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Broadcast Music, Inc.

Type	Not-for-profit
Founded	1939
Key people	Del Bryant (President & CEO)
Area served	United States
Website	bmi.com

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed. In 2009, BMI collected over $905 million in licensing fees and distributed $788 million in royalties.^[1]

BMI songwriters create all forms of music in all genres, from mainstream pop and country, to death metal. BMI represents artists such as Mariah Carey, Lady Gaga, Taylor Swift, Eminem, Rihanna and Shakira; bands as diverse as Maroon 5, Evanescence, Nickelback, Linkin Park, Lady Antebellum and Death; legends such as Sam Cooke, Willie Nelson, Fats Domino and Dolly Parton; as well as composers such as Harry Gregson-Williams, John Williams and Danny Elfman and musical songwriters Richard & Robert Sherman.

History[link]

In the 1930s, radio was coming to prominence as a source of musical entertainment that threatened to weaken record sales and opportunities for "live" acts. The Great Depression was already draining artist revenues from recordings and live performances. ASCAP, the pre-eminent royalty/licensing agency for more than two decades, required radio stations to subscribe to "blanket" licenses granting ASCAP a fixed percentage of each station's revenue, regardless of how much music the station played from ASCAP's repertoire. In 1939, ASCAP announced a substantial increase in the revenue share licensees would be required to pay. BMI was founded by the National Association of Broadcasters to provide a lower-cost alternative to ASCAP.^[2] As such, BMI created competition in the field of performing rights, providing an alternative source of licensing for all music users.

The vast majority of U.S. radio stations and all three radio networks refused to renew their ASCAP licenses for 1941, choosing to forgo playing ASCAP music entirely and relying on the BMI repertoire. BMI and the Department of Justice entered into a consent decree in February, 1941, requiring certain changes to BMI's business model, including giving licensees the option of paying only for the music they actually use instead of buying a blanket license.^[3] The U.S. District Court in Milwaukee was chosen by the Justice Department to supervise the decree for both BMI and ASCAP.^[4]

Competing against the strongly established ASCAP, BMI sought out artists that ASCAP tended to overlook or ignore. BMI also purchased the rights to numerous catalogs held by independent publishers or whose ASCAP contracts were about to expire. To attract newer writers, BMI proposed to compensate songwriters and publishers on the basis of a fixed fee per performance, as opposed to ASCAP's two-tier system which discriminated against less-established songwriters. Thus, despite its original motivation regarding radio station royalties and its focus on radio station revenues vs artist revenues, BMI became the first performing rights organization in the United States to represent songwriters of blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, gospel (black genres, performers, and writers that ASCAP did not want to represent), country, folk, Latin, and—ultimately—rock and roll. During the 1940s and 1950s, BMI was the primary licensing organization for Country artists and R&B artists, while ASCAP centered on more established Pop artists. Also during this time, BMI expanded its repertoire of classical music, and now represents the majority of the members of the prestigious American Academy of Arts and Letters and the winners of 30 Pulitzer Prizes for Music.

Business[link]

A non-profit-making corporation, BMI issues licenses to users of music, including:

• Television and radio stations and networks
• New media, including the Internet and mobile technologies such as podcasts, ringtones, and ringbacks
• Satellite audio services, such as XM and Sirius
• Nightclubs, discos, hotels, bars, and restaurants
• Symphony orchestras, concert bands, and classical chamber music ensembles
• Digital jukeboxes
• Live concerts

BMI tracks public performances for 6.5 million works, and collects and distributes licensing revenues for those performances as royalties to over 400,000 songwriters, composers, and music publishers it represents, and thousands of creators around the world who have chosen BMI for representation in the U.S. BMI has offices in Atlanta, London, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, and Puerto Rico.

BMI annually hosts award shows that honor the songwriters, composers and music publishers of the year's most-performed songs in the BMI catalogue. BMI Award shows include the BMI Latin Awards, BMI Pop Awards, BMI Film/TV Awards, BMI Urban Awards, BMI London Awards, BMI Country Awards, BMI Christian Awards, and the BMI Trailblazers of Gospel Music Luncheon.^[5]. BMI is also a supporter of the Stop Online Piracy Act bill.^[6]

See also[link]

• ASCAP
• BMI Foundation
• Copyright collective
• Recording Academy

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Choquette, Frederic, "The Returned Value of PROs", Music Business Journal, Berklee College of Music, May 2011

External links[link]

• Searchable repertoire of BMI licensed material
• BMI article @ answers.com, better history

Jack Bruce
Bruce performing in Frankfurt, Germany 28 October 2006
Background information
Birth name	John Symon Asher Bruce
Born	(1943-05-14) 14 May 1943 (age 69) Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire Scotland, United Kingdom
Genres	Blues rock, psychedelic rock, jazz fusion, hard rock, acid rock
Occupations	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, bass guitar, guitar, keyboards, harmonica, double bass, cello
Years active	1962–present
Labels	EMI, RSO
Associated acts	Cream, Blues Incorporated, The Graham Bond Organization, John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, Manfred Mann, West, Bruce and Laing, Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band, Kip Hanrahan, BBM, Rocket 88
Website	jackbruce.com
Notable instruments
Fender Bass VI, Danelectro Longhorn, Gibson EB-3, Gibson EB-1, Warwick Thumb Signature, Warwick Jack Bruce CRB

John Symon Asher "Jack" Bruce (born 14 May 1943) is a Scottish musician and songwriter, respected as a founding member of the British psychedelic rock power trio, Cream, for a solo career that spans several decades, and for his participation in several well-known musical ensembles. Best recognized as a memorable vocalist and bass guitarist, Bruce has been referred to as a "World-class pioneer in his main instrument; a composer of some of the most endurable and recognisable rock songs of our time; an accomplished classical, jazz and Latin musician and one of popular music's most distinctive and evocative voices."^[1] He is also trained as a classical cellist. The Sunday Times stated "... many consider him to be one of the greatest bass players of all time."^[2]

Early life[link]

Bruce was born on 14 May 1943, in Bishopbriggs, East Dunbartonshire to musical parents who moved frequently, resulting in the young Bruce attending 14 different schools, ending up at Bellahouston Academy. Bruce began playing the jazz bass in his teens, and won a scholarship to study cello and musical composition at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, while playing in Jim McHarg's Scotsville Jazzband to support himself.^[3] The Academy disapproved of its students playing jazz, however. "They found out," Bruce told Musician correspondent Jim Macnie, "and said 'you either stop, or leave college.' So I left college."

Career[link]

After leaving school, he toured Italy, playing double bass with the Murray Campbell Big Band.^[4] In 1962, Jack Bruce became a member of the London-based band Blues Incorporated,^[5] led by Alexis Korner, in which he played the double bass. The band also included organist Graham Bond, saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith and drummer Ginger Baker. In 1963, the group broke up and Bruce went on to form the Graham Bond Quartet with Bond, Baker, and guitarist John McLaughlin.^[3] They played an eclectic range of music genres, including, bebop, blues and rhythm and blues. As a result of session work at this time, Bruce switched from double bass to electric bass. The move to electric bass happened as McLaughlin was dropped from the band; he was replaced by Heckstall-Smith on sax and the band pursued a more concise R&B sound and changed its name to the Graham Bond Organization. They released two studio albums and several singles, but were not commercially successful. They did, however, influence a number of other musicians, such as Keith Emerson, Jon Lord and Bill Bruford. In 1960, Jack Bruce married his first wife at age seventeen. He failed to mention her name in interviews citing the short-lived nature of the union. One son was born but he was estranged from his father. In 1964, Jack Bruce married Janet Godfrey, his second wife. They had two children together and divorced in 1973.

During the time Bruce and Baker played with the Graham Bond Organization, they were known for their hostility towards each other. There were numerous stories of the two sabotaging each other's equipment and fighting on stage. Hostility grew so much between the two that Bruce was forced to leave the group in August 1965.^[6]

After he left, Bruce recorded a solo single, "I'm Gettin Tired", for Polydor Records.^[3] He joined John Mayall and his John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers group, which featured guitarist Eric Clapton. Although his stay was brief; the Universal Deluxe double album Bluesbreakers with Eric Clapton contains all the known tracks featuring Bruce.

After the Bluesbreakers, Bruce tasted his first commercial success as a member of Manfred Mann in 1966, including "Pretty Flamingo" which reached number one in the UK singles chart (the only number one record of his career)^[3] as well as the freewheeling and ground-breaking jazz-rock of Instrumental Asylum. When interviewed on the episode of the VH1 show, Classic Albums, which featured Disraeli Gears, Mayall stated that Bruce had been lured away by the lucrative commercial success of Manfred Mann while Mann himself recalled that Bruce attended recording sessions without having rehearsed but played songs straight through without error, opining that perhaps the chord changes seemed obvious to Bruce.^[7] The complete Manfred Mann recordings with Jack Bruce are available on the 4-CD EMI box set Down the Road Apiece.

Whilst with Manfred Mann, Bruce again collaborated with Eric Clapton as a member of Powerhouse, which also featured Spencer Davis Groups's vocalist credited as Steve Anglo. The 3 tracks were featured on the Elektra sampler album What's Shakin'. Two of the songs, "Crossroads" and "Steppin' Out", were to become staples in the live set of his next band.

Cream[link]

In July 1966 Bruce, Eric Clapton and drummer Ginger Baker founded the power trio Cream, which gained international recognition playing blues-rock and jazz inflected rock and roll music. Bruce sang most of the lead vocals, with Clapton backing him up and eventually assuming some leads himself.^[8] With his Gibson EB-3 electric bass he became one of the most famous bassists in rock, winning musicians' polls and influencing the next generation of bassists such as Sting, Geddy Lee and Jeff Berlin.^[9] Jack co-wrote most of Cream's single releases with lyricist Pete Brown, including the hits, "Sunshine of Your Love", "White Room", and "I Feel Free". In 1968, Cream broke up.

The solo years 1970s[link]

Collaborative efforts with musicians, in many genres - heavy rock, jazz, blues, fusion, avant-garde, world music, third stream classical and R&B have all been a continuing theme of Bruce's career. Alongside these he has produced a long line of highly regarded solo albums. In contrast to his collaborative works the solo albums usually maintain a common theme; melodic songs with a complex musical structure, songs with lyrics frequently penned by Pete Brown, and a core band of world class musicians. This structure is loosened on his live solo albums and DVDs, where extended improvisations similar to those employed by Cream in live performance are sometimes still used.

In August 1968, before Cream split, Bruce recorded an acoustic free jazz album with John McLaughlin, Dick Heckstall-Smith and Jon Hiseman.^[3] This was issued in 1970 as Bruce's second solo album, Things We Like. The album was a precursor to the jazz fusion boom in the early 1970s, and more recently has been sampled by many^[who?] hip hop artists.

Bruce performing in Hamburg in 1972

Bruce's first solo release, Songs for a Tailor, was issued in September 1969, and also featured Heckstall-Smith and Hiseman.^[3] It was a worldwide hit, but, after a brief supporting tour backed by Larry Coryell and Mitch Mitchell, Bruce joined the jazz fusion group Lifetime. With drummer Tony Williams, guitarist John McLaughlin, and organist Larry Young, the group recorded two albums. Bruce joined on the second album, Turn It Over. However, Lifetime did not receive much critical or commercial acclaim at the time, and the band broke up in 1971. Bruce then recorded his third solo album Harmony Row, but this was not as commercially successful as Songs for a Tailor.^[3]

In 1972, Bruce formed a blues rock power trio, West, Bruce and Laing. Besides Bruce, the group included singer/guitarist Leslie West and drummer Corky Laing, both formerly of the Cream-influenced American band Mountain. West, Bruce and Laing produced two studio albums, Why Dontcha and Whatever Turns You On, and one live album, Live 'n' Kickin'. The band broke up shortly before Live 'n' Kickin's release in early 1974, and Bruce released his fourth solo album Out of the Storm later that year. Also in 1974 he made a guest appearance on the title track of Frank Zappa's album Apostrophe ('). Bruce was credited with bass and for co-writing the song. However, when asked about Zappa in 1992 interview Bruce tried to change the subject and jokingly insisted that he had played only cello parts.

In 1973, Bruce recorded bass for Lou Reed's Berlin album playing on all but two tracks.

A 1975 tour was lined up to support the Out of the Storm album with a band featuring former Rolling Stones guitarist Mick Taylor and jazz keyboard player Carla Bley, with whom he had collaborated in 1971 on Escalator over the Hill. The tour was documented on Live '75 (at the Manchester Free Trade Hall),^[10] but it ended with Taylor's departure, and no studio album was completed. In 1977, Jack Bruce married his third wife, Rose Millar Taylor, the former wife of Mick Taylor. The marriage did not last, and the two divorced in 1978.^{[citation needed]}

In 1977, Bruce formed a new band with drummer Simon Phillips and keyboardist Tony Hymas. The group recorded an album, called How's Tricks. A world tour followed, but the album was a commercial failure.^[3] The follow-up album Jet Set Jewel was put on hold when Bruce was dropped by his record label, RSO. In 1979, Bruce toured with members from the Mahavishnu Orchestra, reuniting him with John McLaughlin, and introducing him to drummer Billy Cobham. A 3-CD collection of his 1970s BBC recordings called Spirit was released in 2008.

The solo years 1980s[link]

By 1979, Bruce's drug habit had reached such a level that he had lost a lot of his money. In that year he married his fourth wife, Margrit Seyffer. She began to organise the business aspects of his career, and became his manager in September 2003, when Bruce terminated Mick Carter as his manager. Bruce contributed as a session musician to recordings by Cozy Powell, Gary Moore and Jon Anderson to raise money. By 1980 his career was back on track with his new band, consisting of drummer Billy Cobham, guitarist Clem Clempson, and keyboardist David Sancious. After releasing an album, I've Always Wanted to Do This at the end of 1980, they undertook a long tour to support the record, but it was not a commercial success and they disbanded. In the early 1980s, he also joined up to play with friends from the Alexis Korner days in Rocket 88, the back-to-the-roots band that Ian Stewart had arranged, and Bruce appears on the album of the same name, recorded live in Germany in 1980. They also recorded a "live in the studio" album called Blues & Boogie Explosion for the German audiophile record label, Jeton. That year he also collaborated on the Soft Machine album Land of Cockayne (1981).

Jack Bruce performing in 1972

In 1981, Bruce collaborated with guitarist Robin Trower and released two power trio albums, BLT and Truce, the first of which was a minor hit in the United States.^[3] By 1983 Bruce was out of contract with the major record companies, and he released his next solo album Automatic only on a minor German label, Intercord INT 145.069. A European tour followed to promote the album enlisting Bruce Gary from The Knack (who had also played in Jack Bruce's 1975 band) on drums and Sancious from his 1980 release on guitar and keyboards.

In 1982 he played with a short-lived ensemble "A Gathering Of Minds" comprising Billy Cobham, Allan Holdsworth, Didier Lockwood and David Sancious at Montreux.

In 1983 Bruce began working with the Latin/world music producer Kip Hanrahan, and released the collaborative albums Desire Develops an Edge, Vertical's Currency, A Few short Notes from the End Run, Exotica and All Roads are made of the Flesh. They were all critically successful, and in 2001 he went onto form his own band using Hanrahan's famous Cuban rhythm section. Other than his partnership with lyricist Pete Brown, the musical relationship with Hanrahan has been the most consistent and long-lasting of his career.

In 1983 he sang on tracks 5–6 of the Allan Holdsworth Album 'Road Games'

In 1985 he sang lead and played harp on the song "Silver Bullet" with Anton Fier's Golden Palominos. It appears on the album "Visions of Excess".

In 1986 he re-recorded his famous Cream song "I Feel Free" and released it as a single to support an advertising campaign for the Renault 21 motor car.

A solo album, Something Els, recorded in Germany between 1986 and 1992, reunited him with Eric Clapton, and brought belated, but widespread critical acclaim.^[11]

His German TV concerts of this 1980s period have been collected on a two-DVD set, Live at RockPalast.

The solo years 1990s[link]

In 1989, Bruce began recording material with Ginger Baker and released another solo album, A Question of Time.^[3] Baker and Bruce toured the United States at turn of the decade. Bruce played at the Montreux Jazz Festival in 1990, and was invited by Irish blues rock performer, Rory Gallagher (who had a long-standing relationship with Bruce, having supported Cream's farewell concert in the band Taste in 1968) to perform a couple of songs together onstage. In 1993 Baker appeared, along with a host of former Bruce band colleagues, at a special concert in Cologne to celebrate Bruce's 50th birthday. A special guest was another Irish blues-rock guitarist Gary Moore. The concert recordings with Moore were released as the live double album Cities of the Heart. On the back of this successful gig Bruce, Baker and Moore formed the power trio BBM, and their subsequent (and only) album Around the Next Dream was a top ten hit in the UK.^[3] However, the old Bruce/Baker arguments arose again and the subsequent tour was cut short and the band broke up. A low-key solo album, Monkjack, followed in 1995, featuring Bruce on piano and vocals accompanied by Funkadelic organist Bernie Worrell.

Bruce then began work producing and arranging the soundtrack to the independently produced Scottish film The Slab Boys with Lulu, Edwyn Collins, Eddi Reader and The Proclaimers. The soundtrack album appeared in 1997. In 1997 he returned to touring as a member of Ringo Starr's All-Starr Band, which also featured Peter Frampton on guitar. At the gig in Denver, Colorado the band was joined on stage by Ginger Baker, and Bruce, Baker and Frampton played a short set of Cream classics. He continued to tour with Ringo through 2000.

The solo years 2000s[link]

Bruce playing a fretless Warwick Thumb bass guitar at the Jazzfestival Frankfurt, Germany 28 October 2006

In 2001 Bruce reappeared with his most successful band of recent times featuring Bernie Worrell, Vernon Reid of Living Colour on guitar and Kip Hanrahan's three-piece Latin rhythm section. Hanrahan also produced the accompanying album Shadows in the Air, which included a reunion with Eric Clapton on a new version of "Sunshine of Your Love". The band released another Hanrahan produced studio album, More Jack than God, in 2003, and a live DVD, Live at Canterbury Fayre. In the summer of 2002, Jack appeared as one of the headliners on a star-studded tribute to The Beatles tour called, "A Walk Down Abbey Road". Lead guitarist/vocalist Godfrey Townsend performed with Jack as well as drummer/vocalist Steve Murphy. After the summer tour was over, Jack asked Godfrey and Steve to play a few gigs at New York's BB King Blues Club that October. Godfrey Townsend also played guitar on the track "Kelly's Blues" on "More Jack Than God".

Bruce had suffered a period of declining health, and in the summer of 2003 was diagnosed with liver cancer. In July 2003, he underwent a liver transplant, which was almost fatal, as his body initially rejected the new organ.^[12] He has since recovered, and in 2004 reappeared to perform "Sunshine of Your Love" at a Rock Legends concert in Germany organised by the singer Mandoki.

In May, 2005, he reunited with former Cream bandmates Clapton and Baker for a series of well-received concerts at London's Royal Albert Hall,^[13] released as the album Royal Albert Hall London May 2–3–5–6 2005, and New York's Madison Square Garden.

In between the UK and US Cream dates he also played live with Gary Moore and drummer Gary Husband at the Dick Heckstall-Smith tribute concert in London.

Subsequent concert appearances were sparse because of recovery after the transplant, but in 2006 Bruce returned to the live arena with a show of Cream and solo classics performed with the German HR (Hessischer Rundfunk) Big Band. This was released on CD in Germany in 2007 to critical acclaim. In 2007, he made a brief concert appearance, opening a new rehearsal hall named in his honour at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, Glasgow with Clem Clempson, keyboard player Ronnie Leahy and Husband.

In 2008, Bruce collaborated again with guitarist Robin Trower on the album Seven Moons. It also featured Husband.

In May 2008 Bruce was 65 years old and to commemorate this milestone two box sets of recordings were released. Spirit is a three-CD collection of Bruce's BBC recordings from the 1970s. Can You Follow? is a six-CD retrospective anthology released by the Esoteric label in the UK. This anthology is a wide ranging collection covering his music from 1963 to 2003 and, aside from his work with Kip Hanrahan, is a comprehensive overview of his career.

Improved health led to Bruce playing a series of live outdoor concerts across the US starting in July 2008 as part of the Hippiefest Tour, working again with Godfrey Townsend and Steve Murphy...adding keyboardist, Manny Focarazzo to his band. Later that year, he was supported by members of the late Who bassist's The John Entwistle Band, and headlined at a tribute concert to the bassist.

In November 2008 he recorded a concert in Birmingham, England for Radio Broadcast with the BBC Big Band, where he again played the Big Band arrangements of his classic songs. In December he was reunited with Ginger Baker at the drummer's Lifetime Achievement Award concert in London. They played jazz classics with saxophonist Courtney Pine and for the first time in 40 years played the Graham Bond–Cream classic "Traintime".

The same month, Bruce, with guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Cindy Blackman and organist John Medeski played a series of Blue Note Club tribute concerts to The Tony Williams Lifetime in Japan. These shows were broadcast High Definition on television in Japan.

In spring 2009 a series of concerts was performed with Trower and Husband in Europe. Proposed dates in the US in April were cancelled because of a further bout of ill health. Bruce recovered and the band played summer concerts in Italy, Norway and the UK during 2009. This promoted the release of the Seven Moons live CD and DVD, recorded in February during the European leg of the tour in Nijmegen, Netherlands.

During the Scottish dates of the 2009 tour Bruce was presented with an Honorary Doctorate of Letters from Glasgow Caledonian University for services to the culture of Glasgow and music in general.

In August 2009, the 1983 Jack Bruce solo album Automatic was released on CD. With this release, all his solo albums from his 1969 debut Songs for a Tailor onwards have become available on CD as well. In addition, all the discs up to and including How's Tricks contain added, previously unreleased material.

The solo years 2010s[link]

In October 2009, Bruce performed at the 50th anniversary of Ronnie Scott's Club with The Ronnie Scott's Blues Band. After garnering good reviews, three further dates at the club were added in March 2010.

Composing Himself: Jack Bruce The Authorised Biography by Harry Shapiro was released by Jawbone Press in February 2010. Shapiro has previously written biographies of Bruce collaborators Alexis Korner, Graham Bond and Eric Clapton. The book followed biographies from his Cream bandmates Clapton (Clapton 2007) and Baker (Hellraiser 2009.) His Songwriting partner, Pete Brown's, biography "White Rooms & Imaginary Westerns" was published in September 2010. They each have differing recollections of forming Cream, playing and writing together. The separate accounts are not totally consistent, or complimentary, but considering their admitted drug use during the period in the biographies, that is hardly surprising.

Jack toured America again in the Summer of 2010 with the Hippiefest tour with the usual lineup of Godfrey Townsend, Steve Murphy and keyboardist, Manny Focarazzo. Whilst on tour, his children organised the internet release of previously unissued Bruce performances "The Lost Tapes" via CD and download from his own website.

On Friday, January 14, at the 2011 North American Music Merchants Show, Bruce became only the third recipient of the International Bassist Award, a lifetime achievement award for bassists, after Jaco Pastorius and Nathan Watts. Larry Hartke co-founder of Hartke Systems, manufacturers of bass guitar amplifiers and speaker cabinets, presented the award.“Simply put, Jack Bruce is the reason I became interested in the bass,” says Hartke. “Jack changed the role of bass in music and made playing the instrument look like fun. It was my greatest honor to present the International Bassist Award to my hero and friend.”

The first website CD release, Live at the Milkyway, Amsterdam 2001, featuring his Latin-based band of the time,was issued in October 2010. The double album received an official UK release, distributed by EMI in February 2011. To support this release Bruce again played 4 dates in London at Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club with the Ronnie Scott's Blues Experience, followed by a further ten dates across the UK with the band. This is Bruce's third successive year playing a series of gigs at Ronnie Scotts, and is reminiscent of Eric Clapton's annual series of Albert Hall blues concerts.

Prior to the UK dates the Lifetime Tribute Band; featuring Bruce, guitarist Vernon Reid, drummer Cindy Blackman, and organist John Medeski reformed to play ten shows in high profile jazz clubs in North America. Unusually, the dates had early and evening shows, something most rock musicians stopped doing at the beginning of the 1970s.

Reaction to the U.S. Lifetime shows was so positive that the band renamed themselves Spectrum Road, after a track on 1969's first Lifetime album "Emergency", and went into the studio to record a new album during April 2011.

On June 4, 2011 Bruce played a special concert at the Royal Festival Hall in London, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The evening celebrated the 50th anniversary of the blues in Great Britain, and Jack played with his Big Blues Band and special guest Joe Bonamassa, replacing the late Gary Moore.

Festival appearances with his Big Blues Band continue throughout the UK and Europe during summer 2011. An exception is the Cornbury Festival, Great Tew Park, Oxfordshire on 3 July where Bruce appears as a special guest of the Stax label tribute band "The Staxs." The festival was recorded by the famous Abbey Road studios

Bruce started 2012 playing the Gerry Rafferty tribute concert in Glasgow, followed by a date with the traditional Celtic band Lau. BBC Scotland recorded a one hour Special on Jack Bruce, which also includes a performance with Lau. The completed documentary "Jack Bruce- The Man behind the Bass" was transmitted in February 2012 on BBC Scotland. It featured new interviews, with Jack, Eric Clapton, Ginger Baker and Pete Brown, as well as the concert footage featuring new versions of six career spanning songs, We're Going Wrong, Sunshine of your Love,Weird of Hermiston, Theme for an Imaginary Western, Keep it Down & Child Song .

February 2012 saw Bruce playing in Havana, Cuba, along with guitarist Phil Manzanera, supporting the famous Mambo band of Augusto Enriquez.

March sees another of his annual residencies at Ronnie Scott's in London supported by his Big Blues Band, followed by a UK Tour. The concert at the Stables, Milton Keynes on 18 March was due to be recorded as an Instant Live CD release, but technical issues prevented this. The following evenings performance at the same location was recorded and a 2CD version issued by Instant Live.

The Spectrum Road album will be released in June 2012 by the U.S. jazz record label Palmetto Records. It is accompanied by a series of dates at large jazz festivals in North America and Europe throughout June and July.

Discography[link]

The discographies of bands Jack Bruce has been a member of and the collaborations with other artists can be found in within their individual profiles.

Jack Bruce's solo albums are listed below in chronological recording date order. As of October 2009 they are all available on Compact Disc release. Those with an asterisk * feature bonus material not available on the original vinyl or CD release.

Solo album discography[link]

^[3]

References[link]

Bibliography[link]

• Brigitte Tast, Hans-Jürgen Tast „be bop - Die Wilhelmshöhe rockt. Disco und Konzerte in der Hölle" Verlag Gebrüder Gerstenberg GmbH & Co. KG, Hildesheim, ISBN 978-3-8067-8589-0.

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Jack Bruce

• Official website
• Original Smiles & Grins Jack Bruce Club
• Jack Bruce at the Internet Movie Database

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. (November 2010)

Fraser T. Smith (born 8 February 1971, Taplow, Buckinghamshire, England) is an English record producer, songwriter, mix engineer and guitarist.

He is responsible for such hit songs as James Morrison's "Broken Strings", Taio Cruz's "Break Your Heart", and Tinchy Stryder's "Number 1", "Take Me Back" and "Never Leave You".

He has recently produced Clare Maguire's debut album, Keane, Britney Spears, Adele, Kylie Minogue, four tracks on Cee-Lo Green's album The Lady Killer, and several singles and album tracks for Tinchy Stryder. Other recent projects include co writing, producing and mixing the track "Your Biggest Mistake" on Ellie Goulding's #1 debut album, Lights as well as Cruz's single "Dirty Picture" featuring Kesha, and the Chipmunk single "Until You Were Gone" featuring Esmee Denters, which has been remixed by Drumsound & Bassline Smith as well as "Maaad" for Kano.

Fraser was awarded the 2008 Urban Music Award for 'Best Producer' and has been nominated for the award again in 2010.

In 2012 he won the Grammy for best album with Adele for 21 after producing and co-writing US number 1 hit Set Fire to the Rain.

Early life[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 2011)

Born in Taplow, Smith then lived in Marlow, Buckinghamshire. He developed a very early interest in music, picking up a guitar at the age of five years old. Fraser attended Spinfield Primary School in Marlow and went on to Reading Blue Coat School where he spent time jamming with Tom Rowlands and future television presenter Matt Allwright. After finishing his sixth form at Sir. William Borlase, Smith dropped out of a business studies course in Woolwich to pursue his passion at the Guitar Institute in London and at the age of 20 went on to be a finalist of 'Guitarist of the Year'.

Early career[link]

Smith was playing in pubs and clubs both as a solo musician and, in 1992, with a five piece band called Bustin' Loose. Smith met Rick Wakeman with whom he toured and recorded, e.g. 1999's White Rock II.^[1] Smith then went on to work with Tony Hadley. He also worked extensively with Adam Wakeman, and Wakeman has gone on to play on sessions for Smith including "Never Leave You". In the mid-1990s, they formed Jeronimo Road; an album, Live at the Orange, was released after the band broke up on the Explore Multimedia label.^[2] He then had the opportunity to become involved in studio sessions performing on hits such as Rui Da Silva's #1 "Touch Me" and Tim Deluxe's "Just Won’t Do" as well as tracks for Lemar, Darren Hayes and Jamiroquai.

In 1999, Smith was introduced to the then-unknown Craig David and spent the next five years working closely as his right hand man, friend and guitarist performing major acoustic gigs including the John Lennon Tribute Concert at Radio City Hall in New York, The Tsunami Relief Concert, Live 8 as well as playing concerts at Madison Square Gardens and Wembley Arena.

Discography[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Craig David told to lose guitarist
• Never Leave You review
• The Guardian review
• You're Not Alone review

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. (May 2011)

Thomas "Tom T." Hall (born May 25, 1936, in Olive Hill, Kentucky) is an American country music singer-songwriter. He has written 11 #1 hit songs, with 26 more that reached the Top 10, including the #1 international pop crossover smash "Harper Valley PTA" and the hit "I Love", which reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100. He became known to fans as "The Storyteller," thanks to his storytelling skills in his songwriting.

Biography[link]

As a teenager, Hall organized a band called the Kentucky Travelers that performed before movies for a traveling theater. During a stint in the Army, Hall performed over the Armed Forces Radio Network and wrote comic songs about Army experiences. His early career included being a radio announcer at WRON, a local radio station in Ronceverte, West Virginia. Hall was also an announcer at WVRC Radio in Spencer, West Virginia in the 1960s.

Hall's big songwriting break came in 1963, when country singer Jimmy C. Newman recorded his song, "DJ For a Day." Soon, Hall moved to Nashville, and within months, he had songs climbing the charts. Hall has been nicknamed "The Story Teller," and he has written songs for dozens of country stars, including Johnny Cash, George Jones, Loretta Lynn, Waylon Jennings, Alan Jackson, and Bobby Bare.

One of his earliest successful songwriting ventures, "Harper Valley PTA," was recorded in 1968 by Jeannie C. Riley, hit #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and Billboard Country Music Chart at the same time, sold over six million copies, and won both a Grammy Award and CMA award. The song would go on to inspire a motion picture and television program of the same name. Hall himself has recorded this song, on his album The Definitive Collection (as track #23). Hall's recording career took off after Ms. Riley's rendition of the song, and he had such hits as "A Week in a Country Jail," "(Old Dogs, Children and) Watermelon Wine," "I Love," "Country Is," "The Year Clayton Delaney Died," "I Like Beer," "Faster Horses (the Cowboy and the Poet)", and many others. He is also noted for his children-oriented songs, including "Sneaky Snake" and "I Care," the latter of which hit #1 on the country charts in 1975.

Hall won the Grammy Award for Best Album Notes in 1973 for the notes he wrote for his album Tom T. Hall's Greatest Hits. He was nominated for, but did not win, the same award in 1976 for his album Greatest Hits, Volume 2.

He also hosted the syndicated country music TV show Pop! Goes the Country in 1980.

His 1996 song "Little Bitty", from the album Songs from Sopchoppy, became a #1 single that year when it was recorded by Alan Jackson for the album Everything I Love.

In 1998, his 1972 song "Old Dogs and Children and Watermelon Wine" came in second in a BBC Radio 2 poll to find the UK's favorite easy listening record, despite never having been a hit in the UK and being familiar to Radio 2 listeners mostly through occasional plays by DJ Terry Wogan.^[1]

His song "I Love", in which the narrator lists the things in life that he loves, was used, with altered lyrics, in a popular 2003 TV commercial for Coors Light.^[2]

On July 3, 2007, he released the CD Tom T. Hall Sings Miss Dixie & Tom T. on his independent bluegrass label Blue Circle Records.

On February 12, 2008, Hall was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Discography[link]

Books written by Hall[link]

• How I Write Songs, Why You Can (1976), Chappell Music Co.
• The Songwriter's Handbook (1976), Rutledge Hill Press
• The Storyteller's Nashville (1979), Doubleday & Co.
• The Laughing Man of Woodmont Coves (1982), Doubleday & Co.
• The Acts of Life (1986), The University Of Arkansas Press
• Homewords (1986), The University of Tennessee Press
• Christmas and the Old House (1989), Peachtree Publishers, Ltd.
• Spring Hill, Tennessee (1990), Longstreet Press, Inc.
• What a Book! (1996), Longstreet Press, Inc.

See also[link]

• Category:Songs written by Tom T. Hall
• Category:Tom T. Hall songs
• Category:Tom T. Hall albums

References[link]

• Allen, Bob. (1998). "Tom T. Hall". In The Encyclopedia of Country Music. Paul Kingsbury, Editor. New York: Oxford University Press. pp. 224–5.

External links[link]

• Tom T. Hall official website
• Tom T. Hall page at allmusic.com
• Blue Circle Records
• Good Home Grown Music Publishing
• Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum

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 2011)

Randy Owen (born December 13, 1949 in Fort Payne, Alabama) is an American country music artist. He is known primarily for his role as the lead singer of Alabama, a country rock band which saw considerable mainstream success throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Although Alabama only records new albums on occasion, Owen himself has maintained a career in country music as a solo performer. He released his solo debut One on One in late 2008 and charted two singles from it.

Biography[link]

Owen grew up on a farm near Fort Payne, Alabama, and is of English and Native American descent. Owen dropped out of high school in the ninth grade. One of his former teachers convinced him that he had a chance to make a success of himself, so, even though he was older than the other students, he rejoined the ninth grade several years later and finished high school.^{[citation needed]}

In the late 1960s, Owen and his cousin, Teddy Gentry, began playing music together. They recruited another cousin, Jeff Cook, to form a band, which they called Wildcountry. Their first public performance was at a high school talent show, which they won.

Owen's music career was put on hiatus as he earned a degree from Jacksonville State University, where he helped establish the Delta Epsilon chapter of Pi Kappa Phi. Upon his graduation, however, the three cousins moved into an apartment in Anniston, Alabama and by 1973 were pursuing a full-time music career. In 1980, the band, now called Alabama, were signed to a recording contract by RCA Records and quickly reached country superstardom. For the next twenty-two years, Alabama had a tremendous impact on country music, attracting a younger group of listeners, crossing over into pop radio, and paving the way for groups to be successful on country radio.

Alabama released 21 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum albums, had 42 No. One singles, and sold a total of over 73 million records. They have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame and were named the Academy of Country Music's Artist of the Decade in 1989, and the Recording Industry Association of America's Country Group of the Century in 1999.

In May 2002, the band announced their retirement during the Academy of Country Music Awards telecast. For the rest of 2002 and 2003, they performed throughout the country in their American Farewell Tour. In 2005, the band was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame.

Owen lives on his own cattle ranch outside Fort Payne. He currently serves as an at-large member of the Board of Trustees of Jacksonville State University. In 2007, he was a judge on Season 5 of the country talent show Nashville Star.

Giving Back[link]

From 1982 through 1997, Owen and the other members of Alabama organized an annual Alabama June Jam in Fort Payne, Alabama. Proceeds from these events were put into an escrow account, which gives grants to charities and school organizations. In honor of their good works, the group has been the recipient of the Bob Hope Humanitarian Award, Country Radio Broadcasters' Humanitarian Award, and the Minnie Pearl Humanitarian Award. Alabama was also awarded the B.M.I. President's Trophy for Public Service, which has been awarded only four times (and never before to a group). Owen and his fellow band members were also the inaugural recipients of the "Spirit of Alabama" medal awarded by Governor Bob Riley.

On his own, Owen is a heavy supporter of St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. He established "Country Cares for St. Jude Kids", the annual radiothon that raises money for cancer research in 1989. This radiothon, one of the most successful radio fundraisers in history, has raised over $345 million for St. Jude's. He has been honored with the Michael F. Tamer Award by St. Jude's for his continued support.

Owen is also interested in helping disadvantaged children. His annual (since 1985) golf tournament benefits the Alabama Sheriff's departments Youth Ranches, and has raised over $1 million.

Owen, and his wife Kelly Owen, were the primary benefactors for the construction of the Kelly Owen Women's and Children's Pavilion at DeKalb Regional Medical Center in Fort Payne, which was at the time a charitably-operated hospital of Baptist Health System of Alabama.

Discography[link]

Studio albums[link]

Singles[link]

Publications[link]

Born Country: My Life in Alabama-How Faith, Family, and Music Brought Me Home HarperOne (2008)

External links[link]

• Alabama Official Website
• CMT Interview

References[link]