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Isaac Hayes

Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American singer, songwriter, composer, and actor. He was one of the creative forces behind the Southern soul music label Stax Records, serving as both an in-house songwriter and as a session musician and record producer, teaming with his partner David Porter during the mid-1960s. Hayes and Porter were inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2005 in recognition of writing scores of songs for themselves, the duo Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas, and others. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

"Soul Man," written by Hayes and Porter and first performed by Sam & Dave, was recognized as one of the most influential songs of the past 50 years by the Grammy Hall of Fame. It was also honored by The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, by Rolling Stone magazine, and by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) as one of the Songs of the Century. During the late 1960s, Hayes also began a career as a recording artist. He had several successful soul albums such as Hot Buttered Soul (1969) and Black Moses (1971). In addition to his work in popular music, Hayes worked as a composer of musical scores for motion pictures.

Hayes was known for his musical score for the film Shaft (1971). For the "Theme from Shaft," he was awarded the Academy Award for Best Original Song in 1972, making him the third black person, after Hattie McDaniel and Sidney Poitier, to win an Academy Award in any competitive field covered by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Hayes also won two Grammy Awards for that same year. Later, he was given his third Grammy for his music album Black Moses.

In 1992, Hayes was crowned honorary king of the Ada region of Ghana in recognition of his humanitarian work there. He acted in motion pictures and television, such as in the movies Truck Turner, Escape from New York and I'm Gonna Git You Sucka, and as Gandolf "Gandy" Fitch in the TV series The Rockford Files (1974–1980). Hayes also voiced the character Chef from the Comedy Central animated series South Park from its debut in 1997 until his controversial departure in 2006.

On August 5, 2003, Hayes was honored as a BMI Icon at the 2003 BMI Urban Awards for his enduring influence on generations of music makers. Throughout his songwriting career, Hayes received five BMI R&B Awards, two BMI Pop Awards, two BMI Urban Awards and six Million-Air citations. As of 2008, his songs had generated more than 12 million performances.

Early life
Isaac Lee Hayes Jr. was born in Covington, Tennessee, the second child of Eula (née Wade) and Isaac Hayes Sr. After his mother died young and his father abandoned his family, Hayes was raised by his maternal grandparents, Mr. and Mrs. Willie Wade Sr. The child of a sharecropper family, Hayes grew up working on farms in the Tennessee counties of Shelby and Tipton. At age five, Hayes began singing at his local church and he taught himself to play the piano, Hammond organ, flute, and saxophone.

Hayes dropped out of high school, but his former teachers at Manassas High School in Memphis encouraged him to complete his diploma, which he did at the age of 21. After graduating from high school, Hayes was offered several music scholarships from colleges and universities. He turned down all of them to provide for his immediate family, working at a meat-packing plant in Memphis by day and playing nightclubs and juke joints several evenings a week in Memphis and nearby northern Mississippi. Hayes's first professional gigs, in the late 1950s, were as a singer at Curry's Club in North Memphis, backed by Ben Branch's houseband.

1963–1974: Stax Records and Shaft
Hayes began his recording career in the early 1960s, as a session musician for acts recorded by the Memphis-based Stax Records. He later wrote a string of hit songs with songwriting partner David Porter, including "You Don't Know Like I Know," "Soul Man," "When Something Is Wrong with My Baby" and"Hold On, I'm Comin'" for Sam & Dave. Hayes, Porter and Stax studio band Booker T. & the M.G.'s were also the producers for Sam & Dave, Carla Thomas and other Stax artists during the mid-1960s. One of the first Stax records Hayes played on was "Winter Snow" by Booker T. and The M.G.s (Stax 45–236), which indicates "Introducing Isaac Hayes on piano" on the label.

Hayes-Porter contributed to the Stax sound of this period, and Sam & Dave credited Hayes for helping develop both their sound and style. In 1968, Hayes released his debut album, Presenting Isaac Hayes, a jazzy, largely improvised effort that was commercially unsuccessful.

Stax then went through a major upheaval, losing its biggest star when Otis Redding died in a plane crash in December 1967, and then losing its back catalog to Atlantic Records in May 1968. As a result, Stax executive vice president Al Bell called for 27 new albums to be completed in mid-1969; Hayes's second album, Hot Buttered Soul was the most successful of these releases.

On Hot Buttered Soul, Hayes reinterpreted "Walk On By" (previously recorded by Dionne Warwick) into a 12-minute exploration. "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" starts with an eight-minute-long monologue before breaking into song, and the lone original number, the funky "Hyperbolicsyllabicsesquedalymistic" runs nearly ten minutes, a significant break from the standard three-minute soul/pop songs. "Walk On By" would be the first of many times Hayes would take a Burt Bacharach standard, generally known as three-minute pop songs by Dionne Warwick or Dusty Springfield, and transform it into a soulful, lengthy and almost gospel number.

In 1970, Hayes released two albums, The Isaac Hayes Movement and ...To Be Continued. The former stuck to the four-song template of his previous album. Jerry Butler's "I Stand Accused" begins with a trademark spoken word monologue, and Bacharach's "I Just Don't Know What to Do with Myself" is re-worked. The latter album included "The Look of Love," another Bacharach song transformed into an 11-minute epic of lush orchestral rhythm (mid-way it breaks into a rhythm guitar jam for a couple of minutes before suddenly resuming the slow love song). An edited three-minute version was issued as a single. The album featured the instrumental "Ike's Mood," which segues into a version of "You've Lost That Loving Feeling." Hayes released a Christmas single, "The Mistletoe and Me" (with "Winter Snow" as a B-side).

In early 1971, Hayes composed music for the soundtrack of the blaxploitation film Shaft (he appeared in a cameo role as a bartender). The title theme, with its wah-wah guitar and multi-layered symphonic arrangement, would become a worldwide hit single, and spent two weeks at number one in the Billboard Hot 100 in November. The remainder of the album was mostly instrumentals covering big beat jazz, bluesy funk, and hard Stax-styled soul. The other two vocal songs, the social commentary "Soulsville" and the 19-minute jam "Do Your Thing," would be edited down to hit singles. He won an "Academy Award for Best Original Song" for the "Theme from Shaft," and in addition was nominated for Best Original Dramatic Score. Later in the year, Hayes released a double album, Black Moses, that expanded on his earlier sounds and featured The Jackson 5's song "Never Can Say Goodbye." Another single, "I Can't Help It," was not featured on the album. In 1972, Hayes would record the theme tune for the television series The Men and release a hit single (with "Type Thang" as a B-side). He released a couple of other non-album singles during the year, such as "If Loving You Is Wrong (I Don't Want to Be Right)" and "Rolling Down a Mountainside." Atlantic would re-release Hayes's debut album this year with the new title In The Beginning.

Hayes was back in 1973 with an acclaimed live double album, Live at the Sahara Tahoe, and followed it up with the album Joy. He moved away from cover songs with this album. An edited version of the title track would be a hit single.

In 1974, Hayes was featured in the blaxploitation films Three Tough Guys and Truck Turner, and he recorded soundtracks for both. Tough Guys was almost devoid of vocals and Truck Turner yielded a single with the title theme. The soundtrack score of Truck Turner was eventually used by filmmaker Quentin Tarantino in the Kill Bill film series, and has been used for over 30 years as the opening score of Brazilian radio show Jornal de Esportes on the Jovem Pan station.

Unlike most African American musicians of the period, Hayes did not sport an Afro haircut; his bald head became one of his defining characteristics.

1974–1977: HBS, basketball team ownership, and bankruptcy
By 1974, Stax Records was having serious financial problems, stemming from problems with overextension and limited record sales and distribution. Hayes himself was deep in debt to Union Planters Bank, which administered loans for the Stax label and many of its other key employees. In September of that year, Hayes sued Stax for $5.3 million. As Stax was in deep debt and could not pay, the label made an arrangement with Hayes and Union Planters: Stax released Hayes from his recording and production contracts, and Union Planters would collect all of Hayes's income and apply it towards his debts.

Hayes formed his own label, Hot Buttered Soul, which released its product through ABC Records. His new album, 1975's Chocolate Chip, saw Hayes embrace the disco sound with the title track and lead single. "I Can't Turn Around" would prove a popular song as time went on. This would be Hayes's last album to chart in the top 40 for many years. Later in the year, the all-instrumental Disco Connection album fully embraced disco.

On July 17, 1974, Hayes, along with Mike Storen, Avron Fogelman, and Kemmons Wilson, took over ownership of the American Basketball Association team the Memphis Tams. The prior owner was Charles O. Finley, the owner of the Oakland A's baseball team. Hayes's group renamed the team the Memphis Sounds. Despite a 66% increase in home attendance, hiring well regarded coach Joe Mullaney and, unlike in the prior three seasons, making the 1975 ABA Playoffs (losing to the eventual champion Kentucky Colonels in the Eastern Division semi-finals), the team's financial problems continued. The group was given a deadline of June 1, 1975, to sell 4,000 season tickets, obtain new investors and arrange a more favorable lease for the team at the Mid-South Coliseum. However, the group did not come through and the ABA took over the team, selling it to a group in Maryland that renamed the team the Baltimore Hustlers and then the Baltimore Claws before the club finally folded during preseason play for the 1975–1976 season.

In 1976, the album cover of Juicy Fruit featured Hayes in a pool with naked women, and spawned the title track single and the classic "Storm Is Over." Later the same year the Groove-A-Thon album featured the singles "Rock Me Easy Baby" and the title track. However, while all these albums were regarded as solid efforts, Hayes was no longer selling large numbers. He and his wife were forced into bankruptcy in 1976, as they owed over $6 million. By the end of the bankruptcy proceedings in 1977, Hayes had lost his home, much of his personal property, and the rights to all future royalties earned from the music he had written, performed, and produced.

1977–1995: Polydor, hiatus, and film work
In 1977, Hayes was back with a new deal with Polydor Records, a live album of duets with Dionne Warwick did moderately well, and his comeback studio album New Horizon sold better and enjoyed a hit single "Out The Ghetto," and also featured the popular "It's Heaven To Me." 1978's For the Sake of Love saw Hayes record a sequel to "Theme from Shaft" ("Shaft II"), but was best known for the single "Zeke The Freak," a song that would have a shelf life of decades and be a major part of the House movement in the UK. The same year, Fantasy Records, which had bought out Stax Records, released an album of Hayes's non-album singles and archived recordings as a "new" album, Hotbed, in 1978. In 1979, Hayes returned to the Top 40 with Don't Let Go and its disco-styled title track that became a hit single (U.S. #18), and also featured the classic "A Few More Kisses To Go." Later in the year he added vocals and worked on Millie Jackson's album Royal Rappin's, and a song he co-wrote, "Deja Vu," became a hit for Dionne Warwick and won her a Grammy for best female R&B vocal. Neither 1980s And Once Again or 1981's Lifetime Thing produced notable songs or big sales, and Hayes chose to take a break from music to pursue acting.

In the 1970s, Hayes was featured in the films Shaft (1971) and Truck Turner (1974); he also had a recurring role in the TV series The Rockford Files as an old cellmate of Rockford's, Gandolph Fitch (who always referred to Rockford as "Rockfish" much to his annoyance), including one episode alongside duet-partner Dionne Warwick. In the 1980s and 1990s, he appeared in numerous films, notably Escape from New York (1981), I'm Gonna Git You Sucka (1988), Prime Target (1991), and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993), as well as in episodes of The A-Team and Miami Vice. He also attempted a musical comeback, embracing the style of drum machines and synth for 1986s U-Turn and 1988s Love Attack, though neither proved successful. In 1991, he was featured in a duet with fellow soul singer Barry White on White's ballad "Dark and Lovely (You Over There)."

1995–2006: Return to prominence and South Park
In 1995, Hayes appeared as a Las Vegas minister impersonating himself in the comedy series The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air. He launched a comeback on the Virgin label in May 1995 with Branded, an album of new material that earned impressive sales figures as well as positive reviews from critics who proclaimed it a return to form. A companion album released around the same time, Raw & Refined, featured a collection of previously unreleased instrumentals, both old and new. For the 1996 film Beavis and Butt-Head Do America, he wrote a version of the Beavis and Butt-Head theme in the style of the Shaft theme.

Hayes joined the founding cast of Comedy Central's animated TV series South Park. He provided the voice for the character of "Chef", the amorous elementary-school lunchroom cook, from the show's debut on August 13, 1997 (one week shy of his 55th birthday), through the end of its ninth season in 2006. The role of Chef combined his work both as an actor and as a singer, thanks to the character's penchant for making conversational points in the form of crudely suggestive soul songs. A song from the series performed by Chef, "Chocolate Salty Balls (P.S. I Love You)," received international radio airplay in 1999. It reached number one on the UK singles chart and also on the Irish singles chart. The track also appeared on the album Chef Aid: The South Park Album in 1998.

In 2000, Hayes appeared on the soundtrack of the French movie The Magnet on the song "Is It Really Home" written and composed by rapper Akhenaton (IAM) and composer Bruno Coulais. In 2002, Hayes was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After he played a set at the 2002 Glastonbury Festival, a documentary highlighting Isaac's career and his impact on many of the Memphis artists in the 1960s onwards was produced, Only The Strong Survive. In 2004, Hayes appeared in a recurring minor role as the Jaffa Tolok on the television series Stargate SG-1. The following year, he appeared in the critically acclaimed independent film Hustle & Flow. He also had a brief recurring role in UPN/The CW's Girlfriends as Eugene Childs (father of Toni).

South Park Scientology episode
In the South Park episode "Trapped in the Closet," a satire of Scientology that aired on November 16, 2005, Hayes did not appear in his role as Chef. While appearing on the Opie and Anthony radio show about a month after the episode aired, Hayes was asked, "What did you think about when Matt and Trey did that episode on Scientology?" He replied, "One thing about Matt and Trey: They lampoon everybody, and if you take that serious, I'll sell you the Brooklyn Bridge for two dollars. That's what they do."

In an interview for The A.V. Club on January 4, 2006, Hayes was again asked about the episode. He said that he told the creators, Matt Stone and Trey Parker, "Guys, you have it all wrong. We're not like that. I know that's your thing, but get your information correct, because somebody might believe that shit, you know?" He then told them to take a couple of Scientology courses to understand what they do. In the interview, Hayes defended South Park's style of controversial humor, noting that he was not pleased with the show's treatment of Scientology, but saying that he "understands what Matt and Trey are doing."

Departure from South Park
On March 13, 2006, a statement was issued in Hayes's name, indicating that he was asking to be released from his contract with Comedy Central, calling recent episodes that satirized religious beliefs intolerant. "There is a place in this world for satire, but there is a time when satire ends and intolerance and bigotry towards religious beliefs of others begins", he was quoted as saying in the press-statement. However, the statement did not directly mention Scientology. A response from Stone said that Hayes's complaints stemmed from the show's criticism of Scientology and that he "has no problem –and he's cashed plenty of checks– with our show making fun of Christians, Muslims, Mormons, or Jews."

On March 20, 2006, two days before the episode "The Return of Chef" aired, Roger Friedman of Fox News reported having been told that the March 13 statement was made in Hayes's name, but not by Hayes himself. He wrote: "Isaac Hayes did not quit South Park. My sources say that someone quit it for him. ... Friends in Memphis tell me that Hayes did not issue any statements on his own about South Park. They are mystified." In a 2016 oral history of South Park in The Hollywood Reporter, Hayes's son Isaac Hayes III said the decision to leave the show was made by his father's entourage, all of whom were ardent Scientologists, and that it was made after Hayes suffered a stroke, leaving him vulnerable to outside influence and unable to make such decisions on his own.

The first South Park episode that premiered after Hayes's death, "The China Probrem," was dedicated to him.

2006–2008: Final years
Hayes's income was sharply reduced as a result of leaving South Park. There followed announcements that he would be touring and performing. A Fox News reporter present at a January 2007 show in New York City, who had known Hayes fairly well, reported that "Isaac was plunked down at a keyboard, where he pretended to front his band. He spoke-sang, and his words were halting. He was not the Isaac Hayes of the past."

In April 2008, while a guest on The Adam Carolla Show, Hayes stumbled in his responses to questions, possibly as a result of health problems. A caller questioned whether Hayes was under the influence of a substance, and Carolla and co-host Teresa Strasser asked Hayes if he had ever used marijuana. After some confusion on what was being asked, Hayes replied that he had only ever tried it once. During the interview the radio hosts made light of Hayes's awkward answers, and replayed snippets of earlier ones to simulate conversation with his co-hosts. Hayes stated during this interview that he was no longer on good terms with Parker and Stone.

During the spring of 2008, Hayes shot scenes for Soul Men, a comedy inspired by the history of Stax Records, in which he appears as himself in a supporting role. The film was released in November 2008, after both Hayes and his costar, Bernie Mac, had died.

Health problems and death
On March 20, 2006, Roger Friedman of Fox News reported that Hayes had suffered a minor stroke in January. Hayes's spokeswoman, Amy Harnell, denied this, but on October 26, 2006, Hayes confirmed he had suffered a stroke.

On August 10, 2008, ten days before his 66th birthday, Hayes was found unresponsive in his home, just east of Memphis, as reported by the Shelby County, Tennessee Sheriff's Office. A Shelby County Sheriff's deputy and an ambulance from Rural Metro responded to his home after three family members found his body on the floor next to a still-operating treadmill. Hayes was taken to Baptist Memorial Hospital in Memphis, where he was pronounced dead at 2:08 p.m. The cause of death was not immediately clear, although the area medical examiners later listed a recurrence of stroke as the cause of death. Hayes was buried at Memorial Park Cemetery, in Memphis, Tennessee.

Legacy
The Tennessee General Assembly enacted legislation in 2010 to honor Hayes by naming a section of Interstate 40 the "Isaac Hayes Memorial Highway." The name was applied to the stretch of highway in Shelby County from Sam Cooper Boulevard in Memphis east to the Fayette County line. The naming was made official at a ceremony held on Hayes's birth anniversary in August 2010.

Family
Hayes had 11 children, 14 grandchildren, and three great-grandchildren. His first marriage was to Dancy Hayes in 1960 and ended in divorce. His second marriage was to Emily Ruth Watson on November 24, 1965, which ended in divorce in 1972. Children from this marriage included Vincent Eric Hayes, Melanie Mia Hayes, and Nicole A. Hayes (Murrell). He married bank teller Mignon Harley on April 18, 1973, and they divorced in 1986; they had two children. Hayes and his wife were eventually forced into bankruptcy, owing over $6 million. Over the years, Isaac Hayes was able to recover financially.

Hayes's fourth wife, Adjowa, gave birth to a son named Nana Kwadjo Hayes on April 10, 2006. He also had one son to whom he gave his name, Isaac Hayes III, known as rap producer Ike Dirty. Hayes's eldest daughter is named Jackie, also named co-executor of his estate, and other children include Veronica, Felicia, Melanie, Nikki, Lili, Darius, Vincent and Heather.

Scientology
Hayes took his first Scientology course in 1993, later contributing endorsement blurbs for many Scientology books over the ensuing years. In 1996, Hayes began hosting The Isaac Hayes and Friends Radio Show on WRKS in New York City. While there, Hayes became a client of the vegan raw food chef Elijah Joy and his company Organic Soul Inc. Hayes also appears in the Scientology film Orientation. In 1998, Hayes and fellow Scientologist entertainers Anne Archer, Chick Corea and Haywood Nelson attended the 30th anniversary of Freedom Magazine, the Church of Scientology's self-described investigative news journal, at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., to honor eleven activists. In 2001, Hayes and Doug E. Fresh, another Scientologist musician, recorded a Scientology-inspired album called The Joy of Creating – The Golden Era Musicians and Friends Play L. Ron Hubbard.

Charitable work
The Isaac Hayes Foundation was founded in 1999 by Hayes. In February 2006, Hayes appeared in a Youth for Human Rights International music video called "United". YHRI is a human rights group founded by the Church of Scientology-backed non-profit United for Human Rights. He was also involved in other human rights related groups such as the One Campaign. Isaac Hayes was crowned a chief in Ghana for his humanitarian work and economic efforts on the country's behalf.

Discography

 * Presenting Isaac Hayes (1968)
 * Hot Buttered Soul (1969)
 * The Isaac Hayes Movement (1970)
 * ...To Be Continued (1970)
 * Shaft (1971)
 * Black Moses (1971)
 * Live at the Sahara Tahoe (1973)
 * Joy (1973)
 * Truck Turner (1974)
 * Chocolate Chip (1975)
 * Disco Connection (1975)
 * Groove-A-Thon (1976)
 * Juicy Fruit (Disco Freak) (1976)
 * New Horizon (1977)
 * Hotbed – Isaac Hayes Demo Album – Stax Records (1978)
 * For the Sake of Love (1978)
 * Don't Let Go (1979)
 * And Once Again (1980)
 * Lifetime Thing (1981)
 * U-Turn (1986)
 * Love Attack (1988)
 * Raw & Refined (1995)
 * Branded (1995)

Collaborations
With Otis Redding With Wilson Pickett With Donald Byrd and 125th Street, N.Y.C. With Linda Clifford With Albert King With William Bell With Dionne Warwick With Rufus Thomas With Eddie Floyd
 * Otis Blue: Otis Redding Sings Soul (Stax Records, 1965)
 * The Soul Album (Stax Records, 1966)
 * Complete & Unbelievable: The Otis Redding Dictionary of Soul (Stax Records, 1966)
 * King & Queen (Stax Records, 1967)
 * The Dock of the Bay (Stax Records, 1968)
 * The Exciting Wilson Pickett (Atlantic Records, 1966)
 * Love Byrd (Elektra Records, 1981)
 * Words, Sounds, Colors and Shapes (Elektra Records, 1982)
 * I'm Yours (RSO Records, 1980)
 * Born Under a Bad Sign (Stax Records, 1967)
 * The Soul of a Bell (Stax Records, 1967)
 * No Night So Long (Arista Records, 1980)
 * Do The Funky Chicken (Stax Records, 1970)
 * Knock on Wood (Stax Records, 1967)

title: Isaac Hayes


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Mark Madsen (basketball)

Mark Ellsworth Madsen (born January 28, 1976) is an American basketball coach and former NBA player who is the head coach of the California Golden Bears of the ACC. Due to his hustle and physical style of play, he received the nickname "Mad Dog" while playing for the San Ramon Valley High School Wolves, and the moniker continued during his time with the Stanford Cardinal and beyond. He played professionally in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with the Los Angeles Lakers, winning two NBA championships. He also played for the Minnesota Timberwolves.

College career
Madsen played NCAA basketball at Stanford, where he finished his career ranked in the school's career top 10 in blocks and rebounds. In addition, Madsen helped the Cardinal to four NCAA tournament appearances, including a Final Four berth in 1998. Perhaps his signature moment at Stanford was his dunk and free throw that gave Stanford a lead over Rhode Island, propelling the team into the Final Four, where it lost to eventual champion Kentucky. Madsen was a two-time All-American and a two-time All-Pac-10 selection.

Los Angeles Lakers (2000–2003)
The Los Angeles Lakers selected Madsen in the first round (29th pick overall) of the 2000 NBA draft. He contributed to the Lakers' NBA championships in 2001 and 2002, and became well known for his goofy dances at the victory parades for those championships.

Talking about his prime with the Lakers, Shaquille O'Neal said that the only player who could thwart him from his dominant play was Madsen. "He used to beat me up in practice", O'Neal said.

Minnesota Timberwolves (2003–2009)
Madsen signed with the Timberwolves as a free agent before the start of the 2003–04 NBA season. He played six seasons for the Wolves.

On July 20, 2009, Madsen was traded to the Los Angeles Clippers along with Craig Smith and Sebastian Telfair in exchange for Quentin Richardson. On August 21, 2009, he was waived by the Clippers.

Madsen's final NBA game was played on April 15, 2009 in a 90-97 loss to the Sacramento Kings. In his final game, Madsen was the team's starting power forward, but he played for only 9 and a half minutes and recorded no stats. His career averages were 2.2 points, 2.6 rebounds, and 0.4 assists in 11.8 minutes played per game.

Los Angeles D-Fenders (2013)
Following being waived, Madsen was hired as the assistant coach for the Utah Flash of the NBA Development League (D-League). In 2012, he was hired as an assistant coach at Stanford. On May 13, 2013, he was named head coach of the Los Angeles D-Fenders, a D-League team owned by the Los Angeles Lakers.

Los Angeles Lakers
On July 19, 2013, Madsen was promoted to a player development coach position with the Lakers. On September 16, 2014 Madsen was promoted to full-fledged assistant coach by Byron Scott. After Byron Scott was dismissed as head coach of the Lakers, new head coach Luke Walton retained Madsen as assistant coach on July 1, 2016.

Utah Valley (2019–2023)
Madsen was hired as the head coach at Utah Valley University on April 14, 2019.

California (2023–present)
Madsen was hired as the head coach at the University of California, Berkeley on March 29, 2023. Madsen is the 19th men's basketball head coach in Cal history. On March 12, 2024, Madsen signed a two-year contract extension through the 2029–30 season.

Personal life
Madsen is a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Madsen speaks Spanish, acquiring the language from a two-year mission abroad in Málaga, Spain on behalf of his church following his graduation from high school.

As a youth, Madsen attained the rank of Eagle Scout and credits Scouting with teaching him about leadership, character and mentoring.

In fall 2010, Madsen enrolled in the Stanford Graduate School of Business. In June 2012, he received an M.B.A. degree with a Certificate in Public Management.

Madsen married Hannah Harkness on September 3, 2016.

College

 * 1) Due to irregularities in the WAC standings due to cancelled games resulted from the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic throughout the season, Utah Valley and Grand Canyon were declared co-champions in the regular season as both teams had 9 wins in conference play. This was contrary to the fact Utah Valley finished with one extra loss and thus an inferior winning percentage in conference play.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Mark Madsen (basketball)


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Brenda Lee

Brenda Mae Tarpley (born December 11, 1944), known professionally as Brenda Lee, is an American singer. Primarily performing rockabilly, pop, country and Christmas music, she achieved her first Billboard hit aged 12 in 1957 and was given the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite". Some of Lee's most successful songs include "Sweet Nothin's", "I'm Sorry", "I Want to Be Wanted", "Speak to Me Pretty",  "All Alone Am I" and  "Losing You". Her festive song "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", recorded in 1958, topped the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 2023, making Lee the oldest artist ever to top the chart and breaking several chart records.

Having sold over 100 million records globally, Lee is one of the most successful American artists of the 20th century. Her U.S. success in the 1960s earned her recognition as Billboard Top Female Artist of the Decade and one of the four artists who charted the most singles, behind Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Ray Charles. Her accolades include a Grammy Award, four NARM Awards, three NME Awards and five Edison Awards. She is the first woman to be inducted into both the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. In 2023, she was named by Rolling Stone as one of the greatest singers of all time.

Early life and education
Brenda Mae Tarpley was born on December 11, 1944, in the charity ward of Grady Hospital in Atlanta, Georgia, to parents Annie Grayce (née Yarbrough; 1921–2006) and Ruben Lindsey Tarpley (1909–1953). She weighed 4 pounds 11 ounces at birth. Lee attended grade schools wherever her father found work, primarily between Atlanta and Augusta. Her family was poor. As a child, she shared a bed with her brother and sister in a series of three-room houses without running water. Life centered on her parents finding work, their family, and the Baptist church, where she began singing solos every Sunday.

Lee's father was a farmer's son in Georgia's red-clay belt. Standing 5 ft 7 in (170 cm), he was an excellent left-handed pitcher and played baseball while serving for 11 years in the United States Army. Her mother came from a working class family in Greene County, Georgia.

Though her family did not have indoor plumbing until after her father's death, they had a battery-powered table radio that fascinated Brenda as a baby. Both her mother and sister remembered taking her repeatedly to a local candy store before she turned three. One of them would stand her on the counter and she would earn candy or coins for singing.

Child performer
Lee's voice, face and stage presence won her wider attention from a young age. At age five, she won first place at her school's talent show contest, where she sang "Take Me Out to the Ball Game". Her performance generated positive reviews, leading her to make regular appearances on local radio and television shows.

Her father died in 1953 (when she was 8 years old) in a construction accident, and by the time she turned ten, she was the primary breadwinner of her family through singing at events and on local radio and television shows. During that time, she appeared regularly on the country music show TV Ranch on WAGA-TV in Atlanta; she was so short, the host would lower a stand microphone as low as it would go and stand her up on a wooden crate to reach it. In 1955, Grayce Tarpley was remarried to Buell "Jay" Rainwater, who moved the family to Cincinnati, Ohio, where he worked at the Jimmie Skinner Music Center. Lee performed with Skinner at the record shop on two Saturday programs broadcast over Newport, Kentucky, radio station WNOP. The family soon returned to Georgia, but this time to Augusta, and Lee appeared on the show The Peach Blossom Special on WJAT-AM in Swainsboro.

National exposure and stardom
Lee's breakthrough came in February 1955, when she turned down $30 ($334 in 2022 value ) to appear on a Swainsboro radio station to see Red Foley and a touring promotional unit of his ABC-TV program Ozark Jubilee in Augusta. An Augusta disc jockey persuaded Foley to hear her sing before the show. Foley did and agreed to let her perform "Jambalaya" on stage that night, unrehearsed. Foley later recounted the moments following her introduction:

I still get cold chills thinking about the first time I heard that voice. One foot started patting rhythm as though she was stomping out a prairie fire but not another muscle in that little body even as much as twitched. And when she did that trick of breaking her voice, it jarred me out of my trance enough to realize I'd forgotten to get off the stage. There I stood, after 26 years of supposedly learning how to conduct myself in front of an audience, with my mouth open two miles wide and a glassy stare in my eyes.

On March 31, 1955, the 10-year-old made her network debut on Ozark Jubilee in Springfield, Missouri. Although her five-year contract with the show was broken by a 1957 lawsuit brought by her mother and her manager, she nevertheless made regular appearances on the program throughout its run.

Less than two months later, on July 30, 1956, Decca Records offered her a contract, and her first record was "Jambalaya", backed with "Bigelow 6-200". Lee's second single featured two novelty Christmas tunes: "I'm Gonna Lasso Santa Claus", and "Christy Christmas". Though she turned 12 on December 11, 1956, both of the first two Decca singles credit her as "Little Brenda Lee (9 Years Old)".

Neither of the 1956 releases charted, but her first issue in 1957, "One Step at a Time", written by Hugh Ashley, became a hit in both the pop and country fields. Her next hit, "Dynamite", coming out of a 4-foot 9-inch frame, led to her lifelong nickname, Little Miss Dynamite.

Lee first attracted attention performing in country music venues and shows; however, her label and management felt it best to market her exclusively as a pop artist, the result being that none of her best-known recordings from the 1960s were released to country radio, and despite her country sound, with top Nashville session people, she did not have another country hit until 1969 with "Johnny One Time".

Biggest successes: 1958–1966
Lee achieved her biggest success on the pop charts in the late 1950s through the mid-1960s with rockabilly and rock and roll-styled songs. Her biggest hits included "Jambalaya", "Sweet Nothin's" (No. 4, written by country musician Ronnie Self), "I Want to Be Wanted" (No. 1), "All Alone Am I" (No. 3) and "Fool #1" (No. 3). She had more hits with the more pop-based songs "That's All You Gotta Do" (No. 6), "Emotions" (No. 7), "You Can Depend on Me" (No. 6), "Dum Dum" (No. 4), 1962's "Break It to Me Gently" (No. 2), "Everybody Loves Me But You" (No. 6), and "As Usual" (No. 12). Lee's total of nine consecutive top 10 Billboard Hot 100 hits from "That's All You Gotta Do" in 1960 through "All Alone Am I" in 1962 set a record for a female solo artist that was not equaled until 1986 by Madonna.

The biggest-selling track of Lee's career was a Christmas song. In 1958, when she was 13, producer Owen Bradley asked her to record a new song by Johnny Marks, who had had success writing Christmas tunes for country singers, most notably "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (Gene Autry) and "A Holly Jolly Christmas" (Burl Ives). Lee recorded the song, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree", in July with a prominent twanging guitar part by Hank Garland and raucous sax soloing by Nashville icon Boots Randolph. Decca released it as a single that November, but it sold only 5,000 copies, and did not do much better when it was released again in 1959. However, over subsequent years, it eventually sold more than five million copies. Since 2017, the song has appeared at the end of each year on the Billboard Hot 100, having spent (as of December 9, 2023) 54 weeks on the Hot 100, peaking at number 1 in 2023. In 1960, Lee recorded her signature song, "I'm Sorry", however, the record initially was withheld for months before its release due to concern that the 15-year-old Lee would not understand what she was singing about in the love song. The song became one of the biggest hits of 1960, reaching the #1 chart position in the U.S. and #12 in the U.K. It was her first gold single and was nominated for a Grammy Award. Even though it was not released as a country song, it was among the first big hits to use what was to become the Nashville sound – a string orchestra and legato harmonized background vocals. "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" was finally noticed in its third release a few months later, and sales snowballed; the song remains a perennial favorite each December and is the record with which she is most identified by contemporary audiences.

Her last top ten single on the pop charts in the United States (besides the reappearance each November–December since 2017 of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree") was 1963's "Losing You" (No. 6).

In 1964, "As Usual" reached No. 12 in the US and No. 5 in the UK and "Coming on Strong" peaked at No. 11 in the US. Also in 1964, "Is It True" peaked at No. 17 in both the US and the UK. Featuring Big Jim Sullivan (guitar), Jimmy Page (guitar) and Bobby Graham (drums), it was her only hit single recorded in London, England, and was produced by Mickie Most. The slide guitar and background singers were overdubbed in Nashville. It was recorded at Decca Records' number two studio at their West Hampstead complex, as was the UK B-side, a version of Ray Charles' 1959 classic cut, "What'd I Say?", which was not released in North America. "Is It True" was composed by noted British songwriting team Ken Lewis and John Carter, who were also members of UK hitmakers the Ivy League.

International fame
Lee was popular in the UK from early in her career. She performed on television in the UK in 1959, before she had achieved much pop recognition in the United States. Her first hit single in the UK was "Sweet Nothin's", which reached No. 4 on the UK singles chart in the spring of 1960. She subsequently had a UK hit (in 1961) with "Let's Jump the Broomstick", a rockabilly number recorded in 1959, which had not charted in the United States, but reached No. 12 in the UK.

Lee had two Top Ten hits in the UK that were not released as singles in her native country: the first, "Speak to Me Pretty" peaked at No. 3 in May 1962 and was her greatest hit in the UK by chart placing, swiftly followed by "Here Comes That Feeling", which reached No. 5 in the summer of 1962. The latter was issued as the B-side to "Everybody Loves Me But You" in the United States (which peaked at No. 6 on the Billboard Hot 100); however, "Here Comes That Feeling" also made an appearance in the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No. 89, despite its B-side status in the US.

In 1962, while touring West Germany, Lee appeared at the Star-Club, Hamburg, with the Beatles as the opening act. Lee also had big hits in the UK with "All Alone Am I" (No. 7 in 1963) and "As Usual" (No. 5 in 1964).

Lee first visited England for three days in April 1959 as a last-minute replacement on Oh Boy!. She first toured the UK in March and April 1962 with Gene Vincent and Sounds Incorporated (as her backing group), and she toured the country for a second time in March 1963, this time supported by the Bachelors, Sounds Incorporated, Tony Sheridan, and Mike Berry.

Lee also toured in Ireland in 1963 and appeared on the front cover of the Irish dancing and entertainment magazine Spotlight in April that year.

After appearing at the annual Royal Variety Performance before Queen Elizabeth II at the London Palladium on November 2, 1964, Lee toured Britain again in November and December 1964, supported by (amongst others) Manfred Mann, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates, the John Barry Seven, Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders, Marty Wilde, the Tornados and Heinz Burt.

1970–1992
During the early 1970s, Lee re-established herself as a country music artist. In a 1996 memoir, television producer Sam Lovullo stated that Lee's 1972 appearance on his variety show Hee Haw had been instrumental to her comeback. Lee earned a string of top ten hits in the United States on the country charts, the first of which was 1973's "Nobody Wins", which reached the top five that spring and became her last Top 100 pop hit, peaking at No. 70. The follow-up, the Mark James composition "Sunday Sunrise", reached No. 6 on Billboard magazine Hot Country Singles chart that October. Other major hits included "Wrong Ideas" and "Big Four Poster Bed" (1974); and "Rock on Baby" and "He's My Rock" (both 1975).

After a few years of lesser hits, Lee began another run at the top ten with 1979's "Tell Me What It's Like". Two follow-ups also reached the Top 10 in 1980: "The Cowgirl and the Dandy" and "Broken Trust" (the latter featuring vocal backing by the Oak Ridge Boys). A 1982 album, The Winning Hand, featuring Lee along with Dolly Parton, Kris Kristofferson and Willie Nelson, was a surprise hit, reaching the top ten on the U.S. country albums chart. Her last well-known hit was 1984's "Hallelujah, I Love Her So" in duet with George Jones (Lee sang this song individually before and released it in 1960 on This Is...Brenda). In 1992, Lee recorded a duet ("You'll Never Know") with Willy DeVille on his album Loup Garou.

2000–2016: Autobiography and Country Music Hall of Fame
Lee's autobiography, Little Miss Dynamite: The Life and Times of Brenda Lee, was published by Hyperion in 2002 (ISBN 0-7868-6644-6).

Lee's most recent album release was a gospel collection in 2007. She no longer tours and rarely performs. Since the millennium, she has been involved with her work for the Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum. On October 4, 2000, Lee inducted fellow country music legends Faron Young and Charley Pride into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Lee is often called upon to announce the annual inductees to the Country Music Hall of Fame and then officially present them with their membership medallions at a special ceremony every year. The most recent inductees announced by Lee were Randy Travis, Charlie Daniels and Fred Foster in 2016.

2019–present: "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" 65th anniversary
Since Billboard modified its recurrent rules in 2012, Lee's "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" has regularly returned to the Billboard Hot 100 since 2015. On the Hot 100 chart dated December 21, 2019, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" reached a new peak of #3 in the United States with 37.1 million streams and 5,000 digital sales sold. The following week it moved up to #2, where it remained for a second week. From 2019 to 2022, the song has re-peaked at #2, blocked from the top position by Mariah Carey's "All I Want for Christmas Is You".

In November 2023, to celebrate the song's 65th anniversary, Lee released a music video featuring her lip-synching to the original recording at a house party with Tanya Tucker and Trisha Yearwood. Lee has also joined social media platform TikTok to promote the song, where she posts videos reminiscing about her song's history and success.

On the Billboard Hot 100 chart dated December 9, 2023, "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" topped the Hot 100 for the first time in the United States becoming Lee's third #1 hit and first since her 1960 single, "I Want to Be Wanted". At 78, Lee became the oldest female artist and oldest artist overall to top the Hot 100, feats formerly held by Cher and Louis Armstrong, respectively. The week following, she held the number one spot, which also meant she surpassed her own age record, having turned 79 during the week ending December 16, 2023. Following two few weeks off number one, on the week ending January 6, 2024, she returned to number one for an additional week.

Legacy and recognition
On September 26, 1986, Lee was installed in the Atlanta Music Hall of Fame 5th Annual Awards Ceremony held at the Raddison Inn, Atlanta, Georgia. She was named among many other recording artists including: Riley Puckett, Gid Tanner, Dan Hornsby, Clayton McMichen, and Boots Woodall. Lee reached the final ballot for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990 and 2001 without being inducted, but was finally voted into the Hall of Fame in 2002.

Celebrating over 50 years as a recording artist, in September 2006 she was the second recipient of the Jo Meador-Walker Lifetime Achievement award by the Source Foundation in Nashville. In 1997, she was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame and is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame.

In 2008, her recording of "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" marked 50 years as a holiday standard, and in February 2009 the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences gave Lee a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award.

In 2023, Rolling Stone ranked Lee at number 161 on its list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time.

Grammy Awards
The Grammy Awards is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS) of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry. It shares recognition of the music industry as that of the other performance arts: Emmy Awards (television), the Tony Awards (stage performance), and the Academy Awards (motion pictures).

Personal life
Lee met Charles Ronald "Ronnie" Shacklett in November 1962, at a concert by Bo Diddley and Jackie Wilson hosted at Nashville's Fairgrounds Coliseum. They married less than six months later, on April 24, 1963. Lee and Shacklett have two daughters, Jolie and Julie (named after Patsy Cline's daughter), and three grandchildren, Taylor, Jordan and Charley.

Lee is the cousin-by-marriage (by way of her mother's second marriage) to singer Dave Rainwater from The New Christy Minstrels.

Discography
• Grandma, What Great Songs You Sang! (1959)

• Brenda Lee (1960)

• This Is...Brenda (1960)

• Emotions (1961)

• All the Way (1961)

• Sincerely (1962)

• Brenda, That's All (1962)

• All Alone Am I (1963)

• ..."Let Me Sing" (1963)

• By Request (1964)

• Merry Christmas from Brenda Lee (1964)

• Brenda Lee Sings Top Teen Hits (1965)

• The Versatile Brenda Lee (1965)

• Too Many Rivers (1965)

• One Rainy Night in Tokyo (1965)

• Bye Bye Blues (1966)

• Coming on Strong (1966)

• Reflections in Blue (1967)

• For the First Time (1968; with Pete Fountain)

• Johnny One Time (1969)

• Memphis Portrait (1970)

• Brenda (1973)

• New Sunrise (1973)

• Brenda Lee Now (1974)

• Sincerely, Brenda Lee (1975)

• L.A. Sessions (1976)

• Even Better (1980)

• Take Me Back (1980)

• Only When I Laugh (1981)

• The Winning Hand (1982; with Kris Kristofferson, Willie Nelson, and Dolly Parton)

• Feels So Right (1985)

• Brenda Lee (1991)

• A Brenda Lee Christmas (1991)

• Precious Memories (1997)

• Gospel Duets with Treasured Friends (2007)

title: Brenda Lee


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Gene Pitney

Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter and musician.

Pitney charted 16 top-40 hits in the United States, four in the top ten. In the United Kingdom, he had 22 top-40 hit singles, including 11 in the top ten. Among Pitney's most famous hits are "Town Without Pity", "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance", "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa", "I'm Gonna Be Strong", "It Hurts to Be in Love", and "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart". He also wrote the early-1960s hits "Rubber Ball" recorded by Bobby Vee, "Hello Mary Lou" by Ricky Nelson, and "He's a Rebel" by the Crystals. In 2002, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Early years
Pitney was born in Hartford, Connecticut, United States, on February 17, 1940, as the son of Anna A., née Orlowski, and Harold F. Pitney. The third of five children of a lathe operator, Pitney lived with his family in Rockville, Connecticut, during his formative years. He also grew up in Rockville, now part of Vernon, Connecticut.

Pitney's early influences were Clyde McPhatter, and doo-wop groups such as The Crows. He attended Rockville High School where he formed his first band, Gene & the Genials. Gene's first recordings were in 1958 with a Connecticut singing group called the Embers. Those recordings were not released until 1990. In early 1959, he released two records on the Decca label, "Snuggle Up Baby" and "Classical Rock and Roll", as part of a duo called Jamie and Jane with Ginny Arnell. Later that year, he had his first solo release "Cradle Of My Arms" under the name Billy Bryan on the Blaze record label. His first release under his real name was in 1960 on the Festival label titled "I'll Find You".

Rise to fame (1961–1964)
Signed to songwriter Aaron Schroeder's newly formed Musicor label in 1961, Pitney scored his first chart single, which made the Top 40, the self-penned "(I Wanna) Love My Life Away", on which he played several instruments and multi-tracked the vocals. He followed that same year with his first Top 20 single, "Town Without Pity", from the 1961 film of the same title. Written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington, the song won a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Song, but lost to "Moon River". Pitney performed the song at the Oscars ceremony on April 9, 1962.

He is also remembered for the Burt Bacharach–Hal David song "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance", which peaked at #4 in 1962. Though it shares a title with the John Wayne western, the song was not used in the film because of a publishing dispute.

Meanwhile, Pitney wrote hits for others, including "Today's Teardrops" for Roy Orbison, "Rubber Ball" for Bobby Vee, "Hello Mary Lou" for Ricky Nelson, and "He's a Rebel" for the Crystals (later recorded by Vikki Carr and Elkie Brooks). "Rebel" kept Pitney's own #2 hit "Only Love Can Break a Heart", his highest-charting single in the US, from the top spot on 3 November 1962, the only time that a writer shut himself (or herself) out of the #1 position.

He followed up in December with "Half Heaven, Half Heartache", which reached #12 on the Billboard chart. Because of his success on the music charts, and as he explained to his friend, oldies DJ 'Wild' Wayne, an unknown radio disc jockey at the time gave Pitney the nickname 'The Rockville Rocket', which caught on.

Pitney's popularity in the UK market was ensured by the breakthrough success of "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa", a Bacharach and David song, which peaked at #5 in Britain at the start of 1964. It was only Pitney's third single release in the UK to reach the singles chart, and the first to break into the Top Twenty there; it was also a hit in the US, peaking at #17 on the Hot 100.

Involvement with the Rolling Stones (1964)
Pitney was present with Phil Spector at some of the Rolling Stones' early recording sessions in London, including "Little by Little" and other tracks for their debut album; he played piano, though the extent of this is uncertain.

The Jagger/Richards song "That Girl Belongs to Yesterday" was a #7 UK hit for Pitney in 1964; it was the first tune composed by the duo to become a Top 10 hit in the UK. In the US, the single stalled at #49, ending a run of seven Top 40 singles for Pitney as a performer.

Maintaining popularity
After another low-charting single, 1964's "Yesterday's Hero", Pitney rebounded with another string of hits in the mid-1960s, including the 1964 singles "It Hurts to Be in Love" and "I'm Gonna Be Strong", which reached #7 and #9, respectively, in the US, and 1966's "Nobody Needs Your Love", which peaked at #2 in the UK, matching the #2 UK peak of "I'm Gonna Be Strong". "It Hurts to Be in Love" had been planned for and recorded by Neil Sedaka, but RCA refused to release it because Sedaka had recorded the song outside RCA Victor in violation of his contract. The writers, Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller, presented the song to Pitney. Miller replaced Sedaka's voice with Pitney's, though Sedaka's trademark backing harmonies were left intact.

In 1965, Pitney recorded two successful albums with country singer George Jones. They were voted the most promising country-and-western duo of the year. Pitney also recorded songs in Italian, Spanish, and German and twice finished second in Italy's annual Sanremo Music Festival, where his strong vibrato reminded older listeners of the Italian tenor Enrico Caruso. He had a regional hit with "Nessuno mi può giudicare".

Pitney's career in the US took a downturn after mid-1966, when "Backstage" ended another run of Top 40 hits. He returned one last time to the Top 40 in April 1968 with "She's a Heartbreaker" (#16) and placed several singles in the lower reaches of the Hot 100 after that, but by 1970 he was no longer a hit-maker in the United States.

UK, Australian and European stardom (1966–1970s)
Pitney maintained a successful career in Britain and the rest of Europe into the 1970s, appearing regularly on UK charts as late as 1974. UK pianist Maurice Merry was his musical director from 1970 onward. In Australia, after a fallow period in the early 1970s, Pitney returned to the Top 40 in 1974, when both "Blue Angel" (#2) and "Trans-Canada Highway" (#14; production by David Mackay) were substantial hits. Pitney continued to place records in the Australian charts through 1976, including the hit "Down This Road", written and produced by distant relative Edward Pitney. They also collaborated in the production of the hit song "Days of Summer".

In the early 1970s, Pitney decided to spend only six months each year on the road in order to spend more time with his family.

Later career
Pitney's last hit on the UK charts came in 1989, after an absence of 15 years, when he and Soft Cell singer Marc Almond recorded a duet version of "Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart" by British writers Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway. The song had been a UK #5 for Pitney in 1967. The duet brought him his first UK #1, in late January 1989. The single remained at the top for four weeks, and also went to #1 in Germany, Finland, Switzerland and Ireland. Pitney and Almond appeared on the Terry Wogan television show in Britain.

In 2000, Pitney sang harmony vocals on Jane Olivor's recording of his 1962 hit "Half Heaven – Half Heartache", which was released on her 'comeback' album Love Decides.

On 18 March 2002, Pitney was inducted by singer Darlene Love into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

This Morning incident
Pitney was involved in a gaffe on ITV's This Morning in 1989, owing to a "technical mishap". Giving a performance of his track "You're the Reason", Pitney missed his cue and was seen "failing dismally to mime along in time to his backing track"; he continued with the song, and found humor in the incident. It has been repeated on television over the years, notably on a 2002 episode of BBC One series Room 101, in which host Paul Merton described it as a "very funny moment" in which Pitney came in "unbearably late". It was re-aired on the 25th anniversary edition of This Morning in 2013, in which presenter Holly Willoughby "broke out into a cold sweat" while reliving the moment.

Personal life
At the height of his fame in 1967, Pitney married his childhood sweetheart, Lynne Gayton, and the couple had three sons, Todd, Christopher, and David.

Death
Pitney was touring the UK in the spring of 2006 when his manager found him dead in his hotel room following a concert in Cardiff, Wales, on April 5. An autopsy found the cause of death to be a heart attack and that he had severely occluded coronary arteries. His final show at Cardiff's St David's Hall had earned him a standing ovation; he ended with "Town Without Pity". He was laid to rest at Somers Center Cemetery in Somers, Connecticut.

Posthumous tributes
Marc Almond recorded "Backstage (I'm Lonely)" for his 2007 covers album Stardom Road.

On September 20, 2007, a plaque to Pitney was unveiled at the town hall in his hometown of Rockville, Connecticut. Members of the family attended. The event was emceed by oldies radio DJ and Pitney friend "Wild" Wayne. Governor Jodi Rell also declared September 20, 2007, as Gene Pitney Day in the state of Connecticut. The Gene Pitney Commemorative Committee established a music scholarship in Pitney's name. It is awarded annually to Rockville High School. In October 2008, an international fan convention was held in Rockville.

Albums
Notes
 * The Many Sides of Gene Pitney (1962)
 * Spotlight on Gene Pitney & NewCastle Trio (1962)
 * Only Love Can Break a Heart (1962)
 * Gene Pitney Sings Just for You (1963)
 * Gene Pitney Sings World Wide Winners (1963)
 * Blue Gene (1963)
 * Gene Pitney Meets the Fair Young Ladies of Folkland[A] (1964)
 * Gene Pitney's Big Sixteen (1964)
 * Gene Italiano (1964)
 * It Hurts to Be in Love and Eleven More Hit Songs[B] (1964)
 * Gene Pitney's Big Sixteen, Volume Two[C] (1965)
 * For the First Time! Two Great Stars - George Jones and Gene Pitney (1965)
 * I Must Be Seeing Things[D] (1965)
 * It's Country Time Again! (with George Jones) (1965)
 * Looking Through the Eyes of Love[E] (1965)
 * The Great Songs of Our Time (1965) Stateside SL 10156
 * Español (1966)
 * Being Together (with Melba Montgomery) (1966)
 * Big Sixteen Volume 3 (1966)-
 * Backstage (I'm Lonely)[F] (1966)
 * Nessuno Mi Può Giudicare (1966)
 * Greatest Hits of All Times (1966)
 * The Country Side of Gene Pitney (1966)
 * Young and Warm and Wonderful (1966)
 * Just One Smile (1967)
 * Golden Greats (1967)
 * The Gene Pitney Story (1968)
 * Español, Volume 2 (1968)
 * Gene Pitney Sings Burt Bacharach and Others (1968)
 * She's a Heartbreaker[G] (1968)
 * The Greatest Hits of Gene Pitney (1969)
 * This is Gene Pitney Singing The Platters' Golden Platters (1970)
 * Super Star[H] (1970)
 * Ten Years Later (1971)
 * New Sounds of Gene Pitney (1972)
 * The Golden Hits of Gene Pitney (1972)
 * Pitney '75 (1975)
 * Backstage: The Greatest Hits and More (1990)
 * You're The Reason (1990)
 * Anthology(1961–1968) (1990)
 * Hits and Misses (1993)
 * Heartbreaker (1994)
 * George Jones & Gene Pitney (1994)
 * More Greatest Hits (1995)
 * Greatest Hits (1995)
 * Great Gene Pitney (1996)
 * Very Best of Gene Pitney (1997)
 * 22 Greatest Hits (1998)
 * 25 All-Time Greatest Hits (1999)
 * Defenitive Collection (1999)
 * Many Sides of Gene Pitney/Only Love Can Break a Heart (1999) (2010)
 * Looking Through (Ultimate Collection) (2001)
 * His Golden Classics (2001)
 * I'm Gonna be Strong (2002)
 * Blue Angel: The Bronze Sessions (2003)
 * Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart (2003)
 * Street Called Hope (2004)
 * Big Twenty: All the UK Top Hits, 1961-1973 (2004)
 * Love Grows (2005)
 * 24 Hours From Tulsa (2005)
 * Something's Gotten Hold of My Heart (2005)
 * Platinum Collection (2007)
 * Best of Gene Pitney (2008)
 * Sings Just For You/World Wide Winners (2011)
 * Country Side of Gene Pitney (2012)
 * Blue Gene/Meets the Fair Young Ladies of Folkland (2013)
 * I'm Gonna be Strong/Looking Thru the Eyes of Love (2013)
 * Cradle of My Arms: Complete Gene Pitney (2013)
 * The Collection: The Original Musicor Master Tapes (2018)
 * A ^ Originally released as Dedicated to My Teen Queens
 * B–H Released in the UK as: B. ^ I'm Gonna Be Strong, C. ^ Gene Pitney More Big Sixteen, D. ^ Looking Through the Eyes of Love, E. ^ Sings the Great Songs of Our Time, F. ^ Nobody Needs Your Love, G. ^ Pitney Today, H. ^ Ten Years Later

Singles

 * Note that release dates refer to initial release. Pitney's early singles generally appeared one to four months later in the UK/Australia. Many of his later releases are UK/Australia/NZ only.

Sources include Joel Whitburn's Record Research material for the US Top 100, "Bubbling Under" and US Country charts; Tim Rice et al., Guinness Book of Hit Singles for the UK; CHUM Chart for Canada prior to mid-1964, and the Canadian RPM charts thereafter; and The Kent Report for Australia

title: Gene Pitney


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Lady Bird Lake

Lady Bird Lake (formerly, and still colloquially referred to as Town Lake) is a river-like reservoir on the Colorado River in Austin, Texas, United States. The City of Austin created the reservoir in 1960 as a cooling pond for a new city power plant. The lake, which has a surface area of 416 acres, is now used primarily for recreation and flood control. The reservoir is named in honor of former First Lady of the United States Lady Bird Johnson.

Lady Bird Lake is the easternmost lake of a chain of reservoirs on the river, which is completely located in Texas, and should not be confused with the larger Colorado River located in the Southwestern United States. This chain, known locally as the Texas Highland Lakes, also includes Lake Buchanan, Inks Lake, Lake LBJ, Lake Marble Falls, Lake Travis, and Lake Austin.

History
The City of Austin constructed Longhorn Dam in 1960 to form Town Lake. The city needed the reservoir to serve as a cooling pond for the Holly Street Power Plant, which operated from 1960 until 2007.

Before 1971, the shoreline of Town Lake was mostly a mixture of weeds, unkempt bushes, and trash. Local television station KTBC referred to the lake as an "eyesore". Some concerned Austinites led small projects to clean up the lake. Roberta Crenshaw, chair of the Austin Board of Parks and Recreation, purchased nearly 400 trees and shrubs in an effort to spearhead parkland development around the lake. During his two terms in office (1971–75), the Mayor of Austin, Roy Butler, led the Austin City Council to establish the Town Lake Beautification Committee, and he appointed Lady Bird Johnson as the project's honorary chairman. Johnson's involvement brought attention and money (including $19,000 of her own) to the Town Lake project, allowing for the planting of hundreds of shrubs and trees. The city also built a system of hike and bike trails along the shoreline of the lake.

On July 26, 2007, the Austin City Council passed a resolution authorizing the renaming of the reservoir from Town Lake to Lady Bird Lake in honor of Lady Bird Johnson, who had died earlier that month. Johnson had declined the honor of having the lake renamed for her while she was alive. In renaming the lake, the City Council recognized Johnson's dedication to beautifying the lake and her efforts to create a recreational trail system around the lake's shoreline.

In 2009, non-profit organization Keep Austin Beautiful launched "Clean Lady Bird Lake". The program mobilizes thousands of community volunteers annually to conduct large-scale cleanups along the lake every other month and targeted cleanups throughout the year.

In 2014, a one-mile stretch of the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, named after a former Austin mayor and his wife, was paved to create a boardwalk.

On Monday, February 5, around 1:30 in the afternoon, members of the Austin Police Department responded to the 300 block of West Cesar Chavez Street, where first responders recovered a dead body that had been discovered by civillians earlier, following a series of four other bodies recovered from the lake in 2023.

Recreational uses
Lady Bird Lake is a major recreation area for the City of Austin. The lake's banks are bounded by the Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, and businesses offer recreational watercraft services along the lakefront portion of the trail. Austin's largest downtown park, Zilker Park, is adjacent to the lake, and Barton Springs, a major attraction for swimmers, flows into the lake.

The City of Austin prohibits the operation of most motorized watercraft on Lady Bird Lake. As a result, the lake serves as a popular recreational area for paddleboards, kayaks, canoes, dragon boats, and rowing shells. Austin's warm climate and the river's calm waters, nearly 6 mi length and straight courses are especially popular with crew teams and clubs. Along with the University of Texas women's rowing team and coeducational club rowing team, who practice on Lady Bird Lake year-round, teams from other universities (including the University of Wisconsin, the University of Chicago, the University of Oklahoma, and the University of Nebraska) train on Lady Bird Lake during Christmas holidays and spring breaks.

Other water sports along the shores of the lake include swimming in Deep Eddy Pool, the oldest swimming pool in Texas, and Barton Springs Pool, a natural pool on Barton Creek which flows into Lady Bird Lake. Below Tom Miller Dam is Red Bud Isle, a small island formed by the 1900 collapse of the McDonald Dam that serves as a recreation area with a dog park and access to the lake for canoeing and fishing.

Swimming in Lady Bird Lake is illegal not due to poor water quality from the run-off from area streets, which is a false rumor, but rather due to several drownings as well as debris in the water from bridges and dams destroyed by floods in years past. The City of Austin enacted the ban in 1964, and the fine can be up to $500.

For the first time in August 2019, a toxic blue-green algae was found in the lake and reportedly killed at least 5 dogs who were exposed.

Music venues on the banks of Lady Bird Lake are home to a number of events year-round, including the Austin City Limits Music Festival in the fall, the Austin Reggae Festival and Spamarama in the spring, and many open-air concerts at Auditorium Shores on the south bank and Fiesta Gardens on the north bank. The Austin Aqua Festival was held on the shores of Lady Bird Lake from 1962 until 1998. The late Austin resident and blues guitar legend, Stevie Ray Vaughan played a number of concerts at Auditorium Shores and is honored with a memorial statue on the south bank.

Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail and Boardwalk

The Ann and Roy Butler Hike-and-Bike Trail, formerly the Town Lake Hike and Bike Trail, creates a complete circuit around Lady Bird Lake. It is one of the oldest urban Texas hike and bike paths. The trail is the longest trail designed for non-motorized traffic maintained by the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department. A local nonprofit, The Trail Conservancy, is the Trail's private steward and has made Trail-wide improvements by adding user amenities and infrastructure including trailheads and lakefront gathering areas, locally-designed jewel box restrooms, exercise equipment, as well as doing trailwide ecological restoration work on an ongoing basis.

The Butler Trail loop was completed in 2014 with the public-private partnership 1-mile Boardwalk at Lady Bird Lake project, which was spearheaded by The Trail Conservancy. Construction on the $28 million project was completed during October 2012 – June 2014.

The trail is 10.1 mi long and mostly flat, with 97.5% of it at less than an 8% grade. The trail's surface is smooth and is mostly crushed granite except for a few lengths of concrete and a boardwalk on the South-side of the lake. A pedestrian bridge incorporated into the trail bridges Barton Creek. The Roberta Crenshaw Pedestrian Walkway spans Lady Bird Lake beneath MoPac Boulevard and provides the trail's westernmost crossing of Lady Bird Lake.

The trail encompasses the Lou Neff Point Gazebo at the confluence of Barton Creek and Lady Bird Lake. It is listed as 'Austin Art in Public Places'

Fishing
Lady Bird Lake has been stocked with several species of fish intended to improve the utility of the reservoir for recreational fishing. The predominant fish species in Lady Bird Lake are largemouth bass, catfish, carp, and sunfish. Fishing is regulated, requiring a fishing license, and daily bag and length limits apply for most species.

A ban on the consumption of fish caught in the lake was issued by the City of Austin in 1990, as a result of excessively high levels of chlordane found in the fish. Although the use of chlordane as a pesticide was banned in the United States in 1988, the chemical sticks strongly to soil particles and can continue to pollute groundwater for years after its application. The ban on the consumption of fish caught in the lake was finally lifted in 1999.

Drinking water uses
The first water treatment facility in the City of Austin, the Thomas C. Green Water Treatment Plant, was built in 1925 to treat water from the Colorado River. The plant occupied 6 acre just west of the principal downtown business district. The water treatment facility was decommissioned in late 2008.

title: Lady Bird Lake