SEARCH RESULTS FOR: Alan Freed
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(Disc jockey, 1922–65) Freed, the DJ who gave rock’n’roll its name, fronted Moondog’s Rock’n’Roll Party at Cleveland’s WJW radio station, where he programmed mainly black R&B plus some early white rock’n’roll records. His vocal jive delighted his audience, and he also appeared in several early rock’n’roll exploitation movies, including Rock Around The Clock, Rock ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Me-shel’ Re’-share de La-län-de) 1657–1726 French composer During the mid-1660s Lalande, along with Marais, was a member of the choir at St Germain-l’Auxerrois in Paris and later, as an organist, he was the mentor of Couperin. In 1683 he was appointed one of four sous-maîtres of the Chapelle Royale, gradually acquiring all the other major musical positions ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Folklorists, John Avery Lomax 1867–1948; Alan Lomax 1915–2002) John Lomax was born in Goodman, Mississippi and raised near Fort Worth, Texas. Although his initial interest lay in cowboy songs, a pre-teen friendship with a servant named Nat Blythe sparked an interest in black music. With the 1910 publication of Cowboy Songs And Other Frontier Ballads, his ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, songwriter, guitar, b. 1958) Georgia-born Jackson moved to Nashville in 1985. His rise to fame came after a chance meeting between his wife, Denise, and Glen Campbell, and before long, he was a staff songwriter at Campbell’s music-publishing company. A traditionalist blue-collar act, he was the first signing to Arista’s Nashville branch ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

‘The Gallant Indians’ Composed in 1735, Les indes galantes is an opéra-ballet in which each act has its own setting and self-contained plot. Its four entrées include a scene set in a Turkish garden, Incas worshipping the sun in a Peruvian desert, a flower festival at a Persian market and a village ceremony in a North American forest. ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Vocal/instrumental group, 1977–90) Studio engineer Parsons (b. 1948) had been involved with the engineering of The Beatles’ Abbey Road (1969) and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) before he became a producer and, briefly, artist in conjunction with songwriter Eric Woolfson. A string of immaculately played and produced concept albums featuring guest singers and musicians ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Singer-songwriter, b. 1974) This Canadian singer recorded two teen-oriented albums that went nowhere in 1990 and 1992. Signed to Madonna’s Maverick label, major debut Jagged Little Pill (1995) was a multi-platinum success. Music aside, it was Morissette’s abrasive, honest, sharp lyrical concerns, ranging from anger at being jilted to confessional, that captivated. Singles like ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocals, b. 1971) Timbaland, alias Timothy Mosley, is a successful hip hop and R&B producer who had worked with such artists as Missy Elliott, Jay-Z and Aaliyah before releasing his first solo album in 1998; second LP, Timbaland Presents Shock Value went platinum in America in 2007, and narrowly missed out on the No. 1 ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Charles Edward Anderson Berry, known to all as Chuck, was born in St Louis, Missouri, on 18 October 1926, at the family’s home in Goode Avenue. The local gospel choir used it for their rehearsals and there was a well-employed piano in situ. Berry began learning the guitar in his mid-teens. At 17 he was involved ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocals, b. 1938) New Jersey-born Concetta Franconero appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s TV talent show, and while still at university, signed to MGM Records. 1958’s UK chart topper, ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ was the first of eight mainly sentimental million-selling US hits, including 1959’s ‘Among My Souvenirs’, and 1960’s ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’, the first of three US No. ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocal group, 1952–60, 1972–present) Formed in 1952 in Cleveland, Ohio, this doo-wop outfit comprised Harvey Fuqua, Bobby Lester, Alexander ‘Pete’ Graves, Prentiss Barnes and guitarist Billy Johnson. Originally called The Crazy Sounds, they changed their name at Alan Freed’s suggestion. After several minor singles, they signed with Chess Records in 1954, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Although he did not coin the term ‘rock’n’roll’ – which was an African-American slang term for sex – New York disk jockey Alan Freed did popularize it when he attached it to a teen-oriented form of music that evolved from a fusion of rockabilly, R&B and, to a lesser extent, gospel and boogie-woogie. In its early forms, ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

The 1950s was the decade when the straitjacket imposed by the recent world war was loosened a little – and rock took full advantage. The Sun studios in Memphis and Chess Records in Chicago were the places to be as the likes of Elvis, Jerry Lee Lewis and Chuck Berry turned the existing generation gap into a chasm. Though he ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

The 1950s was a big decade for blues and jazz – arguably, the biggest. In the wake of international triumph and the stirrings of empire, the US enjoyed a boom of babies, cars, television, and urban and suburban development, that trickled down to embolden a stronger movement for civil rights for black people, inspired ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

Almost no Texan musicians have ever herded cattle, but most like to think of themselves as cowboys nonetheless. They imagine themselves pulling out an acoustic guitar after dinner and singing a song about the adventures and frustrations they have known. And not just any old song – it has to be one they wrote and it has to be more ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen
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