(Vocals, b. 1948) English by birth, but raised in Australia, Olivia Newton-John enjoyed a brief career in country music. Much to the dismay of traditionalist Jean Shepard and her contemporaries among the country music fraternity, Newton-John was voted CMA Female Vocalist Of The Year in 1974, although only a handful of her singles made the US ...
(Vocals, b. 1945) Arguably one of Canada’s finest vocal exports, over 25 of Murray’s 50-plus country hits between 1970 and 1991 crossed over to the pop chart. Ten country No. 1s in that period curiously did not include her two million-selling pop chart-toppers – ‘Snowbird’ (1970) and ‘You Needed Me’ (1978). Apart from these, Murray delivered 1980’s ‘Could ...
(Vocals, songwriter, 1943–97) Born John Henry Deutschendorf in Roswell, New Mexico, Denver worked with folk act The Chad Mitchell Trio between 1965 and 68. He turned from folk to country and pop in 1969 when he wrote ‘Leaving On A Jet Plane’ (1969) – Peter, Paul And Mary’s only No. 1. Signed to RCA, he ...
It makes sense that Australia would be the one country outside North America to develop an important country-music scene of its own. Like the USA and Canada, Australia had a large, under-populated frontier that was settled by English, Irish and Scotch immigrants who brought their folk songs with them. Roughened and toughened by frontier life, those songs ...
At the beginning of the 1970s, the influences in mainstream country music continued to originate from a wide spread of sources, the most dominant being the Nashville sound, which now had strong pop overtures alongside a greater distortion of country music itself. On the other hand, an innovative breed of songwriters were about to be heard, ...
The development of electric and electronic musical instruments – as well as associated music-production systems – is one of the defining strands in the history of music over the last century. In fact, the advent of electric instruments predates even the twentieth century. Some of the instruments discussed here – such as the electric guitar – are commonly recognizable. Others ...
Of all the new-traditionalist acts, Dwight Yoakam was arguably the most flamboyant, with his tight-fitting designer jeans and cowboy hat. He was also the most distinctive of those to emerge on the country scene in the mid-1980s. Yoakam was born in Pikesville, Kentucky, on 23 October 1956. He was primarily raised in Columbus, Ohio, before ...
Spring Pop Disaster Tour Dookie spawned a number of Green Day imitators such as Blink-182, who scored hit singles including ‘What’s My Age Again ?’. Green Day shocked everyone by co-headlining with Blink-182 on the 42-date Pop Disaster Tour in America in April and May 2002. ‘I think we’ve had a broader experience,’ Billie Joe told Alternative Press, ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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