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Changing Times (Four Tops Album)
''Changing Times'' is a 1970 studio album by American soul music vocal group Four Tops, released by Motown. Reception A review in ''Billboard'' recommends this album to retailers for having an "interesting and winning pressing" and the publication highlighted several key tracks. Editors at AllMusic Guide scored this release three out of five stars, with critic Ron Wynn noting the strength of the vocalists, particularly on the title track and characterizes their work as "a solid job". The 1992 edition of ''The'' Rolling Stone ''Album Guide'' rated this release 2.5 out of five stars. The album was produced by Frank Wilson who had earlier in 1970 scored a major comeback for the Four Tops with the ''Still Waters Run Deep'' release. These two albums were on the market at the same time as follow up '' The Magnificent 7'', with ''Changing Times'' having the weakest sales of them all. Track listing #"In These Changing Times" ( Frank Wilson (musician) and Pam Sawyer) – 5:28 # ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Four Tops
The Four Tops are an American vocal quartet from Detroit who helped to define the city's Motown sound of the 1960s. The group's repertoire has included soul music, R&B, disco, adult contemporary, doo-wop, jazz, and show tunes. Founded as the Four Aims, lead singer Levi Stubbs, Abdul "Duke" Fakir, Renaldo "Obie" Benson and Lawrence Payton remained together for over four decades, performing from 1953 until 1997 without a change in personnel. The Four Tops were among a number of groups, including the Miracles, the Marvelettes, Martha and the Vandellas, the Temptations, and the Supremes, who established the Motown Sound heard around the world during the 1960s. They were notable for having Stubbs, a baritone, as their lead singer, whereas most other male and mixed vocal groups of the time were fronted by tenors. The group was the main male vocal group for the highly successful songwriting and production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, who crafted a stream of hit sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Jones (lyricist)
Thomas Collins Jones (February 17, 1928 – August 11, 2023) was an American lyricist and librettist, best known for ''The Fantasticks'', ''110 in the Shade'', and ''I Do! I Do!''. Early life Jones was born in Littlefield, Texas, on February 17, 1928. He was raised in Coleman, Texas, the son of a turkey farmer (his father William) and a homemaker (his mother Jessie). During his adolescence, he worked as an usher in a movie theater and attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he was involved in its theatre department. He attained a master's degree from the university in 1951. All of Jones's major musicals were written with Harvey Schmidt, whom he met at the university. Career His best-known work is ''The Fantasticks'', which ran off-Broadway from 1960 until 2002, and the hit song from the same, "Try to Remember". Other songs from ''The Fantasticks'' include "Soon It's Gonna Rain", "Much More", and "I Can See It". He also wrote the screenplay for the 1995 feature-film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Producer
A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure. Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as Composer: Shaping the Sounds of Popular Music'' (Cambridge, MA & London, UK: MIT Press, 2005). Richard James Burgess, ''The History of Music Production'' (New York: Oxford University Press, 2014)pp 12–13Allan Watson, ''Cultural Production in and Beyond the Recording Studio'' (New York: Routledge, 2015)pp 25–27 The record producer, or simply the producer, is likened to film director and art director. The executive producer Executive producer (EP) is one of the top positions in the making of a commercial entertainment product. Depending on the medium, the executive producer may be concerned with management accounting or associated with legal issues (like copyrights o ..., on the other hand, enables the recording project through entrep ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Van De Pitte
David J. Van De Pitte (October 28, 1941 – August 9, 2009) was an American music arranger and bass player. He is best known for his work at Motown Records during the 1960s and early 1970s, when he was responsible for arranging many of the best known and most successful of the company's records, including those by Marvin Gaye, The Temptations, The Four Tops, The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder, Gladys Knight and many others. Life and career He was born in Detroit, Michigan, and studied music at the Westlake College of Music in Los Angeles, becoming proficient in classical, jazz and pop music. His main instrument was the bass, but he also played trombone and other instruments. In the early 1960s he began playing in Johnny Trudell's orchestra, and came to know many of the musicians who, then and later, worked at Motown, including bass player James Jamerson who sometimes substituted for him in Trudell's band. He began working for Motown in 1968, and was responsible for arranging M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Musical Arrangement
In music, an arrangement is a musical adaptation of an existing composition. Differences from the original composition may include reharmonization, melodic paraphrasing, orchestration, or formal development. Arranging differs from orchestration in that the latter process is limited to the assignment of notes to instruments for performance by an orchestra, concert band, or other musical ensemble. Arranging "involves adding compositional techniques, such as new thematic material for introductions, transitions, or modulations, and endings. Arranging is the art of giving an existing melody musical variety".(Corozine 2002, p. 3) In jazz, a memorized (unwritten) arrangement of a new or pre-existing composition is known as a ''head arrangement''. Classical music Arrangement and transcriptions of classical and serious music go back to the early history of this genre. Eighteenth century J.S. Bach frequently made arrangements of his own and other composers' pieces. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jimmy Roach
Jimmy may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''Jimmy'' (2008 film), a 2008 Hindi thriller directed by Raj N. Sippy * ''Jimmy'' (1979 film), a 1979 Indian Malayalam film directed by Melattoor Ravi Varma * ''Jimmy'' (2013 film), a 2013 drama directed by Mark Freiburger * " The Jimmy", a 1995 episode of the sitcom ''Seinfeld'' * "Jimmy", a 2002 episode of ''Static Shock'' Music * ''Jimmy'' (musical), a 1969 musical Songs * "Jimmy" (song), a song by M.I.A. from the 2007 album ''Kala'' * "Jimmy", a song by Irving Berlin, see also List of songs written by Irving Berlin * "Jimmy", a song by Tones and I from her EP ''The Kids Are Coming'' * "Jimmy", a song by Tool from their 1996 album '' Ænima'' * "Jimmy", a song by dutch artist Boudewijn de Groot * "Jimmy", a song by Jay Thompson for the 1967 film '' Thoroughly Modern Millie'' Theater * Jimmy Awards, annual awards given by the Broadway League to high school musical theater performers in the United States ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Art Direction
Art director is the title for a variety of similar job functions in Theatre, theater, advertising, marketing, publishing, fashion, film industry, film and television, the Internet, and video games. It is the charge of a sole art director to supervise and unify the vision of an artistic production. In particular, they are in charge of its overall visual appearance and how it visual communication, communicates visually, stimulates moods, contrasts features, and psychologically appeals to a target audience. The art director makes decisions about visual elements, what artistic style (visual arts), style(s) to use, and when to use motion graphic design, motion. One of the biggest challenges art directors face is translating desired moods, messages, concepts, and underdeveloped ideas into imagery. In the brainstorming process, art directors, colleagues and clients explore ways the finished piece or scene could look. At times, the art director is responsible for solidifying the vision o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Levi Stubbs
Levi Stubbs (born Levi Stubbles, June 6, 1936 – October 17, 2008) was an American baritone singer, best known as the lead vocalist of the R&B group the Four Tops, who released a variety of Motown hit records during the 1960s and 1970s. He has been noted for his powerful, emotional, dramatic style of singing. In 1990, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Four Tops. Stubbs was also a voice artist in film and television, and provided the voice of "Audrey II", the alien plant in the 1986 musical horror comedy film ''Little Shop of Horrors'' (an adaption of the stage musical of the same name), as well as Mother Brain in the 1989 TV series '' Captain N: The Game Master''. Stubbs was admired by his peers for his impressive vocal range, and influenced many later pop and soul artists, such as Daryl Hall of Hall and Oates. Stubbs was born and spent much of his life in Detroit, Michigan. He had five children with his wife Clineice Stubbs, to whom he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lawrence Payton
Lawrence Albert Payton (March 2, 1938 – June 20, 1997) was an American tenor, songwriter, vocal arranger, musician, and record producer for the popular Motown quartet, the Four Tops. In 1997, at 59 years old, Payton died of liver cancer. Biography Payton and Renaldo Benson both attended a Northern High School in Detroit and met Levi Stubbs and Abdul Fakir at a school birthday party. The four teenagers began singing in 1953 as The Four Aims but later changed their name to the Four Tops. Although successful in the local area as a performance group, recording success eluded them until signing with the newly established Motown label in 1963. They then became one of the biggest recording acts of the sixties, charting more than two dozen hits through to the early eighties. Payton is credited for the vocal arrangements and the "smooth seamless harmony" of the Tops' sound. He also sang lead on several songs such as "Feel Free" (from the ''Catfish'' album) and "Until You Love Someo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Abdul Fakir
Abdul Kareem Fakir (born December 26, 1935), professionally known as Duke Fakir, is an American singer. He is a founding member of the Motown quartet the Four Tops, from 1953 to the present day. A first tenor, Fakir is the group's lone surviving original member, performing today with Ronnie McNeir, Lawrence "Roquel" Payton Jr. (son of original member Lawrence Payton), and Alexander Morris. Biography Fakir was born on December 26, 1935, in Detroit, Michigan. His father was a factory worker who came from what is now Bangladesh. Fakir attended Detroit's Pershing High School, where he played basketball, football, and ran track. He first met fellow band member Levi Stubbs through neighborhood football games, even though he was not aware Stubbs was a singer. Later, attending a variety show featuring the Lucky Millinder band, the band announced a talented young singer who Fakir recognized as the boy he played football with. They became closer friends and Stubbs even traveled with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Renaldo Benson
Renaldo "Obie" Benson (June 14, 1936 – July 1, 2005) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was best known as a founding member and the bass singer of Motown group the Four Tops, which he joined in 1953 and continued to perform with for over five decades, until April 8, 2005. He also co-wrote " What's Going On" which became a No. 2 hit for Marvin Gaye in 1971, and which Rolling Stone rated as No. 4 on their List of Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time released in 2004. Biography Early career 1954–1964 Benson attended Northern High School in Detroit, Michigan with Lawrence Payton. The pair met Levi Stubbs and Abdul "Duke" Fakir while singing at a friend's birthday party in 1954 and decided to form a group called the Four Aims. Roquel Billy Davis, who was Payton's cousin, was a fifth member of the group for a time and a songwriter for the group. Davis played an instrumental role in the group being signed by Chess Records who were mainly interested ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring styles ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon remains the most successful in history. Born in Liverpool, McCartney taught himself piano, guitar and songwriting as a teenager, having been influenced by his father, a jazz player, and rock and roll performers such as Little Richard and Buddy Holly. He began his career when he joined Lennon's skiffle group, the Quarrymen, in 1957, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Sometimes called "the cute Beatle", McCartney later inv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
