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Smoke Signals (Smokey Robinson Album)
''Smoke Signals'' is a studio album by the American singer Smokey Robinson, released in 1986 by Motown. "Be Kind to the Growing Mind", featuring the Temptations, encourages songwriters to avoid distasteful lyrics. "Hold On to Your Love" was written with Stevie Wonder. Robinson supported the album with a North American tour. Critical reception The ''Houston Chronicle'' wrote: "Less personal than many of his solo projects, ''Smoke Signals'' is reassuring, if not a renewal for Robinson." ''The San Diego Union-Tribune'' noted that Robinson "retains his inimitable sense of cheerful optimism and wholesomeness." The ''Chicago Sun-Times'' deemed the album "a little too much in the middle-of-the-road." Track listing All tracks composed by Smokey Robinson; except where indicated # "Some People (Will Do Anything for Love)" (Bobby Sandstrom, Michael Price) - 4:22 # "Sleepless Nights" (Alan Gorrie, Michael Mugrage) - 4:07 # "Because of You (It's The Best It's Ever Been)" - 4:12 # "Be Kind to th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smokey Robinson
William "Smokey" Robinson Jr. (born February 19, 1940) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer, and former record executive director. He was the founder and front man of the Motown vocal group the Miracles, for which he was also chief songwriter and producer. He led the group from its 1955 origins as "the Five Chimes" until 1972, when he announced his retirement from the group to focus on his role as Motown's vice president. However, Robinson returned to the music industry as a solo artist the following year. Robinson left Motown Records in 1990, following the sale of the company two years earlier. Robinson was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987 and was awarded the 2016 Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for his lifetime contributions to popular music. In 2022, he was inducted into the Black Music & Entertainment Walk of Fame. Early life and early career William Robinson Jr. was born to an African-American father and a mother of African-American and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Omartian
Michael Omartian (born November 26, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, keyboardist, and music producer. He produced number-one records in three consecutive decades. He has earned 11 Grammy Awards nominations and won three. He spent five years on the A&R staff of ABC/Dunhill Records as a producer, artist, and arranger; then was hired by Warner Bros. Records as an in-house producer and A&R staff member. Omartian moved from Los Angeles to Nashville in 1993, where he served on the Board of Governors of the Recording Academy, and has helped to shape the curriculum for the first master's degree program in the field of Music Business at Belmont University. Omartian has produced albums for many artists, including Clint Black, Michael Bolton, Debby Boone, Steve Camp, Peter Cetera, Christopher Cross, Joe "Bean" Esposito, Amy Grant, Benny Hester, Whitney Houston, The Imperials, The Jacksons, Reba McEntire, Dolly Parton, Cliff Richard, Steely Dan, Rod Stewart, Donna S ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Elliot
Richard Elliot (born January 16, 1960) is a Scottish-born American saxophonist. He was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards for ''Summer Horns''. Career Elliot started out as a member of the jazz-rock unit, KittyHawk, playing lyricon (a wind synthesizer) and saxophone, and recording several albums with them. He then became a member of the funk band Tower of Power, playing tenor sax for five years during the 1980s. That was followed by a stint at a member of the Yellowjackets. He also worked on Stacy Lattisaw's 1986 album ''Take Me All the Way''. His solo career took off when he remade the Percy Sledge classic "When a Man Loves a Woman", which had also been remade by Michael Bolton. Other well-known songs include "In the Groove", "Take Your Time", "Crush", "Chill Factor", "Corner Pocket" and "Sly", as well as remakes of classic pop songs such as "I'm Not in Love" and the Luther Vandross hits "Here and Now" and "Your Secr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Emilio Castillo
Emilio Castillo (born September 24, 1950) is an American saxophone player and composer, best known as the founder of the band Tower of Power. Background In 1965, Emilio Castillo took to music after he and his brother Jack were caught stealing by his father who told him he could stay in his room until he thought of something to 'Keep him off the street'. Castillo and his brother chose music. Emilio chose saxophone and Jack chose drums. He took lessons in saxophone, piano, and guitar, and also took lessons in music theory from one-time Dave Brubeck bass player Norman Bates (musician), Norman Bates. His first musical endeavor was in Extension Five which later became The Gotham City Crime Fighters due to the Batman craze at the time. He played both organ and sax. The group also consisted of his brother Jack on drums, Jody Lopez on guitar Frank “Rocco’ Houghton on bass (later going by the name of Rocco Prestia, Francis Rocco Prestia), and Dave Genthner on vocals. In March, 1966 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tower Of Power
Tower of Power is an American R&B and funk based band and horn section, originating in Oakland, California, that has been performing since 1968. There have been a number of lead vocalists, the best-known being Lenny Williams, who fronted the band between early 1973 and late 1974, the period of their greatest commercial success. They have had eight songs on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100; their highest-charting songs include "You're Still a Young Man", "So Very Hard to Go", "What Is Hip?", and "Don't Change Horses (in the Middle of a Stream)". History In the summer of 1968, tenor saxophonist/vocalist Emilio Castillo met Stephen "Doc" Kupka, who played baritone sax. Castillo had played in several bands, but Castillo's father told his son to "hire that guy" after a home audition. Within months the group, then known as The Motowns, began playing various gigs around Oakland, California, Oakland and Berkeley, California, Berkeley, their soul sound appealing to both mino ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Greg Adams (musician)
Greg Adams is an American trumpet/flugelhorn player and music arranger, probably best known for his work with the band Tower of Power. Adams grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area, and while attending Westmoor High School in Daly City he had already established a reputation as a musical prodigy. He had made plans to attend the Berklee School of Music in Boston, but instead accepted an invitation to join Tower of Power for their first album, ''East Bay Grease'' (1970). He remained with the band for 25 years and was responsible for many of their distinctive horn arrangements, including "What Is Hip?" (1973) which earned him a Grammy Award nomination. In 1995 Adams recorded his first solo album, ''Hidden Agenda'' (Epic), which reached #1 on the U.S. smooth jazz charts. His subsequent albums include ''Midnight Morning'' (Ripa, Blue Note) (2002), ''Firefly'' (215) (2004), and ''Cool To The Touch'' (Ripa) (2006). Adams has recorded with and/or arranged for other artists, including Chic ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Steve Barri
Steve Barri (born Steven Barry Lipkin in Brooklyn, New York on February 23, 1942) is an American songwriter and record producer. Career Early in his career, Barri was a staff writer with Dunhill Records. He produced such huge hits as " Dizzy" by Tommy Roe. As both songwriter and producer he frequently collaborated with P. F. Sloan, and the partners were responsible for the success of The Grass Roots and contributed largely to the band's first album. They co-produced the global hit version of Sloan's song " Eve of Destruction" – a 1965 US number one by Barry McGuire (originally from the New Christy Minstrels). Barri and Sloan co-wrote and/or co-produced many other hit records in the mid-1960s including "You Baby" by The Turtles, "A Must to Avoid" by Herman's Hermits and "Secret Agent Man" by Johnny Rivers. They also co-wrote " Unless You Care", which was recorded by Terry Black and reached no. 2 in Canada, and " Little Liar", which Black took to no. 10 in Canada. After ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Vinnie Colaiuta
Vincent Peter Colaiuta (born February 5, 1956) is an American drummer who has worked as a session musician in many genres. He was inducted into the ''Modern Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 1996 and the ''Classic Drummer'' Hall of Fame in 2014. Colaiuta has won one Grammy Award and has been nominated twice. Since the late 1970s, he has recorded and toured with Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, and Sting, among many other appearances in the studio and in concert. Career Colaiuta was given his first drum kit when he was seven. He took to it naturally, with little instruction. When he was fourteen, the school band teacher gave him a book that taught him some of the basics. Buddy Rich was his favorite drummer until he heard the album ''Ego'' by Tony Williams, an event that changed his life. Colaiuta was also listening to organ groups, notably Jack McDuff, Jimmy McGriff and Don Patterson. While a student at Berklee College of Music, when jazz fusion was on the rise, he listened to and ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
OXO (band)
OXO was an American dance-rock band with the palindromic name formed in 1983 by Ish 'Angel' Ledesma, the former lead singer of Foxy. He formed the band with guitarist Orlando Nuñez, bass player Frank Garcia, and drummer Freddy Alwag. They released only their self-titled debut in 1983, which scored a Top 40 hit with " Whirly Girl", a new wave style song about Orlando's current girlfriend at the time. The track was originally titled "Worldly Girl", "but adding that 'd' to the mix made the chorus too chunky and difficult to sing. So they abbreviated it to 'Whirly Girl' and pop music history was made with the only song to ever use the phrase 'Whirly Girl'." OXO's success was not to last, and the band broke up a few years later. According to Ken Mansfield and Marshall Terrill, on OXO's "debut record on Geffen Records was a Top 30 hit called 'Whirly Girl' that died a painful death. The moment the record charted, the group began breaking up. Politics and power struggles erupted betwe ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Robinson (drummer)
John Frederick Robinson (born December 29, 1954), known professionally as JR, is an American drummer and session musician who has been called "one of the most recorded drummers in history". He is known for his work with producer Quincy Jones, including Michael Jackson's multi-platinum ''Off the Wall'' album and the charity single "We Are the World". JR's drum fill kicks off Jackson's chart topper "Rock with You", and his drum solo opens the Steve Winwood album ''Back in the High Life'' (1986) to begin the number 1 song "Higher Love". ''Rolling Stone'' listed JR in 2016 at number 81 in their list of the top 100 "Greatest Drummers of All Time". He was awarded one Grammy Award for the Rufus/Chaka Khan single "Ain't Nobody", but has played drums on more than 50 Grammy winners. JR plays in many different styles. His first fame came with the funk band Rufus, and he recorded dance/funk hits with the Pointer Sisters. In the pop and rock fields, his work stretches from the straight-up r ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mike Baird (musician)
Michael Gary Baird (born May 18, 1951 in South Gate, California South Gate is the 19th largest city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, with . South Gate is located southeast of Downtown Los Angeles. It is part of the Gateway Cities region of southeastern Los Angeles County. The city was inco ...''California Birth Index, 1905–1995'' (Provo, UT: Ancestry.com Operations Inc.), 2005.) is an American drummer. He has played drums for Airborne, Vasco Rossi, Billy Idol, Hall and Oates, Pointer Sisters, Donna Summer, Riverdogs, Animotion, Richard Marx, Michael Bolton, Rick Springfield, Eddie Money, Kenny Loggins, Yumi Matsutoya, Juice Newton, and Prism (band), Prism. He was a touring drummer for Journey (band), Journey on their tour for the ''Raised on Radio'' album. Partial discography With Hall & Oates * ''Daryl Hall & John Oates (album), Daryl Hall & John Oates'' (1975) With Jamie Owens * ''Growing Pains'' (1975) With Paul Anka * ''Headlines'' (1979) * ''Walk ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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