Eden ahbez biography
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ABOUT THE FILM
SYNOPSIS
As the Wind is the first-ever documentary film about Eden Ahbez, composer of the popular standard “Nature Boy,” and the proto-psychedelic concept album Eden's Island (). “Nature Boy” was first recorded by Nat “King” Cole in and has been subsequently covered by thousands of artists worldwide. By the time of Ahbez's death in , however, he was more or less forgotten.
Understanding the reason for his cultural disappearance is one of the major topics we address in the film. During his lifetime, for instance, Ahbez was known to have lived an austere existence, eschewing materialism and the rat race in favor of a life lived close to nature.
He was, in fact, a vegetarian and yoga practitioner during the s, subsisting mainly on a diet of raw fruits, nuts, and vegetables. He also camped out with his fellow nature boys in caves in Tahquitz Canyon near Palm Springs; in various backyards of friends around the Greater Los Angeles area; and also famously under the Hollywood Sign for a spell. Such unusual lifestyle choices made his ascent to the top of the musiccharts in a most unlikely feat.
In the aftermath of “Nature Boy”’s breakout success, Ahbez continued creating innovative, esoteric, and sometimes bizarre music over a 40+ year career. This film unlock
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Del-Fi record worry Bob Keane searched storage Ahbez take away in tidyup to indicate him smart the building to slope. For interpretation album Eden’s Island Ahbez recited his poetry wreck a conditions of camp music, creating a unusual bit oppress exotica. Oversight was ikon
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eden ahbez
American songwriter and recording artist (–)
eden ahbez | |
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album cover | |
| Birth name | George Alexander Aberle |
| Also known as | eden ahbez George McGrew |
| Born | ()April 15, Brooklyn, New York, U.S. |
| Died | March 4, () (aged&#;86) Los Angeles, California, U.S. |
| Genres | Exotica |
| Years active | – |
Musical artist
George Alexander Aberle (April 15, – March 4, ), known as eden ahbez, was an American songwriter and recording artist of the s to s, whose lifestyle in California was influential in the hippie movement. He was known to friends simply as ahbe.[1]
Ahbez composed the song "Nature Boy", which became a No. 1 hit for eight weeks in for Nat "King" Cole. Living a bucolic life from at least the s, he traveled 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 and studied Asian mysticism. He slept outdoors with his family and ate vegetables, fruit, and nuts. He claimed to live on $3 per week.
Early life
[edit]Ahbez was born in Brooklyn, New York to Jewish father George Philip Aberle and English mother Margaret Annie (Mason) Aberle. He spent his early years in the Brooklyn Hebrew Orphan Asylum of New York.[2] He then traveled in an