"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"

Uploaded on Jan 1, 2009

 Megathefox

From the old cartoon series.

"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" is a song written by Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville) in 1958. Although it was written and sung by Bagdasarian (in the form of a high-pitched chipmunk voice), the singing credits are given to The Chipmunks, a fictitious singing group consisting of three chipmunks by the names of Alvin, Simon, and Theodore. The song won three Grammy Awards in 1958: Best Comedy Performance, Best Children's Recording, and Best Engineered Record (non-classical).^[1]

Chart performance and sales

The song was very successful, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 Pop Singles chart, becoming The Chipmunks' first (and only), as well as David Seville's second and final, No. 1 single. It has the distinction of being the only Christmas record to reach No. 1 on the same chart. The single sold 4.5 million copies in seven weeks, according to Ross Bagdasarian, Jr.^[2]

Ironically, before the song's success, "The Chipmunk Song" was featured on American Bandstand's "Rate-A-Record" segment and received the lowest possible rating of 35 across the board.^[3]

Between 1959 and 1962, the single managed to re-enter the Hot 100, peaking at No. 41 in 1959, No. 45 in 1960, and No. 39 in 1962. (Starting in 1963, Billboard would list re-current Christmas songs on a separate chart.) The song managed to chart on the Hot Digital Songs for the first time in 2005, peaking at No. 35 on that chart.

"The Chipmunk Song" is the last Christmas/holiday song to reach No. 1 on any US singles record chart totaling performance of all available records.

With the release and popularity of the film Alvin and the Chipmunks in December 2007, "The Chipmunk Song" re-entered the Billboard Hot 100 at No. 70.

At the same time, a remixed version of the song that appears on the Chipmunks' 2007 album (and soundtrack to the film) Alvin and the Chipmunks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, peaked at No. 66 and was credited as "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) (2007 Version)".

As of December 25, 2011, Nielsen SoundScan estimated total sales of two versions of the digital track by The Chipmunks at 867,000 downloads, placing it third on the list of all-time best-selling Christmas/holiday digital singles in SoundScan history (behind Mariah Carey's 1994 hit single "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and Trans-Siberian Orchestra's 1996 track "Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24").^[4

"The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)"
Picture sleeve of 1959 reissue by Liberty Records (F-55250)
Single by The Chipmunks and David Seville
from the album Let's All Sing with The Chipmunks
B-side	"Almost Good" (David Seville) "Alvin's Harmonica"
Released	1958 (U.S.)
Format	7-inch
Genre	Christmas, novelty, pop
Length	2:17
Label	Liberty F-55168 Liberty F-55250
Writer(s)	Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville)
Producer	Ross Bagdasarian, Sr. (a.k.a. David Seville)
The Chipmunks and David Seville singles chronology
"Witch Doctor" (1958) "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late)" (1958)

Adaptation in other media

The song has been adapted in The Alvin Show as one of its musical segments. The short depicts Alvin looking through various presents to find a hula hoop, even as he reluctantly sings along with the other Chipmunks.

 At the end of the song, Seville rewards Simon and Theodore with toy planes and Alvin with his hula hoop. The subsequent argument about singing the song again ends abruptly with their Christmas tree falling over, and Seville and the Chipmunks emerge from the mess to wish the viewers a merry Christmas.

The song was featured in A Chipmunk Christmas. A depressed Alvin sings along flatly at first (much like the 1958 original), but then leaves the studio to give away his harmonica to a sick boy. As Seville starts to resume recording the song without Alvin, Alvin returns in the nick of time to sing the song with the others.

The song was featured in the 1980s and 1990s version of Alvin and the Chipmunks, in the episode "Merry Christmas, Mr. Carroll." In that version, Alvin is taken by Dave (as the Spirit of Christmas Past) to his old house, a cabin lodge where he saw Dave and younger versions of himself, Simon and Theodore.

There, it was revealed that Dave wrote the song (called "The Christmas Song" in this episode), because it was inspired by the gifts that the young Chipmunks gave him (which was an eraser, a pencil and a piece of paper).

The song was featured in the film Alvin and the Chipmunks. There were multiple versions of the song in that film, the original with Ross Bagdasarian, Sr.'s voice, a new one with Jason Lee's voice as David Seville, and a rock mix.

The original recording has been used in the feature films, Rocky IV (1985), Donnie Brasco (1997) and Almost Famous (2000).

It can also be found on the 2-disc Christmas compilation album Now That's What I Call Christmas! 4.

 Different versions

In most subsequent releases since the song's original release, the first verse on the original recording has been re-recorded, sounding more exaggerated than the original release, which contained "Almost Good" as the flip side. There is also a version with the Chipmunks and rock group Canned Heat which was first issued as a single in 1968, which is a bonus track on the 2007 re-release of the Chipmunks' first Christmas album, Christmas with The Chipmunks, this version is the official remix of the original version of the song.

On the Solid Gold Chipmunks: 30th Anniversary Edition greatest hits album (1988), this song appears, but with an altered bridge and ending. Instead of Dave yelling at Alvin for how flat he is in the first verse, Alvin instead appeals that he has asked for the hula-hoop for years but has never gotten it. Dave answers by telling him to finish the song, and they'll discuss it later.

After they finish, Dave tells Alvin that something came in for him. It s the hula-hoop that he has been asking for, and the song fades out with Alvin now rattling off a long list of what else he desires for Christmas. The Solid Gold Chipmunks album, Here's Looking at Me album, and The Chipmunk's 35th Birthday Party (1993) are currently the only known albums that contains this version.

There are two versions of the song that both feature Kenny G on the album A Very Merry Chipmunk (1995), that features a more jazz version of the song with Kenny G playing the saxophone during the song, the first is the long version with Alvin complaining about Kenny G and his success as a jazz saxophone player and him helping Alvin to learn to play the sax, the second version called "The Chipmunk Song (Christmas Don't Be Late) (Reprise)" is the first version but with the talking removed and just the song with Kenny G playing the sax and the Chipmunks singing the song.

There was also a version with the Chipmunks and CCM singer, Jaci Velasquez in which Alvin fell in love with Jaci and changed the line "Hula Hoop" into "Date With You".
On the album Disney's Merry Christmas Carols, Chip 'n' Dale sing "The Chipmunk Song" with Donald Duck in the background.

In 2008, Rosie Thomas released A Very Rosie Christmas, which featured a slower tempo contemplative rendering of "Christmas Don’t Be Late". Christian rock band Jars of Clay did a rendition of the song during the last night of the Love Came Down Tour '08 event.^{[citation needed]} Powder did an alternative rock version with electric guitars for 2001's A Very Special Christmas 5.

Source: Wikipedia

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Eurythmics~ Walking In a Winter Wonderland"

Uploaded on Dec 23, 2009

 volvo24000

Walking in a Winter Wonderland -Eurythmics- with Lyrics

Eurythmics were a British music duo consisting of members Annie Lennox and David A. Stewart, now disbanded but known to reunite from time to time. Stewart and Lennox were both previously in the bands The Catch and The Tourists.

Their musical style ranged from new wave and synthpop to pop rock and soft rock. Eurythmics originally came together in 1980 and disbanded in 1990. They reunited in 1999 and split again in 2005. The duo released their first album, In the Garden, in 1981 to little fanfare, but went on to achieve global success with their second album Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), released in 1983.

The title track was a worldwide hit, topping the chart in various countries including the US.
Eurythmics went on to release a string of hit singles and albums before they split in 1990.

By this time, Stewart had already embarked on a parallel music career and was also a sought-after record producer, while Lennox began a solo recording career in 1992 with her debut album Diva.

After almost a decade apart, Eurythmics reformed in the late 1990s to record their ninth album, Peace which was released in late 1999.

They reunited again in 2005 to release the single "I've Got a Life", as part of a new Eurythmics compilation album, Ultimate Collection. The duo have won a number of awards throughout their history, including an MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist in 1984, the Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal in 1987, the Brit Award for Outstanding Contribution to Music in 1999, and in 2005, were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame. The Eurythmics have sold an estimated 75 million records worldwide.^[1]

Eurythmics
Eurythmics at Rock am Ring in Nürburgring, Germany, 1987.
Background information
Origin	Sunderland (England) and Aberdeen (Scotland)
Genres	Synthpop Dance-rock New Wave Pop rock
Years active	1980–1990, 1999–2005
Labels	RCA, Arista
Associated acts	The Catch, The Tourists, SuperHeavy
Website	http://www.eurythmics.com/
Past members
Annie Lennox David A. Stewart

History

1976–1982: Formation and In the Garden

Lennox and Stewart met in 1975 in a restaurant in London, where Lennox worked at that time.^[2] They first played together in 1976 in the punk rock band The Catch. After releasing one single as The Catch in 1977, the band evolved into The Tourists. Stewart and Lennox were also romantically involved. The Tourists achieved modest commercial success, but the experience was reportedly an unhappy one.

 Personal and musical tensions existed within the group, whose main songwriter was Peet Coombes, and legal wranglings happened with the band's management, publishers and record labels. Lennox and Stewart felt the fixed band line-up was an inadequate vehicle to explore their experimental creative leanings and decided their next project should be much more flexible and free from artistic compromise.

They were interested in creating pop music, but wanted freedom to experiment with electronics and the av-ant-garde. Calling themselves Eurythmics (after the pedagogical exercise system that Lennox had encountered as a child), they decided to keep themselves as the only permanent members and songwriters, and involve others in the collaboration "on the basis of mutual compatibility and availability."

The duo signed to RCA Records. At this time, Lennox and Stewart also decided to discontinue their romantic relationship. During the period that Lennox and Stewart were in The Tourists, and later as Eurythmics, they were managed by Kenny Smith and Sandra Turnbull of Hyper Kinetics Ltd.

They recorded their first album in Cologne with Conny Plank (who had produced the later Tourists sessions). This resulted in the album In the Garden, released in October 1981. The album mixed psychedelic, krautrock and electropop influences, and featured contributions from Holger Czukay and Jaki Liebezeit (of Can), drummer Clem Burke (of Blondie), Robert Görl (of Deutsch Amerikanische Freundschaft), and flautist Tim Wheater.

A couple of the songs were co-written by guitarist Roger Pomphrey (now a TV director). The album received an indifferent critical reception and was not a commercial success (though the debut single "Never Gonna Cry Again" made the UK charts at No. 63).^[3] Lennox and Stewart then activated their new Eurythmics mode of operation by touring the record as a duo, accompanied by backing tracks and electronics, carted around the country themselves in a horse-box.

During 1982 the duo retreated to Chalk Farm in London, and used a bank loan to establish a small 8-track studio above a picture framing factory, giving them freedom to record without having to pay expensive studio fees.

They began to employ much more electronics in their music, collaborating with Raynard Faulkner and Adam Williams, recording many tracks in the studio and playing live using various line-up permutations. However, the three new singles they released that year ("This Is the House", "The Walk" and "Love Is a Stranger") all performed badly on initial release in the UK.

Although their mode of operation had given them the creative freedom they desired, commercial success was still eluding them, and the responsibility of running so many of their affairs personally (down to transporting their own stage equipment) took its toll on both of them. Lennox apparently suffered at least one nervous breakdown during this period,^[4] while Stewart was hospitalized with a collapsed lung.^[5]

1983–1984: Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This) and Touch

Eurythmics' commercial breakthrough came with their second album, Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This), released in January 1983.

The successful title track featured a dark and powerful sequenced synth bass line and a dramatic video that introduced the now orange crew-cut Lennox to audiences. The song reached no.2 on the UK Singles Chart,^[3] becoming one of the year's biggest sellers, and later topped the US charts.

The band's fortunes changed immensely from this moment on, and Lennox quickly became a pop icon, gracing the covers of numerous magazines including Rolling Stone. Their previous single, "Love Is a Stranger", was also re-released and became another chart success.

The video for the song saw Lennox in many different character guises, a concept she would employ in various subsequent videos. The album's working title was Invisible Hands (as was a track left off the album), inspiring the name of UK independent company Invisible Hands Music - known for releasing music by Hugh Cornwell, Mick Karn and Hazel O'Connor. The album also featured a cover of the 1968 Sam & Dave hit "Wrap It Up", performed as a duet between Lennox and Green Gartside of Scritti Politti.

The duo quickly recorded a follow-up album, Touch, which was released in November 1983. It became the duo's first no.1 album in the UK, and also spawned three major hit singles.

 "Who's That Girl?" was a top 3 hit in the UK,^[3] the video depicting Lennox as both a blonde chanteuse and as a gender-bending Elvis Presley clone. It also featured cameo appearances by Hazel O'Connor, Bananarama (including Stewart's future wife, Siobhan Fahey), Kate Garner of Haysi Fantayzee, Thereza Bazar of Dollar, Jay Aston and Cheryl Baker of Bucks Fizz, Kiki Dee, Jacquie O'Sullivan and the gender-bending pop singer Marilyn, who would go on to musical success of his own that same year.

The upbeat, calypso-flavoured "Right by Your Side" showed a different side of Eurythmics altogether and also made the Top 10, and "Here Comes the Rain Again" (number eight in the UK,^[3] number four in the U.S.) was an orchestral/synth ballad (with orchestrations by Michael Kamen).

In 1984 RCA released Touch Dance, a mini-album of remixes of four of the tracks from Touch, aimed at the club market. The remixes were by prominent New York producers Francois Kevorkian and John "Jellybean" Benitez.

Also released in 1984 was Eurythmics' soundtrack album 1984 (For the Love of Big Brother). Virgin Films had contracted the band to provide a soundtrack for Michael Radford's modern film adaptation of George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four. However, Radford later said that the music had been "foisted" on his film against his wishes, and that Virgin had replaced most of Dominic Muldowney's original orchestral score with the Eurythmics soundtrack (including the song "Julia", which was heard during the end credits).

Nevertheless, the record was presented as "music derived from the original score of Eurythmics for the Michael Radford film version of Orwell's 1984". Eurythmics charged that they had been misled by the film's producers as well,^[6] and the album was withdrawn from the market for a period while matters were litigated.

The album's first single, "Sexcrime (Nineteen Eighty-Four)", was a top 5 hit in the UK,^[3] Australia and across Europe, and a major dance success in the United States, but its supposedly suggestive title (actually taken from the newspeak phrase used in Orwell's book) resulted in many U.S. pop radio stations refusing to play the track.

Annie Lennox performing during Revenge Tour in 1986

.

Dave Stewart at Rock am Ring in Germany, 1987.

Stewart and Lennox performing on The Today show in 2005.

^{Source: Wikipedia} 

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Johnny Mathis~ "Do You Hear What I Hear?"

Uploaded on Dec 21, 2011
WacDanaladis

John Royce "Johnny" Mathis (born in Gilmer, Texas, on September 30, 1935) is an American singer of popular music. Starting his career with singles of standard music, he became highly popular as an album artist, with several dozen of his albums achieving gold or platinum status, and 73 making the Billboard charts and Guinness World Record music chart historian Paul Gambaccini, confirms "Johnny Mathis has sold well over 350 million records worldwide".

One of the last and most popular in a line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s, Johnny Mathis concentrated on the romantic side of jazz and pop music standards for the adult contemporary audience of the 1960s and 1970s. Mathis later made it big in the market for music albums, where a dozen of his LPs hit gold or platinum.

While he concentrated on theme-oriented albums of show tunes and traditional favorites during the 1960s, he began incorporating soft rock by the 1970s and remained a popular concert attraction well into the 1990s.
Unsurprisingly, given his emphasis on long sustained notes and heavy vibrato, Mathis studied with an opera coach prior to his teenage years, and he was nearly lured into the opera singing profession.^[1]
  

Johnny Mathis
Johnny Mathis in concert at the Chumash Casino Resort in Santa Ynez, California, on May 25, 2006.
Background information
Birth name	John Royce Mathis
Born	September 30, 1935 (age 77)
Origin	Gilmer, Texas
Genres	Pop music, soul music, easy listening
Occupations	Singer, songwriter, actor
Years active	1956–present
Labels	Columbia, Mercury
Website	JohnnyMathis.com

 

Early life

Mathis was born in Gilmer, Texas, the fourth of seven children of Clem Mathis and his wife, Mildred Boyd.^[2]

This family moved to San Francisco, California, settling on 32nd Ave. in the Richmond District, where young Johnny grew up. His father had worked in vaudeville, and when he saw his son's talent, he bought an old upright piano for $25.00 and encouraged his efforts.

Mathis began learning songs and routines from his father. His first known song was "My Blue Heaven."^[3] Mathis started singing and dancing for visitors at home, and at school and church functions.^[4]
When Johnny was age 13, a voice teacher named Connie Cox accepted him as her student in exchange for doing work around her house.^[5]

Johnny studied with Ms. Cox for six years, learning vocal scales and exercises, voice production, classical, and operatic singing. He is one of the few popular singers who received years of professional voice training that included opera. The first band Mathis sang with was formed by his fellow high school student Merl Saunders.

Mathis eulogized him in October 2008 at his funeral, to thank him for giving him his first chance as a singer.
Johnny Mathis was also a star athlete at George Washington High School in San Francisco. He was a high jumper and a hurdler, and he played on the basketball team. In 1954, he enrolled at the San Francisco State University on an athletic scholarship intending to become an English teacher and a physical education teacher.^[5]
 

Music career

Mathis was spotted at a jam session by Helen Noga, the former head cocktail waitress and co-owner of the Black Hawk Club in San Francisco and The DownBeat Club along with her husband John, and Guido Caccienti. She became his musical manager. The clubs attracted the world's finest jazz musicians, including Dave Brubeck, Miles Davis, and Billie Holiday.

John Noga and Guido Caccienti had opened the Black Hawk in the fall of 1949. In September 1955, after Noga had found Mathis a job singing weekends at Ann Dee's 440 Club, she contacted the jazz producer George Avakian, whom she had found out was on vacation near San Francisco. Avakian came to listen to Mathis sing, and after doing so, he sent a telegram to Columbia Records stating: Have found phenomenal 19-year-old boy who could go all the way. Send blank contracts.^[4]

At San Francisco State, Mathis had become note worthy as a high jumper, and in 1956, he was asked to try out for the U.S. Olympic Team that would travel to Melbourne, Australia, that fall (November 1956).^[6] Mathis had to decide whether to go to the Olympic trials, or to keep his appointment in New York City to make his first recordings.

On his father's advice, Mathis opted to embark on his professional singing career in 1956, rather than trying to go to Melbourne. His LP record album was published in late 1956 instead of wating until the first quarter of 1957.

Mathis's first record album Johnny Mathis: A New Sound In Popular Song was a slow-selling jazz album, but Mathis stayed in New York City to sing in nightclubs. His second album was produced by the Columbia Records vice-president and record producer Mitch Miller, who helped to define the Mathis sound.

Miller preferred that Mathis sing soft, romantic ballads, pairing him up with the conductor and music arranger Ray Conniff, and later, Ray Ellis, Glenn Osser, and Robert Mersey. In late 1956, Mathis recorded two of his most popular songs: Wonderful! Wonderful! and It's Not For Me To Say.

Also that year the Metro Goldwyn Mayer film company signed up Mathis to sing the latter song in the movie Lizzie (1957). Shortly afterwards, Mathis made his second film appearance for 20th Century Fox, singing the song A Certain Smile in the film of that title.

He had small acting roles in both movies as a bar singer. This early cinematic visibility in two successful movies gave him mass exposure. Next was his appearance on the popular and widespread TV program The Ed Sullivan Show in 1957. This helped Mathis to increase his popularity. Critics called him the velvet voice.^[3]

Mathis also appeared during this period on ABC-TV's The Pat Boone Chevy Showroom, as also did the other Negro entertainers Ella Fitzgerald and Pearl Bailey.

Johnny Mathis in 1960.

 

During the summer of 1958, Mathis left San Francisco with the Nogas, who sold their interest in the Black Hawk club that year to Max Weiss, the secretary-treasurer of San Francisco's avant-garde Fantasy Records, and he moved to Beverly Hills, California where the Nogas bought a house where Mathis resided with them, their daughter Beverly, and their granddaughter.

This house was later sold to the singer Dionne Warwick during the summer of 1973 for about $360,000.

Helen Noga, looking to expand her operations into production, financing, and publishing, also founded and funded Philles Records in 1961 with Phil Spector, with Lester Sills handling the business side of sales and promotion, which launched the Crystals in September 1961. Using money from Liberty Records, Noga was bought out by Spector in 1962 for around $60,000.

Mathis had two of his biggest hits in the years 1962 and 1963, with "Gina" (#6) and "What Will Mary Say" (#9). In October 1964, Mathis sued Noga to void the management arrangement, which Noga fought with a counterclaim in December 1964. Mathis purchased a mansion in the Hollywood Hills, that was originally built by billionaire Howard Hughes in 1946, and later owned by hotel owner Hyatt R. Von Dehn and Oilman Robert Calhoun, and where he still maintains a residence.

After splitting from Mrs. Noga, Mathis established Jon Mat Records, Inc., incorporated in California May 11, 1967, to produce his recordings (previously, he created Global Records, Inc. to produce his Mercury albums), and Rojon Productions, Inc., incorporated in California September 30, 1964, to handle all of his concert, theater, showroom, and television appearances, and all promotional and charitable activities.

His new manager and business partner was Ray Haughn, who helped guide his career until his death in September 1984. Since that time, Mathis has taken sole responsibility for his career, operating from office suites at 1612 W Olive Avenue in Burbank, California.

With the exception of a four-year break with Mercury Records in the mid-1960s, he has been with Columbia Records throughout his recording career.

Pieces of music from numerous Mathis albums continue to be used throughout motion pictures and television with great effect to impart nostalgia or mood themes, for example Chances Are was played during an extraterrestrial visit in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), as well as Wonderful! Wonderful! being used in the standout Home episode of the fourth season of The X-Files television series. Also various of Mathis's songs have been played more recently in the TV series Mad Men.

Although he is frequently described as a romantic singer, his discography includes jazz, traditional pop, Brazilian music, Spanish music, soul music, rhythm and blues, soft rock, Broadway theatre, Tin Pan Alley standards, some blues and country songs, and even a few disco songs for his album Mathis Magic in 1979.

During 1980 - 81 Mathis recorded an album with Chic's Bernard Edwards and Nile Rodgers, I Love My Lady, which remains unreleased, the only official appearance of any material from the project being the inclusion of three tracks on a Chic box set in 2010.

Mathis also remains associated with holiday music^{[clarification needed]}, having recorded five albums of Christmas music. He has the distinction of having the longest tenure of any recording artist on the Columbia Records label, having been with the label from 1956 to 1963 and from 1968 to the present.
In 1958, Johnny’s Greatest Hits was released and was the first ever Greatest Hits album in the music industry.

It began the Greatest Hits tradition copied by every record company. The his LP album Johnny's Greatest Hits in 1958 spent an unprecedented 491 consecutive weeks through 1967 (nine and a half years) on the Billboard top 100 album charts, earning him a mention in the Guinness Book of World Records. He has had five of his albums on the Billboard charts simultaneously, an achievement equaled by only two other singers, Frank Sinatra, and Barry Manilow.

He has released 200 singles and had 71 songs charted around the world. Recordings Historian Paul Gambaccini confims Mathis recordings have sold well over 350 million worldwide and he is the third most successful recording artist in the USA. This makes Johnny Mathis the third biggest selling recording artist of the 20th century, only after Elvis Presley and Frank Sinatra.^{[citation needed]}

Mathis has also won three Grammy awards. Then in 1978, his hit duet "The Last Time I Felt Like This" from the film Same Time, Next Year was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song. Mathis and Jane Olivor sang the song at the Academy Awards ceremony, in his second performance at the Oscars. He has taped twelve of his own television specials and made over 300 television guest appearances with 33 of them being on The Tonight Show.

Through the years his songs (or parts of them) have been heard in 100 plus television shows and films around the globe. His appearance on the Live by Request broadcast in May 1998 on the A&E Network had the largest television viewing audience of the series. Also in 1989, Johnny sang the theme for the ABC daytime soap opera Loving.

Mathis continues to perform live, but from 2000 forward, he has limited his concert performances to about fifty to sixty per year. In 2006, his schedule included a British tour that included his annual Scottish golf vacation and attending the 2006 Ryder Cup tournament, two periods at his favourite Hilton Hotel in Las Vegas, Nevada.

The Tonight Show host Johnny Carson said: "Johnny Mathis is the best ballad singer in the world." He appeared on the NBC Tonight Show with Jay Leno^[7] as a guest on March 29, 2007, to sing his classic song The Shadow of Your Smile with the saxophonist Dave Koz.

Mathis returned to the British Top 20 album chart in 2007 with the Sony BMG release The Very Best of Johnny Mathis and again in 2008 with the Columbia CD "A Night to Remember". In 2007, Mathis was inducted into the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.
A performance by Mathis in Florida in 2009 earned him $65,000 in artist fees and royalties.^[8]

Mathis's song Wonderful! Wonderful! was used in the conclusion to the long running TV series Desperate Housewives as "Karen McClusky" passed away.

^{Source:Wikipedia}

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Burl Ives~ " A Holly Jolly Christmas"

ChristmasTimeTV

Uploaded on Nov 20, 2010

"A Holly Jolly Christmas" is a popular song written by Johnny Marks. Although he was Jewish, he specialized in Christmas songs and wrote many standards including "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer," "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day," "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree, and "Run Rudolph Run." This song was first recorded by the Quinto Sisters and later by Burl Ives.

 

One of my favorite Christmas songs! A song by Burl Ives with lyrics.

Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 - April 14, 1995) was an American actor, writer and folk music singer. As an actor, Ives's work included comedies, dramas, and voice work in theater, television, and motion pictures. Music critic John Rockwell said, "Ives's voice ... had the sheen and finesse of opera without its latter-day Puccinian vulgarities and without the pretensions of operatic ritual. It was genteel in expressive impact without being genteel in social conformity. And it moved people."^[1]

Burl Ives
Burl Ives in 1955, photo by Carl Van Vechten
Born	Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives June 14, 1909 Jasper County, Illinois, U.S.
Died	April 14, 1995 (aged 85) Anacortes, Washington, U.S.
Occupation	Actor, voice over actor, folk singer, writer, author
Years active	1935–93
Spouse(s)	Helen Peck Ehrich (1945–71) Dorothy Koster Paul (1971–95)

Life and career

Ives was born in 1909 near Hunt City, an unincorporated town in Jasper County, Illinois near Newton, Illinois; the son of Levi "Frank" Ives (1880–1947) and Cordelia "Dellie" White (1882–1954). He had six siblings: Audry, Artie, Clarence, Argola, Lillburn, and Norma.

His father was at first a farmer and then a contractor for the county and others. One day Ives was singing in the garden with his mother, and his uncle overheard them. He invited his nephew to sing at the old soldiers' reunion in Hunt City. The boy performed a rendition of the folk ballad "Barbara Allen" and impressed both his uncle and the audience.^[2]

Ives had a long-standing relationship with the Boy Scouts of America. He was a Lone Scout before that group merged with the Boy Scouts of America in 1924.^[3]

The collection of his papers at the New York Library for the Performing Arts includes a photograph of Ives being "inducted" into the Boy Scouts in 1966.^[4]

Ives received the organization's Silver Buffalo Award, its highest honor.^[5] The certificate for the award is hanging on the wall of the Scouting Museum in Valley Forge, Pennsylvania.^[6]

Ives often performed at the quadrennial Boy Scouts of America jamboree, including the 1981 jamboree at Fort A.P. Hill in Virginia, where he shared the stage with the Oak Ridge Boys.^[7] There is a 1977 sound recording of Ives being interviewed by Boy Scouts at the National Jamboree at Moraine State Park, Pennsylvania; on this tape he also sings and talks about Scouting, teaching, etc.^[8]

Ives is also the narrator of a 28-minute film about the 1977 National Jamboree. In the film, which was produced by the Boy Scouts of America, Ives "shows the many ways in which Scouting provides opportunities for young people to develop character and expand their horizons."^[9]

From 1927 to 29, Ives attended Eastern Illinois State Teachers College (now Eastern Illinois University) in Charleston, Illinois, where he played football.^[10] During his junior year, he was sitting in English class, listening to a lecture on Beowulf, when he suddenly realized he was wasting his time. As he walked out the door, the professor made a snide remark, and Ives slammed the door behind him.^[11]

Sixty years later, the school named a building after its most famous dropout.^[12] Ives was also involved in Freemasonry from 1927 onward.^[13]

On July 23, 1929 in Richmond, Indiana, Ives did a trial recording of "Behind the Clouds" for the Starr Piano Company's Gennett label, but the recording was rejected and destroyed a few weeks later.^[14]

1930s–1940s

Ives traveled about the U.S. as an itinerant singer during the early 1930s, earning his way by doing odd jobs and playing his banjo. He was jailed in Mona, Utah, for vagrancy and for singing “Foggy, Foggy Dew,” which the authorities decided was a bawdy song.^[15]

Around 1931 he began performing on WBOW radio in Terre Haute, Indiana. He also went back to school, attending classes at Indiana State Teachers College (now Indiana State University).^[16]

During the late 1930s Ives also attended The Juilliard School in New York.

In 1940 Ives began his own radio show, titled The Wayfaring Stranger after one of his ballads. Over the next decade, he popularized several traditional folk songs, such as “Foggy, Foggy Dew” (an English/Irish folk song), “Blue Tail Fly” (an old Civil War tune), and “Big Rock Candy Mountain” (an old hobo ditty).

He was also associated with the 'Almanac Singers' (Almanacs), a folk singing group which at different times included Woody Guthrie, Will Geer and Pete Seeger. The Almanacs were active in the American Peace Mobilization (APM), an anti-war group opposed to American entry into World War II and Franklin Roosevelt's pro-Allied policies. They recorded such songs as 'Get Out and Stay Out of War' and 'Franklin, Oh Franklin'.^[17]

In June 1941, promptly after the Germans invaded the Soviet Union, the APM re-organized itself into the pro-war American People's Mobilization.

Ives and the Almanacs re-recorded several of their songs to reflect the group's new stance in favor of US entry into the war. Among them were 'Dear Mr. President' and 'Reuben James'(name of a US destroyer sunk by the Germans before US entry into the war).
In early 1942, Ives was drafted into the U.S. Army.

 He spent time first at Camp Dix, then at Camp Upton, where he joined the cast of Irving Berlin's This Is the Army. He attained the rank of corporal.^{[citation needed]} When the show went to Hollywood, he was transferred to the Army Air Force. He was discharged honorably, apparently for medical reasons, in September 1943.

Between September and December 1943, Ives lived in California with actor Harry Morgan (who would later go on to play Officer Bill Gannon in the 1960s version of Jack Webb's TV show Dragnet, and Colonel Sherman T. Potter on M*A*S*H). In December 1943, Ives went to New York City to work for CBS radio for $100 a week.^[18]
On December 6, 1945, Ives married 29-year-old script writer Helen Peck Ehrlich.^[19] Their son Alexander was born in 1949.^{[citation needed]}


In 1945 Ives was cast as a singing cowboy in the film Smoky (1945).^[20]
In 1947, Ives recorded one of many versions of "The Blue Tail Fly (Jimmy Crack Corn)", but paired this time with the incredibly popular Andrews Sisters (Patty, Maxene, and LaVerne). Only Bing Crosby sold more Decca Records than the sisters in the 1940s.

The flip side of the record would be a fast-paced "I'm Goin' Down the Road". Ives hoped that the trio's success would help the record sell well, and indeed it did, becoming both a best-selling disc and a Billboard hit.^[21] It's unfortunate that the acts never paired again on record, as they well-balanced each other's musical genres for a pleasant blend.

His version of the 17th century English song "Lavender Blue" became his first hit and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Original Song for its use in the 1949 film, So Dear to My Heart.

Source: Wikipedia

 

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Gene Autry~ "Up On the House Top"

Uploaded on Dec 22, 2008
 PeachStorm


Orvon Grover Autry^[1] (September 29, 1907 – October 2, 1998), better known as Gene Autry, was an American performer who gained fame as a singing cowboy on the radio, in movies, and on television for more than three decades beginning in the early 1930s. Autry was also owner of a television station, several radio stations in Southern California, and the Los Angeles/California Angels Major League Baseball team from 1961 to 1997.

From 1934 to 1953, Autry appeared in 93 films and 91 episodes of The Gene Autry Show television series. During the 1930s and 1940s, he personified the straight-shooting hero—honest, brave, and true—and profoundly touched the lives of millions of Americans.^[2]

Autry was also one of the most important figures in the history of country music, considered the second major influential artist of the genre's development after Jimmie Rodgers.^[2]

His singing cowboy movies were the first vehicle to carry country music to a national audience.^[2] In addition to his signature song, "Back in the Saddle Again", Autry is still remembered for his Christmas holiday songs, "Here Comes Santa Claus", which he wrote, "Frosty the Snowman", and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer".

Autry is a member of both the Country Music Hall of Fame and Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, and is the only person to be awarded stars in all five categories on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, for film, television, music, radio, and live performance.^[3]

The town of Gene Autry, Oklahoma was named in his honor.

Gene Autry
Background information
Birth name	Orvon Grover Autry
Also known as	The Singing Cowboy
Born	September 29, 1907 Tioga, Texas, U.S.
Died	October 2, 1998 (aged 91) Studio City, California, U.S.
Genres	Country, Western Music
Occupations	Musician, Actor
Instruments	Guitar, Vocals
Years active	1931–1964
Labels	Columbia
Website	www.geneautry.com

Biography

Early years

Orvon Grover Autry was born September 29, 1907 near Tioga, Texas, the grandson of a Methodist preacher. His parents, Delbert Autry and Elnora Ozment, moved to Ravia, Oklahoma in the 1920s.

He worked on his father's ranch while at school. After leaving high school in 1925, Autry worked as a telegrapher for the St. Louis–San Francisco Railway. His talent at singing and playing guitar led to performing at local dances.

 Singing career

While working as a telegrapher, Autry would sing and accompany himself on the guitar to pass the lonely hours, especially when he had the midnight shift. One night he got encouragement to sing professionally from a customer, the famous humorist and wit, Will Rogers, who had heard Autry singing.^[4][5][6]

As soon as he could collect money to travel, he went to New York. He auditioned for Victor Records, at just about the time (end of 1928) it became RCA Victor. According to Nathaniel Shilkret,^[7] director of  Light Music for Victor at the time, Autry asked to speak to Shilkret when Autry found that he had been turned down.

Shilkret explained to Autry that he was turned down not because of his voice, but because Victor had just made contracts with two similar singers. Autry left with a letter of introduction from Shilkret and the advice to sing on radio to gain experience and to come back in a year or two.

In 1928 Autry was singing on Tulsa’s radio station KVOO as "Oklahoma's Yodeling Cowboy," and the Victor archives^[8] shows an October 9, 1929, entry stating that the vocal duet of Jimmie Long and Gene Autry with two Hawaiian guitars, directed by L. L. Watson, recorded “My Dreaming of You” (Matrix 56761) and “My Alabama” (Matrix 56762).

Autry signed a recording deal with Columbia Records in 1929. He worked in Chicago, Illinois, on the WLS-AM radio show National Barn Dance for four years, and with his own show, where he met singer-songwriter Smiley Burnette. In his early recording career, Autry covered various genres, including a labor song, "The Death of Mother Jones" in 1931.

Autry also recorded many "hillbilly"-style records in 1930 and 1931 in New York City, which were certainly different in style and content from his later recordings. These were much closer in style to the Prairie Ramblers or Dick Justice, and included the "Do Right, Daddy Blues" and "Black Bottom Blues," both similar to "Deep Elem Blues."

 These late-Prohibition era songs deal with bootlegging, corrupt police, and women whose occupation was certainly vice. These recordings are generally not heard today but are available on European import labels, such as JSP Records.

His first hit was in 1932 with "That Silver-Haired Daddy Of Mine," a duet with fellow railroad man, Jimmy Long, and which Autry and Long co-wrote, which was parodied by Sesame Street as "That Furry Blue Mommy Of Mine."

Autry also sang the classic Ray Whitley hit "Back In The Saddle Again," as well as many Christmas holiday songs, including "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town," his own composition "Here Comes Santa Claus," "Frosty the Snowman," and his biggest hit, "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer."

 He wrote "Here Comes Santa Claus" after being the Grand Marshall of the 1946 Santa Claus Lane Parade (Now the Hollywood Christmas Parade). He heard all of the spectators watching the parade saying "Here comes Santa Claus!" virtually handing him the title for his song. He recorded his version of the song in 1947 and it became an instant classic.

Autry was the original owner of Challenge Records. The label's biggest hit was "Tequila" by The Champs in 1958, which started the rock-and-roll instrumental craze of the late 1950s and early 1960s. He sold the label soon after, but the maroon and later green label has the "GA" in a shield above the label name.

Autry made 640 recordings, including more than 300 songs written or co-written by himself. His records sold more than 100 million copies and he has more than a dozen gold and platinum records, including the first record ever certified gold.

 Film career

Gene Autry in Oh, Susanna!, 1936

 

Discovered by film producer Nat Levine in 1934, Autry and Burnette made their film debut for Mascot Pictures Corp. in In Old Santa Fe as part of a singing cowboy quartet; he was then given the starring role by Levine in 1935 in the 12-part serial The Phantom Empire.

Shortly thereafter, Mascot was absorbed by the newly-formed Republic Pictures Corp. and Autry went along to make a further 44 films up to 1940, all B Westerns in which he played under his own name, rode his horse, Champion, had Burnette as his regular sidekick, and had many opportunities to sing in each film.

Pat Buttram was picked by Gene Autry, recently returned from his World War II service in the Army Air Force, to work with him. Buttram would co-star with Gene Autry in more than 40 films and in over 100 episodes of Autry's television show

Gene Autry in The Gene Autry Show episode "The Black Rider", 1950

 

In the Motion Picture Herald Top Ten Money-Making Western Stars poll Autry was listed every year from 1936 to 1942 and 1946 to 1954 (he was serving in the US Army Air Corps 1943–45), holding first place 1937 to 1942, and second place (after Roy Rogers) 1947 to 1954.^[9]

He appeared in the similar Box Office poll from 1936 to 1955, holding first place from 1936 to 1942 and second place (after Rogers) from 1943 to 1952.^[10]

While these two polls are really an indication only of the popularity of series stars, Autry also appeared in the Top Ten Money Makers Poll of all films from 1940 to 1942,^[11] His Gene Autry Flying "A" Ranch Rodeo show debuted in 1940.^[12]

Gene Autry was the first of the singing cowboys in films, but was succeeded as the top star by Roy Rogers when he served in World War II. Autry briefly returned to Republic to finish out his contract, which had been suspended for the duration of his military service and which he had tried to have declared void after his discharge.

He appeared in 1951 in the film Texans Never Cry, with a role for newcomer Mary Castle. After 1951 he formed his own production company to make Westerns under his own control, which continued the 1947 distribution agreement with Columbia Pictures.

Source: Wikipedia

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CYA Later Taters

Thanks for watching.

Donnie/ Sinbad the Sailor Man