Latest news with #FeelsSoGood
Toronto Sun
3 days ago
- Entertainment
- Toronto Sun
Chuck Mangione, dead at 84, was no hack with a horn
Published Jul 26, 2025 • 4 minute read Chuck Mangione performs at the "A Time To Care Gala" on May 13, 2004 at the Playboy Mansion in Holmby Hills, California. The gala is to benefit the ALS research. (Photo by) Reviews and recommendations are unbiased and products are independently selected. Postmedia may earn an affiliate commission from purchases made through links on this page. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. THIS CONTENT IS RESERVED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. SUBSCRIBE TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Subscribe now to read the latest news in your city and across Canada. Unlimited online access to articles from across Canada with one account. Get exclusive access to the Toronto Sun ePaper, an electronic replica of the print edition that you can share, download and comment on. Enjoy insights and behind-the-scenes analysis from our award-winning journalists. Support local journalists and the next generation of journalists. Daily puzzles including the New York Times Crossword. REGISTER / SIGN IN TO UNLOCK MORE ARTICLES Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account. Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments. Enjoy additional articles per month. Get email updates from your favourite authors. THIS ARTICLE IS FREE TO READ REGISTER TO UNLOCK. Create an account or sign in to continue with your reading experience. Access articles from across Canada with one account Share your thoughts and join the conversation in the comments Enjoy additional articles per month Get email updates from your favourite authors Don't have an account? Create Account A healthy segment of Americans knew Chuck Mangione as an object of kitsch. The shoulder-length hair and beard, the colorfully banded fedora, the warm, glossy sound of his flügelhorn (all of which he happily sent up in his self-portrayals on the animated sitcom 'King of the Hill'): Mangione represented not just a weird limbo between hipness and squareness, but an outdated one. Yet if Mangione, who died Tuesday at 84, was game to make fun of himself in that way, it was because he'd already achieved what any artist strives for: He'd made his work an indispensable part of our world. Specifically, his hit 'Feels So Good,' an instrumental pop-jazz crossover that reached No. 4 on the Billboard charts during the summer of 1978, has unexpectedly had as much staying power as 'Stayin' Alive,' 'I Will Survive' or any other anthemic tune from that era. So much so, in fact, that we didn't always notice it. Your noon-hour look at what's happening in Toronto and beyond. By signing up you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc. Please try again This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. The melodic, ever-so-gently funky record is played in restaurants and grocery stores, in hotel lobbies and elevators. It has powered more TV and radio commercials than anyone could count. Those of us who aren't pop-music nerds, or just not old enough to remember when it reigned supreme on Top 40 radio, know 'Feels So Good's' barrage of hooks by heart without even realizing the song has a name. Those are the qualities that make it easy to mock, of course. It's catchy but toothless, inoffensively pleasant, so of course it's ubiquitous. That was part of the 'King of the Hill' bit. Mangione was a celebrity pitchman (for Mega Lo Mart, the big-box store of the show's universe) who, no matter what he played on his horn, always segued into 'Feels So Good.' This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Through no fault of its own, the record became a cornerstone of smooth jazz, that intersection of jazz, rock, soul and easy listening that conquered the realm of background music in the 1980s and 1990s. The genre is much despised. 'Feels So Good,' by association more than any actual element of the song, has thus taken its lumps. It wasn't because he couldn't play anything edgier. The Rochester, New York, native was a graduate, and later a faculty member, of that city's Eastman School of Music. He also did time in the mid-1960s as the trumpeter in Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers, the most prestigious finishing school in postwar jazz. Before earning those two distinctions, he and his brother Gap, a pianist, had some early-1960s success leading the hard-swinging Mangione Brothers sextet, recording an album before he was 20 years old (with two more to follow). Dizzy Gillespie was both a fan of and mentor to the trumpeter. They remained close until Gillespie's death in 1993. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Chuck Mangione was no hack with a horn. But he came to jazz when it had split into two poles: a populist one, which was trending ever lighter to suit mainstream tastes, and an arty one, which was increasingly inaccessible. Mangione wanted to reach the people. He saw nothing wrong with that. But he wasn't interested in success for its own sake: 'I didn't want to record something I didn't like, because if it became a hit I wouldn't be happy playing it,' he told JazzTimes magazine. It's a sentiment that was also expressed by the likes of Paul McCartney – who, as a solo artist, had been on the receiving end of the same kind of kitsch accusations as Mangione. But it's also resulted in the horn player getting the same kind of world-class work: In 1980, for example, Mangione was invited to compose a theme song for that year's Winter Olympics. He played the resulting tune, 'Give It All You Got,' live at the Closing Ceremonies in Lake Placid, New York, for a worldwide television audience. (It was another Billboard Top 20 hit, too.) This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Talk about reaching the people. The comparison with McCartney is apt in another sense. Say what you will about 'Feels So Good' and its particular kind of ubiquity; it means that Mangione achieved, without exaggeration, Beatle-level cultural saturation. More people know his music than know him. He reached this point without, in his own words, having to resort to music he didn't want to play. In the wake of Mangione's passing, there will be plenty of people who are ready to pile on and crack jokes about the kitschy side of his legacy. The joke will be on them. Mangione was perfectly content with that aspect of himself. Meanwhile, he infiltrated our environment and our lives in a way that many of his critics can only dream of. Love concerts, but can't make it to the venue? Stream live shows and events from your couch with VEEPS, a music-first streaming service now operating in Canada. Click here for an introductory offer of 30% off. Explore upcoming concerts and the extensive archive of past performances. 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News18
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- News18
Chuck Mangione, Grammy-Winning Musician, Passes Away At 84
Grammy-winning musician Chuck Mangione, known for 'Feels So Good' and his role on King of the Hill, passed away at 84 in Rochester, NY. Chuck Mangione, the celebrated jazz musician and composer whose smooth sound became a signature of 1970s and '80s instrumental music, has passed away at the age of 84. Mangione died peacefully in his sleep at his home in Rochester on Tuesday, confirmed his attorney Peter S. Matorin of Beldock Levine & Hoffman LLP. The two-time Grammy winner had retired from music in 2015. A gifted flugelhorn and trumpet player, Mangione rose to worldwide fame with his 1977 single Feels So Good, a breezy, jazz-infused melody that became a crossover sensation. The track climbed to No. 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and topped the adult contemporary chart. It remains a staple of smooth jazz radio stations to this day. 'It identified for a lot of people a song with an artist, even though I had a pretty strong base audience that kept us out there touring as often as we wanted to, that song just topped out there and took it to a whole other level," Mangione said in a 2008 interview with the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Mangione's influence extended beyond the charts. His composition Give It All You Got was commissioned for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, where he also performed the piece during the closing ceremony. He recorded over 30 albums, earning widespread acclaim for his original writing and performance style. His 1977 album Bellavia, named after his mother, earned him his first Grammy Award. He received another Grammy and a Golden Globe nomination for the score of The Children of Sanchez, while Friends and Love also earned Grammy recognition. Mangione later introduced himself to a younger audience through voice work on the animated series King of the Hill, where he played a fictional version of himself, appearing as the spokesperson for Mega Lo Mart, often joking, 'shopping feels so good." He began his career in bebop jazz, heavily influenced by Dizzy Gillespie, and performed with Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers after graduating from Eastman School of Music. He later returned to Eastman to lead its jazz ensemble. In 2009, Mangione donated his trademark brown felt hat and memorabilia, including the score for Feels So Good, to the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History. May his soul rest in peace! (With inputs from AP) First Published: July 26, 2025, 07:49 IST Disclaimer: Comments reflect users' views, not News18's. Please keep discussions respectful and constructive. Abusive, defamatory, or illegal comments will be removed. News18 may disable any comment at its discretion. By posting, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.
Express Tribune
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Express Tribune
Chuck Mangione dies in his sleep at 84
American two-time Grammy-winning jazz flugelhorn player Chuck Mangione, best known for his 1970s cross-over hit Feels So Good, died this week at age 84 at his home in Rochester, New York, reported Reuters. The prolific musician and composer — whose career spanned five decades and 30 albums — died in his sleep on Tuesday, a local funeral home said. "Chuck's love affair with music has been characterised by his boundless energy, unabashed enthusiasm, and pure joy that radiated from the stage," his family said in a statement to the Rochester Democrat & Chronicle newspaper. Mangione showed his appreciation for his audiences by sitting at the edge of the stage after his concerts, signing autographs for fans who stayed to meet him and the band, it said. Born Charles Frank Mangione in 1940 in Rochester, he was a virtuoso flugelhorn and trumpet player. He grew up in a household where his father exposed him to the jazz greats of the 1950s, including Dizzy Gillespie, a family friend who dined with them frequently. He began taking music lessons at age 8, and by the time he was a teenager, Gillespie was so impressed by his musical prowess that he gave Mangione one of his trademark "upswept" trumpets. His composition Chase The Clouds Away was featured at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal, while his Give It All You Got was the theme music for the 1980 Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York. Mangione's biggest hit was his 1977 single Feels So Good, which reached No 4 on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for Record of the Year at the Grammys. Mangione won two Grammys out of 14 nominations — the first in 1977 for best instrumental composition for Bellavia, named in honour of his mother. In 1979 he won in the best pop instrumental performance category for The Children of Sanchez. The latter, a soundtrack for the film of the same name, also won a Golden Globe.
Daily Mail
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Daily Mail
Grammy-winning jazz musician Chuck Mangione behind hit single Feels So Good dead at 84
Legendary jazz musician Chuck Mangione, the man behind the international hit single Feels So Good, has died at the age of 84. The trumpet and flugelhorn player landed his breakthrough in the 1960s performing for bandleader Art Blakely, before becoming a star in his own right. He won two Grammy Awards over the course of his decades-long career, and his music was included in two Olympic ceremonies. Mangione's 1977 album Feels So Good, which contained the full nine-minute version of the instrumental title track, rocketed to number two on the Billboard 200. When a truncated three-minute single of Feels So Good was released the following year, it too rose to become a thunderous smash success. He died this week of natural causes at home in his upstate New York hometown of Rochester, his manager informed TMZ. Charles Frank Mangione was born in 1940 in Rochester and fell in love with jazz thanks to his father Frank, a grocer who was an avid fan of the genre. Mangione's father 'would take my brother Gap and me to Sunday-afternoon matinees at the jazz clubs,' he fondly recalled. 'When I was a kid, there were hordes of wonderful small group - Miles Davis' band, Cannonball Adderley's band, Sonny Rollins' band, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Charlie Ventura.' The musical stars who came to town often wound up at the Mangione home for dinner at the invitation of young Chuck's father. 'At that time, there were two TV stations and two movies in town. The musicians were in town for two weeks, so when they found out that they could come over to our place and hear a good record collection, have some homemade pasta and some good Italian red, it wasn't too hard to get them to come by,' said Mangione. 'It happened so often, so regularly, that it took me years to realize how significant it was. And I kind of grew up thinking that every kid had Carmen McRae or Art Blakey at his house,' he confessed to the Los Angeles Times. Mangione's own early career in the 1960s included working with his pianist brother Gap, as well as a trumpeter in Art Blakely's group the Jazz Messengers. However his true stardom arrived in the 1970s, the decade he began collaborating with saxophonist Gerry Niewood as part of a quartet. 'For a long time I lived in the shell of the so–called jazz musician, who said: "To hell with the people. I'm the artist, I know what's right, and I'm going to play for myself. If they like it, fine; if they don't, too bad,"' Mangione remarked in 1972. 'Well, that's partially true, but you can still maintain your musical conviction and try to communicate with people. For me, lifting the people up, making them enjoy what we're doing is as important as it is for me to play the kind of music I want to play. Both are very possible.' During that decade he won his two Grammys, first in 1977 for his instrumental composition Bellavia, the title of which was his mother's middle name. His second Grammy was for playing on the soundtrack for the 1978 Anthony Quinn movie The Children of Sanchez, for which Mangione also wrote the score. The 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal included Mangione's composition Chase the Clouds Away - and four years later, the theme song for the Winter Olympics in Lake Placid, New York was another Mangione original called Give It All You Got. Mangione's beloved father Frank 'Papa' Mangione, who used to joke that he 'played the cash register,' retired from the grocery store business in 1975 and went on tour with his jazz musician sons, hawking their merchandise on the road. Over a career in which he released 30 albums and earned 14 Grammy nods, Chuck Mangione's crowning success was the album Feels So Good and its title single. After the full LP emerged as a galloping success in 1977, Mangione was faced with the task of trimming its more than nine-minute title track to the length of a single. 'We did major surgery on Feels So Good and cut it down to three minutes,' the musical artist explained in the 1990s. 'Then, without my knowing it, the engineer thought it might be a hair too slow and cranked it up a half a step in pitch. I didn't find out until I went on a radio show and the deejay asked me to play along with it. I said: "Sure," and then I discovered it was a half-tone higher. I said: "What? I'm half a step flat." But it worked.' In an era dominated by disco and rock 'n' roll, Mangione's instrumental jazz single soared to number four on the Billboard Hot 100, a crossover triumph that he himself readily described in retrospect as a 'fluke.' The track passed into musical history, featured on the soundtracks of projects ranging from The Big Bang Theory and Doctor Strange. Mangione also earned a firm position as a pop culture icon of sorts, to the point he memorably played himself on the beloved animated series King of the Hill. With his trademark top hat constantly on and his trumpet regularly in hand, Mangione was unmistakable even in cartoon format. His memorial services at the Bartolomeo & Perreto Funeral Home in upstate New York are to be kept private, according to the local outlet Rochester First.
Buzz Feed
4 days ago
- Entertainment
- Buzz Feed
Recent Celebrity Deaths In 2025
If you've been following the news, you're aware of all of the recent celebrity deaths and how incredibly devastating they've been each time. Here are some of the stars we've lost in just the last few weeks alone. Hulk Hogan On July 24, first responders were called to Hulk Hogan's Florida home for a report of a cardiac arrest. After spending 30 minutes trying to revive him, authorities transported him to the hospital, where he was declared deceased. Hulk's official cause of death has yet to be announced, but police confirmed that "there is no foul play and no suspicious activity being investigated at this time." He was tributes to him here. Chuck Mangione Chuck Mangione, a jazz musician and composer known for his 1978 song "Feels So Good," died on July 22 at age 84. His death was announced on his website without further details. Malcolm-Jamal Warner Malcolm was reportedly vacationing in Costa Rica when he tragically lost his life in a swimming incident. According to reports, he was swimming at a beach on Sunday, July 20, when he was suddenly caught in a rip current. Bystanders took him to shore, where he was given CPR for 45 minutes, but attempts to revive him were unsuccessful. He was tributes to Malcolm here. Connie Francis Connie Francis died on July 16 at age 87. Her friend Ron Roberts announced the news on Facebook, two weeks after Connie had been hospitalized for "extreme pain," seemingly brought on by a pelvic fracture. Connie had become famous in the '50s and '60s with songs like "Who's Sorry Now" and "Pretty Little Baby," but had retreated from the public eye after a series of traumatic events, including a 1974 rape, her brother's 1981 murder, and mental health struggles. She re-entered the spotlight just this year when "Pretty Little Baby" found new life and went viral on TikTok. Ozzy Osbourne Rocker Ozzy Osbourne died on July 22 at the age of 76. In a moving statement, his family said, "It is with more sadness than mere words can convey that we have to report that our beloved Ozzy Osbourne has passed away this morning. He was with his family and surrounded by love." His death came less than three weeks after he performed his farewell concert with Black Sabbath, which will be released on film in 2026. Anne Burrell Food Network star Anne Burrell was found dead at her Brooklyn home on the morning of June 17, from what has since been determined as a suicide. According to the New York City medical examiner's office, Anne died of "acute intoxication due to the combined effects of diphenhydramine, ethanol, cetirizine, and amphetamine." She was Flay and more celebrities paid tribute to Anne after her death. Tom Troupe Tom Troupe died on July 20 from natural causes, his rep told Entertainment Weekly. He was 97. A prolific actor, Tom had appeared in a variety of TV and movie projects, including Star Trek, Frasier, and Murder, She Wrote. Robbie Pardlo City High singer Robbie Pardlo died on July 17 at age 46. His cause of death is not known. Formed under Wyclef Jean, City High featured Robbie alongside fellow singers Claudette Ortiz and Ryan Toby. The group is best known for their 2001 song "What Would You Do?" Julian McMahon On July 4, it was announced that Charmed star Julian McMahon had died at age 56. His cause of death was later revealed to be lung metastasis as a consequence of head and neck metastatic cancer, which he'd previously kept private. Young Noble Born Rufus Lee Cooper III, Young Noble was best known as a member of the Outlawz, a rap group founded by Tupac Shakur. On July 4, he reportedly died by suicide in Atlanta. His representative confirmed his death to People. Noble was 47. Michael Madsen Actor and frequent Quentin Tarantino collaborator Michael Madsen died on July 3 at age 67. According to his death certificate, which was obtained by People, he passed from cardiomyopathy, coronary artery disease, and chronic alcoholism. Another contributing cause was thromboembolic disease, which, in the words of Verywell Health, is when a "blood clot breaks off and blocks a vein." Finally, Sophia Hutchins Sophia Hutchins died on July 2 in an ATV accident. The media personality, known for her close relationship with Caitlyn Jenner, was reportedly traveling down a road in Malibu near Caitlyn's neighborhood when she hit a moving car. The force from the crash caused her to go off a cliff and 350 feet down into a ravine. Her cause of death was listed as "multiple blunt force injuries" and ruled accidental. She was 29. Are there any other celebrities who have died recently? Let's remember them and those featured here in the comments. Do you love all things scary, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
