Motown Was The People
Posted by Steve Allen | Filed under Motown, Music Industry
I spent this evening watching vignettes produced by the Detroit Free Press. They traveled the entire country collecting interviews that celebrate 50 years of Motown. I posted several links of interest below.
Motown Engineer Ed Wolfrum – Inventor of the “direct box”
Bob Dennis on Motown recording techniques
Mickey Stevensons | The Funk Brothers
Phil Spector Convicted Of Murder
Posted by Steve Allen | Filed under Music Industry
Legendary music producer Phil Spector was convicted Monday of second-degree murder in the fatal shooting of actress Lana Clarkson in his Alhambra mansion six years ago.
The verdict means Spector, famed for his work with Tina Turner, the Beatles, the Righteous Brothers and others, faces 15 years for murder and at least three for gun enhancement when he is sentenced May 29.
After nine days of deliberations, a Los Angeles County Superior Court jury concluded that Spector, 69, killed Clarkson, a statuesque 40-year-old blond actress, on Feb. 3, 2003, just hours after they met in the Sunset Strip club where she worked as a hostess.
As the court clerk read the verdict, Spector’s wife, Rachelle, who is four decades younger than he, began weeping in the front row of the courtroom. Her husband, however, bore the same stoic expression he wore throughout much of the trial.
His lawyer asked the judge to allow Spector to remain free on bail until sentencing The prosecution objected to the request, saying Spector’s long history of “drawing guns” on people made him a danger to others.
Judge Larry Paul Fidler rejected the request and ordered that Spector be taken into custody immediately.
“Public safety and public protection are paramount,” Fidler said.
Spector, dressed in one of his trademark knee-length suits, spoke only once during the hearing — a hoarse “Yes” in response to whether he agreed to the date of sentencing. He then shuffled out of the courtroom surrounded by half a dozen uniformed court officers. He looked briefly in the direction of his wife before the door closed behind him.
After the verdict, the jury forewoman broke into tears at a press conference as she described the “painful” process of convicting someone of murder.
“You are talking about another human being. We all had hearts. We all have people we love,” said the forewoman, a paralegal who declined to give her name.
Over the course of the trial, which began in October, the prosecution portrayed Spector as a sadistic misogynist who had a three-decade “history of playing Russian roulette with the lives of women” when he was drunk. A prosecutor told jurors in her summation that “by the grace of God, five other women got the empty chamber and lived to tell. Lana just happened to be the sixth woman, who got the bullet.”
Spector’s defense contended that Clarkson died by her own hand. They said she was depressed over her flagging career and accompanying financial worries and that she may have committed suicide impulsively after hours of late-night drinking with Spector.
“In that moment, given all of the things that were wrong in her life . . . can you say she would not have been capable of committing a self-destructive act?” defense attorney Doron Weinberg asked jurors in his closing arguments.
The panel of six men and six women included three gun owners, seven people who reported knowing someone who committed suicide and one man who said he was a fan of Spector.
A 2007 trial ended when the jury deadlocked 10 to 2 in favor of conviction.
Motown Celebrates The 70th Of Marvin Gaye
Posted by Steve Allen | Filed under Motown, Music Industry
Santa Monica, CA (March 30, 2009) /PRNewswire/—In the 50th anniversary year of Motown, April 2, 2009 will mark the 70th birthday of the late great Marvin Gaye. Sadly, April 1 will also mark the 25th anniversary of his tragic death the day before his 45th birthday. Motown’s top solo male artist of the ’60s, led by his “I Heard It Through The Grapevine”—at one time the biggest selling single in Motown history—Gaye became the label’s most revolutionary artist in the ’70s, breaking down barriers whether singing about the body or the soul, social consciousness or sexual politics. From his ’60s classic “How Sweet It Is (To Be Loved By You),” to his legendary rendition of “The Star-Spangled Banner” at the 1983 NBA All-Star Game, he defined the soul in “soul music.”
Marvin Gaye’s popularity and influence continues. His 1971 album What’s Going On forever changed the subject matter of popular music; it’s one of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 10 albums of all time. In 1973, Let’s Get It On became perhaps the most passionate and sexual album ever recorded, led by its title track, which remains one of the most popular songs of all time, a certified Gold single back in the day, and in the digital music era it’s a Gold digital download and a Platinum-selling ringtone as well. In 1987, three years after his death, Gaye was rightfully among only the second group of artists honored with induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. More recently, Marvin Gaye was No. 6 on Rolling Stone’s list of the 100 Greatest Singers Of All Time.
Noting the milestones of his birth and passing, Motown/UMe will issue a special digital-only album on March 31, Marvin Gaye: Then & Now, a 14-track set of rarities highlighted by the previously unreleased “Soulie” (pronounced “sue-lee”), a 1966 recording recently unearthed by Motown’s New York-based producer Mickey Gentile, and a hot funk 2009 remix of “I Want You,” Marvin’s No. 1 hit from 1976, by the renowned John Morales of M+M Productions. Other tracks making their online debut are: the deep vault track “It’s Your Party,” and his two super-rare late ’50s Chess recordings with Harvey & The Moonglows (”Mama Loocie,” “Twelve Months Of The Year”). Rounding out this special collection are Marvin’s earliest, pre-hit Motown singles (”Witchcraft,” “Let Your Conscience Be Your Guide” and more).
Motown/UMe is also issuing a vinyl-only edition of United (Motown/UMe), Gaye’s classic duet album with Tammi Terrell, on April 14. The standard by which all R&B male-female duos are measured, Gaye and Terrell first teamed on the 1967 album that included “If I Could Build My World Around You,” “Your Precious Love” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
In addition, the ongoing, acclaimed “Motown 50″ podcast series will feature special episodes on Marvin Gaye’s life and music; Gaye is also well represented on the deluxe 10-CD box set Motown: The Complete No. 1’s, which kicked off the year long celebration for Motown’s 50th anniversary. Both The Real Thing, a DVD collection of his greatest television and concert appearances, and Gold, a 2-CD overview of his career, have recently been certified Gold. Gaye will also figure prominently in a two-hour documentary about Motown produced by the label’s founder, Berry Gordy.
Motown Drummer Uriel Jones Dies At 74
Posted by Steve Allen | Filed under Motown, Music Industry, Personal Blog
As most of you know, I’m a huge Motown fan. I looked Uriel up and discover that he lived just three streets away from Kimberly in Lincoln Park, MI. I’ve had several phone conversations with him and I can say he will be truly missed.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Motown drummer Uriel Jones, whose hard-driving funk propelled classic tunes by the Temptations and Marvin Gaye, died in a Michigan hospital on Tuesday after suffering complications from a heart attack, a family member said. He was 74.
Jones, the last surviving drummer in the Motown session band known as the Funk Brothers, was stricken in mid-February but had been showing signs of improvement, said his sister-in-law Leslie Coleman. He relapsed last Tuesday, and died at Oakwood Hospital & Medical Center in Dearborn, she told Reuters.
He was a key component of the “psychedelic soul” foray by the Temptations, including “Cloud Nine” and “I Can’t Get Next to You,” and brought a party feel to their earlier hit “Ain’t Too Proud To Beg.”
But Jones also applied a sensitive touch to such ballads as “The Tracks of My Tears,” by The Miracles, and “What Becomes of the Brokenhearted,” by Jimmy Ruffin.
Jones came to Motown in 1964 after touring with Gaye, and recorded for Motown’s enfant terrible on “Ain’t That Peculiar,” “I Heard it Through the Grapevine” and “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough.”
“Uriel’s drum sound was the most open and laid-back, and he was the funkiest of the three guys we had,” said Motown arranger Paul Riser. “He had a mixed feel and did a lot of different things well.”
Motown’s primary drummer was Benny Benjamin, but Jones and Richard “Pistol” Allen increasingly shared the duties as Benjamin was sidelined by drug addiction. Benjamin died in 1969. Allen succumbed to cancer in 2002 shortly after completing production on the Funk Br
others documentary “Standing in the Shadows of Motown.”
The film, released to great acclaim in 2003, gave a new lease of life to Motown’s forgotten session musicians. The band toured the world and won two Grammy awards. While Motown recordings utilized many musicians, the film focused on 13 players, of whom five were already dead. Just four Funk Brothers are alive now.
Jones is survived by his wife, June, and three children. Funeral services are pending.
The Day The Music Died
Posted by Steve Allen | Filed under Music Industry
This post has been updated. Phil corrected a few inaccuracies in my first posting.
My good friend Phil White is an authority on the plane crash. He has been featured on numerous media shows every year discussing the plane crash and the impact Buddy Holly’s music had on the larger music community. He told me that Waylon Jennings was on the same tour and was supposed to be on the ill fated flight to Fargo, ND, enroute to their next tour stop in Moorehead, MN, when J.P. “The Big Bopper” Richardson, who was fighting a bad cold, asked Jennings if he could have his seat on the plane. Waylon replied, “If it’s OK with Buddy, it’s OK with me.” When Buddy heard of the seat switch, he jokingly told Waylon, “I hope your old bus freezes up again!” to which Jennings replied, “Well, I hope your old plane crashes.” It took Waylon Jennings some 20 years to get over his feelings of guilt, thinking he had somehow caused the plane crash with that statement. In another ironic twist of fate that night, Ritchie Valens actually won a coin toss for his seat on the plane exclaiming, “This is the first thing I’ve ever won in my life!”
The following news story is from the TimesOnline.com
Buddy Holly fans around the world today proved that 50 years after his death, the singer remains one of music’s most-loved icons.
As American fans headed to a commemorative concert at the Iowa venue where the singer played his last concert, Australians snapped up tickets to a new musical of his life and British newspapers teemed with tributes.
The Peggy Sue singer died, aged 22, on February 3, 1959, alongside fellow musicians J.P “The Big Bopper” Richardson and Ritchie Valens, when their four-seater plane crashed in Iowa, a few minutes after take-off.
Immortalised as “the day the music died” by the Don McClean song American Pie, their deaths remain one of the most poignant moments in rock history.
The trio had just played a concert at The Surf Ballroom. Holly chartered a four-seater plane to take them to North Dakota for the next leg of their Winter Dance Party tour. The plane took off in the early hours amidst light snow but crashed into a cornfield a few minutes later.
Over the past week, fans have converged on The Surf Ballroom to take part in The 50th Anniversary of The Winter Dance Party event, culminating in a tribute concert last night, starring Graham Nash.
Holly’s widow, Maria Elena, who suffered a miscarriage on hearing of his death, attended the evening, which ended poignantly with the Holly song Don’t Fade Away.
Holly had been famous little more than 18 months when he died. He had hit No 1 with Peggy Sue, but following his death, sales of his music shot up and his contribution to rock ‘n’ roll recognised
A plethora of big-name musicians, including Elton John and Eric Clapton have held Holly up as a hero.
Paul McCartney once said: “At least the first 40 [Beatles] songs we wrote were Buddy Holly-influenced.”
Bruce Springsteen has revealed: “I play Buddy Holly every night before going onstage. It keeps me honest.”
Tags: bruce springsteen, buddy holly, don mcclean, j.p. richardson, paul mccatney, phil white, Ritchie Valens, the big bopper, the day the music died
thank's for the interesting information...