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Stan Free
Hot Butter were an American instrumental band fronted by the keyboard player and studio musician Stan Free. The other band members were John Abbott (arranger, guitar), brothers Bill (producer, engineer, percussion) and Steve Jerome (producer, electric piano), Danny Jordan (producer) and Dave Mullaney (arranger, ondioline); also joined in studio by Tony Spinosa (percussion). They were best known for their 1972 version of the Moog synthesizer instrumental song "Popcorn", originally recorded by its composer, Gershon Kingsley, in 1969. The track became an international hit, selling a million copies in France, 250,000 in the United Kingdom, and over two million worldwide. History The group released two albums, ''Hot Butter'' (Musicor MS-3242; 1972) and ''More Hot Butter'' (Musicor MS-3254; 1973), primarily of covers, on LP issued by Hallmark Records. (The 1974 Australian ''Moog Hits'' consisted of nine tracks from ''More Hot Butter'', plus two new tracks, Roger Whittaker's "R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New York City
New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive with a respective county. The city is the geographical and demographic center of both the Northeast megalopolis and the New York metropolitan area, the largest metropolitan area in the United States by both population and urban area. New York is a global center of finance and commerce, culture, technology, entertainment and media, academics, and scientific output, the arts and fashion, and, as home to the headquarters of the United Nations, international diplomacy. With an estimated population in 2024 of 8,478,072 distributed over , the city is the most densely populated major city in the United States. New York City has more than double the population of Los Angeles, the nation's second-most populous city. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Castle Music
Castle Communications, also known as Castle Music, was a British independent record label and home video distributor founded in 1983 by Terry Shand, Cliff Dane, and Jon Beecher. Its video imprint was called Castle Vision. The label's production ceased in 2007, and its remaining rights are now chiefly vested in BMG Rights Management. Castle also operated a subsidiary label, Essential Records. History Starting out as a mid-price catalogue reissue specialist, with labels including The Collector Series and Dojo, it grew into the largest European owner of repertoire outside the major record companies. It purchased catalogues including Pye, Piccadilly, Bradley's, Bronze, Black Sabbath, Sugar Hill, Transatlantic, Beserkley, All Platinum and Solar. They possessed most of the Transatlantic and Trailer catalogue. Starting in the early 1980s, they released compilations and reissued work by Fairport Convention, John Renbourn, Barbara Dickson, Steeleye Span, the Watersons, Richard T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French singer-songwriter, actor, composer, and director. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. His lyrical works incorporated Word play, wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs, which have been covered more than 1,000 times by diverse artists. Since his death from a second Myocardial infarction, heart attack in 1991, Gainsbourg's music has r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neal Hefti
Neal Paul Hefti (October 29, 1922 – October 11, 2008) was an American jazz trumpeter, composer, and arranger. He wrote music for '' The Odd Couple'' movie and TV series and for the ''Batman'' TV series. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts (musical arrangements) for Nat Towles. He composed and arranged while working as a trumpeter for Woody Herman providing the bandleader with versions of "Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm" and composing "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root". He left Herman's band in 1946. Now concentrating on writing music only, he began an association with Count Basie in 1950. Hefti occasionally led his own bands. Beginnings Neal Paul Hefti was born October 29, 1922, to an impoverished family in Hastings, Nebraska, United States. He later recalled his family relying on charity when he was a young child. He started playing the trumpet in school at the age of eleven, and by high school was spending his summer vacations pla ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Tornados
The Tornados were an English instrumental rock group of the 1960s that acted as backing group for many of record producer Joe Meek's productions and also for singer Billy Fury. They enjoyed several chart hits in their own right, including the UK and US no. 1 "Telstar" (named after the satellite and composed and produced by Meek), the first US no. 1 single by a British group. History The Tornados were formed in 1961 as a session band for Joe Meek, although the name did not come until early 1962. In 1961 they provided the instrumentals for the film short ''The Johnny Leyton Touch'', including a jazzed up version of "Taboo", originally by Margarita Lecuona. From January 1962 to August 1963, the Tornados were the backing band for Billy Fury (as well as recording and performing as an act in their own right); they toured and recorded with Fury as the Tornados. Their recordings with Fury were produced by Mike Smith and Ivor Raymonde. The Tornados made a scopitone film (an ea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joe Meek
Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 – 3 February 1967) was an English record producer and songwriter considered one of the most influential sound engineers of all time, being one of the first to develop ideas such as the recording studio as an instrument, and becoming one of the first producers to be recognised for his individual identity as an artist. Meek pioneered space age and experimental pop music, and assisted in the development of recording practices like overdubbing, sampling and reverberation. Charting singles Meek produced for other artists include " Johnny Remember Me" ( John Leyton, 1961), " Just Like Eddie" (Heinz, 1963), "Angela Jones" ( Michael Cox, 1960), " Have I the Right?" ( the Honeycombs, 1964), and " Tribute to Buddy Holly" ( Mike Berry, 1961). The Tornados' instrumental "Telstar" (1962), written and produced by Meek, became the first record by a British rock group to reach number one in the US Hot 100. It also spent five weeks at number one in t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the List of best-selling music artists, best-selling musicians of all time. He has written and recorded ten singles that reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desiree (song), Desirée", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers" (which he co-wrote with Marilyn Bergman and performed with Barbra Streisand), "America (Neil Diamond song), America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight (song), Heartlight (co-written with Carole Bayer Sager and Burt Bacharach). A total of thirty-eight songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Adult Contemporary (chart), Adult Contemporary chart, including "Sweet Caroline". He has also acted in films, maki ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Shadows
The Shadows (originally known as the Drifters between 1958 and 1959) were an English instrumental rock group, who dominated the British popular music charts in the pre-Beatles era from the late 1950s to the early 1960s. They served as the backing band for Cliff Richard from 1958 to 1968, and have joined him for several reunion tours. The Shadows had 69 UK chart singles from the 1950s to the 2000s, 35 as the Shadows and 34 as Cliff Richard and the Shadows, ranging from Pop music, pop, Rock music, rock, surf rock and Sentimental ballad, ballads with a jazz influence. The group, who were in the forefront of the UK beat-group boom, were the first backing band to emerge as stars. As pioneers of the four-member instrumental format, the band consisted of lead guitar, rhythm guitar, bass guitar and drums. The Shadows built their signature sound on Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, Fender guitars and Vox (musical equipment), Vox amplifiers, but around 1964, they replaced their F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Lordan
Jeremiah Patrick Lordan (30 April 1934 – 24 July 1995) was an English songwriter, composer and singer. He had three hit singles on the UK Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting. Amongst his songwriting credits were the chart hits "I've Waited So Long", "Apache", "Wonderful Land", "Atlantis", "Diamonds", and " A Girl Like You". Early life and education Born as Jeremiah Patrick Lordan in Paddington, London, England, Lordan taught himself to play piano and guitar as a child. He attended Finchley Catholic High School and went into National Service in the Royal Air Force as a radar operator. On leaving the RAF in 1955, he held a number of jobs including comedian, singer and in advertising. Career He began song-writing, and in 1958, with the help of contacts made in the advertising business a demo of one of his songs was heard by a record producer. The song, "A House, A Car and a Wedding Ring" was recorded by Mike Preston on Decca Records. It did not sell ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stephen Schwartz (composer)
Stephen Lawrence Schwartz (born March 6, 1948) is an American musical theatre composer and lyricist. In a career spanning over five decades, Schwartz has written hit musicals such as ''Godspell'' (1971), '' Pippin'' (1972), and '' Wicked'' (2003). He has contributed lyrics to a number of successful films, including ''Pocahontas'' (1995), '' The Hunchback of Notre Dame'' (1996), ''The Prince of Egypt'' (1998, music and lyrics), '' Enchanted'' (2007), '' Disenchanted'' (2022), and the two-part adaptation of ''Wicked'' (2024-2025, music and lyrics). Schwartz has earned numerous accolades including three Grammy Awards, three Academy Awards, and a Golden Globe Award. He has received nominations for six Tony Awards, and a Laurence Olivier Award. He received the Tony Award's Isabelle Stevenson Award in 2015. Early life and education Schwartz is Jewish and was born in New York City, the son of Sheila Lorna (née Siegel), a teacher, and Stanley Leonard Schwartz, a businessman. He gre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony No
A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning common today: a work usually consisting of multiple distinct sections or movements, often four, with the first movement in sonata form. Symphonies are almost always scored for an orchestra consisting of a string section (violin, viola, cello, and double bass), brass, woodwind, and percussion instruments which altogether number about 30 to 100 musicians. Symphonies are notated in a musical score, which contains all the instrument parts. Orchestral musicians play from parts which contain just the notated music for their own instrument. Some symphonies also contain vocal parts (e.g., Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, or Mahler's Second Symphony). Etymology and origins The word ''symphony'' is derived from the Greek word (), meaning ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (27 January 1756 – 5 December 1791) was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period (music), Classical period. Despite his short life, his rapid pace of composition and proficiency from an early age resulted in List of compositions by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, more than 800 works representing virtually every Western classical genre of his time. Many of these compositions are acknowledged as pinnacles of the symphony, symphonic, concerto, concertante, chamber music, chamber, operatic, and choir, choral repertoires. Mozart is widely regarded as one of the greatest composers in the history of Classical music, Western music, with his music admired for its "melodic beauty, its formal elegance and its richness of harmony and texture". Born in Salzburg, Mozart showed Child prodigy, prodigious ability from his earliest childhood. At age five, he was already competent on keyboard and violin, had begun to compose, and performed before European r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
