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The Performance
''The Performance'' is an album by the Welsh singer Shirley Bassey, released on 9 November 2009. It is her first studio album of original compositions in three decades. The album was executive produced by music executive Paul Carey and English film composer David Arnold co-produced the entire album with Mike Dixon. Songs on the album were written specifically for Bassey by renowned writers such as Rufus Wainwright, Gary Barlow and Pet Shop Boys. The recording of the album became the subject of a BBC documentary titled ''The Girl from Tiger Bay'' named after the song written for the project by James Dean Bradfield and Nicky Wire of Manic Street Preachers. The album gained favourable reviews and was certified gold in the UK for sales of over 100,000 copies. Background Music Executive Paul Carey came up with the concept for The Performance. He approached music producer David Arnold about the album project who had recently produced music scores for the James Bond franchise. Hav ...
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Shirley Bassey
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey (; born 8 January 1937) is a Welsh singer. Best known for her career longevity, powerful voice and recording the theme songs to three James Bond films, Bassey is widely regarded as one of the most popular vocalists in Britain. Born in Cardiff, Bassey began performing as a teenager in 1953. In 1959, she became the first Welsh person to gain a number-one single on the UK Singles Chart. In the following decades, Bassey amassed 27 Top 40 hits in the UK, including two number-ones. She became well-known for recording the soundtrack theme songs of the James Bond films '' Goldfinger'' (1964), '' Diamonds Are Forever'' (1971), and '' Moonraker'' (1979). In 2020, Bassey became the first female artist to chart an album in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart in seven consecutive decades with her album '' I Owe It All To You''. Bassey has also had numerous BBC television specials, and she hosted her own variety series, '' Shirley Bassey''. In 2011, BBC aired t ...
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Rufus Wainwright
Rufus McGarrigle Wainwright (born July 22, 1973) is a Canadian-American singer, songwriter, and composer. He has recorded 10 studio albums and numerous tracks on compilations and film soundtracks. He has also written two classical operas and set Shakespeare's sonnets to music for a theatre piece by Robert Wilson. Wainwright's self-titled debut album was released through DreamWorks Records in May 1998. His second album, '' Poses'', was released in June 2001. Wainwright's third and fourth studio albums, '' Want One'' (2003) and '' Want Two'' (2004), were repackaged as the double album ''Want'' in 2005. In 2007, Wainwright released his fifth studio album, '' Release the Stars'', and his first live album, '' Rufus Does Judy at Carnegie Hall''. His second live album, '' Milwaukee at Last!!!'', was released in 2009, followed by the studio albums '' All Days Are Nights: Songs for Lulu'' (2010) and '' Out of the Game'' (2012). The double album ''Prima Donna'' (2015) was a recording ...
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Don Black (lyricist)
Donald Blackstone (born 21 June 1938) known by pen name Don Black is an English lyricist. His works have included numerous musicals, movie, television themes and hit songs. He has provided lyrics for John Barry, Charles Strouse, Matt Monro, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Quincy Jones, Hoyt Curtin, Lulu, Jule Styne, Henry Mancini, Meat Loaf, Michael Jackson, Elmer Bernstein, Michel Legrand, Hayley Westenra, A. R. Rahman, Marvin Hamlisch and Debbie Wiseman. AllMusic stated that "Black is perhaps best-known for his collaborations with Andrew Lloyd Webber, and for the James Bond theme songs he co-wrote with composer John Barry: ' Thunderball', ' Diamonds Are Forever' and ' The Man with the Golden Gun'." Early life He was born Donald Blackstone in London, the youngest of five children of Russian Jewish immigrants from Ukraine, Morris and Betsy (née Kersh) Blackstone. His father worked as a garment presser and his mother in a clothes shop and during his childhood the family lived ...
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John Barry (composer)
John Barry Prendergast (3 November 1933 – 30 January 2011) was a British composer and conductor of film music. He composed the scores for eleven of the ''James Bond'' films between 1963 and 1987, as well as arranging and performing the " James Bond Theme" for the first film in the series, 1962's '' Dr. No''. He wrote the Grammy- and Academy Award-winning scores to the films '' Dances with Wolves'' and '' Out of Africa'', as well as the scores of ''The Scarlet Letter'', '' Chaplin'', '' The Cotton Club'', '' Game of Death'', '' The Tamarind Seed'', ''Mary, Queen of Scots'' and the theme for the television series ''The Persuaders!'', in a career spanning over 50 years. In 1999, he was appointed with an OBE for services to music. Born in York, Barry spent his early years working in cinemas owned by his father. During his national service with the British Army in Cyprus, Barry began performing as a musician after learning to play the trumpet. Upon completing his national se ...
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BBC Television
BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1927. It produced television programmes from its own studios from 1932, although the start of its regular service of television broadcasts is dated to 2 November 1936. The BBC's domestic television channels have no commercial advertising and collectively they accounted for more than 30% of all UK viewing in 2013. The services are funded by a television licence. As a result of the 2016 Licence Fee settlement, the BBC Television division was split, with in-house television production being separated into a new division called BBC Studios and the remaining parts of television (channels and genre commissioning, BBC Sport and BBC iPlayer) being renamed as BBC Content. History of BBC Television The BBC operates several television networks, television stations ...
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Neil Tennant
Neil Francis Tennant (born 10 July 1954) is an English musician, singer, songwriter and music journalist, and co-founder of the synth-pop duo Pet Shop Boys, which he formed with Chris Lowe in 1981. He was a journalist for ''Smash Hits'', and assistant editor for the magazine in the mid-1980s. Tennant coined the phrase imperial phase to describe the period in which a musical artist is regarded to be at their commercial and creative peak simultaneously. This observation was initially self-referential, made as the Pet Shop Boys had achieved commercial success with four British number one hits ("It's a Sin", " What Have I Done to Deserve This", "Heart", and " Always on My Mind"), had received unanimous critical praise for their first three albums, and had expanded their creative horizons through innovative collaborations in the visual and performing arts. Biography Early life Neil Francis Tennant was born in North Shields, a fishing port near Newcastle upon Tyne, to William W. T ...
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KT Tunstall
Kate Victoria "KT" Tunstall (born 23 June 1975) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. She first gained attention with a 2004 live solo performance of her song "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on '' Later... with Jools Holland''. The name of her debut studio album, '' Eye to the Telescope,'' was inspired by her childhood experiences at her father's physics laboratory at University of St Andrews. Released in 2004, the album led to her nominations for the Mercury Prize in 2005, a BRIT Award for Best British Live Act and BRIT Award for Best Breakthrough Act in 2006, and a Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance nomination in 2007. She won the BRIT Award for Best British Female Artist and the European Border Breakers Award, both in 2006. The single "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was given the Q Magazine Award for Best Track in 2005, and "Suddenly I See" won the Ivor Novello Award for Best Song in 2006. "Suddenly I See" became a popular hit and has been fea ...
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Ireland
Ireland ( ; ga, Éire ; Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots: ) is an island in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean, in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe. It is separated from Great Britain to its east by the North Channel (Great Britain and Ireland), North Channel, the Irish Sea, and St George's Channel. Ireland is the List of islands of the British Isles, second-largest island of the British Isles, the List of European islands by area, third-largest in Europe, and the List of islands by area, twentieth-largest on Earth. Geopolitically, Ireland is divided between the Republic of Ireland (officially Names of the Irish state, named Ireland), which covers five-sixths of the island, and Northern Ireland, which is part of the United Kingdom. As of 2022, the Irish population analysis, population of the entire island is just over 7 million, with 5.1 million living in the Republic of Ireland and 1.9 million in Northern Ireland, ranking it the List of European islan ...
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Westmeath
"Noble above nobility" , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Westmeath.svg , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Ireland , subdivision_type1 = Province , subdivision_name1 = , subdivision_type2 = Region , subdivision_name2 = Eastern and Midland , seat_type = County town , seat = Mullingar , parts_type = Largest settlement , parts = Athlone , leader_title = Local authority , leader_name = Westmeath County Council , leader_title2 = Dáil constituencies , leader_name2 = , leader_title3 = EP constituency , leader_name3 = Midlands–North-West , area_total_km2 = 1840 , area_rank = 21st , population_total = 95,840. , population_as_of = 2022 , population_footnotes = , population_density_km2 = auto , population_rank = 22nd , blank_n ...
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Nick Hodgson
Nicholas James David Hodgson (born 20 October 1977) is an English drummer, backing vocalist, and songwriter, formerly of the indie rock band Kaiser Chiefs. Early life He attended St. Mary's Menston with Nick Baines and Simon Rix. He then went on to Trinity & All Saints University College in Horsforth, Leeds, where he studied Media. He later met Ricky Wilson and Andrew "Whitey" White at a mod night called Move on Up at The Underground in Leeds. Together they formed Runston Parva, later to be called Parva and now Kaiser Chiefs. Together with bandmate Ricky Wilson, Hodgson started the Leeds club night Pigs "to give us something to look forward to". After giving the rest of the band a mix CD with songs he had been playing at Pigs, they formed Kaiser Chiefs, scrapping all their old songs and changing "the way we play, the way we dress, basically everything we could change without changing ... our faces". Kaiser Chiefs Hodgson is a founding member of Leeds indie rock band Kaise ...
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Manic Street Preachers
Manic Street Preachers, also known simply as the Manics, are a Welsh rock band formed in Blackwood in 1986. The band consists of cousins James Dean Bradfield (lead vocals, lead guitar) and Sean Moore (drums, percussion, soundscapes), plus Nicky Wire (bass guitar, lyrics). They form a key part of the 1990s Welsh Cool Cymru cultural movement. Following the release of their debut single "Suicide Alley", Manic Street Preachers were joined by Richey Edwards as co-lyricist and rhythm guitarist, the band became as a quartet. The band's early albums were in a punk vein, eventually broadening to a greater alternative rock sound, whilst retaining a leftist political outlook. Their early combination of androgynous glam imagery and lyrics about "culture, alienation, boredom and despair" gained them a loyal following. Manic Street Preachers released their debut album, ''Generation Terrorists'', in February 1992, followed by ''Gold Against The Soul'' in 1993 and ''The Holy Bible'' in 1994 ...
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Nicky Wire
Nicholas Allen Jones (born 20 January 1969), known as Nicky Wire, is a Welsh musician and songwriter, best known as lyricist, bassist and secondary vocalist of the Welsh alternative rock band, Manic Street Preachers. Prior to the group, Wire studied politics at university; this would later influence his lyrical work. He was co-writer of the band's lyrics (alongside Richey Edwards) from 1989 to 1995, and has been the band's primary lyricist since 1995, following Edwards' disappearance. In addition to his work with Manic Street Preachers, Wire released a solo album, '' I Killed the Zeitgeist'', in 2006. Biography Early life Born Nicholas Allen Jones in Llanbadoc, Monmouthshire, Wales, Wire is the younger brother of poet and author Pat Jones. He attended Oakdale Comprehensive School with James Dean Bradfield, Sean Moore and Richey Edwards. Wire played competitive schools football and, aged 14, was captain of the Welsh national schoolboys' team. Although he was offered a ...
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