August 20

Quick, name the year:


That sea of feathered hair was brought to you by the 1985 benefit single "Give a Helping Hand", recorded by Swedish Metal Aid, a collective of Swedish hard rock artists. The song was written by Europe frontman Joey Tempest, who celebrates his birthday today.

His hair's calmed down since those days, but he's still rolling. When hair metal took a backseat to grunge, Europe went on hiatus and Joey got his Richard Marx on. In fact, he released three solo albums, which did well in his native Sweden:


In 2002, around the release of his third solo album, Tempest and the rest of Europe reunited:

Europe - Last Look At Eden

// EUROPE // | MySpace Music Videos
So far, they've released three albums and done several world tours. No sign of them slowing down yet.

No signs of any US dates this year, either, so here's the Europe that American fans know best:

August 11

Today, we're lighting candles for Amy Holland, 80's soundtrack siren.
Show business was a family business for Amy (mom was a country singer, dad sang in opera houses;) in 1980, she produced her debut album with her future husband Michael McDonald (yes, the Doobie.) She got her sole Top 40 appearance out of it. But her real big break was when two of her songs ended up on the Scarface soundtrack.

(This song found a second life on the Grand Theft Auto 3 soundtrack, and a third life as a Lil Wayne cover.)

She had one more solo album in 1983, but the rest of the decade was all about movie soundtracks, and not just any spot in the movie:

You see, you need just the right song over the credits, to help preserve that warm feeling inside as you walk out of the theater (totally ignoring the people who do the location coordination, set design, post-production work- but I digress...)
'Teen Wolf', 'St Elmo's Fire', 'Night of the Comet', 'K-9', 'The Lion of Africa': nothing put a button on a movie like an Amy Holland ballad...

[her duet w/ Chris Farren, "Learn to Love Again", kicks in around the 3:20 mark...]

Meanwhile, Amy enjoyed her time as Mrs McDonald, moving the family to Tennessee in the 90's. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1995, and survived a series of difficult treatments. She's even recorded a new album as Amy Holland-McDonald, 2008's The Journey to Miracle River, which has been well-received. No word on any soundtrack appearances, however.
That's my cue...

August 10

Today's birthday goes to Jon Farriss, the drummer for the Australian band INXS. The members have been together over 30 years, ever since they were a new wave/ska band called the Farriss Brothers (Jon's brothers, Andrew and Tim, play keyboards and lead guitar, respectively.) A former manager, who almost convinced them to become a Christian band, gave them the INXS name.


Instead, they developed their own rock sound (and their confidence to follow the beat of their own drummer, so to speak) and became one of the biggest music acts of the 80's. In their first 20 years, five of their albums went platinum, and they charted singles in the US 22 times (including "Disappear", which Jon co-wrote with lead singer Michael Hutchence.)


After the death of lead singer Hutchence in 1997, the rest of the band struggled to determine their next step. Over the next few years, the band would perform one-off shows with guest vocalists, then almost found a new singer - who left before they could record an album. Finally in 2004, they took the audacious step of making a worldwide search for their next lead singer, and making it part of a reality TV show. Though met with criticism, the show did produce what they were looking for: their next singer, J D Fortune, a guy as rebellious as the band is. He got the job and toured with the band for the next few years.


What happened after the tour is still under debate. Either JD got sent home after the tour, or he got 'sent home'. [As of 2010, the band and JD have confirmed that he is definitely the lead singer of INXS.] Either way, the next INXS album isn't with JD Fortune; it's a tribute album to Michael Hutchence, with guest singers performing covers from the first 20 years of the band's history. Among the names confirmed are the Killers' Brandon Flowers, Rob Thomas, Nikki Costa, and Ben Harper.
Here's a Ben Harper concert performance, with birthday boy Jon sitting in, of "Never Tear Us Apart":

August 7

Happy Birthday to veteran actor David Rasche, the That Guy that found, for a moment and a half, the perfect leading role.

He first made his reputation on the Chicago stage; he's particulary received acclaim for his Mamet performances. He also developed his comedic chops in Chicago, assuming John Belushi's spot when Belushi was called up to Saturday Night Live. Perhaps it was the same combination of machismo and buffoonery that made Sledge Hammer such a perfect role.

Sledge Hammer!, a parody of Dirty Harry and NBC's "Hunter" series, lasted two seasons.

"Sledge Hammer" was only one high point of a long TV and movie career. (His longest running series, by five episodes, was the NBC sitcom "Nurses.") He tends to play bunglers or smarmy weasels of the corporate (LA Law, Ugly Betty) or political (West Wing, In the Loop, Burn After Reading.)

But he's so under the radar that he was the most recognizable face in the movie United 93, a movie they wanted to film without any actors that would take the audience out of the story.

Still there are plenty of fans who would recognize him in any role, even if they only see him in one. And they're all going to be in one building!

August 5

I'm shining a light on Adam Yauch today, who you know as MCA of the Beastie Boys. You might think of him as a rapper, or a bass player. But I want to talk about him as a filmmaker.

Beastie Boys - Shadrach (Abstract Impressionist Version)
Uploaded by EMI_Music. - Watch more music videos, in HD!

See, as Nathaniel Hornblower, Adam has also directed some of the Beastie's most memorable videos, as well as their experimental concert film, "Awesome; I... Shot That!" In fact, since 1998, he's been the exclusive videographer for the Beasties.

Beastie Boys - Body Movin'
Uploaded by EMI_Music. - Explore more music videos.
(I apologize; DailyMotion's kinda in your face, but they're record label owned.)

Besides his efforts as Nathaniel Hornblower, he also started Oscilloscope Laboratories, with its own film distribution arm - but it's not just for Beastie Boys movies. Oscilloscope's garnering a reputation as a tastemaker studio, with its collection of critically-embraced documentaries (Dear Zachary, The Garden, A Film Unfinished) and dramas (Wendy and Lucy, The Messenger, Howl...)



Adam was laid low a few years back with a cancer diagnosis, which derailed plans for the Beasties' next tour and album, a two-part release currently called "Hot Sauce Committee". Although I'm satisfied with him making videos and sharing movies he loves with the world, I certainly wouldn't mind hearing more from the Beasties (especially if it convinces the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame...)

July 23

This post is dedicated to That Guy Ronny Cox, a folk singer who became an 80's Hollywood action staple. Born in New Mexico, Ronny had an affinity for music: he was calling at square dances at 11. As a teenager, he sat in Buddy Holly's Peggy Sue sessions in nearby Clovis, and recorded music for producer Norman Petty. He even earned his way through college through a rock n' roll band he played in with his two brothers.
In 1972, his musical ability helped him secure his first movie role, in the action film 'Deliverance'. He qualifies for this blog for this scene alone:


When Deliverance became a box-office smash, Ronny Cox suddenly had an acting career. He had his own series in 1974, playing the head of a modern family moving to a small town in 'Apple's Way'. But he found more success as a character actor, playing cranky doctors, slimy corporate executives, disapproving dads and plenty of cops. After his role as Police Captain Bogomil in the Beverly Hills Cop series, he became the go-to guy for The Police Chief Who Has to Reign the Loose Cannon In.
Here he is, playing that role, in what was supposed to be ex-Oakland Raider John Matuszak's breakthrough action film:

(Matuszak's greatest role in his brief career would come later, in 1985's "The Goonies"...)

Ronny Cox also developed another speciality character: the slimy bureacrat. Whether it was political ('Total Recall') or just business ('Robocop'), audiences found him eminently hissable. Here's a recent meme, featuring a memorable scene from 'Robocop':

Besides bellicose police administrators and creepy corporate climbers, he's played plenty of politicians ('Murder, She Wrote', Stargate SG-1... he's even played the President in 3 different movies) and military types (Taps, Star Trek:TNG).


The roles that ask him to pick up a guitar have been slight in his resume. There was, however, his moment while playing the police chief in 'Cop Rock', the 90's version of 'Glee':

In the 90's, he resumed his focus on his first love: music. These days, his music's squarely in the folk/americana vein. He tours regularly, and has recorded six albums so far.

July 21

Today's the birthday of international singing sensation Taco. It's not a nickname; seriously, his momma named him Taco Ockrese. He was born to Dutch parents in Jakarta, Indonesia, but I can't find the word 'taco' in either Dutch or Indonesian dictionaries. Was she rushed and did she just put two sounds together for the birth certificate? Was she really hungry when he was born? For now, the origins of his name remains a mystery to me (although I find myself saying 'Taco Ockrese' and thinking of big bad masterminds in Van Damme movies...)

Taco is, and will always be, known for one global hit:

But you know this blog's mission, and we wouldn't be talking about the man if he wasn't so much more, and he is so much more...
Before his pop music career blast, he had a well-stocked stage resume, culminating with a lead role in a Hamburg production of "West Side Story." "Puttin' On the Ritz" may be The Song that the world remembers, but he had several other showtunes sprinkled in his "After 8" album, including "Cheek to Cheek", "La Vie En Rose", and "Singing in the Rain":


Two years later, the world was ready to move on, and Taco tried as well. Here, he performs "Superphysical Resurrection", a single from his 1984 follow-up album. Notice the increase in hair volume...

The song wouldn't sound out of place alongside Go West or ABC, but it didn't click; the next year, he had another album of swing standards. By now, the song's begun to follow him around like Poe's Raven:

Here's a performance from the late 80's, where he's covering a 50's tune. Two items of note: the show host's intro riff, and Taco's developing mullet:

By this point, he was concentrating his efforts in Germany, finding success on stage and on German TV screens throughout the 90's. He was releasing new songs in the 90's, too, in the Stock/Aiken/Waterman vein.
In the millenium, he began releasing his renditions of rock and soul classics, likely emboldened by his two-year run in Berlin's hit stage show "Shakespeare Rock n Roll." Currently, he still performs the all-time classics on the casino circuit- including, of course, the standard that he made his own...

If you're going to have a one-hite wonder, you might as well have one that defines 'class'...

July 20

Nam June Paik was a Korean-born artist who began using television as his media in the early 60's. Not as a mass media, though- as the world's first recognized video artist, he used televisions as his canvas and paints.


This artwork is called 'Something Pacific'. The outdoor version, on the University of California San Diego campus, was his first public installation.

Growing up, Paik went to Germany to study at a music conservatory. While there, he befriended John Cage and several artists in the Fluxus movement, which wanted to destroy the definitions of what makes art in the name of returning art to everyday experience. He started experimenting with televisions.


His TV sculptures and art pieces (particularly his collaborations with cellist Charlotte Moorman) hit a nerve in the art world. His work also predates MTV and the post-millenial media saturated way of life we know today. Although he died in 2006, several of his works are on permanent display around the world, including 'Electronic Superhighway' in the Smithsonian's collection. (Incidentally, he coined the phrase 'electronic superhighway' in 1974, to describe what we call 'information superhighway' today.) Whether he was using TV to build giant robots or build bras, Paik used television to show us ourselves and what we could be.

July 17

Director Alex Winter fulfills so many purposes for this blog. He's a successful writer/director who's been unfairly eclipsed by timing and one particular acting role.
See, if you went looking for Alex Winter in the video, you'd probably grab one of the Bill and Ted movies. If you wanted to show off, you might grab "The Lost Boys"


But it's the works you can't find so easily that make me an Alex Winter fan. Collaborating with Tom Stern and Tim Burns, Winter started working in the director's chair, making music videos for bands like Extreme and the Red Hot Chili Peppers, lensing the cult classic Freaked, and creating the psychotic MTV sketch comedy show The Idiot Box:

BTW, that's Tom Stern playing Lockjaw. Burns would become a head writer on 'Crank Yankers', while Stern would be a director on such TV comedies as 'The Man Show', 'The Andy Milonakis Show', and 'The Chimp Channel'. As for 'The Idiot Box', the show only made it to six episodes; not even enough for a DVD release, apparently...

For the rest of the 90's, he got married and directed music videos and commercials. His next movie - and his first solo directing effort - was 'Fever'; it was invited to the Director's Fortnight at the 1999 Cannes Film Festival that year.
But his directing breakthrough seems to have become the Ben 10 live-action movies.
The two movies are currently the highest rated programs ever on Cartoon Network (and unfortunately, might be why the 'CN' stopped making cartoons for a while...), and has made Alex Winter a director in demand.

As of 2010, he's working on a remake of the cult horror film The Gate (in 3-D!) and recently directed test footage for a proposed TV series based on the underappreciated comic book hero The Blue Beetle. (You can keep up with his future endeavors on his website for Trouper Productions.)

I'll end this post with a musical note, with a video he and his posse made for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Knock Me Down':

July 14

Happy Birthday to Bob Casale. But if you know Devo, you know him as Bob 2.

And if you don't know Devo, then read on:

Devo was formed in Kent State University, in the shadow of the protest shootings. Devo fit closest to the New Wave sound, with a double dose of art school aesthetic. Bob was recruited by his brother, Gerald, and is considered part of the 'classic lineup'.


If you feel like shopping, that's not accidental. In its original release, "That's Good" was just one of Devo's songs commenting on America's conspicuous consumption culture. In the 2K's, the song was a cornerstone in a marketing campaign for Target department stores. That's how Devo irony works.
This is the same band who concocted Devo 2.0, which used Disney's child actor factory to cast a Devo cover band.


Another example of how the everyday looks when distorted through the Devo lens: their version of the Rolling Stones' classic "Satisfaction".


Devo lingered in the fringes through the 80's, and dissolved after their 1990 release fizzled. Several members continued to work together at Mutato Muzika, a recording studio and music lab in west Hollywood; Bob became a recording engineer there. The ex-Devo would help each other on splinter projects and soundtrack scores, recording together in several bands not named Devo, before formally reuniting for what became a world tour.
In 2009, they released their first new album in 20 years. Here's the first single:

July 13

Happy Birthday to Professor Erno Rubik, architectural engineer and creator of the world's most popular toy. He invented the Magic Cube in 1974, but when the Ideal Toy Company signed for international distribution rights, they changed the name to Rubik's Cube in 1980 (which is why they're celebrating a 30th anniversary so much later.)

The Cube was a phenomenon in the 80's, and it's still a global best-seller, probably because solving the puzzle remains shorthand for 'smarter than the average bear'.
Speedcubing competitions gather fans to see who can solve the Cube fastest (current record: 7.08 seconds); then blindfolded, or underwater, or with their feet, or blindfolded with a spotter...

Professor Rubik was able to start his own company, desigining more toys, as well as furniture (would you buy a Rubik's Couch? Would you ever be able to open and close a Rubik's Futon?) The international Rubik's site offers official 3X3 cubes, plus 4X4 cubes, 5X5 cubes, customization and lubrication kits (if your stickers are wearing out, for example), build-your-own 3X3 cubes... I also found a website that not only found various permutations of Cubes available, but such tchotchkes as cufflinks and coffeetables.
I wasn't a Cube-ist in the 80's; I preferred a Rubik's snake (officially, the 'Rubik's Twist'). My family had two: the classic blue/white and a sturdier orange/yellow one. While it has nowhere near the Cube levels of fandom, it's still a reliable seller. It's like a self-contained sculpture piece:

A Rubik's toy that I haven't seen in years is Rubik's Magic, which was several flat panels that connected together like snakes and ladders. It was almost as addictive, but not as durable.


But it's the Cube that makes him a star among contemporary Gepettos. I've read that he doesn't like doing interviews, and I could understand that if every other person I met asked me 'so, how do you do it?' In fact, if I was him, I'd have a basket of Cubes on the ready and make a reporter solve a cube for she could ask another question. I mean, it's just a toy; how hard can it be?

July 9

Don't know if I've written about a That Girl yet, but here's one: Pamela Segall/Adlon. The slash is there because she actually has three or four name permutations she's been credited with.
She started her acting career in the 80's, most notably on the Facts of Life for a season and a half. She played Kelly the shoplifter, and the girl who could out-Jo Jo:

While she continued appearing on TV shows (Wiseguy, Redd Foxx) and movies (Say Anything, Ford Fairlane), Segall was really hitting her stride in voice work. She could hit that tough-cute vocal tone that says 'scrappy kid hero', so she found work on several cartoons, including Recess, Rugrats, Teacher's Pet, and King of the Hill, for which she won an Emmy.

Married in the 2K's, she now gets credited as Pamela Adlon. As of this writing, she can be seen on the TV series 'Californication' and she can be heard in those direct-to-video Tinkerbell movies. But here's a funny scene from the overlooked series Lucky Louie:

July 1

Here's an Australian legend: John Farnham is Australia's 'king of pop', a singer who, thanks to 74 singles, has been on the Australian charts for the last five decades. He's so big in Australia, he's got a statue in Melbourne harbor. He's enjoyed success almost everywhere else in the world - everywhere, that is, except America.
He started as a teen idol in the 60's, bouncing between a recording career and the stage throughout the 70's. In the 80's, he took over the microphone spot in the Little River Band, touring with them and recording two albums. The Little River Band would only make the Top 20 once with Farnhma singing lead, with two other songs making the charts.
Here's a performance of that second single, on the TV show "Solid Gold":

By 1985, he was on his own again. His 1986 album 'Whispering Jack' went platinum in Australia 24 times over; it's the best selling album in Australian history.
A great deal of that success was due to the song "You're the Voice", a single that went #1 in six countries, top 10 in four more. In the US, the song made it to #82 - on a re-release.
Fortunately, the song has a life of its own. (I wish I could have found the clip from the 2007 film "Hot Rod", which uses the song to hilarious effect, especially if you remember the music videos they used to play on VH1. Seek it out...) It's a song that's been re-recorded several times over, although for most people, it's Farnham's version that stays with them...
Here's some famous fans, at a benefit concert, starting a singalong:

June 29

Here's to Colin Hay, a trobadour who didn't let a bit of good luck near the beginning of his career be the end of it. Colin was the lead vocalist and primary songwriter for the Australian band Men at Work, an essential ingredient to any 80's New Wave party.

Eventually, the tide went out on New Wave, and Men at Work called it a day.
Hay got a few solo albums out by the end of the decade, but no chart traction. That would be it for most people, but he kept recording and releasing his own material. Chad Fisher, a musician that worked outside the music industry with his band Lazlo Bane, recruited Hay for a cover of Men at Work's "Overkill"; Fisher records and tours with Hay to this day.

One of Lazlo Bane's fans, actor Zach Braff, persuaded the producers of Scrubs to use Hay's songs in the show; Hay even appeared on the show several times.
His most recent album, American Sunshine, came out in 2009; several of his solo albums have also been re-released. All indicators suggest that his best work's yet to come...
Here's a promotional performance of "Waiting for My Life to Begin", alongside his wife and frequent singing partner, Cecilia Noel:

June 28

Now that the Karate Kid has been successfully re-invented for another generation, it's a good time to remember Pat Morita. After all, it was his Oscar-nominated performance that elevated a teen movie into a signpost for a decade, and cemented his title as the most popular Japanese-American actor in history.
He managed quite a few firsts in his career. Morita was the Arnold that ran Arnold's on "Happy Days". He became the first Asian-American sitcom lead in "Mr T and Tina"; the cancellation of that show and "Blansky's Beauties" would make him one of the few actors to lose two shows in one season. In the wake of "Karate Kid", he got his own cop show, "Ohara":

Yup, that's Catherine Kenner,from "Being John Malkovich", as a junior detective. "Ohara", the first drama with an Asian-American lead, didn't do much better in the ratings; it lasted two seasons.
Morita's enthnicity was a double-edged sword, but he used it adeptly through the decades. He played at least as many roles in his native California drawl as he did laying on his Migayi-think accent. He was just as comfortable lampooning his iconic sensai character as he was reprising or ripping it off. Whether he was earning an Emmy nod (for the Kirk Douglas TV-movie Amos) or starring in a buddy cop movie with Jay Leno:

[Take THAT, Prince Humperdink!]
Morita schooled us all. Happy Birthday, Sensai...

June 25

If you've read the entries earlier this week, you might have noticed the pattern: everyone I wrote about was a birthday girl. I was wondering if I hadn't featured enough females in the blog (considering the planet's about 50/50 gender-wise, why wouldn't a random sampling of undercelebrated celebrities be the same? Discuss...) so I intentionally searched for females to write about. I made it to 6 in a row; why did I stop?
Because I can't let by the birthday of Peyo, Belgian cartoonist and the father of the Smurfs. Smurfs were a major toy phenomenon in the decade of major toy phenomenons, the 80's. But before that, they were a spin-off from a comic strip that Peyo created after World War II, called Johan et Pirlouit (in the 80's cartoon, that's Johan and Peewee[or Peewit?]) About ten years into Johan's comic strip adventures, he meets the Smurfs. They were immediately popular, and received their own newspaper strip. The plastic figurines also started in the 50's, and hasn't stopped production since.

The most fascinating aspect about the Smurfs, to me, is how one of the most popular children's shows in the Reagan administration could look so... communist. I mean, what are Smurfs? A bunch of little blue men barely distinguishable from each other, most of them named by their role in the community(Brainy, Jokey, Hefty, Handy, etc.) Replace "smurf" with "comrade", and see how well it fits.
Also consider: Papa Smurf, the leader dressed in Red, with the Karl Marx beard and the French revolution hat.
Also consider: Gargamel, the wanna-be wizard that keeps trying to capture Smurfs so he can melt them into gold. In the Smurf world, he's a greedy giant, a Capitalist. Think that's a stretch? The producers actually changed his motivation in the last two seasons: apparently, it was more acceptable for the kids to think that he wanted to eat them! There's even umblings that Gargamel's design is consistent with anti-Semetic caricatures(bald, big nose, greedy), which would make the Smurfs Stalinists, I guess...
Anyway, they're about to experience a resurgence; they're a tentpole movie for the 2011 summer season, and that song will be in my head for another decade. But then, I can always turn to that Unicef ad they did a few years ago, to bring attention to the inscription of children in partisan fighting throughout several African nations.


I'm sorry; I can't end this article on such a low; here's a full episode of the Smurfs, which you can find at thewb.com:

T

June 24

Siedah Garrett was a protege on Quincy Jones' Qwest label in the 80's. She made her career singing backup vocals for acts as diverse as Aretha Franklin, Starship, Madonna, and Michael Jackson.
During the recording sessions for 'Bad,' Michael didn't have a vocal partner for a duet he had written (Barbara Streisand, then Whitney Houston, had been offered, but schedule conflicts prevailed.) Siedah was ushered up to the mic, and the duet, "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," was the album's leadoff single, and its first #1.
But her most popular song might be the one she wrote for Michael: "Man in the Mirror". "Mirror" would top the chart for two weeks.

This version was recorded for Siedah's 2004 album.

In her own time in the spotlight, she would end up placing in several charts: a dance hit here, an R & B hit there... Here's a song she put in the Adult Contemporary chart, from the movie "Baby Boom":

But in her time at Qwest Records, the label only produced one album of hers, and that was to capitalize on the success of "I Just Can't Stop..."

In 1991, she became a TV host, counting down the charts on America's Top 10. She continued her studio session work and backing singer gigs for Michael Jackson and Madonna. In 1996, she became the vocalist for the Brand New Heavies - for one album.


She continues to concentrate on her songwriting for others, although her singing voice still gets her in the spotlight: for the 2010 World's Fair, she sang for the US at the fair's opening ceremonies in Shanghai.

June 20

Tress MacNeille is one of the most prolific character actors today, having been in more than 200 TV shows over 30 years. You know her voice: Babs Bunny [Tiny Toons], Agnes Skinner [Simpsons], Chip [when he was a Rescue Ranger], Mom [Futurama], Daisy Duck [since 1999...] every other cranky woman in an English dub of a Studio Ghibli film...
One of her most popular characters is Dot Warner, one of the Animaniacs. It's a good starting point, if you want to figure out what characters she's done in your favorite cartoons. I know it's probably the least wacky scene Animaniacs ever did, but it's a good spotlight.

Voice-over artists tend to be invisible to the audience, so let's rectify that. Here she is, in a Designing Women parody (sorry it's more clever than funny.) She's the one in the glasses, for people who don't know the show.


Of course, if there's any kind of Weird Al connection, I'll exploit it. So here's Tress MacNeille's assist on Weird Al's "Ricky":


Happy Birthday, Ms MacNeille. Can't wait to hear what's next...

June 17

Why does Paul Young get an honorary holiday today? Because Wikipedia's got 10 Paul Youngs. And particularly because the Paul Young that comes to mind of the average person on the street is the singer of such hits as "Every Time You Go Away" and "What Becomes of the Broken Hearted." But this is a different Paul Young. Today's Paul Young has had an uphill battle, particularly since he passed away in 2000.
He first made a go of it when he joined the Toggery Five, a British Invasion-era band. Two of the five would eventually join Jethro Tull; Young, meanwhile, would end up struggling for another decade before he would end up at the Sad Cafe, who offered straight-ahead rock songs in the late 70's post-punk era. They put a few songs in the UK charts, before calling it a day in 1981:


By 1983, Young and his family were almost penniless, when he got offered a job as a Mechanic. Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford suddenly found the time for a solo project, so he began recruiting band members. He needed a proven, talented singer; he chose Paul Carrack. Then he decided he needed another one, and his drummer recommended Young.
Here's my favorite Mike and the Mechanics track, and its epic video:


The success of Mike and the Mechanics was the ultimate turnaround for Young; it even allowed a brief resurrection of Sad Cafe. He died in 2000, shortly after his sixth Mike and the Mechanics album. Jason Young, Paul's son, curates the Forever Young website, offering historical notes and re-release updates on the approximately twenty bands that featured the Paul Young he knew best.

June 8

Bonnie Tyler wasn't born with the voice that would make her famous.
This is her in 1976, singing her first UK top 10 single, "Lost in France":


The next year, doctors discovered nodules on her throat so severe that her ability to speak was in jeopardy. Surgical removal was successful, but she resumed using her voice before rehabilitation was complete; she developed a rasp to her voice that changed her voice forever.
Here she is, performing the same song in 1977:


Instead of becoming the girl that sounds like Tom Waits, she became the girl that sounds like Rod Stewart. Her first single with the new voice, "It's a Heartache," became her first worldwide hit.
She didn't like the country-pop direction her sound was taking, so she found Jim Steinman, the man who helped Meatloaf develop his rock opera sound. That turned out to be the perfect fit:

That is so 80's Action Hero...

You may have noticed, if not outright laughed, at the music video style. Hey, it was the 80's. They made videos with whatever was lying around, you were lucky if the concept had anything to do with the chorus.
Here's a video for her biggest hit, "Total Eclipse of the Heart," if the lyrics actually were about the video:


Anyway, when the 90's rolled in, she stayed in Europe and settled into a soft rock mode, and continues with a successful music career to this day... in Europe.
I'm holding out for her re-collaboration with Jim Steinman. They started recording new songs in 2009; here's hoping they get enough time to finish an album's worth...