Sonny
Sonny is a common nickname and occasional given name. Often it can be a derivative of the English word "Son", a name derived from the Ancient Germanic element *sunn meaning "sun", a nickname derived from the Italian name Salvatore (especially in North America, amongst Italian Americans), or the Slavic male name Slavon meaning "famous or glorious". Notable people with the name include: Athletes *Charles Sonny Ates (1935–2010), retired American racecar driver *Erwin Sonny Bishop (born 1939), American football player *Shin'ichi Sonny Chiba (born 1939), Japanese martial artist and actor *Sonny Gray (born 1989), American baseball pitcher * Sidney "Sonny" Hertzberg (1922–2005), American basketball player *Sonny Holland (1938-2022), American football coach and player *Ernest Sonny Hutchins (1929–2005), stock car driver *Christian Sonny Jurgensen (born 1934), American Hall-of-Fame National Football League quarterback *Sonny Liles (1919–2005), American football player *Charles ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Bill Williams
Sonny Bill Williams (born 3 August 1985) is a New Zealand heavyweight boxer, and a former professional rugby league and rugby union player and as of recently is working for Stan Sports. He is only the second person to represent New Zealand in rugby union after first playing for the country in rugby league, and is one of only 21 players to have won the Rugby World Cup twice. Williams began his career in rugby league, and has played as a forward over eight seasons in three spells in the National Rugby League (NRL), with the Canterbury-Bankstown Bulldogs and Sydney Roosters. He has won 12 caps for New Zealand (the Kiwis) and won the RLIF Awards for Rookie of the Year in 2004 and International Player of the Year in 2013. In 2020 he played for the Toronto Wolfpack in Super League, before moving to Sydney Roosters the same year. He first moved to rugby union in 2010 and played mainly as a centre for Toulon in France, Canterbury, Counties Manukau, the Crusaders, Chiefs and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930) is an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, he has recorded over sixty albums as a leader. A number of his compositions, including " St. Thomas", " Oleo", " Doxy", "Pent-Up House", and " Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins has been called "the greatest living improviser" and the "Saxophone Colossus". Early life Rollins was born in New York City to parents from the United States Virgin Islands. The youngest of three siblings, he grew up in central Harlem and on Sugar Hill, receiving his first alto saxophone at the age of seven or eight. He attended Edward W. Stitt Junior High School and graduated from Benjamin Franklin High School in East Harlem. Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high school years, he played in a band with other fu ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Liston
Charles L. "Sonny" Liston ( 1930 – December 30, 1970) was an American professional boxer who competed from 1953 to 1970. A dominant contender of his era, he became the world heavyweight champion in 1962 after knocking out Floyd Patterson in the first round, repeating the knockout the following year in defense of the title; in the latter fight he also became the inaugural WBC heavyweight champion. Liston was particularly known for his immense strength, formidable jab, long reach, toughness, and his infamously intimidating appearance. Although Liston was widely regarded as unbeatable, he lost the title in 1964 to Muhammad Ali (then known as Cassius Clay), who entered as a 7–1 underdog. Liston retired in his corner due to an inflamed shoulder. Controversy followed with claims that Liston had been drinking heavily the night before the fight and had entered the bout with a lame shoulder. In his 1965 rematch with Ali, Liston suffered an unexpected first-round knockout that ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Clark
Conrad Yeatis "Sonny" Clark (July 21, 1931 – January 13, 1963) was an American jazz pianist and composer who mainly worked in the hard bop idiom. Early life Clark was born and raised in Herminie, Pennsylvania, a coal mining town east of Pittsburgh.Stephenson, Sam (January 13, 2011"Notes from a Biographer: Sonny Clark" ''The Paris Review''. His parents were originally from Stone Mountain, Georgia. His miner father, Emery Clark, died of a lung disease two weeks after Sonny was born. Sonny was the youngest of eight children. At age 12, he moved to Pittsburgh. Later life and career While visiting an aunt in California at age 20, Clark decided to stay and began working with saxophonist Wardell Gray. Clark went to San Francisco with Oscar Pettiford and after a couple months, was working with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco in 1953. Clark toured the United States and Europe with DeFranco until January 1956, when he joined The Lighthouse All-Stars, led by bassist Howard Rumsey. Wish ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Weems
Clarence "Sonny" Weems (born July 8, 1986) is an American professional basketball player for the Shanxi Loongs of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He played college basketball for the University of Arkansas and the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith. He was selected by the Chicago Bulls in the 2008 NBA draft and shortly thereafter traded to the Denver Nuggets. He has since played for the Toronto Raptors, Phoenix Suns and Philadelphia 76ers in the NBA, and has had stints in Lithuania and Russia. At , Weems plays both the shooting guard and small forward positions. He was an All-EuroLeague First Team selection in 2014. Early life Weems was born with cleft feet, and as a child, he was told that he might not be able to walk or run. He stumbled as a youngster and endured painful childhood nights in corrective shoes before finding his stride and becoming a state long-jump and high-jump champion. High school and college career Weems played basketball at West Memphis Hi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Sharrock
Warren Harding "Sonny" Sharrock (August 27, 1940 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz guitarist. He was married to singer Linda Sharrock, with whom he recorded and performed. One of only a few prominent guitarists who participated in the first wave of free jazz during the 1960s, Sharrock was known for his heavily chorded attack, highly amplified bursts of feedback, and use of aggressive sustain to achieve saxophone-like lines on guitar. His early work also features creative use of a slide. Biography Early life and career He was born in Ossining, New York, United States. Sharrock began his musical career singing doo wop in his teen years. He collaborated with Pharoah Sanders and Alexander Solla in the late 1960s, appearing first on Sanders's 1966 album, '' Tauhid''. He made several appearances with flautist Herbie Mann, and an uncredited appearance on Miles Davis's '' A Tribute to Jack Johnson''. He wanted to play tenor saxophone from his youth after hearing John Coltrane ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Chiba
, known internationally as Sonny Chiba, was a Japanese actor and martial artist. Chiba was one of the first actors to achieve stardom through his skills in martial arts, initially in Japan and later before an international audience. Born in Fukuoka, Chiba played a variety of sports in high school, including baseball and volleyball. He also practiced gymnastics and participated at the National Sports Festival of Japan in his third year. When he was a university student, he learned martial arts, earning a black belt in Kyokushin Karate in 1965 and later receiving a fourth degree in 1984. Chiba's career began in the 1960s, when he starred in two ''tokusatsu'' superhero shows. In his first role, he replaced Susumu Wajima as the main character Kōtarō Ran/Seven Color Mask in '' Seven Color Mask'' (''Nana-iro kamen'') in the second half of the series. However, his breakthrough role was in the 1974 film ''The Street Fighter''. Before retiring, Chiba had starred in '' Kill Bill: Volume ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Gray
Sonny Douglas Gray (born November 7, 1989) is an American professional baseball pitcher for the Minnesota Twins of Major League Baseball (MLB). He previously played for the Oakland Athletics, New York Yankees, and Cincinnati Reds. Gray attended Vanderbilt University and played college baseball for the Vanderbilt Commodores. The Athletics selected Gray in the first round of the 2011 MLB draft. He made his MLB debut in 2013, won the American League Pitcher of the Month Award twice in 2014, and was named an MLB All-Star in 2015. The Yankees acquired Gray in 2017, and traded him to the Reds before the 2019 season. Early life Gray was born in Murfreesboro, Tennessee, to Cindy and Jesse Gray, and lived in Murfreesboro until his family moved to Smyrna, Tennessee, before his eighth-grade year. His father died in a car accident during Gray's freshman year of high school, just as Gray started playing baseball for Smyrna High School. Smyrna High School (2004–2008) As a freshman, he pi ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Criss
William "Sonny" Criss (23 October 1927 – 19 November 1977) was an American jazz musician. An alto saxophonist of prominence during the bebop era of jazz, he was one of many players influenced by Charlie Parker. Biography William Criss was born in Memphis, Tennessee, United States, and moved to Los Angeles at the age of 15. He then went on to play in various bands including Howard McGhee's, which also featured Charlie Parker. Criss had developed his own, concise, bluesy tone by this point, and though his basic style did not vary much, his ability on the instrument continued to develop. Nevertheless, he continued to drift from band to band, and played on some records with Johnny Otis and Billy Eckstine. His first major break came in 1947, on a number of jam sessions arranged by jazz impresario Norman Granz. In 1956 he signed to Imperial Records, based in New York, and recorded a series albums including ''Jazz U.S.A '', ''Go Man!'' and ''Sonny Criss Plays Cole Porter'' ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Jurgensen
Christian Adolph "Sonny" Jurgensen III (born August 23, 1934) is an American former professional football player who was a quarterback in the National Football League (NFL) for the Philadelphia Eagles and Washington Redskins. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1983. Jurgensen was also a longtime color commentary for Washington's radio broadcast crew. Early life Jurgensen was born on August 23, 1934, in Wilmington, North Carolina. He started playing sports in elementary school, when he led his school to the city grammar school titles in baseball and basketball. He later won Wilmington's youth tennis championship and pitched for his local Civitan club, which won the city baseball title. High school Jurgensen attended and played high school football at New Hanover High School. He played a number of positions for the team and as a junior was a backup quarterback on the state championship team. After a senior year where he scored three touchdowns and kicked n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Simmons
Huey "Sonny" Simmons (August 4, 1933 – April 6, 2021) was an American jazz musician. Biography Simmons was born on August 4, 1933 in Sicily Island, Louisiana. He grew up in Oakland, California, where he began playing the English horn. (Along with Vinny Golia, Simmons was among the few musicians to play the instrument in a jazz context.) At age 16 he took up the alto saxophone, which became his primary instrument. Simmons played primarily in an avant-garde style, often delving into free jazz. His then-wife, Barbara Donald, played trumpet on several of his early records, including his ESP-Disk titles ''Staying on the Watch'' and ''Music from the Spheres''; Arhoolie title ''Manhattan Egos'', and Contemporary titles ''Rumasuma'' and the double album ''Burning Spirits''. Simmons also partnered with Prince Lasha on several recordings, two of which – '' The Cry!'' (1963) and '' Firebirds'' (1968) – were released by Contemporary. Personal problems derailed both his music c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
|
Sonny Red
Sylvester Kyner Jr. (December 17, 1932 – March 20, 1981), known as Sonny Red, was an American jazz alto saxophonist and composer associated with the hard bop idiom among other styles. Sonny Red played with Art Blakey, Curtis Fuller, Paul Quinichette, Donald Byrd, Grant Green, Blue Mitchell, Wynton Kelly, Billy Higgins, and Cedar Walton. Biography In the late 1940s, when he was still in his teens, Sonny Red began to play professionally in Detroit with Barry Harris. He continued to play with Barry Harris until 1952. He went on to play with Art Blakey in 1954, and in 1957 recorded with Curtis Fuller on three albums. Sonny Red first came on the greater jazz scene in the late 1950s with Art Pepper in the album ''Two Altos''. He made two albums as a leader in 1961; both were released by Jazzland Recordings, a subsidiary of Riverside Records. He continued to record in the 1960s, including four albums with Donald Byrd in 1967. By the 1970s, however, Sonny Red was falling int ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |