(Vocal/instrumental group, 1979–92) This east coast American trio revitalized rockabilly with a fusillade of scorching singles and an incendiary live show centred on Brian Setzer’s astonishing guitar playing. Setzer, with Lee Rocker (bass) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums) burst forth with ‘Runaway Boys’ (1980), ‘Rock This Town’ and the sleazy ‘Stray Cat Strut’. Their eponymous 1981 debut and that ...
(Musicians, producers, writers, 1984–91) Mike Stock, Pete Waterman and Matt Aitken joined forces in 1984 to manufacture pop gold. Waterman had already produced hits for Nik Kershaw and Tracey Ullman. The team’s first chart-topper was Dead or Alive’s ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record)’. They then updated classic girl-group pop with Bananarama, Mel and Kim ...
The arrival of the rockabilly phenomenon in the mid-1950s can be traced back directly to the rise of Elvis Presley (1935–77) and there is no doubt that he was the dominant influence on most of the young country boys who followed him. The impact of Presley can never be overstated, but at the same time he did not materialize out ...
Composed: 1920–25 Premiered: 1925, Monte Carlo Libretto by Colette (Sidonie-Gabrielle Colette) The child has been naughty. His mother does not think he deserves more than tea without sugar and dry bread. He must think about how sad he has made her. He shouts after her, ‘I don’t love anybody! I’m naughty!’ He starts smashing and ill-treating everything ...
b. 1948 English composer and producer Lloyd Webber met the lyricist Tim Rice in 1965 and within three years they had written Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat (1968), which displays a strong lyricism and a close affinity to pop. His most successful musical was Cats, based on the poems by T. S. Eliot, which was one of the ...
Joseph Vernon Turner was born on 18 May 1911 in Kansas City, Missouri. He dropped out of school after sixth grade and worked with blind singers on the streets. The blues was in the air in Kansas City and when Turner joined in with the street singers he would make up blues lyrics. Turner was functionally illiterate and never learned ...
William John Clifton Haley was born on 6 July 1925 in Highland Park, Detroit, and raised near Chester, Pennsylvania. His parents were both musical, and he got his first proper guitar when he was 13. Even though he was blind in one eye and shy about his disability (he later tried to distract from it with his ...
(Guitar, piano, vocals, 1906–77) Booker T. Washington White was raised on a farm outside Houston, Texas; his father taught him guitar in 1915. Two years later he learned piano and by 1921 he was working barrelhouses and honky tonks in St. Louis. Inspired by a meeting with Charley Patton, he hoboed through the South for much ...
1926–2012, German A prolific composer of many moods and changes, Henze was yet another 12-note serialist who nonetheless was influenced by neo-classicism, expressionism and jazz. His first full-length opera, Boulevard Solitude (1952), preceded his move to Italy the following year. There, having finally put distance between himself and the repressive Germany of his youth, Henze’s ...
Rock’n’roll pioneer Ike Turner was born in Clarksdale, Mississippi in November 1931. He displayed an early interest in music while working for a local radio station. He was taught to play boogie-woogie piano by one of his idols, blues musician Pinetop Perkins. Inspired by other bluesmen like Howlin’ Wolf, Sonny Boy Williamson II, Muddy Waters and Elmore ...
(Saxophone, vocals, 1930–79) Jackie Brenston recorded arguably the first rock’n’roll record with 1951’s ‘Rocket 88’, an R&B boogie that featured Ike Turner’s Kings Of Rhythm, of which Brenston was a member. ‘Rocket 88’ (by Jackie Brenston and His Delta Cats) stayed at the top of the R&B charts for over a month, but Brenston never recaptured the ...
By the time John Coltrane died in 1967 at the age of 40, he had experienced one of the most remarkable careers in music. ‘Trane’ was a compelling voice who contributed to some of jazz’s greatest innovations, from bebop to free jazz, resulting in both controversy and enduring success through critical and popular acclaim. Revered during his lifetime ...
Mike Stern (b. 1953), the American jazz guitarist, emerged as a major force in the jazz guitar scene through his work with Miles Davis’ band in the early Eighties, Stern has played with stars such as Stan Getz, Jaco Pastorius, Pat Martino and David Sanborn. Stern was also a guitarist in Steps Ahead and the Brecker Brothers ...
(Songwriter, bandleader, fiddle, vocals, 1894–1964) Shelly Lee Alley is best remembered for writing the classic ‘Traveling Blues’ for Jimmie Rodgers in 1931. Texan Alley led his own pop and jazz orchestras in the 1920s, but also enjoyed success as a western-swing bandleader a decade later. At various times, his Alley Cats included such stars as ...
(Vocal group, 1977–82, 1985–99, 2007–present) This melodic east London quintet showcased the songwriting prowess of Chris Difford (guitar, vocals) and Glenn Tilbrook (vocals, guitar), with Jools Holland (keyboards), Harry Kakoulli (bass) and Gilson Lavis (drums). Cool For Cats (1979) spawned memorable hits with the title track and ‘Up The Junction’. Holland left after Argybargy (1980). The ...
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David Bowie
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