Miss Shirley Bassey

Miss Shirley Bassey PDF Author: John L. Williams
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 1623652596
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
From "Hot from Harlem" to "Goldfinger," the story of how a two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff became an immortal icon: In 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called "Hot from Harlem." Depressed, disillusioned and four months' pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she was one of the biggest stars in the world. She had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit, "Goldfinger," was the theme tune to the year's blockbuster film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamorous and unreal as Bond himself. Miss Shirley Bassey explores this remarkable transformation, both of an individual and of the British society and British psyche that made it possible. From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the club-lands of Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter homosexual husbands, predatory managers, newspaper scandals, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis Jr. to Reggie Kray. John L. Williams draws on original research and interviews to provide a portrait of a young woman on the cusp of stardom, whose rise to fame was in many ways symbolic of a changing world. Brilliantly written non-fiction in the style of David Peace's The Damned Utd or Nick Tosches' Dino, this is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and--against all the odds--succeeded.

Miss Shirley Bassey

Miss Shirley Bassey PDF Author: John L. Williams
Publisher: Quercus
ISBN: 1623652596
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 396

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Book Description
From "Hot from Harlem" to "Goldfinger," the story of how a two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff became an immortal icon: In 1954, Shirley Bassey was seventeen years old. She had just returned from a cheesy revue tour called "Hot from Harlem." Depressed, disillusioned and four months' pregnant, she decided that her dream of being a professional singer was over. A mere ten years later, she was one of the biggest stars in the world. She had sold more records than any other British singer of the day, and was poised to conquer America. Her latest hit, "Goldfinger," was the theme tune to the year's blockbuster film. No longer the two-bit jazz singer from Cardiff, she was by now an international sex siren, as glamorous and unreal as Bond himself. Miss Shirley Bassey explores this remarkable transformation, both of an individual and of the British society and British psyche that made it possible. From the vibrant, multicultural oasis of Tiger Bay in the Cardiff docklands through the club-lands of Soho and Las Vegas to New York's Carnegie Hall, it is a journey from mere mortal to international icon. Along the way she would encounter homosexual husbands, predatory managers, newspaper scandals, and a range of friends and acquaintances from Sammy Davis Jr. to Reggie Kray. John L. Williams draws on original research and interviews to provide a portrait of a young woman on the cusp of stardom, whose rise to fame was in many ways symbolic of a changing world. Brilliantly written non-fiction in the style of David Peace's The Damned Utd or Nick Tosches' Dino, this is the story of a woman who set out to be extraordinary and--against all the odds--succeeded.

Shirley Bassey & Barbra Streisand

Shirley Bassey & Barbra Streisand PDF Author: Harry Lime
Publisher:
ISBN: 9780244865344
Category :
Languages : en
Pages : 98

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Book Description
Dame Shirley Veronica Bassey, DBE, born on 8th January 1937, Bute St., Tiger Bay (Butetown), Cardiff, Wales, UK, is a singer whose career began in the mid-1950s, best known for her powerful voice and for recording the theme songs to the James Bond films Goldfinger (1964), Diamonds Are Forever (1971), and Moonraker (1979). Bassey became the first Welsh person to have a No. 1 single, during January 1959.

Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey

Diamonds Are Forever - Shirley Bassey PDF Author: Mary Long
Publisher: Kings Road Publishing
ISBN: 1786064324
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 273

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Book Description
On 8 January 2017, Dame Shirley Bassey, one of the greatest performers – and voices – of her generation, will be eighty. This is her unique story, told at first-hand by her greatest fan. Since she signed her first professional contract at the age of sixteen, Shirley Bassey has become one of the most prestigious singers of her time. Her work has inspired and influenced many, and will continue to do so for generations to come. Diamonds Are Forever is the fascinating story of Shirley Bassey told from the perspective of one of her greatest fans. Mary Long first met the star in 1963 while a teenager, and since then has encountered her hundreds of times. In doing so, she has developed a unique insight into the life and career of one of our most iconic singers. The author’s warm personal story recounts her heroine’s journey to becoming one of the all-time greats of the British music industry, performing at such events as the Oscars and the Royal Variety Show. She also holds the record for singing the most title songs for James Bond films, with three: ‘Goldfinger’, ‘Diamonds Are Forever’ and ‘Moonraker’. Published to mark Dame Shirley’s eightieth birthday, Diamonds Are Forever looks back on the life of this incredible artist whose music has touched so many. It is an essential buy not only for her countless thousands of fans worldwide, but also for anyone who admires and enjoys her music.

She Bop II

She Bop II PDF Author: Lucy O'Brien
Publisher: A&C Black
ISBN: 0826435297
Category : Social Science
Languages : en
Pages : 545

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Book Description
Popular music grew out of ragtime, vaudeville and the blues to become global mass entertainment. Women like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith were the original pop divas, yet eighty years after they blazed a trail, have their successors achieved the recognition and affirmation they deserve? Or has the only way to success been to slot into saleable images of the cute baby or sexy chanteuse? This is the story of women as creators and innovators, aiming to provide a history of women in rock, pop and soul - on stage, on camera and working behind the scenes in a male-dominated industry. This edition contains an extra chapter and interviews covering trends such as Girlpower.

'70s Teen Pop

'70s Teen Pop PDF Author: Lucretia Tye Jasmine
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing USA
ISBN: 1501383515
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 165

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Book Description
Teen pop is a sub-genre of popular music marketed to tweens and teens. Its melodic yearning and veneer of sincerity appeal to an emerging romantic eroticism and autonomy. But tweens and teens buy music that isn't primarily marketed to them, too. Teen pop encompasses several kinds of musical styles, not limiting itself to just one-teen pop wants to play. During the 1970s, teen pop sometimes worked subversively, challenging the status quo it seemed to represent. Male pop stars such as David Cassidy were shown suggestively in popular magazines and female pop stars such as Cher had their own TV shows. Teen magazines, pin-ups, comics, films, and TV programs provided luscious visual stereo, promoting fashion styles, lingo, and dance moves, signaling individual identity but also community. The music provided a way for young people to believe they had something all their own, an authenticity experimenting with sexuality and social conduct, all dressed up in glitter and satin, blue jeans and boom boxes, torn fishnets and safety pins and, magically, their dreams. Cartoon pop and made-for-TV bands! Bubblegum pop! Glam! Hip hop! Hard rock and pop rock and stadium rock! Punk! Disco! Teen pop reinforced aspects of the counterculture it absorbed as the music kept playing-and playing back. Although it's very difficult to attain and maintain social progress and play it forward-there are so many tragedies-'70s Teen Pop examines how liberation and a true counterculture can be possible through music.

Love Me Tender

Love Me Tender PDF Author: Max Cryer
Publisher: ReadHowYouWant.com
ISBN: 1458779564
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 326

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Book Description
Some of the world's best-loved songs have had remarkable origins. Had Robert Burns not heard an old man sing a quavering version of an ancient Scottish country song, we would never have had 'Auld Lang Syne'. Miss Jane Ross wrote down the tune she heard played by a piper at an Irish village fair in 1855. Had she not done so, the rest of the world...

Flying High -A PARSI LIFE OF GRATITUDE

Flying High -A PARSI LIFE OF GRATITUDE PDF Author: Noshir N Sanjana
Publisher: Leadstart Publishing Pvt Ltd
ISBN: 935610641X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 199

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Book Description
At the age of five, Noshir Sanjana's childhood in Shimla was enveloped in his huge blue toy cupboard. Leaving it behind and fleeing Shimla in 1947 with his parents, brother Rusi and sister Lily, in The Burning Blue Cupboard, to marrying the love of his life in Married Six Times to the Same Woman, (hear that, Liz Taylor?) Noshir Sanjana takes his readers on a fun-filled adventure through several decades of his life. Climb aboard his magic carpet in Flying High and meet Mother Teresa in the sky at 30,000 feet in Mother Teresa's Miracle; take a layover in Hotel Marriott in Jeddah and run into Idi Amin, the butcher of Uganda, in the swimming pool changing room in your Speedos in JAMBO! Come, Let's Jacuzzi Together; fly back to Bombay confront the then, reigning world wrestling champion in a road rage encounter (yours, not his) in An Encounter with Dara Singh. Travel with Noshir Sanjana on his multi-faceted career in Air India, his stranger than fiction adventures, his deep attachment to family and friends in a life well lived in harmony with all. Tucked into these 37 nuggets is the somber realization of a here- today gone-tomorrow life with two Air India airplane crashes covered in touching and grief-stricken detail. This masterpiece of contemporary writings, written entirely on a Samsung Galaxy A 71 mobile phone by Noshir Sanjana, is a must read for all Parsis, past and current employees of Air India, and everyone who enjoys the art of good story telling in short captivating beats.

So You Want to Sing Cabaret

So You Want to Sing Cabaret PDF Author: David Sabella
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 153812405X
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 491

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Book Description
Cabaret performances are often known for bringing alive the Great American Songbook from the 1920s through the 1950s for contemporary audiences. But modern-day cabaret does much more than preserve the past—it also promotes and fosters the new generation of American composers and creates a uniquely vibrant musical and theatrical experience for its audiences. So You Want to Sing Cabaret is the first book of its kind to examine in detail the unique vocal and nonvocal requirements for professional performance within the exciting genre of cabaret. With a foreword by cabaret legend Lorna Luft, So You Want to Sing Cabaret includes interviews from the top professionals in the cabaret industry, including Michael Feinstein, Ann Hampton Callaway, Roy Sander, Sidney Myer, Jeff Harner and many others. There are also chapters devoted to crafting your show, lyric connection, “do-it-yourself” production and promotion, and working with your musical team. David Sabella and Sue Matsuki have crafted the perfect one-volume resource for both the aspiring cabaret singer and the singing teacher who seeks to learn more about this unique art form. The So You Want to Sing series is produced in partnership with the National Association of Teachers of Singing. Like all books in the series, So You Want to Sing Cabaret features online supplemental material on the NATS website. Please visit www.nats.org to access style-specific exercises, audio and video files, and additional resources.

Streisand

Streisand PDF Author: Anne Edwards
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield
ISBN: 163076129X
Category : Biography & Autobiography
Languages : en
Pages : 490

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Book Description
Streisand: A Biography is much more than the story of the world's greatest living performer, how she got there, and why she remains at the top after three decades, it is also, in Anne Edward's sure hands, a compelling chronicle of a woman's fight to validate her appearance, her talent, and her right to love and be loved. Time and time again Streisand has demonstrated the ability to reinvent herself to keep pace with the continuing changes in musical taste. This updated edition of Edwards's pioneering biography chronicles her public life as a political activist as well as her private life as Mrs. James Brolin.

The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical

The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical PDF Author: Robert Gordon
Publisher: Oxford University Press
ISBN: 0199988765
Category : Music
Languages : en
Pages : 777

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Book Description
The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical provides a comprehensive academic survey of British musical theatre offering both a historical account of the musical's development from 1728 and a range of in-depth critical analyses of the unique forms and features of British musicals, which explore the aesthetic values and sociocultural meanings of a tradition that initially gave rise to the American musical and later challenged its modern pre-eminence. After a consideration of how John Gay's The Beggar's Opera (1728) created a prototype for eighteenth-century ballad opera, the book focuses on the use of song in early nineteenth century theatre, followed by a sociocultural analysis of the comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan; it then examines Edwardian and interwar musical comedies and revues as well as the impact of Rodgers and Hammerstein on the West End, before analysing the new forms of the postwar British musical from The Boy Friend (1953) to Oliver! (1960). One section of the book examines the contributions of key twentieth century figures including Noel Coward, Ivor Novello, Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber, director Joan Littlewood and producer Cameron Macintosh, while a number of essays discuss both mainstream and alternative musicals of the 1960s and 1970s and the influence of the pop industry on the creation of concept recordings such as Jesus Christ Superstar (1970) and Les Misérables (1980). There is a consideration of "jukebox" musicals such as Mamma Mia! (1999), while essays on overtly political shows such as Billy Elliot (2005) are complemented by those on experimental musicals like Jerry Springer: the Opera (2003) and London Road (2011) and on the burgeoning of Black and Asian British musicals in both the West End and subsidized venues. The Oxford Handbook of the British Musical demonstrates not only the unique qualities of British musical theatre but also the vitality and variety of British musicals today.