Dinah Shore

Dinah Shore (born Frances Rose Shore February 29, 1916 - February 24, 1994) was an American singer, actress and television personality. She was most popular during the Big Band era of the 1940s and 1950s.

During the '40s, she recorded several of the decade's biggest singles — "Buttons and Bows," "The Gypsy," and "I'll Walk Alone" — all of which spent more than a month at number one on the Hit Parade. After launching a television variety series in 1951, Shore appeared on one program or another, with few gaps, into the 1980s.

Born in rural Tennessee to Solomon and Anna Stein Shore, Jewish immigrants from Russia. When she was two years old, she was stricken with polio (infantile paralysis), a disease that was not preventable at the time, and for which treatment was limited to bedrest. Her parents provided intensive care for her and she recovered and overcame the disease. However, she continued to have a slightly deformed foot and limp, which did not physically impede her. As a small child she loved to sing, encouraged by her mother, a contralto with operatic aspirations. Her father would often take her to his store where she would perform impromptu songs for the customers.

In 1924 the Shore family (which included Dinah's only sibling, older sister Bessie) moved to Nashville, Tennessee, where her father had opened a department store. At 14, She debuted as a torch singer at a Nashville night club only to find her parents sitting ringside, having been tipped off to their daughter's performance ahead of time. They allowed her to finish, but put her professional career on hold. She was paid $10.

Dinah Shore was performing on Nashville radio while still a teenager. Her professional career later took her to New York, where she sang with Xavier Cugat. After failing auditions with Benny Goodman and Tommy Dorsey however, she decided to simply become a solo singer. Shore signed to Bluebird, and recorded several hits during 1940-41, including "Yes, My Darling Daughter," "I Hear a Rhapsody" and "Jim." Her first million-seller came in 1942 with the prototypical blues crossover nugget, "Blues in the Night." Later that year, she moved to Victor and hit big with "You'd Be So Nice to Come Home To" and her first number one hit, 1944's "I'll Walk Alone." Shore also began appearing in films, including 1944's Up in Arms and 1946's Till the Clouds Roll By.

The late '40s proved to be her most popular era for recording. Between 1946 and 1949, she hit big with several songs, including "The Gypsy," "I Love You for Sentimental Reasons," "Anniversary Song," "I Wish I Didn't Love You So," "Buttons and Bows" and "Dear Hearts and Gentle People."

Though her records didn't chart as high during the '50s, Dinah Shore enjoyed even more exposure with her top-rated variety show, The Dinah Shore Chevy Show. For many, Shore's opening and closing every show with "See the USA in your Chevrolet, America's the greatest land of all" practically defined the '50s. Her Chevrolet sponsorship lasted until 1963, but she returned in the '70s with a new format, the daytime talk-show. During the 1980s, she began performing once again, but returned to television once more with a series that ran for two years. She died of cancer in 1994. I use to watch her TV show every week. You can find out more about her at http://www.dinahshorefanclub.com/

Research info gathered at: www.allmusic.com


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Bobby Hebb

Bobby Hebb (born Robert Von Hebb, 26 July 1941, Nashville, Tennessee) is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his writing and 1966 recording of "Sunny".

Hebb's parents, William and Ovalla Hebb, were both blind musicians. Hebb and his older brother Harold performed as a song-and-dance team in Nashville, beginning when Bobby was three and Harold was nine. Hebb performed on a TV show hosted by country music record producer Owen Bradley, which earned him a place with Grand Ole Opry star Roy Acuff. He played spoons and other instruments in Acuff's band. Harold later became a member of Johnny Bragg and the Marigolds. He sang backup on Bo Diddley's "Diddley Daddy". Hebb played "West-coast-style" trumpet in a US Navy jazz band, and replaced Mickey Baker in Mickey and Sylvia.

On 23 November 1963, the day after John F. Kennedy's assassination, Harold Hebb was killed in a knife fight outside a Nashville nightclub. Hebb was devastated by both events and sought comfort in songwriting. The song he wrote was the optimistic "Sunny":

"Sunny" was recorded in New York City, which resulted in a tour with The Beatles for Hebb. It is one of the most covered popular songs, with hundreds of versions released. BMI rates "Sunny" number 25 in its "Top 100 songs of the century".

"Sunny" has been recorded by, among others, Boney M, Cher, Georgie Fame, Johnny Rivers, Stevie Wonder, Frank Sinatra with Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, the Electric Flag, The Four Seasons, the Four Tops, Wilson Pickett, Les McCann, Dusty Springfield, and The Alex Trio featuring David Wise. One cover, a disco version called "Sunny '76" was a hit for Hebb in that year.

Although he is considered a one-hit wonder, Hebb also had hits with his "A Satisfied Mind" in 1966 and "Love Me" in 1967, and has written many other songs.

He released a new album in 2005 in Europe, thirty five years after Love Games for Epic Records was recorded in 1970. It was released by Tuition, a new pop indie label. New versions of "Sunny" were also issued (two duets: one with Astrid North, and one with Pat Appleton). He lives in Rockport MA and works for the DPW. Find out more about him at his website: http://www.bobbyhebb.com/

Research info gathered at: www.wikipedia.org


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The Turtles

Though many remember only their 1967 hit "Happy Together," the Turtles were one of the more enjoyable American pop groups of the 1960s, moving from folk-rock inspired by the Byrds to a sparkling fusion of Zombies-inspired chamber-pop and straight-ahead good-time pop reminiscent of the Lovin' Spoonful, the whole infused with beautiful vocal harmonies courtesy of dual frontmen Howard Kaylan and Mark Volman. Though they hit number one in 1967 with the infectious "Happy Together," the Turtles scored only three more Top Ten hits and broke up by the end of the '60s. Kaylan and Volman later joined Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention during the early '70s and also recorded themselves as Flo & Eddie, but were on the oldies circuit with a revamped Turtles by the mid-'80s.

The group got its big break in 1965 after local disc jockey and club owner Reb Foster became their manager and found the group a contract with White Whale Records. The sextet changed their name from the Crossfires to the Tyrtles (an unveiled homage to the Byrds, soon amended to the correct spelling) and recorded a Bob Dylan cover as their first single. The song's fusion of folk with glittering rock & roll was also lifted from the Byrds, and "It Ain't Me Babe" reached the Top Ten in August 1965, just three months after "Mr. Tambourine Man" had hit number one.

Moving from the songwriting talents of Dylan to the new "king of protest," producer P.F. Sloan, the Turtles hit the Top 40 twice more during 1965-66 with "Let Me Be" and "You Baby". Though the Turtles had appeared to run out of steam by the beginning of 1967, the group stormed back with a song they'd heard in a batch of demos, a surefire hit written by Gary Bonner and Alan Gordon. "Happy Together" spent three weeks at number one on the American charts, and proved to be one of the biggest hits of the year.

The Turtles' next three singles each hit the Top 20: the number three hit "She'd Rather Be with Me" (which eclipsed even "Happy Together" in terms of international success), plus "You Know What I Mean" and "She's My Girl." Chip Douglas, who had arranged the horns on "Happy Together," left the group to work with the Monkees, and was replaced by Jim Pons (formerly with the Leaves). Original member Jim Tucker left the group as well, after a tour of dingy pubs in England caused more than a bit of disillusionment about the group's lack of success.

Like so many other pop groups in the late '60s, the Turtles felt they had to stretch artistically to keep pace with their more critically respected rivals. The group asserted their rights in late 1967, and self-produced the disappointing "Sound Asleep," which was the band's first single after "Happy Together" to miss the Top 40. The only other hit from the group was the career-saving "Elenore" in September 1968, which hit number six (the best placing by a single actually written by the Turtles).

By the end of 1970, Kaylan, Volman and Pons had joined Frank Zappa's early-'70s edition of the Mothers of Invention. (The use of the Turtles' name or even their own names in a musical context was illegal according to an earlier contract, so Kaylan and Volman appeared as the Phlorescent Leech & Eddie.) Besides touring with Zappa, the trio appeared on four of his albums from 1970 to 1972: Chunga's Revenge, 200 Motels, Live at the Fillmore and Just Another Band from L.A. After Zappa was injured in an onstage altercation, though, the re-christened Flo & Eddie toured with several of the Mothers for awhile, and recorded five LPs for themselves between 1975 and 1981. The duo also did session work, composed music for childrens' movies (The Care Bears, Strawberry Shortcake) and broadcast their own radio show on L.A.'s KROQ and later New York's WXRK. By 1984, the Turtles' name had reverted back to the group, and Volman and Kaylan began touring with a new lineup as the Turtles...Featuring Flo & Eddie. Find out more about them at http://www.theturtles.com/

Research info gathered at: www.allmusic.com


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Fontella Bass

Fontella Bass (born July 3, 1940 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American soul singer, who is best known for the 1965 R&B hit "Rescue Me". The 1965 classic "Rescue Me" is widely regarded as the greatest record Aretha Franklin never made. The song in question was instead cut by singer Fontella Bass, who like Franklin channeled the power and passion of her gospel roots to create some of the finest music of soul's golden age. Bass was the daughter of gospel vocalist Martha Bass, a longtime member of the renowned Clara Ward Singers. Her grandmother Navada Carter was also a professional gospel performer, and it was inevitable that Fontella follow suit, making her church choir debut at age five.

Nevertheless, during the mid-'50s she rebelled against tradition, sneaking out of the house to sing secular R&B at local fairs and nightclubs. By 16, Bass was the house pianist at the St. Louis nightspot the Showbar, and in 1961 she joined local blues great Little Milton Campbell, later marrying the band's trumpeter, fledgling jazz titan Lester Bowie. Bass first earned notice for her vocal on Little Milton's 1962 hit "So Mean to Me," soon followed by her Bobbin label solo debut, "I Don't Hurt Anymore." But when Campbell and his pianist Oliver Sain parted ways, Bass exited along with Sain, who named her lead vocalist of his Oliver Sain Soul Revue. Her second single, the Ike Turner-produced "I Love the Man," followed on Turner's Prann label in 1963. Bass then cut "Poor Little Fool," a duet with Tina Turner issued on the Vesuvius imprint. And when she wasn't performing with Sain and his group, she moonlighted as a solo act, playing gigs across East St. Louis under the alias "Sabrina."

She relocated to Chicago in 1965 and scored the biggest hit of her career with her solo debut, "Rescue Me." A buoyant dance classic made memorable by Bass' impassioned, gritty vocal as well as the percolating bass of Chess session mainstay Louis Satterfield and Gene Barge's dynamic horn arrangement, the single topped the R&B charts for a month and crossed over to the pop Top Five. One of her all-time biggest-selling records in Chess' storied history, "Rescue Me" remains an unqualified classic of the era and is a staple of oldies radio to this day. She never received proper credit or the financial remuneration for co-writing the song, and her subsequent battles with Chess execs earned her a reputation as a malcontent. In ealry 1966 "Recuse Me" was followed by the soundalike "Recovery", reaching the R&B Top 20. As it turned out, her run as a hitmaker proved frustrating short, and after scoring a minor hit late that same year with " Sweet Lovin' Daddy," she never returned to the U.S. charts again.

She left Checker in 1969 and with husband Bowie — now a renowned avant-garde player best known for his work with the Art Ensemble of Chicago — relocated to Paris. There she collaborated with the group on an LP, the acclaimed The Art Ensemble of Chicago with Fontella Bass, but otherwise focused on raising a family until returning to St. Louis in 1971, renewing ties with Oliver Sain and signing to the Shreveport, LA-based Paula label.

The superb single "Who You Gonna Blame" anticipated the 1972 release of the Sain-produced Free, a remarkably soulful set that is by far the most memorable LP of Bass' career. Attention from radio and retail was negligible, however, and after subsequent singles including "Now That I've Found a Good Thing" and "It's Hard to Get Back In" flopped, she exited Paula in 1974, not resurfacing until three years later with the Epic single "Soon as I Touched Him."

Apart from occasional guest appearances with the Art Ensemble of Chicago, she spent the remainder of the 1970s and most of the 1980s as a homemaker, confining her musical pursuits to her Baptist church choir, but in 1990 she teamed with her mother and brother David Peaston for a gospel LP, Promises: A Family Portrait of Faith. Bass continued her return to spiritual music with the 1995 Nonesuch release No Ways Tired, touring Europe regularly in the years leading up to the 2001 appearance of her follow-up outing, Travellin', a collaboration with the Voices of St. Louis gospel choir issued on the Canadian indie Justin Time. Find out more at: http://www.fontellabass.com/

Research info gathered at: http://www.allmusic.com/


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Conway Twitty

The son of a riverboat captain, Twitty (born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, September 1, 1933; died June 5, 1993) was born in Mississippi and raised in Helena, AR, where he learned to love not only country, but also blues and gospel. When he was ten years old, he joined his first group, the Phillips Country Ramblers, who occasionally performed on local radio. Despite his interest in music, he originally planned to become a professional baseball player. Jenkins was talented enough to be offered a contract by the Philadelphia Phillies, but he was unable to join the team, since he was drafted into the Army during the Korean War. While he was serving in the Far East, he sang with a country band called the Cimarrons. Returning to America in 1956, Jenkins still had an open offer to join the Phillies, yet he decided to pursue a musical career after he heard Elvis Presley.

When he returned from the war he headed to Memphis and was signed by Sam Philips to a recording contract at Sun Records, but none of the tracks he cut were ever released; Jenkins' biggest contribution to the label was writing "Rock House," a minor hit for Roy Orbison. Leaving Sun in late 1956, he set out on a rockabilly package tour, during which he invented the stage name of Conway Twitty by combining the names of an Arkansas and Texas city, respectively. In 1957 he signed to Mercury Records, where he released a handful of singles that didn't make much of an impact. In 1958, he moved to MGM Records, where he finally achieved success with "It's Only Make Believe," a song he had written with Jack Nance. Recorded with vocal support by Presley's back group, the Jordanaires, "It's Only Make Believe" became a major hit, spending two weeks at number one and going gold. Over the course of 1959 and 1960, Twitty released a number of singles, the most popular of which were the Top Ten "Danny Boy" and "Lonely Blue Boy," and appeared in the B movies Sex Kittens Go to College, Platinum High School, and College Confidential.

Twitty's rock & roll fame arrived suddenly and it went away just as quickly. By the beginning of 1961, his singles had stopped entering the Top 40. Nevertheless, he continued to tour, but soon MGM dropped him from their roster. Signing with ABC-Paramount, he began to add more country songs to his repertoire, yet he was still primarily recording pop material. Once Ray Price took Twitty's "Walk Me to the Door" to the country Top Ten, Conway decided he wanted to become a country singer. By 1965 he had begun a collaboration with record producer Owen Bradley, one of the cornerstones of the Nashville sound, and had signed to Decca Records. In the spring of the following year, he released his first country single, "Guess My Eyes Were Bigger Than My Heart," which peaked at number 18. For the next two years, he had a steady stream of four minor hits, finally breaking into the Top Ten with "The Image of Me" in the spring of 1968, followed a few months later by his first number one hit, "Next in Line." For the next four years, he had a string of 12 Top Five singles for Decca, eight of which — including "I Love You More Today," "To See My Angel Cry," "Hello Darlin'," "Fifteen Years Ago," and "How Much More She Can Stand" — were number one hits.

In 1970 he began a professional relationship with Loretta Lynn, releasing their first duet, "After the Fire Is Gone," early in 1971. The record became the first of five straight number one country hits, which also included "Lead Me On," "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man," "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone," and "Feelins'." For the entire decade they continued to work together, releasing one album a year and racking up a total of 14 Top Ten hits; they also won four Duo of the Year awards from the Country Music Association, three Vocal Group of the Year honors from the Academy of Country Music, and one Grammy for Best Vocal Performance by a Group ("After the Fire Is Gone").

He had a remarkably consistent string of Top Ten singles for Decca until 1983. Most of which hit number one. Among his best-known hits from this era were "I See the Want To in Your Eyes," "Linda in My Mind," "Touch the Hand," "After All the Good Is Gone," "I've Already Loved You in My Mind," "Happy Birthday Darlin'," "Tight Fittin' Jeans," and "Red Neckin' Love Makin' Night." As he continued to rule the charts, Twitty expanded into other business ventures, including banking, property, a booking agency, and ultimately, a theme park called Twitty City. The size of his international popularity was confirmed when he re-recorded "Hello Darlin'" in Russian for a joint American/Soviet space mission.

He signed with Warner Bros. in 1983, where he had a string of hits over the next three years. Again, he covered several pop songs — the Eagles' "Heartache Tonight," the Commodores' "Three Times a Lady" — but he kept recording country songs, including the number ones "Somebody's Needin' Somebody," "I Don't Know a Thing About Love (The Moon Songs)," "Don't Call Him a Cowboy," and "Desperado Love," a 1986 chart-topper which proved to be his last number one. Though he continued to have Top Ten hits through the end of the decade, his success began to slip slightly in the early '90s, once new country forced older performers off the top of the charts. Nevertheless, he remained quite popular, selling both records and concert tickets, until his sudden death from an abdominal aneurysm in the summer of 1993. Immediately following his death, he was praised and mourned from all quarters of the public, not just country music fans, and his record of over 40 number one hits remains unlikely to be surpassed. Find out more about this country legend at: http://conway.musiccitynetworks.com/

Research info gathered at: www.allmusic.com


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Billy Preston

Billy Preston (9 September, 1946 - 6 June, 2006) was a child prodigy pianist. He performed with Mahalia Jackson at the age of 16 and appeared as a young W.C. Handy in a 1958 bio pic. His first solo record was a gospel album called “16 Year Old Soul”.

On tour backing Little Richard & Sam Cooke he met the Beatles (early in their career) in Hamburg, Germany (1962). He was later invited by George Harrison to join The Beatles in the studio for the filming/recording of Let It Be (1970). Preston’s most memorable performance with the Beatles is on the track "Get Back".

The apparent reason for the collaboration was the project was being done live—without overdubs—and the Beatles wanted a second keyboardist. Preston’s soulful style was to compliment the rhythm-and-blues approach the Beatles had for this album. His was a genre they’d grown up listening to and were reaching back to/paying tribute to.

While he was never considered for permanent membership in the Beatles (despite stories to the contrary), he did continue working with them through to the end of the 60s: releasing two solo albums on Apple Records (the Beatles’ label); collaborating with George Harrison on All Things Must Pass as well as joining in on The Concert for Bangladesh—one of the first significant benefit concerts of it’s kind (Madison Square Gardens,1972). He also later made an appearance in the Beatles tribute film “Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band” (1978), as the title character—Sgt. Pepper.

He also toured with The Rolling Stones playing on significant albums such as Sticky Fingers and “Exile on Main St." In the 1970s. He worked with Bob Dylan playing as an accompanist on the track Blood on the Tracks and Aretha Franklin’s record Young, Gifted and Black, and other artists including Barbra Streisand and Miles Davis and toured with Sly & The Family Stone for a time. He won a Grammy Award for best pop instrumental performance for “Outa Space” (1971). Preston penned Joe Cocker's 1975 smash hit "You Are So Beautiful" and appeared in the movie "The Blues Brothers".

In the 80s and 90s, Preston suffered substance abuse and financial issues and spent three years in prison in 1997 for a drugs possession charge handed out earlier that year (cocaine possession and assault).

His last recordings were on the Red Hot Chili Peppers “Stadium Arcadium” album and with Neil Diamond for his “12 songs” record, both produced by Rick Rubin. The US keyboard legend passed away at the age of 59 in a hospital in Scottsdale, Arizona, as a result of “malignant hypertension that resulted in kidney failure and other complications”. Visit the website in his honor at http://www.billypreston.net/

Reaserch info gathered at: www.lastfm.com


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