JP Houston is a Canada-born American singer-songwriter, producer, storyteller, and host.
Houston has a large catalogue of songs composed for television, theater, film and record. One of his first credits, while still in high school, was composing the theme song to the PBS/YTV children's series The Big Comfy Couch . With hundreds of credits, he was nominated for a Gemini Award (Canadian Emmy) in 2001. [1] His work has appeared on The Rosie O'Donnell Show , Funny or Die Presents, and countless other national and international productions. A song co-written by Houston was featured in the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. He has written for PBS, BBC, HBO, CBC, and many others.
Houston has toured and recorded all over North America and Europe. He was a member of Brian Bell's Weezer side project The Relationship [2] Houston did a two-year stint leading the house band at Pappy & Harriet's in Pioneertown, California. [3] He has shared the stage with artists including Leon Russell, Kyuss, Victoria Williams, Band Of Horses, M Ward, Tim Easton, and a host of other notable acts.
In 2013, Houston began his weekly syndicated NPR variety show American Parlor Songbook. [4] The program originates from its home station of KVCR (FM) NPR in Southern California, with rebroadcasts on stations around the country. The show features Houston's original songs and stories every episode.
Norma Deloris Egstrom, known professionally as Peggy Lee, was an American jazz and popular music singer, songwriter, composer, and actress whose career spanned seven decades. From her beginning as a vocalist on local radio to singing with Benny Goodman's big band, Lee created a sophisticated persona, writing music for films, acting, and recording conceptual record albums combining poetry and music. Called the "Queen of American pop music," Lee recorded over 1,100 masters and composed over 270 songs.
David Walter Foster is a Canadian record producer, film composer, and music executive. He has won 16 Grammy Awards from 47 nominations. Foster's career began as a keyboardist for the pop group Skylark in the early 1970s before focusing largely on composing and production. Often in tandem with songwriter Diane Warren, Foster has contributed to material for prominent music industry artists in various genres since then, and is credited with production on over 40 pop hits on the Billboard Hot 100. He has also chaired Verve Records from 2012 to 2016.
Huell Burnley Howser was an American television personality, actor, producer, writer, singer, and voice artist, best known for hosting, producing, and writing California's Gold and his human interest show Visiting... with Huell Howser, produced by KCET in Los Angeles for California PBS stations. The archive of his video chronicles offers an enhanced understanding of the history, culture, and people of California. He also voiced the Backson in Winnie the Pooh (2011).
Ozomatli is an American rock band, formed in 1995 in Los Angeles. They are known both for their vocal activist viewpoints and incorporating a wide array of musical styles – including salsa, jazz, funk, reggae, hip hop, and others. The group formed in 1995 and has since released seven studio albums. The group is also known for advocating for farm-workers' rights and immigration reform. The band has performed in various countries all over the world, including China, Tunisia, Jordan, Cuba, and Burma. Although the band has had many member changes over the years and has sometimes had as many as ten members, the current six members have been in the band since its debut album.
"The Weight" is a song by the Canadian-American group the Band that was released as a single in 1968 and on the group's debut album Music from Big Pink. It was their first release under this name, after their previous releases as Canadian Squires and Levon and the Hawks. Written by Band member Robbie Robertson, the song is about a visitor's experiences in a town mentioned in the lyric's first line as Nazareth. "The Weight" has significantly influenced American popular music, having been listed as No. 41 on Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time published in 2004. Pitchfork Media named it the 13th best song of the 1960s, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame named it one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll. PBS, which broadcast performances of the song on Ramble at the Ryman (2011), Austin City Limits (2012), and Quick Hits (2012), describes it as "a masterpiece of Biblical allusions, enigmatic lines and iconic characters" and notes its enduring popularity as "an essential part of the American songbook."
Frederick R. Newman is an American actor, comedian, composer, sound effects artist both in person and for film, and former talk show host. Newman is known for his ability to make ‘mouthsounds’ and is not a traditional Foley artist.
Christopher Scott Thile is an American mandolinist, singer, songwriter, composer, and radio personality, best known for his work in the progressive acoustic trio Nickel Creek and the acoustic folk and progressive bluegrass quintet Punch Brothers. He is a 2012 MacArthur Fellow. From 2016 to its cancellation in 2020, he hosted the radio variety show Live from Here.
Jonathan Schwartz is an American radio personality, known for his devotion to traditional pop standards. From the 1960s on, he has been a presence on radio stations in the New York radio market, until he was fired in December 2017. He then hosted an internet radio show on The Jonathan Station from 2018 until he retired in March 2021. Additionally, Schwartz sometimes performs as a singer and has recorded numerous selections from the collection of popular music from the 1920s, '30s, '40s, and '50s known as the Great American Songbook. Schwartz has also written novels, short stories, and a memoir, All In Good Time (2004).
Bullseye with Jesse Thorn is a public radio program and podcast based in Los Angeles, California, and distributed by National Public Radio (NPR). The weekly show is currently heard on over 150 public radio stations. The program features host Jesse Thorn interviewing personalities in arts and culture, with a special focus on comedy.
Michael Jay Feinstein is an American singer, pianist, and music revivalist. He is an archivist and interpreter for the repertoire known as the Great American Songbook. In 1988, he won a Drama Desk Special Award for celebrating American musical theatre songs. Feinstein is also a multi-platinum-selling, five-time Grammy-nominated recording artist. He is the artistic director for The Center for the Performing Arts in Carmel, Indiana.
Matthew-Aaron Dusk is a Canadian jazz vocalist. He has four certified gold albums: Two Shots, Good News, Old School Yule! and JetSetJazz, and two certified platinum albums; My Funny Valentine: The Chet Baker Songbook and Just the Two of Us.
Paul Joseph Baloche is an American Christian music artist, worship leader, and singer-songwriter. A native of Maple Shade Township, New Jersey, Baloche was the worship pastor at Community Christian Fellowship in Lindale, Texas, for 26 years. He and his wife, Rita left Texas in January 2015, moving to New York City to be nearer to family. Baloche composes on piano and acoustic guitar, favoring guitar when leading worship. His wife, Rita Baloche, is also a Christian songwriter. Baloche is one of the writers for Compassionart, a charity founded by Martin Smith from Delirious?.
KVCR is an FM non-commercial public radio station in located San Bernardino, California, broadcasting to the Riverside-San Bernardino-Inland Empire area. It is owned by the San Bernardino Community College District, along with channel 24 KVCR-DT. KVCR asks for donations from its listeners, especially during fundraisers, usually held for a week, several times per year.
Ryan Matthew Miller is an American musician. He is the lead singer for the alternative rock band Guster playing guitar, piano and bass.
Brian Douglas Unger (born 1965) is an American actor, comedian, writer, producer, and commentator.
Jeff Blumenkrantz is an American actor, composer and lyricist.
Robert Alan Cutietta is best known as an educator, author, researcher, composer, and arts leader. He is the author or co-author of five books and over fifty referereed research articles in the area of music psychology and education. He is also a composer, having written for television shows and movies.
Peter John Huttlinger was an American guitarist. A graduate of Berklee College of Music, Huttlinger was a Nashville studio artist. In 2000, he won the National Fingerstyle Guitar Championship at the Walnut Valley Festival in Winfield, Kansas. He performed around the world with such artists as John Denver, LeAnn Rimes and many others. As a solo artist, he performed across the U.S. and Europe.
Rob (Shrock) Shirakbari is an American musician, composer, record producer, and arranger, best known for being long-time music director for Dionne Warwick (1985–present) and Burt Bacharach and as producer, co-writer, and music director for Rumer (2013–present).
Billy Stritch is an American composer, arranger, vocalist, and jazz pianist. For many years, he was best known as a confidant, music director, and piano player for Liza Minnelli.