(DJ/rap artist, b. 1960) As a DJ, Bambaataa (b. Kevin Donovan) was at the forefront of the rise of hip hop in the late 1970s. In 1982, he released ‘Planet Rock’, which borrowed from Kraftwerk’s ‘Trans-Europe Express’, and essentially invented electro. In the mid-1980s he collaborated with both John Lydon and James Brown. His debut album, Beware (The Funk Is Everywhere) arrived in 1986. His immeasurable influence on progressive black music ...
(Producer, vocals, b. 1965) Clifford Price a.k.a. Goldie was the most significant and visual exponent of the dance style known as jungle that emerged out of drum’n’bass in the UK in 1993. Early Angel EP (1993) and ‘Inner City Life’ single (1995) were masterful and his major label debut album Timeless (1995) confirmed his talent. A highly collaborative artist, the two-CD set of Saturnz Return (1998) divided critics and the faithful. ...
(DJ/turntablist, b. 1958) Born Joseph Saddler in Barbados, Flash was the inventor of turntablism – the use of a DJ’s equipment as a musical instrument. He started out in the Bronx in the early 1970s becoming the first DJ to manipulate records by hand, cutting and mixing songs into each other. Blondie’s ‘Rapture’ opines ‘Flash is fast, Flash is cool’; Flash returned the favour in 1981’s ground-breaking ‘The Adventures Of Grandmaster ...
(DJ, remixer, b. 1963) Training as a chef, Oakenfold found his calling as a DJ and scenemaker during the acid house, Ibiza club and the later trance boom. As an in-demand club DJ he also opened for a number of rock bands including The Stone Roses and U2. He began remixing and producing under the Perfecto banner in collaboration with Steve Osbourne with great success. Oakenfold remains one of the most ...
The breakbeat is, literally, the percussion-only segment of a funk or disco track, where the dancers would cut loose. Finding that this was often the segment they most wanted to play, disco DJs would cut between two copies of the same record to create a funky drummer mélange. In the mid-1970s, too, Kool Herc invented the hip-hop technique of looping breaks into a continuous groove by using two turntables. The basis ...
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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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David Bowie
Fantastic new, unofficial biography covers
his life, music, art and movies, with a
sweep of incredible photographs.