(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 ...
(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 ...
(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 ...
(Vocals, songwriter, b. 1958) As a teenager, New Jersey-born Carpenter moved to Washington, D.C., where music became an integral part of her life. Establishing herself on the local folk circuit, she signed with Columbia, resulting in her 1986 debut album, Hometown Girl. Produced by guitarist John Jennings, it marked the beginning ...
1874–1967, American Born in Aberdeen, Scotland, Garden moved to America when she was six. She studied in Chicago and then Paris, where she debuted as Charpentier’s Louise at the Opéra-Comique. Perhaps her most historically significant role was creating Mélisande in Debussy’s Pelléas et Mélisande in 1902. It was in this part that she made her American debut ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1961–71) This merger of three solo artists from New York – Mary Travers (vocals), Paul Stookey (guitar, vocals) and Peter Yarrow (guitar, vocals) – resulted in the first Top 40 appearances of a ‘New Left’ act. Yet, after an inaugural flush of success with ‘Lemon Tree’, ‘If I Had A Hammer’, self-penned ‘Puff The Magic ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1983–98) This irascible, much-lauded Scottish crew featured the Reid brothers, William and Jim (both vocals, guitar) and, for a while, Bobby Gillespie of Primal Scream (drums). They took The Velvet Underground’s art rock and overlaid surprisingly poppy melodies. Their early gigs turned into riots, but 1985’s Psychocandy was a very good debut ...
(Vocals, b. 1940) Discovered by Burt Bacharach in 1962 singing backing vocals in a New York studio, Warwick became the muse of the Bacharach-David writing team that made the reputations of both parties. Her first hit that year was their ‘Don’t Make Me Over’, and from then until 1972 when the writers fell out she charted 30 times with ...
(Vocal group, 1963–72) Two lucky breaks for Motown secretary Martha and friends Annette Beard and Rosalind Ashford launched their career: covering for absent backing singers on the 1962 session for Marvin Gaye’s ‘Stubborn Kind Of Fellow’, and taking the lead vocal on ‘I’ll Have To Let Him Go’ when Mary Wells did not show in 1963. Taking their name from ...
(Vocal group, 1958–78) The Miracles – Smokey Robinson, Claudette Rogers, Bobby Rogers, Ronnie White and Warren Moore – were a cornerstone of Motown’s early success. Their 1960 hit ‘Shop Around’ set the gospel-and-soul tone for the label (later tempered with girl-group pop). Robinson was also a producer and songwriter of great lyricism for other Motown acts, ...
(Vocal group, 1960–present) Formed in 1960, The Temptations were Motown’s leading male group, with smooth harmonies and crisp choreography. Their first big hit, 1965’s ‘My Girl’ was written by Smokey Robinson in reply to his earlier ‘My Guy’, penned for Mary Wells. From 1967, producer Norman Whitfield gave them a harder edge. Adding psychedelic soul to ...
‘Renaissance’ is a French word meaning ‘rebirth’. It has been used since the nineteenth century to describe the period between c. 1300 and 1600. Three hundred years is a long time for a single historical or cultural period, and the strain shows in any attempt to define the term ‘Renaissance’. The cultural phenomenon central to the Renaissance was a revival ...
An important aspect of Romanticism was its focus on individual feeling and expression, in contrast to the universal strictures of classical form and style. This led inevitably to a concept of the artist as a misunderstood genius, battling against the world. The second generation of English Romantic poets, including Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, contributed significantly ...
Once hailed by the Pope as ‘Defender of the Faith’ against Martin Luther, Henry VIII made an about-face when he declared himself primate of the Church of England in order to grant himself a divorce from his first wife, Catherine of Aragon. The political, religious and social results of Henry’s action are well-known; the impact on music was ...
Opposing tastes in opera have often provoked minor wars. One of them was the guerre des bouffons, which took place in Paris between 1752 and 1754 and ranged the supporters of French serious opera against the advocates of Italian opera buffa. On the French side were King Louis, his influential mistress Madame de Pompadour, his court and the ...
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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
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