Search Music Artists beginning with Y for Artist Links, Information, Birthdays and more
Yardbirds
The Yardbirds are an English rock band, noted for starting the careers of three of rock's most famous guitarists: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck and Jimmy Page. A blues-based band whose sound evolved into experimental rock, they had a string of hits including “For Your Love”, “Over, Under, Sideways, Down” and “Heart Full Of Soul”. They were a crucial link between British R&B and psychedelia. The Yardbirds were pioneers in almost every guitar innovation of the '60s: fuzz tone, feedback, distortion, backwards echo, improved amplification. They were one of the first to put an emphasis on complex lead guitar parts and experimentation. The bulk of the band's conceptual ideas, as well as their songwriting, came from the quartet of singer/harmonica player Keith Relf, drummer Jim McCarty, rhythm guitarist/bassist Chris Dreja, and bassist/producer Paul Samwell-Smith, all of whom co-wrote the Yardbirds' original hits and constituted the core of the group. The band's musical foundation would also lay the groundwork for the formation of the 1970s rock band Led Zeppelin, formed by Jimmy Page after the disbandment of the Yardbirds in 1968. The band reformed in the 1990s, featuring McCarty, Dreja, and new members.
Yazoo
Yazoo (known as Yaz in the U.S.) are an English synthpop duo from Basildon, Essex. They had a number of top ten hits in the British charts in the early 1980s. Formed in late 1981 by former Depeche Mode songwriter Vince Clarke (synthesizer) and English singer Alison Moyet (vocals), Yazoo was signed to Mute Records in the United Kingdom and (as "Yaz") to Sire Records in the United States. Yazoo's debut single "Only You" backed with "Situation," was released on March 15, 1982 and rose to number two in the UK charts. Yazoo released successful studio albums, Upstairs at Eric's in 1982 and the more successful You and Me Both in 1983. Shortly after, Moyet and Clarke decided to break up. Moyet pursued a solo career while Clarke founded Erasure, another synth pop group. Yazoo reunited in 2008 with a tour in Europe and the United States and the release of a four-disc box set. Though short-lived, Yazoo continues to influence and inspire many of today's bands, including LCD Soundsystem, Shiny Toy Guns and Blaqk Audio.