(Vocals, b. 1959) The daughter of country star George Morgan, Loretta Lynn Morgan first performed at the age of 13 at the Grand Ole Opry, which she joined in 1984. After two years singing back-up for George Jones, and singing demos for publishers Acuff Rose, she made her first Top 10 hit single, ‘Dear Me’, ...
(Trumpet, 1895–1936) An early practitioner of New Orleans jazz, Morgan travelled the Bay St. Louis-Pensacola-Mobile circuit and played Crescent City venues, including the Savoy on Rampart Street, before suffering a stroke in 1925. He recovered and in 1927 made recordings at the Werlein’s Music Store on Canal Street for the Columbia label, including ‘Mobile Stomp’, ‘Bogalousa ...
(Trumpet, 1938–72) Born in Philadelphia, trumpeter Lee Morgan led one of the storybook lives in jazz. He joined Art Blakey’s Jazz Messengers in 1958, having already worked with Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane. A magnificent hard-bop stylist who effectively utilized half-valve techniques and staccato blowing, Morgan was a star of the Blue Note Records roster, hitting ...
(Vocals, 1924–75) Waverly, Tennessee-born George Morgan is best remembered for the smooth, late-1940s, chart-toppers ‘Candy Kisses’ and ‘A Room Full Of Roses’ (which also reached the pop Top 30). Morgan was a favourite on the Grand Ole Opry from 1948 until shortly before his death due to complications from open-heart surgery. He was the father of contemporary ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1972) Moorer moved to Nashville after college and started songwriting after she met Oklahoma musician Doyle ‘Butch’ Primm, whom she later married. Moorer’s debut album, Alabama Song (1998) included ‘A Soft Place To Fall’, as featured in the soundtrack to the movie The Horse Whisperer. After four major-label albums, she was released from ...
The 1950s and 1960s were milestone decades for country music. It was during these years that the stylistic tensions between traditional and contemporary, rural and urbane, became sharply delineated and the first ideological and aesthetic battle lines between the traditionalists and modernists were drawn in the sand. Out of this tension arose bold innovation and refreshing diversity. The 1950s ...
(Drums, 1919–90) Art Blakey (also later known as Buhaina or simply Bu after he converted to Islam) led the quintessential hard bop group the Jazz Messengers across four decades from the late 1940s, and was a fervent advocate of the music he loved. He formed his first band in his native Pittsburgh, but moved to New York and ...
Bessie Smith was one of the greatest vocalists of the twentieth century; her emotional delivery and exquisite phrasing has been an influence on instrumentalists as well as innumerable singers, both male and female. Many of her records, including ‘Gimmie a Pigfoot’, ‘Woman’s Trouble Blues’, ‘St. Louis Blues’ and the song that became an anthem of the Great Depression, ...
‘Love Changes (Everything)’, 1988 A duo, vocalist Simon Climie and keyboardist Rob Fisher co-wrote their best-known song with Dennis Morgan. It hit No. 2 in the UK charts, and featured on their debut album, Everything. They split up after their follow-up LP, however, 1989’s Coming In For The Kill. Fisher died in 1999, while undergoing ...
In the 1960s and early 1970s, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was the primary alternative to Miles Davis’s domination of the field. Hubbard came up in the hard-bop era, blew free jazz with Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, and established a body of exemplary compositions, recordings and improvisations with the best of the 1960s Blue Note artists: Art Blakey ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1993–present) Forming in New York, Huey Morgan (vocals, guitar), Steve Borovini (drums, programming) and Brian ‘Fast’ Leisler (bass, keyboards) blended hip hop, funk and soundtrack references on early releases with some success. Debut album Come Find Yourself (1996) was a fine work spawning the addictive single ‘Scooby Snacks’. Barry White tribute single ‘Love ...
(Trombone, 1898–1961) A vital figure of the 1920s, Irving Milfred Mole was among the earliest trombonists with the virtuosity to express fully developed musical lines on an instrument largely still relegated to glissandos and rhythm accents. Mole elevated the instrument to first-chair status on hundreds of records and solos, many recorded with Red Nichols. He left jazz to ...
One of country music’s most influential and enduringly popular figures, Patsy Cline managed to transcend with seeming effortlessness the uneasy rift between traditional country music and the more urbane Nashville sound that emerged full-blown in the late 1950s. Crossover Diva Cline was one of the few female artists at the forefront of the emerging Nashville sound. With her smooth yet ...
(Vocals, songwriter, 1936–92) Born in Fort Worth, Texas, Roger Dean Miller wrote and recorded a string of brilliant novelty hits that earned him 11 Grammy Awards, as well as country and pop stardom during the 1960s. Chief among his self-penned songs are ‘Dang Me’, ‘Chug-A-Lug’ – both hits in 1964 – ‘King Of The Road’ and ...
(Guitar, 1925–68) Wes Montgomery was a premier jazz guitarist; his unique guitar sound came from plucking octave figures with his thumb instead of a pick. Born into a musical family, Wes taught himself to play the guitar and toured with Lionel Hampton in the late 1940s. He performed with his brothers, bassist Monk and vibist Buddy, before ...
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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.