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Gloria Estefan to retire from singing at age 51
Topic: Gloria Estefan

Grammy winning American singer Gloria Estefan has announced that her upcoming Latin America tour will be her last. "It is an end to something that began many years ago, in 1975, and it is a dream to be able to do it in Latin America," the singer said. "These will be the last concerts I do, afterwards I want to focus on my daughter, who is going to high school, and continue working in other areas." The 52-year-old veteran singer announced last year that she would be cutting back the amount of time she spends on tour in order to focus on spending time with her 14-year-old daughter, Emily Marie. However she insists that she she won't be bored with life at home because she has numerous other projects in her kitty, the Contactmusic.Com reported. "We have eight restaurants, three hotels; I am working on a third book and on films," the singer said. Estefan's final tour starts from April 9. She will perform in Uruguay, Chile, Argentina, Peru. Her final performance is scheduled for April 23 in Ecuador.

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Posted by Editor at 7:22 AM CST
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Singer Eartha Kitt dies
Topic: Eartha Kitt

Eartha Kitt, a sultry singer, dancer and actress who rose from South Carolina cotton fields to become an international symbol of elegance and sensuality, has died, a family spokesman said. She was 81.

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Posted by Editor at 2:19 AM CST
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Ray Conniff interview
Now Playing: WTIC Radio Podcast link
Topic: Ray Conniff

Ray recalls his early days in Boston playing trombone with the Society Bands, including Dan Murphy’s Musical Skippers, performing in New York with Bunny Berrigan, Artie Shaw, and Bob Crosby and his eventual glory years at Columbia records...

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Posted by Editor at 2:40 PM CST
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Topic: Ray Conniff

November 6, 2008... Ray would have been 92. In order to commemorate his birthday, watch YOUtube and sing along. Joseph Raymond Conniff (November 6, 1916 - October 12, 2002) was an American musician. He was born in Attleboro, Massachusetts, and learned to play the trombone from his father. He studied music arranging from a course book.

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Posted by Editor at 1:59 PM CST
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Topic: Fred Astaire

Fred Astaire, writes Joseph Epstein, the veteran critic and essayist, "was the very model ... of the democratic dandy, itself an innovative figure." He adds that G. Bruce Boyer called Astaire in his movie roles "the democratic ideal: a classless aristocrat." If T.S. Eliot calling the mature Henry James "a European of no known country" isn't the same thing, it's close enough.

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Posted by Editor at 8:43 AM CDT
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California Melodies
Now Playing: episode 44
Topic: David Rose

Faust Waltz Amapola I Guess It's Better That Way MAXINE GRAY sings There'll Be Some Changes Made Vienna Waltz OFFENBACH Orpheus In The Underworld MAXINE GRAY sings It All Comes Back to Me Now Indefinate Ryhthm

Posted by Editor at 8:02 AM CDT
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Topic: Ray Ellis

Conductor/arranger Ray Ellis, who arranged such classics as "Chances Are" by Johnny Mathis, "Splish Splash" by Bobby Darin and "Standing on the Corner" by the Four Lads, died Monday, 27 October 2008, in Encino of complications from melanoma. He was 85. During a career that spanned almost 65 years, the Philadelphia native also arranged for acts including Tony Bennett, Doris Day, the Drifters, Connie Francis, Judy Garland and Ray Price.

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Posted by Editor at 3:51 AM CDT
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California Melodies
Now Playing: episode 43
Topic: David Rose

My Heart at Thy Sweet Voice DELIUS Dance for Harpsichord Carry Me Back to Old Virginny Do I Worry? vocalist Maxine Gray Cari Mia Rhumba RUBINSTEIN Melody in F Come Down To Earth, My Angel Maxine Gray Plantation Moods

Posted by Editor at 9:38 AM CDT
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Topic: Neal Hefti

Neal Hefti (born October 29, 1922, Hastings, Nebraska Died October 11, 2008)

...American jazz trumpeter, composer, tune writer, and arranger. He began arranging professionally in his teens, when he wrote charts for Nat Towles. He became a prominent composer and arranger while playing trumpet for Woody Herman; while working for Herman he provided new arrangements for "Woodchopper's Ball" and "Blowin' Up a Storm," and composed "The Good Earth" and "Wild Root." After leaving Herman's band in 1946, Hefti concentrated on arranging and composing, although he occasionally led his own bands. He is especially known for his charts for Count Basie such as "Li'l Darlin'" and "Cute". The wikipedia bio goes on...In the 1960s and later he composed and arranged mainly for movies and television. He wrote the background music for movies such as Sex and the Single Girl, How to Murder Your Wife, Synanon, Boeing Boeing, Harlow, Lord Love a Duck, Duel at Diablo, Oh Dad Poor Dad Mama's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad, and Barefoot in the Park. His best-known contributions of this period are the themes for the TV series Batman and The Odd Couple.

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Posted by Editor at 1:30 PM CDT
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Tony Bennett says it was the genius of the late Toronto-born composer Robert Farnon that led to his long break from producing Christmas albums. Bennett's new record "A Swingin' Christmas," being released this week, is just his second holiday album. The first was 1968's "Snowfall: The Tony Bennett Christmas Album," and the iconic crooner says the 40-year gap is a result of Farnon's superb orchestrations on that disc...MORE - WEB - IMAGES - Available Here

Posted by Editor at 2:17 PM CDT
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