(Vocal/instrumental group, 1969) Billed as ‘the supergroup of all times’, Steve Winwood (keyboards, vocals), Eric Clapton (guitar), Rick Grech (bass) and Ginger Baker (drums) were an amalgam of ex-members of Cream, Traffic and Family. Launched with a free concert in London’s Hyde Park, they broke up after a troubled US tour. Winwood then reformed a Traffic that ...
Highly respected blues guitarist Rory Gallagher was born in Ballyshannon, Ireland in 1948, and grew up in Cork. After learning his trade as a teenager playing in Irish show bands, Gallagher formed the power trio Taste in 1966. The band released two studio and two live albums. Shortly after their appearance at the 1970 Isle of Wight Festival ...
Blind Lemon Jefferson (c. 1893–1929) opened up the market for blues records in 1926 when ‘Got The Blues’, backed with ‘Long Lonesome Blues’, became the biggest-selling record by a black male artist. It brought him the trappings of success, including a car and chauffeur, and he released nearly 100 songs over the next four years, before his death. ...
Although he is often cited as the first ‘folk’ bluesman to record, Blind Lemon Jefferson was actually much more than that: he was America’s first male blues pop star. On the strength of his recordings for the Paramount label – some of which are said to have sold upwards of 100,000 copies – Jefferson became a celebrity throughout the ...
(Vocals, guitar, c. early 1890s–c. 1933) Among the most influential instrumentalists in the blues, Blind Blake remains a mystery man in terms of his personal life. Born either Arthur Blake or Arthur Phelps, probably in Florida (Jacksonville or Tampa), he purveyed a ragtime-influenced, polyrhythmic picking technique that combined jaw-dropping technical virtuosity with an impeccably crafted symmetry. ...
(Vocals, guitar, c. 1902–47) Texas-born Willie Johnson, a purveyor of sacred material who would probably have been appalled at being categorized as a ‘blues’ artist, was blinded at the age of seven when his stepmother threw lye in his face after being beaten by his father. He sang in a hoarse, declamatory voice and his fretwork ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1901–59) A skilled purveyor of the ragtime-influenced Piedmont fingerpicking style, Atlanta-based Blind Willie McTell incorporated pop songs and novelty numbers, as well as blues, into his repertoire – befitting an entertainer who got his start in tent shows, medicine shows and carnivals. His voice was unusually tender and expressive for a musician who ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1908–41) Fuller was born Fulton Allen in Wadesboro, North Carolina and was one of 10 children. He learned to play guitar as a teenager and by the mid-1920s was working for tips around Rockingham, North Carolina. He had lost his sight by 1928. He teamed up with artists such as Gary Davis, Bull City ...
(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 ...
(Vocals, fiddle, 1880–1956) Reed, a singer and fiddler from Princeton, West Virginia, made his living playing at dances and church meetings and giving music lessons. Recording in the late 1920s, he observed contemporary life in songs like ‘How Can A Poor Man Stand Such Times And Live ?’– a catalogue of the ills that afflicted ...
(Vocals, b. 1967) Born Audrey Faith Perry, Hill moved to Nashville in 1986, where she was discovered singing back-up to singer-songwriter Gary Burr at the Bluebird Café. Hill made an instant and huge impact when in 1994 her debut single, ‘Wild One’, topped the country chart for four weeks. Effortlessly crossing over to pop, her Take ...
(Vocals, 1940–2003) London-born Terence Nelhams sang in skiffle group The Worried Men, before changing his name at UK TV guru Jack Good’s suggestion. After early flops, arranger John Barry provided string backing for 1959’s UK No. 1 ‘What Do You Want’, while 1960’s follow-up ‘Poor Me’ also topped the chart, and Faith accumulated 22 more hits by ...
(Vocals, b. 1947) After 1964’s ‘As Tears Go By’ – written by Rolling Stones Mick Jagger (her then-boyfriend) and Keith Richards – climbed high in the UK and US charts, a winning streak was protracted with songs of like lightweight persuasion until Faithfull’s innocent schoolgirl image was tarnished for ever by frank and public opinions on free love and ...
(Vocal group, 1961–69) If admired as a bandleader, Bennett was also one of few white UK singers able to take on black pop without losing the overriding passion. After six flop singles, covers of The Drifters’ ‘One Way Love’ and ‘I’ll Take You Home’ reached Nos. 9 and 42 respectively, but it was to be nearly two ...
The first and arguably most famous of hard rock’s much touted ‘supergroups’, Cream comprised Eric Clapton (born Eric Patrick Clapp, 30 March 1945) on guitar/vocals, Jack Bruce (born 14 May 1943) on bass/harmonica/keyboards/vocals and Ginger Baker (born Peter Edward Baker, 19 August 1939) on drums, a trio who achieved lasting fame courtesy of their technically virtuosic, ...
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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.