Showing 851 - 870 of 870
Artist: Arthur Lee Maye
Who's the only person who had simultaneous careers as a recording artist and a pro baseball player? The answer: Arthur Lee Maye, who played major league baseball as Lee Maye and performed and recorded with Arthur Lee Maye and the Crowns.
Maye was born in Tuscaloosa, AL in 1934; his family moved to Los Angeles when Maye was still a child. He... [+] Read More
Artist: Simmessa
Simmessa was born in Italy during a hot summer, in 1979.He became interested in music for the first time at the age of 10:"Once, when I was a kid, I just borrowed this cd from my brothers' "collection" (he had maybe 4 or 5 cds, hardly a collection at all...). It was the album Trash, by Alice Cooper, and I must say it was Love at first sight, I... [+] Read More
Artist: Mike Ratledge
By all accounts, keyboardist/composer Mike Ratledge has had a rather interesting and diverse career inside and outside of music in the three decades since departing Soft Machine in 1976, and despite some of the negative experiences he appears to have had with the band, there are few signs (in print anyway) that he looks back at his Softs years... [+] Read More
Artist: Barry Gray
The name Barry Gray may not mean much on its face to baby boomers, but a mention of some of the television series that he scored -- Fireball XL5, Supercar, Stingray, Captain Scarlet and the Mysterons, Thunderbirds, UFO, Space: 1999 -- will evoke instant recognition from most television viewers who were over 30 in 2001. Although he was engaged in... [+] Read More
Artist: The Creation
They could've been contenders -- hell, they should've been contenders! That's the first thought that passes through one's head as one hears the early singles by the Creation -- and, indeed, how they weren't contenders is astonishing. They had it all, the in-house songwriting, the production, the voices, and the sound that should've put them... [+] Read More
Artist: Bill Haley
Bill Haley is the neglected hero of early rock & roll. Elvis Presley and Buddy Holly are ensconced in the heavens, transformed into veritable constellations in the rock music firmament, their music respected by writers and scholars as well as the record-buying public, virtually every note of music they ever recorded theoretically eligible for... [+] Read More
Artist: Jessie Matthews
Most of Jessie Matthews' recordings seem quaintly antique, artifacts of a by-gone age-and, to some extent, they are just that, her fluttering, plummy toned voice with its romantic yearing turning back clocks as it fills a room at the end of the twentieth century and the beginning of the twenty-first. But for most of the 1930's, Jessie Matthews... [+] Read More
Artist: The Sons of the Pioneers
The Sons of the Pioneers were the foremost vocal and instrumental group in western music, and the definitive group specializing in cowboy songs, setting the standard for every group that has come since. They were also one of the longest-surviving country music vocal groups in existence, going into their seventh decade. More important than their... [+] Read More
Artist: Country Joe & the Fish
If you mention the name Country Joe & the Fish to Americans born in 1955 or earlier, chances are that they'll know the band you're talking about, at least to the degree that they know their most widely played and quoted song, "I Feel Like I'm Fixin' to Die Rag." The problem is, that particular song captured only the smallest sliver of who... [+] Read More
Artist: Jitterbug Webb
What ho, another great Texas bluesman? The largest state has produced quite a few great players in this genre, and fans of Jitterbug Webb can only hope that one day he will receive the recognition and status of T-Bone Walker or Johnny Winter. After all, neither of these stellar Texas blues guitar giants can claim that they backed up the Monkees.... [+] Read More
Artist: The John Barry Seven
The John Barry Seven were the vehicle through which the British public first came to recognize the name of composer/conductor/arranger John Barry, years before there were any James Bond movies for him to score. They are so distinct a part of his career, and their work so separate from the work for which he ultimately became best-known, that they... [+] Read More
Artist: Tony Banks
Genesis keyboardist Tony Banks has made several stabs at a solo career since 1978, writing and recording in various styles and occasionally under different group names. However, none of his attempts have been very commercially successful, a sore point for the man many deem responsible for a large portion of the Genesis sound. For many observers,... [+] Read More
Artist: The Drifters
The history of rhythm and blues is filled with vocal groups whose names -- the Orioles, the Cadillacs, the Crows, the Flamingos, the Moonglows, the Coasters, the Penguins -- are held in reverence by fanatics and devotees. The Drifters are part of an even more exclusive fraternity, as a group that managed to carve out a place for themselves in... [+] Read More
Artist: Mstislav Rostropovich
Mstislav Leopoldovich Rostropovich was born in Baku, USSR on March 27, 1927. His first name means "avenged glory"; he is familiarly known by the root of the name, "Slava," which means "glory." His father, Leopold, was an excellent cellist and after 1931 a teacher at the Gnesin Institute, Moscow and had been a pupil of Moscow Conservatory.... [+] Read More
Artist: Erich Korngold
Erich Wolfgang Korngold was, twice over and in two separate areas, one of the most renowned musical figures of the 20th century. Beginning at age seven, he was a celebrated performing prodigy, with a level of technical development and an understanding of music that awed such giants of the musical world as Gustav Mahler and Richard Strauss, who... [+] Read More
Artist: Bobby Short
Nightclub entertainer Bobby Short performed from the 1930s to the 2000s, primarily singing the songs of the masters of pre-rock popular song, especially Cole Porter, George Gershwin, Noël Coward, and Rodgers & Hart, while accompanying himself on piano. The quintessential cabaret artist, the dapper Short, who often made best-dressed lists,... [+] Read More
Artist: Ray Heindorf
Composer, conductor, and orchestrator Ray Heindorf worked prolifically in Hollywood from the start of the sound era of the movies in the late '20s to the end of the studio system in the late '50s. As the head of the music department at Warner Bros. Pictures for more than a decade, he helped provide music for hundreds of motion pictures, whether... [+] Read More
Artist: Kris Kristofferson
After a lengthy period of struggle, Kris Kristofferson achieved remarkable success as a country songwriter at the start of the 1970s. His songs "Me and Bobby McGee," "Help Me Make It Through the Night," "Sunday Mornin' Comin' Down," and "For the Good Times," all chart-topping hits, helped redefine country songwriting, making it more personal and... [+] Read More
Artist: Jeanette MacDonald
Singer-actress Jeanette MacDonald is a perfect example of what, decades after her death, became known as a classical crossover" artist. In her films, radio and television appearances, concerts, and recordings, she sang opera, operetta, art songs, and show tunes, often with an eye toward popularizing classical music for the masses. This was a... [+] Read More
Artist: Arturo Toscanini
One of the greatest opera and concert directors of all time, Arturo Toscanini was internationally known for his forcefulness and style of conducting, which led to near-perfection in his work. He was, from the opening years of the 20th century until his retirement in the 1950s, the most prominent orchestra conductor in the world, his only peer... [+] Read More
