Canada or New Jersey?
 

Here's a thread that's sure to annoy, but also to intrigue and amuse, especially for John Fowles and the other Lightheads in New Jersey --

Canada has given us some great musicians and songwriters -- Gord, Joanie Mitchell, Murray, Anka, etc. -- but I submit that little New Jersey -- Sinatra, Springsteen, Paul Simon, Bon Jovi -- has a clear edge, even after spotting Canada the lead with Gord.

IMO (I never include the H as in "IMHO" -- it would not be sincere), the only places that can claim to beat NJ -- possibly, but not definitely -- are Liverpool and Tennessee. No fair taking all of the UK as one "place."

What say ye?

David (tongue firmly in cheek, the cheeky monkey)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

A good one David,
I tend go agree, in fact I am constantly amazed at the number of famous musicians from hereabouts, you omitted a few such as Whitney Houston (and I initially thought Tiny Tim) but no it is only his widow or one of his ex wives who lives in NJ now.
But of course it has to be said that the UK as a percentage of population and legitimately as "one place" easily tops the ratings especially for setting trends.
Tejas hasn't done bad either Buddy Holly in particular without whom the whole British Invasion of the early 60's would never have happenned. You mentioned Tennessee which produced possibly the biggest star;
she who once said it costs a lot of money to look this bad, plus the Everlys
OK you can take your tongue out of your cheek now!!

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Ah, Dolly.

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Burton Cummings/Randy Bachman of the Guess Who, Bryan Adams, Wilf Carter, Leonard Cohen, Bruck Cockburn, Tom Cochrane, Blue Rodeo, Bobby Curtola, Celine Dion (ugh),Tragically Hip, Triumph, Rush, Max Webster, Percey Faith, Oscar Peterson, Glenn Gould, Nelly Furtado, Hagood Hardy, Corey Hart, Dan Hill, The Band (several members were canadian-RonnieHawkins started them here), Diana Krall, Chantal Kreviazuk, Nickelback, Avril Lavigne, Guy Lombardo, Our Lady Peace, Rita Macneil, Joni Mitchell, Anne Murray, Paul Anka, Sara Maclachlan, Neil Young, Stan Rogers, Buffy Ste.Marie, Ron Sexsmith, Shania Twain, Ian Tyson, Sylvia Tyson, Rufus Wainwright, Jesse Winchester, The Barenaked Ladies, Loverboy, John Kay-Steppenwolf, Percy Faith, Hank Snow, Murray Maclauchlan, Alanis Morrisette, Liona Boyd, Gordon Lightfoot.

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

And the winner by a TKO is........Canada !

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

http://starshine.250free.com/


Canadian Singers... :)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

RM, you're far too quick to call a TKO. If I had listed ALL of NJ's great musicians, no one from Canada would have even dared to try. And, I have limited myself to artists who have topped the charts in their respective genres.

Even with that limitation, NJ has a clear edge over Canada, as follows:




Count Basie (1904–1984), jazz pianist, organist, bandleader (Red Bank)
Gord performs at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank

Lauryn Hill (born 1975), musician (South Orange)

Whitney Houston (born 1963) (b. Newark, grew up in East Orange)

(Marie) Dionne Warrick (born December 12, 1940 in East Orange, Whitney Houston’s aunt)

Jon Bon Jovi (born 1962), musician (Perth Amboy), and much of his band

Frank Sinatra (b. 1915), singer, actor -- Hoboken, NJ

Nancy Sinatra (b. 1940) -- Jersey City

Bruce Springsteen (b. 1949) -- Freehold, and the following members of the E Street Band:

Max Weinberg (b. 1951) -- Newark, drums, tv personality, founder of Max Weinberg 7,
the band for Conan O’Brian’s Late Show
Danny Federici (b. 1950 near Flemington, NJ) – organ, piano, keyboards
David Sancious (b. 1953) – Asbury Park, NJ, keyboards and guitar (the band practiced
and formed its sound at his mother’s house on E Street in Belmar, a few miles
south of Asbury Park)
Gary Tallent (b. 1949 in Detroit, raised in NJ in various shore towns), bass player
Steven Van Zandt (b. 1950 in Winthrop, Mass., raised since age 7 in Middletown, NJ),
lead guitar; tv actor: consigliere Silvio Dante on “The Sopranos”; co-founder and
songwriter for Southside Johnnie and the Asbury Jukes
Patti Scialfa (b. 1953) Deal, NJ, Springsteen’s bandmate, wife
Frankie Valli (born 1937), singer (Newark) and at least the following “Jersey Boys”
members of the Four Seasons (the group’s name was taken from an NJ bowling
alley):
Joe Long (b. 1941) -- Elizabeth, vocals
Bob Crewe (b. 1931) -- Newark, producer/songwriter
Bob Gaudio – (b. 1932 Bronx, NY, raised in Bergenfield, NJ), vocals, keyboards
Tommy DeVito (b. 1936) -- Belleville, NJ, vocals and lead guitar

Sarah Vaughan (born 1924, --Newark) jazz singer.

Larry Young (1940–1978), hard bop jazz organist

Clint Black - b. 1962 (Long Branch, NJ) country singer

Mary Chapin Carpenter – b. 1958 (Princeton)

George Clinton – b. 1940 (Plainfield, NJ) fusion keyboards

Daniel Fagen – b. 1948 (Passaic, NJ) (“Steely Dan”)

Connie Francis – b. 1938 (Newark)

Debbie Harry – b. 1945 (Hawthorne, NJ) of Blondie

Marilyn McCoo – b. 1943 (Jersey City) of The Fifth Dimension

Rickie Nelson – b. 1945 (Teaneck)

Les Paul – b. 1915 (Mahwah) guitarist and guitar maker

Queen Latifah – b. 1970 (Newark) rapper

Kate Pierson – b. 1948 (Weehawken) lead singer of B-52’s

Eddie Rabbit – b. 1941 (East Orange), country singer

Nelson Riddle – b. 1921 (Oradell)

Richard Shindell – b. 1960 (Lakehurst), folk singer, composer

Gloria Gaynor – b. 1949 (Newark)

Charles Smith – b. 1948 (Jersey City) lead guitarist/ songwriter for Cool and the Gang

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes – Asbury Park band founded by Steven Van Zandt
and John :”Southside Johnnie” Lyon (b. 1948) – Ocean Grove, NJ (the first
town ‘southside’ of Asbury Park)

Phoebe Snow – b. 1952 (NYC, grew up in Teaneck and currently resides in NJ) her stage
name is taken from a NJ train on the line upon which I commuted to NYC

Paul Robeson (Newark)

Ice T -- b. 1958), rapper and actor (b. Newark, moved to California, now resides in North Bergen, NJ) -- I've left out numerous other rappers

Paul Simon (b.1941), musician, composer (born in Newark)

Patti Smith – b. 1946 in Chicago, raised in Woodbury, NJ

David Cassidy (born 1950), actor/singer in Partridge family (Englewood)

Sherwood Schwartz (b. 1916), television producer (Passaic, New Jersey, wrote
theme songs for The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island.)



Other Bands Formed in NJ include:

1910 Fruitgum Company (1960s bubble-gum group from Brick, NJ)
Blues Traveler (group formed in 1987 in Princeton)
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (group formed in Union City in 1968)
Looking Glass (band formed 1969 in New Brunswick by NJ musicians)
The Rascals / Young Rascals (formed in NJ in 1965, half the group are NJ born)
Fountains of Wayne (named for a garden supply store in Wayne, NJ)


Born elsewhere, made it big and reside in NJ:

George Benson (b. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), lives in Englewood

Sean Combs ("Diddy") (b. New York City, New York ), lives in Alpine

Lil' Kim (b. New York City, New York), lives in Alpine




But the one that give NJ the title by an outright KO is a question for Char:

Who is that Paul Anka you are talking about? It couldn't be the same Paul Anka who was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, but now resides in Tenafly, NJ, could it? Paul "Jersey Boy" Anka?

(NJ, grinning broadly, does a little tap dance over fallen Canadian opposition.)



David

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Wow! I had no idea NJ was such a breeding ground for such major talent! Impressive!
But you are kidding about Paul Anka, right? ;)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

T

• Shania Twain

U

• Shari Ulrich

V

• Gino Vannelli
• Reg Vermue

V cont.

• Roch Voisine

W

• Martha Wainwright
• Rufus Wainwright
• Colleen Walker (artist)
• Pam Walker

W cont.

• Christopher Ward (songwriter)
• Andy Warren (Canadian musician)
• Patrick Watson (musician)
• Rob Wells
• Royal Wood

VALDY / STOMPIN TOM CONNORS / SAM ROBERTS / The Good Brother's / Pavlo / Jesse Cook /+ :)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Your're right. I have relinquished my voting rights.

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

seems david was just including Canuck artists that someone decided to put on a stamp

it looks like they've got NJ licked... heh heh


ps) ...you can have Anka

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

yeah - you can have Anka...he has no humbility at all, you can keep Lil Kim, P.Diddy too..
I barely scratched the surface with my list..

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

JessieJoe, is there a reason for the rainbow colours? It tends to make me feel nauseous.

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Char, I am surprised with your opinion of Paul Anka. I met him recently in London and he was great. Charming, very entertaining and there was no sign or arrogance. Maybe I got him on a good day. ;)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

I've seen him many times on TV and always found him disingenuous in his humility. He always is bragging on himself and listing his accomplishments. He is friendly and a great interview but he smacks a bit of an oily used car salesman. He's always seemed to be just about Paul regardless of what the topic may turn to. He can be quite a charmer too - perhaps he's just that way when he's here in Canada/ He's not nasty arrogant..but he blows his own horn too much for my liking.
The Canadian Idol show he was on was not like Lightfoot's where the kids sang the songs..He was just there as an 'icon' to offer 'advice' on old standards they sang and HE sang his songs!
http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNew...ol2007&no_ads=
He's sucked the life right out of "My Way" by bastardizing it for a million different people-altering the lyrics etc. and making the song more of a 'novelty' than the great song it really is.
He just bugs me..While I like to hear the old stuff of his it's really bubblegum music.
Just my opinion..I may be wrong..
;)
Char

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Hi Silverheels,

I copied and pasted that article from a Site, and when I saw the color that came out on Corfid {Blue} it was not very much readable, as pointed out by RM. So after working w/ it a bit I found that one could actually change the colors not that easily at the begining. So I experimented a little more to see what could be acomplished, giving you that rainbow thing...lol :biggrin:

Sorry for that, I have since change it back to just one colour I think is OK ! :)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Hi Charlene,

No, your not too far wrong. I have the same toughts as you about our {Canadian ?} friend doing it his way...

And in this morning's paper here is what I found on Paul Anka !


http://imagec08.247realmedia.com/Rea...ault/empty.gif


http://harvest.canadaeast.com/image....864&size=300x0
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Paul Anka is shown in Los Angeles at Capital Records.








Canadian born Anka says he's still 'too good'

After 50 years of performing, legendary Paul Anka is still chasing the musical muse







By John Rogers
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Published Thursday October 25th, 2007


LOS ANGELES - Paul Anka has written an inordinate amount of pop music classics, cranking out hit songs like "My Way" for Frank Sinatra, "It Doesn't Matter Anymore" for Buddy Holly, saving "Lonely Boy," "Put Your Head on My Shoulder," "Puppy Love" and others for himself -- not bad for a guy who arrived on the music scene in 1956 with a not-quite-as-catchy tune about a place called Blaauwildebeestefontein.

Anka, who's marking his 50th year in show business, actually tried to break into the business 51 years ago.
"A lot of people don't know I came to L.A. the prior year to visit an uncle," the 66-year-old Ottawa-born singer-songwriter recalled recently as he was putting the finishing touches on his anniversary album, the just-released "Classic Songs My Way."
Still a high school student, Anka had brought with him the book "Prester John" by John Buchan, a former Canadian governor general.
"The premise of it took place in Africa," he recalled. "There was a town called Blaauwildebeestefontein. I loved the title, so I hitchhiked to Culver City and made a record of it."
The result?
"I was a failure at 15," Anka laughed.
Fortunately for him, Sinatra, Johnny Carson (Anka wrote Carson's "The Tonight Show" theme) and pop music in general, he headed to New York the following year.
This time he brought with him a more traditional song about a 16-year-old's unrequited love for an older woman.
"Diana" became a No. 1 hit and turned a short kid whose voice hadn't quite matured into an overnight teen idol.
Fifty years later, he's still short but the voice is deeper and richer and the '50s-style pop star pompadour is gone, having surrendered to a slightly receding hairline.
Anka is also still writing songs, still recording and touring, and still occasionally discovering the latest new thing.
When urban folk music had a renaissance in the 1970s, he found John Prine and Steve Goodman in Chicago.
When pop crooners came back into style earlier this decade, he discovered fellow Canadian Michael Buble and helped produce his first album.
But Anka is especially proud that, no matter what the current trend, he's placed a Billboard Top 50 hit on the charts in every decade of his career.
"We'll talk again in 2010," he jokes during a recording studio break. "I've got one decade left."
Or maybe two.
"When I'm in a studio I wish everybody could get off on it like I do," he says.
"It's such a great occupation, I don't want to retire.
"Oh, I'll slow down a little," he adds.
"But to totally retire? It ain't gonna happen. I'm too good at what I do, whereas I wasn't years ago."

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Well, I wasnt interviewing him, just chatting. I'm not necessarily a fan but I do like the swing album he released recently. :)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

We have to thank Jesse Joe for posting his list of people who sung the lead in their High School muscials, but I was talking about real talent, not just people who get a few plays on a Canadian-run radio station in a 10,000-resident town and which has to run 50% Canadian content. :-) Easy JJ. I'm not flaming you; perhaps it's my fault I haven't heard of virtually anyone on your list except those mentioned before.

kd lang is a good addition tho. I missed her if she was listed before. Probably a few others too.

BTW, will my Paul Anka stamp work if I post a letter from NJ to a Canuck living in Tenafly? LOL I trade you one Paul Anka stamp for one Joni Mitchell, and I'll throw in a Connie Francis plus a 1910 Fruitgum Company, if you'll throw in Anne Murray. LOL

Speaking a bit more seriously, even with Gord, Joni, Bachman/Turner, Neil Young, et al., on Canada's roster, I don't think that approaches Sinatra, Springsteen, Paul Simon, and Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, even if Simon is partially discounted for growing up and getting his start just across the Hudson River on the NY side.

I'm pleased with the good responses to this thread. Thanks everyone.

What about local pride from other areas? John mentioned Texas, or Tejas, as he called it. Down there, they have "both" kinds of music -- country AND western. LOL

David

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Hi 2 much 2 lose,

Hope your doing fine,

The thread was Canada or New-Jersey. :)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Just curious: Why isn't Diana Krall on the list?

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Hi Paul Farnham, Diana Krall is on Charlene's list. :)

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Robert Goulet-born of Canadian parents in Mass.but back to Canada at 3 months of age..
He is awaiting a lung transplant at this time..

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

I was sad to learn about Goulet's condition from your post, Char. He did those weird commercials for Emerald Nuts for this year's Super Bowl (when your attention lags in mid-afternoon, Robert Goulet sneaks into your office and steals your stuff ... so eat Em. nuts.)

My grandmother loved his voice, so I knew of him primarily through Flo Uffelman's music choices. He was wonderful in Camelot, which had his best performances until his cameo on "The Simpsons", singing "Jingle Bells, Batman Smells" when booked into Bart's treehouse casino. LOL

He's hospitalized in a Los Angeles hospital right now. Can you imagine how rough it must be awaiting a lung tranplant with the air quality so impaired in the midst of all those forest fires? I know he'll be on oxygen, and the fires in LA county are under control now, but just knowing all that smoke is in the air must be scary.

In an unrelated event, my mom flies to LA tomorrow to visit my brother and his wife, who now live in Pasadena overlooking the Rose Bowl, and to attend the funeral of the son of a close friend who also lost her husband two months ago. Losing a husband (he was a Holocaust survivor, died of old age) and a son (age 53, brain cancer) within 2 months -- now that's a bad year.

David

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

Lots of homegrown talent from the Boston area and throughout Massachusetts. This evening, we were treated to James Taylor singing the Star-Spangled Banner.

Probably more up in Mass., than here in Connecticut...though many now call CT home - par with our State motto, "Qui Transtulit Sustinet" (he who transplanted sustains) those who call CT home include Michael Bolton, Meatloaf, Dan Hartman and many more. btw 'Meatloaf' and Dan Hartman are neighbors and close friends (Weston, CT).

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

I spent the vast majority of my life in Detroit, so I could come up with quite a list, both including and beyond the obvious Motown recording artists. I don't admire all of the famed Motor City engendered performers (e.g.: Ted Nugent: Major Asshole). My list wouldn't rival the NJ or Canada lists posted here in length, but keep in mind we're talking one city, not an entire state or nation. It would be a rather impressive list in per capita terms.

Re: Canada or New Jersey?
 

sorry, I just realized you were referring to me here and not Jessie Joe

absolutely never perceived you as flaming me...my 'licked' comment was just a my lame stamp related pun...all the very best with the health battle and thanks for triggering an interesting thread...I'd be interested in polling as to what state breeds the most US talent, NJ outright?