(Vocals, piano, songwriter, b. 1943) This Texas-raised musician, sculptor and playwright is an American original. His left-of-centre songs about the road and life’s characters have created a cult following via such albums as Juarez (1975), Lubbock (On Everything) (1979) and Human Remains (1995). ‘New Delhi Freight Train’ and ‘Amarillo Highway’ are his most covered songs. Styles & ...
Terry Kath (1946–78) was the guitarist and a founding member of the jazz-rock ensemble Chicago Transit Authority (soon shortened to Chicago), which, like their contemporaries Blood, Sweat & Tears, brought a jazzy, horn-based sound to hard rock with their early albums, before settling into a superstardom built around anthemic pop ballads. Early on, however, ...
(Trumpet, 1908–67) The son of bandleader Henry Allen Sr., Henry ‘Red’ Allen was one of the greatest trumpeters to come out of New Orleans, although he remained eternally in the shadow of Louis Armstrong. He moved to New York in 1927 to join King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators and in 1929 the Victor label signed him as an answer ...
(Harmonica, vocals, 1911–86) Saunders Terrell was born in Greensboro, Georgia and taught himself to play the harmonica at the age of eight. He lost the sight in one eye, aged 10, and the second eye at 16. Terry played mostly in North Carolina from the late 1920s. He teamed up with Blind Boy Fuller in 1934 ...
(Piano, b. 1957) Raised in Detroit, pianist-composer Allen emerged in New York City with older midwestern avant-gardists such as Lester Bowie and Oliver Lake, and hometown colleagues including saxophonist Kenny Garrett. Her albums feature elusive but lyrical compositions for small ensembles. She toured briefly and recorded Feel The Fire (1993) with singer Betty Carter, and has worked ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1883–1945) Jules Verne Allen was significant among early singing cowboys in that he had actually been a working cowboy. After years of trail driving he became a professional cowboy singer in an era when such a thing scarcely existed. In addition to radio, he recorded 24 sides for Victor during 1928–29. In 1933–34, he led ...
(Vocals, 1924–2003) Rosalie Allen was one of a number of western stars who called New York home, for despite being seemingly removed from anything remotely western, the city boasted a thriving scene. Born Julie Bedra in Pennsylvania, Allen idolized Patsy Montana and became an adept yodeller. From 1943, she was a star on New York radio. ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1930–93) After three years of pioneering three-part ‘high-lead’ harmonies with The Osborne Brothers, Red Allen split with his Ohio pals, convinced he could be a bluegrass star in his own right. He and another Dayton friend, mandolinist Frank Wakefield, moved to Washington in 1960 and recorded with musicians such as Chubby Wise and ...
(Vocals, actor, narrator, 1920–99) The last of the singing cowboys, Arizona-born Rex Allen made 19 movies for Republic before the genre ended with his The Phantom Stallion (1954). His powerful voice ensured several chart successes – the highest being ‘Crying In The Chapel’ (1953) – and a long career as a narrator for several Disney documentaries. The ...
b. 1935 American composer Initially influenced by Stockhausen, Riley was profoundly affected by the sustained, minimalist style of La Monte Young, whom he met at the University of California at Berkeley. He had paid for his studies by playing ragtime in a bar. He soon became interested in improvised music and ‘happenings’ and made a serious study of ...
b. 1944 English baritone Allen’s early career was spent with the Welsh National Opera, in works ranging from Mozart to Britten. He made his Covent Garden debut as Donald in Britten’s Billy Budd in 1971, and his Metropolitan Opera debut as Papageno (The Magic Flute) in 1981. He appeared at English National Opera as Busoni’s Faust in 1986 and ...
(Vocals, b. 1985) Daughter of comedy actor Keith Allen, Lily has gone on to surpass her father’s success with two platinum-selling albums in the Noughties. Allen blends British pop with elements of ska and R&B. That, coupled with acerbic observational lyrics brought her to prominence with her 2006 debut Alright, Still and UK chart-topping single ‘Smile’. The ...
Labelled the ‘first lady of country music’, Virginia Wynette Pugh was born on 5 May 1942, in Itawamba County, Mississippi. Throughout the early 1960s she worked as a waitress and beautician – among other jobs – and only dreamed of stardom. It was not long coming, but like many of her contemporaries, Loretta Lynn, Connie Smith ...
New country took many years and miles of travel before its current evolution – not least the new traditionalist movement of the 1980s, which returned country music to its roots. Garth Brooks (b. 1962) did it far more quickly, but that’s a different story. Sometimes it seemed like these artists were chipping away at a mountain with nothing more ...
La Monte Young was saxophonist and jazz musician as a youth, but his postgraduate work at the University of California at Berkeley (where he met Riley) led to a performance of his Trio for Strings (1958) arranged by his composition teacher, Seymour Shifrin (1926–79), in an attempt to show Young how much he had miscalculated. The work, consisting ...
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David Bowie
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