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Gitarzan (album)
''Gitarzan'' was Ray Stevens' fourth studio album, released in 1969, as well as his second for Monument Records. Unlike his previous album, ''Even Stevens'', this album is completely in the genres of novelty and comedy. Although this is a true studio album, all of the songs are overdubbed with cheering and applauding of an audience to provide the feeling of a live album. Contents include three of the Coasters' hits ("Yakety Yak," " Little Egypt" and " Along Came Jones"), "Mr. Custer," and "Alley Oop." The album also contains re-recordings of his two novelty hits, " Harry the Hairy Ape" and "Ahab the Arab." "Freddie Feelgood (And His Funky Little Five Piece Band)" makes its first appearance on an album but is overdubbed with audience noises for this album. The back of the album cover contains an essay that was written by Merv Griffin and describes Ray Stevens' musical styles. Included in the essay is an anecdote about Stevens' appearance on ''The Merv Griffin Show'' while promoting ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ray Stevens
Harold Ray Ragsdale (born January 24, 1939), known professionally as Ray Stevens, is an American country and pop singer-songwriter and comedian, known for his Grammy-winning recordings "Everything Is Beautiful" and "Misty", as well as novelty hits such as "Gitarzan" and "The Streak". Stevens has received gold albums for his music sales and has worked as a producer, music arranger, and television host. He is also an inductee of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, the Georgia Music Hall of Fame, the Christian Music Hall of Fame, and the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. Early life Harold Ray Ragsdale was born on January 24, 1939, in Clarkdale, Georgia. He is the elder of two sons born to Willis Harold Ragsdale (1915–2001) and Frances Stephens Ragsdale (1916–97). He has a younger brother, John, who was an actor and writer. John died in 2020 at the age of 75. While attending high school, Stevens formed his first band, a rhythm and blues group named The Barons. Follow ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Merv Griffin Show
''The Merv Griffin Show'' is an American television talk show starring Merv Griffin. The series ran from October 1, 1962 to March 29, 1963 on NBC, May 10, 1965 to July 4, 1969 in first-run syndication, from August 18, 1969 to February 11, 1972 at 11:30 PM ET weeknights on CBS and again in first-run syndication from February 14, 1972 to September 5, 1986. Series history After a short run as a daytime show on NBC from October 1962 to March 1963, Merv Griffin launched a syndicated version of his talk show produced by Westinghouse (Group W) Broadcasting, which made its debut in May 1965. Intended as a nighttime companion to ''The Mike Douglas Show'' and succeeding Steve Allen and Regis Philbin in the time slot, this version of the Griffin program aired in multiple time slots throughout North America (many stations ran it in the daytime, and other non-NBC affiliates broadcast it opposite ''The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson''). Stations had the option of carrying either a 60-min ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in the United States. The weekly tracking period for sales was initially Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming, is readily available on a real-time basis, is also tracked on a Friday to Thursday cycle effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021 (previously Monday to Sunday and before July 2015, Wednesday to Tuesday). A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by ''Billboard'' on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday. The first number-one song of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 was " Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Ne ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Norbert Putnam
Norbert Auvin Putnam (born August 10, 1942) is an American musician, studio owner and record producer who was inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in 2019.Robert McFarland, Jr"Norbert Putnam."'' Delta Business Journal''. November 2004. Accessed 1 October 2007. He got his start as a bass player in the studio house band in Muscle Shoals, Alabama and from there was recruited to move to Nashville in 1965. He became a successful session player on recordings by artists including Roy Orbison, Al Hirt, Henry Mancini, Dan Fogelberg, Linda Ronstadt, J. J. Cale, Tony Joe White, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Michael Card, Ian & Sylvia and Bobby Goldsboro. Putnam published a memoir in 2017 entitled ''Music Lessons Vol. 1: a Musical Memoir'', in which he chronicled recording sessions with Elvis Presley and other artists. He became involved with music publishing in his mid-career and in 1971 built Quadraphonic Studios, a popular Nashville recording studio known as simply "Quad" by local ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Carrigan
Jerry Kirby Carrigan (September 13, 1943 – June 22, 2019) was an American drummer and record producer. Early in his career he was a member of the original Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and later worked as a session musician in Nashville for over three decades. His style of drumming with a loose, deep-sounding snare drum melded country music with an R&B feel and helped develop a Nashville sound known as "Countrypolitan". His drumming is heard on many recordings which have become classics, some listed below. He recorded with Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Charley Pride, Jerry Lee Lewis, Ray Stevens, Kenny Rogers, George Jones and many others. He recorded with non-country artists as well, including Henry Mancini, Al Hirt, Johnny Mathis, and the Boston Pops Orchestra. In 2009 he was inducted into the "Nashville Cats", a cadre of top recording musicians chosen by the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2010 he was inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame. Carrigan was inducted into the Musi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dallas Frazier
Dallas Frazier (October 27, 1939 – January 14, 2022) was an American country musician and songwriter who had success in the 1950s and 1960s. Life and career Frazier was born in Spiro, Oklahoma, on October 27, 1939, but was raised in Bakersfield, California. As a teenager, he played with Ferlin Husky and on the program ''Hometown Jamboree''; and released his first single, "Space Command", at age 14 in 1954. As he told writer Edd Hurt in a 2008 profile for the music website Perfect Sound Forever, "We were part of ''The Grapes of Wrath''. We were the Okies who went out to California with mattresses tied on the tops of their Model A Fords. My folks were poor. At twelve I moved away from home, with my folks' permission. Ferlin uskyoffered me a job, and I started working with him when I was twelve. Then I recorded a side for Capitol Records when I was fourteen, and I did some country. I cut in the big circular building that's still out there on Hollywood and Vine." Frazier's 1957 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Justis
William Everett Justis Jr. (October 14, 1926 – July 16, 1982) was an American pioneer rock and roll musician, composer, and arrangement, musical arranger, best known for his 1957 Grammy Hall of Fame song, "Raunchy (instrumental), Raunchy". As a songwriter, he was also often credited as Bill Everette. Biography Justis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, United States, but grew up in Memphis, Tennessee and studied music at Christian Brothers High School (Memphis, Tennessee), Christian Brothers College (high school department) and Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana. A trumpet and saxophone player, while in university he performed with local jazz and dance bands. He returned home to Memphis in 1951 and was eventually taken on by Sam Phillips at Sun Records where he recorded music for himself as well as arranged the music for Sun artists such as Jerry Lee Lewis, Roy Orbison, Johnny Cash, and Charlie Rich, the latter of which he is credited with discovering. Released in November ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gitarzan
"Gitarzan" is a novelty song released by Ray Stevens in 1969 about a character who lives in a jungle and forms a musical band with his female partner, Jane, and their pet monkey. The song features Tarzan's jungle calls, scat singing, and a funky boogie-woogie, a quote from the song "Swinging on a Star", with the line "Carrying moonbeams home in a jar" superimposed over an insistent G Major ostinato, and a melody from Martha and the Vandellas' " Honey Chile" in its chorus. The song reached #8 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 on 31 May 1969 and #10 in Canada in May 1969. It did best in New Zealand, where it reached #2. The music and lyrics were written by Stevens with a title supplied by Bill Justis. Justis is officially credited as Bill Everette. Cover versions A cover version was recorded by country music parodist Cledus T. Judd on his tribute album '' Boogity, Boogity - A Tribute to the Comedic Genius of Ray Stevens'' in 2007. Judd's cover features Keith Urban and Heidi Newfield ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al DeLory
Alfred V. De Lory (January 31, 1930 – February 5, 2012) was an American record producer, arranger, conductor and session musician. He was the producer and arranger of a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell in the 1960s, including John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston". He was also a member of the 1960s Los Angeles session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, and inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007. Biography Born in Los Angeles, De Lory was the son of a studio musician. As a child he studied piano and began arranging music while in the Army. Upon his discharge, he worked as a pianist in studio orchestras and in clubs. In the late 1950s De Lory co-wrote the 1960 #1 hit novelty song "Mr. Custer", recorded by Larry Verne. As an L.A. based session musician in the early 1960s De Lory played keyboards for various Phil Spector "Wall of Sound" productions, recordings of Surf r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Stoller
Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" (1952) and "Kansas City" (1952). Later in the 1950s, particularly through their work with The Coasters, they created a string of ground-breaking hits—including " Young Blood" (1957), "Searchin'" (1957), and "Yakety Yak" (1958)—that used the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal. Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for Elvis Presley, including " Love Me" (1956), " Jailhouse Rock" (1957), " Loving You", " Don't", and "King Creole". They also collaborated with other writers on such songs as " On Broadway", written with Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil; " Stand By Me", written with Ben E. King; "Young Blood", written with Doc Pomus; and "Spanish Harlem", co-written by Leiber and Phil Spector. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jerry Leiber
Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such Crossover music, crossover hit songs as "Hound Dog (song), Hound Dog" (1952) and "Kansas City (Leiber and Stoller song), Kansas City" (1952). Later in the 1950s, particularly through their work with The Coasters, they created a string of ground-breaking hits—including "Young Blood (The Coasters song), Young Blood" (1957), "Searchin'" (1957), and "Yakety Yak" (1958)—that used the humorous vernacular of teenagers sung in a style that was openly theatrical rather than personal. Leiber and Stoller wrote hits for Elvis Presley, including "Love Me (Leiber/Stoller song), Love Me" (1956), "Jailhouse Rock (song), Jailhouse Rock" (1957), "Loving You (Elvis Presley song), Loving You", "Don't (Leiber/Stoller song), Don't", and "King Creole (song), King Creole". They also collaborate ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Streak (song)
"The Streak" is a country/novelty song written, produced, and sung by Ray Stevens. It was released in February 1974 as the lead single to his album '' Boogity Boogity''. "The Streak" capitalized on the then-popular craze of streaking. In 2007, Cledus T. Judd covered "The Streak" on his album ''Boogity Boogity - A Tribute to the Comic Genius of Ray Stevens''. One of Stevens' most successful recordings, "The Streak" was his second No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in the US, spending three weeks at the top in May 1974, as well as reaching No. 3 on the ''Billboard'' Hot Country Singles chart. A major international hit, it also reached No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart, spending a single week at the top of the chart in June 1974. In total it sold over five million copies internationally and ranked on ''Billboard''′s top hits of 1974 at number 8. Origin Stevens has stated that he first got the idea for the song while reading a news magazine on an airplane. The magazine i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
