(Vocals, guitar, b. 1936) Glen Campbell’s route to fame took him first to America’s West Coast, where he grew to be much in demand as a session musician, earning $50,000 to $70,000 a year. Signing to Capitol in 1962, he became a temporary member of The Beach Boys three years later, and ‘By ...
Clad head-to-toe in studded black leather and featuring a thundering rhythm section, a dynamic twin-guitar assault and one of the purest rock vocalists in music history, it simply doesn’t get any more ‘metal’ than Judas Priest. And the man behind many of the band’s greatest riffs and solos is guitarist Glenn Tipton (b. 1947). Born in Blackheath, England ...
(Piano, arranger, 1909–85) Lloyd Colquitt Glenn Sr. was born and raised in San Antonio, Texas. He worked with several southwestern territory bands before joining Don Albert in 1934 in the role of pianist and chief arranger. He moved to California in the early 1940s. Glenn became the prototype of the studio pianist-arranger for blues and R&B record dates ...
(Trombone, 1904–44) Glenn Miller was a trombonist of modest accomplishments, but he became one of the most famous big-band leaders in jazz. Although disdained by jazz purists, tunes such as ‘In The Mood’, ‘Moonlight Serenade’, ‘String Of Pearls’ and ‘Tuxedo Junction’ have remained enduringly popular. Miller’s bands played precisely executed riff-based swing tunes and very slow ballads; his ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1952–93) Campbell, who was born in Louisiana and grew up in Texas, combined the traditional approach of Lightnin’ Hopkins with his own swampy, electrified New Orleans hoodoo spiritualism. His debut, the Ronnie Earl-produced A Man & His Blues (1988), is a superb summation of his acoustic roots, but its two electric follow-ups ...
1932–82 Canadian pianist Although renowned as a concert pianist from the age of 14, Gould constantly sought new ways of communicating music through the popular media of the time. To this end, he gave up concerts in 1964 and concentrated on making recordings. His interpretations, notably of J. S. Bach, were controversial but had many admirers. He ...
(Vocals, songwriter, guitar, b. 1958) Georgia-born Jackson moved to Nashville in 1985. His rise to fame came after a chance meeting between his wife, Denise, and Glen Campbell, and before long, he was a staff songwriter at Campbell’s music-publishing company. A traditionalist blue-collar act, he was the first signing to Arista’s Nashville branch ...
(Vocals, b. 1945) Arguably one of Canada’s finest vocal exports, over 25 of Murray’s 50-plus country hits between 1970 and 1991 crossed over to the pop chart. Ten country No. 1s in that period curiously did not include her two million-selling pop chart-toppers – ‘Snowbird’ (1970) and ‘You Needed Me’ (1978). Apart from these, Murray delivered 1980’s ‘Could ...
(Vocals, songwriter, actor, 1938–99) Axton’s mother, Mae Boren Axton, co-wrote ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, and Hoyt himself enjoyed his greatest success through other artist’s covers of his songs – ‘Greenback Dollar’ (Kingston Trio), ‘Joy To The World’ (Three Dog Night) and ‘The Pusher’ (Steppenwolf). Popular in the UK through his 1979 singles ‘Della And The Dealer’ and ‘A ...
(Vocals, b. 1943) Colter became associated with the Outlaw movement even though her big, pure pop-country voice gave her more in common with Glen Campbell than with her husband Waylon Jennings. She was born Mirriam Johnson in Phoenix, Arizona, where she married rockabilly guitarist Duane Eddy in 1962. After a 1968 divorce, she adopted her new ...
(Vocals, banjo, guitar, fiddle, 1937–2001) Hartford is best known as the writer of ‘Gentle On My Mind’, a pop and country hit for Glen Campbell and much-recorded standard, but he was a gifted and devoted bluegrass musician who helped launch the new acoustic music movement with his 1971 album Aero-Plain. He celebrated America’s rivers as both ...
(Vocals, banjo, songwriter, 1939–2001) New York City-born, St. Louis, Missouri-raised John Hartford first made his mark in Nashville when he wrote and recorded a whimsical ballad called ‘Gentle On My Mind’, which became a massive country and pop hit for Glen Campbell in 1967. In the early 1970s, Hartford gravitated towards bluegrass music and emerged ...
America’s most successful pop group, graduating from fun-in-the-California-sun surf and hot-rod songs to multi-textured, intricately arranged numbers of exquisite harmonic structure, The Beach Boys initially achieved fame with a line-up consisting of the Wilson brothers, Brian (born 20 June 1942), Dennis (1944–83) and Carl (1946–98), together with their cousin Mike Love (born 15 March 1941) and Brian’s ...
The names of this array of landmark artists whose music either straddled or transcended specific genres, – Johnny Cash, Dolly Parton, Tammy Wynette, Loretta Lynn, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Charley Pride and Buck Owens among others – have become synonymous with country music. During the 1950s, 1960s and 1970s, country’s popularity penetrated ...
No one had ever produced records like Phil Spector. There had been lavish orchestrations and raucous sounds, but until the early 1960s, the elements were clearly defined in recordings, with a fair amount of separation allotted to a limited number of rhythm and percussion instruments within the confines of a mainly monaural medium. Spector changed all that. Applying ...
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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.