Odetta

Odetta (b. December 31, 1930) is a singer and guitarist whose repertoire consists largely of American folk music, blues, jazz, and spirituals. She was an important figure in the revival of American folk music in the 1950s and '60s, and a formative influence on artists such as Bob Dylan, Joan Baez, and Janis Joplin.

She was born in Birmingham, Alabama, grew up in Los Angeles, California, and studied music at Los Angeles City College. Having operatic training from the age of 13, her first professional experience was in musical theater in 1944, as an ensemble member for four years with the Hollywood Turnabout Puppet Theatre, working alongside Elsa Lanchester; she later joined the national touring company of the musical Finian's Rainbow in 1949.

While on tour with Finian's Rainbow, she "fell in with an enthusiastic group of young balladeers in San Francisco", and after 1950 concentrated on folksinging. She made her name by playing around the United States: at the Blue Angel nightclub (New York City), the hungry i (San Francisco), and Tin Angel (San Francisco), where she and Larry Mohr recorded Odetta and Larry in 1954, for Fantasy Records. A solo career followed, with Odetta Sings Ballads and Blues (1956) and Odetta at the Gate of Horn (1957). Odetta Sings Folk Songs was one of 1963's best-selling folk albums. In 1961, Martin Luther King, Jr. annointed her "The Queen of American folk music".

By the late 60s she began to change her musical direction, using band arrangements rather than playing alone, and released music of a more "jazz" style music on albums like Odetta (1967). She only released two new albums in the 20-year period from 1977-1997: Movin' It On and Christmas Spirituals, both in 1987.

On September 29, 1999, President Bill Clinton presented Odetta with the National Endowment for the Arts' Medal of the Arts & Humanities. In 2004, she was honored at the Kennedy Center in Washington with the "Visionary Award" and a tribute performance by Tracy Chapman.

In 2005, the Library of Congress in Washington honored her with its' rare "Living Legend Award" (only the third time every awarded). The 2005 documentary film No Direction Home, directed by Martin Scorsese, highlights her musical influence on Bob Dylan, the subject of the documentary. The film contains a clip of Odetta performing "Waterboy" on TV in 1959, and we also hear Odetta's songs "Muleskinner Blues" and "No More Auction Block for Me".

On March 24, 2007 a tribute concert to Odetta was presented in Washington, D.C. at the Rachel Schlessinger Theatre by the World Folk Music Association with live performance and video tributes by such well-known artists as Pete Seeger, Madeleine Peyroux, Harry Belafonte, Janis Ian, Sweet Honey In The Rock, Peter, Paul & Mary, and Tom Rush. Find out more about this living legend at: www.mc-records.com/html/odetta.landing.html

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The Shangri-Las

The Shangri-Las were an American, pop music, girl group of the 1960s. Between 1964 and 1966 they charted with a string of often heartbreaking teen melodramas, and remain best known for "Leader of the Pack" and "Remember (Walking in the Sand)".

The group was formed at Andrew Jackson High School in Queens, New York in 1963. They consisted of two sets of sisters: Mary Weiss (lead singer) (born 1948) and Elizabeth Weiss (usually known professionally as Betty Weiss) (born 1946), and identical twins Marguerite "Marge" and Mary Ann Ganser (born 1947). Most of the time the girls appeared as a trio, despite there being four singers on most recordings. Betty Weiss would join the group for some but not all public appearances. They began playing school shows, talent shows and teen hops, coming to the attention of Artie Ripp, who arranged the group's first record deal.

Their first recording in December 1963 was "Simon Says", later issued on the Smash label, on which Betty Weiss sang lead. In April 1964, when the girls were still minors, their parents signed for them with Red Bird Records; Mary was 15, Betty was 17, and the Ganser twins were 16. Having been hired by record producer George "Shadow" Morton, they had their first success with the summer hit, "Remember (Walking in the Sand)" (U.S. #5, UK #14). Their recordings for Morton featured lavish production with heavy orchestration and sound effects, and their next and biggest hit, the renowned 'death disc', "Leader of the Pack" (U.S. #1, UK #11), climaxes with the sounds of roaring motorcycles and breaking glass. UK re-issues of the single peaked at #3 in 1972 and at #7 in 1976.

They continued to chart with a run of fairly successful U.S. hit records, specialising in adolescent themes such as alienation, loneliness, abandonment and death. Singles include "Give Him a Great Big Kiss", "Out in the Streets", "Give Us Your Blessings", the top ten hit "I Can Never Go Home Anymore", "Long Live Our Love", "He Cried" and the spoken-word cult favourite "Past, Present and Future", featuring music from Beethoven's "Moonlight" Sonata". The group toured and appeared on several major TV shows, but in 1966 two of the Shangri-Las' three releases on Red Bird failed to crack the top 50. That same year the band left Red Bird and Morton after the label folded.

At the beginning of 1967, Marge Ganser decided to leave the group. Despite signing to Mercury Records that year, they had no further hits. In 1968, they disbanded.

Lead singer Mary Weiss later married and worked as an interior designer and furniture store manager. Betty Weiss also married. Mary Ann Ganser died in 1971; accounts vary as to the cause, with some references to a drug overdose or seizure, although Mary Weiss and others state that she succumbed to encephalitis brought on by a mosquito bite. Marge Ganser succumbed to breast cancer on July 28, 1996 at the age of forty-eight. Find out more about this New York-based girl group at: http://www.theshangri-las.com/

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Marvin Gaye

Marvin Gaye (born Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr.) (April 2, 1939 – April 1, 1984) was a pop, soul, and R&B singer, arranger, musician, multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and record producer. He gained international fame during the 1960s and 1970s as an artist on the Motown label. His best records are still extremely highly regarded, and he is often cited as one of the finest singers of his era.

Gaye began his career in Motown in 1960, and soon became Motown's top solo male artist. He scored numerous hits during the 1960s, among them "Stubborn Kind of Fellow", "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You)", "I Heard It Through the Grapevine", and several hit duets with Tammi Terrell, including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" and "You're All I Need to Get By", before moving on to his own form of musical self-expression.

Along with Stevie Wonder, Gaye is notable for fighting the hit-making—but creatively restrictive—Motown record-making process, in which performers and songwriters and record producers were generally kept in separate camps. Gaye forced Motown to release his 1971 album What's Going On, which is today hailed as one of the best albums of all time. Subsequent releases proved that Gaye, who had been a part-time songwriter for Motown artists during his early years with the label, could write and produce his own singles without having to rely on the Motown system. This achievement would pave the way for the successes of later self-sufficient singer-songwriter-producers in African American music, such as Stevie Wonder, Luther Vandross, and Babyface.

During the 1970s, Gaye would release several other notable albums, including Let's Get It On and I Want You, and had hits with soul singles such as "Let's Get It On", "Got to Give It Up", and "Sexual Healing". By the time of his death in 1984, at the hands of his clergyman father, he had become one of the most influential artists of the soul music era.

On April 1, 1984, one day before his forty-fifth birthday, Gaye's father shot and killed him after an argument that had started after Marvin's parents argued over misplaced business documents. Marvin, Sr. later was sentenced to six years of probation after pleading guilty to manslaughter. Charges of first-degree murder were dropped after doctors discovered Marvin, Sr. had a brain tumor. Spending his final years in a retirement home, he died of pneumonia in 1998.

After some posthumous releases cemented his memory in the popular consciousness, Gaye was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He later was inducted to Hollywood's Rock Walk in 1989 and was given a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1990. He will be remembered as one of the foremost soul singers ever. Find our more about him at: http://www.marvingayepage.net/

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Jefferson Airplane

Jefferson Airplane was the first of the San Francisco psychedelic rock groups of the 1960s, primarily the vehicle of guitarist Jorma Kaukonen and vocalist Grace Slick. Initially, the female vocalist for the group was Signe Anderson, but due to a strong family commitment she was replaced by Grace Slick in 1966, originally from The Great Society. They then took a rather controversial path, adopting both the drug-taking hippie ethos and the left-wing, antiwar political movement of "hippie" counterculture. Undeniably Grace a big part of the band's commercial success, "White Rabbit" (written by her) and "Somebody to Love" (written by Grace's brother-in-law, Great Society guitarist Darby Slick) being the two most recognized tunes.

Jefferson Airplane didn't "officially" break up, but mutated into other configurations in Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship (sometimes commonly referred to as just "Starship") in the 70- and 80's, before reuniting for an album and tour in 1989.

Famous for hosting open house parties in the mid 80's the Airplane maintained an older Victorian Home adjacent to Golden Gate Park in San Francisco. The parties were Friday and Saturday night gatherings of locals and visitors, a good time was had by all.

The group was inducted in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996.

The psychedelic aspect of their music can be symbolized by the movie "fear and loathing in las vegas" featuring johnny depp, some of jefferson airplane songs are in the OST.

As of 2007 Jefferson Starship continues to tour with a lineup of Paul Kantner (vocals, guitar), David Freiberg (vocals, bass, keyboards), Diana Mangano (vocals), Slick Aguilar (lead guitar), Chris Smith (keyboards) and Prairie Prince (drums). The band sometimes features guest musicians such as Balin, Gould, Gorman and former Grateful Dead keyboardist Tom Constanten. Jefferson Starship is scheduled to play three songs on NBC’s The Today Show on June 30, 2007.

My all-time favorite is "Don't You Want Somebody To Love" which sounds a fresh today as it did when it was in the Top 10. Find out more at: http://www.jeffersonairplane.com/

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Little Eva

Born June 29, 1943, in Belhaven, North Carolina, Eva Narcissus Boyd moved to Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York at a young age. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Amused by Boyd's individual dancing style, they wrote "The Loco-Motion" for her and had her record it as a demo (the record was intended for Dee Dee Sharp).

Music producer Don Kirshner was impressed by the song and Boyd's voice and had it released just the way it was. The song became an instant smash, reaching #1 in the US in 1962. After the success of "The Loco-Motion", she was stereotyped as a dance-craze singer and was given limited material. Little Eva's other hits are "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby", "Some Kinda Wonderful", "Let's Turkey Trot" and a remake of the Bing Crosby standard "Swinging On A Star," recorded with Big Dee Irwin (though Boyd was not credited on the label). She tour and record throughout the sixties, but her commercial potential plummeted after 1964.

She retired from the music business in 1971. Interviewed between 1987 and 1988 after the success of the Kylie Minogue cover version of "The Loco-Motion", Boyd stated that she did not like the new version; however its then-current popularity allowed her to make a comeback in show business.

She returned to live performing with other artists of her era on the cabaret and oldies circuits. She also occasionally recorded new songs. She continued performing until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October of 2001. She lost the battle with the disease two years later, at age 59. Little Eva will perhaps always be remembered as one of those "one-time wonder" artists, but what a song to be remembered by. It was one of the biggest dance tunes, one that rivaled "The Twist". Find out more about her music and her life at: www.en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Eva

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Cream

Cream were a 1960s British rock band, which consisted of guitarist Eric Clapton, bassist Jack Bruce and drummer Ginger Baker. Celebrated as one of the first great power trios and supergroups of rock, their sound was characterised by a melange of blues, pop and psychedelia. They also laid down the foundations for heavy metal music, and inspired several generations of bands from Black Sabbath and Van Halen to The Smashing Pumpkins. Cream combined Clapton's blues guitar playing with the airy voice and intense basslines of Jack Bruce and the jazz-influenced drumming of Ginger Baker. Between 1966 and 1968 they sold over 15 million albums world wide.

Cream's music included songs based on traditional blues such as "Crossroads" and "Spoonful", and modern blues such as "Born Under a Bad Sign", as well as more eccentric songs like "Strange Brew", "Tales of Brave Ulysses" and "Toad". Cream's biggest hits were "I Feel Free", "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room", "Crossroads" and "Badge".

Cream, together with The Who, made a significant impact upon the popular music of the time providing a heavy yet technically proficient musical theme that foreshadowed the emergence of bands like Led Zeppelin in the late 1960s and Rush in the 1970s. The band's live performances influenced progressive rock acts and other jam bands, including the Grateful Dead, Phish, and even Black Sabbath.

In 1993, Cream was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and set aside their differences to perform at the induction ceremony.

In 2004, it was officially announced that Cream would finally reunite for a series of four shows, May 2, 3, 5, and 6 of 2005 in England at the Royal Albert Hall in London, the venue of their final concerts in 1968. Even more surprising was that the reunion came at Clapton's request: although the three musicians chose not to speak publicly about the shows, Clapton would later state that he had become more "generous" in regards to his past, and that the physical health of Bruce and Baker was a major factor: Bruce had recently undergone a liver transplant for liver cancer, one that almost cost him his life, while Baker had severe arthritis.

In February of 2006, Cream received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in recognition of their contribution to, and influence upon, modern music. Their version of "Sitting On Top Of The World" is a strong second to "Sunshine Of Your Love" in my all-time favorite pick. Find out more about them at: http://www.cream2005.com/

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Booker T. & the MG's

Formed in 1962 in Memphis, Tennessee, Booker T and the MG's ("MG" officially stood for "Memphis Group") would make their way into history as one of the most important soul outfits in the history of music. They were indispensable as the house band for Stax records, backing up many rising artists (Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Albert King, and many others), but it was the MG's themselves that put Stax on the map with such singles as "
Green Onions", which peaked at number 3 on the Pop Charts, and "Hip Hug-Her", which peaked at number 6 on the Pop charts.

The group consisted of four core members: Booker T. Jones on keyboards and organ (as well as many other instruments), Steve Cropper on guitar, Al Jackson Jr. on drums, and Donald "Duck" Dunn on bass. Cropper and Dunn were originally in the first house band for Stax, The Mar-Keys, and later were part of The Blues Brothers, both in the band and in the movie. Various others added horns and other instruments, and a young Isaac Hayes covered the keys on at least one session.

Not only were they blazing new trails with their funky instrumental soul music, but also with their integration of races, as two of them were white (Donald "Duck" Dunn and Steve Cropper) and two of them were black (Booker T. Jones and Al Jackson), which was very unusual for 1962.

The group has continued to give concerts over the years.

In 1992, the MGs were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame where in 1995, and when the Rock and Roll Hall Of Fame opened its museum in Cleveland, Ohio, the MGs served as the house band.

They supplied the music for Neil Young's 2002 album Are You Passionate?. They have been called the most influential stylists in modern American music and just this year received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. These were four guys far ahead of their times. Find out more about Booker T. Jones at his website: http://www.bookert.com/

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Herb Alpert

Herbert "Herb" Alpert (born March 31, 1935 in Los Angeles, California) is an American musician most associated with the Tijuana Brass, a now-defunct brass band of which he was the leader. He is also famous for being a recording industry executive — he is the "A" of A&M Records (a recording label he and then partner Jerry Moss founded and eventually sold).

Alpert's musical accomplishments include five number one hits, twenty-eight albums on the Billboard charts, eight Grammy Awards, fourteen Platinum albums and fifteen Gold albums. As of 1996, Alpert had sold 72 million albums worldwide.

Alpert began trumpet lessons at about the age of eight and played at dances as a teenager. After graduating from Fairfax High School in 1952, he joined the U.S. Army and frequently performed at military ceremonies, settling on a career in music once he got out. He was a member of the USC Trojan Marching Band for two years as a student. He graduated with a BM in 1954.

In 1957, he teamed up with Lou Adler, and co-wrote songs over the following two years that became top twenty hits, including "Baby Talk" by Jan and Dean, "Wonderful World" by Sam Cooke, and "Alley-Oop" by Dante and The Evergreens. He set up a small recording studio in his garage and was overdubbing a tune called "Twinkle Star" when, during a visit to Tijuana, Mexico, he happened to hear a mariachi band while attending a bullfight.

Following the experience, Alpert recalled that he was "inspired to find a way to musically express what [he] felt while watching the wild responses of the crowd, and hearing the brass musicians introducing each new event with rousing fanfare." He adapted the trumpet style to the tune, mixed in crowd cheers and other noises to create ambiance, and renamed the song, "The Lonely Bull." He paid out of his own pocket to press the record as a single, and it spread through radio DJs until it caught on and became a Top Ten hit in 1963. He followed up quickly with an album of "The Lonely Bull" and other titles became known as The Lonely Bull by Herb Alpert's Tijuana Brass. The Tijuana Brass were actually studio musicians. The title cut reached #6 on the Billboard Pop Singles Chart. This was also A&M's first album but was recorded at Conway Records.

By the end of 1964, due to a growing demand for live appearances by the Tijuana Brass, Alpert auditioned and hired a team of crack session men. No one in Alpert's band was actually Hispanic. The band's style was adopted by American bands as well, most notably Chicago and Earth, Wind & Fire. In 1967, the TJB did the title cut to the first movie version of "Casino Royale." Alpert's only number one single during this period (and the first #1 hit for his A&M label) was a solo effort "This Guy's in Love with You" (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David), featuring a rare vocal. Alpert disbanded the Tijuana Brass in 1969, but released another album by the group in 1971.

In the 1970s, '80s, and '90s, Alpert enjoyed a successful solo career. He had his biggest instrumental hit, "Rise" (from the album of the same name), which went number one in October of 1979 and won a Grammy. It also made Alpert the only solo artist ever to hit #1 on the Billboard charts with both vocal and instrumental pieces. From 1962 through 1992 Alpert signed artists to A&M Records and produced records.

For his contribution to the recording industry, he has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Alpert and Moss were also inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006 as non-performer lifetime achievers for their work at A&M. Alpert continues to play his trumpet and devotes time to his second career as an abstract expressionist painter and sculptor with shows around the U S, and as a Broadway theatre producer. His production of Tony Kushner's Angels in America won a Tony award. And it all started in his garage. Find out more at: http://www.herbalpert.com/

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Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes (born August 20, 1942, in Covington, Tennessee) is an American soul singer, songwriter, musician, record producer, arranger, and actor. Hayes is best known as one of the creative forces behinds Stax Records, where he was both an in-house songwriter/producer and a recording artist. In addition to his work in popular music, Hayes has also written scores for several motion pictures as well. His best known film score, for the 1971 blaxploitation film Shaft, earned Hayes an Academy Award for Best Original Song (the first Academy Award received by an African-American in a non-acting category) and two Grammy Awards. Hayes reveived a third Grammy for his 1971 album Black Moses. In 1992, Hayes was crowned an honorary king of Ghana's Ada district thanks to his humanitarian deeds. From 1997 to 2006, he voiced the character "Chef", a singing ladies' man and elementary school cook, on the animated sitcom South Park. He was the second-born child of Isaac Sr. and Eula Hayes, but after their deaths was raised by his grandparents. He grew up picking cotton in Covington, Tennessee. He dropped out of high school but earned his diploma at the age of 21. He began singing at the age of five at his local church. Soon after, he taught himself how to play the piano, electronic organ, flute, and saxophone. He began his recording career in the early 1960s, as a session player for various acts of the Memphis-based Stax Records and later writing a string of hit songs with songwriting partner David Porter, including "You Don't Know Like I Know", "Soul Man", "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby", and "Hold On I'm Comin" for Sam and Dave. His own singing career took off with the album Hot Buttered Soul (1969). This album is noted for his image (shaven skulled, gold jewelry, sun glasses, etc) and his distinct sound (extended orchestral songs, heavy on organs, horns, and guitars, deep bass vocals, etc). Only four songs long, he re-interpreted "Walk On By" into a twelve-minute epic, "By The Time I Get To Phoenix" with an eight-minute long monologue before breaking into song, and the lone original number, the funky nearly ten minute tune "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquidalimystic", a significant break from the standard three minute soul/pop song format and singles-based albums. In early 1971 Hayes composed music for the soundtrack of the film Shaft (he also enjoyed a cameo as the bar tender of No Name Bar in the film). The title theme with its wah-wah guitar and multi-layered symphonic arrangement would become a worldwide hit single and spent two weeks at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 in November of that year. Hayes won an Academy Award for Best Original Song for a Motion Picture for the "Theme from Shaft" and was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score for Shaft. He was inducted into the Rock 'n Roll Hall of Fame in 2002. Isaac Hayes is the father of 12 children. He is also an outspoken Scientologist, frequently identified by Scientology as a success story. He has called Scientology the "gateway to eternity" and "the path to happiness and total spiritual freedom." On March 13, 2006, a statement was issued in Hayes' name, indicating that he was asking to be released from his contract with Comedy Central, citing recent episodes which satirized religious beliefs as being intolerant. I think his classic album is Hot Buttered Soul. Listen to it and see if you don't agree. Find out more about this musical icon at: http://www.isaachayes.com/

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Carole King

While the landmark album Tapestry earned her superstar status, singer/songwriter Carole King had already firmly established herself as one of pop music's most gifted and successful composers, with work recorded by everyone from the Beatles to Aretha Franklin. Born Carole Klein on February 9, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York, she began playing piano at the age of four, and formed her first band, the vocal quartet the Co-Sines, while in high school. A devotee of the composing team of Jerry Lieber and Mike Stoller (the duo behind numerous hits for Elvis Presley, the Coasters, and Ben E. King), she became a fixture at influential DJ Alan Freed's local Rock 'n' Roll shows; while attending Queens College, she forged a writing partnership with Gerry Goffin. In 1959, Neil Sedaka scored a hit with "Oh! Carol," written in her honor. She and Goffin, who eventually married, began writing under publishers Don Kirshner and Al Nevins in the famed pop songwriting house the Brill Buiding. In 1961, Goffin and King scored their first hit with the Shirelles' chart-topping "Will You Love Me Tomorrow"; their next effort, Bobby Vee's "Take Good Care of My Baby," also hit number one, as did "The Locomotion," recorded by their baby-sitter, Little Eva. Together, the couple wrote over 100 chart hits in a vast range of styles, including the Chiffons' "One Fine Day," the Monkees' "Pleasant Valley Sunday," the Drifters' "Up on the Roof," the Cookies' "Chains" (later covered by the Beatles), Aretha Franklin's "(You Make Me Feel) Like a Natural Woman". She became friends with James Taylor who encouraged her to pursue a solo career, and in 1971, she released Tapestry, which stayed on the charts for over six years and was the best-selling album of the era. A quiet, reflective work which proved seminal in the development of the singer/songwriter genre, Tapestry also scored a pair of hit singles, "So Far Away" and the chart-topping "It's Too Late," whose flip side, "I Feel the Earth Move," garnered major airplay as well. In 1975, King and Goffin reunited to write tunes to the album Thoroughbred, which also featured contributions from James Taylor, David Crosby, and Graham Nash. After 1977's Simple Things, she mounted a tour with the backing group Navarro and married her frequent songwriting partner Rick Evers, who died a year later after a heroin overdose. 1980's Pearls, a collection of performances of songs written during her partnership with Goffin, was her last significant hit, and King soon moved to a tiny mountain village in Idaho, where she became active in the environmental movement. In 2001, she returned with Love Makes the World, a self-released disc on her own Rockingale label. Four years passed before her next record, The Living Room Tour, a double disc set documenting her intimate 2004-05 tour that found her revisting songs from throughout her career with only her piano and acoustic guitars as accompaniment. In 1990, King was inducted, along with Goffin, into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in the non-performer category for her songwriting achievements. She will be inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame thisyear. Tapestry is one of those albums I'd want to take with me to a desert island. It is a classic piece of 20th century American music. Find out more by visiting her website at: http://www.caroleking.com/

Research info from Jason Ankeny at: www.allmusic.com

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The Temptations

The Temptations are an American Motown singing group whose repertoire has included doo-wop, soul, psychedelia, funk, disco, R&B, and adult contemporary. Formed in Detroit, Michigan in 1960 as The Elgins, the Temptations have always featured five male vocalists. The group, known for its recognizable choreography, distinct harmonies, and onstage suits, has been said to be as influential to soul as the Beatles are to rock. Having sold an estimated 22 million albums by 1982, The Temptations are one of the most successful groups in music history and were the definitive male vocal group of the 1960s. In addition, they have the second-longest tenure on Motown (behind Stevie Wonder), as they were with the label for a total of 40 years: 16 years from 1961 to 1977, and 24 more from 1980 to 2004 (from 1977 to 1980, they were signed to Atlantic Records). The original group included members of two local Detroit vocal groups: The Distants, which featured second tenor/baritone Otis Williams, first tenor Elbridge "Al" Bryant and bass Melvin Franklin; and first tenor/falsetto Eddie Kendricks and second tenor/baritone Paul Williams (no relation to Otis) from The Primes. Among the most notable future Temptations were lead singers David Ruffin and Dennis Edwards (both of whom became successful Motown solo artists after leaving the group), Richard Street (another former Distant), Damon Harris, Ron Tyson, Ali-Ollie Woodson, Theo Peoples, and G.C. Cameron. Like its sister female group, the Supremes, the Temptations' lineup has changed frequently over the years, releasing four Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles and 14 Billboard R&B number-one singles. Their material has earned them three Grammy Awards, while two more awards were conferred upon the songwriters and producers who crafted their 1972 hit "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". As of 2007, the Temptations continue to perform and record for Universal Records with only one original member, founder Otis Williams, in its lineup. If you're ever had the great luck of hearing their original version of the #1 hit "My Girl" than you have some idea of what a powerful recording group they were. They will forever be one of Motown's greatest gifts to the world. Find out more at: http://classicmotown.com/artist.aspx?ob=ros&src=lb&aid=52

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T. Rex

T. Rex (originally named Tyrannosaurus Rex), a 70s British folk-rock combo, was the primary force in glam rock. Their music was a mixture of the underlying sexuality of early rock & roll, adding dirty grooves to fat distorted guitars, as well as an overarching folky/hippie spirituality that always came through the clearest on ballads. The group's front man was Marc Bolan. In Britain, he became a superstar, sparking a period of "T. Rextacy" among the pop audience with a series of Top Ten hits, including four number one singles. Over in America, the group only had one major hit -- the Top Ten "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" -- before disappearing from the charts in 1973. T. Rex's popularity in the U.K. didn't begin to waver until 1975, yet they retained a devoted following until Marc Bolan's death in 1977. Over the next two decades, Bolan emerged as a cult figure and the music of T. Rex has proven quite influential on hard rock, punk, new wave, and alternative rock. The turning point in Bolan's career came in October of 1970, when he shortened the group's name to T. Rex and released "Ride a White Swan," a fuzz-drenched single driven by a rolling backbeat. "Ride a White Swan" became a major hit in the U.K., climbing all the way to number two. The band's next album, T. Rex, peaked at number 13 and stayed on the charts for six months. Encouraged by the results, Bolan expanded T. Rex to a full band, adding bassist Steve Currie and drummer Bill Legend (born Bill Fifield). The new lineup recorded "Hot Love," which spent six weeks at number one in early 1971. That summer, T. Rex released "Get It On" (retitled "Bang a Gong (Get It On)" in the U.S.), which became their second straight U.K. number one; the single would go on to be their biggest international hit, reaching number ten in the U.S. in 1972. Electric Warrior, the first album recorded by the full band, was released in the fall of 1971; it was number one for six weeks in Britain and cracked America's Top 40. The third album under the name T. Rex, The Slider was released in July 1972. It became the band's most successful album in the US, but wasn't as successful as Electric Warrior in the UK, only reaching #4. During spring/summer 1972 Bolan's old label Fly had been 'cashing-in' with the #1 compilation album Bolan Boogie, a collection of A- and B-sides and LP tracks, which had a bad effect on The Slider's sales. However, the two singles released from The Slider, "Telegram Sam" and "Metal Guru" both flopped in the US, but became #1 hits in the UK. By November 1973 original members of the band began to leave, alienated by Bolan's increasingly egotistical behaviour, which was fed by success, money, cocaine, and brandy. Bolan and his wife/manager June split and he began a relationship with Gloria Jones, a session singer and writer, on the band's second major US tour. Jones had achieved fame in the US for the 1964 recording "Tainted Love," of which the UK group Soft Cell would gain notoriety and worldwide success with their cover in the early 80's. In the late summer of 1977 Bolan hosted his own ITV show, Marc. He was a crusader for punk rock, which led him to invite many punk artists to appear on the show. On the final episode of Marc, recorded on 7 September 1977, a long-awaited performance with his old friend David Bowie was scheduled. When the two begin their duet at the show's finale, Marc tripped and fell off the stage. It would be his final public appearance, for he would die a week later. While driving home from a London club Gloria Jones lost control of her car, smashing into a tree. Marc Bolan, riding in the passenger's seat of the car, was killed instantly.Most remember T. Rex by one song, "Bang a Gong (Get It On)". Maybe Marc would want it that way. Find out more at: http://www.borntoboggie.net/

Research info provided by Stephen Thomas Erlewine and Wikipedia.

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Otis Redding

Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an influential American deep soul singer, best known for his passionate delivery and posthumous hit single, "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay." According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (where he was inducted in 1989) website, his name is "synonymous with the term soul, music that arose out of the black experience in America combinating gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of funky, secular testifying". He was born in the small town of Dawson, Georgia. At the age of 5 he moved with his family to Macon, Georgia. He sang in the choir of the Vineville Baptist Church, becoming a local celebrity as a teenager after winning a local Sunday night talent show 15 weeks in a row. In 1960, he began touring the South with Johnny Jenkins and The Pinetoppers. In 1962, he made his first real mark in the music business during a Johnny Jenkins session when he recorded "These Arms of Mine", a ballad that he had written. The song became a minor hit on Volt Records, a subsidiary of renowned Stax, based in Memphis, TN. His manager was fellow Maconite Phil Walden (who later founded Capricorn Records). He continued to release for Stax/Volt, and built his fanbase by extensively touring a legendarily electrifying live show with support from fellow Stax artists Sam & Dave. Further hits between 1964 and 1966 included "Mr. Pitiful", "I Can't Turn You Loose" (to become The Blues Brothers entrance theme music), "Try a Little Tenderness", "(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction" (written by the Rolling Stones), and "Respect" (later a smash hit for Aretha Franklin). He wrote many of his own songs, which was unusual for the time, often with Steve Cropper (of Stax house band Booker T. & the M.G.'s, who usually served as Otis' backing band in the studio). Soul singer Jerry Butler co-wrote another hit "I've Been Loving You Too Long". One of his few songs with a significant mainstream following was "Tramp" (1967) with Carla Thomas. Later that year, Redding played at the Monterey Pop Festival, which helped him to break into the white pop music scene. He and six others, including four of the six members of his backup band, The Bar-Kays, were killed when the plane on which they were travelling crashed into Lake Monona in Madison, Wisconsin on December 10, 1967. The two remaining members of The Bar-Kays were Ben Cauley and James Alexander. Cauley was the only person aboard Redding's plane to survive the crash; Alexander was on another plane. Cauley said he had been asleep and recalled unbuckling his seat belt just before impact, which was his final recollection before finding himself in the frigid waters of the lake, grasping a seat cushion to keep himself afloat. Redding's body was recovered the next day from the lakebed. The cause of the crash was never precisely determined. He was 26 years old at the time of his death. He was laid to rest in a tomb on his private ranch in Round Oak, Georgia, 23 miles (37 km) north of Macon. "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" was recorded only three days prior to Redding's death. It was released the next month and became his first #1 single and first million-seller. The fact that "(Sittin' on) the Dock of the Bay" ultimately became Redding's greatest commercial success was unexpected, not only because its release came after his death, but also because the song is actually a significant stylistic departure from the bulk of his other work. It remains an R&B classic. Find out more at: http://www.otisredding.com/

Research info gathered from: www.wikipedia.org

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