Hermanus "Herman" Brood was a Dutch musician, painter, actor and poet. As a musician he achieved artistic and commercial success in the 1970s and 1980s, and was called "the greatest and only Dutch rock 'n' roll star". Later in life he started a successful career as a painter.
Rolf Harris is an Australian entertainer whose career has encompassed work as a musician, singer-songwriter, composer, comedian, actor, painter and television personality. He often used unusual instruments in his performances: he played the didgeridoo and the stylophone and is credited with the invention of the wobble board. Harris was convicted in 2014 of the sexual assault of four underage girls, which effectively ended his career.
A novelty song is a type of song built upon some form of novel concept, such as a gimmick, a piece of humor, or a sample of popular culture. Novelty songs partially overlap with comedy songs, which are more explicitly based on humor, and with musical parody, especially when the novel gimmick is another popular song. Novelty songs achieved great popularity during the 1920s and 1930s. They had a resurgence of interest in the 1950s and 1960s. The term arose in Tin Pan Alley to describe one of the major divisions of popular music; the other two divisions were ballads and dance music. Humorous songs, or those containing humorous elements, are not necessarily novelty songs.
Ronnie Lee Milsap is an American country music singer and pianist.
Allan Francis Smethurst, aka The Singing Postman was an English folk singer and postman. He is best known for his self-penned novelty song, "Hev Yew Gotta Loight, Boy?", which earned him an Ivor Novello Award in 1966, “Come Along A Me” and "A Miss from Diss". The Guardian dubbed him a "bookishly melancholy folk-satirist".
Right Said Fred are an English pop band formed by brothers Fred and Richard Fairbrass in 1989. They are best known for the hit 1991 song "I'm Too Sexy".
Rudi Carrell was a Dutch entertainer. Along with famous entertainers such as Johannes Heesters and Linda de Mol, he was one of the most successful Dutch personalities active in Germany.
Aerial is the eighth album by English singer-songwriter and musician Kate Bush. It was released as a double album in 2005, twelve years after her 1993 album The Red Shoes.
Michael William Sammes was an English musician and vocal session arranger, performing backing vocals on pop music recorded in the UK from 1955 to the 1970s.
Ronnie Hilton was an English singer and radio presenter. According to his obituary in The Guardian newspaper, "For a time Hilton was a star – strictly for home consumption – with nine Top 20 hits between 1954 and 1957, that transitional era between 78 and 45rpm records. A quarter of a century later he became the voice of BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the Fifties series".
"The Windmills of Your Mind" is a song with music by French composer Michel Legrand and English lyrics written by Americans Alan and Marilyn Bergman. The French lyrics, under the title "Les Moulins de mon cœur", were written by Eddy Marnay.
Myles Peter Carpenter Rudge was an English songwriter, known for writing the lyrics for novelty songs. His songs "The Hole in the Ground" and "Right Said Fred" were both British Top 10 chart hits in 1962, both recorded by Bernard Cribbins to music by Ted Dicks and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. Another of his songs, "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", was a hit in 1965 for Ronnie Hilton, and won an Ivor Novello Award in 1966 for the Year's Outstanding Novelty Composition.
Ronald Edwin Tober is a Dutch singer, known for representing the Netherlands in the Eurovision Song Contest 1968 with the song "Morgen".
"Dead Skunk" is a 1972 novelty song by Loudon Wainwright III. Released as a single in November 1972, it eventually peaked at number 16 on the Billboard charts on March 31, 1973 and appears on Wainright's 1972 album Album III.
Edward Dicks was an English composer. He is best known for composing the music for the novelty songs "Right Said Fred" and "The Hole in the Ground". They were both Top 10 hits in the UK Singles Chart in 1962, recorded by Bernard Cribbins with lyrics by Myles Rudge, and produced by George Martin for Parlophone. Another song by Dicks and Rudge, "A Windmill in Old Amsterdam", was a million-seller hit in 1965 for Ronnie Hilton.
"Dear Heart" is a song written by Henry Mancini, Ray Evans, and Jay Livingston and performed by Andy Williams. It appears on the 1965 Andy Williams album, Andy Williams' Dear Heart. The song was the theme to the 1964 movie Dear Heart. It was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song and also nominated for best song at the 22nd Golden Globe Awards.
"It's Hard to be Humble" is a song written and recorded by American country music artist Mac Davis from his LP, Hard To Be Humble. It became an international hit in the spring of 1980.
"Mission Bell" is a song written by William Michael and Jesse Hodges and performed by Donnie Brooks, with backing vocals by The Blossoms. It reached number 7 on the U.S. pop chart in 1960. It was featured on his 1961 album, The Happiest.
"I May Never Pass This Way Again" is a popular song, written by Murray Wizell and Irving Melsher. Perry Como performed the song on his TV show in November 1957, but it was first a hit for Robert Earl in the UK, where it reached No. 14 in 1958.
