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Tariqh Akoni
Tariqh Akoni is a performing and session guitarist and songwriter based in Los Angeles, California. He is the former Chair of the Guitar Department at the L.A. Music Academy (succeeding Frank Gambale) as well as Musical Director for multi-platinum recording artist, Josh Groban . Akoni performs in multiple genres, including classical, flamenco, and rock. Early years Tariqh grew up in Santa Barbara in a home filled with music from a diversity of genres, from Carlos Santana to Mac Davis to Sly and the Family Stone. His father was a college educator and his mother was a counselor. Berklee College of Music Following high school, Tariqh studied contemporary classical composition at the University of California at San Diego. But his guitar passion beckoned and he made the move to Boston to attend the famous Berklee School of Music. One highlight of this experience was his private study with jazz tenor saxophonist Jerry Bergonzi and jazz guitarist Rick Peckham. Complementing his class ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Los Angeles Music Academy College Of Music
Los Angeles College of Music (LACM, formerly LAMA College for Music Professionals) is a private for-profit music college in Pasadena, in Los Angeles County, California. It has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music since 2003. More than 1000 students have graduated from the school, about half of them from outside the United States. History LACM was co-founded in 1996 as LA Music Academy by Tom Aylesbury, who also became President in 2004. Original department Chairs included Frank Gambale (guitar), Dave Carpenter (bass) and co-chairs Joe Porcaro and Ralph Humphrey (drums). The vocal department was established by Kevyn Lettau in 1998. Tierney Sutton took over as Chair in 2008. The school changed its name in November 2012 to LAMA College for Music Professionals, and in 2014 to Los Angeles College of Music. Accreditation The school has been accredited by the National Association of Schools of Music since 2003. It offers six-quarter Associate of Ar ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backstreet Boys
Backstreet Boys (often abbreviated as BSB) are an American vocal group consisting of Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, and cousins Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson. Lou Pearlman formed the group in 1993 in Orlando, Florida. The group rose to fame with their international debut album, ''Backstreet Boys'' (1996). In the following year, they released their second international album ''Backstreet's Back'' (1997), along with their self-titled U.S. debut album, ''Backstreet Boys'' (1997), which continued the group's success worldwide. They rose to superstardom with their third studio album ''Millennium'' (1999) and its follow-up album, '' Black & Blue'' (2000). They also released a greatest hits album, '' The Hits - Chapter One'' (2001), with a new single, "Drowning." After a two-year hiatus, they regrouped and released a comeback album, '' Never Gone'' (2005). After the conclusion of the Never Gone Tour in 2006, Richardson left the group to pursue other interests. The g ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Kenny Rogers
Kenneth Ray Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 2013. Rogers was particularly popular with country audiences but also charted more than 120 hit singles across various genres, topping the country and pop album charts for more than 200 individual weeks in the United States alone. He sold more than 100 million records worldwide during his lifetime, making him one of the best-selling music artists of all time. His fame and career spanned multiple genres: jazz, folk, pop, rock, and country. He remade his career and was one of the most successful cross-over artists of all time. In the late 1950s, Rogers began his recording career with the Houston-based group the Scholars, who first released "The Poor Little Doggie". After some solo releases, including 1958's "That Crazy Feeling", Rogers then joined a group with the jazz singer Bobby Doyle. In 1966, he became a member ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Natalie Cole
Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She was the daughter of American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole. She rose to success in the mid-1970s as an R&B singer with the hits "This Will Be", " Inseparable" (1975), and " Our Love" (1977). She returned as a pop singer on the 1987 album ''Everlasting'' and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's " Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she sang traditional pop by her father, resulting in her biggest success, '' Unforgettable... with Love'', which sold over seven million copies and won her seven Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide. Early life Natalie Cole was born at Cedars of Lebanon Hospital in Los Angeles, California, to American singer and jazz pianist Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Hawkins Ellington, and raised in the affluent Hancock Park district of Los Angeles. Regarding her childhood, Cole referred to her family ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alicia Keys
Alicia Augello Cook (born January 25, 1981), known professionally as Alicia Keys, is an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. A classically trained pianist, Keys started composing songs when she was 12 and was signed at 15 years old by Columbia Records. After disputes with the label, she signed with Arista Records and later released her debut album, ''Songs in A Minor'', with J Records in 2001. The album was critically and commercially successful, selling over 12 million copies worldwide. It spawned the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 number-one single " Fallin'", and earned Keys five Grammy Awards in 2002. Her second album, ''The Diary of Alicia Keys'' (2003), was also a critical and commercial success, selling eight million copies worldwide, and producing the singles "You Don't Know My Name", "If I Ain't Got You", and "Diary". The album garnered her an additional four Grammy Awards. In 2004, her duet " My Boo" with Usher became her second number-one single. Keys released her f ... [...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] |
Boyz II Men
Boyz II Men (pronounced ''boys to men''), also known as B2M, is an American vocal harmony group from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, best known for emotional ballads and a cappella harmonies. They are currently a trio composed of baritone Nathan Morris alongside tenors Wanya Morris and Shawn Stockman. During the 1990s, Boyz II Men found fame on Motown Records as a quartet, including bass Michael McCary, who left the group in 2003 due to health issues which were eventually diagnosed as multiple sclerosis. During the 1990s, Boyz II Men gained international success, beginning with the release of top 5 singles "Motownphilly" and "It's So Hard to Say Goodbye to Yesterday" in 1991. Their number one single " End of the Road" in was released in 1992, and reached the top of charts worldwide. "End of the Road" set a new record for longevity, holding the number one spot on ''Billboard'' Hot 100 for thirteen weeks. Boyz II Men broke this record with the subsequent releases of "I'll Make Love ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Sanborn
David William Sanborn (born July 30, 1945) is an American alto saxophonist. Though Sanborn has worked in many genres, his solo recordings typically blend jazz with instrumental pop and R&B. He released his first solo album ''Taking Off'' in 1975, but has been playing the saxophone since before he was in high school. One of the most commercially successful American saxophonists to earn prominence since the 1980s, Sanborn is described by critic Scott Yannow as "the most influential saxophonist on pop, R&B, and crossover players of the past 20 years." He is often identified with radio-friendly smooth jazz, but he has expressed a disinclination for the genre and his association with it. Early life Sanborn was born in Tampa, Florida, and grew up in Kirkwood, Missouri. He suffered from polio for eight years in his youth. He began playing saxophone on a physician's advice to strengthen his weakened chest muscles and improve his breathing, instead of studying piano. Alto saxophonis ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Al Jarreau
Alwin Lopez Jarreau (March 12, 1940 – February 12, 2017) was an American singer and musician. His 1981 album '' Breakin' Away'' spent two years on the ''Billboard'' 200 and is considered one of the finest examples of the Los Angeles pop and R&B sound. The album won Jarreau the 1982 Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. In all, he won seven Grammy Awards and was nominated for over a dozen more during his career. Jarreau also sang the theme song of the 1980s television series ''Moonlighting'', and was among the performers on the 1985 charity song "We Are the World." Early life and career Jarreau was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on March 12, 1940, the fifth of six children. His father Emile Alphonse Jarreau was a Seventh-day Adventist Church minister and singer, and his mother Pearl (Walker) Jarreau was a church pianist. Jarreau and his family sang together in church concerts and in benefits, and Jarreau and his mother performed at PTA meetings. Jarreau was student c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Luther Vandross
Luther Ronzoni Vandross Jr. (April 20, 1951 – July 1, 2005) was an American singer, songwriter, and record producer. Known for his sweet and soulful vocals, Vandross has sold over 40 million records worldwide. He achieved eleven consecutive Platinum albums and eight Grammy Awards, including Best Male R&B Vocal Performance four different times. In 2004, Vandross won a total of four Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Award for Song of the Year for a song recorded not long before his death, " Dance with My Father". Vandross worked as a backing vocalist in the 1970s, and appeared on albums by artists such as Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Todd Rundgren, Judy Collins, Chaka Khan, Bette Midler, Diana Ross, David Bowie, Ben E. King, Stevie Wonder, and Donna Summer. He later became a lead singer of the group Change, which released its Gold-certified debut album, ''The Glow of Love'', in 1980 on Warner/RFC Records. After Vandross left the group, he was signed to Epic Records as a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Yolanda Adams
Yolanda Yvette Adams (born August 27, 1961) is an American gospel singer, actress, and host of her own nationally syndicated morning gospel show. She is one of the best-selling gospel artists of all time, having sold over 10 million albums worldwide. In addition to achieving multi-platinum status, she has won four Grammy Awards, four Dove Awards, five BET Awards, six NAACP Image Awards, six Soul Train Music Awards, two BMI Awards and sixteen Stellar Awards. She was the first Gospel artist to be awarded an American Music Award. She is known as the "Queen of Contemporary Gospel Music", the "First Lady of Modern Gospel", while ''Variety'' dubbed her the "Reigning Queen of Urban Gospel". Adams was named by ''Billboard'', in 2009, as the No. 1 gospel artist of the decade, driven by the sales of her No. 1 album ''Mountain High...Valley Low''. In 2016, President Barack Obama awarded her the Presidential Lifetime Achievement Award for her volunteer service. She was inducted into ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Patti LaBelle
Patricia Louise Holte (born May 24, 1944), known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer, actress and businesswoman. LaBelle is referred to as the " Godmother of Soul". She began her career in the early 1960s as lead singer and frontwoman of the vocal group Patti LaBelle and the Bluebelles. Following the group's name change to Labelle in the 1970s, they released the popular number-one hit "Lady Marmalade". As a result, after the group split in 1976, LaBelle began a successful solo career, starting with her critically acclaimed debut album, which included the career-defining song, "You Are My Friend". LaBelle became a mainstream solo star in 1984 following the success of the singles "If Only You Knew", "Love, Need and Want You" (later sampled for 2002's "Dilemma"), " New Attitude" and "Stir It Up". Less than two years later, in 1986, LaBelle scored a number-one album ''Winner in You'' and its number-one duet single, " On My Own", with Michael McDonald. I ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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