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Worlds Apart (Blackjack Album)
''Worlds Apart'' is the second and final album of the American rock band Blackjack. The album was met with nearly total indifference, sold poorly and Blackjack disbanded shortly after its release. The album contains the song "Welcome to the World", which opens with a live audio recording clip of a baby birth. A YouTube user by the name of Chris Cassone, engineer for Blackjack's band manager Phil Lorito, wrote on YouTube that the audio clip was of the birth of his son. Cassone made the recording (March 29, 1980) of his first wife, Dale Weigel Cassone, in White Plains Hospital during the delivery. Phil Lorito and members of Blackjack frequented nearby North Lake Sound Studios where Chris was chief engineer. Chris played the newly recorded tape at a recording session visited by Blackjack and they loved it. Casey Cassone, the boy born on the recording, received album liner credit from the band. The nurse coincidentally announces after he was born, "Open your eyes. Welcome to the world ...
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Blackjack (American Band)
Blackjack was an American rock band, active from 1979–1980, featuring Michael Bolton (who was performing under his real name, Michael Bolotin), Bruce Kulick, Sandy Gennaro and Jimmy Haslip. The band was short-lived, released two albums, the self-titled '' Blackjack'' in 1979 and '' Worlds Apart'' in 1980, and embarked on a small US nationwide tour. Biography Blackjack was formed in late 1978 after Bruce Kulick had come off the road touring with Meat Loaf behind the ''Bat Out of Hell'' album. Kulick and his older brother Bob had done a show backing up Michael Bolton, then a solo artist with two albums, at a club show in Connecticut. Afterwards both Kulick brothers were invited to join Bolton in a proper band. While Bob declined, Bruce accepted. The band's manager Steve Weiss, also an attorney for Led Zeppelin, brought drummer Sandy Gennaro and bassist Jimmy Haslip into the fold to complete the line-up. The band was quickly signed to Polydor Records and named Blackjack. At the ...
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The College Dropout
''The College Dropout'' is the debut studio album by American rapper and producer Kanye West. It was released on February 10, 2004, by Def Jam Recordings and Jay-Z's Roc-A-Fella Records. In the years leading up to release, West had received praise for his production work for rappers such as Jay-Z and Talib Kweli, but faced difficulty being accepted as an artist in his own right by figures in the music industry. Intent on pursuing a solo career, he signed a record deal with Roc-A-Fella and recorded the album over a period of four years, beginning in 1999. The production of ''The College Dropout'' was primarily handled by West and showcased his " chipmunk soul" musical style, which made use of sped-up, pitch shifted vocal samples from soul and R&B records, in addition to West's own drum programming, string accompaniments, and gospel choirs; the album also features contributions from Jay-Z, Mos Def, Jamie Foxx, Syleena Johnson, and Ludacris, among others. Diverging from the then- ...
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Sandy Gennaro
Santo Michael Gennaro (born July 3, 1951 in Manhattan, New York) is an American rock drummer, author, musician, public speaker and mentor. He has recorded and toured with many musical artists including Blackjack, The Monkees, Pat Travers, Cyndi Lauper and Joan Jett. Early Years Born "Santo Gennaro" in Little Italy, (Manhattan's Lower East Side), Gennaro grew up on Staten Island, New York. At the age of 3 he showed interest in a toy drum and later at age 13 he played a friend's snare drum, which prompted him to buy his first drum set. At age 14 he joined his first band "The Black and Blues". Gennaro took private lessons and by 16 he was touring the New York/New Jersey/Pennsylvania circuit, playing high school dances, parties and minor musical events. At 18, Gennaro toured the Midwest playing night clubs and bars in a Cover band. In 1976 Gennaro moved to California and joined rock quartet Blackjack, featuring Michael Bolton, guitarist Bruce Kulick and bassist Jimmy Haslip. ...
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Bass Guitar
The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and scale length, and typically four to six strings or courses. Since the mid-1950s, the bass guitar has largely replaced the double bass in popular music. The four-string bass is usually tuned the same as the double bass, which corresponds to pitches one octave lower than the four lowest-pitched strings of a guitar (typically E, A, D, and G). It is played primarily with the fingers or thumb, or with a pick. To be heard at normal performance volumes, electric basses require external amplification. Terminology According to the ''New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians'', an "Electric bass guitar sa Guitar, usually with four heavy strings tuned E1'–A1'–D2–G2." It also defines ''bass'' as "Bass (iv). A contraction of Double bas ...
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Jimmy Haslip
James Robert Haslip (born December 31, 1951) is an American bass guitarist who was a founding member of the jazz fusion group the Yellowjackets, which he left in 2012. He was also an early user of the five-string electric bass. Early life and career Born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican immigrants, Spanish was Haslip's first language and he learned to speak English in kindergarten. His father, James Joseph (Jaime) Haslip (1915–1999) served in the United States Customs Service, beginning as a Merchant Marine until moving to patrolman and eventually deputy commissioner, marrying Jimmy's mother Virginia (Viera) Haslip (1912-2009) in 1937. Haslip moved to Huntington, New York when he was four years old. At age seven, he began playing drums and then moved onto other instruments such as trumpet and tuba until playing bass at age 15. Although he took music lessons and went to a private music school, he considers himself self-taught. He has said that he went to a local music shop wi ...
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Rhythm Guitar
In music performances, rhythm guitar is a technique and role that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with other instruments from the rhythm section (e.g., drum kit, bass guitar); and to provide all or part of the harmony, i.e. the chords from a song's chord progression, where a chord is a group of notes played together. Therefore, the basic technique of rhythm guitar is to hold down a series of chords with the fretting hand while strumming or fingerpicking rhythmically with the other hand. More developed rhythm techniques include arpeggios, damping, riffs, chord solos, and complex strums. In ensembles or bands playing within the acoustic, country, blues, rock or metal genres (among others), a guitarist playing the rhythm part of a composition plays the role of supporting the melodic lines and improvised solos played on the lead instrument or instruments, be they strings, wind, brass, keyboard or even percus ...
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Lead Guitar
Lead guitar (also known as solo guitar) is a musical part for a guitar in which the guitarist plays melody lines, instrumental fill passages, guitar solos, and occasionally, some riffs and chords within a song structure. The lead is the featured guitar, which usually plays single-note-based lines or double-stops. In rock, heavy metal, blues, jazz, punk, fusion, some pop, and other music styles, lead guitar lines are usually supported by a second guitarist who plays rhythm guitar, which consists of accompaniment chords and riffs. History The first form of lead guitar emerged in the 18th century, in the form of classical guitar styles, which evolved from the Baroque guitar, and Spanish Vihuela. Such styles were popular in much of Western Europe, with notable guitarists including Antoine de Lhoyer, Fernando Sor, and Dionisio Aguado. It was through this period of the classical shift to romanticism the six-string guitar was first used for solo composing. Through the 19th century ...
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Backing Vocals
A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are used in a broad range of popular music, traditional music, and world music styles. Solo artists may employ professional backing vocalists in studio recording sessions as well as during concerts. In many rock and metal bands (e.g., the power trio), the musicians doing backing vocals also play instruments, such as guitar, electric bass, drums or keyboards. In Latin or Afro-Cuban groups, backing singers may play percussion instruments or shakers while singing. In some pop and hip hop groups and in musical theater, they may be required to perform dance routines while singing through headset microphones. Styles of background vocals vary according to the type of song and genre of music. In pop and country songs, backing vocalists may sing harmo ...
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Lead Vocals
The lead vocalist in popular music is typically the member of a group or band whose voice is the most prominent melody in a performance where multiple voices may be heard. The lead singer sets their voice against the accompaniment parts of the ensemble as the dominant sound. In vocal group performances, notably in soul and gospel music, and early rock and roll, the lead singer takes the main vocal melody, with a chorus or harmony vocals provided by other band members as backing vocalists. Lead vocalists typically incorporate some movement or gestures into their performance, and some may participate in dance routines during the show, particularly in pop music. Some lead vocalists also play an instrument during the show, either in an accompaniment role (such as strumming a guitar part), or playing a lead instrument/instrumental solo role when they are not singing (as in the case of lead singer-guitar virtuoso Jimi Hendrix). The lead singer also typically guides the vocal ensem ...
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Bruce Kulick
Bruce Howard Kulick (born December 12, 1953) is an American guitarist and since 2000 a member of the rock band Grand Funk Railroad. Previously, Kulick was a long-time member of the band Kiss (19841996). He was also a member of Union with John Corabi from 19972002 and Blackjack from 19791980. Kulick has also released several solo albums, in addition to session work with various artists. He is the younger brother of guitarist Bob Kulick. Early life and family Kulick was born in Brooklyn, New York City and lived in Queens for a time, graduating from Newtown High School. He is Jewish and also went to Hebrew school. Kulick's brother, session guitarist/producer Bob Kulick, was influential in his music career. Bob's performance credits include W.A.S.P., Meat Loaf's touring band, and Kiss. Career Early projects Bruce's first band KKB, was formed in 1974. Its other members were his childhood friends Mike Katz and Guy Bois (the other K and B of KKB, respectively) and Kulick lik ...
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My World Is Empty Without You
"My World Is Empty Without You" is a 1965 song recorded and released as a single by the Supremes for the Motown label. Overview Written and produced by Motown's main production team of Holland–Dozier–Holland, the song's fast tempo accompanies a somber lyric which delves into the feelings of depression which can set in after a breakup. "My World Is Empty Without You" was one of the few songs written by the team for the Supremes to not reach number 1, peaking at number 5 on the US pop chart for two weeks in February 1966 and at number 10 on the R&B chart; the single failed to chart on the UK Singles Chart. The group performed the song on the CBS hit variety program ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' on Sunday, February 20, 1966. ''Billboard'' described the song as being "right in their pulsating rhythm groove of 'I Hear a Symphony' with even more excitement in the performance." ''Cash Box'' described it as a "throbbing, rhythmic soulful tearjerker about a love-sick girl who spends her ...
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