Byron Melcher (1929–2012) was an executive with the Thomas Organ Company, a concert organist, and a recording artist on electronic organs and pipe organs.
The Thomas Organ Company is an American manufacturer of electronic keyboards and a one-time holder of the manufacturing rights to the Moog synthesizer. The Company was a force behind early electronic organs for the home. It went out of business in 1979 but reopened in 1996.
The pipe organ is a musical instrument that produces sound by driving pressurized air through the organ pipes selected via a keyboard. Because each pipe produces a single pitch, the pipes are provided in sets called ranks, each of which has a common timbre and volume throughout the keyboard compass. Most organs have multiple ranks of pipes of differing timbre, pitch, and volume that the player can employ singly or in combination through the use of controls called stops.
Melcher was a district manager for the Thomas and Vox lines in Texas. In 1968, he was promoted to manager of promotions for the Thomas Organ division [1] and was a featured artist on the Thomas Company "A Fair to Remember" tour the next year, with Dick Clark as MC. [2] That summer, he became head of publicity for Thomas. [3] In 1970, he was the Los Angeles Theater Organ Society monthly artist. His featured piece was the Overture to The Virgin of Macarena. [4]
Richard Wagstaff Clark was an American radio and television personality, television producer and film actor, as well as a cultural icon who remains best known for hosting American Bandstand from 1957 to 1988. He also hosted the game show Pyramid and Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve, which transmitted Times Square's New Year's Eve celebrations. Clark was well known for his trademark sign-off, "For now, Dick Clark — so long!", accompanied by a facsimile of a military salute.
He recorded for Concert Recording Records, Replica Records [4] and United Artists Records. [5]
United Artists Records was a record label founded by Max E. Youngstein of United Artists in 1957 to issue movie soundtracks. The label expanded into other genres, such as easy listening, jazz, pop, and R&B.
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American rock, soul, and blues singer and songwriter, and one of the most successful and widely known female rock stars of her era. After releasing three albums, she died of a heroin overdose at the age of 27. A fourth album, Pearl, was released in January 1971, just over three months after her death. It reached number one on the Billboard charts.
Led Zeppelin is the debut album by English rock band Led Zeppelin. It was released on 12 January 1969 in the United States and on 31 March in the United Kingdom by Atlantic Records.
Del Shannon was an American rock and roll and country musician and singer-songwriter, best known for his 1961 number 1 Billboard hit "Runaway".
Sly Stone is an American musician, songwriter, and record producer who is most famous for his role as frontman for Sly and the Family Stone, a band that played a critical role in the development of soul, funk, rock, and psychedelia in the 1960s and 1970s.
Bruce Arthur Johnston is an American singer, songwriter, and record producer best known as a member of the Beach Boys. In 1965, Johnston joined the band for live performances, filling in for the group's co-founder Brian Wilson, who had quit touring in order to spend more time in the studio. Johnston then became a contributing member on subsequent albums.
Morrison Hotel is the fifth studio album by American rock band the Doors, released February 9, 1970 by Elektra Records. Following the use of brass and string arrangements recommended by producer Paul A. Rothchild on their previous album, The Soft Parade, the band returned to their original blues-rock style and was largely seen as a return to form for the band. The Doors entered Elektra Sound Recorders in Los Angeles in November 1969 to record the album which is divided into two separately titled sides; "Hard Rock Cafe" and "Morrison Hotel". The group included session bassists Lonnie Mack and Ray Neapolitan on the album's songs.
Paul Revere & the Raiders are an American rock band that saw considerable U.S. mainstream success in the second half of the 1960s and early 1970s. Among their hits are the songs "Kicks", "Hungry" (1966), "Him Or Me – What's It Gonna Be?" (1967) and the Platinum-certified classic No. 1 single "Indian Reservation" (1971).
Howard Andrew Williams was an American singer. He recorded 43 albums in his career, of which 15 have been gold-certified and three platinum-certified. He was also nominated for six Grammy Awards. He hosted The Andy Williams Show, a television variety show, from 1962 to 1971, and numerous TV specials. The Andy Williams Show won three Emmy awards. The Moon River Theatre in Branson, Missouri is named after the song for which he is best known—Johnny Mercer and Henry Mancini's "Moon River". He sold more than 100 million records worldwide, including more than 10 million certified units in the United States.
Goodbye is the fourth and final studio album by Cream, with three tracks recorded live, and three recorded in the studio. It was released in Europe by Polydor Records and by Atco Records in the United States, debuting in Billboard on 15 February 1969. It reached number one in the United Kingdom and number two in the US. A single, "Badge", was subsequently released from the album a month later. The album was released after Cream disbanded in November 1968.
Hour Glass was a 1960s rhythm and blues band based in Los Angeles, California in 1967 and 1968. Among their members were two future members of the Allman Brothers Band and three future studio musicians at the Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, Alabama.
Terrence Paul Melcher was an American musician and record producer who was instrumental in shaping the 1960s California Sound and folk rock movements, particularly during the nascent counterculture era. His best known contributions were producing the Byrds' first two albums Mr. Tambourine Man (1965) and Turn! Turn! Turn! (1965), as well as most of the hit recordings of Paul Revere & the Raiders and Gentle Soul. He is also known for his brief association with Charles Manson, a songwriter and cult leader who was later convicted of several murders.
"Medley: Aquarius/Let the Sunshine In " is a medley of two songs written for the 1967 musical Hair by James Rado and Gerome Ragni (lyrics), and Galt MacDermot (music), released as a single by American R&B group The 5th Dimension. The song peaked at number one for six weeks on the US Billboard Hot 100 pop singles chart in the spring of 1969. The single topped the American pop charts and was eventually certified platinum in the US by the RIAA. Instrumental backing was written by Bill Holman and provided by session musicians commonly known as the Wrecking Crew. The actual recording is something of a "rarity"; the song was recorded in two cities, Los Angeles and Las Vegas, then mixed together in the studio.
The Sweet Inspirations were an American R&B girl group founded by Emily "Cissy" Houston, mother of Whitney Houston, and sister of Lee Warwick. Houston and Warwick were members of The Drinkard Singers, a family group that had the distinction of recording the first Gospel album to appear on a major label—a live recording from The Newport Jazz Festival in 1959. The line-up included Judy Guions, Marie Epps, Larry Drinkard, Nicholas Drinkard, Ann Moss, Lee and Emily.
Grapefruit were a London-based British band of the late 1960s, brought together by Terry Doran of Apple Publishing, a music publishing company started and owned by the Beatles. Their brand of music was a typical late 1960s blend of rock, which they often fused with psychedelic effects such as phasers and vocoders, or classical arrangements.
Terry Ellis, is an English record producer and manager best known for his early work with band Jethro Tull, and as co-founder of music publishing company Chrysalis Music in 1969.
George Wright was an American musician, possibly the most famous virtuoso of the theatre organ of the modern era.
Jeff Simmons is an American rock musician best known as a former member of Frank Zappa's Mothers of Invention.
Clarence Alexander Avant is an American music executive, entrepreneur, and film producer, sometimes called the "Godfather of Black Music".
Gaylord Carter was an American organist and the composer of many film scores that were added to silent movies released on video tape or disks. Died from Parkinson disease.
Alfred V. De Lory was an American record producer, arranger, conductor and session musician. He was the producer and arranger of a series of worldwide hits by Glen Campbell in the 1960s, including John Hartford's "Gentle on My Mind", Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "Wichita Lineman" and "Galveston". He was also a member of the 1960s Los Angeles session musicians known as The Wrecking Crew, and inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame and Museum in 2007.
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