Glen Campbell - 1969 - Galveston FLAC

Universal Soldier/Where's The Playground Susie/True Grit/Galveston



Glen Travis Campbell (April 22, 1936 – August 8, 2017) was an American singer, guitarist, songwriter, television host, and actor. He was best known for a series of hit songs in the 1960s and 1970s, and for hosting a music and comedy variety show called The Glen Campbell Goodtime Hour on CBS television, from January 1969 until June 1972. He released over 70 albums in a career that spanned five decades, selling over 45 million records worldwide, including twelve gold albums, four platinum albums, and one double-platinum album.

"Universal Soldier" is a song written and recorded by Canadian singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie.It was rerecorded by Glen Campbell in 1965 and reached #45 in the US #16 in Australia.

"Where's the Playground Susie" is a song written by Jimmy Webb and recorded by American country music singer Glen Campbell. It was released in April 1969 as the second single from the album Galveston. The song peaked at # 26 on the Hot 100, #28 on the U.S. Billboard Hot Country Singles chart, and # 8 on the Canadian RPM Top Singles chart.It made #12 on the Australian charts and #9 in New Zealand.

"True Grit" is a song written by Don Black and Elmer Bernstein, and recorded by American country music artist Glen Campbell. It was released in July 1969 as the first single from his album True Grit. The song peaked at # 9 on the Billboard Hot Country Singles chart. It also reached # 1 on the RPM Country Tracks chart in Canada.

"Galveston" is a song written by Jimmy Webb and popularized by American country music singer Glen Campbell who recorded it with the instrumental backing of members of The Wrecking Crew. In 2003, this song ranked # 8 in CMT's 100 Greatest Songs in Country Music. Campbell's version of the song also went to # 1 on the country music charts. On other charts, "Galveston" went to # 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number one on the "Easy Listening" charts. It was certified gold by the RIAA in October 1969. It made #5 on the Australian charts and #3 in New Zealand.

Peter and Gordon - 1966 - Woman FLAC

To Know You Is To Love You/Baby I'm Yours/There's No Living Without Your Loving/Woman



 Peter Asher and his sister Jane were child actors in the 1950s. They played siblings in a 1955 episode of the television series The Adventures of Robin Hood. Jane Asher dated The Beatles' Paul McCartney between 1963 and 1968, and Peter and Gordon recorded several songs written by McCartney but credited to Lennon–McCartney. Those hits included "A World Without Love" (US & UK #1), "Nobody I Know" (US #12; UK #10), "I Don't Want To See You Again" (US #16, but not a hit in the UK), and "Woman".

With "Woman", McCartney used the pseudonym Bernard Webb to see whether he could have a hit song without his name attached. First pressings of the US Capitol single listed the composer as "A. Smith". The song reached #14 in the US and #28 on the British charts in 1966. Peter and Gordon also recorded the John Lennon-penned Lennon–McCartney song, "If I Fell", which was previously recorded by The Beatles and released on their 1964 album, A Hard Day's Night.

Other hits for the duo included "I Go to Pieces" (US #9), written by Del Shannon and given to Peter and Gordon after the two acts toured together. This was facilitated by Del Shannon's manager Irving Micahnik, of Embee and Bigtop records. Irving Micahnik and Harry Balk discovered Del Shannon and they signed away their rights to "I Go to Pieces" hoping to lure Peter and Gordon to their Detroit label; unfortunately all they did was lose the royalties they would have earned from the song. The duo also recorded remakes of Buddy Holly's "True Love Ways" (US #14 and UK #2 in 1965), and The Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him", retitled "To Know You Is To Love You" (US #24 and UK #5 in 1965).

Peter and Gordon had their last hit in Britain in late 1966 with "Lady Godiva", which reached #16 there (and #6 in the US), whilst their success lasted into 1967 in the US, with "Knight in Rusty Armour" and "Sunday for Tea" both registering in the upper reaches of the Billboard Hot 100 that year.

Jerry Lee Lewis - 1963 - Whole Lotta Shakin' FLAC

 
Lovin' Up A Storm/Teenage Letter/Great Balls of Fire/Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On


Jerry Lee Lewis (born September 29, 1935) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and pianist, often known by his nickname, The Killer. He has been described as "rock & roll's first great wild man."

A pioneer of rock and roll and rockabilly music, Lewis made his first recordings in 1956 at Sun Records in Memphis. "Crazy Arms" sold 300,000 copies in the South, but it was his 1957 hit "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On" that shot Lewis to fame worldwide. He followed this with "Great Balls of Fire", "Breathless" and "High School Confidential". However, Lewis's rock and roll career faltered in the wake of his marriage to Myra Gale Brown, his 13-year-old cousin.

He had minimal success in the charts following the scandal, and his popularity quickly eroded. In the early 1960s, he did not have much chart success, with few exceptions, such as a cover of Ray Charles's "What'd I Say". His live performances at this time were increasingly wild and energetic. His 1964 live album Live at the Star Club, Hamburg is regarded by music journalists and fans as one of the wildest and greatest live rock albums ever. In 1968, Lewis made a transition into country music and had hits with songs such as "Another Place, Another Time". This reignited his career, and throughout the late 1960s and 1970s he regularly topped the country-western charts; throughout his seven-decade career, Lewis has had 30 songs reach the top 10 on the "Billboard Country and Western Chart". His No. 1 country hits included "To Make Love Sweeter for You", "There Must Be More to Love Than This", "Would You Take Another Chance on Me", and "Me and Bobby McGee".

Lewis's successes continued throughout the decade and he embraced his rock and roll past with songs such as a cover of the Big Bopper's "Chantilly Lace" and Mack Vickery's "Rockin' My Life Away". In the 21st century Lewis continues to tour around the world and still releases new albums. His album Last Man Standing is his best selling to date, with over a million copies sold worldwide. This was followed by Mean Old Man, which has received some of the best sales of Lewis's career.

Lewis has a dozen gold records in both rock and country. He won several Grammy awards, including a Lifetime Achievement Award. Lewis was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986, and his pioneering contribution to the genre has been recognized by the Rockabilly Hall of Fame. He was also a member of the inaugural class inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame. In 1989, his life was chronicled in the movie Great Balls of Fire, starring Dennis Quaid. In 2003, Rolling Stone listed his box set All Killer, No Filler: The Anthology number 242 on their list of "500 Greatest Albums of All Time". In 2004, they ranked him number 24 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. Lewis is the last surviving member of Sun Records' Million Dollar Quartet and the Class of '55 album, which also included Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, Roy Orbison and Elvis Presley.

Music critic Robert Christgau has said of Lewis: "His drive, his timing, his offhand vocal power, his unmistakable boogie-plus piano, and his absolute confidence in the face of the void make Jerry Lee the quintessential rock and roller."

Dusty Springfield - 1966 - You Don't Have to Say You Love Me FLAC

You Don't Have to Say You Love Me/In the Middle of Nowhere/Little by Little/Who Can I Turn To (When Nobody Needs Me)



"You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (originally a 1965 Italian song by Pino Donaggio and lyricist Vito Pallavicini: '"Io che non vivo (senza te)") is a 1966 hit recorded by English singer Dusty Springfield that proved to be her most successful hit single, reaching number one on the UK Singles Chart and number four on the Billboard Hot 100.

Mary Isobel Catherine Bernadette O'Brien OBE (16 April 1939 – 2 March 1999), professionally known as Dusty Springfield, was an English pop singer and record producer whose career extended from the late 1950s to the 1990s. With her distinctive sensual mezzo-soprano sound, she was an important singer of blue-eyed soul and at her peak was one of the most successful British female performers, with six top 20 singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 and sixteen on the UK Singles Chart from 1963 to 1989. She is a member of the Rock and Roll and UK Music Halls of Fame. International polls have named Springfield among the best female rock artists of all time. Her image, supported by a peroxide blonde bouffant hairstyle, evening gowns, and heavy make-up, as well as her flamboyant performances made her an icon of the Swinging Sixties.

Born in West Hampstead in London to a family that enjoyed music, Springfield learned to sing at home. In 1958 she joined her first professional group, The Lana Sisters, and two years later formed a pop-folk vocal trio, The Springfields, with her brother Tom Springfield and Tim Field. They became the UK's top selling act. Her solo career began in 1963 with the upbeat pop hit, "I Only Want to Be with You". Among the hits that followed were "Wishin' and Hopin' " (1964), "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" (1964), "You Don't Have to Say You Love Me" (1966), and "Son of a Preacher Man" (1968).

As a fan of US soul music, she brought many little-known soul singers to the attention of a wider UK record-buying audience by hosting the first national TV performance of many top-selling Motown artists beginning in 1965. Partly owing to these efforts, a year later she eventually became the best-selling female singer in the world and topped a number of popularity polls, including Melody Maker's Best International Vocalist. Although she was never considered a Northern Soul artist in her own right, her efforts contributed a great deal to the formation of the genre as a result. She was the first UK singer to top the New Musical Express readers' poll for Female Singer.

 To boost her credibility as a soul artist, Springfield went to Memphis, Tennessee, to record Dusty in Memphis, an album of pop and soul music with the Atlantic Records main production team. Released in 1969, it has been ranked among the greatest albums of all time by the US magazine Rolling Stone and in polls by VH1 artists, New Musical Express readers, and Channel 4 viewers. The album was also awarded a spot in the Grammy Hall of Fame. Despite its current recognition, the album did not sell well. After its release, she relocated to America where she experienced a career slump for several years. However, in collaboration with Pet Shop Boys, she returned to the Top 10 of the UK and US charts in 1987 with "What Have I Done to Deserve This?" Two years later, she had two other UK hits on her own with "Nothing Has Been Proved" and "In Private." Subsequently, in the mid-1990s, owing to the inclusion of "Son of a Preacher Man" on the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, interest in her early output was revived.

Percy Sledge - 1966 - When A Man Loves A Woman FLAC

When A Man Loves A Woman/Love Me Like You Mean It/Thief In The Night/You Fooled Me



Percy Sledge will forever be associated with "When a Man Loves a Woman," a pleading, soulful ballad he sang with wrenching, convincing anguish and passion. Sledge sang all of his songs that way, delivering them in a powerful rush where he quickly changed from soulful belting to quavering, tearful pleas. It was a voice that made him one of the key figures of deep Southern soul. Sledge recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, where he frequently sang songs written by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Not only did he sing deep soul, but Sledge was among the pioneers of country-soul, singing songs by Charlie Rich and Kris Kristofferson in a gritty, passionate style. During the '70s, his commercial success faded away, but Sledge continued to tour and record into the '90s.

While he worked as a hospital nurse in the early '60s, Sledge began his professional music career as a member of the Southern soul vocal group the Esquires Combo. On the advice of local disc jockey Quin Ivy, he went solo in 1966. Ivy fancied himself a record producer and he agreed to help shape Sledge's song "When a Man Loves a Woman" into a full-fledged single, hiring Spooner Oldham to play a distinctive, legato organ phrase. Ivy released the single independently and quickly licensed it to Atlantic Records, who quickly bought out Sledge's contract. "When a Man Loves a Woman" became a huge hit in the summer of 1966, topping both the pop and R&B charts. It was quickly followed that year by two Top Ten R&B hits, "Warm and Tender Love" and "It Tears Me Up," which were both in the vein of his first hit. Although few of his subsequent singles were hits -- only "Take Time to Know Her" reached the R&B Top Ten in 1968 -- many of the songs, which were often written by Dan Penn and/or Oldham, were acknowledged as classics among soul aficionados.

Despite his strong reputation among deep soul fans, Sledge's sales had declined considerably by the early '70s, and he headed out on the club circuit in America and England. In 1974, he left Atlantic for Capricorn Records, where he returned to the R&B Top 20 with "I'll Be Your Everything." Instead of re-igniting his career, the single was a last gasp, as far as chart success was concerned. Over the next two decades he continued to tour, and in the late '80s "When a Man Loves a Woman" experienced a resurgence in popularity, due to its inclusion in movie soundtracks and in television commercials. Following its appearance in a 1987 Levi's commercial in the U.K., the single was re-released and climbed to number two. Two years later, he won the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Career Achievement Award. Sledge was able to turn this revived popularity into a successful career by touring constantly, playing over 100 shows a year into the '90s. In 1994, he released Blue Night, his first collection of new material in over a decade, to uniformly positive reviews, and after the turn of the millennium he returned with Shining Through the Rain in 2004. The following year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Percy Sledge died in April 2015 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the age of 73.

Bobbi Martin - 1969 - Harper Valley PTA @320

Harper Valley PTA/Empty Arms/She'll Have To Go/Be Mine



Bobbi Martin (November 29, 1943 – May 2, 2000) was an American country and pop music singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She grew up and began her singing career in Baltimore, working her way up from local venues onto the national nightclub circuit.

Martin recorded for Coral Records for several years before releasing her debut album, Don't Forget I Still Love You. The title track was a hit in the U.S., peaking at No. 2 on the Easy Listening (adult contemporary) chart and No. 19 on the Billboard Hot 100. A follow-up single "I Can't Stop Thinking of You", first introduced on the nationally televised Dean Martin Show won her the Cashbox Disc Jockey Poll as Most Promising Female Vocalist of 1965. While popular at nightclubs in Miami Beach, New York, Las Vegas and Puerto Rico, and on TV appearances with the Jackie Gleason, Ronnie Dove, Tonight, and Dean Martin Shows, it would be 5 years before she scored another hit with "For the Love of Him", from the album of the same name. This song went to No. 1 on the Adult Contemporary chart and No. 13 on the Hot 100. The singer charted many smaller regional, Bubbling Under Hot 100 and Easy Listening chart records up to 1972.

Martin died of cancer on May 2, 2000 at the Brighton Wood Knoll medical facility in Baltimore. Martin had one daughter, Shane Clements.

B.J. Thomas - 1969 - Hooked On A Feeling @320

Hooked On A Feeling/Smoke Gets In Your Eyes/Mr. Businessman/ I've Been Down This Road Before



Billy Joe Thomas (born August 7, 1942) is an American popular singer. He is particularly known for his hit songs of the 1960s and 1970s, which appeared on the pop, country, and Christian music charts. His best-known recordings are the Burt Bacharach and Hal David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" and the original version of the Mark James song "Hooked on a Feeling".



Thomas was raised in and around Houston, Texas, graduating from Lamar Consolidated High School in Rosenberg. Before his solo career, he sang in a church choir as a teenager, then joined the musical group The Triumphs with Tim Griffith (guitar and keyboards), Denver "Zeke" Zatyka (bass), Don Drachenberg (sax) and Ted Mensik (drums). During his senior year he made friends with Roy Head of Roy Head and The Traits. The Traits and the Triumphs held several Battle of the Bands events in the early 1960s.
 

 B.J. Thomas and The Triumphs released the album I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry (Pacemaker Records). It featured a hit cover of the Hank Williams song "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry". The single sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. The follow-up single, "Mama", peaked at No. 22. In the same year, Thomas released a solo album of the same title on the Scepter Records label.


 Thomas came back to achieve mainstream success again in 1968, first with "The Eyes of a New York Woman", then five months later with the much bigger "Hooked on a Feeling", which featured the sound of Reggie Young's electric sitar and was first released on the album On My Way (Scepter Records). "Hooked on a Feeling" became Thomas's second million-selling record.
 

A year later Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid featured Thomas performing the Bacharach/David song "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head", which won the Academy Award for best original song that year and hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in January 1970. Sales of it also exceeded one million copies, with Thomas being awarded his third gold record. The song was also released on an album of the same title. Other hits of the 1970s were "Everybody's Out of Town", "I Just Can't Help Believing" (No. 9 in 1970, covered by Elvis Presley), "No Love at All", "Mighty Clouds of Joy", and "Rock and Roll Lullaby".




 Thomas's earlier hits were with Scepter Records, his label for six years. He left Scepter Records in 1972 and spent a short period, in 1973 and 1974, with Paramount Records, during which time he released two albums, Songs (1973) and Longhorns & Londonbridges (1974).

 In 1975, Thomas released the album Reunion on ABC Records, which had absorbed the Paramount label; it contained "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song" (the longest titled No. 1 hit ever on the Hot 100). It was Thomas's first big hit since 1972 and secured him his fourth gold record.

In 1976, Thomas released Home Where I Belong, produced by Chris Christian on Myrrh Records, the first of several gospel albums. It was the first Christian album to go platinum, and Thomas became the biggest contemporary Christian artist of the period.

On MCA Records, Thomas and Chris Christian recorded what would be his last Top 40 hit single, "Don't Worry Baby", on his last pop album, which also included the Adult Contemporary hit "Still the Lovin' Is Fun".

During the 1980s, his success on the pop charts began to wane, but many of his singles reached the upper regions on the country singles chart, including two 1983 chart toppers, "Whatever Happened to Old-Fashioned Love" and "New Looks from an Old Lover" (see 1984 in music), as well as "Two Car Garage", which reached No. 3 on the country charts. In 1981, on his 39th birthday, Thomas became the 60th member of the Grand Ole Opry.

Thomas scored another hit, recording "As Long As We Got Each Other", the theme to the television series Growing Pains. The first season theme was a solo for Thomas, but was re-recorded as a duet with Jennifer Warnes for the second and third seasons. It was re-recorded again for the show's fourth season with British singer Dusty Springfield, but the Thomas/Warnes version was reinstated for season five and some of season seven. Thomas first released this track on his 1985 album Throwing Rocks at the Moon (Columbia Records).

 Thomas has also written two books including the autobiography Home Where I Belong, and starred in the movies Jory and Jake's Corner. Several commercial jingles including Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Bell, have featured his singing voice and music. On December 31, 2011, Thomas was the featured halftime performer at the 2011 Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, Texas. On April 2, 2013, Thomas released The Living Room Sessions, an album with acoustic arrangements of well known hits. It features guest appearances with established and emerging vocalists accompanying Thomas on seven of twelve tracks. On December 3, 2013, the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences announced that his 1969 single "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" would be inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame.

J0e C0cker - 1970 - Delt@ L@dy FLAC

Delta Lady/She's So Good To Me/She Came In Through The Bathroom Window/Change In Louise



Born in England in 1944, Joe Cocker was one of rock's most distinctive singers. He first rose to fame in the late 1960s with his cover of the Beatles' song "With a Little Help From My Friends." Cocker performed at the legendary Woodstock music festival in 1969. The following year, he released the live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, which included such hits as "The Letter." More successful singles soon followed, including "Cry Me a River" and "Feeling Alright." Cocker won a Grammy Award in 1982 for "Up Where We Belong," his duet with Jennifer Warnes. An Academy Award for Best Original Song followed the next year. Some of Cocker's later albums include Hard Knocks (2010) and Fire It Up (2012). Cocker died in 2014.



Born on May 20, 1944, in Sheffield, England, singer Joe Cocker counted Ray Charles and Lonnie Donegan among his early influences. He made his singing debut with his brother Victor's skiffle band when he was only 12 years old. Several years later Cocker became a drummer and harmonica player for a band called the Cavaliers. Before long, however, Cocker took his rightful position at the front of the stage as a singer, working a day job as a gas fitter for the East Midlands Gas Board while he tried to make it as a performer.
 
 Cocker tried his hand at pop music, performing as Vance Arnold and releasing a single on Decca Records in 1964. When it flopped, Decca dropped Cocker and he dropped his stage name, performing briefly with a new group before taking a break from music altogether. He returned in 1966 by forming the Grease Band, eventually landing a minor hit in the United States with the song "Marjorine."
 
Cocker landed his first number-one single in his native England in 1968 with his rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends." His cover of the iconic song was later featured as the theme song for the television series The Wonder Years. His album of the same name featured such guest performers as Jimmy Page and Steve Winwood. In 1969, Cocker hit the British charts again with "Delta Lady." This rough yet soulful singer also toured the United States that same year. His time in America included a career-boosting performance at the famed Woodstock music festival. Cocker started to attract a quite following with his bluesy rock sound. He also became known for his unpredictable way of dancing on stage. 

 With the 1970 live album Mad Dogs & Englishmen, Cocker rose to the top 10 of American pop charts with "The Letter." The album proved to be a huge success and also included several other hit singles, such as "Cry Me a River." Over the next few years, he made the charts a few more times with such songs as "High Time We Went" and "Feeling Alright." As the 1970s progressed, however, Cocker's substance abuse began to affect his performances, though in 1975 he did manage to make it back into the charts with the smash hit "You Are So Beautiful."


 In the 1980s Cocker had a career renaissance. His duet with Jennifer Warnes, "Up Where We Belong," was the title track for the Richard Gere-Debra Winger drama An Officer and a Gentleman. The ballad became a number-one hit and earned the pair a Grammy Award win for best pop performance by a duo or group with vocal in 1982 and the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1983. At the close of the decade, Cocker returned to the pop charts again with "When the Night Comes." 

 In his later years, Cocker remained active on the music scene. He kept recording, releasing Have a Little Faith (1994), Hymn for My Soul (2007) and Hard Knocks (2010), among many others. In 2012, Cocker put out his 23rd album, Fire It Up, which also proved to be his last. He died in Crawford, Colorado, on December 22, 2014, from complications relating to lung cancer. The legendary singer was survived by his wife Pam, his stepdaughter Zoey and two grandchildren.

Many members of the music world mourned Cocker's passing. Ringo Starr was just one of the people who took to Twitter to express their sadness, tweeting "Goodbye and God bless to Joe Cocker from one of his friends."

Wilson Picket - 1968 - I'm A Midnight Mover FLAC

I'm A Midnight Mover/Deborah/She's Looking Good/We've Got To Have Love


Of the major '60s soul stars, Wilson Pickett was one of the roughest and sweatiest, working up some of the decade's hottest dancefloor grooves on hits like "In the Midnight Hour," "Land of 1000 Dances," "Mustang Sally," and "Funky Broadway." Although he tends to be held in somewhat lower esteem than more versatile talents like Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, he is often a preferred alternative of fans who like their soul on the rawer side. He also did a good deal to establish the sound of Southern soul with his early hits, which were often written and recorded with the cream of the session musicians in Memphis and Muscle Shoals.

Before establishing himself as a solo artist, Pickett sang with the Falcons, who had a Top Ten R&B hit in 1962 with "I Found a Love." "If You Need Me" (covered by the Rolling Stones) and "It's Too Late" were R&B hits for the singer before he hooked up with Atlantic Records, who sent him to record at Stax in Memphis in 1965. One early result was "In the Midnight Hour," whose chugging horn line, loping funky beats, and impassioned vocals combined into a key transitional performance that brought R&B into the soul age. It was an R&B chart-topper and a substantial pop hit (number 21), though its influence was stronger than that respectable position might indicate: thousands of bands, black and white, covered "In the Midnight Hour" on-stage and record in the 1960s.

Pickett had a flurry of other galvanizing soul hits over the next few years, including "634-5789," "Mustang Sally," and "Funky Broadway," all of which, like "In the Midnight Hour," were frequently adapted by other bands as dance-ready numbers. The king of that hill, though, had to be "Land of 1000 Dances," Pickett's biggest pop hit (number six), a soul anthem of sorts with its roll call of popular dances, and covered by almost as many acts as "Midnight Hour" was.

Pickett didn't confine himself to the environs of Stax for long; soon he was also cutting tracks at Muscle Shoals. He recorded several early songs by Bobby Womack. He used Duane Allman as a session guitarist on a hit cover of the Beatles' "Hey Jude." He cut some hits in Philadelphia with Gamble & Huff productions in the early '70s. He even did a hit version of the Archies' "Sugar, Sugar." The hits kept rolling through the early '70s, including "Don't Knock My Love" and "Get Me Back on Time, Engine Number 9."

A Man and a Half: The Best of Wilson Pickett One of the corollaries of '60s soul is that if a performer rose to fame with Motown or Atlantic, he or she would produce little of note after leaving the label. Pickett, unfortunately, did not prove an exception to the rule. His last big hit was "Fire and Water," in 1972. He continued to be active on the tour circuit; his most essential music, all from the 1960s and early '70s, was assembled for the superb Rhino double-CD anthology A Man and a Half. It's Harder Now, his first new material in over a decade, followed in 1999. Pickett spent the early part of the 2000s performing, before retiring in late 2004 due to ill health. He passed away on January 19, 2006, following a heart attack.

The Mamas & The Papas - 1968 - The Mamas & The Papas FLAC

Creeque Alley/Dedicated To The One I Love /Twelve Thirty (Young Girls Are Coming To The Canyon)/For The Love Of Ivy



The Mamas & the Papas were an American folk rock vocal group who recorded and performed from 1965 to 1968. The group was a defining force in the music scene of the counterculture of the 1960s. The group was composed of John Phillips, Denny Doherty, Cass Elliot, and Michelle Phillips née Gilliam. Their sound was based on vocal harmonies arranged by John Phillips, the songwriter, musician, and leader of the group who adapted folk to the new beat style of the early sixties.

The Mamas & the Papas released a total of five studio albums and seventeen singles over a four-year period, six of which made the Billboard top ten, and have sold close to 40 million records worldwide. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for their contributions to the music industry. The band reunited briefly to record the album People Like Us in 1971, but had ceased touring and performing by that time.

 “Creeque Alley” is an autobiographical hit single written by John Phillips and Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & the Papas, and composed by John Phillips, in 1967, narrating the story of how the group was formed, and its early years. The third song on the album Deliver, it peaked at #5 on the U.S. Billboard pop singles chart the week of Memorial Day 1967. It made #9 on the UK charts and #4 on the Canadian charts.

"Dedicated to the One I Love" is a song written by Lowman Pauling and Ralph Bass which was a hit for the "5" Royales, the Shirelles and the Mamas & the Papas. Pauling was the guitarist of The "5" Royales, the group that recorded the original version of the song, produced by Bass, in 1957. Their version was re-released in 1961 and charted at number 81 on the Billboard Hot 100.In 1967, a subsequent and more popular cover version by the Mamas & the Papas released on the Dunhill label went to number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100, kept from number 1 by Happy Together by The Turtles. This version also reached number 2 on the UK's Record Retailer chart. The lead singer on the Mamas & the Papas version was Michelle Phillips. It was the first time that Phillips was given the lead over Cass Elliot. The song was also included on the group's 1967 album The Mamas & The Papas Deliver.

 After the release of the group's third album -- Deliver—and their appearance as the closing act of the Monterey International Pop Festival, the group was scheduled to appear in England. The visit was catastrophic for both the group and Cass Elliot, and resulted in Cass leaving the group temporarily. The group had completed four tracks for their fourth album—initially titled Springboard—but when the group fracture occurred, progress on the new album stopped completely. Dunhill Records, hoping to keep the group in the public eye while personal matters were sorted out, released a Greatest Hits compilation, entitled Farewell to the First Golden Era, a smash hit at #5 on the charts, and certified gold. "Twelve Thirty," one of the completed songs from the fourth album, was included on the album in order to entice record buyers with new material, and simultaneously released as a single. "Twelve Thirty" would also appear on the now-retitled fourth album, The Papas & The Mamas, when finally released in the fall of 1968. The song peaked at number 20 as a single in the US, but failed to chart in the UK. The group would perform the song on The Ed Sullivan Show on 24 September 1967, in one of their last televised appearances as a group.

The song was written by John Phillips shortly after the band had relocated to Southern California in 1965. It is often cited as the band's last great single. In a 1968 interview, Phillips cited this arrangement as an example of "well arranged two-part harmony moving in opposite directions".

"For the Love of Ivy" is a song written by Written by Denny Doherty and John Phillips released in 1968 and taken from the album The Papas and the Mamas it reached #81 on the U.S. charts.

Bobby Sherman - 1970 - Little Woman @320

Little Woman/One Too Many Mornings/La La La (If You Had To)/Time



Little Woman is a 1969 song recorded by Bobby Sherman and composed by Danny Janssen. Sherman's first single release on Metromedia Records, it reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 and achieved gold certification. On the rival Cashbox chart, it reached No. 1 for one week. It also sold well in Canada, where it reached No. 2 in the RPM charts. In New Zealand, "Little Woman" reached No. 5. The song earned Sherman a gold record, his first of four in the U.S.

Session musicians on this recording included James Burton and Alton Hendrickson on guitar, Don Randi on piano, Jerry Scheff on bass, Richard Hyde on trombone, Joe Burnett and Ollie Mitchell on trumpet, Theodore Nash and Jim Horn on sax, William Kurasch, Leonard Malarsky, Paul Shure, Gloria Strassner, Assa Drori and Samuel Cytron on violins, David Filerman on cello, Emil Richards on percussion, Jim Gordon on drums.

Initial copies were released with Sherman singing Bob Dylan's song "One Too Many Mornings" as B-side. Some later copies substituted "Love", a song written by Sherman himself.

"La La La (If I Had You)" is a song released by Bobby Sherman in November 1969. The song spent 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, peaking at No. 9, while reaching No. 14 on Billboard's Easy Listening chart. In Canada, the song reached No. 7 on the "RPM 100", No. 15 on RPM's adult contemporary chart, and No. 16 on Toronto's CHUM 30 chart. The song earned Sherman a gold record B-Side was Time.

Percy Sledge - 1968 - Just Out Of Reach FLAC

Just Out Of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)/Hard To Believe/You-re Pouring Water On A Drowning Man/When She Touches Me (Nothing Else Matters)



Percy Sledge will forever be associated with "When a Man Loves a Woman," a pleading, soulful ballad he sang with wrenching, convincing anguish and passion. Sledge sang all of his songs that way, delivering them in a powerful rush where he quickly changed from soulful belting to quavering, tearful pleas. It was a voice that made him one of the key figures of deep Southern soul. Sledge recorded at Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama, where he frequently sang songs written by Spooner Oldham and Dan Penn. Not only did he sing deep soul, but Sledge was among the pioneers of country-soul, singing songs by Charlie Rich and Kris Kristofferson in a gritty, passionate style. During the '70s, his commercial success faded away, but Sledge continued to tour and record into the '90s.

While he worked as a hospital nurse in the early '60s, Sledge began his professional music career as a member of the Southern soul vocal group the Esquires Combo. On the advice of local disc jockey Quin Ivy, he went solo in 1966. Ivy fancied himself a record producer and he agreed to help shape Sledge's song "When a Man Loves a Woman" into a full-fledged single, hiring Spooner Oldham to play a distinctive, legato organ phrase. Ivy released the single independently and quickly licensed it to Atlantic Records, who quickly bought out Sledge's contract. "When a Man Loves a Woman" became a huge hit in the summer of 1966, topping both the pop and R&B charts. It was quickly followed that year by two Top Ten R&B hits, "Warm and Tender Love" and "It Tears Me Up," which were both in the vein of his first hit. Although few of his subsequent singles were hits -- only "Take Time to Know Her" reached the R&B Top Ten in 1968 -- many of the songs, which were often written by Dan Penn and/or Oldham, were acknowledged as classics among soul aficionados.

Despite his strong reputation among deep soul fans, Sledge's sales had declined considerably by the early '70s, and he headed out on the club circuit in America and England. In 1974, he left Atlantic for Capricorn Records, where he returned to the R&B Top 20 with "I'll Be Your Everything." Instead of re-igniting his career, the single was a last gasp, as far as chart success was concerned. Over the next two decades he continued to tour, and in the late '80s "When a Man Loves a Woman" experienced a resurgence in popularity, due to its inclusion in movie soundtracks and in television commercials. Following its appearance in a 1987 Levi's commercial in the U.K., the single was re-released and climbed to number two. Two years later, he won the Rhythm and Blues Foundation's Career Achievement Award. Sledge was able to turn this revived popularity into a successful career by touring constantly, playing over 100 shows a year into the '90s. In 1994, he released Blue Night, his first collection of new material in over a decade, to uniformly positive reviews, and after the turn of the millennium he returned with Shining Through the Rain in 2004. The following year, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Percy Sledge died in April 2015 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana at the age of 73.

Percy Sledge - 1968 - Love Me Tender FLAC

Love Me Tender/Take Time To Know Her/Warm And Tender Love/When A Man Loves A Woman



Sledge was born on November 25, 1941, in Leighton, Alabama. He worked in a series of agricultural jobs in the fields in Leighton before taking a job as an orderly at Colbert County Hospital in Sheffield, Alabama. Through the mid-1960s, he toured the Southeast with the Esquires Combo on weekends, while working at the hospital during the week. A former patient and mutual friend of Sledge and record producer Quin Ivy introduced the two. An audition followed, and Sledge was signed to a recording contract.

Sledge's soulful voice was perfect for the series of soul ballads produced by Ivy and Marlin Greene, which rock critic Dave Marsh called "emotional classics for romantics of all ages". "When a Man Loves a Woman" was Sledge's first song recorded under the contract, and was released in March 1966. According to Sledge, the inspiration for the song came when his girlfriend left him for a modelling career after he was laid off from a construction job in late 1965, and, because bassist Calvin Lewis and organist Andrew Wright helped him with the song, he gave all the songwriting credits to them. It reached No. 1 in the US and went on to become an international hit. When a Man Loves a Woman" was a hit twice in the UK, reaching No. 4 in 1966 and, on reissue, peaked at No. 2 in 1987. The song was also the first gold record released by Atlantic Records. The soul anthem became the cornerstone of Sledge's career, and was followed by "Warm and Tender Love" (covered by British singer Elkie Brooks in 1981), "It Tears Me Up", "Take Time to Know Her" (his second biggest US hit, reaching No. 11, the song's lyric was written by Steve Davis), "Love Me Tender", and "Cover Me".

Sledge charted with "I'll Be Your Everything" and "Sunshine" during the 1970s, and became an international concert favorite throughout the world, especially in the Netherlands, Germany, and on the African continent; he averaged 100 concerts a year in South Africa.

P.J. Proby - 1966 - Maria FLAC

Mission Bell/Let The Water Run Down/She Cried/Maria



 Born and mostly raised in Texas, rock & roller P.J. Proby never really hit it big in his homeland, but his trouser-busting stage antics helped make him a genuine pop star in England at the height of the British Invasion. Proby was born James Marcus Smith in Houston on November 6, 1938, and grew up listening to country and black gospel; later on, he became fascinated by rockabilly, and his stepsister even dated the young Elvis Presley. After graduating from military school in 1957, he moved to Hollywood hoping to make it in the music business. Through his boyhood friend, teen-idol singer Tommy Sands, Smith made some connections that included songwriter Sharon Sheeley (who was dating Eddie Cochran and had written "Poor Little Fool" for Rick Nelson), and he soon began recording singles under the name Jett Powers, with little success. In the meantime, he worked as a demo singer and also did a bit of acting, appearing in several Westerns and an episode of Gunsmoke.

Meanwhile, Smith was working on his own original songs, which earned him a composition contract with Liberty at the end of 1959; his material was recorded by Johnny Burnette ("Clown Shoes"), the Searchers, Leroy Van Dyke, Rick Nelson, and Jackie DeShannon, among others. He also briefly joined producer Kim Fowley's studio group the Hollywood Argyles in 1960. In 1961, Smith (probably wisely) changed his alias from Jett Powers to P.J. Proby, the name of a childhood friend of Sharon Sheeley. Proby cut several singles from 1961-1963, ranging from rock to pop to country, again without much luck or promotion. With the single "Wicked Woman," he even resorted to changing his name to Orville Woods in hopes of getting played on R&B radio stations.

 Finally, in late 1963, Proby met British producer Jack Good, who happened to be putting together a TV special on the Beatles that was to feature several other up-and-coming artists. Proby's demo tape impressed Beatles manager Brian Epstein enough for him to make the cut, and Good outfitted Proby as an aristocratic fop, complete with ponytail, frilly shirt, tight velvet pants, and buckled shoes. After the special aired worldwide, Proby's first British single, "Hold Me" -- a rocked-up rearrangement of a 1939-vintage pop ballad associated with Dick Haymes -- rocketed into the U.K. Top Five in early 1964. Proby's next two singles, "Together" and West Side Story's "Somewhere," took a similar tack, and both reached the British Top Ten as well. In early 1965, Proby was booked as part of a package tour, and on one of the London dates in late January, his pants ripped open from the knee all the way up. Proby claimed it was an accident, but when the same thing happened at the next show (much to the audience's delight), the censors descended and banned Proby from performing on television or in theaters. Rushed out shortly after the ban, "I Apologise" just missed the Top Ten, though his detractors didn't take its sentiments to heart.

 Proby continued to release singles over the next two years, scoring another Top Ten hit with another West Side Story cover, "Maria," in late 1965. (Oddly, the preceding single, "That Means a Lot," flopped despite being penned by John Lennon and Paul McCartney.) The lack of promotional opportunities began to hurt Proby's chart placements, though, and he was also beset with financial problems. He attempted to crack the American market in 1967 and actually did land a Top 40 hit with "Niki Hoeky," which proved to be the extent of his success in his native country. Proby was forced to declare bankruptcy in 1968; in 1969, he recorded an album, Three Week Hero, that featured studio backing from all four future members of Led Zeppelin. By this time, though, the hits had dried up. Thanks to Jack Good, Proby appeared in Catch My Soul, a musical version of Othello, in 1970, and subsequently became a regular on Britain's cabaret circuit.

 In 1973, Proby cut a less-than-stellar album, I'm Yours, under somewhat shady circumstances for Ember. He also made headlines with his engagement to Dean Martin's daughter Claudia, and his subsequent arrest for brandishing a shotgun. Proby re-emerged in 1978 to record an album with the Dutch prog rock group Focus, Focus Con Proby, and shortly thereafter starred in a Jack Good-produced musical about Elvis Presley (from which he was fired for improvising). Proby recorded sporadically during the '80s, including a series of more contemporary covers, and was also beset by marital difficulties and occasional run-ins with the law over flashes of temper. He nearly died after collapsing in 1992, and went completely sober afterward; in 1993, he appeared in the Jack Good biographical musical Good Rockin' Tonite, and two years later in the Roy Orbison tribute show Only the Lonely. Proby attempted a recording comeback in 1997 with the EMI album Legend.

Lesley Gore - 1965 - Lesley Gore FLAC

 It's My Party/She's A Fool/You Don't Own Me/Judy's Turn To Cry




 Lesley Sue Goldstein (May 2, 1946 – February 16, 2015), known professionally as Lesley Gore, was an American singer, songwriter, actress, and activist. At the age of 16 (in 1963) she recorded the pop hit "It's My Party", and followed it up with other hits including "Judy's Turn to Cry", "She's a Fool", "You Don't Own Me", "Maybe I Know" and "California Nights".

Gore also worked as an actress and composed songs with her brother, Michael Gore, for the 1980 film Fame, for which she was nominated for an Academy Award. She hosted an LGBT-oriented public television show, In the Life, on American TV in the 2000s, and was active until 2014.

 She was born Lesley Sue Goldstein in Brooklyn, New York City, into a Jewish family, the daughter of Leo Goldstein and Ronny Gore. Her father was the owner of Peter Pan, a children's swimwear and underwear manufacturer, and later became a leading brand licensing agent in the apparel industry. She was raised in Tenafly, New Jersey, and attended the Dwight School for Girls in nearby Englewood.

When she recorded her version of "It's My Party" with Quincy Jones in 1963, she was a junior in high school. It became a number-one, nationwide hit. Gore's version sold over one million copies and was certified as a gold record. It also marked the beginning of a time when fans would show up on her front lawn.

"It's My Party" was followed by many other hits for Gore, including the sequel, "Judy's Turn to Cry" (US No. 5); "She's a Fool" (US No. 5); the feminist-themed million-selling "You Don't Own Me", which held at No. 2 for three weeks behind the Beatles' "I Want To Hold Your Hand"; "That's the Way Boys Are" (US No. 12); "Maybe I Know" (US No. 14/UK No. 20); "Look of Love" (US No. 27); and the Grammy-nominated "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" (US No. 13), from the 1965 movie, Ski Party. In 1965 she appeared in the beach party film The Girls on the Beach in which she performed three songs: "Leave Me Alone", "It's Gotta Be You", and "I Don't Want to Be a Loser".

Gore was given first shot at recording "A Groovy Kind of Love" by songwriters Carole Bayer and Toni Wine with a melody borrowed from a sonatina by Muzio Clementi, but Shelby Singleton, a producer for Mercury subsidiary Smash Records, refused to let Gore record a song with the word "groovy" in its lyrics. The Mindbenders went on to record it, and it reached No. 2 on the Billboard charts.

 Gore recorded composer Marvin Hamlisch's first hit composition, "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows", on May 21, 1963, while "It's My Party" was climbing the charts. Her record producer from 1963 to 1965 was Quincy Jones. Jones' dentist was Marvin Hamlisch's uncle, and Hamlisch asked his uncle to convey several songs to Jones. "Sunshine, Lollipops and Rainbows" was released on the LP Lesley Gore Sings of Mixed-Up Hearts, but did not surface as a single until June 1965. Hamlisch composed three other Gore associated songs: "California Nights", "That's the Way the Ball Bounces" and "One by One". "That's the Way the Ball Bounces" was recorded September 21, 1963, at A&R Studios in New York; it was released as the B-side of "That's the Way Boys Are" and appeared on the LP Boys Boys Boys. "One by One" was an unreleased track recorded on July 31, 1969, in New York and produced by Paul Leka; it first appeared on the Bear Family five-CD anthology of Gore's Mercury work entitled It's My Party (1994).

Gore was one of the featured performers in the T.A.M.I. Show concert film, which was recorded and released in 1964 by American International Pictures, and placed in the National Film Registry in 2006. Gore had one of the longest sets in the film, performing six songs including "It's My Party", "You Don't Own Me", and "Judy's Turn to Cry".

 Gore performed on two consecutive episodes of the Batman television series (January 19 and 25, 1967), in which she guest-starred as Pussycat, one of Catwoman's minions. In the January 19 episode "That Darn Catwoman", she lip-synched to the Bob Crewe-produced "California Nights", and in the January 25 episode "Scat! Darn Catwoman" she lip-synched to "Maybe Now". "California Nights", which Gore recorded for her 1967 album of the same name, returned her to the upper reaches of the Hot 100. The single peaked at No.16 in March 1967 (14 weeks on the chart). It was her first top 40 hit since "My Town, My Guy and Me" in late 1965 and her first top 20 since "Sunshine, Lollipops, and Rainbows". Gore also performed the single "We Know We're in Love" ten months earlier on the final episode of The Donna Reed Show, which aired on March 19, 1966.

After high school, while continuing to make appearances as a singer, Gore attended Sarah Lawrence College, studying British and American English literature. At college folk music was popularly lauded as 'chic', whereas pop music was often derided as 'uncool.' "Had I been tall with blonde hair, had I been Mary Travers, I would have gotten along fine." She graduated in 1968. 

Gore signed a contract with Mercury Records for five years, which carried her obligations to the company through the spring of 1968. Her last big hit had been twelve months prior to this time, but Mercury still saw promise in her as an artist, and believed that one of her singles would make it, like they had in the past. They offered a one-year extension on the initial contract, and Gore was formally contracted to Mercury for a sixth year. During this time, "He Gives Me Love (La La La)", a single release based on a Eurovision Song Contest winner, rose to #96 on the Music Business charts, while bubbling under the hot 100 in Billboard. Mercury took out a full page ad in the trades to support the single, but its airplay was spotty, becoming a hit in only a few major markets. She was then paired with the successful soul producers Kenny Gamble, Leon Huff and Thom Bell for two singles that took her into the "soul" genre: "I'll Be Standing By" and "Take Good Care (Of My Heart)." These songs did not fit the image Mercury had crafted for her, and the singles were not played. Her contract with Mercury ended after the release of "98.6/Lazy Day" and "Wedding Bell Blues" failed to make headway on the charts.

In 1970, she signed with Crewe Records and was reunited with producer Bob Crewe, who had produced her album California Nights. None of the Crewe releases charted.

                                                          Lesley with Bob Crewe

James Brown - 1968 - The Incredible James Brown FLAC

Night Train/Love Don't Love Nobody/You've Got The Power/Think



"Night Train" is a twelve-bar blues instrumental standard first recorded by Jimmy Forrest in 1951.
James Brown recorded "Night Train" with his band in 1961. His performance replaced the original lyrics of the song with a shouted list of cities on his East Coast touring itinerary (and hosts to black radio stations he hoped would play his music) along with many repetitions of the song's name. (Brown would repeat this lyrical formula on "Mashed Potatoes U.S.A." and several other recordings.) He also played drums on the recording. Originally appearing as a track on the album James Brown Presents His Band and Five Other Great Artists, it received a single release in 1962 and became a hit, charting #5 R&B and #35 Pop.

A live version of the tune was the closing number on Brown's 1963 album Live at the Apollo. Brown also performs "Night Train" along with his singing group the Famous Flames (Bobby Byrd, Bobby Bennett, and Lloyd Stallworth) on the 1964 motion picture/concert film The T.A.M.I. Show.

"You've Got the Power" is a song written by James Brown and Famous Flames member Johnny Terry and recorded by Brown with Bea Ford as a duet in 1960. Released as the B-side of Brown and the Famous Flames' hit recording of "Think", it also charted, reaching #14 R&B and #86 Pop. It was Brown's first recorded duet and his first hit B-side. Brown briefly performs the song in a medley on his 1963 album Live at the Apollo.

B. Bumble And The Stingers - 1962 - Instumental FLAC

Bumble Boogie/Boogie Woogie/School Day Blues/Near You




B. Bumble and the Stingers were an American instrumental ensemble in the early 1960s, who specialized in rock and roll arrangements of classical melodies. Their biggest hits were "Bumble Boogie", which reached number 21 in the US, and "Nut Rocker", which reached number 1 in the UK Singles Chart in 1962. The recordings were made by session musicians at Rendezvous Records in Los Angeles, but when they became successful a touring group was formed led by R. C. Gamble (3 November 1941 – 2 August 2008) as "Billy Bumble".

In 1959, Earl Palmer, René Hall and Plas Johnson, all African American musicians from Louisiana, were the house band at Rendezvous Records. According to Palmer, the three friends “always talked about how we could make some money and not leave the studio. One day I said, 'Let's do a rock version of "In the Mood"'. The single, credited to the Ernie Fields Orchestra, became a hit, reaching # 4 on the US pop charts in early 1960.

Hall then came up with the idea for B. Bumble and the Stingers, taking the same approach to a piece of classical music. Prompted by record producer Kim Fowley, he approached pianist Jack Fina, whose 1946 swing arrangement of Rimsky-Korsakov's "Flight of the Bumble Bee" for Freddy Martin and his Orchestra, called "Bumble Boogie" (RCA Victor 20-1829), had reached # 7 on the charts and been used in the 1948 Walt Disney animated film Melody Time. Using Fina's arrangement, Fowley recorded pianist Ernie Freeman on two tracks, one using a grand piano for the rhythm part, while the other featured a "tack piano", a modified upright piano with tacks attached to the hammers to create a tinny "honky tonk" sound. The other musicians on the session, at Gold Star Studios, were Palmer on drums, Red Callender on bass, and Tommy Tedesco on guitar.

"Bumble Boogie" went to # 21 on the Billboard charts in June 1961. Because the session musicians all had other studio commitments, a teen band from Ada, Oklahoma, who had played no part in the recording itself, were recruited to handle promotion and public appearances. Their names were given as Fred Richards, Don Orr, and "B. Bumble", a pseudonym for guitarist R. C. Gamble.

 Follow-up records "Boogie Woogie", with Freeman's tack piano double tracked, and "Caravan", were less successful, and Rendezvous seemed to lose interest in B. Bumble and the Stingers. Fowley then secured the copyright to an arrangement of the march from Tchaikovsky's ballet The Nutcracker, and took this to local entrepreneur and pianist H. B. Barnum, who recorded it under the name "Jack B. Nimble and the Quicks" on the small Del Rio label. When Rod Pierce of Rendezvous heard it, he convinced Fowley that his label could do a better version with their own band.

A recording date was quickly arranged, but on the day, Freeman did not appear. In his place, guitarist and arranger René Hall rushed pianist Al Hazan into the Rendezvous office, which was rigged up as an improvised studio. According to Hazan, "Rod decided to record the first take while I was still trying to practice the piece with the other musicians. Because I was so rushed to learn 'Nut Rocker', I was not happy at all with my performance on that first take. However, in spite of my asking Rod to let me do it over again, he said he liked it just fine the way it was." Released as "Nut Rocker" in February 1962, the record went to # 23 in the US and # 1 in the UK.[1] Del Rio struck a deal with Randy Wood of Dot Records and re-released what they were now calling "(The Original) Nut Rocker" by Jack B. Nimble and the Quicks, but it was not a hit.

Dionne Warwick - 1967 - The Windows Of The World FLAC

The Windows Of The World/Walk Little Dolly/(I Never Knew) What You Were Up To/Blowing In The Wind



Dionne Warwick, original name Marie Dionne Warrick, Warwick also spelled Warwicke, (born December 12, 1940, East Orange, New Jersey, U.S.), American pop and rhythm and blues (R&B) singer whose soulful sound earned her widespread appeal. She is perhaps best known for her collaborations with such high-profile artists as Burt Bacharach and Barry Manilow.

Warrick was raised in a middle-class, racially integrated community in East Orange, New Jersey. Her family was both spiritually and musically inclined—her mother managed a renowned gospel choir, the Drinkard Singers, and her father became a gospel record promoter—and Dionne, as everyone called her, began singing in church at a young age. She often played piano or organ for the Drinkard Singers, and she sometimes sang in place of absent adult members. As a teen, she formed a group called the Gospelaires with her sister, Dee Dee. The group enjoyed relative success, singing backup for a number of musicians in local venues and on recordings. Warrick continued to perform with the Gospelaires after enrolling at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford, Connecticut, in 1959. She often made trips to New York to record with the group, and during one of these sessions she met composer and producer Burt Bacharach, who invited her to sing on some demos he was recording with lyricist Hal David. Her singing caught the attention of an executive at Scepter Records, and Warrick was soon signed to the label. In 1962 she released her first single—“I Smiled Yesterday,” with the more popular B side “Don’t Make Me Over”—written and produced by Bacharach and David. Warrick’s surname was misspelled as “Warwick” on the record, and she adopted the mistake as her name thereafter.

 

 The single proved relatively successful, and Warwick subsequently began touring worldwide. In the mid-1960s she began appearing in popular nightclubs and theatres and also on television, including appearances on Hullabaloo and The Red Skelton Hour. Warwick continued to release hit singles and albums throughout the 1960s, largely collaborations with Bacharach and David. Top 10 singles from this period included “Walk On By” (1964), “I Say a Little Prayer” (1967), and “(Theme from) Valley of the Dolls” (1968), the latter of which, by reaching number two on the Billboard pop chart, pushed Warwick further into the spotlight. In 1969 she earned her first Grammy Award, for best female contemporary pop vocal performance, for “Do You Know the Way to San Jose?” (1968). A second Grammy, for best female contemporary vocal performance, followed two years later for “I’ll Never Fall in Love Again.”

After a decade of successful collaborations, Bacharach, David, and Warwick quarreled and parted ways. From 1971 Warwick rendered her surname “Warwicke” on the advice of astrologer friend Linda Goodman but reverted the spelling to “Warwick” some five years later. She had few hits for the majority of the 1970s, with the notable exception of “Then Came You” (1974), a collaboration with the Spinners that topped the charts. Her popularity increased once more in 1979 with the songs “Deja Vu” and “I’ll Never Love This Way Again,” which garnered her Grammy Awards for best female R&B vocal performance and best female pop vocal performance, respectively. She maintained this popularity through the 1980s, and during that time she eventually reconciled with Bacharach, performing on his “That’s What Friends Are For” (1985), which also featured Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder. The song, the proceeds of which went to funding AIDS research, earned Warwick her fifth Grammy.

 Warwick’s commercial success dwindled in the 1990s, and she instead gained attention as the spokesperson for the Psychic Friends Network, hosting their infomercials. In addition to her music, Warwick devoted much of her time to entrepreneurial endeavours—including a skin care and fragrance line and an interior design group—and to charity projects.

Warwick continued to record into the 21st century. Her releases included the gospel album Why We Sing (2008) and two collections of duets, My Friends & Me (2006), on which she sang her old hits with such artists as Cyndi Lauper and Reba McEntire, and Feels So Good (2014), on which her partners included Jamie Foxx and Cee Lo Green. In 2010 she published an autobiography, My Life, As I See It (cowritten with David Freeman Wooley).