Teresa Brewer (May 7, 1931 – October 17, 2007) was an American singer whose style incorporated pop, country, jazz, R&B, musicals and novelty songs…..as she was one of the most prolific and popular female singers of the 1950’s….while recording nearly 600 songs. An agent, Richie Lisella, heard her sing and took her career in hand….and soon…
“Sophisticated Lady“ is a jazz standard which was composed as an instrumental in 1932 by Duke Ellington…..as additional credit is given to publisher Irving Mills….whose words were added to the song by Mitchell Parish….whereas the words met with approval from Ellington….who described them as “wonderful, but not entirely fitted to my original conception”. That original conception was inspired by three…
The 3Ds were a noise pop band based from Dunedin, New Zealand….who were together from 1978 to 1997…..as they recorded three albums and several EP’s….with the best known of which is The Venus Trail in 1993. They achieved commercial and critical success worldwide in the period between 1993 and 1995. The band was formed in May 1988 by Dominic Stones, Denise…
“Caravan“ is an American jazz standard that was composed by Juan Tizol and Duke Ellington….and first performed by Ellington in 1936….as Irving Mills wrote lyrics….but they are rarely sung. The exotic sound of “Caravan” interested exotica musicians….as Martin Denny, Arthur Lyman, and Gordon Jenkins all covered it…..plus, Woody Allen used the song in two of his films….Alice and Sweet and Lowdown…..while Steven Soderbergh used the Lyman version in his 2001 film Ocean’s Eleven. The…
We find a music video every now and then that the words of the song being sung on the video tell the story of the song better than any research information can divulge….as is the case with this version of the song “Turn Me Loose” does…..which is sung by Alan Paul of Manhattan Transfer in their live concert…
Chuck Mangione is an American flugelhorn player, trumpeter and composer….who was a member of Art Blakey’s band….and co-led the Jazz Brothers with his brother, Gap. He achieved international success in 1977 with his jazz-pop single “Feels So Good”…..as heard in this video of figure skating’s Olympic gold medalist USA Dorothy Hamel’s 1979 exhibition seen herewith….as Mangione has released more than 30…
Gail Davies is an American singer/songwriter and the first female record producer in country music….who was the daughter of country singer Tex Dickerson….and the sister of songwriter Ron Davies…..while Gail’s son, Chris Scruggs, is a former co-lead singer and guitarist for the roots-country band BR549….and is currently on tour with Marty Stuart as a member of his Fabulous Superlatives. Gail Davies established herself…
Johnny Dark is an American comedian and comic actor….who has been active on television since the 1970’s…..with his most recent notoriety coming from his recurring appearances on Late Show with David Letterman….along with appearances on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson….Donny and Marie TV Series….and The Alan Hamel Show…..as he has also done stand-up comedy in Atlantic City….plus, as an actor who appeared in several films. However, Johnny Dark…
The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award-winning jazz vocal group founded in 1969…..who sang a variety of genres of music to include a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues and pop music. At the 1979 live concert of Manhattan Transfer, member of the group, Alan Paul, tells the story of him growing up in an…