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Dunhill Records was started by Lou Adler, Al Bennett, Pierre Cossette and Bobby Roberts in 1964 as Dunhill Productions, originally for the purpose of releasing Johnny Rivers recordings on Imperial Records. It became a record label in 1965 and was distributed by ABC Records. The first Dunhill single released (catalog #D-4001) was "My Prayer/Pretty Please" by Shelley Fabares, who was Adler's wife at the time. Adler sold his shares to ABC Records in the summer of 1967, this created ABC Dunhill Records. Afterwards Adler launched Ode Records. ABC continued to release records on the Dunhill label until 1975, after which all remaining artists were absorbed into the ABC Records roster before MCA Records bought ABC Records in 1979.

An offshoot of the ABC/Dunhill days was the label Buluu Dunhill Records using (catalog #B-73001).

The Dunhill catalogue is today managed by Geffen Records.

A later independent reissue label called Dunhill Compact Classics was formed in 1986 to reissue recordings on the new compact disc format. British American Tobacco, a UK tobacco company, sued the company because of the use of the Dunhill name, forcing the company to rename itself DCC Compact Classics.

Dunhill label variations[link]

• 1965-1968 -- Black label with DUNHILL in white outline letters inside yellow frame
• 1968 -- Same as above, but with the "abc" logo added in front of the DUNHILL logo
• 1968-1969 -- Black label with 3-compartment multi-color box consisting of smaller DUNHILL logo (now in white letters inside white frame) in the left hand box and the white circular "abc" logo and "RECORDS" in the right hand boxes
• 1969-1973 -- Same as above, but with the multicolor "DUNHILL" and "abc RECORDS" boxes separated
• 1973-1974 -- Black label with DUNHILL spelled out in children's blocks (followed by a block with the "abc" logo) in white box (This variation only lasted a few months before the label was changed back to the multi-color box logo in which both the "one box" and "two box" variations were used)
• 1974-1975 -- Yellow, orange, red and purple label with "abc Dunhill" ("abc" circle logo in black) in between two black lines
• White labels were used for most promotional issues.

Dunhill (ABC/Dunhill) Records artists[link]

See also[link]

• List of record labels

External links[link]

• The Dunhill Records Story

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Richard St John Harris (1 October 1930 – 25 October 2002) was an Irish actor, singer-songwriter, theatrical producer, film director and writer.

He appeared on stage and in many films, and is perhaps best known for his roles as King Arthur in Camelot (1967), as Oliver Cromwell in Cromwell (1970) and as Albus Dumbledore in the first two films in the Harry Potter series, his final works. He played a British aristocrat and prisoner in A Man Called Horse (1970), Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator (2000), Saint John in Apocalypse Revelation (2002), gunfighter English Bob in Clint Eastwood's Western film Unforgiven (1992), and Dom Frollo in the 1997 TV movie version of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. Harris had a top ten hit in the UK and the US with his 1968 recording of Jimmy Webb's song "MacArthur Park".

Early life and career[link]

Harris, the fifth of nine children, was born in Limerick city, Ireland (then known as the Irish Free State) into a middle-class, staunchly Roman Catholic family.^[1] His parents were Ivan John Harris (b. 1896, son of Richard Harris, b. 1854, son of James Harris of St. Michael's, Limerick) and Mildred Josephine Harty Harris (b. 1898, daughter of James Harty, St. John's, Limerick, who owned a flour mill.) Harris' siblings include Patrick Ivan (born 1929), Noel William Michael (born 1932), Diarmid (Dermot, born 1939), and William George Harris (born 1942).^[2][3] He was schooled by the Jesuits at Crescent College. A talented rugby player, he was on several Munster Junior and Senior Cup teams for Crescent, and played for Garryowen.^[4] Harris' athletic career was cut short when he caught tuberculosis in his teens. He remained an ardent fan of the Munster Rugby and Young Munster teams then until his death, and attending many of its matches, and there are numerous stories of japes at rugby matches with the actors and fellow rugby fans Peter O'Toole and Richard Burton.

After recovering from tuberculosis, Harris moved to England, wanting to become a director. He could not find any suitable training courses, and he enrolled in the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art (LAMDA) to learn acting. He had failed an audition at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA), and had been rejected by the Central School of Speech and Drama because they felt he was too old at 24.^[5] While still a student, Harris rented the tiny "off-West End" Irving Theatre, and there directed his own production of Clifford Odets's play Winter Journey (The Country Girl). This show was a critical success, but it was a financial failure, and Harris lost all his savings in this venture.

As a result, Harris ended up temporarily homeless, sleeping in a coal cellar for six weeks. Accounts of Harris' contemporaries from his hometown of Limerick, however, indicate that Harris may have exaggerated these stories somewhat and that he actually stayed with a few aunts, sleeping on their living room sofas.^{[citation needed]} After completing his studies at the Academy, Harris joined Joan Littlewood's Theatre Workshop. He began getting roles in West End theatre productions, starting with The Quare Fellow in 1956, a transfer from the Theatre Workshop. Harris spent nearly a decade in obscurity, learning his profession on stages throughout the UK.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

Harris made his film debut in 1958 in the film Alive and Kicking, and played the lead role in The Ginger Man in the West End in 1959. He hated filming The Wreck of the Mary Deare so much that he refused to return to Hollywood for several years, turning down the role of Commodus in The Fall of the Roman Empire. He had a memorable bit part in the movie The Guns of Navarone as a Royal Australian Air Force pilot who reports that blowing up the "bloody guns" of the island of Navarone is impossible by an air raid.

For his role in the film Mutiny on the Bounty, despite being virtually unknown to film audiences, Harris reportedly insisted on third billing, behind Trevor Howard and Marlon Brando.

Harris' first starring role was in the movie This Sporting Life in 1963, as a bitter young coal miner, Frank Machin, who becomes an acclaimed rugby league football player. For his role, Harris won Best Actor in 1963 at the Cannes Film Festival and an Academy Award nomination. Harris followed this with a leading role in the Italian film, Michelangelo Antonioni's Il deserto rosso (1964), and he also won notice for his role in Sam Peckinpah's Major Dundee (1965), as an Irish immigrant who became a Confederate cavalryman during the Civil War.

Harris next performed the role of King Arthur in the film adaptation of the musical play Camelot. Harris continued to appear on stage in this role for years, including a successful Broadway run in 1981–82. In 1966, Harris starred as Cain in John Huston's film The Bible: In the Beginning.

Harris recorded several albums of music, one of which, (A Tramp Shining), included the seven-minute hit song "MacArthur Park" (Harris insisted on singing the lyric as "MacArthur's Park").^[6] This song had been written by Jimmy Webb, and it reached #2 on the American Billboard Hot 100 chart. It also topped several music sales charts in Europe during the summer of 1968. "MacArthur Park" sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc.^[7] A second album, with music mostly composed by Webb, The Yard Went on Forever, was published in 1969.

Some memorable movie performances followed this, among them a role as a reluctant police informant in the coal-mining tale The Molly Maguires (1970), starring with Sean Connery. Harris starred in the Man in the Wilderness in 1971, Juggernaut in 1974 (a British suspense movie about the hijacking of an ocean liner), in 1976 in The Cassandra Crossing, along with the actresses Sophia Loren and Ava Gardner, and in a B-movie, Orca, in 1977. Harris achieved a form of cult status for his role as the mercenary tactician Rafer Janders in the movie The Wild Geese (1978).

In 1973, Harris published a widely-acclaimed book of poetry, I, In The Membership Of My Days, which was later re-published as an audio recording of his reading his own poems. In 1989, Harris played the beggar king J.J. Peachum in Mack the Knife, the third screen adaptation of The Threepenny Opera.

By the end of the 1980s, Harris had gone for an extended time without a significant movie role. He was familiar with the stage plays of fellow Irishman John B. Keane, and had heard that one of them, The Field, was being adapted for film by director Jim Sheridan. Sheridan was working with actor Ray McAnally on the adaptation, intending to feature McAnally in the lead role of Bull McCabe. When McAnally died suddenly during initial preparations, Harris began a concerted campaign to be cast as McCabe.^{[citation needed]} The campaign succeeded, and the movie version of The Field was released in 1990. For his performance, Harris earned his second Academy Award nomination for Best Actor but lost to Jeremy Irons for Reversal of Fortune. In 1992, Harris had a supporting role in the film Patriot Games, as an Irish-American radical.

In November 1987, Harris began a brief tenure as a visiting professor at the University of Scranton, a Jesuit university in Scranton, Pennsylvania.^[8] Harris had previously visited Scranton in October 1986 to perform Camelot with his younger brother, Dermot Harris, who died of a heart attack that same year.^[8][9] He soon established friendships with members of the University's faculty, notably Scranton President J.A. Panuska.^[8][9] Harris agreed to return to the University of Scranton as a visiting professor in 1987 to raise funds for a scholarship for Irish students, which he established and named in honor of his brother.^[8][9] Harris was welcomed to the city with a limo escorted by five police motorcycles and proclamation from the mayor. He cast the actors for the University of Scranton's production of Julius Caesar in November.^[8] He then returned to the university in January and February 1988 for the production.^[10]

Later career[link]

Harris appeared in two films which won the Academy Award for Best Picture. First, as the gunfighter "English Bob" in the 1992 Western, Unforgiven; second, as the Roman Emperor Marcus Aurelius in Ridley Scott's Gladiator (2000). He also played a lead role alongside James Earl Jones in the 1995 Darrell Roodt film adaptation of Cry, the Beloved Country. In 1999, Harris starred in the film To Walk with Lions. After Gladiator, Harris gained further fame playing the supporting role of Albus Dumbledore in the first two of the Harry Potter films, and as Abbé Faria in Kevin Reynolds' 2002 film adaptation of The Count of Monte Cristo. The film Kaena: The Prophecy (released in 2003) was dedicated to him posthumously as he had voiced the character Opaz before his death.

Concerning his role as Dumbledore, Harris had stated that he did not intend to take the part at first, since he knew that his own health was in decline, but he relented and accepted it because his 10-year-old granddaughter threatened never to speak to him again if he did not take it.^[11] In an interview with the Toronto Star in 2001, Harris expressed his concern that his association with the Harry Potter movies would outshine the rest of his career. He explained by saying: "Because, you see, I don't just want to be remembered for being in those bloody films, and I'm afraid that's what's going to happen to me."^[12]

Personal life and death[link]

In 1957, he married Elizabeth Rees-Williams, the daughter of David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore. Their three children are the actor Jared Harris who plays Lane Pryce on AMC's Mad Men and whom was once married to Emilia Fox, the actor Jamie Harris, and the director Damian Harris, once married to Annabel Brooks and now partner of Peta Wilson. Harris and Rees-Williams divorced in 1969, after which Elizabeth married Sir Rex Harrison. His maternal niece is actress Annabelle Wallis.

Harris's second marriage was to the American actress Ann Turkel, who was 16 years younger than he. This marriage also ended in a divorce.

Despite his divorces, Harris was a member of the Roman Catholic Knights of Malta, and was also dubbed a knight by the Queen of Denmark in 1985.

Harris often told stories about his haunted London home, The Tower House, which was sold later to the musician Jimmy Page of Led Zeppelin. According to Harris, the tower was haunted by an eight-year-old boy who had been buried in the tower. The boy often kept Harris awake at night until he one day built a nursery for the boy to play in, which calmed the disturbances to some extent.^[13]

Harris was a vocal supporter of the IRA from the early 1970s until they carried out the Harrods bombing in 1983, after which he disavowed them.^{[citation needed]}

Harris was a longtime alcoholic until he became a teetotaler in 1981, although he did resume drinking Guinness a decade later. He gave up drugs after almost dying from a cocaine overdose in 1978. A memorable incident concerning his massive alcohol consumption was an appearance on The Late Late Show where he recounted to host Gay Byrne how he had just polished off two bottles of fine wine in a restaurant and decided that he would then be going on the wagon: "And I looked at my watch and it was... Well isn't that spooky! It was the same time it is now: 11:20!"^{[citation needed]}

Harris is also attributed with an anecdote in which he was found lying drunk in a street in London. A passing policeman asked him what he was doing, and he replied that the world was spinning. The policeman inquired as to how lying in the street was going to help, and he said, "I'm waiting for my house to go by."^{[citation needed]} In a 1994 appearance on The Late Show with David Letterman, Harris said he had his driver's licence permanently suspended for knocking over a double-decker bus in Dublin, Ireland.^{[citation needed]}

Harris died of Hodgkin's lymphoma on 25 October 2002, aged 72, two and a half weeks before the American premiere of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets. Harris was a lifelong friend of actor Peter O'Toole,^[14] and his family reportedly hoped that O'Toole would replace Harris as Dumbledore in Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban.^[14] There were, however, worries of insuring O'Toole for the six remaining films in the series, and he was ultimately replaced as Dumbledore by the Irish-born actor Sir Michael Gambon.

For years, whenever he was in London, Harris resided at the Savoy Hotel. According to the hotel archivist Susan Scott, as Harris was being taken from the hotel on a stretcher, shortly before his death, he warned the diners, "It was the food!"^[15]

Harris's remains were cremated, and his ashes were scattered in The Bahamas, where he had owned a home.

Memorials[link]

On 30 September 2006, Manuel Di Lucia, of Kilkee, County Clare, a long-time friend, organized a bronze life-size statue of Richard Harris, at the age of eighteen, playing racquetball. The sculptor was Seamus Connolly and the sculpture (unveiled by Russell Crowe) stands in Kilkee, Ireland.^[16]

Another life-size statue of Richard Harris, as King Arthur from his film, Camelot, has been erected in Bedford Row, in the center of his home town of Limerick. The sculptor of this statue was the Irish sculptor Jim Connolly, a graduate of the Limerick School of Art and Design.

At the 2009 BAFTAs, Mickey Rourke dedicated his Best Actor award to Harris, calling him a "good friend, and great actor."

Awards and nominations[link]

Academy Awards[link]

• 1963 – Nominated – Best Actor in a Leading Role – This Sporting Life
• 1990 – Nominated – Best Actor in a Leading Role – The Field

Golden Globes[link]

• 1968 – Won – Best Motion Picture Actor – Musical/Comedy – Camelot
• 1991 – Nominated – Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture – Drama – The Field

Grammy Awards[link]

• – Won – Best Spoken Word Recording for Jonathan Livingston Seagull – 1973
• – Nominated – Album of the Year for A Tramp Shining – 1968
• – Nominated – Contemporary Pop Male Vocalist for MacArthur Park- 1968
• – Nominated – Best Spoken Word, Documentary or Drama Recording for The Prophet – 1975

Filmography[link]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Camelot (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1967)
• A Tramp Shining (1968)
• The Yard Went On Forever (1968)
• My Boy (1971)
• The Richard Harris Love Album (1972)
• Slides (1972)
• His Greatest Performances (1973)
• Jonathan Livingston Seagull (1973)
• The Prophet (1974)
• I, in the Membership of My Days (1974)
• Camelot (Original 1982 London Cast recording) (1982)
• Mack The Knife (Original Soundtrack) (1989)
• The Apocalypse (2004) the story of John the Apostle on Island named Patmos

Singles[link]

• "Here in My Heart (Theme from This Sporting Life)" (1963)
• "MacArthur Park" (1968)
• "Fill the World With Love" (1969)
• "Ballad of A Man Called Horse" (1970)
• "Morning of the Mourning for Another Kennedy" (1970)
• "Go to the Mirror" (1971)
• "My Boy" (1971)
• "Turning Back the Pages" (1972)
• "Half of Every Dream" (1972)
• "Trilogy (Love, Marriage, Children)" (1974)
• "The Last Castle (Theme from Echoes of a Summer)" (1976)
• "Lilliput (Theme from Gulliver's Travels)" (1977)

[edit] CD releases and compilations

• Camelot (Original 1982 London Cast Recording) (1988)
• Mack the Knife (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1989)
• Tommy (studio recording) (1990)
• Camelot (Motion Picture Soundtrack) (1993)
• A Tramp Shining (1993)
• The Prophet (1995)
• The Webb Sessions 1968–1969 (1996)
• MacArthur Park (1997)
• Slides/My Boy (2 CD Set) (2005)
• My Boy (2006)
• Man of Words Man of Music The Anthology 1968-1974 (2 CD Set) (2008) * [1]

See also[link]

• List of people on stamps of Ireland

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Michael Feeney Callan (2004-12-01). Richard Harris: Sex, Death & the Movies. Robson Books. ISBN 978-1-86105-766-2. http://books.google.com/?id=A-wxCwq4u4EC. 

External links[link]

• Richard Harris at the Internet Movie Database
• Richard Harris at the Internet Broadway Database
• Richard Harris discography at MusicBrainz
• Harris' Bar Limerick: A Bar in Limerick City Dedicated to Richard
• The Round Table, The Richard Harris Fansite
• Richard Harris file at Limerick City Library, Ireland

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (January 2007)

P.F. Sloan (born Philip Gary Schlein, September 18, 1945, in New York) is an American pop-rock singer and songwriter. He was very successful during the mid-1960s, writing, performing and producing Billboard top 20 hits for artists such as Barry McGuire, The Searchers, Jan & Dean, Herman's Hermits, Johnny Rivers, The Grass Roots and the Mamas & the Papas. His folk-pop blends caused him to sometimes be referred to as "the poor man's Bob Dylan".^[1]

History[link]

Beginnings[link]

Sloan was born to an American father and a Romanian-born mother.^[2] His family moved to West Hollywood, California in 1957, where his father, a pharmacist, changed the family surname from "Schlein" to "Sloan" after repeatedly being denied a liquor license for his store.^[2] At 13, Sloan's father bought him a guitar; at the music store in Hollywood, Sloan met Elvis Presley, who gave him an impromptu music lesson.^[2] In 1959, at 14, "Flip" Sloan recorded a single, "All I Want Is Loving" / "Little Girl in the Cabin," for the L.A. R&B record label Aladdin Records, which folded soon after its release.

He became part of the burgeoning Los Angeles music scene, landing a job on the songwriting staff at music publisher Screen Gems, which was then the largest publisher on the West Coast, at 16.^[2] There, he formed a partnership with Steve Barri, and the duo made several attempts at recording a hit single under names such as "Philip and Stephan", the "Rally-Packs", the "WIldcats", the "Street Cleaners", "Themes Inc.", and the "Lifeguards". In 1963, they to came to the attention of Screen Gems executive Lou Adler, who decided to use them as backing singers and musicians (Sloan on lead guitar and Barri on percussion) for Jan & Dean, whom he managed. Sloan & Barri were credited on all Jan & Dean albums from Dead Man's Curve / The New Girl in School in early 1964 through Command Performance in 1965. Jan Berry used Sloan as the lead falsetto voice instead of Dean Torrence on the band's top 10 hit "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena." Around that time, Sloan and Barri also wrote their first U.S. Billboard Top 100 hit, "Kick That Little Foot Sally Ann", arranged by Jack Nitzsche and performed by a Watts, California-born artist named Round Robin. Soon they also appeared on surf records by Bruce & Terry and the Rip Chords, and they recorded their own surf singles and album as The Fantastic Baggys.

Dunhill Records[link]

Adler then doubled their salaries to hire them for his startup publisher Trousdale Music and startup label Dunhill Records. Using the name Phil F. Sloan or P.F. Sloan (the "F" stood for "Flip," his nickname), Sloan wrote hits for many performers, including "Eve of Destruction" (Barry McGuire); "You Baby" and "Let Me Be" (The Turtles); "A Must to Avoid" and "Hold On!" (Herman's Hermits); "Take Me For What I'm Worth" (The Searchers); and "Secret Agent Man" (Johnny Rivers). This last song was the theme tune for Danger Man, a British TV series that had been given a new title (Secret Agent) and theme for the U.S. market.

Sloan also became a session guitarist as part of the group of L.A. session musicians known as the Wrecking Crew, working with such well-known backing musicians as drummer Hal Blaine, guitarist Tommy Tedesco, bassist Joe Osborn, and bassist/keyboardist Larry Knechtel, among others. While working with Barry McGuire, Sloan created and played a guitar introduction as a hook to a new song by John Phillips entitled "California Dreamin'", and the same backing track was used for the hit version by Phillips' group The Mamas & the Papas, which led to Sloan being a regular in their recording sessions.^[3] Sloan generally played the lead guitar tracks on most of the songs he wrote, including the famous riff in "Secret Agent Man."

Sloan and Barri also were performers while on Dunhill. They released Dunhill's first album, a collection of surf instrumentals, as the "Rincon Surfside Band," and the album was later issued by RCA under the name "Willie and the Wheels." Sloan's successful folk-influenced songwriting caused Dunhill to record two solo albums by him. His single "Sins Of A Family" reached the Billboard top 100 in fall 1965, in the wake of the huge success of "Eve of Destruction."

During this time, Sloan & Barri continued to do session work with Jan Berry of Jan & Dean, until Jan's near-fatal car wreck in April 1966, which basically ended Jan & Dean's career. They also produced a number of other acts, from Ann-Margret to The Robbs to Canadians Terry Black and Patricia-Anne (both of whom had #1 hits in Canada with Sloan-Barri songs) to Dunhill acts such as Shelley Fabares, the Ginger Snaps featuring Dandee Duncan, the Thomas Group (headed by Danny Thomas's son Tony) and the Iguanas (a Mexican band that did not speak English).

The main Sloan-Barri recording effort for Dunhill was done under the name The Grass Roots. However, after the Grass Roots enjoyed a Billboard Top 30 single with "Where Were You When I Needed You", the band's first album failed to chart, and Dunhill forced Sloan and Barri to recruit a real band to perform as the Grass Roots. Ultimately, a second band had to be recruited after the first one quit. Sloan and Barri continued as producers for the band, and they quickly generated a U.S. top 10 hit with a cover of the European hit, "Let's Live for Today" (by the British band The Rokes). After that, though, the new Grass Roots wanted to write their own songs, and Sloan, who still wanted to be a recording artist, became alienated from both Barri and Dunhill management.

Sloan played as a solo artist at the Fantasy Fair and Magic Mountain Music Festival on Sunday June 11, 1967 in the "summer of love" on the final day of this celebration of pop music.^[4] This music festival is important because it occurred before the Monterey Pop Festival but did not have a movie to document it for the ages (see List of electronic music festivals).

Sloan's final Dunhill release was a solo single, "I Can't Help But Wonder, Elizabeth" b/w "Karma (A Study Of Divinations)", once again released under the name Philip Sloan.

Political influence[link]

Due to its line "You're old enough to kill, but not for votin'", "Eve of Destruction" was used as a rallying cry by supporters of the Twenty-sixth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which changed the voting age from 21 to 18 as of 1971.^[5]

Hits and charted songs written by Sloan[link]

After Dunhill[link]

After leaving Dunhill, Sloan recorded an album in 1968, Measure of Pleasure, that he says was recorded in Muscle Shoals, Alabama, but which listed Sun Records in Memphis, Tennessee as the locale. The album, produced by Tom Dowd and released by Atco Records, was Sloan's most accomplished bit of record-making (as opposed to songwriting), but it did not sell. Beset by business and legal problems – Sloan essentially signed away the rights to his valuable compositions, and has said that Dunhill made threatening advances to force him to do so – he largely dropped out of sight in the late 1960s and did not record or perform again, save for 1972's poorly-received Raised On Records, until the 1980s. Sloan has discussed spending most of three decades battling mental and physical illnesses as a reason for his disappearance from music.^[6] He made a CD in the early 1990s that was initially released only in Japan.

Finally, in 2005 Sloan made a series of recordings with producer Jon Tiven in Nashville, Tennessee. The resulting album, Sailover, was released in August 2006 on the Hightone label. Tiven, known for his work with artists such as Alex Chilton and Frank Black, played on the record, as did his wife, Sally Tiven. The record was a mixed bag of old and new songs, including several co-written by Tiven, and includes guests Frank Black, Buddy Miller, Lucinda Williams, Felix Cavaliere, Tom Petersson, and Gary Tallent.

Reissues[link]

Sloan's early work has been poorly represented on compact disc, with only a smattering of releases to his name. Measure of Pleasure was reissued on CD in January 2007. There is currently a collection of his demo recordings available (Child of Our Times), and there was a now-out-of-print 1993 "Anthology" of his Dunhill recordings.

In 2008, UK-based Ace Records did a near-definitive reissue of Sloan's solo recordings for Dunhill. Entitled Here's Where I Belong: The Best of the Dunhill Years 1965-1967, the CD omits the album tracks "When The Wind Changes" and "Patterns Seg. 4." Sloan's final Dunhill recording, "I Can't Help But Wonder, Elizabeth," made its legal CD debut on this release.

Tribute from fellow songwriter[link]

"P.F. Sloan" is also the title of a song by singer-songwriter Jimmy Webb, who is better known for the 1960s hits "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" and "Up, Up and Away". Webb released two different versions of the catchy, bittersweet composition, which seems to be about the costs and disappointments of being a creative groundbreaker.

Cover versions of the song were recorded by The Association in 1971, Jennifer Warnes, and by British band Unicorn in the early 1970s - released as a single and album track on Transatlantic Records. Jackson Browne performed the song with Webb on Webb's 2010 album Just Across the River. British musician Rumer performed it on her 2012 album Boys Don't Cry.

While Sloan's insistence on becoming a recording artist was an inspiration to fellow songwriter Webb, who had worked with Sloan with Bones Howe and The Fifth Dimension, a personal dispute led Webb to deny the existence of "P.F. Sloan" when asked about the song's title character during an article interview, saying that he had made the name up. Eugene Landy, the controversial psychologist, laid claim to being the real P.F. Sloan when he was asked by reporters why he considered himself able to direct Beach Boys lead singer Brian Wilson's musical career. Landy claimed to have written the songs attributed to "P.F. Sloan".^{[citation needed]}

Discography[link]

Solo[link]

Singles[link]

Albums[link]

• Songs of Our Times (1965 – Dunhill)
• Twelve More Times (1966 – Dunhill)
• Measure of Pleasure (1968 – Atco)
• Raised on Records (1972 – Mums)
• Serenade of the Seven Sisters (1994 – Pioneer)
• Child of Our Times: The Trousdale Demo Sessions 1965–1967 (2001 – Varese Sarabande)
• Sailover (2006 – Hightone)

With Steve Barri[link]

Singles[link]

Albums[link]

• Tell 'Em I'm Surfin' – Fantastic Baggys (1964, Imperial)
• The Surfing Songbook – Rincon Surfside Band (1965, Dunhill)
• The Surfing Songbook – Willie and the Wheels (1965, RCA) (identical release)
• Where Were You When I Needed You – The Grass Roots (1966, Dunhill)

References[link]

1. ^ The liner notes accompanying the Time-Life compendium of CD's titled Classic Rock
2. ^ ^{a b c d} Scott R. Benarde (2003). Stars of David: Rock 'n' Roll's Jewish Stories. p. 91. ISBN 1-58465-303-5. 
3. ^ Dan Daily (2004-07-01). "Classic Tracks: The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'"". Mix Magazine. http://mixonline.com/mag/audio_mamas_papas_california/. Retrieved 2010-11-18. 
4. ^ Lomas, Mark. "Fantasy Fair & Magic Mountain Music Festival". Marin History. Marin Independent Journal. http://blogs.marinij.com/marinhistory/2008/09/fantasy_fair_magic_mountain_mu.html. Retrieved 29 December 2011. 
5. ^ Liane Hansen (2006-08-20). "PF Sloan's Long Road Back from 'Destruction'". National Public Radio. http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=5676131. Retrieved 2011-02-19. 
6. ^ Gene Sculatti (2006-08-14). "'Eve of Destruction' poised to explode again". USA Today. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2006-08-14-sloan_x.htm. Retrieved 2010-11-17. 

External links[link]

• The Official Website for P.F. Sloan
• P.F. Sloan fan website includes biography, discography, and more
• Interview with P.F. Sloan
• P.F. Sloan - Yahoo! Group mailing list - discussion of all aspects of his career and his music
• A Mailing List Interview with P. F. Sloan an email interview with P.F. Sloan
• P. F. Sloan - Who Played What? another email interview with P.F. Sloan
• [1] The Mamas and the Papas' "California Dreamin' "
• End of a Hiatus an NPR World Cafe Interview with P.F. Sloan, Sept 12, 2006
• P. F. Sloan on MySpace

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (March 2009)

Thelma Houston
Background information
Birth name	Thelma Jackson
Born	(1946-05-07) May 7, 1946 (age 66) Leland, Mississippi, United States
Genres	R&B, soul, disco, quiet storm, Motown, gospel
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	1966–present
Labels	Dunhill, Motown, RCA, MCA, Reprise, Shout Factory
Associated acts	Sisters of Glory
Website	www.thelmahouston.com

Thelma Houston (née Jackson; born May 7, 1946, Leland, Mississippi^[1]) is an American singer-songwriter and actress. She scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her cover version of the song "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the 1978 Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.

Early life and career[link]

Houston is the daughter of a cotton picking mother.^[1] She and her three sisters grew up primarily in Long Beach, California.^[1] After marrying and having two children, she joined the Art Reynolds Singers gospel group and was subsequently signed as a recording artist with Dunhill Records.^[1] She is not related to Whitney Houston.^{[citation needed][relevant? – discuss]}

In 1969, Houston released her debut album, entitled Sunshower, produced by Jimmy Webb.^[1] In 1971 she signed with Motown Records but her early recordings with them were largely unsuccessful.^[1] Her most notable single during that period was "You've Been Doing Wrong for So Long" which peaked at #64 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart in 1974.^[1] However Houston's vocal prowess on that track secured her a nomination for a Best Female R&B Vocal Performance. In 1973 Motown Productions announced a projected biopic of Dinah Washington which would star Houston; however the project was dropped due to difficulties in getting clearance from Washington's relatives.^[2] In April 1974 Houston joined the cast of The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine, playing various characters during the show's skits. The show was canceled in August and for the next several years her work was limited to demo recordings and performing at small venues.

Houston took acting classes and received her first role in the 1975 made-for-television film Death Scream. In that same year Sheffield Lab released "I've Got the Music in Me" a Direct to disc recording by Thelma Houston and Pressure Cooker that went on to become a benchmark vinyl recording for audiophiles. The following year she recorded songs for the soundtrack to the film The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings starring Billy Dee Williams and James Earl Jones.^[1] In 1975 Houston appeared on the Golden Globe Award broadcast performing the nominated song "On & On" and also was featured in a tribute to Berry Gordy on that year's American Music Award broadcast singing "You've Made Me So Very Happy". That year Houston's version of "Do You Know Where You're Going To" was being set for single release when it was pulled and the song given to Diana Ross to serve as the theme song for the movie Mahogany.^[3] In 1976 Houston sang backing vocals for Motown labelmate Jermaine Jackson on his album My Name Is Jermaine.^[1]

"Don't Leave Me This Way" and aftermath[link]

Houston in 1977.

Houston released her third album Any Way You Like It in 1976.^[1] The first single released was her version of Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes' 1975 song "Don't Leave Me This Way".^[1] In February 1977 the track hit Number 1 in the U.S. on the R&B and Club Play Singles charts, then in April 1977 on the Hot 100. "Don't Leave Me This Way" won Houston the Best Female R&B Vocal Performance at the Grammys for 1977. Thelma delighted many fans by her only UK Top Of The Pops appearance in 1977 wearing a pale figure hugging dress. Somewhat outrageous for the show at the time. Besides its US success "Don't Leave Me This Way" became a hit in at least twelve countries, including the UK where it reached Number 13 despite the concurrent single release of the Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes original, which reached Number 5. Also in 1977 Houston teamed up with Jerry Butler to record the album Thelma & Jerry and that November 1977 she co-starred in the film Game Show Models. It was announced in February 1977 that Houston would star as Bessie Smith in a filmation of the play Me and Bessie, to be produced by Motown; after an announcement that December that Houston was set to portray Bessie Smith in a biopic to be produced in 1978 by Columbia Pictures nothing more was heard of the project.

The second single from Any Way You Like It was Houston's rendition of "If It's the Last Thing I Do", a standard written by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn; the track had been recorded and prepped for single release in 1973 but canceled. The impact of "If It's the Last Thing I Do" was far less than that of "Don't Leave Me This Way", as the former fell short of both the R&B Top Ten and the Pop Top 40. With the lead single from her 1978 album The Devil in Me: "I'm Here Again", Houston returned to the style of "Don't Leave Me This Way" without recapturing the earlier single's success. Houston did enjoy considerable commercial success in 1978 via the inclusion of her track "Love Masterpiece" on the Thank God It's Friday soundtrack album which sold double platinum but her own album release that year Ready to Roll again failing to consolidate the stardom augured by "Don't Leave Me This Way". The album's second single: "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning", gradually accrued airplay entering the national charts in March 1979 and ascending as high as #34 (#19 R&B) that June. "Saturday Night, Sunday Morning" was issued on a new album by Houston: Ride to the Rainbow but the track's relative success was not enough to forestall Houston's planned departure from Motown.^[1]

1980s[link]

Houston continued recording into the 1980s, beginning with the RCA release Breakwater Cat which reunited her with Jimmy Webb who'd produced her debut Sunshower and which like their earlier collaboration was a commercially overlooked critical success. In the 22 December 1984 Billboard magazine interview, Houston admitted to "'no real commercial success' since the single 'Don't Leave Me This Way' broke on the Pop charts in late 1976" indicating that the disco backlash had left her with "no real base of audience support" and that her current album Qualifying Heat, executive produced by Houston herself, was a concentrated initiative to restore her as a viable chart presence; the album featured three cuts from Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis - including the single "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and production work from Glen Ballard, Dennis Lambert, Cliff Magness and - in his first known recording work - Lenny Kravitz (then billed as Romeo Blue), who each produced a cut apiece. "You Use to Hold Me So Tight" became Houston's most successful post-'70s' release with a #13 R&B peak, but its parent album was a comparative failure - charting #41 R&B - and Houston would not cut another album for six years.

The constant ranking of her '80s releases of the '80s as moderate or minor R&B hits led Houston to concentrate on alternate exposure: having appeared in the independent film The Seventh Dwarf in 1979, Houston made guest-starring appearances into the mid-1980s in several popular television programs including Cagney & Lacey, Simon & Simon - a January 1986 appearance that featured her performing "You Used to Hold Me So Tight" - and Faerie Tale Theatre. Houston also appeared in the 1987 CBS after school special Little Miss Perfect (1987) - as "Prison Singer" - in the 1988 film And God Created Woman.

On the 19 May 1985 NBC broadcast Motown Returns to the Apollo Houston performed "What a Diff'rence a Day Makes" in the guise of Dinah Washington. Houston continued to contribute to movie soundtracks, recording "Keep It Light" for the 1985 film Into the Night and she remade Bill Withers' "Lean on Me" for the 1989 film entitled Lean on Me. Houston also co-wrote and sang back-up on the song "Be Yourself" for Patti LaBelle's 1989 album of the same title.

1990s[link]

The fall of 1990 saw the release of Houston's first album in six years, Throw You Down, a long-planned collaboration with producer Richard Perry which briefly extended Houston's career as a minor R&B chart presence. The title song reached #5 on the U.S. dance chart. A remix of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was released, and once again charted on the Hot Dance Club Play chart at #19 in 1995. Subsequent singles include "I Need Somebody Tonight" and "All of That".

In 1994, Houston participated in an AIDS benefit at New York’s Algonquin Hotel, performing gospel music with Phoebe Snow, Chaka Khan and CeCe Peniston as "Sisters of Glory". Intended as a one-off performance troupe, the Sisters of Glory remained together - with the addition of Mavis Staples and Lois Walden, and without Chaka Khan - to perform at Woodstock '94. Houston performed with the Sisters of Glory for the Pope in Vatican City and in 1995 Houston, Phoebe Snow, CeCe Peniston, Lois Walden and Albertina Walker recorded the Warner Brothers album Good News In Hard Times as the Sisters of Glory.^[4]

Houston provided backing vocals on guitarist Scott Henderson's 1997 Atlantic album, Tore Down House.^[1] and in 1998 she made cameo appearances in two films: in 54 Houston portrayed herself singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" supposedly at Studio 54, and in Beloved Houston played 'One of The Thirty Women'.^[4]

Recent[link]

In 2000, Houston toured successfully throughout Australia in the stage musical version of Fame. Upon returning to the U.S. Houston toured with Nile Rodgers and Chic, and was among the opening acts of the originally intended finale of Cher's Farewell Tour in Toronto on 31 October 2003. Houston regularly performs at Teatro ZinZanni in Seattle and San Francisco.

Her version of "Don't Leave Me This Way" continues to be popular today. In recent years she has been invited to sing this song on dozens of TV shows and specials including NBC's Today Show, ABC's Motown 45 and The Disco Ball...A 30-Year Celebration, and PBS' specials American Soundtrack: Rhythm, Love and Soul, Soul Superstars, and Old School Superstars. "Don't Leave Me This Way" was mentioned by VH1 as being among the greatest dance songs in 2000, and was ranked number eighty-six on the channel's countdown of The 100 Greatest One-Hit Wonders. She won an episode of the NBC show Hit Me, Baby, One More Time with her renditions of her own hit and "Fallin'" by Alicia Keys. On September 20, 2004, Houston's rendition of "Don't Leave Me This Way" was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame in New York City.

On August 14, 2007, Houston released her first studio album in seventeen years, A Woman's Touch.^[1] The album was produced by Peitor Angell^[5] and features cover versions of songs by male artists such as Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, and Sting that Houston had been inspired by. The first single from the album was "Brand New Day". On August 20, 2007, Houston's 1984 album Qualifying Heat was reissued as an import title in the U.S. with a bonus track.

She sang "Don't Leave Me This Way" on American Idol on April 22, 2009, and on America's Got Talent on September 16, 2009.

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Dunhill release

• 1969: Sunshower

Motown releases

• 1973: Thelma Houston
• 1976: Any Way You Like It
• 1977: Thelma & Jerry – Thelma Houston and Jerry Butler
• 1978: The Devil in Me
• 1978: Ready to Roll
• 1978: Two to One – Thelma Houston and Jerry Butler
• 1979: Ride to the Rainbow
• 1982: Reachin' All Around

Sheffield Lab release

• 1975: I've Got the Music in Me – with Pressure Cooker

RCA releases

• 1980: Breakwater Cat
• 1981: Never Gonna Be Another One

MCA releases

• 1983: Thelma Houston (1983)
• 1984: Qualifying Heat

Reprise release

• 1990: Throw You Down

Italian-only release (Fonit Cetra CDL378)

• 1994: Thelma Houston (1994)

Shout Factory release

• 2007: A Woman's Touch

Other

• 2010: Divas of Disco: Live (with CeCe Peniston, Linda Clifford, A Taste of Honey and France Joli)

Singles[link]

Year	Single	Chart positions
		U.S. Billboard Hot 100[6] *** Cash Box Top 100[7]	U.S. R&B[6]	U.S. Dance[6]	U.S. Dance airplay[6]	Various
1966	"Baby Mine"	—	—	—	—	—
1967	"Don't Cry, My Soldier Boy"	—	—	—	—	—
1969	"Everybody Gets to Go to the Moon"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Sunshower"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Jumpin' Jack Flash"	—	—	—	—	—
1970	"Save the Country"	70 *** 83	—	—	—	—
	"The Good Earth"	—	—	—	—	—
1972	"I Want to Go Back There Again"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Me and Bobby McGee"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Piano Man"	—	—	—	—	—
	"What If?"	—	—	—	—	—
	"I'm Just a Part of Yesterday"	—	—	—	—	—
1974	"You've Been Doing Wrong for So Long"	—	64	—	—	—
1976	"Don't Leave Me This Way"	1 *** 3	1	1	—	#6 #18 #4 #13 #5 #15 #4 #17 #1 #11 #4 #13
	"Any Way You Like It"	—	—	1	—	—
	"If It's the Last Thing I Do"	47 *** 85	12	—	—	#81
1977	"I'm Here Again"	—	21	18	—	#34 #9
	"I Can't Go on Living Without Your Love"	—	—	—	—	—
	"It's a Lifetime Thing"	—	84	—	—	—
	"Don't Pity Me" (with Jerry Butler)	—	—	—	—	—
1978	"I'm Not Strong Enough (To Love You)"	—	—	—	—	—
1979	"Love Masterpiece" (from Thank God It's Friday)	—	—	—	—	—
	"Saturday Night, Sunday Morning"	34 *** 44	19	33	—	#38 #14
	"Love Machine"	—	—	—	—	—
1980	"Suspicious Minds"	—	—	—	—	—
1981	"If You Feel It"	—	35	6	—	#27 #42 #48
	"96 Tears"	—	76	22	—	—
1983	"Working Girl"	—	46	—	—	—
	"Just Like All the Rest"	—	80	—	—	—
1984	"You Used to Hold Me So Tight"	—	13	7	—	#49
	"What a Woman Feels Inside"/"Fantasy and Heartbreak"	—	—	—	—	—
1985	"I'd Rather Spend the Bad Times with You, Than the Good Times with Someone New"	—	—	4	—	—
	"(I Guess) It Must Be Love"	—	59	—	—	#80
	"Why Do People Fall in Love" (with Dennis Edwards)	—	—	—	—	—
	"Moonlight Serenade"	—	—	—	—	—
	"In the Mood" (from Into the Night)	—	—	—	—	—
	"My Lucille" (with B. B. King)/"Keep It Light"	—	—	—	—	—
1989	"Lean on Me"	—	73	—	—	—
1990	"Hold On"	—	—	—	—	—
	"Out of My Hands"	—	82	—	—	—
	"Throw You Down"/"What He Was"	—	—	—	—	—
1991	"High"	—	66	—	—	—
	"Throw You Down"	—	—	6	—	—
1996	"Don't Leave Me This Way" (Junior Vasquez '96 Version)	—	—	19	—	#35
	"I Need Somebody Tonight"	—	—	—	—	—
1998	"All of That"	—	—	—	—	—
1999	"Let It Be" (with Roger Daltrey)	—	—	—	—	—
2004	"Don't Leave Me This Way" (Soultans Mix)	—	—	—	—	—
2007	"Brand New Day"	—	—	20	30	—

Filmography[link]

Films[link]

• 1975: Death Scream — Lady Wing Ding
• 1977: Game Show Models — Dana Sheridan
• 1979: The Seventh Dwarf
• 1988: And God Created Woman — prison singer
• 1998: 54 — herself
• 1998: Beloved — one of The Thirty Women

Television (guest)[link]

• 1969: The Price of Fame - Guest singer, singing "Jumpin' Jack Flash"
• 1971: The Marty Feldman Comedy Machine — various characteres
• 1980: The Two Ronnies - Guest singer, singing " The Candyman"
• 1985: Cagney & Lacey — Ellie Hendricks
• 1986: Simon & Simon — Venutia
• 1986: Tall Tales & Legends — Edna
• 1987: Little Miss Perfect — Ms. Bonner

Soundtracks[link]

• 1976: The Bingo Long Traveling All-Stars & Motor Kings — "Steal on Home", "Razzle Dazzle"
• 1976: Norman... Is That You? — "One Out of Every Six"
• 1978: Thank God It's Friday — "Love Masterpiece"
• 1984: Getting Physical — "Hot Dance", "To Be Free"
• 1985: Into the Night — "Keep It Light"
• 1989: Lean on Me — "Lean on Me"

See also[link]

• List of number-one hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the Hot 100 (U.S.)
• List of number-one dance hits (United States)
• List of artists who reached number one on the U.S. Dance chart

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Thelma Houston at Allmusic
• Thelma Houston at the Internet Movie Database
• Thelma Houston talks about disco, and NBC's "America's Got Talent"