Happy Birthday JOHN FARNHAM (video)

#johnfarnham #rockfile

John Peter Farnham AO (born 1 July 1949), (formerly billed as Johnny Farnham from his professional debut 1967 until 1980), is an English-born Australian pop singer. Farnham was a teen pop idol from 1964 to 1979, and has since forged a career as an adult contemporary singer. His career has mostly been as a solo artist although he temporarily replaced Glenn Shorrock as lead singer of Little River Band during 1982–1985. In September 1986 his solo single, "You're the Voice" peaked at No. 1 on the Australian singles charts. The associated album, Whispering Jack, held the No. 1 position for a total of 25 weeks, and is the highest-selling album in Australian history. Both the single and the album had Top Ten success internationally including No. 1 in Sweden.

Domestically he has remained one of Australia's best-known performers with a career spanning over 45 years, and he is the only Australian artist to have a number one record in five consecutive decades (echoing that of Cliff Richard in the UK) with singles: "Sadie (The Cleaning Lady)" in 1967, "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" in 1969/1970, and "Age of Reason" in 1988; and albums: Age of Reason, Chain Reaction in 1990, Then Again... in 1993, Anthology 1: Greatest Hits 1986–1997 in 1997, 33⅓ in 2000 and The Last Time in 2002.

Farnham has been recognized by honors and awards including 1987 Australian of the Year, 1996 Officer of the Order of Australia, and 19 ARIA Awards including his 2003 induction into the Hall of Fame. From 1969 he was voted by TV Week readers as the 'King of Pop' for five consecutive years. Aside from his recording career, Farnham performed on stage with lead roles in Australian productions of Charlie Girl, Pippin and 1992's Jesus Christ Superstar. He starred in his own TV series and specials including It's Magic (With Colleen Hewett) and Bobby Dazzler and as a guest on numerous other popular shows such as Countdown and Hey Hey It's Saturday. Australian rock historian, Ian McFarlane described him as "the most successful solo artist in the history of Australian rock and pop ... Farnham has retained an affable sense of humor and a simple, unpretentious 'everyman' charm which also makes him one of the most respected celebrities in Australian entertainment history."

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday FRED SCHNEIDER (video)

#fredschneider #rockfile

Frederick William "Fred" Schneider III (born July 1, 1951) is an American vocalist, best known as the frontman of the rock band the B-52's, of which he is a founding member. Schneider is well known for his sprechgesang, which he developed from reciting poetry over guitars.

Aside from duties as the frontman of the B-52's, Fred Schneider has released two solo albums. He is currently working on a side project called the Superions. The group released a self-titled EP and the album Destination... Christmas! in 2010 and in February 2011 began working on a proper full-length album.

Fred Schneider & the Shake Society (1984 and 1991)

Just Fred (1996), which was produced by Steve Albini.

The Superions (2010)

Destination... Christmas! (2010)

Batbaby (2011)

"Konnichiwa" (2014)

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday BRET MCKENZIE (video)

#bretmckenzie #fotc #rockfile

Bret Peter Tarrant McKenzie, ONZM (born 29 June 1976) is a New Zealand comedian, actor, musician and producer, best known for being one half of the Grammy Award-winning musical comedy duo Flight of the Conchords along with Jemaine Clement. The duo's comedy and music became the basis of a BBC radio series and then an oft-lauded American television series, which aired for two seasons on HBO. McKenzie served as music supervisor for two Muppet films, The Muppets (2011) and Muppets Most Wanted (2014), the former of which won him an Academy Award for Best Original Song for the song "Man or Muppet". His latest work has seen him write the lyrics to the 2016 Sainsburys Christmas advert featuring James Corden on vocals.

As an actor, he is known for portraying Lindir in Peter Jackson's The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit film trilogies, respectively: in the first he remained unnamed with fans naming him Figwit, a character originally cast as an extra who gained attention thanks to the trilogy's fan community, and in The Hobbit is credited as Lindir, a small character who originally appears in the book of The Fellowship of the Ring.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday COLIN HAY (video)

#colinhay #rockfile

Colin James Hay (born 29 June 1953) is a Scottish Australian musician and actor who made his mark during the 1980s as lead vocalist of the Australian band Men at Work, and later as a solo artist. Regarding his solo career, Hay stated, in 2011: "I feel like it's been building for the last fifteen or so years that I’ve been touring. It's slow and steady. It's been word-of-mouth. People see the show, like it, and tell their friends. It feels very organic."

Hay's music has been frequently used by actor and director Zach Braff in his work, subsequently leading to a career rebirth in the mid-2000s. Commenting on his younger fan base, Hay noted, "Most of them have an idea about Men at Work, but that's the subplot. They picked up on me since Scrubs, they're young enough they never heard of Men at Work. But I've found if people discover you they discover everything about you."

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday HARRIET WHEELER (video)

 #harrietwheeler #thesundays #rockfile

Harriet Wheeler (born 26 June 1963) is an English singer and songwriter, best known as the lead singer of the 1980s/1990s alternative rock band, The Sundays.

Wheeler grew up in Sonning Common, near Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire, the daughter of an architect and a teacher. She studied English literature for her undergraduate degree at Bristol University when she met David Gavurin. The two shared a common passion for music, and despite little musical training (although Wheeler had sung in a band called Jim Jiminee before meeting Gavurin), released demos to various clubs in London.

Wheeler and Gavurin were the core of a popular alternative band, The Sundays, with Paul Brindley on bass and Patrick Hannan on drums. They decided upon the name by default as it was the only one they could all agree on. The Sundays performed their first show in August 1988.

Their debut album, Reading, Writing, and Arithmetic, was released in 1990. Rolling Stone reviewer Ira Robbins called it "an alluring slice of lighter-than-air guitar pop, a collection of uncommonly good songs graced by Harriet Wheeler's wondrous singing." The album sold over half a million copies around the world.

The band released their second album, Blind, in 1992, and it also sold nearly half a million copies, giving the band another gold record. Wheeler's vocals received the lion's share of praise. One reviewer wrote, "Her singing is fluttery, mischievous, and full of unexpected, perverse flashes of tenderness."

In February 1995, Wheeler and Gavurin had their first child, a daughter named Billie. Parenthood prolonged the recording of their third album, but they eventually released Static & Silence in 1997. While some critics said The Sundays sounded exactly the same as before, Kevin Raub of Ray Gun called Static & Silence "the band's most solid effort to date."

Two years after the release of Static & Silence, Wheeler and Gavurin had their second child, a son named Frank in 1999.

source: wikipedia

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