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Effie Smith
Effie Smith (born Effie Mae Blu or Bly, April 10, 1914 – February 11, 1977) was an American blues and jazz singer and comedian, best known for "Dial That Telephone", a song she first recorded in 1953 which became an R&B hit in 1965. She was born in McAlester, Oklahoma, and after an early marriage took the surname of her husband, Fred Smith. By 1940 she was living in Los Angeles, California, with her two children, and was working as a singer in a WPA project. She sang in a vocal group, the Three Shades of Rhythm, and with the Lionel Hampton and Benny Carter orchestras, and during World War II appeared on several Armed Forces Radio Service broadcasts including sessions with saxophonist Coleman Hawkins and 16-year-old pianist André Previn. Dave Penny, "Effie Smith", ''Black Cat Rockabilly''
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McAlester, Oklahoma
McAlester is the county seat of Pittsburg County, Oklahoma, Pittsburg County, Oklahoma. The population was 18,363 at the time of the 2010 census, a 3.4 percent increase from 17,783 at the 2000 census,Shuller, Thurman"McAlester" profile ''Encyclopedia of Oklahoma History and Culture''; accessed February 12, 2017. making it the largest city in the Choctaw Nation of Oklahoma, Choctaw Nation, followed by Durant, Oklahoma, Durant. The town gets its name from James Jackson McAlester, an early white settler and businessman who later became lieutenant governor of Oklahoma. Known as "J. J.", McAlester married Rebecca Burney, the daughter of a full-blood Chickasaw family, which made him a citizen of the Chickasaw Nation. McAlester is the home of the Oklahoma State Penitentiary, the former site of an "inside the walls" prison rodeo that ESPN's ''SportsCenter'' once broadcast. McAlester is home to many of the employees of the McAlester Army Ammunition Plant. This facility makes essentially a ...
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Aladdin Records
Aladdin Records was a record company and label founded in Los Angeles in 1945 by brothers Eddie and Leo Mesner. It was originally called Philo Records before changing its name in 1946. Aladdin was known for jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock music. Some of these were issued on the company's short-lived Jazz: West imprint. Aladdin Records launched several subsidiary labels such as Score (1948), Intro (1950), 7-11 (1952), Ultra (1955), Jazz: West (1955), and Lamp (1956). In addition to Los Angeles, many Aladdin recordings were produced by Cosimo Matassa in New Orleans. Aladdin's first album was by Lester Young. Other musicians on the roster included Ernie Andrews, Charles Brown, Thurston Harris, Maxwell Davis, Al Hibbler, Billie Holiday, Lynn Hope, Jimmy Liggins, Lightnin' Hopkins, Red Nelson ("Mother Fuyer"), and Illinois Jacquet. In 1961, Aladdin was sold to Imperial Records, which was acquired by Liberty Records. Capitol bought Liberty in 1969, and reissues appeared on Blue N ...
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Bill Cosby
William Henry Cosby Jr. ( ; born July 12, 1937) is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and media personality. He made significant contributions to American and African-American culture, and is well known in the United States for his eccentric image, and gained a reputation as "America's Dad" for his portrayal of Cliff Huxtable on ''The Cosby Show'' (1984–1992). He has received numerous awards and honorary degrees throughout his career. Cosby began his career as a stand-up comic at the hungry i nightclub in San Francisco during the 1960s. Throughout the decade, he released several standup comedy records which consecutively earned him the Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album from 1965 to 1970. He also had a starring role in the television crime show ''I Spy'' (1965–1968) opposite Robert Culp. Cosby made history when he won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series in 1966, making him the first African American to earn an Emmy Award for acting. ...
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Bob & Earl
Bob & Earl were an American music singing duo in the 1960s, best known for writing and recording the original version of " Harlem Shuffle". Career The original duo were Bobby Byrd and Earl Nelson. They had both been members of The Hollywood Flames, a prolific doo-wop group in Los Angeles, California whose major hit was "Buzz-Buzz-Buzz" in 1958, on which Nelson sang lead. By 1957, Byrd had started a parallel solo career, writing and recording for contractual reasons as Bobby Day. He wrote and recorded the original version of "Little Bitty Pretty One", and had a hit of his own with " Rockin' Robin" (1958). In 1957, Day/Byrd and Nelson began recording together as Bob & Earl, on the Class record label. However, these releases had relatively little success, and Day/Byrd restarted his solo career. In 1962, Nelson recruited a second "Bob", Bobby Relf, who also used the stage names of Bobby Garrett and Bobby Valentino. Relf had already led several Los Angeles based acts in his career ...
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The Olympics (band)
The Olympics are an American doo-wop group, formed in 1957 by lead singer Walter Ward (August 28, 1940 – December 11, 2006). The group also included Eddie Lewis (tenor, Ward's cousin), Charles Fizer (tenor), Walter Hammond (baritone), and Melvin King ( bass). With the exception of Lewis, all were friends in a Los Angeles, California, high school. History and influence Their first record was credited to Walter Ward and the Challengers ("I Can Tell" on Melatone Records). After the name change, they recorded "Western Movies" (Demon Records) in the summer of 1958. Co-written by Fred Smith and Cliff Goldsmith, "Western Movies" made it to No. 8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart. The song reflected the nation's preoccupation with western themed movies and television programs. It told the story of a man who lost his girl to TV westerns, and it included doo-wop harmonies as well as background gunshots and ricochet sound effects. In 1959, the group recorded "(Baby) Hully Gully ...
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Fred Sledge Smith
Fred Sledge Smith (May 18, 1933 – July 29, 2005), often credited as Fred Smith, was an American R&B songwriter and record producer, who worked in particular with The Olympics, Bob & Earl, Bill Cosby, and the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band. Biography Smith was born in Los Angeles, where his mother, Effie Smith, worked as a singer and comic entertainer. He started his career as a songwriter in the 1950s with his friend Cliff Goldsmith. They wrote the novelty song "Western Movies", which was recorded by vocal group The Olympics, who were managed by Smith's stepfather, John Criner. The song was released on the Demon record label, and rose to #8 on the '' Billboard'' Hot 100, and #7 on the R&B chart, in 1958.Jason Alkeny, Biography of Fred Smith, ''Allmusic.com''
Retrieved 23 ...
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Chronological Classics
The Chronological Classics series consists of 965 jazz compact discs compiled by Gilles Pétard in France. Classics Records is a record company and label founded by Pétard in Paris in c. 1989. The company also reissued recording by Rhythm & blues artists in a series which ran to 190 CDs. The label set out to assemble comprehensive collections of jazz recordings by hundreds of artists previously issued on 78 rpm records, as European copyright laws allowed (issued recordings are protected for 50 years) and issue them on compact disc. The series was issued with discographical details and in colour-coordinated packaging. Classics largely concentrating on reissuing American jazz, while the American record companies were not producing their own editions of early jazz on anything like this scale. Classics had several European rivals in the early 1990s such as Masters of Jazz and Jazz Archives. The series was initially distributed by subscription, with five issues being released each month ...
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Stax Records
Stax Records is an American record company, originally based in Memphis, Tennessee. Founded in 1957 as Satellite Records, the label changed its name to Stax Records in 1961. It also shared its operations with sister label Volt Records. Stax was influential in the creation of Southern soul and Memphis soul music. Stax also released gospel, funk, and blues recordings. Renowned for its output of blues music, the label was founded by two siblings and business partners, Jim Stewart and his sister Estelle Axton (STewart/AXton = Stax). It featured several popular ethnically integrated bands (including the label's house band, Booker T. & the M.G.'s) and a racially integrated team of staff and artists unprecedented in that time of racial strife and tension in Memphis and the South. According to ethnomusicologist Rob Bowman, the label's use of "one studio, one equipment set-up, the same set of musicians and a small group of songwriters led to a readily identifiable sound. It was a soun ...
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Harper Valley PTA
"Harper Valley P.T.A." is a country song written by Tom T. Hall which in 1968 became a major international hit single for country singer Jeannie C. Riley. Riley's record, her debut, sold over six million copies as a single, and it made her the first woman to top both the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 and the U.S. Hot Country Singles charts with the same song (but not at the same time), a feat that would not be repeated until Dolly Parton's " 9 to 5" 13 years later in 1981. It was also Riley's only Top 40 pop hit. Story Riley sings a story about Mrs. Johnson, a "Harper Valley widowed wife" whose teenage daughter, a student at the junior high school, comes home one day with a note for her mother signed by the parent–teacher association (PTA) secretary, in which they scold her for "wearing your dresses way too high", for reports about her drinking and running around with multiple men, and that she shouldn't be raising her daughter that way. Outraged, Mrs. Johnson decides to pay an unann ...
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Jeannie C
Jeannie may refer to: * Jeannie (given name), a given name and a list of people with the name * Jeannie (''I Dream of Jeannie''), a main character of ''I Dream of Jeannie'' ** ''Jeannie'' (TV series), an animated series based on ''I Dream of Jeannie'' ** "Jeannie", the theme song of ''I Dream of Jeannie'' * ''Jeannie'' (film), a 1941 British film by Harold French * Jeannie River, Queensland, Australia See also * Genie (other) * Jeanie Jeanie is a feminine given name in the English language. People with the given name *Jeanie Buss, president of the Los Angeles Lakers * Jeanie Deans (other) * Jeanie Johnson *Jeanie Lee, known as Gin Lee, Malaysian singer *Jeanie MacPher ..., a given name * Jeanny, a given name {{disambiguation ...
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R&B Chart
The Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Songs chart ranks the most popular R&B and hip hop songs in the United States and is published weekly by ''Billboard''. Rankings are based on a measure of radio airplay, sales data, and streaming activity. The chart had 100 positions but was shortened to 50 positions in October 2012. The chart is used to track the success of popular music songs in urban, or primarily African American, venues. Dominated over the years at various times by jazz, rhythm and blues, doo-wop, rock and roll, soul, and funk, it is today dominated by contemporary R&B and hip hop. Since its inception, the chart has changed its name many times in order to accurately reflect the industry at the time. History Beginning in 1942, ''Billboard'' published a chart of bestselling black music, first as the Harlem Hit Parade, then as Race Records. Then in 1949, ''Billboard'' began publishing a Rhythm and Blues chart, which entered "R&B" into mainstream lexicon. These three charts were consolidated ...
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Billboard (magazine)
''Billboard'' (stylized as ''billboard'') is an American music and entertainment magazine published weekly by Penske Media Corporation. The magazine provides music charts, news, video, opinion, reviews, events, and style related to the music industry. Its music charts include the Hot 100, the 200, and the Global 200, tracking the most popular albums and songs in different genres of music. It also hosts events, owns a publishing firm, and operates several TV shows. ''Billboard'' was founded in 1894 by William Donaldson and James Hennegan as a trade publication for bill posters. Donaldson later acquired Hennegan's interest in 1900 for $500. In the early years of the 20th century, it covered the entertainment industry, such as circuses, fairs, and burlesque shows, and also created a mail service for travelling entertainers. ''Billboard'' began focusing more on the music industry as the jukebox, phonograph, and radio became commonplace. Many topics it covered were spun-off ...
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