The Music Of The 80s - Favorites, Classics And Rarities

[hitman531ph]

CHRISTOPHER CROSS

 

Christopher Cross was far and away the biggest new star of 1980, virtually defining adult contemporary radio with a series of smoothly sophisticated ballads including the chart-topping "Sailing"; seemingly as quickly as he shot to fame, however, his star descended, although he continued recording and touring for years to come. Born Christopher Geppert in San Antonio, TX on May 3, 1951, Cross first surfaced in the Austin-based cover band Flash before signing a solo contract with Warner Bros. in the autumn of 1978. His self-titled debut LP appeared two years later, with the lead single "Ride Like the Wind" rocketing to the number two spot; the massive success of the second single "Sailing" made Cross a superstar, and in the wake of two more Top 20 hits, "Never Be the Same" and "Say You'll Be Mine," he walked off with a record-setting five Grammys in 1981, including Best New Artist and Song of the Year for "Sailing." He soon scored a second number one as well as an Academy Award with "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)," which he co-wrote with Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen for the smash Dudley Moore film comedy Arthur. Cross' much-anticipated sophomore effort Another Page arrived in 1983 and returned to the Top Ten with "All Right" (#4) and "Think of Laura" (#9)(popularized through its constant presence on the daytime soap phenomenon General Hospital), though the album failed to repeat the success of its predecessor, and somewhat amazingly, he never returned to the Top 40 again. Every Turn of the World appeared to little notice in 1985, and when 1988's Back of My Mind failed to chart altogether, Cross was dropped by Warner. His next album, Rendezvous, did not appear until five years later on BMG. Window followed in 1995, and in 1998 he signed to CMC International for Walking in Avalon, a two-disc effort split between new studio material and live recordings of his past hits. Cross returned in the spring of 2000 with The Red Room.

Edited November 25, 2005 by hitman531ph

[Cain N Moko]

CYNDI LAUPER

 

1953: June 22nd

Cyndi Lauper (full name: Cynthia Ann Stephanie Lauper Thornton), is born in Brooklyn-New York on June 22nd 1953 (note that a lot of biogaphies are wrong at this purpose: this is the correct date). Her father is named Fred Lauper, her mother Catrine Dominique (present in several videos), her sister Elen Lauper (She is now an accupuncturist in Southern California) and her brother Fred (nicknamed as Butch).

Cyndi took up playing the guitar and writing lyrics at the age of twelve. The first song she learnt to play was "Greensleeves".

 

She went to 4 high schools. The one that gave her the honorary high school diploma was Richmond Hill High School in Richmond Hill, NY.

 

1977

In the mid-seventies she performed as a vocalist with various cover bands in the New York metropolitan area. She sang some songs of Jefferson Airplane, Led Zeppelin, Bad Company, and some top 40 covers... The names of the cover bands were "Doc West", "Flyer", ... In 1977, Cyndi extensively damaged her vocal cords, leaving her virtually voiceless.

1980

After a full year of therapy with voice coach Katie Agestra, Cyndi's voice was back and soon Cyndi and multi-instrumentalist John Turi formed a new band, 'Blue Angel', which released its self-titled debut album in 1980. This album included Maybe He'll Know and Lauper's soaring rendition of Gene Pitney's I'm Gonna Be Strong.

1983

Cyndi Lauper signed with Portrait Records as a solo artist in the spring of 1983. Her first solo album, She's So Unusual, was released at the end of the year and went on to sell more than 4.5 million copies in the United States alone. Moreover the album was the first of a female artist to score four Top Five singles from a debut album: Girls Just Want To Have Fun, Time After Time, She Bop and All Through The Night.

Recognition soon followed:

 

American Music Awards for Favorite Female Vocalist Pop/Rock

American Music Awards for Favorite Female Vocalist Video Pop/Rock

a Grammy award for Best New Artist

"Rolling Stone" Best New Artist and Best Female Video Artist

MTV Best Female Video Artist

... and many others

 

1984

In 1984, Cyndi worked 350 days and neared her 300th concert mark. She performed or promoted her records in 150 cities. But she also found time to sit down and design all the T-shirts sold at her concerts.

1985

In 1985, Cyndi contributed her writing and singing talents to the movie, The Goonies. She provided the Goonies theme song entitled (The Goonies 'R') Good Enough. It became a top 10 hit.

1986

In '86 True Colors was launched, the cast of this album including notables such as Billy Joel, Nile Rodgers, Rick Derringer, Aimee Mann and The Bangles. Cyndi received a Grammy nomination for the single True Colors. Cyndi co-produced this album.

1988

In October 1988, Cyndi travelled to the Soviet Union as one of a group of American songwriters collaborating with Soviet counterparts. The outcome is a great song: Cold Sky found on the album Music Speaks Louder Than Words. Also in 1988, Cyndi made her motion picture debut in the movies, Vibes. She co-starred with Jeff Goldblum and they both played psychics. Even though most fans love this movie, it was panned by the critics.

1989

In 1989, Cyndi recorded the album A Night To Remember of which some songs were re-released on a single in January 1990. She again received a Grammy nomination for the single I Drove All Night.

Hit records, performances during mega-events as The Wall, award-winning videos, sold-out concert tours and very positive media acclaim; the rest, to use Lauper's expression, is "herstory".

 

1990

Cyndi filmed her second movie entitled Off and Running. She met her husband David Thornton on the set.

1991

She got married to actor David Thornton on November 24th 1991 at the Friends Meeting House in New York. Little Richard led the couple in the recitation of their non-traditional vows, and Patti Labelle sang the wedding theme "Come What May".

Cyndi's fourth album is Hat Full Of Stars. It's maybe the most critically acclaimed to date:

 

The Village Voice said: "Hat Full Of Stars is startingly wonderful. The singing is stellar, the arrangements are happening".

Rolling Stone gave the album 3 1/2 stars and said: "Her multi- octave voice has never sounded better".

The New York Times said: "... Her new songs are strong, the new Cyndi Lauper still embraces the old one".

The Los Angeles Times called Hat Full Of Stars: " ... her most consistently tuneful and ambitious album".

When talking about this album Cyndi says: "I wanted to make the album I always needed to make. I had to say the things I never could." In addition to co-producing and co-writing this album, Cyndi is also directing three videos from it, making her one of the few artist/directors in the pop world today.

1994

In 1994, Cyndi released Twelve Deadly Cyns... And Then Some. This album contains a lot of the singles hits. Although this album has been released worldwide in 1994, it is only released in July 1995 in US.

 

Cyndi also made her first appearance on the sitcom, Mad About You. She was even nominated for an Emmy award, however, she did not win.

1995

Cyndi made her second appearance on the sitcom, Mad About You. Again, she was nominated for an Emmy award. This time, she won.

1996

In 1996, Sisters Of Avalon, the best album so far is released in Japan. For the first time, Cyndi took part in the writing of every song. Jan Pulsford, the keyboardist co-wrote 11 songs. They are now "Sisters Of Avalon".

1997

The album Sisters Of Avalon is released worldwide.

Cyndi is pregnant with her first child, a boy. She announced it for the first time during 'Fox After Breakfast' on April 28th. She said: "I'm in my eleventh week and I know I'm having a football player or model. I feel like this kid should be in college by now, it's taking so long."

While pregnant, Cyndi tours in US as special guest of Tina Turner for her "Wildest Dreams" tour for 3 months.

Declyn Wallace Thornton Lauper is born on November 19th 1997.

1998

Cyndi worked on her sitcom which unfortunately will never be broadcasted...

Then in October, she released her Christmas album. This album was the last one with Sony.

1999

Cyndi continued to work on her sitcom, appeared twice in Mad About You and did a US Tour as a Cher's special guest.

Disco Inferno was a hit in the US clubs during summer.

She is still looking for a new label.

 

Cyndi also filmed a movie, The Opportunists, with Christopher Walken. It was Cyndi's first dramatic role in a movie.

2000

The Opportunists was released in limited release. Cyndi got good reviews.

2001

Cyndi's new album, Shine, was supposed to be released by Edel, but the label went under and the 12 track Shine album never saw the light of day... that is, until it was leaked onto the internet.

2002

Once again, Cyndi joined Cher on tour and got excellent reviews. Cyndi also released a 5 track EP containing some of the Shine songs. It was a success. Cyndi also did several in-store signings.

2003

She continued her solo tour.

In November, the At Last album was released.

She was the headline singer who performed in Times Square on New Year's of 2003-2004.

2004

In April, she performed at the VH1 Divas Show 2004.

Also in April, the Shine album was finally released but only in Japan.

In May, her first live DVD, Live... At Last, was released.

Cyndi performed a lot of concerts in US and Canada, a few in Japan and came back to Australia for the first time since 1989. She performed for half a month at The Night of the Proms in Holland.

She was nominated for a Grammy.

2005

She participated to the Stay Close PFLAG campaign with her sister.

She appears in various TV shows.

She will perform some concerts in US and Canada during summer.

[Cain N Moko]

OLIVIA NEWTON JOHN

 

Olivia Newton-John skillfully made the transition from popular country-pop singer to popular mainstream soft rock singer, becoming one of the most successful vocalists of the '70s in the process. The transition itself wasn't much of a stretch -- her early-'70s hits "I Honestly Love You" and "Have You Never Been Mellow" were country only in the loosest sense -- yet the extent of her success in both fields was remarkable. As a country singer, her first five charting singles all went Top Ten in the U.S.; as a pop singer, she had no less than 15 Top Ten hits, including five number one singles, highlighted by "Physical," which spent ten weeks at number one in 1981-1982. Newton-John's sweet voice suited both country-pop and soft rock perfectly, which is what kept her at the top of the charts until the mid-'80s. After 1984, she was no longer able to reach the Top 40, partially because of shifting musical tastes and partially because she was unable to successfully record sexy dance-pop, no matter how hard she tried. Nevertheless, her '70s and '80s hits remained soft rock and adult contemporary staples into the '90s, when she was no longer recording frequently

Although she was born in Cambridge, England, Newton-John was raised in Melbourne, Australia, where her father was the headmaster of Ormond College (her grandfather Max Born won the Nobel Prize for physics). She tentatively entered show business at the age of 12, when she won a local Haley Mills-lookalike contest. A few years later, she formed an all-female vocal group called the Sol Four with three school friends. Once the Sol Four disbanded, Newton-John entered a television talent contest, winning the grand prize of a trip to London, England. Once in London, she formed a duo with Pat Carroll, another Australian-based vocalist, and tried to work her way into the music industry. Though her partnership with Carrol was short-lived -- Pat was sent back to Australia once her visa expired -- Olivia was making inroads in the business. Following Carrol's departure, Newton-John recorded and released her first single, a version of Jackie DeShannon's "Till You Say You'll Be Mine." Shortly afterward, she became a member of Toomorrow, a bubblegum group assembled by Don Kirshner in hopes of creating a British version of the Monkees.

 

Toomorrow appeared in a science fiction movie of the same name and had one minor British hit single, "I Could Never Live Without Your Love," in early 1970 before the group quietly disbanded. Following the failure of Toomorrow, Newton-John became part of Cliff Richard's touring show, appearing both as an opening act at his concerts and on his British television series, It's Cliff!. The exposure as a singer and comedienne on the show helped Olivia's career immeasurably, and her first single for Uni Records, a version of Bob Dylan's "If Not for You," became a Top Ten hit in the U.K. in the spring of 1971; in America, it was surprisingly successful, spending three weeks at the top of the adult contemporary charts and peaking at number 25 on the pop charts. For the next two years, Newton-John's success was primarily contained in Britain, where she had a string of lesser hits with covers of George Harrison's "What Is Life" and John Denver's "Take Me Home Country Roads." In America, her career was stalled -- her follow-up single, "Banks of the Ohio," barely scraped the lower reaches of the Top 100. On the other hand, she didn't release a full-length album in the U.S. until 1973, when Let Me Be There appeared. The title track from the record became a huge hit, going gold in early 1974 and peaking in the Top Ten country and pop charts. "Let Me Be There" was so successful it won the Grammy award for Best Country Vocal Performance, Female, much to the consternation of many members of Nashville's music industry.

 

"Let Me Be There" was followed by four other Top Ten hits -- "If You Love Me (Let Me Know)" (number two country, number five pop, 1974), "I Honestly Love You" (number six country, number one pop, 1974), "Have You Never Been Mellow" (number three country, number one pop, 1975), and "Please Mr. Please" (number five country, number three pop, 1975). Newton-John moved to Los Angeles late in 1974, and early the following year, she won the Female Vocalist of the Year award from the Country Music Association. As a protest, several members of the CMA quit the organization. Ironically, Newton-John was already planning to move away from country. During 1976 and 1977, she had a number of minor hits with soft rock songs. Though none of these were big pop successes, they began to establish her as a pop singer, not a country-pop singer.

 

Newton-John's transformation into a mildly sexy pop singer was complete in 1978, when she starred in the movie version of the popular Broadway musical Grease. Also starring John Travolta, Grease was an international hit and spawned three huge hit singles -- "Hopelessly Devoted to You," "Summer Nights," and "You're the One That I Want"; the latter two were duets between Newton-John and Travolta. "You're The One That I Want," in particular, was a massive success, reaching number one in both America and Britain; in the U.K., it spent a staggering nine weeks at number one. During 1979, Newton-John released the Totally Hot album, which boasted a mixture of soft rock and light disco. The record was another hit, with the first single, "A Little More Love," peaking at number three on the U.S. pop charts and going gold. Early in 1980, Newton-John starred in the roller-disco fantasy film Xanadu. While the movie was an unqualified bomb, the soundtrack was a huge hit. "Magic" spent four weeks at the top of the U.S. pop charts, while the ELO duet "Xanadu" reached number eight and her duet with Cliff Richard, "Suddenly," peaked at number 20.

 

With her next album, Physical, Newton-John continued to rework her image, re-inventing herself as a sexy aerobics fanatic. The first single from the record, the suggestive "Physical," was a huge hit, spending ten weeks at number one during the fall and winter of 1981-1982. Physical spawned another Top Ten hit -- "Make a Move on Me" -- and became her most successful record. Following the album's success, she was awarded with an Order of the British Empire. In 1983, Newton-John again starred with Travolta, this time in the comedy Two of a Kind. The movie was a bomb, but a song she recorded for the soundtrack, "Twist of Fate," became a Top Ten hit in early 1984.

 

By the end of 1984, Newton-John had married actor Matt Lattanzi. The following year, she released the Physical clone Soul Kiss, which produced only one minor hit with its title track. In 1986, she had a daughter named Chloe and opened a clothing store chain called Koala Blue. Newton-John attempted to launch a comeback in 1988 with The Rumour, but the album was ignored. She signed with Geffen the following year, releasing the children's album Warm and Tender. During the late '80s and '90s, she devoted herself to her family and business as well as several environmental activist organizations. In 1992, Koala Blue folded and Newton-John was diagnosed with breast cancer. Over the next year, she successfully underwent treatment for the disease. In 1994, she returned to recording with the independently released and self-produced album Gaia. Back With a Heart, a return to Nashville, followed in 1998. One Woman's Live Journey was issued two years later.

[Cain N Moko]

JAMES TAYLOR

 

When people use the term "singer/songwriter" (often modified by the word "sensitive") in praise or in criticism, they're thinking of James Taylor. In the early '70s, when he appeared with his introspective songs, acoustic guitar, and calm, understated singing style, he mirrored a generation's emotional exhaustion after tumultuous times. Just as Bing Crosby's reassuring voice brought the country out of the Depression and through World War II, Taylor's eased the transition from '60s activism and its attendant frustrations into the less political, more inward-looking '70s. He was rewarded with a series of hit albums and singles (surprisingly, many of the latter were covers of old songs rather than his own compositions), and he managed to survive his initial fame to achieve lasting popularity. He continued to tour successfully for decades, and, starting with his 1970 breakthrough Sweet Baby James, all but one of his regular album releases for the rest of the century went gold or platinum, while his 1976 Greatest Hits album achieved a diamond certification reflecting sales of more than ten million copies.

Taylor was the son of Dr. Isaac and Gertrude Taylor. His three brothers Alex (1947-1993), Livingston, and Hugh - and his sister Kate - all became musicians and recorded albums of their own. In 1951, Dr. Taylor was appointed dean of the medical school at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and the family moved from New England to the South. Taylor studied cello as a child, but first took up the guitar in 1960. In 1963, he began attending Milton Academy, a prep school in Massachusetts. That summer, he met fellow guitarist Danny "Kootch" Kortchmar while staying on Martha' s Vineyard, and the two formed a folk duo. Taylor dropped out of school at 16 and formed a band with his brother Alex. Having moved to New York, he suffered from depression and checked himself into McLean Psychiatric Hospital in Massachusetts, a stay that would inspire some of his early songs. While there, he earned a high school diploma. Upon release, he returned to New York in 1966 and formed a new group, the Flying Machine, with Kortchmar and Joel O'Brien. The band played in Greenwich Village and was signed to a fledgling record label, Rainy Day Records (the name taken from Taylor' s song "Rainy Day Man"). It released one single, "Brighten Your Night with My Day" / "Night Owl," both songs written by Taylor. The record was unsuccessful, and the band broke up in the spring of 1967.

 

By 1968, Taylor had become addicted to heroin. In an attempt to overcome his addiction, he moved to London, where he submitted a demo tape to Peter Asher, former member of Peter and Gordon, then working for the Beatles' Apple Records label. As a result, Taylor was signed to Apple and recorded his debut solo album, James Taylor, released in the U.K. in December 1968 and in the U.S. in February 1969. Initially, it received little attention. A more pressing concern, however, was that Taylor had not been able to kick heroin. As a result, he returned to the U.S. and checked into the Austin Riggs Hospital in Massachusetts. By July 1969, he had recovered sufficiently to make his solo debut at the Troubadour nightclub in Los Angeles, but soon after he was in a motorcycle accident and broke both of his hands, which put him out of commission for several months.

 

Freed of his Apple Records contract, Taylor signed to Warner Bros. Records, moved to California, and, retaining Asher as his manager and producer, recorded his second album, Sweet Baby James. It was released in February 1970 and became a major success during the course of the year, spurred by the single "Fire and Rain," a song that reflected on his experiences in mental institutions, which peaked in the top five in October, the same month that Sweet Baby James achieved the same status on the LP charts. With that, interest in Taylor's first album was re-stimulated, and it belatedly reached the charts along with the single "Carolina on My Mind," as did James Taylor and the Original Flying Machine - 1967, a short collection of unfinished recordings made by his '60s band. Sweet Baby James then spawned a second hit single, "Country Road," which peaked in the Top 40 in March 1971. The same month, Taylor appeared on the cover of Time magazine, touted as the founder and leading proponent of the "singer/songwriter" trend in popular music.

 

Meanwhile, Taylor had acted in a feature film, Two-Lane Blacktop, co-starring with the Beach Boys' Dennis Wilson. It was not successful, and Taylor never pursued an acting career, though it has been well-reviewed subsequently. Taylor also worked on a new album, returning to record stores in April 1971 with Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon. As he toured the U.S., the LP spent the summer in the Top Ten, eventually peaking just below the top of the charts, paced by its first single, "You've Got a Friend," written by Carole King, which hit number one in July and went gold. A second single, "Long Ago and Far Away," reached the Top 40, and the album eventually sold more than two million copies. On March 14, 1972, Taylor won the 1971 Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, for "You've Got a Friend."

 

Taylor took what was then considered a long time - more than a year and a half - to come up with his next album, One Man Dog, released in November 1972. On November 3, 1972, during an appearance at Radio City Music Hall in New York, he announced to the crowd that he had married singer/songwriter Carly Simon earlier in the day. Simon was already well known for the hits "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" and "Anticipation," and would soon top the charts with "You're So Vain." One Man Dog marked a fall-off in Taylor's record sales, though it went gold, reached the top five, and spawned a top 20 single in "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight."

 

Taylor was next heard from in January 1974, when he sang a duet with his wife of "Mockingbird," a cover of the 1963 hit by Inez and Charlie Foxx, on her Hot Cakes album. Released as a single, the recording reached the Top Five and went gold. That spring, Taylor launched a major tour in anticipation of his next album, Walking Man, released in June. Though it reached the Top 20, the album was a commercial disappointment, failing to go gold or produce a chart single. But Taylor bounced back the following year with the May release of Gorilla. Again, he succeeded by reviving an old hit, this time Marvin Gaye's 1964 song "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)," which reached the Top Five, helping the album become a Top Ten, gold-selling hit.

 

In the Pocket, Taylor's seventh album, was his third annual warm-weather release, appearing in June 1976. Its single was the singer's own "Shower the People," which reached the Top 40, while the album made the Top 20 and went gold. Nearing the end of his Warner Bros. contract, Taylor re-recorded a couple of his Apple songs for his Greatest Hits LP, released in November. It became a perennial seller. With that, in a major coup, he was signed by Columbia Records. His debut for the label, JT, was released in June 1977. Once again, a revival spurred its sales, as Taylor covered Jimmy James' 1959 song "Handy Man" and took it into the top five, followed by a top 20 showing for his own "Your Smiling Face." With such stimulation, JT reached the top five and sold over two million copies. On February 23, 1978, Taylor picked up a second Grammy for Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male, for "Handy Man."

 

Along with Paul Simon, Taylor was a featured singer on Art Garfunkel's cover of "(What A) Wonderful World," previously a hit for Sam Cooke and Herman's Hermits, which peaked in the Top 20 in March 1978. Taylor next became involved with the Broadway musical Working, based on Studs Terkel's bestseller, writing three songs for it. The show ran a scant 25 performances after opening on May 14, 1978, but Taylor reclaimed "Millworker" and "Brother Trucker" for his next album. Meanwhile, his duet with Carly Simon on a revival of the Everly Brothers' "Devoted to You" peaked in the Top 40 in September.

 

Flag, marking a nearly two-year break between albums, appeared in April 1979, its Top 40 hit single being a revival of the 1963 Drifters hit "Up on the Roof." Despite the lack of a really big hit single, the LP reached the Top Ten and went platinum. That September, Taylor performed at Madison Square Garden in the No Nukes concerts, later being featured in the No Nukes triple-LP and in the No Nukes concert film.

 

Taylor embarked on a national tour in the summer of 1980, despite not having a current album to promote. From here on, recurrent touring became a regular part of his career and contributed to his longevity as an artist. That fall, he appeared on the children's album In Harmony 2, singing "Jelly Man Kelly." The album won the 1981 Grammy for Best Recording for Children. He toured extensively during 1981, releasing Dad Loves His Work in February. The album reached the Top Ten and went gold, spurred by the Top Ten success of the single "Her Town Too," written by Taylor, J.D. Souther, and Waddy Wachtel, Taylor's most successful original composition since "Fire and Rain."

 

Taylor continued to tour frequently in the early 1980s, a period when his marriage to Carly Simon came to an end (they were divorced in 1983). Often, his performances took place overseas. In January 1985, he performed at the Rock in Rio concert in Brazil, a show that resulted in the Brazil-only release Live in Rio. His next studio album, following a gap of more than four years, was That's Why I'm Here, released in October 1985. As usual, his record label issued a cover song as the single; in this case it was Buddy Holly's "Everyday," which didn't get very far up the charts. Nevertheless, Taylor's long career and constant touring had brought him a permanent audience ready to buy his records, and the album eventually went platinum. On December 14, 1985, he married for the second time, to Kathryn Walker; a month later, he was on tour in Australia.

 

Road work continued to be Taylor's primary occupation in the mid-'80s, but he came off tour long enough to finish another album, Never Die Young, only a little more than two years after That's Why I'm Here, released in January 1988. The title song, issued as a single, barely reached the charts, but Never Die Young was another million-seller. The late '80s and early '90s saw more extensive, worldwide touring. New Moon Shine, Taylor's 13th regular album release, came in October 1991, the same month that he sold out six consecutive shows at the Paramount Theater in New York; the disc stayed in the charts nearly a year and sold a million copies.

 

Despite his consistent draw as a concert attraction, Taylor had never released a live album in the U.S. until the August 1993 appearance of (Live), a two-CD set that went platinum within months. Columbia Records, which had never had a Taylor compilation to promote, trimmed the album down to a single disc of hits for the 1994 release Best (Live). Taylor was divorced from his second wife in 1996. His next album, Hourglass, released in May 1997, demonstrated his continuing appeal by entering the charts in the Top Ten. On February 25, 1998, it won the 1997 Grammy for Best Pop Album

[Cain N Moko]

JACKSON BROWNE

 

In many ways, Jackson Browne was the quintessential sensitive Californian singer/songwriter of the early '70s. Only Joni Mitchell and James Taylor ranked alongside him in terms of influence, but neither artist tapped into the post-'60s zeitgeist like Browne. While the majority of his classic '70s work was unflinchingly personal, it nevertheless provided a touchstone for a generation of maturing baby boomers coming to terms with adulthood. Not only did his introspective, literate lyrics strike a nerve, but his laid-back folk-rock set the template for much of the music to come out of California during the '70s. With his first four albums, Browne built a loyal following that helped him break into the mainstream with 1976's The Pretender. During the late '70s and early '80s, he was at the height of his popularity, as each of his albums charted in the Top Ten. Midway through the '80s, Browne made a series of political protest records that caused his audience to gradually shrink, but when he returned to introspective songwriting with 1993's I'm Alive, he made a modest comeback.

Born in Heidelberg, West Germany, Jackson Browne and his family moved to Los Angeles when he was three years old, and by the time he was a teenager, Browne had developed an interest in folk music. He began playing guitar and writing songs, which he sang at local folk clubs. Early in 1966, he was invited to join the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, whom he had met through the L.A. folk circuit. While he was only with the band for a few months, the group recorded a handful of his songs on its first two records. By the beginning of 1967, he had signed a publishing deal with Nina Music, a division of Elektra Records; Nina helped Browne secure songs on albums by Tom Rush and Steve Noonan in 1968. During 1967 and 1968, he lived in New York's Greenwich Village, where he played in Tim Buckley's backing band. Browne also began working with Nico, who recorded three of his songs on her Chelsea Girl album. When their relationship disintegrated in 1968, he returned to Los Angeles, where he unsuccessfully tried to record a solo album and form a folk group with Ned Doheney and Jack Wilce. Browne continued to play local clubs and his rep*tation as a songwriter continued to grow, with Linda Ronstadt and the Byrds recording his songs. By the end of 1971, he had signed with David Geffen's fledgling Asylum Records on the strength of his widely circulated demo tape.

 

Jackson Browne was released in the spring of 1972, spawning the Top Ten hit single "Doctor My Eyes." Shortly after "Doctor My Eyes" reached its peak position, "Take It Easy," a song Browne co-wrote with Glenn Frey, became the Eagles' breakthrough hit. Many songs from his debut, including "Rock Me on the Water" and "Jamaica Say You Will," became singer/songwriter standards, but the album itself didn't establish Browne as a pop star, despite its hit single. On his second album, 1973's For Everyman, he began a long-term collaboration with instrumentalist David Lindley. For Everyman was a commercial disappointment, yet it consolidated his cult following.

 

Released in the fall of 1974, Late for the Sky expanded Browne's audience significantly, peaking at number 14 on the charts and going gold by the beginning of the following year. Browne's first wife, Phyllis, committed suicide in the spring of 1976, but in the wake of the tragedy he recorded his commercial breakthrough album, The Pretender. The record climbed into the Top Ten upon its fall 1976 release, going platinum in the spring of 1977. In the summer, Browne launched an extensive tour, recording a new album while he was on the road. The resulting record, Running On Empty (1977), was a bigger success than its predecessor, peaking at number three and launching the hit singles "Running On Empty" and "Stay/The Load-Out." With his career riding high, Browne began to pursue political and social causes, most notably protesting the use of nuclear energy.

 

The success of Hold Out, the 1980 follow-up to Running On Empty, was evidence of Jackson Browne's popularity. Though the album wasn't as well crafted as its predecessors, it became his only number one album upon its summer release. In the summer of 1982, "Somebody's Baby," from the soundtrack of Fast Times at Ridgemont High, became Browne's biggest hit, climbing to number seven on the U.S. charts. Divided between love songs and political protests, Lawyers in Love was another hit due to success of the hit singles "Lawyers in Love," "Tender Is the Night," and "For a Rocker." Nevertheless, the album also showcased a newly found social consciousness, which dominated 1986's Lives in the Balance. The album lacked any hit singles, yet its fiery condemnation of the Reagan era won an audience -- the album stayed on the charts for over six months and went gold.

 

Jackson Browne continued to write primarily political songs on 1989's World in Motion, but the record became his first album to not go gold. Browne was quiet for the next four years, working on a variety of social causes and suffering a painful public breakup with his girlfriend, actress Daryl Hannah. He finally returned with a comeback effort in the fall of 1993 entitled I'm Alive. Comprised of personal songs, I'm Alive received his best reviews since the late '70s and the record went gold without producing any major hits. In the spring of 1996, Browne released Looking East, which failed to gain the same attention as I'm Alive

[Cain N Moko]

AMERICA

 

America was a light folk-rock act of the early '70s who had several Top Ten hits, including the number ones "A Horse With No Name" and "Sister Golden Hair." Vocalists/guitarists Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley met while they were still in high school in the late '60s; all three were sons of U.S. Air Force officers who were stationed in the U.K. After they completed school in 1970, they formed an acoustic folk-rock quartet called Daze in London, which was soon pared down to the trio of Bunnell, Peek, and Beckley. Adopting the name America, the group landed a contract with Jeff Dexter, a promoter for the Roundhouse concert venue. Dexter had America open for several major artists and the group soon signed with Warner Bros. Records. By the fall of 1970, the group was recording their debut album in London, with producers Ian Samwell and Jeff Dexter.

"A Horse With No Name," America's debut single, was released at the end of 1971. In January 1972, the song -- which strongly recalled the acoustic numbers of Neil Young -- became a number three hit in the U.K. The group's self-titled debut album followed the same stylistic pattern and became a hit as well, peaking at number 14. Following their British success, America returned to North America, beginning a supporting tour for the Everly Brothers. "A Horse With No Name" was released in the U.S. that spring, where it soon became a number one single, pushing Neil Young's "Heart of Gold" off the top of the charts; America followed the single to the top of the charts. "I Need You" became another Top Ten hit that summer, and the group began work on its second album. "Ventura Highway," the first single released from this collaboration, became their third straight Top Ten hit in December of 1972. In the beginning of 1973, America won the Grammy award for Best New Artist of 1972.

 

Homecoming was released in January of 1973, becoming a Top Ten hit in the U.S. and peaking at number 21 in the U.K. America's essential sound didn't change with this record; it just became more polished. However, the hits stopped coming fairly soon -- they had only one minor Top 40 hit in 1973. Hat Trick, the group's third album, was released toward the end of 1973; it failed to make it past number 28 on the American charts. Released in the late fall of 1974, Holiday was the first record the group made with producer George Martin. Holiday returned America to the top of the charts, peaking at number three and launching the hit singles "Tin Man" and "Lonely People." "Sister Golden Hair," pulled from 1975's Hearts, became their second number one single. That same year, the group released History/America's Greatest Hits, which would eventually sell over four million copies.

 

Although America's 1976 effort Hideaway went gold and peaked at number 11, the group's audience was beginning to decline. After releasing Harbor to a lukewarm reception, Dan Peek left the group, deciding to become a contemporary Christian recording artist. The group continued as a duo; their last Martin-produced record, Silent Letter, was released in 1979 to little attention. America returned to the Top Ten in 1982 with "You Can Do Magic," an adult contemporary pop number that featured synthesizers along with their trademark harmonies. "The Border" became their last Top 40 hit in 1983, peaking at number 33. After releasing America in Concert in the summer of 1985, the group continued to tour successfully into the '90s, resurfacing in 1998 with Human Nature

[j4yth4ng]

1983 - May Single Hand In Glove 124

1983 - October Single This Charming Man 25

1984 - January Single What Difference Does it Make 12

1984 - February Album The Smiths 2 150

1984 - May Single Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now 10

1984 - August Single William 17

1984 - November Album Hatful of Hollow 7

1985 - February Single How Soon Is Now 24

1985 - February Album Meat is Murder 1 110

1985 - March Single Shakespeares Sister 26

1985 - July Single That Joke Isn't Funny Anymore 49

1985 - September Single The Boy with the Thorn in his Side 23

1986 - May Single Bigmouth Strikes Again 26

1986 - June Album The Queen is Dead 2 70

1986 - July Single Panic 11

1986 - October Single Ask 14

1987 - January Single Shoplifters of the World 12

1987 - February Album The World Won't Listen 2

1987 - March Album Louder Than Bombs 38 63

1987 - April Single Sheila Take a Bow 10

1987 - August Single Girlfriend in a Coma 13

1987 - September Album Strangeways Here We Come 2 55

1987 - November Single I Started Something 23

1987 - December Single Last Night I Dreamt 30

1988 - September Album Rank 2 77

1992 - August Single This Charming Man (Re-release) 8

1992 - September Album Best I 1 139

1982 - September Single How Soon is Now (Re-release) 16

1992 - November Single There is a Light 25

1992 - November Album Best II 29

1995 - February Single Ask (Re-release) 62

1995 - May Album Singles 5

2001 - June Album The Very Best Of

[j4yth4ng]

History of the Smiths

Formed in the spring of 1982 in Manchester, England when guitarist Johnny Marr (John Maher, October 31, 1963) author of reviews for Record Mirror and former guitarist in unsuccessful bands was looking for a lyricist and suggested the idea of forming a band to Morrissey (Stephen Patrick Morrissey, May 22, 1959). By September, the duo had settled on the name "The Smiths" as a reaction against all bands who chose complicated names to emphasise their music, and recruited Marr's schoolmate Andy Rourke as their bass player and Mike Joyce as their drummer. The Smiths made their live debut late in 1982 and their live appearances were sporadic. At this time they had already rejected a record deal with the Mancunian Factory Records. At the seventh Smiths gig ever in the University of London Union, a group of Rough Trade Records watch the band and invited them to sign a one-off single, "Hand In Glove". "Hand in Glove" became an underground sensation in the UK, topping the independent charts, which critics referred to as the finest love song in recent years. When they released the second single "This Charming Man," in October 1983, the Smiths had already been the subjects of controversy and scandal over their songs "Reel Around The Fountain," and "Handsome Devil" as possible vehicles for the diffusion of child abuse. In February of 1984 the Smiths released their eponymous debut "The Smiths" the album became a best seller acclaimed by critics and reached number 2. A couple of months later, the band invited a veteran sixties popstar, Sandie Shaw, to sing some of the smiths songs "Hand In Glove" which reached number 27, "Jeane" and "I Don't Owe You Anything". The second single "Heaven Knows I'm Miserable Now" reached number 10. At the end of the year, "William It Was Really Nothing" became a Top 20 hit and the compilation "Hatful of Hollow", a collection of B-sides, BBC sessions and non-LP singles went to number 7. Meat is Murder, the band's second proper studio album, entered the British charts at number one in February of 1985. By the time the non-LP "Shakespeare's Sister" reached number 26 in March 1985. "The Boy With the Thorn In His Side" reached number 23 was followed in June of 1986 by their third album, "The Queen Is Dead". Considered by the critic as one of masterpieces of the decade peaked at number two on the UK charts, "The Queen Is Dead" also expanded their cult in the US, cracking the Top 100. Shortly before the album was completed, the band's line-up goes through a rather unstable stage, Andy Rourke quits for drug addiction and Craig Gannon, an ex Aztec Camera joins the band and became the rhythm guitarist. After a short time, Rourke returns and Gannon was fired. In latte's 1986 the singles Panic and Ask are released. Johnny Marr begins his extra Smiths collaborations, taking part in Billy Braggs' album "Talking With The Taxman About Poetry". The Smiths may have been at the height of their popularity in early 1987, with the singles "Shoplifters of the World" and "Sheila Take A Bow" reaching number 12 and 10 respectively and the singles and B-sides compilation The World Won't Listen for the English market and "Louder Than Bombs" for the American one. Marr was growing increasingly disenchanted with the band and the music industry, over the course of the year, Morrissey and Marr became increasingly irritated with each other. The new album "Strangeways Here We Come" is the band's last. In August, Johnny Marr confesses to have abandoned the band, the official split is however in September, Morrissey disbanded the group shortly afterward and began an inconstant solo career. Marr played as a sideman with a variety of artists, including The The and Electronic with New Order frontman Bernard Summer. Andy Rourke retired from recording has played with Sinead O'Connor and Joyce became a member of the reunited Buzzcocks in 1991. The live album "Rank" recorded on the Queen is Dead tour, was released in the fall of 1988. It debuted at number two in the UK top. A much criticised, two-part Best of compilation was released in 1 992; the praised Singles compilation was released in 1995. Despite this short history, "The Smiths" were and will be one of the best bands ever.

[hitman531ph]

LOVERBOY

 

LOVERBOY is one of Canada's most sucessful Rock groups to date.The group was formed in 1979, when Mike Reno (formerly of Moxy)met up with Paul Dean (formerly of Streetheart) in a Calgary club owned then by their manager Lou Blair..The clubs name was The Refinery Night Club.Mike Reno happened to be out back of the club and heard Paul playing in a warehouse...they jammed most of the night and continued for the next couple of weeks.Doug Johnson (formerly of Foster Child) joined up with the two...in these jamming sessions "TURN ME LOOSE" was made.Matt Frenette (formerly Streetheart) and Scott Smith also joined and Loverboy was born.

 

In 1980 their first self titled album was released(LOVERBOY). Singles of this record included The Kid Is Hot Tonight, Prissy Prissy and Turn Me Loose..The album went gold.

 

Get Lucky was released in 1981, hits such as Working For The Weekend, Lucky Ones, Jump, When It's Over also reached gold status.

 

1983 brought out Keep It Up and yes this too went gold with hit Queen Of The Broken Hearts and

Hot Girls In Love.

 

No surprise 1985..Another gold album...Loving Every Minute Of It...with a heavier sound and a song co-written by Johnathon Cain of Journey. This Could Be the Night..other singles Steal The Thunder, Loving Every Minute Of It, and Dangerous.

 

1987 was the last of the 80's albums with Wildside.. singles were Notorious and Break It To Me Gently.

 

After the release of Wildside Loverboy decided to part and go their seperate ways..Mike and Paul recorded and released solo efforts...Scott Smith went on and became a deejay for CFOX in Vancouver and was also a booking agent for the Sam Feldman agency. Doug Johnson took to writing TV and radio soundtracks while Matt Fernette joined forces with Tom Cochrane and also helped reform Streetheart in 1996.

 

1995 Loverboy rejoined forces and with their return a brand new album, their sixth one called..SIX (VI) This was their first release of all new songs in 11 years.Six includes singles Big Picture, Waiting For The Night, and ballad Secrets. The band toured constantly from 98-99.

 

In late November 2000, Tragedy struck the group and music world when bassist Scott Smith was swept overboard his boat on the Coast of California. His body has never been found.

Edited November 29, 2005 by hitman531ph

[hitman531ph]

CARE

 

By the time an album was released from the British duo Care, the group had been defunct for more than a decade. Care formed in Liverpool, England, in 1983. Featuring singer Paul Simpson (ex-keyboardist for the Teardrop Explodes) and guitarist Ian Broudie (of Big in Japan and Original Mirrors), Care blended Simpson's enchanting, heartbroken vocals and pensive lyrics with Broudie's shimmery riffs and gleaming synthesizers. Care's first single, "My Boyish Days," introduced the band's new wave style: sparkling keyboards, chiming guitars, and Simpson's dreamy, depressed croon. Care's next release, the lovelorn "Whatever Possessed You," sounded like the missing link between Echo & the Bunnymen and Joy Division. "Flaming Sword" landed on the British Top 50 in 1983; however, Simpson departed from Care before they could complete their Love Crowns and Crucifies LP. At the time, Simpson was involved in a self-destructive relationship with a female musician who was contributing to the album. Furthermore, Broudie's taste for gleeful commercial pop scraped against Simpson's need for darker, more serious fare. Consequently, the recorded tracks for Love Crowns and Crucifies were shelved. Simpson then re-formed the Wild Swans, while Broudie created the Lightning Seeds.

 

In 1990, Simpson and Broudie collaborated again on the Wild Swans' second full-length, Space Flower, but it was a short-lived reunion. Broudie immediately began recording another Lightning Seeds LP, while Simpson disappeared from the music scene until his Skyray project in the mid-'90s. Care were on the brink of fading into obscurity; however, a cult following in Japan and the Philippines, where Care's songs were more popular than they were in England, kept the group's memory afloat. Noticing the demand for Care records on the Internet, Camden released Diamonds and Emeralds in 1997, a compilation of the duo's singles, B-sides, and tracks intended for Love Crowns and Crucifies. Collected without permission from either Simpson or Broudie, Diamonds and Emeralds nevertheless finally presented Care's majestic work on CD

 

Nowadays, though, the song "Chandeliers" is a much talked about song in the Philippines as it was plagiarized by a Philippine band for a theme song of the local version pf a Big Brother show. The band tried to pass it off as their own composition but was discovered by new wave enthusiasts and fans of Care

Edited November 30, 2005 by hitman531ph

[Diecast]

na shock ako yung sa FLL ah.. they were really good.. peero sa Philippines lang talaga sila naging super sikat?? I checked out their official website and ayun.. ayos talagang special sila sa Philippines.. pero di ko maintindihan kung bakit di sila okay sa ibang bansa!

[SanMigLight]

kiss on my list and walking on sunshine

 

i like these particular songs from the 80's

[hitman531ph]

CURIOSITY KILLED THE CAT

 

They appeared out of nowhere, as if they were transported from a parallel universe wherein blue-eyed soul was seen as rock & roll's salvation in the late ‘80s. Likeminded groups like Johnny Hates Jazz, Waterfront, Living in a Box, and Curiosity Killed the Cat all debuted and disappeared at the same time. Of the four Curiosity Killed the Cat leaned more towards the teen girl population that hung “Smash Hits" posters on their bedroom walls. The band's lightweight funk and photogenic looks rewarded them with mainstream acceptance in their native England but America didn't budge. Curiosity Killed the Cat was formed in 1984 by Ben Volpeliere-Pierrot (vocals), Julian Godfrey Brookhouse (guitar), Nicholas Bernard Throp (bass), Michael Drummond (drums), and Toby Anderson (keyboards). While in art school Volpeliere-Pierrot met Throp, who was then in a post-punk group called Twilight Children with the other future members of Curiosity Killed the Cat. After inviting him to sing Volpeliere-Pierrot became the band's new lead singer. They recorded a track entitled “Curiosity Killed the Cat" which caught the interest of businessman Peter Rosengard, who eventually renamed the band after their song and became their manager. In 1985, Curiosity Killed the Cat was signed to Phonogram, and the group began making their first LP. However, producers Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare were taken off the project, replaced by Stewart Levine; as a result, the album was delayed for nearly a year. The toe-tapping single “Misfit" was released in July 1986, but it was not successful. The band gained much attention after Andy Warhol became a fan; he even did a cameo for the “Misfit" video. In early 1987 “Down to Earth" became a Top-10 hit in the U.K. Two years later the group shortened their appellation to Curiosity. 1992's “Hang On In There Baby" peaked at No. 3 on the British charts, and the band disappeared from the music scene until they joined the ‘80s nostalgia Here and Now tour in 2001

Edited December 3, 2005 by hitman531ph

[hitman531ph]

ICEHOUSE

 

Though it has had varying personnel, Icehouse is essentially a vehicle for the work of Australian Iva Davies (b.May 22, 1955). Davies formed the first version of the band under the name Flowers in 1980 and began scoring hits in Australia with the group's first single, "Can't Help Myself." Icehouse was the name of Flowers' first album, but the group changed its name as it went international, to avoid conflicts with another band. They first reached the U.S. charts in 1981 with "We Can Get Together" and a US Top 40 hit "No Promises", but did not score a substantial hit until 1988, with "Crazy" that went to the US Top 10. This was followed by another US Top 10 hit "Electric Blue," which was written by John Oates, and a minor hit "Key to the Kingdom". Icehouse did not return to the charts after.

Edited December 3, 2005 by hitman531ph

[TheTruthAboutMan'sLove]

BACK TO THE 80's by CHICO GARCIA....

 

MADONNA is the BEST

[hitman531ph]

UB40

 

Named after a British unemployment benefit form, pop-reggae band UB40 was formed in a welfare line in 1978, and its multiracial lineup reflected the working-class community its members came from. The band consolidated its street credibility with political topics appealing to dissatisfied youth and got a boost from fans of the waning 2-Tone ska-revival movement. Brothers Robin (lead guitar) and Ali Campbell (guitar, lead vocals) formed the centerpiece of the group, which also included bassist Earl Falconer, keyboardist Mickey Virtue, saxophonist Brian Travers, drummer Jim Brown, percussionist Norman Hassan, and toaster Terence "Astro" Wilson. The band purchased its first instruments with compensation money Ali Campbell received after a bar fight, even though few of the members knew how to play them. But by the end of the year, the group was invited to tour with the Pretenders. Their "Food For Thought" single reached the U.K. Top Ten in 1980, beginning a long streak of chart appearances. Signing Off and Present Arms were big sellers in Britain, if not America, and addressed the political issues of the day in songs like "One in Ten," a Top Ten hit blasting Margaret Thatcher for the country's unemployment rate. 1983's Labour of Love, an album of reggae cover songs, gave the group its first chart album in America and first number one U.K. hit with Neil Diamond's "Red Red Wine." Several albums of original material sold well in the U.K., but only respectably in the U.S., where the group's biggest hit was a Top 30 cover of Sonny and Cher's "I Got You Babe" featuring the Pretenders' Chrissie Hynde.

 

In 1988, the group performed "Red Red Wine" at a Nelson Mandela tribute concert, and a Phoenix radio station trotted the single out for a second go-round. Listener response was far more enthusiastic, and "Red Red Wine" re-entered the charts and went all the way to the top. Finally having hit on a way to conquer the lucrative American market, UB40 responded with another covers album, Labour of Love II, which produced Top Ten singles with versions of the Temptations' "The Way You Do the Things You Do" and Al Green's "Here I Am (Come and Take Me)." The group scored a huge hit in America with Elvis Presley's "Can't Help Falling In Love," which was initially featured in the Sharon Stone film Sliver and spent seven weeks at number one. By this time, UB40 had largely abandoned its trademark left-wing politics and was concentrating more on perfecting its reggae oldies covers than its original material; however, the gimmick has thus far resulted in huge sales figures in both the U.S. and U.K., with Promises and Lies reaching number six and number one, respectively. In the spring of 1998, UB40 released Presents the Dancehall Album in the UK. A third Labour of Love collection followed a year later. In fall 2002, UB40 bounced back with yet another collection. The Fathers of Reggae, which appeared on Virgin in November, highlighted the band's roots in reggae in a selection of classics

[Cain N Moko]

WHITNEY HOUSTON

 

Whitney Houston is inarguably one of the of the biggest female pop stars of all time. Her accomplishments as a hitmaker are extraordinary; just to scratch the surface, she became the first artist ever to have seven consecutive singles hit number one, and her 1993 Dolly Parton cover "I Will Always Love You" became nothing less than the biggest hit single in rock history. Houston was able to handle big adult contemporary ballads, effervescent, stylish dance-pop, and slick urban contemporary soul with equal dexterity; the result was an across-the-board appeal that was matched by scant few artists of her era, and helped her become one of the first black artists to find success on MTV in Michael Jackson's wake. Like many of the original soul singers, Houston was trained in gospel before moving into secular music; over time, she developed a virtuosic singing style given over to swooping, flashy melodic embellishments. The shadow of Houston's prodigious technique still looms large over nearly every pop diva and smooth urban soul singer -- male or female -- in her wake, and spawned a legion of imitators (despite some critics' complaints about over-singing). Always more of a singles artist, Houston largely shied away from albums during the '90s, releasing the bulk of her most popular material on the soundtracks of films in which she appeared. By the end of the decade, she'd gone several years without a true blockbuster, yet her status as an icon was hardly diminished.

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born in Newark, NJ, on August 9, 1963; her mother was gospel/R&B singer Cissy Houston, and her cousin was Dionne Warwick. By age 11, Houston was performing as a soloist in the junior gospel choir at her Baptist church; as a teenager, she began accompanying her mother in concert (as well as on the 1978 album Think It Over), and went on to back artists like Lou Rawls and Chaka Khan. Houston also pursued modeling and acting, appearing on the sitcoms Gimme a Break and Silver Spoons. Somewhat bizarrely, Houston's first recording as a featured vocalist was with Bill Laswell's experimental jazz-funk ensemble Material; their 1982 album One Down placed Houston alongside such unlikely avant-gardists as Archie Shepp and Fred Frith. The following year, Arista president Clive Davis heard Houston singing at a nightclub and offered her a record contract. Her first single appearance was a duet with Teddy Pendergrass, "Hold Me," which missed the Top 40 in 1984.

 

Houston's debut album Whitney Houston was released in March 1985. Its first single, "Someone for Me," was a flop, but the second try, "You Give Good Love," became Houston's first hit, topping the R&B charts and hitting number three pop. Houston's next three singles -- the Grammy-winning romantic ballad "Saving All My Love for You," the brightly danceable "How Will I Know," and the inspirational "The Greatest Love of All" -- all topped the pop charts, and a year to the month after its release, Whitney Houston hit number one on the album charts. It eventually sold over 13-million copies, making it the best-selling debut ever by a female artist. Houston cemented her superstar status on her next album, Whitney; despite the unimaginative title, it became the first album by a female artist to debut at number one, and sold over nine-million copies. Its first four singles -- "I Wanna Dance With Somebody (Who Loves Me)" (another Grammy winner), "Didn't We Almost Have It All," "So Emotional," and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go" -- all hit number one, an amazing, record-setting run of seven straight (broken by "Love Will Save the Day"). In late 1988, Houston scored a Top Five hit with the non-LP single "One Moment in Time," recorded for an Olympics-themed compilation album.

 

Houston returned with her third album, I'm Your Baby Tonight, in 1990; a more urban-sounding, R&B-oriented record, it immediately spun off two number-one hits in the title track and "All the Man That I Need." But the quality of the material was generally viewed as, overall, much weaker than her previous efforts, and following those two hits, sales of the album tapered off quickly, halting around four-million copies. Nevertheless, Houston remained so popular that she could even take a recording of "The Star Spangled Banner" (performed at the Super Bowl) into the pop Top 20 -- though, of course, the Gulf War had something to do with that. In retrospect, the erratic quality of I'm Your Baby Tonight seemed to signal Houston's declining interest in making fully fleshed-out albums. Instead, she began to focus on an acting career, which she hadn't pursued since her teenage years; she also married singer Bobby Brown in the summer of 1992. Her first feature film, a romance with Kevin Costner called The Bodyguard, was released in late 1992; it performed well at the box office, helped by an ad campaign which seemingly centered around the climactic key change in Houston's soundtrack recording of the Dolly Parton-penned "I Will Always Love You." In fact, the ad campaign undoubtedly helped "I Will Always Love You" become the biggest single in pop music history. It set new records for sales (nearly five-million copies) and weeks at number one (14), although those were later broken by Elton John's "Candle in the Wind 1997" and Mariah Carey and Boyz II Men's "One Sweet Day," respectively. Meanwhile, the soundtrack eventually sold an astounding 16-million copies, and also won a Grammy for Album of the Year.

 

Once Houston had stopped raking in awards and touring the world, she prepared her next theatrical release, the female ensemble drama Waiting to Exhale. A few months before its release at the end of 1995, it was announced that she and Brown had split up; however, they called off the split just a couple months later, and rumors about their tempestuous relationship filled the tabloids for years to come. Waiting to Exhale was released toward the end of the year, and the first single from the soundtrack, "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)," topped the charts; the album sold over seven-million copies. For her next project, Houston decided to return to her gospel roots; the soundtrack to the 1996 film The Preacher's Wife, which naturally featured Houston in the title role, was loaded with traditional and contemporary gospel songs, plus guest appearances by Houston's mother, Shirley Caesar, and the Georgia Mass Choir. Houston also began making headlines for what appeared to be increasing unreliability, cancelling several TV and concert appearances due to illness.

 

In 1998, Houston finally issued a new, full-length album, My Love Is Your Love, her first in eight years. Houston worked with pop/smooth soul mainstays like Babyface and David Foster, but also recruited hip-hop stars like Missy Elliott, Wyclef Jean, Lauryn Hill, and Q-Tip. The album sold even fewer copies than I'm Your Baby Tonight, but it received Houston's most enthusiastic reviews in quite some time. Moreover, it produced one of her biggest R&B chart hits (seven weeks at number one) in the trio number "Heartbreak Hotel," done with Faith Evans and Kelly Price. She also duetted with Mariah Carey on "When You Believe," a song from the animated film The Prince of Egypt. Unfortunately, Houston was also back in the tabloids in early 2000; she was arrested in Hawaii when airline authorities reportedly found marijuana in her luggage (the charges were later dismissed). Speculation about Houston's personal life only grew when she was dropped from the Academy Awards telecast that March, officially because of a sore throat, but reputedly due to poor rehearsals and a generally out-of-it air. Later in the year, Arista released the two-disc compilation Greatest Hits, which actually featured one disc of hits and one of remixes; it also included new duets with Enrique Iglesias, George Michael, and Deborah Cox. It was also announced that Houston had signed a new deal with Arista worth 100-million dollars, requiring six albums from the singer. In late 2001, Arista released another compilation, the love-song-themed Love, Whitney

[Cain N Moko]

BEE GEES

 

No popular music act of the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s has experienced more ups and downs in its popularity, or attracted a more varied audience across the decades than the Bee Gees. Beginning in the mid- to late '60s as a Beatlesque ensemble, they quickly developed as songwriters in their own right and style, perfecting in the process a progressive pop sound all their own. Then, after hitting a trough in their popularity in the early '70s, they reinvented themselves as perhaps the most successful white soul act of all time during the disco era. Their popularity faded with the passing of disco's appeal, but the Bee Gees have since made a successful comeback in virtually every corner of the globe. What has remained a constant through their history is their extraordinary singing, rooted in three voices that are appealing individually and comprise so perfectly and naturally by melding together that they make such acts as the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, and Simon & Garfunkel -- all noted for their harmonies -- almost seem arch and artificial.

The group was also rock's most successful brother act. Barry Gibb, born on September 1, 1946, in Manchester, England, and his fraternal twin brothers Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb, born on December 22, 1949, on the Isle of Man, were three of five children of Hugh Gibb, a bandleader, and Barbara Gibb, a former singer. The three of them gravitated toward music very early on, encouraged by their father, who reportedly saw his sons at first as a diminutive version of the Mills Brothers, a '30s and '40s black American harmony group. The three Gibb brothers made their earliest performances between shows at local movie theaters in Manchester in 1955. Though they had been singing together at home, their intention had been merely to mime to records as a novelty entertainment act, but when the records got broken, they went on, really sang, and got a rousing response from the delighted audience. They performed under a variety of names, including the Blue Cats and (reportedly) the Rattlesnakes, and for a time, fell under the influence of England's skiffle king, Lonnie Donegan, and proto-rock & roller Tommy Steele.

 

Their early lives were interrupted when the family moved to Australia in 1958, resettling in Brisbane. The trio, known as the Brothers Gibb -- with Barry writing songs by then -- continued performing at talent shows and attracted the attention of a local DJ, Bill Gates, which led to an extended engagement at the Beachcomber Nightclub. They eventually got their own local television show in Brisbane and it was around this time that they took on the name the Bee Gees (for Brothers Gibb). In 1962, they landed their first recording contract with the Festival Records label in Australia, debuting with the single "Three Kisses of Love." The trio was astoundingly popular among the press and on television, and performed to very enthusiastic audience response. They eventually released an LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs, but actual hit records eluded them in Australia. They were witness during 1963 and 1964 to the explosion of British beat music half a world away with the success of the Beatles, whose harmony-based approach to rock & roll and reliance on original songs only encouraged the three Gibb brothers to keep pushing in those directions.

 

By late 1966, however, they'd decided to stop trying to conquer the Australian music world, or to reach the rest of the world from Australia, and return to England, which, thanks to the Beatles was now the center of rock and popular music for the whole world. It was while on the boat, in mid-ocean, that the Gibb family learned that the Bee Gees had finally topped the charts back in Australia with their final release, "Spicks and Specks." Just as the Seekers before them had done on leaving Australia, the group had sent demo recordings to England ahead of them and "Spicks and Specks" had attracted the interest of Robert Stigwood, an associate of Brian Epstein. The trio was signed by Stigwood to a five-year contract upon their arrival, and they began shaping their sound anew in the environment of Swinging London in 1967. Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb alternated the lead vocal spot, harmonizing together and with Maurice Gibb. Barry played rhythm guitar as well while Maurice, in addition to his backing vocal spot, was the triple-threat musician in the core lineup, playing bass, piano, organ, and Mellotron, among other instruments. The brothers soon expanded the group with the addition of guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Petersen, whose presence turned them into a fully functional performing group. Their first English recording, "New York Mining Disaster 1941," released in mid-1967, made the Top 20 in England and America and established a pattern for the group's work for the next two years. As an original by the group, it had a haunting melody and a strange lyric; it wasn't so much psychedelic (though it could pass for psychedelia in a pop vein) as it was surreal. They had successful follow-ups with "Holiday" and "To Love Somebody."

 

Robert Stigwood arranged for Polydor to release the Bee Gees' records in England and Europe, and for Atlantic Records to issue their work in America. Atlantic had missed out on the entire British Invasion and now they had a group whose music resembled that of the Beatles at their most accessible. The Bee Gees' records had gorgeous melodies and arrangements and were steeped in romantic yet complex lyrics, many of them containing a strangely downbeat mood that no one seemed to mind. One curious offshoot of their appeal was that Stigwood was able to convince Atlantic Records, as part of the deal for the Bee Gees, to accept and release the recordings of a relatively unknown trio called Cream. At the time, Eric Clapton was not much more than a cult figure in the United States, more "rumor" than star (his recordings with the Yardbirds had never even appeared in America with his name mentioned on them), but Atlantic -- which recorded Disraeli Gears -- helped change that, selling millions of records in the bargain.

 

The Bee Gees single "Massachusetts" was a chart-topper in England and launched the group on their first wave of stardom. Their music was made even more attractive by the fact that their albums were unusually well put together. Reflecting the influence of the Beatles, a lot of attention was lavished on the group's LP tracks rather than relying on the presence of a hit or two to justify their existence. Bee Gees 1st, cut in early 1967, had its weaker spots, but not a throwaway track on it, while Horizontal and Idea were strong LPs filled with beautiful and unusual songs and lush arrangements (courtesy of conductor Bill Shepherd), all carefully recorded, mixing electric instruments and orchestra. What made their work even more impressive was that after Bee Gees 1st, which was produced by their Australian friend Ossie Byrne, the three Gibb brothers took over producing their own records; even more surprising, as is now known from various bootleg releases of live performances of the period, the group -- with Melouney and Petersen in the lineup -- was also able to do their music note-perfect, with spot-on vocals while on-stage, something that the Beatles had never even attempted seriously with their post-1965 efforts.

 

The group enjoyed two major hits in 1968, "I Started a Joke" and "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," both from Idea. During this period, it was easy, in listening to (and luxuriating in) the group's singles, with their lush singing and production. Whatever they out seemed to work, including the delightful psychedelic pop ode "Barker of the UFO," a B-side that is a spot-on perfect example of late '60s English "freak-beat," hardly a genre on which the Bee Gees are commonly thought to have contributed. It was easy, amid the sheer beauty of their records, to overlook the range of their influences that went into their sound -- the Bee Gees may have been making pop/rock, but their underlying sounds came from a multitude of sources, including American country music and soul music. Indeed, one of the group's biggest hits, "To Love Somebody," had been written for Otis Redding to record, but the Stax/Volt singing legend didn't live long enough to record it himself. At this point in their history, they were most comfortable deconstructing elements in the singing and harmonies of black American music and rebuilding them in their style, as the Beatles had done with the music of the Shirelles and various Motown acts.

 

It was in 1969 when the trio lost all the momentum they'd built up, ironically over a dispute involving their most ambitious recording to date. They'd just finished a double-LP set, called Odessa, a lushly orchestrated, heavily overdubbed, and thoroughly haunting body of music. The seven-minute-long title track was filled with eerie images and ideas and gorgeous choruses around a haunting lead performance and it was only the jumping-off point for the album. The brothers, however, were unable to agree on which song was to be the single and in the resulting dispute, Robin decided to part company with Barry and Maurice. They held on to the Bee Gees name for one LP, Cucumber Castle, while Robin released the album Robin's Reign, on which he was producer, arranger, and songwriter, and sang all of the parts himself.

 

Eventually, even Barry and Maurice Gibb parted company. Melouney had left at the outset of the Odessa sessions and Petersen left the two-man group behind a few days into Cucumber Castle, though not without a good deal of legal squabbling. The drummer, in a bizarre twist, at one point filed a lawsuit claiming that he owned the Bee Gees name. Without a group to tour behind or even make television appearances promoting it, the Odessa album never sold the way it might have, even with a hit coming off of it in the form of "First of May." Cucumber Castle was at least peripherally connected to a British television special of the same name -- sort of the Bee Gees' better (and funnier) answer to the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour movie -- and generated several singles that were successful in England and/or Germany, including the reggae-influenced "I.O.I.O." and "Don't Forget to Remember." Ironically, even during a period with their music partnership in tatters, the Gibb brothers were writing and recording profoundly beautiful songs -- Robin Gibb's "Saved By the Bell," with its lush, ornate multi-layered vocals, justifiably topped the British charts; and the two-man Bee Gees B-side "Sun in My Morning" was one of the prettiest songs ever issued by the group.

 

In 1970, they finally decided to try and re-form. Almost two years older and a good deal wiser, they related to each other better and had also evolved musically out of pop-psychedelia and into a kind of pop-progressive rock sound, similar to the Moody Blues of the same era but with better singing and more attractive songs. They came back on a high note with two dazzling songs: "Lonely Days," the group's first number one hit in America and their first gold record in the United States. The other was "Morning of My Life," a song originally known as "In the Morning," originally authored by Barry Gibb; included on the soundtrack to the movie Melody, it proved so popular with fans that the group was still doing it in concert several years later.

 

They enjoyed another huge international success with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" in 1971, but the accompanying album, Trafalgar, was lacking some of the variety of sounds that had made their earlier LPs so interesting. Moreover, it and the 2 Years On LP that preceded it never reached higher than the mid-30s on the American charts (and never charted in England at all), a considerable fall off from their '60s albums' sales. In 1972, the group had another Top 20 hit with "Run to Me," but their album that year, To Whom It May Concern, was forgotten almost instantly after a brief run to number 35.

 

There was a sense that they were losing ground, particularly as the music world was increasingly defined by albums and driven by album sales. Pop/rock was developing around them in new and harder directions and the trio's Beatlesque harmonies and Paul McCartney-like melodies were starting to run a little thin at the source. Their 1973 album Life in a Tin Can and the accompanying single, "Saw a New Morning," which were used to launch the new RSO Records label, marked a change in the group's base of operations from England to America. Despite a heavy promotional tour, however, the single never made the Top 40 and the album stalled after climbing to the mid-60s.

 

When their proposed next album, tentatively titled A Kick in the Head (Is Worth Eight in the Pants), was rejected by Stigwood, the trio knew they were in a deep creative and commercial hole. Rescue came in the form of a suggestion by their RSO labelmate, Eric Clapton, that they try recording at the studio where he'd just cut 461 Ocean Boulevard, at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL. Stigwood agreed and the Bee Gees came back in 1974 with Mr. Natural, produced by Arif Mardin. This record was a departure for them with its heavily Americanized, R&B-flavored sound. The album didn't even sell as well as Life in a Tin Can and it yielded no hits, but it got better reviews and it pointed in a direction that seemed promising. It also seemed to free up the brothers' thinking about the kinds of songs they could do.

 

The next year, with Mardin again producing, they plunged head-first into the new sound with Main Course. This was the beginning of the Bee Gees' second (or third, if you count their Australian period) era. The emphasis was now on dance rhythms, high harmonies, and a funk beat. They had a new band in place, with Alan Kendall on lead guitar, Dennis Byron at the drums, and Blue Weaver on keyboards, but spearheading the new sound was Barry Gibb who, for the first time, sang falsetto and discovered that he could delight audiences in that register. "Jive Talkin'," the first single off the album, became their second American number one single, but it was a long way from {"Lonely Days"} in style. It was followed up with the hit "Nights on Broadway" and then the album Children of the World, which yielded the hits "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right." In the midst of this string of new hits, the group released their first concert LP, Bee Gees Live, which gingerly walked a line between their old and new hits.

 

Then in 1977, coming off of their recent success, the group was approached about contributing to the soundtrack of a forthcoming movie, called Saturday Night Fever. Their featured numbers -- "Stayin' Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," and "Night Fever" -- each made number one on the charts and the album stayed in the top spot for 24 weeks, even as the film broke existing box office records. In the process, the disco era was born -- or more properly, re-born -- it had already taken root in Europe, where it had become passé, and in the black and gay subcultures in America as well, but there it had stalled out. Saturday Night Fever, as an album and a film, supercharged the phenomenon and broadened its audience to tens of millions of middle-class and working-class white listeners, with the Bee Gees at the forefront of the music.

 

Suddenly, they were outstripping the sales that the Beatles had enjoyed with their records in the 1960s, and were even eclipsing Paul McCartney's multi-platinum '70s-era popularity. It was a profound moment, joining the ranks of their one-time idols in the highest reaches of music success, if not musical or social significance. They could (and did) fill arenas across the country with their new fans, although some of their older admirers -- who were admittedly a minority in the context of the tens of millions of record sales they were enjoying in the mid-'70s -- resented the group's new sound and the disco era that it embodied.

 

Ironically, there wasn't that much difference in the group between the two eras. Apart from Barry Gibb's falsetto, the voices were the same and as good as ever, and they had a superb band and all of the production resources that a recording act could want. And amid the dance numbers, the group still did a healthy portion of romantic ballads that each offered a high "haunt" count and memorable hooks. They'd simply decided, at Arif Mardin's urging, to forget the fact that they were white Englishmen -- or the reticence that went with it -- and plunged head-first into soul music, emulating, in their own terms, the funkier Philadelphia soul sounds that all three brothers knew and loved. Luckily for them, they had the voices, the band, and the songwriting skills to do it convincingly, so much so that by 1977, the Bee Gees were getting played on black radio stations that were normally unwilling to run any white acts. What's more, "Nights on Broadway" or "Love So Right" were no less beautiful songs or records than, say, "Melody Fair" or "First of May," and if one accepted Dennis Byron's and Maurice Gibb's driving beat on "You Should Be Dancing," it was impossible not to be impressed with the vocal acrobatics and the sheer panache of the song. In one fell swoop, the group had managed to meld every influence they'd ever embraced, from the Mills Brothers and the Beatles and early-'70s soul, into something of their own that was virtually irresistible. The worldwide sales of the 1979 Spirits Having Flown album topped 30 million and was accompanied by three more number one singles in "Tragedy," "Too Much Heaven," and "Love You Inside Out." As a side-light to the group's success, a fourth Gibb brother, Andy Gibb, was enjoying massive chart success during this same period as a singer, working in a slightly lighter-textured dance vein.

 

By the end of the '70s, however, the disco era was on the wane, from a combination of the bad economy, political chaos domestically and around the world (leading to the election of Ronald Reagan), and a general burn-out of the participants from too many drugs and profligate sex (which would precipitate an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases and herald the outbreak of AIDS in the United States). There had already been an ad-hoc reaction against the group's dominance of the airwaves with mass burnings of Bee Gees posters and albums at public forums spurred on by DJs and ordinary listeners weary of the dance hits by the group that seemed to soar effortlessly to the top of the charts; meanwhile, some radio stations began looking askance at new releases by the group after 1979. The group itself helped contribute to the end of the party with their own excesses, in particular their participation (at Stigwood's insistence) in the film Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "inspired" (if that's the word) by the Beatles' album and songs. The movie was a box office and critical disaster and an embarrassment to all concerned; the accompanying soundtrack LP was a $1.99 cut-out only six months after its 1978 release, lingering in bargain bins and warehouses for years afterward.

 

In 1981, the group's new LP, Living Eyes, was recorded after an extended lay-off in the wake of four years of hard work, but didn't even make the Top 40. Suddenly, with the disco era over and out of favor, the Bee Gees couldn't even get arrested and were being shunned for the excesses that it represented. The Bee Gees only managed to scrape the bottom of the Top 40 with songs from the soundtrack of "Staying Alive", the sequel to Saturday Night Fever. Strangely enough, the story of Staying Alive is about an older Tony Manero struggling to make his way out of the disco and into modern theater dance. The Bee Gees were also struggling thru the 80s. And the soundtrack produce one Top 10 hit by one-hit wonder Frank Stallone, brother of Sylvester Stallone who directed Staying Alive.

 

The most tragic of all was the fate of Andy Gibb. The older Gibb brothers had, at various times, struggled with personal demons such as alcohol and drug use, but the youngest sibling fell very hard when the '70s ended, eventually losing his life in 1988, five days after his 30th birthday at the end of a horrendous downward personal spiral. In America, the Bee Gees were virtually invisible as recording artists for most of the '80s. Instead, Barry Gibb pursued work as a producer for other artists, creating hits for Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross, among others; the Bee Gees had songs on the soundtrack to Stayin' Alive, the tepid sequel to Saturday Night Fever, but they were no longer taken seriously by the music press.

 

They made their first attempt at a comeback in 1987 with E.S.P., an album that got favorable reviews and sold well in every corner of the globe except the United States, yielding a number one single (outside of the U.S.) in "You Win Again." A new album in 1989, One, got a good reception around the world and even generated a Top Ten U.S. single in the form of its title track. Polygram Records, which had bought out the RSO Records catalog, struggled long and hard over the release of Tales From the Brothers Gibb, a boxed set anthology that was really aimed more at the international market rather than the United States, although it has sold well enough to remain in print in America. High Civilization (1991) and Size Isn't Everything (1993) attracted somewhat less attention, but their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 led to the release of Still Waters. In 1998, they issued the second live album in their history, One Night Only, cut at their first concert appearance in America in almost a decade, at the MGM Grand Hotel. In 2000, they participated in the making of the biographical video, This Is Where I Came In, which covered their whole history, and an accompanying album of the same name.

 

The Bee Gees remained active until the death of Maurice in January 2003. While receiving treatment for an intestinal blockage he suffered cardiac arrest and died at the age of 53. Following his death, Robin and Barry decided to cease performing as the Bee Gees.

[Cain N Moko]

PETER CETERA

 

While best known as the longtime frontman for Chicago, singer Peter Cetera also enjoyed success as a solo performer. Born September 13, 1944 in the Windy City, Cetera was in a band called the Exceptions when in late 1967 he was recruited by another aspiring group, then called Chicago Transit Authority, to play bass. By the early 1970s, Chicago was among the most popular acts in America, their brand of muscular jazz-rock spawning such major hits as "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?" and "Saturday in the Park," many of them featuring Cetera on vocals. In 1976 he penned the gossamer ballad "If You Leave Me Now," and when it hit number one, most of Chicago's subsequent work followed in the same soft-rock style. Although the band's fortunes dwindled over the remainder of the decade, in 1982 they returned to the top of the charts with "Hard to Say I'm Sorry"; several more smashes, including "Hard Habit to Break" and "You're the Inspiration," were to follow. Although Cetera recorded his eponymously titled solo debut in 1981, he remained with Chicago full-time until 1985. Upon quitting the band, he soon returned to the top of the charts with "The Glory of Love," the first single from his album Solitude/Solitaire as well as the theme to the film The Karate Kid Part II; that same year he scored another number one smash, "The Next Time I Fall," a duet with Amy Grant. A year later he produced Agnetha Faltskog's I Stand Alone, and upon resurfacing in 1988 with One More Story, Cetera scored with another duet, "After All," this one recorded with Cher. After a four-year hiatus, he issued World Falling Down, his final release for Warner Bros.; One Clear Voice followed in 1995. In 1997, Cetera released You're the Inspiration, a collection of past hits and new material. Cetera stepped out of the limelight for a few years to enjoy his life and his family, and returned in 2001 with Another Perfect World

[Cain N Moko]

BONNIE TYLER

 

Before her well-known collaborations with Meat Loaf producer Jim Steinman, Welsh-born singer Bonnie Tyler (born Gaynor Hopkins) performed off and on in her homeland with the R&B band Mumbles; nodules on her vocal cords prevented her from singing full time until 1976, when she underwent an operation to have them removed. The surgery left her with a raspy, husky voice that proved an effective instrument and drew notice from writers/producers Ronnie Scott and Steve Wolfe, who became her managers. Tyler scored a number three hit with their "It's a Heartache" in 1978, but became dissatisfied as the two attempted to steer her into country music. When her contract ran out, she signed with CBS and sought Steinman out, hoping for material with his trademark epic sound. She got it with the ballad "Total Eclipse of the Heart," which was recorded with E Street Band members Max Weinberg on drums and Roy Bittan on keyboards, plus guitarist Rick Derringer and backing vocalist Rory Dodd. The song spent four weeks at number one on the Billboard charts and helped the LP Faster Than the Speed of Night sell over a million copies and debut at number one in the U.K., where the title track also became a hit. Tyler then recorded "Holding Out For a Hero" for the blockbuster Footloose soundtrack, which to date has remained her last major success. She went on to work with Todd Rundgren and Desmond Child and recorded the European hit album Bitterblue in 1991 for a German label, which featured contributions from Nik Kershaw, Harold Faltermeyer, and Giorgio Moroder. In 1996, she released Free Spirit on Atlantic Records to little attention

[Cain N Moko]

CHICAGO

 

According to Billboard chart statistics, Chicago is second only to the Beach Boys as the most successful American rock band of all time, in terms of both albums and singles. Judged by album sales, as certified by the R.I.A.A., the band does not rank quite so high, but it is still among the Top Ten best-selling U.S. groups ever. If such statements of fact surprise, that's because Chicago has been singularly underrated since the beginning of its long career, both because of its musical ambitions (to the musicians, rock is only one of several styles of music to be used and blended, along with classical, jazz, R&B, and pop) and because of its refusal to emphasize celebrity over the music. The result has been that fundamentalist rock critics have consistently failed to appreciate its music and that its media profile has always been low. At the same time, however, Chicago has succeeded in the ways it intended to. From the beginning of its emergence as a national act, it has been able to fill arenas with satisfied fans. And beyond the impressive sales and chart statistics, its music has endured, played constantly on the radio and instantly familiar to tens of millions. When, in 2002, Chicago's biggest hits were assembled together on the two-disc set The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning and the album debuted in the Top 50, giving the band the distinction of having had chart albums in five consecutive decades, the music industry and some music journalists may have been startled. But the fans who had been supporting Chicago for over 30 years were not.

Chicago marked the confluence of two distinct, but intermingling musical strains in Chicago, IL, in the mid-'60s: an academic approach and one coming from the streets. Reed player Walter Parazaider (born March 14, 1945, in Chicago, IL), trumpeter Lee Loughnane (born October 21, 1946, in Chicago, IL), and trombonist James Pankow (born August 20, 1947, in St. Louis, MO) were all music students at DePaul University. But they moonlighted in the city's clubs, playing everything from R&B to Irish music, and there they encountered less-formally educated, but no-less-talented players like guitarist Terry Kath (born January 31, 1946, in Chicago, IL; died January 23, 1978, in Los Angeles, CA) and drummer Danny Seraphine (born August 28, 1948, in Chicago, IL). In the mid-'60s, most rock groups followed the instrumentation of the Beatles -- two guitars, bass, and drums -- and horn sections were heard only in R&B. But in the summer of 1966, the Beatles used horns on "Got to Get You into My Life" on their Revolver album and, as usual, pop music began to follow their lead. At the end of the year, the Buckinghams, a Chicago band guided by a friend of Parazaider's, James William Guercio, scored a national hit with the horn-filled "Kind of a Drag," which went on to hit number one in February 1967.

 

That was all the encouragement Parazaider and his friends needed. Parazaider called a meeting of the band-to-be at his apartment on February 15, 1967, inviting along a talented organist and singer he had run across, Robert Lamm (born October 13, 1944, in New York, NY [brooklyn]). Lamm agreed to join and also said he could supply the missing bass sounds to the ensemble using the organ's foot pedals (a skill he had not actually acquired at the time).

 

Developing a repertoire of James Brown and Wilson Pickett material, the new band rehearsed in Parazaider's parents' basement before beginning to get gigs around town under the name the Big Thing. Soon, they were playing around the Midwest. By this time, Guercio had become a staff producer at Columbia Records, and he encouraged the band to begin developing original songs. Kath, and especially Lamm, took up the suggestion. (Soon, Pankow also became a major writer for the band.) Meanwhile, the sextet became a septet when Peter Cetera (born September 13, 1944, in Chicago, IL), singer and bassist for a rival Midwest band, the Exceptions, agreed to defect and join the Big Thing. This gave the group the unusual versatility of having three lead singers, the smooth baritone Lamm, the gruff baritone Kath, and Cetera, who was an elastic tenor. When Guercio came back to see the group in the late winter of 1968, he deemed them ready for the next step. In June 1968, he financed their move to Los Angeles.

 

Guercio exerted a powerful influence on the band as its manager and producer, which would become a problem over time. At first, the bandmembers were willing to live together in a two-bedroom house, practice all the time, and change the group's name to one of Guercio's choosing, Chicago Transit Authority. Guercio's growing power at Columbia Records enabled him to get the band signed there and to set in place the unusual image the band would have. He convinced the label to let this neophyte band release a double album as its debut (that is, when they agreed to a cut in their royalties), and he decided the group would be represented on the cover by a logo instead of a photograph.

 

Chicago Transit Authority, released in April 1969, debuted on the charts in May as the band began touring nationally. By July, the album had reached the Top 20, without benefit of a hit single. It had been taken up by the free-form FM rock stations and become an underground hit. It was certified gold by the end of the year and eventually went on to sell more than two million copies. (In September 1969, the band played the Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Festival, and somehow the promoter obtained the right to tape the show. That same low-fidelity tape has turned up in an endless series of albums ever since. Examples include: Anthology, Beat the Bootleggers: Live 1967, Beginnings, Beginnings Live, Chicago [Classic World], Chicago Live, Chicago Transit Authority: Live in Concert [Magnum], Chicago Transit Authority: Live in Concert [Onyx], Great Chicago in Concert, I'm a Man, In Concert [Digmode], In Concert [Pilz], Live! [Columbia River], Live [LaserLight], Live Chicago, Live in Concert, Live in Toronto, Live '69, Live 25 or 6 to 4, The Masters, Rock in Toronto, and Toronto Rock 'n' Roll Revival.) To Guercio's surprise, he was contacted by the real Chicago Transit Authority, which objected to the band's use of the name; he responded by shortening the name to simply "Chicago." When he and the group finished the second album (another double) for release at the start of 1970, it was called Chicago, though it has since become known as Chicago II.

 

Chicago II vaulted into the Top Ten in its second week on the Billboard chart, even before its first single, "Make Me Smile," hit the Hot 100. The single was an excerpt from a musical suite, and the band at first objected to the editing considered necessary to prepare it for AM radio play. But it went on to reach the Top Ten, as did its successor, "25 or 6 to 4." The album quickly went gold and eventually platinum. In the fall of 1970, Columbia Records released "Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is?," drawn from the group's first album, as its next single; it gave them their third consecutive Top Ten hit.

 

Chicago III, another double album, was ready for release at the start of 1971, and it just missed hitting number one while giving the band a third gold (and later platinum) LP. Its singles did not reach the Top Ten, however, and Columbia again reached back, releasing "Beginnings" (from the first album) backed with "Colour My World" (from the second) to give Chicago its fourth Top Ten single. Next up was a live album, the four-disc box set Chicago at Carnegie Hall, which, despite its size, crested in the Top Five and sold over a million copies. (The band itself preferred Live in Japan, an album recorded in February 1972 and initially released only in Japan.) Chicago V, a one-LP set, released in July 1972, spent nine weeks at number one on its way to selling over two million copies, spurred by its gold-selling Top Ten hit "Saturday in the Park." Chicago VI followed a year later and repeated the same success, launching the Top Ten singles "Feelin' Stronger Every Day" and "Just You 'n' Me."

 

The next Top Ten hit, "(I've Been) Searchin' So Long," was released in advance of Chicago VII in the late winter of 1974. The album was the band's third consecutive chart-topper and another million-seller. "Call on Me" became its second Top Ten single. Chicago VIII, which marked the promotion of sideman percussionist Laudir de Oliveira as a full-fledged bandmember, appeared in the spring of 1975, spawned the Top Ten hit "Old Days," and became the band's fourth consecutive number one LP. After the profit-taking Chicago IX -- Chicago's Greatest Hits in the fall of 1975 came Chicago X, which missed hitting number one but eventually sold over two million copies, in part because of the inclusion of the Grammy-winning number one single "If You Leave Me Now." Chicago XI, released in the late summer of 1977, continued the seemingly endless string of success, reaching the Top Ten, selling a million copies, and generating the Top Five hit "Baby, What a Big Surprise."

 

But there was trouble beneath the surface. The band's big hits were starting to be solely ballads sung by Cetera, which frustrated the musicians' musical ambitions. They had failed to attract critical notice, and what press attention they were given often alluded to Guercio's Svengali-like control as manager and producer. Chicago determined to fire Guercio and demonstrate that they could succeed without him. Shortly afterward, they were struck by a crushing blow. Kath, a gun enthusiast, accidentally shot and killed himself on January 23, 1978. Though he, like most of the other members of the band, was not readily recognizable outside the group, he had actually had a large say in its direction, and his loss was incalculable. Nevertheless, the band closed ranks and went on.

 

Guitarist Donnie Dacus was chosen from auditions and joined the band in time for its 12th LP release, which was given a non-numerical title, Hot Streets, and which put prominent pictures of the bandmembers on the cover for the first time. The sound, as indicated by the first single, the Top 20 hit "Alive Again," was harder rock, and the band's core following responded, but Hot Streets was Chicago's first album since 1969 to miss the Top Ten. Chicago 13 then missed the Top 20. (At this point, Dacus left the band, and Chicago hired guitarist Chris Pinnick as a sideman, eventually upping him to full-fledged group-member status.) 1980's Chicago XIV, the last album to feature de Oliveira, didn't go gold. By 1981, with the release of the 15th album, the poor-selling Chicago -- Greatest Hits, Vol. 2, the band parted ways with Columbia Records and began looking for a new approach.

 

They found it in writer-producer David Foster, who returned to an emphasis on the band's talent for power ballads as sung by Cetera. They also brought in one of Foster's favorite session musicians, Bill Champlin (born May 21, 1947, in Oakland, CA), as a full-fledged bandmember. Champlin, formerly the leader of the Sons of Champlin, was a multi-instrumentalist with a gruff voice that allowed him to sing the parts previously taken by Kath. With these additions, the band signed with Full Moon Records, an imprint of Warner Bros., and released Chicago 16 in the spring of 1982, prefaced by the single "Hard to Say I'm Sorry," which topped the charts, leading to a major comeback. The album returned Chicago to million-selling, Top Ten status. Chicago 17, released in the spring of 1984, was even more successful -- in fact, the biggest-selling album of the band's career, with platinum certifications for six million copies as of 1997. It spawned two Top Five hits, "Hard Habit to Break" and "You're the Inspiration."

 

The renewed success, however, changed the long-established group dynamics, thrusting Cetera out as a star. He left the band for a solo career in 1985. (Pinnick also left at about this time, and the band did not immediately bring in a new guitarist.) As Cetera's replacement, Chicago found Jason Scheff, the 23-year-old bass-playing son of famed bassist Jerry Scheff, a longtime sideman with Elvis Presley. Scheff boasted a tenor voice that allowed him to re-create Cetera's singing on many Chicago hits. The split with Cetera had a negative commercial impact, however. Despite boasting a Top Five hit single in "Will You Still Love Me?," 1986's Chicago 18 only went gold. The band recovered, however, with Chicago 19, released in the spring of 1988. Among its singles, "I Don't Want to Live Without Your Love" made the Top Five, "Look Away" topped the charts, and "You're Not Alone" made the Top Ten as the album went platinum. Another single, "What Kind of Man Would I Be?," originally found on the album, was included as part of the 1989 compilation Greatest Hits 1982-1989 (which counted as the 20th album) and became a Top Five hit, while the album sold five million copies by 1997.

 

At the turn of the decade, Chicago underwent two more personnel changes, with guitarist DaWayne Bailey joining and original drummer Danny Seraphine departing, to be replaced by Tris Imboden. Chicago Twenty 1, released at the start of 1991, sold disappointingly, and Warner rejected the band's next offering (though tracks from it have turned up on compilations). Chicago, however, maintained a loyal following that enabled it to tour successfully every summer. In 1995, Keith Howland replaced Bailey as Chicago's guitarist. The same year, the band regained rights to its Columbia Records catalog and established its own Chicago Records label to reissue the albums. They also signed to Giant Records, another Warner imprint, to release their 22nd album, Night & Day, a collection of big band standards that made the Top 100. They were now able to combine hits from their Columbia and Warner years, resulting in the release of the gold-selling The Heart of Chicago 1967-1997 and its follow-up, The Heart of Chicago, Vol. 2 1967-1998 (their 23rd and 24th albums, respectively). In 1998, they released Chicago 25: The Christmas Album on Chicago Records, and they followed it in 1999 with Chicago XXVI: The Live Album. In 2002, Chicago began leasing its early albums to Rhino Records for deluxe repackagings, often with bonus tracks. And the success of The Very Best of Chicago: Only the Beginning demonstrated that their music continued to appeal to fans

[Cain N Moko]

GENESIS

 

One of the most successful rock acts of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s, Genesis enjoyed a longevity exceeded only by the likes of the Rolling Stones and the Kinks, in the process providing a launching pad for the superstardom of members Peter Gabriel and Phil Collins. The group had its roots in the Garden Wall, a band founded by 15 year olds Peter Gabriel and Tony Banks in 1965 at Charterhouse School in Godalming, Surrey, where fellow students Michael Rutherford and Anthony Phillips were members of another group called Anon. The two groups initially merged out of expediency as the older members of each graduated; Gabriel, Banks, Rutherford, Phillips, and drummer Chris Stewart soon joined together as the New Anon, and recorded a six-song demo featuring songs primarily written by Rutherford and Phillips.

The Charterhouse connection worked in their favor when ex-student, recording artist, and producer Jonathan King heard the tape and arranged for the group to continue working in the studio, developing their sound. It was also King who renamed the band Genesis. In December of 1967 the group had its first formal recording sessions. Their debut single, "The Silent Sun," was released in February of 1968 without attracting much notice from the public. A second single, "A Winter's Tale," followed just about the time that Chris Stewart quit -- his replacement, John Silver, joined just in time to participate in the group's first LP sessions that summer. King later added orchestral accompaniment to the band's tracks, in order to make them sound even more like the Moody Blues, and the resulting album, entitled From Genesis to Revelation, was released in March of 1969.

 

Music seemed to be shaping up as a brief digression in the lives of the members as they graduated from Charterhouse that summer. The group felt strongly enough about their work, however, that they decided to try it as a professional band; it was around this time that Silver exited, replaced by John Mayhew. They got their first paying gig in September of 1969, and spent the next several months working out new material. Genesis soon became one of the first groups signed to the fledgling Charisma label, and they recorded their second album, Trespass, that spring. Following its completion, the unit went through major personnel changes as Phillips, who had developed crippling stage fright, was forced to leave the lineup in July of 1970, followed by Mayhew.

 

Enter Phil Collins, a onetime child actor turned drummer and former member of Hickory and Flaming Youth. The group's lineup was completed with the addition of guitarist Steve Hackett, a former member of Quiet World; his presence and that of Collins toughened up the group's sound, which became apparent immediately upon the release of their next album, Nursery Cryme. The theatrical attributes of Gabriel's singing fit in well with the group's live performances during this period as he began to make ever more extensive use of masks, makeup, and props in concert, telling framing stories in order to set up their increasingly complicated songs. When presented amid the group's very strong playing, this aspect of Gabriel's work turned Genesis' performances into multimedia events.

 

Foxtrot, issued in the fall of 1972, was the flash point in Genesis' history, and not just on commercial terms. The writing, especially on "Supper's Ready," was as sophisticated as anything in progressive rock, and the lyrics were complex, serious, and clever, a far cry from the usual overblown words attached to most prog rock. Genesis' live performances by now were practically legend, and in response to the demand, in August of 1973 Charisma released Genesis Live, an album assembled from shows in Leicester and Manchester originally taped for an American radio broadcast. 1973 also saw the release of Selling England by the Pound, the group's most sophisticated album to date.

 

The release of the ambitious double LP The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in late 1974 marked the culmination of the group's early history; in May of 1975, following a show in France, Gabriel announced that he was leaving Genesis, owing to personal reasons. The group tried auditioning potential replacements, but it became clear that the remaining members all preferred that drummer Collins take over the role of lead singer. The band returned to the studio as an official quartet in October of 1975 to begin work on their new album: the resulting Trick of the Tail made number three in England and number 31 in America, the best chart showing up to that time for a Genesis album. Its success completely confounded critics and fans who'd been unable to conceive of Genesis without Peter Gabriel.

 

The group seemed to be on its way to bigger success than it ever had during Gabriel's tenure, as 1977's Wind and Wuthering became another smash. But then Hackett announced that he was leaving on the eve of the release of a new double live album, Seconds Out; he was replaced on the subsequent American and European tours by Daryl Steurmor, but there was no permanent replacement in the studio. In 1978, Genesis released And Then There Were Three, which abandoned any efforts at progressive rock in favor of a softer, much more accessible, and less ambitious pop sound. After a flurry of solo projects, the group reconvened for 1980's Duke, which became their first chart-topper in England while rising to number 11 in America.

 

The continued changes in their sound helped turn Genesis into an arena-scale act: Abacab, released in late 1981, was another smash, and 1983's self-titled Genesis furthered the group's record of British chart-toppers and American Top Ten hits, becoming their second million-selling U.S. album while also yielding their first American Top Ten single, "That's All." Two years later, the group outdid themselves with the release of their most commercially successful album to date, Invisible Touch, which went platinum several times over in America. Its release coincided with the biggest tour in their history, a string of sold-out arena shows that cast the group in the same league as concert stalwarts like the Rolling Stones and the Grateful Dead. Their 1991 album We Can't Dance debuted at number one in England and got to number four in America; it was Collins' last album with the group, and with new vocalist Ray Wilson, formerly of the group Stiltskin, Genesis resurfaced in 1997 with Calling All Stations, which recalled their art rock roots. Neither the critics nor the fans warmed to the album -- it sold poorly and the tour was equally unsuccessful. Coming on the heels of the disappointing Calling All Stations, the long-awaited box-set retrospective Genesis Archives, Vol. 1: 1967-1975 was even more welcome. Containing nothing but unreleased material and rarities from previously unavailable on CD, the set was released to surprisingly strong reviews in the summer of 1998. A second volume, containing unreleased material from the Phil Collins era, Genesis Archives, Vol. 2: 1976-1992, followed in 2000

[Cain N Moko]

PHIL COLLINS

 

Phil Collins' ascent to the status of one of the most successful pop and adult-contemporary singers of the '80s and beyond was probably as much of a surprise to him as it was to many others. Balding and diminutive, Collins was almost 30-years old when his first solo single, "In the Air Tonight," became a number two hit in his native U.K. (the song was a Top 20 hit in the U.S.). Between 1984 and 1990, Collins had a string of 13 straight U.S. Top Ten hits.

Long before any of that happened, however, Collins was a child actor/singer who appeared as The Artful Dodger in the London production of Oliver! in 1964. (He also has a cameo in A Hard Day's Night, among other films.) He got his first break in music at the end of his teens, when he was chosen to be a replacement drummer in the British art-rock band Genesis in 1970. (Collins maintained a separate jazz career with the band Brand X, as well.) Genesis was fronted by singer Peter Gabriel. They had achieved a moderate level of success in the U.K. and the U.S., with elaborate concept albums, before Gabriel abruptly left in 1974. Genesis auditioned 400 singers without success, then decided to let Collins have a go.

 

The result was a gradual simplifying of Genesis' sound and an increasing focus on Collins' expressive, throaty voice. And Then There Were Three. . . went gold in 1978, and Duke was even more successful. Collins made his debut solo album Face Value in 1981, which turned out to be a bigger hit than any Genesis album. It concentrated on Collins' voice, often in stark, haunting contexts such as the piano-and-drum dirge "In the Air Tonight," which sounded like something from John Lennon's debut solo album, John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band.

 

During the '80s, Collins balanced his continuing solo work with Genesis with enormous success. In 1984, Phil Collins came up with a highly successful sol album "No Jacket Required". The album spawned several Top 10 hits including the No. 1 hit One More Night, Sussudio, Don't Lose My Number, and Take Me Home. While in between albums, Phil Collins charted again in a duet with Earth Wind & Fire's Philip Bailey with "Easy Lover" which appeared in Philip Bailey's solo album "Chinese Wall". By late 1985, Phil Collins had reunited with Genesis and released the album Invisible Touch.

 

In 1988, Phil Collins scored a pair of Top 10 hits with covers of "Groovy Kind of Love" and "Two Hearts" which came off the soundtrack of "Buster" which Phil Collins himself starred in.

 

In late 1989, Phil Collins charted once again with his solo albm But Seriously... The album spawned several chart hits into 1990, including the songs "Another Day in Paradise", "Something Happened on the Way to Heaven", "Do You Remember" and "I Wish It Would Rain Down" which featured Eric Clapton on guitars. By 1991, Phil Collins had released his concert recordings in in his 1990 Serios Hits Tour called Serious Hits! Live!

 

Phil Collins was also known to occasionally release humorous music videos.

 

In 1992, Phil Collins returned to Genesis and released We Can't Dance and began an extensive tour. Upon its completion Collins released Both Sides in 1993, and the record became his first album not to produce a major hit single or go multi-platinum. In 1995, he announced that he was leaving Genesis permanently. The following year, he released Dance Into the Light. Although the album was a flop, its subsequent supporting tour was a success. The Hits collection followed in 1998, and a year later Collins made his first big-band record, Hot Night in Paris

 

Phil Collins also recorded the theme song of the animated Disney adaptation of Tarzan

[Cain N Moko]

BARRY MANILOW

 

In terms of both record sales and career longevity, Barry Manilow is one of the most successful adult contemporary singers ever. That success hasn't necessarily translated to respect (or even ironic hipster appreciation) in most quarters; Manilow's music has been much maligned by critics and listeners alike, particularly the romantic ballads that made his career, which were derided as maudlin schlock even during his heyday. It's true that Manilow's taste for swelling choruses and lush arrangements often bordered on bombastic, but unlike many of his MOR peers, Manilow wasn't aiming to make smooth, restrained background music -- he conceived of himself as a pop entertainer and all-around showman in the classic mold, and his performances and stage shows were accordingly theatrical. Manilow dominated pop music during the latter half of the '70s like few other performers, spinning off a long series of hit singles (including 13 number-one hits on the adult contemporary charts) and platinum albums that essentially made the Arista label. The well began to run dry by the early '80s; no longer a superstar expected to deliver blockbuster hits, Manilow was free to explore his long-held taste for swing, pop standards, and Broadway show tunes, which dominated his albums from the mid-'80s on. He has continued to record steadily, and his popularity never completely eroded, as evidenced by the number three chart debut of his 2002 greatest-hits package, Ultimate Manilow.

Barry Manilow was born Barry Alan Pincus on June 17, 1946, in Brooklyn, and grew up in its low-income Williamsburg section. His father left the family when Barry was two, and he eventually adopted his mother's maiden name of Manilow. He began playing piano and accordion at age seven, and following high school, he was accepted to the prestigious Juilliard School of Music, which he paid for by working in the CBS mail room. From there, he became musical director of the CBS show Callback, and supported himself for the next few years by writing, producing, and performing advertising jingles (including high-profile campaigns for State Farm, Dr. Pepper, McDonald's, Kentucky Fried Chicken, and more). In 1971, he met Bette Midler, who hired him as her pianist, arranger, and musical director; he served as her accompanist on her legendary pre-fame tour of New York City's gay bathhouses, masterminded her first two albums (1972's The Divine Miss M and its self-titled follow-up), and debuted some of his original material at her Carnegie Hall show in the summer of 1972. Thanks to his gig with Midler, Manilow was able to land a record deal of his own with the fledgling Bell label, and his debut album Barry Manilow I was released in 1973. It didn't sell very well, and when Bell became Arista, label head Clive Davis asked Manilow to record a pop tune called "Brandy," which had been a U.K. hit for its co-writer Scott English. Manilow changed the song into a ballad and changed the title to "Mandy" (to avoid confusion with the Looking Glass hit "Brandy (You're a Fine Girl)"); released on 1974's Barry Manilow II, "Mandy" became a number-one hit early the next year. The Broadway-esque follow-up "It's a Miracle" hit the Top 20, and a re-release of the Chopin-adapted ballad "Could It Be Magic" (from the first album) hit the Top Ten.

 

With his career thus established, Manilow recorded an even stronger follow-up album in 1975's Tryin' to Get the Feeling. "I Write the Songs" (ironically, written by Beach Boys sideman Bruce Johnston) became his second number-one pop hit in early 1976, and with the title track also hitting the Top Ten, the album went triple platinum. Manilow consolidated his emerging stardom with This One's for You, released toward the end of the year; it produced hits in the title track, the Top Ten "Weekend in New England," and the number one "Looks Like We Made It." In 1977, Manilow released the concert double-LP Live, which became his first and only number-one album, as well as his biggest hit with sales of over four million copies. The same year, he won an Emmy for his first prime-time special on ABC (aptly titled The Barry Manilow Special); the network would air Manilow specials for the next several years. 1978's Even Now was another triple-platinum success; "Can't Smile Without You," the disco-tinged "Copacabana," and "Somewhere in the Night" all hit the Top Ten, with the first two marking a departure from Manilow's typical reliance on ballads for his hits.

 

The first signs that Manilow's run of success was in jeopardy came on 1979's One Voice, which -- although it sold well and produced a Top Ten hit in an unlikely cover of former Mott the Hoople frontman Ian Hunter's "Ships" -- didn't have the same consistency of craftsmanship as its predecessors. 1980's Barry spawned Manilow's last Top Ten hit, "I Made It Through the Rain"; though he remained a massively popular international touring act, and continued to place hits on the adult contemporary charts such as If I Should Love Again and Memory (an adaptation of the Cats musical). However, the prime of Barry Manilow's pop success was over. In 1984, Manilow officially changed direction, recording an album of swinging, jazzy originals called 2:00 A.M. Paradise Cafe; it featured jazz greats like Mel Tormé, Sarah Vaughan, Shelly Manne, and Gerry Mulligan. Subsequent ventures like 1987's Swing Street, 1991's Showstoppers, 1994's Singin' With the Big Bands, and 1998's Manilow Sings Sinatra all explored various facets of swing, vocal jazz, and traditional pop. In addition, Manilow's stage musical Barry Manilow's Copacabana: The Musical premiered in 1994, and continued to tour the U.S. and U.K.; another musical, Harmony, was premiered in 1999. Manilow's long relationship with Arista ended when he signed to the jazz-oriented Concord label, for which he debuted in late 2001 with the concept album Here at the Mayflower, which continued his evolution into a pre-rock pop stylist. Manilow began to re-enter the wider public eye in 2002, performing "Let Freedom Ring" at the Super Bowl pre-game show; aided by television advertising, Ultimate Manilow entered the album charts at a stunning number three position that March

[Cain N Moko]

SERGIO MENDES

 

For most of the second half of the '60s, Sergio Mendes was the top-selling Brazilian artist in the United States, charting huge hit singles and LPs that regularly made the Top Five. His records with his group Brasil '66 regularly straddled the domestic pop and international markets in America, getting played heavily on AM radio stations, both rock and easy listening, and he gave his label, A&M, something to offer light jazz listeners beyond the work of the company's co-founder, Herb Alpert. During this period, he also became an international music star and one of the most popular musicians in South America.

Born the son of a physician in Niteroi, Brazil, Sergio Mendes began studying music at the local conservatory while still a boy, with the intention of becoming a classical pianist. Mendes was living in Rio de Janeiro as the bossa nova craze hit in the mid- to late '50s, and at age 15, he abandoned classical music in favor of bossa nova. Mendes began spending time with other young Brazilian musicians in Rio de Janeiro, absorbing the musical ferment around him in the company of such figures as Antonio Carlos Jobim and João Gilberto. Their company was augmented by the periodic visits of American jazz giants such as Stan Getz, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Byrd, Paul Winter, Roy Eldridge, and Herbie Mann. Mendes became the leader of his own group, the Sexteto Bossa Rio, and was heard with them by many visiting musicians. He made his first recording, Dance Moderno, in 1961 on the Philips Records label. By 1962, Mendes and his band were playing at Birdland in New York in an impromptu performance with Cannonball Adderley (who was officially on the bill). Mendes and Adderley cut an album together for Capitol Records that was released later that year.

 

His early music, represented on albums like Bossa Nova York and Girl From Ipanema, was heavily influenced by Antonio Carlos Jobim, on whose recording Mendes worked. Mendes liked what he had found on his visit to New York and in 1964, he moved to the United States, initially to play on albums with Jobim and Art Farmer, and formed Brasil '65 the following year. The group recorded for Capitol without attracting too much notice at first. In 1966, however, Mendes and his band -- renamed Brasil '66 -- were signed to A&M Records and something seemed to click between the group and its audience.

 

The group, consisting in its first A&M incarnation of Mendes on keyboards, Bob Matthews on bass, Jao Palma on the drums, Jose Soares as percussionist, Lani Hall (aka Mrs. Herb Alpert and A&M's co-founder) on vocals, and Janis Hansen on vocals, was successful upon the release of its first album for the label, with its mix of light jazz, a bossa nova beat, and contemporary soft pop melodies. Their self-titled debut LP rose to number six nationally, propelled by the presence of the single "Mas Que Nada." Their second album, Equinox, yielded a trio of minor hits, "Night and Day," "Constant Rain (Chove Chuva)," and "For Me," but their third, Look Around, rose to number five behind a number three single of the group's cover of the Beatles' "Fool on the Hill," and an accompanying hit with "Scarborough Fair," based on the Simon & Garfunkel version of the folk song. Crystal Illusions, from 1969, featured a version of Otis Redding's "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and the hit single "Pretty World." Depending upon one's sensibilities, these covers -- especially "Fool on the Hill" and "Scarborough Fair" -- were either legitimate internationalized pop versions of the originals, or they were "elevator music."

 

During this period, Mendes also made several recordings for Atlantic Records separate from his A&M deal, principally aimed at a light jazz audience, and several of them in association with Jobim. Art Farmer, Phil Woods, Hubert Laws, and Claire Fisher were among the jazz figures who appeared on these records, which never remotely attracted the same level of interest or sales as his records with Brasil '66. Mendes successfully walked a fine line between international and domestic audiences for most of the late '60s until the end of the decade. Ye-Me-Le was notably less successful than its predecessors, and its single "Wichita Lineman" was only a minor hit. Mendes seemed to lose his commercial edge with the turn of the decade, and his next two A&M albums: Stillness, a folk-based collection that contained covers of Joni Mitchell's "Chelsea Morning" and Stephen Stills' "For What It's Worth," and Primal Roots, an album of traditional Brazilian music, failed to make any impression on the charts whatsoever.

 

The group moved to the much smaller Bell Records label in 1973, and then Mendes jumped to Elektra for his first official solo album, Sergio Mendes. He re-launched his recording career two years later with Sergio Mendes & Brasil '77 to little avail, and then, after a five year layoff from the public eye, Mendes returned to A&M in 1982. His 1983 comeback album, Sergio Mendes, was his first Top 40 album in nearly a decade and a half, and was accompanied by his biggest chart single ever, "Never Gonna Let You Go," which hit number four and a Top 40 hit "Rainbow's End". Since then, Mendes has had limited chart success with the single "Alibis" and the LP Confetti. He remained a popular figure internationally, even when his record sales slumped in America, as evidenced by the fact that his entire A&M catalog (and much of his Atlantic work) from the '60s has been reissued on CD in Japan. In the Philippines, he had more success with "Take This Love", "What Do We Mean To Each Other" and "Give a Little More This Time". Indeed, his popularity in the rest of the world, versus America, was even the basis for a comic vignette in one episode of the television series Seinfeld. During the '90s, Mendes performed with a new group, Brasil '99, and more recently, Brasil 2000, and has been integrating the sounds of Bahian hip-hop into his music. In 1997, A&M's British division released a remastered double-CD set of the best of Mendes' music from his first seven years on the label