Veteran Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards (b. 1943) was born in Dartford, Kent. After being expelled from technical school in 1958, Richards attended Sidcup Art College. The art-school environment was crucial to Richards’ development, as it was for many of his generation. Here he was able to nurture his passion for rhythm and blues, finding many fellow ...
(Piano, keyboards, flute, soprano saxophone, percussion, b. 1945) Few artists are as demanding of themselves and their audiences as Allentown, Pennsylvania native Keith Jarrett. A child prodigy, Jarrett first caused a stir while playing in saxophonist Charles Lloyd’s quartet. In 1970, he joined Miles Davis on electric piano and organ. Jarrett soon eschewed ...
(Banjo, pedal steel guitar, b. 1939) Keith grew up in Boston, but he fell in love with bluegrass and mastered the Scruggs roll so well that he could play fast, fluid fiddle tunes on the banjo. He founded a duo with college roommate Jim Rooney (vocals, guitar, b. 1938) and in 1963 joined Bill Monroe. ...
(Guitar, vocals, b. 1961) Toby Keith’s rich, booming voice is best known for his chart-topping 1993 debut single ‘Should’ve Been A Cowboy’, which the NFL Dallas Cowboys football team adopted as their anthem, while his eponymous debut album was certified platinum. His 1994 album, Boomtown, went gold, and after six years with Mercury he ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1967) New Zealand-born, Australian-raised, Keith Urban represents the slick, rock-slanted visual side of Nashville. In 1988 Urban formed a three-piece band in Australia and gained a good following, signing with EMI Australia in 1990 before making the leap to Nashville in 1992. There he formed The Ranch and signed with Capitol. His ...
(Vocals, guitar, 1955–89) Initially a bluegrass artist, Whitley began performing at the age of eight on the Buddy Starcher radio show from Charleston, Virginia. In 1970, Whitley and his friend Ricky Skaggs joined Ralph Stanley’s Clinch Mountain Boys, and during the 1970s, recorded with J. D. Crowe And The New South. He turned to ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1962–67) Alexis Korner (guitar, piano, vocals), born in Paris, France in 1928, was considered to be the father of electric British blues. When he and Cyril Davies (harmonica, vocals) formed Blues Incorporated in 1962 with Dick Heckstall-Smith (saxophone), Andy Hoogenboom (bass), Ken Scott (piano) and Charlie Watts (drums), their amplified line-up met with ...
Charles Edward Anderson Berry, known to all as Chuck, was born in St Louis, Missouri, on 18 October 1926, at the family’s home in Goode Avenue. The local gospel choir used it for their rehearsals and there was a well-employed piano in situ. Berry began learning the guitar in his mid-teens. At 17 he was involved ...
One of the founding fathers of rock’n’roll, Charles Edward (Chuck) Berry was born in 1926 in St Louis, Missouri, to a middle-class family. His interest in the blues began in high school, where he gave his first public performance. In 1944, he was convicted of armed robbery and sentenced to three years in an Intermediate Reformatory ...
I’m having lunch in a Chelsea restaurant with a sprightly gent of 60-plus. His wits are quick and he’s a fabulous source of softly spoken gossip. He reflects a moment on one especially key evening in his life, early in 1963. ‘If you’re not sure who rock’n’roll belongs to,’ says Andrew Loog Oldham, ‘then it surely isn’t you ...
The greatness of The Who is that they were two contradictory things at the same time. On the one hand was the sheer physical noise they made, an eruption of volcanic force that left bystanders stupefied. But on the other was a purely intellectual force. In their chief songwriter Pete Townshend, The Who had a true rock theorist, ...
John Lee Hooker’s sparse blues sound was a major influence on the younger generations of blues musicians dominating the music scene in the 1960s and 1970s. His individual style retained a primitive purity at a time when many of his contemporaries were experimenting with groups and incorporating the influences of other types of music into their blues. Hooker’s guitar technique was ...
The original boogie man, John Lee Hooker (1917–2001) sustained a career of more than 50 years with his incessant one-chord stomp and half-spoken vocal style. But behind the captivating, hypnotic rhythm, Hooker found his own deep blues – one with dark tones and mysterious flurries of notes – as he groped to express, often with a wicked ...
Indie guitar legend Johnny Marr (b. 1963) was born John Maher in Manchester, England to Irish Catholic parents. He grew up in a household where music was a constant fixture, and he recalled, ‘I always had guitars, for as long as I could remember.’ Guitar technique came easily to young Johnny, and he quickly mastered ...
(Vocals, b. 1947) After 1964’s ‘As Tears Go By’ – written by Rolling Stones Mick Jagger (her then-boyfriend) and Keith Richards – climbed high in the UK and US charts, a winning streak was protracted with songs of like lightweight persuasion until Faithfull’s innocent schoolgirl image was tarnished for ever by frank and public opinions on free love and ...
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David Bowie
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