|
Urgent (song)
"Urgent" is a song by the British-American rock band Foreigner, and the first single from their album '' 4'' in 1981. Background Producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange wanted to hear every music idea singer Mick Jones had recorded on tape, no matter how embarrassing. One of these ideas was the opening riff for what would become "Urgent". “I had the riff starting out," Jones recalled. "And I said, 'That’s like an experimental instrumental thing that I’m working on.’ He said, ‘No, it isn’t anymore -– let’s take that one, because that’s got a lot of potential.’ There wasn’t even a song with it.” He also said, “‘Urgent’ … was a bit of a hybrid. It was a soul song, really – a quirky kind of rock and soul combination. That album had a bunch of different departures on it from the album that preceded it, '' Head Games''. … It was just like a musical journey.” In fact, "Urgent" was recorded with Mick Jones playing lead and rhythm guitar, including a line ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Foreigner (band)
Foreigner is a British-American rock band, originally formed in New York City in 1976 by veteran British guitarist and songwriter Mick Jones and fellow Briton and ex-King Crimson member Ian McDonald, along with American vocalist Lou Gramm. Jones came up with the band's name as he, McDonald and Dennis Elliott were British, whereas Gramm, Al Greenwood and Ed Gagliardi were American. In 1977 Foreigner released its self-titled debut album, the first of four straight albums to be certified at least 5× platinum in the US. '' Foreigner'' peaked at No. 4 on the US album chart and in the Top 10 in Canada and Australia, while yielding two Top 10 hits in North America, "Feels Like the First Time" and " Cold as Ice". Their 1978 follow-up, ''Double Vision'', was even more successful peaking at No. 3 in North America with two hit singles, "Hot Blooded" a No. 3 hit in both countries, and the title track, a US No. 2 and a Canadian No. 7. Foreigner's third album, '' Head Games'' (1979), went t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hard Rock Music
Hard rock or heavy rock is a loosely defined subgenre of rock music typified by aggressive vocals and distorted electric guitars. Hard rock began in the mid-1960s with the garage, psychedelic and blues rock movements. Some of the earliest hard rock music was produced by the Kinks, the Who, The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Cream, Vanilla Fudge, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience. In the late 1960s, bands such as Blue Cheer, the Jeff Beck Group, Iron Butterfly, Led Zeppelin, Golden Earring, Steppenwolf and Deep Purple also produced hard rock. The genre developed into a major form of popular music in the 1970s, with the Who, Led Zeppelin and Deep Purple being joined by Queen, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Kiss, and Van Halen. During the 1980s, some hard rock bands moved away from their hard rock roots and more towards pop rock.V. Bogdanov, C. Woodstra and S. T. Erlewine, ''All Music Guide to Rock: the Definitive Guide to Rock, Pop, and Soul'' (Milwaukee, WI: Backbeat Books, 3rd edn., 2002), , p ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Mark Rivera
Mark Rivera (born May 24, 1953) is an American saxophonist, multi-instrumentalist, singer, musical director and corporate entertainment provider who is mostly known for his work with Billy Joel. In addition to playing soprano, alto, tenor and baritone saxophones, Rivera's musical abilities encompass vocals, guitar, bass, flute, percussion, hammer and chromium steel pipe, and keyboards. Early life Mark Rivera was born in Brooklyn, New York, and attended the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan. His mother is American and his father is a Puerto Rican American. Career Rivera's first national exposure came with the band Tycoon in the mid 1970s. From this venture he met the legendary producer Robert John "Mutt" Lange. Lange, as part of an association with Mick Jones and Lou Gramm of Foreigner, introduced Rivera to the "big leagues" of rock music, recording and performing. Over the years, Rivera has worked with Hall & Oates, Tycoon, Peter Gabriel on his groundbreaking '' So ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Texture (music)
In music, texture is how the tempo, melodic, and harmonic materials are combined in a musical composition, determining the overall quality of the sound in a piece. The texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see Common types below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One of these layers could be a string section or another brass. The thickness also is changed by the amount and the richness of the instruments playing the piece. The thickness varies from light to thick. A piece's texture may be changed by the number and character of parts playing at once, the timbre of the instruments or voices playing these parts and the harmony, tempo, and rhythms used. The types categorized by number and relationship of parts are an ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Fonfara
Michael Fonfara (11 August 1946 – 8 January 2021) was a Canadian keyboard player who was most notable for his work as a member of The Electric Flag and Rhinoceros in the 1960s, Rough Trade and Lou Reed's backing band in the 1970s and The Downchild Blues Band, from 1990 to the present. He studied classical piano at The Royal Conservatory of Music. He is a multiple Maple Blues Award winner as Piano/Keyboardist of the year and a Juno Award winner with the Downchild Blues Band. His distinguished musical career was so honoured by the Maple Blues Awards as early as 2000 and a Juno Award in 2014. Biography Fonfara's career as a professional musician commenced in 1963, when he started playing in the Toronto band, Lee Jackson & The Checkmates, which evolved into Jon and Lee & The Checkmates soon afterwards. Members of Jon and Lee & The Checkmates ultimately formed the nucleus of the later bands Rhinoceros and Blackstone, plus contributed significantly to the work of Lou Reed in the 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dennis Elliott
Dennis Leslie Elliott (born 18 August 1950, in Peckham, London) is a British musician and artist, who was the original drummer for the rock band, Foreigner. He played with the band from 1976 until leaving between 1991 and 1993. He went on to become a sculptor. Life and career Dennis Leslie Elliott played the drums with his family band at age five in shows around London. As a teenager, he joined The Tea Set with his older brother Raymond, who sang and played trumpet. After The Tea Set, he became a member of The Shevelles at age sixteen. At eighteen, he played in the band Ferris Wheel and on their album of the same name. When he was nineteen, Dennis joined the jazz/rock band If and recorded four LPs with the ensemble. They continually toured Europe and the US, where he met and later married Iona Elliott on March 2, 1972. Later that year, Dennis joined The Roy Young Band, touring the UK and Europe and recording four singles with that band over the following year. In 1974, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rick Wills
Richard William Wills (born 5 December 1947) is an English bass guitarist. He is best known for his work with the rock band Foreigner and his associations with the Small Faces, Peter Frampton, Spooky Tooth, David Gilmour, Bad Company and The Jones Gang. Career Rick Wills played in the early days of rock music in Cambridge, from c. 1961 in the Vikings, then in a succession of local bands: the Sundowners, Soul Committee, Bullitt (with David Gilmour on guitar and John 'Willie' Wilson on drums) and Cochise before joining ''Frampton's Camel''. Wills joined the rock band Jokers Wild in mid-1966, (with David Gilmour on guitars and vocals), until they broke up in 1967. He played bass on Peter Frampton's first three albums before parting from Frampton in 1975. He became the bassist with Roxy Music in 1976, before leaving them and joining the Small Faces in 1977, during their reunion period. He left the Small Faces and appeared on David Gilmour's eponymous album in 1978, with Willie ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Lou Gramm
Lou Gramm (born Louis Andrew Grammatico; 2 May 1950) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for being the lead singer of the rock band Foreigner from 1977 to 1990 and 1992 to 2003 during which time the band had numerous successful albums and singles. Early life Louis Andrew Grammatico was born on 2 May 1950, in Rochester, New York, the son of Nikki (née Masetta), a singer, and Bennie Grammatico, a band leader and trumpeter. He attended Gates-Chili High School in Rochester, graduating with the class of 1968, and majored in education and art at Monroe Community College. Music career 1970s Gramm became front man for the band Black Sheep. Black Sheep was the first American band signed to the Chrysalis label, which released their first single, "Stick Around" (1974). Soon after this initial bit of success, Black Sheep signed with Capitol Records, releasing two albums in succession: ''Black Sheep'' (1975) and ''Encouraging Words'' (late 1975). They were the opening act for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Riff (music)
A riff is a repeated chord progression or refrain in music (also known as an ostinato figure in classical music); it is a pattern, or melody, often played by the rhythm section instruments or solo instrument, that forms the basis or accompaniment of a musical composition. Though riffs are most often found in rock music, heavy metal music, Latin, funk, and jazz, classical music is also sometimes based on a riff, such as Ravel's Boléro. Riffs can be as simple as a tenor saxophone honking a simple, catchy rhythmic figure, or as complex as the riff-based variations in the head arrangements played by the Count Basie Orchestra. David Brackett (1999) defines riffs as "short melodic phrases", while Richard Middleton (1999) defines them as "short rhythmic, melodic, or harmonic figures repeated to form a structural framework". Rikky Rooksby states: "A riff is a short, repeated, memorable musical phrase, often pitched low on the guitar, which focuses much of the energy and excitement of ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Golden Age Of Wireless
''The Golden Age of Wireless'' is the debut album by English musician Thomas Dolby. Originally released in May 1982, the album was reissued in a number of different configurations, with later resequencings including the pop hit "She Blinded Me with Science". Background Preceding the album, Dolby allowed a demo of "Airwaves" to be included on a collection titled ''From Brussels with Love'', published in December 1980 by Belgian label Les Disques Du Crépuscule. In response to friends urging him to put out a single, Dolby released his first 45 rpm 7-inch single, "Urges" backed with "Leipzig", on 18 February 1981. Under the imprint of London-based Armageddon Records, the single was co-produced by Andy Partridge of XTC, who also played percussion on the track. ''Sounds'' magazine reviewed "Urges" positively, calling Dolby a "new romantic... A Futurist Rundgren perhaps?" None of these songs were announced as singles for an upcoming album, but they later appeared on some editio ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Junior Walker
Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. (June 14, 1931 – November 23, 1995), known professionally as Junior Walker, was an American multi-instrumentalist (primarily saxophonist and vocalist) who recorded for Motown during the 1960s. He also performed as a session and live-performing saxophonist with the band Foreigner during the 1980s. Early life Walker was born Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr. on June 14, 1931, in Blytheville, Arkansas, but grew up in South Bend, Indiana. He began playing saxophone while in high school, and his saxophone style was the anchor for the sound of the bands he later played in. Career His career started when he developed his own band in the mid-1950s as the Jumping Jacks. His longtime friend and drummer Billy Nicks (1935–2017) formed his own group, the Rhythm Rockers. Periodically, Nicks would sit in on Jumping Jack's shows, and Walker would sit in on the Rhythm Rockers shows. Nicks obtained a permanent gig at a local TV station in South Bend, Indiana, and asked Walker t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Motown
Motown Records is an American record label owned by the Universal Music Group. It was founded by Berry Gordy Jr. as Tamla Records on June 7, 1958, and incorporated as Motown Record Corporation on April 14, 1960. Its name, a portmanteau of ''motor'' and ''town'', has become a nickname for Detroit, where the label was originally headquartered. Motown played an important role in the racial integration of popular music as an African American-owned label that achieved crossover success. In the 1960s, Motown and its subsidiary labels (including Tamla Motown, the brand used outside the US) were the most of the Motown sound, a style of soul music with a mainstream pop appeal. Motown was the most successful soul music label, with a net worth of $61 million. During the 1960s, Motown achieved 79 records in the top-ten of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 between 1960 and 1969. Following the events of the Detroit Riots of 1967, and the loss of key songwriting/production team Holland–Dozier– ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
