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Reality (James Brown Album)
''Reality '' is the 39th studio album by American musician James Brown. The album was released in 1974, by Polydor Records. Release ''Reality'' was released in late 1974. It charted on the Billboard 200 for 10 weeks, peaking at number 56. Reception In a contemporary review, the ''NME'' reviewed both ''Reality'' and ''Breakin' Bread'', stating that the album were "pretty much up to the standard of his last few ecords" which he found was both positive and negative noting that there has been no major progression in his music since 1972. The review concluded that both albums were "very well produced, exceedingly exciting and irresistible for dancing, but who needs James Brown & The J.B.'s when you can have The Fatback Band or B.T. Express?" AllMusic gave the album a negative review, noting that Brown's "insane schedule was catching up to him" and that it found him "at an artistic impasse." The reviewer noted that "it was foolish to expect a "fun" album from Brown during this tim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nicknames in popular music, various nicknames, among them "Mr. Dynamite", "the Hardest-Working Man in Show Business", "Minister of New Super Heavy Funk", "Godfather of Soul", "King of Soul", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first ten inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on January 23, 1986. His music has been heavily sampled by hip-hop musicians and other artists. Brown began his career as a Gospel music, gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He rose to prominence in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd. With the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please (James Br ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Simon & Schuster
Simon & Schuster LLC (, ) is an American publishing house owned by Kohlberg Kravis Roberts since 2023. It was founded in New York City in 1924, by Richard L. Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster. Along with Penguin Random House, Hachette Book Group USA, Hachette, HarperCollins and Macmillan Publishers, Simon & Schuster is considered one of the Big Five (publishers), 'Big Five' English language publishers. , Simon & Schuster was the third largest publisher in the United States, publishing 2,000 titles annually under 35 different Imprint (trade name), imprints. History Early years In 1924, Richard L. Simon, Richard Simon's aunt, a crossword puzzle enthusiast, asked whether there was a book of ''New York World'' crossword puzzles, which were popular at the time. After discovering that none had been published, Simon and M. Lincoln Schuster, Max Schuster decided to launch a company to exploit the opportunity.Frederick Lewis Allen, ''Only Yesterday: An Informal History of the 1920s'', p. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allan Schwartzberg
Allan Schwartzberg (born December 28, 1942) is an American musician and record producer. He has been a member of the rock band Mountain, Peter Gabriel's first solo band, toured with Brecker Brothers' Dreams, B. J. Thomas, Linda Ronstadt, Stan Getz band, and the Pat Travers band. He has experienced success as a prolific session musician, through recordings made from the 1970s through today. He has also played on multi genre hits such as Gloria Gaynor " Never Can Say Goodbye", considered the first disco record, James Brown's " Funky President", Harry Chapin's " Cat's in the Cradle", Tony Orlando & Dawn's '' Tie A Yellow Ribbon'', Peter Gabriel's " Solsbury Hill", The Spinners' " Workin' My Way Back to You", the ''Star Wars'' theme, and Rod Stewart's Great American Songbook series including the hit " What A Wonderful World". He has played with musicians and singers including John Lennon, Diana Ross, Jimi Hendrix, Alice Cooper, Kiss, Frank Sinatra, Roxy Music, Robert Palmer, Grac ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Leslie Bricusse
Leslie Bricusse OBE (; 29 January 1931 – 19 October 2021) was a British composer, lyricist, and playwright who worked on theatre musicals and wrote theme music for films. He was best known for writing the music and lyrics for the films '' Doctor Dolittle''; '' Goodbye, Mr. Chips''; '' Scrooge''; '' Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory''; '' Tom and Jerry: The Movie''; the titular James Bond film songs " Goldfinger" and " You Only Live Twice"; "Can You Read My Mind? (Love Theme from ''Superman'')" (with John Williams) from ''Superman''; and " Le Jazz Hot!" (with Henry Mancini) from '' Victor/Victoria''. Early life and education Bricusse was born in Southfields, London on 29 January 1931, the son of Annie Mary (''née'' Mills) and Cedric Bricusse, who already had a daughter. His paternal grandfather was Belgian, whilst his mother's father came from Belfast in Northern Ireland. His father was employed by Kelmsley Newspapers for most of his working life. When Bricusse was t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Anthony Newley
Anthony Newley (24 September 1931 – 14 April 1999) was an English actor, director, comedian, singer, and composer. A "latter-day British Al Jolson", he achieved widespread success in song, and on stage and screen. "One of Broadway's greatest leading men", from 1959 to 1962 he scored a dozen entries on the UK Singles Chart, including two number one hits. Newley won the 1963 Grammy Award for Song of the Year for " What Kind of Fool Am I?", sung by Sammy Davis Jr., and wrote " Feeling Good", which became a signature hit for Nina Simone. His songs have been sung by a wide variety of singers including Fiona Apple, Tony Bennett, Barbra Streisand, Michael Bublé and Mariah Carey. With songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse, Newley was nominated for an Academy Award for the film score of '' Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory'' (1971), featuring " Pure Imagination", which has been recorded by dozens of singers. He collaborated with John Barry on the title song for the James Bond ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hank Ballard
Hank Ballard (born John Henry Kendricks; November 18, 1927 – March 2, 2003) was an American singer and songwriter, the lead vocalist of the Midnighters and one of the first rock and roll artists to emerge in the early 1950s. He played an integral part in the development of the genre, releasing the hit singles " Work with Me, Annie" and answer songs " Annie Had a Baby" and "Annie's Aunt Fannie" with his Midnighters. He later wrote and originally recorded (in 1959) " The Twist" which was notably covered a year later by Chubby Checker, this second version spreading the popularity of the dance. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Early years Born John Henry Kendricks in Detroit, Michigan, he and his brother, Dove Ballard, grew up and attended school in Bessemer, Alabama, after the death of their father. He lived with his paternal aunt and her husband, and began singing in church. His major vocal inspiration during his formative years was the "Singing Co ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Twist (song)
"The Twist" is an American pop song written and originally released in 1958 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side to "Teardrops on Your Letter". It was inspired by the twist dance craze. Ballard's version was a moderate hit, peaking at number 28 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1960. On the US ''Billboard'' Hot R&B Sides chart, the original version of "The Twist" first peaked at number 16 in 1959 and at number six in 1960. By 1962, the record sold in excess of one million copies, becoming Ballard's fourth million seller. Chubby Checker's 1960 cover version of the song reached number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on September 19, 1960, where it stayed for one week, and setting a record at the time as the only song to reach number one during two different chart runs when it resurfaced and topped the Hot 100 again for two weeks starting on January 13, 1962. This would not happen for another song for nearly 59 years until December 2020, when Mariah Carey's "All I W ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cole Porter
Cole Albert Porter (June 9, 1891 – October 15, 1964) was an American composer and songwriter. Many of his songs became Standard (music), standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway theatre, Broadway and in Hollywood films. Born to a wealthy family in Indiana, Porter defied his grandfather's wishes for him to practice law and took up music as a profession. Classically trained, he was drawn to musical theatre. After a slow start, he began to achieve success in the 1920s, and by the 1930s he was one of the major songwriters for the Broadway musical stage. Unlike many successful Broadway composers, Porter wrote the lyrics as well as the music for his songs. After a serious horseback riding accident in 1937, Porter was left disabled and in constant pain, but he continued to work. His shows of the early 1940s did not contain the lasting hits of his best work of the 1920s and 1930s, but in 1948 he made a triumphant comeback w ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Wesley
Fred Wesley (born July 4, 1943) is an American trombonist who worked with James Brown in the 1960s and 1970s, and Parliament-Funkadelic in the second half of the 1970s. Biography Wesley was born the son of a high school teacher and big band leader in Columbus, Georgia, and was raised in Mobile, Alabama. As a child, he took piano and later trumpet lessons. He played baritone horn and trombone in school, and when he was around 12, his father brought a trombone home, whereupon he switched (eventually permanently) to trombone. During the 1960s and 1970s, he was a pivotal member of James Brown's bands, playing on many hit recordings including " Say it Loud – I'm Black, and I'm Proud," " Mother Popcorn" and co-writing tunes such as " Hot Pants." His slippery riffs and precise solos, complementing those of saxophonist Maceo Parker, gave Brown's R&B, soul, and funk tunes their instrumental punch. In the 1970s, he also was band leader and musical director of Brown's band the J.B.'s, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polydor
Polydor Limited, also known as Polydor Records, is a British record label that operates as part of Universal Music Group. It has a close relationship with Universal's Interscope Geffen A&M Records label, which distributes Polydor's releases in the United States. In turn, Polydor distributes Interscope releases in the United Kingdom. Polydor Records Ltd. was established in London in 1954 as a British subsidiary of German company Deutsche Grammophon, Deutsche Grammophon/Schallplatte Grammophon GmbH. It was renamed Polydor Ltd. in 1972. The company is usually mentioned as "Polydor Ltd. (UK)", or a similar form, for holding copyrights. Notable current and past artists signed to the label include Rainbow (rock band), Rainbow, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Yngwie J. Malmsteen, the Cure, James Brown, Ray, Goodman & Brown, Atlanta Rhythm Section, John Mayall, Deep Purple, Cream (band), Cream, the Moody Blues, the Who, Jimi Hendrix, Bee Gees, Lana Del Rey, Stephen Fretwell, the Jam, Style C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. The magazine was first known for its coverage of rock music and political reporting by Hunter S. Thompson. In the 1990s, the magazine broadened and shifted its focus to a younger readership interested in youth-oriented television shows, film actors, and popular music. It has since returned to its traditional mix of content, including music, entertainment, and politics. The first magazine was released in 1967 and featured John Lennon on the cover, and was then published every two weeks. It is known for provocative photography and its cover photos, featuring musicians, politicians, athletes, and actors. In addition to its print version in the United States, it publishes content through Rollingstone.com and numerous international editions. The magazine experienced a rapid ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Don't Fence Me In (song)
"Don't Fence Me In" is a popular American song written in 1934, with music by Cole Porter and lyrics by Robert Fletcher (poet), Robert Fletcher and Cole Porter. Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time. Origins Originally written in 1934 for ''Adios, Argentina,'' an unproduced 20th Century Fox film musical, "Don't Fence Me In" was based on text by Robert Fletcher (poet), Robert Fletcher, a poet and engineer with the Department of Highways in Helena, Montana. Cole Porter, who had been asked to write a cowboy song for the 20th Century Fox musical, bought the poem from Fletcher for $250. Porter reworked Fletcher's poem, and when the song was first published, Porter was credited with sole authorship. Porter had wanted to give Fletcher co-authorship credit, but his publishers did not allow it. The original copyright publication notice dated October 10, 1944, and the copyright card dated and filed on October 12, 1944, in the U.S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
