Lewis Merenstein
Lewis Merenstein (October 23, 1934 – September 6, 2016) was an American record producer, most famous as the producer of the Van Morrison album '' Astral Weeks'', and as executive producer for ''Moondance'', Morrison's 1970 album. '' Astral Weeks'' was listed as #19 on the Rolling Stone Magazine's The 500 Greatest Albums of All Time in 2003. In November 2006, when CNN published their list of ''The All-Time 100 Albums'', ''Astral Weeks'' was on the list, along with ''Moondance''. Biography Merenstein was born on October 23, 1934, to a German-Jewish immigrant family in Baltimore, Maryland. His aunt was Bess (née Merenstein) Berman, co-founder of the Apollo record label; and his uncle was Charles Merenstein, a co-writer of the song '' Handy Man.'' He moved to New York City in the late 1950s and worked on jazz recordings at the Nola Penthouse studios with producer Tom Wilson. During the 1960s he began working as a producer in his own right on records by Miriam Makeba, Gladys Knig ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fair
A fair (archaic: faire or fayre) is a gathering of people for a variety of entertainment or commercial activities. Fairs are typically temporary with scheduled times lasting from an afternoon to several weeks. Fairs showcase a wide range of goods, products, and services, and often include competitions, exhibitions, and educational activities. Fairs can be thematic, focusing on specific industries or interests. Types Variations of fairs include: * Art fairs, including art exhibitions and arts festivals * Book Fairs in communities and schools provide an opportunity for readers, writers, publishers to come together and celebrate literature. * County fair (US) or county show (UK), a public agricultural show exhibiting the equipment, animals, sports and recreation associated with agriculture and animal husbandry. * Festival, an event ordinarily coordinated with a theme e.g. music, art, season, tradition, history, ethnicity, religion, or a national holiday. * Health fair, an event d ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Riverside Memorial Chapel
The Riverside Memorial Chapel is an American Jewish funeral home chain with their main facility at 180 West 76th Street on the Upper West Side of Manhattan, New York City.Riverside Memorial Chapel: "History" retrieved September 15, 2016 The company has been owned by Service Corporation International since 1971. History Riverside Memorial Chapel was founded as Meyers Livery Stable in 1897 by Louis Meyers on Norfolk Street on the of Manhattan. In 1905, the business was relocated to 54 East 109th Street and the n ...[...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Biff Rose
Biff Rose, born Paul Conrad Rose III (October 15, 1937 – July 25, 2023), was an American comedian and singer-songwriter. Biography Rose was born in New Orleans, Louisiana on October 15, 1937.Paul Conrad Rose, III United States Public Records, 1970–2009 . Retrieved March 23, 2021. After moving to New york, he joined the Greenwich Village folk scene as a banjo-playing singer/comedian. His popularity led to a profile. Rose used the profile to generate momentum in his career. He moved to Hollywood whe ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mo Ostin
Mo Ostin (born Morris Meyer Ostrofsky; March 27, 1927 – July 31, 2022) was an American record executive. The chairman and CEO of Warner Bros. Records from 1972 to 1994 and co-founder of DreamWorks Records, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2003. Early life Ostin was born Morris Meyer Ostrofsky in New York City on March 27, 1927. His family was Jewish and fled Russia during the Russian Revolution. They eventually relocated to Los Angeles when Ostin was thirteen and operated a small grocery market close to the Fairfax Theatre. He attended Fairfax High School, before studying economics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). He subsequently commenced studies at the UCLA School of Law, but ultimately dropped out to support his family. Career Ostin began his career in the mid-1950s as comptroller at Clef Records, a record company started by Norman Granz, brother of friend and neighbor, Irving Granz. The company was soon renamed 'Ver ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Bang Records
Bang Records was created by Bert Berns in 1965 together with his partners from Atlantic Records: Ahmet Ertegun, Nesuhi Ertegun and Jerry Wexler. The first letters of their names (Bert, Ahmet, Nesuhi, Gerald) formed the label's name. Forming the company Berns had been staff producer at Atlantic Records for several years when he and Atlantic chief executives set out to create a new independent label. In 1966, Berns took sole control of the company. At Bang he had an immediate string of hit records, including " I Want Candy" by the Strangeloves, " Hang On Sloopy" by the McCoys, " Brown Eyed Girl" by Van Morrison and " Solitary Man" and " Kentucky Woman" by Neil Diamond. Death of Berns When Berns died suddenly on December 30, 1967, as a result of a rheumatic heart condition, his wife Ilene Berns took over management. She believed that arguments with Van Morrison had been the cause of her husband's death, and made things difficult for the Irish artist until Warner Brothers managed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Brown Eyed Girl
"Brown Eyed Girl" is a song by Northern Irish singer and songwriter Van Morrison. Written by Morrison and recorded in March 1967, it was released as a single in June of the same year on the Bang label, peaking at No. 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. The song spent a total of sixteen weeks on the chart. It featured the Sweet Inspirations singing back-up vocals and is considered to be Van Morrison's signature song. Recording and title After finishing his contract with Decca Records and the mid-1966 break-up of his band, Them, Morrison returned to Belfast seeking a new recording company. When he received a phone call from Bert Berns, owner of Bang Records, who had produced a number of recordings with Them, he flew to New York City and hastily signed a contract (which biographer Clinton Heylin says probably still gives him sleepless nights). During a two-day recording session starting 28 March 1967, he recorded eight songs intended to be used as four singles. The recording sessi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (WBEI), commonly known as Warner Bros. (WB), is an American film studio, filmed entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios Burbank, Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California and the main namesake subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD). Founded on April 4, 1923, by four brothers, Harry Warner, Harry, Albert Warner, Albert, Sam Warner, Sam and Jack L. Warner, Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games. It is one of the "Major film studios, Big Five" major American film studios and a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division, the Warner Bros. Motion Picture Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, Castle Rock Entertainment and the Warner Bros. Television Group. Bugs Bunny, a character created for the ' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Gladys Knight
Gladys Maria Knight (born May 28, 1944) is an American singer and actress. Knight recorded hits through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s with her family group Gladys Knight & the Pips, which included her brother Merald "Bubba" Knight and cousins William Guest (singer), William Guest and Edward Patten. She has won seven Grammy Awards (four as a solo artist and three with the Pips), and is often referred to as the Honorific nicknames in popular music, "Empress of Soul". Knight has recorded two number-one Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles ("Midnight Train to Georgia" and "That's What Friends Are For" which she did with Dionne Warwick, Elton John and Stevie Wonder), eleven number-one Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs, R&B singles and six number-one Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums, R&B albums. In 1989, Knight recorded the Licence to Kill (song), theme song for the James Bond film ''Licence to Kill''. Two of her songs ("I Heard It Through the Grapevine" and "Midnight Train to Georgia") were in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Miriam Makeba
Zenzile Miriam Makeba ( , ; 4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, and world music, she was an advocate against apartheid and white-minority government in South Africa. Born in Johannesburg to Swazi people, Swazi and Xhosa people, Xhosa parents, Makeba was forced to find employment as a child after the death of her father. She had a brief and allegedly abusive first marriage at the age of 17, gave birth to her only child in 1950, and survived breast cancer. Her vocal talent had been recognized when she was a child, and she began singing professionally in the 1950s, with the Cuban Brothers, the Manhattan Brothers, and an all-woman group, the Skylarks (South African vocal group), the Skylarks, performing a mixture of jazz, traditional African melodies, and Western popular music. In 1959, Makeba had a br ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Tom Wilson (record Producer)
Thomas Blanchard Wilson Jr. (March 25, 1931 – September 6, 1978) was an American record producer. He is best known for his work in the 1960s with artists such as Bob Dylan, Frank Zappa and the Mothers of Invention, Simon & Garfunkel, the Velvet Underground, Cecil Taylor, Sun Ra, Eddie Harris, Nico, Eric Burdon and the Animals, the Blues Project, the Clancy Brothers and Tommy Makem, and others. Early life and education Wilson was born in Waco, Texas on March 25, 1931, to parents Thomas and Fannie Wilson (''née'' Brown). He attended A.J. Moore High School in Waco and was a member of New Hope Baptist Church. Wilson attended Fisk University before transferring to Harvard University, where he became involved in the Harvard New Jazz Society, radio station WHRB, and was president of the Young Republicans. He graduated ''cum laude'' from Harvard in 1954. Career After university, Wilson borrowed $500 () to set up Transition Records, having a goal in mind of setting up a ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, hymns, marches, vaudeville song, and dance music. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. However, jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Handy Man (song)
"Handy Man" is a song written by singer Jimmy Jones and songwriter Otis Blackwell. Recordings by Del Shannon and also The Sparks Of Rhythm list Charles Merenstein as a co-writer, as does BMI. The Sparks Of Rhythm version on the Apollo 541 single version released in 1959 credits Andrew Barksdale and Merenstein as writers omitting Jimmy Jones. The song is noted for Jones singing "Come-a, come-a come-a come-a, come come-a, yeah" lyrics, which are heard at the beginning as well as in the coda of the song, before the song's fade. It was originally recorded by The Sparks Of Rhythm, a group Jones had been a member of when he wrote it, although he was not with them when they recorded it. That version was in a minor key, and had a completely different melody. When Jimmy Jones recorded it, the song was changed to a major key, with a completely different melody. In 1959, Jones recorded the song himself, in a version which had been reworked by Blackwell, who also produced the session. In ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |