Roberta Flack Best of

One of the most distinctive vocalists who arrived during the soul era, Deniece Williams is known for soaring, four-octave soprano voice, late-'70s and early-'80s R&B classics such as "Free" and "Silly," and the 1984 number one pop hit "Let's Hear It for the Boy." Born June Deniece Chandler in Gary, Indiana, she grew up singing in a Pentecostal church, which forbid the congregation to listen to anything but gospel music. Outside of wanting a 1959 Thunderbird, she had no serious ambitions but was deeply interested in music. Her favorite singers were Carmen McRae (for her diction) and Nancy Wilson, who, for Williams, exemplified class and elegance. However, her she also looked up to her parents, both of whom sang. From 1968 through 1970, Williams recorded a handful of singles for the Chicago-based Lock and Toddlin' Town labels as Deniece (or Denise) Chandler. None of them charted, but "I'm Walking Away" and "Mama, I Wish I Stayed Home" became Northern soul cult classics.

Azar Lawrence (born November 3, 1952) is an American jazz saxophonist, known for his contributions as sideman to McCoy Tyner, Miles Davis, Freddie Hubbard, and Woody Shaw. Lawrence was the tenor saxophonist Tyner used following John Coltrane's death. Lawrence released Summer Solstice on Prestige Records in 1975, produced by Orrin Keepnews. It featured Raul de Souza, Gerald Hayes, Amaury Tristão, Dom Salvador, Ron Carter, Guilherme Franco on the songs "Novo Ano" and "Highway" which were composed by Amaury Tristão, and Lawrence, Souza, Albert Dailey, Carter and Billy Hart on all other selections.

Albert Harris (1916–2005) was an English musician who worked in Hollywood for most of his life as an orchestrator, arranger and composer for several of the big film Studios and for such pop icons as Barbra Streisand, Roberta Flack and Cher. He was born in London and studied piano from age 6, becoming also a self-taught guitarist. His knowledge of the guitar enabled him in later years to compose pieces specifically for it (his Variations & Fugue on a Theme by Handel was recorded by Andrés Segovia). In the mid-1930s he began to make a name for himself as a session musician in London where he featured on many recordings, most notably as session guitarist with the Lew Stone band, his delicate but swinging improvisations enhancing many of Stone’s records during 1934/35. Harris came to New York in 1938 and started playing piano in big bands across the US then began studying at the NYU College of Music, where he earned a doctorate in 1944. He finished the PhD remotely, having moved to Los Angeles in 1942, where he studied composition with Mary Carr Moore and Eugen Zador and conducting with Richard Lert. He served as professor of orchestration at UCLA and was Assistant Musical Director for broadcaster NBC from 1946 to 1949.

A great collection from Time-Life music with more than 600 'classic' all time hits. Unforgettable love songs from 50s, 60s and 70s in their first original releases. Hundreds of legendary names will put you in a sweet nostalgic mood. Songs that appear for the first time in the same collection. For practical reasons the whole collection is uploaded in 3 parts. In this first part, enjoy more than 10 hours of quality music, coming directly from the years of innocence, in fresh 2011 lossless rips.

"Never Too Much" is the debut solo album by American singer-songwriter Luther Vandross, released on August 12, 1981 (see 1981 in music). It peaked at #19 on the Billboard 200 (then known as Pop Albums), peaked at #1 on the R&B Albums chart, and went double Platinum by the RIAA. The album earned Vandross two Grammy Award nominations in 1982 - "Best New Artist" and "Best R&B Vocal Performance, Male". The album's title track topped the Black Singles chart for two weeks. Vandross's rendition of Dionne Warwick's 1964 "A House Is Not a Home" became one of his signature songs, and received attention for its transformation into an "epic", since its duration was extended to seven minutes.