25 Oct 2019
Radio, Recording Permalink

Dave Brubeck

October 25, 2019

In Remembrance of Dave Brubeck

In memory of Jazz Great Dave Brubeck, flowers were placed on his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame on Wednesday, December 5, 2012. The star in Recording category is located at 1716 Vine Street. “Rest in Peace, Mr. Brubeck!” Ana Martinez, producer of the Hollywood Walk of Fame signed the card on behalf of the Hollywood Historic Trust and the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce. 

 

David Warren "Dave" Brubeck is an American jazz pianist. He has written a number of jazz standards, including "In Your Own Sweet Way" and "The Duke". Brubeck's style ranges from refined to bombastic, reflecting his mother's attempts at classical training and his improvisational skills. His music is known for employing unusual time signatures, and superimposing contrasting rhythms, meters, and tonalities.

His long-time musical partner, alto saxophonist Paul Desmond, wrote the Dave Brubeck Quartet's best remembered piece, "Take Five", which is in 5/4 time and has endured as a jazz classic. Brubeck experimented with time signatures throughout his career, recording "Pick Up Sticks" in 6/4, "Unsquare Dance" in 7/4, and "Blue Rondo à la Turk" in 9/8. He is also a respected composer of orchestral and sacred music, and wrote soundtracks for television such as Mr. Broadway and the animated mini-series This Is America, Charlie Brown.

Brubeck was born in Concord, California and grew up in Ione. His father, Howard "Pete" Brubeck, was a cattle rancher, and his mother, Elizabeth, who had studied piano in England under Myra Hess and intended to become a concert pianist, taught piano for extra money. Brubeck originally did not intend to become a musician, but took lessons from his mother. He could not read sheet music during these early lessons, attributing this difficulty to poor eyesight, but "faked" his way through, well enough that this deficiency went mostly unnoticed.

Intending to work with his father on their ranch, Brubeck entered the College of the Pacific studying veterinary science, but transferred on the urging of the head of zoology, Dr Arnold, who told him "Brubeck, your mind's not here. It's across the lawn in the conservatory. Please go there. Stop wasting my time and yours." Later, Brubeck was nearly expelled when one of his professors discovered that he could not read music. Several of his professors came forward, arguing that his ability with counterpoint and harmony more than compensated. The college was still afraid that it would cause a scandal, and only agreed to let Brubeck graduate once he promised never to teach piano.

25 Oct 2019
Radio, Television Permalink

Dave Garroway

October 25, 2019

David Cunningham “Dave” Garroway was the founding host of NBC’s Today from 1952 to 1961. His easygoing, relaxed, and relaxing style belied a battle with depression that may have contributed to the end of his days as a leading television personality?and, eventually, his life. He was honored for his contributions to radio and television with a star for each on the Hollywood Walk of Fame as well as the St. Louis Walk of Fame.

Born in Schenectady, New York, Garroway was 14 and had moved with his family 13 times before settling in St. Louis, Missouri, where he attended University City High School and Washington University in St. Louis, from which he earned a degree in abnormal psychology. Before going into broadcasting, Garroway worked as a Harvard University lab assistant, selling books, and as a piston ring salesman. After not being able to successfully sell either, Garroway decided to try his hand in radio.

He began his broadcasting career modestly, starting as an NBC page in 1938, and then graduated from NBC’s school for announcers, 23rd in a class of 24. Even so, he landed a job at influential Pittsburgh radio station KDKA in 1939. He roamed the region, filing a number of memorable reports from a hot-air balloon, from a U.S. Navy submarine in the Ohio River, and from deep inside a coal mine. Those early reports earned Garroway a reputation for finding a good story, even if it took him to unusual places. The “Roving Announcer”, as he was known, worked his way up to become the station’s special events director, in addition to his on-air work. After two years with KDKA, Garroway left for Chicago.

When the United States entered World War II in 1941, Garroway enlisted in the U.S. Navy, but one trip out to Honolulu convinced the young man that perhaps he was a little better suited for radio instead. The Navy agreed to let him run a yeoman’s school instead, and on his off-hours he hosted a radio show, on which he played jazz records and reminisced about the old days back in Chicago. After the war, he returned to the Windy City as a disc jockey at WMAQ. On the air, he retained the persona he crafted in Honolulu to great success in a series of radio programs: The 11:60 Club, The Dave Garroway Show, and Reserved for Garroway. One oddity Garroway introduced on his radio shows was having the studio audience respond to a song number not by applauding but by snapping their fingers. He also organized a series of jazz concerts in Chicago and created a “Jazz Circuit” of local clubs in 1947 which brought back interest in this form of music. His fellow disk jockeys voted him the nation’s best in the 1948 and 1949 Billboard polls.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Dave Koz

October 25, 2019

Jazz musician Dave Koz celebrated 20 years in the business with the 2,389th star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Leron Gubler, President and CEO of the Hollywood Chamber of Commerce, presided over the ceremony. Guests included Barry Manilow, Chris Gardner, Jason Alexander, Kenny G, Dave Grohl, Bob Saget, Bruce Vilanch, and Bebe Winans. Koz performed his Grammy-nominated rendition of "Over the Rainbow" at the ceremony.

1750 N. Vine Street on September 22, 2009.

BIOGRAPHY

In a career spanning two decades, Dave Koz has established himself as a platinum-selling artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, radio host, and instrumental music advocate. A six-time Grammy® nominee, the list of artists he has played with bears testament to his talent and includes such musical luminaries as Burt Bacharach, Ray Charles, Natalie Cole, Celine Dion, Kenny Loggins, U2, Barry Manilow, Michael McDonald, Luther Vandross, and Rod Stewart.

Many of his own hits — smash singles such as "You Make Me Smile," Koz's signature song, "Castle of Dreams," "Can't Let You Go" featuring the late Luther Vandross, "Together Again," "Honey-Dipped," "All I See Is You," and "Faces of the Heart," which was the theme song for "General Hospital" for more than 10 years — were collected in his first-ever retrospective album, Dave Koz – Greatest Hits, which bowed at No. 1 on both Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz Albums chart and iTunes' Jazz Album chart in September 2008. "Life In The Fast Lane," one of four new songs included on the album, spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Smooth Jazz chart and "Bada Bing" hit No. 2. Koz's latest single, "And Then I Knew," produced by Rob Cavallo (Dave Matthews Band, Green Day) just went to radio.

Born and raised in L.A.'s San Fernando Valley, Koz initially picked up the saxophone to gain entry into his big brother's band. What began as a ploy became a lifelong obsession. After earning his degree in mass communications from UCLA, Koz decided to become a professional musician and toured with Bobby Caldwell's band, keyboardist Jeff Lorber, and pop singer Richard Marx. His 1990 self-titled solo debut album on Capitol Records was the first in a body of best-selling work, which includes the gold-certified Lucky Man (1993), Off The Beaten Path (1996), The Dance (1999, certified gold), Saxophonic (2003) and the holiday-themed albums December Makes Me Feel This Way (1997), Dave Koz & Friends – A Smooth Jazz Christmas (2001) and Memories Of A Winter's Night (2007). In 2007, Koz released At The Movies, a lush, romantic celebration of timeless melodies from cinema that spent 12 weeks at No. 1 on Billboard's Top Contemporary Jazz chart. Produced by the legendary Phil Ramone, it was nominated for a Grammy in the "Best Pop Instrumental Album" category and included "Over the Rainbow," which was also nominated for a Grammy.

Koz also serves as the host of a weekday afternoon radio show that's nationally distributed on the Smooth Jazz Radio Network; and, on weekends, as the host of the Dave Koz Radio Show, now in its 15th year and syndicated in approximately 120 markets. As an entrepreneur, Koz founded Rendezvous Entertainment. As a philanthropist, he has served for 17 years as global ambassador for the Starlight Children's Foundation. He recently partnered with Vinum Cellars, a Napa Valley boutique winery, and Whole Foods Market® to introduce three types of KOZ wines. He is donating all his proceeds from KOZ wines – available exclusively at Whole Foods Market stores in Southern California, Arizona and Nevada – to help Starlight continue its vital mission. Koz completed a four-year term on the Grammy Foundation Artists Committee, has served as National Trustee for the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences (NARAS) and is an ongoing member of the Board of Governors for the Grammy® Foundation.

25 Oct 2019
Motion Pictures, Recording Permalink

Dave O’Brien

October 25, 2019

Dave O'Brien was an American film actor, director and writer. Born David Poole Fronabarger in Big Spring, Texas, O'Brien started his film career in bit parts before gradually winning larger roles, mostly in B pictures.

O'Brien became familiar to movie audiences in the 1940s as the hero of the famous MGM comedy short film series Pete Smith Specialties narrated by Pete Smith. O'Brien wrote and directed many of these subjects under the name David Barclay.

He also appeared in many low-budget Westerns, often billed as 'Tex' O'Brien, alluding to his home state. To modern audiences, he is most likely best to be remembered as a frantic dope addict in the low-budget exploitation film Reefer Madness, yelling "Play it faster, play it faster!!" to a piano-playing girl. He appeared in Queen Of The Yukon as Bob Adams.

In 1942, O'Brien starred in the movie serial Captain Midnight.

25 Oct 2019
Television Permalink

Dave Willock

October 25, 2019

Dave Willock was an American character actor. Willock appeared in 181 films and television shows from 1939-1989. He is probably most familiar to modern audiences from his performance as Baby Jane Hudson’s father in the opening scenes of the 1962 cult classic What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?. He played seven different characters on CBS’s Green Acres with Eddie Albert and Eva Gabor, but mostly portrayed clerks or elevator operators.

He appeared on an episode of Dragnet as an ex-vaudevillean who is cheated out of $9,000 that he found on a sidewalk. In the 1961-1962 season, he played Harvey Clayton, father of the 1920s teenager Margie Clayton, portrayed by Cynthia Pepper in ABC’s Margie.Willock also appeared in animated roles, such as the offscreen narrator on Wacky Races and as father Augustus “Gus” Holiday on The Roman Holidays. He appeared in a television commercial for “The Great American Soups,” directed by American satirist Stan Freberg, alongside tap-dancing star Ann Miller.

25 Oct 2019
Recording Permalink

David Bowie

October 25, 2019

David Bowie is an English rock musician, who has also worked as an actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for five decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s, and is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth of his work.

Although he released an album and several singles earlier, Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when the song “Space Oddity” reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era as the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single “Starman” and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie’s impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, “challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day” and “created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture.” The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.

In 1975, Bowie achieved his first major American crossover success with the number-one single “Fame”, co-written with John Lennon, and the hit album Young Americans, which the singer characterised as “plastic soul”. The sound constituted a radical shift in style that initially alienated many of his UK devotees. He then confounded the expectations of both his record label and his American audiences by recording the minimalist album Low ?the first of three collaborations with Brian Eno over the next two years. The so-called “Berlin Trilogy” albums all reached the UK top five and garnered lasting critical praise.

After uneven commercial success in the late 1970s, Bowie had UK number ones with the 1980 single “Ashes to Ashes” and its parent album, Scary Monsters . He paired with Queen for the 1981 UK chart-topping single “Under Pressure”, then reached a new commercial peak in 1983 with the album Let’s Dance, which yielded the hit singles “Let’s Dance”, “China Girl”, and “Modern Love”. Throughout the 1990s and 2000s, Bowie continued to experiment with musical styles, including blue-eyed soul, industrial, adult contemporary, and jungle. His last recorded album was Reality, which was supported by the 2003?2004 Reality Tour.

25 Oct 2019
Television Permalink

David Brian

October 25, 2019

David Brian was an American actor and dancer.

Brian was signed by Warner Bros. in 1949 and appeared in such films as The Damned Don’t Cry! and Flamingo Road with Joan Crawford, and Beyond the Forest with Bette Davis. He also had a role in the John Wayne movie The High and the Mighty of 1954 as Ken Childs.

In the 1950s and 1960s, Brian was active in television with guest roles in dozens of shows ranging from dramatic to comedic, from Rawhide to I Dream of Jeannie. In the mid-1950s, he was the lead actor in the TV show, Mr. District Attorney.

25 Oct 2019
Recording, Television Permalink

David Carradine

October 25, 2019

David Carradine, born John Arthur Carradine, was an American character actor, best known for his role as Kwai Chang Caine in the 1970s television series, Kung Fu and its 1990s sequel series, ‘. He was a member of a productive acting dynasty that began with his father, John Carradine. His acting career, which included major and minor roles on stage, television and cinema, spanned over four decades. A prolific “B” movie actor, he appeared in more than 100 feature films and was nominated four times for a Golden Globe Award. The latest nomination was for his part in Quentin Tarantino’s Kill Bill.

Film projects that featured Carradine continued to be released long after his death. These posthumous credits were from a variety of genres including horror, action, western, martial arts, drama, science fiction and documentary. In addition to his acting career, Carradine was also a musician and pursued a directing career. Influenced by his most popular acting role, he studied martial arts. The child of a frequently married actor, “Jack”, as Carradine was known in his youth, had an unstable childhood. This instability would continue throughout his life as he himself was married several times. He was also frequently arrested and prosecuted for a variety of offenses which often involved substance abuse. His death occurred in June 2009, under unusual circumstances.

He was born John Arthur Carradine”’ in Hollywood, California, the son of Ardanelle “Abigail” and noted American actor John Carradine. He was a brother of Bruce, half-brother of Keith, Christopher and Robert Carradine, and an uncle of Ever Carradine and Martha Plimpton. He was the great-grandson of Methodist evangelical author Beverly Carradine and the grandnephew of artist Will Foster.

“Jack” Carradine’s formative years were turbulent. Both of his parents repeatedly married. He was the product of his mother’s second marriage of three, and his father’s first of four. At the time his parents married each other, his mother already had a son, Bruce, by her first husband, whom John adopted. John Carradine planned a large family but, as his son explained in his autobiography, after his wife had a series of miscarriages, he discovered that she had had repeated illegal abortions without his knowledge. This rendered her unable to carry a baby to full term. It was with this backdrop of marital discord that at the age of 5, Jack almost succeeded in committing suicide by hanging. He said that the incident followed his discovery that he and Bruce had different biological fathers. He added that, “My father saved me, and then confiscated my comic book collection and burned it

25 Oct 2019
Live Performance Permalink

David Copperfield

October 25, 2019

David Copperfield is an American illusionist, described by Forbes in 2006 as the most commercially successful magician in history. Best known for his combination of storytelling and illusion, Copperfield has so far sold 40 million tickets and grossed over $1 billion.

Copperfield was born David Seth Kotkin in Metuchen, New Jersey, the son of Jewish parents, Rebecca, an insurance adjuster, and Hyman Kotkin, who owned and operated a men’s haberdashery in Metuchen called Korby’s. Copperfield’s mother was born in Jerusalem, Israel, while his paternal grandparents were Jewish immigrants from Russia. When Copperfield was 10, he began practicing magic as “Davino the Boy Magician” in his neighborhood, and at the age of 14, became the youngest person ever admitted to the Society of American Magicians. Shy and a loner, the young Copperfield saw magic as a way of fitting in and, later, as a way to get girls. As a teenager, Copperfield became fascinated with Broadway and frequently sneaked into shows, especially musicals featuring Stephen Sondheim or Bob Fosse. By age 16, he was teaching a course in magic at New York University.

At age 18, he enrolled at Fordham University, and was cast in the lead role of the Chicago-based musical The Magic Man three weeks into his freshman year, adopting his new stage name “David Copperfield” from the Charles Dickens book of the same name. At age 19, he was headlining at the Pagoda Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii.