Dragon – This Time In The Right Direction

Dragon – This Time In The Right Direction

Dragon - Are You Old Enough

Dragon formed in Auckland, New Zealand, in 1972, with a line-up that featured Todd Hunter, guitarist Ray Goodwin, drummer Neil Reynolds and singer Graeme Collins; by 1974 several personnel changes had occurred including the introduction of Todd’s brother Marc Hunter on vocals and Neil Storey on drums.

The band recorded two progressive rock albums in New Zealand, Universal Radio and Scented Gardens for the Blind, the second with an added guitar element from Robert Taylor. Paul Hewson also joined the band on keyboards and from this point Dragon’s music took on a pop-flavoured AOR feel.

Dragon eventually landed a contract in Australia with CBS Records and relocated to Sydney in 1975.

Always a lightning rod for controversy, the band was rocked by the heroin overdose death of drummer Neil Storey only weeks after arriving in Australia and their original manager was also deported back to New Zealand on drugs charges. By then, founding member Ray Goodwin had left the group.

Storey was replaced by Kerry Jacobson and, between 1975 and 1979, Dragon scored a string of major hits on the Australasian pop charts with songs including “April Sun in Cuba,” “Are You Old Enough” and “Still in Love With You” and with the albums Sunshine and O Zambezi, making them one of the region’s most popular rock acts.

Marc Hunter left Dragon in 1979 due to health problems which were, by then, seriously affecting his performances. New singer Richard Lee was recruited and the group recorded the Powerplay LP before breaking up in 1979.

Dragon was forced to reform in 1982 to pay off outstanding debts, but they stayed together and decided to have another shot at success. The band’s second comeback single “Rain” proved to be a massive hit, but Kerry Jacobson left the band for health reasons and was replaced by British drummer Terry Chambers, formerly from the band XTC. American keyboard player and producer Alan Mansfield also joined the band at this point.

The group’s 1984 album Body and the Beat became one of the biggest-selling albums in Australia and New Zealand and the band was restored to something close to its late 70s glory. Their public profile was further raised at this time by the Marc Hunter solo album Communication. Its title track became a moderate hit in Australia.

Paul Hewson left Dragon and tragically died of a drug overdose in New Zealand in January 1985, with Terry Chambers and Robert Taylor leaving Dragon some time after. American drummer Doanne Perry replaced Chambers, and Taylor was eventually succeeded by local Sydney guitar ace Tommy Emmanuel.

This line-up recorded the Todd Rundgren-produced Dreams of Ordinary Men album and toured Europe under the name Hunter in 1987, where they were somewhat misrepresented as a heavy metal band in some markets.

Dragon again split up in 1988 although a year later Todd and Marc Hunter and Alan Mansfield reconvened once again with guitarist Randall Waller and drummer Barton Price (ex-Models and The Choirboys) for the 1989 Bondi Road album, which actually featured Tommy Emmanuel’s guitar playing.

Dragon continued to record and tour with varying line-ups centered around the Hunter brothers and Mansfield until 1997, although Todd Hunter had largely retired from the band to do soundtrack work.

In 1998, Marc Hunter was diagnosed with severe throat cancer and died later that year. The compilation CD Forever Young, released on Raven Records, captures many of the highlight tracks of his tumultuous career.

Bio source…..www.last.fm

Picture source…..www.thestarfish.com.au

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Bob Marley and The Wailers – Redemption song

Bob Marley and The Wailers – Redemption song

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Redemption song

As a poet, prophet and purveyor of Jamaican culture, he shattered musical boundaries around the world.

Bob Marley was born in a small village called Nine Miles in Jamaica. The son of British Naval Officer and Jamaican woman called Cedella, Marley rarely saw his father due to his mother’s family and their disapproval of his parents relationship.

By the time he had turned 16, Marley had recorded his first single ‘Judge Not’, and in 1963, he formed The Wailers with Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite, and Beverly Kelso. The band then scored their first number one in Jamaica with ‘Simmer Down’ on the Coxsone label.

When Braithwaite and Kelso left the group around 1965, the Wailers continued as a trio, Marley, Tosh, and Livingstone trading leads. In spite of the popularity of singles like ‘Rude Boy’, the artists received few or no royalties, and in 1966 they disbanded.

After marrying his girlfriend Rita Anderson, Marley spent most of the following year working in a factory in Newark in the United States, where his mother had moved in 1963. Upon his return to Jamaica, the Wailers reunited and recorded for Coxsone with little success. During this period, the Wailers devoted themselves to the religious sect of Rastafari.

In 1969, they began a three-year association with Lee “Scratch” Perry, who directed them to play their own instruments and expanded their line-up to include Aston and Carlton Barrett, formerly the rhythm section of Perry’s studio band, the Upsetters. Some of the records they made with Perry – like ‘Trenchtown Rock’ – were locally very popular, but so precarious was the Jamaican record industry that the group seemed no closer than before to establishing steady careers. It formed an independent record company, Tuff Gong, in 1971, but the venture foundered when Livingstone was jailed and Marley got caught in a contract commitment to American pop singer Johnny Nash, who took him to Sweden to write a film score.

Their breakthrough came in 1972 when Chris Blackwell – who had released ‘Judge Not’ in England in 1963 – signed the Wailers to Island Records and advanced them the money to record themselves in Jamaica. The first result of this new contract was 1973’s ‘Catch A Fire’, the breakthrough album that saw the band reach an international audience for the first time. It was followed a year later by Burnin’, which included the songs “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot The Sheriff”.

The band toured heavily during this period, and Marley expanded the instrumental section of the group and bringing in a female vocal trio, the I-Threes, which included his wife, Rita. Now called Bob Marley and the Wailers, they toured Europe, Africa, and the Americas, building especially strong followings in the U.K., Scandinavia, and Africa. They had U.K. Top 40 hits with ‘No Woman No Cry’ (1975), ‘Exodus’ (1977), ‘Waiting in Vain’ (1977), and ‘Satisfy My Soul’ (1978).

In 1976, Marley was shot by gunmen during the Jamaican election campaign, but survived and continued to soar in popularity until his 1981 death due to brain, lung and stomach cancer. In 1987, both Peter Tosh and longtime Marley drummer Carlton Barrett were murdered in Jamaica during separate incidents. Rita Marley continues to tour, record, and run the Tuff Gong studios and record company.

Picture source…..foreverb.rxmedicalweb.netdna-cdn.com

Bio source……www.thebiographychannel.co.uk

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Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

Lana Del Rey – Born To Die

Summertime Sadness - Lana Del Rey

Lana Del Ray was born by the name Elizabeth Woolridge Grant on June 21, 1986 in New York City but grew up in Lake Placid, New York. She would hit bars in Lake Placid to showcase her talent in singing but always felt that she had to go bigger. So she moved back to NYC and got signed by an indie label at the age of 19. Unfortunately, the recording house went out of business.

“The way I experienced New York, for a long time after I moved, was alone and at night, walking the streets. I mean, there are thousands of streets in New York and I know them all. I’d go down to the tip of Manhattan, or even down to Coney Island, then travel all the way back up. Because I come from a place that, geographically, isn’t that stimulating. But New York’s architecture alone is enough to inspire a whole album. In fact, that’s what happened at first – my early stuff was mostly just interpretations of landscapes,” she said in an interview how the big city inspired her.

Del Rey was so determined that she went to record labels in London to show them a piece of her music but none of them were interested in her style. She released an EP called “Kill Kill” in 2008 under the name Lizzy Grant and then a full-length studio album in January 2010 as Lana Del Ray a.k.a. Lizzy Grant. It was with her father Robert Grant’s help that the album reached the market.
Del Rey wrote “Video Games” with a composer called Justin Parker and uploaded her performance of the song on YouTube in July 2011. “To be honest, it wasn’t going to be the single but people have really responded to it. I get very sad when I play that song. I still cry sometimes when I sing it,” she said.

The response was indeed amazing and she signed a deal with Interscope in October 2011 to release the song for wider market. “Video Games” won a Q Award that month and was featured in a TV series called “Ringer“. She began the promotional period with appearances and performances in several TV shows. She also started mulling over the idea of making another full-length album, which would be her first wide release.

Born to Die” was released in January 2012 although a few days before that, she was scrutinized for her first live performance on television. Del Rey was the musical guest on “Saturday Night Live” and she was criticized for being amateur. In her defense, Del Rey said, “I’m a good musician …I have been singing for a long time, and I think that Lorne Michaels knows that …it’s not a fluke decision.”

With the newfound fame, Del Rey bought the rights to her 2010 album and planned to re-release it in summer 2012 under Interscope Records and Polydor.

Bio and picture source….. www.aceshowbiz.com

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Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines – Parody

Robin Thicke – Blurred Lines – Parody

#THICKE

This song totally sucks

#CREEP

This song totally sucks

Hey hey hey

Hey hey hey WOO!

Hey hey hey

Hey hey hey WOO!

#NUTSHOOT

Come over here if you want to get raped

(Hey girl come here)

By a Creepy wannabe Timberlake

Maybe I’m going deaf (Hey hey hey)

Or maybe, I’m just high (Hey hey hey)

But no means yes in my mind (Hey hey hey)

This song totally sucks

This song and video will make you wanna take a knife that is really dull and shove it in your trachea

So overhyped it’s absurd (Hey hey hey)

Makes me seem like a huge perv (Hey hey hey)

“Because you are a huge perv!” (Hey hey hey)

And now it’s time for stupid hashtags

Than say my last name it’s extremely lame.

Here’s what they should say

Source: LYBIO.net

I’m a douchebag who thinks he’s so smooth

Everyone’s dancing except me I’m way too cool.

I’m going blind that’s my excuse when

I am accused of molesting women

Cause I’m a scumbag

Who wrote this concept?

Nothing happening makes any damn sense.

There’s a car on your butt.

Now let’s watch T.I. dance, like a dirty old man who just shit in his pants.

I really want to fuck this goat.

Now here’s a crappy (Hey hey hey)

Attempt at funny (Hey hey hey)

What rhymes with funny?

A lot of stuff idiot!

What the hell’s wrong with this blonde girl.

Humping a stuffed dog?

Could this video get any more wrong?

Hey come here girl.

I have a big D.

If a guy has to say that it means it’s small and diseased.

You just got your ass served.

Somebody please tell me

What the hell am I doing with this vid I mean

Went from rapping on tracks about the streets

To brushing white chicks’ hair like a total creep

And what the hell’s with Pharrell’s outfit?

He look like he from outer space in this silver shit.

This video’s wack and this song’s overplayed.

Come on dude, stop hashtagging your name!

Source: LYBIO.net

Robin you asshole

I’m preggo with your baby

Even though I said no

You knocked me up anyway

But the lines were blurred (Hey hey hey)

They totally weren’t (Hey hey hey)

You’re just a bastard! (Hey hey hey)

#NUT SHOT

Ok, that’s enough, Everyone freeze

Who the hell is this shmuck?

I’m a hashtag cop #BUSTED

This hashtag abuse is against the law [#THICKE]

I’m not kidding

Someone turn that shit off

I am warning you

Stop or I will shoot

OK, that’s it dude!

Pharrell hands up!

What the hell did I do?

You’re under arrest.

For what?

For soliciting goat sex.

Put your hands behind your head!

Thicke, you are dead!

Who the fuck is this dude?

This is my daughter.

You got her preggers!

Time to meet my fist jerk!

What the hell!

Paybacks a bitch.

Lyric source…..lybio.net

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Bob Marley and The Wailers – Jammin

Bob Marley and The Wailers – Jammin

Bob Marley and The Wailers - Jammin

As a poet, prophet and purveyor of Jamaican culture, he shattered musical boundaries around the world.

Bob Marley was born in a small village called Nine Miles in Jamaica. The son of British Naval Officer and Jamaican woman called Cedella, Marley rarely saw his father due to his mother’s family and their disapproval of his parents relationship.

By the time he had turned 16, Marley had recorded his first single ‘Judge Not’, and in 1963, he formed The Wailers with Peter Tosh, Bunny Livingstone, Junior Braithwaite, and Beverly Kelso. The band then scored their first number one in Jamaica with ‘Simmer Down’ on the Coxsone label.

When Braithwaite and Kelso left the group around 1965, the Wailers continued as a trio, Marley, Tosh, and Livingstone trading leads. In spite of the popularity of singles like ‘Rude Boy’, the artists received few or no royalties, and in 1966 they disbanded.

After marrying his girlfriend Rita Anderson, Marley spent most of the following year working in a factory in Newark in the United States, where his mother had moved in 1963. Upon his return to Jamaica, the Wailers reunited and recorded for Coxsone with little success. During this period, the Wailers devoted themselves to the religious sect of Rastafari.

In 1969, they began a three-year association with Lee “Scratch” Perry, who directed them to play their own instruments and expanded their line-up to include Aston and Carlton Barrett, formerly the rhythm section of Perry’s studio band, the Upsetters. Some of the records they made with Perry – like ‘Trenchtown Rock’ – were locally very popular, but so precarious was the Jamaican record industry that the group seemed no closer than before to establishing steady careers. It formed an independent record company, Tuff Gong, in 1971, but the venture foundered when Livingstone was jailed and Marley got caught in a contract commitment to American pop singer Johnny Nash, who took him to Sweden to write a film score.

Their breakthrough came in 1972 when Chris Blackwell – who had released ‘Judge Not’ in England in 1963 – signed the Wailers to Island Records and advanced them the money to record themselves in Jamaica. The first result of this new contract was 1973’s ‘Catch A Fire’, the breakthrough album that saw the band reach an international audience for the first time. It was followed a year later by Burnin’, which included the songs “Get Up, Stand Up” and “I Shot The Sheriff”.

The band toured heavily during this period, and Marley expanded the instrumental section of the group and bringing in a female vocal trio, the I-Threes, which included his wife, Rita. Now called Bob Marley and the Wailers, they toured Europe, Africa, and the Americas, building especially strong followings in the U.K., Scandinavia, and Africa. They had U.K. Top 40 hits with ‘No Woman No Cry’ (1975), ‘Exodus’ (1977), ‘Waiting in Vain’ (1977), and ‘Satisfy My Soul’ (1978).

In 1976, Marley was shot by gunmen during the Jamaican election campaign, but survived and continued to soar in popularity until his 1981 death due to brain, lung and stomach cancer. In 1987, both Peter Tosh and longtime Marley drummer Carlton Barrett were murdered in Jamaica during separate incidents. Rita Marley continues to tour, record, and run the Tuff Gong studios and record company.

Picture source…..foreverb.rxmedicalweb.netdna-cdn.com

Bio source……www.thebiographychannel.co.uk

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Weird Al Yankovic – Ebay Parody Song

Weird Al Yankovic – Ebay Parody Song

Weird Al Yankovic - Fat

A musical parodist in the broad, juvenile yet clever tradition of Mad magazine, “Weird Al” Yankovic is known for adding his own gently satirical lyrics to current hit songs. His shaggy, hangdog appearance, affection for slapstick, and amiable willingness to do seemingly anything for a laugh made him a natural for videos. His burlesques of the form and its artistes — especially of Michael Jackson in “Eat It” (from “Beat It”) (#12, 1983) and “Fat” (from “Bad”) (#99, 1988) — became MTV staples. His medleys of rock tunes given the polka treatment inspired rumors —untrue — that Yankovic was a member of the singing Yankovic family, who made polka and Western swing records in the 1940s. Regardless of his heritage, Yankovic is undoubtedly the most successful comedy recording artist, with more than 11 million albums sold.

Yankovic, a high school valedictorian and architecture student, got his start I 1979, when he sent his “My Bologna” — a parody of the Knack’s “My Sharona” — to Dr. Demento, a syndicated radio host specializing in novelty songs and curiosities. Recorded in a bathroom across the hall from his college radio station with only his accordion and vocal, the song was popular enough with Demento’s audience for Capitol (the Knack’s label) to release it as a single. His next parody, “Another One Rides the Bus” (based on Queen’s “Another One Bites the Dust”), became the most requested song in the first decade of the Dr. Demento show.

Yankovic signed with Rock ‘n’ Roll Records (a CBS subsidiary), which not only gave him access to better recording facilities and the production expertise of Rick Derringer but the financial backing for the video of “Ricky” (#63, 1983). A combination parody of Toni Basil’s hit single and video “Mickey” and homage to TV’s I Love Lucy, “Ricky” was the first of a string of videos that skewered the music, its creators, and its audience, not to mention pop culture in general. While often hilariously hamfisted, Yankovic’s takeoffs — such as “I Lost on Jeopardy” (#81, 1984) from “Weird Al” Yankovic in 3-D (#81, 1984), which rewrote Greg Kihn’s “Jeopardy”; “Like a Surgeon” (#47, 1985), which tackled Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” from Dare to Be Stupid (#50, 1985) — made their creator and star as much a rock celebrity as his targets. In fact, the longevity of Yankovic’s career has surpassed several of the artists’ whose songs he has parodied. Nearly half the songs on any of his albums were comedic originals, although only his biggest fans seemed to be aware of “Weird Al” the songwriter. But his lyric rewriting earned him eight Grammy nominations, including two wins.

In 1985 Yankovic released a video collection of his parodies, The Compleat Al. That same year MTV produced an occasional series starring Yankovic as the host of Al TV, wherein he spoofed current videos. In 1989 he wrote and starred in the movie UHF; costarring a pre-Seinfeld Michael Richards, UHF did poorly in the theater but later found new life as a cultish video hit.

Polka Party! (#177, 1986), which relied more on music than on videos, stiffed. Even Worse (#27, 1988) marked Al’s return to rock video, and Michael Jackson. For “Fat,” a grossly, literally overinflated Yankovic donned a leather outfit that copied Jackson’s on the cover and video of Bad down to the last buckle. Jackson not only gave his approval for Yankovic’s versions, he lent the subway set used in “Bad” for the “Fat” video.

In 1988 Yankovic collaborated with avant-garde synthesizer artist Wendy Carlos on recorded versions of the classical pieces Peter and the Wolf and Carnival of the Animals Part II. In 1992 Yankovic turned his eye to another musical trend, grunge, specifically Nirvana. “Smells Like Nirvana” (#35, 1992) took on the Seattle band’s image and garbled lyrics, with the accompanying video again using the original set, this time adding cows and Dick Van Patten, wile the cover of Off the Deep End (#17, 1992) had Yankovic replacing the swimming baby picture on Nevermind, his gaze focused not on a dollar bill but a donut. He also mocked the traveling summer tour Lollapalooza with his 1993 album, Alapalooza (#46), which featured “Bedrock Anthem,” a combination takeoff of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ “Under the Bridge” and “Give it Away” as well as the classical cartoon series The Flintstones. In 1996 he wrote the theme song for the movie satire Spy Hard, as well as designed the opening credits and appeared as himself in the film.

The same year, Yankovic released Bad Hair Day, which rose to #14 thanks to the success of its first single and video, “Amish Paradise,” a takeoff on rapper Coolio’s Gangsta’s Paradise” (itself a rewrite of Stevie Wonder’s “Pastime Paradise”). The album cover even mimicked the rapper’s hairstyle. While Yankovic always prided himself on getting permission to parody, this time there was a miscommunication between the artists’ record companies’ Yankovic was told Coolio was fine with the idea, but when the album was released, Coolio claimed he never consented. Yankovic sent a letter of apology and vowed not to accept agreement from anyone but the artists themselves.

After being the subject of the Disney Channel mockumentary special “Weird Al” Yankovic: There’s No Going Home in 1996, the entertainer hosted the Pee-wee’s Playhouse-esque Weird Al Show on CBS’ Saturday-morning lineup in 1997 and 1998. He was frustrated by the network’s lack of support for his tongue-in-cheek humor, and the show was canceled after one season. Yankovic seemingly disappeared for a time in 1998; when he re-emerged without his trademark mustache and glasses — besides shaving, he’d gotten laser eye surgery — he was unrecognizable. His 1999 release, Running with Scissors, peaked at #16, due to the well-timed single “The Saga Begins,” a rundown of the current Star Wars movie The Phantom Menace sung to the tune of Don McLean’s “American Pie.” Even the official Star Wars Web site plugged Yankovic’s album, whose release was also timed to the premiere of his Behind the Music episode on VH1. In 2000 Yankovic contributed the original “Polkamon” to the soundtrack of the kids’ flick Pokémon 2000: The Movie.

While Yankovic and his band (bassist Steve Jay, drummer Jon “Bermuda” Schwartz, guitarist Jim West, and keyboardist Ruben Valtierra) are often not taken seriously, they are able to play the original songs they parody note-for-note, both in the studio and on tour, making them a great cover band, Yankovic has also tried his hand at directing music videos, both his own and for other artists, including country comedian Jeff Foxworthy, the Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Hanson, and the Black Crowes.

Bio source…..www.rollingstone.com

Picture source…..mikesbloggityblog.com

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Dr Evil and Mini Me – Hard Knock Life

Dr Evil and Mini Me – Hard Knock Life

Dr Evil and Mini Me - Hard Knock Life

Mike Myers is best known as the mad and crude Austin Powers who managed to seduce Liz Hurley despite with his unusual appearance!

Michael John Myers was born on 25 May 1963 in Scarborough, Canada, the son of British-born parents insurance salesman and WWII veteran Eric and his wife Alice. He has two older brothers and holds three citizenships, American, Canadian and British.

He began his acting career as a child, in TV adverts in Canada, and a move to the UK led him to some performances at the Edinburgh Festival.

During his time with a theatre troupe in Chicago, he was spotted by ‘Saturday Night Live‘ producer, Lorne Michaels.

In 1989, he joined the SNL team as a writer and recurring cast member, and he eventually became a regular.

Four years later, Mike debuted as an actor and co-writer in ‘Wayne’s World‘ (1992), based on characters created for ‘Saturday Night Live‘. He then starred in ‘Wayne’s World 2‘ and ‘So I Married An Axe Murderer‘ in 1993. Myers married his first wife Robin Ruzan in May of that year.

They started dating in the late 1980s after meeting at a hockey game in Chicago at which Myers caught a puck and used this as an ice-breaker. Following his marriage, he took a four-year hiatus from television and film.

In 1997, Mike made a successful return as writer and star of ‘Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery‘, a spoof of 1960s spy films. He went on to write and star in ‘Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me‘ in 1999 and ‘Austin Powers in Goldmember‘ in 2002. A fourth Austin Powers has been announced but no further details have been released.

In the year 2000 Mike announced that he planned to star in a film based on his SNL character Dieter, the Germanic host of a programme called Sprockets, but he left the project after expressing displeasure with the final script.

Mike was then sued by Universal for breach of contract. Mike counter-sued and the matter was eventually settled out of court.

As the animated monster in ‘Shrek‘ in 2001, Mike excelled and the film won the Best Animated Film Oscar. This became his second successful movie franchise as he went on to write and voice the lead in ‘Shrek 2‘ (2004), DVD extra ‘Far Far Away Idol‘ (2004), ‘Shrek The Third‘ in 2007, Christmas special ‘Shrek The Halls‘ (2007) and ‘Shrek Forever After‘ in 2010.

More recently Mike has reprised the role of Austin Powers for the third time, and has played the title role in Dr. Seuss’ ‘The Cat in the Hat‘ (2003). Myers has also acted in the main role of ‘The Love Guru‘ (2008) and in a small part in ‘Inglorious Basterds‘ (2009). He continued to appear on ‘Saturday Night Live’ until 2011.

During this period, Myers divorced his wife Robin in 2005 and met café owner Kelly Tisdale, who confirmed they were dating in 2006. They married in New York in 2010 and have a son called Spike, who was born in 2011.

Bio source…..www.thebiographychannel.co.uk

Picture source…..www.surieffect.com

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Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now

Johnny Nash – I Can See Clearly Now

Johnny Nash - I Can See Clearly Now

9 August 1940, Houston, Texas, USA. The story of Nash’s association with Bob Marley has been well documented. His background is similar to that of many Jamaican performers in that he first started singing in a church choir. By his early teens he performed cover versions of popular R&B hits of the 50s on a television show called Matinee. He enjoyed his first US chart entry in 1957 with a cover version of Doris Day’s ‘A Very Special Love’. ABC Records decided to market the young singer as another Johnny Mathis, which did little to enhance his career. Disillusioned with the label, he concentrated on a career in films. In 1958 he starred in Take A Giant Step, and in 1960 he appeared alongside Dennis Hopper in Key Witness, which was critically acclaimed in Europe. Returning to the recording studio he persevered with middle-of-the-road material but was unable to generate a hit. A number of label and style changes did not improve his chart potential. By 1965 he finally achieved a Top 5 hit in the R&B chart with the ballad ‘Lets Move And Groove Together’.

Nash was unable to maintain the winning formula, but in 1967 his R&B hit was enjoying chart success in Jamaica. The good fortunes in Jamaica led Nash to the island to promote his hit. It was here that he was exposed to ska and arranged a return visit to the island to record at Federal Studios. Accompanied by Byron Lee And The Dragonaires, the sessions resulted in ‘Cupid’, ‘Hold Me Tight’ and ‘You Got Soul’. When he released ‘Hold Me Tight’, the song became an international hit, achieving Top 5 success in the UK as well as a return to the Jamaican chart. He formed a partnership with Danny Simms, and a label, JAD (Johnny and Danny), releasing recordings by Bob Marley, Byron Lee, Lloyd Price and Kim Weston as well as his own material until the label folded in the early 70s. He returned to recording in Jamaica at Harry J.’s studio where he met Marley, who wrote ‘Stir It Up’, which revived Nash’s career by peaking at number 13 on the UK chart in June 1972.

Nash continued to enjoy popularity with ‘I Can See Clearly Now’, a UK Top 5 hit that was later successfully covered by Jimmy Cliff in 1994 for the film Cool Runnings. Other hits followed, including ‘Ooh What A Feeling’ and ‘There Are More Questions Than Answers’, but the further he drifted from reggae, the less successful the single. He covered other Bob Marley compositions, including ‘Nice Time’ and ‘Guava Jelly’, but they were not picked up for single release, although the latter was on the b-side to ‘There Are More Questions Than Answers’. His career subsequently took another downward turn but was revived yet again when he returned to Jamaica to record an Ernie Smith composition, ‘Tears On My Pillow’, which reached number 1 in the UK Top 10 in June 1975. He also reached the UK chart with ‘Let’s Be Friends’ and ‘(What) A Wonderful World’ before choosing to devote more energy to films and his West Indian recording complex.

Bio source…..www.oldies.com

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Jace Everett – Between A Father And A Son

Jace Everett – Between A Father And A Son

Bad Things - Jace Everett

Terra Rosa is Jace Everett’s most ambitious album to date, a raucous, revelatory song cycle exploring tales and themes from the Old and New Testaments. “The truth is, all of these songs are about me,” he says, “trying to figure out what I believe and don’t believe. It’s me going back to my closet and pulling all the skeletons out, looking at the bones and seeing what’s there.” The Nashville-based singer/songwriter’s deconstructs and re-imagines the Book through his own unique perspective, examining matters of love, death, faith, and contemporary America via these most primal of metaphors. There are allusions to such Biblical greatest hits as Sodom & Gomorrah, Jonah and the Whale, and Peter the Rock, alongside deep cuts like “Sapphira,” a righteous romp through trials, tithing, and divine judgment. Everett’s musical approach is as daring and wide-ranging as his subject demands, a hallucinatory hybrid of blues, country, boogie, gospel, and rock – in short, the span and spectrum of American music in all its glory. Yet despite its epic scope, Terra Rosa is at heart an intensely intimate album, its invention and irreverence all reflecting Everett’s own struggles with sin and spirit.

The old time religion is forever embedded in the very fiber of Everett’s being, as much a part of him as his distinctive baritone and gift for deeply personal song-craft. Born in Evansville, Indiana and raised in Grapevine, Texas, he began life as an Episcopalian but his folks eventually “decided they wanted some peppier music” and found their way to an Evangelical church. “Riddled with sin at 12 years old,” Everett was compelled to come forward for the alter call and was, oh yes, saved. Pious to a fault through most of his teens, he avoided secular culture as best he could until his guard began to fall.

“By the time I was 18, I was trying really hard to not be an atheist,” he says. “By the time I was 19, I was trying even harder to be an atheist. That didn’t pan out either – apparently, I lacked the faith.”

Everett soon made his way to Music City USA and scored his first #1 co-writing Josh Turner’s RIAA platinum certified 2006 country smash, “Your Man.” He officially became an overnight sensation two years later when “Bad Things” – the spooky, sultry highlight of his self-titled 2006 debut album – was featured as theme song to HBO’s blockbuster series, True Blood. “Bad Things” proved a worldwide hit single, as well as a multiple BMI Cable Television Music Award winner, and helped propel the show to its extraordinary long-running success. A series of albums followed, each more adventurous and acclaimed than its predeccessor, including 2010’s Red Revelations and 2011’s Mr. Good Times. Everett further tightened his gritty, groovy sound with frequent international tours, raising up a fervent fan following at every turn.

“I’m a lucky dude, that’s for sure,” he says. “Every time I start to complain about my life i just remember that I was literally a ditch digger at one point and this is better than that. No offense to the ditch diggers out there – I salute their work, ditches need to be dug.”

Widely celebrated in songwriting circles as a master craftsman, Everett was teamed with Stephany Delray in winter 2011 and together they penned the haunting “No Place To Hide.” Co-writing the saga of Cain and Abel lit a spark inside Everett, stirring him to try his hand at another Genesis story, “In The Garden.” Then, just like in the Book itself, the flood came…

“Within a few weeks I had written eight or nine songs,” he says. “I got really into it. It was the first time, in a long time, that I’d been really excited to write songs, because I knew what I was writing them for. To have a real purpose and a goal for what I was doing, that was inspiring for me.”

The Bible indeed proved a “fecund swamp of material” for Everett, who began recording the new songs at his own home studio before joining up with longtime producer Brad Jones (Josh Rouse, Hayes Carll, Chuck Prophet) at Nashville’s Alex the Great Recording in June 2012. Everett led his crack band – multi-instrumentalists Dan Cohen and Chris Raspante, bassist James Cook, and drummer Derek Mixon – through a 7-day session in which they tackled and traversed a span of sonic stylings, from Appalachian folk (“Pennsylvania”) to Zappa-esque psychedelia (“Lloyd’s Summer Vacation”).

“I don’t really feel like I have a responsibility to a genre,” he says. “What is really important to me is my responsibility to my writing and my performing, not dependent on some pre-ordained genre that I have to sit in for market reasons or whatever. Country is part of who I am, just like rock ‘n’ roll is, just like pop is, it’s all just part of who I am.”

Read more…..www.jaceeverett.com

Picture source…..userserve-ak.last.fm

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So you win again – Hot Chocolate

So you win again – Hot Chocolate

So you win again - Hot Chocolate

Hot Chocolate formed in Brixton, London, England in 1968. Members of the group included Errol Brown, Tony Connor, Larry Ferguson, Harvey Hinsley, Patrick Olive and Tony Wilson.
In 1969 the band started working on a reggae version of the John Lennon song “Give Peace A Chance”. Errol Brown had changed the lyrics for their version but was informed that he could not do this without John Lennon’s permission, so a copy of the demo was sent to the Beatles Apple record label to see what they thought of it. Fortunately, John loved the version and it was released on the Apple label.
The group was given the named ‘The Hot Chocolate Band’ by a secretary at the company, Mavis Smith, the band later changed it to just ‘Hot Chocolate’.
Towards the end of 1969 Mickie Most signed Errol and the cofounder of the group Tony Wilson as writers and recorded their songs with Mary Hopkins, Julie Felix and Herman’s Hermits before encouraging them to come up with a song for themselves. In 1970 Hot Chocolate, with Errol Brown as lead singer, released their first record entitled “Love Is Life” which reached number 6 in the charts. This was the start of a fifteen year career for the group who amassed a total of over 30 hits and also became the only group in the UK to have a hit for fifteen consecutive years.
In 1981 Hot Chocolate had the honour of being invited by Prince Charles and Lady Diana at their pre-wedding reception at Buckingham Palace which was attended by heads of Government and many members of European Royalty.
In 1986 Errol left the band and took time out to spend more time with his wife and then young children. The rest of the members of Hot Chocolate also took some time off to consider their future and in 1992 Patrick Olive, Harvey Hinsley and Tony Connor joined up with agent Richard Martin and decided to start touring again.
The band found a new singer Greg Bannis and keyboard players Andy Smith & Steve Ansell. Since 1992, the band has enjoyed years of continued success touring all around the world performing to many thousands of fans who love the music of Hot Chocolate. In 1997 the classic single “You Sexy Thing” reached number one in the charts after it was featured in the movie ‘The Full Monty’ and a new Hot Chocolate ‘Greatest Hits’ compilation released in October 1997 reached number 10 in the album charts.
In 2010 singer Kennie Simon replaced Greg Bannis on vocals creating what many are saying is the best sound ever.

Bio source…..www.hot-chocolate.co.uk

Picture source…..i.ytimg.com

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