Michael Jackson

"Heal The World " is a song from Michael Jackson's hit album, Dangerous, released in 1991. The music video features children living in countries suffering from unrest, especially Burundi. It is also one of only a handful of Michael Jackson's videos not to feature Jackson himself, the others being "Cry", "HIStory" and "Man in the Mirror". (The clips for "HIStory" and "Man in the Mirror" only feature Michael Jackson in archival footage).^[1] The version of the video included on Dangerous - The Short Films and Michael Jackson's Vision contains an introductory video that features a speech from Jackson taken from the special "spoken word" version of the track. This version was not included on Video Greatest Hits - HIStory featuring the music video. Jackson performed the song in the Super Bowl XXVII halftime show with a 35,000 person flash card performance.

In a 2001 Internet chat with fans, Jackson said "Heal the World" is the song he was most proud to have created. He also created the Heal the World Foundation, a charitable organization which was designed to improve the lives of children. The organization was also meant to teach children how to help others. This concept of 'betterment for all' would become a centerpiece for the Dangerous World Tour. In the documentary Living with Michael Jackson, Jackson said he created the song in his "Giving Tree" at Neverland Ranch.

An ensemble performance of "We Are the World" and "Heal the World" closed Jackson's memorial service at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on July 7, 2009. The song was performed as rehearsed by Jackson at the venue just days earlier, in preparation for his planned "This Is It" tour in London along with "Dirty Diana". R&B singer Ciara sung the song as a tribute to Jackson at the 2009 BET Awards. Jennette McCurdy is performing this duet with Brittany Hargest of Jump5 for her new album.

The song was played at the funeral of James Bulger,^[2] and Jackson also donated the song to be used as the anthem for the charity the James Bulger Red Balloon Center, a school for children to go if they are being bullied or have learning difficulties.^[3]

 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Michael Joseph Jackson^[1] (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American recording artist, dancer, singer-songwriter, musician, and philanthropist. Referred to as the King of Pop, Jackson is recognized as the most successful entertainer of all time by Guinness World Records. His contribution to music, dance, and fashion, along with a much-publicized personal life, made him a global figure in popular culture for over four decades. The seventh child of the Jackson family, he debuted on the professional music scene along with his brothers as a member of The Jackson 5, then the Jacksons in 1964, and began his solo career in 1971.

In the early 1980s, Jackson became a dominant figure in popular music. The music videos for his songs, including those of "Beat It", "Billie Jean", and "Thriller", were credited with transforming the medium into an art form and a promotional tool, and the popularity of these videos helped to bring the relatively new television channel MTV to fame. Videos such as "Black or White" and "Scream" made him a staple on MTV in the 1990s. Through stage performances and music videos, Jackson popularized a number of dance techniques, such as the robot and the moonwalk, to which he gave the name. His distinctive musical sound and vocal style have influenced numerous hip hop, pop, contemporary R&B, and rock artists.

Jackson's 1982 album Thriller is the best-selling album of all time. His other records, including Off the Wall (1979), Bad (1987), Dangerous (1991), and HIStory (1995), also rank among the world's best-selling. Jackson is one of the few artists to have been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice. He was also inducted into the Dance Hall of Fame as the first (and currently only) dancer from the world of pop and rock 'n' roll. Some of his other achievements include multiple Guinness World Records; 13 Grammy Awards (as well as the Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award); 26 American Music Awards (more than any other artist, including the "Artist of the Century"); 13 number-one singles in the United States in his solo career (more than any other male artist in the Hot 100 era); and the estimated sale of over 750 million records worldwide. Jackson won hundreds of awards, which have made him the most-awarded recording artists in the history of music. He was also a notable humanitarian and philanthropist, donating and raising hundreds of millions of dollars for beneficial causes and supporting more than 39 charities. According to David Winters, Jackson also donated tens of millions of dollars to many children’s charities anonymously, and spent a lot of his time visiting seriously ill children tirelessly going from hospital to hospital meeting these children just to brighten up their lives. When Jackson finished the visits he would ask the hospital nurses and the doctors what was needed at the hospital in terms of equipment for the children and would then make anonymous donations to the hospital to purchase expensive equipment or whatever else was needed.^[2]

Aspects of Jackson's personal life, including his changing appearance, personal relationships, and behavior, have generated controversy. In 1993, he was accused of child sexual abuse, but the case was settled out of court and no formal charges were brought. In 2005, he was tried and acquitted of further sexual abuse allegations and several other charges after the jury ruled him not guilty on all counts. While preparing for his concert series This Is It, Jackson died of acute propofol intoxication on June 25, 2009, after suffering from cardiac arrest. Before his death, Jackson had been administered drugs including propofol and lorazepam. The Los Angeles County Coroner declared his death a homicide, and his personal physician pleaded not guilty to charges of involuntary manslaughter. Jackson's death triggered a global outpouring of grief, and as many as one billion people around the world reportedly watched his public memorial service on live television. In March 2010, Sony Music Entertainment signed a $250 million deal with Jackson's estate to retain distribution rights to his recordings until 2017, and to release seven posthumous albums over the decade following his death.

Jeff Beck

"Greensleeves"

...is a traditional English folk song and tune, a ground of the form called a romanesca.

A broadside ballad by this name was registered at the London Stationer's Company in September 1580^[1] as "A New Northern Dittye of the Lady Greene Sleeves". It then appears in the surviving A Handful of Pleasant Delights (1584) as "A New Courtly Sonnet of the Lady Green Sleeves. To the new tune of Green sleeves."

The tune is found in several late 16th century and early 17th century sources, such as Ballet's MS Lute Book and Het Luitboek van Thysius, as well as various manuscripts preserved in the Cambridge University libraries.

 From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. One of three noted guitarists, with Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page, to have played with The Yardbirds, Beck also formed The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice. He was ranked 14th in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time"^[1] and the magazine has described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock".^[2] He was also ranked second greatest rock guitarist of all time in Digital Dream Door, a site that ranks movies and music.^[3] MSNBC has called him a "guitarist's guitarist".^[4]

Much of Beck's recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues-rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and most recently, an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Beck has earned wide critical praise; furthermore, he has received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times. Although he has had two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not established or maintained a broad following or the sustained commercial success of many of his collaborators and bandmates.^[4] Beck appears on albums by Mick Jagger, Kate Bush, Roger Waters, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Zucchero, Cyndi Lauper, Brian May and ZZ Top. He also made a cameo appearance in the movie Twins (1988).

He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of The Yardbirds (1992) and as a solo artist (2009).

Guns N Roses

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door"

  

Guns n' Roses Preforming Knocking On Heavens Door at the Freddie Mercury Tribute concert in the old Wembley Stadium. "With Only Women Bleed" as the intro

"Knockin' on Heaven's Door" is a song written and performed by Bob Dylan for the soundtrack of the 1973 film Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid. It reached #12 on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart. In 2004, representatives of the music industry and the press voted this song #190 in Rolling Stone magazine's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.

The song describes the feelings and impressions of a dying deputy, who can no longer continue his role as a law enforcer. The song consists of four chords in the key of G major: G, D, Am7, and C. The basic pattern throughout the song is G-D-Am7-Am7 and then G-D-C-C, and this is repeated. Over the years Dylan has changed the lyrics, as have others who have performed this song.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Guns N' Roses (sometimes abbreviated as G N' R or GnR) is an American hard rock band. The band formed in Hollywood, Los Angeles, California, in 1985. Led by frontman and co-founder Axl Rose, the band has released six studio albums, three EPs, and one live album while going through numerous line-up changes and controversies since its formation. Rose is the only consistent and original member of Guns N' Roses.

The band has sold more than 100 million albums worldwide,^[6] including shipments of 45 million in the United States.^[7] The band's 1987 major label debut album, Appetite for Destruction, has sold in excess of 28 million copies worldwide and reached No. 1 on the US Billboard 200 and is also the highest selling debut album of all time in the US. In addition, the album charted three Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, including "Sweet Child o' Mine" which reached No. 1.^[8] The 1991 albums Use Your Illusion I and Use Your Illusion II debuted on the two highest spots on the Billboard 200 and have sold a combined 14 million copies in the United States alone and 35 million worldwide. After over a decade of work and many lineup changes, the band released their follow-up album, Chinese Democracy, which debuted at No. 3 on the Billboard 200 and was certified platinum in the United States.

The current lineup comprises lead vocalist and pianist Axl Rose, lead guitarists Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal and DJ Ashba, rhythm guitarist Richard Fortus, bassist Tommy Stinson, keyboardists and backing vocalists Dizzy Reed and Chris Pitman and drummer Frank Ferrer.

Guns N' Roses' mid-to-late 1980s and early 1990s years have been described by individuals in the music industry as the period in which "they brought forth a hedonistic rebelliousness and revived the punk attitude-driven hard rock scene, reminiscent of the early Rolling Stones.".^[9] This lineup primarily consisted of lead vocalist Axl Rose, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, lead guitarist Slash, bassist Duff McKagan and drummer Steven Adler. Keyboardist Dizzy Reed was introduced in 1990, and drummer Matt Sorum and rhythm guitarist Gilby Clarke replaced Adler and Stradlin during the Use Your Illusion Tour.

Rage Against the Machine

"Killing In The Name"
Live at Pinkpop Festival 1993

"Killing In The Name" is a song by Rage Against the Machine, featured on their self-titled debut album, and was released as the lead single from the album in November 1992. In 1992, the song peaked at number 25 on the UK Singles Chart.
Written about revolution against racism in security agencies, "Killing in the Name" is widely recognized as the band's signature song, and has been noted for its distinctive guitar riffs and heavy use of strong language.
In 2009 the song was part of a successful Facebook campaign to prevent The X Factor winner's song from gaining the Christmas number one in the United Kingdom for the fifth successive year. The campaign provoked commentary from both groups and other musicians, as well as gaining coverage in national and international press. The song became the first single to reach Christmas number one spot on downloads alone.
"Killing in the Name" has been described as "a howling, expletive-driven tirade against the ills of American society."^[1] The song repeats six lines of lyrics that focus on racism in security agencies with the refrain, "Some of those that work forces, are the same that burn crosses," an allusion to cross-burning by the Ku Klux Klan. The uncensored version contains the word "fuck" seventeen times.^[2] The song builds in intensity, repeating the lines "And now you do what they told ya. And now you're under control" culminating in Zack de la Rocha screaming "Fuck you, I won't do what you tell me! Motherfucker!".^[3]
The song lyrics reference the allegation that some members of US police forces are members of the Ku Klux Klan organization, whose symbol is the burning cross. The BBC News website refers to it as railing against "the military–industrial complex, justifying killing for the benefit of, as the song puts it, the chosen whites."^[4][5][6]
"Killing in the Name" was originally written and recorded shortly after Rage Against The Machine formed as part of a 12 song self-released cassette. After signing with Epic Records the band released their self titled debut album, which reached triple platinum status, driven by heavy radio play of "Killing in the Name".^[2] Rage Against the Machine's first video for "Killing in the Name" did not receive heavy airplay in the United States due to the explicit lyrics. The song received substantial airplay in Europe and drove the band's popularity outside its home country.^[7]

Pinkpop Festival, or Pinkpop for short, is an annual rock festival held at Landgraaf, Netherlands. It is held annually on the Pentecost weekend (Pinksteren in Dutch, hence the name). In 1970, the first festival took place in Geleen, now part of municipality Sittard-Geleen and was held on the Monday following that weekend.
Today, Pinkpop is a 3 day festival, from Saturday to Monday, and visited by approximately 60,000 people a day with performances on 3 separate stages. In 35 years, 1.5 million people have attended Pinkpop. More than 500 musical acts have played at the festival.
In 1994 (the 25th edition), it was decided to sell only 60,000 tickets, to prevent overcrowding due to the popularity of the festival. In 1995, it was made into a 2-day festival. Two years later, in 1997, this was further expanded to three days.
2007 saw a spin-off, later in the year, on 11 August, called Pinkpop Classic, for an older rock audience, with bands that previously performed there in past decades.
In 2008 Pinkpop was for the first time in its history, not held on Pentecost weekend which fell too early that year for the convenience of fans and performers alike.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Rage Against the Machine is an American rap metal band from Los Angeles, California. Formed in 1991, the group's line-up consists of vocalist Zack de la Rocha, bassist and backing vocalist Tim Commerford, guitarist Tom Morello and drummer Brad Wilk. Critics have noted Rage Against the Machine for its "fiercely polemical music, which brewed sloganeering leftist rants against corporate America, cultural imperialism, social inequality, and government oppression into a Molotov cocktail of punk, hip-hop, and thrash."^[1] Rage Against the Machine drew inspiration from early heavy metal instrumentation, as well as rap acts such as Afrika Bambaataa,^[1] Public Enemy, the Beastie Boys and Urban Dance Squad.^[2] As of 2010, they have sold over 16 million records worldwide.^[3]

In 1992, the band released its self-titled debut album, which became a commercial success, leading to a slot in the 1993 Lollapalooza. The band did not release a follow-up record until 1996, with Evil Empire. The band's third album The Battle of Los Angeles was released in 1999. During their initial nine-year run, they became one of the most popular and influential bands in music history, according to music journalist Colin Devenish.^[4] They were also ranked #33 on VH1's 100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock. The band had a large influence on the nu metal genre which emerged during the mid to late 1990s.

Shortly after breaking up in 2000, the band released the cover album Renegades. De la Rocha started a low-key solo career in One Day as a Lion; the rest of the band formed the rock supergroup Audioslave with Chris Cornell, then-former frontman of Soundgarden, which disbanded in 2007, and in April of that year, Rage Against the Machine performed together for the first time in seven years at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. The band has continued to perform at many live venues and festivals around the world since 2007.

Tom Jones

"Sex Bomb" 

...is a 1999 song recorded by Welsh pop music singer Tom Jones. Performed in collaboration with producer Mousse T., it was released around early 2000 and became the biggest single from the album Reload. It reached number three in the UK Singles Chart.

The "Peppermint Disco mix", a club version with house music beats, contains a sample from "All American Girls" by Sister Sledge. A jazzier "swing version" appears in Mousse T.'s solo album, Gourmet De Funk.

The song was used as the opening title music for the short-lived WB series Grosse Pointe. It was used in The Simpsons episode, "C.E. D'oh" (a series that Jones had earlier guest starred on in 1992).

The song has been covered by several artists, including Max Raabe.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Thomas John Woodward,^[1][2] OBE^[3] (born 7 June 1940), known by his stage name Tom Jones, is a Welsh singer, particularly noted for his powerful voice.^[4] Since the mid 1960s, Jones has sung many styles of popular music – pop, rock, R&B, show tunes, country, dance, techno, soul and gospel^[5] – and sold over 100 million records.^[6]

Early life

Tom Jones was born at 57 Kingsland Terrace, Treforest, Pontypridd in South Wales.^[7] His parents were Thomas Woodward (died 5 October 1981), a coal miner, and Freda Jones (died 7 February 2003).^[8] His family was mainly of English descent, with both of his paternal grandparents being born in England and his maternal grandmother born in Wales to English parents. Most of his ancestral roots appear to lie in Gloucestershire, Wiltshire and Somerset.^[9]

Jones began singing at an early age: he would regularly sing at family gatherings, weddings, and in his school choir. Jones is dyslexic and he did not like school or sports; however, he was able to gain confidence through his singing talent.^[10] At age 12, Jones was struck down by tuberculosis. Many years later he said, "I spent two years in bed recovering. It was the worst time of my life." During convalescence, he could do little else but listen to music and draw.^[11]

In March 1957, Jones married his high school girlfriend, Melinda Trenchard. The couple had a son named Mark, who was born the month following their wedding. To support his young family, Jones took a job working in a glove factory and was later employed in construction.^[12]

Jones' bluesy singing style developed out of the sound of American soul music. His early influences included blues and R & B greats like Little Richard, Solomon Burke, Jackie Wilson, and Brook Benton. Jerry Lee Lewis’s music also influenced him from a rock and roll perspective.[13

Rise to fame

Jones became the frontman for Tommy Scott and the Senators, a Welsh beat group, in 1963. They soon gained a local following and reputation in South Wales.

In 1964, Jones recorded several solo tracks with producer Joe Meek, who took them to various labels, but had little success. Later that year, Decca producer Peter Sullivan saw Tommy Scott and The Senators performing in a club and directed them to manager Phil Solomon, but their partnership was short-lived.

The group continued to play gigs at dance halls and working men's clubs in South Wales. One night, at the Top Hat in Cwmtillery, Wales, Jones was spotted by Gordon Mills, a London-based manager originally from South Wales. Mills became Jones' manager, and took the young singer to London. He contrived the stage name, "Tom Jones," which not only linked the singer to the image of the title character in Tony Richardson's hit film, but also emphasised Jones' Welsh nationality.

Many record companies found Jones' stage presence, act, and vocal delivery too raucous and raunchy. Eventually, Mills got Jones a recording contract with Decca. His first single, "Chills and Fever," was released in late 1964. It didn't chart, but the follow-up, "It's Not Unusual" became an international hit. The BBC initially refused to play it, but the offshore pirate radio station Radio Caroline promoted it. The heavily orchestrated pop arrangement perfectly meshed with Jones' swinging, sexy image, and in early 1965, "It's Not Unusual" reached number one in the United Kingdom and the top ten in the United States.

During 1965, Mills secured a number of movie themes for Jones to record, including the themes for the film What's New Pussycat? (written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David) and for the James Bond film Thunderball. Jones was also awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for 1965.

In 1966, Jones' popularity began to slip somewhat, causing Mills to redesign the singer's image into a more respectable and mature crooner. Jones also began to sing material that appealed to a wider audience, such as the big country hit "Green, Green Grass of Home". The strategy worked and Jones returned to the top of the charts in the UK and began hitting the Top 40 again in the USA. For the remainder of the decade, he scored a consistent string of hits on both sides of the Atlantic

Miles Davis

 "So What" 

Is the first track on the 1959 Miles Davis album Kind of Blue.

Miles Davis and John Coltrane play one of the best renditions of SO WHAT ever captured on film-Live in 1958. Edit : in fact, was in New York, april 2, 1959. Recorded by CBS producer Robert Herridge. Cannonball Adderley had a migrane and was absent from the session. Wynton Kelly played piano--he was the regular band member at this time--but Bill Evans had played on the original recording of "So What" on March 2, 1959. The other musicians seen in the film were part of the Gil Evans Orchestra, who performed selections from "Miles Ahead". Jimmy Cobb on drums.

"So What" is one of the best known examples of modal jazz, set in the Dorian mode and consisting of 16 bars of D Dorian, followed by eight bars of E♭ Dorian and another eight of D Dorian.^[1] This AABA structure puts it in the thirty-two bar format of American popular song.

The piano-and-bass introduction for the piece was written by Gil Evans for Bill Evans (no relation) and Paul Chambers on Kind of Blue. An orchestrated version by Gil Evans of this introduction is later to be found on a television broadcast given by Miles' Quintet (minus Cannonball Adderley who was ill that day) and the Gil Evans Orchestra; the orchestra gave the introduction, after which the quintet played the rest of "So What".

The distinctive voicing employed by Bill Evans for the chords that interject the head, from the bottom up three perfect fourths followed by a major third, has been given the name "So What chord" by such theorists as Mark Levine.^{[citation needed]}

While the track is taken at a very moderate tempo on Kind Of Blue, it is played at an extremely fast tempo on later live recordings by the Quintet, such as Four and More.

The same chord structure was later used by John Coltrane for his standard "Impressions".^[2]

Kind of Blue is a studio album by American jazz musician Miles Davis, released August 17, 1959, on Columbia Records in the United States. Recording sessions for the album took place at Columbia's 30th Street Studio in New York City on March 2 and April 22, 1959. The sessions featured Davis's ensemble sextet, which consisted of pianists Bill Evans and Wynton Kelly, drummer Jimmy Cobb, bassist Paul Chambers, and saxophonists John Coltrane and Julian "Cannonball" Adderley. After the inclusion of Bill Evans into his sextet, Davis followed up on the modal experimentations of Milestones (1958) and 1958 Miles (1958) by basing the album entirely on modality, in contrast to his earlier work with the hard bop style of jazz.

Though precise figures have been disputed, Kind of Blue has been cited by many music writers not only as Davis's best-selling album, but as the best-selling jazz record of all time. On October 7, 2008, it was certified quadruple platinum in sales by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). It has been regarded by many critics as the greatest jazz album of all time and Davis's masterpiece. The album's influence on music, including jazz, rock, and classical music, has led music writers to acknowledge it as one of the most influential albums of all time. In 2002, it was one of fifty recordings chosen that year by the Library of Congress to be added to the National Recording Registry. In 2003, the album was ranked number 12 on Rolling Stone magazine's list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cesária Évora

"Sodade"
Lyrics & music by A. Cabral & L. Morais
 

A song of Cesária`s live album L'olympia (1996)
The video was shot at Le Grand Rex De Paris, 2004.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Cesária Évora (Portuguese pronunciation: [sɨˈzaɾiɐ ˈɛvuɾɐ]; born 27 August 1941) is a Cape Verdean popular singer. Nicknamed the "barefoot diva" for performing without shoes,^[1] Évora is perhaps the best internationally known practitioner of "morna."

Cesária Évora – Cize to her friends – was born on the 27th August 1941 in Mindelo, Cape Verde. Her bright voice and physical charms were soon noticed, but her hope of a singing career remained unsatisfied. A Cape Verdean women’s group and the singer Bana both took her to Lisbon to cut a few tracks, but the recordings failed to catch the ear of a producer. In 1988, a young Frenchman of Cape Verdean extraction invited her to Paris to make a record. At 47, she had nothing to lose. Having never seen Paris, she agreed.

1988: Her first album is released: La Diva Aux Pieds Nus (The Barefoot Diva) produced by Lusafrica. The zouk-flavoured coladera “Bia Lulucha” is a hit with the Cape Verdean community. She gives a first concert in Paris to a small crowd at the New Morning on the 1st October.