Blue Magic (band)

Blue Magic is an American R&B/soul music group, and one of the most popular Philadelphia soul groups of the 1970s. Founded in 1972, the group's original members included lead singer Ted Mills with Vernon Sawyer, Wendell Sawyer, Keith Beaton, and Richard Pratt. Their most notable songs included smooth soul ballads such as "Sideshow", "Spell", "What’s Come Over Me", "Three Ring Circus" and "Stop to Start."

Origins

Blue Magic was formed in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1972 when former member of The Delfonics Randy Cain brought in singer-songwriter Ted Mills to do some writing with the Philly-based WMOT production company to create a new band. A short time later the group Shades of Love, featuring Keith Beaton, Richard Pratt, Vernon Sawyer and his brother Wendell, came in to audition. (According to Marc Taylor in his book 'A Touch of Classic Soul of the Early 1970s',[1] "although the group performed admirably, they lacked a standout lead singer".) The execs decided to replace the Toppicks, the act Mills recorded with. They inserted Shades of Love (which they owned contractually) with Ted Mills and retitled the group Blue Magic. They were signed with Atco Records through WMOT in the same year.

MAC Cosmetics

MAC Cosmetics, stylized as M·A·C, is a cosmetics manufacturer founded in Toronto and now headquartered in New York City and part of the Estée Lauder Companies.

History

MAC Cosmetics (MAC standing for Make-up Art Cosmetics) was founded in Toronto, Ontario, Canada by Frank Toskan and Frank Angelo in 1984 with the assistance of chemist Vic Casale. The first U.S MAC store opened in 1991, in New York. The company's products were initially aimed at professional make-up artists, but are now sold to consumers worldwide. Nordstrom was the first department store in the United States to sell MAC products.

Estée Lauder Companies acquired a controlling interest in MAC in 1996, then completed their acquisition of the company in 1998. Original founder Frank Angelo died in 1997 due to complications during surgery.

Controversy

MAC was the center of controversy when public offense arose over the anticipated September 2010 release of the MAC Rodarte collection, a collaborative effort with the fashion label Rodarte. The collection was based on the border town of Ciudad Juarez, in which at least 400 women have been killed in brutal slayings. MAC eventually pulled the line before distribution, and instead set up $100,000 in a charity. The charity has currently raised over 3 million dollars in 2 years.

Blue Magic

Blue Magic can refer to:

Beverly Hills, California

Beverly Hills is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, surrounded by the cities of Los Angeles and West Hollywood. Originally a Spanish ranch where lima beans were grown, Beverly Hills was incorporated in 1914 by a group of investors who had failed to find oil, but found water instead and eventually decided to develop it into a town. By 2013, its population had grown to 34,658. Sometimes referred to as "90210", one of its primary ZIP codes, it is home to many actors and celebrities. The city includes the Rodeo Drive shopping district and the Beverly Hills Oil Field.

History

Early history

Gaspar de Portolá arrived in the area that would become Beverly Hills on August 3, 1769, travelling along native trails which followed the present-day route of Wilshire Boulevard.

The area was settled by Maria Rita Quinteros de Valdez and her husband in 1828. They called their 4,500 acres (18 km²) of property the Rancho Rodeo de las Aguas. in 1854, she sold the ranch to Benjamin Davis Wilson (1811–1878) and Henry Hancock (1822–1883). By the 1880s, the ranch had been subdivided into parcels of 75 acres (0.30 km²) and was being rapidly bought up by anglos from Los Angeles and the East coast.