The tenor is a type of male singing voice and is the highest male voice within the modal register. The typical tenor voice lies between C₃, the C one octave below middle C, to the A above middle C (A₄) in choral music, and up to high C (C₅) in solo work. The low extreme for tenors is roughly B2 (two Bs below middle C). At the highest extreme, some tenors can sing up to two Fs above middle C (F5).

The term tenor is also applied to instruments, such as the tenor saxophone, to indicate their range in relation to other instruments of the same group.

Within opera, the lowest note in the standard tenor repertoire is A₂ (Mime, Herod), but few roles fall below C₃ (one octave below middle C). The high extreme: a few tenor roles in the standard repertoire call for a "tenor C" (C₅, one octave above middle C). Most (if not all) of the few top Cs in the standard operatic repertoire are either optional (such as in Che gelida manina in Puccini's La Boheme) or interpolated (added) by tradition (such as in Di quella pira from Verdi's Il Trovatore). Some operatic roles for tenor require a darker timbre and fewer high notes. In the leggiero repertoire the highest note is an F₅ (Arturo in I puritani), therefore, very few tenors can have this role in their repertoire.. A shift in pitch since the mid 19th century means that the few written top Cs (such as in Salut demeure from Gounod's Faust) would have in fact demanded a note at least a semitone lower than today's standard pitch.

Within musical theatre, most tenor roles are written between B₂ and A₄, especially the romantic leads, although some fall as low as A₂ and others as high as G₅.

Origin of the term

The name "tenor" derives from the Latin word tenere, which means "to hold". In medieval and Renaissance polyphony between about 1250 and 1500, the tenor was the structurally fundamental (or ‘holding’) voice, vocal or instrumental. All other voices were normally calculated in relation to the tenor, which often proceeded in longer note values and carried a borrowed Cantus firmus melody. Until the late 15th century introduction of the contratenor bassus, the tenor was usually the lowest voice, assuming the role of providing a harmonic foundation. It was also in the 15th century that "tenor" came to signify the male voice that sang such parts. Thus, for earlier repertoire, a line marked 'tenor' indicated the part's role, and not the required voice type. Indeed, even as late as the eighteenth century, partbooks labelled 'tenor' might contain parts for a range of voice types.

Tenor in choral music

In four-part choral music, the tenor is the second lowest voice, above the bass and below the soprano and alto. While certain choral music does require the first tenors to ascend the full tenor range, the majority of choral music places the tenors in the range from approximately B₂ up to A₄. The requirements of the tenor voice in choral music are also tied to the style of music most often performed by a given choir. Orchestra choruses require tenors with fully resonant voices, but chamber or a cappella choral music (sung with no instrumental accompaniment) can rely on light baritones singing in falsetto.

Even so, one nearly ubiquitous facet of choral singing is the shortage of tenor voices. Most men tend to have baritone voices and for this reason the majority of men tend to prefer singing in the bass section of a choir (however, true basses are even rarer than tenors). Some men are asked to sing tenor even if they lack the full range, and sometimes low altos are asked to sing the tenor part.

In bluegrass music, the melody line is called the lead. Tenor is sung an interval of a third above the lead. Baritone is the fifth of the scale that has the lead as a tonic, and may be sung below the lead, or even above the lead (and the tenor), in which case it is called "high baritone."

A tenor is also classified as a drum used in a drum corps. or drum-line. The tenor drum consists of 5 or 6 drums of different tones, 4, 3, 2, 1, and one or two spocks. 4 is the lowest sounding drum and the right spock is the highest sounding drum. Tenors are also referred to as quads because of the four main drums, or quints including the spocks. The tenors, in a drum cadence, are usually a combination of bass drum and snare drum beats to give the cadence more of a groove.

Though strictly not musical, the Muslim call to prayer (azan) is always chanted by tenors, possibly due to the highly placed resonance of the tenor voice which allows it to be heard from a longer distance than baritones or basses during pre-amplification times. Some such chanters (termed bilals) may modulate up to E₃ in certain passages, while incorporating a distinctive Middle-Eastern coloratura run.

Tenor voice classification

Within choral and pop music, singers are classified into voice parts based almost solely on range with little consideration for other qualities in the voice. Within classical solo singing, however, a person is classified as a tenor through the identification of several vocal traits, including vocal range (the lowest and highest notes that the singer can reach), vocal timbre, vocal weight, vocal tessitura, vocal resonance, and vocal transition points (lifts or "passaggio") within the singer's voice. These different traits are used to identify different sub-types within the tenor voice sometimes referred to as fächer (sg. fach, from German Fach or Stimmfach, "vocal category"). Within opera, particular roles are written with specific kinds of tenor voices in mind, causing certain roles to be associated with certain kinds of voices.

Here follows the operatic tenor fächer, with examples of the roles from the standard repertory that they commonly sing. It should be noted that there is considerable overlap between the various categories of role and of voice-type; and that some singers have begun with lyric voices but have transformed with time into spinto or even dramatic tenors. (Enrico Caruso is a prime example of this kind of vocal development.) It must be said that in the operatic canon the highest top note generally written by composers is B. Top Cs are rare (they are either given as oppure that is, up to the singer to interpolate or are traditional additions). An ability to sing C and above, therefore, is musically superfluous. Indeed, many famous tenors never even attempted C at least on record—for example, in Caruso's 1906 recording of Che Gelida Manina, the whole aria is transposed to avoid the oppure top C. This is a normal transposition.

Leggiero tenor

The male equivalent of a lyric coloratura, this voice is a light lyric instrument, is very agile and is able to perform difficult passages of fioritura. The Lirico-Leggiero tenor has a range of approximately the C one octave below middle C (C₃) to the D above tenor C (D₅), with a few leggiero tenors being able to sing F₅ and even higher while maintaining quality to the sound. Similarly, the lirico-leggero may be able to sing a little lower than the C₃. The voice is the highest operatic tenor voice and is sometimes referred to as "tenore di grazia". This voice is utilized frequently in the operas of Mozart, Rossini, Donizetti and the highest Baroque repertoire for tenors.

Lirico-Leggiero Tenor Roles In Opera & Operettas:

Tenor Buffo or Spieltenor Roles in Opera & Operettas: :* Count Danilo Danilovitsch, Die Lustige Witwe (Franz Lehár) :* Don Basilio, The Marriage of Figaro (Mozart) :* Mime, Siegfried (Richard Wagner) :* Don Anchise/ Il Podestà, La Finta Giardiniera (Mozart) :* Monostatos, The Magic Flute (Mozart) :* Pedrillo, The Abduction from the Seraglio (Mozart) :* Dr. Blind, Die Fledermaus (Johann Strauss II) :* Slender, The Merry Wives of Windsor (opera) (Otto Nicolai) :* John Styx, Orphée aux enfers (Jacques Offenbach) :* Prince Paul, La Grande-Duchesse de Gérolstein (Jacques Offenbach) :* Kálmán Zsupán, The Gypsy Baron (Johann Strauss II) :* The Captain, Wozzeck (Alban Berg) :* The Magician, The Consul (Gian-Carlo Menotti) :* Beppe, I Pagliacci (Ruggero Leoncavallo) :* Frantz, Les Contes d'Hoffmann (Jacques Offenbach) :* Spoletta, Tosca (Giacomo Puccini) :* Goro, Madama Butterfly (Giacomo Puccini) :* Pong, Turandot (Giacomo Puccini) :*Gastone, La traviata (Giuseppe Verdi)

Tenor Buffo or Spieltenor singers: :*Charles Anthony :*Nico Castel :*Graham Clark (tenor) :*Piero de Palma :*Anthony Laciura :*Michel Sénéchal :*Darren Keith Woods :*Heinz Zednik :*Gerhard Stolze

Operetta

Tenor Roles in Operetta: All of the Gilbert and Sullivan comic operettas have at least one lead lyric tenor character; other notable roles are:

:* Candide, (Candide) :* Eisenstein, (Die Fledermaus) :* Camille, Count de Rosillon, (The Merry Widow) :* Prince Karl, (The Student Prince) :* Sheikh Red Shadow, (The Desert Song) :* Captain Dick, (Naughty Marietta)

References

Specific references: General references:

David Fallows, Owen Jander. Tenor, Grove Music Online, ed. L. Macy, grovemusic.com (subscription required)

Category:Pitch (music) Category:Voice types Category:Opera terminology

Jimi Tenor (born Lahti, 1965 as Lassi Lehto) is a Finnish musician. His name is a combination of the first name of his youth idol Jimmy Osmond and the tenor saxophone. His band Jimi Tenor & His Shamans published its first album in 1988, Jimi's first solo album appeared in 1994. "Take Me Baby" became his first hit in 1994. He has released albums on Sähkö Recordings, Warp Records and Kitty-Yo labels. Jimi has performed several times with the Avante Guarde big band Flat Earth Society.

In 2009 he contributed a cover of an Elektroids song to Warp20 (Recreated) compilation, as well as having his song "Paint the Stars" covered by Hudson Mohawke.

Discography

Jimi Tenor and his Shamans

Total Capacity of 216,5 Litres, 1988

Diktafon, 1989

Mekanoid, 1990

Fear of a Black Jesus, 1992

Solo

Europa, 1995

Sähkömies, 1994

Intervision, 1997

Venera EP, 1998

Organism, 1999 (Warp/Sire Records)

Out Of Nowhere, 2000

Cosmic Relief EP, 2001

Utopian Dream, 2001

Higher Planes, 2003

Beyond The Stars, 2004

Deutsche Grammophon ReComposed by Jimi Tenor, 2006

Live in berlin, 2007

With Kabu Kabu

Sunrise, 2006

Joystone, 2007

4th Dimension, 2009

With Tony Allen

Inspiration Information 4, 2009

External links

Official Site

Jimi Tenor & His Shamans Fanpage

Review of album "Joystone"

Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:Finnish musicians Category:People from Lahti Category:Ubiquity Records artists

Name	Vitas
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Vitaliy "Vitas" Vladasovich Grachyov
Born	February 19, 1981
Origin	Daugavpils, Latvian SSR, Soviet Union
Occupation	Singer, Composer, Songwriter, Actor, Fashion designer
Genre	Operatic pop, Vocal music, Classical
Voice type	Tenor, Countertenor
Instrument	Voice, Accordion, Piano
Years active	2000–present
Associated acts	DIVA (ДИВА)
Url	vitas.com.ru

Vitaliy "Vitalik" Vladasovich Grachyov (, Vitalij Vladasovič Gračëv), better known by his stage name Vitas (; ), is a Russian pop singer, composer, actor, and fashion designer.

His 2000 song, "Opera No. 2" ("Opera #2"; released as a single in 2001) He designs his own stage costumes. DIVA (ДИВА) is the name of the band that accompanies Vitas during his concerts.

Vitas has achieved much notablity through Russian television, and since 2005 his career has advanced into Asian markets. "He has signed with entertainment labels such as Universal which distributes his music in Taiwan, and he has toured extensively in China

Biography

Early life

Born Vitaliy Vladasovich Grachyov on 19 February 1981, in Baltic country, Vitas was raised in Odessa, Ukraine, russian and jewish descent. He showed an interest in music from an early age. The young Vitaliy's grandfather taught him to play accordion, and he began writing songs as a child. He later studied music more formally. He attended an art school in Odessa and as a teenager appeared in various theatrical productions. He was "discovered" by visiting producer/manager Sergey Pudovkin, who asked Vitas if he would come to Moscow. This invitation was extended on the basis of Vitas' acting skills: Pudovkin had not yet heard him sing. Vitas travelled to Moscow with demos of his music and began working with Pudovkin.

Notability and early career

Vitas became notable in Russia in December 2000 with hit Opera No. 2, which was notable for use of Vitas' surprisingly high-pitched and energetic use of falsetto.

His concert program Philosophy of Miracle premiered at the State Kremlin Palace on 29 March 2002, establishing a record for Vitas as the youngest artist ever to perform a solo concert at this prestigious venue. A DVD of this concert was released. He also presented his fashion collection "Autumn Dreams" on the stage of the State Kremlin Palace in 29 September 2002.

Vitas received an invitation from Lucio Dalla, the composer, who created "Caruso", to perform this song together with the author at the concert "San Remo in Moscow" held in the State Kremlin Palace in 2003. Vitas' voice enchanted not only the audience but Mr. Dalla himself, so the composer invited Vitas to come to Rome to take part in the rehearsals of "Toska", the modern version of the legendary opera.

Vitas presented his second solo program "The Songs of My Mother" in the Russia Concert Hall, Moscow in November 2003. Two albums: "The Songs of My Mother" and "Mama" of the artist were released for the premiere. The album "The Songs of My Mother" included the songs which are considered to be the gold reserves of Russian pop-music. Another album "Mama" included several new songs composed by Vitas. The two albums were a dedication to his mother who died in 2001. In 2003, he gave 264 solo concerts in places including Russia, Australia, Canada, Israel, Germany, Kazakhstan, Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, Georgia, Tajikistan, Ukraine, and Belarus.

Vitas starred in a murder mystery television series called "Beloved Scoundrel" in English,

In June 2006, Vitas was invited by CCTV to take part in the grand event "The Year of Russia in China" in Beijing. Vitas performed two songs, "Star" and "Opera No. 2," in that program.

Vitas' premiere "Return Home" took place in March 2007 on the stage of Kosmos in St. Petersburg. More than twenty new Vitas' compositions were included in the premiere. Many new songs have become favorites for fans via the Internet such as "Crane's Crying", "Shores of Russia", "I Ask All Saints", "The Little Prince", "I Repeat Your Name" and others.

In 2008, he also released his single Light of A New Day, a 40-minute track of non-lyrical vocalization and instrumentation. The song is available as a free download on his website.

"Sleepless Night" tour includes concerts in China; Vitas wears more elaborate costumes in this concert than his "Return Home" programme. Vitas performed his "Return Home" concert in Bucharest, Romania on 25 February 2009. This concert was broadcast on Romanian television networks TVR2 and TVRi, achieving their highest ratings in twelve months Also, a benefit concert, with Vitas performing "The Star" was held on 12 May 2009 in Sichuan province in memory of the victims of the earthquake that occurred the previous year; a song known as "Mommy and Son" was released in late October 2009 in remembrance of earthquake victims. This will be the title track of the upcoming album "Mommy and Son, Conversation About Life." He is also planning a North American Tour in early 2011.

Vitas is one of the stars in the Chinese film Mulan about the life of legendary and mythical heroine Hua Mulan, which premiered in Beijing on November 16, 2009. He has recorded music for the film's soundtrack.

Awards and achievements

Discography

Albums

1. Listed on official site as The Song Of My Mother: same tracklisting as The Songs of My Mother DVD, repackaged for the Chinese market

Singles/EPs

Videos

¹ Sung in Chinese; fanmade music video including Chinese movies and scenes from Crane's Crying music video.² Sung in Italian.

See also

List of honorific titles in popular music

References

External links

Ticket Information for Jan/Feb 2011 USA and Canada Tour

Official Site (In English/Russian)

Official YouTube Channel

Official Site in China

Official Site in Japan

Official American Fan Site Lots of lyrics (English, Russian, Spanish)

Official Site in Romania

Site in Romania

Press Release

Wikimusic site

Vitas Lyrics (multilingual)

Russian Music on the Net: Info on Vitas and English song translations

Vitas' music, photos, videos

Russian Fansite Vitas' fans allover the world. Creativity of Vitas'fans

Vitas Korea – Official Korean Fan Site

Korean Fan's Blog – Soulful Voice Korean lyrics and subtitled videos

Vitas Argentina Forum

Colombia Fan's Blog – Vitas Colombia music – videos – lyrics and more

Category:1981 births Category:Living people Category:People from Daugavpils Category:Russian artists Category:Russian fashion designers Category:Russian pop singers

Name	Tenor Saw
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Clive Bright
Born	February 11, 1966, Kingston, Jamaica
Died	August 1988, Houston, Texas, United States
Genre	Reggae, dancehall
Occupation	Singer-songwriter, singjay
Years active	1980s

Tenor Saw (born Clive Bright, Kingston, Jamaica, February 11, 1966, died August 1988, Houston, Texas, United States) was a prominent dancehall singer in the 1980s, and one of the most influential singers of the early digital reggae era. His best-known song was the 1985 hit "Ring the Alarm" on the "Stalag 17" riddim.

Biography

Bright was raised in the Payne Avenue district of West Kingston. His first single, "Roll Call" was recorded in 1984 for George Phang's Powerhouse label, on the "Queen Majesty" rhythm. He moved on, with his friend Nitty Gritty, to work with Sugar Minott's Youth Promotion sound system and label, having hits in Jamaica with "Lots of Sign", "Pumpkin Belly", "Run Come Call Me", and "Fever". He died at 22 years of age. Tenor Saw is regarded as one of the most influential singers of the early digital reggae era of the mid-1980s.

311 samples Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm" in their song "Prisoner" from their Transistor album.

The guitar riff at the beginning of Sublime's song "Greatest Hits" is the same as the one at the end of Tenor Saw's song "Golden Hen" which is in itself a version of the Junjo Lawes' riddim Diseases.

The rap group Fu Schnickens also did a version of "Ring The Alarm"

The song "Fell, Destroyed" by Fugazi includes the line "Ring the alarm or you're sold to dying" and the lyric sheet included with the album pays "respects to Tenor Saw."

Beyonce Knowles based a performance around Tenor Saw's "Ring The Alarm". The performance was part of The Beyonce Experience. Performed in 2007 LA the song had millions of views on youtube and was seen as a highly influential artist in today's media being influenced a genre which is different to her own

German rap group Dynamite Deluxe produced a track called 'Lots of Sign', with guest-appearance Patrice singing the hookline taken of the same titled Tenor Saw song.

HipHop-Crew Lifesavas from Portland use the melody and lyrics of "Fever" for their same titled song. Song is on the "Spirit in stone"-LP, released 2003.

Independent rap artist, Brother Ali samples Tenor Saw's "Ring the Alarm" in his song "Champion" from his album "Shadows on the Sun".

Albums

Clash (1985) Witty (with Don Angelo)

Fever (1986) Blue Mountain/RAS

Wake the Town: Tribute to Tenor Saw (1992)

Strictly Livestock (1986) Greensleeves (with Various Artists)

Clash (1987) Witty (with Cocoa Tea)

Tenor Saw Lives On (1992) Sky High

With Lots Signs (2003) Jet Star (Tenor Saw meets Nitty Gritty)

Tenor Saw Meets Nitty Gritty (2008) VP

References

External links

Discography at discogs.com

Reggae Reviews review of Fever

Ring The Alarm website, including audio interview

Category:1966 births Category:1988 deaths Category:People from Kingston, Jamaica Category:Jamaican reggae musicians Category:Dancehall musicians Category:Road accident deaths in Texas

Name	Sonny Rollins
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Birth name	Theodore Walter Rollins
Alias	Newk, Colossus, Uncle Don
Born	September 07, 1930
Origin	New York, New York, United States
Instrument	Tenor saxophone, soprano saxophone
Genre	Jazz
Occupation	Saxophonist
Label	Prestige, Blue Note, Contemporary, RCA Victor, Impulse!, Milestone
Associated acts	Jackie McLean, Max Roach, Clifford Brown, Miles Davis, Thelonious Monk

Theodore Walter "Sonny" Rollins (born September 7, 1930 in New York City) is a Grammy-winning American jazz tenor saxophonist. Rollins is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential jazz musicians. A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins received his first saxophone at age 13.

Rollins started as a pianist, changed to alto saxophone, and finally switched to tenor in 1946. During his high-school years, he played in a band with other future jazz legends Jackie McLean and Kenny Drew. He was first recorded in 1949 with Babs Gonzales – in the same year he recorded with J. J. Johnson and Bud Powell. In his recordings through 1954, he played with performers such as Miles Davis, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk.

In 1950, Rollins was arrested for armed robbery and given a sentence of three years. He spent 10 months in Rikers Island jail before he was released on parole. In 1952 he was arrested for violating the terms of his parole by using heroin. Rollins was assigned to the Federal Medical Center, Lexington, at the time the only assistance in the U.S. for drug addicts. While there he was a volunteer for then-experimental methadone therapy and was able to break his heroin habit. Rollins himself initially feared sobriety would impair his musicianship, but then went on to greater success.

As a saxophonist he had initially been attracted to the jump and R&B; sounds of performers like Louis Jordan, but soon became drawn into the mainstream tenor saxophone tradition. Joachim Berendt has described this tradition as sitting between the two poles of the strong sonority of Coleman Hawkins and the light flexible phrasing of Lester Young, which did so much to inspire the fleet improvisation of be-bop in the 1950s. Rollins drew the two threads together as a fluid post-bop improviser with a sound as strong and resonant as any since Hawkins himself.

The title track is a 19-minute improvised bluesy suite, much of it interaction between Rollins' saxophone and the drums of Max Roach, some of it very tense. However the album was not all politics – the other side featured hard bop workouts of popular show tunes. The bassist was Oscar Pettiford. The LP was only briefly available in its original form, before the record company repackaged it as Shadow Waltz, the title of another piece on the record.

Finally in 1958 Rollins made one more studio album before taking a three-year break from recording. This was another session for Los Angeles based Contemporary Records and saw Rollins recording an esoteric mixture of tunes including "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody" with a West Coast group made up of pianist Hampton Hawes, guitarist Barney Kessel, bassist Leroy Vinnegar and drummer Shelly Manne.

1959 to 1971

By 1959, Rollins was frustrated with what he perceived as his own musical limitations and took the first – and most famous – of his musical sabbaticals. To spare a neighboring expectant mother the sound of his practice routine, Rollins ventured to the Williamsburg Bridge to practice. Upon his return to the jazz scene in 1962 he named his "comeback" album The Bridge at the start of a contract with RCA Records, recorded with a quartet featuring guitarist Jim Hall and still no piano. The rhythm section was Ben Riley on drums and bassist Bob Cranshaw. This became one of Rollins' best-selling records.

The contract with RCA lasted until 1964 and saw Rollins remain one of the most adventurous musicians around. Each album he recorded differed radically from the previous one. Rollins explored Latin rhythms on What's New, tackled the avant-garde on Our Man in Jazz, and re-examined standards on Now's the Time.

He then provided the soundtrack to the 1966 version of Alfie. His 1965 residency at Ronnie Scott's legendary jazz club has recently emerged on CD as Live in London, a series of releases from the Harkit label; they offer a very different picture of his playing from the studio albums of the period. (These are unauthorized releases, and Rollins has responded by "bootlegging" them himself and releasing them on his website.)

1972 to 2000

Rollins took his most recent sabbatical to study yoga, meditation, and Eastern philosophies. When he returned in 1972, it was clear that he had become enamored of R&B;, pop, and funk rhythms. His bands throughout the 1970s and 1980s featured electric guitar, electric bass, and usually more pop- or funk-oriented drummers. For most of this period he recorded for Milestone Records and the compilation Silver City: A Celebration of 25 Years on Milestone contains a selection from these years. The 70s and 80s were not all disco though and it was during this period that Rollins' passion for unaccompanied saxophone solos came to the forefront. In 1985 he released The Solo Album.

In 1981, Rollins was asked to play uncredited on three tracks by The Rolling Stones for their album Tattoo You, including the single, "Waiting on a Friend".

In 1986 Documentary filmmaker Robert Mugge released a film titled Saxophone Colossus. It featured two Rollins performances: a quintet in upstate New York and his Concerto for Saxophone and Symphony in Japan.

2001 to present

Critics such as Gary Giddins and Stanley Crouch have noted the disparity between Sonny Rollins the recording artist, and Sonny Rollins the concert artist. In a May 2005 New Yorker profile, Crouch wrote of Rollins the concert artist:

Rollins won a 2001 Grammy Award for Best Jazz Instrumental Album for This Is What I Do (2000). On September 11, 2001, the 71-year-old Rollins, who lived several blocks away, heard the World Trade Center collapse, and was forced to evacuate his apartment, with only his saxophone in hand. Although he was shaken, he traveled to Boston five days later to play a concert at the Berklee School of Music. The live recording of that performance was released on CD in 2005, , which won the 2006 Grammy for Jazz Instrumental Solo for Sonny's performance of "Why Was I Born?".

September 25 2009, Rollins performed to a packed crowd at the Kimmel Center in Philadelphia. The personnel was similar to the Carnegie Hall performance; Clifton Anderson (trombone), Bobby Broom (guitar), Bob Cranshaw (bass), Kobie Watkins, drums, Sammy Figueroa (percussion).Kimmelcenter.org

On June 27, 2010, Rollins played at the Salle Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal's Place-des-Arts for the 31st annual Montreal Jazz Festival, accompanied by, among others, Bob Cranshaw and Russell Malone. Prior to this show, he received the Miles Davis Award.

Tributes and legacy

Rollins is recognized by many for the length and quality of his career, one not easily matched in the world of jazz or other genres. His melodic sensibilities, playing style and solos have also influenced several generations of musicians.

The city of Minneapolis, Minnesota officially named October 31, 2006, after Rollins in honor of his achievements and contributions to the world of jazz.

In 2007 he received the prestigious Polar Music Prize in Stockholm, Sweden, together with Steve Reich, while Colby College awarded Rollins a Doctor of Music, honoris causa, for his contributions to jazz music.

Rollins was elected to the Down Beat Jazz Hall of Fame in 1973.

Donald Fagen can be seen playing Rollins' 1958 LP Sonny Rollins and the Contemporary Leaders on the cover of his 1982 LP The Nightfly, while Joe Jackson replicated the cover photo for his 1984 A&M; album Body and Soul as homage to the 1957 Blue Note album Sonny Rollins, Vol. 2.

Discography

References

Further reading

Blancq, Charles. (1983). Sonny Rollins: The journey of a jazzman. Boston: Twayne.

Christian Broecking (2010). Sonny Rollins - Improvisation und Protest. Creative People Books / Broecking Verlag, ISBN 978-3-938763-29-2

External links

Sonny Rollins Official Website

Documentary about Sonny's new CD "SONNY, PLEASE"

Night Lights radio show featuring excerpts from Rollins' live 1965 appearances at Ronnie Scott's

Review of Sonny Please by JazzChicago.net

Sonny Rollins multimedia directory

Sonny Rollins: The Titan Remembers - slideshow by Life magazine

Category:1930 births Category:Living people Category:African American woodwind musicians Category:American jazz tenor saxophonists Category:American bandleaders Category:American jazz composers Category:Bebop saxophonists Category:Hard bop saxophonists Category:Musicians from New York City Category:Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award winners Category:Contemporary Records artists Category:Blue Note Records artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:Milestone Records artists Category:Verve Records artists Category:Prestige Records artists Category:Impulse! Records artists

Category:American people of United States Virgin Islands descent

Name	Luciano Pavarotti
Caption	Luciano Pavarotti performing at the opening of the Constantine Palace in Strelna, 31 May 2003. The concert was part of the celebrations for the 300th anniversary of St. Petersburg.
Birth date	October 12, 1935
Birth place	Modena, Italy
Death date	September 06, 2007
Death place	Modena, Italy
Nationality	Italian
Occupation	Opera singer (tenor)
Years active	1961–2006
Signature	Luciano Pavarotti Signature.svg
Website	www.lucianopavarotti.com

Luciano Pavarotti, Cavaliere di Gran Croce OMRI (12 October 19356 September 2007) was an Italian operatic tenor, who also crossed over into popular music, eventually becoming one of the most commercially successful tenors of all time. He made numerous recordings of complete operas and individual arias, and established himself as one of the finest tenors of the 20th century. He was one of "The Three Tenors" and became well-known for his televised concerts and media appearances. Pavarotti was also noted for his charity work on behalf of refugees and the Red Cross, amongst others.

Pavarotti began his professional career as a tenor in 1961 in Italy. In 1961, he made his first international appearance in La traviata in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. He sang in opera houses in addition to Italy, in the Netherlands, Vienna, London, Ankara, Budapest and Barcelona. The young tenor earned valuable experience and recognition while touring Australia at the invitation of soprano Joan Sutherland in 1965. He made his United States debut in Miami soon afterwards, also on Sutherland's recommendation. His position as a leading lyric tenor was consolidated in the years between 1966 and 1972, during which time he first appeared at Milan's La Scala and other major European houses. In 1968, he debuted at New York City's Metropolitan Opera as Rudolfo in Puccini's La bohème. At the Met in 1972, in the role of Tonio in Donizetti's La fille du régiment he earned the title "King of the high Cs" when he sang the aria "Ah mes amis ... pour mon âme". He gained worldwide fame for the brilliance and beauty of his tone, especially into the upper register. He was at his best in bel canto operas, pre-Aida Verdi roles and Puccini works such as La bohème, Tosca and Madama Butterfly. The late 1970s and 1980s saw Pavarotti continue to make significant appearances in the world's foremost opera houses.

Celebrity beyond the world of opera came to Pavarotti at the 1990 World Cup in Italy with performances of Puccini's "Nessun dorma", from Turandot, and as one of "The Three Tenors" in their famed first concert held on the eve of the tournament's final match. He sang on that occasion with fellow star tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras, bringing opera highlights to a wider audience. Appearances in advertisements and with pop icons in concerts furthered his international celebrity.

His final performance in an opera was at the Metropolitan Opera in March 2004. Later that year, the National Italian American Foundation (NIAF) inducted him into its Italian American Hall of Fame in recognition of his lifetime of work. During a ceremony held at the Foundation's Anniversary Gala just four days after his 69th birthday, singer Faith Hill presented Pavarotti with a birthday cake and sang "Happy Birthday" to the opera legend.

The 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy, saw Pavarotti on stage for the last time, where he performed "Nessun dorma", with the crowd serving as the aria's chorus, and he received a thunderous standing ovation.

On 6 September 2007, he died at home in Modena from pancreatic cancer, aged 71.

Earlier life and musical training

Luciano Pavarotti was born in 1935 on the outskirts of Modena in Northern Italy, the son of Fernando Pavarotti, a baker and amateur tenor, and Adele Venturi, a cigar factory worker. Although he spoke fondly of his childhood, the family had little money; its four members were crowded into a two-room apartment. According to Pavarotti, his father had a fine tenor voice but rejected the possibility of a singing career because of nervousness. World War II forced the family out of the city in 1943. For the following year they rented a single room from a farmer in the neighbouring countryside, where the young Pavarotti developed an interest in farming.

After abandoning the dream of becoming a football goalkeeper, Pavarotti spent seven years in vocal training. Pavarotti's earliest musical influences were his father's recordings, most of them featuring the popular tenors of the day - Beniamino Gigli, Giovanni Martinelli, Tito Schipa and Enrico Caruso. Pavarotti's favourite tenor and idol was Giuseppe Di Stefano. He was also deeply influenced by Mario Lanza, saying, "In my teens I used to go to Mario Lanza movies and then come home and imitate him in the mirror". At around the age of nine he began singing with his father in a small local church choir.

After what appears to have been a normal childhood with a typical interest in sports — in Pavarotti's case football above all, he graduated from the Scuola Magistrale and faced the dilemma of a career choice. He was interested in pursuing a career as a professional football goalkeeper, but his mother convinced him to train as a teacher. He subsequently taught in an elementary school for two years but finally allowed his interest in music to win out. Recognising the risk involved, his father gave his consent only reluctantly.

Pavarotti began the serious study of music in 1954 at the age of 19 with Arrigo Pola, a respected teacher and professional tenor in Modena who offered to teach him without remuneration. Not until he began these studies was Pavarotti aware that he had perfect pitch.

In 1955, he experienced his first singing success when he was a member of the Corale Rossini, a male voice choir from Modena that also included his father, which won first prize at the International Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. He later said that this was the most important experience of his life, and that it inspired him to become a professional singer. At about this time Pavarotti first met Adua Veroni. They married in 1961.

When his teacher Arrigo Pola moved to Japan, Pavarotti became a student of Ettore Campogalliani, who at that time was also teaching Pavarotti's childhood friend, Mirella Freni, whose mother worked with Luciano's mother in the cigar factory. Like Pavarotti, Freni was destined to operatic greatness; they were to share the stage many times and make memorable recordings together.

During his years of musical study, Pavarotti held part time jobs in order to sustain himself - first as an elementary school teacher and then as an insurance salesman. The first six years of study resulted in only a few recitals, all in small towns and without pay. When a nodule developed on his vocal cords, causing a "disastrous" concert in Ferrara, he decided to give up singing. Pavarotti attributed his immediate improvement to the psychological release connected with this decision. Whatever the reason, the nodule not only disappeared but, as he related in his autobiography, "Everything I had learned came together with my natural voice to make the sound I had been struggling so hard to achieve".

Career

1960s–1970s

Pavarotti began his career as a tenor in smaller regional Italian opera houses, making his debut as Rodolfo in La Bohème at the Teatro Municipale in Reggio Emilia in April 1961.

Very early in his career, on 23 February 1963, he debuted at the Vienna State Opera with the same role. In March and April 1963 Vienna saw Pavarotti again as Rodolfo and as Duca di Mantova in Rigoletto. The same year saw his Royal Opera House debut, where he replaced an indisposed Giuseppe di Stefano as Rodolfo.

While generally successful, Pavarotti's early roles did not immediately propel him into the stardom that he would later enjoy. An early coup involved his connection with Joan Sutherland (and her conductor husband, Richard Bonynge), who in 1963 had sought a young tenor taller than herself to take along on her tour to Australia. At well over 6 feet tall and with his commanding physical presence, Pavarotti proved ideal. The two sang some forty performances over two months, and Pavarotti later credited Sutherland for the breathing technique that would sustain him over his career.

Pavarotti made his American début with the Greater Miami Opera in February 1965, singing in Donizetti's Lucia di Lammermoor opposite Joan Sutherland on the stage of the Miami-Dade County Auditorium in Miami. The tenor scheduled to perform that night became ill with no understudy. As Sutherland was traveling with him on tour, she recommended the young Pavarotti as he was well acquainted with the role.

Shortly after, on 28 April, Pavarotti made his La Scala debut in the revival of the famous Franco Zeffirelli production of La Bohème, with his childhood friend Mirella Freni singing Mimi and Herbert von Karajan conducting. Karajan had requested the singer's engagement. After an extended Australian tour, he returned to La Scala, where he added Tebaldo from I Capuleti e i Montecchi to his repertoire on 26 March 1966, with Giacomo Aragall as Romeo. His first appearance as Tonio in Donizetti's La Fille du Régiment took place at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden on 2 June of that year. It was his performances of this role that would earn him the title of "King of the High Cs".

He scored another major triumph in Rome on 20 November 1969 when he sang in I Lombardi opposite Renata Scotto. This was recorded on a private label and widely distributed, as were various recordings of his I Capuleti e i Montecchi, usually with Aragall. Early commercial recordings included a recital of Donizetti (the aria from Don Sebastiano was particularly highly regarded) and Verdi arias, as well as a complete L'Elisir d'Amore with Sutherland.

His major breakthrough in the United States came on 17 February 1972, in a production of La Fille du Régiment at New York's Metropolitan Opera, in which he drove the crowd into a frenzy with his nine effortless high Cs in the signature aria. He achieved a record seventeen curtain calls.

Pavarotti sang his international recital début at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri, on 1 February 1973, as part of the college's Fine Arts Program, now known as the Harriman-Jewell Series. Perspiring due to nerves and a lingering cold, the tenor clutched a handkerchief throughout the début. The prop became a signature part of his solo performances.

He began to give frequent television performances, starting with his performances as Rodolfo (La Bohème) in the first Live from the Met telecast in March 1977, which attracted one of the largest audiences ever for a televised opera. He won many Grammy awards and platinum and gold discs for his performances. In addition to the previously listed titles, his La Favorita with Fiorenza Cossotto and his I Puritani (1975) with Sutherland stand out.

In 1976, Pavarotti debuted at the Salzburg Festival, appearing in a solo recital on 31 July, accompanied by pianist Leone Magiera. Pavarotti returned to the festival in 1978 with a recital and as the Italian singer in Der Rosenkavalier, in 1983 with Idomeneo, and both in 1985 and 1988 with solo recitals.

In 1979, he was profiled in a cover story in the weekly magazine Time. That same year saw Pavarotti's return to the Vienna State Opera after an absence of fourteen years. With Herbert von Karajan conducting, Pavarotti sang Manrico in Il Trovatore. In 1978, he appeared in a solo recital on Live from Lincoln Center.

1980s–1990s

At the beginning of the 1980s, he set up The Pavarotti International Voice Competition for young singers, performing with the winners in 1982 in excerpts of La Bohème and L'Elisir d'Amore. The second competition, in 1986, staged excerpts of La Bohème and Un Ballo in Maschera. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of his career, he brought the winners of the competition to Italy for gala performances of La Bohème in Modena and Genoa, and then to China where they staged performances of La Bohème in Beijing (Peking). To conclude the visit, Pavarotti performed the first ever concert in the Great Hall of the People before 10,000 people, receiving a standing ovation for nine effortless high Cs. The third competition in 1989 again staged performances of L'Elisir d'Amore and Un ballo in Maschera. The winners of the fifth competition accompanied Pavarotti in performances in Philadelphia in 1997.

In the mid-1980s, Pavarotti returned to two opera houses that had provided him with important breakthroughs, the Vienna State Opera and La Scala. Vienna saw Pavarotti as Rodolfo in La Bohème with Carlos Kleiber conducting and again Mirella Freni was Mimi; as Nemorino in L'Elisir d'Amore; as Radames in Aïda conducted by Lorin Maazel; as Rodolfo in Luisa Miller; and as Gustavo in Un Ballo in Maschera conducted by Claudio Abbado. In 1996, Pavarotti appeared for the last time at the Staatsoper in Andrea Chenier.

In 1985, Pavarotti sang Radames at La Scala opposite Maria Chiara in a Luca Ronconi production conducted by Maazel, recorded on video. His performance of the aria "Celeste Aïda" received a two-minute ovation on the opening night. He was reunited with Mirella Freni for the San Francisco Opera production of La Bohème in 1988, also recorded on video. In 1992, La Scala saw Pavarotti in a new Zeffirelli production of Don Carlo, conducted by Riccardo Muti. Pavarotti's performance was heavily criticized by some observers and booed by parts of the audience.

Pavarotti became even better known throughout the world in 1990 when his rendition of Giacomo Puccini's aria, "Nessun Dorma" from Turandot was taken as the theme song of BBC's TV coverage of the 1990 FIFA World Cup in Italy. The aria achieved pop status and remained his trademark song. This was followed by the hugely successful Three Tenors concert, held on the eve of the World Cup final at the ancient Baths of Caracalla in Rome with fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras and conductor Zubin Mehta, which became the biggest selling classical record of all time. A highlight of the concert, in which Pavarotti hammed up a famous portion of di Capua's "O Sole Mio" and was mimicked by Domingo and Carreras to the delight of the audience, became one of the most memorable moments in contemporary operatic history. Throughout the 1990s, Pavarotti appeared in many well-attended outdoor concerts, including his televised concert in London's Hyde Park, which drew a record attendance of 150,000. In June 1993, more than 500,000 listeners gathered for his free performance on the Great Lawn of New York's Central Park, while millions more around the world watched on television. The following September, in the shadow of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, he sang for an estimated crowd of 300,000. Following on from the original 1990 concert, the Three Tenors concerts were held during the Football World Cups: in Los Angeles in 1994, in Paris in 1998, and in Yokohama in 2002.

In 1995, Pavarotti's friends, the singer Lara Saint Paul (as Lara Cariaggi) and her husband showman Pier Quinto Cariaggi, who had produced and organised Pavarotti's 1990 FIFA World Cup Celebration Concert at the PalaTrussardi in Milan, produced and wrote the television documentary The Best is Yet to Come, an extensive biography about the life of Pavarotti. Lara Saint Paul was the interviewer for the documentary with Pavarotti, who spoke candidly about his life and career.

Pavarotti's rise to stardom was not without occasional difficulties, however. He earned a reputation as "The King of Cancellations" by frequently backing out of performances, and his unreliable nature led to poor relationships with some opera houses. This was brought into focus in 1989 when Ardis Krainik of the Lyric Opera of Chicago severed the house's 15-year relationship with the tenor. Over an eight-year period, Pavarotti had cancelled 26 out of 41 scheduled appearances at the Lyric, and the decisive move by Krainik to ban him for life was well-noted throughout the opera world, after the performer walked away from a season premiere less than two weeks before rehearsals began, saying pain from a sciatic nerve required two months of treatment.

On 12 December 1998, he became the first (and, to date, only) opera singer to perform on Saturday Night Live, singing alongside Vanessa L. Williams. He also sang with U2, in the band's 1995 song "Miss Sarajevo", and with Mercedes Sosa in a big concert at the Boca Juniors arena La Bombonera in Buenos Aires, Argentina in 1999.

In 1998, Pavarotti was presented with the Grammy Legend Award. Given only on special occasions, as of 2007 it has only been awarded 15 times since its first presentation in 1990.

2000s

in Marseille]] In 2004, one of Pavarotti's former managers, Herbert Breslin, published a book, The King & I. and another for the best-selling classical album (In Concert by The Three Tenors). (The latter record is thus shared by fellow tenors Plácido Domingo and José Carreras.)

In late 2003, he released his final compilation - and his first and only "crossover" album, Ti Adoro. Most of the 13 songs were written and produced by the Michele Centonze who had already helped produce the "Pavarotti and Friends" concerts between 1998 and 2000. The tenor described the album as a wedding gift to Nicoletta Mantovani.

Pavarotti began his farewell tour in 2004, at the age of 69, performing one last time in old and new locations, after more than four decades on the stage. Pavarotti gave his last performance in an opera at the New York Metropolitan Opera on 13 March 2004, for which he received a long standing ovation for his role as the painter Mario Cavaradossi in Giacomo Puccini's Tosca. On 1 December 2004, he announced a 40-city farewell tour. Pavarotti and his manager, Terri Robson, commissioned impresario Harvey Goldsmith to produce the Worldwide Farewell Tour. His last full-scale performance was at the end of a two-month Australasian tour in Taiwan, in December 2005.

In March 2005, Pavarotti underwent neck surgery to repair two vertebrae. In early 2006, he underwent further back surgery and contracted an infection while in the hospital in New York, forcing cancellation of concerts in the U.S., Canada and the UK.

On 10 February 2006, Pavarotti sang "Nessun Dorma" at the 2006 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in Turin, Italy at his final performance. In the last act of the opening ceremony, his performance received the longest and loudest ovation of the night from the international crowd. Leone Magiera, who directed the performance, revealed in his 2008 memoirs, Pavarotti Visto da Vicino, that the performance was prerecorded weeks earlier. "The orchestra pretended to play for the audience, I pretended to conduct and Luciano pretended to sing. The effect was wonderful," he wrote. Pavarotti's manager, Terri Robson, said that the tenor had turned the Winter Olympic Committee's invitation down several times because it would have been impossible to sing late at night in the sub-zero conditions of Turin in February. The committee eventually persuaded him to take part by pre-recording the song.

Other work

Film and television

Pavarotti's one venture into film, a romantic comedy called Yes, Giorgio (1982), was roundly panned by the critics. He can be seen to better advantage in Jean-Pierre Ponnelle's adaptation of Rigoletto for television, released that same year, or in his more than 20 live opera performances taped for television between 1978 and 1994, most of them with the Metropolitan Opera, and most available on DVD.

Humanitarianism

Pavarotti annually hosted the "Pavarotti and Friends" charity concerts in his home town of Modena in Italy, joining with singers from all parts of the music industry, including Bryan Adams, Bono, Mariah Carey, Eric Clapton, Sheryl Crow, Céline Dion, Elton John, Deep Purple, Queen, Sting, the Spice Girls, and Jon Bon Jovi, to raise money for several UN causes. Concerts were held for War Child, and victims of war and civil unrest in Bosnia, Guatemala, Kosovo and Iraq. After the war in Bosnia, he financed and established the Pavarotti Music Centre in the southern city of Mostar to offer Bosnia's artists the opportunity to develop their skills. For these contributions, the city of Sarajevo named him an honorary citizen in 2006.

He performed at benefit concerts to raise money for victims of tragedies such as the Spitak earthquake that killed 25,000 people in northern Armenia in December 1988, and sang Gounod's Ave Maria with legendary French pop music star and ethnic Armenian Charles Aznavour.

He was a close friend of Diana, Princess of Wales. They raised money for the elimination of land mines worldwide. He was invited to sing at her funeral service, but declined to sing, as he felt he could not sing well "with his grief in his throat". Nonetheless, he attended the service.

In 1998, he was appointed the United Nations Messenger of Peace, using his fame to raise awareness of UN issues, including the Millennium Development Goals, HIV/AIDS, child rights, urban slums and poverty.

In 1999, Pavarotti performed a charity benefit concert in Beirut, to mark Lebanon's reemergence on the world stage after a brutal 15 year civil war. The largest concert held in Beirut since the end of the war, it was attended by 20,000 people who travelled from countries as distant as Saudi Arabia and Bulgaria.

In 2001, Pavarotti received the Nansen Medal from the UN High Commission for Refugees for his efforts raising money on behalf of refugees worldwide. Through benefit concerts and volunteer work, he has raised more than any other individual.

Other honours he received include the "Freedom of London Award" and The Red Cross "Award for Services to Humanity", for his work in raising money for that organization, and the 1998 "MusiCares Person of the Year", given to humanitarian heroes by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences.

He was a National Patron of Delta Omicron, an international professional music fraternity.

Death

While undertaking an international "farewell tour", Pavarotti was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in July 2006. The tenor fought back against the implications of this diagnosis, undergoing major abdominal surgery and making plans for the resumption and conclusion of his singing commitments. On Thursday 6 September 2007, he died at home in Modena, aged 71. Within hours of his death his manager, Terri Robson, noted in an e-mail statement, "The Maestro fought a long, tough battle against the pancreatic cancer which eventually took his life. In fitting with the approach that characterized his life and work, he remained positive until finally succumbing to the last stages of his illness".

According to several reports, just before he died, the singer had received both the sacraments of Penance and Anointing of the Sick from the Roman Catholic Church.

Pavarotti's funeral was held in Modena Cathedral. Romano Prodi and Kofi Annan attended. The Frecce Tricolori, the aerobatic demonstration team of the Italian Air Force, flew overhead, leaving green-white-red smoke trails. After a funeral procession through the centre of Modena, Pavarotti's coffin was taken the final ten kilometres to Montale Rangone, a village part of Castelnuovo Rangone, and interred in his parents' grave. The funeral, in its entirety, was also telecast live on CNN. The Vienna State Opera and the Salzburg Festival Hall flew black flags in mourning. Tributes were published by many opera houses, such as London's Royal Opera House. The Italian football giant Juventus F.C., of which Pavarotti was a lifelong fan, was represented at the funeral and posted a farewell message on its website which said: "Ciao Luciano, black-and-white heart" referring to the team's famous stripes when they play on their home ground.

Tributes

On 12 October 2007, on what would have been Pavarotti's 72nd birthday, Google exhibited a logo using a cartoon of Pavarotti as the letter "L" in its name.

A tribute concert featuring many performers trained by Pavarotti himself was held on February 14, 2008 at New York City's Avery Fisher Hall.

Personal life

On 13 December 2003 he married his former personal assistant, Nicoletta Mantovani, with whom he already had a daughter, Alice. A second child, Riccardo, did not survive, because of complications at the time of birth in January 2003. Pavarotti is also survived by three other daughters by his first wife Adua, to whom he was married for 34 years: Lorenza, Cristina and Giuliana. At the time of his death, he had one granddaughter.

Settlement of estate

His first will was opened the day after his death and a second will, within the same month of September. He left an estate outside his native Modena, a villa in Pesaro, a flat in Monte Carlo and three flats in New York City.

Pavarotti's widow's lawyers Giorgio Bernini, Anna Maria Bernini and manager Terri Robson announced on 30 June 2008 that his family amicably settled his estate – 300 million euros ($ 474.2 million, including $15 million in U.S. assets). Pavarotti drafted two wills before his death: one divided his assets by Italian law, giving half to his second wife, Nicoletta Mantovani, and half to his four daughters; the second gave his U.S. holdings to Mantovani. The judge confirmed the compromise by the end of July 2008. However, a Pesaro public prosecutor, Massimo di Patria, investigated allegations that Pavarotti was not of sound mind when he signed the will. Pavarotti's estate has been settled "fairly", a lawyer for Pavarotti's widow, Nicoletta Mantovani, said in statements after reports of a dispute between Ms. Mantovani and his three daughters from his first marriage.

Quote

Pavarotti himself summarised his life as follows:

"Penso che una vita per la musica sia una vita spesa bene ed è a questo che mi sono dedicato."

English translation: "I think a life for music is a well-spent one, and that's what I have dedicated mine to."

See also

Best selling music artists

Notes and references

External links

Official website

Discography at Discogs.com

Discography (Capon's Lists of Opera Recordings)

The Times obituary

Review of The King and I at theage.com.au

Luciano Pavarotti, Opera Tenor Site

Luciano Pavarotti- Obituary and Public Tribute

The Pavarotti Story

Pavarotti Video Biography by National Italian American Foundation NIAF

One of the absolutely last recordings of Luciano Pavarotti

Torino 2006 Olympic Winter Games Finale

History of the Tenor - Sound Clips and Narration

Category:1935 births Category:2007 deaths Category:Cancer deaths in Italy Category:Deaths from pancreatic cancer Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Italian opera singers Category:Italian Roman Catholics Category:Italian tenors Category:Kennedy Center honorees Category:Operatic tenors Category:People from Modena

Caption	Gleason as Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961)
Birth name	Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr.
Birth date	February 26, 1916
Birth place	Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York, United States
Death date	June 24, 1987
Death place	Fort Lauderdale, Florida, United States
Years active	1941–1986
Occupation	Actor, comedian, musician
Spouse	Genevieve Halford (1936–1970)Beverly McKittrick (1970–1975)Marilyn Taylor (1975–1987)

Jackie Gleason (February 26, 1916 – June 24, 1987) was an American comedian, actor and musician. He was known for his brash visual and verbal comedy style, especially by his character Ralph Kramden on The Honeymooners, a situation-comedy television series. His most noted film roles were as Minnesota Fats in the drama film The Hustler (1961) starring Paul Newman, and as Buford T. Justice in the Smokey and the Bandit movie series.

Life

Early years

Gleason was born at 364 Chauncey Street in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. He grew up nearby at 358 Chauncey Street, an address that he later used as the address for Ralph and Alice Kramden on his show The Honeymooners. Originally named Herbert Walton Gleason, Jr., he was baptized as John Herbert Gleason. His parents, both from Faranree, County Cork, Ireland, were Mae (Maisie) (née) Murphy, a subway change-booth attendant, and Herb Gleason, an insurance auditor. Gleason was one of their two children. Gleason's brother died when he was young, and his father abandoned the family. He attended elementary school at P.S. 73 in Brooklyn. He attended but did not graduate from John Adams High School in Queens and Bushwick High School in Brooklyn. Gleason was raised by his mother, who died when he was 19. Gleason amplified the show with even splashier opening dance numbers, inspired by Busby Berkeley screen dance routines and featuring the precision-choreographed June Taylor Dancers. Following the dance performance, he would do an opening monologue. Then, accompanied by "a little travelin' music" ("That's a Plenty", a Dixieland classic from 1914), he would shuffle toward the wing, clapping his hands inversely and hollering, "And awaaay we go!" The phrase became one of his trademarks along with "How Sweet It Is!", used in reaction to almost anything at all. Gleason's injury dealt a permanent blow to his already troubled marriage to Genevieve, who had been his wife since 1936; they were separated at the time Gleason fell and was hospitalized for his injuries. Genevieve Gleason came to visit him in the hospital but found he already had a visitor: dancer Marilyn Taylor, from his television show. The two women confronted each other with the result being Mrs. Gleason filing for a legal separation in April 1954. The couple was divorced in 1970. Marilyn Taylor left show business in 1956; she and Gleason were re-united in 1974, when she moved to the Miami area to be near her sister, June, whose dancers were part of Gleason's shows for many years. She became Gleason's third wife in 1975; the marriage lasted until his death in 1987.

Gleason continued developing comic characters, including the following:

Reginald Van Gleason III, the top-hatted millionaire with a taste for both the good life and the wild invention or fantasy.

Boisterous, boorish Rudy the Repairman.

Gregarious Joe the Bartender, with friendly words for the never-seen Mr. Dennehy, who always entered his bar first.

The Poor Soul, a silent character who could and often did come to grief in the least-expected places or show sweet gratitude at things no more complicated than being allowed to share a newspaper on a subway.

Rum Dum a character with a brush-like mustache who often stumbled around as if he were drunk and confused.

Fenwick Babbitt, a friendly but addle-headed young man usually depicted working (and invariably failing) at various jobs.

Charlie Bratton, a loudmouth who frequently picked on the mild-mannered Clem Finch (portrayed by Art Carney).

The Bachelor, a silent character (accompanied by the song "Somebody Loves Me") doing everyday things in an unusually lazy or makeshift way.

The Honeymooners

By far, Gleason's most popular character was the blustery bus driver Ralph Kramden. Possibly inspired by another radio hit, The Bickersons, and largely drawn from Gleason's harsh Brooklyn childhood, these sketches became known as The Honeymooners and customarily centered on Ralph's incessant get-rich-quick schemes, the tensions between his ambitiousness and his friend Norton's scatterbrained aid and comfort, and the inevitable clash when his sensible wife Alice tried pulling her husband's head back down from the clouds. The show also became the birthplace of notable comments invented by Gleason and still used by the babyboomers today such as "one of these days Alice, pow, right in the kisser". A series of cartoons were made by Warner Bros under the Looney Tunes Label mimicking the "honeymooners" but the characters were mice.

The Honeymooners first appeared on Cavalcade of Stars on October 5, 1951, with Carney as Norton and the character actress Pert Kelton as Alice. Darker and fiercer than they later became with Audrey Meadows as Alice, the sketches proved popular with critics and viewers. As Kramden, Gleason played a frustrated bus driver with a battle-ax wife in harrowingly realistic arguments; when Meadows (who was 15 years younger than Kelton) took over the role after Kelton was blacklisted, the tone softened considerably. In fact, early sketches come as something of a shock to some modern critics.

When Gleason moved to CBS, Kelton was not part of the move, since her name had turned up in Red Channels, the book that listed and described reputed Communists and/or Communist sympathizers in television and radio. Gleason reluctantly let her leave the cast, with a cover story for the media that she had "heart trouble". He also turned down Meadows as Kelton's replacement, at least at first. Meadows wrote in her memoir that she slipped back to audition again and frumped herself up to convince Gleason that she could handle the role of a frustrated but loving working-class wife. Rounding out the cast with an understated but effective role, Joyce Randolph played Trixie Norton. Elaine Stritch had played the role as a tall and attractive blonde in the first sketch, but she was quickly replaced by Randolph.

The Honeymooners sketches proved popular enough that Gleason gambled on making it a separate series entirely in 1955. These are the so-called Classic 39 episodes, which finished 19th in the ratings for their only season. That turned out to be the most prescient move the show made, since — a decade after they first aired — the half-hour Honeymooners in syndicated reruns started to build a loyal and growing audience that made the show a television icon. Its popularity was such that even today, a life-size statue of Jackie Gleason, in full uniform as bus driver Ralph Kramden, stands outside the Port Authority Bus Terminal in New York City. with Jackie Gleason, in Gleason's dressing room after a performance of Take Me Along (1960).]]

Musical work

Throughout the 1950s and 1960s, Gleason enjoyed a secondary music career, lending his name to a series of best-selling "mood music" albums with jazz overtones for Capitol Records. Gleason felt there was a ready market for romantic instrumentals. He recalled seeing Clark Gable play love scenes in movies, and the romance was, in his words, "magnified a thousand percent" by background music. Gleason reasoned, "If Gable needs music, a guy in Brooklyn must be desperate!"

Gleason's first album, Music for Lovers Only still holds the record for the album staying the longest in the Billboard Top Ten Charts (153 weeks), and his first ten albums all sold over one million copies.

Gleason could not read or write music in a conventional sense; he was said to have conceived melodies in his head and described them vocally to assistants. These included the well-remembered themes of both The Jackie Gleason Show ("Melancholy Serenade") and The Honeymooners ("You're My Greatest Love"). There has been some controversy over the years as to how much credit Gleason should have received for the finished products; Gleason biographer William A. Henry III wrote in his 1992 book The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason that beyond the possible conceptualizing of many of the songs, Gleason had no direct involvement (such as conducting) in the making of these recordings. Red Nichols, a jazz great who had fallen on hard times and led one of the groups recorded, did not even get session-leader pay from Gleason. Nearly all of Gleason's albums are still available, and have been re-released by Capitol Records onto compact disc.

He also took the role of a lead performer in the musical Take Me Along, which ran from 1959 to 1960; he won a Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical.

Return to television

Gleason restored his original variety hour, including The Honeymooners, in 1956, winning a Peabody Award for the show in that year. He abandoned the show in 1957 when his ratings for the season came in at #29 He returned in 1958 with a half-hour show that featured Buddy Hackett. However, this version of the Gleason show did not catch on. One of the "perks" Gleason received from CBS was his network's picking up the tab for his Peekskill, New York "Round Rock Hill" mansion. Set on top of a hill complete with six acres of grounds, the site for the circular dream home included a guest house and a storage building which was also round. Gleason planned the home for two years; it was completed in 1959.. Gleason sold the home when he permanently relocated to Miami.

His next foray into television was with a game show, You're in the Picture, which survived its disastrous premiere episode only because of Gleason's now-legendary humorous on-the-air apology in the following week's time slot. For the rest of the scheduled run, the program became a talk show that was once again named The Jackie Gleason Show.

In 1962, he resurrected his variety show with more splashiness and a new hook— a fictitious general-interest magazine called The American Scene Magazine, through whose format Gleason trotted out his old characters in new scenarios. He also added another catchphrase to the American vernacular, first uttered in the 1963 film Papa's Delicate Condition: "How sweet it is!"

The Jackie Gleason Show: The American Scene Magazine was a hit and continued in this format for four seasons. Each show began with Gleason delivering a monologue and commenting on the loud outfits of band leader Sammy Spear. Then the "magazine" features would be trotted out, from Hollywood gossip (reported by comedienne Barbara Heller) to news flashes (played for laughs with a stock company of second bananas, chorus girls, and midgets). Comedienne Alice Ghostley occasionally appeared as a downtrodden tenement resident, sitting on her front step and listening to boorish boyfriend Gleason for several minutes. After the boyfriend took his leave, the smitten Ghostley would exclaim, "I'm the luckiest girl in the world!" Veteran comics Johnny Morgan, Sid Fields, and Hank Ladd were occasionally seen opposite Gleason in comedy sketches.

The final sketch was always set in Joe the Bartender's saloon, with Joe singing "My Gal Sal" and greeting his regular customer, the unseen Mr. Dennehy (actually the TV audience, with Gleason speaking to the camera), who was named after a neighbor who took Gleason in after he was orphaned. During the sketch, Joe the Bartender would tell Dennehy about an article he read in the fictitious "American Scene" magazine, holding a copy across the bar. It had two covers: one featured the New York skyline and the other palm trees (after the show was moved to Florida in 1964). Then, Joe would bring out Frank Fontaine as Crazy Guggenheim, who would regale Joe with the latest adventures of his neighborhood pals and sometimes showed Joe his current Top Cat comic book. Joe usually asked Crazy to sing, almost always a sentimental ballad sung in a lilting baritone.

Gleason also revived The Honeymooners, first with Sue Ane Langdon and then with Sheila MacRae as Alice and with Jane Kean as Trixie. By 1964, Gleason had moved the production from New York to Miami Beach, Florida, reportedly because he liked the year-round access to the golf course at the nearby Inverrary Country Club in Lauderhill, Florida, where he built his final home. His closing line became, almost invariably, "As always, the Miami Beach audience is the greatest audience in the world!" In 1966, he finally abandoned the American Scene Magazine format and converted the show into a standard variety hour with guest performers.

Gleason kicked off the 1966–67 season with new, color episodes of The Honeymooners. Carney returned as Ed Norton, with MacRae as Alice and Kean as Trixie. The stories were remakes of the 1950s "world tour" episodes, in which Kramden and Norton win a slogan contest and take their wives to international destinations. Each of the nine episodes was a full-scale musical comedy, with Gleason and company performing original songs by Lyn Duddy and Jerry Bresler. Occasionally, the Gleason hour would be devoted to musicals with a single theme (a college comedy, a political satire, etc.), with the stars abandoning their Honeymooners roles for different character roles.

This was the format of the show until its cancellation in 1970, except for the 1968–69 season, which had no hour-long Honeymooners episodes. In that season, The Honeymooners was presented only in short sketches.

The musicals pushed Gleason back into the Top Five in the TV ratings, but audiences soon began to decline. By its final season, Gleason's show was no longer in the top 25. In the last original Honeymooners episode aired on CBS, "Operation Protest," Ralph encounters the youth-protest movement of the late 1960s and early 1970s, a sign of changing times in television as well as in society.

Gleason, who had signed a deal in the 1950s that included a guaranteed $100,000 annual payment for 20 years even if he never went on the air, wanted The Honeymooners to be just a portion of his format, but CBS wanted another season of nothing but The Honeymooners. The network had just canceled mainstay variety shows hosted by Red Skelton and Ed Sullivan because they had become too expensive to produce and attracted, in the executives' opinion, too old an audience. Gleason simply stopped doing the show by 1970 and finally left CBS when his contract expired.

Revival of The Honeymooners

Gleason did two Jackie Gleason Show specials for CBS after giving up his regular show in the 1970s, including "Honeymooners segments" and a Reginald Van Gleason III sketch in which the gregarious millionaire was shown as a clinical alcoholic. When the CBS deal expired, Gleason signed with NBC, but ideas reportedly came and went before he ended up doing a series of Honeymooners specials for ABC. Gleason helmed four of these ABC specials during the mid-1970s. Gleason and Carney also made a television movie, Izzy and Moe, which aired on CBS in 1985.

In April 1974, Gleason revived several classic characters, including Ralph Kramden, Joe the Bartender, and Reginald Van Gleason III, in a television special with Julie Andrews. In one song-and-dance route, the two performed "Take Me Along" from Gleason's Broadway musical.

In 1985, three decades after the Classic 39 began filming, Gleason revealed he had carefully preserved kinescopes of his live 1950s programs in a vault for future use—including Honeymooners sketches with Pert Kelton as Alice. These "Lost Episodes," as they came to be called, were initially previewed at the Museum of Television and Radio in New York City, then first aired on the Showtime cable network in 1985, and were later syndicated to local TV stations. They were also released on home video.

Some of these include earlier versions of exactly the same plotlines later copied for the Classic 39 episodes. One of them, a Christmas holiday episode that was duplicated several years later with Meadows as Alice, delivered every one of Gleason's best-known characters — Ralph Kramden, the Poor Soul, Rudy the Repairman, Reginald Van Gleason, Fenwick Babbitt, and Joe the Bartender — in and out of the Kramden apartment, the storyline hooking around a wild Christmas party being thrown up the block from the Kramdens' building by Reginald Van Gleason at Joe the Bartender's place.

Dramatic roles

Gleason's acting was not restricted to comedic roles. He had also earned acclaim for live television drama performances in The Laugh Maker (1953) on CBS's Studio One; and in William Saroyan's The Time of Your Life (1958), which appeared as an episode of Playhouse 90, a television anthology series.

He was nominated for a Best Supporting Actor award for his portrayal of Minnesota Fats in The Hustler (1961). (In his 1985 appearance on The Tonight Show, Gleason told Johnny Carson that he had played pool frequently since childhood, utilizing those experiences in The Hustler.) He was also well-received as a beleaguered boxing manager in the movie version of Rod Serling's Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962). Gleason also played a world-weary Army sergeant, in Soldier in the Rain (1963).

He wrote, produced, and starred in Gigot (1962), a notorious box-office disaster, in which he plays a poor, mute janitor who befriends and rescues a prostitute and her small daughter. The film's script formed the basis for the television film The Wool Cap (2004) starring William H. Macy in the role of the mute janitor; the television film received modestly good reviews.

Gleason played the lead in the Otto Preminger all-star flop, Skidoo (1968). In 1969, William Friedkin wanted to cast Gleason as "Popeye" Doyle in The French Connection (1971) but between Gigot and Skidoo, the studio refused to offer Gleason the lead in the film, even though he wanted to play it. Instead, Gleason wound up in How to Commit Marriage (1969) with Bob Hope and the movie version of Woody Allen's play Don't Drink the Water (1969), both flops.

More than a decade passed before Gleason had another hit film. This role was as a very funny and cursing Texas sheriff Buford T. Justice in the films Smokey and the Bandit, Smokey and the Bandit II and Smokey and the Bandit, Part 3, (1977 and 1980, 1983). In these films, he co-starred with Burt Reynolds as the Bandit, Sally Field as Carrie, (Bandit's love interest), Jerry Reed as Cledus (Snowman) Snow, Bandit's truck-driving partner off to bring back beer, clam chowder (II), etc. Former NFL linebacker and actor Mike Henry played his not-so-bright son, Junior Justice. Gleason's gruff and frustrated demeanor, along with a few classic lines, such as "I'm gonna barbecue yo' ass in molasses!" after a trucker tore the driver's door off his parked sheriff's car, had audiences howling in the theaters, and truly made the first "Bandit" movie a major hit.

Years later, when Burt Reynolds was interviewed by Larry King, Reynolds said that he agreed to do the movie only if they would hire Jackie Gleason to play the part of "Sheriff Buford T. Justice," which is the name of a real Florida highway patrolman who knew Reynolds's father. That interview also revealed that director Hal Needham gave Gleason free rein to ad-lib a lot of his dialog and make suggestions for the film. For example, the scene at the "Choke and Puke" was Gleason's idea. Reynolds and Needham knew the comic brilliance of Gleason would help make the film a success. And Gleason's characterization of Sheriff Justice helped them connect the film with mostly blue collar audiences.

In the 1980s, Gleason earned positive reviews playing opposite Laurence Olivier in the HBO dramatic two-man special, Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (1983). He also gave a memorable performance as wealthy businessman U.S. Bates in the comedy The Toy (1982), opposite Richard Pryor. Although the movie itself was critically panned, Gleason and Pryor were praised.

Gleason's comic genius and acting ability are why Orson Welles nicknamed him, "The Great One."

Death

Gleason delivered a critically acclaimed performance as an infirm but acerbic and somewhat Archie Bunker-like character in the Tom Hanks comedy-drama Nothing in Common (1986). The film proved to be Gleason's final film role, as he was suffering from colon cancer, liver cancer, and thrombosed hemorrhoids during production.

Gleason was a heavy drinker, and smoked five packs of cigarettes a day. In 1986, he was diagnosed with diabetes and phlebitis, but he knew his condition was more serious. “I won’t be around much longer,” he told his daughter at dinner one evening after a day of filming Nothing in Common. A year later, on June 24, 1987 Gleason died peacefully, at his Florida home. He was 71 years old.

After a private funeral Mass at Cathedral of Saint Mary in Miami, Gleason was interred in an outdoor mausoleum at Our Lady of Mercy Catholic Cemetery in Miami, Florida. At the base is the inscription of one of his catchphrases: "And Away We Go."

Tributes

Miami Beach honored Gleason's contributions to the city and its tourism in 1987 by renaming the Miami Beach Auditorium (where he had done his television show after moving to Florida) as the Jackie Gleason Theater of the Performing Arts. The theater was scheduled to be razed as part of a Convention Center major remodeling project as of May, 2010; it would be replaced by a hotel. New York's Omni Park Hotel, where Gleason maintained a suite from 1953 to 1957, named it "The Jackie Gleason Suite" shortly after his death.

Bus driver related

On June 30, 1988, the Sunset Park Bus Depot in Brooklyn was renamed the Jackie Gleason Depot in honor of the native Brooklynite.

A statue of Gleason as Ralph in his bus driver's uniform was dedicated in August 2000 in New York City by the cable TV channel TV Land. The statue is located in Manhattan at 40th Street and Eighth Avenue at the entrance of the Port Authority Bus Terminal. Its inscription reads "Ralph Kramden: New Yorker, Bus Driver, Dreamer" and it was featured briefly in the film World Trade Center (2006).

Another such statue stands at the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame in North Hollywood, California, showing Gleason in his famous "And away we go!" pose.

Local signs on the Brooklyn Bridge, which indicate to drivers that they are entering Brooklyn, have the Gleason phrase "How Sweet It Is!" as part of the sign.

A city park with racquetball and basketball courts (and a children's playground) near his home in an Inverrary neighborhood of Lauderhill, Florida was named "Jackie Gleason Park".

A television movie called Gleason was aired by CBS on October 13, 2002, taking a deeper look into Gleason's life; it took liberties with some of the Gleason story, but featured his troubled home life, a side of Gleason that few had previously known of. He had two daughters by his first wife; they divorced, and Gleason endured a brief second marriage before finding a happy union with his third wife, June Taylor's sister Marilyn. The film also showed backstage scenes from his best-known work. Brad Garrett, from Everybody Loves Raymond, portrayed Gleason after Mark Addy had to drop out. Garrett was effectively made up to resemble Gleason in his prime. His height (6′8″, about eight inches taller than Gleason) created some logistical problems on the sets, which had to be specially made so that Garrett did not tower over everyone else. Also, cast members wore platform shoes when standing next to Garrett; the shoes can be seen in one shot during a Honeymooners sequence on Alice.

In 2003, after an absence of more than thirty years, the color, musical versions of The Honeymooners from the 1960s Jackie Gleason Show in Miami Beach were returned to television over the GoodLife TV (now ALN) cable network. In 2005, a movie version of The Honeymooners appeared in theatres, with a twist: a primarily African-American cast, headed by Cedric the Entertainer. This version, however, bore only a passing resemblance to Gleason's original series and was widely panned by critics.

Actor/Playwright Jason Miller, a former son-in-law of Gleason's, was writing a screenplay based on his father-in law's life that was to star Paul Sorvino. Miller died before completing the project. Gleason's daughter, Linda Miller, (herself an actress) had been married to The Exorcist star Jason Miller. Their son is the actor Jason Patric.

Interest in the paranormal

Gleason was a voracious reader of books on the paranormal, including The Urantia Book, parapsychology and UFOs. During the 1950s, he was a semi-regular guest on the paranormal-themed overnight radio show hosted by John Nebel, and wrote the introduction to Donald Bain's biography of Nebel. According to Gleason's second wife, Beverly McKittrick, he told her that U.S. President Richard Nixon took him on a secret visit to Homestead Air Force Base. There, Gleason allegedly saw an alien spaceship and dead extraterrestrials. After his death, his large book collection was donated to the library of the University of Miami.

In film

Gleason has been portrayed by Brad Garrett in the 2002 TV film Gleason.

Sean Cullen played a small role of Gleason in the 2002 made for TV movie Martin and Lewis.

Career

Television

1949–1959

Your Sports Special (1949)

The Lamb's Gambol (1949)

The Life of Riley (October 4, 1949 – March 28, 1950) TV series

The Arrow Show (1949)

Tex and Jinx (1949)

This is Show Business (1950)

Showtime USA (1950)

Cavalcade of Stars (1950–1952) TV Series

The Frank Sinatra Show (1950)

Ford Star Revue (1951)

The Frank Sinatra Show (1951)

Cavalcade of Bands (1951)

Musical Comedy Time: No! No! Nanette! (1951)

Texacto Star Theatre (1951)

Ford Festival (1951)

This is Show Business (1951)

The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951)

Ford Star Revue (1951)

The Colgate Comedy Hour (1951)

The Kate Smith Evening Hour (1951)

The Jackie Gleason Show (September 20, 1952 – June 18, 1955) TV Series

Arthur Murray Party (1952)

The Sam Levinson Show (1952)

The Ken Murray Show (1952)

Toast of the Town (1952)

Celebrity Time (1952)

''Scout O' Rama" (1952)

Jane Froman's USA Canteen (1952)

Arthur Godfrey and His Friends (1953)

Studio One: The Laugh Maker (May 18, 1953)

What's My Line? (1953)

This is Show Business (1953)

Arthur Murray Party (1953)

Toast of the Town (1954)

Name That Tune (1954)

Studio One: Short Cut (December 6, 1954)

The Best of Broadway: The Show Off (February 2, 1955)

What's My Line? (1955)

I've Got a Secret (1955)

The Jack Benny Program (1955)

Stage Show (1955)

The Honeymooners (October 1, 1955 – September 22, 1956) TV Series

The Red Skelton Show (1955)

Studio One: Uncle Ed and Circumstances (October 10, 1955)

The 64,000 Question (1956)

Person to Person (February 3, 1956)

The Herb Shriner Show (1956)

The Jackie Gleason Show (September 29, 1956– June 22, 1957) TV Series

Playhouse 90: The Time of Your Life (October 9, 1958) TV Movie

This is Your Life (1958)

Arthur Godfrey Show (1958)

The Jackie Gleason Show (October 1958 – January 1959) TV Series

All Star Jazz IV: The Golden Age of Jazz (January 4, 1959)

1960–1986

The Fabulous Fifties (1960)

Arthur Godfrey Special (1960)

The Secret World of Eddie Hodges (1960) TV Movie [narration only]

The Jackie Gleason Special: The Big Sell (October 9, 1960)

The Red Skelton Show (1961)

Sunday Sports Spectacular: Jackie Gleason with the putter and cue (1961)

You're In the Picture/The Jackie Gleason Show (January 27 – March 24, 1961)

The Jackie Gleason Special: The Million Dollar Incident (April 21, 1961) TV Movie

Jackie Gleason and His American Scene Magazine (September 29, 1962 – June 4, 1966) TV Series

The 35th Annual Academy Awards (1963)

The Bob Hope Chrysler Theatre: The Big Stomach (November 16, 1966)

The Jackie Gleason Show (September 17, 1966 – September 12, 1970) TV Series

Here's Lucy: Lucy Visits Jack Benny (1968)

The David Frost Show (1970)

The Jackie Gleason Special (December 20, 1970)

The Jackie Gleason Special (November 11, 1973)

Show Business Tribute to Milton Berle (1973)

Julie & Jackie: How Sweet It Is! (1974)

Bob Hope Special (1974)

The Dean Martin Celebrity Roast (1975)

Lucille Ball and Jackie Gleason: Two for Three (December 3, 1975)

Super Night at the Super Bowl (1976)

The Mike Douglas Show (1976)

The Honeymooners Second Honeymoon (February 2, 1976)

Donahue (1976)

The Captain and Tennille (1976)

Bing Crosby's White Christmas (1976)

The Honeymooners Christmas Special (November 28, 1977)

The Honeymooners Valentine Special (February 13, 1978)

The Second Honeymooners Christmas Special (December 10, 1978)

Mr. Halpern and Mr. Johnson (June 3, 1983) TV Movie

All Star Party for Burt Reynolds (1984)

60 Minutes (1984)

Izzy & Moe (September 23, 1985) TV Movie

The Honeymooners Reunion (May 13, 1985)

The 39th Annual Tony Awards (June 2, 1985)

The Honeymooners Anniversary Celebration (October 18, 1985)

Gleason: In His Own Words (February 14, 1986)

The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson (1986)

Stage productions

Keep Off the Grass (1940)

Artists and Models (1943)

Follow the Girls (1944)

The Duchess Misbehaves (1945)

Heaven on Earth (1948)

Along Fifth Avenue (1949)

Take Me Along (1959)

Sly Fox (1978)

Filmography

Navy Blues (1941)

Steel Against the Sky (1941)

All Through the Night (1942)

Lady Gangster (1942)

Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1942)

Larceny, Inc. (1942)

Escape from Crime (1942)

Orchestra Wives (1942)

Springtime in the Rockies (1942)

The Desert Hawk (1950)

The Hustler (1961)

Gigot (1962) (also writer)

Requiem for a Heavyweight (1962)

Papa's Delicate Condition (1963)

Soldier in the Rain (1963)

Skidoo (1968)

How to Commit Marriage (1969)

Don't Drink the Water (1969)

How Do I Love Thee? (1970)

Smokey and the Bandit (1977)

Mr. Billion (1977)

Smokey and the Bandit II (1980)

The Toy (1982)

The Sting II (1983)

Smokey and the Bandit Part 3 (1983)

Fools Die (1984)

Nothing in Common (1986)

Singles Discography

Unreleased Songs The following are songs which were recorded for various albums but not included in the final product. However, when the albums were released of CD, these songs were included as extras.

"A Little Love, a Little Kiss" (Capitol) (recorded for Music, Martini and Memories, rel'd. on CD Lover's Rhapsody, 2001)

"After You've Gone" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Music, Martini and Memories, released on the CD Lover's Rhapsody, 2001)

"Alice Blue Gown" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Blue Café" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Crazy Rhythm" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Music, Martini and Memories, released on the CD Lover's Rhapsody, 2001)

"I Concentrate on You" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"If You Were the Only Girl" (Capitol)(recorded for single release, released on Music To Remember Her CD, 2001)

"I'll Never Be the Same" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Romantic Jazz, released on the CD, 2002)

"It's All Right With Me" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"More Than You Know" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"My Baby Just Cares for Me" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Rain" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Romantic Jazz, released on the CD, 2002)

"That Certain Party" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"The Waning Honeymoon" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP Night Winds, released on the CD, 2005)

"Too Much Mustard" (Capitol) (recorded for the LP And Awaaay We Go!, released on the CD for Night Winds, 2005)

"You're My Greatest Love" (Capitol)(recorded for the LP And Awaaay We Go!, released on the CD, 1996)

Sources for Unreleased Songs Data

Romantic Moods of Jackie Gleason CD, 1996

And Awaaay We Go! CD, 1996

Lover's Rhapsody CD, 2001

Music To Remember Her CD, 2001

Romantic Jazz CD, 2002

Night Winds CD, 2005

LP Record Discography

{|class=wikitable |- ! # ! Year ! Title ! Label and Number ! U.S. Billboard 200 Chart |- | 1 | 1952 | Music for Lovers Only | Capitol H352 (10") | # 1 (153 weeks) |- | 2 | 1953 | Lover's Rhapsody | Capitol H366 (10") | #1 |- | 3 | 1953 | Music to Make You Misty | Capitol H455 (10") | #1 |- | 4 | 1954 | Tawny | Capitol L471 (10") | #8 |- | 5 | 1954 | And Awaaay We Go! | Capitol H511 (10") | #35 |- | 6 | 1954 | Music, Martinis and Memories | Capitol W509 | # 1 |- | 7 | 1955 | Lonesome Echo | Capitol H627 (10") | #5 |- | 8 | 1955 | Music for Lovers Only | Capitol W352 | #7 |- | 9 | 1955 | Music to Make You Misty | Capitol W455 | #11 |- | 10 | 1955 | And Awaaay We Go! | Capitol W511 | #85 |- | 11 | 1955 | Romantic Jazz | Capitol W568 | #2 |- | 12 | 1955 | Music to Remember Her | Capitol W570 | #5 |- | 13 | 1955 | Lonesome Echo | Capitol W627 | #1 |- | 14 | 1956 | Music to Change Her Mind | Capitol W632 | #8 |- | 15 | 1956 | Night Winds | Capitol W717 | #10 |- | 16 | 1956 | Merry Christmas | Capitol W758 | #16 |- | 17 | 1957 | Music for the Love Hours | Capitol W816 | #13 |- | 18 | 1957 | Velvet Brass | Capitol SW/W859 | #16 |- | 19 | 1957 | Jackie Gleason Presents "Oooo!" | Capitol SW/W905 | #14 |- | 20 | 1958 | The Torch With the Blue Flame | Capitol SW/W961 | # 1 |- | 21 | 1958 | Riff Jazz | Capitol SW/W1020 | #27 |- | 22 | 1959 | Rebound | Capitol SW/W1075 | #18 |- | 23 | 1959 | That Moment | Capitol SW/W1147 | #36 |- | 24 | 1959 | Take Me Along (original cast) | RCA Victor LSO1050 | - |- | 25 | 1960 | Aphrodisia | Capitol SW/W1250 | #49 |- | 26 | 1960 | Opiate D'Amour | Capitol SW/W1314 | #53 |- | 27 | 1961 | Lazy Lively Love | Capitol SW/W1439 | #57 |- | 28 | 1961 | The Gentle Touch | Capitol SW/W1519 | #62 |- | 29 | 1962 | A Lover's Portfolio (two records in a "briefcase") | Capitol SWBO/SBO1619 | #135 |- | 30 | 1962 | Love, Embers and Flame | Capitol SW/W1689 | #103 |- | 31 | 1963 | Gigot (soundtrack) | Capitol SW/W1754 | - |- | 32 | 1963 | Champagne, Candlelight & Kisses | Capitol SW/W1830 | #97 |- | 33 | 1963 | Movie Themes For Lovers Only | Capitol SW/W1877 | #82 |- | 34 | 1963 | Today's Romantic Hits/For Lovers Only | Capitol SW/W1978 | #115 |- | 35 | 1964 | A Lover's Portfolio Vol. 1 (Music for Sippin' & Dancin') | Capitol SW/W1979 | #128 |- | 36 | 1964 | A Lover's Portfolio Vol. 2 (Music for Listenin' & Lovin') | Capitol SW/W1980 | #137 |- | 37 | 1964 | Today's Romantic Hits/For Lovers Only Vol. 2 | Capitol SW/W2056 | #82 |- | 38 | 1965 | Last Dance For Lover's Only | Capitol SW/W2144 | |- | 39 | 1965 | Silk 'N' Brass | Capitol SW/W2409 | #141 |- | 40 | 1966 | Music from Around the World – For Lovers Only | ''Capitol SW/W2471 | - |- | 41 | 1966 | How Sweet It Is For Lovers | Capitol SW/W2582 | #71 |- | 42 | 1967 | A Taste of Brass For Lovers Only | Capitol SW/W2684 | #200 |- | 43 | 1967 | 'Tis the Season | Capitol ST/T2791 | #37 |- | 44 | 1968 | The Best of Jackie Gleason | Capitol SW/W2796 | - |- | 45 | 1968 | Doublin' In Brass | Capitol SW/W2880 | - |- | 46 | 1969 | The Best of Jackie Gleason, vol. 2 | Capitol SKAO-146 | - |- | 47 | 1969 | Irving Berlin's Music For Lovers Only | Capitol SW106 | - |- | 48 | 1969 | The Now Sound | Capitol SW/W2935 | - |- | 49 | 1969 | Close Up | Capitol ST255 | #192 |- | 50 | 1969 | All I Want for Christmas | Capitol ST346 | #13 |- | 51 | 1970 | Romeo & Juliet | Capitol ST398 | - |- | 52 | 1970 | Come Saturday Morning | Capitol ST480 | - |- | 53 | 1971 | Words of Love | Capitol ST693 | - |- |}

Discography courtesy of Tom Lowery (from his personal collection).

Compact Disc Discography

Sources

Joel Whitburn Presents the Billboard Albums, 6th edition, ISBN 0-89820-166-7

Additional information obtained can be verified within Billboard's online archive services and print editions of the magazine.

Further reading

Bishop, Jim. The Golden Ham (Simon & Schuster, 1956).

Metz, Robert. CBS: Reflections in a Bloodshot Eye. (New York, 1975).

Bacon, James. How Sweet It Is: Jackie Gleason. (New York, St. Martin's Press, 1985).

Weatherby, W.J. Jackie Gleason: An Intimate Portrait of the Great One. (Pharos Books, 1992).

Henry III, William A.. The Great One: The Life and Legend of Jackie Gleason. (New York: Doubleday, 1992).

Meadows, Audrey. Love, Alice. (New York, Crown Publishers, 1994).

References

External links

Jackie Gleason Discography at Space Age Pop Music

Honeymooners at The Fifties Web

Cavalcade of Stars 1950 episode at Internet Archive

Category:1916 births Category:1987 deaths Category:American comedians Category:American film actors Category:American game show hosts Category:American Roman Catholics Category:American people of Irish descent Category:American television actors Category:Burlesque performers Category:Cancer deaths in Florida Category:Deaths from colorectal cancer Category:Deaths from liver cancer Category:Easy listening music Category:Florida Republicans Category:American comedians of Irish descent Category:American musicians of Irish descent Category:Peabody Award winners Category:People from Bushwick, Brooklyn Category:Tony Award winners

Name	Gene Sheldon
Caption	Gene Sheldon as Bernardo on Zorro
Birthdate	February 01, 1908
Birth place	Columbus, Ohio
Deathdate	May 01, 1982
Birthname	Eugene Hume
Notable role	Bernardo
Spouse	Margaret McCann

Gene Sheldon (February 1, 1908 – May 1, 1982) was an American comic actor influenced by Harpo Marx's slapstick to specialize in pantomime acting as his career. Born Eugene Hume in Columbus, Ohio, he is best remembered as the mute servant Bernardo on Walt Disney's live-action television series Zorro (1957-1959).

Career

Gene's career began at an early age, working with his father Earl, a magician. He learned to be quiet when his father had him dressed up as a lass on stage. However, parts of his career were anything but silent. He was briefly a radio personality, broadcasting on Toledo radio in 1925.

His film debut was Susie's Affairs in 1934 as Slug the Banjoist. The next year, he had a brief specialty part playing banjo in the early Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers musical Roberta.

Sheldon appeared in the Broadway revue Priorities of 1942, performing a comedy banjo act in which he did not speak, wearing an outfit resembling the costume of silent film comedian Harry Langdon and mimicking some of Langdon's distinctive gestures.

By the 1950s and 1960s, most of Sheldon's work was on various Walt Disney programs. One of his often-repeated acts, seen in the "Golden Horseshoe Revue" episode of the Disney anthology television series, was as a banjo player who kept getting his fingers stuck in the strings. After several minutes he would finally get them "un-stuck" and play a vigorous riff on his banjo.

Sheldon appeared in a speaking role as the genie Ali in the 1945 movie musical Where Do We Go From Here? and in the 1960 film Toby Tyler, in which he played Sam Treat, a clown and animal trainer who is one of Toby's mentors and protectors. Toby's other protector, gruff wagon driver Ben Cotter, was played by Henry Calvin, who co-starred on Zorro as Sergeant Garcia.

A year later, he starred in Disney's version of Victor Herbert's operetta Babes in Toyland released before Christmas by the Walt Disney Company. He was teamed with Calvin once more as a kind of ersatz Laurel and Hardy (who had starred in the 1934 version of Babes in Toyland).

Zorro

His best remembered role was as Bernardo, Diego's mute (but not deaf) servant on Zorro. As established in the series' first episode, when Diego de la Vega confides to Bernardo his intention to pretend to be a helpless intellectual rather than a man of action, Bernardo decides to support him by pretending to be deaf. In this way, Bernardo is able to spy for Diego/Zorro without arousing suspicion. This characterization, an innovation over the deaf-mute Bernardo of the original stories, employed Sheldon's pantomime skills while making the character more integral to the series. Like the character Garcia, Bernardo was usually accompanied on screen by a humorous musical theme. Sheldon reprised the role in four further Zorro adventures that appeared on the Walt Disney anthology television series in 1960-1961.

Personal

Gene married Margaret McCann on December 11, 1944 in Las Vegas, Nevada. They had one son, David, and one daughter, Tracy. Sheldon died in Tarzana, California, from a heart attack on May 1, 1982. He was cremated.

External links

Category:American television actors Category:1908 births Category:1982 deaths Category:People from Columbus, Ohio

Name	Emily Remler
Landscape	no
Background	non_vocal_instrumentalist
Born	September 18, 1957New York, New YorkUnited States
Died	May 04, 1990SydneyAustralia
Instrument	Guitar
Genre	Jazz fusion
Occupation	Musician
Years active	1980–1990
Notable instruments	Borys B120 Gibson ES-330

Emily Remler (September 18, 1957 - May 4, 1990) was an American jazz guitarist who rose to prominence in the 1980s. She recorded seven albums of hard bop, jazz standards and fusion guitar.

Career

Born in New York City, Remler began to play the guitar at the age of ten. Initially inspired by hard rock and other popular styles of music, she experienced a musical epiphany during her studies, from 1974 to 1976, at the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. She began to listen to such legendary jazz greats as Wes Montgomery, Miles Davis and John Coltrane. She took up jazz with a ferocious intensity, practicing almost constantly, and never looked back. After leaving Berklee, she performed in blues and jazz clubs in New Orleans, working with bands such as FourPlay and Little Queenie and the Percolators before beginning her recording career in 1981. She was championed by guitar great Herb Ellis, who referred to her as "the new superstar of guitar".

In an interview with People magazine, she once said of herself: "I may look like a nice Jewish girl from New Jersey, but inside I’m a 50-year-old, heavyset black man with a big thumb, like Wes Montgomery." ~People Mag. 1982~

Recorded for the famous Concord label, Remler's albums showcase the diverse influences of a fast developing artist who quickly developed a distinctive style through versions of standard tunes and genres. Her first album as a band leader Firefly won immediate acclaim and her bop guitar on the follow up Take Two was equally well received. Transitions and Catwalk traced the emergence of a more individual voice, with many striking original tunes, while her love of Wes Montgomery shone through on the stylish East to Wes.

When the rhythm section is floating, I'll float too, and I'll get a wonderful feeling in my stomach. If the rhythm section is really swinging, it's such a great feeling, you just want to laugh —Emily Remler

In addition to her recording career as a band leader and composer, Remler played in blues groups, on Broadway and with artists as diverse as Larry Coryell, with whom she recorded an album entitled Together, and the singer Rosemary Clooney. She played for the Los Angeles version of the show 'Sophisticated Ladies' from 1981 to 1982 and produced two popular guitar instruction videos. She also worked as guitarist for Astrud Gilberto. In 1985 she won the ‘Guitarist Of The Year’ award in DownBeat Jazz Magazine’s international poll. In 1988 she was 'Artist in Residence' at Duquesne University and in 1989 received Berklee's Distinguished Alumni award.

She married Jamaican jazz pianist Monty Alexander in 1981, the marriage ending in 1984.

Her first guitar was her elder brother's Gibson ES-330, and she played a Borys B120 hollow body electric towards the end of the 1980s. Her acoustic guitars included a 1984 Collectors Series Ovation and a nylon string Korocusci classical guitar that she used for playing bossa nova.

When asked how she wanted to be remembered she remarked:

"Good compositions, memorable guitar playing and my contributions as a woman in music…. but the music is everything, and it has nothing to do with politics or the women’s liberation movement."

Remler, who was a heroin addict, died of heart failure at the age of 32 at the Connells Point home of musician Ed Gaston, while on tour in Australia.

Two tribute albums were recorded after her death, Just Friends volume one and two, featuring contributions from Herb Ellis, David Benoit, Bill O'Connell and David Bromberg among many others. In 2006 the Skip Heller Quartet recorded a song called "Emily Remler" in her memory.

Discography

Studio Albums

1981: Firefly

1982: Take Two

1983: Transitions

1984: Catwalk

1985: Together - with Larry Coryell

1988: East to Wes

1990: This is Me

Compilations

1991: Retrospective, Volume One: Standards

1991: Retrospective, Volume Two: Compositions

References

All about Emily Remler

External links

allthingsemily.com

Emily Remler (in Dutch)

Emily Remler Guitar Tabs

Emily Remler: a musical remembrance

Category:American female guitarists Category:American jazz guitarists Category:Female jazz guitarists Category:Jewish American musicians Category:Hard bop guitarists Category:Jazz fusion guitarists Category:People from New York City Category:Women in jazz Category:1957 births Category:1990 deaths Category:Berklee College of Music alumni