She was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on December 31, 1948.

The Grammy-winning singer had numerous hits in both the 1970s and 1980s, including “Last Dance,” “She Works Hard for the Money” and “Bad Girls.”

It is being reported that she was recording an Album while also being treated for breast cancer.

When I was a teen, in the early 70s, American Bandstand was on Saturday. It along with the baseball game of the week was a Saturday staple.

Before Dick Clark started the Rockin’ New Year in 1972 it was Guy Lombardi who was on TV bringing in the New Year. That was fine, a favorite of the older generation, but Clark helped make it a Rocking New Year for our generation.

In the later 70s we remember him not only from Bandstand, but from the Pyramid, beginning at $10,000 and moving upward from there. He became a daily member of the family.

Is there anyone in the United States who don’t know or hasn’t been touched by Dick Clark? Probably not. The word legend is to often used, but when looking back on the life and career of Dick Clark, one can’t help but to use the word. He was a legend who lead a legendary life.

May he always be remembered.

Now at the age of 70 she has release her memoir. In a few weeks on April 24, 2012 she releases an album of demos she recorded in the 60s.

May he rest in peace.

I think we all can feel just like his closing line of the show, “as always in parting, we wish you love, peace and soul!”

Nick Ashford has pass away after a battling throat cancer. He was 70.

The songwriting team of Ashford and Simpson are Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson. They meet in 1963 and recorded as a duo before writing songs together. In 1966 shortly before joining Motown Records they had their first chart song, “Let’s Go Get Stoned” by Ray Charles.

It was at Motown that many of their most known songs were recorded, including “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough”, “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing” and many others.

In 1974 the two were married and shortly afterwards recorded a string of hits, although their most popular “Solid” wasn’t recorded until 1984.

They are one of the biggest composers of the soundtrack of the 1970s and their songs will be long remembered.

Thank You Nick Ashford and my you rest in peace.

Most of my music experience was from Movie Musicals, Saturday Morning Cartoons, (The Archies, The Beatles cartoon, etc), and other TV shows. Of course the biggest of these were the Monkees and the brand new series, The Partridge Family.

Christmas of 1970 brought presents that would be the beginning of the creation of this Music Fan.

For it was on that Christmas morning I opened my very first record player. Looking back 40 years ago with how easy it is to have a constant source of music, having your own record player may not be a big deal. But for this 12 year old boy it was. I’m sure it would be to anyone living it that generation. A generation where entertainment in the house usually was focused in one room of the house. A TV set, and it may not have been a color one, and music console were all together.

My record player wasn’t simply a small one. It resembled a medium sized trunk. Nor was it mono, as many were in 1970. It was a stereo. It also have a Bass and Treble control. I don’t know how expensive it may have been, but I’m sure for our family it was quite expensive.

On top of that I received three albums. Amazingly these are still in my collection. Those albums were The Beatles, Yesterday and Today, Elvis Presley, From Memphis to Vegas and the first album from what was my favorite music group, The Partridge Family.

I’m sure that there are many, men and women, my age who still think back to the Christmas of 1970 as the beginning of their musical journey. And while they may not admit that the Partridge Family, The Jackson Five and the Osmonds were some of their earliest favorites, like mine they probably were.

Wishing everyone a Merry Christmas and a Very Happy 1971

The show, based loosely on the family group the Cowsills, was to show the adventures of a family who came together to be pop stars. Shirley Jones was the Mom of the group and the songs that were to be used were developed and recorded by a group of studio and session musicians.

It wasn’t until after the cast was finalized and filming began that it was discovered that David Cassidy was a musician as well as an actor. The first couple of episodes featured songs recorded by the studio group and not with Cassidy singing lead. But it wasn’t long before that changed.

The only cast members of the television show to actually participate in the recordings of the songs on the show were David Cassidy and Shirley Jones. Studio musicians such as Hal Blaine, Larry Knechtel, Joe Osborne, Louie Shelton, Tommy Tedesco, and others was the ones behind the music.

When I Think I Love You, the first single release, reached Number 1 on the Billboard Charts they became the third third fictional artist to have a #1 hit. The first was The Chipmunks with The Archies reaching number 1 with Sugar Sugar in 1969.

-**-**-

10 – Pink Floyd – Dark Side of the Moon (22)
9 – Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti (20)
8 – The Beatles – 1967-1970 (The Blue Album) (19)
7 – Elton John – Elton John – Greatest Hits (18)
6 – Eagles – Hotel California (17)
5 – Boston – Boston (13)
4 – Fleetwood Mac – Rumours (9)
3 – Led Zeppelin – Led Zeppelin IV (aka ZOSO) (4)
2 – Pink Floyd – The Wall (3)
1 – Eagles – Eagles – Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (1)

() = All Time

In this first year there has been 100 posts or one just about every third day. Not too bad considering.

Thank you all for taking a view at this site and we hope to keep the information and the memories of the songs of the 70s coming.

The Bee Gees had the year’s number 5 most popular song with How Can You Mend a Broken Heart. In some way 1971 could be marked as the end of one part of their career since after 1971 their popularity decreased until the rise of Disco a few years later.

Even though to some the Osmonds seemed like the white Jackson 5, the brothers had been singing together for over 10 years when they recorded their self-named album and reached the top with their most popular song One Bad Apple. Many loved it since it was the number 4 song of the year.

Tapestry was Carole King’s second solo album and it became one of the biggest selling albums of all time. The release of It’s Too Late and I Feel The Earth Move on the same single record gave disc jockeys a hard choice on which to play. While I liked both songs, my favorite side was I Feel The Earth Move.

Rod Stewart also had a two sided hit record with Maggie May and Reason to Believe. This release helped him to establish himself as s solo star and was the number 2 bestselling record of the year. My feeling is that the best song done by Stewart in 1971 was with him as the singer of Faces and their song Stay With Me.

When I first saw the song Joy to the World by Three Dog Night listed on a chart, it was listed on a top 40 chart published by a newspaper before I heard the song, I was wondering why 1) a Christmas song was doing on the charts and 2) why it was still therw in April? Since then I’ve enjoyed plenty of wine (figurately) with my friend the Bull Frog, Jeremiah.

And this list doesn’t include a couple of album tracks that not only are a couple of my favorite songs, they are favorites of many others. Led Zeppelin’s Stairway to Heaven or any other song from that album and The Who’s Won’t get Fooled Again. And even though it was recorded in 1970 and released that same year, it was in 1971 that my all time favorite song was released as single record. Chicago’s Colour My World.

Originally appeared on 6ThingsToConsider.com. Many thanks to Steven G. Atkinson for allowing this reprint.