Showing posts with label rock and roll. Show all posts
Showing posts with label rock and roll. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 24, 2016

Chuck Berry~ "Sweet Little Sixteen"




Charles Edward Anderson "Chuck" Berry (born October 18, 1926) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter, and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music.

With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics focusing on teen life and consumerism and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.[1]

Born into a middle-class African-American family in St. Louis, Missouri, Berry had an interest in music from an early age and gave his first public performance at Sumner High School.

While still a high school student he was arrested, and served a prison sentence for armed robbery from 1944 to 1947.

After his release, Berry settled into married life and worked at an automobile assembly plant. By early 1953, influenced by the guitar riffs and showmanship techniques of blues player T-Bone Walker, Berry began performing with the Johnnie Johnson Trio.[2]

His break came when he traveled to Chicago in May 1955, and met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records.

With Chess he recorded "Maybellene"—Berry's adaptation of the country song "Ida Red"—which sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart.

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was an established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name as well as a lucrative touring career.

He had also established his own St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand.

But in January 1962, Berry was sentenced to three years in prison for offenses under the Mann Act—he had transported a 14-year-old girl across state lines.[2][3][4]

After his release in 1963, Berry had more hits in the mid 60's, including "No Particular Place to Go," "You Never Can Tell," and "Nadine." By the mid-1970s, he was more in demand as a nostalgic live performer, playing his past hits with local backup bands of variable quality.[2]

In 1979 he served 120 days in prison for tax evasion.

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986, with the comment that he "laid the groundwork for not only a rock and roll sound but a rock and roll stance."[5]

Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists, including being ranked fifth on their 2004 list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.[6]

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame's 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll included three of Berry's songs: "Johnny B. Goode," "Maybellene," and "Rock and Roll Music."[7]

 Berry's "Johnny B. Goode" is the only rock and roll song included on the Voyager Golden Record.[8]

He continues to play live, performing monthly at Blueberry Hill restaurant in St. Louis.


Chuck Berry
Chuck Berry 1971.JPG
Chuck Berry in 1957
Background information
Birth name Charles Edward Anderson Berry
Born October 18, 1926 (age 89)
St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Origin St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Genres Rock and roll
Occupation(s) Musician, singer, songwriter
Instruments Guitar, vocals
Years active 1955–present
Labels Chess, Mercury, Atco
Associated acts Johnnie Johnson, T-Bone Walker, Muddy Waters
Website www.chuckberry.com
Notable instruments
Gibson ES-350
Gibson ES-355

 

 

Early life and apprenticeship with Johnnie Johnson (1926–54)

Born in St. Louis, Missouri,[9] Berry was the fourth child in a family of six. He grew up in the north St. Louis neighborhood known as The Ville, an area where many middle class St. Louis people lived at the time.

His father, Henry, was a contractor and deacon of a nearby Baptist church, his mother Martha a certified public school principal.

His middle class upbringing allowed him to pursue his interest in music from an early age and he gave his first public performance in 1941 while still at Sumner High School.[10]

Just three years later, in 1944, while still at Sumner High School, he was arrested and convicted of armed robbery after robbing three shops in Kansas City and then stealing a car at gunpoint with some friends.[11][12]

 Berry's own account in his autobiography is that his car broke down and he then flagged down a passing car and stole it at gunpoint with a non-functional pistol.[13]

Berry was sent to the Intermediate Reformatory for Young Men at Algoa, near Jefferson City, Missouri,[9] where he formed a singing quartet and did some boxing.[11]

The singing group became competent enough that the authorities allowed it to perform outside the detention facility.[14] After his release from prison on his 21st birthday in 1947, Berry married Themetta "Toddy" Suggs on October 28, 1948, who gave birth to Darlin Ingrid Berry on October 3, 1950.[15]

Berry supported his family doing a number of jobs in St. Louis: working briefly as a factory worker at two automobile assembly plants, as well as being janitor for the apartment building where he and his wife lived.

 Afterwards he trained as a beautician at the Poro College of Cosmetology, founded by Annie Turnbo Malone.[16]

He was doing well enough by 1950 to buy a "small three room brick cottage with a bath" in Whittier Street,[17] which is now listed as the Chuck Berry House on the National Register of Historic Places.[18]

By the early 1950s, Berry was working with local bands in the clubs of St. Louis as an extra source of income.[16]

He had been playing the blues since his teens, and he borrowed both guitar riffs and showmanship techniques from blues player T-Bone Walker,[19] as well as taking guitar lessons from his friend Ira Harris that laid the foundation for his guitar style.[20]


By early 1953 Berry was performing with Johnnie Johnson's trio, starting a long-time collaboration with the pianist.[21]

Although the band played mostly blues and ballads, the most popular music among whites in the area was country.

Berry wrote, "Curiosity provoked me to lay a lot of our country stuff on our predominantly black audience and some of our black audience began whispering 'who is that black hillbilly at the Cosmo?'

After they laughed at me a few times they began requesting the hillbilly stuff and enjoyed dancing to it."[9]


Berry's calculated showmanship, along with mixing country tunes with R&B tunes, and singing in the style of Nat King Cole to the music of Muddy Waters, brought in a wider audience, particularly affluent white people.[2][22]

Signing with Chess: "Maybellene" to "Come On" (1955–62)

In May 1955, Berry traveled to Chicago where he met Muddy Waters, who suggested he contact Leonard Chess of Chess Records.

Berry thought his blues material would be of most interest to Chess, but to his surprise it was an old country and western recording by Bob Wills,[23] entitled "Ida Red" that got Chess's attention.

Chess had seen the rhythm and blues market shrink and was looking to move beyond it, and he thought Berry might be the artist for that purpose.

So on May 21, 1955 Berry recorded an adaptation of "Ida Red"—"Maybellene"—which featured Johnnie Johnson on piano, Jerome Green (from Bo Diddley's band) on the maracas, Jasper Thomas on the drums and Willie Dixon on the bass.

"Maybellene" sold over a million copies, reaching number one on Billboard's Rhythm and Blues chart and number five on the September 10, 1955 Billboard Best Sellers in Stores chart.[9][24]


At the end of June 1956, his song "Roll Over Beethoven" reached number 29 on the Billboard Top 100 chart, and Berry toured as one of the "Top Acts of '56." He and Carl Perkins became friends. Perkins said that "I knew when I first heard Chuck that he'd been affected by country music.

I respected his writing; his records were very, very great." As they toured, Perkins discovered that Berry not only liked country music, but knew about as many songs as he did. Jimmie Rodgers was one of his favorites.

"Chuck knew every Blue Yodel and most of Bill Monroe's songs as well," Perkins remembered. "He told me about how he was raised very poor, very tough. He had a hard life. He was a good guy. I really liked him."[25]


In late 1957, Berry took part in Alan Freed's "Biggest Show of Stars for 1957" United States tour with the Everly Brothers, Buddy Holly, and others.[26]

He also guest starred on ABC's The Guy Mitchell Show, having sung his hit song "Rock 'n' Roll Music."

The hits continued from 1957 to 1959, with Berry scoring over a dozen chart singles during this period, including the top 10 US hits "School Days," "Rock and Roll Music," "Sweet Little Sixteen," and "Johnny B. Goode".

He appeared in two early rock and roll movies. The first was Rock Rock Rock, (1956) in which he sings "You Can't Catch Me."

He had a speaking role as himself in Go, Johnny, Go! (1959) along with Alan Freed, and performs his songs "Johnny B. Goode," "Memphis, Tennessee," and "Little Queenie."

His performance of "Sweet Little Sixteen" at the Newport Jazz Festival in 1958 is captured in the motion picture Jazz on a Summer's Day.[27]

By the end of the 1950s, Berry was a high-profile established star with several hit records and film appearances to his name, as well as a lucrative touring career. He had opened a racially integrated St. Louis-based nightclub, called Berry's Club Bandstand, and was investing in real estate.[28]

But in December 1959, Berry was arrested under the Mann Act after questionable allegations that he had sexual intercourse with a 14-year-old Apache waitress, Janice Escalante,[29] whom he had transported over state lines to work as a hat check girl at his club.[30]

After an initial two-week trial in March 1960, Berry was convicted, fined $5,000, and sentenced to five years in prison.[31]

Berry's appeal that the judge's comments and attitude were racist and prejudiced the jury against him was upheld,[3][32] and a second trial was heard in May and June 1961,[33] which resulted in Berry being given a three-year prison sentence.[34]

After another appeal failed, Berry served one and one half years in prison from February 1962 to October 1963.[35]

Berry had continued recording and performing during the trials, though his output had slowed down as his popularity declined; his final single released before being imprisoned was "Come On".[36]


"Nadine" and move to Mercury (1963–69)

Chuck Berry and his sister Lucy Ann (1965)
 
 
When Berry was released from prison in 1963, his return to recording and performing was made easier due to the British invasion acts of the 1960s—most notably the Beatles and the Rolling Stones—having kept up an interest in his music by releasing cover versions of his songs,[37][38] along with other bands reworking them, such as the Beach Boys' 1963 hit "Surfin' U.S.A.", based on Berry's "Sweet Little Sixteen".[39]

In 1964–65 Berry released eight singles, including three, "No Particular Place to Go" (a humorous reworking of "School Days" concerning the introduction of car seat belts),[40] "You Never Can Tell", and the rocking "Nadine",[41] which achieved commercial success, reaching the top 20 of the Billboard 100.

Between 1966 and 1969 Berry released five albums on the Mercury label, including his first live album Live at Fillmore Auditorium in which he was backed by the Steve Miller Band.[42][43]

While this was not a successful period for studio work,[44] Berry was still a top concert draw. In May 1964, he did a successful tour of the UK,[40] but when he returned in January 1965 his behavior was erratic and moody, and his touring style of using unrehearsed local backing bands and a strict non-negotiable contract was earning him a reputation as a difficult yet unexciting performer.[45]

He also played at large events in North America, such as the Schaefer Music Festival in New York City's Central Park in July 1969, and the Toronto Rock and Roll Revival festival in October.[46]


Back to Chess: "My Ding-a-Ling" to White House concert (1970–79)

Berry helped give life to a subculture ... Even "My Ding-a-Ling", a fourth-grade wee-wee joke that used to mortify true believers at college concerts, permitted a lot of twelve-year-olds new insight into the moribund concept of "dirty" when it hit the airwaves ...
Robert Christgau[47]
Berry returned to Chess from 1970 to 1973.

There were no hit singles from the 1970 album Back Home, but in 1972 Chess released a live recording of "My Ding-a-Ling", a novelty song which he had recorded in a different version on his 1968 LP From St. Louie to Frisco as "My Tambourine".[48]

The track became his only number one single.

A live recording of "Reelin' And Rockin'" was also issued as a follow-up single that same year and would prove to be Berry's final top-40 hit in both the US and the UK.

Both singles were featured on the part-live/part-studio album The London Chuck Berry Sessions which was one of a series of London Sessions albums which included other Chess mainstay artists Muddy Waters and Howlin' Wolf.

Berry's second tenure with Chess ended with the 1975 album Chuck Berry, after which he did not make a studio record until 1979's Rock It for Atco Records, his last studio album to date.[49]


In the 1970s Berry toured on the basis of his earlier successes. He was on the road for many years, carrying only his Gibson guitar, confident that he could hire a band that already knew his music no matter where he went.

AllMusic has said that in this period his "live performances became increasingly erratic, ... working with terrible backup bands and turning in sloppy, out-of-tune performances" which "tarnished his reputation with younger fans and oldtimers" alike.[50]

Among the many bandleaders performing a backup role with Berry were Bruce Springsteen and Steve Miller when each was just starting his career.

Springsteen related in the video Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll that Berry did not even give the band a set list and just expected the musicians to follow his lead after each guitar intro.

Berry neither spoke to nor thanked the band after the show. Nevertheless, Springsteen backed Berry again when he appeared at the concert for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995.

At the request of Jimmy Carter, Berry performed at the White House on June 1, 1979.[43]


Berry's type of touring style, traveling the "oldies" circuit in the 1970s (where he was often paid in cash by local promoters) added ammunition to the Internal Revenue Service's accusations that Berry was a chronic income tax evader.

Facing criminal sanction for the third time, Berry pleaded guilty to tax evasion and was sentenced to four months in prison and 1,000 hours of community service—doing benefit concerts—in 1979.[51]

Still on the road (1980–present)

Berry performing live in 1997
 
 
Berry continued to play 70 to 100 one-nighters per year in the 1980s, still traveling solo and requiring a local band to back him at each stop.

In 1986, Taylor Hackford made a documentary film, Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll, of a celebration concert for Berry's sixtieth birthday, organized by Keith Richards.[52]

Eric Clapton, Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray and Linda Ronstadt, among others, appeared with Berry on stage and film. During the concert, Berry played a Gibson ES-355, the luxury version of the ES-335 that he favored on his 1970s tours. Richards played a black Fender Telecaster Custom, Cray a Fender Stratocaster and Clapton a Gibson ES 350T, the same guitar Berry used on his early recordings.[53]


In the late 1980s, Berry bought a restaurant in Wentzville, Missouri, called The Southern Air,[54] and in 1990 he was sued by several women who claimed that he had installed a video camera in the ladies' bathroom. Berry claimed that he had the camera installed to catch red-handed a worker who was suspected of stealing from the restaurant. Though his guilt was never proven in court, Berry opted for a class action settlement with 59 women. Berry's biographer, Bruce Pegg, estimated that it cost Berry over $1.2 million plus legal fees.[55]

 It was during this time that he began using Wayne T. Schoeneberg as his legal counsel. Reportedly, a police raid on his house did find videotapes of women using the restroom, and one of the women was a minor.

Also found in the raid were 62 grams of marijuana. Felony drug and child-abuse charges were filed. In order to avoid the child-abuse charges, Berry agreed to plead guilty to misdemeanor possession of marijuana.

He was given a six-month suspended jail sentence, two years' unsupervised probation, and ordered to donate $5,000 to a local hospital.[56]


In November 2000, Berry again faced legal charges when he was sued by his former pianist Johnnie Johnson, who claimed that he co-wrote over 50 songs, including "No Particular Place to Go", "Sweet Little Sixteen" and "Roll Over Beethoven", that credit Berry alone. The case was dismissed when the judge ruled that too much time had passed since the songs were written.[57]


In 2008, Berry toured Europe, with stops in Sweden, Norway, Finland, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands, Ireland, Switzerland, Poland and Spain. In mid-2008, he played at Virgin Festival in Baltimore, Maryland.[58]

 He presently lives in Ladue, Missouri, approximately 10 miles west of St. Louis.[59]

During a New Year's Day 2011 concert in Chicago, Berry, suffering from exhaustion, passed out and had to be helped off stage.[60]

He usually performs one Wednesday each month at Blueberry Hill, a restaurant and bar located in the Delmar Loop neighborhood in St. Louis.

Legacy

While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together. It was his particular genius to graft country & western guitar licks onto a rhythm & blues chassis in his very first single, "Maybellene."
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame[61]
A pioneer of rock music, Berry was a significant influence on the development of both the music and the attitude associated with the rock music lifestyle.

With songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll Over Beethoven" (1956), "Rock and Roll Music" (1957) and "Johnny B. Goode" (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive, with lyrics successfully aimed to appeal to the early teenage market by using graphic and humorous descriptions of teen dances, fast cars, high-school life, and consumer culture,[2] and utilizing guitar solos and showmanship that would be a major influence on subsequent rock music.[1]

His records are a rich storehouse of the essential lyrical, showmanship and musical components of rock and roll; and, in addition to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, a large number of significant popular-music performers have recorded Berry's songs.[2]

Though not technically accomplished, his guitar style is distinctive—he incorporated electronic effects to mimic the sound of bottleneck blues guitarists, and drew on the influence of guitar players such as Charlie Christian and T-Bone Walker[2] to produce a clear and exciting sound that many later guitar musicians would acknowledge as a major influence in their own style.[56]

Berry's showmanship has been influential on other rock guitar players,[62] particularly his one-legged hop routine,[63] and the "duck walk",[64] which he first used as a child when he walked "stooping with full-bended knees, but with my back and head vertical" under a table to retrieve a ball and his family found it entertaining; he used it when "performing in New York for the first time and some journalist branded it the duck walk."[65][66]


The rock critic Robert Christgau considers him "the greatest of the rock and rollers,"[67] while John Lennon said, "if you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it 'Chuck Berry'."[68] Ted Nugent said "If you don't know every Chuck Berry lick, you can't play rock guitar."[69]


Among the honors Berry has received have been the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1984,[70] the Kennedy Center Honors in 2000,[71] and being named seventh on Time magazine's 2009 list of the 10 best electric guitar players of all time.[72]

On May 14, 2002, Berry was honored as one of the first BMI Icons at the 50th annual BMI Pop Awards. He was presented the award along with BMI affiliates Bo Diddley and Little Richard.[73]

In August 2014, Berry was made a laureate of the Polar Music Prize.[74]

Berry is included in several Rolling Stone "Greatest of All Time" lists. In September 2003, the magazine named him number 6 in their list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".[75]

This was followed in November of the same year by his compilation album The Great Twenty-Eight being ranked 21st in the Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.[76]

The following year, in March 2004, Berry was ranked fifth out of "The Immortals – The 100 Greatest Artists of All Time".[6][77]

In December 2004, six of his songs were included in the "Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time", namely "Johnny B. Goode" (#7), "Maybellene" (#18), "Roll Over Beethoven" (#97), "Rock and Roll Music" (#128), "Sweet Little Sixteen" (#272) and "Brown Eyed Handsome Man" (#374).[78] In June 2008, his song "Johnny B. Goode" ranked first place in the "100 Greatest Guitar Songs of All Time".[79]

Source: Wikipedia.org 

Somebody Come and Play In the Traffic With Me! Earn as You Learn, Grow as You Go!


The Man Inside the Man
from
Sinbad the Sailor Man
A
JMK's Production

 

Share this page, If you liked It Pass it on, If you loved It Follow Me!



TTFN
CYA Later Taters!
Thanks for watching.
Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Somebody Come and Play in "Traffic" with me. If you would like to "Join" A Growing Biz Op! Here is Your Chance to get in an Earn While You Learn to Do "The Thing" with us all here at Traffic Authority.

Simply click this link and Grow as you Go Come and Play In Traffic With Me and My Team at Traffic Authority!

P.S. Everybody Needs Traffic! Get Top Tier North American Traffic Here!

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,

Monday, February 22, 2016

The Troggs~ "Wild Thing"



The Troggs (originally called The Troglodytes)[1][2] are an English rock band formed in Andover, Hampshire in 1964.

They had a number of hits in the United Kingdom and the United States.

Their most famous songs include the U.S. chart-topper "Wild Thing", "With a Girl Like You" and "Love Is All Around", all of which sold over 1 million copies and were awarded gold discs.[3]

"Wild Thing" is ranked #257 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time and was an influence on garage rock and punk rock.[4]



The Troggs
The Troggs (1966).png
The Troggs in 1966. L-R: Pete Staples, Ronnie Bond, Chris Britton and Reg Presley
Background information
Origin Andover, Hampshire, England
Genres Rock and roll, garage rock, blues rock, protopunk
Years active 1964–present
Labels Fontana, Page One, Penny Farthing
Website my-generation.org.uk/Troggs

Members Chris Britton
Dave Maggs
Pete Lucas
Chris Allen

Past members Reg Presley
Richard Moore
Dave Wright
Pete Staples
Ronnie Bond
Tony Murray
Colin Fletcher

 

 

History

The Troggs in 1971
 
 
Reg Presley (vocals) and Ronnie Bond (drums) were childhood friends and in the early 1960s formed an R&B band in their home town of Andover.[5]

In 1964 they were joined by Pete Staples (bass guitar) and Chris Britton (guitar) and became the Troggs.[5]

They were signed by Larry Page, manager of the Kinks, in 1965.

They recorded on Page's Page One Records, and Page also leased them to CBS for debut single "Lost Girl".[1]

Their most famous hit was the single "Wild Thing" (written by Chip Taylor) (the song on the b-side of the single depended on the country where it was sold), which with the help of television exposure on Thank Your Lucky Stars reached number 2 in the UK (c/w Reg Presley's song "From Home") and number 1 in the United States in July 1966.

Its combination of a simple heavy guitar riff and flirtatious lyrics helped it to quickly become a garage rock standard.

It was recorded in one complete take (take two) at Olympic Studios in London, with Keith Grant engineering.

Because of a dispute over US distribution rights, "Wild Thing" was released (along with the first album of the same name) on two labels: Fontana and Atco.[6]

The band's success in the US was also limited by not touring there until 1968.[7]

They also had a number of other hits, including "With a Girl Like You" (a UK number 1 in July 1966, US number 29), "I Can't Control Myself" (a UK number 2 in September 1966; their first UK single release on the Page One label, POF 001; this was also their second and final dual-label release in the US, with Fontana retaining the rights to all subsequent releases),[8]

"Anyway That You Want Me" (UK number 10 in December 1966), all at Olympic Studios, "Give It To Me" (UK No.12 1967), "Night of the Long Grass" (UK number 17 in May 1967), "Love Is All Around" (UK number 5 in November 1967 and US number 7 in May 1968) plus "Hi Hi Hazel" (UK No.42, 1967) .

With chart success later eluding the band, they split up in March 1969.[1]

Ronnie Bond was the first to release a solo record, with the "Anything For You" single in March 1969, followed in April by Reg Presley with "Lucinda Lee". Chris Britton released a solo album, As I Am, the same year.

The band reformed later that year, with former Plastic Penny bassist Tony Murray replacing Staples, and in 1974, after a spell on Pye Records, in an attempt to re-create their 1960s successes, the Troggs re-united with Larry Page, now running Penny Farthing Records.

The resulting cover version of the Beach Boys hit "Good Vibrations" did not capture the public's imagination.

A reggae version of "Wild Thing" also failed to chart.

The band found a sympathetic ear at French label New Rose in the 1980s, the label releasing 1982's Black Bottom LP and 1990's AU.

In 1991, they recorded Athens Andover, an eleven-song collaboration between themselves and three members of R.E.M.[7]

It was recorded in the American band's hometown of Athens, Georgia, and was released in March 1992.[1]

The band attempted to capitalize on this new exposure with a couple of bizarre collaborations on new versions of "Wild Thing".

In 1992 they teamed up with actor Oliver Reed and snooker player Alex Higgins, with another version the following year featuring Wolf from the TV show Gladiators, which actually reached number 69 in the UK Singles Chart.[1]

In 1994 Wet Wet Wet's cover of "Love Is All Around" was #1 in the UK for 15 weeks, netting Presley a handsome royalty.

The band's original drummer, Ronnie Bond, died on 13 November 1992.

Dave Wright, another founding member, died on 10 October 2008.

In January 2012, after over 40 years of touring, Reg Presley retired due to lung cancer, apparently ending the Troggs.

However, the remaining members, Chris Britton (guitar), Pete Lucas (bass) and Dave Maggs (drums), plan to continue the Troggs and are going back on the road.

 They are joined by Chris Allen on lead vocals, who has been in the Denny Laine Band, the Commitments and part-time with the Animals. Reg Presley died on 4 February 2013 at age 71.[9]

Legacy and influence

The Troggs are widely seen as a highly influential band whose sound was an inspiration for garage rock and punk rock.[4]

Influential American critic Lester Bangs "called the band the progenitors of punk", according to NPR.[10]

For example, the Troggs influenced artists such as Iggy Pop,[11] and the early version of British pop-punk pioneers Buzzcocks featured "I Can't Control Myself" in their live repertoire.

The Ramones are also amongst punk bands who cited the Troggs as an influence.

"I Can't Control Myself" is perhaps the most enduring favorite of critics; it continues to be championed for its originality and lasting influence by radio hosts such as "Little" Steven Van Zandt.

The MC5 covered "I Want You" at their live shows and recorded the song for the album Kick Out the Jams, although they renamed it "I Want You Right Now".

The Jimi Hendrix Experience famously covered "Wild Thing" during their appearance at the 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, introducing it as the British/American joint "national anthem", and climaxing with Hendrix burning his guitar.[7]

More recently performing a live version of "Wild Thing" featuring Queen guitarist, Brian May to open the rockers 'Wildlife Rocks' event at Guildford Cathedral in May 2014.

A specially-tailored version of "Give It To Me" featured in the Sadie's Daydream sequence of Michelangelo Antonioni's 1966 film Blowup.

In 1990, the first hit for (and first single by) the band Spiritualized was a cover of "Anyway That You Want Me".

This cover was later used in the movie Me and You and Everyone We Know.
"With a Girl Like You" is featured uncut in a school dance scene from the 1991 Nicole Kidman/Noah Taylor movie, Flirting.

It is also featured in Shine, The Good Night and The Boat That Rocked.

In 1991, "Love Is All Around" was covered by R.E.M. during live performances and was released later that year as a B-side on their "Radio Song" single.

They also performed an acoustic version of the song on MTV Unplugged.

In 1994, Scottish band Wet Wet Wet's version of Love Is All Around spent fifteen weeks at number one in the UK after its inclusion in Four Weddings and a Funeral.

The authorship royalties enabled Reg Presley's 1990s research and publication on extraterrestrials and other paranormal phenomena.

The point-and-click adventure game Hopkins FBI features "I Can't Control Myself" and "Lost Girl".

A modified version of "Love Is All Around" was featured in the film Love Actually (2003), performed by actor Bill Nighy.

"The Troggs" was the name of the high school gang in the movie Bang Bang, You're Dead, who persuade the main character to join them in attacking their high school.

"Trogg" is the name of one of Bane's three henchmen in Dennis O'Neil's Batman: Knightfall comic arc.

The other henchmen are Byrd and Zombie, named after two other popular '60s rock bands, the Byrds and the Zombies.

An in-studio tape of Reg Presley's running commentary on a recording session, filled with in-fighting and swearing (known as The Troggs Tapes), was widely circulated in the music underground, and was included in the Archaeology box set, as well as the compilation album, The Rhino Brothers Present the World's Worst Records.

The in-group infighting is believed to be the inspiration for a scene in the comedy film, This is Spinal Tap, where the band members are arguing.

Some of this dialogue was sampled by the California punk band The Dwarves on their recording of a cover version of the Troggs song "Strange Movies".

In 2012, Norwegian band Ulver covered the song "66-5-4-3-2-1" for their covers album Childhood's End.

Source: Wikipedia.org 


Somebody Come and Play In the Traffic With Me! Earn as You Learn, Grow as You Go!


The Man Inside the Man
from
Sinbad the Sailor Man
A
JMK's Production

 

Share this page, If you liked It Pass it on, If you loved It Follow Me!



TTFN
CYA Later Taters!
Thanks for watching.
Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Somebody Come and Play in "Traffic" with me. If you would like to "Join" A Growing Biz Op! Here is Your Chance to get in an Earn While You Learn to Do "The Thing" with us all here at Traffic Authority.

Simply click this link and Grow as you Go Come and Play In Traffic With Me and My Team at Traffic Authority!

P.S. Everybody Needs Traffic! Get Top Tier North American Traffic Here!
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , , ,

Saturday, February 6, 2016

Conway Twitty~ "The Clown"



Conway Twitty (born Harold Lloyd Jenkins; September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993) was an American musician and singer.

He had success in the country, rock, R&B, and pop genres. From 1971 to 1976, Twitty received a string of Country Music Association awards for duets with Loretta Lynn.

Although never a member of the Grand Ole Opry, he was inducted into both the Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame.





Conway Twitty
Conway Twitty 1974.JPG
1974 promotional photo
Background information
Birth name Harold Lloyd Jenkins
Born September 1, 1933
Friars Point, Coahoma County, Mississippi, U.S.
Origin Helena, Phillips County
Arkansas
Died June 5, 1993 (aged 59)
Springfield, Missouri, U.S.
Genres Country, rock and roll
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar
Years active 1956(officially 1958)-1993
Labels MCA, Elektra, MGM, Decca, Sun Records, Warner Bros. Records
Associated acts Loretta Lynn, Sam Moore, Jerry Lee Lewis, The Twitty Bird Band, Joni Lee

 

 

Awards

Academy of Country Music
Country Music Association
Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum
Delta Music Museum Hall of Fame
  • Posthumous inductee
Grammy Awards
Rockabilly Hall of Fame
  • Posthumous inductee

 

Covers

Twitty was known to cover songs—most notably "Slow Hand" which was a major pop hit for the Pointer Sisters, "The Rose" which was a major pop hit for Bette Midler, and "Heartache Tonight" which was a major pop hit for The Eagles; Twitty's songs have also been covered numerous times, including four notable covers, George Jones' rendition of "Hello Darlin", Blake Shelton's "Goodbye Time", The Misfits and Glen Campbell [4] versions of "It's Only Make Believe" and Elvis Presley's version of "There's a Honky Tonk Angel (Who'll Take Me Back In)".

In addition, Ken Checker's version of "I'd Love to Lay You Down" was sung and received some airplay, mostly in the concert realm.

Some artists have had hits with songs that Twitty recorded but never released as singles.

Among these are: The Oak Ridge Boys's top five hit,

"I Wish You Could Have Turned My Head (And Left My Heart Alone),"
 originally from Conway's 1979 album Crosswinds,

Steve Wariner's "I'm Already Taken" from Twitty's 1981 album Mr. T (which Wariner wrote),

 Lee Greenwood's "It Turns Me Inside Out" from Twitty's 1982 album Southern Comfort,

 John Conlee's "In My Eyes" from Twitty's 1982 album Dream Maker,

 John Schneider's "What's a Memory Like You (Doin' in a Love Like This?)" from Twitty's 1985 album Chasin' Rainbows,

and Daryle Singletary's "The Note" and Ricky Van Shelton's "Somebody Lied" from Twitty's 1985 album Don't Call Him a Cowboy.

Biography

Early life

Conway Twitty was born Harold Lloyd Jenkins on September 1, 1933 in Friars Point in Coahoma County in northwestern Mississippi.

He was named by his great uncle, after his favorite silent movie actor, Harold Lloyd. The Jenkins family moved to Helena, Arkansas when Harold was ten years old.

In Helena, Harold formed his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers.[citation needed]

Two years later, Harold had his own local radio show every Saturday morning. He also played baseball, his second passion.

He received an offer to play with the Philadelphia Phillies after high school (Smiths Station High School), but he was drafted into the United States Army.

He served in the Far East and organized a group called The Cimmerons to entertain fellow GIs.[1]

Wayne Hause, a neighbor, suggested that Harold could make it in the music industry.

Soon after hearing Elvis Presley's song "Mystery Train", Harold began writing rock and roll material.

He went to the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Sam Phillips, the owner and founder, to get the "right" sound.[citation needed]


Stage name

Accounts vary of how Harold Jenkins acquired his stage name of Conway Twitty.

Allegedly, in 1957, Jenkins decided that his real name wasn't marketable and sought a better show business name.

In The Billboard Book of Number One Hits Fred Bronson states that the singer was looking at a road map when he spotted Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas, and chose the name Conway Twitty.

Another account says that Jenkins met a Richmond, Virginia, man named W. Conway Twitty Jr. through Jenkins' manager in a New York City restaurant.

The manager served in the US Army with the real Conway Twitty.

Later, the manager suggested to Jenkins that he take the name as his stage name because it had a ring to it.

In the mid-1960s, W. Conway Twitty subsequently recorded the song "What's in a Name but Trouble", lamenting the loss of his name to Harold Jenkins.

Pop and rock & roll success

In 1958 using his new stage name, Conway Twitty's fortunes improved while he was with MGM Records, and an Ohio radio station had an inspiration, refraining from playing "I'll Try" (an MGM single that went nowhere in terms of sales, radio play, and jukebox play), instead playing the B-side, "It's Only Make Believe", a song written between sets by Twitty and drummer Jack Nance when they were in Hamilton, Ontario, playing at the Flamingo Lounge.[2]

The record took nearly one year to reach and stay at the top spot on the Billboard pop music charts in the US, as well as No. 1 in 21 other countries, becoming the first of nine top 40 hits for Twitty.

It sold over four million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA.[3]

That same year, country singer Tabby West of ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee heard Twitty and booked him to appear on the show.[1]

When "It's Only Make Believe" was first released, because of voice similarities, many listeners assumed that the song was actually recorded by Elvis Presley, using "Conway Twitty" as a pseudonym.

Twitty would go on to enjoy rock and roll success with songs including "Danny Boy" (Pop No. 10) and "Lonely Blue Boy" (Pop No. 6).

 "Lonely Blue Boy", originally titled "Danny", was recorded by Presley for the film King Creole but was not used in the soundtrack.[citation needed]

Country music career

Twitty always wanted to record country music and, beginning in 1965, he did just that.

His first few country albums were met with some country DJ's refusing to play them because he was known as a rock 'n' roll singer.

However, he finally broke free with his first top five country hit, "The Image of Me", in July 1968, followed by his first number one country song, "Next in Line", in November 1968.

Few of his singles beginning in 1968 ranked below the top five.

In 1970, Twitty recorded and released his biggest country hit, "Hello Darlin'", which spent four weeks at the top of the country chart and is one of Twitty's most recognized songs.

In 1971 he released his first hit duet with Loretta Lynn, "After the Fire Is Gone". It was a success, and many more followed, including "Lead Me On" (1971), "Louisiana Woman, Mississippi Man" (1973), "As Soon as I Hang Up the Phone" (1974), "Feelins'" (1975), "I Still Believe in Waltzes", "I Can't Love You Enough", and many others.

Together, Conway and Loretta (as they were known in their act), won four consecutive Country Music Association awards for vocal duo (1972–75) and a host of other duo and duet awards from other organizations throughout the 1970s.

In 1973, Twitty released "You've Never Been This Far Before", which was not only No. 1 in country for three weeks that September but also reached No. 22 on the pop charts.

Some more conservative disc jockeys refused to play the song, believing that some of the lyrics were too sexually suggestive.

In 1978, Twitty issued the single "The Grandest Lady of Them All" honoring the Grand Ole Opry, but for the first time since 1967, a single of his failed to reach top ten status as some radio stations refused to play a song honoring the property of a competitor (broadcast by WSM-AM).

Nevertheless, the single reached the top 20, peaking at No. 16 but it was well below expectations, and this set in motion the changes that were to take place in his career, including a new hairstyle, changing from the slicked-back pompadour style to the curlier style he would keep the rest of his life.

However, Twitty's popularity and momentum were unaffected by the song as his next 23 consecutive singles all made it into the top 10, with 13 peaking at No. 1, including "Don't Take It Away", "I May Never Get to Heaven", "Happy Birthday Darlin'" and remakes of major pop hits such as "The Rose" and "Slow Hand".

In 1985, going by all weekly music trade charts, the song "Don't Call Him a Cowboy" became the 50th single of his career to achieve a No. 1 ranking.

He would have five more through 1990, giving him a total of 55 No. 1 hits. George Strait eclipsed the feat of 50 No. 1 hits in 2002 with his single "She'll Leave You With a Smile" and then reached No. 1 for the 56th time in 2007 when the single "Wrapped" hit the top on the Media Base 24/7 list.

Throughout much of Twitty's country music career his recording home was Decca Records, later renamed MCA.

He signed with the label in late 1965 but left in 1981 when it appeared MCA was marketing and promoting newer acts, plus management at the label had changed and other factors brought on the decision.

He joined Elektra/Asylum in 1982.

That label merged with its parent company, Warner Bros. Records in 1983. He stayed on with Warner Bros.

Records through early 1987 but then went back to MCA to finish out his career. In 1993, shortly before he died, he recorded a new album, Final Touches.

Baseball

Twitty joined entrepreneur Larry Schmittou and other country music stars, such as Cal Smith, Jerry Reed, Larry Gatlin, and Richard Sterban, in 1977 as investors in the Nashville Sounds, a minor league baseball team of the Double-A Southern League that began play in 1978.[4]

He threw out the ceremonial first pitch at the team's inaugural home opener at Herschel Greer Stadium on April 26, 1978.[5]

Twitty City

Twitty lived for many years in Hendersonville, Tennessee, just north of Nashville, where he built a country music entertainment complex called Twitty City at a cost of over $3.5 million.

Twitty and Twitty City were once featured on the TV series Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous. and was also seen in the Nashville episode of the BBC series Entertainment USA, presented by Jonathan King.

Opened in 1982 it was a popular tourist stop throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s; it was shut down in 1994 following a year-long tribute show called Final Touches, when fans and peers in the music business dropped by.

The complex was auctioned off and bought by the Trinity Broadcasting Network the #1 Faith-based network in the world; now known as Trinity Music City, USA, it is open to the public, with free tours.

Personal life

Twitty was married four times, to three different ladies. His first marriage lasted from 1953 to 1954.

He had married because Ellen was pregnant with his son, Michael. His second marriage, and longest, was to his wife Mickey.

Twitty married Mickey in 1956 and had his three other children by her, Kathy, Joni Lee, and Jimmy Twitty.

Mickey and Conway had married, divorced and then remarried again quietly in their years together.

By 1984, after 28 years of marriage on and off, the stress of her husband being away so often took its toll on Mickey, and she and Conway divorced.

In 1987, Twitty married his 36-year-old office secretary, Delores "Dee" Henry.

They were married until Twitty's death.

Death

In June 1993, Twitty became ill while performing at the Jim Stafford Theatre in Branson, Missouri, and was in pain while he was on his tour bus.

He collapsed and was rushed to the hospital.

He was rushed into surgery, but died in Springfield, Missouri, at Cox South Hospital, in early hours of the morning the next day, from an abdominal aortic aneurysm, aged 59, two months before the release of what would be his final studio album, Final Touches.

Four months after Twitty's death, George Jones included a cover of "Hello Darlin'" on his album High-Tech Redneck.

Twitty was buried at Sumner Memorial Gardens in Gallatin, Tennessee in a red granite vault, under the name "Harold L. Jenkins".

There is space reserved next to him for his wife and son Michael. [6]

Posthumous releases

Since his death, Twitty's son Michael and grandson Tre have been carrying on his musical legacy.

His most recent chart appearance on the country charts was a duet with Anita Cochran, "I Want to Hear a Cheating Song" (2004), which was made possible by splicing Twitty's vocal from old recordings and even interviews, recorded over the years.

As a result, Twitty's isolated vocal track transferred to a digital multi-track and digitally re-assembled into the new performance.

Similar to the electronic duets of Patsy Cline and Jim Reeves, Hank Williams and Hank Williams, Jr. or Nat King Cole and Natalie Cole, Cochran added her vocal to the already-produced backing tracks along with Twitty's reconstructed vocal.[citation needed]

Currently, Bear Family Records offers a single-disc collection featuring 30 songs entitled "Conway Rocks," in addition to "The Rock'n'Roll Years," a comprehensive 8-disc box set showcasing his complete early recordings as a rock artist.[citation needed]

Legal issues

Taxes

Twitty's success in country music was a key factor in his winning a 1983 case, Harold L. Jenkins (a/k/a Conway Twitty) v. Commissioner in United States Tax Court.

The Internal Revenue Service allowed Twitty to deduct from his taxes, as an "ordinary and necessary" business expense, payments he had made in order to repay investors in a defunct fast-food chain called Twitty Burger.

The chain went under in 1971.

The rule is that the payment of someone else's debts is not deductible.

Twitty alleged that his primary motive was "protecting his personal business reputation."

The court opinion contained testimony from Twitty about his bond with country music fans.[7]

Estate

Twitty married four times (twice to Mickey). His widow in 1993, Delores "Dee" Henry Jenkins, and his four grown children from the previous marriages, Michael, Joni, Kathy and Jimmy Jenkins, engaged in a public dispute over the estate.

Twitty's will had not been updated to account for the fourth marriage, but Tennessee law reserves one third of any estate to the widow.

After years of probate, the four children received the rights to Twitty's music, name and image.

The rest of the estate went to public auction, where much of the property and memorabilia was sold after his widow rejected the appraised value.

In 2008, controversy again erupted in his family when the four remaining children sued Sony/ATV Music Publishing over an agreement that Twitty and his family signed in 1990.

The suit alleged that the terms of the agreement were not fully understood by the children, although they were all adults at the time. It sought to recover copyrights and royalty revenue that the document assigned to the company.[8]

55 No.1 hits



Twitty was the only singer to have 55 No. 1 hits[citation needed] in his career until George Strait eventually eclipsed the long-held record.

Conway's 55th and final No. 1 was "Crazy in Love" in 1990 on the Cashbox country chart.

His final No. 1 on the Billboard country charts was "Desperado Love" in 1986.

His first No. 1 was "It's Only Make Believe" in 1958 on the Hot 100 pop chart.

He is best known for his 1970 No. 1 single "Hello Darlin'."[citation needed]

There were multiple weekly music charts in circulation during much of Conway's career: Billboard, Record World, Cashbox, Gavin, Radio, and Records. Billboard is the lone surviving publication of the group.

Radio and Records, emerging in 1973, was bought out by Billboard in 2006 (ending a 33-year run as an independent music survey) but the R&R brand was phased out in 2009 altogether.

Conway reached No. 1 on Radio and Records many times; quite a few of his No. 1 hits in the latter years of his career reached the top of this publication while peaking in the top five in Billboard.

The Gavin Report, founded in 1958, ended publication in 2002. Cashbox was in publication from 1942 through 1996.

As is the case with Radio and Records, Conway reached No. 1 on Cashbox with most of his recordings.

His 55th and final No. 1 hit, "Crazy in Love", reached No. 1 on Cashbox and No. 3 on Billboard in the fall of 1990. Record World started out under the name Music Vendor in 1946.

The publication's name change took place in 1964. Conway often reached No. 1 on the Record World country charts with singles that reached the No. 2 or No. 3 position on Billboard's chart.

Billboard began publication in 1894 and was completely different from what it appears today. It wasn't until the 1930s that music sales and, later, jukebox play became a focal point of the publication.

In the late 1950s, Billboard unveiled their Hot 100 chart which has more commonly become known as the pop singles chart.

Their country chart began in 1944 and is still in publication. Twitty reached No. 1 40 times on the Billboard country chart from 1968 through 1986.

His 1958 single "It's Only Make Believe" reached No. 1 on Billboard's Hot 100, giving him an overall total of 41 Billboard No. 1 hits. The 41 Billboard No. 1 hits are often what historians and critics[who?] point to whenever citing his No. 1 total even though, technically, he reached the top 14 additional times with other singles on the other weekly music charts.

 

Source: Wikipedia.org 

Somebody Come and Play! Earn as You Learn, Grow as You Go!


The Man Inside the Man
from
Sinbad the Sailor Man
A
JMK's Production

 

Share this page, If you liked It Pass it on, If you loved It Follow Me!



TTFN
CYA Later Taters!
Thanks for watching.
Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man

Somebody Come and Play in "Traffic" with me. If you would like to "Join" A Growing Biz Op! Here is Your Chance to get in an Earn While You Learn to Do "The Thing" with us all here at Traffic Authority.

Simply click this link and Grow as you Go Come and Play In Traffic With Me and My Team at Traffic Authority!

P.S. Everybody Needs Traffic! Get Top Tier North American Traffic Here!
 
 
 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , , , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)