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The Songfactors' Choice: Musical Power Couples


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WELCOME TO THE SONGFACTORS' CHOICE: Musical Power Couples

*ALL MEMBERS OF SONGFACTS ARE CORDIALLY INVITED TO PARTICIPATE * Please join us, and share your knowledge and your love of the things that keep SONGFACTS the community we all know and love. The basic guidelines are simple....

* The Songfactors' Music of Choice is decided by your nominations and votes. For each edition we'll ask that you nominate 1 OR 2 selections that meet the guidelines for that edition.

* Each edition will about 3 weeks (or longer, who are we kidding?) . At the end of that time, we'll ask you to vote. You know how that works..... your lists will number 5 to 10, depending on subject, so we could change it up. We'll ask that you compile your list of choices from the final group of nominations. At the close of voting, we will have our Songfactors' Music of Choice.

* Be as creative with this as you'd like. We want to encourage an exchange of thoughts, so this will be a place to learn about and enjoy the nominations, as well as the final choices. The guidelines may change with each edition.

..... Welcome To .....

THE SONGFACTORS' CHOICE: Musical Power Couples

GIVE US YOUR NOMINATIONS NOW!

:headphones:

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The basic guidelines are simple....

But the subject is possibly not.....keep reading. ;)

*Criteria for this edition - What we have in mind is a final list of our favorite power couples. When considering your nominations, keep in mind not only the body of work of the two individuals, but their relationship as well. The hard part might be weighting the couple commitment. A couple that went on a few dates shouldn't count as much as one that was married for 30 years, etc.

Carl has devised a simple formula that might help you when deciding your nominations or votes. Using his example:

Begin with a 40 point scale such as this:

10 points for how much you like each person individually.

10 points for how well they created music.

10 points for the longevity of their relationship

Using that to determine how viable your nomination might be, it might shake out something like this:

Artist #1- Artistic Merit: 10

Artists #2- Artistic Merit: 2

Music They Made: 8

Longevity of relationship: 10

Total - 30 points

So 30 on a 40 scale is pretty fair, I'd call the above couple a good nomination. You could use the same criteria when determining your votes as well. So while you kick back for that after dinner nap on Thanksgiving Day, give some thought to who you feel might be The Songfactors' Choice favorite Musical Power Couples.

Give us your questions now! (I know they're coming)

:headphones:

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Neither. You're going to nominate the people. As in Roy Rogers/Dale Evans for example. (I think I'm safe using them for an example, I doubt they'll be nominated) ;)

Basically two individuals that have had a romantic relationship of some sort, as well as a musical relationship of some sort. A power couple. So using the formula, to decide if they'd be a good nomination I would grade them thusly:

Roy - Artistic Merit: 5

Dale - Artistic Merit: 1

Music They Made: 5

Longevity of relationship: 10

Total - 21 points (out of 40)

So, honestly they might not be the best possible nomination. But say I did nominate them. You could/would use the same formula to determine your vote for them. And probably come up with a 4. ;)

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Begin with a 40 point scale such as this:

10 points for how much you like each person individually.

10 points for how well they created music together.

10 points for the longevity of their relationship

are these points just (my) personal opinion or are there some objective rules? eg longevity... what's 10/10 points? 5 years? 10 years? 30 years?

and regarding "how well they created music together", does this rule out all couples who didn't make any music together? (was there ever a song from both Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love?)

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Felice Bryant (August 7, 1925 – April 22, 2003) and Boudleaux Bryant (February 13, 1920 – June 25, 1987)[1] were an American husband-and-wife country music and pop songwriting team best known for songs such as "Rocky Top," "Love Hurts" and numerous Everly Brothers hits, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love".

Boudleaux was born Diadorius Boudleaux Bryant in Shellman, Georgia, and was trained as a classical violinist. He performed with the Atlanta Philharmonic Orchestra during its 1937-38 season, but had more interest in country fiddling and joined Hank Penny and his Radio Cowboys, an Atlanta-based western music band. In 1945 he met Matilda Genevieve Scaduto while performing at a hotel in her hometown of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and their meeting resulted in a marriage of two future Hall of Fame songwriters.

Felice, as her husband affectionately called her, came from an Italian family of music lovers. Although she had done some singing, she was a poet at heart with a natural gift for writing songs that - combined with her husband's music expertise - led to them becoming one of the most successful writing teams in modern music.

[edit] Songwriting careerDuring the first years of their marriage, the Bryants struggled financially, living in a mobile home, where they wrote upwards of 80 songs. They solicited a number of country music artists in an attempt to sell their compositions but were either ignored or politely rejected until singer Little Jimmy Dickens recorded their "Country Boy". The song went to No. 7 on the 1948 country charts and opened the door to a working relationship with Fred Rose at Acuff-Rose Music in Nashville, Tennessee. In 1950, the Bryants moved to Nashville to work full time at songwriting. Some of their compositions from the early 1950s included the swinging "Sugar Beet" (recorded by Moon Mullican) and the bluesy "Midnight" (recorded by Red Foley).

The Bryants wrote more songs for Dickens as well as for popular country artist Carl Smith, and at the same time released four 45 rpm singles of their own to modest success. Beginning in 1957 the Bryants came to national prominence in both country music and pop music when they wrote a string of hugely successful songs for the Everly Brothers and hits for others such as Roy Orbison and Buddy Holly. Their compositions were recorded by many artists from a variety of musical genres, including Tony Bennett, Sonny James, Eddy Arnold, Bob Moore, Charley Pride, Nazareth, Jim Reeves, Leo Sayer, Simon & Garfunkel, Sarah Vaughan, The Grateful Dead, Elvis Costello, Count Basie, Dean Martin, Ray Charles, Gram Parsons, Bob Dylan (Dylan's Self Portrait album has one of Felice's tracks and one co-written with her husband), and others.

In 1962, The Bryants wrote "Too Many Chicks", a song that became a hit for Leona Douglas, the first African-American woman to record as a country and western singer. Leona was discovered by Fred Foster of Monument Records.

The Bryants eventually moved to a home not far from Nashville on Old Hickory Lake in Hendersonville, Tennessee, near friends Roy Orbison and Johnny Cash. In 1978, they moved to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, where they purchased the "Rocky Top Village Inn" in the Great Smoky Mountains. In 1979 they released their own album called A Touch of Bryant. "Rocky Top", one of their more than 1,500 recorded songs, was adopted as a State song of Tennessee in 1982 and the unofficial fight song for the University of Tennessee sports teams.

During their career, the Bryants earned 59 BMI country, pop, and R&B music awards. In 1972 they were inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 1986 into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, in 1991 into the Country Music Hall of Fame and the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Boudleaux Bryant is the third most successful songwriter of the 1950s on the U.K. chart and Felice the 21st. [2]

Boudleaux Bryant died in 1987. Felice Bryant remained active writing songs and in 1991 the Nashville Arts Foundation honored her with their "Living Legend Award". She died in 2003

Artistic Merit - Boudleaux Bryant - 8

Artistic Merit - Felice Bryant - 8

Music They Made Together - 10

Longevity - 8

Total - 34

Love Hurts - Gram Parsons & Emmylou Harrs

Bye Bye Love - Everly Brothers

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are these points just (my) personal opinion or are there some objective rules? eg longevity... what's 10/10 points? 5 years? 10 years? 30 years?

and regarding "how well they created music together", does this rule out all couples who didn't make any music together? (was there ever a song from both Kurt Cobain and Courtney Love?)

To be honest this was devised by Carl .... and I don't know that it was his intention to leave out couples such as Cobain/Love. I also don't think he'd mind if we tweak it. I'm going to edit that, to read simply "how well they created music" because I feel two talented individuals with separate careers could be considered a power couple.

I'm going to say I don't think that song writing duos that did not have a romantic relationship should be included, simply because I don't think you'd call them a "couple" (ex. Taupin/John).

And the points are simply your personal opinion, a tool Carl devised to rank the importance of a couple. You needn't post your point breakdown (but you can if you'd like).

phil did a really good job of spelling it out and breaking it down. You don't have to go into that detail, but you can see why he ranked them the way he did. Don't get too caught up in the whole formula thing. It's just a tool to help determine the strength of a possible nomination.

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ABBAsweetcouples.jpg

"Thank You For The Music" - ABBA

I wonder if ABBA counts for one or two? :shades:

Anni-Frid Lyngstad and Benny Andersson(1970/1981)

/ Björn Ulvaeus and Agnetha Fältskog (1971-1980)

Do I have to talk about ABBA?

Björn&Agnetha had two children.

ABBA are a milestone in pop music.

First couple: 8 points

Second couple: 8 points

Couple of couples: 9 points

They lasted for 9/11 years, so: 7

"Somebody To Love" - Jefferson Airplane

Grace Slick and Paul Kantner were together from 1969 through 1975, according wikipedia.

They made plenty of albums and wrote more than a page in music hsitory. They went still performing onstage after their split and are MY FAVE BAND, hehehehe :cool:

1322777126-220px-Slick_kantner_starship.

I'd give Grace a 10.

Paul, an 8.

As a couple, 8.

Though they didn't last for long, so: 6

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My first nomination is James Taylor and Carly Simon

james-taylor-and-carly-simon.jpg

James Taylor

Carly Simon

They married on November 3rd, 1972 and had two children together; Sarah Maria and Benjamin Simon. However, brought upon by his work, and in part, his drug problems, they divorced in 1983. In 1974, they had a #5 hit on the Billboard charts with their cover of "Mockingbird", found on Carly's album "Hotcakes" Carly admits she hasn't spoken to James in several years, and has said she wishes it wasn't that way.

The best of James Taylor and Carly Simon:

Handy Man - James Taylor (1977)

Fire and Rain - James Taylor (1970)

That's The Way I've Always Heard It Should Be - Carly Simon (1971)

You Belong To Me - Carly Simon (1978)

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sonnyandcher.jpg

Sonny & Cher ~ I Got You Babe (1965)

From Wikipedia:

Sonny & Cher were an American pop music duo, actors, singers and entertainers made up of husband-and-wife team Sonny and Cher Bono in the 1960s and 1970s. The couple started their career in the mid-1960s as R&B backing singers for record producer Phil Spector.

The pair first achieved fame with two hit songs in 1965, "Baby Don't Go" and "I Got You Babe". Signing with Atco/Atlantic Records, they released three studio albums in the late 1960s, as well as the soundtrack recording for an unsuccessful movie, Good Times. In 1972, after four years of silence, the couple returned to the studio and released two other albums under the MCA/Kapp Records label.

In the 1970s, they also positioned themselves as media personalities with two top ten TV shows in the US, The Sonny & Cher Comedy Hour and The Sonny & Cher Show. The couple's career as a duo ended in 1975 following their divorce. In the decade they spent together, Sonny and Cher sold 80 million records worldwide.[citation needed] Performing under her first name, Cher went on to a highly successful career as a solo singer and actress, while Sonny Bono was eventually elected to Congress as a U.S. Representative from California. The duo were inducted to the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1998, right after Sonny's death.

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My second nomination is Billy Davis and Marilyn McCoo.

McCoo-Davis_Bk.jpg

Marilyn McCoo

Billy Davis, Jr.

Both founding members of The 5th Dimension (McCoo was the band's lead vocalist), they married in 1969 and are still married to this day. On top of all the hits they had as members of The 5th Dimension, they also scored a #1 hit and a Grammy award for their song You Don't Have To Be A Star Baby (To Be In My Show) in 1977.

The best of The 5th Dimension:

Love's Lines, Angles and Rhymes

Wedding Bell Blues

One Less Bell To Answer

Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In

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The little formula is just trying to make sure we give weight to how they were as a couple as well as individually. You can assign the points in your noms or not.

Here's my first one:

Dave Stewart and Annie Lennox

Stewart wrote "Don't Come Around Here No More," "Underneath It All," and loads of other great songs. His latest venture is the SuperHeavy supergroup, which is doing some interesting things.

Annie Lennox is one of the great Soul singers of our generation. Some of her solo stuff is a little precious, but one of the most dynamic and unique voices in the business.

Together, they formed the Eurythmics, who were best of breed in '80s synth-pop. "Would I Lie To You" is everything that is good about music.

They were only a couple for a few years, but all that emotional tension led to some great songs.

Dave: 8 points

Annie: 9 points

Couple: 9 points

Longevity: 5 points

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