Happy Birthday (Stevie Wonder Song)
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Happy Birthday (Stevie Wonder Song)
"Happy Birthday" is a song written, produced and performed by Stevie Wonder for the Motown label. Wonder, a social activist, was one of the main figures in the campaign to have the birthday of Martin Luther King Jr. become a national holiday, and created this single to promulgate the cause. The song has since become a standard for use during birthdays in general, particularly among African Americans. "Happy Birthday" was released as the fourth single of Wonder's '' Hotter than July'' (1980) album in June 1981. It was one of his most popular entries in the UK Singles Chart. It was not released in the United States, but is still regarded as one of his signature songs. Background The song, one of many of Wonder's songs to feature the use of a keyboard synthesizer, features Wonder lamenting the fact that anyone would oppose the idea of a Dr. King holiday, where "peace is celebrated throughout the world" and singing to King in the chorus, "Happy birthday to you". The holiday, he pro ...
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Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Wonder is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, R&B, Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, Gospel music, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of contemporary R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LP record, LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Visual impairment, Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder's s ...
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Radio City Music Hall
Radio City Music Hall (also known as Radio City) is an entertainment venue and Theater (structure), theater at 1260 Sixth Avenue (Manhattan), Avenue of the Americas, within Rockefeller Center, in the Midtown Manhattan neighborhood of New York City. Nicknamed "The Showplace of the Nation", it is the headquarters for the Rockettes. Radio City Music Hall was designed by Edward Durell Stone and Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. Radio City Music Hall was built on a plot of land that was originally intended for a Metropolitan Opera House, although plans for the opera house were canceled in 1929. It opened on December 27, 1932, as part of the construction of Rockefeller Center. The 5,960-seat Music Hall was the larger of two venues built for Rockefeller Center's "Radio City" section, the other being the RKO Roxy Theatre (later the Center Theatre (New York City), Center Theatre); the "Radio City" name came to apply only to Radio City Music Hall. It was largely successful until the 19 ...
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Motown Singles
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on January 12, 1959, it was incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''motor'' and ''town'', has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered. Motown played a vital role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned label that achieved crossover (music), crossover success with white audiences. In the 1960s, Motown and its main subsidiary labels (including Gordy, Soul) were the most prominent exponents of what became known as the #Motown sound, Motown sound, a style of soul music with a mainstream pop music, pop-influenced sound and appeal. Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million in 1988. Between 1960 and 1969, Motown had 79 songs reach the top-ten of the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100. In March 1965, Berry Go ...
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1981 Singles
Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral Karl Doenitz following his death on December 24. * January 10 – Salvadoran Civil War: The FMLN launches its first major offensive, gaining control of most of Morazán and Chalatenango departments. * January 15 – Pope John Paul II receives a delegation led by Polish Solidarity leader Lech Wałęsa at the Vatican. * January 20 – Iran releases the 52 Americans held for 444 days, minutes after Ronald Reagan is sworn in as the 40th President of the United States, ending the Iran hostage crisis. * January 21 – The first DeLorean automobile, a stainless steel sports car with gull-wing doors, rolls off the production line in Dunmurry, Northern Ireland. * January 24 – An earthquake of magnitude in Sichuan, China, kills 150 people. Ja ...
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1980 Songs
__NOTOC__ Year 198 (CXCVIII) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. At the time, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Sergius and Gallus (or, less frequently, year 951 ''Ab urbe condita''). The denomination 198 for this year has been used since the early medieval period, when the Anno Domini calendar era became the prevalent method in Europe for naming years. Events By place Roman Empire *January 28 **Publius Septimius Geta, son of Septimius Severus, receives the title of Caesar. **Caracalla, son of Septimius Severus, is given the title of Augustus. China *Winter – Battle of Xiapi: The allied armies led by Cao Cao and Liu Bei defeat Lü Bu; afterward Cao Cao has him executed. By topic Religion * Marcus I succeeds Olympianus as Patriarch of Constantinople (until 211). Births * Lu Kai, Chinese official and general (d. 269) * Quan Cong, Chinese general and advisor (d. 249) Deaths * Li Jue, Chinese warlord and rege ...
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ZIMA
The Zimbabwe Music Awards (ZIMA) is an annual award ceremony to acknowledge and honor musical excellence and creativity in Zimbabwean music. References External links * https://zimmusicawards.co.zw * Music of Zimbabwe African music awards Zimbabwean music awards {{Zimbabwe-stub ...
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Israel Broadcasting Authority
The Israel Broadcasting Authority (IBA; ) was Israel's public broadcaster from 1948 to 2017, succeeded by the Israeli Public Broadcasting Corporation. History The Israel Broadcasting Authority was an outgrowth of the radio station '' Kol Yisrael'', which made its first broadcast as an independent station on 14 March 1948. The name of the organization operating ''Kol Yisrael'' was changed to ''Israel Broadcasting Service'' in 1951. The law creating the ''Israel Broadcasting Authority'' was passed by the Knesset on 6 June 1965. Television broadcasts commenced on 2 May 1968, with color television following on 23 February 1983, although occasional color transmissions, of such events as the Eurovision Song Contest 1979 and the visit of the Egyptian President Anwar Sadat in 1977, had been made earlier. IBA operated two television channels and eight radio stations. In 1990, the Israeli parliament passed a law that resulted in the creation of the Second Israeli Broadcasting Autho ...
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Kent Music Report
The Kent Music Report was a weekly record chart of Australian music singles and albums which was compiled by music historian David Kent from May 1974 through to January 1999. The chart was re-branded the Australian Music Report (AMR) in July 1987. From June 1988, the Australian Recording Industry Association, which had been using the top 50 portion of the report under licence since mid-1983, chose to produce their own listing as the ARIA Charts. Before the Kent Report, ''Go-Set'' magazine published weekly Top 40 Singles from 1966, and albums chart from 1970 until the magazine's demise in August 1974. David Kent later published Australian charts from 1940 to 1973 in a retrospective fashion, using state by state chart data obtained from various Australian radio stations. Background Kent had spent a number of years previously working in the music industry at both EMI and Phonogram records and had developed the report initially as a hobby. The Kent Music Report was first releas ...
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Betty Wright
Bessie Regina Norris (December 21, 1953 – May 10, 2020), better known by her stage name Betty Wright, was an American soul music, soul and Rhythm and blues, R&B singer, songwriter and background vocalist. Beginning her professional career in the late 1960s as a teenager, Wright rose to fame in the 1970s with hits such as "Clean Up Woman" and "Tonight Is the Night". Wright was also prominent in her use of whistle register. Biography Early life and career Born in Miami, Florida, as Bessie Regina Norris on December 21, 1953, Wright was the youngest of seven children of Rosa Akins Braddy-Wright and her second husband, McArthur Norris. Wright began her professional career at the age of two when her siblings formed the Echoes of Joy, a gospel music, gospel group. Wright contributed to vocals on the group's first album, released in 1956. Wright and her siblings performed together until 1965, when she was 11 years old. Following the group's break-up, Wright, who was already using ...
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Josie James
Josephine James is a Grammy-nominated singer, songwriter, and recording artist. James is best known for her performances on Burt Bacharach’s world tours, such as her feature song “ Anyone Who Had a Heart". James is also the lead vocalist of George Duke, the band. James' co-wrote her solo albums ''Candles'', ''Songcity'', ''Hit Factory,'' and ''That Jazz'' with producer Nigel Martinez. James and Martinez also collaborated to release several UK singles: "Dance You Up," "Call Me (When You Need My Love)," "Now or Never," and "It's Up To Me." Her performance on " Street Life" from the album '' Royal Jam'' with The Crusaders, B.B. King, and The London Philharmonic Orchestra, recorded live at Royal Festival Hall, was nominated for a Grammy. Some of her performances include: The International Tribute for a Free South Africa for Nelson Mandela at London's Wembley Arena with George Duke, for an audience of 100,000 people and television audiences worldwide; The Hollywood Bowl as feat ...
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Susaye Greene
Susaye Greene (born September 13, 1950) is an American singer and songwriter. She was the last official member to join the Motown girl group The Supremes, remaining in the group during its final year of existence from 1976 to 1977. She is a successful songwriter as well, having written hit records for Michael Jackson, Deniece Williams, and many others. Biography Early life and career Born in Houston, Texas, Greene began her professional career at age 12. As a teenager, she moved to New York City where she attended Professional Children School, graduating in 1966 and later from the New York City High School of Performing Arts, and appeared in various commercials. Prior to joining The Supremes, Greene sang with Ray Charles' Raelettes and Stevie Wonder's Wonderlove, which paired her with Deniece Williams and Shirley Brewer. In 1973 she sang lead as a guest vocalist on New Birth's hit " Until It's Time for You to Go" (a cover of Buffy Sainte-Marie's song). In 1975 she co-wrote " Fr ...
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Vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''vo''ice and en''coder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was invented in 1938 by Homer Dudley at Bell Labs as a means of synthesizing human speech. This work was developed into the channel vocoder which was used as a voice codec for telecommunications for speech coding to conserve bandwidth in transmission. By encrypting the control signals, voice transmission can be secured against interception. Its primary use in this fashion is for secure radio communication. The advantage of this method of encryption is that none of the original signal is sent, only envelopes of the bandpass filters. The receiving unit needs to be set up in the same filter configuration to re-synthesize a version of the original signal spectrum. The vocoder has also been used extensively as an electronic musical instrument ...
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