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Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine (born Harold Simon Belsky; February 5, 1929 – March 11, 2019) was an American drummer and session musician, thought to be among the most recorded studio drummers in the music industry, claiming over 35,000 sessions and 6,000 singles. His drumming is featured on 150 US top 10 hits, 40 of which went to number one. Born in Holyoke, Massachusetts, Blaine moved with his family to California in 1943 and began playing jazz and big band music before taking up rock and roll session work. He became one of the regulars in Phil Spector's de facto house band, which Blaine nicknamed " the Wrecking Crew". Some of the records Blaine played on include the Ronettes' single " Be My Baby" (1963), which contained a drum beat that became widely imitated, as well as works by popular artists such as Frank Sinatra, Elvis Presley, the Beach Boys, Simon & Garfunkel, the Carpenters, Neil Diamond, and the Byrds. Blaine's workload declined in the 1980s as recording and musical practices changed. ...
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The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew, also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang, was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized at the time, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in history. Most of the players had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The group had no official name in its early years, and when the name the Wrecking Crew was first used is a subject of contention. The name was in common use by April 1981 when Hal Blaine used it in an interview with '' Modern Drummer''. The name became more widely known when Blaine used it in his 1990 memoir, attributing it to older musicians who felt that the group's embrace of rock and roll was going to "wreck" the music industry. The unit coalesced in the early 1 ...
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Record Plant
The Record Plant was a recording studio established in New York City in 1968 and last operating in Los Angeles, California. Known for innovations in the recording artists' workspace, it produced highly influential albums, including the New York Dolls' ''New York Dolls'', Bruce Springsteen's '' Born To Run'', Blondie's ''Parallel Lines'', Metallica's '' Load'' and '' Reload'', the Eagles' '' Hotel California'', Fleetwood Mac's '' Rumours'', Cyndi Lauper's '' She's So Unusual, '' Hanoi Rocks' '' Two Steps from the Move,'' Eminem's '' The Marshall Mathers LP'', Guns N' Roses' '' Appetite for Destruction,'' and Kanye West's '' The College Dropout''. More recent albums with songs recorded at Record Plant include Lady Gaga's '' ARTPOP'', D'Angelo's '' Black Messiah'', Justin Bieber's '' Purpose'', Hilary Duff's '' Breathe In. Breathe Out.'', Beyoncé's '' Lemonade'', and Ariana Grande's '' Thank U, Next''. The studio was founded in 1968 in New York City by Gary Kellgren and Chris ...
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Captain & Tennille
Captain & Tennille were an American recording duo whose primary success occurred in the 1970s. The husband-and-wife team were "Captain" Daryl Dragon (1942–2019) and Toni Tennille (born 1940). They have five albums certified gold or platinum and scored numerous hits on the US singles charts, the most enduring of which included "Love Will Keep Us Together", "Do That to Me One More Time", and "Muskrat Love". They hosted their own television variety series on ABC in 1976–77. History Background and early collaboration In 1972, Toni Tennille was the co-writer of an ecology-themed musical, ''Mother Earth''. At that time, Daryl Dragon (son of composer Carmen Dragon) played keyboards as a member of the Beach Boys, where he got his stage name "Captain Keyboard" because he wore a ship captain's hat while performing. When Tennille's show was preparing to move from San Francisco's Marines Memorial Theatre to Southern California's South Coast Repertory, a call was put out for a replacem ...
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The Beach Boys
The Beach Boys are an American Rock music, rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Brian, Dennis Wilson, Dennis, and Carl Wilson, their cousin Mike Love, and their friend Al Jardine. Distinguished by their vocal harmonies, adolescent-oriented lyrics, and musical ingenuity, they are one of the most influential acts of the rock era. The group drew on the music of Traditional pop, older pop vocal groups, 1950s rock and roll, and black R&B to create their unique sound. Under Brian's direction, they often incorporated classical music, classical or jazz elements and Recording studio as an instrument, unconventional recording techniques in innovative ways. The Beach Boys formed as a garage band centered on Brian's songwriting and managed by the Wilsons' father, Murry Wilson, Murry. Jardine was briefly replaced by David Marks during 1962–1963. In 1963, they enjoyed their first national hit with "Surfin' U.S ...
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Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977) was an American singer and actor. Referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's sexually provocative performance style, combined with a mix of influences across color lines during a civil rights movement, transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and Cultural impact of Elvis Presley#Danger to American culture, initial controversy. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi; his family relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, when he was 13. He began his music career in 1954 at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on guitar and accompanied by lead guitarist Scotty Moore and bassist Bill Black, was a pioneer of rockabilly, an uptempo, Backbeat (music), backbeat-driven fusion of country music and ...
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Be My Baby
"Be My Baby" is a song by the American girl group the Ronettes that was released as a single on Philles Records in August 1963. Written by Jeff Barry, Ellie Greenwich, and Phil Spector, the song was the Ronettes' biggest hit, reaching number 2 in the U.S. and Canada, and number 4 in the UK. It is often ranked as among the best songs of the 1960s, and has been regarded by various publications as one of the greatest songs of all time. Spector produced "Be My Baby" at Gold Star Studios with his ''de facto'' house band, later known as " the Wrecking Crew". It marked the first time that he recorded with a full orchestra, and the song is regarded as the quintessential example of his Wall of Sound recording technique. Ronnie Spector (then known as Veronica Bennett) is the only Ronette that appears on the track. In 1964, it appeared on the album '' Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes''. In the decades since its release, "Be My Baby" has been played on radio and television over 3 milli ...
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The Ronettes
The Ronettes were an American girl group from Washington Heights, Manhattan, New York City. The group consisted of the lead singer Veronica Bennett (later known as Ronnie Spector), her older sister Estelle Bennett, and their cousin Nedra Talley. They had sung together since they were teenagers, then known as "The Darling Sisters". Signed first by Colpix Records in 1961, they moved to Phil Spector's Philles Records in March 1963 and changed their name to "The Ronettes". The Ronettes placed nine songs on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, six of which became Top 40 hits. Among their hit songs are " Be My Baby", which peaked at No. 2, their only contemporary top 10 hit, " Baby, I Love You", " (The Best Part of) Breakin' Up" and " Walking in the Rain". In 1964, the group released their only studio album, '' Presenting the Fabulous Ronettes Featuring Veronica''. That year, the Rolling Stones were their opening act when they toured the UK. The Ronettes opened for the Beatles on their ...
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House Band
A house band is a group of musicians, often centrally organized by a band leader, who regularly play at an establishment. It is widely used to refer both to the bands who work on entertainment programs on television or radio, and to bands which are the regular performers at a nightclub, especially jazz and R&B clubs. The term can also refer to a group that plays sessions for a specific recording studio. House bands on television shows usually play only cover songs instead of originals, and they play during times that commercials would be seen by the home viewing audience. Therefore, only those present in the studio during the show's taping see their full performances. History House bands emerged with jazz music in Chicago during the 1920s. The practice of using regular backing musicians during studio sessions became customary as a means for record companies to save money and add convenience at a time when the music industry had seen increased studio costs and musical specializ ...
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Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production technique involving a densely texture (music), textured sound created through layering tone colors, resulting in a compression (music), compression and chorus (effect), chorusing effect not replicable through electronic means. Considered the first ''auteur'' of the music industry, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s. Born in the Bronx, Spector relocated to Los Angeles as a teenager and co-founded the Teddy Bears in 1958, writing their chart-topping single "To Know Him Is to Love Him". Mentored by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, by 1960, he co-established Philles Records, becoming the youngest U ...
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Big Band
A big band or jazz orchestra is a type of musical ensemble of jazz music that usually consists of ten or more musicians with four sections: saxophones, trumpets, trombones, and a rhythm section. Big bands originated during the early 1910s and dominated jazz in the early 1940s when swing music, swing was most popular. The term "big band" is also used to describe a genre of music, although this was not the only style of music played by big bands. Big bands started as accompaniment for dancing the Lindy Hop. In contrast to the typical jazz emphasis on improvisation, big bands relied on written compositions and arrangements. They gave a greater role to bandleaders, arrangers, and sections of instruments rather than soloists. Instruments Big bands generally have four sections: trumpets, trombones, saxophones, and a rhythm section of guitar, piano, double bass, drums and sometimes vibraphone or other percussion. The division in early big bands, from the 1920s to 1930s, was typicall ...
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Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm in the late 1970s; in the latter part of the 1980s Virgin purchased several existing companies, including WH Allen, well known among '' Doctor Who'' fans for their Target Books imprint; Virgin Books was incorporated into WH Allen in 1989, but in 1991 WH Allen was renamed Virgin Publishing Ltd. Virgin Publishing's early success came with the ''Doctor Who'' New Adventures novels, officially licensed full-length novels carrying on the story of the popular science-fiction television series following its cancellation in 1989. Virgin published this series from 1991 to 1997, as well as a range of ''Doctor Who'' reference books from 1992 to 1998 under the Doctor Who Books imprint. In recent times the company is best known for its commercia ...
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