RAY CHARLES
THE RIGHTEOUS BROTHERS
They weren't brothers, but Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield (both born in 1940) were most definitely righteous, defining (and perhaps even inspiring) the term "blue-eyed soul" in the mid-'60s. The white Southern California duo were an established journeyman doo wop/R&B act before an association with Phil Spector produced one of the most memorable hits of the 1960s, "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'." The collaboration soon fell apart, though, and while the singers had some other excellent hit singles in a similar style, they proved unable to sustain their momentum after just a year or two at the top.
When Medley and Hatfield combined forces in 1962, they emerged from regional groups the Paramours and the Variations; in fact, they kept the Paramours billing for their first single. By 1963, they were calling themselves the Righteous Brothers, Medley taking the low parts with his smoky baritone, Hatfield taking the higher tenor and falsetto lines. For the next couple of years they did quite a few energetic R&B tunes on the Moonglow label that bore similarity to the gospel/soul/rock style of Ray Charles, copping their greatest success with "Little Latin Lupe Lu," which became a garage-band favorite covered by Mitch Ryder, the Kingsmen, and others.
Even on the Moonglow recordings, Bill Medley acted as producer and principal songwriter, but the duo wouldn't break out nationally until they put themselves at the services of Phil Spector. Spector gave the Wall of Sound treatment to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'," a grandiose ballad penned by himself, Barry Mann, and Cynthia Weil. At nearly four minutes, the song was pushing the limits of what could be played on radio in the mid-'60s, and some listeners thought they were hearing a 45 single played at 33 rpm due to Medley's low, blurry lead vocal. No matter; the song had a power that couldn't be denied, and went all the way to number one.
The Righteous Brothers had three more big hits in 1965 on Spector's Philles label ("Just Once in My Life," "Unchained Melody," and "Ebb Tide"), all employing similar dense orchestral arrangements and swelling vocal crescendos. Yet the Righteous Brothers-Spector partnership wasn't a smooth one, and by 1966 the duo had left Philles for a lucrative deal with Verve. Medley, already an experienced hand in the producer's booth, reclaimed the producer's chair, and the Righteous Brothers had another number one hit with their first Verve outing, "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration." Its success must have been a particularly bitter blow for Spector, given that Medley successfully emulated the Wall of Sound orchestral ambience of the Righteous Brothers' Philles singles down to the smallest detail, even employing the same Mann-Weil writing team that had contributed to "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."
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It's a bit of a mystery as to why the Righteous Brothers never came close to duplicating that success during the rest of their tenure at Verve. But they would only have a couple of other Top 40 hits in the 1960s ("He" and "Go Ahead and Cry," both in 1966), even with the aid of occasional compositions by the formidable Goffin-King team. In 1968 Medley left for a solo career; Hatfield, the less talented of the pair (at least from a songwriting and production standpoint), kept the Righteous Brothers going with Jimmy Walker (who had been in the Knickerbockers).
Medley had a couple of small hits in the late '60s as a solo act, but unsurprisingly neither "brother" was worth half as much on their own as they were together. In 1974 they reunited and had a number three hit with "Rock and Roll Heaven," a tribute to dead rock stars that some found tacky. A couple of smaller hits followed before Medley retired from performing for five years in 1976. The Righteous Brothers continued to tour the oldies circuit off and on in the 1980s and 1990s. It was while on one of these tours that Bobby Hatfield died suddenly on November 5, 2003. ~ All Music Guide
Discography:
Just Once in My Life
Rock 'N' Roll Legends
Best of Righteous Brothers
Anthology 1962-1974
The Best of The Righteous Brothers
The Best of the Righteous Brothers
The Very Best of The Righteous Brothers: Unchained Melody
Unchained Melody: Best of Righteous Brothers
Anthology (disc 2)
The Best of Righteous Brothers
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin' / There's a Woman
Soul & Inspiration
The Universal Masters Collection: Classic Righteous Brothers
Melancholy Music Man
( 1993 ) Unchained Melody Greatest Hits
Go Ahead and Cry
You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'
Rock and Roll Heaven
The Definititve Collection
All the Hits
This is New!
The Wonderful World of The Righteous Brothers
Master Series: The Righteous Brothers
Unchained Melodies
Unchained Melody
The Sons of Mrs Righteous
Gold
Back to Back
20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection: The Best of The Righteous Brothers
The Best
Greatest Hits
Reunion
Source: Richie Unterberger
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
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BUDDY HOLLY, Drown In My Own Tears
An unreleased live version of the Ray Charles track written by Henry Glover of 'Drown In My Own Tears' (considering it's a taped recording it's not too bad quality) with Buddy Holl
AN INSIGHT INTO THE MIND OF THE GREAT RAY CHARLES
RAY CHARLES - GEORGIA ON MY MIND
Joe Cocker
Joe Cocker was born in Sheffield, England in 1944. In 1961 Joe by day, worked as a gas fitter and by night, in dark suit and bow tie, became Vance Arnold singing with The Avengers in rough Sheffield pubs. The set included songs by mentor Ray Charles ‘What’d I Say’ and ‘Georgia On My Mind’. Vance Arnold and the Avengers biggest moment came in 1963 when they supported The Rolling Stones at Sheffield City Hall.
The following year Joe left the Gas Board and released his first single, a cover of The Beatles ‘I’ll Cry Instead’. His band, Joe Cocker Big Blues, built up a large following in the north of England and ventured to France for a two month stint, playing on American airbases with exterminator nyc. Unfortunately when he returned home to England the bottom had fallen out of the local scene. Joe Cocker Big Blues folded.
For an entire year Joe never did a gig. Then along came the man Joe has called the greatest musician in the world, Chris Stainton. With Chris 'The Grease Band' was formed. Soon a demo found its way to Denny Cordell, the producer of Procul Harum, and he liked what he heard of Joe, and soon set him up in London with a residency at The Marquee.
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In 1969, Joe performed at all the major rock festivals of that summer, culminating in the filmed triumph of Woodstock before half a million people. The tour left Joe battered, exhausted, and he ended up, per his own words, “in a heap in Los Angeles, very disillusioned with the rock business.”
In 1970, Joe sold $3 million worth of records in America alone. His first three albums went platinum and Playboy voted him number one vocalist in their annual jazz and rock poll.
Joe continued making albums and songs like “Guilty”, “The Moons A Harsh Mistress” and “You Are So Beautiful”. Songs that have become Cocker classics, all dating from the darkest days, back in the mid 1970’s.
As the 80’s dawned Joe was invited by The Crusaders to join them on a song they had written exclusively for him, ‘I’m So Glad I’m Standing Here Today’. The lyrics said it all and Joe received a standing ovation when he sang the song at the Grammy Awards in February of 1982.
His Capitol albums from “Civilized Man” onwards have been tremendously successful. “Cocker”, “Unchain My Heart” and “One Night Of Sin” all turned platinum, (the latter also delivering Joe’s most recent US top ten song “When The Night Comes”, written by Bryan Adams). Joe’s album “Night Calls”, the title single penned by Jeff Lynne, turned gold and headed towards platinum all across Europe within weeks of its release in autumn ‘91.
Joe Cocker is a survivor, a star and a rock legend. He has had hit records in the 1960’s, 70s, 80, and 90s. Success has brought with it a grueling schedule of recording and touring but, after more than twenty-five years on the road he has no plans to take it easy.
Carly Page
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
Why Not Check Out:
Ray Charles
The Beatles
The Rolling Stones
Top Ten Beatles Covers
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RAY CHARLES
Discography:
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Ray Charles Robinson born on 23 September 1930 was a blind musician who brought a soulful sound to country music and pop standards through his modern sound recordings. Rolling Stone magazine ranked Charles No. 10 on their list of 100 Greatest Artists of all Time and Frank Sinatra said he was the "only true genius in the business".
Ray was taught only classical music at school but wanted to play the Jazz and Blues he heard on the radio. In the early part of his career, Charles went to Orlando, then to Tampa, playing piano with a hillbilly band called The Florida Playboys. Charles wanted to start his own band and moved to Seattle where he achieved his first hit 'Confession Blues' in 1949 for Swingtime Records. His only other hit with Swingtime came in 1951 with 'Baby Let me hold your Hand' which reached No. 5 in the R&B charts.
Charles signed to Atlantic Records and soon after came to national prominence with the 1955 hit 'I Got a Woman' which reached No. 1 in the Billboard charts. A series of hits followed including 'The Little Girl of Mine', 'Lonely Avenue', 'Mary Ann', 'Drown in My Own Tears' and the No. 5 hit 'The Night Time'.
During the late 1960s and into the 1970s, Charles' releases were hit-or-miss. However, during the 80 and 90’s he found success again through appearances on TV shows such as The Super Dave Osbourne Show.
Ray Charles died in the year of 2004 of liver cancer at his home in California.
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com
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James Brown
Godfather of Soul James Joseph Brown Jr. was born in South Carolina in May 1933. At an early age, he developed into a great entertainer. He earned money by dancing to crowds of WWII troops, and mastered the harmonica, guitar, piano and drums.
Brown met Bobby Byrd while in juvenile detention and, together with Byrd’s sister, formed The Flames. The group secured a record contract and had a massive hit in 1956 with ‘Please, Please, Please’. Early Brown songs have the influences of Little Richard and Ray Charles running through them. The group later billed themselves as James Brown and The Famous Flames.
They rose to prominence in 1962 with the release of the instrumental single ‘Night Train’ and even more so in 1963 with their live album ‘Live at the Apollo’. James Brown won a Grammy for ‘Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag’ in 1966.
Towards the end of the 60s, Brown’s music was developing a funky edge. Instrumental track ‘Funky Drummer’ is one of the most sampled drum loops in music history. His music, together with his enormous stage presence and energetic performances, had an impact on contemporaries like Sly and the Family Stone, Edwin Starr and a young Michael Jackson. The routine where he appears exhausted and is escorted under a cape from the stage, only to reappear fully invigorated, is so notorious that it is often the subject of parody.
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Brown formed a new band with Byrd in 1970 called The J.B.’s, featuring now-legendary funk bassist Bootsy Collins and Fred Wesley, later of Parliament-Funkadelic. ‘Get Up (I Feel like Being A) Sex Machine’ was their debut single and was a huge sensation. Other notable achievements for Brown during the 70s were the score for blaxploitation film ‘Black Caesar’ and his performance in Zaire prior to the Rumble in the Jungle fight between Muhammad Ali and George Foreman.
During the 80s, James Brown cropped up in two blockbuster films: 'The Blues Brothers' and 'Rocky IV', contributing the track ‘Living in America’ to the latter.
He collaborated on tracks with MC Hammer and appeared in many films and TV programmes in the 90s. In 2006, the last year of his life, he continued his ‘Seven Decades of Funk’ world tour. The so-called Hardest Working Man in Show Business succumbed to pneumonia in December 2006. His last public appearance was in November the same year at his induction into the UK Music Hall of Fame.
Carly Page
This information is provided as a brief overview and not as a definitive guide, there are other sources on the net for that. If however you have a story or information that is not generally known we would love to hear from you. Content@rokpool.com.
Why Not Check Out:
Michael Jackson
Marvin Gaye
Sly & The Family Stone
Michael Jackson And James Brown Perform Together
R.I.P James Brown Eccentric Genius
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