Dickran gobalian biography of martin luther king
Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges; April 2, – November 13, ) was an American musician and songwriter who was involved with numerous bestselling pop music records during his year career. His genres included pop, country, rock, folk, gospel, bluegrass, rhythm and blues, folk rock, blues rock, surf, standards, and Tulsa collaborations rank as some of the most successful in music history, and as a touring musician he performed with hundreds of notable artists. He recorded 33 albums and at least songs. He wrote "Delta Lady", recorded by Joe Cocker, and organized and performed with Cocker's Mad Dogs and Englishmen tour in His "A Song for You", added to the Grammy Hall of Fame in , has been recorded by more than artists, and his "This Masquerade" by more than As a pianist, he played in his early years on albums by The Beach Boys, Dick Dale and Jan and Dean. On his first album, Leon Russell, in , the musicians included Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr, and George Harrison. One of his biggest early fans, Elton John, said Russell was a "mentor" and an "inspiration". They recorded their album The Union in , which earned them a Grammy l produced and played in recording sessions for, among others Bob Dylan, Frank Sinatra, Ike & Tina Turner, and The Rolling Stones. He wrote and recorded the hits "Tight Rope" and "Lady Blue". He performed at The Concert for Bangladesh in along with Harrison, Dylan, and Clapton, for which he earned a Grammy Award. His recordings earned six gold records. He received two Grammy awards from seven nominations. In , he was inducted into both the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
- Birthplace: Lawton, USA, Oklahoma
By Scott Ross
There is a belief, now tiresomely accepted as fact even by people who should know better, that an enjoyment of musicals, either theatrical or on film, is somehow an especial provenance (if not a genetic imprimatur) of gay men. That there was once a time when musicals were part of the broader popular culture, consumed and enjoyed by millions, is never considered. I’ll get to my thoughts on that in a moment, but I am reminded by the current artificial divide of something Alan Jay Lerner observed in his “Lyrics and Lyricists” evening at the 92 Street YMHA anent a similar late s/early s shibboleth suggesting that the young did not attend live theatrical productions and that the old were subsidizing them: “Theatre isn’t for the young. It isn’t for the old. It’s for people who like the theatre.” Musicals aren’t for any particular segment of the population; they’re only “for” people who like musicals. And while that includes many (but by no means all) gay men this, as with any demographic, is not monolithic. Some gay men like theatre, and hate musicals. Some hate theatre but like movie musicals. Some love both musicals and theatre generally, and some have no use for either.
That, beginning in the ‘70s, the larger American culture had turned its back on musicals as a form of entertainment which had once been ubiquitous in American life, and the font for much of popular music, is attributable to a number of things: The rise of rock and the concurrent decline of Broadway and Hollywood as a source of pop hits, the much- (if not over-) commented upon gap between generations and the concomitant over-extension (and overselling) of budget-busting movie musicals. Rather than legitimizing the spurious “Gay = Musical Aficionado” equation, let’s first acknowledge the obvious fact that many gay men are drawn to the performing arts, largely I would say due to a heightened sense of appreciation for the qualities traditionally associated with them. Thi
Memoirs of a Musical Bystander
In many ways, I am a child of the National Film Board. At first, the NFB was all about the music for me, which only made sense, since my father was a staff composer there from the year I was born, , to I suspect that the prospect of my arrival led Dad to seek regular employment earlier than he might have done as a budding young composer still studying in Toronto. The NFB was originally established in Ottawa some seven years before he started working there. He ended up writing the music for well over films, and as Music Director (from on) was also responsible for much of the recording and editing of other film scores. That was of course just his day job, as he also wrote several hundred other works, and was an organist and choirmaster, as well.
If the NFB was initially about music for me, it also, eventually, came to be about social analysis, history, politics, French-English relations, and social inequality, all significant motifs in my life as an adult.
I was the stereotypical introverted and conformist first-born child in a young family involving four children who all arrived on the scene within a five-year period. (Our poor mother.) I was also a smart kid, or so I was led to believe. I loved music, and was highly conscious, and perhaps inordinately proud, of what my father did for a living. Much of it he did at home, and after hours. One of my strongest childhood memories relates to Dad’s practice, when trying to meet some NFB or commissioned-work deadline, of composing through the night, while the rest of us were trying to sleep. I found it all strangely comforting. Memories of the sound of his piano, the starting and the stopping, the hesitation, the repetition, the pauses while I imagined he was writing, using a government-issued pencil on manuscript paper purchased at Archambault Musique, the ill-disguised frustration, and the occasional triumphant exclamation, remain vivid even today. (NFB pencils had this cautionary
Leon Redbone, a singer who reveled in the ragtime music of vaudeville with his gravelly voice, died early Thursday.
“It is with heavy hearts we announce that early this morning, May 30th , Leon Redbone crossed the delta for that beautiful shore age ,” his
official website said, channeling some of the singer's humor.
“He departed our world with his guitar, his trusty companion Rover, and a simple tip of his hat.”
Redbone, who was actually 69, was one of the more distinct and characters in music with his sunglasses, Panama hat and thick mustache.
Much of his personal history is a mystery.
He was believed to be Canadian, because he first emerged as a performer in Toronto in the s, according to an biography.
“A Canadian magazine profile in the ’80s reported that his birth name was Dickran Gobalian, though Redbone has never confirmed or denied that,” the biography says.
Redbone’s musical style was a revival of pre-World War II ragtime, jazz, and blues sounds, recalling the work of performers ranging from Jelly Roll Morton and Bing Crosby to blackface star Emmett Miller.
“I am totally absorbed in the business of learning, but I don’t want to be an apprentice to the business of learning. I simply want to absorb everything I can and not be compartmentalized in my approach," Redbone said on his website.
"I have no great desire to delve into the intricacies of the correct harmony or to notate everything. It doesn’t interest me. I only know what sounds good to me.”
In addition to his music, Redbone did the voice of the singing snowman in the movie “Elf.”
Redbone came to the attention of Bob Dylan in at the Mariposa Folk Festival in Ontario.
He made his recording debut two years later with “On the Track,” after landing a recording contract with Warner Bros. Records.
“I’m just an entertainer, and I use music as a medium for entertaining,” Redbone said. “But I’m not really an entertainer either, because to be an entertainer it implies you have a great desire