Koo Koo
''KooKoo'' is the debut solo album by American singer Debbie Harry, released on July 27, 1981, by Chrysalis Records. Produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of Chic, the album was recorded whilst Harry took a break from her band Blondie. It was a moderate commercial success, reaching number 25 on the US ''Billboard'' 200 and number six on the UK Albums Chart. Background ''KooKoo'' was recorded while Harry and boyfriend Chris Stein were taking a break from the band Blondie. The album was produced by Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards of the R&B band Chic, who had just had major success working with Diana Ross on her 1980 album '' Diana''. Harry and Stein first met the pair at the Power Station recording studio in New York while Blondie were recording their 1979 album ''Eat to the Beat'', and they remained good friends in the intervening years. ''KooKoo'' was one of three albums to be (co)written and produced by Rodgers and Edwards in 1981, the other two being Chic's ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Debbie Harry
Deborah Ann Harry (born Angela Trimble; July 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter and actress, best known as the lead vocalist of the band Blondie. Four of her songs with the band reached on the US charts between 1979 and 1981. Born in Miami, Florida, Harry was adopted as an infant and raised in Hawthorne, New Jersey. After attending college, she worked various jobs—as a dancer, a Playboy Bunny and a secretary (including at the BBC in New York)—before her breakthrough in the music industry. Harry co-formed Blondie in 1974 in New York City. The band released its eponymous debut album in 1976, and released a further three albums between then and 1979, including ''Parallel Lines'', which spawned six singles, including " Heart of Glass". Their fifth album, ''Autoamerican'' (1980), afforded Harry and the band further attention, spawning such hits as a cover of "The Tide Is High", and " Rapture", the latter of which is considered the first rap song to chart at number one i ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chic (band)
Chic ( ), currently called Nile Rodgers & Chic, is an American band that was formed in 1972 by guitarist Nile Rodgers and bassist Bernard Edwards. It recorded many commercially successful disco songs, including "Dance, Dance, Dance (Yowsah, Yowsah, Yowsah)" (1977), " Everybody Dance" (1977), "Le Freak" (1978), " I Want Your Love" (1978), " Good Times" (1979), and "My Forbidden Lover" (1979). The group regarded themselves as a rock band for the disco movement "that made good on hippie peace, love and freedom". In 2017, Chic was nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the eleventh time. History 1970–1978: Origins and early singers Nile Rodgers and Bernard Edwards met in 1970 as session musicians working in the New York City area. They formed a rock band initially named The Boys, but soon changed it to The Big Apple Band, and played numerous gigs around New York City. Despite interest in their demos, they never garnered a record contract. Both ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Let's Dance (David Bowie Album)
''Let's Dance'' is the 15th studio album by English singer-songwriter David Bowie, released on 14 April 1983 through EMI America Records. After the release of '' Scary Monsters'' (1980), Bowie began a period of numerous musical collaborations and film appearances. By 1982, he left RCA Records out of dissatisfaction and signed with EMI America. Wanting a fresh start, he chose Nile Rodgers of the band Chic to co-produce his next record. The album was recorded in December 1982 at the Power Station in New York City. The sessions featured entirely new players, including then-unknown Texas blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan on lead guitar. For the first time ever, Bowie only sang and played no instruments. Musically, ''Let's Dance'' has been described as a post-disco record, with elements of dance-rock, dance-pop and new wave. It contains three cover songs: Iggy Pop's "China Girl", which Bowie and Pop had recorded together for the latter's ''The Idiot'' (1977); Metro's "Cri ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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David Bowie
David Robert Jones (8 January 194710 January 2016), known professionally as David Bowie ( ), was an English singer-songwriter and actor. A leading figure in the music industry, he is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th century. Bowie was acclaimed by critics and musicians, particularly for his innovative work during the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, and his music and stagecraft had a significant impact on popular music. Bowie developed an interest in music from an early age. He studied art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. "Space Oddity", released in 1969, was his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust (character), Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of Bowie's single "Starman (song), Starma ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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I Love My Lady
''I Love My Lady'' is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was completed in 1981 but not released in its entirety until December 8, 2017, when it was included in the box set '' The Voice of Romance: The Columbia Original Album Collection''. It was written and produced by Chic founders Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers and represented an attempt at shifting away from the easy listening style of music that Mathis had been recording for 25 years to the more contemporary sound of the team behind "Le Freak" and " We Are Family". As part of Record Store Day on April 21, 2018, Legacy Recordings gave ''I Love My Lady'' its standalone debut with a pressing on clear smoke vinyl. History Mathis experienced a career resurgence in the spring of 1978 with the release of a duet he recorded with Deniece Williams titled "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late". The single was his first to achieve Gold certification from the Recording Industry Association of America,. which at the time was ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Johnny Mathis
John Royce Mathis (born September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status and 73 making the ''Billboard'' charts. Mathis has received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and has been inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame for three recordings. Although frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes traditional pop, Brazilian and Spanish music, soul, rhythm and blues, show tunes, Tin Pan Alley, soft rock, blues, country music, and even a few disco songs for his album ''Mathis Magic'' in 1979. Mathis has also recorded six albums of Christmas music. In a 1968 interview, Mathis cited Lena Horne, Nat King Cole, and Bing Crosby among his musical influences. Early life and education Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas, on September 30, 1935, the fourth of seven children of Clem Mathis and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Take It Off (album)
''Take It Off'' is the fifth studio album by American R&B band Chic, released on Atlantic Records in November 16, 1981. It includes the single "Stage Fright", which reached number 35 on the US R&B chart, but was the first Chic single failing to enter the US Pop charts, and this album only proved to be moderately successful as well, stalling at number 124 on the US albums chart and number 36 on the R&B chart. ''Take It Off'' was one of three albums written and produced by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers in 1981, the other two being Blondie lead singer Debbie Harry's debut solo album ''Koo Koo'' and Johnny Mathis' ''I Love My Lady''. ''Take It Off'' was transferred to CD and re-released by Atlantic Records/Warner Music in 1991. It was digitally remastered and reissued by Wounded Bird Records in 2006. Track listing All tracks written by Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers. Side A #"Stage Fright" – 3:55 #"Burn Hard" – 5:12 #"So Fine" – 4:10 #"Flash Back" – 4:28 #"Telling ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Eat To The Beat
''Eat to the Beat'' is the fourth studio album by American rock band Blondie, released on September 28, 1979, by Chrysalis Records. The album was certified Platinum in the United States, where it spent a year on the ''Billboard'' 200. Peaking at , it was one of ''Billboard''s top 10 albums of 1980. It also reached on the UK Albums Chart in October 1979 and has been certified Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Musical style The primarily pop album includes a diverse range of styles in the songs: rock, disco, new wave, punk, reggae, and funk, as well as a lullaby. " Atomic" and " The Hardest Part" fused disco with rock. Blondie's first two albums were new wave productions, followed by ''Parallel Lines'' which dropped the new wave material, exchanging it entirely for rock-inflected pop. ''Eat to the Beat'' continued in this pop direction. History Three singles were released in the UK from this album (" Dreaming", "Union City Blue" and " Atomic"). " The Hardes ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Power Station Recording Studio
Power Station at BerkleeNYC, formerly known as Avatar Studios (1996–2017) and Power Station, is a recording studio at 441 West 53rd Street between Ninth and Tenth avenues in the Hell's Kitchen neighborhood in Manhattan, New York City. The building contains 5 studio spaces: A, B, C, G, and E, as well as a black box theater. History The building was originally a Consolidated Edison power plant. In 1977, it was rebuilt as a recording studio by producer Tony Bongiovi and his partner Bob Walters. The complex was renamed Avatar Studios (under the Avatar Entertainment Corporation) in May 1996. In 2017, the studios were renamed back to Power Station, by special arrangement with Berklee NYC. The studio reopened in 2020 after a full renovation, while maintaining the studio spaces. In 1995, Sonalysts, which had begun as an underwater acoustics research company, licensed the Power Station's design and naming rights from Bongiovi and Walters. The company built a perfect replica of the o ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Diana (album)
''Diana'' (stylized on the cover as ''diana'') is the eleventh studio album by American R&B singer Diana Ross, released on May 22, 1980 by Motown Records. The album is the best-selling studio album of Ross's career, spawning three international hit singles, including the number-one hit " Upside Down". In 2020, ''Rolling Stone'' named ''Diana'' the 394th greatest album of all time. Conception Following the US success of her 1979 album '' The Boss'', Ross wanted a fresher, more modern sound. Having heard Nile Rodgers of Chic's work in the famous Manhattan disco club Studio 54, Ross approached him about creating a new album of material for her that stated where she felt she was in her life and career at the period. On an episode of TV One's '' Unsung'', Nile Rodgers said that the majority of the songs were crafted after direct conversations with Ross. She had reportedly said to Rodgers and Bernard Edwards that she wanted to turn her career “upside down” and wanted to “have ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Diana Ross
Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer and actress. She rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, who became Motown's most successful act during the 1960s and one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. They remain the best-charting female group in history, with a total of twelve number-one hit singles on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100, including "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", and " Love Child". Following departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross embarked on a successful solo career in music, film, television and on stage. Her eponymous debut solo album featured the U.S. number-one hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and music anthem "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)". It was followed with her second solo album, '' Everything Is Everything'' (1970), which spawned her first UK number-one single " I'm Still Waiting". She continued her successful solo career by mounting elaborate record-setting ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Rhythm And Blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated in African-American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music ... ith aheavy, insistent beat" was becoming more popular. In the commercial rhythm and blues music typical of the 1950s through the 1970s, the bands usually consisted of piano, one or two guitars, bass, drums, one or more saxophones, and sometimes background vocalists. R&B lyrical themes often encapsulate the African-American experience of pain and the quest for freedom and joy, as well as triumphs and failures in terms of relationships, economics, and aspirations. The term "rhythm and blues" has undergone a number of shifts in meaning. In the early 1950s, it was frequently applied to blues records. Starting in the mid-1950s, after this style of music contr ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |