Antoine Domino Jr. was born on February 26th 1928 in New Orleans. His family had a Creole background and Louisiana Creole was his first language. His family had recently arrived from Vacherie, Louisiana and had set up home in the Lower Ninth Ward of New Orleans. Domino learnt to play piano as a youngster and by the […]
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Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson had staff positions at Motown, where they wrote and produced hits for Marvin Gaye and Diana Ross. During their stay at Motown, Valerie released a couple of solo albums which flopped, prompting her and Ashford to leave in 1973. From then on, the duo concentrated on making […]
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Tyrone Fettson was born in Greenville, Mississippi, in 1937 or 1938. He moved to Chicago in 1959 and began working as a chauffeur for Blues legend Freddie King. He also starting singing in local clubs, where he was noticed by Harold Burrage, who helped him record some early tracks for small Chicago record labels, […]
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The group that became the Chi-Lites in 1964 was originally made up of four school friends from Hyde Park High School in Chicago plus a young singer who attended Englewood High School. They were Robert “Squirrel” Lester, Clarence Johnson, Burt Bowen, and Eddie Reed, plus Eugene Record. By 1960 a few […]
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Following the commercial failure of her third film “The Wiz”, Diana Ross returned to making music. “The Boss” album was released in 1979, becoming the first album by Diana Ross as a solo artist to receive a gold certification from the RIAA, awarded on 17th July 1980. The album was the […]
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The third feature film starring Diana Ross was released in 1978. It is a reworking of L. Frank Baum’s story “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz”, with an all-black cast, loosely based on the Broadway musical version of 1974. It was produced by Rob Cohen for Motown Productions and directed by Sidney Lumet, with […]
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After the success of her first film “Lady Sings the Blues” in 1972, Diana Ross returned to the day job. Three Diana Ross albums were released in 1973, “Touch Me in the Morning”, “Diana & Marvin” (with Marvin Gaye) and “Last Time I Saw Him”. The second of Ross’ three […]
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When Berry Gordy took the decision to relocate Motown to the West Coast, he was clearly planning to take the stars of Motown in a new direction that involved television and cinema. His trump card was Diana Ross, who had the talent and the confidence to develop as an artist […]
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Jackie Wilson was born in Detroit in 1934. He left school at fifteen, joined a gospel group, got into trouble with the police, started drinking and got married by the age of seventeen. Not a great start to his career in music. Fortunately, he really could sing! His first taste […]
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The roots of the fabulous body of music that was produced in New Orleans in the twentieth century can be traced back to the ensemble playing of the black funeral bands, the powerful rhythms of Mardi Gras parades, country blues from various areas in the Mississippi delta and the barrelhouse […]
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