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This book was designed by GonĂ§alo Neves Cruz. It has the purpose to be a fun reading for Soul and Tarantinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s fans. The text was gathered from different authors, which are the following: Allmusic (George Baker) Dave Marsh (Joe Tex) John Bush (Kool and The Gang) Thomas Erlewine (Al Green) Jason Ankeny (Dusty Springfield, Minnie Riperton, Isaac Hayes) Steve Huey (Bobby Womack, Eddie Floyd, The Coasters) Ed Hogan (Bill Withers) John Dougan (The Delfonics) Mark Deming (Nancy Sinatra) Bill Dahl (Billy Preston) Matt Collar (Anthony Hamilton) Richie Unterberger (James Brown) Wade Kergan (John Legend) I do not own the rights of the images or texts present in this book, nor from the stills i took from the movies.

Text reply written for Cathryn Jaymes, Tarantino’s early manager. On response to Pulp Fiction’s script.

ind Reservoir Dogs George Baker 16 Joe Tex 20 Pulp Fiction Kool & the Gang 32 Al Green 42 Dusty Springfield 54 Jackie Brown Bobby Womack 66 Bill Withers 76 Randy Crawford 86 The Delfonics 90 Minnie Riperton 96

dex Kill Bill Nancy Sinatra 104 Isaac Hayes 110 Death Proof Eddie Floyd 120 The Coasters 122

Inglorious Basterds Billy Preston 130 Django Unchained Anthony Hamilton 138 James Brown 142 John Legend 151

R E S E R V O I R

Reservoir Dogs is a 1992 American crime film that depicts the events before and after a botched diamond heist, but not the heist itself. It incorporates many themes that have become Tarantinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s hallmarks: violent crime, pop culture references, profuse profanity, and a nonlinear storyline. The film has become a classic of independent film and a cult hit.

o George Baker is Johannes Bouwens from Holland, a singer, guitarist, songwriter and keyboard player. As the leader of the five-member George Baker Selection, he was part of the “Dutch invasion” of 1970, when such groups as the Tee Set and the Shocking Blue also had U.S. hits. The Baker Selection scored with “Little Green Bag” (number 21 pop) and “Dear Ann” (number 93 pop), then disappeared for five years, returning with a third, final hit, “Una Paloma Blanca” (number one easy listening, number 26 pop, number 33 country), in 1975.

In 1978 the George Baker Selection split up because “the pressure had become too much.” The band has sold over 20 million records worldwide. George Baker formed a new George Baker Selection in 1985, which stayed together until 1989. The band has released twelve albums and several compilation albums. The band experienced a brief return to the international charts in 1992, when the song “Little Green Bag” was used in the title sequence of the film Reservoir Dogs, and a Chilean soap opera. The song is also featured in a Moto X smartphone commercial (circa 2013). After the George Baker Selection split up in 1978, Baker performed as a solo artist until 1985, when he briefly returned with a new George Baker Selection. Since 1989 he has once again worked solo. In 2005 he released a remix of the song “Una Paloma Blanca” for the film Too Fat Too Furious. As a solo artist, he has released nine albums, and is currently managed by Jaap Buijs.

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George Baker Selection Little Green Bag

Lookin’ back on the track for a little green bag, Got to find just the kind or I’m losin’ my mind Out of sight in the night out of sight in the day, Lookin’ back on the track gonna do it my way. Out of sight in the night out of sight in the day, Lookin’ back on the track gonna do it my way. Lookin’ back Lookin’ for some happiness But there is only loneliness to find Jump to the left, turn to the right Lookin’ upstairs, lookin’ behind, yeah! Lookin’ for some happiness But there is only loneliness to find Jump to the left, turn to the right Lookin’ upstairs, lookin’ behind. Lookin’ back on the track for a little green bag, Got to find just the kind or I’m losin’ my mind Out of sight in the night out of sight in the day, Lookin’ back on the track gonna do it my way. Lookin’ back on the track for a little little green bag, Got to find just the kind or I’m losin’ my mind, Alright. Lookin’ for some happiness But there is only loneliness to find Jump to the left, turn to the right Lookin’ upstairs, lookin’ behind. Pa pa pa pa pa pa ....

The eight men get up to leave. Mr. White’s waist is in the F.G. As he buttons his coat, for a second we see he’s carrying a gun. They exit Uncle Bob’s Pancake House, talking amongst themselves.

o Joe Tex made the first Southern soul record that also hit on the pop charts (“Hold What You’ve Got,” in 1965, made number five in Billboard). His raspy-voiced, jackleg preacher style also laid some of the most important parts of rap’s foundation. He is, arguably, the most underrated of all the ‘60s soul performers associated with Atlantic Records, although his records were more likely than those of most soul stars to become crossover hits. Tex was born Joseph Arrington in Rogers, TX, in 1933, and displayed his vocal talent quickly, first in gospel, then in R&B. By 1954, he’d won a local talent contest and come to New York, where he recorded a variety of derivative (and endlessly repackaged) singles for King, some as a ballad singer, some as a Little Richard-style rocker. Tex’s career didn’t take off until he began his association with Nashville song publisher Buddy Killen, after Tex wrote James Brown’s 1961 song “Baby You’re Right.” In 1965, Killen took him to Muscle Shoals, not yet a fashionable recording center, and they came up with “Hold What You’ve Got,” which is about as close to a straight R&B ballad as Tex ever came. It was followed by a herd more, most of which made the R&B charts, a few cracking the pop Top 40. Tex made his mark by preaching

e After “Skinny Legs,” Tex had nothing but minor hits for five years until “I Gotcha” took off, a grittier twist on the funk that was becoming disco.

William Doyce “Buddy” Killen was a record producer and music publisher, and a former owner of Trinity Broadcasting Network, and the largest country music publishing business, before he sold it in 1989. He was also the owner of Killen Music Group, involved with more diverse genres of music, such as pop and rap.

over tough hard soul tracks, clowning at some points, swooping into a croon at others. He was perhaps the most rustic and back-country of the soul stars, a role he played to the hilt by using turns of phrase that might have been heard on any ghetto street corner, “One Monkey Don’t Stop No Show” the prototype. In 1966, his “I Believe I’m Gonna Make It,” an imaginary letter home from Vietnam, became the first big hit directly associated with that war. His biggest hit was “Skinny Legs and All,” from a 1967 live album, his rapping pure hokum over deeply funky riffs. “Skinny Legs” might have served as a template for all the raucous, ribald hip-hop hits of pop’s future. After “Skinny Legs,” Tex had nothing but minor hits for five years until “I Gotcha” took off, a grittier twist on the funk that was becoming disco. He was too downhome for the slickness of the disco era, or so it would have seemed, yet in 1977, he adapted a dance craze, the Bump, and came up with the hilarious “Ain’t Gonna Bump No More (With No Big Fat Woman),” his last Top Ten R&B hit, which also crossed over to number 12 on the pop chart. In the early ‘70s, Tex converted to Islam and in 1972 changed his offstage name to Joseph Hazziez. He spent much of the time after “Ain’t Gonna Bump” on his Texas farm, although he did join together with Wilson Pickett, Ben E. King, and Don Covay for a reformed version of the Soul Clan in 1980. He died of a heart attack in 1982, only 49 years old. Killen, King, Covay, Pickett, and the great songwriter Percy Mayfield served as pallbearers.

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h, I otha!

Joe Tex I gotcha

Oh, I gotcha! Uh-huh, huh! You thought I didn’t see ya, now Didn’t ya? uh! Uh-huh, huh You tried to sneak by me, now Didn’t you? Uh-huh, huh Now, give me what you promised me Give it here, come on! Hey! Good God! Hey! Hey! You promised me the day That you quit your boyfriend I’d be the next one To ease on in You promised me It would be just us two Yeah! And I’d be the only man Kissin’ on you Yeah! Now, kiss me Hold it a long time Hold it! Don’t turn it-a loose, now Hold it A little bit longer, now Hold it! Come on! Hold it, girl Hold it, come on Hold it! Hold it! A-ease up for me Now, get back Live! You’re high! The girl’s alright, ya’all Ha-ha Good Lord! You made me a promise And you’re gonna stick to it

You shouldn’t have promised If you wasn’t gonna do it You saw me and ran In another direction I’ll teach you to play With my affection Now, give it here You never should-a promised to me Give it, here Don’t hold back, now Give it, here Don’t say nothin’ Just give it, here Come on! Give it, here, uh! Give it, here, uh! Give it, here Give it, here! Give it to me, now! You’re high! Oh, I gotcha Never should-a promised to me Gotcha! You never should-a promised to me Gotcha! Give it on, here I gotcha! You thought you got away from me Didn’t the door lock? Gotcha, ha-ha-ha Oh, I gotcha Give it on up I’ve gotcha! Give it over, here I gotcha You tried to sneak from me Now, didn’t you? Ha-ha Oh, I gotcha Ooh, I gotcha!

INT. WAREHOUSE - DAY The Cop is standing in the warehouse with his hands cuffed behind his back. Mr. White, Mr. Pink and Mr. Blonde surround him and proceed to beat the shit out of him. “Love Grows ..” PLAYS over the soundtrack.

Pulp Fiction is a 1994 American crime film directed by Quentin Tarantino, who also co-wrote the screenplay along with Roger Avary.The film is known for its eclectic dialogue, ironic mix of humor and violence, nonlinear storyline, and a host of cinematic allusions and pop culture references. The film was nominated for seven Oscars, including Best Picture; Tarantino and Avary won for Best Original Screenplay. It was also awarded the Palme d’Or at the 1994 Cannes Film Festival. A major critical and commercial success, it revitalized the career of its leading man, John Travolta, who received an Academy Award nomination, as did costars Samuel L. Jackson and Uma Thurman. Directed in a highly stylized manner, Pulp Fiction connects the intersecting storylines of Los Angeles

mobsters, fringe players, small-time criminals, and a mysterious briefcase. Considerable screen time is devoted to conversations and monologues that reveal the characters’ senses of humor and perspectives on life. The film’s title refers to the pulp magazines and hardboiled crime novels popular during the mid20th century, known for their graphic violence and punchy dialogue. Pulp Fiction is self-referential from its opening moments, beginning with a title card that gives two dictionary definitions of “pulp.” The plot, as in many of Tarantino’s other works, is presented out of chronological sequence. The picture’s selfreflexivity, unconventional structure, and extensive use of homage and pastiche have led critics to describe it as a prime example of postmodern film. Considered by some critics a black comedy,the film is also frequently labeled a “neo-noir.”Critic Geoffrey O’Brien argues

otherwise: “The old-time noir passions, the brooding melancholy and operatic death scenes, would be altogether out of place in the crisp and brightly lit wonderland that Tarantino conjures up. [It is] neither neo-noir nor a parody of noir.”Similarly, Nicholas Christopher calls it “more gangland camp than neonoir,”and Foster Hirsch suggests that its “trippy fantasy landscape” characterizes it more definitively than any genre label. Pulp Fiction is viewed as the inspiration for many later movies that adopted various elements of its style. The nature of its development, marketing, and distribution and its consequent profitability had a sweeping effect on the field of independent cinema. Considered a cultural watershed, Pulp Fiction’s influence has been felt in several other media, and it is widely regarded as one of the greatest films of all time.

& Formed as a jazz ensemble in the mid’60s, Kool & the Gang became one of the most inspired and influential funk units during the ‘70s, and one of the most popular R&B groups of the ‘80s after their breakout hit “Celebration” in 1979. Just as funky as James Brown or Parliament (and sampled almost as frequently), Kool & the Gang relied on their jazz backgrounds and long friendship to form a tightly knit group with the interplay and improvisation of a jazz outfit, plus the energy and spark of a band with equal ties to soul, R&B, and funk. Robert “Kool” Bell and his brother Ronald (or Khalis Bayyan) grew up in Jersey City, NJ, and picked up the music bug from their father. A professional boxer, he was also a serious jazz lover and a close friend of Thelonious Monk. With Robert on bass and Ronald picking up an array of horns, the duo formed the Jazziacs in 1964 with several neighborhood friends: trombone player Clifford Adams, guitarists Charles Smith and Woody Sparrow, trumpeter Robert “Spike” Michens, alto saxophonist Dennis Thomas, keyboard player Ricky West, and drummer Funky George Brown (all of whom, except Michens and West, still remained in the group more than 30 years later). The growing earthiness of soul inspired the Jazziacs to temper their jazz

sensibilities with rhythms more akin to R&B, and the newly renamed Soul Town Band began playing clubs in Greenwich Village. After a mix-up with a club owner resulted in the group being billed Kool & the Flames, they moderated the title to Kool & the Gang and found a leg up with the tiny De-Lite Records. Three singles from their self-titled debut album hit the pop charts, and although the position wasn’t incredibly high, Kool & the Gang became a quick success on the R&B charts. Always a staple of their appeal, the group’s live act was documented on two 1971 LPs, Live at the Sex Machine and Live at P.J.’s, including left-field covers of “Walk On By” and “Wichita Lineman” (as well as the not so unusual “I Want to Take You Higher”). Studio albums followed in 1972 and 1973, but it was with Kool & the Gang’s sixth LP, Wild and Peaceful, that they hit the big time. “Funky Stuff” became their first Top 40 hit at the end of 1973. Then both “Jungle Boogie” and “Hollywood Swinging” reached the pop Top Ten.

Th a

& The first such album, Ladies Night, was their biggest hit yet, the first of three consecutive platinum albums

During the next four years, however, Kool & the Gang could only manage an occasional Top 40 hit (“Higher Plane,” “Spirit of the Boogie”), and though they did win a Grammy award for “Open Sesame” (from the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack), the rise of disco -- a movement centered around producers and vocalists, in direct contrast to the group’s focus on instrumentalists -- had appeared to end their popularity. Then, in 1979, the group added two new vocalists, Earl Toon, Jr. and, more importantly, James “J.T.” Taylor, a former Jersey nightclub singer. Kool & the Gang also began working with jazz fusion arranger Eumir Deodato, who

he 33

produced their records from 1979 to 1982. The first such album, Ladies Night, was their biggest hit yet, the first of three consecutive platinum albums, with the Top Ten singles “Too Hot” and the title track Celebrate!, released in 1980, spawned Kool & the Gang’s only number one hit, “Celebration,” an anthem favored by innumerable wedding receptions since. With Deodato, the group produced several more hits, including the singles “Take My Heart (You Can Have It if You Want It),” “Get Down on It,” and “Big Fun,” and the albums Something Special in 1981 and As One a year later. After Deodato left the fold in late 1982, Kool & the Gang proved their success wasn’t solely due to him; they had two immense hits during 1984-1985 (“Joanna” and “Cherish”), as well as two more Top Tens, “Misled” and “Fresh.” The group’s string of seven gold or platinum records continued until 1986’s Forever, after which James “J.T.” Taylor amicably left the group for a solo career. Although Taylor did reasonably well with his solo recordings (many of which were produced by Ronald Bell), Kool & the Gang quickly sank without him. They replaced Taylor with three vocalists, Skip Martin (formerly of the Dazz Band), Odeen Mays, and Gary Brown, but failed to chart their albums Sweat (1989) and Unite (1993). Taylor finally returned to the group in 1995 for the release of a new album, State of Affairs. They continued well throughout the 2000s, releasing 2001’s Gangland, 2004’s The Hits: Reloaded, and 2007’s Still Kool (recorded after the 2006 death of co-founder Charles Smith). They often collaborated with new and well-known younger talent.

Kool and Ronald grew up in Jersey City and picked up the music bug from their father, a professional 37

Get down down, ge get down Get down down, ge get down Get down down, ge get down Get down down, ge get down Get down down, ge get down Get down down, ge get down Ahhhhhh Kool & the Gang Jungle Boogie

Get down, Get down, get down, get down Ahhhhhhhhhhh !

Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Get It On Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Get It On Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Jungle Boogie Get Down With The Boogie Jungle Boogie (Come & Shake It Around)

Jungle Boogie Help & Get Down Jungle Boogie Boogie Baby Jungle Boogie The Boogie Jungle Boogie Bruhuhuhu Jungle Boogie Get Down Jungle Boogie Get Boogie Jungle Boogie Let Me Jump In Jungle Boogie Down With The Boogie Get down, Get down, jungle boogie Uh, Yeah Feel The Funk You’ll Let Me Feel The Load

Get Down With The Boogie I’m Gonna Knock With The Jungle Boogie Get Down Get Down With The Boogie Say Ough! Get Down Say Ugh Get Down Say Ugh Till You Feel It You’ll Get Down You’ll Get Down Get Funky Ya’ll With The Get Down

n, Get et down, n n, Get et down, n n, Get et down, nn, Get et down, nn, Get et down, nn, Get et down, n hhhhhh!

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Al Green the first g soul sing the â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;70s arguably great Sou soul sing his seduc singles fo Records early â&#x20AC;&#x2DC;70 bridged t between soul and Philadelp soul. He incorpora elements of gospel interjecti performa with wild

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Green’s Life Green was born in Forrest City, AR, where he formed a gospel quartet, the Green Brothers, at the age of nine. The group toured throughout the South in the mid-’50s, before the family relocated to Grand Rapids, MI. the Green Brothers continued to perform in Grand Rapids, but Al’s father kicked the boy out of the group after he caught his son listening to Jackie Wilson. At the age of 16, Al formed an R&B group, Al Green & the Creations, with several of his highschool friends. Two Creation members, Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, founded their own independent record company, Hot Line Music Journal, and had the group record for the label. By that time, the Creations had been re-named the Soul Mates. The group’s first single, “Back Up Train” became a surprise hit, climbing to number five on the R&B charts early in 1968. the Soul Mates attempted to record another hit, but all of their subsequent singles failed to find an audience.

but Al’s father kicked the boy out of the group after he caught his son listening to Jackie Wilson In 1969, Al Green met bandleader and Hi Records vice president Willie Mitchell while on tour in Midland, Texas. Impressed with Green’s voice, he signed the singer to Hi Records, and began collaborating with Al on his debut album. Released in early 1970, Green’s debut album, Green Is Blues, showcased the signature sound he and Mitchell devised - a sinewy, sexy groove highlighted by horn punctuations and string beds that let Green showcase his remarkable falsetto. While the album didn’t spawn any hit singles, it was well-received and set the stage for the breakthrough success of his second album. Al Green Gets Next to You (1970) launched his first hit single, “Tired of Being Alone” which began a streak of four straight gold singles. Let’s Stay Together (1972) was his first genuine hit album, climbing to number eight on the pop charts; its title track became his first number one single. I’m Still in Love With You, which followed only a few months later, was

Willie Mitchell The distinctive Hi Records sound that the vocalist and producer Willie Mitchell developed made Al Green the most popular and influential soul singer of the early ‘70s, influencing not only his contemporaries, but also veterans like Marvin Gaye. Green was at the peak of his popularity when he suddenly decided to join the ministry in the mid-’70s. At first, he continued to record secular material, but by the ‘80s, he was concentrating solely on gospel. During the late ‘80s and ‘90s, he occasionally returned to R&B, but he remained primarily a religious performer for the rest of his career. Nevertheless, Green’s classic early- ‘70s recordings retained their power and influence throughout the decades, setting the standard for smooth soul.

an even greater success, peaking at number four and launching the hits “Look What You Done for Me” and “I’m Still in Love With You.” By the release of 1973’s Call Me, Green was known as both a hitmaker and an artist who released consistently engaging, frequently excellent, criticallyacclaimed albums. His hits continued uninterrupted through the next two years, with “Call Me,” “Here I Am,” and “Sha-La-La (Make Me Happy)” all becoming Top Ten gold singles. At the height of his popularity, Green’s former girlfriend, Mrs. Mary Woodson, broke into his Memphis home in October 1974 and poured boiling grits on the singer as he was bathing, inflicting second-degree burns on his back, stomach, and arm; after assaulting Green, she killed herself with his gun. Green interpreted the violent incident as a sign from God that he should enter the ministry. By 1976, he had bought a church in Memphis and had become an ordained pastor of the

Full Gospel Tabernacle. Though he had begun to seriously pursue religion, he had not given up singing R&B and he released three other Mitchell-produced albums -- Al Green Is Love (1975), Full of Fire (1976), Have a Good Time (1976) - after the incident. However, his albums began to sound formulaic, and his sales started to slip by the end of 1976, with disco cutting heavily into his audience. During a concert in Cincinnati in 1979, Green fell off the stage and nearly injured himself seriously. Interpreting the accident as a sign from God, Green retired from performing secular music and devoted himself to preaching. Throughout the ‘80s, he released a series of gospel albums on Myrrh Records. In 1982, Green appeared in the gospel musical Your Arms Too Short to Box With God with Patti Labelle. In 1985, he reunited with Willie Mitchell for He Is the Light, his first album for A&M Records.

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Green tentatively returned to R&B in 1988 when he sang “Put a Little Love in Your Heart” with Annie Lennox for the Bill Murray comedy Scrooged. Four years later, he recorded his first full-fledged soul album since 1978 with the U.K.-only Don’t Look Back. Al Green was inducted to the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. That same year, he released Your Heart’s in Good Hands, an urban contemporary record that represented his first secular album to be released in America since Truth and Time. Though the album received positive reviews, it failed to become a hit. Green did achieve widespread recognition eight years later with his first album for Blue Note, I Can’t Stop. One and a half years later, he followed it with Everything’s OK. His third Blue Note album, 2008’s Lay It Down, featured an updated sound that still echoed the feel of his classic earlier soul style.

Something that can make you do wrong, make you do right...

Al Green Let’s Stay Together

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love with you u want to do th me make me feel so o spend my life e since, baby, been together ou forever d e one you come untrue t’s, let’s stay towheather, wheather od or bad, and I’m mes are good or happy or sad dy, why people p? und and make up ee do that to me baby?) und you is all I see nt us to ht to stay togethwheather, wheather od or bad, and I’m

ay together wheather, wheather od or bad, happy

THAT’S PRIDE FUCKING WITH YOU. FUCK PRIDE. PRIDE ONLY HURTS, IT NEVER HELPS.

We FADE UP on Butch Coolidge, a white, 26-year-old prizefighter. Butch sits at a table wearing a red and blue high school athletic jacket. Talking to him OFF SCREEN is everybodyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s boss MARSELLUS WALLACE. The black man sounds like a cross between a gangster and a king. While Butch waits for his smokes, Vincent just sips his coffee, staring at him. Butch looks over at him.

After the Springfields cracked the U.S. Top 20 in 1962 with “Silver Threads and Golden Needles,” the group traveled stateside to record in Nashville, where exposure to the emerging American girl-group and Motown sounds impacted Dusty so profoundly that in 1963 she left the Springfields at the peak of their fame to pursue a solo career. Her first single, “I Only Want to Be With You,” boasted a dramatic sound and soulful melody worthy of a Phil Spector hit, and it quickly reached the British Top Five; it also fell just shy of the Top Ten in the U.S., where it became the first major record from a U.K. act other than the Beatles since the Fab Four’s launch of the British Invasion. Her biggest American Top Ten hit, “Wishin’ and Hopin’,” was the first in a series of Springfield smashes from the pen of songwriters Burt Bacharach and Hal David; she would subsequently cover Bacharach/David classics including “Anyone Who Had a Heart” and “I Just Don’t Know What to Do With Myself,” surpassed only by Dionne Warwick as the finest interpreter of the duo’s songs.

Britain’s gr diva, Dusty was also t white soul her era, a pe remarkable resonanc body of wo the decade attendant transformat consistency unmatched her contem though a ca glamorous her towerin hairdo and black mas sultry intim heartbreaki of Springfi transcended fashion, e everything orchestrat gritty R&B with unp sophistica depth. She Mary O’Brie 16, 1939, a on an ecle of classic and jazz, c worship P after comp schooling s the Lana S pop vocal issued a fe on Fontan dissolving upon team her brothe Brien and Tim Feild i trio the Sp O’Brien ad stage nam Springfiel to a serie including “B “Bambino,” Won’t Be T group was U.K.’s best-

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reatest pop Springfield the finest lerformer singer ofof eceemotional whose ork spans es and their ttions musical with a yd and purity by any of mporaries; amp icon of sngexcess in beehive panda-eye scara, the macy and ing urgency ield’s voice d image and embracing from lushly ted pop to B to disco paralleled ation and een was born on April and raised ectic diet cal music coming to Peggy Lee; pleting her she joined Sisters, a trio which ew singles na before g. In 1960, ming with er Dion O’ his friend in the folk pringfields, dopted the me Dusty ld; thanks es of hits Breakaway,” ”There,” and “Say I the s-selling soon the act.

Additionally charting with hits including “Stay Awhile” and “All Cried Out,” by the end of 1964 Springfield was arguably the biggest solo act in British pop, winning the first of four consecutive Best Female Vocalist honors in NME; that same year, she also created a political furor after she was deported from South Africa for refusing to play in front of racially segregated audiences. Returning to England, in 1965 Springfield hosted the television special The Sound of Motown, a show widely credited with introducing the Sound of Young America to the their British counterparts, and continued racking up smashes like “Losing You,” “Your Hurtin’ Kinda Love,” and “In the Middle of Nowhere”; in 1966, she scored her biggest international hit with the devastating ballad “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me,” which topped the U.K. charts and reached the Top Five in the U.S. The soundalike “All I See Is You,” another heart-wrenching evocation of unrequited love, soon reached the British Top Ten as well; it was followed, however, by the Bacharach/David-penned “The Look of Love,” a bossa nova-inflected classic positively radiating with dreamlike sensuousness.

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By 1968, however, Springfield’s commercial fortunes were on the decline -- in the wake of psychedelia and the Summer of Love, “girl singers” were now widely perceived as little more than fluff. In response, she signed to the American label Atlantic, traveling to Memphis to record with producers Jerry Wexler, Tom Dowd, and Arif Mardin; the resulting album, issued in early 1969 as Dusty in Memphis, remains her masterpiece, a perfect marriage of pop and soul stunning in its emotional complexity and earthy beauty. Although the classic single “Son of a Preacher Man” cracked the Top Ten on both sides of the pond, the album itself was nevertheless a commercial failure, as was its fine 1970 followup, A Brand New Me, recorded in Philadelphia with the input of the songwriting/production team of Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff. After completing 1972’s See All Her Faces, Springfield relocated from London to New York City, eventually settling in Los Angeles; there she signed to ABC/ Dunhill and recorded 1973’s Cameo, another critical success which like its predecessors made no impact on the charts. Apart from a handful of soundtrack contributions, Springfield was silent until returning to London in 1982 to record White Heat, an album firmly grounded in the prevailing synth-pop sound of its times; again, despite good critical notices, a comeback failed to materialize. She would release just a handful

of singles over the next few years, including the 1984 Spencer Davis duet “Private Number,” the 1985 ballad “Sometimes Like Butterflies,” and a 1987 collaboration with Richard Carpenter, “Something in Your Eyes,” which became a minor success in the U.S. Reputation Upon returning to California in 1987, Springfield was contacted to collaborate with techno-pop innovators the Pet Shop Boys on a duet titled “What Have I Done to Deserve This?” The single was a global blockbuster, peaking at number two in both the U.S. and the U.K., Reputation became Springfield’s best-selling new album since her ‘60s-era peak. During sessions for the album, she was diagnosed with breast cancer, and after months of radiation therapy the illness was believed to be in remission. By the summer of 1996, however, the cancer had returned, and on March 2, 1999, Springfield died at the age of 59; just ten days later, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Dusty Springfield Son of a Preacher Man

Billy-Ray was a preacher’s son And when his daddy would visit he’d come along When they gathered around and started talkin’ That’s when Billy would take me walkin’ Out through the back yard we’d go walkin’ Then he’d look into my eyes Lord knows to my surprise The only one who could ever reach me Was the son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man Yes he was, he was, ooh, he was

Bein’ good isn’t always easy No matter how hard I try When he started sweet-talkin’ to me He’d come and tell me everythings alright He’d kiss and tell me everything is alright Can I get away again tonight? The only one who could ever reach me Was the son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man Yes he was, he was, ooh,lord no’s he was How well I remember The look that was in his eyes Stealin’ kisses from me on the sly Takin’ time to make time Tellin’ me that he’s all mine Learnin’ from each other’s knowin’ Lookin’ to see how much we’re growing An the only one who could ever reach me was A son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me Was the son of a preacher man Yes he was, he was, oh yes he was The only one who could ever reach me he was a sweet talkin’son of a preacher man The only boy who could ever teach me I guess he was the son of a preacher man the only one was a sweet talkin’ son of a preacher man The only one ...

BEING BEING BAD GOOD IS ISN’T ALWAYS ALWAYS EASY EASY NO NO MATTER MATTER HOW HOW HARD HARDII TRY TRY 59

Jackie Brown is a 1997 crime drama film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. It is an adaptation of Elmore Leonard’s novel Rum Punch, the first adaptation from Tarantino, and stars Pam Grier in the title role. The film pays homage to 1970s blaxploitation films, particularly the films Coffy and Foxy Brown, both of which also starred Grier in the title roles. The film’s supporting cast includes Robert Forster, Robert De Niro, Samuel L. Jackson, Bridget Fonda and Michael Keaton. It was Tarantino’s third film following his successes with Reservoir Dogs (1992) and Pulp Fiction (1994). Grier and Forster were both veteran actors but neither had performed a leading role in many years. Jackie Brown revitalized both actors’ careers. The film garnered Forster an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor, and Golden Globe Award nominations for Jackson and Grier.

A veteran who paid his dues for over a decade before getting his shot at solo stardom, Bobby Womack persevered through tragedy and addiction to emerge as one of soul music’s great survivors. Able to shine in the spotlight as a singer or behind the scenes as an instrumentalist and songwriter, Womack never got his due from pop audiences, but during the late ‘60s and much of the ‘70s, he was a consistent hitmaker on the R&B charts, with a high standard of quality control. His records were quintessential soul, with a bag of tricks learned from the likes of Sam Cooke, Wilson Pickett, and Sly Stone, all of whom Womack worked closely with at one time or another. Yet often, they also bore the stamp of Womack’s own idiosyncratic personality, whether through a lengthy spoken philosophical monologue or a radical reinterpretation of a pop standard. An underrated guitarist, Womack helped pioneer a lean, minimalist approach similar to that of Curtis Mayfield, and was an early influence on the young Jimi Hendrix. Additionally, his songs have been recorded by numerous artists in the realms of both R&B and rock, and the best of them rank as all-time classics.

Bobby Dwayne Womack was born in Cleveland on March 4, 1944. His upbringing was strict and religious, but his father Friendly also encouraged his sons to pursue music as he had (he sang and played guitar in a gospel group). In the early ‘50s, while still a child, Bobby joined his siblings Cecil, Curtis, Harry, and Friendly Jr. to form the gospel quintet the Womack Brothers. They were chosen to open a local show for the Soul Stirrers in 1953, where Bobby befriended lead singer Sam Cooke; following this break, they toured the country as an opening act for numerous gospel groups. When Cooke formed his own SAR label, he recruited the Womack Brothers with an eye toward transforming them into a crossover R&B act. Learning that his sons were moving into secular music, Friendly Womack threw them out of the house, and Cooke wired them the money to buy a car and drive out to his Los Angeles offices. the Womack Brothers made several recordings for SAR over 1960 and 1961, including a few gospel sides, but Cooke soon convinced them to record R&B and renamed them the Valentinos. In 1962, they scored a Top Ten hit on the R&B charts with “Lookin’ for a Love,” and Cooke sent them on the road behind James Brown to serve a boot-campstyle musical apprenticeship. Bobby eventually joined Cooke’s backing band as guitarist. the Valentinos’ 1964 single “It’s All Over Now,” written by Bobby, was quickly covered by the Rolling Stones with Cooke’s blessing; when it became the Stones’ first U.K. number one, Womack suddenly found himself a rich man.

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Cooke’s tragic death in December 1964 left Womack greatly shaken and the Valentinos’ career in limbo. Just three months later, Womack married Cooke’s widow, Barbara Campbell, which earned him tremendous ill will in the R&B community; many viewed him as a shady opportunist looking to cash in on Cooke’s legacy, especially since Campbell was significantly older than Womack. According to Womack, he was initially motivated to look after Campbell in an unstable time, not to tarnish the memory of a beloved mentor. Regardless, Womack found himself unable to get his solo career rolling in the wake of the scandal; singles for Chess (“I Found a True Love”) and Him (“Nothing You Can Do”) were avoided like the plague despite their quality. the Valentinos cut a couple of singles for Chess in 1966, “What About Me” and “Sweeter Than the Day Before,” which also failed to make much of a splash. To make ends meet, Womack became a backing guitarist, first landing a job with Ray Charles; he went on to make a valuable connection in producer Chips Moman, and appeared often at Moman’s American Studio in Memphis, as well as nearby Muscle Shoals, Alabama. In the process, Womack appeared on classic recordings by the likes of Joe Tex, King Curtis, and Aretha Franklin (Lady Soul), among others. He recorded singles for Keymen and Atlantic without success, but became one of Wilson Pickett’s favorite songwriters, contributing the R&B Top Ten hits “I’m in Love” and “I’m a Midnight Mover” (plus 15 other tunes) to the singer’s repertoire. Womack had been slated to record a solo album for Minit, but had given Pickett most of his best material, which actually wound up getting his name back in the public eye in a positive light. In 1968, he scored the first charting single of his solo career with “What Is This?” and soon hit with a string of inventively reimagined pop covers -- “Fly Me to the Moon,” “California Dreamin’,” and “I Left My Heart in San Francisco,” the former two of which reached the R&B Top 20. A songwriting partnership with engineer Darryl Carter resulted in the R&B hits “It’s Gonna Rain,” “How I Miss You Baby,” and “More Than I Can Stand” over 1969-1970. A series of label absorptions bumped Womack up to United Artists in 1971, which proved to be the home of his greatest solo success; in the meantime, he contributed the ballad “Trust Me” to Janis Joplin’s masterpiece Pearl, and the J. Geils Band revived “Lookin’ for a Love” for their first hit. He also teamed up with jazz guitarist Gabor Szabo on the LP High Contrast, which debuted Womack’s composition “Breezin’” (which, of course, became a smash for George Benson six years later). Most importantly, however, 69

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Womack played guitar on Sly & the Family Stone’s There’s a Riot Goin’ On, a masterpiece of darkly psychedelic funk that would have an impact on Womack’s own sound and sense of style. Womack issued his first UA album, Communication, in 1971, which kicked off a string of excellent releases that ran through the first half of the decade. In addition to several of Womack’s trademark pop covers, the album also contained the original ballad “That’s the Way I Feel About ‘Cha,” which climbed all the way to number two on the R&B chart and became his long-awaited breakout hit. The 1972 follow-up Understanding spawned Womack’s first chart-topper, “Woman’s Gotta Have It,” co-written with Darryl Carter and stepdaughter Linda (Womack divorced Barbara Campbell in 1970). The followup “Harry Hippie,” a gently ironic tribute to Womack’s brother, also hit the R&B Top Ten. Later that year, Womack scored the blaxploitation flick Across 110th Street; the title cut was later revived in the 1998 Quentin Tarantino film Jackie Brown. Released in 1973, The Facts of Life had an R&B number two hit in a rearrangement of the perennial “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out,” and the following year’s Lookin’ for a Love Again found Womack revisiting his Valentinos hit; the re-recorded “Lookin’ for a Love” became his second number one R&B single and his only Top Ten hit on the pop charts. Follow-up single “You’re Welcome, Stop on By” made the R&B Top Five. Womack was by this time a seasoned veteran of the rock & roll lifestyle, having befriended the likes of the Rolling Stones, the late Janis Joplin, and Sly Stone. After his brother Harry was murdered by a jealous girlfriend in 1974 (in Bobby’s own apartment), the drug usage began to take a more serious turn. Womack scored further R&B Top Ten hits with 1975’s “Check It Out” and 1976’s “Daylight,” the latter of which seemed to indicate a longing for escape from the nonstop partying that often masked serious depression. Despite Womack’s new marriage to Regina Banks, the song was a sign that things were coming to a head. Womack pushed UA into letting him do a full album of country music, something he’d always loved but which the label regarded as commercially inadvisable (especially under the title Womack reportedly wanted to use: Step Aside, Charley Pride, Give Another Nigger a Try). They eventually relented, and when BW Goes C&W met with predictably minimal response, UA palmed the increasingly difficult Womack off on Columbia. A pair of albums there failed to recapture his commercial momentum or reinvent him for the disco age, and he moved to Arista for 1979’s Roads of Life, which appeared not long after the sudden death of his infant son.

At a low point in his life, Womack took a bit of time off from music to gather himself. He appeared as a guest vocalist on Jazz Crusader Wilton Felder’s 1980 solo album, Inherit the Wind, singing the hit title track, and subsequently signed with black entrepreneur Otis Smith’s independent Beverly Glen label. His label debut, 1981’s The Poet, was a critically acclaimed left-field hit, rejuvenating his career and producing a number three R&B hit with “If You Think You’re Lonely Now.” Unfortunately, money disputes soured the relationship between Womack and Smith rather quickly. The Poet II was delayed until 1984, and featured several duets with Patti LaBelle, including another number three R&B hit, “Love Has Finally Come at Last.” Beverly Glen released a final LP culled from Womack’s previous sessions, Someday We’ll All Be Free, in 1985, by which time the singer had already broken free and signed with MCA. Another hit with Wilton Felder, “(No Matter How High I Get) I’ll Still Be Looking Up to You,” appeared that year, and his label debut, So Many Rivers, produced a Top Five R&B hit in “I Wish He Didn’t Trust Me So Much.” Released in 1986, Womagic reunited Womack with Chips Moman, and he also backed the Rolling Stones on their remake of “Harlem Shuffle.” By the following year he’d christened himself The Last Soul Man, which proved to be his final recording for MCA.

In the years since, Womack has made high-profile returns to the music business only sporadically. Released in 1994, Resurrection was recorded for Ron Wood’s Slide label and featured an array of guest stars including Wood, Keith Richards, Rod Stewart, and Stevie Wonder. In 1999, he fulfilled a longstanding promise to his father (who passed away in 1981) by delivering his first-ever gospel album, Back to My Roots. While he continued to perform throughout the following decade, his guest appearance on the 2010 Gorillaz album Plastic Beach seemed like a return. A couple years later, after being the subject of TV One’s Unsung documentary series, he released The Bravest Man in the Universe, a collaboration with the XL label’s Richard Russell and Gorillaz’s Damon Albarn.

Bobby Womack Across 110th Street

I was the third brother of five Doing whatever I had to do to survive I’m not saying what I did was alright Trying to break out of the ghetto was a day to day fight Been down so long, getting up didn’t cross my mind I knew there was a better way of life and I was just trying to find You don’t know what you’ll do until you’re put under pressure Across 110th Street is a hell of a tester Across 110th Street Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak Across 110th Street Pushers won’t let the junkie go free Across 110th Street Woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ooh baby Across 110th Street You can find it all in the street, oh I got one more thing I’d like to yell about right now Hey brother, there’s a better way out Snorting that coke, shooting that dope man, you’re copping out Take my advice, it’s either live or die You’ve got to be strong, if you want to survive The family on the other side of town Would catch hell without a ghetto around In every city you find the same thing going down Harlem is the capital of every ghetto town Help me sing it Across 110th Street Pimps trying to catch a woman that’s weak Across 110th Street Pushers won’t let the junkie go free Oh, across 110th Street A woman trying to catch a trick on the street, ooh baby Across 110th Street You can find it all in the street Yes, he can Oh, look around you, look around you Look around you, look around you, yeah

i Songwriter/singer/guitarist Bill Withers is best remembered for the classic “Lean on Me” and his other million-selling singles “Ain’t No Sunshine” and “Use Me,” but he has a sizable cache of great songs to his credit. Al Jarreau recorded an entire CD of Withers’ songs on Tribute to Bill Withers (Culture Press 1998). His popular radio-aired LP track from Still Bill, “Who Is He? (And What Is He to You?),” was a 1974 R&B hit for Creative Source.

He rec demo night working Boeing comp where h toilet Born July 4, 1938, in Slab Fork, WV, Withers was the youngest of six children. His father died when he was a child and he was raised by his mother and grandmother. After a nine-year stint in the Navy, Withers moved to Los Angeles to pursue a music career in 1967. He recorded demos at night while working at the Boeing aircraft company where he made toilet seats. His recording career began after being introduced to Clarence Avant, president of Sussex Records.

corded os at while g at the aircraft pany he made seats.

Stax Records stalwart Booker T. Jones produced his debut album, Just As I Am (with some co-production by Al Jackson, Jr.), which included his first charting single, “Ain’t No Sunshine” that went gold and made it to number six R&B and number three pop in summer 1971 and won a Grammy as Best R&B Song. Its follow-up, “Grandma Hands,” peaked at number 18 R&B in fall 1971. The song was later covered by the Staple Singers and received airplay as a track from their 1973 Stax LP Be What You Are. “Just As I Am” featured lead guitar by Stephen Stills and hit number five R&B in summer 1971. Withers wrote “Lean on Me” based on his experiences growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town. Times were hard and when a neighbor needed something beyond their means, the rest of the community would chip in and help. He came up with the chord progression while noodling around on his new Wurlitzer electric piano. The sound of the chords reminded Withers of the hymns that he heard at church while he was growing up. On the session for “Lean on Me,” members of the Watts 103rd Street Rhythm Band (“Express Yourself,” “Loveland”) were used: drummer James Gadson, keyboardist Ray Jackson, guitarist Benorce Blackman (co-wrote with Withers “The Best You Can” from Making Music), and bassist Melvin Dunlop. His second gold single, “Lean on Me,” landed at number one R&B and number one pop for three weeks on Billboard’s charts in summer 1972. It was included on his Still Bill album which went gold, holding the number one R&B spot for six weeks and hitting number four pop in spring 1972. “Lean on Me” has became a standard with hit covers by U.K. rock band Mud and Club Nouveau. “Lean on Me” was also the title theme of a 1989 movie starring Morgan Freeman. Still Bill also included “Use Me” (gold, number two R&B for two weeks and number two pop for two weeks in fall 1972).

Withers wrote â&#x20AC;&#x153;Lean on Meâ&#x20AC;? based on his experiences growing up in a West Virginia coal mining town.

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Withers’ Sussex catalog also included Bill Withers Live at Carnegie Hall, ‘Justments, and The Best of Bill Withers. Withers contributed “Better Days” to the soundtrack of the Bill Cosby 1971 western Man And Boy, released on Sussex. There was a duet single with Bobby Womack on United Artists, “It’s All Over Now,” from summer 1975. Menagerie After a legal battle with Sussex, Withers signed with Columbia Records. Columbia later bought his Sussex masters when the label went out of business. Withers was briefly married actress Denise Nicholas (ABCTV’s Room 222 and the 1972 horror film Blacula) in the early ‘70s. His releases on Columbia were Making Music (“Make Love to Your Mind,” number ten R&B), which hit number seven R&B in late 1975; Naked and Warm; Menagerie (“Lovely Day,” a number six R&B hit), which went gold in 1977; and ‘Bout Love from spring 1979. Teaming with Elektra Records artist Grover Washington, Jr., Withers sang the crystalline ballad “Just the Two of Us,” written by Withers, Ralph MacDonald, and William Salter. It went to number three R&B and held the number two pop spot for three weeks in early 1981.

st charting tching You, Me in spring ccasionally did Grover Washduring the ongs and reave been used e source of nuvers (Aaron Use Meâ&#x20AC;?) and y a multitude /rap groups. surfaced in ntury, playing and having his ssued in variies. He is also t of the 2010 entary Still Bill, ers Damani Alex Vlack.

Bill Withers Who Is He

A man we passed just tried to stare me down And when I looked at you You looked at the ground I don’t know who he is But I think that you do Dadgummit Who is he, and what is he to you? Ahh Something in my heart and in your eye Tells me he’s not someone just passing by Ahh And when you cleared your throat Was that your cue? Dadgummit Who is he, and what is he to you? Ahh now When I add the sum of you and me I get confused when I keep coming up with 3 You’re too much for one man But not enough for two Dadgummit Who is he and what is he to you? Well You tell me men don’t have much intuition Is that what you really thinkin girl Or are you wishing? Before you wreck your old home And searcht another new Dadgummit Who is he, and what is he to you?

One of the most readily identifiable voices of any contemporary female vocalist, Randy Crawford’s initial recognition came from her fiery vocal on “Street Life,” a 1979 song matching her with the Crusaders that was included on the soundtrack for Burt Reynolds’ film Sharky’s Machine. Crawford was born in Macon, Georgia, and grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio; she worked in clubs as a teen, accompanied by her father. Crawford was lead vocalist in a group that included bassist Bootsy Collins before touring as George Benson’s opening act in 1972. Cannonball Adderley invited her to sing on his LP Big Man. Crawford recorded “Don’t Get Caught in Love’s Triangle,” a song produced by Johnny Bristol, during a short stay on the label. She soon moved to Warner Bros., and after “Street Life,” recorded and toured Europe with the Crusaders. Crawford was tabbed Most Outstanding Performer at the 1980 Tokyo Music Festival. She remained with Warner Bros. through the ‘80s and early ‘90s, during which time she developed a strong following in Europe and Britain. In the new millennium, Crawford has remained quite active, often re-teaming with Crusaders keyboardist Joe Sample for such albums as 2006’s Feeling Good, 2008’s No Regrets, and 2012’s concert album Live.

Streetlife – you can run away from time Streetlife – for a nickel or a dime Streetlife – but you better not get old Streetlife – or you`re gonna feel the cold

You let the people see, just who you wanna be And every night you shine, just like a super star That`s how the life is played a ten cent masquerade You dress, you walk, you talk You`re who you think you are

I play the streetlife, because there`s no place I can go Streetlife – it`s the only life I know Streetlife – and there`s a thousand parts to play Streetlife – until you play your life away Randy Crawford Street Life

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Streetlife – Streetlife Streetlife - Streetlife

There`s always love for sale a grown-up fairytale Prince charming always smiles behind a silver spoon And if you keep it young your song is always sung Your love will pay your way beneath the silver moon

The Delfonics were one of in the sleek, soulful style th (thanks to producer Thom phia sound.” A vocal trio m liam and Wilhigh school Cain, The Delgo back to doo at school dancly ‘60s. They known in the their supple, monic talent, them to the record produclanding them a Cameo-Parktheir early rethem little if did bring them tion of producThom Bell, the band to his influential soul Groove. Right this was a perthe band reclassic “La La Means I Love began a string of hits lastin

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The sound that Bell created for The Delfonics was the antithesis of the soul sound that came from Stax in Memphis and Muscle Shoals in Alabama. He sandpapered away the grit, lightened up on the backbeat, brought in string sections, and created a smooth, airy sound. Critics enamored of the soul singing of Wilson Pickett and Otis Redding accused Bell and his groups of creating aural wallpaper, but the

reality was that Bell and The Delfonics were setting the stage for a different kind of groove where subtlety and nuance reigned. The hits slowed for The Delfonics in the mid-’70s, and in 1971 Randy Cain quit the band and was replaced by Major Harris. A few more minor hits followed but Harris left the band for a solo career in 1975, effectively finishing The Delfonics. Multiple versions of the group

toured, and one even released an album, Return, in 1981. In the late ‘90s, the band also played a significant musical role in Quentin Tarantino’s film Jackie Brown. Tarantino, a ‘70s pop culture obsessive, used “La La Means I Love You” and their best single, “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time),” as a way of underscoring the relationship between actors Pam Grier and Robert Forster. In the film, Forster’s character is so struck

by the music (and Grier’s character), he goes out and buys a Delfonics’ Greatest Hits cassette the following day. Near the end of the decade, the William Hart-led version of the group released Forever New on the revived Volt label. Multiple forms of the group continued to exist through the 2000s. Composer, multi-instrumentalist, and producer Adrian Younge -notable for his soundtrack to the 2009 blaxploitation

comedy Black Dynamite, as well as Venice Dawn’s Something About April -- sought William Hart to record an album-length project in which the singer was front and center. Hart obliged, and Adrian Younge Presents the Delfonics was released on Wax Poetics in 2013.

Delfonics Didn’t I Blow Your Mind This Time

I gave my heart and soul to you, girl Didn’t I do it baby, didn’t I do it baby? Gave you the love you never knew, girl Didn’t I do it baby, didn’t I do it baby? I’ve tried so many times and that’s no lie It seems to make you laugh each time I cry Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? Listen I thought that heart of yours was true, girl Now didn’t I think it baby, didn’t I think it baby? But this time I’m really leavin’ you, girl Hope you know it baby, hope you know it baby Ten times or more, yes, I’ve walked out that door Get this into your head, there’ll be no more Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? Didn’t I do it baby, didn’t I do it baby? Didn’t I do it baby, didn’t I do it baby? Ten times or more, yes, I’ve walked out that door Get this into your head, there’ll be no more Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? I got to live you, baby Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I? Didn’t I blow your mind this time, didn’t I?

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didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I 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didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I didn’t I 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The tragic 1979 death of 31-year-old Minnie Riperton silenced one of soul music’s most unique and unforgettable voices -- blessed with an angelic five-octave vocal range, she scored her greatest commercial success with the chart-topping pop ballad “Lovin’ You.” Riperton was born in Chicago on November 8, 1947; as a youth she studied music, drama, and dance at the city’s Lincoln Center and later contemplated a career in opera. Her pop career began in 1961 when she joined the local girl group called the Gems, signing to the famed Chess label to release a handful of singles as well as lend backing vocals to acts including Fontella Bass, the Dells, and Etta James. After graduating high school, Riperton went to work at Chess as a receptionist; following the Gems’ dissolution, she also signed with the label as a solo act, releasing a single, “Lonely Girl,” under the alias Andrea Davis.

In 1968, Riperton was installed as the lead vocalist of the psychedelic soul band the Rotary Connection, which debuted that year with a self-titled LP on Cadet Concepts; the singles “Amen” and “Lady Jane” found a home on underground FM radio, but the group failed to make much of an impression on mainstream outlets. While still a member of the Connection, Riperton mounted a solo career; teaming with producer/ arranger Charles Stepney and her husband/composer Richard Rudolph, she issued her brilliant debut, Come to My Garden, in 1970, but again commercial success eluded her grasp. After the Rotary Connection dissolved in the wake of 1971’s Hey Love, she and Rudolph took a two-year sabbatical in Florida before relocating to Los Angeles, where she sang on Stevie Wonder’s Fulfillingness’ First Finale and toured as a member of his backing unit Wonderlove.

Wonder agreed to co-produce Riperton’s 1974 album Perfect Angel, which contained the international blockbuster “Lovin’ You”; the record made her a household name, although subsequent LPs like 1975’s Adventures in Paradise and 1977’s Stay in Love failed to repeat its success. By this time, however, commercial woes were the least of Riperton’s concerns -- diagnosed with breast cancer, she underwent a mastectomy in 1976, later becoming a spokesperson for the American Cancer Society and earning a Society Courage Award from then-President Jimmy Carter. Riperton continued performing despite her declining condition, with 1979’s Minnie the final record completed during her lifetime -- she died in L.A. on July 12 of that year. Unreleased vocal tracks with new instrumental backing comprised 1980’s posthumous collection Love Lives Forever.

Minnie Riperton Inside My Love

Two people, just meeting Barely touching each other Two spirits greeting Trying to carry it further You are one And I am another We should be one Inside each other You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love? You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love? Two strangers, not strangers Only lacking the knowing So willing, feeling, infinite growing While weâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;re here The whole world is turning We should be one Fulfilling our yearning You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love? You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love? You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love? You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love? You can see inside me Will you come inside me? Do you wanna ride inside my love?

K B V

I I O

L L L

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With The Laughing Face

Growing up as the child of one of the greatest icons in American music canâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t be easy, but Nancy Sinatra managed to create a sound and style for herself fully separate from that of her (very) famous father, and her sexy but strong-willed persona has endured with nearly the same strength as the image of the Chairman of the Board.

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Nancy Sinatra was born in the Summer of 1940, while her father, Frank Sinatra, was singing with the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra; as the daughter of show business royalty, Nancy grew up in the spotlight, and made her first appearance on television with her father in 1957. It wasn’t long before Nancy developed aspirations of her own as a performer -- she had studied music, dancing, and voice through much of her youth -- and in 1960 she made her debut as a professional performer on a television special hosted by her father and featuring guest star Elvis Presley, then fresh out of the Army. After appearing in a number of movies and guest starring on episodic television, Nancy was eager to break into music, and she signed a deal with her father’s record label, Reprise. However, her first hit single, 1966’s “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’,” made it clear she had the talent and moxie to make it without her father’s help. Sounding both sexy and defiant, and belting out a definitive tough-chick lyric over a brassy arrangement by Bill Strange (and with the cream of L.A.’s session players behind her), “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” was an immediate and unstoppable hit, and took the “tuff girl” posturing of the Shangri-Las and the Ronettes to a whole new level.

A number of hits followed, including “How Does That Grab You,” “Sugar Town,” and the theme song to the James Bond picture You Only Live Twice. Nancy also teamed up with her father for the single “Somethin’ Stupid,” which raced to the top of the charts in 1967. Most of Nancy’s hits were produced by Lee Hazlewood, who went on to become a cult hero on his own and recorded a number of memorable duets with her, including “Sand,” “Summer Wine,” and the oneof-a-kind epic “Some Velvet Morning.” Nancy reinforced her “bad girl” persona in 1966 with co-starring role opposite Peter Fonda in The Wild Angels, the Roger Corman film that helped kick off the biker flick cycle of the 1960s and early ‘70s; she also teamed up with Elvis Presley in the 1968 movie Speedway. Nancy continued to record into the early ‘70s, but in 1970 she married dancer Hugh Lambert (a brief marriage to British singer and actor Tommy Sands ended in 1965), and she devoted most of her time to her new life as a wife and mother, as well as working with a number of charitable causes. In 1985, she published the book Frank Sinatra: My Father, and became increasingly active in looking after her family’s affairs; she published a second book on Frank Sinatra in 1998 and currently oversees the Sinatra Family website. In 1995, Nancy returned to the recording studio with a country-flavored album called One More Time, and she helped publicize it by posing for a photo spread in Playboy magazine. Nancy launched a concert tour in support of the album, and in 2003 teamed up with Hazlewood to record a new album together, Nancy & Lee 3, which sadly was not released in the United States. However, Nancy soon returned to the recording studio at the urging of longtime fan Morrissey, and in the fall of 2004 she released a new disc simply entitled Nancy Sinatra, an ambitious set which included contributions from members of U2, Pulp, Calexico, Sonic Youth, Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, and other contemporary rock performers.

The album’s release was followed by more live work from Nancy, including a memorable appearance at Little Steven’s International Underground Garage Rock Festival 2004, in which she performed songs from her new album as well as “These Boots Are Made for Walkin” backed by an all-star band (including a horn section) and flanked by dozens of frugging go-go dancers.

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Nancy Sinatra Bang Bang

I was five and he was six We rode on horses made of sticks He wore black and I wore white He would always win the fight Bang bang, he shot me down Bang bang, I hit the ground Bang bang, that awful sound Bang bang, my baby shot me down. Seasons came and changed the time When I grew up, I called him mine He would always laugh and say “Remember when we used to play?” Bang bang, I shot you down Bang bang, you hit the ground Bang bang, that awful sound Bang bang, I used to shoot you down. Music played and people sang Just for me the church bells rang. Now he’s gone, I don’t know why And ‘till this day, sometimes I cry He didn’t even say goodbye He didn’t take the time to lie. Bang bang, he shot me down Bang bang, I hit the ground Bang bang, that awful sound Bang bang, my baby shot me down Baby shot me down

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Few figures exerted greater influen 1970s than Isaac Hayes; after layin soul sound through his work with Sta successful solo career which pred but also the evolution of rap. Haye Covington, TN; his parents died duri his grandparents. After making his p age of five, he taught himself piano, o to Memphis to perform on the cityâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s groups like Sir Isaac and the Doo-Dad His Swinging Cats. In 1962, he began a variety of l

nce over the music of the 1960s and ng the groundwork for the Memphis ax-Volt Records, Hayes began a highly dated not only the disco movement es was born on August 20, 1942, in ing his infancy, and he was raised by public debut singing in church at the organ, and saxophone before moving club circuit in a series of short-lived ds, the Teen Tones, and Sir Calvin and his recording career, cutting sides for local labels.

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115

Joe Tex The Love You Save

People, I’ve been misled And I’ve been afraid I’ve been hit in the head And left for dead I’ve abused And I’ve been accused Been refused a piece of bread But I ain’t never In my life before Seen so many love affairs Go wrong as I do today I want you to STOP And find out what’s wrong Get it right Or just leave love alone Because the love you save today Maybe will-l-l-l be your own I’ve been pushed around I’ve been lost and found I’ve been given til sundown To get out of town I’ve been taken outside And I’ve been brutalized And I’ve had to always be the one to smile and apologize But I ain’t never In my life before Seen so many love affairs Go wrong as I do today I want you to STOP And find out what’s wrong Get it right Or just leave love alone Because the love you save today Maybe will-l-l-l be your own

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Soul singer/songwriter Eddie Floyd scored one of the defining hits of the Memphis soul sound with “Knock on Wood,” a number one R&B smash that typified the Stax house style at its grittiest. Floyd was born in Montgomery, AL, in 1935, but grew up in Detroit, where his uncle Robert West owned a couple of record labels, including Lupine. In 1955, Floyd co-founded the seminal proto-soul group the Falcons, who eventually scored a major R&B hit with “You’re So Fine” in 1959 (with Joe Stubbs, later of the Contours and 100 Proof Aged in Soul, as lead singer). After Stubbs’ departure, Floyd spent a brief period as the Falcons’ lead singer, until Wilson Pickett joined up. Now recording for West’s Lupine imprint, the Falcons and Pickett cut their second undisputed classic, the gospel-inflected ballad “I Found a Love,” in 1962. Pickett subsequently went solo, and the Falcons broke up in 1963.

Floyd recorded a few solo sides for Lupine, and moved to Washington, D.C., for a time to work with his DJ friend, Al Bell; the two founded a label and production company, Safice, co-writing songs and releasing Floyd’s recordings. When Bell accepted a job as promotions director at Stax, Floyd followed him to Memphis, where he signed on with Stax as a staff writer and producer. He worked chiefly with Carla Thomas and William Bell at first, and often wrote in tandem with house guitarist Steve Cropper.

Floyd stayed with Stax as a performer and writer right up to the label’s bankruptcy in 1975.

He spent two years with the Southern soul/blues label Malaco, recording the album Experience in 1977; while it was regionally popular, the Southern soul sound had long since fallen out of commercial favor. A brief stint at Mercury failed to remake Floyd for the disco age, and after recording with British mod revivalists Secret Affair, he largely drifted away from the studio. Floyd attempted a comeback on Ichiban with 1988’s Flashback album; the following year, he performed at President Bush’s inaugural ball, and went on to tour with the Blues Brothers Band. In 1998, Floyd made a guest appearance in Blues Brothers 2000, and also performed “634-5789” with Pickett and Jonny Lang. Meanwhile, countless artists have covered “Knock on Wood,” most prominently a disco version by Amii Stewart that topped the pop charts in 1979. While in his seventies, Floyd recorded the affirming Eddie Loves You, a project where he revisited some of his classic songs. The album was released in 2008 from a revitalized Stax Records, the perfect pairing of artist and label.

t x In early 1966, their composition “6345789 (Soulsville, USA)” became a number one R&B hit for Wilson Pickett; around the same time, Floyd released his first single for Stax, “Things Get Better,” which failed to chart. That summer, Floyd cut “Knock on Wood,” another song he’d written with Cropper; initially intended for Otis Redding, the tune wasn’t big with Stax management because it was strongly based on the chord changes of Wilson Pickett’s “In the Midnight Hour.” However, distributor Atlantic smelled a hit, and released the song nationally; their instincts proved correct, as “Knock on Wood” became Stax’s third number one R&B hit by the end of the year (strangely, it barely made the Top 30 on the pop charts). Floyd followed his instant soul classic with several more Top 40 R&B hits over the next four years, including “Raise Your Hand,” “Love Is a Doggone Good Thing,” “On a Saturday Night,” “I’ve Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do)” (his second biggest hit), and a cover of Sam Cooke’s “Bring It on Home to Me.” In spite of diminishing commercial returns, Floyd stayed with Stax as a performer and writer right up to the label’s bankruptcy in 1975.

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Eddie Floyd Good Love, Bad Love

Given up on your love because I found out years I’ve lost. I found it so hard myself, What’s been seen by everyone else Oh that your good love, good, good love Has been a bad, bad love. Led me on, oh that’s what you did, To believe that you loved me When all the time you knew You just pitied me. Oh that’s all right, guess you win Every road must have an end When your good love, good love, good love Has been a bad, bad love. Am I wrong? That’s what I ask myself, And I just got to know, Should I forgive, And find somebody else? You know I stood yesterday, Oh I can’t stand it again When your good love, good love, good love Has been a bad, bad love. (Oh) Good love, good love, good love Has been a bad, bad love.

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The Coasters were one of the few artists in rock history to successfully straddle the line between music of clowns, but Coasters records were no mere novelties -- their material, supplied by the legendary team itself too musically proficient. That engaging and infectious combination made them one of the most pop groups of all time.

The Coasters grew out of a successful Los Angeles doo wop group called the Robins, which had been re in 1955, when the Leiber & Stoller composition “Smokey Joe’s Cafe” was becoming too big a hit for their ducers and composers. Amid uncertainties over their new major-label arrangement, the Robins split up The Coasters (named for their West Coast base), which maintained the Leiber & Stoller association -- a vocalist) and second tenor Leon Hughes, with guitarist Adolph Jacobs figuring prominently on their reco mizing the sort of humorous story-song Leiber & Stoller were perfecting. The Coasters hit again in 1957 The follow-ups weren’t as successful, and it was decided that both the group and Leiber & Stoller would group in late 1957, to be replaced respectively by bass Will “Dub” Jones (ex-Cadets, of “Stranded in the

The Coasters’ first recording in New York was 1958’s “Yakety Yak,” which featured King Curtis on tenor s chord, and “Yakety Yak” became The Coasters’ first number-one pop hit that summer, topping the R&B c with the catch-phrase, “why’s everybody always pickin’ on me?”), hit number two on both the pop and R the Western-themed “Along Came Jones,” “Poison Ivy,” “Shoppin’ for Clothes,” and the group’s final Top

Following “Little Egypt,” Gunter departed, to be replaced by Earl “Speedo” Carroll (of the Cadillacs). Oth agingly, Leiber & Stoller left Atlantic in 1963. The Coasters parted ways with Atlantic in early 1966, signi ed several times, no more hits were forthcoming, given the radically different musical climate; their last original member), and their last new release came with a 1976 version of “If I Had a Hammer.” Since then legitimacy, but Gunter, Guy, Jones, Nunn, and Hughes all led differing lineups at one point or another. N into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Gunter was murdered in Las Vegas in 1990, and Jones passed away

c and comedy. Their undeniably funny lyrics and on-stage antics might have suggested a simple troupe m of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, was too witty, their arrangements too well-crafted, and the group pular early R&B/rock & roll acts, as well as one of the most consistently entertaining doo wop/vocal

ecording since 1949 and working with Leiber & Stoller since 1953. Atlantic Records acquired the Robins r small Spark label to handle; its success scored the duo an independent contract with Atlantic as prothat fall; lead tenor Carl Gardner (a more recent addition) and bass Bobby Nunn formed a new group, an extremely wise move. The initial Coasters lineup was completed by baritone Billy Guy (a gifted comic ordings through 1959. Their first single, “Down in Mexico,” became a Top Ten R&B hit in 1956, epito7 with the double-sided smash “Young Blood”/”Searchin’,” both sides of which reached the pop Top Ten. d move their operations to New York, where Atlantic was based. As a result, Nunn and Hughes left the Jungle” fame) and second tenor Obie Jessie (for a very short period), then Cornell Gunter (ex-Flairs).

sax. Its witty, slice-of-life lyrics about a teenager being hassled by his parents struck a resounding charts as well. “Charlie Brown,” which cast Jones in the title role of class clown (and immortalized him R&B charts in 1959, firmly establishing The Coasters’ widespread crossover appeal. More hits followed: p 30 hit, 1961’s burlesque-dancer tribute “Little Egypt.”

her personnel shifts ensued over the next few years, especially as the hits dried up; even more discouring with Columbia’s Date subsidiary and reuniting with Leiber & Stoller for a time. Although they chartchart single was a 1971 cover of “Love Potion No. 9” (by which time Gardner was the only remaining n, numerous different Coasters lineups have toured the oldies circuit; Gardner’s holds the legal claim to Nunn died of a heart attack in 1986, one year before The Coasters became the first vocal group inducted y in early 2000.

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Down in Mexicali There’s a crazy little place that I know Where the drinks are hotter than the chili sauce And the boss is a cat named Joe

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Well, the first time that I saw him He was sittin’ on a piano stool I said “Tell me, dad, when does the fun begin?” He just winked his eye and said, “Man, be cool”

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In Mexico All of a sudden in walks this chick In Mexico Joe starts playing on a Latin kick

In Mexico Around her waist she wore three fishnets In Mexico She started dancin’ with the castanets

So if you’re south of the border I mean down in the Mexico And you wanna get straight, man, don’t hesitate Just look up a cat named Joe He wears a red bandanna, plays a blues piano In a honky-tonk, down in Mexico He wears a purple sash, and a black mustache In a honky-tonk, down in Mexico

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B A S T A R D S

I N G L O U R I O U S

Inglourious Basterds is a 2009 war film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino and starring Brad Pitt, Christoph Waltz, Mélanie Laurent, Michael Fassbender, Eli Roth and Diane Kruger. The film tells the fictional alternate history story of two plots to assassinate Nazi Germany’s political leadership, one planned by a young French Jewish cinema proprietor (Laurent), and the other by a team of Jewish-American soldiers led by First Lieutenant Aldo Raine (Pitt). The film’s title was inspired by director Enzo G. Castellari’s 1978 Macaroni Combat film, The Inglorious Bastards. Development began in 1998, when Tarantino wrote the script. He struggled with the ending and chose to hold off filming and moved on to direct the two-part film Kill Bill. After directing Death Proof in 2007 (as part of the double feature Grindhouse), Tarantino returned to work on Inglourious Basterds. The film went into production in October 2008 and was filmed in Germany and France with a $70 million production budget. Inglourious Basterds premiered on May 20, 2009 at the 62nd Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d’Or. It was widely released in theaters in the United States and Europe in August 2009 by The Weinstein Company and Universal Studios. The film was commercially successful, grossing over $321 million in theaters worldwide, making it Tarantino’s highest-grossing film at that point, and second-highest to date, after Django Unchained. It received multiple awards and nominations, including eight Academy Award nominations, including one for Best Picture. For his role as Hans Landa, Waltz won the Cannes Film Festival’s Best Actor Award, as well as the BAFTA Award, Screen Actors Guild Award, Golden Globe Award, and the Academy Award for Best

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It’s advantageous to get an early start on your chosen career, but Billy Preston took the concept to extremes. By age ten he was playing keyboards with gospel diva Mahalia Jackson, and two years later, in 1958, he was featured in Hollywood’s film bio of W.C. Handy, St. Louis Blues, as young Handy himself. Preston was a prodigy on organ and piano, recording during the early ‘60s for Vee-Jay and touring with Little Richard. He was a loose-limbed regular on the mid-’60s ABC TV series Shindig, proving his talent as both vocalist and pianist, and he built an enviable reputation as a session musician, even

backing the Beatles on their Let It Be album. That impressive Beatles connection led to Preston’s big break as a solo artist with his own Apple album, but it was his early-’70s soul smashes “Outa-Space” and the highflying vocal “Will It Go Round in Circles” for A&M that put Preston on the permanent musical map. Sporting a humongous Afro and an omnipresent gap-toothed grin, Preston showed that his enduring gospel roots were never far removed from his joyous approach. He continued to perform and record throughout the ‘80s, ‘90s, and 2000s, until he fell into a coma caused by pericarditis late in 2005; sadly, he never regained consciousness and passed away on June 6, 2006.

131

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Django Unchained is a 2012 American western film written and directed by Quentin Tarantino. The film stars Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, Leonardo DiCaprio, Kerry Washington, and Samuel L. Jackson. The film was released on December 25, 2012, in North America. Set in the antebellum era of the Deep South and Old West, the film follows a freed slave (Foxx) who treks across the United States with a bounty hunter (Waltz) on a mission to rescue his wife (Washington) from a cruel plantation owner (DiCaprio). The film received very positive reviews from critics and was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Picture. Christoph Waltz received several accolades for his performance, and won the Golden Globe, the BAFTA and his second Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor. His first Oscar was for another Tarantino film, 2009â&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Inglourious Basterds; few actors have won more than once in this category. Tarantino won the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, his second Oscar in this category for which he first won in 1995 for co-writing Pulp Fiction, as well as the Golden Globe and the BAFTA. The film grossed over $425 million in theaters worldwide, making it Tarantinoâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest grossing film to date.

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A soul singer who drew comparisons to such classic vocalists as Bill Withers and Bobby Womack, Anthony Hamilton struggled for the better part of the 1990s as two of his albums went unreleased. While he didn’t always get the label support his talent deserved, Hamilton established himself during the 2000s as one of the rawest, most singular, and relatable voices in R&B. He did so while racking up several Top Ten R&B albums and a handful of Grammy nominations. The Charlotte, North Carolina native got his start at age ten in his church’s choir. As a teenager, he transitioned into performing solo at various nightclubs and talent shows. In 1993, while in his early twenties, he moved to New York City, where he signed with André Harrell’s Uptown Records, a major source of the new jack swing sound and home to artists such as Jodeci and Mary J. Blige. By 1995, Uptown was set to push Hamilton’s debut album, but the company went out of business, leaving the album unreleased.

Hamilton moved to MCA and was finally able to release that debut album, XTC, in 1996. Only one song, “Nobody Else,” was released as a single; the song peaked at number 63 on Billboard’s R&B chart, and the disc quickly disappeared from view. Another transitional period followed. Hamilton joined Soulife, an upstart venture run by some of his old Charlotte friends. While there, he laid down tracks for another solo album and wrote songs for Donell Jones and Sunshine Anderson. In 2000, he accepted an invitation to sing backup vocals on D’Angelo’s Voodoo tour and traveled the world. Upon returning home, Hamilton discovered that Soulife had also gone belly up. With a second album unreleased, Hamilton spent the next two years selling songs and singing backup for artists including 2Pac and Eve. Then, in 2002 a lead spot singing on the Nappy Roots track “Po’ Folks” garnered Hamilton some much-needed attention, as the song was nominated for the Best Rap/Sung Collaboration at the 2003 Grammy Awards. A subsequent gig performing at a Grammy luncheon led to a meeting with producer Jermaine Dupri, who signed the singer to his So So Def label.

Technically his fourth album, Comin’ from Where I’m From bowed for So So Def in 2003 and featured “Charlene,” a classic-sounding Southern soul ballad that reached number three on the R&B chart. In 2005, some of his Soulife recordings were dusted off and polished up for release as Soulife, and the new album Ain’t Nobody Worryin’ followed later in the year. It was Hamilton’s third consecutive Top Ten R&B album. Southern Comfort, released in 2007, was another set of previously unreleased recordings. The Point of It All, a proper studio release, was issued near the close of 2008. It was overshadowed by Hamilton’s contribution to Al Green’s “You’ve Got the Love I Need,” which won a 2009 Grammy for Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance -- that is, until the following Grammy ceremony, when the set received a nomination for Best Traditional R&B Album, with two of its songs also nominated in separate categories. Back to Love followed in 2011.

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Anthony Hamilton Elayna Boynton Freedom

Felt like the weight of the world was on my shoulders Pressure to break or retreat at every turn Facing the fear that the truth, i discovered No telling how, all these will work out But i’ve come to far to go back now. I am looking for freedom, looking for freedom And to find it cost me everything i have Well i am looking for freedom, looking for freedom And to find it, may take everything i have I know all too well it don’t come easy The chains of the world they seem to movin’ tight I try to walk around if i’m stumbling so familial Tryin’ to get up but the doubt is so strong There’s gotta be a winning in my bones I’m looking for freedom, looking for freedom And to find it, cost me everything i have Well i’m looking for freedom, i’m looking for freedom And to find it, may take everything i have Oh not giving up there’s always been hard, so hard But if i do the thanks lase the way i won’t get far. Mhm, life hasn’t been very kind to me lately, (well) But i suppose it’s a push from moving on (oh yeah) In time the sun’s gonna shine on me nicely (on me yeah ) Somethin’ tells me good things are coming And i ain’t gonna not believe I’m looking for freedom, looking for freedom And to find it, cost me everything i have Well i’m looking for freedom, i’m looking for freedom And to find it, may take everything i have

am looking for

freedom 141

Brown’s performances were marvels of athletic stamina and split-second timing.

cian, pop or otherwise, put on a more exciting, exhilarating stage show:

“Soul Brother Number One,” “the Godfather of Soul,” “the Hardest Workin

no one can question that James Brown earned them more than any other performer. Other singers were more popular, others were equally skilled, but few other African-American musicians

ng Man in Show Business,” “Mr. Dynamite” -- those are mighty titles, but

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were so influential over the course of popular music. And no other mus

Through the gospel-impassioned fury of his vocals and the complex polyrhythms of his beats, Brown was a crucial midwife in not just one, but two revolutions in black American music. He was one of the figures most responsible for turning R&B into soul and he was, most would agree, the figure most responsible for turning soul music into the funk of the late ‘60s and early ‘70s. After the mid-’70s, he did little more than tread water artistically; his financial and drug problems eventually got him a controversial prison sentence. Yet in a sense, his music is now more influential than ever, as his voice and rhythms have been sampled on innumerable hip-hop recordings, and critics have belatedly hailed his innovations as among the most important in all of rock or soul. Brown’s rags-to-riches-to-rags story has heroic and tragic dimensions of mythic resonance. Born into poverty in the South, he ran afoul of the law by the late ‘40s on an armed robbery conviction. With the help of singer Bobby Byrd’s family, Brown gained parole and started a gospel group with Byrd, changing their focus to R&B as the rock revolution gained steam. The Flames, as the Georgian group was known in the mid-’50s, signed to Federal/King and had a huge R&B hit right off the bat with the wrenching, churchy ballad “Please, Please, Please.” By that point, The Flames had become James Brown & the Famous Flames; the charisma, energy, and talent of Brown made him the natural star attraction.

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Sold me out, taking change Told me your name, we had, all the lanes Held me down

James Brown Payback

147

Neo-soul singer and pianist John Legend combined the raw fervor of Cody ChesnuTT and the burning precision of D’Angelo. Born John Stephens, Legend was a child prodigy who grew up in Ohio, where he began singing gospel and playing piano at the tender age of five. Legend left Ohio at 16 to attend college in Philadelphia, and it was there that he first found a larger audience. Not yet out of his teens, Legend was tapped to play piano on Lauryn Hill’s “Everything Is Everything” in 1998. After completing

college, he moved to New York, where he began to build a loyal following playing in nightclubs and releasing CDs that he would sell at shows. He also became an in-demand session musician, playing and occasionally writing for a wide array of artists, including Alicia Keys, Twista, Janet Jackson, and Kanye West. It wasn’t until West signed the young talent to his new label that the Legend name was adopted with 2004’s Solo Sessions Vol. 1: Live at the Knitting Factory. Get Lifted, Legend’s first studio

h album, was released that December. On the strength of enduring single “Ordinary People,” the album reached the Top Five of the Billboard 200. This led to three Grammy Awards: Best R&B Album, Best R&B Male Vocal Performance, and Best New Artist. Once Again, which peaked at number three on the Billboard 200 and number one on the R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, followed in October 2006 and eventually went platinum. Live from Philadelphia, sold exclusively at Target stores, was a successful stopgap

n release -- a Top Ten album, despite its limited retail presence. October 2008’s Evolver spun off the sprightly crossover hit “Green Light” but managed only gold-selling status. Legend followed it with September 2010’s Wake Up!, in which he was backed by the Roots. The album featured covers of still-relevant, socially aware songs like Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes’ “Wake Up Everybody” and Donny Hathaway’s “Little Ghetto Boy.” After he toured with Sade, Legend collaborated with producers and writers including West and Dave Tozer for Love in the Future, released in September 2013.

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John Legend Who Did That To You

Now I’m not afraid to do the lord’s work, You say vengeance is his, but imma do it first. I’m gonna handle my business in the name of the law. Now if he made you cry, oh, I gotta know, If he’s not ready to die, he best prepare for it. My judgement’s divine, I tell you who you can call, You can call. You better call the police, call the coroner, Call up your priest, have it for you. Walk in no peace when I find that fool Who did that to you, yeah, Who did that to you, my baby, Who did that to you, Gotta find that fool who did that to you. Now I don’t take pleasure in the man’s pain, But my wrath will come down like the cold rain. And there won’t be no shelter, no place you can go. So put your hands up, time for surrender, I’m a vigilante, my law’s defender, You’re a wanted man, here everybody knows. You better call the police, call the coroner, Call up your priest, have it for you. Walk in no peace when I find that fool Who did that to you, yeah, Who did that to you, my baby, Who did that to you, Gotta find that fool who did that to you. Now he’ll keep on running, but I’m closing near, I’ll hunt him down until the bitter end, If you see me coming near then, who you gonna call? You better call the police, call the coroner, Call up your priest, have it for you. Walk in no peace when I find that fool You better call the doctor, call the lawyer, I chase ‘em all away to california, Get my best trying to find that fool Who did that to you

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