Vinyl Schminyl Radio

She might not be Canadian but she is blond. Today’s cut comes from Debbie Harry. A song you heard in the movie Scarface. Click Tony Montana to play.

Harry was born in Miami, Florida and adopted by Catherine Harry and Richard Smith, gift shop proprietors in Hawthorne, New Jersey.^[1] She attended Hawthorne High School, where she graduated in 1963.^[2] She graduated from Centenary College in Hackettstown, New Jersey, with an Associate of Arts degree in 1965.^{[citation needed]} Before starting her singing career she moved to New York City in the late 1960s and worked as a secretary at BBC Radio‘s office there for one year.^[3] Later, she was a waitress at Max’s Kansas City,^[4] a go-go dancer in Union City, New Jersey discotheque,^{[citation needed]} and a Playboy Bunny.^[5]

Deborah Harry began her musical career in the late ’60s with the folk rock group The Wind in the Willows,^[6] who recorded one album for Capitol Records. Harry then joined The Stilettos, with Elda Gentile and Amanda Jones, in 1974. The Stilettos included her eventual boyfriend and Blondie guitarist Chris Stein.^[7] When Harry and Stein left the Stilletos, they formed Angel and the Snake, with Tish and Snooky Bellomo. Shortly thereafter, Harry and Stein formed Blondie, naming it for the term of address men often yelled at Harry.^[8] Blondie quickly became regulars at Max’s Kansas City and CBGB in New York City.^[4] After a debut album in 1976, commercial success followed in the late 1970s to the early 1980s, first in Australia and Europe, then in the United States.

While leading Blondie, Harry and Stein became life as well as musical partners, although they never married; Harry has no children.^[9] In the mid-1980s, she took a few years off to care for Stein while he suffered with Pemphigus, a rare autoimmune disease that effects the skin and mucous membranes. Stein and Harry broke up in the 1990s, but they’ve continued to work together. In 1999, Harry was deemed the 12th greatest woman of rock and roll by VH1′s 100 Greatest Women of Rock & Roll^[10] and in 2002, she was called the 18th sexiest artist of all time by VH1′s 100 Sexiest Artists. (read more…)

We are featuring “the girls” this week and we also have our second Canadian in a row as today’s featured artist. It’s Alanis Morissette making her debut on the podcast. Click the album cover to play.

Alanis Nadine Morissette (born June 1, 1974) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, guitarist, record producer, and actress. She has won 16 Juno Awards and seven Grammy Awards, was nominated for two Golden Globe Awards and also shortlisted for an Academy Award nomination. Morissette began her career in Canada, and as a teenager recorded two dance-pop albums, Alanis and Now Is the Time, under MCA Records Canada.

Her first international album was the rock-influenced Jagged Little Pill, released in 1995. Jagged has sold more than 33 million units globally.^[1][2][3] Her following album, Supposed Former Infatuation Junkie, was released in 1998 and was a success as well. Morissette took up producing duties for her subsequent albums, which include Under Rug Swept, So-Called Chaos and Flavors of Entanglement. Morissette has sold more than 60 million albums worldwide (read more…)

This week we feature the girls. Some curious choices to be sure but today’s song I also liked a lot..she calls it a “hairbrush song”..a song that girls stand in front of a mirror singing…Introducing Nelly Furtado to the podcast. Click the album cover to play.

Nelly Kim Furtado (born December 2, 1978) is a Canadian singer-songwriter, record producer and actress. Furtado grew up in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada.

Furtado first gained fame with her debut album, Whoa, Nelly!, and its single “I’m Like a Bird“, which won a 2001 Juno Award for Single of the Year and a 2002 Grammy Award for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance. It produced two more international singles: the more successful “Turn off the Light“, and “Shit on the Radio (Remember the Days)“. After giving birth to her daughter Nevis, her second studio album, Folklore, was released. It was less commercially successful in the US. It produced three international singles: “Powerless (Say What You Want)“, “Try“, and “Força” (the theme of the 2004 European Football Championship).

In summer 2006, she released her third studio album, Loose. It is her biggest success to date worldwide. It produced the number-one hits “Promiscuous“, “Maneater“, “Say It Right” and “All Good Things (Come to an End)“. After a three-year break, in September 2009, she released her first full-length Spanish album, Mi Plan, along with her first Spanish single “Manos al Aire“, which topped the Billboard Hot Latin Songs. This made Furtado the first North American singer to top the Billboard Hot Latin Chart with an original Spanish song. Further singles released were “Más” and “Bajo Otra Luz“. For Mi Plan, Nelly received the Latin Grammy for Best Female Pop Vocal Album. On October 26, a remix album, Mi Plan Remixes, was released. Furtado released her first greatest hits album, The Best of Nelly Furtado, one month later on November 12, 2010. A new album, T.S.I., is scheduled for a summer 2012 release.

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Please listen to our 500th show today..it features a lot of great tunes..even a song that I recorded!! It’s a brand new Vinyl Schminyl Radio Hour!! Click to play!!

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Today we finish our trip around America and go down to a little town in Texas. It’s from the”other” brothers…The Doobie Brothers. Have a great weekend all! Click to play!

Drummer John Hartman arrived in California in 1969 determined to meet Skip Spence of Moby Grape and join an aborted Grape reunion. Spence introduced Hartman to singer, guitarist and songwriter Tom Johnston and the two proceeded to form the nucleus of what would become The Doobie Brothers. Johnston and Hartman called their fledgling group “Pud,” and experimented with lineups (occasionally including Spence) and styles as they performed in and around San Jose. They were mostly a power trio (along with bassist Greg Murphy) but briefly worked with a horn section.

In 1970, they teamed up with bass player Dave Shogren and singer, guitarist and songwriter Patrick Simmons. Simmons, who had belonged to several area groups (among them “Scratch”, an acoustic trio with future Doobies bassist Tiran Porter) and also performed as a solo artist, was already an accomplished fingerstyle player whose approach to the instrument complemented Johnston’s rhythmic R&B strumming.

In a recent interview, Johnston attributed the band’s eventual name to friend and housemate Keith “Dyno” Rosen, who noted the guys’ fondness for “doobies” (slang for marijuana cigarettes).^[4] They considered the new moniker an improvement over Pud.^{[citation needed]}

The Doobie Brothers improved their playing by performing live all over Northern California in 1970. They attracted a particularly strong following among local chapters of the Hells Angels and got a recurring gig at one of the bikers’ favorite venues, the Chateau Liberté in the Santa Cruz Mountains, and they continued playing the Chateau through the summer of 1975 (although these concerts did not include all band members, and they were unannounced and of a completely impromptu nature). An energetic set of demos (eight of which were briefly and illegally released on Pickwick Records in 1980 under the title Introducing the Doobie Brothers, and have since been bootlegged on CD under that title and On Our Way Up as well, both with expanded song selections), showcased fuzz-toned dual lead electric guitars, three-part harmonies and Hartman’s frenetic drumming and earned the rock group a contract at Warner Bros. Records.

At this point in their history, the band’s image reflected that of their biggest fans—leather jackets and motorcycles. However, the group’s 1971 self-titled debut album departed significantly from that image and their live sound of the period. The album, which failed to chart, emphasized acoustic guitars and frequently reflected country influences. The bouncy lead-off song “Nobody”, the band’s first single, has surfaced in their live set several times over the ensuing decades. Most recently, this song was rerecorded and added to their 2010 CD World Gone Crazy.

The following year’s second album, Toulouse Street (which spawned the hits and classic rock staples, “Listen to the Music” and “Jesus Is Just Alright“), brought the band their breakthrough success. In collaboration with manager Bruce Cohn, producer Ted Templeman and engineer Donn Landee, the band put forward a more polished and eclectic set of songs. They also made a change to the lineup, supplementing Hartman’s drumming with that of Navy veteran Michael Hossack while still touring behind their first album (a concert from June 14, 1971 at Fillmore West bears this out as it has this short-lived lineup). Also, the band recorded several songs on the second album with Shogren on bass, guitar & background vocals. But during the album’s recording, Shogren left after disagreements with producer Templeman. Shogren was replaced with singer, songwriter and bass guitarist Tiran Porter. Porter and Hossack were both stalwarts of the northern California music scene, Porter having previously played in Scratch with Simmons. Porter brought a funkier bass style to the band and added his husky baritone to the voices of Johnston and Simmons, resulting in a rich three-part harmonic vocal blend. Pianist Bill Payne of Little Feat contributed keyboards for the first time, beginning a decades-long collaboration that included many recording sessions and even a two-week stint touring with the band in 1974.^[5] With an improved rhythm section and the songwriting of Johnston and Simmons, the Doobies’ trademark sound – an amalgam of R&B, country, bluegrass, hard rock, roadhouse boogie, funk and rock and roll – emerged fully formed. (read more…)