Eden Ahbez - Citizendia

1960 album cover

eden ahbez (April 15, 1908 – March 4, 1995), born George Alexander Aberle in Brooklyn, New York and adopted by a Kansas family and raised under the name George McGrew, was a songwriter and recording artist from the 1940s-1960s, whose lifestyle in California was influential on the hippie movement. Events 1450 - Battle of Formigny: Toward the end of the Hundred Years' War, the French attack and nearly annihilate English Year 1908 ( MCMVIII) was a Leap year starting on Wednesday (link will display the full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Leap year Events 51 - Nero, later to become Roman Emperor, is given the title Princeps iuventutis (head of the youth Year 1995 ( MCMXCV) was a Common year starting on Sunday. Events of 1995 Brooklyn (named after the Dutch town Breukelen) is one of the five boroughs of New York City. California ( is a US state on the West Coast of the United States, along the Pacific Ocean. The Hippie Subculture was originally a Youth movement that began in the United States during the early 1960s and spread around the world He refused to use capital letters to spell his name.

Ahbez composed the song "Nature Boy", which became a #1 hit for eight weeks in 1948 for Nat "King" Cole. " Nature Boy " is a song by Eden ahbez, published in 1947 Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17 1919 &ndash February 15 1965 known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician He lived a bucolic life. Pastoral, as an adjective refers to the lifestyle of Shepherds and Pastoralists moving livestock around larger areas of land according to seasons and availability From at least as early as the 1940s, he travelled in sandals and wore shoulder-length hair and beard, and white robes. He camped out below the first L in the Hollywood sign above Los Angeles, studied Oriental mysticism, and claimed to live on three dollars a week, sleeping outdoors with his family, and eating vegetables, fruits, and nuts. Los Angeles (lɑˈsændʒələs los ˈaŋxeles in Spanish) is the largest City in the state of California and the American West He was known to friends as ahbe.

Life story

During the 1930s, McGrew/ahbez lived in Kansas City, and probably also in New York City for some time, although little is known of that period of his life. Kansas City Missouri only Items for the metro area Kansas City Kansas or North Kansas City MO should go on their respective pages The City of New York In 1941 he arrived in Los Angeles, and began playing piano in the Eutropheon, a small health food store and raw food restaurant on Laurel Canyon Blvd. The term Health food has been used in the United States since the 1920s to refer to specific foods claimed to be especially beneficial to Health. Raw foodism (or rawism) is a lifestyle promoting the consumption of un- cooked, un- processed, and often Organic foods as a large percentage The cafe was owned by John and Vera Richter, German immigrants who followed a "naturmensch" and "lebensreform" philosophy (see [1]), influenced by the Wandervogel movement in Germany. Wandervogel is the name adopted by a popular movement of German Youth groups from 1896 onward Their followers, known as "Nature Boys" and who included Robert "Gypsy Boots" Bootzin, wore long hair and beards, and ate only raw fruits and vegetables. Robert Bootzin ( August 19, 1914 - August 8, 2004) was an American fitness pioneer It is likely that McGrew discovered Eastern philosophy and mysticism during this period, adopting the name "eden ahbez", and choosing to spell his name with lower-case letters, claiming that only God was worthy of capitalization. During this period, he married a woman named Anna Jacobsen and had a son.

In 1947, at the prompting of radio host Cowboy Jack Patton, he approached Nat "King" Cole's manager backstage at the Orpheum Theatre in Los Angeles, and handed him the music for his song, "Nature Boy". Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17 1919 &ndash February 15 1965 known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician Cole began playing the song for live audiences to much acclaim, but needed to track down its author before releasing his recording of it. Ahbez was discovered living under the HOLLYWOOD sign, and became the focus of a media frenzy when Cole's version of "Nature Boy" shot to #1 on the Billboard charts, and remained there for 8 consecutive weeks during the summer of 1948. Ahbez was covered simultaneously in Life, Time and Newsweek magazines, and Frank Sinatra and Sarah Vaughan released versions of the song. Time (trademarked in capitals as TIME) is a weekly American Newsmagazine, similar to Newsweek and Newsweek is an American weekly Newsmagazine published in New York City. Francis Albert "Frank" Sinatra (December 12 1915 &ndash May 14 1998 was an American singer and actor Sarah Lois Vaughan (nicknamed " Sassy " and " The Divine One ") ( March 27 1924, &ndash April Ahbez also faced legal action from Yiddish musical composer Herman Yablokoff, who claimed that the melody to "Nature Boy" came from one of his songs, "Shvayg mayn harts" ("Be Still My Heart"), which ahbez could have heard when living in New York. The action was settled out of court.

Ahbez continued to supply Cole with songs, including "Land of Love (Come My Love and Live with Me)", which was also covered by Doris Day and the Ink Spots. Doris Mary Anne von Kappelhoff (born April 3, 1922) is an American Singer, actress, and animal welfare advocate known as The Ink Spots were a popular black vocal group that helped define the Musical genre that led to Rhythm & blues and Rock and roll, and the subgenre He also worked closely with jazz musician Herb Jeffries, and in 1954 the pair collaborated on an album, The Singing Prophet, which included the only recording of ahbez's four-part "Nature Boy Suite". Jazz is an American Musical art form which originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States Herbert "Herb" Jeffries (born September 24, 1911) is an American Jazz Singer and Actor. The album was later reissued as Echoes of Eternity on Jeffries' United National label. In the mid-1950s he wrote songs for Eartha Kitt, Frankie Laine and others, also writing some rock 'n' roll novelty songs. Eartha Mae Kitt (born on January 17 1927) is an American actress, Singer, and Cabaret star Frankie Laine, born Francesco Paolo LoVecchio ( Chicago, March 30, 1913 – San Diego, February 6, 2007) In 1957, his song "Lonely Island" was recorded by Sam Cooke, becoming the second and final ahbez composition to hit the Top 40. Sam Cooke ( January 22, 1931 &ndash December 11, 1964) was an American gospel, R&B, soul, and

In 1959, he began recording instrumental music, which combined his signature sombre tones with exotic arrangements and (according to the record sleeve) "primitive rhythms". He often performed bongo, flute and poetry gigs at beat coffeehouses in the Los Angeles area. In 1960, he recorded his only solo LP, Eden’s Island, for Del-Fi Records. Del-Fi Records was a Record label based in Hollywood California and owned by Bob Keane. This mixed beatnik poetry with exotica arrangements. Exotica is a musical genre named after the 1957 Martin Denny album of the same title, popular during the 1950s to mid 1960s typically with the Suburban Many consider it as one of the weirdest exotica records ever created, and it was not a commercial success.

During the 1960s, he released only three obscure singles, but became recognised as an influence by younger musicians. Grace Slick's band The Great Society recorded a version of "Nature Boy", and ahbez was photographed in the studio in early 1967 with Brian Wilson during a session for the Smile album. Grace Slick (born Grace Barnett Wing on October 30, 1939) is an American Singer and Songwriter, who was one of For the political action of President Johnson see Great Society The Great Society was a 1960s San Francisco Rock band in the Brian Douglas Wilson (born June 20, 1942 in Hawthorne, California) is an American Musician best known as the lead Smile (sometimes typeset with the idiosyncratic partial capitalization SMiLE) is an unreleased album by the The Beach Boys, and perhaps the most Later that year, singer Donovan tracked him down for a reportedly "near-telepathic" conversation. Donovan ( Donovan Phillips Leitch, born 10 May 1946 in Glasgow) is a Scottish Singer-songwriter and guitarist

Thereafter ahbez faded into obscurity. He died in 1995 due to injuries from a car accident. Another album, Echoes from Nature Boy, was released posthumously.

In 2001, director Baz Luhrmann's Moulin Rouge! featured "Nature Boy" as its theme. Baz Luhrmann (born Mark Anthony Luhrmann on 17 September 1962 is an Oscar and Golden Globe -nominated Australian Film director, Screenwriter This article is about the 2001 Motion picture. For other uses see Moulin Rouge (disambiguation Moulin Rouge! is a 2001 Musical film

Life story

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