(Guitar, producer, 1924–2001) Tennessee-born Chester Burton Atkins, whose father was a music teacher, was one of the most influential twentieth-century guitarists, and was initially influenced by the finger- and thumb-picking country-style playing of Merle Travis. Signed to RCA from 1947, he made scores of mainly instrumental albums, and in 1955 became the head of ...
As the first superstar instrumentalist to emerge from the modern Nashville recording scene, Chet Atkins (1924–2001) was a living legend for most of his life, but the Nashville-based guitarist was also a producer, engineer, label executive and A&R man without peer. Chester Burton ‘Chet’ Atkins was born on in June 1924 in Luttrell, Tennessee. He started ...
One of modern country music’s most remarkable figures, Chester Burton Atkins born in Luttrell, Tennessee, rose from rural obscurity to become one of the world’s most celebrated guitarists and one of Nashville’s most influential record producers. Atkins’ musical vision did much to shape country music during the 1950s and 1960s. Early Years Atkins was born on 20 June ...
(Soprano saxophone, clarinet, 1897–1959) A child prodigy who left school at the age of 16 and worked with various bands around New Orleans, the Creole clarinetist thrilled audiences and players alike with his soaring tone, forceful attack, penetrating solos, dazzling facility and unusually fast vibrato. In 1917, Bechet and King Oliver played together briefly ...
(Trumpet, 1929–88) Chet Baker was an icon of cool at the height of his fame in the 1950s. His recording of ‘My Funny Valentine’ with Gerry Mulligan in 1952 established him as a star of the emerging cool jazz genre; his boyish, film-star looks (later ravaged by drug abuse) and a light, seductively lyrical trumpet style assured his ...
1671–1748, French Librettist Danchet was born on 7 September 1671 at Riom in Auvergne. His first theatrical text, Vénus (1698), was privately performed at Paris. This was also his first collaboration with composer André Campra (1660–1744). Between 1698 and 1735 Danchet and Campra produced several pastorals, ballets and opéra ballets, and 11 tragedies lyriques including Hésione (1700), ...
From its roots, country music has been associated with simplicity – in melody, in subject-matter and in instrumentation, and it is this that has perhaps ensured its longevity. However, all good musicians make their craft look simple, and the history of country music is packed with virtuosos, from the pioneering banjoist Earl Scruggs, through ...
(Vocals, b. 1937) Columbia, South Carolina-born James William Anderson emerged as one of Nashville’s most celebrated songwriters in 1958, when Ray Price took his ‘City Lights’ to the top of the charts. Anderson soon signed his own recording contract with Decca Records and joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1961. In the years since he has parlayed his ...
(Vocals, b. 1938) With his richly textured baritone, Pride had a nearly unmatched string of 29 No. 1 country hits from the mid-1960s until the late 1980s. Perhaps more significantly, Pride is merely the symbolic tip of the iceberg – only the most visible of many gifted but far less celebrated black singers who, just like their ...
Rock’n’roll guitarist Duane Eddy was born in Corning, New York in 1938. His interest in the guitar began when he was five, inspired by singing film-cowboy Gene Autry. In 1951, the family moved to Arizona. While playing guitar in a country duo, Duane met songwriter, producer and disc jockey Lee Hazelwood. The pair embarked on a ...
One of rock’n’roll’s most influential guitarists, Eddie Cochran was born in Albert Lea, Minnesota in 1938. Eddie wanted to join the school band as a drummer, but opted for trombone when he was told that he would have to learn piano before being allowed to play drums. When advised that he didn’t have the ‘lip’ for trombone ...
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, ...
(Piano, songwriter, 1933–97) This Santi, Louisiana-born pianist was to country piano in the 1950s and 1960s what his mentor Chet Atkins was to guitar. Cramer’s distinct ‘slip-note’ style became a hallmark of the Nashville sound. As a soloist, he also recorded dozens of albums and scored some crossover pop hits with ‘Last Date’ (1960) and ‘San Antonio ...
Pigeonholed as the ‘quiet one’, misunderstood as an adopter of Eastern religion and music, and overshadowed (sometimes maligned) by his prolific, trail-blazing bandmates Lennon and McCartney, George Harrison (1943–2001) might have become a footnote in musical history. But as a member of The Beatles, Harrison made the words ‘lead guitar’ a household term and steadily developed as ...
If Jerry Lee Lewis had never existed, it seems unlikely that anyone would have had a sufficiently vivid imagination to have invented him. Through a 50-year career, this massively talented, yet infuriatingly self-destructive genius has scaled the heights and plumbed the depths, never for one moment compromising his music or his life. Most people mellow with age. ...
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.