In 1979 British electronic music pioneer Gary Numan released his debut solo album The Pleasure Principle. The purely electronic album completely abandons guitars, and relies heavily on flanging, phasing and other electronic production tricks. The album explores machines, and man's relationship with technology. The ground-breaking album, which included the songs Cars, Complex and Metal, has had an important influence on electronic music. The album has also influenced the development of hip-hop music - a point acknowledged by Afrika Bambaataa. The Pleasure Principle also features the song M.E., which was famously sampled by UK house duo Basement Jaxx for their 2002 international hit Where's Your Head At. Numan toured the world with an elaborate stage show to promote the album. In his concerts he would perform inside twin pyramids of neon lights that moved around the stage by remote control. On the UK leg of Numan's tour the opening act was newly-formed band OMD - Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark. Thirteen years later, OMD featured Numan as their opening act when they embarked on their big arena tour as pop stars.
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In 1955, fourteen year old Wilson Pickett left his mother in Alabama to live with his father in Detroit, Michigan. His music career started the moment he arrived in Detroit. For several years he performed with various successful gospel groups, and in 1963 he recorded for the first time as a solo artist. In 1965 Pickett had his first big hit with In The Midnight Hour. He wrote the song with Steve Cropper, guitarist for Booker T. & The M.G.'s. - the Stax session band that backed Pickett on the song. After the success of In The Midnight Hour, Pickett was given the nickname "The Wicked Pickett". The song was written by Pickett and Cropper near the Stax studio at the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee. The motel became famous a few years later when MLK was shot on the balcony there.
In 1928 the musical comedy Whoopee! premiered on Broadway at the New Amsterdam Theatre. The musical ran for a little under a year, and it introduced the timeless classic Love Me Or Leave Me, which has been covered dozens of times over nearly a century. The show also introduced the song Makin' Whoopie - equally timeless and covered countless times. Makin' Whoopie is performed in the Broadway production by Eddie Cantor, who was known as "Banjo Eyes" because of his eye-rolling antics. Cantor first appeared on Vaudeville when he was 15-years old, and he became a popular singer and actor who was familiar on film and radio. He also wrote a few songs, including Merrily We Roll Along and the Merrie Melodies cartoon theme. Cantor had just finished a ten year run on Broadway with Ziegfeld Follies of 1917 when Whoopee opened with praises from the critics. In 1930 Cantor starred a the movie version of Whoopee, the role that started his career as a leading Hollywood actor. On Sept 2, 1984 the song Live Is Life was spontaneously created during a concert by Austrian pop band Opus. The group was celebrating it's eleventh year, and the enthusiastic crowd had joined in, singing verses of their song. The concert in Oberwart, Austria had been recorded, and in 1985 the release became a worldwide chart topper. In 1989 the song was being played over the loudspeakers while players were warming up at a UEFA Cup semi-final in Munich. Napoli's Diego Maradona broke out in a juggling exhibition that became a youtube sensation, and an all time classic moment for soccer fans. In 1994 Opus recorded a new version of Live Is Life for the 1994 FIFA World Cup - the song has since become a worldwide sports anthem. Opus recorded yet another version in 1998, and the song has been covered numerous times by many others. VIEW THE MARADONA VIDEO > HERE Cheryl Anne Norton, better known as R&B singer Cherrelle, started her career in music singing with Norman Conners and touring with Luther Vandross. Her cousin Perri McKissack, who was later known as Pebbles, was a backup vocalist for Con Funk Shun at the time. In 1983 Cherrelle got signed to Tabu Records for a solo debut album, her very successful album featured the production of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. In 1985 Cherrelle returned to the studio with Jam & Lewis to record her follow-up album - High Priority - which featured her hit Saturday Love. The song is a duet with Alexander O'Neil, who was singing back-up with S.O.S. Band at the time. In 1987, Pebbles finally got her break, and released her solo debut. She would go on to release several hits, marry record executive L.A. Reid, and in 1990 she created - and managed - the pop group TLC. In 1974 Larry Blackmon created a 23-member funk band that went by the name New York City Players. In 1976 the band was reduced to 10 members, and was signed with Casablanca. Before releasing an album, the band's name was changed to Cameo to avoid confusion, and legal troubles, with the popular funk band Ohio Players. In 1977 they released their debut album Cardiac Arrest on Casablanca's Chocolate City label. In 1980 Cameo released their fifth album Cameosis, featuring the albums top single Shake Your Pants. In 1982 the band was downsized once again to five members. And by 1986 when they released their most successful album - Word Up - the number of group members was down to three. Central Line was a London-based jazz funk band that had a few hits in the 1980's - their biggest hit was 1981's Walking Into Sunshine. The band's members had previously been in a band called TFB - Typical Funk Band. When TFB broke up in the late 1970's, some band members started the group Central Line, and some other members started the UK jazz funk band Light Of The World. TFB's drummer, Errol Kennedy, went off to become part of the group Imagination. Brick was a jazz funk band from Atlanta, Georgia, they formed in 1972 from members of two bands - a disco band and a jazz band. They coined their own name for their disco and jazz sound - Dazz. In 1976 they recorded their hit song Dazz, which was featured on their debut album Good High. The song hit number one on the charts, and it became their biggest song. Their second album featured the song Dusic, their final hit single to make it on the top 20 list. Dazz has been sampled on dozens of classic hip-hop songs including Dana Dane's Cinderfella Dana Dane, Ice Cube's No Vaseline, and on MC Lyte's Cold Rock A Party. Autry DeWalt Mixon Jr is better known by his stage name Jr. Walker. In 1951 the twenty-year old saxophonist and his band The All Stars got a record deal with Harvey Records. After a couple years the label was bought by Berry Gordy - who re-formed the group as Jr. Walker And The All Stars. Now part of the Motown family, Gordy produced the band's first hit record in 1965 - which became their signature song - Shotgun. The song is about the dance craze - The Shotgun. When the song was recorded the session vocalist didn't show up, so Jr. Walker did vocals for the song. It was the first time he did vocals on a track, and he did not expect the recording to be used. The song hit number one on the Billboard R&B chart. In 1960 Etta James released her debut album Miss Etta James, and in the following years she had numerous big hits. By 1965 James was struggling with her career, and her songs were not appearing on the charts as they had been before - eventually she took a break from recording. In 1967 she returned to the studio and recorded her comeback hit Tell Mama. The song was an answer record inspired by Clarence Carter's song Tell Papa. That song was Carter's solo debut, and it was number 35 on the R&B charts at the time James recorded Tell Mama - which she credited Carter as a writer on. Tell Mama hit number 10 on the R&B charts, and it wasn't long before the song was being covered by other artists including Janis Joplin and Steppenwolf. Because of the success of song's huge success, James was once again an in-demand concert performer, and she continued to hit the charts through the mid-1970's. |
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