Obit of the Day
Looking at the famous, infamous, not-so-famous, and unique lives that have shuffled off this mortal coil.
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Obit of the Day: Co-Wrote “We Belong”
Pat Benatar was big in the 1980s. Of the ten Grammy Award ceremonies between 1980 and 1989, Benatar received nominations for Best Female Rock Performance eight times. She had two Multi-Platinum albums, five Platinum albums, and three Gold albums during the decade. She had 19 top 40 hits over the ten-year period.
In 1984 she hit #5 on the Billboard charts in the U.S. with the song “We Belong” from her album Tampico. It also reached #7 in Australia and #22 in the UK. Her performance of the song earned her a Grammy nod for Best Female Rock Performance. And none of that would have happened if not for Eric Lowen and Dan Navarro, who wrote the song.
Better known as a duo “Lowen & Navarro” the two men began as songwriters and evetually became a performing group. Over two decades they released thirteen albums - the first of which,Walking on a Wire, featured a cover of “We Belong.”
Eric Lowen was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, also known as Lou Gehrig’s Disease, in 2004. After learning he had ALS, Lowen & Navarro still performed 250 shows and recorded three albums before Lowen had to quit in 2009. He died in on March 22, 2012 at the age of 60.
(“We Belong” is copyright of Capitol Records, 1985)
Obit of the Day: Academy Award-Winning Songwriter Robert Sherman
Some of the catchiest tunes in the Disney catalog were written by Robert and Richard Sherman. Beginning with The Absent-Minded Professor in 1961, the Shermans wrote songs for Disney films for the next 16 years. Filmgoers (and more recently DVD watchers) have heard their songs in classics such as Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (not a Disney film), Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Outside of the Disney studios, the Shermans wrote the songs for Snoopy Come Home and the original animated version of Charlotte’s Web.
However, the Sherman’s most popular song of all time was written for the Disney exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York: “It’s a Small World (After All)”. Robert Sherman stated, and few have argued, that the song is the most recorded and translated song in history. One of the reasons this is possible is that, upon request of UNICEF, Disney never copyrighted the song.
Robert Sherman, who died in London at the age of 86, was originally a novelist and began writing songs with Richard in 1953. They first came to the attention of Walt Disney when they wrote the song “Tall Paul” to sung by famed Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. As well as writing songs for children’s movies, the Shermans also wrote several top ten pop hits including “You’re Sixteen” which hit #1 on the Billboard charts for Johnny Burnette (1960) and Ringo Starr (1974). The brothers were inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2005.
Random note: In April 1945, near the end of World War II, Robert Sherman’s Army unit became the first Allied soldiers to enter the infamous Dachau concentration camp.
Additional sources: imdb.com, songfacts.com and wikipedia.org
(All poster images are courtesy of impawards.com except for The Jungle Bookwhich is courtesy of disney.wikia.com and Bedknobs and Broomstickswhich is courtesy of traileraddict.com)
(via obitoftheday)
Obit of the Day: Academy Award-Winning Songwriter Robert Sherman
Some of the catchiest tunes in the Disney catalog were written by Robert and Richard Sherman. Beginning with The Absent-Minded Professor in 1961, the Shermans wrote songs for Disney films for the next 16 years. Filmgoers (and more recently DVD watchers) have heard their songs in classics such as Mary Poppins, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (not a Disney film), Bedknobs and Broomsticks, The Jungle Book, and Winnie the Pooh and the Blustery Day. Outside of the Disney studios, the Shermans wrote the songs for Snoopy Come Home and the original animated version of Charlotte’s Web.
However, the Sherman’s most popular song of all time was written for the Disney exhibit at the 1964 World’s Fair in New York: “It’s a Small World (After All)”. Robert Sherman stated, and few have argued, that the song is the most recorded and translated song in history. One of the reasons this is possible is that, upon request of UNICEF, Disney never copyrighted the song.
Robert Sherman, who died in London at the age of 86, was originally a novelist and began writing songs with Richard in 1953. They first came to the attention of Walt Disney when they wrote the song “Tall Paul” to sung by famed Mouseketeer Annette Funicello. As well as writing songs for children’s movies, the Shermans also wrote several top ten pop hits including “You’re Sixteen” which hit #1 on the Billboard charts for Johnny Burnette (1960) and Ringo Starr (1974). The brothers were inducted into the Songwriters’ Hall of Fame in 2005.
Random note: In April 1945, near the end of World War II, Robert Sherman’s Army unit became the first Allied soldiers to enter the infamous Dachau concentration camp.
Additional sources: imdb.com, songfacts.com and wikipedia.org
(All poster images are courtesy of impawards.com except for The Jungle Bookwhich is courtesy of disney.wikia.com and Bedknobs and Broomstickswhich is courtesy of traileraddict.com)
Obit of the Day: Long, “Strange” Trip
When Nancy Sinatra put on her walking boots Billy Strange was there. When her baby shot her down, Bill Strange was there. When Elvis made memories, Bill Strange was there. When the Beach Boys recorded pet sounds, Billy Strange was there.
Billy Strange was a guitarist, songwriter, and arranger who worked with some of the best-known artists and made some of the most popular records of the 1960s. He arranged Nancy Sinatra’s hit “These Boots Are Made for Walkin’” and played guitar on “Bang Bang (My Baby Shot Me Down).” (“Bang Bang” was featured on the soundtrack of Kill Bill.) When Elvis came to Los Angeles, Strange wrote “Memories” and “A Little Less Conversation” for the star.
Strange began playing guitar when he was 14 years old and became a touring musician at 16. Later he became part of a group of session musicians living in L.A. They played on albums by the Beach Boys (including Pet Sounds), The Byrds, Sonny and Cher, and Frank Sinatra. The gentlemen earned the nickname “The Wrecking Crew” because older session musicians thought that rock and roll would “wreck” music.
Billy Strange and the other members of the Wrecking Crew were inducted into the Musicians Hall of Fame in Nashville, Tennessee in 2007. Mr. Strange died at the age of 81.
(How Does That Grab You? is copyright of Boots Enterprises, Inc., 2006)
