Showing posts with label Doo-wop. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Doo-wop. Show all posts

Friday, January 17, 2014

Paul Anka~ "Adam and Eve"


joeveesantos
Uploaded on Aug 20, 2010

Paul Anka~ "Adam And Eve"


Paul Albert Anka, OC (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor. Anka became famous in the late 1950s, '60s, and '70s with hit songs like "Diana", "Lonely Boy", "Put Your Head on My Shoulder", and "(You're) Having My Baby".

He wrote such well-known music as the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and one of Tom Jones's biggest hits, "She's a Lady", as well as the English lyrics for Frank Sinatra's signature song, "My Way" (originally the French song "Comme d'habitude").

In 1983, he co-wrote the song "I Never Heard" with Michael Jackson. It was retitled and released in 2009 under the name "This Is It".[1]

An additional song that Jackson co-wrote with Anka from this 1983 session, "Love Never Felt So Good", has since been discovered, and will be released in the future. The song was also released by Johnny Mathis in 1984.

Anka became a naturalized US citizen in 1990.


Paul Anka
PaulAnka07.jpg
Anka at the 2007 North Sea Jazz Festival
Background information
Birth name Paul Albert Anka
Born July 30, 1941 (age 72)
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada
Genres Pop, jazz, soft rock, doo-wop
Occupations Singer, songwriter
Instruments Vocals, piano, guitar
Years active 1955–present
Labels EMI Columbia, RCA, Columbia
Website Official website


Early life

 Anka was born to Andy and Camelia Anka in Ottawa, Ontario, where they owned a restaurant called the Locanda. His parents are both of Greek Orthodox Lebanese descent.[2] 

He sang with the St. Elias Antiochian Orthodox Church choir under the direction of Frederick Karam, with whom he studied music theory. He studied piano with Winnifred Rees. He attended Fisher Park High School, where he was part of a vocal trio called the Bobby Soxers.[3][4]


Early success


Paul Anka recorded his first single, "I Confess", when he was 14. In 1957 he went to New York City where he auditioned for Don Costa at ABC, singing what was widely believed to be a lovestruck verse he had written to a former babysitter.

 In an interview with NPR's Terry Gross in 2005, he stated that it was to a girl at his church whom he hardly knew.[5]

The song "Diana" brought Anka stardom as it rocketed to #1 on the Canadian and U.S. music charts.[6] "Diana" is one of the best selling singles ever by a Canadian recording artist.[7]

He followed up with four songs that made it into the Top 20 in 1958,[8] including "It's Time to Cry", which hit #4 and "(All Of a Sudden) My Heart Sings", which reached #15, making him (at 17) one of the biggest teen idols of the time.

He toured Britain, then Australia with Buddy Holly. Anka also wrote "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" – a song written for Holly, which Holly recorded just before he died in 1959. Anka stated shortly afterward:
"It Doesn't Matter Anymore" has a tragic irony about it now, but at least it will help look after Buddy Holly's family. I'm giving my composer's royalty to his widow – it's the least I can do.[9]
Paul Anka's talent included the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (reworked in 1962 from a song Anka wrote earlier called "Toot Sweet"; it had been rewritten with lyrics and recorded by Annette Funicello in 1959 as "It's Really Love").

Anka composed Tom Jones's biggest hit record, "She's a Lady", and wrote the English lyrics to "My Way", Frank Sinatra's signature song. In the 1960s Anka began acting in motion pictures as well as writing songs for them, most notably the theme for the hit film The Longest Day, in which he made a cameo appearance as a US Army Ranger.
 

Paul Anka at Gröna Lund, Stockholm 1959.

For his film work he wrote and recorded one of his greatest hits, "Lonely Boy". He also wrote and recorded "My Home Town", which was a #8 pop hit for him the same year. He then went on to become one of the first pop singers to perform at the Las Vegas casinos. In 1960 he appeared twice as himself in NBC's short-lived crime drama Dan Raven.


Paul Anka's star on Canada's Walk of Fame.
In 1960, Anka signed with RCA Victor, but like most North American recording artists saw his career stalled by the British Invasion.

By the late 1960s, his career focused on adult contemporary and big-band standards, played regularly in Las Vegas. In the early 1970s he signed with Buddah Records.

After more than ten years without a top 25 hit record, he signed with United Artists and in 1974 teamed up with Odia Coates to record the #1 hit, "(You're) Having My Baby".

The two would record two more duets that made it into the Top 10, "One Man Woman/One Woman Man" (#7) and "I Don't Like to Sleep Alone" (#8), and the #15 duet "(I Believe) There's Nothing Stronger Than Our Love".


Anka in 1961.

In 1975 he recorded a jingle for Kodak written by Bill Lane (lyrics) and Roger Nichols (melody) called "Times of Your Life".

It became so popular Anka recorded it as a full song, which peaked at #7 in the U.S. pop chart in 1976. The follow-up was another hit that Anka wrote for Sinatra, "Anytime (I'll Be There)", peaking at #33.

Anka's last Top 40 hit in the U.S. was in the summer of 1983: "Hold Me 'Til The Mornin' Comes", which included backing vocals from then-Chicago frontman Peter Cetera; it hit #2 on the Hot Adult Contemporary chart.[10]

Source: Wikipedia





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Tuesday, October 30, 2012

Gene Chandler~ "Duke of Earl"



Gene Chandler (born Eugene Dixon, July 6, 1937)[1] also known as "The Duke of Earl" or simply "The Duke", is an American R&B and soul singer-songwriter, producer and record executive.

He is one of the leading exponents of the 1960s Chicago soul scene.[1]

He is best known for his million-selling hits, "Duke Of Earl," and "Groovy Situation," and his associations with the Dukays, the Impressions and Curtis Mayfield.

A Grammy Hall Of Fame inductee, and winner of the National Association of Television and Radio Announcers Producer of the Year Award, and the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Pioneer Award, and one of the few artists to chart hit records during the doo-wop, rhythm and blues, soul, and disco eras.

Between 1961 and 1986 Chandler has had forty Pop and R&B chart hits.

"Duke of Earl"
Single by Gene Chandler
B-side Kissin' In The Kitchen[1]
Released January 13, 1962
Format 7" vinyl
Recorded 1961[2]
Genre Soul, doo-wop
Length 2:23
Label Vee-Jay Records
Writer(s) Gene Chandler, Earl Edwards, Bernice Williams
Gene Chandler
Birth name Eugene Dixon
Born July 6, 1937 (age 75)
Chicago, Illinois, United States
Genres R&B, soul
Occupations Singer-songwriter, record producer, record company executive
Years active 1957–present
Website www.genechandler.com

 Early years 

Chandler attended Englewood High School on Chicago's south side. 

He began performing in the early 1950s with the Gay-tones.

In 1957, he joined a doo-wop group, The Dukays, with James Lowe, Shirley Jones, Earl Edwards and Ben Broyles, soon becoming their lead singer.

After his draft into the US Army he returned to Chicago in 1960 and rejoined the Dukays.

Career 

The Dukays were offered a recording contract by Nat Records and recorded a single with producers Carl Davis and Bill "Bunky" Sheppard, "The Girl Is a Devil" (1961).

This recording was followed with a session in August 1961 with four sides, most notably "Nite Owl" and "Duke of Earl."

Nat Records chose to release "Nite Owl," and it became a sizable r&b hit at the end of 1961.

Meanwhile, Davis and Sheppard shopped the "Duke of Earl" recording to Vee-Jay Records, which picked it but released it as by a solo artist, Eugene Dixon, who was renamed "Gene Chandler."

"Duke of Earl" sold a million copies in just over one month.[2]

After spending three weeks at number one on the Billboard Magazine charts, Chandler purchased a cape, a monocle, a top hat and a cane and became "The Duke of Earl".

Chandler can be seen in the full 'Duke' outfit singing "The Duke of Earl" in the movie Don't Knock the Twist 1962, starring Chubby Checker.

His concerts became popular and he performed encores, usually "Rainbow '65," one of his collaborations with Curtis Mayfield.

This song was recorded by Chandler three times during his career, becoming a hit each time.

Chandler left Vee Jay in the fall of 1963 and recorded for Constellation Records.

After Constellation went under in 1966, he was signed first to Chess Records and then Brunswick Records.

 For a time Chess and Brunswick alternated with each other when releasing Chandler's recordings.

He had a Top 20 Pop hits on Constellation with "Just Be True" (1964) and "Nothing Can Stop Me" (1965), both songs written by Curtis Mayfield and produced by Carl Davis.

Other hits included "What Now", "Rainbow", "I Fooled You This Time", "Think Nothing About It"', "A Man's Temptation", "To Be A Lover", "Rainbow '65" (recorded live at Chicago's Regal Theater), "Bless Our Love", and "You Can't Hurt Me No More."

These songs enabled Gene to successfully shed his "Duke Of Earl" typecasting, and go on to become a major R&B star.[3]

Chandler also had success with his hit cover of James Brown's "There Was A Time" and "You Threw A Lucky Punch", which was released as an "answer" song to Mary Wells's Motown hit "You Beat Me To The Punch".

In 1970, Chandler recorded the album Gene and Jerry: One on One, with Jerry Butler.

After a number of years on the road, Chandler decided to become more involved with production of music.

He produced, wrote, and had a major hit with "Groovy Situation", arranged by Richard Evans (of "Soulful Strings" fame), Mercury Records (1970), which reached #12 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and #8 on the Billboard R&B chart, becoming his second biggest hit since "Duke Of Earl".

"Groovy Situation" sold more than a million copies, and received a gold disc awarded by the R.I.A.A. in November 1970.[4]

The hits he recorded and produced earned him The National Association of Television and Radio Announcers Producer of the Year Award in 1970, against competition from other nominees including Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff and Norman Whitfield.[5]

He also appeared with The Impressions and Curtis Mayfield on the live album Curtis in Chicago (1973).

Chandler appeared on Arthur Louis's album Knocking on Heaven's Door (1974) alongside Eric Clapton.

 Later he had success with disco music, creating hits such as "Get Down" (1978), "When You're #1", "Does She Have A Friend?" and "Rainbow '80".[1]

During this time he was also the Executive Vice President of Chi Sound Records and worked with reggae star Johnny Nash. In the late 1970s, an interest in older musicians inspired the US DJ Wolfman Jack to put together a tour including vintage acts such as Chandler.

"Duke of Earl" was sampled by Cypress Hill, on the song "Hand on the Pump" from their album Cypress Hill (1991); plus Chandler's song "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" was sampled on their album Black Sunday (1993).

In Argentina, where Cris Morena was the host of a popular teenage programe Jugate Conmigo, the song was included on the main intro on the fiction novel, inside the program called: "Life College" (1994).

In 1997, Chandler was inducted as a Pioneer Award honoree into the Rhythm and Blues Foundation.

Chandler's "Tomorrow I May Not Feel the Same" was sampled by Reflection Eternal on the song "Ghetto Afterlife" from Train of Thought (2000).

In 1988, "Duke of Earl" was included on the soundtrack of Hairspray. "Groovy Situation" appeared on Anchorman: Music from the Motion Picture (2004).

In 2002, "Duke Of Earl" was inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame.[6] Groovemaster K. and 88-Keys sampled Chandler's "When You're #1" for their song "Frisco Disco".[7]

His smash # 1 hit "Duke Of Earl" has also been selected by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll . [8] [9]

Chandler still performs in Chicago, Las Vegas and elsewhere in the US.

Source: Wikipedia.org




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