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Ridin' High (Martha And The Vandellas Album)
"Ridin' High" is a 1968 soul album released by Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas on the Gordy (Motown) label. This album featured the last Top 40 pop hits scored by the group during their recording tenure, "Love Bug Leave My Heart Alone" and "Honey Chile". It was a series of firsts for the group: it was the first album without the help of since departed producers William "Mickey" Stevenson and Holland–Dozier–Holland, however, Motown included one HDH track on the album, "Leave It In The Hands Of Love." Also on ''Ridin' High'' is a cover version of Dionne Warwick's then recent hit "I Say a Little Prayer." Bringing in Richard Morris and songwriter Sylvia Moy, the group managed to release two hit singles though this was the beginning of the end for the group as hitmakers on the pop charts. Like their label mates The Supremes and the Four Tops, they stalled without the team of Holland-Dozier-Holland, although they continued to chart well on the R&B charts and in England ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martha And The Vandellas
Martha and the Vandellas (known from 1967 to 1972 as Martha Reeves & The Vandellas) were an American vocal girl group formed in Detroit in 1957. The group achieved fame in the 1960s with Motown. An act founded by friends Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and Gloria Williams, the group eventually included Martha Reeves, who moved up in ranks as lead vocalist of the group after Williams' departure in 1962. The group signed with and eventually recorded all of their singles for Motown's Gordy imprint. The group's string of hits included "Come and Get These Memories", "Heat Wave", "Quicksand", " Nowhere to Run", "Jimmy Mack", "I'm Ready for Love", "Bless You" and "Dancing in the Street", the latter song becoming their signature single. During their nine-year run on the charts from 1963 to 1972, Martha and the Vandellas charted over twenty-six hits and recorded in the styles of doo-wop, R&B, pop, blues, rock and roll and soul. Ten Vandellas songs reached the top ten of the ''Billboard ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I Say A Little Prayer
"I Say a Little Prayer" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David for Dionne Warwick, originally peaking at number four on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 pop singles chart in December 1967. On the R&B Singles chart it peaked at number eight. Dionne Warwick original Intended by lyricist Hal David to convey a woman's concern for her man who's serving in the Vietnam War, "I Say a Little Prayer" was recorded by Dionne Warwick in a 9 April 1966 session. Although Bacharach's recordings with Warwick typically took no more than three takes (often only taking one), Bacharach did ten takes on "I Say a Little Prayer" and still disliked the completed track, feeling it rushed. The track went unreleased until September 1967, when it was introduced on the album '' The Windows of the World'' and it was Scepter Records owner Florence Greenberg rather than Bacharach who wanted "I Say a Little Prayer" added to that album. When disc jockeys from the United States began playing the album ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Henry Cosby
Henry R. "Hank" Cosby (May 12, 1928 – January 22, 2002) was an American songwriter, arranger, producer and musician who worked for Motown Records from its formative years. Along with Sylvia Moy, Cosby was a key collaborator with Stevie Wonder from 1963–1970. Cosby co-wrote and/or co-produced three No. 1 US hits: Stevie Wonder's "Fingertips" (1963), The Supremes' " Love Child" (1968), and The Miracles' "The Tears of a Clown" (1968). Life and career Cosby was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1928. He served in the U.S. Army during the Korean War, where he played alongside jazz saxophonist Cannonball Adderley in the military band. Upon his return to Detroit, he joined pianist Joe Hunter's jazz band. He played tenor saxophone in jazz clubs, as well as on records for different labels around the city. When Berry Gordy launched Motown Records in 1959 he recruited the Joe Hunter Band with Cosby, Benny Benjamin, James Jamerson, Larry Veeder, and Mike Terry, forming the basis of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Debbie Dean (singer)
Reba Jeanette Smith (February 1, 1928 – February 17, 2001), known professionally as "Debbie Dean", "Penny Smith" and "Debbie Stevens", was an American singer, writer who was the first white solo artist to record for Motown. Biography Born Reba Jeanette Smith on February 1, 1928, in Corbin, Kentucky. She was the fourth child of Walter B. Smith, a railroad engineer by his wife, Alma, a housewife. Debbie Dean recorded as Penny Smith and Debbie Stevens at various labels before arriving at Motown in the early 1960s, and was Motown's first white female solo recording artist, signed by Berry Gordy. Unlike most of the early Motown recording artists, Dean preferred rock and roll to R&B and blues. She was popular in the Chicago area in the mid and late 1950s, recording as "Penny Smith" and "Debbie Stevens", as well as singing on radio. T.V., and at record hops in the Chicago area. Her husband, Jim Lounsbury, was a pioneer Rock and Roll radio, television, and record hop celebrity in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hal David
Harold Lane David (May 25, 1921 – September 1, 2012) was an American lyricist. He grew up in New York City. He was best known for his collaborations with composer Burt Bacharach and his association with Dionne Warwick. Early life David was born in New York City, a son of Austrian Jewish immigrants Lina (née Goldberg) and Gedalier David, who owned a delicatessen in New York. He is the younger brother of American lyricist and songwriter Mack David. Career David is credited with popular music lyrics, beginning in the 1940s with material written for bandleader Sammy Kaye and for Guy Lombardo. He worked with Morty Nevins of The Three Suns on four songs for the feature film ''Two Gals and a Guy'' (1951), starring Janis Paige and Robert Alda. In 1957, David met composer Burt Bacharach at Famous Music in the Brill Building in New York. The two teamed up and wrote their first hit " The Story of My Life", recorded by Marty Robbins in 1957. Subsequently, in the 1960s and early ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Burt Bacharach
Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Grammy Award winner and three-time Academy Award winner, Bacharach's songs have been recorded by more than 1,000 different artists. , he had written 73 US and 52 UK Top 40 hits. He is considered one of the most important composers of 20th-century popular music. His music is characterized by unusual chord progressions, influenced by his background in jazz harmony, and uncommon selections of instruments for small orchestras. Most of Bacharach and David's hits were written specifically for and performed by Dionne Warwick but earlier associations (from 1957 to 1963) saw the composing duo work with Marty Robbins, Perry Como, Gene McDaniels and Jerry Butler. Following the initial success of these collaborations, Bacharach went on to write hits for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
(There's) Always Something There To Remind Me
"(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" is a song written in the 1960s by songwriting team Burt Bacharach and Hal David. Originally recorded as a demo (music), demo by Dionne Warwick in 1963, "(There's) Always Something There to Remind Me" first charted for Lou Johnson (singer), Lou Johnson, whose version reached No. 49 on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in the summer of 1964. Sandie Shaw took the song to No. 1 in the UK that same year, while the duo Naked Eyes had a No. 8 hit with the song in the US two decades later in 1983. Sandie Shaw version British impresario Eve Taylor heard Johnson's version while on a US visit scouting for material for her recent discovery Sandie Shaw, who consequently covered the song for the UK market. Rush-released in September 1964, the song was premiered by Shaw with a performance on ''Ready Steady Go!'', the pop music TV program. The first week after its release, the single sold 65,000 copies. Shaw's version reached No. 1 on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rosalind Ashford
Rosalind "Roz" Ashford-Holmes (born September 2, 1943) is an American soprano R&B and soul singer, known for her work as an original member of the Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas. Early years Born Rosalind Ashford on September 2, 1943, to John and Mary Ashford in Detroit, Michigan, Ashford sang in church choirs and learned to dance in local centers. Developing a passion for music, she joined the glee club and mixed choruses while attending Wilbur Wright High School. According to Ashford, in 1957 her mother and sister helped land her an audition at a local Detroit YMCA club, where a man named Edward "Pops" Larkins recruited her, Annette Beard and Gloria Williams to form a sister group to a male vocal group. Martha Reeves, contrary to belief, was not an original member of The Del-Phis, as she was a member of another group. Reeves would not join until 1960. Naming themselves The Del-Phis, the group performed in local benefit parties throughout Detroit and performed a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Kelly
Betty Kelly (born September 16, 1944) (also known as Betty Kelley) is an American singer most noted as being a member of the popular Motown singing group Martha and the Vandellas. Early years Born in Attalla, Alabama, Kelly moved with her family to Kalamazoo, Michigan when she was a child. In 1964, she replaced Annette Beard as a member of Martha and the Vandellas, the group led by Martha Reeves and featuring Rosalind Ashford. In 1961, she joined Motown singing group The Velvelettes. Martha and the Vandellas Kelly joined what became the most famed lineup of the Vandellas, which recorded "I'm Ready for Love", " Nowhere to Run" and " My Baby Loves Me". The group performed on ''The Ed Sullivan Show'', ''Shindig!'' and ''American Bandstand''. Kelly was fired from the group in the summer of 1967—about the same time that Florence Ballard was fired from The Supremes—and was replaced by Martha's younger sister Lois Reeves with the group's name changed to ''Martha Reeves and the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lois Reeves
Sandra Delores Reeves (born April 12, 1948), better known as Lois Reeves, is an American singer, most notable for being the younger sister of Motown legend Martha Reeves, for having replaced popular Martha and the Vandellas member Betty Kelly as member of her sister's group in 1967, and for later singing background for records by Al Green in the 1970s as a member of the backing group Quiet Elegance. Lois' nickname was "Pee Wee" as she is only 5'1" tall. Biography Music career The daughter of Elijah Joshua Reeves and Ruby Lee Gilmore, Lois was part of a family of 11 children. Before her older sister, Martha, was a year old, the family moved from Eufaula, Alabama to Detroit. Both Elijah and Ruby enjoyed singing and playing the guitar, passing their love of music on to their children. Elijah's father, Reverend Elijah Reeves, was a minister at Detroit's Metropolitan Church; the family was very active in the church and in its choir. Upon graduatation from high school, Lois Reev ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Martha Reeves
Martha Rose Reeves (born July 18, 1941) is an American R&B and pop singer. She is the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", " Nowhere to Run", "Heat Wave", "Jimmy Mack", and their signature "Dancing in the Street". From 2005 until 2009, Reeves served as an elected council woman for the city of Detroit, Michigan. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. Early life Martha Rose Reeves was born in Eufaula, Alabama, the first daughter of Elijah Joshua Reeves and Ruby Lee Gilmore Reeves, and the third of the couple's 11 children. She was a baby when the family moved from Eufaula to Detroit, Michigan, where her grandfather, Reverend Elijah Reeves, was a minister at Detroit's Metropolitan Church. The family was very active in the church and its choir. Elijah played guitar, and Ruby liked to sing; the children acquired their love o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe by the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south. The country covers five-eighths of the island of Great Britain, which lies in the North Atlantic, and includes over 100 smaller islands, such as the Isles of Scilly and the Isle of Wight. The area now called England was first inhabited by modern humans during the Upper Paleolithic period, but takes its name from the Angles, a Germanic tribe deriving its name from the Anglia peninsula, who settled during the 5th and 6th centuries. England became a unified state in the 10th century and has had a significant cultural and legal impact on the wider world since the Age of Discovery, which began during the 15th century. The English language, the Anglican Church, and Engli ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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