Tagged: oldie

One-time teen idol Bobby Sherman has led an interesting life. During the 1960s and 1970s he starred on TV and also had a number of million-selling records, all adding to his status as a heartthrob for a lot of young fans. And even when things started slowing down musically he still managed to find regular TV work well into the 1980s. But it might surprise you to learn that he eventually took a detour into law enforcement - and yet he didn't leave show business forever, because he later found time to write a book and also become part of [...]

I was sorry to read that Cornelius 'Nini' Harp, the lead singer of the original Marcels, died recently in suburban Pittsburgh. Harp's age wasn't given in obituaries, but he would have been in his seventies when he died, apparently of natural causes. Although his name might not be a familiar one to some music fans, there's little doubt that they will recall his group's 1961 megahit, "Blue Moon." Formed in the late 1950s, the Marcels (a name inspired by Harp's hairstyle) came together at a Pittsburgh high school during an era that was flooded with doo-wop [...]

It's been about a month since our last Fantastic Foursome - you know, the special feature that gives you the chance to vote for your favorite from among four versions of a song? That particular post featured the song "Moonglow" and also mentioned how I'd always been fascinated by the way it's often partnered with the theme from Picnic . (You can read about the medley and see the dance scene from the movie HERE ) Thinking about medleys gave me an idea. I thought it might be fun to see if [...]

In 1966, a lot of music fans thought that "Black Is Black" - a huge hit attributed to a group named Los Bravos - was actually recorded by pop star Gene Pitney in an attempt to get around record company restrictions. The story is still bouncing around almost a half-century later, but even though lead singer Mike Kogel did sound a little like Pitney, he was actually German (although he sang in English) and Los Bravos was a Spanish group. Los Bravos was formed in Madrid [...]

It's the legend, the myth behind much of Donna Summer's huge disco success. Giorgio Moroder did most of his work in Munich and the influence of Düsseldorf’s  Kraftwerk  can be heard in his work for  Donna Summer , which includes two of the ultimate disco anthems,  I Feel Love  and  Love To Love You Baby . This was motorik music: spacious, trippy, ever-lasting, far removed from the relentless bounce of most disco. Giorgio Moroder is also a supreme composer of soundtracks, scoring an unlikely success with  The Chase , the theme from  Midnight Express , and his footprints are [...]

• Giorgio Moroder - Giorgio Moroder live @ Deep Space (2013-05-20)

Five years ago we featured the Fontane Sisters and mentioned several of their hits, including one that wasn't their biggest but still nearly reached the top of the charts. But the trio's version of 'Seventeen" wasn't the only one to hit high on the charts, and it also wasn't the first. That distinction belongs to the guy who wrote the song - Boyd Bennett - an early rockabilly performer who had his biggest hit with it. Alabama-born but raised near Nashville, Bennett grew up surrounded by music at home, in church, and [...]

It hasn't been too long since our last Anatomy Of A Song post, but that one was kind of a special edition because it commemorated the recently deceased George Jones . This time around, we're taking a look at a classic romantic ballad, one that began life in the years following World War II but became the signature song of an R&B singer almost two decades later. The song - "Since I Fell for You" - was written by Buddy Johnson, and was first performed in 1947 with his band backing [...]

Several times in the past we've spotlighted guys like Buddy Knox , Sonny Curtis , and a few others who all seemed cut from the same cloth as Buddy Holly . They hailed from the same part of the country, had a similar musical style, and inevitably spent some time at the iconic studio of Norman Petty in Clovis, N.M. All of which also applies to today's subject, Terry Noland - or at least it did in the early [...]

Hey dudes, dudettes. We've finally closed the submissions for our readers to submit their favourite tracks for 5 different 'common' everyday situations/moments. We'll provide a Whyd.com playlist for each over the next 4 weeks. You've responded with great interest and we'd like to thank you for taking the time to share your tracks with us. So this is totally YOUR crowd-sourced playlist. Try and enjoy this 'Break-up Playlist' when you feel a little blue, down, or when you're a complete social wreck. Works wonders. You've heard THE SEX PLAYLIST LAST WEEK . Now [...]

A couple of years back the GMC spotlighted the Kalin Twins , an early rock and roll duo often compared to the Everly Brothers. The Kalins and the Everlys were both American duos who were also very popular in Great Britain, so we're kind of completing the circle today by featuring the Brook Brothers, a British pair with a lot of similarities. Geoff and Ricky Brook looked a lot alike and were often assumed to be twins (which they didn't discourage) but Ricky was actually three years older. The brothers were [...]

Once again a dim and distant memory has surfaced from the mysterious depths of my mind, not unlike a strange creature rising from the deepest part of the ocean. It happened when I was reading an article in the newest issue of Smithsonian magazine. It seems that someone has produced a new movie about the voyage of the Kon-Tiki, an event that was originally celebrated in film and print more than a half-century back. For those who've forgotten, Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian adventurer who believed that the South Pacific islands of Polynesia had originally been populated by [...]

Those of us who have been around a while probably remember "M.T.A.", a song that was turned into a hit record by the Kingston Trio in 1959. You might even remember enough about the lyrics to have an idea what the song was about, but what you might not know is that it began life a decade earlier as part of a political campaign. In the late 1940s Walter A. O'Brien, a member of the Progressive party and a candidate for mayor of Boston, was desperately trying to get attention for his election hopes but didn't have [...]

Madonna has experimented with many things, but only a few collaborations have taken her to a different scope. This collaboration with trip hop powerhouse Massive Attack is one of her best. This track gets the essence of yearning to the T. It feels like someone really wanted something without doing a feasibility study and still not caring about that. It's just magic.  Related articles Madonna presents award to Anderson Cooper at GLAAD Awards dressed as boy scout! (loft965.com) Joyce Banda's sister, Anjimire Oponyo making life [...]

We seem to be on a roll lately with British performers but I thought we could try one more - or three more, to be accurate. Today's piece is about the Kaye Sisters, a trio that had some good-charting records for a period of several years beginning in the 1950s but is pretty much forgotten now. And even if you do remember them, did you know that the membe rs of the trio were not related and that none were named Kaye? But in all fairness, Sheila Jones, Shan Palmer, and Carol Young didn't really claim to be [...]

Apparently it didn't make a big splash in the national news, but a gentleman we featured a while back in a GMC post titled Rock And Roll Pioneer Hardrock Gunter passed away recently - at least according to what's posted on his namesake website . On Friday, March 15, 2013, “Rock” passed away from complications from pneumonia. He was 88. Family and friends would like to thank all of Rock's supporters over the years. He will be remembered as a great musician, keen storyteller, [...]

The most improbable recording star of the 1960s had to have been Walter Brennan. By then he was in his sixties and had already enjoyed a long acting career that included winning three Oscars and later starring on TV, but he turned out to be surprisingly popular with record buyers too. Of course, he didn't exactly sing on those records, but he was still entertaining in his own way. As Western (or sometime Southern) as he seemed to be in most of his roles, Walter Andrew Brennan was as Boston-Irish as they come, born and raised [...]

Now that we have had the pleasure of interviewing Lisa Loeb for our Pop Form series , we decided to delve back into her catalogue. Lisa Loeb burst onto the scene in 1990s' with this song which was on the soundtrack of Reality Bites.  It was a modern-day lullaby surpassing all the overproduction of the decade and landing at #1 on the US Billboard Charts. Click below for the acoustically pretty version of the song.  Related articles Stay (taranavarro84.wordpress.com) [...]

Although he died well over three decades ago, it would be difficult to find someone who isn't pretty familiar with Elvis Presley and his music. One reason for his continuing fame might be the countless impersonators we've been exposed to through the years, and I'm not just talking about those who often flock to Las Vegas or Memphis for special events. It's been estimated that there are thousands of faux Presleys performing worldwide - one of them was even elected mayor of a small town not too far from where I live. But here's something you [...]

I was sorry to read about the passing of R&B singer Jewel Akens, who succumbed to complications from back surgery a few days ago in Inglewood, California. Although he's most remembered for his big 1965 hit "The Birds And The Bees," he had a long career that included both performing and producing, and it lasted almost up until his death. The Houston-born singer first began gaining musical experience in the same way as many of his contemporaries - by singing in the church choir. But he was also influenced by the sounds he heard coming for [...]

I've written before about how common it was in the early days for rockabilly stars to come from the ranks of country music veterans, but it wasn't always that way. In at least one case, a guy who was one of the best of the breed seemed to arrive as a natural-born rocker - and he's still doing it, sixty years later. Now in his eighties and still active, Albert Austin 'Sonny' Burgess originally came out of Arkansas in the mid-1950s, determined to take Memphis by storm. By then he'd already put in a few [...]