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. (January 2009)

Brandon Tartikoff (January 13, 1949 – August 27, 1997) was a television executive who was credited with turning around NBC's low prime time reputation with such hit series as Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law, ALF, Family Ties, The Cosby Show, Cheers, Seinfeld, Miami Vice, The Golden Girls, Knight Rider, The A-Team, St. Elsewhere, Night Court, Hunter, Highway to Heaven, Matlock, Remington Steele, A Different World, 227 and Empty Nest.

Tartikoff also helped develop Punky Brewster, for which he named the title character after a girl he had a crush on in school. Punky Brewster's pet dog Brandon was named after Tartikoff. He was also involved in the creation of the acclaimed Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Beggars and Choosers.

Biography[link]

Early life and career[link]

Born in Freeport, New York, Tartikoff was a graduate of the Lawrenceville School and Yale University, and started his career at WLS-TV in Chicago, Illinois. While attending Yale, Tartikoff worked as an account executive and sales manager of WNHC-TV in New Haven, Connecticut and Hartford, Connecticut. After graduating from Yale, he took a series of jobs in advertising and local television. Tartikoff spent vacations in Los Angeles looking for a job in network television.

His parents were both survivors of the collision of two 747s on Tenerife, Canary Islands in 1977.^[1]

Career at NBC[link]

Tartikoff was hired as a program executive at ABC in 1976. One year later, he moved to NBC (after being hired by Dick Ebersol to direct comedy programming). Tartikoff took over programming duties at NBC from Fred Silverman in 1981.^[2] At age 31, Tartikoff became the youngest president of NBC's entertainment division.

When Tartikoff took over, a writers' strike was looming, affiliates were defecting and the network had only three prime time shows in the Top 20: Little House on the Prairie, Diff'rent Strokes and Real People. Johnny Carson was reportedly in talks to move his landmark late-night talk show to ABC. The entire cast and writers of Saturday Night Live had left that late-night sketch-comedy series, and their replacements had received some of the show's worst critical notices. By 1982, Tartikoff and his new superior, the highly regarded former producer Grant Tinker, turned the network's fortunes around.^[3]

As head of NBC's Entertainment Division, Tartikoff's successes included The Cosby Show, for which Tartikoff had pursued actor-comedian Bill Cosby to create a pilot after having been impressed by Cosby's stories when Cosby guest-hosted The Tonight Show. Tartikoff wrote a brainstorming memo that simply read "MTV cops,"^[4][5][6][7] and later presented the memo to series creator Anthony Yerkovich, formerly a writer and producer for Hill Street Blues. The result was Miami Vice, which became an icon of 1980s pop culture.^[5] Knight Rider was inspired by a perceived lack of leading men who could act, with Tartikoff suggesting that a talking car could fill in the gaps in any leading man's acting abilities.^[3]

During the casting process of Family Ties, Tartikoff was unexcited about Michael J. Fox for the role of Alex P. Keaton.^[3] However, the show's producer, Gary David Goldberg, insisted until Tartikoff relented, saying "Go ahead if you insist. But I'm telling you, this is not the kind of face you'll ever see on a lunch box". Some years later, after the movie Back to the Future cemented Fox's stardom, Fox good-naturedly sent Tartikoff a lunch box with Fox's picture on it and a note inside reading: "To Brandon: This is for you to put your crow in. Love and Kisses, Michael J. Fox." Tartikoff kept the lunch box in his office for the rest of his career.

Johnny Carson broke the news of his retirement in February 1991 to Tartikoff at the Grille in Beverly Hills. For several days only Tartikoff and NBC Chairman Bob Wright knew of the planned retirement.^[3]

Tartikoff wrote in his memoirs that his biggest professional regret was cancelling the series Buffalo Bill, which he later went on to include in a fantasy "dream schedule" created for a TV Guide article that detailed his idea of "The Greatest Network Ever."

Appearances on NBC's shows[link]

During his time at NBC, he made appearances in several of the network's shows. He hosted Saturday Night Live in 1983 and appeared as himself in an episode of Saved by the Bell, where, very tongue-in-cheek, he shortly entertains the notion of a "show about a high school principal and his kids," before scoffing at the idea. During his 1983 appearance on Saturday Night Live, one skit featured Tartikoff in a black leather ensemble, with the words "Be There" spelled out in rhinestones on the back of his jacket. "Be There" was NBC's slogan during the 1983–1984 season, a fitting example of clever hidden advertising. He also appeared as himself in episodes of Night Court and ALF, and in the background of one of the final episodes of Cheers. David Leisure also played Tartikoff in an episode of ALF.

Post-NBC career[link]

He left NBC in 1991, moving to Paramount Pictures to become its chairman. A year later, Brandon left that post to spend more time with his daughter, Calla, who was injured in a car crash near the family's Lake Tahoe home.

In 1994, he made his comeback to national TV with Last Call, a short-lived late-night discussion show he produced. That same year he also produced The Steven Banks Show for PBS. Later that year, he began a brief run as chairman of New World Entertainment. Just prior to his death, Tartikoff served as the chairman of the AOL project "Entertainment Asylum," for which he teamed with Scott Zakarin to build the world's first interactive broadcast studio.

Family[link]

Tartikoff was married with two daughters. Wife Lilly Tartikoff and daughter Calla own a restaurant in West Los Angeles called Colony Cafe.

Death[link]

Tartikoff died on August 27, 1997 from Hodgkin's disease, with which he had three separate bouts over 25 years. He was 48 years old. He was interred in Mount Sinai Memorial Park Cemetery in Los Angeles, California. The Deep Space Nine sixth-season premiere "A Time to Stand" began with a title card reading "In memory of Brandon Tartikoff." A similar card appeared at the end of the ninth-season premiere, "The Butter Shave," of Seinfeld.

References[link]

Further reading[link]

• Tartikoff, Brandon and Leerhsen, Charles. The Last Great Ride (New York: Turtle Bay Books/Random House, 1992), ISBN 0-394-58709-X

External links[link]

• Brandon Tartikoff at the Internet Movie Database
• Brandon Tartikoff at Memory Alpha (a Star Trek wiki)
• Brandon Tartikoff at Find A Grave

Stephen J. Cannell
Cannell in 2009
Born	Stephen Joseph Cannell (1941-02-05)February 5, 1941 Los Angeles, California, United States
Died	September 30, 2010(2010-09-30) (aged 69)[1] Pasadena, California, United States
Cause of death	melanoma
Residence	Los Angeles, California
Nationality	American
Education	University of Oregon
Alma mater	Sigma Chi
Occupation	Writer, producer, director
Years active	1968–2010
Known for	Founder of The Stephen J. Cannell Productions
Home town	Pasadena, California
Spouse	Marcia Cannell
Children	Tawnia, Chelsea, Derek (deceased), Cody
Awards	Emmy Award
Website
cannell.com

Stephen Joseph Cannell ( /ˈkænəl/; February 5, 1941 – September 30, 2010) was an American television producer, writer, novelist and occasional actor, and the founder of Stephen J. Cannell Productions.

Early life[link]

Cannell was born in Los Angeles, California, and raised in nearby Pasadena.^[1] His parents, Carolyn (née Baker) and Joseph Knapp Cannell, owned a chain of furniture stores.^[2][3] Cannell struggled with dyslexia in school, but did graduate from the University of Oregon in 1964 with a Bachelor of Science degree in journalism.^[2] At UO, he joined the Sigma Chi fraternity.^{[citation needed]}

Career[link]

After college, Cannell spent four years working with the family business before selling his first script to the Universal series It Takes a Thief in 1968. He was quickly hired by the television production branch of Universal Studios and was soon freelance writing for such other crime shows as Ironside and Columbo. Not long after, he received his first full-time gig as the story editor of Jack Webb's police series Adam-12, then in its fourth season (1971–1972).

Cannell created or co-created nearly 40 television series, mostly crime dramas, including The Rockford Files, The Greatest American Hero, The A-Team, Wiseguy, 21 Jump Street, Silk Stalkings, and The Commish. In the process he had, by his own count, scripted more than 450 episodes, and produced or executive produced over 1,500 episodes.^[4]

He described his early financial arrangements in a 2002 interview, saying that at Universal,

For many years, Cannell's office was at Paramount Studios in Hollywood, though his shows (with the exception of Hunter, The Greatest American Hero and Riptide) were almost always distributed by Universal Studios. The closing logo of his production company features him typing, before throwing the sheet from his typewriter whereupon it animates to become his company logo against a black screen (the one sheet of paper lands on a stack of paper forming a letter C). It was updated often, the main differences being Cannell's clothes, sometimes new awards were in the background and (rarely) a new office for the live-action part. Early examples are also notable for Cannell smoking a pipe as he types. The logo has become part of American pop culture and has been parodied on The Simpsons, Family Guy, and 30 Rock. After his death, an episode of Castle showed Cannell's logo with the words "Colleague, Mentor, Friend" while he is typing and "We'll miss you, pal" superimposed over the sheet of paper, but the stack of paper is absent, and the lone sheet floats down towards the bottom and out of view.

Cannell also acted occasionally, including a regular supporting role as "Dutch" Dixon on his series Renegade. He also took a turn in an episode of Silk Stalkings, in which the script called for one character to tell him, "You look just like that writer on TV," to which Cannell's character responds, "I get that all the time." He also served as the host of the 1995–1996 syndicated documentary series U.S. Customs Classified, focusing on the work of the U.S Customs Service.^[5] Cannell appeared as himself in the pilot of the ABC show Castle and again in season 2. Along with James Patterson, Dennis Lehane and Michael Connelly, he was one of Castle's poker buddies. In season 3, an empty seat at the poker table is described as Cannell's, and to remain empty for a full year.

In an effort to lower production costs,^{[citation needed]} Cannell opened a studio facility in Vancouver, British Columbia toward the end of the 1980s. One of the first series shot there was 21 Jump Street, the highest-rated show of the new Fox network's first season.^{[citation needed]} Scene of the Crime, a mystery anthology series for CBS's late-night schedule, was also filmed in Vancouver and hosted by Cannell. New World Communications acquired his production company in 1995. Cannell then founded the Cannell Studios.^[6] One of the first shows produced by the newly established Cannell Studios was the short-lived but critically acclaimed corporate drama Profit.

In the 2000s, Cannell turned his attention to novels. As of 2008, he had written 14, half of which featured the character of detective Shane Scully of the Los Angeles Police Department. The eighth book in that series, On the Grind (St. Martin's Press), was scheduled for release January 2009.^[7]

The documentary Dislecksia: The Movie features an interview with Cannell, in which he discusses his struggles with dyslexia and how he managed to be such a successful writer despite his difficulties reading. During the interview, he mentions how he used to hire typists to overcome his "spelling problem", as he refers to his dyslexia, but also describes how he feels his condition has enriched his life.^{[citation needed]}

Cannell's TV series The A-Team was remade into a 2010 feature length film. Cannell served as a producer and creative consultant for the project.

Personal life[link]

As of 2009, Cannell lived in Los Angeles. He married his high school sweetheart, Marcia; he "asked her to go steady in the eighth grade".^[8] Together they had two daughters, Tawnia and Chelsea, and two sons, Cody and Derek.^[8] Derek died in 1981 at age 15 when a sand castle he was building at the beach collapsed and suffocated him.^[9]

Cannell was dyslexic, and was a spokesman on the subject. According to an episode of Paul Harvey's The Rest of the Story, Cannell frequently had to dictate ideas or even complete scripts to a personal secretary. He discussed his experiences as a dyslexic in the upcoming documentary Dislecksia: The Movie.

Cannell continued to write on a typewriter (an IBM Selectric) and only used a computer for research purposes.^{[citation needed]}

Death[link]

Cannell died September 30, 2010, from complications of melanoma.^[10]

Selected Filmography[link]

• Ironside (1970)
• The D.A. (1971)
• Adam-12 (1971–1973)
• Chase (1973) (Creator)
• Columbo (1973)
• Toma (1973)
• The Rockford Files (1974–1980) (Co-Creator, with Roy Huggins)
• Switch (1975)
• Baretta (1975) (Creator)
• City of Angels (1976) (Co-Creator, with Roy Huggins)
• Richie Brockelman: Private Eye (with Steven Bochco) (1976)
• Baa Baa Black Sheep (a.k.a. Black Sheep Squadron) (1976–1978) (Creator)
• Richie Brockelman, Private Eye (1978) (Co-Creator with Steven Bochco)
• The Duke (1979)
• Stone (1980) (Co-Creator, with Richard Levinson and William Link)
• Tenspeed and Brown Shoe (1980) (Creator)
• The Greatest American Hero (1981–1983) (Creator)
• The Quest (1982)
• The Rousters (1983) (Creator)
• The A-Team (1983–1987) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
• Hardcastle and McCormick (1983–1986) (Co-Creator, with Patrick Hasburgh)*Hunter (1984–1991)
• Riptide (1984–1986) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
• The Last Precinct (1986) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
• Stingray (1986–1987) (Creator)
• J.J. Starbuck (1987) (Creator)
• Wiseguy (1987–1990) (Co-Creator, with Frank Lupo)
• 21 Jump Street (1987–1991) (Co-Creator, with Patrick Hasburgh)
• Sonny Spoon (1988) (Co-Creator, with Michael Daly, Diana Prince and Randall Wallace)
• Unsub (1989) (developer; series created by Stephen Kronish and David J. Burke)
• Booker (1990) (Co-Creator, with Eric Blakeney)
• Broken Badges (1990) (Co-Creator, with Randall Wallace)
• The Great Pretender (1991) (unsold pilot)
• Street Justice (1991–1993)
• Silk Stalkings (1991–1999) (Creator)
• The 100 Lives of Black Jack Savage (1991) (Co-Creator, with James Wong and Glen Morgan)
• The Commish (1991–1996) (Co-Creator, with Stephen Kronish)
• Palace Guard (1991) (Creator)
• Renegade (1992–1997) (Creator)
• The Hat Squad (1992–1993) (Co-Creator, with Bill Nuss)
• Missing Persons (1993–1994)
• Cobra (1993–1994) (Co-Creator, with Craig W. Van Sickle and Steven Long Mitchell)
• Traps (1994) (Creator)
• Hawkeye (1994–1995)
• Marker (1995)
• Profit (1996)

Notable Acting Credits[link]

• Magnum, P.I. (1986)
• Renegade (1992-1997)
• Diagnosis Murder (1997-1999)
• Pacific Blue (1999-2000)
• Ice Spiders (2007)
• Castle (2009)

Bibliography[link]

References[link]

Shane Scully- Last Novel 11. Vigalante (2011)

External links[link]

• Official website
• Stephen J. Cannell at the Internet Movie Database
• Stephen J. Cannell Archive of American Television Interview
• Stephen J. Cannell At Find A Grave

Jeffrey "Jeff" Gaspin (born December 29, 1960) is an American television executive and was most recently the Chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment. Gaspin resigned his position in late 2010, as a precursor to Comcast taking controlling ownership of the now newly rechristened NBCUniversal, which occurred on January 28, 2011. Robert Greenblatt, former President of Entertainment of Showtime Networks Inc., succeeded Gaspin.

Early life[link]

Jeff Gaspin was born in Bayside, New York. At a young age, Gaspin intended to become a doctor. In the late 1970s, he enrolled as a Pre-Med Student at Binghamton University in Binghamton, New York. Originally taking biology and chemistry courses, he decided to change paths in his junior year and switched to a double major in psychology and business administration. He received a B.A. from Binghamton in 1982. After graduation, looking towards a career in finance, he enrolled in New York University from which he received an M.B.A..^[1]

Beginning of business career[link]

After finding no jobs on Wall Street in Finance, Gaspin looked at an associates program at NBC. After spending five years in the NBC finance department, he shifted to news programming at the urging of Michael Gartner, who was at the time the Chief Financial Officer of NBC News. After time, he then shifted to enterainment programming.^[1] During this tenure, Gaspin helped to develop and launch the critically acclaimed Dateline NBC as well as expanding the Today Show to its current seven day schedule. In 1996, Gaspin left NBC to go to head program development at VH1. Returning to NBC in 2001, Gaspin was named Executive Vice President of Program Strategy at NBC Entertainment where he helped to develop new programs such as The Apprentice and Biggest Loser. In 2002, NBC acquired the Bravo Network and Gaspin was named its new President. Some of his most noteworthy accomplishments were the massive hits Queer Eye for the Straight Guy and Project Runway. He was named President of NBC Universal Cable and Digital Content in 2007.^[2]

Current career[link]

In July 2009, Gaspin was promoted to Chairman of NBC Universal Television Entertainment. Some of the businesses he is responsible for are NBC Entertainment (home to hits such as The Office, 30 Rock, and The Tonight Show), cable channels USA Network and Bravo, and NBC Universal Domestic Television Distribution which distributes such shows as The Martha Stewart Show and The Jerry Springer Show.^[2]

Personal life[link]

He currently resides in Hidden Hills, California with his wife, Karen, and children Max, Ben, and Samantha.

References[link]

Bernard Lee "Pretty" Purdie (born June 11, 1939) is an American session drummer, and is considered an influential and innovative exponent of funk.^[1] He is known for his strict musical time keeping^[2] and "The Purdie Shuffle".^[3]

Purdie recorded Soul Drums (1968) as a band leader and although he went on to record Alexander's Ragtime Band, the album remained unreleased until Soul Drums was reissued on CD in 2009 with the Alexander's Ragtime Band sessions. Other solo albums include Purdie Good (1971),Soul Is...Pretty Purdie (1972) and the soundtrack for the Blaxploitation film Lialeh (1973).

Purdie was credited on the sound track album for Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1978) and more recently he was the drummer for the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair and appeared on the associated Broadway cast recording.^[4] In 2010, he had his portrait painted by Jane Moorhouse, an artist based in London.^[5]

Biography[link]

At an early age Purdie began hitting cans with sticks and learned the elements of drumming techniques from overhearing lessons being given by Leonard Heywood. He later took lessons from Heywood and played in Heywood's big band. Purdie's other influences at that time were Papa Jo Jones, Buddy Rich, Gene Krupa, Joe Marshall and Art Blakey.^[6]

In 1961 he moved from his home town of Elkton, Maryland, to New York. There he played sessions with Mickey and Sylvia and regularly visited the Turf Club on 50th and Broadway, where musicians, agents, and promoters met and touted for business. It was during this period that he played for the saxophonist Buddy Lucas, who nicknamed him 'Mississippi Bigfoot'. Eventually Barney Richmond contracted him to play session work.^[6] Later Bernard Purdie added drum overdubs to tracks from these sessions,^[7] including "Ain't She Sweet", "Take Out Some Insurance on Me Baby" and "Sweet Georgia Brown".^[8] The main reason for this was to give them a punchier sound for the US market. These tracks were eventually released on January 31, 1964 by Polydor.^[9] Ringo Starr's physical approach to drumming was probably influenced by Purdie's Motown style.^[10]

Purdie was contracted by arranger Sammy Lowe to play a session with James Brown in 1965 and recording session records also show that Purdie played on "Ain't That A Groove"^[11] at the same session.^[6] This was one of several sessions he played with Brown and the track "Kansas City" from Brown's album Cold Sweat (1967), displays one of the most sophisticated and driving shuffles recorded for Brown's catalogue. Purdie is also credited on the albums Say It Loud-I'm Black and I'm Proud (1969)^[12] and Get on the Good Foot (1972) on which "Ain't That A Groove" appeared.^[13]

Purdie started working with Aretha Franklin as musical director in 1970 and held that position for five years,^[1] as well as drumming for Franklin's opening act, King Curtis and The King Pins. In 1970 he performed with both bands at the Fillmore West; the resulting live recordings were released as Aretha Live at the Fillmore West (1971) and King Curtis's Live at Fillmore West (1971).^[14] His best known track with Franklin was "Rock Steady",^[15] on which he played what he described as "a funky and low down beat". Of his time with Franklin he once commented that "backing her was like floating in seventh heaven".^[6]

Encounter Records[link]

In 1973 Purdie founded Encounter Records and released five albums

• EN 3000: Seldon Powell - Messin' With
• EN 3001: Sands of Time - Profile (with Jimmy Owens, Garnett Brown)
• EN 3002: East Coast - East Coast (with Larry Blackmon, Gwen Guthrie)
• EN 3003: Frank Owens - Brown N Serve (with Hugh McCracken) ^[16]
• EN 3004: Harold Vick as "Sir Edward" - The Power of Feeling

Drumming style[link]

File:Purdie shuffle.png

Purdie shuffle variants^[17]  Play (help·info).

File:Purdie shuffle B.png

Purdie shuffle variant^[18]  Play (help·info).

Purdie is known as a groove drummer with immaculate timing and makes use of precision half note, backbeats, and grooves.^[2] Purdie's signature sixteenth note hi-hat lick pish-ship, pish-ship, pish-ship is distinct and hard to copy^[6] and he is known for his versatility. He often employs a straight eight groove sometimes fusing several influences such as swing, blues and funk. He created now well-known drum pattern such as the Purdie shuffle, Half-Time Purdie Shuffle,^[18] also the Bernard Purdie half-time feel shuffle^[17][19][20] that is a blues shuffle variation with the addition of syncopated ghost notes on the snare drum.^[18] Variations on this shuffle can be heard on songs such as Led Zeppelin's "Fool in the Rain", Death Cab For Cutie's "Grapevine Fires", and Toto's "Rosanna" (Rosanna shuffle).^[18][21] Purdie's shuffle can be heard on Steely Dan's "Babylon Sisters"^[22] and "Home At Last".^[18]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

• Soul Drums Direction (1968)
• Stand By Me Mega (1971)
• Purdie Good Prestige (1971)
• Soul Is ... Pretty Purdie Flying Dutchman (1972)
• Lialeh - Bryan (1973)
• Shaft - Prestige (1974)
• Delights of the Garden Celluloid (1975)
• Purdie As a Picture - Kilarnock (1993)
• Tokyo Jazz Groove Sessions - Lexington (1993)
• Coolin' 'n' Groovin' - Lexington/West 47th 1993 (1993)
• After Hours with The 3B's - 3B's (1993)
• The Hudson River Rats - 3B's (1994)
• Kick N Jazz Drum Beat Blocks (1996)
• Soul to Jazz I Act(1997)
• In the Pocket P Vine (1997)
• Soul to Jazz II Act (1998)
• Get It While You Can 3B's (1999)
• Purdie Good Cookin' Own Label (2003)

Contributions[link]

• Gabor Szabo - Jazz Raga (1966)
• James Brown - Cold Sweat (1967)
• King Curtis and his Kingpins - Instant Soul (1967)
• The Soul Finders - Sweet Soul Music (1968)
• Albert Ayler - New Grass (1968)
• James Brown - Say It Loud-I'm Black & I'm Proud (1969)
• Al Kooper - You Never Know Who Your Friends Are (1969)
• Gary Burton - Good Vibes (Atlantic, 1969)
• Dizzy Gillespie - Cornucopia (Solid State, 1969)
• Aretha Franklin - Young, Gifted and Black (1972)
• James Brown - Get On the Good Foot (1972)
• Larry Coryell - Coryell (1969)
• BB King - Completely Well (1970)
• Robert Palmer's Insect Trust - Hoboken Saturday Night (1970)
• Eddie Palmieri - Harlem River Drive (1970)
• Eddie Harris and Les McCann - Second Movement (Atlantic, 1971)
• Aretha Franklin - Aretha Live at Fillmore West (1971)
• King Curtis - Live at Fillmore West (1971)
• Larry Coryell - Fairyland (1971)
• Herbie Mann - Push, Push (1971)
• Dizzy Gillespie - The Real Thing (1971)
• Hubert Laws - Wild Flower (Atlantic, 1972)
• Aretha Franklin - Amazing Grace (1972)
• Esther Phillips - Alone Again Naturally (1972)
• Miles Davis - Get Up with It (1972)
• Ronnie Foster - Sweet Revival (1972)
• BB King - Guess Who (1973)
• Cat Stevens - Foreigner (1973)
• Hall & Oates - Abandoned Luncheonette (1973)
• Jimmy McGriff - Come Together (1974)
• Joe Cocker - I Can Stand a Little Rain (1974)
• Bama The Village Poet - Ghettos Of The Mind (1974)
• Cornell Dupree - Teasin' (1975)
• Todd Rundgren - Initiation (1975)
• Jorge Dalto - Chevere (1976)
• Hummingbird - We Can't Go On Meeting Like This (1976)
• Steely Dan - The Royal Scam (1976)
• Steely Dan - Aja (1977)^[6]
• Hummingbird - Diamond Nights (1977)
• Pee Wee Ellis - Home in the Country (1977)
• Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson - You Can't Make Love Alone (1977)
• Joe Cocker - Luxury You Can Afford (1978)
• Dizzy Gillespie - Digital at Montreux, 1980 (Pablo, 1980)
• Steely Dan - Gaucho (1980)
• Jimmy McGriff - Blue to the Bone (1988)
• Elliott Randall - Still Reelin (2006)
• Hair - Broadway Cast Recording (2009)

Notes[link]

References[link]

• Everett, Walter. The Beatles as musicians: the Quarry Men through Rubber Soul. Oxford University Press US (2001). ISBN 978-0-19-514105-4
• Gottfridsson, Hans Olof; Sheridan, Tony and Beatles. The Beatles from Cavern to Star-Club: The Illustrated Chronicle, Discography & Price Guide 1957-1962. Premium Publishing (1997). ISBN 978-91-971894-7-7
• Kernfeld, Barry Dean. The new Grove dictionary of jazz second edition. Grove's Dictionaries Inc. (2002). Digitized 21 Dec (2006). ISBN 978-1-56159-284-5
• Miles, Barry and Badman, Keith. The Beatles Diary: The Beatles years. Omnibus Press (2001) ISBN 978-0-7119-8308-3
• Payne, Jim and Weinger, Harry. The Great Drummers of R&B Funk & Soul. Mel Bay Publications (2007). ISBN 978-0-7866-7303-2
• Rabb, Johnny; Brych, Ray and Lohman, Gregg. Jungle/Drum 'n' Bass for the Acoustic Drum Set: A Guide to Applying Today's Electronic Music to the Drum Set. Alfred Publishing (2001). ISBN 0-7579-9025-8
• Weinberg, Max. The Big Beat: Conversations with Rock's Greatest Drummers. Hal Leonard Corporation (2004). ISBN 978-0-634-08275-7
• York, William. Who's Who in Rock Music. Atomic Press (1978). Digitized 30 Aug 2007.

External links[link]

• Bernard Pretty Purdie at the Internet Movie Database
• "Official website". bernardpurdie.com. http://www.bernardpurdie.com. 
• Bernard Purdie RBMA lecture

Judith Sheindlin
Scheindlin at the 2012 Tribeca Film Festival
Born	Judith Susan Blum (1942-10-21) October 21, 1942 (age 69) Brooklyn, New York, U.S.
Other names	Judge Judy Judy
Occupation	Lawyer, judge, television personality, arbitrator
Years active	Attorney: 1965–present Judge: 1982–present Television personality: 1996–present
Known for	Judge Judy (1996–present )
Spouse	Ronald Levy (1964–1976) (divorced) Jerry Sheindlin (1977–1990; divorced, remarried 1991–present)

Judith Sheindlin, better known as Judge Judy (born October 21, 1942), is an American lawyer, judge, television personality, and author. Since 1996, Sheindlin has presided over her own syndicated courtroom show, Judge Judy.^[1]

Sheindlin passed the New York Bar examination in 1965, and became a prosecutor in the family court system. In 1982 Mayor Ed Koch appointed her a judge, first in criminal court, then later as Manhattan's supervising family court judge in 1986.

Early life and education[link]

Sheindlin was born Judith Susan Blum on October 21, 1942 to German-Jewish parents, Murray, a dentist, and Ethel Blum.^[1] She described her father as "the greatest thing since sliced bread", and her mother as "a meat and potatoes kind of gal."^[2]

Sheindlin attended James Madison High School in Brooklyn before going on to American University in Washington, D.C., where she majored in government.^[1] She then enrolled at the Washington College of Law at American University where she was the only woman in a class of 126 students.^[1] She finished her law school education at New York Law School, where she graduated in 1965.^[3]

Marriages and family[link]

In 1964 Sheindlin married Ronald Levy, who later became a prosecutor in juvenile court; they moved together to New York and had two children.^[1] The couple divorced in 1976 after 12 years of marriage.^[1]

In 1977 she married Jerry Sheindlin, also a judge and also a divorcé. They divorced in 1990, partially as a result of the stress and struggles that Judith incurred after her father's death that same year.^[1] They remarried the following year.^[1] The Sheindlins have five children – Gregory, Jamie, Adam, Jonothan and Nicole – and 11 grandchildren .^[1]

Legal career[link]

Sheindlin passed the New York Bar Exam in 1965, the same year as her graduation, and was hired as a corporate lawyer for a cosmetics firm.^[1] Within two years she became dissatisfied with her job and left to raise her two children. She was soon made aware of a position in the New York court system as a prosecutor in the family courts.^[1] In her role as a lawyer Sheindlin prosecuted child abuse cases, domestic violence, and juvenile crime.^[1]

By 1982 Sheindlin's no-nonsense^[1] attitude inspired New York Mayor, Ed Koch, to appoint her as a judge in criminal court.^[1] Four years later she was promoted to supervising judge in the Manhattan division of the family court.^[1] She earned a reputation as a tough judge, notorious for fast decision-making and wise-cracking judgments.^[2]

In February 1993 Sheindlin's outspoken reputation made her the subject of a Los Angeles Times article,^[4] profiling her as a woman determined to make the court system work for the common good.^[1] She subsequently was featured in a segment on CBS's 60 Minutes, bringing her national recognition.^[1] This led to her first book, Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining, published in 1996. She retired as a family court judge that same year after hearing over 20,000 cases.^[1] After her retirement, Sheindlin continued to receive increasing amounts of public attention.^[1]

[edit] Judge Judy

Judge Judy stands next to a portrait of herself

Not long after her retirement in 1996, Sheindlin was approached about possibly starring in a new courtroom television program, featuring real cases with real rulings.^[3] She accepted the offer.

Sheindlin's syndicated courtroom series Judge Judy debuted on September 16, 1996.^[3] The show met with instant success and made Sheindlin a celebrity, becoming well known for her strict, no-nonsense attitude and wit.^[3] The program has been the number one court show since its debut,^[5] the only original show on television to increase its ratings yearly,^[5] and has integrated itself into American pop culture.^[3]

The show's ratings have been very high, averaging approximately 10 million viewers daily.^[6] It is especially popular among female viewers between the ages of 25 and 54.^[7] Author Brendan I. Koerner commented in regard to the popularity of Judge Judy:

Sheindlin resides in Connecticut^[8] and New York,^[9] and travels to Florida in the winter.^[10] She commutes to Los Angeles every other week for two to four days to tape episodes of Judge Judy.^[5][9] In January 2009, Sheindlin extended her contract through 2012–13 (its 17th season)^[11] due to high ratings as well as her belief that people are still engaged in the program.^[11] Sheindlin admits the show is "seductive" and hard to give up. Said Sheindlin, "I'm not tired. I still feel engaged by what I do and I still have people who like to watch it."^[5] During the 2009-2010 season, Judge Judy became the first show in a decade to score a higher number of daytime viewers than The Oprah Winfrey Show.^[12] In May 2011, as a result of continued high ratings, CBS Television Distribution announced that the show's contract was extended to 2015.^[12]

In 2005 Sheindlin's salary was US$25 million per year.^[7] Her net worth at the beginning of 2007 was $95 million and she ranked number 13 on the Forbes magazine top 20 richest women in entertainment.^[13] In February 2006, Sheindlin received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.^[14] As a result of her stardom, she served as a judge for the 1999 Miss America Pageant.^[15] References to Sheindlin as Judge Judy have appeared on TV shows including Will & Grace, America's Next Top Model, NBC's The Weakest Link, The Practice and the Academy Awards, as well as the book "America: A Citizen's Guide to Democracy Inaction" by Jon Stewart.;^[3] she has also appeared in numerous cable news interviews.^[15] In December 2009 Sheindlin told the story of her life and career in Family Court, as well as "Judge Judy" and her published works in a two-hour interview for the Archive of American Television. In July 2010 Sheindlin's contract was renewed, so she now will receive $45 million per year to tape her show, which is currently the top rated daytime show in the US.^[16]

On March 30, 2011, Sheindlin was admitted to the hospital after she fainted on the set of her show. She was released the next day, and it is not known what caused her to faint.^[17]

Publications[link]

• Sheindlin, Judith (1996). Don't Pee on My Leg and Tell Me It's Raining. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-092794-1. ^[3]
• Sheindlin, Judith (1999). Beauty Fades, Dumb is Forever. Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-092991-X. ^[3]
• Sheindlin, Judith (2000). Keep It Simple, Stupid: You're Smarter Than You Look. Cliff Street Books. ISBN 0-06-019546-0. ^[3]
• Sheindlin, Judith (2000). Win or Lose by How You Choose. Harper Collins. ISBN 0-06-028780-2. ^[3]
• Sheindlin, Judith (2001). You're Smarter Than You Look: Uncomplicating Relationships in Complicated Times. Harper Paperbacks. ISBN 0-06-095376-4. ^[18]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Judith Sheindlin at the Internet Movie Database
• Judge Judith Sheindlin at the Notable Names Database
• Judge Judy marks 10 years laying down the law, CTV News, February 15, 2006
• Biographical article from The Guardian, October 9, 2008