SEARCH RESULTS FOR: Connie B. Gay
1 of 4 Pages     Next ›

(Promoter, manager, radio personality, 1914–89) Working out of Washington, D.C., this North Carolina-born promoter and behind-the-scenes media wizard was a key figure in the rise of country music’s popularity in the 1950s and 1960s. Gay was instrumental in the careers of leading artists like Patsy Cline, Roy Clark, Jimmy Dean and Grandpa Jones. ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The bluesman who took the blues into the mainstream, B.B. King (b. 1925) is also its ambassador to the world. His solid, seasoned style is heard internationally. King’s style draws on the Mississippi blues of Elmore James and Muddy Waters, the Chicago blues of Buddy Guy and Magic Sam, and the West-Coast blues of T-Bone Walker ...

Source: Rock Guitar Heroes, consultant editor Rusty Cutchin

(Guitar, vocals, 1929–67) J.B. Lenoir was born in Monticello, Mississippi; his parents were farmers as well as musicians. He learned to play the guitar at the age of eight and left home in the early 1940s to work with Rice Miller and Elmore James, before settling in Chicago in 1949 and making his recording debut in ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

When the great Mississippi musician Riley King left the cotton fields to seek his fortune in Memphis in 1946, he had $2.50 in his pocket and a battered guitar in his hand. Today, his name is synonymous with blues music itself, yet his ascendance to the zenith of the blues world never altered his friendly, downhome ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Guitar, vocals, 1926–83) The highly theatrical Joseph Benjamin ‘J.B.’ Hutto sang in the Golden Crowns Gospel Singers as a child and made his first records with his backup band, the Hawks, in 1954. Hutto then left the music business but returned, rejuvenated, 10 years later. He toured with various incarnations of the Hawks ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, b. 1951) Loretta Lynn’s younger sister was born Brenda Gail Webb, and her professional career began as part of her older sister’s show. After minor success on Decca, she signed with United Artists in 1974, which resulted in an almost-immediate change of fortunes. The lilting Top 10 hit, ‘Wrong Road Again’ (1975), opened the floodgates ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

1685–1732, English A friend and collaborator of Alexander Pope and Jonathan Swift (1667–1745), John Gay invented the genre of ballad opera with The Beggar’s Opera. It premiered on 29 January 1728 at Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and performed 62 times in its first season. The popular perception that The Beggar’s Opera was an attack on Italian opera is untrue. It ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

(Vocals, b. 1938) New Jersey-born Concetta Franconero appeared on Arthur Godfrey’s TV talent show, and while still at university, signed to MGM Records. 1958’s UK chart topper, ‘Who’s Sorry Now’ was the first of eight mainly sentimental million-selling US hits, including 1959’s ‘Among My Souvenirs’, and 1960’s ‘Everybody’s Somebody’s Fool’, the first of three US No. ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Guitar, vocals, b. 1925) Riley B. King, from Indianola, Mississippi, is arguably the last surviving authentic blues artist. Orphaned, he took up guitar aged 15, turning professional after US military service. In 1947, he moved to Memphis and lived with cousin Bukka White. There, he worked on a local radio station, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocals, 1939–84) Gaye was a soul giant whose career spanned his genre’s transition from pop entertainment to social conscience and personal exploration. He signed with Berry Gordy’s Motown label in 1961, where his recordings revealed a strong tenor voice with a huge span – three octaves – on songs ranging from R&B mod anthem ‘Can I Get A Witness’ ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocals, 1972–97) Born Christopher Wallace in New York, he sold crack to make ends meet which ended up in a jail term. Because of his large size he began rapping under the name of Biggie Smalls and an early demo eventually found its way to Sean Combs, a.k.a. Puff Daddy, who signed him to his ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Songwriter, vocals, b. 1939) Spiro, Oklahoma-born Dallas Frazier was a quintessential honky-tonk songwriter of the 1960s and 1970s. ‘If My Heart Had Windows’ (a hit for George Jones, 1967), ‘I’m So Afraid Of Losing You Again’ (Charley Pride, 1969), ‘Johnny One Time’ (Brenda Lee, 1969) and ‘What’s Your Mama’s Name’ (Tanya Tucker, 1973) are ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

One of country music’s most influential and enduringly popular figures, Patsy Cline managed to transcend with seeming effortlessness the uneasy rift between traditional country music and the more urbane Nashville sound that emerged full-blown in the late 1950s. Crossover Diva Cline was one of the few female artists at the forefront of the emerging Nashville sound. With her smooth yet ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The late Baroque era (1700–50) was a time of major political change throughout Europe, involving a shift in the balance of power between sovereign states. Across the continent it was a period of almost continuous warfare, the effects of which were later felt in other parts of the world as a result of conflicting ambitions among the various trading ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

By the beginning of the eighteenth century, opera was established in some form in most major European centres. The basic types of serious and comic opera in both Italian and French traditions shared similarities, although the content and style of an operatic entertainment could vary according to whether it was intended to flatter a private patron, resound with ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
1 of 4 Pages     Next ›

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.

Rock, A Life Story

Rock, A Life Story

The ultimate story of a life of rock music, from the 1950s to the present day.

David Bowie

David Bowie

Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers his life, music, art and movies, with a sweep of incredible photographs.