‘Achy Breaky Heart’, 1992 Known as much for this song as he was for his mullet hairstyle, Billy Ray Cyrus has never been able to escape – nor replicate – the success of this lightweight country pop tune. About as genuine as The Eagles and Garth Brooks combined, it spent 17 weeks at the top of the US country ...
(Vocals, 1927–90) Johnnie Ray’s emotional delivery made him stand out in a crowd of early 1950s crooners, especially among young girls. The Oregon native was signed to Columbia’s R&B subsidiary Okeh Records. But his big hit, ‘Cry’, a million-seller that featured a typically overwrought performance and background vocals by The Four Lads, had little to do with ...
(Vocals, double bass, b. 1934) Campi recorded rockabilly in Texas 1956–59, then moved to California and became a school teacher. He returned to music in the 1970s and had several releases on Rollin’ Rock, which proved very popular in Europe. He also undertook a lot of session work, backing other rockabilly artists. Campi first toured Britain ...
Ray Charles Robinson was born on 23 September 1930 in Albany, Georgia. Blind by the age of seven, he was educated at the Florida School for the Deaf and Blind in St. Augustine, where he studied piano and learned to read music in braille. A Musical Education Shortly after his fifteenth birthday, he was expelled and left ...
Born Ray Charles Robinson on 23 September 1930 in Albany, Georgia, Charles suffered from glaucoma from the age of five and was blind by the time he was seven. His mother was unable to look after him and he moved away to the Institute for the Blind, Deaf and Dumb in St Augustine, Florida. He learned to ...
(Vocals, bandleader, b. 1926) One of the most important singers and innovators of the 1950s and 1960s, Perryville, Texas-born Ray Price introduced a more rhythmic and modernized variation of honky-tonk in the 1950s. In the early 1960s Price alienated some honky-tonk fans when he embraced the pop influences of the Nashville sound, with easy-listening hits like ...
(Vocals, guitar, b. 1946) Hubbard made his reputation early on by writing the rousing, tongue-in-cheek sing-along, ‘Up Against The Wall, Redneck Mother’, which Jerry Jeff Walker turned into his theme song. Alcohol and record-company problems prevented Hubbard from building on that success until the 1990s when he sobered up and emerged as one of the finest ...
The premiere torch-bearer for the blues-rock boom of the 1980s, Texan guitar wizard Stevie Ray Vaughan galvanized a generation of players and fans alike with his pyrotechnic licks and flamboyant stage presence. Connecting deeply with both the psychedelic, ‘voodoo chile’ mystique of Jimi Hendrix and the down-home roadhouse grittiness of his biggest guitar influence, Albert King, Vaughan ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1954–90) Born in Dallas, Vaughan distilled Albert King, Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack’s blues and rock stylings on his superb US Top 40 album Texas Flood (1983). Tommy Shannon (bass) and Chris Layton (drums) formed his trusted Double Trouble back-up team. His ferocious but lyrical playing on Couldn’t Stand The Weather (1984) and live showmanship ...
Exploding on to a generally lethargic blues scene in 1983 with his Texas Flood album, Stevie Ray Vaughan (1954–90) administered a high-voltage charge that revitalized the blues with his stunning, ecstatic playing and imagination. He took inspiration from the most stylish of his idols – Jimi Hendrix, Buddy Guy, Howlin’ Wolf, Albert King – but it ...
(Vocal group, 1977–79) This British punk act featured Poly Styrene (Marion Elliott, vocals), Jak Airport (Jack Stafford, guitar), Paul Dean (bass), Paul ‘B. P.’ Hurding (drums) and Lora Logic (Susan Whitby, saxophone). Poly’s strident voice and pithy songs about consumer culture gave them minor UK hits with ‘The Day The World Turned Day-Glo’, ‘Identity’ and ‘Germ ...
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 ...
Almost no Texan musicians have ever herded cattle, but most like to think of themselves as cowboys nonetheless. They imagine themselves pulling out an acoustic guitar after dinner and singing a song about the adventures and frustrations they have known. And not just any old song – it has to be one they wrote and it has to be more ...
The singing cowboys did not have the monopoly on country music on the silver screen, although it was their breed that first caught Hollywood’s attention. By the time the 1940s rolled around, several of Nashville’s top stars found that they could expand their careers by bringing their talents to the vast new audiences. Singing Stars In the earlier decade ...
The piano has occupied a special place in music and, since the advent of amplification, musicians have sought ways in which its expressive, versatile sound could be made louder in order to carry above the sound of other amplified instruments and also how it could be packaged into an instrument more easily transportable than the traditional acoustic piano. ...
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David Bowie
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