Saturday, November 6, 2010

Fireworks this week from Florence Welch, Katy Perry and Flashbacking to a Mix of Mafia and Music

     This week we had so much going on in the Katy Perry world with weddings, new singles.She has even implanted her music into the head of Justin Bieber with her song Teenage Dream.Firework her new song is a top catchy pop tune and gets the thumbs up from us.
     Florence Welch is another artist I wanted to highlight because of her unique sound.Just love Dog Days are Over which has been in the British and US charts for an eternity.
     We are flashbacking to the Jacki Wilson story and his influence on music,dance and entertainment. His Sam Cooke and mafia connections make his story a very interesting one.
Florence and The Machine

   Florence Welch and her backing musicians received a great deal of critical acclaim and were chosen as one of the BBC's Sounds of 2009. In February 2009, Florence and The Machine also received the Critics Choice Award at the Brit Awards.
  Florence grew up listening to her parents' record collection, which included bands such as The Velvet Underground, Love and The Smiths. At school, her teachers often had to reprimand her for singing in class. 

  Dog Days are Over

Which is still in the US charts and has been in and out of the British top 40 since its release in December 2008.



Katy Perry 

Her Wedding and new single Firework 
   For the wedding they stayed at a resort near India's Ranthambhore wildlife sanctuary, in a region known for its tiger population.
The gown a Elie Saab haute couture dress was dove gray with lace sleeves added was a pair of $7,000 beaded satin heels.
     The night before they exchanged vows, the couple threw a Bollywood-themed bash and engaged in a traditional Mehndi ceremony where Katy's hands and feet were drawn on with henna.
    Although they spent their first night together as man and wife in a tent surrounded by armed guard, for their real honeymoon, the couple jetted to the Maldives, a chain of tiny, coral islands in the Indian Ocean, where they also celebrated Katy's 26th birthday.

   Katy also celebrates with another new release Firework and it is the song that heads our highlights from the music world this week. She was also in the head of another entertainer at  the studios of the Ellen DeGeneres show. Ellen asked about the song currently stuck in Justin Bieber's head. We all know  music get stuck up in everyone's head .After revealing it was 'Teenage Dream', Ellen jokingly suggested he sing it which he did.
 He took a verse and ran with it, a classy entertainer for one so young.

Firework



Justin Bieber and Teenage Dream



Flashback
Jackie "Sonny" Wilson 

was born 9th of June 1934 in Detroit, Michigan and was getting in and out of trouble on a regular basis from an early age. He began drinking at age nine, and in 1950 at age 16 dropped out of high school. He married Freda Hood, his childhood sweetheart, and a daughter arrived in March, 1951



Mafia and Music ?

   In 1957 Wilson embarked on a solo career with Al Green, as his music publisher and manager. Green was able to secure Wilson a recording contract with Brunswick Records. However, Green suddenly died the day before the deal was officially signed. He was replaced by Nat Turnpool in collaboration with Berry Gordy and Roquel "Billy" Davis, Wilson soon had a string of hits to his name, among them "To Be Loved," "Reet Petite" and "That Is Why," as well as his biggest hit, "Lonely Teardrops."  This partnership ended after disagreements between Tarnpool and the team of Davis/Gordy over inadequate payments. After parting ways, Gordy used his royalties to create Hitsville USA Studios, later to become Motown Records. The rest is music history.
   Although married to Freda Hood since 1951, Wilson was notorious for his numerous affairs with other women. Things came to a head in 1961 when Juanita Jones, an aspiring model, shot Wilson twice in the stomach after hearing about his affair with Harlean Harris, ex-girlfriend of singer Sam Cooke.This has such a Sam Cooke ring to it, the mind starts questioning maybe there was more to Sam's death and this incident.Wilson was rushed to the hospital where quick surgery saved his life, although he lost a kidney. Since one of the bullets was too close to his spine, doctors ruled out surgery to remove it as far too dangerous. Wilson would have to carry it around for the rest of his life.
     Besides women, Wilson had another dangerous weakness, he was incredibly naive and easily trusting, something that Tarnpool took advantage of. Wilson had signed over power-of-attorney to him despite strong rumors of Tarnpool's mob connections and his reputation as an unscrupulous businessman .In 1962 the IRS seized Wilson's family home due to his failure to pay back taxes due mainly to the fact that Tarnpool had been pocketing all of Wilson's earnings. Now despite the success of his career, he was broke and homeless. Eventually he made arrangements with the IRS to make restitution on the unpaid taxes and was able to re-purchase his own house at an auction.
On September 29, 1975 Wilson suffered a major heart attack while on stage at Dick Clark's "Traveling Oldies Revue". As he fell he hit his head on some stage equipment, resulting in serious brain damage. He stayed in a coma until his death at 49 on January 21, 1984.

Baby Workout




Michael Jackson dancing to Jacki Wilson



Get the Sweetest Feeling

2 comments:

  1. Wow. I love how Jackie moves on this Higher and Higher video. Thanks for the article. I'd forgotten that he was in a coma for years. I, also, noticed where MJ might have gotten some of this great dance moves from.

    I must return to view the other videos.

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  2. I love this "Sweetest Feeling" song and video by Jackie. Thanks Lee for posting it.

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