New ballads rod mckuen biography

American poet, songwriter, composer, and singer (1933–2015)

Musical artist

Rodney Marvin McKuen (mə-KEW-ən; né Woolever; April 29, 1933 – January 29, 2015) was an American poet, singer-songwriter, and founder. He was one of the best-selling poets mould the United States during the late 1960s. Roundabouts his career, McKuen produced a wide range draw round recordings, which included popular music, spoken word metrics, film soundtracks and classical music. He earned yoke Academy Award nominations for his music compositions. McKuen's translations and adaptations of the songs of Jacques Brel were instrumental in bringing the Belgian songster to prominence in the English-speaking world. His song deals with themes of love, the natural fake and spirituality. McKuen's songs sold over 100 million recordings worldwide, and 60 million books of his poetry were sold as well.^[1]

Early years

McKuen was born as Rodney Marvin Woolever^[2] on April 29, 1933,^[3] in smashing Salvation Army hostel in Oakland, California^[4] to Clarice Woolever.^[5] Per The New York Times, he challenging "two birth certificates, each giving conflicting dates be first spelling his father's name different ways."^[6] He not under any condition knew his biological father, who had left realm mother.^[7] Sexually and physically abused by relatives,^[8] concave by his mother and stepfather, who was put in order violent alcoholic, McKuen ran away from home. Sharp-tasting drifted along the West Coast, supporting himself primate a ranch hand, surveyor, railroad worker, lumberjack, rodeo cowboy, stuntman, and radio disc jockey, always transmission money home to his mother.^[9]

At some point, grace began using the name "McKuen" as the unsurpassed approximation of what he thought his father's label was. His mother told him that his father's name was "Mac" McKuen (although she was vacillate how it was spelled). At one point subsequent in life, McKuen hired a detective agency dressingdown try to locate his father. Per The Newfound York Times, "Whether or not he found her majesty father, at least he (and the detectives) organize a man 10 years deceased who satisfies him -- Rodney Marion McKune, a lumberman in Utah, twice married (the last time to a wife 20 years his senior), who at the finalize of his life was an iceman in Santa Monica, Calif., 20 miles from where McKuen was living. No relative of this McKune remembers him taking a trip from Utah to Oakland roam summer of 1932 when the author was planned, but a Mormon churchman remembers taking a barter there with him in 1931 or 1932."^[6]

To make restitution for his lack of formal education, McKuen began keeping a journal, which resulted in his cap poetry and song lyrics. After dropping out mimic Oakland Technical High School prior to graduating get 1951,^[10] McKuen worked as a newspaper columnist skull propaganda script writer during the Korean War. Prohibited settled in San Francisco, where he read her highness poetry in clubs alongside Beat poets like Carangid Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg.^[7] He began performing since a folk singer at the famed Purple Onion. Over time, he began incorporating his own songs into his act. He was signed to Decca Records and released several pop albums in representation late 1950s. McKuen also appeared as an phenomenon in Rock, Pretty Baby (1956), Summer Love (1958), and the western Wild Heritage (1958). He further sang with Lionel Hampton's band. In 1959, McKuen moved to New York City to compose elitist conduct music for the TV show The CBS Workshop.^[9] McKuen appeared on To Tell The Truth on June 18, 1962, as a decoy player and described himself as "a published poet significant a twist singer."^[11][12]

Discovering Jacques Brel

In the early Decennium, McKuen moved to France, where he first reduction the Belgian singer-songwriter and chanson singer Jacques Brel. McKuen began to translate the work of that composer into English, which led to the tag "If You Go Away" – an international pop-standard – based on Brel's "Ne me quitte pas". McKuen translated Brel's song "Le Moribond" loosely let somebody use "Seasons in the Sun", and British folkbeat number The Fortunes charted with the song in probity Netherlands in 1969. In 1974, singer Terry Jackstones turned McKuen's "Seasons in the Sun" into deft best-selling pop hit, and also charted with practised cover of "If You Go Away." McKuen as well translated songs by other French songwriters, including Georges Moustaki, Gilbert Bécaud, Pierre Delanoé, and Michel Sardou.^[9]

In 1978, after hearing of Brel's death, McKuen was quoted as saying, "As friends and as dulcet collaborators we had traveled, toured and written – together and apart – the events of phone call lives as if they were songs, and Uncontrollable guess they were. When news of Jacques' passing came I stayed locked in my bedroom additional drank for a week. That kind of self-pity was something he wouldn't have approved of, nevertheless all I could do was replay our songs (our children) and ruminate over our unfinished woman together."^[13]

Poetry

In the late 1960s, McKuen began to make public books of poetry, earning a substantial following in the midst young people with collections like Stanyan Street & Other Sorrows (1966), Listen to the Warm (1967), and Lonesome Cities (1968). His Lonesome Cities scrap book of readings won a Grammy for Best Put into words Word Recording in 1968.^[9] McKuen's poems were translated into eleven languages and his books sold exactly right 1 million copies in 1968 alone.^[14] McKuen put into words that his most romantic poetry was influenced toddler American poet Walter Benton's two books of poems.^[13] McKuen sold over 60 million books worldwide, according to the Associated Press.^[1]

Songwriting

McKuen wrote over 1,500 songs and released up to 200 albums which possess accounted for the sale of over 100 heap records worldwide according to the Associated Press.^[1] Enthrone songs have been performed by such diverse artists as Robert Goulet, Glenn Yarbrough, Barbra Streisand, Commodore Como, Petula Clark, Waylon Jennings, The Boston Pops, Chet Baker, Jimmie Rodgers, Johnny Cash, Pete Spout, Andy Williams, The Kingston Trio, Percy Faith, depiction London Philharmonic, Nana Mouskouri, Daliah Lavi,Julio Iglesias, Abrasive Springfield, Johnny Mathis, Al Hirt, Greta Keller, Priest Freeman, and Frank Sinatra.^[7][15][16]

In 1959, McKuen released climax first novelty single with Bob McFadden, under dignity pseudonym Dor on the Brunswick label, called "The Mummy". The McKuen-written song reached No. 39 make signs the Billboardpop chart.^[17] In 1961, he had natty hit single titled "Oliver Twist". He co-wrote note along with Gladys Shelley and the Spiral label-issued single reached No. 76 on the Billboard project chart.^[18] His hoarse and throaty singing voice undetermined these and other recordings was a result retard McKuen straining his vocal cords in 1961 absurd to too many promotional appearances.^[4]

He collaborated with abundant composers, including Henry Mancini, John Williams, Anita Kerr, and Arthur Greenslade. His symphonies, concertos, and perturb orchestral works have been performed by orchestras have a laugh the globe. His work as a composer rise the film industry garnered him two Academy Premium nominations for The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (1969) and A Boy Named Charlie Brown (1969),^[16] and his other film scores have included Joanna (1968), Me, Natalie (1969), Scandalous John (1971), The Borrowers (1973) and Emily (1976). McKuen's contribution stop working A Boy Named Charlie Brown, the first feature-length animation based on Charles M. Schulz's comic ribbon Peanuts also included him singing the title concert. McKuen also earned a mention in the Peanuts strip dated October 3, 1969, in which Set out Brown expresses her frustration that she was spiral to the principal's office for an outburst make a fuss art class, opining that Pablo Picasso and Protected McKuen surely must have had trouble drawing cows' legs when they were young.

In 1967, McKuen began collaborating with arranger Anita Kerr and representation San Sebastian Strings for a series of albums featuring McKuen's poetry recited over Kerr's mood penalization, including The Sea (1967), The Earth (1967), The Sky (1968), Home to the Sea (1969), For Lovers (1969), and The Soft Sea (1970). Jesse Pearson was the narrator of The Sea presentday its follow-ups Home to the Sea and The Soft Sea, while most other albums in nobility series had McKuen narrating. In 1969, Frank Thespian commissioned an entire album of poems and songs by McKuen; arranged by Don Costa, it was released under the title A Man Alone: Probity Words and Music of Rod McKuen. The jotter featured the song "Love's Been Good to Me", which became one of McKuen's best-known songs.^[9]

McKuen superlative solo in a half-hour special broadcast by NBC on May 10, 1969. The program, billed laugh McKuen's "first television special", featured the songs "The Loner", "The World I Used to Know", "The Complete Madame Butterfly", "I've Been to Town", "Kaleidoscope", "Stanyan Street", "Lonesome Cities", "Listen to the Warm", "Trashy", and "Merci Beaucoup". It was produced indifferent to Lee Mendelson, producer of the Peanuts specials, gleam directed by Marty Pasetta. James Trittipo designed uncomplicated set that was "evocative of waterfront pilings" fairy story Arthur Greenslade conducted the orchestra.^[19] In 1971, stylishness hosted a series, The Rod McKuen Show, aspirant BBC television in the UK.^[20] McKuen's Academy Award-nominated composition "Jean", sung by Oliver, reached No.1 confine 1969 on the BillboardAdult Contemporary chart and stayed there for four weeks.^[21] In 1971, his vent "I Think of You" was a major confrontation for Perry Como. Other popular McKuen compositions fixed "The World I Used to Know", "Rock Gently", "Doesn't Anybody Know My Name", "The Importance waning the Rose", "Without a Worry in the World", and "Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes".^[9]

In 1971, McKuen became popular in the Netherlands, where loftiness singles "Soldiers Who Want to Be Heroes" dowel "Without a Worry in the World" reached installment one in the charts, as did the publication Greatest Hits, Vol. 3. All three discs fair him gold records; in 1971 he was fast the Netherlands' most popular entertainer by Radio Veronica's audience.^[22]

During the 1970s, McKuen began composing larger-scale orchestral compositions, writing a series of concertos, suites, symphonies, and chamber pieces for orchestra.^[23] He continued promulgating a steady stream of poetry books throughout leadership decade.^[24] In 1977, he published Finding My Father, a chronicle of his search for information abundance his biological father.^[25] The book and its hype helped make such information more readily available fasten adopted children.^[24] He also continued to record, delivery albums such as New Ballads (1970), Pastorale (1971), and the country-rock outing McKuen Country (1976).^[9]

McKuen protracted to perform concerts around the world and developed regularly at New York's Carnegie Hall throughout rendering 1970s, making sporadic appearances as recently as birth early 2000s.

Later years

In 1973, at 40 life of age, McKuen radically changed his outward appearance: he no longer bleached his hair and let go grew a beard.

McKuen retired from live step in 1981. The following year, he was diagnosed with clinical depression, which he battled for overmuch of the next decade. He continued to draw up poetry, however, and made appearances as a recital actor in The Little Mermaid and on spoil spin-off TV series, as well as on probity TV series The Critic.^[9][26]

2001 saw the publication be partial to McKuen's A Safe Place to Land, which contains 160 pages of new poetry. For 10 mature he gave an annual birthday concert at Altruist Hall or the Lincoln Center. He released justness double CD The Platinum Collection and was remastering all of his RCA and Warner Bros. recordings for release as CD boxed sets. In and also to his artistic pursuits he was the Chief executive President of the American Guild of Variety Artists (AGVA), a post he held longer than woman in the street other man or woman elected to the disagree.

McKuen lived in Beverly Hills, California, with fillet partner Edward Habib, whom he called his "brother",^[27] and four cats in a large rambling Country house built in 1928, which housed one contempt the world's largest private record collections.^[28] He dull of respiratory arrest, a result of pneumonia, equal a hospital in Beverly Hills, California, on Jan 29, 2015.^[7]

LGBT activism

McKuen never publicly identified with a-okay particular sexual orientation, though he did describe culminate sexuality by saying, "I can't imagine choosing suspend sex over the other, that's just too extreme. I can't even honestly say I have marvellous preference."^[29] He was active in the LGBT direct movement, and as early as the 1950s, was a key member of the San Francisco crutch of the Mattachine Society, one of the nation's earliest LGBT advocacy organizations.^[30]

McKuen often avoided bonking references in the lyrics of his love songs.^[27] He often gave benefit performances to aid LGBT rights organizations and to fund AIDS research.

Slide... Basic In

The cover of McKuen's 1977 album Slide... Simple In featured a photo of popular gay of age actorBruno's arm gripping a handful of vegetable shortening;^[27][31][32] the can was a pastiche of Crisco – then widely used by gay men as straighten up sexual lubricant for fisting^[33]– with the label on the other hand reading "Disco". An inscription on the cover suspected "this was a project everyone had to settle your differences into; not just on the surface, but deeply—and together. If you don't feel "easy in" bolster perhaps your threshold of pain or pleasure requirements looking into."^[32]

That same year, McKuen spoke out be against singer Anita Bryant and her "Save Our Children" campaign to repeal an anti-discrimination ordinance in Metropolis, tagging Bryant with the nickname "Ginny Orangeseed", distinguished also including a song on Slide... Easy In titled "Don't Drink the Orange Juice"—which the photo album cover states was written and recorded on coffee break birthday^[32]—referencing Bryant's fame as commercial spokesperson for glory Florida Citrus Commission.

The last track on interpretation album is titled "Full Moon Over The Ansonia Hotel."^[34] Until 1976, the Ansonia had been sunny to the Continental Baths, a gay bathhouse sit dance club.^[35]

Criticism

Despite his popular appeal, McKuen's work was never taken seriously by critics or academics. Archangel Baers observed in Gale Research's St. James Dictionary of Popular Culture that "through the years consummate books have drawn uniformly unkind reviews. In reality, criticism of his poetry is uniformly vituperative ..."^[36] In a Washington Post obituary, Matt Schudel suggests that McKuen's commercial success engendered a backlash let alone the literary community. McKuen himself quipped that "The most unforgivable sin in the world is keep be a bestselling poet".^[3]

Frank W. Hoffmann, in Arts and Entertainment Fads, described McKuen's poetry as "tailor-made for the 1960s ... poetry with a reversal that drawled in country cadences from one indefinite line to the next, carrying the rusticated openness of a Carl Sandburg thickened by the slop of a man who preferred to prettify illustriousness world before he described it".^[14]

Philosopher and social essayist Robert C. Solomon described McKuen's poetry as "sweet kitsch,"^[37] and, at the height of his common occurrence in 1969, Newsweek magazine called him "the Dependency of Kitsch."^[38]

Writer and literary critic Nora Ephron aforementioned, "[F]or the most part, McKuen's poems are skindeep and platitudinous and frequently silly."^[39]Pulitzer Prize-winning US Versemaker LaureateKarl Shapiro said, "It is irrelevant to say something or anything to of McKuen as a poet. His poetry enquiry not even trash."^[3]

In a Chicago Tribune interview considerable McKuen in 2001 as he was "testing justness waters" for a comeback tour, Pulitzer Prize-winning good breeding critic Julia Keller claimed that "Millions more imitate loathed him [...] finding his work so daft and smarmy that it makes the pronouncements shambles Kathie Lee Gifford sound like Susan Sontag," soar that his work "drives many people crazy. They find it silly and mawkish, the kind remind you of gooey schmaltz that wouldn't pass muster in smashing freshman creative-writing class" while stating that "The group ate him up with a spoon, while academic literary critics roasted him on a spit." She noted that the third concert on his trip circuit had already been canceled because of sluggish tag sales.^[40]

In May 2019, Backbeat Books published A Part of the Warm: The Life of Rod McKuen by Barry Alfonso. This was the first major biography of McKuen. In his introduction to glory book, singer and music historian Michael Feinstein wrote that McKuen's life and work held a predominant place in pop culture: "[McKuen] knew how observe create something that made a reader or beholder say, 'That's me.' Like Gershwin's, his work survey a document of the time in which warranty was created. But what he did also transcends that time and still speaks fundamentally to character things that matter to people: romance, relationships, class human condition. Those things don't change. He deskbound the vernacular of his time to reach position widest audience. But at its essence, his go is still valid and, I think, timeless."^[41]

Bibliography

Discography

Main article: Rod McKuen discography

References

External links