Success! is a musical by Bernard J. Taylor that was first recorded in 1993 as a studio concept album featuring various West End performers including Lon Satton (who created the role of Poppa in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express), Claire Moore, Kathryn Evans, Jessica Martin and Maurice Clarke. It had its world premiere stage production in Rotherham, Yorkshire, in 1995.
Bernard J. Taylor is the writer and composer of twelve stage musicals and four stage plays. His musicals have been produced around the world and translated into German, Romanian, Polish, Hungarian, Spanish and Italian. He is also the writer of 14 novels and three non-fiction books. In 2013 he was made an Honorary Fellow of the Victoria College of Music and Drama for "services to music and the performing arts."
West End theatre is a common term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of "Theatreland" in and near the West End of London. Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London.
Lon Satton is an American actor and composer mostly known in Britain.
Following are extracts of some of the reviews:
"Great writers of stage music have always proved themselves to be versatile. In the light of the favourable reaction it received it would have been more than easy for Taylor to follow Wuthering Heights with another show in that same grand scale, but instead he quickly showed his credentials by heading in a totally different direction and in doing so comes up with another admirable piece of work. "Success!" is full of splendid material and is loads of fun." - Mike Gibb, Masquerade, Issue 13, 1993
"An adaptation of the Faust legend, I enjoyed this one very much, and it has some bright, breezy and catchy numbers. I will be surprised if anyone who buys it is disappointed with the standard of the songs." - Terry Wardrope, Words and Music, Issue 17, January 1994.
"Taylor's score has several attractive songs . . . They're all sung as if they are the hottest songs to come from the West End." - Show Music, USA, autumn 1993 edition.
Jerome David Kern was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in over 100 stage works, including such classics as "Ol' Man River", "Can't Help Lovin' Dat Man", "A Fine Romance", "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes", "The Song Is You", "All the Things You Are", "The Way You Look Tonight", "Long Ago " and "Who?". He collaborated with many of the leading librettists and lyricists of his era, including George Grossmith Jr., Guy Bolton, P. G. Wodehouse, Otto Harbach, Oscar Hammerstein II, Dorothy Fields, Johnny Mercer, Ira Gershwin and E. Y. Harburg.
Musical theatre is a form of theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an integrated whole. Although musical theatre overlaps with other theatrical forms like opera and dance, it may be distinguished by the equal importance given to the music as compared with the dialogue, movement and other elements. Since the early 20th century, musical theatre stage works have generally been called, simply, musicals.
Patsy Cline was an American country music singer and part of the Nashville sound during the late 1950s and early 1960s. She successfully "crossed over" to pop music and was one of the most influential, successful, and acclaimed vocalists of the 20th century. She died at age 30 in the crash of a private airplane.
James Vernon Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist. A five-time Grammy Award winner, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2000. He is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold more than 100 million records worldwide.
Winger is an American rock band that has combined elements of glam metal and progressive metal. Formed in New York City, Winger gained popularity during the late 1980s and early 1990s. The band's two platinum albums, Winger and In the Heart of the Young, along with charting singles "Seventeen", "Headed for a Heartbreak" and "Miles Away", put the band on the top of the charts by the early 1990s. In 1990, the band was nominated for an American Music Award for "Best New Heavy Metal Band". As the music scene changed in the early to mid-1990s due to the popularity of grunge, the band faded after their third release Pull.
Kenneth Ray Rogers is an American singer, songwriter, actor, record producer, and entrepreneur. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Elaine Paige is an English singer and actress best known for her work in musical theatre. Raised in Barnet, Hertfordshire, Paige attended the Aida Foster Theatre School, making her first professional appearance on stage in 1964, at the age of 16. Her appearance in the 1968 production of Hair marked her West End debut.
Livingston Taylor is an American singer-songwriter and folk musician. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, and raised in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, he is the brother of singer-songwriter James Taylor, singer-songwriter Kate Taylor, musician Alex Taylor, and innkeeper and singer Hugh Taylor. With a career reaching the fifty-year mark in 2017, Taylor is most notable for his Billboard hits “I Will Be In Love With You”, “First Time Love”, and “I’ll Come Running”.
Anita Dobson is an English stage, film and television actress, and singer. She is known for her role from 1985 to 1988 as Angie Watts in the BBC soap opera EastEnders. In 1986, she reached number four in the UK Singles Chart with "Anyone Can Fall in Love", a song based on the theme music of EastEnders.
"Careless Memories" is the second single by Duran Duran, released on 20 April 1981.
A soundtrack album is any album that incorporates music directly recorded from the soundtrack of a particular feature film or television show. The first such album to be commercially released was Walt Disney's Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, the soundtrack to the film of the same name, in 1938. The first soundtrack album of a film's orchestral score was that for Alexander Korda's 1942 film Jungle Book, composed by Miklós Rózsa. However, this album added the voice of Sabu, the film's star, narrating the story in character as Mowgli.
Day26 is an American male R&B music group formed in August 2007 by Sean "Diddy" Combs in a handpicked selection at the end of MTV's Making the Band 4. The group consists of Robert Curry, Brian Angel, Willie Taylor, Qwanell Mosley and Michael McCluney. The moniker is a tribute to the day when Angel, McCluney, Mosely, Curry, and Taylor went from unknowns to stars. The group released their first album, Day26, on March 25, 2008, one week after their then labelmates and Making the Band 3 winners Danity Kane released Welcome to the Dollhouse. The album's first single, "Got Me Going", was released on the finale of Making the Band 4. The album went on to debut at number one on the billboard charts. Subsequent seasons of Making the Band 4 featured the group on tour and making their second album Forever in a Day which also topped the Billboard charts.
Allegro is a musical by Richard Rodgers (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II, their third collaboration for the stage. Opening on Broadway on October 10, 1947, the musical centers on the life of Joseph Taylor, Jr., who follows in the footsteps of his father as a doctor, but is tempted by fortune and fame at a big-city hospital.
The English rock band Queen was well known for its live musical acts. Diverse musical catalogues, large sound systems, lighting rigs, innovative pyrotechnics and extravagant costumes often gave shows a theatrical nature. Artists such as Bob Geldof, David Bowie, George Michael, Kurt Cobain, and Robbie Williams have expressed admiration for lead singer Freddie Mercury's stage presence.
"Up on the Roof" is a song written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King and recorded in 1962 by The Drifters. Released late that year, the disc became a major hit in early 1963, reaching number 5 on the U.S. pop singles chart and number 4 on the U.S. R&B singles chart. In the UK it was a top ten success for singer Kenny Lynch, whose version was also released in 1962.
"Mockingbird" is a 1963 song written and recorded by Inez and Charlie Foxx, based on the lullaby "Hush Little Baby".
"The Song Remembers When" is a song written by Hugh Prestwood, and recorded by American country music singer Trisha Yearwood. It was released in October 1993 as the lead single and title track from her album The Song Remembers When. The song was later covered by Kristin Chenoweth for her 2005 album As I Am.
"Get Off Your Ass and Jam" is a song by Funkadelic, track number 6 to their 1975 album Let's Take It to the Stage. It was written by George Clinton, although the lyrics are made up entirely of repetitions of the phrase, "Shit! Goddamn! Get off your ass and jam!", interspersed with lengthy guitar solos. Critic Ned Raggett reviewed the song as one that "kicks in with one bad-ass drum roll and then scorches the damn place down".
The 2009 MTV Video Music Awards took place on September 13, 2009, at Radio City Music Hall in New York City, honoring the best music videos from June 19, 2008, to June 29, 2009. Comedian Russell Brand hosted the event for the second time in a row. The awards were held a few months after Michael Jackson died. The VMAs dedicated the night to Jackson with an opening performance featuring a music video montage medley with dancers performing Jackson's choreography and concluding with a special appearance by Janet Jackson performing her duet "Scream" alongside footage of her brother. Madonna opened the show with a speech about Jackson. For the finale of the show, the trailer for Michael Jackson's This Is It was shown for the first time.