|
Dewey Cox
''Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story'' is a 2007 American comedy film directed by Jake Kasdan, and written by Kasdan and co-producer Judd Apatow. It stars John C. Reilly, Kristen Wiig, Tim Meadows and Jenna Fischer. A parody of the biopic genre, ''Walk Hard'' is the story of a fictional early rock and roll star played by Reilly. ''Walk Hard'' primarily references the musical biopics ''Ray'' (2004) and '' Walk the Line'' (2005); in addition to Ray Charles and Johnny Cash, the "Dewey Cox" character includes elements of the lives and careers of other notable musicians including Roy Orbison, Glen Campbell, Bob Dylan, Jerry Lee Lewis, Donovan, John Lennon, James Brown, Jim Morrison, Conway Twitty, Neil Diamond, Hank Williams, and Brian Wilson. The film portrays fictional versions of artists Buddy Holly, the Big Bopper, Elvis Presley, and the Beatles; some artists appear as themselves, including Eddie Vedder, Jewel and Ghostface Killah. In addition, the film parodies or pays tribute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jim Morrison
James Douglas Morrison (December 8, 1943 – July 3, 1971) was an American singer, poet and songwriter who was the lead vocalist of the Rock music, rock band the Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and erratic performances, and the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, Morrison's fame has endured as one of popular culture's top rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture of the 1960s, counterculture. Together with pianist Ray Manzarek, Morrison founded the Doors in 1965 in Venice, California, Venice, California. The group spent two years in obscurity until shooting to prominence with their number-one single in the United States, "Light My Fire", taken from their The Doors (album), self-titled debut album. Morrison recorded a total of six st ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray (film)
''Ray'' is a 2004 American biographical musical drama film focusing on 30 years in the life of rhythm and blues musician Ray Charles. The independently produced film was co-produced and directed by Taylor Hackford, and written by James L. White from a story by Hackford and White. It stars Jamie Foxx in the title role, along with Kerry Washington, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Terrence Howard, Larenz Tate, Richard Schiff and Regina King in supporting roles. Along with Hackford, the film was also produced by Stuart Benjamin, Howard Baldwin and Karen Baldwin. It was released on October 29, 2004, by Universal Pictures. It received positive reviews from critics, with particular praise for Foxx's performance. It was also a commercial success, grossing $124.7 million worldwide against a production budget of $40 million. ''Ray'' received many accolades and nominations and was nominated in six categories at the 77th Academy Awards. For his performance, Foxx won the Academy Award for Bes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hank Williams
Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he recorded 55 singles (five released posthumously) that reached the top 10 of the ''Billboard'' Country & Western Best Sellers chart, including 12 that reached No. 1 (three posthumously). Born and raised in Alabama, Williams was given guitar lessons by African-American blues musician Rufus Payne in exchange for meals or money. Payne, along with Roy Acuff and Ernest Tubb, had a major influence on Williams' later musical style. Williams began his music career in Montgomery in 1937, when producers at local radio station WSFA hired him to perform and host a 15-minute program. He formed the Drifting Cowboys backup band, which was managed by his mother, and dropped out of school to devote his time to his career. When several of his band members wer ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Neil Diamond
Neil Leslie Diamond (born January 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. He has sold more than 130 million records worldwide, making him one of the best-selling musicians of all time. He has had ten No. 1 singles on the Hot 100 and Adult Contemporary charts: "Cracklin' Rosie", "Song Sung Blue", "Longfellow Serenade", "I've Been This Way Before", "If You Know What I Mean", "Desiree (song), Desirée", "You Don't Bring Me Flowers", "America (Neil Diamond song), America", "Yesterday's Songs", and "Heartlight (song), Heartlight". Thirty-eight songs by Diamond have reached the top 10 on the ''Billboard (magazine), Billboard'' Adult Contemporary (chart), Adult Contemporary charts, including "Sweet Caroline". He has also acted in films, making his screen debut in the 1980 Musical film, musical drama film ''The Jazz Singer (1980 film), The Jazz Singer''. Diamond was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1984 and into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2011, and he received ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Conway Twitty
Harold Lloyd Jenkins (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), better known by his stage name Conway Twitty, was an American singer and songwriter. Initially a part of the 1950s rockabilly scene, Twitty was best known as a country music performer. From 1971 to 1976, Twitty received a string of Country Music Association awards for duets with Loretta Lynn. He was inducted into both the Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame. Twitty was known for his frequent use of romantic and sentimental themes in his songs. Due to his following being compared to a religious revival, comedian Jerry Clower nicknamed Twitty "The High Priest of Country Music", the eventual title of his 33rd studio album. Twitty achieved stardom with hit songs like " Hello Darlin'", "You've Never Been This Far Before", and " Linda on My Mind". Twitty topped '' ''Billboard'''s'' Hot Country Songs chart 40 times in his career, a record that stood for 20 years until it was broken by George Strait, and topped the '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business", "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He first came to national public attention in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd. With the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and " Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a dynamic live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Lennon
John Winston Ono Lennon (born John Winston Lennon; 9 October 19408 December 1980) was an English singer, songwriter, musician and peace activist who achieved worldwide fame as founder, co-songwriter, co-lead vocalist and rhythm guitarist of the Beatles. Lennon's work was characterised by the rebellious nature and acerbic wit of his music, writing and drawings, on film, and in interviews. His songwriting partnership with Paul McCartney remains the most successful in history. Born in Liverpool, Lennon became involved in the Skiffle#Revival in the United Kingdom, skiffle craze as a teenager. In 1956, he formed The Quarrymen, which evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Sometimes called "the smart Beatle", he was initially the group's de facto leader, a role gradually ceded to McCartney. Lennon soon expanded his work into other media by participating in numerous films, including ''How I Won the War'', and authoring ''In His Own Write'' and ''A Spaniard in the Works'', both collection ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch (born 10 May 1946), known mononymously as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter, and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, Hertfordshire (England), London, California, and—since at least 2008—in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British folk scene, Donovan reached fame in the United Kingdom in early 1965 with live performances on the pop TV series ''Ready Steady Go!''. Having signed with Pye Records in 1965, he recorded singles and two albums in the folk vein for Hickory Records, after which he signed to CBS/Epic in the US—the first signing by the company's new vice-president Clive Davis—and became more successful internationally. He began a long and successful collaboration with leading British independent record producer Mickie Most, scoring multiple hit singles and albums in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Lee Lewis
Jerry Lee Lewis (September 29, 1935October 28, 2022) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Nicknamed "The Killer", he was described as "rock & roll's first great wild man". A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1952 at Cosimo Matassa's J&M Studio in New Orleans, Louisiana, and early recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the Southern United States, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to worldwide fame. He followed this with the major hits "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless (Jerry Lee Lewis song), Breathless", and "High School Confidential (Jerry Lee Lewis song), High School Confidential". His rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin once removed. His popularity quickly eroded following the scandal and with few exceptions such as a cover of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say", he did ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan (legally Robert Dylan, born Robert Allen Zimmerman, May 24, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter. Often regarded as one of the greatest songwriters of all time, Dylan has been a major figure in popular culture during a career spanning more than 60 years. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s, when songs such as "Blowin' in the Wind" (1963) and " The Times They Are a-Changin' (1964) became anthems for the civil rights and antiwar movements. His lyrics during this period incorporated a range of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences, defying pop music conventions and appealing to the burgeoning counterculture. Following his self-titled debut album in 1962, which comprised mainly traditional folk songs, Dylan made his breakthrough as a songwriter with the release of ''The Freewheelin' Bob Dylan'' the following year. The album features "Blowin' in the Wind" and the thematically complex " A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall". Many of his s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Glen Campbell
Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, actor and television host. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting ''The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour'' on CBS television from 1969 until 1972. He released 64 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album. Born in Delight, Arkansas, Campbell began his professional career as a studio musician in Los Angeles, spending several years playing with the group of instrumentalists later known as " The Wrecking Crew". After becoming a solo artist, he placed a total of 80 different songs on either the ''Billboard'' Country Chart, ''Billboard'' Hot 100, or Adult Contemporary Chart, of which 29 made the top 10 and of which nine reached number one on at least one of those charts. Among Campbell's hits are " Universal So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roy Orbison
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician known for his impassioned singing style, complex song structures, and dark, emotional ballads. His music was described by critics as operatic, earning him the nicknames "The Caruso of Rock" and "The Big O." Many of Orbison's songs conveyed vulnerability at a time when most male rock-and-roll performers chose to project machismo. He performed while standing motionless and wearing black clothes to match his dyed black hair and dark sunglasses, which he wore to counter his shyness and stage fright. Born in Texas, Orbison began singing in a rockabilly and country-and-western band as a teenager. He was signed by Sam Phillips of Sun Records in 1956, but enjoyed his greatest success with Monument Records. From 1960 to 1966, 22 of Orbison's singles reached the ''Billboard'' Top 40. He wrote or co-wrote almost all of his own Top 10 hits, including "Only the Lonely" (1960), " R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
.jpg "Click for more on -> Jerry Lee Lewis")
.png "Click for more on -> Roy Orbison")