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Artist: Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley may be the single most important figure in American 20th century popular music. Not necessarily the best, and certainly not the most consistent. But no one could argue with the fact that he was the musician most responsible for popularizing rock & roll on an international level. Viewed in cold sales figures, his impact was... [+] Read More
Artist: Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd is the premier space rock band. Since the mid-'60s, their music relentlessly tinkered with electronics and all manner of special effects to push pop formats to their outer limits. At the same time they wrestled with lyrical themes and concepts of such massive scale that their music has taken on almost classical, operatic quality, in... [+] Read More
Artist: Barry White
Say the name Barry White and you'd be hard pressed to follow it with the name of any other recording artist with such a huge, cross-sectional following. He was at home appearing on Soul Train, guesting with a full band on The Today Show, and appearing in cartoon form in various episodes of The Simpsons. During the '70s, Dinah Shore devoted a... [+] Read More
Artist: Mary Dukes
Singer Mary Dukes has been performing for almost her entire life and has supplied vocal support for such big name artists as Marvin Gaye, Natalie Cole, MC Hammer, Stevie Wonder, Lou Rawls, Archie Bell, Peggy Adams, and Earth Wind & Fire, among others. Although Dukes has sung gospel and R&B for years, blues remains her true love (her vocal style... [+] Read More
Artist: Michael DiBella
Michael F. Di Bella, word merchant for hire, musicologist, aspiring alchemist and co-founder of The C.A.W.L.M. Project(Collaborative Artists
With Like Minds), has followed many musical paths. Michael got his start in music journalism with the Detroit-based music magazine, "Underground
Soundz," interviewing artists such as the Fugees and the... [+] Read More
Artist: Cat Stevens
Cat Stevens, born Steven Demetre Georgiou, was the son of a Swedish mother and a Greek father who ran a restaurant in London. He became interested in folk music and rock & roll in his teens while attending Hammersmith College and in 1965 began performing under the name Steve Adams. Mike Hurst, a former member of the folk-pop group the... [+] Read More
Artist: Sam Lay
Sam Lay was born March 20, 1935, in Birmingham, AL, and began his career as a drummer in Cleveland in 1954, working with the Moon Dog Combo. In 1957 he joined the Original Thunderbirds and stayed with that group until 1959, when he left for Chicago to work with the legendary Little Walter.
Lay began to work with Howlin' Wolf in 1960 and spent... [+] Read More
Artist: Ray Charles
Ray Charles was the musician most responsible for developing soul music. Singers like Sam Cooke and Jackie Wilson also did a great deal to pioneer the form, but Charles did even more to devise a new form of black pop by merging '50s R&B with gospel-powered vocals, adding plenty of flavor from contemporary jazz, blues, and (in the '60s) country.... [+] Read More
Artist: Robert Horton
Trombonist Robert Horton was part of a generation of jazz musicians whose interests and abilities were becoming increasingly intricate; he also was in the vanguard of exposing what would become classic jazz to other cultures, traveling far and wide as a member of Leon Abbey's ensemble. Important transformations such as R&B into rock & roll and... [+] Read More
Artist: Maceo Edwards
Trumpeter Maceo Edwards was a member of several bands led by Sam Wooding in the first half of the '20s, taking part in the extravagant Chocolate Kiddies revue. The large touring ensemble that Edwards was part of at one point included 11 musicians under the direction of Wooding, a 30-piece chorus, dancers, comedians, and singers. The trumpeter's... [+] Read More
Artist: Milton Ager
Milton Ager was one of the top songwriters during the waning days of the Roaring '20s and the early days of the Depression. He composed many popular standards -- "Ain't She Sweet?," "Happy Days Are Here Again," "Happy Feet," and "I'm Nobody's Baby," most with words by Jack Yellen -- as well as quite a few novelty hits of the day like "Lovin'... [+] Read More
Artist: Luther Vandross
Luther Vandross was one of the most successful R&B artists of the 1980s and '90s. Not only did he score a series of multi-million-selling albums containing chart-topping hit singles and perform in sold-out tours in the U.S. and around the world, but he also took charge of his music creatively, writing or co-writing most of his songs and... [+] Read More
Artist: Dust Junkys
A big-beat bar band with old-school smarts, Dust Junkys are headed by the former MC Tunes (Nicky Lockett), a rapper who fronted 808 State for the Top 20 singles "The Only Rhyme That Bites" and "Tunes Splits the Atom." Lockett formed Dust Junkys by 1995, with Sam Brox on guitar, Steve OJ on bass, Mykey Wilson on drums and Ganiyu Pierre Gasper on... [+] Read More
Artist: James Taylor
When people use the term "singer/songwriter" (often modified by the word "sensitive") in praise or in criticism, they're thinking of James Taylor. In the early '70s, when he appeared with his introspective songs, acoustic guitar, and calm, understated singing style, he mirrored a generation's emotional exhaustion after tumultuous times. Just as... [+] Read More
Artist: Happy Caldwell
With his nickname, Happy Caldwell comes across as having a more upbeat attitude than the stereotyped disgruntled jazzman. His long career may have contributed to the smiles, although the nickname dates back to his childhood and the days when he was studying to be a pharmacist. He was 16 when he began playing clarinet, beginning in the Eighth... [+] Read More
Artist: Bill Inglot
Not a producer in the traditional sense, studio whiz Bill Inglot was instead responsible for reintroducing pop music history to contemporary audiences, digitally remastering classic recordings to fit the exacting standards of modern listeners accustomed to the clarity and punch of digital technology. Typically working in conjunction with... [+] Read More
Artist: Booker Pittman
If this artist had stayed put working in an orchestra pit, he would be among the illustrious few working musicians whose surname describes their gig. Booker Pittman traveled far and wide, though, making his reputation in the territory bands of Kansas City and Dallas, then expanding the territory to include not only Europe but South America. Many... [+] Read More
Artist: 3rd Bass
3rd Bass was one of a still-small number of white hip-hop artists to achieve wide acceptance in the larger community. Along with the Beastie Boys, 3rd Bass proved that white hip-hop wasn't necessarily going to become a watered-down, commercially exploitative rip-off of the genuine article, as so many white interpretations of black musical forms... [+] Read More
Artist: Foreign Islands
Foreign Islands are Mark, Matthew, Dean, Eric & Alan.FI ON TOURMarch 1st - @North Star Bar w/ Kitty Kat Dirtnap, Rio Vouga Philadelphia, PAMarch 2nd - @Mercury Lounge w/ Young Knives, The Bird And The Bee New York, NYMarch 3rd - @Luna Lounge w/ Young Knives, Eastern Conference Champions Brooklyn, NYMarch 4th - @Great Scott w/ Young Knives,... [+] Read More
Artist: Dallas Jones
Every string band needs its frontman, the important role of rhythm guitarist and lead vocalist also a tradition that was carried forward into the bluegrass days. Dallas Jones was a Mississippi boy, despite his nickname, and one of the members of the Leake County Revelers, an extremely popular old-time Mississippi string band. The group began... [+] Read More
Artist: Jim Wolverton
This Mississippi banjo player is known as one of the members of the Leake County Revelers, one of the most popular old-time string bands in Mississippi in the late '20s, as well as among one of the earliest groups to make records in that state. Like much of the blues and early country talent from Mississippi, the Leake County Revelers were a... [+] Read More
Artist: Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown
Chuck Jackson and Maxine Brown were both important, but ultimately second-division, soul stars in the 1960s. Most of the time they recorded as solo artists (see separate entries), but in the mid-'60s they teamed up for a couple of duet albums, as well as occasionally performing as a pair. Their cover of Chris Kenner's "Something You Got" was a... [+] Read More
Artist: The Leake County Revelers
The Leake County Revelers was one of the most popular old-time string bands in Mississippi in the late '20s. The group was also among one of the earliest groups to make records in that state, hitting the jackpot with one of the first sides cut, the lovely "Wednesday Night Waltz." Like much of the blues and early country talent from Mississippi,... [+] Read More
Artist: R.O. Moseley
One of the distinctive members of the early Mississippi string band the Leake County Revelers, this musician is often credited as Oscar Moseley, Oscar Mosley, and R.O. Mosley. It is all the same man, playing the same strange instrument -- a tiny hybrid of the mandolin and banjo that is sometimes called a "banjolin," "mandolo," or just plain... [+] Read More
Artist: Charlie Gaines
The senior member of the swinging Gaines family was a trumpeter, occasionally dabbling on trombone, who played a part in many high points of the '20s and '30s music scene such as recordings with Fats Waller and touring with the illustrious Hot Chocolates revue. The lifestyle must have seemed appealing to his son Charlie Gaines, Jr., who followed... [+] Read More
