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The Stargazers (1940s–1950s Group)
The Stargazers were a British vocal group, jointly founded in 1949 by Cliff Adams and Ronnie Milne. Other original members were Marie Benson, Fred Datchler and Dick James. Very shortly after the group made their first broadcasts with BBC Radio on such programmes as '' Workers' Playtime'' and ''The Goon Show'', Dick James decided to resume his career as a solo vocalist, left the group, and was replaced by Bob Brown. Ronnie Milne took care of the musical arranging, while Cliff Adams became their manager, in addition to contributing scores for the group. In September 1953, Milne left the Stargazers to emigrate to Canada, and was replaced in the group by Dave Carey. The group served as backing vocalists for Petula Clark on her first recordings. Commercial success Recording for D ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Traditional Pop
Traditional pop (also known as vocal pop or pre-rock and roll pop) is Western culture, Western pop music that generally pre-dates the advent of rock and roll in the mid-1950s. The most popular and enduring songs from this era of music are known as pop standards or American standards. The works of these songwriters and composers are usually considered part of the canon known as the "Great American Songbook". More generally, the term "Standard (music), standard" can be applied to any popular song that has become very widely known within mainstream culture and recorded by many artists. AllMusic defines traditional pop as "post-big band and pre-rock & roll pop music". Origins Classic pop includes the song output of the Broadway theatre, Broadway, Tin Pan Alley, and Hollywood show tune writers from approximately World War I to the 1950s, such as Irving Berlin, Frederick Loewe, Victor Herbert, Harry Warren, Harold Arlen, Jerome Kern, George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, Richard Rodgers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Backing Vocalist
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 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 harmony to ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Fred Ebb
Fred Ebb (April 8, 1928 – September 11, 2004) was an American musical theatre lyricist who had many successful collaborations with composer John Kander. The Kander and Ebb team frequently wrote for such performers as Liza Minnelli and Chita Rivera. Background He worked during the early 1950s bronzing baby shoes, as a trucker's assistant, and was also employed in a department store credit office and at a hosiery company. He graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in English Literature, and also earned his master's degree in English from Columbia University.McKinley, Jess"Fred Ebb, 76, Lyricist Behind 'Cabaret' and Other Hits, Dies"''The New York Times'', September 13, 2004. One of his early collaborators was Philip Springer, and a song they wrote together ("I Never Loved Him Anyhow") was recorded by Carmen McRae in 1956. Another song Ebb wrote with Springer was "Heartbroken" (1953), which was recorded by Judy Garland, the mother of his future protégé ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
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 programs is to run down a music chart. History The first record chart was founded in 1952 by Percy Dick ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Happy Wanderer
"The Happy Wanderer" ("" or "") is a popular song. The original text was written by (1791–1877)."Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann" Volksliederarchiv (+score) __TOC__ The present tune was composed by shortly after World War II. The work is often mistaken for a German folk song, but it is an original composition. Möller's sister Edith conducted a small amateur children's and youth choir in the district of Schaumburg, Lower Saxony, Germany, internationally named Obernkirchen Children's Choir, in Germany named . She adapted Sigismund's words for her choir. In 1953, a BBC radio broadcast of the choir's winning performance at the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod turned the song into an instant hit. On 22 January 1954 the song entered One-hit wonders in the UK#195 ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Finger Of Suspicion
"The Finger of Suspicion (Points at You)" is a popular song written by Paul Mann and Al Lewis, and published in 1954. It was recorded by Dickie Valentine in the United Kingdom and by Jane Froman in the United States. Valentine's version reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1955. Valentine's version was produced by Dick Rowe and released on Decca Records Decca Records is a British record label established in 1929 by Edward Lewis (Decca), Edward Lewis after his acquisition of a gramophone manufacturer, The Decca Gramophone Company. It set up an American subsidiary under the Decca name, which bec .... The track was a UK chart topper twice over. Firstly for one week from 7 January 1955, and then for a further two weeks from 21 January. Its chart topping run was interrupted by " Mambo Italiano". References 1954 singles UK singles chart number-one singles Songs written by Al Lewis (lyricist) 1954 songs {{1950s-pop-song-stub ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dickie Valentine
Richard Bryce ( Maxwell; 4 November 1929 – 6 May 1971), known professionally as Dickie Valentine, was a British pop singer who enjoyed great popularity in Britain during the 1950s. In addition to several other Top Ten hit singles, Valentine had two chart-toppers on the UK Singles Chart with " Finger of Suspicion", featuring The Stargazers (1954) and the seasonal " Christmas Alphabet" (1955). Biography Early life Valentine was born Richard Maxwell in November 1929 (his birth father was Dickie Maxwell) in Marylebone, London. He was known as Richard Bryce after his mother married a Mr Bryce. Valentine's first acting job was at age only three when he appeared in the British comedy film '' Jack's the Boy'' starring Jack Hulbert and Cicely Courtneidge. Music career He developed a flexible vocal style and skills as an impersonator of famous singers. Actor-singer Bill O'Connor overheard him singing as a call boy at Her Majesty's Theatre in London and paid for his voice lesso ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
I See The Moon
"I See the Moon (Over the Mountain)" is a popular song, written by Meredith Willson in 1953. Recordings The Mariners, in the United States, and The Stargazers, in the United Kingdom, had the best-known versions. The Stargazers' recording, released on the Decca Records label, reached number one in the UK Singles Chart in 1954. In taking "I See the Moon" to number one, the Stargazers became the first act in British chart history to reach number one with their first two records to reach the chart. Several singles released in the interim failed to chart. The Stargazers' recording was produced by Dick Rowe, one of eight of his UK chart topping successes in that role. The single sold over 300,000 copies. The Mariners' version, released in 1953 on Columbia Records, reached number 14 in the United States. A recording by Don Cameron with Morton Fraser's Harmonica Band was made in London on February 17, 1954. It was released by EMI on the His Master's Voice label as catalog number ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Broken Wings (1953 Song)
"Broken Wings" is a 1953 popular song that was written by John Jerome and Bernhard Grun. The most successful version of the song was produced by Dick Rowe and recorded in the UK by vocal group The Stargazers in 1953. It was the first record by any UK act to reach number one in the UK Singles Chart (all previous number one singles were by American artists), and was the first of two number-one UK hits for the group, the other being " I See the Moon", a year later. Background Most contemporary hit songs came from America in the early 1950s; however, "Broken Wings" originated in the UK, having been first published by the John Fields Music Company in London on 26 February 1952. As such, it was the first British song to be a UK number one hit. John Jerome was a collaborative pseudonym for Harold Cornelius Fields, Howard Ellington Barnes and Joseph Dominic Roncoroni. Bernhard Grun was a German emigrant who used the first name Bernard in England, and had previously composed fil ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Single (music)
In Music industry, music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release of a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an album (LP record, LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standalone tracks or connected to an artist's album, and in the latter case would often have at least one single release before the album itself, called lead singles. The single was defined in the mid-20th century with the ''45'' (named after its speed in revolutions per minute), a type of 7-inch sized vinyl records, vinyl record containing an A-side and B-side, A-side and a B-side, i.e. one song on each side. The single format was highly influential in pop music and the early days of rock and roll, and it was the format used for jukeboxes and preferred by younger populations in the 1950s and 1960s. Singles in Digital distribution, digital form became very popular in the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Hit Record
A hit song, also known as a hit record, hit single, or simply hit, is a recorded song or instrumental that becomes broadly popular or well-known. Although ''hit song'' means any widely played or big-selling song, the specific term ''hit record'' usually refers to a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio airplay audience impressions or significant streaming data and commercial sales. Prior to the dominance of recorded music, commercial sheet music sales of individual songs were similarly promoted and tracked as singles and albums are now. For example, in 1894, Edward B. Marks and Joe Stern released '' The Little Lost Child'', which sold more than a million copies nationwide, based mainly on its success as an illustrated song, analogous to what later became music videos. Chart hits In the United States and the United Kingdom, a single is usually considered a hit when it reaches the top 40 of the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 or the top 75 of the U ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
