(Vocal/instrumental group, 1971–present) A London rhythm & blues band that emerged from the pub rock scene in 1974, Dr. Feelgood’s back-to-basics approach foreshadowed punk. Comprising Lee Brilleaux (Lee Collinson, vocals), Wilko Johnson (John Wilkinson, guitar), John B. Sparks (bass) and John ‘The Big Figure’ Martin (drums), their live album Stupidity was a 1976 chart topper. Brilleaux remained ...
Malcolm John ‘Mac’ Rebennack Jr., a.k.a. ‘Dr. John the Night Tripper’, was born in New Orleans in November 1940. The singer and pianist began his professional career while he was still a teenager. He backed local favourites including Joe Tex and Professor Longhair on guitar and keyboards, produced and arranged sessions at Cosmio Studio, also frequented ...
(Piano, singer-songwriter, b. 1942) A highly respected exponent of Southern R&B, Mac Rebennack had 15 years of recording and production experience as a session player before he released his first LP, 1968’s Gris Gris. Frequently adding jazz, rock, psychedelia and voodoo to the R&B mix, his prolific output is unpredictably eclectic, although his ...
(Producer, rapper, songwriter, b. 1965) Adopting the name Dr. Dre, Andre Young is colossally influential in rap. A creative force behind Niggaz With Attitude, he pioneered gangsta rap and has a vast number of production credits, including Snoop Dogg and Blackstreet’s ‘No Diggity’ to his name. Dre also created the more laid-back G-funk musical style. ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1980–present) Vince Neil (vocals), Mick Mars (guitar), Nikki Sixx (bass) and Tommy Lee (drums) became the world’s most notorious heavy metal band, as much for their off-record excesses as for their music. They released their crude but effective glam metal debut Too Fast For Love in 1981. Over the years, they became technically more adept, ...
The enduring and iconic guitarist and songwriter Paul Weller (b. 1958) was born John William Weller in Woking, Surrey. He was a boyhood Beatles fanatic before discovering The Who and, through them, the mod movement. His father, who managed him for the majority of his career, bought his 12-year-old son an electric guitar for Christmas; at ...
(Piano, vocals, 1911–85) Willie Lee Perryman was born in Hampton, Georgia. Perryman was sometimes known as Dr. Feelgood, and his older brother, Rufus, was known as Speckled Red. He worked mainly as a soloist in the Atlanta area before signing with RCA in 1950. His first record, ‘Rockin’ With Red’/‘Red’s Boogie’ was a two-sided ...
(Vocal group, 1970–present) The Doobies were founded by Tom Johnston (guitar, vocals), Pat Simmons (guitar, vocals) and John Hartman (drums). Additional drummer Michael Hossack and Tiran Porter (bass) were recruited for the band’s second album Toulouse Street (1972). 1973’s The Captain And Me spawned radio staples ‘Long Train Running’ and ‘China Grove’. Steely Dan vocalist/keyboardist Michael McDonald was ...
Proto-punk bands, like all ‘proto’ genres, are by definition only identified retrospectively and generally share subversive and anti-establishment attitudes. Although punk rock was primarily a British phenomenon, there were several notable American punk bands and its musical roots lie more with these American bands than with British bands. The energy of pub rockers like Dr. Feelgood and Eddie ...
A British phenomenon, pub rock was a reaction to the self-indulgence of the progressive rockers and the vain preening of the glam rockers. The pub rock bands drew from a variety of roots-music styles, such as blues, folk and country, with the folk influence dating back to the UK folk-rockers of the late-1960s such as Fairport Convention. ...
January The Sex Pistols Get The Bullet On 6 January 1977 EMI Records terminated its contract with The Sex Pistols, saying it was unable to promote the group’s records ‘in view of the adverse publicity generated over the past two months’. The media furore over the Pistols’ TV appearance six weeks earlier had barely abated and now politicians were weighing ...
After the seismic shifts of the previous decade, the 1970s reflected faster-moving, less permanent crazes, beginning with glam rock and ending with the new wave. Glam rock saw the likes of Alice Cooper and Kiss taking make-up to extremes, while the comparatively anonymous Eagles and Bruce Springsteen respectively updated the blueprints established the previous decade by country ...
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 ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1989–present) Formed in South Carolina, Darius Rucker (vocals), Mark Bryan (guitar), Dean Felber (bass) and Jim ‘Soni’ Sonefeld (drums) played pleasing blues rock with a hint of folk and a pop edge. That Rucker, nicknamed Hootie, was an Afro-American also gave their material an unconscious soulful element. Constant touring built a dedicated following that helped ...
(Vocals, b. 1978) Portuguese/Canadian singer Furtado is a shining exponent of feelgood modern pop. After a musical youth spent with DJs and rappers instead of musicians per se, her debut album from 2000, Whoa, Nelly!, accordingly fused the more palatable ingredients of music of the streets with an upbeat pop approach that garnered success for singles ...
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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
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