(Singer-songwriter, piano b. 1958) Catherine ‘Kate’ Bush CBE was the first female singer to top the UK charts with a self-penned song (‘Wuthering Heights’, 1978). She is a versatile and sometimes surreal songwriter whose work involves adventurous sound experimentation. The subject matter of her songs has embraced everything from Emily Brontë’s characters to controversial psychoanalyst Wilhelm Reich (‘Cloudbusting’, 1985). Often ...
(Clarinet, bassoon, 1902–91) Jazz’s first double-reed specialist on bassoon, Bushell played with Mamie Smith’s Jazz Hounds before a two-year stint with Sam Wooding’s Orchestra (1925–27). In 1928 he formed the Louisiana Sugar Babies with Fats Waller and Jabbo Smith, and he later worked with Otto Hardwick (1931), Fess Williams (1933), Fletcher Henderson (1935–36), Cab Calloway (1936–37) and ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1935) Bush is best known for writing ‘Whiskey River’, for Willie Nelson, who used it to open and close every concert from the mid-1970s onwards. But Bush was a favourite of Texas audiences from the early 1950s through to the early twenty-first century with his vigorous dancehall brand of honky-tonk. He played in the bands ...
In 1981, Sam Bush (mandolin, vocals, b. 1952) lost half of his band, The New Grass Revival, to road weariness. Courtney Johnson (banjo, 1939–96) and Curtis Burch (guitar, vocals, b. 1945) were exhausted by the tours with Leon Russell and the club and festival dates in between. So Bush and his remaining partner ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1992–present) Formed in 1992 by Gavin Rossdale, (guitar, vocals), Dave Parsons (bass), Nigel Pulsford (guitar) and Robin Goodridge (drums), Bush were playing UK dives when signed by American label Interscope. The grunge-powered sound of their debut album Sixteen Stones (1994) received heavy rotation on American radio – with equally healthy sales – after the breakthrough ‘Everything ...
America’s leading hard rock band in the 1980s, Bon Jovi have broadened their appeal still further by combining their musical aggression with catchy pop songs to achieve a universal appeal. The band was formed in 1983 in New Jersey by singer Jon Bon Jovi (b. John Francis Bongiovi, 2 March 1962), guitarist Richie Sambora (b. 11 July 1969), keyboard ...
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. ...
The acoustic guitarist and singer-songwriter Nick Drake (1948–74) was a tragic figure in the English folk-rock community. His beautiful if bleak songs became fully appreciated only after decades had passed since he succumbed to an overdose of anti-depressant medication. Born Nicholas Rodney Drake, he spent his childhood in Burma and on his parents’ estate in Warwickshire. A bright youth and ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2004–present) The Futureheads – Ross Millard, Barry Hyde (both vocals), Dave Hyde (drums) and David Craig (bass) – came to the public’s attention with their cover of Kate Bush’s ‘Hounds Of Love’, delivered in fine northern accents (they hail from Sunderland). Yet the single was the band’s fifth, thankfully acting as a pointer for many towards ...
In the 1980s, the crossover ideal – not just between black and white music, but between rock and pop, and adults and kids – ruled the airwaves. Even the previously personal and introspective singer-songwriters were forced to adjust, and to dilute their piano-based romantic ballads with uptempo, full-band, dance-friendly songs. The brassy soul-pop nostalgia of ...
After a decade that saw the art of the singer-songwriter being somewhat submerged by the demands of electronic over-production, disco crossover and relentless fashion horrors, the 1990s saw a rebirth of the solo artist with a genuinely individual style. This proved to be of particular benefit to female artists who, while still having to conform to demands for ...
When Vassar Clements formed a band called Hillbilly Jazz in 1975, Bill Monroe’s former fiddler pulled the cover off the hidden connection between country music and jazz. The two genres had more in common than most people thought. After all, Jimmie Rodgers recorded with Louis Armstrong early in their careers; jazz legend Charlie Christian debuted on Bob Wills’ radio ...
Hank Williams and George Jones would have found the whole notion of alt-country unfathomable. Why would anyone seek an alternative to bestselling country records ? For these sons of dire southern poverty, the whole point of making country records was to sell as many as possible and maybe catch hold of the dignity and comfort that a middle-class life might ...
Madama Butterfly is the last opera to be written by the trio of Puccini, Illica and Giacosa. It was, as usual, beset by difficulties in the preparation and approval of the libretto. Puccini was as opposed to one particular scene as Giacosa was for it. Puccini, of course, won, but Giacosa remained so convinced that ...
Composed: 1930–32 Premiered: 1957, Zurich Libretto by the composer Act I Moses prays in the desert. He is answered by voices from the Burning Bush telling him to become a prophet and the leader of the Israelites. He pleads that he does not have the eloquence to explain God’s will in terms they can understand, but is told that ...
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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.