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With A Song In My Heart (Stevie Wonder Album)
''With a Song In My Heart'' is Stevie Wonder's third studio album, released in 1963 on the Tamla (Motown) label. The album was the first to drop Wonder's ''Little'' nickname as the 13-year-old singer went the same route of his label mate Marvin Gaye and covered a set of standards. Like Gaye and other Motown acts, label president Berry Gordy wanted all of his artists to be established on a crossover basis. The album did not immediately spell success for Wonder on the adult contemporary set. Veteran jazz arranger Ernie Wilkins arranged and conducted the album. Track listing ;Side one #" With a Song in My Heart" (Lorenz Hart, Richard Rodgers) – 3:11 #" When You Wish Upon a Star" (Ned Washington, Leigh Harline) – 2:59 #"Smile" (Charlie Chaplin, Geoffrey Parsons, John Turner) – 3:20 #" Make Someone Happy" (Betty Comden, Adolph Green, Jule Styne) – 5:04 #"Dream" (Johnny Mercer) – 2:50 ;Side two #" Put on a Happy Face" (Charles Strouse, Lee Adams) – 2:37 #"On the Sunny Si ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, Pop music, pop, Soul music, soul, Gospel music, gospel, funk, and jazz. A virtual one-man band, Wonder's use of synthesizers and other electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of Contemporary R&B, R&B. He also helped drive such genres into the album era, crafting his LP record, LPs as cohesive and consistent, in addition to socially conscious statements with complex compositions. Visual impairment, Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy who signed with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11, where he was given the professional name Little Stevie Wonder. Wonder's single "Fingertips" was a No. 1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100, ''Billboard'' Hot 100 in 1963, at the age of 13, making him the List o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Richard Rodgers
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American Musical composition, composer who worked primarily in musical theater. With 43 Broadway musicals and over 900 songs to his credit, Rodgers was one of the most well-known American composers of the 20th century, and his compositions had a significant influence on popular music. Rodgers is known for his songwriting partnerships, first with lyricist Lorenz Hart and then with Oscar Hammerstein II. With Hart he wrote musicals throughout the 1920s and 1930s, including ''Pal Joey (musical), Pal Joey'', ''A Connecticut Yankee (musical), A Connecticut Yankee'', ''On Your Toes'' and ''Babes in Arms.'' With Hammerstein he wrote musicals through the 1940s and 1950s, such as ''Oklahoma!'', ''Flower Drum Song'', ''Carousel (musical), Carousel'', ''South Pacific (musical), South Pacific'', ''The King and I'', and ''The Sound of Music''. His collaborations with Hammerstein, in particular, are celebrated for brin ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Johnny Mercer
John Herndon Mercer (November 18, 1909 – June 25, 1976) was an American lyricist, songwriter, and singer, as well as a record label executive who co-founded Capitol Records with music industry businessmen Buddy DeSylva and Glenn E. Wallichs. He is best known as a Tin Pan Alley lyricist, but he also composed music, and was a popular singer who recorded his own songs as well as songs written by others from the mid-1930s through the mid-1950s. Mercer's songs were among the most successful hits of the time, including " Moon River", " Days of Wine and Roses", " Autumn Leaves", and "Hooray for Hollywood". He wrote the lyrics to more than 1,500 songs, including compositions for movies and Broadway shows. He received nineteen Oscar nominations, and won four Best Original Song Oscars. Early life Mercer was born in Savannah, Georgia, where one of his first jobs, aged 10, was sweeping floors at the original 1919 location of Leopold's Ice Cream. [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dream (1944 Song)
"Dream", sometimes referred to as "Dream (When You're Feeling Blue)", is a jazz and pop standard with words and music written by Johnny Mercer in 1944. He originally wrote it as a theme for his radio program. It has been and performed by many artists, with the most popular versions of this song recorded by The Pied Pipers, Frank Sinatra, and Roy Orbison. Recordings For Capitol Records, The Pied Pipers, with lead singer June Hutton, made a version of "Dream" (catalog number 185, with the flip side "Tabby the Cat") which became a major hit in 1945. Vocal group The Skylines, singing with Ray Anthony's orchestra, revived this ballad in the 1955 Fred Astaire–Leslie Caron musical film, '' Daddy Long Legs''. Johnny Preston released a version of the song on his 1960 album, ''Running Bear''. Andy Williams released a version on his 1964 album, ''The Wonderful World of Andy Williams''. In 1970, a vocal quartet which included lead singer Sue Allen (who sang with The Pied Pipers in the 1 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jule Styne
Jule Styne (; born Julius Kerwin Stein; December 31, 1905 – September 20, 1994) was an English-American songwriter and composer best known for a series of Broadway musicals, including several famous frequently-revived shows that also became successful films: ''Gypsy,'' '' Gentlemen Prefer Blondes,'' and '' Funny Girl.'' Early life Styne was born to a Jewish family in London, England. His parents, Anna Kertman and Isadore Stein, were emigrants from Ukraine, the Russian Empire, and ran a small grocery. Even before his family left Britain, he did impressions on the stage of well-known singers, including Harry Lauder, who saw him perform and advised him to take up the piano. At the age of eight, he moved with his family to Chicago, where he began taking piano lessons. He proved to be a prodigy and performed with the Chicago, St. Louis, and Detroit Symphonies before he was ten years old. Career Before Styne attended Chicago Musical College, he had already attracted the attention o ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Adolph Green
Adolph Green (December 2, 1914 – October 23, 2002) was an American lyricist and playwright who, with long-time collaborator Betty Comden, penned the screenplays and songs for some of the most beloved film musicals, particularly as part of Arthur Freed's production unit at Metro Goldwyn Mayer, during the genre's heyday. Many people thought the pair were married, but in fact they were not a romantic couple at all. Nevertheless, they shared a unique comic genius and sophisticated wit that enabled them to forge a six-decade-long partnership that produced some of Hollywood (film industry), Hollywood and Broadway theatre, Broadway's greatest hits. Biography Green was born in the Bronx to Hungary, Hungarian Jewish immigrants Helen (née Weiss) and Daniel Green. He was the youngest of three sons and had two older brothers, Louis (circa 1907-?) and William (circa 1910-?). After high school, he worked as a runner on Wall Street while he tried to make it as an actor. He met Comden throu ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Betty Comden
Betty Comden (May 3, 1917 - November 23, 2006) was an American lyricist, playwright, and screenwriter who contributed to numerous Hollywood musicals and Broadway shows of the mid-20th century. Her writing partnership with Adolph Green spanned six decades: "the longest running creative partnership in theatre history." The musical-comedy duo of Comden and Green collaborated most notably with composers Jule Styne and Leonard Bernstein, as well enjoyed success with ''Singin' in the Rain'', as part of the famed " Freed unit" at MGM. Early life Betty Comden was born Basya Cohen in Brooklyn, New York in 1917, the younger child of Leo Cohen (originally Astershinsky), a lawyer, and Rebecca ( Sadvoransky) Cohen, an English teacher. Both were Russian immigrants and observant Jews. She had an older brother, Nathaniel ("Nat"), born . Basya "attended Erasmus Hall High School and studied drama at New York University, graduating in 1938," according to ''The New York Times''. In 1938, mutual f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Do Re Mi (musical)
''Do Re Mi'' is a musical with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, and a book by Garson Kanin, who also directed the original 1960 Broadway production. The plot centers on a minor-league con man who decides to go (somewhat) straight by moving into the legitimate business of juke boxes and music promotion. The musical was headlined by the comedy couple of Phil Silvers and Nancy Walker, both of whom were Tony nominated. Popular songs introduced included "Cry Like the Wind" and "Make Someone Happy". Synopsis Hubie Cram is "a loser endlessly scheming to win big." His long-suffering and patient wife Kay urges him to "Take a Job," while he plots. He finds three pals, Fatso O'Rear, Brains Berman and Skin Demopoulos, and they scheme to enter the juke-box business ("It's Legitimate"). Soon they have 300 juke-boxes, which they plan on selling to John Henry Wheeler, a record producer. Hubie discovers a naive singer, Tilda Mullen, and they plan their future ("Ambiti ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
John Turner (songwriter)
James John Turner Phillips (born 7 July 1902) was an English lyricist who used the pen name John Turner. Biography He ran the Peter Maurice Music Company, whose most important lyricist was Geoffrey Parsons. The company specialized in adapting songs originally in foreign languages into the English language. He would usually assign a song to Parsons and when the latter was finished, suggest some changes. The credits for the English lyrics would then be given as "John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons". The words of "Smile" to the music of Charlie Chaplin, was written at the Peter Maurice Music Company office on Denmark Street, London in 1954. Lyrics credited to Turner and Parsons *"Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" *"Mama" *"Oh! My Pa-Pa" based on the German song "O Mein Papa" by Paul Burkhard *"Smile" Lyrics credited to Turner, Parsons, and another collaborator *"The Little Shoemaker," based on the French song "Le petit cordonnier", with Nathan Korb Nathan or Natan may refer to: Peo ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Geoffrey Parsons (lyricist)
Geoffrey Parsons (born Geoffrey Claremont Parsons, 7 January 1910, died 22 December 1987, Eastbourne) was an English lyricist. He worked at the Peter Maurice Music Company run by James Phillips, who wrote under the pen name John Turner. The company specialized in adapting songs originally in foreign languages into the English language. Phillips would usually assign a song to Parsons and when the latter was finished, suggest some changes. The credits for the English lyrics would then be given as "John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons." Songs *"Auf Wiederseh'n Sweetheart" (with Turner) *" Eternally", with John Turner; music by Charles Chaplin (Theme from '' Limelight'') *"If You Love Me (Really Love Me)" ("Hymne à l'amour," original lyrics by Édith Piaf) *"The Little Shoemaker" based on the French song "Le petit cordonnier", with Turner and Nathan Korb. *"Mama" (with Turner) *" Oh! My Pa-Pa" based on the German song "O Mein Papa" by Paul Burkhard, under the pseudonym "John Sexton" ( ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlie Chaplin
Sir Charles Spencer Chaplin Jr. (16 April 188925 December 1977) was an English comic actor, filmmaker, and composer who rose to fame in the era of silent film. He became a worldwide icon through his screen persona, the Tramp, and is considered one of the film industry's most important figures. His career spanned more than 75 years, from childhood in the Victorian era until a year before his death in 1977, and encompassed both adulation and controversy. Chaplin's childhood in London was one of poverty and hardship. His father was absent and his mother struggled financially — he was sent to a workhouse twice before age nine. When he was 14, his mother was committed to a mental asylum. Chaplin began performing at an early age, touring music halls and later working as a stage actor and comedian. At 19, he was signed to the Fred Karno company, which took him to the United States. He was scouted for the film industry and began appearing in 1914 for Keystone Studios. He soon de ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Smile (Charlie Chaplin Song)
"Smile" is a song based on the theme song used in the soundtrack for Charlie Chaplin's 1936 film ''Modern Times''. Background Chaplin, who composed the song, was inspired by Puccini's ''Tosca''. John Turner and Geoffrey Parsons added the lyrics and title in 1954. In the lyrics, based on lines and themes from the film, the singer is telling the listener to cheer up and that there is always a bright tomorrow, just as long as they smile. "Smile" has become a popular standard since its original use in Chaplin's film and has been recorded by numerous artists. Cover versions Nat King Cole version Nat King Cole recorded the first version with lyrics. It charted in 1954, reaching number 10 on the ''Billboard'' charts and number 2 on the UK Singles Chart. This version was also used at the beginning of the 1975 movie ''Smile''. Sammy Davis Jr. recorded a cover version of the Cole original, as part of his tribute album ''The Nat King Cole Songbook'' in 1965. Charts Michael Jacks ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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