Please share!
My "archive" is basically all taken from a (now inactive) Twitter account @JewishMusicFact, which was run by a friend of mine. I supplied him with the info for many of his tweets. The account is still open, so you can really just check there for these and more, but these are a collection of tweets that I thought were fit for print.
• Suki and Ding’s First albums, produced when they were still Yeshiva Bochrim, sported the logo “BH Productions”. The BH stood for Bain Hazmanim.
• To naturally combine the new and old versions of Up, Up, and Away on Marvelous Midos Machine Volume 4, the producers actually added an effect called Tape Noise!
• Kuppy Elbogen was offered $10,000 to sing 2 Fiddler on the Roof songs for a “traditional” crowd at a rooftop party in Manhatten. He refused.
• The New York Boys Choir was offered to perform on America’s Got Talent, but Yitzy Bald turned them down following guidance of Daas Torah.
• Shlomo Yehuda Rechnitz offered MBD the song Ana Melech ten years before it was released, but MBD said that he couldn’t connect to the song at that point.
• To get inspired to write Shema Yisroel for Shwekey, Yitzy Waldner sat in his basement with the lights off, and the song was born 25 minutes later.
• Rabbi Shmuel Kunda Z”l was offered a position as an artist and writer by the Walt Disney Company, but as a frum Jew, he turned it down.
• Yitzy Bald made two title tracks for Mendy Wald: Sameach and L’chaim. A short time later, two new music distributers opened: Sameach and L’chaim!
• The classic Od Yishama that’s sung by every wedding was composed by Yankel Talmud for the Chasuna of the Lev Simcha of Ger.
• Besides his musical projects, Ari Goldwag also recorded 100s of his own Shiurim, ranging from Daf Yomi, Halacha, Musser, Tefilla, and more. They’re available on his website, AriGoldwag.com.
• Mona Rosenblum composed the song Ashreichem Talmidei Chachomim over his Gemora in Kollel. A fellow Avreich recorded it on his phone and publicized it.
• Benny Friedman’s full name is Bentzion Friedman, not Binyamin.
• MBD’s first concert was with Yossi Toiv (Country Yossi) and the Ohr Chodosh group – and his paycheck was $50!
• The 8 minute Raza D’Shabbos by Chazzan Pierre Pinchik was split up on two sides of a record because early LPs only held 4 minutes per side.
• Yaakov Shwekey first tried out to be part of Shalsheles, but they felt that he would have more potential on his own. The rest is history.
• At age 17, Yisroel Lamm got started musically by mistake, while playing with a friend’s trumpet that was floating around his bunkhouse in camp.
• Yitzy Waldner composed his first song when he was 14 years old, for a play in Camp Adas Yerei’im.
• Mona Rosenblum composed Melech on Rosh Hashana morning and sang it to himself for two days until Motzei Yom Tov when he could record it.
• MBD Live (1980) had two songs that weren’t on his own albums, Min Hameitzar (later on Yeedle 5) and Y’hi Hachodesh (Dedi – Omnom).
• The first time Isaac Honig sang on a tape, he sang thinking it was just a tryout. That recording was released.
• Cantor R’ Duvid Werdyger recorded his first album in just 5 hours. It sold 50,000 copies!
• One tune composed by Mona Rosenblum is sung with 3 different sets of lyrics. By MBD – Mi Kamocha. By Abish Brot – Ahavas Chinom. And by Amit – Yesh Emunah.
• R’ Shmuel Brazil composed the song Bilvavi Mishkan Evneh in 1968 on Tisha B’av night. He was 20 years old.
• The song Rifa’einu was composed by Yossi Green on the way to a concert. He sang it onstage with Avraham Fried because Fried didn’t know it well yet.
• Michoel Streicher paid Benny Hershkowitz less than $100 for his famous hit Ein Aroch.
• The words of Daddy Dear were written by Mrs. Dena Storch in 45 minutes, right before a concert.
• Pinky Weber heard Yaakov Shwekey for the first time by a Chasuna, when Shwekey was still a Bocher. He went home and composed Racheim for him, but Shwekey wasn’t yet ready to star his music career. Two years later, he took the song and put out his first album.
• Yerachmiel Begun was only 17 when he composed Al Tira (“Ki Lo Bi’moso”)
• Abie Rotenberg performed by 17 of the 28 HASC concerts. He was also scheduled to be at HASC 18, but he wasn’t feeling well.
• The song Shiru Lamelech (Yeedle) is the only song that R’ Hillel Paley first composed the tune and then added the words. In all his other songs, he started with the words.
• The high part of Yitzy Bald’s Al Hasulam on NYBC’s debut album was composed by Yitzy in a dream!
• Avraham Fried bought the song Vezakaini (on Keep Climbing) from Yossi Green ten years before it was released, before Baruch Levine put out his Vezakaini.
• The song B’ni on Yeedle 4 has four generations of Werdygers singing on it: R’ Duvid, MBD, Yeedle, and Yeedle’s son.
• Inspired by a Camp HASC video, Abie Rotenberg composed and wrote the lyrics to “Who Am I” that same night.
• The tune of Yossele Rosenblatt’s Shir Hamalos was a contender for Israel’s national anthem, before they settled on Hatikva.
• Miami Boys Choir song Azor Na (on Yavo) was originally recorded with the words Ani Maamin, and as a duet instead of a solo song.
• Yossi Green composed Daaga Minayin when he was 17 years old.
• MBD’s Moshiach album was MBD’s best-selling album to date.
• Baruch Levine was the child soloist on Dveykus 1, Journeys 2, and the Abie Rotenberg-produced story tape The Golden Crown.
Topic Wiki
