New York, NY (Top40 Charts/ Shore Fire Media) On November 21, The Speek - the music video company whose mission is to explore the archives of music history and release rare, long-forgotten video clips from legendary recording artists - has released what scholars consider the first ever music videos, created by legendary DJ and singer The Big Bopper in 1958. Watch previews of the videos here: https://www.facebook.com/TheSpeek
On January 24, 1959 - one week before The Big Bopper died in the plane crash that also killed
Buddy Holly and
Ritchie Valens - Disc Magazine ran a story claiming, "The disc business is about to be turned upside down. The Big Bopper is blazing a brand new trail in the art of selling records... pioneering the visual approach to presenting records." For his part, The Big Bopper predicted, "It will ultimately become standard practice for every record artist to make a film of himself performing his record. These short films will be sent to all the television D.J.s and producers who will select the best for their programs." If The Big Bopper had not died a week after the article was printed, perhaps the history of MTV and music video would have developed earlier. Read the incredible original story from 1959 here: https://bit.ly/tsjBwN
In late 1958, The Big Bopper made three videos for his hits "Chantilly Lace," "
Little Red Riding Hood" and "The Big Bopper's Wedding" in a Beaumont, TX nightclub by setting up a 16mm camera and filming himself singing against painted backgrounds. The original videos were discovered in a Los Angeles video archive by way of a
Houston studio. Working closely with The Big Bopper's estate, The Speek will make the full videos publicly available for the first time as digitally re-mastered downloads for sale on iTunes.
Founded by music video producers, rights & clearance specialists, and archival content insiders from Britain, Canada, and America, The Speek explores the dusty vaults of television studios, motion picture libraries and private collections to release some of the pivotal moments in music history with the permission from the artists and their estates. The company has amassed iconic performances by
George Harrison, Otis Redding, Bob Dylan, Iggy Pop, Dusty Springfield, Marvin Gaye, Billie Holliday, and others, all painstakingly re-mastered for stunning visual and audio quality.
Each month The Speek will make more than 20 new selections available via iTunes for $1.99 per video.
Big Bopper
Music Videos on iTunes:
"Chantilly Lace" - https://itunes.apple.com/us/music-video/chantilly-lace/id480026062?uo=4
"The Big Bopper's Wedding" - https://itunes.apple.com/us/music-video/the-big-boppers-wedding/id480026420?uo=4
"
Little Red Riding Hood" - https://itunes.apple.com/us/music-video/little-red-riding-hood/id480026716?uo=4
Available titles on The Speek include:
Otis Redding ("Try A
Little Tenderness");
Bob Dylan ("Maggie's Farm"); the Four Tops ("
I Can't Help Myself", "
Reach Out, I'll Be There"); The
Moody Blues ("
Nights In White Satin") and
Iggy Pop ("The Passenger"). Additionally there is also
Paul McCartney ("I Saw Her Standing There", "Long Tall Sally", "
Get Back" w/ Tina Turner);
George Harrison ("
While My Guitar Gently Weeps" featuring Eric Clapton, reprising his legendary guitar work from the original studio recording);
Phil Collins ("In the Air Tonight", "You Can't Hurry Love");
Eric Clapton ("Tearing Us Apart" w/ Tina Turner); and
Jerry Lee Lewis ("Great Balls of Fire", "Your Cheating Heart," "
You Win Again". "I'm on Fire)"
About The Speek:
The Speek, formerly called
Digital Video Singles, is an homage to The Speakeasy Club in London, the heart of London's early music scene where many music legends performed in their early years, including The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, and Jimi Hendrix. Those in the know referred to The Speakeasy Club as "The Speak," (i.e. "Are you going to The Speak tonight?" or "You'll never guess who I saw at The Speak last night.").
With headquarters in South West England, a restoration/production team in Toronto, and other staff in Washington, DC, The Speek management is comprised of: Bruce Higham (Director, Artist Relations),
David Palmer (CEO), Matthew White (Director, Archives), and
Stuart Samuels (Director, Programming & Production).
The Speek on The Web:
https://thespeek.com/
https://www.facebook.com/TheSpeek
https://twitter.com/#!/TheSpeek
https://www.youtube.com/TheSpeekTube
Hi-Res Images, Bios, Links, Etc.
https://www.shorefire.com/clients/thespeek/
