1.
The Moody Blues
–
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. It has been described as a landmark and one of the first successful concept albums and they became known internationally with singles including Go Now, Nights in White Satin, Tuesday Afternoon and Question. They have been awarded 18 platinum and gold discs and their album sales total 70 million. The Moody Blues formed on 4 May 1964, in Erdington, Ray Thomas, a juvenile John Lodge and Mike Pinder had been members of El Riot & the Rebels. They disbanded when Lodge, the youngest member, went to technical college, Pinder then rejoined Thomas to form the Krew Cats. Back from a spell in the Hamburg region a few months later. The five appeared as the Moody Blues for the first time in Birmingham in 1964, around this time the band were the resident group at the Carlton Ballroom, later to become rock music venue Mothers on Erdington High Street. The band soon obtained a London-based management company, Ridgepride, formed by Alex Murray and their recording contract was signed in the spring of 1964 with Ridgepride, which then leased their recordings to Decca. They released a single, Steal Your Heart Away, that year failed to chart. They also appeared on the cult TV programme Ready Steady Go, singing the uptempo B side Lose Your Money. But it was their single, Go Now, that launched their career, being promoted on TV with one of the first purpose-made promotional films in the pop era. The single became a hit in Britain and in the United States, the band encountered management problems after the chart-topping hit and subsequently signed to Decca Records in the UK directly as recording artists. A four track extended play titled, The Moody Blues featuring both sides of their first two Decca singles was issued in a colour picture sleeve in early 1965. Their debut album The Magnificent Moodies, produced by Denny Cordell with a strong Merseybeat/R&B flavour, was released on Decca in mono only in 1965 and it contained the hit single together with one side of classic R&B covers, and a second side with four Laine-Pinder originals. Alex Wharton left the management firm and the released a series of relatively unsuccessful singles. But then Everyday, another Pinder-Laine song, stalled at No.44 in October 1965, in June 1966, Warwick retired from the group and the music business. The group re-formed in November 1966, by then, Boulevard de la Madeleine had made the Belgian charts and won them more fans, which came in handy when they relocated to Belgium for some time. The new members were John Lodge, their bassist from El Riot and Justin Hayward, Hayward was recommended to Pinder by Eric Burdon of the Animals and was endorsed by famed UK singer Marty Wilde, the leader of the Wilde Three
2.
Elvis Presley
–
Elvis Aaron Presley was an American singer and actor. Regarded as one of the most significant cultural icons of the 20th century, he is referred to as the King of Rock and Roll. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis and his music career began there in 1954, when he recorded a song with producer Sam Phillips at Sun Records. Accompanied by guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, Presley was a popularizer of rockabilly. RCA Victor acquired his contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, Presleys first RCA single, Heartbreak Hotel, was released in January 1956 and became a number-one hit in the United States. He was regarded as the figure of rock and roll after a series of successful network television appearances. In November 1956, Presley made his debut in Love Me Tender. In 1958, he was drafted into military service, in 1973, Presley featured in the first globally broadcast concert via satellite, Aloha from Hawaii. Several years of drug abuse severely damaged his health. Presley is one of the most celebrated and influential musicians of the 20th century and he won three Grammys, also receiving the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award at age 36, and has been inducted into multiple music halls of fame. Presley was born on January 8,1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love and Vernon Elvis Presley, Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his own birth. Thus, as a child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother. The family attended an Assembly of God, where he found his musical inspiration. Although he was in conflict with the Pentecostal church in his later years, rev. Rex Humbard officiated at his funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbards ministry. Presleys ancestry was primarily a Western European mix, including Scots-Irish, Scottish, German, gladyss great-great-grandmother, Morning Dove White, was possibly a Cherokee Native American. Gladys was regarded by relatives and friends as the dominant member of the small family, Vernon moved from one odd job to the next, evincing little ambition. The family often relied on help from neighbors and government food assistance, the Presleys survived the F5 tornado in the 1936 Tupelo–Gainesville tornado outbreak. In 1938, they lost their home after Vernon was found guilty of kiting a check written by the landowner, Orville S. Bean and he was jailed for eight months, and Gladys and Elvis moved in with relatives
3.
Country rock
–
Country rock is subgenre of popular music, formed from the fusion of rock and country. It was developed by musicians who began to record country-flavored records in the late-1960s and early-1970s. These musicians recorded rock records using country themes, vocal styles, country rock began with Bob Dylan and The Byrds, reaching its greatest popularity in the 1970s with artists such as Emmylou Harris, the Eagles, Michael Nesmith, Poco and Pure Prairie League. Country rock also influenced artists in genres, including The Band, Grateful Dead, Creedence Clearwater Revival, The Rolling Stones. It also played a part in the development of Southern rock, john Einarson states, From a variety of perspectives and motivations, these musicians either played rock & roll attitude, or added a country feel to rock, or folk, or bluegrass, there was no formula. Dylans lead was followed by The Byrds, who were joined by Gram Parsons in 1968. Parsons had mixed country with rock, blues and folk to create what he called Cosmic American Music. Earlier in the year Parsons had released Safe at Home with the International Submarine Band, the result of Parsons brief tenure in the Byrds was Sweetheart of the Rodeo, generally considered one of the finest and most influential recordings in the genre. Country rock was a popular style in the California music scene of the late 1960s. Some folk-rockers followed the Byrds into the genre, among them the Beau Brummels, one of the few acts to successfully move from the country side towards rock were the bluegrass band The Dillards. Former members of Ronstadts backing band went on to form the Eagles, however, the principal country influence in the Eagles came from Bernie Leadon of the Flying Burrito Brothers, and little country influence was left in the band after he left in late 1975. The genre declined in popularity in the late 1970s, but some established artists, List of country rock albums List of country rock musicians
4.
Doo-wop
–
Built upon vocal harmony, doo-wop was one of the most mainstream, pop-oriented R&B styles of the time. Doo-wop features vocal harmony, nonsense syllables, a simple beat, sometimes little or no instrumentation. The first record to use the syllables doo-wop was the 1955 hit When You Dance by The Turbans, the term doo-wop first appeared in print in 1961. During the late 1950s many Italian-American groups contributed a significant part in the doo-wop scene, the peak of doo-wop was in 1961. Doo-wops influence continued in soul, pop, and rock groups of the 1960s, at various times in the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, the genre has seen revivals. Doo-wop was a precursor to many of the African-American musical styles seen today, an evolution of jazz and blues, doo-wop also influenced many of the major rock and roll groups that defined the later decades of the 20th century. Doo-wop is iconic for its beats and using the off-beat to keep time. Doo-wop laid the foundation for musical innovations, for example. These were generally slow songs in swing time with simple instrumentation, the subject of the lyrics was generally love and relationships. This characteristic harmonic layout was combined with the AABA chorus form typical for Tin Pan Alley pop, a second stream of doo-wop oriented itself to the harmonic, formal and melodic means of jump blues. From the outset, singers gathered on street corners, and in subways, for instance, Count Every Star by The Ravens, includes vocalizations imitating the doomph, doomph plucking of a double bass. This art dates to The Mills Brothers, who first came to fame in the 1930s with their mimicking of instrumental music, radio, gramophone, and cinema inspired imitation in many U. S. cities. The late 1940s and early 1950s brought the bird groups, The Swallows. A number of names are also drawn from cars. The Orioles helped develop the sound with their hits Its Too Soon to Know. The term doo-wop first appeared in print in 1961 in the Chicago Defender, the phrase was attributed to radio disc jockey Gus Gossert but Gossert suggested doo-wop was already in use to categorize the music in California. The first record to use the syllables doo-wop in the refrain was the 1955 hit When You Dance by The Turbans, previously, the scat backing vocal doo-wop is heard in The Clovers 1953 release Good Lovin and in the chorus of Carlyle Dundee & The Dundees 1954 song Never. After some time, the term doo-wop finally caught on as both a description and category for R&B vocal group harmony, the definition expanded backward to include rhythm and blues groups from the mid-1950s, then cascaded even further back to include groups from the 1940s
5.
RCA Records
–
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
6.
Record producer
–
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
7.
Elvis in Concert (album)
–
Videotaped and recorded in June 1977, both the special and album were broadcast and released on October 3, six weeks after Presleys death. The album peaked at No.5 on the Billboard chart in late 1977 and it was certified Gold and Platinum on October 14 and 3x Platinum on August 1,2002, by the RIAA. The show was recorded two days at concerts in Omaha on June 19 and Rapid City, South Dakota on the 21st. Longtime RCA/Elvis producer Felton Jarvis produced the recordings, which were done to 4-track multitrack, after his death, they write, it was decided to go ahead with the special as a tribute. Elvis last concert was in fact on Sunday, June 26,1977 at the Market Square Arena in Indianapolis, No professional recording of this last performance has ever been issued, but bootlegs of amateur recordings have. During the special, Presley performs a selection of his hits, although it was a regular part of his repertoire for years, Presley requires a lyric sheet when he performs Paul Ankas My Way. He also loses his train of thought during Are You Lonesome Tonight, indeed, a concert recording of Presley similarly joking around during the monologue section of Are You Lonesome Tonight. Dating from 1969 has been reissued by RCA several times, nonetheless, the documentary This is Elvis uses this performance to illustrate Presleys poor condition at the time. The soundtrack album was issued as a 2-LP package, including a disc of performances that were not included in the TV special. It was also released on 8-track, on May 22,1992, the special saw its first release on a single-disc CD. Unfortunately the CD barely improved on the poor sound quality of the original album. Elvis Fans Comments /Opening Riff Also Sprach Zarathustra See See Rider Thats All Right Are You Lonesome Tonight, goode And I Love You So About. com gave the album a positive review, but conceded that this album is not a standout Elvis concert. What it is, however, is an important piece of Elvis lore. Their review went on to say that the record is Elvis Presleys least effort, as well as his last
8.
AllMusic
–
AllMusic is an online music guide service website. It was launched in 1991 by All Media Guide which later became All Media Network, AllMusic was launched in 1991 by Michael Erlewine of All Media Guide. The aim was to discographic information on every artist whos made a record since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost and its first reference book was published the following year. When first released onto the Internet, AMG predated the World Wide Web and was first available as a Gopher site, the AMG consumer web properties AllMusic. com, AllMovie. com and AllGame. com were sold by Rovi in July 2013 to All Media Network, LLC. All Media Network, LLC. was formed by the founders of SideReel. com. The following are contributors to AllMusic, as of this date, All Media Network also produced the AllMusic guide series that includes the AllMusic Guide to Rock, the All Music Guide to Jazz and the All Music Guide to the Blues. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president of the series, in August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its Top 100 Classic Websites list. All Media Network AllGame AllMovie SideReel All Music Guide to the Blues All Music Guide to Jazz Stephen Thomas Erlewine Official website
9.
The Rolling Stone Album Guide
–
The Rolling Stone Album Guide, previously known as The Rolling Stone Record Guide, is a book that contains professional music reviews written and edited by staff members from Rolling Stone magazine. Its first edition was published in 1979 and its last in 2004, the guide can be seen at Rate Your Music, while a list of albums given a five star rating by the guide can be seen at Rocklist. net. The Rolling Stone Record Guide was the first edition of what would later become The Rolling Stone Album Guide and it was edited by Dave Marsh and John Swenson, and included contributions from 34 other music critics. It is divided into sections by musical genre and then lists artists alphabetically within their respective genres, Albums are also listed alphabetically by artist although some of the artists have their careers divided into chronological periods. Dave Marsh, in his Introduction, cites as precedents Leonard Maltins book TV Movies and he gives Phonolog and Schwanns Records & Tape Guide as raw sources of information. The first edition included black and white photographs of many of the covers of albums which received five star reviews and these titles are listed together in the Five-Star Records section, which is coincidentally five pages in length. The edition also included reviews for many artists including Lenny Bruce, Lord Buckley, Bill Cosby, The Firesign Theatre, Spike Jones. Comedy artists were listed in the catch-all section Rock, Soul, Country and Pop, which included the genres of folk, bluegrass, funk, traditional pop performers were not included, with the notable exceptions of Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole. Included too were some artists who might now be considered as world music. Big band jazz was handled selectively, with certain band leaders omitted, many other styles of jazz did appear in the Jazz section. The book was notable for the time in the provocative, in your style of many of its reviews. For example, writing about Neil Youngs song, Down by the River and his colleague, Dave Marsh, in reviewing the three albums of the jazz fusion group Chase, gave a one-word review, Flee. Good, a record of average worth, but one that might possess considerable appeal for fans of a particular style, mediocre, a record that is artistically insubstantial, though not truly wretched. Poor, a record where even technical competence is at question or it was remarkably ill-conceived, worthless, a record that need never have been created. Reserved for the most bathetic bathwater, Dave Marsh John Swenson Billy Altman Bob Blumenthal Georgia Christgau Jean-Charles Costa Chet Flippo Russell Gersten Mikal Gilmore Alan E. Like the first edition, it was edited by Dave Marsh and it included contributions from 52 music critics and featured chronological album listings under the name of each artist. In many cases, updates from the first edition consist of short, the only difference is that in addition to a rating, the second edition employs the pilcrow mark to indicate a title that was out of print at the time the guide was published. Many records had their ratings lowered as the book now offered a revisionist slant to rocks history and it included contributions from 16 music critics and featured alphabetical album listings under the name of each artist
10.
Studio album
–
Album, is a collection of audio recordings issued as a single item on CD, record, audio tape, or another medium. Albums of recorded music were developed in the early 20th century, first as books of individual 78rpm records, vinyl LPs are still issued, though in the 21st century album sales have mostly focused on compact disc and MP3 formats. The audio cassette was a format used from the late 1970s through to the 1990s alongside vinyl, an album may be recorded in a recording studio, in a concert venue, at home, in the field, or a mix of places. Recording may take a few hours to years to complete, usually in several takes with different parts recorded separately. Recordings that are done in one take without overdubbing are termed live, the majority of studio recordings contain an abundance of editing, sound effects, voice adjustments, etc. With modern recording technology, musicians can be recorded in separate rooms or at times while listening to the other parts using headphones. Album covers and liner notes are used, and sometimes additional information is provided, such as analysis of the recording, historically, the term album was applied to a collection of various items housed in a book format. In musical usage the word was used for collections of pieces of printed music from the early nineteenth century. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, the LP record, or 33 1⁄3 rpm microgroove vinyl record, is a gramophone record format introduced by Columbia Records in 1948. It was adopted by the industry as a standard format for the album. Apart from relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound capability, the term album had been carried forward from the early nineteenth century when it had been used for collections of short pieces of music. Later, collections of related 78rpm records were bundled in book-like albums, as part of a trend of shifting sales in the music industry, some commenters have declared that the early 21st century experienced the death of the album. Sometimes shorter albums are referred to as mini-albums or EPs, Albums such as Tubular Bells, Amarok, Hergest Ridge by Mike Oldfield, and Yess Close to the Edge, include fewer than four tracks. There are no rules against artists such as Pinhead Gunpowder referring to their own releases under thirty minutes as albums. These are known as box sets, material is stored on an album in sections termed tracks, normally 11 or 12 tracks. A music track is a song or instrumental recording. The term is associated with popular music where separate tracks are known as album tracks. When vinyl records were the medium for audio recordings a track could be identified visually from the grooves
11.
Graceland
–
Graceland is a mansion on a 13. 8-acre estate in Memphis, Tennessee that was owned by Elvis Presley. It is located at 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard in the vast Whitehaven community, about 9 miles from Downtown and it currently serves as a museum. It was opened to the public on June 7,1982, the site was listed in the National Register of Historic Places on November 7,1991, and declared a National Historic Landmark on March 27,2006. Graceland is the second most-visited house in America with over 650,000 visitors a year, Graceland Farms was originally owned by Stephen C. Toof & Co. the oldest commercial printing firm in Memphis, who was previously the foreman of the Memphis newspaper. The grounds was named after Toofs daughter, Grace and she inherited the farm/grounds from her father in 1894. After Elvis Presley began his career, he purchased a $40,000 home for himself and his family at 1034 Audubon Drive in Memphis. As his fame grew, especially after his appearances on television, Presleys neighbors, most of whom were happy to have a celebrity living nearby, soon came to find the constant gathering of fans and journalists a nuisance. After several complaints, Presley decided it was necessary for him to move to a property more suitable, in early-1957, Presley gave his parents, Vernon and Gladys Presley, a $100,000 budget, and asked them to find a farmhouse type property to purchase. At the time, Graceland was located several miles beyond Memphis main urban area, in later years, Memphis would expand with housing, resulting in Graceland being surrounded by other properties. Presley purchased Graceland on March 19,1957 for the amount of $102,500, later that year, Presley invited Richard Williams and Buzz Cason to get a close look at this mansion Elvis had told us about. We proceeded to clown around on the front porch, striking our best rock n roll poses and snapping pictures with the little camera. We peeked in the windows and got a kick out of the pastel colored walls in the front rooms with shades of bright reds. Elvis was fond of claiming that the US government had mooted a visit to Graceland by Nikita Khrushchev, to see how in America a fellow can start out with nothing and, you know, make good. After Gladys died in 1958, Vernon remarried to Dee Stanley in 1960 and this was too much for the singer who still loved his late mother deeply. And all Dees households goods, clothes, improvements, and her own menagerie of pets, were loaded on. While Vernon, Dee and her three children went by car to a house on Hermitage until they finally settled into a house on Dolan Drive which ran alongside Elvis estate. According to the cousin, Billy Smith, Presley spent the night at Graceland with Smith and his wife Jo many times
12.
Moody Blue (song)
–
Moody Blue is a song made famous by Elvis Presley. The song was written by Mark James who also penned Elvis Suspicious Minds, Moody Blue was Presleys last No.1 hit in his lifetime, topping the Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart in February 1977. Moody Blue also peaked at number thirty-one on the Hot 100, RCA Records also issued an extremely limited quantity of the Moody Blue single in an experimental translucent blue vinyl pressing, with She Thinks I Still Care as the B-side. Six months after Moody Blue topped the chart, Presley was dead, the song was recorded in February 1976 in the Jungle Room of Presleys Graceland home. The only time Elvis performed the song in its entirety was on February 21,1977 at a concert in Charlotte, the complete version was first released on bootleg by the Fort Baxter label in 1995
13.
From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee
–
From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee is an album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on May 16,1976 on RCA Records. According to Sony musics Elvis The Music site, the album was released on May 17, since music at this time period was normally released on Mondays, it is believed that the May 16th date is more accurate. It is often mistaken that this is a recording as the album states the songs were recorded live. While this is true, the songs were recorded live in the studio at a studio set up in Presleys mansion, Graceland. Two songs recorded during the session, Moody Blue and She Thinks I Still Care would be released the year on his final album. From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee was the Presleys fourth album to reach #1 on the Billboard country music album chart within the last four years. Hurt was a top 10 hit on both the country and adult contemporary charts, while For the Heart stalled at #45 on the country charts, the latter did make the pop top 30. Both songs would again find success on the charts in the 80s – For the Heart became the first single for the Judds in 1983. From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee was certified Gold on October 10,1977 by the RIAA, in 2000 the albums tracks were added to Moody Blue to create an expanded 19-track CD of the latter title. In 2000 a two-disc edition of From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, all songs recorded at Graceland, Memphis. Elvis Presley – vocals, guitars, bass on Blue Eyes Crying in the Rain J. D. com
14.
Ann Arbor, Michigan
–
Ann Arbor is a city in the U. S. state of Michigan and the county seat of Washtenaw County. The 2010 census recorded its population to be 113,934, the citys population was estimated at 117,070 as of July 2015 by the U. S. Census Bureau. The Ann Arbor Metropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Washtenaw County, the city is also part of the larger Detroit–Ann Arbor–Flint, MI Combined Statistical Area with a population of 5,318,744. Ann Arbor was founded in 1824, named for wives of the villages founders, the University of Michigan moved from Detroit to Ann Arbor in 1837, and the city grew at a rapid rate in the early to mid-20th century. During the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as a center for left-wing politics, Ann Arbor became a focal point for political activism and anti-Vietnam War movement, as well as various student movements. Ann Arbor is home to the University of Michigan, one of the foremost research universities in the United States, the university shapes Ann Arbors economy significantly as it employs about 30,000 workers, including about 12,000 in the medical center. The citys economy is centered on high technology, with several companies drawn to the area by the universitys research and development infrastructure. In about 1774, the Potawatomi founded two villages in the area of what is now Ann Arbor, Ann Arbor was founded in 1824 by land speculators John Allen and Elisha Walker Rumsey. On 25 May 1824, the plat was registered with Wayne County as Annarbour. Allen and Rumsey decided to name it for their wives, both named Ann, and for the stands of Bur Oak in the 640 acres of land purchased for $800 from the federal government at $1.25 per acre. The local Ojibwa named the settlement kaw-goosh-kaw-nick, after the sound of Allens sawmill, Ann Arbor became the seat of Washtenaw County in 1827, and was incorporated as a village in 1833. The Ann Arbor Land Company, a group of speculators, set aside 40 acres of undeveloped land and offered it to the state of Michigan as the site of the state capital, but lost the bid to Lansing. In 1837, the property was accepted instead as the site of the University of Michigan, since the universitys establishment in the city in 1837, the histories of the University of Michigan and Ann Arbor have been closely linked. Throughout the 1840s and the 1850s settlers continued to come to Ann Arbor, while the earlier settlers were primarily of British ancestry, the newer settlers also consisted of Germans, Irish, and African-Americans. In 1851, Ann Arbor was chartered as a city, though the city showed a drop in population during the Depression of 1873. It was not until the early 1880s that Ann Arbor again saw robust growth, with new immigrants coming from Greece, Italy, Russia, Ann Arbor saw increased growth in manufacturing, particularly in milling. Ann Arbors Jewish community also grew after the turn of the 20th century, during the 1960s and 1970s, the city gained a reputation as an important center for liberal politics. Ann Arbor also became a locus for left-wing activism and anti-Vietnam War movement, during the ensuing 15 years, many countercultural and New Left enterprises sprang up and developed large constituencies within the city
15.
Unchained Melody
–
Unchained Melody is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North used the music as a theme for the prison film Unchained. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack and it has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers. According to the songs publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of Unchained Melody have been made by more than 670 artists in multiple languages, the song and Do They Know Its Christmas are the only songs to reach number one in four different recordings in the UK. Of the hundreds of recordings made, it was the July 1965 version by the Righteous Brothers, performed as a solo by Bobby Hatfield and this version achieved a second round of great popularity when it was featured in the 1990 blockbuster film Ghost. In 2004, it finished at number 27 on AFIs 100 Years.100 Songs survey of top tunes in American cinema, in 1954, North was contracted to compose the score for the prison film Unchained. North composed and recorded the score, and then was asked to write a song based upon the movies theme, North asked lyricist Hy Zaret to write the lyric, but Zaret initially declined, saying he was too busy painting his house. North was able to him to take the job. Zaret refused the producer’s request to include the word unchained in his lyrics, the song eventually became known as the Unchained Melody even though the song does not actually include the word unchained. Instead, Zaret chose to focus on someone who pines for a lover he has not seen in a long, the 1955 film centered around a man who contemplates either escaping from prison to live life on the run or completing his sentence and returning to his wife and family. The song has a harmonic device as the bridge ends on the tonic chord rather than the more usual dominant chord. With Todd Duncan singing the vocals, the song was nominated for an Oscar in 1955, Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack. He performs a version in the film, playing one of the prisoners. Lying on a bed, he sings it accompanied by another prisoner on guitar while others listen sadly, bandleader Les Baxter released a version which reached number 1 on the US charts and number 10 in the UK. The words unchain me are sung repeatedly at the beginning and the lyrics are sung by a choir, Billboard ranked this version as the No.5 song of 1955. Al Hibbler followed close behind with a version, and it reached number 3 on the Billboard charts. He was quickly followed by Jimmy Young, whose version hit number 1 on the British charts, Jimmy Young also later re-recorded another version of his 1955 charttopper in early 1964 and that version charted at number 43 in the UK. Two weeks after Youngs version entered the top 10 of the British charts in June 1955 Liberace would score a number 20 hit, roy Hamiltons version reached number one on the R&B Best Sellers list and number 6 on the pop chart
16.
Nashville, Tennessee
–
Nashville is the capital of the U. S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in the central part of the state. The city is a center for the music, healthcare, publishing, banking and transportation industries and it is known as a center of the country music industry, earning it the nickname Music City, U. S. A. Since 1963, Nashville has had a consolidated city-county government which includes six municipalities in a two-tier system. Nashville is governed by a mayor, vice-mayor, and 40-member Metropolitan Council, thirty-five of the members are elected from single-member districts, five are elected at-large. Reflecting the citys position in government, Nashville is home to the Tennessee Supreme Courts courthouse for Middle Tennessee. According to 2015 estimates from the U. S. Census Bureau, the balance population, which excludes semi-independent municipalities within Nashville, was 654,610. The 2015 population of the entire 13-county Nashville metropolitan area was 1,830,345, the 2015 population of the Nashville-Davidson–Murfreesboro–Columbia combined statistical area, a larger trade area, was 1,951,644. The town of Nashville was founded by James Robertson, John Donelson, and it was named for Francis Nash, the American Revolutionary War hero. Nashville quickly grew because of its location, accessibility as a port on the Cumberland River, a tributary of the Ohio River. By 1800, the city had 345 residents, including 136 African American slaves and 14 free blacks, in 1806, Nashville was incorporated as a city and became the county seat of Davidson County, Tennessee. In 1843, the city was named the permanent capital of the state of Tennessee, by 1860, when the first rumblings of secession began to be heard across the South, antebellum Nashville was a prosperous city. The citys significance as a port made it a desirable prize as a means of controlling important river. In February 1862, Nashville became the first state capital to fall to Union troops, the state was occupied by Union troops for the duration of the war. Within a few years after the Civil War, the Nashville chapter of the Ku Klux Klan was founded by Confederate veteran John W. Morton, meanwhile, the city had reclaimed its important shipping and trading position and developed a solid manufacturing base. The post–Civil War years of the late 19th century brought new prosperity to Nashville and these healthy economic times left the city with a legacy of grand classical-style buildings, which can still be seen around the downtown area. Circa 1950 the state approved a new city charter that provided for the election of city council members from single-member districts. This change was supported because at-large voting diluted the minority populations political power in the city and they could seldom gain a majority of the population to support a candidate of their choice
17.
Motion picture
–
A film, also called a movie, motion picture, theatrical film or photoplay, is a series of still images which, when shown on a screen, creates the illusion of moving images due to the phi phenomenon. This optical illusion causes the audience to perceive continuous motion between separate objects viewed rapidly in succession, the process of filmmaking is both an art and an industry. The word cinema, short for cinematography, is used to refer to the industry of films. Films were originally recorded onto plastic film through a photochemical process, the adoption of CGI-based special effects led to the use of digital intermediates. Most contemporary films are now fully digital through the process of production, distribution. Films recorded in a form traditionally included an analogous optical soundtrack. It runs along a portion of the film exclusively reserved for it and is not projected, Films are cultural artifacts created by specific cultures. They reflect those cultures, and, in turn, affect them, Film is considered to be an important art form, a source of popular entertainment, and a powerful medium for educating—or indoctrinating—citizens. The visual basis of film gives it a power of communication. Some films have become popular worldwide attractions by using dubbing or subtitles to translate the dialog into the language of the viewer, some have criticized the film industrys glorification of violence and its potentially negative treatment of women. The individual images that make up a film are called frames, the perception of motion is due to a psychological effect called phi phenomenon. The name film originates from the fact that film has historically been the medium for recording and displaying motion pictures. Many other terms exist for a motion picture, including picture, picture show, moving picture, photoplay. The most common term in the United States is movie, while in Europe film is preferred. Terms for the field, in general, include the big screen, the screen, the movies, and cinema. In early years, the sheet was sometimes used instead of screen. Preceding film in origin by thousands of years, early plays and dances had elements common to film, scripts, sets, costumes, production, direction, actors, audiences, storyboards, much terminology later used in film theory and criticism apply, such as mise en scène. Owing to the lack of any technology for doing so, the moving images, the magic lantern, probably created by Christiaan Huygens in the 1650s, could be used to project animation, which was achieved by various types of mechanical slides
18.
Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis
–
Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis is a live album by American singer and musician Elvis Presley, released on RCA Records in July 1974. It was recorded on March 20 of the year at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. The cover features of a photograph of Presleys home, Graceland, the album was recorded on the same day as his Good Times album was released. Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis was Presleys fifth live album in less than five years and he earned his third Grammy Award for this albums performance of How Great Thou Art. The album was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of America on July 15,1999, in the United States, Elvis Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis topped Billboards Country chart and reached the top 40 of the Top LPs & Tape listings. It was Presleys last album to reach the top 40 until Moody Blue in 1977, although the live album was not a major commercial success, it did produce the singers third and final Grammy Award winner, How Great Thou Art, which won for best inspirational performance. Two other gospel songs, Why Me Lord and Help Me, are given an inspired performance. Another highlight is the Sun years classic Trying to Get to You, a favorite choice of Presleys. The live recording of Let Me Be There from this album was used as filler on Presleys final studio album. It was also issued as a single in 1974, with the same song on both sides. On March 17,2014, close to the 40th anniversary of the concert, disc one corresponds with the FTD version, in that it features the complete show from the Mid-South Coliseum. Disc two also includes several recently rediscovered studio rehearsal recordings from August 1974, on release, the two-CD set re-entered the UK Albums Chart at number 74
19.
U.K.
–
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom or Britain, is a sovereign country in western Europe. Lying off the north-western coast of the European mainland, the United Kingdom includes the island of Great Britain, Northern Ireland is the only part of the United Kingdom that shares a land border with another sovereign state—the Republic of Ireland. The Irish Sea lies between Great Britain and Ireland, with an area of 242,500 square kilometres, the United Kingdom is the 78th-largest sovereign state in the world and the 11th-largest in Europe. It is also the 21st-most populous country, with an estimated 65.1 million inhabitants, together, this makes it the fourth-most densely populated country in the European Union. The United Kingdom is a monarchy with a parliamentary system of governance. The monarch is Queen Elizabeth II, who has reigned since 6 February 1952, other major urban areas in the United Kingdom include the regions of Birmingham, Leeds, Glasgow, Liverpool and Manchester. The United Kingdom consists of four countries—England, Scotland, Wales, the last three have devolved administrations, each with varying powers, based in their capitals, Edinburgh, Cardiff and Belfast, respectively. The relationships among the countries of the UK have changed over time, Wales was annexed by the Kingdom of England under the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542. A treaty between England and Scotland resulted in 1707 in a unified Kingdom of Great Britain, which merged in 1801 with the Kingdom of Ireland to form the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Five-sixths of Ireland seceded from the UK in 1922, leaving the present formulation of the United Kingdom of Great Britain, there are fourteen British Overseas Territories. These are the remnants of the British Empire which, at its height in the 1920s, British influence can be observed in the language, culture and legal systems of many of its former colonies. The United Kingdom is a country and has the worlds fifth-largest economy by nominal GDP. The UK is considered to have an economy and is categorised as very high in the Human Development Index. It was the worlds first industrialised country and the worlds foremost power during the 19th, the UK remains a great power with considerable economic, cultural, military, scientific and political influence internationally. It is a nuclear weapons state and its military expenditure ranks fourth or fifth in the world. The UK has been a permanent member of the United Nations Security Council since its first session in 1946 and it has been a leading member state of the EU and its predecessor, the European Economic Community, since 1973. However, on 23 June 2016, a referendum on the UKs membership of the EU resulted in a decision to leave. The Acts of Union 1800 united the Kingdom of Great Britain, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have devolved self-government
20.
Gramophone record
–
The groove usually starts near the periphery and ends near the center of the disc. The phonograph disc record was the medium used for music reproduction until late in the 20th century. It had co-existed with the cylinder from the late 1880s. Records retained the largest market share even when new formats such as compact cassette were mass-marketed, by the late 1980s, digital media, in the form of the compact disc, had gained a larger market share, and the vinyl record left the mainstream in 1991. The phonograph record has made a resurgence in the early 21st century –9.2 million records were sold in the U. S. in 2014. Likewise, in the UK sales have increased five-fold from 2009 to 2014, as of 2017,48 record pressing facilities remain worldwide,18 in the United States and 30 in other countries. The increased popularity of vinyl has led to the investment in new, only two producers of lacquers remains, Apollo Masters in California, USA, and MDC in Japan. Vinyl records may be scratched or warped if stored incorrectly but if they are not exposed to heat or broken. The large cover are valued by collectors and artists for the space given for visual expression, in the 2000s, these tracings were first scanned by audio engineers and digitally converted into audible sound. Phonautograms of singing and speech made by Scott in 1860 were played back as sound for the first time in 2008, along with a tuning fork tone and unintelligible snippets recorded as early as 1857, these are the earliest known recordings of sound. In 1877, Thomas Edison invented the phonograph, unlike the phonautograph, it was capable of both recording and reproducing sound. Despite the similarity of name, there is no evidence that Edisons phonograph was based on Scotts phonautograph. Edison first tried recording sound on a paper tape, with the idea of creating a telephone repeater analogous to the telegraph repeater he had been working on. The tinfoil was wrapped around a metal cylinder and a sound-vibrated stylus indented the tinfoil while the cylinder was rotated. The recording could be played back immediately, Edison also invented variations of the phonograph that used tape and disc formats. A decade later, Edison developed a greatly improved phonograph that used a wax cylinder instead of a foil sheet. This proved to be both a better-sounding and far more useful and durable device, the wax phonograph cylinder created the recorded sound market at the end of the 1880s and dominated it through the early years of the 20th century. Berliners earliest discs, first marketed in 1889, but only in Europe, were 12.5 cm in diameter, both the records and the machine were adequate only for use as a toy or curiosity, due to the limited sound quality
21.
Country music
–
Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
22.
If You Love Me (Let Me Know)
–
If You Love Me is a song written by John Rostill that was a 1974 hit single for Olivia Newton-John. It was her second release to hit the top 10 in the United States, reaching number 5 on the pop chart and it also reached number 2 on the Billboard country chart. As with her single Let Me Be There, Mike Sammes sings a bass harmony, brian Collins covered the song for Dot Records in 1977. His version went to number 83 on the country chart, lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
23.
The Zodiacs
–
Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs were an American doo-wop/R&B vocal group in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Originally the Charms, the changed its name to the Gladiolas in 1957. Maurice Williams was born 26 April 1938 in Lancaster, South Carolina and his first experience with music was in the church, where his mother and sister both performed. By the time he was six, Williams was performing regularly there, with his childhood friend Earl Gainey, Williams formed the gospel group the Junior Harmonizers. As rock and roll and doo-wop became their primary interest, the Junior Harmonizers changed their name to the Royal Charms, in addition to Williams and Gainey, the Royal Charms were made up of Willie Jones, William Massey, and Norman Wade. In the winter of 1956, while still in school, Williams and his band traveled to Nashville, Tennessee. At the time they were going by the name the Royal Charms, the song Little Darlin was a #11 hit on the R&B chart in 1957, but did not break the Billboard Hot 100s Top 40. However, when it was covered by the Canadian group the Diamonds, Williams finished high school and while on the road with the band, the band came across a British-built Ford car known as the Zodiac and changed their name. Shortly thereafter, Henry Gatson replaced Earl Gainey, in the spring of 1959, Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs performed at the University of South Carolina in Columbia, South Carolina. Around that time, the split and reformed. The members were Williams, Gatson, Wiley Bennett, and Charles Thomas, later, Little Willie Morrow and Albert Hill were added. One month later, in the summer of 1959, the band recorded in a Quonset Hut on Shakespeare Road in Columbia. The recording engineer, Homer Fesperman, recorded tracks that the band had hoped would fetch them a hit. One of the last tracks that they recorded that day was Stay, after taking the demo of Stay to Al Silver at Herald Records in New York City, the song was pressed and released in early 1960. At 1,36, Stay is the shortest recording ever to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States. Later versions of Stay, by the Four Seasons and Jackson Browne, the inclusion of the Zodiacs Stay on the soundtrack to the film Dirty Dancing in 1987 led to the song selling more records than it had during its original release. A1965 recording by the group, May I, released by Vee Jay Records and Dee-Su Records, became, over the years, Williams continued recording, touring, and releasing music through the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s. He is still active in the industry, residing in Charlotte
24.
Don Robey
–
Don Deadric Robey was an American record label executive, songwriter and record producer. As the founder of Peacock Records and the owner of Duke Records, he was responsible for developing the careers of many rhythm. He was credited with writing or co-writing many of the songs recorded by Duke/Peacock artists, either under his real name, however in many cases, he was merely a publisher and was not involved in the writing. Robey was born in the Fifth Ward of Houston, Texas, to Gertrude and Zeb Robey and his grandfather Franklin, the son of a plantation owner and a slave from South Carolina, had settled in Houston where he practiced medicine and lived in the towns Third Ward. Don Robey left school early, he claimed in order to pursue a gambling career and he also lived in Los Angeles, where he set up his first nightclub. By the age of 20, he had married and fathered a son, after returning to Houston Don Robey worked as a sales representative for a liquor distributor. In 1934 he opened the Lenox Club and, around that time, changed the name of the Sweet Dreams Cafe to Manhattan Club, and began to hire bands from out of state for entertainment. Together with partner Morris Merritt he opened the Harlem Grill, a dance hall. In 1941 he began building a relationship with Indianapolis promoter Denver Ferguson, in 1945 he opened the Bronze Peacock Dinner Club, where he soon began to promote dances. The Peacock featured stars such as Ruth Brown, Louis Jordan, Lionel Hampton, and T-Bone Walker, Houston historian Roger Wood described the club as “arguably the most sophisticated African American owned and operated nightclub in the south during the 1940s and 1950s. It hired only the most prestigious chefs and offered a menu of fine food. Its roomy stage hosted productions featuring the leading uptown musical acts of the era and it catered exclusively to an adult clientele with relatively exquisite tastes in music food and fashion. People with money to spend and a desire to do so in high style, Robey became manager for blues singer Clarence Gatemouth Brown in 1947, setting up the Buffalo Booking Agency with Merritt and business manager Evelyn Johnson. Two years later, after Brown had failed to find success with his recordings on the Aladdin label, Robey established Peacock Records. The label also provided Little Richard with his recording contract. In 1952, Robey merged his Peacock label with Duke Records of Memphis, Robey took over full ownership of the label the following year, and closed down the Bronze Peacock club to turn it into a rehearsal and recording studio. Initially the Duke-Peacock companys biggest star was Johnny Ace, but after Aces death the gap was filled by other musicians including Junior Parker, Bobby Bland, Robey also started Back Beat, an R&B label that had hits with O. V. Wright and Roy Head. He later also acquired other labels including Sure Shot and Song Bird, the performers on Robeys labels were often signed to exclusive booking and management contracts
25.
Dickey Lee
–
Royden Dickey Lipscomb, known professionally as Dickey Lee, is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs Patches and Laurie. Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa Records and he achieved his first chart success in 1962, when his composition She Thinks I Still Care was a hit for George Jones. Later that year, Patches, written by Barry Mann and Larry Kobler and recorded by Lee for Smash Records, the song tells in waltz-time the story of teenage lovers of different social classes whose parents forbid their love. The girl drowns herself in the dirty old river, the singer concludes, It may not be right, but Ill join you tonight/ Patches Im coming to you. Because of the teen suicide theme, the song was banned by a number of radio stations, however, it sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Lee had a No.14 hit in 1963 with a song he co-wrote, in 1965, he returned to teen tragedy with Laurie, a song related to the urban legends known as the vanishing hitchhiker and Resurrection Mary. After the 1960s, Lee devoted his efforts to country performing and songwriting. He also co-wrote several songs with Bob McDill, including Someone Like You and he was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1995. Lee is included as co-writer and singer on singer-songwriter Michael Saxells 2005 album Wonky Windmill on the song Two Men, allmusic NAMM Oral History Interview July 10,2015
26.
Andrew Lloyd Webber
–
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Baron Lloyd-Webber is an English composer and impresario of musical theatre. Several of his musicals have run for more than a decade both in the West End and on Broadway and he has composed 13 musicals, a song cycle, a set of variations, two film scores, and a Latin Requiem Mass. In 2001 the New York Times referred to him as the most commercially successful composer in history, ranked the fifth most powerful person in British culture by The Telegraph in 2008, the lyricist Don Black stated Andrew more or less single-handedly reinvented the musical. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, is an inductee into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and his company, the Really Useful Group, is one of the largest theatre operators in London. Producers in several parts of the UK have staged productions, including national tours, Lloyd Webber is also the president of the Arts Educational Schools London, a performing arts school located in Chiswick, West London. He is involved in a number of activities, including the Elton John AIDS Foundation, Nordoff Robbins, Prostate Cancer UK. His younger brother, Julian Lloyd Webber, is a solo cellist. Lloyd Webber started writing his own music at a young age and he also put on productions with Julian and his Aunt Viola in his toy theatre. Later, he would be the owner of a number of West End theatres and his aunt Viola, an actress, took him to see many of her shows and through the stage door into the world of the theatre. He also had set music to Old Possums Book of Practical Cats at the age of 15. Lloyd Webbers first collaboration with lyricist Tim Rice was The Likes of Us, although composed in 1965, it was not publicly performed until 2005, when a production was staged at Lloyd Webbers Sydmonton Festival. In 2008, amateur rights were released by the National Operatic and Dramatic Association in association with the Really Useful Group, the first amateur performance was by a childrens theatre group in Cornwall called Kidz R Us. In this respect, it is different from the composers later work, which tends to be either predominantly or wholly through-composed. Joseph began life as a cantata that gained some recognition on its second staging with a favourable review in The Times. For its subsequent performances, Rice and Lloyd Webber revised the show and this culminated in a two-hour-long production being staged in the West End on the back of the success of Jesus Christ Superstar. In 1969 Rice and Lloyd Webber wrote a song for the Eurovision Song Contest called Try It and See, with rewritten lyrics it became King Herods Song in their third musical, Jesus Christ Superstar. The planned follow-up to Jesus Christ Superstar was a comedy based on the Jeeves. Tim Rice was uncertain about this venture, partly because of his concern that he not be able to do justice to the novels that he
27.
Tim Rice
–
Sir Timothy Miles Bindon Tim Rice is an English author and Academy Award, Golden Globe Award, Tony Award, and Grammy Award-winning lyricist. One of the most celebrated lyricists in British popular culture, Rice was knighted by Elizabeth II for services to music in 1994, the 2016 Sunday Times Rich List values Rice at £150m, the 15th richest music millionaire in the UK. Rice was born at Shardeloes, an historic English country house near Amersham, Buckinghamshire, after the war, they worked for the de Havilland Aircraft Company. Rice was educated at three independent schools, Aldwickbury School in Hertfordshire, St Albans School and Lancing College. He left Lancing with GCE A-Levels in History and French and then started work as a clerk for a law firm in London. He later attended the Sorbonne in Paris for a year, after studying for a year in Paris at the Sorbonne, Rice joined EMI Records as a management trainee in 1966. When EMI producer Norrie Paramor left to set up his own organisation in 1968, Rice joined him as an assistant producer, working with, among others, Cliff Richard. Rice has collaborated with Andrew Lloyd Webber, with whom he wrote Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Jesus Christ Superstar, Evita, Cricket, and The Likes of Us. For The Walt Disney Company, Rice has collaborated individually with Alan Menken and Elton John, creating productions including Aladdin and The Lion King. In 1996, his collaboration with Lloyd Webber for the film version Evita won Rice his third Academy Award for Best Original Song with the song You Must Love Me. Rice has also collaborated with Björn Ulvaeus and Benny Andersson of ABBA on Chess and with Rick Wakeman on the albums 1984 and he is writing eight lyrics to Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskys ballet, The Nutcracker. The working title is The Nutcracker, The Untold Story, Rice was re-united with Andrew Lloyd Webber in 2011 to pen new songs for Lloyd Webbers newest production of The Wizard of Oz which opened in March 2011 at the London Palladium. Rice has, however, rejected working with Webber again, claiming their partnership has run its course and he has also been a frequent guest panellist for many years on the radio panel games Just a Minute and Trivia Test Match. Rice often jokes that he is most recognised in America for his appearance in the film About a Boy, the film includes several clips from an edition of the game show Countdown on which he was the guest adjudicator. His other interests include cricket and maths, on 2 December 2010 he addressed the eighth Bradman Oration in Adelaide. He is currently working on a sequel, covering his life, in September 1981, Rice, along with Colin Webb and Michael Parkinson, launched Pavilion Books, a publishing house with a publishing focus on music and the arts. Rice is patron of London-based drama school, Associated Studios, Rice was made a Knight Bachelor by Queen Elizabeth II in 1994, was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1999, and was named a Disney Legend in 2002. In 2008, Rice received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and he is a fellow of the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors
28.
The Sweet Inspirations
–
The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group founded by Emily Cissy Houston, mother of Whitney Houston, and sister of Lee Warrick. The line-up included Judy Guions, Marie Epps, Larry Drinkard, Nicholas Drinkard, Ann Moss, Lee, at that time, Sylvia Shemwell replaced Doris, while Cissy Houston took over from Dionne, with Dee Dee Warwick as the group’s official leader. The group sang backup for many stars, including Solomon Burke, Aretha Franklin, Wilson Pickett, Dee Dee left in 1965, when her solo career began to take off. She was replaced by Myrna Smith, Estelle Brown joined the team soon after, and the line-up that was to become an Atlantic recording group was set. In a recording session on March 28,1967, The Sweet Inspirations provided the back up vocals for Van Morrison on his classic hit Brown Eyed Girl and it was released in June 1967 and rose to No.10 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts. In October 2007, Morrison was awarded a Million-Air certificate by BMI for 8 million air plays of Brown Eyed Girl, the Sweet Inspirations recorded by themselves for the first time in April 1967 for Atlantic Records. Within a month of their climb, the group began work on their second album - a gospel record entitled Songs Of Faith & Inspiration. It was released in 1968 under the name Cissy Drinkard & The Sweet Inspirations, on March 30,1968, the group scored their first and only top forty hit on the Billboard Top 40 Pop Chart with the song Sweet Inspiration on Atlantic Records. The record was on the chart for ten weeks and peaked at number 18, the group at this point was composed of Houston, Brown, Shernwell and Smith. In 1967, the group did backing vocals for the Jimi Hendrix single Burning of the Midnight Lamp which was featured on the album Electric Ladyland in 1968. They also backed Dusty Springfield on her album Dusty in Memphis, in 1969, the group recorded their fourth album, Sweets for my Sweet. The Sweet Inspirations also began recording and touring with Elvis Presley as both singers and his warm-up act, as well as doing occasional ‘live’ dates with Aretha Franklin. The association with Presley became well-publicized as he introduced the Sweet Inspirations on his telecast concerts. Houstons last recording session with The Sweet Inspirations was in October 1969, since she wanted to pursue a solo career, the session produced the group’s biggest R&B hit in some time. A Gamble & Huff composition, Gotta Find Me A Brand New Lover appeared on the fifth album Sweet Sweet Soul. Also included from that set are That’s The Way My Baby Is, Ann disappeared during a tour with Elvis Presley and did not return to the group. A final Atlantic session in June 1970 brought the group its last two singles for the label, This World, and Evidence, in 1973, Estelle, Myrna, and Sylvia recorded an album for Stax Records. They group broke up shortly thereafter, in 1978, the group sang backing vocals on Frankie Vallis No.1 hit Grease from the film of the same name
