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Gary Lefkowith | |
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Birth name | Gary Lefkowith |
Born | November 18, 1950 |
Origin | Reading, Pennsylvania |
Genres | |
Occupation(s) | Songwriter, Producer |
Years active | 1976−present |
Labels | Generic / Orchard |
Website | lesonictheband |
Gary Lefkowith is an American songwriter and producer. [1] He has been active in the music industry since 1976 and has a diverse genre profile that includes smooth jazz, rock, top 40, alternative, and adult contemporary music. In 2003, he co-produced a remix for Chubby Checker of "Limbo Rock". [2] It was produced in collaboration with Mike Rogers and credited to The Hill & Hifi. [3] [4]
Gary co-produced and co-wrote Charlie Gracie’s 2012 single “Baby Doll,” which Charlie cites in his auto biography as a major renaissance for his career. It received airplay on BBC 2 and Sirius XM. The record was Gracie’s first airplay on a new record in 50 years. [5]
With bandmate Mike Rogers, Lefkowith made a significant impact on the smooth jazz scene with their group Le Sonic. [6] The single "Any Moment", featuring guitarist Robert Lee, an original member of ? & The Mysterians, topped the Billboard Smooth Jazz National Airplay charts in February 2022. Following that, "I’ll Be The One," featuring Lauran Beluzo and Robert Lee, also reached the top of the same charts in October. It was the first vocal record to achieve a #1 on Billboard in years. Lefkowith's most recent single "Riverside Drive," featuring Jim Hynes and Scott Kreitzer, has climbed up to number four on the Billboard Smooth Jazz charts as of 2023. [7]
Chubby Checker is an American singer and dancer. He is widely known for popularizing many dance styles, including the Twist dance style, with his 1960 hit cover of Hank Ballard & The Midnighters' R&B song "The Twist", and the pony dance style with the 1961 cover of the song "Pony Time". His biggest UK hit, "Let's Twist Again", was released one year later ; that year, he also popularized the song "Limbo Rock", originally a previous-year instrumental hit by the Champs to which he added lyrics, and its trademark Limbo dance, as well as other dance styles such as The Fly. In September 2008, "The Twist" topped Billboard's list of the most popular singles to have appeared in the Hot 100 since its debut in 1960, an honor it maintained for an August 2013 update of the list.
Boney James is an American saxophonist, songwriter, record producer and recording artist.
South Carolina is one of the Southern United States and has produced a number of renowned performers of jazz, rock, blues, R&B, country, bluegrass and other popular styles.
Charles Anthony Graci, known professionally as Charlie Gracie, was an American rock and roll and rhythm and blues singer and guitarist. His biggest hits were "Butterfly" and "Fabulous", both in 1957.
"Don't Stop Me Now" is a song by the British rock band Queen, featured on their 1978 album Jazz and released as a single on 26 January 1979. Written by lead singer Freddie Mercury, it was recorded in August 1978 at Super Bear Studios in Berre-les-Alpes (Alpes-Maritimes), France, and is the twelfth track on the album.
"On Broadway" is a song written by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil in collaboration with the team of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller.
"Jingle Bell Rock" is an American Christmas song first released by Bobby Helms in 1957. It has received frequent airplay in the United States during every Christmas season since then, and is generally considered Helms' signature song. "Jingle Bell Rock" was composed by Joseph Carleton Beal and James Ross Boothe, although both Helms and session guitarist on the song Hank Garland disputed this. Beal was a Massachusetts-born public relations professional and longtime resident of South Ocean Avenue in Atlantic City, New Jersey, and Boothe was an American writer in the advertising business.
"The Twist" is an American pop song written and originally released in 1958 by Hank Ballard and the Midnighters as a B-side to "Teardrops on Your Letter". It was inspired by the twist dance craze. Ballard's version was a moderate hit, peaking at number 28 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1960. On the US Billboard Hot R&B Sides chart, the original version of "The Twist" first peaked at number 16 in 1959 and at number six in 1960. By 1962, the record sold in excess of one million copies, becoming Ballard's fourth million seller.
"Limbo Rock" is a popular song about limbo dancing written by Kal Mann and Billy Strange. An instrumental version was first recorded by The Champs in 1961. The first vocal version was recorded in 1962 by Chubby Checker : it peaked at number two on the Billboard Hot 100 for two weeks and at number one on the Cash Box charts. The Chubby Checker recording also made it to number three on the R&B charts. In Canada it reached number 7 for 2 weeks co-charting with the B-side.
"Just Your Fool" is a rhythm and blues-style song written and recorded by the American jazz and jump blues bandleader/pianist Buddy Johnson and His Orchestra in 1953. Called an "R&B anthem", the song has a big-band arrangement and his sister Ella Johnson on vocals—her "delicate and deceptively sweet phrasing was ideally suited to ballads such as this". "I'm Just Your Fool" became a Billboard R&B chart record hit, reaching number six in 1954.
"Cinema" is a song initially released by Italian DJ and electro house music producer Benny Benassi and British singer-songwriter Gary Go. The song was written and performed by Gary Go with music produced by Benny and Alle Benassi. It was released on 8 March 2011 by Ultra Records and All Around the World, on Benny Benassi's fourth studio album Electroman. The song made its first appearance in the video game Need For Speed: Hot Pursuit in November 2010, months before the song was released as a single. The single EP featured several remixes by Skrillex, Laidback Luke, Alex Gaudino and Congo Rock. The Skrillex remix went on to become a hit in its own right, remaining on Billboard's Dance chart for over two years after its release and winning a 2012 Grammy Award for Best Remixed Recording. Artist and producer Kanye West referred to it as "one of the greatest works of art ever made". The song featured in the trailer for the video game Sonic Lost World and in-games Forza Horizon and Beat Fever, as well as soundtracking promos for the WWE Network. The song has been streamed over a billion times online across streaming platforms. The song was further re-imagined by Gary Go on his soundtrack EP Now Was Once the Future and again by electronic dance music duo Galantis in 2020.
"Die Young" is a song by American singer and songwriter Kesha. It was released on September 25, 2012, as the lead single from her second studio album, Warrior (2012). Kesha co-wrote the song with its producers, Dr. Luke, Benny Blanco, and Cirkut, with additional writing from Nate Ruess, the lead singer of Fun. Ruess wrote the words for the chorus, but Kesha wrote the lyrics after traveling around the world and embarking on a spiritual journey.
"A Light That Never Comes" is a song written and recorded by American rock band Linkin Park, and is their first collaboration with American DJ and record producer Steve Aoki. It was included on the band's second remix album, Recharged. It is the twenty-sixth single by the band. The song appears as the opening track on the album while a reboot version produced by Rick Rubin serves as the closing track. In addition to the song being released in advance when Recharged was partially released early on September 16, 2013, "A Light That Never Comes" was released to radio and made available to stream as a promotional single on digital music service Xbox Music on the same day. The CD single was released on October 11, 2013.
"Love Never Felt So Good" is a song by American singer and songwriter Michael Jackson, released posthumously on May 2, 2014. The song, reworked from a 1983 demo track originally composed by Jackson and Canadian singer-songwriter Paul Anka, was the first single released from Jackson's second posthumous album, Xscape.
"Attention" is a song recorded and produced by American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth for his second studio album Voicenotes (2018). It was written by Puth and Jacob Kasher. A midtempo pop rock track with elements of 1980s soft-soul and funk music, the song finds Puth singing about how he realizes his partner was "just want[ing] attention" from him instead of loving him. It was released digitally through Artist Partner Group and Atlantic Records on April 21, 2017, and later serviced to the radio on May 2, serving as the album's lead single. An accompanying music video was released on April 24, 2017, featuring Puth brooding at the club while scoping out his former partner, later returning home and finding the partner again at his apartment.
Jean Carlos Rodríguez López-Cepero, also known as Jean, is a Puerto Rican singer, the younger brother of Luis Fonsi. Rodríguez has released a handful of solo albums and mixtapes, hitting number one on Billboard's Latin Pop Airplay chart with the single "Duele" in 2006. As a member of the production duo Coastcity, he co-produced the Spanish-language version of "Hey Ma" by Pitbull, J Balvin and Camila Cabello in 2017; the Spanish-language video passed 400 million views on YouTube, and the song was nominated for a Latin Grammy.
"How Long" is a song recorded and produced by American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth. He wrote the song with Jacob Kasher and DJ Frank E. It was released on October 5, 2017, by Atlantic Records as the second single from Puth's second studio album, Voicenotes (2018). Commercially, it has reached the top 10 in Belgium, Israel, Lebanon, Malaysia, the Philippines, Scotland, and the United Kingdom as well as the top 20 in Australia, Belgium, Denmark, Ireland, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Slovakia, Spain, and Switzerland. The song peaked at number 21 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
"Done for Me" is a song by American singer-songwriter Charlie Puth, featuring guest vocals from fellow American singer-songwriter Kehlani. Written by its performers with Jacob Kasher, John Ryan and produced by Puth, it was released by Atlantic Records on March 15, 2018, as the third single from Puth's second studio album, Voicenotes (2018).
"I Hope" is a song recorded by American country music singer Gabby Barrett. She released the single independently following her third-place finish on season 16 of American Idol. It led to her signing a deal with Warner Music Nashville, and it was released on July 29, 2019, as her debut single and the first from her debut studio album Goldmine. Barrett co-wrote the song with Jon Nite and Zach Kale, with Kale and Ross Copperman handling production.
"Karma" is a song by the American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift from her tenth studio album, Midnights (2022). Swift wrote and produced the song with Jack Antonoff, Sounwave, and Keanu Beats, while Jahaan Sweet co-produced it. Republic Records released the song to US radio on May 1, 2023, as the third single from Midnights. A remix, featuring rapper Ice Spice, was released on May 26, 2023, as part of an extended edition of Midnights.