Happy Birthday YNGWIE MALMSTEEN (video)

#yngwiemalmsteen #rockfileradio

Yngwie Johan Malmsteen (born Lars Johan Yngve Lannerbäck on 30 June 1963) is a Swedish guitarist, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and bandleader. Malmsteen became known for his neo-classical playing style in heavy metal. According to Steve Huey of AllMusic, "Yngwie Malmsteen is arguably the most technically accomplished hard rock guitarist to emerge during the '80s."

At the age of 12 he took his mother's maiden name Malmsten as his surname, slightly changed it to Malmsteen, and Anglicised his third given name Yngve to "Yngwie". Malmsteen created his first band "Track on Earth" at the age of 10, consisting of himself and a friend from school on drums (Armin).

As a teenager, he was heavily influenced by classical music, particularly 19th century violinist composer Niccolò Paganini, and also discovered his most important guitar influence, Ritchie Blackmore. Uli Jon Roth is also cited as a significant influence, as is Brian May of Queen.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday PATRICK MORAZ (video)

#patrickmoraz #yes #themoodyblues #rockfileradio

Patrick Philippe Moraz (born 24 June 1948, Villars-Ste-Croix, Morges, Switzerland) is a progressive rock keyboard player. He is best known as the keyboardist for the progressive rock band Yes, from 1974 to 1976, and The Moody Blues from 1978 to 1990. He was classically trained at the Conservatory of Lausanne, but played jazz primarily before entering progressive rock.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday MICK FLEETWOOD (video)

#mickfleetwood #fleetwoodmac #rockfileradio

Michael John Kells "Mick" Fleetwood (born 24 June 1947) is a British musician and actor, best known for his role as the drummer and co-founder of the rock band Fleetwood Mac. Fleetwood, whose surname was merged with that of John McVie to form the name of the band, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.

Born in Cornwall, Fleetwood lived in Egypt and Norway for many of his childhood years as his father travelled with the Royal Air Force. Choosing to follow his musical interests, Fleetwood travelled to London at the age of fifteen, eventually combining with Peter Green, Jeremy Spencer and Bob Brunning who formed at Green's behest to become the first incarnation of Fleetwood Mac, of which Fleetwood would remain the only member to stay with the band through its ever-changing line-up.

After several album releases and line-up changes, the group moved to the United States in 1974 in an attempt to boost the band's success, where Fleetwood invited Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to join. Buckingham and Nicks contributed to much of Fleetwood Mac's later commercial success, including the celebrated album Rumours, while Fleetwood's own determination to keep the band together was essential to the group's longevity. He has also enjoyed a solo career, published written works, and flirted briefly with acting and vinification.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday JEFF BECK (video)

#jeffbeck #rockfileradio

Geoffrey Arnold "Jeff" Beck (born 24 June 1944) is an English rock guitarist. He is one of the three noted guitarists to have played with The Yardbirds (the other two being Eric Clapton and Jimmy Page). Beck also formed The Jeff Beck Group and Beck, Bogert & Appice.

Much of Beck's recorded output has been instrumental, with a focus on innovative sound, and his releases have spanned genres ranging from blues rock, heavy metal, jazz fusion and an additional blend of guitar-rock and electronica. Although he recorded two hit albums (in 1975 and 1976) as a solo act, Beck has not established or maintained the sustained commercial success of many of his contemporaries and bandmates. Beck appears on albums by Mick Jagger, Tina Turner, Morrissey, Jon Bon Jovi, Malcolm McLaren, Kate Bush, Roger Waters, Donovan, Stevie Wonder, Les Paul, Zucchero, Cyndi Lauper, Brian May, Stanley Clarke and ZZ Top.

He was ranked 5th in Rolling Stone's list of the "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and the magazine, upon whose cover Beck has appeared three times, has described him as "one of the most influential lead guitarists in rock". MSNBC has called him a "guitarist's guitarist". Beck has earned wide critical praise and received the Grammy Award for Best Rock Instrumental Performance six times and Best Pop Instrumental Performance once. He has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame twice: as a member of the Yardbirds (1992) and as a solo artist (2009).

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday CHINO MORENO (video)

#chinomoreno #deftones #crosses #palms #rockfileradio
Chino Moreno (born Camilo Wong Moreno; June 20, 1973) is an American musician. He is best known as the lead vocalist and contributing guitarist of Deftones. He is also a member of the side-project groups Team Sleep, Crosses, and Palms.

 

Moreno is well known for his distinctive screams, as well as his soothing tenor voice while singing melodically. In 2007, he was placed at number 51 in Hit Parader's "Top 100 Metal Vocalists of All Time".

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday MICHAEL ANTHONY (video)

#michaelanthony #vanhalen #chickenfoot #rockfileradio
Michael Anthony Sobolewski (born June 20, 1954), known professionally as Michael Anthony, is an American musician who is currently the bass player in the rock group Chickenfoot. Anthony is the former bass player for the hard rock band Van Halen.

Anthony is known for his stage antics, his effects-laden live solos, his number of custom-made bass guitars including a Jack Daniel's model shaped like a whiskey bottle, and his background vocals in Van Halen. He also has a signature Yamaha bass guitar series. In total, Anthony is known to have in excess of 150 bass guitars. In addition to his musical career with Van Halen and other acts, Anthony markets a line of hot sauces and related products named Mad Anthony.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday ANN WILSON (video)

#annwilson #heart #rockfileradio

Ann Dustin Wilson (born June 19, 1950) is an American musician, best known as the lead singer, flute player, songwriter, and occasional guitar player of the hard rock band Heart. Regarded as one of the best female vocalists in rock music history, Wilson was listed as one of the "Top Heavy Metal Vocalists of All Time" by Hit Parader magazine in 2006. Wilson has a coloratura mezzo-soprano vocal range.

In 1974, her younger sister Nancy joined Heart, and the band moved to Canada. Heart recorded their first album Dreamboat Annie in Vancouver in 1975; it was released in the United States in 1976, with "Crazy on You" hitting No. 35 on the US charts. In 1977, Little Queen was released, and in 1978, Dog & Butterfly. Wilson also sang the duet "Almost Paradise" with Mike Reno in the movie Footloose from 1984 which reached number seven on Billboard's Hot 100. In 1986 she released a solo single from the movie The Golden Child called "The Best Man in the World" which reached number 61 in the U.S. She also had a hit in 1988–89 called "Surrender to Me" which was a duet with Cheap Trick singer Robin Zander, taken from the film Tequila Sunrise which reached number six in the U.S. singles chart.

In 1992, Wilson appeared on Alice in Chains' EP Sap; she sang on "Brother", "Am I Inside" and "Love Song". In 1993, Alice in Chains singer Layne Staley contributed to vocals on "Ring Them Bells," a Bob Dylan cover from Heart's album Desire Walks On. In addition, Alice in Chains bassist Mike Inez and touring guitarist Scott Olson appeared on Heart's 2003 release Alive in Seattle.

The Wilson sisters started a recording studio, Bad Animals, in Seattle in the mid-1990s. They formed a side band, The Lovemongers, which performed "The Battle of Evermore" on the 1992 soundtrack to the Cameron Crowe (Nancy's then husband) movie Singles, and later released a four-song EP. The Lovemongers' debut album Whirlygig was released in 1997.

In 2006, Wilson began recording her first solo album, Hope & Glory, produced by Ben Mink, and released by the Rounder (Zoe) Music Group on September 11, 2007. The Hope & Glory version of Led Zeppelin's "Immigrant Song" is available on Wilson's official MySpace page, and charted as "the No. 9 most podcasted song of 2007" on the PMC Top10's annual countdown.

Wilson joined producer Alan Parsons in the 2001 live tribute tour to Beatles music called A Walk Down Abbey Road.

On November 22, 2012, Wilson sang an original arrangement of "The Star-Spangled Banner", accompanied by the Dallas Symphony Orchestra, at the beginning of the Thanksgiving Day football game between the Dallas Cowboys and Washington Redskins at Cowboys Stadium in Arlington, Texas. Composer Gary Fry created the arrangement specifically for its premiere performance by Wilson and the DSO.

source: wikipedia

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TESLA - "So Divine" Official (video)

#tesla #rockfileradio

The guys in Tesla took things back to basics for their aptly titled new album, ‘Simplicity‘ — but they’re still fancy enough to film a good old-fashioned rock ‘n’ roll music video, and for proof, here’s the premiere of the band’s new clip for their latest single, ‘So Divine.’

Like many of the best videos, ‘So Divine’ alternates band performance footage (taped in a cool-looking old warehouse, natch) with scenes depicting a story reflected in the song’s lyrics. As you know if you’ve already listened to it, this isn’t a good time party tune. Instead, it finds the band in a more contemplative mood, paying tribute to a departed loved one and expressing gratitude for the sacrifices they made along the way. For singer Jeff Keith, it’s all part of the unique sound the band continues to offer more than 30 years after they got their start in Sacramento, Calif.

“I love the harder stuff and the softer stuff that Tesla does,” he told Screamer Magazine during a recent interview. “We sing mostly about ‘love,’ I mean, that’s what we’re all about anyway. I feel we’re still one of those bands who can sing about love and still get away with it.”

Don’t expect an album of ballads, though — the heartfelt emotions expressed in ‘So Divine’ are just one part of the journey the band wants to take listeners on with ‘Simplicity.’ “We wanted to make a record like ‘Mechanical Resonance’ or ‘The Great Radio Controversy’ where you play the whole record in its entirety and love it,” Keith continued. “That’s what we feel we’ve accomplished with this new one, ‘Simplicity.’ We feel it’s a great record to put on from start to finish and listen to and we’re lovin’ the record … sometimes you get bands who try to make a record that fits in with the times or the latest fad, but we’ve never done that. We’ve always stuck to our roots, because we are who we are; we don’t want to try to be somebody else. We just try to be ourselves because that’s always been the best policy for us. We’ve made a record that we’re totally happy with, and we hope the rest of the world will see it the same.”

source: Ultimate Classic Rock

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Happy Birthday GREGG ROLIE (video)

#greggrolie #santana #journey #rockfileradio

Gregg Alan Rolie (born June 17, 1947, Seattle, Washington, United States) is an American keyboardist, organist, and singer, who is one of the founding members of the bands Santana, The Storm, Abraxas Pool and Journey, for whom he was the original lead singer. He currently performs with his Gregg Rolie Band. Rolie was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with Santana.

A year after graduating from high school in 1965, Rolie joined Carlos Santana and others to form the Santana Blues Band, which was later shortened simply to Santana. Rolie was part of the band's first wave of success, including an appearance at the Woodstock Music and Art Festival in 1969 and central roles in several hit albums. He is perhaps best known for being the lead vocalist on Santana's hits Black Magic Woman (US #4) and Evil Ways, and his sound on the Hammond B3 organ.

In 1973 Rolie joined a new band with ex-Santana guitarist Neal Schon; this became Journey. Starring in a lineup that featured Schon, Aynsley Dunbar, George Tickner, and Ross Valory, he was keyboardist for the band's first six albums. On Journey and Look into the Future, he was lead vocalist, and on Next he shared those duties with guitarist Neal Schon. After Steve Perry joined the band in 1977, Rolie sang co-lead vocals on several songs on the albums Infinity, Evolution, and Departure. 

Rolie is a proponent of music education for children. In 2005, he signed on as an official supporter of Little Kids Rock, a nonprofit organization that provides free musical instruments and instruction to children in underserved public schools throughout the U.S.A. He sits on the organization's Honorary Board of Directors.

In 2012-2013 he toured as a member of Ringo Starr and his All Starr Band performing Santana hits Black Magic Woman, Evil Ways and Everybody's Everything. The band also included Toto guitarist Steve Lukather, Todd Rundgren, Richard Page, Mark Rivera and Gregg Bissonette. On February 2nd, 2013 Carlos Santana confirmed that he would reunite his classic lineup, most of whom played Woodstock with him in 1969. Santana said of Rolie, "I'm pretty sure Gregg's going to do it." Speaking in 2012 of such a reunion, Rolie told Radio.com "it's just a matter of putting it together and going and doing it. I would do it. I think it's a great idea. People would love it. It could be great!"

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday CHARLIE DOMINICI (video)

#charliedominici #rockfileradio

Charlie Dominici (born June 16, 1951 in Brooklyn, New York) is a singer for progressive metal band Dominici.

Dominici is best known as the second vocalist for the progressive metal band Dream Theater, having replaced Chris Collins (while the band was called Majesty) and later being replaced by James LaBrie.

Dominici performed on the band's debut album, 1989's When Dream and Day Unite. However, Dominici was older than the rest of the band and there were personal and creative differences at work. It was felt that, despite being a very talented singer, his decidedly "pop" vocal style did not fit in with the distinctive progressive direction that the band's compositions were taking. According to Dream Theater ex-drummer Mike Portnoy, "It was like having Billy Joel singing in Queensrÿche." A good singer in the wrong band, they amicably parted ways shortly thereafter.

Dominici remained in contact with Dream Theater throughout their career, despite lapsing out of the music business and obtaining a job as a finance manager in the automobile business. Dominici was hired by Mike Portnoy to sing at his wedding to Marlene Apuzzo.

On March 6, 2004, Dominici joined his former bandmates onstage in Los Angeles for the first time in 15 years for a special performance celebrating the 15th anniversary of the band's first album, singing on "To Live Forever" (a non-album track written in the same time period) and "Metropolis" along with LaBrie and former keyboardist Derek Sherinian. This performance was later released as "When Dream And Day Reunite", the DVD version of which also features footage from the band's 1989 tour with Dominici.

Despite having not actively sung since leaving Dream Theater in 1989, this performance gave him the itch to make music again and in 2005, he released a solo album entitled O3: A Trilogy, Part 1, the first album of a three-album concept piece. The second installment of the trilogy, O3: A Trilogy, Part 2 was released in February 2007 and the final part, O3: A Trilogy, Part Three, was released in April 2008.

Dominici opened for Dream Theater at three shows at their Chaos in Motion World Tour in June 2007.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday IAN MOSLEY (video)

#ianmosley #marillion #rockfileradio

Ian F. Mosley (born 16 June 1953, Paddington, London, England) is the drummer in the neo-progressive rock band Marillion.

Mosley joined the band in 1984 after a long search for a replacement for Mick Pointer, who had left the band in 1983. He was the fifth drummer to play for Marillion and was frontman Fish's choice for the role, having been unhappy with the band's previous drummers. Mosley had previously, among others, played with former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett, both on two of his solo studio albums and on tour. He also played on the 1975 album Birds by Dutch band Trace and on fellow Marillion bandmate Pete Trewavas' and Eric Blackwood's Edison's Children album "In The Last Waking Moments...", playing drums on the epic 16 minute "The Awakening". He is still a member of Marillion to this day.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday ROBBIE MERRILL (video)

#robbiemerrill #godsmack #anotheranimal #rockfileradio

Robbie Merrill (born June 13, 1963 in Lawrence, Massachusetts) is an American bass guitar player, best known for his work with the Alternative Metal band Godsmack.

Robbie was one of the founding members of Godsmack, meeting Sully Erna through Sully's sister they became roommates and friends. In February 1995, Erna decided to start a new band as the lead singer after playing the drums for more than 23 years. His new band The Scam formed with Erna on vocals, Robbie Merrill on bass, local guitarist and friend Lee Richards on guitar, and Tommy Stewart on drums. The Scam quickly changed its name to Godsmack, after recording one demo.

Robbie is also a founding member of the band Another Animal along with Shannon Larkin, Tony Rombola, Lee Richards, and Whitfield Crane. Excluding Whit Crane all have been members of Godsmack presently or in the past.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday KENNY WAYNE SHEPHERD (video)

#kennywayneshepherd #kws #rockfileradio
Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenny Wayne Brobst, June 12, 1977, Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He has released several studio albums and experienced a rare level of commercial success both as a blues artist and a young musician.

Shepherd graduated Caddo Magnet High School in Shreveport, Louisiana. The guitarist is "completely self taught", and does not read music. Growing up, Shepherd's father (Ken Shepherd) was a local radio personality and some-time concert promoter, and had a vast collection of music. Shepherd got his first "guitar" at the age of three or four, when his grandmother purchased a series of several plastic guitars for him with S&H Green Stamps, which Shepherd has said he would "go through like candy".

Shepherd stated in a 2010 interview that he began playing guitar in earnest at age seven, about six months after meeting and being "pretty mesmerized" by Stevie Ray Vaughan, in June 1984, at one of his father's promoted concerts. His self-taught method employed a process of learning one note at a time, playing and rewinding cassette tapes, using "a cheap Yamaha wanna-be Stratocaster...made out of plywood, basically", learning Muddy Waters, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Albert Lee licks from his father's vast music collection.

At the age of 13, Shepherd was invited on stage by the New Orleans bluesman Bryan Lee. After proving his abilities, he decided on music as a career. Demo tapes were made and a two-camera video was shot at Shepherd's first performance at the Red River Revel Arts Festival in Shreveport. It was this video performance that impressed Giant Records chief Irving Azoff enough to sign Shepherd to a multiple album record deal.

From 1995 on, Shepherd took seven singles into the Top 10, and holds the record for the longest-running album on the Billboard Blues Charts with Trouble Is.... In 1996, Shepherd began a longtime collaboration with vocalist Noah Hunt, who provided the vocals for Shepherd's signature song, "Blue on Black". Shepherd has been nominated for five Grammy Awards, and has received two Billboard Music Awards, two Blues Music Awards and two Orville H. Gibson Awards.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday JOHN WETTON (video)

#johnwetton #asia #kingcrimson #rockfileradio

John Kenneth Wetton (born 12 June 1949) is an English singer, bassist, and songwriter. He was born in Willington, Derbyshire, and grew up in Bournemouth. He initially rose to fame in progressive rock with bands such as Mogul Thrash, Family, King Crimson, Roxy Music/Bryan Ferry, Uriah Heep, UK, Jack-Knife, and Wishbone Ash. His biggest commercial success was as the frontman and principal songwriter of the supergroup Asia. Their self-titled debut album sold 8 million copies worldwide and was Billboard magazine's #1 album of 1982.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday FRANK BEARD (video)

#frankbeard #zztop #rockfileradio

Frank Lee Beard (born June 11, 1949) is the drummer in the American rock band ZZ Top. Beard was formerly with the bands The Cellar Dwellars, who originally were a three-piece band, The Hustlers, The Warlocks, and American Blues before starting to play and record with Billy Gibbons and Dusty Hill as ZZ Top.

Beard was born in Frankston, Texas and attended Irving High School in Irving, Texas. In late 1969, he joined The Moving Sidewalks guitarist and vocalist Gibbons' ZZ Top. Beard also introduced Gibbons to bassist and vocalist Dusty Hill, with whom Beard had played in the bands American Blues, the Warlocks, and The Cellar Dwellers. After honing their trademark "Texas boogie-blues-rock" style, they released their aptly titled "ZZ Top's First Album" on London Records in January, 1971. When ZZ Top started, Beard was known by the nickname "Rube" and was credited as "Rube Beard" on the first album and on Tres Hombres, the band's third album, but is listed under his real name on Rio Grande Mud, their second album. After Tres Hombres, he was credited as "Frank Beard" on all the band's albums.

Despite his name, Beard is the only member of ZZ Top who does not wear a beard. He wears only a mustache, although he did go through a phase in the 1990s where he wore a tidy beard.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday MATTHEW BELLAMY (video)

#matthewbellamy #muse #rockfileradio

Matthew James Bellamy (born 9 June 1978) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He is best known as the lead vocalist, lead guitarist, pianist, and main songwriter of the rock band Muse. As a performer, he is often recognised for his eccentric stage persona, 3.5 octave tenor voice, as well as his piano and guitar playing abilities.

Bellamy was ranked No. 19 on Gigwise's list of The 50 Greatest Guitarists Ever. Total Guitar readers voted Bellamy No. 29 on a list of the Top 100 Guitarists of All Time. Bellamy's riff from "Plug in Baby" was No. 13 in Total Guitar's poll of the Top 100 Riffs of All Time.

In April 2005, Kerrang! magazine ranked him No. 28 in their "50 Sexiest People in Rock" poll. Cosmopolitan also chose him as the sexiest rocker of 2003 and 2004. NME Magazine voted him the 14th Greatest Rock 'n' roll Hero of all time, ahead of John Lennon and Bob Dylan. Bellamy also won the Sexiest Male Award at the 2007 NME Awards. He won again in 2009, 2010, 2011, 2013 and 2014 and he was nominated in 2012. Bellamy, however, declared himself "too short to be sexy" (he is 5' 7"), and said the award should have gone to Dom Howard, Muse's drummer. In 2001 and 2012 NME awards Bellamy won "Hero of the year award".

On 26 September 2008, the University of Plymouth awarded the members of Muse an honorary doctorate degree in arts for their work in the field of music.

In the January 2010 edition of Total Guitar, Bellamy was named "Guitarist of the Decade" and was proclaimed to be "the Hendrix of his generation". In the Guinness Book of World Records 2010, Bellamy is credited as holding the world record for most guitars smashed on a tour. His record, 140, was set during the Absolution Tour. In April 2010, Bellamy was named the eighth best front man of all time by the readers of Q. In December 2010, readers of MusicRadar voted Bellamy the 9th Greatest Lead Singer of all time. In 2010, BBC Radio 6 conducted a survey where Matt Bellamy came third as the best guitarist of the last 30 years.

source: wikipedia

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Happy Birthday WES SCANTLIN (video)

#wesscantlin #puddleofmudd #rockfileradio

Wesley Reid Scantlin (born June 9, 1972 in Kansas City, Missouri) is a songwriter, lead singer, guitarist and the only remaining founding member of the American post-grunge band Puddle of Mudd.

Wes Scantlin has been guitarist and lead vocalist for rock band, Puddle of Mudd, since they released their debut album, Stuck. They released their next album Abrasive in 1997. Four years later, with the addition of three new members, Come Clean was released in 2001. In 2003, the band released Life On Display. Then they released the album Famous in 2007. Most recently Puddle of Mudd released Vol. 4: Songs in the Key of Love & Hate in 2009. The first single off the album was "Spaceship".Their most famous song is Blurry which hit number 8 in the U.K.

Scantlin sometimes tours with Alice in Chains guitarist Jerry Cantrell, playing acoustic Alice in Chains songs. He was also one of the musicians that participated in Alice in Chains reunion tsunami benefit show.

Scantlin has been ranked in the Top 100 Heavy Metal Vocalists by Hit Parader (#96).

source: wikipedia

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