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Thomas J. Valentino
Thomas J. Valentino (April 27, 1907 – August 4, 1986) was an American businessman of Italian descent being amongst the first to compile libraries of sound effects and taped music. Valentino was born in the outskirts of Palermo, Sicily; his family immigrated to the US in 1911. He began his career in the 1920s as a piano and organ tuner for Wurlitzer, tuning and servicing pianos on trans-Atlantic steamers docking in New York. In the 1930s he created live sound effects for Broadway productions while becoming a sales representative for Gennett Recordings. He started his own sound effects company named Thomas J. Valentino Inc., which now operated as simply Valentino Inc. He provided the sound effects for many Broadway shows, including ''The Heiress'', ''Death of a Salesman'', '' The Diary of Anne Frank'', and ''The Glass Menagerie'', eventually compiling a library of sound cues for hundreds of live shows. His sound effects library at the time was also available on 78 RPM records, which ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gennett Records
Gennett Records () was an American record company and label in Richmond, Indiana, United States, which flourished in the 1920s and produced the Gennett, Starr, Champion, Superior, and Van Speaking labels. The company also produced some Supertone, Silvertone, and Challenge records under contract. The firm also pressed, under contract, records for record labels such as Autograph, Rainbow, Hitch, Our Song, and Vaughn. Gennett produced some of the earliest recordings by Louis Armstrong, King Oliver, Bix Beiderbecke, and Hoagy Carmichael. Its roster also included Jelly Roll Morton, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Charley Patton, and Gene Autry. History Gennett Records was founded in Richmond, Indiana, by the Starr Piano Company in 1917. By the late 1930s, the label had produced more than 16,000 masters. The company had produced early recordings under the green or blue Starr Records label as early as 1915. The new Gennett label was named after Harry, Fred, and Clarence Gennett, brothers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Fever
''Saturday Night Fever'' is a 1977 American Dance in film, dance Drama (film and television), drama film directed by John Badham and produced by Robert Stigwood. It stars John Travolta as Tony Manero, a young Italian Americans, Italian-American man who spends his weekends dancing and drinking at a local Nightclub, disco while dealing with social tensions and disillusionment in his working class ethnic neighborhood in Brooklyn. The story is based on "Tribal Rites of the New Saturday Night", a mostly fictional 1976 ''New York (magazine), New York'' article by music writer Nik Cohn. A major critical and commercial success, ''Saturday Night Fever'' had a tremendous impact on the popular culture of the late 1970s. It helped popularize disco around the world and initiated a series of collaborations between film studios and record labels. It made Travolta, already well known from his role in the popular TV sitcom ''Welcome Back, Kotter'', a household name. He was nominated for the Aca ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1907 Births
Events January * January 14 – 1907 Kingston earthquake: A 6.5 Mw earthquake in Kingston, Jamaica, kills between 800 and 1,000. February * February 9 – The " Mud March", the first large procession organised by The National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies ( NUWSS), takes place in London. * February 11 – The French warship ''Jean Bart'' sinks off the coast of Morocco. * February 12 – The steamship ''Larchmont'' collides with the ''Harry Hamilton'' in Long Island Sound; 183 lives are lost. * February 16 – SKF, a worldwide mechanical parts manufacturing brand (mainly, bearings and seals), is founded in Gothenburg, Sweden. * February 21 – The English mail steamship ''Berlin'' is wrecked off the Hook of Holland; 142 lives are lost. * February 24 – The Austrian Lloyd steamship ''Imperatrix'', from Trieste to Bombay, is wrecked on Cape of Crete and sinks; 137 lives are lost. March * March ** The steamship ''Congo'' collide ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1986 Deaths
The year 1986 was designated as the International Year of Peace by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** Aruba gains increased autonomy from the Netherlands by separating from the Netherlands Antilles. ** Spain and Portugal enter the European Community, which becomes the European Union in 1993. * January 11 – The Sir Leo Hielscher Bridges, Gateway Bridge in Brisbane, Australia, at this time the world's longest prestressed concrete free-cantilever bridge, is opened. * January 13–January 24, 24 – South Yemen Civil War. * January 20 – The United Kingdom and France announce plans to construct the Channel Tunnel. * January 24 – The Voyager 2 space probe makes its first encounter with Uranus. * January 25 – Yoweri Museveni's National Resistance Army Rebel group takes over Uganda after leading a Ugandan Bush War, five-year guerrilla war in which up to half a million people are believed to have been killed. They will later use January 26 as the official date ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Saturday Night Fever (soundtrack)
''Saturday Night Fever'' is the soundtrack double album (in 2 Long Play records) from the 1977 film '' Saturday Night Fever'' starring John Travolta. The soundtrack was released on November 15, 1977 by RSO Records. Prior to the release of '' Thriller'' by Michael Jackson, ''Saturday Night Fever'' was the best-selling album in music history, and still ranks among the best-selling soundtrack albums worldwide, with sales figures of over 40 million copies. In the United States, the album was certified 16× Platinum for shipments of at least 16 million units. The album stayed atop the charts for 24 straight weeks from January to July 1978 and stayed on ''Billboard''s album charts for 120 weeks until March 1980. Three singles from the album contributed by the Bee Gees—" How Deep Is Your Love", " Stayin' Alive" and " Night Fever"—along with Yvonne Elliman's " If I Can't Have You", all reached No. 1 in the US. In the UK, the album spent 18 consecutive weeks at No. 1. The album epit ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammy Award For Album Of The Year
The Grammy Award for Album of the Year is an award presented by the The Recording Academy, National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to "honor artistic achievement, technical proficiency and overall excellence in the recording industry, without regard to album sales, chart position, or critical reception." Commonly known as "The Big Award", Album of the Year is the most prestigious category at the Grammy Awards and is one of the general field categories that have been presented annually since the 1st Annual Grammy Awards in 1959 alongside Grammy Award for Best New Artist, Best New Artist, Grammy Award for Record of the Year, Record of the Year, and Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year. Credit rules Over the years, the rules on who was presented with an award have changed: *1959–1965: Artist only. *1966–1998: Artist and producer. *1999–2002: Artist, producer, and recording engineer or mixer. *2003–2017: Artist, featured artist, pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious and significant awards in the music industry in the United States, and thus the show is frequently called "music's biggest night". The trophy depicts a gilded gramophone, and the original idea was to call them the "Gramophone Awards". The Grammys are the first of the Big Three networks' major music awards held annually, and are considered one of the four major annual American entertainment awards with the Academy Awards (for films), the Emmy Awards (for television), and the Tony Awards (for theater). The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held on May 4, 1959, to honor the musical accomplishments of performers for the year 1958. After the 2011 ceremony, the Recording Academy overhauled many Grammy Award categories for 2012. The 67th Annua ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
21st Annual Grammy Awards
The 21st Annual Grammy Awards were held in 1979, and were broadcast live on American television. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1978. Award winners *Record of the Year ** Phil Ramone (producer) & Billy Joel for " Just the Way You Are" * Album of the Year **Broadway Eddie, Richard Finch, Albhy Galuten, K.G. Productions, Ron Kersey, Arif Mardin, Bobby Martin, Bill Oakes, Freddie Perren, Karl Richardson, William Salter, Thomas J. Valentino (producers), Bee Gees, Ralph MacDonald, David Shire (producers and artists), Don Renaldo (conductor), Yvonne Elliman, K.C. and the Sunshine Band, Kool & the Gang, Walter Murphy, Tavares & Trammps for '' Saturday Night Fever Soundtrack'' * Song of the Year **Billy Joel for " Just the Way You Are" *Best New Artist ** A Taste of Honey Children's * Best Recording for Children **Jim Henson (producer) for ''The Muppet Show'' performed by The Muppets Classical * Best Classical Orchestral Performance ** Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bee Gees
The Bee Gees were a musical group formed in 1958 by brothers Barry Gibb, Barry, Robin Gibb, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. The trio was especially successful in popular music in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and later as prominent performers in the disco music era in the mid-to-late 1970s. The group sang recognisable three-part Close and open harmony, tight harmonies: Robin's clear vibrato lead vocals were a hallmark of their earlier hits, while Barry's Rhythm and blues, R&B falsetto became their signature sound during the mid-to-late 1970s and 1980s. The group wrote all their own original material, as well as writing and producing several major hits for other artists, and are regarded as one of the most important and influential acts in pop-music history. They have been referred to in the media as Honorific nicknames in popular music, The Disco Kings, Britain's First Family of Harmony, and The Kings of Dance Music. Born on the Isle of Man to English parents, the Gibb brothers li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100, also known as simply the Hot 100, is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), online streaming, and radio airplay in the U.S. A new chart is compiled and released online to the public by ''Billboard''s website on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday, when the printed magazine first reaches newsstands. The weekly tracking period for sales is currently Friday–Thursday, after being changed in July 2015. It was initially Monday–Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay is readily available on a real-time basis, unlike sales figures and streaming, but is also tracked on the same Friday–Thursday cycle, effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021. Previously, radio was tracked Monday–Sunday and, before Ju ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Heiress (1947 Play)
''The Heiress'' is a 1947 play by American playwrights Ruth and Augustus Goetz adapted from the 1880 Henry James novel '' Washington Square''. Two years later, the play was adapted into the film '' The Heiress'' starring Olivia de Havilland. Productions The play opened on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on September 29, 1947, and closed on September 18, 1948, after 410 performances. Directed by Jed Harris, the cast included Wendy Hiller and Basil Rathbone. The play then opened in London at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket on February 1, 1949; directed by John Gielgud, it starred Ralph Richardson and Peggy Ashcroft and ran for 644 performances, until August 19, 1950. In January 1950, Richardson and Ashcroft were replaced by Godfrey Tearle and Wendy Hiller. The play has been revived four times on Broadway: * February 8, 1950, to February 19, 1950, at the New York City Center – 16 performances * April 20, 1976, to May 9, 1976, at the Broadhurst Theatre – 23 performances ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Fifth Of Beethoven
"A Fifth of Beethoven" is a disco instrumental recorded by Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band, adapted from the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven's Symphony No. 5. The record was produced by production music and sound effects recording producer Thomas J. Valentino. The "Fifth" in the song's title is a pun, referencing a liquid measure approximately equal to one-fifth of a gallon, a popular size for bottles containing liquor, as well as Beethoven's Fifth Symphony from which the song was adapted. Released as a single by Private Stock Records in 1976, the song debuted at number 80 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart and climbed to number 1 within 19 weeks, remaining there for one week. In 1977, it was licensed to RSO Records for inclusion on the best-selling '' Saturday Night Fever'' soundtrack. The song is one of Murphy's few Top 40 hits. Background and recording In college, Murphy's interests included rock music, particularly that which was adapted from classical music, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
