Mungo Jerry – Lady Rose

Mungo Jerry – Lady Rose

Mungo Jerry - In The Summertime

Mungo Jerry – Ray Dorset (Raymond Edward Dorset, 21 March 1946, Ashford, Middlesex, England; vocals/guitar), Colin Earl (b. 6 May 1942, Hampton Court, Middlesex, England; piano/vocals), Paul King (banjo, jug, guitar, vocals) and Mike Cole (b. Michael Maurice Cole, 19 March 1943, Perivale, Middlesex, England; bass) – was a little-known skiffle-cum-jug band that achieved instant fame following a sensational appearance at 1970’s Hollywood Pop Festival, in Staffordshire, England, wherein they proved more popular than headliners the Grateful Dead, Traffic and Free. The band’s performance coincided with the release of their debut single, ‘In The Summertime’, and the attendant publicity, combined with the song’s nagging commerciality, resulted in a runaway smash. It topped the UK chart and, by the end of that year alone, global sales had totalled six million.

Despite an eight-month gap between releases, Mungo Jerry’s second single, ‘Baby Jump’, also reached number 1. By this time Mike Cole had been replaced by John Godfrey and their jug band sound had grown appreciably heavier. A third hit, in 1971, ‘Lady Rose’, showed a continued grasp of melody (the maxi-single also included the controversial ‘Have A Whiff On Me’ which was banned by the BBC). This successful year concluded with another Top 20 release, ‘You Don’t Have To Be In The Army To Fight In The War’.

Paul King and Colin Earl left the band in 1972 and together with percussionist Joe Rush (b. Joseph Rush, December 1940, England), an early member of Mungo Jerry, formed the King Earl Boogie Band. Dorset released a solo album, Cold Blue Excursions, prior to convening a new line-up with John Godfrey, Jon Pope (piano) and Tim Reeves (drums). The new line-up had another Top 3 hit in 1973 with ‘Alright Alright Alright’ (a reinterpretation of Jacques Dutronc’s ‘Et Moi, Et Moi, Et Moi’), but the following year the overtly sexist ‘Longlegged Woman Dressed In Black’ became the band’s final chart entry.

Dorset continued to work with various versions of his creation into the new millennium, but was never able to regain the band’s early profile. A short-lived collaboration with Peter Green and Vincent Crane under the name Katmundu resulted in the disappointing A Case For The Blues (1986), but Dorset did achieve further success when he produced ‘Feels Like I’m In Love’ for singer Kelly Marie. This former Mungo b-side became a UK number 1 in August 1980. Bio and picture source…..www.oldies.com

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Cher – Dark Lady

Cher – Dark Lady

Cher - Dark Lady

If she could turn back time, what would the pop queen change? After decades of public heartbreak and career rebirths she’s still as youthful as the day she first serenaded Sonny.

Cher’s career has lasted over forty years, first as a singer, then as a TV comedian and, later, as a mature and talented actress.

The young Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPierre was dragged out of her job as a studio back-up singer by crooner and music promoter Sonny Bono when she was just seventeen. Failing to impact as double act Caesar and Cleo, the tall, deadpan girl and the diminutive Bono gained huge popularity as Sonny & Cher, though each continued to occasionally record on their own. They ended up marrying in 1964.

Musically, the husband-wife team grew ever more popular with hits such as ‘I Got You Babe’ and ‘The Beat Goes On’. Changing musical tastes at the turn of the decade and financing flop films led to the couple becoming seriously in debt. The humiliation of the Lounge circuit finally evolved into Las Vegas appearances. Their onstage banter and lavish Bob Mackie costumes formed the basis of their TV show. The couple started to work on comedy sketches and ‘The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour’ debuted in 1971. It was a hit and ran for three years on US networks.

By 1974, Sonny and Cher split, both professionally and romantically. Cher returned to music and recorded a series of commercially successful pop albums. Sonny eased himself out of showbiz and into politics. Cher on the other hand remarried briefly, in 1975, to Greg Allman.

However, film was Cher’s passion of the 1980s and she worked hard on small parts, eventually winning Best Supporting Actress at the Academy Awards for her performance in ‘Silkwood’. Buoyed by her success, Cher was offered starring roles in ‘Mask’, ‘Suspect’ and ‘The Witches of Eastwick’. In 1988 she won the Academy Award’s Best Actress gong for her role in ‘Moonstruck’. At the same time, her ‘Heart of Stone’ album produced a sizeable hit ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ and a memorably risqué outfit for the video.

She made her directing debut with ‘If These Walls Could Talk’ in 1996. Despite her reputation as supporter for gay rights and AIDS charities, Cher was initially less than delighted when her daughter was outted by the press. Their relationship mended in time for Chastity to break the news to her mother that Sonny had died while skiing. The eulogy to her former partner displayed Cher’s vulnerable side to the public. Chastity was later to rename herself Chaz, following her decision to change sex. A documentary which chart’s her gender reassignment, entitled ‘Becoming Chaz’, shows Cher explaining that “at some point, I’m going to have to start calling her him”. Read more…..thebiographychannel.co.uk

Picture source…..screamingintothewind

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Lady Willpower – Gary Puckett and The Union Gap

Lady Willpower – Gary Puckett and The Union Gap

Lady Willpower - Gary Puckett and The Union Gap

Gary Puckett and The Union Gap (initially credited as The Union Gap featuring Gary Puckett) was an American pop rock group operating in the late 1960s.

Their biggest hits were “Woman, Woman,” “Young Girl,” and “Lady Willpower.” Singer Gary Puckett (born October 17, 1942, Hibbing, Minnesota) grew up in Yakima, Washington – close to the city of Union Gap – and Twin Falls, Idaho.

He began playing guitar in his teens, and graduated from Twin Falls High School before attending college in San Diego, California. There, he quit college and played in several local bands before joining the Outcasts, a local hard rock group comprising bassist Kerry Chater (born August 7, 1945, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada),[1] keyboardist Gary ‘Mutha’ Withem (born August 22, 1946, San Diego), tenor saxophonist Dwight Bement (born December 28, 1945, San Diego), and drummer Paul Wheatbread (born February 8, 1946, San Diego).
In 1966, the band toured the Pacific Northwest without Wheatbread, who was recruited as the house drummer on the television series, Where the Action Is; he later rejoined the line-up. Under manager Dick Badger, the band were renamed The Union Gap in early 1967, and fitted themselves out with Union Army-style Civil War uniforms as a visual gimmick. They then recorded a demo, which was heard by CBS record producer and songwriter Jerry Fuller. Impressed by Puckett’s baritone voice and the band’s soft rock leanings, Fuller signed them to a recording contract with Columbia Records.

Biography source…..www.last.fm

Picture source…..www.last.fm

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