Pretty Thing
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Pretty Thing
"Pretty Thing" is a 1955 song written by Bo Diddley and Willie Dixon and performed by Bo Diddley. The song was Diddley's third single release through Checker Records after "Diddley Daddy". In 1963, the song was released in the United Kingdom where it became Diddley's first of only two songs appearing on the UK Singles Chart, the other single being "Hey Good Lookin'". Writing and recording Original releases of the single credited Bo Diddley (Ellas McDaniel) as the song's writer, but many later releases credit Willie Dixon. Bo Diddley himself said: I remember Willie standin' over me, whisperin' the lyrics in my ear before I got to the next line! He was nice enough to give me part of the tune. It should be on the credits: 'McDaniel & Dixon'". "Pretty Thing" was recorded by Bo Diddley on July 14, 1955 – the same day as "Bring It to Jerome". Producing the session at Universal Recording Corporation in Chicago, Illinois were the Chess brothers – Leonard and Phil – and Bo Did ...
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Pye International Records
Pye International Records was a record label founded in 1958, as a subsidiary of Pye Records. The company distributed many American labels in the UK, including Chess, Kama Sutra, Buddah, Colpix and King. (There was also an American label of the same name, which was later reorganized in the US as Prelude Records in 1976.) First releases *25000 Ritchie Valens - ''Come On Let's Go/Dooby Dooby Wah'' (11/58) *25001 Seph Acre & the Pets - ''You Are My Love/ Rock and Roll Cha-Cha'' (11/58) *25002 The Judd Conlon Singers - ''Scene of the Crime/Bridge of Sighs'' (11/58) *25003 Bob & Jerry - ''Ghost Satellite/Nothin'' (11/58) *25004 The Pets - ''Wow-ee!/(You Wandered) Beyond the Sea'' (1/59) Appearance The first labels were blue, modelled on the magenta Pye- Nixa (later Pye) label. During its heyday, around 1961-64, it was red and yellow; later on it was pinkish violet, matching the Pye and Piccadilly labels of the time. R&B series Around 1964, some records featured the legend "R&B" on ...
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Bo Diddley (Bo Diddley Song)
"Bo Diddley" is a song by American rock and roll pioneer Bo Diddley. It introduced the rhythm that became known as the Bo Diddley beat and topped the Billboard R&B chart for two weeks in 1955. The song is included on many of Diddley's compilation albums including ''Bo Diddley (1958 album), Bo Diddley'' (1958) and ''His Best (Bo Diddley album), His Best'' (1997). Buddy Holly recorded a version that became his highest charting single in the UK. Composition and recording The song is rhythmically similar to Juba dance, hambone, a technique of dancing and slapping various parts of the body to create a rhythm and song. Diddley's electric guitar along with his backup musicians on maracas and drums contributed to the Juba dance, patted juba rhythm. This combination of rock and roll, African rhythms and guitar was an innovation and came to be known as the Bo Diddley Beat. Lyrically, it is similar to the traditional lullaby "Hush Little Baby". "Bo Diddley" was recorded in Chicago at his fi ...
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Drum Kit
A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player ( drummer) typically holds a pair of matching drumsticks, one in each hand, and uses their feet to operate a foot-controlled hi-hat and bass drum pedal. A standard kit may contain: * A snare drum, mounted on a stand * A bass drum, played with a beater moved by a foot-operated pedal * One or more tom-toms, including rack toms and/or floor toms * One or more cymbals, including a ride cymbal and crash cymbal * Hi-hat cymbals, a pair of cymbals that can be manipulated by a foot-operated pedal The drum kit is a part of the standard rhythm section and is used in many types of popular and traditional music styles, ranging from rock and pop to blues and jazz. __TOC__ History Early development Before the development of the drum set, drums and cymbals used in military and orchestral m ...
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Clifton James (musician)
Clifton James (October 2, 1936 – February 16, 2006) was an American drummer who was most closely associated with Bo Diddley, and played on many R&B records issued by Chess Records between 1955 and 1970. Biography Born in Chicago, one of a family of fourteen, James began playing drums as a child, and in his teens played in the bands backing Memphis Slim and Elmore James. He met Bo Diddley in 1953, and became a member of Bo Diddley's band alongside maracas player Jerome Green and bassist Roosevelt Jackson. Bo Diddley said that when he added Clifton James to his band, "He was the man who did the original Bo Diddley beat on the drums." Clifton James himself said: "I’m the one that gave him that beat... It just came to me. Well, before I started messing around with him, I was at home and I was just beating out something. That’s all. I met Bo and we started playing together... " Willie Dixon also said: "That actually was Clifton James’ idea of a beat more than it was Bo ...
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Harmonica
The harmonica, also known as a French harp or mouth organ, is a free reed wind instrument used worldwide in many musical genres, notably in blues, American folk music, classical music, jazz, country, and rock. The many types of harmonica include diatonic, chromatic, tremolo, octave, orchestral, and bass versions. A harmonica is played by using the mouth (lips and tongue) to direct air into or out of one (or more) holes along a mouthpiece. Behind each hole is a chamber containing at least one reed. The most common is the diatonic Richter-tuned with ten air passages and twenty reeds, often called the blues harp. A harmonica reed is a flat, elongated spring typically made of brass, stainless steel, or bronze, which is secured at one end over a slot that serves as an airway. When the free end is made to vibrate by the player's air, it alternately blocks and unblocks the airway to produce sound. Reeds are tuned to individual pitches. Tuning may involve changing a reed’s length ...
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Lester Davenport
Lester "Mad Dog" Davenport (January 16, 1932 – March 17, 2009), was an American Chicago blues harmonica player and singer. Born in Tchula, Mississippi, Davenport moved to Chicago, Illinois, United States, when he was 14. There he played with Arthur Spires, Snooky Pryor, Dusty Brown, and Homesick James and then worked with Bo Diddley, with whom he played harmonica on a 1955 Chess Records session. He led his own group in the 1960s while working during the day as a paint sprayer. In the 1980s he was the harmonica player for the Indiana group the Kinsey Report. In July 1994, Wolf Records released the album ''Chicago Blues Session, Vol. 11'', by Maxwell Street Jimmy Davis, recorded in 1988 and 1989. The collection included Davenport on harmonica and Kansas City Red playing the drums. Davenport released his first album under his own name in 1992 and recorded a follow-up, ''I Smell a Rat'', in 2002. Davenport died in March 2009 in Chicago, from prostate cancer, at the age ...
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Maraca
A maraca (), sometimes called shaker or chac-chac, is a rattle which appears in many genres of Caribbean and Latin music. It is shaken by a handle and usually played as part of a pair. Maracas (from Guaraní ), also known as tamaracas, were rattles of divination, an oracle of the Brazilian Tupinamba people, found also with other Indigenous ethnic groups, such as the Guarani, Orinoco and in Florida. Rattles made from ''Lagenaria'' gourds are being shaken by the natural grip, while the round ''Crescentia'' calabash fruits are fitted to a handle. Human hair is sometimes fastened on the top, and a slit is cut in it to represent a mouth, through which their shamans (''payes'') made it utter its responses. A few pebbles are inserted to make it rattle and it is crowned with the red feathers of the (scarlet ibis). Every man had his maraca. It was used at their dances and to heal the sick. Andean curandero A ''curandero'' (, healer; f. , also spelled , , f. ) is a traditional ...
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Jerome Green
Jerome Green (c.1934 – c.1973) was an American percussionist and occasional lyricist and vocalist, known for playing maracas and acting as Bo Diddley's foil in his performances and on his recordings in the 1950s and early 1960s. Biography Green grew up in Chicago, and was a neighbor of Ellas McDaniel, later known as Bo Diddley, who was older by a few years. According to some sources, Green played tuba, but, when Bo Diddley performed on street corners and outside theaters from about 1950, he used Green to collect money from bystanders. Needing to add percussion to boost his sound, but not wanting to have to carry a drum kit between venues, he recruited Green to play maracas, which he made out of toilet floats filled with black-eyed peas. Bo Diddley said: "I taught Jerome how to play those maracas... They gave.. the unique sound, that jungle-type rhythm feel..". Referring to himself, Green, and bassist Roosevelt Jackson, he commented: "We used to be three dudes going down ...
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Guitar
The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected strings against frets with the fingers of the opposite hand. A plectrum or individual finger picks may also be used to strike the strings. The sound of the guitar is projected either acoustically, by means of a resonant chamber on the instrument, or amplified by an electronic pickup and an amplifier. The guitar is classified as a chordophone – meaning the sound is produced by a vibrating string stretched between two fixed points. Historically, a guitar was constructed from wood with its strings made of catgut. Steel guitar strings were introduced near the end of the nineteenth century in the United States; nylon strings came in the 1940s. The guitar's ancestors include the gittern, the vihuela, the four- course Renaissance guitar, and the ...
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Singing
Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without accompaniment by musical instruments. Singing is often done in an ensemble of musicians, such as a choir. Singers may perform as soloists or accompanied by anything from a single instrument (as in art song or some jazz styles) up to a symphony orchestra or big band. Different singing styles include art music such as opera and Chinese opera, Indian music, Japanese music, and religious music styles such as gospel, traditional music styles, world music, jazz, blues, ghazal, and popular music styles such as pop, rock, and electronic dance music. Singing can be formal or informal, arranged, or improvised. It may be done as a form of religious devotion, as a hobby, as a source of pleasure, comfort, or ritual as part of music education or ...
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Illinois
Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolitan areas include, Peoria metropolitan area, Illinois, Peoria and Rockford metropolitan area, Illinois, Rockford, as well Springfield, Illinois, Springfield, its capital. Of the fifty U.S. states, Illinois has the List of U.S. states and territories by GDP, fifth-largest gross domestic product (GDP), the List of U.S. states and territories by population, sixth-largest population, and the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 25th-largest land area. Illinois has a highly diverse Economy of Illinois, economy, with the global city of Chicago in the northeast, major industrial and agricultural productivity, agricultural hubs in the north and center, and natural resources such as coal, timber, and petroleum in the south. Owing to its centr ...
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Chicago
(''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1 = State , subdivision_type2 = Counties , subdivision_name1 = Illinois , subdivision_name2 = Cook and DuPage , established_title = Settled , established_date = , established_title2 = Incorporated (city) , established_date2 = , founder = Jean Baptiste Point du Sable , government_type = Mayor–council , governing_body = Chicago City Council , leader_title = Mayor , leader_name = Lori Lightfoot ( D) , leader_title1 = City Clerk , leader_name1 = Anna Valencia ( D) , unit_pref = Imperial , area_footnotes = , area_tot ...
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