Francis Craig

Francis Craig (September 10, 1900 – November 19, 1966) was an American songwriter and leader of a Nashville dance band. His works included "Dynamite" and "Near You". He was also a disc jockey at radio station WSM (AM) in Nashville, Tennessee.

Craig was born in Dickson, Tennessee, United States, and educated at Vanderbilt University, Nashville. "Dynamite!" now the official fight song of Vanderbilt University, was written by Craig in 1922, when Craig was an undergraduate student. It is played mainly at football games, basketball games, and at other Commodore sports events.

His own recording of "Near You" was released by Bullet Records as catalog number 1001. It first reached the Billboard Best Seller chart on August 30, 1947, and lasted 21 weeks on the chart, peaking at #1. It held the number one spot for 12 straight weeks. It eventually sold over two and a half million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the RIAA. Various recordings by other persons have followed.

Other works included "Beg Your Pardon" with Beasley Smith.

Near You

"Near You" is a popular song written and originally recorded by Francis Craig in 1947, with lyrics by Kermit Goell, that has gone on to become a pop standard.

Background

The recording by Francis Craig (the song's composer) was released by Bullet Records as catalog number 1001. It first reached the Billboard Best Sellers chart on August 30, 1947, and lasted 21 weeks on the chart, peaking at number one. On the "Most Played By Jockeys" chart, the song spent 17 consecutive weeks at number one, setting a record for both the song and the artist with most consecutive weeks in the number-one position on a US pop music chart. In 2009, hip-hop group The Black Eyed Peas surpassed Craig's record for artist with most consecutive weeks in the number-one position with the songs "Boom Boom Pow" and "I Gotta Feeling". However, their record was accomplished with combined weeks of two #1 songs - one succeeding the other in the top position. Billboard ranked it as the No. 1 song overall for 1947.

George Jones & Tammy Wynette

Zecharia Sitchin

Zecharia Sitchin (Russian: Заха́рия Си́тчин; July 11, 1920 – October 9, 2010) was a Soviet-born American author of books proposing an explanation for human origins involving ancient astronauts. Sitchin attributes the creation of the ancient Sumerian culture to the Anunnaki, which he states was a race of extraterrestrials from a planet beyond Neptune called Nibiru. He believed this hypothetical planet of Nibiru to be in an elongated, elliptical orbit in the Earth's own Solar System, asserting that Sumerian mythology reflects this. Sitchin's books have sold millions of copies worldwide and have been translated into more than 25 languages.

Sitchin's ideas have been rejected by scientists and academics, who dismiss his work as pseudoscience and pseudohistory. His work has been criticized for flawed methodology and mistranslations of ancient texts as well as for incorrect astronomical and scientific claims.

Early life

Sitchin was born in the Azerbaijan SSR, but was raised in Mandatory Palestine. He received a degree in economics from the University of London, and was an editor and journalist in Israel, before moving to New York in 1952. While working as an executive for a shipping company, he taught himself Sumerian cuneiform and visited several archaeological sites.

Pierre Lapointe

Pierre Lapointe (born May 23, 1981 in Alma, Quebec) is a Canadian singer-songwriter. His work largely follows in the tradition of French chanson, though he is influenced by modern pop music. Defining himself as a "popular singer", he has built an egocentric persona of a dandy onstage, but says he does this mostly to deflect attention from himself. His records have found critical and commercial success in Canada.

Life and career

Early life

Pierre Lapointe was born in Lac-Saint-Jean (Alma), May 23, 1981, and grew up in Gatineau, Quebec, in the Outaouais region.

He began studying plastic arts in 1999, but changed his program and started to take theatre courses at the Cégep de Saint-Hyacinthe. He left after a few months to focus on songwriting, but later returned to complete his studies in plastic arts. While there, he entered a competition called Tout nouveau, tout show. Lapointe won the "Award for Songwriter-Performer of the Year" and the "Audience Award". He moved to Montreal and continued studying art at the Université du Québec à Montréal (UQAM). In September 2001, he came first in the songwriter category at the Festival international de la chanson de Granby. In November 2002, he held two critically acclaimed shows in Montreal. In December, he received a grant from the Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec which allowed him to prepare his first commercial album.

Craig

Places

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Geology

People

Fictional characters