SEARCH RESULTS FOR: Kitty Wells
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(Vocals, b. 1919) Born Muriel Deason, in Nashville, Tennessee, Kitty Wells was one of the first women to achieve stardom in country music. Wells began singing in the 1930s with her cousin Bessie Choate as The Deason Sisters. In 1938, she married singer Johnnie Wright, who would later partner with Jack Anglin in the popular ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Harmonica, vocals, 1934–98) Amos Blackmore grew up in west Memphis, Arkansas under the sway of Sonny Boy Williamson II and began recording as a teenager in Chicago, playing with the innovative Four Aces before joining Muddy Waters’ band. Wells created a personal style influenced by James Brown. In the mid-1960s he began a long association with guitarist ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel

(Vocals, 1943–92) One of Motown’s first female superstars, Wells was signed when she demo’d a song she had written for Jackie Wilson. Instead it became her own 1961 debut single ‘Bye Bye Baby’, and reached No. 8 in the R&B chart. Although only her 1964 US pop No. 1 ‘My Guy’ charted in Britain, she had many more ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1961) Canadian lang’s first international album, the Dave Edmunds-produced Angel With A Lariat (1987), was critically acclaimed. A duet with Roy Orbison on a remake of his 1961 hit, ‘Crying’, for the movie Hiding Out, was her first country hit. She then teamed up with veteran producer Owen Bradley for Shadowlands (1988), which ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Producer, record executive, 1915–98) This influential Westmoreland, Tennessee-born record producer started out as a piano player in pop dance bands before being hired as an assistant to pioneering Nashville producer Paul Cohen at Decca. From the late 1950s until the 1980s, Bradley produced the records and helped shape the musical identities of a host of stars, ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

(Vocals, 1916–72) Born David Luke Myrick, in Mena, Texas, Tyler first rose to prominence as a member of the Louisiana Hayride and later recorded a string of sentimental hits, including ‘Filipino Baby’ (1946), ‘Deck Of Cards’ (1948), ‘My Bucket’s Got A Hole In It’ (1949) and ‘Bummin’ Around’ (1953). Styles & Forms | War Years | ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

The Everlys were born into a country music family; Don on 1 February 1937 in Brownie, Kentucky; Phil in Chicago – where father Ike had moved to play in bands with his brothers – on 19 January 1939. The family moved to Shenandoah, Iowa, to a regular slot on a local radio station, and Ike and Margaret’s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley

Waylon Jennings (vocals, guitar, 1937–2002) was a teenage disc jockey in Lubbock, Texas, when he first met the hometown hero Buddy Holly (1936–59). Holly produced Jennings’ first single, ‘Jole Blon’, in September 1958, and hired Jennings as his bassist the following January. On 3 February 1959, Jennings was all set to take a charter ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

There is no distinct boundary line between the early​ and old-time country era, when the music was still relatively unshaped by the American mainstream, and the modern age, when country music’s popularity and ubiquity have made it very much a part of the mass culture. But it was in the 1920s, due to the emerging radio and ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

At least until the 1930s and 1940s the dominant themes in country music were a celebration of bedrock rural values like family, faith, fidelity and the redeeming powers of true love and honest labour. The music served as much as anything to offer listeners comfort, reassurance and a soothing sense of place and identity. But as America’s national ...

Source: The Illustrated Encyclopedia of Music, general editor Paul Du Noyer

Major changes occurred in country music during the 1970s and 1980s, and country icons came and went as the music escaped from the stereotypical image of the 1960s, when it had been gingham dresses for the ladies and rhinestone suits for the men. Now country music had a new face: Dolly Parton’s extravagant dress sense and the shaggy-haired Outlaw ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Just as sports have their pantheon of greats, the country-music industry established its own Hall Of Fame in 1961 to honour its most influential figures and deepen public understanding and appreciation of the music’s rich heritage and history. A Pantheon Of Country Stars As of 2005, 62 artists and industry leaders – starting with Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) and songwriter ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Country Music, consultant editor Bob Allen

Puccini visited the Metropolitan Opera in New York during 1907 to see the US premieres of Manon Lescaut and Madama Butterfly. While there he saw David Belasco’s play The Girl of the Golden West and his next opera began to take shape. La fanciulla del West is notable particularly for the vital part the vast orchestra plays in depicting the characters’ ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

Composed in 1944–45 and first performed on 7 June 1945, Peter Grimes reopened London’s Sadler’s Wells Theatre following the Second World War – at the request of managing director, soprano Joan Cross. This opera, and its success, provided the momentum that the post-war arts environment needed. From the moment Britten read ‘The Borough’ he began making plans ...

Source: Definitive Opera Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie

European culture lay in ruins after the end of World War II. There were many who, in company with the philosopher Theodor Adorno, felt that Nazi atrocities such as Auschwitz rendered art impossible, at least temporarily. Others, though, felt that humanity could only establish itself anew by rediscovering the potency of art, including opera. On ...

Source: Classical Music Encyclopedia, founding editor Stanley Sadie
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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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