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Sixty Minute Man
"Sixty Minute Man" is a rhythm and blues (R&B) record released on Federal Records in 1951 by the Dominoes. It was written by Billy Ward and Rose Marks and was one of the first R&B hit records to cross over to become a hit on the pop chart. It is regarded as one of the most important of the recordings that helped generate and shape rock and roll. Background The Dominoes were a black vocal group consisting of Clyde McPhatter (1932–1972), who later left the group to form the Drifters; Bill Brown (1926-1956); Charlie White (1930-2005); and Joe Lamont (d. 1998), led by their pianist, manager and songwriter, Billy Ward (1921–2002). Ward was a black, classically trained vocal coach who had formed a business partnership with a white New York talent agent, Rose Marks. The pair decided to put together a smooth vocal group to rival The Ink Spots, the Orioles, and similar groups who were beginning to win acceptance with white audiences. In 1950, the Dominoes were signed to Federal R ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Orioles
The Orioles were an American R&B group of the late 1940s and early 1950s, one of the earliest such vocal groups who established the basic pattern for the doo-wop sound. The Orioles are generally acknowledged as R&B's first vocal group. Baltimore natives, they blended rhythm with group harmonies. Dubbing themselves after Maryland's state bird, the Orioles started the trend of bird groups (The Cardinals, The Crows, The Flamingos, The Larks, The Penguins, The Ravens, The Wrens, etc.). They brought their winning formula to their first charted hit " It's Too Soon to Know"; a #1 record in November 1948, soon followed by the group's second hit, "(It's Gonna Be a) Lonely Christmas", in December that same year. Original members *Sonny Til (born Earlington Carl Tilghman, 18 August 1928, Baltimore, Maryland — died 9 December 1981, Washington, D.C.) (lead tenor) *Alexander Sharp (born 6 December 1919, Baltimore — died January 3rd 1970) (high tenor) *George Nelson (born 1925, Baltimore ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hardrock Gunter
Sidney Louie Gunter Jr. (February 27, 1925 – March 15, 2013), known as Hardrock Gunter, was a singer, songwriter and guitarist whose music at the turn of the 1950s prefigured rock and roll and rockabilly music. Biography He was born in Birmingham, Alabama. He formed his first group, the Hoot Owl Ramblers, in his teens, and also performed a solo novelty act in talent shows. In 1939, he joined Happy Wilson's Golden River Boys, a country swing group, and acquired his nickname when a van trunk lid fell on him before a show and he never flinched.Matthew Loukes, ''Obituary'', "The Guardian", 28 March 2013 Retrieved 29 March 2013 After wartime service he returned to work with the group, before leaving to become their agent and starting to appear on local TV. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Blues
Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the African-American culture. The blues form is ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll, and is characterized by the call-and-response pattern (the blues scale and specific chord progressions) of which the twelve-bar blues is the most common. Blue notes (or "worried notes"), usually thirds, fifths or sevenths flattened in pitch, are also an essential part of the sound. Blues shuffles or walking bass reinforce the trance-like rhythm and form a repetitive effect known as the groove. Blues as a genre is also characterized by its lyrics, bass lines, and instrumentation. Early traditional blues verses consisted of a single line repeated four times. It was only in the first decades of the 20th century that the most common current str ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Gospel Music
Gospel music is a traditional genre of Christian music, and a cornerstone of Christian media. The creation, performance, significance, and even the definition of gospel music varies according to culture and social context. Gospel music is composed and performed for many purposes, including aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, and as an entertainment product for the marketplace. Gospel music is characterized by dominant vocals and strong use of harmony with Christian lyrics. Gospel music can be traced to the early 17th century. Hymns and sacred songs were often repeated in a call and response fashion, heavily influenced by ancestral African music. Most of the churches relied on hand-clapping and foot-stomping as rhythmic accompaniment. Most of the singing was done a cappella.Jackson, Joyce Marie. "The changing nature of gospel music: A southern case study." ''African American Review'' 29.2 (1995): 185. Academic Search Premier. EBSCO. Web. October 5, 2010. The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Novelty Song
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs. Novelty songs are often a parody or humor song, and may apply to a current event such as a holiday or a fad such as a dance or TV programme. Many use unusual lyrics, subjects, sounds, or instrumentation, and may not even be musical. For example, the 1966 novelty song "They're Coming to Take Me Away, Ha-Haaa! ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dirty Blues
Dirty blues encompasses forms of blues music that deal with socially taboo and obscene subjects, often referring to sexual acts and drug use. Due to the sometimes graphic subject matter, such music was often banned from radio and only available on a jukebox. The style was most popular in the years before World War II, although it had a revival in the early 1950s. Many songs used innuendo, slang terms, or double entendres, such as Lil Johnson's "Press My Button (Ring My Bell)" (''"Come on baby, let's have some fun / Just put your hot dog in my bun"''). However, some were very explicit. The most extreme examples were rarely recorded at all, a notable exception being Lucille Bogan's obscene version of " Shave 'Em Dry" (1935), which Elijah Wald has noted as "by far the most explicit blues song preserved at a commercial pre-war recording session". The more noteworthy musicians who utilised the style included Bo Carter, Bull Moose Jackson, Harlem Hamfats, Wynonie Harris, and Hank Bal ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ida Cox
Ida Cox (born Ida M. Prather, February 26, 1888 or 1896 – November 10, 1967) was an American singer and vaudeville performer, best known for her blues performances and recordings. She was billed as "The Uncrowned Queen of the Blues".Harrison, Daphne Duval (1988). ''Black Pearls: Blues Queens of the 1920s''. New Brunswick, N.J.: Rutgers University Press. Childhood and early career Cox was born Ida M. Prather, the daughter of Lamax and Susie (Knight) Prather in Toccoa, then Habersham County, Georgia, and grew up in Cedartown, Polk County, Georgia. Many sources give her birth date as February 26, 1896, but the researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc have suggested she was born in 1888 and noted other evidence suggesting 1894. Her family lived and worked in the shadow of the Riverside Plantation, the private residence of the wealthy Prather family, from which her namesake came.Wilson, Karen (2006). "Harlem Wisdom in a Wild Woman's Blues: The Cool Intellect of Ida Cox." ''Afro-Ame ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Georgia White
Georgia White (9 March 1903 – c.1980) was an American blues singer, most prolific in the 1930s and 1940s. Little is known of her early life, but it has been suggested that she was born in Sandersville, Georgia. By the late 1920s she was singing in nightclub, clubs in Chicago. She made her first sound recording and reproduction, recording, "When You're Smiling, the Whole World Smiles With You," with Jimmie Noone's orchestra in 1930. She returned to the studio in 1935, and over the next six years recorded over 100 tracks for Decca Records, usually accompanied by the pianist Richard M. Jones and also, in the late 1930s, by the guitarist Lonnie Johnson (musician), Lonnie Johnson. She also recorded under the name Georgia Lawson. Her tracks included "I'll Keep Sitting on It," "Take Me for a Buggy Ride," "Mama Knows What Papa Wants When Papa's Feeling Blue," and "Hot Nuts." Her best-known song was "You Done Lost Your Good Thing Now" (1935). White formed an all-female band in the 194 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Minstrel Show
The minstrel show, also called minstrelsy, was an American form of racist theatrical entertainment developed in the early 19th century. Each show consisted of comic skits, variety acts, dancing, and music performances that depicted people specifically of African descent. The shows were performed by mostly white people wearing blackface make-up for the purpose of playing the role of black people. There were also some African-American performers and black-only minstrel groups that formed and toured. Minstrel shows caricatured black people as dim-witted, lazy, buffoonish, superstitious, and happy-go-lucky.The Coon Character , Jim Crow Museum of Racist Memorabilia, Ferris State University. Retrieved 29 January 2016.John Kenrick [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Da Capo Press
Da Capo Press is an American publishing company with headquarters in Boston, Massachusetts. It is now an imprint of Hachette Books. History Founded in 1964 as a publisher of music books, as a division of Plenum Publishers, it had additional offices in New York City, Philadelphia, Los Angeles, and Emeryville, California. The year prior, Da Capo Press had net sales of over $2.5 million. Da Capo Press became a general trade publisher in the mid-1970s. It was sold to the Perseus Books Group in 1999 after Plenum was sold to Wolters Kluwer. In the last decade, its production has consisted of mostly nonfiction titles, both hardcover and paperback, focusing on history, music, the performing arts, sports, and popular culture. In 2003, Lifelong Books was founded as a health and wellness imprint. When Marlowe & Company became part of the imprint in 2007, Lifelong's range was expanded to include the New Glucose Revolution series and numerous diabetes titles, as well as books on healthful ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
René Hall
René Joseph Hall (September 26, 1912 ‒ February 11, 1988) was an American guitarist and arranger. He was among the most important behind the scenes figures in early rock and roll, but his career spanned the period from the late 1920s to the late 1980s, and encompassed multiple musical styles. Biography Born in Morgan City, Louisiana, René Hall first recorded in 1933 as a banjo player with Joseph Robichaux in New Orleans. He then worked around the country as a member of the Ernie Fields Orchestra, with whom he made his earliest recordings. In the group he was known by the nickname ''Lightnin' ''. Later he joined Earl Hines as musical arranger. During the 1940s he built up a considerable reputation as a session musician in New York City. In the late 1940s, he formed his own sextet which recorded for various labels including Jubilee, Decca, and RCA. He also worked as a talent scout for King Records, discovering such acts as Billy Ward and the Dominoes. In the mid-1950s, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
