(Singer-songwriter, b. 1971) One of rap’s most iconic and important female stars, Melissa Elliott began writing for artists like Aaliyah before securing her own record deal. Supa Dupa Fly (1997) was a startling debut showcasing Elliott’s witty female empowering lyrics and masterful songwriting talent. Subsequent albums delivered hit after hit as well as featuring guest appearances from a male ...
(Guitar, bass, reeds, programming, vocals, b. 1951) Cleveland, Ohio-born Sharp is on the cutting edge, combining his experience as an improviser – he was a cornerstone of Manhattan’s 1980s downtown, avant-garde music scene – with deep tradition. Sharp’s earliest gigs were with blues bands. After 20 years of sophisticated experimentation with other styles ...
1908–2012 American composer An early relationship with Charles Ives (1874–1954) and a period of study with Nadia Boulanger (1887–1979) led to a synthesis of European modernism and American ultra-modernism, which can be heard in the String Quartet No. 1 (1950–51). By the second quartet (1959), Carter was following an entirely different style: the four string players are instructed to sit ...
(Vocals, b. 1968) This star of Australian TV soap Neighbours scored her first UK hit with ‘I Should Be So Lucky’ in 1988. Since then she has built a career that rivals Madonna in image changes and fusing pop songs with ever-changing contemporary dance beats. ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’ (2002) was a massive UK and US hit. ...
(Vocals, b. 1971) Timbaland, alias Timothy Mosley, is a successful hip hop and R&B producer who had worked with such artists as Missy Elliott, Jay-Z and Aaliyah before releasing his first solo album in 1998; second LP, Timbaland Presents Shock Value went platinum in America in 2007, and narrowly missed out on the No. 1 ...
(Vocals, b. 1963) Houston has good genes; her mother is soul singer Cissy Houston and her cousin, Dionne Warwick. After working as a model and actress she plunged into her destined career. Her debut album, Whitney rose to No. 1 in 1985, with the ballad ‘Saving All My Love For You’, the first of many chart-topping singles. ...
Although contemporary R&B prefers to align itself with its ruder and more street-credible cousins in hip hop, the roots of its mainstream practitioners lie firmly in manufactured pop. In a throwback to the Motown era, R&B has become a global phenomenon by combining producer-led factory formula with a high level of musical innovation and adventure. This balance of pop ...
The impact of rap on the rock market was everywhere to be seen in the first years of the new millennium. White artists, black artists and rock bands attempting to incorporate the style made this area the biggest musical melting pot since the 1950s. The means by which music was accessed switched from CD to downloading from the internet, ...
Though art music since the war tended more often to define itself in opposition to rock and commercial pop music, signs of mutual regard were already emerging in the 1960s. While it is Stockhausen’s face that stands out from the crowd on the front cover of the Beatles’ 1967 album Sergeant Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, it was Berio ...
By the 1950s, Modernism in its new manifestations was well established, with strongholds in the Darmstadt courses and at the Donaueschingen Festival, as well as in Paris and Cologne. Its strength was increasingly felt in the US as well as Europe, with Babbitt, Wolpe and Carter all evolving individual lines of development. The most striking instance ...
In one form or another, the harpsichord ruled the domestic keyboard roost throughout Europe – and later in America – from the late-sixteenth to the early-nineteenth centuries. Apart from the organ, it was the grandest and most versatile of all keyboard instruments until the advent of the mature fortepiano in the mid- to late-eighteenth century. Rise and Fall of ...
After the devastation wrought in Europe by World War II, the urgent task of rebuilding the continent’s war-torn urban fabric demanded radical solutions. These were found in the centralized urban planning advocated before the war by architects such as Le Corbusier and Ludwig Mies van der Rohe. Writing in 1953, the composer Karlheinz Stockhausen (1928–2007) created an explicit analogy ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1977–present) The band appropriately formed in Sheffield, erstwhile home of the British steel industry. Their fresh brand of poppy heavy metal, led by Joe Elliott (vocals) and Pete Willis (lead guitar), soon won them fans. An early B-side ‘Hello America’ hinted at their ambitions. Debut album On Through The Night (1980) just missed the US Top ...
b. 1970 Swiss flautist Born in Geneva, he studied at the Paris Conservatoire and was appointed principal flute of the Berlin Philharmonic Orchestra at the age of 22, subsequently appearing as a soloist with major orchestras in the US, Europe and Japan. He has recorded all the instrument’s major solo and chamber repertoire and has premiered several new ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1976–present) These AOR giants established themselves in 1977 with their eponymous debut album and single ‘Feels Like The First Time’, which both reached No. 4 in the US. The band was founded by Englishman Mick Jones (guitar) with Lou Gramm’s dramatic tenor vocals to the fore. The original line-up was completed by Ian McDonald (guitar, keyboards), Al ...
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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.