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Fontana Records
Fontana Records is a record label that was started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records. The independent label distributor Fontana Distribution takes its name from the label. History Fontana started in the 1950s as a subsidiary of the Dutch Philips Records; when Philips restructured its music operations, it dropped Fontana in favor of Vertigo Records. Fontana's U.S. counterpart label was started in 1964 and distributed by Philips US subsidiary Mercury Records. The initial single release (F 1501) was a wild teen beat instrumental by famed British session drummer Bobby Graham, both sides featuring Jimmy Page on guitar. Among the hitmakers were Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders (then later on their own, simply as the Mindbenders), the Troggs, the New Vaudeville Band, Manfred Mann, Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich, and Steam, all of whom had No. 1 hits on the label. Other successful Fontana artists included the Silkie, Nana Mouskouri, the Pretty Things, ...
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Universal Music Group
Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as just Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum, Netherlands and its operational headquarters are located in Santa Monica, California. The biggest music company in the world, it is one of the " Big Three" record labels, along with Sony Music and Warner Music Group. Tencent acquired ten percent of Universal Music Group in March 2020 for €3 billion and acquired an additional ten percent stake in January 2021. Pershing Square Holdings later acquired ten percent of UMG prior to its IPO on the Euronext Amsterdam stock exchange. The company went public on September 21, 2021, at a valuation of €46 billion. In 2019, ''Fast Company'' named Universal Music Group the most innovative music company and listed UMG among the Top 50 most innovative companies in the world and "amid the music industry's digital tran ...
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Manfred Mann
Manfred Mann were an English rock band, formed in London and active between 1962 and 1969. The group were named after their keyboardist Manfred Mann, who later led the successful 1970s group Manfred Mann's Earth Band. The band had two different lead vocalists, Paul Jones from 1962 to 1966 and Mike d'Abo from 1966 to 1969. Prominent in the Swinging London scene of the 1960s, the group regularly appeared in the UK Singles Chart. Three of their most successful singles, "Do Wah Diddy Diddy", "Pretty Flamingo", and " Mighty Quinn", topped the UK charts. The band's 1964 hit " 5-4-3-2-1" was the theme tune for the ITV pop music show ''Ready Steady Go!''. They were also the first southern-England-based group to top the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100 during the British Invasion. History Beginnings (1962–1963) The Mann–Hugg Blues Brothers were formed in London by keyboard player Manfred Mann and drummer/ vibes/piano player Mike Hugg, who formed a house band in Clacton-on-Sea th ...
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The Escorts (Liverpool Band)
The Escorts were a Merseybeat band formed in October 1962 in Liverpool, England, by three classmates who had just left the Morrison School for Boys in Rose Lane, Allerton — Mike Gregory, Terry Sylvester and John Kinrade. In 1963, they were voted the ninth most popular group in Liverpool by readers of ''Mersey Beat'' magazine from a competitive field of several dozen popular Liverpool bands of the time. Career They originally consisted of: *Terry Sylvester — guitar/ lead vocals (born Terence Sylvester, 8 January 1947, Allerton, Liverpool) *John Kinrade — lead guitar/vocals (born John Knowles, 25 June 1946, Southport, Lancashire) *Mike Gregory — bass guitar/vocals (born Michael Gregory, 7 November 1946, Liverpool Maternity Hospital, Kensington, Liverpool) *Ray Walker — lead vocals *Johnny Foster — drums; replaced by Pete Clarke (born Peter Gaskell, 1946); replaced by Kenny Goodlass from The Kirkbys; replaced by Pete Clarke; replaced by Tommy Kelly of Earl Preston ...
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Eden Kane
Richard Graham Sarstedt (born 29 March 1940Some sources, including his own website, give 1942 as his birth year; but official sources give 1940.), known by the stage name Eden Kane, is an English pop/ rock singer, musician, record producer and actor best known as a teen idol in the early 1960s, in the pre-Beatles era. He has also recorded under his birth name and with backing group the Downbeats. Born in British India, he is the elder brother of singer-songwriter Peter Sarstedt and singer Clive Sarstedt, with whom he collaborated on numerous Sarstedt Brothers albums. He had success in the early 1960s as a pop star appealing to a teenage audience, in the pre-Beatles era with hits including the co-written " Well I Ask You" which was a UK No. 1 hit in 1961, he then spent time in Australia before moving to the United States, where he began an acting career. Life and career He was born in New Delhi, British India, where his parents Albert James and Coral (nee Bryrne) were civil se ...
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The Others (band)
The Others are an English rock band. They signed to Poptones in July 2004 and their eponymous debut album was released on 31 January 2005. Career The band formed in 2002 and quickly became renowned for their riotous live shows. By 2004, they had started to perform so-called " guerilla gigs", which saw them play on a Hammersmith & City line tube train, on the dodgems at the Leeds festival, and on the famous Abbey Road crossing in London. The band, particularly lead singer Dominic Masters (born 12 December 1977), maintain a close relationship with their fanbase, affectionately known as the 853 Kamikaze Stage-Diving Division. The band are also known for accessibility which resulted in the popularity of the websites forum, which played a key part in keeping the fanbase together and organizing the following to collect together for gigs. Their self-titled debut album divided critics and public alike on its release in 2005. Whilst ''NME'' gave it 8/10, '' Q'' rated it one of the wo ...
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The Merseybeats
The Merseybeats (also related vocal duo The Merseys) are an English beat band that emerged from the Liverpool Merseybeat scene in the early 1960s, performing at the Cavern Club along with the Beatles, Gerry and the Pacemakers, and other similar artists. The current line-up is: Tony Crane MBE (founding member) lead vocals and lead guitar, Billy Kinsley (founding member) lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Bob Packham (joined 1974) backing vocals and bass guitar (born Robert Packham, 17 July 1944, Anfield, Liverpool) (ex The Galvinsers), and Lou Rosenthal (joined 2000) drums. History The Merseybeats Originally called the Mavericks, the band was formed by Tony Crane and Billy Kinsley in late 1960. They became the Pacifics in September 1961. They were renamed the Mersey Beats in February 1962 by Bob Wooler, MC at the Cavern Club. In April 1962, they became the Merseybeats. By now Crane and Kinsley had joined up with guitarist Aaron Williams and drummer John Banks. They signed a reco ...
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Serge Gainsbourg
Serge Gainsbourg (; born Lucien Ginsburg; 2 April 1928 – 2 March 1991) was a French musician, singer-songwriter, actor, author and filmmaker. Regarded as one of the most important figures in French pop, he was renowned for often provocative and scandalous releases which caused uproar in France, dividing public opinion. His artistic output ranged from his early work in jazz, chanson, and yé-yé to later efforts in rock, zouk, funk, reggae, and electronica. Gainsbourg's varied musical style and individuality make him difficult to categorise, although his legacy has been firmly established and he is often regarded as one of the world's most influential popular musicians. His lyrical works incorporated wordplay, with humorous, bizarre, provocative, sexual, satirical or subversive overtones. Gainsbourg wrote over 550 songs, which have been covered more than 1,000 times by diverse artists. Since his death from a second heart attack in 1991, Gainsbourg's music has reached le ...
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Jane Birkin
Jane Mallory Birkin, Order of British Empire, OBE (born 14 December 1946) is an English-French singer and actress. She attained international fame and notability for her decade-long musical and romantic partnership with Serge Gainsbourg. She also had a prolific career as an actress in British and French cinema. A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, appearing in minor roles in Michelangelo Antonioni's ''Blowup'' (1966), and ''Kaleidoscope (1966 film), Kaleidoscope'' (1966). In 1968, she met Serge Gainsbourg while co-starring with him in ''Slogan (film), Slogan'', which marked the beginning of a years-long working and personal relationship. The duo released their debut album ''Jane Birkin/Serge Gainsbourg'' (1969), and Birkin also appeared in the controversial film ''Je t'aime moi non plus (film), Je t'aime moi non plus'' (1976) under Gainsbourg's direction. Birkin would attain further acting credits in the Agatha Christie adaptations ''Death on the Nile (1978 ...
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Gloria Lynne
Gloria Lynne (born Gloria Wilson; November 23, 1929 – October 15, 2013), also known as Gloria Alleyne, was an American jazz vocalist with a recording career spanning from 1958 to 2007. Career Lynne was born in Harlem in 1929 to John and Mary Wilson, a gospel singer. She grew up in Harlem, and as a young girl, Lynne sang with the local African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church Choir. At the age of 15, she won first prize at the Amateur Night contest at the Apollo Theater. She shared the stage with contemporary night club vocal ensembles, and recorded as part of such groups as the Enchanters and the Dell-Tones in the 1950s. As a soloist she recorded under her birth name, although most of her work was released under her stage name on the Everest, with whom she signed in 1958, and Fontana labels. Although showing much promise early on, especially after TV appearances, including the ''Harry Belafonte Spectacular'', her development suffered through poor management. Some unscrupulous r ...
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The Herd (UK Band)
The Herd were an English rock band, founded in 1965. In 1966, 16-year-old Peter Frampton joined as lead singer and guitarist. The band had three UK top twenty hits in the late 1960s, including " From the Underworld" and "I Don't Want Our Loving to Die", before Frampton left in 1968 to form Humble Pie with Steve Marriott. The band broke up shortly after, reforming briefly and unsuccessfully in 1971. Biography The Herd were founded in 1965 in south London, and recorded three unsuccessful singles with Parlophone. In 1966 three members in succession (Terry Clark, Louis Cennamo and Mick Underwood) quit the group and the group got the line-up that made it famous. The singer, Peter Frampton, was 16 when he joined the group in 1966 and had just left school. The other members were a few years older. Parlophone did not want to go on with them, but Fontana was willing to give them a try. They also sent their manager Billy Gaff away and brought in the songwriters/producers Ken Howard and Al ...
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The Pretty Things
''The'' () is a grammatical article in English, denoting persons or things already mentioned, under discussion, implied or otherwise presumed familiar to listeners, readers, or speakers. It is the definite article in English. ''The'' is the most frequently used word in the English language; studies and analyses of texts have found it to account for seven percent of all printed English-language words. It is derived from gendered articles in Old English which combined in Middle English and now has a single form used with pronouns of any gender. The word can be used with both singular and plural nouns, and with a noun that starts with any letter. This is different from many other languages, which have different forms of the definite article for different genders or numbers. Pronunciation In most dialects, "the" is pronounced as (with the voiced dental fricative followed by a schwa) when followed by a consonant sound, and as (homophone of pronoun ''thee'') when followed by a v ...
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Nana Mouskouri
Ioanna "Nana" Mouskouri ( el, Ιωάννα "Νάνα" Μούσχουρη ) (born 13 October 1934) is a Greek singer. Over the span of her career, she has released over 200 albums in at least twelve languages, including Greek, French, English, German, Dutch, Portuguese, Italian, Japanese, Spanish, Hebrew, Welsh, Mandarin Chinese and Corsican. Mouskouri became well known throughout Europe for the song "The White Rose of Athens", recorded first in German as "Weiße Rosen aus Athen" as an adaptation of her Greek song "" (''San sfyríxeis tris forés'', "When you whistle three times"). It became her first record to sell over one million copies. Later in 1963, she represented Luxembourg at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song " À force de prier". Her friendship with the composer Michel Legrand led to the recording by Mouskouri of the theme song of the Oscar-nominated film ''The Umbrellas of Cherbourg''. From 1968 to 1976, she hosted her own TV show produced by BBC, ''Presenting ...
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