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Perry Como's Christmas Concert
''Perry Como's Christmas Concert'' is a 1994 live recording by Perry Como, the last before his death in 2001. Taped at the Point Theatre in Dublin before a live audience of 4,500 which included Irish President Mary Robinson, the concert was also issued on videotape and broadcast in the USA on PBS. Como, looking frail and unwell was suffering from the flu and struggled to perform; he reportedly lost his voice at one point during the concert. The entire performance is less than 90 minutes long, though the recording took over four hours to complete. Despite it all, Como managed to complete his last recorded performance with dignity and professionalism, earning him the warm applause of his audience. Como later apologized to his audience for a performance he felt was not up to his usual standards. Track listing #"A Little Bit of Ireland" (0.31) #"If I Could Read Your Mind" (3.07) #"Happy Holidays" / "We Need a Little Christmas" (2.52) #Carol Medley: "It's Beginning to Look a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Perry Como
Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing with the label in 1943. He recorded primarily vocal pop and was renowned for recordings in the intimate, easy-listening genre pioneered by multi-media star Bing Crosby. "Mr. C.", as he was nicknamed, sold millions of records and pioneered a weekly musical variety television show. His weekly television shows and seasonal specials were broadcast throughout the world. In the official RCA Records Billboard (magazine), ''Billboard'' magazine memorial, his life was summed up in these few words: "50 years of music and a life well lived. An example to all." Como received five Emmy Award, Emmys from 1955 to 1959, and a Christopher Award in 1956. He also shared a Peabody Award with good friend Jackie Gleason in 1956. He received a Kennedy Cente ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catch A Falling Star
"Catch a Falling Star" is a song written by Paul Vance and Lee Pockriss. It is best known and was made famous by Perry Como's hit version, recorded and released in late 1957. Background and chart performance The song's melody is based on a theme from Brahms' ''Academic Festival Overture''. Perry Como's version features the Ray Charles Singers, who sing the refrain as a repeated round. It was Como's last number one hit in the US, reaching number 1 on the ''Billboard'' "Most Played by Jockeys" chart but not in the overall top 100, where it reached number 3. It was the first single to receive a Recording Industry Association of America gold record certification, on March 14, 1958. Overseas, in 1958, the song also topped the Australian charts. In the UK Singles Chart, "Catch a Falling Star" peaked at number nine, whereas its B-side "Magic Moments" topped the charts. Accolades The single won Como the 1959 Grammy Award for Best Vocal Performance, Male. In popular culture The son ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
O Come, All Ye Faithful
"O Come, All Ye Faithful" (originally written in Latin as "") is a Christmas carol that has been attributed to various authors, including John Francis Wade (1711–1786), John Reading (1645–1692), King John IV of Portugal (1604–1656), and anonymous Cistercian monks. The earliest printed version is in a book published by Wade. A manuscript by Wade, dating to 1751, is held by Stonyhurst College in Lancashire. The original four verses of the hymn were extended to a total of eight, and these have been translated into many languages. The English translation of "O Come, All Ye Faithful" by the English Catholic priest Frederick Oakeley, written in 1841, is widespread in most English-speaking countries. Text The original text of the hymn has been from time to time attributed to various groups and individuals, including St. Bonaventure in the 13th century or King John IV of Portugal in the 17th, though it was more commonly believed that the text was written by Cistercian monk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silent Night
"Silent Night" (german: "Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht", links=no, italic=no) is a popular Christmas carol, composed in 1818 by Franz Xaver Gruber to lyrics by Joseph Mohr in the small town of Oberndorf bei Salzburg, Austria. It was declared an intangible cultural heritage by UNESCO in 2011. The song was first recorded in 1905 and has remained a popular success, appearing in films and multiple successful recordings, as well as being quoted in other musical compositions. History "" was first performed on Christmas Eve 1818 at St Nicholas parish church in Oberndorf, a village in the Austrian Empire on the Salzach river in present-day Austria. A young Catholic priest, Father Joseph Mohr, had come to Oberndorf the year before. In the aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars, he had written the poem "" in 1816 at Mariapfarr, the hometown of his father in the Salzburg Lungau region, where Joseph had worked as an assistant priest. The melody was composed by Franz Xaver Gruber, schoolmaster ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hark! The Herald Angels Sing
"Hark! The Herald Angels Sing" is an English Christmas carol that first appeared in 1739 in the collection ''Hymns and Sacred Poems''. The carol, based on , tells of an angelic chorus singing praises to God. As it is known in the modern era, it features lyrical contributions from Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, two of the founding ministers of Methodism, with music adapted from " Vaterland, in deinen Gauen" by Felix Mendelssohn. Wesley, who had written the original version as "Hymn for Christmas-Day," had requested and received slow and solemn music for his lyrics, which has since largely been discarded. In 1840—a hundred years after the publication of ''Hymns and Sacred Poems''—Mendelssohn composed a cantata to commemorate Johann Gutenberg's invention of movable type printing, and it is music from this cantata, adapted by the English musician William H. Cummings to fit the lyrics of "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", that propels the carol known today. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
O Little Town Of Bethlehem
"O Little Town of Bethlehem" is a Christmas carol. Based on an 1868 text written by Phillips Brooks, the carol is popular on both sides of the Atlantic, but to different tunes: in The United States, to "St. Louis" by Brooks' collaborator, Lewis Redner; and in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Ireland to "Forest Green", a tune collected by Ralph Vaughan Williams and first published in the 1906 ''English Hymnal''. Words The text was written by Phillips Brooks (1835–1893), an Episcopal priest, then rector of Church of the Holy Trinity, Philadelphia and later of Trinity Church, Boston. He was inspired by visiting the village of Bethlehem in the Sanjak of Jerusalem in 1865. Three years later, he wrote the poem for his church, and his organist Lewis Redner (1831–1908) added the music. Music St Louis Redner's tune, simply titled "St. Louis", is the tune used most often for this carol in the United States.Louis F. Benson,O Little Town of Bethlehem. ''Studies Of Familiar Hymns'', Fir ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Wind Beneath My Wings
"Wind Beneath My Wings" (sometimes titled "The Wind Beneath My Wings" and "Hero") is a song written in 1982 by Jeff Silbar and Larry Henley. The song was first recorded by Kamahl in 1982 for a country and western album he was recording. Kamahl talked about being the first to record the song in an appearance on Australian TV show '' Spicks and Specks'', but stated it was not commercially released because it was felt he did not suit the country and western style. Instead, Roger Whittaker recorded the song, as well as Sheena Easton and Lee Greenwood. The song appeared shortly thereafter in charted versions by Colleen Hewett (1982), Lou Rawls (1983), Gladys Knight & the Pips (1983), and Gary Morris (1983). The highest-charting version of the song to date was recorded in 1988 by singer and actress Bette Midler for the soundtrack to the film ''Beaches''. This version was released as a single in early 1989, spent one week at No. 1 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 singles chart in June 1989, an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jingle Bells
"Jingle Bells" is one of the best-known and most commonly sung American songs in the world. It was written by James Lord Pierpont (1822–1893) and published under the title "The One Horse Open Sleigh" in September 1857. It has been claimed that it was originally written to be sung by a Sunday school choir for Thanksgiving, or as a drinking song. Although it has no original connection to Christmas, it became associated with winter and Christmas music in the 1860s and 1870s, and it was featured in a variety of parlor song and college anthologies in the 1880s. It was first recorded in 1889 on an Edison cylinder; this recording, believed to be the first Christmas record, is lost, but an 1898 recording also from Edison Records survives. History Composition James Lord Pierpont who was the uncle of JP Morgan, wrote "One Horse Open Sleigh" in 1857 and claimed to be a drinking song (it was always performed in blackface) It didn't become a Christmas song until decades after it was f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
White Christmas (song)
"White Christmas" is an Irving Berlin song reminiscing about an old-fashioned Christmas setting. The song was written by Berlin for the 1942 musical film ''Holiday Inn''. The composition won the Academy Award for Best Original Song at the 15th Academy Awards. Since its release, "White Christmas" has been covered by many artists, the version sung by Bing Crosby being the world's best-selling single (in terms of sales of physical media) with estimated sales in excess of 50 million copies worldwide. When the figures for other versions of the song are added to Crosby's, sales of the song exceed 100 million. History Origin Accounts vary as to when and where Berlin wrote the song. One story is that he wrote it in 1940, in warm La Quinta, California, while staying at the La Quinta Hotel, a frequent Hollywood retreat also favored by writer-director-producer Frank Capra, although the Arizona Biltmore also claims the song was written there. He often stayed up all night writing. One ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Santa Claus Is Comin' To Town
"Santa Claus Is Comin' to Town" is a Christmas song featuring Santa Claus written by J. Fred Coots and Haven Gillespie. The earliest known recorded version of the song was by banjoist Harry Reser and his band on October 24, 1934. It was then sung on Eddie Cantor's radio show in November 1934. This version became an instant hit with orders for 500,000 copies of sheet music and more than 30,000 records sold within 24 hours. The version for Bluebird Records by George Hall and His Orchestra (vocal by Sonny Schuyler) was very popular in 1934 and reached the various charts of the day. The song has been recorded by over 200 artists including Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters, The Crystals, Neil Diamond, Bruce Springsteen, Frank Sinatra, Bill Evans, Chris Isaak, The Temptations, The Carpenters, Michael Bublé, Luis Miguel, and The Jackson 5. Melody and lyrics Haven Gillespie's lyrics begin "You better watch out, better not cry / You better not pout, I'm telling you why / Santa Clau ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
When Irish Eyes Are Smiling
"When Irish Eyes Are Smiling" is a lighthearted song in tribute to Ireland. Its lyrics were written by Chauncey Olcott and George Graff, Jr., set to music composed by Ernest Ball, for Olcott's production of ''The Isle O' Dreams'', and Olcott sang the song in the show. It was first published in 1912, at a time when songs in tribute to a romanticised Ireland were very numerous and popular both in Britain and the United States. During the First World War the famous tenor John McCormack recorded the song. The song continued to be a familiar standard for generations. Decades later it was used as the opening song on the radio show ''Duffy's Tavern''. The song has been recorded on over 200 singles and albums and by many famous singers, including Bing Crosby, Connie Francis, and Roger Whittaker. Lyrics Verse 1: :There's a tear in your eye and I'm wondering why, :For it never should be there at all; :With such pow'r in your smile, sure a stone you'd beguile, :So there's never a tear ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adele King
Adèle King (born Adèle Condron-King, 4 April 1951) is an Irish entertainer better known as Twink. She is the mother of singer Chloë AgnewTwink (Adele King), 57, is an actress and entertainer. She lives in Rathfarnham, Dublin with her daughters, Chloe, 18, and Naomi, 14 ''The Irish Independent'', 6 April 2008 from the group . Career Stage King began singing and acting at the age of five. She was a[...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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