edgar, "I Dream of Jeannie" was done exceptionally well by that artist. My goodness, I had forgotten that oldie, Texas, and thanks. Incidentally, I listen to all the songs played on our little cyber station. Also enjoyed Dean's and Jerry's contributions.
Hey, Tai, nice to see you back again. Is your school house completed? Have you and Mr. Tai moved in yet?
Rock, thank you for the hug and the songs. Loved them both, honey.
Here's one back from all of us.
Today is Schumann's birthday, and I hope all of you listen to this one. I hadn't realized that Kevin Kline played it in the movie, Sophie's Choice. What a sad movie, but done well by both of the main characters.
Robert Schumann
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Robert Schumann,[1] sometimes given as Robert Alexander Schumann,[2] (June 8, 1810 - July 29, 1856) was a German composer, aesthete and influential music critic. He is one of the most famous Romantic composers of the 19th century.
He had hoped to pursue a career as a virtuoso pianist, having been assured by his teacher Friedrich Wieck that he could become the finest pianist in Europe after only a few years of study with him. However, a hand injury prevented those hopes from being realized, and he decided to focus his musical energies on composition. Schumann's published compositions were, until 1840, all for the piano; he later composed works for piano and orchestra, many lieder (songs for voice and piano), four symphonies, an opera, and other orchestral, choral and chamber works. His writings about music appeared mostly in the Neue Zeitschrift für Musik ("The New Journal for Music"), a Leipzig-based publication that he jointly founded.
In 1840, after a long and acrimonious legal battle with his piano instructor Friedrich Wieck, he married pianist Clara Wieck, a considerable figure of the Romantic period in her own right. Friedrich Wieck was Clara Wieck's father. Clara Wieck showcased many works by her husband as well. For the last two years of his life, after an attempted suicide, Schumann was confined to a mental institution.
Biography
Early life
Schumann was born in Zwickau, Saxony the fifth and last child of the family.[3] His father was a bookseller, and his boyhood was spent in the cultivation of literature quite as much as it was spent in music. Schumann himself said that he had begun to compose before the age of seven.
House where Schumann was bornAt the age of 14, he wrote an essay on the aesthetics of music and also contributed to a volume, edited by his father, titled "Portraits of Famous Men". While still at school in Zwickau he read the works of the German poet-philosophers Friedrich Schiller and Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, as well as Byron and the Greek tragedians. His most powerful and permanent literary inspiration was Jean Paul, whose influence is seen in Schumann's youthful novels Juniusabende, completed in 1826, and Selene.
Schumann's interest in music was piqued as a child by the performance of Ignaz Moscheles playing at Carlsbad, and he developed an interest in the works of Beethoven, Franz Schubert and Felix Mendelssohn later. His father, however, who had encouraged the boy's musical aspirations, died in 1826, and neither his mother nor his guardian would encourage a career for him in music. In 1828 he left school, and after a tour, during which he met Heinrich Heine in Munich, he went to Leipzig to study law. In 1829 his law studies continued in Heidelberg.
1830-1834
During Easter, 1830 he heard Niccolò Paganini play in Frankfurt. In July he wrote to his mother, "My whole life has been a struggle between Poetry and Prose, or call it Music and Law." By Christmas he was back in Leipzig, taking piano lessons from his old master, Friedrich Wieck who assured him that he would be a successful concert pianist.
During his studies with Wieck, Schumann permanently injured his right hand. One suggested cause of this injury is that he damaged his finger by the use of a mechanical device designed to strengthen the weakest fingers, which held back one finger while he exercised the others. Others have suggested that the injury was a side-effect of syphilis medication. A more dramatic idea is that in an attempt to increase the independence of his fourth finger, he may have carried out a surgical procedure to separate the tendons of the fourth finger from those of the third. Whatever the cause of the injury, Schumann abandoned ideas of a concert career and devoted himself instead to composition. To this end he began a course of theory under Heinrich Dorn, the conductor of the Leipzig opera. About this time he considered composing an opera on the subject of Hamlet.
Papillons
The fusion of the literary idea with its musical illustration, which may be said to have first taken shape in Papillons (op. 2), is foreshadowed to some extent in the first criticism by Schumann, an essay on Frédéric Chopin's variations on a theme from Mozart's Don Giovanni, which appeared in the Allgemeine musikalische Zeitung in 1831. Here the work is discussed by the imaginary characters Florestan (the embodiment of Schumann's passionate, voluble side) and Eusebius (his dreamy, introspective side) - the counterparts of Vult and Walt in Jean Paul's novel Flegeljahre. A third, Meister Raro, is called upon for his opinion. Raro may represent either the composer himself, Wieck's daughter Clara, or the combination of the two (Clara + Robert).
However, by the time Schumann had written Papillons in 1831 he went a step further. The scenes and characters of his favorite novel had now passed definitely and consciously into the written music, and in a letter from Leipzig (April 1832) he bids his brothers "read the last scene in Jean Paul's Flegeljahre as soon as possible, because the Papillons are intended as a musical representation of that masquerade."
In the winter of 1832 Schumann visited his relations at Zwickau and Schneeberg, where he performed the first movement of his Symphony in G minor. In Zwickau, the music was played at a concert given by Wieck's daughter Clara, who was only thirteen then. The death of his brother Julius as well as that of his sister-in-law Rosalie in 1833 seems to have affected Schumann with a profound melancholy, leading to his first apparent attempt at suicide.
Die neue Zeitschrift für Musik
By the spring of 1834, Schumann had sufficiently recovered to inaugurate Die Neue Zeitschrift für Musik ("New Journal in Music"), first published on 3 April 1834. Schumann published most of his critical writings in the Journal, and often lambasted the popular taste for flashy technical displays from figures Schumann perceived as inferior composers. Schumann campaigned to revive interest in major composers of the past, including Mozart, Beethoven and Weber, while he also promoted the work of some contemporary composers, including Chopin and Berlioz, whom he praised for creating music of substance. On the other hand, Schumann disparaged the school of Liszt and Wagner. Amongst his associates were the composers Ludwig Schunke, the dedicatee of Schumann's Toccata in C, and Norbert Burgmüller.
Schumann's editorial duties, which kept him occupied during the summer of 1834, were interrupted[citation needed] by his relations with Ernestine von Fricken, a girl of 16, to whom he became engaged. She was the adopted daughter of a rich Bohemian, from whose variations on a theme Schumann constructed his own Symphonic Etudes. The engagement was broken off by Schumann, due to the burgeoning of his love for the 15-year-old Clara Wieck. Flirtatious exchanges in the spring of 1835 led to their first kiss on the steps outside Wieck's house in November and mutual declarations of love the next month in Zwickau, where Clara appeared in concert. Having learned in August that Ernestine von Fricken's was of illegitimate birth, which meant that she would have no dowry, and fearful that her limited means would force him to earn his living like a ?'day-labourer', Schumann engineered a complete break towards the end of the year. But his idyll with Clara was soon brought to an unceremonious end. When her father became aware of their nocturnal trysts during the Christmas holidays, he summarily forbade them further meetings.
Carnaval
Carnaval (op. 9, 1834) is one of Schumann's most genial and most characteristic piano works. Schumann begins nearly every section of Carnaval with the musical notes signified in German by the letters that spell Asch (A, E-flat, C, and B, or alternatively A-flat, C, and B; in German these are A, Es, C and H, and As C and H respectively), the town (then in Bohemia, now in the Czech Republic) in which Ernestine was born, and the notes are also the musical letters in Schumann's own name. Schumann named sections for both Ernestine von Fricken ("Estrella") and Clara Wieck ("Chiarina"). Eusebius and Florestan, the imaginary figures appearing so often in his critical writings, also appear, alongside brilliant imitations of Chopin and Paganini. The work comes to a close with a march of the Davidsbündler ?- the league of the men of David against the Philistines in which may be heard the clear accents of truth in contest with the dull clamour of falsehood embodied in a quotation from the seventeenth century Grandfather's Dance. In Carnaval, Schumann went further than in Papillons, for in it he himself conceived the story for which it was the musical illustration.
1835-39
On October 3, 1835, Schumann met Mendelssohn at Wieck's house in Leipzig, and his appreciation of his great contemporary was shown with the same generous freedom that distinguished him in all his relations to other musicians, and which later enabled him to recognize the genius of Johannes Brahms, whom he first met in 1853 before he had established a reputation.
In 1836 Schumann's acquaintance with Clara Wieck, already famous as a pianist, ripened into love. A year later he asked her father's consent to their marriage, but was refused.
In the series Fantasiestücke for the piano (op. 12) he once more gives a sublime illustration of the fusion of literary and musical ideas as embodied conceptions in such pieces as Warum and In der Nacht. After he had written the latter of these two he detected in the music the fanciful suggestion of a series of episodes from the story of Hero and Leander. The collection begins (in Des Abends) with a notable example of Schumann's predeliction for rhythmic ambiguity, as unrelieved syncopation plays heavily against the time signature just as in the first movement of Faschingsschwank aus Wien. After a nicely told fable, and the appropriately titled "Whirring Dreams," the whole collection ends on an introspective note in the manner of Eusebius.
The Kinderszenen, completed in 1838, a favourite of Schumann's piano works, is playful and childlike, and in a wonderfully fresh way captures the innocence of childhood. The Träumerei is one of the most famous piano pieces ever written, and exists in myriad forms and transcriptions, and has been the favourite encore of several artists, including Vladimir Horowitz. Although deceptively simple, Alban Berg, in reply to charges that modern music was overly complex, pointed out that this piece is in no way as simple as it appears in its harmonic structure. The whole collection is deceptive in its simplicity, yet genuinely touching and refreshing.
The Kreisleriana, which is considered one of his greatest works, was also written in 1838, and in this the composer's fantasy and emotional range is again carried a step further. Johannes Kreisler, the romantic poet brought into contact with the real world, was a character drawn from life: the poet E. T. A. Hoffmann (q.v.), and Schumann utilized him as an imaginary mouthpiece for the sonic expression of emotional states, in music that is "fantastic and mad".
The Fantasia in C (Op. 17), written in the summer of 1836, is a work of passion and deep pathos, imbued with the spirit of late Beethoven. This is no doubt deliberate, since the proceeds from sales of the work were initially intended to be contributed towards the construction of a monument to Beethoven. According to Liszt, (Strelezki: Personal Recollections of Chats with Liszt) who played the work to the composer, and to whom the work was dedicated, the Fantasy was apt to be played too heavily, and should have a dreamier (träumerisch) character than vigorous German pianists tended to labour. He also said, "It is a noble work, worthy of Beethoven, whose career, by the way, it is supposed to represent."[4]
After a visit to Vienna during which he discovered Schubert's previously unknown Symphony No. 9 in C, in 1839 Schumann wrote the Faschingsschwank aus Wien, i.e. the Carnival Prank from Vienna. Most of the joke is in the central section of the first movement, into which a thinly veiled reference to the "Marseillaise"?-then banned in Vienna?-is squeezed. The festive mood does not preclude moments of melancholic introspection in the Intermezzo.
In 1840, after a long and acrimonious legal battle with her father, Schumann married Clara Wieck on September 12, 1840, at Schönefeld.
1840-49
Before 1840, Schumann had written almost exclusively for the piano, but in this one year he wrote 168 songs. Schumann's biographers have attributed the sweetness, the doubt and the despair of these songs to the varying emotions aroused by his love for Clara. This view is treated with skepticism by some modern scholars, especially since Dichterliebe, with its themes of rejection and acceptance, was written when his marriage was no longer in doubt. Robert and Clara were to have seven children.
His chief song-cycles of this period were his settings of the Liederkreis of J. von Eichendorff (op. 39), the Frauenliebe und -leben of Chamisso (op. 42), the Dichterliebe of Heine (op. 48) and Myrthen, a collection of songs, including poems by Goethe, Rückert, Heine, Byron, Burns and Moore. The songs Belsatzar (op. 57) and Die beiden Grenadiere (op. 49), each to Heine's words, show Schumann at his best as a ballad writer, though the dramatic ballad is less congenial to him than the introspective lyric. The opus 35 (to words of Justinus Kerner) and opus 40 sets, although less well known, also contain songs of lyric and dramatic quality.
As Grillparzer said, "He has made himself a new ideal world in which he moves almost as he wills".
Despite his achievements, Schumann received few tokens of honour; he was awarded a doctoral degree by the University of Jena in 1840, and in 1843 a professorship in the Conservatorium of Leipzig, which had been founded that year by Felix Mendelssohn. On one occasion, accompanying his wife on a concert tour in Russia, Schumann was asked whether 'he too was a musician'. He was to remain sensitive to his wife's greater international acclaim as a pianist.
In 1841 he wrote two of his four symphonies. The year 1842 he devoted to the composition of chamber music, which included the piano quintet (op. 44), now one of his best known and most admired works. In 1843 he wrote Paradise and the Peri, his first essay at concerted vocal music. After this, his compositions were not confined during any particular period to any one form.
The stage in his life when he was deeply engaged in his music to Goethe's Faust (1844-53) was a critical one for his health. The first half of the year 1844 had been spent with his wife in Russia. On returning to Germany he had abandoned his editorial work, and left Leipzig for Dresden, where he suffered from what was referred to as persistent "nervous prostration". As soon as he began to work he was seized with fits of shivering and an apprehension of death, which was exhibited in an abhorrence for high places, for all metal instruments (even keys), and for drugs. Schumann's diaries also state that he suffered perpetually from imagining that he had the note A sounding in his ears. In 1846 he had recovered and in the winter revisited Vienna, traveling to Prague and Berlin in the spring of 1847 and in the summer to Zwickau, where he was received with enthusiasm--gratifying because Dresden and Leipzig were the only large cities in which his fame was at this time appreciated.
To 1848 belongs his only opera, Genoveva (op. 81), a work containing much beautiful music, but lacking dramatic force. It is interesting for its attempt to abolish the recitative, which Schumann regarded as an interruption to the musical flow. The subject of Genoveva, based on Johann Ludwig Tieck and Hebbel, was in itself not a particularly happy choice; but it is worth remembering that as early as 1842 the possibilities of German opera had been keenly realized by Schumann, who wrote, "Do you know my prayer as an artist, night and morning? It is called 'German Opera'. Here is a real field for enterprise [...] something simple, profound, German". And in his notebook of suggestions for the text of operas are found amongst others: Nibelungen, Lohengrin and Til Eulenspiegel. Schumann's consistently flowing melody in this work can be seen as a forerunner to Wagner's Melos.
The music to Byron's Manfred is preeminent in a year (1849) in which he wrote more than in any other. The insurrection of Dresden caused Schumann to move to Kreischa, a little village a few miles outside the city. In August of this year, on the occasion of the hundredth anniversary of Goethe's birth, such scenes of Schumann's Faust as were already completed were performed in Dresden, Leipzig and Weimar, Liszt, as always giving unwearied assistance and encouragement. The rest of the work was written in the latter part of the year, and the overture in 1853. This overture Schumann described as "one of the sturdiest of my creations".
After 1850
From 1850 to 1854, the nature of Schumann's works is extremely varied. The popular belief that the quality of his music quickly decayed has been questioned: the changes in style may be explained by lucid experimentation.[5]
In 1850 Schumann succeeded Ferdinand Hiller as musical director at Düsseldorf; Schumann was a poor conductor and quickly aroused the opposition of the musicians, leading eventually to the termination of his contract. From 1851 to 1853 he visited Switzerland and Belgium as well as Leipzig. In 1851 he completed his Rhenish Symphony, and he revised what would be published as his fourth symphony. On September 30, 1853, the 20-year-old Brahms knocked unannounced on the door of the Schumanns carrying a letter of introduction from the violinist Joseph Joachim; he amazed both Clara and Robert with his music, stayed with them for several weeks and became a close family friend. During this time Schumann, Brahms and Schumann's pupil Albert Dietrich collaborated on the composition of the 'F-A-E' Sonata for the violinist Joseph Joachim; Schumann also published an article, "Neue Bahnen" (New Paths) hailing the unknown young composer from Hamburg, who had published nothing, as "the Chosen One" who would "give ideal expression to the Age." It was an extraordinary way for Brahms to be presented to the musical world, setting up enormous expectations of him which he did not fulfill for many years. In January 1854, Schumann went to Hanover, where he heard a performance of his Paradise and the Peri organized by Joachim and Brahms.
Soon after his return to Düsseldorf, where he was engaged in editing his complete works and making an anthology on the subject of music, a renewal of the symptoms that had threatened him earlier showed itself. Besides the single note, he now imagined that voices sounded in his ear and he heard angelic music. One night he suddenly left his bed, telling Clara that Schubert and Mendelssohn had sent him a theme ?- in truth, he was merely recalling his own violin concerto ?- which he must write down, and on this theme he wrote five variations for the piano, his last work. Brahms published the theme in a supplementary volume to the complete edition of Schumann's piano music, and in 1861 himself wrote a substantial set of variations upon it for piano duet, his op.23.
In late February Schumann's symptoms increased, the angelic visions sometimes being replaced by demonic visions. He warned Clara that he feared he might do her harm. On February 27, 1854, he attempted suicide by throwing himself from a bridge into the Rhine. Rescued by boatmen and taken home, he asked to be taken to an asylum for the insane. He entered Dr. Franz Richarz's sanitarium in Endenich, a quarter of Bonn, and remained there for more than two years, until his death.
Given his reported symptoms, one modern view is that his death was a result of syphilis, which he may have contracted during his student days, and which would have remained latent during most of his marriage.[6] According to studies by the musicologist and literary scholar Eric Sams, Schumann's symptoms during his terminal illness and death appear consistent with those of mercury poisoning, mercury being a common treatment for syphilis and other conditions. Schumann died on July 29, 1856, and was buried at the Zentral Friedhof, Bonn. In 1880, a statue by Adolf von Donndorf was erected on his tomb.
From the time of her husband's death, Clara devoted herself principally to the interpretation of her husband's works. In 1856, she first visited England, but the critics received Schumann's music coolly, with some critics such as Henry Fothergill Chorley particularly harsh in their disapproval. She returned to London in 1865 and made regular appearances there in subsequent years. She became the authoritative editor of her husband's works for Breitkopf und Härtel. It was rumored that she and Brahms destroyed many of Schumann's later works that they thought to be tainted by his madness. However, only the Five Pieces for Cello and Piano are known to have been destroyed. Most of Schumann's late works, particularly the violin concerto, the Fantasy for Violin and Orchestra and the third violin sonata, all from 1853, have entered the repertoire.
Legacy
Schumann exerted considerable influence in the nineteenth century and beyond, despite his adoption of more conservative modes of composition after his marriage. He left an array of acclaimed music in virtually all the forms then known. Partly through his protégé Brahms, Schumann's ideals and musical vocabulary became widely disseminated. Elgar called Schumann "my ideal".
Schumann has sometimes been confused with the Austrian composer Franz Schubert. One well-known example occurred in 1956, when East Germany issued a pair of stamps featuring Schumann's picture and Schubert's music. The stamps were soon replaced by a pair featuring music written by Schumann.
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:04 am
Robert Preston
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Robert Preston Meservey
June 8, 1918(1918-06-08)
Newton, Massachusetts
Died March 21, 1987 (aged 68)
Montecito, California
Spouse(s) Catherine Craig (1940-1987)
Awards won
Tony Awards
Best Leading Actor in a Musical
1958 The Music Man
1967 I Do! I Do!
Robert Preston (June 8, 1918 - March 21, 1987) was an American award-winning actor.
Biography
Early life
Preston was born Robert Preston Meservey in Newton, Massachusetts, the son of a garment worker. After attending Abraham Lincoln High School in Los Angeles, California, he studied acting at the Pasadena Community Playhouse. He would later serve as an intelligence officer with the U.S. 9th Air Force during World War II.
In 1940, he married actress Catherine Craig, to whom he remained married until his death.
Career
Preston appeared in many Hollywood films, predominantly Westerns, but is probably best remembered for his portrayal of "Professor" Harold Hill in Meredith Willson's musical The Music Man (1962). He won a Tony Award for his performance in the original Broadway production (1957). In 1974, he starred opposite Bernadette Peters in Jerry Herman's Broadway musical "Mack and Mabel" as Mack Sennett, the famous silent film director.
In 1961, Preston was asked to make a recording as part of a program by the President's Council on Physical Fitness to get schoolchildren to do more daily exercise. The song, "Chicken Fat," written by Meredith Willson and performed by Preston with full orchestral accompaniment, was distributed to schools across the nation and played for students in calisthenics every morning. The song later became a surprise novelty hit and a part of many baby-boomers' childhood memories.
Although he was not known for his singing voice, Preston appeared in several other stage and film musicals, notably Mame (1974) and Victor/Victoria (1982), for which he received an Academy Award nomination. His last role in a theatrical film was in The Last Starfighter, in which he played intergalactic con man/military recruiter "Centauri." Preston said he based the character of Centauri on Professor Harold Hill. He also starred in the HBO 1985 movie "Finnegan Begin Again" along with Mary Tyler Moore. His final role was in the TV movie Outrage! (1986).
Preston appeared on the cover of Time magazine on July 21, 1958.[1]. He died of lung cancer in 1987, at the age of 68.
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:07 am
Dana Wynter
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Dagmar Winter
June 8, 1931 (1931-06-08) (age 76)
Berlin, Germany
Spouse(s) Greg Bautzer
Dana Wynter (born Dagmar Winter on June 8, 1931) is a German/American actress. She appeared in film and television for more than four decades beginning in the 1950s.
Biography
Early life
Wynter was born in Berlin, Germany, the daughter of a noted surgeon. She grew up in England. When she was sixteen, her father went to Morocco to operate on a woman who wouldn't allow anyone else to attend her; he visited friends in Southern Rhodesia, fell in love with it and brought his daughter and her stepmother to live with him there. Wynter later enrolled as a pre-med student at Rhodes University (the only female in a class of 150) and also dabbled in theatre, playing the blind girl in a school production of Through a Glass Darkly, in which she says she was "terrible". After a year-plus of studies, she returned to England and shifted gears, dropping her medical studies and turning to an acting career.
Career
Wynter began her cinema career in 1951 by playing small roles, usually uncredited, in British films. One such was Lady Godiva Rides Again (1951) in which other future leading ladies, Kay Kendall, Diana Dors and Joan Collins played similarly small roles. She was appearing in the play Hammersmith when an American agent told her he wanted to represent her. She was again uncredited when she played Morgan Le Fay's servant in the 1953 MGM film, Knights of the Round Table.
Wynter left for New York on November 5, 1953, Guy Fawkes Day, a holiday commemorating a 1605 attempt to blow up the Parliament building. "There were all sorts of fireworks going off," she later told an interviewer, "and I couldn't help thinking it was a fitting send-off for my departure to the New World."
Wynter had more success in New York than in London. She appeared on the stage and on TV, where she had leading roles in Robert Montgomery Presents (1953), Suspense (1954, with Otto Preminger) and Studio One (1955, with Barry Sullivan), among others. She then moved west to Hollywood where, in 1955, she was placed under contract by 20th Century Fox. In that same year, she won the Golden Globe award for Most Promising Newcomer, a title she shared with Anita Ekberg and Victoria Shaw. Wynter graduated to playing major roles in major films. In 1956, she co-starred with Kevin McCarthy, Larry Gates, and Carolyn Jones in what is perhaps her most famous role, in the original Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).
She starred opposite Robert Taylor in D-Day the Sixth of June (1956), alongside Rock Hudson and Sidney Poitier in Something of Value (1957), Mel Ferrer in Fräulein (1958), Robert Wagner in In Love and War (1958), James Cagney and Don Murray in Shake Hands with the Devil (1959), Kenneth More in Sink the Bismarck (1960) and Danny Kaye in On the Double (1961). She also played a leading role in The List of Adrian Messenger (1963).
During the next 20 years, she appeared as a guest star in literally dozens of television series and in occasional cameo roles in films such as Airport (1970). In 1966-67, she co-starred with Robert Lansing in the television series, The Man Who Never Was (TV series), but the effort lasted only one season. She appeared in the Irish soap opera Bracken (which also starred a young Gabriel Byrne) between 1978 and 1980. In 1993, she returned to TV to play Raymond Burr's wife in The Return of Ironside.
Personal life
Wynter divorced her only husband, celebrity attorney Greg Bautzer, in 1981. She and Bautzer had one child: Mark Ragan Bautzer, born on January 29, 1960. Wynter, once called Hollywood's "oasis of elegance", now divides her time between homes in California and County Wicklow, Ireland.
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:11 am
Joan Rivers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born Joan Sandra Molinsky
June 8, 1933 (1933-06-08) (age 75)
Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Awards won
Emmy Awards
Best Talk Show Host, 1990
Joan Rivers (born Joan Sandra Molinsky on June 8, 1933) is an American comedian, actress, talk show host, businesswoman, and celebrity. She is known for her brash manner and loud, raspy voice with a heavy metropolitan New York accent. Rivers is the National Chairwoman of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and is a board member of God's Love We Deliver. Like the ground-breaking Phyllis Diller, Rivers' act relied heavily on poking fun at herself. A typical Rivers joke about her unattractiveness: "I used to stand by the side of the road with a sign: 'Last girl before freeway.'"
Biography
Early life and career
Joan Rivers was born Joan Sandra Molinsky in Brooklyn, New York, to Jewish-American parents Beatrice and Meyer C. Molinsky. She was raised in Westchester County, New York. She attended Connecticut College between 1950 and 1952, and graduated from Barnard College in 1954 with a B.A. in English and anthropology.
In the 1960s Rivers made television appearances as a comedian on the popular shows The Tonight Show and The Ed Sullivan Show, as well as hosting the first of her several talk shows. Later in that decade she made a brief but notable appearance opposite Burt Lancaster in the film, The Swimmer. She was also a regular gag writer and performer on TV's Candid Camera.
1970s
In the 1970s, Joan Rivers appeared often as a guest on various television comedy and variety shows. One notable appearance on The Carol Burnett Show had her spoofing Valerie Harper in Rhoda (Rivers' character was named "Rhonda"), to the delight of the audience. From 1972 to 1976, she was the narrator for The Adventures of Letterman, an animated segment for The Electric Company.
In 1978, Rivers directed and wrote the film Rabbit Test starring her friend Billy Crystal. The avant garde movie about a man who gets pregnant produced disappointing results at the box office.
Rivers was the opening act for singer Helen Reddy on the Las Vegas Strip during the '70s. She would eventually become a headliner in her own right to standing room crowds continuing into the 1980s. Rivers also recorded a popular record album of her live stand-up act entitled What Becomes a (Semi) Legend Most?
1980s and 1990s
Joan Rivers continued to gain acclaim on television as she would often be brought in as a guest host of The Tonight Show throughout the 1980s.
In 1986, Rivers hosted her own evening talk show, The Late Show Starring Joan Rivers, on the then-fledgling Fox Television Network; her talk show was one of the launch shows for the new network. The show lasted about a year. When it began, Rivers had already become the permanent guest host for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show. Carson was so upset by her decision to leave without discussing it with him that he banned her from his show, even after Rivers' show failed. Rivers reportedly tried to call Carson on the phone personally. When he answered, she talked to him, but Carson hung up on her. The two never did reconcile, as Carson died in 2005.
Soon after the cancellation of her series, Rivers saw a published interview claiming that her husband Edgar Rosenberg, who was a producer on her show, had tried to drive her insane during his illness. According to the interview, she was reported to have commented, "...I think things are just about finished with Edgar" and referred to her former boss at the Fox Network as "Barry (expletive) Diller." Rivers then went public with the news, saying in tears that a "Ben Hacker" had fabricated the story with what she called "vicious lies." A suit was filed against "Hacker."
In 1988, Rivers guest-starred on the Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas Special, along with other stars, which included Oprah Winfrey, Charo, and Cher. In some sense, it was Rivers' way of repaying Paul Reubens (creator of the character Pee-Wee Herman, and the show) who was the very first guest on her talk show when it premiered in 1986.
Not long after this, Rosenberg committed suicide, devastating Rivers. In her book, Bouncing Back, she describes how she developed bulimia and contemplated suicide. Eventually she got better with counselling and the support of her family.
Eventually she returned to television with a daytime talk show of her own, The Joan Rivers Show, which ran from 1989 until 1994. Her enormous stock of bored husband jokes could no longer be used. A Rivers favorite had been: "When Edgar and I were first married, we'd play 'catch me, catch me!' and we'd run around the house. We still play 'catch me, catch me!' but now we walk."
Beginning in 1997, Rivers hosted her own radio show on WOR in New York. In 2003, Rivers and the station mutually decided to part ways.
2000s
From 2005-2007, Joan Rivers was a host for the TV Guide channel, often co-hosting red carpet specials before awards shows with her daughter, Melissa Rivers, from whom she was estranged briefly after her husband's suicide. She was replaced by Lisa Rinna starting with the 2007 Emmy Awards telecast.[1] She previously worked for the E! Entertainment Television network in a similar role. In the movie Shrek 2, she cameoed as a computer-generated version of herself, hosting the parody ME! Medieval Entertainment Television channel.
When in New York, where she lives, Rivers appears weekly in workshop productions at the small venue The Cutting Room. She donates proceeds to the charities God's Love We Deliver (for which she is a board member) and Guide Dogs for the Blind. Rivers is an avid and unapologetic user of plastic surgery to enhance her looks, however this has occasionally resulted in ridicule and self-deprecation. This was played up in a Geico television commercial in which she delivers the lines "Am I smiling? I can't tell!" and "I can't feel my face!". She appeared in two episodes of the show Nip/Tuck during its second and third seasons. During her first appearance, she wanted to find out what she would look like without all the plastic surgery she has had and was horrified by the result. During her second appearance, she wanted to invest in a post-surgical health spa.
She is also an avid collector of jewellery. Rivers also appears regularly on television's The Shopping Channel (in Canada), and QVC (in both the U.S. and the U.K.), selling her own line of jewellery under the brand name "The Joan Rivers Collection", which in fact is one of that network's best-selling lines. Rivers was a guest speaker at the opening of the American Operating Room Nurses' 2000 San Francisco Conference.
Rivers is a grandmother to Edgar Cooper Endicott, who was born in 2000 during her daughter Melissa's brief marriage (1998-2003) to John Endicott.
Whilst touring in the UK, Rivers appeared on BBC Radio 4's Midweek programme and became involved in a heated on-air argument over the issue of race with broadcaster Darcus Howe.[2]
Together with Melissa, Rivers appeared in a special feature on the season one DVD set of The Golden Girls, commenting on the sometimes-odd fashion styles worn by the characters in the sitcom.
Both Joan and her daughter Melissa are frequent guests on Howard Stern's radio show.
Joan frequently appears as a panelist on UK game show 8 Out Of 10 Cats.
During an interview with Celebrity Week in October 2006, Rivers remarked that Mel Gibson "is an anti-Semitic son of a bitch. He should (expletive) die!"[3]
She has also insulted Chris Burney, the guitarist in the band Bowling for Soup, calling him "fatso" and renaming his band "Bowling for Crap". Later that year she voted Bowling for Soup the worst-dressed musicians. The band took this very seriously and bought an amp saying, "**** you, Joan." This was also been discussed on the Jimmy Kimmel Show.
Joan Rivers is a supporter of animal rights and an active member of PETA.[4]
As of April 2007, Joan Rivers has been fired from the Red Carpet on TV Guide. TV Guide chiefs have decided they want a friendlier face greeting the stars and have asked TV actress Lisa Rinna to take over the show.[5]
On The Simpsons episode "Make Room for Lisa", Homer Simpson asks an employee at Kharma-Ceutric, an alternative medicine shop, "What's keeping Joan Rivers alive?" to which she replies, "Fetal Grindings". Rivers was satirized in three other episodes as well.
On August 16, 2007, Rivers began a two-week workshop of her new play, with the working title "The Joan Rivers Theatre Project", at The Magic Theatre in San Francisco.
In January 2008, Rivers became one of 20 hijackers to take control of the Big Brother house in the UK, in a spin-off show entitled "Big Brother: Celebrity Hijack". She did so for one day, bringing her usual sniping wit with her.
Awards
Joan Rivers has been awarded the 1975 Georgie Award as "Best Comedienne", the Clio Award for "Best Performance in a TV Commercial" in 1976 and 1982, and the 1990 Daytime Emmy Award as "Best Talk Show Host."
In a 2005 Channel 4 poll to find The Comedian's Comedian, she was voted amongst the top 50 comedy acts ever by fellow comedians and comedy insiders.
Rivers co-hosted a segment of the Australian 2006 Logie Awards. She was given a specially commissioned pink Logie award, threw it over her shoulder and remarked "It's the ugliest award I have ever seen." Months later (in June), footage of the spectacle featured in an episode of Web Junk 20 and on YouTube.
In the 58th annual Emmy Awards in August 2006, Rivers interviewed Debra Messing for Rivers' 1000th red carpet interview.
On December 3, 2007, Rivers featured before Queen Elizabeth and The Duke of Edinburgh in the Royal Variety Show 2007 at the Liverpool Empire Theatre.
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:13 am
James Darren
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Born James William Ercolani
June 8, 1936 (1936-06-08) (age 71)
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Spouse(s) Gloria Terlitsky (1955-1959)
Evy Norlund (1960 - present)
James William Ercolani (born June 8, 1936), best known as James Darren, is an American television and film actor, television director, and singer.
Early life
Darren was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1936.
Career
Darren began his career as a teen idol, having been discovered by talent agent and casting director Joyce Selznick. This encompassed roles in films, most notably his role as Moondoggie in Gidget in 1959, as well as a string of pop hits for Colpix Records, the biggest of which was "Goodbye Cruel World" (#3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1961). He is also featured in one of the Scopitone series of pop music video jukebox films ("Because You're Mine").
Darren's role in the gritty 1961 World War II film The Guns of Navarone was an attempt to break out of his teen image. He then achieved success co-starring as impulsive scientist and adventurer Tony Newman in the science fiction television series, The Time Tunnel (1966-1967).
In the 1970s, Darren appeared as a celebrity panelist on Match Game.
Later, Darren had a regular role as Officer James Corrigan on the television police drama T.J. Hooker from 1983-1986. Subsequently he worked as a director on many action-based television series, including Hunter, The A-Team, and Nowhere Man, as well as dramas such as Beverly Hills, 90210 and Melrose Place.
In 1998 he achieved renewed popularity as a singer through his appearances on Star Trek: Deep Space Nine in the role of holographic crooner and advice-giver Vic Fontaine; many of his performances on the show were recorded for the album This One's From the Heart (1999). The album showed Darren, a close friend of Frank Sinatra, comfortably singing in the Sinatra style; the 2001 follow-up Because of You showed similar inspiration from Tony Bennett.
Some animation fans may know him as the singing voice of Yogi Bear in the 1964 animated film, Hey There, It's Yogi Bear!, on the song "Ven-e, Ven-o, Ven-a". Prior to that, he was the singing and speaking voice of "Jimmy Darrock" on an episode of The Flintstones.
Personal life
James Darren dated Barbara Bouchet after she won the "Miss Gidget" contest in 1959.
He has been married twice:
His first wife was Gloria Terlitzky with whom he had one son, Jim Moret, who for nearly a decade worked as a CNN reporter and anchor, and is currently Chief Correspondent for the syndicated news program Inside Edition.
His second wife is Evy Norlund, with whom he has two sons, Christian Darren, a writer, and Tony Darren, a musician and singer-songwriter.
James Darren and his wife are godparents to Nancy Sinatra's daughter Angela Jennifer Lambert (Frank Sinatra's first grandchild).
Quotes
On being a teen idol: "At times it was Chinese torture."
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:15 am
Bernie Casey
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Date of birth: June 8, 1939 (1939-06-08) (age 68)
Place of birth: Wyco, West Virginia
Career information
Position(s): Wide Receiver
College: Bowling Green State
NFL Draft: 1961 / Round: 1 / Pick 9
Organizations
As player:
1961-1966
1967-1968 San Francisco 49ers
Los Angeles Rams
Career highlights and Awards
Pro Bowls: 1
Honors: 1968 Pro Bowl
Stats at DatabaseFootball.com
Bernard Terry Casey (born June 8, 1939) is an American football player during the 1960s who later became an actor.
Career
The 6ft 4 inch (193 cm) Casey began his acting career in the film Guns of the Magnificent Seven, a sequel to The Magnificent Seven. From there he moved between performances on television and the big screen such as playing team captain for the Chicago Bears in the TV film Brian's Song. In 1983 he played the role of Felix Leiter in the unofficial (non-EON Productions) James Bond film Never Say Never Again. His comedic role as Colonel Rhumbus in the John Landis film Spies Like Us was followed by appearances in the Revenge of the Nerds sequels.
Also, during his career he worked with such well-known directors as Martin Scorsese in his 1972 film Boxcar Bertha and appeared on such television series as The Streets of San Francisco and as U.N. Jefferson, the national head of the Lambda Lambda Lambda fraternity in Revenge of the Nerds. In a good-natured spoof of 70s blacksploitation flicks, he played a caricature of himself, and other football players turned actors in Keenen Ivory Wayans's 1988 comedic film I'm Gonna Git You Sucka. 1994 saw Casey guest-starring in a two-episode story arc in Star Trek: Deep Space Nine (along with series star Avery Brooks) as the Maquis leader Lieutenant Commander Cal Hudson. He has continued working as an actor. In 2006, he co-starred in the film When I Find the Ocean alongside such actors as Lee Majors.
In a piece for NFL Films, he expressed his disillusionment with the NFL and professional sports in general, feeling like his creativity and individuality were thwarted by conservative elements in the league and ownership hierarchy. He also showed off some paintings of his own creation during the piece.
Personal life
Casey now resides in Los Angeles, California, with his long time girlfriend Chae Castillo and his two stepchildren Dakota Castillo-Smith and Rheo Smith.
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:19 am
Nancy Sinatra
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Birth name Nancy Sandra Sinatra
Born June 8, 1940 (1940-06-08) (age 67)
Origin Jersey City, New Jersey, United States
Genre(s) Rock
Pop
Instrument(s) vocals
Years active 1961-
Nancy Sandra Sinatra (born June 8, 1940, in Jersey City, New Jersey) is an American singer and actress. She is the daughter of iconic singer Frank Sinatra and his first wife, Nancy Barbato, and remains best known for her 1966 signature hit "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'".
For her fourth birthday, Phil Silvers and Jimmy Van Heusen wrote the song "Nancy (With the Laughing Face)", which her father recorded.
Nancy Sinatra began her career as a singer and actress in the early 1960s, but achieved success only in Europe and Japan. Then she had a transatlantic number-one pop hit with "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", which showcased her provocative but good-natured style, and which popularized and made her synonymous with go-go boots. The tantalising promo clip featured a big-haired Sinatra and six shapely young women in tight tops, go-go boots and mini-skirts, and is considered a classic example of high camp. The song was written by Lee Hazlewood, who wrote and produced most of her hits and sang with her on several duets, including the critical and cult favorite "Some Velvet Morning". Between 1966 and 1967 alone, Sinatra charted with 13 titles, all of which featured Billy Strange as arranger and conductor. In 1967 she paired with her father for her second number-one single, "Somethin' Stupid". In 1968 she acted alongside Elvis Presley in the movie Speedway.
Recording career
1960s
In the late 1950s Sinatra began to study music, dancing, and voice at the University of California in Los Angeles. She dropped out after a year, and made her professional debut in 1960 on her father's television special with guest star Elvis Presley, who was home from his service in the army. In fact, it was Nancy who was sent to the airport (on behalf of her father) to welcome Elvis when his plane landed. On the special, Nancy and her father danced and sang a duet, "You Make Me Feel So Young/Old". That same year she began a five-year marriage to teen idol Tommy Sands.
Sinatra was signed to her father's label, Reprise Records!, in 1961. Her first single, "Cuff Links and a Tie Clip", went virtually unnoticed. However, many of her subsequent singles charted overseas in Europe and Japan. Without a hit in the U.S. by 1965, she was on the verge of being dropped. Her singing career received a phenomenal boost with the help of songwriter/producer/arranger Lee Hazlewood, who had been making records for ten years, most notably with Duane Eddy. Hazlewood became Sinatra's inspiration. He had her sing in a lower key and crafted some irresistible pop songs for her. Bolstered by a complete image overhaul ?- including dyed-blonde hair, frosted lips, heavy eye make-up and Carnaby Street fashions ?- Sinatra finally made her mark on the American (and British) music scene in early 1966 with the gutsy and now-iconic "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'", its title inspired by a line in Robert Aldrich's 1963 western comedy 4 for Texas starring her father and Dean Martin. One of her many hits written by Hazlewood, it received three Grammy nominations, including two for Sinatra and one for arranger Billy Strange. The song has been covered by many artists such as Geri Halliwell, Megadeth, Jessica Simpson, Lil' Kim, Little Birdy, Billy Ray Cyrus, KMFDM, Operation Ivy and the Del Rubio Triplets and The Supremes.
An impressive run of chart singles followed, including the two 1966 Top 10 hits "How Does That Grab You, Darlin'?" (#7) and "Sugar Town" (#5). Her late 1966 album release, Sugar, was banned in Boston due to its cover image of Sinatra in a bikini. The ballad "Somethin' Stupid" ?- a duet with father Frank Sinatra ?- hit #1 both in the U.S. and the UK in April 1967 (and spent nine weeks at the top of Billboard's easy listening chart). DJs at the time often referred to the familial record as "the incest song." Nonetheless, it earned a Grammy nomination for Record of the Year and remains the only father-daughter duet to hit No.1 in the U.S. Other notable 45s showcasing her trademark forthright delivery include "Friday's Child" (#36, 1966), and the 1967 hits "Love Eyes" (#15) and "Lightning's Girl" (#24). She rounded out 1967 with the playfully raunchy but low-charting "Tony Rome" (#83) ?- the title track from the movie starring her father ?- while her first solo single in 1968 was the more wistful "100 Years" (#69).
Sinatra enjoyed a parallel recording career cutting duets with the husky-voiced, country-and-western-inspired Hazlewood, starting with "Summer Wine" (originally the B-side of "Sugar Town"). Their biggest hit was a cover of the country song, "Jackson". The single peaked at #14 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the summer of 1967, when Johnny Cash and June Carter Cash also made the song their own. In December they released the "MOR"-psychedelic single "Some Velvet Morning", which is generally regarded as one of the more unusual singles in all of pop, and the peak of Sinatra and Hazlewood's vocal collaborations. It reached #26 nationally. The promo clip is, like the song, sui generis. The British broadsheet The Daily Telegraph placed "Some Velvet Morning" in the pole position in its 2003 list of the Top 50 Best Duets Ever. ("Somethin' Stupid" ranked number 27) [1].
In 1967 she also recorded the theme song for the James Bond film You Only Live Twice. The track is generally regarded as one of the best Bond themes. In the liner notes of the CD reissue of her 1966 album, Nancy In London, Sinatra states that she was "scared to death" of recording the song, and asked the songwriters: "Are you sure you don't want Shirley Bassey?" There are two versions of the Bond theme. The first is the lushly orchestrated track featured during the opening and closing credits of the film. The second - and more guitar-heavy ?- version appeared on the double A-sided single with "Jackson", though the Bond theme stalled at #44 on the Billboard Hot 100.
On December 11, 1967, NBC broadcast a musical-variety special entitled Movin' With Nancy. In addition to the Emmy Award-winning musical performances, the show is famous for Nancy Sinatra and Sammy Davis, Jr. greeting each other with a kiss, one of the first black-white kisses in U.S. television history.[1]
In 1966 and 1967 Sinatra traveled to Vietnam to perform for the troops. Many U.S. soldiers at the time adopted her signature song "These Boots Are Made for Walkin'" as their anthem, and it was later used in a famous scene in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket (1987). Sinatra recorded several anti-war songs in her career, including "My Buddy", featured on her album Sugar, "Home", co-written by Mac Davis, and "It's Such A Lonely Time of Year", which appeared on the 1968 LP The Sinatra Family Wish You a Merry Christmas. In 1988 Sinatra recreated her Vietnam concert appearances on an episode of the television show China Beach. Today, Sinatra still performs for charitable causes supporting U.S. veterans who served in Vietnam, including Rolling Thunder Inc..
During her heyday Nancy also co-starred in a number of films, including Roger Corman's The Wild Angels (1966) with Peter Fonda and Bruce Dern, and Speedway (1968) with old friend Elvis Presley. She was the only singer ever to have a solo song appear on an Elvis album or soundtrack while he was still alive. Since his death, several previously unreleased Ann-Margret solo recordings have appeared on Elvis albums, but Sinatra was the first.
She also made guest appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, The Man from U.N.C.L.E., and Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In, among others, and starred in a number of television specials. These include the Emmy-nominated 1966 special A Man and His Music - Part II, and, most notably, the 1967 Emmy-winning special Movin' with Nancy, in which she appeared with Lee Hazlewood, her father and his Rat Pack pals Dean Martin and Sammy Davis, Jr., with a cameo appearance by her brother Frank Sinatra Jr..
1970s and 1980s
Sinatra remained with Reprise until 1970. In 1971, she signed with RCA, resulting in three album releases: Nancy & Lee - Again (1971), Woman (1972), and a compilation of some of her Reprise recordings under the title This Is Nancy Sinatra (1973). That same year she released a non-LP single, "Sugar Me" b/w "Ain't No Sunshine". The former was written by Lynsey De Paul/Barry Blue and, together with other covers of works by early-70s popular songwriters, resurfaced on the 1998 album How Does It Feel.
In the autumn of 1971 Sinatra and Hazlewood's duet "Did You Ever?" reached number two in the UK singles chart. In 1972 they performed for a Swedish documentary, Nancy & Lee In Las Vegas, which chronicled their Vegas headliner concerts at the Riviera Hotel and featured solo numbers and duets from several concerts, behind-the-scenes footage, and scenes of Sinatra's late husband, Hugh Lambert, and her mother.[2]. The film did not appear until 1975.
By 1975 she was releasing singles on Private Stock, which are the most sought-after by collectors. Among those released were "Kinky Love", "Annabell of Mobile", "It's for My Dad," and "Indian Summer" (with Lee Hazlewood). "Kinky Love" was banned by some radio stations in the 1970s for its "suggestive" lyrics. It is often cited as a cult favourite, and finally saw the light of day on CD in 1998 on Sheet Music: A Collection of Her Favorite Love Songs. Pale Saints covered the song in 1991.
By the mid-1970s, she slowed down her musical activity and ceased acting in order to concentrate on being a wife and mother. She returned to the studio in 1981 to record a country album with Mel Tillis called Mel & Nancy. Two of their songs made the Billboard Country Singles Chart: "Texas Cowboy Night" (#23) and "Play Me or Trade Me" (#43).
In 1985 she wrote the book Frank Sinatra, My Father.
Comeback: 1990s-present
At the age of 54 she posed for Playboy in their May 1995 issue and made guest appearances on TV shows to promote her new album One More Time. The Playboy appearance caused a great deal of controversy. On the talk show circuit, Nancy proclaimed that her father was proud of the photos. Not everyone was convinced. Those close to the Sinatras claimed that family members complained about the nude photo spread. Sinatra told Jay Leno on a 1995 Tonight Show appearance that her daughters gave their approval, but her mother said she should ask her father before committing to the project. Nancy claims that when she told her father what Playboy would be paying her, he said, "Double it."
She and Lee Hazlewood embarked on an extensive U.S. tour playing such hip hot spots as the House of Blues, the Viper Room, the Whiskey-a-Go-Go, the now-defunct Mama Kin in Boston, and The Fillmore.
That same year, Sundazed Records began reissuing all of Sinatra's Reprise albums with remastered sound, new liner notes and photos, and bonus tracks. She also updated her previous biography on her dad and published Frank Sinatra: An American Legend.
In 2003 she reunited with Hazlewood once more for the album Nancy & Lee 3. It was released only in Australia.
In 2003 one of her recordings ?- a cover of Sonny Bono-penned song "Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down)" ?- was used in the Quentin Tarantino film Kill Bill: Vol. One. In 2005, the Sinatra's recording was sampled separately by the Audio Bullys and Radio Slave into dance tracks (renamed into "Shot You Down" and "Bang Bang" respectively), and by hip-hop artist Young Buck in a song titled "Bang Bang", as well as covered for a single and music video by R&B artist Melanie Durrant. Sinatra originally recorded the song for her second Reprise album, How Does That Grab You? in 1966. She and Billy Strange worked on the arrangement, and it was Sinatra's idea to change the feel of the song from a mid-tempo romp (as originally sung in Cher's hit single) to a ballad. Sinatra's father liked her version so much that he asked her to sing it on his 1966 TV special A Man and His Music - Part II. The footage of Sinatra's performance on that special was used in the Audio Bullys' music video of "Shot You Down."
Taking her father's advice from when she began her recording career ("Own your own masters"), she owns or holds an interest in most of her material, including videos.
In 2004 she collaborated with former Los Angeles neighbour Morrissey to record a version of his song "Let Me Kiss You", which was featured on her critically acclaimed autumn release Nancy Sinatra. The single ?- released the same day as Morrissey's version ?- charted at #46 in the UK, providing Sinatra with her first hit for over 30 years. The follow-up single, "Burnin' Down the Spark", failed to chart. The album, originally titled To Nancy, with Love, featured contemporary rock performers such as Calexico, Sonic Youth, U2, Pulp's Jarvis Cocker, Steven Van Zandt, Jon Spencer, and Pete Yorn, who all cited Sinatra as an influence on their music. Each artist crafted a song for Sinatra to sing on the album.
Two years later EMI released The Essential Nancy Sinatra - a UK-only greatest-hits compilation featuring the previously unreleased track, "Machine Gun Kelly." The collection was hand-picked by Sinatra and spans her 40-year career. The record was Sinatra's first to make the UK album charts (#73) in 30 years.
Sinatra, a gay icon, also recorded the song "Another Gay Sunshine Day" for Another Gay Movie in 2006.
Nancy Sinatra received her own star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on May 11, 2006, which was also declared "Nancy Sinatra Day" by Hollywood's Honorary Mayor, Johnny Grant.
Nancy appeared, as herself, on one of the final episodes (Chasing It) of the HBO mob drama The Sopranos. Her brother, Frank Jr., had previously appeared in the 2000 episode The Happy Wanderer.
Nancy recorded a public service announcement for Deejay Ra's 'Hip-Hop Literacy' campaign, encouraging reading of Quentin Tarantino screenplays and related books.
Family
Marriage:
Tommy Sands, 1960-1965 (divorced)
Hugh Lambert, 1970-1985 (his death)
Children (by her second husband):
Angela Jennifer Lambert (whose godparents are James Darren and his second wife)
Amanda Lambert.
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:21 am
Boz Scaggs
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Background information
Birth name William Royce Scaggs
Born June 8, 1944 (1944-06-08) (age 64)
Canton, Ohio, U.S.
Genre(s) Blue-eyed soul, Rock, Blues-rock
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, guitarist
Instrument(s) Guitar, vocals
Years active 1965 - present
Label(s) Columbia, Virgin, Gray Cat
Associated acts Steve Miller Band
Website BozScaggs.com
Boz Scaggs (born William Royce Scaggs, 8 June 1944, Canton, Ohio) is an American singer, songwriter and guitarist.
Biography
Boz was born William Royce Scaggs in Canton, Ohio, the son of a traveling salesman. The family moved to Oklahoma, then to Plano, at that time a Texas farm town just north of Dallas. He attended a Dallas private school, St. Mark's, where a schoolmate gave him the nickname "Bosley." Soon, he was just plain Boz.
After learning guitar at the age of 12, he met Steve Miller at St. Mark's. In 1959, he became the vocalist for Miller's band, The Marksmen. The pair later attended the University of Wisconsin-Madison together, playing in blues bands like The Ardells and The Fabulous Knight Trains.
Leaving school, Scaggs briefly joined the burgeoning rhythm and blues scene in London. After singing in bands such as The Wigs and Mother Earth, he traveled to Sweden as a solo performer, and in 1965 recorded his solo debut album, Boz, which was not a commercial success. Scaggs also had a brief stint with the band The Other Side with fellow American Jack Downing and Brit Mac MacLeod.
Returning to the U.S., Scaggs promptly headed for the booming psychedelic music center of San Francisco in 1967. Linking up with Steve Miller again, he appeared on the Steve Miller Band's first two albums, Children of the Future and Sailor, which received good reviews from music critics. After being spotted by Rolling Stone publisher Jann Wenner, Scaggs secured a solo contract with Atlantic Records in 1968.
Despite good reviews, his sole Atlantic album, featuring the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section and slide guitarist Duane Allman, achieved lukewarm sales, as did follow-up albums on Columbia Records. In 1976, he linked up with session musicians who would later form Toto and recorded his smash album Silk Degrees. The album reached number 2 on the U.S. charts and number 1 in a number of countries across the world, spawning three hit singles: "Lowdown", "Lido Shuffle", and "What Can I Say", as well as the MOR standard "We're All Alone", later covered by Rita Coolidge and Frankie Valli. A sellout world tour followed, but his follow-up album, the 1977 Down Two Then Left, did not fare as well commercially as Silk Degrees.
The 1980 album Middle Man spawned two top 20 hits, "Breakdown Dead Ahead" and "Jojo," and Scaggs enjoyed two more hits in 1980-81 ("Look What You've Done to Me" from the Urban Cowboy soundtrack, and "Miss Sun" from a greatest hits set, both U.S. #14 hits). But Scaggs' lengthy hiatus from the music industry (his next LP, Other Roads, wouldn't appear until 1988) slowed his chart career down dramatically. "Heart of Mine" in 1988, from Other Roads, was Scaggs' final top 40 hit but was a major adult contemporary success.
Scaggs continued to record and tour sporadically throughout the 1980s and 1990s, although he has semi-retired from the music industry, and now owns the San Francisco nightclub, Slim's.
Scaggs recorded Other Roads in the mid-1980s, took another hiatus and then came back with Some Change in 1994. He released Come On Home, an album of blues, and My Time, an anthology in the late 1990s. He garnered good reviews with Dig although the CD, which was released on September 11, 2001, was lost in the post-9/11 melée. In May 2003, Scaggs released But Beautiful, a collection of jazz standards that debuted at number 1 on the jazz charts.
He tours each summer, has a loyal cadre of fans, remains hugely popular in Japan, and released a DVD and a live CD in 2004.
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bobsmythhawk
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Sun 8 Jun, 2008 07:23 am
I don't want to do the dishes,
I don't want to do the wash,
I sprinkled clothes a week ago
And now my iron is lost!
I don't wanna clean the pots,
I don't wanna rattle pans,
I wanna read my e-mail,
And chat with all my friends!
The table needs some dusting
and the floor could sure be mopped,
But I know if I get started
There'll be no place to stop.
The closets are so full
Things are falling off the shelves,
I wish for cleaning fairies
And magic laundry elves!
They could sprinkle fairy dust
And twitch their little nose,
And the windows would be sparkling
And I'd have no dirty clothes.
I don't know what I'm saying,
My head is in the sky,
I must cook that meat that's graying
And bake that apple pie!
My husband needs a flea bath,
The dog needs some attention...
Oh, the other way around I mean!
My brain is in suspension!
I am running round in circles,
I am getting nothing done,
I keep thinking of the internet,
I'm missing all the fun!
I know I'm not addicted
Though I hear that all the time,
But I guess this stuff will have to wait,
Cause today I'll be ON LINE!!!
edgar, James has a nice voice, but I just don't remember him. Perhaps Bobby Darin keeps diverting my attention.
Well, folks, I did NOT know that Nancy Sinatra was gay. That's a surprise. Bud claimed that "Nancy with the Smiling Face" was the best think that Frank Sinatra ever did.
Born: 8 June 1936
Birthplace: Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Best Known As: Moondoggie the surfer in Gidget
Name at birth: James William Ercolani
James Darren made the transition from teen idol to character actor sometime around 1965. Earlier he had been the handsome young surfer Moondoggie in the movie Gidget (1959, with Sandra Dee) and its sequels. Later he became the older-but-still-dashing type in TV shows like the cop drama T.J. Hooker (1983-86, with William Shatner and Heather Locklear). Still later he became a successful TV director. Darren also had an early career as a pop singer, recording the #1 hit "Goodbye, Cruel World."
Darren's son Jim Moret was at one time an anchor and reporter for the news network CNN.
