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The Valentines (doo-wop Band)
The Valentines were one of the most highly regarded American doo-wop groups from the mid-1950s. Although they never had a record on the national hit parades, they were popular in New York and the East Coast in general and had many regional big sellers. The stage performances of the group were sellouts and their harmonizing and choreography in sequence were amongst the most accomplished of their time. Influenced both musically and in their showmanship by The Cadillacs, The Solitaires, and The Flamingos, The Valentines were able to contribute an innovative stage presentation, outstanding vocals, and some unique performances. The Valentines served as a launching pad for important careers. Early days The group first formed in 1952 in the Sugar Hill district of Harlem as a quartet, harmonizing on the corner of 151st Street and Amsterdam Avenue. The original group comprised Raymond "Pop" Briggs (first tenor), Carl Hogan (second tenor), Mickey Francis (baritone), and Ronnie Brig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sugar Hill, Manhattan
Sugar Hill is a National Historic District in the Harlem and Hamilton Heights neighborhoods of Manhattan, New York City, bounded by West 155th Street to the north, West 145th Street to the south, Edgecombe Avenue to the east, and Amsterdam Avenue to the west. The equivalent New York City Historic Districts are: *Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Historic District and Extension: roughly West 145th to West 150th Street, Edgecombe Avenue to between Convent and Amsterdam Avenues *Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Northeast Historic District: roughly West 151st to West 155th Street, west of St. Nicholas Avenue to between Convent and Amsterdam Avenues *Hamilton Heights/Sugar Hill Northwest Historic District: roughly West 151st to West 155th Street, east of St. Nicholas Avenue to Edgecombe Avenue The Federal district was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2002. The Federal district has 414 contributing buildings, two contributing sites, three contributing structures, and on ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Ukulele
The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and construction. Ukuleles commonly come in four sizes: soprano, concert, tenor, and baritone. History Developed in the 1880s, the ukulele is based on several small, guitar-like instruments of Portuguese origin, the ''machete'', '' cavaquinho'', ''timple'', and ''rajão'', introduced to the Hawaiian Islands by Portuguese immigrants from Madeira, the Azores and Cape Verde. Three immigrants in particular, Madeiran cabinet makers Manuel Nunes, José do Espírito Santo, and Augusto Dias, are generally credited as the first ukulele makers. Two weeks after they disembarked from the SS ''Ravenscrag'' in late August 1879, the ''Hawaiian Gazette'' reported that "Madeira Islanders recently arrived here, have been delighting the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Academy Of Music (New York City)
The Academy of Music was a New York City opera house, located on the northeast corner of 14th Street (Manhattan), East 14th Street and Irving Place in Manhattan. The 4,000-seat hall opened on October 2, 1854. The review in ''The New York Times'' declared it to be an acoustical "triumph", but "In every other aspect ... a decided failure," complaining about the architecture, interior design and the closeness of the seating; although a follow-up several days later relented a bit, saying that the theater "looked more cheerful, and in every way more effective" than it had on opening night. The Academy's opera season became the center of social life for New York's elite, with the oldest and most prominent families owning seats in the theater's boxes. The opera house was destroyed by fire in 1866 and subsequently rebuilt, but it was supplanted as the city's premier opera venue in 1883 by the new Metropolitan Opera House (39th St), Metropolitan Opera House – created by the ''nouve ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
George Goldner
George Goldner (February 9, 1918 – April 15, 1970) was an American record label owner, record producer and promoter who played an important role in establishing the popularity of rock and roll in the 1950s, by recording and promoting many groups and records that appealed to young people across racial boundaries. Among the acts he discovered were the Crows, Frankie Lymon and the Teenagers, and Little Anthony and the Imperials. He established (or helped establish) a number of record labels, including Tico, Rama, Gee, Roulette, End, Gone, and Red Bird. It was said of him that he "discovered more talent, both in front of the microphone and behind the scenes, than most producers get to record in a lifetime.. Moreover, in the decades since, much of the music that Goldner recorded and released has retained an astonishing appeal to generations of listeners". Early life Goldner was born to a Jewish family in 1918 to a mother Rose originally from Poland and father Adolph from ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Velvets
The Velvets were an American doo-wop group from Odessa, Texas, United States. They were formed in 1959 by Virgil Johnson, a high-school English teacher, with four of his students. Roy Orbison heard the group and signed them to Monument Records in 1960. Their first release was a tune called "That Lucky Old Sun". Their biggest hit single was "Tonight (Could Be the Night)", which hit #26 on the U.S. ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in 1961. The follow-up, "Laugh", peaked at #90, and after a half-dozen further singles the group disbanded. Virgil Johnson, a former deejay at Radio KDAV in Lubbock, Texas, was the lead tenor singer, with backup from Mark Prince ( bass), Clarence Rigsby (tenor), Robert Thursby (first tenor), and William Solomon (baritone). The four were originally Johnson's eighth-grade pupils in an English class which he instructed in Odessa, also in West Texas, in the 1959-1960 school year. "That Lucky Old Sun" (#46) and "Tonight (Could Be the Night)" (#50) made brief ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Old Town Records
Old Town Records was a record label set up by Hy Weiss in New York City. It operated between 1953 and 1966, and was responsible for several R&B and doo-wop hit records. Weiss, who was born in Romania, lived in the Bronx from the 1920s, and began working as a furrier. In the mid-1940s, with his brother Sam, he started distributing records produced in California by Leon René, soon expanding into distributing records by other companies including Modern and Apollo. In 1953, he set up his own label, Old Town, taking its name, and its early stationery, from that of a wholesale paper business in Brooklyn for whom Weiss worked.Marv Goldberg, "Old Town Records", ''UncaMarvy.com'', 2009 Retrieved 31 March 2019 [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hy Weiss
Hyman Y. "Hy" Weiss (February 12, 1923 – March 20, 2007) was an American record producer of pop and rhythm and blues music in the 1950s and 1960s, and the founder of Old Town Records. Biography Born to a Jewish family in Cuca, Argeș County, Romania, he was an immigrant to the United States as a baby in 1924 and was brought up in the Bronx, New York. There, he established a friendship with Morris Levy, who would also become active in the music business. He served in the US Army Air Force in World War II, before working briefly as a bouncer and as a furrier. He started in the music industry as a record salesman,Profile of Hy Weiss Black Cat Rockabilly. Retrieved March 15, 2013 and set up |
WWRL
WWRL (1600 AM) is a commercial radio station licensed to New York City. WWRL airs an all-news radio format as an affiliate of the Black Information Network (BIN). The station is owned by iHeartMedia, Inc. By day, WWRL broadcasts at 25,000 watts; at night, to protect other stations on 1600 AM, it reduces power to 5,000 watts. It uses a directional antenna at all times. The transmitter is on Radio Avenue in Secaucus, New Jersey, near the Hackensack River. In addition to a standard analog transmission, WWRL programming is also carried on the third HD subchannel of WWPR-FM, and is available online via iHeartRadio. Overview Founded in 1926, WWRL originally had a multi-lingual format serving the various ethnic communities of New York City. The station took on a mostly Spanish identity in the 1950s, then became primarily oriented towards African Americans living in New York City in the mid-1960s, under the direction of news director Dick London, who invited community leaders t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tommy ("Dr Jive") Smalls
Tommy Smalls (August 5, 1926 – March 8, 1972), known as Dr. Jive, was an influential African-American radio disc jockey in New York City during the early days of rock and roll. He owned the Smalls Paradise club in Harlem in the 1950s. Life and career Born Thomas Smalls in Savannah, Georgia, he attended Savannah State College, and, after a period in the US Coast Guard, became the first black disc jockey in Savannah in 1947 on radio station WSAV.Obituary in '' Jet'' magazine, 23 March 1972, p.56. In 1952 he moved to New York, and became the original "Dr. Jive" on radio station . His weekday afternoon radio shows - with ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Alan Freed
Albert James "Alan" Freed (December 15, 1921 – January 20, 1965) was an American disc jockey. He also produced and promoted large traveling concerts with various acts, helping to spread the importance of rock and roll music throughout North America. In 1986, Freed was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His "role in breaking down racial barriers in U.S. pop culture in the 1950s, by leading white and black kids to listen to the same music, put the radio personality 'at the vanguard' and made him 'a really important figure'", according to the executive director. Freed was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1991. The organization's website posted this note: "He became internationally known for promoting African-American rhythm and blues music on the radio in the United States and Europe under the name of rock and roll". In the early 1960s, Freed's career was destroyed by the payola scandal that hit the broadcasting industry, as well as by alleg ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
WOR (AM)
WOR (710 AM) is a 50,000-watt class A clear-channel AM radio station owned by iHeartMedia and licensed to New York, New York. The station airs a mix of local and syndicated talk radio shows, primarily from co-owned Premiere Networks, including ''The Clay Travis and Buck Sexton Show'', ''The Sean Hannity Show'', and ''Coast to Coast AM with George Noory''. '' CBS Eye on the World'' with John Batchelor, from CBS Audio Network is heard at night. Since 2016, the station has served as the New York outlet for co-owned NBC News Radio. The station's studios are located in the Tribeca neighborhood of Manhattan at the former AT&T Building, with its transmitter in Rutherford, New Jersey. WOR began broadcasting on Wednesday, February 22, 1922, and is one of the oldest continuously operating radio stations in the United States with a three–letter call sign, characteristic of a station dating from the 1920s. WOR is the only New York City station to have retained its original three-l ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Willie Bryant
William Stevens Bryant (August 30, 1908 – February 9, 1964) was an American jazz bandleader, vocalist, and disc jockey, known as the "Mayor of Harlem". Biography Born in Chicago, Illinois, United States, while growing up he took trumpet lessons to little success. His first job in entertainment was dancing in the Whitman Sisters Show in 1926. He worked in various vaudeville productions for the next several years, and in 1934 he appeared in the show ''Chocolate Revue'' with Bessie Smith. In 1934, he put together his first big band, which at times included Teddy Wilson, Cozy Cole, Johnny Russell (saxophonist), Johnny Russell, Benny Carter, Ben Webster, Eddie Durham, Ram Ramirez, and Taft Jordan. They recorded six times between 1935 and 1938; Bryant sings on 18 of the 26 sides recorded. Once his ensemble disbanded, Bryant worked in acting and disc jockeying. He recorded R&B in 1945 and led another big band between 1946 and 1948. During September and October 1949, he hosted '' ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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