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Posted by: April Slayton
American singer, rapper and songwriter Lizzo toured the Library's Dayton C. Miller flute collection and played one of the historical flutes during her Washington D.C. concert that week.
Posted in: Collections, Music, Performing Arts
Posted by: Neely Tucker
This is a guest post by Anne McLean, a music specialist in the Music Division. On Sept. 28 — that’s Wednesday — the Music Division partners with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Washington Performing Arts to present a special event saluting a pathbreaking Black artist: “Celebrating Hazel Scott: Pianist, Singer, Actress and Activist.” The evening …
Posted in: African American History, Events, LCM, Music, Women's History
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Lamont Dozier, one third of Motown’s key hit-writing team, Holland-Dozier-Holland, has died at 81. It’s difficult to imagine the soundtrack of the 1960s without him. I chatted with him earlier this year, when the trio’s “Reach Out I’ll Be There,” was inducted into the 2022 class of the National Recording Registry. Here’s the story …
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry, Performing Arts
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The Library now has the papers and collected works of Neil Simon, the most commercially successful playwright in American history and one of the most honored. "Barefoot in the Park," "The Odd Couple," "The Sunshine Boys," "Biloxi Blues," "Plaza Suite," "Lost in Yonkers." By the time he died at age 91 in 2018, he his career included 28 Broadway plays, five musicals, 11 original screenplays and 14 film adaptations of his own work. The Library's collection includes more than 180 titled works that Simon began, many of them completed but never published or produced.
Posted in: Film, Music, Performing Arts, Theater, Writers
Posted by: Wendi Maloney
Mark Horowitz, a senior specialist in the Music Division's acquisitions and processing section, tells us about his job in acquiring and preserving some of the most famous works in American musical theater. Among other high-profile projects, he's worked with Stephen Sondheim, Lin-Manuel Miranda and has an upcoming book on his research into the papers of Oscar Hammerstein.
Posted in: Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, Music, My Job
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Songwriting brothers Robert and Richard Sherman penned dozens of Disney hits, including the songs and lyrics for "Mary Poppins," "The Jungle Book" and "Winnie the Pooh," but their simple song for a theme park ride, "It's a Small World," became the most played song of all time.
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Lamont Dozier, part of Motown's fabled Holland-Dozier-Holland songwriting team, talks about writing "Reach Out I'll Be There," a hit for the Four Tops and part of the 2022 class of the National Recording Registry class.
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry
Posted by: Neely Tucker
Journey's "Don'r Stop Believin' " became a pop-culture staple and a stadium anthem for several sports teams. This year it was inducted into the National Recording Registry. We caught up with lead singer Steve Perry about the record.
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry
Posted by: Neely Tucker
The 2022 Class of the National Recording Registry includes albums such as Alicia Keys' "Songs in A Minor" and singles such as Journey's "Don't Stop Believin' " and Ricky Martin's "Livin' La Vida Loca," along with with important inductions of hip-hop and Latin music, including recordings by Linda Ronstadt, A Tribe Called Quest, Wu-Tang Clan and the Buena Vista Social Club.
Posted in: Music, National Recording Registry