 | This article has multiple issues. Please help improve it or discuss these issues on the talk page . (Learn how and when to remove these template messages)
|
Rick Berlin (born Richard Gustave Kinscherf III; 1945 in Sioux City, Iowa) is a Boston-based singer-songwriter, formerly the frontman of Orchestra Luna, Luna, Berlin Airlift, Rick Berlin: The Movie, and The Shelley Winters Project.
A Yale graduate, Berlin has been writing and performing a distinctly theatrical form of rock and roll since the early 1970s. He achieved much of his early success with Orchestra Luna, whose eponymous debut was released on Epic Records in 1974. Orchestra Luna, co-produced by Rupert Holmes, captured many of the dramatic eccentricities that made the band a renowned live act, particularly on "(You Gotta Have) Heart" (a cover of the Damn Yankees tune). That year, WBCN started an annual tradition of playing this particular cut for the Boston Red Sox on the baseball team's opening day. Album sales proved disappointing to Epic, though the tour for the record was successful (including an opening slot for Roxy Music). The label dropped the band, but Berlin (then Kinscherf) continued to compose and perform with Orchestra Luna, becoming a part of the CBGB scene in New York City and playing with acts like Talking Heads and The Ramones. In 1976, Orchestra Luna was offered a recording contract from Sire Records, which they turned down. Unfortunately, they found themselves unable to find a better offer. In 1978, the band's name was changed to, simply, Luna. A hit single, "Hooray For Hollywood" was released, but litigation with a former producer prevented a full album from following.
In 1982 his new band, Berlin Airlift (named for the Allied mission to fly food and supplies to blockaded West Berlin in 1948–1949), released its eponymous debut on Handshake/CBS Records. The album was given little chance to succeed, however, as Handshake declared bankruptcy less than two months later. [1] Nonetheless, two of the album's singles, "Don't Stop Me From Crying" and "Over The Hill" were hits on local Boston radio. In 1983, Berlin Airlift opened for the J. Geils Band and released the Professionally damaged EP. It featured "Hunger Strikes" which was the number one local song of 1983 on Boston radio station WBCN. The demise of Handshake Records and other difficulties led to the breakup of Berlin Airlift in 1984.
Rick Berlin: The Movie was formed in 1985. Berlin won Indie Songwriter of the Year at the Boston Music Awards for the single "Rock 'n Roll Romance" in 1987, and continued to perform in Rick Berlin: The Movie until 1989. He briefly fronted a band called Rome Is Burning in 1990, but by 1991 was performing as a solo artist. In 1994, Berlin began playing Monday nights at a Boston transvestite bar called Jacques. This weekly gig continued through 2003.
In 1999, Berlin formed one more band, The Shelley Winters Project. An eponymous, six-track CD was released on Orchard Records in 2001, followed in 2002 by the full-length I Hate Everything But You on Windjam Records. In 2003, The Shelley Winters Project opened for The B-52's, and in 2004 the band folded.
Berlin recently recorded as a solo artist, and released the album Me & Van Gogh in early 2006, and "Paper Airplane" in 2010, both on the Hi-n-Dry label. In 2009 he appeared on the Internationally streamed, On Stage with Mantis as a soloist featuring material from 'Me & Van Gogh' and the soon to be finished 'Paper Airplanes'. He was also employed at historic Doyle's Cafe in Jamaica Plain, Massachusetts until it closed October 2019.
Following the release of "Paper Airplane", Rick teamed up with the already existing Nickel & Dime Band. This 8-piece band breathes new life into old Berlin tunes. Berlin continues to write new material, now with this band in mind. The Nickel & Dime band (with Rick Berlin) recorded a live show at the Brendan Behan, titled "Outta Control" in March 2011, and they finished up their first studio pursuit at Dimension Sound, and are expecting to release it later this year[ when? ]. Though on a small scale, the band has received highly positive critical acclaim, partly thanks to Berlin's preexisting reputation in his hometown Jamaica Plain.
Berlin also worked in setting up the First Annual JP Music Fest, a tradition that he wants to continue for a long time. The one for 2012 is already in the works.
Luna | |
|---|---|
| Origin | Boston, Massachusetts, US |
| Genres | Rock and Roll |
| Years active | 1978 to 1980 |
| Website | http://berlinrick.com |
Luna was an American rock and roll band formed by Rick Berlin from former members of Orchestra Luna. Band members were:
Jefferson Airplane was an American rock band based in San Francisco, California, that became one of the pioneering bands of psychedelic rock. Formed in 1965, the group defined the San Francisco Sound and was the first from the Bay Area to achieve international commercial success. They headlined the Monterey Pop Festival (1967), Woodstock (1969), Altamont Free Concert (1969), and the first Isle of Wight Festival (1968) in England. Their 1967 breakout album Surrealistic Pillow was one of the most significant recordings of the Summer of Love. Two songs from that album, "Somebody to Love" and "White Rabbit", are among Rolling Stone's "500 Greatest Songs of All Time".
Jefferson Starship is an American rock band from San Francisco, California, formed in 1974 by a group of musicians including former members of Jefferson Airplane. Between 1974 and 1984, they released eight gold or platinum-selling studio albums, and one gold-selling compilation. The album Red Octopus went double-platinum, reaching No. 1 on the Billboard 200 chart in 1975. The band went through several major changes in personnel and genres through the years while retaining the Jefferson Starship name. The band name was retired in 1984, but it was picked up again in 1992 by a revival of the group led by Paul Kantner, which has continued since his death in 2016.
The Cars were an American new wave band formed in Boston in 1976. Emerging from the new wave scene in the late 1970s, they consisted of Ric Ocasek, Benjamin Orr, Elliot Easton, Greg Hawkes (keyboards), and David Robinson (drums). Ocasek and Orr shared lead vocals, and Ocasek was the band's principal songwriter and leader.
Reagan Youth is an American anarcho-punk band formed by singer Dave Rubinstein and guitarist Paul Bakija in Queens, New York City in early 1980.
The J. Geils Band was an American rock band formed in 1967, in Worcester, Massachusetts, under the leadership of guitarist John "J." Geils. The original band members included vocalist Peter Wolf, harmonica and saxophone player Richard "Magic Dick" Salwitz, drummer Stephen Bladd, vocalist/keyboardist Seth Justman, and bassist Danny Klein. Wolf and Justman served as principal songwriters. The band played R&B-influenced blues rock during the 1970s and soon achieved commercial success before moving toward a more mainstream radio-friendly sound in the early 1980s, which brought the band to its commercial peak. They performed a mix of cover songs of classic blues and R&B songs, along with original compositions written primarily by Wolf and Justman, as well as some group compositions written under the pseudonymous name Juke Joint Jimmy, representing compositions credited to the entire band as a whole. After Wolf left the band in 1983 to pursue a solo career, the band released one more album in 1984 with Justman on lead vocals, before breaking up in 1985. Beginning in 1999, the band had several reunions prior to the death of its namesake, J. Geils, on April 11, 2017.
Double Nickels on the Dime is the third album by American punk trio Minutemen, released on the California independent record label SST Records in 1984. A double album containing 45 songs, Double Nickels on the Dime combines elements of punk rock, funk, country, spoken word and jazz, and references a variety of themes, from the Vietnam War and racism in America, to working-class experience and linguistics.
Darkbuster is a punk rock band hailing from Boston, Massachusetts, known largely for their songs about the joys of heavy drinking, which have earned them a strong following in the American Northeast. The band occasionally performs under the name of P Diddler And The Fearsome Foursome.
Van Gogh is a Serbian and former Yugoslav rock band from Belgrade.
"Psycho Killer" is a song by American rock band Talking Heads, released on their debut studio album Talking Heads: 77 (1977). The group first performed it as the Artistics in 1974.
Orchestra Luna was an American rock and roll band of the 1970s who had two incarnations, the first producing a hard-to-categorize mixture of cabaret, Broadway musicals, and rock, and the second a somewhat more traditional mix of pop and rock. Rick Berlin, at the time using his birth name of Richard Kinscherf, composed most of their songs, sang, and played keyboards. Rick was the driving force of the band and is the only person who was a member in all the various lineups.
Bark is the sixth studio album by American rock band Jefferson Airplane. Released in 1971 as Grunt FTR-1001, the album is one of the Airplane's late-period works, notable for the group's first personnel changes since 1966. The album was the first without band founder Marty Balin and the first with violinist Papa John Creach. Drummer Spencer Dryden had been replaced by Joey Covington in early 1970 after a lengthy transitional period in which both musicians had performed with the band.
Jefferson Airplane is the eighth and final studio album by San Francisco rock band Jefferson Airplane, released on Epic Records in 1989. Marty Balin, Paul Kantner, Grace Slick, Jorma Kaukonen and Jack Casady all returned for the album and supporting tour, though Spencer Dryden did not participate. The album and accompanying tour would mark the last time Jefferson Airplane would perform together until their 1996 induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Amaia Montero Saldías is a Spanish singer and songwriter mainly known as the former vocalist of the Spanish pop-band La Oreja de Van Gogh between 1996 and 2007.
The Siegel–Schwall Band was an American electric blues band from Chicago, Illinois. The band was formed in 1964 by Corky Siegel and Jim Schwall. They played many live shows, and released ten albums. They disbanded in 1974. The Siegel-Schwall Band performed occasional concerts, and released two more albums, from 1987 to 2016.
Berlin Airlift is the eponymous debut album by the American rock band Berlin Airlift. It was released in 1982 by Handshake Records. Handshake Records declared bankruptcy 6 weeks after the album was released, dooming the album. Over the Hill and Don't Stop Me from Crying were radio favorites in Boston.
Professionally Damaged is a six-song EP by the American rock band Berlin Airlift. It was released in 1983 by Lo-Tech Records. The EP features Hunger Strikes, number one local song of 1983 on Boston radio station WBCN.
John Antonopoulos, known professionally as Johnny A, is an American musician, guitarist, and songwriter.
Spitfire is a ska band formed in Saint Petersburg, Russia in 1993.
Limbo Race was an American post-punk band formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1979 by Randy Black on guitar, John Neidhart on bass, and Peter Keaveney on drums. In 1981, Keaveney was replaced by drummer Mark Poulin and the band added saxophonist Mark Chenevert. Limbo Race featured an angular, sometimes harsh sound that some critics compared to the Gang of Four and The Cure. Black's lyrics described an unsettled world where communication was difficult, and drew upon dark anthropological references, images from childhood, and intimate details of his relationships with friends and lovers.
Limbo Race developed a passionate cult following and, after winning the WBCN Rock & Roll Rumble in 1982, the band added keyboardist Catherine Coleman and toured extensively throughout the Northeastern United States until 1984 when the band finally broke up.
Hullabaloo is a punk/grunge band from Cambridge, Massachusetts, started in 1986 by guitarist/vocalist Sluggo and vocalist/multi-instrumentalist TQ. The band cites myriad influences from John Coltrane to Iron Maiden and King Diamond contributing to their at times "surreal" and "psychedelic" sound. They also employed unusual instrumentation for a band of their ilk; TQ playing trumpet, tenor sax and electric piano in addition to vocals.
