Autoamerican
''Autoamerican'' is the fifth studio album by American rock band Blondie. It was released in November 1980 and reached in the UK charts, in the US, and in Australia. Background The album was a radical departure for the band, with the opening track "Europa" setting the pace. The track is a dramatic instrumental overture featuring orchestral arrangements and ending with vocalist Debbie Harry declaiming a passage about automobile culture over an electronic soundtrack. Besides rock and pop tracks, the band explored a wide range of other musical genres: "Here's Looking at You" and "Faces" show jazz and blues influences, "The Tide Is High" was a cover of the Paragons' 1967 Jamaican ska song, whereas " Rapture" combined funk, rock, jazz, and even saw them embracing the then-emerging genre of rap. The closing track, "Follow Me", was a cover of a torch song from Alan Jay Lerner and Frederick Loewe's 1960 Broadway musical ''Camelot''. Producer Mike Chapman insisted the band record ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Tide Is High
"The Tide Is High" is a 1967 rocksteady song written by John Holt, originally produced by Duke Reid and performed by the Jamaican group the Paragons, with Holt as lead singer. The song gained international attention in 1980, when a cover version by the American band Blondie became a US and UK number one hit. The song topped the UK Singles Chart again in 2002 with a version by the British girl group Atomic Kitten, while Canadian rapper Kardinal Offishall had a minor hit with his interpretation in 2008. The Paragons version "The Tide Is High" was written by John Holt and originally recorded by the Paragons (the rocksteady vocal trio of which he was a member), and accompanied by Tommy McCook and the Supersonic Band. It was produced by Duke Reid and released as a 7-inch single on Reid's Treasure Isle and Trojan labels and as the B-side of the single "Only a Smile". The song features the violin of "White Rum" Raymond, and was popular in Jamaica as well as in the UK when a deejay ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American Rock music, rock band co-founded by singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the American New wave music, new wave scene of the mid-1970s in New York. Their first two albums contained strong elements of Punk rock, punk and new wave, and although highly successful in the UK and Australia, Blondie was regarded as an underground music, underground band in the U.S. until the release of ''Parallel Lines'' in 1978. Over the next five years, the band achieved several hit singles including "Heart of Glass (song), Heart of Glass," "Call Me (Blondie song), Call Me," "Atomic (song), Atomic," "The Tide Is High," and "Rapture (Blondie song), Rapture". The band became noted for its eclectic mix of musical styles, also incorporating elements of disco, pop music, pop, reggae, and early hip hop music, rap music. Blondie disbanded after the release of its sixth studio album, ''The Hunter (Blondie album), The Hunter'', in 1982. Debbie Harry con ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rapture (Blondie Song)
"Rapture" is a song by American rock band Blondie from their fifth studio album ''Autoamerican'' (1980). Written by band members Debbie Harry and Chris Stein, and produced by Mike Chapman, the song was released as the second and final single from ''Autoamerican'' on January 12, 1981, by Chrysalis Records. Musically, "Rapture" is a combination of new wave, disco and hip hop with a rap section forming an extended coda. "Rapture" was another commercial success for the band, shipping one million copies in the United States, where it was certified Gold by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and spent two weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, their fourth and last single to reach the top ten. It was the first number-one single in the United States to feature rap vocals. The single also peaked at number three in Canada, and number five in Australia and the United Kingdom. Background Singer Debbie Harry and guitarist Chris Stein were friends with Brookl ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eat To The Beat
''Eat to the Beat'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on September 28, 1979, by Chrysalis Records. The album was certified Platinum in the United States, where it spent a year on the ''Billboard'' 200. Peaking at , it was one of ''Billboard''s top 10 albums of 1980. It also reached on the UK Albums Chart in October 1979 and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Musical style The primarily pop album includes a diverse range of styles in the songs: rock, disco, new wave, punk, reggae, and funk, as well as a lullaby. " Atomic" and " The Hardest Part" fused disco with rock. Blondie's first two albums were new wave productions, followed by ''Parallel Lines'' which dropped the new wave material, exchanging it entirely for rock-inflected pop. ''Eat to the Beat'' continued in this pop direction. History Three singles were released in the UK from this album (" Dreaming", "Union City Blue" and " Atomic"). " The Hardes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Hunter (Blondie Album)
''The Hunter'' is the sixth studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on May 24, 1982, by Chrysalis Records. It was Blondie's last album of new material until 1999's It was recorded in December 1981. Background ''The Hunter'', as stated in the press release, is loosely a concept album based on the theme of "searching, hunting, or pursuing one's own Mt. Everest." Tracks on the album include Jimmy Destri's Motown pastiche "Danceway", while "Dragonfly" has a science-fiction theme to its lyrics about a race in space. "The Beast" deals with lead singer Debbie Harry's experiences of becoming a public figure: "I am the centre of attraction, by staying off the streets". "English Boys" is Harry and Chris Stein's melancholy tribute to "those English boys who had long hair", the Beatles, recorded the year after John Lennon's assassination in New York City, describing the innocence and idealism of the 1960s. " War Child" references military conflicts in Cambodia and the Middle E ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted as an infant and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. After attending college, she worked various jobs—as a dancer, a Playboy Bunny and a secretary (including at the BBC in New York)—before her breakthrough in the music industry. Harry co-formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City. The band released its eponymous debut album in 1976, and released a further three albums between then and 1979, including ''Parallel Lines'', which spawned six singles, including " Heart of Glass". Their fifth album, ''Autoamerican'' (1980), afforded Harry and the band further attention, spawning such hits as a cover of "The Tide Is High", and " Rapture", the latter of which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Mike Chapman
Michael Donald Chapman (born 13 April 1947) is an Australian-American record producer and songwriter who was a major force in the British pop music industry in the 1970s. He created a string of hit singles for artists including The Sweet, Suzi Quatro, Smokie, Mud and Racey with business partner Nicky Chinn, creating a sound that became identified with the "Chinnichap" brand. He later produced breakthrough albums for Blondie and The Knack. Chapman received a Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in the 2014 Australia Day Honours. Early career Chapman was born in Queensland, Australia, and was educated at the Anglican Church Grammar School. He emigrated to Britain where he became a member of the Downliners Sect and then in 1968 joined the group Tangerine Peel. They released an album in 1969 and had several near-hit singles between 1967 and 1970. In 1970 he met Nicky Chinn while working as a waiter at a London nightclub, Tramp. The pair struck up a song-writing partnership, and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Clem Burke
Clement Burke (born Clement Anthony Bozewski; November 24, 1954) is an American musician who is best known as the drummer for the band Blondie from 1975, shortly after the band formed, throughout the band's entire career. He also played drums for the Ramones for a brief time in 1987, and performed under the name Elvis Ramone. Life and career Burke's early experiences behind the drum kit began in the late 1960s and early 1970s as one of the founding members of Bayonne's premier cover bands, Total Environment and Sweet Willie Jam Band. Burke also gained percussion knowledge from his stint as a drummer in the famed Saint Andrew Bridgmen Drum and Bugle Corps in Bayonne. Recruited by Debbie Harry and Chris Stein when Blondie was first forming in 1974, Burke joined Blondie in early 1975. He was a key figure in keeping the group together after Stein and Harry considered disbanding, following the departure of original bassist Fred Smith to Television and he recruited his friend Gary ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Camelot (musical)
''Camelot'' is a 1960 musical by Alan Jay Lerner (book and lyrics) and Frederick Loewe (music). It is based on the King Arthur legend as adapted from T. H. White's 1958 novel ''The Once and Future King''. The original production, directed by Moss Hart with orchestrations by Robert Russell Bennett and Philip J. Lang, ran on Broadway for 873 performances, winning four Tony Awards. It starred Richard Burton as Arthur, Julie Andrews as Guinevere, and Robert Goulet as Lancelot. It spawned several revivals, foreign productions, and the 1967 Warner Bros. film ''Camelot''. The musical has become associated with the Kennedy Administration, which is sometimes called the "Camelot Era," due to an interview with Jackie Kennedy in which she compared her husband's presidency to King Arthur's reign, specifically mentioning his fondness for the musical and particularly the closing lyrics which end the song "Camelot" and also form the ending of the musical itself. Background In 1959, ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Alan Jay Lerner
Alan Jay Lerner (August 31, 1918 – June 14, 1986) was an American lyricist and librettist. In collaboration with Frederick Loewe, and later Burton Lane, he created some of the world's most popular and enduring works of musical theatre both for the stage and on film. He won three Tony Awards and three Academy Awards, among other honors. Early life and education Born in New York City, he was the son of Edith Adelson Lerner and Joseph Jay Lerner, whose brother, Samuel Alexander Lerner, was founder and owner of the Lerner Stores, a chain of dress shops. One of Lerner's cousins was the radio comedian and television game show panelist Henry Morgan (comedian), Henry Morgan. Lerner was educated at Bedales School in England, Choate Rosemary Hall, The Choate School (now Choate Rosemary Hall) in Wallingford, Connecticut, (where he wrote "The Choate Marching Song") and Harvard University, Harvard. He attended both Camp Androscoggin and Camp Greylock. At both Choate and Harvard, Lerner ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Frederick Loewe
Frederick Loewe (, originally German Friedrich (Fritz) Löwe ; June 10, 1901 – February 14, 1988) was an Austrian-United States, American composer. He collaborated with lyricist Alan Jay Lerner on a series of Broadway musicals, including ''Brigadoon'', ''Paint Your Wagon (musical), Paint Your Wagon'', ''My Fair Lady'', and ''Camelot (musical), Camelot'', all of which were made into films, as well as the original film musical ''Gigi (1958 film), Gigi'' (1958), which was first Gigi (musical), transferred to the stage in 1973. Biography Loewe was born in Berlin (Charlottenburg), Germany, to Vienna, Viennese parents Edmund and Rosa Loewe. His father was a noted Jewish operetta star who performed throughout Europe and in North America, North and South America; he starred as Count Danilo in the 1906 Berlin production of ''The Merry Widow''. Loewe grew up in Berlin and attended a Prussian cadet school from the age of five until he was thirteen. At an early age Loewe learned to play ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Broadway Theatre
Broadway theatre,Although ''theater'' is generally the spelling for this common noun in the United States (see American and British English spelling differences), 130 of the 144 extant and extinct Broadway venues use (used) the spelling ''Theatre'' as the proper noun in their names (12 others used neither), with many performers and trade groups for live dramatic presentations also using the spelling ''theatre''. or Broadway, are the theatrical performances presented in the 41 professional theatres, each with 500 or more seats, located in the Theater District and the Lincoln Center along Broadway, in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. Broadway and London's West End together represent the highest commercial level of live theater in the English-speaking world. While the thoroughfare is eponymous with the district and its collection of 41 theaters, and it is also closely identified with Times Square, only three of the theaters are located on Broadway itself (namely the Broadwa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |