The undisputed Queen of Soul since the title was first applied to her in the late 1960s, Aretha Franklin has been hailed as the greatest soul diva of all time. Possessing a voice of power and passion (and an underrated talent on the piano) she has turned her attention to everything from pop through jazz to classical; but with a ...
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, ...
Southern-rock guitarist Duane Allman was born in Nashville, Tennessee in 1946. Allman was inspired to take up the guitar by his brother Gregg. At first, they played country music, their initiation into the blues coming when the brothers saw B.B. King performing in Nashville. The pair began playing professionally in 1961, first in The Allman Joys ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1980–90, 1999–2005) Dave Stewart (keyboards, guitars) and Annie Lennox (vocals) were Eurythmics. In 1983, the title track of Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This) went to No. 1 in America. The synth-powered pop noir of ‘Who’s That Girl’ was followed by the joyous, tropical-tinged ‘Right By Your Side’, proving their adaptability and intelligence. (Lennox’s ...
(Vocal group, 1953–present) The Detroiters line-up (Levi Stubbs, Lawrence Payton, Renaldo Benson, Abdul Fakir) remained unchanged for 44 years. The 1960s signalled their heyday with a run of Top 10s, including No. 1s ‘I Can’t Help Myself (Sugar Pie, Honey Bunch)’ and ‘Reach Out I’ll Be There’. During the late 1960s and early 1970s their ...
(Critic, producer, 1910–86) John Hammond was the most influential jazz critic, producer and social activist of the politically charged 1930s. A Vanderbilt descendant raised in social prominence and luxury on New York’s East Side, Hammond rebelled against his class, producing jazz records and pressing for racial integration. He played a key role in the careers of ...
Georgia’s finest soul son, Otis Redding’s story encapsulates the history of soul music. He was a hard-working performer with special gifts who became a role model of dedication and success, an icon for his African-American peers. In the process he also won the hearts of the white audience with his music, and, by the simple act of ...
(Trumpet, arranger, b. 1933) Quincy Jones started out as a trumpet player but first achieved public acclaim as an arranger and subsequently went on to earn an even greater reputation as a record producer for artists including Aretha Franklin and Michael Jackson. He began arranging with Lionel Hampton in 1951 and toured as music director of Dizzy Gillespie’s big ...
Few groups made as powerful an impression on American blues music in the early 1970s as The Allman Brothers Band. Its blend of blues, jazz, rock and country elements was a predominant sound on nascent FM radio and influenced countless bands that followed in their wake. The Allman Brothers Band have endured tragedies, periods of obscurity and personnel ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1978–present) Jake and Elwood Blues began life in a 1976 Saturday Night Live sketch featuring John Belushi and Dan Aykroyd singing ‘I’m A King Bee’ dressed as giant bees. The show’s musical director, Paul Shaffer helped assemble a band to support comedian Steve Martin in 1978. They recruited legendary Booker T. And The M.G.s guitarist ...
The story of soul’s Golden Age is linked with the story of two American record labels: Berry Gordy’s Motown and Jim Stewart & Estelle Axton’s Stax. They discovered artists, wrote songs and developed recording and marketing methods that would irrevocably change popular music, and have a profound effect on the perception of race all over world. Motown’s base in ...
Since the dawn of the jazz era, the appeal of pop music had become increasingly intertwined with the demands of the dancefloor. As 1960s rock and soul became ever tougher and more orientated towards youth and hedonism it was only a matter of time before someone would come up with the ultimate dance groove. That someone was soul’s greatest innovator ...
The spiritual tradition gave rise to many gospel staples, though many of the early ‘university’ singers who performed them had received a formal European musical schooling. The tradition reached a peak with the solo concert performances of the great singer Paul Robeson and the famous contralto Marian Anderson – the ambassadors for black America. The links between blues and gospel ...
Rhythm & blues (R&B) music evolved out of jump blues rhythms during the late-1940s, but it also had riffs and lyrics that were beginning to point more towards the emergence of rock’n’roll. Using sparser instrumentation than jump blues, R&B was based upon traditional blues chord changes played over a steady backbeat. R&B placed more emphasis on the singer ...
Although the 1960s Golden Age established soul as the foundation of Afro-American pop, the 1970s and 1980s saw soul’s supremacy challenged and ultimately ended by, in turn, funk, disco, electro, dance-rock, hip hop and house. In hindsight, the soul music of the 1980s went into a form of stasis, waiting for a ...
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.