Lil' Louis & The World - Saved My Life (maw dub)

Louis Sims, Chicago, Illinois, USA. A leading Chicago house producer during the late 80s, Lil Louis is the son of Bobby Sims, one of Chicago’s premier blues guitarists who has played with B.B. King and Bobby Bland. Louis began DJing in the mid-70s and was soon running his own club, the Future. By the mid-80s he had established himself as one of the leading attractions on Chicago’s dance music scene. His single releases during this period included ‘How I Feel’, but the breakthrough moment in his career came with 1987’s club classic ‘French Kiss’. The track, featuring vocals by Shawn Christopher, was later licensed from Diamond Records to CBS Records and ffrr Records, and peaked at number 2 in the UK charts in 1989. It was banned by the BBC because of its female ‘vocal’ (heavy breathing) being too near the knuckle. The censorship was not merely a British invention, however. New York DJ Frankie Bones was sacked for playing it at his club night in breach of prior warnings. Other hits in the piano-house mould followed, notably ‘I Called U’. Again this was no ephemeral dance tune, concerning instead a disastrous relationship with an ex-girlfriend which got so out of hand he was forced to take out a restraining order.

Lil’ Louis debut album was a surprisingly pleasing and varied selection, with tracks spanning soul and jazz (and including contributions from his father). Louis was responsible for singing, producing and much of the instrumentation. He returned after a long break in 1992 with ‘The Club Lonely’ and ‘Saved My Life’, having relocated from Chicago to New York, and taken time out to update his keyboard skills and reacquaint himself with the jazz records of his youth. He returned to the club scene in 1995 with ‘Freedom’, using the Black Magic moniker. The R&B-orientated ‘Clap Your Hands’ single was released two years later.

Links:

Joi Cardwell Biography

pt1 - Larry Levan ( The Final Nights of Paradise 1987 )

Larry Levan - The Final Nights At The Paradise Garage - Pt 1 / 10

Recorded Live At The Paradise Garage: Sept 25 - 28 1987

Available @ www.bm-soho.com
Artist: Larry Levan
Title: The Final Night Of Paradise Garage Pt 2
Label: Garage
Cat Num: ZUKI0212
Release Date: 05/06/2009
Genre: House
Format: 12"

Links:

Part 02
Part 03
Part 04
Part 05
Part 06
Part 07
Part 08
Part 09
Part 10

Aalif Tree - Enough

French DJ and electronic music alchemist Alif Tree samples vocals from Shirley Horn and Nina Simone and conjures composers from Schubert to Steve Reich in this blend of styles and genres.

User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License and may also be available under the GNU FDL.

Links:

Discogs

Silver Convention - Fly Robin Fly

Silver Convention was a German disco recording act of the 1970s. The group was originally named "Silver Bird Convention", or "Silver Bird".

The group was initiated in Munich by producers and songwriters Sylvester Levay and Michael Kunze. "Silver" was Levay's nickname. Using female session vocalists for their first recordings, they scored a successful single in the United Kingdom in 1975 with the song "Save Me". They were only a studio group, and realised then that they would need to find professional entertainers for presentation to the public.

They recruited vocalists Linda Thompson (real name Linda Ubelherr, who would be billed on her solo records as Linda G. Thompson, formerly a member of Les Humphries Singers), Penny McLean (real name Gertrude Wirschinger) and Ramona Wulf (real name Ramona Kraft, born to a German mother and black American G.I. father). Their first production was the minor successful single named ironically "There Is Always Another Girl".

As "Silver Convention" they scored two major U.S. hit singles. "Fly, Robin, Fly," of which the complete lyrics consisted of only six distinct words (Fly, Robin, Up, To, The, Sky), scored three weeks at #1 in 1975, and won the group a Grammy Award for Best R&B Instrumental Performance. Initially the song was titled "Run, Rabbit, Run", changed by the writers moments before the recording took place. Their next success "Get Up And Boogie", which also consisted of only six distinct words, scored three weeks at #2 in 1976. Their next release, "No No Joe," only scored #60 in September 1976. The further singles released by the trio attempted to duplicate the sound that had made them successful briefly, but they were only minor successes. At this time, Linda G. Thompson left the group and was replaced by New Yorker Rhonda Heath, who was chosen in preference to other hopefuls at an open casting call to become the newest singer for the group.

Michael Kunze actually wrote the lyrics on the first two albums under the pseudonym Stephan Prager. During this time the three singers released their own solo work. McLean and Thompson achieved hit singles with "Lady Bump" and "1, 2, 3, 4 ... Fire!", and "Ooh What a Night" respectively. Wulf's solo effort was only a moderate success.

Silver Convention represented Germany in the Eurovision Song Contest 1977 with a song entitled "Telegram", finishing eighth. The entry had only English lyrics (with considerably more words than their past hits), but was allowed to enter in spite of the language rule being reintroduced this year, because the song was chosen to represent Germany before the reintroduction was announced. In 1994, Rhonda Heath returned to Eurovision, providing backing vocals and keyboards for the German entry Wir Geben 'Ne Party performed in German by Mekado. This entry did better than Silver Convention's effort, placing 3rd out of the 25 entries in Dublin.

With a new producer (John Davis), and a revised line-up of singers (Suzie McClosky aka Zenda Jacks, Rhonda Heath and Ramona Wulf), Silver Convention was successful again during 1978 with the album Love in a Sleeper. The 12" single release from the LP was "Spend the Night With Me" backed with "Mission To Venus".

Levay also worked with Giorgio Moroder, and Kunze began work with Jim Steinman. The solo careers of the three singers ended quickly and they left the music industry. Levay and Kunze later collaborated on the successful Vienna productions of the musicals Elisabeth, Mozart! and Rebecca.

Links:

Discogs

Cheryl Lynn - Got To Be Real

Lynda Cheryl Smith (born March 11, 1957), known better by her professional name Cheryl Lynn, is a female African-American disco, R&B and soul singer known best for her 1978 disco song, "Got to Be Real".

Links:

Bio