Search results for ""Author Billy Vera""

Although he's a showbiz lifer Billy Vera is cut from a wholly different cloth than his peers. If an artist is measured by their devotion to their craft ÊHarlem to HollywoodÊ may be the purest treatise on the subject ever produced. All the better it's also an astounding story.ÞBorn into a white suburban family Vera fell for black music as a child and started down a winding performer's path that would buoy him the rest of his life. In the sixties Vera paid his bills by songwriting (for other artists) through the day and playing mobbed up clubs at night. By 1967 as Newark burned on the other side of the Hudson he and gospel singer Judy Clay the first interracial duet to perform at the Apollo tore the house down with a little ditty he wrote for himself: Storybook Children a commercial hit produced by Atlantic Records. Through the seventies popular taste shifted drastically. As blue-eyed soul went out of fashion Vera like many other musicians found himself scrounging for survival gigs but one crucial difference set him apart: he abstained from the drugs and drink that fueled ä and eventually claimed ä so many of his contemporaries. As that decade sputtered to a close a woman by the name of Dolly Parton recorded Vera's I Really Got the Feeling and hit number one on the charts. Riding the tide of this unexpected attention Vera hightailed it to Los Angeles formed a new band Billy and the Beaters and charted twice before the close of 1981 with songs from their eponymous album recorded live at the Roxy. Five years later one of these minor hits At This Moment was featured in several episodes of NBC's ÊFamily TiesÊ. The song rocketed up the charts and a 42-year-old Vera found himself with his very own number one single. Nine visits to Carson and an American Bandstand appearance later Vera tasted many other flavors of success: acting both on- and off-camera producing records and reissuing his own work. Today with a star on the Hollywood Walk and Fame and a Grammy in tow he's finally prepared to share his journey (did we mention that he's also a photographer and music historian who documented every step of career?).ÞTo sit down with Billy Vera is to take a personalized tour through nearly fifty years of entertainment history. Won't you come along for the ride?

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Launched by legendary music industry executive Art Rupe in the mid-1940s, the Los Angeles-based Specialty Records emerged as one of the most important independent labels for African-American music in the twentieth century. Recognizing that competing with major record companies was a losing battle, Rupe headed to Central Avenue, the center of L.A.’s black community, where he spent $200 on what were then known as “race records.” He carefully analyzed each, developing his own formula for asuccessful venture.Soon, Specialty was scoring R&B hits with artists such as Roy Milton, Camille Howard, Jimmy and Joe Liggins, and Percy Mayfield. Drawn to the music of New Orleans, Rupe went on to sign Lloyd Price, who topped the charts with “Lawdy Miss Clawdy.” It was through Price that Specialty acquired its best-known artist, Little Richard. After “Tutti Frutti” exploded in 1955, Richard and the label scored a string of successes with “Long Tall Sally,” “Lucille,” “Keep A Knockin’,” “Good Golly Miss Molly,” and more.In addition to R&B and the emerging sounds of rock ’n’ roll, Rupe was particularly drawn to the sounds of the church. Black gospel music was an essential element of his company, with a roster that included stars of the genre, such as Sam Cooke’s Soul Stirrers, Sister Wynona Carr, Brother Joe May, Alex Bradford and the Bradford Specials, and others.From behind-the-scenes producers Robert “Bumps” Blackwell, J.W. Alexander, Harold Battiste, and Sonny Bono, to R&B recording stars Floyd Dixon, Guitar Slim, Jesse Belvin, Larry Williams, and Don and Dewey, this is the story of the legendary Specialty Records.

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In 1963, sisters Barbara Ann and Rosa Hawkins and their cousin Joan Marie Johnson traveled from the segregated South to New York City under the auspices of their manager, former pop singer Joe Jones. With their wonderful harmonies, they were an immediate success. To this day, the Dixie Cups' greatest hit, ""Chapel of Love,"" is considered one of the best songs of the past sixty years. The Dixie Cups seemed to have the world on a string. Their songs were lively and popular, singing on such topics as love, romance, and Mardi Gras, including the classic ""Iko Iko."" Behind the stage curtain, however, their real-life story was one of cruel exploitation by their manager, who continued to harass the women long after they finally broke away from his thievery and assault. Of the three young women, no one suffered more than the youngest, Rosa Hawkins, who was barely out of high school when the New Orleans teens were discovered and relocated to New York City. At the peak of their success, Rosa was a naïve songstress entrapped in a world of abuse and manipulation. Chapel of Love: The Story of New Orleans Girl Group the Dixie Cups explores the ups and downs of one of the most successful girl groups of the early 1960s. Telling their story for the first time, in their own words, Chapel of Love reintroduces the Louisiana Music Hall of Famers to a new audience.

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