Saudades de Kirsty MacColl...

Música de aniversariante de hoje...

A cantora Sia celebra hoje cinquenta anos...!

 

Sia Kate Isobelle Furler (Adelaide, 18 de dezembro de 1975), mais conhecida como Sia, é uma cantora, compositora, produtora, diretora, roteirista e dobradora australiana.

       

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Christina Aguilera - 45 anos...!

   

Christina María Aguilera (Staten Island, Nova Iorque, 18 de dezembro de 1980) é uma cantora, atriz, compositora e produtora musical dos Estados Unidos.

  

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Kirsty MacColl morreu há vinte e cinco anos...

     

Kirsty Anna MacColl (Croydon, 10 October 1959 – Cozumel, Quintana Roo, 18 December 2000) was an English singer and songwriter. She wrote and recorded several pop hits between the early 1980s and the 1990s. In addition, she sang on hit recordings produced by her then-husband Steve Lillywhite, notably on tracks by The Smiths and The Pogues.

At the age of 41, MacColl died after being hit by a boat in Mexico.

Early career

Kirsty MacColl was the daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl and dancer Jean Newlove. She and her brother, Hamish MacColl, grew up with their mother in Croydon, where Kirsty attended Park Hill Primary School, Monks Hill High School and John Newnham High School, making appearances in school plays. At the time of her birth, her father had been in a relationship with folk singer, multi-instrumentalist and songwriter Peggy Seeger since 1956 (a relationship that would continue until his death in 1989), and already had a son with her.

She came to notice when Chiswick Records released an EP by local punk rock band the Drug Addix with MacColl on backing vocals under the pseudonym Mandy Doubt (1978). Stiff Records executives were not impressed with the band, but liked her and subsequently signed her to a solo deal.

  

Debut single

Her debut solo single "They Don't Know", released in 1979, peaked at number two on the Music Week airplay chart. However, a distributors' strike prevented copies of the single getting into record stores, and the single consequently failed to appear on the UK Singles Chart.

MacColl recorded a follow-up single, "You Caught Me Out", but felt she lacked Stiff's full backing, and left the label shortly before the song was to be released. The single was pulled, and only a few "white label" promo copies of the single are known to exist.

MacColl moved to Polydor Records in 1981. She had a UK number 14 hit with "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis", taken from her critically acclaimed debut album Desperate Character. In 1983, Polydor dropped her just as she had completed recording the songs for a planned second album (to be called Real) which used more synthesizers and had new wave-styled tracks. She returned to Stiff, where pop singles such as "Terry" and "He's On the Beach" were unsuccessful but a cover of Billy Bragg's "A New England" in 1985 got to number 7 in the UK charts. This included two extra verses specially written for her by Bragg. Also around this time, MacColl wrote and performed the theme song "London Girls" for Channel 4's short-lived sitcom Dream Stuffing (1984).

In the United States, MacColl was probably most recognisable as the writer of "They Don't Know". Tracey Ullman's version, reached #2 in the UK in 1983 and #8 in the United States in early 1984; Ullman's video for the song featured a cameo by Paul McCartney near the end. MacColl also sang back-up on the track, providing the "Baay-byy" as the range was too high for Ullman to reach. It was also played over the closing credits of Ullman's HBO show Tracey Takes On... in 1996. Ullman also recorded three more of MacColl's songs, "You Broke My Heart In 17 Places" and "You Caught Me Out", as the title tracks of her first and second albums respectively, and "Terry" which was released as a single in 1985.

Chart re-emergence

When Stiff went bankrupt in 1986, MacColl was left unable to record in her own right, as no record company bought her contract from the Official Receiver. However, she had regular session work as a backing vocalist, and she frequently sang on records produced or engineered by her husband, Steve Lillywhite, including tracks for Robert Plant, The Smiths, Alison Moyet, Shriekback, Simple Minds, Talking Heads, Big Country, Anni-Frid Lyngstad (of ABBA), and The Wonder Stuff among others. She appeared in the videos "Welcome to the Cheap Seats" for The Wonder Stuff and "(Nothing But) Flowers" for Talking Heads (along with ex-The Smiths guitarist Johnny Marr).

MacColl re-emerged in the British charts in December 1987, reaching Number 2 with The Pogues on "Fairytale of New York", a duet with Shane MacGowan. This led to her accompanying The Pogues on their British and European tour in 1988, an experience which she said helped her temporarily overcome her stage fright. In March 1989, MacColl sang backing vocals on the Happy Mondays' Hallelujah EP.

After the contract issue was resolved, MacColl returned to recording as a solo artist and received critical acclaim upon the release of Kite (LP) in 1989. The album was widely praised by critics, and featured collaborations with David Gilmour and Johnny Marr. MacColl's lyrics addressed life in Margaret Thatcher's Britain on "Free World", ridiculed the vapidity of fame in "Fifteen Minutes", and addressed the vagaries of love in "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sonny Jim!" Although Kite contained many original compositions, MacColl's biggest chart success from the album was the cover of The Kinks' song "Days", which gave her a UK Top 20 hit in July 1989. A bonus track on the CD version of Kite was a cover of the Smiths song "You Just Haven't Earned It Yet, Baby".

During this time, MacColl was also featured on the British sketch comedy French and Saunders, appearing as herself, singing songs including "15 Minutes" and "Don't Come The Cowboy With Me Sunny Jim!" (from Kite), "Still Life" (the B-side of the "Days" single), "Girls On Bikes" (a reworking of B-side "Am I Right?") and, with comedy duo Raw Sex, the Frank and Nancy Sinatra hit "Somethin' Stupid". She continued to write and record, releasing the album Electric Landlady (coined by Johnny Marr, a play on the Jimi Hendrix album title Electric Ladyland), including her most successful chart hit in North America, "Walking Down Madison" (co-written with Marr and a Top 30 hit in the UK), in 1991. Despite the song's U.S. chart success, Landlady was not a hit for Virgin Records, and in 1992, when Virgin was sold to EMI, MacColl was dropped from the label.

Later work

She released Titanic Days, informed by her failing marriage with Lillywhite, in 1993, but ZTT Records had agreed only to release the album as a "one-off" and declined to sign her to a contract. In 1995, she released two new singles on Virgin, "Caroline" and a cover of Lou Reed's "Perfect Day" (a duet with Evan Dando), together with the "best of" compilation Galore.

Galore became MacColl's only album to reach the top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, but neither of the new singles, nor a re-released "Days", made the Top 40. MacColl did not record again for several years; her frustration with the music business was exacerbated by a lengthy case of writer's block. MacColl herself admitted that she was ready to give up her music career and become an English teacher in South America.

In 1998, the album What Do Pretty Girls Do? was released, containing BBC Radio 1 live sessions (featuring Billy Bragg on two songs) that were broadcast between 1989 and 1995.

After several trips to Cuba and Brazil, MacColl recorded the world music-inspired (particularly Cuban and other Latin American forms) Tropical Brainstorm, which was released in 2000 to critical acclaim. It included the song "In These Shoes?", which garnered airplay in the U.S., was covered by Bette Midler and featured in the HBO show Sex and the City. After MacColl's death it was adopted by Catherine Tate as the theme tune for her BBC TV show and featured on the soundtrack to British film Kinky Boots.

TV work

MacColl featured regularly in the third series of the French and Saunders Show, a comedy show on the BBC. Unlike other guests on the show, she was not part of any of the sketches but sang her songs whilst performing as in a music video. She also made regular appearances on Jools Holland's TV shows, also on the BBC, singing during the 1995 Hootenanny a rendition of "Miss Otis Regrets" with the Pipes and Drums of the Irish Guards.

MacColl appeared in the 1991 Channel 4 historic musical fantasy The Ghosts of Oxford Street as Kitty Fisher, performing "Fairytale of New York" opposite Shane MacGowan as the Duke of York.

Death

In 2000, following her participation in the presentation of a radio programme for the British Broadcasting Corporation in Cuba, MacColl took a holiday in Cozumel, Mexico, with her sons and her partner, musician James Knight. On 18 December 2000 she and her sons went diving at the Chankanaab reef, part of the National Marine Park of Cozumel, in a designated diving area that watercraft were restricted from entering. With the group was a local veteran divemaster, Iván Díaz. As the group were surfacing from a dive a powerboat moving at high speed entered the restricted area. MacColl saw the boat coming before her sons did; Louis (then 13) was not in its path, but Jamie (then 15) was, she was able to push him out of the way (he sustained minor head and rib injuries) but in doing so she was struck by the boat and died instantly. MacColl's body was repatriated back across the Atlantic Ocean to the United Kingdom, and was cremated after a humanist funeral at Mortlake Crematorium in South-West London.

The powerboat involved in the collision was controlled by Guillermo González Nova, multimillionaire president of the Comercial Mexicana supermarket chain, who was on board with members of his family. The boat was owned by Carlos González Nova, brother and founder of the chain. One employee of Guillermo González Nova, boathand José Cen Yam, stated that he was in control of the boat at the time of the incident. Eyewitnesses said that Cen Yam was not at the controls and that the boat was travelling much faster than the speed of one knot that González Nova said.

Cen Yam was found guilty of culpable homicide and was sentenced to 2 years 10 months in prison. He was allowed under Mexican law to pay a punitive fine of 1,034 pesos (about €63, £61 or US$90) in lieu of the prison sentence. He was also ordered to pay approximately US$2,150 in restitution to MacColl's family, an amount based on his wages. People who said they spoke to Cen Yam after the killing said he received money for taking the blame.

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Billie Eilish - 24 anos

  

Billie Eilish Pirate Baird O'Connell (Los Angeles, 18 de dezembro de 2001), mais conhecida como Billie Eilish, é uma cantora e compositora norte-americana. Ela ganhou popularidade em 2016, quando lançou o seu single de estreia "Ocean Eyes" no SoundCloud, posteriormente lançado pelas gravadoras Darkroom e Interscope Records. A canção foi escrita e produzida pelo seu irmão Finneas O'Connell, com quem ela colabora em músicas e shows ao vivo. Eilish é mais conhecida por seu single "Bad Guy", de 2019, que atingiu o topo da Billboard Hot 100. Foi npmeada para seis Grammy Awards, incluindo Gravação do Ano, Álbum do Ano, Canção do Ano e Melhor Revelação. É a artista mais jovem a ter sido indicada nas principais categorias dos Grammy Awards.

O seu primeiro extended play, Don't Smile at Me (2017), alcançou o top 10 nos Estados Unidos, Reino Unido, Canadá e Austrália. Eilish colaborou com o cantor norte-americano Khalid para o single "Lovely", lançado em abril de 2018 e adicionado à banda sonora da segunda temporada de 13 Reasons Why. O seu álbum de estreia, When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go? (2019), estreou no topo da Billboard 200 e alcançou o número um no Reino Unido, Canadá e Austrália. O álbum obteve quatro singles no top 40 da Billboard Hot 100: "When the Party's Over", "Bury a Friend", "Wish You Were Gay" e "Bad Guy", o último dos quais se tornou seu primeiro single número um nos Estados Unidos. Eilish tem oito singles de ouro e quatro de platina em solo norte-americano.

Os seus prémios incluem sete Grammy Awards, dois American Music Awards, dezasseis Guinness World Records, três MTV Video Music Awards e um Óscar. Ela é a pessoa mais jovem e a primeira mulher a vencer as quatro principais categorias do Grammy (Álbum do Ano, Gravação do Ano, Canção do Ano e Melhor Artista Revelação) no mesmo ano.

   

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Luiz Fabiano morreu há dezasseis anos...

(imagem daqui)

   

Luiz Fabiano, nome artístico de Jayr Rodrigues (Tupã, 5 de maio de 1942 - São Paulo, 18 de dezembro de 2009), foi um cantor e compositor brasileiro.

  

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No final da década de 60, Luiz Fabiano teve grande sucesso com as canções "Quando Anoitecer" e "Meu bem, ao menos telefone". Já como compositor, é autor de "Você Me Pediu", canção gravada por Roberto Carlos em 1968.

Faleceu, vítima de cancro, aos 67 anos de idade.

   

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Mike Mills, dos R.E.M., faz hoje 67 anos

      

Michael Edward Mills (Orange County, 17 de dezembro de 1958) é um músico norte-americano, baixo da banda R.E.M.. 

   

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Apesar de ser conhecido primeiramente apenas como baixista e pianista, a sua habilidade musical permite-lhe tocar muitos outros instrumentos como teclados, violino e percussão.

Ele é o compositor de muitas das novas músicas do R.E.M. como "Find the River", "At My Most Beautiful", "Why Not Smile", "Let Me In", "Wendell Gee", "(Don't Go Back To) Rockville", "Beat a Drum", "Be Mine", "New Test Leper" e "What's the Frequency, Kenneth?".

       

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Hoje é dia de ouvir R.E.M.

Benny Andersson, dos ABBA, nasceu há 79 anos

Benny e Frida em 1976

   

Göran Bror Benny Anderson, ou simplesmente Benny Andersson, (Gotemburgo, 16 de dezembro de 1946) é um músico sueco, ex-integrante do grupo ABBA, um dos grupos pop de maior sucesso de todos os tempos. Juntamente com o seu amigo, Björn Ulvaeus, compôs músicas de sucesso até aos dias de hoje.

   

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Dan Fogelberg morreu há dezoito anos...

   

Daniel Grayling Fogelberg, mais conhecido como Dan Fogelberg, (Peoria, Illinois, 13 de agosto de 1951 – Deer Isle, Maine, 16 de dezembro de 2007) foi um cantor, compositor e multi-instrumentista dos Estados Unidos da América.

A música de Dan era um misto de várias influências como jazz, clássica e pop. Lançou vários discos mas o seu maior êxito foi Phoenix, de 1979.

Em 2004 foi-lhe diagnosticado cancro da próstata, em estado avançado. Logo foi submetido ao tratamento mas não consegui vencer a doença. Faleceu a 16 de dezembro de 2007, na sua casa, no estado americano do Maine, na companhia da esposa.
 

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Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas...

Dionne Warwick clebra hoje oitenta e cinco anos

    

Marie Dionne Warwick (East Orange, Nova Jérsei, 12 de dezembro de 1940) é uma cantora norte-americana. Era prima de primeiro grau de Whitney Houston e era irmã de Dee Dee Warwick e sobrinha de Cissy Houston. Ganhou fama como a intérprete preferida dos compositores Burt Bacharach e Hal David, pois ambos a presentearam com uma série de sucessos. Com mais de 50 anos de carreira, estima-se que tenha vendido mais de 100 milhões de cópias dos seus discos.    

  

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Saudades de Frank Sinatra...

Frank Sinatra nasceu há cento e dez anos...

      

Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (Hoboken, 12 de dezembro de 1915 - Los Angeles, 14 de maio de 1998) foi um cantor e ator norte-americano.

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Brenda Lee (Little Miss Dynamite) celebra hoje oitenta e um anos

  

Brenda Mae Tarpley (Atlanta, 11 de dezembro de 1944) mais conhecida por Brenda Lee, é uma cantora norte-americana que cantou rockabilly, pop e country. Teve 37 hits durante a década de 60, nos Estados Unidos, um número superado apenas por Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Ray Charles e Connie Francis. Ela é mais conhecida por seu hit 'I'm Sorry" (1960) e "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" (1958), uma conhecida música natalícia durante mais de 50 anos nos Estados Unidos.

Com 1,44 m de altura, ela foi chamada de Little Miss Dynamite, em 1957, após gravar a canção "Dynamite", e foi um dos primeiros astros da música pop a ter uma importante carreira contemporânea internacional.

A popularidade de Lee diminuiu no final dos anos 60, a sua voz amadureceu, porém ela continuou a ter uma carreira musical de sucesso, retornando às suas raízes como uma cantora de música country com uma sequência de hits nas décadas de 70 e 80. Ela é membro da Rock and Roll, Country Music e Rockabilly Hall of Fame e, atualmente, vive em Nashville (Tennessee).

  

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Gianni Morandi nasceu há oitenta e um anos

     

Gianni Morandi (Monghidoro, Emilia-Romagna, 11 de dezembro de 1944), nascido Gian Luigi Morandi é um cantor de música pop italiano. Tornou-se uma das mais conhecidas personalidades do show-business italiano das últimas quatro décadas.

Morandi fez a sua estreia em 1962 e rapidamente tornou-se famoso, tendo ganhado diversos festivais musicais em Itália, incluindo o Festival Canzonissima em 1969. Em 1970, representou a Itália no Festival Eurovisão da Canção de 1970, interpretando o tema Occhi Di Ragazza (Olhos de rapariga). A sua carreira entrou em declínio em meados dos anos 70 mas voltou em força nos anos 80. Gianni Morandi venceu o Festival de São Remo em 1987, classificou-se em segundo em 1995 e terceiro em 2000.

Estima-se que Morandi tenha vendido mais de 30 milhões de LPs e CDs. Ele escreveu vários livros autobiográficos e surgiu em dezoito filmes. Na televisão, surgiu em 1984 na série televisiva Voglia di volare. 

  

  

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Música adequada à data...

Saudades de Marie Fredriksson...

Marie Fredriksson, a vocalista dos Roxette, morreu há seis anos...

 

Marie Fredriksson (Össjö, 30 de maio de 1958 - Danderyd, 9 de dezembro de 2019) foi uma cantora e compositora sueca, vocalista da dupla Roxette, ao lado de Per Gessle. Dona de uma bem-sucedida carreira solo na Suécia, Marie alcançou sucesso internacional, ao lado de Per Gessle, a partir de 1986, conseguindo colocar doze canções no Billboard Hot 100, incluindo quatro números 1.

 

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Fredriksson morreu a 9 de dezembro de 2019 aos 61 anos, após uma batalha de 17 anos contra o cancro, após o seu diagnóstico de tumor cerebral em 2002. Um funeral privado, com apenas a sua família imediata presente, ocorreu em um local não revelado. Entre as homenagens expressas a Fredriksson estava uma declaração do rei Carlos XVI Gustavo da Suécia, que disse: "Ficamos impressionados com a triste notícia de que a cantora Marie Fredriksson faleceu. Para muitos em nosso país, mesmo em minha família, sua música é intimamente associada a memórias de momentos particularmente importantes da vida". Um concerto em memória de Fredriksson aconteceu no Stora Teatern, em Gotemburgo, a 20 de janeiro, com apresentações de Per Gessle e Eva Dahlgren. O concerto foi transmitido na íntegra cinco dias depois pela Sveriges Television.

   

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