Lois Walden (born February 8, 1946) is an American author, singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, performer & teaching artist for The Acting Company. She is the author of two novels: One More Stop, a 2012 finalist for the Lambda Literary Award for Lesbian Debut Fiction and Waterstones New Voices finalist, and Afterworld published in 2013 in the UK and in May 2014 in the US by Arcadia Books.
Walden is also a teaching artist for The Acting Company in New York, and devotes part of each year working in inner city schools, and other artistically deprived populations, educating teachers, students and audiences about process drama & creativity.
In 1994, Walden co-created, directed, co-wrote, and hosted the inaugural season of SongmastersInsideOut, a thirteen-week series of live performances at the Algonquin Hotel's Oak Room celebrating the great masters of songwriting and the stars who made their music famous. [1]
As a singer, songwriter and record producer Walden has made three record albums: Walden which featured Walden as a solo performer, [2] Traveler [Discovery Records - 77073-2] on which she performed and wrote or co-wrote many of the songs, [3] and Good News in Hard Times on which she sang as a member of the Gospel group Sisters of Glory. [4] The Sisters of Glory, comprising Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, Walden and Albertina Walker, performed at Woodstock '94. [5] [6] The album, produced by Jennifer Cohen in collaboration with Walden, earned positive reviews from music critics, including Entertainment Weekly . [7] Good News in Hard Times charted on the U.S. Billboard Top 40 Gospel Albums at number 29. [8]
Lois Walden is also the co-librettist (with Jeane Claude van Itallie) on a 2018 opera, MILA: Great Sorcerer, showcasing January 2019 as part of New York's Prototype Festival.
Sisters of Glory is an ad hoc group was put together by Lois Walden, who came with the name and concept, due to performing in a program entitled "Gospel Music: From the Church to the Charts", as part of thirteen-week series to benefit charity that started on April 25, 1994. [9] That was supposed to be the end of their female group, but Traveling Wilburys-style proved too popular to disband, so when Michael Lang (one of creators of the music festival) invited the Sisters to open Sunday morning of the Woodstock '94 they reunited for a three-day event, which later attracted an estimated 350,000 music lovers. Among forty performers, the quintet stood on the North Stage on August 14, along with Sheryl Crow, Salt-N-Pepa as only female performers at then 25th anniversary of the fest. [10] After a call from John Paul II's people, the Sisters would give another papal performance on December 16 for the Pope's concert "Christmas at the Vatican II" in Rome, and signed a record deal.
Woodstock '94 was an American music festival held in 1994 to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the original Woodstock festival of 1969. It was promoted as "2 More Days of Peace and Music". The poster used to promote the first concert was revised to feature two catbirds perched on the neck of an electric guitar, instead of the original one catbird on an acoustic guitar.
Martha Rose Reeves is an American R&B and pop singer. She is best known for being the lead singer of the Motown girl group Martha and the Vandellas, which scored over a dozen hit singles, including "Come and Get These Memories", "Nowhere to Run", "Heat Wave", "Jimmy Mack", and their signature "Dancing in the Street". From 2005 until 2009, Reeves served as an elected councilwoman in her hometown of Detroit, Michigan, U.S. Martha Reeves and the Vandellas were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995. In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Reeves at number 151 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.
Donald Hugh Henley is an American musician who is a founding member of the rock band Eagles, for whom he is the drummer and co-lead vocalist, as well as the sole continuous member of the band. Henley sang the lead vocals on Eagles songs such as "Witchy Woman", "Desperado", "Best of My Love", "One of These Nights", "Hotel California", "Life in the Fast Lane", "Victim of Love", "The Last Resort", "The Long Run", and "Get Over It".
Thelma Houston is an American singer. Beginning her recording career in the late 1960s, Houston scored a number-one hit in 1977 with her recording of "Don't Leave Me This Way", which won the Grammy for Best Female R&B Vocal Performance.
Andraé Edward Crouch was an American gospel singer, songwriter, arranger, record producer and pastor. Referred to as "the father of modern gospel music" by contemporary Christian and gospel music professionals, Crouch was known for his compositions "The Blood Will Never Lose Its Power", "My Tribute " and "Soon and Very Soon". He collaborated on some of his recordings with famous and popular artists such as Stevie Wonder, El DeBarge, Philip Bailey, Chaka Khan, and Sheila E., as well as the vocal group Take 6, and many popular artists covered his material, including Bob Dylan, Barbara Mandrell, Paul Simon, Elvis Presley and Little Richard. In the 1980s and 1990s, he was known as the "go-to" producer for superstars who sought a gospel choir sound in their recordings; he appeared on a number of recordings, including Michael Jackson's "Man In the Mirror", Madonna's "Like a Prayer", and "The Power", a duet between Elton John and Little Richard. Crouch was noted for his talent of incorporating contemporary secular music styles into the gospel music he grew up with. His efforts in this area helped pave the way for early American contemporary Christian music during the 1960s and 1970s.
"Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" is an African-American spiritual song and one of the best-known Christian hymns. Originating in early African-American musical traditions, the song was probably composed in the late 1860s by Wallace Willis, a Choctaw freedman. Performances by the Hampton Singers and the Fisk Jubilee Singers brought the song to the attention of wider audiences in the late 19th century. The earliest known recording of "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" was recorded in 1894, by the Standard Quartette.
Michel Colombier was a French composer, arranger, and conductor.
Kelly Cherelle Price is an American R&B and gospel singer. Beginning her career in 1992, Price originally performed backing vocals for Mariah Carey on multiple songs, including her Billboard Hot 100-number one singles "All I Want for Christmas Is You" and "Fantasy." She rose to wider prominence in 1997 following her uncredited performances on the number-one single "Mo Money Mo Problems" by the Notorious B.I.G. and the top-five single "Feel So Good" by Mase, prompting her to record as a lead artist. Her debut studio album, Soul of a Woman (1998) received platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA); its lead single, "Friend of Mine" peaked within the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100.
Vika and Linda, also known as Vika and Linda Bull, are an Australian vocal duo consisting of Vika Susan Bull and her younger sister, Linda Rose Bull. They came to prominence after singing backing vocals in Joe Camilleri's band The Black Sorrows from 1988. They left that group early in 1994 to start their duo with a self-titled album appearing in June that year. The duo scored their first number 1 album in 2020, with their retrospective 'Akilotoa: Anthology (1994-2006).
"He's Got the Whole World in His Hands" is a traditional African-American spiritual, first published in 1927. It became an international pop hit in 1957–58 in a recording by English singer Laurie London, which is one of the best-selling gospel songs of all time. The song has also been recorded by many other singers and choirs, including Mahalia Jackson, Marian Anderson, Judy Garland and Nina Simone.
Albertina Walker was an American gospel singer, songwriter and humanitarian.
Christopher Scott Greenwood, known by his stage name Manafest, is a Canadian Christian rapper and rock artist from Pickering, Ontario. He has won multiple awards for the GMA Canada Covenant Awards, GMA Dove Awards, and has been nominated for multiple Juno Awards. Signed for a decade with BEC Recordings, Manafest became independent in 2015.
Tarrian LaShun Pace, professionally known as LaShun Pace and sometimes credited as LaShun Pace-Rhodes or Shun Pace-Rhodes, was an American gospel singer, songwriter and evangelist. Pace was also a Stellar Award winner.
Slaughterhouse is the self-titled debut studio album by hip hop supergroup, Slaughterhouse, consisting of members Crooked I, Joe Budden, Joell Ortiz and Royce da 5'9". The album was released on August 11, 2009 on E1 Music and sold 18,600 copies in its first week.
The Barrett Sisters are an American gospel trio from Chicago, Illinois. The trio consisted of sisters DeLois Barrett Campbell (1926-2011), Billie Barrett GreenBey (1928-2020), and Rodessa Barrett Porter. They sang together for more than 40 years.
Good News in Hard Times is the album released by American gospel group the Sisters of Glory, released on August 22, 1995, by Warner Bros. Records. The set included solo performances by five female singers from different musical backgrounds: Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, Lois Walden, and Albertina Walker.
The Sisters of Glory was a US gospel band that included Thelma Houston, CeCe Peniston, Phoebe Snow, Lois Walden and Albertina Walker. After performing for the Pope John Paul II in Rome at the Vatican, the quintet released their only album entitled Good News in Hard Times, which scored at number twenty-nine on the U.S. Billboard Top Gospel Albums chart in 1995.
Kevin Elijah Burgess, better known by his stage name KB, is an American Christian hip hop artist and music executive from St. Petersburg, Florida. He is the leader of the hip-hop group HGA. Burgess signed a solo artist contract with Reach Records in 2010. The label has released several projects, including the Who Is KB? mixtape in 2011, Weight & Glory, on July 17, 2012, 100 EP on March 4, 2014, Tomorrow We Live on April 21, 2015, and Today We Rebel on October 20, 2017. He is also a member of the label's collective formerly 116 clique shortened to 116.
A Special Part of Me is an album by American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on January 22, 1984, by Columbia Records and reunited him with his "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late" partner Deniece Williams on one of the LP's two duets, "Love Won't Let Me Wait", which is also the only song on the album that was previously recorded and released by another artist. This continuing trend away from the cover album genre would reach its limit with his next studio release, Right from the Heart, which only had original material.
Right from the Heart is an album by the American pop singer Johnny Mathis that was released on March 18, 1985, by Columbia Records. It was his first album without songs that were previously recorded by other artists. The title track is one of the album's four ballads that, along with four of the remaining six up-tempo tracks, delve into the subject of relationships, but it is the synth-driven "Step by Step" and the anthemic "Hold On" on which Mathis take a break from the usual focus on love songs. The former offers the hope that can be found in change that comes gradually until "I can see the way free from yesterday to a new beginning". The latter stresses the importance of being oneself: "Life is a party. Why don't you come the way you are?"
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