The American musical, West Side Story, is based on Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet. The story is set in the 1950s Upper West Side neighborhood in New York City. At that time, the area was an ethnic, blue-collar neighborhood. The musical, which was conceived and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, explores the rivalry and tension between the Read More
Tag: behind the song
The Untold Story: Tutti Frutti
The invention of Rock n’ Roll has no definite founder. We all know that Elvis was the King of Rock n’Roll, but others such as Bill Haley and Little Richard also form the foundation of Rock n’Roll. Little Richard has gone so far as to call himself the “Architect of Rock and Roll.” On September Read More
Profile of a Performer: Gene Autry
Gene Autry gained fame as a singing cowboy, when his career began in the 1930s. He was born Orvon Grover Autry on September 29, 1907 in north Texas. He would work on his father’s ranch while he was still in school. After leaving school, his talents singing and playing the guitar led to the opportunity Read More
The Untold Story: Earth Angel
Earth Angel became a hit for Frankie Avalon, but how he was far from the first to record the song. The demo was recorded in a garage studio in 1954 and released on the B-side to “Hey Señorita.” The song quickly outshined “Hey Señorita.” One of the more popular recordings is by The Penguins. Their Read More
Desperado
The hit by the Eagles, first appeared on the 1973 album by the same name. Don Henley began writing parts of the song in the late 1960s. After he and Glenn Grey teamed up, the song was finished. This was the first of many songs the duo wrote together. Henley explained in the liner notes Read More
Rock of Ages
Rock of Ages was written by Reverend Augustus Montague Toplady in 1763. The song was first published in The Gospel Magazine in 1775. Rev. Toplady father died when he was a child. He was sixteen when he accepted Christ while on a trip to Ireland, however he’d already been preaching for four years and writing Read More