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| All I Could Do Was Cry (part 1 & 2 )-Joe Tex-'60-Anna 1119Mon, 05 Jan 2009 13:43:06 -0800 by 5121949Joseph Joe Tex ArringtonAugust 8, 1933 - August 13, 1982Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts (Hold What Youve Got, in 1965, made number five in Billboard). His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of raps foundation. He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the 60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records, although his records were more likely than those of most soul stars to become crossover hits. Tex was born Joseph Arrington in Rogers, TX, in 1933, and displayed his vocal talent quickly, first in gospel, then in R&B. By 1954, hed won a local talent contest and come to New York, where he recorded a variety of derivative (and endlessly repackaged) singles for King, some as a ballad singer, some as a Little Richard-style rocker. Texs career didnt take off until he began his association with Nashville song publisher Buddy Killen, after Tex wrote James Browns 1961 song Baby Youre Right. In 1965, Killen took him to Muscle Shoals, not yet a fashionable recording center, and they came up with Hold What Youve Got, which is about as close to a straight R&B ballad as Tex ever came. It was followed by a herd more, most of which made the R&B charts, a few cracking the pop Top 40. Tex made his mark by preaching over tough hard soul tracks, clowning at some points, swooping into a croon at others. He was perhaps the most rustic and back-country of the soul stars, a role he played to the hilt by using turns of phrase that might have been heard on any ghetto street corner, One Monkey Dont Stop No Show the prototype. In 1966, his I Believe Im Gonna Make It, an imaginary letter home from Vietnam, became the first big hit directly associated with that war. His biggest hit was Skinny Legs and All, from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. Skinny Legs might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of pops future. After Skinny Legs, Tex had nothing but minor hits for five years until I Gotcha took off, a grittier twist on the funk that was becoming disco. He was too down-home for the slickness of the disco era, or so it would have seemed, yet in 1977, he adapted a dance craze, the Bump, and came up with the hilarious Aint Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman), his last Top Ten R&B hit, which also crossed over to number 12 on the pop chart. In the early 70s, Tex converted to Islam and in 1972 changed his offstage name to Joseph Hazziez. He spent much of the time after Aint Gonna Bump on his Texas farm, although he did join together with Wilson Pickett, Ben E. King, and Don Covay for a reformed version of the Soul Clan in 1980. He died of a heart attack in 1982, only 49 years old. - Dave Marsh (allmusic.com) Related: soul | |
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| Dion 1963 - Oh Happy DayMon, 05 Jan 2009 13:27:35 -0800 by 5121949Oh Happy Day (not to be confused with the gospel hit of the same name) was known as the "people's hit" since it became a national United States of America (US) hit song as well as an international hit without any initial support from the music industry. The song reached US #3 (Cashbox and Billboard national charts) and United Kingdom (UK) #4. Time Magazine called it the "Mystery Hit" and described it as the "rarest kind of hit, unplanned and unplugged."[1] It was first released on record by Don Howard in early November 1952. Within two months, Don Howard's Oh Happy Day was still going up the charts, when two other versions of the same song by Lawrence Welk and The Four Knights, respectively, also went up the US hit charts, Lawrence Welk's version reaching #5 (Billboard US national charts) and the Four Knights' version reaching #8 (Billboard US national charts).Legacy and InfluenceIn terms of legacy and influence, Oh Happy Day has been performed by numerous artists of various persuasions and interests. Folk versions (accompaniment by acoustic guitar only) were performed by Don Howard, Mickey Baker, Dolph Dixon and Elvis Presley. Don Howard's version has been released on a recent CD compilation entitled "Songs That Inspired The King" in reference to Elvis Presley. Elvis is known to have performed Oh Happy Day during the dress rehearsal for his 1968 Comeback Show and at an August 5, 1976 concert at the Sahara in Las Vegas. Elvis described the chord arrangement on Oh Happy Day as representative of early rock and roll, stating Oh Happy Day was similar to the songs Blue Moon and Young Love in this regard. See Elvis's voice over on the CD From Burbank to Vegas, recorded at the Burbank Studios, Hollywood, where the 1968 dress rehearsal for the 1968 Comeback Show took place. The arrangement of Lawrence Welk's Oh Happy Day has also been described as early rock and roll. A more traditional big band 1940s sound is heard in the rendition by Geraldo and His Orchestra (UK). Other versions demonstrate a jazz orientation or influence including those by Jimmy Giuffre, Dick Erickson and Ron Levin and Milt Levitt Orchestra. Other international versions were performed by the Johnston Brothers (#4 in the UK); Pilgrim With Rhythm Quartette (UK), Don Cameron (UK), Dave Carey (UK), Leo Heppe u.d. Continentals & Lutz Alberecht u.s. Orchester (Germany and sung in German); Mieke Telkamp (Germany) and Dick Todd (Canada). The Four Knights rendition has been described as early doowop rock and roll and several more explicitly doowop versions followed in the 1950s and 1960s by the Singing Belles, the Skylites, Dion, Rick Martell & the Angels, the Five Satins, and Stephanie & the Gothics. Dion's Oh Happy Day recorded in 1963 has been described as a stand out doowop recording on his "Bronx Blues: The Columbia Recordings album. Other artists that have recorded Oh Happy Day include Tab Hunter and the Four Lads. Related: "doo wop" "oldies & rock n rool" !! | |
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| The Five Satins 1957-Love With No Love In Return -Mon, 05 Jan 2009 09:32:40 -0800 by 5121949The Five Satins are an American doo wop group, best known for their song, "In the Still of the Night".The group, formed in New Haven, Connecticut, consisted of leader Fred Parris, Lou Peebles, Stanley Dortch, Ed Martin and Jim Freeman in 1954. With little success, the group reorganized, with Dortch and Peebles leaving, and new member Al Denby entering. The group then recorded "In the Still of the Night", which was originally released as the b-side to the single, "The Jones Girl". The single was released the following year, and "In the Still of the Night" ended up charting at number three on the R&B chart and number 25 on the pop charts. Parris entered the Army soon after, and the group reorganized again, with Martin, Freeman, Tommy Killebrew, Jessie Murphy and new lead Bill Baker. This lineup hit with another highly successful song, Billy Dawn Smith's "To The Aisle".Upon Parris' return from the Army, a new lineup was assembled, consisting of Parris, Lou Peebles (who was in a previous incarnation of the Five Satins), Sylvester Hopkins, Richie Freeman and Wes Forbes. The group would be briefly known as "Fred Parris and the Scarlets", until the Baker-led group split up. At this point, they reverted to the Five Satins name, but had little success on the charts.By the early 1970s the group was Parris, Peebles, Richie Freeman, Jimmy Curtis and Corky Rogers, and they continued recording into the 1980s, with Parris, Richie Freeman, Curtis and Nate Marshall. Meanwhile, Bill Baker started his own Five Satins group in 1981, with former Satin Sylvester Hopkins and Hopkins' brothers Carl and Frank. By the late 1980s, this group consisted of Baker, Harvey Potts, Jr., Anthony Hofler and Octavio DeLeon.Fred Parris continues to perform. Bill Baker died in 1994.[edit] Awards and recognitionIn 2003, the Five Satins were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.[edit] Present dayOne of the original members of the Five Satins now works in the cafeteria at the University of New Haven. Jim Freeman lives in Norwalk, Iowa and owns a pest control company. Wes Forbes is a psychologist in the State of California, currently employed with Alliant International University as a Training DirectorFred Parris and Richie Freeman are still actively performing with the Five Satins. The lineup now also includes Eugene Dobbs and Nadina Perry.Songs are From My Jukebox Doo wop ,Oldies & Rock N Rool, !! Related: "doo wop" "oldies & rock n rool" !! | |
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| Bill Haley & His Comets 1953-Whatcha Gonna Do -(W InterviewMon, 05 Jan 2009 09:04:52 -0800 by 5121949Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets (and variations thereof), was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. From the end of 1954 until the end of 1956 the group would place nine singles into the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten. [1]Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called rock and roll.Although several members of the Comets became famous, Bill Haley remained the star. With his spit curl and the band's matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic stage behaviour, many fans consider them to be as revolutionary in their time as The Beatles or the Rolling Stones were in theirs.Following Haley's death, no fewer than six different groups have existed under the Comets name, all claiming (with varying degrees of authority) to be the official continuation of the group led by Haley. As of early 2008, three such groups are still actively performing in the United States and internationallySongs are From My Jukebox Doo wop ,Oldies & Rock N Rool, !! Related: "doo wop" "oldies & rock n rool" !! | |
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