“The band was formed when a group of DePaul University music students began playing a series of late-night jams at clubs on and off campus.(ref)” They put out their first album in 1969 and their latest was released in 2006. During the early 1970s, Chicago’s albums were simply numbered by Roman Numerals denoting its sequence.

The late 1970s saw some changes and a death of band member, Terry Kath. In 1985, Peter Cetera left to go solo.

March 21, 2006 saw their release of Chicago XXX. A landmark for any band. Enjoy your own memories listening to these.

A respectable stage act on the London circuit, performing a wide range of covers from Motown artists to The Beatles, the group garnered interest from several record labels. However, it was not until Mal Evans (an employee of The Beatles’ Apple label) took up their cause that enabled them to be signed with The Beatles’ record company. They were accepted by Apple in 1968 after several demo tapes were brought in by Mal Evans, finally getting approval from Paul McCartney, George Harrison and John Lennon.(ref: wikipedia)”

In 1970, they sign with a new business manager. Issues confusion over money developed over the next several years. In 1975, Pete Ham hanged himself. The other members wen on to perform with other bands and some took construction jobs.

“On November 19, 1983, Evans and Molland argued on the telephone about the past income still in escrow from the Apple era and the lucrative “Without You” performance royalties Evans was receiving. Following the argument, Evans hanged himself in the garden at his home.(ref: wikipedia)”

With groups like The Dramatics, Delfonics, Bloodstone, Stylistics, Al Wilson, Tower of Power,…the list goes on.

Here are some of my favorites and I hope you enjoy them.

THE DRAMATICS-In The Rain

In 1965, Burton Cummings joined the group to immediate success. Cummings and Randy Bachman became the band’s main writers and went on to many hits including:

• - These Eyes
• - American Woman
• - Wild One

In the early 1970’s, Randy Bachman left the band and formed a band with former Guess Who leader Chad Allen, that would later be known as Bachman-Turner Overdrive. Cummings left the band in 1975 to go solo. In 1978 Cummings released an album destined to become Canada’s biggest hit to date.

Most of the original band members toured together in 2000. Cummings moved on to California to music write for movies. Bachman, pronounced “Back-man”, had a successful solor career. The two toured again in 2006.

Here’s some of their great music.

Shirley Veronica Bassey was born in Wales in 1937 to a Nigerian Father and British mother, and the youngest of seven children. In 1954, “had become disenchanted with show business, and had become pregnant at 16 with her daughter Sharon, so she went back to waitressing in Cardiff. However, in 1955, a chance recommendation of her to Michael Sullivan, a Streatham-born booking agent, put her firmly on course for her destined career. He saw talent in Bassey, and decided he would make her a star. She toured various theatres until she got an offer of the show that put her firmly on the road to stardom, Al Read’s Such Is Life at the Adelphi Theatre in London’s West End. While she starred in this show, Philips A&R and record producer Johnny Franz spotted her on television, was impressed, and offered her a record deal. (ref)”

During the 1960s through the 1980s, she had many hits. However, I think she is best know outside of Britain as a prolific singer of James Bond theme songs. These included Goldfinger, Diamonds Are Forever, and Moonraker.

Shirley Bassey was “created a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE)” in 1999. She was “also awarded France’s top honour, the Legion d’Honneur.”

Enjoy these videos clips of Dame Shirley Bassey:
Diamonds Are Forever
Where Do I Begin (Love Story)

- They had more than 40 different singles, albums, and EPs that reached number one
- The Beatles were the best-selling musical act of all time in the United States
- Rolling Stone magazine ranked The Beatles #1 on its list of 100 Greatest Artists of All Time(ref)

The group consisted of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. Who was considered the “fifth Beatle”? Billy Preston? I thought so until I found there were many considered to be a candidate for the “fifth Beatle” during the years. Learn more about the “Fifth Beatle” here.

The short version of their formation is this, John Lennon started a group called “The Quarrymen” in Liverpool, U.K. in 1956. Paul McCartney was added later that year and in February of 1958, they added George Harrison. Various names were used to perform under until 1960 when the four became known as “The Beatles.” Pete Best was replaced by Ringo Starr in 1962. 1962 was a big year for The Beatles when their music started to sell in a big way.

Coming to America to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show on February 9, 1964 started Beatlemania across the United States and lasted for several years. In the late 1960s, the Bealtes’ political views were publicized and helped fuel an already existing anti-war sentiment in America. The break up of the Beatles in 1970 brought and end to an legacy which truly survives the artists themselves. If you have a chance, it is very much worth watching the movie “Let It Be” which documents the recording of their last album. You can see the tension but genuine creativity of the four.

Enjoy these videos!

Enjoy

The late 1960’s were very, very good to Tome Jones:

- In 1965 he had his first top single with “It’s Not Unusual.” Much like Elvis, his moves were considered too provocative for early television.
- It was in that same year that Tom Jones also released the musical theme to the James Bond movie, Thunderball.
- If that were not enough, he was awarded the Grammy Award for Best New Artist for the same year.
- This was followed with several years of performing in Las Vegas and New York afterwards was then successful in TV called This is Tom Jones from 1967 through 1971.

After this, his career continued but not at the same rate it had. It wasn’t until 1999 that his career took off again with a record, “Reload,” of duets with famous contemporaries of that time.

He is know for a most powerful voice and provocative performances. Here’s a good BBC interview with Tom Jones.

Here’s the official Tom Jones web site with tour dates.

One of my favorites among those below is this one, “Help Yourself!”

Enjoy the videos!

In college, my roommate introduced and taught me to play to his song, “Mood For A Day,” a remarkable classical guitar piece. A classical guitar piece written by a rock guitarist? That’s when, perhaps late in life, I realized great musicians are multidimensional, transcendent of genre or labels.

He cites several influences from his parents’ record collection including Les Paul and the group Tennessee Ernie Ford who had Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant playing guitar. In addition, Howe listened to classical guitar and jazz, citing Barney Kessel [1] as a primary influence, “his playing was a remarkable mixture of ’single line’ and ‘chords’, ya know, which inspired me to believe that any guitarist who doesn’t understand chords won’t be able to play much in the single line because they relate so much”. Howe also credited Chet Atkins, who he first heard in 1959, as a major inspiration. Howe said he took from Atkins, “the idea that one guitarist could play any kind of guitar style.” (reference)

I think the videos below will display his varied work. Enjoy!

Walden Robert Cassotto, later known as Bobby Darin, was born in May, 1936 in the Bronx, New York. Here’s interesting part of his youth, “It was not until he was an adult that he learned that the woman he thought to be his sister Nina, 17 years his senior, was in fact his mother, and the woman he thought to be his mother was his grandmother.[3] He never knew the identity of his birth father.”

Bobby grew up having serious heart trouble. With the doctor telling him he would likely die early, he always had that in the back of his mind.

Bobby Darin started making hits in 1950s and didn’t stop until the 1970s when he died. An acting career started for him in the 1960s.

Here’s a partial list of the songs Bobby Darin recorded.

He sang in different groups but was picked up by Harry James in 1939 for $75 a week. He soon joined Tommy Dorsey’s band. The 1940’s saw him acting in several movies and continuing to sing. In 1953 Frank Sinatra won the Academy Award for Best Actor in a Supporting Role for the movie, “From Here To Eternity” which helped turn his career around.

The 1960’s saw Frank Sinatra with the “Rat Pack” (Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., Peter Lawford and Joey Bishop), playing the Sands Casino in Las Vegas, and recording some of his most memorable work. He retired in the early 1970s then came out of retirement a few years later. In 1980, he scored big with “New York, New York.”

He continued performing until he died in May, 1998. Frank Sinatra was many things to many people but he will always be the Chairman of the Board.