Music That We Adore

Take a trip through the 60s, 70's and 80's Music, and relive all the songs and artists that marked an Era.

Best-Selling Artists

The Beatles - Elvis Presley - Michael Jackson - Frank Sinatra - Bing Crosby - ABBA - Julio Iglesias - Led Zepplin - Nana Mouskouri - Queen

Best-Selling Singles [Millions Sold]

White Christmas 50m- Candle in the Wind 33m- Silent Night 30m- Rock Around the Clock 25m- Diana 20m - We Are the World 20m- If I Didn't Care 19m- Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer 18m- Yes Sir, I Can Boogie 18m

Great Song Lists

You will enjoy more discographies of artists on this blog than most other blogs.

Great Artists - Great Albums

Share with your friends.

Saturday, November 13, 2021

Sweet - Discography

SWEET - Discography

In some ways, the Sweet epitomized all the tacky hubris and garish silliness of the early '70s. Fusing bubblegum melodies with crunching, fuzzy guitars, the band looked like a heavy metal band, but were as tame as any pop group. It was a dichotomy that served them well, as they racked up a number of hits in both the U.K. and the U.S. Most of those songs were written by Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman, a pair of British songwriters who had a way with silly, simple, and catchy hooks. Chinn/Chapman and Sweet were smart enough to latch on to the British glam rock fad, building a safer, radio-friendly, and teen-oriented version of Queen, T. Rex, and Gary Glitter. By the end of the '70s, the group's time at the top of the charts had expired but their hit singles lived on not only as cultural artifacts, but also as the predecessors for the pop-metal of the '80s.

Thursday, November 11, 2021

The Everly Brothers [RIP] - Discography

Sad News that Don Everly has passed away
22 August 2021


The Everly Brothers
R.I.P.

The Everly Brothers were not only among the most important and best early rock & roll stars, but also among the most influential rockers of any era. They set unmatched standards for close, two-part harmonies and infused early rock & roll with some of the best elements of country and pop music. Their legacy was and is felt enormously in all rock acts that employ harmonies as prime features, from the Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel to legions of country-rockers as well as roots rockers like Dave Edmunds and Nick Lowe (who once recorded an EP of Everlys songs together).

Don (born February 1, 1937) and Phil (born January 19, 1939) were professionals way before their teens, schooled by their accomplished guitarist father Ike, and singing with their family on radio broadcasts in Iowa. In the mid-'50s, they made a brief stab at conventional Nashville country with Columbia. When their single flopped, they were cast adrift for quite a while until they latched onto Cadence. Don invested their first single for the label, "Bye Bye Love," with a Bo Diddley beat that helped lift the song to number two in 1957.

Wednesday, November 10, 2021

The Spencer Davis Group - Discography

The Spencer Davis Group


His ferocious soul-drenched vocals belying his tender teenage years, Stevie Winwood powered the Spencer Davis Group's three biggest U.S. hits during their brief life span as one of the British Invasion's most convincing R&B-based combos.

Guitarist Davis formed the band with Winwood on organ, his brother Muff Winwood on bass, and drummer Peter York. Signing on with producer Chris Blackwell, the quartet got their first hit (the blistering "Keep on Running") from another of Blackwell's acts, West Indian performer Jackie Edwards. After topping the British charts in 1965, the song struggled on the lower reaches of the U.S. Hot 100.

Monday, November 8, 2021

ABBA - Discography

ABBA


ABBA were a Swedish pop group formed in Stockholm in 1972 by members Agnetha Fältskog, Björn Ulvaeus, Benny Andersson, and Anni-Frid Lyngstad. They became one of the most commercially successful acts in the history of popular music, topping the charts worldwide from 1974 to 1982. ABBA won the Eurovision Song Contest 1974 at The Dome in Brighton, UK, giving Sweden its first triumph in the contest, and are the most successful group ever to take part in the competition.

ABBA's record sales figure is uncertain and various estimates range from over 140 to over 500 million sold records. This makes them one of the best-selling music artists. ABBA was the first group from a non-English-speaking country to achieve consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, and on a lesser scale, the U.S. The group also enjoyed significant success in Latin American markets, and recorded a collection of their hit songs in Spanish.

During the band's active years, Fältskog & Ulvaeus and Lyngstad & Andersson were married. At the height of their popularity, both relationships were suffering strain which ultimately resulted in the collapse of the Ulvaeus–Fältskog marriage in 1979 and the Andersson–Lyngstad marriage in 1981. These relationship changes were reflected in the group's music, with later compositions featuring more introspective and dark lyrics in contrast to their usual pure-pop sound.

After ABBA disbanded in December 1982, Andersson and Ulvaeus achieved success writing music for the stage, while Lyngstad and Fältskog pursued solo careers with mixed success. ABBA's music declined in popularity until the purchase of ABBAs catalogue and record company Polar by Polygram in 1989 enabled the groundwork to be laid for an international re-issue of all their original material and a new Greatest Hits (ABBA Gold) collection in the Autumn of 1992 which became a worldwide smash. Several films, notably Muriel's Wedding (1994) and The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994), further revived public interest in the group and the spawning of several tribute bands. In 1999, ABBA's music was adapted into the successful musical Mamma Mia! that toured worldwide. A film of the same name, released in 2008, became the highest-grossing film in the United Kingdom that year.

ABBA were honoured at the 50th anniversary celebration of the Eurovision Song Contest in 2005, when their hit "Waterloo" was chosen as the best song in the competition's history. The group was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010

Wednesday, October 27, 2021

John Williamson [Australian Artist] - Discography

JOHN WILLIAMSON

John Robert Williamson AM (born 10 November 1945 in Quambatook, Victoria) is an Australian country music singer-songwriter. He has received more than twenty-three Golden Guitar Awards at the Country Music Awards of Australia and has won two ARIA Music Awards for Best Australian Country Record.

In 1970 Williamson's first song, "Old Man Emu", went to No.1 and became gold. Another one of his classics, "Mallee Boy", became triple-platinum and won him an ARIA Award.

Jay and The Americans - Discography

R.I.P.
Jay Black, Lead Singer of Jay and the Americans passed away 22 October 2021 aged 82. Jay died from complications due to pneumonia.

Jay and The Americans


Though they had a bunch of hits across the 1960s, Jay & the Americans were a throwback to a previous era in their doo wop-influenced vocals, neatly groomed, short-haired appearance, and mix of pop/rock with operatic schmaltz. Built around the neck-bulging upper-register vocals of David Blatt aka Jay Black, their biggest hits -- "She Cried," "Cara Mia" (which you could, in the second half of the 1970s, just imagine Eddie Mekka's Carmine Ragusa, aka "The Big Ragu," singing on Laverne & Shirley), "Come a Little Bit Closer," and "Let's Lock the Door (And Throw Away the Key)" -- came off as sort of hit parade versions of West Side Story. The group also relied on outside songwriters for its material, drifting into MOR covers of oldies by the end of the '60s, and was generally a sort of textbook of unhipness during a time when self-contained rock bands were becoming the norm.

Monday, October 25, 2021

Sugarloaf - Discography

SUGARLOAF 

SUGARLOAF
Best known for their 1970 AM pop classic "Green-Eyed Lady," Sugarloaf was formed in 1969 in Denver out of the ashes of the Moonrakers, which had released an album in 1968. Singer/keyboardist Jerry Corbetta and guitarist Bob Webber founded the group, adding Moonraker mates Bob MacVittie on drums and Veeder Van Dorn on rhythm guitar, plus bassist Bob Raymond. Originally dubbed Chocolate Hair, the band lost Van Dorn after just a few months when he joined Mescalero Space Kit. On the strength of their demos, the band was signed to Liberty, and changed their name to Sugarloaf, after a Colorado mountain popular with skiers (the record company was concerned about the possible racial overtones of Chocolate Hair). Sugarloaf recorded their self-titled debut album in 1970, and the single "Green-Eyed Lady" 

Friday, October 22, 2021

Albert Hammond - Discography

ALBERT HAMMOND 



Albert Hammond is one of the more successful pop/rock songwriters to come out of England during the 1960s and 1970s, and has also enjoyed a long career as a recording artist, his work popular in two languages on three continents across four decades. Hammond was born in London in 1944 -- his family actually came from the British colony on Gibraltar, but wartime considerations caused his mother to be evacuated to London, where she gave birth. He spent his childhood and youth on Gibraltar, where he became fluent in both English and Spanish -- that bilingual ability would serve him well in his later career. His family lived modestly on his father's fireman's pay, and one of his early diversions was music -- he sang in church and became head choir boy. He also became interested in popular music, sang for his own enjoyment, and also took up the guitar.

Wednesday, October 20, 2021

John Fred & His Playboy Band - Collection

John Fred & His Playboy Band

John Fred (b. John Fred Gourrier, 8 May 1941, Baton Rouge, Louisiana, USA, d. 15 April 2005, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA) was a 6 foot 5 inch, blue-eyed soul singer who originally formed John Fred And The Playboys in 1956. This unit made their first record (‘Shirley’) two years later with Fats Domino’s backing group. During the early 60s various versions of the Playboys recorded for small independent record labels such as Jewel and N-Joy, and eventually became known as John Fred And His Playboy Band. It was not until the end of 1967 that success finally came with the international hit, ‘Judy In Disguise (With Glasses)’. An amusing satire on the Beatles’ ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’, the single beat off a rival version by Amboy Dukes. Unfortunately this meant the Playboy Band were unfairly perceived as a novelty group, when in fact they were a tight, well organized and long-serving unit. Fred’s blue-eyed soul vocals were most evident on Agnes English, which included a rasping version of ‘She Shot A Hole In My Soul’. By the end of the 60s the band had split-up, with Fred going on to record with a new group and work as a producer for RCS in Baton Rouge.

Elvis Presley [RIP] - Discography

ELVIS PRESLEY

Elvis Presley
Born: January 8, 1935 - Died: August 16, 1977
R.I.P.

Elvis Presley belongs on the short list of artists who changed the course of popular music in the 20th century. He may not have invented rock & roll, but he was indisputably its first rock star, a singer whose charisma intertwined tightly with his natural talent for a combination that seemed combustible, sexy, and dangerous when Presley seized the imagination of America in 1956 with four successive number one singles in 1956. Elvis spent the next two decades near the top of the charts, weathering changes in fashion, self-inflicted career missteps, and comebacks as his music expanded and evolved. Throughout his career, Presley never abandoned the rock & roll he pioneered on his early singles for Sun Records, but he developed an effective counterpoint to his primal rockabilly by honing a rich, resonant ballad style while also delving into blues, country, and soul, progressions that came into sharp relief with his celebrated "comeback" in the late 1960s. Some musical nuances were overshadowed by Presley's phenomenal celebrity, a fame maintained by a long string of B-movies in the '60s and extravagant Las Vegas shows in the '70s, elements that were essential in creating a stardom that persisted long after his premature death in 1977. The myth of Elvis grew in his absence, aided by turning his Memphis home Graceland into a tourist attraction, which made him an enormous cultural icon only loosely tied to his rock & roll origins; fortunately, the passage of time helped clarify the depth and range of his musical achievements. He undeniably kick-started the rock & roll era, shaping the sound and attitudes of the last few decades of the 20th century in the process, but he also built a distinctive body of work that reflected the best of what American music has to offer.

Jewel Akens - Discography

Jewel Akens

Jewel Akens

Doo wop veteran Jewel Akens was born September 12, 1940, in Houston, TX. He began singing in church as a child, but was also influenced by the blues joint in his neighborhood. In the late '40s, his family moved to Los Angeles. In his teens, Akens sang with a group called the Four Dots. Introduced to Eddie Cochran's manager Jerry Capehart, the group recorded a single for Freedom Records in 1959. Later Aikens and a friend, Eddie Daniels, recorded as Akens and Daniels for Capehart's Silver and Capehart labels. Eddie Cochran played guitar on these sides as well as Akens' sides for Crest. Akens did background vocals on releases by John Ashley ("Hot Rod Gang," "High School Caesar," "2001: A Space Odyssey"). The Four Dots also recorded singles for Liberty ("Don't Wake Up the Kids," "Peace of Mind"), Bullseye, and Dot Records ("My Dear"). In 1961, Aikens and Daniels recorded an Imperial single, "Boom a Lay" b/w "Hide & Seek," as the Astro-Jets.

Jewel Akens - All The Best of


Jewel Akens - Birds & The Bees


Jewel Akens - King Of The Road


Jewel Akens - The Best of Jewel Akens



Tuesday, October 12, 2021

Tom Waits - Discography

TOM WAITS

Thomas Alan Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American musician, composer, songwriter and actor. His lyrics often focus on the underbelly of society and are delivered in his trademark deep, gravelly voice. He worked primarily in jazz during the 1970s, but his music since the 1980s has reflected greater influence from blues, rock, vaudeville, and experimental genres.

Waits was born and raised in a middle-class family in Pomona, California. Inspired by the work of Bob Dylan and the Beat Generation, he began singing on the San Diego folk music circuit as a teenager. He relocated to Los Angeles in 1972, where he worked as a songwriter before signing a recording contract with Asylum Records. His first albums were the jazz-oriented Closing Time (1973) and The Heart of Saturday Night (1974), which reflected his lyrical interest in nightlife, poverty, and criminality. He repeatedly toured the United States, Europe, and Japan, and attracted greater critical recognition and commercial success with Small Change (1976), Blue Valentine (1978), and Heartattack and Vine (1980). He produced the soundtrack for Francis Ford Coppola's film One from the Heart (1981), and subsequently made cameo appearances in several Coppola films.
 

Monday, October 11, 2021

Arlo Guthrie - Discography

 ARLO GUTHRIE

Arlo Davy Guthrie was born July 10, 1947, in the Coney Island section of the borough of Brooklyn in New York City and grew up there. He was the fifth child of Woody Guthrie, the famous folksinger and songwriter, but the second child born to his father's second wife, Marjorie Greenblatt Mazia Guthrie, a former dancer with the Martha Graham dance troupe who had become a dance teacher; his older sister, Cathy Ann Guthrie, had died in a fire at the age of four five months earlier. After having two more children, Joady and Nora, Guthrie's parents separated when he was four and later divorced; his mother remarried. His father remained an important presence in his life, however, giving him his first guitar for his sixth birthday in 1953. By then, Woody Guthrie had been diagnosed with Huntington's disease, an incurable, hereditary illness; he was hospitalized permanently in 1954, and Guthrie's mother supervised his care.

Thursday, October 7, 2021

The Walker Brothers - Discography

THE WALKER BROTHERS 

The Walker Brothers were an American pop group of the 1960s and 1970s that included Noel Scott Engel (eventually known professionally as Scott Walker), John Walker (born John Joseph Maus, but using the name Walker since his teens) and Gary Leeds (eventually known as Gary Walker). After moving to Britain in 1965, they had a number of top ten albums and singles there, including the No. 1 chart hits "Make It Easy on Yourself" and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine (Anymore)", both of which also made the US top 20 and Canadian top 2. In between the two was the lesser US hit "My Ship is Coming In", which was another major hit in Britain, where it reached No.3 in the charts. The trio split up in 1968, but reunited in the mid-to-late-1970s and scored a final top 10 UK hit with "No Regrets".

Formed in 1964, they adopted the 'Walker Brothers' name as a show business touch even though the members were all unrelated — "simply because we liked it."[1] They provided a unique counterpoint to the British Invasion by achieving much more success in the United Kingdom than in their home country, a period when the popularity of British bands such as The Beatles dominated the U.S. charts.

Tuesday, October 5, 2021

The Tokens - Discography

 THE TOKENS

This Brooklyn doo wop group was originally known as the Linc-Tones when it formed in 1955 at Lincoln High School. Hank Medress, Neil Sedaka, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolitin didn't have much impact in their early days recording for Melba. They later disbanded, but Medress re-formed the group in 1960 as the Tokens. Brothers Phil and Mitch Margo and Jay Siegel were now the members. They recorded for Warwick in 1960, then had their one glorious hit in 1962, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight." It was based on the South African Zulu song "Wimoweh," and reached number seven on the R&B chart while topping the pop surveys. The Tokens formed their own label in 1964, B.T. Puppy, but weren't able to keep the hits coming very long, although "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" remains a standard.

Sunday, October 3, 2021

The Guess Who - Discography

THE GUESS WHO 

While the Guess Who did have several hits in America, they were superstars in their home country of Canada during the 1960s and early '70s. The band grew out of vocalist/guitarist Chad Allan (born Allan Kobel) and guitarist Randy Bachman's Winnipeg-based group Chad Allan and the Expressions, originally known as first the Silvertones and then the Reflections. The remainder of the lineup featured bassist Jim Kale, pianist Bob Ashley, and drummer Garry Peterson. The Expressions recorded a cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over" in 1965, which became a surprise hit in Canada and reached the U.S. Top 40. When the Expressions recorded an entire album of the same name, its record company, Quality, listed their name as "Guess Who?" on the jacket, hoping to fool record buyers into thinking that the British Invasion-influenced music was actually by a more famous group in disguise. Ashley had been replaced by keyboardist/vocalist Burton Cummings, who became lead vocalist when Allan departed in 1966. The Guess Who embarked on an unsuccessful tour of England and returned home to record commercials and appear on the television program Let's Go, hosted by Chad Allan. However, further American success eluded the Guess Who until the 1969 Top Ten hit "These Eyes"; the recording session for the accompanying album, Wheatfield Soul, was paid for by producer Jack Richardson, who mortgaged his house to do so. Canned Wheat Packed by the Guess Who produced three Top 40 singles later that year. In 1970, the Guess Who released the cuttingly sarcastic riff-rocker "American Woman," which, given its anti-American putdowns, ironically became their only U.S. chart-topper. The album of the same name became their first U.S. Top Ten and first gold album, and the group performed for President and Mrs. Nixon and Prince Charles at the White House. (Pat Nixon requested that "American Woman" be dropped from the set list.)

Saturday, October 2, 2021

Don Gibson [RIP] - Discography

 DON GIBSON

Born: April 3, 1928 - Died: November 17, 2003
R.I.P.

Singer/songwriter Don Gibson was one of the most popular and influential forces in '50s and '60s country, scoring numerous hit singles as a performer and a songwriter. Gibson's music touched on both traditional country and highly produced country-pop, which is part of the reason he had such a broad audience. For nearly a decade after his first hit single, "Sweet Dreams," in 1956, he was a reliable hitmaker, and many of his songs have become country classics -- they have been covered by a wide range of artists, including Patsy Cline, Ray Charles, Kitty Wells, Emmylou Harris, Neil Young, and Ronnie Milsap.

He was born Donald Eugene Gibson in Shelby, NC, the youngest of five children of Solon and Mary Gibson. His father, a railroad worker, died when Gibson was just two years old, and his mother remarried in the early '40s, when Don Gibson was still a boy -- by that time, the family survived as sharecroppers, but even as a boy the youngest Gibson hated farming, and as he grew older he made the decision to get as far away from it as possible. He ceased attending school regularly after the second grade, a decision that he regretted in the years to come -- perhaps in compensation, Gibson subsequently became a voracious reader across much of his adult life. And for all of his professed desire, even at a young age, to break away from a life on the farm, he was hindered by terrible emotional insecurity. Gibson was hopelessly shy all through life, defensive about his appearance -- to the point where, as a boy or a young man, he would avoid walking into places that were too crowded -- and also about his voice, which was characterized by a very bad stutter while he was growing up.

Wednesday, September 29, 2021

Badfinger - Discography

BADFINGER 

There are few bands in the annals of rock music as star-crossed in their history as Badfinger. Pegged as one of the most promising British groups of the late '60s and the one world-class talent ever signed to the Beatles' Apple Records label that remained with the label, Badfinger enjoyed the kind of success in England and America that most other bands could only envy. Yet a string of memorable hit singles -- "Come and Get It," "No Matter What," "Day After Day," and "Baby Blue" -- saw almost no reward from that success. Instead, four years of hit singles and international tours precipitated the suicides of its two creative members and legal proceedings that left lawyers as the only ones enriched by the group's work.

Sunday, September 26, 2021

B.B. King [RIP] - Discography

B.B. KING

Born: September 16, 1925 - Died: May 14, 2015
R.I.P.

Universally hailed as the king of the blues, the legendary B.B. King was without a doubt the single most important electric guitarist of the last half of the 20th century. His bent notes and staccato picking style influenced legions of contemporary bluesmen, while his gritty and confident voice -- capable of wringing every nuance from any lyric -- provided a worthy match for his passionate playing. Between 1951 and 1985, King notched an impressive 74 entries on Billboard's R&B charts, and he was one of the few full-fledged blues artists to score a major pop hit when his 1970 smash "The Thrill Is Gone" crossed over to mainstream success (engendering memorable appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show and American Bandstand). After his hit-making days, he partnered with such musicians as Eric Clapton and U2 and managed his own acclaimed solo career, all the while maintaining his immediately recognizable style on the electric guitar.

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Gilbert O'Sullivan - Discography

GILBERT O'SULLIVAN 


Singer/songwriter Gilbert O'Sullivan successfully combined a flair for Beatlesque popcraft with an old-fashioned music hall sensibility to emerge as one of the most distinctive and popular new performers of the early 1970s. Born Raymond O'Sullivan in Waterford, Ireland on December 1, 1946, he went on to attend art school in Swindon, England, writing songs throughout his formative years and sending out demo tapes to little avail. After graduating he went to work in a London department store; one of his co-workers there was under contract with CBS, and soon O'Sullivan was signed to the label as well. Early singles like "What Can I Do?" and "Mr. Moody's Garden" were released to little attention, however, and so O'Sullivan sent his demo to impresario Gordon Mills, whose MAM label was home to superstars like Tom Jones and Engelbert Humperdinck; the gambit worked, and his first single for MAM, "Nothing Rhymed," became a Top Ten U.K. hit in late 1970.

Friday, September 24, 2021

The Springfields - Discography

THE SPRINGFIELDS

The Springfields were a British pop-folk vocal trio who had success in the early 1960s in the UK, US and Ireland. They included singer Dusty Springfield and her brother, record producer Tom Springfield, along with Tim Feild, who was replaced by Mike Hurst. 

While Dusty Springfield is best remembered for the iconic pop singles she released in the '60s and her masterful 1969 album Dusty in Memphis, she first found fame with the trio the Springfields, whose canny blend of light pop and folk earned them a handful of hits in both Great Britain and the United States. The Springfields featured Mary O'Brien and her older brother Dion O'Brien; Mary began singing while a student at St. Anne's Convent in West London, and later became a member of the vocal group the Lana Sisters. Dion, meanwhile, played with a variety of groups while a student, and after a hitch in the British military he formed a folk duo with Tim Feild. Looking to expand the group's sound, Dion invited Mary to join the group, and they adopted new stage names; Mary became Dusty Springfield, while her brother became Tom Springfield.

Dusty Springfield [RIP] - Discography

DUSTY SPRINGFIELD

Born: 16 April 1939 - Died: 2 March 1999
R.I.P.


Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE, professionally known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s.


Britain's greatest pop diva, Dusty Springfield was also the finest white soul singer of her era, a performer of remarkable emotional resonance whose body of work spans the decades and their attendant musical transformations with a consistency and purity unmatched by any of her contemporaries; though a camp icon of glamorous excess in her towering beehive hairdo and panda-eye black mascara, the sultry intimacy and heartbreaking urgency of Springfield's voice transcended image and fashion, embracing everything from lushly orchestrated pop to gritty R&B to disco with unparalleled sophistication and depth. She was born Mary O'Brien on April 16, 1939, and raised on an eclectic diet of classical music and jazz, coming to worship Peggy Lee; after completing her schooling she joined the Lana Sisters, a pop vocal trio which issued a few singles on Fontana before dissolving. In 1960, upon teaming with her brother Dion O' Brien and his friend Tim Feild in the folk trio the Springfields, O'Brien adopted the stage name Dusty Springfield; thanks to a series of hits including "Breakaway," "Bambino," and "Say I Won't Be There," the group was soon the U.K.'s best-selling act.

Wednesday, September 15, 2021

The Shadows - Discography

The Shadows - Discography



The Shadows are usually thought of as the quintessential British instrumental group and, along with the American band the Ventures and the Swedish group the Spotnicks, one of the most popular instrumental groups in the world. But that barely tells the story of their true significance in the history of British rock & roll -- including the fact that they were the first home-grown British rock & roll band to dominate the U.K. charts; or that they weren't originally an instrumental group, either. The band's roots go back to Chesthunt, Hertfordshire, in early 1958, when a young Indian-born singer/guitarist named Harry Webb joined with drummer Terry Smart and guitarist Norman Mitham to form a group that they ended up calling the Drifters -- at the time, none of the records by the American R&B group of the same name, founded by Clyde McPhatter, had been released in England, so they had no inkling of the name's already being used.

Friday, September 10, 2021

The Beatles - (1962-1980) All 50 Videos

The Beatles

Track List
1-01 (1962) "Love Me Do"
1-02 (1963) "From Me to You"
1-03 (1963) "She Loves You" 
1-04 (1963) "I Want to Hold Your Hand"
1-05 (1964) "Cant Buy Me Love"
1-06 (1964) "A Hard Days Night"
1-07 (1964) "I Feel Fine"
1-08 (1965) "Eight Days a Week"
1-09 (1965) "Ticket to Ride"
1-10 (1965) "Help!"
1-11 (1965) "Yesterday"
1-12 (1965) "Day Tripper"
1-13 (1965) "We Can Work It Out"
1-14 (1966) "Paperback Writer"
1-15 (1966) "Yellow Submarine"
1-16 (1966) "Eleanor Rigby"
1-17 (1967) "Penny Lane"
1-18 (1967) "All You Need Is Love"
1-19 (1967) "Hello, Goodbye"
1-20 (1968) "Lady Madonna"
1-21 (1968) "Hey Jude"
1-22 (1969) "Get Back"
1-23 (1969) "The Ballad of John and Yoko"
1-24 (1969) "Something"
1-25 (1969) "Come Together"
1-26 (1970) "Let It Be"
1-27 (1970) "The Long and Winding Road"
Bonus:
"Hey Jude" with Paul McCartneys commentary.

2-01 (1963) "Twist and Shout"
2-02 (1963) "Baby Its You"
2-03 (1963) "Words of Love"
2-04 (1963) "Please Please Me"
2-05 (1964) "I Feel Fine"
2-06 (1965) "Day Tripper" [Alternate v.1]
2-07 (1965) "Day Tripper" [Alternate v.2]
2-08 (1965) "We Can Work It Out" [Alternate]
2-09 (1966) "Paperback Writer" [Alternate]
2-10 (1966) "Rain" [Alternate v.1]
2-11 (1966) "Rain" [Alternate v.2]
2-12 (1967) "Strawberry Fields Forever"
2-13 (1967) "Within You Without You/Tomorrow Never Knows" 
2-14 (1967) "A Day in the Life"
2-15 (1967) "Hello, Goodbye" [Alternate v.1] 
2-16 (1967) "Hello, Goodbye" [Alternate v.2]
2-17 (1968) "Hey Bulldog"
2-18 (1968) "Hey Jude" [Alternate]
2-19 (1968) "Revolution"
2-20 (1969) "Get Back" [Alternate] 
2-21 (1969) "Dont Let Me Down"
2-22 (1977) "Free as a Bird"
2-23 (1980) "Real Love" 

 The Beatles - (1962-1980) All 50 Videos Remastered Deluxe - 2015 



Monday, September 6, 2021

Duane Eddy - Discography

DUANE EDDY DISCOGRAPHY


If Duane Eddy's instrumental hits from the late '50s can sound unduly basic and repetitive (especially when taken all at once), he was vastly influential. Perhaps the most successful instrumental rocker of his time, he may also have been the man most responsible (along with Chuck Berry) for popularizing the electric rock guitar. His distinctively low, twangy riffs could be heard on no less than 15 Top 40 hits between 1958 and 1963. He was also one of the first rock stars to successfully crack the LP market.

That low, twangy sound was devised in collaboration with producer Lee Hazlewood, an Arizona disc jockey whom Eddy had met while hanging out at a radio station as a teenager. By the late '50s, Hazlewood had branched out into production. Before Duane began recording, his principal influence had been Chet Atkins, but at Hazlewood's suggestion, he started concentrating on guitar lines at the lower end of the strings. The opening riff of his debut single, "Movin' and Groovin'," would be lifted for the Beach Boys five years later to open "Surfin' U.S.A." It was the next 45, "Rebel Rouser," that would really break up him as a national star, reaching the Top Ten in 1958. Opening with a down-and-dirty, heavily echoed guitar riff, it remains the tune with which he's most often identified.


Thursday, September 2, 2021

The Foundations - Discography

THE FOUNDATIONS 

The Foundations were a surprisingly obscure late-'60s outfit, considering that they managed to reach the tops of the both the British and American charts more than once in the space of a year and had a solid three years of recordings. At the time of their debut in mid-1967, they were hailed as being among the most authentic makers of soul music ever to emerge from England -- the best practitioners of the Motown sound to be found on the far side of the Atlantic -- and were also accepted in jazz circles as well. "Baby Now That I've Found You," "Build Me Up Buttercup," and "In the Bad, Bad Old Days" were the biggest hits for this multi-racial octet, made up of Londoners and West Indians.

The Foundations were formed in January 1967 in the basement of a local coffee bar in Bayswater, gathered together through advertisements in Melody Maker. Lead singer Clem Curtis was a former boxer from Trinidad, while lead guitarist Alan Warner had been making his living in the printing trade in London while waiting for music to pay off. Flutist/saxman Pat Burke hailed from Jamaica, tenor saxman Mike Elliott had played with Colin Hicks (brother of Tommy Steele) in his band the Cabin Boys, as well as in several jazz bands, and trombonist Eric Allan Dale was another jazz veteran. Tony Gomez (keyboards), Peter Macbeth (bass), and Tim Harris (drums) rounded out the lineup. They selected the name Foundations based on their surroundings, a rehearsal space in the basement of a building.

The group made very little headway during their first few months together, although they did manage to get an audition at the Marquee Club. It was at their regular spot at a much smaller club called the Butterfly -- where they played one legendary gig on the last night of the Stax/Volt European tour -- that led to their breakthrough. They were spotted by record dealer Barry Class, who was impressed enough with what he heard to become their manager. He arranged a meeting with Pye Records producer/songwriter Tony Macaulay, who was working with Long John Baldry

Tuesday, August 31, 2021

Paper Lace - Discography

PAPER LACE

Formed in 1969 in Nottingham, England, and made up of Michael Vaughn, Chris Morris, Carlo Santanna, Cliff Fish, and Phillip Wright, Paper Lace was one of hundreds of pop bands in England looking for the big time while slogging their way through small club gigs and brief television appearances. Their big break came in 1974 when their version of the tear-jerking bubblegum tune "Billy, Don't Be a Hero" won top honors on Opportunity Knocks, a nationwide talent-show on ITV. They rode that song all the way to the top of the U.K. charts but were aced out of any sales in the U.S. by Bo Donaldson & the Haywoods' transcendent version. Their next single,"The Night Chicago Died," did manage to hit the number one slot on the U.S. charts (number three in the U.K.) and then that was it. The group released two albums, Paper Lace and Other Bits of Material in 1974 and First Editon in 1975, and did a quick fade from the public eye.

Friday, August 27, 2021

Johnny Cash [RIP] - Discography

Johnny Cash - Discography 


Johnny Cash was one of the most imposing and influential figures in post-World War II country music. With his deep, resonant baritone and spare percussive guitar, he had a basic, distinctive sound. Cash didn't sound like Nashville, nor did he sound like honky tonk or rock & roll. He created his own subgenre, falling halfway between the blunt emotional honesty of folk, the rebelliousness of rock & roll, and the world-weariness of country. Cash's career coincided with the birth of rock & roll, and his rebellious attitude and simple, direct musical attack shared a lot of similarities with rock. However, there was a deep sense of history -- as he would later illustrate with his series of historical albums -- that kept him forever tied with country. And he was one of country music's biggest stars of the '50s and '60s, scoring well over 100 hit singles.

Cash, whose birth name was J.R. Cash, was born and raised in Arkansas, moving to Dyess when he was three. By the time he was 12 years old, he had begun writing his own songs. He was inspired by the country songs he had heard on the radio. While he was in high school, he sang on the Arkansas radio station KLCN. Cash graduated from high school in 1950, moving to Detroit to work in an auto factory for a brief while. With the outbreak of the Korean War, he enlisted in the Air Force. While he was in the Air Force, Cash bought his first guitar and taught himself to play. He began writing songs in earnest, including "Folsom Prison Blues." Cash left the Air Force in 1954, married a Texas woman named Vivian Leberto, and moved to Memphis, where he took a radio announcing course at a broadcasting school on the GI Bill. During the evenings, he played country music in a trio that also consisted of guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. The trio occasionally played for free on a local radio station, KWEM, and tried to secure gigs and an audition at Sun Records.


Thursday, August 19, 2021

Ritchie Valens [RIP] - Discography

Ritchie Valens

Born: May 13, 1941 - Died: February 3, 1959
R.I.P.

The first Hispanic rock star, Ritchie Valens will forever be known as one of the two musicians (along with the Big Bopper) who perished with Buddy Holly in 1959, when their private plane crashed in the midst of a Midwest tour. At the time, Valens had only recently established himself as one of the most promising young talents in rock & roll, just barely missing the top of the charts with "Donna," a number two hit, and pioneering a blend of rock and Latin music with the single's almost equally popular flip side, "La Bamba." Like many rock stars who died prematurely, it's difficult to assess his unrealized potential; he was only 17 at the time of his death, and had just barely begun to make records. Nevertheless, Valens' music has endured for decades.

Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes was raised in a Mexican-American household in the San Fernando Valley. He played several instruments as a child and eventually devoted most of his focus to the guitar, learning a right-hand version of the guitar despite his own left-handedness. Valens' musical influences were diverse, running the gamut from Little Richard and rockabilly to traditional Mexican genres like mariachi, and his talent on the guitar earned him a spot in a local band, the Silhouettes, when he was 16. Valens eventually became the band's frontman. While playing at a local movie theater in 1958, he was discovered by producer Bob Keane, who signed Valens to his Del-Fi label and convinced him to shorten his surname to "Valens," claiming the abbreviated version had broader appeal than "Valenzuela." Under Keane's wing, Valens entered a Los Angeles recording studio in July and emerged with "Come on Let's Go," which climbed to number 42 on the national charts.



Tuesday, August 17, 2021

Connie Francis - Discography

CONNIE FRANCIS


Connie Francis is the prototype for the female pop singer of today. At the height of her chart popularity in the late '50s and early '60s, Francis was unique as a female recording artist, amassing record sales equal to or surpassing those of many of her male contemporaries. Ultimately, she branched into other styles of music -- big band, country, ethnic, and more. She still challenges Madonna as the biggest-selling female recording artist of all time. Like Madonna, Concetta Rosemarie Franconero came from an Italian-American background. Francis started her music career at three, playing an accordion bought for her by her contractor father, George. Her father's dream was not for his daughter to become a star, but for Francis to become independent of men as an adult with her own accordion school of music. At age ten, she was accepted on Startime, a New York City television show that featured talented child singers and performers. The show had no one else who played an accordion. Its host, legendary TV talent scout Arthur Godfrey, had difficulty pronouncing her name and suggested something "easy and Irish," which turned into Francis. After three weeks on Startime, the show's producer and Francis' would-be manager advised her to dump the accordion and concentrate on singing. Francis performed weekly on Startime for four years.

Saturday, August 14, 2021

Peter Sarstedt [RIP] - Discography

PETER SARSTEDT 

Born: 10 December 1941 – Died: 8 January 2017
R.I.P.

Peter Eardley Sarstedt (10 December 1941 – 8 January 2017), briefly billed early in his career as Peter Lincoln, was a British singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter. He was the brother of musicians Eden Kane and Clive "Robin" Sarstedt.

Although his music was classified as pop, it generally encompassed ballads derived from traditional folk music rather than traditional rock and roll. He was best known for writing and performing the song "Where Do You Go To (My Lovely)?", which topped the UK Singles Chart in 1969. Set to a "faux European waltz tune" and described as "a romantic novel in song", it won an Ivor Novello Award. The record remained Sarstedt's biggest hit, despite his releasing numerous successful albums and singles from the late 1960s onward.

He continued to tour throughout the 1980s, 1990s, and 2000s, mainly in 1960s revival-type shows, until his retirement in 2010 due to ill health. 

Sunday, August 8, 2021

Clout - Discography

CLOUT

Clout was a South African million-selling all-girl group formed in 1977.
Clout’s first and biggest hit, “Substitute”, was a new arrangement of a Righteous Brothers song, composed by Willie Wilson.
In 1978, their version reached No. 1 in South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, France, the Netherlands, Sweden, Austria, Denmark and Belgium. It also reached No. 2 on the UK Singles Chart and remained in the UK charts for 15 weeks.
In 1981 the band split, after confirmed rumours that the band didn’t play any instruments on their recordings, this was all done by a male band called Circus.
After a lengthy hiatus, frontwoman Cindy Alter joined forces with local musicians to form a new band “Cindycate”, with the sole purpose of writing and recording original material.
“Cyndicate” had enormous potential but Cindy decided to take a personal break.
In 2002, Cindy was approached by an agent in South Africa who wanted to reunite Clout for a series of shows.

Sunday, August 1, 2021

Steve Miller Band - Discography

STEVE MILLER BAND 


Steve Miller's career has encompassed two distinct stages: one of the top San Francisco blues-rockers during the late '60s, and one of the top-selling pop/rock acts of the mid- to late '70s. His first recordings established his early style as a blues-rocker influenced but not overpowered by psychedelia. Then, in 1973, Miller's reinvention as a blues-influenced pop/rocker who wrote compact, melodic, catchy songs, led to platinum success for The Joker and a number one hit for its title track. Three years later, Fly Like an Eagle eclipsed its predecessor in terms of quality and sales. In the early '80s he briefly took on a new wave tinge, and even topped the charts with the synthy "Abracadabra," before returning once more to his blues-rock roots.

Miller was turned on to music by his father, who worked as a pathologist but knew stars like Charles Mingus and Les Paul, whom he brought home as guests; Paul taught the young Miller some guitar chords and let him sit in on a session. Miller formed a blues band, the Marksmen Combo, at age 12 with friend Boz Scaggs; the two teamed up again at the University of Wisconsin in a group called the Ardells, later the Fabulous Night Trains. Miller moved to Chicago in 1964 to get involved in the local blues scene, teaming with Barry Goldberg for two years.

Saturday, July 31, 2021

Buffalo Springfield - Discography

BUFFALO SPRINGFIELD 


Buffalo Springfield's time was short -- they formed in 1966 and split in 1968 -- but their legacy was vast. Some of their legend was cultivated in the ensuing decades, after founding members Richie Furay, Stephen Stills, and Neil Young went on to fame either on their own or with such groups as Poco and Manassas, but much of it rested upon "For What It's Worth," a protest song written and sung by Stills, that not only became their Top Ten breakthrough in 1967 but their enduring anthem, eventually serving as shorthand for all the political turmoil of the 1960s. So popular was "For What It's Worth," it threatened to obscure how instrumental Buffalo Springfield's original run of three albums were in reshaping the sound of rock & roll in the late '60s. Nominally a folk-rock band, Buffalo Springfield also showed a facility with country-rock, psychedelia, soul, and hard rock, all the while embracing the possibilities of the recording studios of Los Angeles. Buffalo Springfield Again, their 1967 masterwork, in particular showcased the group's expansive reach, and if that musicality didn't result in hits -- they never again cracked the Top 40 after "For What It's Worth" -- it certainly laid the groundwork for many aspects of the album rock of the 1970s.

Thursday, July 29, 2021

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich - Discography

Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich


Hook-laden tunes transformed Salisbury, Wiltshire, England-based quintet Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich into one the United Kingdom's top pop bands of the mid-'60s. Performing songs by their managers Ken Howard and Alan Blaikley, the group scored with such Top Ten U.K. hits as "Hold Tight," "Hideaway," "Bend It," "Save Me," "Okay," "Zabadak," "Last Night in Soho," and the chart-topper, "Legend of Xanadu." Formed as Dave Dee & the Bostons, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were led by vocalist Dee (born: David Harman), an ex-policeman who had been at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dee had taken Cochran's guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family. Although they were among the many British bands who honed their skills while performing in Hamburg, Germany, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich were one of the first to tour the United Kingdom with established acts. Shortly after moving to London in 1965, the group hooked up with Howard and Blaikley. With the group disbanding in 1969, Dee recorded a minor hit as a soloist before turning his attention to producing. He briefly reunited with the band in 1974 and again in the early '80s. He recorded a single, "Staying with It" b/w "Sure Thing" in 1983.


Tuesday, July 27, 2021

Small Faces - Discography

Small Faces


Small Faces were the best English band never to hit it big in America. Outside Europe, all anybody remembers them for is their sole hit, "Itchycoo Park," which was hardly representative of their psychedelic sound, much less their full musical range -- but in England, Small Faces were one of the most extraordinary and successful bands of the mid-'60s, serious competitors to the Who and potential rivals to the Rolling Stones.

Lead singer/guitarist Steve Marriott's formal background was on the stage; as a young teenager, he'd auditioned for and won the part of the Artful Dodger in the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! Marriott was earning his living at a music shop when he made the acquaintance of Ronnie Lane (bass, backing vocals), who had formed a band called the Pioneers, which included drummer Kenney Jones. Lane invited Marriott to jam with his band at a show they were playing at a local club -- the gig was a disaster, but out of that show the group members decided to turn their talents toward American R&B. The band -- with Marriott now installed permanently and Jimmy Winston recruited on organ -- cast its lot with a faction of British youth known as the mods, stylish posers (and arch enemies of the leather-clad rockers, sometimes with incredibly violent results) who, among their other attributes, affected a dandified look and a fanatical embrace of American R&B. The quartet, now christened Small Faces ("face" being a piece of mod slang for a fashion leader), began making a name for themselves on-stage, sparked by their no holds barred performance style. Marriott had a uniquely powerful voice and was also a very aggressive lead guitarist, and the others were able to match him, especially Jones, who was a truly distinctive drummer.

Monday, July 26, 2021

Lou Rawls [RIP] - Discography

LOU RAWLS 


Born: December 1, 1933 - Died:January 6, 2006
R.I.P.

From gospel and early R&B to soul and jazz to blues and straight-up pop, Lou Rawls was a consummate master of vocal music whose versatility helped him adapt to the changing musical times over and over again while always remaining unmistakably himself. Blessed with a four-octave vocal range, Rawls' smooth, classy elegance -- sort of a cross between Sam Cooke and Nat King Cole -- permeated nearly everything he sang, yet the fire of his early gospel days was never too far from the surface. He made his name as a crooner, first by singing jazz standards, then by moving on to soul in the mid-'60s, capped off by the most commercial phase of his career: a productive stint at Philadelphia International during the latter half of the '70s. Even after his days as a chart presence were over, Rawls remained a highly visible figure on the American cultural landscape, pursuing an acting and voice-over career in addition to his continued concert appearances, and doing extensive charity work on behalf of the United Negro College Fund.

Louis Allen Rawls was born in Chicago on December 1, 1933 and was raised on the city's south side by his grandmother. He sang in the choir at his Baptist church starting at age seven, and became interested in popular music as a teenager by attending shows at the Regal Theatre, with genre-crossing singers like Joe Williams, Arthur Prysock, and Billy Eckstine ranking as his particular favorites. Rawls also tried his hand at harmony-group singing with schoolmate Sam Cooke, together in a gospel outfit called the Teenage Kings of Harmony. Rawls moved on to sing with the Holy Wonders, and in 1951 replaced Cooke in the Highway Q.C.s. In 1953, when Specialty recording artists the Chosen Gospel Singers swung through Chicago on tour, they recruited Rawls as a new member; he made his recording debut on a pair of sessions in early 1954. He later joined the Pilgrim Travelers, but quit in 1956 to enlist in the Army as a paratrooper; upon his discharge in 1958, he returned to the Travelers and embarked on a tour with Cooke. It nearly cost Rawls his life -- during the Southern leg of their tour, the car Rawls and Cooke were riding in crashed into a truck. Cooke escaped with minor injuries, but another passenger was killed, and Rawls was actually pronounced dead on the way to the hospital; as it turned out, he spent five and a half days in a coma, did not regain his full memory for another three months, and took an entire year to recuperate.

Tuesday, July 20, 2021

Lana Cantrell [Australian Artist] - Discography

LANA CANTRELL 

A 1960s and '70s pop singer fluent in Broadway standards as well as AM pop hits, Lana Cantrell was born in Sydney, Australia. She was exposed to music at an early age, since her father was a jazz musician. Cantrell made her singing debut at the age of ten, and by her teens she had become a well-known TV personality in Australia. At 19 she traveled to the United States to do everything "humanly possible," which meant trying her hand in film and on-stage.

Cantrell moved to the United States in the early '60s, but her career began slowly in America. Finally, her personal vocal style began to shine through. She began performing on the nightclub and television circuit, and made a name for herself in the recording industry with a series of albums for RCA Victor during the late '60s.

Besides being a singer, Cantrell also spent time as an athlete. She was once the table-tennis champion of New South Wales, and her other interests have included yoga.

Sunday, July 18, 2021

Brotherhood Of Man - Discography

Brotherhood Of Man

The Brotherhood of Man ranks among the United Kingdom's most successful pop groups of all time, their long career spreading across two very separate incarnations of the band, together with a string of highly infectious hit singles that carried the group through much of their first decade together, and success at the 1976 Eurovision Song Contest. The original Brotherhood of Man was formed by record producer and songwriter Tony Hiller in 1969, specifically to record a song he had recently written with vocalist John Goodison, titled "Love One Another." The original lineup comprised Goodison, fellow songwriter Roger Greenaway (better known as the songwriting partner of Roger Cook), and session vocalists Tony Burrows, Sue Glover and Sunny Leslie, the latter were already established as the duo Sue & Sunny.

Saturday, July 17, 2021

Barry McGuire - Discography

BARRY McGUIRE 

Along with Bob Dylan's emergence came countless other folk-based "protest singers" in the early to mid-'60s, including Barry McGuire. Born in Oklahoma City during 1935, McGuire had relocated to New York City and joined up with folk revivalists the New Christy Minstrels by the early '60s. He was anointed the band's lead singer and appeared on several albums and their first hit single, "Green, Green" (which was co-penned by McGuire). Soon after, however, McGuire caught the attention of both record producer Lou Adler and singer/songwriter P.F. Sloan, resulting in the guitarist/singer leaving the New Christy Minstrels and launching a solo career, signing on with Adler's Dunhill Records. McGuire's solo debut, The Barry McGuire Album, was released in 1963, but it wasn't until two years later that McGuire scored a massive hit with the Sloan-penned track "Eve of Destruction," which topped the U.S. charts (peaking at number three in the U.K.) and was taken from his sophomore full-length, Barry McGuire Featuring Eve of Destruction. McGuire became good friends with another Adler-guided outfit, the Mamas & the Papas (who mentioned him in some of their song lyrics), while further solo albums were issued, including This Precious Time and The World's Last Private Citizen, but none spawned any singles as successful as "Eve." By the early '70s, McGuire had turned his back on folk music and he re-appeared as a Christian/gospel artist, signing on with the Myrrh label and issuing such standout albums as 1973's Seeds, 1975's Lighten Up, and a live recording, 1982's To the Bride, among countless others. McGuire put his music career on hold and moved to New Zealand in the mid-'80s with his wife, where they remained until 1990, working with the poverty organization World Vision. Upon his return, McGuire began issuing albums once more, including such titles as El Dorado, Let's Tend God's Earth, Adventures on Son Mountain, and Journey to Bible Times, before teaming up with another gospel singer/guitarist, Terry Talbot, to form an outfit called Talbot McGuire.

Monday, July 12, 2021

Lena Martell - Discography

 LENA MARTELL

Lena Martell (born Helen Thomson; 15 May 1940, Possilpark, Glasgow) is a British singer, with a long career in theatre, television and musicals. She has recorded thirty albums which include the number one UK single with "One Day at a Time" in 1979.[1]

She began singing at the age of 11 with her eldest brother's band. She became a singer for the Jimmie McGregor Band at the Barrowland Ballroom, Glasgow. After his untimely death, she decided to pursue a career in music as a tribute.[2] She released a number of standards in the 1970s on the Pye record label, drew crowds at cabarets and concert halls and became a major recording star with silver, gold and platinum awards. Her cover of the song "One Day at a Time", written by Marijohn Wilkin and Kris Kristofferson, reached the top of the UK Singles Chart for three weeks in November 1979.[1] She placed six albums in the UK Albums Chart between 1974 and 1980, including four that reached the Top 20.[3]

In the 1970 and 1980s her Saturday Night TV shows for BBC Television ran over a period of ten years, with evening audiences of over 12 million. Moving to the US she sang in New York and Las Vegas with Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Jr. and others and toured the world performing in concert halls. She has starred in musicals in Broadway, first when deputising for Barbra Streisand, and headlining in London`s West End theatres. Her successes at London Palladium equalled the box office of Shirley MacLaine and Bette Midler.

Sunday, July 11, 2021

Cilla Black [RIP] - Discography

Cilla Black

Born: May 27, 1943 - Died: August 1, 2015
R.I.P.
Who was the second biggest-selling music star to come out of Liverpool after the Beatles? It wasn't Gerry & the Pacemakers or Billy J. Kramer & the Dakotas, nor was it the Searchers. It was Cilla Black, a onetime coat-check girl from the Cavern Club who was still learning to sing with confidence, forget developing a technique, just about the time that the Beatles were cutting their first EMI record.

Cilla Black holds a unique position in the history of pop music, and the British Invasion. As Brian Epstein's discovery and protégée, she was the first and only important female performer to emerge from Liverpool in the heyday of the British beat boom. In conjunction with Epstein's management and George Martin's production skills, she became a formidable ballad singer, her hits lasting longer than any Epstein clients other than the Beatles. And she became one of the most beloved pop/rock performers in England during the late '60s and '70s, and one of the country's most popular television stars.

Friday, July 2, 2021

Larry Finnegan [RIP] - Discography

LARRY FINNEGAN 


Born: August 10, 1938 - Died: July 22, 1973
R.I.P.
Finnegan nearly reached the Top 10 in 1962 with a single called ‘Dear One’, but never had another hit. Having studied several instruments in his youth, Finnegan and his brother Vinnie co-wrote the song that would put him on the charts in 1961. He recorded a demo of the song on his own and took it to Hy Weiss of Old Town Records, who then signed him. The up-tempo country song ultimately reached number 11 in early 1962, but follow-up attempts failed, and in 1966 Finnegan moved to Sweden, where he started his own record label, Svensk-American. He then moved on to Switzerland and came back to the USA in 1970, where he died of a brain tumour in 1973.