Lester Sill
Lester Sill (January 13, 1918 – October 31, 1994) was a United States record label executive, music publisher and recording artist manager within the West Coast Rock & Roll, West Coast R&B and Surf genres. Sill rose to become the president of Screen Gems-Columbia Music, became a long term member on the board of directors at ASCAP, and president of Jobete Music (Motown Records publishing division). Resisting prejudicial music-industry norms of the era, Sill represented and produced music for talented artists regardless of race, including, T-Bone Walker, Hadda Brooks, B.B. King, The Coasters, Ray Sharpe, Jimmy Witherspoon and The Pentagons. As an independent producer in the 1950s and 1960s, Sill formed record labels and publishing companies around composers like Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Lee Hazlewood and Phil Spector, rostered artists included Duane Eddy, The Coasters, The Paris Sisters, and The Crystals. Sill is best known as the producer/manager for Duane Ed ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Chuck Kaye
Chuck Kaye, born Charles Aye (28 August 1940 – 1 February 2021) was an American retired music industry executive, noted for his tenures at A&M Records, Warner/Chappell Music, and DreamWorks Records, working in diverse areas such as artists and repertoire (A&R), music publishing, and corporate governance. Early years Kaye's earliest efforts in music publishing began in New York City in the 1960s, working under the Philles Records label started by Phil Spector and his stepfather, Lester Sill. In 1964 Kaye relocated to Los Angeles to take the role of West Coast Director of Aldon Music. While at Aldon, Kaye worked with songwriters Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Barry Mann, Cynthia Weil, Howard Greenfield, and Neil Sedaka. In 1966, Kaye started both Rondor Music and Almo/Irving Music which were the publishing companies for A&M Records, owned by Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss. Kaye began to demonstrate his business acumen by signing acts while heading Herb Alpert and Jerry Moss’ ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Screen Gems
Screen Gems is an American film production company owned by Sony Pictures Entertainment, a subsidiary of Japanese conglomerate, Sony Group Corporation. ''Screen Gems'' has served several different purposes for its parent companies over the decades since its incorporation, initially as a cartoon studio, then a television studio, and later on as a film studio. ''Screen Gems'' currently serves as a Sony’s film production division that specializes in genre films, mainly horror. Screen Gems is currently one of the five live-action labels of the Sony Pictures Motion Picture Group, alongside Columbia Pictures, TriStar Pictures, Sony Pictures Classics, and 3000 Pictures. Animation studio (1921–1949) Early years (1921–1933) When producer Pat Sullivan came to Harry Warner to sign a contract with him on his and Otto Messmer's series Felix the Cat, he declined and instead told his soon-to-be former secretary Margaret J. Winkler that she should form her own company and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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San Diego
San Diego ( , ) is a city on the Pacific coast of Southern California, adjacent to the Mexico–United States border. With a population of over 1.4 million, it is the List of United States cities by population, eighth-most populous city in the United States. San Diego is the county seat, seat of San Diego County. It is known for its mild Mediterranean climate, extensive List of beaches in San Diego County, beaches and List of parks in San Diego, parks, long association with the United States Navy, and recent emergence as a wireless, electronics, List of hospitals in San Diego, healthcare, and biotechnology development center. Historically home to the Kumeyaay people, San Diego has been referred to as the ''Birthplace of California'', as it was the first site visited and settled by Europeans on what is now the West Coast of the United States. In 1542, Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo claimed the area for Spain, forming the basis for the settlement of Alta California, 200 years later. ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Fresno
Fresno (; ) is a city in the San Joaquin Valley of California, United States. It is the county seat of Fresno County, California, Fresno County and the largest city in the greater Central Valley (California), Central Valley region. It covers about and had a population of 542,107 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of largest California cities by population, fifth-most populous city in California, the most populous inland city in California, and the List of United States cities by population, 34th-most populous city in the nation. Named for the abundant ash trees lining the San Joaquin River, Fresno was founded in 1872 as a railway station of the Central Pacific Railroad before it was Municipal corporation, incorporated in 1885. It has since become an economic hub of Fresno County and the San Joaquin Valley, with much of the surrounding areas in the Metropolitan Fresno region predominantly tied to large-scale agricultural production. Fresno is n ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Modern Records
Modern Records (Modern Music Records before 1947) was an American record company and label formed in 1945 in Los Angeles by the Bihari brothers. Modern's artists included Hadda Brooks, Etta James, Joe Houston, Little Richard, Ike & Tina Turner and John Lee Hooker. The label released some of the most influential blues and R&B records of the 1940s and 1950s. History In the beginning, Modern bought master recordings from other small labels, as with the purchase of 32 unreleased Gold Star Records master recordings by Lightnin' Hopkins and Lil' Son Jackson for $2,500 from Bill Quinn in 1951. The Biharis also often used pseudonyms to give themselves writing credit on songs. Saul Bihari, for example, (whose middle name was Samuel) used the name Sam Ling as a songwriting pseudonym. Having started as an R&B label, Modern was later one of the few R&B labels to routinely cover rhythm and blues hits on other labels, apparently in an attempt to broaden their appeal and reach the p ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Casablanca
Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a population of about 3.22 million in the urban area, and over 4.27 million in Greater Casablanca, making it the most populous city in the Maghreb region, and the List of largest cities in the Arab world, eighth-largest in the Arab world. Casablanca is Morocco's chief port, with the Port of Casablanca being one of the largest artificial ports in Africa, and the third-largest port in North Africa, after Tanger-Med ( east of Tangier) and Port Said. Casablanca also hosts the primary naval base for the Royal Moroccan Navy. Casablanca is a significant financial centre, ranking 54th globally in the September 2023 Global Financial Centres Index rankings, between Brussels and Rome. The Casablanca Stock Exchange is Africa's third-largest in terms of market c ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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The Wrecking Crew (music)
The Wrecking Crew, also known as the Clique and the First Call Gang, was a loose collective of American session musicians based in Los Angeles who played on many studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including hundreds of top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized at the time, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in history. Most of the players had formal backgrounds in jazz or classical music. The group had no official name in its early years, and when the name the Wrecking Crew was first used is a subject of contention. The name was in common use by April 1981 when Hal Blaine used it in an interview with '' Modern Drummer''. The name became more widely known when Blaine used it in his 1990 memoir, attributing it to older musicians who felt that the group's embrace of rock and roll was going to "wreck" the music industry. The unit coalesced in the early 1 ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Wall Of Sound
The Wall of Sound (also called the Spector Sound) is a music production formula developed by American record producer Phil Spector at Gold Star Studios, in the 1960s, with assistance from engineer Larry Levine and the conglomerate of session musicians later known as " the Wrecking Crew". The intention was to exploit the possibilities of studio recording to create an unusually dense orchestral aesthetic that came across well through radios and jukeboxes of the era. Spector explained in 1964: "I was looking for a sound, a sound so strong that if the material was not the greatest, the sound would carry the record. It was a case of augmenting, augmenting. It all fit together like a jigsaw." A popular misconception holds that the Wall of Sound was created simply through a maximum of noise and distortion, but the method was actually far more nuanced. To attain the Wall of Sound, Spector's arrangements called for large ensembles (including some instruments not generally used for en ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Phil Spector
Harvey Phillip Spector (December 26, 1939 – January 16, 2021) was an American record producer and songwriter who is best known for pioneering recording practices in the 1960s, followed by his trials and conviction for murder in the 2000s. Spector developed the Wall of Sound, a production technique involving a densely texture (music), textured sound created through layering tone colors, resulting in a compression (music), compression and chorus (effect), chorusing effect not replicable through electronic means. Considered the first ''auteur'' of the music industry, he is widely regarded as one of the most influential figures in pop music history and one of the most successful producers of the 1960s. Born in the Bronx, Spector relocated to Los Angeles as a teenager and co-founded the Teddy Bears in 1958, writing their chart-topping single "To Know Him Is to Love Him". Mentored by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, by 1960, he co-established Philles Records, becoming the youngest U ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Jimmy Witherspoon
James Witherspoon (August 8, 1920 – September 18, 1997) was an American jump blues and jazz singer. Early life, family and education Witherspoon was born in Gurdon, Arkansas. His father was a railroad worker who sang in local choirs, and his mother was a piano player. Witherspoon's grandson Ahkello Witherspoon is a cornerback for the Los Angeles Rams. Witherspoon served in the Merchant Marines until 1944. Career Witherspoon first attracted attention singing in Calcutta, India, with Teddy Weatherford's band, which made regular radio broadcasts over the US Armed Forces Radio Service during World War II. Having made his first gramophone record, records with Jay McShann's band in 1945, he first recorded under his own name in 1947, and two years later, still with the McShann band, he had his first hit, "Ain't Nobody's Business", a song that came to be regarded as his signature tune. In 1950 he had hits with two more songs closely identified with him—"No Rollin' Blues" and ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Ray Sharpe
Edward Ray Sharpe (born February 8, 1938) is an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter. His best-known single was "Linda Lu". Sharpe was described by one record producer as "the greatest white-sounding black dude ever". Background Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Sharpe grew up influenced by country as well as blues music. He learned guitar, influenced by Chuck Berry records, and in 1956 formed his own trio, Ray Sharpe and the Blues Whalers, with Raydell Reese (piano) and Cornelius Bell (drums), and they became popular playing rock and roll in Fort Worth clubs. Dik de Heer, "Ray Sharpe", ''Black Cat Rockabilly'' Retrieved October 6, 2014 His recording career started in [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |
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Hadda Brooks
Hadda Brooks (born Hattie L. Hapgood October 29, 1916 – November 21, 2002) was an American pianist, vocalist and composer, who occasionally appeared playing the piano in film. Billed as "Queen of the Boogie", she was Inducted in the Rhythm and Blues Foundation Hall of Fame in 1993. Career Brooks became a singer during the mid-1940s. Jules Bihari of Modern Records gave her the recording name "Hadda Brooks". In the 1970s, she commuted to Europe for performances in nightclubs and festivals. She performed rarely in the United States, and moved to Australia. ''Queen of the Boogie'', a compilation of recordings from the 1940s, was released in 1984. Two years later her manager Alan Eichler brought her out of a 16-year retirement before she went on tour. She sang at Hawaii's statehood ceremony in 1959, and was once invited to a private audience with Pope Pius XII Pope Pius XII (; born Eugenio Maria Giuseppe Giovanni Pacelli; 2 March 18769 October 1958) was the head of the Cat ... [...More Info...]       [...Related Items...]     OR:     [Wikipedia]   [Google]   [Baidu]   |