House Of Hits

Founded in a working-class neighborhood in southeast Houston in 1941, Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios is a major independent studio that has produced a multitude of influential hit records in an astonishingly diverse range of genres. Its roster of recorded musicians includes Lightnin' Hopkins, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Bobby "Blue" Bland, Junior Parker, Clifton Chenier, Sir Douglas Quintet, 13th Floor Elevators, Freddy Fender, Kinky Friedman, Ray Benson, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Beyoncé and Destiny's Child, and many, many more. In House of Hits, Andy Bradley and Roger Wood chronicle the fascinating history of Gold Star/SugarHill, telling a story that effectively covers the postwar popular music industry. They describe how Houston's lack of zoning ordinances allowed founder Bill Quinn's house studio to grow into a large studio complex, just as SugarHill's willingness to transcend musical boundaries transformed it into of one of the most storied recording enterprises in America. The authors offer behind-the-scenes accounts of numerous hit recordings, spiced with anecdotes from studio insiders and musicians who recorded at SugarHill. Bradley and Wood also place significant emphasis on the role of technology in shaping the music and the evolution of the music business. They include in-depth biographies of regional stars and analysis of the various styles of music they represent, as well as a list of all of Gold Star/SugarHill's recordings that made the Billboard charts and extensive selected historical discographies of the studio's recordings.

Founded in a working-class neighborhood in southeast Houston in 1941, Gold Star/SugarHill Recording Studios is a major independent studio that has produced a multitude of influential hit records in an astonishingly diverse range of genres. Its roster of recorded musicians includes Lightnin’ Hopkins, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Junior Parker, Clifton Chenier, Sir Douglas Quintet, 13th Floor Elevators, Freddy Fender, Kinky Friedman, Ray Benson, Guy Clark, Lucinda Williams, Beyoncé and Destiny’s Child, and many, many more. In House of Hits, Andy Bradley and Roger Wood chronicle the fascinating history of Gold Star/SugarHill, telling a story that effectively covers the postwar popular music industry. They describe how Houston’s lack of zoning ordinances allowed founder Bill Quinn’s house studio to grow into a large studio complex, just as SugarHill’s willingness to transcend musical boundaries transformed it into of one of the most storied recording enterprises in America. The authors offer behind-the-scenes accounts of numerous hit recordings, spiced with anecdotes from studio insiders and musicians who recorded at SugarHill. Bradley and Wood also place significant emphasis on the role of technology in shaping the music and the evolution of the music business. They include in-depth biographies of regional stars and analysis of the various styles of music they represent, as well as a list of all of Gold Star/SugarHill’s recordings that made the Billboard charts and extensive selected historical discographies of the studio’s recordings.

"From World War I through the 1960s, Houston was transformed into one of the most ethnically and racially diverse urban areas in the United States. Houston Bound draws on social and cultural history to show how, despite Anglo attempts to fix racial categories through Jim Crow laws, converging migrations--particularly those of Mexicans and Creoles--complicated ideas of blackness and whiteness and introduced different understandings about race. This migration history also traces the emergence of Houston's blues and jazz scenes in the 1920s as well as the hybrid forms of these genres--like zydeco and Tejano soul--that arose when migrants forged shared social space. Houston's location on the Gulf Coast, poised between the American South and the West, provides for a particularly rich examination of how the histories of colonization, slavery, and segregation produced divergent ways of thinking about race"--Provided by publisher.

Songs Of The Piano Stars, with its 24 hit songs from the past and present, will enable you to play a selection of perfect Piano-led tunes drawn from sixty years popular music from a wide range of artists. These songs have been expertly-selected and engraved to reflect the most-requested songs by Piano singer-songwriters, with tunes from The Beatles, Carole King, Alicia Keys and more. Each piece has been carefully arranged for piano, with accompanying voice melodies and guitar chord boxes. Song List: - Alfie [Burt Bacharach] - All Of Me [John Legend] - Angel [Sarah McLachlan] - Brave [Sara Bareilles] - Come On Up To The House [Tom Waits] - The Girl In The Other Room [Diana Krall] - Don't Explain [Nina Simone] - Don't Know Why [Norah Jones] - Girl On Fire [Alicia Keys] - I Feel The Earth Move [Carole King] - I Love To See You Smile [Randy Newman] - Imagine [John Lennon] - Lady Madonna [The Beatles] - Live And Let Die [Paul McCartney] - My Life [Billy Joel] - Paper Bag [Fiona Apple] - Philosophy [Ben Folds Five] - Pretty Good Year [Tori Amos] - Rocket Man [Elton John] - A Thousand Miles [Vanessa Carlton] - Tiny Dancer [Elton John] - Walking In Memphis [Mark Cohn] - This Woman's Work [Kate Bush] - You're So Vain [Carly Simon]

From the longest-serving music columnist online comes this comprehensive account of the Top 40 hit singles of 1988. Every artist to land a hit single during the year is documented and every one of their hits is catalogued. A full account of who made the charts, when, and most importantly why. The year when Kylie Minogue was transformed from Australian soap actress to global chart superstar. The year which saw House Music change the world. The year of Yazz, of S-Express, but also of Glen Medeiros. And the year which ended with Cliff redefining Christmas songs forever. The essential guide to a fascinating year in pop music, and the perfect reference book for any self-respecting 80s music fan.

A revised and updated edition of the explosive book that blows the lid off the Central Intelligence Agency. The CIA’s Greatest Hits details how the CIA: • hired top Nazi war criminals, shielded them from justice and learned—and used—their techniques • has been involved in assassinations, bombings, massacres, wars, death squads, drug trafficking, and rigged elections all over the world • tortures children as young as 13 and adults as old as 89, resulting in forced “confessions to all sorts of imaginary crimes (an innocent Kuwaiti was tortured for months to make him keep repeating his initial lies, and a supposed al-Qaeda leader was waterboarded 187 times in a single month without producing a speck of useful information) • orchestrates the media—which one CIA deputy director liked to call “the mighty Wurlitzer—and places its agents inside newspapers, magazines and book publishers • and much more The CIA’s crimes continue unabated, and unpunished. The day before General David Petraeus took over as the twentieth CIA director, federal prosecutors announced that they were dropping 99 investigations into the deaths of people in CIA custody, leaving just two active cases they’re willing to pursue.