(Producer, b. 1963) Norman Cook, former bassist with The Housemartins, has since operated under a number of guises with huge success. As Fatboy Slim he managed to combine the engine room of dance with great rock sounds – including The Who – to create some of the greatest anthems of the 1990s. You’ve Come A Long Way, ...
(Vocals, b. 1957) Originally scoring hits as part of the Latin-powered Miami Sound Machine in the late 1980s with husband Emilio, Cuban-born Estefan soon went solo with hugely successful pop albums like Into The Light (1991) and Destiny (1996). Always keeping a foot firmly in the Latin market with Spanish-language albums like Abriendo Puertas (1995), she was ideally placed ...
(Vocals, b. 1970) Born Natalie McIntyre in Ohio, Macy Gray is a modern soul singer whose voice is distinctive and demeanor often startlingly original. In 1998, early hits ‘Why Didn’t You Call Me ?’ and ‘I’ve Committed Murder’ started to cause minor ripples in her home country, but by the following year her star was well in ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1983–88) Formed in Hull by Paul Heaton (vocals), Stan Cullimore (guitar, vocals), Ted Key (bass) and Hugh Whitaker (drums), the band were the epitome of unassuming British indie pop. Their up-tempo, melodic songs belied some abrasive, politically charged lyrics on the likes of ‘Sheep’ and their first big hit ‘Happy Hour’, from 1986’s all-conquering debut ...
In the mid-1980s, the Chicago DJ Pierre was fiddling around with a new piece of technology, the Roland TB 303 machine. Tampering with its bass sound produced all sorts of squiggly, complex patterns. Pierre and the DJ/producer Marshall Jefferson gave a 12-minute tape of these doodlings to a local DJ, Ron Hardy, who played it at ...
The 1990s electronica that came to be known as big beat is recognised by its rhythmic clout and propulsive force. With their freaky FX and mental 303 acid lines set to block rockin’ beats, The Chemical Brothers were the architects of this fusion of hip hop and techno; Norman Cook, a.k.a Fatboy Slim, would later emulate ...
It is a common enough opinion that the words ‘British’ and ‘rap’ are contradictions in terms. Unfortunately, this is indeed the case and it is solely because of the language barrier: rap delivered in any form of English other than American does not sound authentic. To attempt rap in the Queen’s English became known as the ‘Derek B Syndrome’, after ...
In Jamaica, nothing gets thrown away. Oil drums, floorboards … more or less everything has to be used again at least once, including music. Why throw a tune away just because it’s been a hit, when the same rhythm can be redressed with new lyrics or radically altered instrumentation to liven up the dancehalls again ? And ...
Jungle and UK garage are often cited as the only real British contributions to electronic music, but the slow motion beats of trip hop are also steeped in the multi-cultural sounds of UK music. Influenced by 1980s dub acts like On-U-Sound, Adrian Sherwood and African Headcharge and their own sound system backgrounds, Bristol based acts like Smith & ...
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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.