On January 29th 2021, Hilton Valentine, original guitarist and founding member of The Animals, died at the age of 77. In 1963 he was recruited to join The Animals alongside Chas Chandler, Alan Price and John Steel. He went on to play on classics like ‘Baby Let Me Take You Home’, ‘Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood’, ‘We Gotta Get Out of This Place’, ‘It’s My Life’ and ‘Don’t Bring Me Down’, and on the band’s landmark, trans-Atlantic number one cover of the traditional folk song ‘The House of the Rising Sun’.
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Today in Music’s History
On August 26th 1978, Frankie Valli went to No.1 on the US singles chart with the Barry Gibb song ‘Grease’. It went on to sell over 2 million in the States (a No. 3 hit in the UK).
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The Girl from Ipanema singer, Astrud Gilberto dies at 83
Astrud Gilberto, the Brazilian bossa nova singer best known for The Girl from Ipanema, has died aged 83. One of Brazil’s biggest stars of the 1960s and 70s, she recorded 16 albums and worked with artists ranging from Quincy Jones to George Michael. Her version of The Girl From Ipanema sold more than five million copies and helped to popularise bossa nova.
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Greatest songs of all time : Frank Sinatra
Francis Albert Sinatra was an American singer and actor. Sinatra was honored at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983, was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by Ronald Reagan in 1985, and the Congressional Gold Medal in 1997. He received eleven Grammy Awards, including the Grammy Trustees Award, Grammy Legend Award and the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Sinatra was included in Time magazine’s compilation of the 20th century’s 100 most influential people. American music critic Robert Christgau called him “the greatest singer of the 20th century” and he continues to be regarded as an iconic figure.
