On the verge of beginning her highly anticipated Celebration Tour which celebrates forty-plus years of making music, Madonna has been busy teaming up with several contemporary musicians for some new music that has all just been released. First, the Queen of Pop appears on "Popular", a song by Abel "The Weeknd" Tesfaye and also featuresPlayboi Carti for the soundtrack of the buzzy new HBO series, "The Idol" which stars Tesfaye and Lily-Rose Depp. Madonna lends her voice for three songs on the new album by Christine and the Queens, "Paranoïa, Angels, True Love". And finally, there is "Vulgar" which Madonna collaborates with Sam Smith on a boldly unapologetic yet disappointingly routine dance track that proudly proclaims the merits of being fearlessly outspoken.
June is Pride month and what better soundtrack for this celebration than getting your hands on "NOW! That's What I Call Proud!", the latest installment in the compilation album series, "NOW! That's What I Call Music!". What makes this edition stand out is that all the artists involved are out and proud: We have the legendary trailblazers (Elton John, k.d. Lang, Melissa Ethridge, George Michael) and the next generation who were able to begin their careers openly because of these pioneers (Sam Smith, Troye Sivan, Hayley Kiyoko, Lil Nas X). Here are a few of the classic songs on this collection:
Best known for the recording of "The Girl From Ipanema", the Brazilian singer, Astrud Gilberto has passed away at eighty-three on June 5th. This song would become an international hit, helping to popularize bossa nova, reaching the top five on the US Billboard Hot 100 and winning the Grammy Award for Record of the Year in 1965. Astrud Weinert married musician, João Gilberto, who would later be known as the "Father of Bossa Nova", in 1959. João teamed up with American jazz musician, Stan Getz and released the album, "Getz/Gilberto" in 1963. "The Girl From Ipanema" was first recorded for the album as a duet between Gilberto, singing in Portuguese, and his wife performing in English. An edited version of the song with just Astrud was released, becoming very popular and went on to sell over a million copies. Infidelity would bring an end to the marriage of the Gilbertos by 1964 but Astrud continued her career, releasing a self-titled debut album the following year. Gilberto went on to record fifteen studio albums with songs in various languages which impressively included Spanish, German, Italian, French and Japanese. And although she never officially retired, Gilberto said she was taking some time off after the release of her 2002 album. "Jungle" which would become her final recording.
And Cynthia Weil, one half of the songwriting team with her husband, Barry Mann based at the famous Brill Building who together helped shaped the sound of rock & roll throughout the 1960's with many popular songs, died at the age of eighty-two on June 1st. Born in New York City, Weil had studied to be an actor and dancer but not long after marrying Mann in 1961, she discovered her skill at writing pop songs. "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'", "(You're My) Soul and Inspiration", "On Broadway", "Walking in The Rain", "Just a Little Lovin' (Early in the Morning)" and "We Gotta Get Out of This Place" are just a few of the early hits that were written by this songwriting duo. The couple would write as individuals, with other partners as well as team up together with other songwriters. Other popular songs Weil would later be involved in creating included "Just Once", "Never Gonna Let You Go"," He's So Shy", "Here You Come Again", "All I Need To Know" and "Somewhere Out There" for the animated film, "An American Tail" which won the team (along with co-writer, James Horner) the 1986 Song of The Year Grammy Award. With her husband, Weil was inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1987 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.
With his musical partner, lyricist Hal David, Burt Bacharach composed some of the greatest and most enduring pop songs of the twentieth century. This gifted pianist and producer passed away on February 8th at the age of ninety-four of natural causes. While these compositions from Bacharach and David may best represent the era in which they were created during the swinging '60's, they have since gone on to become timeless classics, songs that still captivate with their offbeat rhythms and complicated arrangements yet remain extraordinarily catchy.
The New York City raised Bacharach was started on piano lessons as a child, encouraged by his creative mother. But as he got older, he became more interested in jazz than classical music. After serving in the army for two years, Bacharach went to work as a pianist and conductor for singer, Vic Damone who he has first met while they were both serving in Germany. This lead to other jobs as a pianist for other noted performers of the day, accompanying Steve Lawrence, The Ames Brothers and Joel Grey.
Bacharach's first major break came in 1956 when he was recommended to actress Marlene Dietrich who was about to begin touring with her nightclub act. As her musical arranger and conductor, they would work together on and off until the early 1960's.
After joining the songwriting factory at the Brill Building, Bacharach first met Hal David with the team writing together their first two hits; "The Story of My Life" which became a number one song on the US Country chart in 1957 for Marty Robbins and the top-five pop hit, "Magic Moments" recorded by Perry Como. Despite these early successes with David, Bacharach worked with other writers, most notably Bob Hilliard with this team's songs, "Any Day Now (My Wild Beautiful Bird)" and "Mexican Divorce" becoming charting pop hits. It was during the recording of the later song in 1962 with The Drifters that Bacharach would first meet the singer that would change the course of his career.
One of the background singers during that recording session was Dionne Warwick who stood out with her formidable vocal abilities, impressing Bacharach enough to hire her to record his demos. By 1962, Bacharach and David had officially become a songwriting team and started their own production company, signed to Scepter Records. And their first artist was Warwick who released her debut album, "Presenting Dionne Warwick" in 1963. Beginning with "Don't Make Me Over", this trio had a long string of worldwide pop hits which included "Anyone Who Had a Heart", "Walk On By", "I Say a Little Prayer", "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?", "Message to Michael", "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" and "Alfie". Many of these songs were covered by other singers, most notably Cilla Black, Sandie Shaw and Dusty Springfield, who would also find success on the pop charts with their versions.
Bacharach-David also went on to write music for films ("The Look of Love" for "Casino Royale", "What's New Pussycat?" and the Oscar-winning "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" for "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid") and the stage (the 1968 musical, "Promises, Promises"). Bacharach would work on his own projects during this time as well, making a name for himself and creating some visibility as a personality with several television specials, talk show appearances and released solo albums. But the recording of the score for the 1973 film musical version of "Lost Horizon", a critical and commercial disappointment, lead to the dissolution of the creative partnership between Bacharach and David with each suing the other and Warwick filing a lawsuit against them both.
Bacharach went on to find a new songwriting partner, singer/lyricist Carole Bayer Sager who would later become his third wife in 1982. Some of the songs they wrote together included "Heartlight", "Making Love", "On My Own" and "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" (co-written with Christopher Cross and Peter Allen) which won the 1981 Oscar for Best Original Song. And "That's What Friends Are For" (originally recorded by Rod Stewart in 1982 for the soundtrack of the film, "Night Shift") would reunite Bacharach and Warwick in 1985 with this number one song, that featured Gladys Knight, Elton John, and Stevie Wonder, was a charity single with all proceeds going for AIDS research.
After his marriage to Bayer Sager ended in 1991, Bacharach continued to work over the years with one of his most notable musical collaborations was with Elvis Costello, releasing an album together "Painted From Memory" in 1998 and later working on several tracks for Costello's 2018 album, "Look Now". One of Bacharach's last projects was in 2020 when he collaborated with multi-instrumentalist, Daniel Tashian on the EP, "Blue Umbrella".
The gifted lyricist, Gerry Goffin, who along with his then-wife, Carole King, wrote some of the most memorable and enduring hit songs of the rock-n-roll era, passed away on June 19th.
Although he went to school to pursue a practical occupation as a chemist, Goffin found himself making music as he had been writing lyrics since he was a child. He was working on a musical and needed a partner to write the music. Goffin met Carol Klein (who later changed her professional name to "Carole King") and began a musical partnership which soon became romantic. Goffin and King managed to have more than fifty top-forty pop hits during their time together which began with "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" by The Shirelles in 1961. Other major hits included "Up On The Roof", "One Fine Day", "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman","He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)", "Pleasant Valley Sunday" and "The Loco-Motion"
After their marriage ended in 1968, Goffin went on to write with other musicians like Barry Mann and Michael Masser and had other hit songs such as "Saving All My Love For You" and "Theme from Mahogany (Do You Know Where You're Going To)" which earned him and Masser an Oscar nomination.
All of Goffin's songs continue to be recorded by a wide variety of artists and that's because they are well-crafted classics that will truly stand the test of time. Here is a small selection of my favorites co-written by Gerry Goffin:
"Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" - The Shirelles (1961)
"The Loco-Motion" - Little Eva (1962)
"Up On The Roof" - The Drifters (1963)
"(You Make me Feel Like) A Natural Woman" - Aretha Franklin (1967)
"Saving All My Love For You" - Whitney Houston (1985)
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