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Paul Albert Anka, OC (born July 30, 1941) is a Canadian singer, songwriter, and actor.

Anka first became famous as a teen idol in the late 1950s and 1960s with hit songs like "Diana'", "Lonely Boy", and "Put Your Head on My Shoulder". He went on to write such well-known music as the theme for The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and one of Tom Jones's biggest hits, "She's a Lady", and the English lyrics for Frank Sinatra's signature song, "My Way" (originally French song "Comme d'habitude").

In 1983, he co-wrote with Michael Jackson the song "I Never Heard", which was retitled and released in 2009 under the name "This Is It". An additional song that Jackson co-wrote with Anka from this 1983 session, "Love Never Felt So Good", has since been discovered, and will be released in the near future. The song was also released by Johnny Mathis in 1984. ... Read more

They entered the TV talent show Opportunity Knocks, which they won for a record seven times with such songs as "All Change Places", "I'm Confessin'", "Let It Be Me" and "All I Ever Need is You". Following their TV success, a record contract was soon signed with Philips Records. This quickly led to a number one hit, "Welcome Home". A successful first album, "We Can Make It", followed. This also reached the number one position, selling over 250,000 copies. ... Read more

Priscilla, Queen of the Desert is a musical with a book by Australian film director-writer Stephan Elliott and Allan Scott, using well-known pop songs as its score. Adapted from Elliott's 1994 film The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert, the musical tells the story of two drag queens and a transexual, who contract to perform a drag show at a resort in Alice Springs, a resort town in the remote Australian desert. As they head west from Sydney aboard their lavender bus, Priscilla, the three friends come to the forefront of a comedy of errors, encountering a number of strange characters, as well as incidents of homophobia, while widening comfort zones and finding new horizons but also those that are lost. ... From Wiki

Josefin Nilsson (born 22 March 1969 in När, Gotland) is a Swedish singer and actress.

From Album: "Marian Mcpartland's Piano Jazz - Carmen McRae"

Carmen McRae was a guest on Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz in 1985 and ended up being one of the most memorable singers to appear on the series.

Margaret Marian McPartland (née Turner; born March 21, 1918) (some sources give March 20, 1920), is an English Jazz pianist, composer, writer, and the host of Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz on National Public Radio.

Marian McPartland has become famous for hosting her Piano Jazz radio program since 1978, but she was a well-respected pianist decades before. She played in a four-piano vaudeville act in England and performed on the European continent for the troops during World War II. In Belgium in 1944, she met cornetist Jimmy McPartland and they soon married. Marian moved with her husband to the United States in 1946, where she sometimes played with him even though her style was more modern than his Dixieland-oriented groups. McPartland eventually had her own trio at the Embers (1950) and the Hickory House (1952-1960), which until 1957 included drummer Joe Morello. She recorded regularly for Savoy and Capitol during the 1950s and also made sessions for Argo (1958), Time (1960 and 1963), Sesac, and Dot. Although eventually divorced from Jimmy, they remained close friends, sometimes played together, and even remarried just weeks before his death. She formed her own Halycon label and recorded several fine albums between 1969-1977. McPartland also made three albums for Tony Bennett's Improv label during 1976-1977 before signing with Concord, where she has been since 1978. The Jazz Alliance label has made available over 30 CD's worth of material from Marian McPartland's Piano Jazz show, some of which are quite fascinating and significant.    ~ Scott Yanow, All Music Guide

From Album: "Eugenia Leon & Ramon Vargas ~ Corazón Mexicano".

Since her appearance in 1983, vocalist Eugenia León has gone from a virtually unknown talent to becoming a Mexican cultural icon. Born in Mexico City, León began her career in the 1970s with groups performing the nueva cancíon and political repertoire that gave voice to the concerns of young adults and students, and was popular throughout Latin America. In 1982, she began to appear solo, performing selections written by popular songwriters of her generation such as Marcia Alejandro, Pepe Elorza, and Jaíme Lopez. A shift in León's visibility came in 1985, when she claimed a victory for Mexico at the OTI Festival in Sevilla a short two days after a catastrophic earthquake destroyed a large part of her home town. Emotional though she was León offered Mexicans a sense of victory when they needed it most. As her popularity grew, so did her discography. She recorded nearly a record a year from her 1983 debut until the year 2000. Her status as a Latin American musical icon took her to stages all over the globe; she shared the spotlight with artists like Lola Beltrán, Willie Colón, José José, Mercedes Sosa, and others. In 2007, León released her 22nd original album, Pasional. The record enjoyed a lasting presence on Mexican charts, holding steadily in the Top 40 for months following its release.   ~ Evan C. Gutierrez, All Music Guide

Ramon Vargas (born 1960) is an award-winning Mexican lyric tenor opera singer. Since his debut in the early ’90s, he has developed to become one of the most acclaimed tenors of the 21st Century. Known for his clear and agile lyric tenor voice, he is especially successful in the bel canto repertoire, though has sung heavier parts like Massenet’s Werther to great acclaim.

From Album: "Katia Labeque ~ Little Girl Blue".

The French sisters Labèque, Katia (born 11 March 1950) and Marielle (born 6 March 1952), are one of the world's most distinguished piano duos. They have performed and recorded most of the repertoire for two pianos, spanning the instrumental, chamber, and concerto genres encompassing musical periods from Baroque through contemporary. Marielle Labeque is the spouse of the conductor Semyon Bychkov.

Labeque.com Official website

Gonzalo Rubalcaba (born May 27, 1963 in Havana, Cuba) is a Grammy Award-winning Cuban jazz pianist and composer.

Omara Portuondo And Ibrahim Ferrer - Casablanca (As Time Goes By)

From Album: Ibrahim Ferrer ~ Rhythms del Mundo: Cuba

Ibrahim Ferrer (February 20, 1927 – August 6, 2005) was a popular Afro-Cuban singer and musician in Cuba. He performed with many musical groups including the Afro-Cuban All Stars. Later in life, Ferrer became a member of the internationally successful Buena Vista Social Club. His increasing popularity lead to collaborations with contemporary acts such as Gorillaz.Ferrer was born at a dance in San Luis, near the city of Santiago de Cuba. His mother died when he was 12, leaving him orphaned and forcing him to sing on the streets (busk) to earn money. The next year, Ferrer joined his first ever musical group, a duet alongside his cousin called Jovenes del Son (Spanish: Youths of Son). They performed at private functions and the two youths managed to scrape together enough money to live.

Over the next few years, Ferrer would perform with many musical groups, including Conjunto Sorpresa and Orquesta Chepin-Choven.

The leader of the latter composed one of Ferrer's biggest hits, "El Platanal de Bartolo".

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Omara Portuondo Peláez (b. Havana, 29 October 1930) is a Cuban singer and dancer whose career has spanned over half a century. She was one of the original members of the Cuarteto d'Aida, and returned to perform with The Buena Vista Social Club ensemble.

In 1967 Portuondo embarked on a solo career, and in the same year represented Cuba at the Sopot Festival in Poland, singing Juanito Marquez' "Como un Milagro". Alongside her solo work, in the 1970s she sang with the charanga Orquesta Aragon, and toured with them abroad.

In 1974 she recorded, with guitarist Martin Rojas, an album in which she lauds Salvador Allende and the people of Chile a year after the military coup led by General Augusto Pinochet. Among other hits from the album, she sang Carlos Puebla's beautiful "Hasta Siempre Comandante", which refers to Ché Guevara.

During the 1970s and 1980s Portuondo enjoyed success at home and abroad, with tours, albums (including one of her most lauded recordings in 1984 with Adalberto Alvarez), film roles, and her own television series.

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From Album: "The Best of Steve & Eydie".

Steve and Eydie is the name of an American pop vocal duet, consisting of Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme. They have been a husband and wife team since the 1950s. Both have also had separate careers as solo singers. The performer name on their duet releases was denoted as "Steve and Eydie", without the last names.

Steve Lawrence (born July 8, 1935) is an American singer, perhaps best known as a member of a duo with his wife Eydie Gormé, billed as Steve and Eydie. The two have appeared together since appearing regularly on Steve Allen's The Tonight Show in the mid-1950s.

Lawrence has been awarded a New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and a Tony Award nomination for his performance of What Makes Sammy Run on Broadway (1964), and two Emmy Awards —one for production—for Steve & Eydie Celebrate Irving Berlin (1978), which altogether won seven Emmys.

With Gormé, he has been the recipient of two Emmys for Our Love is Here to Stay, a tribute to George and Ira Gershwin; a "Best Performance By a Vocal Duo or Group" Grammy Award for We Got Us; a Film Advisory Board's Award of Excellence and a Television Critics Circle Award for From This Moment On, a tribute to Cole Porter. 

The duo have also won a Las Vegas Entertainment Award for "Musical Variety Act of the Year" four times, three of them consecutively. They have been honoured with a lifetime achievement award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 1995 were the recipients of an Ella Lifetime Achievement Award from the Society of Singers, a non-profit organization that helps professional singers with counseling and financial assistance.  ~ From Wiki

Eydie Gorme (alternative spelling Eydie Gormé; born Edith Gormezano, August 16, 1931) is an American singer credited heavily, along with husband Steve Lawrence, with helping to keep the classic traditional pop music repertoire alive and well. She still continues to entertain and tour with husband Steve.

Throughout her long career she has been the recipient of numerous awards, including the Grammy Award and the Emmy Award. The couple's striking union of broad ballads and breezy swing has combined with the endurance of their marriage and their comic facility to make them American institutions---even though neither of the couple, as separate performers or together, has put a single into the American Top 40 since 1963.  ~ From Wiki

Steve & Eydie...On the Web

From Album: Michael Bolton: This Is the Time: The Christmas Album