(Vocals, b. 1969) King of hip hop Jay-Z (real name Shawn Corey Carter) holds the record for the most US No. 1 albums by a solo artist, nine of his 11 coming in the Noughties. He has collaborated with artists in many different genres, most successfully with rock band Linkin Park on album Collision Course in 2004. Songs ...
(Tenor saxophone, b. 1927) Cecil James McNeely was born and raised in Los Angeles. Inspired by Illinois Jacquet, McNeely played in high school with future jazz stars Sonny Criss and Hampton Hawes. He was discovered by Johnny Otis and made his recording debut in 1948 with a number-one hit, ‘Deacon’s Hop’. He had another hit in 1959 with ...
(Piano, vocals, 1916–2006) James Columbus McShann was born in Muskogee, Oklahoma and moved to Kansas City in 1936. He formed a big band in 1940 and recorded for Decca in 1941–43. The band featured vocalist Walter Brown and alto saxophonist Charlie Parker, and had a big hit with ‘Confessin’ The Blues’. McShann had a hit record on ...
(Vocals, 1929–2000) Ohio-born ex-Golden Gloves champion boxer Jalacy Hawkins evolved a stage show in which his props included a coffin and a skull, and although he never actually achieved any hit records, his larger-than-life stage show brought him great popularity. He also co-wrote ‘I Put A Spell On You’, a song which was a UK hit for Nina ...
Like so many of black America’s most enduring musical genres, hip hop was born out of invention. When, as the 1970s came to a close, a combination of disco and big record company involvement had diluted funk and soul to the extent that it had become boring to go out to a club on a Saturday night, something rumbled out of New ...
career, which included five solo US No. 1 singles in the decade, with roles in movies including Dreamgirls and The Pink Panther (both 2006). She married rap star Jay-Z in 2008 to create black music’s golden couple, while sister Solange is next up on father Mathew’s conveyor belt of talent. According to record company Sony, her record ...
father Mathew, the trio eventually split that year (albeit perhaps temporarily), with each member already pursuing a solo career. Knowles’ was the most successful after work with then boyfriend/rapper Jay-Z resulted in the infectious smash hit ‘Crazy In Love’ (2003). Styles & Forms | Twenty-First Century | Rock Personalities | Dido | Twenty-First Century | Rock ...
tracks like ‘Sheila’ and ‘Calm Down Dearest’ has made him one of the most popular artists in British indie music. Styles & Forms | Twenty-First Century | Rock Personalities | Jay-Z | Twenty-First Century | Rock ...
heavy rock sound – and the formula works well. Each of their four studio albums since 2000 has reached the Top 3 in the US and their collaboration with rapper Jay-Z, Collision Course (2004), topped the chart while fusing their twin loves of hip hop and rock. In 2005, the band founded a charity for victims of Hurricane Katrina ...
(Producer, singer-songwriter, b. 1969) With his roots firmly planted in R&B, pop and balladry Robert Kelly is one of America’s most successful male artists. Early albums like 12 Play (1993) and R. Kelly (1995) showcased his booty grabbing smooth vocal style over self-written and produced sensual music. ‘Sex Me Pts 1 & 2’, ‘She’s Got That Vibe’ and ...
(Vocals, b. 1971) Timbaland, alias Timothy Mosley, is a successful hip hop and R&B producer who had worked with such artists as Missy Elliott, Jay-Z and Aaliyah before releasing his first solo album in 1998; second LP, Timbaland Presents Shock Value went platinum in America in 2007, and narrowly missed out on the No. 1 ...
audacious rhyming skills and delivery to match the very best beats. In his slipstream were the Junior MAFIA posse, MOP, Capone-N-Noriega (who met in jail), Mobb Deep and Jay-Z, all of whom were a match for most of what came out of LA, shifting the power base eastwards. Too often, though, the rivalry between the two ...
force, as the company shifted with the times to have hits throughout the 1990s and into the new millennium with Warren G, Montell Jordan, Method Man, Jay-Z and Ja Rule. A New Direction Def Jam continued into hip hop’s third era, when the focus shifted to California and became gangsta, as opposed to the New ...
part-time embracing of politics amid the more commercially viable party music, gangsta fantasies and sex talk best represents the current crop of rappers’ attitudes. Types like Ja Rule and Jay-Z know they can sell records in quantities their predecessors never dreamed of, yet they remain very aware that they have to stay rooted in some kind of black consciousness ...
Blues-rock guitarist Alvin Lee was born Graham Barnes in Nottingham in 1944. Inspired by rock’n’roll guitarists Chuck Berry and Scotty Moore, Lee began to play at the age of 13, and formed his first band, Ivan Jay & The Jaymen, in 1960. Lee became lead vocalist in 1962 when the band changed their name to The Jaybirds ...
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