(Songwriter, vocals, guitar, 1914–2002) Red River Dave McEnery spent most of his long career in his native San Antonio, though he initially rose to fame in New York in the late 1930s. A prolific songwriter, who specialized in event songs like ‘Amelia Earhart’s Last Flight’, in later years he would even tackle such topics as the ...
Davey Graham (b. 1940) (originally Davy Graham) is a guitarist who is credited with sparking the folk-rock revolution in the UK in the Sixties. He inspired many of the famous fingerstyle guitarists, such as Bert Jansch, John Renbourn, Martin Carthy, Paul Simon and even Jimmy Page, who heavily based his solo ‘White Summer’ on Graham’s ‘She ...
Trailblazing Kinks lead guitarist Dave Davies was born in Muswell Hill, London in 1947. The Davies were a close-knit, musical family and Dave acquired his first guitar, a Harmony Meteor, at the age of 11. He taught himself to play, citing blues pioneer Big Bill Broonzy as his earliest influence. Other inspirations were James Burton, ...
Many guitarists of the ‘shred’ variety unfortunately stick to scalar lines and diatonic arpeggios in straight major or minor keys. Marty Friedman (b. 1962) is not one of them. Indeed, Friedman’s tendency towards Eastern, Middle Eastern and other ethnic sounds has distinguished him as one of the most musically gifted super-pickers the guitar world has ever seen. Martin Adam ...
More than any other hard-rock or heavy-metal duo, Iron Maiden guitarists Adrian Smith and Dave Murray (b. 1956) set the standard for twin-guitar harmony lines and riffs. Indeed, their killer riffs and epic songs have helped to make Iron Maiden one of the most influential metal bands of all time. Murray was born in Edmonton, England. Inspired by ...
Dave Mustaine (b. 1961) was the original lead guitarist for the heavy-metal band Metallica and the co-founder, lead guitarist and lead singer of the thrash-metal band Megadeth. He was born in La Mesa, California. Brought up as a Jehovah’s Witness, by the age of 17, he was surviving financially by dealing drugs. In the 1970s, Mustaine ...
Davey Johnstone (b. 1951) rocketed to fame with the Rocket Man himself, Elton John, as the former Reg Dwight exploded on to the music scene in the early 1970s, rising from thoughtful love balladeer to raucous glam rocker/showman to international pop-music institution and legend. Except for a short period from the late 1970s to the early 1980s, ...
Alternative-rock guitarist Dave Navarro (b. 1967) was born in Santa Monica, California. After hearing Jimi Hendrix, Navarro began playing guitar at the age of seven and was in various bands in school. In 1986, he joined Jane’s Addiction on the recommendation of drummer Stephen Perkins, a childhood friend. Inspired by The Velvet Underground, Joy Division, ...
Freddie (sometimes spelled Freddy) King (1934–76) revitalized the Chicago blues scene in the 1960s. His aggressive playing and piercing solos helped to set up the blues-rock movement, and he was a major influence on 1960s British guitarists like Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor. King’s mother taught him to play guitar as a child in Gilmer, Texas ...
The term ‘manufactured pop’ is, in many ways, a red herring. Despite the changes in our perception of pop talent brought about by The Beatles, much mainstream pop has been based on the ‘Tin Pan Alley’ tradition, in which teams of producers, composers and music-business moguls find young, attractive performers (mainly singers) to front potential ...
(Fri-drikh Fran’-zhek [Fra-da-rek’ Fran-swa’] Sho-pan) 1810–49 Polish composer Chopin was unique among composers of the highest achievement and influence in that he wrote all his works, with the merest handful of exceptions, for the solo piano. Leaving Warsaw, which at the time offered only restricted musical possibilities, and living most of his adult life in Paris, ...
(Trumpet, 1908–67) The son of bandleader Henry Allen Sr., Henry ‘Red’ Allen was one of the greatest trumpeters to come out of New Orleans, although he remained eternally in the shadow of Louis Armstrong. He moved to New York in 1927 to join King Oliver’s Dixie Syncopators and in 1929 the Victor label signed him as an answer ...
(Vocals, piano, c. 1894–1955) Charles Davenport’s best-known recording is 1928’s ‘Cow Cow Blues’, a barrelhouse workout that kicks off with a chiming stop-time intro before plunging into a proto-boogie-woogie theme. Davenport recorded over 30 sides for various labels, and he worked in venues ranging from vaudeville theatres to house rent parties. Although slowed by a stroke in 1938 ...
(Cornet, 1905–65) As a child, Nichols played in his father’s brass band. After moving to New York in 1923 he teamed up with trombone player Miff Mole, and this marked the start of a long musical partnership. With Mole, Nichols recorded various line-ups under different names, the most common of which was Red Nichols & His ...
(Alto saxophone, clarinet, vocals, composer, arranger, 1900–64) Renowned for crafting the polished sound of the mid-1920s Fletcher Henderson Orchestra, Redman’s innovative arrangements pre-dated the swing era by a decade. His sophisticated compositions were significantly affected by the driving, swinging trumpet work of Louis Armstrong, who played in Henderson’s orchestra throughout 1924. The conservatory-trained ...
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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.