1.
Unchained (film)
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Unchained is a 1955 prison film based on the non-fiction book Prisoners are People by Kenyon J. Scudder. The film is most remembered for its song, Unchained Melody. The film was based on the career of Kenyon J. Scudder, former supervisor at Chino prison in California, former football player Elroy Crazylegs Hirsch played the lead character, while other inmates were played by Chester Morris and Jerry Paris, among others. Others in the cast included Peggy Knudsen and Barbara Hale, who appeared as women visiting the prisoners, jazz musician Dexter Gordon has a small, uncredited role in the film, that of a saxophone player in the prison jazz band. The film was shot at the facility in Chino, California. Steve Davitt is in a security prison and is struggling with two options, finishing his sentence, or seeing his wife and family by escaping the prison. After receiving what he believes to be an unjust recommendation from the Adult Authority Board, Steve Davitt wins the fight, heads for the fence to escape. After he starts climbing the fence, he hesitates twice, looks back and sees his trustee-friend on the ground, the scene ends with Steve Davitt turning around and heading back to the medium security prison. This song became a #1 R&B hit in 1955 for Al Hibbler and for Roy Hamilton and it became a #4 pop hit for the Righteous Brothers in 1965. Best Music, Original Song, Unchained Melody - Music by Alex North, Lyrics by Hy Zaret Unchained at the Internet Movie Database
Unchained (film)
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Unchained
2.
Todd Duncan
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Robert Todd Duncan was an American baritone opera singer and actor. As Robert Todd Duncan, he was born 12 February 1903 in Danville, Kentucky to John and they were married in Danville 1901, he being born in Danville, and she born in Frankfort. John was an owner and Lettie was a music teacher. He obtained his training at Butler University in Indianapolis with a B. A. in music followed by an M. A. from Columbia University Teachers College. In 1933, Duncan debuted in Pietro Mascagnis Cavalleria rusticana at the Mecca Temple in New York with the Aeolian Opera, a black opera company. Duncan was George Gershwins personal choice as the first performer of the role of Porgy in Porgy and Bess in 1935 and he led the cast during the Washington run of Porgy and Bess at the National Theatre in 1936, to protest the theatres policy of segregation. Duncan stated that he would never play in a theater which barred him from purchasing tickets to seats because of his race. Eventually management would give into the demands and allow for the first integrated performance at National Theatre, Duncan was also the first performer for the role of Stephen Kumalo in Kurt Weills Lost in the Stars. In 1938, Duncan appeared on the London stage at the Theatre Royal, the cast included fellow American Adelaide Hall, Leslie Banks, Edna Best and Stewart Granger. The musical was adapted by Pat Wallace and Guy Bolton from various stories written by Edgar Wallace, costumes were designed by Elizabeth Haffenden. One of the numbers Duncan sang was River God, after the London run closed, Duncan and Adelaide Hall from the original cast toured Britain with the production. Duncan taught voice at Howard University in Washington, D. C. for more than fifty years, while teaching at Howard, he continued touring as a soloist with pianists William Duncan Allen and George Malloy. He had a successful career as a concert singer with over 2,000 performances in 56 countries. He retired from Howard and opened his own voice studio teaching privately, in the same year he sang the role of Escamillo, the bullfighter, in Bizets Carmen. In 1955, Duncan was the first to record Unchained Melody, the recording was made for the soundtrack of the obscure prison film Unchained, in which Duncan also played a minor character. Following Duncans version, the song went on to one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century. In his final interview, Todd Duncan spoke of his love for spirituals, spirituals are so deep inside of me, its difficult for me to find words that are meaningful. Spirituals are a part of whatever I am, when I sing them my being sings them, not my throat
Todd Duncan
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Todd Duncan, 1954
Todd Duncan
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Anne Brown as Bess with Todd Duncan as Porgy in 1942.
3.
The Righteous Brothers
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The Righteous Brothers is a musical duo of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield. Their emotive vocal style is sometimes dubbed blue-eyed soul, Hatfield and Medley have contrasting vocal range that helped them create a distinctive sound as a duet, but also strong vocal talent individually that allowed them to perform as soloists. Medley sang the low parts with his voice, with Hatfield taking the higher register vocals with his countertenor voice. They had their first hit with the 1964 song Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin, produced by Phil Spector, other notable hits include Ebb Tide, Soul and Inspiration, Rock and Roll Heaven, and in particular, Unchained Melody. Both Hatfield and Medley also had for a time their own solo careers, in 2016, Medley reformed The Righteous Brothers with Bucky Heard and they continue to perform as a duo. Bobby Hatfield and Bill Medley were in different groups before they met - Hatfield was in a group from Anaheim called the Variations, a member of Medleys band who was also in Hatfields group suggested that they go see each others show. Later a mutual friend Johnny Wimber brought Hatfield and Medley together to form a new Paramours in 1962 and they started performing at a club called Johns Black Derby in Santa Ana, and were signed to a small record label Moonglow in 1962. They released a single There She Goes in December 1962, however, the Paramours did not have much success and soon broke up, leaving Hatfield and Medley to perform as a duo in 1963. According to Medley, they adopted the name The Righteous Brothers for the duo because black Marines from the El Toro Marine base started calling them righteous brothers. At the end of a performance, a black U. S. Marine in the audience would shout, That was righteous, and would greet them with Hey righteous brothers, how you doin. on meeting them. The Righteous Brothers released three albums under the Moonglow label, one of these and a compilation album were released after they had joined Phil Spector. They released 12 singles with Moonglow, but only two were moderate hits - Little Latin Lupe Lu and My Babe from their first album Right Now, in August and September 1964, they also opened for The Beatles in their first U. S. They returned to Los Angeles to tape the pilot for the show, in October and November 1964, they opened for The Rolling Stones in their American tour. In 1964, music producer Phil Spector came across the Righteous Brothers when they performed in a show at the Cow Palace in Daly City where one of Spectors acts The Ronettes was also appearing. Spector commissioned Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil to write a song for them, the song, released in late 1964, became their first major hit single and reached No.1 in February 1965. Produced by Phil Spector, the record is often cited as one of the expressions of Spectors Wall of Sound production techniques. It is one of the most successful pop singles of its time, indeed, according to BMI, Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin is the most played song on American radio and television of the 20th century, with more than eight million airplays by the end of 1999. The Righteous Brothers had several hit singles with Philles Records in 1965, including Just Once in My Life and Unchained Melody
The Righteous Brothers
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The Righteous Brothers performing at
Knott's Berry Farm Bobby Hatfield (left) and Bill Medley (right)
4.
Al Hibbler
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Albert George Al Hibbler was an American baritone vocalist, who sang with Duke Ellingtons orchestra before having several pop hits as a solo artist. Some of Hibblers singing is classified as rhythm and blues, Hibbler was born in Tyro, Mississippi, United States, and was blind from birth. Some sources give his name as Andrew George Hibbler. At the age of 12 he moved to Little Rock, Arkansas, later he began working as a blues singer in local bands, failing his first audition for Duke Ellington in 1935. However, after winning a talent contest in Memphis, Tennessee, he was given his start with Dub Jenkins and his Playmates, Jenkins was a popular Memphis saxophonist. He later joined a band led by Jay McShann in 1942, although Hibblers style was described as mannered, over-stated, and full of idiosyncrasies and bizarre vocal pyrotechnics, he was also considered undoubtedly the best of Ellingtons male vocalists. While with Ellington, Hibbler won the Esquire New Star Award in 1947, Hibbler left Ellingtons band in 1951 after a dispute over his wages. In 1954 he released a successful album, Al Hibbler Sings Duke Ellington. His biggest hit was Unchained Melody, which reached #3 on the US pop chart, sold one million copies. Its success led to appearances, including a live jazz club remote on NBCs Monitor. Other hits were He, 11th Hour Melody and Never Turn Back, after the Lights Go Down Low was his last top ten hit. In the late 1950s and 1960s, Hibbler became a rights activist, marching with protestors and getting arrested in 1959 in New Jersey. The notoriety of this activism discouraged major record labels from carrying his work, however, Hibbler made very few recordings after that, occasionally doing live appearances through the 1990s. In 1971, Hibbler sang two songs at Louis Armstrongs funeral, in 1972 he made an album, A Meeting of the Times, with another fiercely independent blind musician, the multi-instrumentalist Rahsaan Roland Kirk. He died at Holy Cross Hospital in Chicago in 2001, at the age of 85 and he is buried at Lincoln Cemetery in Blue Island, Illinois
Al Hibbler
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Al Hibbler in 1946
5.
Roy Hamilton
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Roy Hamilton was an American singer. By combining semi-classical technique with traditional black gospel feeling, he brought soul to Great American Songbook singing, Hamiltons greatest commercial and artistic success occurred in the 1950s. He is best known for his recordings of Youll Never Walk Alone, Unchained Melody, Hamiltons style and sound directly influenced later artists such as Elvis Presley, Jackie Wilson and The Righteous Brothers, all of whom covered his music. Roy Hamilton was born in Leesburg, Georgia where he began singing in choirs at the age of six. In the summer of 1943, when Hamilton was fourteen, the family migrated north to Jersey City, there, he sang with the Central Baptist Church Choir, New Jerseys most famous African American church choir. At Lincoln High School, he studied art and was gifted enough to place his paintings with a number of New York City galleries. In February 1947, seventeen-year-old Hamilton took his first big step into secular music, “I couldn’t get a break, Hamilton recalled. I really had nothing different to offer and they were seeking blues singers at the time, and I didn’t know any blues at all. In 1948, Hamilton joined the Searchlight Gospel Singers and also studied light opera, Hamilton continued to perform gospel with the Searchlight Singers, in churches and at gospel concerts, until 1953 when the group broke up and each member went off in his own direction. Hamilton headed back into pop music, but this time, he felt he finally had something different to offer. In late 1953, Hamilton was discovered singing in a Newark, New Jersey night club, The Caravan, by Bill Cook, Cook held the distinction of being the first African American radio disc jockey and television personality on the East Coast. His first single, Rodgers and Hammersteins Youll Never Walk Alone from the musical Carousel, became an R&B number-one for eight weeks, and a national US Top-30 hit in 1954, and shot Hamilton to fame. His follow-up single was another Rodgers and Hammerstein tune from Carousel, If I Loved You, Hamiltons third release, Ebb Tide, a song previously recorded by Vic Damone and later by Frank Sinatra, was still another hit. On Saturday night, September 11,1954, Hamilton made his television debut on CBSs Stage Show. In the words of a Variety magazine TV reviewer, Hamilton made good with his single. which he endowed with the values of a spiritual. Two months later, Hamiltons gospel-tinged version of the song became his second number-one R&B hit as well as his first, in mid-1956, Hamilton announced his retirement due to his illness with tuberculosis and exhaustion, but returned the following year. When he came back, he adopted the harder sound of his youth, to compete with rock and roll. Hamilton appeared in the film Lets Rock, in 1958 and had the second US top-twenty pop hit of his career with Don’t Let Go
Roy Hamilton
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Hamilton in 1957.
6.
Billboard magazine
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Billboard is an American entertainment media brand owned by the Hollywood Reporter-Billboard Media Group, a division of Eldridge Industries. It publishes pieces involving news, video, opinion, reviews, events and it is also known for its music charts, including the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard 200, tracking the most popular singles and albums in different genres. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows, Billboard was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegens interest in 1900 for $500, in the 1900s, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs and burlesque shows. It also created a service for travelling entertainers. Billboard began focusing more on the industry as the jukebox, phonograph. Many topics it covered were spun-off into different magazines, including Amusement Business in 1961 to cover outdoor entertainment so that it could focus on music. After Donaldson died in 1925, Billboard was passed down to his children and Hennegans children, until it was sold to investors in 1985. The first issue of Billboard was published in Cincinnati, Ohio, on November 1,1894 by William Donaldson, initially, it covered the advertising and bill posting industry and was called Billboard Advertising. At the time, billboards, posters and paper advertisements placed in public spaces were the means of advertising. Donaldson handled editorial and advertising, while Hennegan, who owned Hennegan Printing Co. managed magazine production, the first issues were just eight pages long. The paper had columns like The Bill Room Gossip and The Indefatigable, a department for agricultural fairs was established in 1896. The title was changed to The Billboard in 1897, after a brief departure over editorial differences, Donaldson purchased Hennegans interest in the business in 1900 for $500, to save it from bankruptcy. That May, Donaldson changed it from a monthly to a paper with a greater emphasis on breaking news. He improved editorial quality and opened new offices in New York, Chicago, San Francisco, London and he also re-focused the magazine on outdoor entertainment like fairs, carnivals, circuses, vaudeville and burlesque shows. A section devoted to circuses was introduced in 1900, followed by more prominent coverage of events in 1901. Billboard also covered topics including regulation, a lack of professionalism, economics and it had a stage gossip column covering the private lives of entertainers, a tent show section covering traveling shows and a sub-section called Freaks to order. According to The Seattle Times, Donaldson also published articles attacking censorship, praising productions exhibiting good taste
Billboard magazine
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An 1896 issue of Billboard
Billboard magazine
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Billboard
7.
Liberace
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Władziu Valentino Liberace, mononymously known as Liberace, was an American pianist, singer, and actor. A child prodigy and the son of immigrants, Liberace enjoyed a career spanning four decades of concerts, recordings, television, motion pictures. At the height of his fame, from the 1950s to the 1970s, Liberace was the entertainer in the world, with established residencies in Las Vegas. Liberace embraced a lifestyle of flamboyant excess both on and off stage, acquiring the sobriquet Mr. Showmanship, Liberace was born in West Allis, Wisconsin. His father, Salvatore Liberace, was an immigrant from Formia and his mother, Frances Zuchowska, was of Polish descent. Liberace was born with a caul, which in some cultures is considered indicative of genius, good luck and he had a twin, who died at birth. Liberaces father played the French horn in bands and movie theaters, while Sam encouraged music in his family, his wife, Frances, believed music lessons and a record player to be unaffordable luxuries. Liberace later stated, My dads love and respect for music created in him a determination to give as his legacy to the world. Liberace began playing the piano at age four, while Sam took his children to concerts to further expose them to music, he was also a taskmaster demanding high standards from the children in both practice and performance. Liberaces prodigious talent was evident from his early years, by age seven, he was capable of memorizing difficult pieces. He studied the technique of the Polish pianist Ignacy Paderewski, at age eight, he met Paderewski backstage after a concert at the Pabst Theater in Milwaukee. I was intoxicated by the joy I got from the great virtuosos playing and my dreams were filled with fantasies of following his footsteps…Inspired and fired with ambition, I began to practice with a fervor that made my previous interest in the piano look like neglect. Paderewski later became a family friend, the Depression was financially hard on the Liberace family. Liberace concentrated on his playing with the help of music teacher Florence Kelly. He gained experience playing music in theaters, on local radio, for dancing classes, for clubs. In 1934, he played piano with a school group called The Mixers. Liberace also performed in cabarets and strip clubs, though Sam and Frances did not approve, their son was earning a tidy living during hard times. For a while, Liberace adopted the stage name Walter Busterkeys and he also showed an interest in draftsmanship, design, and painting, and became a fastidious dresser and follower of fashion
Liberace
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Liberace in 1968
Liberace
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Liberace's early-1980s Christmas
costume, worn at the
Las Vegas Hilton and
Radio City Music Hall. Designed by Michael Travis, with fur design by Anna Nateece, the costume was one of many at the
Liberace Museum.
Liberace
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Liberace with actress
Maureen O'Hara during a court hearing in 1957
Liberace
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Liberace performing in 1983
8.
Jukebox
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A jukebox is a partially automated music-playing device, usually a coin-operated machine, that will play a patrons selection from self-contained media. The classic jukebox has buttons with letters and numbers on them that, coin-operated music boxes and player pianos were the first forms of automated coin-operated musical devices. These instruments used paper rolls, metal disks, or metal cylinders to play a selection on the instrument, or instruments. In the 1890s these devices were joined by machines which used actual recordings instead of physical instruments, in 1890, Louis Glass and William S. The music was heard via one of four listening tubes, Some machines even contained carousels and other mechanisms for playing multiple records. Most machines were capable of holding only one selection, the automation coming from the ability to play that one selection at will. In 1928, Justus P. Seeburg, who was manufacturing player pianos, combined an electrostatic loudspeaker with a player that was coin-operated. This Audiophone machine was wide and bulky, and had eight separate turntables mounted on a rotating Ferris wheel-like device, later versions of the jukebox included Seeburgs Selectophone, with 10 turntables mounted vertically on a spindle. By maneuvering the tone arm up and down, the customer could select from 10 different records, greater levels of automation were gradually introduced. As electrical recording and amplification improved there was increased demand for coin-operated phonographs, as it applies to the use of a jukebox, the terms juking and juker are the correct expressions. Song-popularity counters told the owner of the machine the number of each record was played, with the result that popular records remained. Wallboxes were an important, and profitable, part of any jukebox installation, serving as a remote control, they enabled patrons to select tunes from their table or booth. One example is the Seeburg 3W1, introduced in 1949 as companion to the 100-selection Model M100A jukebox, stereo sound became popular in the early 1960s, and wallboxes of the era were designed with built-in speakers to provide patrons a sample of this latest technology. Initially playing music recorded on wax cylinders, the shellac 78 rpm record dominated jukeboxes in the part of the 20th century. C. D. s, and videos on DVDs were all introduced and used in the last decades of the century, MP3 downloads, and Internet-connected media players came in at the start of the 21st century. The jukeboxs history has followed the wave of technological improvements in music reproduction and distribution, Jukeboxes were most popular from the 1940s through the mid-1960s, particularly during the 1950s. By the middle of the 1940s, three-quarters of the records produced in America went into jukeboxes, while often associated with early rock and roll music, their popularity extends back much earlier, including classical music, opera and the swing music era. In 1977, The Kinks recorded a song called Jukebox Music for their album Sleepwalker, styling progressed from the plain wooden boxes in the early thirties to beautiful light shows with marbelized plastic and color animation in the Wurlitzer 850 Peacock of 1941
Jukebox
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A Zodiac jukebox
Jukebox
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The jukebox when opened
Jukebox
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The internal workings of the jukebox
Jukebox
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Reproduction Wurlitzer 1015 (manufactured 1946) in the
Hotel Nacional de Cuba, Havana
9.
Ghost (1990 film)
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Ghost is a 1990 American romantic fantasy thriller film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore, Whoopi Goldberg, Tony Goldwyn, and Rick Aviles. It was written by Bruce Joel Rubin and directed by Jerry Zucker, the plot centers on a young woman in jeopardy, the ghost of her murdered lover and a reluctant psychic who assists him in saving her although the psychic had previously been faking her powers. The film was an commercial success, grossing over $505.7 million at the box office on a budget of $22 million. It was the film of 1990. Adjusted for inflation, as of 2015 Ghost was the 93rd-highest-grossing film of all time domestically, the film was nominated for five Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Score and Best Film Editing. It won the awards for Best Supporting Actress for Goldberg and Best Original Screenplay, Swayze and Moore both received Golden Globe Award nominations for their performances, while Goldberg won the BAFTA, Golden Globe, and Saturn Awards in addition to the Oscar. Sam Wheat, a banker, and his girlfriend Molly Jensen, one afternoon, Sam confides in Carl his discovery of unusually high balances in obscure bank accounts. He decides to investigate the matter himself, declining Carls offer of assistance and that night, Sam and Molly are attacked by a mugger who kills Sam in a scuffle before stealing his wallet. Sam sees Molly crying over his body and discovers he is now a ghost, Molly remains distraught in the days after Sams death, as Sam remains close to her. Carl comes over and suggests Molly take a walk with him, moments later, the mugger enters the apartment in search of something. When Molly returns, Sam scares their cat into attacking the thug, Sam follows the mugger to his Brooklyn apartment and learns that the man, Willie Lopez, was sent by an unknown party. After leaving Willies residence, Sam happens upon the parlor of psychic medium Oda Mae Brown, Sam convinces her to warn Molly that she is in danger. To allay Mollys skepticism, Oda Mae relays information that only Sam could know, Molly gives Willies address to Carl, then goes to the police, who inform her that Willie has no criminal record, whereas Oda Mae has a lengthy one as a forger and con artist. Meanwhile, Sam follows Carl and is devastated to learn he, Sam learns from a violent poltergeist haunting the subway system how to manipulate objects with his mind. Sam then persuades Oda Mae to help him thwart Carl, before Carl can transfer the money for his clients, Oda Mae impersonates Rita Miller, closes the account, and gives the $4 million cashiers check to charity. As Carl desperately searches for the money, Sam reveals his presence by typing his name on the computer keyboard, Carl goes to Molly, who reveals she spotted Oda Mae closing an account at the bank. Carl and Willie go to Oda Maes place but Sam warns her to take shelter, when Willie arrives, Sam tosses objects at him until Willie flees into the street in a panic and is killed by an oncoming car. Shadowy creatures emerge from the darkness to drag Willies ghost down to Hell, Sam and Oda Mae return to the apartment where—by levitating a penny into Mollys hand—he convinces Molly that Oda Mae is telling the truth about him
Ghost (1990 film)
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Theatrical release poster
Ghost (1990 film)
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Demi Moore and
Patrick Swayze, in one of the most famous scenes from the movie
10.
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
Capitol Records
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Center of image: 1950s LP on Capitol
Capitol Records
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Capitol Records
Capitol Records
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45rpm Beatles single on Capitol
Capitol Records
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Capitol logo from 1969 to 1977
11.
Epic Records
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Epic Records is an American record company owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. Epic was founded predominantly as a jazz and classical music label in 1953 and it later expanded its scope to include a more diverse range of musical genres, including pop, R&B, rock and hip hop. Historically, the label has housed popular acts such as Boston, ABBA, Michael Jackson, Celine Dion, Dave Clark Five, Gloria Estefan, Pearl Jam, Shakira, Anastacia, and Sly & the Family Stone. Along with Columbia and RCA Records, Epic is one of Sony Music Entertainments three main record labels, L. A. Reid has served as chairman and CEO of Epic since July 2011. Sylvia Rhone was appointed president in March 2014, Epic Records was launched in 1953 by Columbia Records for the purpose of marketing jazz, pop and classical music that did not fit the theme of its more mainstream Columbia Records label. Initial classical music releases were from Philips Records which distributed Columbia product in Europe, pop talent on co-owned Okeh Records were transferred to Epic which made Okeh a rhythm and blues label. Epics bright-yellow, black, and blue became a familiar trademark for many jazz. By 1960, the musical base had been expanded to include all genres. This was done in part to prevent the roster of Columbia Records from being overstuffed with newer artists, subsequently, Epic became better known for its signing of newer, fledgling acts. By the end of the 1960s, Epic earned its first gold records and had evolved into a formidable hit-making force in rock and roll, R&B and country music. Among its many acts, it included Roy Hamilton, Bobby Vinton, The Dave Clark Five, The Hollies, Tammy Wynette, Donovan, The Yardbirds, Lulu, July, Helen Shapiro and Jeff Beck. Also during the 1960s, Epic oversaw the smaller subsidiary CBS labels including Okeh Records, in 1968, Epic recordings began being distributed in the UK by CBS after the distribution deal with EMI expired that year, Epic itself launched in England around 1971. Epic was involved in a trade of artists. Graham Nash was signed to Epic because of his membership in The Hollies, when the newly formed Crosby, Stills & Nash wanted to sign with Atlantic Records, Ahmet Ertegün worked out a deal with Clive Davis whereby Richie Furays new band Poco would sign with Epic. Also contributing to the success was its distribution of Philadelphia International Records. Sony bought CBS Records in 1987, and the company was renamed Sony Music in 1991. In 2004, Sony merged with another powerhouse music distributor, BMG, bringing labels such as RCA, Arista, Columbia, Epic, Jive, in February 2009, singer and songwriter Amanda Ghost was appointed president of Epic Records. Later in the year, Sony BMG Music merged Epic and Columbias operations, Sony BMGs Legacy Recordings reissues the companys classic and catalog titles
Epic Records
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Classic radial sound sunburst logo, used from the 1960s to 1973, revived in late 1998; used until 2005. Still used on Japanese operations. This logo was used on
Pearl Jam 's
Vitalogy in 1994,
No Code in 1996 and
Yield in February 1998.
Epic Records
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Epic Records
Epic Records
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Primary businesses
12.
June Valli
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June Valli, the stage name of June Foglia, was an American singer and television personality. Born in the Bronx, Vallis father was Italian, and her mother was Austrian and she worked as a bookkeeper after her high school graduation. Her singing of Stormy Weather at a wedding reception led to an appearance on Arthur Godfreys Talent Scouts. She subsequently appeared on Perry Comos and Ed Sullivans TV shows, Valli was one of the stars of the 1950s television shows Stop the Music and Your Hit Parade. She sang on the show during the its 1952–1953 season. At the start of the 1953–1954 season, she was replaced by singer Gisele MacKenzie, donald Swerdlow and his 12-year-old Bronx friends, students at Public School 6 were asked by Junes manager to start a fan club for her. In 1957, Valli and Andy Williams were co-hosts of The Andy Williams-June Valli Show, a newspaper article noted, Its her first chance in three years to settle down in one place. Valli recorded a number of hit songs, including Strange Sensation, A Shoulder to Cry On, Crying in the Chapel, Why Dont You Believe Me. throughout her career, she sang with various stars of the time, including Mel Torme and Fats Domino. Valli was also the voice in a series of commercials for Chiquita Bananas. Valli was married to famed WIND Chicago disc jockey Howard Miller for two years—a union that she called my biggest mistake, Valli died of cancer May 12,1993, at her home in Fort Lee, New Jersey
June Valli
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Valli in 1966
13.
RCA Victor Records
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RCA Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America, Inc. It is one of SMEs three flagship labels, alongside Columbia Records and Epic Records. The label has released multiple genres of music, including pop, rock, hip hop, R&B, blues, jazz, the companys name is derived from the initials of the labels former parent company, the Radio Corporation of America. It is the second oldest recording company in US history, after sister label Columbia Records, RCAs Canadian unit is Sonys oldest label in Canada. It was one of only two Canadian record companies to survive the Great Depression, kelly, Enrique Iglesias, Foo Fighters, Kings of Leon, Kesha, Miley Cyrus, Giorgio Moroder, Jennifer Hudson, DAngelo, Pink, Tinashe, G-Eazy, Pitbull, Zayn and Wizkid. In 1929, the Radio Corporation of America purchased the Victor Talking Machine Company, then the worlds largest manufacturer of phonographs and phonograph records. The company then became RCA Victor but retained use of the Victor Records name on their labels until the beginning of 1946 when the labels were finally switched over to RCA Victor. With Victor, RCA acquired New World rights to the famous Nipper His Masters Voice trademark, in Shanghai, China, in 1931, RCA Victors British affiliate the Gramophone Company merged with the Columbia Graphophone Company to form EMI. This gave RCA head David Sarnoff a seat on the EMI board, in September 1931, RCA Victor introduced the first 33⅓ rpm records sold to the public, calling them Program Transcriptions. In the depths of the Great Depression, the format was a commercial failure, during the early part of the depression, RCA made a number of attempts to produce a successful cheap label to compete with the dime store labels. The first was the short-lived Timely Tunes label in 1931 sold at Montgomery Ward, in 1932, Bluebird Records was created as a sub-label of RCA Victor. It was originally an 8-inch record with a blue label. In 1933, RCA reintroduced Bluebird and Electradisk as a standard 10-inch label, another cheap label, Sunrise, was produced. The same musical couplings were issued on all three labels and Bluebird Records still survives eight decades after Electradisk and Sunrise were discontinued, RCA also produced records for Montgomery Ward label during the 1930s. Besides manufacturing records for themselves, RCA Victor operated RCA Custom which was the leading record manufacturer for independent record labels, RCA Custom also pressed record compilations for The Readers Digest Association. RCA sold its interest in EMI in 1935, but EMI continued to distribute RCA recordings in the UK, RCA also manufactured and distributed HMV classical recordings on the RCA and HMV labels in North America. During World War II, ties between RCA and its Japanese affiliate JVC were severed, the Japanese record company is today called Victor Entertainment and is still a JVC subsidiary. From 1942 to 1944, RCA Victor was seriously impacted by the American Federation of Musicians recording ban, virtually all union musicians could not make recordings during that period
RCA Victor Records
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Label of an RCA Victor 78 RPM record from the 1950s; RCA manufactured 78s alongside the 45 until 1958.
RCA Victor Records
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RCA Records logo 1968–87; revived as of 2015
RCA Victor Records
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Label of an RCA Victor 45 RPM record from the 1950s; RCA used this label for its 45 RPM records from 1954 to at least 1964.
RCA Victor Records
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RCA used this label for its American 45 RPM records during the Dynagroove era.
14.
Harry Belafonte
–
Harry Belafonte is an American singer, songwriter, actor, and social activist. One of the most successful CARIBBEAN AMERICAN pop stars in history and his breakthrough album Calypso is the first million-selling LP by a single artist. Belafonte is perhaps best known for singing The Banana Boat Song and he has recorded in many genres, including blues, folk, gospel, show tunes, and American standards. He has also starred in films, most notably in Otto Premingers hit musical Carmen Jones, Island in the Sun. Belafonte was a supporter of the Civil Rights Movement in the 1950s and 1960s. Throughout his career, he has been an advocate for political and humanitarian causes, such as the anti-apartheid movement, since 1987, he has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador. In recent years, he has been a critic of the policies of both the George W. Bush and Barack Obama presidential administrations. Harry Belafonte now acts as the American Civil Liberties Union celebrity ambassador for juvenile justice issues, Belafonte has won three Grammy Awards, including a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, an Emmy Award, and a Tony Award. In 1989, he received the Kennedy Center Honors and he was awarded the National Medal of Arts in 1994. In 2014, he received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the Academys 6th Annual Governors Awards, in March 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate from Berklee College of Music in Boston. His mother was born in Jamaica, the child of a Scottish white mother and his father also was born in Jamaica, the child of a black mother and Dutch Jewish father of Sephardi origins. This is all Harry says about his Jewish grandfather, whom he never met, “a white Dutch Jew who drifted over to the islands after chasing gold and diamonds, from 1932 to 1940, he lived with one of his grandmothers in her native country of Jamaica. When he returned to New York City, he attended George Washington High School after which he joined the Navy and served during World War II. In the 1940s, he was working as a assistant in NYC when a tenant gave him, as a gratuity. He fell in love with the art form and also met Sidney Poitier, the financially struggling pair regularly purchased a single seat to local plays, trading places in between acts, after informing the other about the progression of the play. He subsequently received a Tony Award for his participation in the Broadway revue John Murray Andersons Almanac, Belafonte started his career in music as a club singer in New York to pay for his acting classes. The first time he appeared in front of an audience, he was backed by the Charlie Parker band, with guitarist and friend Millard Thomas, Belafonte soon made his debut at the legendary jazz club The Village Vanguard. In 1952, he received a contract with RCA Victor and his first widely released single, which went on to become his signature song with audience participation in virtually all his live performances, was Matilda, recorded April 27,1953
Harry Belafonte
–
Belafonte at the
Tribeca Film Festival Vanity Fair party, 2011
Harry Belafonte
–
Belafonte in John Murray Anderson's Almanac on
Broadway, photographed by
Carl Van Vechten, 1954
Harry Belafonte
–
The "
Turn the World Around " number on
The Muppet Show
Harry Belafonte
–
Belafonte at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival
15.
Academy Awards
–
The various category winners are awarded a copy of a golden statuette, officially called the Academy Award of Merit, which has become commonly known by its nickname Oscar. The awards, first presented in 1929 at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, are overseen by AMPAS, the awards ceremony was first broadcast on radio in 1930 and televised for the first time in 1953. It is now live in more than 200 countries and can be streamed live online. The Academy Awards ceremony is the oldest worldwide entertainment awards ceremony and its equivalents – the Emmy Awards for television, the Tony Awards for theater, and the Grammy Awards for music and recording – are modeled after the Academy Awards. The 89th Academy Awards ceremony, honoring the best films of 2016, were held on February 26,2017, at the Dolby Theatre, in Los Angeles, the ceremony was hosted by Jimmy Kimmel and was broadcast on ABC. A total of 3,048 Oscars have been awarded from the inception of the award through the 88th, the first Academy Awards presentation was held on May 16,1929, at a private dinner function at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel with an audience of about 270 people. The post-awards party was held at the Mayfair Hotel, the cost of guest tickets for that nights ceremony was $5. Fifteen statuettes were awarded, honoring artists, directors and other participants in the industry of the time. The ceremony ran for 15 minutes, winners were announced to media three months earlier, however, that was changed for the second ceremony in 1930. Since then, for the rest of the first decade, the results were given to newspapers for publication at 11,00 pm on the night of the awards. The first Best Actor awarded was Emil Jannings, for his performances in The Last Command and he had to return to Europe before the ceremony, so the Academy agreed to give him the prize earlier, this made him the first Academy Award winner in history. With the fourth ceremony, however, the system changed, for the first six ceremonies, the eligibility period spanned two calendar years. At the 29th ceremony, held on March 27,1957, until then, foreign-language films had been honored with the Special Achievement Award. The 74th Academy Awards, held in 2002, presented the first Academy Award for Best Animated Feature, since 1973, all Academy Awards ceremonies always end with the Academy Award for Best Picture. The Academy also awards Nicholl Fellowships in Screenwriting, see also § Awards of Merit categories The best known award is the Academy Award of Merit, more popularly known as the Oscar statuette. The five spokes represent the branches of the Academy, Actors, Writers, Directors, Producers. The model for the statuette is said to be Mexican actor Emilio El Indio Fernández, sculptor George Stanley sculpted Cedric Gibbons design. The statuettes presented at the ceremonies were gold-plated solid bronze
Academy Awards
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Academy Awards
Academy Awards
–
31st Academy Awards Presentations,
Pantages Theatre, Hollywood, 1959
Academy Awards
–
81st Academy Awards Presentations,
Dolby Theatre, Hollywood, 2009
Academy Awards
–
Pantages Theatre, 2008
16.
Perry Como
–
Pierino Ronald Perry Como was an American singer and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years after signing with the label in 1943, Mr. C. as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records for RCA and pioneered a musical variety television show. Como was seen weekly on television from 1949 to 1963, then continued hosting the Kraft Music Hall variety program monthly until 1967 and his television shows and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world. Also a popular recording artist, Perry Como released numerous hit records from the 1940s through the 1970s, Comos appeal spanned generations and he was universally respected for both his professional standards and the conduct in his personal life. Como was born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania and he was the seventh of ten children and the first American-born child of Pietro Como and Lucia Travaglini, who both emigrated to the US in 1910 from the Abruzzese town of Palena, Italy. He did not begin speaking English until he entered school, since the Comos spoke Italian at home. The family had a second-hand organ his father had bought for $3, as soon as Como was able to toddle, he would head to the instrument, pump the bellows, and play music he had heard by ear. Pietro, a hand and an amateur baritone, had all his children attend music lessons even if he could barely afford them. He showed more talent in his teenage years as a trombone player in the towns brass band, playing guitar, singing at weddings. Como was a member of the Canonsburg Italian Band along with the father of singer Bobby Vinton, bandleader Stan Vinton, young Como started helping his family at age 10, working before and after school in Steve Fragapanes barber shop for 50¢ a week. By age 13, he had graduated to having his own chair in the Fragapane barber shop and it was also around this time that young Como lost his weeks wages in a dice game. Filled with shame, he locked himself in his room and did not come out until hunger got the better of him and he managed to tell his father what had happened to the money his family depended on. His father told him he was entitled to make a mistake, when Perry was 14, his father became unable to work because of a severe heart condition. Como and his brothers became the support of the household, despite his musical ability, Comos primary ambition was to become the best barber in Canonsburg. Practicing on his father, young Como mastered the skills well enough to have his own shop at age 14. One of Comos regular customers at the shop owned a Greek coffee house that included a barber shop area. Como had so much work after moving to the coffee house and his customers worked mainly at the nearby steel mills. They were well-paid, did not mind spending money on themselves, Perry did especially well when one of his customers would marry
Perry Como
–
Perry Como on the Perry Como Show set, 1956
Perry Como
–
The Comos at home c. 1955. On the sofa are his older son Ronnie and wife Roselle. In the chair with her doll is his daughter, Terri, and reading on the floor are son David and his Dad.
Perry Como
–
Como in 1939, when he was with the Ted Weems Orchestra.
Perry Como
–
Arriving in Chicago for performances in 1947, Como is met by his young fans, who get a trim along with a song.
17.
Eddy Arnold
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Richard Edward Eddy Arnold was an American country music singer who performed for six decades. He was a so-called Nashville sound innovator of the late 1950s and he sold more than 85 million records. A member of the Grand Ole Opry and the Country Music Hall of Fame, Arnold was born on May 15,1918, on a farm near Henderson, Tennessee. His father, a sharecropper, played the fiddle, while his mother played guitar, Arnolds father died when he was just 11, forcing him to leave school and begin helping on the family farm. This led to him later gaining his nickname—the Tennessee Plowboy, one of his brothers, PFC John Hendrix Arnold, fought in World War II and died in the Normandy landings. Arnold attended Pinson High School in Pinson, Tennessee, where he played guitar for school functions and he quit before graduation to help with the farm work, but continued performing, often arriving on a mule with his guitar hung on his back. Arnold also worked part-time as an assistant at a mortuary, in 1934, at age 16, Arnold debuted musically on WTJS-AM in Jackson, Tennessee, and obtained a job there during 1937. He performed at nightclubs and was a permanent performer for the station. During 1938, he was hired by WMPS-AM in Memphis, Tennessee and he soon quit for KWK-AM in St. Louis, Missouri, followed by a brief stint at WHAS-AM in Louisville, Kentucky. He performed for WSM on the Grand Ole Opry during 1943 as a solo artist, in 1944, Arnold signed a contract with RCA Victor, with manager Colonel Tom Parker, who later managed Elvis Presley. Arnolds first single was noticed, but the next, Each Minute Seems a Million Years. Its success began a decade of unprecedented chart performance, Arnolds next 57 singles all ranked in the top 10, in 1946, Arnold scored his first major success with Thats How Much I Love You. In 1948, he had five songs on the charts simultaneously. That year, he had nine songs in the top 10, five of these were number one, with Parkers management, Arnold continued to dominate, with 13 of the 20 best-scoring country music songs of 1947–1948. He became the host of Mutual Radios Purina-sponsored segment of the Opry and of Mutuals Checkerboard Jamboree, recorded radio programs increased Arnolds popularity, as did the CBS Radio series Hometown Reunion with the Duke of Paducah. Arnold quit the Opry during 1948, and his Hometown Reunion briefly broadcast in competition with the Opry on Saturday nights, in 1949 and 1950, he performed in the Columbia movies Feudin’ Rhythm and Hoedown. Arnold began working for television in the early 1950s, hosting The Eddy Arnold Show, the summer program was broadcast successively by all three television networks, replacing the Perry Como and Dinah Shore programs. He also performed as a guest and a guest host on the ABC-TV show Ozark Jubilee from 1955–60, Arnold featured in the syndicated Eddy Arnold Time from 1955 to 1957
Eddy Arnold
–
Arnold in 1969.
Eddy Arnold
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Downtown Henderson, Tennessee, the city near which Arnold was born
18.
The Who
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The Who are an English rock band that formed in 1964. Their classic line-up consisted of lead singer Roger Daltrey, guitarist and singer Pete Townshend, bass guitarist John Entwistle, and drummer Keith Moon. They are considered one of the most influential bands of the 20th century, selling over 100 million records worldwide and holding a reputation for their live shows. The Who developed from a group, the Detours, and established themselves as part of the pop art and mod movements, featuring auto-destructive art by destroying guitars. Their first single as the Who, I Cant Explain, reached the UK top ten, followed by a string of singles including My Generation, Substitute and Happy Jack. In 1967, they performed at the Monterey Pop Festival and released the US top ten single I Can See for Miles, the groups fourth album, 1969s rock opera Tommy, included the single Pinball Wizard and was a critical and commercial success. Live appearances at Woodstock and the Isle of Wight Festival, along with the live album Live at Leeds, with their success came increased pressure on lead songwriter and visionary Townshend, and the follow-up to Tommy, Lifehouse, was abandoned. Songs from the project made up 1971s Whos Next, which included the hit Wont Get Fooled Again, the group released the album Quadrophenia in 1973 as a celebration of their mod roots, and oversaw the film adaptation of Tommy in 1975. They continued to tour to large audiences before semi-retiring from live performances at the end of 1976, the release of Who Are You in 1978 was overshadowed by the death of Moon shortly after. Kenney Jones replaced Moon and the group resumed activity, releasing a film adaptation of Quadrophenia, after Townshend became weary of touring, the group split in 1982. The Who occasionally re-formed for live appearances such as Live Aid in 1985, a 25th anniversary tour in 1989 and they resumed regular touring in 1999, with drummer Zak Starkey. After Entwistles death in 2002, plans for a new album were delayed, Townshend and Daltrey continued as the Who, releasing Endless Wire in 2006, and continued to play live regularly. They are cited as an influence by rock, punk rock and mod bands. The founding members of the Who, Roger Daltrey, Pete Townshend and John Entwistle, grew up in Acton, London and went to Acton County Grammar School. Townshend and Entwistle became friends in their year of Acton County. Both were interested in rock, and Townshend particularly admired Cliff Richards début single, Entwistle moved to guitar, but struggled with it due to his large fingers, and moved to bass on hearing the guitar work of Duane Eddy. He was unable to afford a bass and built one at home, after Acton County, Townshend attended Ealing Art College, a move he later described as profoundly influential on the course of the Who. Daltrey, who was in the year above, had moved to Acton from Shepherds Bush and he had trouble fitting in at the school, and discovered gangs and rock and roll
The Who
–
The Who in 1975 Left to right:
Roger Daltrey (
vocals),
John Entwistle (
bass),
Keith Moon (
drums),
Pete Townshend (
guitar)
The Who
–
Pete Townshend attended
Ealing Art College (pictured in 2010), and his experience there contributed to the Who's career.
The Who
–
Roger Daltrey (left) and Keith Moon, 1967
The Who
–
John Entwistle backstage in 1967
19.
Pete Townshend
–
His career with the Who spans over 50 years, during which time the band grew to be considered one of the most influential bands of the 20th century. He has also more than 100 songs that have appeared on his solo albums, as well as radio jingles. He is self-taught on all of the instruments he plays and has never had any formal training, due to his aggressive playing style and innovative songwriting techniques, Townshends works with The Who and in other projects have earned him critical acclaim. He and Daltrey received The George and Ira Gershwin Award for Lifetime Musical Achievement at UCLA on 21 May 2016, Peter Dennis Blandford Townshend was born on 19 May 1945, at Chiswick Hospital, West London. The Townshends had a marriage, as both drank heavily and possessed fiery tempers. Cliff Townshend was often away from his touring with his band while Betty carried on affairs with other men. The two split when Townshend was a toddler and he was sent to live with his maternal grandmother Emma Dennis, whom Pete later described as clinically insane. The two-year separation ended when Cliff and Betty purchased a house together on Woodgrange Avenue in middle-class Acton, London, Townshend says he did not have many friends growing up, so he spent much of his boyhood reading adventure novels like Gullivers Travels and Treasure Island. He enjoyed his familys frequent excursions to the seaside and the Isle of Man and it was on one of these trips in the summer of 1956 that he repeatedly watched the 1956 film Rock Around the Clock, sparking his fascination with American rock and roll. Not long thereafter, he went to see Bill Haley perform in London, at the time, he did not see himself pursuing a career as a professional musician, instead, he wanted to become a journalist. Upon passing the exam, Townshend was enrolled at Acton County Grammar School. At Acton County, he was bullied because he had a large nose. His grandmother Emma purchased his first guitar for Christmas in 1956, though his father taught him a couple of chords, Townshend was largely self-taught on the instrument and never learned to read music. Townshend and school friend John Entwistle formed a trad jazz group. The Confederates played gigs at the Congo Club, a club run by the Acton Congregational Church, and covered Acker Bilk, Kenny Ball. However, both influenced by the increasing popularity of rock n roll, with Townshend particularly admiring Cliff Richards debut single. Townshend left the Confederates after getting into a fight with the drummer, Chris Sherwin. Townshends brothers Paul and Simon were born in 1957 and 1960, lacking the requisite test scores to attend university, Pete was faced with the decision of art school, music school, or getting a job
Pete Townshend
–
Townshend in 2012
Pete Townshend
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Townshend (with Moon, rear right) backstage before a gig in Ludwigshafen, Germany in 1967
Pete Townshend
–
Townshend's "windmill" technique
Pete Townshend
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Pete Townshend performing in Hamburg, Germany in August 1972
20.
Doo-wop
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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
Doo-wop
–
Randy & The Rainbows at the Benedum Center, Pittsburgh
Doo-wop
–
The Cleftones during their participation in the doo-wop festival celebrated in May 2010 at the
Benedum Center.
Doo-wop
–
The Quotations live in concert at the
Benedum Center,
Pennsylvania
Doo-wop
–
Kathy Young with
The Earth Angels performing Kathy's hit A Thousand Stars during the festival of this genre celebrated at the
Benedum Center for the performing arts in
Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania in May 2010
21.
Goodfellas (soundtrack)
–
Martin Scorsese chose the songs for Goodfellas only if they commented on the scene or the characters in an oblique way. The only rule he adhered to with the soundtrack was to use music which could have been heard at that time. For example, if a scene took place in 1973, he could use any song that was current or older, according to Scorsese, a lot of non-dialogue scenes were shot to playback. For example, he had Layla playing on the set while shooting the scene where the bodies are discovered in the car. Sometimes, the lyrics of songs were put between lines of dialogue to comment on the action, some of the music Scorsese had written into the script while other songs he discovered during the editing phase. There is no music once Henry is arrested in his driveway by the DEA, cant We Be Sweethearts by The Cleftones – Young Henry is parking Cadillacs. Hearts of Stone by Otis Williams and the Charms – Henrys mailman is threatened, sincerely by The Moonglows – The wiseguy get-together at Paulies home. Firenze Sogna by Giuseppe Di Stefano – New suit, Shooting victim, speedo by The Cadillacs – Kid Henry, the sandwich boy, Jimmy Conway is first introduced. Parlami damore Mariu by Giuseppe Di Stefano – Young Henry gets pinched for selling cigarettes, stardust by Billy Ward and His Dominoes – Idlewild Airport 1963, First appearance of the grown-up Henry Hill, Truck hijacking. This World We Love In by Mina – In the Bamboo Lounge, Mobsters are introduced, playboy by The Marvelettes – Bamboo Lounge bust-out – Henry and Tommy burn the restaurant. Its Not for Me to Say by Johnny Mathis – The double date, Karen is introduced, I Will Follow Him by Peggy March– Karen is stood-up, and loudly confronts Henry in the street. Then He Kissed Me by The Crystals – Henry and Karen enter the Copacabana from the rear, look in My Eyes by The Chantels – The Air France heist, Paulie gets his cut. Roses Are Red by Bobby Vinton – Henry and Karen at the beach resort, Life Is But a Dream by The Harptones – Henry and Karens wedding and reception. Leader of the Pack by The Shangri-Las – The hostess party, Toot, Toot, Tootsie Goodbye by Al Jolson – NYPD detectives are searching the Hills house. Happy Birthday to You – Sung by family members at Little Jimmys birthday party during Karens narration – Mob life montage/no outsiders, aint That a Kick in the Head. by Dean Martin – Narration continues – Mob life montage. Hes Sure the Boy I Love by The Crystals – Billy Batts is introduced at the Suite Lounge, atlantis by Donovan – Billy Batts is beaten down and kicked by Tommy and Jimmy. Pretend You Dont See Her by Jerry Vale – Friday night at the Copa with the girlfriends, remember by The Shangri-Las – Henry with Janice at the Suite before digging up Billy Battss body. Baby I Love You by Aretha Franklin – Janice Rossis apartment, She shows her girlfriends around, firenze Sogna by Giuseppe Di Stefano – Another poker game, Tommy kills Spider
Goodfellas (soundtrack)
–
Goodfellas Music from the Motion Picture
22.
Goodfellas
–
Goodfellas is a 1990 American biographical crime film directed by Martin Scorsese. It is an adaptation of the 1986 non-fiction book Wiseguy by Nicholas Pileggi, the film narrates the rise and fall of mob associate Henry Hill and his friends over a period from 1955 to 1980. Scorsese initially named the film Wise Guy and postponed making it, later, he, to prepare for their roles in the film, Robert De Niro, Joe Pesci, and Ray Liotta often spoke with Pileggi, who shared research material left over from writing the book. According to Pesci, improvisation and ad-libbing came out of rehearsals wherein Scorsese gave the actors freedom to do whatever they wanted. The director made transcripts of these sessions, took the lines he liked best, and put them into a revised script, made on a budget of $25 million, Goodfellas grossed $46.8 million. It received positive reviews critics and was nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture and Best Director. The film won five awards from the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, including Best Film, additionally, Goodfellas was named the years best film by various critics groups. Goodfellas is widely regarded as one of the greatest films in the crime genre, in 2000, it was deemed culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant and selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the United States Library of Congress. Its content and style have been emulated in other films. In April 1967, they commit the Air France robbery, enjoying the perks of their criminal life, they spend most of their nights at the Copacabana nightclub carousing with women. Henry meets and later marries Karen, a Jewish woman from the Five Towns area of Long Island, Karen is initially troubled by Henrys criminal activities but is soon seduced by his glamorous lifestyle. On June 11,1970, Billy Batts, a mobster in the Gambino crime family, enraged, Tommy and Jimmy attack and kill him. Knowing their murder of a man would mean retribution from the Gambino crime family, which could possibly include Paulie being ordered to kill them, Jimmy, Henry. They transport the body in the trunk of Henrys car and bury it in upstate New York, six months later, Jimmy learns that the burial site is slated for development, forcing them to exhume the decomposing corpse and move it. Henry sets up his mistress, Janice Rossi, in an apartment, when Karen finds out about their relationship, she tries to confront Janice and then threatens Henry at gunpoint. Henry moves out to live with Janice, but Paulie gets involved, Henry and Jimmy are sent to collect a debt from a gambler in Florida, but they are arrested after being turned in by the gamblers sister, a typist for the FBI. Jimmy and Henry receive ten-year prison sentences, in prison, Henry sells drugs smuggled in by Karen to support his family on the outside. After his early release in 1978, Henry further establishes himself in the trade, ignoring Paulies ban on drug trafficking
Goodfellas
–
Theatrical release poster
23.
List of Record Mirror number-one singles
–
The Record Mirror is a former British weekly pop music newspaper. From 1955 until 1962, the Record Mirror compiled its own record chart which was used by national newspapers. It formed as a rival to the chart published by NME. The Mirror s chart was based on the returns from record stores that were financed by the newspaper—rival chart. On 22 January 1955, the Mirror compiled its first chart using figures from 24 shops, the first chart-topper was Mambo Italiano by Rosemary Clooney, with the newspaper having compiled a Top Ten. The chart was expanded from a Top Ten to a Top Twenty on 8 October 1955, in the early 1960s some national newspapers switched to using a chart compiled by Melody Maker and, ultimately, the cost of collecting sales figures by post led to the charts demise. On 24 March 1962, the paper stopped compiling its own chart, Record charts in the United Kingdom began life on 14 November 1952 when NME imitated an idea started in American Billboard magazine and began compiling a hit parade. Prior to 15 February 1969, when the British Market Research Bureau chart was established, during this time the BBC used aggregated results of charts from the Mirror and other sources to compile the Pick of the Pops chart. However, according to The Official Charts Company and Guinness British Hit Singles & Albums, after that date and until 1969 a chart compiled by Record Retailer is considered the official British singles chart. Dean Martins song Naughty Lady of Shady Lane was the first to have a number-one in the Record Mirror chart, there are five more songs that, like Martins, reached number-one on the Record Mirror chart but are not classified as number-one by the UK Singles Chart. Additionally, the Record Mirror and other charts differed about what they classified as the top song of the year and this is because the top lists for the whole year, were based on a points system. It has to be noted that Tony Jaspers Top 20 book does actually fall into mistakes between August & December 1958, as Tony says there was no chart for the first week of August, the charts he prints for 9th Aug onwards are all dated wrongly. The 9th Aug is the 2nd Aug, the 16th is the 9th & so on until 27th Dec 1958 and he then fails to print the 27th Dec chart. From 1959, he gets it correct again, though through this mistake, he misses a top 20 entry by Martinas & His Orchestra Cha Cha Momma Brown, which sneaked into the chart at #18 at the end of December 1958, & then quickly fell out again
List of Record Mirror number-one singles
–
A copy of the Record Mirror' s first ever chart, released on 22 January 1955
24.
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for singles, published weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales, radio play and online streaming, the weekly sales period was originally Monday to Sunday, when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming data, is available on a real-time basis. A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by Billboard on Tuesdays, as of the issue for the week ending on April 15,2017, the Hot 100 has had 1,061 different number one hits. The current number one song is Shape of You by Ed Sheeran, prior to 1955, Billboard did not have a unified, all-encompassing popularity chart, instead measuring songs by individual metrics. At the start of the era in 1955, three such charts existed, Best Sellers in Stores was the first Billboard chart, established in 1936. This chart ranked the biggest selling singles in retail stores, as reported by merchants surveyed throughout the country, Most Played by Jockeys was Billboards original airplay chart. It ranked the most played songs on United States radio stations, as reported by radio disc jockeys, Most Played in Jukeboxes ranked the most played songs in jukeboxes across the United States. On the week ending November 12,1955, Billboard published The Top 100 for the first time, the Top 100 combined all aspects of a singles performance, based on a point system that typically gave sales more weight than radio airplay. The Best Sellers In Stores, Most Played by Jockeys and Most Played in Jukeboxes charts continued to be published concurrently with the new Top 100 chart. The week ending July 28,1958 was the publication of the Most Played By Jockeys and Top 100 charts. On August 4,1958, Billboard premiered one main all-genre singles chart, the Hot 100 quickly became the industry standard and Billboard discontinued the Best Sellers In Stores chart on October 13,1958. The Billboard Hot 100 is still the standard by which a songs popularity is measured in the United States, the Hot 100 is ranked by radio airplay audience impressions as measured by Nielsen BDS, sales data compiled by Nielsen Soundscan and streaming activity provided by online music sources. There are several component charts that contribute to the calculation of the Hot 100. Charts are ranked by number of gross audience impressions, computed by cross-referencing exact times of radio airplay with Arbitron listener data. Hot Singles Sales, the top selling singles compiled from a sample of retail store, mass merchant and internet sales reports collected, compiled. The chart is released weekly and measures sales of commercial singles. With the decline in sales of singles in the US
Billboard Hot 100
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The Billboard logo
25.
Single (music)
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In music, a single or record single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record, an album or an EP record. This can be released for sale to the public in a variety of different formats, in most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. Typically, these are the songs from albums that are released separately for promotional uses such as digital download or commercial radio airplay and are expected to be the most popular, in other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. As digital downloading and audio streaming have become prevalent, it is often possible for every track on an album to also be available separately. Nevertheless, the concept of a single for an album has been retained as an identification of a heavily promoted or more popular song within an album collection. Despite being referred to as a single, singles can include up to as many as three tracks on them. The biggest digital music distributor, iTunes, accepts as many as three tracks less than ten minutes each as a single, as well as popular music player Spotify also following in this trend. Any more than three tracks on a release or longer than thirty minutes in total running time is either an Extended Play or if over six tracks long. The basic specifications of the single were made in the late 19th century. Gramophone discs were manufactured with a range of speeds and in several sizes. By about 1910, however, the 10-inch,78 rpm shellac disc had become the most commonly used format, the inherent technical limitations of the gramophone disc defined the standard format for commercial recordings in the early 20th century.26 rpm. With these factors applied to the 10-inch format, songwriters and performers increasingly tailored their output to fit the new medium, the breakthrough came with Bob Dylans Like a Rolling Stone. Singles have been issued in various formats, including 7-inch, 10-inch, other, less common, formats include singles on digital compact cassette, DVD, and LD, as well as many non-standard sizes of vinyl disc. Some artist release singles on records, a more common in musical subcultures. The most common form of the single is the 45 or 7-inch. The names are derived from its speed,45 rpm. The 7-inch 45 rpm record was released 31 March 1949 by RCA Victor as a smaller, more durable, the first 45 rpm records were monaural, with recordings on both sides of the disc. As stereo recordings became popular in the 1960s, almost all 45 rpm records were produced in stereo by the early 1970s
Single (music)
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45
rpm single record
26.
A-side and B-side
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The terms A-side and B-side refer to the two sides of 78,45, and 33 1/3 rpm phonograph records, whether singles, extended plays, or long-playing records. Creedence Clearwater Revival had hits with both A-side and B-side releases, others took the opposite approach, producer Phil Spector was in the habit of filling B-sides with on-the-spot instrumentals that no one would confuse with the A-side. With this practice, Spector was assured that airplay was focused on the side he wanted to be the hit side, the earliest 10-inch,78 rpm, shellac records were single sided. Double-sided recordings, with one song on side, were introduced in Europe by Columbia Records. There were no record charts until the 1930s, and radio stations did not play recorded music until the 1950s, in this time, A-sides and B-sides existed, but neither side was considered more important, the side did not convey anything about the content of the record. The term single came into use with the advent of vinyl records in the early 1950s. At first, most record labels would randomly assign which song would be an A-side, under this random system, many artists had so-called double-sided hits, where both songs on a record made one of the national sales charts, or would be featured on jukeboxes in public places. As time wore on, however, the convention for assigning songs to sides of the record changed. By the early sixties, the song on the A-side was the song that the company wanted radio stations to play. It was not until 1968, for instance, that the production of albums on a unit basis finally surpassed that of singles in the United Kingdom. In the late 1960s stereo versions of pop and rock songs began to appear on 45s. The majority of the 45s were played on AM radio stations, by the early 1970s, double-sided hits had become rare. Album sales had increased, and B-sides had become the side of the record where non-album, non-radio-friendly, with the advent of cassette and compact disc singles in the late 1980s, the A-side/B-side differentiation became much less meaningful. With the decline of cassette singles in the 1990s, the A-side/B-side dichotomy became virtually extinct, as the dominant medium. However, the term B-side is still used to refer to the tracks or coupling tracks on a CD single. With the advent of downloading music via the Internet, sales of CD singles and other media have declined. B-side songs may be released on the record as a single to provide extra value for money. There are several types of material released in this way, including a different version, or, in a concept record
A-side and B-side
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Victor 17929A and 17929B.
A-side and B-side
27.
Gramophone record
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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
Gramophone record
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Edison wax cylinder phonograph c. 1899
Gramophone record
Gramophone record
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Emil Berliner with disc record gramophone
Gramophone record
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Hungarian Pathé record, 90 to 100 rpm
28.
Blue-eyed soul
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Blue-eyed soul is rhythm and blues and soul music performed by white artists. The term was coined in the mid-1960s, to describe artists who performed soul and R&B that was similar to the music of the Motown. Though many rhythm and blues radio stations would play music by black musicians. The Righteous Brothers named their 1964 LP Some Blue-Eyed Soul, Blue-eyed soul was applied to such artists as Sonny & Cher, the Beatles, Tom Jones, Barry McGuire, and Roy Head. White musicians playing R&B music, however, began before the term blue-eyed soul was coined, lonnie Macks 1963 gospel-infused vocals earned him widespread critical acclaim as a blue-eyed soul singer. Groups such as The Rascals had soul-tinged pop songs, but it was the vocals of Felix Cavaliere that gave them the blue-eyed soul sound. By the mid-1960s, British singers Dusty Springfield, Eric Burdon, Blue-eyed soul singer, Chris Clark became the first white singer to have an R&B hit with Motown Records in 1966. In 1967, Jerry Lee Lewis, whose latter days at Sun Records had been characterized by R&B covers, delaney and Bonnie produced the blue-eyed soul album Home on Stax in 1969. Michael Sembello, who left home at age 17 to tour with Stevie Wonder, wrote and performed on numerous blue-eyed soul hits for Wonder, Brian McKnight, David Sanborn, Bill Champlin and Bobby Caldwell. Todd Rundgren began his career in Woodys Truck Stop, a based on the model of the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. He left the band to form the rock band Nazz in 1967. Outside the Anglo-American scene, in Italy, Mina and Carmen Villani fused elements of music with the traditional Italian pop music. Carola and Doris were notable Scandinavian artists who were influenced by soul music, in February 1975, Tower of Power became the first white/mixed act to appear on Soul Train. Also in 1975, David Bowie, another early white artist to appear on Soul Train, released Young Americans and it featured the funk-inspired Fame, which became Bowies first number-one hit in the US. Hall & Oates 1975 Silver Album includes the ballad Sara Smile, shes Gone, another soulful hit, was originally released in 1973 but did better as a re-release after Sara Smile. Boz Scaggs 1976 Lowdown, which featured Scaggs laid-back vocals and a funky groove. In April 1976, The Faragher Brothers became the first all-white ensemble to make an appearance on Soul Train. In September that year, white funk band Wild Cherry released the Billboard Hot 100 chart topping funk/rock single Play That Funky Music, the single would eventually sell 2.5 million copies
Blue-eyed soul
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The Righteous Brothers, one of the early artists most closely associated with blue-eyed soul
Blue-eyed soul
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Steve Winwood performing with
Traffic, 1969
Blue-eyed soul
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Duffy, Welsh soul artist
29.
Songwriter
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A songwriter is an individual who writes the lyrics, melodies and chord progressions for songs, typically for a popular music genre such as rock or country music. A songwriter can also be called a composer, although the term tends to be used mainly for individuals from the classical music genre. The pressure from the industry to produce popular hits means that songwriting is often an activity for which the tasks are distributed between a number of people. For example, a songwriter who excels at writing lyrics might be paired with a songwriter with a gift for creating original melodies, pop songs may be written by group members from the band or by staff writers – songwriters directly employed by music publishers. Some songwriters serve as their own publishers, while others have outside publishers. The old-style apprenticeship approach to learning how to write songs is being supplemented by university degrees and college diplomas, a knowledge of modern music technology, songwriting elements and business skills are necessary requirements to make a songwriting career in the 2010s. Several music colleges offer songwriting diplomas and degrees with music business modules, the legal power to grant these permissions may be bought, sold or transferred. This is governed by international copyright law, song pitching can be done on a songwriters behalf by their publisher or independently using tip sheets like RowFax, the MusicRow publication and SongQuarters. Skills associated with song-writing include entrepreneurism and creativity, songwriters who sign an exclusive songwriting agreement with a publisher are called staff writers. In the Nashville country music scene, there is a staff writer culture where contracted writers work normal 9-to-5 hours at the publishing office and are paid a regular salary. This salary is in effect the writers draw, an advance on future earnings, the publisher owns the copyright of songs written during the term of the agreement for a designated period, after which the songwriter can reclaim the copyright. In an interview with HitQuarters, songwriter Dave Berg extolled the benefits of the set-up, unlike contracted writers, some staff writers operate as employees for their respective publishers. Under the terms of work for hire agreements, the compositions created are fully owned by the publisher. In Nashville, young writers are often encouraged to avoid these types of contracts. Staff writers are common across the industry, but without the more office-like working arrangements favored in Nashville. All the major publishers employ writers under contract, songwriter Allan Eshuijs described his staff writer contract at Universal Music Publishing as a starter deal. His success under the arrangement eventually allowed him to found his own publishing company, so that he could. keep as much as possible, songwriters are also often skilled musicians. In addition to selling their songs and musical concepts for other artists to sing, songwriters need to create a number of elements for a song
Songwriter
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Songwriter and singer
Chris de Burgh.
30.
Record producer
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A record producer or music producer oversees and manages the sound recording and production of a band or performers music, which may range from recording one song to recording a lengthy concept album. A producer has many roles during the recording process, the roles of a producer vary. The producer may perform these roles himself, or help select the engineer, the producer may also pay session musicians and engineers and ensure that the entire project is completed within the record companies budget. A record producer or music producer has a broad role in overseeing and managing the recording. Producers also often take on an entrepreneurial role, with responsibility for the budget, schedules, contracts. In the 2010s, the industry has two kinds of producers with different roles, executive producer and music producer. Executive producers oversee project finances while music producers oversee the process of recording songs or albums. In most cases the producer is also a competent arranger, composer. The producer will also liaise with the engineer who concentrates on the technical aspects of recording. Noted producer Phil Ek described his role as the person who creatively guides or directs the process of making a record, indeed, in Bollywood music, the designation actually is music director. The music producers job is to create, shape, and mold a piece of music, at the beginning of record industry, producer role was technically limited to record, in one shot, artists performing live. The role of producers changed progressively over the 1950s and 1960s due to technological developments, the development of multitrack recording caused a major change in the recording process. Before multitracking, all the elements of a song had to be performed simultaneously, all of these singers and musicians had to be assembled in a large studio and the performance had to be recorded. As well, for a song that used 20 instruments, it was no longer necessary to get all the players in the studio at the same time. Examples include the rock sound effects of the 1960s, e. g. playing back the sound of recorded instruments backwards or clanging the tape to produce unique sound effects. These new instruments were electric or electronic, and thus they used instrument amplifiers, new technologies like multitracking changed the goal of recording, A producer could blend together multiple takes and edit together different sections to create the desired sound. For example, in jazz fusion Bandleader-composer Miles Davis album Bitches Brew, producers like Phil Spector and George Martin were soon creating recordings that were, in practical terms, almost impossible to realise in live performance. Producers became creative figures in the studio, other examples of such engineers includes Joe Meek, Teo Macero, Brian Wilson, and Biddu
Record producer
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Alan Parsons in an
ESO 50th anniversary video.
Record producer
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A
Danish recording session
Record producer
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Mixing Console
31.
Bill Medley
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William Thomas Bill Medley is an American singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers. He is noted for his voice, exemplified in songs such as Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin. Medley produced a number of the songs, including Unchained Melody and Soul. Medley has also enjoyed a career as a solo artist, Medley was born on September 19,1940 in Santa Ana, California, USA to Arnol and Irma Medley. He attended Santa Ana High School and graduated in 1958, Medley was raised as a Presbyterian and started singing in a church choir. His parents had a swing band and he became interested in R&B music listening to black music stations. An early influence he cited is Little Richard who he first heard when he was fifteen or sixteen years old, and later Ray Charles, Bobby Bland, Medley first formed a singing duo with his friend Don Fiduccia, who also played the guitar, called The Romancers. He began to write songs and record multi-track recordings in his living room, at 19, he had two songs, Womaling and Chimes of My Heart, recorded by 50s vocal group The Diamonds. Medley and Fiduccia then formed a group called the Paramours in 1960 with Sal Fasulo and Nick Tuturro, later joined by Mike Rider, the band had their first paying gig at Little Italy restaurant in Anaheim. The Paramours were signed to Mercury Records subsidiary label Smash Records, Medley first met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield through Barry Rillera who was in both Hatfields and Medleys group and asked them to see each others show. They were later brought together by saxophone player John Wimber, who went on to found The Vineyard Church movement, to form a new group in 1962. They performed at The Black Derby nightclub in Santa Ana, however the band did not have much success and soon broke up, leaving Hatfield and Medley to perform as a duo in 1963. Medley and Hatfield adopted the name The Righteous Brothers, and their first single was the Medley-penned Little Latin Lupe Lu released under the label Moonglow Records. Medley also recorded as a solo artist with Moonglow, and released a single Gotta Tell You How I Feel which did not chart. In 1964, The Righteous Brothers appeared in a show with other groups in the Cow Palace in San Francisco where Phil Spector was conducting the band for the entire show, Spector was impressed by the duo and arranged to have them record for his own label Philles Records. In 1965, they had their first No.1 hit, Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin, according to music publishing watchdog Broadcast Music, Inc. Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin is the song in the history of American radio. They also recorded songs such as Unchained Melody with Philles Records
Bill Medley
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Bill Medley speaking to fans after performing at
The Big E,
West Springfield, Massachusetts, on opening day, September 14, 2012.
Bill Medley
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The Righteous Brothers performing at
Knott's Berry Farm, Bill Medley on the right
32.
Just Once in My Life
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Just Once in My Life is a song written by Gerry Goffin, Carole King and Phil Spector. The song was released by The Righteous Brothers in 1965 and reached No.9 on the Billboard Hot 100, the song was covered by the American rock band The Beach Boys and released on their 1976 album 15 Big Ones. Other artists to release versions include The Alan Price Set and The Action, after the success of the Righteous Brothers first single with Phil Spector, Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin, the writers of the song Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil then wrote Soul and Inspiration for them. The song however was not completed, and Spector instead asked Carole King to write a song for the duo, the Righteous Brothers released their version as a single in April 1965 as the follow-up to Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin. Their second release on the Philles label, the single was big hit, making the top ten of the Billboard Hot 100
Just Once in My Life
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"Just Once in My Life"
33.
Phil Spector
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He is acknowledged as one of the most influential figures in pop music history. Spectors other chart-topping singles include Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin, The Long and Winding Road, from 2007 to 2009, Spector was the subject of a trial and retrial for the 2003 murder of actress Lana Clarkson, of which he was convicted in the second degree. He is serving a sentence of 19 years to life. In 2008, The Washington Times named Spector the second greatest record producer in music history, in 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #63 on their list of the Greatest Artists of All Time. In their 2003 list of The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time, they included the Spector-produced Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes, A Christmas Gift for You, according to BMI, Youve Lost That Lovin Feelin is the song that received the most US airplay in the 20th century. For co-producing Harrisons Concert for Bangladesh, Spector earned the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, in 1989, Spector was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a nonperformer. In 1997, he was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, harvey Phillip Spector was born on December 26,1939 to a first-generation immigrant Jewish family in the Bronx, New York City. His father, Ben, was an ironworker from Russia with the surname Spekter, Spectors father committed suicide on April 20,1949. In 1953, his mother moved the family to Los Angeles where she found work as a seamstress, having learned to play guitar, Spector performed Rock Island Line in a talent show at Fairfax High School, where he was a student. With three friends from school, Marshall Leib, Sandy Nelson, and Annette Kleinbard, Spector formed a group. During this period, record producer Stan Ross — co-owner of Gold Star Studios in Hollywood — began to tutor Spector in record production, in 1958, the Teddy Bears recorded the Spector-penned Dont You Worry My Little Pet, which helped them secure a deal with Era Records. At their next session, they recorded another song Spector had written—this one inspired by the epitaph on Spectors fathers tombstone. Released on Eras subsidiary label, Dore Records, To Know Him Is to Love Him reached number one on Billboard Hot 100 singles chart on December 1,1958 and it was the seventh number-one single on the newly formed chart. Following the success of their debut, the signed with Imperial Records. Their next single, I Dont Need You Anymore, reached number 91 and they released several more recordings, including an album, The Teddy Bears Sing. But failed to reach the top 100 in US sales, after the split, Spectors career quickly moved from performing and songwriting to production. While recording the Teddy Bears album, Spector had met Lester Sill and his next project, the Spectors Three, was undertaken under the aegis of Sill and his partner, Lee Hazlewood. In 1960, Sill arranged for Spector to work as an apprentice to Leiber and Stoller in New York, Ronnie Crawford would become Spector’s first true recording artist and project as producer
Phil Spector
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Phil Spector in 1965
Phil Spector
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Although predominantly a singles label, Philles released a few albums, one of which is the perennial seller
A Christmas Gift for You from Philles Records from 1963.
Phil Spector
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2009
mug shot
34.
Wurlitzer
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The Rudolph Wurlitzer Company, usually referred to as simply Wurlitzer, is an American company started in Cincinnati, Ohio in 1853 by German immigrant Rudolph Wurlitzer. In 1880 the company began manufacturing pianos, over time, Wurlitzer acquired a number of other companies which made a variety of loosely related products including kitchen appliances, carnival rides, player piano rolls, and radios. Wurlitzer also operated a chain of stores where the companys products were sold. Wurlitzers jukebox operations were sold and moved to Germany in 1973, the Wurlitzer piano and organ brands and U. S. manufacturing facilities were acquired by the Baldwin Piano & Organ Co. in 1988 and most piano manufacturing was moved overseas. The Baldwin Co. including its Wurlitzer assets, was acquired by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in about 1996. Baldwin ceased making Wurlitzer-brand pianos in 2009, Vending machines are still manufactured in Germany using the Wurlitzer name under Gibson ownership. The company ceased manufacturing jukeboxes in 2013, but still sells replacement parts, Wurlitzers rare and historic stringed instrument department was independently directed by Rudolph Wurlitzers grandson, Rembert Wurlitzer, from 1948 until his death in 1963. Remberts shop on 42d Street in New York City was an international center for rare. Wurlitzer was founded in Cincinnati in 1853 by German Franz Rudolph Wurlitzer from Schöneck and it was directed successively by his sons Howard, Rudolph, and Farny. In 1880 Wurlitzer started manufacturing its own pianos which the company sold through its retail outlets in Chicago, in 1896 Wurlitzer manufactured its first coin-operated pianos. In the late 1800s, fairs were very popular and, as crowds grew and mechanical rides began to appear, Eugene DeKleist of North Tonawanda, NY was an early builder of such organs for use in carousels. Wurlitzer bought into DeKleists North Tonawanda Barrel Organ Factory in 1897, eventually Wurlitzer bought out the entire operation and moved all Wurlitzer manufacturing operations from Ohio to New York. In 1909 the company began making innovative harps that were far more durable than European prototypes, the Mighty Wurlitzer theatre organ was introduced in late 1910 and became Wurlitzers most famous product. Wurlitzer theatre organs are installed all over the world in a variety of theatres, museums, churches, Wurlitzer also took over production of Lyric brand radios from the All American Mohawk Radio Company in Chicago. Lyric radios were a very high-end console radio which retailed for as much as $425 in 1929, in addition to business acquisitions, Wurlitzer also entered into several joint ventures with James Armitage, George Herschell, and other businessmen from the area. Amusement rides, particularly carousels, were assembled at the facility. Starting in about 1933, the Wurlitzer name gradually became more and more associated with jukeboxes than with actual musical instruments. In 1942, organ production at the North Tonawanda factory ceased, after the war, normal production efforts resumed but with more focus on radios, jukeboxes, and small electronic organs for private homes
Wurlitzer
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Rudolph Wurlitzer Company
Wurlitzer
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American Mohawk Lyric Radio as Mfd. by Wurlitzer circa 1920s
Wurlitzer
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Wurlitzer Model 805
electronic organ with Orbit III
monophonic synth (upper mini key)
Wurlitzer
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Keyboard of a Wurlitzer acoustic piano
35.
Curb Records
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Curb Records is an independent record label started by Mike Curb originally as Sidewalk Records in 1963. From 1969 to 1973, Curb merged with MGM Records where Curb served as President of MGM, the Four Seasons comeback album, Who Loves You, included December 1963, which was the first single to spend more than one year on the Billboard Hot 100 Chart. Curbs roster past and present includes Lee Brice, LeAnn Rimes, Hank Williams, sheppard, Jim Stafford, Ray Stevens, Andreas Moss, Jonathan Thulin and Tim McGraw. In late 2002, Curb Records also acquired a stake in Word Records from then-owners Time Warner, Curb still holds partnership in Word even though Time Warners stake was sold to newly formed spin-off Warner Music Group in 2004. Four-time GMA Music Award Female Vocalist of the Year Natalie Grant is signed to Curb Records in addition to the 5 time GMA music award winning group Selah. Mullen, Larry Norman, Jonathan Pierce, Plumb, Point of Grace, Group 1 Crew, Salvador, Jamie Slocum, Steller Kart, Jaci Velasquez and Mark Schultz. In 2006, Curb launched a rock label, Bruc Records. Straight to Hell by Neotraditional country artist Hank Williams III was the first album to be released on the new imprint, in 2011, Curb filed a lawsuit against Country singer Tim McGraw, and McGraw filed a counter lawsuit against Curb. In 2012, he stopped recording with Curb, and switched to Big Machine Records, in 2015, Jim Ed Norman was named CEO of the Curb Group, however, Mike Curb remains extremely involved as the founder and chairman of the board. Curb Records supports charitable programs through the Mike Curb Family Foundation and these historic facilities are being used by students at the various Curb supported colleges and universities for the purpose of studying music history. In October 2008 the 6,000 seat Curb Event Center at Belmont University in Nashville, in the United Kingdom, Curb artists are eligible for the UK independent charts. In January 2006, Curb scored a top ten hit with Brian Kennedy and Peter Corrys Tribute to George Best, Curb previously had major hits in Europe with the Four Seasons, the Osmonds, LeAnn Rimes, and Soundtracks such as Coyote Ugly
Curb Records
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Curb Records
36.
Grammy Award
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A Grammy Award, or Grammy, is an honor awarded by The Recording Academy to recognize outstanding achievement in the mainly English-language music industry. The annual presentation ceremony features performances by prominent artists, and the presentation of awards that have a more popular interest. It shares recognition of the industry as that of the other performance awards such as the Emmy Awards, the Tony Awards. The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4,1959, to honor, following the 2011 ceremony, The Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 59th Grammy Awards, honoring the best achievements from October 2015 to September 2016, was held on February 12,2017, the Grammys had their origin in the Hollywood Walk of Fame project in the 1950s. The music executives decided to rectify this by creating a given by their industry similar to the Oscars. This was the beginning of the National Academy of Recording Arts, after it was decided to create such an award, there was still a question of what to call it, one working title was the Eddie, to honor the inventor of the phonograph, Thomas Edison. They finally settled on using the name of the invention of Emile Berliner, the gramophone, for the awards, the number of awards given grew and fluctuated over the years with categories added and removed, at one time reaching over 100. The second Grammy Awards, also held in 1959, was the first ceremony to be televised, the gold-plated trophies, each depicting a gilded gramophone, are made and assembled by hand by Billings Artworks in Ridgway, Colorado. In 1990 the original Grammy design was revamped, changing the traditional soft lead for a stronger alloy less prone to damage, Billings developed a zinc alloy named grammium, which is trademarked. The trophies with the name engraved on them are not available until after the award announcements. By February 2009,7,578 Grammy trophies had been awarded, the General Field are four awards which are not restricted by genre. Album of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a full album if other than the performer. Record of the Year is awarded to the performer and the team of a single song if other than the performer. Song of the Year is awarded to the writer/composer of a single song, Best New Artist is awarded to a promising breakthrough performer who releases, during the Eligibility Year, the first recording that establishes the public identity of that artist. The only two artists to win all four of these awards are Christopher Cross, who won all four in 1980, and Adele, who won the Best New Artist award in 2009 and the other three in 2012 and 2017. Other awards are given for performance and production in specific genres, as well as for other such as artwork. Special awards are given for longer-lasting contributions to the music industry, the many other Grammy trophies are presented in a pre-telecast Premiere Ceremony earlier in the afternoon before the Grammy Awards telecast
Grammy Award
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Grammy Awards
Grammy Award
37.
Polydor Records
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Polydor is a British record label and company, that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a relationship with Universals Interscope Geffen A&M label. In turn, Polydor distributes Interscope releases in the United Kingdom, Polydor Records Ltd. was established in London in 1954 as a British subsidiary of German company Deutsche Grammophon GmbH. The Polydor label was founded on 2 April 1913 by German Polyphon-Musikwerke AG in Leipzig, during World War I on 24 April 1917, Polyphon-Musikwerke AG acquired the German Deutsche Grammophon-Aktiengesellschaft record plant and company from the German government. The German state was taken over Grammophon and the British holdings as enemies property during World War I, Polydor was originally an independent branch of the Polyphon-Grammophon-Konzern group. It was used as a label since 1924. The British and German branches of the Gramophone Company were so departed during World War I, in turn, Deutsche Grammophon records exported from Germany were released on the Polyphon Musik and Polydor labels. The new foreign branches were founded for example into Austria, Denmark, Sweden, Polydor became a popular music label in 1946, while the new Deutsche Grammophon Gesellschaft label was to become a classical music label in 1949. The previously used label, Grammophon, was disbanded, DGG gave, with an agreement dated 5 July 1949, an exclusive license from 1 July 1951 to use the Nipper-dog with gramophone to the original owners company Electrola, the German branch of EMI. In 1970, Polydor acquired the Hong Kong-based Diamond Records, which had owned and founded by the local Portuguese merchant Ren da Silva in the late 1950s. In 1972, The Grammophon-Philips Group reorganized to create PolyGram, the Polydor label continued to run as a subsidiary label under the new company. The name PolyGram is a portmanteau of Polydor and PhonoGram, into the 1980s, Polydor continued to do respectable business, in spite of becoming increasingly overshadowed by its PolyGram sister label Mercury Records. Polydor took over management of British Deccas pop catalog, A&R manager Frank Neilson was able to score a major top ten hit in March 1981 for the label with Do The Hucklebuck by Coast to Coast as well as signing Ian Dury and Billy Fury to the company. In 1984, the name was parodied in the rockumentary film This Is Spinal Tap. By the early 1990s, Polydor had begun to underperform, in 1994, as Island Records recovered from its sales slump, PolyGram dissolved most of PLG into it. Meanwhile, Polydor Records and Atlas Records merged, briefly called Polydor/Atlas, in 1995, Polydor/Atlas became simply Polydor Records again. Over the next few years, Polydor tried to keep itself afloat with new artist signings, new releases, in 1998, PolyGram was purchased by Seagram and absorbed into its Universal Music Group. Today, in America, the Polydor Records name and logo is used on reissues of older material from its 1960s and 1970s heyday
Polydor Records
–
1920s vintage Polydor export label with its double-horn gramophone logo
Polydor Records
–
In 1954 Polydor Records introduced their distinctive orange label.
38.
Rhino Records
–
Rhino Entertainment Company is an American specialty record label and production company founded in 1978. It is currently the division for the Warner Music Group. Founded in 1978, Rhino was originally a novelty and reissue label during the 1970s and 1980s, one of Rhinos early artists was The Twisters, whose Los Angeles popularity far exceeded their album sales. The labels on early Rhino records featured the mascot character. Some of the labels earliest successes with reissues were achieved by acquiring the rights to the White Whale Records catalog that included the Turtles, by the mid-1980s, most of Rhinos releases were reissues of previously released recordings licensed from other companies. Rhino was quick to get into the disc market, releasing dozens of oldies CDs at the dawn of the CD age in 1984. Their retrospective compact disc releases, such as those in the Billboard Top Hits series, are often remastered to restore or improve upon the original analog audio quality. Through the 1980s and 1990s, the company continued to sign artists and release new music, on the main Rhino label and on subsidiary labels such as RNA. In 1985, Rhino signed a distribution agreement with Capitol Records. During 1989 Rhino and Capitol’s parent EMI made a deal to jointly acquire Roulette Records, Rhino received the US rights to Roulettes catalog, excluding jazz. When the distribution deal with Capitol ended in 1992, Rhino signed a new deal with Atlantic Records. In 1998, Time Warner bought the other half of Rhino, the Rhino Records retail store, which was not part of the sale, closed in 2005. Periods, in addition to WBs own post-1949 period, Rhinos soundtrack releases include Gone with the Wind, The Wizard of Oz, Easter Parade, North by Northwest, Casablanca, King Kong, Doctor Zhivago, Superman, and Finians Rainbow. The Turner Entertainment and Warner Bros. film soundtrack libraries are managed by Warner Bros. in-house label subsidiary. In 1999, Rhino started the Rhino Handmade division of limited-edition releases available primarily from their website, all Handmade deluxe editions were limited to about 3,000 copies or less, and once sold out were not re-pressed. In 2003, co-founders and longtime executives Richard Foos and Harold Bronson left Rhino, soon after, Foos inaugurated a new label, Shout. Factory, which began releasing dozens of CDs and videos mirroring the original early-1990s Rhino philosophy, in 2004, Time Warner spun off its music divisions and today Rhino is part of the newly organized Warner Music Group. In June 2006, Warner Strategic Marketing in the U. K. was dissolved, the division has two main factions, TV-advertised compilations and catalog material from the Warner vaults
Rhino Records
–
Rhino Entertainment
39.
ARIA Charts
–
The ARIA Charts are the main Australian music sales charts, issued weekly by the Australian Recording Industry Association. The charts are a record of the highest selling singles and albums in various genres in Australia, ARIA became the official Australian music chart in June 1988, succeeding the Kent Music Report which had been Australias national charts since 1974. The Go-Set charts were Australias first national singles and albums charts published from 5 October 1966 until 24 August 1974, succeeding Go-Set, the Kent Music Report began issuing the national top 100 charts in Australia from May 1974. The compiler, David Kent, also published Australias national charts from 1940–1974 in a retrospective fashion using state based data, in mid 1983, the Australian Recording Industry Association commenced licensing the Kent Music Report chart. The first printed national top 50 chart available in record stores, ARIA began compiling its own charts in-house from the chart dated week ending 26 June 1988. Various artists compilation albums were included in the albums chart, as they had been on the Kent Report chart, until 2 July 1989. The ARIA Report, detailing the top 100 singles and albums charts, was first available via subscription in January 1990, the printed top 50 chart ceased publication in June 1998, but resumed publication later in the year. The printed top 50 chart again ceased publication at the end of 2000, the ARIA charts are based on data collected from physical and digital retailers in Australia. Data of physical sales come from such as Sanity and JB Hi-Fi, while data of digital sales come from online retailers such as iTunes, Bandit FM, GetMusic. Since 17 February 1997, all physical sales data contributing towards the chart has been recorded electronically at point of sale. In March 1991, Do the Bartman by The Simpsons was the first single to reach #1 in Australia that was not available on 7 inch vinyl, but cassingle only. Starting from 8 October 2006, due to low physical single sales at the time, in 2006, it was announced that the Brazin retailing group, comprising major retailers HMV, Sanity and Virgin music/DVD stores would no longer contribute sales data to the ARIA charts. However, after an absence, Brazin reportedly re-commenced contributing sales figures to the ARIA Charts on 26 November 2006. The ARIA website publishes the top 50 singles and albums charts, top 40 digital tracks chart, the ARIA Report lists all charts in full and is available via paid e-mail subscription each week. These reports are uploaded to the Pandora Archive periodically, on 5 February 2006, the ARIA Chart Show was a radio program launched on the Nova network and broadcast throughout Australia, playing the official ARIA top 50 singles. The live music program was hosted by Jabba each Sunday afternoon at 3, the show was aired before the top 50 chart, dated for the following Monday, is published on the ARIA website at 6,00 pm. The charts were published online at 6,00 pm each Sunday. The diamond certification was created for albums in November 2015 to mark 500,000 sales/shipments, for music DVDs, a gold accreditation originally represented 7,500 copies shipped, with a platinum accreditation representing 15,000 units shipped. co. uk
ARIA Charts
–
ARIA logo
40.
List of music recording certifications
–
Music recording certifications are typically awarded by the global music industry based on the total units sold or shipped to the retailers. These awards and their requirements are defined by the certifying bodies representing the music industry in various countries and territories worldwide. The standard certification awards given consist of Gold, Platinum, and sometimes Diamond awards, in ascending order, in most cases, a Multi-Platinum or Multi-Diamond award is given for multiples of the Platinum or Diamond requirements. Many music industries around the globe are represented by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry, the IFPI operates in 66 countries and services affiliated industry associations in 45 countries. Still other countries not represented by the IFPI have certifying bodies operating independently, though all certifying bodies give awards for album sales or shipments, many also certify singles, paid digital downloads, music videos, music DVDs, and master ringtones. Additionally, some certifying bodies have separate threshold scales for works of domestic or international origins, varying genres, lengths, from the 2010s digital streaming was included in some territories. Note, Top numbers represent sales for domestic material, italicized numbers in parentheses represent sales for international material if different from the domestic requirement, other notes and exceptions are provided in footnotes below each table. For albums released until September 24,1999 the thresholds are 250,000 for Gold and 500,000 for Platinum, for albums released between September 25,1999 and December 31,2002 the thresholds are 150,000 for Gold and 300,000 for Platinum. Also, for Jazz albums, the thresholds are 10,000 for Gold and 20,000 for Platinum, Diamond-award is applicable to titles released on/after January 1,2013. ^ IV Hungarian sales figures provided refer to Pop albums. However, there are six separate release scales in all, each scale is provided here with Gold and Platinum sales thresholds in parentheses, Hindi Films, Regional Films, Regional Basic, National Basic, Classical/Non-Classical, and International. For albums released before 1 July 2009, sales exceeding 10,000 and 20,000 for Gold and Platinum awards, a separate scale is used for digital album sales via digital download, sales exceeding 5,000 and 10,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively. Thresholds for productions before 1 July 2009 differ,40,000,80,000, and 400,000 for Gold, Platinum, separate scales are used for jazz/classical albums, and soundtracks. Each scale is provided here with Gold, Platinum, and Diamond sales thresholds in parentheses, Jazz/Classical, from 1973–79 the thresholds were based on monetary revenue, Platinum, Gold and Silver. For singles released prior to that thresholds are 250,000 for Gold and 500,000 for Platinum, as of June 1,2014, the German thresholds for the single-titles, are 200,000 for Gold and 400,000 for Platinum. German industry also introduced a Diamond-award which is applicable to all titles released on/after January 1,2013, for Jazz singles, the thresholds are 10,000 for Gold and 20,000 for Platinum. Prior to this the thresholds were Silver, Gold, and Platinum, for EP-length configurations including the 12-inch single, the thresholds were lowered to Gold and Platinum, previously the thresholds were Gold and Platinum. From then on, the lowered thresholds applied to certification of all singles, ^ XIX Japanese awards refer to online singles and mobile singles. ^ XX Japanese physical and digital download sales exceeding 1,000,000 are given the Million award. ^ XXI Danish DVD sales figures provided refer to Music/Single DVDs, a separate scale is used for Long form videos and Multi-Box Music Video Sets, sales exceeding 50,000 and 100,000 for Gold and Platinum awards respectively
List of music recording certifications
–
A "gold record" of
The Beatles ' compilation album,
Hey Jude
41.
British Phonographic Industry
–
The BPI Limited, commonly known as the British Phonographic Industry or BPI, is the British recorded music industrys trade association. Its membership comprises hundreds of companies including all three major record companies in the UK, and hundreds of independent music labels and small to medium-sized music businesses. It has represented the interests of British record companies since being formally incorporated in 1973 when the aim was to promote British music. In 2007, the legal name was changed from British Phonographic Industry Limited. It founded the annual BRIT Awards for the British music industry in 1977, the organizing company, BRIT Awards Limited, is a fully owned subsidiary of the BPI. Proceeds from both shows go to the BRIT Trust, the arm of the BPI that has donated almost £15m to charitable causes nationwide since its foundation in 1989. In September 2013, the BPI presented the first ever BRITs Icon Award to Sir Elton John, the BPI also endorsed the launch of the Mercury Prize for the Album of the Year in 1992. In September 2008, the BPI became one of the members of UK Music. The BRIT Trust is the music charity actively supporting all types of education across the entire spectrum of music. Through the projects it supports, which include Nordoff-Robbins Music Therapy and the BRIT School, proceeds from the BRIT Awards and the Classic BRITs shows go to the BRIT Trust, which has donated almost £15m to charitable causes nationwide since its foundation. Opened in September 1991, the BRIT School is a joint venture between The BRIT Trust and the Department for Education and Skills, based at Selhurst in Croydon, the school is the only non fee-paying performing arts school in the UK. It teaches up to 1,100 students each year aged from 14–19 years in music, dance, drama, musical theatre, production, media and art & design. Students are from diverse backgrounds and are not required to stick to their own discipline, dancers learn songwriting. Nor do students have to work/perform in the evening to pay for the tuition, the BPI administers the Platinum, Gold and Silver awards scheme for music releases in the United Kingdom. The level of the award varies depending on the format of the release, member companies do, however, still have the option to certify titles based on shipment levels if they choose to. Since July 2014, audio streaming has also included for singles at a ratio of 100 streams equivalent to 1 unit. From June 2015, audio streams were added to album certifications, according to BPI, they would take the 12 most-streamed tracks from the standard version of an album, with the top two songs down-weighted in line with the average of the rest. The total of these streams will be divided by 1,000, additionally, personnel are also seconded to the City of London Police Intellectual Property Crime Unit top support anti-piracy operations
British Phonographic Industry
–
A gold certification for
Eric Clapton 's album
August.
42.
Recording Industry Association of America
–
The Recording Industry Association of America is a continental North and South American trade organization that represents the recording industry in the United States. Its members consist of record labels and distributors, which the RIAA says create, the RIAA headquarters is in Washington, D. C. The RIAA was formed in 1952 and its original mission was to administer recording copyright fees and problems, work with trade unions, and do research relating to the record industry and government regulations. Early RIAA standards included the RIAA equalization curve, the format of the record groove and the dimensions of 33 1/3 rpm,45 rpm. Since 2001, the RIAA has spent $2 to $6 million each year on lobbying in the United States, the RIAA also participates in the collective rights management of sound recordings, and it is responsible for certifying Gold and Platinum albums and singles in the United States. Cary Sherman has been the RIAAs chairman and CEO since 2011, Sherman joined the RIAA as its general counsel in 1997 and became president of the board of directors in 2001, serving in that position until being made chairman and CEO. Mitch Glazier has been the RIAAs senior executive vice president since 2011 and he served as executive vice president for public policy and industry relations from 2000 to 2011. The past RIAA chairman and CEO is Mitch Bainwol, who served from 2003 to 2011 and he left in 2011 to become president and CEO of the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers. The board of directors consists of 26 members of the board, the RIAA operates an award program for albums that sell a large number of copies. The program originally began in 1958, with a Gold Award for singles, the criterion was changed in 1975 to the number of copies sold, with albums selling 500,000 copies awarded the Gold Award. In 1976, a Platinum Award was added for one million sales, the awards are open to both RIAA members and non-members. Since 2000, the RIAA also operates a program for Latin music sales. Currently, a Disco De Oro is awarded for 30,000 units, the RIAA defines Latin music as a type of release with 51% or more of its content recorded in Spanish. In 2006, digital ringtones were added to branch of certification. In the same year, the RIAA introduced the Latin Digital Award for digital recordings in Spanish and this release format includes DVD and VHS releases, and certain live albums and compilation albums. The certification criteria is different from other styles. Gold,50,000 Platinum,100,000 Multi-Platinum,200,000 copies The RIAA opposes unauthorized sharing of its music, studies conducted since the association began its campaign against peer-to-peer file-sharing have concluded that losses incurred per download range from negligible to moderate. The association has commenced high-profile lawsuits against file sharing service providers and it has also commenced a series of lawsuits against individuals suspected of file sharing, notably college students and parents of file sharing children
Recording Industry Association of America
–
Recording Industry Association of America
43.
CD single
–
This article is about the 12cm single. Not to be confused with 8cm single, the standard in the Red Book for the term CD single. A CD single is a single in the form of a standard size compact disc. It is not to be confused with the Mini CD single, the format was introduced in the mid-1980s but did not gain its place in the market until the early 1990s. With the rise in digital downloads in the early 2010s, sales of CD singles have decreased, commercially released CD singles can vary in length from two songs up to six songs like an EP. Some contain multiple mixes of one or more songs, in the tradition of 12 vinyl singles, depending on the nation, there may be limits on the number of songs and total length for sales to count in singles charts. Containing four tracks, it had a limited print run. CD singles were first made eligible for the UK Singles Chart in 1987, the Mini CD single format was originally created for use for singles in the late 1980s, but met with limited success, particularly in the US. The smaller CDs were more successful in Japan and have become more common in Europe. By 1989, the CD3 was in decline in the US and it was common in the 1990s for US record companies to release both a two-track CD and a multi-track maxi CD. In the UK, record companies would also release two CDs but, usually, these consisted of three tracks or more each. Pressure from record labels made singles charts in some countries become song charts, allowing album cuts to chart based only on airplay, without a single ever being released. At the end of the 1990s, the CD was the single format in the UK, but in the US. In Australia, the Herald Sun reported the CD single is set to become extinct, while CD singles no longer maintain their own section of the store, copies are still distributed but placed with the artists albums. That is predominantly the case for popular Australian artists such as Jessica Mauboy, Kylie Minogue and, most recently, Delta Goodrem, the ARIA Singles Chart are now predominantly compiled from legal downloads, and ARIA also stopped compiling their physical singles sales chart. On a Mission by Gabriella Cilmi was the last CD single to be stocked in Kmart, Target and Big W, sanity Entertainment, having resisted the decline for longer than the other major outlets, has also ceased selling CD singles. In Greece and Cyprus, the term CD single is used to describe a play in which there may be anywhere from three to six different tracks. These releases charted on the Greek Singles Chart with songs released as singles, in September 2003, there was talk of ringtones for mobile phones outstripping CD singles sales for the year 2004
CD single
–
Hansons "
Give a Little " as promo-CD-single.
44.
Cassette single
–
A cassette single is a music single in the form of a Compact Cassette. Bow Wow Wows C·30 C·60 C·90 Go was the first cassette single released in the U. K. in 1980, records released the first cassette single in the U. S. with the Go-Gos Vacation in 1982. The ZTT label made good use of the format by 1984, with singles by Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Art of Noise, the format was used as a promotion in the 1990s, with Disney giving a cassingle to attendees of Hercules promotional events. Originally, most cassette singles were released in a sleeve that slipped over the outside of the release. This was then usually shrink wrapped in plastic, some singles contained one song on each side, much as 45s had done, but others repeated the songs on both sides. In some markets, cassette singles generally used the packaging as standard cassettes. As the cassette maxi-single was released, more intricate packaging was incorporated that looked similar to the packaging of a cassette release. These were placed in regular plastic cassette cases with a paper/cardstock insert, unlike a full-length cassette album, these were generally only one two-sided inlay instead of a fold-out. Maxi-singles usually contained four versions of a song, i. e. unique mixes & edits. In the U. S. cassette singles were completely phased out by the early 2000s, one reason for their lesser popularity was because they appeared to be an inefficient use of the media to consumers - a cassette single took up the same storage space as a full album
Cassette single
–
Tina Turner 's "
Goldeneye " as a cassette single.
Cassette single
–
Cassette single
45.
BMG Records
–
Bertelsmann Music Group was a division of German media company Bertelsmann before its completion of sale of the majority of its assets to Japans Sony Corporation of America on October 1,2008. It was established in 1987 to combine the music activities of Bertelsmann. The joint venture with Sony Music was set up in August 2004 and it reduced the Big Five record companies to the Big Four record companies. At that time, the company had a 21. 5% share in the music market. Sony Music and BMG remained separate in Japan, although BMG Music Japan was wholly owned by Sony BMG. Bertelsmann sold its 50% share of Sony BMG to Sony Corporation of America for a total of $1.5 billion, and it is focused mainly in BMGs European stronghold markets. The basis of the company was formed through BMGs decision to withhold selected European music catalogues from the former Sony BMG joint venture, also kept separate from the acquisition by Sony Corporation of America was Sony BMGs wholly owned and operated BMG Japan. Sony Music Japan remained independent from the Sony BMG joint venture, therefore BMG, during Sony BMGs buyout, BMG Japan was instead picked up by Sony Music Entertainment Japan. It briefly continued to operate as an entity until a reorganization in early 2009 folded the company into Sony Music Japan. Barry Weiss, President and Chief Executive Officer, Zomba Label Group CEO Now part of Sony Music Entertainment after the buyout of Bertelsmann AGs 50% stake in Sony BMG. BMG Music Publishing, which was not part of the Sony BMG merger, was a business of the Bertelsmann Music Group until it was sold to Universal Music Group for €1.63 billion in 2007. Universal then folded the company into Universal Music Publishing Group, the company was headquartered at 245 Fifth Avenue, 8th Floor New York, New York 10016 and had operations in 36 offices in 25 countries. BMG Music publishing controlled over one million copyrights, BMG Music Publishing was the global leader in Classical music and was number one in Contemporary Christian music. Brentwood-Benson Music Publishing is BMG Music Publishings Christian publisher and owns over 60,000 copyrights, BMG Music Publishing and its assets have now been completely absorbed and folded into Universal Music Publishing Group. After Sony bought out Bertelsmanns share in Sony BMG, Bertelsmann was allowed to keep the rights to recordings from the former joint venture. These songs served as the foundation to BMG Rights Management, BMG Rights Management now serves as a division within Bertelsmann and as a replacement to the defunct Bertelsmann Music Group. A settlement in 2002 included the publishers and distributors, Sony Music, Warner Music, Bertelsmann Music Group, EMI Music. In restitution for price fixing they agreed to pay a $67.4 million fine and distribute $75.7 million in CDs to public and non-profit groups and it is estimated customers were overcharged by nearly $500 million and up to $5 per album
BMG Records
–
Primary businesses
BMG Records
46.
Up on the Roof (song)
–
In the UK it was a top ten success for singer Kenny Lynch, whose version was also released in 1962. In April 2010, The Drifters Up on the Roof was named number 114 on Rolling Stones 500 Greatest Songs of All Time list and it is one of The Rock and Roll Hall of Fames 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. The song was featured extensively in the 1992 episode of Reading Rainbow entitled Tar Beach, the episode focused on urban rooftops and used the song in both a video segment and during the end credits. In the UK the Drifters version of Up on the Roof failed to reach the Top 50, the Kenny Lynch version, which largely replicated the Drifters original, was the more successful, reaching number 10 in the UK. Other early recordings of the song were made by Little Eva, also Richard Anthony wrote French lyrics for the song, which he recorded as Sur le toit for his 1963 EP entitled En Écoutant La Pluie. New Jersey-based garage band the Sidekicks remade Up on the Roof to serve as B-side for their 1966 regional hit Suspicions, nyros version slows down the songs tempo and also omits the lyrics sung to the first of the originals three bridge sections. Also in 1970, Carole King herself recorded Up on the Roof for her recording debut Writer. Souther entitled Her Town Too, Up on the Roof would remain Taylors final Top 40 hit as a soloist, taylor and King performed the song together, switching back and forth from ones arrangement to the other, as the first encore during their 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour shows. Up on the Roof had its most successful UK incarnation via a 1995 remake by Robson & Jerome released as a double A-side coupled with their remake of I Believe. Its arrangement hewed close to The Drifters original, the music video showed the duo cavorting atop a midtown Manhattan skyscraper. The single reached number 1 on the UK Singles Chart and has sold 890,000 copies in the UK, in addition I Believe/ Up on the Roof reached number 3 in Ireland and was a minor hit in the Netherlands at number 45. Also Viola Wills disco remake of the song appeared on Belgiums Dutch charts reaching number 23 in September 1980, up on the Roof is still performed by Rockapella at many of their concerts and appears on the live album In Concert. The Jamaican reggae band The Congos has also recorded this track on their Back In The Black Ark album in 2010, bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band covered the song live in 1975 during the initial Born To Run tour. Clifford of The Muppets performed the song on a 1997 episode of Muppets Tonight, lyrics of this song at MetroLyrics
Up on the Roof (song)
–
James Taylor and Carole King perform "Up on the Roof" together in 2010 during their Troubadour Reunion Tour.
47.
Simon Cowell
–
Simon Phillip Cowell is an English reality television judge and producer, entrepreneur, and philanthropist. Cowell is the founder and chief executive of the British entertainment company Syco. As a judge, Cowell often makes blunt and controversial comments, including insults and wisecracks about contestants and he combines activities in both the television and music industries. Cowell has produced and promoted singles and albums for various singers that he has taken under his wing and he was most recently featured on the tenth series of Britains Got Talent and the thirteenth series of UKs The X Factor. In 2004 and 2010, Time named Cowell one of the 100 most influential people in the world, in 2008 The Daily Telegraph ranked him sixth in their list of the 100 most powerful people in British culture. Simon Phillip Cowell was born on 7 October 1959 in Lambeth, London and his mother, Julie Brett, was a ballet dancer and socialite, and his father, Eric Selig Phillip Cowell, Sr. was an estate agent developer and music industry executive. Cowells father was from a mostly Jewish family, though he did not discuss his background with his children, Cowells mother was from a Christian background, and was of English descent. He has a brother, Nicholas Cowell, three half-brothers, John, Tony, and Michael Cowell, and a half-sister, June Cowell. Cowell attended Radlett Preparatory School and the independent Dover College as did his brother and he passed English Language and Literature, and then attended Windsor Technical College where he gained another GCE in Sociology. However, after failing to get a promotion, he left to try out other jobs before returning to EMI, in the early 1980s, he left EMI to form E&S Music with his former boss at EMI, but quit in 1983. He then formed Fanfare Records with Iain Burton, initially selling exercise videos and he had his first hit song in 1986 with So Macho by Sinitta, success also came through Stock Aitken Waterman who produced a number of hits in the 1980s. However, in 1989, the company went under and Simon Cowell nearly became bankrupt, Simon Cowell then found a job with BMG as an A&R consultant, and set up S Records under BMG. He restarted his career in the business by creating novelty records with acts such as the puppets Zig and Zag, Power Rangers. The recording by the duo, now named Robson & Jerome, quickly reached number 1 in the UK and it became the best selling single of 1995, and their self-titled album released later in the year also became the best-selling album of 1995. They would release an album and 2 more singles before quitting, selling 7 million albums and 5 million singles in total. According to Cowell, they made him his first million, later acts he signed included Five, Westlife and Teletubbies. He also became a judge on the first season of American Idol in 2002, with his notoriously critical reputation, Cowell is likened to TV personalities such as Judith Sheindlin, and Anne Robinson of her show. Cowells prominence grew, fed by his phrase, I dont mean to be rude
Simon Cowell
–
Cowell arriving at
The X Factor USA red carpet in December 2011.
Simon Cowell
–
Cowell alongside
Cheryl Cole as judges on The X Factor UK 's
seventh series on June 21, 2010
Simon Cowell
–
One Direction signed to Cowell's record label after finishing third and being mentored by Cowell in 2010. The group are one of Cowell's international breakout acts.
48.
Soldier Soldier
–
Soldier Soldier is a British television drama series. The title comes from a song of the same name - Soldier, soldier will you marry me, with your musket, fife. - an instrumental version of which was used as its theme music, created by Lucy Gannon, produced by Central Television and broadcast on the ITV network, it ran for a total of seven series and 82 episodes from 10 June 1991 to 9 December 1997. It featured the lives of a group of soldiers in B Company, 1st Battalion The Kings Fusiliers. Set in the aftermath of the Cold War, it is a dramatisation of army life in the early to mid-1990s. This is perhaps best demonstrated during the series, around 1994. Within the world of Soldier Soldier, the Kings Fusiliers are forced to amalgamate with the Cumbrian Regiment, another fictional regiment, at the time Soldier Soldier was broadcast, the fatality rate was low, with most casualties due to training accidents and suicides. The military as a whole was assigned to performing more peacekeeping missions than actually doing any fighting, as a consequence, the show served well to portray the army, despite the domestic problems that could occur, in a fairly good light. It was their performance of Unchained Melody in an episode of the 4th series that propelled them to stardom, giving them several number one songs, at the end of the fifth series in 1995, both actors left the show. After a decline in viewing figures 1997 saw the decision to end the drama after seven series, TV presenter Chris Kelly wrote and produced some episodes of the series. T. I. Like all fusilier regiments, both the Kings and the Kings Own wear a hackle in its head-dress, this is coloured dark blue over white. During the third series of Soldier Soldier, which took place during the Options for Change military reforms, as a result, the new regiment was named the Kings Own Fusiliers. The cap badge of the Kings Own Fusiliers features the lion surmounting the crown, surmounting the garter band is the traditional flame that indicates a fusilier regiment. As the Kings Fusiliers / Kings Own Fusiliers has no location in its name. In early episodes, the officers discuss the possibility of being amalgamated with other regiments from the Midlands. During Series 1, the possibility of merging or disbanding regiments is discussed, and at point, the Cumbrians. However, given that the series was made in the Midlands by the Central Films division of Central Television, 1st Battalion, Kings Fusiliers Lt Colonel D. Fortune A mild mannered man who is nonetheless a firm disciplinarian, between the 1st & 2nd series, he meets and then marries a journalist
Soldier Soldier
–
Soldier Soldier
Soldier Soldier
–
Cap badge of the King's Own Fusiliers
49.
Robson Green
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Robson Golightly Green is an English actor, singer, songwriter, and television presenter. Green portrayed Fusilier Dave Tucker in Soldier Soldier and Dr. Tony Hill in Wire in the Blood and he also presented Extreme Fishing, Extreme Fishing Challenge, and Tales from Northumberland, as well as playing hospital porter Jimmy Powell in BBC drama series Casualty. Currently, he plays Detective Inspector Geordie Keating on ITVs Grantchester and he was one half of the singing duo Robson & Jerome, who had several number 1 singles in the 1990s. Green was born on 18 December 1964 in Dilston Hospital, Hexham and grew up in Blythe Close, Dudley and his father, also named Robson Green, was a miner, and his mother Anne a cleaner and a shopkeeper. Green grew up in Dudley, a mining village a few miles north of Newcastle upon Tyne. His father worked down the coal mining pits and he studied at Dudley Middle Comprehensive School. After being inspired by jets flying overhead, he decided he wanted to join the Royal Air Force, and at 16 he joined the Air Training Corps, Green however decided against a career in the RAF after two weeks at an officer training camp. He also learned to play a guitar, later forming his first band, Solid State and he also spent one night a week at Backworth Drama Centre, and then appeared in a series of productions at both school and Backworth. Green left school at 16 with five O-levels, and joined Swan Hunters shipyard as a draughtsman, on one occasion, he also tried his hand at professional boxing. He attended three boxing training sessions for the play Francie Nichol, in which he played a boxer, after two years at Swans, Green decided on a career in acting. After auditioning, he began training under the tutelage of artistic director Max Roberts, during his training, he continued his musical career, as a member of a successful local band, the Workie Tickets. By 1988, he began his career, featured in the award-winning series Shields Stories. Growing up in Tyneside, Robson Green was chosen to be the lead in a made by Amber films that narrated the contemporaneous social problems faced by working-class people in Thatchers Britain. Each episode examined one aspect of living in a harsh and embittered environment, the soap opera gave Green his big break in film. It was quickly followed by offers of work, Green first made his name as an actor in the BBC series Casualty, but after three series, moved to national prominence as fusilier Dave Tucker in the drama series Soldier Soldier. In 1995, one called for Green and co-star Jerome Flynn to sing Unchained Melody. Subsequently, ITV was inundated by people wanting to buy the song, subsequently, they had two further No.1 singles and two No.1 albums, all remakes of standards. The song gave Green the opportunity to sign a deal with ITV to star in several of the networks dramas, including Touching Evil, Grafters
Robson Green
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Robson Green during a shooting in
Cambridge, September 2015
Robson Green
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Personalities
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