Behind the Song: Thriller

Michael Jackson was the top artists of the day when he released his pop song with a horror theme.  Few songs had been written of such a theme, or were primarily for the holiday of Halloween. However, Thriller had lasting power beyond the theme of Halloween. The song was written by Rod Temperton. Jackson and Read More

Profile of a Composer: John Rutter

I was introduced to Rutter when I was in college.  I grew to absolutely adore several of his choral arrangements and have both sung them in the choir and conducted them over the years. John Rutter was born in 1945 London, England.  He studied at Clare College in Cambridge, England. He currently resides in Cambridgeshire, Read More

That’ll Be the Day

Buddy Holly longed to write a hit and make it big in the music industry.  One evening he and his band mate, Jerry Allison, decided to see a John Wayne western, The Searchers. Wayne keeps repeating “That’ll be the day,” when he felt something was unlikely to happen. The phrase stuck and one evening while Read More