Ariola Records

Ariola Records (also known as Ariola and Ariola-Eurodisc) is a German record label. In the late 1980s, it was a subsidiary label of BMG, which in turn has become a part of the international media conglomerate SME.

Profile

Ariola was founded in 1958 as a music outlet of Bertelsmann. It set up several subsidiaries: Ariola America was founded in 1975 in Los Angeles, best known for Spanish artist—most successfully Rocio Durcal from the late 1980s onward and Mexican artist Marisela starting in the 1990s; Ariola-Athena to release spoken word records; Ariola Benelux was founded in 1970 to cover the Benelux market; Ariola Eurodisc was a Spanish division of Ariola, founded in 1970; Ariola UK the UK based subsidiary of Ariola was founded in 1977; Baccarola; Türküola for the Turkish market; Eurodisc to release disco records in France - most successfully with Amanda Lear, Giorgio Moroder (house producer of Ariola) and Jupiter Records for German schlager music and disco like for instance group Dschinghis Khan.

The Three Degrees

The Three Degrees are an American female vocal group,who were originally formed in 1963 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Although a total of 15 women have been a member over the years, the group has always been a trio. The current line-up consists of Valerie Holiday, Helen Scott and Freddie Pool. Holiday has been a member since she first joined in 1967, while Scott has been a permanent member since 1976, having previously been in the group from 1963-1966. The group has been most successful in the UK, where they achieved 15 top 60 hit singles between 1974 and 1998.

The original members were Fayette Pinkney, Shirley Porter and Linda Turner. Porter and Turner were soon replaced by Janet Harmon and Helen Scott. From 1967-1976, the line-up was Pinkney, Valerie Holiday and Sheila Ferguson, who would go on to sing lead on most of the group's biggest hits. This line-up was responsible for recording the first three (of seven) UK top 20 hits, including the 1974 single "When Will I See You Again", which was a huge international hit, peaking at #2 in the US and topping the UK Singles Chart. When Pinkney left the group in 1976, she was replaced by a returning Helen Scott. This line-up had four more UK top twenty hits, including "Woman in Love", which reached #3 in 1979. Ferguson left for a solo career in 1986.

David's Mighty Warriors

David's Mighty Warriors (also known as David's Mighty Men or the Gibborim) are a group of men in the Bible who were singled out by an appendix of the Books of Samuel. The text (2 Samuel 23:8–39) divides them into the "Three", of which there are three, and "Thirty", of which there are more than thirty. The text explicitly states that there are 37 individuals in all, but it is unclear whether this refers to The Thirty, which may or may not contain The Three, or the combined total of both groups. The text refers to The Three and The Thirty as though they were both important entities, and not just an arbitrary list of three or 30-plus significant men.

Some textual scholars regard the passages referring to The Three and The Thirty as having come from either a source distinct to the main sources in the Books of Samuel, or being otherwise out of place. Since parts of the text have distinct stylistic differences from other portions—appearing as a list, as a series of character introductions, or as a flowing narrative—Some suspect that the passages may themselves be compiled from multiple source documents. Further, as 2 Samuel 23:23–24 reads "...David put him in command of his bodyguard. Asahel, brother of Joab. Among the thirty were...", the text is regarded as corrupted, and the middle of verse 23:24 (between the words Joab and Among) is generally presumed to have been lost (some translations move Among the thirty were to be before Asahel, which smooths over the issue).

Amii Stewart

Amy Paulette "Amii" Stewart (born January 29, 1956) is an American disco/soul/dance-pop singer, dancer and actress most famous for her hit disco record "Knock on Wood". Stewart is the stepsister of actress-singer Miquel Brown and aunt to Brown's actress-singer daughter Sinitta.

Career

Amy Stewart was born 5th out of 6 children. Her father, Joseph Stewart II, signed her up for singing and dancing lessons in 1960, when she was four. There already was an Amy Stewart registered with Actor's Equity, so she changed the spelling of her name to Amii. She began attending Howard University in Washington but soon left to work with the D.C. Repertory Dance Company, studying ballet and modern dance. Before being signed to Ariola Records, Stewart was in the touring company of the stage production Bubbling Brown Sugar in 1975, firstly in Miami, then Broadway, and eventually London's West End, where she met Barry Leng, a record producer for Hansa records.

At the end of 1977, "You Really Touched My Heart" a Leng/Simon May composition, produced by Leng, was Stewart's first recording. An album followed, which contained five Leng/May songs, one Leng/Morris song and three cover versions.