(Vocal group, 1975–88) A soul/disco outfit originally formed as an all-purpose backing band comprising ex-Motown personnel Kenji Brown (guitar), Victor Nix (keyboards), Kenny Copeland and Freddie Dunn (both trumpets), Michael Moore (saxophone), Duke Jobe (bass) and Henry Garner and Terrai Santiel (both drums). Fronted by singer Gwen Dickey, they supplied the platinum-selling soundtrack to the movie Car Wash (1976) ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1915–73) Born in Arkansas, Rosetta Nubin was the daughter of a missionary. She had learned to play guitar by the age of six and accompanied her mother at church functions. The family moved to Chicago and Tharpe signed with Decca in 1938. She was essentially a gospel performer, but with Lucky Millinder’s Orchestra (1941–43) she ...
(Music publisher, songwriter, 1898–1954) Born in Evansville, Indiana, Fred Rose was a key figure in Nashville’s rise from a provincial backwater to an international musical capital. Rose penned a number of country standards, including ‘Wait For The Light To Shine’ and ‘Blue Eyes Cryin’ In The Rain’. He began his career in Chicago as a jazz ...
(Vocals, 1925–98) Before rockabilly, hillbilly humour and flashy rhinestone outfits, there was the feisty Rose Maddox and her brothers Cal, Fred and Don. She started singing on radio when she was 11, as part of Maddox Brothers And Rose, gaining popularity with a wild, fast-paced presentation that mixed loud honky-tonk music and almost vaudeville-style ...
(Publisher, 1918–90) The son of legendary songwriter and publisher Fred Rose, Chicago-born Wesley Herman Rose entered the music business in 1945 as general manager of Acuff-Rose, the Nashville publishing company co-founded by his father and singer Roy Acuff. Under the younger Rose’s steady hand, Acuff-Rose (whose crown jewel was the priceless Hank Williams song catalogue) became one ...
‘The Knight of the Rose’ For the follow-up to Elektra, Strauss declared he wanted to write a Mozart opera. Despite Hofmannsthal’s protests about a light, Renaissance subject set in the past, the librettist soon came up with a scenario that delighted Strauss. The correspondence between librettist and composer was good-natured and respectful. Each made suggestions to the other ...
1903–82 Scottish violist Primrose played as a soloist and as a member of the London String Quartet before moving to the US to become principal viola of the NBC Symphony Orchestra under Toscanini, 1937–42. He continued with his solo career, and commissioned a concerto from Bartók in 1944. He taught in Los Angeles and at Bloomington, Indiana. Introduction ...
(Guitar, vocals, 1940–2002) Rose was omnipresent in the clubs of New York’s vibrantly bohemian Greenwich Village when his arrangement of the murder ballad ‘Hey Joe’ was covered in 1966 as The Jimi Hendrix Experience’s debut single. ‘Morning Dew’ proved the hardiest of his own compositions via retreads by such as The Jeff Beck Group, The Grateful Dead and ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1985–present) Axl Rose (b. William Bailey, vocals) and Izzy Stradlin (b. Jeffrey Isbell, guitar) were joined by Slash (b. Saul Hudson, guitar), Duff McKagan (bass) and Steve Adler (drums) to form a band that gave the heavy rock scene a mighty shaking. Signed to Geffen – after the 1986 EP Live ?1*@ Like A Suicide ...
(Vocal/instrumental group, 1983–96, 2011–present) This Manchester band – Ian Brown (vocals), John Squire (guitar), Gary ‘Mani’ Mounfield (bass) and Alan ‘Reni’ Wren (drums) – announced their jangling guitar pop with second single ‘Sally Cinnamon’. An eponymous debut album (1989) fused the vibe of acid house on to hook-laden melodic hypnotic pop songs. The funk groove of ‘Fool’s Gold’ and ...
(Vocals, b. 1946) A former member of The Stone Poneys, Ronstadt launched a solo career in 1968 with the country-flavoured rock that would characterize her 1970s work. Her third album Linda Ronstadt (1972) featured the core of musicians who would go on to form The Eagles. On 1974’s Heart Like A Wheel, Ronstadt and producer/manager Peter Asher arrived ...
(Producer, songwriter, b. 1943) Whitfield joined Motown as a writer, but his willingness to experiment with other sounds and genres as a producer made him a key player in the growth of Motown beyond its early pop-soul identity. His biggest impact was with The Temptations, whose move to psychedelic soul he directed. He left Motown in 1975 ...
The late Baroque era (1700–50) was a time of major political change throughout Europe, involving a shift in the balance of power between sovereign states. Across the continent it was a period of almost continuous warfare, the effects of which were later felt in other parts of the world as a result of conflicting ambitions among the various trading ...
Just as sports have their pantheon of greats, the country-music industry established its own Hall Of Fame in 1961 to honour its most influential figures and deepen public understanding and appreciation of the music’s rich heritage and history. A Pantheon Of Country Stars As of 2005, 62 artists and industry leaders – starting with Jimmie Rodgers (1897–1933) and songwriter ...
Originally (and still occasionally) known as the ‘violoncello’, or ‘little violone’, the cello is tuned in fifths like the violin and viola, running bottom to top, C, G, d, a, the same tuning as a viola, but an octave lower. There were early experiments with a smaller five-stringed instrument (with an additional E string ...
AUTHORITATIVE
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
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.