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In Square Circle
''In Square Circle'' is the twentieth studio album by American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder, released in 1985. The album features the hit singles " Part-Time Lover" (No. 1), " Go Home" (No. 10), " Overjoyed" (No. 24), and "Land of La La" (No. 86). The album earned Wonder a Grammy for Best Male R&B Vocal Performance at the 1986 Grammy Awards. ''In Square Circle'' made the top five on the Pop Albums chart, and spent 12 weeks at number one on the Top R&B Albums chart. On the UK Albums Chart, it peaked at number five. Track listing All songs written, produced and arranged by Stevie Wonder. Side one #" Part-Time Lover" – 4:09 #"I Love You Too Much" – 5:30 #"Whereabouts" – 4:17 #" Stranger on the Shore of Love" – 5:01 #"Never in Your Sun" – 4:07 Side two #"Spiritual Walkers" – 5:12 #"Land of La La" – 5:14 #" Go Home" – 5:18 #" Overjoyed" – 3:43 #"It's Wrong (Apartheid)" – 3:29 Musicians "Part-Time Lover" * Stevie Wonder – lead vocal, synthesizers, drums ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, Gospel music, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of Contemporary R&B, R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LP record, LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Visual impairment, Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1963, at the age of 13, making him the List o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1986 Grammy Awards
The 28th Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 25, 1986, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the previous year, 1985 in music, 1985. The night's big winner was USA for Africa, USA For Africa's "We Are the World, We Are The World", which won four awards, including Grammy Award for Song of the Year, Song of the Year which went to Michael Jackson and Lionel Richie. It marked the first time in their respective careers that they received the Song of the Year Award. For Richie, it was his sixth attempt in eight years. The other three awards (including Record of the Year) for the latter single were given to the song's producer, Quincy Jones. Another big winner was Phil Collins, whose ''No Jacket Required'' LP amassed three wins: Album of the Year (Grammy), Album of the Year (alongside Hugh Padgham), Producer of the Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, Best Pop Vocal (Male). The Manhattan Transfer (band), Manhattan Transfer also ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kora (instrument)
The kora (Manding languages: ''köra'') is a stringed instrument used extensively in West Africa. A kora typically has 21 strings, which are played by plucking with the fingers. It combines features of the lute and harp. Description The kora is built from gourd, cut in half and covered with cow skin to make a resonator with a long hardwood neck. The skin is supported by two handles that run underneath it. It has 21 strings, each of which plays a different note. These strings are supported by a notched, double free-standing bridge. The kora doesn't fit into any one category of musical instrument, but rather several, and must be classified as a "double-bridge-harp-lute." The strings run in two divided ranks, characteristic of a double harp. They do not end in a soundboard but are instead held in notches on a bridge, classifying it as a bridge harp. The strings originate from a string arm or neck and cross a bridge directly supported by a resonating chamber, also making it a lute ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Paul Riser
Paul Riser (born September 11, 1943) is an American trombonist and Motown musical arranger who was responsible for co-writing and arranging dozens of top ten hit records. His legacy as one of the "Funk Brothers" is similar to that of most of the other "Brothers", as his career has been overlooked and overshadowed by the stars of Motown that became household names. Some of the Funk Brothers he worked with include: Earl Van Dyke, Johnny Griffith, Robert White, Eddie Willis, Joe Messina, Dennis Coffey, Wah Wah Watson, James Jamerson, Bob Babbitt, Eddie Watkins, Richard "Pistol" Allen, Uriel Jones, Andrew Smith, Jack Ashford, Valerie Simpson, Eddie "Bongo" Brown, Benny Benjamin, Cornelius Grant, Joe Hunter, Richard "Popcorn" Wylie, Marcus Belgrave, Teddy Buckner and Stevie Wonder. Early career A graduate of Cass Technical High School in Detroit, Michigan where he studied classical and jazz trombone, Paul was introduced to Berry Gordy at Motown by a friend who had already been wor ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Earl Klugh
Earl Klugh ( ; born September 16, 1953) is an American acoustic guitarist and composer. He has won one Grammy award and thirteen nominations. Klugh was awarded the “1977” Best Recording Award For Performance and Sound” for his album “Finger Painting” by “Swing Journal” a Japanese jazz magazine. Biography At the age of six, Klugh commenced training on the piano until he switched to the guitar at the age of ten. At the age of thirteen, Klugh was captivated by the guitar playing of Chet Atkins when Atkins made an appearance on the Perry Como Show. Klugh was a performing guest on several of Atkins' albums. Atkins, reciprocating as well, joined Earl on his '' Magic In Your Eyes'' album. Klugh also appeared with Atkins on several television programs, including ''Hee Haw'' and a 1994 TV special titled "Read my Licks". Klugh was also influenced by Bob James, Ray Parker Jr, Wes Montgomery and Laurindo Almeida. His sound is a blend of these jazz, pop and rhythm and blues i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Acoustic Piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a keyboard, which is a row of keys (small levers) that the performer presses down or strikes with the fingers and thumbs of both hands to cause the hammers to strike the strings. It was invented in Italy by Bartolomeo Cristofori around the year 1700. Description The word "piano" is a shortened form of ''pianoforte'', the Italian term for the early 1700s versions of the instrument, which in turn derives from ''clavicembalo col piano e forte'' (key cimbalom with quiet and loud)Pollens (1995, 238) and ''fortepiano''. The Italian musical terms ''piano'' and ''forte'' indicate "soft" and "loud" respectively, in this context referring to the variations in volume (i.e., loudness) produced in response to a pianist's touch or pressure on the keys: the grea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vocoder
A vocoder (, a portmanteau of ''voice'' and ''encoder'') is a category of speech coding that analyzes and synthesizes the human voice signal for audio data compression, multiplexing, voice encryption or voice transformation. The vocoder was invented in 1938 by Homer Dudley at Bell Labs as a means of synthesizing human speech. This work was developed into the channel vocoder which was used as a voice codec for telecommunications for speech coding to conserve bandwidth in transmission. By encrypting the control signals, voice transmission can be secured against interception. Its primary use in this fashion is for secure radio communication. The advantage of this method of encryption is that none of the original signal is sent, only envelopes of the bandpass filters. The receiving unit needs to be set up in the same filter configuration to re-synthesize a version of the original signal spectrum. The vocoder has also been used extensively as an electronic musical instrument. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Edwin Birdsong
Edwin L. Birdsong (August 22, 1941 – January 21, 2019) was an American keyboardist and organist, known in the 1970s and 1980s for his experimental funk/ disco music. Birdsong did not achieve much chart success, but developed a strong fan base, and has also been sampled by other artists many times, most famously by Daft Punk who sampled "Cola Bottle Baby" in "Harder, Better, Faster, Stronger", and Gang Starr who sampled his single "Rapper Dapper Snapper" for their song "Skills". Biography Birdsong was the son of a minister and grew up in a strict fundamentalist environment. He joined the Los Angeles Community Choir for a period before serving in the army during the Vietnam War era. While in the army, he was stationed in Germany. He went on to play in clubs in Germany, and then moved to New York City to pursue his music career. There he headed a jazz and blues trio but experienced little success. While in New York he attended the Manhattan School of Music as well as Juilliar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yamaha CS-80
The Yamaha CS-80 is an analog synthesizer released in 1977. It supports true 8-voice polyphony, with two independent synthesizer layers per voice each with its own set of front panel controls, in addition to a number of hardwired preset voice settings and four parameter settings stores based on banks of subminiature potentiometers (rather than the digital programmable presets the Prophet-5 would sport soon after). It has exceptionally complete performer expression features, such as a layered keyboard that was both velocity-sensitive (like a piano's) and pressure-sensitive (" after-touch") but unlike most modern keyboards the aftertouch could be applied to individual voices rather than in common, and a ribbon controller allowing for polyphonic pitch-bends and glissandos. Production of the instrument ceased in 1980. Vying with the Sequential Circuits Prophet-5 and Oberheim OB-X polysynths for the title, the CS-80 is often described as the pre-eminent polyphonic analog synthes ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Deniece Williams
Deniece Williams (born June Deniece Chandler; June 3, 1951) is an American singer. She has been described as "one of the great soul voices" by the BBC. She is best known for the songs " Free", " Silly", "It's Gonna Take a Miracle" and two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 No.1 singles "Let's Hear It for the Boy" and "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" (with Johnny Mathis). Williams has won four Grammys with twelve nominations altogether. Early life June Deniece Chandler was born and raised in Gary, Indiana, United States. She attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland, in the hopes of becoming a registered nurse and an anesthetist, but she dropped out after a year and a half. She recalled, "You have to be a good student to be in college, and I wasn't." Career Early years (late 1960s-1980) Williams started performing while a college student, "a part-time job singing at a club, Casino Royal, and I liked it. It was a lot of fun." During those years, she also worked at a telephon ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philip Bailey
Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American R&B, soul, gospel and funk singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. Noted for his four-octave vocal range and distinctive falsetto register, Bailey has won seven Grammy Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire. Bailey was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his work with the band. Bailey has released several solo albums. ''Chinese Wall'' from 1984, which received a Grammy Award nomination for Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male, included the international hit, "Easy Lover", a duet with Phil Collins. "Easy Lover" won an MTV Video Music Award for Best Overall Performance in a Video in and was Grammy nominated for Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group With Vocals. In May 2008, Bailey was awarded ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Syreeta Wright
Syreeta Wright (February 28, 1946 – July 6, 2004), who recorded professionally under the single name Syreeta, was an American singer-songwriter, best known for her music during the early 1970s through the early 1980s. Wright's career heights were songs in collaboration with her ex-husband Stevie Wonder and musical artist Billy Preston. Biography Early life and career Wright was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States, in 1946, and started singing at the age of four. Her father served in the Korean War and Wright and her sister Kim were raised by their mother Essie and their grandmother. The Wrights moved back and forth from Detroit to South Carolina, before finally settling in Detroit just as Wright entered high school. Money problems kept Wright from pursuing a career in ballet, so she focused her attention on a music career joining several singing groups, before landing a job as a receptionist for Motown in 1965. Within a year, she became a secretary for Mickey Stevens ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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