"Mostly Martha" is a popular song written by Ralph Sterling (music) and Dorcas Cochran (lyrics). The best-known version was recorded by The Crew-Cuts in 1955. This recording was released by Mercury Records as catalog number 70741 along with the flip side of "Angels In the Sky". It first reached the Billboard magazine charts on January 7, 1956. It peaked at #31 on the composite chart of the top 100 songs.
The melody of the song is borrowed from the tenor aria usually known by its Italian title, "M'appari", composed in 1847 by the German Friedrich von Flotow. It was written for his opera L'Ame en Peine, but famous for its inclusion in his best-known work, Martha . The melody appears as part of the background music in Alfred Hitchcock's 1954 film Rear Window .
The Righteous Brothers are an American musical duo originally formed by Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield but now comprising Medley and Bucky Heard. Medley formed the group with Hatfield in 1963. They had first performed together in 1962 in the Los Angeles area as part of a five-member group called the Paramours, and adopted the name The Righteous Brothers when they became a duo. Their most active recording period was in the 1960s and '70s, and, after several years inactive as a duo, Hatfield and Medley reunited in 1981 and continued to perform until Hatfield's death in 2003. The music they performed is sometimes dubbed "blue-eyed soul".
Electronic were an English alternative dance supergroup formed by singer/guitarist Bernard Sumner and guitarist Johnny Marr ex-(of Smiths). They co-wrote the majority of their output between 1989 and 1998, collaborating with Neil Tennant and Chris Lowe, of Pet Shop Boys, on three tracks in their early years, and former Kraftwerk member Karl Bartos on nine songs in 1995.
"Unchained Melody" is a 1955 song with music by Alex North and lyrics by Hy Zaret. North wrote the music as a theme for the little-known prison film Unchained, hence the song title. Todd Duncan sang the vocals for the film soundtrack. It has since become a standard and one of the most recorded songs of the 20th century, most notably by the Righteous Brothers in July 1965. According to the song's publishing administrator, over 1,500 recordings of "Unchained Melody" have been made by more than 670 artists, in multiple languages.
Black Box is an Italian house music group popular in the late 1980s and early 1990s. The group is a trio made up of club DJ Daniele Davoli, classically trained clarinet teacher Valerio Semplici, and keyboardist and electronic musician Mirko Limoni. French fashion model Katrin Quinol joined the act in 1989 and became the official face of Black Box, appearing on the cover of their single and album releases as well as in music videos, including the hit "Ride on Time", which was the highest-selling single of 1989 in the UK. The band's success waned when it was revealed that Quinol was lip-syncing to the vocals recorded by American singer Martha Wash, who sang the majority of the songs on the group's debut album, Dreamland.
"Misty" is a jazz standard written in 1954 by pianist Erroll Garner. He composed it as an instrumental in the traditional 32-bar format and recorded it for the album Contrasts (1955). Lyrics were added later by Johnny Burke. It became the signature song of Johnny Mathis, appearing on his 1959 album Heavenly and reaching number 12 on the U.S. Pop Singles chart later that year. The song has been recorded many times, including versions by Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra.
Poses is the second studio album by the American-Canadian singer-songwriter Rufus Wainwright, released through DreamWorks Records in June 2001. The album was recorded, mixed, and produced by Pierre Marchand, with select tracks produced by Propellerheads' Alex Gifford ("Shadows"), Ethan Johns ("California"), Damian LeGassick, and Greg Wells.
"Ue o Muite Arukō" is a song by Japanese crooner Kyu Sakamoto, first released in Japan in 1961. The song topped the charts in several countries, including the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1963. The song grew to become one of the world's best-selling singles of all time, selling over 13 million copies worldwide.
The James Bond film series from Eon Productions features numerous musical compositions since its inception in 1962, many of which are now considered classic pieces of British film music. The best known of these pieces is the "James Bond Theme" by Monty Norman. Other instrumentals, such as "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", and various songs performed by several notable British or American artists, such as Shirley Bassey's "Goldfinger", Paul McCartney's "Live and Let Die", Carly Simon's "Nobody Does It Better", Sheena Easton's "For Your Eyes Only", Duran Duran's "A View to a Kill" and Tina Turner's "Goldeneye" also become identified with the series. Two Bond songs have won the Academy Award for Best Original Song: "Skyfall" by Adele and "Writing's on the Wall" by Sam Smith, with the latter also becoming the first Bond theme to reach number one on the UK music charts.
"Unfinished Sympathy" is a song by English trip hop group Massive Attack, released under the temporary group name Massive. It was written by the three band members Robert "3D" Del Naja, Andrew "Mushroom" Vowles and Grant "Daddy G" Marshall, the song's vocalist Shara Nelson and the group's co-producer Jonathan "Jonny Dollar" Sharp. The song was released as the second single from the band's debut album Blue Lines, on the band's Wild Bunch label distributed through Circa Records on 11 February 1991. The choice of using the name "Massive" was done to avoid a radio ban as its release coincided with the Gulf War. Produced by Massive Attack and Dollar, the song incorporates various musical elements into its arrangement, including vocal and percussion samples, drum programming, and string orchestration by arranger Wil Malone.
"Echo Beach" is a song recorded by the Canadian group Martha and the Muffins in 1979. Written by band member Mark Gane, it was released as a single from their album Metro Music in 1980 and went on to reach number 5 in Canada, number 6 in Australia, and number 10 in the UK. It was certified gold in Canada on 1 October 1980, a month after Metro Music achieved gold status, and also won the Juno Award for Single of the Year. "Echo Beach" was the band's only significant international hit, although they had other popular singles in Canada.
"Melody of Love" is a popular song. The music was originally written by Hans Engelmann in 1903. The lyrics were added by Tom Glazer in 1954.
"Anything Is Possible" is a song co-written by Chris Braide and Cathy Dennis for the winner of the first series of Pop Idol in the United Kingdom. Will Young won the competition and therefore released the song as his debut single, with production by Dennis and Oskar Paul. It debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, and has been certified 3x Platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. It has since become the 14th best-selling single of all time in the UK, as well as the second best-selling UK single of the 21st century.
"It's All in the Game" is a pop song whose most successful version was recorded by Tommy Edwards in 1958. Carl Sigman composed the lyrics in 1951 to a wordless 1911 composition titled "Melody in A Major", written by Charles G. Dawes, who was later Vice President of the United States under Calvin Coolidge. It is the only No. 1 single in the U.S. to have been co-written by a U.S. Vice President or a Nobel Peace Prize laureate.
"I'll Walk Alone" is a 1944 popular song with music by Jule Styne and lyrics by Sammy Cahn. The song was written for the 1944 musical film Follow the Boys, in which it was sung by Dinah Shore, and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Song but lost to “Swinging on a Star”. Shore also released the song as a single which became her first #1 hit on the Billboard charts.
"Evergreen" is a pop song, co-written by Jörgen Elofsson, Per Magnusson and David Kreuger, and originally recorded by Irish boy band Westlife. The song appears on their album World of Our Own, and was released as a single only in the Philippines, where it reached number one. It was composed in the traditional verse–chorus form in C major, with Filan and Mcfadden's vocal ranging from the chords of F#3 to B4.
"Long Time Gone" is a bluegrass song by Darrell Scott, originally recorded by him on his 2000 album Real Time which Scott recorded together with Tim O'Brien.
"Melody of Love " is a 1994 song recorded by American singer Donna Summer as a new track for her 1994 hits compilation album, Endless Summer: Donna Summer's Greatest Hits. The song was written by Summer, David Cole, Robert Clivillés and Joe Carrano, and produced by Summer and Welcome Productions. The song was released in November 1994 as the first single from the complication by Mercury Records and Casablanca Records. "Melody of Love " just missed the Top 20 in the United Kingdom (#21). The song was formed with several remixes. It was her tenth number 1 hit on the dance charts in the United States. In Australia, the single peaked at #79 in December 1994.
Eric Nathan Robertson is a Scottish composer, organist, pianist, and record producer who has been primarily active in Canada. A two time Gemini Award winner, he has composed more than 60 film scores and written music for a number of television series in Canada and the United States. He has also written a considerable amount of choral and organ music, sometimes with instrumental or symphonic accompaniment. His works display a strong influence of Ralph Vaughan Williams, Charles Wood, and William O. Minay, the latter of whom he studied with for over 30 years. He has also produced and played on numerous commercial albums by a variety of artists and released several of his own albums of popular songs and film themes under the name Magic Melodies.
"Give It to You" is a song recorded by American singer/songwriter Martha Wash and the second release from her self-titled 1992 debut album, Martha Wash, and the follow-up single to "Carry On." The track, written and produced by Brian Alexander Morgan, would be her second number-one single on Billboard's Dance Club Songs chart, reaching the top spot on April 3, 1993. It also became a modest crossover hit on the Hot 100, peaking at number 90 in 1993.
"It's a Shame About Ray" is a 1992 song by alternative rock band the Lemonheads for their album of the same name. Written by frontman Evan Dando and his friend and occasional songwriting partner Tom Morgan, the song was inspired by a headline in an Australian newspaper.