Wednesday, September 26, 2012

"Sunny" inspired Neil Young to write "Down By The River"

 NEW NEIL YOUNG BIOGRAPHY REVEALS THAT HE WAS INSPIRED BY BOBBY HEBB

Welcome to Neil's world

New autobiography follows Young on a journey of sex, drugs, rock and family

WAGING HEAVY PEACE: A HIPPY DREAM
Neil Young Blue Rider Press $31.50

Read more: http://www.ottawacitizen.com/entertainment/Canadian+music+legend+Neil+Young+intention+burning+fading+away/7293594/story.html#ixzz27cISdlNX


Picking up the guitar, Young played awhile and came up with Cinnamon Girl. Then he started fooling around with the chords to Sunny, a top hit for Bobby Hebb in 1966, and that turned into Down By The River. Switching to A minor, one of his favourite keys, Young then wrote Cowgirl In The Sand. Three brand new songs in one sickbed session: a good day's work for a guy in a semi-delirious state.

ROLLING STONE REVIEWS BOOK
http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/book-review-neil-youngs-wandering-journey-through-the-past-20120925

 
The Music Didn’t Die: Focus on Music 2012
Rock and roll will never fade away
Aug 31, 2012 – Never one to let rust fade away, Neil Young brings the same creative ... story in Waging Heavy Peace: A Hippy Dream (Blue Rider Press, Oct.).
http://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/new-titles/adult-announcements/article/53792-the-music-didn--t-die-focus-on-music-2012.html
 

ANDY WILLIAMS PASSES ON AT 84 YEARS OF AGE, COVERED "SUNNY"

It is with great sadness we announce the passing of
ANDY WILLIAMS

Hear Andy perform "Sunny"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZpeAHxvssw
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Andy Williams dies; ‘Moon River’ singer was 84

Andy Williams, whose languid crooning style and disarming presence propelled him to recording and television stardom in the 1960s, with hits including “Moon River” and the inescapable holiday jingle “It’s the Most Wonderful Time of the Year,” died Sept. 25 at his home in Branson, Mo. He was 84.



SUNNY 95 WSNY radio announces the passing of Williams

http://www.wsny.net/pages/14341026.php?contentType=4&contentId=11501903

 
The singer announced last year at an appearance at the Moon River Theater in Branson that he was suffering from cancer.

Williams, who grew up in Wall Lake, Iowa, made his professional singing debut at age 8 with his three brothers as part of the Williams Brothers Quartet.


Featured on radio stations nationwide, the brothers eventually drew the attention of Bing Crosby, who joined them to record the 1944 hit "Swinging on a Star."



ANDY WILLIAMS
An Evening with Andy Williams: Live from the Royal Albert Hall 1978 
by Joe Viglione
Tuesday May 30, 1978 at 8 p.m. Andy Williams performed with the London Symphony Orchestra at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Utilized for a two-part television special An Evening with Andy Williams features the legend in concert as well as in conversation with Benny Green. It's an elegant, glitzy and sensational set of performances which opens up with outside footage and the entourage arriving, Williams enters from the back of the audience to John Georgiadis leading a London Symphony Orchestra which is both spirited and flawless. Williams' personal musicians, lead guitarist Bruce Windham, pianist Dick Shreve, drummer John Sumner, and Gary Walters on bass supplement the orchestra marvelously. During the "Love Story" medley it is essentially the vocalist with Shreve's piano filling the hall with a quiet authority. It's hard to complain about a first-class presentation like this, however, the truncated versions of his biggest hits -- say "Happy Heart" -- are a bit frustrating. The cover of Barry Manilow's cover of an Engelbert Humperdinck track -- "I Can't Smile Without You" -- gets more facetime than "Moon River" which is present as the Overture. It's a tour de force of medleys and classics like "Breaking Up Is Hard to Do" melting into "I Can't Stop Loving You" paced exquisitely and displaying the dexterity of the musicians who seamlessly give Williams' voice a platform to glide gracefully over and through.  read more here:

http://www.allmusic.com/album/an-evening-with-andy-williams-live-from-the-royal-albert-hall-1978-mw0001488108

WILLIAM RUHLMANN REVIEWS
BORN FREE by Andy Williams which includes Bobby Hebb's "Sunny"

 In the Arms of Love, released only four months before Born Free, had sold disappointingly. Williams reacted by dropping the bossa nova and the oldies and looked more to the recent pop charts for covers like Bobby Hebb's "Sunny." He even recorded "I Want to Be Free" (AKA "I Wanna Be Free") from the Monkees' first album. And he scored a Top 40 hit with a pop/rock arrangement of "Music to Watch Girls By," the tune that originated on a Diet Pepsi commercial and had been an instrumental hit for the Bob Crewe Generation. At a time when non-rock pop singers were beginning to be marginalized, Williams successfully threaded the needle, reassuring his older listeners while proving adaptable to current trends.  Read more here:
http://www.allmusic.com/album/born-free-mw0000842522
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Born Free (Andy Williams album)
Studio album by Andy Williams
Released April 10, 1967[1]
Recorded 1967
Genre AM pop
Traditional pop
Vocal pop
Film music
Soundtracks[2]
Length 33:39
Label Columbia
Producer Nick DeCaro[3]
Andy Williams chronology
In the Arms of Love
(1966)
Born Free
(1967)
Love, Andy
(1967)

Collectables reissue
The album was released on compact disc for the first time as one of two albums on one CD by Collectables Records on March 23, 1999, the other album being Williams's Columbia release from the fall of 1967, Love, Andy.[11] It was also released as one of two albums on one CD by Sony Music Distribution on May 14, 2001, paired this time with Williams's Columbia album from December 1966, In the Arms of Love.[12] The original album covers are displayed side by side on the front of these CD reissues, and it is clear that the color of the Born Free cover has been enhanced considerably for the Collectables release, as Williams's suntanned face from the original LP cover shown on the Sony release now has a more psychedelic orange glow. The Collectables CD was included in a box set entitled Classic Album Collection, Vol. 1, which contains 17 of his studio albums and three compilations and was released on June 26, 2001.[13]





Andy Williams, a TV Star When Variety Shows Were Just Hanging On

 

Andy Williams, who died Wednesday at the age of 84, was mostly known for his mellow crooning style but he was, for much of the 1960’s, well traveled in the declining genre called the variety show.
“The Andy Williams Show,” appeared in various forms, and for various networks — Mr. Williams had shows on each of the three broadcast networks during his career. He started with summer series first on ABC in 1958, and then on CBS in 1959, but he was best known for his initial five-year run on NBC.

 

Friday, September 14, 2012

Free Screening September 28 of Bobby Hebb in THE BEAT


SEPTEMBER 28 in Washington DC
Free broadcast of Bobby Hebb on THE BEAT from Library of Congresshttp://www.examiner.com/article/library-of-congress-unearths-rare-60s-r-b-show-for-free-screenings


The showings will be held at 7:00 p.m. ET Fridays at Hill Center at the Old Naval Hospital, 921 Pennsylvania Ave. SE, Washington, D.C. 

Larry Appelbaum, Library of Congress Music Specialist, jazz curator and host of WPFW's "Sound of Surprise, will emcee the showings.


Sept. 28: Performances by Johnny Larand, Frank Howard & The Commanders, Tammy McKnight, Johnny Jones, Eva Larse, Bobby Hebb, Rodge Martin, The Beat Boys, Earl Gaines & Jimmy Church, The Four M's, Joe Simon, Freddie King, Mabon "Teenie" Hodges & Fred Ford, Willie Mitchell, Big Amos Patton, Veniece Starks, Little Milton, Don Bryant, The Ovations, Otis Redding, Percy Sledge, The Bar-Kays, Mitty Collier, Garnett Mimms, Sam & Dave, and Patti Labelle & The Bluebelles! (Volume 6 in the series.)

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BOBBY IN MEMPHIS, 1966

August 19, 1966. The Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee. The Beatles performed both matinee & evening concerts here and I was there for both shows. Bobby Hebb & The Cyrkle were the opening acts.





According to Mark Lewisohn's “The Beatles Live,” neither show was a sellout, with the early show only filling 10,000 of the 13,300 seats. (Attendance for the second show was 12,500.)

http://www.examiner.com/article/exclusive-beatles-scary-moment-at-66-memphis-show-46-years-ago-today-recalled
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Bobby performing Sunny fighting the fog, cold and wind at Candlestick Park
http://offthebench.nbcsports.com/2012/08/29/today-is-the-46th-anniversary-of-the-beatles-final-concert-at-candlestick-park/

Gene Nelson of KYA Radio, which organized the concert, was the MC.
“As any Giants fans will know, Candlestick Park in August, at night, was cold, foggy and windy,” said Nelson in The Beatles Off The Record, by Keith Badman. “
The above items from GOOGLE NEWS
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Pastor Rosetta Swain performing "Jesus" (SUNNY) on international Christian TV
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d02jGsuTX2k

Pastor Rosetta Swain on August 23 on Visual Radio
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qcHQ8sBz1f0

Jim McCarty of THE YARDBIRDS talked about touring with Bobby Hebb on my show, Visual Radio, this past Sunday night, September 9.  The show will be on YouTube soon.

For more information contact Joe Viglione at  hebb_project {@}yahoo.com