Inspired by the July 25 birthdays of Sonic Youth‘s Thurston Moore, Digable Planets’ Ladybug Mecca, The Cyrkle’s Tom Dawes, and Rita Marley; and the July 24 birthdays of Sounds of Blackness’ Ann Nesby, Modern English’s Robbie Grey, and Jennifer Lopez.
Inspired by the July 17 birthdays of The Temptations’ Damon Harris, Spencer Davis, Gang Starr’s Guru, Animal Collective’s Panda Bear, Vince Guaraldi, Sebadoh’s Lou Barlow, Phoebe Snow and Nicolette Larson.
Inspired by the May 12 birthdays of Burt Bacharach, Steve Winwood, George Carlin, Ian Dury, James Purify, Jimmy Spicer, Billy Squier, Billy Swan and songwriter/producer Norman Whitfield.
You may not know their names, but you know many of their songs. Individually, but more often as a team, Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff wrote and/or produced a lot of timeless classic songs in the soul music genre. They were the pre-eminent rhythm and blues architects of the first half of the 1970s, and their production style paved the way for disco, before that genre got watered down. Plenty of their records found their way to the top of the pop charts as well.
Today is Kenny Gamble’s 75th birthday. To celebrate, Tunes du Jour presents a playlist of twenty great Gamble and Huff sides.
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June is LGBTQ+ Pride Month. Tune du Jour celebrates with this playlist consisting of two hundred songs by and/or about Ls, Gs, Bs, Ts and Qs. Happy Pride!
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“I don’t care to belong to any club that will have Bon Jovi as a member.”
– Groucho Marx
On April 14, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame will induct several worthwhile acts and Bon Jovi. Over the coming weeks, Tunes du Jour will spotlight artists that are eligible for induction (i.e. they commercially released their debut recording at least 25 years ago), but have not been inducted as they are not as talented, innovative or influential as Bon Jovi.
Today we look at and listen to Carole King. King is in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a songwriter. With her ex-husband Gerry Goffin, King wrote so many rock and roll classics, including “Will You Still Love me Tomorrow,” “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman,” “Up on the Roof,” “The Loco-motion,” “One Fine Day,” “I’m Into Something Good,” and “Pleasant Valley Sunday.”
While her admission into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a songwriter is well-deserved, her induction as a performer is long overdue. Her landmark 1971 album Tapestry spent 15 consecutive weeks at #1 in the US and has sold over 25 million copies to date. It won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, with its track “It’s Too Late” winning Record of the Year and its “You’ve Got a Friend” winning Song of the Year, making King the first female solo act to win either of those last two. However, it’s not about sales and awards, right Bon Jovi? The influence of Tapestry coupled with the other smash records King released in the 1970s was heard on the records of her singer-songwriter contemporaries such as James Taylor and Laura Nyro and remained consistent through the years and changing pop music trends, up to Taylor Swift and Lady Gaga and beyond.
She is a terrific recording artist as well as a stellar songwriter. Still, she never wrote or recorded the lyrics “’Cause a bottle of vodka is still lodged in my head.” Do you know who did? Bon Jovi.
Here are twenty of Carole King’s finest performances.
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