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 ...
Hank Thompson (b. 1925) is one of the most difficult country stars to classify. His Brazos Valley Boys were for a number of years one of the most talented and revered of western-swing bands, yet Thompson was never really a western-swing performer. He recorded a number of songs that remain honky-tonk classics, but he was never just a honky-tonk ...
(Vocals, guitar, bandleader, 1918–92) Hank Penny was, with his Radio Cowboys, the most ardent exponent of western swing in the south-east prior to the Second World War. He relocated to California after the war and led excellent bands, though as time passed he eased towards comedy at the expense of music. He recorded prolifically from ...
Rural Alabama-born Hiram Williams (1923–53) has emerged in the half-century since his death – at age 29 – as the archetypal honky-tonk artist and arguably the single most influential artist in modern country music. The songs that Williams wrote and sang in the course of his short and none-too-sweet life – ‘Hey Good Lookin’,’ ‘I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry’, ‘Cold ...
(Vocals, 1914–99) This Nova Scotia-born singer was one of country music’s most popular figures in the 1950s and 1960s, and a Grand Ole Opry headliner for a half century. He recorded over 100 albums and had nearly as many chart singles. For more than a decade he recorded for the Canadian Bluebird label before breaking through in the USA ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1925) Part Cherokee, Rainwater was born in Wichita, Kansas, and was already an established country act before his 1958 rockabilly recording, ‘Whole Lotta Woman’, gave him a British No. 1. He toured Britain, headlining at the London Palladium, and made further fine rockabilly records for MGM. In the 1960s his ...
(Songwriter, vocals, b. 1935) One-time member of the Cochran Brothers (with rock‘n’roller Eddie Cochran, no relation), Isola, Mississippi-born Garland Perry Cochran was one of the most-oft-recorded songwriters of the 1960s and 1970s. ‘She’s Got You’ (a hit for Patsy Cline), ‘Make The World Go Away’ (a hit for both Ray Price and Eddy Arnold) and Willie Nelson’s ...
(Vocals, b. 1918) Best known for a pair of late 1950s and early 1960s hits – ‘Send Me The Pillow That You Dream On’ and ‘Please Help Me, I’m Falling’ – McLellan, Florida-born tenor singer Lawrence Hankins started singing during a slow recovery from an injury as a child. He has been a fixture on the Grand Ole ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1949) Williams was only three when his famous father died, but the youngster was raised to imitate his daddy’s records as closely as possible. He finally rebelled against that formula in 1975 by releasing Hank Williams Jr. And Friends with his southern-rock friends. After an injury-induced break, he returned to performing in 1976, ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1979) The grandson of the late Hank Williams and son of Hank Williams Jr. must have music in his genes, and like his forbears, Shelton ‘Hank III’ is a rebel. 1996’s Three Hanks album featured his voice alongside those of his father and grandfather, and he realized that he would forever be judged ...
(Vocals, 1914–99) Hank Snow ran away from his Canadian home at 12 to join the Merchant Marine. Wanderlust would inform his great ‘travelling’ songs, ‘I’m Movin’ On’ and ‘I’ve Been Everywhere’. A disciple of Jimmie Rodgers, Snow would bill himself as the Yodelling Ranger, until his developing baritone made him better suited for ballads like ‘Hello Love’, ...
(Singer-songwriter, 1923–53) Insofar as rock has been shaped by country music, it has been shaped by Hank Williams. Williams, a superstar at 25 and dead at 29, set standards for popular as well as country music, and was a virtual hit songwriting machine. Yet, like several young rock stars who followed him, he was ...
(Bandleader, vocals, 1936–2003) Alabama-raised Henry ‘Hank’ Ballard fronted The Midnighters (previously The Royals). 1954 brought the Detroit group four big US R&B hits with risqué lyrics about a fictitious ‘Annie’. In 1960, the group released the original version of ‘The Twist’, written by Ballard, but the younger, more photogenic Chubby Checker took the million sales and ...
(Vocals, 1939–84) Gaye was a soul giant whose career spanned his genre’s transition from pop entertainment to social conscience and personal exploration. He signed with Berry Gordy’s Motown label in 1961, where his recordings revealed a strong tenor voice with a huge span – three octaves – on songs ranging from R&B mod anthem ‘Can I Get A Witness’ ...
Indie guitar legend Johnny Marr (b. 1963) was born John Maher in Manchester, England to Irish Catholic parents. He grew up in a household where music was a constant fixture, and he recalled, ‘I always had guitars, for as long as I could remember.’ Guitar technique came easily to young Johnny, and he quickly mastered ...
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