Alternative-rock guitarist Kevin Shields (b. 1963) was born in Queens, New York. When he was 10, the family relocated to Dublin, where he learned guitar as a teenager with Johnny Ramone as his role model. My Bloody Valentine came together in 1984. The band moved to Holland and then Berlin, where they recorded the mini-album This Is ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1983–97, 2007–present) MBV began as a thrashy 1960s garage band and ended up redefining the sound of rock guitar on the swirling, distorting but lambently beautiful Loveless (1991). Isn’t Anything from 1988, features slightly more recognizable tunes and song forms. Vocalist/guitarist Bilinda Butcher contributed lyrics and (guitarist/vocalist) Kevin Shields the revolutionary sounds. Deb Googe (bass) ...
Rock and jazz guitarist Neal Schon, son of a jazz saxophonist and composer, was born in Oklahoma in 1954. A precocious talent, he learned guitar at the age of 10 and joined Santana at 15, turning down an invitation to join Eric Clapton in Derek and the Dominos. Schon made two albums with the band, Santana ...
A crucial figure in New York’s late 1970s new-wave scene, Tom Verlaine (b. 1949) was born Thomas Miller in New Jersey. At an early age, he learned piano before switching to saxophone, inspired by John Coltrane. He took up the guitar in his teens and began forging his own style, searching for new ways of expressing himself ...
Originally coined as a criticism of the bands’ static stage performances – band members were said to stand stock still staring at their shoes – the so-called shoegazers played slow- or medium-paced rock, generally with heavily distorted or heavily reverbed guitars topped by dreamy, melodic and ethereal vocals. Influenced by the use of distorted guitars by The Jesus & ...
Unlike rock music, electronic music is made partly or wholly using electronic equipment – tape machines, synthesizers, keyboards, sequencers, drum machines and computer programmes. Its origins can be found in the middle of the nineteenth century, when many of electronic music’s theories and processes were conceived. In 1863 German scientist Hermann Ludwig Ferdinand von Helmholtz ...
Aida, set in Ancient Egypt, was not composed to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, as has often been suggested. Nor was it commissioned by the Khedive of Egypt to mark the opening of the Cairo Opera House that same year. It happened that the French Egyptologist, Auguste Mariette, keeper of monuments to ...
Verdi’s five-act opera Don Carlos was taken from a drama written in 1787 by the German playwright Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805). Written for the Paris Opéra, Don Carlos was first performed there on 11 March 1867. Schiller’s play was translated and the libretto written by Joseph Méry, who unfortunately died before it was completed, and Camille du Locle ...
Strauss saw Hedwig Lachmann’s German version of Oscar Wilde’s play in Berlin in 1903. Directed by Max Reinhardt, it made an immediate impression on the composer and he decided to set Lachmann’s text himself. The relatively short length of Salome allowed Strauss to approach the composition as though it were another of the tone-poems with which he had established his ...
(Vocal group, 1972–95) A multi-skilled foursome who operated from the self-owned Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Eric Stewart, Lol Creme, (both guitar, keyboards) Graham Gouldman, (bass) and Kevin Godley (drums) wrote, sang and produced four albums of inventive pop/rock from 1973–76. Their 1975 No. 1 ‘I’m Not In Love’ was also a Stateside smash. 10cc split ...
(DJ/rap artist, b. 1960) As a DJ, Bambaataa (b. Kevin Donovan) was at the forefront of the rise of hip hop in the late 1970s. In 1982, he released ‘Planet Rock’, which borrowed from Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’, and essentially invented electro. In the mid-1980s he collaborated with both John Lydon and James Brown. His debut album, Beware ...
One of the greatest achievements any guitar player can attain is an immediately recognizable signature tone and style. And though many guitarists have realized this goal, few have done it as emphatically as Police guitarist Andy Summers (b. 1942). From the chord stabs of ‘Roxanne’ and ‘Don’t Stand So Close To Me’ to the arpeggios of ‘Message In A Bottle’ ...
(Vocal group, 1992–present) Nick Carter, Howie Dorough, AJ McLean, Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson (left 2006). An American boy band, their first taste of success came in Europe in 1996 with soft-focus ballads like ‘Get Down (You’re The One For Me)’. They conquered the US in 1998, and albums like Millennium (1999) – the obligatory ...
(Vocal group, 1979–83, 2005–present) Taking their name from the German architectural movement, Bauhaus were a prototype goth outfit who made their recording debut in 1979 with the nine-minute single ‘Bela Lugosi’s Dead’. Peter Murphy’s brooding voice was accompanied by Daniel Ash (guitar), David J. (bass) and Kevin Haskins (drums) for four albums until the singer left in 1983. ...
(Singer-songwriter, 1936–73) Aged 20, New York-born Walden Robert Cassotto’s chart career started with the novelty million-seller, ‘Splish Splash’. Leading The Rinky Dinks, he next charted with ‘Early In The Morning’ (later a hit for Buddy Holly), and in 1957 ‘Queen Of The Hop’ also sold a million. His major breakthrough was 1959’s million-selling ‘Dream Lover’, followed by ...
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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.