In 1981, popular Bolivian folk band Los Kjarkas recorded their sixth album Canto a la Mujer de Mi Pablo. The album included the song Llorando Se Fue - over the next decade the song became a worldwide hit with authorized versions in at least 42 languages. In 1984, Peruvian group Cuarteto Continental introduced the accordion to their successful upbeat version. In 1985, Brazilian singer Marcia Ferreira covered the song in a Portuguese language version. In her upbeat version with added accordion she set the song to the popular Brazilian dance and rhythm of the Lambada. The popular Brazilian couples dance and accompanying rhythm was gradually gaining popularity across Brazil since 1976. The Lambada dance, also known as the forbidden dance, was based on the popular Carimbo dance - which was itself inspired by the Maxixe, the original "forbidden dance" from the 1920's. Ferreira's Lambada-infused cover of Llorando Se Fue earned her the title "The Queen of Lambada". In 1989, French-Portuguese band Kaoma released an unauthorized and uncredited cover of Marcia Ferreira's version. Their song titled Lambada, also recorded with Portuguese lyrics, became a worldwide hit and sensation selling more then 5 million copies. The song was the biggest European single ever for CBS records. Prior to Koama's plagiarized hit song, there had already been numerous popular dance versions of Llorando Se Fue in an array of languages. In 1990, the songs original composers, Los Kjarkas, sued the French producer of Kaoma. In an out-of-court settlement the Bolivian band and it's record label EMI were given proper credits and 50% of the song's revenue.
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In 1939 Billie Holiday introduced Strange Fruit on a nightclub stage in Harlem - the song would ultimately define her. The early civil rights song had originally been written in 1930 as a poem by a Jewish teacher and activist from the Bronx - Abel Meeropol. The painful poem told the story of southern lynchings. After having been published, he composed the poem into a song and passed it on to a nightclub owner, and then it was passed on to a 23-year old Billie Holiday. She immediately connected with the song, which reminded her of her father and how he died after being refused treatment at a hospital because he was black. At the time, the controversial song was applauded by some, and it infuriated others. When the racist commissioner of the Federal Beauru of Narcotics - Harry Anslinger - demanded that she stop performing the song, she refused. Because of this, the Beauru targeted her on a personal vendetta to ruin her. After the Bureau framed her in a herion bust, Holiday was sent to prison for a year and a half. When she was released in 1948, the feds stripped her of her cabaret license to further punish her. In 1959, a decade later, while Billie Holiday was near death in a hospital bed with liver and heart disease, a unrelenting Anslinger had his agents handcuff her to her hospital bed. Federal agents prevented doctors from giving her the care she needed, and she soon died. In it's December 31 1999 issue, Time Magazine declared Strange Fruit "The Song Of The Century." Hide And Seek was released in 2005 by UK electro pop pioneer Imogen Heap. The song was the first single off her second album Speak For Yourself. The popularity of the song exploded after it was featured on the popular Fox TV-series The O.C., the song was even used in a SNL parody of the show. In 2009, pop singer Jason Derulo built his hit Whatcha Say around a sample of the Hide And Seek hook. Derulo used Heap's catchy hook for the first release off his self titled debut album - the song launched his career as it soared to the top of The Billboard Hot 100. In 1982, The Clash released their fifth studio album Combat Rock - the album was their most successful and was the last to feature the band's classic lineup. The albums biggest hits were Rock The Casbah and Should I Stay Or Should I Go. The later was released as a double A-side single with the album track Straight To Hell. That song had reportedly been written at the Combat Rock recording sessions in New York City. Joe Strummer recalled writing the song in 1981, the night before the band had a New Years Eve flight out of New York City at the end of their two months of recording sessions. The original recording of Straight To Hell was 7 minutes long, and it was shortened to 5:30 when the album was drastically edited down to a single album, rather then the originalyl planned double album. In 2007, Straight To Hell's distinctive riff was sampled by M.I.A. (and co-writer/producer Diplo) on her massive hit Paper Planes. The song fittingly gives writing credits to Clash band members. Grant Green was was an influential jazz guitarist and composer that appeared on many Blue Note recordings as both the lead artist and as a sidekick. Throughout his life and busy career he was quite underrated, but after his death he came to be known as "the father of acid jazz." In 1970, he released his first live recording - Alive. The funky jazz album features his cover of the song Sookie Sookie, which was famously sampled for the basis of Us3's 1993 hit song Tukka Yoot's Riddim. The song was originally recorded in 1966 by songwriter and singer Don Covay. Before Grant Green, the song had been covered by Steppenwolf, and later it was covered by Iggy Pop, The Smashing Pumpkins and others. Ophlin Russell, better known as Sister Nancy, is a Jamaican dancehall DJ and singer best known for her 1982 reggae anthem Bam Bam. As the younger sister of DJ and singer Brigadier Jerry (Robert Russell), Sister Nancy was drawn into the music business as a teenager. The young singer was the first female dancehall DJ to be considered a major act, and she paved the way for a generation of female Jamaican DJ's and singers. In 1982, the 20 year old singer was one of many Jamaican artists that copied the 1966 Toots And The Maytals song Bam Bam. The first of these "dancehall style" versions of Bam Bam was recorded by Yellowman and Fathead a few weeks before Sister Nancy recorded her notorious version. Rather then using the Taxi riddim, as Yellowman did, Sister Nancy recorded her version of Bam Bam over the Stalag riddim - an instrumental track introduced in the 1973 song Stalag 17. In 1982, there were numerous other singers that recorded their own versions of Bam Bam, all inspired by Toots Hibbert's catchy novel phrase and song. Although Toots held the copyright to Bam Bam, he was never compensated for the slew of Bam Bam records he inspired, or the later songs that sampled Bam Bam. In fact, it wasn't until sometime after 2014 that Sister Nancy herself received any credit or royalties for her own hit song - which has been one of the most sampled reggae songs ever. After recording Bam Bam for her One, Two album, Sister Nancy was unaware of the immense popularity her song had outside of Jamaica - where it wasn't so heavily played. In 1998, the popular song was featured prominently in the film Belly. In 2014, after her daughter reported seeing Bam Bam used in a Reebok commercial on TV, Sister Nancy suddenly realized the album's elusive producer had been cashing in on her recording for 32 years. With guidance and representation she was soon able to obtain 50% of the songs rights and royalties, as well as retroactive compensation for the last 10 of 32 unpaid years from the song. In 1978, Glenn Frey and Don Henley wrote and released Funky New Year for the b-side of the Eagles special Christmas 7" vinyl release of Charles Brown's holiday classic Please Come Home For Christmas. The record made it to #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 that year. Funky New Year's only official release was on this now rare 7" until the band's release of their Live at the Millennium Concert. That live recording from the 1999 into 2000 show at Staples Center is a beautifully mastered live recording from a very special and joyous concert. |
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