(Guitar, vocals, 1897–1973) Lizzie Douglas was born in Algiers, Louisiana but was raised in Walls, Mississippi. She learned banjo and guitar at a young age and ran away to Memphis in 1910 to work the music circuit under the name Kid Douglas. She toured with the Ringling Brothers circus for several seasons prior to 1920 and also ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1927–34) They did not invent the style, but guitarist/harpist Will Shade (a.k.a. Son Brimmer) and his rollicking aggregation were among the most popular and influential of the jug and string bands that proliferated around Memphis and Louisville, as well as in the Mississippi Delta, during the 1920s and 1930s. With various personnel coming ...
(Piano, vocals, 1915–88) John Len Chatman was born in Memphis, Tennessee. Influenced by barrelhouse pianists such as Roosevelt Sykes, Slim forged an early career in Memphis playing in cafes, juke joints and other music venues around the Beale Street area. He moved to Chicago in 1937, where he worked with Big Bill Broonzy. He began ...
(Comedian, 1912–96) Often called ‘The Queen of Country Comedy’, Sarah Ophelia Colley brought smiles of warmth and endearment to several generations of Grand Ole Opry fans in the comic guise of Minnie Pearl. She was a fixture on the Opry for over half a century. Styles & Forms | War Years | Country Personalities | Webb Pierce | War Years ...
‘Lovin’ You’, 1975 Having virtually retired in the early 1970s, Epic Records slowly restarted Riperton’s career in 1973, having her record backing vocals for Stevie Wonder, followed by recording her own solo album, Perfect Angel (which featured Wonder as co-writer and musician), and releasing a string of singles, which culminated in 1975’s No. 1 hit, ...
The parents of William Lee Conley Broonzy were born into slavery. He was born in June 1893 in Scott, Mississippi, one of 17 children. Raised on a farm in Arkansas, Broonzy’s first musical instrument was a home-made violin, which he played at church and social functions. In the early teens he was an itinerant preacher, while ...
(Music publisher, producer, manager, 1884–1985) Publisher Irving Mills was early to recognize the potential in black music. He formed Mills Music, Inc. with his brother in 1919 and enjoyed a business relationship with Duke Ellington from 1926–39 that brought a procession of Ellington songs into the Mills catalogue. He also formed the Mills Blue Rhythm Band in ...
As if at the convenience of history, the stock market crash in the final weeks of 1929 severed the 1920s from the 1930s. The breach was economic but its consequences were pervasive, sweeping away economic values and social illusions, and affecting all aspects of life for Americans and Europeans alike. America’s compliant 1920s middle class became the 1930s ...
The legend of Sun Records seems to expand and shine brighter with every passing year, as successive generations discover the almost unbelievable array of musical gems that were created at that modest little studio at 706 Union Avenue, Memphis. Sun was the brainchild of one man and it is no exaggeration to say that without his contribution, not ...
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 ...
If you look for country music’s Big Bang, there is nothing more momentous than Bristol, 1927. Within four summer days, two stars appeared that would change the cosmology of country – remap the sky. And it all happened in a disused office building in a quiet mountain town perched on the state line between Virginia and Tennessee. Why ...
Few would deny that the blues has played a more important role in the history of popular culture than any other musical genre. As well as being a complete art form in itself, it is a direct ancestor to the different types of current popular music we know and love today. Without the blues there would have been no Beatles ...
The 1950s and 1960s were milestone decades for country music. It was during these years that the stylistic tensions between traditional and contemporary, rural and urbane, became sharply delineated and the first ideological and aesthetic battle lines between the traditionalists and modernists were drawn in the sand. Out of this tension arose bold innovation and refreshing diversity. The 1950s ...
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’ ...
(Vocals, b. 1946) An American soul and gospel singer, Reverend Al Green (he was ordained a pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976) made his recording debut on Back Up Train (1967). His third album Al Green Gets Next To You (1970) was the start of a golden period when he recorded many of the songs ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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