(Vocals, b. 1940) A pioneer of soul music, Burke is as a Philadelphia gospel preacher who fused country and western, rock’n’roll, and rhythm and blues to preach through song. He had a string of hits on Atlantic throughout the 1960s, including ‘Got To Get You Off My Mind’ and ‘Everybody Needs Somebody To Love’ (covered by ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1966–68) Migrating from New York to Los Angeles, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay rehearsed with a third singing guitarist, Canadian Neil Young, who recommended Bruce Palmer (bass) and Dewey Martin (drums). 1967’s Buffalo Springfield was remarkable for an acoustic bias and clever vocal harmonies. A hit single, ‘For What It’s Worth’, and healthy sales ...
Although Robert Cray’s clean, good looks, precise guitar lines and slick presentation earned him some knocks from critics early on in his career (hardcore blues aficionados tended to dismiss him as ‘blues lite’ for yuppies), he later gained their respect for his smart songwriting and razor-sharp guitar licks, along with an intensely passionate vocal style reminiscent of the ...
The story of soul’s Golden Age is linked with the story of two American record labels: Berry Gordy’s Motown and Jim Stewart & Estelle Axton’s Stax. They discovered artists, wrote songs and developed recording and marketing methods that would irrevocably change popular music, and have a profound effect on the perception of race all over world. Motown’s base in ...
Popular music’s most influential decade saw British and American rock develop in parallel, the creative torch passing across the Atlantic to The Beatles, then returning as the West Coast rock boom reflected the influence of drugs on music. In rock, guitar was now the undisputed focus of the music with ‘axe heroes’ like Clapton, Hendrix, Townshend ...
January The Rolling Stones No. 2; Australian Tour Begins In the same month that they flew to Australia to meet a crowd of 3,000 rioting girls, The Rolling Stones No. 2 was released in the UK (three months previously, 12x5 came out in the US, with a different tracklisting). With another brooding sleeve that made them look ...
b. 1967 German countertenor Scholl studied at the Schola Cantorum in Basle. He has worked with many leading Baroque specialists, including William Christie, Philip Herreweghe, Christopher Hogwood and Ton Koopman, singing oratorios and cantatas by J. S. Bach and Handel. His recordings include Handel’s Messiah and Solomon, and Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and B minor Mass. He ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1974–82, 1997–present) An internationally popular New York outfit emerging from the city’s thriving new wave scene of the mid-to late 1970s, Blondie’s founders were Debbie Harry (vocals) and Chris Stein (guitar), with an eventual supporting cast of Clem Burke (drums), Nigel Harrison (bass), Jimmy Destri (keyboards) and Frank Infante (guitar). More pop-oriented than their contemporaries and ...
1880–1959 Swiss-American composer Bloch studied in Belgium and Germany, and his early works are in a rich late-Romantic style that owes much to Richard Strauss; this stage culminated in his powerful opera Macbeth (1909). In the following years, he sought a language that would reflect his Jewish faith in music of fervent solemnity with Eastern colouring: the symphony with ...
1685–1759 English composer George Frideric Handel is one of the best known of all Baroque composers. His gift for melody, his instinctive sense of drama and vivid scene-painting, and the extraordinary range of human emotions explored in his vocal compositions make his music instantly accessible. Works such as Messiah (1741), Water Music (1717) and Music for the Royal Fireworks ...
(Hen’-ri Ven-yov’-ske) 1835–80 Polish composer Wieniawski was a child prodigy; after studies with Massart at the Paris Conservatoire, he was the youngest at 11 years old to graduate with the Gold Medal. He was also influenced by the Belgian School of Charles-Auguste de Bériot and Henri Vieuxtemps, whom he succeeded as professor at the Brussels Conservatory, following a post ...
(Sa-la-mo’-na Rôs’-se) c. 1570–c. 1630 Italian composer Rossi was a Mantuan composer, teacher and instrumentalist associated with the court music of Duke Guglielmo Gonzaga. He lived in the Jewish quarter of Mantua, where he may have died after the city was sacked in 1630. His five books of madrigals are progressive in their requirement of an instrumental bass with and ...
Jazz icon Tal Farlow (1921–98) wowed fans and other guitarists with his blazing speed and physical ability, facilitated by his large hands, to create unique, extended voicings. Farlow was equally well known for his semi-reclusiveness. Trained as a sign painter, he frequently dropped out of the music scene for long periods, living a quiet life on ...
1711–79 English composer A Londoner, Boyce was a chorister at St Paul’s and a pupil of Maurice Greene (1696–1755) and J. C. Pepusch (1667–1752). He held posts as organist, notably at the Chapel Royal, and became Master of the King’s Musick in 1755. In that capacity he composed many court odes; he also wrote sacred music and stage ...
Oceania covers a vast portion of the world’s surface, and each island or archipelago is separated by thousands of miles of Pacific, yet these distinct cultures share one source: the southward migration of seafarers from Southeast Asia, who arrived on the single landmass that was New Guinea, Australia and Tasmania approximately 50,000 years ago. It would ...
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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
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