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Alan A. Freeman
Alan Albert Freeman, known professionally as Alan A. Freeman (27 September 1920 – 15 March 1985)General Register Office; United Kingdom; Volume: ''15''; Page: ''284''. ''England & Wales, Civil Registration Death Index, 1916-2007'' [database on-line]. was an United Kingdom, English record producer, remembered for being Petula Clark's producer from 1949 until 1963, when his role was taken over by Tony Hatch. Freeman founded the independent Polygon Records, Polygon label and worked for its successor labels, Pye Nixa and Pye Records, Pye. He also produced number 1 hits by Lonnie Donegan. Career Freeman was born in St. John's Wood, north west London, in September 1920, to Aileen Freeman (née Marks) and her husband Leslie. By his late teens, Alan was working as a clerk for a music publisher. His ambition had always been to have a record label and make his own records with it. In 1949, he was working for the Kassner Music, Ed Kassner music publishing company as a song plugger, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
General Register Office
General Register Office or General Registry Office (GRO) is the name given to the civil registry in the United Kingdom, many other Commonwealth nations and Ireland. The GRO is the government agency responsible for the recording of vital records such as births, deaths, and marriages (or BDM), which may also include adoptions, stillbirths, civil unions, etc., and historically, sometimes included records relating to deeds and other property transactions. The director of a General Register Office is often titled Registrar General or Registrar-General. By country Australia The Australian states and territories have similar registries for birth, death and marriage, although their histories differ. These agencies are usually subordinate to the state Attorney-General Department or Department of Justice. The Australian Bureau of Statistics is responsible for collating the statistics based on these records. ACT: Until 1930, records were registered in the New South Wales Registry of B ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Columbia Graphophone Company
Columbia Graphophone Co. Ltd. was one of the earliest phonograph, gramophone companies in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1917 as an offshoot of the American Columbia Records, Columbia Phonograph Company, it became an independent British-owned company in 1922 in a management buy-out after the parent company went into receivership. In 1925 it acquired a controlling interest in its American parent company to take advantage of a new electrical recording process. The British firm also controlled the US operations from 1925 until 1931. That year Columbia Graphophone in the UK merged with the Gramophone Company (which sold records under the HMV label) to form EMI. At the same time, Columbia divested itself of its American branch, which was eventually absorbed by Columbia Broadcasting System (CBS) in 1938. As Columbia Records, it became a successful British label in the 1950s and 1960s, and was eventually replaced by the newly created EMI Records, as part of a label consolidation. Thi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tony Hancock
Anthony John Hancock (12 May 1924 – 25 June 1968) was an English comedian and actor. High-profile during the 1950s and early 1960s, he had a major success with his BBC series ''Hancock's Half Hour'', first broadcast on radio from 1954, then on television from 1956, in which he soon formed a strong professional and personal bond with comic actor Sid James. Although Hancock's decision to cease working with James, when it became known in early 1960, disappointed many at the time, his last BBC series in 1961 contains some of his best-remembered work (including " The Blood Donor" and "The Radio Ham"). After breaking with his scriptwriters Ray Galton and Alan Simpson later that year, his career declined. Early life and career Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham (then in Warwickshire), but, from the age of three, he was brought up in Bournemouth (then in Hampshire), where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in Holdenhurst Road, worked as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Marlene Dietrich
Marie Magdalene "Marlene" DietrichBorn as Maria Magdalena, not Marie Magdalene, according to Dietrich's biography by her daughter, Maria Riva ; however Dietrich's biography by Charlotte Chandler cites "Marie Magdalene" as her birth name . (, ; 27 December 1901 – 6 May 1992) was a German and American actress and singer whose career spanned from the 1910s to the 1980s. In 1920s Berlin, Dietrich performed on the stage and in silent films. Her performance as Lola-Lola in Josef von Sternberg's ''The Blue Angel'' (1930) brought her international acclaim and a contract with Paramount Pictures. She starred in many Hollywood films, including six iconic roles directed by Sternberg: ''Morocco'' (1930) (her only Academy Award nomination), ''Dishonored'' (1931), '' Shanghai Express'' and ''Blonde Venus'' (both 1932), ''The Scarlet Empress'' (1934) and '' The Devil Is a Woman'' (1935), ''Desire'' (1936) and ''Destry Rides Again'' (1939). She successfully traded on her glamorous persona a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norman Newell
Norman Newell (25 January 1919 – 1 December 2004) was an English record producer, who was mainly active in the 1950s and 1960s. He was also the songwriter, co-writer of many notable songs. As an A&R manager for EMI, he worked with musicians such as Shirley Bassey, Dalida, Claude François, Vera Lynn, Russ Conway, Bette Midler, Judy Garland, Petula Clark, Jake Thackray, Malcolm Roberts (singer), Malcolm Roberts, Bobby Crush and Peter and Gordon. Newell was particularly known for his recorded productions of West End theatre, West End musicals. His songs have been cover version, covered by Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, Celine Dion and Aretha Franklin. In 1999, Newell's song, "Portrait of My Love", originally recorded by Matt Monro in 1960, was honoured at the BMI Awards in London for having two million radio plays. Early life Newell was born in Plaistow, Newham, Plaistow, Essex (now part of Greater London) to a poor family. He aspired to be an actor, but expected to work for Londo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sailor (song)
"Sailor" is the title of the English-language rendering of the 1959 schlager composition " Seemann (Deine Heimat ist das Meer)" originally written in German by Werner Scharfenberger ( de) and lyricist Fini Busch ( de): featuring lyrics in English by Norman Newell (writing as David West), "Sailor" would in 1961 afford Petula Clark her first UK #1 hit, simultaneously granting Top Ten success to Anne Shelton while also bringing her chart career to a close. Clark was also afforded international success with both her recording of "Sailor" and also with Marin the French-language rendering of the song. Original German-language version :''see Seemann (Lolita song) § Original German-language version'' English-language version Composition Lyricist Norman Newell would recall that his publisher phoned him on a Friday requesting he write English lyrics for Lolita's hit " Sailor (Your Home is the Sea)": although Newell agreed to prepare the lyrics over the weekend the assignment sl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
My Old Man's A Dustman
"My Old Man's a Dustman" is a song first recorded by the British skiffle singer Lonnie Donegan. It reached number one in the British, Irish, Australian, Canadian, and New Zealand singles charts in 1960. The chorus of the song is: Composition The song was written by Lonnie Donegan, Peter Buchanan (Donegan's manager between 1956 and 1962), and Beverly Thorn; Thorn was not credited on the original release. According to his autobiography, Beverley Thorn was a pseudonym of Leslie Bricusse, the songwriter who wrote hit shows with Anthony Newley. It probably has its origins in "My Father Was a Fireman", a song sung by British World War I troops. The two songs share a lyrical similarity in their reference to " cor blimey trousers". A song beginning with the line "My old man's a dustman", but otherwise sharing no lyrics with Donegan's, is recorded as a playground song in the 1956 novel ''My Old Man's a Dustman'' by Wolf Mankowitz. This song tells of the exploits of the protagonist at the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Puttin' On The Style
Vernon Dalhart recorded "Puttin' On the Style" in December 1925 and by 1926 it was a popular hit. The song was collected in the Catskills by Norman Cazden from Ernie Sagar in 1945 showing that it had entered oral tradition. Another version has also been collected from oral tradition in West Virginia. Other versions "Puttin' On the Style" was a 1957 hit for skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. It was recorded live at the London Palladium and released as a double A-side along with "Gamblin' Man" and reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in June and July 1957, where it spent two weeks in this position. It was Donegan's second consecutive No. 1 in the UK and the UK's first double-sided chart topper. It was the last UK chart-topper to be solely issued in 78rpm format, as Pye Nixa did not release it on 7" single at the time (although it was later re-released as a 7"). This record was released in the USA on August 19, 1957 as Mercury 71181, but did not chart. A low quality recording of the so ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gamblin' Man
"Gamblin' Man" was a 1957 hit single for skiffle artist Lonnie Donegan. It was recorded live at the London Palladium and released as a double A side along with "Puttin' On the Style". It reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in June and July 1957, where it spent two weeks in this position. This was the last UK number 1 to be released on 78 rpm format only, as 7" 45rpm vinyl singles were becoming the norm by this time. The original Pye Nixa release does not exist on 7" format. "Gamblin' Man" was written by Woody Guthrie, who recorded it during his 1944-45 Asch recordings period when it was catalogued with an alternative title "Roving Gambler". Donegan's recording was issued with the songwriting co-credit 'Guthrie - L. Donegan' and produced by Alan Freeman and Michael Barclay. See also *List of UK Singles Chart number ones of the 1950s The UK Singles Chart is the official record chart in the United Kingdom. Record charts in the UK began life in 1952 when Percy Dickins from '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pye Nixa Records
Pye Records was a British record label. Its best known artists were Lonnie Donegan (1956–1969), Petula Clark (1957–1971), the Searchers (1963–1967), the Kinks (1964–1971), Sandie Shaw (1964–1971), Status Quo (1968–1971) and Brotherhood of Man (1975–1979). The label changed its name to PRT Records (distributing as Precision Records & Tapes) in 1980, before being briefly reactivated as Pye Records in 2006. History The Pye Company originally manufactured televisions and radios. Its main plant was situated off what used to be Haig Road, in Cambridge, and it entered the record business when it bought Nixa Records in 1953. In 1955, the company acquired Polygon Records, a label that had been established by Leslie Clark and Alan A. Freeman to control distribution of the recordings of the former's daughter, Petula Clark. Pye merged it with Nixa Records to form Pye Nixa Records. Pye International In 1958, Pye International Records was established. The company licensed record ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nixa Records
Nixa Record Company Ltd. was founded in 1950 by F. H. B. Nixon. Nixa was the second company, after Decca, to release LP records in Britain (at the time, EMI was attempting to promote 45 rpm records over 33 LP records). The record label, which traded as Nixa Records, was acquired by Pye Records in 1953. Nixon's stepson, John M. Reid (then also known as Nixon), was manager from 1950 until the company was sold to Pye in 1953. Nixa Records was set up principally to market the catalogue of Compagnie Générale du Disque, Paris, in Commonwealth of Nations countries. The artists included Dany Dauberson, André Claveau, and other continental cabaret and jazz artists. The shellac records were pressed for Nixa by the Decca Record Company. Later, Nixa made licensing arrangements with a number of US classical music record companies, including Westminster Records, Period Records, Concert Hall Records, Haydn Society and Vanguard Records, to manufacture and market their catalogues in the UK and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
New Zealand
New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island country by area, covering . New Zealand is about east of Australia across the Tasman Sea and south of the islands of New Caledonia, Fiji, and Tonga. The country's varied topography and sharp mountain peaks, including the Southern Alps, owe much to tectonic uplift and volcanic eruptions. New Zealand's capital city is Wellington, and its most populous city is Auckland. The islands of New Zealand were the last large habitable land to be settled by humans. Between about 1280 and 1350, Polynesians began to settle in the islands and then developed a distinctive Māori culture. In 1642, the Dutch explorer Abel Tasman became the first European to sight and record New Zealand. In 1840, representatives of the United Kingdom and Māori chiefs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
