(Guitar, vocals, b. 1949) Hailed as the new Dylan after two albums, Springsteen fully realized his potential with the widescreen Born To Run (1975). Managerial problems delayed Darkness On The Edge Of Town (1978), a more sombre but no less compelling work. The double album The River appeared in 1980 followed by the stark, pessimistic Nebraska in ...
Elvis Aaron Presley was born in his family’s shot-gun shack in Tupelo, Mississippi, on 8 January 1935. His twin brother died at birth, and his mother doted on her sole son. He showed musical aptitude early, and loved to sing at the local First Assembly of God church. His mother, Gladys and father, Vernon, ...
The undisputed queen of country rock, Emmylou Harris has long been both a student of traditional country music and a peerless innovator. Even now, some 30 years after she debuted with the tormented genius Gram Parsons, she is still the one others turn to for acceptance and support. Gram Parsons’ Influence Born in Birmingham, Alabama, on ...
(Vocals, b. 1939) This former church chorister from Virginia reached global Top 20s in 1961 with call-and-response ‘New Orleans’. While its ‘Not Me’ follow-up flopped, ‘Quarter To Three’ topped the US chart. Further US-only hits included 1962’s ‘Seven Day Weekend’, his last before the patronage of Bruce Springsteen facilitated a commercial revival in the early 1980s, both home ...
The greatness of The Who is that they were two contradictory things at the same time. On the one hand was the sheer physical noise they made, an eruption of volcanic force that left bystanders stupefied. But on the other was a purely intellectual force. In their chief songwriter Pete Townshend, The Who had a true rock theorist, ...
(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 ...
Unorthodox, uncompromising, Patti Smith was a seminal figure in the New York punk movement and has remained a touchstone for later generations of rock artists. Born on 30 December 1946, Smith was raised in southern New Jersey by her atheist father and Jehovah’s Witness mother. Leaving school at 16 she had brief, unsatisfying stints working in a ...
(Vocal duo, 1965–70) The original inspiration for The Blues Brothers, Sam Moore and Dave Prater signed to Atlantic in 1965 and recorded a string of energetic soul shouts at Stax under the production team of Isaac Hayes and David Porter, including ‘Hold On! I’m Coming’ and Southern Soul anthem ‘Soul Man’. They split in 1970, personal ...
(Vocal group, 1972–present) This veteran group provides a vehicle for the talents of brothers Ron and Russell Mael. Anglophile Californians, the Maels came to Britain in 1973 after two failed albums, the first as Halfnelson. Recruiting Adrian Fisher (guitar), Martin Gordon (bass) and Dinky Diamond (drums) they recorded Kimono My House (1974) featuring the memorable hit ‘This Town ...
Driven by a fierce intelligence, a relentless pursuit of social justice and a wide-ranging taste in sounds and songs, Tom Morello (b. 1964) was the driving force behind the bands Rage Against The Machine and Audioslave. Morello has won Grammys and performed around the world inspiring and uniting people with music. Known for innovative guitar solos and varied, ...
Being perched at the top of the charts on 25 December has represented a prestigious achievement for musicians since the dawn of the pop era, while the shopping frenzy of the festive period makes it one of the most potentially profitable times to release a record. It wasn’t always that way: the original Yuletide songs were church carols that endure ...
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 ...
The relationship between politics and folk music has always been fuel for lively debate. Some argue that the two should not mix, and that aligning traditional song with politics demeans it. Front-line singers such as Dick Gaughan and Roy Bailey, however, argue that folk songs are inextricably linked with politics, and perform plenty of strident material to ...
The early 1970s music scene saw rock and pop continue to separate, with the latter usually aiming for not only an ever-younger audience, but also an increasingly middle-aged one. Three major strands of new pop defined both this process and pop’s increased preoccupation with different forms of escapism. Glam rock was a peculiarly English phenomenon, signalling a return to ...
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...
CURATED
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.