Eartha Mae Kitt was an American singer and actress known for her highly distinctive singing style and her 1953 recordings of "C'est si bon" and the Christmas novelty song "Santa Baby".
Luther Henderson was an American arranger, composer, orchestrator, and pianist best known for his contributions to Broadway musicals.
Hugo Winterhalter was an American easy listening arranger and composer, best known for his many arrangements and recordings for RCA Victor.
Redemption's Son is the third studio album by Joseph Arthur. The double album was first released in the UK only on May 20, 2002, due to Joseph being dropped by Virgin Records/EMI in the US. Eventually, Enjoy Records picked up the record and released it stateside on November 26, 2002 with a slightly different track listing and alternate artwork.
Real World/Virgin released the album Come to Where I'm From in the States, but when Arthur wanted to start his next project, Virgin backed off. But his overactive muse couldn't wait for corporate support, so he jumped into recording regardless. Arthur ended up with Redemption's Son, plus another two albums' worth of songs, which were released over the course of four EPs called Junkyard Hearts 1-4. "I make three or four records a year, but I've only been able to get 'em out every two or three years," says Arthur.
"Santa Baby" is a song performed by American singer Eartha Kitt with Henri René and His Orchestra and originally released in 1953. The song was written by Joan Javits and Philip Springer, who also used the pseudonym Tony Springer in an attempt to speed up the song's publishing process. Lyrically, the song is a tongue-in-cheek look at a Christmas list addressed to Santa Claus by a woman who wants extravagant gifts such as sables, yachts, and decorations from Tiffany.
Michael Josef Longo was an American jazz pianist, composer, and author.
Stephen J. Lawrence was an American composer, who lived and worked in New York City. He was also known as Stephen Lawrence, but used his middle initial to differentiate him from the singer Steve Lawrence.
Bruce Hubbard was an American operatic baritone. A Drama Desk and Laurence Olivier Award nominee for Best Actor, he performed on Broadway, the Metropolitan Opera, BBC television, in concert and made several recordings. He is most famous for appearing as Joe in Show Boat, and as Jake, as well as Porgy, in Porgy and Bess on Broadway, the West End, and in several major opera houses and regional theatres. He graduated from the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music.
Alex Lacamoire is a Cuban-American composer, arranger, conductor, musical director, music copyist, and orchestrator who has worked on many shows both on and off-Broadway. He is the recipient of multiple Tony and Grammy Awards for his work on shows such as In the Heights (2008), Hamilton (2016), and Dear Evan Hansen (2017). Lacamoire was awarded the Kennedy Center Honor in 2018.
Michael Ernest Renzi was an American composer, music director, pianist, and jazz musician. Renzi graduated from the Boston Conservatory in 1973 and from Berklee College of Music in 1974. He was a musical director for Peggy Lee and Mel Tormé for over 25 years. He worked on Sesame Street as the music director for seasons 31 through 40 and led the Mike Renzi Trio.
Thomas Robert Kitt is an American composer, conductor, orchestrator, and musician. For his score for the musical Next to Normal, he shared the 2010 Pulitzer Prize for Drama with Brian Yorkey. He has also won two Tony Awards and an Outer Critics Circle Award for Next to Normal, as well as Tony and Outer Critics Circle nominations for If/Then and SpongeBob SquarePants. He has been nominated for eight Drama Desk Awards, winning one, and a Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album for Jagged Little Pill in 2021.
Brian Yorkey is an American playwright and lyricist. His works often explore dark and controversial subject matter such as mental illness, grief, the underbelly of suburbia, and ethics in both psychiatry and public education.
Ted Royal [Dewar] was an American orchestrator, conductor and composer for Broadway theatre. He was most active in the 1940s and 1950s, being associated with the very successful original productions of Lerner and Loewe's Brigadoon and Paint Your Wagon. Together with George Bassman he orchestrated Frank Loesser's Guys and Dolls. The dean of musical orchestrators, Robert Russell Bennett, remembered Royal as "one of Broadway's very special arrangers."
The Sweetest Days is the third studio album by American singer and actress Vanessa Williams. It was released on December 6, 1994, by Wing Records and Mercury Records. The album peaked at number 57 on the US Billboard 200 and at number 25 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA).
John Philip Shenale is a Canadian composer, arranger, musician and producer based in Los Angeles.
William Brittelle is a Grammy-winning Brooklyn-based composer, producer, and creator of hypertext and multimedia. He primarily works in the area of genre-fluid electro-acoustic music. Brittelle is co-founder/co-artistic director of New Amsterdam Records with composers Sarah Kirkland Snider and Judd Greenstein and house producer at Shahzad Ismaily's Figureight Recording studio. He has worked with artists across the stylistic spectrum, including the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Seattle Symphony, the Baltimore Symphony, Roomful of Teeth, Justin Vernon, Bryce Dessner, Dirty Projectors, Son Lux, Oneohtrix Point Never, Duran Duran, Wye Oak, Kayne West, and others.
Anthony Marinelli is an American musician, composer, synth programmer, record producer and conductor. In his early career, he composed and performed accompaniment on the synthesizer for albums including Michael Jackson's Thriller (1982). Marinelli has also recorded with Lionel Richie, Kenny Loggins, Herb Alpert, Supertramp, The Crystal Method, Billy Childs and James Brown.
Philip Springer is an American composer, best known for co-writing the classic Christmas song "Santa Baby". In a musical career spanning over 70 years, he is credited in 540 musical pieces, including composing songs for numerous well-known singers. He still writes about 35 songs per year.
Bill Sherman is an American composer, producer, arranger, and orchestrator. He is known for his work on In the Heights, Hamilton, and Sesame Street. Sherman is also a member of Team Supreme that co-hosts the Questlove Supreme podcast.
