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Freddie Bell And The Bell Boys
Freddie Bell and the Bellboys were an American vocal group, influential in the development of rock and roll in the 1950s. Their recordings include " Hound Dog", "The Hucklebuck" and " Giddy Up a Ding Dong". Career The group were established in 1952 by Freddie Bell, with Jack Kane (saxophone), Frankie Brent (bass / guitar), Russ Conti (piano), Louis Joseph "Chick Keeney" Cicchini (drums), and Jerry Mayo (trumpet). They were one of the first white groups to play the R&B hits of the day, and honed their act in the Midwest before landing a booking at the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas. They were later joined by Roberta Linn, who was married to Bell from 1961 to 1973. In 1955, they made their first recordings for the Teen Records label, including an adaption of Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog" (first recorded by Big Mama Thornton). When performing the song in Las Vegas, they were seen by Elvis Presley, who was impressed and decided to record the song himself. The group was signed to Mercu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territories, nine Minor Outlying Islands, and 326 Indian reservations. The United States is also in free association with three Pacific Island sovereign states: the Federated States of Micronesia, the Marshall Islands, and the Republic of Palau. It is the world's third-largest country by both land and total area. It shares land borders with Canada to its north and with Mexico to its south and has maritime borders with the Bahamas, Cuba, Russia, and other nations. With a population of over 333 million, it is the most populous country in the Americas and the third most populous in the world. The national capital of the United States is Washington, D.C. and its most populous city and principal financial center is New York City. Paleo-Americ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Roberta Linn
Roberta Linn (born April 30, 1931, in Gravity, Iowa) is an American singer and entertainer. She is most associated with the Rat Pack and the Las Vegas Strip, where she was a regular performer with Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in the 1950s and 1960s. From 1949 to 1954, she sang with the Lawrence Welk group, "The Champagne Ladies". Biography Linn worked in films as a child actress; among the films she had roles in are ''Little Miss Marker'' and the Our Gang comedies. As Linn grew up, she found there were no film roles for her or many other former child performers. She became a vocalist and was a successful performer with many big bands. Linn performed as part of "The Champagne Ladies" of Lawrence Welk from 1949 to 1954, replacing Helen Ramsay, and performing with Lois Best, Norma Zimmer and Jayne Walton. She often appeared in the early 1950s at the Aragon Ballroom of Santa Monica, and had her own Emmy-winning show on KTLA called "Cafe Continental" or "The Gypsy", which she lef ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Virgin Books
Virgin Books is a British book publisher 90% owned by the publishing group Random House, and 10% owned by Virgin Group, the company originally set up by Richard Branson as a record company. History Virgin established its book publishing arm in the late 1970s; in the latter part of the 1980s Virgin purchased several existing companies, including WH Allen, well known among ''Doctor Who'' fans for their Target Books imprint; Virgin Books was incorporated into WH Allen in 1989, but in 1991 WH Allen was renamed Virgin Publishing Ltd. Virgin Publishing's early success came with the ''Doctor Who'' New Adventures novels, officially licensed full-length novels carrying on the story of the popular science-fiction television series following its cancellation in 1989. Virgin published this series from 1991 to 1997, as well as a range of ''Doctor Who'' reference books from 1992 to 1998 under the Doctor Who Books imprint. In recent times the company is best known for its commercial non- ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Encyclopedia Of Popular Music
''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is an encyclopedia created in 1989 by Colin Larkin. It is the "modern man's" equivalent of the '' Grove Dictionary of Music'', which Larkin describes in less than flattering terms.''The Times'', ''The Knowledge'', Christmas edition, 22 December 2007- 4 January 2008. It was described by ''The Times'' as "the standard against which all others must be judged". History of the encyclopedia Larkin believed that rock music and popular music were at least as significant historically as classical music, and as such, should be given definitive treatment and properly documented. ''The Encyclopedia of Popular Music'' is the result. In 1989, Larkin sold his half of the publishing company Scorpion Books to finance his ambition to publish an encyclopedia of popular music. Aided by a team of initially 70 contributors, he set about compiling the data in a pre-internet age, "relying instead on information gleaned from music magazines, individual expertise ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Haley (musician)
William John Clifton Haley (; July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was an American rock and roll musician. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and million-selling hits such as "Rock Around the Clock", "See You Later, Alligator", "Shake, Rattle and Roll", "Rocket 88", "Skinny Minnie", and "Razzle Dazzle". Haley has sold over 60 million records worldwide. In 1987, he was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Biography Early life and career Haley was born July 6, 1925 in Highland Park, Michigan. In 1929, the four-year-old Haley underwent an inner-ear mastoid operation which accidentally severed an optic nerve, leaving him blind in his left eye for the rest of his life. It is said that he adopted his trademark kiss curl over his right eye to draw attention from his left, but it also became his "gimmick", and added to his popularity. As a result of the effects of the Great De ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film
A film also called a movie, motion picture, moving picture, picture, photoplay or (slang) flick is a work of visual art that simulates experiences and otherwise communicates ideas, stories, perceptions, feelings, beauty, or atmosphere through the use of moving images. These images are generally accompanied by sound and, more rarely, other sensory stimulations. The word "cinema", short for cinematography, is often used to refer to filmmaking and the film industry, and to the art form that is the result of it. Recording and transmission of film The moving images of a film are created by photography, photographing actual scenes with a movie camera, motion-picture camera, by photographing drawings or miniature models using traditional animation techniques, by means of computer-generated imagery, CGI and computer animation, or by a combination of some or all of these techniques, and other visual effects. Before the introduction of digital production, series of still imag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rock Around The Clock (film)
''Rock Around the Clock'' is a 1956 musical film featuring Bill Haley and His Comets along with Alan Freed, the Platters, Tony Martinez and His Band and Freddie Bell and His Bellboys. It was produced by B-movie king Sam Katzman (who would produce several Elvis Presley films in the 1960s) and directed by Fred F. Sears. The film was shot over a short period of time in January 1956 and released in March 1956 to capitalize on Haley's success and the popularity of his multimillion-selling recording "Rock Around the Clock," which had played over the opening credits of the 1955 teen flick ''Blackboard Jungle'' and is considered the first major rock and roll musical film. The same recording was used for the opening of ''Rock Around the Clock'', marking a rare occasion in which the same song opens films released in a short interval (the recording would be used once again to open the 1973 film ''American Graffiti''). Plot ''Rock Around the Clock'' tells a highly fictionalized rendition ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Katzman
Sam Katzman (July 7, 1901 – August 4, 1973) was an American film producer and director. Katzman produced low-budget genre films, including serials, which had disproportionately high returns for the studios and his financial backers. Early career Sam was born to a Jewish family; his father Abe Katzman was a violinist. He and Sam's mother Rebecca (née Sugarman) were from Kishinev, Bessarabia Governorate, Russian Empire (now Chisinău, Moldova). Katzman went to work as a stage laborer at the age of 13 in the fledgling East Coast film industry and moved from prop boy to assistant director at Fox Films. He would learn all aspects of filmmaking and was a Hollywood producer for more than 40 years. Katzman worked as an assistant to Norman Taurog and got married on the set of ''The Diplomats'' in 1928 at Fox. In October 1927 he signed with comic Joe Russo to make a series of two-reel comedies. Screencraft Pictures Katzman was a production supervisor at Showmen's Pictures ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Film Producer
A film producer is a person who oversees film production. Either employed by a production company or working independently, producers plan and coordinate various aspects of film production, such as selecting the script, coordinating writing, directing, editing, and arranging financing. The producer is responsible for finding and selecting promising material for development. Unless the film is based on an existing script, the producer hires a screenwriter and oversees the script's development. These activities culminate with the pitch, led by the producer, to secure the financial backing that enables production to begin. If all succeeds, the project is "greenlighted". The producer also supervises the pre-production, principal photography and post-production stages of filmmaking. A producer is also responsible for hiring a director for the film, as well as other key crew members. Whereas the director makes the creative decisions during the production, the producer typically ma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mercury Records
Mercury Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group. It had significant success as an independent operation in the 1940s and 1950s. Smash Records and Fontana Records were sub labels of Mercury. In the United States, it is operated through Republic Records; in the United Kingdom and Japan (as Mercury Tokyo in the latter country), it is distributed by EMI Records. Since the separation of Island Records, Motown, Mercury Records, and Def Jam Recordings combining the Island Def Jam Music Group, Mercury Records has been placed under Island Records, although its back catalogue is still owned by the Island Def Jam Music Group (now Island Records). Background Mercury Records was started in Chicago in 1945 and over several decades, saw great success. The success of Mercury has been attributed to the use of alternative marketing techniques to promote records. The conventional method of record promotion used by major labels such as RCA Victor, Decca Records, and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. His energized interpretations of songs and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a civil rights movement, transformative era in race relations, led him to both great success and Cultural impact of Elvis Presley#Danger to American culture, initial controversy. Presley was born in Tupelo, Mississippi, and relocated to Memphis, Tennessee, with his family when he was 13 years old. His music career began there in 1954, recording at Sun Records with producer Sam Phillips, who wanted to bring the sound of African-American music to a wider audience. Presley, on rhythm acoustic guitar, and accompanied by lead ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae Thornton (December 11, 1926 – July 25, 1984), better known as Big Mama Thornton, was an American singer and songwriter of the blues and R&B genres. She was the first to record Leiber and Stoller's " Hound Dog", in 1952, which became her biggest hit, staying seven weeks at number one on the ''Billboard'' R&B chart in 1953 and selling almost two million copies. Thornton's other recordings included the original version of "Ball and Chain", which she wrote. Her recording of "Hound Dog", written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller in 1952, and later recorded by Elvis Presley, reached Number 1 on the Rhythm & Blues Records chart. According to Maureen Mahon, a music professor at New York University, "the song is seen as an important beginning of rock-and-roll, especially in its use of the guitar as the key instrument". Early life Thornton's birth certificate states that she was born in Ariton, Alabama, but in an interview with Chris Strachwitz, she claimed Montgomery, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
