20th century

The 20th century was a century that began on January 1, 1901 and ended on December 31, 2000. It was the tenth and final century of the 2nd millennium. It is distinct from the century known as the 1900s (sometimes written as 19XX), which began on January 1, 1900 and ended on December 31, 1999.

Dubbed the "short twentieth century", this century in human history was dominated by chain of events that heralded significant changes in world history as to redefine the era: World War I and World War II, nationalism and decolonization, the Cold War and Post-Cold War conflicts, cultural homogenization through developments in transportation and communications technology, world population growth, awareness of environmental degradation, ecological extinction and the birth of the Digital Revolution. It saw great advances in communication and medical technology that by the late 1980s allowed for near-instantaneous worldwide computer communication and genetic modification of life.

Overview

The century had the first global-scale total wars between world powers across continents and oceans in World War I and World War II. Nationalism became a major political issue in the world in the 20th century, acknowledged in international law along with the right of nations to self-determination, official decolonization in the mid-century, and nationalist-influenced armed regional-conflicts.

Love's Theme

"Love's Theme" is an instrumental piece recorded by Barry White's Love Unlimited Orchestra and released in 1973 as an A-Side single. It is one of the few instrumental and purely orchestral singles to reach number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the United States, which it did in early 1974. Billboard ranked it as the No. 3 song for 1974. The piece was included on two albums: 1973's Under the Influence of... Love Unlimited (by the vocal group Love Unlimited) and 1974's Rhapsody in White by Love Unlimited Orchestra.

The recording, with a large string orchestra, wah-wah guitar, and big rhythm, is considered by author Peter Shapiro to be an influence to the disco sound, which would explode in popularity the following year. The song was also popular on the Adult Contemporary chart in the U.S., where the song spent two weeks at #1. It was also used by ABC Sports for many years as the opening theme music for its golf coverage. New York television station WPIX used it as the closing music for its then-Action News franchise during the mid-1970s. In Canada, the single saw similar success, reaching #1 on the RPM 100 National Singles Chart on March 2, 1974.

Christopher Cross

Christopher Cross (born Christopher Charles Geppert; May 3, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter from San Antonio, Texas. His debut album earned him five Grammy Awards. He is perhaps best known for his US Top Ten hit songs, "Ride Like the Wind", "Sailing", and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)", the latter recorded by him for the film Arthur starring Dudley Moore. "Sailing" earned three Grammys in 1981, while "Arthur's Theme" won the Oscar for Best Original Song in 1981 (with co-composers Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Peter Allen).

Career

Early musical career

Cross first played with a San Antonio-based cover band named Flash (not to be confused with the early 1970s English band of the same name) before signing a solo contract with Warner Bros. in 1978.

The first album, and immediate success

Cross released his self-titled debut album, Christopher Cross, in 1979. The Billboard Hot 100 top 20 hits from this album included "Ride Like the Wind" (featuring backing vocals by Michael McDonald), "Sailing", "Never Be the Same", and "Say You'll Be Mine" (featuring backing vocals by Nicolette Larson). Due to the almost immediate success and popularity gained by his first album, he was nominated for several Grammy Awards, garnering him five.

Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)

"Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" is a song performed and co-written by American singer-songwriter Christopher Cross, which was the main theme for the 1981 film Arthur starring Dudley Moore and Liza Minnelli. In the US, it reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Hot Adult Contemporary charts during October 1981, remaining at the top on the Hot 100 for three consecutive weeks. Overseas, it also went to number one on the VG-lista chart in Norway, and was a top ten hit all around the world. The song became the second and last American number one hit by Christopher Cross. It was included as a bonus track only on the CD & Cassette versions of his second album Another Page, released in 1983.

Background

The song was written in collaboration between Cross, pop music composer Burt Bacharach, and Bacharach's frequent writing partner Carole Bayer Sager. A fourth writing credit went to Minnelli's ex-husband and Australian songwriter Peter Allen, also a frequent collaborator with Bayer Sager. The line "When you get caught between the moon and New York City" from the chorus was taken from an unreleased song Allen and Bayer Sager had previously written together.

Ivy Levan

Ivy Levan is an American pop recording artist, model and actress from Bentonville, Arkansas. Levan is currently signed to Cherrytree Records, Interscope Records. Levan made her acting debut starring as Cynthia in the 2010 film Drop Dead Gorgeous. Levan moved to Los Angeles with her mother at age 16 to pursue a music career. She also got signed to Ford Models.

Ivy signed with manager Tommy Mattola and began an album for Virgin Records. However, Virgin and Capitol records merged and two years of work was shelved. Ivy was forced to live a normal life for the next 4 years as a waitress/bottle service girl in Hollywood.

Levan has released an EP album in 2013 under Interscope Records titled Introducing The Dame. The EP features the single "Hot Damn", which has garnered close to a million views on YouTube. She released the first single - titled "Biscuit" - from her first studio album, on January 13, 2015. The single's music video was released on the same day.

Her debut album, No Good, was released on August 7, 2015.