New Year’s Eve

In the Gregorian calendar, New Year’s Eve, the last day of the year, is on December 31. In many countries, New Year’s Eve is celebrated at evening social gatherings, where many people dance, eat,drinnk alcoholic beverages, and watch or light fireworks to mark the new year. Some people attend Church services. The celebrations generally go on past midnight into January 1 (New Year’s Day). Island nations of Kiribati and Samoa are the first to welcome the New Year while Honolulu, Hawaii is among the last places to welcome the New Year.

The United Kingdom’s celebrations are noticeably divided among the three nations that compose it: England, Scotland and Wales (each has its section below). In England, clocks symbolize the transition that occurs at the stroke of midnight on New Year’s Eve. The celebration in London focuses on Big Ben, the bell and by association, the clock housed in the clock tower at the Palace of Westminster. The celebrations are televised from London by the BBC in the English regions, Wales, and Northern Ireland. Parties are held across the country, in pubs, clubs, and private houses.At the stroke of midnight, people join hands in a ring and sing Auld Lang Syne.

On New Year’s Eve 2010, an estimated 250,000 people gathered to view an eight-minute fireworks display around and above the London Eye which was, for the first time, set to a musical soundtrack. featuring songs by Blur, The Beatles, and Queen. The celebrations in London continued into January 1, with the New Year’s Day Parade, The 2011 parade involved more than 10,000 musicians, cheerleaders and performers. For the arrival of 2012, there were a few small changes. In addition to the fireworks going off at the London Eye, more fireworks went off from the Big Ben with every chime.

Other major New Year events are held in the cities of Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, and Newcastle. Bideford, in north Devon, is also known for its New Year’s Eve celebrations, featuring a carnival and fancy dress. The celebration centers on Bideford’s quayside and around its Old Bridge, with a lone piper playing Auld Lang Syne at midnight, followed by a fireworks display.The Welsh tradition of giving gifts and money on New Year’s Day (Calennig) is an ancient custom that survives in modern-day Wales, though nowadays it is now customary to give bread and cheese. Thousands of people descend every year on Cardiff to enjoy live music, catering, ice-skating, funfairs and fireworks. Many of the celebrations take place at Cardiff Castle and Cardiff City Hall.

Hogmanay is the Scots word for the last day of the year and is synonymous with the celebration of the New Year (Gregorian calendar) in the Scottish manner. It is, however, normally only the start of a celebration which lasts through the night until the morning of New Year’s Day (1 January) or, in some cases, 2 January which is a Scottish Bank Holiday. It is celebrated with several different customs, such as First-Footing, which involves friends or family members going to each other’s houses with a gift of whisky and sometimes a lump of coal. Edinburgh, the Scottish capital, hosts one of the world’s most famous New Year celebrations. The celebration is focused on a major street party along Princes Street. The cannon is fired at Edinburgh Castle at the stroke of midnight, followed by a large fireworks display. Edinburgh hosts a festival of four or five days, beginning on 28 December, and lasting until New Year’s Day or January 2, which is also a bank holiday in Scotland. Other cities across Scotland, such as Aberdeen, Glasgow and Stirling have large organised celebrations too, including fireworks at midnight. BBC Scotland broadcast the celebrations in Edinburgh to a Scottish audience, with the celebrations also screened across the world. STV covers both worldwide New Year celebrations & details of events happening around Scotland.

Donna Summer

 The late great Queen of Disco Donna Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on 31st December 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts. Summer’s performance debut occurred at church when she was ten years old after being invited to perform by the local pastor. Summer attended Boston’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School where she performed in school musicals and was considered popular. She was also something of a troublemaker, skipping home to attend parties, circumventing her parents’ strict curfew. In 1967, just weeks before graduation, Summer left for New York where she was a member of the blues rock band Crow.

Summer auditioned for a role in the musical, Hair. When Melba Moore was cast in the part, Summer agreed to take the role in the Munich production of the show. She moved to Munich, Germany after getting her parents’ reluctant approval. She achieved fame after signing as a solo artist to the pioneering disco label, Casablanca, in 1975 and her soaring voice and effervescent stage presence helped to propel her first single “Love to Love You Baby” to No 4 in the UK charts and ignited the disco craze of the 1970s, which was defined by sex, drugs and extravagant clothes. She participated in the musicals Ich bin ich (the German version of The Me Nobody Knows), Godspell and Show Boat and moved to Vienna. In 1968, Summer released her first single, a German version of the title “Aquarius” from the musical “Hair,” followed in 1971 by a second single, a cover of The Jaynetts’ “Sally Go ‘Round the Roses”, in 1972 she released the single “If You Walkin’ Alone” and married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973 and had a daughter, Mimi, the same year. Sadly she later divorced Sommer Citing marital problems caused by her affair with German artist (and future live-in boyfriend), Peter Mühldorfer. However She kept his last name, but anglicized it to “Summer”.

She provided backing vocals on producer-keyboardist, Veit Marvos’ 1972 Record Nice to See You. Summer then met German-based producers, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte while at a recording session at Munich’s Musicland Studios and The trio began collaborating on songs together. Summer’s first album, Lady of the Night contained the songs “The Hostage” and “Lady of the Night”. Summer and Morodor then released the song love to Love You and an American label requested that Moroder produce a longer version for discothèques. So Moroder, Bellotte and Summer returned with a 17-minute version. The song generated controversy due to Summer’s moans and groans and some American and European radio stations, including the BBC, refused to play it. Despite this “Love to Love You Baby” became incredibly successful And was followed by “Try Me, I Know We Can Make It”, “Could It Be Magic”, “Spring Affair”, and “Winter Melody”, she released The albums love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love and Then In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday, which included the song “I feel Love”.

She released Another concept album, Once Upon a Time and In 1978, released “MacArthur Park” and “Heaven Knows”. In 1978 Summer married Bruce Sudano & acted in the film Thank God It’s Friday playing a singer determined to perform at a hot disco club. This contained the song “Last Dance” which won a Grammy Award. In 1979, Summer performed at the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert, joining ABBA, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for a TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world’s children. Summer’s next album Bad Girls became a huge success spawning the hits “Hot Stuff”, “Dim All the Lights”. With “MacArthur Park”,“Bad Girls” and the Barbra Streisand duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)”, these together with the songs. “Heaven Knows”, “Last Dance”, “Dim All the Lights” and “On the Radio” (from her upcoming double-album). “Hot Stuff” later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.Summer released On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, her first (international) greatest hits set, in 1979 featuring A new song “On the Radio. Summer signed withGeffen Records in 1980 Summer’s first Geffen album, The Wanderer, featured an eclectic mixture of sounds similar to Bad Girls combined with rock, rockabilly, new wave and gospel music. And contained the Singles The Wanderer, “Cold Love” and “Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’,”. Eventually, though Moroder and Bellotte and Summer left Geffen and hired top R&B and pop producer Quincy Jones to produce Summer’s next album, Donna Summer(1982) which contained the songs “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” “State of Independence” and “The Woman in Me”.

Summer’s next album featured the song She Works Hard for the Money which became a major hit & also garnered another Grammy nomination as well as “Unconditional Love” & “Love Has A Mind of Its Own”. Donna Summer’s next release. Cats Without Claws included the Song s”There Goes My Baby”, “Eyes” and “I’m Free,” . On January 19, 1985, she sang at the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. then In 1987, Summer returned with the album All Systems Go, featuring the singles “Dinner with Gershwin,” and “All Systems Go”. For Summer’s next album, She teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman (or SAW), who enjoyed incredible success writing and producing for such acts as Kylie Minogue, Dead or Alive, Bananarama and Rick Astley, , entitled Another Place and Time, The album featured the singles “This Time I Know It’s for Real” “I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt” and “Love’s About to Change My Heart”. Then In 1990, the compilation, The Best of Donna Summer, was released. In 1991 Summer released the album Mistaken Identity containing the song “When Love Cries” and in 1992 Summer embarked on a world tour to promote the album and later that year received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1993, the two-disc set The Donna Summer Anthology was released, containing 34 tracks. In 1994 Summer released the Christmas album Christmas Spirit which included renditions of classic Christmas songs such as “O Holy Night” and “Joy to the World” together with Summer-penned songs. Then Another hits collection, Endless Summer: Greatest Hits, was released, featuring eighteen songs that were single cuts of the songs differentiating from the Anthology set, where fuller length recordings were featured.

In 1992, she reunited with Giorgio Moroder, to record the dance song “Carry On”, which won Summer the first Grammy given to anyone in its dance category, then In 1995 she released the dance tune “Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)”. Summer was also offered a guest role on the sitcom Family Matters as Steve Urkel’s (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona, making a second appearance in 1997. Summer received a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best Dance Recording, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, “Carry On”, was released in 1997. Then In 1999, Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled Donna Summer – Live and More Encore, Featuring the songs “I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)” and “Love Is the Healer”. In 2000, Summer participated in VH1’s third annual Divas special, dedicated to Diana Ross, singing her own material and In 2003, Summer issued her autobiography, Ordinary Girl: The Journey, and released a best-of set titledThe Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer. In 2004, Summer was inducted into theDance Music Hall of Fame alongside the Bee Gees and Barry Gibb as an artist. In 2004 and 2005, Summer released the songs “You’re So Beautiful” and “I Got Your Love”. Summer also claimed that whilst living in Manhattan she had a premonition concerning The September 11 Attacks one month before they occurred

In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of fully original material in 17 years, entitled Crayons, which contained the songs “I’m a Fire”, “Stamp Your Feet”, “Fame (The Game)”,”The Queen is Back”,the ballad “Sand on my Feet” and “Mr. Music” withJ.R. Rotem and Evan Bogart, the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. On December 11, 2009, Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in honor of American President Barack Obama, backed by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. In August 2010, she released the single “To Paris With Love”, and also appeared in the PBS television special Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends. In it Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs “Un-Break My Heart / Crazy / On the Radio” before closing the show with “Last Dance”. On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity singing alongside rising star Prince Poppycock on the television show America’s Got Talent. On October 16, 2010, she performed at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Symphony. On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show Platinum Hit in an episode entitled “Dance Floor Royalty”.In July 2011, Summer worked Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer Omega Red, producing the song “Angel”.

Sadly After having a glittering career that spanned four decades, Donna Summer tragically passed away on 17th May 2012 in Florida, while attempting to put the finishing touches to her 24th album after having a short but acute battle with lung cancer which she beleived was the result of inhaling toxic dust from the collapsed Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attack. Donna was announced to be one of the 2013 inductees to theRock and Roll Hall of Fame and was inducted on April 18, 2013, at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater. During her incredible music career Summer made 24 albums which put the disco into discography, won five Grammys and in 2012 she was a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to celebrate her extraordinary life,long-lasting career and her continuing legacy.

Donna Summer – Live & More Encore http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i1y9kz7eNfs

Tom Hamilton (Aerosmith)

Tom Hamilton, The Bass Player with rock Band Aerosmith celebrates his birthday on 31st December. Sometimes referred to as “The Bad Boys from Boston” and “America’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band.” The band was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. In 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston, Their style, which is rooted in blues-based hard rock, has come to also incorporate elements of pop, heavy metal, and rhythm and blues, and has inspired many subsequent rock artists. They were signed to Columbia Records in 1972, and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album, followed by their 1974 album Get Your Wings.

In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars.The band released two more albums, toured extensively, and charted a string of Hot 100 singles. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the “Blue Army”. However, drug addiction and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford in 1979 and 1981, respectively; they were replaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. Aerosmith released the album Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes. Perry and Whitford returned in 1984 and the band signed a new deal with Geffen Records. After a comeback tour, the band recorded Done with Mirrors, which won some critical praise but failed to come close to commercial expectations. It was not until the band sobered up and released 1987′s Permanent Vacation that they regained the level of popularity they had experienced in the 1970s.Throughout the late 1980s and 1990s, the band scored several hits including Dude, looks like a lady Walk this Way (Featuring RUN DMC) and “love in an elvator“, and won numerous awards for music from the multi-platinum albums Pump, Get a Grip, and Nine Lives.

The band also became a pop culture phenomenon with popular music videos and notable appearances in television, film, and video games. Their comeback has been described as one of the most remarkable and spectacular in rock ‘n’ roll history. Additional albums followed in 2001 and 2004 including the songs Crazy (Featuring Alicia Silverstone & Liv Tyler) and I don’t Wanna Miss a Thing, from the film Armageddon. After 42 years of performing, the band continues to tour and record music. Their latest album, Music from Another Dimension, was released in 2012. Aerosmith is the best-selling American rock band of all time, having sold more than 150 million albums worldwide,including 66.5 million albums in the United States alone. They also hold the record for the most gold and multi-platinum albums by an American group. The band has scored 21 Top 40 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, nine number-one Mainstream Rock hits, four Grammy Awards, and ten MTV Video Music Awards. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2001, and were included among both Rolling Stone’s and VH1′s lists of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

Andy Summers (The Police)

Andy Summers, British guitarist with rock band The Police was born December 31st 1942. Formed in London in 1977.The Police consisted of Sting (lead vocals, bass), Andy Summers (guitar) and Stewart Copeland (drums). The Police became globally popular in the late 1970s and are generally regarded as one of the first New Wave groups to achieve mainstream success, playing a style of rock that was influenced bypunk, reggae, and jazz.

They made many albums including Regatta de Blance, Zenyatta Mondatta and Their 1983 album, Synchronicity, which reached number one on both the UK Albums Chart and the US Billboard 200, and sold over 8 million copies in the US. The group disbanded in 1986, but reunited in early 2007 for a one-off world tour lasting until August 2008. The band has won a number of music awards throughout their career, including six Grammy Awards, two Brit Awards—winning Best British Group once, anMTV Video Music Award, and in 2003, were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. The Police have sold more than 50 million albums worldwide, and were the world’s highest-earning musicians in 2008, thanks to their reunion tour

THE POLICE GREATEST HITS – http://m.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLarJd9RZ0sKcG8H8R4gHV-8o87vEZIUlV

Danny McNamara (Embrace)

Danny McNamara, the lead singer with the band Embrace was born 31st December 1970. Embrace are an English band from Bailiff Bridge, Brighouse, West Yorkshire and consists of brothers singer Danny McNamara and guitarist Richard McNamara, bassist Steve Firth, keyboardist Mickey Dale, and drummer Mike Heaton.The band was begun in a small outbuilding at the bottom of a garden in Bailiff Bridge in 1990. A bass player joined the McNamara brothers, Richard playing guitar and Danny singing. The three of them started creating songs, with the aid of a cassette recorder, and soon a drum machine was added. In 1992 The band recorded a three track demo in a 16 track recording studio in Huddersfield which was sold at concerts.A single, “All You Good Good People” was released in February 1997. their debut album The Good Will Out was released on 8 June 1998 and went to number 1 in the UK Albums Chart.In 27 March 2000 the band released Drawn from Memory. the album was supported by an acclaimed tour, during which they were supported by then-fledgling Coldplay.

Afterwards they recorded their third studio album If You’ve Never Been, which was released on 3 September 2001. In 2004 they released the album Out of Nothing, which reached number one in the UK in 2004 and contained The single “Gravity”, which had been written by Coldplay’s Chris Martin. Danny McNamara and Martin having become friends after Coldplay had supported Embrace in 2000.In October 2005, the band released their first b-side compilation, called Dry Kids: B-Sides 1997–2005, featuring b-sides from their previous album and including many fan-favourites such as “Blind” and a live rendition of D12′s “How Come”. The band’s fifth studio album, This New Day was released on 27 March 2006, with the single “Nature’s Law”. The band then had a break through much of 2007 to 2010. after having released five studio albums, one singles album and one B-sides compilation – The Good Will Out (1998), Drawn from Memory (2000), If You’ve Never Been (2001), Out of Nothing (2004) and This New Day (2006). The latest album Embrace was released in 2014

A Game for all the Family by Sophie Hannah

I would like to read the gripping psychological thriller Game for all the Family by Sophie Hannah. It features An Independent woman named Justine, her husband Alex and daughter Ellen who escape the frantic pace of life in London and move to a beautiful home in Devon, where Justine plans to spend her days doing as little as possible. But soon after the move, her daughter Ellen starts to withdraw when her new best friend, George, is unfairly expelled from school. Justine begs the head teacher to reconsider, only to be told that nobody’s been expelled – there is, and was, no George.

Then the anonymous phone calls start: and Justine’s life is thrown into chaos by a stranger, who starts making threats that suggest she and Justine share a traumatic past and a guilty secret – yet Justine doesn’t recognise her voice. When the caller starts to talk about three graves – two big and one small, to fit a child – Justine fears for her family’s safety. If the police can’t help, she’ll have to eliminate the danger herself, but first she must work out exactly what is going on and who she’s supposed to be…

The Hogfather

I have recently watched the entertaining two-part Television adaptation of the Hogfather, which is based on the 20th Discworld novel by Terry Pratchett, and was nominated for a British Fantasy Award in 1997. It stars Joss Ackland, David Jason, Michelle Dockery and Marc Warren. It begins when The Ghostly Auditors of Discworld decide to eliminate the Hogfather, Who represents something akin to Father Christmas in Discworld, granting children’s wishes on Hogswatchnight (December 32) and bringing them presents, because he does not fit into their view of the universe. So They meet with Lord Downey, head of the Assassin’s Guild, and commission the services of the Assassin Mr Teatime, to “inhume”  the Hogfather and other anthropomorphic personifications such as the tooth Fairy and Verucca Gnome whom they deem surplus to requirements.

Meanwhile Death discovers that an unusually large number of people are dying before they should and when the Hogfather mysteriously vanishes, he decides to take over his job by donning a red cloak and a beard, in order to make people continue to believe in him,  however Death being Death, doesn’t quite get the hang of it and this has some rather amusing consequences. Elsewhere Death’s granddaughter Susan Sto Helit Tries to locate the real Hogfather. She visits his Castle of Bones only to find the hung-over Bilious, the “Oh God” of Hangovers, whom she rescues before the castle collapses due to the lack of belief. In an attempt to cure Bilious.

Susan then visits the Unseen University, where it is discovered that several small gods and beings are being created by the Unseen University’s thinking machine, Hex, who explains that there is ‘spare belief’ in the world – due to the absence of the Hogfather – which is being used to create them. Susan and Bilious then travel to the land of the Tooth Fairy where they discover that Jonathan Teatime has ‘killed’ the Hogfather by collecting millions of children’s teeth and using them to control the children, forcing them to stop believing in the Hogfather. Susan eventually confronts the assassin Mr Teatime and tries to rescue the Hogfather, who is n fact being held by the Auditors.

Sister Bliss (Faithless)

British classically trained pianist, keyboardist record producer, DJ, composer and songwriter Sister Bliss (Ayalah Bentovim),Was born 30 December 1970). she is best known for her work with Rollo Armstrong, particularly as part of Faithless.she has also Worked With a number of collaborators over the years including Zoë Johnston and, frequently, Rollo’s sister Dido, who began her musical career providing backing vocals for the band. Faithless toured extensively, and while Rollo preferred to stay in the studio, Sister Bliss could be seen on stage with Maxi Jazz. Faithless enjoyed a 17-year career, that included 7 albums, including two number ones, and six top 10 singles. To date, Faithless have sold in excess of 15 million records worldwide and have played live to millions across the world.She released a two-disc compilation entitled Headliners: 02 in 2001.On 10 September 2006 she gave birth to a baby boy named Nate. The track “Nate’s Tune” found on the Faithless album To All New Arrivals is dedicated to him. Later on, Faithless founded their own record label called Nate’s Tunes.She released Nightmoves on 14 July 2008.

She formed Faithless in 1995 with Rollo, Jamie Catto and Maxi Jazz. Bliss constructed most of the music of Faithless herself electronically, but also played the piano, violin, saxophone and bass guitar and their debut single “Salva Mea (Save Me)” was released in July l Jazz acted as a vocalist, whilst Bliss constructed most of the music herself electronically, but also played the piano, violin, saxophone and bass guitar. Rollo heads and produces the band. Lead female vocals for many of their songs are performed by Pauline Taylor, who also performed lead vocals for singles by Rollo released under his monikers Rollo Goes Mystic and Rollo Goes Spiritual.”The albums are Reverence (which reached number 26), Sunday 8PM (reaching number 10), Outrospective (at number 4) and No Roots (which debuted at number 1); they were released between 1996 and 2004, with a greatest hits compilation album out in 2005. In light of their dance roots, each of the four studio albums has been followed with a subsequent bonus disc of remixes. Their fifth album, To All New Arrivals, was released in 2006. Album number six,The Dance, was released on 16 May 2010, after a four year recording break for the band.”The band also collectively indulge in mixtapes of other musicians’ work, either mixed by the group or merely selected by them. This includes the long running Back to Mine sessions as well as The Bedroom Sessions and more recently theRenaissance 3D music project, in conjunction with the Renaissance nightclub.On 29 September 2006, the first single “Bombs” from their album To All New Arrivals made its debut on BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong show. The album was released on 27 November 2006. “Bombs” generated moderate controversy with its music video, as demonstrated by MTV’s refusal to air it.The video featured interchanged clips of war scenes and daily life. In October 2007 they played alongside Talib Kweli and Ozomatli and one of China’s earliest music festivals, Yue, organised by Split Works

On 7 August 2009, a dub mix of the track “Sun to Me” from their latest studio album, The Dance, made its debut on BBC Radio 1’s Pete Tong show. “Sun to Me” has been given as a free download to all users that have registered on the new Faithless site, or subscribed to their newsletter. The track has been released on the band’s Myspace page as well. On 12 February 2010, the first official single from the next Faithless album was played on Pete Tong’s show. The single, “Not Going Home”, was released on 4 May 2010, whilst the latest album The Dance, was issued on 16 May 2010. The album is available only in Tesco (3 month exclusive contract) and via iTunes in the UK. Since 2009, their track “Drifting Away” has been the theme tune for the BBC Television’s RHS Chelsea Flower Show website. In 2010, they returned to the Glastonbury Festival after eight years, playing on the Pyramid Stage. They performed many of their most popular songs including “Insomnia”, “God is a DJ”, and “We Come 1″.On 16 March 2011, Maxi Jazz announced on his website that Faithless would cease to be. They played two nights at Brixton Academy on 7 and 8 April 2011. The latter date would be the last ever Faithless show and was transmitted live via satellite to cinemas across Europe. However, the Faithless Sound System (a stripped down version of Faithless consisting of Maxi Jazz, Sister Bliss and Sudha Kheterpal) gave final shows on 22 July 2011 at the Tomorrowland festival in Belgium, at the Waterford Music Fest in Ireland on 30 July and in Split at the Riva Discothèque on 12 August.Faithless performed in Dubai on 31 December 2012.Despite the announcement of their retirement, they currently – albeit only occasionally – continue to perform in the form of the stripped-down Faithless Sound System or via live PA and DJ sets incorporating Maxi Jazz and Sister Bliss only.

Following Faithless’ retirement from touring in April 2011, she has concentrated on different projects. She presents a weekly show on Ministry of Sound Radio at 7pm on Friday evenings. Sister Bliss has collaborated with Dido, Boy George, Cat Power, Robert Smith (The Cure), The Temper Trap and Example amongst others. A gifted musician and composer, Sister Bliss has written music for film, TV and theatre. Credits include 2012ʼs film Knife Fight starring Rob Lowe, and directed by 2-times Oscar winner, Bill Guttentag, commissions for Sex & The City 2, Danny Boyleʼs The Beach, acclaimed British film The Hide, Crossing The Line and popular TV drama Life Begins. For theatre, Bliss has written music for The Black Album and The Emperor Jones at The National Theatre in London, as well as composing an original piece for the London Sinfonietta, which was performed at Fuse Festival, UK.Inspired by her love for discovering new music through her radio show and DJ sets, 2013 will see Sister Bliss launch her own label: Junkdog Records. An outlet for signing new music she believes in, Junkdog already has a busy schedule of new artists and exclusive originals from the lady herself.The ‘Faithless Sound System’ – a stripped down live act featuring a live PA from Maxi Jazz, DJ set from Bliss and percussion – has appeared at a number of festivals worldwide since the full Faithless band’s split. The sets are typically one hour or less in duration.She has occasionally appeared at medium-sized clubs in the UK in recent years, often as a headline DJ act playing sets of house music.Junkdog Records is her current record label, which has released Sister Bliss solo singles, her remixing of others’ tracks and also independent artist.

On 31 May 2013, she reunited with Maxi Jazz for a Faithless live PA and DJ set at the Electric Brixton nightclub in London. The 1,500 capacity event was in aid of the youth academy for Crystal Palace football club. A similar arrangement of her DJing house tracks between Faithless songs featuring Maxi Jazz on live vocals, was performed at a festival in the United States As well as their own studio albums, all three members actively engage in other people’s work as solo figures. Sister Bliss is a prominent dance DJ and has for a long time toured the circuit on her own, remixed others’ albums and even appeared in music videos, such as Paul Oakenfold’s “Weekend”. Maxi Jazz brought out an album before the formation of Faithless and also worked on pirate radio. He also collaborated with Faithless founding member Jamie Catto on his new project 1 Giant Leap guesting on a song with Robbie Williams. Finally, Rollo founded the label Cheeky Records and has produced the music of other artists, most notably his sister Dido’s albums, as well as using various monikers to create popular dance music under the names Rollo Goes … (Camping, Mystic and Spiritual), Felix, Our Tribe (with Rob Dougan), and Dusted. The latest Faithless album Faithless 2.0 was released in 2015 and is a 2CD RETROSPECTIVE which contains all of Faithless’ hits plus many new remixes.

Jeff Lynne (Electric Light Orchestra)

The English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, multi-instrumentalist and record producer Jeffrey “Jeff” Lynne Was born 30 December 1947. He is the leader and sole constant member of Electric Light Orchestra. Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) were a British rock group from Birmingham, England, who Were formed by jeff Lynne Roy Wood and Bev Bevan around a fusion of rock and classical music, with the original idea of both The Move and ELO existing in tandem. This project would eventually become the highly successful Electric Light Orchestra (ELO). Problems led to Wood’s departure in 1972, following the band’s debut record, So Lynne wrote and arranged all of the group’s original compositions and produced every album.Despite early singles success in the United Kingdom, the band were initially more successful in the United States, billed as “The English guys with the big fiddles”. they incorporated d complex and unique pop-rock sound mixed with studio strings, layered vocals, and tight, catchy pop singles. Thereafter followed a succession of band personnel changes and increasingly popular albums: 1973’s ELO 2 and On the Third Day, 1974’s Eldorado and 1975’s Face the Music. By 1976’s A New World Record. They gained a cult following despite lukewarm reviews back in their native United Kingdom. By the mid-1970s, they had become one of the biggest-selling acts in music. From 1971 to 1986They released eleven studio albums and another album in 2001 &accumulated 27 Top-40 hit singles in both the UK and the US, with 20 Top 20 UK singles and 15 Top-20 US singles (as charted by Billboard magazine). The band also holds the record for having the most Billboard Hot 100 Top 40 hits of any group in US chart history without ever having a number one single.ELO collected 19 CRIA, 21 RIAA and 38 BPI awards, and sold over 50 million records worldwide during the group’s active period of recording and touring. The pinnacle of ELO’s chart success and worldwide popularity was the expansive 1977 double album Out of the Blue, which was largely conceived in a Swiss chalet during a two-week writing marathon. The band’s 1978 world tour featured an elaborate “space ship” set and laser light show. In order to recreate the complex instrumental textures of their albums, the band used pre-recorded supplemental backing tracks in live performances. Although that practice has now become commonplace, it caused considerable derision in the press of the time.

Lynne has often stated that he prefers the creative environment of the studio to the rigours and tedium of touring. In 1979, Lynne followed up the success of Out of the Blue with Discovery, which held No. 1 in the UK for 5 weeks. The album is primarily associated with its two disco-flavoured singles (“Shine a Little Love” and “Last Train to London”) and with the title’s word play on “disco” and “very”. However, the remaining seven non-disco tracks on the album reflected Lynne’s range as a pop-rock songwriter, including a heavy, mid-tempo rock anthem (“Don’t Bring Me Down”) that, despite its use of a drum loop, could be considered the antithesis of disco. In an April 2008 interview, Lynne fondly recalled his forays into dance music:I love the force of disco. I love the freedom it gave me to make a different rhythms across it. I enjoyed that really steady driving beat. Just steady as a rock. I’ve always liked that simplicity in the bass drum.[10]In 1979, Lynne rejected an offer for ELO to headline the Knebworth Concert in the UK, allowing Led Zeppelin to headline instead. In the absence of any touring to support Discovery, Lynne had time to contribute five tracks to the soundtrack for the 1980 film musicalXanadu. The score yielded three Top 40 singles: I’m Alive (UK No. 20), All Over The World (UK No. 11), and the title track Xanadu, which reached number one in the UK. Nevertheless, Lynne was not integrated into the development of the film, and his material subsequently had only superficial attachment to the plot. Xanadu performed weakly at the box office (although it later has experienced popularity as a cult favourite). Lynne subsequently disavowed his limited contribution to the project although he later re-recorded the title song (with his lead vocal) for the 2000 box set Flashback. In 2007, the film was loosely adapted into a successful Broadway musical, incorporating almost all of the songs from the original film, and also using two other ELO hits: “Strange Magic” and “Evil Woman”. ln 1981, Lynne took the band in a somewhat different direction with the science-fiction themed album Time, The strings were still featured, but with heavily synthesised textures. Following a marginally successful tour, Lynne kept this general approach with 1983’s Secret Messages and a final contractually-obligated ELO album Balance of Power in 1986.

ELO now had only three remaining official members (Lynne, Bevan and Tandy), and Lynne began devoting more time to producing. During his time in the Electric Light Orchestra, Lynne did manage to release a few recordings under his own name. In 1976, Lynne covered the Beatles songs “With a Little Help from My Friends” and “Nowhere Man” for All This and World War II. In 1977, Lynne released his first solo single, the disco-flavoured “Doin’ That Crazy Thing”/”Goin’ Down to Rio”. Lynne and ELO keyboardist Richard Tandy contributed two original songs “Video!” and “Let It Run” to the film Electric Dreams . Lynne also wrote the song “The Story of Me,” which was recorded by the Everly Brothers on their comeback album EB84. , Lynne began his move toward focusing almost exclusively on studio production work. Lynne produced and wrote the 1983 top-40 hit “Slipping Away” for Dave Edmunds and played on sessions (with Richard Tandy) for Edmunds’ album, Information. Lynne also produced six tracks on Edmunds’ follow-up album in 1984, Riff Raff. .Lynne’s influence by the Beatles was clearly evident in his ELO work and the connection to the Beatles was strengthened when Lynne produced George Harrison’s Cloud Nine, a successful comeback album for the ex-Beatle, released in 1987, featuring the popular singles “Got My Mind Set on You”, “When We Was Fab” (where Lynne played the violin in the video), and “This Is Love”, two of the three songs co-written by Lynne.

Lynne’s association with Harrison led to the 1988 formation of the Traveling Wilburys, a studio “supergroup” that included George Harrison, Tom Petty, Bob Dylan and Roy Orbison as well as Lynne himself, and resulted in two albums (Vol. 1 and Vol. 3), both co-produced by LynneIn 1988 Lynne also worked on Roy Orbison’s album Mystery Girl co-writing and producing Orbison’s last major hit, “You Got It”, plus two other tracks on that album. For Rock On!, the final Del Shannonalbum, Lynne co-wrote “Walk Away” and finished off several tracks after Shannon’s death.In 1989, Lynne co-produced Full Moon Fever by Tom Petty, which included the hit singles “Free Fallin’”, “I Won’t Back Down”, and “Runnin’ Down a Dream”, all co-written by Lynne. This album and Traveling Wilburys Vol. 1 both received nominations for theGrammy Award for Best Album of the Year in 1989. The Traveling Wilburys won a Grammy for “Best Rock Performance By A Duo Or Group With Vocal” that year.Lynne’s song “One Way Love” was released as a single by Agnetha Faltskog and appeared on her second post-ABBA album, Eyes of a Woman. Lynne co-wrote and produced the track “Let It Shine” for Beach Boys founder Brian Wilson’s first solo album in 1988. Lynne also contributed three tracks to an album by Duane Eddy and “Falling in Love” on Land of Dreams for Randy Newman.

In 1990, Lynne collaborated on the Wilburys’ follow up Traveling Wilburys Vol. 3 and shortly after that released his first solo album Armchair Theatre,with old friends George Harrison and Richard Tandy featuring the singles “Every Little Thing” and “Lift Me Up”. The album received some positive critical attention but little commercial success. Lynne also provided the song “Wild Times” to the motion picture soundtrack Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves in 1991. In 1991, Lynne returned to the studio with Petty, co-writing and producing the album Into the Great Wide Open for Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, which featured the singles “Learning to Fly” and “Into the Great Wide Open”. The following year he produced Roy Orbison’s posthumous album King of Hearts, featuring the single “I Drove All Night”.In February 1994, Lynne fulfilled a lifelong dream by working with the three surviving Beatles on the Anthology album series.At George Harrison’s request, Lynne was brought in to assist in reevaluating John Lennon’s original studio material. The songs “Free as a Bird”and “Real Love” were created by digitally processing Lennon’s demos for the songs and overdubbing the three surviving band members to form a virtual Beatles reunion that the band had mutually eschewed during Lennon’s lifetime. Lynne has also produced records for Ringo Starr and worked on Paul McCartney’s Grammy nominated album Flaming Pie.Lynne’s work in the 1990s also includes production of a 1993 album for singer/songwriter Julianna Raye entitled Something Peculiar and production or songwriting contributions to albums by Roger McGuinn (Back from Rio), Joe Cocker (Night Calls),Aerosmith (Lizard Love), Tom Jones (Lift me Up), Bonnie Tyler (Time Mends a Broken Heart), the film Still Crazy, Hank Marvin(Wonderful Land and Nivram), Et Moi (Drole De Vie) and the Tandy Morgan Band (Action). In 1996, Lynne was officially recognised by his peers when he was awarded the Ivor Novello Award for “Outstanding Contributions to British Music” for a second time. Jeff Lynne’s latest Electric Light Orchestra Album “Alone in the Universe” was released in 2015 and features the song “When I was a Boy”.

 

Rudyard Kipling

English short-story writer, poet, and novelist Joseph Rudyard Kipling Was born 30 December 1865 in Bombay. However He moved to London, England when he was five years old. In 1891, Kipling visited South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, and India. However, he cut short his visit and returned to London where his first novel was published Kipling is best known for his works of fiction, including The Jungle Book (a collection of stories which includes “Rikki-Tikki-Tavi”), Just So Stories (1902), Kim (1901) (a tale of adventure), many short stories, including “The Man Who Would Be King” (1888); and his poems, including “Mandalay” (1890), “Gunga Din” (1890), “The White Man’s Burden” (1899), and “If—” (1910). He was also acquainted with British writer Arthur Conan Doyle, who brought his golf-clubs, stayed for two days, and gave Kipling an extended golf lesson which he enjoyed.

Kipling also loved the outdoors especially Autumn in Vermont, describing how a Maple began changing colour, flaming blood-red of a sudden against the dark green of a pine-belt. Next morning there was an answering signal from the swamp and Three days later, the hill-sides as fast as the eye could range were afire, and the roads paved, with crimson and gold. Then a wet wind blew, until nothing remained but pencil-shadings of bare boughs, and one could see into the most private heart of the woods. Sadly On a visit to the United States in 1899, Kipling and Josephine developed pneumonia, from which she eventually died. Kipling began collecting material for another of his children’s classics, Just So Stories for Little Children, this was published in 1902, the year after Kim. In 1906 Kipling wrote the song “Land of our Birth, We Pledge to Thee” and two science fiction short stories, With the Night Mail (1905) and As Easy As A. B. C (1912), both set in the 21st century in Kipling’s Aerial Board of Control universe. In 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature then In 1907, he published two connected poetry and story collections: Puck of Pook’s Hill (1906), andRewards and Fairies (1910). Whoch contained the poem “If”.

During the First World War Kipling was an active patriot and wrote political pamphlets and poems which enthusiastically supported the UK’s war aims of restoring Belgium after being occupied by Germany. He also actively encouraged his young son John to go to war. Tragically Though John was killed in the First World War, at the Battle of Loos in September 1915, at age 18. After having been rejected twice And only managed to enlist due to the intervention of Lord Roberts, commander-in-chief of the British Army, and colonel of the Irish Guards, with whom Rudyard had been friends and his body was not found until 1992.

In September 1914, Kipling was asked by the British government to write propaganda, an offer that he immediately accepted. Kipling’s pamphlets and stories were very popular with the British people during the war with his major themes being glorifying the British military as the place for heroic men to be, German atrocities against Belgian civilians and the stories of women being brutalized by a horrific war unleashed by Germany, yet surviving and triumphing in spite of their suffering. Kipling was enraged by reports of the Rape of Belgium together with the sinking of the RMS Lusitania in 1915, which he saw as a deeply inhumane act, which led him to see the war as a crusade for civilization against barbarism. Kipling was deeply critical of the British Army as opposed to the war itself, which he ardently supported, complaining as early as October 1914 that Germany should have been defeated by now, and something must be wrong with the British Army. he was also appalled by the heavy losses, blaming the entire pre-war generation of British politicians, for not learning lessons from the Boer war, resulting in heavy casualties in France and Belgium

JUNGLE BOOK

After the first world war, Kipling remained skeptical about the Fourteen Points and the League of Nations, but he admired Theodore Roosevelt and hoped that the post-war world would be dominated by an Anglo-French-American alliance, but was saddened by Roosevelt’s death in 1919. Kipling joined Sir Fabian Ware’s Imperial War Graves Commission (now the Commonwealth War Graves Commission), who were responsible for the garden like British War Graves dotted along the Western Front. He also chose the biblical phrases “Their Name Liveth For Evermore” (Ecclesiasticus 44.14, KJV) found on the Stones of Remembrance in larger war graves, “Known unto God” for the gravestones of unidentified servicemen and “The Glorious Dead” on the Cenotaph, Whitehall, London. In 1923 he published a two-volume history of the Irish Guards, which is considered to be one of the finest examples of regimental history. He also published the moving short story, “The Gardener”, which depicts visits to the war cemeteries, and the poem “The King’s Pilgrimage” (1922) about King George V’s, tour of the cemeteries and memorials belonging to the Imperial War Graves Commission.

Kipling also became a motoring correspondent for the British press, and wrote enthusiastically of his trips around England and abroad, despite usually being driven by a chauffeur. In 1920 Kipling co-founded the Liberty League with Haggard and Lord Sydenham. promoting classic liberal ideals in response to the rising power of Communist tendencies within Great Britain. In 1922 Kipling, Was asked to assist University of Toronto civil engineering professorHerbert E. T. Haultain to develop a dignified obligation and ceremony for graduating engineering students an produced “The Ritual of the Calling of an Engineer”. Today, engineering graduates all across Canada are presented with an iron ring at the ceremony as a reminder of their obligation to society. In 1922 Kipling also became Lord Rector of St Andrews University in Scotland, a three-year position.

Kipling argued very strongly for an Anglo-French alliance to uphold the peace, and repeatedly warned against revising the Treaty of Versailles in Germany’s favour, predicting it would lead to a new world war, arguing that Germany’s larger economy and birthrate had made that country stronger than France, that with much of France was devastated by the war and the French suffering heavy losses that the low French birthrate would have trouble replacing while Germany was mostly undamaged and with a higher birth rate,

Kipling opposed the Labour government of Ramsay MacDonald as “Bolshevism without bullets”, and believed that Labour was a Communist front organisation which took instructions from Moscow. Atfirst Kipling’s admired Benito Mussolini to a certain extent but was against fascism, writing that Sir Oswald Mosley was “a bounder and an arriviste”, But by 1935 he was calling Mussolini a deranged and dangerous egomaniac writing that “The Hitlerites are out for blood”.In 1934 he published a short story in Strand Magazine, “Proofs of Holy Writ”, which postulated that William Shakespeare had helped to polish the prose of the King James Bible Less than one year before his death And gave a speech (titled “An Undefended Island”) toThe Royal Society of St George on 6 May 1935 warning of the danger which Nazi Germany posed to Britain.

Kipling sadly passed away 18 January 1936 at the age of 70 after Suffering a haemorrhage in his small intestine after having recently undergone surgery, for a perforated duodenal ulcer. Phenomenon died two days before King George V. And was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium, northwest London, and his ashes were buried in Poets’ Corner, part of the South Transept of Westminster Abbey, next to the graves of Charles Dickens and Thomas Hardy.