Seventies

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(Vocal group, 1972–95) A multi-skilled foursome who operated from the self-owned Strawberry Studios, Stockport. Eric Stewart, Lol Creme, (both guitar, keyboards) Graham Gouldman, (bass) and Kevin Godley (drums) wrote, sang and produced four albums of inventive pop/rock from 1973–76. Their 1975 No. 1 ‘I’m Not In Love’ was also a Stateside smash. 10cc split in two in 1976 with Gouldman and Stewart retaining the name whilst Godley and Creme recorded as ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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The most commercially successful pop band of the 1970s, ABBA rose again in the 1990s when ABBA Gold (1992) revived their peerless singles’ legacy, which has carried on ever since. ABBA were formed in 1973 in Stockholm, Sweden, by Benny Andersson (born Goran Bror Benny Andersson, 16 December 1946), Bjorn Ulvaeus (born 25 April 1945) and their girlfriends Frida Lyngstad (born Anni-Frid Lyngstad-Ruess, 15 November 1945) and Agnetha Faltskog (born ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Piano, b. 1934) Born Adolphe Johannes ‘Dollar’ Brand in Capetown, South Africa, Abdullah Ibrahim successfully fused African rhythms and lilting melodic lines with the piano styles of Duke Ellington and Thelonious Monk. In 1960, with trumpeter Hugh Masekela and others as the Jazz Epistles, he released the first contemporary South African jazz album. The racial climate in his country forced him and his wife, singer Sathima Bea Benjamin, to seek exile ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1973–present) A hard-rocking quintet whose no frills approach garnered them a huge following, AC/DC were formed in Sydney in 1973 by expatriate Scottish brothers Angus and Malcolm Young (both guitar). Bon Scott became lead singer in 1974. After two Antipodes-only albums, the band moved to America where their fifth album for Atlantic Records, Highway To Hell (1979), produced by Mutt Lange, established them in the big league, selling over six ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1970–present) This best-selling American heavy rock band, frequently compared to The Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin, centred on the relationship between principal members Steven Tyler (vocals) and Joe Perry (guitar). The pair came together in Boston, Massachusetts, with Joey Kramer (drums), Brad Whitford (guitar) and Tom Hamilton (bass). Their first album Aerosmith (1973) was an immediate success, paving the way for the multi-platinum Toys In The Attic (1974) and ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocals, b. 1946) An American soul and gospel singer, Reverend Al Green (he was ordained a pastor of the Full Gospel Tabernacle in Memphis in 1976) made his recording debut on Back Up Train (1967). His third album Al Green Gets Next To You (1970) was the start of a golden period when he recorded many of the songs for which he is best known – ‘Tired Of Being Alone’, ‘Let’s ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1977–90) Studio engineer Parsons (b. 1948) had been involved with the engineering of The Beatles’ Abbey Road (1969) and Pink Floyd’s The Dark Side Of The Moon (1973) before he became a producer and, briefly, artist in conjunction with songwriter Eric Woolfson. A string of immaculately played and produced concept albums featuring guest singers and musicians, notably 1977’s I Robot and 1982’s Eye In The Sky, charted big in ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Trombone, 1928–2005) Although he played violin and guitar, Frankfurt native Albert Mangelsdorff did not take up the trombone until the age of 20. However, despite this relatively late start, he became a pioneer of multiphonics on the horn and a leader of the European avant-garde. Recordings with pianist John Lewis and sitarist Ravi Shankar in the 1960s helped to make his name, but it was as a member of the Globe ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Vocals, b. 1948) Although over time the name Alice Cooper came to attach itself to singer Vincent Furnier, it originally applied to the rock band that he fronted, the classic line-up of which comprised Cooper, Glen Buxton (guitar), Michael Bruce (guitar), Dennis Dunaway (bass) and Neal Smith (drums). After recording two albums for Frank Zappa’s Straight label, the band relocated from California back to Detroit, developing the outrageous stage act for ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1970–present) An Anglo-American trio formed in the UK by Gerry Beckley (guitar, vocals, keyboards), Dewey Bunnell (guitar, vocals) and Dan Peek (guitar, vocals, keyboards), sons of US military personnel and British mothers. America’s acoustically backed three-part harmonies were reminiscent of Crosby, Stills and Nash. Best-known for the transatlantic 1972 hit ‘Horse With No Name’, the band worked with Beatles producer George Martin on four albums from 1974–77, slimming to ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Various saxophones and clarinets, flute, piano, b. 1945) ‘I’ve been isolated and kicked out of jazz as a black man who is not “black” enough, a jazz guy who is not “jazz” enough,’ said Chicago native Braxton, looking back on a highly iconoclastic career that has been documented on more than 130 recordings. After military service, Braxton emerged in 1966 with a musical conception that, while influenced by older saxophonists like ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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With its tribal masks, arcane percussion instruments and grand sense of theatre, the Art Ensemble of Chicago always seemed to be more than just a jazz band. Indeed, the group grew from the communal activities of the Chicago-based AACM, which quickly became a magnet and laboratory for freedom-seeking African-American musicians in the city, including saxophonists Roscoe Mitchell (b. 1940) and Joseph Jarman (b. 1937), trumpeter Lester Bowie (1941–99) and bassist ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Jazz & Blues, founding editor Howard Mandel
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(Vocal group, 1969–73, 1980–83) A British progressive rock band founded by ex-Crazy World Of Arthur Brown members Vincent Crane (organ) and Carl Palmer (drums), plus bassist Nick Graham. After one self-titled album in 1970, Palmer and Graham left and were replaced by John Cann (guitar, vocals) and Paul Hammond (drums), scoring two UK hit singles ‘Tomorrow Night’ and ‘Devil’s Answer’ but fragmenting after two albums, Atomic Rooster finally folded after one ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocal/instrumental group, 1972–82, 1989–present) The blue-eyed soul of Scots Alan Gorrie (vocals, bass), Malcolm Duncan (saxophone), Owen McIntyre (vocals, guitar), Hamish Stuart (vocals, guitar), Roger Ball (keyboards) and Robbie McIntosh (drums) topped the US charts in 1975 with the album AWB and single ‘Pick Up The Pieces’. After dabbling in disco with ‘Let’s Go Round Again’, a British hit in 1980, the band went on hiatus in the mid-1980s, reforming in ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
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(Vocal group, 1973–84) This hard-driving Canadian rock band were assembled by former Guess Who members Randy Bachman (guitar, vocals) and Chad Allen (keyboards) with Robbie Bachman (drums) and Fred Turner (bass). Third brother Tim Bachman soon replaced Allan and the band’s commercial breakthrough came with Bachman-Turner Overdrive II (1974) and the US hit ‘Takin’ Care Of Business’. In Britain, they are best remembered for the 1975 single ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing ...

Source: The Definitive Illustrated Encyclopedia of Rock, general editor Michael Heatley
86 Words Read More
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