Cilla Black

Cilla Black (born 27 May 1943) is an English singer-songwriter and television personality, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White to a Protestant father and a Catholic mother in Liverpool. She holds a unique position in the history of pop music, and the British invasion. As Brian Epstein's discovery and protégé, she was the first and only important female performer to emerge from Liverpool in the heyday of the British beat boom. In conjunction with Epstein's management and George Martin's production skills, she became a formidable ballad singer, her hits lasting longer than any of Epstein clients other than The Beatles. And she became one of the most beloved pop-rock performers in England during the late '60s and '70s, and one of the country's most popular and enduring television stars.

In the early 1960s, determined to break into show business, she got a part-time job as a cloakroom attendant at the famous Cavern Club in Liverpool, where The Beatles regularly played. Ideally placed to promote herself to local musicians, she impressed the Beatles and others with her talent and began her stage career with impromptu performances at the Cavern. She became a guest singer with Merseybeat bands Rory Storm and the Hurricanes, Kingsize Taylor and the Dominoes, and later The Big Three. During this period she also worked as a waitress at the Zodiac coffee lounge, where she met her future husband Bobby Willis.

Epstein signed Cilla to Parlophone Records and introduced her to George Martin, who produced her debut single, Love of the Loved (written for her by Lennon and McCartney), which was released only three weeks after she signed with Epstein. The single peaked at a modest #35, a failure compared to debut releases of Epstein's other artists.

Her second single - released at the beginning of 1964 - was the Burt Bacharach-Hal David composition "Anyone Who Had a Heart". In the United States, it was a new single destined to be a hit for Dionne Warwick where it peaked at #8 while Cilla's version shot to #1 in Britain - where it remains to this day the top selling single of all time by a British female artist. Her second UK #1 hit, You're My World, was an English-language reading of the Italian popular song Il Mio Mondo. She also enjoyed chart success with the song in Australia, New Zealand, Europe, South Africa and Canada. This was followed by another Lennon-McCartney composition, It's For You. Paul McCartney played piano at the recording session and the song proved to be another major international success for Black.

She belonged to a generation of British female singers which included Dusty Springfield, Sandie Shaw, and Lulu. These artists were not singer-songwriters but interpreters of Sixties contemporary pop song writers/producers. She recorded a great range of material during this time, including songs written by Phil Spector, Randy Newman, Tim Hardin, and Burt Bacharach. All were produced by George Martin at Abbey Road Studios. She has unfairly been dubbed by the uneducated as the "Queen of covers". Statistics prove that this is quite untrue. Of the 21 hit singles Cilla has had in the UK, only 2 were covers - "Anyone Who Had A Heart" and "You've Lost That Loving Feeling" - and both of these were major chart successes for Cilla in the UK and internationally.

Cilla Black outsold all other female recording artists in Britain during the 60s and was second most successful act after the The Beatles to emerge out of the 60s Liverpool Merseybeat boom. She has released 15 studio albums and 37 singles (many of which have charted world-wide). Her first TV series called "Cilla" aired in 1968 and continued successfully until 1976. By the 80's she performed mainly in cabaret and concert tours. Her marriage to her manager Bobby Willis (born 25 January 1942) lasted for over 30 years until his death from lung cancer on 23 October 1999. They had three sons, Robert (now her manager, born in 1970), Ben (born in 1973), and Jack (born in 1980). Find out more about this English icon at: http://www.cillablack.com/

Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org


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Johnny Nash

Johnny Nash (born John Lester Nash Jr, 19 August 1940, Houston, Texas) is perhaps best known for his 1972 hit, "I Can See Clearly Now".

Though by no means an artistic innovator on par with contemporaries such as Bob Marley or Jimmy Cliff, singer Johnny Nash nevertheless proved a pivotal force behind the mainstream acceptance of reggae with the international success of his 1972 chart-topper "I Can See Clearly Now." Born in Houston, TX on August 19, 1940, Nash honed his vocal skills singing in his Baptist church's choir and by 13 was a regular on the local television series Matinee, performing covers of current R&B hits; in 1956 he was discovered by Arthur Godfrey, appearing on his radio and TV broadcasts for the next seven years. Nash signed to ABC-

Paramount to release his 1957 debut single "A Teenager Sings the Blues," scoring his first chart hit early the following year with a rendition of Doris Day's "A Very Special Love"; in late 1958, he also teamed with Paul Anka and George Hamilton IV for the inspirational "The Teen Commandments." Marketed as a rival to Johnny Mathis, he even began a film career with 1959's Take a Giant Step, also appearing in 1960's Key Witness before his career flagged with a series of little-noticed singles for Warner Bros., Groove, and Argo.

Nash returned to prominence in 1965 when the ballad "Let's Move and Groove Together" reached the R&B Top Five; more imporantly, the record became a major hit in Jamaica, where he traveled in 1967 on a promotional tour. During a return trip, he cut the ska-influenced single "Hold Me Tight" at Byron Lee's Federal Studios -- a Top Five pop hit on both sides of the Atlantic, the record was issued on his own JAD label, which in early 1970 scored a Top 40 hit with a reggaefied rendition of Sam Cooke's "Cupid" as well.

The following year Nash scored a major British hit with his reading of the Bob Marley perennial "Stir It Up"; while living in Britain, he signed to Epic, which in 1972 released his biggest hit, "I Can See Clearly Now," which sat atop the American pop charts for four weeks. Although his popularity at home again dimmed, Nash returned to the UK charts in 1975 with his number one cover of the Little Anthony classic "Tears on My Pillow," followed a year later by another Sam Cooke cover, "(What a) Wonderful World." He gradually retired from performing during the coming years, although Jimmy Cliff successfully covered "I Can See Clearly Now" in 1994. Find out more about him at: www.classicbands.com/nash.html

Research info gathered at: www.cduniverse.com


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Peter, Paul & Mary

The trio Peter, Paul and Mary (often PP&M) is an American musical group that was one of the most successful folk-singing groups of the 1960s. The trio comprises Peter Yarrow, Noel "Paul" Stookey, and Mary Travers.

The group was created by manager Albert Grossman, who sought to create a folk "supergroup" by bringing together "a tall blonde (Travers), a funny guy (Stookey), and a good looking guy (Yarrow)." He launched the group in 1961, booking them into the Bitter End, a coffee house in New York City's Greenwich Village that was a favorite place to hear folk artists.

The group recorded their first album, Peter, Paul and Mary, the following year. It included "500 Miles," "Lemon Tree","Where Have All the Flowers Gone," and the hit Pete Seeger tune "If I Had a Hammer," ("The Hammer Song") as well as Huckleberry Hound. The album was listed on Billboard Magazine Top Ten list for ten months and in the Top One Hundred for over three years.

By 1963 they had recorded three albums; released the now-famous song "Puff the Magic Dragon", which Yarrow and fellow Cornell student Leonard Lipton originally wrote in 1959 and was on the charts in 1963; and performed "If I Had a Hammer" at the 1963 March on Washington, which is perhaps best remembered for Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr.'s "I Have a Dream" speech. Their biggest single hit came with the Bob Dylan song, "Blowin' in the Wind," which was an international #1 hit. It was the fastest selling single ever cut by Warner Brothers Records. For many years after, the group was at the forefront of the civil rights movement and other causes promoting social justice. Their later hit "Leaving on a Jet Plane" was actually written by the then unknown John Denver.

The trio broke up in 1970 to pursue separate solo careers, but found little of the success they did as a group, although Stookey's "The Wedding Song (There Is Love)" (written for Yarrow's marriage to Marybeth McCarthy, the niece of senator Eugene McCarthy) was a hit and has become a wedding standard since its 1971 release. In 1978, they reunited for a concert to protest nuclear energy, and have recorded albums together and toured since. They were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1999.

In 2005, Travers was diagnosed with leukemia, leading to the cancellation of the remaining tour dates for that year. She received a bone marrow transplant and is recovering successfully. She and the rest of the trio resumed their concert tour on December 9, 2005 with a holiday performance at Carnegie Hall. In 2006 they received the Sammy Cahn Lifetime Achievment Award from Songwriters Hall of Fame. Find out more about this iconic folk group at: http://www.peterpaulandmary.com/

Research info gathered at: www.lastfm.com


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The Marvelettes

While still in her teens, Michigan's Georgeanna Dobbins wrote "Please Mr. Postman," and the song so impressed Motown Records head Berry Gordy that he signed Dobbins and four of her girlfriends as the Marvelettes. Illness forced Dobbins' departure not very long after that, but the upbeat, supercatchy "Postman" -- which gave Motown its first #1 pop hit -- remains the group's signature tune. "Beechwood 4-5789" is nearly its equal in perkiness (and remains perhaps the best of rock & roll's many "phone number" songs); "Too Many Fish in the Sea" is also prime early Marvelettes; lead singer Gladys Horton exudes good-humored sass.

Probably the most pop-oriented of Motown's major female acts, the Marvelettes didn't project as strong an identity as the Supremes, Mary Wells, or Martha Reeves, but recorded quite a few hits, including Motown's very first number one single, "Please Mr. Postman" (1961). "Postman," as well as other chirpy early-'60s hits like "Playboy," "Twistin' Postman," and "Beechwood 4-5789," were the label's purest girl group efforts. Featuring two strong lead singers, Gladys Horton and Wanda Young, the Marvelettes went through five different lineups, but maintained a high standard on their recordings.

After a few years, they moved from girl group sounds to up-tempo and mid-tempo numbers that were more characteristic of Motown's production line. They received no small help from Smokey Robinson, who produced and wrote many of their singles; Holland-Dozier-Holland, Berry Gordy, Mickey Stevenson, Marvin Gaye, and Ashford-Simpson also got involved with the songwriting and production at various points.

After the mid-'60s Wanda Young assumed most of the lead vocal duties; Gladys Horton departed from the group in the late '60s. While the Marvelettes didn't cut as many monster smashes as most of their Motown peers after the early '60s, they did periodically surface with classic hits like "Too Many Fish in the Sea," "Don't Mess With Bill," and "The Hunter Gets Captured by the Game." There were also plenty of fine minor hits and misses, like 1965's "I'll Keep Holding On," which is just as memorable as the well-known Motown chart-toppers of the era.

The group quietly disbanded in the early '70s after several years without a major hit. They were overshadowed by The Supremes and Martha & the Vandellas but they were still one of my favorite female groups of all-time. They were inducted into the Music Hall of Fame in 2004. Find out more at:www.vocalgroup/inductees/the_marvelettes.html

Info gathered at: www.allmusic.com & www.lastfm.com


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Patsy Cline

Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963) is widely considered to be one of the greatest singers in the history of country music. She helped blaze a trail for female singers to assert themselves as an integral part of the Nashville-dominated country music industry. Cline has the most legendary aura of any female country singer, however, perhaps due to an early death that cut her off just after she had entered her prime.

Cline began recording in the mid-'50s, and although she recorded quite a bit of material between 1955 and 1960 (17 singles in all), only one of them was a hit. That song, "Walkin' After Midnight," was both a classic and a Top 20 pop smash. Those who are accustomed to Cline's famous early-'60s hits are in for a bit of a shock when surveying her '50s sessions (which have been reissued on several Rhino compilations). At times she sang flat-out rockabilly; she also tried some churchy tear-weepers. She couldn't follow up "Walkin' After Midnight," however, in part because of an exploitative deal that limited her to songs from one publishing company.

Circumstances were not wholly to blame for Cline's commercial failures. She would have never made it as a rockabilly singer, lacking the conviction of Wanda Jackson or the spunk of Brenda Lee. "I Fall to Pieces," cut at the very first session where Cline was at liberty to record what she wanted, was the turning point in her career. Reaching number one in the country charts and number 12 pop, it was the first of several country-pop crossovers she was to enjoy over the next couple of years. More important, it set a prototype for commercial Nashville country at its best. Crafted with lush orchestral arrangements, with weeping strings and backup vocals by the Jordanaires, that owed more to pop (in the best sense) than country. Cline's voice sounded richer, more confident, and more mature, with ageless wise and vulnerable qualities that have enabled her records to maintain their appeal with subsequent generations.

Her final four Top Ten country singles, in fact, didn't make the pop Top 40. Despite a severe auto accident in 1961, Cline remained hot through 1961 and 1962, with "Crazy" and "She's Got You" both becoming big country and pop hits. Much of her achingly romantic material was supplied by fresh talent like Hank Cochran, Harlan Howard, and Willie Nelson (who penned "Crazy"). Although her commercial momentum had faded slightly, she was still at the top of her game when she died in a plane crash in March of 1963, at the age of 30, and although she was only a big star for a couple of years, but her influence was and remains huge. Find out more about her life and her music at: http://www.patsy.nu/

Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.com & www.allmusic.com

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Chuck Jackson

Chuck Jackson is a US soul and r 'n' b singer from Latta, South Carolina. He was born Charles Jackson on 22nd July 1937.

He was a regular visitor to the R&B charts (and an occasional one to the pop listings) in the early '60s with such early pop-soul concoctions as "I Don't Want to Cry," "Any Day Now," and "Tell Him I'm Not Home." His records were very much of a piece with New York pop/rock-soul production, with cheeky brass, sweeping strings, and female backup vocalists. Those production trills make his work sound dated to some listeners, and his hoarse, emotional vocals weren't as subtle or commanding as peers like Ben E. King or Wilson Pickett. On its own terms, though, his best work is quite good, whether you prefer pop to soul or vice versa.He started out as a gospel singer in The Raspberry Singers. He was in the Dell-Vikings from 1957 to 1959.

After recording as Charles Jackson for the Clock label in 1959 he signed with Wand Records in 1961. He was immediately successful with his first single I Don't Want to Cry which reached No. 5 R&B, No. 36 Pop. He was with Wand through most of the sixties, scoring several R&B and Pop hits. In 1969 he moved to Motown but didn't do so well there. He continued to record throughout the seventies for labels like ABC, All Platinum and EMI America, scoring his last R&B hit in 1980.

Although never hugely successful his rich, soulful voice resulted in 23 R&B top 100 singles and the same number of Pop 100 hits over the course of 20 years. Several of Jackson's songs later became successful hits for other artists; Ronnie Milsap covered "Any Day Now" in 1982, and reached #1 on the Country and Adult Contemporary charts, and Michael McDonald (formerly of The Doobie Brothers) had a hit that same year with "I Keep Forgettin'." He remains a favorite on England's "Northern soul" scene. Visit his website at: www.videovault.com/link/chuckj/chuckj2.html

Info gathered at: www.allmusic.com & www.lastfm.com


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The Dave Clark Five

For a very brief time in 1964, it seemed that the biggest challenger to the Beatles' phenomenon was the Dave Clark Five. From the Tottenham area of London, the quintet had the fortune to knock "I Want to Hold Your Hand" off the top of the British charts with "Glad All Over," and were championed (for about 15 minutes) by the British press as the Beatles' most serious threat.

They were the first British Invasion band to break in a big way in the States after the Beatles, though the Rolling Stones and others quickly supplanted the DC5 as the Fab Four's most serious rivals. The Dave Clark Five reached the Top 40 17 times between 1964 and 1967 with memorable hits like "Glad All Over," "Bits and Pieces," "Because," and a remake of Bobby Day's "Over and Over," as well as making more appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show than any other English act.

The DC5 were distinguished from their British contemporaries by their larger-than-life production, Clark's loud stomping drum sound, and Mike Smith's leathery vocals. Though accused by detractors of lacking finesse and hipness, they had a solid ear for melodies and harmonies and wrote much of their early material, the best of which endured quite well. Interestingly, and unusually for that era, bandleader Dave Clark managed and produced the band himself, negotiating a much higher royalty rate than artists of that period usually received. After a couple years of superstardom, the group proved unable to either keep up with the changing times or maintain a high standard of original compositions, and called it quits in 1970.

Following the break-up of the band, Clark set up a media company. In the process, he acquired the rights to the iconic '60s pop series Ready, Steady, Go!.

Smith returned to performing in 2003 after a layoff of 25 years. He formed Mike Smith's Rock Engine and did two mini-tours of the U.S., although he was legally forbidden from using any mention of the DC5 in his advertising. Just a few months after his only son died in a diving accident, Smith suffered a spinal cord injury in a fall at his home in Spain on 12 September 2003. He died in October 2007. Denis Payton died on 17 December 2006 after a long battle with cancer. He was 63.

Research info gathered at: www.allmusic.com


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