A look back at the people, events, music, and trends of the 1970s.
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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Richard Wagstaff "Dick" Clark was an American game-show host, radio andtelevision personality, and businessman. He served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, which he sold part of in recent years. Clark is best known for hosting long-running television shows such as American Bandstand, five versions of the game show Pyramid, and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve. Clark was long known for his departing catchphrase, "For now, Dick Clark...so long," delivered with a military salute, and for his youthful appearance, earning the moniker "America's Oldest Teenager." Clark suffered a significant stroke in late 2004. With speech ability still impaired, Clark returned to his New Year's Rockin' Eve show on December 31, 2005/January 1, 2006. Subsequently, he appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, and every New Year's Rockin' Eve show through the 2011/2012 show. On April 18, 2012, Clark died of a heart attack at the age of 82. Description above from the Wikipedia article Dick Clark , licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Roy Linwood Clark (April 15, 1933 – November 15, 2018) was an American singer and musician. He is best known for having hosted Hee Haw, a nationally televised country variety show, from 1969 to 1997. Clark was an important and influential figure in country music, both as a performer and in helping to popularize the genre. During the 1970s, Clark frequently guest-hosted for Johnny Carson on The Tonight Show and enjoyed a 30-million viewership for Hee Haw. Clark was highly regarded and renowned as a guitarist, banjo player, and fiddler. He was skilled in the traditions of many genres, including classical guitar, country music, Latin music, bluegrass, and pop. He had hit songs as a pop vocalist (e.g., "Yesterday, When I Was Young" and "Thank God and Greyhound"), and his instrumental skill had an enormous effect on generations of bluegrass and country musicians. Clark became a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1987, and in 2009 was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. He published his autobiography, My Life in Spite of Myself, in 1994.
Hugh Marston Hefner was an American magazine publisher. He was the founder and editor-in-chief of Playboy magazine, a publication with revealing photographs and articles which provoked charges of obscenity.
Sherman Alexander Hemsley (February 1, 1938 – July 24, 2012) was an American actor, best known for his roles as George Jefferson on the CBS television series All in the Family and The Jeffersons, Deacon Ernest Frye on the NBC series Amen, and B.P. Richfield on the ABC series Dinosaurs. For his work on The Jeffersons, Hemsley was nominated for a Golden Globe Award and an Emmy Award. He also won an NAACP Image Award. Hemsley was born and raised in South Philadelphia by his mother, who worked in a lamp factory.[1] He did not meet his father until he was 14. He attended Barrat Middle School, Central High School for 9th grade and Bok Technical High School for 10th, when he dropped out of school and joined the United States Air Force, where he served for four years. On leaving the Air Force, he returned to Philadelphia, where he worked for the United States Postal Service during the day while attending the Academy of Dramatic Arts at night. He then moved to New York, continuing to work for the Post Office during the day while working as an actor at night. He starred as Gitlow in the early 1970s Broadway musical Purlie. While Hemsley was on Broadway with Purlie, Norman Lear called him in 1971 to play the recurring role of George Jefferson in his new sitcom, All in the Family. Hemsley was reluctant to leave his theatre role, but Lear told him that he would hold the role open for him. Hemsley joined the cast two years later. The characters of Hemsley and co-star Isabel Sanford were supporting occasional roles on All in the Family, but were given their own spin-off, The Jeffersons, two years after Hemsley made his debut on the sitcom. The Jeffersons proved to be one of Lear's most successful series, enjoying a run of 11 seasons through 1985. Hemsley was a shy and intensely private man, described by some as reclusive. He avoided the Hollywood limelight and little of his personal life was public knowledge beyond the facts that he never married and he had no children.[9] In 2003, however, Hemsley granted a rare video interview to the Archive of American Television. "It [playing George Jefferson] was hard for me. But he was the character. I had to do it." On July 24, 2012, Hemsley died at his home in El Paso, Texas, at age 74. The cause of death was given as superior vena cava syndrome, a complication associated with lung and bronchial carcinomas. He had had a malignant mass on one of his lungs for which chemotherapy and radiation had been recommended, according to the El Paso County Texas Medical Examiner's report. CLR
Isabel Sanford (born Eloise Gwendolyn Sanford; August 29, 1917 – July 9, 2004) was an American stage, film, and television actress and comedian best known for her role as Louise "Weezy" Mills Jefferson on the CBS sitcoms All in the Family (1971–1975) and The Jeffersons (1975–1985). In 1981, she became the second African-American actress to win a Primetime Emmy Award after Gail Fisher, and so far, the only African-American actress to win for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series. Description above from the Wikipedia article Isabel Sanford, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Robert Craig Knievel (/kˈniːvəl/; October 17, 1938 – November 30, 2007), professionally known as Evel Knievel, was an American stunt performer and entertainer. Over the course of his career, he attempted more than 75 ramp-to-ramp motorcycle jumps. Knievel was inducted into the Motorcycle Hall of Fame in 1999. He died of pulmonary disease in Clearwater, Florida, in 2007, aged 69. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ted Knight (born Tadeusz Wladyslaw Konopka; December 7, 1923 – August 26, 1986) was an American actor well known for playing the comedic roles of Ted Baxter in The Mary Tyler Moore Show, Henry Rush in Too Close for Comfort, and Judge Elihu Smails in Caddyshack. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bill Bixby (January 22, 1934–November 21, 1993) was an American film and television actor, director, and frequent game show panelist. His career spanned over three decades; he appeared on stage, in motion pictures and TV series. He is best known for his roles as Tim O'Hara on the CBS sitcom My Favorite Martian, Tom Corbett on the ABC comedy-drama series The Courtship of Eddie's Father, and Dr. David Banner on the CBS drama series The Incredible Hulk. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bill Bixby, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Cathryn Antoinette "Toni" Tennille is an American singer-songwriter and keyboardist, best known as one-half of the 1970s duo Captain & Tennille with her former husband Daryl Dragon; their signature song is "Love Will Keep Us Together". Tennille has also done some musical work independently of her husband, including solo albums and session work. While living in Corona del Mar in Newport Beach, California, during the late 1960s, Tennille was a member of the South Coast Repertory. Ron Thronsen, one of the directors of the repertory, asked Tennille in 1969 to write the music for a new rock musical he was working on called Mother Earth. The musical was a success locally, went on the road to San Francisco and Los Angeles in 1971, and eventually made it to Broadway for a few dates at the Belasco Theatre in October 1972. Although Tennille was no longer associated with the musical by the time it reached Broadway, she was credited as the composer under her married name, Shearer. In 1971, Tennille met her future husband Daryl Dragon in San Francisco during auditions for Mother Earth. Dragon had previously toured with the Beach Boys and had recorded with them as a studio musician. After Mother Earth ended, Dragon returned to the Beach Boys and introduced Tennille to the band.[8] Tennille played electric piano with the band during their 1972 tour. In 1973, Tennille and Dragon left to form Captain & Tennille and began performing at local clubs. In September 1973, they released their self-financed debut single, "The Way I Want to Touch You", which was a local hit and helped them to get a record contract with A&M Records. The duo recorded a cover version of the Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield song "Love Will Keep Us Together" in 1975 that became a huge success and eventually went on to win the 1975 Grammy Award for Record of the Year. In 1974, Tennille sang background vocals on Elton John's Caribou album. In 1979, she sang backing vocals on Pink Floyd's The Wall. Following a December 1979 pilot, from September 1980 to February 1981 Tennille hosted her own syndicated television talk show, The Toni Tennille Show. From September 1998 to June 1999, Tennille performed as "Victoria Grant/Count Victor Grazinski" in the national tour of the play Victor Victoria. With her then husband Daryl Dragon, as Captain & Tennille, she recorded the Christmas song "Saving Up Christmas" included in their DVD box set for 1976-1977's The Captain & Tennille Show; this was followed by a full-length Christmas album titled The Secret of Christmas, released in 2007. In April 2016, Tennille released her memoir, Toni Tennille: A Memoir, and went on a book tour to promote it later that summer.[18][19] An audiobook of the memoir was also released on the audiobook service Audible.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Leif Garrett (born Leif Per Nervik November 8, 1961) is an American singer and actor. He became famous in the late 1970s as a teen idol, but received much publicity in later life for his drug abuse and legal troubles. Description above from the Wikipedia article Leif Garrett, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
David Sheehan (March 31, 1938 - December 2, 2020) was the first American entertainment reporter and critic on a news boardcast in the history of television.
Carol Creighton Burnett (born April 26, 1933) is an American actress, comedienne, singer, dancer and writer. Burnett started her career in New York. After becoming a hit on Broadway, she made her television debut. After successful appearances on The Garry Moore Show, Carol moved to Los Angeles and began an eleven-year run on The Carol Burnett Show which was aired on CBS television from 1967 to 1978. With roots in vaudeville, The Carol Burnett Show was a variety show which combined comedy sketches, song, and dance. The comedy sketches ranged from film parodies to character pieces. Burnett created many endearing characters during the show's television run.
Henry Jaynes Fonda (May 16, 1905 – August 12, 1982) was an American actor who had a career that spanned five decades in Hollywood. Fonda cultivated a strong, appealing screen image in several films now considered to be classics, earning one Academy Award for Best Actor on two nominations. Fonda made his mark early as a Broadway actor and made his Hollywood film debut in 1935. His film career began to gain momentum with roles such as Bette Davis's fiancee in her Academy Award-winning performance in Jezebel (1938), brother Frank in Jesse James (1939), and the future President in Young Mr. Lincoln (1939), directed by John Ford. His early career peaked with his Academy Award-nominated performance as Tom Joad in The Grapes of Wrath, about an Oklahoma family who moved to California during the Dust Bowl 1930s. This film is widely considered to be among the greatest American films. In 1941 he starred opposite Barbara Stanwyck in the screwball comedy classic The Lady Eve. Book-ending his service in WWII were his starring roles in two highly regarded westerns: The Ox-Bow Incident (1943) and My Darling Clementine (1946), the latter directed by John Ford, and he also starred in Ford's western Fort Apache (1948). After a seven-year break from films, during which Fonda focused on stage productions, he returned with the WWII war-boat ensemble Mister Roberts (1955). In 1957 he starred as Juror No.8, the hold-out juror, in 12 Angry Men. Fonda, who was also co-producer, won the BAFTA for Best Foreign Actor. Later in his career, Fonda moved into darker roles, such as the villain in the epic Once Upon a Time in the West (1968), underrated and a box office disappointment at its time of release, but now regarded as one of the best westerns of all time. He also played in lighter-hearted fare such as Yours, Mine and Ours with Lucille Ball, but also often played important military figures, such as a Colonel in Battle of the Bulge (1965), and Admiral Nimitz in Midway (1976). He finally won the Academy Award for Best Actor at the 54th Academy Awards for his final film role in On Golden Pond (1981), which also starred Katharine Hepburn and his daughter Jane Fonda, but was too ill to attend the ceremony. He died from heart disease a few months later. Description above from the Wikipedia article Henry Fonda, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Crystal Gayle is an American country music singer. Best known for her vocals in Francis Ford Coppola's "One from the Heart" (1981).
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Kate Jackson (born October 29, 1948) is an American actress, director, and producer. She is a three-time Emmy Award nominee in the Best Actress category, has been nominated for several Golden Globe Awards, and has won the titles of Favorite Television Actress in England, and Favorite Television Star in Germany—several times—for her work in the television series Scarecrow and Mrs. King. She also co-produced that series through her production company, Shoot the Moon Enterprises Ltd., with Warner Brothers Television. She is perhaps best known for her role as Sabrina Duncan in the hugely popular 1970s television series Charlie's Angels. Jackson has starred in a number of theatrical and TV films, and played the lead role on the short-lived television adaptation of the film Baby Boom. Jackson is a breast cancer survivor following two bouts with the disease during the 1980s, and she serves as a spokeswoman for the American Heart Association. Description above from the Wikipedia article Kate Jackson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Stephen Glenn 'Steve' Martin (born August 14, 1945) is an American actor, comedian, writer, playwright, producer, musician and composer. He was born in Waco, Texas, and raised in Southern California, where his early influences were working at Disneyland and Knott's Berry Farm and working magic and comedy acts at these and other smaller venues in the area. His ascent to fame picked up when he became a writer for the Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour, and later became a frequent guest on The Tonight Show. In the 1970s, he performed his offbeat, absurdist comedy routines before packed houses on national tours. Since the 1980s, having branched away from stand-up comedy, he has become a successful actor, playwright, pianist, banjo player, and juggler, eventually earning Emmy, Grammy, and American Comedy awards. Description above from the Wikipedia article Steve Martin, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Paul Leonard Newman (January 26, 1925 – September 26, 2008) was an American actor, film director, entrepreneur, humanitarian, professional racing driver, auto racing team owner, and auto racing enthusiast. He won numerous awards, including an Academy Award for best actor for his performance in the 1986 Martin Scorsese film The Color of Money and eight other nominations, three Golden Globe Awards, a BAFTA Award, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Cannes Film Festival Award, an Emmy award, and many honorary awards. He also won several national championships as a driver in Sports Car Club of America road racing, and his race teams won several championships in open wheel IndyCar racing. Newman was a co-founder of Newman's Own, a food company from which Newman donated all post-tax profits and royalties to charity.
Dame Olivia Newton-John AC, DBE was an English-born, Australian-raised singer and actress. She is a four-time Grammy award winner who amassed five No. 1 and ten other Top Ten Billboard Hot 100 singles and two No. 1 Billboard 200 solo albums. Eleven of her singles (including two platinum) and 14 of her albums (including two platinum and four double platinum) have been certified gold by the RIAA. She has sold an estimated over 100 million albums worldwide. In 1978, she co-starred with John Travolta in the film adaptation of the Broadway musical, Grease, which became one of the most successful films and movie soundtracks in Hollywood history. It features two major hit duets with co-star John Travolta: "You're the One That I Want"—which is one of the best-selling singles of all time—and "Summer Nights". She became the second woman (after Linda Ronstadt in 1977) to have two singles – "Hopelessly Devoted to You" and "Summer Nights" – in the Billboard top 5 simultaneously. Her performance earned her a People's Choice Award for Favorite Film Actress. She was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actress in a Musical and performed the Oscar-nominated "Hopelessly Devoted to You" at the 1979 Academy Awards. In 1980, she starred with Gene Kelly and Michael Beck in the musical fantasy film Xanadu. Although it was a critical failure, its soundtrack was certified double platinum and scored five top 20 singles on the Billboard Hot 100. She charted with "Magic", "Suddenly" with Cliff Richard, and the title song "Xanadu" with the Electric Light Orchestra. "Magic" was Newton-John's biggest pop hit to that point and still ranks as the biggest AC hit of her career. The film has since become a cult classic and the basis for a Broadway show that ran for more than 500 performances beginning in 2007 and was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical. She helped pioneer the music video industry by recording a video album for Physical, featuring videos of all the album's tracks and three of her older hits. The video album earned her a fourth Grammy and was aired as an ABC prime-time special, Let's Get Physical, becoming a top-10 Nielsen hit. She teamed up with Travolta again in 1983 for the critically and commercially unsuccessful movie Two of a Kind, redeemed by its platinum soundtrack featuring "Twist of Fate", and a new duet with Travolta, "Take a Chance"Iowa. In 2002, she was inducted into Australia's ARIA Hall of Fame and, in 2015, she was inducted into the Music Victoria Hall of Fame. In recognition for "her work as an entertainer and philanthropist", she was bestowed Australia's highest honor, the Companion of the Order of Australia, in June 2019. In 2008, she raised funds to help build the Olivia Newton-John Cancer and Wellness Centre in Melbourne, Australia. She led a three-week, 228 km walk along the Great Wall of China, joined by various celebrities and cancer survivors throughout her trek. The walk symbolised the steps cancer patients must take on their road to recovery. She was a a long-time activist for environmental and animal rights issues. She battled breast cancer three times and was an advocate for breast cancer research and health awareness. Her business ventures included launching several product lines for Koala Blue and co-owning the Gaia Retreat & Spa in Australia.
Kenny Rogers (August 21, 1938 – March 20, 2020) was an American country music singer and actor.
Orenthal James Simpson (July 9, 1947 – April 10, 2024) was an American football player, actor, and broadcaster. He played in the National Football League (NFL) for 11 seasons, primarily with the Buffalo Bills, and is regarded as one of the greatest running backs of all time. Once a popular figure with the American public, Simpson's professional success was later overshadowed by his trial and controversial acquittal for the murders of his former wife Nicole Brown and her friend Ron Goldman in 1994. Simpson played college football for the USC Trojans, where he won the Heisman Trophy as a senior, and was selected first overall by the Bills in the 1969 NFL/AFL draft. During his nine seasons with the Bills, Simpson received five consecutive Pro Bowl and first-team All-Pro selections from 1972 to 1976. He also led the league in rushing yards four times, in rushing touchdowns twice, and in points scored in 1975. In 1973, he became the first NFL player to rush for more than 2,000 yards in a season, earning him NFL Most Valuable Player (MVP), and is the only NFL player to do so in a 14-game regular season. Simpson holds the record for the single-season yards-per-game average at 143.1. After retiring with the San Francisco 49ers in 1979, Simpson pursued an acting and broadcasting career. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1983 and the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985. In June 1994, Simpson was arrested and charged with the murders of Brown and Goldman. He was acquitted in a lengthy and internationally publicized trial, but found liable for the deaths three years later in a civil suit from the victims' families. Prior to his death, Simpson had paid little of the $33.5 million judgment (equivalent to $64 million in 2023). In 2007, Simpson was arrested in Las Vegas, Nevada, and charged with armed robbery and kidnapping. In 2008, he was convicted and sentenced to 33 years' imprisonment, with a minimum of nine years without parole. He served his sentence at the Lovelock Correctional Center near Lovelock, Nevada. He was granted parole in July 2017, released from prison in October, and granted early release from his parole in December 2021 by the Nevada Division of Parole and Probation. He died in 2024 at the age of 76 from prostate cancer. Description above from the Wikipedia article O. J. Simpson, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Donna Summer (born LaDonna Adrian Gaines; December 31, 1948 – May 17, 2012) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. She gained prominence during the disco era of the 1970s and became known as the "Queen of Disco", while her music gained a global following. Influenced by the counterculture of the 1960s, Summer became the lead singer of a psychedelic rock band named Crow and moved to New York City. In 1968 she joined a German adaptation of the musical Hair in Munich, where she spent several years living, acting, and singing. There, she met music producers Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte, and they went on to record influential disco hits together such as "Love to Love You Baby" and "I Feel Love", marking Summer's breakthrough into international music markets. Summer returned to the United States in 1976, and more hits such as "Last Dance", her version of "MacArthur Park", "Heaven Knows", "Hot Stuff", "Bad Girls", "Dim All the Lights", "No More Tears (Enough Is Enough)" with Barbra Streisand, and "On the Radio" followed. Summer amassed a total of 42 hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100 in her lifetime, with 14 of those reaching the Top 10. She claimed a top-40 hit every year between 1975 and 1984, and from her first top-ten hit in 1976, to the end of 1982, she had 12 top-ten hits (10 were top-five hits), more than any other act during that time period. She returned to the Hot 100's top five in 1983, and claimed her final top-ten hit in 1989 with "This Time I Know It's for Real". She was the first artist to have three consecutive double albums reach the top of the US Billboard 200 chart and charted four number-one singles in the US within a 12-month period. She also charted two number-one singles on the R&B Singles chart in the US and a number-one single in the United Kingdom. Her most recent Hot 100 hit came in 1999 with "I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)". While her fortunes on the Hot 100 waned in subsequent decades, Summer remained a force on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart throughout her entire career. Summer died on May 17, 2012, from lung cancer, at her home in Naples, Florida. She sold over 100 million records worldwide, making her one of the best-selling music artists of all time. She won five Grammy Awards. In her obituary in The Times, she was described as the "undisputed queen of the Seventies disco boom" who reached the status of "one of the world's leading female singers." Moroder described Summer's work on the song "I Feel Love" as "really the start of electronic dance" music. In 2013, Summer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In December 2016, Billboard ranked her sixth on its list of the "Greatest of All Time Top Dance Club Artists". Description above from the Wikipedia article Donna Summer, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Philip James Bailey (born May 8, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter and percussionist, best known as an early member and one of the two lead singers (along with group founder Maurice White) of the band Earth, Wind & Fire. Noted for his four-octave vocal range and distinctive falsetto register, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000 and the Vocal Group Hall of Fame as a member of Earth, Wind & Fire. He was also inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame for his work with the band. Earth, Wind, & Fire were awarded a Star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for Recording at 7080 Hollywood Boulevard in Hollywood, California.
American musician who is best known for his work as the bassist for the band Earth, Wind & Fire which has sold more than 90 million albums across the globe. Over the course of his career, he has won 6 Grammy Awards and was honored with the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2016. He was inducted into the 'Rock & Roll Hall Of Fame' in 2000.
A British musician and actor best known for his role as the drummer and namesake of the blues/rock and roll band Fleetwood Mac. His surname, combined with that of John McVie, was the inspiration for the name of the originally Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998 for his work in Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his work as a drummer, he also helped form the different incarnations of his band Fleetwood Mac, and is the sole member to stay with the band through its ever-changing lineup. In 1974, he met and invited Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to join Fleetwood Mac. Buckingham and Nicks contributed to much of Fleetwood Mac's later commercial success, while Fleetwood's determination to keep the band together was essential to the group's longevity. Description above from the Wikipedia article Mick Fleetwood, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Christine Anne McVie (née Perfect; 12 July 1943 - 30 November 2022) was an English musician, singer, keyboardist, and songwriter. Her primary fame came as a member of the British/American rock band Fleetwood Mac, though she has also released three solo albums. In 2006, Paste magazine named McVie the 83rd greatest living songwriter. Description above from the Wikipedia article Christine McVie, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Lindsey Adams Buckingham (born October 3, 1949) is an American guitarist, singer, composer and producer, most notable for being the guitarist and male lead singer of the musical group Fleetwood Mac. Aside from his tenure with Fleetwood Mac, Buckingham has also released five solo albums and a live album. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born May 26, 1948) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and sold over 140 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics. Nicks joined Fleetwood Mac on December 31, 1974, along with her then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Fleetwood Mac's second album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham, 1977's Rumours, produced four U.S. Top 10 singles (including Nicks' song "Dreams", which was the band's first and only U.S. number one) and remained at #1 on the American albums chart for 31 weeks, as well as reaching the top spot in various countries around the world. To date the album has sold over 40 million copies worldwide, making it the ninth highest selling album of all time. Nicks began her solo career in 1981 with the 8 million selling album Bella Donna, and she has produced six more solo studio albums to date. Her seventh solo studio album entitled In Your Dreams, and her first in ten years, has completed production with Dave Stewart of Eurythmics fame at the helm, and was released on May 3, 2011. After the release of her first solo album, Rolling Stone deemed her "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll". Having overcome cocaine addiction, and dependency on tranquilizers, Nicks remains a popular solo performer. As a solo artist, she has garnered eight Grammy Award nominations and, with Fleetwood Mac, has a further five nominations (one of her nominations with Fleetwood Mac won the 1977/1978 award for Album of the Year for Rumours). As a member of Fleetwood Mac, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stevie Nicks, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Sir Roderick David Stewart CBE is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter and record producer. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide.
Henry Louis Aaron (February 5, 1934 – January 22, 2021), nicknamed "Hammer" or "Hammerin' Hank", was an American professional baseball right fielder and designated hitter who played 23 seasons in Major League Baseball (MLB), from 1954 through 1976. Considered one of the greatest baseball players in history, he spent 21 seasons with the Milwaukee / Atlanta Braves in the National League (NL) and two seasons with the Milwaukee Brewers in the American League (AL). At the time of his retirement, Aaron held most of the game's key career power-hitting records. He broke the long-standing MLB record for home runs held by Babe Ruth and remained the career leader for 33 years. He hit 24 or more home runs every year from 1955 through 1973 and is one of only two players to hit 30 or more home runs in a season at least fifteen times. Description above from the Wikipedia article Hank Aaron, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Woody Allen (born Allen Stewart Konigsberg; November 30, 1935) is an American screenwriter, film director, actor, comedian, writer, musician, and playwright. Allen's distinctive films, which run the gamut from dramas to screwball sex comedies, have made him a notable American director. He is also distinguished by his rapid rate of production and his very large body of work. Allen writes and directs his movies and has also acted in the majority of them. For inspiration, Allen draws heavily on literature, sexuality, philosophy, psychology, Jewish identity, and the history of cinema, among a wealth of other fields of interest. Allen developed a passion for music early on and is a celebrated jazz clarinetist. What began as a teenage avocation has led to regular public performances at various small venues in his hometown of Manhattan, with occasional appearances at various jazz festivals. Allen joined the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and the New Orleans Funeral Ragtime Orchestra in performances that provided the film score for his 1973 comedy Sleeper, and performed in a rare European tour in 1996, which became the subject of the documentary Wild Man Blues.
Beatrice Arthur (born Bernice Frankel; May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress and comedian. Born and raised in Brooklyn, New York City, Arthur began her career on stage in 1947, attracting critical acclaim before achieving worldwide recognition for her work on television beginning in the 1970s as Maude Findlay in the popular sitcoms All in the Family (1971–1972) and Maude (1972–1978) and later in the 1980s and 1990s as Dorothy Zbornak on The Golden Girls (1985–1992). She won several accolades throughout her career, beginning with the 1966 Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Musical for playing Vera Charles in Mame. She won Emmy Awards for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series in 1977 for Maude and 1988 for The Golden Girls. Arthur has received the third most nominations for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series with nine; only Julia Louis-Dreyfus (11) and Mary Tyler Moore (10) have more. She was inducted into the academy's Television Hall of Fame in 2008. Her film appearances include Lovers and Other Strangers (1970) and the film version of Mame (1974). In 2002, she starred in the one-woman show Bea Arthur on Broadway: Just Between Friends. An obituary described Arthur as "the tall, deep-voiced actress whose razor-sharp delivery of comedy lines made her a TV star." She served in the U.S. Marine Corps Women's Reserve in World War II. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bea Arthur, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Barry Alan Crompton Gibb, CBE (born 1 September 1946), is a singer, songwriter and producer. He was born on the Isle of Man to English parents. With his brothers Robin and Maurice, he formed the Bee Gees, one of the most successful pop groups of all time. The trio got their start in Australia, and found their major success when they returned to England. Known for his high-pitched falsetto singing voice, Gibb holds the record for consecutive Billboard Hot 100 Number Ones as a writer with six. He also is the only songwriter to have written or co-written five songs that were simultaneously in the Top Ten. Description above from the Wikipedia article Barry Gibb, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Maurice Ernest Gibb, CBE (22 December 1949 – 12 January 2003) was a musician and singer-songwriter. He was born in the Isle of Man, the twin brother of Robin Gibb, and younger brother to Barry. He is best known as a member of the singing/songwriting trio the Bee Gees, formed with his brothers Robin and Barry. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups ever. Description above from the Wikipedia article Maurice Gibb, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Robin Hugh Gibb, CBE (born 22 December 1949) was an English singer and songwriter. He gained worldwide fame as a member of the Bee Gees pop group with elder brother Barry and fraternal twin brother Maurice. Robin Gibb also had his own successful solo career. Born to English parents, the trio started their musical career in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. With record sales estimated in excess of 100 million, the Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups of all time. Description above from the Wikipedia article Robin Gibb, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
David Robert Jones, known professionally as David Bowie, was an English singer, songwriter and actor. He was a figure in popular music for over five decades, regarded by critics and musicians as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. His career was marked by reinvention and visual presentation, his music and stagecraft significantly influencing popular music. During his lifetime, his record sales, estimated at 140 million worldwide, made him one of the world's best-selling music artists. In the UK, he was awarded nine platinum album certifications, eleven gold and eight silver, releasing eleven number-one albums. In the US, he received five platinum and seven gold certifications. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Born and raised in South London, Bowie developed an interest in music as a child, eventually studying art, music and design before embarking on a professional career as a musician in 1963. “Space Oddity” became his first top-five entry on the UK Singles Chart after its release in July 1969. After a period of experimentation, he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with his flamboyant and androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust. The character was spearheaded by the success of his single “Starman” and album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars, which won him widespread popularity. In 1975, Bowie's style shifted radically towards a sound he characterized as “plastic soul,” initially alienating many of his UK devotees but garnering him his first major US crossover success with the number-one single “Fame” and the album Young Americans. In 1976, Bowie starred in the cult film The Man Who Fell to Earth and released Station to Station. The following year, he further confounded musical expectations with the electronic-inflected album Low (1977), the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno that would come to be known as the Berlin Trilogy. Heroes (1977) and Lodger (1979) followed; each album reached the UK top five and received lasting critical praise. After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes,” its parent album Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps), and “Under Pressure,” a 1981 collaboration with Queen. He then reached his commercial peak in 1983 with Let's Dance, with its title track topping both UK and US charts. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including industrial and jungle. Bowie also continued acting; his roles included Major Celliers in Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence (1983), the Goblin King Jareth in Labyrinth (1986), Pontius Pilate in The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), and Nikola Tesla in The Prestige (2006), among other film and television appearances and cameos. He stopped concert touring after 2004 and his last live performance was at a charity event in 2006. In 2013, Bowie returned from a decade-long recording hiatus with the release of The Next Day. He remained musically active until he died of liver cancer two days after the release of his final album, Blackstar (2016).
Anita Jane Bryant (March 25, 1940 – December 16, 2024) was an American singer and political activist, known for anti-gay activism. She had three Top 20 hits in the United States in the early 1960s. She was the 1958 Miss Oklahoma beauty pageant winner, and a brand ambassador from 1969 to 1980 for the Florida Citrus Commission. In the 1970s, Bryant became known as an outspoken opponent of gay rights in the U.S. In 1977, she ran the "Save Our Children" campaign to repeal a local ordinance in Miami-Dade County, Florida, that prohibited discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation. Her involvement with the campaign was condemned by gay rights activists. They were assisted by many other prominent figures in music, film, and television, and retaliated by boycotting the orange juice that she promoted. Though the campaign ended successfully with a 69% majority vote to repeal the ordinance on June 7, 1977 (Dade County restored the ordinance in 1998), it permanently damaged her public image, and her contract with the Florida Citrus Commission was terminated three years later. This, as well as her later divorce from Bob Green, damaged her financially. Bryant never regained her former prominence and filed for bankruptcy twice. She lives in her home state of Oklahoma, runs the Oklahoma City-based Anita Bryant Ministries International, and works with a host of charities and non-profits.
George Burns (January 20, 1896 – March 9, 1996), born Nathan Birnbaum, was an American comedian, actor, and writer. His career spanned vaudeville, film, radio, and television, with and without his wife, Gracie Allen. His arched eyebrow and cigar smoke punctuation became familiar trademarks for over three quarters of a century. Beginning at the age of 79, Burns' career was resurrected as an amiable, beloved and unusually active old comedian, continuing to work until shortly before his death, in 1996, at the age of 100. Description above from the Wikipedia article George Burns, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
James Earl Carter Jr. (October 1, 1924 – December 29, 2024) was an American politician and humanitarian who served as 39th president of the United States from 1977 to 1981. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the longest-lived president in U.S. history, and the first to reach 100 years of age.
Natalie Maria Cole (February 6, 1950 – December 31, 2015) was an American singer, songwriter, and performer. The daughter of Nat King Cole, Natalie rose to musical success in the mid–1970s as an R&B artist with the hits "This Will Be", "Inseparable", and "Our Love". After a period of failing sales and performances due to a heavy drug addiction, Cole re-emerged as a pop artist with the 1987 album Everlasting and her cover of Bruce Springsteen's "Pink Cadillac". In the 1990s, she re-recorded standards by her father, resulting in her biggest success, Unforgettable... with Love, which sold over seven million copies and also won Cole numerous Grammy Awards. She sold over 30 million records worldwide. On December 31, 2015, Cole died at the age of 65 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, California, due to congestive heart failure. From Wikipedia
James Joseph "Jim" Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973) was an American folk and popular rock singer of the late 1960s and early 1970s. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released five studio albums and singles. His songs "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" and "Time in a Bottle" reached No. 1 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 chart.
Dorothy Faye Dunaway (born January 14, 1941) is an American actress. She is the recipient of such accolades as an Academy Award, three Golden Globes, and a British Academy Film Award. Her career began in the early 1960s on Broadway. She made her screen debut in the 1967 film The Happening, and rose to fame that same year with her portrayal of outlaw Bonnie Parker in Arthur Penn's Bonnie and Clyde, for which she received her first Academy Award nomination. Her most notable films include the crime caper The Thomas Crown Affair (1968), the drama The Arrangement (1969), the revisionist western Little Big Man (1970), an adaptation of the Alexandre Dumas classic The Three Musketeers (1973), the neo-noir mystery Chinatown (1974), for which she earned her second Oscar nomination, the action-drama disaster The Towering Inferno (1974), the political thriller Three Days of the Condor (1975), the satire Network (1976), for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress, and the thriller Eyes of Laura Mars (1978). Her career evolved to more mature and character roles in subsequent years, often in independent films, beginning with her controversial portrayal of Joan Crawford in the 1981 film Mommie Dearest. Other notable films in which she has appeared include Barfly (1987), The Handmaid's Tale (1990), Arizona Dream (1994), Don Juan DeMarco (1995), The Twilight of the Golds (1997), Gia (1998) and The Rules of Attraction (2002). Dunaway also performed on stage in several plays including A Man for All Seasons (1961–63), After the Fall (1964), Hogan's Goat (1965–67), A Streetcar Named Desire (1973) and was awarded the Sarah Siddons Award for her portrayal of opera singer Maria Callas in Master Class (1996). Description above from the Wikipedia article Faye Dunaway, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Frederick George Peter Ingle Finch (28 September 1916 – 14 January 1977) was an English-Australian actor. He is best remembered for his role as crazed television anchorman Howard Beale in the 1976 film Network, which earned him a posthumous Academy Award for Best Actor, his fifth Best Actor award from the BAFTA, and a Best Actor award from the Golden Globes. He was the first of two people to win a posthumous Academy Award in an acting category; the other was fellow Australian Heath Ledger. Description above from the Wikipedia article Peter Finch, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Jane Seymour Fonda (born December 21, 1937) is an American actress, activist, and former fashion model. She is the recipient of various accolades including two Academy Awards, two British Academy Film Awards, seven Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the AFI Life Achievement Award, the Golden Lion Honorary Award, the Honorary Palme d'Or, and the Cecil B. DeMille Award. Born to socialite Frances Ford Seymour and actor Henry Fonda, Fonda made her acting debut with the 1960 Broadway play There Was a Little Girl, for which she received a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play, and made her screen debut later the same year with the romantic comedy Tall Story. She rose to prominence during the 1960s with the comedies Period of Adjustment (1962), Sunday in New York (1963), Cat Ballou (1965), Barefoot in the Park (1967), and Barbarella (1968). Her first husband was Barbarella director Roger Vadim. A seven-time Academy Award nominee, she received her first nomination for They Shoot Horses, Don't They? (1969), and went on to win the Academy Award for Best Actress twice in the 1970s, for Klute (1971) and Coming Home (1978). Her other nominations were for Julia (1977), The China Syndrome (1979), On Golden Pond (1981), and The Morning After (1986). Consecutive hits Fun with Dick and Jane (1977), California Suite (1978), The Electric Horseman (1979), and 9 to 5 (1980) sustained Fonda's box-office drawing power, and she won a Primetime Emmy Award for her performance in the TV film The Dollmaker (1984). In 1982, she released her first exercise video, Jane Fonda's Workout, which became the highest-selling VHS of the 20th century. It would be the first of 22 such videos over the next 13 years, which would collectively sell over 17 million copies. Divorced from her second husband Tom Hayden, she married billionaire media mogul Ted Turner in 1991 and retired from acting, following a row of commercially unsuccessful films concluded by Stanley & Iris (1990). Fonda divorced Turner in 2001 and returned to the screen with the hit Monster-in-Law (2005). Although Georgia Rule (2007) was her only other movie during the 2000s, in the early 2010s she fully re-launched her career. Subsequent films have included The Butler (2013), This Is Where I Leave You (2014), Youth (2015), Our Souls at Night (2017), and Book Club (2018). In 2009, she returned to Broadway after a 49-year absence from the stage, in the play 33 Variations which earned her a nomination for the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play, while her major recurring role in the HBO drama series The Newsroom (2012–14) earned her two Primetime Emmy Award nominations. She also released another five exercise videos between 2009 and 2012. Fonda currently stars as Grace Hanson in the Netflix comedy series Grace and Frankie, which debuted in 2015 and has earned her nominations for a Primetime Emmy Award and three Screen Actors Guild Awards.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Valerie Harper (August 22, 1939 – August 30, 2019) was an American actress, known for her role as Rhoda Morgenstern on the 1970s television show The Mary Tyler Moore Show, and for her starring roles on the sitcoms Rhoda (a spin-off of The Mary Tyler Moore Show) and Valerie. Description above from the Wikipedia article Valerie Harper, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Dustin Lee Hoffman (born August 8, 1937) is an American actor and filmmaker. He is known for his versatile portrayals of antiheroes and emotionally vulnerable characters. Actor Robert De Niro described him as "an actor with the everyman's face who embodied the heartbreakingly human". At a young age Hoffman knew he wanted to study in the arts, and entered into the Los Angeles Conservatory of Music; later he decided to go into acting, for which he trained at the Pasadena Playhouse in Los Angeles. His first theatrical performance was 1961's A Cook for Mr. General as Ridzinski. During that time he appeared in several guest roles on television shows like Naked City and The Defenders. He then starred in the 1966 off-Broadway play Eh? where his performance garnered him both a Theatre World Award and Drama Desk Award. His breakthrough role was as Benjamin Braddock in Mike Nichols' critically acclaimed and iconic film The Graduate (1967), for which he received his first Academy Award nomination. His next role was "Ratso" Rizzo in John Schlesinger's Midnight Cowboy (1969), in which he acted alongside Jon Voight; they both received Oscar nominations, and the film went on to win the Academy Award for Best Picture. He gained success in the 1970s playing roles that shaped the craft of his acting, crossing genres effortlessly in the western Little Big Man (1970), the prison drama Papillon (1973), playing a controversial and groundbreaking comedian in Bob Fosse's Lenny (1975), Marathon Man alongside Laurence Olivier (1976), and as Carl Bernstein investigating the Watergate scandal in All the President's Men (1976). In 1979, Hoffman starred in the family drama Kramer vs. Kramer alongside Meryl Streep. They both received Academy Awards for their performances. After a three-year break from films, Hoffman returned in Sydney Pollack's show business comedy Tootsie (1982) about a struggling actor who pretends to be a woman in order to get an acting role. He returned to stage acting with a 1984 performance as Willy Loman in Death of a Salesman and reprised the role a year later in a television film earning a Primetime Emmy Award. In 1987 he starred alongside Warren Beatty in Elaine May's comedy Ishtar. He won his second Academy Award for Best Actor for his portrayal of the autistic savant Ray Babbitt in the 1988 film Rain Man, co-starring Tom Cruise. In 1989, he was nominated for a Tony Award and a Drama Desk Award for playing Shylock in a stage performance of The Merchant of Venice. In the 1990s, he made appearances in such films as Warren Beatty's action comedy adaptation Dick Tracy (1990), Steven Spielberg's Hook (1991) as Captain Hook, medical disaster Outbreak (1995), legal crime drama Sleepers (1996), and the satirical black comedy Wag the Dog (1997) alongside Robert De Niro.
William Martin Joel (born May 9, 1949) is an American musician, singer-songwriter, and composer. Commonly nicknamed the "Piano Man" after his first major hit and signature song of the same name as well as the similarly named 1973 album, he has led a commercially successful career as a solo artist since the 1970s, having released 12 studio albums from 1971 to 1993 as well as one studio album in 2001. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, as well as the seventh-best-selling recording artist and the fourth-best-selling solo artist in the United States, with over 160 million records sold worldwide. His 1985 compilation album, Greatest Hits Vol. 1 & 2, is one of the best-selling albums in the United States. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
Diane Hall Keaton (born Diane Hall; January 5, 1946) is an American actress. Known for her idiosyncratic personality and fashion style, she has received various accolades throughout her career spanning over six decades, including an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, two Golden Globe Awards, and the AFI Life Achievement Award. She began her career on stage appearing in the original 1968 Broadway production of the musical Hair. The next year, she received a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress in a Play nomination for her performance in Woody Allen's comic play Play it Again, Sam. She then made her screen debut in a small role in Lovers and Other Strangers (1970). She rose to prominence with her first major film role as Kay Adams-Corleone in Francis Ford Coppola's The Godfather (1972), a role she reprised in its sequels The Godfather Part II (1974) and The Godfather Part III (1990). The films that most shaped her career were those with director and co-star Woody Allen, beginning with the film adaptation of Play It Again, Sam (1972). Her next two films with Allen, Sleeper (1973) and Love and Death (1975), established her as a comic actor. Her fourth, the romantic comedy Annie Hall (1977), won her the Academy Award for Best Actress. To avoid being typecast as her Annie Hall persona, she appeared in several dramatic films, starring in Looking for Mr. Goodbar (1977) and Allen's Interiors (1978), and received three more Academy Award nominations for playing feminist activist Louise Bryant in Reds (1981), a woman with leukemia in Marvin's Room (1996), and a dramatist in Something's Gotta Give (2003). Her other popular films include Manhattan (1979), Baby Boom (1987), Father of the Bride (1991), Manhattan Murder Mystery (1993), Father of the Bride Part II (1995), The First Wives Club (1996), The Family Stone (2005), Morning Glory (2010), Finding Dory (2016) and Book Club (2018).
Shirley MacLaine (born Shirley MacLean Beaty; April 24, 1934) is an American actress, singer, author, activist, and former dancer. Known for her portrayals of quirky, headstrong, and eccentric women, MacLaine has received numerous accolades throughout her career spanning seven decades, including an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, two British Academy Film Awards, and six Golden Globe Awards. Born in Richmond, Virginia, MacLaine made her acting debut as a teenager with minor roles in the Broadway musicals Oklahoma! and The Pajama Game. Following minor appearances as an understudy in various other productions, MacLaine made her film debut with Alfred Hitchcock's black comedy The Trouble with Harry (1955), winning the Golden Globe Award for New Star of the Year – Actress. She rose to prominence with starring roles in Around the World in 80 Days (1956), Some Came Running (1958), Ask Any Girl (1959), The Apartment (1960), The Children's Hour (1961), Two for the Seesaw (1962), Irma la Douce (1963), and Sweet Charity (1969). A six time Academy Award nominee, MacLaine won the Academy Award for Best Actress for the comedy-drama Terms of Endearment (1983). Her other prominent films include The Turning Point (1977), Being There (1979), Madame Sousatzka (1988), Steel Magnolias (1989), Postcards from the Edge (1990), The Evening Star (1996), Bewitched (2005), In Her Shoes (2005), Valentine's Day (2010), and The Little Mermaid (2018). MacLaine has been the recipient of many honorary awards. She was awarded the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2012, Gala Tribute from the Film Society of Lincoln Center in 1995, and Kennedy Center Honor in 2013 for her contribution to American culture, through performing arts. In 1998, she was awarded the Golden Globe Cecil B. DeMille Award. Apart from acting, MacLaine has written numerous books regarding the subjects of metaphysics, spirituality, and reincarnation, as well as a best-selling memoir, Out on a Limb (1983). Description above from the Wikipedia article Shirley MacLaine, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Bette Midler (born December 1, 1945) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, comedian, and film producer. Born in Honolulu, Hawaii, Midler began her professional career in several Off-Off-Broadway plays, prior to her engagements in Fiddler on the Roof and Salvation on Broadway in the late 1960s. She came to prominence in 1970 when she began singing in the Continental Baths, a local gay bathhouse where she managed to build up a core following. Since 1970, Midler has released 14 studio albums as a solo artist. Throughout her career, many of her songs became hits on the record charts, including her renditions of "The Rose", "Wind Beneath My Wings", "Do You Want to Dance", "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy", and "From a Distance". In a career spanning almost half a century, Midler has won three Grammy Awards, four Golden Globes, three Emmy Awards, and a Tony Award. She has sold over 30 million records worldwide, and has received four Gold, three Platinum, and three Multiplatinum albums by RIAA. Description above from the Wikipedia article Bette Midler, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Joseph William "Joe" Namath (born May 31, 1943), nicknamed "Broadway Joe" or "Joe Willie", is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the University of Alabama under coach Paul "Bear" Bryant and his assistant, Howard Schnellenberger, from 1962–1964, and professional football in the American Football League (AFL) and National Football League (NFL) during the 1960s and 1970s. Namath was an American Football League icon and played for that league's New York Jets for most of his professional career but finished his career with the NFL's Los Angeles Rams. He was elected to the Hall of Fame in 1985. Namath retired after playing in 140 games 62 wins, 63 losses and 4 ties. In his career he threw 173 touchdowns, 220 interceptions, and completed 1,886 passes for 27,663 yards. During his thirteen years in the AFL and NFL he played for three division champions (the 1968 and 1969 AFL East Champion Jets and the 1977 NFC West Champion Rams), earned one league championship (1968 AFL Championship), and one "world championship" (Super Bowl III). In 1999, he was ranked number 96 on The Sporting News' list of the 100 Greatest Football Players. He was the only player on the list to have spent a majority of his career with the Jets. He is known for brashly telling the media that he guaranteed that his team would upset Don Shula's NFL Baltimore Colts in Super Bowl III in 1969, and then delivering on his promise. Description above from the Wikipedia article Joe Namath, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
Richard Milhous Nixon (January 9, 1913 – April 22, 1994) was the 37th president of the United States, serving from 1969 to 1974. A member of the Republican Party, Nixon previously served as the 36th vice president from 1953 to 1961, having risen to national prominence as a representative and senator from California. After five years in the White House that saw the conclusion to the U.S. involvement in the Vietnam War, détente with the Soviet Union and China, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency, he became the only president to resign from the office, following the Watergate scandal. Description above from the Wikipedia article Richard Nixon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Ronald Reagan (1911–2004) was the 40th President of the United States (1981–1989), the 33rd Governor of California (1967–1975) and prior to that an actor. Upon his college graduation, Reagan first moved to Iowa to work as a radio broadcaster and then in 1937 to Los Angeles, California. He began a career as an actor appearing in over fifty movie productions. Some of his most notable roles are in Knute Rockne, All American and Kings Row. Reagan served as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and later spokesman for General Electric. His start in politics occurred during his work for General Electric. Originally a member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party in 1962. After supporting of Barry Goldwater's presidential candidacy in 1964, he was persuaded to seek the California governorship, winning two years later and again in 1970. He was defeated in his run for the Republican presidential nomination in 1968 as well as 1976, but defeated incumbent Jimmy Carter in 1980 presidential election. Reagan left office in 1989. In 1994, the former president disclosed that he had been diagnosed with Alzheimer's disease earlier in the year. He died ten years later at the age of 93.
Linda Ronstadt (born July 15, 1946) is an American popular music recording artist. She has earned ten Grammy Awards, two Academy of Country Music awards, an Emmy Award, an ALMA Award, numerous United States and internationally certified gold, platinum and multiplatinum albums, in addition to Tony Award and Golden Globe nominations. A singer and record producer, she is recognized as a definitive interpreter of songs. Being one of music's most versatile and commercially successful female singers in U.S. history, she is recognized for her many public stages of self-reinvention and incarnations. With a one time standing as the Queen of Rock where she was bestowed the title of "highest paid woman in rock", and known as the First Lady of Rock, she has more recently emerged as music matriarch, international arts advocate and Human Rights advocate. Ronstadt has collaborated with artists from a diverse spectrum of genres – including Billy Eckstine, Frank Zappa, Rosemary Clooney, Flaco Jiménez, Philip Glass, The Chieftains, Gram Parsons, Dolly Parton and has lent her voice to over 120 albums around the world. Christopher Loudon of Jazz Times noted in 2004, Ronstadt is "Blessed with arguably the most sterling set of pipes of her generation . . . rarest of rarities — a chameleon who can blend into any background yet remain boldly distinctive . . . It's an exceptional gift; one shared by few others." In total, she has released over 30 solo albums, more than 15 compilations or greatest hits albums. Ronstadt has charted thirty-eight Billboard Hot 100 singles, twenty-one of which have reached the top 40, ten of which have reached the top 10, three peaking at No. 2, the No. 1 hit, "You're No Good". In the UK, her single "Blue Bayou" reached the UK Top 40 and the duet with Aaron Neville, "Don't Know Much", peaked at #2 in December 1989. In addition, she has charted thirty-six albums, ten Top 10 albums, and three No. 1 albums on the Billboard Pop Album Charts. Description above from the Wikipedia article Linda Ronstadt, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Diana Ross (born March 26, 1944) is an American singer, actress, and record producer. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan, Ross rose to fame as the lead singer of the vocal group the Supremes, which, during the 1960s, became Motown's most successful act, and are the best charting female group in US history, as well as one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. The group released a record-setting twelve number-one hit singles on the US Billboard Hot 100, including "Where Did Our Love Go", "Baby Love", "Come See About Me", "Stop! In the Name of Love", "You Can't Hurry Love", "You Keep Me Hangin' On", "Love Child", and "Someday We'll Be Together". Following her departure from the Supremes in 1970, Ross released her eponymous debut solo album that same year, featuring the number-one Pop hit "Ain't No Mountain High Enough". She later released the album Touch Me in the Morning in 1973; its title track reached number 1, as her second solo No. 1 hit. She continued a successful solo career through the 1970s, which included hit albums like Mahogany and Diana Ross and their number-one hit singles, "Theme from Mahogany" and "Love Hangover", respectively. Her 1980 album Diana produced another number-one single, "Upside Down", as well as the international hit "I'm Coming Out". Ross' final single with Motown during her initial run with the company achieved her sixth and final US number-one Pop hit, the duet "Endless Love" featuring Lionel Richie, whose solo career was launched with its success. Ross has also ventured into acting, with a Golden Globe Award and Academy Award–nominated performance for her performance in the film Lady Sings the Blues (1972); she recorded its soundtrack, which became a number-one hit. She also starred in two other feature films, Mahogany (1975) and The Wiz (1978), later acting in the television films Out of Darkness (1994), for which she also was nominated for a Golden Globe Award, and Double Platinum (1999). Ross was named the "Female Entertainer of the Century" by Billboard magazine. In 1993, the Guinness Book of World Records declared Ross the most successful female music artist in history, due to her success in the United States and United Kingdom for having more hits than any female artist in the charts, with a career total of 70 hit singles with her work with the Supremes and as a solo artist. In 1988, Ross was inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as member of the Supremes, alongside Mary Wilson and Florence Ballard. She was the recipient of the Kennedy Center Honors in 2007, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2016. She is a 12-time Grammy nominee, never earning a competitive honor, but later became the recipient of the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 2012. In December 2016, Billboard magazine named her the 50th most successful dance artist of all time. In Billboard magazine's Greatest of All Time Hot 100 Artists chart, she ranked 16th as the lead singer of the Supremes and 26th as a solo artist. In December 2018, Diana Ross consolidated her status as a dance diva by ranking #3 in the Billboard Dance Club Songs Artists year-end chart.
Carly Elisabeth Simon (born June 25, 1945) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, and children's author. After a brief stint with her sister Lucy Simon as duo group the Simon Sisters, she found great success as a solo artist with her 1971 self-titled debut album Carly Simon, which won her the Grammy Award for Best New Artist, and spawned her first Top 10 single, "That's the Way I've Always Heard It Should Be" (No. 10). Her second album, Anticipation, followed later that year and became an even greater success, earning Simon another Grammy nomination and later being certified Gold by the RIAA. She achieved international fame the following year with the release of her third album, No Secrets, which sat firmly at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 for five weeks, was certified Platinum, and spawned the worldwide hit "You're So Vain", for which she received three Grammy nominations, including Record of the Year and Song of the Year. With her 1988 hit "Let the River Run", from the film Working Girl, she became the first artist to win a Grammy Award, an Academy Award, and a Golden Globe Award for a song composed and written, as well as performed, entirely by a single artist. Description above from the Wikipedia article Carly Simon, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
Randy Jones (born September 13, 1952) is an American disco and pop singer and best known as the cowboy from Village People from 1977 to 1980, and again from 1987 until 1990. Jones attended William G. Enloe High School in Raleigh, North Carolina and graduated in 1970. While there, he was a founder of Enloe's Drama Club, which was then called Amicus Scaena, Latin for "friend of scene" or "friend of theatre". He then studied at North Carolina School of the Arts before moving to New York. Jones had a marriage ceremony with his boyfriend of 20 years, Will Grega, at a New York City club on May 7, 2004. Although the marriage was not legally binding at the time, as gay marriage was not yet recognized in New York State, Jones commented, "It's only a matter of time before the courts rule in favor of what's morally right and humanly decent." The pair had published a book together in 1996, titled Out Sounds: The Gay and Lesbian Music Alternative. In 2007, he released a disco and pop solo album Ticket to the World. In 2009, he appeared on Flight of the Conchords in their music video for "Too Many Dicks". Jones appears as himself in the 2011 video game Postal III. In 2014, Jones appears as Tiberius in the Off-Broadway musical, The Anthem. The production was directed and choreographed by Rachel Klein, with a book by Gary Morgenstein, lyrics by Erik Ransom, and music by Jonnie Rockwell. The production performed at the Lynn Redgrave Theatre in New York City. In 2017, he released "Hard Times", the first single from the album, Still Makin' Noise. The single reached number 42 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart, and was the first chart placement from any member of the Village People as a solo artist. Source: Article "Randy Jones (singer)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Victor Edward Willis (born July 1, 1951) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is the founding member of the disco group Village People. He performed as their lead singer and was co-songwriter for all of their most successful singles. In the group, he performed costumed as a policeman or a naval officer. The son of a Baptist preacher, Willis developed his singing skills in his father's church. With training in acting and dance, he went to New York and joined the prestigious Negro Ensemble Company. He appeared in many musicals and plays, including the original Broadway production of The Wiz in 1976 and subsequently, the Australian production. Willis also had written and recorded several albums in the mid-1970s for independent labels and was eventually introduced to French disco producer Jacques Morali. Morali, who dubbed him the "young man with the big voice", approached Willis and said, "I had a dream that you sang lead vocals on my album and it went very, very big". Willis agreed to sing lead and background vocals under the guise of Village People, an at-that-point non-existent concept group. The album Village People was released in July 1977, including the hits "San Francisco (You've Got Me)" and "In Hollywood (Everybody is a Star)", and became a huge hit in the burgeoning disco market. After an offer from Dick Clark for the group to perform on American Bandstand, Morali and Willis were pressed to develop a "real" group around Willis to perform live. They did so by placing an ad in music trade papers for "macho" singers who "could also dance" and "must have a mustache". Willis was soon writing songs produced by and co-written with Morali for the group and other artists, which met with success. The Village People quickly rose to the top of the charts with Willis at the helm, scoring numerous major hits such as "Macho Man", "Y.M.C.A.", "In the Navy", and "Go West". In 1980, as preparations for a Village People feature film Can't Stop the Music were under way, Willis left the group. Although he does not appear in the movie, he wrote the lyrics for two of the film's songs, "Magic Night" and "Milkshake". Can't Stop the Music is listed among Hollywood's bigger movie flops. After Willis departed, Village People never had another hit. In an attempt to "recapture the magic", Morali convinced him to return to the group in 1982 for the album Fox on the Box. The album was released a year later in the United States as In the Street. In 1983, Willis left the group again. In 2013, Willis appeared on the TV One series Unsung in their two-hour special retrospective on the disco era. On June 28, 2016, Willis appeared as a contestant on the show To Tell the Truth, and sang "Y.M.C.A." as the credits rolled. After leaving Village People, Willis declined offers to record and consistently refused to perform any of his Village People hits. In 2010, he appeared at several Major League Baseball stadiums, performing The Star-Spangled Banner and leading the crowd for the traditional Y.M.C.A. 7th-inning stretch break. In 1979, Willis recorded a solo album which remained unreleased for over 35 years. The album, Solo Man, was finally released in August 2015. ... Source: Article "Victor Willis" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Alexander Briley (born April 12, 1951) is an American singer who was the original "G.I." in the disco recording act Village People. Alex Briley was born in Harlem, New York City, in 1951, the son of a Christian minister. Raised in Harlem and later Mount Vernon, New York, Briley sang in church from an early age and studied voice at the University of Hartford. Briley had two brothers, Timothy and Jonathan. Briley was introduced to producer/composer Jacques Morali by Village People member Victor Willis. He originally performed in jeans and a T-shirt, but he took the role of a soldier for the album Cruisin' in 1978, and appeared as a sailor when the group recorded In the Navy in 1979. Alex Briley's younger brother, Jonathan (1958–2001), worked as an audio engineer at Windows on the World on the 106th floor of the North Tower of the World Trade Center and perished in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. In 2005, Jonathan was speculated by several people to be The Falling Man – the figure depicted in an iconic photo of a man falling to his death from the North Tower. He was one of an estimated 100–200 people who died on 9/11 either by jumping from, falling from, or being pushed out of the upper stories of the Twin Towers. Source: Article "Alex Briley" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
David Hodo (born Richard Davis Hodo; July 7, 1947) is an American dancer/singer. He is most well known as a member of the group Village People, in which he was the construction worker character from 1978 to 1982 and from 1987 to 2013. Hodo was born in San Andreas, California, and was raised in Sacramento. He graduated in 1969 from California State University, Sacramento, where he majored in speech and acted in several campus productions, including Oh What a Lovely War, Carnival and Richard III. In 1972, he moved to New York, making his Broadway debut in Doctor Jazz in 1975. Hodo appeared as a chorus member in numerous musicals, including Salvation, a touring company of Funny Girl in 1972, a Broadway revival of Pal Joey in 1976 and The Red BlueGrass Western Flyer Show at the Goodspeed Opera House in 1977. He was also a guest on What's My Line as a roller skating fire eater. Hodo joined the Village People in 1978 and was with the group during its most commercially successful era. He appeared with the group in the 1980 musical film Can't Stop the Music and the accompanying promotional television special Magic Night which also featured Cher and Hugh Hefner. He left the Village People in 1982, but returned to the group in 1987, remaining until 2013 when he retired. Hodo has also appeared on numerous television programs, including Married With Children, The Love Boat and The Osbournes. In 2002, he released a cover of "My Sweet Lord" (originally recorded by George Harrison). In 2008, he released an EP featuring the single "The Kids'll Be Fine", partially inspired by school shootings in the USA. Source: Article "David Hodo" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Glenn Michael Hughes (July 18, 1950 – March 4, 2001) was an American singer who was the original "Leatherman" character in the disco group Village People from 1977 to 1996. He graduated in 1968 from Chaminade High School, and then attended Manhattan College, where he was initiated as a member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia music fraternity in 1969. He was interested in motorcycles, and was working as a toll collector at the Brooklyn-Battery Tunnel when he responded to an advertisement by composer Jacques Morali seeking "macho" singers and dancers. Hughes and other members of the band were given a crash course in the synchronized dance choreography that later typified the group's live performances. Hughes sported an extravagant horseshoe moustache and wore his trademark leather outfit on and off stage and became one of the iconic figures of the disco era. According to Jack Fritscher, Jacques Morali drew his inspiration for the character from the gay BDSM leather bar and sex club the Mineshaft's dress code. Hughes frequented the club. He was a bike fanatic in real life and kept his motorcycle parked inside his house. In 1996, Hughes retired from the group and launched a successful New York cabaret act until he was diagnosed with lung cancer. He had been a heavy smoker since he was a teenager. He was replaced by Eric Anzalone; however, Hughes continued with management of the band. Hughes was named on People Magazine's 1979 list of 'Most Beautiful People' and appeared in the television special The Playboy Mansion with Hugh Hefner. Hughes died on March 4, 2001, at his Manhattan apartment from lung cancer, aged 50. He was subsequently interred wearing his leatherman outfit at Saint Charles Cemetery in Farmingdale, New York. Source: Article "Glenn Hughes (American singer)" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
Felipe Rose (born 12 January 1954) is an American musician who was an original member of the disco group the Village People. While in the group, he performed as a Native American character - usually wearing a costume consisting of an imitation war bonnet, loincloth and theatrical face paint. Rose was a member of the group from 1977 until 2017, when the name of the group was turned over to original lead singer Victor Willis. Rose subsequently launched a solo career and released the single "Going Back to My Roots" in 2018. Felipe Ortiz Rose was born in Manhattan to a Puerto Rican mother. He currently claims Lakota/Taino descent, but at other times has said he is Apache. He was raised in Brooklyn, where he displayed an interest in the arts during his childhood. His mother was his main inspiration as she herself had been a dancer for the Copacabana during the 1940s and 1950s. Rose began as a nightclub dancer. He describes being encouraged by an aunt to begin dancing "in his father's tribal regalia", which he says led to his costume in the Village People. Rose was working as a dancer and a bartender in the gay New York discotheque The Anvil, dressed "as an [American] Indian" when he was discovered by French producer Jacques Morali and executive producer Henri Belolo and so became the first recruit for Village People. In 1977, Village People had their first hit with "San Francisco", although this song became a hit only in the United Kingdom. Then in 1978 they had their first hits in the U.S. with "Macho Man" followed by "YMCA". He is a member of the band's board of directors, called Sixuvus Ltd ("six of us" - named for the six members of the Village People). In 2000, Rose began to work on his solo career. His single "Trails of Tears" won a NAMMY (Native American Music Awards) for Best Historical Recording. In 2002, Rose was the opening act of the fifth Annual Native American Music Awards celebrated at the Marcus Amphitheatre in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His media company is the "Tomahawk Group". Rose has appeared in the movies Can't Stop the Music (1980), The Best of Village People (1993), and Feathers and Leathers: The Story of the Village People (1999). He also participated in the 2000 documentary, Village People: The E! True Hollywood Story. For a time Rose lived in Richmond, Virginia, and briefly in Jersey City, New Jersey, though he found it to be too crowded. In a 2008 interview, he stated that approximately four or five years prior, he moved to Asbury Park, New Jersey on the advice of several friends who lived there, saying, "So I came down and I just fell in love with the shore... I love the diversity of Asbury because it brings everyone together. There is a very large gay and lesbian community here, but the diversity of artists is amazing; it’s become very bohemian." Source: Article "Felipe Rose" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia James Carter Walker Jr. (born June 25, 1947), known professionally as Jimmie Walker, is an American actor and comedian. Walker is best known for portraying James Evans Jr. (J. J.), the oldest son of Florida and James Evans Sr. on the CBS television series Good Times which originally ran from 1974–1979. Walker was nominated for Golden Globe awards Best Supporting Actor In A Television Series in 1975 and 1976 for his role. While on the show, Walker's character was known for the catchphrase "Dy-no-mite!" which he also used in his mid–1970s TV commercial for a Panasonic line of cassette and 8-track tape players. He also starred in Let's Do It Again with John Amos, and The Greatest Thing That Almost Happened with James Earl Jones. Walker continues to tour the country with his stand-up comedy routine. In 1967, Walker began working full-time with WRVR, the radio station of the Riverside Church. In 1969, Walker began performing as a stand-up comedian and was eventually discovered by the casting director for Good Times, after making appearances on Rowan & Martin's Laugh In and on the Jack Paar Show. He eventually released one stand-up comedy album during the height of his Good Times popularity: Dyn-o-mite on Buddah Records (5635). During Good Times' 1974–75 season, Walker was 26 years old, though his character was much younger. John Amos, the actor who portrayed Walker's father on Good Times, was actually just eight years older than Walker. Walker credits producer/director John Rich for inventing "Dy-no-mite!" which Rich insisted Walker say on every episode. Both Walker and executive producer Norman Lear were skeptical of the idea, but the phrase and Walker's character caught on with the audience. Also, off- and on-camera, Walker did not get along with series' lead, Esther Rolle, who played Florida Evans, in the series, because she and Amos disapproved of Walker's increasingly buffoonish character and his popularity, and Walker felt hurt by their disdain. Dissatisfaction led Amos (before Rolle), to leave the show, making Walker the star of the show. Walker was the only Good Times star to not attend Rolle's funeral.
Stevland Hardaway Morris (previously Judkins; born May 13, 1950), better known by his stage name Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer and activist. Blind since shortly after birth, Wonder signed with Motown Records' Tamla label at the age of eleven, and continues to perform and record for Motown to this day. Among Wonder's best known works are singles such as "Superstition", "Sir Duke", "I Wish" and "I Just Called to Say I Love You". Well known albums also include Talking Book, Innervisions and Songs in the Key of Life. He has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits and received twenty-two Grammy Awards, the most ever awarded to a male solo artist. Wonder is also noted for his work as an activist for political causes, including his 1980 campaign to make Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday a holiday in the United States. In 2009, Wonder was named a United Nations Messenger of Peace. In 2008, Billboard magazine released a list of the Hot 100 All-Time Top Artists to celebrate the US singles chart's fiftieth anniversary, with Wonder at number five. Description above from the Wikipedia article Stevie Wonder, licensed under CC-BY-SA, full list of contributors on Wikipedia.
