69 Love Songs

69 Love Songs is a three-volume concept album by the Magnetic Fields released in 1999. As its title indicates, the album is composed of 69 love songs, all written by Magnetic Fields frontman Stephin Merritt. It was ranked #465 in Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Albums of All Time. It was well received by critics, music critic Nick Mirov claimed that "Stephin Merritt has proven himself as an exceptional songwriter, making quantum leaps in quality as well as quantity on 69 Love Songs".

Conception and live performance

The album was originally conceived as a music revue. Stephin Merritt was sitting in a gay piano bar in Manhattan, listening to the pianist's interpretations of Stephen Sondheim songs, when he decided he ought to get into theatre music because he felt he had an aptitude for it. "I decided I'd write one hundred love songs as a way of introducing myself to the world. Then I realized how long that would be. So I settled on sixty-nine. I'd have a theatrical revue with four drag queens. And whoever the audience liked best at the end of the night would get paid." He also found inspiration in Charles Ives's 114 Songs, about which he had read earlier in the day: "songs of all kinds, and what a monument it was, and I thought, well, I could do something like that."

RZA

Robert Fitzgerald Diggs (born July 5, 1969), better known by his stage name RZA (/ˈrɪzə/ RIZ-ə), is an American music producer, multi-instrumentalist, author, rapper, actor, composer, and filmmaker. A prominent figure in hip hop, RZA is the de facto leader of the Wu-Tang Clan. He has produced almost all of Wu-Tang Clan's albums as well as many Wu-Tang solo and affiliate projects. He is a cousin of the late group-mate, Ol' Dirty Bastard and GZA (who also formed the group with RZA). He has also released solo albums under the alter-ego Bobby Digital, along with executive producing credits for side projects.

In addition to the Wu-Tang Clan and his solo releases, RZA was also a founding member of the horrorcore Hip Hop group Gravediggaz where he used the name The RZArector. Furthermore, he has acted in several movies, including Coffee and Cigarettes, American Gangster, Gospel Hill, Life Is Hot in Cracktown, Ghost Dog, Funny People, Derailed, Due Date and Repo Men. He also appeared in the Showtime TV series Californication. His directorial debut is for the film he co-wrote and in which he plays the title role, The Man with the Iron Fists, also starring Russell Crowe. On November 1, 2012, he introduced the movie at a preview screening in the Museum of the Moving Image in Astoria, Queens, the evening before the Universal picture opened nationwide.

Rza (disambiguation)

Rza is the stage name of Robert Diggs (born 1969) an American musician and member of the Wu-Tang Clan.

Rza or RZA may also refer to:

People

Other uses

See also