Indie guitarist and producer Bernard Butler (b. 1970) was born in Tottenham, London. After learning violin as a child, he took up guitar at the age of 14, inspired by Johnny Marr, learning Smiths’ guitar parts by watching the band play live. He was also influenced by Bernard Sumner and Aztec Camera’s Roddy Frame. After replying to ...
New-wave guitarist Bernard Sumner (b. 1956) was born in Salford, Manchester. Seeing the Sex Pistols in Manchester in June 1976 inspired Sumner and Peter Hook to acquire their first instruments, guitar and bass respectively. Originally called Warsaw, later Joy Division, they recruited drummer Stephen Morris and singer Ian Curtis for their band, making some self-produced records ...
(Bâr-när’-do Pas-kwe’-ne) 1637–1710 Italian composer Pasquini was a keyboard virtuoso and teacher working in Rome, who numbered Muffat, Francesco Gasparini (1668–1727) and Domenico Zipoli (1688–1726) among his pupils. He benefited from several of the leading Roman patrons of the time, including the cardinals Pamphili and Ottoboni, as well as from the exiled Queen Christina of Sweden. He served ...
c. 1680–c. 1759, Italian Francesco Bernardi was nicknamed ‘Senesino’ after his birthplace, Siena. His first known performance was at Venice in 1707–08, and he sang for Caldara at Bologna in 1709. He was dismissed from Dresden in 1720 because he refused to sing an aria during rehearsals for Johan David Heinichen’s (1683–1729) Flavio Crespo (1720). He joined the ...
b. 1929 Dutch conductor Haitink studied with Felix Hupka and Ferdinand Leitner, who gave him a post as second conductor at the Netherlands Radio Union. He became principal conductor of the Concertgebouw Orchestra in 1961 (shared intitially with Eugen Jochum), and of the London Philharmonic Orchestra 1967–79. He was music director at Glyndebourne 1977–88, and at Covent Garden Opera ...
(Vocals/vocal group, 1957–90) Childhood friends Mayfield and Butler joined Sam Gooden and Arthur and Richard Brooks in The Impressions in 1957, Butler going solo after one hit, ‘For Your Precious Love’. In 1967, Butler teamed his distinctive smooth soul voice with producer-writers Gamble and Huff and helped to forge the polished Philadelphia Soul sound with No. 1s ...
Alternative guitarist and singer Jeff Buckley (1966–97) was born in Anaheim, California. Jeff barely knew his father, singer-songwriter Tim Buckley, who died when he was eight. His mother, Mary Guibert, was a classically trained pianist and cellist, which meant that music was all around when Buckley was growing up. He started playing acoustic guitar at ...
Indie guitar legend Johnny Marr (b. 1963) was born John Maher in Manchester, England to Irish Catholic parents. He grew up in a household where music was a constant fixture, and he recalled, ‘I always had guitars, for as long as I could remember.’ Guitar technique came easily to young Johnny, and he quickly mastered ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1989–2003, 2010–present) With lead singer Brett Anderson stating ‘I’m a bisexual who has never had a homosexual experience’, Suede were one of the most exciting bands to emerge in the UK for years. After a startling eponymous debut (1993) and overblown – but masterful – follow-up Dead Man Star (1994) guitarist Bernard Butler departed. After recruiting another ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 2001–04) The Libertines – Pete Doherty (vocals, guitar), Carl Barat (vocals, guitar), John Hassall (bass) and Gary Powell (drums) – hailed from the east end of London. Across their short lifespan they made two albums (Up The Bracket, 2002 and The Libertines, 2004) of exceptionally idiosyncratic indie, with The Clash’s Mick Jones at ...
By the early 1990s British pop and alternative fans were crying out for homegrown pop that combined old-fashioned rock charisma with lyrics and a definitively British sound, to counteract the manufactured teen acts, Euro-dance novelties and US imports. This arrived in the mid-1990s in the shape of Britpop: a wave of guitar bands with short, sharp pop songs. ...
Bugle Best known in its military guise, the bugle is one of the simplest of brass instruments in terms of construction, but it is very difficult to play. The single tube of metal has no valves to help create different notes, so players have to do all the work by changing their embouchure – a combination of the ...
The theremin (or ‘thereminvox’) is one of the earliest examples of a purely electronic instrument, and enjoys the distinction of being the first instrument designed to be played with no physical contact. The theremin was invented in 1919 by Russian cellist and physicist Lev Sergeivitch Termen (Leon Theremin). Growing out of research into proximity sensors, the theremin exploits the ...
Few would deny that the blues has played a more important role in the history of popular culture than any other musical genre. As well as being a complete art form in itself, it is a direct ancestor to the different types of current popular music we know and love today. Without the blues there would have been no Beatles ...
This section encompasses styles that were, at least initially, designed to work in tandem with other forms of expression, deepening or enhancing their impact. The scores of musical theatre are woven into stories played out by the characters on stage. A film soundtrack is composed to interlock with the action on a cinema screen, while cabaret songs ...
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