1.
Hollywood Walk of Fame
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The Walk of Fame is administered by the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce and maintained by the self-financing Hollywood Historic Trust. It is a popular tourist destination, with a reported 10 million visitors in 2003, as of 2017, the Walk of Fame comprises over 2,600 stars, spaced at 6-foot intervals. The monuments are coral-pink terrazzo five-point stars rimmed with brass inlaid into a charcoal-colored terrazzo background, in the upper portion of each star field the name of the honoree is inlaid in brass block letters. Below the inscription, in the half of the star field. Approximately 20 new stars are added to the Walk each year, special category stars recognize various contributions by corporate entities, service organizations, and special honorees, and display emblems unique to those honorees. The moons are silver and grey terrazzo circles rimmed in brass on a square pink terrazzo background, the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce credits E. M. Stuart, its volunteer president in 1953, with the original idea for creating a Walk of Fame. Stuart reportedly proposed the Walk as a means to maintain the glory of a community whose name means glamor, Harry Sugarman, another Chamber member and president of the Hollywood Improvement Association, receives credit in an independent account. A committee was formed to flesh out the idea, and a firm was retained to develop specific proposals. By 1955 the basic concept and general design had been agreed upon, multiple accounts exist for the origin of the star concept. By another account, the stars were inspired, by Sugarmans drinks menu, which featured celebrity photos framed in gold stars. In February 1956 a prototype was unveiled featuring a caricature of an example honoree inside a star on a brown background. The committees met at the Brown Derby restaurant, and included such prominent names as Cecil B, deMille, Samuel Goldwyn, Jesse L. Lasky, Walt Disney, Hal Roach, Mack Sennett, and Walter Lantz. A requirement stipulated by the audio recording committee specified minimum sales of one million records or 250,000 albums for all music category nominees. The committee soon realized that many important recording artists would be excluded from the Walk by that requirement, as a result, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences was formed for the purpose of creating a separate award system for the music business. The first Grammy Awards were presented in Beverly Hills in 1959, construction of the Walk began in 1958 but two lawsuits delayed completion. The first was filed by local property owners challenging the legality of the $1.25 million tax assessment levied upon them to pay for the Walk, along with new street lighting, in October 1959 the assessment was ruled legal. The second lawsuit, filed by Charles Chaplin, Jr. sought damages for the exclusion of his father, chaplins suit was dismissed in 1960, paving the way for completion of the project. Woodwards name was one of eight drawn at random from the original 1,558, the other seven names were Olive Borden, Ronald Colman, Louise Fazenda, Preston Foster, Burt Lancaster, Edward Sedgwick, and Ernest Torrence
2.
Norman, Oklahoma
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Norman /ˈnɔːrmən/ is a city in the U. S. state of Oklahoma 20 miles south of downtown Oklahoma City in its metropolitan area. The population was 110,925 at the 2010 census, Normans estimated population of 120,284 in 2015 makes it the third-largest city in Oklahoma, and the city serves as the county seat of Cleveland County. Norman was settled during the Land Run of 1889, which opened the former Unassigned Lands of Indian Territory to American pioneer settlement, the city was named in honor of Abner Norman, the areas initial land surveyor, and was formally incorporated on May 13,1891. The university is known for its sporting events by teams under the banner of the nickname Sooners. The university is home to museums, including the Fred Jones Jr. Museum of Art, which contains the largest collection of French Impressionist art ever given to an American university, Norman lies within Tornado Alley, a geographic region where tornadic activity is particularly frequent and intense. The Oklahoma City metropolitan area, including Norman, is the most tornado-prone area in the world, the Storm Prediction Center, a branch of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is located at the NWC. SPC forecasts severe storm and tornado outbreaks nationwide, additionally, research is conducted at the co-located National Severe Storms Laboratory, which includes field research and operates various experimental weather radars. In 2008, CNNs Money Magazine ranked Norman as the sixth best small city within the United States to live in, the Oklahoma region became part of the United States with the Louisiana Purchase in 1803. Treaties of 1832 and 1833 assigned the area today as Norman to the Creek Nation. Following the Civil War, the Creeks were accused of aiding the Confederacy, in the early 1870s, the federal government undertook a survey of these unassigned lands. Abner Ernest Norman, a 23-year-old surveyor from Kentucky, was hired to oversee part of this project. In 1887, the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway began service to the area, which was later opened to settlement as part of the Land Run of 1889, early settlers decided to keep the name Norman. On April 22,1889, the Land Run saw the founding of Norman, with at least 150 residents spending the night in makeshift campsites, by the next morning a downtown was already being constructed. On December 19,1890, Larsh and Waggoner were successful with the passage of Council Bill 114, the City of Norman was formally incorporated on May 13,1891. The city has continued to grow throughout the decades, the rail lines eventually transitioned to freight during the 1940s as the United States Numbered Highway system developed. The city population reached 11,429 in 1940, in 1941, the University of Oklahoma and Norman city officials established Max Westheimer Field, a university airstrip, and then leased it to the U. S. Navy as a Naval Flight Training Center in 1942. The training center was used for training combat pilots during World War II, a second training center, known as Naval Air Technical Training Center, and a naval hospital were later established to the south
3.
Country music
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Country music is a genre of United States popular music that originated in the southern United States in the 1920s. It takes its roots from the genre of United States, such as folk music. Blues modes have been used throughout its recorded history. The term country music is used today to many styles and subgenres. In 2009 country music was the most listened to rush hour radio genre during the evening commute, immigrants to the Southern Appalachian Mountains of North America brought the music and instruments of Europe and Africa along with them for nearly 300 years. Country music was introduced to the world as a Southern phenomenon, Bristol, Tennessee, has been formally recognized by the U. S. Congress as the Birthplace of Country Music, based on the historic Bristol recording sessions of 1927. Since 2014, the city has been home to the Birthplace of Country Music Museum, historians have also noted the influence of the less-known Johnson City sessions of 1928 and 1929, and the Knoxville sessions of 1929 and 1930. Prior to these, pioneer settlers, in the Great Smoky Mountains region, had developed a musical heritage. The first generation emerged in the early 1920s, with Atlantas music scene playing a role in launching countrys earliest recording artists. Okeh Records began issuing hillbilly music records by Fiddlin John Carson as early as 1923, followed by Columbia Records in 1924, many hillbilly musicians, such as Cliff Carlisle, recorded blues songs throughout the 1920s. The most important was the Grand Ole Opry, aired starting in 1925 by WSM in Nashville, during the 1930s and 1940s, cowboy songs, or Western music, which had been recorded since the 1920s, were popularized by films made in Hollywood. Bob Wills was another musician from the Lower Great Plains who had become very popular as the leader of a hot string band. His mix of country and jazz, which started out as dance hall music, Wills was one of the first country musicians known to have added an electric guitar to his band, in 1938. Country musicians began recording boogie in 1939, shortly after it had played at Carnegie Hall. Gospel music remained a component of country music. It became known as honky tonk, and had its roots in Western swing and the music of Mexico. By the early 1950s a blend of Western swing, country boogie, rockabilly was most popular with country fans in the 1950s, and 1956 could be called the year of rockabilly in country music. Beginning in the mid-1950s, and reaching its peak during the early 1960s, the late 1960s in American music produced a unique blend as a result of traditionalist backlash within separate genres
4.
Bluegrass music
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Bluegrass music is a form of American roots music, and a related genre of country music. Settlers from Britain and Ireland arrived in Appalachia during the 18th century and these traditions consisted primarily of English and Scottish ballads—which were essentially unaccompanied narrative—and dance music, such as Irish reels, which were accompanied by a fiddle. Many older bluegrass songs come directly from the British Isles, several Appalachian bluegrass ballads, such as Pretty Saro, Barbara Allen, Cuckoo Bird and House Carpenter, come from England and preserve the English ballad tradition both melodically and lyrically. Others, such as The Two Sisters, also come from England, however, some bluegrass fiddle songs popular in Appalachia, such as Leather Britches, and Pretty Polly, have Scottish roots. The dance tune Cumberland Gap may be derived from the tune that accompanies the Scottish ballad Bonnie George Campbell and this is in contrast to old-time music, in which all instruments play the melody together or one instrument carries the lead throughout while the others provide accompaniment. Breakdowns are often characterized by rapid tempos and unusual instrumental dexterity, there are three major subgenres of bluegrass and one unofficial subgenre. Traditional bluegrass has musicians playing folk songs, tunes with traditional chord progressions, progressive bluegrass groups may use electric instruments and import songs from other genres, particularly rock & roll. Examples include Cadillac Sky and Bearfoot, another subgenre, Bluegrass gospel uses Christian lyrics, soulful three- or four-part harmony singing, and sometimes the playing of instrumentals. Bluegrass music has attracted a following worldwide. Bluegrass pioneer Bill Monroe characterized the genre as, Scottish bagpipes and its Methodist and Holiness and Baptist. Its blues and jazz, and it has a high lonesome sound, unlike mainstream country music, bluegrass is traditionally played on acoustic stringed instruments. The fiddle, five-string banjo, guitar, mandolin, and upright bass are often joined by the resonator guitar and this instrumentation originated in rural dance bands and is the basis on which the earliest bluegrass bands were formed. The guitar is now most commonly played with a style referred to as flatpicking, unlike the style of bluegrass guitarists such as Lester Flatt. Banjo players often use the three-finger picking style made popular by such as Don Reno. Fiddlers frequently play in thirds and fifths, producing a sound that is characteristic to the bluegrass style, bassists almost always play pizzicato, occasionally adopting the slap-style to accentuate the beat. A bluegrass bass line is generally a rhythmic alternation between the tonic and dominant of each chord, with walking bass excursions. Instrumentation has been a topic of debate. Traditional bluegrass performers believe the correct instrumentation is used by Bill Monroes band
5.
MCA Records
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MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc. which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group, of which MCA Records was still part. MCAs country division, MCA Nashville, is an active imprint of Universal Music Group Nashville. MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger, as American Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into the top film studio in town, producing hit after hit. In 1966, MCA formed Uni Records and in 1967 purchased Kapp Records which was placed under Uni Records management. In 1937, the owner of Decca, E. R. Lewis, chose to split off the U. K. Decca company from the U. S. company, companies if the emerging hostilities of Nazi Germany should lead to war – correctly foreseeing World War II. Lewis sold the remainder of his U. S. Decca holdings when war did break out, MCAs U. S. -based Decca Records kept the rights to the Decca name in North and South America and parts of Asia including Japan. U. K. Decca owned the rights to the Decca name in the rest of the world, after the war, British Decca formed a new U. S. subsidiary, London Records. During this time U. S. Decca issued records outside North America on the Brunswick, in 1967, Brunswick and Coral were replaced by the MCA label to release U. S. Decca and Kapp label material outside North America. Initial activity as MCA Records was based in London and MCA Records UK was formally launched on February 16,1968. Among the early artists on the MCA label, around 1971, were groups Wishbone Ash, Osibisa, Stackridge and Budgie, early MCA releases were distributed by U. K. Decca but it moved to EMI in 1974. In 1979, distribution moved to CBS, while the last releases in the 1980s were self-distributed, as the U. S. division of MCA Records was not established until 1972, the earliest U. K. MCA Records material was released in the U. S. on either Kapp or Decca, Uni label material was issued on the Uni label worldwide. In 1970, MCA reorganized its Canadian record company Compo Company Ltd. into MCA Records, in April 1970, former Warner Bros. Records president Mike Maitland joined MCA and initially served as Deccas general manager. Maitland was unsuccessful in his attempt to consolidate Warner Bros. Records with co-owned Atlantic Records which led to his departure from Warner, the three labels maintained their identities for a short time but were retired in favor of the MCA label in 1973. Drift Away by Dobie Gray became the final Decca pop label release in the U. S in 1973. Beginning the same year the catalogs of Decca, Uni and Kapp were reissued in the U. S. on the MCA label under the supervision of veteran Decca producer Milt Gabler. The first MCA Records release in the U. S. was former Uni artist Elton Johns Crocodile Rock single in 1972, MCA label used a black with curved rainbow design until the late 1970s. This design was inspired by the U. S. Decca label of the 1960s
6.
Joe Walsh
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Joseph Fidler Joe Walsh is an American singer-songwriter, composer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 40 years, Walsh has been a member of five rock bands, James Gang, Barnstorm, the Eagles, The Party Boys. In the 1990s, he was also a member of the short-lived supergroup The Best and he has also experienced success both as a solo artist and prolific session musician, being featured on a wide array of other artists recordings. In 2011, Rolling Stone placed Walsh at the number 54 spot on its list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time, while the band would stay together for three albums over three years, their works were marketed as Walsh solo projects. The last Barnstorm album, 1974s So What contained significant guest contributions from members of the Eagles. In 1998 a readers poll conducted by Guitarist magazine selected the guitar solos on the track Hotel California by Walsh, Guitar World magazine listed it at eighth of the Top 100 Guitar Solos. Besides his work with his bands, he has released twelve solo studio albums, six compilation albums. His solo hits include Rocky Mountain Way, Lifes Been Good, All Night Long, A Life of Illusion and Ordinary Average Guy. As a member of the Eagles, Walsh was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998, the Eagles are considered to be one of the most influential bands of the 1970s, and they remain the best-selling American band in the history of popular music. Ive loved his style since the early James Gang, Eric Clapton said that Hes one of the best guitarists to surface in some time. I dont listen to records, but I listen to his. The Whos guitarist Pete Townshend, a friend of Walshs, commented that Joe Walsh is a fluid, therere not many like that around. Joseph Fidler Walsh was born on November 20,1947, in Wichita, Kansas, Walshs mother was a classically trained pianist of Scottish and German ancestry, and Walsh was adopted by his stepfather at the age of five after his biological father was killed in a plane crash. Walsh and his family lived in Columbus, Ohio, for a number of years during his youth, when Walsh was twelve years old, his family moved to New York City. Later, Walsh moved to Montclair, New Jersey, and he attended Montclair High School, inspired by the success of the Beatles, he replaced Bruce Hoffman as the bass player in the locally popular group the Nomads in Montclair, beginning his career as a rock musician. After high school, Walsh attended Kent State University, where he spent time in bands playing around the Cleveland area. The Measles recorded for Super K Productions Ohio Express, I Find I Think of You, And Its True, after one term, he dropped out of university to pursue his musical career. The Measles, an Ohio garage bar band, were formed in 1965 by four Kent State University students, one of whom was Joe Walsh
7.
Amy Grant
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Amy Lee Grant is an American singer, songwriter, musician, author, media personality and actress. She is known for performing contemporary Christian music and for a crossover to pop music in the 1980s and 1990s. She has been referred to as The Queen of Christian Pop, as of 2009, she had sold more than 30 million albums worldwide, won six Grammy Awards and 22 Gospel Music Association Dove Awards, and had the first Christian album ever to go Platinum. She was honored with a star on Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2006 for her contributions to the entertainment industry and she made her debut as a teenager, and gained fame in Christian music during the 1980s with such hits as Fathers Eyes, El Shaddai, and Angels. In the mid-1980s, she began broadening her audience and soon one of the first CCM artists to cross over into mainstream pop on the heels of her successful albums Unguarded. In 1986, she scored her first Billboard Hot 100 No.1 song in a duet with Peter Cetera, The Next Time I Fall. S. and producing her second No.1 pop single Baby Baby. She is the author of books, including a memoir, Mosaic, Pieces of My Life So Far. Born in Augusta, Georgia, Grant is the youngest of four sisters and her family settled in Nashville, Tennessee, in 1967. She is a great-granddaughter of Nashville philanthropist A. M. Burton and she has acknowledged the influence of the Burtons on her development as a musician, starting with their common membership in Nashvilles Ashwood Church of Christ. In 1976, Grant wrote her first song, performed in public for the first time at Harpeth Hall School and she recorded a demo tape for her parents with church youth-leader Brown Bannister. When Bannister was dubbing a copy of the tape, Chris Christian and he played it over the phone, and she was offered a recording contract, five weeks before her 16th birthday. In 1977, she recorded her first album titled Amy Grant, produced by Brown Bannister and it was released in early 1978, one month before her high-school graduation. Toward the end of 1978 she performed her first ticketed concert after beginning her first year at Furman University. In May 1979, while at the party for her second album, My Fathers Eyes, Grant met Gary Chapman. Grant and Chapman toured together in mid-1979, in late 1980, she transferred to Vanderbilt University, where she was a member of the sorority Kappa Alpha Theta. It was during these shows that Grant also established one of her concert trademarks. To date, Grant continues to take off her shoes midway through performances,1982 saw the release of her breakthrough album Age to Age. The album contains the track, El Shaddai and the Grant-Chapman penned song
8.
Lawyer
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A lawyer is a person who practices law, as an advocate, barrister, attorney, counselor or solicitor or chartered legal executive. The role of the lawyer varies greatly across legal jurisdictions, in practice, legal jurisdictions exercise their right to determine who is recognized as being a lawyer. As a result, the meaning of the lawyer may vary from place to place. In Australia, the lawyer is used to refer to both barristers and solicitors. In Canada, the word lawyer refers to individuals who have been called to the bar or. Common law lawyers in Canada are formally and properly called barristers and solicitors, however, in Quebec, civil law advocates often call themselves attorney and sometimes barrister and solicitor in English. The Legal Services Act 2007 defines the activities that may only be performed by a person who is entitled to do so pursuant to the Act. Lawyer is not a protected title, in India, the term lawyer is often colloquially used, but the official term is advocate as prescribed under the Advocates Act,1961. In Scotland, the word refers to a more specific group of legally trained people. It specifically includes advocates and solicitors, in a generic sense, it may also include judges and law-trained support staff. In the United States, the term refers to attorneys who may practice law. It is never used to refer to patent agents or paralegals, in fact, there are regulatory restrictions on non-lawyers like paralegals practicing law. Other nations tend to have terms for the analogous concept. In most countries, particularly civil law countries, there has been a tradition of giving many legal tasks to a variety of civil law notaries, clerks, and scriveners. Several countries that originally had two or more legal professions have since fused or united their professions into a type of lawyer. Most countries in this category are common law countries, though France, in countries with fused professions, a lawyer is usually permitted to carry out all or nearly all the responsibilities listed below. Arguing a clients case before a judge or jury in a court of law is the province of the barrister in England. However, the boundary between barristers and solicitors has evolved, in England today, the barrister monopoly covers only appellate courts, and barristers must compete directly with solicitors in many trial courts
9.
Judge
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A judge presides over court proceedings, either alone or as a part of a panel of judges. The powers, functions, method of appointment, discipline, the judge is supposed to conduct the trial impartially and, typically, in an open court. In some jurisdictions, the judges powers may be shared with a jury, in inquisitorial systems of criminal investigation, a judge might also be an examining magistrate. A variety of traditions have become associated with the rank or occupation, in many parts of the world, judges wear long robes and sit on an elevated platform during trials. In some countries, especially in the Commonwealth of Nations, judges wear wigs, the long wig often associated with judges is now reserved for ceremonial occasions, although it was part of the standard attire in previous centuries. A short wig resembling but not identical to a wig would be worn in court. This tradition, however, is being phased out in Britain in non-criminal courts, American judges frequently wear black robes. American judges have ceremonial gavels, although American judges have court deputies or bailiffs, however, in some of the Western United States, like California, judges did not always wear robes and instead wore everyday clothing. Today, some members of state courts, such as the Maryland Court of Appeals wear distinct dress. In Italy and Portugal both judges and lawyers wear black robes. In Oman, the judge wears a stripe, while the attorneys wear the black gown. In Hong Kong, court proceedings are conducted in either English or Cantonese Chinese, Judges of Hong Kong retain many of the English traditions such as wearing wigs and robes in trials. In the lower courts, magistrates are addressed as Your worship, in writing, the post-nominal letters PJ is used to refer to a permanent judge of the Court of Final Appeal and NPJ to a non-permanent judge. In the High Court, the abbreviation JA is used to denote a justice of appeal, Masters of the High Court are addressed as Master. When trials are conducted in Chinese, judges were addressed, in Cantonese, as Fat Goon Dai Yan before the transfer of sovereignty from the United Kingdom to China, and as Fat Goon Gok Ha since 1997. In India, judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts were addressed as Your Lordship or My Lord and Your Ladyship or My Lady, the Bar Council of India had adopted a resolution in April 2006 and added a new Rule 49 in the Advocates Act. As per the rule, lawyers can address the court as Your Honour, if it is a subordinate court, lawyers can use terms such as sir or any equivalent phrase in the regional language concerned. Explaining the rationale behind the move, the Bar Council had held that the such as My Lord
10.
Louisville, Kentucky
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Louisville is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 30th-most populous city in the United States. It is one of two cities in Kentucky designated as first-class, the other being the states second-largest city of Lexington, Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County. Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is named after King Louis XVI of France, making Louisville one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachian Mountains. Sited beside the Falls of the Ohio, the major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad. Its main airport is also the site of United Parcel Services worldwide air hub, since 2003, Louisvilles borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County because of a city-county merger. The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government, the citys total consolidated population as of the 2014 census estimate was 760,026. However, the total of 612,780 excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources. As of 2014, the MSA had a population of 1,269,702, the history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the areas geography and location. The rapids at the Falls of the Ohio created a barrier to river travel, the first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him, two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from Indian raids, but moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The citys early growth was influenced by the fact river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had swelled to 7,000, the city grew rapidly in its formative years. Louisville was a shipping port and slaves worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for slaves to the north, during the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, by the end of the war, Louisville had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon, took place nearby
11.
Mark Knopfler
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Mark Freuder Knopfler, OBE is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist, record producer and film score composer. He is best known as the lead guitarist, lead singer and songwriter for the rock band Dire Straits, since Dire Straits disbanded in 1995, Knopfler has recorded and produced eight solo albums and, as with his previous band, produced many hit songs. He has composed and produced film scores for nine films, including Local Hero, Cal, The Princess Bride, Wag the Dog and Altamira. In addition to his work with Dire Straits and as a solo artist and composer, Knopfler has recorded and performed with prominent musicians. He has produced albums for Tina Turner, Bob Dylan, Knopfler is a fingerstyle guitarist and was ranked 27th on Rolling Stones list of 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Knopfler and Dire Straits have sold in excess of 120 million records to date, Mark Freuder Knopfler was born on 12 August 1949 in Glasgow, Scotland, to an English mother, Louisa Mary, and a Hungarian-Jewish father, Erwin Knopfler. His mother was a teacher and his father was an architect, Knopfler later described his father as a Marxist agnostic. The Knopflers originally lived in the Glasgow area and Mark Knopflers younger brother David was also born there, the family re-settled in Knopflers mothers home town of Blyth, Northumberland, in North East England when he was seven years old. Mark had attended Bearsden Primary school in Scotland for two years, but both brothers attended Gosforth Grammar School, originally inspired by his uncle Kingsleys harmonica and boogie-woogie piano playing, Mark soon became familiar with many different styles of music. During the 1960s, he formed and joined bands and listened to singers like Elvis Presley and guitarists Chet Atkins, Scotty Moore, B. B King, Django Reinhardt, Hank Marvin. At 16, he made a television appearance as part of a harmony duo. In 1968, after studying journalism for a year at Harlow College, two years later, he decided to further his studies, and went on to graduate with a degree in English at the University of Leeds. In April 1970, while living in Leeds, Knopfler recorded a demo disk of a song he had written. The recording included Knopfler, Steve Phillips, Dave Johnson, Johnson, Granger, and vocalist Mick Dewhirst played with Knopfler in a band called Silverheels. On graduation in 1973, Knopfler moved to London and joined a High Wycombe-based band called Brewers Droop, appearing on the album The Booze Brothers. One night, while spending time with friends, the only guitar available was an old acoustic with a badly warped neck that had been strung with extra-light strings to make it playable, even so, he found it impossible to play unless he finger-picked it. He said in an interview, That was where I found my voice on guitar. After a brief stint with Brewers Droop, Knopfler took a job as a lecturer at Loughton College in Essex — a position he held for three years, throughout this time, he continued performing with local pub bands, including the Café Racers
12.
Dire Straits
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Dire Straits were a British rock band that formed in Deptford, London, in 1977 by Mark Knopfler, his younger brother David Knopfler, John Illsley, and Pick Withers. Dire Straits sound drew from a variety of influences, including jazz, folk, and blues. Despite the prominence of rock during the bands early years, their stripped-down sound contrasted with punk. Many of Dire Straits compositions were melancholic, Dire Straits biggest selling album, 1985s Brothers in Arms has sold over 30 million copies, and was the first album to sell a million copies on the then new compact disc format. They also became one of the worlds most commercially successful bands, Dire Straits won four Grammy Awards, three Brit Awards—winning Best British Group twice, two MTV Video Music Awards, and various other music awards. The bands songs include Money for Nothing, Sultans of Swing, So Far Away, Walk of Life, Brothers in Arms, Private Investigations, Romeo and Juliet, Tunnel of Love, Telegraph Road, and Lady Writer. According to the Guinness Book of British Hit Albums, Dire Straits have spent over 1,100 weeks on the UK albums chart and their career spanned a combined total of 15 years. They originally split up in 1988, but reformed in 1991, there were several changes in personnel over both periods, leaving Mark Knopfler and John Illsley as the only two original bandmates who remained throughout the bands career. Brothers Mark and David Knopfler, and friends John Illsley, after a performance at The Rock Garden in 1977, they took a demo tape to MCA in Soho but were turned down. Then they went to DJ Charlie Gillett, who had a show called Honky Tonk on BBC Radio London. The band simply wanted advice, but Gillett liked the music so much that he played Sultans of Swing on his show, two months later, Dire Straits signed a recording contract with the Vertigo division of Phonogram Inc. The groups first album, Dire Straits, was recorded at Basing Street studios in West London in February 1978, produced by Muff Winwood, the album was first released in the United Kingdom on Vertigo Records, then a division of Phonogram Inc. The album came to the attention of A&R representative Karin Berg and she felt that it was the kind of music audiences were hungry for, but only one person in her department agreed at first. Many of the songs on the album reflected Mark Knopflers experiences in Newcastle, Leeds and that same year, Dire Straits began a tour as opening band for Talking Heads after the re-released Sultans of Swing finally started to climb the UK charts. This led to a United States recording contract with Warner Bros, Records, before the end of 1978, Dire Straits had released their self-titled debut worldwide. They received more attention in the United States, but also arrived at the top of the charts in Canada, Australia, Dire Straits eventually went top 10 in every European country. The following year, Dire Straits embarked on their first North American tour and they played 51 sold-out concerts over a 38-day period. Sultans of Swing scaled the charts to number four in the United States, the song was one of Dire Straits biggest hits and became a fixture in the bands live performances
