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Albany is a common place name. It is derived from Alba (Gaelic for Scotland) and its Latinisation, Albania. In older English it is used to mean Scotland generally, and in particular the part of Scotland north of the Firth of Forth and Firth of Clyde.

Albany may refer to:

Locations[link]

Australia

• Albany, Western Australia
  • City of Albany, the Western Australian local government area responsible for Albany
  • Electoral district of Albany, the district of the Western Australian Legislative Council covering Albany
• Albany Creek, a suburb of Brisbane
• Albany Island, an island at Cape York Peninsula

Canada

• Albany, Nova Scotia
• Albany, Ontario
• Albany, Prince Edward Island
• Fort Albany, Ontario

New Zealand

• Albany, New Zealand, a suburb of Auckland

South Africa

• Albany, South Africa a region in the Eastern Cape named after the capital of New York State

United Kingdom

• Albany, Tyne and Wear, a suburb of Washington, Tyne and Wear
• Albany, an ancient name for North Britain
• Albany, Piccadilly, London - Housing Development in the West End of London, initially designed by Robert Adam, the architect

United States of America (sorted by state)

• Albany, Alabama (1887–1927; merged with Decatur, Alabama), named in honor of Albany, New York in 1916
• Albany, California, named in honor of Albany, New York in 1909
• Albany, Georgia, named in honor of Albany, New York in 1836
• Albany, Illinois
• Albany Park, Chicago, Illinois
• Albany Township, Illinois
• Albany, Indiana
• Albany, Iowa
• Albany, Kentucky, named in honor of Albany, New York in 1837
• Albany, Louisiana
• Albany Township, Maine
• Albany, Minnesota
• Albany Township, Minnesota
• Albany, Missouri
• Albany Township, Nebraska
• Albany, New Hampshire, named in honor of Albany, New York in 1833
• Albany, New York, the capital of New York and the most populous city in this list
• Albany County, New York
• Albany, Ohio
• Albany, Oklahoma, named in honor of Albany, New York
• Albany, Oregon, named in honor of Albany, New York in 1848
• Albany, Pennsylvania
• Albany Township, Berks County, Pennsylvania
• Albany Township, Bradford County, Pennsylvania
• Albany, Tennessee
• Albany, Texas, named in honor of Albany, Georgia in 1873
• Albany, Vermont
• Albany, Wisconsin, a village located within the town of Albany, Green County
• Albany, Green County, Wisconsin, a town
• Albany, Pepin County, Wisconsin, a town
• Albany, Wyoming
• Albany County, Wyoming

Buildings[link]

• Albany (Liverpool), formerly a meeting place for cotton brokers, now divided into apartments
• Albany (London), a famous apartment complex in London
• Albany (HM Prison), a Category B men's prison on the Isle of Wight
• Albany Theatre (formerly the Albany Empire), in Deptford, South London

Geography[link]

• Albany River, in Canada
• Lake Albany, a prehistoric proglacial lake

Ships[link]

• USS Albany, the name of five ships of the United States Navy, all named for Albany, New York
• MV Empire Albany, later renamed Albany.

People[link]

• Albany Leon Bigard, better known as Barney Bigard, jazz musician
• Duke of Albany, a Scottish, and later, British Peerage title
• "Michael of Albany", self-style of Michel Roger Lafosse; Stewart claimant.

Automobiles[link]

• Albany (1903 Automobile), an early British automobile
• Albany (1907 Automobile), an early American automobile, named for Albany,
• Albany (automobile), an English car of the 1970s with "veteran styling"

Organizations and institutions[link]

• Albany Records, a record label in Albany, New York
• Albany Symphony Orchestra, New York
• University at Albany, SUNY, New York
• Albany Great Danes, the athletic program of the University at Albany
• Albany State University, Albany, Georgia

Airports[link]

• Albany Airport (disambiguation), a list of airports associated with Albany

Amtrak stations[link]

• Albany, Oregon (Amtrak station)
• Albany-Rensselaer (Amtrak station), New York

Songs[link]

• Albany (1981), a well-known German language schlager by the British singer Roger Whittaker

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Roger Whittaker
Roger Whittaker playing live
Background information
Born	(1936-03-22) 22 March 1936 (age 76) Nairobi, Kenya, British Empire
Genres	Easy listening, pop
Occupations	Musician, singer-songwriter, teacher
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	1962–present
Website	www.rogerwhittaker.com

Roger Whittaker (born 22 March 1936) is an Anglo-Kenyan singer-songwriter and musician. His music can be described as easy listening. He is best known for his baritone singing voice and trademark whistling ability. American audiences are most familiar with his 1970 hit "New World in the Morning" and his 1975 hit "The Last Farewell," the latter of which is his only single to hit the Billboard Hot 100 (it made the Top 20) and also hit #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart.

Childhood and beginning[link]

Whittaker's parents, Edward and Viola, were originally from Staffordshire, England, where they owned and operated a grocery shop. His father had a motorcycle accident and the family moved to a farm near Thika, Kenya because of the warmer climate. His grandfather sang in various clubs and his father played the violin. Roger learned to play the guitar.

Whittaker was drafted into national service and spent two years in the Kenya Regiment. In 1956 he was demobilized and decided on a career in medicine. He enrolled at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

He left the university after 18 months and joined the civil service education department to try teaching.

Recording and performing career[link]

To further his teaching career, Whittaker moved to Britain in September 1959. For the next three years, he studied zoology, biochemistry, and marine biology at the Bangor University and received a B.Sc. degree. He continued to sing in local clubs and released some of his songs on flexi-discs included with the campus newspaper, the Bangor University Rag. Shortly afterwards, he was signed to Fontana Records who released his first professional single, "The Charge of The Light Brigade", in 1962.

In the summer of 1962, he appeared at a professional gig in Portrush, Northern Ireland. He landed his first major breakthrough when he was signed to appear on an Ulster Television show called This And That. His second single was a cover version of "Steel Men", released in June 1962.

Whittaker met Natalie O'Brien in the spring of 1964 and they married on 15 August of that year. They have five children: Emily (b. 28 May 1968), Lauren (b. 4 June 1970), Jessica (b. 14 February 1973), Guy (b. 15 November 1974), and Alexander (b. 7 April 1978). They now have nine grandchildren.

In 1966, Whittaker switched from Fontana to EMI's Columbia label. His fourth single for the imprint was "Durham Town (The Leavin')", which in 1969 became Whittaker's first UK Top 20 hit. Whittaker's US label, RCA Victor, released the uptempo "New World In The Morning" in 1970, where it became a Top 20 hit in Billboard magazine's Easy Listening chart.

In the early 70's Whittaker took interest in the Nordic Countries when he recorded the single "Where the Angels Tread (Änglagård)" to the music of Evert Taube in 1972. In 1974 he partook in the Finnish Eurovision qualifications. The song "The Finnish Whistler" he performed in the qualifications later became famous in Finland as it was used as a title music for the popular Finnish YLE TV cooking program "Patakakkonen".

1975 saw EMI release "The Last Farewell", a track from his 1971 New World in The Morning album. It became his biggest hit and a signature song, selling more than 11 million copies worldwide. In 1979, Whittaker wrote the song "Call My Name" which reached the final of the UK Eurovision selection, A Song For Europe, performed by Eleanor Keenan and coming third. Whittaker recorded the song himself and the single charted in several European countries. Whittaker also established himself in country music with "I Love You Because" getting "into the lower reaches of the country chart"^[1] in late 1983. Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Whittaker had success in Germany, with German language songs produced by Nick Munro. Unable to speak German, Whittaker sang the songs phonetically. He appeared on German and Danish TV several times,^[2] and was on the UK Top Of The Pops show 10 times in the early to mid 1970s.

In 1986, he published his autobiography, So Far, So Good, co-written with his wife.

In March 2006, Whittaker announced on his website that a 2007 Germany tour would be his last, and that he will limit future performances to "occasional concerts". Now more fluent in German, he was seen singing and was interviewed in German on Danish TV in November 2008.

In recent years he has been living in Eyrecourt, County Galway, Ireland, close to the River Shannon.

Tours[link]

In 1976, Whittaker undertook his first tour of the United States.

In 2003 he again toured Germany. After recovering from heart problems at the end of 2004, he started touring in Germany in 2005, and then in UK from May to July.

Awards[link]

In his career to date, Whittaker has earned over 250 silver, gold and platinum albums.

He was part of a successful British team that won the annual Knokke music festival in Belgium, and won the Press Prize as the personality of the festival.

Ivor Novello awards (twice) for songwriting in 1971-72 and for "The Last Farewell" in 1975-76 (?) (unconfirmed - e-mail query pending)

He was awarded a 'Gold Badge Award', from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors (BASCA) in 1988.^[3]

He earned a 'Golden Tuning Fork' (Goldene Stimmgabel in Germany) in 1986, based on record sales and TV viewer votes.

Discography[link]

Hit singles[link]

European albums[link]

a selection

• 1971 New World in the Morning
• 1979 Mein deutsches Album (in German)
• 1981 Zum Weinen ist immer noch Zeit
• 1982 Typisch Roger Whittaker
• 1983 Voyager
• 1984 Ein Glück, daß es Dich gibt
• 1987 Heut bin ich arm - Heut bin ich reich
• 1991 Frohe Weinacht - Die schonsten Weihnachtslieder
• 1991 Mein Herz schlägt nur für Dich
• 1992 Stimme des Herzens
• 1993 Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht
• 1994 Leben mit Dir
• 1994 Sehnsucht nach Liebe
• 1994 Geschenk des Himmels
• 1995 Ein schöner Tag mit Dir
• 1996 Alles Roger!
• 1996 Einfach leben
• 1997 Zurück zur Liebe
• 1999 Alles Roger 2
• 1999 Awakening
• 2000 Wunderbar geborgen
• 2002 Mehr denn je
• 2003 Alles Roger 3
• 2003 Der weihnachtliche Liedermarkt
• 2004 Live in Berlin
• 2004 Mein schönster Traum
• 2005 Moments in My Life
• 2007 The Danish collection

US albums[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• The Official German Fan Page
• Roger Whittaker at the Internet Movie Database