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Alan Braden
Robert Alan Braden (5 February 1927 – 6 April 2021) was an English composer and musical director who composed the theme tunes for several British sitcoms and light entertainment shows of the 1970s and 1980s. Early life Braden was born Robert Alan Braden in Manchester. Together with his elder brother, Edwin Braden, he started performing on the stage as young as 5 years old and became a member of his brother's "Edwin Braden (Later Eddy and the HornBlowers) and the Royal Sequence Dance Band", playing in it until Edwin was drafted into the Army at the outset of war as a reservist Sgt. in the R. Engineers and served in Norway and through the Italy campaign. Wartime At the outbreak of war, Braden was only 13 years old but with his father, a railway signalman supervisor (a reserved profession), and his brother of fighting age, he found himself and his mother mostly alone. Already a very accomplished musician, he now found himself much in demand and spent many evenings playing gi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Manchester
Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The two cities and the surrounding towns form one of the United Kingdom's most populous conurbations, the Greater Manchester Built-up Area, which has a population of 2.87 million. The history of Manchester began with the civilian settlement associated with the Roman fort ('' castra'') of ''Mamucium'' or ''Mancunium'', established in about AD 79 on a sandstone bluff near the confluence of the rivers Medlock and Irwell. Historically part of Lancashire, areas of Cheshire south of the River Mersey were incorporated into Manchester in the 20th century, including Wythenshawe in 1931. Throughout the Middle Ages Manchester remained a manorial township, but began to expand "at an astonishing rate" around the turn of the 19th century. Manchest ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Name That Tune (UK Game Show)
''Name That Tune'' is a British television game show that put two contestants against each other to test their knowledge of songs. Originating from the United States on NBC Radio in 1952, the show first aired on the ITV network in 1976. Tom O'Connor was the first presenter before Lionel Blair took over in 1984. History The British version began in 1956. Marion Ryan was the singer in the popular musical quiz '' Spot the Tune'' on Granada Television for seven years, with a total of 209 half-hour programmes. Several stars hosted it, including disc-jockey Pete Murray, Canadian pop singer Jackie Rae, and comedians Ken Platt and Ted Ray. The big band in support was that of Peter Knight and his Orchestra. The contestants had to guess the title of a song after hearing only a small sample. The winner of the most cash must try to name as many £5 tunes as possible within 40 seconds. The show also featured a jackpot tune which reached at least £600 on one occasion. It was later rev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Armstrong
Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4, 1901 – July 6, 1971), nicknamed "Satchmo", "Satch", and "Pops", was an American trumpeter and vocalist. He was among the most influential figures in jazz. His career spanned five decades and several eras in the history of jazz. Armstrong was born and raised in New Orleans. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an inventive trumpet and cornet player, Armstrong was a foundational influence in jazz, shifting the focus of the music from collective improvisation to solo performance. Around 1922, he followed his mentor, Joe "King" Oliver, to Chicago to play in the . In Chicago, he spent time with other popular jazz musicians, reconnecting with his friend Bix Beiderbecke and spending time with Hoagy Carmichael and Lil Hardin. He earned a reputation at "cutting contests", and his fame reached band leader Fletcher Henderson. Henderson persuaded Armstrong to come to New York City, where he became a featured and musically influential band soloist ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peggy Lee
Norma Deloris Egstrom (May 26, 1920 – January 21, 2002), known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress, over a career spanning seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music," Lee recorded over 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs. Early life Lee was born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota, United States, on May 26, 1920, the seventh of the eight children of Selma Emele (née Anderson) Egstrom and Marvin Olaf Egstrom, a station agent for the Midland Continental Railroad. Her family were Lutherans. Her father was Swedish-American and her mother was Norwegian-American. After her mother died when Lee was four, her father married Minnie Schaumberg Wiese. Lee an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Danny La Rue
Danny La Rue, (born Daniel Patrick Carroll, 26 July 1927 – 31 May 2009) was an Irish singer and entertainer, best known for his on-stage drag queen, drag persona. He performed in drag and also as himself in theatrical productions, television shows and film. Early life Born Daniel Patrick Carroll in Cork (city), Cork City, Ireland, in 1927, La Rue was the youngest of five siblings. The family moved to England when he was six and he was brought up at Earnshaw Street in Covent Garden, central London. When the family home was destroyed during the Blitz, his mother, a seamstress, moved her children to Kennford, a Devon village where young Daniel developed an interest in dramatics. "There weren't enough girls so I got the pick of the roles ... My Juliet was very convincing", La Rue recalled. He served in the Royal Navy as a young man following in his father's footsteps, and for a time worked delivering groceries. He became known as a drag queen, female impersonator, or "comic in a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Hudd
Roy Hudd, OBE (16 May 1936 – 15 March 2020) was an English comedian, actor, presenter, radio host, author and authority on the history of music hall entertainment. Early life Hudd was born in Croydon on 16 May 1936 to Evalina "Evie" (née Barham) and Harry Hudd. His father was a carpenter who left the family shortly after the Second World War, and his mother, who had a history of mental health problems, commited suicide by gas when Hudd was 9 years old. Hudd was primarily brought up by his grandmother, and attended Tavistock Secondary Modern School in Croydon and Croydon Secondary Technical School. After completing his national service in the Royal Air Force, he studied commercial art at the Regent Street Polytechnic. He then worked as a messenger for an advertising agency, a window dresser and a commercial artist working under Harry Beck. He made his professional debut as a comedian at the Streatham Hill Theatre on 27 October 1957, in a show in aid of the Sir Philip Game#M ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cilla Black
Priscilla Maria Veronica White (27 May 1943 – 1 August 2015), better known as Cilla Black, was an English singer, actress and television presenter. Championed by her friends the Beatles, Black began her career as a singer in 1963. Her singles " Anyone Who Had a Heart" and "You're My World" both reached number one in the UK in 1964. She had 11 top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart between then and 1971, and an additional eight hits that made the top 40. In May 2010, new research published by BBC Radio 2 showed that her version of "Anyone Who Had a Heart" was the UK's biggest-selling single by a female artist in the 1960s. "You're My World" was also a modest hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 26 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Along with a successful recording career in the 1960s and early 1970s, Black hosted her own BBC variety show, '' Cilla'' (1968–1976). After a brief time as a comedy actress, she became a prominent television presenter in the 1980s and 1990s, hosting hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lionel Blair
Lionel Blair (born Henry Lionel Ogus; 12 December 1928 – 4 November 2021) was a Canadian-born British actor, choreographer, tap dancer, and television presenter. From the late 1960s until the early 1980s, he made regular appearances as a dancer and entertainer on British television. He also presented the quiz programme ''Name That Tune'', and was a team captain on the televised charades gameshow ''Give Us a Clue''. Early life Henry Lionel Ogus was born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. He was born to Jewish parents, Myer Ogus and Debora "Della" Greenbaum. His father, a barber, emigrated from Russia to Canada to start a new life, and his wife joined him shortly afterwards. Blair came to Britain when he was two years old, and the family settled at Stamford Hill in north London, where his father continued to work as a barber. Although his parents were Jewish they were not orthodox; they would eat chicken on a Friday night, but also ate bacon. Due to the anti-semitism of the time, h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom O'Connor (comedian)
Thomas Patrick O'Connor (31 October 1939 – 18 July 2021) was a British comedian, television presenter, and actor. Originally a comedian in working men's clubs, he progressed to hosting TV game shows such as '' Crosswits'', ''The Zodiac Game'', ''Name That Tune'', ''Password'' and ''Gambit''. Early life O'Connor was born in Bootle, and attended St Mary's College, Crosby, and Saint Mary's College, Twickenham. He became a mathematics and music teacher at the St Joan of Arc School, Bootle, and was also assistant headmaster. After work he appeared as a comedian in working men's clubs. Television career His television break came when he appeared on '' The Comedians''. During the 1970s and 1980s, he was one of the most popular faces on British TV. He was a subject of the television programme '' This Is Your Life'' in 1977 when he was surprised by Eamonn Andrews. He continued to host many shows including ''Name that Tune'', ''Wednesday at 8'', ''The Tom O'Connor Show'', ''Gambi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tom Jones (singer)
Sir Thomas Jones Woodward (born 7 June 1940), known professionally as Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer. His career began with a string of top-ten hits in the mid-1960s. He has toured regularly, with appearances in Las Vegas (1967–2011). Jones's voice has been described by AllMusic as a "full-throated, robust baritone". His performing range has included pop, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, soul and gospel. In 2008, the ''New York Times'' called Jones a musical "shape shifter", who could "slide from soulful rasp to pop croon, with a voice as husky as it was pretty". Jones has sold over 100 million records, with 36 Top 40 hits in the UK and 19 in the US, including "It's Not Unusual", "What's New Pussycat?", the theme song for the 1965 James Bond film '' Thunderball'', "Green, Green Grass of Home", "Delilah", "She's a Lady", "Kiss" and " Sex Bomb". Jones has also occasionally dabbled in acting, first making his acting debut playing the lead role in the 1979 television film ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Petula Clark
Petula Sally Olwen Clark, CBE (born 15 November 1932) is an English singer, actress, and composer. She has one of the longest serving careers of a British singer, spanning more than seven decades. Clark's professional career began during the Second World War as a child entertainer on BBC Radio. In 1954 she charted with "The Little Shoemaker", the first of her big UK hits, and within two years she began recording in French. Her international successes have included " ''Prends mon coeur''", "Sailor" (a UK number one), "Romeo", and " Chariot". Hits in German, Italian and Spanish followed. In late 1964 Clark's success extended to the United States with a four-year run of career-defining, often upbeat singles, many written or co-written by Tony Hatch and Jackie Trent. These songs include her signature song " Downtown", "I Know a Place", " My Love", " A Sign of the Times", " I Couldn't Live Without Your Love", "Who Am I", " Colour My World", " This Is My Song" (by Charles Chaplin), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elton John
Sir Elton Hercules John (born Reginald Kenneth Dwight; 25 March 1947) is a British singer, pianist and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Rocket Man" after his 1972 hit single of the same name, John has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released 31 albums since 1969. Collaborating with lyricist Bernie Taupin since 1967, John is acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his work during the 1970s, and his lasting impact on the music industry. John's music and showmanship have had a significant impact on popular music. His songwriting partnership with Taupin is one of the most successful in history. John was raised in the Pinner suburb of London and learned to play piano at an early age, forming the blues band Bluesology in 1962. After leaving Bluesology in 1967 to embark on a solo career, John met Taupin after they both answered an advert for songwriters. For two years, they wrote songs for other artists, and John worked a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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