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Hits Of The 50's
''Hits of the 50's'' is the fifth studio album by American singer-songwriter Sam Cooke. Produced by Hugo & Luigi, the album was released in August 1960 by RCA Victor. ''Hits of the 50's'' consists of Cooke's versions of songs originally sung by such artists as Nat King Cole, Frankie Avalon, and Doris Day. The album was remastered in 2011 as a part of ''The RCA Albums Collection''. Background ''Hits of the 50's'' was recorded only two weeks following the sessions that produced ''Cooke's Tour'' in March 1960, over a month prior to the release of that album. The bulk of the album was recorded on March 23, 1960, with the remaining numbers—"The Great Pretender", "You, You, You", "The Wayward Wind", "Cry", and "Venus"—being recorded the following day. Many of the same musicians who recorded on ''Cooke's Tour'' returned for ''Hits of the 50's''. Track listing All songs arranged and conducted by Glen Osser. Side one # "Hey There" (Richard Adler, Jerry Ross) – 2:32 # "Mona ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sam Cooke
Samuel Cook (January 22, 1931 – December 11, 1964), known professionally as Sam Cooke, was an American singer and songwriter. Considered to be a pioneer and one of the most influential soul artists of all time, Cooke is commonly referred to as the " King of Soul" for his distinctive vocals, notable contributions to the genre and significance in popular music. Cooke was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi and later relocated to Chicago with his family at a young age, where he began singing as a child and joined the Soul Stirrers as lead singer in the 1950s. Going solo in 1957, Cooke released a string of hit songs, including "You Send Me", " A Change Is Gonna Come", "Cupid", " Wonderful World", " Chain Gang", "Twistin' the Night Away", " Bring It On Home to Me", and "Good Times". During his eight-year career, Cooke released 29 singles that charted in the Top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Pop Singles chart, as well as 20 singles in the Top Ten of ''Billboard'' Black Singles chart. In ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Adler
Richard Adler (August 3, 1921 – June 21, 2012) was an American lyricist, writer, composer and producer of several Broadway shows. Life and career Adler was born in New York City, the son of Elsa Adrienne (née Richard) and Clarence Adler. His mother was a debutante from Mobile, Alabama. Adler had a musical upbringing, his father being a renowned Jewish concert pianist, as well as teacher of such composers as Aaron Copland. He graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill in 1943 and served in the U.S. Naval Reserve during World War II. After his Navy service he began his career as a lyricist, teaming up with Jerry Ross in 1950. As a duo they worked in tandem, both taking credit for lyrics and music. Adler and Ross Years (1950–1955) After establishing their partnership, Adler and Ross quickly became protégés of composer, lyricist and publisher Frank Loesser. Their first notable composition was the song "Rags to Riches", which was recorded by Tony Bennet ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alex North
Alex North (born Isadore Soifer, December 4, 1910 – September 8, 1991) was an American composer best known for his many film scores, including ''A Streetcar Named Desire'' (one of the first jazz-based film scores), ''Viva Zapata!'', ''Spartacus'', ''Cleopatra'', and ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' He was the first composer to receive an Honorary Academy Award, but never won a competitive Oscar despite fifteen nominations. He wrote the music for Unchained Melody as the theme for the prison film '' Unchained'' (1955), It has become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, with over 1,500 recordings made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages. Early life North was born Isadore Soifer in Chester, Pennsylvania, to Jewish parents Jesse and Baila (Bessie) who had left the Russian Empire for the US around 1906. Jesse was from Bila Tserkva and Besie originated from Odessa (both cities are now in Ukraine). In the US, Jesse was a blacksmith, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Unchained Melody
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the prison film '' Unchained'' (1955), hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack.Robert Rodriguez The 1950s' Most Wanted: The Top 10 Book of Rock & Roll Rebels ''Brassey's'', p.90. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in 1965. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages. In 1955, three versions of the song (by Les Baxter, Al Hibbler, and Roy Hamilton) charted in the ''Billboard'' top 10 in the United States, and four versions (by Al Hibbler, Les Baxter, Jimmy Young, and Liberace) appeared in the top 20 in the United Kingdom simultaneously, a record for any song. The song continued to chart in the 21st century, and it was the only s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Robert Mellin
Israel Melnikoff (September 22, 1902 – July 10, 1994), known professionally as Robert Mellin, was a Russian Empire-born American composer and lyricist and music publisher. Born in Kyiv and raised in Chicago, where his first job was music plugger at Remick Music. In the early 1940s he moved to New York, where he founded his own company in 1947. Moving to Europe in the early 1950s, Mellin wrote the music or lyrics for hundreds of songs, including several hits, over the next two decades. His biggest hit was ''My One and Only Love'' written with lyricist Guy Wood. It was recorded by many artists, including Frank Sinatra, Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Chet Baker and (as a duet) John Coltrane and Johnny Hartman. In 1962 Mellin wrote lyrics for Acker Bilk's instrumental '' Stranger on the Shore'', enabling it to be covered by vocal artists. From the mid-1950s onwards he ran his own music publishing company, Robert Mellin Music, based in London's Tin Pan Alley on Denmark Street. T ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
You, You, You
"You, You, You" is a popular song published in 1953. The music was written by Lotar Olias, the original German lyrics by Walter Rothenberg, with English lyrics written by Robert Mellin. Ames Brothers recording A recording by The Ames Brothers with Hugo Winterhalter Hugo Winterhalter (August 15, 1909 – September 17, 1973) was an American easy listening arranger and composer, best known for his arrangements and recordings for RCA Victor. Biography Hugo Ferdinand Winterhalter was born in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsy ...'s orchestra and chorus was made at Manhattan Center, New York City on May 16, 1953. It was released by RCA Victor as catalog number 20-5325A (in US) and by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number B 105431. It became a major hit in the US in 1953 reaching the No. 2 spot in the Billboard chart. Other recordings *It was also a minor hit for Mel Carter on Derby Records in 1966, as one of the follow-ups to his hit, "Hold Me, Thrill Me, Kiss Me". This vers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Buck Ram
Samuel "Buck" Ram (November 21, 1907 – January 1, 1991) was an American songwriter, and popular music producer and arranger. He was one of BMI's top five songwriters/air play in its first 50 years, alongside Paul Simon, Kris Kristofferson, Jimmy Webb, and Paul McCartney. He is best known for his long association with The Platters and also wrote, produced and arranged for the Penguins, the Coasters, the Drifters, Ike and Tina Turner, Ike Cole, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. He was also known as Ande Rand, Lynn Paul or Jean Miles. Biography He was born Samuel Ram in Chicago, Illinois in 1907, to Jewish parents. Ram was a talent manager with his own firm, Personality Productions and an A&R man when Tony Williams, the brother of singer Linda Hayes, auditioned for him. Ram was looking for a group to sing the songs he wrote and found the voice he was looking for in Williams. He transformed the Platters and changed their rhythm and blues style, buil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Great Pretender
"The Great Pretender" is a popular song recorded by The Platters, with Tony Williams on lead vocals, and released as a single in November 1955. The words and music were written by Buck Ram, the Platters' manager and producer who was a successful songwriter before moving into producing and management. The song reached No. 1 on ''Billboard''s Top 100, and No. 5 on the UK charts. The song has been covered by a number of singers, most notably by Freddie Mercury, whose version reached No. 4 on the UK charts. Sam Cooke's cover of the song is believed to have inspired Chrissie Hynde to name her band The Pretenders. Platters' original Buck Ram, the manager of The Platters said that he wrote the song in about 20 minutes in the washroom of the Flamingo Hotel in order to have a follow up to the success of "Only You (And You Alone)". Ram had boasted to Bob Shad that he had an even better song than "Only You", and when pressed by Shad on the name of the song, and Ram quickly replied "The Gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sylvia Dee
Sylvia Dee (born Josephine Moore, October 22, 1914 – June 12, 1967) was an American lyricist and novelist best known for writing the lyrics to " Too Young", a hit for Nat King Cole, " The End of the World", a hit for Skeeter Davis and "Bring Me Sunshine", which was Morecambe & Wise's signature tune. Biography Dee was born in Little Rock, Arkansas and educated at the University of Michigan. She was a copywriter for a newspaper in Rochester, New York, and wrote a number of short stories as well as the Broadway stage scores for "Barefoot Boy With Cheek". Joining ASCAP in 1943, her musical collaborators included Sidney Lippman, Arthur Kent, Elizabeth Evelyn Moore, George Goehring, Al Frisch and Guy Wood. Dee wrote the words to a nonsense song that went to number 1 in 1945 called "Chickery Chick". The music was written by Sidney Lippman and it was played by Sammy Kaye's orchestra. Its nonsense lyrics included "Chickery chick, cha-la, cha-la". She co-wrote "I Taught Him Everyth ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sidney Lippman
Sidney Lippman (March 1, 1914 – March 11, 2003) was a composer and songwriter. He wrote the music for Nat King Cole's 1951 No. 1 hit "Too Young". " Too Young's" words were written by Sylvia Dee, a lyricist and longtime collaborator with Lippman. They got the idea for the song when she told him that her younger brother was getting married and she thought he was too young. ''As she said that,'' Mr. Lippman recalled, ''she looked at me and I looked at her and we both said, 'Title?' '' He teamed up with Buddy Kaye and Fred Wise to do the words and music for " 'A' - You're Adorable (The Alphabet Song)", which also became a No. 1 hit, in 1949, as an RCA Victor recording with Perry Como and the Fontane Sisters. Mr. Lippman's other successful pop songs included the novelty ''Chickery Chick,'' which was a number one hit for Sammy Kaye in 1945. Sidney Lippman, also called Sid, was a native of Minneapolis and graduated from the University of Minnesota. During World War II he was a m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Too Young (popular Song)
"Too Young" is a popular song, with music written by Sidney Lippman and lyrics by Sylvia Dee. A recording of the song was released by Nat King Cole in 1951, which reached No. 1 in the United States and became the best-selling song of the year. Another successful version was released by Donny Osmond in 1972. Nat King Cole recording "Too Young" was one of the early attempts by record labels to release songs with a young musical persona that might appeal to a young audience. In the United States, among the earliest versions were those recorded by Victor Young and His Orchestra, and Johnny Desmond. However, it was the version recorded by Nat King Cole that proved to be most successful. The song was recorded on February 6, 1951, and released by Capitol Records (catalog number 1449) in March. It reached the number one position on the '' Billboard'' chart in June 1951, staying there for five weeks and altogether on the Best Seller chart for 29 weeks. It also spent an unprecedented ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jay Livingston
Jay Livingston (born Jacob Harold Levison, March 28, 1915 – October 17, 2001) was an American composer best known as half of a song-writing duo with Ray Evans that specialized in songs composed for films. Livingston wrote music and Evans the lyrics. Early life and career Livingston was born in McDonald, Pennsylvania to Jewish parents. He had an older sister, Vera, and a younger brother, Alan W. Livingston, who became an executive with Capitol Records, and later with NBC television. Livingston studied piano with Harry Archer in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he organized a dance band and met Evans, a fellow student in the band. Their professional collaboration began in 1937. Livingston and Evans won the Academy Award for Best Original Song three times, in 1948 for the song "Buttons and Bows", written for the movie '' The Paleface''; in 1950 for the song "Mona Lisa", written for the movie '' Captain Carey, U.S.A.''; and in 1956 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
