(Vocal group, 1998–present) The four main players in The Black Eyed Peas – Will.I.Am (Will Adams), Apl.de.Ap (Allen Pineda), Taboo (Jaime Gomez) and Fergie (Stacy Ferguson) – came to the wider public attention in 2003 on the back of the success of their ‘Where Is The Love ?’ single, which topped the charts for a ...
His contemporaries Eric Clapton, Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck might receive more time in the spotlight, but guitarist Ritchie Blackmore (b. 1945) has been similarly influential and innovative during his 40-plus-year career. Born in Weston-Super-Mare, England, in April 1945, Blackmore was given his first guitar at the age of 11 and began taking classical lessons, ...
Frank Anthony Iommi (b. 1948) was born in Birmingham, England. Like so many other teenage boys in 1960s Britain, he was inspired to pick up the guitar upon hearing Hank Marvin and The Shadows. In 1967, after playing in various local acts, Iommi hooked up with three former school mates – Bill Ward (drums), Terry ‘Geezer’ Butler ...
By the end of the 1980s, thrash metal was on its last legs. Metallica and Slayer were on the path towards acceptance by the mainstream and it seemed as though heavy metal was in danger of losing not only the extremity upon which it had been founded, but also its shock value. How ill-founded those assumptions turned out to ...
Sweden’s nyckelharpa, now experiencing a boom in skilled players and makers, is known to have existed in the fourteenth century. Its soundbox is a slightly waisted boat-shape, the prow extending to a short, thick neck, covered by a mechanism containing one or more rows of gravity-returned sliding wooden bars, pressed with the fingers of the ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1903–62) Francis ‘Scrapper’ Blackwell is best known as Leroy Carr’s musical partner, but he was also a gifted artist in his own right. In 1928 he recorded ‘Kokomo Blues’, which Kokomo Arnold covered as ‘Original Old Kokomo Blues’, before Robert Johnson retooled it as ‘Sweet Home Chicago’. After Carr died in 1935, Blackwell retired from ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1962) Born in New Jersey and raised in Houston, Black burst on to the scene in the late 1980s. Signed by ZZ Top manager Bill Ham, Black’s double platinum debut album, Killin’ Time (1989), spawned four chart-topping singles, including ‘Better Man’ and ‘Nobody’s Home’. He has duetted with legendary cowboy Roy Rogers ...
(Instrumental group, 1958–65) Bassist Black helped create the rockabilly sound on Elvis Presley’s Sun recordings and in the singer’s live performances from 1954–58 with guitarist Scotty Moore and drummer D.J. Fontana. Ironically, Black became better known commercially through a string of instrumental hits with The Bill Black Combo, a group he formed after leaving Presley in a ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1968–present) Pioneers of heavy metal, Sabbath hailed from Birmingham, England and comprised John ‘Ozzy’ Osbourne (vocals), Tony Iommi (guitar), Terence ‘Geezer’ Butler (bass), and Bill Ward (drums). Their second album’s title track ‘Paranoid’ was a rare hit single as Black Sabbath’s reputation was built on a series of 1970s albums, featuring doom-laden lyrics set to ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1973–present) Derrick ‘Ducky’ Simpson co-founded this mighty Jamaican reggae outfit in the early 1970s. The line-up settled with Michael Rose on lead vocals, Puma Jones and Simpson harmonizing, and the legendary Sly and Robbie acting as rhythm section. A deal with Island paved the way for the group’s international reputation. The Grammy-grabbing Anthem (1984) established them ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1989–2002, 2005–present) Musically, The Black Crowes were a throwback to the classic rock swagger of The Rolling Stones. Formed in Atlanta, Chris Robinson (vocals), Richard Robinson (guitar), Jeff Cease (guitar), Johnny Colt (bass) and Steve Gorman (drums) combined hard touring and compelling albums such as Shake Your Money Maker (1990) and The Southern Harmony And ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1995–present) Belligerent Scottish rock trio Biffy Clyro – Simon Neil (vocals and guitar), James Johnston (bass) and his twin brother Ben (drums) – issued breakthrough album Puzzle, which reached No. 2 in the UK, in 2007 after their first three LPs failed to reach the Top 40. Follow-up Only Revolutions (2009) also hit the Top 10 ...
(Vocals, b. 1970) Born Natalie McIntyre in Ohio, Macy Gray is a modern soul singer whose voice is distinctive and demeanor often startlingly original. In 1998, early hits ‘Why Didn’t You Call Me ?’ and ‘I’ve Committed Murder’ started to cause minor ripples in her home country, but by the following year her star was well in ...
Once hip hop had expanded beyond apparently using the hook lines from Chic’s ‘Good Times’ as the basis for just about everything, it quickly became as diverse as any other black music genre. Its evolution in recording studios took it way beyond the scope of conventional instruments. Can’t play piano like Herbie Hancock or bass like Bootsy ? So what ...
September ‘American Idiot’ The song that was to revitalize the career of Green Day was a protest against the war in Iraq promulgated by American president George W. Bush. With lines like ‘Don’t want to be an American idiot,’ ‘I’m not part of a redneck agenda’ and ‘now everybody do the propaganda’ was a powerful anti-Bush statement. Musically, ‘American ...
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.