55-529: Matt Monro (born Terence Edward Parsons , 1 December 1930 – 7 February 1985) was an English singer. Known as "The Man with the Golden Voice", he performed internationally during his 30-year career and sold a reported 23 million records. AllMusic has described Monro as "one of the most underrated pop vocalists of the '60s", who "possessed the easiest, most perfect baritone in the business". Frank Sinatra said of Monro after his death: “If I had to choose three of
110-436: A "live" concert album, preferring the technical purity of the recording studio and wanting his public performances to retain an element of uniqueness. However, in the past few years, commercially released concert albums have emerged following remastering of radio and television shows, private recordings he commissioned. These include a 1967 cabaret performance from his first tour of Australia; a 1967 BBC concert with Nelson Riddle;
165-467: A 1966 arena concert before 24,000 people in Manila ; and one of his final concerts, recorded on the last night of his fifteenth and final Australian tour in 1984. His daughter Michele has written a biography, The Singer's Singer: The Life and Music of Matt Monro and has been instrumental, along with sound engineer Richard Moore, in releasing rare and unreleased material by Matt Monro in recent years. Through
220-529: A bus driver for London Transport , driving Route 27 from Holloway (Garage code J) Bus Garage (now demolished: the present Holloway Garage (HT) is the former Holloway Trolleybus Depot). In 1956, he made a demo record, "Polka Dots and Moonbeams" which was heard by pianist Winifred Atwell , who was an important influence on his early career. She recommended him to her own recording company, Decca Records , who signed him. She became his mentor, providing him with his stage name, Matt Monro. Matt came from Matt White,
275-473: A difficult childhood. His father died when he was three and after his mother became ill, he was fostered out for two years. Leaving school at 14, he tried a succession of jobs without remaining in any of them for very long, before National Service beckoned in 1948. Monro became a tank driving instructor in the British armed forces and was posted to Hong Kong . He had sung in public from an early age, for example at
330-534: A goal to create an open-access database that included every recording "since Enrico Caruso gave the industry its first big boost". The first All Music Guide , published in 1992, was a 1,200-page reference book, packaged with a CD-ROM, titled All Music Guide: The Best CDs, Albums & Tapes: The Expert's Guide to the Best Releases from Thousands of Artists in All Types of Music . Its first online version, in 1994,
385-654: A hit with the Beatles ' " Yesterday " in 1965, the first cover version of the most recorded song, even predating the Beatles' own release. That year, he was voted top singer in England in a poll. The following year, Monro sang the Oscar -winning title song for the film Born Free , which became his signature tune . It was also his second collaboration with John Barry , following "From Russia with Love". Monro went on to record two further songs from Barry film scores: "Wednesday's Child" (from
440-675: A journalist friend; and Monro was Atwell's father's Christian name. His first record which was released in November 1956, was "Ev'rybody Falls in Love with Someone", a song which had just won the BBC Festival of Popular Songs. Monro gained some radio exposure on Radio Luxembourg and, starting on 2 January 1957, became a featured vocalist with the BBC TV Show Band Parade show presented by Cyril Stapleton which ran until 28 June 1957. He also got
495-706: A move to the United States. This would be the beginning of a trend towards LPs , and he now worked with American arrangers such as Sid Feller and Billy May on recording albums which included "This Is the Life", "The Late Late Show", "Invitation to the Movies" and "Invitation to Broadway". However, unlike "Born Free", his other Capitol singles in California were not particularly successful. After moving to California and recording several albums with American arrangers, Monro returned to
550-552: A prize in a design contest, he left for London, where he won second prize on a radio talent show. Vaughan auditioned for the agent Billy Marsh who booked him in for a week at the Kingston Empire in May 1950 with Jimmy Wheeler . His debut went well with press comment stating "Frankie Vaughan gives a promising performance when singing some new and old songs in a crooning style. He receives a warm reception". This led to further bookings on
605-560: A quintet recorded in New York. These recordings, later overdubbed by Dave Cavenaugh in Hollywood, were released for the first time as Monro wanted them to be. What would have been Monro's 90th birthday in December 2020, was celebrated by his family with the creation of an official YouTube page, and the four part audio documentary, The Boy from Shoreditch . Monro's song, Walk Away , is featured in
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#1733093648521660-552: A stage version of 42nd Street at Drury Lane in London, opposite his old friend Shani Wallis who appeared in their first film together, Ramsbottom Rides Again . After a year, he nearly died of peritonitis and had to leave the cast. Vaughan was married to Leeds -born Stella Shock (1924–2022) from 1951 until his death; the couple had three children, a daughter Susan (b.1963) and two sons, singer and yoga elder David Sye (b.1961) and actor-singer Andrew Abelson (b.1968). In 1994, he
715-511: A television spot on The Winifred Atwell Show in 1956. In 1957, Monro released Blue and Sentimental , an album of standards. Despite the album's favourable reception, Monro languished among the young male singers trying to break through at the end of the 1950s, many of them emulating Frankie Vaughan by recording cover versions of American hits . Monro even recorded a version of Vaughan's " Garden of Eden " during this period. A short recording contract with Fontana Records followed. By
770-662: A vocalist in their dance band. After a stint in the Royal Army Medical Corps (where he spent most of his time boxing) he returned to art school, this time at the Leeds College of Art . An early appearance was in the Leeds students rag revue "It's Rag Time", which opened on 20 June 1949 at the Empire Theatre in Leeds, when he was described as the show's main vocalist. He was still known as Frank Abelson at that time. When he won
825-535: A widow, Mickie, and three children: Mitchell, Michele, and Matthew . Matt Monro was cremated at Golders Green Crematorium . The ashes were removed by the family. A memorial service was also held in Harrow. The 20th anniversary of Monro's death spotlighted the continuing interest in his music, with a top 10 tribute compilation CD (UK), a No. 1 concert DVD (UK), and a BBC TV documentary all appearing in 2005. A 2007 compilation CD entitled From Matt with Love reached
880-546: Is an American online music database . It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands . Initiated in 1991, the database was first made available on the Internet in 1994. AllMusic is owned by RhythmOne . AllMusic was launched as All-Music Guide by Michael Erlewine , a "compulsive archivist, noted astrologer, Buddhist scholar and musician". He became interested in using computers for his astrological work in
935-665: The All Music Guide: The Definitive Guide (at first released as The Experts' Guide ), which includes a series of publications about various music genres. It was followed by the Required Listening series, and Annual guides. Vladimir Bogdanov is the president and the main editor of the series. In August 2007, PC Magazine included AllMusic in its "Top 100 Classic Websites" list. Frankie Vaughan Frankie Vaughan CBE DL (born Frank Fruim Abelson ; 3 February 1928 – 17 September 1999)
990-548: The Top 10 in 1967 with "There Must Be a Way". Chart success eluded him after this although he did have two more Top 40 singles; " Nevertheless " and "So Tired". In the late 1960s, Vaughan, involved himself with a youth project in Easterhouse , Glasgow . He was appalled by the level of violence amongst young people. Vaughan held meetings with the gang leaders and appealed for them to surrender their weapons. In 1985, Vaughan starred in
1045-566: The UK Singles Chart . By the following year, Monro had been named Top International Act by Billboard . In February 1961, the British music magazine NME reported that Monro had won ITV 's A Song for Britain with " My Kind of Girl ". His follow-up hits included that song, plus " Softly as I Leave You " (1962) and the title song from the James Bond film From Russia with Love (1963). For
1100-564: The UK Singles Chart . The same year he was voted 'Showbusiness Personality of the Year'. In early 1957, his version of " The Garden of Eden ", reached No. 1 in the UK Singles Chart. In 1957, he was voted the eighth most popular star at the British box office. Managed at this time by former journalist and theatrical agent Paul Cave, Vaughan stayed in the United States for a time to make a film with Marilyn Monroe , Let's Make Love (1960), and
1155-567: The eponymous James Bond film , " Born Free " for the eponymous film , and " On Days Like These " for The Italian Job . Monro was born Terence Edward Parsons on 1 December 1930 in Finsbury , northeast of the City of London , to Frederick and Alice Parsons. He had three brothers — Arthur, Reg and Harry — and a sister, Alice. He attended Duncombe School in Islington, and Elliott School, Putney . Monro had
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#17330936485211210-575: The 2023 television series Funny Woman , set in the mid-1960s. Most of Monro's recordings were produced or overseen by George Martin . Unlike his contemporaries, Monro recorded very few Tin Pan Alley standards during his career. (The exception was Matt Monro Sings Hoagy Carmichael , one of his most highly regarded albums.) Instead, he and Martin searched for material written by promising newcomers and commissioned English lyrics for dramatic melodies written by European composers . Monro also covered many of
1265-587: The BBC. In 1973, Monro released a vocal version of the popular Van der Valk TV-series theme titled "And You Smiled", with lyrics written by Melvyn Taggart. It was his final hit. In 1977, he recorded the Don Black penned, "If I Never Sing Another Song", which became a latter-day standard among his contemporaries, its lyrics referring to the "heyday" of fan mail, awards, and other trappings of celebrity that had faded for them. In 1979, Monro recorded his final studio album,
1320-764: The Moonlight, Give Me the Girl ". He recorded a large number of songs that were covers of United States hit songs, including Perry Como 's " Kewpie Doll ", Jimmie Rodgers' " Kisses Sweeter than Wine ", Boyd Bennett 's " Seventeen " (also covered in the US by the Fontane Sisters ), Jim Lowe 's " The Green Door ", and (with the Kaye Sisters ), the Fleetwoods ' " Come Softly to Me ". In 1956, his cover of " The Green Door " reached No. 2 in
1375-548: The Tufnell Park Palais, and in Hong Kong he took to entering local talent contests, winning several. In fact, he became a regular guest (and frequent winner) of Radio Rediffusion 's Talent Time show in Hong Kong. He was invited by then-host Ray Cordeiro to perform in his own one-off show entitled Terry Parsons Sings , on the condition that he would bow out of future Talent Time episodes to make way for others. Agreeing to
1430-684: The UK and stayed with George Martin. He later began to change labels within EMI to Columbia , where his final U.S. album Close to You was released in 1970. This LP contained "We're Gonna Change the World", a semi-satirical song originally used in a TV commercial for Kellogg's Cornflakes . It was not a hit in either the US or the UK but was nevertheless widely played, and became enduringly popular on BBC Radio 2 . A re-recording in 1995, in which Monro's son duetted electronically with his late father, did however just scrape into
1485-421: The UK chart at No. 100. On 31 December 1976, Monro performed Black's "Walk Away" on BBC1 's A Jubilee of Music , celebrating British pop music for Queen Elizabeth II 's impending Silver Jubilee . Monro continued touring and recording until just before his death, releasing a single and promoting it throughout the UK and Australia in 1984. In one of his final appearances, Monro praised Boy George , observing
1540-524: The company after its sale. Alliance filed for bankruptcy in 1999, and its assets were acquired by Ron Burkle 's Yucaipa Equity Fund. In 1999, All Music relocated from Big Rapids to Ann Arbor , where the staff expanded from 12 to 100 people. By February of that year, 350,000 albums and two million tracks had been cataloged. All Music had published biographies of 30,000 artists, 120,000 record reviews and 300 essays written by "a hybrid of historians, critics and passionate collectors". In late 2007, AllMusic
1595-635: The deal, he performed his first on-air concert for Rediffusion on 27 June 1953. Following his discharge from the Army after five years, he returned to London, to try to make a career out of singing. Initially he had little success and was obliged to take on a number of different jobs to supplement his meagre income from the occasional singing engagement. He also hung around the music publishers offices in Denmark Street and occasionally made demos of new songs for their ever-optimistic song-pluggers. Eventually, he became
1650-448: The end of the 1950s, Monro's mid-decade profile had declined, and he returned to relative obscurity. He and his wife Mickie lived from her wages as a song plugger and his royalties from a TV advertising jingle for Camay soap. In 1959, he recorded a country pastiche song, "Bound for Texas", for The Chaplin Revue , a feature-length compilation of Charlie Chaplin shorts. It would be
1705-451: The film The Quiller Memorandum ) and "This Way Mary" (from Mary, Queen of Scots ). Both "Born Free" and " On Days Like These " (from the film The Italian Job ) had lyrics by Don Black. In the late 1960s, he recorded another Udo Jürgens song with the name "Was Ich Dir Sagen Will". It was adapted to English as "The Music Played". Monro recorded a Spanish version of the song with the adapted title of "Alguien Cantó". The Spanish version
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1760-442: The finest male vocalists in the singing business, Matt would be one of them. His pitch was right on the nose; his word enunciations letter perfect; his understanding of a song thorough.” Monro's recordings include the UK top 10 hits " Portrait of My Love ", " My Kind of Girl ", " Softly As I Leave You ", " Walk Away ", and a cover of the Beatles ' " Yesterday ". He also recorded several film themes such as "From Russia with Love" for
1815-598: The first of many Monro soundtrack themes . Prior to producing the Peter Sellers album Songs for Swingin' Sellers in 1959, EMI producer George Martin asked Monro to record "You Keep Me Swingin'", a satirical song to help the comedian imitate the song with a Frank Sinatra -type styling. When Sellers heard the recording he decided to use it to be the opening track on the record, rather than record his own version, which he realised he couldn't improve on himself. However, Sellers billed Monro as "Fred Flange", and though it
1870-405: The importance of quality recordings in all musical genres. Monro was married twice: Monro was a heavy smoker and battled alcoholism from the 1960s until 1981. He was diagnosed with liver cancer and was due to have a liver transplant around Christmas 1984 but it was deemed that the cancer had spread too far. He died on 7 February 1985 at Cromwell Hospital, Kensington , London, aged 54, leaving
1925-468: The latter, his vocals were not used in the opening titles, as became the standard for the series; they were heard on a radio during the film and over the final credits. At the 1964 Eurovision Song Contest , singing " I Love the Little Things ", Monro finished second behind Italy's 16-year-old Gigliola Cinquetti , his rendition being described an "excellent performance of the only English language song of
1980-513: The mid-1970s and founded a software company, Matrix, in 1977. In the early 1990s, as CDs replaced LPs as the dominant format for recorded music, Erlewine purchased what he thought was a CD of early recordings by Little Richard . After buying it, he discovered it was a "flaccid latter-day rehash". Frustrated with the labeling, he researched using metadata to create a music guide. In 1990, in Big Rapids, Michigan , he founded All Music Guide with
2035-522: The most popular stage and screen songs of the 1950s and 1960s. Over the years, his recordings featured arrangements by Sid Feller , Billy May , John Barry , Buddy Bregman , Kenny Clayton and Colin Keyes, and Martin himself. He also had a long and fruitful musical partnership with British arranger Johnnie Spence . Monro also teamed up with American star arrangers Nelson Riddle and Billy May and leading British bandleader Ted Heath , for concerts broadcast by
2090-407: The night". The Austrian entry " Warum nur warum? ", performed by songwriter Udo Jürgens , caught Monro's ear, despite its sixth-place finish, and he recorded an English version titled "Walk Away", earning him another hit single in late 1964. The song had lyrics by Monro's manager and friend, Don Black , whom he had met during his Denmark Street days when Black was working for Toff Music. He also had
2145-542: The third all-Spanish album produced by Leonardo Schultz and Gary Mason. Schultz and Mason hoped to capitalise on the success of the earlier hit song "Alguien Cantó", which Leonardo Schultz had adapted to Spanish. The album, entitled Un Toque De Distinción , was recorded in George Martin's Air London Studios, as well as in Miami, Los Angeles, and New York. The arranger was Kenny Woodman, and it was engineered by Tom Greto. The album
2200-409: The tone of the music and the platforms on which the music is sold. It then connects that data together, in a way that can intelligently tell you about an entire type of music, whether a massive genre like classical, or a tiny one like sadcore ." In 1996, seeking to further develop its web-based businesses, Alliance Entertainment Corp. bought All Music from Erlewine for a reported $ 3.5 million. He left
2255-622: The top 40 of the UK Albums Chart during its first week of release. His songs were featured on Friday Night Is Music Night on 8 October 2010. In late 2005, Matt Monro Jr . toured the United Kingdom with a tribute concert commemorating the anniversary. Also, EMI re-released Matt Sings Monro , a 1995 duet album that combined his voice with the senior Monro's. Another posthumous Matt Monro duet, with Cliff Richard , appeared on Richard's duets CD, Two's Company , in 2007. Monro never recorded
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2310-464: The variety circuit and he appeared with the veteran male impersonator Hetty King on several occasions. Her guidance helped change Vaughan's style for the rest of his career. He became known as a fancy dresser, wearing top hat , bow tie , tails , and cane . Vaughan made his first television appearance on 13 October 1951 in a variety show from the Theatre Royal, Leeds starring Gracie Fields . He
2365-567: The years, Monro's recordings have been featured in radio and television commercials. In July 2020, the Unilever brand Axe began airing an American TV campaign for its deodorant line that spoofed the restrictions on dating during the COVID-19 pandemic , with Monro's " Born Free " as the soundtrack theme. In March 2020, Monro reached No. 8 on the UK Albums Chart with an album of performances with
2420-436: Was a demoralising experience at the time, the incident developed into a lifelong friendship with Martin, who subsequently asked Monro to begin recording with him for EMI 's Parlophone record label . Their second single and Monro's highest UK chart success, " Portrait of My Love ", written by Cyril Ornadel and Norman Newell (using the pseudonym "David West") and arranged/conducted by Johnnie Spence , reached number three on
2475-579: Was a member of the Lancaster Lads' Club, a member group of the National Association of Boys' Clubs ; having started out at the club intending to become a boxer, he was a major contributor to them during his career, dedicating his monetary compensation from one song each year to them. He was an evacuee during World War II . He attended the Lancaster College of Art on a scholarship and was
2530-568: Was a text-based Gopher site. It moved to the World Wide Web as web browsers became more user-friendly. Erlewine hired a database engineer, Vladimir Bogdanov , to design the All Music Guide framework, and recruited his nephew, writer Stephen Thomas Erlewine , to develop editorial content. In 1993, Chris Woodstra joined the staff as an engineer. A "record geek" who had written for alternative weeklies and fanzines, his main qualification
2585-499: Was a top sales hit (Superventas) in Spain in 1969. Additionally, Monro recorded an English version of Jürgens' 1966 Eurovision winner " Merci, Chérie ", but it failed to chart when released as a UK single. Monro reached the United States charts when "My Kind of Girl" (1961) and "Walk Away" (1964) hit the top 40. In 1966, following the death of Nat King Cole , EMI moved Monro from Parlophone to Capitol . The new recording contract necessitated
2640-500: Was an "encyclopedic knowledge of music". 1,400 subgenres of music were created, a feature that became central to the site's utility. In a 2016 article in Tedium , Ernie Smith wrote: "AllMusic may have been one of the most ambitious sites of the early-internet era—and it's one that is fundamental to our understanding of pop culture. Because, the thing is, it doesn't just track reviews or albums. It tracks styles, genres, and subgenres, along with
2695-503: Was an English singer and actor who recorded more than 80 easy listening and traditional pop singles in his lifetime. He was known as "Mr. Moonlight" after his signature song " Give Me the Moonlight, Give Me the Girl ". Two of Vaughan's singles topped the UK Singles Chart – " The Garden of Eden " (1957) and " Tower of Strength " (1961). He starred in several films, including a role opposite Marilyn Monroe in Let's Make Love (1960). Vaughan
2750-739: Was an actor in several other films, but his recordings were never chart hits in the US, with the exception of "Judy", which reached No.100 on the Billboard Hot 100 in August 1958. In 1961, Vaughan was on the bill at the Royal Variety Performance at the Prince of Wales Theatre , Coventry Street , London. That December, Vaughan hit No. 1 in the UK again, with " Tower of Strength ", written by Burt Bacharach and Bob Hilliard . The rise of beat music eclipsed Vaughan's chart career before he returned to
2805-474: Was born Frank Fruim Abelson on Devon Street in the Islington district of Liverpool on 3 February 1928, one of four children of Isaac and Leah Abelson. He came from a family of Russian Jewish descent and derived his stage surname from his grandmother; as he was her first-born grandson, she called him "Frank my 'number one' grandson", and her Russian accent made "one" sound like "Vaughan". In his early life, he
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#17330936485212860-520: Was eventually released in 1982. The album was a critical success, and was a hit in various Latin American countries. The song "Volveré Alguna Vez" from the album made it on to the singles chart; the song was subsequently sung by José Feliciano and became a hit. † Before 1973 the BPI did not have an album/single certified award scheme. AllMusic AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG )
2915-480: Was introduced by Donald Peers and sang "Lucky Me". He made his first records in 1950 for His Master's Voice but they were not popular. In August 1952 he joined the dance band of Nat Temple for a year or so, but the popularity of further recordings he made in 1953 encouraged him to return to the variety stage. He switched to the Philips label and in 1955, he recorded what was to become his trademark song, " Give Me
2970-561: Was one of a few to be honoured by a second appearance on This Is Your Life , when he was surprised by Michael Aspel . Vaughan had been a subject of the show previously in April 1970 when Eamonn Andrews surprised him at the Caesar's Palace nightclub in Luton. Despite frequent bouts of ill-health, Vaughan continued performing until shortly before his death in 1999. Vaughan was awarded an OBE in 1965,
3025-422: Was purchased for $ 72 million by TiVo Corporation (known as Macrovision at the time of the sale, and as Rovi from 2009 until 2016). In 2012, AllMusic removed all of Bryan Adams ' info from the site per a request from the artist. In 2015, AllMusic was purchased by BlinkX, later known as RhythmOne . The AllMusic database is powered by a combination of MySQL and MongoDB . The All Media Network produced
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