The Tokens
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The Tokens
The Tokens were an American doo-wop band and record production company group from Brooklyn, New York City. The group has had four top 40 hits on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, all in the 1960s, their biggest being the chart-topping 1961 hit single, "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" borrowed heavily from the 1939 song "Mbube" by South African singer Solomon Linda. They are also known for having included at first Neil Sedaka, who later pursued a solo career. History The band was formed in 1955 at Abraham Lincoln High School in Brooklyn, New York, and was known first as the Linc-Tones, a name inspired by the President of the United States' surname. Original members were Neil Sedaka, Hank Medress, Eddie Rabkin, and Cynthia Zolotin, however Rabkin was replaced in 1956 by Jay Siegel. In the same year the band recorded its first single, "While I Dream", with Sedaka on lead vocals: the song was a local hit in New York; Sedaka and Howard Greenfield wrote much of the gr ...
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Brooklyn, New York
Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, behind New York County (Manhattan). Brooklyn is also New York City's most populous borough,2010 Gazetteer for New York State
. Retrieved September 18, 2016.
with 2,736,074 residents in 2020. Named after the Dutch village of Breukelen, Brooklyn is located on the w ...
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Doo-wop
Doo-wop (also spelled doowop and doo wop) is a genre of rhythm and blues music that originated in African-American communities during the 1940s, mainly in the large cities of the United States, including New York, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Chicago, Baltimore, Newark, Detroit, Washington, DC, and Los Angeles. It features vocal group harmony that carries an engaging melodic line to a simple beat with little or no instrumentation. Lyrics are simple, usually about love, sung by a lead vocal over background vocals, and often featuring, in the bridge, a melodramatically heartfelt recitative addressed to the beloved. Harmonic singing of nonsense syllables (such as "doo-wop") is a common characteristic of these songs. Gaining popularity in the 1950s, doo-wop was "artistically and commercially viable" until the early 1960s, but continued to influence performers in other genres.Hoffmann, FRoots of Rock: Doo-Wop In ''Survey of American Popular Music'', modified for the web by Robert Birklin ...
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Howard Greenfield
Howard Greenfield (March 15, 1936 – March 4, 1986) was an American lyricist and songwriter, who for several years in the 1960s worked out of the famous Brill Building. He is best known for his successful songwriting collaborations, including one with Neil Sedaka from the late 1950s to the mid-1970s, and near-simultaneous (and equally successful) songwriting partnerships with Jack Keller and Helen Miller throughout most of the 1960s. Songs Greenfield co-wrote four songs that reached #1 on the US ''Billboard'' charts: "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do", as recorded by Sedaka; "Everybody's Somebody's Fool" and "My Heart Has a Mind of Its Own", both as recorded by Connie Francis, and "Love Will Keep Us Together", as recorded by Captain & Tennille. He also co-wrote numerous other top 10 hits for Sedaka (including "Oh! Carol", " Stairway to Heaven", " Calendar Girl", "Little Devil", "Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen", and "Next Door to an Angel"); Francis (including the "Theme to ''Where The ...
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Recording Session
The term studio recording means any recording made in a studio, as opposed to a live recording, which is usually made in a concert venue or a theatre, with an audience attending the performance. Studio cast recordings In the case of Broadway musicals, the term studio cast recording applies to a recording of the show which does not feature the cast of either a stage production or film version of the show. The practice has existed since before the advent of Broadway cast albums in 1943. That year the songs from Rodgers and Hammerstein's ''Oklahoma!'', performed by the show's cast, were released on a multi-record 78-RPM album by American Decca. (London original cast albums have existed since the early days of recording, however, and there are recordings in existence of excerpts from such shows as ''The Desert Song'', '' Sunny'', and ''Show Boat'', all performed by their original London stage casts.) History Before 1943, musicals were recorded in the U.S. with what might be termed s ...
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President Of The United States
The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States of America. The president directs the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces. The power of the presidency has grown substantially since the first president, George Washington, took office in 1789. While presidential power has ebbed and flowed over time, the presidency has played an increasingly strong role in American political life since the beginning of the 20th century, with a notable expansion during the presidency of Franklin D. Roosevelt. In contemporary times, the president is also looked upon as one of the world's most powerful political figures as the leader of the only remaining global superpower. As the leader of the nation with the largest economy by nominal GDP, the president possesses significant domestic and international hard and soft power. Article II of the Constitution establ ...
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Abraham Lincoln High School (Brooklyn)
Abraham Lincoln High School is a public high school located at 2800 Ocean Parkway, Brooklyn, New York under the jurisdiction of the New York City Department of Education. The school was built in 1929, and since graduated four Nobel Prize laureates, as well as many doctors, scientists, engineers, politicians, musicians, artists, and other notable alums. The current principal is Ari A. Hoogenboom. It was built during the Great Depression, and to save money, one set of blueprints was used for Lincoln and other high schools in New York City, including Bayside High School, Samuel J. Tilden High School, John Adams High School, and Grover Cleveland High School. The school features five gymnasiums, an outdoor football and track and field, a swimming pool, a photography studio, an animal science lab, an office classroom and an auditorium. History The school was established in 1929 and named for former US president, Abraham Lincoln. From when the school opened its doors in Septembe ...
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Solomon Linda
Solomon Popoli Linda (19098 September 1962), also known as Solomon Ntsele ("Linda" was his clan name),Gilmore, Inigo"Penniless sisters fight record industry over father's hit song" ''The Telegraph'' (UK), 11 June 2000. was a South African musician, singer and composer best known as the composer of the song "Mbube", which later became the pop music success "The Lion Sleeps Tonight", and gave its name to the Mbube style of isicathamiya ''a cappella'' later popularized by Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Early years Solomon Popoli Linda was born near Pomeroy, on the labor reserve Msinga, Umzinyathi District Municipality in Ladysmith in Natal, where he was familiar with the traditions of ''amahubo'' and ''izingoma zomshado'' (wedding songs) music.Frith, Simon''Popular Music: critical concepts in media and cultural studies, Volume 4'' London: Routledge, 2004. p. 271/ref> He attended the Gordon Memorial mission school, where he learned about Western musical culture, hymns, and participated ...
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The Lion Sleeps Tonight
"The Lion Sleeps Tonight" is a song originally written and recorded by Solomon Linda under the title "Mbube" for the South African Gallo Record Company in 1939. Linda's original was written in isiZulu, while the English version's lyrics were written by George David Weiss. The song was adapted and covered internationally by many pop and folk revival artists in the 1950s and 1960s. It was recorded as "Wimoweh" by the Weavers in November 1951, and published by Folkways Music Publishers in December 1951. Artists who recorded various versions of the song included Henri Salvador, Jimmy Dorsey, Yma Sumac, Noro Morales, Miriam Makeba, and the Kingston Trio. In 1961, a version adapted into English with the title "The Lion Sleeps Tonight" by the doo-wop group the Tokens became a number-one hit in the United States. It went on to earn millions in royalties from cover versions and film licensing. The pop group Tight Fit had a number one hit in the UK with the song in 1982. This song is wr ...
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Single (music)
In music, a single is a type of release, typically a song recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most cases, a single is a song that is released separately from an album, although it usually also appears on an album. In other cases a recording released as a single may not appear on an album. Despite being referred to as a single, in the era of music downloads, singles can include up to as many as three tracks. The biggest digital music distributor, the iTunes Store, accepts as many as three tracks that are less than ten minutes each as a single. Any more than three tracks on a musical release or thirty minutes in total running time is an extended play (EP) or, if over six tracks long, an album. Historically, when mainstream music was purchased via vinyl records, singles would be released double-sided, i.e. there was an A-side and a B-side, on which two songs would appear, one on each si ...
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Record Chart
A record chart, in the music industry, also called a music chart, is a ranking of Sound recording and reproduction, recorded music according to certain criteria during a given period. Many different criteria are used in worldwide charts, often in combination. These include record sales, the amount of radio airplay, the number of music download, downloads, and the amount of streaming media, streaming activity. Some charts are specific to a particular musical genre and most to a particular geographical location. The most common period covered by a chart is one week with the chart being printed or broadcast at the end of this time. Summary charts for years and decades are then calculated from their component weekly charts. Component charts have become an increasingly important way to measure the commercial success of individual songs. A common format of radio and television programmes is to run down a music chart. Chart hit A ''chart hit'' is a recording, identified by its inclu ...
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Billboard Hot 100
The ''Billboard'' Hot 100 is the music industry standard record chart in the United States for songs, published weekly by '' Billboard'' magazine. Chart rankings are based on sales (physical and digital), radio play, and online streaming in the United States. The weekly tracking period for sales was initially Monday to Sunday when Nielsen started tracking sales in 1991, but was changed to Friday to Thursday in July 2015. This tracking period also applies to compiling online streaming data. Radio airplay, which, unlike sales figures and streaming, is readily available on a real-time basis, is also tracked on a Friday to Thursday cycle effective with the chart dated July 17, 2021 (previously Monday to Sunday and before July 2015, Wednesday to Tuesday). A new chart is compiled and officially released to the public by ''Billboard'' on Tuesdays but post-dated to the following Saturday. The first number-one song of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 was " Poor Little Fool" by Ricky Ne ...
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Top 40
In the music industry, the Top 40 is the current, 40 most-popular songs in a particular genre. It is the best-selling or most frequently broadcast popular music. Record charts have traditionally consisted of a total of 40 songs. "Top 40" or " contemporary hit radio" is also a radio format. Frequent variants of the Top 40 are the Top 10, Top 20, Top 30, Top 50, Top 75, Top 100 and Top 200. History According to producer Richard Fatherley, Todd Storz was the inventor of the format, at his radio station KOWH in Omaha, Nebraska. Storz invented the format in the early 1950s, using the number of times a record was played on jukeboxes to compose a weekly list for broadcast. The format was commercially successful, and Storz and his father Robert, under the name of the Storz Broadcasting Company, subsequently acquired other stations to use the new Top 40 format. In 1989, Todd Storz was inducted into the Nebraska Broadcasters Association Hall of Fame. The term "Top 40", describing a radio ...
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