Queen guitarist Brian May is among the most recognizable players in the world. His distinctive tones, created by the home-made guitar he built when he was 16 and has used throughout his career, are integral to the sound of Queen. Many of the sounds he produced were so innovative that the first seven Queen albums pointedly stated that no ...
As a member of the first family of country music, Maybelle Carter (1909–78) distinguished herself far beyond her role as accompanist to her brother-in-law A.P. Carter and his wife Sara (Maybelle’s cousin) in the Carter Family, the first recording stars of country music. Maybelle was born Maybelle Addington in Nickelsville, Virginia. In 1926 she married Ezra J. ...
(Se’-mon Mi’-er) 1763–1845 German composer Mayr grew up in Bavaria and taught himself to play most string and wind instruments, before moving to Venice, where he studied composition with Ferdinando Bertoni. Mayr composed numerous operas, many for La Scala, Milan. Although his works exhibit diverse stylistic elements, his melodic and harmonic expression was rooted in late Neapolitan ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1963–present) Talented bandleader John Mayall (vocals, piano, organ, harmonica), born in Macclesfield, Cheshire in 1933, is largely responsible for igniting the popularity of British blues as well as the careers of famed guitarists Eric Clapton, Peter Green (Fleetwood Mac) and Mick Taylor (the Rolling Stones). Mayall’s 1966 debut album Blues Breakers, ...
(Vocals, fiddle, b. 1939) During the 1960s’ folk movement in the UK, Brian Golbey and banjo player Pete Stanley became leading international exponents of traditional music. Visiting the USA in 1970, Golbey was invited to appear on Nashville’s Midnight Jamboree by host Ernest Tubb (who strongly encouraged young, aspiring talents) as well as on WWVA’s famed ...
1763–1845, German The German-born composer Simon Mayr was studying in Italy when the patron who supported him died and he faced an uncertain future. Piccinni encouraged him to write opera and Mayr took his advice. Mayr’s first opera, Saffo (1794), attracted several commissions, but his great breakthrough came when Ginevra di Scozia (‘Ginevra of Scotland’, 1801) was performed ...
1877–1935, Austrian Mayr was persuaded to consider singing by Mahler. He studied in Vienna before making his debut in Bayreuth. Immediately afterwards, Mahler engaged him to sing at the Vienna Hofoper, where he worked for over 30 years. He was admired by Strauss, who wanted him to take on the creation of Baron Ochs in Der Rosenkavalier. ...
b. 1943 English composer Ferneyhough studied for a time with Lennox Berkeley (1903–89) and then Klaus Huber (b. 1924), though he is essentially self-taught. Ferneyhough considers himself at the forefront of modern music, along with Webern, Boulez and Stockhausen. His works are often extremely difficult, and in the early 1970s some aleatory elements were included (Sieben Sterne, ...
(Multi-instrumentalist, vocals, b. 1933) When he was a Manchester art student in the late 1940s, blues record sessions evolved into successful attempts at reproducing the sounds himself, so much so that he dared a stage debut in a city club in 1950. In the decades that followed, Mayall carved a niche of true individuality in perhaps ...
(Vocals/vocal group, 1957–90) Childhood friends Mayfield and Butler joined Sam Gooden and Arthur and Richard Brooks in The Impressions in 1957, Butler going solo after one hit, ‘For Your Precious Love’. In 1967, Butler teamed his distinctive smooth soul voice with producer-writers Gamble and Huff and helped to forge the polished Philadelphia Soul sound with No. 1s ...
Britain’s first home-grown guitar hero, Hank Marvin was born Brian Rankin in Newcastle-upon-Tyne in 1941. His first instruments were piano and banjo, but he switched to guitar upon discovering Buddy Holly. Marvin formed a skiffle band, The Railroaders, with school friend Bruce Welch, and they travelled to London in 1958 to compete, unsuccessfully, in ...
Anthony James Donegan was born in Glasgow, the son of a professional violinist, on 29 April 1931. The family moved to the east end of London when Tony, as he was then known, was two. He finally got the guitar he craved in his early teens. He attended his first jazz club soon after and was smitten ...
The gorgeously flamboyant Queen were formed in 1970 in London by singer Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara, 5 September 1946), guitarist Brian May (born 19 July 1947) and drummer Roger Taylor (born Roger Meddows-Taylor, 26 July 1949), with bassist John Deacon (born 19 August 1951) completing the line up in 1971. They spent two years developing their style while ...
Highly respected blues guitarist Rory Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, Ireland in 1948, and grew up in Cork. After learning his trade as a teenager playing in Irish show bands, Gallagher formed the power trio Taste in 1966. The band released two studio and two live albums. Shortly after their appearance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival ...
Contemporary music whose ancestry lies in the Western classical tradition finds itself in a curious position. Nothing illustrates this better than the fact that we are not entirely sure what to call it. The label ‘classical’ seems anachronistic, especially when applied to composers who have challenged some of the fundamental assumptions of the classical tradition. ‘Concert music’ is similarly problematic ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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