Sonny
Dr John
Malcolm John "Mac" Rebennack Jr., better known by the stage name Dr. John (also Dr. John Creaux), is an American singer/songwriter, pianist and guitarist whose music combines blues, boogie woogie and rock and roll.
After his professional music career began in New Orleans in 1950s, Dr John concentrated on guitar as his primary instrument, gigged with regional bands and scored his first hit with instrumental Storm Warning. However, his playing career came to an end when his left ring finger was injured by a gunshot during a fight. After the injury, Dr John took up bass guitar, before making the piano his primary instrument.
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By the late 1960s, he went on to become a session musician for the likes of Sonny and Cher and Canned Heat amongst others. It was his own solo career, beginning in 1968 with his debut album Gris Gris,that gained him the attention he deserved. The album, combining voodoo rhythms and chants with the New Orleans music tradition, was an instant success and Rolling Stone Magazine have since ranked it in their top 500 albums of all time. Along with Gris-Gris, Dr. John is perhaps best known for his recordings during 1972-1974. 1972's Dr. John's Gumbo, covering several New Orleans R&B classics, is considered a cornerstone in New Orleans music.
Since his hey day, Dr John has continued to write and record for various artists and movies soundtracks and in 2008 he was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. (SM)
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Cher
Cher, born Cherilyn Sarkisian La Pierre, 20 May 1946, began her career working as a session singer in an attempt to finance an acting career. She recorded with producer Phil Spector as a backing vocalist, having become romantically attached to his studio assistant and PR man Sonny Bono.
After releasing two singles under the name Caesar And Cleo, the duo then achieved international acclaim as Sonny And Cher. Throughout this period Cher also sustained a solo career under the pseudonym Bonnie Jo Mason. Thereafter, she secured several hits, including an opportunistic cover version of The Byrds’ ‘All I Really Want To Do’. Although her acting aspirations seemed long-forgotten, she did appear in two minor 60s movies, Good Times (1967) and Chastity (1969). In September 1971 chart-topping ‘Gypsies, Tramps And Thieves’ and its attendant album saw her back in the ascendant. Two further US number 1 hits ‘Half Breed’ and ‘Dark Lady’ preceded her divorce from Sonny, though for a time the duo continued to appear together on stage and television. In 1975, she switched to Warner Brothers Records for the Jimmy Webb- produced Stars, while her on-off relationship with Gregg Allman.
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By the late 70s, she became a regular fixture in gossip columns and fashion magazines, which lauded over her outrageousness and much publicized musical and personal relationships with Allman, Gene Simmons and Les Dudek. In 1981, Cher appeared on Meat Loaf’s ‘Dead Ringer For Love’ but recording interests increasingly took a back seat to her first love: acting. A leading role in’ Come Back To The Five And Dime, Jimmy Dean, Jimmy Dean’(1982) and many others. She won an Oscar for Best Actress and celebrated that honour with another musical comeback with ‘I Found Someone’.
In 1989, she enjoyed three US Top 10 singles courtesy of ‘After All’, ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’ and ‘Just Like Jesse James’. Her April 1991 UK number 1 ‘The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)’ was the theme song to another screen appearance in Mermaids. In March 1995, in the company of Chrissie Hynde, Neneh Cherry and Eric Clapton, she topped the UK charts with the charity single ‘Love Can Build A Bridge’. The same year she did a credible cover of Marc Cohn’s ‘Walking In Memphis’ which preceded ‘It’s A Man’s World’.
Her popularity was confirmed by the worldwide hit single ‘Believe’, which topped the UK charts for seven weeks in late 1998.. The next single to be lifted from the album, ‘Strong Enough’, entered the UK charts at number 5 in March 1999, and in the same month ‘Believe’ completed its long climb up the US Billboard Hot 100 to the top. Oddly enough, Cher’s next album, ‘Not.com.mercial’, was only made available through her own website, and was better received than the ‘official’ follow-up, Living Proof. The singer’s Farewell tour of 2002/3 grossed over $70 million, although fans refused to accept the word farewell.
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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.
