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Jive Bunny and the Mastermixers ,

were an 1980s and early 1990s novelty pop music act from Rotherham, Yorkshire, UK. The face of the group was Jive Bunny himself, a cartoon rabbit who appeared in the videos, and also (as a human being in a costume) did promotional appearances for them. Doncaster DJ and producer Les Hemstock created and mixed the J.Bunny concept for father and son team John and Andrew Pickles.
Jive Bunny’s three number ones were “Swing the Mood”, “That’s What I Like” and “Let’s Party”. All three songs used sampling and synthesisers to combine pop music from the early rock and roll era together into a medley. The results were somewhat like Jaap Eggermont’s Stars on 45, although he had hired “sound-alike” singers and musicians to recreate the music from scratch. ….Read More

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The Rubettes ,

were an English pop band of the 1970s assembled in 1973 by the songwriting team of Wayne Bickerton, the then head of A&R at Polydor Records, and his co-songwriter, Tony Waddington, after their doo-wop and 1950s American pop-influenced songs had been rejected by a number of existing acts. The band duly emerged at the tail end of the glam rock movement, wearing trademark white suits and cloth caps on stage.
The Rubettes’ first (and biggest) hit was “Sugar Baby Love” (released in 1974) which was a UK number one, going on to sell around eight million copies worldwide. Two million copies being sold in France alone an achievement matched by no other British group. The distinctive falsetto lead vocal to “Sugar Baby Love” was performed by Paul Da Vinci (real name: Paul Prewer) on the original Polydor recording session who declined the opportunity to actually become a member of the band put together by John Richardson.

The Rubettes went on to have a number of other hits across Europe during the mid-seventies such as “Tonight”, “Juke Box Jive” and “I Can Do It” sung by Alan Williams, mostly written by the Bickerton-Waddington songwriting team. Their most successful self composed hit was the ‘country rock’ styled ballad – “Baby I Know” – which reached number 10 in the UK & Germany in 1977.

The band continued releasing records into the 1980s, then re-grouped in 1983 in order to exploit the German market for 1970s nostalgia. In 1994, the group’s profile was raised by the inclusion of “Sugar Baby Love” in the hit movie, Muriel’s Wedding. This song was also featured in the 2005 Neil Jordan film, Breakfast on Pluto soundtrack. ….More

The Rubettes – Juke Box Jive

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Neil Sedaka ,

(born March 13, 1939 in Brooklyn, New York) is an American pop singer, pianist, and songwriter often associated with the Brill Building. He teamed up with Howard Greenfield to write hits for himself and others. Sedaka’s voice is tenor and alto.
Sedaka was born in Brooklyn, New York on 13 March 1939. His father, Mac Sedaka, a taxi driver, was the son of Turkish-Jewish immigrants; his mother, Eleanor (Appel) Sedaka, was of Polish-Russian Jewish descent.

He demonstrated musical aptitude in his second-grade choral class, and when his teacher sent a note home suggesting he take piano lessons, his mother took a part-time job in an Abraham & Straus department store for six months to pay for a second-hand upright. He took to the instrument immediately. In 1947, he auditioned successfully for a piano scholarship to the Juilliard School of Music’s Preparatory Division for Children, which he attended on Saturdays. He also maintained an interest in popular music, and when he was 13, a neighbor heard him playing and introduced him to her 16-year-old son, Howard Greenfield, an aspiring poet and lyricist. The two began writing together.

The best-known Billboard Hot 100 hits of his early career are “The Diary” (#14, 1958), a song that he offered to Little Anthony and the Imperials; “Oh! Carol” (#9, 1959); “You Mean Everything to Me” (#17, 1960); “Calendar Girl” (#4, 1960); “Stairway to Heaven” (#9, 1960); “Run Samson Run (top 30, 1960); “Little Devil” (#11, 1961); “Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen” (#6, 1961); “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” (#1, 1962); and “Next Door To An Angel” (#5, 1962). “Oh! Carol” refers to Sedaka’s Brill Building compatriot and former girlfriend Carole King. King responded with her answer song, “Oh, Neil”, which used Sedaka’s full name. A Scopitone exists for “Calendar Girl”. Sedaka wrote another hit, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, for his then close friend Annette Funicello. ….More

Neil Sedaka – Boppin’ Neil Sedaka- Hits And Rarities

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Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry ,

(born October 18, 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter.

Chuck Berry is an influential figure and one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s website, “While no individual can be said to have invented rock and roll, Chuck Berry comes the closest of any single figure to being the one who put all the essential pieces together.” Cub Koda wrote, “Of all the early breakthrough rock & roll artists, none is more important to the development of the music than Chuck Berry. He is its greatest songwriter, the main shaper of its instrumental voice, one of its greatest guitarists, and one of its greatest performers.” John Lennon was more succinct: “If you tried to give rock and roll another name, you might call it ‘Chuck Berry’.”

Berry was among the first musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on its opening in 1986. He received Kennedy Center Honors in 2000 in a “class” with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Plácido Domingo, Angela Lansbury, and Clint Eastwood. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Chuck Berry #5 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time. He was also ranked 6th on Rolling Stone’s Rolling Stone’s 100 greatest guitarists of All Time.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame included three of Chuck Berry’s songs (Johnny B. Goode, Maybellene, Rock & Roll Music), of the 500 songs that shaped Rock and Roll. ….More

Chuck Berry – The Anthology P1

Chuck Berry – The Anthology P2

Chuck Berry – The Anthology P3

AlterLink P1

AlterLink P2

AlterLink P3

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