Joni James

For her contribution to the recording industry, Joni James has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. See also: Krautrock. For many years she was out of the public eye, but began touring again in the mid-1990s. In 2002 Q magazine named Kraftwerk as one of the "50 Bands To See Before You Die". In 1964 she retired from music, in part also because her husband, Anthony Acquaviva (a music director) was in bad health and needed her attention. The new album, Tour de France Soundtracks, was finally released in August 2003, making it the first album of new Kraftwerk material since 1986's Electric Cafe. She had a number of hits following that one, including "Your Cheatin' Heart" (a cover of Hank Williams' hit) and "Why Don't You Believe Me". An announcement by their record company of a July 22, 2003 release also fell through, with the perfectionists delaying again for several weeks.

Her first hit, "Why Don't You Believe Me?" sold over a million copies. The single Expo 2000, their first new song in 13 years, was released in December 1999, and was subsequently remixed by contemporary electronic musicians such as Orbital. Some executives at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM) spotted her in a television commercial, and she was signed by MGM in 1952. The growing time between recordings, the rarity of live performances and the increasingly exacting and protracted nature of the recording process were major reasons behind the departure of Flür and especially Bartos, whose improvisations were an essential part of the earlier Kraftwerk recordings . After doing a fill-in in Indiana, she decided to pursue a singing career. Like a number of other recording artists, Hütter and Schneider appear to have become increasingly perfectionist in their attitude towards recording and releasing their music. She then took a job as a chorus girl in the Edgewater Beach Hotel in her native Chicago. After years of withdrawal from live performance, Kraftwerk began to tour again more regularly in the late 1990s and in 2004, and stated that they were working on new material -- though speculation about release dates fell through several times.

As an adolescent, she studied drama and ballet, and on graduating from high school, went with a local dance group on a tour of Canada. They do however state that a reasonable fraction of the instrumentation is actually played live, and that they do improvise somewhat from show to show. She was born in Chicago, Illinois. At times, mannequins built to look like the band members replace or accompany the live musicians, known simply as "the robots". Joni James (born Joan [or Giovanna] Carmella Babbo, September 22, 1930) was an American singer of traditional pop music. Their stage act involves the members standing behind minimalistic desks, controlling the various sequencers that drive the show. Biography on the Iceberg (http://www.theiceberg.com/artist/1215/joni_james.html) site. Kraftwerk also pioneered the use of computer graphics as a backdrop for their shows.

Joni's World (http://jonijames.com/), her official site. Kraftwerk have impinged on mainstream popular culture to the extent that they have been referenced in The Simpsons and Father Ted. "You're Foolin' Someone". The tracks were cleverly reworked in a Latin American music style. "Your Cheatin' Heart". In 2000, electronic musician Uwe Schmidt, recording as Señor Coconut, released an album of Kraftwerk covers called El Baile Alemán. "You Are My Love". Kraftwerk have also been extensively sampled by some influential musicians and bands including Afrika Bambaataa, Beck, The Orb, The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu/KLF, Madonna, Depeche Mode, De La Soul, R.E.M., Meat Beat Manifesto, Fatboy Slim, Chemical Brothers, the Bloodhound Gang, and many more.

"Wishing Ring". Five songs were arranged for strings for their album Possessed. "Why Don't You Believe Me". Their music has been recorded by the classical ensemble the Balanescu Quartet. "There Must Be a Way". The single "Tour de France" featured lyrics in French. "There Goes My Heart". Notably, all of their albums from Trans-Europe Express onwards have been recorded in two separate versions -- one with German vocals for sale in Germany, and one with English vocals for international sale.

"My Love, My Love". They also pioneered the use of backing tracks that were generated by the electronic sequencing of purely synthetic sounds. "Is It Any Wonder". Many of the vocals in Kraftwerk songs are processed through a Vocoder, or generated using speech synthesis software -- a Speak & Spell was used on their 1981 album Computer World. "How Important Can It Be?". Kraftwerk were certainly one of the first, if not the first "pop" act to record using pure electronic (or electronically processed) instruments and sounds exclusively. "Have You Heard". This was followed by a trio of albums that were to exert a huge influence on popular music -- Radio-Activity (1975), Trans-Europe Express (1977) and their masterpiece, The Man Machine (1978).

"Give Us This Day". After several early experimental albums their breakthrough came in 1974 (1974 in music) with the Autobahn album and the 22-minute title track (see "Autobahn" SAMPLE (252 kilobytes)), which was a worldwide hit and demonstrated their increasing reliance on synthesizers and electronics. "Almost Always". Many of Kraftwerk's songs express the paradoxical nature of modern urban life -- a strong sense of alienation existing side by side with a celebration of the joys of modern technology. The lyrics are usually very minimal, but reveal both an innocent celebration of, and a knowing caution about the modern world, as well as playing an integral role in the rhythmic structure of the songs. Kraftwerk's lyrics dealt with postwar European urban life and technology—travelling by car on the Autobahn, travelling by train, using home computers and the like.

Plank produced the first four Kraftwerk albums, but ceased working with them after the commerical success of Autobahn, apparently over a dispute about contracts. Plank worked with many other leading German acts (including members of Can, Neu!, Cluster, Harmonia) and largely as a result of his work with Kraftwerk, Plank's studio in Cologne (Köln) became one of the most sought-after studios in Europe in the late Seventies. The input, expertise and influence of producer/engineer Conny Plank was also significant. Following the departure of Flür and Bartos, various Kling Klang studio personnel such as Fritz Hilpert and Henning Schmitz have appeared in the Kraftwerk live line-up.

Painter Emil Schult has been a regular collaborator with the band since 1973 (originally playing bass guitar and electric violin, then designing artwork and additional lyrics, and accompanying them on tour). This show saw the public debut of the group's striking self-built electronic percussion pads, played by Flür.). (Flür had joined the band in 1973 as a drummer, in prepartion for a television appearance to promote their third album. This quartet would be the band's public persona for their classic output of the 1970s and 1980s.

This saw the band presented as a electronic quartet, with Hütter & Schneider joined by Wolfgang Flür and Karl Bartos as electronic percussionists. What is generally regarded as the classic Kraftwerk line-up formed in 1975, for the Autobahn tour. The early Kraftwerk line-ups (1970-1974) fluctuated, Hütter & Schneider working with around half a dozen other musicians over the course of recording four albums and sporadic live appearances - most notably guitarist Michael Rother and drummer Klaus Dinger, who left to form the revered band Neu!. The two had met as students in the late 1960s, and had already released one album (Tone Float) playing in a five-piece improvisation group called Organisation.

Kraftwerk was founded in 1970 by Florian Schneider-Esleben (flute) and Ralf Hütter (keyboards), the pair setting up their Kling Klang studio in Düsseldorf. Today many popular Techno DJs refer to them as one of their most important influences. The techniques that they introduced and the equipment that they developed are now commonplace in modern music. Kraftwerk (German for "power plant") is a German avant-garde electro-pop group from Düsseldorf that contributed much to the development of, and interest in, electronic music.

Tour de France Soundtracks - 2003. The Mix - 1991 (new recordings of older songs). Electric Cafe - 1986 (Originally scheduled by EMI for release in 1983 under the title Techno Pop, the material was re-worked into this album.). Computerwelt 1981 - (English title: Computer World).

Die Mensch-Maschine - 1978 (English title: The Man-Machine). Trans-Europa Express - 1977 (English title: Trans-Europe Express). Radio-Aktivität - 1975 (English title: Radio-Activity). Autobahn - 1974.

Ralf und Florian - 1973. Kraftwerk 2 - 1972. Kraftwerk - 1971. Tone Float - 1970 (as Organisation).