1.
Max Steiner
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Maximilian Raoul Max Steiner was an Austrian-born American music composer for theatre and films. He was a prodigy who conducted his first operetta when he was twelve and became a full-time professional, either composing, arranging, or conducting. He worked in England, then Broadway, and in 1929 he moved to Hollywood, Steiner was referred to as the father of film music. Steiner composed over 300 film scores with RKO Pictures and Warner Bros. and was nominated for 24 Academy Awards and he was also the first recipient of the Golden Globe Award for Best Original Score, which he won for his score to Life with Father. A lot of his scores are available as separate soundtrack recordings. Steiner was born on May 10,1888, in Austria-Hungary and he was the only child in a wealthy business and theatrical family of Jewish heritage. His father was Gabor Steiner, Viennese impresario, carnival exposition manager, Steiners mother was a dancer in stage productions put on by his grandfather. His godfather was the composer Richard Strauss, Max Steiner often credited his family for inspiring his early musical abilities. His parents sent Steiner to the Vienna University of Technology, and he studied various instruments including piano, organ, violin, double bass, and trumpet. He also had courses in harmony, counterpoint, and composition, for his early achievements he was awarded a gold medal by the academy. Steiner first entered the world of music when he was fifteen. He wrote and conducted the operetta, The Beautiful Greek Girl, the opera ran for a year and led to opportunities to conduct other shows in various cities around the world, including Moscow and Hamburg. He was invited to London to conduct Lehars The Merry Widow and he stayed in London for 8 years conducting musicals at Dalys Theares, the Adelphi, the Hippodrome, the London Pavilion and the Blackpool Winter Gardens. In England, Steiner wrote and conducted theater productions and symphonies, but in 1914, World War I started and he was interned as an enemy alien. Fortunately, he was befriended by the Duke of Westminster, who was a fan of his work and he arrived in New York City in December,1914, with only $32 to his name. Steiner soon acquired employment and worked in New York for fifteen years as a director, arranger, orchestrator. These productions include operettas and musicals written by Victor Herbert, Jerome Kern, Vincent Youmans, Steiners credits include, George Whites Scandals, Peaches, Lady, Be Good. In 1927, Steiner orchestrated and conducted Harry Tierneys Rio Rita, tierney himself later requested that RKO Pictures in Hollywood hire Steiner to work in their music production departments
2.
Columbia Records
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Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. the United States division of Sony Corporation. It was founded in 1887, evolving from an enterprise named the American Graphophone Company. Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the sound business. Columbia Records went on to release records by an array of singers, instrumentalists. It is one of Sony Musics three flagship record labels alongside RCA Records and Epic Records, rather, as above, it was connected to CBS, a broadcasting media company which had purchased the company in 1938, and had been co-founded in 1927 by Columbia Records itself. Though Arista Records was sold to Bertelsmann Music Group, it would become a sister label of Columbia Records through its mutual connection to Sony Music. The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded in 1887 by stenographer, lawyer and New Jersey native Edward Easton and it derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a monopoly on sales and service of Edison phonographs and phonograph cylinders in Washington. As was the custom of some of the regional companies, Columbia produced many commercial cylinder recordings of its own. Columbias ties to Edison and the North American Phonograph Company were severed in 1894 with the North American Phonograph Companys breakup, thereafter it sold only records and phonographs of its own manufacture. In 1902, Columbia introduced the XP record, a brown wax record. According to Gracyk, the molded brown waxes may have sold to Sears for distribution. Columbia began selling records and phonographs in addition to the cylinder system in 1901, preceded only by their Toy Graphophone of 1899. For a decade, Columbia competed with both the Edison Phonograph Company cylinders and the Victor Talking Machine Company disc records as one of the top three names in American recorded sound. In order to add prestige to its catalog of artists. The firm also introduced the internal-horn Grafonola to compete with the extremely popular Victrola sold by the rival Victor Talking Machine Company, during this era, Columbia used the famous Magic Notes logo—a pair of sixteenth notes in a circle—both in the United States and overseas. Columbia was split into two companies, one to make records and one to make players, Columbia Phonograph was moved to Connecticut, and Ed Easton went with it. Eventually it was renamed the Dictaphone Corporation, in late 1923, Columbia went into receivership
3.
Elvis Presley
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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
4.
The Beatles
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The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960. With members John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr, the Beatles built their reputation playing clubs in Liverpool and Hamburg over a three-year period from 1960, with Stuart Sutcliffe initially serving as bass player. The core of Lennon, McCartney and Harrison went through a succession of drummers, including Pete Best, before asking Starr to join them. They acquired the nickname the Fab Four as Beatlemania grew in Britain the next year, from 1965 onwards, the Beatles produced increasingly innovative recordings, including the albums Rubber Soul, Revolver, Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles and Abbey Road, after their break-up in 1970, they each enjoyed successful musical careers of varying lengths. McCartney and Starr, the members, remain musically active. Lennon was shot and killed in December 1980, and Harrison died of cancer in November 2001. The Beatles are the band in history, with estimated sales of over 600 million records worldwide. They have had more number-one albums on the British charts and sold more singles in the UK than any other act, according to the RIAA, the Beatles are also the best-selling music artists in the United States, with 178 million certified units. In 2008, the group topped Billboard magazines list of the all-time most successful Hot 100 artists, as of 2016 and they have received ten Grammy Awards, an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and fifteen Ivor Novello Awards. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988 and they were also collectively included in Time magazines compilation of the twentieth centurys 100 most influential people. In March 1957, John Lennon, then aged sixteen, formed a group with several friends from Quarry Bank school. They briefly called themselves the Blackjacks, before changing their name to the Quarrymen after discovering that a local group was already using the other name. Fifteen-year-old Paul McCartney joined as a rhythm guitarist shortly after he, in February 1958, McCartney invited his friend George Harrison to watch the band. The fourteen-year-old auditioned for Lennon, impressing him with his playing, after a month of Harrisons persistence, they enlisted him as their lead guitarist. By January 1959, Lennons Quarry Bank friends had left the group, the three guitarists, billing themselves at least three times as Johnny and the Moondogs, were playing rock and roll whenever they could find a drummer. They used the name until May, when they became the Silver Beetles, before undertaking a tour of Scotland as the backing group for pop singer. By early July, they had changed their name to the Silver Beatles, allan Williams, the Beatles unofficial manager, arranged a residency for them in Hamburg, but lacking a full-time drummer they auditioned and hired Pete Best in mid-August 1960
5.
Hey Jude
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Hey Jude is a song by the English rock band the Beatles, written by Paul McCartney and credited to Lennon–McCartney. The ballad evolved from Hey Jules, a song McCartney wrote to comfort John Lennons son, Julian, Hey Jude begins with a verse-bridge structure incorporating McCartneys vocal performance and piano accompaniment, further instrumentation is added as the song progresses. After the fourth verse, the song shifts to a coda that lasts for more than four minutes. Hey Jude was released in August 1968 as the first single from the Beatles record label Apple Records, more than seven minutes in length, it was at the time the longest single ever to top the British charts. It also spent nine weeks at one in the United States. Hey Jude tied the record, at the time, for the longest run at the top of the US charts. The single has approximately eight million copies and is frequently included on professional critics lists of the greatest songs of all time. In 2013, Billboard named it the 10th biggest song of all time, in May 1968, John Lennon and his wife Cynthia Lennon separated because of Johns affair with Yoko Ono. The following month, Paul McCartney drove out to visit Cynthia and Johns son, Julian, at Kenwood, Cynthia Lennon recalled of McCartneys surprise visit, I was touched by his obvious concern for our welfare. On the journey down he composed Hey Jude in the car, I will never forget Pauls gesture of care and concern in coming to see us. The songs original title was Hey Jules, and it was intended to comfort Julian Lennon from the stress of his parents separation. McCartney later said, I knew it was not going to be easy for him, according to music journalist Chris Hunt, in the weeks after writing the song, McCartney test his latest composition on anyone too polite to refuse. On 30 June, after recording the Black Dyke Mills Bands rendition of his instrumental Thingumybob, in Yorkshire, McCartney stopped at a village in Bedfordshire and performed Hey Jude at a local pub. He also regaled members of the Bonzo Dog Band with the song while producing their single Im the Urban Spaceman, in London, Lennon replied, You wont, you know. Thats the best line in the song, McCartney retained the phrase, he later said of his subsequent live performances of the song, thats the line when I think of John, and sometimes I get a little emotional during that moment. Although McCartney originally wrote Hey Jude for Julian, John Lennon thought it had actually written for him. Other people believed McCartney wrote the song about them, including Judith Simons, still others, including Lennon, have speculated that in the lyrics to Hey Jude, McCartneys failing long-term relationship with Jane Asher provided an unconscious message to himself. When Lennon mentioned that he thought the song was about him and Ono, McCartney denied it, Music critic and author Tim Riley writes, If the song is about self-worth and self-consolation in the face of hardship, the vocal performance itself conveys much of the journey
6.
Disco
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Disco is a genre of dance music containing elements of funk, soul, pop, and salsa. It achieved popularity during the mid-1970s to the early 1980s, Disco can be seen as a reaction against both the domination of rock music and the stigmatization of dance music by the counterculture during this period. It was popular with men and women, from many different backgrounds. The disco sound often has several components, a beat, an eighth note or 16th note hi-hat pattern with an open hi-hat on the off-beat. In most disco tracks, string sections, horns, electric piano, Orchestral instruments such as the flute are often used for solo melodies, and lead guitar is less frequently used in disco than in rock. Many disco songs use electronic synthesizers, particularly in the late 1970s, well-known 1970s disco performers included Donna Summer, the Bee Gees, Boney M. KC and the Sunshine Band, The Trammps, Sylvester, Village People, Gloria Gaynor and Chic. While performers and singers garnered much attention, record producers working behind the scenes played an important role in developing the disco sound. Many non-disco artists recorded songs at the height of discos popularity. Disco was the last mass popular movement that was driven by the baby boom generation. Disco was a phenomenon, but its popularity drastically declined in the United States in 1980. Disco Demolition Night, an anti-disco protest held in Chicago on 12 July 1979, is thought of as a factor in discos fast. By the late 1970s most major U. S. cities had thriving disco club scenes, Studio 54, a venue popular amongst celebrities, is a well-known example of a disco club. Popular dances included the Hustle, a suggestive dance. Discotheque-goers often wore expensive, extravagant and sexy fashions, Disco clubs were also associated with promiscuity. Disco was a key influence on the 1980s electronic dance style called house. The term is derived from discothèque, by the early 1940s, the terms disc jockey and DJ were in use to describe radio presenters. During WWII, because of restrictions set in place by the Nazi occupiers, eventually more than one of these jazz venues had the proper name discothèque. By 1959, the term was used in Paris to describe any of these type of nightclubs and that year a young reporter named Klaus Quirini started to select and introduce records at the Scotch-Club in Aachen, West Germany
7.
LP record
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The LP is an analog sound storage medium, a vinyl record format characterized by a speed of 33 1⁄3 rpm, a 12 or 10 inch diameter, and use of the microgroove groove specification. Introduced by Columbia in 1948, it was adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry. Apart from a few relatively minor refinements and the important later addition of stereophonic sound, the new product was a 12- or 10-inch fine-grooved disc made of vinyl and played with a smaller-tipped microgroove stylus at a speed of 33 1⁄3 rpm. Each side of a 12-inch LP could play for more than 20 minutes, although the LP was suited to classical music because of its extended continuous playing time, it also allowed a collection of ten or more pop music recordings to be put on a single disc. The use of the word album persisted for the one-disc LP equivalent, the prototype of the LP was the soundtrack disc used by the Vitaphone motion picture sound system, developed by Western Electric and introduced in 1926. For soundtrack purposes, the less than five minutes of playing time of side of a conventional 12-inch 78 rpm disc was not acceptable. The sound had to play continuously for at least 11 minutes, long enough to accompany a full 1, the disc diameter was increased to 16 inches and the speed was reduced to 33 1⁄3 revolutions per minute. Unlike their smaller LP descendants, they were made with the same large standard groove used by 78s, unlike conventional records, the groove started at the inside of the recorded area near the label and proceeded outward toward the edge. Like 78s, early soundtrack discs were pressed in an abrasive shellac compound, syndicated radio programming was distributed on 78 rpm discs beginning in 1928. The desirability of a longer continuous playing time soon led to the adoption of the Vitaphone soundtrack disc format, 16-inch 33 1⁄3 rpm discs playing about 15 minutes per side were used for most of these electrical transcriptions beginning about 1930. Transcriptions were variously recorded inside out like soundtrack discs or with an outside start, some transcriptions were recorded with a vertically modulated hill and dale groove. This was found to allow deeper bass and also an extension of the frequency response. Neither of these was necessarily an advantage in practice because of the limitations of AM broadcasting. Today we can enjoy the benefits of those higher-fidelity recordings, even if the radio audiences could not. Initially, transcription discs were pressed only in shellac, but by 1932 pressings in RCA Victors vinyl-based Victrolac were appearing, by the late 1930s, vinyl was standard for nearly all kinds of pressed discs except ordinary commercial 78s, which continued to be made of shellac. Use of the LPs microgroove standard began in the late 1950s, the King Biscuit Flower Hour is a late example, as are Westwood Ones The Beatle Years and Doctor Demento programs, which were sent to stations on LP at least through 1992. RCA Victor introduced a version of a long-playing record for home use in September 1931. These Program Transcription discs, as Victor called them, played at 33 1⁄3 rpm and used a somewhat finer and they were to be played with a special Chromium Orange chrome-plated steel needle
8.
The Man from U.N.C.L.E.
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The Man from U. N. C. L. E. is an American spy fiction television series broadcast on NBC. It follows secret agents, played by Robert Vaughn and David McCallum, originally, co-creator Sam Rolfe wanted to leave the meaning of U. N. C. L. E. Ambiguous so it could refer to either Uncle Sam or the United Nations, each episode had an acknowledgement to the U. N. C. L. E. in the end titles. The series premiered on September 22,1964 and discontinued its run on January 15,1968, the series consisted of 105 episodes originally screened between 1964 and 1968. It was produced by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer and Arena productions, the first season was produced in black-and-white. Ian Fleming contributed to the concepts after being approached by the shows co-creator, the book The James Bond Films says Fleming proposed two characters, Napoleon Solo and April Dancer. The original name was Ian Flemings Solo, Robert Towne, Sherman Yellen, and Harlan Ellison wrote scripts for the series. Author Michael Avallone, who wrote the first original novelisation based upon the series, is sometimes cited as the shows creator. Solo was to have been the focus, but a scene featuring a Russian agent named Illya Kuryakin drew enthusiasm from the fans, the series centered on a two-man troubleshooting team working for U. N. C. L. E. American Napoleon Solo, and Soviet Illya Kuryakin, Leo G. Carroll played Alexander Waverly, an English head of the organization. Barbara Moore joined the cast as Lisa Rogers in the fourth season, the series, though fictional, achieved such cultural prominence that props, costumes and documents, and a video clip are in the Ronald Reagan Presidential Librarys exhibit on spies and counterspies. Exhibits are in the museums of the Central Intelligence Agency and other US agencies, U. N. C. L. E. is an acronym for the fictional United Network Command for Law and Enforcement, a secret international intelligence agency, consisting of agents of all nationalities. The original series never divulged who or what THRUSH represented, nor was it used as an acronym. THRUSHs aim was to conquer the world. N. C. L. E, similarly, when Solo and Kuryakin held opposing political views, the friction between them in the story was held to a minimum. Although executive producer Norman Felton and Ian Fleming conceived Napoleon Solo, unlike national organizations like the CIA and James Bonds MI6, U. N. C. L. E. was a global organization of agents from many countries and cultures. Illya Kuryakin was created by Rolfe as just such an agent, the creators decided an innocent character would be featured in each episode, giving the audience someone with whom to identify. At that time filming was under way for the Bond movie Goldfinger, the claim was the name Solo had been sold to them by Fleming, and Fleming could not again use it. The role of the head of U. N. C. L. E. in the pilot was Mr. Allison, played by Will Kuluva, rather than Mr. Waverly played by Leo G. Carroll, and David McCallums Illya Kuryakin only had a brief role
9.
Capitol Records
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Capitol Records, LLC is an American record label which operates as a division of the Capitol Music Group. The label was founded as the first West Coast-based record label in the United States in 1942 by three industry insiders named Johnny Mercer, Buddy DeSylva and Glenn Wallichs, in 1955, the label was acquired by the British music conglomerate EMI as its North American subsidiary. EMI was later acquired by Universal Music Group in 2012 and was merged with the company in 2013, making Capitol Records, Capitol Records circular headquarter building located in Los Angeles is a recognized landmark of California. Mercer first raised the idea of starting a company while golfing with Harold Arlen. By 1941, Mercer was a songwriter and a singer with multiple successful releases. Mercer next suggested the idea to Wallichs while visiting his record store, Wallichs expressed interest in the idea and the pair negotiated an agreement whereby Mercer would run the company and identify their artists, while Wallichs managed the business side. On February 2,1942, Mercer and Wallichs met with DeSylva at a Hollywood restaurant to inquire about the possibility of investment of the company from Paramount Pictures, while DeSylva declined the proposal, he handed the pair a check worth $15,000. On March 27,1942, the three men incorporated as Liberty Records, in May 1942, the application was amended to change the companys name to Capitol Records. On April 6,1942, Mercer supervised Capitols first recording session where Martha Tilton recorded the song Moon Dreams, on May 5, Bobby Sherwood and his orchestra recorded two tracks in the studio. On May 21, Freddie Slack and his orchestra recorded three tracks in the studio, one with the orchestra, one with Ella Mae Morse called Cow-Cow Boogie, on June 4,1942, Capitol opened its first office in a second-floor room south of Sunset Boulevard. On that same day, Wallichs presented the companys first free record to Los Angeles disc jockey Peter Potter, on June 5,1942, Paul Whiteman and his Orchestra recorded four songs at the studio. On June 12, the recorded five more songs in the studio. On June 11, Tex Ritter recorded Jingle Jangle Jingle and Goodbye My Little Cherokee for his first Capitol recording session, and the songs formed Capitols 110th produced record. 133 - Get On Board Little Chillun - July 31,1942 - is a Freddie Slack/Ella Mae Morse/Mellowaires recording that might be the first rock n roll record and she has sometimes been called the first rock n roll singer. A good example is her 1942 recording of song which, with strong gospel, blues, boogie. Bone Walker recorded Mean Old World a pioneering example of the use of electric guitar. The earliest recording artists included co-owner Mercer, Whiteman, Tilton, Morse, Margaret Whiting, Jo Stafford, the Pied Pipers, Johnnie Johnston, Tex Ritter, Capitols first gold single was Morses Cow Cow Boogie in 1942. Capitols first album was Capitol Presents Songs By Johnny Mercer, a three 78-rpm disc set with recordings by Mercer, Stafford and the Pied Pipers, all with Westons Orchestra
10.
Cliff Richard
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Sir Cliff Richard OBE is a British pop singer, musician, performer, actor and philanthropist. Richard has sold more than 250 million records worldwide and he has total sales of over 21 million singles in the United Kingdom and is the third-top-selling artist in UK Singles Chart history, behind the Beatles and Elvis Presley. Richard was originally positioned as a rock and roll singer in the style of Little Richard. With his backing group, The Shadows, Richard dominated the British popular music scene in the period of the late 1950s to early 1960s. Increased focus on his Christian faith and subsequent softening of his music later led to a middle of the road pop image. He has had more than 130 singles, albums and EPs make the UK Top 20, Richard has had 67 UK top ten singles, the second highest total for an artist behind Elvis Presley. Richard holds the record as the act to make the UK singles charts in all of its first six decades. He has achieved 14 UK No.1 singles, and is the singer to have had a No.1 single in the UK in five consecutive decades. Richard has never achieved the same impact in the United States despite eight US Top 40 singles, including the million-selling Devil Woman and We Dont Talk Anymore. He has remained a music, film, and television personality in Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Northern Europe and Asia. Richard has been a resident in the United Kingdom for most of his life and he divides his time between living in Barbados and Portugal. Harry Rodger Webb was born in India at King Georges Hospital, Victoria Street, in Lucknow and his parents were Rodger Oscar Webb, a manager for a catering contractor that serviced the Indian Railways, and the former Dorothy Marie Dazely. Richard is primarily of English heritage, but he has one great-grandmother who was of half Welsh and half Spanish descent, the Webb family lived in a modest home in Maqbara, near the main shopping centre of Hazratganj. Dorothys mother served as the matron at the La Martiniere Girls School. In 1948, following Indian independence, the family embarked on a sea voyage to Tilbury, Essex. The Webbs moved from comparative wealth in India, where lived in a company-supplied flat at Howrah near Calcutta. Harry Webb attended a primary school, Stanley Park Juniors. He then attended Cheshunt Secondary Modern School from 1952 to 1957, as a member of the top stream, he stayed on beyond the minimum leaving age to take GCE Ordinary Level examinations and gained a pass in English literature
