Some context: Joseph Guilherme Raposo, OIH (February 8, 1937 - February 5, 1989) was a Portuguese-American composer, songwriter, pianist, television writer and lyricist, best known for his work on the children's television series Sesame Street, for which he wrote the theme song, as well as classic songs such as "Bein' Green" and "C Is For Cookie". He also wrote music for television shows such as The Electric Company, Shining Time Station and the sitcoms Three's Company and The Ropers, including their theme songs. In addition to these works, Raposo also composed extensively for the DePatie-Freleng Enterprises such as Halloween Is Grinch Night, Pontoffel Pock, Where Are You? and The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat.
Raposo is best known for the songs he wrote for Sesame Street from its beginning in 1969 through the mid-1970s, and also for a time in the 1980s. He wrote the "Sesame Street Theme" - various versions of which have opened every episode - as well as many of its most popular songs, such as "Bein' Green", "C is for Cookie", "Sing" and "ABC-DEF-GHI". A version of "Sing" recorded by The Carpenters in 1973 reached #3 on the Billboard top singles chart. For many years, most of the music used in Sesame Street's film segments was also written -- and often sung -- by Raposo.  Aside from his musical contributions, Raposo performed several uncredited stock characters on Sesame Street during the early 1970s. According to his son Nicholas in a 2002 telephone conversation, Joe Raposo usually chose to portray anonymous, silly characters in these segments, which were nearly always produced on 16 mm film. He also did voice-overs for a few animated segments.  The Sesame Street character Don Music maintained a framed and autographed glamour photograph of Raposo on the wall of his Muppet atelier.  Raposo was very fond of sweets according to many who knew him. One favorite food of his was cookies. It has been rumored the Wheel-Eating Monster created for commercial advertisers in the 1960s by Jim Henson may have been altered by Henson specifically into a "cookie" monster after Henson observed Raposo's unusual propensity for cookies; this has never been substantiated. Raposo was actually the first puppeteer to operate Cookie Monster on television for Sesame Street. His widow Pat Collins-Sarnoff celebrated his life with a milk and cookies reception.  One of Raposo's Sesame Street compositions, "The Square Song", was used in the film Close Encounters of the Third Kind.
Did Joe win any awards for these songs?
A: A version of "Sing" recorded by The Carpenters in 1973 reached #3 on the Billboard top singles chart.
Some context: The Ink Spots were an American pop vocal group who gained international fame in the 1930s and 1940s. Their unique musical style led to the rhythm and blues and rock and roll musical genres, and the subgenre doo-wop. The Ink Spots were widely accepted in both the white and black communities, largely due to the ballad style introduced to the group by lead singer Bill Kenny. In 1989, the Ink Spots (Bill Kenny, Deek Watson, Charlie Fuqua and Hoppy Jones) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and in 1999 they were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame.
In 1943, Ink Spots baritone singer and guitarist Charlie Fuqua was drafted into the US Army. He chose his friend Bernie Mackey to be his temporary replacement until he returned to the group. After being with the group for two years, Mackey was replaced by Huey Long in March 1945. Long completed the role as a "fill in" until Fuqua finally returned in October 1945.  Hoppy Jones, an important personality to the group, died in October 1944, after collapsing on stage at the Cafe Zanzibar in New York City, near the height of their popularity. Hoppy Jones had been having cerebral hemorrhages for a year, and had fallen ill from it in June 1944. Jones was temporarily replaced by Cliff Givens who filled in for five months, from October 1944 to March 1945. Jones' permanent replacement was to be Bill Kenny's brother (and fraternal twin) Herb Kenny. Herb Kenny sang with the group from 1945 to 1951 when he went out for a career as a solo artist. The last bass singer for the Ink Spots was Adriel McDonald who was with the group from 1951 to 1954. McDonald was previously the Ink Spots' personal valet, a job given to him by Herb Kenny with whom he had sung in a group called "The Cabineers" in the early 40's.  Due to personality clashes between Bill Kenny and Deek Watson after Hoppy Jones' death, Kenny decided he'd rather carry on as the leader of the group and bought Watson's share of the group for $10,000, which in turn gave Kenny the power to kick Watson out of the group. Watson went on to form a group similar in style to the Ink Spots called the Brown Dots (which later became the Four Tunes). Watson's place was filled by Billy "Butterball" Bowen who sang with the group from 1943 to 1952.
Who was the leader of the group ?
A:
Hoppy Jones, an important personality to the group, died in October 1944,