Today’s playlist is inspired by the late Ray Bryant, who was born on this date in 1931.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 12-23-22
Today’s playlist celebrates Hanukkah and the December 23 birthdays of The Chi-Lites’ Eugene Record, Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder, Blood Orange, Chet Baker, Rainbow’s Graham Bonnett, Tim Hardin, Johnny Kidd, Esther Phillips, Harold Dorman, Victoria Williams, and The Simpsons’ Harry Shearer.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (12-23-20)
Inspired by the season and the December 23 birthdays of Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, The Chi-Lites’ Eugene Record, Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, Esther Phillips, Tim Hardin, Chet Baker, Harold Dorman, Johnny Kidd, Rainbow’s Graham Bonnett, and Harry Shearer.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (10-19-20)
Inspired by the October 19 birthdays of Fugees’ Pras, Divine, Peter Tosh, Jennifer Holiday, World Party’s Karl Wallinger, Jeannie C. Riley, George McCrae, The Doobie Brothers’ Patrick Simmons, Gloria Jones, and Patrick Cowley.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (8-16-20)
Inspired by the anniversary of the passings of Elvis Presley and Aretha Franklin; the August 16 birthdays of Madonna, Kool & the Gang’s James “JT” Taylor, Young Thug, Al Hibbler, Eydie Gorme, Barbara George, Court Yard Hounds’ Emily Robison, Ketty Lester, Sheila, and Joe Sealy; and the August 15 birthdays of Deee-Lite’s Lady Miss Kier, The The’s Matt Johnson, The Doobie Brothers’ Tom Johnston, Bobby Helms, Bobby Caldwell, and Nipsey Hussle.
Disco 1975
Nineteen seventy-five was a pivotal year for disco music. The genre was still very young; the name “disco” as a reference to the music genre was coined just two years earlier by journalist Vince Aletti. Disco music crossed over into the mainstream with more frequency, yet was not as ubiquitous a presence on the pop charts as it would become in the ensuing years of that decade. Artists who had their first top 40 singles in 1975 include Gloria Gaynor and KC and the Sunshine Band. In December of 1975, Donna Summer made her first appearance on the Hot 100 when “Love to Love You Baby” made its debut, having already been a smash in the clubs. The Bee Gees updated their sound in 1975 with “Jive Talkin’,” which became their first top ten single since 1971. Ben E. King, who had hits in the early 1960s as a solo artist and as the lead singer of The Drifters scored his first top ten pop hit since 1961’s “Stand By Me” with the funky “Supernatural Thing.” As the lead singer of the trio named after her, Patti LaBelle scored her first top ten hit in over a decade with “Lady Marmalade.” Veteran acts such as Frankie Valli, The Temptations, The Miracles, The Isley Brothers and Esther Phillips filled the dance floors. And it was in 1975 that the world was doing the hustle.
Today’s playlist is made up of forty disco gems from 1975.
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It’s Friday And I Need To Dance!
It’s long overdue!
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Inspired By John Waters
Today’s playlist is inspired by John Waters – director, screenwriter, author, actor, journalist, hero. As today is his 69th birthday, I compiled this collection of songs that have been in his movies, songs he’s written about, and songs by folks who have been in his movies.
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It’s Barry White’s Birthday And I Need To Dance!
Sometime in the 1950s, a man named Peter Sterling Radcliffe wrote a country song he called “You’re My First, You’re My Last, My In-Between.” For years he tried to get someone to record it but nobody was interested. Years later, Radcliffe was introduced to Barry White by arranger Gene Page. In the 1960s White was a session musician and producer who worked on records with The Bobby Fuller Four, Bob & Earl, Jesse Belvin and Viola Wills.
One Christmas when White was unable to buy Christmas gifts for his children, Radcliffe stepped in and bought toys for the kids. Relaying this story during an interview, White told the journalist “I was so grateful for that and said I would pay him back one day.”
In 1972, Barry White wrote, produced and arranged “Walking in the Rain with the One I Love” for a female trio named Love Unlimited. The record hit #14 on the Billboard Hot 100. The following year White released his first solo album, I’ve Got So Much to Give, which produced the #3 gold single “I’m Gonna Love You Just a Little More Baby.” The top ten single “Never, Never Gonna Give Ya Up” followed in 1974.
Now a successful recording artist, White listened to his friend Radcliffe’s twenty-year old country song. Barry heard potential in the tune. “I changed some words, part of the melody and some of the title, but kept the chord structure.”
“You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” appeared on White’s Can’t Get Enough album. The album’s first single, “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” hit #1. The follow-up single, “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything,” went to #2, kept out of the top spot by Elton John’s version of “Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds.”
Pay it forward, people. You may be rewarded in more ways than the satisfaction of knowing you helped someone in their time of need.
Now if you’ll excuse me, it’s Barry White’s birthday and I need to dance!
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