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ൠ Movin' to New Blogsite

2009-05-26T03:56:00.000-07:00

Dear Viewers

Please take note this blogsite shall be moved to a new URL : http://bringingbackthegoodtimes.blogspot.com to be in synchrony with the blog title. Looking forward to your strong continuos support and invaluable comments & feedback. Cheers!

ക JENNIFER LOPEZ, If You Had My Love|Love Don't Cost A Thing|Play|I'm Real|Ain't It Funny|Get Right|Hold You..|Control Myself|Do It Well|Hold It..|

2009-05-23T06:56:00.000-07:00

Jennifer Lynn Lopez (born July 24 1969) popularly nicknamed J.Lo is an American actor singer record producer dancer fashion designer and television producer. She is the richest person of Latin American descent in Hollywood according to Forbes and the most influential Hispanic entertainer in the U.S. according to People en Español's list of "100 Most Influential Hispanics". Jennifer Lopez was born and grew up in the South Bronx New York to Puerto Rican parents Guadalupe Rodrígueza kindergarten teacher and David Lopeza computer specialist. She has two siblings Lynda and Leslie. Lopez spent her entire academic career in Catholic schools finishing at the all-girls Preston High School in the Bronx. She financed singing and dancing lessons for herself from the age of 19.

'On the 6' Lopez's debut album 'On the 6' a reference to the 6 subway line she used to take growing up in Castle Hill was released on June 11999and reached the top ten of the Billboard 200. The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one lead single "If You Had My Love".

Lopez's second album J. Lo was released on January 23 2001 and debuted at number one on the Billboard 200. When her film The Wedding Planner achieved number one shortly after Lopez become the first actress-singer to have a film and an album at number one in the same week. The lead single "Love Don't Cost a Thing" was her first number-one single in the United Kingdom and took her into the top five on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

Lopez played the lead role in the 1997 film Selena for which she was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for "Best Actress - Motion Picture Musical or Comedy" in 1998. She became the first Hispanic actress to get paid $1 million or more for a film role.

She followed it up with "Play" which gave her another top twenty hit on the Billboard Hot 100 and reached number three in the UK. Her next two singles were "I'm Real" and "Ain't It Funny" which were quickly rising up the charts. To capitalize on this Lopez asked The Inc. Records (then known as Murder Inc.) to remix both songs which featured rap artists Ja Rule (on both) and Caddillac Tah (on the "Ain't It Funny" remix). Both remixes reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 for several weeks. She re-released J. Lo on her thirty-second birthday with the remix of "I'm Real" as a bonus track. Also"Is Ya Se Acabó" was released in Spain due to the success "Que Ironia".

After a year away from the music scene Lopez released her fourth studio album Rebirth on March 1 2005. Although debuting and peaking at number two on the Billboard 200 the album quickly fell off the charts. It spawned the hit "Get Right" which reached the top fifteen in the U.S. and became her second Platinum hit (after "If You Had My Love"). "Get Right" was also successful in the UK becoming her second number-one single there.

The second single "Hold You Down" which featured Fat Joe reached number sixty-four on the U.S. Hot 100 it peaked at number six in the UK and ascended to the top twenty in Australia. Another song "Cherry Pie" was slated for a release in late 2005 but the plans to make a video were canceled as the album sales were definitely too weak and the promotion budget exceeded. It was released to radio stations in Spain. Rebirth was certified Platinum in the U.S. By the RIAA.

Lopez was then featured on LL Cool J's single "Control Myself" which was released on February 1 2006. It reached number four on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and number two on the UK Singles Chart. It was Lopez's first U.S. Top ten hit in three years.

"Do It Well" was released as the lead single and reached the top 20 in many countries. Lopez has sold over 48 million albums worldwide. Lopez made the 2007 Forbes magazine's list of The 20 Richest Women In Entertainment ranking ninth. Her wealth is estimated to be $110 million.

"Hold It Don't Drop It" was released as the second single in only in some countries from Europe. Starting in 1999 Lopez released seven albums including two number one albums on the Billboard 200 charts and four Billboard Hot 100 number one singles. She won the 2003 American Music Award for Favorite Pop/Rock Female Artist and the 2007 American Music Award for Favorite Latin Artist. She has appeared in numerous films and has won ALMA Awards for outstanding actress for her work in Selena Out of Sight and Angel Eyes. She parlayed her media fame into a fashion line and various perfumes with her celebrity endorsement.

Lopez is one of the highest-paid actresses in Hollywood and the highest-paid Latin actress in Hollywood history though she's never had a film grossing over $100 million in the U.S. Lopez appeared in the 2007 Guinness World Records as the most powerful actress. She was on the The Hollywood Reporter's list of the top ten actress salaries in 2002 2003 and 2004. She received $15,000,000 for her role in 'Monster-in-Law'. Her top-grossing film domestically is 'Maid in Manhattan' which grossed $94,011,225 and her most successful international film 'Shall We Dance?' grossed $112,238,000 at the international box office. Domestically 'Shall We Dance?' grossed $57,890,460 and a total of $170,128,460 worldwide.

The second single released is called "Me Haces Falta" and the third is "Por Arriesgarnos". Lopez won an American Music Award as the Favorite Latin Artist in 2007. Como Ama una Mujer holds the record for the best opening week Internet sales for a Spanish album. With Como Ama Una Mujer Jennifer Lopez is one of the few performers to debut in the top 10 of the Billboard 200 with a Spanish album.[wikipedia]

ക JANET JACKSON, Love Song For Kids|Don't Stand Another..|Nasty|When I Think..|Let's Wait..|Again|Scream|All For You|Call On Me|Does'nt Really Mat..|

2009-05-21T06:26:00.000-07:00

Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American recording artist and actress. Born in Gary, Indiana and raised in Encino, Los Angeles, California, she is the youngest child of the Jackson family of musicians. She first performed on stage with her family beginning at the age of seven, and later started her career as an actress with the variety television series The Jacksons in 1976.

Although Jackson was initially apprehensive about starting a music career, she agreed to participate in recording sessions with her family. The first of these, a duet with her brother Randy titled "Love Song for Kids", took place in 1978. When Jackson was sixteen, her father arranged a contract for her with A&M Records.

Jackson's second album, Dream Street, was released two years later. Her father recruited her brothers to help produce the album: Marlon co-wrote two of the album's tracks, while Tito, Jackie and Michael provided background vocals. Dream Street reached number nineteen on the R&B albums chart; its sales were less than that of Jackson's debut album. The album's only hit, "Don't Stand Another Chance", peaked at number nine on Billboard's R&B singles chart.

Control was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, and has sold over ten million copies worldwide. Billboard credited it as being the fifth best-selling album of 1986 in the United States. It won four American Music Awards, from twelve nominations—a record that has yet to be broken—and was nominated for Album of the Year at the 1987 Grammy Awards.

Richard J. Ripani Ph.D., author of The New Blue Music: Changes in Rhythm & Blues, 1950-1999 (2006), observed that the album was one of the first successful records to influence the rise of new jack swing, incorporating R&B, funk, jazz, soul and various production techniques which emerged in the late-1980s. The success of Control, according to Ripani, bridged the gap between R&B and rap music.

Released in February 1986, the album peaked at number one on the Billboard 200. The Newsweek review of Control noted that the album was "an alternative to the sentimental balladry and opulent arrangements of Patti LaBelle and Whitney Houston." Rob Hoerburger of Rolling Stone asserted, "Control is a better album than Diana Ross has made in five years and puts Janet in a position similar to the young Donna Summer's—unwilling to accept novelty status and taking her own steps to rise above it." Five of the album's singles—"What Have You Done for Me Lately", "Nasty", "When I Think of You", "Control", and "Let's Wait Awhile"—peaked within the top 5 of the Billboard Hot 100.

In July 1993, Jackson made her film debut in Poetic Justice. Rolling Stone described Jackson's performance as "a beguiling film debut" despite her inexperience, while The Washington Post considered her "believably eccentric". Jackson's ballad "Again" was featured on the film's soundtrack, and garnered a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Original Song.

She later collaborated with her brother Michael on "Scream", the lead single from his 1995 album HIStory, which was written by both siblings as a response to the media scrutiny he suffered from being accused of child sexual abuse. The song debuted at number five on the Hot 100 singles chart, becoming the first song ever to debut in the top 5. Scream is featured in the Guinness Book of Records as the "Most Expensive Music Video Ever Made" at a cost of $7 million. Jackson and her brother won the 1995 Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video for Scream.

Jackson's seventh album, All for You, was released in April 2001, debuting at number one on the Billboard 200. Selling 605,000 copies, All For You had the highest first-week sales total of Jackson's career. The album's title-track, "All for You", debuted on the Hot 100 at number fourteen, the highest debut ever for a single that was not commercially available. Teri VanHorn of MTV dubbed Jackson "Queen of Radio" as the single made radio airplay history,"[being] added to every pop, rhythmic and urban radio station that reports to the national trade magazine Radio & Records" in its first week. The single peaked at number one, where it topped the Hot 100 for seven weeks. Jackson received the 2001 Grammy Award for Best Dance Recording for "All for You".

The album's lead single "Call on Me," a duet with rapper Nelly, peaked at number twenty-five on the Hot 100. 20 Y.O. Was certified platinum by the RIAA. Billboard magazine reported the release of 20 Y.O. [wikipedia]

ക JAMES TAYLOR, Fire & Rain|Carolina In My Mind|You've Got A Friend|Sweet Baby..|Handy Man|Up On The Roof|How Is The..|

2009-05-20T07:30:00.000-07:00

James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is a Grammy Award winning American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina. Taylor's career began in the mid-1960s, but he found his most devoted audience in the early 1970s, singing sensitive and introspective songs. He was part of a wave of singer-songwriters of the time that also included Cat Stevens, Carole King, Paul Simon, Joni Mitchell, Tom Rush, and Jackson Browne, as well as Carly Simon, whom Taylor later married, although it did not last.

Just yesterday morning they let me know you were gone

Suzanne the plans they made put an end to you

I walked out this morning and I wrote down this song

I just can't remember who to send it to

I've seen fire and I've seen rain

I've seen sunny days that I thought would never end

I've seen lonely times when I could not find a friend

But I always thought that I'd see you again...

His 1976 album Greatest Hits was certified diamond and has sold more than 11 million copies. He has retained a large audience well into the 1990s and early 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums were released. Taylor signed to Warner Bros. Records and moved to California keeping Asher as his manager and record producer. His second album, Sweet Baby James, was a massive success, buoyed by the single "Fire and Rain," a song about his experience in psychiatric institutions and the suicide of his friend, Suzanne Schnerr.

The success of this single and the album piqued interest in Taylor's first album, James Taylor, and propelled the album and the single, "Carolina in My Mind," back into the charts.

During the time Sweet Baby James was released, Taylor appeared with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys in a Monte Hellman film, Two-Lane Blacktop. Also, 1971 saw the release of Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, another hit album. He won a Grammy Award for his version of his friend Carole King's "You've Got a Friend".

This was followed by In the Pocket in 1976 and then a greatest hits album that included some re-recordings of Apple Records-era material. It became a huge hit and remains Taylor's best selling album. It was certified diamond, and to date has sold over 11 million copies.Taylor signed with Columbia Records and released JT in 1977 winning another Grammy Award for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for his cover version of "Handy Man."

After collaborating with Art Garfunkel and briefly working on Broadway, Taylor took a two-year break, reappearing in 1979 with the cover-studded album Flag, featuring a Top 40 version of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "Up on the Roof." Taylor also performed at the No Nukes concert in Madison Square Garden and appeared on the album and the film from the concert. [wikipedia]

ക JAMES INGRAM,Just Once|I Don't Have A Heart|Baby Come To Me|Yah Mo B There|Somewhere Out There|The Day I Fell In Love|

2009-05-17T03:48:00.000-07:00

James Ingram (born February 16, 1952) is an American soul musician. He is best-known as a vocalist. He is also a self-taught musician who plays piano, guitar, bass, drums and keyboards. Additionally, he is a producer and songwriter. James Ingram was born in Akron, Ohio. He began his career in the '70s as part of the band Revelation Funk with Bernard Lawson, Sr., also from Akron. During this time, Ingram developed a reputation in the Los Angeles area as a session vocalist, and came to the attention of ex-Motown songwriter and producer Lamont Dozier.

In 1981, Ingram provided the vocals to "Just Once" and "One Hundred Ways" on Quincy Jones's album The Dude. He won a Grammy award for best R&B vocal performance for his work on this album. Ingram's debut album, It’s Your Night, appeared in 1983, including the ballad "There’s No Easy Way." He also worked with other notable R&B artists such as Ray Charles, Anita Baker, Viktor Lazlo, Nancy Wilson, Natalie Cole, and Kenny Rogers. In 1990, he scored a No. 1 hit on the pop charts with the love ballad "I Don't Have the Heart" from his It's Realalbum.

But Ingram was best known throughout the decade for his hit collaborations. He went to No. 1 on the pop charts with Patti Austin on "Baby, Come to Me," a song made popular on TV's "General Hospital." A second Austin/Ingram duet, "How Do You Keep the Music Playing?" was featured in the movie "Best Friends" and earned an Oscar nomination. A few years later, he won a 1985 Grammy Award for "Yah Mo B There," a duet with Michael McDonald. And he teamed up with Kenny Rogers and Kim Carnes for the Top 40 ballad "What About Me?" in 1984.

In 1987, he teamed with American vocalist Linda Ronstadt, and had a US Pop No. 2 Hit with Somewhere Out There, the theme from the animated feature film, An American Tail. The song garnered Grammy and Academy Award nominations and was certifed gold (over 500,000 U.S. Copies sold) by the RIAA.

His 1994 composition "The Day I Fell in Love", which he dueted with Dolly Parton, was the theme song for the movie Beethoven's 2nd and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. [wikipedia]

ക JAMES BROWN, PleasePleasePlease|Try Me|Nite Train|Papa's Got A Brand..|I Feel Good|Cold Sweat|Sunny|

2009-05-14T07:52:00.000-07:00

James Joseph Brown (May 3 1933 – December 25 2006) originally James Joseph Brown Jr. was an American entertainer. He is recognized as one of the most influential figures in 20th century Popular music and was renowned for his vocals and feverish dancing. He was known and still is as "The Godfather of Soul". As a prolific singer songwriter dancer and band leader Brown was a pivotal force in the music industry. He left his mark on numerous artists. Brown's music also left its mark on the rhythms of African popular music such as afrobeatjùjú and mbalax and provided a template for go-go music.

In 1955 Brown and Bobby Byrd's sister Sarah performed in a group called "The Gospel Starlighters". Eventually Brown joined Bobby Byrd's vocal group the Avons and Byrd turned the group's sound towards secular rhythm and blues. After the group's name was changed to The Flames Brown and Byrd's group toured the Southern "chitlin' circuit" and the group eventually signed a deal with the Cincinnati Ohio-based label Federal Records a sister label of King Records. The group's first recording was the single "PleasePleasePlease" (1956). The single was a #5 R&B hit selling over a million copies. Nine subsequent singles released by The Flames failed to live up to the success of their debut and the group was in danger of being dropped by King Records.

Brown's group returned to the charts to stay in 1958 with the #1 R&B hit "Try Me". This hit record was the best-selling R&B single of the year becoming the first of 17 chart-topping R&B singles by Brown over the next two decades. By the time "Try Me" was released on record the group's billing was changed to James Brown and The Famous Flames. "The Famous Flames" was a vocal group not a backing band contrary to popular belief.

During his childhood Brown earned money shining shoes sweeping out stores selling and trading in old stamps washing cars and dishes and singing in talent contests. Brown also performed buck dances for change to entertain troops from Camp Gordon during the start of World War II as their convoys traveled over a canal bridge near his aunt's house. Between earning money from these adventures Brown taught himself to play a harmonica given to him by his father and he learned to play some guitar from Tampa Red (who was "dating" one of the girls from his aunt's house) in addition to learning to play piano and drums from others. Brown was inspired to become an entertainer after watching Louis Jordana popular jazz and R&B performer during the 1940s and His Tympany Five in a short film performing "Caldonia".

*I FEEL GOOD*

Whoa-oa-oa! I feel good, I knew that I would

I feel good, I knew that I would. So good, so good, I got you

Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice

I feel nice, like sugar and spice. So good, so nice, I got you

When I hold you in my arms, I know that I can't do no wrong

And when I hold you in my arms, my love won't do you no harm

Whoa! I feel nice, like sugar and spice

I feel nice, like sugar and spice. So good, so nice, I got you

When I hold you in my arms, I know that I can't do no wrong

And when I hold you in my arms, my love won't do you no harm

I feel nice, like sugar and spice. I feel good, I knew that I would

So good! so good! I got you. So good! so good! I got you

So good! so good! I got you

During the mid-1960s two of Brown's signature tunes "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" and "I Got You (I Feel Good)" both from 1965 were his first Top 10 pop hits as well as major #1 R&B hits with each remaining the top-selling singles in black venues for over a month. In 1966 Brown's "Papa's Got a Brand New Bag" won the Grammy for Best Rhythm & Blues Recording (an award last given in 1968). Brown's national profile was boosted further that year by appearances in the movie Ski Party and the concert film The T.A.M.I. Showin which he and The Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd Bobby Bennett and "Baby Lloyd" Stallworth) upstaged The Rolling Stones. In his concert repertoire and on record Brown mingled his innovative rhythmic essays with Broadway show tunes and ballads such as his hit "It's a Man's Man's Man's World" (1966).

During his long career James Brown received several prestigious music industry awards and honors. In 1983 Brown was inducted into the Georgia Music Hall of Fame. In addition Brown was named as one of the first inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction dinner in New York on January 23 1986. However the members of his original vocal group The Famous Flames, Bobby Byrd, Johnny Terry, Bobby Bennett and Lloyd Stallworth were not. On February 25 1992 Brown was awarded a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 34th annual Grammy Awards. Exactly a year later he received a Lifetime Achievement Award at the 4th annual Rhythm & Blues Foundation Pioneer Awards. A ceremony was held for Brown on January 10 1997 to honor him with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. [wikipedia]

ക JACKSON 5IVE, bIG bOY|I Want You Back|ABC|The Love You..|Never Can Say..|Dancing Machine|The Lovely..|Can You Feel..|

2009-05-13T07:44:00.000-07:00

The Jackson 5 (also spelled The Jackson Five or The Jackson 5ive, and later known as The Jacksons) were an American popular music family group from Gary, Indiana. Founding group members Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael formed the group after performing in an early incarnation called The Jackson Brothers, which originally consisted of a trio of the three older brothers. Active from 1966 to 1990, the Jacksons played from a repertoire of R&B, soul, pop and later disco. During their six-year Motown tenure, The Jackson 5 were one of the biggest pop-music phenomena of the 1970s, and the band served as the launching pad for the solo careers of their lead singers Jermaine and Michael, the latter brother later exploiting his early Motown solo fame to greater success as an adult artist.

One night, their father Joe caught one of the brothers playing his guitar after a string broke. Initially upset with his sons playing behind his back, he saw their potential and in 1964, Jackie, Tito and Jermaine formed The Jackson Brothers, including hometown friends Reynaud Jones and Milford Hite on guitar and drums respectively. By the end of the following year, the group's younger brothers Marlon and Michael joined the instrumental band playing tambourine and congas. Cartman got The Jackson Five a record deal with Gordon Keith's local Steeltown label, and the group began making their first recordings in October 1967. Their first single, "Big Boy", was released in January 1968 and became a regional hit. This was followed by a second and final single—"We Don't Have To Be Over 21 (to Fall in Love)".

Before releasing their first single, Motown renamed them slightly from "The Jackson Five" to "The Jackson 5". The Jackson 5's first single, "I Want You Back", was written and produced by four Motown songwriters and producers — Berry Gordy, Alphonzo Mizell, Deke Richards and Freddie Perren — who were collectively billed as "The Corporation". "I Want You Back" was released as a single for The Jackson 5, as Motown decided to officially bill the group, on October 7.

The Jackson 5 were the first act in recorded history to have their first four major label singles ("I Want You Back", "ABC", "The Love You Save", and "I'll Be There") reach the top of the American charts. Several later singles, among them "Mama's Pearl", "Never Can Say Goodbye" and "Dancing Machine", were Top 5 pop hits and number-one hits on the R&B singles chart. Most of the early hits were written and produced by a specialized songwriting team known as "The Corporation".

"Jacksonmania" swept the nation, and within a year of their debut The Jackson 5 were among the biggest names in popular music. The group essentially replaced The Supremes as Motown's main marketing focus, and, capitalizing upon the youth-oriented appeal of the Jackson brothers. Significantly, they were the first black teen idols to appeal equally to white audiences thanks partially to the successful promotional relations skills of Motown CEO Berry Gordy. Upon their departure from Motown for CBS in 1976, The Jacksons were forced to change their name and replace Jermaine (who remained at Motown) with younger brother Randy.

In 1979, The Jacksons received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1980 the group released the Triumph album, which featured the hits "Lovely One" and "Can You Feel It". The following year's The Jacksons Live! Used recordings from the group's Triumph Tour, which in 1988 was described by Rolling Stone magazine as one of the best 25 tours from 1967 to 1987. The group has never formally broken up, but has been dormant since then, although all six brothers performed together at two Michael Jackson tribute concerts in September 2001.
[wikipedia]

ക IRENE CARA, Fame|Out Here On My Own|Why Me|Flash Dance..What A Feeling|Breakdance|

2009-05-12T07:23:00.000-07:00

Irene Cara (born March 18 1962) is an American singer and actress. Cara won an Academy Award in 1984 in the category of Best Original Song for co-writing "Flashdance... What a Feeling". She also starred in the 1980 film version of "Fame". Cara captivated her first audience - her family - sometime after her fifth birthday when she began to play the piano by ear. Cara soon moved into serious studies of music acting and dance. At the age of three she was one of five finalists for the "Little Miss America" pageant.

The motion picture Fame earned Cara Grammy nominations in 1980 for Best New Female Artist and Best New Pop Artistas well as a Golden Globe nomination for Best Motion Picture Actress in a Musical. Billboard Magazine named her Top New Single Artist while Cashbox Magazine awarded her both Most Promising Female Vocalist and Top Female Vocalist.

The 1980 box office smash movie Fame catapulted Irene to stardom. As Coco Hernandez she sang both the title song "Fame" and the film’s second hit single "Out Here on My Own". These songs helped make the movie sound track a chart-topping multi-platinum album. Further history was made when at the Academy Awards that year for the first time two songs from one film were nominated in the same category: "Fame" and "Out Here on My Own". Cara had the opportunity to be one of the few singers to perform more than one song at the Oscar ceremony. "Fame" written by Michael Gore and Dean Pitchford won the award that year.

Asked by the Fame TV series' producers to reprise her role as Coco Hernandez she declined so as to focus her attention on her recording career. As a result newcomer Erica Gimpel who looked similar to Cara played the role instead. However Cara did make a special guest appearance on the series in 1983 as a "successful alumna" of the performing-arts school portrayed in the series singing her then-current single "Why Me?".

In 1983 Irene reached the apex of her music career with the title song for the movie Flashdance "Flashdance...What A Feeling" which she co-wrote with Giorgio Moroder and Keith Forsey. Cara wrote the lyrics to the song with Keith Forsey while riding in a car in New York heading to the studio to record it Moroder wrote the music.

She won the 1983 Academy Award for Best Song (Oscar), 1984 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, 1984 Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song, Top Female Vocalist-Pop Singles Black Contemporary Female Vocalist-Pop Singles Top Pop Crossover Artist-Black Contemporary Singles Pop Single of the Year American Music Awards for Best R&B Female Artist and Best Pop Single of the Year.

Along with her career in acting and several hit singles Cara has released three albums thus far. Those albums are "Anyone Can See" in 1982, "What A Feelin" in 1983 and "Carasmatic" in 1987 the most successful of these being "What A Feelin". Cara received two prestigious honors for her career in March 2004 with her induction into the Ciboney Cafe's Hall of Fame and a Lifetime Achievement Award presented at the sixth annual Prestige Awards. [wikipedia]

ക HUES CORPORATION, Rock The Boat|

2009-05-11T11:17:00.000-07:00

The Hues Corporation was a pop and soul trio formed at Santa Monica California in 1969. They are best known for their 1974 hit, "Rock the Boat". The group's name was a pun on the Hughes Corporation, with the 'hue' being the group's African-American heritage. The band's members were St. Clair Lee (born Bernard St. Clair Lee, 24 April 1944, San Francisco, California), Flemming Williams and Ann Kelley. The original choice for the group's name was The Children of Howard Hughes, which their record label turned down.

The group's first big break came in 1972 when they were invited to appear in the blaxploitation film, Blacula, starring William Marshall. They were also asked to record three songs for the film's soundtrack; "There He Is Again", "What The World Knows" and "I'm Gonna Catch You". Shortly after, RCA signed the group and their first single, "Freedom For The Stallion", from the album of the same name, became a moderate hit, Reaching #63 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The follow-up single, "Rock the Boat," became a #1 hit on the Billboard chart and the group's signature song. "Rock the Boat" was written by Waldo Holmes, who also wrote the Blacula songs, and released in the U.S. In February 1974 and in the UK in July that year. [wikipedia]

ക HOT CHOCOLATE, You Sexy Thing|Everyone's A Winner|So U Win Again|It Started With A Kiss|

2009-05-11T09:33:00.000-07:00

Hot Chocolate was an English pop band of the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s formed by Errol Brown (a Briton who was born in Jamaica). The band were chart regulars throughout the 1970s and 1980s. The act has at least one hit every year between 1970 and 1984 and "You Sexy Thing" made the Top 10 in three decades. With their seductive lead singer Errol Brown, Hot Chocolate became as entwined with 1970s pop culture as Star Wars. They were originally named 'The Hot Chocolate Band' by Mavis Smith, who worked for the Apple Corps press office. This was quickly shortened to Hot Chocolate by Mickie Most.

It was in the disco era of the mid-1970s onwards, that Hot Chocolate became a big success. A combination of high production standards, the Growing confidence of the main songwriting team of Wilson and Brown, and tight harmonies enabled them to secure further big hits like "You Sexy Thing" and "Every 1's A Winner", which were major U.S. Hits, peaking at #3 and #6, respectively. After Wilson's departure for a solo career that included a well received album in 1976 I Like Your Style, Brown assumed songwriting duties. Between those two well-loved tracks came Hot Chocolate's only UK chart topper.

Between those two well-loved tracks came Hot Chocolate's only UK chart topper. In 1977, after scoring 15 previous hits, they finally reached Number One with "So You Win Again". Oddly, it was one of the few of their recordings that was not penned, at least partly, by Brown. The track was a Russ Ballard composition.

Whilst their longevity had its highs and lows, they continued well into the 1980s, and clocked up another big hit record: "It Started With A Kiss", in 1982, which reached Number 5 in the UK. In all, the group charted no less than 25 UK Top 40 hit singles.

When Hot Chocolate disbanded in 1986, Errol Brown did not have much solo success, although two of his singles did make the UK Singles Chart - "Personal Touch" and "Body Rockin'". In 2003 Errol Brown received the MBE; and in 2004, the Ivor Novello Award for his contribution to British music. [wikipedia]

ക HOLLIES, Ain't That Just Like Me|Searchin|Look Thru..|Bus Stop|Carrie Anne|Sorry Suzanne|He Ain't Hea..|I Can't Tell..|Gasoline Alley..|Hey Will..|

2009-05-10T06:09:00.000-07:00

The Hollies are an English pop band from Manchester formed in the early 1960s. Member Graham Nash told Public Radio International that the group decided just prior to a performance to call themselves the Hollies because of their admiration for Buddy Holly. The original lineup included Allan Clarke as lead vocalist, Graham Nash as guitarist and backup vocalist, Jeremy Levine on rhythm guitar, with Eric Haydock and Don Rathbone rounding out the group on bass and drums. The group released their first album in the United States in 1964 as part of the first wave of British Invasion releases. They are commonly associated with Manchester, as some of the original Hollies grew up in the city.

The Hollies had a squeaky-clean image, and were known for their bright vocal harmonies. Their EMI debut single "Ain't That Just Like Me," released May 1, 1963, hit #25 on the UK singles chart. Their second single, a cover of The Coasters' "Searchin," hit number 12. They scored their first British top-ten hit in early 1964 with a cover of Maurice Williams and The Zodiacs' "Stay," which hit #8 in the UK Singles Chart. It was from the band's Parlophone debut album "Stay With The Hollies." Released Jan. 1 1964, the album went to #2 on the UK chart. A version of the album would show up in the U.S. As Here I Go Again, on The Hollies' then-U.S. Label Imperial.

After The Beatles, The Hollies were the most successful British 'singles' bands of the 1960s, scoring twenty-two UK Top 40 placings between 1964 and 1970. Their hits include "Here I Go Again" (#4, 1964); the bands first self penned hit "We're Through" (#7 1964); "Look Through Any Window" (#4, 1965, U.S. #32); "Yes I Will" (#9, 1965); their only British #1 single, the Clint Ballard, Jr. Penned "I'm Alive" (U.S. #103) (1965); three UK #2 hits during 1966 - "Bus Stop" (U.S. #5) (written by future 10CC member Graham Gouldman); "I Can't Let Go" (U.S. #42); and, such Clarke-Hicks-Nash-written material as "Stop Stop Stop" (U.S. #7);

"Carrie Anne" (#3, 1967, U.S. #9, from which actress Carrie-Anne Moss got her name, having been born when the song was on the charts); "On a Carousel" (#4, 1967, U.S. #11); and "Jennifer Eccles" (#7, 1968, U.S. #40).

When Nash left in 1968 due to creative differences, in particular over the plan to record a full album of Dylan songs, he joined forces with former Buffalo Springfield guitarist Stephen Stillsand ex-Byrds singer David Crosby to form one of the first supergroups, Crosby, Stills & Nash. He was replaced by guitarist-singer Terry Sylvester, formerly of the The Swinging Blue Jeans. This lineup had a hit in 1969 with "Sorry, Suzanne", which reached No. 3 in the UK. In time, too, Sylvester proved a capable substitution for Nash as part of the band's songwriting team.

{Can remember vividly when I was at the live performance of The Hollies in Stadium Negara, Kuala Lumpur in the early 70s, during the harmonica intro of this song "He Ain't Heavy He Is My Brother..." goose bumps were all over me. Whoa! Awesome!..}

The group hit No. 3 again in 1970 with the emotional civil rights themed ballad "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother", which featured the piano playing of Elton John. The next single, "I Can't Tell The Bottom From The Top", also featured Elton John's piano playing and hit #7 in the UK in 1970. The UK hits continued with "Gasoline Alley Bred" (UK #14 1970) and the hard edged rocker" Hey Willy" (UK #22 1971). [wikipedia]

ക HERMAN'S HERMITS, I'm Into Something Good|Mrs Brown You..|I'm Henry VIII..|Can't You Hear My..|A Must To..|Listen People|Dandy|There's a Kind..|

2009-05-07T06:01:00.000-07:00

Herman's Hermits were an English pop band, formed in Manchester in 1963 as 'Herman & The Hermits'. The group's management and producer Mickie Most (who controlled the band's output) emphasized a simple, non-threatening and clean-cut image, although the band originally played R&B numbers. This helped Herman's Hermits become hugely successful in the mid-1960s but hampered the band's creativity, relegating Noone, Hopwood, Leckenby and Green's original songs to quickly recorded B-Sides and album cuts.

Their first hit was "I'm Into Something Good" (written by US songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King), which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 13 in the US in 1964. They never topped the British charts again, but had two US No. 1's with "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter" (originally sung by Tom Courtenay in a 1963 British TV play) and "I'm Henry the Eighth, I Am" (a British Music Hall song by Harry Champion dating from 1911). These songs were aimed at a US fan-base, with Peter Noone exaggerating his Manchester accent; the band was not fond of either song and they were never released as singles in Britain.

Herman's Hermits had three Top 3 hits in the U.S. In 1965, with the aforementioned #1 hits, as well as "Can't You Hear My Heartbeat" (U.S. #2). They had the hits "A Must to Avoid" (U.S. #8), "Listen People" (U.S. #3), "Leaning on a Lamp Post" (U.S. #7), and "Dandy" (U.S. #3) in 1966. They appeared on the The Ed Sullivan Show, The Dean Martin Show and The Jackie Gleason Show. Commercial success would prove elusive after the late '60's and Peter Noone and Keith Hopwood left the band in 1971. The band reunited in 1973 to headline a hugely successful British invasion tour culminating with a standing-room-only performance at Madison Square Garden and an appearance on The Midnight Special (without Hopwood).

The group was nominated for two Grammy awards in 1965, both for "Mrs. Brown, You've Got a Lovely Daughter." According to Noone and Hopwood, the song was recorded as an afterthought in two takes, using two microphones, with Hopwood on guitar, Green on bass guitar, and Whitwam on drums.

Born in Manchester, England, Noone was a child TV star playing Stanley Fairclough in Coronation Street. He was also featured in Knight Errant. Noone was only 15 when he achieved international fame as teenage heart-throb, Herman. On stage, Noone initially used his existing stage name Peter Novak. The change to Herman came after the owner of a pub that they were rehearsing in, remarked on his resemblance to the character Sherman in Peabody's Improbable History, a supporting cartoon in The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show, which they misheard as Herman. The group, who by now were a popular dance hall and youth club attraction, and managed by Harvey Lisberg and Charlie Silverman, changed their name to Herman and The Hermits, and it soon became abbreviated to Herman's Hermits.

Original members were Keith Hopwood (guitar, vocals), Karl Green (guitar, vocals), Alan Wrigley (bass guitar, vocals), Steve Titterington (drums), and Peter Noone (lead vocals). Although the youngest of a remarkably young group, fifteen-year-old Noone was already a veteran actor, with experience on the British soap opera, Coronation Street. Derek "Lek" Leckenby (guitar, vocals), and Barry "Bean" Whitwam (drums) (born Jan Barry Whitwam, 21 July 1946, in Prestbury, South Manchester), joined later from another local group, The Wailers, Whitwam replacing Titterington, Karl Green switching to bass guitar to replace Wrigley, and Leckenby effectively taking Green's position. After Leckenby joined, the group obtained a deal with producer Mickie Most and signed to EMI's Columbia Graphophone label in Europe and MGM Records in the United States. [wikipedia]

{Save the best for the last two lovely songs, "My Sentimental Friend" & "I'll Never Dance Again" which were the most popular songs in the 60s, played during house parties for the slow dance probably almost at the finale.}

ക HELEN SHAPIRO, You Don't Know|Walkin Back To Happiness|Not Responsible|Don't Treat Me Like..|Look Who It Is|

2009-05-06T06:57:00.000-07:00

Helen Shapiro (born 28 September 1946, Bethnal Green, London) is an English singer and actress. She is best known for her 1960s UK chart-toppers, "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness". She is the granddaughter of Russian Jewish immigrants. Her parents were too poor to own a record player but they encouraged music in their home (Helen had to borrow a neighbour's player to hear her first single). Shapiro played banjo as a child and sang with her brother Ron occasionally in his youth club jazz group. She had a deep timbre to her voice, unusual in a girl not yet in her teens: school friends gave her the nickname "Foghorn".

In 1961, at the age of fourteen, she had two number one hits in the UK: "You Don't Know" and "Walkin' Back to Happiness"; and, indeed, her first four single releases all went into the top three of the UK Singles Chart. Her mature voice made her an overnight sensation, as well as the youngest female chart topper in the UK. At a mere 14 years and 316 days old when "You Don't Know" hit the top, she was nevertheless a year older than Frankie Lymon had been when "Why Do Fools Fall in Love" hit the UK number one slot in 1956.

Before she was sixteen years old, Shapiro had been voted Britain's 'Top Female Singer', and when The Beatles had their first national tour (The Helen Shapiro Tour) in 1963, it was as her supporting act. The Beatles even wrote the song "Misery" for her but, inexplicably, EMI decided not to record her singing it.

Shapiro retired from showbusiness at the end of 2002 to concentrate on her Gospel Outreach evenings. She is married to John Judd, an actor with numerous roles in British television and cinema. [wikipedia]

ക GRAND FUNK RAILROAD, We're An American Band|Closer To Home|Loco-motion|Heartbreaker|

2009-05-05T06:55:00.000-07:00

Grand Funk Railroad (also known as Grand Funk) is an American rock band. The Grand Funk Railroad lineup was highly popular during the 1970s. Selling over 25 million records, near constant touring, selling out arenas worldwide and being awarded four RIAA gold albums in 1970, the most for any American Group that year. The current Grand Funk Railroad lineup uses the nickname "The American Band", from their hit song "We're an American Band". A popular take on the band during their heyday was that the critics hated them, but audiences loved them. The band's name is a pun on "Grand Trunk Railroad" a railroad that went through the band's home town of Flint, Michigan.

The band was formed in 1968 by Mark Farner (guitars, lead vocals), Don Brewer (drums, lead vocals) from Terry Knight and the Pack, and Mel Schacher (bass guitar) from 'Question Mark & the Mysterians'. Former band-mate Terry Knight soon became their manager and named the band after the Grand Trunk Western Railroad, a well-known rail line in Michigan. First achieving recognition at the 1969 Atlanta Pop Festival, the band was signed by Capitol Records, after a raucous, well-received set on the first day of the festival. Grand Funk Railroad were asked back to play two additional days. Patterned after hard rock power trios, such as Cream, Grand Funk Railroad, with Terry Knight's marketing savvy developed their own populist style. In 1970 they sold more albums than any other American band and had become a major concert attraction.

The first record in 1969 was On Time, which eventually went gold in 1970, that same year they earned their second gold record award for their second album Grand Funk, (aka the Red Album) and A rare hit single also followed in 1970, "I'm Your Captain (Closer to Home)" from the album Closer to Home, which was stylistically Close to the old Terry Knight and the Pack. A year later, in 1971, they broke the attendance record set by The Beatles' at Shea Stadium, selling out in just 72 hours.

The "Loco-Motion" would be Grand Funk's second chart topping single, in 1974. The "Loco-Motion" is a 1962 pop song written by American songwriters Gerry Goffin and Carole King. The song is notable for making the American Top 5 three times in three different decades: for Little Eva in 1962 (U.S. #1); for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 (U.S. #1); and for Kylie Minogue in 1988 (U.S. #3). It is ranked #350 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of "the 500 Greatest Songs of All Time". [wikipedia]

ക GO-GO's, We Got The Beat|Our Lips Are Sealed|Vacation|Head Over Heels|Turn To You|Cool Jerk|The Whole World Lost Its Head|

2009-05-03T07:41:00.000-07:00

The Go-Go’s are an all-female American pop/new wave band formed in 1978. They made rock history as the first all-woman band that both wrote their own songs and played their own instruments to top the Billboard album charts. Formed in Los Angeles, California in 1978, the Go-Go's initially consisted of Belinda Carlisle (vocals), Jane Wiedlin (guitar, vocals), Margot Olaverra (bass), and Elissa Bello (drums). They were formed as a punk band, and had roots in the L.A. Punk community; they shared a rehearsal space with X, and under the name "Dottie Danger", Carlisle had briefly been a member of punk-rock band The Germs. (Coincidentally due to illness, she left The Germs before playing a gig.)

The Go-Go's signed to I.R.S. Records in April 1981. Their debut album, Beauty and the Beat, was a surprise hit and topped the U.S. Charts for six weeks and eventually received a double platinum certification. The album was also a success outside the U.S. Charting at #2 in Canada, where it received a platinum certification, and #27 in Australia. "Our Lips Are Sealed" and a new version of "We Got the Beat" were extremely popular singles in North America in early 1982. The Go-Go's became America's sweethearts and started to have a cult following.

In 1982 the group was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist. The follow-up album, Vacation, sold well (Gold certification in the U.S.), and spawned another top 10 US hit with the title track. However, the group was forced to go on hiatus when Schock underwent surgery for a congenital heart defect. In 1983 Vacation LP was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Packaging.

In the beginning, they played primarily a pop-inflected form of the emerging punk sound, and later defined themselves with the distinct sound of 1980s rock. The Go-Go’s had five U.S. Top 40 hits. Musical influences include the Ramones, the Shangri-Las, the Buzzcocks, the Beatles, the Beach Boys, and Blondie. During their career, the Go-Go's have sold more than seven million copies.

1984 saw a return to critical acceptance with the harder-edged Martin Rushent produced album Talk Show, but sales were less successful than their prior albums. Still, album tracks "Head over Heels" and "Turn to You" were both top 40 hits in the US. Nevertheless, personality conflicts and creative differences were also taking a toll. Carlisle and Caffey soon realized their hearts were no longer in the group and decided to disband the Go-Go's in May 1985.

In 1990, the Go-Go's "classic" line-up (Caffey, Carlisle, Schock, Valentine, Wiedlin) reunited to play a benefit concert for the California Environmental Protection Act, a 1990 ballot initiative. This led to more show dates later that year. The band also entered the studio with producer David Z to re-record a cover of "Cool Jerk" for a greatest hits compilation.

In 1994, the same line-up got together again to release the 2-disc retrospective Return to the Valley of The Go-Go's, which featured 3 new recordings. A single pulled from the album, "The Whole World Lost Its Head", only 'bubbled under' on the US charts at #108, but became the band's first and only top 40 hit in the UK, peaking at #29. The band toured again to promote the release; ex-Bangle Vicki Peterson stood in on several dates for Caffey, who was pregnant. [wikipedia]

ക GLORIA ESTEFAN, Conga|Words Get In..|Bad Boy|Anythin For U|Rhythm's Gonna Get U|Can't Stay..|Don't Wanna Lose U|Cuts Both Ways|Comin Out..|Hoy|Oye|

2009-05-03T07:40:00.000-07:00

Gloria Estefan (born Gloria María Fajardo García on September 1, 1957) in Havana, Cuba, is a Grammy Award-winning American singer and songwriter. She is in the top 100 best selling music artists with over 90 million albums sold worldwide, 26.5 million of those in the United States. She has won seven Grammy Awards, placing her among the most successful crossover performers in Latin music to date.

Conga - an Afro-Cuban dance of 3 steps and a kick by people in single file, basic steps are (left) 1-2-3-Kick then repeat, opposite.

In the mid-1980s, Gloria Estefan was part of the group Miami Sound Machine. In 1984, Miami Sound Machine released their first Epic/Columbia album, Eyes Of Innocence which contained the dance hit "Dr. Beat" as well as the ballad "I Need Your Love". Their more successful follow-up album Primitive Love was released in 1985 launching three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100: "Conga" (U.S. #10), "Words Get In The Way” (U.S. #5), and "Bad Boy" (U.S. #8) became follow up hits in the U.S. And around the world. "Words Get In The Way" reached #1 on the US Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart, establishing that the group could perform pop ballads as successfully as dance tunes. The song "Hot Summer Nights" was also released that year and was part of the blockbuster movie Top Gun.

Their next album, 1987’s Let It Loose, went multi-platinum, with six million copies sold in the US. It featured the following hits: "Anything For You" (#1 Hot 100), "1, 2, 3" (#3 Hot 100), "Betcha Say That" (#36 Hot 100), "Rhythm Is Gonna Get You" (#5 Hot 100), and "Can't Stay Away From You" (#6 Hot 100). "Can’t Stay Away From You," "Anything For You" and "1-2-3" were all #1 Adult Contemporary hits as well.

In late 1989, she released her best-selling album to date, Cuts Both Ways. The album included the hit singles "Don't Wanna Lose You" (a Billboard Hot 100 #1 hit), "Oye MI Canto (Hear my Voice)", "Here We Are", "Cuts Both Ways" (#1 on the U.S. Hot Adult Contemporary Tracks chart) and "Get on Your Feet."

While touring in support of Cuts Both Ways on March 20, 1990, near Scranton, Pennsylvania, Estefan was critically injured, suffering a fractured spine when a speeding semi-truck crashed into her tour bus. She was taken to Community Medical Center's Intensive Care Unit and the next day was flown by helicopter to New York City, where surgeons at the NYU Hospital for Joint Diseases permanently implanted two titanium rods to stabilize her spinal column. Her rehabilitation required almost a year of intensive physical therapy, but she achieved a complete recovery. She returned to an international tour ten months after the accident.

Estefan returned to the charts with a concept album, Into the Light, in 1991. She performed "Coming Out of the Dark" for the first time on the American Music Awards in January 1991, receiving a standing ovation as she took stage. "I was worried so much about crying before I finished that I completely didn't prepare for crying before I started.", Estefan said backstage after the performance. "Coming Out of the Dark" reached #1 in the U.S. As a single a few months later.

In 2003, Estefan released Unwrapped, her first English-language CD in five years. To promote the CD, she toured Europe, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the United States. The video for the single "Hoy", had been filmed in Machu Picchu, Peru. "Hoy" and "Tu Fotografía" both reached #1 on Billboard’s Latin chart, and "I Wish You" reached the AC top 20.

In addition to her seven Grammys, Estefan has received a number of other awards. In May 1993, she received the Ellis Island Congressional Medal of Honor, which is the highest award that can be given to a naturalized U.S. Citizen. She has won the Hispanic Heritage Award, an MTV Video Music Award, two cale television ACE Awards and the 1993 National Music Foundation’s Humanitarian of the Year award. The singer is the recipient of the American Music Award for Lifetime Achievement. She also has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Her husband, Emilio, a world-renowned music impresario, received a star adjacent to his wife’s on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 2005.

She was awarded "Person of the Year" at the Latin Grammy Awards in a ceremony aired in November 2008, in recognition of her twenty-five year singing career. She is the first female singer to receive this award. She also received a Latin Grammy for "Best Traditional Tropical Album" for 90 Millas, and a Latin Grammy for "Best Tropical Song" for her single, "Píntame De Colores". This marked the first occasion for Estefan to ever win a Grammy award for a song (either Latin or non-Latin).

On March 12, 2009 she was honored by the BMI Foundation with the "BMI Icon" award. The award was previously given to other singers such as Carlos Santana, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Brian Wilson. [wikipedia]

ഉ GLEN CAMPBELL, True Grit|Gentle On My Mind|By The Time I Get..|Wichita Lineman|Galveston|Rhinestone Cowboy|Southern Nights|Try A Little..|

2009-04-30T20:09:00.000-07:00

Glen Travis Campbell (born April 22, 1936 in Delight, Arkansas, USA) is a Grammy Award, Dove Award winning, and two time nominated Golden Globe Award American country pop singer, guitarist and occasional actor. He is best known for a series of hits in the 1960s and 1970s, as well as for hosting a television variety show called 'The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour' on CBS television.

During his 50 years in show business, Campbell has released more than 70 albums. He has sold 45 million records and racked up 12 RIAA Gold albums, 4 Platinum albums and 1 Double-Platinum album. Of his 75 trips up the charts, 27 landed in the Top 10. Campbell was hand-picked by actor John Wayne to play alongside him in the 1969 film True Grit, which gave Campbell a Golden Globe nomination for Most Promising Newcomer, and gave Wayne his only Academy Award. Campbell sang and had a hit with the title song (by the same name) which was nominated for an Academy Award. He performed it live at that year's Academy Awards Show.

Campbell made history by winning a Grammy in both country and pop categories in 1967: "Gentle On My Mind" snatched the country honors, and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" won in pop. He owns trophies for Male Vocalist of the Year from both the CMA and the ACM, and took the CMA's top honor as Entertainer of the Year.

The overnight success of "Gentle On My Mind" proved Campbell was ready to break through to the mainstream. It was followed by the even bigger triumph of "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" later in 1967, and "I Wanna Live" and "Wichita Lineman" in 1968. Campbell would win two Grammy Awards for his performances on "Gentle On My Mind" and "By The Time I Get To Phoenix".

"Wichita Lineman" was selected as one of the greatest songs of the 20th century by Mojo magazine in 1997 and by Blender in 2001.

In the mid-1970s, he had more big hits with "Rhinestone Cowboy", "Southern Nights" (both U.S. #1 hits), "Sunflower" (U.S. #39) (written by Neil Diamond), and "Country Boy (You Got Your Feet in L.A.) (U.S. #11).

"Rhinestone Cowboy" was Campbell's largest-selling single, initially with over 2 million copies sold in a matter of months. Campbell had heard the songwriter Larry Weiss' version while on tour of Australia in 1974 and felt it was the perfect song for him to record. It was included in the Jaws movie parody song "Mr. Jaws" which also reached the top 10 in 1975. "Rhinestone Cowboy" continues to be used in movie soundtracks and TV shows, including "Desperate Housewives", Daddy Day Care, and High School High. It was the inspiration for the 1984 Dolly Parton/Sylvester Stallone movie Rhinestone. [wikipedia]

"Try a little kindness because when you're kind and you treat people kind you get treated in kind" - Glen Campbell

If you see your brother standing by the road
With a heavy load from the seeds he sowed
And if you see your sister falling by the way
Just stop and say girl you're going the wrong way

You got to try a little kindness
Show a little kindness
Shine your light for everyone to see
And if you try a little kindness
Then you'll overlook the blindness
Of narrow-minded people on the narrow-minded streets

Don't you walk around the down and out
Lend a helping hand instead of doubt
And the kindness that you show every day
It's gonna help someone along life's way

In 2005, Campbell was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

ഉ GILBERT O'SULLIVAN, Mr Moody's Garden|Nothing Rhymed|Alone Again|Clair|Get Down|Wakka Do Wakka Day|Ooh Baby|Happiness Is Me & You|We Will|

2009-04-30T08:39:00.000-07:00

Gilbert O'Sullivan (born Raymond Edward O'Sullivan, 1 December 1946, Waterford, County Waterford, Ireland) is an Irish singer-songwriter, best known for his early 1970s hits "Alone Again (Naturally)", "Clair" and "Get Down". His unusual image - short trousers, flat cap and pudding basin haircut - helped to launch the successful international career of the performer. The music magazine, Record Mirror, voted him the No. 1 UK male singer of 1972.

After two unsuccessful singles with CBS, "What Can I Do?" and "Mr. Moody's Garden", and one with the Irish record label, Major Minor, O'Sullivan sent some demo tapes to Gordon Mills, the manager of Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck, whereupon O'Sullivan was signed to Mills' label, MAM Records. O'Sullivan's self-created eye-catching visual image comprised a pudding basin haircut, cloth cap and short trousers. Mills reportedly hated the image, but O'Sullivan insisted on using it initially, until he assumed a more modern 'college-like' look in which he often wore a sweater bearing a large letter 'G'. At the end of 1970, O'Sullivan achieved his first UK Top 10 hit with "Nothing Rhymed", which also reached No. 1 in the Netherlands. Subsequent hits including "We Will" and "No Matter How I Try" followed, and in 1971 O'Sullivan issued his debut album, Himself.

In 1972, O'Sullivan reached international stardom with the self-penned ballad, "Alone Again (Naturally)", which reached No. 3 in UK; No. 1 in the U.S., spending six weeks at No. 1 on theBillboard Hot 100 chart and selling nearly two million copies; No. 2 in New Zealand (11 weeks on the charts in total); No. 1 in Canada for 2 weeks (13 weeks in the Top 40); and No. 1 in Japan (21 weeks on the chart). The song earned O'Sullivan his first gold disc.

O'Sullivan followed this success with the songs "Clair" (1972, from the album Back To Front), which reached No. 2 in the United States on the Hot 100 and No. 1 in Canada (14 weeks in the Canadian Top 40); "Out of the Question" (also from Back To Front), which reached No. 14 in Canada; and "Get Down" (1973, from the album I'm A Writer Not A Fighter), which reached No. 1 in the UK and No. 7 in both the U.S. And Canada. Following "Alone Again (Naturally)" and "Clair", "Get Down" was his third million-seller, with the R.I.A.A gold disc award presented on 18 September 1973. His disc sales exceeded ten million in 1972, and made him the top star of the year.

In 1973 O'Sullivan was nominated for a Grammy Award for "Alone Again (Naturally)" in the Song of the Year and Record of the Year categories. In all, O'Sullivan enjoyed nearly five years of success with MAM, a run that included seven UK Top 10 singles and four UK Top 10 albums; three U.S. Top 10 singles and one top 10 album; five Dutch Top 10 singles and three Top 10 albums; five New Zealand Top 10 singles; three Canadian Top 10 singles; and seven Japan Top 10 singles. As quickly as O'Sullivan ascended to fame, however, his star began to fall — although singles like "Ooh Baby" and "Happiness Is Me and You" continued to reach the chart, they sold increasingly fewer copies, and after 1973 his overseas popularity essentially ceased altogether. At home, he notched his final Top 20 hit for over five years, with June 1975's "I Don't Love You But I Think I Like You". [wikipedia]

ഉ GERRY & THE PACEMAKERS, How Do You Do It|I Like It|You'll Never Walk..|Ferry Across The Mersey|Don't Let The Sun..|It's Gonna Be ..|I'll Be There|

2009-04-29T07:28:00.000-07:00

Gerry & the Pacemakers were a British rock and roll group during the 1960s. In common with The Beatles, they came from Liverpool and were managed by Brian Epstein. They are most remembered for being the first act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart with their first three single releases. Gerry Marsden formed the group in 1959 with his brother, Fred, Les Chadwick and Arthur McMahon. They rivalled the Beatles early in their career, playing in the same areas of Hamburg, Germany and Liverpool, England. McMahon (known as Arthur Mack) was replaced on piano by Les Maguire around 1961. They are known to have rehearsed at Cammell Laird shipping yard at Birkenhead.

The band was the second to sign with Brian Epstein, who later signed them with Columbia Records (a sister label to The Beatles labelParlophone under EMI). They began recording in early 1963 with "How Do You Do It?", a song written by Mitch Murray that Adam Faith had turned down and one that The Beatles chose not to release (they did record the song but chose to release their own song "Please Please Me"). The song was produced by George Martin and became a number one hit in the UK, until being replaced at the top by "From Me to You", The Beatles' third single.

Gerry & the Pacemakers' next two singles, Murray's "I Like It" and Rodgers and Hammerstein's "You'll Never Walk Alone", both also reached number one in the UK Singles Chart. "You'll Never Walk Alone" had been a favourite of Gerry Marsden. It soon became the signature tune of Liverpool Football Club. To this day, the song remains a football anthem, there and elsewhere, a phenomenon due to Gerry Marsden, rather than its Broadway composers.

Despite this early success, Gerry & the Pacemakers never had another number one single in the UK. Gerry Marsden began writing most of their own songs, including "It's Gonna Be All Right", "I'm the One", and "Ferry Cross the Mersey", as well as their first and biggest U.S. Hit, "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying", which peaked at #4, and which Gerry Marsden initially gave to Decca recording artist Louise Cordet in 1963. She recorded the song (Decca F11824), but without commercial success. They also starred in an early 1965 film called Ferry Cross the Mersey (sometimes referred to as "Gerry & the Pacemakers' version of A Hard Day's Night"), for which Marsden wrote much of the soundtrack.

By late 1965, their popularity was rapidly declining on both sides of the Atlantic. They disbanded in October 1966, with much of their latter recorded material never released in the UK. [wikipedia]

ഉ GEORGE MICHAEL, Careless Whisper|Faith|Father Figure|One More Try|Monkey|Don't Let The Sun..|Jesus To A Child|Fast Love|I Can't Make..|Somebody To|

2009-04-27T02:52:00.000-07:00

George Michael (born Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou Greek:Γεώργιος Κυριάκος Παναγιώτου) (born 25 June 1963), is a two-time Grammy Award winning, English singer-songwriter, who has had a career as Frontman of the duo Wham! As well as a soul-influenced, solopop musician. According to britishhitsongwriters.com he is the fortieth most successful songwriter in U.K. Singles chart history based on weeks that his compositions have spent on the chart.

It was not until Michael formed the duo Wham! Together with Andrew Ridgeley in 1981 that he found success.With the success of Michael's solo singles, "Careless Whisper" (1984) and "A Different Corner" (1986), rumours of an impending Wham! Split intensified. The duo officially separated in the summer of 1986 after releasing a farewell single, "The Edge Of Heaven" and a singles compilation, The Final, plus a sell-out concert at Wembley Stadium that included the world premiere of the China film. The Wham! Partnership officially ended with the commercially unsuccessful single "Where Did Your Heart Go?", which reached a peak position of #50 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart in November 1986.

The second single, "Faith," was released in October 1987, just a few weeks before the album. "Faith" would go on to become one of his most popular songs. The song reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA, and hit #2 in the UK singles chart. The famous video provided some definitive images of the 1980s music industry in the process — Michael in shades, leather jacket, cowboy boots, and a particularly memorable pair of tight Levi's jeans, playing a guitar near a classic-design jukebox. "Faith" reached #1 on 12 December, and remained there for four consecutive weeks.

The album reached #1 in the UK and in several markets worldwide. In the United States, the album had 51 non-consecutive weeks inside the Billboard 200 Top 10, including 12 weeks at #1. "Faith" had many hits, four of which ("Faith," "Father Figure," "One More Try," and "Monkey") reached #1.

Eventually, "Faith" reached Diamond certification by the RIAA for sales of 10 million copies in the US. To date, global sales of Faith are more than 20 million units. The first single, "Praying For Time", was released in August 1990. It was a dark and sombre reflection on social ills and injustice; the song was hailed by critics as it peaked at number 6 in the UK and then reached number 1 on the US Billboard Hot 100 despite the absence of a video.

As successful as the 1974 record had been, it was as a duet that "Don't Let The Sun Go Down On Me" had its greatest success and reached number 1 on the UK singles chart and on the Billboard Hot 100. The song was the only #1 single of the modern era to be recorded at an outdoors venue. Proceeds from the single were divided among 10 different charities for children, AIDS, and education.

The song was Michael's first self-penned hit in his homeland for almost four years and entered the UK singles chart straight at #1and #7 in The Billboard in the same month of release. It became his first solo single to enter the UK charts at the top, and #7 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the USA. It was also Michael's longest UK Top 40 single at almost seven minutes long. The exact identity of the song's subject — and the nature of George's relationship with Anselmo — was shrouded in innuendo at the time, however, as Michael had not confirmed he was gay, and did not do so until 1998. The video for "Jesus to a Child" was a beautiful picture of images recalling loss, pain, and suffering. Nowadays, Michael consistently dedicates the song to Feleppa before performing it live. [wikipedia]

ഉ GEORGE HARRISON, Here Comes The Sun|Something|I Me Mine|While My Guitar..|My Sweet Lord|Isn't It A Pity|Got My Mind..|Giv Me Luv|Gopala Krishna|

2009-04-27T02:51:00.000-07:00

George Harrison MBE (25 February 1943 – 29 November 2001) was an English rock guitarist, singer-songwriter and film producer. He had one sister, Louise, born 16 August 1931; and two brothers, Harry, born 1934, and Peter, born 20 July, 1940. His mother, Louise (née French), was a Liverpool shop assistant, and his father, Harold Hargreaves Harrison, was a bus conductor who had worked as a ship's steward on the White Star Line. The family was Roman Catholic; his maternal grandfather, John French, was born in County Wexford, emigrating to Liverpool where he married a local girl, Louise Woollam.

His first school was Dovedale Primary School, very close to Penny Lane, the same school as John Lennon who was a couple of years ahead of him. There he passed his 11-plus examination and achieved a place at the Liverpool Institute for Boys (in the building that now houses the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts), which he attended from 1954 to 1959. While at the Liverpool Institute, Harrison formed a skiffle group called The Rebels with his brother Peter and a friend, Arthur Kelly. At this school he met Paul McCartney, one year older, who played in a band called The Quarrymen.

Although the majority of The Beatles' songs were written by Lennon and McCartney, Harrison generally wrote one song per side from the Help! Album onwards. His later compositions with The Beatles include "Here Comes the Sun", "Something", "I Me Mine" and "While My Guitar Gently Weeps".

He achieved international fame as lead guitarist in The Beatles, and is listed number 21 in Rolling Stone magazine's list of "The 100 Best Guitarists of All Time". Often referred to as "the quiet Beatle", Harrison embraced Indian mysticism, and helped broaden the horizons of the other Beatles as well as their Western audience. Following the band's breakup, he had a successful career as a solo artist and later as part of the Traveling Wilburys, and also as a film and record producer.

After the band's breakup, Harrison continued writing, releasing the acclaimed and successful triple album, All Things Must Pass, in 1970, from which came two singles and a double A-side single: "My Sweet Lord" backed with "Isn't It a Pity". In addition to his solo work, Harrison co-wrote two hits for Ringo Starr, another ex-Beatle, as well as songs for the Traveling Wilburys — the supergroup he formed in 1988 with Bob Dylan, Tom Petty, Jeff Lynne and Roy Orbison.

Harrison embraced Indian culture and Hinduism in the 1960s, and helped expand Western awareness of sitar music and of the Hare Krishna movement. With Ravi Shankar he organised a major charity concert with the 1971 Concert for Bangladesh, and is the only Beatle to have published an autobiography, with I Me Mine in 1980.

Besides being a musician, he was also a record producer and co-founder of the production company Handmade Films. In his work as a film producer, he collaborated with people as diverse as Madonna and the members of Monty Python. His interests included gardening and motor racing.

Harrison married model Pattie Boyd on 21 January 1966, at Leatherhead and Esher registry office, with Paul McCartney as best man and only other Beatle present. They had met during the filming for A Hard Day's Night, in which the 19 year old Boyd was cast as a schoolgirl fan. After Harrison and Boyd split up in 1974, she moved in with Eric Clapton and they subsequently married. Harrison married for a second time, to Dark Horse Records secretary Olivia Trinidad Arias on 2 September 1978. They had met at the Dark Horse offices in Los Angeles in 1974. They had one son, Dhani Harrison. George Harrison died of lung cancer in 2001.

A significant music award as a solo artist was in December 1992, when he became the first recipient of the Billboard Century Award - presented to music artists for significant bodies of work. The minor planet 4149, discovered on 9 March 1984 by B. A. Skiff at the Anderson Mesa Station of the Lowell Observatory, was named after Harrison. In 2003, Harrison was ranked 21st in Rolling Stone's list of The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time. Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist on 15 March 2004 by his Traveling Wilburys friends Jeff Lynne and Tom Petty. He was inducted into the Madison Square Garden Walk of Fame on 1 August 2006 for the Concert for Bangladesh.

Harrison featured twice on the cover of Time magazine, initially with The Beatles in 1967, then on his own, shortly after his death in 2001. In June 2007, portraits of Harrison and John Lennon were unveiled at The Mirage Hotel on the Las Vegas Strip, where they will be on permanent display. In September 2007, Variety announced that Martin Scorsese would make a film about Harrison's life. [wikipedia]

“With our love, we could save the world.” - George Harrison

ഉ GARY PUCKETT & THE UNION GAP, Woman Woman|Young Girl|Over You|Don't Give In To Him|Lady Willpower|This Girl Is A Woman Now|

2009-04-24T05:44:00.000-07:00

Gary Puckett & The Union Gap (initially credited as The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) was an American pop rock group operating in the late 1960s. Allmusic music journalist, Jason Ankeny states "Clad in Civil War era Union Army uniforms (complete with fictitious military ranks) and bizarrely pedophilic lyrics, Puckett and the Union Gap were in their own way as far-out and singular as any other act of the period." Frontman Gary Puckett (born October 17, 1942, Hibbing, Minnesota) grew up in Yakima, Washington (adjacent to the city of Union Gap) and Twin Falls, Idaho, graduating from Twin Falls High School. He picked up the guitar as a teenager, and while attending college in San Diego played in a number of local bands before quitting school to focus on music. Puckett eventually landed with the Outcasts, a hard rock group comprised of bassist Kerry Chater, keyboardist Gary 'Mutha' Withem, tenor saxophonist Dwight Bement, and drummer Paul Wheatbread.

A demo was recorded, and the band's manager arranged a meeting with CBS record producer, Jerry Fuller. Impressed by Puckett's soaring baritone, Fuller also admired their soft rock leanings and in 1967, and they were quickly signed to a recording contract by Columbia Records. Re-christened the Union Gap, on August 16, 1967, the band recorded its first single, "Woman Woman." It was their first hit, and "Woman, Woman" (written by Jim Glaser and Jimmy Payne) reached #4 on the Billboard Hot 100. It was a million-seller by February 1968 with gold disc status. Concurrent CBS press releases gave each member his own imaginary military rank — Puckett was the general, Bement the sergeant, Chater the corporal, and both Withem and Wheatbread were relegated to private.

This was followed during the next two years by "Young Girl" (#2), "Lady Willpower" (#2), "Over You" (#7) and "Don't Give In To Him" (#15). "Young Girl", written by Fuller, had the age-old theme of the temptation of underage romance: "My love for you is way out of line/you better run, girl, you're much too young, girl," an anguished Puckett wailed. Controversial at the time, it was dramatically delivered in Puckett's trademark tones and with a memorable strings and brass arrangement, the song was an instant classic and is still much played on radio today.

"Young Girl" was the second million selling disc for the band, which it reached less than two months after issue. Both "Lady Willpower" and "Over You" continued the gold disc run of form. In 1969 the band were nominated for a Grammy Award for Best New Artist; losing out to José Feliciano.

After the Union Gap was disbanded, Puckett had modest success as a solo artist, mostly performing and re-recording the band's songs. A comeback tour engineered by music writer Thomas K. Arnold brought him to Las Vegas, Nevada in 1981, and from that point on he became a regular on the national oldies circuit. He has also released some new material, including a 2001 holiday album entitled Gary Puckett at Christmas. In 1994 and 2002 Puckett performed at the Moondance Jam near Walker, Minnesota. As of 2007, Puckett continues to perform live concerts in venues across the U.S., including "package" oldies circuit tours with The Association and The Lettermen. [wikipedia]

ഉ FREDDY FENDER, Before The Next TearDrop Falls|Wasted Days & Wasted Nights|Secret Love|You'll Lose A Good Thing|Crazy Baby|

2009-04-19T05:02:00.000-07:00

Freddy Fender (June 4, 1937 – October 14, 2006), born Baldemar Huerta in San Benito, Texas, USA, was an American, Tejano, country, and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados. He is best known for his 1975 hit "Before the Next Teardrop Falls".

In 1974, Fender recorded the song "Before The Next Teardrop Falls". The single was selected for national distribution, and became a number one hit on the Billboard Country and Pop charts. His next three singles, "Secret Love", "You'll Lose a Good Thing" and a remake of "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights", all hit the number-one spot on the Billboard Country charts. Between 1975 and 1983 Fender charted a total of 21 country hits such as "Since I Met You Baby" , "Vaya con Dios", "Livin' It Down", and "The Rains Came". [wikipedia]

ഉ FREDDIE & THE DREAMERS, I'mTelling You Now|You Were Made For Me|Funny Over You|I Understand|

2009-04-19T05:01:00.000-07:00

Freddie & the Dreamers were a British musical band who had a number of hit records between May 1963 and November 1965. Their act was based around the comic antics of the 5-foot-3-inch-tall (1.60m) Freddie Garrity, who was famous for bouncing around the stage with arms and legs flying. The band consisted of Freddie Garrity (born Manchester, Lancashire 14 November 1936 died –19 May 2006), vocals, Roy Crewdson (born Manchester May 29, 1941 ), guitar, Derek Quinn (born Manchester May 24, 1942, ), guitar and harmonica, Peter Birrell (born ManchesterMay 9, 1941, ), bass, and Bernie Dwyer (born Manchester September 11, 1940, died – December 4, 2002), drums.

Although the band were grouped as a part of the Mersey beat sound phenomenon that The Beatles exploded around the world in the wake of Beatlemania, they came from Manchester, and were the first such non-Liverpool, non-Brian Epstein-managed band to break through in the UK. Prior to becoming a singer, Garrity worked as a milkman in Manchester. They had four Top Ten UK hits: a cover of James Ray's hit "If You Gotta Make a Fool of Somebody", which reached number 3 in the charts in mid-1963, "I'm Telling You Now", (number 2 in August), "You Were Made For Me", (number 3 in November) and "I Understand", which hit the number 5 spot in November 1964. [wikipedia]

ഉ FREDDIE AGUILAR, Anak|Bayan Ko|

2009-04-18T21:52:00.000-07:00

Freddie Aguilar born Ferdinand Pascual Aguilar, Feb 5 1953 in Isabela, Philippines, is a famous Folk musician from the Philippines. He is well known internationally, and within the Philippines and Asia-Pacific region, claiming fame as one of the best musician-songwriters of the Philippines. Freddie studied Electrical Engineering at De Guzman Institute of Technology but did not finish the course. In 1973, he married Josephine Quiepo. One of their children, Maegan & Jericho Aguilar, also a musician. One of his hits, "Anak" (Filipino word for "child"), became a worldwide hit and was released in 56 countries and in more than 26 different foreign languages. It has sold over 30 million copies. The song was also a finalist for the inaugural 1977 Metropop Song Festival held in Manila.

Freddie Aguilar left family and school unfinished at the age of 18. His father, who had wanted him to be a lawyer, was disappointed. Freddie traveled to far-away places carrying with him only his guitar. With no one to guide and discipline him, he got into gambling. Realizing and regretting his mistakes five years later, Freddie composed "Anak", a remorseful song expressing apology to his parents. He went back home and asked for forgiveness from his parents who welcomed him with open arms. After his father read the lyrics of "Anak", the two became closer to each other. The homecoming proved timely as his father died soon afterwards.

Anak or Child (translated from Tagalog)
thanks to www.allthelyrics.com

When you were born into this world
Your mom and dad saw a dream fulfilled
Dream come true
The answer to their prayers

You were to them a special child
Gave 'em joy every time you smiled
Each time you cried
They're at your side to care

Child, you don't know
You'll never know how far they'd go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through and God it's true
They'd die for you, if they must, to see you here

How many seasons came and went
So many years have now been spent
For time ran fast
And now at last you're strong

Now what has gotten over you
You seem to hate your parents too
Do speak out your mind
Why do you find them wrong

Child you don't know
You'll never know how far they'd go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through and God it's true
They'd die for you, if they must, to see you near

And now your path has gone astray
Child you ain't sure what to do or say
You're so alone
No friends are on your side

And child you now break down in tears
Let them drive away your fears
Where must you go
Their arms stay open wide

Child you don't know
You'll never know how far they'd go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through
And God it's true
They'd die for you, if they must, to see you here

Child you don't know
You'll never know how far they'd go
To give you all their love can give
To see you through and God it's true
They'd die for you, if they must, to see you here

http://www.allthelyrics.com/song/771922/

He is best known for the hit "Bayan Ko", which became the anthem for the opposition to the Marcos regime during the 1986 People Power Revolution. Freddie still lives in the Philippines, and continues to perform. He currently has moved to his own place dubbed "Ka Freddies". Freddie still has a strong following in the Philippines and among many Filipinos living overseas.

On January 18, 2008, Freddie Aguilar received the Asia Star Award from the Korea Asia Model Award Festival. [wikipedia]

ഉ FRANK SINATRA, Strangers In The Night|My Way|New York New York|Tribute to Frank - My Way|

2009-04-18T06:30:00.000-07:00

Frank Sinatra (born Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra December 12, 1915 – May 14, 1998) was an American singer and actor. Sinatra was born in Hoboken, New Jersey, the only child of Italian immigrants Natalie Della (née Garaventi) and Anthony Martin Sinatra. He left high school without graduating, having attended only 47 days before being expelled due to his rowdy conduct.

Beginning his musical career in the swing era with Harry James and Tommy Dorsey, Sinatra became a successful solo artist in the early to mid-1940s, being the idol of the "bobby soxers." His professional career had stalled by the 1950s, but it was reborn in 1954 after he won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor.

He signed with Capitol Records and released several critically lauded albums (such as In the Wee Small Hours, Songs for Swingin' Lovers,Come Fly with Me, Only the Lonely and Nice 'n' Easy). Sinatra left Capitol to found his own record label, Reprise Records (finding success with albums such as Ring-A-Ding-Ding, Sinatra at the Sands and Francis Albert Sinatra & Antonio Carlos Jobim), toured internationally, was a founding member of the Rat Pack and fraternized with celebrities and presidents, including President John F. Kennedy. Sinatra turned 50 in 1965, recorded the retrospective September of My Years, starred in the Emmy-winning television special Frank Sinatra: A Man and His Music, and scored hits with "Strangers in the Night" and "My Way".

Sinatra attempted to weather the changing tastes in popular music, but with dwindling sales of his music,and after appearing in several poorly received films, he retired in 1971. Coming out of retirement in 1973, he recorded several albums, scoring a hit with "(Theme From) New York, New York" in 1980, and toured both within the United States and internationally until a few years before his death in 1998.

Sinatra also forged a career as a dramatic actor, winning the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in From Here to Eternity, and he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor for The Man with the Golden Arm. He also starred in such musicals as High Society, Pal Joey, Guys and Dolls and On the Town. Sinatra was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983 and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. Sinatra was also the recipient of eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. [wikipedia]

ഉ FRANKIE VALLI, Can't Take My Eyes Off You|Grease|

2009-04-17T08:46:00.000-07:00

Frankie Valli (born Francesco Stephen Castelluccio, May 3, 1934 First Ward, Newark, New Jersey) is an American musician, most famous as Frontman of The Four Seasons. Valli, along with Tommy DeVito, Nick Massi, and Bob Gaudio, the original members of The Four Seasons, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

His best known solo recording, though, is "Can't Take My Eyes off You", which reached number two in 1967. "You're Ready Now", a Valli solo recording from 1966, became a surprise hit in England, as part of the Northern soul scene and hit number 11 on the British pop charts in December, 1970.

"Grease" is the title song for the musical motion picture Grease, which was based on the stage play of the same name. The song was sung by Frankie Valli and was featured twice on the film's soundtrack; as the first track, and reprised as the final track. It became a number one single in the United States during 1978. The song was written by Barry Gibb of the Bee Gees; that group would later perform the song in concert, as captured on their live offering One Night Only.In 1978 he sold two million copies of the Barry Gibb -composed theme song from Grease. [wikipedia]

ഉ FRANKIE AVALON, Venus|Why|Bobby Sox To Stockings|

2009-04-17T08:24:00.000-07:00

Frankie Avalon (born Francis Thomas Avallone on September 18, 1939 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American actor, singer, sex symbol, and former teen idol. By the time he was 12, Avalon was on U.S. Television for his trumpet, and as a teenager, played with Bobby Rydell in Rocco and the Saints. In 1959, "Venus" and "Why" went to number one on Billboard magazine's Hot 100. "Why" was the last #1 of the 1950s. Avalon had 31 charted Billboard U.S. Singles from 1958 to late 1962, including "I'll Wait For You" (U.S. #15), "Just Ask Your Heart" (U.S. #7), "Bobby Sox to Stockings" (U.S. #8), and "A Boy Without a Girl" (U.S. #10), most hits written and/or produced by Bob Marcucci, head of Chancellor Records. In 1964, he helped open the Circle Star Theater in San Carlos, CA. [wikipedia]

ഉ FOUR SEASONS, Sherry|Big Girls Don't Cry|Walk Like A Man|Rag Doll|Oh What A Night|

2009-04-17T08:23:00.000-07:00

The Four Seasons (since 1967, known off and on as Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons - although not shown that way on any of their hit records), is an American pop and rock group. They also had a sound somewhat reminiscent of doo-wop, although they were not thought of as a doo wop quartet. By the mid 1960s, The Four Seasons had become an internationally famous rock and roll group. In 1960, the group known as The Four Lovers evolved into The Four Seasons, with Frankie Valli as the lead singer, Bob Gaudio (formerly of The Royal Teens) on keyboards and tenor vocals, Tommy DeVito on lead guitar and baritone vocals and Nick Massi on bass guitar and bass vocals (Massi was replaced in 1965 by Charles Calello, who was in turn replaced later in 1965 by Joe Long on bass guitar and bass vocals).

In 1962, the group released their first album featuring the single "Sherry", which was not only their first charted hit but also their first number one song. Under the guidance of producer/songwriter Bob Crewe, The Four Seasons followed up "Sherry" with several million-selling hits, including "Big Girls Don't Cry" (their second #1 hit), "Walk Like a Man" (their third #1), "Candy Girl", "Ain't That a Shame", and several others. In addition, they released a Christmas album in December 1962 and charted with a unique rendition of "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town". [wikipedia]

ഉ FLEETWOOD MAC |Go Your Own Way|Need Your Love So Bad|The Chain|Everywhere|Is'nt It Midnite|Don't Stop|

2009-04-16T05:24:00.000-07:00

Fleetwood Mac are a British rock band formed in 1967 which have experienced a high turnover of personnel and varied levels of success. From the band's inception through the end of 1974, no incarnation of Fleetwood Mac lasted as long as two years. The only member present in the band from the very beginning is its namesake drummer Mick Fleetwood. Bassist John McVie, despite his giving part of his name to the band, did not play on their first single nor at their first concerts. Keyboardist Christine McVie has, to date, appeared on all but two albums, either as a member or as a session musician. She also supplied the artwork for the album "Kiln House".

Capitalising on the success of Tango in the Night, the band continued with a "Greatest Hits" album in 1988. It featured singles from the 1975-88 era, and included two new compositions: "No Questions Asked" written by Nicks, and "As Long as You Follow" written by McVie and Quintela, which was released as a single in 1988 but only made #43 in the US and #66 in the UK. It did, however, reached #1 on the US Adult Contemporary charts. The Greatest Hits album, which peaked at #3 in the UK and #14 in the US (though has since sold over 8 million copies there), was dedicated to Buckingham by the band, with whom they had now reconciled.

In 1998, Fleetwood Mac (Mick Fleetwood, John McVie, Christine McVie, Stevie Nicks, Lindsey Buckingham, Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Danny Kirwan) was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and performed at the Grammy Awards program that year. They were also the recipients of the "Outstanding Contribution to Music" award at the BRIT Awards (British Phonographic Industry Awards) the same year. [wikipedia]

ഉ FINE YOUNG CANNIBALS, She Drives Me Crazy|Good Thing|Ever Fallen In..|Suspicious Mind|Johnny Come Home|Don't Look Back|

2009-04-15T07:26:00.000-07:00

Fine Young Cannibals were a British band formed in Birmingham, England in 1984, by guitarist David Steele and bassist Andy Cox (both formerly of The Beat), and singer Roland Gift. They are probably best known for their 1989 hit singles "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing". Their name came from the 1960 film All The Fine Young Cannibals starring Robert Wagner and Natalie Wood.
[Whoa! The beat drives me crazy, love it!]

The group was formed in 1984 in Birmingham, UK, from the ashes of The Beat, with whom Cox and Steele previously played the band's eponymous debut album was released in 1985, spawning two UK hit singles, "Johnny Come Home" and a cover of Elvis Presley's "Suspicious Minds" featuring additional vocals by Jimmy Somerville. Fine Young Cannibals appeared as the house band in a nightclub in the 1987 comedy film Tin Men, set in Baltimore, Maryland in 1963. Steele and Cox released an instrumental house single under the moniker Two Men, a Drum Machine and a Trumpet in 1988, called "Tired Of Getting Pushed Around", which reached #18 in the UK Singles Chart and was popular on the U.S. Dance chart. During this time, Gift appeared in the movie Sammy and Rosie Get Laid.

Their highest charting hits were "She Drives Me Crazy" and "Good Thing", from the 1989 album The Raw and the Cooked. Both reached number one in the U.S. Singles charts. The Raw and The Cooked included three songs the band had recorded for Tin Men (including "Good Thing"), and their cover of the Buzzcocks' "Ever Fallen in Love With Someone You Shouldn't've)" recorded for the film Something Wild. [wikipedia]

ഉ FIFTH DIMENSION, California Soul|Wedding Bell Blues|Stone Soul..|One Less Bell..|Up Up & Away|Aquarius|Never My..|Going Out..|

2009-04-14T06:31:00.000-07:00

The 5th Dimension is a multiple Grammy-winning American popular music vocal group, whose repertoire also includes pop, R&B, soul, and jazz.The 5th Dimension was best-known during the late 1960s and early 1970s for popularizing the hits "Up, Up and Away", Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic", "One Less Bell to Answer", "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All", and "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In", as well as the eponymous 5th Dimension and The Magic Garden LP recordings.

Some of the songwriters popularized by The 5th Dimension later went on to careers of their own, especially Ashford & Simpson, who wrote "California Soul". The group is also notable for having more success with the songs of Laura Nyro than Nyro did herself, particularly in the cases of "Wedding Bell Blues", "Stoned Soul Picnic", and "Save the Country" The group also covered music by well known songwriters such as the song "One Less Bell to Answer", written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David. And perhaps best of all, they became great interpreters of the songs and music of Jimmy Webb, who penned their original mega-hit "Up, Up, and Away", including an entire recording of memorable Webb songs called The Magic Garden.

The five original members were Billy Davis, Jr.,Florence LaRue, Marilyn McCoo, Lamonte McLemore, and Ron Townson.They have recorded for several different labels over their long careers. Their first work appeared on the Soul Citylabel, which was started by Imperial Records/United Artists Records recording artist Johnny Rivers. The group would later record for Bell/Arista Records, ABC Records, and Motown Records.

Budding young songwriter Jimmy Webb supplied the group with their breakthrough hit, "Up, Up and Away", a top 10 hit in mid-1967, which won five Grammy Awards. The following year, the group scored major hit singles with Laura Nyro's "Stoned Soul Picnic" (U.S. #3) and "Sweet Blindness" (U.S. #13) and received a gold record for their album Stoned Soul Picnic, which also included the Ashford & Simpson-written "California Soul". In 1969, they had two number one singles: "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" from the musical Hair and the Nyro composition "Wedding Bell Blues". Later hits included "One Less Bell to Answer" (U.S. #2) (1970), "Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes" (U.S. #19), "Never My Love" (U.S. #12) (1971), "If I Could Reach You" (U.S. #10), and "(Last Night) I Didn't Get to Sleep at All" (U.S. #8) (1972).

The original quintet reunited in 1990 for a tour. Townson briefly left the Group to try a solo career, but soon returned, as the group resigned itself to the nostalgia circuit. In 1995, the quintet of LaRue, Townson, McLemore, Battle, and Greg Walker recorded a new album, In the House, forClick Records. In 1998, Willie Williams replaced Townson, who died in 2001 due to diabetes-related Kidney failure. Battle departed in 2002, to be replaced by Van Jewell. McLemore retired from the group in March 2006. McCoo and Davis continue to tour Separately as their own act.

The group was inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2002. [wikipedia]

ഉ EQUALS, Hold Me CloserlBaby Come Back| I Get So Excited|Softly Softly|Michael & The Sli..|Soul Brother Cli..|Viva Bobby Joe|Black Skinned Blue Eye|

2009-04-14T06:30:00.000-07:00

The Equals were a pop/reggae/rock group that formed in North London, England in 1965. They are remembered mostly for their million selling chart-topper, "Baby Come Back". Eddy Grant, then sporting dyed blonde hair, was in the group, and also in the original line-up were the twin brothers Derv and Lincoln Gordon, as well as John Hall and Pat Lloyd.

They first started rehearsing on a council estate at Hornsey Rise, North London in 1965. In 1966 the group released the "Hold Me Closer" / "Baby Come Back" single, which did not capture much attention in the United Kingdom. However, in Germany and The Netherlands it went to #1 - a position its re-issue would later reach in the UK. Thus, the racially mixed London group gave President Records their only number one hit. A gold disc was presented to the group in June 1968 for a combined one million sales of the record . The year 1968 saw the release of "I Get So Excited" which appeared in the Top 50 of the UK Singles Chart. It was reported in September 1969 that all five members of the group had been injured in Germany, when their car ran off an autobahn in a gale.

Following a collapsed lung and heart infection which put him out of action at the beginning of 1971, Grant went home to Guyana. He promptly left The Equals to pursue his solo career. In the late 1970s and early 1980s released several Top 40 singles, including "Living On The Front Line", "Electric Avenue" and "Romancing the Stone". Grant also topped the UK Singles Chart in 1982 with "I Don't Wanna Dance". Although The Equals never charted again after Grant's departure, they remained a popular live act, performing into the late 1970s and beyond. [wikipedia]

ഉ ENIGMA, Return To Innocence|Sadness|Voyageur|Hello & Welcome|Goodbye Milky Way|Seven Lives|Silent Warrior|Gravity Of Love|

2009-04-14T06:29:00.000-07:00

Enigma is a electronic musical project founded by Michael Cretu, David Fairstein and Frank Peterson in 1990. The Romanian-born Cretu, conceived of the Enigma project while working in Germany, but has been based at his recording studio A.R.T. Studios in Ibiza, Spain since the early 1990s, where he has recorded all of Enigma's studio releases to date. Cretu is both the composer and the producer of the project. His former wife Sandra often provided vocals on Enigma tracks. Jens Gad co-produced and played guitar on three of the Enigma albums.

Love - Devotion
Feeling - Emotion
Don't be afraid to be weak
Don't be too proud to be strong
Just look into your heart my friend
That will be the return to yourself
The return to innocence.
If you want, then start to laugh
If you must, then start to cry
Be yourself don't hide
Just believe in destiny.
Don't care what people say
Just follow your own way
Don't give up and use the chance
To return to innocence.
That's not the beginning of the end
That's the return to yourself
The return to innocence.

It's kinda strange each time I listen to this song I have this 'connection' and somehow sounds very mystical urging me to go back in time to a certain place. Whoa great piece of music, awesome!

In December 1990, after eight months of preparation, Cretu released Enigma's debut album, the groundbreaking MCMXC a.D., which received over 60 platinum-level sales awards worldwide. The album was Cretu's first commercial success through the single "Sadeness (Part I)," which juxtaposed Gregorian chants and sexual overtones over a dance beat that was highly peculiar to the ears of the public at that time. Cretu explained that the album was about unsolved crimes and philosophical themes such as life after death, hence the name Enigma.

2003's Voyageur was considered by many to be a total makeover of the project. Practically all of the prominent Enigma signature elements (the ethnic and Gregorian chants, the famous Shakuhachi flutes) were no longer in use for this album. As a result many fans had difficulty appreciating this new direction and sales were affected. From a statistical point of view, every Enigma studio album to date has sold roughly half of what the previous release did.

On September 26, 2006, Enigma's sixth album A Posteriori was released worldwide, containing a new version of "Hello and Welcome" and the new song "Goodbye, Milky Way," which, despite earlier announcements, was not released as a single. The album is more techno- and pop-oriented electronic music than any previous one. The concept is based on such sciences as astronomy, physics, history, and sociology.Released worldwide on 19 September 2008 was Enigma's seventh album, Seven Lives, Many Faces. The new album expands the sound catalogue of previous releases and was expected to lead to a new omni-cultural wave of music. The lead single, "Seven Lives," is a powerful fusion of modern and classical elements. [wikipedia]

ഉ ENGELBERT HUMPERDINCK, Release Me|A Man Without Love|There Goes My..|Last Waltz|Am I That Easy To Forget|Quando..|Spanish Eyes|After The Lovin|

2009-04-12T04:18:00.000-07:00

Engelbert Humperdinck (born Arnold George Dorsey, May 2, 1936, Madras, India) is a well-known pop singer who rose to international fame during the 1960s and 1970s, after adopting the name of the famous German opera composer Engelbert Humperdinck as his own stage name. His family migrated to Leicester, England, when he was 10, and a year later he showed an interest in music and began learning the saxophone. By the early 1950s he was playing in nightclubs, but is believed not to have tried singing until he was 17 and friends coaxed him into entering a pub contest.

In early 1967 the changes paid off when Humperdinck's version of "Release Me," done in a smooth ballad style with a full chorus joining him on the third chorus, reached the top ten on both sides of the Atlantic and went to number one in Britain, keeping The Beatles' adventurous "Strawberry Fields Forever" from entering the top slot in the UK. "Release Me" spent 56 weeks in the Top 50 in a single chart run.

Humperdinck's deceptively easy going style and casually elegant good looks, a contrast to Tom Jones's energetic attack and overtly sexual style, earned Humperdinck a large following, particularly among women. "Release Me" was followed up by two more hit ballads, "There Goes My Everything" and "The Last Waltz", earning him a reputation as a crooner that he didn't always agree with. "If you are not a crooner," he told Hollywood Reporter writer Rick Sherwood, "it's something you don't want to be called. No crooner has the range I have. I can hit notes a bank could not cash. What I am is a contemporary singer, a stylized performer." [wikipedia]

ഉ ELVIS PRESLEY, In the Ghetto|Suspicious Minds|Blue Suede Sho..|Heartbreak Hotel|Devil In Disguise|Burnin Love|Love Me Tender|You Lost That Lovin..|

2009-04-11T06:16:00.000-07:00

Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer, actor, and musician. A cultural icon, he is commonly known simply as "Elvis", and is also sometimes referred to as "The King of Rock 'n' Roll" or "The King". Elvis Presley owed his ancestry to diverse European ethnic strains, primarily British and German; Presley's lineage also included some Native American, i.e., Cherokee descent. Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house, built by his father, in East Tupelo. He was an identical twin—his brother was stillborn and given the name Jesse Garon. Growing up as an only child he "was, everyone agreed, unusually close to his mother."

In 1954, Presley began his career as one of the first performers of rockabilly, an uptempo fusion of country and rhythm and blues with a strong back beat. His novel versions of existing songs, mixing "black" and "white" sounds, made him popular—and controversial—as did his uninhibited stage and television performances. He recorded songs in the rock and roll genre, with tracks like "Hound Dog" and "Jailhouse Rock" later embodying the style. Presley had a versatile voice and had unusually wide success encompassing other genres, including gospel, blues, ballads and pop. To date, he has been inducted into four music halls of fame.

In the 1960s, Presley made the majority of his 31 movies—most of which were poorly reviewed but financially successful musicals. In 1968, he returned to live music in a television special, and performed across the U.S., notably in Las Vegas. Throughout his career, he set records for concert attendance, television ratings and recordings sales. He is one of the best-selling and most influential artists in the history of music. Health problems, drug dependency and other factors led to his death at age 42.

In the late 1960s, composer and conductor Leonard Bernstein remarked: "Elvis is the greatest cultural force in the twentieth century. He introduced the beat to everything, music, language, clothes, it's a whole new social revolution... The 60's comes from it."

Other celebrated pop and rock musicians have acknowledged that the young Presley inspired them. The Beatles were all big Presley fans. John Lennon said: "Nothing really affected me until I heard Elvis. If there hadn't been an Elvis, there wouldn't have been a Beatles." Deep Purple's Ian Gillan said: "For a young singer he was an absolute inspiration. I soaked up what he did like blotting paper... You learn by copying the maestro." Rod Stewart declared: "Elvis was the King. No doubt about it. People like myself, Mick Jagger and all the others only followed in his footsteps." Cher recalls from seeing Presley live in 1956 that he made her "realize the tremendous effect a performer could have on an audience." Bob Dylan said: "When I first heard Elvis' voice I just knew that I wasn't going to work for anybody; and nobody was going to be my boss. Hearing him for the first time was like busting out of jail. [wikipedia]

ഉ ELVIS PRESLEY, Fever|Jailhouse Rock|I Got Stung|It's Now Or Never|

2009-04-11T06:15:00.000-07:00

Elvis has been inducted into four music 'Halls of Fame': the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (1986), the Rockabilly Hall of Fame (1997), the Country Music Hall of Fame (1998), and the Gospel Music Hall of Fame (2001). In 1984, he received the W. C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation and the Academy of Country Music’s first Golden Hat Award. In 1987, he received the American Music Awards’ first posthumous presentation of the Award of Merit.

Presley has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard. He was also honored by the Mississippi Blues Commission with a Mississippi Blues Trail historic marker placed in Tupelo, his birth place, in recognition of his contribution to the development of the blues in Mississippi. In the UK charts (January 2005), three re-issued singles again went to number one ("Jailhouse Rock", "One Night"/"I Got Stung" and "It's Now or Never"). Throughout the year, twenty singles were re-issued—all making top five.

In 2005, Forbes magazine named Presley, for the fifth straight year, the top-earning deceased celebrity, grossing US$45 million for the Presley estate during the preceding year. In mid-2006, top place was taken by Nirvana's Kurt Cobain after the sale of his song catalogue, but Presley reclaimed the top spot in 2007. [wikipedia]

ഉ ELTON JOHN, Your Song|Rocket Man|Crocodile Rock|Goodbye Yellow..|Don't Let The Sun..|Daniel|Sorry Seems..|Candle In The Wind|Can You Feel The ..|

2009-04-11T02:10:00.000-07:00

Elton Hercules John CBE (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on 25 March 1947) is an English singer-songwriter, composer and pianist. John started playing the piano at the age of three, and within a year, his mother heard him picking out Winifred Atwell's "The Skater's Waltz" by ear. It wasn’t long before the boy was being pressed into service as a performer at parties and family gatherings. He began taking piano lessons at the age of seven. At the age of 11, he won a junior scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. One of his instructors reports that, when he entered the Academy, she played a four-page piece by Handel, which he promptly played back like a "gramophone record."

John and Taupin now enlisted Gus Dudgeon to produce a follow-up with Paul Buckmaster as arranger. The first single from the album, "Border Song", only made the US Top 100 peaking at #92. After the second single "Your Song" made the U.S. Top Ten, the album followed suit. John's first American concert took place at The Troubadour in Los Angeles (his introduction was provided by Neil Diamond), in August.

The pop album Don't Shoot Me I'm Only the Piano Player came out at the start of 1973, and produced the hits "Crocodile Rock" and "Daniel"; the former became his first U.S. Number one hit. (Ironically this, like his other famous 1970s solo hits, would be popular in his native land but never top the UK Singles Chart; this achievement would have to wait two decades.) Goodbye Yellow Brick Road gained instant critical acclaim and topped the chart on both sides of the Atlantic. It also temporarily established John as a glam rock star.

He has more than 50 Top 40 hits including seven consecutive No. 1 U.S. Albums, 56 Top 40 singles, 16 Top 10, four No. 2 hits, and nine No. 1 hits. He has won five Grammy awards, an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award and a Tony Award. His success has had a profound impact on popular music and has contributed to the continued popularity of the piano in rock and roll. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #49 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.

John was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in his first year of eligibility in 1994. He and Bernie Taupin had previously been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992. John was made a Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 1995. John has also been awarded the honour of Knight Bachelor. This award entitles him to use the prefix "Sir".

In his four-decade career, John has been one of the dominant forces in rock and popular music, especially during the 1970s. He has sold over 200 million records, making him one of the most successful artists of all time.

John has had a complicated personal history in both announcing his sexual orientation, as well as personal battles with drugs, depression, bulimia, baldness, and spending. In 2007, the Sunday Times Rich List estimated John's wealth to be £225 million and ranked him as the 319th richest British person. Within the music industry, John is sometimes known as "Sharon", a nickname originally given to him by good friend Rod Stewart. In return, Elton calls Rod "Phyllis." [wikipedia]

ഉ ELAINE PAIGE, Don't Cry For Me Argentina|I Know Him So Well|Memory|Nobody's Side|Secrets|

2009-04-11T02:01:00.000-07:00

Elaine Paige OBE (Elaine Mary Bickerstaff, born 5 March 1948) is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Paige was raised in Barnet, North London, where her father worked as an estate agent and her mother was a milliner. Her mother had been a singer in her youth, and her father was an amateur drummer. She stands at just under 5 feet (1.5 m) tall, which she says has caused her to lose out on leading roles. Her original ambition was to become a professional tennis player, at which point her headmistress pointed out to her "they'd never see you over the net", but Paige continued to play tennis and has referred to the sport as one of her passions.

Thanks to Susan Boyle who said she wants to be as successful as Elaine Paige before her stunning performance at Britain's Got Talent on April 11, 2009 which indirectly mentioned Elaine's name over 36 million times as that was the recorded views in one particular video by BritainsSoTalented in YouTube as at 12:32am April 22, 2009 a whopping record of 36,786,444 views and its still 'Boyl-ing'. (Here is the URL to YouTube ~ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9lp0IWv8QZY)

In 1995, Paige was appointed an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) by Queen Elizabeth for her contributions to musical theatre. From 2000 to 2001, she starred as Anna in an acclaimed revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's The King and I at the London Palladium. Paige had turned down an offer for the role the first time she was approached, but later accepted, admitting that she had "forgotten what a fantastic score it was", although she did question her own suitability for the role. Before the opening, the box office had already taken in excess of £7 million in ticket sales. The critic for The Independent commented, "It may well be impossible to be a success as Evita and a success as Anna",whereas The Spectator asserted that the role further strengthened her title as the "First Lady of British Musical Theatre".

Following a number of roles over the next decade, Paige was selected to play Eva Perón in the first production of Evita in 1978, which brought her to the attention of the broader public. For this role, she won the Laurence Olivier Award for Performance of the Year in a Musical. She went on to originate the role of Grizabella in Cats and had a Top 10 hit with "Memory", a song from the show. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well" with Barbara Dickson from the musical Chess, which remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo. She has also worked in film and television.

Paige has neither married nor had children, although she had an 11-year affair with the lyricist Tim Rice throughout the 1980s. She has said that she wanted to have children, but "it's a wonderful life I have, so I'm very fulfilled in other ways.

Paige's performance of the song "Memory" from Cats, with which she had a Top 10 hit, is her signature piece. The single reached number 5 in the UK charts and has since been recorded by a further 160 artists. She reprised the role of Grizabella for the video release of Cats in 1998, one of only two performers in the film from the original London cast. Paige's website claims that the video soon became the bestselling music video in the UK and America.

From 1981 - 2009 Elaine has recorded in total 21 solo albums. In 1985, Paige released "I Know Him So Well", a duet from Chess, singing with Barbara Dickson. The single held the number 1 position in the British singles charts for four weeks, and still remains the biggest-selling record by a female duo, according to the Guinness Book of Records. From 1986 to 1987, Paige appeared as Florence in the stage production of Chess, a role that earned her another Laurence Olivier Award nomination in the category of Outstanding Performance by an Actress in a Musical. She next sang at the White House in 1988. Elaine Paige has expressed an interest in singing a duet with Britain's Got Talent contender, Susan Boyle, after Boyle had cited Paige as her idol. [wikipedia]

ഉ EDISON LIGHTHOUSE, Love Grows|What's Happening|My Baby Loves Lovin|Love Grows II

2009-04-11T02:00:00.000-07:00

Edison Lighthouse was a UK pop group, initially a studio only assemblage that served as a vehicle for session vocalist Tony Burrows and songwriter/record producers Tony Macaulay and Barry Mason. They are best known for their 1970 UK chart-topper and million selling record, "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes). The 'original' Edison Lighthouse was Tony Burrows (lead vocalist), Stuart Edwards (lead guitar), David Taylor (bass guitar), George Weyman (drums) and Ray Dorey (guitar).

The group's lone Top 40 hit "Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" (1970) was one of four near contemporaneous UK Singles Chart Top Ten hit singles by Burrows under different names, the others being White Plains' "My Baby Loves Lovin'", The Pipkins' "Gimme Dat Ding", and Brotherhood of Man's "United We Stand". Burrows was also lead vocalist on the single "Beach Baby" (1974) for another studio only group, The First Class.

"Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)" was Number One for five weeks and sold 250,000 copies in the UK. "Love Grows" raced to the Number One position in its second week on the chart, which was at the time the quickest rise by an act new to the chart. The United States release was in February 1970 and reached Number 4 in the Billboard Hot 100, selling a million copies there by April earning the R.I.A.A. Gold disc. In Canada the song reached #3. [wikipedia]

ഉ EDDY GRANT, Livin On The Frontline|Killer On The Rampage|I Don't Wanna Dance|Electric Avenue|Romancing The Stone|Gimme Hope Joanna|

2009-04-10T23:49:00.000-07:00

Eddy Grant born Edmond Montague "Eddy" Grant (born 5 March 1948) in Plaisance, Guyana, then a British colony in South America is a British reggae musician. When he was still a young boy, his parents relocated to London, UK, where he settled. He lived in Kentish Town and went to school at the Acland Burghley Secondary Modern at Tufnell Park.

In 1979, Grant scored a hit "Living on the Frontline" under a distribution deal with Columbia Records, which bought the masters to all of his recordings with the Equals and set up a record pressing plant. In 1981, Grant relocated to Barbados and built the Blue Wave studio complex. Around this time, Grant moved Ice Records distribution in Europe to RCA and recorded the album, Killer on the Rampage. The relationship with RCA proved particularly fruitful as the album would spawn his hits "I Don't Wanna Dance" and "Electric Avenue". Both of these tracks made the UK Top five, with "I Don't Wanna Dance" going to number one in the UK chart in September / October 1982.

In 1984, Grant had a minor hit single in the U.S. With his original song written to accompany the Michael Douglas and Kathleen Turner film, Romancing the Stone. Despite being commissioned by the film's producers, all but the guitar solo would be cut from the film during its final edit. The song did not appear on its soundtrack.Grant released the song as a single with the original video that featured scenes from the film until it was re-edited without the Romancing the Stone clips.

His later single, "Gimme Hope Jo'anna", during the apartheid regime ("Joanna" stood for Johannesburg, South Africa) was a song about apartheid in that country, and was subsequently banned by it.[wikipedia]

ഉ EDDIE MURPHY, Party All The Time|I Was King|Put Your Mouth On Me|

2009-04-10T23:48:00.000-07:00

Eddie Murphy born Edward Regan "Eddie" Murphy (born in Brooklyn, New York April 3, 1961) is an American actor, film director, producer, comedian and singer. He is the highest grossing actor in motion picture history. He was a regular cast member on Saturday Night Live from 1980 to 1984, and has worked as a stand-up comedian.

Murphy is also a singer and musician, having frequently provided background vocals to songs released by the The Bus Boys. As a solo artist, Murphy had two hit singles, "Party All the Time" (which was produced by Rick James) and "Put Your Mouth on Me" in the mid-1980s . [wikipedia]

ഉ EARTH, WIND & FIRE, Shining Star|Sing A Song|Got to Get Into..|September|Boogie Wonderland|After The Love..|Let's Groove|Fantasy|

2009-04-09T23:49:00.000-07:00

Earth, Wind & Fire is an American R&B band led and founded by Maurice White. Formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1969, the band's all embracing musical vision has seen them fuse Latin, Funk, Soul, Jazz, Pop, Rock, African Music and other genres into one unique sound. The band is also known for the the dynamic sound of their horn section and the interplay between the contrasting vocals of Phillip Bailey's falsetto and Maurice White's tenor.The African influence on Earth, Wind & Fire's music can be partially heard through their use of the kalimba.

Also known as EWF or the Elements, Earth, Wind & Fire has received twenty Grammy Award nominations for their work, winning six. They have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame. They have earned more than 50 gold and platinum albums and have sold over 90 million albums worldwide earning them a place on the list of best-selling music artists.VH1 ranked Earth, Wind & Fire number 60 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of Rock & Roll.

Band leader and founder Maurice White was born in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1941 to a father who was a doctor and an occasional saxophonist. He was a childhood friend of Booker T Jones. In his teenage years he moved to Chicago and found work as a session drummer for Chess Records. He played on the records of artists such as Etta James, Fontella Bass, Billy Stewart, Ramsey Lewis, Sonny Stitt, Muddy Waters, The Impressions and Buddy Guy. He also played the drums on Fontella Bass's Rescue Me and Billy Stewart's Summertime . In 1962, along with other studio musicians at Chess, he was a member of the Jazzmen, who later became the Pharaohs. [wikipedia]

ഉ EAGLES, Hotel California|New Kid In Town|Heartache Tonight|One Of These Nights|Desperado|How Long|

2009-04-08T05:55:00.000-07:00

Eagles is an American rock band formed in Los Angeles, California during the early 1970s. The group chose the name Eagles as a nod to The Byrds.

With five #1 singles and six #1 albums, the Eagles were one of the most successful recording artists of the decade. At the end of the 20th century, two of their albums, Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975 and Hotel California, ranked among the 10 best-selling albums according to the Recording Industry Association of America. The best-selling studio album Hotel California is rated as the 37th album in the Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time, and the band was ranked #75 on the magazine's 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. They also have the best selling album in the U.S. To date with Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971–1975.

"New Kid in Town" was a #1 hit in Billboard on February 26, 1977, and the title track on May 7, 1977. It was also released as a single in 1976, and became a #1 hit in the USA, and #20 in the UK. The single version of the song has an earlier fade-out than the album version does. On 26 February 1977, it reached the Billboard #1. The song features Frey singing the lead vocals.In 1977, the Eagles won a Grammy Award for Best Arrangement for Voices with "New Kid in Town.

In 2007, the Eagles consisted of Frey, Henley, Walsh, and Schmit. On August 20, 2007, "How Long," written by J.D. Souther – who had previously worked with the Eagles co-writing some of their biggest hits including "Best of My Love," "Victim of Love," "Heartache Tonight" and "New Kid in Town" – was released as a single to radio with an accompanying online video at Yahoo! Music and debuted on television on CMT during the Top 20 Countdown on August 23, 2007.

The Eagles broke up in 1980, but reunited in 1994. In 1998, the Eagles were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. During the induction ceremony, Frey, Henley, Felder, Walsh and Schmit performed together, and former members Bernie Leadon and Randy Meisner rejoined the band for the performance, where the band played "Take It Easy" and "Hotel California." [wikipedia]

ഉ DUSTY SPRINGFIELD, I Only Want To Be With You|The Look Of Love|Just Don't Know What..|Wishin & Hopin|You Don't Have To Say..|Son Of A Prea..|

2009-04-07T20:26:00.000-07:00

Dusty Springfield, born Mary Isabel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien, OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), was born in West Hampstead, England to an Irish family, and was brought up in the West London borough of Ealing. The name "Dusty" was given to her when she was a child, as she had been a tomboy in her early years was a leading pop singer and entertainer . Of the female British pop artists of the 1960s, she made one of the biggest impressions on the U.S. Market. Owing to her distinctive sensual sound, she was one the most notable white soul artists in the world. Born to an Irish Roman Catholic family that loved music, Dusty learned to sing at home. She began her solo career in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit "I Only Want To Be With You".

Her following singles "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself", "Wishin' and Hopin'", and "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" charted on the both sides of the Atlantic. A fan of American pop music, she campaigned to bring the little-known soul singers to a wider U.K. Audience by devising and hosting the first British performances of the top-selling Motown Records artists in 1965. Her song "The Look of Love", written for Dusty Springfield by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, was featured in the film Casino Royale and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song in 1967.

Dusty Springfield scored 18 singles in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1964–1970. She was voted the Top British Female Artist in the New Musical Express reader's poll in 1964, 1965, and 1968. Interest towards her early output was revived in 1994 by the inclusion of "Son of a Preacher Man" to the Pulp Fiction soundtrack. She is an inductee of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the UK Music Hall of Fame. Dusty Springfield has been named among the 25 female rock artists of all time in international reader's and artist's polls.

The sudden changes of pop music in the mid-1960s left girl singers out of fashion. To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Dusty Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee to record an album of pop and soul music with the Atlantic Records' main production team. The LP Dusty in Memphis earned Springfield a nomination for a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance in 1970 and received the Grammy Hall of Fame award in 2001. International readers and viewers polls list the record among the one hundred greatest albums of all time. The LP's standout track "Son of a Preacher Man" was an international Top 10 hit in 1969.

Springfield's low period after the album ended in 1987, when collaborations with the Pet Shop Boys returned her to the Top 20 of the U.K. And U.S. Charts with the singles "What Have I Done to Deserve This?", "Nothing Has Been Proved", and "In Private". In 1995, Dusty Springfield was diagnosed with breast cancer. [wikipedia]

ഉ DURAN DURAN, Hungry Like The Wolf|Save A Prayer|Is There Something I Should Know |Wild Boys|Union Of The Snake|Ordinary World|Come Undone|

2009-04-05T06:37:00.000-07:00

Duran Duran are an English music group from Birmingham, United Kingdom. John Taylor and Nick Rhodes formed Duran Duran in Birmingham, UK in 1978, naming the band after the villain "Dr. Durand Durand", played by Milo O'Shea in Roger Vadim's science-fiction film, Barbarella. Their first singer was Stephen Duffy. Simon Colley soon joined Taylor, They were one of the most commercially successful of the 1980s bands and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States. Since the 1980s they have placed 14 in the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart and 21 in the Billboard Hot 100 and have sold more than 70 million records.

Only after it was re-released in the U.S. In November, with heavy promotion as a dance album, did Rio begin to climb the American charts, six months after its European success. MTV placed "Hungry Like The Wolf" and then several other Duran Duran videos into heavy rotation, pushing it and "Rio" into the top twenty on the U.S. Charts in early 1983; the seduction ballad "Save A Prayer" also did well. "The band was a natural for music television," noted Rolling Stone magazine. "They may be the first rock group to ride in on a video wave." In the end, the album peaked at number 6 in the U.S. And remained on the charts there for 129 weeks — almost two and a half years. In 2003, Rio was listed at number 65 in the NME 100 Greatest Albums Of All Time.

To satisfy America's appetite for their music, the band re-released their eponymous first album in the US in the middle of the year, with the addition of the new single "Is There Something I Should Know?" On its release, this song entered the chart at Number 1 in the UK (a rarity then, and their first chart-topper in their home country), and reached Number 4 on the American charts. [wikipedia]

Special dedication to Taniah@WolfLady, message : to be "Hungry Like The Wolf" in Pursuit of Spiritualism...

ഉ DR HOOK & THE MEDICINE SHOW, Slyvia's Mother|Only Sixteen|A Little Bit More| When You're In Love With A Beautiful Woman|Sexy Eyes|

2009-04-05T04:38:00.000-07:00

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show was apop-country rock band formed around Union City, New Jersey in 1969.The founding core of the band consisted of four friends—George Cummings, Dennis Locorriere, Ray Sawyer, Billy Francis—who had played up and down the East Coast and into the Midwest, ending up in New Jersey one by one, with invitations from founding band member George Cummings. Told by a club owner that they needed a name to put on a poster in the window of his establishment, Cummings made a sign: "Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: Tonic for the Soul." The name was inspired by the traveling medicine shows of the old West. To this day, Frontman Ray Sawyer is mistakenly considered Dr. Hook because of the eyepatch he wears as the result of a near-fatal 1967 car accident in Oregon.

Their self-titled 1971 debut album featured guitarist Cummings, singer Sawyer, drummer David, singer/guitarist, bass player Locorriere, and keyboard player Billy Francis. The album included their first hit, "Sylvia's Mother."

Another hit was the classic "A Little Bit More" from the album with the same name in 1976. Other hit singles from Dr. Hook include "Only Sixteen" (originally by Sam Cooke) (U.S. #6), "Sharing the Night Together" (#6), "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" (#6) and "Sexy Eyes" (#5). Save for "A Little Bit More" (#11), all the singles mentioned above were certified million-sellers. "When You're in Love with a Beautiful Woman" reached number 1 for several weeks in 1979 in the UK. They had another hit single with "Better Love Next Time" (#12). The band toured constantly but never managed to turn their success with singles into album sales. [wikipedia]

ഉ DORIS DAY, Sentimental Journey|You Are My Sunshine|Fly Me To The Moon|It's Magic|Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps|Que Sera Sera|

2009-04-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

Doris Day born Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is an American singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as Doris Day. She has 39 films to her credit, over 75 hours of television and as one of the most prolific recording artists in history, has recorded over 650 songs. She is an Academy Award nominee, as well as a Golden Globe and Grammy Award winner. Currently the top ranking female box-office star of all time according to the annual Quigley Publishing poll's "All-Time Number One Stars" list, ranking #6 of the top ten of mostly male stars (the only other female on the list is Shirley Temple.)

It was while working for local bandleader Barney Rapp in 1939 or 1940 that she adopted the stage name "Day" as an alternative to "Kappelhoff," at his suggestion. Rapp felt her surname was too long for marquees. The first song she had performed for him was Day After Day, and her stage name was taken from that. After working with Rapp, Day worked with a number of other bandleaders including Jimmy James, Bob Crosby, and Les Brown. It was while working with Brown that Day scored her first hit recording, "Sentimental Journey", which was released in early 1945. It soon became an anthem of the desire of World War II demobilizing troops to return home. This song is still associated with Day, and was rerecorded by her on several occasions, as well as being included in her 1971 television special.

Day now lives on an 11-acre (45,000 m2) ranch near Carmel, California and now uses the name Clara Kappelhoff. Clara is a nickname originally given to her by her Tea for Two co-star Billy De Wolfe, and close friends have called her that.

During the 1990s, interest in Day grew. The release of a greatest hits CD in 1992 garnered her another entry onto the British charts, while the inclusion of the song "Perhaps, Perhaps, Perhaps" in the soundtrack of the Australian film Strictly Ballroom gained her new fans.

"Que Sera, Sera (Whatever Will Be, Will Be)" first published in 1956, is a popular song which was written by the Jay Livingston and Ray Evans songwriting team. The song was featured in Alfred Hitchcock's 1956 film, The Man Who Knew Too Much, with Doris Day and James Stewart in the lead roles. Day's recording of the song was a hit in both the United States— where it made it to number two on the Billboard charts—and the United Kingdom. From 1968 to 1973, it was the theme song for the situation comedy The Doris Day Show, becoming her signature song. It reached the Billboard magazine charts in July 1956. The song received the 1956 Academy Award for Best Original Song with the alternative title "Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera)". It was the third Oscar in this category for Livingston and Evans, who previously won in 1948 and 1950. [wikipedia]

ഉ DONNY OSMOND, Go Away Little Girl|Sweet and Innocent|Puppy Love|Young Love|Puppy Love II

2009-04-04T11:54:00.000-07:00

Donny Osmond born Donald Clark "Donny" Osmond (born December 9, 1957)in Ogden, Utah is an American singer, musician, actor and former teen idol. Osmond has also been a talk show and game show host, record producer, race car driver, and author. He is known for being half of the brother-sister singing act Donny & Marie and a member of the "Osmond Brothers" singing group. He is the brother of Alan, Jay,Jimmy, Merrill, Wayne, Marie, Tom, and Virl Osmond. Donny was raised as a Mormon in Utah along with his siblings.

Donny then became a teen idol in the early 1970s as a solo singer, in addition to performing with his older brothers. He, Bobby Sherman, and David Cassidy were the biggest "Cover Boy" pop stars for Tiger Beat magazine in the early 70's. He had his first solo hit with "Sweet and Innocent," which peaked at #7 in the U.S. In 1971. His solo songs "Go Away Little Girl" (1971) (#1 in the U.S.), "Puppy Love" (U.S. #3), and "Hey Girl/I Knew You When" (U.S. #9) (1972) vaulted him into international fame. The fame was further advanced by his appearance on the "Here's Lucy" show, where he sang "Too Young" to Lucille Ball's niece played by Eve Plumb and sang with Lucie Arnaz ("What do you get when you fall in love?).

In the 1980s, Osmond re-invented himself as a solo vocal artist and abandoned the earlier television show image crafted to appeal to young viewers. He made an unlikely appearance as one of several celebrities and unknowns auditioning to sing for guitarist Jeff Beck in the video for Beck's 1985 single "Ambitious." He spent several years as a performer, before collaborating with Peter Gabriel and returning to the US charts in 1989 with the song "Soldier of Love" and its follow-up "Sacred Emotion". The campaign to market "Soldier Of Love" received considerable airplay with the singer being presented as a 'mystery artist', before his identity was later revealed. [wikipedia]

ഉ DON McLEAN, Tapestry|Vincent|American Pie|

2009-04-03T06:52:00.001-07:00

Donald McLean, Jr. (born on October 2, 1945 in New Rochelle, New York) is an American singer-songwriter. He is most famous for his 1971 album American Pie, containing the renowned songs "American Pie" and "Vincent".

McLean recorded his first album, Tapestry, in 1969 in Berkeley, CA during the student riots. After being rejected by 34 labels the album was released by Mediarts and attracted good reviews but to little notice outside the folk community.

McLean's major break came when Mediarts was taken over by United Artists Records thus securing for his second album, American Pie, the promotion of a major label. The album spawned two No. 1 hits in the title song and "Vincent." American Pie's success made McLean an international star and renewed interest in his first album, which charted more than two years after its initial release.

Don McLean's most famous composition, "American Pie", is a sprawling, impressionistic ballad inspired partly by the deaths of Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens (La Bamba) and J. P. Richardson (The Big Bopper) in a plane crash in 1959. McClean was a paperboy on February 3, 1959 when Buddy Holly's plane crashed. He was devastated by the news, since Holly was his idol. The song would popularize the expression The Day the Music Died in reference to this event. McLean has stated that the lyrics are also somewhat autobiographical and present an abstract story of his life from the mid-1950s until the time he wrote the song in the late 1960s.

A long, long time ago
I can still remember how that music used to make me smile
And I knew if I had my chance, That I could make those people dance
And maybe they'd be happy for a while.
But February made me shiver, With every paper I delivered,
Bad news on the door step, I couldn't take one more step,
I can't remember if I cried, When I read about his widowed bride
But something touched me deep inside
The day the music, died. So...

The song was recorded on 26 May 1971 and "American Pie" reached number one on the U.S. Billboard magazine charts for four weeks in 1972, and remains McLean's most successful single release. The single also topped the Billboard Easy Listening survey. It is also the longest song to reach No. 1 with a running time of 8:36. Some stations played only part one of the original split-sided single release.

In 2001 "American Pie" was voted No. 5 in a poll of the 365 Songs of the Century compiled by the Recording Industry Association of America and the National Endowment for the Arts. [wikipedia]

*Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey 'n' rye
Singin this will be the day that I die.
This will be the day that I die.

Did you write the book of love
And do you have faith in God above,
If the bible tells you so.
And do you believe in rock 'n' roll?
Can music save your mortal soul?
And can you teach me how to dance real slow?
Well I know that you're in love with him,
Cuz I saw you dancin' in the gym.
You both kicked off your shoes
And I dig those rhythm and blues.

I was a lonely teenage bronkin' buck,
With a pink carnation and a pick up truck
But I knew I was out of luck,
The day, the music, died.
I started singin...

Now for ten years we've been on our own,
And moss grows fat on a rollin stone,
But that's not how it used to be,
When the jester sang for the king and queen,
In a coat he borrowed from James Dean
And a voice that came from you and me.
Oh and while the king was looking down
The jester stole his thorny crown
The courtroom was adjourned;
No verdict was returned.
And while Lennon read a book on Marx,
The quartet practiced in the park
And we sang dirges in the dark,
The day, the music, died. We were singin'...

*
Helter Skelter in a summer swelter,
The birds flew off with a fallout shelter,
Eight miles high and fallin' fast.
It landed foul on the grass.
The players tried for a forward pass,
With the jester on the sidelines in a cast.
Now the half-time air was sweet perfume,
While the sergeants played a marching tune.
We all got up to dance,
Oh but we never got the chance.
As the players tried to take the field,
The marching band refused to yield.
Do you recall what was revealed,
The day, the music, died? We started singin'...

*
Oh and there we were all in one place,
A generation lost in space
With no time left to start again.
So come on, Jack be nimble, Jack be quick.
Jack Flash sat on a candle stick
Because fire is the devils only friend.
Oh and as I watched him on the stage,
My hands were clinched in fists of rage,
No angel born in hell,
Could break that Satan's spell.
And as the flames climbed high into the night,
To light the sacrificial rite
I saw Satan laughing with delight,
The day, the music, died. He was singin'...

*
I met a girl who sang the blues,
And I asked her for some happy news
But she just smiled and turned away.
I went down to the sacred store
Where I'd heard the music years before,
But the man there said the music wouldn't play.
And in the streets the children screamed,
The lovers cried, and the poets dreamed.
But not a word was spoken,
The church bells all were broken.
And the three men I admire most,
The Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost,
They caught the last train for the coast,
The day, the music, died.
And they were singin'...

*
They were singin'...
Bye, bye Miss American Pie
Drove my Chevy to the levee but the levee was dry
Them good ol' boys were drinkin' whiskey 'n' rye
Singin' this will be the day that I die

ഉ DOLLY PARTON, I Will Always Love You|Here You Come Again|Nine To Five|Jolene|Coat of Many Colors|Better Get To Livin|

2009-04-03T06:51:00.000-07:00

Dolly Rebecca Parton (born January 19, 1946) is a Grammy Award-winning American singer-songwriter, author, actress and philanthropist, known for her prolific work in country music. In the 44 years since her national chart debut, she remains the most successful female artist in the history of the genre, with 25 number-one singles (a record for a female artist), and a record 42 top-10 country albums. She has the distinction of having performed on a top-5 country hit in each of the last five decades and is the only artist to score a No. 1 country single in each of the past four decades.

She stayed with the Wagoner show and continued to record duets with him for seven years, then made a break to become a solo artist. In 1974, her song, "I Will Always Love You" (written about her break from Wagoner), was released and went to #1 on the country charts.

She is known for her distinctive mountain[clarification needed] soprano, sometimes bawdy humor, flamboyant dress sense and voluptuous figure. Parton later had commercial success as a pop singer, as well as an actress. Her 1977 album, Here You Come Again, was her first million-seller, and the title track ("Here You Come Again") became her first top-ten single on the pop charts (reaching No. 3); many of her subsequent singles charted on both pop and country charts, simultaneously.

Parton is a hugely successful songwriter, having begun by writing country music songs with strong elements of folk music in them, based upon her upbringing in humble mountain surroundings, and reflecting her family's evangelical Christian background. Her songs "Coat of Many Colors", "I Will Always Love You" and "Jolene" have become classics in the field, as have a number of others. In 2001, she was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.

In a 2009 interview with Larry King, Parton was asked how many songs she has written. She replied "at least 3,000", having written seriously since the age of seven. Parton went on to say that she writes something every day, be it a song or an idea. [wikipedia]

ഉ DIONNE WARWICK, Heartbreaker|Walk On By|That's What Friends Are For|I'll Never Love This Way Again|

2009-04-02T07:05:00.000-07:00

Dionne Warwick (born Marie Dionne Warrick on December 12, 1940), is an American singer, actress, activist, United Nations Global Ambassador for the Food and Agriculture Organization, former United States Ambassador of Health, and humanitarian. She is best known for her partnership with songwriters and producers Burt Bacharach and Hal David. According to Billboard magazine, Dionne Warwick is second only to Aretha Franklin as the female vocalist with the most Billboard Hot 100 chart hits during the rock era (1955-1999). Warwick charted a total of 56 hits in the Billboard Hot 100. The artist scored crossover hits on the Rhythm & Blues charts and the Adult Contemporary charts. Joel Whitburn's tome on the Billboard Hot 100 Charts entitled "Top Pop Singles 1955-1999" ranked Dionne Warwick as the 20th most popular of the top 200 artists of the rock era based upon the Billboard Pop Singles Charts.

Her fourth single, "Anyone Who Had a Heart" in December 1963 was Warwick's first top 10 pop hit (#8) in the USA and also an international hit. This was followed by "Walk on By" in April 1964, a major international hit and million seller that solidified her career. For the rest of the 1960s, Warwick was a fixture on the US and Canadian charts, and virtually all of Warwick's output from 1962-1971 was written and produced by the Bacharach/David team. [wikipedia]

ഉ DICKEY LEE, Patches|I Saw Linda Yesterday|Never Ending Song Of Love|9,999,999 Tears

2009-04-02T07:04:00.000-07:00

Dickey Lee born Royden Dickey Lipscomb (born 21 September 1936, Memphis, Tennessee), known professionally as Dickey Lee (sometimes misspelled Dickie Lee or Dicky Lee), is an American pop/country singer and songwriter, best known for the 1960s teenage tragedy songs "Patches" and "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)."

Lee made his first recordings in his hometown of Memphis for Tampa Records and Sun Records in 1957-58. He achieved his first chart success in 1962, when his composition "She Thinks I Still Care" was a hit for George Jones. Later that year, "Patches," written by Barry Mann and Larry Kobler and recorded by Lee for Smash Records, rose to #6. Certainly a tearjerker and this song is unforgettable and tragic. Patches will make you cry. The song tells in waltz-time the story of teenage lovers of different social classes whose parents forbid their love. The girl drowns herself in the "dirty old river." The singer concludes: "It may not be right, but I'll join you tonight/ Patches I'm coming to you." Because of the teen suicide theme, the song was banned by a number of radio stations.

Lee had a #14 hit in 1963 with a song he co-wrote, a conventional rocker, "I Saw Linda Yesterday." In 1965, he returned to teen tragedy with "Laurie (Strange Things Happen)" a song related to the urban legends known as the vanishing hitchhiker and Resurrection Mary.

After the 1960s, Lee devoted his efforts to country music performing and songwriting. His 1970s country hits as a singer include "Never Ending Song of Love," "Rocky" (another bitter-sweet song, written by Jay Stevens of Springfield, MO - a.k.a. Woody P. Snow), "Angels, Roses, and Rain," and "9,999,999 Tears." [wikipedia]

ഉ DIANA ROSS, If We Hold On Together|Do You Know|I Will Survive|Touch Me In The Morning|Ain't No Mountain High Enough|Chain Reaction

2009-04-02T06:14:00.000-07:00

Diana Ross born Diane Ernestine "Diana" Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American recording artist, actress, and entertainer. During the 1960s, she helped shape the Motown Sound as lead singer of The Supremes before leaving for a solo career in the beginning of 1970. Since the beginning of her career with The Supremes and as a solo artist, Diana Ross has sold more than 100 million records.

Love this song very much and it was my very first motivation song which I learn from my company after each meeting and since then have been frequently using this song for all motivation closing in my group meeting. The lyrics has a special meaning.

Don't lose your way with each passing day
You've come so far, don't throw it away
Live believing, dreams are for weaving
Wonders are waiting to start
Live your story, faith hope and glory
Hold to the truth in your heart

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by, for you and I

Souls in the winds, must learn how to mend
Seek out a star, hold on to the end
Valley, mountain there is a fountain
Washes our tears, all away
Words are swaying, someone is praying
Please let us come home to stay

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through to forever
Where clouds roll by, for you and I

When we are out there in the dark
We'll dream about the sun
In the dark we'll feel the light
Warm our hearts, everyone

If we hold on together
I know our dreams will never die
Dreams see us through, to forever
As high as souls can fly
The clouds roll by, for you and I

During the 1970s and through the mid 1980s, Ross was one of the most successful female artists of the rock era, crossing over into film, television and Broadway. She received a Best Actress Academy Award nomination for her 1972 role as Billie Holiday in Lady Sings the Blues. She won a Golden Globe award for Lady Sings the Blues. She won American Music Awards, garnered twelve Grammy Award nominations, and won a Tony Award for her one-woman show, An Evening with Diana Ross in 1977.

In 1976, Billboard magazine named her the "Female Entertainer of the Century." The Guinness Book Of World Records declared Diana Ross as the most successful female music artist of the 20th century with a total of eighteen American number-one singles: twelve as lead singer of The Supremes and six as a soloist. Ross was the first female solo artist to score six number-ones. This feat puts her in a tie for fifth place among solo female artists with the most No. 1s on the Hot 100. She is also one of the few recording artists to have two stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame--one as a solo artist and the other as a member of the trio "The Supremes." In December 2007, she received a John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts Honors Award. [wikipedia]