Secret Secrets
''Secret Secrets'' is the ninth studio album by British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, released on 4 February 1985 by A&M (AMA 5040). The album was recorded and mixed at Battery Studios (previously known as Morgan Studios), in Willesden, London. It reached number 14 on the UK Album Chart and was certified Silver by the British Phonographic Industry for sales in excess of 60,000 copies. The album peaked at number 18 in Australia. The album had little success with singles, with its only charting hit, "Temptation", stalling at no.65 on the UK Singles Chart. Background The producer for ''Secret Secrets'' was Mike Howlett, who had previous success producing for bands such as OMD, China Crisis and Berlin. Alex Sadkin, who had produced three albums with Grace Jones, was approached but he was not available at the time.Mayes, p. 133 ''Secret Secrets'' was the last album for which Armatrading worked with a producer as she has produced all subsequent albums herself. At the time ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, (, born 9 December 1950) is a Kittitian-English singer-songwriter and guitarist. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. In a recording career spanning nearly 50 years, Armatrading has released 20 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations. Early life Joan Armatrading, the third of six children, was born in 1950 in the town of Basseterre in what was then the British colony Saint Christopher and Nevis. Her father was a carpenter and her mother a housewife. When she was three years old, her parents moved with their two eldest boys to Birmingham in England, sending Joan to live with her grandmother on the Caribbean island of Antigua. In early 1958, at the age of seven, she joined her parents in Brookfields, then a district of Birmingham. (The area, now mostly demoli ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Grace Jones
Grace Beverly Jones (born 19 May 1948) is a model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of ''Elle'' and ''Vogue''. She notably worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features. Beginning in 1977, Jones embarked on a music career, securing a record deal with Island Records and initially becoming a high-profile figure of New York City's Studio 54-centered disco scene. In the early 1980s, she moved toward a new wave style that drew on reggae, funk, post-punk, and pop music, frequently collaborating with both the graphic designer Jean-Paul Goude and the musical duo Sly & Robbie. She scored Top 40 entries on the UK Single ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hammersmith Odeon
The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Hammersmith, London, it is an art deco Grade II* listed building. The venue has hosted numerous concerts by major stars, including the Beatles, Queen, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Iron Maiden, Bruce Springsteen, Bob Marley, Ella Fitzgerald and Duke Ellington amongst many others. History Designed by Robert Cromie, who also renovated the Prince of Wales Theatre, in the Art Deco style, it opened in 1932 as the Gaumont Palace, with a seating capacity of nearly 3,500 people, being renamed the Hammersmith Odeon in 1962. It has had a string of names and owners, most recently AEG Live and Eventim UK. It became a Grade II listed building in 1990. The venue was later refurbished and renamed Labatt's Apollo following a sponsorship deal with L ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sounds (magazine)
''Sounds'' was a UK weekly pop/rock music newspaper, published from 10 October 1970 to 6 April 1991. It was known for giving away posters in the centre of the paper (initially black and white, then colour from late 1971) and later for covering heavy metal (especially the new wave of British heavy metal (NWOBHM)) and punk and Oi! music in its late 1970s–early 1980s heyday. History It was produced by Spotlight Publications (part of Morgan Grampian), which was set up by John Thompson and Jo Saul with Jack Hutton and Peter Wilkinson, who left ''Melody Maker'' to start their own company. ''Sounds'' was their first project, a weekly paper devoted to progressive rock and described by Hutton, to those he was attempting to recruit from his former publication, as "a leftwing ''Melody Maker''". ''Sounds'' was intended to be a weekly rival to titles such as ''Melody Maker'' and ''New Musical Express'' (''NME''). ''Sounds'' was one of the first music papers to cover punk. Mick Middles c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Record Mirror
''Record Mirror'' was a British weekly music newspaper between 1954 and 1991 for pop fans and record collectors. Launched two years after the ''NME'', it never attained the circulation of its rival. The first UK album chart was published in ''Record Mirror'' in 1956, and during the 1980s it was the only consumer music paper to carry the official UK singles and UK albums charts used by the BBC for Radio 1 and ''Top of the Pops'', as well as the US ''Billboard'' charts. The title ceased to be a stand-alone publication in April 1991 when United Newspapers closed or sold most of their consumer magazines, including ''Record Mirror'' and its sister music magazine ''Sounds'', to concentrate on trade papers like ''Music Week''. In 2010 Giovanni di Stefano bought the name ''Record Mirror'' and relaunched it as an online music gossip website in 2011. The website became inactive in 2013 following di Stefano's jailing for fraud. Early years, 1954–1963 ''Record Mirror'' was founded by for ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Sean Mayes
Charles Thomas Sean Mayes (17 March 1945 – 12 July 1995) was a British pianist and writer. Born in Stone Allerton, Somerset, Mayes was schooled in Bristol. He won a place at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he obtained a degree in philosophy. Mayes played in a rock and roll band called Fumble, which supported David Bowie on the Ziggy Stardust Tour in 1972. He made three albums with Fumble, and featured in the original cast of ''Elvis!'' at the Astoria Theatre. In 1978, Mayes played for Bowie on the Isolar II Tour, recorded and released on the live album ''Stage'', and on '' Lodger'', released in 1979. In 1983 he joined Tom Robinson for " War Baby" and further album tracks. He wrote a biography of Joan Armatrading and co-wrote a visual documentary about Kate Bush with Kevin Cann. He also wrote the book ''Life on Tour with David Bowie: We Can Be Heroes'', which was published in 1999, four years after his death. Mayes died in London London is the capital and List of ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jazz
Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major form of musical expression in traditional and popular music. Jazz is characterized by swing and blue notes, complex chords, call and response vocals, polyrhythms and improvisation. Jazz has roots in European harmony and African rhythmic rituals. As jazz spread around the world, it drew on national, regional, and local musical cultures, which gave rise to different styles. New Orleans jazz began in the early 1910s, combining earlier brass band marches, French quadrilles, biguine, ragtime and blues with collective polyphonic improvisation. But jazz did not begin as a single musical tradition in New Orleans or elsewhere. In the 1930s, arranged dance-oriented swing big bands, Kansas City jazz (a hard-swinging, bluesy, improvisationa ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Key (Joan Armatrading Album)
''The Key'' is the eighth studio album by the British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, released on 28 February 1983 by A&M Records (AMLX64912). The album was recorded at Townhouse Studios in Shepherd's Bush, London; Polar Studios in Stockholm and also in New York. The album spawned the single "Drop the Pilot", which became one of Armatrading's biggest hits, reaching number 11 in the UK Singles Chart over a 10-week stay. It also quickly became a staple of Armatrading's live performances and has featured on many of her compilation albums. Armatrading and her backing band also performed the song on ''Top of the Pops'' in early 1983. Background and recording Steve Lillywhite was commissioned to produce the album; however, A&M Records judged the album to be not commercial enough and asked Armatrading to come up with some additional, more commercial, material. She went away and wrote the tracks "Drop the Pilot" and "What Do Boys Dream", both of which were produced separately in ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Drop The Pilot
"Drop the Pilot" is a song written and originally performed by Joan Armatrading. It was the first single to be released from Armatrading's 1983 album '' The Key'', and was her third and (to date) final UK top 40 hit. It reached number 11 in the UK Singles Chart, and spent a total of ten weeks in the Top 40. The song was a major hit in Australia and New Zealand, peaking at number 6 on both charts. The single was Armatrading's only appearance on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, where it spent six weeks, peaking at number 78 on 25 June 1983. B-side The original song "Business is Business" is featured as its B-side, a track that remains unreleased on any album. Track listing *;7" Single # "Drop the Pilot" – 3:39 # "Business Is Business" – 3:08 Chart Weekly charts Year-end charts Mandy Moore version "Drop the Pilot" is a song recorded by American singer Mandy Moore, for her third studio album ''Coverage'' (2003). Moore's version was released as the second single from ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Robert Mapplethorpe
Robert Michael Mapplethorpe (; November 4, 1946 – March 9, 1989) was an American photographer, best known for his black-and-white photographs. His work featured an array of subjects, including celebrity portraits, male and female nudes, self-portraits, and still-life images. His most controversial works documented and examined the gay male BDSM subculture of New York City in the late 1960s and early 1970s. A 1989 exhibition of Mapplethorpe's work, titled ''Robert Mapplethorpe: The Perfect Moment'', sparked a debate in the United States concerning both use of public funds for "obscene" artwork and the Constitutional limits of free speech in the United States. Biography Mapplethorpe was born in the Floral Park neighborhood of Queens, New York, the son of Joan Dorothy (Maxey) and Harry Irving Mapplethorpe, an electrical engineer. He was of English, Irish, and German descent, and grew up as a Catholic in Our Lady of the Snows Parish. Mapplethorpe attended Martin Van Buren High S ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Joe Jackson (musician)
David Ian "Joe" Jackson (born 11 August 1954) is an English musician, singer and songwriter. Having spent years studying music and playing clubs, he scored a hit with his first release, "Is She Really Going Out with Him?", in 1979. It was followed by a number of new wave singles, before he moved to more jazz-inflected pop music and had a top 10 hit in 1982 with " Steppin' Out". Jackson is associated with the 1980s Second British Invasion of the US. He has also composed classical music. He has recorded 20 studio albums and received five Grammy Award nominations. Biography Early years Born in Burton upon Trent, Staffordshire, England, David Jackson spent his first year in nearby Swadlincote, Derbyshire. He grew up in the Paulsgrove area of Portsmouth, where he attended the Portsmouth Technical High School. Jackson's parents moved to nearby Gosport when he was a teenager. He learned to play the violin but soon switched to piano, and prevailed on his father to install one in the ha ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |