June 4: Mollie King, "The Blond" of The Saturdays is 24 today.

Mollie Elizabeth King was born in Wandsworth, Greater London, the youngest of three sisters. She is a member of the British female pop singing group The Saturdays.

The Saturdays were formed in London, UK in 2006. They made their recording debut in 2008 for the record label Fascination Records, a sub-division of Polydor Records. They have released three albums, and scored eight UK Top Ten singles, with only nine singles released. As of August 2010, the band have sold nearly 2 million records.

Their debut album, Chasing Lights, produced four top ten singles on the UK Singles Chart. Other members of The Saturdays are Frankie Sandford, Una Healy, Vanessa White and Rochelle Wiseman.

Singing is not Molly's only success in her young life. King was on the Surbiton High Ski team with fellow pupil Chemmy Alcott. King later ski raced for Great Britain as one of the youngest on the team and later went on to ski for the British Alpine squad. Academically, King achieved three As in her A levels, in Psychology, Business and Economics, and Sport. She stands out in the Saturdays because of her striking blonde hair.

The band have had seven top 10 hits, which five of the singles charted within the top 5. Only one release from The Saturdays did not chart within the top 20 ("Work"), only reaching number twenty-one.

Molly plays acoustic guitar.  Before the Saturdays, King appeared in Singing with the Enemy, with former band Fallen Angelz who appeared on The X Factor. She also appeared on The King is Dead on BBC Three and Never Mind the Buzzcocks in 2010.

 

The Saturdays accompanied Girls Aloud on their Tangled Up Tour from 13 May to 4 June 2008. As The Saturdays were promoting their 8th single, Missing You, King had to pull out of performing on T4 on the Beach due to an injury.

(Continued below video and Amazon portal ...)

HIGHLY Recommended (Press album covers for direct links to Amazon):

King appeared on The X Factor in 2007 as a part of girl band Fallen Angelz, (formed in 2005). The group were given positive reception by the judges, although they failed to get past the bootcamp stage of the competition.

King appeared in a number of episodes in the Hollyoaks Later series, along with fellow bandmember Frankie Sandford.

As a part of The Saturdays, she has appeared in BBC series Myths. King has appeared in two episodes of bebo-based online show Sam King as herself in the role of an ex-girlfriend. 

 

####

June 4: Actress and "Singer" (that's right singer), Angelina Jolie is 36-years-old today.

Angelina Jolie a singer? Yes, if you count a videotape of her along with two six grade classmates singing "New York, New York" and "Stand By Me"(see YouTube clip below), and a duet of "Downtown" with "light fingers" Winona Ryder in Girl Interrupted. She also sang "Satisfaction" in Life or Something Like It. (Clip below.)

Of course, that's not what she is known for. Born Angelina Voight, she has received an Academy Award, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, and three Golden Globe Awards.

Jolie promotes humanitarian causes, and is noted for her work with refugees as a Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

She has been cited as one of the world's most attractive people, as well as the world's "sexiest" and "most beautiful" woman.

Born in Los Angeles, California, Jolie is the daughter of actors Jon Voight and Marcheline Bertrand. After her parents' separation in 1976, Jolie and her brother were raised by their mother, who abandoned her acting ambitions and moved with them to Palisades, New York.

As a child, Jolie regularly saw movies with her mother and later explained that this had inspired her interest in acting. When she was eleven years old, the family moved back to Los Angeles and she decided she wanted to act. Angelina enrolled at the Lee Strasberg Theatre Institute, where she trained for two years and appeared in several stage productions.

At the age of 14, she dropped out of her acting classes and decided she wanted to become a funeral director; she wore black clothing, experimented with knife play, and went out moshing - a dance in which participants push and/or slam into each other - with her boyfriend. Two years later, after the relationship had ended, she rented an apartment above a garage a few blocks from her mother's home.

(Continued below video and Amazon portals ...)

(Press album cover for direct link to the entire Amazon Website):

 



Autographed

-----

Jolie returned to theatre studies and graduated from high school a year early. She says during her time as a student at Beverly Hills High School she felt isolated among the children of some of the area's affluent families; Jolie's mother survived on a more modest income, and Jolie often wore second-hand clothes. She was teased by other students, who targeted her for her distinctive features, for being extremely thin, and for wearing glasses and braces.

Her self-esteem was further diminished when her initial attempts at modeling proved unsuccessful. She started to cut herself.

Jolie was estranged from her father for many years. The two tried to reconcile and he appeared with her in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001. In July 2002, Jolie filed a request to legally change her name to "Angelina Jolie," dropping Voight as her surname. After nearly 10 years of estrangement, in February 2010, Jolie publicly reunited with her father when he visited her on the set of The Tourist in Venice (also starring Johnnie Depp.)


Jolie began working as a fashion model when she was 14 years old, modeling mainly in Los Angeles, New York and London. But music has always followed her (among many others, I suppose.)

During that time she appeared in several music videos, namely Lenny Kravitz's "Stand by My Woman," and Antonello Venditti's "Alta Marea" in1991, The Lemonheads's "It's About Time" and Meat Loaf's "Rock & Roll Dreams Come Through" two years later.

At the age of 16, Jolie returned to theatre and played her first role as a German dominatrix. Jolie also appeared in five of her brother's student films, made while he attended the USC School of Cinematic Arts.

Although she made her screen debut as a child with her father Jon Voight in the 1982 film Lookin' to Get Out, Jolie's acting career began in earnest in 1993 when she appeared in the low-budget production Cyborg 2 as Casella "Cash" Reese, a near-human robot, designed to seduce her way into a rival manufacturer's headquarters and then self-detonate. Her first leading role in a major film was in the cyber-thriller Hackers two years later.


She starred in the critically acclaimed biographical television films George Wallace in 1997 and Gia the following year. In 1999, she won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress for her performance in the drama Girl, Interrupted.

Jolie achieved broader fame after her portrayal of video game heroine Lara Croft in Lara Croft: Tomb Raider in 2001, and since then has established herself as one of the best-known and highest-paid actresses in Hollywood.

She received further critical acclaim for her performances in the dramas A Mighty Heart and Changeling, which earned her a nomination for an Academy Award for Best Actress. She added to her reputation as a leading action star with the comic book adaptation Wanted and the 2010 action-thriller Salt.

Jolie has had her biggest commercial successes with the action-comedy Mr. & Mrs. Smith (with Brad Pitt), and the animated film Kung Fu Panda.

Today, Jolie is one of the best known celebrities around the world. According to the Q Score, in 2000, subsequent to her Oscar win, 31% of respondents in the United States said Jolie was familiar to them; by 2006 she was familiar to 81% of Americans.

Jolie was among the "Time 100," a list of the 100 most influential people in the world as assembled by Time, in 2006 and 2008. She was also named one of the "50 People Who Matter 2010" by the New Statesman.

And to think; it all started with a sixth grade video of her singing and goofing around.


####

June 4: Freddy Fender - "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights” – "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" - was born on this date in 1937…

… he died on October 14, 2006.

Born Baldemar Garza Huerta in San Benito, Texas, Freddy Fender Born was a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados.

He is best known for his 1975 hits "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" and "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.”

----- 

Fender made his first radio appearance at age 10 on Harlingen's KGBS-AM radio station KGBT, when he sang "Paloma Querida.” In January 1954, at age 16, Fender quit school, and when he turned 17 he enlisted for three years in the United States Marine Corps. However, he was court-martialed in August 1956 and was discharged with rank of Private. He returned to Texas and played nightclubs, bars and honky-tonks throughout the south, mostly to Latino audiences.

In 1957, then known as El Bebop Kid, he released two songs to moderate success in Mexico and South America: Spanish-language versions of Elvis Presley's "Don't Be Cruel" (as "No Seas Cruel") and Harry Belafonte's "Jamaica Farewell." He also recorded his own Spanish version of Hank Williams's "Cold Cold Heart" under the title "Tu Frio Corazon.”

He became known for his rockabilly music and his cool persona as Eddie Con Los Shades. In 1958, he legally changed his name from Baldemar Huerta to Freddy Fender. He took Fender from the guitar and amplifier, and Freddy because the alliteration sounded good and would .”..sell better with Gringos!" He then moved to California.

In 1959, Fender recorded the blues ballad "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights.” The song was a hit, but he was beset by legal troubles in May 1960 after he and a band member were arrested for possession of marijuana in Baton Rouge, Louisiana.

After serving nearly three years in the Angola prison farm, he was released through the intercession of then Governor Jimmie Davis, also a songwriter and musician. Davis requested that Fender stay away from music while on probation as a condition of his release. By the end of the 1960s, Fender was back in Texas working as a mechanic, and attending a local junior college, while only playing music on the weekends.

In 1974, Fender recorded "Before the Next Teardrop Falls.” The single became a number one hit on the Billboard Country and Pop charts. It sold over one million copies, and was awarded a gold disc by the R.I.A.A. in May 1975. His next three singles, "Secret Love,” "You'll Lose a Good Thing" and a remake of "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” all reached number-one on the Billboard Country charts.

Between 1975 and 1983, Fender charted 21 country hits, including "Since I Met You Baby,” "Vaya con Dios,” "Livin' It Down,” and "The Rains Came.” "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" became Fender's second million-selling single, with the gold disc presentation taking place in September 1975.

(Continued below video and Amazon portals ...)

(Press album cover for direct link to the entire Amazon Website):

-----

Fender also was successful on the pop charts. Besides "Before the Next Teardrop Falls" reaching number 1 on the pop charts in May 1975, "Wasted Days And Wasted Nights" went into the pop top 10 and "Secret Love" into the top 20. "Since I Met You Baby,” "You'll Lose A Good Thing" (his last pop top 40), "Vaya Con Dios,” and "Livin' It Down" (his last to reach the pop top 100) all did well on the pop charts.

While notable for his genre-crossing appeal, several of Fender's hits featured verses or choruses in Spanish. Bilingual songs seldom hit the pop charts, and when they did it was because of novelty. Bilingual songs reaching the country charts was even more unusual.

Fender was heavily influenced by the swamp pop sound from southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, as illustrated on his 1978 album Swamp Gold.  "Wasted Days and Wasted Nights,” has a typical swamp pop ballad arrangement. Fender associated with swamp pop musicians like Paul C Saenz, Joe Barry and Rod Bernard, and issued many recordings on labels owned by Huey Meaux, a Cajun who specialized in swamp pop.

The Texas Tornadoes

In 1989, Fender teamed up with fellow Tex-Mex musicians Doug Sahm, Flaco Jiménez, and Augie Meyers to form the Texas Tornados, whose work meshed conjunto, Tejano, R&B, country, and blues. The group released four albums and won a Grammy in 1990 for 'Best Mexican American Performance' for the track "Soy de San Luis. "You've heard of New Kids on the Block?,” Fender said at the time. “Well, we're the Old Guys in the Street.”

Following the death of Sahm, the Tornados' production slowed. A live 1990 appearance on TV's Austin City Limits, one of three the group made, was released in 2005 as part of the Live From Austin, Texas series.

Los Super Seven

In the late 1990s, Fender joined another supergroup, Los Super Seven, with Los Lobos' David Hidalgo and Cesar Rosas, Flaco Jiménez, Ruben Ramos, Joe Ely, and country singer Rick Trevino. The group won a 1998 Grammy in the Mexican-American Performance category for their self-titled album.

In 2001, Fender made his final studio recording, a collection of classic Mexican boleros titled La Música de Baldemar Huerta that brought him a third Grammy award, this time in the category of Latin Pop Album.

Fender underwent a kidney transplant in 2002 donated by his daughter and a transplant of the liver in 2004. Nonetheless, his condition continued to worsen. He was suffering from an "incurable cancer" in which he had tumors on his lungs. On December 31, 2005, Fender performed his last concert and resumed chemotherapy.

He died in 2006 at the age of 69 of lung cancer at his home in Corpus Christi, Texas.

####

June 3: Pop and Gospel singer Deniece Williams, "Let's Hear It for the Boy," is 61 years-old today.

June Deniece Chandler was born in Gary, Indiana. known by her stage name Deniece "Niecy" Williams is an American Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter and record producer who achieved success in the 1970s and 1980s. Williams, whose music has been described as Soul and Funk, is known for her hits such as "Let's Hear It for the Boy," "It's Gonna Take a Miracle," and for her vocal duets with Johnny Mathis.

Williams attended Morgan State University in Baltimore, Maryland in the hopes of becoming a registered nurse and an anaesthetist but dropped out after a year and a half. She also performed on the side during that time at a club, Casino Royal. In the 1970s, she became a backup vocalist for Stevie Wonder as part of "Wonderlove."

She left Wonder in 1975 and teamed up with producer Maurice White of Earth, Wind & Fire and after signing to Columbia Records, her 1976 debut album entitled This Is Niecy was released. The single "Free" reached #2 on the Black Singles chart, #25 on the Billboard Hot 100, and #1 on the British Singles chart. The album also featured "Cause You Love Me Baby" and "That's What Friends Are For."

She also shared a #1 hit on the Billboard Hot 100 chart with pop singer Johnny Mathis in 1978 with the duet "Too Much, Too Little, Too Late." The duet also topped the Black Singles and Adult Contemporary charts. Williams also topped the dance charts with her disco single "I've Got the Next Dance." Mathis and Williams also recorded the popular theme to the 1980s sitcom Family Ties, "Without Us."

(Continued below video and Amazon portals ...)

(Press album cover for direct link to the entire Amazon Website):

-----

Williams moved on to the American Recording Company (ARC) in the early 1980s where she scored the top ten R&B smash hit "Silly" in 1981.

The following year, she another #1 R&B chart-topper with her remake of The Royalettes' "It's Gonna Take a Miracle," which became a Top 10 pop hit as well, reaching #10. In 1984, Williams released the album Let's Hear It for the Boy, in which the title track reached #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was featured on the soundtrack to Footloose. She also contributed vocals, along with Maurice White, to the song "And Then" from Weather Report's album Mr. Gone released in 1982.

Williams continued releasing albums during the 1980s such as Hot On The Trail, Water Under The Bridge and As Good As It Gets, which featured her last Top Ten hit to date, "I Can't Wait ," written by Skylark. However, in part due to a lack of promotion from her record label, her mainstream popularity faded.

Although Williams had recorded one inspirational song on almost each of her secular albums, it was in 1980 that her musical career path began change favoring Gospel music. Williams joined with friends Phillip Bailey (Earth, Wind and Fire fame), Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo to present a gospel show at a popular Los Angeles club named The Roxy. After that, both Bailey and Williams decided to pursue careers in Christian music.

In 1983, Williams and Bailey recorded "They Say," an atmospheric, slow praise song that builds towards the end with rousing words of praise. The song was written by songwriters Skip Scarborough and Terri McFaddin and received airplay on both Urban and Gospel Black radio. Williams later recorded the song with Christian artist Sandi Patti and won a Grammy for it.

In 1984, Williams sang a Gospel song at the 27th Annual Grammy Awards instead of singing her #1 hit song "Let's Hear It For The Boy" much to her record company's dismay.

After more than a decade Williams' new R&B album, titled Love, Niecy Style, was released on April 24, 2007 on Shanachie Records. Williams returned to Gospel music, charting again in October 2007. The song, "Grateful-The Redication," recorded with Wanda Vaughn of The Emotions and Sherree Brown debuted at #40 debut on the Billboard Adult R&B Singles chart. This was Williams' first entry on the singles chart since 1989.


In 2010, she released her album, Songbird.


####

June 3: Bassist and singer Suzi Quatro is 61 years-old today.

Susan Kay "Suzi" Quatro was born in Detroit, Michigan. Her father was a part-time jazz musician. In her autobiography, Unzipped, she said her name was shortened from Quattrocchi by her paternal grandfather.

Quatro began her musical career at the age of fourteen. She played the bass guitar in the all-female band Pleasure Seekers and Cradle with her sisters Patti, Nancy, and Arlene. Her first bass guitar was a 1957 Fender Precision, given to her by her father.

(Patti Quatro later joined the band Fanny, one of the earliest all-female rock bands to gain national attention. She has a brother, Michael Quatro, who is also a musician.)

Known at first in the U.S. for her role as Leather Tuscadero on the TV show Happy Days (Leather fronted an all-girl rock band joined by principal character Joanie Cunningham,) Quatro moved to the United Kingdom in 1971 after being discovered in Detroit by the record producer Mickie Most, who produced The Animals, Jeff Beck, Lulu, and Donovan. By this time he had started his own label RAK Records, which made stars of Hot Chocolate and Mud.

Quatro's first single "Rolling Stone" was number one in Portugal, but did little sales-wise every place else. Most introduced Quatro to the songwriting and production team Nicky Chinn and Mike Chapman. Following a slot on a UK tour with Thin Lizzy and headliners Slade, her second single "Can the Can" was a number one hit throughout Europe and in Australia.

It was followed by three other hits in 1973-74: "48 Crash," "Daytona Demon," and "Devil Gate Drive" on RAK Records. "Can the Can," "48 Crash" and "Devil Gate Drive" each sold over one million copies, and were each awarded gold discs.

(Continued below video and Amazon portals ...)

(Press album cover for direct link to the entire Amazon Website):

-----

These recordings, her version of hybrid of glam rock and bubblegum pop, did not catch on in the U.S. She did enjoy some success as a session player.

Quatro's fortunes did not change until 1978, when "If You Can't Give Me Love" became a hit in the United Kingdom and Australia. This did nothing to prompt Stateside success, but "Stumblin' In," a duet recorded that same year for RSO Records with Chris Norman of the band Smokie reached a #4 peak in the U.S. Both tracks are featured on the If You Knew Suzi album.

A year later, Quatro released Suzi... And Other Four Letter Words, featuring the singles, "She's In Love With You," which made number 11 in Britain, "Mama's Boy" and "I've Never Been In Love." In 1980, her song "Rock Hard" was featured on the soundtrack of the cult film Times Square.

Also in 1980, she released Suzi Quatro's Greatest Hits. It became her highest charting album in the UK, peaking at #4 in the UK Albums Chart. Her success in Britain didn't continue. Her last UK hit was "Heart of Stone" in 1982.

In 1985, Quatro collaborated with Bronski Beat and members of The Kinks, Eddie and the Hot Rods, and Dr. Feelgood on the Mark Cunningham produced version of David Bowie's "Heroes," released the following year as the 1986 BBC "Children In Need" single.

In December 2005, a documentary chronicling Quatro's life, Naked Under Leather, directed by former member of The Runaways Victory Tischler Blue, appeared. In February 2006, Quatro released "Back To the Drive," produced by Sweet guitarist Andy Scott.

In March 2007, Quatro released a version of the Eagles song "Desperado ," followed by the publication of her autobiography, Unzipped.

In addition to touring, Quatro has hosted weekly rock and roll programmes on BBC Radio 2. The first one was Rockin' with Suzi Q. Her second programme called "Wake Up Little Suzi ." It aired on Thursdays.

During her career, Suzi Quatro has sold nearly 50 million records.




####

June 3: Curtis Mayfield of The Impressions, ("Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready," "Move on Up") was born on this date in 1942...

... he died on December 26, 1999. He was 57 years old when he passed away.

Born on June 3, 1942 in Chicago, Illinois, Mayfield's mother moved Curtis and his siblings into the legendary Cabrini–Green projects when Curtis was a teenager. He dropped out of high school early to become lead singer and songwriter for The Impressions, then went on to a successful solo career.

Mayfield was among the first of a new wave of mainstream African-American R&B performing artists and composers injecting social commentary into their work.

(Continued below video and Amazon portal ...)

(Press album cover for direct link to Amazon):

------

Two significant characteristics distinguish Mayfield's sound from that of other performers. The first is that when he taught himself how to play guitar, he tuned the guitar to the black keys of the piano, giving him an open F-sharp tuning — F#, A#, C#, F#, A#, F# — that he used throughout his career. Another key characteristic of Mayfield's sound is that he sang most of his lines in falsetto.

Mayfield's career began in 1956 when he joined The Roosters with Arthur and Richard Brooks and Jerry Butler. Two years later The Roosters, now also including Sam Gooden, became The Impressions. The band had one big hit with "For Your Precious Love." 

After Butler left the group and was replaced with Fred Cash, Mayfield became lead singer, frequently composing for the band, starting with "Gypsy Woman,"  a Top 20 Pop hit. Their hit "Amen,"an updated version of an old gospel tune, was included in the soundtrack of the 1963 MGM film Lilies of the Field, starring Sidney Poitier.

The Impressions reached the height of their popularity in the mid-to-late-'60s with a string of Mayfield compositions that included "Keep on Pushing," "People Get Ready,"  "It's All Right," "Talking about My Baby,"  "Woman's Got Soul,"  "Choice of Colors," "Fool For You," "This is My Country" and "Check Out Your Mind."

Mayfield had written much of the soundtrack of the civil rights movement in the early 1960s, but by the end of the decade he was a pioneering voice in the black pride movement along with James Brown and Sly Stone.

Mayfield's "We're a Winner,"  a Number 1 soul hit which also reached the Billboard pop Top 20, became an anthem of the black power and black pride movements when it was released in late 1967, much as his earlier "Keep on Pushing" had been an anthem for Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Civil Rights Movement.

Mayfield was a prolific songwriter beyond his work for The Impressions, writing and producing scores of hits for many other artists. In 1970, Mayfield left The Impressions and began a solo career, founding the independent record label Curtom Records.

Curtom would go on to release most of Mayfield's landmark 1970s records, as well as records by the Impressions, Leroy Hutson, The Staple Singers, Mavis Staples, and Baby Huey and the Babysitters, a group which at the time included Chaka Khan. Many of these records were also produced by Mayfield.

 

The commercial peak of his solo career came with his music album Super Fly, the soundtrack for the film of the same name. He was dubbed 'The Gentle Genius' to reflect his outstanding and innovative musical output with the constant presence of his soft yet insistent vocals. The single releases "Freddie's Dead" and "Super Fly" both sold over one million copies each, and were awarded gold discs by the R.I.A.A.

Super Fly brought success that resulted in Mayfield being tapped for additional soundtracks, some of which he wrote and produced while having others perform the vocals. Gladys Knight & the Pips recorded Mayfield's soundtrack for Claudine in 1974, while Aretha Franklin recorded the soundtrack for Sparkle in 1976. Curtis also worked with Mavis Staples on the 1977 soundtrack for the film A Piece of the Action.

 

Mayfield was active throughout the 1970s and 1980s, though he had a somewhat lower public profile. On August 13, 1990, Mayfield was paralyzed from the neck down after stage lighting equipment fell on him at an outdoor concert at Wingate Field in Flatbush, Brooklyn, New York.

He was unable to play guitar, but he wrote, sang and directed the recording of his last album, New World Order. Mayfield's vocals were painstakingly recorded, usually line-by-line while lying on his back.

Mayfield received the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1995. In February, 1998, he had to have his right leg amputated due to diabetes.

He was inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame on March 15, 1999. Health reasons prevented him from attending the ceremony.

His last appearance on record was with the group Bran Van 3000 on the song "Astounded" for their album Discosis, recorded just before his death and released in 2001.

Curtis Mayfield died on December 26, 1999 at the North Fulton Regional Hospital in Roswell, Georgia due to his steadily declining health after his paralysis.

####