(Banjo, guitar, 1905–73) Originally from Indiana, Condon became associated with Chicago’s Austin High School Gang, a group of white West-Side teenagers who emulated King Oliver’s Creole Jazz Band and created their own take on hot jazz. In 1927, Condon co-led a band with William ‘Red’ McKenzie (which also included Bud Freeman, Frank Teschemacher, Gene ...
Eddie Hazel (1950–92) was born in Brooklyn and grew up in Plainfield, New Jersey. He played guitar and sang in church. At the age of 12, he met Billy ‘Bass’ Nelson, and the pair sang and played guitar together. In 1967 the Parliaments, a Plainfield-based doo-wop band headed by George Clinton, hit the charts with ‘I ...
Eddie Van Halen redefined the sound of heavy metal at the end of the 1970s. His high-velocity solos, distinguished by his finger-tapping technique and tremolo-bar effects, on Van Halen’s 1978 debut album heralded a new era in hard-rock guitar that rejected the clichés of a jaded genre. His solo on Michael Jackson’s ‘Beat It’ in 1982, which effectively ...
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 ...
Freddie (sometimes spelled Freddy) King (1934–76) revitalized the Chicago blues scene in the 1960s. His aggressive playing and piercing solos helped to set up the blues-rock movement, and he was a major influence on 1960s British guitarists like Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. King’s mother taught him to play guitar as a child in Gilmer, Texas ...
(Guitar, 1902–33) Philadelphia native Salvatore Massaro joined the Mound City Blue Blowers in 1924 and by the mid-1920s had become jazz’s first in-demand session guitarist, backing various blues and popular singers. A single-note virtuoso, he was also jazz’s first guitar hero. In 1926, Lang teamed up with high-school pal Joe Venuti for some classic guitar-violin duet sessions ...
(Alto saxophone, vocals, 1917–88) Edward L. Vinson Jr. was born in Houston, Texas. He studied saxophone in high school and played with the Chester Boone and Milt Larkin Orchestras, before touring with a show featuring Lil Green and Big Bill Broonzy in 1941. He joined the Cootie Williams Orchestra in 1942 and recorded hit vocals on ‘Cherry ...
(Tenor saxophone, vocals, 1934–96) Eddie Harris was one of the few jazz musicians to achieve the distinction of a million-selling hit single with his version of the theme from the film Exodus (1960). A funky, hard-blowing saxophonist from Chicago, he pioneered the use of electronics with tenor saxophone through the Varitone signal processor and similar devices from ...
In the 1960s and early 1970s, trumpeter Freddie Hubbard was the primary alternative to Miles Davis’s domination of the field. Hubbard came up in the hard-bop era, blew free jazz with Ornette Coleman and John Coltrane, and established a body of exemplary compositions, recordings and improvisations with the best of the 1960s Blue Note artists: Art Blakey ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1934–76) Few bluesmen have possessed the bristling intensity of Freddie King, whose stinging vibrato and energetic, soaring vocal style influenced Eric Clapton. King was born in Gilmer, Texas and learned guitar from his mother at age six. He moved to Chicago in 1950, earning a reputation among peers like Buddy Guy and Otis ...
(Vocals, guitar, songwriter, actor, 1907–99) Not as famous as his singing-cowboy compatriots, Eddie Dean nevertheless had starring roles in over 20 westerns during the 1940s, as well as his own television series The Marshall Of Gunshot Pass (1950). Beginning his career on radio, and one-time member of the WLS (Chicago) National Barn Dance, ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1926) A regular on the Town Hall Party, Alabama-born Freddie Hart arrived in Los Angeles following a troubled childhood, a couple of years in the Marines (enrolling when he was only 15), and travelling across the nation. His 1950s association with Capitol and Columbia resulted in some fine, though overlooked, country and ...
(Guitar, singer-songwriter, 1938–60) Oklahoma-born Cochran was a rising star of rock’n’roll, guest-starring in 1956’s The Girl Can’t Help It, the best ever rock’n’roll movie. He wrote songs with lyrics that spoke to teenagers like 1958’s ‘Summertime Blues’ (US Top 10/UK Top 20) and 1959’s ‘C’mon Everybody’ (UK Top 10). After dying in a car crash while on ...
(Vocals, b. 1935) Floyd first found fame with the 1950s gospel soulsters The Falcons. After going solo, he eventually migrated to Stax Records as writer and producer; with Steve Cropper he co-wrote ‘634-5789’, a No. 1 R&B hit for Wilson Pickett (who had replaced him in The Falcons). The pair also wrote ‘Knock On Wood’, originally meant for Otis ...
(Vocal group, 1961–2002) A debut single, 1963’s ‘If You Gotta Make A Fool Of Somebody’, began a two-year British chart run for this Manchester outfit. Moreover, as their fortunes subsided at home, they caught on in North America, scoring a US No. 1 with 20-month-old ‘I’m Telling You Now’, and amassing advance orders of 142,000 ...
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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.