Fingertips
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Fingertips
"Fingertips" is a 1963 hit single recorded live by "Little" Stevie Wonder for Motown's then Tamla label. Overview Written and composed by Wonder's mentors, Clarence Paul and Henry Cosby, "Fingertips" was originally a jazz instrumental recorded for Wonder's first studio album, '' The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie.'' The live version of the song was recorded in 1963 during a Motortown Revue performance at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois. Containing only a few stanzas of improvised lyrics, "Fingertips" is essentially an instrumental piece, meant to showcase Wonder's talents on the bongos and the harmonica. "Part 2" The edit point that begins "Part 2" of "Fingertips" is when Wonder shouts "Everybody say 'yeah!'", initiating a call-and-response exchange with the audience. After a couple of sung verses, each followed by Wonder's brief harmonica playing (solos accompanied only by the audience's rhythmic clapping), Wonder appears to bring things to a conclusion, right after s ...
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The Jazz Soul Of Little Stevie
''The Jazz Soul of Little Stevie'' is the debut studio album by Little Stevie Wonder, released in September 1962 on Tamla Records. Overview The album showcases the 12-year-old Wonder's talents as a composer and instrumentalist. As with '' Eivets Rednow'' Wonder doesn't sing at all on this album. Since he only plays percussion, the keyboard, and the harmonica. Clarence Paul and Henry Cosby wrote and produced most of the album, though Wonder co-wrote two tunes. The original studio version of "Fingertips" is included on the album; a live version would become Wonder's first hit single. Critical reception Bruce Eder of Allmusic praised the album saying, "Stevie Wonder's debut album, released when he was 11, is still an amazing musical document, showcasing his skills as a percussionist (drums and bongos), chromatic harmonica player, keyboardist (piano and organ), and composer -- and he was prodigious in all four categories. All of these skills are highlighted throughout this record, ...
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Henry Cosby
Henry R. Cosby (May 12, 1928 – January 22, 2002) was an American songwriter, arranger, record producer and musician who worked for Motown Records from its formative years. Along with Sylvia Moy, Cosby was a key collaborator with Stevie Wonder from 1963 to 1970. Cosby co-wrote and/or co-produced three No. 1 US hits: Stevie Wonder's " Fingertips" (1963), The Supremes' " Love Child" (1968), and The Miracles' "The Tears of a Clown" (1968). Life and career Cosby was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1928. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he played alongside jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley in the military band. Upon his return to Detroit, he joined pianist Joe Hunter's jazz band. He played tenor saxophone in jazz clubs, as well as on records for different labels around the city. When Berry Gordy launched Motown Records in 1959 he recruited the Joe Hunter Band with Cosby, Benny Benjamin, James Jamerson, Larry Veeder, and Mike Terry, forming the basis of t ...
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Motown
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 ...
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Clarence Paul
Clarence Otto Pauling (March 19, 1928 – May 6, 1995) better known and published as Clarence Paul, was an American songwriter and record producer who was best known for his career with Detroit's Motown Records. Early life and career Born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on March 19, 1928, Paul was the son of Lowman Pauling and Arsula Price. His brother was guitarist/songwriter Lowman Pauling Jr. The two brothers co-founded The "5" Royales singing group. Their father was a coal miner in Bluefield, West Virginia, where the brothers listened to country music on the town's only radio station. In Winston-Salem, the brothers formed the gospel group the Royal Sons Quintet, later to become The "5" Royales. Paul dropped the "ing" from his last name after moving to Detroit in the 1950s, so he would not to be confused with his older brother. Career In 1958, he had one of his first major songwriting credits. He co-wrote and recorded "I Need Your Lovin'" for the Hanover label. It was ...
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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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Nope (film)
''Nope'' (stylized in all caps) is a 2022 American neo-Western science fiction horror film written, directed, and produced by Jordan Peele, under his and Ian Cooper's Monkeypaw Productions banner. It stars Daniel Kaluuya and Keke Palmer as horse- wrangling siblings attempting to capture evidence of an unidentified flying object in Agua Dulce, California. Appearing in supporting roles are Steven Yeun, Michael Wincott, Brandon Perea, and Keith David. Peele officially announced his third directorial film in November 2020. He cited '' King Kong'' (1933), ''Jurassic Park'' (1993), '' Close Encounters of the Third Kind'' (1977), ''Jaws'' (1975), '' Signs'' (2002), and '' The Wizard of Oz'' (1939) as his main inspirations. Palmer and Kaluuya joined in February 2021. Yeun was cast the next month, and Peele revealed the title in July 2021. Filming began in June 2021 in northern Los Angeles County, and wrapped in November. ''Nope'' premiered at the TCL Chinese Theatre in ...
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Motortown Revue
The Motortown Revue was the name given to the package concert tours of Motown artists in the 1960s. Early tours featured Smokey Robinson & The Miracles, Mary Wells, The Marvelettes, Barrett Strong, and The Contours as headlining acts, and gave then-second-tier acts such as Marvin Gaye, Martha & The Vandellas, Stevie Wonder, The Supremes, The Four Tops, Gladys Knight & the Pips and The Temptations the chances to improve their skills. History Motown's entire roster, and occasionally non-Motown performers such as James Brown and The Famous Flames, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield, The Shirelles and Patti LaBelle & the Bluebelles, were featured on the tours. Most of the venues for the early Motortown Revue tours were along the " Chitlin' Circuit" in the eastern and southern United States. In the Deep South racism became an issue, as the mostly African American performers were sometimes attacked or threatened by local white residents. While in the north the Motown arti ...
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The Regal Theater (Chicago, Illinois)
The Regal Theater was a night club, theater, and music venue, popular among African Americans, located in the Bronzeville neighborhood in Chicago, Illinois. The theater was designed by Edward Eichenbaum, and opened in February 1928. It closed in 1968 and was demolished in 1973. Part of the Balaban and Katz chain, the lavishly decorated venue, with plush carpeting and velvet drapes, featured some of the most celebrated African-American entertainers in America. On what for a time was known as the Chitlin' Circuit, the Regal also featured motion pictures and live stage shows. Nat "King" Cole, Cab Calloway, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Lena Horne, Dinah Washington, Ethel Waters, Miles Davis, Sammy Davis Jr., Bill Robinson, Moms Mabley, Lionel Hampton, Dizzy Gillespie, and Duke Ellington performed frequently at the theater from the 1920s through the 1940s.Semmes, C''The Regal Theater and Black Culture''.''Google Books''. Other acts to appear at the Regal over t ...
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Johnny Allen (arranger)
Johnny Allen (September 20, 1917 – January 29, 2014) was an American jazz and R&B musician who worked for both Motown and Stax Records and received a Grammy Award with Isaac Hayes for his arrangement of " Theme from Shaft". Early life He was born in Uchee, Alabama, and grew up in Chicago before moving to Detroit in 1936. A self-taught pianist, his main influence was Earl Hines. Career Starting in the early 1940s, he worked as musical director at the Club Congo, a nightclub in the basement of the Norwood Hotel, where he led a 12-piece band that played at dances and accompanied visiting acts such as Billie Holiday and the Mills Brothers.Mark Stryker, "D ...
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Jordan Peele
Jordan Haworth Peele (born February 21, 1979) is an American actor, comedian and filmmaker. He is known for his film and television work in the Comedy film, comedy and Horror film, horror genres. He has received List of awards and nominations received by Jordan Peele, various accolades, including an Academy Award and a Primetime Emmy Award. Peele started his career in sketch comedy before transitioning to writing and directing psychological horror with comedic elements. In 2017, Peele was included on the annual Time 100, ''Time'' 100 list of the most influential people in the world. Peele's breakout role came in 2003, when he was hired as a cast member on the Fox Broadcasting Company, Fox sketch comedy series ''Mad TV'', where he spent five seasons, leaving the show in 2008. In the following years, he and his frequent ''Mad TV'' collaborator, Keegan-Michael Key, created and starred in their own Comedy Central sketch comedy series ''Key & Peele'' (2012–2015). The series was cri ...
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James Jamerson
James Lee Jamerson (January 29, 1936 – August 2, 1983) was an American bassist. He was the uncredited bassist on most of the Motown Records hits in the 1960s and early 1970s (Motown did not list session musician credits on their releases until 1971), and is now regarded as one of the greatest and most influential bass players in modern music history. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. As a session musician he played on twenty-three ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one hits, as well as fifty-six R&B number-one hits. In its special issue "The 100 Greatest Bass Players" in 2017, '' Bass Player'' magazine ranked Jamerson number one and called him the most important and influential bass guitarist. In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' magazine ranked Jamerson number one in its list of the 50 greatest bassists of all time. Early life A native of Edisto Island, South Carolina, he was born to James Jamerson Sr. and Elizabeth Bacon. He was raised in part by his grand ...
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Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by '' Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 positions but was shortened to 50 positions in October 2012. The chart is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African-American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, rock and roll, soul, and funk, it is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip hop. Since its inception, the chart has changed its name many times in order to accurately reflect the industry at the time. History Beginning in 1942, ''Billboard'' published a chart of bestselling African-American music, first as the Harlem Hit Parade, then as Race Records. Then in 1949, ''Billboard'' began publishing a Rhythm and Blues chart, which entered "R&B" into mainstream lexicon. These three ch ...
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