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Viola Wills
Viola Mae Wilkerson (December 30, 1939 – May 6, 2009), known professionally as Viola Wills, was an American pop and R&B singer, best known for her covers of classics and other standards such as Patience and Prudence's " Gonna Get Along Without You Now" (1979), Gordon Lightfoot's "If You Could Read My Mind" (1980), The Drifters' "Up on the Roof" (1980), " Always Something There To Remind Me" by Burt Bacharach and Hal David (1980), the Doris Day single "Secret Love" (1980), Chicago's "If You Leave Me Now" (1981) and Joni Mitchell's "Both Sides Now" (1986). She also recorded one of the few dance versions of the Burt Bacharach and Hal David classic " A House Is Not a Home" (1994), which is a different song from the similarly titled "House Is Not a Home" by Deborah Cox. Her cover of the Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler torch song " Stormy Weather" peaked at No. 4 on the ''Billboard'' U.S. Hot Dance Club Play charts in 1982, the highest position the song has reached since ''Billbo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, cultural center of Southern California. With an estimated 3,878,704 residents within the city limits , it is the List of United States cities by population, second-most populous in the United States, behind only New York City. Los Angeles has an Ethnic groups in Los Angeles, ethnically and culturally diverse population, and is the principal city of a Metropolitan statistical areas, metropolitan area of 12.9 million people (2024). Greater Los Angeles, a combined statistical area that includes the Los Angeles and Riverside–San Bernardino metropolitan areas, is a sprawling metropolis of over 18.5 million residents. The majority of the city proper lies in Los Angeles Basin, a basin in Southern California adjacent to the Pacific Ocean in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Always Something There To Remind Me
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written by American songwriting duo Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Originally recorded as a demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" first charted for Lou Johnson, whose version reached No. 49 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in mid-1964. Sandie Shaw took the song to No. 1 in the UK that same year, while the duo Naked Eyes had a No. 8 hit with the song in the US two decades later in 1983. Sandie Shaw version British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson's version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery Sandie Shaw, who consequently covered the song for the UK market. Rush-released in September 1964, the song was premiered by Shaw with a performance on ''Ready Steady Go!'', the pop music TV program. The first week after its release, the single sold 65,000 copies. Shaw's version reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending three weeks at the top of that li ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stormy Weather (song)
"Stormy Weather" is a 1933 torch song written by Harold Arlen and Ted Koehler. Ethel Waters first sang it at Cotton Club (New York City), The Cotton Club night club in Harlem, Manhattan, Harlem in 1933 and recorded it with the Dorsey Brothers' Orchestra under Brunswick Records that year, and in the same year it was sung in London by Elisabeth Welch and recorded by Frances Langford. Also in 1933, for the first time the entire floor revue from Harlem's Cotton Club (New York City), Cotton Club went on tour, playing theatres in principal cities. The revue was originally called ''The Cotton Club Parade of 1933'' but for the road tour it was changed to ''Stormy Weather Revue''; it contained the song "Stormy Weather", which was sung by Adelaide Hall. In September 1933, the group Comedian Harmonists released their German cover version, titled "''Ohne Dich''" ("Without You") with lyrics that are quite different. The song has since been performed by Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Etta James, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Koehler
Ted L. Koehler (July 14, 1894 – January 17, 1973) was an American lyricist. He was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1972. Life and career Koehler was born in 1894 in Washington, D.C. He started out as a photo-engraver, but was attracted to the music business, where he started out as a theater pianist for silent films. He moved on to write for vaudeville and Broadway theatre, and he also produced nightclub shows. His most successful collaboration was with the composer Harold Arlen, with whom he wrote many famous songs from the 1920s through the 1940s. In 1929 the duo composed their first well-known song, " Get Happy", and went on to create " Let's Fall in Love", " Stormy Weather", " Sing My Heart" and other hit songs. Throughout the early and mid-1930s they wrote for the Cotton Club, a popular Harlem night club, for big band jazz legend Duke Ellington and other top performers, as well as for Broadway musicals and Hollywood films. Koehler also worked with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Arlen
Harold Arlen (born Hyman Arluck; February 15, 1905 – April 23, 1986) was an American composer of popular music, who composed over 500 songs, a number of which have become known worldwide. In addition to composing the songs for the 1939 film ''The Wizard of Oz'' (lyrics by Yip Harburg), including "Over the Rainbow", which won him the Oscar for Academy Award for Best Original Song, Best Original Song, he was nominated as composer for 8 other Oscar awards. Arlen is a highly regarded contributor to the Great American Songbook. "Over the Rainbow" was voted the 20th century's No. 1 song by the Recording Industry Association of America, RIAA and the National Endowment for the Arts, NEA. Life and career Arlen was born in Buffalo, New York, the child of a Jewish hazzan, cantor. His twin brother died the next day. He learned to play the piano as a youth, and formed a band, Hyman Arluck's Snappy Trio, at age 15. He left home at 16 against his parents' wishes; within two years, he was per ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deborah Cox
Deborah Cox (born July 13, 1974) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Toronto, she began performing on television commercials at age 12, and entered various talent shows in her teenage years before becoming a professional backing vocalist for Celine Dion. In 1994, Cox relocated to the United States and was signed to Arista Records by Clive Davis, releasing her self-titled debut album the following year. Her second studio album, '' One Wish'' (1998), was certified platinum in the United States. It was marked by the commercial success of the pop crossover single " Nobody's Supposed to Be Here", which would become her most successful entry on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart, peaking at number two and remaining there for eight consecutive weeks. Cox signed with J Records for her third studio album '' The Morning After'' (2002), which saw moderate commercial success. Cox ventured into acting in the 2000s, making her film debut in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A House Is Not A Home (song)
"A House Is Not a Home" is a 1964 ballad written by the team of Burt Bacharach and Hal David for the 1964 film of the same name, starring Shelley Winters and Robert Taylor. The song was recorded by American singer Dionne Warwick at Bell Sound Studios in New York City, and was a modest hit in the United States for the singer, peaking at #71 on the pop singles chart as the B-side of the top 40 single, " You'll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart)". Another version of the song, by Brook Benton, which was the version that appeared in the film, was released at nearly the same time. It debuted two weeks earlier on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Benton's version split airplay with Warwick's, and ultimately peaked at #75. Warwick's version of "A House Is Not a Home" fared better in Canada, where it was a top 40 hit, peaking at #37. The ballad made the R&B top 10 in Cashbox by both Warwick and Benton, with neither artist specified as best seller. Despite its modest initial success ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Both Sides Now (song)
"Both Sides, Now" is a song by Canadian singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell. One of the first recordings is by Judy Collins, whose version appeared on the US singles chart during the fall of 1968. (The earliest commercial release was by Dave Van Ronk and the Hudson Dusters, under the title "Clouds", released in June 1967.) The next year it was included on Mitchell's album ''Clouds'', and became one of her best-known songs. It has since been recorded by dozens of artists, including Dion in 1968, Clannad with Paul Young in 1991, and Mitchell herself, who re-recorded the song with an orchestral arrangement on her 2000 album '' Both Sides Now''. In 2004, ''Rolling Stone'' ranked "Both Sides, Now" at number 170 on its list of the 500 Greatest Songs. Background Mitchell has said that "Both Sides, Now" was inspired by a passage in '' Henderson the Rain King'', a 1959 novel by Saul Bellow.I was reading ... ''Henderson the Rain King'' on a plane and early in the book Henderson ... is also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Joni Mitchell
Roberta Joan Mitchell (née Anderson; born November 7, 1943) is a Canadian and American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and painter. As one of the most influential singer-songwriters to emerge from the 1960s folk music circuit, Mitchell became known for her personal lyrics and unconventional compositions, which grew to incorporate elements of pop music, pop, jazz, rock music, rock, and other genres. Among her accolades are eleven Grammy Awards, and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997. ''Rolling Stone'', in 2002, named her "one of the greatest songwriters ever", and AllMusic, in a 2011 biography, stated "Joni Mitchell may stand as the most important and influential female recording artist of the late 20th century." Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in Saskatoon and throughout western Canada, before moving on to the nightclubs of Toronto. She moved to the United States and began touring in 1965. Some of her original songs ("Urge for Going", "C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
If You Leave Me Now
"If You Leave Me Now" is a song by the American rock group Chicago, from their album ''Chicago X''. It was written and sung by bass player Peter Cetera and released as a single on July 30, 1976. It is also the title of a Chicago compilation album released by Columbia Records (Columbia 38590) in 1983. The single topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on October 23, 1976, and stayed there for two weeks, making it the first number one hit for the group. It hit the number one on the Easy Listening charts and was also Chicago's biggest hit internationally, topping the charts in other countries such as the UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and Netherlands. In the UK, it maintained the number one position for three weeks. It was one of five "non-disco" songs to make it to number one in the US in a nine-month period of 1976. According to writer Zachary Houle of ''PopMatters'', "The song was so pervasive on radio upon its release that, reportedly, those tuning in in New York could hear the son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chicago (band)
Chicago is an American rock band formed in Chicago, Illinois, in 1967. Self-described as a "rock and roll band with horns," their songs often also combine elements of classical music, jazz, R&B, and pop music. Growing out of several bands from the Chicago area in the late 1960s, the original line-up consisted of Peter Cetera on bass, Terry Kath on guitar, Robert Lamm on keyboards, Lee Loughnane on trumpet, James Pankow on trombone, Walter Parazaider on woodwinds, and Danny Seraphine on drums. Cetera, Kath, and Lamm shared lead vocal duties. The group initially called themselves the Big Thing, then changed to the Chicago Transit Authority in 1968, and finally shortened the name to Chicago in 1969. Laudir de Oliveira joined the band as a percussionist and second drummer in 1974. Kath died in 1978 and was replaced by several guitarists in succession. Bill Champlin joined in 1981, providing vocals, keyboards, and rhythm guitar. Cetera left the band in 1985 and was repl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Secret Love (Doris Day Song)
"Secret Love" is a song composed by Sammy Fain (music) and Paul Francis Webster (lyrics) for ''Calamity Jane'', a 1953 musical film in which it was introduced by Doris Day in the title role. Ranked as a number 1 hit for Day on both the ''Billboard'' and ''Cash Box'', the song also afforded Day a number 1 hit in the UK. "Secret Love" has subsequently been recorded by a wide range of artists, becoming a C&W hit firstly for Slim Whitman and later for Freddy Fender, with the song also becoming an R&B hit for Billy Stewart, whose version also reached the top 40 as did Freddy Fender's. In the UK, "Secret Love" would become the career record of Kathy Kirby via her 1963 remake of the song. The melody bears a slight resemblance to the opening theme of Schubert's A-major piano sonata, D.664. Doris Day version Doris Day first heard "Secret Love" when its co-writer Sammy Fain visited the singer's home and played it for her, Day being so moved by the song that she'd recall her reaction as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
