Christmas (Kenny Rogers Album)
''Christmas'' is the twelfth studio album and the first Christmas album by Kenny Rogers released in 1981. Overview The album features several songs that were already well known at the time including "White Christmas," " When A Child is Born," "Carol of the Bells" and " My Favorite Things." Several original Christmas songs are also included, which have also now become well-known via this album. Christmas was also the origin of Kenny's first holiday single, "Kentucky Home Made Christmas." The album peaked at #10 on the U.S. Country charts and #34 on the overall U.S. charts. Track listing Personnel * Kenny Rogers – lead vocals, backing vocals (3, 6), vocal arrangements * Gene Page – arrangements * Barnaby Finch – acoustic piano * Lincoln Mayorga – acoustic piano * John Hobbs – keyboards * Clarence McDonald – Fender Rhodes * Kin Vassy – acoustic guitar, backing vocals * Paul Jackson Jr. – guitar * Ira Newborn – guitar * David T. Walker – guitar * Nath ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time. In the late 1950s, Rogers began his recording career with the Houston-based group the Scholars, who first released "The Poor Little Doggie". After some solo releases, including 1958's " That Crazy Feeling", Rogers then joined a group with the jazz singer Bobby Doyle. In 1966, he became a mem ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Irving Berlin
Irving Berlin (born Israel Beilin; yi, ישראל ביילין; May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was a Russian-American composer, songwriter and lyricist. His music forms a large part of the Great American Songbook. Born in Imperial Russia, Berlin arrived in the United States at the age of five. He published his first song, "Marie from Sunny Italy", in 1907, receiving 33 cents for the publishing rights,Starr, Larry and Waterman, Christopher, American Popular Music: From Minstrelsy to MP3, Oxford University Press, 2009, pg. 64 and had his first major international hit, " Alexander's Ragtime Band", in 1911. He also was an owner of the Music Box Theatre on Broadway. For much of his career Berlin could not read sheet music, and was such a limited piano player that he could only play in the key of F-sharp; he used his custom piano equipped with a transposing lever when he needed to play in keys other than F-sharp. "Alexander's Ragtime Band" sparked an international dance c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David T
David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". was, according to the Hebrew Bible, the third king of the United Kingdom of Israel. In the Books of Samuel, he is described as a young shepherd and harpist who gains fame by slaying Goliath, a champion of the Philistines, in southern Canaan. David becomes a favourite of Saul, the first king of Israel; he also forges a notably close friendship with Jonathan, a son of Saul. However, under the paranoia that David is seeking to usurp the throne, Saul attempts to kill David, forcing the latter to go into hiding and effectively operate as a fugitive for several years. After Saul and Jonathan are both killed in battle against the Philistines, a 30-year-old David is anointed king over all of Israel and Judah. Following his rise to power, Dav ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ira Newborn
James Ira Newborn (born December 26, 1949) is an American musician, actor, orchestrator and composer, best known for his work composing motion picture soundtracks. Life and career Newborn was born in New York City. References to him as James Ira are the result of a joke and incorrect. He has scored or written songs for films such as ''Sixteen Candles'', ''Weird Science'', ''Ferris Bueller's Day Off'', ''Uncle Buck'', ''Planes, Trains and Automobiles'', ''Mallrats'', '' Ace Ventura: Pet Detective'' and '' Into the Night'', for which he wrote music for B.B. King''.'' He frequently worked with director John Hughes. He also stepped in as musical director and producer for ''The Blues Brothers''. Newborn's many film credits also include a small acting role in ''Xanadu'', in which he appears as a 1940s bandleader. Newborn may be best known for composing the soundtrack for the '' Naked Gun'' series of police satires starring Leslie Nielsen. Newborn's brassy big band/blues theme song ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Paul Jackson Jr
Paul Milton Jackson Jr. (born December 30, 1959) is an American fusion/urban jazz composer, arranger, producer and guitarist. He was born and raised in Los Angeles. Jackson knew by the age of fifteen that he wanted to become a professional musician. He attended the University of Southern California, majoring in music. In addition to being a recording artist in his own right, Jackson is also a highly accomplished L.A. session player, with a career spanning multiple decades. He has supported artists ranging from Michael Jackson (no relation)Vogel, Joachim (1995). ''Masters of Rhythm Guitar'', p. 93. AMA Verlag. (on the albums ''Thriller'', '' Bad'', '' Dangerous'', ''HIStory'' and '' Blood on the Dance Floor: HIStory in the Mix'') to the Temptations, Whitney Houston, Alexander O'Neal, Five Star (on the album '' Silk and Steel''), Howard Hewett, Thomas Anders, Patti LaBelle and Luis Miguel, to rockers such as Chicago and Elton John, to jazz-oriented players such as George Duk ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fender Rhodes
The Rhodes piano (also known as the Fender Rhodes piano) is an electric piano invented by Harold Rhodes, which became popular in the 1970s. Like a conventional piano, the Rhodes generates sound with keys and hammers, but instead of strings, the hammers strike thin metal tines, which vibrate next to an electromagnetic pickup. The signal is then sent through a cable to an external keyboard amplifier and speaker. The instrument evolved from Rhodes's attempt to manufacture pianos while teaching recovering soldiers during World War II. Development continued after the war and into the following decade. In 1959, Fender began marketing the Piano Bass, a cut-down version; the full-size instrument did not appear until after Fender's sale to CBS in 1965. CBS oversaw mass production of the Rhodes piano in the 1970s, and it was used extensively through the decade, particularly in jazz, pop, and soul music. It was less used in the 1980s because of competition with polyphonic and digital ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clarence McDonald
Clarence "Mac" McDonald (1944 or 1945 – July 21, 2021) was a Los Angeles-based American pianist, composer, arranger, and producer. McDonald was known for his musical diversity, enduring melodies and signature groove. His most famous composition is ''Silly'' sung by Deniece Williams in 1981 and Taral Hicks in 1997. In 2010, the song's instrumental intro and bridge were sampled in Monica's seven week-long Billboard No. 1 R&B Grammy nominated song " Everything To Me". He worked with a long list of entertainment icons including Ray Charles, Barbra Streisand, Ella Fitzgerald, Justin Timberlake, Aretha Franklin, James Taylor, Carole King, Taral Hicks, Freddy Hubbard, Nancy Wilson, Boz Scaggs, Seals & Crofts, Bill Withers, and the Jackson 5. McDonald performed on the all-star benefit album ''Jazz For Japan'' (Avatar Records), released in September 2011. Biography Born in Los Angeles, California, on February 24, to Curtis and Ocie McDonald, Clarence showed an early interest in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Lincoln Mayorga
Lincoln Mayorga (born March 28, 1937) is an American pianist, arranger, conductor and composer who has worked in rock and roll, pop, jazz and classical music. Life and career Pop music in the 1950s and '60s Mayorga was born in Los Angeles, California, attended Hollywood High School, and trained as a classical pianist. He began working as arranger and accompanist to his high-school friends in the Four Preps, contributing one of the two piano parts on their 1958 hit " Big Man" and being known as "the fifth Prep". The group's producer, Lou Busch, helped Mayorga get a ragtime album issued in 1958, which was released under the pseudonym "Brooke Pemberton".Lou Busch at PerfessorBill.com Accessed January 26, 2010. With Ed Cobb of the Four P ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gene Page
Eugene Edgar Page Jr. (September 13, 1939 – August 24, 1998) was an American conductor, composer, arranger and record producer, most active from the mid-1960s through the mid-1980s. His sound can be heard in the arrangements he did for Jefferson Starship, the Righteous Brothers, the Supremes, the Four Tops, Barbra Streisand, Johnny Mathis, Donna Loren, Nancy Wilson, Martha and the Vandellas, Cher, Harriet Schock, Barry White, the Love Unlimited Orchestra, Dionne Warwick, Aretha Franklin, Whitney Houston, George Benson, the Jackson 5, Roberta Flack, Elton John (" Philadelphia Freedom"), Leo Sayer, Marvin Gaye, the Temptations, Frankie Valli, Helen Reddy and Lionel Richie among many other notable acts in popular music. In addition, he released four solo albums and scored various motion picture soundtracks that include '' Brewster McCloud'' and '' Fun with Dick and Jane''. In 1972, he was hired to score the Blaxplotation film '' Blacula''. Gene Page was the brother of m ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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When A Child Is Born
"When A Child Is Born" is a popular Christmas song. The original melody was " Soleado", a tune from 1974 by Ciro Dammicco (alias Zacar), composer for Italy's Daniel Sentacruz Ensemble, and Dario Baldan Bembo. The tune was based on Damicco's earlier tune "Le rose blu" published in 1972. The English language lyrics were written a few years later by Fred Jay (Friedrich Alex Jacobson IPI number 00015195204, who wrote many hits for Boney M such as Rasputin and Ma Baker). They do not make specific mention of Christmas. Fred Jay's lyrics have been sung by many artists, first version by Michael Holm in 1974 but most successfully by Johnny Mathis in 1976, whose version was the Christmas number one of that year in the UK. Performances "Soleado" is used in the 1975 Argentinean film ''Nazareno Cruz y el lobo'' (''The Love of the Wolf''), and it is credited as "Theme From the Motion Picture 'The Love of the Wolf'" on Mathis's album ''Johnny Mathis Sings the Movie Greats'' (CBS). Artists who ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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John Sullivan Dwight
John Sullivan Dwight (May 13, 1813 – September 5, 1893) was a transcendentalist, America's first influential classical music critic, and a school director. Biography Dwight was born in Boston, Massachusetts, the son of John Dwight, M.D. (1773–1852), and Mary Corey. He was a member of the New England Dwight family through his paternal grandfather, John Dwight, Jr. (1740–1816). He graduated from Harvard College in 1832 and then prepared for the Unitarian ministry at Harvard Divinity School, from which he graduated in 1836. Dwight was ordained a minister in 1840, but ministry proved not to be his vocation. Instead it was incredibly brief and tumultuous. Instead he developed a deep interest in music, in particular that of Ludwig van Beethoven. Dwight served as director of the school at the Brook Farm commune, the farm being a utopian communal living experiment, where he also taught music and organized musical and theatrical events. About this time he began writing a r ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Adolphe Adam
Adolphe Charles Adam (; 24 July 1803 – 3 May 1856) was a French composer, teacher and music critic. A prolific composer for the theatre, he is best known today for his ballets ''Giselle'' (1841) and '' Le corsaire'' (1856), his operas ''Le postillon de Lonjumeau'' (1836) and ''Si j'étais roi'' (1852) and his Christmas carol "Minuit, chrétiens!" (Midnight, Christians, 1844, known in English as "O Holy Night"). Adam was the son of a well-known composer and pianist, but his father did not wish him to pursue a musical career. Adam defied his father, and his many operas and ballets earned him a good living until he lost all his money in 1848 in a disastrous bid to open a new opera house in Paris in competition with the Opéra and Opéra-Comique. He recovered, and extended his activities to journalism and teaching. He was appointed as a professor at the Paris Conservatoire, France's principal music academy. Together with his older contemporary Daniel Auber and his teacher Adri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |