(Vocals, b. 1938) New Jersey-born Concetta Franconero appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s TV talent show, and while still at university, signed to MGM Records. 1958’s UK chart topper, ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ was the first of eight mainly sentimental million-selling US hits, including 1959’s ‘Among My Souvenirs’, and 1960’s ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’, the first of three US No. ...
The twin-guitar partnership of Francis Rossi (b. 1949) and Rick Parfitt (b. 1948) has been at the heart of Status Quo since 1967. Francis Rossi (originally known as Mike) was born in Forest Hill, London. He formed the band that evolved into Status Quo with bassist Alan Lancaster while at school in 1962. Rick Parfitt, born Richard Harrison in ...
(Fri-drikh Fran’-zhek [Fra-da-rek’ Fran-swa’] Sho-pan) 1810–49 Polish composer Chopin was unique among composers of the highest achievement and influence in that he wrote all his works, with the merest handful of exceptions, for the solo piano. Leaving Warsaw, which at the time offered only restricted musical possibilities, and living most of his adult life in Paris, ...
(Drums, 1918–2001) David Albert Francis was born in Miami, Florida. He worked around Florida with saxophonist George Kelly before going to New York in 1938. The following year he made his recording debut with Roy Eldridge, who named him after his choice of hats. Francis worked with Lucky Millinder from 1940–46 and Cab Calloway from 1947–52 but his ...
(Promoter, manager, radio personality, 1914–89) Working out of Washington, D.C., this North Carolina-born promoter and behind-the-scenes media wizard was a key figure in the rise of country music’s popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Gay was instrumental in the careers of leading artists like Patsy Cline, Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean and Grandpa Jones. ...
1899–1963, French Born into social privilege, Poulenc was introduced to the Parisian art scene by his piano teacher and mentor, Ricardo Viñes, and struck out in a new direction when becoming part of a non-conformist group known as Les Six. Hardly members of the avant-garde, these young composers instead liked to combine popular music styles with ...
Composed: 1953–56 Premiered: 1957, Milan Libretto by the composer after Georges Bernanos’ play Act I It is April 1789 and revolution is stirring. Blanche de la Force, timid and highly strung, announces her intention to become a nun. The prioress of the Carmelite convent at Compiègne warns Blanche that this is not a refuge. She wishes to be ...
(Fran-ses Poo-lank’) 1899–1963 French composer Poulenc was the youngest member of the group of composers known as ‘Les Six’; his urbanity and humour and his many masterly songs have given him a reputation as a light-hearted miniaturist. His range, however, is better indicated by his three operas: Les mamelles de Tirésias (‘Tiresias’ Breasts’, 1947), a joyously Gallic and absurd ...
Across the centuries and around the globe, many different forms of music have enjoyed mass appeal for a limited period of time. None, however, have been able to match the widespread influence of the popular music that erupted in America during the mid-1950s and, by the second half of the decade, was exerting its grip over ...
(Vocals, 1940–2003) London-born Terence Nelhams sang in skiffle group The Worried Men, before changing his name at UK TV guru Jack Good’s suggestion. After early flops, arranger John Barry provided string backing for 1959’s UK No. 1 ‘What Do You Want’, while 1960’s follow-up ‘Poor Me’ also topped the chart, and Faith accumulated 22 more hits by ...
During the mid-1950s, the American and British pop scenes experienced a complete shake-up of the old order. Up until the decade’s halfway point, the airwaves, record stores and jukeboxes were filled with sentimental ballads, novelty songs and instrumentals that largely reflected the tastes of white adults. American artists such as Frankie Laine, Frank Sinatra, Dean ...
As the 1960s approached, the controversy associated with rock’n’roll was superseded by an array of inoffensive smoothies on both sides of the atlantic. However, the ongoing popularity of artists such as Elvis Presley, Bobby Darin, Ricky Nelson, Sam Cooke, and, in the UK, Lonnie Donegan, Billy Fury and Cliff Richard, ensured ...
The term ‘singer-songwriter’ tends to be applied to the kind of introspective, socially conscious artist who – in the wake of the folk-inspired movement that was kick-started by Bob Dylan in the early 1960s before peaking in the next decade – performs in a direct yet reflective manner, emphasizing the song’s message over style or calibre of presentation. This is ...
The 1950s was the decade when the straitjacket imposed by the recent world war was loosened a little – and rock took full advantage. The Sun studios in Memphis and Chess Records in Chicago were the places to be as the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry turned the existing generation gap into a chasm. Though he ...
The Enlightenment was a natural, if late, consequence of the sixteenth-century Renaissance and Reformation. Also known as the Age of Reason, the Enlightenment advanced to be recognized in the late seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries and brought with it new, controversial beliefs that upended the absolutisms on which European society had long been based. Absolute monarchy, ...
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An extensive music information resource, bringing together the talents and expertise of a wide range of editors and musicologists, including Stanley Sadie, Charles Wilson, Paul Du Noyer, Tony Byworth, Bob Allen, Howard Mandel, Cliff Douse, William Schafer, John Wilson...
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Classical, Rock, Blues, Jazz, Country and more. Flame Tree has been making encyclopaedias and guides about music for over 20 years. Now Flame Tree Pro brings together a huge canon of carefully curated information on genres, styles, artists and instruments. It's a perfect tool for study, and entertaining too, a great companion to our music books.
David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.