Los Angeles

Los Angeles (ⁱ/lɒs ˈændʒəlᵻs/ loss AN-jə-ləs or loss AN-jə-liss) (Spanish for "The Angels"), officially the City of Los Angeles and often known by its initials L.A., is the second-largest city in the United States after New York City, the most populous city in the state of California, and the county seat of Los Angeles County.

Situated in Southern California, Los Angeles is known for its mediterranean climate, ethnic diversity, sprawling metropolis, and as a major center of the American entertainment industry. Los Angeles lies in a large coastal basin surrounded on three sides by mountains reaching up to and over 10,000 feet (3,000 m).

Historically home to the Chumash and Tongva, Los Angeles was claimed by Juan Rodríguez Cabrillo for Spain in 1542 along with the rest of what would become Alta California. The city was officially founded on September 4, 1781, by Spanish governor Felipe de Neve. It became a part of Mexico in 1821 following the Mexican War of Independence. In 1848, at the end of the Mexican–American War, Los Angeles and the rest of California were purchased as part of the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo, thereby becoming part of the United States. Los Angeles was incorporated as a municipality on April 4, 1850, five months before California achieved statehood. The city experienced rapid growth with the discovery of oil.

Mamy Blue

"Mamy Blue" (later aka "Mammy Blue") is the title of an international hit from 1971–72 for several artists.

The song was originally written with French lyrics in 1970 by veteran French songwriter Hubert Giraud; he conceived the song in his car waiting out a Parisian traffic jam and had completed its demo within a few days. After four months the first recorded version of "Mamy Blue" was made - with Italian lyrics - by Ivana Spagna marking that singer's recording debut.

In May 1971 Alain Milhaud, a French record producer based in Spain, acquired the song for Los Pop-Tops, a Spanish group he managed. Milhaud produced the Pop-Tops recording of "Mamy Blue" in a session in London after the group's frontman Phil Trim wrote English lyrics for the song. The French Barclay label expediently had the song covered by both Joël Daydé (fr) and Nicoletta.

The Daydé version - featuring Phil Trim's English lyric - was recorded at Olympic Sound Studio in London and the Decca Studio in Paris: Wally Stott was the arranger. Nicoletta's version featured the original French lyrics written by Hubert Giraud who himself produced Nicoletta's recording.

Nicola Di Bari

Nicola Di Bari, born Michele Scommegna on 29 September 1940, is an Italian singer-songwriter and actor. He is considered one of the "sacred monsters" of Italian pop music.

Life and career

Born in Zapponeta, Apulia, Di Bari was the youngest of ten children in a family of farmers. He gave up his accountancy studies to go to work in the North Italy, and after a short stay in Rome he moved in Milan where he made many different jobs. In 1962, in Cologno Monzese, he won a song contest with a song of which he was also the author, "Piano pianino". In 1964 he got his first commercial success with the song "Amore ritorna a casa". Between 1965 and 1967 he entered the competition at three editions of the Sanremo Music Festival, in couple with Gene Pitney.

In 1970 Di Bari obtained a great commercial and critical success with the song "La prima cosa bella", which ranked second at the Sanremo Music Festival and first on the Italian hit parade. In 1971 he won the Sanremo Music Festival and Canzonissima, with the songs "Il cuore è uno zingaro" and "Chitarra suona più piano". In 1972, he won again the Sanremo Festival and represented Italy at the Eurovision Song Contest with the song "I giorni dell'arcobaleno" ("The Days of the Rainbow"). In the following years Di Bari grew his international popularity, especially in Latin America, where he recorded several albums in Spanish and where he gradually focused his career.

Betty Missiego

Beatriz Teresa "Betty" Missiego Campos (Spanish pronunciation: [ˈbeti miˈsjeɣo]; born 16 January 1945 in Lima, Peru) is a Peruvian singer, who holds dual Spanish citizenship since 1972 and lives in Spain.

In her native country (Peru), Betty began her career as a dancer, but she had to halt her career due to an injury. She continued pursuing a career in show business, more specifically, she was a host for a television program that brought her great popularity in her native Peru.

In 1969, she moved to Spain to pursue a singing career where she received Spanish citizenship in 1972. She currently holds dual citizenship in both Spain and Peru.

In 1972, she represented Peru in the first Festival OTI de la Canción, held in the Auditorio del Palacio de Congresos y Exposiciones in Madrid (Spain) on 25 November, with the song "Recuerdos de un adiós".

In 1979, she represented Spain in the 24th annual Eurovision competition held in Jerusalem (Israel) on March 31 with the song "Su canción". Betty was accompanied by four children (Javier Glaria, Alexis Carmona, Beatriz Carmona, and Rosalía Rodríguez) who sang 157 las in the song, a Eurovision record. At the end of the song, the children unfurled small banners, with "thanks" inscribed on each in English, Spanish, Hebrew and French, respectively. Betty ended up in 2nd place with 116 points, behind Israel's Gali Atari and Milk and Honey with the song "Hallelujah". She also participated in the World Popular Festival in Tokyo and the Music Olympics in Paris. In 1980 she submitted another song, "Don José" to the Spanish selection committee for Eurovision but it did not make it to the finals in The Hague.

Andy Russell

Andy Russell may refer to:

See also