MCA Records was an American-based record company owned by MCA Inc., which later gave way to the larger MCA Music Entertainment Group (now Universal Music Group), of which MCA Records was still part. MCA Records was absorbed by Geffen Records in 2003. MCA's country division, MCA Nashville Records, is a still active imprint of Universal Music Group Nashville.

Pre-history[link]

MCA,Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 with the purchase of the New York-based US Decca Records (established in 1934^[1]), including Coral Records and Brunswick Records. MCA was forced to exit the talent agency business in order to complete the merger. As American Decca owned Universal Pictures, MCA assumed full ownership of Universal and made it into the top film studio in town, producing hit after hit.^[2] In 1966, MCA formed Uni Records^[3] and in 1967 purchased Kapp Records^[4] which was placed under Uni Records management.^[5]

History[link]

MCA Records formation outside North America[link]

The U.S. and U.K. Decca companies were forced to sever their ties because of World War II.^[6] MCA's U.S. based Decca Records had the rights to the Decca name in North and South America and parts of Asia including Japan. U.K. Decca owned the rights to the Decca name in the rest of the world. After the war, British Decca formed a new U.S. subsidiary, London Records.

During this time U.S. Decca issued records outside North America on the Brunswick and Coral labels. In 1967, Brunswick and Coral were replaced by the MCA Records label to release U.S. Decca and Kapp label material outside North America.^[7][8] Initial activity under the MCA Records name was based in London. MCA Records in the UK was formally launched on February 16, 1968.^[9] The label signed only a few artists until the 1970-1971 period. Among the first artists were groups Wishbone Ash; Osibisa; Stackridge; and Budgie; and solo artists Tony Christie; Mick Greenwood; and Roy Young.^[10] Early MCA releases were distributed by U.K. Decca but moved to EMI from 1974 to 1979. Distribution then moved to CBS, while the last releases in the 1980s were self distributed. As the U.S. division of MCA Records was not established until 1972, the earliest U.K. MCA Records material was released in the U.S. on either Kapp or Decca.

MCA U.K. also issued American Brunswick material on the MCA label until MCA lost control of Brunswick in 1970 at which point American Brunswick material was issued in the UK on the Brunswick label. Uni label material was issued on the Uni label worldwide.

MCA Records formation in North America[link]

In 1970, MCA reorganized its Canadian record company Compo Company Ltd. into MCA Records (Canada).^[11] In April 1970, former Warner Bros. Records president Mike Maitland joined MCA and initially served as Decca's general manager. Maitland was unsuccessful in his attempt to consolidate Warner Bros. Records with co-owned Atlantic Records which led to his departure from Warner.

In April 1971, Maitland supervised the consolidation of the New York based Decca and Kapp labels plus the California based Uni label into MCA Records based in Universal City, California with Maitland serving as president.^[12] The three labels maintained their identities for a short time but were retired in favor of the MCA label in 1973.^[3][13] Drift Away by Dobie Gray became the final Decca pop label release in the U.S in 1973. Beginning the same year the catalogs of Decca, Uni and Kapp were reissued in the U.S. on the MCA Records label under the supervision of veteran Decca producer Milt Gabler.^[14]

Early success[link]

The first MCA Records release in the U.S. was former Uni artist Elton John's Crocodile Rock single in 1972.^[15] In December 1972, Neil Diamond, another Uni artist, reached superstar status with his first MCA release, the live multi-platinum Hot August Night. Elton John's double album Goodbye Yellow Brick Road was released in October 1973 and was number one on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart for eight straight weeks. The management of former Decca artists The Who had formed their own label Track Records in the U.K. but were still under contract with MCA for U.S. distribution. The Who's double album Quadrophenia was released by Track/MCA also in October 1973. Quadrophenia peaked at number 2 as it was held back from the number 1 slot by Goodbye Yellow Brick Road.

Other successful artists on MCA after the consolidation included former Kapp artist Cher, and Uni artist Olivia Newton-John. MCA released the highly successful soundtrack album to the 1973 film The Sting. The soundtrack music was arranged and conducted by Marvin Hamlisch and won an Academy Award for Best Original Score (MCA issued many other soundtracks to films from Universal, along with some non-Universal films).

One of the most successful new MCA artists in this era was the rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd. Their song Free Bird peaked at #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in edited form, but the full length version became one of the most popular songs of all time on Album-oriented rock radio stations. On their second album, Second Helping, the group recorded a song about their signing to the label, "Workin' for MCA." Three Lynyrd Skynyrd albums released by MCA reached the double platinum sales level and at least two others reached platinum or gold levels. Lynyrd Skynyrd's hit streak ended following a tragic 1977 plane crash in which three members of the group and one crew member were killed and others were severely injured.

During the 1970s and 1980s MCA profited from reissuing classic early rock and roll recordings made by artists who recorded for the numerous labels absorbed by MCA over the years. One notable example was the 1954 Decca recording Rock Around the Clock by Bill Haley & His Comets, which was featured as the lead track of MCA's No. 1-charting American Graffiti soundtrack album, and as a single returned to the American top 40 that year, 20 years after it was recorded.

Expansion and struggles[link]

In 1977 MCA president Sidney Sheinberg set up the Infinity Records division, based in New York City with Ron Alexenberg as CEO. Alexenberg had previously been with the Epic division of CBS Records, now Sony Music Entertainment. The intention was to give MCA a stronger presence on the east coast. The only big hit the Infinity label had was Escape by Rupert Holmes which was #1 at the end of 1979. Infinity also had some success with Hot Chocolate, Spyro Gyra, New England and TKO. But MCA pulled the plug on Infinity after it failed to sell most of the 1 million advance copies of an album featuring Pope John Paul II in October 1979. Infinity was fully absorbed by the parent company in 1980.

In 1979, Bob Siner replaced Maitland as MCA Records president.^[16] Shortly afterwards, MCA acquired ABC Records along with its subsidiaries Paramount Records, Dunhill Records, Impulse! Records, Westminster Records, and Dot Records. ABC had acquired the Paramount and Dot labels when they purchased Gulf+Western's record labels, the Famous Music Group. Thus MCA now controlled the following material once owned by Paramount Pictures: the music released by Paramount's record labels, and the pre-1950 films by Paramount as well. Also included in the deal were recordings controlled by ABC, including albums by Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers which were originally released by Shelter Records. Petty was furious about the re-assignment of his contract and refused to record for MCA. This led to a series of lawsuits, which resulted in his bankruptcy in 1980. Petty and other ABC/Shelter artists eventually had their contracts transferred to the Backstreet Records label, which was distributed by MCA. ABC Records' independent distributors sued ABC and MCA for $1.3 million in damages for being stuck with unsold ABC recordings they could not return to MCA.^[17][18] The better selling ABC Records catalog albums were reissued on the MCA label.^[19]

The combined effects of the Infinity Records failure, the purchase of ABC Records, rising vinyl costs and a huge slump in record sales produced tremendous losses for the company between 1979 and 1982. It was not until the mid 1980s that the record labels returned to significant profitability. In late 1980 MCA received negative publicity when it attempted to raise the list price of new releases by top selling artists from $8.98 to $9.98. This policy, known as "superstar pricing", ultimately failed. The Xanadu soundtrack album and former ABC artist Steely Dan's Gaucho were the first $9.98 list albums. Backstreet artist Tom Petty succeeded in his campaign to force MCA to drop prices back to $8.98 for his album Hard Promises released in May 1981.^[20]

Recovery, further expansion and MCA Music Entertainment Group formation[link]

From 1983 to 1989, MCA Records was headed by Irving Azoff and is credited with saving the company from bankruptcy. Azoff resigned from MCA in 1989 to form his own record label, Giant Records, now defunct. Richard Palmese was named president of MCA Records after Azoff in 1990.^[21]

In the late 1980s, MCA formed Mechanic Records as a sub-label for releasing heavy metal music. Bands signed to Mechanic included Voivod, Dream Theater, Bang Tango, and Trixter.

The Chess Records catalog was acquired from the remnants of Sugar Hill Records in 1985. Motown Records was bought in 1988 (and sold to PolyGram in 1993). GRP Records and Geffen Records were acquired in 1990. Unlike most of MCA's previous acquisitions, the GRP (which began managing MCA's jazz holdings) and Geffen (which became a second mainstream subsidiary) labels kept their identities and MCA created a new holding company in 1989 called MCA Music Entertainment Group, headed by Al Teller, former President of United Artists Records, and Co-Chairman of Turf Classics, a concert production company, run by Producer Richard Flanzer; among several other music industry positions Teller held.^[22] with Palmese continuing to run the MCA label. In the same year, the MCA Inc. parent company was purchased by the Matsushita group.

MCA Music Entertainment Group becomes Universal Music Group[link]

In 1995, Seagram Company Ltd. acquired 80% of MCA. On November of that year, Teller was fired and replaced by former Warner Music head Doug Morris.^[23] Palmese left MCA a week later.^[24] The following year, the new owners dropped the MCA name; the company became Universal Studios, Inc. and its music division, MCA Music Entertainment Group, was renamed Universal Music Group (UMG), headed by Morris.

In 1997, MCA Records adopted a new logo that featured the parent company's former full name. Many younger people had been unaware of what MCA had stood for in the past, hence the new logo.

In 1998 Seagram acquired PolyGram (owner of British Decca) from Philips and merged it with its music holdings. When Seagram's drinks business was bought by France-based Pernod Ricard, its media holdings (including Universal) were sold to Vivendi which became Vivendi Universal which was later renamed back to Vivendi SA after selling most of the entertainment division (which included Universal Pictures) to General Electric. Morris continued to head the combined company, still called Universal Music Group.

MCA label phaseout[link]

In spring 2003, the MCA Records label was absorbed by sister UMG label Geffen Records.^[25] Today Universal Music Enterprises manages MCA's rock, pop, and urban back catalogues (including those from ABC Records and Famous Music Group) in conjunction with Geffen - UME and Geffen have re-released various albums from MCA in the years since, as well as several compilations. Its country music label, MCA Nashville Records is still in operation. MCA's jazz catalogue is managed by Verve Records (through either the GRP or Impulse! imprints, depending on if the release was acquired from ABC or not), while its classical music catalogue is managed by Deutsche Grammophon. MCA's musical theatre catalogue is managed by Decca Records on its Decca Broadway imprint.

Today, the only operation by MCA that lives is the MCA Nashville imprint.

MCA Music (Philippines)[link]

The MCA name is still in use in the Philippines because of a trademark dispute with an unrelated label known as Universal Records, which holds the rights to the word "Universal" for recorded music in the Philippines. As a result, Universal Music Group is instead traded as MCA Music, Inc. Philippines in that country. However, the company has adopted the moniker "MCA-Universal" to simplify identification, even though no formal "Universal" branding is exercised.

Artists[link]

• 1:43
• Akafellas
• Alegre, Johnny
• Chicosci
• The Dawn
• De Guzman, Lica
• Escueta, Miguel
• Fernandez, Pops
• Franco
• Garcia, Tricia
• Greyhoundz
• HUMANFOLK
• Kjwan
• Lawrence, Kris
• Krissy and Ericka
• Lynyrd Skynyrd
• The Lamars
• Sabrina (Orial, Roli Alexandra)
• Paredes, Jim
• Pedicab
• Poon, Richard
• Side A
• Tanya Markova
• Urbandub
• Volante, Nyoy
• Zaragoza, Jessa

Logos[link]

• 1960sMCAlogo.jpg

  First MCA Records logo, used outside the United States and patterned after the 1960s American Decca logo.

• 

  MCA Records logo used from 1972 through 1991.

• 

  Logo used from 1991 through 1997. Still used by MCA Nashville.

• Final MCA Records logo.png

  Final MCA Records logo, used from 1997 until its dismantling in 2003. It adds the founding company's original full name, Music Corporation of America.

Labels[link]

• MCARecordsCover1970s.jpg

  White promotional label used for second logo (1972 until 1991). [Vinyl version]

• MCARecordsCover1990s.jpg

  Label used for third logo (1991 until 1997). [CD version, possibly opposed on Vinyl edition]

MCA Records recording artists[link]

See also[link]

• ABC Records
• Chess Records
• Decca Records
• Dunhill Records
• Geffen Records
• Infinity Records
• Kapp Records
• MCA Nashville Records
• Uni Records
• Universal Music Group
• Uptown Records

References[link]

External links[link]

• The official website of MCA Music PHILIPPINES  Philippines
• MCA Music Philippines on Facebook
• MCA Music Philippines on Twitter
• A collection of MCA record labels
• MCA UK 45 RPM labels and sleeves 1967-1985
• MCA US 45 RPM labels and sleeves 1972-1985

Ian Foster is a Distinguished Fellow and the Associate Division Director in the Mathematics and Computer Science Division at Argonne National Laboratory, where he leads the Distributed Systems Laboratory, and he is a Professor in the Department of Computer Science at the University of Chicago. He is also involved with both the Open Grid Forum and with the Globus Alliance as an open source strategist. In 2006, he was appointed director of the Computation Institute, a joint project between the University of Chicago, and Argonne. An earlier project, Strand, received the British Computer Society Award for technical innovation.

His research resulted in the development of techniques, tools and algorithms for high-performance distributed computing and parallel computing. As a result he is denoted as “the father of the Grid”. Foster led research and development of software for the I-WAY wide-area distributed computing experiment, which connected supercomputers, databases and other high-end resources at 17 sites across North America in 1995. His own labs, the Distributed Systems Laboratory is the nexus of the multi-institute Globus Project, a research and development effort that encourages collaborative computing by providing advances necessary for engineering, business and other fields. Furthermore the Computation Institute addresses many of the most challenging computational and communications problems facing Grid implementations today.

In 2004, he founded Univa Corporation, which was merged with United Devices in 2007.

Foster's honors include the Lovelace Medal of the British Computer Society, the Gordon Bell Prize for high-performance computing (2001), IEEE Tsutomu Kanai Award (2011), as well as others. He was elected Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in 2003, and a Fellow of the Association for Computing Machinery in 2009. He is currently serving on the Advisory Board for IOCOM Communications.

Ian is originally from New Zealand but is now based in the United States. He has three nieces in Sydney, Australia.

External links[link]

• Personal web page
• Ian Foster personal weblog
• Experts – University of Chicago Website
• Argonne's Distinguished Fellows

Merle Haggard
Haggard at the White House for the 2010 Kennedy Center Honors
Background information
Birth name	Merle Ronald Haggard
Also known as	The Hag
Born	(1937-04-06) April 6, 1937 (age 75) Oildale, California, United States
Genres	Country
Occupations	Songwriter, musician, guitarist and singer
Years active	1963–present
Labels	Capitol, MCA, Epic, Curb, ANTI, Vanguard
Website	merlehaggard.com
Notable instruments
Merle Haggard Signature Model Telecaster

Merle Ronald Haggard (born April 6, 1937) is an American country music song writer, singer, guitarist, fiddler and instrumentalist. Along with Buck Owens, Haggard and his band The Strangers helped create the Bakersfield sound, which is characterized by the unique twang of Fender Telecaster and the unique mix with the traditional country steel guitar sound, new vocal harmony styles in which the words are minimal, and a rough edge not heard on the more polished Nashville Sound recordings of the same era.

By the 1970s, Haggard was aligned with the growing outlaw country movement, and has continued to release successful albums through the 1990s and into the 2000s. In 1997, Merle Haggard was inducted into the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame.

Early life[link]

Merle Haggard was born in Oildale, California, in 1937. His parents, James Francis and Flossie Mae (née Harp) Haggard,^[1] moved from Oklahoma to California during the Great Depression. At that time, much of the population of Bakersfield consisted of migrant workers from Oklahoma and surrounding states. Haggard spent his childhood in Oildale, a hardscrabble suburb of Bakersfield home to many workers in the adjacent Kern River Oil Field. His maternal grandmother, Martha Arizona Belle "Zona" Villines Harp (1881-1971), is the subject of his 1972 hit "Grandma Harp."

Haggard's father died when Merle was nine years old. He soon began committing petty crimes and truancy. Due to shoplifting in 1950 (aged thirteen), Merle was sent to a juvenile detention center.^[2] In 1951, aged 14, Haggard ran away to Texas with a friend, but returned that same year and was arrested for truancy and petty larceny. Again escaping the juvenile detention center, he went to Modesto, California. He worked odd jobs—legal and not—and began performing in a bar. Once he was found again, he was sent to the Preston School of Industry, a high-security installation. He was released fifteen months later, but was sent back after beating a local boy during a burglary attempt. After his fourth release, Haggard saw Lefty Frizzell in concert with his friend, Bob Teague. After hearing Haggard sing along to his first two songs Frizzell allowed Haggard to sing at the concert. The audience enjoyed Haggard and he began working on a full-time music career. After he had earned a local reputation, Haggard's money problems caught up with him. He was arrested for attempting to rob a Bakersfield tavern in 1957^[3] and was sent to the San Quentin state prison for three years.

While in prison, Haggard ran a gambling and brewing racket from his cell. During a time of solitary confinement, he encountered an alcoholic mathematician and death row inmate, Drunk Adam. Haggard had the opportunity to escape with a fellow inmate (nicknamed "Rabbit") but passed. The inmate successfully escaped, only to shoot a police officer and return to San Quentin for execution. Drunk Adam's predicament along with that of "Rabbit" inspired Haggard to turn his life around. Haggard soon earned a high-school equivalence diploma, kept a steady job in the prison's textile plant, and played in the prison's band. Upon his release in 1960, Haggard said it took about four months to get used to being out of the penitentiary and that, at times, he actually wanted to go back in. He said it was the loneliest he had ever felt.^{[citation needed]}

Country success[link]

Haggard performing in June 2009

Upon his release, Haggard started digging ditches and wiring houses for his brother. Soon he was performing again, and later began recording with Tally Records. The Bakersfield Sound was developing in the area as a reaction against the over-produced honky tonk of the Nashville Sound. Haggard's first song was "Skid Row". In 1962, Haggard wound up performing at a Wynn Stewart show in Las Vegas and heard Wynn's "Sing a Sad Song". He asked for permission to record it, and the resulting single was a national hit in 1964. The following year he had his first national top ten record with "(My Friends Are Gonna Be) Strangers", written by Liz Anderson (mother of country singer Lynn Anderson) and his career was off and running. 1966 saw his first number one song "I'm a Lonesome Fugitive", also written by Liz Anderson, which Haggard acknowledges in his autobiography remains his most popular number with audiences.

In 1968, Haggard's first tribute LP Same Train, Different Time: A Tribute to Jimmie Rodgers, was released to acclaim. "Okie From Muskogee", 1969's apparent political statement, was actually written as an abjectly humorous character portrait. Haggard called the song a "documentation of the uneducated that lived in America at the time."^[4] He said later on the Bob Edwards Show that "I wrote it when I recently got out of the joint. I knew what it was like to lose my freedom, and I was getting really mad at these protesters. They didn't know anything more about the war in Vietnam than I did. I thought how my dad, who was from Oklahoma, would have felt. I felt I knew how those boys fighting in Vietnam felt."

Later, Alabama Gov. George Wallace asked Haggard for an endorsement, which Haggard declined. However, Haggard has expressed sympathy with the "parochial" way of life expressed in "Okie" and songs such as "The Fightin' Side of Me". After "Okie" was released, it was a hit.

Regardless of exactly how they were intended, "Okie From Muskogee", "The Fightin' Side of Me", and "I Wonder If They Think of Me" were hailed as anthems of the so-called "Silent Majority" and presaged a trend in patriotic songs that would reappear years later with Charlie Daniels' "In America", Lee Greenwood's "God Bless the USA", and others. In 1969 the Grateful Dead began performing Haggard's tune "Mama Tried", which appeared on their 1971 eponymous live album. The song became a staple in their repertoire until the band's end in 1995. The Grateful Dead also performed Haggard's "Sing Me Back Home" numerous times between 1971 and 1973. In addition, the Flying Burrito Brothers recorded and performed "White Line Fever" in 1971, and toured with "Sing Me Back Home" and "Hungry Eyes". Singer-activist Joan Baez, whose political leanings couldn't be more different from those expressed in Haggard's above-referenced songs, nonetheless covered "Sing Me Back Home" and "Mama Tried" in 1969. The Everly Brothers also used both songs in their 1968 country-rock album Roots. Haggard's next LP was A Tribute to the Best Damn Fiddle Player in the World (or, My Salute to Bob Wills), which helped spark a permanent revival and expanded audience for western swing.

On Tuesday, March 14, 1972, shortly after "Carolyn" became another number one country hit for Haggard, then-California governor Ronald Reagan granted Haggard a full pardon for his past crimes.

During the early to mid 1970s, Haggard's chart domination continued with songs like "Someday We'll Look Back", "Carolyn", "Grandma Harp", "Always Wanting You", and "The Roots of My Raising". He also wrote and performed the theme song to the television series Movin' On, which in 1975 gave him another number one country hit. The 1973 recession anthem "If We Make It Through December" furthered Haggard's status as a champion of the working class. Haggard appeared on the cover of TIME on May 6, 1974.

In 1981, Haggard published an autobiography, Sing Me Back Home. That same year, he alternately spoke and sang the ballad The Man In the Mask. Written by Dean Pitchford (whose other output includes Fame, Footloose, Sing, Solid Gold and the musical Carrie), this was the combined narration/theme from the movie The Legend of the Lone Ranger...which was a box-office flop.

Country star Willie Nelson believed the 1983 Academy Award-winning film Tender Mercies, about the life of fictional singer Mac Sledge, was based on the life of Merle Haggard. Actor Robert Duvall and other filmmakers denied this and claimed the character was based on nobody in particular. Duvall, however, said he was a big fan of Haggard.^[5]

"If We Make It Through December" turned out to be Haggard's last pop hit. Although he won a Grammy Award for Best Male Country Vocal Performance for 1984's new kind of honky tonk, newer singers had begun to take over country music, and singers like George Strait and Randy Travis had taken over the charts. Haggard's last number one hit was "Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star" from his smash album Chill Factor in 1988.^{[citation needed]}

Influence[link]

Haggard's guitar playing and voice gives his country a hard-edged, blues-like style in many cuts. Although he has been outspoken in his dislike for modern country music, he has praised George Strait, Toby Keith and Alan Jackson. Keith has singled Haggard as a major influence on his career. The Youngbloods responded to "Okie from Muskogee" with "Hippie from Olema", in which, in one repetition of the chorus, they change the line "We still take in strangers if they're ragged" to "We still take in strangers if they're haggard". Nick Gravenites, of Big Brother and the Holding Company, paid Haggard a tongue-in-cheek tribute with the song, "I'll Change Your Flat Tire, Merle," later covered by other artists including Pure Prairie League. The Dixie Chicks paid tribute by recording Darrell Scott's song "Long Time Gone", which criticizes Nashville trends: "We listen to the radio to hear what's cookin’/But the music ain't got no soul/ Now they sound tired but they don’t sound Haggard," with the following lines mentioning Johnny Cash and Hank Williams in the same vein. Collin Raye paid him tribute with the song "My Kind Of Girl", when he sang "How 'bout some music/She said have you got any Merle/That's when I knew she was my kind of girl." In 2000, Jackson and Strait sang "Murder On Music Row," which criticizes mainstream country trends: "The Hag wouldn't have a chance on today's radio/Because they committed murder down on music row." In 2005, the country rock duo Brooks & Dunn sang "Just Another Neon Night" off their Hillbilly Deluxe album. In the song Ronnie Dunn said "He's got an Eastwood grin and a too early swagger/Hollerin' turn off that rap/And play me some Haggard". Brooks & Dunn also reference Haggard in 1993's "Rock My World (little country girl)" off their Hard Workin' Man Album as they sing "Acts like Madonna but she listens to Merle/Rock my world little country girl."

In 2005, Shooter Jennings mentioned him in the title track of his album Put the "O" Back in Country and later mentioned him in 2007 in his song "Concrete Cowboys." In 2006, Hank Williams III included Haggard as well as other country icons in the song "Country Heroes". Steve Goodman mentioned him, humorously but respectfully, in the song "You Never Even Called Me By My Name" (which he either co-wrote or didn't co-write with John Prine). George Jones recorded two albums with him. Lynyrd Skynyrd's song Railroad Song references Haggard, "Well I'm a ride this train Lord until I find out/What Jimmy Rodgers and the Hag was all about", Nuthin' Fancy Nuthin' Fancy.^{[citation needed]}

In 2006, Haggard was back on the charts in a duet with Gretchen Wilson, "Politically Uncorrect".^[6] He is also featured on "Pledge Allegiance to the Hag" on Eric Church's debut album.

Comeback[link]

Merle Haggard Drive, Oildale, California

In 2000, Haggard made a comeback of sorts, signing with the independent record label Anti and releasing the spare If I Could Only Fly to critical acclaim. He followed it in 2001 with Roots, vol. 1, a collection of Lefty Frizzell, Hank Williams, and Hank Thompson covers, along with three Haggard originals. The album, recorded in Haggard's living room with no overdubs, featured Haggard's longtime bandmates The Strangers as well as Frizzell's original lead guitarist, Norman Stephens. In December 2004, Haggard spoke at length on Larry King Live about his incarceration as a young man and said it was "hell" and "the scariest experience of my life".^{[citation needed]}

Haggard's number one hit single "Mama Tried" is featured in the 2003 film Radio with Cuba Gooding, Jr. and Ed Harris as well as in Bryan Bertino's "The Strangers" with Liv Tyler. In addition, his song "Swingin' Doors" can be heard in the 2004 film Crash and his 1981 hit "Big City" is heard in Joel and Ethan Coen's 1996 film "Fargo" and in the 2008 Larry Bishop film "Hell Ride", executive produced by Quentin Tarantino.^{[citation needed]}

In October 2005, Haggard released his album Chicago Wind to mostly positive reviews. The album contained an anti-Iraq war song titled "America First," in which he laments the nation's economy and faltering infrastructure, applauds its soldiers, and sings, "Let's get out of Iraq, and get back on track." This follows from his 2003 release "Haggard Like Never Before" in which he includes a song, "That's The News". Haggard released a bluegrass album, The Bluegrass Sessions, on October 2, 2007. In 2008, Haggard was going to perform at Riverfest in Little Rock, Arkansas, but the concert was canceled because he was ailing, and three other concerts were canceled as well; however, he was back on the road in June and successfully completed a tour that ended on October 19.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2010, Haggard released a new album, I Am What I Am.^[7] Released to strong reviews, Haggard performed the title song on The Tonight Show With Jay Leno in February 2011.^{[citation needed]}

Equipment[link]

Haggard has endorsed Fender guitars and has a Custom Artist signature model Telecaster. The guitar is a modified Telecaster Thinline with laminated top of figured maple, set neck with deep carved heel, birdseye maple fingerboard with 22 jumbo frets, ivoroid pickguard and binding, gold hardware, abalone Tuff Dog Tele peghead inlay, 2-Colour Sunburst finish and a pair of Fender Texas Special Tele single-coil pickups with custom-wired 4-way pickup switching. He also plays six string acoustic models. In 2001, C.F. Martin & Company introduced a limited edition Merle Haggard Signature Edition 000-28SMH acoustic guitar available with or without factory-installed electronics.^{[citation needed]}

Personal life[link]

Wives and children[link]

This biographical section of an 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 2012)

Haggard was married five times, first to Leona Hobbs from 1956 to 1964. They had four children: Dana, Marty (b. June 18, 1958), Kelli, Noel (b. Sept. 4, 1963). They divorced and in 1965 he married singer Bonnie Owens; they divorced in 1978. Haggard married a third time in 1978 to Leona Williams and they were divorced in 1983. In 1985 Haggard married Debbie Parret, but they divorced in 1991. He married his current wife, Theresa Ann Lane, on September 11, 1993. They have two children, Jenessa and Ben.

Health[link]

Haggard said he had started smoking marijuana when he was 41 years old. He admitted that in 1983 he bought "$2,000 (worth) of cocaine" and partied for five days afterward, when he says he finally realized his condition and quit for good.^[8]

Haggard underwent angioplasty in 1995 to unblock clogged arteries. On November 9, 2008, it was announced that Haggard had been diagnosed with non-small cell lung cancer in May of that year and underwent surgery on November 3, during which part of his lung was removed.^[9] Haggard returned home on November 8.^[10] Less than two months after his cancer surgery, Haggard played two shows on January 2 and 3, 2009, in Bakersfield at Buck Owens' Crystal Palace, and continues to tour and record.

Legacy[link]

On December 19, 2006, the Kern County Board of Supervisors approved a citizen-led resolution to rename a portion of 7th Standard Road in Oildale as Merle Haggard Drive, which will stretch from North Chester Avenue west to U.S. Route 99. The first street travelers will turn onto when they leave the new airport terminal will be Merle Haggard Drive.

In 2006, Haggard was honored as a BMI Icon at the 54th annual BMI Pop Awards. During his songwriting career, Haggard has earned 48 BMI Country Awards, nine BMI Pop Awards, a BMI R&B Award, and 16 BMI "Million-Air" awards, all from a catalog of songs that adds up to over 25 million performances.^[11]

Merle Haggard accepted the prestigious award for lifetime achievement and "outstanding contribution to American culture" from the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on December 4, 2010.^[12] At a December 5, 2010 gala in Washington, D.C. he was honored with musical performances by Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, Sheryl Crow, Vince Gill, Jamey Johnson, Kid Rock, Miranda Lambert and Brad Paisley. This tribute was featured on the December 28, 2010 CBS telecast of the Kennedy Center Honors.^[13]

Discography[link]

38 number one hits[link]

1. I'm a Lonesome Fugitive (1966)
2. Branded Man (1967)
3. Sing Me Back Home (1968)
4. The Legend of Bonnie and Clyde (1968)
5. Mama Tried (1968)
6. Hungry Eyes (1969)
7. Workin' Man Blues (1969)
8. Okie from Muskogee (1969)
9. The Fightin' Side of Me (1970)
10. Daddy Frank (The Guitar Man) (1971)
11. Carolyn (1971)
12. Grandma Harp (1972)
13. It's Not Love (But It's Not Bad) (1972)
14. I Wonder If They Ever Think of Me (1972)
15. Everybody's Had the Blues (1973)
16. If We Make It Through December (1973)
17. Things Aren't Funny Anymore (1974)
18. Old Man from the Mountain (1974)
19. Kentucky Gambler (1974)
20. Always Wanting You (1975)
21. Movin' On (1975)
22. It's All in the Movies (1975)
23. The Roots of My Raising (1975)
24. Cherokee Maiden (1976)
25. Bar Room Buddies (with Clint Eastwood) (1980)
26. I Think I'll Just Stay Here and Drink (1980)
27. My Favorite Memory (1981)
28. Big City (1981)
29. Yesterday's Wine (with George Jones) (1982)
30. Going Where the Lonely Go (1982)
31. You Take Me for Granted (1982)
32. Pancho and Lefty (with Willie Nelson) (1983)
33. That's the Way Love Goes (1983)
34. Someday When Things Are Good (1984)
35. Let's Chase Each Other Around the Room (1984)
36. A Place to Fall Apart (with Janie Frickie) (1984)
37. Natural High (1985)
38. Twinkle, Twinkle Lucky Star (1987)

Awards[link]

Academy of Country Music

• 1965 Top New Male Vocalist
• 1965 Top Vocal Duo with Bonnie Owens
• 1966 Top Male Vocalist
• 1967 Top Vocal Duo with Bonnie Owens
• 1969 Album of the Year – "Okie from Muskogee"
• 1969 Single of the Year – "Okie from Muskogee"
• 1969 Top Vocal Duo – with Bonnie Owens
• 1970 Entertainer of the Year
• 1970 Top Male Vocalist
• 1972 Top Male Vocalist
• 1974 Top Male Vocalist
• 1981 Top Male Vocalist
• 1982 Song of the Year – "Are the Good Times Really Over (I Wish a Buck Was Still Silver)"

Country Music Association

• 1970 Album of the Year – "Okie from Muskogee"
• 1970 Entertainer of the Year
• 1970 Male Vocalist of the Year
• 1970 Single of the Year – "Okie from Muskogee"
• 1983 Vocal Duo of the Year – with Willie Nelson

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

• Inducted in 1994

Grammy Awards

• 1984 Best Country Vocal Performance, Male – "That's The Way Love Goes"
• 1998 Best Country Collaboration with Vocals with Clint Black, Joe Diffie, Emmylou Harris, Alison Krauss, Patty Loveless, Earl Scruggs, Ricky Skaggs, Marty Stuart, Pam Tillis, Randy Travis, Travis Tritt & Dwight Yoakam for "Same Old Train"
• 1999 Grammy Hall of Fame Award – "Mama Tried"

Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame

• Inducted in 1977

Kennedy Center Honors

• Inducted in 2010

Sources[link]

• Di Salvatore, Bryan. (1998). "Merle Haggard". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury (ed.), New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 222–24
• Di Salvatore, Bryan. "Ornery", The New Yorker, February 12, 1990, pp. 39–77
• Fox, Aaron A. "White Trash Alchemies of the Abject Sublime: Country as 'Bad' Music", in Christopher J. Washburne and Maiken Derno (eds.), Bad Music: The Music We Love to Hate, New York: Routledge, 2004 (ISBN 0-415-94366-3)
• Haggard, Merle, with Tom Carter. My House of Memories: For the Record. New York: HarperEntertainment, 1999
• Haggard, Merle, and Peggy Russell. Sing Me Back Home. New York: Times Books, 1981

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Merle Haggard

• Official Site
• Photo timeline of his life from RollingStone.com
• Record Label
• at the Country Music Hall of Fame
• Merle Haggard at the Internet Movie Database

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (June 2010)

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