|
To Be Young, Gifted And Black
"To Be Young, Gifted and Black" is a song by Nina Simone with lyrics by Weldon Irvine. Simone introduced the song on August 17, 1969, to a crowd of 50,000 at the Harlem Cultural Festival, captured on broadcast video tape and released in 2021 as the documentary film '' Summer of Soul''. Two months later, she recorded the song as part of her concert at Philharmonic Hall, a performance that resulted in her live album '' Black Gold'' (1970). Released as a single, it peaked at number 8 on the R&B chart and number 76 on the Hot 100 in January 1970. A cover version by Jamaican duo Bob and Marcia reached number 5 on the UK Singles Chart in 1970. The title of the song comes from Lorraine Hansberry's autobiographical play '' To Be Young, Gifted and Black''. The song is considered an anthem of the Civil Rights Movement. Background "To Be Young, Gifted and Black" was written in memory of Simone's late friend Lorraine Hansberry, author of the play ''A Raisin in the Sun'', who had died ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Nina Simone
Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and pop. Her piano playing was strongly influenced by baroque and classical music, especially Johann Sebastian Bach, and accompanied expressive, jazz-like singing in her contralto voice.. The sixth of eight children born into a respected family in North Carolina, Simone initially aspired to be a concert pianist. With the help of a local fund set up in her hometown, she enrolled at Allen High School for Girls, then spent a summer at the Juilliard School of Music in New York City, preparing to apply for a scholarship to study at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia. She failed to gain admission to Curtis,Liz Garbus, 2015 documentary film, '' What Happened, Miss Simone?'' which she attributed to racism, though staff have pointed out th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Raisin In The Sun
''A Raisin in the Sun'' is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway in 1959. The title comes from the poem "Harlem" (also known as "A Dream Deferred") by Langston Hughes. The story tells of a black family's experiences in south Chicago, as they attempt to improve their financial circumstances with an insurance payout following the death of their father, and deals with matters of housing discrimination, racism, and assimilation. The New York Drama Critics' Circle named it the best play of 1959, and in recent years publications such as ''The Independent'' and '' Time Out'' have listed it among the best plays ever written. Plot Walter and Ruth Younger, and their son Travis, along with Walter's mother Lena (Mama) and younger sister Beneatha, live in poverty in a run-down two-bedroom apartment on Chicago's South Side. Walter is barely making a living as a limousine driver. Though Ruth is content with their lot, Walter desperately wishes for more. He hopes to invest i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Studio One (record Label)
Studio One is one of Jamaica's most renowned record labels and recording studios; it has been described as the Motown of Jamaica. The record label was involved with most of the major music movements in Jamaica during the 1960s and 1970s, including ska, rocksteady, reggae, dub and dancehall. History Studio One was founded by Clement "Coxsone" Dodd in 1954, and the first recordings were cut in 1963 on Brentford Road in Kingston. Amongst its earliest records were "Easy Snappin" by Theophilus Beckford, backed by Clue J & His Blues Blasters, and "This Man is Back" by trombonist Don Drummond. Dodd had previously issued music on a series of other labels, including World Disc, and had run Sir Coxsone the Downbeat, one of the largest and most reputable sound systems in the Kingston ghettos. In the early 1960s, the house band providing backing for the vocalists were the Skatalites (1964–65), whose members (including Roland Alphonso, Don Drummond, Tommy McCook, Jackie Mi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Coxsone Dodd
Clement Seymour "Coxsone" Dodd (26 January 1932 – 4 May 2004) was a Jamaican record producer who was influential in the development of ska and reggae in the 1950s, 1960s and beyond. He was nicknamed "Coxsone" at school due to his talent as a cricketer (his friends compared him to Alec Coxon, a member of the 1940s Yorkshire County Cricket Club team). Biography The Kingston-born Dodd used to play records to the customers in his parents' shop. During a spell in the American South he became familiar with the rhythm and blues music popular there at the time. In 1954, back in Jamaica, he set up the Downbeat Sound System, being the owner of an amplifier, a turntable, and some US records, which he would import from New Orleans and Miami. With the success of his sound system, and in a competitive environment, Dodd would make trips through the US looking for new tunes to attract the Jamaican public. While he did, his mother Doris Darlington would run the sound system and play ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Heptones
The Heptones are a Jamaican rocksteady and reggae vocal trio most active in the 1960s and early 1970s. They were one of the more significant trios of that era, and played a major role in the gradual transition between ska and rocksteady into reggae with their three-part harmonies. The Heptones were contemporaries of the Wailers and the Maytals, and every bit their equal in the mid-1960s. History Leroy Sibbles, Earl Morgan, and Barry Llewellyn first came together as "The Hep Ones" in 1965 in Kingston, but they soon changed their name to "The Heptones". The name was chosen by Morgan after seeing a Heptones Tonic bottle lying in a pile of refuse.Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, , p. 114 The Heptones recorded for major Jamaican record producers at the time. They began their career, after one unsuccessful single for Ken Lack's "K Calnek" label, under the watchful eye of Coxsone Dodd of Studio One. The Heptones had a number of Jamaican hits f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to use the word ''reggae'', effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. Reggae is rooted in traditional Jamaican Kumina, Pukkumina, Revival Zion, Nyabinghi, and burru drumming. Jamaican reggae music evolved out of the earlier genres mento, ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument. Stylistically, reggae incorporates some of the musical elements of rhythm and blues, jazz, mento (a celebratory, rural folk form ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Rocksteady
Rocksteady is a music genre that originated in Jamaica around 1966. A successor of ska and a precursor to reggae, rocksteady was the dominant style of music in Jamaica for nearly two years, performed by many of the artists who helped establish reggae, including harmony groups such as the Techniques, the Paragons, the Heptones and the Gaylads; soulful singers such as Alton Ellis, Delroy Wilson, Bob Andy, Ken Boothe and Phyllis Dillon; musicians such as Jackie Mittoo, Lynn Taitt and Tommy McCook. The term ''rocksteady'' comes from a popular (slower) dance style mentioned in the Alton Ellis song "Rocksteady", that matched the new sound. Some rocksteady songs became hits outside Jamaica, as with ska, helping to secure the international base reggae music has today. Characteristics The Jamaican musicians and producers who developed rocksteady had grown up learning and playing jazz and had played through ska. In a similar way to what happened at Motown, the musicians respons ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
British Hit Singles & Albums
''British Hit Singles & Albums'' (originally known as ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Singles'' and ''The Guinness Book of British Hit Albums'') was a music reference work, reference book originally published in the United Kingdom by the publishing arm of the Guinness breweries, Guinness Superlatives. Later editions were published by HIT Entertainment (who had bought the Guinness World Records brand). It listed all the singles and albums featured in the Top 75 pop charts in the United Kingdom, UK. In 2004 the book became an amalgamation of two earlier Guinness publications, originally known as ''British Hit Singles'' and ''British Hit Albums''. The publication of this amalgamation ceased in 2006, with Guinness World Records being sold to Jim Pattison Group, The Jim Pattison Group, owner of ''Ripley's Believe It or Not!''. At this point, the Official UK Charts Company teamed up with Random House/Ebury Publishing to release a new version of the book under the Virgin Books bran ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Young, Gifted And Black
''Young, Gifted and Black'' is the eighteenth studio album by American singer-songwriter Aretha Franklin, released in early 1972, by Atlantic Records. The album climbed to number 2 on ''Billboard'''s R&B albums survey and peaked at Number 11 on the main album chart. It was quickly certified Gold by the RIAA. Its title was cut from " To Be Young, Gifted and Black", recorded and released by Nina Simone in 1969. Franklin won a 1972 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In 2003, the television network VH1 named it the 76th greatest album of all time. In 2020, it was ranked number 388 by ''Rolling Stone'' in their list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. Songs ''Young, Gifted and Black'' contains original songs written and performed by Franklin, such as " Day Dreaming" and " Rock Steady". It also features cover versions of songs by other artists, including " To Be Young, Gifted and Black" by Nina Simone, as well as " I've Been Loving You Too Long" by Otis Reddi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Aretha Franklin
Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Honored as the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, Queen of Soul", she was twice named by ''Rolling Stone'' magazine as the Rolling Stone's 200 Greatest Singers of All Time, greatest singer of all time. As a child, Franklin was noticed for her Gospel music, gospel singing at New Bethel Baptist Church (Detroit, Michigan), New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit, Michigan, where her father C. L. Franklin was a minister. At the age of 18, she was signed as a recording artist for Columbia Records. While her career did not immediately flourish, Franklin found acclaim and commercial success once she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966. She recorded albums such as ''I Never Loved a Man the Way I Love You'' (1967), ''Lady Soul'' (1968), ''Spirit in the Dark'' (1970), ''Young, Gifted and Black'' (1972), ''Amazing Grace (Aretha Franklin album), Amazing Grace'' (1972), and ''Sp ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Everything Is Everything (Donny Hathaway Album)
''Everything Is Everything'' is the debut studio album by American soul artist Donny Hathaway, which was released on July 1, 1970 on the Atlantic Records' subsidiary, Atco. The album was Hathaway's first release after being signed to Atlantic in 1969. Hathaway had already built a reputation early in his life, first as a gospel singer as a child under the name Donny Pitts. Raised in St. Louis, with religious influences, his grandmother Martha Crumwell was herself an accomplished gospel singer and guitarist. After dropping out of Howard University in 1967, Hathaway moved to Chicago, his birthplace, and started working on music for Curtis Mayfield's Curtom Records label where he was a songwriter, producer, arranger, composer, conductor and session player. ''Everything Is Everything'' was produced by Hathaway and Ric Powell, who plays drums and percussion on the album; Hathaway wrote or co-wrote five of the album's nine songs. Hathaway had met Powell while at Howard University, as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Donny Hathaway
Donny Edward Hathaway (October 1, 1945 – January 13, 1979) was an American soul singer, keyboardist, songwriter, backing vocalist, and arranger who ''Rolling Stone'' described as a "soul legend". His most popular songs include " The Ghetto", " This Christmas", " Someday We'll All Be Free", and "Little Ghetto Boy". Hathaway is also renowned for his renditions of " A Song for You", "For All We Know", " Jealous Guy" and "I Love You More Than You'll Ever Know", along with "Where Is the Love" and "The Closer I Get to You", two of many collaborations with Roberta Flack. He has been inducted into the St. Louis Walk of Fame and won one Grammy Award from four nominations. Hathaway was also posthumously honored with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2019. Dutch director David Kleijwegt made a documentary called ''Mister Soul – A Story About Donny Hathaway'', which premiered at the International Film Festival Rotterdam on January 28, 2020. Early life Hathaway, the son of Dr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
