The Manhattan Transfer is a Grammy award–winning vocal group founded in 1969 that has explored a cappella, vocalese, swing, standards, Brazilian jazz, rhythm and blues, and pop music.
2 Unlimited are a Belgian/Dutch dance music act, founded by Belgian producers/songwriters Jean-Paul De Coster and Phil Wilde in 1991 in Antwerp, Belgium. From 1991 to 1996, Dutch rapper Ray Slijngaard and Dutch vocalist Anita Doth fronted the act. During these five years, 2 Unlimited enjoyed worldwide mainstream success. They scored a total of sixteen international chart hits, including "Get Ready for This", "Twilight Zone", "No Limit", and "Tribal Dance". The act has sold eighteen million records worldwide. Although they enjoyed less mainstream recognition in the United States, several of their tracks became popular themes in American sporting series, mainly in the NBA and NHL.
John Carl Hendricks, known professionally as Jon Hendricks, was an American jazz lyricist and singer. He is one of the originators of vocalese, which adds lyrics to existing instrumental songs and replaces many instruments with vocalists, such as the big-band arrangements of Duke Ellington and Count Basie. He is considered one of the best practitioners of scat singing, which involves vocal jazz soloing. Jazz critic and historian Leonard Feather called him the "Poet Laureate of Jazz", while Time dubbed him the "James Joyce of Jive". Al Jarreau called him "pound-for-pound the best jazz singer on the planet—maybe that's ever been".
Joseph Stanley Williams is an American singer, songwriter and film score composer, best known for his work in the rock band Toto, which he fronted as lead vocalist from 1986 to 1988, 2010 to 2019 and again since 2020. He is a son of film composer John Williams and actress Barbara Ruick and a grandson of jazz drummer Johnny Williams and actors Melville Ruick and Lurene Tuttle.
Jay Joseph Graydon is an American songwriter, recording artist, guitarist, singer, keyboardist, producer, arranger, and recording engineer. He is the winner of two Grammy Awards with twelve Grammy nominations, among them the title "Producer of the Year" and "Best Engineered Recording". He has mastered many different music styles and genres, and his recordings have been featured on record, film, television and the stage.
Pastiche is the fourth album by The Manhattan Transfer released on January 19, 1978, by Atlantic Records. This was the last studio album The Manhattan Transfer recorded with Laurel Massé, who because of a car accident in early 1979 decided to end her association with the group. The album was re-issued on CD with Rhino as distributor on November 15, 1994.
Extensions is the fifth studio album by The Manhattan Transfer, released on October 31, 1979, by Atlantic Records.
Mecca for Moderns is the sixth studio album by The Manhattan Transfer. It was released in 1981 by Atlantic Records.
The Best Of The Manhattan Transfer was released in 1981 on the Atlantic Records label by The Manhattan Transfer for the holiday season. It contained the "best of" their hits from their early Atlantic years (1975–1981). All of the tracks had been previously released on four of their five Atlantic studio albums: The Manhattan Transfer (1975), Pastiche (1978), Extensions (1979), and Mecca for Moderns (1981). No songs from their second studio album, Coming Out (1976), were included on US or international releases, except on early Australian and New Zealand vinyl releases where a slightly different track order omitted "Nightingale" in favour of "Chanson D'Amour" and "Where Did Our Love Go."
Bop Doo-Wopp is the eighth studio album by The Manhattan Transfer, released in 1984 on the Atlantic Records label. Six of the ten tracks on Bop Doo-Wopp are live performances.
Vocalese is the ninth studio album by Jazz band The Manhattan Transfer, released in 1985 on the Atlantic Records. Recording sessions took place during 1985. Production came from Tim Hauser and Martin Fischer. This album is considered to be The Manhattan Transfer's most critically acclaimed album. It received 12 Grammy nominations, making it second only to Michael Jackson's Thriller as the most nominated individual album. It also received extremely high ratings from music critics, including a 4.5 out of 5 stars rating from Allmusic. The album peaked at number 2 on the Top Jazz Albums and number 74 on the Billboard 200. The album's title Vocalese refers to a style of music that sets lyrics to previously recorded jazz instrumental pieces. The vocals then reproduce the sound and feel of the original instrumentation. Jon Hendricks, proficient in this art, composed all of the lyrics for this album.
Man-Tora! Live in Tokyo is the third live album released by The Manhattan Transfer. The title is a shortening of Manhattan Toransufā (マンハッタン・トランスファー), the Japanese transliteration of the band's name. The songs were recorded during their 1983 Japan tour to promote their album Bodies and Souls at Tokyo's Nakano Sun Theater. Some of the songs from these concerts also appeared on their 1984 album, Bop Doo-Wopp.
Anthology: Down In Birdland was a 2-CD & 2-Cassette Tape album released by The Manhattan Transfer in 1992 on the Rhino Records label. It was the first album released by the group on this label.
The Very Best Of The Manhattan Transfer is a compilation album of The Manhattan Transfer released in 1994 on the Atlantic Records label.
Swing is the seventeenth studio album released by The Manhattan Transfer in 1997 on the Atlantic Records label. This album is a collection of 1930s and 1940s swing music with The Manhattan Transfer's jazz twist. The album also features a guest appearance by Stéphane Grappelli, one of his last recordings before his death.
"The Boy from New York City" is a song originally recorded by the American soul group The Ad Libs, released in 1964 as their first single. Produced by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the song peaked at No. 8 on the US Billboard Hot 100 on the chart week of February 27, 1965. Though the group continued to record other singles, they never repeated the chart success of "The Boy from New York City". According to Artie Butler, the track was recorded at A&R Studios in New York, in three separate sessions. The first session was to lay down the rhythm section, then the next session was for the lead and backup vocals, with the last session was just for the horns.
Alan Paul Wichinsky is a Grammy Award-winning singer and composer, best known as one of the founding members of the current incarnation of the vocal group The Manhattan Transfer.
Live is the eleventh album released by The Manhattan Transfer. It was recorded live at the Nakano Sun Plaza Hall in Japan on 20 & 21 February 1986. It was released in 1987.
The Essential Johnny Mathis is a compilation album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released in 2004 by Columbia Records and includes several of his early hits such as "Chances Are" and "Misty" as well as a wide assortment of selections spanning more than four decades of his recording career.
Fear of the Dawn is the fourth studio album by the American rock musician Jack White, released on April 8, 2022, through Third Man Records. The album was written in Nashville and recorded throughout 2021 at Third Man Studio.
