| A One Man Show | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | Jean-Paul Goude |
| Starring | Grace Jones |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date | 1982 |
Running time | 47 minutes |
| Language | English |
A One Man Show is a long-form music video collection featuring Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released in 1982. The video mainly consists of music videos, with some concert footage filmed when Jones was touring with the eponymous tour.
The video partly captures live performances of Jones' A One Man Show tour which was filmed at London's Drury Lane Theatre and at the Savoy Theater in New York City in 1981. [1] It includes six songs performed live on stage, mostly from the Warm Leatherette and Nightclubbing albums, plus four studio music videos. The show's intro is a photo montage of some of the most famous images of Jones from the late 1970s and early 1980s, including the "tiger in a cage" portrait and the "arabesque" photo.
A One Man Show was first released in 1982 to promote the album Living My Life . The film was re-issued on VHS and LaserDisc by Island Records, PolyGram and Spectrum Music through the 1980s and early 1990s. In 1986, after the success of Jones' best-selling hit "Slave to the Rhythm", the film was re-released under the title State of Grace, then also including its promo video. [2]
In early 2006 Universal Pictures' subsidiary Spectrum announced that A One Man Show was to be re-released on DVD. It however remained unreleased in this format until March 2010, when it was bootlegged on DVD as well as a CD release, both entitled Live in Concert. The DVD contains three bonus video clips ("Slave to the Rhythm", "Love Is the Drug" and "Crush"). The DVD release met with a negative audience and fan response, due to its low-quality picture (a VHS transfer) and some parts of the film having been cut out. [3] [4]
There are a few lost performances that have not been published which include "I Need a Man" from Portfolio and "I've Done It Again" from Nightclubbing.[ clarification needed ]
The film was directed by Jean-Paul Goude and edited by Peter Shelton. [5] [6] It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Long Form Music Video in 1984, eventually losing to Duran Duran's self-titled video. [7]
Snapshots from the performances of "Warm Leatherette" and "Walking in the Rain" later made the artwork for the CD re-release of Warm Leatherette.
Duran Duran are an English new wave band formed in Birmingham in 1978 by singer and bassist Stephen Duffy, keyboardist Nick Rhodes and guitarist/bassist John Taylor. With the addition of drummer Roger Taylor the following year, the band went through numerous personnel changes before May 1980, when they settled on their most famous line-up by adding guitarist Andy Taylor and lead vocalist Simon Le Bon.
Arcadia was a new wave British group formed in 1985 by Simon Le Bon, Nick Rhodes, and Roger Taylor of Duran Duran as a side project during a break in the band's schedule. The project was active only during 1985 and 1986 and for just one album, So Red the Rose, which was certified Platinum in the United States and included the singles "Election Day", "Goodbye Is Forever", "The Flame", and "The Promise". Drummer Roger Taylor appeared in only a few band photographs and one music video, and stated he was to be involved only in the recording side of the project.
Grace Beverly Jones is a Jamaican-American model, singer and actress. Born in Jamaica, she and her family moved to Syracuse, New York, when she was a teenager. Jones began her modelling career in New York state, then in Paris, working for fashion houses such as Yves St. Laurent and Kenzo, and appearing on the covers of Elle and Vogue. She notably worked with photographers such as Jean-Paul Goude, Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin, and Hans Feurer, and became known for her distinctive androgynous appearance and bold features.
Alex Sadkin was an American record producer, engineer, mixer and mastering engineer.
"Warm Leatherette" is a song by Daniel Miller's project the Normal, released in 1978.
Nightclubbing is the fifth studio album by Jamaican singer and songwriter Grace Jones, released on 11 May 1981 by Island Records. Recorded at Compass Point Studios with producers Alex Sadkin and Island Records' president Chris Blackwell, as well as a team of session musicians rooted by rhythm section Sly and Robbie, the album marked her second foray into a new wave style that blends a variety of genres, including reggae, art pop, dub, synth-pop and funk. The album has cover versions of songs by Bill Withers, Iggy Pop, Astor Piazzolla, and others, and original songs, three of which were co-written by Jones.
Mark Daniel Ronson is a British DJ, record producer, songwriter, and remixer. He is best known for his collaborations with artists such as Amy Winehouse, Lady Gaga, Adele, Lily Allen, Duran Duran, Robbie Williams, Miley Cyrus, Queens of the Stone Age, and Bruno Mars. He has received seven Grammy Awards, including Producer of the Year for Winehouse's album Back to Black (2006) and two for Record of the Year singles "Rehab" and "Uptown Funk". He received an Oscar, a Golden Globe and a Grammy Award for co-writing "Shallow" for the film A Star Is Born (2018).
"Girls on Film" is the third single by English new wave band Duran Duran, released on 13 July 1981.
Island Life is a compilation album by Grace Jones, released in December 1985, summing up the first nine years of her musical career. The album sits among Jones' best-selling works.
Rush Replay X 3 is a DVD box set of three separate filmed concert presentations by the Canadian band Rush, released on June 13, 2006. The three shows presented are Exit... Stage Left, Grace Under Pressure Tour, and A Show of Hands, which were originally released individually in 1982, 1985, and 1989 respectively on VHS and Laserdisc. For Replay X 3, each filmed concert has been remixed in 5.1 surround sound by Rush guitarist and co-producer Alex Lifeson. The box set also includes a previously unreleased CD audio version of the Grace Under Pressure Tour video, and a set of reprinted tour books for each concert.
Warm Leatherette is the fourth studio album by Grace Jones, released on 9 May 1980 by Island Records. The album features contributions from the reggae production duo Sly and Robbie and is a departure from Jones's earlier disco sound, moving towards a new wave-reggae direction.
The Grace Jones Story is a 2006 anthology of recordings by Grace Jones, spanning from 1977 to 1993.
"Pull Up to the Bumper" is a 1981 song by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released as the third single from her fifth album, Nightclubbing (1981). Sonically, it is an uptempo electro-disco, post-punk, dance-pop and reggae-disco song with dub production, "pulsing drums and chic new-wave licks", as well as elements of funk and R&B music. Its lyrics were written by Jones alone, while she, along with Kookoo Baya and Dana Manno, are credited as its composers. The song's instrumental part was originally recorded in 1980 during the Warm Leatherette sessions; however, it did not make the album as Chris Blackwell found its sound not fitting in the rest of the material. It was completed for the 1981 critically acclaimed Nightclubbing album and became its third single in June 1981. The song peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs chart in the US and number 53 in the UK. When re-released in 1986, it peaked at number 12 in the UK. The track has come to be one of Jones' signature tunes and her first transatlantic hit.
Grace Under Pressure Tour is a concert released on Betamax, VHS, Laserdisc, and DVD by the Canadian band Rush. It documents a live concert performance by the band on their 1984 tour in support of the studio album Grace Under Pressure.
The Universal Masters Collection is a mid-price compilation of recordings by Grace Jones, first released by Universal Music in 2003.
"I've Seen That Face Before (Libertango)" is a single by Jamaican singer Grace Jones, released in 1981. The song is a reworking of Astor Piazzolla's "Libertango".
"Demolition Man" is a song written by Sting and performed by Grace Jones as the A-side of a 1981 single. Sting's band, the Police, later released their rendition of the song on their album Ghost in the Machine. The lyrics to Demolition Man are featured in the art book RadioEYES: Great Rock Lyrics Set to Art. The song was illustrated by John Taylor Dismukes.
"Private Life" is a 1980 song written by Chrissie Hynde, and released by both English band The Pretenders, and Jamaican singer Grace Jones in 1980.
"Walking in the Rain" is a 1976 song by Australian band Flash and the Pan. The song was covered by Grace Jones and released as a single from her album Nightclubbing.
"My Jamaican Guy" is a single by the Jamaican singer and actress Grace Jones, released in 1983.