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Starring Sammy Davis Jr.
''Starring Sammy Davis Jr.'' is the debut studio album by Sammy Davis Jr., recorded in 1954. Five of the songs on ''Starring Sammy Davis Jr.'' had been previously released as singles ("Hey There," "And This Is My Beloved," "Because of You," "Glad to Be Unhappy," and "Birth of the Blues"), one of which, "Hey There" had reached the Top 20. Davis was involved in a serious car accident on November 19, 1954, that resulted in the loss of his left eye. He was still wearing an eye patch on the cover of this, his debut LP, released months later. The album became Davis' first and only number one album on the Billboard 200, making him the first African American solo artist and singer to accomplish this. Previous number-one by other African American recording acts were part of groups, including Nat King Cole's King Cole Trio, The Ink Spots and bandleader Benny Goodman. Reception The AllMusic review by William Ruhlmann awarded the album three and a half stars and said that the final track "T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sammy Davis Jr
Samuel George Davis Jr. (December 8, 1925 – May 16, 1990) was an American singer, dancer, actor, comedian, film producer and television director. At age three, Davis began his career in vaudeville with his father Sammy Davis Sr. and the Will Mastin Trio, which toured nationally, and his film career began in 1933. After military service, Davis returned to the trio and became an overnight sensation following a nightclub performance at Ciro's (in West Hollywood) after the 1951 Academy Awards. With the trio, he became a recording artist. In 1954, at the age of 29, he lost his left eye in a car accident. Several years later, he converted to Judaism, finding commonalities between the oppression experienced by African-American and Jewish communities.Sammy Davis Jr. Biography Biography.com. Retrieved June 6, 20 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
And This Is My Beloved
"And This Is My Beloved" is a popular song from the 1953 musical '' Kismet'', credited to Robert Wright and George Forrest. Like most other music in the show, this melody was based on music composed by Alexander Borodin, in this case the nocturne from the third movement of Borodin's '' String Quartet No. 2 in D.'' The same melody had earlier (1946) been used for a song credited to William Engvick, Bert Reisfeld and Alec Wilder entitled "Spring Magic," which was recorded by Charlie Spivak and his Orchestra. Recordings *Alfred Drake, Doretta Morrow, Richard Kiley and Henry Calvin from the album ''Alfred Drake & the Kismet Original Broadway Cast – Kismet'' (1954). *Jerry Vale - a single release (1953). *Sammy Davis Jr. - a single release on the Decca label (1954). * Sarah Vaughan - in the album ''The Divine Sarah'' (1954). *Howard Keel, Ann Blyth and Vic Damone - from the soundtrack of the 1955 film version of ''Kismet''. *Vic Damone (1955). *Mario Lanza - his version became po ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georges Bizet
Georges Bizet (; 25 October 18383 June 1875) was a French composer of the Romantic era. Best known for his operas in a career cut short by his early death, Bizet achieved few successes before his final work, '' Carmen'', which has become one of the most popular and frequently performed works in the entire opera repertoire. During a brilliant student career at the Conservatoire de Paris, Bizet won many prizes, including the prestigious Prix de Rome in 1857. He was recognised as an outstanding pianist, though he chose not to capitalise on this skill and rarely performed in public. Returning to Paris after almost three years in Italy, he found that the main Parisian opera theatres preferred the established classical repertoire to the works of newcomers. His keyboard and orchestral compositions were likewise largely ignored; as a result, his career stalled, and he earned his living mainly by arranging and transcribing the music of others. Restless for success, he began many ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including '' Pal Joey'', '' A Connecticut Yankee'', '' On Your Toes'' and '' Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', '' Flower Drum Song'', '' Carousel'', ''South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for bringing the Broadway musical to a new maturity by telling stories that were focused on characters and drama rathe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lorenz Hart
Lorenz Milton Hart (May 2, 1895 – November 22, 1943) was an American lyricist and half of the Broadway songwriting team Rodgers and Hart. Some of his more famous lyrics include " Blue Moon", " The Lady Is a Tramp", "Manhattan", " Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered", and " My Funny Valentine". Life and career Hart was born in Harlem, New York City, the elder of two sons, to Jewish immigrant parents, Max M. and Frieda (Isenberg) Hart, of German background. Through his mother, he was a great-grandnephew of the German poet Heinrich Heine. His father, a business promoter, sent Hart and his brother to private schools. (His brother, Teddy Hart, also went into theatre and became a musical comedy star. Teddy Hart's wife, Dorothy Hart, wrote a biography of Lorenz Hart.) Hart received his early education from Columbia Grammar School and entered Columbia College in 1913, before switching to Columbia University School of Journalism, where he attended for two years.< ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glad To Be Unhappy
"Glad to Be Unhappy" is a popular song composed by Richard Rodgers, with lyrics by Lorenz Hart. It was introduced in their 1936 musical ''On Your Toes'', sung by Doris Carson and David Morris, although it was not popular at the time, as there was only one recording of the song. In the 1937 London production, it was sung by Gina Malo and Eddie Pola. The song was performed in the 1954 Broadway revival by Kay Coulter and Joshua Shelley. The Mamas & the Papas Originally recorded for an appearance on "Rodgers and Hart Today", an episode of ''ABC Stage 67'', the Mamas and the Papas' version of the song was released as a single at the end of 1967, reaching #26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. It was issued to keep the group in the charts while awaiting the completion of the group's fourth album, The Papas & The Mamas. However, the song does not appear on that album; it was instead used to promote the group's second greatest-hits package, entitled ''Golden Era Vol. 2''. It is the l ... [...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 standards noted for their witty, urbane lyrics, and many of his scores found success on Broadway and in film. 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 with his most successful musical, '' Kiss Me, Ka ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You'd Be So Easy To Love
"(You'd Be So) Easy to Love" is a popular song written by Cole Porter for William Gaxton to sing in the 1934 Broadway show ''Anything Goes''. However Gaxton was unhappy about its wide vocal range and it was cut from the musical. Porter re-wrote it for the 1936 film ''Born to Dance'', where it was introduced by Eleanor Powell, James Stewart, and Frances Langford under its alternate title, "Easy to Love". The song was later added to the 1987 and 2011 revivals of ''Anything Goes'' under the complete title "You’d Be So Easy to Love". Early hit versions were by Shep Fields, Frances Langford and Ray Noble. Other Notable recordings * Shep Fields - recorded with his Rippling Rhythm Orchestra (1936) *Billie Holiday - ''Quintessential Billie Holiday: Vol. II'' (1936) (recorded with Teddy Wilson and His Orchestra, October 21, 1936). *Josephine Baker - ''C'est si facile de vous aimer'' (1937) *Maxine Sullivan - recorded for Vocalion on October 22, 1937. *Lee Wiley - recorded April 15 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Hammerstein
Arthur Hammerstein (December 21, 1872 – October 12, 1955) was an American songwriter, dramatist, playwright and theater manager. Biography Born and educated to a Jewish family in New York City, Hammerstein was the son of the theater impresario and composer Oscar Hammerstein I. Arthur started out as a bricklayer and plasterer, working on projects with his father including the Victoria Theater and Manhattan Opera House. In 1908 Hammerstein started working on becoming a producer, signing Italian singer Luisa Tetrazzini to the family's Manhattan Center and negotiating with Otto Kahn before moving to London in 1910. While there Arthur and his father had a disagreement with money spending and Arthur vowed never to speak to him again. With his father's support, Arthur embarked on his first production, ''Naughty Marietta''. Arthur's brother Willie Hammerstein died in June 1914, and Arthur took over management of the family's Victoria Theater. However, the theater was not finan ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Because Of You (1940 Song)
"Because of You" is a popular song, written by Arthur Hammerstein and Dudley Wilkinson in 1940. It was first recorded by Larry Clinton and His Orchestra on December 12, 1940, and was released March 28, 1941 on Bluebird 11094. It charted for one week (June 28) and ranked number 95 in the 1941 year-end list. It was used in the 1951 film '' I Was an American Spy.'' Tony Bennett recording A 1951 recording by Tony Bennett, Columbia Records catalog number 39362, recorded on April 4, 1951 with orchestral backing conducted by Percy Faith, was Bennett’s first major hit, reaching number one on the ''Billboard'' charts and staying there for 10 weeks. Due to its importance in establishing his fame, he continued to perform the song for the rest of his career, even singing it at his final concert performances 70 years after its release. Notable cover versions In 1951, there were several artists covering the song: *A cover version by Johnny Desmond reached number seventeen at the same ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kurt Weill
Kurt Julian Weill (March 2, 1900April 3, 1950) was a German-born American composer active from the 1920s in his native country, and in his later years in the United States. He was a leading composer for the stage who was best known for his fruitful collaborations with Bertolt Brecht. With Brecht, he developed productions such as his best-known work, ''The Threepenny Opera'', which included the ballad "Mack the Knife". Weill held the ideal of writing music that served a socially useful purpose,Kurt Weill Cjschuler.net. Retrieved on August 22, 2011. ''Gebrauchsmusik''. He also wrote several works for the concert hall and a number of works on Jewish themes. He became a United States citizen on August 27, 1943. Family and childhood Weill was born on March 2, 1900, the third of four childr ...[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Maxwell Anderson
James Maxwell Anderson (December 15, 1888 – February 28, 1959) was an American playwright, author, poet, journalist, and lyricist. Background Anderson was born on December 15, 1888, in Atlantic, Pennsylvania, the second of eight children to William Lincoln "Link" Anderson, a Baptist minister, and Charlotte Perrimela ('Premely') Stephenson, both of Scotch-Irish descent. His family initially lived on his maternal grandmother Sheperd's farm in Atlantic, then moved to Andover, Ohio, where his father became a railroad fireman while studying to become a minister. They moved often, to follow their father's ministerial posts, and Maxwell was frequently sick, missing a great deal of school. He used his time sick in bed to read voraciously, and both his parents and Aunt Emma were storytellers, which contributed to Anderson's love of literature. During a visit to his grandmother's house in Atlantic, at age 11, he met the first love of his life, Hallie Loomis, a slightly older girl fro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
