൪ MADONNA, Live To Tell|Papa Don't Preach|Open Your Heart|Like A Virgin|True Blue|Causing A CommotionLa Isla Bonita|

Madonna (born Madonna Louise Ciccone on August 16, 1958) is an American recording artist, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan and raised in Rochester Hills, Michigan, Madonna moved to New York City in 1977, for a career in modern dance. After performing as member of the pop musical groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her self-titled debut album in 1983, and then produced three consecutive number-one studio albums on the Billboard 200 in the 1980s and four more since year 2000.

Madonna is known for exploring religious symbolism and sexual themes in her work. This drew criticism from the Vatican in the late 1980s.[2] In 1992, she founded an entertainment company, Maverick, which published a book of photographs (Sex). She also released a studio album (Erotica) and starred in a film (Body of Evidence) with erotic themes. These works generated negative publicity and coincided with a fall in commercial sales in the 1990s.[3] Madonna's career was revived in 1998, when the release of her album Ray of Light garnered critical acclaim.

Madonna has acted in 22 films. Although most failed critically and commercially, she earned a Golden Globe Award for her role in the 1996 film Evita. In 1996 Madonna gave birth to a daughter, Lourdes Maria (also known as Lola) by personal trainer Carlos Leon before marrying film director Guy Ritchie in 2000. She and Ritchie have two sons, Rocco and David Banda, a Malawian boy they adopted in 2006, which caused media allegations they violated that country's adoption laws.

She has been regarded as "one of the greatest pop acts of all time" and dubbed the "Queen of Pop" by various sources. She is ranked by the Recording Industry Association of America as the best-selling female rock artist of the twentieth century and the second top-selling female artist in the United States with 63 million certified albums. Guinness World Records list her as the world's most successful female recording artist of all time and the top-earning female singer in the world with an estimated net worth of US$490 million, having sold over 200 million records worldwide. On March 10, 2008, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Madonna released her third album, True Blue, in 1986, prompting Rolling Stone to say that "it sounds as if it comes from the heart". The album included the ballad "Live to Tell", which she wrote for the film At Close Range, starring her then-husband Sean Penn. True Blue produced five Top 5 singles on theBillboard charts: "Live to Tell", "Papa Don't Preach", "Open Your Heart", "True Blue" and "La Isla Bonita". In the same year, Madonna starred in the filmShanghai Surprise and made her theatrical debut in a production of David Rabe's Goose and Tom-Tom, both co-starring Sean Penn.

In 1987, Madonna starred in Who's That Girl, and contributed four songs to its soundtrack; including the title track and the U.S. Number-two single, "Causing a Commotion". In the same year, she embarked on the Who's That Girl Tour. It marked her first conflict with the Vatican, as Pope John Paul IIurged Italian fans not to attend her concerts. Later that year, Madonna released a remix album of past hits, You Can Dance. In 1988, city officials in the town of Pacentro began to construct a 13-foot (4 m) statue of Madonna in a bustier. The statue commemorates the fact that her ancestors had lived in Pacentro. In 1988, Madonna starred as Karen in a play by David Mamet called Speed-the-Plow. [wikipedia]

൪ LYNYRD SKYNYRD, fREE Bird|Sweet Home Alabama|Simple Man|That Smell|Every Mother's Son|

Lynyrd Skynyrd (pronounced LEN-ərd-SKIN-ərd) is an American rock band. The band became prominent in the Southern United States in 1973, and rose to worldwide recognition before several members, including lead vocalist and primary songwriter Ronnie Van Zant, died in an airplane crash in 1977. The band reformed in 1987 for a reunion tour with Ronnie's younger brother Johnny Van Zant as the frontman, and continues to record music today. The band was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 13, 2006.

In 1972 the band was discovered by musician, songwriter, and producer Al Kooper of Blood, Sweat, and Tears, who had attended one of their shows at a club in Atlanta. They changed the spelling of their name to "Lynyrd Skynyrd", and Kooper signed them to MCA Records, producing their first album the following year "Pronounced Leh-nerd Skin-nerd". 1973's featured the hit song "Free Bird", which received national airplay, eventually reaching #19 on the Billboard Hot 100 charts, and is still considered a rock and roll anthem today.

Lynyrd Skynyrd's fan base continued to grow rapidly throughout 1973, largely due to their opening slot on The Who's Quadrophenia tour in the United States. Their 1974 follow-up, Second Helping, was the band's breakthrough hit, and featured their most popular single, "Sweet Home Alabama" (#8 on the charts in August 1974), a tongue in cheek response to Neil Young's "Alabama" and "Southern Man." (Young and Van Zant were not rivals, but fans of each other's music and good friends; Young even wrote the song "Powderfinger" for the band, but they never recorded it). The album reached #12 in 1974, eventually going multi-platinum. In July of that year, Lynyrd Skynyrd was one of the headline acts at The Ozark Music Festival at the Missouri State Fairgrounds in Sedalia, Missouri.

In 1987, Lynyrd Skynyrd reunited for a full-scale tour with crash survivors Gary Rossington, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson and Artimus Pyle and former guitarist Ed King. Ronnie Van Zant's younger brother, Johnny, took over as the new lead singer and primary songwriter. Due to Collins' paralysis from the 1986 car accident, he was only able to participate as the musical director, choosing Randall Hall, his former bandmate in the Allen Collins Band, as his stand-in. As part of his plea deal, Collins would be wheeled out onstage each night to explain to the audience why he could no longer perform (usually before the performance of "That Smell," which had been partially directed at him). Collins was stricken with pneumonia in 1989 and died on January 23, 1990.

In 2004, Rolling Stone magazine ranked the group #95 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. On November 28, 2005, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced that Lynyrd Skynyrd would be inducted alongside Black Sabbath, Blondie, Miles Davis, and the Sex Pistols. They were inducted in the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Manhattan on March 13, 2006. Lynyrd Skynyrd had been nominated 7 times.On March 13, 2006, Lynyrd Skynyrd was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at the 21st annual induction ceremony. The inductees included Ronnie Van Zant, Allen Collins, Gary Rossington, Ed King, Steve Gaines, Billy Powell, Leon Wilkeson, Bob Burns, and Artimus Pyle. [wikipedia]

The pronounciation of the band's name may be mouthful but they do produced great songs..

൪ LOVE AFFAIR, Everlasting Love|Rainbow Valley|A Day Without Love|One Road|Bringing On Back The Good Times|Wake Me I'm Dreaming|

Love Affair were a London based pop, soul, R&B group formed in 1966. They had several UK Singles Chart Top 10 hits, including the number one success "Everlasting Love". Their first single, "She Smiled Sweetly", written by Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, released on Decca Records flopped, but they reached the top of the UK Singles Chart in January 1968 with "Everlasting Love". By this time the group had relocated to CBS Records. The song was first recorded by Robert Knight, whose version had reached No. 13 in the Billboard Hot 100 chart in the autumn of 1967, and it was previously offered to the Marmalade, who turned it down as they thought it too pop-oriented for them.

Four further Top 20 hits followed, "Rainbow Valley #6" , "A Day Without Love #6" (both 1968), "One Road#16" and "Bringing On Back The Good Times #9" (both 1969). Love Affair sold more singles in 1968 in the UK than any other band, except for The Beatles. At the end of that year they released an album, Everlasting Love Affair.

The band primarily featured the following —
Steve Ellis (born Stephen John Ellis, 7 April 1950, Edgware, London) — (vocals)
Rex Brayley (born Rex Charles Brayley, 3 January 1948, London) — (guitar)
Lynton Guest (born 28 November 1951, Leicester) — (keyboards 1967 to 1968)
Morgan Fisher (born Stephen Morgan Fisher, 1 January 1950, Mayfair, London) — (keyboardist from 1968 to 1971)
Maurice Bacon (born 26 January 1952, Southgate, London) — (drummer)
Mick Jackson (born Michael Jackson, 27 January 1950, Bradford, Yorkshire) — (bass)

My Love Affair with music and that's how it started with this very song that sparked the whole blog affair, that's how the blog title came about but later trimmed to 'Bringing Back The Good Times' after a great suggestion by a fellow blogger himself, my buddy Justin Choo.

As Ellis wrote in the booklet notes to a later compilation CD, Singles A's and B's, "In an attempt to break the mould we recorded a song far removed from the anthemic-like previous hits. The song was called "Baby I Know". Released at the end of 1969, competing with releases from other big names for a place in the charts over Christmas, it failed completely. Ellis felt the band had run its course, and he left in December 1969 for a solo career: "It felt like a mountain had been lifted from my shoulders". The rest of the band soldiered on without any further success, continuing briefly as LA with new vocalist, August Eadon (aka Gus Yeadon). Further releases likewise never charted. [wikipedia]

൪ LIOUS ARMSTRONG, What A Wonderful World|When The Saints Go Marching In|Hello Dolly|A Kiss To Build A Dream On|BlueBerry Hill|Basin Street Blues|

Louis Daniel Armstrong (August 4 1901 – July 6 1971) nicknamed Satchmo or Pops was an American jazz trumpeter and singer. Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an innovative cornet and trumpet playerArmstrong was a foundational influence on jazz shifting the music's focus from collective improvisation to solo performers. With his distinctive gravelly voice Armstrong was also an influential singer demonstrating great dexterity as an improviser bending the lyrics and melody of a song for expressive purposes. He was also greatly skilled at scat singing or wordless vocalizing.

Armstrong grew up at the bottom of the social ladder in a highly segregated city but one which lived in a constant fervor of music which was generally called “ragtime” - not yet “jazz”. Despite the hard early days Armstrong seldom looked back at his youth as the worst of times but instead drew inspiration from it “Every time I close my eyes blowing that trumpet of mine—I look right in the heart of good old New Orleans...It has given me something to live for.”

Armstrong had many hit records including "Stardust", "What a Wonderful World", "When The Saints Go Marching In", "Dream a Little Dream of Me", "Ain't Misbehavin'", and "Stompin' at the Savoy". "We Have All the Time in the World" featured on the soundtrack of the James Bond film On Her Majesty's Secret Service, and enjoyed renewed popularity in the UK in 1994 when it featured on a Guinness advert. It reached number 3 in the charts on being re-released.

The nickname Satchmo or Satch is short for Satchelmouth (describing his embouchure). In 1932 then Melody Maker magazine editor Percy Brooks greeted Armstrong in London with "Hello Satchmo!" and it stuck.

In 1964, Armstrong knocked the Beatles off the top of the Billboard Top 100 chart with "Hello, Dolly", which gave the 63-year-old performer a U.S. record as the oldest artist to have a #1 song. His 1964 song, "Bout Time" later featured in the film "Bewitched" (2005). In 1968, Armstrong scored one last popular hit in the United Kingdom with the highly sentimental pop song "What a Wonderful World", which topped the British charts for a month; however, the single did not chart at all in America. The song gained greater currency in the popular consciousness when it was used in the 1987 movie Good Morning, Vietnam, its subsequent re-release topping many charts around the world. Armstrong even appeared on the October 28, 1970 Johnny Cash Show, where he sang Nat "King" Cole's hit "Rambling Rose" and joined Cash to re-create his performance backing Jimmie Rodgers on "Blue Yodel #9".

Armstrong was posthumously awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1972 by the Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences. This Special Merit Award is presented by vote of the Recording Academy's National Trustees to performers who, during their lifetimes, have made creative contributions of outstanding artistic significance to the field of recording. Recordings of Armstrong were inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance. In 1995, the U.S. Post Office issued a Louis Armstrong 32 cents commemorative postage stamp.

Armstrong died of a heart attack on July 6 1971 at age 69 11 months after playing a famous show at the Waldorf-Astoria's Empire Room. Shortly before his death he stated "I think I had a beautiful life. I didn't wish for anything that I couldn't get and I got pretty near everything I wanted because I worked for it." He was residing in Corona Queens New York City at the time of his death. He was interred in Flushing Cemetery, Flushing in Queens New York City.

Today, the house where Louis Armstrong lived for close to 28 years (and which was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1977) is a museum. The Louis Armstrong House Museum, at 34-56 107th Street (between 34th and 37th Avenues) in Corona, Queens, presents concerts and educational programs, operates as a historic house museum and makes materials in its archives of writings, books, recordings and memorabilia available to the public for research. The museum is operated by the City University of New York's Queens College, following the dictates of Lucille Armstrong's will. [wikipedia]

൪ LITTLE EVA, Loco-Motion|Take A Step In My Direction|

Eva Narcissus Boyd (June 29, 1943 – April 10, 2003), known by the stage name of Little Eva (after a character from Uncle Tom's Cabin), was an American singer. Born in North Carolina, she moved to the Brighton Beach section of Brooklyn, New York at a young age. As a teenager, she worked as a maid and earned extra money as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin. Amused by Boyd's individual dancing style, they wrote "The Loco-Motion" for her and had her record it as a demo. The song became an instant smash, reaching #1 in the United States in 1962. After the success of "The Loco-Motion", Boyd was stereo typed as a dance-craze singer and was given limited material.

Boyd's other hits are "Keep Your Hands Off My Baby", "Some Kinda Wonderful", "Let's Turkey Trot" and a remake of the Bing Crosby standard "Swinging On A Star," recorded with Big Dee Irwin (though Boyd was not credited on the label). Boyd also recorded the song "Makin' With the Magilla" for an episode of the 1964 Hanna-Barbera cartoon series "The Magilla Gorilla Show".

She continued to tour and record throughout the sixties, but her commercial potential plummeted after 1964. She retired from the music business in 1971. She continued performing until she was diagnosed with cervical cancer in October 2001. She died 18 months later in Kinston, North Carolina, aged 59, and is buried in a small cemetery in Belhaven, North Carolina.

[wikipedia]

൪ LIPPS INC, Funkytown|Rock It|Power|

Lipps Inc or Lipps, Inc. (pronounced like "lip sync") was a studio band that achieved one significant hit, "Funkytown" in 1980. The group was formed in Minneapolis by Steven Greenberg, who wrote and produced all of the group's music, and who also played several musical instruments. The lead singer was Cynthia Johnson, and the rest of the group consisted of a changing group of session musicians, including guitarist David Rivkin.

They achieved some popularity during the 1980s. The group released their debut album Mouth to Mouth in early 1980 (although original pressings of the album actually have 1979 listed as the copyright date). Their hit from this album, "Funkytown" spent four weeks at Number one on both the Billboard Hot 100 and on the Hot Dance Music/Club Play charts in the United States and was awarded a platinum record. It reached number two in the United Kingdom and was a hit throughout the world. Their further singles failed to match their initial success (their only other Hot 100 entry was "Rock It", which peaked at #64), however they had more dance hits throughout the 1980s, including "How Long?" (originally a big hit for Ace) in 1981, which reached #4 on the U.S. Dance chart. The group released their final full-length album, 4 in 1983. [wikipedia]

൪ LIONEL RICHIE, Endless Love|Truly|All Nite Long|Hello|Stuck On U|Dancing On The Ceiling|Ballerina Girl|

Lionel Brockman Richie, Jr. (born June 20, 1949) in Tuskegee, Alabama is an American singer, songwriter, record producer who has sold more than 100 million records. Richie grew up on the campus of Tuskegee Institute. His grandfather's house was across the street from the home of the president of the Institute. His family moved to Illinois where he graduated from Joliet Township High School, East Campus, in Joliet. A star tennis player in Joliet, he accepted a tennis scholarship back at Tuskegee Institute and later graduated with a major in economics. After receiving his undergraduate degree from Tuskegee, Richie briefly attended graduate school at Auburn University.

Back as a student in Tuskegee, he formed a succession of R&B groups in the mid-1960s. In 1968 he became the lead singer and saxophonist with the Commodores. They signed a recording contract with Atlantic Records in 1968 for one record before moving on to Motown Records, being schooled as a support act to the Jackson Five. The Commodores became established as a popular soul group. Their first several albums had a danceable, funky sound (with such tracks as "Machine Gun" and "Brick House"). Over time, Richie wrote and sang more romantic, easy-listening ballads such as "Easy", "Three Times a Lady" and "Still".

By the late 1970s he had begun to accept songwriting commissions from other artists. He composed "Lady" for Kenny Rogers, which hit #1 in 1980, and he produced Rogers' Share Your Love album the following year. Richie and Rogers have maintained a strong friendship in later years. Also in 1981, Richie sang a duet with Diana Ross in the theme song for the film Endless Love. Issued as a single, the song topped the UK and U.S. pop music charts, and it became one of Motown's biggest hits. Its success encouraged Richie to branch out into a full-fledged solo career in 1982. He was replaced by Skyler Jett, who became the lead singer for The Commodores in 1983.

He released his self-titled debut in 1982, which contained three hit singles: the huge U.S. #1 song "Truly" that launched his career as one of the most successful balladeers of the 1980's. Other U.S. Top Five hits "You Are" and "My Love". The album hit #3 on the music charts and sold over 4 million copies. His 1983 follow up album, Can't Slow Down, sold over twice as many copies and won two Grammy Awards including Album Of The Year – propelling him into the first rank of international superstars. The album spawned the #1 hit "All Night Long", a Caribbean-flavored dance number that was promoted by a colorful music video produced by former Monkee, Michael Nesmith.

Several more Top 10 hits followed, the most successful of which was the ballad "Hello" (1984), a sentimental love song that showed how far Richie had moved from his R&B roots. Richie had three more Top Ten hits in 1984, "Stuck On You" (#3), "Running With the Night" (#7) and "Penny Lover" (#8). Now described by one critic as 'the black Barry Manilow', in 1985 Richie wrote and performed a suitably soothing theme song, "Say You, Say Me", for the film White Nights, winning an Oscar for his efforts as well as reaching #1 on the U.S. charts and staying there for four weeks, earning him the #1 song of 1985 according to Billboard's year-end Hot 100 chart. He also collaborated with Michael Jackson on the charity single "We Are the World" by USA for Africa, another #1 hit.

In 1986, Richie released Dancing on the Ceiling, his last widely popular album, which produced a run of US and UK hits including "Say You, Say Me" (U.S. #1), "Dancing on the Ceiling" (U.S. #2),"Ballerina Girl" (U.S. #7) and "Se La" (U.S. #20), The latter is Richie's most recent U.S. Pop Top Twenty hit. The title selection, which revived the lively dance sound of "All Night Long (All Night)", was accompanied by another striking video, a feature that played an increasingly important role in Richie's solo career. The critical consensus was that this album represented nothing more than a consolidation of his previous work, though Richie's collaboration with the country group Alabama on "Deep River Woman" did break new ground. By 1987, Richie was exhausted from his work schedule and after a controversial year laid low taking care for his father in Alabama. His father, Lionel Sr., died in 1990. He made his return to recording and performing following the release of his first greatest-hits collection, Back to Front, in 1992.

Since then, his ever-more relaxed schedule has kept his recording and live work to a minimum. He broke the silence in 1996 with Louder Than Words, on which he resisted any change of style or the musical fashion-hopping of the past decade. Instead, he stayed with his chosen path of well-crafted soul music, which in the intervening years has become known as Contemporary R&B.

His albums in the 1990s such as Louder Than Words and Time all failed to achieve the previous decade's commercial success. Some of his recent work such as the album Renaissance has returned to his older style, achieving success in Europe, but only modest notice in the United States. Since 2004, he has produced a total of six Top 40 singles in the UK. [wikipedia]

൪ LINDA RONSTADT, You're No Good|It's So Easy|Blue Bayou|When Will I Be Loved|I Can't Help It|

Linda Maria Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) in Tucson, Arizona is an American popular music vocalist and entertainer whose vocal styles in a variety of genres have resonated with the general public over the course of her four-decade career. As a result, she has earned multiple Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multi platinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations. A singer-songwriter and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs. Being one of music’s most versatile, and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and public incarnations. With a one time standing as the Queen of Rock where she was bestowed the title of "highest paid woman in rock", and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch and a national arts advocate.

In total, she has released over 30 solo albums, more than 15 compilations or greatest hits albums, and has collaborated with and made guest vocal appearances with various artists on over 120 other albums. Ronstadt has charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles, twenty-one of which have reached the top 40, ten of which have reached the top 10, three peaking at No. 2, the No. 1 hit, "You're No Good", in addition to charting thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard 200 Pop Album Charts .

It included the RIAA platinum-certified single "Blue Bayou" - a Country Rock interpretation of a Roy Orbison written song - as well as "It's So Easy" previously sung by Buddy Holly - and "Poor Poor Pitiful Me" a song written for the album, by Warren Zevon, an up and coming songwriter of the time whom Ronstadt elected to highlight and record. The album, garnered several Grammy Award nominations - including Record Of The Year and Best Pop Vocal Performance, Female for "Blue Bayou" - and won its art director, Kosh a Grammy Award for Best Album Cover, the first of three Grammy Awards he would win for designing Ronstadt album covers.

Heart Like a Wheel's first single release was "You're No Good," - a rootsy rockified version of a song written by Clint Ballard, Jr. that Ronstadt had initially resisted including on the album because it sounded too much like a "Beatles song" to her - climbed to No. 1 on the Pop singles chart. The album's second single release was "When Will I Be Loved," - an uptempo country rock version of a song written by Phil Everly - climbed to the No. 2 on the Pop singles chart and the No. 1 slot on the Country singles chart.

The album showed a physically attractive Ronstadt on the cover but, more importantly, its critical and commercial success was due to a fine presentation of country and rock with Heart Like A Wheel her first of many major commercial successes that would put her on the path as one of the best-selling female artists of all time. Ronstadt won her first Grammy Award for Best Country Vocal Performance/Female for "I Can't Help It (If I'm Still In Love With You)" - originally recorded and written by Hank Williams - with Ronstadt interpretation, peaking at No. 2 on the Country charts. The album was nominated for Album of the Year.

Billboard Magazine crowned Linda Ronstadt with Four No.1 Awards for the Year: No.1 Pop Female Singles Artist of the Year; No.1 Pop Female Album Artist of the Year; No.1 Female Record Artist of the Year; and the No.1 Female Vocalist of the Year. [wikipedia]

൪ LABELLE, Lady Marmalade|What Can I Do For You|Can I Speak To You Before You Go To Hollywood|

Labelle is an all female singing group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. Originally forming as The Ordettes in 1960 by lead singer Patti LaBelle and childhood friend Sandra Tucker who was replaced by Cindy Birdsong in 1961 and with the inclusion of former members of the New Jersey-based Del Capris,Sarah Dash and Nona Hendryx, they eventually changed their name to The Bluebelles in 1962 after signing their first recording contract. Mixingdoo-wop and gospel, they became known for performing renditions of pop standards such as "Over the Rainbow" and "You'll Never Walk Alone".

"Lady Marmalade" is a 1974 song made famous by the girl group Labelle. Produced by Allen Toussaint, "Lady Marmalade" became a number-one hit the next year. An early disco hit, the song is most famous for its sexually suggestive chorus of "voulez-vous coucher avec moi (ce soir)?" The song held the number-one spot on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States for one week. Labelle's version of "Lady Marmalade" was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2003. "Lady Marmalade" was written by Bob Crewe (who co-wrote many of the hits recorded by The Four Seasons) and Kenny Nolan. [wikipedia]

Back then the most frequent buzzword we often used.. "Groovy"!!!

൪ LA TOYA JACKSON, If U Feel The Funk|Heart Don't Lie|You're gonna Get Rocked|Baby Sister|

La Toya Yvonne Jackson (born May 29, 1956) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, television personality and actress. She had a career as a singer throughout the 1980s and 1990s, and returned to music in 2004 with her Billboard charting songs "Just Wanna Dance" and "Free The World". A forthcoming album entitled Startin' Over has yet to be released. La Toya Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, the fifth of nine children born to Joseph and Katherine Jackson. After her mother became one of Jehovah's Witnesses in 1966, La Toya, along with her brother Michael, followed. She would spend some of her time (alongside her mother) evangelizing door-to-door. "

In 1981, Jackson released her self-titled debut. The first single "If You Feel The Funk", became a minor hit, climbing into the Top 40 of the R&B chart, but the single and album failed to generate commercial interest. She also provided the opening scream on her brothers, The Jacksons in the 1980 hit, "This Place Hotel" and backing vocals on her brother Michael's hit single "P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" off his groundbreaking Thriller album. Her three subsequent albums also met limited success, although she scored a minor Billboard Hot 100 hit with 1984's "Heart Don't Lie", which peaked at #56. Her 1985 single "Baby Sister" is also notable as a moderate success, as it received one of three Outstanding Song Awards at the 1986World Popular Song Festival in Japan.

In 1987, Jackson released the album La Toya, which featured the single, "You're Gonna Get Rocked!". The album also included a track titled "Just Say No", which was written for the Reagan administration's anti-drug campaign. The album was produced by Full Force. The album is notable for being the first one Jackson released after changing her management. Jack Gordon became Jackson's new manager following the departure of her father. The pair later married in 1989, into a relationship which, Jackson claims, was an abusive one. The marriage ended in 1996, after Gordon beat Jackson for refusing to perform. [wikipedia]

൪ KYLIE MINOGUE, The Loco-motion|I Should Be So Lucky|It's No Secret|Turn It Into Love|Especially 4U|Confide In..|Put Yourself..|Cant Get U Out..|Slo

Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE, (born 28 May 1968), is an Australian pop singer-songwriter and occasional actress. She rose to prominence in the late 1980s through her role in the Australian television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing her career as a recording artist in 1987. Raised in Surrey Hills, a Melbourne suburb, the Minogue sisters began their careers as children on Australian television, and from the age of twelve, Kylie appeared in small roles in soap operas such as The Sullivans and Skyways, before being cast in one of the lead roles in The Henderson Kids. She gave her first singing performance in 1983, on the weekly music programme Young Talent Time which featured Dannii as a regular performer. Dannii's success in this program overshadowed Kylie's acting achievements, until Kylie was cast in the soap opera Neighbours in 1986.

During a Fitzroy Football Club benefit concert with other Neighbours cast members, Minogue performed "The Loco-Motion" and was signed to a recording contract with Mushroom Records in 1987. Released as a single, the Australian recording spent seven weeks at number one on the Australian music charts, and was the highest-selling single in Australia for the 1980s. Its success resulted in Minogue traveling to London with Mushroom Records executive Gary Ashley to work with Stock, Aitken & Waterman. They knew little of Minogue and had forgotten that she was arriving; as a result, they wrote "I Should Be So Lucky" while she waited outside the studio. The song reached number one in the UK and Australia and was a hit in many parts of the world. Her debut album Kylie, a collection of dance-oriented pop tunes spent more than a year on the British album charts, including several weeks at #1. It sold over seven million copies worldwide, with most sales occurring in Europe and Asia, and it contained six successful singles. In the United States and Canada, the album did not sell strongly, however the re-recorded and correctly titled version of "The Loco-Motion" reached number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart, and number one on the Canadian Singles Chart.

Her popularity in Australia was demonstrated when she became the first person to win four Logie Awards in one event, including the "Gold Logie" as the country's "Most Popular Television Performer", with the result determined by public vote.

"It's No Secret", released only in the U.S., peaked at number thirty-seven in early 1989, and "Turn It Into Love" was released as a single in Japan, where it reached number one. In late 1988 Minogue left Neighbours to concentrate fully on her music career. Jason Donovan commented "When viewers watched her on screen they no longer saw Charlene the local mechanic, they saw Kylie the pop star." A duet with Donovan, titled "Especially for You", sold over one million copies in the UK in early 1989.

Minogue's subsequent signing with Deconstruction Records was highly touted in the music media as the beginning of a new phase in her career, but the eponymous Kylie Minogue (1994) received mixed reviews. It sold well in Europe and Australia, where the single "Confide in Me" spent five weeks at number one. Subsequent singles, "Put Yourself in My Place" and "Where Is the Feeling?" were top twenty hits in the UK.

She won a "Mo Award" for Australian live entertainment as "Performer of the Year". Following the tour she was asked by a Seattle Post-Intelligencer journalist what she thought was her greatest strength, and replied, "[That] I am an all-rounder. If I was to choose any one element of what I do, I don't know if I would excel at any one of them. But put all of them together, and I know what I'm doing." Fever, released in 2001, retained some disco elements and combined them with 1980 selectro pop. It reached number one in Australia, the UK, and throughout Europe, eventually achieving worldwide sales in excess of 6 million. Its lead single "Can't Get You out of My Head" became the biggest success of her career, reaching number one in over twenty countries.

Following extensive airplay by North American radio, Capitol Records released it in the United States in 2002. The album debuted on the U.S. Billboard 200 albums chart at number three, and the single reached number seven on the Hot 100.

It was announced in late December 2007 that Minogue was to be among those honoured in Queen Elizabeth II's 2008 New Years Honours list, with an OBE for services to music. Minogue commented "I am almost as surprised as I am honoured. I feel deeply touched to be acknowledged by the UK, my adopted home, in this way." She received the OBE officially from The Prince of Wales in July 2008. Shortly after, Minogue was voted and named as the Britain's Best Loved Celebrity by a tabloid newspaper. Also in 2008, Minogue won best International Female Solo Artist award at the 2008 BRIT Awards, and received the French Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in May, this being France's highest cultural honour. [wikipedia]

ജ MICHAEL JACKSON MEMORIAL SERVICE|GONE TOO SOON..MICHAEL R.I.P.

..Gotta accept the fact that the King of Pop has left us. Stayed up to watch the live telecast of the Memorial Service in Staples Center LA till the very last second, it was truly very emotional. One point I picked up is to be the best in whatever you do even if you are a street sweeper be the best street sweeper.

Michael Jackson's public memorial service will be held on Tuesday at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles where the music icon had been rehearsing for his O2 concerts. And the service will be simultaneously telecast at the adjacent Nokia Theatre. But only a lucky few will get to attend the ceremony. [saddlesmania]

Fans At The Staples Center For Michael Jackson's Public Memorial In Downtown Los angeles , California. .U.S.A. 07 03 09 -- Follow us on Twitter at Twitter.com/Hollywoodtv [hollywoodtv]

Michael Jackson's funeral under way in Los Angeles. Michael Jackson's funeral has begun with family gathered for a private service, before his body is taken to the Staples Center public memorial in Los Angeles. [mattpetrin]

Introduction to Michael Jacksons memorial service on the 7th July 2009. [emoxcore01]


Michael Jackson Memorial Service Mariah Carey Trey Lorenz Performing together.

Michael Jackson Memorial: "BAD & You Are Not Alone" video compilations shown at the Staples Center, Los Angels: Tuesday, July 6th 2009. [vanuriana]

A weeping Brooke Shields gives an emotional eulogy of her longtime friend Michael Jackson. She called their bond "the most natural and easiest of friendships." [PoliticsNewsPolitics]

Michael Jackson Memorial Usher Sings Staples Center , 7 July 2009 [MohammedDawud]

Gone Too Soon

Like A Comet..Blazing 'Cross The Evening Sky

Gone Too Soon

Like A Rainbow..Fading In The Twinkling Eye

Gone Too Soon

Shiny And Sparkly And Splendidly Bright

Here One Day.. Gone One Night

Like The Loss Of Sunlight..On A Cloudy Afternoon

Gone Too Soon

Like A Castle..Built Upon A Sandy Beach

Gone Too Soon

Like A Perfect Flower..That Is Just Beyond Your Reach

Gone Too Soon

Born To Amuse, To Inspire, To Delight

Here One Day..Gone One Night

Like A Sunset..Dying From The Rising Moon

Gone Too Soon..Gone Too Soon

Motown Records founder Berry Gordy eulogizes Michael Jackson, "who was like a son to me," he says. "We all knew we was special." [PoliticsNewsPolitics]

Michael Jackson brother, Jermaine Jackson singing at STAPLES CENTER - Jackson memorial.The song is called "Smile" (by Charlie Chaplin) and is believed to be Michael Jackson's favorite song. [MalmoH]

Smile though your heart is aching

Smile even though it's breaking

When there are clouds in the sky, you'll get by

If you smile through your fear and sorrow

Smile and maybe tomorrow

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile

Light up your face with gladness

Hide every trace of sadness

Although a tear may be ever so near

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use in crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile

[instrumental interlude]

That's the time you must keep on trying

Smile, what's the use in crying?

You'll find that life is still worthwhile

If you just smile

Reverend Al Sharpton eulogizes Michael Jackson. At one point, he tells his family, "There was nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with, but he dealt with it." [PoliticsNewsPolitics]

Lionel Richie performs "Jesus is Love" at the memorial for Michael Jackson. [FallingDown678]



Stevie Wonder sings "I Never Dreamed You'd Leave In Summer" and "My Destiny". He prefaced his performance by saying, "This is a moment that I wished that I didn't live to se...[troubledblind]

At the memorial service for Michael Jackson, Kenny Ortega - who planned the "This Is It" concert tour - called Staples Center "Michael's house." The show closes with a performance of "We Are The World" and "Heal The World".

R.I.P Micheal Jackson [hgegfhdhsjsh]

Michael Jackson - The King of Pop - RIP Michael Jackson 'Heal the World' Michael's Friends & Children Sing at his Memorial. [abod0]

{A new star is born, Judith Hill you are great!}S@n

Michael Jackson's brother Jermaine thanks the crowd at the Staples Center for attending the memorial service. Marlon Jackson then gives an emotional eulogy. "Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone." [PoliticsNewsPolitics]

Marlon's identical twin brother Brandon was stillborn during emergency c-section surgery. They were several weeks premature. [wikipedia]

Paris Katharine Jackson says goodbye to her father Michael Jackson. "I just want to say ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine... I just wanted to say I love him so much." Michael's casket is then moved off the stage. [PoliticsNewsPolitics]

It seemed like Today the World stopped to watch the beautiful televised tribute for saying goodbye to Michael Jackson. It was as if, for a few hours, the World was One. Moving is not a word that could describe this feeling thoroughly! [Kerintune]

ജ WILL THE REAL SLIM MÖÖNWALKER PLEASE STAND UP!

May I have your attention please?

May I have your attention please?

Will the real slim mOOnwalker please stand up?

I repeat will the real slim mOOnwalker please stand up?

We're gonna have a problem here..

I'm slim mOOnwalker, I'm the real slim mOOnwalker

All you other slim mOOnwalkers are just imitating

So won't the real slim mOOnwalker please stand up

Please stand up, Please stand up?

this guy can do it better than Michael Jackson(according to one of the comments ... the song playing is, zapp and rogers "in the mix", thanX jrob521) [eraEthan]

Ila e Ric the Mini Michael Jackson for more .. www.ilaeric.cjb.net -www.ilaericproductions.cjb.net [sarahsen1]

- www.jackson-magic.com Australia's 3-time undefeated Michael Jackson Dance Off champion Paul Rizzo!- www.myspace.com/quadmire [PJ2040]

a loop of moonwalks with the song: Billie Jean from: Thriller 1982 [playgarden]


cool! www.dieteticaonline.es [dietetica]

SuAN! (antes Gsus Castillejo) imitando a Michael Jackson en TVE-1 (1997) Si quieres saber algo más sobre Suan entra en: www.myspace.com/suanspace [GsusCASTILLEJO]

Michael Jackson Impersonater Damien Shields Billie Jean - This is one of my earliest videos, I am only 16 here! You can see i used to do alot of the moves back-to-front (not anymore). Here i am performing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean featuring iconic moves like the Moonwalk. Michael Jackson Fan Tribute Video [damienmj]

Someone send this video to me long time back. Besides this video is very cool to watch, this video also proves how people used to go crazy when MJ does the MOOn Walk. [constantineab]

Me doing Michael Jackson's Billie Jean at the Milton High School lipsync/talent show back in 2004. This was my first recorded public performance. [rapidtransit9]

RODOLFO MAURI SE PRESENTO IMITANDO A MICHAEL JACKSON EN LA PARODIA BAILANDO BILLIE JEAN [RodolfoMauriShow]

Thriller - The Indian version. The subtitles are based on how the lyrics sound in english. [buffalax]


Spain 25-7-2005 BEN JACKSON www.benjackson.cjb.net [Benjackable]


Part I. The incredible Jeffrey Daniel talks about his passion-Dancing [sanpandy]

{This Is It, the real slim mOOnwalker, MJ's great Sifu & choreographer performing the mOOn walk...Whoa ! Cool...} S@n


Part II. Dancing Demo by Mr Body Popper himself the multitalented Jeffrey Daniel. [sanpandy]

The Story of the Moonwalk told by Michael's Choreographer Jeffrey Daniel, Jermaine and LaToya Jackson. Jeffrey Daniel is currently performing as a solo artist - singer, song writer and musician. You will catch him live with his band and watch out for a new single and album that are due to be released in 2008. Check out the latest info on www.jeffreydaniel.com or www.myspace.com/jeffreydanielmusic [RTM1000]

Elegant MJ, presents another classis song, Ben, by Michael Jackson, this song is so adorable. God Bless MJ [ElegantMJJ]

{Thank You.. RIP MJ} S@n