One of the greatest achievements any guitar player can attain is an immediately recognizable signature tone and style. And though many guitarists have realized this goal, few have done it as emphatically as Police guitarist Andy Summers (b. 1942). From the chord stabs of ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ to the arpeggios of ‘Message In A Bottle’ ...
Randy Rhoads (1956–82) had a career that lasted only six years. He played with Quiet Riot and Ozzy Osbourne before dying in a plane crash in 1982. But his guitar style, which included classical influences, opened up new directions in heavy metal, and he was an acknowledged influence on a subsequent generation of guitarists, including Zakk Wylde. ...
(Vocals, songwriter, 1885–1957) The Rev. Andrew Jenkins, a blind Georgia minister, made numerous records in the 1920s, both solo and with family members, but his importance lies chiefly in his huge folio of songs, particularly topical pieces like ‘The Death Of Floyd Collins’ and ‘Ben Dewberry’s Final Run’ (recorded by Jimmie Rodgers), and gospel ...
Born Randy Bruce Traywick on 4 May 1959 in North Carolina, Randy Travis won a talent show at the age of 16, but found his music career progressed painfully slow. Hankering after a more exciting lifestyle, he dropped out of high school in the ninth grade. Music eventually came to his aid, but not without a great ...
(Vocals, b. 1944) Raised in Texas, Marion Franklin Bandy was a rodeo rider before joining his father’s band, The Mission City Playboys. Bandy, a disciple of Hank Williams and George Jones, with his own band, Moe And The Mavericks, specialized in honky-tonk music, cheating songs and steel guitar. His 50-plus US country hits ...
1899–1985 American conductor Born in Hungary, where he later had a career as a violinist, Ormandy started conducting in the US. After five years with the Minneapolis Symphony Orchestra, he moved to the Philadelphia Orchestra, where he was music director 1938–73. He specialized in large-scale Romantic orchestral works, but he also conducted new music. Introduction | ...
(Archivist, bandleader, 1873–1958) W.C. Handy, who led string quartets, brass bands and minstrel-show groups, was a major force in exposing the blues of southern blacks to a mainstream audience. In Memphis in the 1910s Handy, who would become known as the Father of the Blues, emerged with recordings of his compositions ‘Yellow Dog ...
‘Just When I Needed You Most’, 1979 Written when VanWarmer was only 18, ‘Just When I Needed You The Most’ was a surprising UK No. 8 and US No. 4 hit, and a pop ballad that also appealed to the disco market. Unable to recreate his pop success in 1980, VanWarmer embarked upon a country music career that ...
Progressive-rock pioneers King Crimson have seen a revolving door of band members through its almost 40-year existence, including such highly respected musicians as bassists Greg Lake, John Wetton and Tony Levin, drummer Bill Bruford and guitarist Adrian Belew. But one figure has remained steadfast, and that is guitarist Robert Fripp (b. 1946). Born in Wimborne Minster, ...
Stephen Stills (b. 1945) turned acoustic guitar into a fiery blues instrument as a solo artist and performer. That alone might have made him a rock icon, but of course Stills was also busy producing, composing and singing with the most popular rock vocal group of all time, creating hit singles on his own, teaming up with ...
One of the 1980s’ most successful British bands, The Police were founded in London at the height of the punk boom in 1977 by former Curved Air drummer Stewart Copeland (b. 16 July 1952) with singer/bassist Sting (b. Gordon Sumner, 2 October 1951) and original guitarist Henry Padovani. After one independent single ‘Fall Out’, they were joined by veteran ...
For many veterans of the punk era, new wave is not a genre at all. The term was coined by the music press to encompass acts who were influenced by punk, but less overtly rebellious and with more traditionally crafted pop skills. New wave acts traded largely on a back-to-basics desire to revive the short, sharp thrill of ...
January The Sex Pistols Head South At the beginning of January 1978 The Sex Pistols flew out to Atlanta, Georgia, for a series of dates in the American South. It all unravelled at Randy’s Rodeo in San Antonio on 8 January in front of 2,000 rowdy Texans: Sid Vicious was suffering from heroin withdrawal and behaving aggressively; Rotten’s ...
The mid-1730s operas Orlando, Ariodante and Alcina represent the artistic peak of Handel’s operatic career. Their stories all originate in the epic poem Orlando Furioso by the playwright and poet Ariosto, who was born and bred at the Ferrara court in the late fifteenth century. Orlando portrays the destructive insanity of its title-hero, who ignores his destiny by ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1962–67) Alexis Korner (guitar, piano, vocals), born in Paris, France in 1928, was considered to be the father of electric British blues. When he and Cyril Davies (harmonica, vocals) formed Blues Incorporated in 1962 with Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophone), Andy Hoogenboom (bass), Ken Scott (piano) and Charlie Watts (drums), their amplified line-up met with ...
AUTHORITATIVE
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.