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Christopher Cerf (producer)
Christopher Cerf (born August 19, 1941) is an American writer, composer-lyricist, voice actor, and record and television producer. He has contributed music to ''Sesame Street,'' and co-created and co-produced the PBS literacy education television program '' Between the Lions''. Biography Cerf's father was Random House co-founder, publisher, editor and TV panelist Bennett Cerf. His mother was journalist and children's book publisher Phyllis Fraser. Cerf attended the Deerfield Academy and graduated from Harvard College. He was married to Geneviève Charbin who is a Catholic of French descent. Cerf and Katherine Vaz were married on June 21, 2015. After his father's death, his mother married ex-New York City mayor Robert F. Wagner Jr. Musical compositions In the early 1960s, he was involved as a writer and performer on musical satires released by ''The Harvard Lampoon''. Since its first season in 1969, Cerf has played a role in the creation and production of the ''Sesame Stre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Record Producer
A record producer or music producer is a music creating project's overall supervisor whose responsibilities can involve a range of creative and technical leadership roles. Typically the job involves hands-on oversight of recording sessions; ensuring artists deliver acceptable and quality performances, supervising the technical engineering of the recording, and coordinating the production team and process. The producer's involvement in a musical project can vary in depth and scope. Sometimes in popular genres the producer may create the recording's entire sound and structure. However, in classical music recording, for example, the producer serves as more of a liaison between the conductor and the engineering team. The role is often likened to that of a film director, though there are important differences. It is distinct from the role of an executive producer, who is mostly involved in the recording project on an administrative level, and from the audio engineer who operates the re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Live
''Saturday Night Live'' (''SNL'') is an American Late night television in the United States, late-night live television, live sketch comedy variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Michaels and Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC. The show's premiere was hosted by George Carlin on NBC on October 11, 1975, under the original title ''NBC's Saturday Night''. The show's comedy sketches, which often parody popular culture and politics, are performed by a Saturday Night Live cast members, large and varying cast of repertory and newer cast members. Each episode is hosted by a celebrity guest, who usually delivers the opening monologue and performs in sketches with the cast, with featured performances by a musical guest. An episode normally begins with a cold open sketch that is usually based on current events and ends with someone breaking character and proclaiming, "Live from New York, it's Saturday Night!, Live from New York, it's ''Saturday Night''!", properly beginning the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Randy Travis
Randy Bruce Traywick (born May 4, 1959), known professionally as Randy Travis, is an American country and gospel music singer and songwriter, as well as a film and television actor. Active since 1979, he has recorded over 20 studio albums and charted over 50 singles on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Songs charts, including sixteen that reached the number-one position. Travis's commercial success began in the mid-1980s with the release of his album '' Storms of Life'', which was certified triple-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. He followed up his major-label debut with a string of platinum and multi-platinum albums, but his commercial success declined throughout the 1990s. In 1997, he left Warner Bros. Records for DreamWorks Records; he signed to Word Records for a series of gospel albums beginning in 2000 before transferring back to Warner at the end of the 21st century's first decade. His musical accolades include seven Grammy Awards, eleven ACM Awa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Carol Channing
Carol Elaine Channing (January 31, 1921 – January 15, 2019) was an American actress, comedian, singer and dancer who starred in Broadway and film musicals. Each of her characters typically possessed a fervent expressiveness and an easily identifiable voice. Channing originated the lead roles in '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes'' in 1949 and '' Hello, Dolly!'' in 1964, winning the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical for the latter. She revived both roles several times throughout her career, playing Dolly on Broadway for the final time in 1995. She was nominated for her first Tony Award in 1956 for '' The Vamp'', followed by a nomination in 1961 for ''Show Girl''. She received her fourth Tony Award nomination for the musical '' Lorelei'' in 1974. As a film actress, she won the Golden Globe Award and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance as Muzzy in '' Thoroughly Modern Millie'' (1967). Her other film appearances include '' The Fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tracy Chapman
Tracy Chapman (born March 30, 1964) is an American singer-songwriter, widely known for her hit singles " Fast Car" (1988) and " Give Me One Reason" (1995). She was signed to Elektra Records by Bob Krasnow in 1987. The following year she released her debut album, '' Tracy Chapman'', which became a commercial success, boosted by her appearance at the Nelson Mandela 70th Birthday Tribute concert, and was certified 6× Platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America. The album received six Grammy Award nominations, including one for Album of the Year, three of which she won: Best New Artist, Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for her single "Fast Car", and Best Contemporary Folk Album. In 1989, she released her second album, '' Crossroads'', which earned her an additional Grammy Award nomination for Best Contemporary Folk Album. Her third album, '' Matters of the Heart'', followed in 1992. Her fourth album, '' New Beginning'', was released in 1995 and became anothe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dixie Chicks
The Chicks (formerly the Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. The band consists of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar, bass guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Emily Strayer (vocals, guitar, banjo, Dobro). Martie and Emily, both née Erwin, founded the Dixie Chicks in 1989 with the bassist Laura Lynch and the singer and guitarist Robin Lynn Macy. They performed bluegrass and country music, busking and touring the bluegrass festival circuits and small venues for six years. In 1992, Lynch replaced Macy. After independently releasing three albums, in 1995, the Dixie Chicks were signed by Monument Records Nashville and Maines replaced Lynch. They released their first album with Monument, '' Wide Open Spaces,'' in 1998, followed by '' Fly'' in 1999. Both albums were certified diamond. In 2003, shortly before the invasion of Iraq, the Dixie Chicks publicly criticized the US president George W. Bush, tri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Bennett
Anthony Dominick Benedetto (August 3, 1926 – July 21, 2023), known professionally as Tony Bennett, was an American jazz and traditional pop singer. He received many accolades, including 20 Grammy Awards, a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, Lifetime Achievement Award, and two Primetime Emmy Awards. Bennett was named a NEA Jazz Masters, National Endowments for the Arts Jazz Master and a Kennedy Center Honors, Kennedy Center Honoree. He founded the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, Queens, New York, along with Exploring the Arts, a non-profit arts education program. He sold more than 50 million records worldwide and earned a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Bennett began singing at an early age. He fought in the final stages of World War II as a United States Army, U.S. Army infantryman in the European theatre of World War II, European Theater. Afterward, he developed his singing technique, signed with Columbia Records and had his first number-one popular song wi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Taylor
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A six-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. Taylor achieved his breakthrough in 1970 with the single "Fire and Rain (song), Fire and Rain" and had his first hit in 1971 with his recording of "You've Got a Friend", written by Carole King in the same year. His 1976 ''Greatest Hits (James Taylor album), Greatest Hits'' album was certified RIAA certification#RIAA Diamond certifications, Diamond and has sold 11 million copies in the US alone, making it one of the List of best-selling albums in the United States#10–14 million copies, best-selling albums in US history. Following his 1977 album ''JT (James Taylor album), JT'', he has retained a large audience over the decades. Every album that he released from 1977 to 2007 sold over 1 million copies. He enjoyed a resurgence in chart performance during the late 1990s and 2000s, when he recorded som ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Cash
John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter. Most of his music contains themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially songs from the later stages of his career. He was known for his deep, calm, bass-baritone voice, the distinctive sound of his backing band, the Tennessee Three, that was characterized by its train-like chugging guitar rhythms, a rebelliousness coupled with an increasingly somber and humble demeanor, and his free prison concerts. Cash wore a trademark all-black stage wardrobe, which earned him the Honorific nicknames in popular music, nickname "Man in Black (song), Man in Black". Born to poor cotton farmers in Kingsland, Arkansas, Cash grew up on gospel music and played on a local radio station in high school. He served four years in the United States Air Force, Air Force, much of it in West Germany. After his return to the United States, he rose to fame during the mid-1950s in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Genius". Among friends and fellow musicians, he preferred being called "Brother Ray". Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly due to glaucoma. Charles pioneered the soul music genre during the 1950s by combining elements of blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, and Gospel music, gospel into his music during his time with Atlantic Records. He contributed to the integration of country music, rhythm and blues, and pop music during the 1960s with his crossover success on ABC Records, notably with his two ''Modern Sounds'' albums. While he was with ABC, Charles became one of the first black musicians to be granted artistic control by a mainstream record company. Charles' 1960s hit "Georgia on My Mind" was the first of his three career No. 1 hits ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Simon
Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Simon & Garfunkel. Their blend of folk and rock, including hits such as "The Sound of Silence" (1965), "Mrs. Robinson" (1968), "America (Simon & Garfunkel song), America" (1968), and "The Boxer" (1969), served as a soundtrack to the Counterculture of the 1960s, 1960s counterculture. Their final album, ''Bridge over Troubled Water'' (1970), is among List of best-selling albums, the best-selling of all time. As a solo artist, Simon has explored genres including gospel music, gospel, reggae, and soul music, soul. His albums ''Paul Simon (album), Paul Simon'' (1972), ''There Goes Rhymin' Simon'' (1973), and ''Still Crazy After All These Years'' (1975) kept him in the public eye and drew acclaim, producing the hits "Mother and Child Reunion" (1972 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Muppet
The Muppets are an American ensemble cast of puppet characters known for an absurdist, slapstick, burlesque, and self-referential style of musical variety-sketch comedy. Created by Jim Henson in 1955, the eponymous media franchise encompasses films, television, music, and other media associated with the characters. Owned by the Jim Henson Company for nearly five decades, the Muppets were acquired by the Walt Disney Company in 2004. The Muppets originated in the short-form television series '' Sam and Friends'', which aired on WRC-TV and in syndication from 1955 to 1961. Following appearances on late-night talk shows and in advertising during the 1960s, the Muppets began appearing on ''Sesame Street'' (1969–present) during their formative years in the early-mid 1970s and attained celebrity status and international recognition through ''The Muppet Show'' (1976–1981), their flagship sketch comedy television series that received four Primetime Emmy Award wins and 21 nominat ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
