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Janice McClain
Janice Michell McClain (born 25 January 1964 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) is an American R&B singer, probably best known for her 1979 disco hit "Smack Dab in the Middle". Early life and teenage career McClain was raised in North Philly, the only child of a construction father and a mother who worked as a secretary and later as a dressmaker. Singing nearly from infancy in church, McClain grew up in a musical household - both of her parents had themselves cut records as teenagers - , McClain becoming conversant at an early age with current Soul hits, showtunes and opera: her early idols included Freda Payne and Diana Ross and as a teenager McClain became an especial fan of Michael Jackson. A student at the Philadelphia High School for the Creative and Performing Arts, McClain also studied at Settlement Music School. At age 14 McClain's evident vocal prowess led to her professional performing debut singing with the local jazz ensemble Pieces of a Dream: also when McClain was ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia
Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Since 1854, the city has been coextensive with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the Delaware Valley, the nation's seventh-largest and one of world's largest metropolitan regions, with 6.245 million residents . The city's population at the 2020 census was 1,603,797, and over 56 million people live within of Philadelphia. Philadelphia was founded in 1682 by William Penn, an English Quaker. The city served as capital of the Pennsylvania Colony during the British colonial era and went on to play a historic and vital role as the central meeting place for the nation's founding fathers whose plans and actions in Philadelphia ultimately inspired the American Revolution and the nation's inde ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Warner Bros
Warner Bros. Entertainment Inc. (commonly known as Warner Bros. or abbreviated as WB) is an American film and entertainment studio headquartered at the Warner Bros. Studios complex in Burbank, California, and a subsidiary of Warner Bros. Discovery. Founded in 1923 by four brothers, Harry, Albert, Sam, and Jack Warner, the company established itself as a leader in the American film industry before diversifying into animation, television, and video games and is one of the "Big Five" major American film studios, as well as a member of the Motion Picture Association (MPA). The company is known for its film studio division the Warner Bros. Pictures Group, which includes Warner Bros. Pictures, New Line Cinema, the Warner Animation Group, Castle Rock Entertainment, and DC Studios. Among its other assets, stands the television production company Warner Bros. Television Studios. Bugs Bunny, a cartoon character created by Tex Avery, Ben Hardaway, Chuck Jones, Bob Givens and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
James Brown
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "the Hardest Working Man in Show Business", "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and "Soul Brother No. 1". In a career that lasted more than 50 years, he influenced the development of several music genres. Brown was one of the first 10 inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at its inaugural induction in New York on January 23, 1986. Brown began his career as a gospel singer in Toccoa, Georgia. He first came to national public attention in the mid-1950s as the lead singer of the Famous Flames, a rhythm and blues vocal group founded by Bobby Byrd. With the hit ballads "Please, Please, Please" and " Try Me", Brown built a reputation as a dynamic live performer with the Famous Flames and his backing band, sometimes know ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Waterloo Village
Waterloo Village is a restored 19th-century canal town in Byram Township, New Jersey, Byram Township, Sussex County, New Jersey, Sussex County (west of Stanhope, New Jersey, Stanhope) in northwestern New Jersey, United States. The community was approximately the half-way point in the roughly trip along the Morris Canal, which ran from Jersey City, New Jersey, Jersey City (across the Hudson River from Manhattan, New York) to Phillipsburg, New Jersey, (across the Delaware River from Easton, Pennsylvania). Waterloo possessed all the accommodations necessary to service the needs of a canal operation, including an inn, a general store, a church, a blacksmith shop (to service the mules on the canal), and a watermill. For canal workers, Waterloo's geographic location would have been conducive to being an overnight stopover point on the two-day trip between Phillipsburg and Jersey City. It is currently an open-air museum in Allamuchy Mountain State Park. As part of the State Park, it ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Newport Jazz Festival
The Newport Jazz Festival is an annual American multi-day jazz music festival held every summer in Newport, Rhode Island. Elaine Lorillard established the festival in 1954, and she and husband Louis Lorillard financed it for many years. They hired George Wein to organize the first festival and bring jazz to Rhode Island. Most of the early festivals were broadcast on Voice of America radio, and many performances were recorded and released as albums. In 1972, the Newport Jazz Festival was moved to New York City. In 1981, it became a two-site festival when it was returned to Newport while continuing in New York. From 1984 to 2008, the festival was known as the JVC Jazz Festival; in the economic downturn of 2009, JVC ceased its support of the festival and was replaced by CareFusion. The festival is hosted in Newport at Fort Adams State Park. It is often held in the same month as the Newport Folk Festival. Festival's establishment at Newport 1950s In 1954, the first Newport Jazz F ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Camden Courier-Post
The ''Courier-Post'' is a morning daily newspaper that serves South Jersey in the Delaware Valley. It is based in Cherry Hill, New Jersey and serves most of Burlington, Camden, and Gloucester counties. The paper has 30,313 daily paid subscribers and 41,078 on Sunday. As the fifth-largest newspaper published in New Jersey, the ''Courier-Post''s main competitors are ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'' across the Delaware River in Pennsylvania, and the ''Burlington County Times The ''Burlington County Times'' is a daily newspaper located in Westampton, New Jersey, U.S. The paper, which is part of the Gannett chain of newspapers, covers municipal and county issues in Burlington County, New Jersey as well as local and pr ...'' and '' South Jersey Times'' in South Jersey. Established in 1875, the ''Post'' moved to Camden in 1879. It merged with ''The Telegram'' in 1899 to become ''The Post & Telegram''. In 1926, ''The Post & Telegram'' and the ''Camden Courier'' consolidated und ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Billy Paul
Paul Williams (December 1, 1934 – April 24, 2016), known professionally as Billy Paul, was a Grammy Award-winning American soul singer, known for his 1972 No. 1 single " Me and Mrs. Jones", as well as the 1973 album and single ''War of the Gods'', which blends his more conventional pop, soul, and funk styles with electronic and psychedelic influences. He was one of the many artists associated with the Philadelphia soul sound created by Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell. Paul was identified by his diverse vocal style, which ranged from mellow and soulful to low and raspy. Questlove of the Roots equated Paul with Marvin Gaye and Stevie Wonder, calling him "one of the criminally unmentioned proprietors of socially conscious post-revolution '60s civil rights music." Life and career Early years Paul was raised in North Philadelphia. His love of music began at a young age, listening at home to his family's music collection. He recalled: "That's how I really got indoctrin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes
Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes were an American soul and R&B vocal group. One of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s, the group's repertoire included soul, R&B, doo-wop, and disco. Founded in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in the middle of the 1950s as The Charlemagnes, the group is most noted for several hits on Gamble and Huff's Philadelphia International label between 1972 and 1976, although they performed and recorded until Melvin's death in 1997. Despite group founder and original lead singer Harold Melvin's top billing, the Blue Notes' most famous member was Teddy Pendergrass, their lead singer during the successful years at Philadelphia International. The remaining members of the Blue Notes have reunited for Soul Train Cruises in 2013, 2015, and 2017. History Early years The group formerly known as The Charlemagnes took on the name "The Blue Notes" in 1954, with a line-up consisting of lead singer Franklin Peaker, Bernard Wilson, Roosevelt Brodie, Jesse ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
McFadden & Whitehead
McFadden and Whitehead were an American R&B duo, best known for their signature tune "Ain't No Stoppin' Us Now". They wrote and produced some of the most popular R&B hits of the 1970s, and were primarily associated with the Gamble and Huff record label, Philadelphia International Records. Early career As teenagers, Gene McFadden and John Whitehead met at school in 1960s Philadelphia and formed a group called The Epsilons. The personnel included Allen Beatty, James Knight, and future Blue Notes member Lloyd Parks. When Otis Redding came to Philadelphia, The Epsilons were invited to become part of his revue. They toured with him during the late 1960s until Redding's death in a plane crash in 1967. They signed a small record deal with Stax Records on the back of this opportunity and had a moderate success in 1970 with "The Echo". After the departure of Lloyd Parks to Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, Gene and John changed their name to Talk of the Town and worked with Gamble/Hu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Philadelphia Soul
Philadelphia soul, sometimes called Philly soul, the Philadelphia sound, Phillysound, or The Sound of Philadelphia TSOP, is a genre of late 1960s–1970s soul music characterized by funk influences and lush instrumental arrangements, often featuring sweeping strings and piercing horns. The genre laid the groundwork for disco by fusing the R&B rhythm sections of the 1960s with the pop vocal tradition, and featuring a slightly more pronounced jazz influence in its melodic structures and arrangements. Fred Wesley, the trombonist of the James Brown band and Parliament-Funkadelic, described the signature deep but orchestrated sound as "putting the bow tie on funk." Style Due to the emphasis on sound and arrangement and the relative anonymity of many of the style's players, Philadelphia soul is often considered a producers' genre. Bunny Sigler, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff were credited with developing the genre. Philadelphia soul songwriters and producers included Bobby Martin, Th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mann Center For The Performing Arts
The Mann Center for the Performing Arts (formerly known as the Robin Hood Dell West and Mann Music Center) is a nonprofit performing arts center located in the Centennial District of Philadelphia's West Fairmount Park, built in 1976 as the summer home for the Philadelphia Orchestra. It is the successor in this role to the Robin Hood Dell outdoor amphitheater, where the Philadelphia Orchestra had given summer performances since 1935. It has since hosted artists and touring companies such as the American Ballet Theatre with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Marian Anderson, Leonard Bernstein, Buena Vista Social Club, Ray Charles, Judy Garland, the Metropolitan Opera, Mormon Tabernacle Choir, Paul Robeson, Itzhak Perlman, Lang Lang, Midori, and Yo-Yo Ma. Major Philadelphia premieres have included the Israel Philharmonic Orchestra, Bolshoi Ballet and Orchestra's production of ''Spartacus'', and Britain's Royal Ballet’s productions of ''Romeo and Juliet'' and ''Swan Lake''. Among the scores of a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Twelve-inch Single
The twelve-inch single (often written as 12-inch or 12″) is a type of vinyl ( polyvinyl chloride or PVC) gramophone record that has wider groove spacing and shorter playing time with a 'single' or a few related sound tracks on each surface, compared to LPs (long play) which have several songs on each side. This allows for louder levels to be cut on the disc by the mastering engineer, which in turn gives a wider dynamic range, and thus better sound quality. This record type is commonly used in disco and dance music genres, where DJs use them to play in clubs. They are played at either or 45 . The conventional 7‐inch single usually holds three or four minutes of music at full volume. The 12‐inch LP sacrifices volume for extended playing time. Technical features Twelve-inch singles typically have much shorter playing time than full-length LPs, and thus require fewer grooves per inch. This extra space permits a broader dynamic range or louder recording level as the gr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
