#tony bennett video

[fidjiefidjie]

Bon Soir 💖🎺🎤🎷💝

Lady Gaga 🎶 La Vie En Rose

Live at Tony Celebrates 90

[jhnmyrfrance]

RIP Tony

C’était le dernier des grands crooners du milieu du 20e siècle, Tony Bennett vient de s’éteindre à quelques jours de ses 97 ans. C’est l’occasion de revoir ensemble sa prestation avec John sur le titre « One for My Baby (and One More for the Road) » pour son album Duets II.

[sunkissedfawn]

the first song that popped into my mind yesterday when i heard of his passing. may these beautiful souls rest in peace forever 🕊️

[billboard-hotties-tourney]

Bruce Springsteen (1949-) solo; leader of the E Street Band Songs: "Born to Run," "Blinded by the Light" Defeated Opponents: Lindsey Buckingham, Rick Danko, Otis Redding, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam, Syd Barrett Propaganda: "Nobody has ever looked hotter than the Boss in the video for 'Dancing in the Dark' except maybe Bruce in the video for 'I'm On Fire'" "Bruce from the 70's to HIS 70's...enough said" "BRUUUUUCE! (Yes, I am from New Jersey.) But really 70s-Stone Pony-Asbury Park Springsteen is truly a sight to behold."

Billy Preston (1946-2006) solo Songs: "Nothing From Nothing," "Fancy Lady" Defeated Opponents: Woody Guthrie, Tony Bennett, Mick Ronson, Frank Zappa, Mickey Finn Propaganda: "Started out at 10 playing the organ for Mahalia Jackson - he played with Little Richard and Ray Charles for years and is the only man to be credited on a Beatles song that wasn't one of the fab four!"

Visual Propaganda for Bruce Springsteen:

Visual Propaganda for Billy Preston:

[1eos]

May I have some lovely book recommendations on this day <3 😁😁 I'm trying to read more this next year

you sure can!!!!! i'll list my fave reads of the past few years:

convenience store woman by sayaka murata -one of my fave books of all timeeeeee. its basically about a woman who just doesnt fit in into 'normal' society and even tho she's happy ppl feel like she shouldnt be bc she's not progressing w everyone else. if you've been the weird girl ever this book will

ring shout - p djeli clark. a historical fiction novel where the kkk are like demons and theres this organization of black hunters. its action packed but what makes it so amazing is the emotional growth of the characters :') an all time fave

the vanishing half - brit bennett. another AMAZING historical fiction book. its abt family lines....and colorism and twins and what it means to be white passing and privilege and generational trauma. it honestly has toni morrison core vibes where there's a lot of pain but thru love all is healed!

there's no such thing as an easy job by kikuko tsumura. a bit of an eclectic read. this woman takes on different jobs and they each give her grief in a new way. very relatable esp if you hate your job 😭

the vegetarian by han kang. THEE GOAT. i will recc this book until the day i DIE. and even then. its technically a horror story abt the fallout after a woman has a dream/vision and decides to stop eating meat but its sooo much deeper than that. its such a great look at how, as a woman, everything abt you is subject to critique down to what you eat

parasite eve. thee classic scifi horror the video game was inspired by! think frankenstein but there's a love story underneath. but also you question if it was love at all bc what if the mitochrondria inside of us are just manipulating everything we do? i loved it! writing style is a bit clinical but idc

my sister the serial killer by oyinkan braithwaite...i read this one in a single day it was THAT GOOD. sister is a serial killer and the fucking implications and fucked up shit that comes from lookism and family expectations and misogyny tbh. love it~

annihilation by jeff vandermeer. the first in a series but you can just read the first one. its sooooooooooooooooooo good. its a scifi book about this mysterious barrier off the coast that's slowly expanding and inside nature is reclaiming its space and most everyone that enters the barrier never returns.....another quick read bc it will have you HOOKED

yellowface by r f kuang. i don't usually enjoy satire but r f kuang really TOOK IT THERE. this is the most infuriating book you'll ever read but in the best way. this white author w an inferiority complex objectifies her friend that she secretly hates and then steals her friend's book. only thing is the friend is proudly asian and her book is abt specific cultural history so the white girl does diet yellowface and is just a massive bitch

beloved by toni morrison. how do you sum up beloved? i cannot sum up beloved. if i had to sum up beloved i would say 'love is a haunting but not every haunting is love and the only thing that can clear a haunting is love'

in the dream house by carmen maria machado. god probably the best prose i've read all year. a really beautiful but bittersweet autobiographical novel about a bisexual woman's experience with a fucked up abusive relationship and how subtle abuse can be. heavy subject matter but handled soooo beautifully.

the only good indians by stephen graham jones. WHEW. this is a horror......and this book will take you for a fucking ride i'll tell you that. its abt a group of native american men who were childhood friends and due to one mistake they're all haunted by...something that wants to get revenge on them. this book had me going 'DID THAT JUST HAPPEN?' multiple times

[lostloveletters]

Fancam Tag

Rules: Pick 5 songs you think would be used for fancam videos if your OC was canon and tag 5 people. This is so fun! Thank you for tagging me T33th @t33thys-tomb 🖤

Woody (some of these are on her playlist, but I also tried to go with an outside perspective)

Backstreets - Bruce Springsteen

I Left My Heart In San Francisco - Tony Bennett

Bad Girls - M.I.A. (specifically: shift gear automatic damned if I do who is gonna stop me when I’m coming through what we got left is just me and you but if I go to bed baby can I take you)

Queen of the Gas Station - Lana Del Rey (love her or hate her, is a character even canon if they don’t get a Lana fancam?)

When You Were Young - The Killers

No pressure tags: @frstcorinthians @karasnonsense99 @shoshiwrites @stfrancisprayer @wexhappyxfew (Please make a new post, don’t reblog!)

[acurlygirlamy1]

Watch "Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga - I've Got You Under My Skin (Official Music Video)" on YouTube

[chinadroll]

people to know better

tagged by @distressednoise - hello and thank you! I haven't seen one of these in a while!

Last Song I Listened to: One For My Baby (And One More For The Road) - the Tony Bennett and John Mayer duet version. Because I woke up to it playing on my Echo this morning, having never even been aware that such a thing existed, and wanted to see if there was an official video for it on youtube just now. And there was! Context: I saw John Mayer in concert last month and have been listening to his music nonstop ever since (hence Alexa throwing that random Tony Bennett duet at me after presumably streaming everything else all night long).

Currently Watching: I'm in the middle of about a million shows, but the only thing I am actually actively seeking out right now is Leafs related playoffs content on youtube. Because I hate myself?

Sweet/Savoury/Spicy? All at once, ideally, in the form of Walkers Sensations Thai Sweet Chilli crisps. But savoury>sweet>spicy, and crunchy savoury is the king of them all.

Relationship Status? Vehemently opposed. Just ... who has the time?! And it's so much effort.

Current Obsession? See above wrt Leafs. Also John Mayer. But, also, CS Harris' Sebastian St Cyr Mysteries. Have just read book 11, and need to slow down bwdore I catch up with publication and have to waaaaaaait for new books in the series.

No pressure tags, just for fun: @sweetfirebird @derryderrydown @faraige @elreinodelpurgatorio @thecrankyagnes

[howardhawkshollywoodmusic]

MY MUSIC BLOG

Starting tomorrow, I will be posting five music videos every other day, counting down the top 100 songs for each year 1964-83, the classic era of pop, rock, and soul. I'm starting with 1964, as it is the year of The Beatles and the British invasion, and the first Motown hits of The Supremes, The Temptations, and Four Tops. The top 100 hits of 1963 were still dominated by the easy listening 50s style of Andy Williams, Tony Bennett, Johnny Mathis, and Nat King Cole, with only a few rockers by America's first great rock band, The Beach Boys, and some others in their style. Soul in 1963, however, was well represented by Martha and the Vandellas, Marvin Gaye, and The Miracles at Motown, as well as Phil Spector's girl groups The Crystals and The Ronettes, plus Jackie Wilson, Sam Cooke, and Ray Charles.

The classic era ends in 1983. By 1984, MTV had revolutionized music, making it essential to have a visual image, backed by cheap drum machines and other electronics, with real musical instruments costly and unnecessary, reducing production to nothing beyond solitary knob twiddling. 1984 saw the first hits of Mudonna and Bon Jovee, acclaimed more for their videos then any musical quality.

The 100 biggest hits of 1964 still reflect easy listening pop to some degree, so a little patience is recommended with the first tunes. The older and newer styles overlap, but old fashioned vanilla pop becomes less pronounced as the decade advances and pop music gradually rocks harder and harder, and every year features an assortment of annoying ear worms and music for trendy pre-teens.

It's interesting to notice the transformation from the mostly black and white videos of 1964 to a majority of videos in color only a couple of years later.

[blindmagdalena]

I love seeing you post peoples homelander songs and it's been a hot minute since I've seen one sooo... kiss me son of God by they might be giants, maniac by phoebe green, twenties by ghost, uprising by muse, and my way by frank sinatra. Those are THE homelander songs.

ohhh these are GOOD... i especially love Twenties, that song goes so hard. you would not believe the music video i've made up in my head for it.

i haven't heard these two before and i REALLY am digging both.

I look like Jesus, so they say But Mr. Jesus is very far away Now you're the only one here who can tell me if it's true That you love me and I love me (Kiss Me Son of God)

Your fragile heart and your paper skin Such a beautiful boy filled with so much sin Your reflection is your very worst enemy Behind the glass is an angel, but the devil's beneath You smile at the moon even though it's haunting you You wonder if it ever feels as lonely as you do (Maniac)

UGGHHH I LOVE MUSE... Uprising works so well as a song for supes in general, honestly. such a good anthem for them vs Vought. i feel like i've seen it mentioned around here in that context before.

Paranoia is in bloom The PR transmissions will resume They'll try to push drugs that keep us all dumbed down And hope that we will never see the truth around (So come on) Another promise, another scene Another packaged lie to keep us trapped in greed And all the green belts wrapped around our minds And endless red tape to keep the truth confined (So come on) They will not force us They will stop degrading us They will not control us We will be victorious frank sinatra and tony bennett are two of my go-tos when i'm craving those 60s vibes!!!! My Way is an absolutely IMPECCABLE pull. this was a knock out list start to finish anon. drop the homelander playlist!!!!

Regrets, I've had a few But then again too few to mention I did what I had to do I saw it through without exemption I planned each charted course Each careful step along the byway And more, much, much more I did it, I did it my way Yes, there were times I'm sure you knew When I bit off more than I could chew But through it all, when there was doubt I ate it up and spit it out I faced it all and I stood tall and did it my way (My Way)

[onlydylanobrien]

Dylan O’Brien in 2022

January:

Dylan with his friends Desus Nice & Tommy Alter

Fan encounter: + / + / + / +

Dylan hanging out with his friend Tommy Alter

Dylan hanging out with his friends Logan Lerman, Sam Lerner and more x, x, x, x, x, x

February:

Dylan celebrating Lunar New Year with his friends Logan Lerman, Sam Lerner and more

Dylan with Broti Gupta

Fan encounter: + / + / + / +

Dylan with his friends Sarah, Matt, Sam and Olivia x, x

"The Outfit" bts: + / + / +

"Infinite" bts video

Dylan with his friends Desus Nice, Tommy Ater and others

Dylan hanging out with friends

Andrew Garfield on Dylan's “The Social Network” reenactment scene

Dyan and his friends 24h trip to Las Vegas x, x, x, x, x

"The Outfit" character poster

March:

Dylan O'Brien with Sarah Ramos at the “Winning Time: The Rise Of The Lakers Dynasty" premiere

Dylan was hanging out with friends

Fan encounter: + / + / + / + / + / + / +

Dylan at Camila Cabello’s birthday party

"The Outfit" Press

Dylan's Bustle photoshoot

"The Outfit" screening in New York

Dylan was hanging out with his friends Desus Nice, Tommy Alter and his cousin Declan x, x

"The Outfit" bts

Dylan was hanging out with his friends x, x, x, x, x, x

Dylan attends Vanity Fair and Lancôme Celebrate The Future Of Hollywood

Releases:

March 18: "The Outfit"

April:

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Fan encounter: + / + / + / + / + / + / + / +

Dylan O'Brien had a reunion with one of his “Love and Monsters” co-stars Amali Golden

Dylan at Sarah’s new art exhibition “Autograph Hound: A Retrospective” and the “Hold my Hand” screening

Dylan at Coachella

May:

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x

Dylan O'Brien attends an exclusive screening and premiere for “Angelyne”

Dylan doing karaoke with Camila Cabello x, x, x

Dylan with friends at the Haim concert

Candids x, x, x, x

Fan encounter: + / +

Puppy Tony

June:

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, Michael Myers challenge, x

Fan encounters: + / +

Candids x, x, x

Dylan at the Tribeca Film Festival

Dylan with friends at the Bleachers concert

July:

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x

Fan encounters: + / + / + / + / +

Dylan at Dexter Darden’s Birthday party

Maze Runner Cast Reunion x, x, x, x

Dylan during the Bachelor Party Weekend of his childhood friend Tommy x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

"Not Okay” Press

Dylan’s Interview Magazine Photoshoot

Dylan changed his Twitter pfp (Yes that really happened)

Dylan at a Mets game

Dylan at the “Not Okay” premiere in New York

Dylan at the “Not Okay” Pop-Up Event

Candids x, x, x

Dylan at Highsnobiety honors Willa Bennett party

August:

Dylan at A24’s “Bodies Bodies Bodies” Screening

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Dylan with his mom and sister at the rehearsal dinner of his friends Tommy and Kaylynn x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Dylan was the Best Man at the wedding of his childhood friend Tommy x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

New / Old pictures of Dylan with his sister Julia and her girlfriend Aly

Dylan’s 31 Birthday party

Dylan at the Video Music Awards

Dylan at the Video Music Awards After Party

Releases:

August 5: “Not Okay” 

September:

Fan encounter: + / + / + / + / + / +

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, x

Dylan at Interview magazine x vans nyfw dinner party

October:

Puppy Tony x, x

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Fan encounters: + / + / + / + / + / +

Caddo bts x, x 

New / Old picture of Dylan with his family

Dylan with Taylor Swift, Jack Antonoff and Zoë Kravitz.

New / Old picture of young Dylan with his mom and sister

News:

Dylan  is credited as drummer on “Snow on the Beach” and as crowd applause on “Question…?” on Taylor Swift’s new album “Midnights".

Taylor Swift explains how Dylan became the drummer on “Snow on the Beach” ft. Lana Del Rey on her new Album “Midnights”

Dylan with Taylor Swift, Austin Swift, Jack Antonoff and Rachel Antonoff in the studio. 

November:

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, x, x, x, x, x

Fan encounter: +

Dylan hanging out and doing karaoke with Rivkah Reyes, Victoria Pedretti and others x, x

"Ponyboi" bts x, x, x, x, x

Dylan with his family during Thanksgiving

New / Old pictures of Dylan with his sister x, x

Movie News:

Dylan starring in "Ponyboi"

December:

Dylan hanging out with friends x, x, x, x, x, x, x

New / Old picture of Dylan with his sister Julia and one of their cousins

Fan encounters: + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / + / +

“All Too Well: The Short Film” bts video

Candids of Dylan in Paris x, x

“Ponyboi” bts

“Maximum Truth” bts

In total:

Dylan filmed 1 movie this year

did some reshoots for Caddo

we got 2 new photoshoots (we haven’t gotten one of him in a very long time)

2 new movies with Dylan were released

So I would say it was a pretty good year for every Dylan fan filled with a lot of new Dylan content.

[thelensofyashunews]

Chief Keef & Mike WiLL Made-It Feed The Streets with 'Dirty Nachos' Mixtape

Working their magic from different corners of the map, Chief Keef and Mike WiLL Made-It have each shaped the sound of contemporary hip-hop to an immeasurable degree. Today, the two street rap titans share Dirty Nachos, their first collaborative mixtape, out now via 43B / Ear Drummer Records / RBC Records. 

Over the course of 18 tracks, Sosa and Mike deliver a diverse platter of hard-hitting street slappers, with each distinct element enhancing the other like jalapeños, chili, and cheese on a dish of fully-loaded nachos. The two legends make a perfect pair, the rapper switching up his flows to seamlessly fit the producer's symphonic soundscapes. The scraping pizzicato strings of "RIDICULOUSNESS" inspire Sosa to sink his teeth into the instrumental and not let go, whipping quick cadences between the booming 808s. Recent single "DIRTY NACHOS" is a chaotic confection of screeching synths and subsonic 808s, leaving space for Sosa's sly smack talk. On songs like "WHY YOU MAD" and "PROMENADE," Mike applies a lighter touch, and Sosa responds with the taffy-like pitch-shifted melodies that only he can conjure. 

Hosted by the Trap-A-Holics, Dirty Nachos welcomes two guests, one from the Midwest and one from the South to complement the two main artist. Mike WiLL's frequent collaborator 2 Chainz graces "PULL UP GHOST CLAN" with his inimitable presence, while Sosa continues his streak of searing Sexyy Red collaborations with "DAMN SHORTY." The tape ends with “LOVE DON’T LIVE HERE,”  "HARLEY QUINN," "STATUS," and "BANG BANG," four previously-released Chief Keef-Mike WiLL collaborations that showed fans what to expect from the full mixtape. 

Dirty Nachos is the opening salvo in what is shaping up to be a busy year for Chief Keef. The 28-year-old rapper is currently hard at work putting the finishing touches on Almighty So 2. The follow-up to one of Sosa's most mind-bending projects (2013's Almighty So, home to hits like "Blew My High") Almighty So 2 follows in the wake of 2022 singles like "Racks Stuffed Inna Couch," "Chief So," and "Tony Montana Flow." The hotly-anticipated Almighty So 2 drops later this year via 43B, Chief Keef's record label, formed in a joint venture with BMG. Recently, Sosa collaborated with Sexyy Red on two singles from her Hood Hottest Princess (Deluxe)–"Ghetto Princess," and "Bow Bow Bow (F My Baby Mama)," and teamed up with Lil Yachty for "Say Ya Grace," a highlight from All Is Yellow, the first album by Lyrical Lemonade. The song's Cole Bennett-directed video has already gone viral: the song reached the top 5 of YouTube's Trending chart, and racked up over 3 million views in its first week of release.

Mike WiLL Made-It has been on a momentous streak with recent successes, including notable releases such as  "Wanna Come Thru" ft. Coi Leray, the remix of U2’s “Atomic City”, Gucci Mane's latest single, “Cold,” featuring B.G., and collaborations like “Blood Moon” with Lil Uzi Vert and “There I Go” with J. Cole and Gucci Mane. In a pioneering move, Mike WiLL Made-It was announced as the first-ever lead producer for the 2023-2024 NBA season on ESPN, with his track  “Now or Neva” featuring MoneyBagg Yo, showcased in ESPN’s NBA In-Season Tournament official commercial. This came as a follow up to the initial single, "Different Breed," featuring the incomparable Swae Lee and Latto. At this year’s Grammy Awards Mike WiLL received an Album of The Year nomination for his work on Endless Summer, alongside longtime collaborator Miley Cyrus, holding a producer credit on “Thousand Miles” (Ft. Brandi Carlile), “Violet Chemistry,” and “Muddy Feet” (Ft. Sia)”. Showing no signs of slowing down, 2024 promises to be an impactful and buzzy year for Mike WiLL with more new music on the horizon.

[justinsentertainmentcorner]

Charles J. Gans at AP News:

NEW YORK (AP) — Tony Bennett, the eminent and timeless stylist whose devotion to classic American songs and knack for creating new standards such as “I Left My Heart In San Francisco” graced a decadeslong career that brought him admirers from Frank Sinatra to Lady Gaga, died Friday. He was 96, just two weeks short of his birthday. Publicist Sylvia Weiner confirmed Bennett’s death to The Associated Press, saying he died in his hometown of New York. There was no specific cause, but Bennett had been diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2016. The last of the great saloon singers of the mid-20th century, Bennett often said his lifelong ambition was to create “a hit catalog rather than hit records.” He released more than 70 albums, bringing him 19 competitive Grammys — all but two after he reached his 60s — and enjoyed deep and lasting affection from fans and fellow artists. [...]

He not only survived the rise of rock music but endured so long and so well that he gained new fans and collaborators, some young enough to be his grandchildren. In 2014, at age 88, Bennett broke his own record as the oldest living performer with a No. 1 album on the Billboard 200 chart for “Cheek to Cheek,” his duets project with Lady Gaga. Three years earlier, he topped the charts with “Duets II,” featuring such contemporary stars as Gaga, Carrie Underwood and Amy Winehouse, in her last studio recording. His rapport with Winehouse was captured in the Oscar-nominated documentary “Amy,” which showed Bennett patiently encouraging the insecure young singer through a performance of “Body and Soul.” His final album, the 2021 release “Love for Sale,” featured duets with Lady Gaga on the title track, “Night and Day” and other Porter songs. For Bennett, one of the few performers to move easily between pop and jazz, such collaborations were part of his crusade to expose new audiences to what he called the Great American Songbook. [...]

By his early 40s, he was seemingly out of fashion. But after turning 60, an age when even the most popular artists often settle for just pleasing their older fans, Bennett and his son and manager, Danny, found creative ways to market the singer to the MTV Generation. He made guest appearances on “Late Night with David Letterman” and became a celebrity guest artist on “The Simpsons.” He wore a black T-shirt and sunglasses as a presenter with the Red Hot Chili Peppers at the 1993 MTV Music Video Awards, and his own video of “Steppin’ Out With My Baby” from his Grammy-winning Fred Astaire tribute album ended up on MTV’s hip “Buzz Bin.” That led to an offer in 1994 to do an episode of “MTV Unplugged” with special guests Elvis Costello and k.d. lang. The evening’s performance resulted in the album, “Tony Bennett: MTV Unplugged,” which won two Grammys, including album of the year.

[...] Long associated with San Francisco, Bennett would note that his true home was Astoria, the working-class community in the New York City borough of Queens, where he grew up during the Great Depression. The singer chose his old neighborhood as the site for the “Fame”-style public high school, the Frank Sinatra School of the Arts, that he and his third wife, Susan Crow Benedetto, a former teacher, helped found in 2001. The school is not far from the birthplace of the man who was once Anthony Dominick Benedetto. His father was an Italian immigrant who inspired his love of singing, but he died when Anthony was 10. Bennett credited his mother, Anna, with teaching him a valuable lesson as he watched her working at home, supporting her three children as a seamstress doing piecework after his father died.

Musician Tony Bennett died at 96. Bennett collaborated with Lady Gaga very late in his career to make him relevant to younger audiences. #RIPTonyBennett

[paulgadzikowski]

About twenty years ago I got really into the music channels on the cable tv. I’ve always liked jazz. My absolute favorite genre of music is jazz covers of non-jazz melodies from sources I know, like Deodato’s Also Sprach Zarathustra and Jamal’s Suicide is Painless. I blame A Charlie Brown Christmas. Nowadays I get my fix at jazzradio.com

I particularly go for “jazz standards”, the ballads from when my parents were in their teens, twenties, and thirties in recordings by the artists I used to see singing them on tv variety shows when I was a teenager, of whom only Tony Bennett is left I think (though the likes of Pat Benatar are stepping up). The sort of thing James Darren sang on DS9.

One thing particularly endearing to me about the genre is the way many tracks open with two or a dozen bars of introduction unique to the artist of the moment. Then they get to the opening lyrics and familiar tune, and the delicious chills run up and down your spine shouting "Sucker!" like Mel Blanc.

Do you know that thrill? Do you wanna know what I just learned is even better?

When it hits you what the song's going to be two measures before the familiar lyrics start.

(Video under a readmore so, if you want to, you can try to avoid seeing the song title before you click to listen)

[justforbooks]

The Grammy and Emmy-winning director Bruce Gowers, who has died aged 82 of an acute respiratory infection, enjoyed huge success in American television through his work on high-profile awards shows including the Emmys, the MTV awards, the Academy of Country Music awards and the Comedy awards. He also directed nine series of American Idol: The Search for a Superstar, which brought him an Emmy award in 2009. He masterminded a string of TV specials for music legends including the Rolling Stones, Prince, Fleetwood Mac and Rod Stewart, and oversaw coverage of President Bill Clinton’s inaugural concert at the Lincoln Memorial, which gathered artists from Michael Jackson and Aretha Franklin to Tony Bennett, Bob Dylan and the rapper LL Cool J.

Another standout addition to his CV was Michael Jackson: 30th Anniversary Celebration (2001), a record of two concerts at Madison Square Garden, New York, peppered with guest stars including Marlon Brando, Liza Minnelli, Ray Charles and Elizabeth Taylor. He won a Grammy for the Huey Lewis long-form video The Heart of Rock’n’Roll in 1986, and a Directors Guild of America award for his work on Genius: A Night for Ray Charles (2004).

But if there was a single event that seared Gowers’ name into the history books, it was his work on Queen’s video for Bohemian Rhapsody (1975). He had already worked with the band, having directed a video of their live performance at the Rainbow theatre, London, in 1974, and they then hired him to make the promo clip for Bohemian Rhapsody to avoid them having to mime it on the BBC’s Top of the Pops. Chunks of the six-minute film show Queen performing the song with their customary flamboyance, but what makes it unforgettable are the sequences where the band’s spectrally lit faces loom against a black background as they sing the song’s multi-layered harmonies. The video took a mere four hours to shoot at Elstree Studios in Hertfordshire at a cost of £4,500, but it became recognised as the moment when the pop music video arrived as an invaluable promotional tool for pop musicians, paving the way for the launch of the MTV music channel in 1981.

“At that time it was a new world, the world of videos, and I didn’t think anyone was that into it for making money,” commented Gowers. “The video was just made for Top of the Pops and I don’t think any of us thought it would go beyond that – certainly not to be used live on stage for over 40 years.” In 2018, he claimed that he had been paid a mere $590 for his work on the project, though a proposed lawsuit to reclaim royalty arrears never materialised. The clip has now been viewed more than 1.5bn times on YouTube.

He was born in West Kilbride, to Robert, a teacher, and Violet. The family later moved to Enfield in north London, and Bruce attended the Latymer school in Edmonton. After a stint at the BBC Training College he entered the industry as a cable puller, cameraman and production manager. Subsequently he worked for Rediffusion and London Weekend Television in both directing and producing capacities, involved in programmes at different times with Kenny Everett and Stanley Baxter, before moving to the US in the late 1970s.

As the music video developed into an increasingly powerful dimension of the music industry, Gowers delivered some of its most memorable specimens. His clip for Prince’s 1999 captured the louche exoticism of Prince and his band, while for the Bee Gees’ How Deep Is Your Love he relied merely on some coloured lights and closeups of the artists’ faces. Gowers matched the sheer preposterousness of Rod Stewart’s Hot Legs with a video that resembles a parody of TV show The Dukes of Hazzard, while for Van Halen’s Dance the Night Away he exploited the band’s dynamic stage presence with a punchy live-perfomance video. For Chaka Khan’s I’m Every Woman he presented viewers with multiple Khans in a contrasting array of costumes.

He proved himself flexible enough to move between a variety of genres. Much in demand for comedy spectaculars for the HBO and Showtime networks, he worked with a string of the biggest names in the business including Robin Williams, Jerry Seinfeld, Billy Crystal and Eddie Murphy. He directed episodes of the showbiz magicians Penn & Teller’s Sin City Spectacular, and enjoyed much success with programming for children in the form of the Teen Choice awards and the Kids’ Choice awards. With his third wife, the writer and producer Carol Rosenstein, whom he first met on the video shoot for Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s the Night in 1976, he created the long-running Kidsongs franchise, which includes a TV show, DVDs and music CDs. Gowers and Rosenstein had been resident in Malibu for 23 years.

She survives him, along with his son, Sean, his stepdaughter, Katharine, and four grandchildren.

🔔 Bruce Gowers, television director and producer, born 21 December 1940; died 15 January 2023

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Tony Bennett, Lady Gaga - I've Got You Under My Skin (Official Music Video)