My Favorite Music - 4

In Part 3, I left you with a Disco rendition of “Take Me Home” by Cher, who could be included in this or just about any genre of music. Let’s continue on the theme, but in a different genre and a completely different context.

Don Henley is a “Texas boy” who got involved in music thanks to his high school football coach, advising him to do something else because he was too small to play. He joined the school band and played trombone, then moved over to percussion. He finished 2 years of college, then quit to be at home as his father was dying of cardiovascular disease. Henley played in bands and crossed paths with many music greats, including Kenny Rogers. Several bands later, he met Glenn Frey and they formed The Eagles in 1971. The band was successful, playing mostly songs penned by Henley, until the band broke up in 1980. The breakup was painful and Henley chose to go solo. He wrote “Taking You Home” for his fourth solo album, Inside Job.”

Four years after the Eagles formed, a rock band formed in Dublin, Ireland, named U2, with a lead singer who went by one name, Bono. The band has been an international success, mainly through their spectacular live concerts, although they have recorded plenty of albums, which have netted them 22 Grammy awards. Their fifth album, The Joshua Tree, was their greatest critical and commercial success. It includes “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.”

Earlier, in 1964, a rock band formed in Birmingham, England, named The Moody Blues. They became known in both the UK and US with their first single, “Go Now,” but personnel changes led to the band’s embrace of Psychedelic Rock. In 1967, they released their second album, Days of Future Passed, one of the first so-called “concept albums.” That is, the tracks were meant to be played in order as recorded on the album. Considered a landmark album, it was recorded by the band in collaboration with the London Festival Orchestra. “Nights in White Satin” was second to last on the album, which I bought.

That same year, another band formed in Seattle, WA, calling themselves various names as the band evolved. By 1975, they settled on the name Heart. Sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson became the voices of the band. They were wildly successful through the late 70s, then lost their “mojo” after a personnel shakeup in 1982. Through it all, the sisters have stuck together, and have received many honors, but no Grammies. “These Dreams” is from their eighth, self-titled album.

1967 was a good year for rock music. It was that year when another English band was formed in London by singer and guitarist Peter Green. He recruited drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie. Their surnames were the basis for the band’s name, Fleetwood Mac. McVie’s wife, Christine, joined the band in 1970 when Green left. More personnel changes meant Fleetwood needed more musicians. He heard Los Angeles-based folk duo, Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks, and recruited them in 1974. When you get that many talented musicians together, there are going to be clashes, and there were. They’ve put out some great albums and won several honors but couldn’t hold it together. “Dreams” is from their Rumours album.

Back here in the U.S. in 1969, Don Montre and Kerry Livgren were playing in a local band in their hometown of Topeka, Kansas. They were involved in succession of several bands with different names too complicated to describe. They were finally signed by Don Kirshner’s record label and settled on the name of Kansas they had used in previous iterations of their band. Their first hit, “Carry On Wayward Son,” brought them international fame in 1974. They followed up with “Dust In The Wind.” The band has been plagued by conflict and personnel turnover, but has recorded several albums and is still active.

About the same time (1972), another band was forming in Chicago. Although they were grounded in hard rock, they added other elements, including acoustic piano and synthesizers that produced a “wall of sound” reminiscent of Phil Spector’s productions. Journey’s lead singer Dennis DeYoung’s voice fit perfectly. The band was immensely popular and released several Top 10 albums, but never won a Grammy. Their ninth album, Cornerstone, included the Number 1 hit, “Babe.”

Back “across the pond” in the late 1960s, another band named Smile formed in London with Brian May, Roger Taylor and John Deacon. They added Tim Staffel as lead singer, and May left the group. A fellow student, a Parsi Indian named Farrokh “Freddie” Bulsara was a fan of the band who joined the band when Staffel left to pursue a different music style. Bulsara suggested a new name for the band: Queen. At the same time, he changed his own surname to Mercury. The story of Queen is the stuff of legends. Mercury conceived the band’s fourth album, A Night at the Opera, which included their best-known track, “Bohemian Rhapsody.” Clocking in at about 6 minutes, Queen’s label, EMI, refused to release it because radio stations only played singles about 3 minutes long. The band refused to cut a radio edit, and thanks to a radio DJ, who played an unauthorized copy on his station, the public heard it and demanded it, giving EMI no choice but to release it.

Fast-forward to 2015, when a boy from Whitley County, Kentucky, entered the television singing competition, The Voice. Jordan Smith’s musical experience was in the choir of his parents’ church, then he attended Lee University in Cleveland, TN, where he was a member of the Lee University Singers. On The Voice, he chose Adam Levine of Maroon 5 to be his coach. Smith progressed through the competition and chose to cover the Queen song, “Somebody to Love,” in the semi-finals. Thirty minutes after his performance was aired, it was the Number One-selling track on iTunes. He won Season 9 of the show.

Now, we go back to the UK, back to 1970, where another band formed. Successful in other bands, Keith Emerson (keyboards), Greg Lake (vocals, bass, guitars) and Carl Palmer (drums, percussion) came together as one of the most successful Progressive Rock bands of the 1970s. They sold more than 48 million records worldwide. Their self-titled first album included “Lucky Man.”

Up in Glasgow, Scotland, another band formed in 1977 and called themselves Simple Minds. In 1979, they released their debut album, Life in a Day, with Arista Records to moderate success. The band gathered steam in the 1980s and early 1990s, then began to fade from popularity as they neared 2000. Their eighth album, Street Fighting Years, included “Belfast Child.”

Back on this side of the Atlantic, we travel to New York City in 1996, where successful composer, lyricist, record producer, and guitarist, Paul O’Neill was then working at Leber-Krebs, the management company of Aerosmith, AC/DC, Def Leppard, Joan Jett and others. O’Neill wanted to create a group that embodied all the bands he admired, including The Who, Emerson, Lake and Palmer, and Queen with the extraordinary pyrotechnics of Pink Floyd concerts. The outcome of this project was Trans-Siberian Orchestra (TSO), of which I am a huge fan. I have attended several of their Christmas-themed winter tour concerts. For their winter tours, the band fields two separate companies, TSO East and TSO West, playing dates simultaneously in the Eastern and Western halves of the United States. Equipment for the companies is transported in 12 tractor-trailer trucks each.

One story stands out in my memory. I was seated in Row 4 on the floor of Little Rock’s Simmons Bank Arena. In front of me was a boy I estimate to be 8 or 9 years old sitting with perhaps his grandmother. This boy was having the time of his life at the show. During one song, the guitarist and electric violist each mounted platforms attached to cranes that rose out of the stage and floated the musicians high over the heads of the audience. As the violinist, Asha Mevlana, who happens to live in a tiny home in Northwest Arkansas, glided our heads, the boy in front of me leaped onto his chair, waving his arms wildly. Asha looked down and noticed the boy, stopped playing for a moment, smiled and tipped her bow to him in acknowledgment. He was beside himself with joy. He will always remember when the pretty lady playing the electric violin acknowledged him alone among the tens of thousands of people in that arena. And so will I.

Later in that show, Chloe Lowery, who tours with the band annually, sang “For the Sake of Our Brother/O Come All Ye Faithful.” There is a moment in the song where she pauses. At that moment, the outpouring of adulation by the Little Rock crowd was so tumultuous and protracted, Chloe was moved to tears and had to compose herself to finish the song. This is the only Christmas song in my playlist.

Let’s continue thinking about brothers, bouncing back to the UK, where The Alan Parsons Project was formed in 1975, consisting of Alan Parsons, the producer, audio engineer, musician and composer, and Eric Woolfson, singer, songwriter and pianist. Augmented with added musicians, the duo released 11 concept albums over a 15-year period. When album sales declined, the two artists went their separate ways. In 1996, Alan Parsons released On Air, a concept album about airborne exploration. Parsons is joined by guitarist Ian Bairnson. “Brother Up In Heaven” is a tribute to Bairnson’s cousin, Erik Mouney, who was killed in a 1994 friendly fire incident in Iraq. The entire album is on my playlist and worth listening to.

We’re moving ever so subtly into the Pop genre with another song about a brother. Still in England, we’re looking at the city of Manchester, where in 1962, singer Allan Clarke partnered with guitarist/singer Graham Nash to form The Hollies. Nash would later add his name to those of Crosby, Stills, and Young. Still active, The Hollies have undergone numerous personnel changes, to the point that it’s the same band in name only. More of a brand than a band. In 1969, the band released “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” as a single. Fun fact: An unknown session pianist named Elton John played for the recording and was paid the handsome sum of £12.

Oh, brother! Another brother song. At the rate we’re crossing the Atlantic, we should be getting bonus miles. However, on this trip, we’re veering north to Montreal, Quebec, where professional singer Russ Vanelli and his family welcomed a new son, Gino. The younger Vanelli wanted to play drums. His older brother, Joe, was a master of keyboards. His younger brother, Ross, would also get into the music business. In 1972, Gino and Joe moved to Los Angeles and haunted A&M Studios, where they almost got apprehended for trespassing. But Herb Alpert saved them and signed Gino, releasing his first album in 1973. A&M released Vanelli’s sixth album, titled Brother to Brother in 1978, which included the hit single, “I Just Wanna Stop,” netting him a Grammy nomination. It’s on my playlist, but I prefer the title track.

Now, back to New York City, the Bronx, where Richard L. Simon, the co-founder of Simon & Schuster Publishing, who played classical piano, and his wife Andrea, a singer and civil rights activist, gave birth to a daughter they named Carly. Her music career started in 1963, singing with her older sister Lucy, mostly songs for children. In 1970, Carly went solo and signed with Elektra Records. She released albums and singles that were well received, then hit the jackpot with “You’re So Vain” (on my playlist). To describe all of Simon’s accomplishments would take pages. She’s been one of the hardest working women in the music business. Several of her songs are on my playlist, but I am most partial to “Coming Around Again,” written for the movie Heartburn, then included on an album by the same title.

Now, we remain in NYC, in the neighboring borough of Brooklyn, where Barry Alan Pincus was born in 1943. He later adopted his mother’s maiden name, Manilow. After Barry’s parents divorced when he was a baby, his mother’s family forbade him to have any contact with his father. He attended the New York College of Music and Juilliard Performing Arts School. His first musical work was writing jingles that have become timeless classics for State Farm Insurance, Band-Aid, Pepsi, McDonald’s, Dr. Pepper and more (go ahead and sing them to yourself). Manilow remained mostly behind the scenes as a songwriter until Bell Records released his first album in 1973, self-titled. It included “Could It Be Magic,” which became a big hit for Donna Summer. Manilow released more albums and had a string of hits. On his sixth album, One Voice, all the tracks were great, but one resonated with me: “Ships.”

Next is another song about a son’s completely different relationship with his father. Also born in New York City at Bellevue Hospital in 1951 was Luther Ronzoni Vandross, Jr. His father was an upholsterer and singer and his mother was a nurse, but they still lived in public housing on the Lower East Side. Luther’s father died of diabetes when he was eight years old. He was a musical prodigy and got an early start in music at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. In 1972, he started working as a session vocalist, backing all the biggest stars in R&B music. Beginning in 1978, he wrote and sang commercial jingles for numerous major brands. In 1981, he signed with Epic Records and released his first album titled Never Too Much, which included his signature interpretation of “A House Is Not A Home.” After all of his albums hit Number One, Vandross signed with Virgin Records in 1997. In 2004, he released Dance With My Father, which debuted at Number One on the Billboard album chart. The title track won him and co-writer Richard Marx a Grammy.

Buckle up. We’re headed back to the UK … to Highgate, North London, where one Sir Roderick David Stewart was born in 1945. This guy who looks like he combs his hair with an eggbeater is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, with more than 120 million records to his credit. He started out busking with a harmonica in 1962 and ended up with a recording contract in 1987. His long, storied journey has included numerous bands as well as a solo career spanning 7 decades and virtually every music genre, always with his unmistakable, raspy voice. I have mixed feelings about Stewart’s recordings, but I love “Forever Young” from his 1988 album, Out of Order.

Back to New York City, where in 1967, a band named Blood, Sweat & Tears formed, with a jazz rock vibe. Their second, self-titled album put them on the music map and wont them a Grammy in 1970. Personnel changes ensued and a new lead singer named David Clayton-Thomas, a Canadian, was hired. The band’s first album with Clayton-Thomas on board was self-titled and won five Grammies. It’s a great album, but my favorite is “God Bless The Child.”

From the Bronx, NYC, came Melissa Manchester, a singer/songwriter who found success in the 1970s and 1980s. Her father played for the New York Metropolitan Opera and her mother owned her own clothing company. Melissa started in music at a young age and was singing advertising jingles at age 15. She had an extensive education in songwriting. She met fellow jingle-singer, Barry Manilow, who introduced her to Bette Midler, who invited her to sing backup as one of the Harlettes. Her first album, Home To Myself, was released in 1973. Her seventh album, Don’t Cry Out Loud, was released in 1978. The title track is one of my favorites.

Bouncing back to the UK, we check in on singer/songwriter Adele Laurie Blue Atkins, born in 1988 in the Tottenham section of London. After graduating from the BRIT School for the performing and creative arts, she landed a recording contract, with her first album released in 2008 titled 19, which I’m guessing reflected her age at the time. it netted her a Grammy, the first of 16 she has won … so far. Her second album, 21, became the best-selling album of the 21st Century. Her third album, 25, broke first-week sales records. It includes several hits, including “Rolling In The Deep,” “Set Fire To The Rain” and others. Also on the album is “When We Were Young.” I first heard this while I was on the highway, headed for the office. I had to pull off the road and finish listening to it.

Now, guess where we’re going. NYC, of course! Elizabeth Woolridge Grant was born in Manhattan in 1985, to Robert Grant, Jr. and his wife, Pat, both of whom worked at Grey Global Group, an advertising agency. When she was a year old, her family moved to Lake Placid. Elizabeth had a troubled adolescence and at age 14, she was sent to an Episcopal boarding school to get clean and sober of drugs and alcohol. In rehab, she got sober in 2003 and moved in with her aunt an uncle on Long Island. Her uncle awakened her musical talent by teaching her to play guitar. She wrote songs and played at local clubs, then made a living at it in Brooklyn clubs, playing under various pseudonyms. She enrolled at Fordham University in the Bronx. In 2005, she registered a 7-track EP titled Rock Me Stable under the name, May Jailer. She graduated college and took a cross country trip, ending up in Florida, spending time with Cuban friends. There, she settled on her Spanish-influenced stage name, Lana Del Ray. Her first, self-titled album was released in 2010. In 2013, she released “Young and Beautiful” for the film, The Great Gatsby. She continues to work and evolve.

Jim Seals was born in 1938 in Sidney in Central Texas. Ten years later, he would be joined by his little brother, “England” Dan, who would grow up to be a singer-songwriter. In 1942, Dash Crofts was born just up the road in Cisco. They met when they played in a local band, then joined a band fronted by Dean Beard. They moved to Los Angeles with Beard in 1958. That led to their joining The Champs with Glen Campbell and Jerry Cole which broke up after a couple years. In time, Seals & Crofts decided to form a duo and signed with Talent Associates. They released two albums that didn’t draw much interest, so they signed with Warner Brothers in 1971. Their second Warner album, Summer Breeze, was a hit. In 1972, they released Diamond Girl, which also did well. The title track did well, and “We May Never Pass This Way Again” did even better. They called it quits in 1981.

You know how I hate to linger in the U.S. for too long, so we’re headed back to Manchester in the UK, where a singer Mick Hucknall with a mop of red hair had been singing in a punk band named Frantic Elevators for seven years. In fact, the Elevators’ only popular single was “Holding Back The Years,” released just before the band broke up in 1984. In 1985, Hucknall found a new manager named Elliot Rashman and they put together a new band named Simply Red. The band signed with Elektra Records, which released their first single, “Money’s Too Tight To Mention,” included on their first album, Picture Book. Following that, Simply Red released a new arrangement of “Holding Back The Years,” which was a global hit. Simply Red released more albums and peaked in the mid-1990s. Hucknall became a superstar, but the band was ignored, then it disintegrated. Hucknall has continued, backed up by ever-changing personnel.

Time for another trans-Atlantic flight, this time, south to Atlanta, where Gladys Maria Knight was born in 1944. She was raised in the Baptist Church and started singing when she was 4. At age 8, she entered and won Ted Mack’s The Original Amateur Hour TV show. Gladys’s mother encouraged her family to form a singing group, which they named The Pips, after their cousin and manager James “Pip” Woods. The group signed with Motown Records in 1966, and the rest, as they say, is history. In 1987, the family members wanted to pursue their own lives, and Gladys continued as a solo act. She’s done several “farewell tours,” but is still actively singing. She’s won 7 Grammies.

Our final destination in this installment is Chicago, where Maurice White put together a big, dazzling band that performed in a variety of genres, selling over 90 million records worldwide, and winning six out of 17 Grammy nominations, plus numerous other awards. In 2019, Earth, Wind & Fire were also feted in the Kennedy Center Honors. Musicians who’ve rotated in and out of the band represent a Who’s Who of accomplished artists. In 1996, founder Maurice stepped away from touring but still maintained control. It was revealed that he had Parkinson’s disease. He died in 2016 and posthumously received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Many EWF songs are on my playlist, but my favorite is my birth month.

And so concludes Part 4 of my Top 100 131 Favorites. Hope you enjoyed the journey. But we’re not done yet. We have miles to go and songs to hear. Next time.