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Mickey Simmonds
Mickey Simmonds (born 31 January 1959) is an English session keyboardist, arranger and composer. He is best known for his work with progressive rock acts, Mike Oldfield, Renaissance, Camel and Fish. He has also worked with Joan Armatrading, Paul Young, The Rutles, Art Garfunkel, Kiki Dee, Mastermind, John Coghlan's Diesel Band, Elkie Brooks, Judie Tzuke, Imagination, Bucks Fizz, Jennifer Rush and The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, among others. Career Simmonds has released three solo albums, ''The Shape of Rain'' (1996), ''The Seven Colours of Emptiness'' (2007) and ''Mickey Simmonds III'' (2021) which he describes as "a small homage to the late great Keith Emerson, sadly missed by me". He has also released ''Variations on Melodies of Mike Oldfield'' (2000), ''Lord of the Rings – The Two Towers (music inspired by)'' (2002), ''Lord of the Rings – Return of the King (music inspired by)'' (2004) and ''Bach for Dinner'' (unknown date) Simmonds played on two albums: ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chesterfield, Derbyshire
Chesterfield is a market town and unparished area in the Borough of Chesterfield, Derbyshire, England, north of Derby and south of Sheffield at the confluence of the River Rother and River Hipper. In 2011 the built-up-area subdivision had a population of 88,483, making it the second-largest settlement in Derbyshire, after Derby. The wider borough had a population of 103,801 in 2011. In 2011, the town had a population of 76,753. It has been traced to a transitory Roman fort of the 1st century CE. The name of the later Anglo-Saxon village comes from the Old English ''ceaster'' (Roman fort) and ''feld'' (pasture). It has a sizeable street market three days a week. The town sits on an old coalfield, but little visual evidence of mining remains. The main landmark is the crooked spire of the Church of St Mary and All Saints. History Chesterfield was in the Hundred of Scarsdale. The town received its market charter in 1204 from King John, which constituted the town as a free boro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Rutles
The Rutles () were a rock band that performed visual and aural pastiches and parodies of the Beatles. This originally fictional band, created by Eric Idle and Neil Innes for a sketch in Idle's mid-1970s BBC television comedy series ''Rutland Weekend Television'', later toured and recorded, releasing two albums that included two UK chart hits. The band toured again from 2002 until Innes' death in 2019. Encouraged by the positive public reaction to the sketch, Idle wrote the mockumentary television film ''All You Need Is Cash'' (1978, aka ''The Rutles''). Idle co-directed the film with Gary Weis; it featured 20 Beatles' music pastiches written by Innes, which he performed with three musicians as the Rutles. A soundtrack album in 1978 was followed in 1996 by ''Archaeology'', which spoofed the then-recent ''Beatles Anthology'' series. A second film, '' The Rutles 2: Can't Buy Me Lunch'' (modelled on the 2000 TV special ''The Beatles Revolution'') was made in 2002 and released in th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Complete Mike Oldfield
''The Complete Mike Oldfield'' is a compilation album by Mike Oldfield, released on 21 October 1985 by Virgin Records in the UK. The double album is subdivided into four sections, with ''The instrumental'' section and ''The Vocal'' section containing shorter pieces, and ''The Complex'' section and ''The Live'' section containing excerpts from Oldfield's longer pieces. Some versions of the vinyl have fewer or different tracks, with "The Instrumental Section" missing "In Dulci Jubilo" and "Portsmouth", while other versions replaced " Mistake" with "Pictures in the Dark". Track listing Side 1 - The Instrumental Section # "Arrival" – 2:47 # "William Tell Overture" – 3:55 # " Cuckoo Song" – 3:13 # "In Dulci Jubilo" – 2:50 # "Portsmouth" – 2:02 # "Jungle Gardenia" – 2:37 # "Guilty" – 4:04 # "Blue Peter" – 2:07 # "Waldberg" (The Peak) – 3:24 # "Wonderful Land" – 3:39 # " Etude" (Theme from ''The Killing Fields'') – 3:07 Side 2 - The Vocal Section # "Moonli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heaven's Open
''Heaven's Open'' is the 14th record album performed by Mike Oldfield, released in 1991. It was his last album on Virgin, and also the only album he released under the name Michael Oldfield, instead of Mike Oldfield. The producer of the album, Tom Newman's name is also spelled out in a similar manner, as Thom Newman. History By 1991 and the release of Heaven's Open, Oldfield was happy to leave Virgin Records. The final goodbye to Virgin appears at the very end of "Music from the Balcony", where quiet laughter and Oldfield's voice saying "Fuck off!" can be heard. ''Heaven's Open'' is Oldfield's only album where he performs all the lead vocals himself, due to his having come to terms with the sound of his own voice. After leaving Virgin, Oldfield released the anticipated ''Tubular Bells II'' in 1992 with Warner Brothers. Connections to other Oldfield albums The album's cover is a reworked version of a photo originally taken for ''Tubular Bells'', when the working title wa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Islands (Mike Oldfield Album)
''Islands'' is the 11th album by Mike Oldfield, released on 28 September 1987 by Virgin in the UK. Guest singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland, Max Bacon, and Jim Price. A different track list and cover was used for the American edition. Music videos, producers and singers ''Islands'' was also released as a full-length VHS video album. For each track a video was made and released, often mixing state of the art (for the time) computer-generated images with real life images. This was released as part of ''The Wind Chimes'' video. The album boasts the largest number of co-producers out of all of Oldfield's work; production was handled by Michael Cretu (later of Enigma fame), Geoffrey Downes, Tom Newman, Simon Phillips, Alan Shacklock, and Oldfield himself. Singers on the album are Bonnie Tyler, Kevin Ayers, Anita Hegerland, Max Bacon, and Jim Price. Album artwork The UK front cover artwork was of a tropical island, and hidden in the surroundin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band (also known as The Bonzo Dog Band or The Bonzos) was created by a group of British art-school students in the 1960s. Combining elements of music hall, trad jazz and psychedelia with surreal humour and avant-garde art, the Bonzos came to public attention through a 1968 ITV comedy show, ''Do Not Adjust Your Set.'' History Formation and early years (1962–1966) The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band was officially formed on 25 September 1962, at 164c Rosendale Road, West Dulwich, when Vivian Stanshall (lead vocals, tuba and other wind instruments) and fellow art student Rodney Slater (saxophone/clarinet) bonded over the late-night transatlantic broadcast of a boxing match between Floyd Patterson and Sonny Liston, after being introduced by Slater's flatmate Tom Parkinson. At the time, Slater was already playing in a traditional jazz band at college with Parkinson on sousaphone, and Chris Jennings on trombone. Trumpeter Roger ('Happy' Wally) Wilkes and banjo-player ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jennifer Rush
Jennifer Rush (born Heidi Stern; September 28, 1960) is an American pop and rock singer. She achieved success during the mid-1980s with several singles and studio albums including the million-selling single " The Power of Love", which she co-wrote and released in 1984. Her greatest success came in Europe, particularly Germany. Early life Rush was born Heidi Stern in the New York City borough of Queens and has two older brothers. Her father, Maurice Stern, is an operatic tenor, voice teacher, and sculptor. Her parents divorced, and she and her brothers lived with their mother only until Rush was a toddler, and then with their father and his second wife on the Upper West Side of the borough of Manhattan. Rush studied violin at the Juilliard School and also took play lessons, although she did not enjoy these instruments and instead took to playing the guitar in private. When Rush was nine, the Stern family moved to Germany. They returned to the United States when she was a teenag ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bucks Fizz (band)
Bucks Fizz were a British pop group that achieved success in the 1980s, most notably for winning the 1981 Eurovision Song Contest with the song "Making Your Mind Up". The group was formed in January 1981 specifically for the contest and comprised four vocalists: Bobby G, Cheryl Baker, Mike Nolan and Jay Aston. They received attention for the dance routine which accompanied the song, in which the male members of the group ripped the female members' outer skirts off to reveal much shorter mini-skirts beneath. The group went on to have a successful career around the world (although they were commercially unsuccessful in the United States), but the UK remained their biggest market, where they had three No.1 singles with "Making Your Mind Up" (1981), " The Land of Make Believe" (1981) and "My Camera Never Lies" (1982) and became one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s. They also had UK Top 10 hits with "Now Those Days Are Gone" (1982), "If You Can't Stand the Heat" (1982), " Wh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Imagination (band)
Imagination were an English trio, who came to prominence in the early 1980s. They had hits in 28 countries, earning four platinum discs, nine gold discs, and more than a dozen silver discs around the world between 1981 and 1983. History Background Singer/keyboardist Leee John (born 23 June 1957, Hackney, London) was working as a backing vocalist for the Delfonics, Chairmen of the Board, the Velvelettes and the Elgins when he met Ashley Ingram, a guitarist/bassist (born 27 November 1960, Northampton). John and Ingram formed a songwriting partnership, resolving to start their own "slinky, sexy and erotic" group, working in a short-lived band called ''Fizzz''. While they were auditioning for another short-lived band, ''Midnight Express'', they met drummer Errol Kennedy (born 9 June 1953, Montego Bay, Jamaica), who at a very young age had learned to drum in the Boys' Brigade and Air Training Corps. Kennedy was a member of the London-based soul-funk band ''TFB'' (''Typical Funk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Judie Tzuke
Judie Tzuke ( ; born Judie Myers, 3 April 1956) is an English singer-songwriter. She is best known for her 1979 hit " Stay with Me till Dawn", which reached number 16 on the UK Singles Chart. Life and career Early life Tzuke's family relocated from Poland to England in the 1920s, and changed their surname from Tzuke to Myers, like other Jewish families from Eastern Europe. Her mother, Jean Silverside, was a television actress, and her father, Sefton Myers, was a successful property developer who also managed artists and singers—most notably Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice during the writing of ''Jesus Christ Superstar''. Tzuke preferred the original family name, started using it at school and so, when Tzuke embarked on her singing career, she used it as her stage name. Educated in the visual arts, performing arts, and music, Tzuke performed in folk clubs from the age of 15. Her meeting with Mike Paxman in 1975 was a turning point and they began to collaborate. Under the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks (born Elaine Bookbinder; 25 February 1946) is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 1980s, releasing 13 UK Top 75 singles, and reached the top ten with "Pearl's a Singer", "Sunshine After the Rain" and the title track of the album '' No More the Fool'' (1986). She has been nominated twice for the Brit Awards. Brooks is a Gold Badge Award of Merit winner from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) (now The Ivors Academy) and is generally referred to as the "British Queen of Blues". Life and career Early career and Vinegar Joe Brooks was born Elaine Bookbinder in Salford, to a Jewish family. Her father's grandparents emigrated to Britain from Poland at the start of the 20th century to escape the pogroms. Her older brothers are Raymond Bookbinder (born 1938) and Anthony Bookbinder (born 28 May 1943), ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Coghlan (drummer)
John Robert Coghlan (born 19 September 1946) is a retired English musician, best known as the original drummer of the rock band Status Quo. Early life The son of a Glasgow-born father and a London-born half-French mother, Coghlan grew up in Dulwich and was educated at Kingsdale Comprehensive School. He left school at 15 to begin an apprenticeship as a mechanic. He attended drumming tuition under Lloyd Ryan, who also taught Phil Collins the drum rudiments. Career John Coghlan joined Status Quo, then called The Scorpions (latterly The Spectres), in early 1962 after a meeting with bassist Alan Lancaster, guitarist Francis Rossi and keyboard player Jess Jaworski. "The three of them were playing away through a single Vox AC30 amplifier," he recalled. "But it sounded amazing and that was the start of it all." Coghlan played on the first fourteen Quo albums, including their first and most successful live album, " Live!" in 1977, and songs such as Caroline", "Down Down", "Rockin' A ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
