Harry & Lena
Encyclopedia
Harry & Lena is a 1970 studio album
by Harry Belafonte
and Lena Horne
. In 1970 Belafonte Enterprises Production, recorded a television special for ABC
featuring Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne as double billed artists. The hour special titled Harry & Lena, For The Love Life first aired on March 22, 1970, featuring solo and duet performances. Later in year the main sponsor of the show, Fabergé
, made this studio recording of songs featured and performed in the television special available as a limited edition collectors item.
The album was originally only available on post order basis and was not sold in record stores. As of February 2011 this album has not been re-issued on CD.
Performance
Studio album
A studio album is an album made up of tracks recorded in the controlled environment of a recording studio. A studio album contains newly written and recorded or previously unreleased or remixed material, distinguishing itself from a compilation or reissue album of previously recorded material, or...
by Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte
Harold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
and Lena Horne
Lena Horne
Lena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...
. In 1970 Belafonte Enterprises Production, recorded a television special for ABC
American Broadcasting Company
The American Broadcasting Company is an American commercial broadcasting television network. Created in 1943 from the former NBC Blue radio network, ABC is owned by The Walt Disney Company and is part of Disney-ABC Television Group. Its first broadcast on television was in 1948...
featuring Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne as double billed artists. The hour special titled Harry & Lena, For The Love Life first aired on March 22, 1970, featuring solo and duet performances. Later in year the main sponsor of the show, Fabergé
Fabergé (cosmetics)
-History:The American oil billionaire Armand Hammer collected many Fabergé pieces during his business ventures in communist Russia in the 1920s. In 1937, Armand Hammer’s friend Samuel Rubin, owner of the Spanish Trading Corporation which imported soap and olive oil, closed down his company because...
, made this studio recording of songs featured and performed in the television special available as a limited edition collectors item.
The album was originally only available on post order basis and was not sold in record stores. As of February 2011 this album has not been re-issued on CD.
Track listing
- "Walk A Mile In My ShoesWalk A Mile In My Shoes"Walk a Mile in My Shoes" is a song written by Joe South, who had a hit with it in 1970. The song concerns racial tolerance and the need for perspective and compassion.-Notable covers and references:*Elvis Presley on his 1970 live album On Stage...
" (Joe SouthJoe SouthJoe South is a multi-talented American singer-songwriter and guitarist.-Career:...
) Duet Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne - "My Old ManMy Old ManMy Old Man is a popular but short-lived British sitcom which starred Clive Dunn as retired and embittered engine driver Sam Cobbett. Thirteen episodes were made which were shown in two series of 1974 and 1975.-Plot:...
" (Jerry Jeff WalkerJerry Jeff WalkerJerry Jeff Walker is an American country music singer and songwriter. He is probably most famous for writing the song "Mr. Bojangles.-Biography:...
) Harry Belafonte - "It's Always Somewhere Else" (Holmes) Lena Horne
- "In My LifeIn My Life"In My Life" is a song by The Beatles written by John Lennon and Paul McCartney . The song originated with Lennon, and while Paul McCartney contributed to the final version, the extent of his contribution is in dispute. George Martin contributed the instrumental bridge...
" (John LennonJohn LennonJohn Winston Lennon, MBE was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founding members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music...
, Paul McCartneyPaul McCartneySir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM is an English musician, singer-songwriter and composer. Formerly of The Beatles and Wings , McCartney is listed in Guinness World Records as the "most successful musician and composer in popular music history", with 60 gold discs and sales of 100...
) Lena Horne - "The Ghetto" (Homer Banks, Bettye Crutcher, Bonnie Bramlett) Harry Belafonte
- "Brown Baby" (Oscar Brown, Jr.) Lena Horne
- "Down On the Corner" (John FogertyJohn FogertyJohn Cameron Fogerty is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist, best known for his time with the swamp rock/roots rock band Creedence Clearwater Revival and as a #1 solo recording artist. Fogerty has a rare distinction of being named on Rolling Stone magazine's list of 100 Greatest...
) Harry Belafonte - "Subway to the Country" (David AcklesDavid AcklesDavid Thomas Ackles was an American singer-songwriter. He recorded four albums between 1968 and 1973.Describing Ackles's style in 2003, critic Colin McElligatt wrote, "An unlikely clash of anachronistic show business and modern-day lyricism...deeply informs his recorded output...
) Harry Belafonte - "Measure the Valleys" (Robert Brittan, Judd Woldin) Lena Horne
- "Love Story (You and Me)" (Randy NewmanRandy NewmanRandall Stuart "Randy" Newman is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist who is known for his mordant pop songs and for film scores....
) Duet Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne - "I Want to Be Happy" (Vincent YoumansVincent YoumansVincent Youmans was an American popular composer and Broadway producer.- Life :Vincent Millie Youmans was born in New York City on September 27, 1898 and grew-up on Central Park West on the site where the Mayflower Hotel once stood. His father, a prosperous hat manufacturer, moved the family to...
, Irving CaesarIrving CaesarIrving Caesar was an American lyricist and theater composer who wrote lyrics for "Swanee," "Sometimes I'm Happy," "Crazy Rhythm," and "Tea for Two," one of the most frequently recorded tunes ever written. He was born and died in New York.Caesar, the son of Morris Keiser, a Romanian Jew, was...
) Lena Horne - "The First Time EverThe First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" is a 1957 folk song written by British political singer/songwriter Ewan MacColl for Peggy Seeger, who was later to become his wife. At the time the couple were lovers, although MacColl was married to someone else. MacColl and Seeger included the song in their...
" (Ewan MacCollEwan MacCollEwan MacColl was an English folk singer, songwriter, socialist, actor, poet, playwright, and record producer. He was married to theatre director Joan Littlewood, and later to American folksinger Peggy Seeger. He collaborated with Littlewood in the theatre and with Seeger in folk music...
) Duet Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne - "Don't it Make You Wanna Go Home" (South) Duet Harry Belafonte and Lena Horne
- "Abraham, Martin and JohnAbraham, Martin and John"Abraham, Martin and John" is a 1968 song written by Dick Holler and first recorded by Dion. It is a tribute to the memories of icons of social change, Abraham Lincoln, Martin Luther King, Jr., John F. Kennedy and Robert F. Kennedy...
" (Dick HollerDick HollerDick Holler is a songwriter, pianist and performer. He is best known as the writer of the folk-pop standard "Abraham, Martin and John" which has been recorded by numerous artists including Dion, Ray Charles, Kenny Rogers, Emmylou Harris, Andy Williams, Marvin Gaye.-Early life :He moved with his...
) Harry Belafonte
Personnel
- Bob Freedman - arrangerArrangementThe American Federation of Musicians defines arranging as "the art of preparing and adapting an already written composition for presentation in other than its original form. An arrangement may include reharmonization, paraphrasing, and/or development of a composition, so that it fully represents...
, conductorConductingConducting is the art of directing a musical performance by way of visible gestures. The primary duties of the conductor are to unify performers, set the tempo, execute clear preparations and beats, and to listen critically and shape the sound of the ensemble... - William Eaton
Performance
- Harry BelafonteHarry BelafonteHarold George "Harry" Belafonte, Jr. is an American singer, songwriter, actor and social activist. He was dubbed the "King of Calypso" for popularizing the Caribbean musical style with an international audience in the 1950s...
- vocalsSingingSinging is the act of producing musical sounds with the voice, and augments regular speech by the use of both tonality and rhythm. One who sings is called a singer or vocalist. Singers perform music known as songs that can be sung either with or without accompaniment by musical instruments... - Lena HorneLena HorneLena Mary Calhoun Horne was an American singer, actress, civil rights activist and dancer.Horne joined the chorus of the Cotton Club at the age of sixteen and became a nightclub performer before moving to Hollywood, where she had small parts in numerous movies, and more substantial parts in the...