Mauro Scocco
Swedish musician (born 1962)
Mauro Scocco (born 11 September 1962) is a Swedish pop musician of Italian descent. He has been described as "one of the sharpest songwriters in Sweden". Scocco was the singer for the pop group Ratata (1980–83) transformed into a duo with Johan Ekelund (1983–89). After Ratata, Scocco has continued as a solo artist since. In 2014, he cooperated with Plura Jonsson releasing a joint album as "Mauro & Plura".
Early life and career.
Scocco was born in Fristad in Borås. He grew up in Stockholm and in Borås. Scocco formed the pop group Ratata in 1980 along with a few classmates while he was still in school. The first single was "För varje dag" ("For each day") released on the debut album "Ratata" in 1981. After the break-up of Ratata in 1989 Scocco started a successful solo career and has released many songs that have reached top positions on the Swedish charts; "Sarah", "Vem är han?" ("Who is he?"), "Till de ensamma" ("For the lonely"), "Nelly", "Långsamt farväl" ("Long Goodbye") and "Överallt" ("Everywhere") are among the most recognized. Besides being a solo artist he also writes and produces music for other pop singers, of which Lisa Nilsson is the most famous. Scocco wrote "Himlen runt hörnet" ("Heaven around the corner") for her and it became a hit in Scandinavia in the early 1990s that made her career skyrocket.
In 1991, Scocco released an album with instrumental piano music, "Det Sjungande Trädet" ("The singing tree"), with inspiration from Erik Satie and expressionistic art. In the spring of 2004, Scocco was a disc jockey in the talkshow Sen kväll med Luuk on TV4, in line with the dry, ironic humour of the show. In the fall of 2005 Scocco released the single "Kall Stjärna" ("Cold star") from the album "Herr Jimsons Äventyr" ("The adventures of Mr. Jimson"), which made it to the top list over downloaded singles on iTunes.
Ratata.
Mauro Scocco was also a lead singer of the four-piece Swedish band Ratata, formed in 1980, which also included Heinz Liljedahl, Anders Skog, and Johan Kling. Their debut single was "För varje dag" in 1981 followed by "Ögon av is". Both appeared in their self-titled 1982 debut album "Ratata". Immediately after release of "Jackie", their second album, including the title track as single, Ratata disbanded in 1982 after just three years of activity.
But Scocco continued to use the name as a duo when he was joined by Johan Ekelund. For studio and live gigs, the duo relied on musicians to aid in the shows. The duo continued to have a great number of hit singles and released many more charting albums. The duo had a brief comeback in 2002.
Personal life.
Mauro Scocco's brother Sandro Scocco is a well-known Swedish economist.
Discography.
Others
Solo compilations
Singles
Mauro & Plura
References.
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Till dom ensamma
"Till dom ensamma" is a song written and recorded by Mauro Scocco for his 1991 studio album "Dr. Space dagbok", and released as a single the same year. The song charted at Svensktoppen for 22 weeks between 8 December 1991-10 May 1992, topping the chart. It also peaked at number 12 on the Swedish Singles Chart.
Other recordings.
Date participated at Dansbandskampen 2009, performing the song, and they also recorded it for their 2010 album "Här och nu!".
References.
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Benjamin Till
English composer, director and film maker
Benjamin Till (born 8 August 1974) is a multi-award-winning English composer, director and film maker.
Early years.
Till was born in Oswestry, Shropshire, and spent much of his childhood in the Northamptonshire town of Higham Ferrers. He attended the Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust (NMPAT) and sang in the Northamptonshire County Youth Choir.
Education.
He studied music and composition at The University of York, then trained on the directing course at London's Mountview Theatre School.
Composing.
Mosaic Voices.
Till is the Composer in Residence for Mosaic Voices, a British vocal ensemble specialising in music from the Jewish tradition based at New West End Synagogue in Bayswater, London. He also sings as baritone in the ensemble. Mosaic Voices' most recent album, "Letter To Kamilla", (released by Chandos Records) was a top 5 album in the official UK Classical Music charts and was described by "Gramophone magazine" as "moving but never mawkish" and by "BBC Music Magazine" as "sung with power and passion... simply heartbreaking."
Till has written over fifty original compositions for the ensemble and arranged or re-scored more than one hundred further pieces. His composition, Time, was performed in January 2024. It tells the story of The New West End Synagogue through newspaper reports, mostly from the Jewish Chronicle. His setting of Psalm 23 (The Lord's My Shepherd) was turned into a short film which documented the lives of UK Jewish People during lockdown. This film won a
Nene.
In 2016, Till was commissioned by NMPAT (Northamptonshire Music and Performing Arts Trust) to compose a major orchestral and choral work about the River Nene, which flows through his childhood home town of Higham Ferrers. The composition was scored for 800 musicians and premiered at the Royal Albert Hall in 2017, before being performed at Northampton's Derngate Theatre and Peterborough Cathedral. His composition follows the river from its source in Badby all the way to the sea (100 miles away) in Norfolk. The piece quotes tradition folk melodies from towns and villages along the river, and explores ghost stories, myths and legends associated with the Nene. Till also musicalises the sounds of the river and its associated wildlife, including the calls of red kites.
The Pepys Motet.
In 2010, St. Olave's Church, where Samuel Pepys is buried, commissioned Till to write a 40-part motet to mark the 350th anniversary of Pepys' beginning to write his diary. Four of the six movements were performed live in November 2010 at St. Olave's. The fourth movement, "The Great Fire", was broadcast on BBC Radio 3's "In Tune" programme, whilst "The Pepys Motet" was re-scored for 20 voices and recorded and released by Hind Style Records in 2016.
"The London Requiem".
Completed in 2012, "The London Requiem" is a setting of gravestone inscriptions which Till found in cemeteries across London. This ten-movement work is scored for string orchestra, string quartet, four percussionists and three keyboard players, alongside full SATB choir and soloists. The work was featured on The Space, a pilot BBC project. Ten short films were created for each of the movements, and subsequently a live performance of the full piece was broadcast from Abney Park Cemetery. "The London Requiem" was recorded in 2012 and featured the Balanescu Quartet and soloists including Maddy Prior, Matt Lucas, Tanita Tikaram and Barbara Windsor.
Oranges and Lemons.
In early 2009, Till recorded all the bells mentioned in the nursery rhyme, "Oranges and Lemons" (two hundred bells in seventeen London churches), and wrote a piece of music to feature them all playing in harmony, alongside a choir of people who live or work in one of the areas around the churches. This twelve-minute composition, which included 4000 individual bell strikes was featured on BBC Radio 3's "In Tune" and BBC Radio 4's "Today Programme", alongside in depth coverage by BBC London, who sponsored the piece with Arts Council England.
The piece received its premiere performance on 11 July 2009 at St. Mary le Bow Church, London.
Benjamin Till's various compositions also include some liturgical Jewish works for "a cappella" male vocal ensemble, commissioned by Mosaic Voices, the resident choir at the New West End Synagogue, of which he is a member.
Theatre work.
"Brass".
In 2014, Till was commissioned by the National Youth Music Theatre to create a new musical to commemorate the centenary of the First World War. "Brass" has book, music and lyrics by Till, with additional lyrics by Sir Arnold Wesker and Nathan Taylor. The show premiered in August 2014 at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall and tells the story of a group of men from a Leeds-based brass band who sign up to fight as part of the Leeds Pals battalion, and their women folk who decide to learn the instruments the men have left behind in the hope of playing triumphantly for them on their return from war.
The show, directed by Sara Kestelman and choreographed by Matt Flint, went on to win Best Musical at the UK Theatre Awards 2014. A cast recording was released the following year. "Brass "was later revived by the NYMT in a new production at the Hackney Empire in August 2016, directed by Hannah Chissick, and was met with rave reviews, especially from Theatre Critic and Associate Editor of "The Stage", Mark Shenton, who said the show was a "magnificent miracle of a musical...with epic sweep and originality."
From 31 October to 24 November 2018, the show received its professional premiere in a new production at the Union Theatre, directed by Sasha Regan, the theatre's founder and artistic director. The production received a full complement of four and five-star reviews. Michael Arditti in the "Sunday Express" wrote "Benjamin Till's rich, melodious score, its influences, ranging from Marie Lloyd to Vaughan Williams, powerfully conveys the fervour, horror and heartbreak both in the trenches and at home". The production was nominated for five Offies. Brass is published by Rodgers and Hammerstein Theatricals.
Em.
In 2017, Till wrote the musical "Em", set in Liverpool in 1965, which tells the story of a woman who is trying to keep a baby born out of wedlock, which the authorities want to take away from her. The musical was performed by Central School of Speech and Drama, and subsequently released as a cast album.
Other theatre.
In 1997, Till was approached by playwright Sir Arnold Wesker to collaborate with him on a one-woman musical play that he had written in 1990. The piece was called "Letter to a Daughter", and the UK premiere opened at the Assembly Rooms in Edinburgh on Till's birthday, 8 August 1998.
Film and television.
Casting.
From 2004 to 2006, Till worked as a casting assistant to casting director Shaheen Baig, and worked on such films as "Control", "Notes on a Scandal", "Brick Lane" and "28 Weeks Later", the last of which he also worked on closely with the two young leads, Imogen Poots and Mackintosh Muggleton.
BBC films.
In early 2005, he submitted a pitch to BBC London News, who were looking for people to make a two-minute short film on the subject of "Untold London." The pitch was for a musical film featuring the different communities who use and enjoy Hampstead Heath. Till was one of ten directors chosen to make their films, and "Hampstead Heath: The Musical" was born. The film was nominated for a Royal Television Society award.
BBC producer Penny Wrout then commissioned him to make a three-minute musical film for the Children in Need telethon, showcasing the bizarre and wacky ways that people were raising money for the popular charity: the film was shown twice during the telethon in November that year.
"The Busker Symphony" (2006).
In 2006, Till made four short films for Channel 4's "Three-Minute Wonder" season. The project was called "The Busker Symphony", and a four-movement piece he composed was performed by buskers past and present at various locations around London. Each film featured one movement from the Symphony, variously entitled "Andante", "Adagio", "Scherzo" and "Finalé": the films were broadcast in April 2006.
"A1: the Road Musical" (2008).
In April 2008, Till started work on his largest-scale project to date, "A1: the Road Musical", again for Channel 4. The half-hour film was produced by Endemol, and followed a lorry driver's journey up the A1, from London to Edinburgh, during which he met various people along the way; they all tell their stories, either in song or set to a specially composed soundtrack.
The film starts with Londoners singing their thoughts while stuck in city traffic, then further up the road a young Polish man is introduced: he is deliberating whether or not to leave England and return to Poland. We then meet a woman who was involved in a severe car accident and the mysterious stranger who helped her, a choir of ex-miners lamenting the demise of the coal industry, a young man who lost his brother in an accident on the A1, two motorbikers railing at the government red tape that threatens to stifle people's independence and a Berwick-upon-Tweed resident who is campaigning to have the Scottish border redrawn to make his town part of Scotland, where he feels it rightly belongs.
The film was broadcast on 29 August 2008, and became the fourth most-praised programme aired on Channel 4 that month, based on telephone calls to the station to congratulate the makers.
"Coventry Market: The Musical" (2008).
On 4 November 2008, BBC Coventry and Warwickshire screened the premiere of "Coventry Market: The Musical", a film made by Till to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the town's indoor market. Drawing on the whole community surrounding the market, and those who work in it or patronise it, the film spawned a large multi-platform project, with many radio hours dedicated to its creation, and the stories of some of those featured in it. In addition, there were associated online blogs and news documentaries shown in the region.
"Metro: The Musical" (2011).
On 24 March 2011, BBC Look North, premiered Till's "Metro: The Musical". The work celebrated 30 years of the Tyne and Wear Metro carrying the North-Eastern community from the busy epicentre of Monument to the sunny coast of Tynemouth, or the bustling runways of Newcastle Airport. It featured a cast of 180 – all of whom have worked or been passengers on the network since 1980 – sharing their stories.
"Our Gay Wedding: The Musical" (2014).
On 29 March 2014, Till married his long-term partner Nathan Taylor, in the process becoming one of the first same-sex couples to get married in the UK. They were married in a musical, which was commissioned by Channel 4, in Alexandra Palace Theatre and broadcast two days after the wedding itself. The multi-award-winning film received wide praise. Ed Power, writing in "The Daily Telegraph" said it was "more powerful than anything all the romcom writers in the world could have put together".
"The Guardian"'s Tim Dowling wrote "When I say I cried I cried all the way through [...] an hour of unbridled joy, an inventive and wholly appropriate way to celebrate the advent of equal marriage [...] better than perfect, it was fabulous." In Metro, Simon Swift reviewed it as "The wedding that was better than Kate and Will's [...] a heartwarming, uplifting, tear-jerking celebration of gay marriage [...] Best. Wedding. Ever."
"100 Faces" (2018).
In 2018, Benjamin made the film "100 Faces" which features 100 Jewish British people, one born every year between 1918 and 2017. Some sing, some speak, all state what being Jewish means to them in a single sentence. The film is accompanied by a soundtrack recorded by the Israel Camerata orchestra. The film was premiered at the UK Jewish Film Festival in 2018 and has subsequently been screened in festivals around the world. In 2019, it shared the gold prize at the prestigious Robinson Short Film Awards.
Radio.
Till worked with long-term friend Sir Arnold Wesker again in 2007, when he was asked to write the featured song (to Wesker's lyrics) and incidental music for Wesker's radio play, "The Rocking Horse", commissioned by the BBC World Service to celebrate theirs and Wesker's 75th birthday. The play was aired in November 2007.
Personal life.
Benjamin Till is married to actor and knitting guru Nathan Taylor. The couple live in London.
References.
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John Christian Till
John Christian Till (May 18, 1762 – November 19, 1844) was one of the first American composers. He joined the Bethleham Moravian Congregation as an organist in 1813.

Till dom som bryr sig
Till dom som bryr sig is the second studio album by Swedish indie pop band Solen. It was released on 29 October 2014. The album was nominated for the 2015 Grammis Award for "Best Rock" album.
References.
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Olga Von Till
American classical pianist and piano teacher
Olga Von Till (March 27, 1897 – February 6, 1996) was an American classical pianist and piano teacher.
Biography.
Till was born in the borough of Brooklyn, New York, in 1897. As a teenager she worked as a pianist accompanying silent films. At age 17, before World War I broke out, she travelled to Budapest, Hungary, to study with Béla Bartók at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music. Bartok encouraged Till's compositional skills, an indication that he was confident in her talent. While there she also studied under Zoltán Kodály and Ernő Dohnányi.
Von Till returned to the US after the war and taught piano in New Brunswick, New Jersey. Her pupils included Bill Evans, Barry Miles and Larry Young.
When Von Till was studying in Budapest, Bartok, Kodály, and Dohnányi were experimenting with harmonies based on fourths and using pentatonic melodic structures. Von Till carried their influence throughout her life as a musician and teacher. That influence, particularly from Kodály, can be heard in Larry Young's compositions. The common musical sensibilities of Larry Young and Bill Evans were influenced by Von Till with respect to their approaches to lyricism and harmonic expansions particularly with respect to their chords built on fourths. Through Evans and Young, Von Till had influence on Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Cannonball Adderley, Tony Williams, John McLaughlin, Jimi Hendrix, Woody Shaw, Carlos Santana, and Jack Bruce.
Von Till died on February 6, 1996.
Personal life.
While living in Hungary, Von Till met Hugó Kormos and married him in 1919. She later married violinist, Sam Carmell.
Von Till was the great aunt of musician/songwriter Steve Von Till of Neurosis, singer, actress Katherine Von Till, historian Louis S. Warren and documentary filmmaker Richard O'Regan.
References.
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Till (song)
1957 song by Charles Danvers and Carl Sigman
"Till" is a popular song with music by Charles Danvers and English lyrics by Carl Sigman, released in January 1957 by Percy Faith. It was derived from the French song "Prière Sans Espoir", released in 1956 by Lucien Lupi on the EP "L'Amour Viendra" with original French lyrics written by Pierre Benoit Buisson. Italian singer Caterina Valente released a version in 1960 with lyrics by Gaiano.
References.
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Domenico Belli
Italian composer
Domenico Belli (died May 1627 in Florence) was an Italian composer who worked at the Basilica of San Lorenzo, Florence from 1610–13. He is most notable for his setting of the "Pianto d'Orfeo" (or "Orfeo dolente") by the Camerata poet Gabriello Chiabrera as five intermedii for Torquato Tasso's Aminta, at Florence in 1616. This was recorded by Le Poème Harmonique under the direction of Vincent Dumestre in 2008.
References.
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Thomas Tallis
English Renaissance composer (died 1585)
Thomas Tallis (; also Tallys or Talles; c. 1505 – 23 November 1585) was an English composer of High Renaissance music. His compositions are primarily vocal, and he occupies a primary place in anthologies of English choral music. Tallis is considered one of England's greatest composers, and is honoured for his original voice in English musicianship.
Life.
Youth.
As no records about the birth, family or childhood of Thomas Tallis exist, almost nothing is known about his early life or origins. Historians have calculated that he was born in the early part of the 16th century, towards the end of the reign of Henry VII of England, and estimates for the year of his birth range from 1500 to 1520. His only known relative was a cousin called John Sayer. As the surnames "Sayer" and "Tallis" both have strong connections with Kent, Thomas Tallis is usually thought to have been born somewhere in the county.
Career.
Tallis served at court as a composer and performer for Henry VIII,{{sfn|Holman|1999|p=201}} Edward VI, Mary I, and Elizabeth I.{{sfn|Thomas|1998|p=136}} He was first designated as an organist at the chapel after 1570, although he would have been employed as an organist throughout his career.{{sfn|Doe|Allinson|2009}}
Final years.
Late in his life, Tallis lived in Greenwich, possibly close to the royal Palace of Placentia; tradition holds that he lived on Stockwell Street.{{sfn|Doe|Allinson|2009}} He was recorded as a member of Elizabeth I's household in June 1585, and wrote his will in August that year.{{sfn|Harley|2015|pp=211–212}} He died in his house in Greenwich on 20 or 23 November; the different dates are from a register and the Chapel Royal.{{sfn|Harley|2015|p=212}}{{sfn|Rimbault|1872|p=192}}
<poem>Entered here doth ly a worthy wyght,
Who for long tyme in musick bore the bell:
His name to shew, was THOMAS TALLYS hyght,
In honest virtuous lyff he dyd excell.
He serv'd long tyme in chappel with grete prayse
Fower sovereygnes reygnes (a thing not often seen);
I meane Kyng Henry and Prynce Edward's dayes,
Quene Mary, and Elizabeth oure Quene.
He mary'd was, though children he had none,
And lyv'd in love full thre and thirty yeres
Wyth loyal spowse, whose name yclypt was JONE,
Who here entomb'd him company now beares.
As he dyd lyve, so also did he dy,
In myld and quyet sort (O happy man!)
To God ful oft for mercy did he cry,
Wherefore he lyves, let deth do what he can.</poem>
Works.
Early works.
Some of Tallis's works were compiled by Thomas Mulliner in a manuscript copybook called "The Mulliner Book" before Queen Elizabeth's reign, and may have been used by the queen herself when she was younger. Elizabeth succeeded her half-sister in 1558, and the Act of Uniformity abolished the Roman Liturgy{{sfn|Farrell|2001|p=125}} and firmly established the Book of Common Prayer.{{sfn|Thomas|1998|p=89}} Composers resumed writing English anthems, although the practice continued of setting Latin texts among composers employed by Elizabeth's Chapel Royal.
 | filename = Thomas Tallis (ca.1505-1585) - Why fum'th in sight a4, the Third Tune from Archbishop Parker's Psalter (1567).ogg
 | title = "Why fum'th in sight", the Third Tune from Archbishop Parker's Psalter (1567)
 | description = Inspiration for "Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis" by Ralph Vaughan Williams. Performed by Phillip W. Serna, Treble, Tenor & Bass Viols
Legacy.
Tallis is remembered as primarily a composer of sacred vocal music, in part because of his lack of extant instrumental or secular vocal music.{{sfn|Harley|2015|p=227}}
The 1910 composition Fantasia on a Theme by Thomas Tallis by Ralph Vaughan Williams, which helped to revive interest in Tallis, has become a staple of the concert repertory.
In 1971, the Thomas Tallis School in Kidbrooke opened, a mixed comprehensive school named after the composer.
A fictionalised version of Thomas Tallis was portrayed by Joe Van Moyland in the 2007 Showtime television series "The Tudors".

Till Eulenspiegel
Fictional character from German folklore
Till Eulenspiegel (; ) is the protagonist of a European narrative tradition. A German chapbook published around 1510 is the oldest known extant publication about the folk hero (a first edition of c. 1510/12 is preserved fragmentarily), but a background in earlier Middle Low German folklore is likely. The character may have been based on a historical person.
Eulenspiegel is a native of the Duchy of Brunswick-Lüneburg whose picaresque career takes him to many places throughout the Holy Roman Empire.
He plays practical jokes on his contemporaries, at every turn exposing vices. His life is set in the first half of the 14th century, and the final chapters of the chapbook describe his death from the plague of 1350.
Eulenspiegel's surname translates to "owl-mirror"; and the frontispiece of the 1515 chapbook, as well as his alleged tombstone in Mölln, Schleswig-Holstein, render it as a rebus comprising an owl and a hand mirror. It has been suggested that the name is in fact a pun on a Low German phrase that translates as "wipe-arse".
Modern retellings of the Eulenspiegel story have been published since the latter 19th century. "The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak", by Charles De Coster (1867), transfers the character to the period of the Reformation and the Dutch Revolt; the novel's "Ulenspiegel" (in modern Dutch, "Tijl Uilenspiegel") was adopted as a symbol by the Flemish Movement.
Origin and historicity.
According to the chapbook, Eulenspiegel was born in Kneitlingen in Lower Saxony near Brunswick around 1300. As a vagrant ("Landfahrer"), he travelled through the Holy Roman Empire, especially Northern Germany, but also the Low Countries, Bohemia, and Italy.
He is said to have died in Mölln, Schleswig-Holstein, near Lübeck and Hamburg, of the Black Death in 1350.
The first known chapbook on Eulenspiegel was printed in c. 1510–1512 in Strasbourg. It is reasonable to place the folkloristic origins of the tradition in the 15th century, although, in spite of suggestions to the effect "that the name 'Eulenspiegel' was used in tales of rogues and liars in Lower Saxony as early as 1400", 15th-century references to a Till Eulenspiegel turn out to be surprisingly elusive.
The text of the first extant edition, printed by Johannes Grüninger, is in the High German language.
There has been a debate surrounding the possible existence of an older Low German edition, now lost.
This version has been attributed to Hans Dorn, the only known printer active in Brunswick at the beginning of the 16th century (active from at least 1502). Sodmann (1980) in support of this hypothesis adduced the woodcut of a fool on horseback holding a hand mirror used by Dorn in later prints, as the title illustration of his "Liber Vagatorum" and "Grobianus", which may originally have served as the title illustration of the lost Eulenspiegel edition.
There are several suggestions as to the author of the 1510 chapbook, none of which has gained mainstream acceptance.
Candidates include Thomas Murner, Hermann Bote, Hieronymus Brunschwig, or an author collective surrounding Johannes Grüninger, including Thomas Murner, Johannes Adelphus, Tilemann Conradi and Hermannus Buschius.
The author of the 1515 edition in a short preface identifies himself only as "N". He gives the year 1500 as the date when he originally began to collect the tales, stressing the difficulty of the project and how he wanted to abandon it several times, saying that he is now publishing it after all to "lighten the mood in hard times". The preface also announces the inclusion of material from Pfaff Amis and Pfaff vom Kahlenberg, but no such material is present in the 1515 edition.
The literal translation of the High German name "Eulenspiegel" is "owl-mirror" (hence "owle-glasse"). It is both innocuous and indicative of his character and has been explained as a garbled form of an expression for "wipe-the-arse".
Many of Till's pranks are scatological in nature, and involve tricking people into touching, smelling, or even eating Till's excrement.
Scatological stories abound, beginning with Till's early childhood (in which he rides behind his father and exposes his rear-end to the townspeople) and persisting until his death bed (where he tricks a priest into soiling his hands with feces).
In modern scholarship, there have been some attempts to find evidence for the historicity of Till Eulenspiegel's person.
Hucker (1980) mentions that according to a contemporary legal register of the city of Brunswick one "Till van Cletlinge" ("Till from/of Kneitlingen") was incarcerated there in the year 1339, along with four of his accomplices, for highway robbery.
In Mölln, the reported site of Eulenspiegel's death and burial in the plague year of 1350, a memorial stone was commissioned by the town council in 1544, now on display in an alcove on the outside wall of the tower of St. Nicolai church. The stone is inscribed in Low German, as follows:
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The inscription (including the date of 1350) was allegedly copied from an older tombstone, now lost. This older tombstone is referred to in the chapbook of 1515, and it is mentioned as still being extant in 1536.
The 1544 stone is mentioned by Fynes Moryson in his "Itinerary" of 1591.
Moryson also reports that in his time, the citizens of Mölln held a yearly festival in Eulenspiegel's honour, on which occasion they would present the clothes worn by Eulenspiegel when he died.
Chapbook tradition.
The two earliest printed editions, in Early New High German, were printed by Johannes Grüninger in Strasbourg. The first edition was unknown before sixteen folia of printing proofs
were discovered in 1971 in the binding of a Latin edition of Reynard.
Peter Honegger dated these pages to 1510/11 based on the type used, but this date has since been called into question.
Only a single specimen of the first edition has been preserved, discovered in 1975. Thirty folia are missing, including the title page.
A previous owner has replaced the missing pages by pages torn from an Eulenspiegel edition of c. 1700.
It was most likely published in 1512. The sixteen folia discovered by Honegger are likely printing proofs for this edition.
It consists of 100 folia with 66 woodcuts of high quality.
The 1515 edition was also printed by Grüninger in Strasbourg. Its full title reads:
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The text is divided into 95 chapters (numbered to 96 as chapter number 42 is missing).
The 1515 edition is decidedly inferior, missing many of the illustrations of the older edition, and showing signs of careless copying of the text.
It is uncertain how many of these chapters were present in the earlier edition of 1510/12, although some of the chapters appear to be later additions. The initials of the final six chapters form the "acrostic" "ERMANB", which has been taken as a hidden reference to the book's author.
The first chapters are dedicated to Till's childhood. In chapter nine, Till leaves his mother and begins his life as a vagrant. He takes up diverse occupations, but each chapter ends with his moving on to another place.
The final seven chapters are dedicated to his death and burial.
In the chapbooks, Eulenspiegel is presented as a trickster who plays practical jokes on his contemporaries, exposing vices at every turn, greed and folly, hypocrisy and foolishness. As Peter Carels notes, "The fulcrum of his wit in a large number of the tales is his literal interpretation of figurative language." (Previously, Goethe made a similar observation.) Although craftsmen are featured as the principal victims of his pranks, neither the nobility nor the pope is exempt from being affected by him.
A third Strasbourg edition, of 1519, is better again and is usually used in modern editions to provide the sections that are missing in the surviving 1510/12 copy.
The 'Antwerp group' of Eulenspiegel editions comprises a number of Flemish, French and English publications. The dating of these publications is still an issue of contention. The Antwerp printer Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten is believed to have printed the first Dutch-language version of the Till Eulenspiegel story. In the past, the Hillen edition was dated to 1512 or 1519, but recent scholarship places it in the period between 1525 and 1546. Michiel Hillen van Hoochstraten appears to have used for his translation a German text, in manuscript or printed, that is now lost, which antedated the Grüninger edition. Jan van Doesborch is believed to have printed the first English translation in Antwerp possibly as early as 1520. In this edition the name "Ulenspiegel" is rendered "Howleglas" (as it were "owl-glass"). Later English editions, derived from the Antwerp group, were printed by William Copland in London, in 1547 and 1568.
"Owleglasse" is mentioned in Henry Porter's "The Two Angry Women of Abington" (1599) and again in Ben Jonson's comedic play "The Alchemist" (1610).
The first modern edition of the chapbook of 1519 is by Lappenberg (1854). Lappenberg was not yet aware of the existence of the 1515 edition.
The 1515 and 1519 editions were published in facsimile by Insel-Ferlag in 1911 and 1979, respectively.
An English translation by Paul Oppenheimer was published in 1972.
Editions of Eulenspiegel in German, Dutch, Flemish, French and English remained popular throughout the early modern period. By the late 17th century, Eulenspiegel and his pranks had become proverbial, with the French adjective "espiègle" "impish, mischievous" derived from his name. The German noun "Eulenspiegelei" (as it were "owlglassery") is recorded in the early 19th century.
Modern reception.
Literature.
Hans Sachs (1494-1576) the renowned Meistersinger of Nuremberg drew material from the "Volksbuch" for 46 of his comic tales ("Schwänke") and Carnival plays "(Fastnachtspiele"). Thirty of the "Schwänke" were set to Meistersinger melodies "(töne"). Fellow Nuremberger Jacob Ayrer (1544-1605) also produced an Eulenspiegel Carnival play.
In the eighteenth century, German satirists adopted episodes for social satire, and in the nineteenth and early twentieth century versions of the tales were bowdlerized to render them fit for children, who had come to be considered their chief natural audience, by expurgating their many scatological references.
"The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak", an 1867 novel by Belgian author Charles De Coster, has been translated, often in mutilated versions, into many languages.
It was De Coster who first transferred Ulenspiegel from his original late medieval surroundings to the Protestant Reformation. In this version, Ulenspiegel was born in Damme, West Flanders and became a Protestant hero of the Dutch Revolt. The author gives him a father, Claes, and mother, Soetkin, as well as a girlfriend, Nele, and a best friend, Lamme Goedzak. In the course of the story Claes is taken prisoner by the Spanish oppressors and burned at the stake, while Soetkin goes insane as a result. This tempts Thyl to start resistance against the Spanish oppressors. Thanks to the 1867 novel, Ulenspiegel has become a symbol of Flemish nationalism, with a statue dedicated to him in Damme.
Alfred Jarry, author of "Gestes et opinions du Docteur Faustroll, pataphysicien" (1911), mentions Ulenspiegel's unruly behaviour in the Appendix chapter entitled "Les poteaux de la morale": « Till Ulenspiegel, on s’en souvient, ne coordonnait point autrement ses opérations mentales : se dirigeant vers un faîte, il se réjouissait du dévalement futur. » ("Till Ulenspiegel, we recall, did not coordinate his mental operations differently: heading toward a cliff, he rejoiced in future downfall.")
A French edition, "Les Aventures de Til Ulespiègle", was published by Constantin Castéra in 1910.
In 1927, Gerhart Hauptmann wrote the verse "Till Eulenspiegel".
Ulenspiegel was mentioned in Mikhail Bulgakov's "The Master and Margarita" as a possible prototype for the black cat character Behemoth.
Michael Rosen adapted the story into a 1989 children's novel, illustrated by Fritz Wegner: "The Wicked Tricks of Till Owlyglass", .
Daniel Kehlmann in his novel "Tyll" (2017) places Tyll "Ulenspiegel" in the context of the Thirty Years' War.
The Italian civil law professor Francesco Gazzoni uses the name Till Eulenspiegel as a pseudonym for himself in his book "Favole quasi giuridiche" (in English, "Semi-juridical Fables").
Comics.
Ray Goossens had a 1945 comic strip based on "Tijl Uilenspiegel", where Tijl and Lamme Goedzak were portrayed as a comedic duo. The series was sometimes called "Tijl en Lamme" too.
Willy Vandersteen drew two comic book albums about Uilenspiegel, "De Opstand der Geuzen" ("The Rebellion of the Geuzen") and "Fort Oranje" ("Fort Orange"), both drawn in a realistic, serious style and pre-published in the Belgian comics magazine "Tintin" between 1952 and 1954. They were published in comic book album format in 1954 and 1955. The stories were drawn in a realistic style and in some instances followed the original novel very closely, but sometimes followed his own imagination more.
Belgian comics artist George van Raemdonck adapted the novel into a comic strip in 1964.
Between 1985 and 1990, Willy Vandersteen drew a comics series named "De Geuzen" of whom the three main characters are Hannes, his girlfriend Veerle and Tamme, Hannes' best friend. All are obviously inspired by Tijl Uilenspiegel, Nele and Lamme Goedzak.
Theatre.
Kibbutz theatre director and producer Shulamit Bat-Dori created an open-air production of "Till Eulenspiegel" at Mishmar HaEmek, Israel, in 1955 that drew 10,000 viewers.
In Moscow in 1974, Grigoriy Gorin adapted De Coster's novel as a play originally entitled "The Passion of Tyl. A Two-Part Farcical Comedy" ("The Passion of" had to be removed later) which alluded to the state of the Soviet Union. Performed at the Lenkom Theatre with music by Gennady Gladkov it had elements of rock opera. In 2019, the original libretto was restored and official soundtrack released.
Clive Barker incorporated elements of the Till Eulenspiegel story in his 1982 play "Crazyface".
Music.
In 1894–1895, Richard Strauss composed the tone poem, "Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche", Op. 28.
In 1902, Emil von Reznicek adapted the story as an opera, "Till Eulenspiegel".
In 1913, Walter Braunfels adapted the story as an opera, "Ulenspiegel".
In 1916, the Ballets Russes adapted the story as a ballet, later re-adapted by George Balanchine for Jerome Robbins at the New York City Ballet.
In the late 1930s or early 1940s, the Russian composer Wladimir Vogel wrote a drama-oratorio, "Thyl Claes", derived from De Coster's book.
In 1983, the Soviet composer Nikolai Karetnikov and his librettist, filmmaker Pavel Lungin, released a "samizdat" opera, "Till Eulenspiegel", which received its official release in 1990.
The Polish poet Jacek Kaczmarski wrote a epitaph to Eulenspiegel in 1981 "Epitafium dla Sowizdrzała".
Magazines.
Between 1945 and 1950, a German satirical magazine was called "Ulenspiegel".
The satirical magazine "Eulenspiegel" was published from 1954 in Berlin, East Germany.
Dance.
In 1916, choreograper Vaslav Nijinsky created the ballet "Till Eulenspiegel" set to "Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche", Op. 28. by Richard Strauss. The libretto was by Vaslav Nijinsky, after Charles De Coster and the costumes were by Robert Edmond Jones. The work premiered on 23 October 1916 at the Manhattan Opera House in New York City.
Films.
In 1956, the film "Les Aventures de Till L'Espiègle" was made by Gérard Philipe and Joris Ivens, which adapted De Coster's novel. (English title: "Bold Adventure"). The film was a French-East German co-production.
In 1973, Walter van der Kamp directed "Uilenspiegel", a Dutch film.
Rainer Simon directed "Till Eulenspiegel" in 1975, which was an East-German production made for State Television. Due to Nudity, it was not suitable for children as State Television banned airing the film before 7pm (this version is an adult version).
"Ulenspiegel (Legenda o Tile)", was a 1976 Soviet film, based on De Coster's novel, and directed by Aleksandr Alov and Vladimir Naumov, "The Legend of Till Ullenspiegel" (1976).
In 2003, Eberhard Junkersdorf adapted the story into a feature-length animated film.
In 2014, Christian Theede directed the film "Till Eulenspiegel".
Television.
In 1961, the BRT (nowadays the VRT) made a children's TV series, "Tijl Uilenspiegel".
Museums.
There are three museums in Germany featuring Till Eulenspiegel. One is located in the town of Schöppenstedt in Lower Saxony, which is nearby his assumed birthplace Kneitlingen. The second is located in the supposed place of his death, the city of Mölln in Schleswig-Holstein, and the third in Bernburg (Saale), Sachsen-Anhalt. In the town of Damme, Belgium, there is also a museum honoring him, and there is a fountain and statue featuring Till Eulenspiegel in the Marktplatz of Magdeburg, capital city of Sachsen-Anhalt.
Other.
TES, the first BDSM organization founded in the United States, formerly known as The Eulenspiegel Society, took its original name from Till Eulenspiegel. TES was founded in 1971 and had the name "The Eulenspiegel Society" until it formally changed its name to "TES" in 2002. The original name was inspired by a passage from Austrian psychoanalyst Theodor Reik's "Masochism in Modern Man" (1941), in which he argues that patients who engage in self-punishing or provocative behavior do so in order to demonstrate their emotional fortitude, induce guilt in others, and achieve a sense of "victory through defeat". Reik describes Till Eulenspiegel's "peculiar" behavior—he enjoys walking uphill, and feels "dejected" walking downhill—and compares it to a "paradox reminiscent of masochism", because Till Eulenspiegel "gladly submits to discomfort, enjoys it, even transforms it into pleasure".
References.
Notes
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Bibliography

Domenico Alaleona
Italian organist and composer
Domenico Alaleona (16 November 1881 – 28 December 1928) was an Italian organist and composer. He was born in and died in Montegiorgio. He studied composition under Cesare De Sanctis (1824–1916) and organ with Remigio Renzi.
References.
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František Domažlický
Czech composer (1913–1997)
František Domažlický (13 May 1913 – 29 October 1997) was a Czech composer.
He was born František Tausig in Prague. He was sent to Theresienstadt but survived.
References.
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John Till
Canadian musician (1945–2022)
John Till (December 28, 1945 – September 4, 2022) was a Canadian musician, best remembered as a member of two of Janis Joplin's bands - Kozmic Blues and Full Tilt Boogie.
Early life.
Till was born in Stratford, Ontario, on December 28, 1945. His parents were both musicians who had a Dixieland band. His father played guitar, tenor banjo, and double bass; his mother played both classical music and ragtime on the piano. Till attended Stratford Central High School, where he met his future bandmates Richard Manuel and Ken Kalmusky.
Career.
In 1957, when Till was around twelve years old, he was invited to join Richard Manuel's band, which at the time didn't have a name but would soon become known as The Revols, with Till, Manuel, Ken Kalmusky (bass) and Jim Winkler (drums) forming the core of the group. They were eventually taken under the wing of Ronnie Hawkins, although by then Till had left the band to return to school.
Till played in local Toronto bands on the Yongue Street Strip through the early 1960s until he was asked to join Hawkins's band The Hawks, that Hawkins had to rebuild after all the previous members of his band left to tour with Bob Dylan (see The Band).
Till played with Hawkins for three years before accepting an offer to join Janis Joplin's Kozmic Blues Band, replacing guitarist Sam Andrew. Joplin would eventually disband Kozmic Blues and form the Full Tilt Boogie Band, taking Till and bassist Brad Campbell with her. Till toured extensively with Full Tilt Boogie and appeared on several television shows, including This Is Tom Jones and The Dick Cavett Show. The band also rode the Festival Express, with the Grateful Dead, The Band and Delaney and Bonnie among others, who toured across Canada and played shows in Toronto, Winnipeg and Calgary. Full Tilt Boogie recorded their classic "Pearl" album, which reached the No. 1 spot on the "Billboard" charts in February 1971, after Joplin's death.
After Joplin's death, Full Tilt Boogie attempted to regroup and relocated to Woodstock, New York, to write and record new material. While there, Till played and recorded with several other musicians, including Bobby Charles and Peter Yarrow, of Peter, Paul and Mary. When Full Tilt Boogie finally disbanded for good, Till moved back to Stratford, Ontario, retiring from the music industry and raising his family there. In the foreword of "Love, Janis" (1992), Laura Joplin's biography of her relationship with her famous sister, Till, and his wife are thanked for providing some of the material for the book.
In November 2020, Till and Kalmusky – the latter deceased by then – were awarded Bronze Stars from the city of Stratford for "significant contributions to the cultural or social fabric of Stratford on a national or international scale."
Personal life.
Till was married to Dorcas Till until his death. Together, they had two children: Michael and Shawn. He worked as a computer technician in his hometown during his later years.
Till died on September 4, 2022, at his home in Stratford, Ontario, of C.O.P.D. A biography of his life and career is scheduled for publication sometime in 2026.
References.
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Frederick C. Tillis
American musician (1930–2020)
Frederick Charles Tillis (January 5, 1930 – May 3, 2020) was an American composer, jazz saxophonist, poet, and music educator at the collegiate level.
Early life.
Growing up.
Born in Galveston, Texas on January 5, 1930, Frederick Tillis was raised by his mother, Zelma Bernice Gardner, "née" Tillis (1913–2004), his stepfather, General Gardner, and his maternal grandparents, Willie Tillis and Jessie Tillis-Hubbard (1893–1979).
His first musical experiences were courtesy of his mother, who played piano and sang to him as a child. Later, at George Washington Carver Elementary School, Tillis decided to join the school's drum and bugle corps. As he became more proficient on trumpet, Tillis found his first professional job as a musician in jazz bands when he was twelve years old, earning him the nickname "Baby Tillis". Tillis' band director at Central Side High School, Fleming S. Huff, suggested that he start playing the saxophone.
Post-secondary education.
In 1946, Tillis was accepted at Wiley College on a music scholarship, and thus became the first person in his family to receive a college education. He graduated from Wiley in 1949 with a B.A. in music, accepting the position of college band director there almost immediately. He also married fellow Wiley music major Edna Louise Dillon at this time. They moved from Texas in 1951 so that Tillis could attend the University of Iowa for graduate music studies. At this time, he also decided to volunteer in the United States Air Force at the outbreak of the Korean War, and became director of the 356th Air Force Band. He later went back to get his PhD under the GI Bill at University of North Texas College of Music, but then returned to the University of Iowa to finish his doctoral studies.
Career as educator and composer.
Completing his PhD in 1963, Tillis then held a succession of academic positions at Wiley College, Grambling College, and Kentucky State University. In 1970, Dr. Philip Bezanson, his mentor from Iowa and then chair of the UMass music department, recruited Tillis to the faculty of the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and he and his family moved to Massachusetts. Joining the faculty as an associate professor of music, Tillis eventually held many faculty and administrative positions during his tenure at the University of Massachusetts. He retired in 1997, but still held the title of Professor Emeritus in the Department of Music and Dance. Tillis served as Director Emeritus of the University Fine Arts Center and Director of the Jazz in July Workshops in Improvisation at the University of Massachusetts Amherst.
Tillis wrote music since the age of twenty, and was influenced by Schoenberg, Bach, Prokofiev, Mussorgsky, African-American composers, and world music. Some of Tillis' more notable compositions include "A Symphony of Songs", a choral/orchestral work based on poems by Wallace Stevens and commissioned by The Hartford Chorale, Inc. (1999); "A Festival Journey" (1992), and "Ring Shout Concerto" (1974), for percussion, written for Max Roach; and "Concerto for Piano" (Jazz Trio) and symphony orchestra (1983) written for Billy Taylor. Tillis also wrote several books of poetry, as well as the textbook "Jazz Theory and Improvisation".
Late life.
During his retirement years, Dr. Tillis remained active as a composer, poet, touring performer, lecturer, and arts advocate. He maintained his dedicated service as director emeritus of the Fine Arts Center and professor emeritus at the UMass Amherst music department and Jazz in July program well into the mid-2000s. In later life, Tillis suffered from dementia and had multiple people who would care for him in his old age. Despite his health challenges, he remained interested in life and continued to support and be engaged with various arts activates in the surrounding Western Massachusetts community.
Posthumous honors.
The outpouring of admiration and acknowledgements for Dr. Tillis and his accomplishments is steadfast. Notable honors include proclamations from both the Commonwealth of Massachusetts Senate and House of Representatives for his 50 years of cultural contributions to music education and arts advocacy in Massachusetts; the naming dedication of the 1,800 seat Fine Arts Center concert hall at the University of Massachusetts Amherst as the Frederick C. Tillis Performance Hall; and finally after restrictions were lifted as the pandemic eased, a major memorial celebration was able to be held on February 20, 2022, produced by the University of Massachusetts Amherst Department of Music and Dance. Performers included current music department faculty and students, former faculty and alumni of the music department, and many friends who collaborated with Dr. Tillis over the years. Additionally, music composed by Frederick Tillis continues to reach new audiences with even more performances, recordings, and recognition.
References.
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Elling Enger
Norwegian musician (1905-1979)
Elling Enger (22 February 1905 - 28 January 1979) was a Norwegian composer, organist, and choir conductor.
Biography.
Enger was born in Skotfoss, Norway, and got his musical educated at the Conservatory of Music in Oslo. He worked as organist in Tromsø (1930–36), and later as organist and choir conductor in Oslo. He has written the song "Bli med, bli med til livet!" ("Join, join in to life!"), as well as cantatas, orchestra pieces, motets, organ works, and the like.
References.
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Petrus de Domarto
Franco-Flemish composer
Petrus de Domarto (fl. c. 1445–1455) was a Franco-Flemish composer of the Renaissance. He was a contemporary and probable acquaintance of Ockeghem, and was the composer of at least one of the first unified mass cycles to be written in continental Europe.
Life.
Domarto's life is poorly documented. He was listed as a singer at the Church of Our Lady in Antwerp in 1449, five years after Ockeghem was known to be there, and there is evidence he was in Tournai in 1451. He had a high reputation (which makes the lack of documentation on his life curious), but even so was passed over for a post as master of the choirboys (in favor of Paulus Iuvenis). No other documentation on his life has yet come to light.
Music and reputation.
Domarto's two mass settings, the "Missa Spiritus almus" and a "Missa sine nomine", were famous at the time. The latter of the two may have been one of the earliest cyclic masses composed on the continent, most likely in the 1440s, and imitates some features of contemporary English composers such as Leonel Power. The "Missa Spiritus almus", likely dating from the 1450s, is a cantus-firmus mass, with the melody always in the tenor, but with a changing rhythmic profile as it changes mensuration throughout the piece. The procedure was evidently influential on the next generation of composers, for it was still being copied in the 1480s, and Busnois may have based one of his own masses on the same method (the "Missa O crux lignum"). The theorist and writer Johannes Tinctoris criticised it for exactly the features that inspired other composers.
The two surviving secular compositions by Domarto are both rondeaux, "formes fixes" of the type popular with the Burgundian School.
Works.
Secular.
Rondeaux, each for three voices:
Notes.
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Till Eulenspiegel (Karetnikov)
Till Eulenspiegel () is a Russian-language opera (composed 1983, premiere 1993) by the Soviet composer Nikolai Karetnikov. The libretto is by film director Pavel Lungin, based on Charles De Coster's French novel "The Legend of Thyl Ulenspiegel and Lamme Goedzak".
History.
With no opportunity for performance, the opera was built up from samizdat tape recording sessions, and received its premiere in Germany (Bielefeld Opera, 1993) after the end of the Soviet Union.
Composition.
The opera is a twelve-tone composition. The Till Eulenspiegel story had previously been set by several composers, including a Flemish setting by J. De Winter, and a German-language opera by Emil von Reznicek.
References.
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Louis Ferrari
Italian musette accordionist and composer
Louis Ferrari (1910–1987) was an Italian musette accordionist and composer who was active in France beginning in the 1930s. He established the Ferrari & Son Ensemble which played in Parisian clubs. Louis Ferrari was also the cousin of jazz accordionist Tony Muréna. His song "Domino" with French lyrics by Jacques Plante and English lyrics by Don Raye was popularized by singers including Bing Crosby, Doris Day, Tony Martin and Andy Williams.
Works.
Selected works include:
Ferrari was also featured on a number of recordings.
References.
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Pam Tillis
American country music singer-songwriter (born 1957)
Pamela Yvonne Tillis (born July 24, 1957) is an American country music singer, songwriter, record producer, and actress. She is the eldest child of country singer Mel Tillis. After recording unsuccessful pop material for Elektra and Warner Records in the early 1980s, Tillis shifted to country music. In 1989, she signed with Arista Nashville, entering top-40 on Hot Country Songs for the first time with "Don't Tell Me What to Do" in 1990. This was the first of five singles from her breakthrough album "Put Yourself in My Place".
Tillis recorded five more albums for Arista Nashville in the next ten years, including a greatest hits album. She charted twelve top-ten hits on the "Billboard" country music charts with Arista, including the number-one "Mi Vida Loca (My Crazy Life)" in 1995. Other major hits of hers include her signature song "Maybe It Was Memphis", along with "Shake the Sugar Tree", "Spilled Perfume", a cover of Jackie DeShannon's "When You Walk in the Room", and "All the Good Ones Are Gone". After exiting Arista, Tillis released "" for Lucky Dog Records in 2002, and "RhineStoned" and the Christmas album "Just in Time for Christmas" on her own Stellar Cat label in 2007. Her albums "Homeward Looking Angel" (1992), "Sweetheart's Dance" (1994), and "Greatest Hits" (1997) are all certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America, while "Put Yourself in My Place" and 1995's "All of This Love" are certified gold.
She has won two major awards: a Grammy Award for Best Country Collaboration with Vocals in 1999 for the multiple-artist collaboration "Same Old Train", and the 1994 Country Music Association award for Female Vocalist of the Year. In 2000, she was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry. In addition to her own work, Tillis has written songs for Barbara Fairchild, Juice Newton, and Highway 101, among others. Tillis's music style is defined by her singing voice, along with her influences of country, pop, and jazz.
Early life.
Pamela Yvonne Tillis was born July 24, 1957, in Plant City, Florida. She is the oldest of five children born to country singer Mel Tillis and his first wife, Doris. Because of her father being a country musician, she spent most of her early life in Nashville, Tennessee. When she was eight, her father invited her to sing "Tom Dooley" onstage at the Grand Ole Opry. She also began taking piano lessons at this age, and taught herself how to play guitar by age 12. At age 16, she was nearly killed in a car accident. She underwent five years of surgery, including facial reconstruction. Pam described her relationship with her father as "strict", and that she often felt "alienated" from him. She also stated that her father disapproved of her musical interests at the time, which included Linda Ronstadt and the Eagles.
Tillis enrolled at the University of Tennessee, where she performed in two different groups - a jug band called the High Country Swing Band, and a folk duo with Ashley Cleveland. She dropped out of college in 1976 and moved to San Francisco, California. There, she founded a band called Freelight, which played jazz and rock. Tillis also sold Avon products for additional income. She briefly worked as a backing vocalist in her father's road band, but later quit this role over creative differences. Despite this, she sang backup on his 1980 hit "Your Body Is an Outlaw". Mel also hired her to work at his publishing company, which led to her writing Barbara Fairchild's 1978 single "The Other Side of the Morning".
Music career.
1983–1990: "Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey" and other early work.
In 1981, Tillis signed her first recording contract with Elektra Records. The label released her debut single "Every Home Should Have One" that same year. Unlike her later music, "Every Home Should Have One" was a disco song. While this was her only release for Elektra, she remained with its parent company, Warner Records. The latter label released her debut album in 1983 called "Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey". The album was co-produced by Dixie Gamble, then-wife of record producer Jimmy Bowen. Assisting her was the production team Jolly Hills Productions, which included session musicians Josh Leo and Craig Krampf. "Above and Beyond the Doll of Cutey" featured the singles "Killer Comfort" and "Love Is Sneakin' Up on You". While neither single charted, the former received a music video that aired on MTV. Kevin John Coyne of Country Universe rated the album two stars out of five, stating that "Pam Tillis, even in her early days, is a smart songwriter with cutting insights on the human experience. To try and make her a carefree New Wave pop star is to undermine what makes her special in the first place."
Citing dissatisfaction with the pop music she was recording, Tillis returned to Nashville, while retaining her contract with Warner. She made her first entry on the "Billboard" Hot Country Songs charts in 1984 with "Goodbye Highway", a song she co-wrote with Mary Ann Kennedy and Pam Rose. Her follow-up "One of Those Things" did not chart. Janie Fricke later recorded a version of the song, as well. After this came four other singles that made the lower regions of the charts between 1986 and 1987. One of these, "Those Memories of You", was later a top-five hit for Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. Due to the poor performance of her singles, Tillis was dropped from Warner in 1987. Despite her lack of commercial success, the Academy of Country Music nominated her in 1986 for Top New Female Vocalist. She supported herself in this timespan by performing at various nightclubs and in her own local revues. These included Twang Night (where she sang covers of 1960s country standards) and Women in the Round (where she sang with other female songwriters). The latter featured writers such as Ashley Cleveland, Tricia Walker, and Karen Staley. According to Tillis herself, these revues led to her gaining increased exposure throughout the city. She also supplemented her career by singing advertising jingles for Country Time powdered drink mix, Coca-Cola, and Coors beer.
1989–1992: "Put Yourself in My Place".
In mid-1989, Arista Records' then-president Clive Davis announced the creation of the label's country music division titled Arista Nashville. Tillis was one of the first five acts signed to the label, alongside Alan Jackson, Lee Roy Parnell, Michelle Wright, and Asleep at the Wheel. Prior to releasing any material of her own, Tillis and Kix Brooks (who later signed to Arista Nashville himself as one-half of Brooks & Dunn) co-wrote the promotional single "Tomorrow's World", released on Warner to honor the 20th anniversary of Earth Day. Twenty different country music acts contributed vocals to the project, including Highway 101, Lynn Anderson, Vince Gill, Dan Seals, and Brooks and Tillis. The song entered the Hot Country Songs charts in May 1990, peaking at 74. Tillis also co-wrote Juice Newton's 1989 single "When Love Comes Around the Bend" (later covered by Dan Seals in 1992) and Highway 101's 1990 single "Someone Else's Trouble Now".
Tillis made her debut on Arista Nashville in late 1990 with "Don't Tell Me What to Do". It peaked at number five on the "Billboard" country charts in early 1991, thus becoming her first successful single release. The song also went to number one on the country music charts of the former "Radio & Records". Marty Stuart also recorded the song for Columbia Records in 1988, although his rendition was not released until 1992. The song served as the lead single to her breakthrough album "Put Yourself in My Place", which was issued in January 1991. Paul Worley (a producer and guitarist known at the time for his work with Eddy Raven and Highway 101) co-produced the project with Ed Seay. A re-recording of "One of Those Things" was the album's next single, also reaching top 10 on the country charts. After it came the album's title track, which Tillis co-wrote with Carl Jackson. The album's highest-charting single was "Maybe It Was Memphis", which peaked at number three in early 1992. "Maybe It Was Memphis" has since been described as Tillis's signature song. Tillis had originally recorded the song while on Warner, but did not release this version at the time. According to "Billboard", Arista Nashville executives were initially reluctant to release "Maybe It Was Memphis" as a single until Tillis was "firmly established" as an artist, due to the song's more country pop sound. The album's fifth and final single was "Blue Rose Is", another song which Tillis co-wrote. This song was less successful