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Frank Wilson (musician)
Frank Edward Wilson (December 5, 1940 – September 27, 2012) was an American songwriter, singer, and record producer for Motown Records. Early life and education Wilson was born on December 5, 1940, in Houston, Texas, to James Wilson and Samanther Gibbs. Wilson attended Southern University in Baton Rouge but only for one year; he had participated in a civil rights protest and lost his scholarship in his sophomore year. While still in his teens, he moved to Los Angeles, California. Career In 1963, Berry Gordy asked the producers Hal Davis and Marc Gordon to set up an office of Motown in Los Angeles. Wilson accepted an offer to join the team. In December 1963, "Stevie" by Patrice Holloway (V.I.P. 25001) was the first single released from the West Coast operation and featured Wilson in the songwriting credits. Asked by Gordy to re-locate to Detroit, Wilson went on to write and produce hit records for Brenda Holloway, Marvin Gaye, the Supremes, the Miracles, the Four Tops ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Houston, Texas
Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of Harris County, Texas, Harris County, as well as the principal city of the Greater Houston metropolitan area, the fifth-most populous metropolitan statistical area in the United States and the List of Texas metropolitan areas, second-most populous in Texas after Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, Dallas–Fort Worth. With a population of 2,314,157 in 2023, Houston is the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most populous city in the United States after New York City, Los Angeles, and Chicago, and the List of North American cities by population, sixth-most populous city in North America. Houston is the southeast anchor of the greater megaregion known as the Texas Triangle. Comprising a land area of , Houston is the List of United S ... [...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] |
New Birth (band)
New Birth (also known as The New Birth) is an American funk and R&B group. It was originally conceived in Detroit, Michigan, by former Motown songwriter/producer Vernon Bullock and co-founded in Louisville, Kentucky, by him with former singer and Motown songwriter/producer Harvey Fuqua and musicians Tony Churchill, James Baker, Robin Russell, Austin Lander, Robert "Lurch" Jackson, Leroy Taylor, Charlie Hearndon, Bruce Marshall and Nathaniel "Nebs" Neblett (1946–2016). History The group began with the instrumental outfit The Nite-Liters, which was formed in 1963 in Louisville, Kentucky by Tony Churchill and Harvey Fuqua. In its heyday, besides Churchill on tenor sax and vibes, the band featured Charlie Hearndon on guitar, James Baker on keyboards, Robin Russell on drums, Robert "Lurch" Jackson on trumpet, Austin Lander on baritone sax, Leroy Taylor on bass, and, later, Carl McDaniel on guitar. Earlier members included Johnny Graham, later of Earth, Wind & Fire, Terry Simms on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Fifth Dimension
The 5th Dimension is an American vocal group. Their music encompasses sunshine pop, pop soul, and psychedelic soul. They were an important crossover music act of the 1960s and 1970s, although both praised and derided for their particular musical approach and mass appeal. During the original group's heyday, they were twice invited to perform at the White House, and accepting those invitations was controversial during that era of social upheaval. Formed as The Versatiles in late 1965, the group changed its name to "The 5th Dimension" by 1966. Between 1967 and 1973, they charted with 20 "Top 40" hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, two of which – " Up, Up and Away" (No. 7, 1967) and the 1969 No. 1 " Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In (The Flesh Failures)" — won the Grammy Award for Record of the Year. Other big hits include " Stoned Soul Picnic" (No. 3), "Wedding Bell Blues" (No. 1), "One Less Bell to Answer" (No. 2), a cover of "Never My Love" (Pop chart, No. 12/Easy Listeni ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Davis Jr
Billy Davis Jr. (born June 26, 1938) is an American singer and musician, best known as a member of the 5th Dimension. Along with his wife Marilyn McCoo, he had hit records during 1976 and 1977 with "I Hope We Get to Love in Time", " Your Love", and "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)". Davis and McCoo were married in 1969. They became the first African-American married couple to host a network television series, titled ''The Marilyn McCoo & Billy Davis Jr. Show'', on CBS in the summer of 1977, the year "You Don't Have to Be a Star (To Be in My Show)" won a Grammy Award. Career Davis joined The 5th Dimension, then called The Versatiles, in 1966. The group's first big hit was with 1967's " Up, Up and Away", written by Jimmy Webb. The song won four 1968 Grammy Awards and was the title track to the 5th Dimension's first hit LP. A year later, the group recorded the song " Stoned Soul Picnic". A medley of "Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In" (from the musical ''Hair'') reached N ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marilyn McCoo
Marilyn McCoo (born September 30, 1943) is an American singer, actress, and television presenter, who is best known for being the lead female vocalist in the group the 5th Dimension as well as hosting the 1980s music television show '' Solid Gold''. She has a three-octave vocal range. Early life and education Marilyn McCoo was born in Jersey City, New Jersey, to Mary (née Holloway) and Waymon McCoo, who were both physicians. Her grandfather was doctor Thomas Vivian McCoo of Eufaula, Alabama. She is African American. She spent her first seven years in Columbus, Georgia. At the age of seven, she moved with her parents, two sisters, and brother to Los Angeles, where she began voice, piano, and dance lessons. At the age of 15, she made her television debut on Art Linkletter's ''Talent Show'' and began modelling. After graduating from Susan Miller Dorsey High School, she enrolled in UCLA, where she earned a degree in business administration. In 1962, McCoo entered the ''Miss Bro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. The band has had a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the band between early 1973 and late 1974, the period of their greatest commercial success. They have had eight songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100; their highest-charting songs include "You're Still a Young Man", " So Very Hard to Go", "What Is Hip?", and "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)". History In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, and hired Kupka after a home audition on the advice of his father. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland and Berkeley, attracting audiences from minority and counterculture communities. In order to play Bill Graham's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lenny Williams
Leonard Charles Williams (born February 16, 1945) AllMusic. is an American singer-songwriter and musician, best known as the lead vocalist for the soul/funk group Tower of Power in the early 1970s. As a solo artist, Williams made several hit sound recording and reproduction, recordings, including 1978's "Cause I Love You" and 1977's "Choosing You". Early life and career Williams was born in Little Rock, Arkansas, and moved to Oakland, California, Oakland, California, at an early age. Learning to play the trumpet in elementary school fueled his interest in music; his skills as a vocalist were first nurtured by singing in gospel choirs and groups around the San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. He worked with several notable artists, such as Sly ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Recording Sales Certification
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see List of music recording certifications). Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials (gold Gold is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol Au (from Latin ) and atomic number 79. In its pure form, it is a brightness, bright, slightly orange-yellow, dense, soft, malleable, and ductile metal. Chemically, gold is a transition metal ..., platinum and diamond). The threshold required for these awards depends upon the population of the territory where the recording is released. Typically, they are awarded only to international releases and are awarded individually for each country where the album is sold. Different sales levels, some perhaps 10 times greater t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Eddie Kendricks
Edward James Kendrick (December 17, 1939 – October 5, 1992), better known as Eddie Kendricks, was an American tenor singer and songwriter. Noted for his distinctive falsetto singing style, Kendricks co-founded the Motown singing group the Temptations, and was one of their lead singers from 1961 until 1971. He was the lead voice on such famous songs as " The Way You Do the Things You Do", " Get Ready", and "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)". As a solo artist, Kendricks recorded several hits of his own during the 1970s including the number-one singles " Keep On Truckin'" and " Boogie Down." Life and career Early years: 1939–1960 Kendricks was born to Johnny and Lee Bell Kendrick in Union Springs, Alabama on December 17, 1939. He had one sister, Patricia, and three brothers, Charles, Robert, and Clarence. Kendricks and his family moved to the Ensley neighborhood of Birmingham, where he met and began singing with his best friend Paul Williams in their church choir i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Temptations
The Temptations is an American vocal group formed in Detroit, Michigan, in 1961 as The Elgins, known for their string of successful singles and albums with Motown from the 1960s to the mid-1970s. The group's work with producer Norman Whitfield, beginning with the Top 10 hit 45 rpm single, single "Cloud Nine (The Temptations song), Cloud Nine" in October 1968, pioneered psychedelic soul, and was significant in the evolution of Rhythm and blues, R&B and soul music. The group members were known for their choreography, distinct harmonies, and dress style. Having sold tens of millions of albums, the Temptations are among the most successful groups in popular music. Featuring five male vocalists and dancers (save for brief periods with fewer or more members), the group's founding members came from two rival Detroit vocal groups: Otis Williams, Elbridge "Al" Bryant, and Melvin Franklin of (Otis Williams &) The Distants, and Eddie Kendricks and Paul Williams (The Temptations), Paul Wil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
