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Far Cry (Marvin Gaye Song)
"Far Cry" is the infamous unfinished recording that was included on singer Marvin Gaye's 1981 final Motown album, '' In Our Lifetime''. The song, essentially a funk-styled instrumental, featured a vocally conscious Gaye mouthing words while playing multiple instruments, including the drums and keyboards, on the first part of the song. The brief second half features a jazz instrumental with Gaye playing piano and drums and singing in falsetto, while his fellow instrumentalists, bassist Frank Blair and guitarist Gordon Banks, accompany him. The song's release among the eight original recordings on ''In Our Lifetime'' angered Marvin to the point where he severed ties with Motown, his home for twenty years, leaving the label for Columbia. As he told his biographer David Ritz, "I hadn't completed it....The song was in its most primitive stage. All I had was this jive vocal track, and they put it out as a finished fact. How could they embarrass me like that? I was humiliated. They also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Pentz Gaye Jr. (; April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was an American Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul singer, songwriter, musician, and record producer. He helped shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of successes, which earned him the nicknames "Prince of Motown" and "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Prince of Soul", and is often considered one of the Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, greatest singers of all time. Gaye's Motown hits include "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)" (1964), "Ain't That Peculiar" (1965), and "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" (1968). He also recorded duets with Mary Wells, Kim Weston, Tammi Terrell, and Diana Ross. During the 1970s, Gaye became one of the first Motown artists to break away from the reins of a production company and recorded the landmark albums ''What's Going On (album), What's Going On'' (1971) and ''Let's Get It On'' (1973). His ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
In Our Lifetime (Marvin Gaye Album)
''In Our Lifetime'' is the fifteenth studio album by the American Soul music, soul singer and songwriter Marvin Gaye, released January 15, 1981, on Motown label Motown, Tamla Records. Recording sessions for the album took place at Marvin's Room (recording studio), Marvin's Room in Los Angeles, California, Seawest Recording Studio in Honolulu, Hawaii, and at Odyssey Studios in London, England, throughout 1979 and 1980 (and abruptly remixed in 1981 by Motown). The album cover was designed by Neil Breeden. Gaye's final album for Motown before leaving for Columbia Records, the album was the follow-up to the commercial failure of ''Here, My Dear'', a double album which chronicled the singer's divorce from Anna Gordy. Entirely written, produced, arranged, and mixed by Gaye, ''In Our Lifetime'' was a departure for Gaye from the disco stylings of his previous two studio efforts and was seen as one of the best albums of the singer's late Motown period. Conception In 1979, Marvin Gaye foun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
London, England
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Western Europe, with a population of 14.9 million. London stands on the River Thames in southeast England, at the head of a tidal estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a major settlement for nearly 2,000 years. Its ancient core and financial centre, the City of London, was founded by the Roman Empire, Romans as Londinium and has retained its medieval boundaries. The City of Westminster, to the west of the City of London, has been the centuries-long host of Government of the United Kingdom, the national government and Parliament of the United Kingdom, parliament. London grew rapidly 19th-century London, in the 19th century, becoming the world's List of largest cities throughout history, largest city at the time. Since the 19th cen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Funk
Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the mid-20th century. It deemphasizes melody and chord progressions and focuses on a strong rhythmic groove of a bassline played by an electric bassist and a drum part played by a percussionist, often at slower tempos than other popular music. Funk typically consists of a complex percussive groove with rhythm instruments playing interlocking grooves that create a "hypnotic" and "danceable" feel. It uses the same richly colored extended chords found in bebop jazz, such as minor chords with added sevenths and elevenths, and dominant seventh chords with altered ninths and thirteenths. Funk originated in the mid-1960s, with James Brown's development of a signature groove that emphasized the downbeat—with a heavy emphasis on the first be ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Soul Music
Soul music is a popular music genre that originated in African-American culture, African-American African-American neighborhood, communities throughout the United States in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Catchy rhythms, stressed by handclaps and extemporaneous body movements, are an important hallmark of soul. Other characteristics are a Call and response (music), call and response between the lead and Backing vocalist, backing vocalists, an especially tense vocal sound, and occasional Musical improvisation, improvisational additions, twirls, and auxiliary sounds. Soul music is known for reflecting African-American identity and stressing the importance of African-American culture. Soul has its roots in African-American gospel music and rhythm and blues, and primarily combines elements of gospel, R&B and jazz. The genre emerged from the power struggle to increase black Americans' awareness of their African ancestry, as a newfound consciousness led to the creation of music ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motown Records
Motown is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. Founded by Berry Gordy, 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 19 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Multi-instrumentalist
A multi-instrumentalist is a musician who plays two or more musical instruments, often but not exclusively at a professional level of proficiency. Also known as woodwind doubler, doubling, the practice allows greater ensemble flexibility and more efficient employment of musicians, where a particular instrument may be employed only briefly or sporadically during a performance. Doubling is not uncommon in orchestra (e.g., flute, flutists who double on piccolo) and jazz (saxophone/flute players); double bass players might also perform on electric bass. In music theatre, a pit orchestra's reed players might be required to perform on multiple instruments. Church piano players are often expected to play the church's pipe organ or Hammond organ as well. In popular music it is more common than in classical or jazz for performers to be proficient on instruments not from the same family, for instance to play both guitar and keyboards. Many bluegrass musicians are multi-instrumentalists. So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gordon Banks (musician)
Gordon Banks (February 22, 1955 – July 21, 2023) was an American guitarist, producer, writer and musical director. He was voted one of the top 100 guitarists in America by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine in 1985. Banks played an important part in Marvin Gaye's later years. Gaye referred to him as "ID" meaning "The Indicator". Biography Early life and career Banks was born on February 22, 1955, in Norfolk, Virginia. Adept at playing instruments at an early age, he joined his first band, The Showmen, at the age of twelve playing guitar. The group, was created by later Chairmen of the Board leader General Norman Johnson. The group was noted for their minor hit single, "39-31-40 Shape". Banks would soon leave the band and Norfolk following his graduation at Norfolk State University, moving to Los Angeles where he landed gigs playing guitar for funk groups such as The Gap Band, New Birth, The Unifics, and Mandrill, gospel musician Edwin Hawkins and Motown superstar Stevie Wonder. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Records
Columbia Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Music Group, an American division of multinational conglomerate Sony. Founded in 1889, Columbia is the oldest surviving brand name in the recorded sound business, and the second major company to produce records. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship record labels, along with Epic Records, RCA Records and Arista Records. History Beginnings (1888–1929) The Columbia Phonograph Company was founded on January 15, 1889, by stenographer, lawyer, and New Jersey native Edward D. Easton (1856–1915) and a group of investors. It derived its name from the District of Columbia, where it was headquartered. At first it had a local monopoly on sales and service of Edison ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Ritz
David Ritz (born December 2, 1943) is an American author. He has written novels, biographies, magazine articles, and over a hundred liner notes for artists such as Aretha Franklin, Ray Charles, and Nat King Cole. He has coauthored 36 autobiographies, including some celebrities' autobiographies. Career and bibliography As a biographer Ritz's first collaboration was ''Brother Ray'' (1978), the autobiography of Ray Charles. Ritz has said that his initial intention was to write a biography until becoming intrigued by the idea of rendering the book entirely in Charles' voice. "That's when I discovered I had a gift for channeling voice", Ritz told the L.A. Times' Patrick Goldstein in 2012. "That discovery changed the course of my literary life." Other autobiographies co-written by Ritz include: *'' Divided Soul: The Life of Marvin Gaye'' began when Ritz met Gaye in the late seventies and was published in 1985, a year after the singer's death. *''Rhythm And The Blues: A Life in Ameri ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
U-God
Lamont Jody Hawkins (born November 10, 1970), better known by his stage name U-God, meaning Universal-God, is an American rapper and member of the hip hop collective Wu-Tang Clan. He has been with the group since its inception, and is known for his deep voice and rhythmic flow that can alternate between gruff and smooth. Early life Hawkins was born in Brownsville, Brooklyn, on November 10, 1970. He moved to Staten Island as a youth. He was originally a beatboxer for Cappadonna, and was friends with future members Method Man, Inspectah Deck and childhood friend of Raekwon. Sometime before the members united, U-God was mentored in rap by Cappadonna. He soon became friends with RZA and Ghostface Killah, and he began rhyming under the alias Golden Arms, based on the Kung-Fu movie '' Kid with the Golden Arm''. Later on he changed his name to U-God (which is short for his Five-Percent Nation righteous name "Universal God Allah"). Career ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 Chambers)'' / ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Snoop Dogg
Calvin Cordozar Broadus Jr. ( ; born October 20, 1971), better known by his stage name Snoop Dogg (previously Snoop Doggy Dogg), is an American rapper, record producer, and actor. Rooted in West Coast hip-hop, he is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rappers of all time. Known for his signature Drawl, drawled lyrics—which often use melodic rhyming, Repetition (rhetorical device), repetition, word play, Laconic phrase, laconic phrases, syncopation and alliteration—his music often addresses the lifestyle and culture of the West Coast of the United States, West Coast and social issues such as gun violence and stability for the youth. His initial fame dates back to 1992 following his guest appearance on Dr. Dre's debut solo single, "Deep Cover (song), Deep Cover", and later on Dre's debut album, ''The Chronic'' that same year. Snoop Dogg has since sold over 23 million albums in the United States, and 35 million albums worldwide. List of awards and nomina ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
