Podcast appearances and mentions of Keely Smith

Tulane University history professor Keely Smith discusses Native American alliances during the Revolutionary War and how the U.S. government and American society viewed various tribes during the early Republic. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Jazz, Hip Hop, Country, Latin, Indie, Rock, Rez Metal, Blues, Traditional, Dubstep and Thrash from the music makers of the Cherokee, Anishinaabe, Cree, Dene, Navajo, Mohawk, Métis, Mi'kmaq, Oglala Lakota, and Innu Nations. Brought to you by Tunes From Turtle Island and Pantheon Podcasts. If you like the music you hear, go out and buy/stream some of it. :) All these artists need your support. Tracks on this week's show are: Keely Smith & Billy Vaughn - Im gonna sit Down and Write Myself A Letter Existence - Machines Of War B. Fabian - 5 O'clock Somewhere Las Cafeteras - Tia Lucha Aspects - Tears Are Worlds Apart Scarlet Night - LOCURA (Disco Mix) Kyle McKearney - Love Narbona - Uncloaked Rebellion Tiger Will Mason - Barbwire Blues Raymond Sewell - Close to You The Revolutionary Eseibio The Automatic & Deuce Eclipse - Leonard Peltier Set Free Spur Pourier - Faded Memories Yung Wunda - Memories The Tewa - Bye Bye Boy Hotel Mira - America's Favorite Pastime Pukuut - Ugguarneq Qaangiulli Richard Inman - Gone All songs on this podcast are owned by the artist(s) and are used for educational purposes only. All songs can be found for purchase or streaming wherever you get your great music. Please pick up these amazing tracks and support these artists. More info on the show here.

In this episode, Jay discusses how your soul is like a wild animal - a metaphor that he found in Ruth Barton's book "Strengthening the Soul of Your Leadership":Lisa, Jules, Kimmy, and Kate join the conversation with insightful and helpful hints about what your soul's "spirit animal" is.Logo was manifested by branding sherpa: Juan Carlos Morales: https://www.facebook.com/FabrikaStudioPhot...Opening beat produced by J. Ferra Music: https://www.instagram.com/jferramusic/ Intro edits & snippets weaved by https://www.jayfoss.comMusic to check out:Louis Prime, Keely Smith, Sam Butera & The Witnesses "Just a Gigalo" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QSGVD2DgWy8The Rolling Stones "Wild Horses" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQTHB4jM-KQKenny Loggins "Leap of Faith" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72jrfOJSn3QKanogisgi - Deer Song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mAsgQ-L3rP0Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/raising-your-inner-voice-with-jay-foss--5671409/support.

Throughout music history and across genres, artists have made drinking songs. From buoyant and rowdy to reflective and moody, hosts Jim DeRogatis and Greg Kot share some of their favorites. They also review the new album from Sharon Van Etten.Join our Facebook Group: https://bit.ly/3sivr9TBecome a member on Patreon: https://bit.ly/3slWZvcSign up for our newsletter: https://bit.ly/3eEvRnGMake a donation via PayPal: https://bit.ly/3dmt9lUSend us a Voice Memo: Desktop: bit.ly/2RyD5Ah Mobile: sayhi.chat/soundops Featured Songs:Fear, "More Beer," More Beer, Restless, 1985The Beatles, "With A Little Help From My Friends," Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, Parlophone, 1967Sharon Van Etten, "Live Forever," Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Jagjaguwar, 2025Sharon Van Etten, "Trouble," Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Jagjaguwar, 2025Sharon Van Etten, "Indio," Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Jagjaguwar, 2025Sharon Van Etten, "I Want You Here," Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Jagjaguwar, 2025Sharon Van Etten, "Somethin' Ain't Right," Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory, Jagjaguwar, 2025Three 6 Mafia, "Sippin on Some Syrup," Three 6 Mafia - Poppin' My Collar - Single, Loud, 2006Nina Simone, "Lilac Wine," Wild is the Wind, The Verve Music Group, 1966The Rolling Stones, "Salt of the Earth," Beggars Banquet, Decca, 1968Beastie Boys, "Brass Monkey," Licensed to Ill, Def Jam, 1986Midland, "Drinkin' Problem," On the Rocks, Big Machine, 2017Kendrick Lamar, "Swimming Pools (Drank)," good kid, m.A.A.d city, Top Dawg Entertainment, 2012Snoop Dogg, "Gin and Juice," Doggystyle, Death Row, Interscope and Atlantic, 1994The Replacements, "Here Comes a Regular," Tim, Sire, 1985The Champs, "Tequila," Go, Champs, Go!, Challenge, 1958Jamie Foxx, "Blame It (feat. T-Pain)," Intuition, J, 2008Against Me!, "T.S.R.," As The Eternal Cowboy, Fat Wreck Chords, 2003Chumbawamba, "Tubthumping," Tubthumper, Republic, 1997Louis Prima and Keely Smith, "One Mint Julep," Breaking It Up!, Columbia, 1958The Kinks, "Alcohol," Muswell Hillbillies, RCA Victor, 1971Thin Lizzy, "Whiskey in the Jar," Single, Decca, 1972Kris Kristofferson, "Sunday Mornin' Coming Down," Kristofferson, Monument, 1970Lou Reed, "Underneath the Bottle," The Blue Mask, RCA Victor, 1982Darkside, "Graucha Max," Nothing, Matador, 2025See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Our Christmas Special featuring Johnny Mathis, Jose Feliciano, Keely Smith, Andy Williams, the NOLA Players in Christmas Merry & Bright, and much more. 

Playlist for The Everything Show 10/14/2024Coleman Hawkins / Soul BluesJD McPherson / Nite OwlsBeck / European SonGustavo Cerati / Amo Dejarte AsíDobie Gray / The "In" CrowdLondon Grammar / Californian SoilRose City Band / Lights on the WayMassive Attack / Inertia CreepsTimeshare'94 / Horizons (Maiden Voyage)Wild Pink / Dulling The HornsU2 / So CruelJo Stafford & The Pied Pipers (1944) / On The Sunny Side Of The StreetMarianne Faithfull / Broken EnglishLos Tayos / Bright SorrowStevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble / Cold ShotBig Lazy / Mr. WrongJD McPherson / I Can't Go Anywhere with You (feat. Bloodshot Bill)Teddy Thompson / A Picture of Me Without YouChris Hillman & Steve Earle / High Fashion QueenDwig / Pyramid MountainsMoby / On Air (feat. Serpentwithfeet)Louis Prima / Night Train [feat. Keely Smith & Sam Butera and The Witnesses]Radiohead / Street Spirit (Fade Out)

In 1948, New Orleans veteran trumpeter and singer Louis Prima stumbled into a young girl named Keely Smith. She was barely a performer at all, almost half his age, destined for a relatively quiet life; their encounter was pure coincidence. But they went on to invent “The Wildest,” the most exciting and successful lounge act Las Vegas has ever seen, an act that became one of the hottest in the U.S. in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Their records were hugely popular, and they were courted by Frank Sinatra, Ed Sullivan, Robert Mitchum, and other well-known entertainers of the day. Their professional success helped bring about the rise of Las Vegas as a mecca of American entertainment. Their love story ended soon after they helped usher in John F. Kennedy's presidency–singing “That Old Black Magic” for him at his inauguration–but their influence is still evident.

THE WORLD OVER CHRISTMAS SPECIAL for 2022, featuring classic performances of Christmases past from KEELY SMITH, FRANK SINATRA, ANDY WILLIAMS, JOSE FELICIANO, AARON NEVILLE, and many more of your favorites! Plus, performances by Raymond Arroyo from his "Christmas Merry & Bright" tour!

En la primera mitad de los años 60 el Twist se convirtió en una moda imparable que alcanzó a todo tipo de artistas y estilos, situándose como la punta de lanza -y como el baile más famoso- de lo que se conoció como la fiebre del baile. El twist original lo lanzó Hank Ballard con sus Midnighters a finales de 1958 y fue un pequeño éxito para la famosa banda de Detroit. Pero no fue hasta mediados de 1960 y en la voz de Chubby Cheker cuando el twist se convirtió en el gran baile de rocknroll que se extendería por todo el planeta.Playlist;(sintonía) THE VENTURES “Let’s twist again” (enero 1962)CHUBBY CHEKER “The Twist” (junio 1960)DANNY and THE JUNIORS “Twistin’ USA” (agosto 1960)JOEY DEE and THE STARLITERS “Peppermint Twist (part 1)” (octubre 1961)BILL DOGGETT “(Let’s do) The Hully Gully Twist” (noviembre 1960)THE CHAMPS “Tequila Twist” (diciembre 1961)LOUIS PRIMA, KEELY SMITH, SAM BUTTERA and THE WITNESSES “Better Twist now, baby” (1961)THE TOP NOTES “Twist and shout” (agosto 1961)THE ISLEY BROTHERS “Twistin’ with Linda” (septiembre 1962)HANK BALLARD “Do you know how to Twist” (enero 1962)CONNIE FRANCIS “Teach me how to twist” (1962)SAM COOKE “Twistin’ the night away” (enero 1962)THE MARVELETTES “Twistin’ postman” (diciembre 1961)GARY (U.S.) BONDS “Twist Twist señora” (marzo 1962)BO DIDDLEY “Mama don’t allow no twistin’” (1962)BOBBY “BORIS” PICKETT and THE CRYPTKICKERS “Transilvanian Twist” (1962)HOWIE CASEY and THE SENIORS “Twist at the top” (febrero 1962)THE CRYSTALS “Frankenstein Twist” (1962)KING CURTIS and THE SHIRELLES “Mr. Twister” (1962)KING CURTIS and HIS NOBLE KNIGHTS “Soul twist” (febrero 1962) Escuchar audio

Hey! Da zop bon lonay! Hop ta deep da labba dop don lone! The WHEEL welcomes the one and only Scotty Morris from BIG BAD VOODOO DADDY. We talk Louie Prima, Keely Smith, Rockabilly, and a whole lot of Randy. What kept Dan out of the Swing Scene in the 90s? What was it like for Scotty to play with Stevie Wonder? And what does Scotty REALLY think of Brian Setzer? Then we break down the Randy song that Sinatra shot down, Lonely at the Top. Find out why Streisand passed on the song, and the not-so-scandalous reason Scotty changed one word on BBVD's version. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0wuiiqnlex0 Thanks Scotty! You're a champ. Locals: don't forget this Saturday night, Dan will be performing at Rodeo Cinema in fragrant Stockyard City. Grab your tickets whilst you can. https://www.ticketstorm.com/event/tallpersonatributetorandynewman/rodeotheaterstockyards/oklahomacity/27798/

Dorothy Jacqueline Keely , better known as Keely Smith, was an American jazz and pop singer in the 1950's.

THE WORLD OVER CHRISTMAS SPECIAL for 2022, featuring the legendary JOHNNY MATHIS, the NOLA PLAYERS and classic performances of Christmases past from KEELY SMITH, FRANK SINATRA, ANDY WILLIAMS, JOSE FELICIANO, AARON NEVILLE, and many more of your favorites!

Nunca habíamos asistido, como en estos últimos años, a la proliferación de grabaciones en directo de famosos en la historia de la música popular. Hoy, y la próxima semana, recuperaremos algunas de las editadas en fechas recientes. Por ejemplo, el desfile de famosos como la ORQUESTA DE DUKE ELLINGTON o los cantantes LOUIS PRIMA y KEELY SMITH por el histórico show televisivo de ED SULLIVAN en los años setenta. La recuperación de un directo de 1971 de ARETHA FRANKLIN a la que se ha querido poner un título sugestivo y curioso. Otro directo que se desconocía es el grabado por el famoso guitarrista LARRY CORYELL , en Nueva York, en 1975. Y nos ha sorprendido la edición de un disco de CARLOS SANTANA, grabado en directo en 1981 y que ha aparecido con el título de EL DÍA DE LA INDEPENDENCIA

Nunca habíamos asistido, como en estos últimos años, a la proliferación de grabaciones en directo de famosos en la historia de la música popular. Hoy, y la próxima semana, recuperaremos algunas de las editadas en fechas recientes. Por ejemplo, el desfile de famosos como la ORQUESTA DE DUKE ELLINGTON o los cantantes LOUIS PRIMA y KEELY SMITH por el histórico show televisivo de ED SULLIVAN en los años setenta. La recuperación de un directo de 1971 de ARETHA FRANKLIN a la que se ha querido poner un título sugestivo y curioso. Otro directo que se desconocía es el grabado por el famoso guitarrista LARRY CORYELL , en Nueva York, en 1975. Y nos ha sorprendido la edición de un disco de CARLOS SANTANA, grabado en directo en 1981 y que ha aparecido con el título de EL DÍA DE LA INDEPENDENCIA

One of the AFRTS most popular DJs was Ira Cook whose personality comes shining through in every one of his recorded broadcasts; he is a white collared, narrow tie-wearing square, but he had an appreciation for popular music

Nuestro invitado de hoy es Louis Prima, un músico genial, extrovertido, ingenioso y divertido, trompetista y cantante de jazz de los últimos años cincuenta y primeros sesenta. Mezclaba su inglés natal, había nacido como el jazz, en Nueva Orleáns, con el italiano materno, y era un huracán, en el escenario y en sus discos. En su grupo destacaba el saxofonista Sam Butera con el que mantuvo gloriosos desafíos musicales y en el que figuró, durante unos años, su esposa, la cantante Keely Smith. Vamos con su música. Ya está sonando su ultrafamoso “Just a gigolo”. Louis Prima nació en el seno de una familia italoamericana en Nueva Orleans, Luisiana. La madre de Prima era una amante de la música y se aseguró de que cada uno de sus hijos tocara un instrumento. A Louis se le asignó el violín, pero pronto se interesó por el jazz al frecuentar los clubs de la ciudad en los que podía escuchar en directo a gente como Louis Armstrong. Así que, cuando su hermano mayor Leon se ausentó unos días para pasar unas vacaciones, se adueño de su trompeta, instrumento que le había correspondido en el reparto de su madre, y ya no la dejó nunca. Su primera banda, casi infantil, la formó con sus amigos de la escuela, Candy al bajo, Irving al clarinete y Johnny a la bateria. Pero fue en 1927 cuando se asoció con otro compañero de la escuela de jesuitas donde estudiaba para tocar en el “Whip”, un club nocturno de la ciudad. Y fue allí donde nuestro hombre decidió que quería ser profesional. Un ejemplo perfecto de la contaminación del inglés con el italiano en su éxito Buona Sera, una canción que, aunque no es suya, fue él el que la llevó a la fama. Buona Sera, Los primeros años de sus carrera no fueron muy alentadores. Sus primeros conciertos fueron un pequeño desastre, incluyendo su participación en alguna de las grandes orquestas del momento. En una ocasión, Prima y el saxofonista Dave Winstein fueron contratados para un concierto en Florida pero cuando llegaron, allí no había nadie. Estas cosas pasaban. Con dinero prestado para gasolina, volvieron a su casa. Por suerte, allí le esperaba un contrato para tocar en un barco de vapor, el Capital. Este trabajo no le proporcionó ningún aliciente a su carrera pero, bueno, tenía un sueldo fijo. Durante la Gran Depresión, Nueva York fue un polo de atracción para todos los músicos hambrientos, y había muchos. Allí fue también Louis y tuvo la suerte de conocer a Guy Lombardo, un afamado director de orquesta y esta circunstancia le dio un poco de estabilidad económica. Además, por aquel entonces, ya estaba casado. Fever Su buen hacer en los escenarios le fue granjeando fama y la oportunidad de trabajar en el cine. Además de algunos papeles menores en diversas películas, pudo demostrar sus dotes de actor de una manera un poco más seria en la película musical “Rythmn on the Range”, dirigida por Bing Crosby. Durante esta década, la de los años 30, junto al también trompetista Red Nichols, formaron el grupo “New Orleans Gang” y fue con esta formación, en la que participaban otros siete músicos, con la que grabó buena parte de su producción. A esta época pertenece su celebérrima “Sing, sing, sing”. Para la ocasión, hemos elegido la versión que hizo Benny Goodman por que está mejor remasterizada. "Twilight Time" es una canción muy popular del cancionero norteamericano. Fue compuesta por The Three Suns, un famoso, en su momento, grupo neoyorquino, aunque la versión que se hizo más famosa fue la de The Platters. La versión instrumental que dejó grabada Louis Prima de esta canción nos va a permitir apreciar su buena técnica como instrumentista. Twilight Time. Cuando estalló la Segunda guerra Mundia, nuestro amigo Prima, que por entonces estaba instalado en Las Vegas, fue enviado al frente, bueno realmente fue enviado a las bases que los americanos tenían por Islandia y Groenlandia y por allí paso la guerra, animando a lo soldados con su música. Cuando acabó la guerra, y otra vez en la carretera, incorporó a la orquesta a una joven vocalista, Keely Smith, con la que finalmente se casó. Su trabajo juntos dio muy buenos resultados porque en 1956 ambos recibieron el Grammy a la mejor canción. Y esto fue el primer año en el que se celebraba la entre de estos premios. Esta es That old black magic Los años 60 no fueron nada buenos para el artista en su vida personal: se divorció de Keely y fallecieron sus padres. No obstante, su carrera siguió creciendo, sus contratos cada vez fueron más suculentos y siguió relacionado con el mundo del cine. Desgraciadamente, este músico genial y paciente con sus fans (siempre dispuesto a firmar autógrafos y fotografiarse con una sonrisa), y cuando había regresado a su ciudad natal, Nueva Orleans, fue diagnosticado con un tumor cerebral que le mantuvo en estado vegetativo hasta su muerte. Vamos a despedirnos del Sr. Prima con una contundente versión de Night Train, en la que deja de manifiesto su especial querencia por el jazz. Y nada más por hoy. Espero que os haya gustado el programa, y que el descubrimiento o recordatorio de este artista os haya hecho pasar un rato entretenido. A fin de cuentas… ese es nuestro objetivo. Nos oímos la semana que viene. Chao.

THE WORLD OVER CHRISTMAS SPECIAL for 2021, featuring the legendary JOHNNY MATHIS, the NOLA PLAYERS and classic performances of Christmases past from KEELY SMITH, FRANK SINATRA, ANDY WILLIAMS, JOSE FELICIANO, AARON NEVILLE, and many more of your favorites from the last 25 years!

From PALM SPRINGS, join the BIG W for the next hour as he explores, with a drink in hand, Capitol 2-track "Z" reel-to-reel tapes from 1957 & 1958.....in LIVING STEREO! Playlist for show 419:  When Your Lover Has Gone   -  Keely Smith Elks' Parade  -  Glen Gray Nice Work If You Can Get It  -  Ray Anthony Begin The Beguine  -  Gordon Macrae Ring For Porter  -  Harry James Lover  -  Stan Kenton What Is There To Say  -  George Shearing Quintet There Is Nothin' Like A Dame  -  Fred Waring & His Pennsylvanians This Was  -  Nelson Riddle Stardust  -  Nat King Cole A Cottage For Sale  -  Nat King Cole Love Is The Thing  -  Nat King Cole The Commuter  -  Les Baxter I'm Gonna Wash That Man Right Out Of My Hair  -  Les Baxter Monkey Dance Of Bali  -  Les Baxter Ol' Man River  -  Gordon Macrae Lonely Night In Paris  -  Ray Anthony I Get Along Without You Very Well  -  Stan Kenton Where Are You?  -  Frank Sinatra Baby Won't You Please Come Home  -  Frank Sinatra Symphony In Riffs  -  Glen Gray When Day Is Done  -  Keely Smith

Sonia Manzano is one of the most influential voices in the history of public television. For more than 40 years, she was our neighbor, Maria, on Sesame Street, and she continues to connect her experiences and imagination through her new show for PBS Kids, Alma’s Way. In Part Two of her Your Hometown episode, she talks with host Kevin Burke about how she made her way from her coming of age in the South Bronx to Sesame Street and how the real and fictional maps of those neighborhoods – one real, one imaginary – overlapped inside of her and in the TV worlds she created for us. As a magical storyteller, Sonia knows just where to go in her memories for that powerful combination of laughter amid pathos – the funny in the sad, the lessons in the every-day. Your Hometown is a show where the local is the epic. Visit yourhometown.org to subscribe to the podcast and our various social media channels. Our co-presenter this season is the Museum of the City of New York. For more, including information on live events, check out our NYC series page at mcny.org/yourhometown-podcast. Show Notes Archival Chesterfield Cigarettes Kinescope Tobacco Commercial from the Perry Como Show Father Knows Best: “Bud Takes Up The Dance” – Season 1, Episode 1 (1954) Louis Prima & Keely Smith – “Don't Worry 'Bout Me” Little Rascals: Our Gang of Follies of 1938 Original Godspell Cast on the Today Show Godspell Cast performs at the Tony Awards (1972) Sesame Street: Show Open Season One Clip from Sesame Street Episode 0832 (1975) Classic Sesame Street: “Maria’s Interruptions” Classic Sesame Street: "Maria's Present for David” Classic Sesame Street: "Maria Discusses Her Jobs” Classic Sesame Street: "Mr. Hooper Helps Gordon” Sesame Street Unpaved: "Mr. Hooper's Death” Clip from Sesame Street Episode 2615 (1989) Clip from Sesame Street Episode 3658 (1997) Music “A Boy Like That” from West Side Story (1961) Nina Simone, “Feeling Good” (1965) “America” from West Side Story (1961) “Razzle Dazzle” from Chicago (1996 Broadway Revival Cast) "Just My Imagination" - The Temptations (1971) Illustration Tunshore Longe Poem Walt Whitman, “Song of Myself,” Part 52, Leaves of Grass (1855) “I bequeath myself to the dirt to grow from the grass I love,
If you want me again look for me under your boot-soles. “You will hardly know who I am or what I mean,
But I shall be good health to you nevertheless,
And filter and fibre your blood. “Failing to fetch me at first keep encouraged,
Missing me one place search another,
I stop somewhere waiting for you.” Recommended Viewing Alma’s Way and Street Gang: How We Got to Sesame Street Recommended Reading Sonia Manzano, Becoming Maria: Love and Chaos

Era una de les reines del rockabilly del segle XXI per

THE RETURN OF PITCH IT! To celebrate 175 EPISODES of the podcast, we're bringing back a fan-favorite segment featuring host Aeric Azana's favorite Rogue: Captain Boomerang! Join us for "Boomer's Big Score: A Rogues Tale"! Plus this weeks Comics Countdown and more! Time Stamps: 00:00:45 Intro 00:02:05 News of the Week 00:19:49 Boomer's Big Score 00:26:21 Act I 00:54:33 Act II 01:17:24 Act III 01:45:15 Comics Countdown 01:57:02 Wrap-Up Follow us! Twitter: twitter.com/geeksplainedpod?lang=en Instagram: www.instagram.com/geeksplainedpod/?hl=en Send us your questions for the Geeksplained Mailbag! Email: Geeksplained@gmail.com Music Sampled: "Sayonara" by SAKEROCK "That's Life" by Frank Sinatra "Johnny B. Goode" by Chuck Berry "The Wanderer" by Dion "Rockin' Robin" by Bobby Day "Jump in the Line" by Harry Belafonte "Maybellene" by Chuck Berry "Ain't That a Kick in the Head" by Dean Martin "La Vie En Rose" by Edith Piaf "December, 1963" by The Four Seasons "That Old Black Magic" by Louis Prima & Keely Smith "Miserlou" by Dick Dale "Beggin" by The Four Seasons

Years ago, the "Make Believe Ballroom" took you to the greatest ballrooms imaginable to listen to the great bands of the era. Come with us now as Danny Lane takes you to the Suncoast Supper Club via a “remote” broadcast from high above the bandstand. Imagine 4 stages with continuous music and a dance floor that swings and sways. Right this way, your table is ready. That's our virtual ballroom. Enjoy. On stage tonight are: 1)     Let's Dance by Benny Goodman & His Big Band2)     Imbote by Debbie Curtis Big Band & Swing Orchestra3)     Every Day I Have The Blues by Count Basie & His Orchestra (w/ Joe Williams, vocal)4)     It Ain't Necessarily So by Ella Mae Morse5)     Non-Stop Flight by Artie Shaw & His Orchestra6)     The Joint Is Jumpin' by Fats Waller7)     You'll Be Reminded Of Me by Ozzie Nelson & His Orchestra (Ozzie Nelson, vocal )8)     Take The "A" Train by The Delta Rhythm Boys9)     Casa Loma Stomp by Glen Gray & The Casa Loma Orchestra10) Hey! Ba-Ba-Re-Bop by Lionel Hampton (w/ Lionel & Band on vocals)11) Runnin' Wild by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra12) Yes I Can by Sammy Davis Jr.13) Jeepers Creepers by Louis Armstrong14) Gotta Be This Or That by Benny Goodman & His Band [Benny Goodman, vocal]15) Jump Jive An' Wail by Louis Prima & Keely Smith (w/ Sam Butera & The Witnesses)16) Knock On Wood by Dooley Wilson17) Blues In The Night by Rey De Michel & His Orchestra18) I've Got A Crush On You by Lee Wiley19) You Won't Be Satisfied Until You Break My Heart by Les Brown & His Orchestra (w/ Doris Day)20) Goodbye by Benny Goodman

"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, the origin of the dances predating popular "swing era" music. The most well-known of these dances is Lindy Hop, a fusion of jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston, which originated in Harlem in the early 1920s, but includes a number of other styles such as Balboa, Shag, West Coast Swing, and Boogie Woogie. “Sunday Swing” highlights the music of the swing era and the dances that thrived in the ballrooms and dance halls. Danny Lane guides you through a one hour swing session. Do the Lindy Hop or choose your favorite dance. Just keep swingin'. ***** Join the conversation on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008232395712 ***** or by email at: dannymemorylane@gmail.com ***** You’ll hear: 1) Christopher Columbus by Fletcher Henderson & His Orchestra (with Roy Eldridge, trumpet) 2) 9:20 Special by Count Basie & His Orchestra (with Coleman Hawkins, tenor sax) 3) It Rocks! It Rolls! It Swings! by The Treniers 4) That Drummer's Band by Gene Krupa 5) Get Up Get Up (You Sleepy Head) by LaVern Baker 6) C Jam Blues by Doc Severinsen & His Big Band 7) Cherokee (aka Indian Love Song) by Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra 8) Baby Workout by Jackie Wilson 9) Struttin' with Some Barbecue by Roy Eldridge & Friends 10) Just A Gigolo/I Ain't Got Nobody (And Nobody Cares About Me) by Louis Prima (backed by his Las Vegas group, Sam Butera, tenor sax, & the Witnesses, joined by Keely Smith) 11) Things Ain't What They Used To Be by Duke Ellington 12) Lovin' Machine by Wynonie Harris 13) Comin' in Home by Earl Hines & His Orchestra 14) Stop Beatin' 'Round The Mulberry Bush by Fats Waller 15) Muskrat Ramble by Dr Henry Levine's Barefoot Dixieland Philharmonic (with "Professor" Sidney Bechet, soprano sax) 16) I Wanna Hear Swing Songs by The American Jazz Orchestra (with John Lewis) 17) Shiny Stockings by Ella Fitzgerald (with Count Basie & Orch.) 18) 7-0-5 by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (This 1945 version was officially "The 418th Army Air Force Band" under the direction of Sgt. Jerry Gray)

Good News: A successful retired businessman and his wife have endowed millions of dollars to help disadvantaged kids go to college and succeed, Link HERE The Good Word: A truly lovely verse from the great Romantic-era poet, Lord Byron. Good To Know: A little-known fact about tigers and their stripes! Good News: A generous coffee-shop […]

The gang is all back together—but their newfound paradise is a stone's throw away from trouble. The Kaleidoscope Project is an original audio drama that takes a deep dive into the world of mental illness. In this universe, individuals with mental illnesses have special powers or “Gifts” that separate them from the rest of the world. The government fears and labels these people, choosing to separate them from the rest of society. Over the years, a group of “Gifted” friends slowly drift apart, only to be brought back together when disaster strikes. Interested in learning more about this project? Check out our website and Twitter for more information and timely updates! You can also join our Discord to hang out with the cast, crew, and fellow supporters of the series! CONTENT WARNING: The Kaleidoscope Project is geared towards a late teen/young adult audience and deals with topics like mental illness, addiction, and abuse. Many episodes may contain adult language. Viewer discretion is advised. CAST & CREW Cap: Anna Beck Zeph: Reed N. Donat Trang: Alyssa Mills Nia: Henrietta Lola: Emi Ray Atsa: Jade Jonah: Terrence Griffin Haneul: Mark Lee Hope: Cat Protano Emma: Addigale Stewart Tegan: Christa Rew Geoff: Mattingham Lance: Vincent Fabbri Lorelei: Keely Smith Kallik: Devilynn Director & Writer: Mame Audio Engineer: Afrobum Sensitivity Reader & Editor: TurfyBarley88, Keely Smith, Cara Album Artwork: jeminix2 Album Typography: Bryan Olson --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-kaleidoscope-project/support

Dúos, duetos, parejas y simbiontes para combatir el frío, para el habitual cortejo, para enfrentarse al mundo cruel. Para llorar en el hombro como KD Lang y Roy Orbison en “Crying", caso de artista emergente junto a monumento de un género. Asociaciones con beneficios mutuos pero también destructivas simbiosis como la de Ike & Tina Turner. Desde las húmedas junglas de “Grease" hasta las Vegas con Louis Prima y Keely Smith cual pez payaso y anémona marina en perfecta comunión. Sinatra y Nancy, Gainsbourg y Birkin pero también los Everly Brothers y sus derivados, como el Dúo Dinámico o Simon & Garfunkel. Sin olvidar a Juan y Junior o Vainica Doble. Peligrosos virus pero también "románticos idilios" entre abeja y flor extrapolables al mamífero humano. ¡Simbiosis!. Parásitos abstenerse. Escuchar audio

"Swing dance" is a group of dances that developed with the swing style of jazz music in the 1920s-1950s, the origin of the dances predating popular "swing era" music. The most well-known of these dances is Lindy Hop, a fusion of jazz, tap, breakaway, and Charleston, which originated in Harlem in the early 1920s, but includes a number of other styles such as Balboa, Shag, West Coast Swing, and Boogie Woogie. “Sunday Swing” highlights the music of the swing era and the dances that thrived in the ballrooms and dance halls. Danny Lane guides you through a one hour swing session. Do the Lindy Hop or choose your favorite dance. Just keep swingin'. ***** Join the conversation on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008232395712 ***** or by email at: dannymemorylane@gmail.com ***** You’ll hear: 1) For Dancers Only by Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra 2) Flying Home by Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra 3) Yacht Club Swing by Fats Waller 4) Tuxedo Junction by Erskine Hawkins 5) Two O'Clock Jump by Harry James & His Orchestra 6) The Grey Bear by Alan Freed & His Band (with Sam "The Man" Taylor) 7) Jumpin' At The Woodside by Count Basie & His Orchestra 8) On The Sunny Side Of The Street by Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie 9) Goody Goody by Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (with Helen Ward, vocal) 10) Opus No. 1 by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra 11) Jumpin' Jive by Cab Calloway 12) Old Spice by Lucky Millinder 13) Boys Are Back In Town by The BusBoys 14) Darktown Strutter's Ball by The Platters 15) Go Harlem by Chick Webb (d. 1939, age 30) 16) Jump Jive An' Wail by Louis Prima & Keely Smith (with Sam Butera & The Witnesses) 17) Little Brown Jug by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra 18) Wild Mab Of The Fish Pond by Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra 19) Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Stick McGhee & His Buddies 20) The Grabtown Grapple by Artie Shaw & His Gramercy 5 21) Ballin' the Jack by Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band

The World Over Christmas Special for 2020! Featuring classic, Christmas favorites from the legendary Johnny Mathis, Keely Smith, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Jose Feliciano, the NOLA Players, Aaron Neville, Robert Davi, and many more.

The World Over Christmas Special for 2020! Featuring classic, Christmas favorites from the legendary Johnny Mathis, Keely Smith, Frank Sinatra, Andy Williams, Jose Feliciano, the NOLA Players, Aaron Neville, Robert Davi, and many more.

In this music history episode of "Strong Reception," I am joined by two special guests as we dive into the rich history of the song "Just a Gigolo" and its unlikely sibling tune, "I Ain't Got Nobody."Fellow music nerd Philip Emeott and I walk through the surprisingly complex journey "Just a Gigolo" took from the dance halls of 1920s Vienna to the airwaves of 1980s MTV. We get into some of the greatest unsung tracks recorded in the 20th century, as well as some of the most cringeworthy. Later in the show, bestselling author Tom Clavin and I do a deep dive into Louis Prima's landmark 1956 version of the song. We discuss how the sound and style of that recording represented a true innovation for its time. Tom and I also talk about the underappreciated talents of two of Prima's key musical partners: his wife and fellow vocalist Keely Smith, and his arranger and sax player Sam Butera. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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Guaranteed to get you out of that “lockdown funk” - The Swingin’ With Danny Lane series highlights the music of the swing era and the dances that thrived in the ballrooms and dance halls. Danny Lane guides you through a two hour swing session. Do the Lindy Hop or choose your favorite dance. Just keep swingin'. ***** Join the conversation on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100008232395712 ***** or by email at dannymemorylane@gmail.com ***** You’ll hear: 1) Red Bank Boogie by Count Basie Orchestra 2) For Dancers Only by Jimmie Lunceford & His Orchestra 3) Flying Home by Lionel Hampton & His Orchestra 4) Yacht Club Swing by Fats Waller 5) Tuxedo Junction by Erskine Hawkins 6) Two O'Clock Jump by Harry James & His Orchestra 7) The Grey Bear by Alan Freed & His Band (with Sam "The Man" Taylor, ) 8) Jumpin' At The Woodside by Count Basie & His Orchestra 9) On The Sunny Side of The Street by Ella Fitzgerald & Count Basie 10) Goody Goody by Benny Goodman & His Orchestra (with Helen Ward, vocal) 11) Opus No. 1 by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra 12) Jumpin' Jive by Cab Calloway 13) Old Spice by Lucky Millinder 14) Darktown Strutter's Ball by The Platters 15) Go Harlem by Chick Webb 16) Jump Jive An' Wail by Louis Prima & Keely Smith (with Sam Butera & The Witnesses) 17) Little Brown Jug by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra 18) Wild Mab Of The Fish Pond by Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra 19) Drinkin' Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee by Stick McGhee & His Buddies 20) The Grabtown Grapple by Artie Shaw & His Gramercy 5 21) Ballin' the Jack by Kid Ory's Creole Jazz Band 22) Ram-Bunk-Shush by Lucky Millinder 23) Pennsylvania 6-5000 by Glenn Miller & His Orchestra (with vocals by the band) 24) Mack The Knife by Ella Fitzgerald 25) Lindyhopper's Delight by Chick Webb 26) Choo Choo Ch'Boogie by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five 27) Bugle Call Rag by Roy Eldridge and friends 28) Wednesday Night Hop by Andy Kirk & His 12 Clouds of Joy 29) The Calloway Boogie by Cab Calloway & His Orchestra 30) Traffic Jam by Artie Shaw 31) Yacht Club Swing by Charlaine Woodard 32) Blue Lou by Metronome All Star Band 33) Tuxedo Junction by The Manhattan Transfer 34) Well, Git It! by Tommy Dorsey & His Orchestra 35) Beyond The Sea by Bobby Darin 36) Shorty George by Count Basie 37) Teardrops from My Eyes by Ruth Brown 38) Harlem Shout by Jimmie Lunceford 39) Little John Special by Lucky Millinder 40) Flying Home by Charlie Barnet & His Orchestra

Cap is used to viewing her life under a looking glass—but when her city is attacked, the lens is about to become a whole lot smaller. The Kaleidoscope Project is an original audio drama that takes a deep dive into the world of mental illness. In this universe, individuals with mental illnesses have special powers or “Gifts” that separate them from the rest of the world. The government fears and labels these people, choosing to separate them from the rest of society. Over the years, a group of “Gifted” friends slowly drift apart, only to be brought back together when disaster strikes. Interested in learning more about this project? Check out our website and Twitter for more information and timely updates! You can also join our Discord to hang out with the cast, crew, and fellow supporters of the series! CONTENT WARNING: The Kaleidoscope Project is geared towards a late teen/young adult audience and deals with topics like mental illness, addiction, and abuse. Many episodes may contain adult language. Viewer discretion is advised. CAST & CREW Cap: Anna Beck Zeph: Reed N. Donat Trang: Alyssa Mills Nia: Henrietta Lola: Emi Ray Jessica: AL!CE Geoff: Mattingham Lance: Vincent Fabbri Lorelei: Keely Smith Extras: Addigale Stewart, AL!CE, Afrobum, Chelsea T., Freya, Ingenio_Genium, Keely Smith, Mattingham, Terrence Griffin, Vincent Fabbri Director & Writer: Mame Audio Engineer: Awaclus Sensitivity Reader & Editor: TurfyBarley88, Keely Smith Album Artwork: jeminix2 Album Typography: Bryan Olson --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/the-kaleidoscope-project/support

Have Questions? Send yours to askjeff@comeonover.com! He may just answer it in a future podcast! IGQ&A - Jeff’s Instagram Links & RecipesJeff and Lorenzo’s Pineapple and Bacon Pan PizzaOther StuffsCheck out our friend Pat TomasuloCheck out Laugh Your Face and how awesome of an organization it is!Want to jam out again to those face-melting theme songs?Click HERE to listen to all of Jeff’s one-of-a-kind tunes. And guess what….there will be new ones each week! 

Whether you ARE an assistant, HAVE an assistant, WANT an assistant, or want TO BE an assistant, this episode is for you. The (many) roles and responsibilities of assistants are often not discussed out in the open. Well, I’m here to start bringing this conversation to the forefront. What makes a great assistant? When is an assistant NOT an assistant? Let’s talk collaboration, ownership, and all about assistants! Show Notes Quick Links: Watching Smiling: https://www.instagram.com/p/CELBTJXFv27/ Transcript: Intro: This is words that move me, the podcast where movers and shakers, like you get the information and inspiration. You need to navigate your creative career with clarity and confidence. I am your host master mover, Dana Wilson. And if you're someone that loves to learn, laugh and is looking to rewrite the starving artist story, then sit tight, but don't stop moving because you're in the right place. Dana: Hello. Hello and hello. I am Dana and I am jazzed that you are here today. I'm stoked on this episode because it is dense. It carries a lot of value in a little bit of time. So whether you are an assistant or a person who has an assistant or a person who is looking to have an assistant, I think you will get a lot out of this episode, by the way. I think we all could use an assistant at some point. So this episode truly is for everyone. So much value so much goodness, but first let's talk wins. This week, coincidentally, I am claiming a win. That is a video project I created in collaboration with my podcast assistant Malia Baker. She choreographed it, I directed and edited it. And it is a video homage to Louie Prima and Keely Smith called “Smiling.” It was influenced by the golden age of movie musicals and our cast and crew was golden to truly such an awesome time capsule of a project. I loved every part of making this video and, um, man, we, we shot it just days before the lockdown was enforced and I'm so proud to be sharing it with the world right now. I think it carries a very important message and a handful of very fun surprises as well. So check that out. It lives on my Instagram @DanaDaners and also on Malia's personal page. She is @MaliaBaker. Get into it. Do your face a favor, give a smile. Okay. Now speaking of your face and your smile, what is your win this week? What's going well in your world. Okay. Awesome. And congrats. Keep crushing it. If you are listening the podcast chronologically, you have just emerged from four back to back episodes about auditioning. This episode is coming at a very timely time because I want to acknowledge that auditioning for work is not the only way to get work. In fact, possibly the most fruitful way that I introduced myself to the industry was as an assistant, an assistant choreographer to be specific. Now I opened this episode by talking about my win with my assistant Malia Baker. That was unintentional, but coincidentally, very, very appropriate to this episode. Now there is a hot button conversation happening in the dance world right now. That's probably happened in other industries forever. Um, sort of as language changes and our professional landscape changes. This conversation will continue to happen. Probably forevermore. The subject, broadly is the roles and responsibilities of assistants. Is the assistant the person that gets the coffee is the assistant. The person that remembers the steps or teaches the steps or cleans

Here is the list of Songs on Sunday Standards. If you’d like to request a song, email John Williams at johnwilliams@wgnradio.com. Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gormet.  This Could Be The Start of Something Big.  Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again.  Streisand/Garland.  Keely Smith.  It’s Been A Long Time.  Willie Nelson/Cyndi Lauper.  Let’s Call the Whole Thing […]

Here is the list of Songs on Sunday Standards. If you’d like to request a song, email John Williams at johnwilliams@wgnradio.com. Steve Lawrence, Eydie Gormet.  This Could Be The Start of Something Big.  Get Happy/Happy Days Are Here Again.  Streisand/Garland.  Keely Smith.  It’s Been A Long Time.  Willie Nelson/Cyndi Lauper.  Let’s Call the Whole Thing […]

Nick Zulovich welcomed the most guests ever to appear in a single episode of the Auto Remarketing Podcast to discuss a complicated topic — personal information contained within a vehicle’s infotainment system. The guests included Matt Arias, as associate vice president of operations at America’s Auto Auction, Keely Smith, director of business services at AutoIMS, and Privacy4Cars.com founder Andrea Amico.

It's a bit of a downer this week, as Nick, Sam & Martin get together to talk about at least one hosts' least-favourite Tom Waits song so far. We have a discussion about the success and failure of simplicity in music, as well as some of the complex history of the 1960s calypso hit Yellow Bird. website: songbysongpodcast.com twitter: @songbysongpod e-mail: songbysongpodcast@gmail.com Music extracts used for illustrative/review purposes include: Mockin' Bird, The Early Years vol 2, Tom Waits (1993) Mockin Bird, Step Right Up - Waits Tribute, Tindersticks (2004) Yellow Bird, Cherokeely Swings, Keely Smith (1962) We think your Song by Song experience will be enhanced by hearing, in full, the songs featured in the show, which you can get hold of from your favourite record shop or online platform. Please support artists by buying their music, or using services which guarantee artists a revenue - listen responsibly.

July 05, 2020 hour 1. Featured in this hour are: Keely Smith; Marvin Hamlisch; Lady Fiona Carnarvon - Highclere Castle;

It’s MONDAY morning---Please join the BIG W, with a Bloody Mary in hand, for MORNINGS AT THE BUDDIES LOUNGE. A perfect 30 minutes blend of great Space-Age Pop music in LIVING STEREO everyday single day this week! Today, we jump into the Buddies Lounge vaults for a NELSON RIDDLE BIRTHDAY TRIBUTE! Playlist for 6/1/20: (Original show aired on 6/1/16) • Mona Lisa – Nat King Cole • The Argentine Fire Brigade – Nelson Riddle • Get Me to the Church on Time – Rosemary Clooney • Route 66 – Nelson Riddle • I’ve Got a Lot of Livin’ to Do – Keely Smith • The Untouchables – Nelson Riddle • The Joy of Living (promo) – Nelson Riddle • The Glory of Love – Peggy Lee • Let’s Face the Music and Dance – Nelson Riddle • I’ve Got You Under My Skin – Frank Sinatra

Few Las Vegas acts of the 50's were received with the feverish passion of a musical merge known as Louis Prima and Keely Smith.

From STUDIO 67 in Hollywood, join the BIG W for the next two hours as he explores, with drink in hand, swingin' Space-Age Pop songs of LOVE in LIVING STEREO! Original aired on Metromedia Radio 2/14/14 and rebroadcast 2/11/17 on WFSN-96.7fm / WJUB 1420am Show 236 playlist: • Your Love - Nat King Cole • Love Me Tonight – Ted Heath • You Bring out the Lover in Me – Eydie Gorme • People Will Say We’re In Love – Bob Thompson • I Love You, and Don’t You Forget It – Sarah Vaughan • Love Potion No. 9 – Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass • I Love You – The Kirby Stone Four • Wives and Lovers – Wayne Newton • Loads of Love – Peggy Lee • So in Love – Julie London • Love Is Just around the Corner – Sid Ramin • L.O.V.E. – Buddy Greco • I Wish I Were in Love Again – Ella Fitzgerald • Lover – Si Zentner • What Now, My Love – Lou Rawls • Let’s Do It, Let’s Fall in Love – Skip Martin • Turn On Your Love Light – Tom Jones • You Can’t Love ‘Em All – Sammy Davis, Jr. • The Tunnel of Love – Doris Day • From Russia with Love – Dick Schory • I Can’t Believe that You’re in Love with Me – Dean Martin • What Is This Thing Called Love – Frankie Avalon • Lover’s Concerto – Xavier Cugat • Hooray for Love – The Skylarks • Love Won’t Let You Get Away – Rosemary Clooney & Bing Crosby • When Love Walked in with You – Dakota Staton • Almost Like Being in Love – Beverly Kenney • The Lady’s in Love with You – Mel Torme • Falling in Love with Love – Lena Horne • The Pagan Love Song – Arthur Lyman • Hello Young Lovers – Martin Denny • I’ve Never Been in Love Before – Bobby Darin • Lover Come Back to Me – Ray Conniff Singers • Swing, You Lovers – Keely Smith

  Episode sixty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at "Reet Petite" by Jackie Wilson, and features talent contests with too much talent, the prehistory of Motown, a song banned by the BBC, and a possible Mafia hit. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on "Get a Job" by the Silhouettes. ----more----  Resources As always, I've created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.   I used three main books to put together the narrative for this one. Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George is an excellent history of the various companies that became Motown. To Be Loved by Berry Gordy is Gordy's own, understandably one-sided, but relatively well-written, autobiography. And Jackie Wilson: Lonely Teardrops by Tony Douglas is the closest thing out there to a definitive biography. There are dozens of compilations of Wilson's fifties material, as it's in the public domain, but for around the same price as those you can get this three-CD set which also has his later hits on, so that's probably the place to start when investigating Wilson's music. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today, we're going to have a look at one of the most important people in the history of popular music, and someone we'll be seeing a lot more of as the series goes on. There are very few people in the world who can be said to have created an entire genre of music, and even fewer who were primarily record company owners rather than musicians, but Berry Gordy Jr was one of them. Gordy didn't start out, though, as a record executive. When he first got into the music industry, it was as a songwriter, and today we're going to look at his early songwriting career. But we're also going to look at a performer who was massively important in his own right, and who was one of the most exciting performers ever to take to the stage -- someone who inspired Elvis, Michael Jackson, and James Brown, and who provides one of the key links between fifties R&B and sixties soul: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, "Reet Petite"] I'm afraid that this episode is another case where I have to point you to the disclaimer I did in the early weeks of the show. Jackie Wilson was an admirable musician, but he was in no way an admirable human being, particularly in his treatment of women – he's been credibly accused of at least one sexual assault, and he fathered many children by many different women, who he abandoned, and was known for having a violent temper. As always, this podcast is not about his reprehensible acts, but about the music, but again, it should not be taken as an endorsement of him as a person when I talk about his artistic talent. Wilson started out as a boxer in his teens, but he quickly decided to move into singing instead. He would regularly perform at talent contests around Detroit, and he was part of a loose association of musicians and singers including Wilson's cousin Levi Stubbs, the Royals, who would later become Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and the blues singer Little Willie John. They would all perform on the same talent shows and would agree among themselves who was going to win beforehand – Wilson would tell Stubbs "you win this week, I'll win next week". On one occasion, Johnny Otis happened to be in the audience, when the Royals, Little Willie John, and Wilson were all on the same bill, and on that particular show Wilson came third. Otis was working as a talent scout for King Records at the time, and tried to get all three acts signed to the label, but for reasons that remain unclear, King decided they only wanted to sign the Royals (though they would sign Little Willie John a couple of years later). As a result, a song that Otis had written for Wilson was recorded instead by the Royals: [The Royals, "Every Beat of My Heart"] Wilson kept performing at the amateur nights for a couple of years, until at the age of seventeen he was signed to Dee Gee Records, a small label co-owned by the jazz trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie. There he cut two singles, under the name Sonny Wilson. Wilson's favourite song to sing in talent contests was "Danny Boy", which would remain in his setlists until late in his life, and he would use that song as a way to show off his vocal virtuosity, ornamenting it to the point that the melody would become almost unrecognisable, and so that was, of course, one of the two singles: [Excerpt: Sonny Wilson, "Danny Boy"] Neither single was particularly successful, but Wilson continued performing in nightclubs around Detroit and built up something of a local following. But in 1953 he got a big break, when he auditioned for Billy Ward and his Dominoes. We've talked about the Dominoes before, back in the episode on "Money Honey", but as a bit of a recap, they were the biggest black vocal group of the early fifties, and they were led by Billy Ward, a vocal coach who was not their lead singer. The lead singer in the early fifties was Clyde McPhatter, but McPhatter was getting restless. There are several different stories about how Wilson came to be picked for Ward's group, but one that sticks out in my mind is one that Ward used to tell, which is that one reason Wilson was picked for the group is that his mother begged Ward, saying that she was scared for the life of her son, as he was getting into trouble on the streets. Certainly, she had every reason to be worried for him – Wilson had recently been stabbed in the chest by a sex worker. But Ward noted that Wilson was a diamond in the rough, and could have a great deal of success with the right amount of polishing. He decided to get Wilson into the group as a replacement for McPhatter, though McPhatter and Wilson were in the group together for a while, as McPhatter served out his notice with the group. Over the next few weeks, Wilson studied what McPhatter was doing, until he was able to take McPhatter's place. Ward taught him breath control, and became something of a father figure, giving him some discipline for the first time in his life. McPhatter's were very big shoes to fill, but Wilson soon won the audiences over, both with his vocals and his dancing. While Wilson was not regarded as a good dancer by most of the people who knew him – he couldn't dance with a partner at all – he had a unique way of moving all his own, which he had learned in the boxing ring, where he'd learned to slide, sidestep, and duck away from other fighters, and to come at them from unexpected angles. He soon became one of the most riveting performers on stage, jumping up, throwing his mic in the air, doing mid-air splits, and completely dominating the stage. As well as teaching him to perform, Ward made one other major change. Up to this point, Wilson had always been known either as Jack or as Sonny. Ward thought that being called Sonny smacked of Uncle Tommery, and decided that from this point on, Wilson's stage name was going to be Jackie. Wilson was not happy with this at first, but later decided that Ward had been right – though he was still always "Jack" or "Sonny" to those who knew him. Wilson's first recording with the group as lead singer came just after he turned nineteen, when he went into the studio with them to cut "You Can't Keep a Good Man Down" for King Records -- the same label that had turned him down when Johnny Otis had put him forward: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "You Can't Keep a Good Man Down"] Four months later, they went back into the studio to cut eleven songs in a single day -- a mammoth session which really allowed Wilson to show off his vocal versatility. From that session, their version of "Rags to Riches", which had been a massive hit for Tony Bennett earlier in the year, went to number two on the R&B chart, though it didn't dent the pop chart: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "Rags to Riches"] But after this, the Dominoes started to have less success in the charts -- their records weren't selling as well as they had been when Clyde McPhatter was the group's lead singer, and in 1954 they had no hits at all. But in some ways that didn't really matter -- the group weren't just looking to have success as recording artists, but as live performers, and they got a two-year residency in Las Vegas, supporting Louis Prima and Keely Smith. The group were getting five thousand dollars a week -- a massive amount of money in those days -- though most of that went to Ward, and Wilson was on a salary of only ninety dollars a week. It was while he was performing in Las Vegas that Wilson first came to the notice of someone who would later become a good friend -- Elvis Presley. In 1956 Elvis made his own first trip to perform in Vegas, although he was far, far less successful there than he would be thirteen years later. While he was there, he watched with amazement as Jackie Wilson performed Elvis' own hit "Don't Be Cruel" much better than Elvis did himself -- and in the famous Million Dollar Quartet tapes, you can hear Elvis raving about Wilson to Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis: [Excerpt: Elvis talking about Jackie Wilson] It's quite funny listening to those recordings, as the others keep trying to drag Elvis on to other topics of conversation, and Elvis keeps insisting on telling them just how good this singer with Billy Ward and the Dominoes, whose name he hadn't caught, was. But Vegas wasn't a good fit for Wilson. He chafed at the discipline of the Dominoes, and at staying in one place all the time. After a couple of years of disappointing record sales, the Dominoes switched labels to Decca, and for the first time Jackie Wilson hit the pop charts as a lead singer, when "St. Therese of the Roses" made number thirteen on the pop charts and number twenty-seven on the hot one hundred: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, "St. Therese of the Roses"] Incidentally, over in the UK, where American chart records were often covered for the domestic market by British acts, that was recorded by Malcolm Vaughan, a pop tenor who wanted to be England's answer to Dean Martin: [Excerpt: Malcolm Vaughan, "St. Therese of the Roses"] That version actually became a massive hit over here, reaching number three, after being banned by the BBC. Yes, you heard that right. That song was banned, because it was "contrary both to Roman Catholic doctrine and to Protestant sentiment". The ban caused enough controversy that the record sold half a million copies. Vaughan would later go on to have a minor hit with a cover version of another Jackie Wilson record, "To Be Loved". In 1957, Jackie decided to leave Billy Ward and the Dominoes. It had become apparent that Ward had no bigger ambitions than to keep playing Las Vegas forever, and keep making vast amounts of money without having to travel or work especially hard. Jackie Wilson wanted something more, and he went back to Detroit. At first he was going to join a vocal group that had been performing for a few years, the Four Aims, which featured his cousin Levi Stubbs and another distant relative, Lawrence Payton. Unfortunately, they found that Jackie's voice didn't blend well with the group -- he sounded, according to Wilson's first wife Freda, too similar to Stubbs, though I don't hear that much of a vocal resemblance myself. Either way, the attempt to work together quickly fizzled out, and the Four Tops, as they became, had to find their own success without Jackie Wilson in the group. Around this time, Wilson also became obsessed with the singer Mario Lanza. Lanza was an Italian-American pop singer who sang in a pseudo-operatic style, rather than in the more casual crooning style of contemporaries like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and Wilson was a huge fan of Lanza's 1951 film The Great Caruso, in which he played the opera singer Enrico Caruso: [Excerpt: Mario Lanza, "The Loveliest Night of the Year"] Wilson studied Lanza's performances, and he tried to emulate Lanza's diction and projection. But at the same time, he was, at heart, an R&B performer, and he also knew that as a black singer in Detroit in the early fifties, R&B was what he needed to do to make money. And making money was what Wilson needed to do more than anything else, and so he got an audition at the Flame Bar, which was owned and run by a local mobster, Al Green. Green was a big name in the local music business -- he managed Johnnie Ray, one of the biggest names in white pop music at the time, and also LaVern Baker, who had had a string of R&B hits. Wilson got the audition through his friend Roquel Davis, who went by the name Billy Davis, who was Lawrence Payton's cousin and had performed with him in an early lineup of the Four Aims. Davis had also written songs for the Four Aims, but more importantly for this purpose, his girlfriend, Gwen Gordy, worked with her sister Anna at the Flame Bar. Through these connections, Wilson got himself a regular spot at the Flame -- and he also got to meet Gwen and Anna's little brother Berry. Berry Gordy Jr was someone who would go on to be one of the most important people in the history of twentieth century music -- someone without whom none of the rest of this story would happen. He was as important to the music of the sixties as Sam Phillips was to the fifties, if not more important. Gordy was born, the seventh of eight children, to a poor family in Detroit. As a child, he was taught some of the rudiments of the piano by an uncle, who tried to get him to learn to play in the proper manner -- learning scales and arpeggios, and how to read music. But young Berry was easily bored, and soon figured out that if you play the first three notes of an arpeggio together, you can get a simple triad chord. A diversion here, just for those of you who don't know what I'm talking about -- an arpeggio is a musical term that literally means "like a harp", and it's used for a type of scale where you pick out the individual notes of a chord. You know the sound, even if you don't know the term. So when you arpeggiate a C major chord, you play the notes C, E, and G, sometimes in multiple octaves: [Demonstrates on guitar] When you play those notes together, that's a C major chord: [Demonstrates on guitar] Once young Berry Gordy Jr figured out how to play the chords C, F, and G, he was able to start playing boogie-woogie piano by ear. His favourite boogie record was "Hazel Scott's Boogie Woogie": [Excerpt: Hazel Scott, "Hazel Scott's Boogie Woogie"] From an early age, he also became a fan of a particular type of vocal group performance, especially when the singers were singing touching songs about loneliness. He loved "Paper Doll" by the Mills Brothers: [Excerpt: The Mills Brothers, "Paper Doll"] and "We Three" by the Ink Spots: [Excerpt: The Ink Spots, "We Three"] But in his early years, Gordy was unsure whether he wanted to become a musician, or if instead he wanted to become a boxer like his hero Joe Louis -- and in this way his career was paralleling that of Jackie Wilson, though he didn't know Wilson at the time. He actually had a reasonable amount of success as a boxer, up until a point in 1950 where he saw two posters next to each other. One of them, on top, was advertising a battle of the bands between Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington, while the other was advertising a fight. He noticed two things about the posters. The first was that the bandleaders could work every night and make money, while he knew that boxers would go weeks or months between fights. And the second was that the bandleaders "were about fifty and looked twenty-three", while the boxers "were about twenty-three and looked fifty". He knew what he was going to do, and it wasn't boxing. His attempts at a music career were soon put on the back-burner when he was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After he got out of the military, he had a variety of short-term jobs, but he was regarded by his family more or less as a bum -- he never held down a steady job and he was a dreamer who saw himself as becoming a successful songwriter and a millionaire, but had never quite managed to make anything of his dreams. That was, at least, until he met Billy Davis, who at the time was a struggling songwriter like him, but one who had had slightly more success. Davis had managed to persuade Chess Records to sign up the Four Tops, as they were now called, and release a single with Davis credited as the songwriter: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, "Kiss Me Baby"] I say Davis was credited as the songwriter, because that song bears more than a little resemblance to the Ray Charles song from a few years earlier, "Kissa Me Baby": [Excerpt: Ray Charles, "Kissa Me Baby"] But Chess hadn't really been interested in the Four Tops themselves -- they'd instead been interested in Billy Davis as a songwriter, and they quickly used songs he'd written for the Four Tops, and cut them instead with the Moonglows: [Excerpt: The Moonglows, "See Saw"] and the Flamingos: [Excerpt: The Flamingos, "A Kiss From Your Lips"] Neither of those had been a big hit, but the result was that Billy Davis was, in Gordy's eyes at least, someone with a track record and connections. The two men hit it off musically as well as personally, and they decided that they'd start to collaborate on songs, along with Gordy's sister Gwen, who was dating Davis. Anything any of them wrote on their own would also get credited to them as a group, and they'd pool whatever they got. And they were going to write songs for Jackie Wilson. Davis tried to get Wilson signed to Chess Records, but they weren't interested in Wilson's sound -- they wanted a harder blues sound, rather than Wilson's more soulful sound. But then Al Green took on Wilson's management, and managed to persuade Bob Thiele at Decca Records, who had just signed Buddy Holly and the Crickets, to sign Wilson -- not so much for Wilson's own talent, though Thiele was impressed by him, but because Green promised that he could also sign LaVern Baker when her contract with Atlantic expired. As it turned out, though, Thiele would never get to sign Baker, as the day before Wilson's contract was meant to be signed, Al Green died suddenly. More by chutzpah than anything else, Nat Tarnopol, an office boy who had been employed by Green, managed to take over Wilson's management, just by saying that he was in charge now. He got the contracts signed, and got Wilson signed to Brunswick, the Decca subsidiary that put out rock and roll records. Over the next few years Tarnopol would manage to get himself made a co-owner of Brunswick, by using the leverage he got as Wilson's manager. The first record Wilson put out as a solo artist was a song that Billy Davis had originally come up with when he was sixteen, inspired by a Louis Jordan song titled "Reet, Petite, and Gone": [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, "Reet, Petite, and Gone"] Davis and the Gordys reworked his original idea into a new song called "Reet Petite", which became Wilson's first solo single since leaving the Dominoes. When Wilson took the song to Dick Jacobs, the arranger assigned to the session, Jacobs was impressed with the song, but became worried -- he sat down with Wilson to work out what key to record the song in, and Wilson kept telling him to take it higher, and higher, and higher. Wilson couldn't demonstrate what he meant during the preparations for the session, as he had laryngitis, but he kept insisting that he should sing it a full octave higher than Jacobs initially suggested. Jacobs went to Bob Thiele, and Thiele said it didn't really matter, they'd only signed Wilson in order to get LaVern Baker, and just to do what he wanted. Jacobs hired some of the best session players in New York, including Panama Francis on drums and Sam "the Man" Taylor on saxophone, reasoning that if he had the best players around then the record wouldn't end up too bad, whatever the singer sounded like. I'll now quote some of Jacobs' description of the session itself: "I got him behind the microphone and said a silent prayer that this aerial key he'd picked to sing in would be okay, and that this guy was a reasonable approximation of a singer. "Jackie Wilson opened his mouth and out poured what sounded like honey on moonbeams, and it was like the whole room shifted on some weird axis. The musicians, these meat and potatoes pros, stared at each other slack-jawed and goggle-eyed in disbelief; it was as if the purpose of their musical training and woodshedding and lickspitting had been to guide them into this big studio in the Pythian Temple to experience these pure shivering moments of magic. Bob Thiele and I looked at each other and just started laughing, half out of relief and half out of wonder. I never thought crow could taste so sweet." [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, "Reet Petite"] The record wasn't a massive hit in the US -- it only went to number sixty-two on the pop charts -- but it was a much bigger hit in the UK, reaching number six, and over here it became a much-loved classic, so much so that it went to number one for four weeks when it was reissued in 1986. At one show, where he was Dinah Washington's support act, he rolled his "r" on the title of the song, like he did on the record, and his two front dentures went flying off. He never sang the song live again. "Reet Petite" was the start of a run of songs that Davis and the Gordys wrote for Wilson, most of them big hits and several of them classics. Most notably, there was Wilson's second solo single, "To Be Loved". That song was written by Berry Gordy and Davis, after Gordy found out his wife was divorcing him. Gordy went round to his sister Gwen's house, where Davis also was, and started playing the piano, after Gwen reassured him that even though his wife had left him, he still had the love of his children and his siblings. The result was a gorgeous ballad that went to number seven on the R&B charts and number twenty-two on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, "To Be Loved"] They also wrote what became Wilson's biggest early it, "Lonely Teardrops", which went to number one on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, "Lonely Teardrops"] That had originally been written as a ballad, but was reworked into a more danceable song in the studio. Berry Gordy and Davis hated it when they first heard the finished record, but grew to appreciate it as it became a hit. However, from that point on, they started to take more interest in the production side of Wilson's recordings, and they developed a routine where Davis and Gordy would rehearse Wilson, with Gordy on the piano, and they'd teach him the song and record a demo, which Jacobs would then use to write the arrangements -- Dick Jacobs wasn't the only arranger on Wilson's early records, but they soon learned that he was the one who could best capture the sound they wanted. The three men would then supervise in the studio. (Gwen Gordy is also credited as a co-writer on several of the records, but her contributions tend to be played down by the others, and she doesn't appear to have been involved in the production side. How much of that is her not contributing as much, and how much is just misogyny in how the story is told, is hard to say.) But eventually, they fell out with Nat Tarnopol, after they figured out that Tarnopol was putting songs to which he owned the copyright on the B-sides of all Wilson's records, so he could get royalties from the sales. Gordy and Davis insisted that they should get to write the songs on both sides of the singles, so that they could get a fair share of the money -- especially as they were effectively producing the sessions, without either a credit or royalties. Tarnopol disagreed -- as far as he was concerned, Jackie Wilson could be a star with anyone writing his material, and he didn't need these songwriters. Their days as Jackie Wilson's hit factory were over. Davis and Gwen Gordy went off to found their own record label, along with Gwen and Berry's sister Anna. Anna Records, as it was called, didn't have the most propitious start, with its first single being a Davis and Gwen Gordy song "Hope and Pray", performed by the Voice Masters: [Excerpt: The Voice Masters, "Hope and Pray"] But it would later put out some much more influential records. Berry, meanwhile, decided to groom another young artist for stardom -- he saw a lot of possibilities in a young man called William Robinson, who everyone referred to as Smokey, and his group the Miracles. We'll pick up on the Gordys and their business ventures in a few months' time. Jackie Wilson continued having hits for several years, although his career dipped in the early sixties with the British Invasion. He then had a revival in 1967, when he recorded what would end up being his biggest hit, "Higher and Higher": [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, "Higher and Higher"] Wilson continued having occasional hits through to 1970, and remained a popular live artist for years afterwards, but then in 1975, in the middle of performing "Lonely Teardrops", right after singing the line "my heart is crying", he clutched his chest and collapsed. At first people thought it was part of the act, but he didn't get back up. Cornell Gunter of the Coasters gave him mouth to mouth, and possibly saved his life, but some would question whether that was, in retrospect, a bad idea -- Wilson was in a coma from which he would never fully recover. For the next eight and a half years, Wilson was institutionalised. There are some people who claim that he gained a little bit of awareness during that time, but by most accounts he was in a persistent vegetative state. At first, the music business rallied round and helped pay for his treatment -- there are some reports that Jackie's old friend Elvis Presley anonymously donated a lot of the money for his medical bills, though these obviously can't be verified. The Detroit Spinners held a benefit concert for him, and donated $5000 of their own money. Al Green (the singer, not Wilson's ex-manager) performed at the concert and gave ten thousand dollars, Stevie Wonder gave five thousand, Gladys Knight gave two thousand five hundred, Michael Jackson ten thousand, Richard Pryor twelve hundred. James Brown sent a one thousand dollar cheque, which bounced, but he coughed up the actual money when Jackie's common-law wife said she was going to tell Jet magazine about the bouncing cheque. Nat Tarnopol and Brunswick Records, on the other hand, gave nothing. In fact, they did worse than nothing -- they lied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, claiming that Wilson hadn't had any earnings from them in the year prior to his collapse, when he'd been in the studio and was owed regular union rates for recording sessions. If they'd told the truth, his medical bills would have been covered by the insurance, but they weren't. There are many hypotheses as to why Wilson collapsed on stage that day, including that he used to drink salt water before going on stage to make himself sweat, and that this caused him to have a heart attack due to induced hypertension. But several people close to Wilson believed that his collapse was somehow caused by Nat Tarnopol having him poisoned. Wilson had been due to testify against Tarnopol in front of a grand jury ten days after his collapse, and Tarnopol was very involved with the Mafia -- at one point he'd tried to have Carl Davis, who produced "Higher and Higher" killed, and it was only Davis' friendship with another mobster with ties to Brunswick, Tommy Vastola, that saved him. Johnny Roberts, Wilson's manager in the seventies and another mobster, actually faked his own death in the eighties and had a funeral, and then reappeared once Tarnopol himself died in 1987, while some of those close to Wilson think it's no coincidence that Cornell Gunter, who had been there when Wilson collapsed and had always thought there was something strange about it, was murdered himself in 1990, in Las Vegas, by an unknown gunman -- though if that murder did have anything to do with Wilson's collapse, it can't have been Tarnopol himself who ordered that murder, of course. Jackie Wilson finally died of pneumonia on January 21, 1984, after having been hospitalised since September 29, 1975. He was buried in an unmarked grave, but three years later funds were raised for a headstone, which reads "no more lonely teardrops".

  Episode sixty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Reet Petite” by Jackie Wilson, and features talent contests with too much talent, the prehistory of Motown, a song banned by the BBC, and a possible Mafia hit. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Get a Job” by the Silhouettes. —-more—-  Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.   I used three main books to put together the narrative for this one. Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George is an excellent history of the various companies that became Motown. To Be Loved by Berry Gordy is Gordy’s own, understandably one-sided, but relatively well-written, autobiography. And Jackie Wilson: Lonely Teardrops by Tony Douglas is the closest thing out there to a definitive biography. There are dozens of compilations of Wilson’s fifties material, as it’s in the public domain, but for around the same price as those you can get this three-CD set which also has his later hits on, so that’s probably the place to start when investigating Wilson’s music. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today, we’re going to have a look at one of the most important people in the history of popular music, and someone we’ll be seeing a lot more of as the series goes on. There are very few people in the world who can be said to have created an entire genre of music, and even fewer who were primarily record company owners rather than musicians, but Berry Gordy Jr was one of them. Gordy didn’t start out, though, as a record executive. When he first got into the music industry, it was as a songwriter, and today we’re going to look at his early songwriting career. But we’re also going to look at a performer who was massively important in his own right, and who was one of the most exciting performers ever to take to the stage — someone who inspired Elvis, Michael Jackson, and James Brown, and who provides one of the key links between fifties R&B and sixties soul: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Reet Petite”] I’m afraid that this episode is another case where I have to point you to the disclaimer I did in the early weeks of the show. Jackie Wilson was an admirable musician, but he was in no way an admirable human being, particularly in his treatment of women – he’s been credibly accused of at least one sexual assault, and he fathered many children by many different women, who he abandoned, and was known for having a violent temper. As always, this podcast is not about his reprehensible acts, but about the music, but again, it should not be taken as an endorsement of him as a person when I talk about his artistic talent. Wilson started out as a boxer in his teens, but he quickly decided to move into singing instead. He would regularly perform at talent contests around Detroit, and he was part of a loose association of musicians and singers including Wilson’s cousin Levi Stubbs, the Royals, who would later become Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and the blues singer Little Willie John. They would all perform on the same talent shows and would agree among themselves who was going to win beforehand – Wilson would tell Stubbs “you win this week, I’ll win next week”. On one occasion, Johnny Otis happened to be in the audience, when the Royals, Little Willie John, and Wilson were all on the same bill, and on that particular show Wilson came third. Otis was working as a talent scout for King Records at the time, and tried to get all three acts signed to the label, but for reasons that remain unclear, King decided they only wanted to sign the Royals (though they would sign Little Willie John a couple of years later). As a result, a song that Otis had written for Wilson was recorded instead by the Royals: [The Royals, “Every Beat of My Heart”] Wilson kept performing at the amateur nights for a couple of years, until at the age of seventeen he was signed to Dee Gee Records, a small label co-owned by the jazz trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie. There he cut two singles, under the name Sonny Wilson. Wilson’s favourite song to sing in talent contests was “Danny Boy”, which would remain in his setlists until late in his life, and he would use that song as a way to show off his vocal virtuosity, ornamenting it to the point that the melody would become almost unrecognisable, and so that was, of course, one of the two singles: [Excerpt: Sonny Wilson, “Danny Boy”] Neither single was particularly successful, but Wilson continued performing in nightclubs around Detroit and built up something of a local following. But in 1953 he got a big break, when he auditioned for Billy Ward and his Dominoes. We’ve talked about the Dominoes before, back in the episode on “Money Honey”, but as a bit of a recap, they were the biggest black vocal group of the early fifties, and they were led by Billy Ward, a vocal coach who was not their lead singer. The lead singer in the early fifties was Clyde McPhatter, but McPhatter was getting restless. There are several different stories about how Wilson came to be picked for Ward’s group, but one that sticks out in my mind is one that Ward used to tell, which is that one reason Wilson was picked for the group is that his mother begged Ward, saying that she was scared for the life of her son, as he was getting into trouble on the streets. Certainly, she had every reason to be worried for him – Wilson had recently been stabbed in the chest by a sex worker. But Ward noted that Wilson was a diamond in the rough, and could have a great deal of success with the right amount of polishing. He decided to get Wilson into the group as a replacement for McPhatter, though McPhatter and Wilson were in the group together for a while, as McPhatter served out his notice with the group. Over the next few weeks, Wilson studied what McPhatter was doing, until he was able to take McPhatter’s place. Ward taught him breath control, and became something of a father figure, giving him some discipline for the first time in his life. McPhatter’s were very big shoes to fill, but Wilson soon won the audiences over, both with his vocals and his dancing. While Wilson was not regarded as a good dancer by most of the people who knew him – he couldn’t dance with a partner at all – he had a unique way of moving all his own, which he had learned in the boxing ring, where he’d learned to slide, sidestep, and duck away from other fighters, and to come at them from unexpected angles. He soon became one of the most riveting performers on stage, jumping up, throwing his mic in the air, doing mid-air splits, and completely dominating the stage. As well as teaching him to perform, Ward made one other major change. Up to this point, Wilson had always been known either as Jack or as Sonny. Ward thought that being called Sonny smacked of Uncle Tommery, and decided that from this point on, Wilson’s stage name was going to be Jackie. Wilson was not happy with this at first, but later decided that Ward had been right – though he was still always “Jack” or “Sonny” to those who knew him. Wilson’s first recording with the group as lead singer came just after he turned nineteen, when he went into the studio with them to cut “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” for King Records — the same label that had turned him down when Johnny Otis had put him forward: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down”] Four months later, they went back into the studio to cut eleven songs in a single day — a mammoth session which really allowed Wilson to show off his vocal versatility. From that session, their version of “Rags to Riches”, which had been a massive hit for Tony Bennett earlier in the year, went to number two on the R&B chart, though it didn’t dent the pop chart: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “Rags to Riches”] But after this, the Dominoes started to have less success in the charts — their records weren’t selling as well as they had been when Clyde McPhatter was the group’s lead singer, and in 1954 they had no hits at all. But in some ways that didn’t really matter — the group weren’t just looking to have success as recording artists, but as live performers, and they got a two-year residency in Las Vegas, supporting Louis Prima and Keely Smith. The group were getting five thousand dollars a week — a massive amount of money in those days — though most of that went to Ward, and Wilson was on a salary of only ninety dollars a week. It was while he was performing in Las Vegas that Wilson first came to the notice of someone who would later become a good friend — Elvis Presley. In 1956 Elvis made his own first trip to perform in Vegas, although he was far, far less successful there than he would be thirteen years later. While he was there, he watched with amazement as Jackie Wilson performed Elvis’ own hit “Don’t Be Cruel” much better than Elvis did himself — and in the famous Million Dollar Quartet tapes, you can hear Elvis raving about Wilson to Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis: [Excerpt: Elvis talking about Jackie Wilson] It’s quite funny listening to those recordings, as the others keep trying to drag Elvis on to other topics of conversation, and Elvis keeps insisting on telling them just how good this singer with Billy Ward and the Dominoes, whose name he hadn’t caught, was. But Vegas wasn’t a good fit for Wilson. He chafed at the discipline of the Dominoes, and at staying in one place all the time. After a couple of years of disappointing record sales, the Dominoes switched labels to Decca, and for the first time Jackie Wilson hit the pop charts as a lead singer, when “St. Therese of the Roses” made number thirteen on the pop charts and number twenty-seven on the hot one hundred: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “St. Therese of the Roses”] Incidentally, over in the UK, where American chart records were often covered for the domestic market by British acts, that was recorded by Malcolm Vaughan, a pop tenor who wanted to be England’s answer to Dean Martin: [Excerpt: Malcolm Vaughan, “St. Therese of the Roses”] That version actually became a massive hit over here, reaching number three, after being banned by the BBC. Yes, you heard that right. That song was banned, because it was “contrary both to Roman Catholic doctrine and to Protestant sentiment”. The ban caused enough controversy that the record sold half a million copies. Vaughan would later go on to have a minor hit with a cover version of another Jackie Wilson record, “To Be Loved”. In 1957, Jackie decided to leave Billy Ward and the Dominoes. It had become apparent that Ward had no bigger ambitions than to keep playing Las Vegas forever, and keep making vast amounts of money without having to travel or work especially hard. Jackie Wilson wanted something more, and he went back to Detroit. At first he was going to join a vocal group that had been performing for a few years, the Four Aims, which featured his cousin Levi Stubbs and another distant relative, Lawrence Payton. Unfortunately, they found that Jackie’s voice didn’t blend well with the group — he sounded, according to Wilson’s first wife Freda, too similar to Stubbs, though I don’t hear that much of a vocal resemblance myself. Either way, the attempt to work together quickly fizzled out, and the Four Tops, as they became, had to find their own success without Jackie Wilson in the group. Around this time, Wilson also became obsessed with the singer Mario Lanza. Lanza was an Italian-American pop singer who sang in a pseudo-operatic style, rather than in the more casual crooning style of contemporaries like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and Wilson was a huge fan of Lanza’s 1951 film The Great Caruso, in which he played the opera singer Enrico Caruso: [Excerpt: Mario Lanza, “The Loveliest Night of the Year”] Wilson studied Lanza’s performances, and he tried to emulate Lanza’s diction and projection. But at the same time, he was, at heart, an R&B performer, and he also knew that as a black singer in Detroit in the early fifties, R&B was what he needed to do to make money. And making money was what Wilson needed to do more than anything else, and so he got an audition at the Flame Bar, which was owned and run by a local mobster, Al Green. Green was a big name in the local music business — he managed Johnnie Ray, one of the biggest names in white pop music at the time, and also LaVern Baker, who had had a string of R&B hits. Wilson got the audition through his friend Roquel Davis, who went by the name Billy Davis, who was Lawrence Payton’s cousin and had performed with him in an early lineup of the Four Aims. Davis had also written songs for the Four Aims, but more importantly for this purpose, his girlfriend, Gwen Gordy, worked with her sister Anna at the Flame Bar. Through these connections, Wilson got himself a regular spot at the Flame — and he also got to meet Gwen and Anna’s little brother Berry. Berry Gordy Jr was someone who would go on to be one of the most important people in the history of twentieth century music — someone without whom none of the rest of this story would happen. He was as important to the music of the sixties as Sam Phillips was to the fifties, if not more important. Gordy was born, the seventh of eight children, to a poor family in Detroit. As a child, he was taught some of the rudiments of the piano by an uncle, who tried to get him to learn to play in the proper manner — learning scales and arpeggios, and how to read music. But young Berry was easily bored, and soon figured out that if you play the first three notes of an arpeggio together, you can get a simple triad chord. A diversion here, just for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about — an arpeggio is a musical term that literally means “like a harp”, and it’s used for a type of scale where you pick out the individual notes of a chord. You know the sound, even if you don’t know the term. So when you arpeggiate a C major chord, you play the notes C, E, and G, sometimes in multiple octaves: [Demonstrates on guitar] When you play those notes together, that’s a C major chord: [Demonstrates on guitar] Once young Berry Gordy Jr figured out how to play the chords C, F, and G, he was able to start playing boogie-woogie piano by ear. His favourite boogie record was “Hazel Scott’s Boogie Woogie”: [Excerpt: Hazel Scott, “Hazel Scott’s Boogie Woogie”] From an early age, he also became a fan of a particular type of vocal group performance, especially when the singers were singing touching songs about loneliness. He loved “Paper Doll” by the Mills Brothers: [Excerpt: The Mills Brothers, “Paper Doll”] and “We Three” by the Ink Spots: [Excerpt: The Ink Spots, “We Three”] But in his early years, Gordy was unsure whether he wanted to become a musician, or if instead he wanted to become a boxer like his hero Joe Louis — and in this way his career was paralleling that of Jackie Wilson, though he didn’t know Wilson at the time. He actually had a reasonable amount of success as a boxer, up until a point in 1950 where he saw two posters next to each other. One of them, on top, was advertising a battle of the bands between Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington, while the other was advertising a fight. He noticed two things about the posters. The first was that the bandleaders could work every night and make money, while he knew that boxers would go weeks or months between fights. And the second was that the bandleaders “were about fifty and looked twenty-three”, while the boxers “were about twenty-three and looked fifty”. He knew what he was going to do, and it wasn’t boxing. His attempts at a music career were soon put on the back-burner when he was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After he got out of the military, he had a variety of short-term jobs, but he was regarded by his family more or less as a bum — he never held down a steady job and he was a dreamer who saw himself as becoming a successful songwriter and a millionaire, but had never quite managed to make anything of his dreams. That was, at least, until he met Billy Davis, who at the time was a struggling songwriter like him, but one who had had slightly more success. Davis had managed to persuade Chess Records to sign up the Four Tops, as they were now called, and release a single with Davis credited as the songwriter: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, “Kiss Me Baby”] I say Davis was credited as the songwriter, because that song bears more than a little resemblance to the Ray Charles song from a few years earlier, “Kissa Me Baby”: [Excerpt: Ray Charles, “Kissa Me Baby”] But Chess hadn’t really been interested in the Four Tops themselves — they’d instead been interested in Billy Davis as a songwriter, and they quickly used songs he’d written for the Four Tops, and cut them instead with the Moonglows: [Excerpt: The Moonglows, “See Saw”] and the Flamingos: [Excerpt: The Flamingos, “A Kiss From Your Lips”] Neither of those had been a big hit, but the result was that Billy Davis was, in Gordy’s eyes at least, someone with a track record and connections. The two men hit it off musically as well as personally, and they decided that they’d start to collaborate on songs, along with Gordy’s sister Gwen, who was dating Davis. Anything any of them wrote on their own would also get credited to them as a group, and they’d pool whatever they got. And they were going to write songs for Jackie Wilson. Davis tried to get Wilson signed to Chess Records, but they weren’t interested in Wilson’s sound — they wanted a harder blues sound, rather than Wilson’s more soulful sound. But then Al Green took on Wilson’s management, and managed to persuade Bob Thiele at Decca Records, who had just signed Buddy Holly and the Crickets, to sign Wilson — not so much for Wilson’s own talent, though Thiele was impressed by him, but because Green promised that he could also sign LaVern Baker when her contract with Atlantic expired. As it turned out, though, Thiele would never get to sign Baker, as the day before Wilson’s contract was meant to be signed, Al Green died suddenly. More by chutzpah than anything else, Nat Tarnopol, an office boy who had been employed by Green, managed to take over Wilson’s management, just by saying that he was in charge now. He got the contracts signed, and got Wilson signed to Brunswick, the Decca subsidiary that put out rock and roll records. Over the next few years Tarnopol would manage to get himself made a co-owner of Brunswick, by using the leverage he got as Wilson’s manager. The first record Wilson put out as a solo artist was a song that Billy Davis had originally come up with when he was sixteen, inspired by a Louis Jordan song titled “Reet, Petite, and Gone”: [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Reet, Petite, and Gone”] Davis and the Gordys reworked his original idea into a new song called “Reet Petite”, which became Wilson’s first solo single since leaving the Dominoes. When Wilson took the song to Dick Jacobs, the arranger assigned to the session, Jacobs was impressed with the song, but became worried — he sat down with Wilson to work out what key to record the song in, and Wilson kept telling him to take it higher, and higher, and higher. Wilson couldn’t demonstrate what he meant during the preparations for the session, as he had laryngitis, but he kept insisting that he should sing it a full octave higher than Jacobs initially suggested. Jacobs went to Bob Thiele, and Thiele said it didn’t really matter, they’d only signed Wilson in order to get LaVern Baker, and just to do what he wanted. Jacobs hired some of the best session players in New York, including Panama Francis on drums and Sam “the Man” Taylor on saxophone, reasoning that if he had the best players around then the record wouldn’t end up too bad, whatever the singer sounded like. I’ll now quote some of Jacobs’ description of the session itself: “I got him behind the microphone and said a silent prayer that this aerial key he’d picked to sing in would be okay, and that this guy was a reasonable approximation of a singer. “Jackie Wilson opened his mouth and out poured what sounded like honey on moonbeams, and it was like the whole room shifted on some weird axis. The musicians, these meat and potatoes pros, stared at each other slack-jawed and goggle-eyed in disbelief; it was as if the purpose of their musical training and woodshedding and lickspitting had been to guide them into this big studio in the Pythian Temple to experience these pure shivering moments of magic. Bob Thiele and I looked at each other and just started laughing, half out of relief and half out of wonder. I never thought crow could taste so sweet.” [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Reet Petite”] The record wasn’t a massive hit in the US — it only went to number sixty-two on the pop charts — but it was a much bigger hit in the UK, reaching number six, and over here it became a much-loved classic, so much so that it went to number one for four weeks when it was reissued in 1986. At one show, where he was Dinah Washington’s support act, he rolled his “r” on the title of the song, like he did on the record, and his two front dentures went flying off. He never sang the song live again. “Reet Petite” was the start of a run of songs that Davis and the Gordys wrote for Wilson, most of them big hits and several of them classics. Most notably, there was Wilson’s second solo single, “To Be Loved”. That song was written by Berry Gordy and Davis, after Gordy found out his wife was divorcing him. Gordy went round to his sister Gwen’s house, where Davis also was, and started playing the piano, after Gwen reassured him that even though his wife had left him, he still had the love of his children and his siblings. The result was a gorgeous ballad that went to number seven on the R&B charts and number twenty-two on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “To Be Loved”] They also wrote what became Wilson’s biggest early it, “Lonely Teardrops”, which went to number one on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Lonely Teardrops”] That had originally been written as a ballad, but was reworked into a more danceable song in the studio. Berry Gordy and Davis hated it when they first heard the finished record, but grew to appreciate it as it became a hit. However, from that point on, they started to take more interest in the production side of Wilson’s recordings, and they developed a routine where Davis and Gordy would rehearse Wilson, with Gordy on the piano, and they’d teach him the song and record a demo, which Jacobs would then use to write the arrangements — Dick Jacobs wasn’t the only arranger on Wilson’s early records, but they soon learned that he was the one who could best capture the sound they wanted. The three men would then supervise in the studio. (Gwen Gordy is also credited as a co-writer on several of the records, but her contributions tend to be played down by the others, and she doesn’t appear to have been involved in the production side. How much of that is her not contributing as much, and how much is just misogyny in how the story is told, is hard to say.) But eventually, they fell out with Nat Tarnopol, after they figured out that Tarnopol was putting songs to which he owned the copyright on the B-sides of all Wilson’s records, so he could get royalties from the sales. Gordy and Davis insisted that they should get to write the songs on both sides of the singles, so that they could get a fair share of the money — especially as they were effectively producing the sessions, without either a credit or royalties. Tarnopol disagreed — as far as he was concerned, Jackie Wilson could be a star with anyone writing his material, and he didn’t need these songwriters. Their days as Jackie Wilson’s hit factory were over. Davis and Gwen Gordy went off to found their own record label, along with Gwen and Berry’s sister Anna. Anna Records, as it was called, didn’t have the most propitious start, with its first single being a Davis and Gwen Gordy song “Hope and Pray”, performed by the Voice Masters: [Excerpt: The Voice Masters, “Hope and Pray”] But it would later put out some much more influential records. Berry, meanwhile, decided to groom another young artist for stardom — he saw a lot of possibilities in a young man called William Robinson, who everyone referred to as Smokey, and his group the Miracles. We’ll pick up on the Gordys and their business ventures in a few months’ time. Jackie Wilson continued having hits for several years, although his career dipped in the early sixties with the British Invasion. He then had a revival in 1967, when he recorded what would end up being his biggest hit, “Higher and Higher”: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Higher and Higher”] Wilson continued having occasional hits through to 1970, and remained a popular live artist for years afterwards, but then in 1975, in the middle of performing “Lonely Teardrops”, right after singing the line “my heart is crying”, he clutched his chest and collapsed. At first people thought it was part of the act, but he didn’t get back up. Cornell Gunter of the Coasters gave him mouth to mouth, and possibly saved his life, but some would question whether that was, in retrospect, a bad idea — Wilson was in a coma from which he would never fully recover. For the next eight and a half years, Wilson was institutionalised. There are some people who claim that he gained a little bit of awareness during that time, but by most accounts he was in a persistent vegetative state. At first, the music business rallied round and helped pay for his treatment — there are some reports that Jackie’s old friend Elvis Presley anonymously donated a lot of the money for his medical bills, though these obviously can’t be verified. The Detroit Spinners held a benefit concert for him, and donated $5000 of their own money. Al Green (the singer, not Wilson’s ex-manager) performed at the concert and gave ten thousand dollars, Stevie Wonder gave five thousand, Gladys Knight gave two thousand five hundred, Michael Jackson ten thousand, Richard Pryor twelve hundred. James Brown sent a one thousand dollar cheque, which bounced, but he coughed up the actual money when Jackie’s common-law wife said she was going to tell Jet magazine about the bouncing cheque. Nat Tarnopol and Brunswick Records, on the other hand, gave nothing. In fact, they did worse than nothing — they lied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, claiming that Wilson hadn’t had any earnings from them in the year prior to his collapse, when he’d been in the studio and was owed regular union rates for recording sessions. If they’d told the truth, his medical bills would have been covered by the insurance, but they weren’t. There are many hypotheses as to why Wilson collapsed on stage that day, including that he used to drink salt water before going on stage to make himself sweat, and that this caused him to have a heart attack due to induced hypertension. But several people close to Wilson believed that his collapse was somehow caused by Nat Tarnopol having him poisoned. Wilson had been due to testify against Tarnopol in front of a grand jury ten days after his collapse, and Tarnopol was very involved with the Mafia — at one point he’d tried to have Carl Davis, who produced “Higher and Higher” killed, and it was only Davis’ friendship with another mobster with ties to Brunswick, Tommy Vastola, that saved him. Johnny Roberts, Wilson’s manager in the seventies and another mobster, actually faked his own death in the eighties and had a funeral, and then reappeared once Tarnopol himself died in 1987, while some of those close to Wilson think it’s no coincidence that Cornell Gunter, who had been there when Wilson collapsed and had always thought there was something strange about it, was murdered himself in 1990, in Las Vegas, by an unknown gunman — though if that murder did have anything to do with Wilson’s collapse, it can’t have been Tarnopol himself who ordered that murder, of course. Jackie Wilson finally died of pneumonia on January 21, 1984, after having been hospitalised since September 29, 1975. He was buried in an unmarked grave, but three years later funds were raised for a headstone, which reads “no more lonely teardrops”.

  Episode sixty-four of A History of Rock Music in Five Hundred Songs looks at “Reet Petite” by Jackie Wilson, and features talent contests with too much talent, the prehistory of Motown, a song banned by the BBC, and a possible Mafia hit. Click the full post to read liner notes, links to more information, and a transcript of the episode. Patreon backers also have a ten-minute bonus episode available, on “Get a Job” by the Silhouettes. —-more—-  Resources As always, I’ve created a Mixcloud streaming playlist with full versions of all the songs in the episode.   I used three main books to put together the narrative for this one. Where Did Our Love Go? The Rise and Fall of the Motown Sound by Nelson George is an excellent history of the various companies that became Motown. To Be Loved by Berry Gordy is Gordy’s own, understandably one-sided, but relatively well-written, autobiography. And Jackie Wilson: Lonely Teardrops by Tony Douglas is the closest thing out there to a definitive biography. There are dozens of compilations of Wilson’s fifties material, as it’s in the public domain, but for around the same price as those you can get this three-CD set which also has his later hits on, so that’s probably the place to start when investigating Wilson’s music. Patreon This podcast is brought to you by the generosity of my backers on Patreon. Why not join them? Transcript Today, we’re going to have a look at one of the most important people in the history of popular music, and someone we’ll be seeing a lot more of as the series goes on. There are very few people in the world who can be said to have created an entire genre of music, and even fewer who were primarily record company owners rather than musicians, but Berry Gordy Jr was one of them. Gordy didn’t start out, though, as a record executive. When he first got into the music industry, it was as a songwriter, and today we’re going to look at his early songwriting career. But we’re also going to look at a performer who was massively important in his own right, and who was one of the most exciting performers ever to take to the stage — someone who inspired Elvis, Michael Jackson, and James Brown, and who provides one of the key links between fifties R&B and sixties soul: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Reet Petite”] I’m afraid that this episode is another case where I have to point you to the disclaimer I did in the early weeks of the show. Jackie Wilson was an admirable musician, but he was in no way an admirable human being, particularly in his treatment of women – he’s been credibly accused of at least one sexual assault, and he fathered many children by many different women, who he abandoned, and was known for having a violent temper. As always, this podcast is not about his reprehensible acts, but about the music, but again, it should not be taken as an endorsement of him as a person when I talk about his artistic talent. Wilson started out as a boxer in his teens, but he quickly decided to move into singing instead. He would regularly perform at talent contests around Detroit, and he was part of a loose association of musicians and singers including Wilson’s cousin Levi Stubbs, the Royals, who would later become Hank Ballard and the Midnighters, and the blues singer Little Willie John. They would all perform on the same talent shows and would agree among themselves who was going to win beforehand – Wilson would tell Stubbs “you win this week, I’ll win next week”. On one occasion, Johnny Otis happened to be in the audience, when the Royals, Little Willie John, and Wilson were all on the same bill, and on that particular show Wilson came third. Otis was working as a talent scout for King Records at the time, and tried to get all three acts signed to the label, but for reasons that remain unclear, King decided they only wanted to sign the Royals (though they would sign Little Willie John a couple of years later). As a result, a song that Otis had written for Wilson was recorded instead by the Royals: [The Royals, “Every Beat of My Heart”] Wilson kept performing at the amateur nights for a couple of years, until at the age of seventeen he was signed to Dee Gee Records, a small label co-owned by the jazz trumpet player Dizzy Gillespie. There he cut two singles, under the name Sonny Wilson. Wilson’s favourite song to sing in talent contests was “Danny Boy”, which would remain in his setlists until late in his life, and he would use that song as a way to show off his vocal virtuosity, ornamenting it to the point that the melody would become almost unrecognisable, and so that was, of course, one of the two singles: [Excerpt: Sonny Wilson, “Danny Boy”] Neither single was particularly successful, but Wilson continued performing in nightclubs around Detroit and built up something of a local following. But in 1953 he got a big break, when he auditioned for Billy Ward and his Dominoes. We’ve talked about the Dominoes before, back in the episode on “Money Honey”, but as a bit of a recap, they were the biggest black vocal group of the early fifties, and they were led by Billy Ward, a vocal coach who was not their lead singer. The lead singer in the early fifties was Clyde McPhatter, but McPhatter was getting restless. There are several different stories about how Wilson came to be picked for Ward’s group, but one that sticks out in my mind is one that Ward used to tell, which is that one reason Wilson was picked for the group is that his mother begged Ward, saying that she was scared for the life of her son, as he was getting into trouble on the streets. Certainly, she had every reason to be worried for him – Wilson had recently been stabbed in the chest by a sex worker. But Ward noted that Wilson was a diamond in the rough, and could have a great deal of success with the right amount of polishing. He decided to get Wilson into the group as a replacement for McPhatter, though McPhatter and Wilson were in the group together for a while, as McPhatter served out his notice with the group. Over the next few weeks, Wilson studied what McPhatter was doing, until he was able to take McPhatter’s place. Ward taught him breath control, and became something of a father figure, giving him some discipline for the first time in his life. McPhatter’s were very big shoes to fill, but Wilson soon won the audiences over, both with his vocals and his dancing. While Wilson was not regarded as a good dancer by most of the people who knew him – he couldn’t dance with a partner at all – he had a unique way of moving all his own, which he had learned in the boxing ring, where he’d learned to slide, sidestep, and duck away from other fighters, and to come at them from unexpected angles. He soon became one of the most riveting performers on stage, jumping up, throwing his mic in the air, doing mid-air splits, and completely dominating the stage. As well as teaching him to perform, Ward made one other major change. Up to this point, Wilson had always been known either as Jack or as Sonny. Ward thought that being called Sonny smacked of Uncle Tommery, and decided that from this point on, Wilson’s stage name was going to be Jackie. Wilson was not happy with this at first, but later decided that Ward had been right – though he was still always “Jack” or “Sonny” to those who knew him. Wilson’s first recording with the group as lead singer came just after he turned nineteen, when he went into the studio with them to cut “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down” for King Records — the same label that had turned him down when Johnny Otis had put him forward: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “You Can’t Keep a Good Man Down”] Four months later, they went back into the studio to cut eleven songs in a single day — a mammoth session which really allowed Wilson to show off his vocal versatility. From that session, their version of “Rags to Riches”, which had been a massive hit for Tony Bennett earlier in the year, went to number two on the R&B chart, though it didn’t dent the pop chart: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “Rags to Riches”] But after this, the Dominoes started to have less success in the charts — their records weren’t selling as well as they had been when Clyde McPhatter was the group’s lead singer, and in 1954 they had no hits at all. But in some ways that didn’t really matter — the group weren’t just looking to have success as recording artists, but as live performers, and they got a two-year residency in Las Vegas, supporting Louis Prima and Keely Smith. The group were getting five thousand dollars a week — a massive amount of money in those days — though most of that went to Ward, and Wilson was on a salary of only ninety dollars a week. It was while he was performing in Las Vegas that Wilson first came to the notice of someone who would later become a good friend — Elvis Presley. In 1956 Elvis made his own first trip to perform in Vegas, although he was far, far less successful there than he would be thirteen years later. While he was there, he watched with amazement as Jackie Wilson performed Elvis’ own hit “Don’t Be Cruel” much better than Elvis did himself — and in the famous Million Dollar Quartet tapes, you can hear Elvis raving about Wilson to Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis: [Excerpt: Elvis talking about Jackie Wilson] It’s quite funny listening to those recordings, as the others keep trying to drag Elvis on to other topics of conversation, and Elvis keeps insisting on telling them just how good this singer with Billy Ward and the Dominoes, whose name he hadn’t caught, was. But Vegas wasn’t a good fit for Wilson. He chafed at the discipline of the Dominoes, and at staying in one place all the time. After a couple of years of disappointing record sales, the Dominoes switched labels to Decca, and for the first time Jackie Wilson hit the pop charts as a lead singer, when “St. Therese of the Roses” made number thirteen on the pop charts and number twenty-seven on the hot one hundred: [Excerpt: Billy Ward and the Dominoes, “St. Therese of the Roses”] Incidentally, over in the UK, where American chart records were often covered for the domestic market by British acts, that was recorded by Malcolm Vaughan, a pop tenor who wanted to be England’s answer to Dean Martin: [Excerpt: Malcolm Vaughan, “St. Therese of the Roses”] That version actually became a massive hit over here, reaching number three, after being banned by the BBC. Yes, you heard that right. That song was banned, because it was “contrary both to Roman Catholic doctrine and to Protestant sentiment”. The ban caused enough controversy that the record sold half a million copies. Vaughan would later go on to have a minor hit with a cover version of another Jackie Wilson record, “To Be Loved”. In 1957, Jackie decided to leave Billy Ward and the Dominoes. It had become apparent that Ward had no bigger ambitions than to keep playing Las Vegas forever, and keep making vast amounts of money without having to travel or work especially hard. Jackie Wilson wanted something more, and he went back to Detroit. At first he was going to join a vocal group that had been performing for a few years, the Four Aims, which featured his cousin Levi Stubbs and another distant relative, Lawrence Payton. Unfortunately, they found that Jackie’s voice didn’t blend well with the group — he sounded, according to Wilson’s first wife Freda, too similar to Stubbs, though I don’t hear that much of a vocal resemblance myself. Either way, the attempt to work together quickly fizzled out, and the Four Tops, as they became, had to find their own success without Jackie Wilson in the group. Around this time, Wilson also became obsessed with the singer Mario Lanza. Lanza was an Italian-American pop singer who sang in a pseudo-operatic style, rather than in the more casual crooning style of contemporaries like Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett, and Wilson was a huge fan of Lanza’s 1951 film The Great Caruso, in which he played the opera singer Enrico Caruso: [Excerpt: Mario Lanza, “The Loveliest Night of the Year”] Wilson studied Lanza’s performances, and he tried to emulate Lanza’s diction and projection. But at the same time, he was, at heart, an R&B performer, and he also knew that as a black singer in Detroit in the early fifties, R&B was what he needed to do to make money. And making money was what Wilson needed to do more than anything else, and so he got an audition at the Flame Bar, which was owned and run by a local mobster, Al Green. Green was a big name in the local music business — he managed Johnnie Ray, one of the biggest names in white pop music at the time, and also LaVern Baker, who had had a string of R&B hits. Wilson got the audition through his friend Roquel Davis, who went by the name Billy Davis, who was Lawrence Payton’s cousin and had performed with him in an early lineup of the Four Aims. Davis had also written songs for the Four Aims, but more importantly for this purpose, his girlfriend, Gwen Gordy, worked with her sister Anna at the Flame Bar. Through these connections, Wilson got himself a regular spot at the Flame — and he also got to meet Gwen and Anna’s little brother Berry. Berry Gordy Jr was someone who would go on to be one of the most important people in the history of twentieth century music — someone without whom none of the rest of this story would happen. He was as important to the music of the sixties as Sam Phillips was to the fifties, if not more important. Gordy was born, the seventh of eight children, to a poor family in Detroit. As a child, he was taught some of the rudiments of the piano by an uncle, who tried to get him to learn to play in the proper manner — learning scales and arpeggios, and how to read music. But young Berry was easily bored, and soon figured out that if you play the first three notes of an arpeggio together, you can get a simple triad chord. A diversion here, just for those of you who don’t know what I’m talking about — an arpeggio is a musical term that literally means “like a harp”, and it’s used for a type of scale where you pick out the individual notes of a chord. You know the sound, even if you don’t know the term. So when you arpeggiate a C major chord, you play the notes C, E, and G, sometimes in multiple octaves: [Demonstrates on guitar] When you play those notes together, that’s a C major chord: [Demonstrates on guitar] Once young Berry Gordy Jr figured out how to play the chords C, F, and G, he was able to start playing boogie-woogie piano by ear. His favourite boogie record was “Hazel Scott’s Boogie Woogie”: [Excerpt: Hazel Scott, “Hazel Scott’s Boogie Woogie”] From an early age, he also became a fan of a particular type of vocal group performance, especially when the singers were singing touching songs about loneliness. He loved “Paper Doll” by the Mills Brothers: [Excerpt: The Mills Brothers, “Paper Doll”] and “We Three” by the Ink Spots: [Excerpt: The Ink Spots, “We Three”] But in his early years, Gordy was unsure whether he wanted to become a musician, or if instead he wanted to become a boxer like his hero Joe Louis — and in this way his career was paralleling that of Jackie Wilson, though he didn’t know Wilson at the time. He actually had a reasonable amount of success as a boxer, up until a point in 1950 where he saw two posters next to each other. One of them, on top, was advertising a battle of the bands between Stan Kenton and Duke Ellington, while the other was advertising a fight. He noticed two things about the posters. The first was that the bandleaders could work every night and make money, while he knew that boxers would go weeks or months between fights. And the second was that the bandleaders “were about fifty and looked twenty-three”, while the boxers “were about twenty-three and looked fifty”. He knew what he was going to do, and it wasn’t boxing. His attempts at a music career were soon put on the back-burner when he was drafted to fight in the Korean War. After he got out of the military, he had a variety of short-term jobs, but he was regarded by his family more or less as a bum — he never held down a steady job and he was a dreamer who saw himself as becoming a successful songwriter and a millionaire, but had never quite managed to make anything of his dreams. That was, at least, until he met Billy Davis, who at the time was a struggling songwriter like him, but one who had had slightly more success. Davis had managed to persuade Chess Records to sign up the Four Tops, as they were now called, and release a single with Davis credited as the songwriter: [Excerpt: The Four Tops, “Kiss Me Baby”] I say Davis was credited as the songwriter, because that song bears more than a little resemblance to the Ray Charles song from a few years earlier, “Kissa Me Baby”: [Excerpt: Ray Charles, “Kissa Me Baby”] But Chess hadn’t really been interested in the Four Tops themselves — they’d instead been interested in Billy Davis as a songwriter, and they quickly used songs he’d written for the Four Tops, and cut them instead with the Moonglows: [Excerpt: The Moonglows, “See Saw”] and the Flamingos: [Excerpt: The Flamingos, “A Kiss From Your Lips”] Neither of those had been a big hit, but the result was that Billy Davis was, in Gordy’s eyes at least, someone with a track record and connections. The two men hit it off musically as well as personally, and they decided that they’d start to collaborate on songs, along with Gordy’s sister Gwen, who was dating Davis. Anything any of them wrote on their own would also get credited to them as a group, and they’d pool whatever they got. And they were going to write songs for Jackie Wilson. Davis tried to get Wilson signed to Chess Records, but they weren’t interested in Wilson’s sound — they wanted a harder blues sound, rather than Wilson’s more soulful sound. But then Al Green took on Wilson’s management, and managed to persuade Bob Thiele at Decca Records, who had just signed Buddy Holly and the Crickets, to sign Wilson — not so much for Wilson’s own talent, though Thiele was impressed by him, but because Green promised that he could also sign LaVern Baker when her contract with Atlantic expired. As it turned out, though, Thiele would never get to sign Baker, as the day before Wilson’s contract was meant to be signed, Al Green died suddenly. More by chutzpah than anything else, Nat Tarnopol, an office boy who had been employed by Green, managed to take over Wilson’s management, just by saying that he was in charge now. He got the contracts signed, and got Wilson signed to Brunswick, the Decca subsidiary that put out rock and roll records. Over the next few years Tarnopol would manage to get himself made a co-owner of Brunswick, by using the leverage he got as Wilson’s manager. The first record Wilson put out as a solo artist was a song that Billy Davis had originally come up with when he was sixteen, inspired by a Louis Jordan song titled “Reet, Petite, and Gone”: [Excerpt: Louis Jordan, “Reet, Petite, and Gone”] Davis and the Gordys reworked his original idea into a new song called “Reet Petite”, which became Wilson’s first solo single since leaving the Dominoes. When Wilson took the song to Dick Jacobs, the arranger assigned to the session, Jacobs was impressed with the song, but became worried — he sat down with Wilson to work out what key to record the song in, and Wilson kept telling him to take it higher, and higher, and higher. Wilson couldn’t demonstrate what he meant during the preparations for the session, as he had laryngitis, but he kept insisting that he should sing it a full octave higher than Jacobs initially suggested. Jacobs went to Bob Thiele, and Thiele said it didn’t really matter, they’d only signed Wilson in order to get LaVern Baker, and just to do what he wanted. Jacobs hired some of the best session players in New York, including Panama Francis on drums and Sam “the Man” Taylor on saxophone, reasoning that if he had the best players around then the record wouldn’t end up too bad, whatever the singer sounded like. I’ll now quote some of Jacobs’ description of the session itself: “I got him behind the microphone and said a silent prayer that this aerial key he’d picked to sing in would be okay, and that this guy was a reasonable approximation of a singer. “Jackie Wilson opened his mouth and out poured what sounded like honey on moonbeams, and it was like the whole room shifted on some weird axis. The musicians, these meat and potatoes pros, stared at each other slack-jawed and goggle-eyed in disbelief; it was as if the purpose of their musical training and woodshedding and lickspitting had been to guide them into this big studio in the Pythian Temple to experience these pure shivering moments of magic. Bob Thiele and I looked at each other and just started laughing, half out of relief and half out of wonder. I never thought crow could taste so sweet.” [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Reet Petite”] The record wasn’t a massive hit in the US — it only went to number sixty-two on the pop charts — but it was a much bigger hit in the UK, reaching number six, and over here it became a much-loved classic, so much so that it went to number one for four weeks when it was reissued in 1986. At one show, where he was Dinah Washington’s support act, he rolled his “r” on the title of the song, like he did on the record, and his two front dentures went flying off. He never sang the song live again. “Reet Petite” was the start of a run of songs that Davis and the Gordys wrote for Wilson, most of them big hits and several of them classics. Most notably, there was Wilson’s second solo single, “To Be Loved”. That song was written by Berry Gordy and Davis, after Gordy found out his wife was divorcing him. Gordy went round to his sister Gwen’s house, where Davis also was, and started playing the piano, after Gwen reassured him that even though his wife had left him, he still had the love of his children and his siblings. The result was a gorgeous ballad that went to number seven on the R&B charts and number twenty-two on the pop charts: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “To Be Loved”] They also wrote what became Wilson’s biggest early it, “Lonely Teardrops”, which went to number one on the R&B charts: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Lonely Teardrops”] That had originally been written as a ballad, but was reworked into a more danceable song in the studio. Berry Gordy and Davis hated it when they first heard the finished record, but grew to appreciate it as it became a hit. However, from that point on, they started to take more interest in the production side of Wilson’s recordings, and they developed a routine where Davis and Gordy would rehearse Wilson, with Gordy on the piano, and they’d teach him the song and record a demo, which Jacobs would then use to write the arrangements — Dick Jacobs wasn’t the only arranger on Wilson’s early records, but they soon learned that he was the one who could best capture the sound they wanted. The three men would then supervise in the studio. (Gwen Gordy is also credited as a co-writer on several of the records, but her contributions tend to be played down by the others, and she doesn’t appear to have been involved in the production side. How much of that is her not contributing as much, and how much is just misogyny in how the story is told, is hard to say.) But eventually, they fell out with Nat Tarnopol, after they figured out that Tarnopol was putting songs to which he owned the copyright on the B-sides of all Wilson’s records, so he could get royalties from the sales. Gordy and Davis insisted that they should get to write the songs on both sides of the singles, so that they could get a fair share of the money — especially as they were effectively producing the sessions, without either a credit or royalties. Tarnopol disagreed — as far as he was concerned, Jackie Wilson could be a star with anyone writing his material, and he didn’t need these songwriters. Their days as Jackie Wilson’s hit factory were over. Davis and Gwen Gordy went off to found their own record label, along with Gwen and Berry’s sister Anna. Anna Records, as it was called, didn’t have the most propitious start, with its first single being a Davis and Gwen Gordy song “Hope and Pray”, performed by the Voice Masters: [Excerpt: The Voice Masters, “Hope and Pray”] But it would later put out some much more influential records. Berry, meanwhile, decided to groom another young artist for stardom — he saw a lot of possibilities in a young man called William Robinson, who everyone referred to as Smokey, and his group the Miracles. We’ll pick up on the Gordys and their business ventures in a few months’ time. Jackie Wilson continued having hits for several years, although his career dipped in the early sixties with the British Invasion. He then had a revival in 1967, when he recorded what would end up being his biggest hit, “Higher and Higher”: [Excerpt: Jackie Wilson, “Higher and Higher”] Wilson continued having occasional hits through to 1970, and remained a popular live artist for years afterwards, but then in 1975, in the middle of performing “Lonely Teardrops”, right after singing the line “my heart is crying”, he clutched his chest and collapsed. At first people thought it was part of the act, but he didn’t get back up. Cornell Gunter of the Coasters gave him mouth to mouth, and possibly saved his life, but some would question whether that was, in retrospect, a bad idea — Wilson was in a coma from which he would never fully recover. For the next eight and a half years, Wilson was institutionalised. There are some people who claim that he gained a little bit of awareness during that time, but by most accounts he was in a persistent vegetative state. At first, the music business rallied round and helped pay for his treatment — there are some reports that Jackie’s old friend Elvis Presley anonymously donated a lot of the money for his medical bills, though these obviously can’t be verified. The Detroit Spinners held a benefit concert for him, and donated $5000 of their own money. Al Green (the singer, not Wilson’s ex-manager) performed at the concert and gave ten thousand dollars, Stevie Wonder gave five thousand, Gladys Knight gave two thousand five hundred, Michael Jackson ten thousand, Richard Pryor twelve hundred. James Brown sent a one thousand dollar cheque, which bounced, but he coughed up the actual money when Jackie’s common-law wife said she was going to tell Jet magazine about the bouncing cheque. Nat Tarnopol and Brunswick Records, on the other hand, gave nothing. In fact, they did worse than nothing — they lied to Blue Cross/Blue Shield, claiming that Wilson hadn’t had any earnings from them in the year prior to his collapse, when he’d been in the studio and was owed regular union rates for recording sessions. If they’d told the truth, his medical bills would have been covered by the insurance, but they weren’t. There are many hypotheses as to why Wilson collapsed on stage that day, including that he used to drink salt water before going on stage to make himself sweat, and that this caused him to have a heart attack due to induced hypertension. But several people close to Wilson believed that his collapse was somehow caused by Nat Tarnopol having him poisoned. Wilson had been due to testify against Tarnopol in front of a grand jury ten days after his collapse, and Tarnopol was very involved with the Mafia — at one point he’d tried to have Carl Davis, who produced “Higher and Higher” killed, and it was only Davis’ friendship with another mobster with ties to Brunswick, Tommy Vastola, that saved him. Johnny Roberts, Wilson’s manager in the seventies and another mobster, actually faked his own death in the eighties and had a funeral, and then reappeared once Tarnopol himself died in 1987, while some of those close to Wilson think it’s no coincidence that Cornell Gunter, who had been there when Wilson collapsed and had always thought there was something strange about it, was murdered himself in 1990, in Las Vegas, by an unknown gunman — though if that murder did have anything to do with Wilson’s collapse, it can’t have been Tarnopol himself who ordered that murder, of course. Jackie Wilson finally died of pneumonia on January 21, 1984, after having been hospitalised since September 29, 1975. He was buried in an unmarked grave, but three years later funds were raised for a headstone, which reads “no more lonely teardrops”.

This week we have have decided to do the jazz shuffle, and by shuffle we don't mean the jazz rhythm, but the randomized play. A perfect approach to revel through unexpected pairings, daring juxtapositions and accidental non sequiturs. After all if one is careful to only add great music in an ipod or music collection, then no matter how random the selection is, it'll sound good. Enjoy jumping from John Zorn to Vinicius Cantuaria, from Don Byron to United Future Organization, from Ornette Coleman to Timi Yuro, from Towa Tei to Bill Evans or from Captain Beefheart to Lester Bowie and realizing that it all makes perfect sense. The playlist features also: Osmiza, Calvin Keys, Oliver Nelson, Keely Smith, John Fourie, Stanley Turrentine, Ben Allison, George Lewis, Bill Frisell, Lucio Dalla, Phillip Johnston, Steve Argüelles, Rodney Kendrick, Jason Moran, Skopje Connection, Leo Gasperoni 3Quietmen, Bunky Green Detailed playlist at https://spinitron.com/RFB/pl/9529864/Mondo-Jazz

Put your costume on and grab your candy bag, because Fire and Water Records presents the first spooktacular edition of A Very Daly Halloween! The brothers Neil and Ryan share memories of the Halloween season, along with thirteen of their favorite Halloween-themed songs. It's skele-TONS of fun! (That's an actual lyric!!) Track list: "This is Halloween" by Marilyn Manson "Season of the Witch" by Donovan "The Crypt Jam" by The Crypt Keeper "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds "Moondance" by Van Morrison "Monster" by Kanye West featuring Jay-Z, Nicki Minaj, and Rick Ross "Time Warp" by Little Nell, Patricia Quinn, and Richard O'Brien "The Headless Horseman" by Kay Star "That Old Black Magic" by Louis Prima & Keely Smith "I Put a Spell On You" by Screamin' Jay Hawkins "Get Down Goblin" by Jan Teri "I'm Your Boogie Man" by KC and the Sunshine Band "Thriller" by Michael Jackson Let us know what you think! Leave a comment or send an email to: RDalyPodcast@gmail.com. This podcast is a proud member of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK. Visit our WEBSITE: http://fireandwaterpodcast.com/ Follow us on TWITTER - https://twitter.com/FWPodcasts Like our FACEBOOK page - https://www.facebook.com/FWPodcastNetwork Use our HASHTAG online: #FWPodcasts Or subscribe via iTunes as part of the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST: http://itunes.apple.com/podcast/the-fire-and-water-podcast/id463855630 Support FIRE AND WATER RECORDS and the FIRE AND WATER PODCAST NETWORK on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/fwpodcasts Additional music this episode: "Trick or Treat for Halloween" by The Mellowmen. Thanks for listening and Happy Holidays!

欢迎来到「剩余价值」全新上线的不定期更新小节目「剩余榨值」。在第四期节目中，我们从“穿衣自由”的话题延伸开去，和嘉宾小鹿一起聊了聊女生（以及男生）的毛发自由。 在本期节目中你将会听到： 善用植物比喻的小鹿，如何形容人的毛发？ 小鹿聊脱腿毛、眉毛和小胡子的经历 毛发浓密是男性气质的表征吗？ 享受了腋毛自由的适野如何对抗羞耻感？ 柔软光滑是男性对女性身体的想象吗？ 如果伴侣要求对方脱毛，该不该承担费用？ 在欧美文化中，女性保持无毛状态是sexually active的表现？ 当权力企图控制你的毛发的时候，它已经离你非常切近了 本期节目中提到的电影和书： 《一千零一夜之梦中人》 《欲望都市》（电影版） 《钢琴教师》 鲁迅：《从胡须说到牙齿》 本期节目中使用的音乐： How Are Ya’ Fixed For Love, by Frank Sinatra & Keely Smith, The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel Season 2 OST

Bobby Morris is a Hall of Fame drummer and percussionist for Louis Prima, Keely Smith, Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis, Jr., and many more. Bobby also recorded with and was the musical conductor for Elvis Presley, Barbara Streisand, and Judy Garland. Bobby is also an important figure on the business side of the industry, as he ran the successful Bobby Morris Agency, Inc. from his own building in downtown Las Vegas and was involved in management, booking and entertainment direction of many of the major hotels and venues on the Strip. His new autobiography is ‘My Las Vegas’ and tells the incredible life story of a music legend both behind the drums and in the Vegas music business entertainment industry. Get Bobby’s book now on Hudson Music at https://hudsonmusic.com/product/my-las-vegas/ Thanks for listening! The MOTR Show is the audio podcast for Musicians On The Record with David Ward.  Subscribe now to be updated on the latest episodes! You can also watch all our interviews on our YouTube channel: http://www.youtube.com/c/MusiciansOnTheRecord?sub_confirmation=1 and our website at www.MusiciansOnTheRecord.com See the MOTR Music and Tech Gear I Use and Recommend.   https://www.amazon.com/shop/influencer-6860b8b4 See More MOTR! -On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MusiciansOnTheRecord/ -On YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/c/MusiciansOnTheRecord?sub_confirmation=1 -On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/musiciansontherecord/ -On Twitter: https://twitter.com/davidwardMOTR -On the Web: www.MusiciansOnTheRecord.com See all my drum covers on my Dave Damage Drums YouTube channel  http://bit.ly/DaveDamageDrums Never miss another MOTR Interview again!  Sign up for our free newsletter at http://bit.ly/MOTRNewsletter   ************************************** Music: http://www.purple-planet.com DISCLAIMER: This podcast description contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.

Still on the vacation side of the fence for July and August. In this episode, I want to talk about how you can have a back-up plan to the back-up plan and how things can still go wrong. I also mention about acceptance. Because there will be times that you will do the best that you can do and it will not work. You will have an attack. Accept that it has happened and transition to taking care of yourself and doing better next time. The music in the episode is by Purple Planet at http://www.purple-planet.com. If you need support contact the National Suicide Prevention Lifeline at 1-800-273-8255, the Trevor Project at 1-866-488-7386 or text “START” to 741-741. Resources Mentioned:  Rhiannon Picton-James article in the New York Times Please Stop Merchandising Mental Illness. Louie Prima and Keely Smith in a spirited rendition of I A'int Go Nobody. National Alliance on Mental Health page about anxiety disorders, treatment and support. From 2017 on Anxiety.org post about the Link Between Experiences of Racism and Stress and Anxiety for Black Americans: A Mindfulness and Acceptance-Based Coping Approach Verywell Mind post on Tips for Traveling while Panic Disorder and Anxiety. Allie Mason of the Health Mason blog on planning for travel called Tips for Anxious Travelers. Lauren at Never Ending Journey has 2014 write up about how anxiety/panic disorders affected her life and how she transitioned from being home bound to a travel blogger.   Disclaimer:  Links to other sites are provided for information purposes only and do not constitute endorsements.  Always seek the advice of a qualified health provider with questions you may have regarding a medical or mental health disorder. This blog and podcast is intended for informational and educational purposes only. Nothing in this program is intended to be a substitute for professional psychological, psychiatric or medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment.

Norfolk native, Dorothy Jacqueline Keely, better known as Grammy Award-winning American jazz and pop music singer, Keely Smith, died this past December 2017. Smith performed and recorded in the 1950s with then-husband Louis Prima, and throughout the 1960s as a solo performer. This week in Mal’s World, Mal Vincent recalls knowing the singer, how she got discovered by Prima in Virginia Beach, and where she enjoyed coming back home to visit.

In the second installment of our Food and History series, seniors Keely Smith and Ann Potter make biscuits while they interview renowned Southern chef Scott Peacock about his history with Southern food and how it led him to oral history. This episode features Scott Peacock, Keely Smith, and Ann Potter. The music in this episode was made and written by Samford student Kerry Joiner. Find more about our program at www.samford.edu/departments/oral-history/default. You can find us on social media on Twitter (@su_stori), Instagram (@samford_stori), and Facebook.

Live from the Punchline in San Francisco, Greg kvetches on Kurt Russell, Keith Wilder and Keely Smith.

On this week's episode we talk about a beloved Oakland pianoman, a double suicide, one of the last pop vocalists from the 50s and Tom Waits' saxophone player.

Photo: Professor Heinz Wolff Matthew Bannister on Professor Heinz Wolff, the bioengineer who was known to millions of TV viewers as the presenter of "The Great Egg Race". Aline, Countess of Romanones, the model and socialite who wrote best selling books based on her experiences of spying on the Nazis during the war. Tony Whitten, the passionate conservationist who had eleven species named after him. Fritz Lustig who worked as a wartime secret listener, eavesdropping on the conversations of German prisoners of war. And the singer Keely Smith who, with her husband Louis Prima, became one of the most successful Las Vegas acts of the 1950s.

Kurt Elling is on Don’s playlist for this week’s Radio Munson along with Louis Armstrong, Lionel Hampton, Keely Smith, the Glenn Miller Orchestra, plus Wynton Marsalis and friends with a rousing version of “Go Tell It On the Mountain".

The Style of Sovereignty. What it looks like to drain the Republican side of the swamp. Senators Flake and Corker make an exit, media figures express great anguish. Populist nationalists appear to be taking over the GOP, but Gov. John Kasich denies the present reality. Vice President Mike Pence comes to Denver, offers high praise for Sen. Cory Gardner and Rep. Mike Coffman. But do they truly deserve it? Meanwhile, Mike Huckabee criticizes Robert Mueller, and as the Russian Narrative boomerangs back on the Democrats, we replay the hysterical Leftist reactions to Don Trump Jr.'s meeting with Natalia Veselnitskaya. Plus, we continue delving into Fusion GPS and the Trump Dossier via the pedigree of former British spy Christopher Steele, who trained under Sir John Scarlett, the individual who helped bring Britain into the Iraq War with his claims that Saddam Hussein had powerful WMD's ready to deploy. Same networks used by the neoconservative Washington Free Beacon as connected to Iraq War propagandist Bill Kristol? More Deep State details. With Listener Calls & Music via Chris Stapleton, Keely Smith, George Jones and The Beatles.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Singer Gary Williams celebrates the Legends of Las Vegas with two hours of great music and chat. Originally broadcast on The Wireless for Age UK for anyone who remembers the great David Jacobs and Desmond Carrington from BBC Radio 2 and enjoys today's Clare Teal, Don Black and Leo Green. If you're into easy listening, bossa nova, swing, big band and the crooners like Dean Martin, Nat 'King' Cole, Ella Fitzgerald and Perry Como you'll love this show. This week's featured artiste is Keely Smith.

Tonight you will hear multiple TRUE behind the scenes road stories, never heard before, for the first time told here by Alan Dale himself about: Buddy Rich, Louie Bellson, Pearl Bailey, Frank Sinatra, Tommy Dorsey, Mel Torme, Sam Butera, Louis Prima, Keely Smith and many , many more and even Sam "Momo" Giancana, boss of Chicago. You simply cannot miss this show!

Randy Johnson is the playwright / director of the 2016 Tony Award nominated musical A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN which has toured the country since inception in 2011 breaking box office records at almost every venue.  Randy's work has also been seen across the country and worldwide  in such venues as The Savoy Theatre in London’s West End, Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall, The Apollo Theatre, Wembley Arena, Grand Ole Opry, The Ryman Auditorium, Off Broadway, Regional Theatres across the United States and Canada, Las Vegas and Arena’s worldwide. As a published playwright and director he has created theatrical musical portraits of such icons as Janis Joplin, Elvis Presley. Louis Prima and Keely Smith, and Conway Twitty. Randy is the original producer of ALWAYS, PATSY CLINE which under his aegis became one of the most produced musicals of all time (American Theatre Magazine). He co-produced the West Coast Premiere of Larry Kramer's THE NORMAL HEART starring Richard Dreyfuss and Kathy Bates. He has worked with some of our greatest talents of our time including Carly Simon, Barbra Streisand, Liza Minnelli, Melissa Manchester. Audrey Hepburn, and Katharine Hepburn. Not to mention the remarkable diversity of his direction of The Las Vegas production and world premiere of Mike Tyson’s UNDISPUTED TRUTH and staging of Pope Benedict’s final appearances in New York City.   His groundbreaking production of ELVIS THE CONCERT that reunited Elvis (via video) and his original musicians has been seen in venues worldwide and on PBS for 16 years. He executive produced the original cast albums of A NIGHT WITH JANIS JOPLIN and ALWAYS PATSY CLINE. His projects have broken box office records, earned a 2014 Tony Award nomination, made the Guinness Book of World Records, and have consistently surpassed expectations. Never one to stay in just one medium of entertainment he continues to explore and create new horizons for himself and his audience. His latest musical SHOUT , SISTER, SHOUT!   Sister Rosetta Tharpe - The Gospel of Rock ,  The Spirit of The Blues .will premiere summer 2017 at the Pasadena Playhouse. 

REMEMBERING married show business couples working together, including Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme, Louis Prima and Keely Smith, Harry James and Betty Grable, Ozzie and Harriet Nelson, Roy Rogers and Dale Evans and others.

Host Deardra Shuler talks to legendary singer Gloria Lynne's lyricist and friend Ann Rubino, singer Sandra Y. Johnson and musician friends Jimmy Sabini, Nat Adderly, Jr and John di Martino about the life and times of balladeer, jazz singer and R&B vocalist, Gloria Lynne. Each discusses their personal experience with Ms Lynne.  Ann Rubino met Gloria Lynne in the 1980s and began a collaboration co-writing such songs as "Lend Me Yesterday," "Love Is Blind," ""I Shall Live," Come Get Your Share," and on the grammy nominated album "A Time For Love."  Arranger, composer, singer and pianist Jimmy Sabini has performed with the likes of Connie Francis, George Benson, Frankie Valle,Gloria Lynne and Vaughn Monroe.  Jimmy is versitile in his musical style ranging from Frank Sinatra, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Barry White et al, to the oldies but goodies. He includes disco, rock and Latin music in his musical repetoire as well. Jimmy has his own recording studio where he produces and records for himself and others. Jazz pianist John di Martino is a sought after musical director who has recorded with Houston Person, Taj Mahal, David "Fat Head" Newman, et al.  A skilled pianist, he has accompanied Jon Hendricks, Billy Eckstine, Keely Smith, Gloria Lynne, Grady Tate and others.  He was a longtime member of Ray Barretto's New World Spirit and is featured on Barretto's recording "Portraits In Jazz and Clave."  Sandra Y Johnson won 2nd place at the Billie Holliday Vocal Competition. Her CDs include "Steppin Out" and "What Are You Doing The Rest of Your Life." She has sampled Gloria Lynne's music. Nat Adderly Jr is a pop and R&B music arranger and pianist who was the music director for Luther Vandross tours and co-songwriter on most of Vandross's albums.

May 9, 2016 Perhaps best known as Conan O'Brien's saxman for the last 23 years today's guest, Jerry Vivino, shares stories about his foundation on the clarinet and hisparents profound influence on his life and career.  A short lived xylophone career, baseball, Roy Rogers, his childhood teacher Ray Gerrard, and his recently acquired circular breathing technique are all discussed through-out this captivating interview.  Jerry has been with Conan since the beginning, and is currently a member of the Basic Cable Band, the house band for the TBS late night program Conan.  Jerry has performed with Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons, Joan Rivers, Rodney Dangerfield, Tony Bennett, Ray Charles, Bruce Springsteen, James Taylor, Son Seals, Paul Shaffer, Al Kooper, Dion, James Brown, Phoebe Snow, Donald Fagen, Dr. John, Branford Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis and the legendary Keely Smith, to name just a few. 

This episode was pre-recorded for airing on KWTF Sonoma County Radio for March 31, 2015. In this episode, Spilling Rubies turns 21 episodes! So we decided, since we are now of legal drinking age in California, to celebrate all things drunk! Please enjoy music, poetry and more...Songs played:My Old Drunk Friend by Freakwater (1993)Drunkard's Special by Coley Jones (1929)I'm Not Drinking, Hm Hm by Ed's Redeeming Qualities (1991)Between the Bars by Madeleine Peyroux (2004)Drinking You In by The Duke Spirit (2003)Sober Driver by Dengue Fever (2013)Oh, Gin [demo version] by The Velvet Underground (1970)What Good Can Drinkin' Do? [live] by Janis Joplin (1962)Drunken Angel by Lucinda Williams (1998)One Mint Julep by Louis Prima & Keely Smith (1958)What's the Use of Gettin' Sober? by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (1946)You Better Quit Drinking Shine by Rev. I.B. Ware and his wife and son (1928) from American Primitive Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36)Drunk Kid Catholic by Bright Eyes [aka Conor Oberst] (2001)The Drinks We Drank Last Night by Azure Ray (2003)Drinker's Peace by Guided by Voices [aka Robert Pollard] (1990)Poems read:Compulsively Allergic to the Truth by Jeffrey McDaniel (2008)Be Drunk by Charles BaudelaireThe Summer House by Tony Connor (1978)A Drinking Song by W.B. Yeats (1912)Don’t forget to stay connected on all the social media places!Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, 8Tracks, Pinterest, SoundCloudPlease feel free to rate and subscribe and do all the things the robots like to push us up the ladder on I-Tunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/spilling-rubies/id928952261

This episode was pre-recorded for airing on KWTF Sonoma County Radio for March 31, 2015. In this episode, Spilling Rubies turns 21 episodes! So we decided, since we are now of legal drinking age in California, to celebrate all things drunk! Please enjoy music, poetry and more...Songs played:My Old Drunk Friend by Freakwater (1993)Drunkard's Special by Coley Jones (1929)I'm Not Drinking, Hm Hm by Ed's Redeeming Qualities (1991)Between the Bars by Madeleine Peyroux (2004)Drinking You In by The Duke Spirit (2003)Sober Driver by Dengue Fever (2013)Oh, Gin [demo version] by The Velvet Underground (1970)What Good Can Drinkin' Do? [live] by Janis Joplin (1962)Drunken Angel by Lucinda Williams (1998)One Mint Julep by Louis Prima & Keely Smith (1958)What's the Use of Gettin' Sober? by Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five (1946)You Better Quit Drinking Shine by Rev. I.B. Ware and his wife and son (1928) from American Primitive Vol. I: Raw Pre-War Gospel (1926-36)Drunk Kid Catholic by Bright Eyes [aka Conor Oberst] (2001)The Drinks We Drank Last Night by Azure Ray (2003)Drinker's Peace by Guided by Voices [aka Robert Pollard] (1990)Poems read:Compulsively Allergic to the Truth by Jeffrey McDaniel (2008)Be Drunk by Charles BaudelaireThe Summer House by Tony Connor (1978)A Drinking Song by W.B. Yeats (1912)Don’t forget to stay connected on all the social media places!Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, 8Tracks, Pinterest, SoundCloudPlease feel free to rate and subscribe and do all the things the robots like to push us up the ladder on I-Tunes at https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/spilling-rubies/id928952261

Swinging episode featuring Sharkey Bonano, Louis Prima and Sam Butera, Sicilians born in New Orleans that had left an indelible musical imprint in America and beyond. Much love, Antonino. Louis Prima - Bourbon Street Blues Louis Prima with Sam Butera And The Witnesses ‎– Just a Gigolo Sam Butera And The Witnesses ‎– Around The World Louis Prima And Keely Smith With Sam Butera And The Witnesses ‎– Hey, Boy Hey, Girl Sam Butera And The Witnesses ‎– I Love Paris Sharkey Bonano and His Band - That Da Da Strain Louis And Keely - Bei Mir Bist Du Schon Louis Prima, Keely Smith With Sam Butera And The Witnesses ‎– Robin Hood - Oh Babe Louis Prima with Sam Butera And The Witnesses ‎– Fever Louis Prima - Buona Sera

Cole Porter's KISS ME, KATE is wunderbar from start to finish, so enjoy this 1948 masterpiece with us, featuring Alfred Drake, Patricia Morison, Marin Mazzie & Co. joined by Frank Sinatra, Jo Stafford, Keely Smith.

Or for white girls who've considered cabaret when the rainbow is enuf. Mike and Pat visit the altars of four pale goddesses of song – but which ones get the sacrificial goats? June Christy – SOMETHING COOL; Keely Smith – SPOTLIGHT ON KEELY SMITH; Doris Day and Andre Previn – DUET; Lee Wiley – NIGHT IN MANHATTAN.

Hoy escuchamos una sarcástica canción que el italiano Rodolfo de Ángelis compuso y grabó hace 78 años, y que permanece de plena actualidad. Se titula 'Ma cos'è questa crisi', y dice cosas como: 'Un rico avaro y viejo dice: 'La cosa no marcha. Lo veo todo negro. ¡Ah, la crisis!' ¿Pero qué crisis? Saque la cartera, ponga en marcha sus acciones y verá como la crisis pasa. Todas las naciones se lamentan por igual. Conferencias, reuniones, siempre hablando de lo mismo: '¡Ah, la crisis!' ¿Qué crisis? Renuncien a la parte del león y quizá la crisis acabe. El tendero contempla la caja, que antes rebosaba de dinero. '¡Ah, la crisis!' Pero ¿qué crisis? Conténtese con ganar lo que es justo y verá cómo la crisis termina'. Tratando de huir de la crisis, hay quien practica la numerología y juega a la lotería. Dos canciones sobre números son 'What's you number?', de 1940, por la orquesta de Count Basie, y 'Numbers boogie', grabada en 1949 por el niño de diez años 'Sugar Chile' Robinson. Llegado por fin el otoño, escuchamos dos piezas distintas pero tituladas igual: 'Early autumn' (Comienzos de otoño). Una es un clásico instrumental de jazz grabado en 1948 por la orquesta de Woody Herman. La otra la había grabado dos años la orquesta de Claude Thornhill, con la cantante Fran Warren. También otoñales son 'Las hojas muertas', grabada en inglés por Keely Smith en 1957, la 'Chanson d'automne' (Canción de otoño), de Verlaine, que Charles Trenet grabó en 1941, 'Trompeta triste', grabada en 1940 por la orquesta de Luis Rovira y el vals 'Rosa de otoño', grabado en 1946 por la orquesta de Francisco Canaro, con la cantante Nelly Omar. Terminamos con Pérez Prado y su 'Mambo número 8', de 1950, y otra canción humorística italiana, 'Pitágoras', que Lolita Garrido grabó en España en 1961. Escuchar audio

Gary and Joy visit the bar that spurred Podcast #7-Speakeasy for a very special extended LIVE podcast. Celebrating Joy's birthday they are joined by the wonderful Lori (a/k/a Lola) for some adult libations and chat that is inappropriate for the kiddies, including a dissertation on female sexuality, Keely Smith, health, hypochondria, aging, spirituality and getting kicked out of bars. Run time: 54:55

Gary and Joy have a special love of Las Vegas and have had some singular experiences during their trips to the land of dollar slots and free liquor. Encounters with strange women in elevators, on buses and on stage - Debbie, we're looking at you babe. Hear about their near miss with Keely Smith and an encounter with an donkey escapee from the Island of Doctor Moreau Petting Zoo who was born for porn.

You know what it's like when the object of your affections finally looks your way. Yeah, you know. And so does Mikey of http://mikeypod.com fame. xoxo, Mama Spell http://mamarama.net This podcast features The State Song of Louisiana And music from Keely Smith and those nice Gershwin Brothers