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Blue Virgin Isles
''Blue Virgin Isles'' is the fifth studio album and international debut album by Swedish singer-songwriter Ted Gärdestad, released on November 1978 by Epic Records in the UK and Polar Music in Scandinavia. Background Recording The ''Blue Virgin Isles'' album was mainly recorded in Hollywood, California with a large number of noted American and English musicians, among them Jim Keltner, Jay Graydon, Lee Ritenour, Fred Tackett, James Newton Howard, Dr. John, John Mayall, Chuck Domanico, Mike Melvoin, four of the future members of Toto; Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, David Hungate and Steve Lukather, and backing vocals by David Cassidy, Venetta Fields and Sherlie Matthews. The album was produced by Norwegian-American Eirik W. Wangberg, also known as ''Eirik The Norwegian'', a nickname given to him by Paul McCartney during the sessions for McCartney's 1971 album ''Ram''. The ''Blue Virgin Isles'' recordings began in the United States in the autumn of 1977 and were completed with some ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ted Gärdestad
Ted Arnbjörn Gärdestad (; 18 February 195622 June 1997) was a Swedish singer, songwriter, musician and actor known internationally as Ted. Gärdestad began his acting career in 1966 and began playing music in 1971, signing with Polar Music. Assigned with in-house producers Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, Gärdestad released his first single, "Hela världen runt," in late 1971 and worked closely with the four members of ABBA to create his debut album '' Undringar'' (1972). As Polar Music's best-selling solo artist (aside from ABBA), he continued to work with the group members throughout the 1970s, releasing three more albums '' Ted'' (1973), ''Upptåg'' (1974) and ''Franska Kort'' (1976), which were moderately successful. In 1978, Gärdestad released his first English-language album, Blue Virgin Isles, which did not have success internationally, as his predecessor albums had in his home country. In 1979, Ted and his brother Kenneth Gärdestad played at Melodifestivalen, th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Tackett
Fred Tackett (born August 30, 1945) is an American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Originally a session player on guitar, mandolin, and trumpet, he is best known as a member of the band Little Feat. In addition to his work with Little Feat, Tackett has played and recorded with many notable artists, Bob Dylan and Jimmy Webb among them. He had an additional side project with another member of Little Feat; he performed as part of a duo with Paul Barrere, as Paul and Fred. Association with Little Feat Tackett's association with Little Feat goes back to a friendship with the founder of the band, Lowell George, at the time of its inception. Working as a session player for other musicians, he continued his friendship with the bandmates, and contributed a song ''Fool Yourself'' to their third album ''Dixie Chicken'' as well as acoustic guitar. He also contributed guitar to their sixth album ''Time Loves a Hero''. In 1979 he co-wrote songs with Lowell George for both George's ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul McCartney
Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained worldwide fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John Lennon. One of the most successful composers and performers of all time, McCartney is known for his melodic approach to bass-playing, versatile and wide tenor vocal range, and musical eclecticism, exploring styles ranging from pre–rock and roll pop to classical and electronica. His songwriting partnership with Lennon remains the most successful in history. Born in Liverpool, McCartney taught himself piano, guitar and songwriting as a teenager, having been influenced by his father, a jazz player, and rock and roll performers such as Little Richard and Buddy Holly. He began his career when he joined Lennon's skiffle group, the Quarrymen, in 1957, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Sometimes called "the cute Beatle", McCartney later invo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sherlie Matthews
Sherlie Matthews (born November 10, 1934) is an American singer, songwriter and former Motown Records producer, best known as a backing vocalist for pop, R&B and rock groups from the mid-1960s to the present time. Early life Matthews started performing as a soloist in church at the age of two. Then at age four, she began harmonizing. She sang alto parts in vocal duets with her two-year-old sister. Her grandmother, who was an accomplished musician/composer, recognized her musical talents and was her first piano/voice teacher and mentor. She provided piano accompaniment for herself and her sister for many years at various local venues, tea parties, weddings, church services, concerts, etc. From her early nurturing, Matthews continued to develop her natural abilities,(which includes a five octave vocal range) for all phases of the performing arts, through school, college, community and professional workshops. At the age of 10 years she began setting Bible verses to music to help c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Venetta Fields
Venetta Lee Fields (born 1941) is an American-born singer, musical theater actress and vocal coach. She was a backing vocalist for American and British rock and pop acts of the 1960s and 1970s, including Ike & Tina Turner, Pink Floyd, Humble Pie, Barbra Streisand, Elkie Brooks, Neil Diamond, Steely Dan, Bob Seger, and the Rolling Stones. After emigrating to Australia in 1982, she became an Australian citizen. She recorded or toured as a backing singer for Australian artists Richard Clapton, Australian Crawl, Cold Chisel, Jimmy Barnes, James Morrison and John Farnham. Life and career Early life Fields was born in Buffalo, New York in 1941, into a religious family. Her early musical training was from regular gospel performances at church. Her inspiration was Aretha Franklin. Fields singing career began with the Templaires, a group she formed with members of her church, followed by the Corinthian Gospel Singers. Early career In late 1961, the Ike & Tina Turner Revue ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Cassidy
David Bruce Cassidy (April 12, 1950 – November 21, 2017) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He was best known for his role as Keith Partridge, the son of Shirley Partridge (played by his stepmother, Shirley Jones), in the 1970s musical-sitcom ''The Partridge Family''. This role catapulted Cassidy to teen idol status as a superstar pop singer of the 1970s. Early life Cassidy was born at Flower Fifth Avenue Hospital in New York City, the son of singer and actor Jack Cassidy and actress Evelyn Ward. His father was of half Irish and half German ancestry, and his mother was descended mostly from Colonial Americans, along with having some Irish and Swiss roots. His mother's ancestors were among the founders of Newark, New Jersey. As his parents were frequently touring on the road, he spent his early years being raised by his maternal grandparents in a middle-class neighborhood in West Orange, New Jersey. In 1956, he found out from neighbors' children that hi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Lukather
Steven Lee Lukather (born October 21, 1957) is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, arranger and record producer, best known as the sole continuous founding member of the rock band Toto. His reputation as a skilled guitarist led to a steady flow of session work beginning in the 1970s that has since established him as a prolific session musician, recording guitar tracks for more than 1,500 albums spanning a broad array of artists and genres. He has also contributed to albums and hit singles as a songwriter, arranger and producer. Notably, Lukather played guitar on Boz Scaggs' albums ''Down Two Then Left'' (1977) and ''Middle Man'' (1980), and was a prominent contributor to several studio albums by Michael Jackson, including '' Thriller'' (1982). Lukather has released eight solo albums, the latest of which, '' I Found the Sun Again'', was released in February 2021. Influenced by such blues-rock guitarists as Jimi Hendrix and Jimmy Page, and such jazz fusion players as Al Di ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Hungate
William David Hungate (born August 5, 1948) is an American bass guitarist noted as a member of the Los Angeles pop-rock band Toto from 1976 to 1982 and again from 2014 to 2015, and the son of judge William L. Hungate. Along with most of his Toto bandmates, Hungate did sessions on a number of hit albums of the 1970s, including Boz Scaggs's ''Silk Degrees'' and Alice Cooper's '' From the Inside''. Career Hungate played on Toto's first four records, including the Grammy award-winning album ''Toto IV''. He left the band shortly after its release for a career as a session musician in Nashville. Hungate, who plays many instruments including guitar, trombone, trumpet, drums, and piano, has arranged, produced and recorded with several country artists such as Chet Atkins. He was also a primary member of AOR supergroup Mecca fronted by Joe Vana and Fergie Frederiksen, the latter also of Toto fame. In 1990 he released a solo album entitled ''Souvenir''. Jeff Porcaro played drums on s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Porcaro
Steven Maxwell Porcaro (born September 2, 1957) is an American keyboardist, songwriter, and film composer, known as one of the founding members of the rock band Toto and the last surviving Porcaro brother (after the deaths of Jeff in 1992 and Mike in 2015); as the songwriter of "Human Nature" by Michael Jackson and songs by Toto; and as the composer of the TV series '' Justified''. He has won three Grammys, including Record of the Year for "Rosanna" and Album of the Year for ''Toto IV'', and three nominations. Porcaro has appeared as a session musician on recordings by Yes (on ''Union'' and '' Open Your Eyes'') and Jefferson Airplane (on their self-titled 1989 reunion album). He was also a member of Chris Squire's short-lived band, The Chris Squire Experiment, in 1992. Early life Porcaro is a native of Connecticut. Just like his brothers Jeff and Mike, Steve Porcaro started out as a drummer under the tutelage of his father Joe Porcaro, before taking up piano. In 1967, his ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jeff Porcaro
Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro (; April 1, 1954 – August 5, 1992) was an American drummer, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known for his work with the rock band Toto but is one of the most recorded session musicians in history, working on hundreds of albums and thousands of sessions. While already an established studio player in the 1970s, he came to prominence in the United States as the drummer on the Steely Dan album ''Katy Lied''. AllMusic has characterized him as "arguably the most highly regarded studio drummer in rock from the mid-'70s to the early '90s" and says that "it is no exaggeration to say that the sound of mainstream pop/rock drumming in the 1980s was, to a large extent, the sound of Jeff Porcaro." He was posthumously inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1993. Early life Jeffrey Thomas Porcaro was born on April 1, 1954, in Hartford, Connecticut, the eldest son of Los Angeles session percussionist Joe Porcaro (1930–2020) and his wife, Eil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Toto (band)
Toto (stylized as TOTO) is an American rock band formed in 1977 in Los Angeles. The band's current lineup consists of Steve Lukather (guitars and vocals), David Paich (keyboards and vocals), and Joseph Williams (vocals), as well as touring musicians John Pierce (bass), Robert "Sput" Searight (drums), Dominique "Xavier" Taplin (keyboards and vocals), Steve Maggiora (keyboards and vocals), and Warren Ham (horns, percussions, and vocals). Toto is known for a musical style that combines elements of pop, rock, soul, funk, progressive rock, hard rock, R&B, blues, and jazz. Having released 14 studio albums and sold over 40 million records worldwide, the group has received several Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2009. David Paich and Jeff Porcaro had played together as session musicians on several albums and decided to form a band; David Hungate, Steve Lukather, Steve Porcaro, and Bobby Kimball were recruited before the release of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Melvoin
Mike Melvoin (May 10, 1937February 22, 2012) was an American jazz pianist, composer, and arranger. He served as chairman and president of The Recording Academy and worked as a prolific studio musician, recording with Frank Sinatra, John Lennon, The Jackson 5, Natalie Cole, and The Beach Boys. Melvoin was nominated for the 2003 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Solo for "All or Nothing at All" from his album ''It's Always You''. Biography Melvoin was born in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, and began playing the piano at the age of three. He studied English at Dartmouth College, graduating in 1959, but decided to pursue a career in music. Melvoin, whose original family name was Mehlworm, was Jewish. After moving to Los Angeles in 1961, he played with Frank Rosolino, Leroy Vinnegar, Gerald Wilson, Paul Horn, Terry Gibbs, Joe Williams, Peggy Lee and others. He released his debut album as a bandleader, ''Keys to Your Mind'', in 1966 on Liberty Records. Melvoin played in clubs in Los A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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