His Wish List

Blind Boys Of Alabama: The Blind Boys of Alabama formed at the Alabama Institute for the Negro Blind in 1939. The group toiled for almost 40 years almost exclusively on the black gospel circuit, playing in churches, auditoriums, and even stadiums across the country. Their recorded output, reaching back to 1948 with their hit “I Can See Everybody’s Mother But Mine” on the Veejay label, is widely recognized as being influential for many gospel, R&B and rock ‘n’ roll artists.

Steve Tyrell : With his breakthrough performances in “Father of the Bride” and “Father of the Bride II,” Steve Tyrell reinvented and re-popularized classic pop standards for a modern-day audience. With the grit and soul of a lifetime of experiences, producing hits for Grammy-winning Artists ranging from Linda Ronstadt and Aaron Neville, to Rod Stewart and Diana Ross, Steve himself has sold hundreds of thousands of albums and gained a passionate following all over the world.

The Impressions : The group was founded as The Roosters by Chattanooga, Tennessee natives Sam Gooden, Richard Brooks, and Arthur Brooks, who moved to Chicago, Illinois and added Jerry Butler and Curtis Mayfield to their lineup to become Jerry Butler & the Impressions

Marino Perez @ IASO records : As with many bachateros, Marino’s professional career began in 1969 when he emigrated to the capital, Santo Domingo. At the suggestion of Manuel Menegildo of Marisol Records, he sought out the guitarist Edilio Paredes to record a single. Edilio was at the time flirting with becoming an evangelical Christian, and wanted no part in the project. Marino instead recorded his first tracks accompanied on the guitar by Augusto Santos, and the single, “El trago de olvidar”, became an instant classic, remaining today one of Perez’ most popular songs.

Noro Morales @ El Watusi : Puerto Rican-born pianist, bandleader and composer Noro Morales (1911-1964) is admired for his hip and groundbreaking piano and rhythm style. From a large musical family, he initially studied trombone and bass, but fared better on piano. In 1924 the Morales family were invited to become the official court orchestra for Venezuelan dictator President Juan Vicente Gómez.

Tito Allen @ Fania Records : His name is Roberto Romero, however, since his entrance as a bassist and singer into the rock movement and the Puerto Rican New Wave, he has been known as Tito Allen.His interpretive versatility favored his encounter with Ray Barretto at the beginning of 1973, who recruited him for a session of the album Indestructible, for which the new singer popularized between 1973 and 1974 the simple homonym and songs like El Hijo De Obatalá, La Familia, Llanto De Cocodrilo and Ay, No, a chachachá hit in the 1960s by Tito Rodríguez.

The Mad Lads @ Stax Museum : John Gary Williams was the original lead singer of the Stax group known as the Mad Lads, along with Booker T. Washington High School mates William Brown, Julius Green, and Harold Thomas. One of the label’s few vocal groups, they began as The Emeralds, but changed their name to the Mad Lads at the suggestion of then-Stax publicity director Deanie Parker because of their prankster, high school antics

Frankie Vaughan @ The Independent : Vaughan’s live appearances covered every kind of show, starting with Wildfire, an ice show at the Empress Hall in 1956. He was given just four weeks to learn to skate to music, and made it by a day-long routine starting at half past eight. All went well until he tried exiting backwards after his “Give Me the Moonlight” number, and fell flat on his back over the barrier.

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