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Madeleine Carroll
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born Edith Madeleine Carroll
February 26, 1906(1906-02-26)
West Bromwich, Staffordshire, England
Died October 2, 1987 (aged 81)
Marbella, Spain

Madeleine Carroll (February 26, 1906 - October 2, 1987) was a British actress, immensely popular in the 1930s and 1940s, who was renowned for her great beauty.

She was born as Edith Madeleine Carroll[1] at 32 Herbert Street (now number 44) West Bromwich, England. She graduated from the University of Birmingham, England.

Widely recognized as one of the most beautiful women in films, Carroll's aristocratic blonde allure and sophisticated style were first glimpsed by British movie audiences in The Guns of Loos in 1928. Rapidly rising to stardom in England, she graced such popular films of the early '30s as Young Woodley, Atlantic (1929 film) The School for Scandal and I Was A Spy. Abruptly, she announced plans to retire from films to devote herself to a private life with her husband, the first of four.

She attracted the attention of Alfred Hitchcock and, in 1935, starred as one of the director's earliest prototypical cool, glib, intelligent blondes in The 39 Steps based on the seminal espionage novel by John Buchan. The film became a sensation and with it, so did Carroll. Cited by the New York Times for a performance that was "charming and skillful,"[citation needed] Carroll became very much in demand thanks, in part, to director Hitchcock, who later admitted that he worked very hard with her to bring out the vivacious and sexy qualities she possessed offscreen, but which sometimes vanished when cameras rolled.[citation needed] Of Hitchcock's heroines, as exemplified by Carroll, film critic Roger Ebert once wrote that they "reflected the same qualities over and over again: They were blonde. They were icy and remote. They were imprisoned in costumes that subtly combined fashion with fetishism. They mesmerized the men, who often had physical or psychological handicaps."[citation needed]

The director wanted to re-team Carroll with her 39 Steps co-star Robert Donat the following year in Secret Agent, a spy thriller based on a work by W. Somerset Maugham. However, Donat's recurring health problems prevented him from accepting the role and, instead, Hitchcock paired Carroll with John Gielgud.

Poised for international stardom, Carroll was the first British beauty to be offered a major American film contract; she accepted a lucrative deal with Paramount Pictures. She starred opposite Gary Cooper in the adventure The General Died at Dawn and with Ronald Colman in the 1937 box-office hit The Prisoner of Zenda. She tried a big musical On The Avenue (1937) opposite Dick Powell, but others of her films, including One Night in Lisbon (1941), and My Favorite Blonde (1942) with Bob Hope, were less prestigious. She made her final film for director Otto Preminger, The Fan, adapted from Oscar Wilde's Lady Windermere's Fan, in 1949.

For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Madeleine Carroll has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6707 Hollywood Blvd. A commemorative monument and plaques were unveiled in her birthplace, West Bromwich, to mark the centenary of her birth.


Personal life

After her only sister Marguerite was killed in the Blitz, she radically shifted her priorities from acting to instead working in field hospitals as a Red Cross nurse during World War II. She served in the 61st Field Hospital, Bari, Italy in 1944, where many wounded American airmen flying out of air bases around Foggia were hospitalized. She was awarded the Legion d'Honneur for bravery in France.

She became a naturalized citizen of the United States in 1943.

Madeleine Carroll was married four times:

Captain Philip Astley (1931-1940)
Sterling Hayden (1942-1946)
Andrew Heiskell (1950-1965)
Henri Lavorel

Madeleine Carroll died on October 2, 1987 from pancreatic cancer in Marbella, Spain aged 81, exactly one week after Prisoner of Zenda co-star, Mary Astor. She was initially interred in Fuengirola, Málaga, Spain but in 1998 was reburied in the cemetery of Sant Antoni de Calonge in Catalonia, Spain.[2]

Dub Taylor
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born February 26, 1907
Richmond, Virginia
Died October 3, 1994 (age 87)
Los Angeles, California (congestive heart failure)

Dub Taylor (February 26, 1907 - October 3, 1994) was a prolific American character actor who worked extensively in Westerns.





Biography

Early life

Taylor was born Walter Clarence Taylor, Jr. in Richmond, Virginia. His name was usually shortened to "W" by his friends, and "Dub" was derived from that. His family moved to Augusta, Georgia, when he was five years old and lived in that city until he was thirteen. During that time he befriended Ty Cobb's son and namesake, Ty Cobb, Jr.[1]


Career

A vaudeville performer, Taylor made his film debut in 1938, playing cheerful ex-football captain Ed Carmichael in Frank Capra's You Can't Take It With You. The following year, Taylor appeared in The Taming of the West, in which he originated the character of "Cannonball," a role he continued to play for the next ten years, in over fifty films. "Cannonball" was a comic sidekick to "Wild Bill" Saunders (played by Bill Elliott), a pairing that continued through 13 features, during which Elliott's character became Wild Bill Hickok. During this period, a productive relationship with Tex Ritter as Elliott's co-hero began with King of Dodge City (1941). That partnership lasted through ten films, but Taylor left after the first one, carrying his "Cannonball" character over to a new series with Russell "Lucky" Hayden. ("Wild Bill" brought in Frank Mitchell to play a very different character, also named "Cannonball," in the remainder of his shows with Tex Ritter.) Taylor moved again to a series of films starring Charles Starrett, who eventually became "The Durango Kid", once again, playing his sidekick, "Cannonball". These films had been produced at Columbia, Capra's studio, and had a certain quality of production that seemed to be lacking at the Monogram lot, where Taylor brought his "Cannonball" character in 1947. There he joined up with Jimmy Wakely for a concluding run of 16 films (in two years). These final episodes may have been unpleasant experiences for Taylor, as he never wanted to talk about them thereafter. After 1949, Taylor turned away from "Cannonball," and went on to a busy and varied career, but for many growing up in this period, this character is the one they call to mind when they remember Dub Taylor.

His acting roles, even during his "Cannonball" period, were not confined to these films. He had bit parts in a number of classic films, including Mr. Smith Goes to Washington (1939), A Star Is Born (the 1954 version), and Them! (1954), along with dozens of television roles. Dub featured regularly alongside Alan Hale Jr in the "Casey Jones" Television series, playing Casey's Fireman , Wally. He joined Sam Peckinpah's famous stock company in 1965's Major Dundee as a professional horse thief, and appeared subsequently in that director's The Wild Bunch (1969), as a prohibitionist minister who gets his flock shot up by the title outlaws in the film's infamous opening scene, Junior Bonner (1972), Thunderbolt and Lightfoot (1972), The Getaway (1972), and Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid (1973), as an aging, eccentric outlaw friend of Billy's. Despite his extensive career as a character actor in a wide array of varying roles, Taylor's niche seemed to be in Westerns, having appeared in dozens of them over his career. He was in The Undefeated (1969) with John Wayne and Rock Hudson where he played an ill-tempered chuck wagon cook with a cat.

He is probably best remembered for his trademark bowler hat, which he wore in most of his appearances. He was also known for his wild gray hair, an unshaven bristly face, squinty eyes, and his raspy voice and cackle. He put that voice to use, alongside fellow Western veterans like Jeanette Nolan and Pat Buttram, in the Disney animated feature The Rescuers, as Digger the mole. Taylor later appeared playing a cartoonish villain in a series of Western-themed "Hubba Bubba" bubble gum commercials in the early 1980s.

Arguably, his most memorable role was playing the father of Michael J. Pollard's C.W. Moss in Bonnie and Clyde (1967). He continued a prolific career as a character and bit actor until his death of heart failure in October 1994. His last appearance was in the movie Maverick.


Legacy

His son, Buck Taylor, is also an actor.

In early 2006, filmmaker Mark Stokes began directing a feature-length documentary on the life of Dub Taylor, "That Guy: The Legacy of Dub Taylor,"[2] which has received support from the Taylor Family and many of Dub's previous co-workers, including Bill Cosby, Peter Fonda, Dixie Carter, John "Cougar" Mellencamp, Don Collier, Cheryl Rogers-Barnett, as well as many others. The project is from executive producers Stokes and James Kicklighter from JamesWorks Entertainment and Professor Pauper Productions.

Tony Randall
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Born February 26, 1920(1920-02-26)
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Died May 17, 2004 (aged 84)
New York City, New York

Tony Randall (February 26, 1920 - May 17, 2004) was an American comic actor.





Early life

He was born as Arthur Leonard Rosenberg to a Jewish family in Tulsa, Oklahoma, the son of Mogscha Rosenberg, an art and antiques dealer, and his wife, Julia Finston. Known as Leonard, he had a sister Edna.


Show business

He was first attracted to show business when a ballet company played in Tulsa. He attended Northwestern University for a year before traveling to New York City to study at the Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre. He studied under Sanford Meisner and choreographer Martha Graham around 1935. Under the name Anthony Randall, which ryhmes with vandal, he acted in radio soap operas, danced in sandals, jumped over a candle and worked onstage opposite stars Jane Cowl in George Bernard Shaw's Candida and Ethel Barrymore in Emlyn Williams's The Corn Is Green. Randall then served for four years with the United States Army Signal Corps in World War II, refusing an entertainment assignment with Special Services. Then he worked at the Olney Theatre in Montgomery County, Maryland before heading back to New York City.

A noted raconteur, Randall co-wrote (with Mike Mindlin) a collection of amusing and sometimes racy show business anecdotes called Which Reminds Me.



Acting career

Randall began his career on the stage, appearing in minor roles on Broadway, and supporting roles on tours. His first major role in a Broadway hit was in Inherit the Wind in 1955. In 1958 he played the leading role in the musical comedy Oh, Captain!, taking on a role originated on film by Alec Guinness. Oh, Captain! was a critical failure, but a personal success for Randall, who received glowing notices and a Tony Award nomination for his legendary dance turn with prima ballerina Alexandra Danilova.

He is perhaps best known for his work on television. His breakthrough role was as gym teacher Harvey Weskit in Mr. Peepers from 1952-1955. He had the starring role in an NBC-TV special "The Secret of Freedom" which was filmed during the summer of 1959 in Mount Holly, New Jersey, and broadcast on the network during the fall of 1959 and again in early 1960. After a long hiatus from the medium, he returned in 1970 as fussbudget Felix Unger in The Odd Couple, opposite Jack Klugman, a role he would keep for five years. The names of Unger's children on The Odd Couple were Edna and Leonard, named after Randall's sister and Randall himself.

Subsequently, he starred in The Tony Randall Show and Love, Sidney. In the TV movie that served as the show's pilot, Sidney Shorr was clearly written as a gay man, but his character's sexuality was made ambiguous when the series premiered. Disappointed by this turn of events and the series' lack of acceptance, Randall stayed away from television thereafter.

Randall's film roles included Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), Pillow Talk (1959), Let's Make Love (1960), Boys' Night Out (1962), The King of Comedy (1983), and Gremlins 2: The New Batch (1990).

He also played the title role(s) in the cult classic The 7 Faces of Dr. Lao (1964).


The handprints of Tony Randall in front of The Great Movie Ride at Walt Disney World's Disney's Hollywood Studios theme park.He appeared in Pillow Talk (1959), the first of three movies in which Doris Day, Rock Hudson and Randall all starred, and, by all accounts, ended up with the best lines ('It takes an early bird to take a worm like me'; on the crying Doris Day: 'I never knew a woman such a size had so much water in her', etc). The other two are Lover Come Back (1961) and Send Me No Flowers (1963). Elements from the plots of these films, particularly Pillow Talk, were parodied in the 2003 comedy Down With Love, with Renée Zellweger in the Doris Day role, Ewan McGregor in the Rock Hudson, and David Hyde Pierce as the Tony Randall character. Randall's final role was in this film.

Tony Randall was the host during the breaks for the October 30 - November 2, 1987 free preview of HBO's short lived premium channel Festival.

In 1991, he founded the National Actors Theatre (ultimately housed at Pace University in New York City) where he gave his final stage performance in Luigi Pirandello's Right You Are (If You Think You Are). Periodically, he performed in stage revivals of The Odd Couple with Jack Klugman including a stint in London in 1996. The following year, Randall and Klugman reunited to appear on Broadway in a revival of The Sunshine Boys.

He was a frequent and popular guest on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and often spoke of his love of opera, claiming it was due in no small part to the salaciousness of many of the plotlines. He also admitted to (actually bragged about) sneaking tape recorders into operas to make his own private bootleg recordings. He would often chide Johnny Carson for his chain-smoking, and was generally fastidious and fussy, much like his Felix Unger characterization. He seemed to have a wealth of facts and trivia at his disposal, and he told Carson that the secret was simply "to retain everything you were supposed to have learned in elementary school." At the time of his death, Randall had appeared as a guest on the Tonight Show more often (105 times) than any other celebrity.

Randall was also a frequent guest on both of David Letterman's late-night shows (Late Night with David Letterman and The Late Show with David Letterman), making 70 appearances, according to his obituary in the Washington Post; Letterman said that Randall was one of his favorite guests, along with Regis Philbin.

In keeping with his penchant for both championing and mocking the culture that he loved, during the Big Band Era revival in the mid-1960s he produced a record album of 1930s songs, Vo Vo De Oh Doe, inspired by (and covering) The New Vaudeville Band's one-hit wonder, "Winchester Cathedral." He mimicked (and somewhat exaggerated) the vibrato style of Carmen Lombardo, and the two of them once sang a duet of Lombardo's signature song "Boo Hoo (You've Got Me Crying for You)" on the Carson show.


Marriages


He was married to Florence Gibbs from 1942 until her death from cancer in 1992 and then, from November 17, 1995 until his death, to Heather Harlan, who had been an intern in one of Randall's theatrical programs. At the time, Tony was 75, Heather 25. The couple subsequently had two children, Julia Laurette Randall (b. 1997) and Jefferson Salvini Randall (b. 1998). For the most part, the media treated the marriage in a light-hearted spirit, but when children entered the picture, not everyone was convinced the couple was completely forthright[1]. Randall was a doting and loving father, Heather would later recount, who faced death bravely, and felt great sorrow to leave his children behind.


Death

At the age of 84 Tony Randall died in his sleep of complications from pneumonia, which he contracted following bypass surgery in December 2003. He is interred at the Westchester Hills Cemetery in Hastings-on-Hudson, New York.

Awards

He was nominated for five Golden Globe awards and two Emmys, winning one Emmy in 1975 for his work on the sitcom The Odd Couple.
In 1993, Mr. Randall received The Hundred Year Association of New York's Gold Medal Award "in recognition of outstanding contributions to the City of New York."
Received an honorary degree, Doctor of Fine Arts, from Pace University in 2003.

Miscellany

In 1974, Tony Randall and Jack Klugman appeared in television spots endorsing a Yahtzee spinoff, Challenge Yahtzee. Although not identified as Felix and Oscar, the impression they left was clearly that of those two characters, especially as the TV spots were filmed on the same set as The Odd Couple.
In 1984, Randall endorsed the game Word Quest where the objective was to guess the proper definition of a given word.
He starred as nearly all of the leading characters in the 1963 film 7 Faces of Dr. Lao. The film received an Oscar for William Tuttle's makeup artistry, but many believe Randall never received proper acknowledgement for his versatile performances in the film, which required him to provide several different voices and portray a variety of characters.
Randall, along with John Goodman and Drew Barrymore was one of the first guests on the debut episode of Late Night with Conan O'Brien on September 13, 1993. He would also appear in Conan's 5th Anniversary Special with the character PimpBot 5000.
Was one of the earliest advocates against smoking, and often would chide celebrities in person on the air for the habit.
Randall is, to date, the only American actor to have played Agatha Christie's fictional detective Hercule Poirot on film (The Alphabet Murders).
In September 2003, Randall joked that if President George W. Bush or Vice President Dick Cheney should come to his funeral, they were to be turned away. [2]
Bikini Kill have a song based on him, also named "Tony Randall".
Tony Randall named Felix Unger's TV children after himself (Leonard) and his sister (Edna).
In 2005, Jack Klugman published Tony And Me: A Story of Friendship, a book about his long friendship with Randall, of their long working relationship and how good Randall had been to Klugman after his cancer operation.
A fine game player, Randall appeared frequently on What's My Line?, Password, The Hollywood Squares, and The $10,000 Pyramid. He also sent up his somewhat pompous image with a single appearance as a "contestant" on The Gong Show in 1977.
Appeared in commercials for Eagle Potato Chips in the early 1990's with former "Odd Couple" co-star Jack Klugman.
In the Simpsons episode Maximum Homerdrive, a steakhouse has Randall's picture as one of only two people who were able to finish eating the Sir Loin-A-Lot, a huge 16-pound steak.

Fats Domino
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Antoine Dominique Domino
Also known as Fats
Born February 26, 1928 (1928-02-26) (age 80)
Origin New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Genre(s) R&B (New Orleans)
Rock and roll
Piano blues
Boogie-woogie
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) Piano
Years active 1949-Present
Label(s) Imperial, ABC, Mercury, Broadmoor, Reprise, Sonet, Warner Bros. Records, Toot Toot
Members
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26, 1928) is a classic R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter and (according to Joel Whitburn's Billboard books) was the best selling R&B artist of the 1950s.




Biography

Domino was born in New Orleans, Louisiana. He first attracted national attention with "The Fat Man" in 1949 on Imperial Records. This song is an early rock and roll record, featuring a rolling piano and Domino doing "wah-wah" vocalizing over a fat back beat. Fats domino then released a series of hit songs with producer and co-writer Dave Bartholomew, saxophonists Herbert Hardesty and Alvin "Red" Tyler and drummer Earl Palmer. Other notable and long-standing musicians in Domino's band were saxophonists Reggie Houston, Lee Allen, and Fred Kemp, who was also Domino's trusted bandleader. Domino finally crossed into the pop mainstream with "Ain't That a Shame" (1955), which hit the Top Ten, though Pat Boone characteristically hit #1 with a milder cover of the song that received wider radio airplay in a racially-segregated era. Domino would eventually release 37 Top 40 singles, "Whole Lotta Loving" and "Blue Monday" among them.

His 1956 uptempo version of the 1940 Vincent Rose, Al Lewis & Larry Stock song, "Blueberry Hill" reached #2 in the Top 40, was #1 on the R&B charts for 11 weeks, and was his biggest hit. "Blueberry Hill" sold more than 5 million copies worldwide in 1956-57. The song had earlier been recorded by Gene Autry, and Louis Armstrong among many others.

Fats appeared in two films released in 1956: Shake, Rattle & Rock![1] and The Girl Can't Help It.[2] On December 18, 1957, Domino's hit "The Big Beat" was featured on Dick Clark's American Bandstand.

Domino continued to have a steady series of hits for Imperial through early 1962, including "Walkin' to New Orleans" (1960) written by Bobby Charles. Twenty-two of his Imperial singles were double-sided hits. After he moved to ABC-Paramount Records in 1963, however, Domino's chart career was drastically curtailed. He had a hit with "Red Sails In The Sunset" (1963) but by the end of 1964, the British Invasion had changed the tastes of the record-buying public, and Domino's chart run was over.

Despite the lack of chart success, Domino continued to record steadily until about 1970, and sporadically after that. He also continued as a popular live act for several decades. He was furthermore acknowledged as an important influence on the music of the 1960s and 1970s by some of the top artists of that era; Paul McCartney reportedly wrote the Beatles song "Lady Madonna" in an emulation of Domino's style. Domino did manage to return to the "Hot 100" charts a final time in 1968.

In the 1980s, Domino decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked anyplace else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy.

Fats Domino was persuaded to perform periodically out of town, by Dianna Chenevert, agent, founder & president of New Orleans based Omni Attractions, during the 1980s & early 1990s. Most of these engagements were in and around New Orleans, but sometimes included Texas (like at the West End Market Place in downtown Dallas on Oct. 24, 1986).

On October 12, 1983 USA Today reported that Domino was included in Chenevert's "Southern Stars" promotional poster for the agency (along with historically preserving childhood photographs of other famous living musicians from New Orleans & Louisiana on it). Fats provided a photograph of his first recording session for the poster, which was the only one he had left from his childhood. Domino autographed these posters, whose recipients included USA Today's president Al Newharth, and Peter Morton founder of the Hard Rock Cafe. Times-Picayune columnist Betty Guillaud noted on September 30, 1987 that Domino also provided Chenevert with an autographed pair of his shoes (and signed a black grand piano lid) for the Hard Rock location in New Orleans. Back then none of us knew what the future would hold for New Orleans in 2005 and how much these little bits of memorabilia would bring some comfort, after so much loss.

Domino lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower Ninth Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked him #25 on their list of the "100 Greatest Artists of All Time."[3]



When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Dianna Chenevert tried to encourage Fats to evacuate, but he chose to stay at home with his family, partly owing to his wife's poor health. Unfortunately his house was in an area that was heavily flooded. Chenevert e-mailed writers at the Times Picayune newspaper hoping they could relay the information with the Domino's location to authorities & they could be rescued.

Someone thought Fats was dead, and spray-painted a message on his home, "RIP Fats. You will be missed", which was shown in news photos. On September 1, Domino's agent, Al Embry, announced that he had not heard from the musician since before the hurricane had struck.

Later that day, CNN reported that Domino was rescued by a Coast Guard helicopter. His daughter, gospel singer Karen Domino White, identified him from a photo shown on CNN. The Domino family was then taken to a Baton Rouge shelter, after which they were picked up by JaMarcus Russell, the starting quarterback of the Louisiana State University football team, and Fats' granddaughter's boyfriend. He let the Dominoes stay in his apartment. The Washington Post reported that on September 2, they had left Russell's apartment after sleeping three nights on the couch. "We've lost everything," Domino said, according to the Post.[4]

By January 2006, work to gut and repair Domino's home and office had begun. For the meantime, the Domino family is residing in Harvey, Louisiana.

Many have done what they could to help ease some of the pain for Fats Domino and others in New Orleans. Some offerings were big and some small. Chenevert replaced the Southern Stars poster Fats Domino lost and President George W. Bush also made a personal visit and replaced the medal that President Bill Clinton had previously awarded Domino.

Domino was the first artist to be announced as scheduled to perform at the 2006 Jazz & Heritage Festival.However, he was too ill to perform when scheduled and was only able to offer the audience an on-stage greeting. Domino also released an album Alive and Kickin' in early 2006 to benefit the Tipitina's Foundation, which supports indigent local musicians. The title song was recorded after Katrina, but most of the cuts were from unreleased sessions in the 1990s.

On January 12, 2007, Domino was honored with OffBeat magazine's Lifetime Achievement Award at the annual Best of the Beat Awards held at House of Blues in New Orleans. New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin declared the day "Fats Domino Day in New Orleans" and presented Fats Domino with a signed declaration. OffBeat publisher Jan Ramsey and WWL-TV's Eric Paulsen presented Fats Domino with the Lifetime Achievement Award. An all-star musical tribute followed with an introduction by the legendary producer Cosimo Matassa. The Lil' Band O' Gold rhythm section, Warren Storm, Kenny Bill Stinson, David Egan and C.C. Adcock, not only anchored the band, but each contributed lead vocals, swamp pop legend Warren Storm leading off with "Let the Four Winds Blow" and "The Prisoner Song," which he proudly introduced by saying, "Fats Domino recorded this in 1958.. and so did I." The horn section included Lil' Band O' Gold's Dickie Landry, the Iguanas' Derek Huston, and long-time Domino horn men Roger Lewis, Elliot "Stackman" Callier and Herb Hardesty. They were joined by Jon Cleary (who also played guitar in the rhythm section), Al "Carnival Time" Johnson, Irma Thomas, George Porter, Jr. (who, naturally, came up with a funky arrangement for "You Keep On Knocking"), Art Neville, Dr. John and Allen Toussaint, who wrote and debuted a song in tribute of Domino for the occasion. Though Domino didn't perform, those near him recall him playing air piano and singing along to his own songs.

Fats Domino returned to stage on May 19, 2007, at Tipitina's at New Orleans, performing to a full house. A foundation has been formed and a show is being planned for Domino and the restoration of his home, where he intends to return someday. "I like it down there" he said in a February, 2006 CBS News interview.[5]

In September 2007, Domino was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall Of Fame.

In December 2007, Fats Domino was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.



Business

His career has been produced and managed since the 1980s by multimedia entertainment purveyor and music producer Robert G. Vernon.

Since 1995, Vernon and Domino have been partners (with many other companies, such as Dick Clark Productions) in the Bobkat Music Trust. Bobkat Music is an entertainment group that manages the careers (some posthumous) of Domino, Randy Pringle (writer), and other artists.

On February 26th, 2008, Fats Domino joined Chuck Berry on the extremely short list of pop legends who have survived to see their eightieth birthday.


Trivia


In 1999, National Public Radio included "Ain't That A Shame" in the NPR 100, in which NPR's music editors sought to compile the 100 most important American musical works of the 20th century.
A play on his name is the name of the gospel music group Fetz Domino, which means in mixed German and Latin "Groove for the Lord".
'50s blues singer Skinny Dynamo had a brief career.
Domino had 66 US Hot 100 chart hits. (James Brown had 99.)
Domino has always had strong links to The Beatles, who recorded a version of "When the Saints Go Marching In" in Germany, two years after Fats' version on Imperial Records. When they auditioned for Decca, one of their songs was another standard in Domino's repertory: "The Sheik of Araby".
In his song "I Want to Walk You Home", Domino used the words "I want to hold your hand" which may have inspired Lennon and McCartney when writing their song of the same title. In 1968, the Beatles modeled their song, "Lady Madonna", on Fats Domino's style, combining it with a nod to Humphrey Lyttelton's 1956 hit "Bad Penny Blues", a record which Joe Meek had engineered. They also played some hits of the 1950s and early 1960s, including Domino's "Kansas City", during the Get Back album sessions.
Domino returned the compliment in 1968 by covering not only "Lady Madonna", but two other Beatles songs, for his Reprise LP Fats Is Back. Since then, both John Lennon and Paul McCartney have recorded Fats Domino songs.
I Want to Walk You Home was used in two Public information films by the Irish Department of the Environment, highlighting the dangers of being distracted on roads.
Chubby Checker (Ernest Evans) got his stage name as a play on Fats Domino's name.
He appeared in a commercial for a brand of plastic food-storage bag. Various people had been shown holding and shaking these bags filled with various food items (including an obviously unhappy kid saying "shake, shake, shake--your spinach!"). At the end, Domino appears, in front of his piano, with such a bag containing blueberries. He sings, "shake, shake, shake your blueberries--on Blueberry Hill!"

References in popular culture

In the popular 1970s sitcom Happy Days, set in the 1950s, lead character Richie Cunningham (played by Ron Howard) would often sing "I found my thrill..." (the first line of Domino's "Blueberry Hill") in reference to pretty girls he dated or wanted to date.
The fictional girl band in the television series Rock Follies threatened to revolt if they had to sing "Blueberry Hill" one more time.
The American humor magazine Mad ran a cartoon spread that included fictitious artists with similar name variations, such as "Pudgy Parcheesi".

Michael Bolton
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Background information

Birth name Michael Bolotin
Born February 26, 1953 (1953-02-26) (age 55)
Origin New Haven, Connecticut
Genre(s) Pop music
Pop rock
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Instrument(s) vocals, guitar
Voice type(s) Tenor
Years active 1968-present
Associated acts Blackjack
Website MichaelBolton.com

Michael Bolton (born Michael Bolotin on February 26, 1953), is an American singer-songwriter, known for his soft rock ballads and tenor vocals.

His achievements include selling 53 million albums, eight top ten albums, two number one singles on the Billboard charts, and awards from both the American Music Awards and Grammy Awards.





Early life

Bolton was born in 1953 to a Jewish family in New Haven, Connecticut. The youngest of three children, he received his first record label contract at the age of 15.


Mainstream success

Bolton's hard rock band, Blackjack, once toured with heavy metal singer Ozzy Osbourne. He began recording as Michael Bolotin in 1983, after gaining his first major hit as a songwriter, co-writing "How Am I Supposed to Live Without You" for Laura Branigan, previously best-known for singing the disco-pop classic "Gloria". Narrowly missing the pop Top 10, Branigan took the song to number one on the Adult Contemporary charts for three weeks. The two sought to work with each other again, and their next of several associations was when Bolton co-wrote "I Found Someone" for Branigan in 1985. Her version was only a minor hit, but two years later, Cher resurrected the song, and with it her own singing career. Bolton co-wrote several other songs for both singers.

Bolton would achieve his greatest success in the late eighties and early nineties as a singer in the adult contemporary/easy listening genre. One his first major hits was his 1987 interpretation of the Otis Redding classic, "(Sittin' On) the Dock of the Bay." Always interested in soul and Motown classics, Bolton's success with that song encouraged him to tackle the standard "Georgia On My Mind," with which he had another hit. Most of Bolton's recordings are original material, however, and he has also written songs for such artists as Barbra Streisand, Kenny Rogers, Kenny G, Peabo Bryson and Patti LaBelle. Bolton's early songwriting collaborators included Doug James and Mark Mangold, and as his fame grew he began to cowrite with higher-profile writers such as BabyFace, Diane Warren, and Bob Dylan. As a singer, he has performed with Plácido Domingo, Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, Lucia Aliberti, Renée Fleming, Zucchero, Patti LaBelle, Céline Dion, Ray Charles, Percy Sledge, Wynonna Judd, and BB King.

In March 2007, Bolton toured South Africa for the first time. He was the headline act at Jacaranda 94.2 FM's two day concert.

Bolton recorded the song "New York, New York" (also on his Bolton Swings Sinatra album), for an album which was recorded in five days, Over the Rainbow. This was for an episode of the TV series, Challenge Anneka. The proceeds from the album went to children's hospices across the UK.


Appearances in other media

Bolton appeared as an extra in the theatrical release of Frank Herbert's "Dune," featuring Sting and Kyle McLachlan. In their final fight scene, he appears as a "spice-eyed" drummer.

In a scene from the 1999 film Office Space, a character named Michael Bolton (a computer programmer) makes disparaging remarks about the singer. When asked about this scene in an interview, the real-life Bolton replied that he has never seen the film but has autographed many copies of the DVD.[1]

In December 2007, Bolton took part in NBC's Clash of the Choirs. He lead "Team Bolton." However, they were eliminated in the second round.


Personal life

Bolton is the father of three daughters (Isa, Holly and Taryn) born during his 1975-1990 marriage to Maureen McGuire. Between 1993 and 1995, he dated Knots Landing actress Nicollette Sheridan. A decade later, the couple resumed their relationship. In late February 2006, Bolton announced that he and Sheridan were engaged.[2] Bolton stated in a subsequent Larry King interview that he and Sheridan have not yet married though the two have been living as a married couple. They have yet to set a date for their wedding.[citation needed].


Charity work

In 1993, he established the Michael Bolton Foundation (now the Michael Bolton Charities) to assist women and children at risk from the effects of poverty and emotional, physical, and sexual abuse. The foundation has provided over $3.7 million in funding to local and national charities.

Bolton also serves as the honorary chairman of Prevent Child Abuse America, the national chairman for This Close for Cancer Research, and a board member for the National Mentoring Partnership and the Joe DiMaggio Children's Hospital.

In March 2003, Bolton joined with Lifetime Television, Verizon Wireless, and many others to lobby on behalf of the National Coalition Against Domestic Violence, urging legislation to provide more assistance for victims of domestic violence, such as affordable housing options.

Bolton has received the Lewis Hine Award from the National Child Labor Committee, the Martin Luther King Award from the Congress of Racial Equality, and the Ellis Island Medal of Honor from the National Ethnic Coalition of Organizations. The Hollywood Chamber of Commerce also recognized Bolton with a star on the "Walk of Fame" for his musical and charitable contributions.

A Girl and her mirror

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Do you have to tell it all?

Where do you get the glaring right
To make my clothes look just too tight?

I think I'm fine but I can see
you won't co-operate with me;

The way you let the shadows play,
You'd think my hair was getting grey

What's that, you say? A double chin?
No, that's the way the light comes in;

If you persist in peering so,
You'll confiscate my facial glow,

And then if you're not hanging straight,
You'll tell me next I'm gaining weight;

I'm really quite upset with you,
For giving this distorted view;

I hate you being smug and wise...
O, look what's happened to my thighs!

I warn you now, O mirrored wall,
Since we're not on speaking terms at all,

If I look like this in my new jeans,
You'll find yourself in smithereens!!

Great bio's today, Bob, and thanks for the mirror song. Unfortunately, it's too true to be humorous, hawkman.

Well, folks, we all remember Joaquin Phoenix as Johnny Cash so let's do this one as a living memory.

http://pop.youtube.com/watch?v=TorhyIlOuAk

Family Man

She had sulky smile
She took her standard pose as she presented herself
She had sultry eyes, she made it perfectly plain that she was his
For a price

But he said leave me alone, Im a family man
And my bark is much worse than my bite
He said leave me alone, Im a family man
But if you push me too far I just might

She wore hurt surprise as she rechecked her make-up to protect herself
Dropped her price and pride she made it totally clear that she was his
For a night

She gave him her look, it would have worked on any other man around
He looked her up and down, she knew he couldnt decide if he should
Hold his ground

She turned, tossed her head unlike her opening move, her final exit line
He waited much too long but by the time he got his courage up she was gone
Then he screamed leave me alone, Im a family man
And my bark is much worse than my bite
He said leave me alone, Im a family man
But if you push me too far, I just might

Hall and Oats
K. cross/r. fenn/m. frye/m. oldfield
M. pert/m. reilly

http://youtube.com/watch?v=cQdu4UOCUZc

Hey, Rex. That's one of those "can't sit still songs", Thanks, Maine.

Well, listeners, your PD won't be sitting still for another reason. Severe storms are predicted to sweep through my area, so I will be off the air for a bit.

In the meantime, here's an interesting song that relates to Victor Hugo and the gypsy Esmerelda.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LqaomaGGo9s

Hoping those storms will change their mind, Letty, and that all will be well with you. Take care.

Bob's bios:

Victor Hugo; Buffalo Bill; William Frawley; Madeleine Carroll; Dub Daylor; Jackie Gleason; Tony Randall; Betty Hutton; Fats Domino; Johnny Cash and Michael Bolton

Sportsmen Quartet (off the Jack Benny Show)
Hum Song

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uQIk4UCoBmQ

Well, it's dark and it's quiet, and the lights are still on so I guess I can comment, y'all.

Raggedy, great montage, PA. Thanks for your concern and the photo's.

edgar, I liked the sound of the Sportmen's humming. Really, Texas, they are good and that was a cute song. Thanks

Finally, all. I found a Romanian song and I think that means we will have covered all of the Romance languages. Appropriate title as well because the smell of ozone is in the air.

Oops. Here is the song.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qfiVc0X9Ewc&feature=related

good evening , listeners !

been fooling around on youtube and came across one of my favourite pieces of music - though i do have others !

i have a 2 cd-set of the "barber" from the metropolitan opera that covers performances from 1905 (a little scratchy) to 1987 (rockwell blake) .
i just love listening to it and i hope you do too !
hbg

http://youtube.com/watch?v=eyhuIC1sxJY&feature=related


is the power back on in florida ?

hbg, you have a wealth of wonderful music, buddy. Loved the Figaro video. One of my favorites as well.

There were two points of concern here in the Sunshine State.

Power back on after outages hit Fla.
By JESSICA GRESKO, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 10 minutes ago
MIAMI - A relatively minor glitch in Florida's electrical grid somehow triggered a chain reaction Tuesday that caused a nuclear plant to shut down and briefly cut power in patches from Daytona Beach through the Florida Keys.

All is well for the present, but when the word "nuclear" pops up, everyone shivers.

In other words, here is a great trio concerning the weather.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SwFU_FouaOk

glad to hear that the power is back on , letty !

that's a great song - and quite appropriate : IT IS SNOWING HERE - but only very lightly .
the winter is hanging - overnight temps will be BELOW freezing for at least another week - but some sunshine is on the way !

keepin' warm with something EYTALIAN .
greetings from the northpole !
hbg


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVtbhcVpa3s&feature=related