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Shakatak
Shakatak is an English jazz-funk band founded in 1980 by Nigel Wright and former Wigan Casino DJ Kev Roberts. Following an initial white label release 'Steppin', the band's name was derived from a record store in Soho, London Record Shack. It was they who first showed interest in the initial single. Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, " Night Birds" (1982) and "Down on the Street" (1984), plus a further 12 entries in the ''Guinness Book of British Hit Singles''. The group is still active and popular throughout the world, particularly in Japan and the Far East, and generally produce a new album every two years on JVC Records. From their first release in August 1980 (the Bill Sharpe composition "Steppin'" on the Polydor record label), and their first 1981 album, ''Drivin' Hard'', the band's singles and albums have entered the charts regularly. Career It was the release of the 1981 single, "Easier Said Than Done", tha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Shakatak 01 KT
Shakatak is an English jazz-funk band founded in 1980 by Nigel Wright and former Wigan Casino DJ Kev Roberts. Following an initial white label release 'Steppin', the band's name was derived from a record store in Soho, London Record Shack. It was they who first showed interest in the initial single. Shakatak scored a number of chart entries, including two Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart, " Night Birds" (1982) and "Down on the Street" (1984), plus a further 12 entries in the ''Guinness Book of British Hit Singles''. The group is still active and popular throughout the world, particularly in Japan and the Far East, and generally produce a new album every two years on JVC Records. From their first release in August 1980 (the Bill Sharpe composition "Steppin'" on the Polydor record label), and their first 1981 album, ''Drivin' Hard'', the band's singles and albums have entered the charts regularly. Career It was the release of the 1981 single, "Easier Said Than Done", ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jill Saward (singer)
Jill Saward (born 9 December 1953) is a British singer, musician and composer, best known for being the lead voice of the English jazz-funk band, Shakatak. Career She began her musical career at the age of 16, with the British progressive jazz rock band Fusion Orchestra, from 1969 to 1972. Jill Saward and the Fusion Orchestra gained a following of fans who secured a record deal with EMI music to produce their first album ''Skeleton in Armour'', an album that immediately received critical acclaim upon its debut, and is now considered a collector's item which is highly sought after. After the band Fusion Orchestra split, Saward became involved in a new all female group, called Brandy. The band, produced by Polydor, was active for about three years in the UK and Europe, before disbanding in 1976. Saward was spotted later by the band leader Nicky North who invited her to perform in the 'Cats Whiskers' with his own big soul funk band. She also made a name for herself as one of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Bill Sharpe (musician)
Bill Sharpe (born William Jeffrey Revell Sharpe, 19 November 1952, Bishop's Stortford, England) is a British musician, who has worked as a member of Shakatak, as a solo artist, and with others, such as Gary Numan and Don Grusin. Life and career Sharpe was educated at Bishop's Stortford College. From there he studied music at Birmingham University where he gained an honours degree. Sharpe had classical tuition on piano from an early age. As a teenager, his main interest was piano music from the romantic era, but eventually he found an interest in jazz and rock music. He joined several jazz rock bands as a keyboard player around his native Bishop's Stortford, one of the most successful ones featuring Trevor Horn on bass guitar. He worked for the BBC as a tape op and sound engineer at the Maida Vale Studios for six years, engineering sessions for the John Peel and Kid Jensen shows. During this time, in the early 1980s, he was a founding member of the group Shakatak. After Sha ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Night Birds (album)
''Night Birds'', released in 1982 on the Polydor label, is the second album by English jazz-funk band Shakatak. ''Night Birds'' established Shakatak's trademark jazz-funk sound, and contains two of the band's biggest hits, "Easier Said than Done" and "Night Birds", the former reaching the No. 12 spot in 1981, the latter climbing to No. 9 in the following year. Track listing * All tracks written by William "Bill" Sharpe and Roger Odell except where indicated. Side 1: #"Night Birds" – 6:25 #"Streetwalkin'" – 5:30 #"Rio Nights" – 5:18 #"Fly the Wind" – 4:20 Side 2: #"Easier Said Than Done" – 6:10 #"Bitch to the Boys" – 6:28 #"Light on My Life" – 4:48 #"Takin' Off" ( William "Bill" Sharpe) – 5:08 * Produced by Nigel Wright. Charts Personnel * Bill Sharpe – Bösendorfer grand piano, Fender Rhodes electric piano; Oberheim OB-X synthesizer, ARP Odyssey and Prophet-10 synthesisers * Nigel Wright – Fender Rhodes electric piano, Oberheim OB-X & Prophet-10 s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Drivin' Hard
''Drivin' Hard'', released in May 1981 on the Polydor label, is the first album by English jazz-funk band Shakatak. Track listing All tracks written by William "Bill" Sharpe except where indicated. #"Livin in the U.K." (Stayton Heyward; Neil Heyward; Bill Sharpe; Wally Badarou) – 5:54 #"Into the Night" – 4:36 #"Toot the Shoot" (Roger Odell) – 4:00 #"Lumiere" 4:14 #"Late Night Flight" – 3:58 #"Waves" – 1:38 #"Steppin' (Live)" – 6:27 #"Covina" – 4:46 #"You Never Know" – 5:10 #"Brazilian Dawn" – 6:33 Personnel * Bill Sharpe – Bösendorfer grand piano, keyboards at * [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Down On The Street
"Down on the Street" is a 1984 song by British band Shakatak. The song is about the joy of nightlife. It was a hit, reaching No. 9 in the UK. It was also their only chart entry on the U.S. Dance Charts, with no further hits there, although their duet with Al Jarreau on "Day by Day" in 1985 was a mild success. Shakatak also reworked the song for the opening titles of 1986 BBC Education series ''You Are What You Eat''. The song has been covered by Norwegian band D'Sound D'Sound (stylized as d'sound) is a Norwegian neo soul band based in Oslo, Norway. The band was formed in 1993 with a line-up composed of lead vocalist Simone Eriksrud, bassist Jonny Sjo and drummer Kim Ofstad. After Eriksrud's initial departure i ... and Rage Against The Machine in 2000, on their covers album Renegades. Track listing ;7" single # "Down on the Street" 3:16 # "Holding On" 4:35 ;12" single # "Down on the Street" 6:48 # "Dark Is the Night" 6:05 Charts References {{authority control ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nigel Wright (record Producer)
Nigel Wright (born 13 June 1955, Bristol) is a record producer from England. His career as music producer, orchestrator and songwriter has scored five number one singles, 31 Top 20 singles and a string of platinum albums with recording artists as diverse as Madonna, Shakatak, Mezzoforte, Barbra Streisand, Boyzone, Sonia, Take That, Sinitta, José Carreras, Robson & Jerome, Michael Ball, Sarah Brightman, The Texas Tenors, Cliff Richard, Connie Fisher, Paul Potts, Andy Abraham and Ray Quinn. Wright's career in theatre and film include serving as the music producer for Andrew Lloyd Webber, in a successful partnership that had, as of May 2009, lasted more than eighteen years. Record production Wright first rose to prominence as producer of the jazz-funk group Shakatak. During the 1980s, he also produced medleys under various names. In 1981, Wright created "Ain't No Stopping", a rapid response to the success of Stars on 45 consisting of parts of recent disco hits and taking its nam ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Music Recording Sales Certification
Music recording certification is a system of certifying that a music recording has shipped, sold, or streamed a certain number of units. The threshold quantity varies by type (such as album, single, music video) and by nation or territory (see List of music recording certifications). Almost all countries follow variations of the RIAA certification categories, which are named after precious materials (gold, platinum and diamond). The threshold required for these awards depends upon the population of the territory where the recording is released. Typically, they are awarded only to international releases and are awarded individually for each country where the album is sold. Different sales levels, some perhaps 10 times greater than others, may exist for different music media (for example: videos versus albums, singles, or music download). History The original gold and silver record awards were presented to artists by their own record companies to publicize their sales achi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Hit Singles & Albums
''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of the Guinness breweries, Guinness Superlatives. Later editions were published by HiT Entertainment (who had bought the Guinness World Records brand). It listed all the singles and albums featured in the Top 75 pop charts in the UK. In 2004 the book became an amalgamation of two earlier Guinness publications, originally known as ''British Hit Singles'' and ''British Hit Albums''. The publication of this amalgamation ceased in 2006, with Guinness World Records being sold to The Jim Pattison Group, owner of ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!''. At this point, the Official UK Charts Company teamed up with Random House/Ebury Publishing to release a new version of the book under the Virgin Books brand. Entitled ''The Virgin Book of British Hit Singles ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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] |
Away We Go
''Away We Go'' is a 2009 American comedy-drama directed by Sam Mendes and written by Dave Eggers and Vendela Vida. The film's two leads are John Krasinski and Maya Rudolph. It is Mendes's first film without Thomas Newman's collaboration. Plot Verona De Tessant (Maya Rudolph) and Burt Farlander (John Krasinski), are in their early thirties in the Denver area and struggling to meet daily needs and build fulfilling lives. Learning they will soon become parents, they are confronted with the challenge of how – and where – to raise a child and build a happy family. Six months into Verona's pregnancy, they visit their only family in the area, Burt's parents, Gloria and Jerry (Catherine O'Hara and Jeff Daniels), only to find that they have decided to move to Antwerp, Belgium, a month before the baby is due. They will be gone for two years and they have already rented their place to another couple, despite Burt's and Verona's situation. Frustrated with their selfishness and careless at ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Instrumental
An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instrumentals. The music is primarily or exclusively produced using musical instruments. An instrumental can exist in music notation, after it is written by a composer; in the mind of the composer (especially in cases where the composer themselves will perform the piece, as in the case of a blues solo guitarist or a folk music fiddle player); as a piece that is performed live by a single instrumentalist or a musical ensemble, which could range in components from a duo or trio to a large big band, concert band or orchestra. In a song that is otherwise sung, a section that is not sung but which is played by instruments can be called an instrumental interlude, or, if it occurs at the beginning of the song, before the singer starts to sing ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
