Bunny Hull | |
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Background information | |
Birth name | Jeri Keever Hull |
Born | New Orleans, Louisiana, United States. | October 9, 1951
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Occupation(s) |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 1975–present |
Labels | |
Website | bunnyhull |
Jeri Keever "Bunny" Hull (born October 9, 1951) is an American songwriter, musician, and author. Her catalog includes music, film and television projects. [1] She is a recipient of 20 Gold and Platinum Certifications, a Grammy Award and two nominations, [2] an Emmy nomination, [3] a GMA Dove Award, a BMI Performance Award, and multiple Parents' Choice Awards. [4]
Hull studied piano, dance, and trained as a pianist from the age of 7 with Muriel Adler [5] and Hal Stesch. [6] She trained as a dancer with Christina Carson of Sadler Wells Ballet and began writing music at age 15 in Las Vegas. Hull performed in Las Vegas stage shows with Gene Kelly, Jimmy Durante, Sergio Franchi, and Dick Jensen.
Her first professional recordings as a vocalist were on Mason's 1979 Groovin’ You album, [7] and a duet written and sung with violinist, orchestra leader, multi-instrumentalist and singer, Charles Veal Jr. [8] [9]
Hull's work as a songwriter and backing vocalist gained momentum during this period, including tours to Japan with Christopher Cross and the East Coast with Boz Scaggs.
Hull has worked with a broad range of top-tier recording artists in different genres, including Anita Baker, [10] Angela Bofill, Peabo Bryson, Christopher Cross, George Duke, Michael Franks, Thelma Houston, Billy Idol, Michael Jackson, The Judds, Wynonna Judd, KC & the Sunshine Band, B.B. King, Patti LaBelle, Ricky Martin, Diana Ross, Donna Summer, Bob Welch, Quincy Jones, and Vanessa Williams. [11]
The song Breakdance was co-written by Hull with Giorgio Moroder and Irene Cara in 1983 for Cara's What a Feelin' album. It was released as a single and reached #8 on the Billboard pop chart, #13 on the US dance chart, and #23 on the US R&B chart in 1984.
Hull co-wrote the Patti Labelle song New Attitude [12] with Sharon Robinson and Jon Gilutin in 1984. [13] The song was included on the soundtrack for the 1984 Paramount film Beverly Hills Cop. It won a Grammy Award for Best Album Of Original Score Written For A Motion Picture Or Television Special at the 28th Annual Grammy Awards. A cover version of the song, produced by Peter Bunetta and Rick Chudakoff, was released as a single by Patti LaBelle in December 1984 and nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance in 1986.
In 1992, the song, Ready For A Miracle, was composed by Hull and Art Reynolds, was originally recorded by Patti LaBelle and Edwin Hawkins for the Leap of Faith film soundtrack and recorded by LeAnn Rimes for the 2007 Evan Almighty film soundtrack. Rimes' version of the song won a GMA Dove Award at the 39th Annual Dove Awards for Traditional Gospel Recorded Song of the Year in 2008.
In 1995, Hull composed and arranged music with Brenda Russell for the song Let Somebody Know on Diana Ross' Take Me Higher album. She also contributed keyboard programming, keyboards, vocal arrangement, and backing vocals. [14]
Partial list:
Truth and Tenderness, an album of 10 original songs by Hull, was released on vinyl LP through the Sampony record label in South Korea on November 12, 1991. It includes backing vocals by Thelma Houston. The album was released on CD through the Pony Canyon record label (aka P.C.H, or Pacific Coast Highway) the same year. [19]
Hull is the founder of the publishing imprint Young Masters Little Wisdom in 2009. Its Dream A World website include hardbound books, Kids Creative Classics activity kits illustrated by Synthia Saint James, and Young Masters Little Wisdom books illustrated by Kye Fleming. The series is designed for students from 3 to 6 years of age and is a foundation for curriculum development currently used in public schools, private schools, and Montessori Schools. [20] [21]
Young Masters Little Wisdom: Secrets Of The Heart is part of the series and is a recipient of the 2008 Parents’ Choice Recommended Award.
Hull's film credits include:
Her television credits include work for NBC, PBS, ABC, CBS, cable networks and programs such as The Today Show, The Nanny, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Charmed, Sesame Street, and The Simpsons.
Hull directed a documentary short film about Dream A World Education's mission in 2017, entitled The Ripple Effect, [23] the film was co-produced with Cinema Verde Productions, Inc. in 2018. It won a Global Impact Film Festival award for Best Sound Design that year [24] and was nominated for an Emmy Award in the Independent Programming category of the 71st Los Angeles Area Emmy Awards in July, 2019. [25]
Labelle was an American funk rock band that originated out of the Blue Belles, a girl group who were a popular vocal group of the 1960s and 1970s. The original group was formed after the disbanding of two rival girl groups in the area around Philadelphia, in Pennsylvania, and Trenton, in New Jersey: the Ordettes and the Del-Capris, forming as a new version of the former group, then later changing their name to the Blue Belles. The founding members were Patti LaBelle, Cindy Birdsong, Nona Hendryx, and Sarah Dash.
Patricia Louise Holt, known professionally as Patti LaBelle, is an American R&B singer and actress. She has been referred to as the "Godmother of Soul".
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Sheena Shirley Easton is a Scottish singer and actress. She came into the public eye in an episode of the first British musical reality television series The Big Time: Pop Singer, which recorded her attempts to gain a record deal and her eventual signing with the EMI label. Easton's first two singles, "Modern Girl" and "9 to 5", both entered the Top 10 of the UK Singles Chart simultaneously. She became one of the most successful British female recording artists of the 1980s.
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Winner in You is the eighth studio album by American R&B singer Patti LaBelle. It was released by MCA Records on April 28, 1986, in the United States. Recording sessions took place during 1985–1986. Production was handled by several record producers, including Burt Bacharach, Carole Bayer Sager, and Nickolas Ashford, among others.
"If You Asked Me To" is a song written by American songwriter Diane Warren and produced by Stewart Levine and Aaron Zigman. It was originally recorded by American singer Patti LaBelle for her ninth studio album, Be Yourself (1989), and also for the soundtrack to the James Bond film Licence to Kill. The song was released as the soundtrack's second single on June 12, 1989 by MCA Records. The lyrics are from the point of view of a woman who pleads to her significant other: "If you asked me to, I just might change my mind, and let you in my life forever". Three years later, Canadian singer Celine Dion covered the song for her 1992 self-titled second English-language studio album. Released as the album's second single, Dion's version topped the Canadian charts and peaked at number four on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"New Attitude" is a song by American singer Patti LaBelle. It was written by Sharon Robinson, Jon Gilutin, and Bunny Hull and recorded by LaBelle for the motion picture soundtrack album to the 1984 action comedy film Beverly Hills Cop, while production was helmed by Rick Chudacoff, Howie Rice, and Peter Burnetta. Released as a single in December 1984, it helped launching LaBelle's solo career as a pop music singer after the singer had spent seven years without a crossover pop hit following the break-up of her band Labelle.
"Love, Need and Want You" is a song recorded by American singer Patti LaBelle from her sixth studio album, I'm in Love Again (1983). The mid-tempo R&B song was written and produced for LaBelle by Bunny Sigler and Kenny Gamble, and was released in 1983 as the album's second single. Following the success of her breakthrough R&B hit, "If Only You Knew", the song peaked at number 10 on the US Billboard R&B chart. Like "If Only You Knew", the song features LaBelle singing the song at her mid-range whereas in previous songs prior to 1982, LaBelle mostly sang in a straightforward soprano voice.
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