Angela Morley

Angela Morley (10 March 1924 - 14 January 2009) was an English composer and conductor who became a familiar household name to BBC Radio listeners in the 1950s. She won three Emmy Awards for her work in music arrangement. These were in the category of Outstanding Music Direction, in 1985, 1988 and 1990, for Christmas in Washington and two television specials starring Julie Andrews. Morley also received eight Emmy nominations for composing music for television series such as Dynasty and Dallas. She was twice nominated for an Academy Award in the category of Best Original Song Score: first for The Little Prince (1974), and second for The Slipper and the Rose (1976). She was the first openly trans person to be nominated for an Academy Award.

 

 

 

 

Morley began learning the piano at the age of eight on a Challen upright piano. She then tried playing violin at age 10 and the accordion at age 11, including in competitions, before choosing the clarinet and alto saxophone as primary instruments, taking clarinet lessons and playing in the school orchestra. Morley then played in the semi-professional band led by Bert Clegg in Mexborough. At the age of 26, Morley stopped playing in bands to instead work solely as a writer, composer, and arranger, and would go on to work in recording, radio, television, and film. She was originally a composer of light music or easy listening, best known for pieces such as the jaunty "Rotten Row" and "A Canadian in Mayfair", the latter dedicated to Robert Farnon. Morley also worked with the Chappell Recorded Music Library and Reader's Digest.

Morley is known for writing the theme tune, with its iconic tuba partition, and incidental music for Hancock's Half Hour in both its radio and television incarnations, and was also the musical director for The Goon Show from the third series in 1952 to the last show in 1960, conducting the BBC Dance Orchestra. By 1953, Morley was also scoring films for the Associated British Picture Corporation under music director Louis Levy. That same year she became musical director for the British section of Philips Records, arranging for and accompanying the company's artists alongside producer Johnny Franz. She notably worked with Frankie Vaughan on "The Garden of Eden" in 1957. In 1958, she began an association with Welsh singer Shirley Bassey, including work for Bassey's recordings of "The Banana Boat Song" (1957), "As I Love You" (1958), which reached no. 1 in the UK Singles Chart in January 1959, and "Kiss Me Honey Kiss Me" (1958). She was the head of an orchestra and a chorale at this team, releasing records as "Wally Stott and His Orchestra" and "The Wally Stott Chorale" respectively. She also worked with artists such as Noël Coward and Dusty Springfield and on the first four solo albums by Scott Walker. The next hits she worked on were Robert Earl's "I May Never Pass this Way Again" and Frankie Vaughan's "Tower of Strength".

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some of her works during the 70s include the composition and arrangement for the films The Looking Glass War, released in 1970, and When Eight Bells Toll, released in 1971. She orchestrated, arranged, and aided in the composition of the music for the final musical film collaboration of Lerner and Loewe, The Little Prince, released in 1974. Her contribution to the film was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Music, Scoring Original Song Score and/or Adaptation and she travelled to California for the award ceremony. She was again nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Music, Original Song Score and Its Adaptation or Best Adaptation Score for this film along with the Sherman Brothers and again was present at the award ceremony. Though initially reluctant, citing lack of preparation and unfamiliarity with the novel, Morley wrote most of the score for the animated Watership Down film, released in 1978.

 

 

Following the success of Watership Down, Morley lived for a time in Brentwood, Los Angeles, where she began working for Warner Bros. She began working primarily on American television soundtracks, including those of Dynasty, Dallas, Cagney & Lacey, Wonder Woman, and Falcon Crest, working with the music departments of major production companies, including Warner Bros., Paramount Pictures, Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer, Universal Pictures and 20th Century Fox Television. Thanks to a mutual friend, Herbert W. Spencer, Morley collaborated with John Williams throughout the 1970s and 1980s, arranging for the Boston Pops Orchestra under Williams' direction and working on films such as Star Wars, Superman, The Empire Strikes Back, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Hook, Home Alone, Home Alone 2: Lost in New York, and Schindler's List, though in an uncredited capacity. She also collaborated with André Previn, Lionel Newman, Miklós Rózsa, and Richard Rodney Bennett. Later, she would work with soloists such as Yo-Yo Ma and Itzhak Perlman. She was nominated six times for Emmy Awards for composing and won three times for music direction, notably of two Julie Andrews television specials.

 


Morley died in Scottsdale, Arizona on 14 January 2009 at the age of 84. Her death was a result of complications of a fall and a heart attack.

Sally Timms

Sally Timms (born 29 November 1959) is an English singer and lyricist. Timms is best known for her long involvement with The Mekons whom she joined in 1985.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Born in Leeds, in 1959, Timms recorded her first solo album, Hangahar (an experimental improvised film score), at the age of 19 with Pete Shelley of the Buzzcocks in 1980. Prior to joining The Mekons in 1986 she was in a band called the She Hees. The Mekons are a British post-punk band formed in the late 1970s as an art collective. They are one of the longest-running and most prolific of the first-wave British punk rock bands. By the mid-1980s (revitalised by the 1984 coal miners' strike) the Mekons had returned as an active group. The band was now augmented by vocalist Sally Timms, violinist Susie Honeyman, ex-Damned member Lu Edmonds, accordionist/vocalist Rico Bell (a.k.a. Eric Bellis), and former The Rumour drummer Steve Goulding. They began to experiment with musical styles derived from traditional English folk (tentatively explored on the English Dancing Master EP prior to the hiatus), and American country music. Fear and Whiskey (1985), The Edge of the World (1986) and Honky Tonkin (1987) exemplified the band's new sound, which built on the innovations of Gram Parsons and blended punk ethos and left wing politics with the minimalist country of Hank Williams. Subsequent albums, such as The Mekons Rock 'n Roll, continued to experiment with diverse instrumentation. The Mekons, still including Timms on vocals, continue to record and perform live, as of 2021.

 

 

 

 

 

Timms has released several other solo albums, Someone's Rocking My Dreamboat in 1988, To the Land of Milk and Honey in 1995, and a country album, Cowboy Sally's Twilight Laments for Lost Buckaroos, for Bloodshot Records in 1998. She gave herself the name "Cowboy Sally" after the character she played on TNT's Rudy and GoGo Show. Her solo recording In the World of Him was released in 2004 on Touch and Go Records.

Timms sang "Give Me Back my Dreams" on The Sixths' Hyacinths and Thistles and has recorded with Marc Almond, The Aluminum Group, Jon Rauhouse's Steel Guitar Show, the Sadies, Andre Williams, and A Grape Dope. She participated in Vito Acconci's Theater Project for a Rock Band as part of the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival in 1995 and also, along with the rest of The Mekons, performed with Kathy Acker in her lesbian pirate operetta Pussy, King of the Pirates at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago and elsewhere. Timms sang several songs on the Pine Valley Cosmonauts' The Executioner's Last Songs albums, which raised funds for the Illinois Moratorium Against the Death Penalty, and participated in fellow Mekon Jon Langford's multi-media performance project The Executioner's Last Songs. She co-wrote the song 'Horses', which was recorded by herself and Jon Langford on Songs of False Hope and High Values; by Palace Music, a.k.a. Bonnie Prince Billy; and by Chlorine.



Timms and Jon Langford, the other Chicago-based member of the Mekons, continue to collaborate on various recording and performance projects, ever since they both moved to Chicago. As of 2022, they frequently perform as a duo, and as a trio with a second guitarist, often at Chicago's Hideout.

Valerie June

Valerie June Hockett (born January 10, 1982) is an American singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist from Memphis, Tennessee, United States. Her sound encompasses a mixture of folk, blues, gospel, soul, country, Appalachian and bluegrass.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

June began recording and performing at the age of 19 combining blues, gospel and Appalachian folk in a style that she describes as "organic moonshine roots music". She became associated with the Memphis-based Broken String Collective. In 2009 she was a featured artist on MTV's online series $5 Cover (following the lives of Memphis musicians attempting to make ends meet), and in 2010 she recorded the EP Valerie June and the Tennessee Express, a collaboration with Old Crow Medicine Show. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 2011 she was honored by the Memphis and Shelby County Music Commission at the Emissaries of Memphis Music event. Later that year she relocated from Memphis to Williamsburg, Brooklyn. Shortly after, record producer Kevin Augunas introduced June to Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, which led to the recording of June's album Pushin' Against a Stone in July 2011, which was co-written and produced by Dan Auerbach and Kevin Augunas.

After self-releasing three albums, her debut album as a signed artist, Pushin' Against a Stone, was released in the UK and Europe through Sunday Best Recordings on May 6, 2013, and through Concord Music Group in August 2013. The album includes several songs co-written with Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys, who co-produced it with Kevin Augunas. The record includes performances by Booker T. Jones, who co-wrote one of the songs contained on the album. The track "Workin' Woman Blues" was produced and engineered by Peter Sabák in Budapest. In 2014, June was nominated for a Blues Music Award in the 'Best New Artist Debut' category for Pushin' Against a Stone.

Rolling Stone listed June's second album, The Order of Time, as one of the 50 Best Albums of 2017. That same year  Bob Dylan was asked what artists he listened to and respected; June was among the artists he mentioned in reply. On January 22, 2021, June announced her album, The Moon and Stars: Prescriptions for Dreamers, which was accompanied with the release of a new single, “Call Me A Fool” featuring Carla Thomas. In November 2021, June received a GRAMMY nomination for Best American Roots Song for that song.

Girls Take Over

Girls Take Over was a garage rock band from the '60s, hailing from Wisconsin, sometimes stylized as The G.T.O.s.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The band consisted of sisters Cindy, Rinie and Wendy Wilhelmi and their pal Geri Gibson. Their release one single, in 1969 on Pentagon Records and was recorded in an attic in Milwaukee.

The A side is called 'Stardust Come Back' while the B side is a fabulously raw and pounding rendition of Tommy Tucker’s ‘Hi Heel Sneakers’.

The Clams

The Clams was an indie rock band based in the Minneapolis/St. Paul area active from 1985 to 1989. The group was led by Cindy Lawson, with her bandmates Patty Jensen on bass, Roxie Terry on guitar, and Karen Cusack on drums.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

During their four year span, the rock group released several singles and an EP. Common venues for the band included the Uptown Bar and the 7th Street Entry, but their most remembered concert was the one played at the Stillwater prison. 

 

 

 

 

The Clams were influenced by popular rock acts like the Rolling Stones, Runaways, New York Dolls and David Bowie. Their single “Let Me Drive” is included in the Local Show’s intro every week. The group drew inspiration from other all-girl bands, like Têtes Noires.

 

 

 

 

 

In 1989, The Clams parted ways. Afterwards, Lawson moved to New York and played in a band with Sara Lee of the B-52's and Steve Jordan, a studio musician who had done some production work for Soul Asylum. After that, she finished her college degree, played in a few other bands and now occasionally sits in with groups.

Bonnie Hayes

Bonnie Hayes is an American singer-songwriter, musician and record producer, born in San Francisco, California, United States, and currently lives between Los Angeles and New York City. Her songs have been recorded by Cher, Bette Midler, Bonnie Raitt, Natalie Cole, Robert Cray, David Crosby, Adam Ant and Booker T and the MGs.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 



In the early 1980s, Hayes founded the new wave band The Punts, and released the single, "Shelly's Boyfriend". In 1982, the band was signed by Slash Records and changed the name to 'Bonnie Hayes with the Wild Combo'. A song from the album Good Clean Fun called "Girls Like Me" appeared in the 1983 movie, Valley Girl. Her album, Brave New Girl was released on Bondage Records. Hayes and her band toured as the opening act for Huey Lewis and the News. After being signed by Huey Lewis and the News's publishing company, Hayes signed with Chrysalis Records and in 1987 released the album, Bonnie Hayes. "Some Guys", the first single from the record, was recorded by Cher.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In 1988, Hayes signed with Muscle Records and Miles Copeland. She recorded an album that was never released. Later that year, she became a member of Belinda Carlisle's band for her world tour. In 1989, Bonnie Raitt recorded Hayes' songs, "Love Letter" and "Have a Heart", for her Nick of Time album. The Hayes "Have a Heart" song was the top charting song on the album, rising to number 3 on the Adult Contemporary Chart. In 1991, Hayes joined Billy Idol on tour for almost two years in support of his record "Cradle of Love". In 1996, Hayes was signed to Fuel Records and recorded the album, Empty Sky. One song from the album, "Bottomless", was previously recorded by Bette Midler.

 

 

 

 

 

In 2004, Hayes released Love in the Ruins, written after she had learned to play the guitar. The record shows the strong songwriting for which she is known and a capricious rough-edged quality evocative of her first record with a rootsier, Americana sound. She has taught at the Berklee College of Music, the Stanford Jazz Workshop, the REO Songwriting Retreat outside of Vancouver B.C, the ASCAP workshops in Los Angeles and at the WCS Conference at Foothill College. In 2013, Hayes became chair of the songwriting department at Berklee in Boston.

Carmelita Aubert

Carmelita Aubert (born 1912 - died 1979) was a Catalan rumba and tango singer. She was very active during the second republic.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She began very young as a singer, performing successfully all over Spain, alone or paired with comedians of the calibre of Alady. Curiously, being Catalan, she specialised in the interpretation of tangos, competing with the few female voices, such as the sisters Tania and Libertad Lamarque from Argentina.

 

 

 

 

 

Among the most outstanding events in Carmelita's career was her participation in 1935 in "Abajo los hombres", a film considered to be the first Spanish musical. One of the film's songs, entitled "Clemencia", was censored for radio broadcasting because it could be understood as a plea for freedom for those imprisoned during the Asturian uprising of October of the previous year. 

The military uprising of July 1936 caught her on tour in Portugal, where she decided to stay as a revue star. She returned to Spain in 1944 with the idea of making a film and recording records, but it turned out to be a troubled return. On arriving in Madrid she was arrested, and only the many protests received from Portuguese artists led to her release 20 days later, sending her back to the neighbouring country, where she was received with great acclaim. She would only return to her homeland as a tourist, and died in Portugal in 1979.

Xmal Deutschland

Xmal Deutschland often written as X-Mal Deutschland, was a musical group from Hamburg, West Germany, which existed from 1980 to 1990. Founded in 1980 with a completely female line-up, they became chart hit makers both within, and outside, their native country.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Xmal Deutschland was formed in 1980 by Anja Huwe (vocals), Manuela Rickers (guitar), Fiona Sangster (keyboards), Rita Simonsen (bass guitar) and Caro May (drums) in Hamburg, Germany. Their first single, "Schwarze Welt", was released a year later on Alfred Hilsberg’s ZickZack label. The band also contributed to the label compilation Lieber Zuviel Als Zuwenig (ZZ 45). Around this time Rita Simonsen was replaced by Wolfgang Ellerbrock.

 

 

 

 

In 1982, the band released the goth classic "Incubus Succubus". Drummer Caro May left the band and formed a new band, and the vacant drummer position was filled by Manuela Zwingmann the same year. While German audiences were less than receptive at first, a United Kingdom tour opening for the Cocteau Twins resulted in a deal with independent label 4AD. Their debut album, Fetisch and the singles "Qual" and "Incubus Succubus II" were released in 1983, all three making the UK Indie Charts, even though the band wrote and performed in German.

Manuela Zwingmann left the band after one year, being replaced by Peter Bellendir. This lineup, Huwe/Rickers/Sangster/Ellerbrock/Bellendir was the longest lasting. The single "Reigen" and the album Tocsin were released in 1984, followed by a world tour in 1985. Tocsin reached number 86 in the UK Albums Chart. The Sequenz EP was essentially a remake of a John Peel session, which had been originally recorded on 30 April 1985, and broadcast on 13 May 1985. The EP contained the tracks "Jahr Um Jahr II", "Autumn" (the band’s first song with English lyrics, apart from brief snatches of English that appeared in "Qual", "Young Man" and "Tag für Tag") and "Polarlicht" but omitted "Der Wind", which was played at the Peel sessions.



"Matador", produced by Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers, was released in 1986. Xmal Deutschland also opened for The Stranglers at a concert in Wembley Arena, London, as well as supporting the Stranglers on their entire UK tour. Their follow-up album, Viva was recorded in Hamburg and was released in 1987 through Phonogram, followed by the single "Sickle Moon". Viva contains a large number of English lyrics, including a poem by Emily Dickinson.  After the release of Viva, Manuela Rickers, Fiona Sangster and Peter Bellendir left the group. Anja Huwe and Wolfgang Ellerbrock continued to work with Frank Z (of Abwärts) on guitar. Producer Henry Staroste played keyboards and studio drummer Curt Cress completed the line-up that recorded the 1989 LP Devils, and the singles "Dreamhouse" and "I'll Be Near You". This also proved to be the last release of Xmal Deutschland, showing a change of direction towards mainstream pop. 

The group made a few live appearances in 1990 before eventually disbanding later that same year.

Lori Black

Lori Black (born April 9, 1954), also known as Lorax, is an American musician born in Santa Monica, California. She played bass for Clown Alley and for the Melvins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Clown Alley was a 1980s San Francisco Bay area punk rock band. Its member were David Duran on voclas, Mark Deutrom on guitar, Lori Black on bass and Justin Clayton on drums. They released a Lp and a tape in 1986.

 

 

 

Melvins are an American rock band formed in 1983,[1] in Montesano, Washington. Their early work was key to the development of both grunge and sludge metal. In October 1986, they recorded their first full-length album, Gluey Porch Treatments, at Studio D in Sausalito, California. The album was released in 1987 on Alchemy Records. In 1988 Osborne and Crover relocated to San Francisco, California. Lukin stayed and formed the band Mudhoney. Lori "Lorax" Black replaced Lukin on bass. The band recorded Ozma in May 1989, and released it later that year. The album was produced by Mark Deutrom, who later joined the band on bass.  

In 1990, the band recorded Bullhead, which marked a slower, more drone music style for the band. The band then toured Europe; their show of January 23, 1991 in Alzey, Germany was released by Your Choice Records as Your Choice Live Series Vol.12. When they returned to the U.S., they recorded the Eggnog EP, which was released the same year on Boner Records. Lorax left the band, and was replaced by Joe Preston.

Jennifer Batten

Jennifer Batten (born November 29, 1957) is an American guitarist who has worked as a session musician and solo artist. From 1987 to 1997 she played on all three of Michael Jackson's world tours, and from 1999 to 2001 she toured and recorded with Jeff Beck.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Batten began to play guitar at the age of eight when her father bought her a "killer red and blue electric". Her early influences were the Beatles, B.B. King, Lightnin' Hopkins, and Jeff Beck. Batten started to experiment with the two-handed tapping technique in 1978, having been inspired by Guitar Institute of Technology classmate Steve Lynch (who ended up playing for the band Autograph) while attending the Musicians Institute.

 

 

 

 

 

Batten has released three studio albums: her 1992 debut, Above Below and Beyond (produced by former Stevie Wonder guitarist Michael Sembello), the worldbeat-influenced Jennifer Batten's Tribal Rage: Momentum in 1997, and Whatever, which was released on CD and DVD in Japan in 2007 and worldwide in 2008.

Batten has appeared on recordings such as Jeff Beck's Who Else! (1999) and You Had It Coming (2001), and Michael Sembello's Heavy Weather (1992). Her music video appearances include Jeff Beck ("Live in Japan"), Michael Jackson's "Moonwalker" ("Come Together"), Natalie Cole ("Wild Women Do"), and Sara Hickman's "Take It Like a Man" and Miguel Mateos's "Obsesión". Batten played lead guitar and rhythm guitar on Michael Jackson's Bad (1987–1989), Dangerous (1992) and HIStory (1996–1997) world tours, and on his 1993 Super Bowl halftime performance, which was aired to over 1.3 billion people in 86 countries, the largest audience in television history for a live music performance. She was in Jeff Beck's touring band for three years starting in 1999, and appears on his albums Who Else! (1999) and You Had It Coming.