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A Tribe Called Quest
A Tribe Called Quest is an American hip-hop group, formed in 1988. The group is composed of rapper/producer Q-Tip (Kamal Fareed), rapper Phife Dawg (Malik Taylor), and DJ/producer Ali Shaheed Muhammad. A fourth member, rapper Jarobi White, left the group after their first album but appears to have rejoined the group since 2006. Along with De La Soul, the group was a central part of the Native Tongues Posse, and enjoyed the most commercial success out of all the groups to emerge from that collective. Their innovative fusing of hip hop and jazz has had a lasting impact on hip hop music, helping to expand the art of hip hop production. Many of their songs, such as "Bonita Applebum", "Can I Kick It?", "I Left My Wallet in El Segundo", "Scenario", "Check the Rhime", "Award Tour", and "Electric Relaxation" are regarded as classics of the genre.
Aaron Neville
Aaron Neville, born in New Orleans, Louisiana was known best for the hits "Tell it Like it is" and "Don't Know Much". After 13 studio albums Aaron Neville is still going strong today with tours currently across America.
Abba
ABBA gained immense international popularity employing catchy song hooks, simple lyrics, and a Wall of Sound achieved by overdubbing the female singers' voices in multiple harmonies. As their popularity grew, they were sought after to tour Europe, Australia, and North America, drawing crowds of near-hysterical fans, notably in Australia. Touring became a contentious issue, being particularly unpopular with Agnetha, but they continued to release studio albums to great commercial success. At the height of their popularity, however, both marriages of the band members (Benny with Frida, and Björn with Agnetha) failed, and the relationship changes were reflected in their music, as they produced more thoughtful lyrics with different compositions.
ABC
ABC formed in 1980 in the city of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, after Martin Fry, a music journalist, interviewed the band Vice Versa for his fanzine Modern Drugs. They adopted Fry as lead vocalist and changed their name to ABC. The revamped band were pigeon-holed as part of the New Romantic movement of the time, which included the likes of Duran Duran and Spandau Ballet. Although the band would offer many stylistic spins within its career, it is best known for combining synthesizers with orchestra to produce a polished, bright pop-oriented sound. The first single, "Tears Are Not Enough", made the UK Top 20 in 1981. Soon afterwards, David Robinson left the band and was replaced by drummer David Palmer.
Accept
Accept were a German heavy metal band from the town of Solingen, originally assembled in the early 1970s by Udo Dirkschneider. They played an important role in the development of speed metal [1] and Teutonic thrash metal, being part of the German heavy/speed/power metal scene to emerge in the early to mid 1980s along with bands such as Helloween, Running Wild, Grave Digger, Sinner, and Rage. The band's 1983 album, Balls to the Wall, subsequently became their most successful release, featuring its well-known hit with the same title.
Ace Cannon
John "Ace" Cannon (born in Grenada, Mississippi) is an American tenor and alto saxophonist. He played and toured with Hi Records stablemate Bill Black’s Combo, and started a solo career with his record "Tuff" in 1961, using the Black combo as his backing group. "Tuff" hit #17 on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 in 1962, and the follow-up single "Blues (Stay Away from Me)" hit #36 that same year.[1] In April 1965, he released Ace Cannon Live (HL 12025); according to the liner notes by Nick Pesce the album was recorded in front of a live audience inside Hi's recording studio, and Pesce claims this was the first time such an album had ever been recorded (as opposed to previous live albums recorded in concert venues).
Acker Bilk
Bilk, born in Pensford - Somerset, earned the nickname Acker from the Somerset slang for friend or 'mate'. His parents tried to have him learn the piano, but Bilk as a boy found it restricting upon his love of outdoor activities including football (soccer). He also lost two front teeth in a school fight and half a finger in a sledging accident, both of which Bilk has claimed to have affected his eventual clarinet style. He learned the clarinet while serving in the Royal Engineers in the Suez Canal Zone, and by the mid-1950s he was playing professionally. Bilk was part of the boom in traditional jazz that swept the United Kingdom in the late 1950s and 1960s. He first joined Ken Colyer's band in 1954, and then after he formed his own ensemble, The Paramount Jazz Band, in 1956. Four years later, his single "Summer Set" (a pun on his home county) hit the British charts and it began a run of eleven top 50 hit singles.
Adam & The Ants
Adam and the Ants were a New Romantic band during the late 1970s and early 1980s. They were one of the bands at the time that marked the transition from the 70s punk rock era to the New Wave/post-punk era. The band made their radio debut on the John Peel show on 23 January 1978. The following day they recorded Deutscher Girls and Plastic Surgery for the Jubilee soundtrack. Their biggest hits included Antmusic, Stand and Deliver and Prince Charming.
Adam Wade
Adam Wade, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, worked for a time as a lab assistant with Dr. Jonas Salk on the polio research team. He wanted to pursue a recording career and signed with Coed Records in late 1959. He had his first major hit with a song called "Ruby" in early 1960, a cover of the hit movie song of 1953. Wade was popular in the early 1960s with vocal styling similar to that of Johnny Mathis[1]. In 1961 three of Wade's songs ("Take Good Care of Her" (#7), "As If I Didn't Know" (#10) and "The Writing on the Wall" (#5)) made the Top Ten in the Billboard Hot 100 chart. These songs also made the Top Five of Billboard's easy listening (later adult contemporary) survey.
Aerosmith
Aerosmith was formed in Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton, originally in a band together called the Jam Band, met up with singer Steven Tyler, drummer Joey Kramer, and guitarist Ray Tabano, and formed Aerosmith. By 1971, Tabano was replaced by Brad Whitford, and the band began developing a following in Boston. Aerosmith were signed to Columbia Records in 1972 and released a string of multi-platinum albums, beginning with their 1973 eponymous debut album. In 1975, the band broke into the mainstream with the album Toys in the Attic, and their 1976 follow-up Rocks cemented their status as hard rock superstars. By the end of the 1970s, they were among the most popular hard rock bands in the world and developed a loyal following of fans, often referred to as the "Blue Army". However, drug addiction and internal conflict took their toll on the band, which resulted in the departures of Perry and Whitford, in 1979 and 1981 respectively. They were replaced by Jimmy Crespo and Rick Dufay. The band did not fare well between 1980 and 1984, releasing a lone album, Rock in a Hard Place, which went gold but failed to match their previous successes.
Afghan Whigs
Afghan Whigs, comprised Greg Dulli, Rick McCollum, John Curley and Steve Earle, were formed in Cincinnati, Ohio, in 1986. In 1988, they released their debut album Big Top Halloween on their own Ultrasuede label. The band signed to Sub Pop of Seattle in 1989. The Afghan Whigs were the first non-Northwestern U.S. band to record for the Sub Pop label. In 1990, their first Sub Pop release Up in It was released. It featured a blistering pace and yowling, effects-heavy guitars on tracks like "White Trash Party". The album was followed by a limited edition single released by No.6 Records under the name "The Ornament". They added two guitarists who left soon after the release. With the 1992 album Congregation and a limited covers EP, Uptown Avondale, the band adopted what would become their signature soul-influenced sound. http://www.musolinks.com/admin_addArtist.php?task=artistFormSoon The Afghan Whigs signed to a major label, Elektra Records, and in 1993 released another album, Gentlemen. Although the singles "Debonair" and "Gentlemen" were fairly popular, the album failed to launch the band into the mainstream.
Afrika Bambaataa & The Soul Sonic Force
The Soulsonic Force (also referred to as Afrika Bambaataa & the Soulsonic Force) are an American hip-hop ensemble led by Afrika Bambaataa who helped established hip-hop in the early 1980s with songs such as "Planet Rock". They were also influential in the birth of the electro movement in America and helped pave the way for modern dance music styles such as Techno and House, as well as hip-hop sub-genres such as electro-funk and electro-hop. In 1982, Soulsonic Force and Afrika Bambaataa released a single called "Planet Rock". The song borrowed musical motifs from German electro-pop, British rock, and African-American disco rap. All the different elements and musical styles were blended together; and in doing so, they offered hip-hop as a new vision for global harmony. The song became an immediate hit and stormed the music charts worldwide
Aimee Mann
Aimee Mann was born in Midlothian, Virginia, graduated from Midlothian High School and attended the Berklee College of Music in Boston, but dropped out to sing with her first punk rock band, the Young Snakes; the band released the EP Bark Along with the Young Snakes in 1982, and a compilation album was issued in 2004. In 1983, seeking a return to "sweetness and melody", she co-founded with Berklee classmate and boyfriend Michael Hausman the new wave band 'Til Tuesday, which achieved success in 1985 with its first album, Voices Carry. The title song is said to be inspired by Hausman and Mann's breakup; the video became an MTV staple, winning the MTV Video Music Award for Best New Artist, although Mann's then-signature spiky hair would lead some to dismiss the group.
Airto Moreira
Airto Moreira was born in Itaiopolis, Brazil, into a family of folk healers, and raised in Curitiba and São Paulo. As a promising musical talent at an early age he became a professional musician at age 13 and in 1967 Airto moved with his wife to Newyork and played in the early days with the likes of Miles Davis. As a jazz drummer and percussionist, Airto Moreira has contributed to a whole host of musicians as well as creating many albums of his own work. Many CTI artists have included his talents such as Stanley Turrentine, Eumir Deodato, Hubert Laws, Johnny Hammond as well as many other Artists across many spheres of Jazz Music, including the experimentation into Jazz Fusion.
Al Di Meola
In 1971, he enrolled in the Berklee College of Music in Boston, Massachusetts. In 1974 he joined Chick Corea's band, Return to Forever, and played with the band until a major lineup shift in 1976.Seldom mentioned is the work Al did with the group Go including the Live in Paris sessions with Stomu Yamashta. Excellent playing as well as on Go Two. Di Meola went on to explore a variety of styles, but is most noted for his Latin-influenced jazz fusion works. He is a four time winner as Best Jazz Guitarist in Guitar Player Magazine's Reader Poll. Guitar historian Robert Lynch states: In the history of the electric guitar, no one figure has done more to advance the instrument in a purely technical manner than Mr. Di Meola. His total command of the various styles and scales is simply mind-boggling. I feel privileged to have been able to study his work all these years.
Al Green
Green was born in Forrest City, Arkansas. He was the sixth of ten children born to Robert and Cora Greene. The son of a sharecropper, he started performing at age ten in a Forrest City quartet called the Greene Brothers; he dropped the final "e" from his last name years later as a solo artist. They toured extensively in the mid-1950s in the South until the Greenes moved to Grand Rapids, Michigan, when they began to tour around Michigan. His father kicked him out of the group because he caught Green listening to Jackie Wilson. Green formed a group called Al Greene & the Creations in high school. Curtis Rogers and Palmer James, two members of the Creations, formed an independent label called Hot Line Music Journal. In 1967, under the new name Al Greene & the Soul Mates, the band recorded "Back Up Train" and released it on Hot Line Music; the song was an R&B chart hit. The Soul Mates' subsequent singles did not sell as well. Al Greene's debut LP was released on Hot Line in 1967 called "Back Up Train". The album was upbeat and soulful but didn't do well in sales. This was the only album on the Hot Line label. Green came into contact with band leader Willie Mitchell of Memphis' Hi Records in 1969, when Mitchell hired him as a vocalist for a Texas show with Mitchell's band and then asked him to sign with the label.
Al Hirt
Hirt was born in New Orleans, Louisiana, the son of a police officer, and was known as "Al" or "Jumbo." At the age of six, he was given his first trumpet, which had been purchased at a local pawnshop. He would play in the Junior Police Band with the children of Alcide Nunez, and by the age of 16, Hirt was playing professionally, often with his friend Pete Fountain. During this time, he was hired to play at the local horse racing track, beginning a six-decade connection to the sport. In 1940 Hirt went to Cincinnati, Ohio to study at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music with Dr. Frank Simon (a former soloist with the John Philip Sousa Orchestra). After a stint as a bugler in the United States Army during World War II, Hirt performed with various Swing big bands, including those of Tommy Dorsey, Jimmy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, and Ina Ray Hutton. In 1950 he became first trumpet and soloist with Horace Heidt's Orchestra. Hirt then returned to New Orleans, working with various Dixieland groups and leading his own bands. Despite Hirt's statement years later "I'm not a jazz trumpeter and never was a jazz trumpeter", he made a few recordings where he demonstrated ability to play in that style during the 1950s, notably with bandleader Monk Hazel and a few other recordings on the local Southland Records label. Hirt's virtuoso dexterity and fine tone on his instrument soon attracted the attention of national labels. Hirt had 22 different record albums on the Billboard Pop charts in the 1950s and 1960s. The albums Honey In The Horn and Cotton Candy were both in the top 10 best sellers for 1964, the same year Hirt scored a top hit single with his cover of Allen Toussaint's tune Java (Billboard #4), and later won a Grammy award for the same recording.