1.
Word Up! (song)
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Word Up. is a funk and R&B song recorded by Cameo in 1986. Its frequent airing, on American dance and R&B radio, as well as its MTV music video, in the UK, it spent 10 weeks in the top 40, peaking at number 3 on September 21,1986. The song was written by band members Larry Blackmon and Tomi Jenkins, besides being a commercial success, the track also earned critical acclaim from several publications. Word Up. won Cameo the Soul Train Music Award for Best R&B/Soul Single as well as the NME Award for Best Dance Record, like the bands previous single Single Life, Word Up. Features a reference to the notes of Ennio Morricones theme to The Good, the Bad. Word Up was a colloquialism, popular in New York City and other US urban areas, Blackmon said of the song, It just sounded good, and it was before its time. You can play “Word Up” anyplace anywhere, and someone is going to be grooving and bobbing their head and our sound was unique, as well. I haven’t heard another one like it, and we probably won’t hear another one like it in the future and it was that significant for us. In the 1990s, Word Up. was first covered by British rock band Gun, whose version carried a harder, more rock-oriented sound, taken from their album Swagger, it was released on July 1,1994, and reached number 8 in the UK singles chart. Two versions of the CD single were released in the UK, each carrying different cover art, guns version of the song was featured on the soundtrack to 1996 film Barb Wire, and was also used in the CSI, Crime Scene Investigation season one episode Who Are You. The Gun version was featured on the 2011 series of British television show Dancing on Ice. Word Up. was later covered by Mel B of the Spice Girls and it was released on June 28,1999. It peaked at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart, the single was also on the Austin Powers, The Spy Who Shagged Me soundtrack and was later featured on the Japanese edition of her album Hot. Word Up. sold about 77,996 copies in the United Kingdom, Digital download EP Word Up –3,23 Sophisticated Lady –2,43 Word Up –5,31 Word Up. by American nu metal band Korn is a cover of the Cameo song. Its musical arrangements are similar to that of the version by Gun. It is the only Korn single to be sent out to Top 40 radio stations, notably receiving airplay on New York Citys Z-100, the largest Top 40 station in the US. The music video for the song, directed by Antti Jokinen, the cover was featured in Credit Where Credits Due, an episode of the television series Veronica Mars. The track is featured in the video game Lego Rock Band
2.
Toby Jepson
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Toby Matthew Jepson is a singer and songwriter, and was lead vocalist and guitarist in the British rock band Little Angels between 1984 and 1994. Between 2008 and 2010, he was the singer with Scottish rock band Gun. Jepson formed Mr Thrud with his school friend Mark Plunkett in Scarborough, eventually breaking out and achieving national success, Mr Thrud became Little Angels and went on to release three albums and tour the UK throughout the early 1990s. The band had twelve Top 40 hit singles, including Too Much, Too Young and Womankind in 1993, and they toured with Bon Jovi, Bryan Adams and Van Halen, and performed their own headlining tours taking in venues such as Hammersmith Apollo and The Royal Albert Hall. They were arguably one of the most successful and popular British bands of their time, when the band split in 1994, Jepson continued to write and produce music. His solo debut album was released in 1995 under the moniker Toby & The Whole Truth, Ignorance Is Bliss showed a different side to his songwriting, and he embarked on a tour to support it. This tour was cut due to illness that developed into pneumonia, and this affected sales of the album and his profile. Jepson spent a long out of the spotlight, during which time he moved to Bristol. He earned a living working as an actor on various productions and busying himself with various projects - including writing and recording. He returned to the eye in late 2001 and announced a short club tour with a new band. He toured the UK through the start of 2002, and released the Refresh EP over the Internet, a re-issue of Ignorance Is Bliss was also made available at this time. As a premium membership feature of his website, he launched the MP3 Club in which subscribers would receive exclusive recordings delivered straight to their inbox via email every month. Jepson and his continued writing and recording when they got off the road. Around this time work commenced on Twisted Rhapsodies, a collection of live material, demos. Before its release, however, Jepson announced over his website that it was likely that this was to be his final output, in November 2005, Jepsons fortunes appear to have improved considerably, and he resurfaced again to tour with Thunder. He toured twice in the UK during 2006, The first tour supporting Thunder, and this new tour premiered new songs to a fan base. In March 2007, Jepson released the first of three EPs entitled Guitar, Bass and Drums, and immediately began touring to promote them. In addition to headlining his own shows, he was a special guest to former Black Sabbath vocalist Glenn Hughes, at a date in Shepherds Bush, EP2 was released in September 2007 to rave reviews
3.
Gallus (album)
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Gallus is the second album from Scottish rock band Gun. Singles Higher Ground, Steal Your Fire, and Welcome to the Real World reached #48, #24, gallus itself peaked at the #14 slot on the countrys official albums chart. The releases cover shows Benny Lynch, a renowned Scottish boxer from Glasgow, he achieved international fame during his career and continued notoriety after his death in August 1946. The albums release took place when the group was a made up of vocalist Mark Rankin alongside guitarists Alex Dickson and Giuliano Gizzi, bassist Dante Gizzi. Gallus was produced by Kenny MacDonald, who had previously produced work by singer-songwriter Lloyd Cole, al Clay did the audio engineering on the album. He had previously engineered releases by such as the American groups Pixies
4.
Swagger (Gun album)
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Swagger is the third album from the Glasgow, Scotland based rock band Gun. It features their most successful single, their cover of Word Up, done in the groups melodic hard rock style, provided a commercial boost to its parent album. Their version earned the band the Best Cover trophy at the first international MTV Europe Music Awards, the track was originally recorded by American funk group Cameo. The album produced a total of four U. K, top 40 singles between July 1994 and April 1995, Word Up. Dont Say Its Over, The Only One, and Something Worthwhile, the first track was on the official British singles chart for a total of seven weeks. Swagger has also received mixed to positive reviews from various publications such as Allmusic. The albums release took place after a change in the bands line-up, with the group becoming a quartet made up of Mark Rankin, Giuliano Gizzi, Dante Gizzi. Swagger was produced and engineered by Chris Sheldon and he had previously worked with other English, Irish, and Scottish artists such as the singer-songwriters Hugh Cornwell, Gary Numan, and Roger Waters in the 1980s and 1990s. Nina Schultz took the photographs of the group from which the cover was picked. In 2005, the album was ranked #465 in the German language book The 500 Greatest Rock & Metal Albums of All Time, an online article from the publication stated that each and every track on the album could potentially serve as a hit single. A supportive yet mixed review by music critic Tim DiGravina of Allmusic stated that the group finds it hard to settle on any one style throughout Swagger while noting the large cult following. The critic also remarked on the similarity of style in some respects to Simple Minds, mentioning how Guns then drummer, Mark Kerr, is the brother of that other groups vocalist, Jim Kerr. Guns version of Word Up. won the Best Cover trophy at the first international MTV Europe Music Awards, with that event being held on November 24,1994 at Brandenburg Gate in Berlin. Said event was hosted by notable singer-songwriter Tom Jones, Gun edged out Wet Wet Wets take on Love Is All Around and the Pet Shop Boys cover of Go West among other songs. Swagger reached the peak of #5 on the official British albums chart, stand in Line Find My Way Word Up. Dont Say Its Over The Only One Something Worthwhile Seems Like Im Losing You Crying Over You One Reason Vicious Heart 1994 in music Chris Sheldon production discography Gun - Official Website
