Annie Lennox ~ Diva™ (1992)

Annie Lennox ~ Diva™ (1992)
Annie Lennox | Format: Audio CD

Diva (Annie Lennox album)
Diva is the first solo album by Scottish singer/songwriter Annie Lennox, released in 1992. The album entered the UK album chart at no.1 and has since sold over 1.2 million copies in the UK alone, being certified quadruple platinum. It was also a success in the U.S. where it was a top 30 hit and has been certified double platinum.

In 1993 the album was included in Q magazine's list of the "50 Best Albums Of 1992". Rolling Stone magazine (6/25/92, p. 41) described the album as "...state-of-the-art soul pop..." and it is included in Rolling Stone's (5/13/99, p. 56) "Essential Recordings of the 90's" list. Several songs from the album were released as singles with "Why", "Walking on Broken Glass" and "Little Bird" being the most successful.

The song Keep Young and Beautiful was included on the CD release as a bonus track (the original vinyl album had only ten tracks). Another bonus track, "Step by Step", appeared on the Mexican and Japanese editions of the album and was also included as the B-Side on the single "Precious". The song was later recorded by Whitney Houston for the 1996 film soundtrack The Preacher's Wife and subsequently became a hit single.

The album won Best British Album at the 1993 Brit Awards. That same year, it was also nominated for the Grammy for Album of the Year.

Studio album by Annie Lennox
Original Release Date: 6 April 1992
Recorded: Mayfair Studios, London
Format: CD, Album HD, Bonus
Genre: Adult/Alternative, Electronic/Synth-Pop, Downtempo
Label: RCA|Arista, BMG|Ariola
Catalog #: BMG – PD 75326, RCA – PD 75326
ASIN: B000002VMH
Barcode: 07822-18704-2
Producer: Steve Lipson
© RCA Records | © Arista Records
© BMG Records UK | © Ariola Muenchen GMBH.

~~~~~~~
Tracklist:
~~~~~~~

~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. Why  |4:53
(Annie Lennox)

2. Walking On Broken Glass  |4:12
(Annie Lennox)

3. Precious  |5:08
(Annie Lennox)

4. Legend In My Living Room  |3:45
(Annie Lennox, Peter-John Vettese)

5. Cold  |4:20
(Annie Lennox)

6. Money Can't Buy It  |4:58
(Annie Lennox)

7. Little Bird  |4:48
(Annie Lennox)

8. Primitive  |4:16
(Annie Lennox)

9. Stay By Me  |6:26
(Annie Lennox)

10. The Gift  |4:52
(Annie Lennox, The Blue Nile)

11. Keep Young And Beautiful  |2:17
(Al Dubin, Harry Warren) (CD bonus track)

12. Step By Step  |4:46
(Annie Lennox) (bonus B-side LP)

Total Length: 55:06
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

| DDD | Audio CD | CBR 320 Kbps/48.1 kHz/Stereo |
| File size: 177 mb. | Pass: anniediva |

Recorded at Home, Mayfair Studio, The Church Studios. Mixed at Mayfair Studios, London. Written by – Annie Lennox (tracks: 1 to 3, 5 to 9, 12), Annie Lennox / Peter-John Vittese (tracks: 4), Al Dubin / Harry Warren (tracks: 11), Annie Lennox / The Blue Nile (tracks: 10)

~~~~~~~~~~~

Here: Amazon!

& here: MegaUp!

~~~~~~~~~~~

Personnel:
Annie Lennox – keyboards, vocals (all voices)
Paul Joseph Moore – keyboards
Marius de Vries – keyboards, programming
Peter-John Vettese – keyboards, programming, recorder
Edward Shearmur – piano
Kenji Jammer – guitar, programming
Steve Lipson – guitar, keyboards, programming, producer
Doug Wimbish – bass
Gavyn Wright - violin
Dave Defries – trumpet
Keith LeBlanc – drums
Louis Jardim – percussion
Steve Jansen – drum programming
Laurence Stevens - design (sleeve)
Heff Moraes - engineer, midi controller (midi manager)
Simon Fuller - management
Ian Cooper - mastered by (mastering engineer)
William O'Donovan - mixed by (mixing assistant)
Anton Corbijn - photograph
Satoshi - photography by (front cover)
Ian Silvester - technician (digital)

Production
Produced by Stephen Lipson
Recorded and engineered by Heff Moraes (also MIDI manager)
Mixed by William (Bill) O'Donovan
Ian Cooper – mastering
Anton Corbijn – photography (inner cover)
Satoshi – photography (front cover)
Laurence Stevens – design

Track 11, 12 listed as Bonus Track, Available on CD only.

© RCA Records U.S.A. | © Arista Records U.S.A.

Annie Lennox performing at the Rally for Human Rights during the International AIDS Conference 2010 in Vienna  as part of her SING Campaign.

The Rolling Stone commented:
State-of-the-art soul pop, Annie Lennox's solo debut is sonically gorgeous; it also declares her aesthetic independence. Ace sessionmen polish Diva's gloss, and producer Stephen Lipson (Pet Shop Boys, Propaganda) operates in hyperdrive, but these eleven songs are fiercely those of a sister doing things for herself. Three years after her last outing with Dave Stewart, her cohort in Eurythmics, Lennox voids any notion that he was her Svengali and she merely the MTV beauty with stunning pipes. Writing nearly all of Diva, she manages a whirlwind tour of mainstream R&B and retains her singular persona – an ice queen thirsting to be melted by love.

Amazon.com Reviews:
Although traces of her synthpop roots certainly showed through, Annie Lennox's solo debut, Diva, made it abundantly clear that her new material would veer away from gender-bending robotics of the early Eurythmics sound and continue toward the more emotionally grounded soul of later releases. On Diva, Lennox infuses each song with tenderly perceptive lyrics, hypnotic rhythms, and irresistibly soulful wailings. Her arrangements are clean and simple, utilizing bare instrumentation and sometimes-languid chord work. The singles "Walking on Broken Glass," "Little Bird," and "Why" became radio mainstays, while gems such as the Eastern-influenced dream ballad "Primitive," the hauntingly autobiographical pop-lament "Legend in My Living Room," and the cheerfully satirical "Keep Young and Beautiful" gave the album a plump maturity.

Annie Lennox Biography!

Birth name: Ann Lennox
Born: 25 December 1954 (1954-12-25) (age 56)
Origin: Aberdeen, Scotland
Genres: Pop, Rock, Blue-eyed soul, New Wave, R&B
Occupations: Singer-songwriter, activist, humanitarian ambassador
Instruments: Vocals, piano, keyboards, guitar, accordion, harmonium

http://www.annielennox.com/

Annie Lennox, OBE was born on 25 December 1954, born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A. Stewart she achieved major international success in the following decade as one half of Eurythmics.

Lennox embarked on a solo career in the 1990s with her debut album Diva (1992), which produced several hit singles including "Why" and "Walking on Broken Glass". She has released five solo studio albums and a compilation album, The Annie Lennox Collection (2009). She is the recipient of eight Brit Awards, three Grammy Awards and an MTV Video Music Award. In 2002, Lennox received a Billboard Century Award; the highest accolade from Billboard Magazine. In 2004, she won both the Golden Globe and the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Into the West", written for the soundtrack to the feature film The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King.

In addition to her career as a musician, Lennox is also a political and social activist, notable for raising money and awareness for HIV charities in Africa. She also objected to the unauthorized use of the 1999 Eurythmics song "I Saved the World Today" in an election broadcast for Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni in 2009. In 2011, Lennox received an OBE from Queen Elizabeth II for her "tireless charity campaigns and championing of humanitarian causes".

Known as a pop culture icon for her distinctive contralto vocals and visual performances, Lennox has been named "The Greatest White Soul Singer Alive" by VH1 and one of The 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone. She has earned the distinction of "most successful female British artist in UK music history" because of her global commercial success since the early 1980s. Including her work within Eurythmics, Lennox is one of the world's best-selling music artists, having sold over 80 million records worldwide.

Video!

Annie Lennox ~ Why



Annie Lennox ~ Walking On Broken Glass



Annie Lennox ~ Precious



Annie Lennox ~ Cold



Annie Lennox ~ Little Bird

Eurythmics, Annie Lennox in the mid-1980s

Listen & Enjoy!!!

Silent Night: A Novel by Mary Higgins Clark, read by Jennifer Beals

Silent Night: A Novel (Abridged, Audiobook) (CD)
Mary Higgins Clark (Author)

Jennifer Beals (Reader)

Book Description:

Mary Higgins Clark'S Christmas gift for listeners of all seasons.
From America's most beloved writer of suspense comes a very special story about the power of love, and of a child's courage and faith.
When her husband is diagnosed with leukemia, Catherine Dornan and their two young sons accompany him to New York, during the Christmas season, for a life-saving operation. Hoping to divert them from worry about their father, Catherine takes the boys to see some of the city's Christmas Eve sights. When they stop to listen to a street musician, Brian, the younger boy, sees a woman find his mother's wallet, which also holds a precious family memento he believes will save his father's life. Unable to get his mother's attention, Brian follows the woman into the city's subways -- beginning a journey that will threaten his life and change that of his mother and of the woman as well.
Written with warmth, yet set against a background of menace and thrilling suspense, Silent Night sings with the spirit of the season, celebrating the mysteries of faith renewed and faith rewarded that we honor every holiday season.

Mary Higgins Clark, for several years, has given her readers a very special holiday gift -- short novels celebrating the Christmas season with tales of suspense and cheer. Now two of her most beloved stories are combined in one special volume -- a welcome gift for readers in all seasons.

In Silent Night, Brian, a seven-year-old boy, is in New York City at Christmas with his mother and ten-year-old brother to visit his father, critically ill in the hospital. They plan to give him a St. Christopher medal, in the belief that it will make him well. When Brian sees a woman steal his mother's wallet, with the medal in it, he embarks on a dangerous journey that changes the life of his mother and that of the thief.

With All Through the Night, two of Mary Higgins Clark's most endearing characters -- Alvirah, the lottery winner turned amateur sleuth, and her husband, Willy -- are caught up in a Christmas mystery that begins when a young mother leaves her newborn child on the doorstep of a church rectory on Manhattan's Upper West Side, and continues with the theft of a precious chalice from the church. It is a captivating tale of false identities and old wrongs made right, as well as a mystery that calls for all of Alvirah's deductive powers and Willy's world-class common sense.

Even one story by America's Queen of Suspense is cause for cheer, but this single-volume edition of Silent Night and All Through the Night is a treat for all of Mary Higgins Clark's devoted fans at any time of the year.

Jennifer Beals

http://www.jennifer-beals.com/

Jennifer Beals was born on December 19, 1963. She's an American actress and a former teen model. She is known for her roles as Alexandra "Alex" Owens in the 1983 film Flashdance, and as Bette Porter on the Showtime drama series The L Word. She earned an NAACP Image Award and a Golden Globe Award nomination for the former. She has appeared in more than 50 films.

Product Details
CD, Audio Cassette, Audio Book
Original Release Date: November 1, 1995
Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Abridged edition (November 1, 1995)
Language: English
© Simon & Schuster Audio

Four parts

Total Time: 1:57:34

File Size: 284 mb. | Pass: silentnight

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Here: Amazon!
& here: 4shared!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Mary Higgins Clark Biography:

Born: Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins
December 24, 1927 (age 83)
The Bronx, New York
Pen name: Mary Higgins Clark
Occupation: novelist
Nationality: American
Period: 1975 - present
Genres: suspense, mystery, psychological thriller
Spouse (s): Warren Clark (1949-1964), John J. Conheeney (1996-present)
Children: 5 (Carol Higgins Clark)

Mary Theresa Eleanor Higgins Clark Conheeney (née Higgins; born December 24, 1927), known professionally as Mary Higgins Clark, is an American author of suspense novels. Each of her 42 books has been a bestseller in the United States and various European countries, and all of her novels remain in print as of 2007, with her debut suspense novel, Where Are The Children, in its seventy-fifth printing. She is a minority owner of the New Jersey Nets.

Higgins Clark began writing at an early age. After several years working as a secretary and copy editor, Higgins Clark spent a year as a stewardess for Pan-American Airlines before leaving her job to marry and start a family. She supplemented the family's income by writing short stories. After her husband died in 1964, Higgins Clark worked for many years writing four-minute radio scripts, until her agent convinced her to try writing novels. Her debut novel, a fictionalized account of the life of George Washington, did not sell well, and she decided to leverage her love of mystery/suspense novels. Her suspense novels became very popular, and as of 2007 her books have sold more than 80 million copies in the United States alone.

Her daughter, Carol Higgins Clark, and former daughter-in-law Mary Jane Clark are also suspense writers.

If I were to define myself in one sentence, I would say, "I'm a nice Irish Catholic girl from the Bronx."

I was a Christmas Eve baby all those years ago, the second of the three children of Nora and Luke Higgins. Mother was pushing forty when they married and my father was forty-two. My older brother was named Joseph. Nineteen months later I, Mary, was born. Three and a half years later, my little brother, John, came along.

We lived in a very nice section of the Bronx on a street off Pelham Parkway. I loved our house. I still love it. After my father died, when I was eleven, my mother had to sell it.

I went to Saint Francis Xavier Grammar School. Two years ago I went back and was Principal for a Day. Escorted by two of the tiniest children, I was led into the auditorium while the whole student body sang "Hello Mary. You're back where you belong." I still tear up thinking about it.

I was awarded a scholarship to Villa Maria Academy which is in the Pelham Bay section of the Bronx, otherwise I couldn't have afforded to set foot in it.

I went to Woods Secretarial School and at eighteen had my first full-time job as Secretary to the creative director of Remington Rand's in-house advertising agency. If I were making that choice now I would have gone to college even though God knows we needed the income. On the other hand the three years I spent in Remington Rand was a tutorial in advertising which served me well when I was widowed with five small children. Another plus was that I left Remington to be a flight stewardess with Pan American Airways and when my contemporaries were seniors in college, I was flying to Europe, Africa and Asia.

Warren Clark and I were married on December 26, 1949 and had five children in the next eight years; Marilyn, Warren, David, Carol and Patricia. Warren died of a heart attack in 1964. The highest compliment I can pay my kids are that they are like him.

I sold my first short story when I was twenty-eight. It was alled 'Stowaway'. It had been rejected forty times before a magazine in Chicago bought it for one hundred dollars.

My first book was about George Washington. It was published in 1969 and disappeared without a trace. Three years ago Simon and Schuster co-published it with the Mount Vernon Historical Society and retitled 'Mount Vernon Love Story', it became a bestseller.

My first suspense novel 'Where Are the Children' was bought in 1974 for three thousand dollars by Simon and Schuster. Thirty-three books later, I'm still with S&S.

Time to wind up - at least for the present. As soon as I sold 'Children' I enrolled in Fordham College. Went there for five years at night and earned a B.A. in Philosophy. Summa cum laude, if you please.

I never thought I'd marry again but ten years ago I threw a cocktail party on St. Patrick's day. My daughter, Pat, urged me to invite John Conheeney. Her opening words about him were, "Have I got a hunk for you!" He came to the party and we were married eight months later.

I'm Honorary Chairman of FraXa Research. My grandson, David, has the Fragile X syndrome, which is the second leading cause of retardation after Downs Syndrome. Basically the brain of the people who have it can't send out the proper signals because there's a kind of short circuit in the synapses that carry the signals. We raise money for research with the goal of finding a medication that will work around that short circuit. I go all over the country to the fund-raisers as new chapters of FraXa are opened.

I'm always asked to name my favorite book. They're ALL my favorites. If there is one book that is very special to me, it is my memoir 'Kitchen Privileges' because writing it made me relive my early life including those first struggles to become a writer. I think 'Kitchen Privileges' is both tender and funny and it's me.

© Mary Higgins Clark/ Jennifer Beals. All Rights Reserved.

Jennifer Beals on I Migliori Anni

Listen & Enjoy!

9½ Weeks™ (1986) Original Motion Picture Soundtrack by Various Artists

VA ~ 9½ Weeks™
Original Motion Picture Soundtrack  (1986)

Nine 1/2 Weeks

♥♥♥

9½ Weeks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
The soundtrack also included tracks from Luba, Bryan Ferry, Dalbello, Corey Hart, Joe Cocker, Devo, Eurythmics and Stewart Copeland. Winston Grennan's reggae "Savior" as well as Jean Michel Jarre's "Arpegiator," played during the sex scene on the stairs in the rain, were not included on the record.

Audio CD
CD, Album HD 1/1
Artists: Various Artists
Album: 9½ Weeks
Format: CD, Album, Compilation, Vinyl, LP, Album
Original Release Date: 1986
Shipping Date: October 25th, 1990
Label: Capitol
Genre: Soundtrack, Electronic, Rock, Pop, Musical
© Capitol Records Ltd.

~~~~~~~~~~~~
♪Tracklisting♪:

~~~~~~~~~~~~
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
1. I Do What I Do (Theme For 9½ Weeks)  |4:01
Performed by John Taylor (Duran Duran), B.J. Nelson, Jonathan Elias, Dalbello, Michael Brecker, Michael Des Barres
Mixed by Jason Corsaro, John Taylor, Jonathan Elias
Producer & Mixed by Jason Corsaro, John Taylor, Jonathan Elias
Vocals – B.J. Nelson, Jonathan Elias, Dalbello, Michael Brecker, Michael Des Barres
Engineer: Howie Weinberg

02. The Best Is Yet To Come  |4:01
Performed by Luba (Luba Kowalchyk)
Remix: François Kevorkian
Written by Graham Lyle, Terry Britten
Producer: Narada Michael Walden
Engineer: David Frazer

3. Slave To Love  |4:23
Written & Performed by Bryan Ferry (Roxy Music)
Recorded by Rhett Davies
Mixed by Bob Clearmountain
Producer: Bryan Ferry, Rhett Davies

4. Black On Black  |3:58
Performed by Dalbello (Lisa Dal Bello)
Producer: Dalbello, Michael Beinhorn
Engineer: Lenny De Rose

5. Eurasian Eyes  |5:26
Written & Performed by Corey Hart
Producer: Corey Hart, Jon Astley, Phil Chapman
Engineer: Phil Chapman

6. You Can Leave Your Hat On  |4:14
Performed by Joe Cocker
Written by Randy Newman
Engineer (Assistant): Tom Whitlock
Producer: Richie Zito
Engineer: Brian Reeves

7. Bread And Butter  |2:25
Performed by Devo (Mark Mothersbaugh, Gerald V. Casale, Bob Mothersbaugh, Bob Casale, Alan Myers, David Kendrick, Jim Mothersbaugh)
Written by Jay Turnbow, Larry Parks
Engineer (Assistant): Clive Taylor
Producer: Devo
Engineer: Robert Casale

8. This City Never Sleeps  |6:20
Performed by Eurythmics (Annie Lennox & David Allan Stewart)
Written by Annie Lennox & David A. Stewart
Producer: David A. Stewart

9. Cannes  |3:10
Written & Performed by Stewart Copeland
Producer, Engineer: Stewart Copeland

10. Let It Go  |3:45
Written & Performed by Luba (Luba Kowalchyk)
Remix: Richard Burgess
Producer: Daniel Lanois
Engineer: Daniel Lanois, Jim Dougherty

Total Time: 41:45
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
| DDD | Audio CD | CBR 320 Kbps/48.1 kHz/Stereo |
| Ftle Size:  132 mb. | Pass: 9½weeks |

Executive Producer: Stephen Powers
Mastered by Wally Traugott

The main single released from the 9½ Weeks: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack was "I Do What I Do," performed by Duran Duran bassist John Taylor, giving his first solo singing performance during a hiatus in Duran Duran's career. The song reached #23 on the Billboard Hot 100 and #42 on the UK Singles Chart. Music for the score was composed by Taylor and Jonathan Elias. Original music for the movie was also written by Jack Nitzsche, but his compositions are not included on the soundtrack.

~~~~~~~~~~

Here: MegaUp!

~~~~~~~~~~

Adrian Lyne's 9½ Weeks (1986)

9½ Weeks is a 1986 erotic drama film directed by Adrian Lyne and starring Mickey Rourke and Kim Basinger. It is based on the novel of the same name by Elizabeth McNeill.

The title of the film refers to the duration of a relationship between Wall Street arbitrageur John Gray (Mickey Rourke) and divorced SoHo art gallery employee Elizabeth McGraw (Kim Basinger). The two meet and have a volatile and somewhat kinky sex life.
They try a variety of sexual and erotic acts, such as a scene in which John titillates a blindfolded Elizabeth's body with ice; a scene in which John spoonfeeds Elizabeth various kinds of food while her eyes are closed; a scene in which Elizabeth takes off a tuxedo and fake moustache and has sex with John in a rainy alley; and Basinger's striptease to Randy Newman's "You Can Leave Your Hat On", as performed by Joe Cocker. Most of these erotic scenes were parodied or served as the inspiration for some music videos, like Sheena Easton's 1989 song "Days Like This" and Sarah Connor's 2007 "Sexual Healing".
The film details a sexual downward spiral as John pushes Elizabeth's boundaries toward her eventual emotional breakdown. He often manipulates her into getting what he wants during sex and sometimes abuses her.

Poster

© Capitol Records Ltd. All Rights Reserved.

♥ Listen & Enjoy! ♥