Alternative guitarist and singer Jeff Buckley (1966–97) was born in Anaheim, California. Jeff barely knew his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, who died when he was eight. His mother, Mary Guibert, was a classically trained pianist and cellist, which meant that music was all around when Buckley was growing up. He started playing acoustic guitar at ...
(Guitar, singer-songwriter, 1966–97) Son of singer-songwriter Tim, Jeff Buckley possessed an astonishing vocal range, emotional capacity and genuine songwriting talent. His mini album Live At Sin-e (1992) was the signpost to the classic debut Grace (1994). As well as stellar original material like ‘Last Goodbye’, Buckley delivered the definitive cover of Leonard Cohen’s ‘Hallelujah’. Sessions for an ...
The most mercurial guitarist of his generation, Jeff Beck (b. 1944) has never conformed to the conventional image of a guitar hero. He has repeatedly left or broken up bands before their commercial potential could be realized. He restlessly changes style from one album to the next, refusing to be tied down musically. And his live appearances are intermittent. ...
Blind Lemon Jefferson (c. 1893–1929) opened up the market for blues records in 1926 when ‘Got The Blues’, backed with ‘Long Lonesome Blues’, became the biggest-selling record by a black male artist. It brought him the trappings of success, including a car and chauffeur, and he released nearly 100 songs over the next four years, before his death. ...
Although he is often cited as the first ‘folk’ bluesman to record, Blind Lemon Jefferson was actually much more than that: he was America’s first male blues pop star. On the strength of his recordings for the Paramount label – some of which are said to have sold upwards of 100,000 copies – Jefferson became a celebrity throughout the ...
(Drums, b. 1960) Watts played timpani in the Pittsburgh Youth Symphony Orchestra during his teens and vibraphone at Berklee School of Music, where he met the Marsalis brothers. He recorded with Wynton Marsalis from 1981 and then with Branford, following him into the house band of the televised Tonight Show. An explosive polyrhythmist who can also provide restrained ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1942) Walker grew up in upstate New York State and wrote his most famous song, ‘Mr Bojangles’, as a Greenwich Village folkie, but when he moved to Austin in 1972 he embraced the town’s cowboy-hippie ethos so wholeheartedly that he became its personification. Backing his singer-songwriter material with a Texas dancehall band transformed his ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1968) Gina Jeffreys has been recognized as Australia’s premier female country act since her first hit single, ‘Two Stars Fell’ (1993). She started playing guitar at the age of 12 and at 15 was playing with the band ONYX. CMA Female Vocalist Of The Year in 1994 – when she toured with Johnny Cash and ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1947–75) As one of a bohemian clique of singer-songwriters in mid-1960s New York, he developed a style of de rigueur melancholy introspection that was jazzier and more daring than most – though this was moderated on his first three albums. However, after 1970’s transitional Blue Afternoon, offerings like Lorca and Starsailor were virtually free-form ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1965–72, 1989, 1996) When the ‘classic’ line-up of Marty Balin (vocals), Grace Slick (vocals), Paul Kantner (guitar, vocals), Jorma Kaukonen (guitar, vocals) and Skip Spence (drums) found each other, a merger of an oblique form of folk rock with psychedelia ensured acceptance by their native San Francisco’s hippy community. They produced 1967 hit ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1944) Regarded as one of Britain’s finest rock guitarists, Beck left The Yardbirds in 1968 to form The Jeff Beck Group, initially featuring Rod Stewart on vocals. The band’s second incarnation made two ground-breaking albums that mixed rock and pop with jazz and R&B. In 1972, the guitarist became part of the short-lived ...
(Vocal group, 1970–84) The successor band to Jefferson Airplane whose official debut was 1974’s Dragonfly although the name had been used by singer/guitarist Paul Kantner on Blows Against The Empire (1970). Former Airplane vocalist Grace Slick joined the new band along with David Freiberg (bass), John Barbata (drums), Pete Sears (keyboards) and Craig Chaquico (guitar). Ex-Airplane singer Marty Balin signed ...
Coldplay were formed in London in 1996 by four college friends – Chris Martin (born 2 March 1977, vocals), Jonny Buckland (born 11 September 1977, guitar), Will Champion (born 31 July 1978, drums) and Guy Berryman (born 12 April 1978, bass). Their early years were similar to thousands of other struggling young bands in the UK’s capital ...
(Singer-songwriter, b. 1962) Brooks was pivotal in bringing country music into the mainstream. His warm honky-tonk style and trademark cowboy hat ensured his early material found an audience. The aptly titled No Fences (1990) and Ropin’ The Wind (1991) crossed into the pop charts on the strength of the material and Brooks’ canny employment of theatrical rock devices on his ...
Twenty-first-century guitar hero Matthew Bellamy (b. 1978) was born in Cambridge, England. His father George was rhythm guitarist in the Tornadoes, who scored a massive transatlantic hit with the Joe Meek-produced ‘Telstar’. Before learning guitar, Bellamy took piano lessons as a boy, equally inspired by Ray Charles and classical music. In the mid-1980s, the family moved ...
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