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| Name | The Troubadour |
|---|---|
| Location | 9081 Santa Monica Boulevard, West Hollywood, California |
| Coordinates | |
| Type | nightclub |
| Genre | folk music, singer-songwriters, rock, heavy metal |
| Opened | 1957 |
| Website | http://www.troubadour.com |
The club opened in 1957. It was a major center for folk music in the 1960s, and subsequently singer-songwriters and rock.
The Troubadour played an important role in the careers of Elton John, Linda Ronstadt, Hoyt Axton, The Eagles, The Byrds, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison and other prominent and successful performers, who played performances there establishing their future fame. On August 25, 1970, Neil Diamond introduced Elton John, who performed his first show in the United States at the Troubadour. In 1974, John Lennon and his friend, Harry Nilsson, were ejected from the club for drunkenly heckling the Smothers Brothers. Randy Newman started out at the club and comics Cheech & Chong were discovered there. In 1975, Elton John returned to do a series of special anniversary concerts. In November 2007, James Taylor and Carole King played a series of concerts commemorating the nightclub's 50th anniversary and reuniting the two from their 1970 performance.
Other alumni include Damien Rice, Lenny Bruce, Bette Midler, Leo Kottke, James Taylor, Bruce Springsteen, the Pointer Sisters, Liza Minnelli, Sheryl Crow, Karla Bonoff, Al Stewart, Sandy Denny, George Carlin, Tom Waits, Pavement, Rickie Lee Jones, Ramblin' Jack Elliot, Paul Sykes and Arlo Guthrie.
The Troubadour would also feature New Wave and punk in the late 1970s and early 1980s, and became virtually synonymous with heavy metal bands like Mötley Crüe, Guns N' Roses and W.A.S.P. in the 1980s and 1990s. In fact Guns N' Roses played their first show at the Troubadour and they were also "discovered" by a Geffen A&R; representative at the club. There are a variety of styles of music played at the Troubadour to the present day and it continues to be one of Hollywood's favorite and most respected places to see live music.
The Troubadour was created by Doug Weston in the late 50’s as a coffee house on La Cienega Blvd. It then moved to its current location shortly after opening, and has remained open continuously ever since that first day. Some say there is no other club in the country that can compare to its infamous long standing Rock N Roll history.
Doug Weston died on February 14, 1999. There was a memorial held at the Troubadour with performances and dedications from famous musicians spanning four decades of Rock N Roll as a tribute to Doug Weston for his role in the success in so many musician's careers.
Today it is well known for presenting emerging UK artists (Radiohead, Coldplay, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys), punk/hardcore acts, such bands as Billy Talent, Papa Roach, and Rise Against, the latter filming five nights in a row for a DVD, Generation Lost. It is also still a popular venue to showcase singer-songwriters: Ray Lamontagne, Joanna Newsom, Fiona Apple, Kina Grannis.
Troubadour Category:West Hollywood, California Category:Landmarks in Los Angeles, California Category:Nightclubs in California Category:1957 establishments Category:Music of Los Angeles
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| Name | Brandon Flowers |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Brandon Richard Flowers |
| Born | June 21, 1981 |
| Origin | Henderson, Nevada, United States |
| Wife | Tana Flowers |
| Instrument | Vocals, keyboards, Synthesizer, Piano, Bass guitar |
| Genre | Indie rock, Alternative rock, Heartland rock, New Wave, Post-punk Revival |
| Years active | 2002–present |
| Label | Island, Vertigo, Marrakesh |
| Label | Island |
| Occupation | Musician, songwriter |
| Years active | 2001–present |
| Associated acts | The Killers |
| Url | |
| Notable instruments | Roland JP-8000Clavia Nord Lead 2microKORGKorg MS-2000BAlesis Ion |
Brandon Richard Flowers (born June 21, 1981) is an American musician, best known as the frontman, vocalist, and keyboardist of the Las Vegas-based rock band The Killers. He has also released a solo album entitled Flamingo.
Canadian-American singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright wrote a song about Flowers called "Tulsa" for his fifth album Release the Stars. Wainwright has stated in numerous interviews that it was inspired by their first meeting in a bar in Tulsa, Oklahoma. According to Wainwright, Flowers was "very flattered and somewhat bashful" about this tribute.
Flowers appeared as an interviewee on the 'Pet Shop Boys: A Life in Pop' DVD, and subsequently also presented the artists with an Outstanding Contribution to Music award at the 2009 BRIT Awards. He then performed with Pet Shop Boys as part of a medley of their hits.
While Flowers is usually confined to singing, and playing keyboard on most of the Killers' songs, Flowers plays bass in the song "For Reasons Unknown", the fourth single from the Sam's Town album.
Flamingo charted in the UK on September 12, 2010 at Number 1. It is Flowers' fourth consecutive album to reach #1 on the UK charts, including work by The Killers. The album made the Top 10 Albums of 2010 list on UpVenue.com.
Spin named Brandon Flowers one of "The 15 Best Shows of the Summer" in 2010 for his show at the Shimmer Showroom in Las Vegas. Author Jason Bracelin wrote, "as the song built momentum, Flowers became increasingly animated, climbing atop a stage monitor, fists clenched, punching the air. 'I've got this burning belief in salvation and love,' he sang, its flames rivaled by the fire in his belly". Spin also listed him as one of "The 25 Best Fall Tours"/"Must-See Fall Tours". On September 9, 2010, Brandon said he was missing the band and hopes to rejoin them in 2011. While on tour Flowers has had special guests including Stuart Price, Andy Summers, and Fran Healy.
Flowers' mother, Jean Flowers, died on February 11, 2010, after a two-year battle with brain cancer. She was 64.
Flowers is a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his wife converted to the faith shortly before their wedding.
Category:1981 births Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:American rock keyboardists Category:American Latter Day Saints Category:American male singers Category:American rock musicians Category:American rock singers Category:American musicians of Scottish descent Category:American people of Lithuanian descent Category:Living people Category:Musicians from Nevada Category:People from Henderson, Nevada Category:The Killers members
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| Name | Tony Anthony |
|---|---|
| Names | American Eagle IIDirty White BoyGrappler #2The InvaderMighty YankeeT.L. HopperTony AnthonyUncle Cletus |
| Height | |
| Weight | |
| Birth date | April 12, 1960 |
| Birth place | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Resides | Knoxville, Tennessee |
| Billed | Bucksnort, Tennessee |
| Trainer | Steve KeirnRon Wright |
| Debut | October 1980 |
He is married to Bernice Anthony.
Although he did not wrestle in any WWF pay-per-views, he made an appearance at the "Bikini Beach Blast-Off" during the Free For All show that preceded SummerSlam 1996. Based on his kayfabe experience as a plumber, Hopper was chosen to investigate a "brown object" that resembled feces on the bottom of the swimming pool. The segment was meant to parody a scene in the movie Caddyshack.
He returned to the WWF in September 1997 as "Uncle Cletus", coming from the audience to help the heel tag team of The Godwinns (Henry and Phineas Godwinn) in a match against The Headbangers. He hit Mosh in the head with a horseshoe, allowing Phineas to make the pin. He was revealed to be a kayfabe relative of the Godwinns, and he became the team's manager. At Badd Blood 1997, Henry and Phineas won the WWF Tag Team Championship with Cletus in their corner. On October 7, Cletus interfered in another match, but his interference backfired and allowed the Legion of Doom to win the titles. Following the match, the Godwinns attacked Cletus, who was never seen in the WWF again.
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| Name | Omar Rodríguez-López |
|---|---|
| Background | non_vocal_instrumentalist |
| Birth name | Omar Alfredo Rodríguez-López |
| Born | September 01, 1975Bayamón, Puerto Rico |
| Origin | El Paso, Texas |
| Instrument | Guitar, bass, drums, piano, synthesizer, sitar, drum machine, vocals, percussion, organ, wurlitzer, sampler, clavinet, rhodes |
| Genre | Progressive rock, psychedelic rock, alternative rock, experimental, electronic, math rock, post-hardcore, dub |
| Occupation | Musician, record producer, filmmaker |
| Years active | 1991–present |
| Associated acts | At The Drive-In,De Facto,El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez,John Frusciante,Le Butcherettes,Juliette Lewis,Lydia Lunch,The Mars Volta,Radio Vago,Omar Rodriguez Lopez Group,Ximena Sariñana,Startled Calf,Damo Suzuki,Jeremy Michael Ward |
| Url | Rodriguez Lopez Productions |
| Notable instruments | Squier Super-Sonic (At The Drive-In),Ibanez AX120 Custom Model,Ibanez JTK2 Jet King Custom Model, Ibanez ORM1 Omar Rodriguez Lopez Jet King Model |
On May 25, 2003 less than a month before the release of their first full-length album, De-Loused in the Comatorium, bandmate and close friend Jeremy Ward was found dead of a heroin overdose. This event, coupled with the memories of the suicide of his friend Julio Venegas years earlier, finally convinced both him and Bixler-Zavala to quit using hard narcotics. Since then he has been clean and credited his newfound musical work ethic on his new lifestyle. The Mars Volta's second album, Frances the Mute, would later be dedicated to Ward.
During the early years of the band he also worked on a low budget movie called A Manual Dexterity which starred Jeremy Ward. The soundtrack was released in 2004. The release of the second volume, which was originally planned for Spring of 2005, and the film were both delayed indefinitely due to legal problems. Conflicts over ownership of certain footage and Rodríguez-López's reluctance to revisit the project which featured his late friend Jeremy Michael Ward were both cited as reasons for the delay. However, Rodríguez-López stated that he does intend to release both Volume 2 and the film at some point in the future.
On February 8, 2009, he and his fellow The Mars Volta bandmates won the Grammy for Best Hard Rock Performance.
The songs featured on this tour later appeared on the album Omar Rodriguez. It was characterized by long, improvisational songs with Dutch titles and no lyrics. The Quintet also performed live with Damo Suzuki, parts of which were recorded and incorporated into a 25-minute EP titled Please Heat This Eventually, which was released in 2007.
During this time Rodríguez-López was also working on The Mars Volta's 2006 record Amputechture and composing the score to the film El Búfalo de la Noche, a film by Guillermo Arriaga and Jorge Hernandez Aldana simultaneously to his work with the quintet.
On May 29, 2007 Se Dice Bisonte, No Búfalo was released. It was the third full-length solo album by Rodriguez-Lopez. It featured performances by Mars Volta members Cedric Bixler-Zavala, Marcel Rodríguez-López, Juan Alderete, Adrián Terrazas-González as well as cameos by Money Mark, John Frusciante, and John Theodore. It was written and recorded between 2005-2006 in California and Amsterdam.
The Quintet later resurfaced in 2007, now known as "The Rodríguez-López Group" to perform on the "white" stage at The Fuji Rock Festival in Japan on July 28. The Apocalypse Inside of an Orange is a double LP featuring the original quintet and was released on vinyl November 20, 2007. It was also released for digital download. Calibration, a record that Rodriguez-Lopez recorded during his stay in Amsterdam, was released February 5, 2008. It was described as being influenced by electronic music and acid-jazz. Sonny Kay, co-owner of the former Gold Standard Labs label with Omar, created the album covers (and has done so for all future Omar releases). Two Omar Rodriguez-Lopez solo albums were released in Europe on January 26, 2009 from Holland-based record label Willie Anderson Recordings: Megaritual and Despair. Despair is best described as a field recording, while Megaritual is a collaboration jam between Omar and his brother, Marcel Rodriguez-Lopez.
In mid-2009, a new entity has been created called El Grupo Nuevo de Omar Rodriguez Lopez (the New Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group) to release the first in a series of three recordings completed in 2006. Thus far these recordings have only been known as the Omar and Zach Hill collaborations. The first recording titled Cryptomnesia was released on May 5, 2009. Vocals written and performed by Bixler-Zavala were recorded in 2008. The lineup for this entity is: Omar Rodriguez-Lopez on guitar, Cedric Bixler-Zavala on vocals, Zach Hill on drums, Jonathan Hischke on synth bass, and Juan Alderete on bass.
The Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group toured Europe in March 2009, supported by Zechs Marquise.
At the end of 2009, Rodriguez-Lopez released three albums, Los Sueños de un Hígado, Xenophanes and Solar Gambling digitally through Rodriguez-Lopez Productions. While Xenophanes was also released on CD and vinyl, Los Suenos De Un Higado and Solar Gambling only had a limited vinyl release. Rodriguez-Lopez also created a video for "Asco Que Conmueve los Puntos Erógenos", from Xenophanes, and posted it on YouTube on November 30, 2009.
In January 2010, Ciencia de los Inútiles was released under a new group, El Trio de Omar Rodriguez-Lopez. The trio features Rodriguez-Lopez on acoustic guitar, Ximena Sariñana on vocals and Aaron Cruz on upright bass. A video for "Miércoles" was also released. In May 2010, he released a collaboration entitled Omar Rodriguez-Lopez & John Frusciante with John Frusciante, free of charge through his website, with the option to donate. All money raised will go to the Keep Music In Schools programs. On May 30, 2010, the album Sepulcros de Miel by Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Quartet was digitally released, which also featured Frusciante.
The album Tychozorente was scheduled for release on November 1, 2010; however, it received an early release on September 14, 2010 as a digital download. Another album, entitled Cizaña de los Amores, was digitally released on October 11, 2010. CD and vinyl versions of both albums are only available in Europe. Mantra Hiroshima, another Omar and Zach Hill collaboration, was digitally released on November 29, followed next day by Dōitashimashite, album of live material recorded in September during Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group first US tour. A video for "Agua Dulce de Pulpo" from the upcoming album Un Escorpión Perfumado was also released during that period, and the album itself was released on December 20 in digital form, with CD and vinyl versions to follow.
Several releases are already planned for 2011, including Telesterion (a compilation album) and Двойственность вздохов (Russian for Duality of Sighs), a documentary about Omar Rodriguez-Lopez Group Russian mini-tour, directed by Omar and shot by Paco Ibarra.
Furthermore, Rodriguez-Lopez and Hans Zimmer worked together to compose the score for the 2009 Guillermo Arriaga film The Burning Plain. The film was his second collaboration with the writer/director after scoring the 2007 film El Búfalo de la Noche with The Mars Volta. In addition to some original material, the score consists largely of material used in Amputechture.
Rodriguez-Lopez plays guitar left-handed. He has cited salsa pianist and bandleader Larry Harlow as his primary influence. Both Rodriguez-Lopez and bandmate Cedric have often stated their admiration for early 1970s krautrock group Can, and have even recorded with former Can lead singer Damo Suzuki for the Please Heat This Eventually EP. In the progressive rock genre in which The Mars Volta are often categorized, he has professed that he "like[s] a lot of those groups, particularly King Crimson and early Genesis." As such, he has cited Crimson's Robert Fripp as an influence, as well as jazz fusion guitarists John McLaughlin and Jimi Hendrix. He has also stated that film is a primary influence on him, likening his recording style to that of a film director, where the "scenes are shot out of sequence and the final creation is in the hands of the director.". He has claimed that he is "ignorant of music theory" and that thus he lacks knowledge in writing music in sheet music form, claiming that his songwriting "comes from emotion completely". Rodriguez claims to write all of the music for his projects, then dictates the performance to the musicians involved.
In addition to his producing credits with The Mars Volta and his solo albums, he also produced the only LP from the defunct LA-based band Radio Vago and in 2009, handled the production of a recording titled "Terra Incognita" from actress/singer Juliette Lewis' band The New Romantiques. Omar also produced (as well as contributed bass to) Sin Sin Sin (album), the debut LP from the band Le Butcherettes, which is set to be released in 2011 on Rodriguez-Lopez Productions.
;Collaborations
;With Startled Calf
;With At the Drive-In
;With De Facto
;With The Mars Volta
;Guest appearances
;As producer
;Music videos
;Collaborations
Category:1975 births Category:Living people Category:American funk guitarists Category:American multi-instrumentalists Category:American punk rock guitarists Category:American reggae guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:At the Drive-In members Category:Lead guitarists Category:People from Bayamón, Puerto Rico Category:People from El Paso, Texas Category:Stones Throw Records artists Category:Puerto Rican guitarists Category:Puerto Rican multi-instrumentalists
This text is licensed under the Creative Commons CC-BY-SA License. This text was originally published on Wikipedia and was developed by the Wikipedia community.
| Name | Mike Gordon |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Alias | Prince, Cactus, the Wolfman, Gordo |
| Born | June 03, 1965Sudbury, Massachusetts |
| Instrument | Bass guitar, guitar, banjo, piano, harmonica, percussion |
| Genre | Rock, bluegrass, folk |
| Occupation | Musician, songwriter |
| Years active | 1982–present |
| Label | Rounder |
| Associated acts | Phish, Rhythm Devils, Benevento-Russo Duo, Ramble Dove, Leo Kottke, Grappa Boom, SerialPod, Joey Arkenstat, Tombstone Blues Band |
| Url | Official website |
Mike Gordon (born June 3, 1965 in Sudbury, Massachusetts) is a bass player and vocalist most noted for his work with the rock band Phish. Gordon is also an accomplished banjo player, and is proficient at piano, guitar, harmonica and percussion. He is also a filmmaker.
When growing up, Gordon attended the Solomon Schechter Day School of Greater Boston.
In the music, Gordon's influence is the most obvious in Phish's many different renditions of various bluegrass, calypso and even traditional Jewish songs (Gordon is Jewish). He also contributed by singing, as well as writing off-beat lyrics to amusing but thought-provoking songs.
Gordon played many roles in Phish. Until the band became too big for self-management, he dealt with practically all public relations and fan communication, such as answering fan mail, managing funds, and booking gigs. Gordon wrote 17 original Phish songs and coauthored 22 additional Phish tracks.
On August 11, 2003, Gordon was arrested for endangering the welfare of a minor, following a performance by The Dead A month later, Gordon was officially cleared of any wrongdoing.
Mike's unique sound is also attributable to a bevy of signal processing equipment including an ADA MB-1 pre-amp, an Ibanez flanger (used at the beginning of "Down with Disease"), a Lovetone Meatball envelope filter (also used at the beginning of "Down with Disease"), and Akai Deep Impact, an EHX Bass Micro-Synth, an EBS OctaBass and a Boss SYB-3, a Boss BF-2 flanger, an Eventide 4500 Harmonizer, an Eventide Eclipse and a Lexicon LXP-15.
Mike has used a variety of amplifier and speaker combinations including the SWR SM-900 amp/Goliath 4x10" enclosure but lately has been playing through Eden WT-800 amps, a Meyer Sound CP-10 parametric EQ, and onward toward a Meyer Sound powered speaker system (two 750P 2x18 cabs and two UPA-1Ps with 12" low frequency drivers and 3" compression drivers).
He has played banjo since 1994, performing the instrument in concert with Phish and Phil Lesh (albeit an electric banjo) and in the studio on the 2007 Bernie Worrell album Improvisczario. Mike Played an Inferno Bass during "Frankenstein" at the East Troy, WI show on 6/21/2009.
Gordon has played in several side-projects apart from Phish, including Grappa Boom with Jamie Masefield of the Jazz Mandolin Project, The Chieftains with Rosanne Cash, and Doug Perkins of Smokin' Grass.
In 2002, Gordon recorded the critically acclaimed Clone album with acoustic guitar master Leo Kottke. The duo reunited in 2005 for Sixty Six Steps.
Gordon formed his own solo band featuring Josh Roseman, Scott Murawski, Julee Avallone, James Harvey, Gordon Stone, Jeannie Hill, and Doug Belote in 2003 and released Inside In based loosely on his film Outside Out.
In the summer of 2004 Gordon produced musician Joey Arkenstat's debut album, Bane. Gordon is also credited with providing vocals and shofar accompaniment.
In 2004, Gordon performed with The Benevento-Russo Duo for several shows benefiting Headcount, a voter registration organization. The trio played a number of dates throughout late 2004 and 2005 including the Bonnaroo Music Festival in June 2005 and a New Year's Eve series of shows in Florida and the northeast.
In December 2005, Gordon formed SerialPod with Anastasio and Grateful Dead drummer Bill Kreutzmann. The group debuted at the 17th annual Warren Haynes Christmas Jam in Asheville, North Carolina.
In early 2006, Gordon teamed up with his mother, artist Marjorie Minkin, to present Another Side of In — a visual and audio art show featuring interactive sculptures created by Minkin and set to the music of Inside In. The interactive show appeared at the Boston Children's Museum beginning in January 2010.
Later in the year, Gordon formed Ramble Dove. The band came into fruition after Gordon's long-time stint as bass player in a honky tonk band led by Brett Hughes that performed each Tuesday night at the Burlington, Vermont club, Radio Bean. The group performs a number of classic country songs and a few Gordon originals, such as "Ramble Dove," "Loosening Up The Rules," and the rare Phish song "Weekly Time."
That summer, Gordon, along with Phish bandmate Trey Anastasio, again joined the Benevento-Russo Duo for a co-headlining tour with Phil Lesh and Friends before finishing the final leg of the tour on their own. The group performed various songs from each members' catalog, as well as a handful of brand new originals. The quartet parted ways after the tour ended in July.
In August, Gordon joined the Rhythm Devils - a group featuring Kreutzmann, Dead drummer Mickey Hart, guitarist Steve Kimock and a host of backup players.
On January 2, 2007, Gordon appeared with a group billed as The House Band containing many former members of The Grateful Dead playing at a party in honor of the new leadership of the United States House of Representatives hosted by Nancy Pelosi. The group included Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Bob Weir, Bruce Hornsby, and Warren Haynes.
Gordon performed at a concert in Hawaii on September 21 with Kimock and Kreutzmann, and on November 2, appeared during the second set of a Ratdog concert at the Memorial Auditorium in Burlington Vermont, joining the band on the songs "Stuff," "Bird Song," and "Cassidy." On January 5, Gordon again teamed with Kreutzmann and Scott Murawski in Jaco, Costa Rica for a gig at Doce Lunas, playing a range of covers and originals including "Keep On Growing," "Estimated Prophet," "Twist" and "Intensified." After this gig, Gordon began a year-long retreat from public performance to focus his time on writing and recording a new album, and forming a new touring band.
Mike emerged from touring hibernation in 2008 and performed with his own solo band for the first time since 2003 at The Iron Horse Music Hall in Northampton, MA on June 30, 2008. He joined Trey Anastasio at the first annual Rothbury Music Festival in July during his solo acoustic set. Anastasio and former Phish bandmate Jon Fishman joined Mike for part of his set during the same day. Mike released an album entitled The Green Sparrow on Rounder Records on August 5.
On March 6, 2009, Mike reunited with Phish at the Hampton Coliseum. The band has toured regularly since Summer 2009.
Gordon finished writing and recording his next solo-album, Moss, at his home studio in Vermont in May of 2010. The album was released by Rounder Records on October 19th.
He explains that many of the songs on the new album "began as bass and drum jams" adding that it's "kind of bass-oriented. Not in that the bass is the lead, but that the rhythms and the patterns are bass centric. The uniqueness is centered on the bass. So the bass is the key instrument. On Inside In, the pedal steel is the key instrument and if you had to say it for Green Sparrow, maybe electric guitar. But this time it’s the bass."
His current touring band includes Scott Murawski on guitar, Brooklyn drummer Todd Isler, keyboardist Tom Cleary, and percussionist Craig Myers. Mike completed a 25-date supporting tour across the US with his band in Summer 2008 and a short four-night stint in December of that year. They ventured on a 22-date US tour on September 8, 2009 and again in March 2010. On September 7th, the band announced a 17-date November Tour, which stretched from the 5th to the 27th of the month, with more than half of the dates completely Sold Out.
Category:1965 births Category:Living people Category:American Jews Category:American rock singers Category:Phish members Category:American rock bass guitarists Category:Jewish American musicians Category:University of Vermont alumni
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| Name | James Taylor |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | James Vernon Taylor |
| Born | March 12, 1948Boston, Massachusetts, U.S. |
| Origin | Carrboro, North Carolina |
| Instrument | VocalsGuitarHarmonica |
| Genre | Folk rockRockPopCountry |
| Occupation | Singer-songwritermusician |
| Years active | 1968–present |
| Label | Apple/Capitol/EMI RecordsWarner Bros. RecordsColumbia/SME RecordsHear Music |
| Associated acts | Carole King, Carly Simon |
| Url | JamesTaylor.com |
James Vernon Taylor (born March 12, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Carrboro, North Carolina. He owns a house in the Berkshire County town of Washington, Massachusetts. A five-time Grammy Award winner, Taylor was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 2000.
Taylor achieved his major breakthrough in 1970 with the #3 single "Fire and Rain" and had his first #1 hit the following year with "You've Got a Friend", a recording of Carole King's classic song. His 1976 Greatest Hits album was certified Diamond and has sold 12 million US copies. Following his 1977 album, JT, he has retained a large audience over the decades. His commercial achievements declined slightly until a big resurgence during the late 1990s and 2000s, when some of his best-selling and most-awarded albums (including Hourglass, October Road and Covers) were released.
In 1951, when James was three years old, the family moved to the countryside of Carrboro, North Carolina, when Isaac took a job as Assistant Professor of Medicine at the University of North Carolina School of Medicine. They built a house in the Morgan Creek area, which was sparsely populated. James attended public primary school in Chapel Hill. Isaac Taylor later rose to become Dean of the UNC School of Medicine from 1964 to 1971. The family spent summers on Martha's Vineyard beginning in 1953.
Taylor first learned to play the cello as a child in North Carolina, and switched to the guitar in 1960. His style on that instrument evolved from listening to hymns, carols, and Woody Guthrie, while his technique derived from his bass clef-oriented cello training and from experimenting on his sister Kate's keyboards: "My style was a finger-picking style that was meant to be like a piano, as if my thumb were my left hand, and my first, second, and third fingers were my right hand." He began attending Milton Academy, a prep boarding school in Massachusetts in Fall 1961; summering before then with his family on Martha's Vineyard, he met Danny Kortchmar, an aspiring teenage guitarist from Larchmont, New York. The two began listening to and playing blues and folk music together, and Kortchmar quickly realized that Taylor's singing had a "natural sense of phrasing, every syllable beautifully in time. I knew James had that thing." Taylor wrote his first song on guitar at age 14, and continued to learn the instrument effortlessly.
Taylor faltered during his junior year at Milton, not feeling at ease in the high-pressured college prep environment despite having good scholastic performance. He returned home to North Carolina to finish out the semester at Chapel Hill High School. There he joined a band his brother Alex had formed called The Corsayers (later The Fabulous Corsairs), playing electric guitar; in 1964 they cut a single in Raleigh that featured James's song "Cha Cha Blues" on the B-side. He would later view his nine-month stay at McLean as "a lifesaver ... like a pardon or like a reprieve," and both his brother Livingston and sister Kate would later be patients and students there as well.
Taylor associated with a motley collection of people and began using heroin, to Kortchmar's dismay, and wrote the "Paint It, Black"-influenced "Rainy Day Man" to depict his drug experience. Released on Jay Gee Records, a subsidiary of Jubilee Records, it received some radio airplay in the Northeast, Other songs had been recorded during the same session, but Jubilee declined to go forward with an album. Indeed, his drug use had developed into full-blown heroin addiction during the final Flying Machine period: "I just fell into it, since it was as easy to get high in the Village as get a drink." Finally out of money and abandoned by his manager, he made a desperate call one night to his father. Isaac Taylor flew to New York and staged a rescue, renting a car and driving all night back to North Carolina with James and his possessions.
Taylor decided to try being a solo act and a change of scenery. In late 1967, funded by a small family inheritance, he moved to London, living variously in Notting Hill, Belgravia, and Chelsea. He recorded some demos in Soho and, capitalizing on Kortchmar's connection to The King Bees (who once once opened for Peter and Gordon), brought the demos to Peter Asher, who was A&R; head for The Beatles' newly-formed label Apple Records. Asher showed the demos to Paul McCartney, who later said, "I just heard his voice and his guitar and I thought he was great ... and he came and played live, so it was just like, 'Wow, he's great." Taylor recorded the album from July to October 1968 at Trident Studios, at the same time The Beatles were recording The White Album. McCartney and an uncredited George Harrison guested on "Carolina in My Mind", whose lyric holy host of others standing around me made reference to the Beatles, while the title phrase of Taylor's "Something in the Way She Moves" provided the starting point for Harrison's classic "Something". McCartney and Asher brought in arranger Richard Hewson to add orchestrations to several of the songs and unusual "link" passages in between them; these would receive a mixed reception at best.
During the recording sessions, Taylor fell back into his drug habit, using heroin and methedrine. Meanwhile, Apple released his debut album, James Taylor, in December 1968 in the UK and February 1969 in the U.S. In early 1969, to clean up the situation, three of the Beatles brought in Allen Klein, who began purging Apple personnel. Asher did not like Klein; he resigned of his own accord and offered to manage Taylor, to which Taylor agreed. Klein wanted to hit Taylor with a $5 million lawsuit for leaving, but McCartney (a Klein antagonist) and then the other Beatles, overruled him on the grounds that artists should not be holding each other to contracts. Shortly thereafter, he broke both hands and both feet in a motorcycle accident on Martha's Vineyard and was forced to stop playing for several months. But while recovering, he continued to write songs and in October 1969, signed a new deal with Warner Bros. Records. in 2003. ("Fire and Rain" was also listed #227 on Rolling Stone's list of the Greatest Songs of All Time).
for Two-Lane Blacktop: Boswell, Oklahoma ]] During the time Sweet Baby James was released, Taylor appeared with Dennis Wilson of The Beach Boys in a Monte Hellman film, Two-Lane Blacktop. In October 1970, he performed with Joni Mitchell, Phil Ochs, and the Canadian band Chilliwack at a Vancouver benefit concert that funded Greenpeace's protests of 1971 nuclear weapons tests by the U.S. Atomic Energy Commission at Amchitka, Alaska. (This performance was released in 2009 on the album Amchitka, The 1970 Concert That Launched Greenpeace.) In January 1971, sessions for Taylor's next album, Mud Slide Slim and the Blue Horizon, began. Released in April, the album also gained massive critical acclaim and contained Taylor's biggest Pop single in the U.S., a version of the Carole King standard "You've Got a Friend" (featuring backing vocals by Joni Mitchell), which reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in late July. The album itself reached #2 in the album charts, which would be Taylor's highest position ever on this list. In early 1972, Taylor received his first Grammy Award, for (Best Pop Vocal Performance, Male) for "You've Got a Friend" (King also won Song of the Year for the same song on that ceremony). The album went on to sell 2½ million copies in the United States alone.
November 1972 saw the release of Taylor's fourth album, One Man Dog. A concept album primarily recorded in his home recording studio, it featured cameos by Linda Ronstadt and consisted of eighteen short pieces of music put together. It was received with generally lukewarm reviews and, despite making the Top 10 of the Billboard Album Charts, overall sales were disappointing. The lead single "Don't Let Me Be Lonely Tonight" peaked at #18 on the Hot 100, and the follow-up, "One Man Parade", barely reached the Top 75. Almost simultaneously, Taylor married fellow singer-songwriter Carly Simon on November 3, in a small ceremony at her Murray Hill, Manhattan apartment. A post-concert party following a Taylor performance at Radio City Music Hall turned into a large-scale wedding party, and the Simon-Taylor marriage would find much public attention over the following years.
However, James Taylor's artistic fortunes spiked again in 1975 when the Gold album Gorilla reached #6 and provided one of his biggest hit singles, a cover version of Marvin Gaye's "How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved by You)", which featured wife Carly in backing vocals and reached #5 in America and #1 in Canada. On the Billboard's Adult Contemporary chart, the track also reached the top, and the follow-up single, the feel-good "Mexico" also reached the Top 5 of that list. A critically very-well received album, Gorilla showcased Taylor's electric, lighter side that was evident on Walking Man. However, it was arguably a more consistent and fresher-sounding Taylor, with classics such as "Wandering" and "Angry Blues." It also featured a song about his daughter Sally, "Sarah Maria".
Gorilla was followed in 1976 by In the Pocket, Taylor's last studio album to be released under Warner Bros. Records. The album found him with many colleagues and friends, including Art Garfunkel, David Crosby, Bonnie Raitt and Stevie Wonder (who co-wrote a song with Taylor and contributed a harmonica solo). A very melodic album, it was highlighted with the single "Shower the People", an enduring classic that hit #1 Adult Contemporary and almost hit the Top 20 of the Pop Charts. But the album was not very well-received, reaching only #16 and being highly criticized, particularly by Rolling Stone. Nevertheless 1976 was a huge boom year in the recording business — the year of inception of the "Platinum" disc — and In The Pocket was certified Gold.
With the close of Taylor's contract with Warner, in November the label released Greatest Hits, the album that comprised most of his best work between 1970 and 1976. It became with time his best-selling album, ever. It was certified eleven times Platinum in the US, earning a Diamond certification by the RIAA and eventually selling close to twenty million copies worldwide. It still stands as the best-selling folk album by any artist.
Back in the forefront of popular music, Taylor collaborated with Paul Simon and Art Garfunkel in the recording of a cover of Sam Cooke's "Wonderful World", which reached the Top 20 in the U.S. and topped the AC charts in early 1978. After briefly working on Broadway, he took a one-year break, reappearing in the summer of 1979 with the cover-studded Platinum album Flag, featuring a Top 30 version of Gerry Goffin and Carole King's "Up on the Roof". (Two selections from Flag, "Millworker" and "Brother Trucker," were featured on the PBS production of the Broadway musical based on Studs Terkel's non-fiction book , and James himself appeared in that production as a trucker; he performed "Brother Trucker" in character.) Taylor also appeared on the No Nukes concert in Madison Square Garden, where he made a memorable live performance of "Mockingbird" with his wife Carly. The concert appeared on both the No Nukes album and film.
On December 7, 1980 Taylor had an encounter with Mark David Chapman who would assassinate John Lennon. Taylor told the BBC in 2010 "The guy had sort of pinned me to the wall and was glistening with maniacal sweat and talking some freak speak about what he was going to do and his stuff with how John was interested, and he was going to get in touch with John Lennon. And it was surreal to actually have contact with the guy 24 hours before he shot John." The next night Taylor who lived in the next building from Lennon heard the assassination.
In March 1981, James Taylor released the album Dad Loves His Work, whose themes concerned his relationship with his father, the course his ancestors had taken, and the effect he and Simon had had on each other. The album was another Platinum success, reaching #10 and providing Taylor's final real hit single in a duet with J. D. Souther, "Her Town Too," which reached #5 Adult Contemporary and #11 on the Hot 100 in Billboard. The album's title was, in part, drawn from the reasons for Taylor's divorce from Carly Simon. She gave him an ultimatum: cut back on his music and touring, and spend more time with her and their children, or the marriage was through. The album's title was Taylor's answer, and Simon asked for divorce. (The emotional repercussions of the divorce likely served as at least part of the inspiration for "Her Town Too.")
On February 18, 2001 at the Emmanuel Episcopal Church, Boston, Taylor wed for the third time, marrying Caroline ("Kim") Smedvig, the director of public relations and marketing for the Boston Symphony Orchestra. They had begun dating in 1995, when they met as he appeared with John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra. The couple reside in the town of Washington, Massachusetts with their twin boys, Rufus and Henry, born in April 2001 to a surrogate mother via in vitro fertilization. The album appeared in two versions, a single-disc version and a "limited edition" two-disc version which contained three extra songs including a duet with Mark Knopfler, "Sailing to Philadelphia," which also appeared on Knopfler's Sailing to Philadelphia album. Also in 2002, Taylor teamed with bluegrass musician Alison Krauss in singing "The Boxer" at the Kennedy Center Honors Tribute to Paul Simon. They later recorded the Louvin Brothers duet, "How's the World Treating You?" In 2004, after he chose not to renew his record contract with Columbia/Sony, he released with distribution through Hallmark Cards.
Taylor performed "The Star-Spangled Banner" at Game 2 of the World Series in Boston on October 24, 2004. In December, he appeared as himself in an episode of The West Wing entitled "A Change Is Gonna Come". He sang Sam Cooke's classic "A Change Is Gonna Come" at an event honoring an artist played by Taylor's wife Caroline. Later on, he appeared on CMT's Crossroads alongside the Dixie Chicks. In early 2006, MusiCares honored Taylor with performances of his songs by an array of notable musicians. Before a performance by the Dixie Chicks, lead singer Natalie Maines acknowledged that he had always been one of their musical heroes, and had for them lived up to their once-imagined reputation of him. They performed his song, "Shower the People", with a surprise appearance by Arnold McCuller, who has sung backing vocals on Taylor's live tours for many years.
In the fall of 2006, Taylor released a repackaged and slightly different version of his Hallmark Christmas album, now entitled James Taylor at Christmas, and distributed by Columbia/Sony. In 2006, Taylor performed Randy Newman's song "Our Town" for the Disney animated film Cars. The song was nominated for the 2007 Academy Award for the best Original Song. On January 1, 2007, Taylor headlined the inaugural concert at the Times Union Center in Albany, New York, honoring newly sworn in Governor of New York Eliot Spitzer.
Taylor's next album, One Man Band was released on CD and DVD in November 2007 on Starbucks' Hear Music Label, where he joined with Paul McCartney and Joni Mitchell. The introspective album grew out of a three-year tour of the United States and Europe—featuring some of Taylor's most beloved songs and anecdotes about their creative origins—accompanied solely by the "one man band" of his longtime pianist/keyboardist, Larry Goldings. The mix of One Man Band won a TEC Award for best surround sound recording in 2008.
November 28–30, 2007, Taylor, accompanied by his original band and Carole King, headlined a series of six shows at The Troubadour. The appearances marked the 50th anniversary of the venue, where Taylor, King and many others, such as Tom Waits, Neil Diamond, and Elton John, began their music careers. Proceeds from the concert went to benefit the Natural Resources Defense Council, MusiCares, Alliance for the Wild Rockies, and the Los Angeles Regional Foodbank, a member of America's Second Harvest — The Nation's Food Bank Network. Parts of the performance shown on CBS Sunday Morning in the December 23, 2007, broadcast showed Taylor alluding to his early drug problems by saying, "I played here a number of times in the 70s, allegedly..." Taylor has used versions of this joke on other occasions, and it appears as part of his One Man Band DVD and tour performances.
]] In December 2007 James Taylor at Christmas was nominated for a Grammy Award. In January 2008 Taylor recorded approximately 20 songs by others for a new album with a band including Luis Conte, Michael Landau, Lou Marini, Arnold McCuller, Jimmy Johnson, David Lasley, Walt Fowler, Andrea Zonn, Kate Markowitz, Steve Gadd and Larry Goldings. The resulting live-in-studio album, named Covers, was released in September 2008. This album forays into country and soul while being the latest proof that Taylor is a more versatile singer than his best known hits might suggest. The Covers sessions stretched to include "Oh What a Beautiful Morning," from the musical Oklahoma - a song that his grandmother had caught him singing over and over at the top of his lungs when he was seven years old. Meanwhile, in summer 2008, Taylor and this band toured 34 North American cities with a tour entitled James Taylor and His Band of Legends. A additional album, called Other Covers, came out in April 2009, containing songs that were recorded during the same sessions as the original Covers but had not been put out to the full public yet.
During October 19–21, 2008, Taylor performed a series of free concerts in five North Carolina cities in support of Barack Obama's presidential bid. On Sunday, January 18, 2009, he performed at the , singing "Shower the People" with John Legend and Jennifer Nettles of Sugarland.
Taylor performed on the final The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on May 29, 2009, distinguishing himself further as the final musician to appear in Leno's original 17-year run.
On September 8, 2009 Taylor made an appearance at the twenty-fourth season premiere block party of The Oprah Winfrey Show on Chicago's Michigan Avenue.
performing "You've Got a Friend" together during their Troubadour Reunion Tour in 2010.]] On January 1, 2010, Taylor sang the American national anthem at the NHL Winter Classic at Fenway Park, while Daniel Powter sang the Canadian national anthem.
On March 7, 2010, Taylor sang The Beatles' "In My Life" in tribute to deceased artists at the 82nd Academy Awards.
In March 2010 he commenced the Troubadour Reunion Tour with Carole King and members of his original band, including Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, and Danny Kortchmar. They played shows in Australia, New Zealand, Japan and North America, with the final night being at the Honda Center, in Anaheim, CA. The tour was a major commercial success, and in some locations found Taylor playing arenas instead of his usual theaters or amphitheaters. Ticket sales amounted to over 700,000 and the tour grossed over 59 million dollars. It was one of the most successful tours of the year.
;U.S. Billboard Top 10 Albums
;U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles
Category:1970s_singers Category:1948 births Category:Living people Category:American acoustic guitarists Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American male singers Category:American pop guitarists Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singers Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Apple Records artists Category:American people of English descent Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Musicians from Massachusetts Category:Musicians from North Carolina Category:People from Belmont, Massachusetts Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts Category:American people of Scottish descent Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers
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| Name | Iron & Wine |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Samuel Beam |
| Born | July 26, 1974South Carolina, U.S. |
| Instrument | Vocals, Guitar, Banjo |
| Genre | FolkFolk rock |
| Label | Sub PopWarner Bros./4AD |
| Associated acts | Calexico |
| Url | www.ironandwine.com |
Beam was raised in South Carolina before moving to Florida to attend school and now resides outside of Austin, Texas. The name Iron & Wine is taken from a dietary supplement named "Beef Iron & Wine" that he found in a general store while shooting a film.
Beam earned a bachelor's degree in art from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, Virginia. He had been writing songs for over seven years before a friend loaned him a four-track recorder. He began making demos and gave one to his friend Michael Bridwell, brother of Band of Horses lead singer, Ben Bridwell. Michael handed it to Mike McGonigal, editor of Yeti magazine, who chose "Dead Man's Will," later released on In the Reins, for inclusion on one of his magazine's compilation CDs. Beam later came to the attention of Sub Pop Records co-owner, Jonathan Poneman, who contacted Beam to propose a deal.
Also in 2002, Beam recorded a cover of The Postal Service's then-unreleased song "Such Great Heights". Rather than being included on an Iron & Wine release, the track was initially included as a b-side of the original version by The Postal Service. It was later included on the B-sides and rarities album, Around the Well. He then followed up on his debut album in 2003 with The Sea & The Rhythm, an EP containing other home-recorded tracks with a similar style to the songs on the debut.
Beam's second full-length album, Our Endless Numbered Days (2004), was recorded in a professional studio with a significant increase in fidelity. Produced in Chicago by Brian Deck, the focus was still on acoustic material, but the inclusion of other band members gave rise to a slightly different sound. That same year, he recorded the song "The Trapeze Swinger" for the film In Good Company, and had his version of "Such Great Heights" featured in an advertisement for M&M;'s and in the film and soundtrack for Garden State. This version was later used in a 2006 Ask.com advertisement, and eventually released as a single in 2006 backed with recordings of "The Trapeze Swinger" and "Naked as We Came" made for Radio Vienna.
In February 2005, he released an EP entitled Woman King, which expanded on the sounds of his previous LP, and added electric guitars. Each track featured a spiritual female figure, and had subtle Biblical undertones.
The EP In the Reins, a collaboration with the Arizona-based rock band Calexico, was released in September 2005. Beam wrote all of the EP's songs years earlier, but Calexico added their trademark fusion of southwestern rock, traditional Mexican music and jazz to the songs' arrangements. Several tracks feature brass instruments, a first for Beam's music.
The third full-length Iron & Wine album, entitled The Shepherd's Dog, was released September 25, 2007. This album was voted one of the ten best of 2007 by Paste magazine. Contributors included Joey Burns and Paul Niehaus of Calexico, as well as jazz musicians Matt Lux and Rob Burger. When asked to describe the album to The Independent, Beam remarked that "it's not a political propaganda record, but it's definitely inspired by political confusion, because I was really taken aback when Bush got reelected."
Beam has released most of his music on iTunes, including several exclusive EPs. The Iron & Wine iTunes Exclusive EP features unreleased studio recordings, including a Stereolab cover and two tracks which had previously only appeared on vinyl. The Live Session (iTunes Exclusive) features Beam and his sister, Sarah Beam, performing a number of tracks from his albums, as well as a cover of New Order's "Love Vigilantes". Sarah Beam has contributed backing vocals on many of Beam's studio recordings.
Beam's music has appeared in television series such as Grey's Anatomy, The L Word and House, M.D.. "Flightless Bird, American Mouth" was used in the film Twilight. The song was specifically chosen for the film's prom scene by Kristen Stewart, the female lead, and appears on the film's soundtrack.
The B-sides and rarities album Around the Well was released in 2009. Iron & Wine also contributed the song "Stolen Houses (Die)" to the AIDS benefit album Dark Was the Night produced by the Red Hot Organization.
On November 26, 2010 Iron & Wine released a special edition Record Store Day Black Friday 12" vinyl and CD single called, Walking Far From Home for independent record stores.
Iron & Wine's next album, Kiss Each Other Clean, will be released on January 25. 2011 on Warner Bros. Records in North America and 4AD for the rest of the world.
Category:American folk guitarists Category:American folk singers Category:American rock guitarists Category:American rock singer-songwriters Category:American male singers Category:Florida State University alumni Category:Musicians from South Carolina Category:Sub Pop artists Category:Living people Category:1974 births Category:People from Lexington County, South Carolina
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| Name | Foxy Shazam |
|---|---|
| Background | group_or_band |
| Origin | Cincinnati, Ohio, USA |
| Genre | Experimental rock, Post Hardcore, progressive rock, soul, glam rock |
| Years active | 2004-present |
| Label | Sire |
| Associated acts | Look Afraid, V-MOB, Train of Thought, Cadaver Dogs |
| Url | www.foxyshazam.com |
| Current members | Eric Sean NallyLoren Daniel TurnerDaisy Schuyler Vaughn WhiteAaron McVeigh Alex Nauth |
Foxy Shazam is an American rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio, formed in 2004. After forming, the band immediately recorded The Flamingo Trigger independently then committed to an extensive national touring regimen. Shortly there after, Foxy signed with Ferret Records and recorded their second album Introducing which was produced by Casey Bates (Chiodos, Portugal. The Man). and released on January 22, 2008. The following year, they recorded their first major label record with multi-platinum record produced John Feldmann. Foxy Shazam signed with Sire Records (a subsidiary of Warner Brothers) and released their self titled major label debut in 2010.
The band name originated from a slang phrase used by students at vocalist Eric Sean Nally's high school where Foxy Shazam meant "cool shoes". On February 7, 2010, their single Unstoppable was featured in Super Bowl XLIV They recently performed a 5 song set for shockhound.com They also recently performed 3 songs acoustic for Spin Magazine, one of which was a brand new song entitled "I'm in Love with a Boy." The band performed a full set and interview on Chicago's JBTV in July 2010. The band also performed a live an exclusive version of "Oh Lord" for music discovery app Shazam.
A quote from lead singer, Eric Sean Nally, about the band's influence: "When I listen to a Foxy Shazam record I think of Evel Knievel, Bruce Springsteen, my childhood, Van Morrison, my old friends from high school I don't talk to anymore, Elton John, the '50s, '60s, '70s, '80s, '90s and beyond, Iggy Pop and my first kiss. One of my favorite things to do when listening to my music is to close my eyes and picture a crowd of six million people all chanting "Foxy! Foxy! Foxy!" The lights go out and my band walks on stage. It gives me goose bumps. It all makes sense to me. When you listen to our record, think of your favorite things and it'll make sense to you as well. Foxy Shazam is not concerned with what category it falls into. We want to stand for our generation. We want to be the biggest band in the world. We want to be the Michael Jordan of Rock N' Roll."
Eric Sean Nally has said an album that influenced him was Alanis Morissette's Jagged Little Pill. Many media outlets compare the band to Queen and Meat Loaf because of their use of theatrics and over-the-tops lyrics. The magazine Alternative Press has compared the band to bands like Queen, My Chemical Romance, and The Darkness, while also believing that the band has a very unique sound that should best be seen live.
;Former Members
Category:Musical groups established in 2004 Category:American alternative rock groups Category:Musical groups from Ohio Category:Musical sextets Category:2000s music groups Category:2010s music groups
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| Name | Carole King |
|---|---|
| Background | solo_singer |
| Birth name | Carol Klein |
| Born | February 09, 1942 |
| Origin | New York City, New York, United States |
| Instrument | PianoVocalsGuitar |
| Genre | Folk rock Pop Jazz |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Years active | 1958–present |
| Label | RockingaleOde/Epic/CBS RecordsPriority/EMI Records |
| Associated acts | James TaylorThe CityDanny Kortchmar |
| Url | CaroleKing.com |
She was most successful as a performer in the first half of the 1970s, although she was a successful songwriter long before and long after. She had her first No. 1 hit as a songwriter in 1961, at age 18, with "Will You Love Me Tomorrow", which she wrote with Gerry Goffin. In 1997, she co-wrote "The Reason" for Celine Dion.
In 2000, Joel Whitburn, a Billboard Magazine pop music researcher, named her the most successful female songwriter of 1955-99, because she wrote or co-wrote 118 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100.
King has made 25 solo albums, the most successful being Tapestry. Her most recent non-compilation album is Live at the Troubadour, a collaboration with James Taylor, which reached #4 on the charts, in its first week, and has sold over 400,000 copies.
She has won four Grammy Awards and was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for her songwriting. In 2009, Carole King was inducted into the "Hit Parade" Hall of Fame. She holds the record for the longest time for an album by a female to remain on the charts and the longest time for an album by a female to hold the #1 position, both for Tapestry.
Goffin and King married in September 1960 and had two daughters, Louise Goffin and Sherry Goffin Kondor, both also musicians.
In 1965, Goffin and King wrote a theme song for Sidney Sheldon's television series, I Dream of Jeannie, but an instrumental by Hugo Montenegro was used instead. Goffin and King's 1967 song, "Pleasant Valley Sunday", a number 3 for The Monkees, was inspired by their move to suburban West Orange, New Jersey. Goffin and King also wrote "Porpoise Song (Theme from Head)" for Head, the Monkees' film.
Goffin and King divorced in 1968 but Carole consulted Goffin on music she was writing. King lost touch with Goffin because of his declining mental health and the effect it had on their children.
King sang backup vocals on the demo of Little Eva's "The Loco-Motion". She had had a modest hit in 1962 singing one of her own songs, "It Might As Well Rain Until September" (22 in the US and top 10 in the UK, later a hit in Canada for Gary and Dave), but after "He's a Bad Boy" made 94 in 1963, it took King eight years to reach the Hot 100 singles chart again as a performer.
As the '60s waned, King helped start Tomorrow Records, divorced Goffin and married Charles Larkey (of the Myddle Class), with whom she had two children (Molly and Levi). Moving to the West Coast, Larkey, King and Danny Kortchmar formed The City, which made one album, Now That Everything's Been Said, a commercial failure. King made Writer (1970), also a commercial failure.
Tapestry was the top-selling solo album until Michael Jackson's Thriller in 1982. The album was later placed at 36 on Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Albums of All Time" list.
Thoroughbred (1976) was the last studio album she made under the Ode label. In addition to enlisting her long-time friends such as David Crosby, Graham Nash, James Taylor and Waddy Wachtel, King reunited with Gerry Goffin to write four songs for the album. Their partnership continued intermittently. King also did a promotional tour for the album in 1976.
In 1977, King collaborated with another songwriter Rick Evers on Simple Things, the first release with a new label distributed by Capitol Records. Shortly after that King and Evers were married; he died of a heroin overdose one year later. Simple Things was her first album that failed to reach the top 10 on the Billboard since Tapestry, and it was her last Gold-certified record by the RIAA, except for a compilation entitled Her Greatest Hits the following year. Neither Welcome Home (1978), her debut as a co-producer on an album, nor Touch the Sky (1979), reached the top 100.
Pearls - The Songs of Goffin and King (1980) yielded a hit single, an updated version of "One Fine Day." Pearls marked the end of King's career as a hitmaker and a performer, no subsequent single reaching the top 40.
In 1985, she wrote and performed "Care-A-Lot," theme to The Care Bears Movie. Also in 1985, she scored and performed (with David Sanborn) the soundtrack to the Martin Ritt-directed movie Murphy's Romance. The soundtrack, again produced by Adler, included the songs "Running Lonely" and "Love For The Last Time (Theme from 'Murphy's Romance')," although a soundtrack album was apparently never officially released. King made a cameo appearance in the film as Tillie, a town hall employee.
In 1989, she returned to Capitol Records and recorded City Streets, with Eric Clapton on two tracks and Branford Marsalis on one, followed by Color of Your Dreams (1993), with an appearance by Slash of Guns N' Roses. Her song, "Now and Forever," was in the opening credits to the 1992 movie A League of Their Own, and was nominated for a Grammy Award.
In 1988, she starred in the off-Broadway production A Minor Incident, and in 1994, she played Mrs Johnstone on Broadway in Blood Brothers. In 1996, she appeared in Brighton Beach Memoirs in Ireland, directed by Peter Sheridan. In 1991, she wrote with Mariah Carey the song "If It's Over", for Carey's second album Emotions. In 1996, she wrote "Wall Of Smiles / Torre De Marfil" with Soraya for her 1997 album of the same title.
In 1997, King wrote and recorded backing vocals on "The Reason" for Celine Dion on her album Let's Talk About Love. The song sold worldwide, including one million in France. It went to number 1 in France, 11 in the UK, and 13 in Ireland. The pair performed a duet on the first VH1 Divas Live benefit concert. King also performed her "You've Got A Friend" with Celine Dion, Gloria Estefan and Shania Twain as well as "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" with Aretha Franklin and others, including Mariah Carey. In 1998, King wrote "Anyone at All", and performed it in You've Got Mail, starring Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan.
In 2001, King appeared in a television ad for the Gap, with her daughter, Louise Goffin. She performed a new song, "Love Makes the World," which became a title track for her studio album in autumn 2001 on her own label, Rockingale, distributed by Koch Records. The album includes songs she wrote for other artists during the mid-1990s and features Celine Dion, Steven Tyler, Babyface and k.d. lang. Love Makes the World went to 158 in the US and #86 in the UK. It also debuted on Billboard's Top Independent Albums chart and Top Internet Albums chart at #20. An expanded edition of the album was issued six years later called Love Makes the World Deluxe Edition. It contains a bonus disc with five additional tracks, including a remake of "Where You Lead (I Will Follow)" co-written with Toni Stern. The same year, King and Stern wrote "Sayonara Dance," recorded by Yuki, former lead vocalist of the Japanese band Judy and Mary, on her first solo album Prismic the following year. Also in 2001, King composed a song for All About Chemistry album by Semisonic, with the band's frontman Dan Wilson.
King launched her Living Room Tour in July 2004 at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. That show, along with shows at the Greek Theater in Los Angeles and the Cape Cod Melody Tent (Hyannis, Massachusetts) were recorded as The Living Room Tour in July 2005. The album sold 44,000 copies in its first week in the US, landing at 17 on the Billboard 200, her highest-charting album since 1977. The album also charted at 51 in Australia. It has sold 330,000 copies in the United States. In August 2006 the album reentered the Billboard 200 at 151. The tour stopped in Canada, Australia and New Zealand. A DVD of the tour, called Welcome to My Living Room, was released in October 2007.
performing "Up on the Roof" together during their 2010 Troubadour Reunion Tour.]] In November 2007, King toured Japan with Mary J. Blige and Fergie from The Black Eyed Peas. Japanese record labels Sony and Victor reissued most of King's albums, including the works from the late 1970s previously unavailable on compact disc. King recorded a duet of the Goffin/King composition "Time Don't Run Out on Me" with Anne Murray on Murray's 2007 album . The song had previously been recorded by Murray for her 1984 album Heart Over Mind.
In 2010, King and James Taylor staged their Troubadour Reunion Tour together, recalling the first time they played at The Troubadour in Los Angeles in 1970. The pair had reunited two and a half years earlier with the band they used in 1970 to mark the club's 50th anniversary. They enjoyed it so much that they decided to take the band on the road. The touring band featured players from that original band: Russ Kunkel, Leland Sklar, and Danny Kortchmar. Also present was King's son-in-law, Robbie Kondor. King played piano and Taylor guitar on each others' songs, and they sang together some of the numbers they were both associated with. The tour began in Australia in March, returning to the United States in May. It was a major commercial success, with King playing to some of the largest audiences of her career. Total ticket sales exceeded 700,000 and the tour grossed over 59 million dollars, making it one of the most successful tours of the year.
During their Troubadour Reunion Tour, Carole King released two albums, one with James Taylor. The first, released on April 27, 2010, The Essential Carole King, is a two-disc compilation album. The first disc features many songs Carole King has recorded, mostly her hit singles. The second disc features recordings by other artists of songs that King wrote, most of which made the top 40, and many of which reached #1. The second album was released on May 4, 2010 and is a collaboration of King and James Taylor called Live at the Troubadour, which debuted at #4 in the United States with sales of 78,000 copies. Live at the Troubadour has since received a gold record from the RIAA for shipments of over 500,000 copies in the US and has remained on the charts for 34 weeks, currently charting at #81 on the Billboard 200.
On December 22, 2010, Carole King's mother, Eugenia Gingold, died in the Hospice Care unit at Delray Medical Center in Delray Beach, Florida at the age of 94. King stated that the cause of death was congestive heart failure. Gingold's passing was reported by the Miami Herald on January 1, 2011.
On April 9, 2009, Carole appeared as a guest on The One Show.
King is also politically active in the United States Democratic Party. In 2003, she began campaigning for John Kerry, performing in private homes for caucus delegates during the Democratic primaries. On July 29, 2004, she made a short speech and sang at the Democratic National Convention, about two hours before Kerry made his acceptance speech for the Democratic nomination for President. King continued her support of Kerry throughout the general election.
In 2008, King appeared on the March 18 episode of The Colbert Report, touching on her politics once more. She stated that she was supporting Hillary Clinton and mentioned that the choice had nothing to do with gender. She also expressed that she would have no issues if Barack Obama were to win the election. Before the show's conclusion, she returned to the stage to perform "I Feel the Earth Move".
King has recently lent her voice and support to several robocalls supporting Democratic Party candidates in the Washington State 2010 elections.
Many other cover versions of King's work have appeared over the years. Most notably, "You've Got a Friend" was a smash #1 hit for James Taylor in 1971 and a top 40 hit for Roberta Flack and Donny Hathaway that same year. Isaac Hayes recorded "It's Too Late" for his #1 R&B; live album Live at the Sahara Tahoe. Barbra Streisand had a top 40 hit in 1972 with "Where You Lead" twice — by itself and as part of a live medley with "Sweet Inspiration." Streisand also covered "No Easy Way Down" in 1971, "Beautiful" and "You've Got A Friend" in 1972, and "Being At War With Each Other" in 1974. The Carpenters recorded King's "It's Going to Take Some Time" in 1972 ,and reached number 12 on the Billboard charts. Richard Carpenter produced a version of "You've Got A Friend" with then teen singer/actor Scott Grimes in 1989. Martika had a number 25 hit in 1989 with her version of I Feel the Earth Move, and "It's Too Late" reappeared on the Adult Contemporary chart in 1995 by Gloria Estefan. Linda Ronstadt recorded a new version of "Oh No Not My Baby" in 1993. Celine Dion also recorded King's song "The Reason" on her 1997 album Let's Talk About Love with Carole King singing backup and it became a million-seller and was certified Diamond in France. "Where You Lead" (lyrics by Toni Stern) became the title song of TV show Gilmore Girls.
In 1996, a film very loosely based on her life, Grace of My Heart, was released. In the film an aspiring singer sacrifices her own singing career to write hit songs that launch the careers of other singers. Mirroring King's life, the film follows her from her first break, through the pain of rejection from the recording industry and a bad marriage, to her final triumph in realizing her dream to record her own hit album.
The years given are the years in which the albums and singles were released and not necessarilly the years in which they achieved their peak positions.
U.S. Billboard Top 10 'Pop' Singles
Albums and singles certifications
Category:1942 births Category:1950s singers Category:1960s singers Category:1970s singers Category:1980s singers Category:1990s singers Category:2000s singers Category:2010s singers Category:Living people Category:American female pop singers Category:American Jews Category:American pop pianists Category:American singer-songwriters Category:Female rock singers Category:Grammy Award winners Category:Jewish American composers and songwriters Category:E1 Music artists Category:RCA Victor artists Category:A&M; Records artists Category:People from Brooklyn Category:People from Long Island Category:Queens College, City University of New York alumni Category:Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductees Category:Songwriters Hall of Fame inductees Category:People from West Orange, New Jersey Category:Musicians from New Jersey
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