Lansing, and its largest city is Detroit, Michigan is the only state to consist of two peninsulas. The Lower Peninsula, to which the name Michigan was originally applied, is noted to be shaped like a mitten. The Upper Peninsula is separated from the Lower Peninsula by the Straits of Mackinac, the two peninsulas are connected by the Mackinac Bridge. The state has the longest freshwater coastline of any political subdivision in the world, being bounded by four of the five Great Lakes, as a result, it is one of the leading U. S. states for recreational boating. Michigan also has 64,980 inland lakes and ponds, a person in the state is never more than six miles from a natural water source or more than 85 miles from a Great Lakes shoreline. What is now the state of Michigan was first settled by Native American tribes before being colonized by French explorers in the 17th century, the area was organized as part of the larger Northwest Territory until 1800, when western Michigan became part of the Indiana Territory. Eventually, in 1805, the Michigan Territory was formed, which lasted until it was admitted into the Union on January 26,1837, the state of Michigan soon became an important center of industry and trade in the Great Lakes region and a popular immigrant destination. Though Michigan has come to develop an economy, it is widely known as the center of the U. S. automotive industry. When the first European explorers arrived, the most populous tribes were Algonquian peoples, which include the Anishinaabe groups of Ojibwe, Odaawaa/Odawa, the three nations co-existed peacefully as part of a loose confederation called the Council of Three Fires. The Ojibwe, whose numbers are estimated to have been between 25,000 and 35,000, were the largest, French voyageurs and coureurs des bois explored and settled in Michigan in the 17th century. The first Europeans to reach what became Michigan were those of Étienne Brûlés expedition in 1622, the first permanent European settlement was founded in 1668 on the site where Père Jacques Marquette established Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan as a base for Catholic missions, missionaries in 1671–75 founded outlying stations at Saint Ignace and Marquette. Jesuit missionaries were received by the areas Indian populations, with relatively few difficulties or hostilities. In 1679, Robert Cavelier, Sieur de la Salle built Fort Miami at present-day St. Joseph, in 1691, the French established a trading post and Fort St. Joseph along the St. Joseph River at the present day city of Niles. The hundred soldiers and workers who accompanied Cadillac built a fort enclosing one arpent, cadillacs wife, Marie Thérèse Guyon, soon moved to Detroit, becoming one of the first European women to settle in the Michigan wilderness. The town quickly became a major fur-trading and shipping post, the Église de Saint-Anne was founded the same year
7.
Soul music
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Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. It combines elements of African-American gospel music, rhythm and blues, Soul music became popular for dancing and listening in the United States, where record labels such as Motown, Atlantic and Stax were influential during the Civil Rights Movement. Soul also became popular around the world, directly influencing rock music, catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body moves, are an important feature of soul music. Other characteristics are a call and response between the lead vocalist and the chorus and a tense vocal sound. The style also occasionally uses improvisational additions, twirls and auxiliary sounds, Soul music reflected the African-American identity and it stressed the importance of an African-American culture. The new-found African-American consciousness led to new styles of music, which boasted pride in being black, Soul music dominated the U. S. R&B chart in the 1960s, and many recordings crossed over into the pop charts in the U. S. By 1968, the music genre had begun to splinter. Some soul artists developed funk music, while other singers and groups developed slicker, more sophisticated, by the early 1970s, soul music had been influenced by psychedelic rock and other genres, leading to psychedelic soul. The United States saw the development of neo soul around 1994, there are also several other subgenres and offshoots of soul music. The term soul had been used among African-American musicians to emphasize the feeling of being an African-American in the United States, according to another source, Soul music was the result of the urbanization and commercialization of rhythm and blues in the 60s. The phrase soul music itself, referring to music with secular lyrics, is first attested in 1961. The term soul in African-American parlance has connotations of African-American pride, gospel groups in the 1940s and 1950s occasionally used the term as part of their name. The jazz style that derived from gospel came to be called soul jazz, important innovators whose recordings in the 1950s contributed to the emergence of soul music included Clyde McPhatter, Hank Ballard, and Etta James. Ray Charles is often cited as popularizing the genre with his string of hits starting with 1954s I Got a Woman. Singer Bobby Womack said, Ray was the genius and he turned the world onto soul music. Charles was open in acknowledging the influence of Pilgrim Travelers vocalist Jesse Whitaker on his singing style, little Richard and James Brown were equally influential. Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson are also acknowledged as soul forefathers. Cooke became popular as the singer of gospel group The Soul Stirrers
8.
Motown
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Motown is an American record company. The record company was founded by Berry Gordy, Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12,1958, the name, a portmanteau of motor and town, has also become a nickname for Detroit. Motown played an important role in the integration of popular music as an African American-owned record label that achieved significant crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels were the most successful proponents of what came to be known as the Motown Sound, a style of soul music with a distinct pop influence. During the 1960s, Motown achieved spectacular success for a record company,79 records in the Top Ten of the Billboard Hot 100 record chart between 1960 and 1969. The company was sold to MCA Inc. Motown was later sold to PolyGram in 1994, before being sold again to MCA Records successor, Universal Music Group, Motown spent much of the 2000s as a part of the Universal Music subsidiaries Universal Motown and Universal Motown Republic Group, and headquartered in New York City. From 2011 to 2014, Motown was a part of The Island Def Jam Music Group division of Universal Music. On April 1,2014, Universal Music Group announced the dissolution of Island Def Jam and it now operates out of the landmark Capitol Tower. For many decades, Motown was the highest-earning African American business in the United States, Berry Gordy got his start as a songwriter for local Detroit acts such as Jackie Wilson and the Matadors. Wilsons single Lonely Teardrops, written by Gordy, became a huge success and he realized that the more lucrative end of the business was in producing records and owning the publishing. In 1959, Billy Davis and Berry Gordys sisters Gwen and Anna started Anna Records, Davis and Gwen Gordy wanted Berry to be the company president, but Berry wanted to strike out on his own. On January 12,1959, he started Tamla Records, with a loan from his family. Gordy originally wanted to name the label Tammy Records, after the hit song popularized by Debbie Reynolds from the 1957 film Tammy, when he found the name was already in use, Berry decided on Tamla instead. Tamlas first release, in the Detroit area, was Marv Johnsons Come to Me in 1959 and its first hit was Barrett Strongs Money, which made it to number 2 on the Billboard R&B charts. Gordys first signed act was the Matadors, who changed their name to the Miracles. Their first release, Got a Job, was a record to the Silhouettes Get a Job. The Miracles first, minor hit was their single, 1959s Bad Girl, released in Detroit as the debut record on the Motown imprint
9.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
10.
Stevie Wonder
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Stevland Hardaway Morris, known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist. A child prodigy, he is considered to be one of the most critically and commercially successful musical performers of the late 20th century, Wonder signed with Motowns Tamla label at the age of 11, and he continued performing and recording for Motown into the 2010s. He has been blind since shortly after birth, Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King Jr. s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace, in 2013, Billboard magazine released a list of the Billboard Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles charts 55th anniversary, with Wonder at number six. Stevie Wonder was born in Saginaw, Michigan, in 1950, the third of six children of Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway, when Wonder was four, his mother left his father and moved to Detroit with her children. She changed her back to Lula Hardaway and later changed her sons surname to Morris. Wonder has retained Morris as his legal surname and he began playing instruments at an early age, including piano, harmonica and drums. He formed a partnership with a friend, calling themselves Stevie and John, they played on street corners. Before signing, producer Clarence Paul gave him the name Little Stevie Wonder, because of Wonders age, the label drew up a rolling five-year contract in which royalties would be held in trust until Wonder was 21. He and his mother would be paid a stipend to cover their expenses, Wonder received $2.50 a week. Wonder was put in the care of producer and songwriter Clarence Paul, tribute to Uncle Ray was recorded first, when Wonder was still 11 years old. Mainly covers of Ray Charless songs, it included a Wonder and Paul composition, the Jazz Soul of Little Stevie was recorded next, an instrumental album consisting mainly of Pauls compositions, two of which, Wondering and Session Number 112, were co-written with Wonder. At the end of 1962, when Wonder was 12 years old, he joined the Motortown Revue, at the Regal Theater, Chicago, his 20-minute performance was recorded and released in May 1963 as the album Recorded Live, The 12 Year Old Genius. A single, Fingertips, from the album was released in May. The song, featuring a confident and enthusiastic Wonder returning for a spontaneous encore that catches out the replacement bass player, was a No.1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 when Wonder was aged 13, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. The single was simultaneously No.1 on the R&B chart and his next few recordings, however, were not successful, his voice was changing as he got older, and some Motown executives were considering cancelling his recording contract. During 1964, Wonder appeared in two films as himself, Muscle Beach Party and Bikini Beach, but these were not successful either, sylvia Moy persuaded label owner Berry Gordy to give Wonder another chance. He also began to work in the Motown songwriting department, composing songs both for himself and his mates, including The Tears of a Clown, a No.1 hit for Smokey Robinson
11.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
12.
Bobby Smith (rhythm and blues singer)
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The group was formed circa 1954 at Ferndale High School in Ferndale, Michigan, just north of the Detroit border. The group had their first record deal when they signed with Tri-Phi Records in early 1961, Smith had been the groups main lead singer since its inception, having sung lead vocals on The Spinners first hit record in 1961, Thats What Girls Are Made For. These included Ill Be Around, Could It Be Im Falling in Love, in 1974, they scored their only #1 Pop hit with Then Came You. Despite the fact that Smith led on many of the groups biggest hits, the confusion between Smith and Wynne may be due to the similarities in their voices, and the fact that they frequently shared lead vocals on many of those hits. In fact Wynne was many times inaccurately credited for songs that Smith actually sang lead on, such as by the label, Atlantic Records. Throughout a succession of lead singers, Smiths lead voice had always been The Spinners mainstay, with the 2013 death of Smith, from pneumonia and influenza, as well as fellow Spinners members C. P. Spencer in 2004, Billy Henderson in 2007, and bass singer Pervis Jackson in 2008, Fambrough is still performing with a current day line-up of Spinners. The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll, Bobbie Smith interview by Pete Lewis, Blues & Soul February 2009 Some comments from Bobbie Smith for Soul Express
13.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
14.
Atlantic Records
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Atlantic Recording Corporation is an American major record label founded in October 1947 by Ahmet Ertegün and Herb Abramson. In 2004, Atlantic Records and its sister label Elektra Records merged into Atlantic Records Group, craig Kallman is currently the chairman of Atlantic Records. Ahmet Ertegün served as founding chairman until his death on December 14,2006, the brothers had become ardent fans of jazz and rhythm & blues music, amassing a collection of over 15,00078 RPM records. He convinced the family dentist, Dr Vahdi Sabit, to invest $10,000 and recruited Herb Abramson, Abramson had worked as a part-time A&R manager/producer for the jazz label National Records, signing Big Joe Turner and Billy Eckstine. He founded Jubilee Records in 1946, but had no interest in its most successful artists, so, in September 1947, he sold his share in Jubilee to his partner, Jerry Blaine, and invested $2500 in the new Atlantic label. When interviewed in 2009 she attributed her reputation to the companys chronic cash-flow shortage, most of the problems we had with artists were that they wanted advances, and that was very difficult for us. We were undercapitalized for a long time, the labels original office in the Ritz Hotel, Manhattan proved too expensive so they relocated to an $85 per month room in the Hotel Jefferson. In its early years Atlantic focused principally on modern jazz although it released some country and western and spoken word recordings. The union action forced Atlantic to use almost all its capital to cut and stockpile enough recordings to last through the ban, Ertegun and Abramson spent much of the late 1940s and early 1950s scouring nightclubs in search of talent. Ertegun composed many songs under the alias A, in early 1949 a New Orleans distributor phoned Ertegun trying to obtain Stick McGhees Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee, which was unavailable due to the closure of McGhees previous label. Ertegun knew Sticks younger brother Brownie McGhee, with whom Stick happened to be staying, so he contacted the McGhee brothers, Ertegun asked about artists royalties, which he paid, which surprised Columbia executives, who did not, which scuttled the deal. On the recommendation of broadcaster Willis Conover, Ertegun and Abramson went to see Ruth Brown at the Crystal Caverns club in Washington and she was badly injured in a car accident en route to New York but Atlantic supported her for nine months and then signed her. Her first release for the label So Long, cut at her second Atlantic session on May 25,1949 with the Eddie Condon band, was a major hit, reaching #6 on the R&B chart. Brown went on to more than eighty songs for the label, becoming the most prolific. So significant was Browns success to Atlantics fortunes that the label became known colloquially as The House That Ruth Built. The Clovers Dont You Know I Love You became the labels first R&B #1 in September 1951 and she hit #1 again in March–April 1952 with 5-10-15 Hours. After she left the label in 1961 Browns fortunes declined rapidly - within a few years was reduced to working as a cleaner and bus-driver to support her children. Brown eventually received a payment of $20,000 and founded a charity
15.
Aretha Franklin
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Aretha Louise Franklin is an American singer, songwriter and musician. Franklin began her career singing gospel at her father, minister C. L. Franklins church as a child, in 1960, at the age of 18, Franklin embarked on a secular career, recording for Columbia Records but only achieving modest success. Following her signing to Atlantic Records in 1967, Franklin achieved commercial acclaim and success with such as Respect, A Natural Woman. These hits and more helped her to gain the title The Queen of Soul by the end of the 1960s decade, in 1998, Franklin won international acclaim for singing the opera aria Nessun dorma, at the Grammys of that year replacing Luciano Pavarotti. Later that same year, she scored her final Top 40 recording with A Rose Is Still a Rose, Franklin has won a total of 18 Grammy Awards and is one of the best-selling artists of all time, having sold over 75 million records worldwide. Franklin has been honored throughout her career including a 1987 induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and she was inducted to the UK Music Hall of Fame in 2005. In August 2012, Franklin was inducted into the GMA Gospel Music Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, the daughter of Barbara and Clarence LaVaughn Franklin. Her father, who went by the nickname, C. L. was an itinerant preacher originally from Shelby, Mississippi, while her mother was a piano player. Alongside Franklin, her parents had three children while both C. L. and Barbara had children from outside their marriage. The family relocated to Buffalo, New York when Franklin was two, before her fifth birthday, C. L. Franklin permanently relocated the family to Detroit, Michigan where he took over the pastorship of New Bethel Baptist Church. Franklins mother died on March 7,1952, before Franklins tenth birthday, several women, including Franklins grandmother Rachel, and Mahalia Jackson took turns helping with the children at the Franklin home. During this time, Franklin learned how to play piano by ear, Franklins fathers emotionally driven sermons resulted in him being known as the man with the million-dollar voice and earning thousands of dollars for sermons in various churches across the country. Just after her mothers death, Franklin began singing solos at New Bethel, debuting with the hymn, Jesus, Be a Fence Around Me. Four years later, when Franklin was 14, her father began managing her and he helped his daughter get signed to her first recording deal with J. V. B. Records, where her first album, Songs of Faith, was issued in 1956, two singles were released to gospel radio stations including Never Grow Old and Precious Lord, Take My Hand. Franklin sometimes traveled with The Caravans and The Soul Stirrers during this time and developed a crush on Sam Cooke, after turning 18, Franklin confided to her father that she aspired to follow Sam Cooke to record pop music. Serving as her manager, C. L. agreed to the move and helped to produce a demo that soon was brought to the attention of Columbia Records. Franklin was signed as a five-percent artist, during this period, Franklin would be coached by choreographer Cholly Atkins to prepare for her pop performances
16.
The Midnight Special (TV series)
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The Midnight Special was an American late-night musical variety series that aired on NBC during the 1970s and early 1980s, created and produced by Burt Sugarman. It premiered as a special on August 19,1972, then began its run as a series on February 2,1973. The 90-minute program followed the Friday night edition of The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, wolfman Jack served as the announcer and frequent guest host. The programs theme song, a folk song called Midnight Special, was performed by Johnny Rivers. The Midnight Special was noted for featuring musical acts performing live, the series also occasionally aired vintage footage of older acts, such as Bill Haley & His Comets. As the program neared the end of its run in the early 1980s, the program also featured occasional performances of comedians such as Richard Pryor, Andy Kaufman, and George Carlin. In 1973, producer Sugarman pitched the program as a means for NBC to capitalize on The Tonight Shows large audience. At the time, none of the Big Three television networks had programming on after 1,00 a. m. as common practice was to sign-off after the final program, despite this lack of competition in the time-slot, NBC initially rejected the idea. The rejection led Sugarman to buy the air time for the premiere on his own as a brokered show and it premiered with ratings high enough for NBC to reconsider its decision, and the network subsequently bought the program. The program remained a part of NBCs late night lineup until 1981, the pilot for the series aired on August 19,1972. It was presented as a 90-minute special encouraging young people to vote in the upcoming Presidential election, several months later, on February 2,1973, it premiered as a weekly series. The Midnight Special original time slot was from 1, 00–2, when Johnny Carson cut his own show from 90 to 60 minutes, The Midnight Special was moved up to 12, 30am–2, 00am. In 1978, at the height of the craze, the set was changed to resemble a disco nightclub complete with a platform dance floor. Wolfman Jack stood behind an elevated DJ booth, by fall 1979, as the genres popularity waned, the disco set was gone. Some notable guest stars and hosts included, ELO had more appearances than any band with four. The show presented The 1980 Floor Show, the last performance of David Bowie as Ziggy Stardust and it was broadcast on November 16,1973, and was taped a month earlier from specially-commissioned performances at the Marquee Club in Soho, London. The series was canceled by NBC at the request of Dick Ebersol as part of a deal for him to take over then-ailing Saturday Night Live, in 2006, a DVD collection entitled Burt Sugarmans Midnight Special was made available by Guthy-Renker through television and radio infomercials. In 2014, an 11-DVD collection entitled The Midnight Special was released by Star-Vista through standard retail channels, list of late night network TV programs Notes Bibliography McNeil, Alexander M
17.
Reggae
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Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A1968 single by Toots and the Maytals Do the Reggay was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre, Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political comment. Reggae spread into a commercialized jazz field, being known first as ‘Rudie Blues’, then ‘Ska’, later ‘Blue Beat’ and it is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat, and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rock steady, from the latter, stylistically, reggae incorporates some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, mento, calypso, African music, as well as other genres. One of the most easily recognizable elements is offbeat rhythms, staccato chords played by a guitar or piano on the offbeats of the measure, the tempo of reggae is usually slower than ska but faster than rocksteady. The concept of call and response can be found throughout reggae music, the genre of reggae music is led by the drum and bass. The bass guitar often plays the dominant role in reggae, the bass sound in reggae is thick and heavy, and equalized so the upper frequencies are removed and the lower frequencies emphasized. The guitar in reggae usually plays on the off beat of the rhythm and it is common for reggae to be sung in Jamaican Patois, Jamaican English, and Iyaric dialects. Reggae is noted for its tradition of criticism and religion in its lyrics, although many reggae songs discuss lighter, more personal subjects, such as love. Reggae has spread to countries across the world, often incorporating local instruments. Reggae en Español spread from the mainland South America countries of Venezuela, Caribbean music in the United Kingdom, including reggae, has been popular since the late 1960s, and has evolved into several subgenres and fusions. Many reggae artists began their careers in the UK, and there have been a number of European artists and bands drawing their inspiration directly from Jamaica, Reggae in Africa was boosted by the visit of Bob Marley to Zimbabwe in 1980. In Jamaica, authentic reggae is one of the biggest sources of income, the 1967 edition of the Dictionary of Jamaican English lists reggae as a recently estab. Sp. for rege, as in rege-rege, a word that can mean either rags, ragged clothing or a quarrel, a row. Reggae as a term first appeared in print with the 1968 rocksteady hit Do the Reggay by The Maytals which named the genre of Reggae for the world. Reggae historian Steve Barrow credits Clancy Eccles with altering the Jamaican patois word streggae into reggae, however, Toots Hibbert said, Theres a word we used to use in Jamaica called streggae. If a girl is walking and the look at her and say Man, shes streggae it means she dont dress well
18.
Rocksteady
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Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was performed by Jamaican vocal harmony groups such as The Gaylads, The Maytals, The Heptones, the term rocksteady comes from a dance style that was mentioned in the Alton Ellis song Rock Steady. Dances performed to rocksteady were less energetic than the earlier ska dances, the first international rocksteady hit was Hold Me Tight by the American soul singer Johnny Nash, it reached number one in Canada. Rocksteady uses some of the elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, ska, African and Latin American drumming. One of the most easily recognizable elements, as in ska, are offbeat rhythms, staccato chords played by a guitar and this offbeat can be counted so that it falls between each count as an and. Example,1 and 2 and 3 and 4, the perceived tempo became slower with the development of rocksteady than it had been in ska and this led to a number of changes in the music. The guitar and piano began to experiment with occasional accents around the basic offbeat pattern. This can be heard throughout Jamaican recordings in subsequent years, the snare drum often plays a side stick click rather that a full snare hit, an influence from Latin music. This differs markedly from the styles in R&B and rock and roll. Jamaican musicians sometimes refer to the second and fourth beats as the afterbeat, all the Jamaican styles of kit drumming since ska have incorporated a mixture of influences, including African burru percussion, American jazz and R&B, and Latin rhythms. The slowing in perceived tempo that occurred with rocksteady opened the door for drummers to explore these influences more, with the advent of the drum machine and computer in the 1980s, Jamaican popular music i. e. These new patterns fit very well with the modal chord progressions often used by Jamaican players. Byron Lee was the first ska band leader to have an electric bass. By 1966, the advantages of recording and performing with electric bass had meant most players made the switch to electric, a number of factors led to smaller band sizes and this in turn led to changes in the way the music was composed and arranged. The slower tempo and smaller sizes in turn led to a much larger focus on the bass line in general. In rocksteady, the lead guitar often doubles the bass line, in the muted picking style created by Lynn Taitt, smaller band sizes and slower tempos also led to a number of changes in the way horn parts were written and arranged. Rocksteady and reggae are perhaps best thought of and notated as a half time feel and this would mean the guitar-piano offbeats would fall on beats 2 and 4, and the one drop of the snare/kick drum would fall on beat 3. This also allows transcribers to use the term swing 8ths to help notate hi-hat patterns, there are rocksteady songs about religion and the Rastafari movement, though not to the same extent as in reggae
19.
Alton Ellis
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Alton Nehemiah Ellis OD was a Jamaican singer-songwriter. One of the innovators of rocksteady who was given the informal title Godfather of Rocksteady, in 2006, he was inducted into the International Reggae And World Music Awards Hall Of Fame. Born Alton Nehemiah Ellis in Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica, Ellis was raised within a musical family and he attended Ebeneezer and Boys Town schools, where he excelled in both music and sport. While at Boys Town Ellis performed as a dancer in the first show that a director called Mr Bailey had organized for Vere Johns who had been invited down to talent scout. He would later compete on Vere Johns Opportunity Hour, after winning some competitions, he switched to singing, starting his career in 1959 as part of the duo Alton & Eddy with Eddy Parkins. Ellis and Parkins recorded for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, initially in the R&B style, having a hit in 1960 with Muriel, a song Ellis had written while working as a labourer on a building site. This initial success was followed by the release of My Heaven, further releases in the R&B style followed, Lullabye Angel, I Know It All, Im Never Gonna Cry and Yours. The duo also recorded R&B tracks for Vincent Chins Randys label including Let Me Dream, the duo split after Parkins won a major talent contest and moved to the United States. Ellis remained in Kingston, working as a printer and after losing his job, he restarted his music career, when Holt joined The Paragons, Ellis formed a new group, The Flames. Ellis continued to work for Dodd and also recorded for his arch-rival, at the start of his career Ellis recorded with his younger sister Hortense, early tracks with Hortense like Dont Gamble With Love were still in the R&B style. By the mid-1960s, ska was moving on and the beat was slowing down to rocksteady, many artists made records referring to the rude boys, including Ellis, although his records were consistently anti-rudie, including Dont Trouble People, Dance Crasher, and Cry Tough. Releasing records under the name Alton Ellis and The Flames, the group had hits with Girl Ive Got a Date and Cry Tough. The release of Rock Steady backed by Tommy McCook and the Supersonics, Ellis continued to have hits for Treasure Isle, working with artists such as Lloyd Charmers, Phyllis Dillon and The Heptones. His Mr Soul of Jamaica album is regarded as one of the definitive rocksteady albums, during the late 1960s and early 1970s, Ellis recorded for some of Jamaicas top producers including Bunny Lee, Keith Hudson, and Herman Chin Loy. He also began to produce his own records, including My Time Is The Right Time and he had two hits with Lloyd Daley in Deliver Us and Back to Africa, both released in the UK on the Gas record label, a subsidiary of Pama Records. He also opened up the All-Tone record shop in South London, Ellis continued to be active on the reggae scene until his health began to deteriorate. His latest works include performing all over Europe with a French backing-band called ASPO at the beginning of the 21st century, recorded in Bordeaux, France, Live with Aspo, Workin on a Groovy Thing is the only live album Alton Ellis ever published. In 2004, Ellis was awarded the Order of Distinction by the Jamaican government in recognition of his achievements, in December 2007, he was admitted to hospital in London for treatment of cancer of the lymph glands, but he returned to live performance after receiving chemotherapy
20.
Hip hop music
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It developed as part of hip hop culture, a subculture defined by four key stylistic elements, MCing/rapping, DJing/scratching with turntables, break dancing, and graffiti writing. Other elements include sampling beats or bass lines from records, while often used to refer solely to rapping, hip hop more properly denotes the practice of the entire subculture. Hip hops early evolution occurred as sampling technology and drum machines became available and affordable. Turntablist techniques such as scratching and beatmatching developed along with the breaks and Jamaican toasting, rapping developed as a vocal style in which the artist speaks or chants along rhythmically with an instrumental or synthesized beat. The Sugarhill Gangs 1979 song Rappers Delight is widely regarded to be the first hip hop record to gain popularity in the mainstream. The 1980s marked the diversification of hip hop as the genre developed more complex styles, prior to the 1980s, hip hop music was largely confined within the United States. However, during the 1980s, it began to spread to scenes in dozens of countries. New school hip hop was the wave of hip hop music, originating in 1983–84 with the early records of Run-D. M. C. The Golden age hip hop period was a period between the mid-1980s and the early 1990s. Notable artists from this era include the Juice Crew, Public Enemy, & Rakim, Boogie Down Productions and KRS-One, EPMD, Slick Rick, Beastie Boys, Kool G Rap, Big Daddy Kane, Ultramagnetic MCs, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. Gangsta rap is a subgenre of hip hop that often focuses on the violent lifestyles, in the West Coast hip hop style, G-funk dominated mainstream hip hop for several years during the 1990s. I. G. In the 1990s, hip hop began to diversify with other regional styles emerging, such as Southern rap, at the same time, hip hop continued to be assimilated into other genres of popular music, examples being Neo soul and nu metal. Hip hop became a pop music genre in the mid-1990s. The popularity of hip hop music continued through the 2000s, with hip hop influences also increasingly finding their way into mainstream pop, the United States also saw the success of regional styles such as crunk, a Southern genre that emphasized the beats and music more than the lyrics. Starting in 2005, sales of hip hop music in the United States began to severely wane, during the mid-2000s, alternative hip hop secured a place in the mainstream, due in part to the crossover success of artists such as OutKast and Kanye West. Creation of the hip hop is often credited to Keith Cowboy, rapper with Grandmaster Flash. However, Lovebug Starski, Keith Cowboy, and DJ Hollywood used the term when the music was known as disco rap. Cowboy later worked the hip hop cadence into a part of his stage performance, the first use of the term in print was in The Village Voice, by Steven Hager, later author of a 1984 history of hip hop
21.
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
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The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a hall of fame and museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. In 1986, Cleveland was chosen as the hall of fames permanent home.8 billion, the Foundation began inducting artists in 1986, but the Hall of Fame still had no home. The search committee considered several cities, including Philadelphia, Memphis, Detroit, Cincinnati, New York City, Cleveland was also one of the premier tour stops for most rock bands. Civic leaders in Cleveland pledged $65 million in money to fund the construction. A petition drive was signed by 600,000 fans favoring Cleveland over Memphis, on May 5,1986, the Hall of Fame Foundation chose Cleveland as the permanent home of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. Sam Phillips of Sun Studios fame and many others were stunned and disappointed that it ended up in Cleveland, the hall of fame shouldve been in Memphis, certainly, wrote Peter Guralnick, author of an acclaimed two-volume Elvis Presley biography. Cleveland may also have chosen as the organizations site because the city offered the best financial package. As The Plain Dealer music critic Michael Norman noted, It was $65 million, Cleveland wanted it here and put up the money. During early discussions on where to build the Hall of Fame and Museum, ultimately, the chosen location was along East Ninth Street in downtown Cleveland by Lake Erie, east of Cleveland Stadium. Initial CEO Dr. Larry R. Thompson facilitated I. M. Pei in designs for the site, Pei came up with the idea of a tower with a glass pyramid protruding from it. The museum tower was planned to stand 200 ft high. The buildings base is approximately 150,000 square feet, the groundbreaking ceremony took place on June 7,1993. Pete Townshend, Chuck Berry, Billy Joel, Sam Phillips, Ruth Brown, Sam Moore of Sam and Dave, Carl Gardner of the Coasters and Dave Pirner of Soul Asylum all appeared at the groundbreaking. The museum was dedicated on September 1,1995, with the ribbon being cut by an ensemble that included Yoko Ono and Little Richard, among others, the following night an all-star concert was held at the stadium. It featured Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, Al Green, Jerry Lee Lewis, Aretha Franklin, Bruce Springsteen, Iggy Pop, John Fogerty, John Mellencamp, and many others. In addition to the Hall of Fame inductees, the documents the entire history of rock and roll. Hall of Fame inductees are honored in an exhibit located in a wing that juts out over Lake Erie. Since 1986, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame has selected new inductees, the formal induction ceremony has been held in New York City 25 times, twice in Los Angeles, and four times in the Hall of Fames home in Cleveland
22.
Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five
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Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five were an American hip hop group formed in the South Bronx of New York City in 1976. Composed of one DJ and five rappers, the use of turntablism, break-beat deejaying. Grandmaster Flash and the Furious Five initially built their reputation performing at parties and live shows in the mid-1970s, by the time the Sugarhill Gangs Rappers Delight was released, the group realized the potential of cutting records and signed with various labels until staying with Sugar Hill Records. Today the groups legacy continues on as Grandmasters Furious Five with only Melle Mel, the group is widely regarded as among the most influential hip hop acts. Their biggest single and acknowledged masterpiece The Message is often cited as one of the greatest hip hop songs of all time, in 2007 they were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, making them the first hip hop group ever to be inducted. Prior to the formation of the Furious Five, Grandmaster Flash worked with the L Brothers which consisted of Mean Gene Livingston, Claudio Livingston, Flash then recruited his friend Cowboy, Melle Mel and The Kidd Creole. The trio called themselves the Three MCs who are the first emcee group as it relates to rap as we know it today and he then worked the hip hop cadence into part of his performance this evolved into the term Hip Hop that was later adopted by the industry. Melle Mel and The Kidd Creole were the first rappers to call themselves MCs, the 3 emcees worked with Flash, who went on to bring in Mr. Ness/Scorpio and Rahiem. After the formation of the Furious 5, Flash also worked with rapper Kurtis Blow doing parties in Queens. Among the first singles released were We Rap More Mellow which was falsely registered under the name The Younger Generation as the name of the group. In 1979 they released their first single on Enjoy Records, Superappin, afterwards, they switched to Sylvia Robinsons Sugar Hill Records after an agreement that they could perform over a current DJ favorite. In 1980, the group had their Sugarhill Records debut with Freedom, reaching #19 on the R&B chart, the follow-up Birthday Party went on to become a hit as well. It also marked the first time that scratching & turntablism had been recorded on a record. The song peaked at #4 in the R&B chart and #62 in the pop chart, other than Melle Mel, however, no members of the group actually appear on the record. Their debut album was also named The Message, and it went on to become a prominent achievement in the history of hip-hop, in 1983, Grandmaster Flash, who never appeared on any of the groups studio recordings, sued Sugar Hill Records for $5 million in unpaid royalties. This resulted in the single White Lines being credited to Grandmaster & Melle Mel, the song reached #47 in Billboards Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart. Another lawsuit was filed over certain elements of the song being stolen from Cavern by Liquid Liquid, meanwhile, Grandmaster Flash, The Kidd Creole, and Rahiem left for Elektra Records and included to the group three new members The Lord LaVon, Russell Wheeler and Larry-Love. They worked under the name Grandmaster Flash on They Said It Couldnt Be Done, The Source, the additional members The Lord La Von, Larry Love and Mr. Broadway formed the Furious Five but they could not use the name as Sugar Hill Records owned the rights
23.
R. Kelly
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Robert Sylvester Kelly, known professionally as R. Kelly, is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former professional basketball player. A native of Chicago, Illinois, Kelly began performing during the late 1980s, in 1993, Kelly went solo with the album 12 Play. In 1998, Kelly won three Grammy Awards for I Believe I Can Fly and his distinctive sound and style has influenced numerous hip hop and contemporary R&B artists. Kelly became the first musician to play basketball, when he was signed in 1997. Kelly has written, produced, and remixed songs and albums for artists, including Aaliyahs 1994 debut album Age Aint Nothing. In 1996, Kelly was nominated for a Grammy for writing Michael Jacksons song You Are Not Alone. In 2002 and 2004, Kelly released collaboration albums with rapper Jay-Z and has been a guest vocalist for other hip hop artists like Nas, Sean Combs, in March 2011, R. Kelly was named the most successful R&B artist of the last 25 years by Billboard. Kelly has released 12 solo studio albums, and sold over 100 million records worldwide making him the most successful R&B male artist of the 1990s and he has been credited for helping redefine R&B and hip hop, earning the nicknames King of R&B and King of Pop-Soul. He is listed by Billboard as the most successful R&B/Hip Hop artist of the past 25 years and also the most successful R&B artist in history. Throughout his career, Kelly has won awards, including a Guinness World Records as well as countless of other awards like Grammy, BET, Soul Train, Billboard, NAACP. Robert Sylvester Kelly was born on January 8,1967 at Chicago Lying-in Hospital in Hyde Park, Kelly is the third of four children. Kellys single mother, Joanne, was a singer, Kellys father was absent throughout his sons life. Kellys family lived in the Ida B, wells Homes public housing project in Chicagos Bronzeville neighborhood. Lena McLin described Kellys childhood home, It was bare, there was no father there, I knew that, and they had very little. Kelly began singing in the choir at age eight. Kelly grew up in a full of women, whom he said would act differently when his mother. At a young age Kelly was often abused by a woman who was at least ten years older than himself. I was too afraid and too ashamed, Kelly wrote in his autobiography about why he never told anyone, at age 11, he was shot in the shoulder while riding his bike home, the bullet is reportedly still lodged in his shoulder
24.
Abz Love
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Richard Abidin Breen, better known as Abz Love, is an English rapper, singer, songwriter, DJ, producer and TV personality. Love has sold over 20 million records as a member and the singer of Simon Cowells boy band Five. In 2003, Love released his solo album Abstract Theory. After years out of the spotlight, Love returned to screens on ITV2s The Big Reunion in 2012, in 2013 he appeared on All Star Mr & Mrs and became the runner-up for Channel 5s Celebrity Big Brother 12. In 2015, Love starred in BBC Twos documentary series Country Strife, Abz on the Farm, followed by a Christmas special titled Country Strife, Abz on the Christmas Farm. In January 2016, Abz released his first solo single in over a decade, on 29 June 1979 Love was born in London to Turkish father Turan Sanveren and Irish mother Kathleen Breen. Love was raised on an estate in Hackney, East London until he left home at 16 to join boyband five. He won a scholarship to attend the Italia Conti Stage School where he studied acting, singing, one day his teacher suggested he audition for a boy band that was being put together by Simon Cowell. Love and fellow 5ive members J Brown and Sean Conlon were heavily involved in writing many of the bands greatest hits such as Everybody Get Up, Keep on Moving and If Youre Getting Down. Five were a successful British boy band in the 90s consisting of members Richard Abidin Love, Jason Brown, Sean Conlon, Ritchie Neville, formed in 1997 by father/son management team Bob Herbert and Chris Herbert for Safe management ltd. The band went on to be signed by music industry boss & A&R Simon Cowell, based on current BPI certifications 5ive have sold an over 1.6 million albums and 2 million singles in the UK alone. The band split on 27 September 2001 when new father Robinson convinced the members to take a break. Love has since stated on ITVs The Big Reunion that he did not want the band to split, after Five split, Love was signed to Sony BMG by Simon Cowell as a solo artist and became the only band member to release a solo album. Abstract Theory, and had three Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart with What You Got Stop sign and Miss Perfect, after 5ive split in 2001, Love admits his life spiralled out of control when he began partying and abusing drugs and alcohol. He reached his lowest point when an agent to whom Love had become close robbed his life savings from the sale of his house. Over £200,000 in total was stolen and, with no income or savings and no career to speak of, Love became homeless and resorted to sleeping in the loft space of his cousins bakery in East London. 5ive reformed in 2006 without Conlon, but split up again a year later after record label failed to materialise. In 2008 Abz changed his surname from Breen to Love by deed poll, shortly afterwards Love also altered the spelling of his stage name from Abs to Abz
25.
Abstract Theory
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Abstract Theory is the debut solo album released by former Five member Abs. The album was released on 1 September 2003, peaking at No.29 on the UK Albums Chart, the album failed to find success elsewhere, and resulted in Abs being dropped from his record label just months later. The album spawned five singles, What You Got, Stop Sign, Shame,7 Ways, the album received mixed to positive reviews from critics, comparing his material to that of his former band, Five. Abs began work on the album following Fives split in late 2001 and he soon signed a record deal with Sony BMG, who had previously contracted Five on a three-album deal. The albums first single, What You Got, was released in August 2002 to moderate success, arriving in May 2003, the song peaked at No.10 on the UK Singles Chart. A third single, Miss Perfect, was released on 25 August 2003, a fourth single,7 Ways, was planned for release in November 2003, with a music video being released and several copies made available in stores from 10 November. However, the single was recalled on 11 November, and just three weeks later, Abs was dropped from his record label
26.
Australia
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Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and numerous smaller islands. It is the worlds sixth-largest country by total area, the neighbouring countries are Papua New Guinea, Indonesia and East Timor to the north, the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu to the north-east, and New Zealand to the south-east. Australias capital is Canberra, and its largest urban area is Sydney, for about 50,000 years before the first British settlement in the late 18th century, Australia was inhabited by indigenous Australians, who spoke languages classifiable into roughly 250 groups. The population grew steadily in subsequent decades, and by the 1850s most of the continent had been explored, on 1 January 1901, the six colonies federated, forming the Commonwealth of Australia. Australia has since maintained a liberal democratic political system that functions as a federal parliamentary constitutional monarchy comprising six states. The population of 24 million is highly urbanised and heavily concentrated on the eastern seaboard, Australia has the worlds 13th-largest economy and ninth-highest per capita income. With the second-highest human development index globally, the country highly in quality of life, health, education, economic freedom. The name Australia is derived from the Latin Terra Australis a name used for putative lands in the southern hemisphere since ancient times, the Dutch adjectival form Australische was used in a Dutch book in Batavia in 1638, to refer to the newly discovered lands to the south. On 12 December 1817, Macquarie recommended to the Colonial Office that it be formally adopted, in 1824, the Admiralty agreed that the continent should be known officially as Australia. The first official published use of the term Australia came with the 1830 publication of The Australia Directory and these first inhabitants may have been ancestors of modern Indigenous Australians. The Torres Strait Islanders, ethnically Melanesian, were originally horticulturists, the northern coasts and waters of Australia were visited sporadically by fishermen from Maritime Southeast Asia. The first recorded European sighting of the Australian mainland, and the first recorded European landfall on the Australian continent, are attributed to the Dutch. The first ship and crew to chart the Australian coast and meet with Aboriginal people was the Duyfken captained by Dutch navigator, Willem Janszoon. He sighted the coast of Cape York Peninsula in early 1606, the Dutch charted the whole of the western and northern coastlines and named the island continent New Holland during the 17th century, but made no attempt at settlement. William Dampier, an English explorer and privateer, landed on the north-west coast of New Holland in 1688, in 1770, James Cook sailed along and mapped the east coast, which he named New South Wales and claimed for Great Britain. The first settlement led to the foundation of Sydney, and the exploration, a British settlement was established in Van Diemens Land, now known as Tasmania, in 1803, and it became a separate colony in 1825. The United Kingdom formally claimed the part of Western Australia in 1828. Separate colonies were carved from parts of New South Wales, South Australia in 1836, Victoria in 1851, the Northern Territory was founded in 1911 when it was excised from South Australia
27.
New Zealand
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New Zealand /njuːˈziːlənd/ is an island nation in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. The country geographically comprises two main landmasses—the North Island, or Te Ika-a-Māui, and the South Island, or Te Waipounamu—and around 600 smaller islands. New Zealand is situated some 1,500 kilometres east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and roughly 1,000 kilometres south of the Pacific island areas of New Caledonia, Fiji, because of its remoteness, it was one of the last lands to be settled by humans. During its long period of isolation, New Zealand developed a distinct biodiversity of animal, fungal, the countrys varied topography and its sharp mountain peaks, such as the Southern Alps, owe much to the tectonic uplift of land and volcanic eruptions. New Zealands capital city is Wellington, while its most populous city is Auckland, sometime between 1250 and 1300 CE, Polynesians settled in the islands that later were named New Zealand and developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight New Zealand, in 1840, representatives of Britain and Māori chiefs signed the Treaty of Waitangi, which declared British sovereignty over the islands. In 1841, New Zealand became a colony within the British Empire, today, the majority of New Zealands population of 4.7 million is of European descent, the indigenous Māori are the largest minority, followed by Asians and Pacific Islanders. Reflecting this, New Zealands culture is derived from Māori and early British settlers. The official languages are English, Māori and New Zealand Sign Language, New Zealand is a developed country and ranks highly in international comparisons of national performance, such as health, education, economic freedom and quality of life. Since the 1980s, New Zealand has transformed from an agrarian, Queen Elizabeth II is the countrys head of state and is represented by a governor-general. In addition, New Zealand is organised into 11 regional councils and 67 territorial authorities for local government purposes, the Realm of New Zealand also includes Tokelau, the Cook Islands and Niue, and the Ross Dependency, which is New Zealands territorial claim in Antarctica. New Zealand is a member of the United Nations, Commonwealth of Nations, ANZUS, Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development, Pacific Islands Forum, and Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation. Dutch explorer Abel Tasman sighted New Zealand in 1642 and called it Staten Landt, in 1645, Dutch cartographers renamed the land Nova Zeelandia after the Dutch province of Zeeland. British explorer James Cook subsequently anglicised the name to New Zealand, Aotearoa is the current Māori name for New Zealand. It is unknown whether Māori had a name for the country before the arrival of Europeans. Māori had several names for the two main islands, including Te Ika-a-Māui for the North Island and Te Waipounamu or Te Waka o Aoraki for the South Island. Early European maps labelled the islands North, Middle and South, in 1830, maps began to use North and South to distinguish the two largest islands and by 1907, this was the accepted norm. The New Zealand Geographic Board discovered in 2009 that the names of the North Island and South Island had never been formalised and this set the names as North Island or Te Ika-a-Māui, and South Island or Te Waipounamu
28.
Paul Jackson Jr.
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Paul Milton Jackson Jr. is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles, Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musician. He attended the University of Southern California, majoring in music, in addition to being a recording artist in his own right, Jackson is also highly accomplished L. A. session player, with a career spanning multiple decades. In 2013 it was revealed he contributed to tracks on the album, Random Access Memories by Daft Punk. He also played guitar on Lisa Stansfields 2014 album, Seven, Jackson can be seen playing guitar in a wide variety of styles on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno and American Idol. Gibson ES-335 Gibson ES-339 Gibson ES-345 Gibson ES-347 Paul Jackson Jr
29.
Lethal Bizzle
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Maxwell Ansah, known by his stage name Lethal Bizzle, is an English rapper and actor from Walthamstow, London. He emerged in 2002 as a grime MC as part of More Fire Crew and his debut solo single Pow attracted attention for its aggressive content, charting at number 11 despite being banned from airplay and clubs. Although known notably for his releases, Lethal Bizzle released his debut studio album, Against All Oddz, in 2005. Throughout his career Lethal Bizzle has experimented with blending mainstream chart genres such as music with grime. He is known for his singles Pow, outside of music, Bizzle is a prominent social media personality through platforms Twitter and Snapchat, which have been used to promote his music independently. In 2012, he launched a brand titled Stay Dench based on his popular British slang phrases. In 2000, Lethal Bizzle formed the grime collective More Fire Crew, consisting of himself, Neeko and their debut single, Oi. was released in 2002 and charted at number 7 on the UK Singles Chart. It was one of the first grime songs to chart in the top 10 and their sole studio album, More Fire Crew C. V. was released the following year. Their follow-up single, Back Then, peaked at number 45, soon after, the crew disbanded and Lethal Bizzle pursued a solo career. In early July 2005, Lethal Bizzle appeared on stage at the final Live 8 concert in Edinburgh. In December 2004, he released the single Pow, also known as Forward Riddim which was banned from airplay by some radio stations because it contained some lyrics about gun culture. It entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 in its first week on the chart in 2005 and he won a MOBO for Pow as Best Single, and was nominated at the same awards as Best Newcomer. Bizzles debut album, Against All Oddz, was released on 15 August 2005, the album peaked at number 86 on the UK Albums Chart. After releasing no singles for two years, Lethal Bizzle returned with Go Hard featuring Donaeo, as the single off his third album Go Hard. The album was released on 5 October 2009, on 18 November 2010, Lethal was interviewed by Grime Daily. Bizzle revealed, The whole Pow 2011 thing started as a joke, I was on Twitter one day and I said You know what. And bare people retweeted it and someone was like Bizz you should do a version to go with it. Lethal said, I felt the original was still relevant,6 years on its one of the biggest club tunes
30.
Raphael Saadiq
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Raphael Saadiq /səˈdiːk/ is an American singer, songwriter, musician, guitarist, and record producer. Saadiq has been a standard bearer for old school R&B since his days as a member of the multiplatinum group Tony. He has also produced songs for artists as Joss Stone, DAngelo, TLC, Kelis, Mary J. Blige, Whitney Houston, Solange Knowles. He is also a co-founder of independent video game developer Illfonic and his fourth studio album, Stone Rollin, was released on March 25,2011. Music critic Robert Christgau has called Saadiq the preeminent R&B artist of the 90s, Saadiq was born in Oakland, California, the second-youngest of 14 siblings and half-siblings. His early life was marked by tragedy, he experienced the deaths of several of his siblings as a young child, when Saadiq was seven years old, his brother was murdered. One of his brothers overdosed on heroin and another committed suicide because he was unable to deal with his addiction to the drug and his sister died as a result of a car crash during a police chase in a residential neighborhood. Saadiq states that he not want his music to be reflective of the tragedies he experienced, saying that And through all of that I was makin records. I did it to show people you can have some real tough things happen in your life. He has been playing the guitar since the age of six. At the age of 12, he joined a group called The Gospel Humminbirds, in 1984, shortly before his 18th birthday, Saadiq heard about tryouts in San Francisco for Sheila E. s backing band on Princes Parade Tour. At the audition, he chose the name Raphael, and had difficulty remembering to respond to the name when he heard that he got the part to play bass in the band. He says of the experience, Next thing I was in Tokyo, in a stadium and we were in huge venues with the biggest sound systems in the world, all these roadies throwin me basses, and a bunch of models hangin round Prince to party. After returning to Oakland from touring with Prince, Saadiq began his career as the lead vocalist and bassist in the rhythm and blues. He used the name Raphael Wiggins while in Tony, toné. along with his brother Dwayne Wiggins, and his cousin Timothy Christian. In the mid-1990s, he adopted the last name Saadiq, which means man of his word in Arabic, as he confirmed by telling noted R&B writer Pete Lewis of the award-winning Blues & Soul in May 2009, I just wanted to have my own identity. In 1995, Saadiq had his biggest solo hit to date, in 1995, Saadiq produced and performed on Otis & Shugs debut album, We Can Do Whatever. Toné. would become major R&B superstars throughout the late-1980s and 1990s, however, after the 1996 album entitled House of Music failed to duplicate the groups previous success, Tony
31.
Levi Strauss & Co.
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/ˌliːvaɪ ˈstraʊs/ is a privately owned American clothing company known worldwide for its Levis /ˌliːvaɪz/ brand of denim jeans. It was founded in May 1853 when Levi Strauss came from Buttenheim, Bavaria, to San Francisco, the companys corporate headquarters is located in the Levis Plaza in San Francisco. Levi Strauss started the business at the 90 Sacramento Street address in San Francisco and he next moved the location to 62 Sacramento Street then 63 &65 Sacramento Street. Jacob Davis, a Latvian Jewish immigrant, was a Reno, Davis did not have the required money to purchase a patent, so he wrote to Strauss suggesting that they go into business together. After Levi accepted Jacobs offer, on May 20,1873, Patent 139,121 from the United States Patent and Trademark Office. The patented rivet was later incorporated into the companys jean design, contrary to an advertising campaign suggesting that Levi Strauss sold his first jeans to gold miners during the California Gold Rush, the manufacturing of denim overalls only began in the 1870s. The company created their first pair of Levis 501 Jeans in the 1890s, modern jeans began to appear in the 1920s, but sales were largely confined to the working people of the western United States, such as cowboys, lumberjacks, and railroad workers. Levi’s jeans apparently were first introduced to the East during the dude ranch craze of the 1930s, another boost came in World War II, when blue jeans were declared an essential commodity and were sold only to people engaged in defense work. Between the 1950s and 1980s, Levis jeans became popular among a range of youth subcultures, including greasers, mods, rockers. Levis popular shrink-to-fit 501s were sold in a unique sizing arrangement, the indicated size referred to the size of the prior to shrinking. The company still produces these unshrunk, uniquely sized jeans, additionally, the back pocket rivets, which had been covered in denim since 1937, were removed completely in the 1950s due to complaints they scratched furniture. The acquisition led to the introduction of the modern stone washing technique, simpkins is credited with the companys record-paced expansion of its manufacturing capacity from 16 plants to more than 63 plants in the United States from 1964 to 1974 and 23 overseas. As a result, Levis plants were perhaps the highest performing, best organized, the Dockers brand, launched in 1986 and which is sold largely through department store chains, helped the company grow through the mid-1990s, as denim sales began to fade. Dockers were introduced into Europe in 1996 and led by CEO Jorge Bardina, Levi Strauss attempted to sell the Dockers division in 2004 to relieve part of the companys $2.6 billion outstanding debt. As of 2016, most Levis jeans are made outside the US, though a few of the higher-end, labor history, distributing more than $9 million in restitution to some 1,200 employees. Levi Strauss claimed no knowledge of the offenses, then severed ties to the Tan family and instituted labor reforms, during the mid- and late-1990s, Fuerza Unida picketed the Levi Strauss headquarters in San Francisco and staged hunger strikes and sit-ins in protest at the companys labor policies. The company took on debt in February 1996 to help finance a series of leveraged stock buyouts among family members. The corporations bonds are traded publicly, as are shares of the companys Japanese affiliate, Levi Strauss Japan K. K
