The Staple Singers

The Staple Singers were a United States gospel, soul, and R&B singing group. Roebuck "Pops" Staples, the patriarch of the family, formed the group with his children Cleotha (born 1934), Pervis (b. 1935), Yvonne (b. 1936), and Mavis (b. 1940). The family began appearing in Chicago-area churches in 1948, and signed their first professional contract in 1952. During their early career they recorded in an acoustic gospel-folk style with various labels: United Records, Vee-Jay, Riverside, and then Epic Records in 1965.

It was on Epic that the Staple Singers began moving into mainstream pop markets, with "Why (Am I Treated So Bad)" and "For What It's Worth" (Stephen Stills) in 1967. In 1968, the Staple Singers signed to Stax and released two albums with Steve Cropper and Booker T & the MG's — Soul Folk in Action and We'll Get Over. By 1970, Al Bell had become producer, and the family began recording at the famed Muscle Shoals studio, moving in a more funk and soul direction. The first Stax hit was "Heavy Makes You Happy (Sha-Na-Boom Boom)". In 1972, the group had a No. 1 hit in the United States with "I'll Take You There." Their 1972 recording on Stax of "Respect Yourself," written by Luther Ingram and Mack Rice, was number 2 on the R&B charts and a Top 40 pop hit as well. The song's theme of self-empowerment had universal appeal, released in the period immediately following the intense American civil rights movement of the 1960s.

The Staple Singers then signed to Curtis Mayfield's label Curtom Records, and released "Let's Do It Again", produced by Mayfield; the song was a huge hit. After this, however, they were not able to regain their momentum, releasing occasional minor hits. In 1978, they collaborated with The Band on the song The Weight for their film The Last Waltz. In 1994, they again performed the song The Weight with Country music artist Marty Stuart for MCA Nashville's Rhythm Country & Blues compilation, somewhat re-establishing an audience. Pops Staples died of complications from a concussion suffered in December 2000.

In 2005, the group was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. Find out more about this amazing Chicago-based family-act at: www.vh1.com/artist/az/staple_singers_the/bio.jhtml

Research info provided by: www.wikipedia.org

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The Beatles

The Beatles were an English rock band from Liverpool. They are the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed band in history with their innovative music and cultural impact helping to define the 1960s. The band consisted of John Lennon (vocals, rhythm guitar), Paul McCartney (vocals, bass guitar), George Harrison (lead guitar, vocals), and Ringo Starr (percussion, vocals) Lennon and McCartney were the main songwriters and singers, although songs penned by George started showing up more frequently on later albums. Ringo traditionally sang one song on each record. George Martin produced most of the Beatles' records, and was a highly influential part of the band's sound on most of their records.

In 1963, The Beatles were responsible for a craze known as "Beatlemania" in the UK with the song "Please Please Me." Their first album of the same title was recorded in just one day. This fame spread internationally and, in February of 1964, they arrived in the United States. Their first American appearance was on the Ed Sullivan Show, following "I Want to Hold Your Hand" going #1 in the States. With this success, the Beatles released two feature length films within the space of two years: "A Hard Days' Night" and "Help!". The songs from both films were penned by Lennon and McCartney, and albums followed their release. In "Help!", the Beatles were given greater creative freedom, deciding for example to head to the exotic location of the Bahamas simply to shoot one scene.

For years, The Beatles showed an amazing talent for writing hit after hit. In 1966, they ceased performing in concert (apparently they could no longer hear themselves play over the crowds) and began exploring new sounds in the studio. This is especially apparent in albums such as Revolver, Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band and The Beatles, sometimes known as "The White Album." The White album has since become notorious via its alleged influence on Charles Manson and is considered the band's most experimental. The strange sounds featured are perhaps due to the growing presence of Yoko Ono (Lennon's wife), as demonstrated by the song 'Revolution 9', and the band's increasing use of hard drugs. The song "Lucy in the Sky With Diamonds" (off of Sgt. Pepper's) was rumored to be an ode to LSD, although the band vehemently denied any link; they instead insisted that it described a drawing made by John Lennon's son, Julian.

After the death of Brian Epstein, the Beatles began to unravel at the seams. The Beatles officially split at the dawn of 1970; Lennon had unofficially quit the previous year and the band had maintained the front of being together to protect their business interests. McCartney, who was the first to announce that he had officially "quit" the band and that they no longer existed, was often blamed for the band's ending although by the end he was the only one willing to carry on and was, by stating the group no longer existed, admitting to the facts.

The Beatles never reunited properly in the 1970s as they never fully recovered from the acrimony associated with their breakup. John Lennon was shot died by a crazed fan in 1980 and George Harrison passed away in 2001. Ringo Starr and Paul McCartney continue to make music. Ringo released "Choose Love" and Paul released "Chaos and Creation in the Backyard" both in 2005. Paul's latest release is "Memory Almost Full". I grew-up listening to the Beatles. The first album of theirs I owned was "Rubber Soul" which is exactly what the music was. I bought every album from then on to "Let It Be". I can still hear Billy Preston's organ on the title cut, adding the perfect dose of gospel to the swan-song that would signal the end of an era. Find out more at: http://www.beatles.com/

Research info gathered from: www.allmusic.com

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Ramsey Lewis

Ramsey Emmanuel Lewis, Jr. (born May 27, 1935 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American jazz and pop pianist and keyboardist. He formed the Ramsey Lewis Trio in 1956 with Eldee Young and Isaac Holt. They started as primarily a jazz unit but after their hit, "The In Crowd", in 1965 (the single reached fifth place on the pop charts, and the album second place) the trio concentrated more and more on pop material. Young and Holt left in 1966 to form the Young-Holt Trio and were replaced by Cleveland Eaton and Maurice White. White was replaced by Maurice Jennings in 1970. In the late 1970s an additional keyboard player was frequently added to the lineup. A contemporary version of "The In Crowd" was recorded for Lewis' 2004 album, Time Flies.

He has received seven gold records and three Grammy Awards so far in his career.His recent "With One Voice" release pays homage to his gospel roots all while maintaining his classic style. With the help of gospel favorites Smokie Norful, Darius Brooks, and Donald Lawrence, Lewis delivers an emotion-packed, soul-stirring, album. Lewis also enlisted the help of his church's choir, pastored by his older sister, to sing on several of the album's tracks. The J.W. James Memorial A.M.E. Church Combined Choir is breath-taking, adding so much life, freedom, and hope to "With One Voice". The CD's first single, "Pass Me Not" can be heard on Chicago's WGCI 107.5.

In addition to recording and performing, he is / has been a radio host on Chicago's Smooth Jazz station, WNUA (95.5 FM). His syndicated show Legends of Jazz, featuring classic jazz recordings from artists such as Charlie Parker and Miles Davis), can be heard in 60 cities in the United States and other countries as well. His most recent venture, the Legends of Jazz television series on PBS, was first aired in April 2006.

On December 4, 2006, the Ramsey Lewis Morning Show became a part of Broadcast Architecture's Smooth Jazz Network, simulcasting on other Smooth Jazz stations across the country for the first time. It is based in Chicago. His website is: http://www.ramseyleiws.com/

Research info provided by: www.last.fm & www.wikipedia.org


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The Guess Who

While the Guess Who did have several hits in America, they were superstars in their home country of Canada during the 1960s and early '70s. The original band was composed of vocalist/guitarist Chad Allan (born Allan Kobel) and guitarist Randy Bachman's Winnipeg-based group Chad Allan and the Expressions, originally known as first the Silvertones and then the Reflections. The remainder of the lineup featured bassist Jim Kale, pianist Bob Ashley, and drummer Garry Peterson. The Expressions recorded a cover of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates' "Shakin' All Over" in 1965, which became a surprise hit in Canada and reached the U.S. Top 40. When the Expressions recorded an entire album of the same name, its record company, Quality, listed their name as "Guess Who?" on the jacket, hoping to fool record buyers into thinking that the British Invasion-influenced music was actually by a more famous group in disguise. Ashley had been replaced by keyboardist/vocalist Burton Cummings, who became lead vocalist when Allan departed in 1966.

The Guess Who embarked on an unsuccessful tour of England and returned home to record commercials and appear on the television program Let's Go, hosted by Chad Allan. However, further American success eluded the Guess Who until the 1969 Top Ten hit "These Eyes"; the recording session for the accompanying album, Wheatfield Soul, was paid for by producer Jack Richardson, who mortgaged his house to do so. Canned Wheat Packed by the Guess Who produced three Top 40 singles later that year.



In 1970, the Guess Who released the cuttingly sarcastic riff-rocker "American Woman," which, given its anti-American putdowns, ironically became their only U.S. chart-topper. The album of the same name became their first U.S. Top Ten and first gold album, and the group performed for President and Mrs. Nixon and Prince Charles at the White House. (Pat Nixon requested that "American Woman" be dropped from the set list.)Trouble was brewing on the horizon, though. Guitarist Bachman, having recently converted to Mormonism, took issue with the band's typical rock & roll lifestyle, leading to clashes with Cummings.



Finding the atmosphere unbearable, Bachman left the group in July 1970 and formed Brave Belt with Chad Allan, which later evolved into Bachman-Turner Overdrive. His place in the Guess Who was taken by Kurt Winter and Greg Leskiw, and the title track from their next album, "Share the Land," climbed into the Top Ten later that year, and several more singles charted afterwards. The group returned to the Top Ten one last time in 1974 with the novelty single "Clap for the Wolfman," featuring dialogue by deejay Wolfman Jack. Burdened by shifting personnel and loss of direction, Cummings broke up the band in 1975 and tried a solo career. The lineup from the Guess Who's glory years reunited in 1983, and a version of the group with constantly shifting musicians (occasionally original members) continues to tour. Get more info at: http://www.theguesswhocafe.com/

Research info provided by: Steve huey at www.allmusic.com


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Fats Domino

Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino (born February 26, 1928) is a classic R&B and rock and roll singer, songwriter and pianist. He was one of the best-selling singers of the 1950s and early 1960s. Domino is also a pianist with an individualistic bluesy style, showing stride and boogie-woogie influences. His congenial personality and rich accent have added to his appeal.

They called him the Fat Man. With his easy-rolling boogie-woogie piano and smooth rhythm & blues vocals, he put a New Orleans-style spin on what came to be known as rock and roll. A pianist, singer, and songwriter who was born in the Crescent City in 1928, Domino sold more records (65 million) than any Fifties-era rocker except Elvis Presley. Between 1950 and 1963, he cracked the pop Top Forty thirty-seven times and the R&B singles chart fifty-nine times. His biggest songs are as winning as his broad smile. They include “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Blueberry Hill,” “I’m Walkin’,” “Blue Monday” and “Walking to New Orleans.”

Domino was born into a musical family and began performing for small change in local honky-tonks while working odd jobs to make ends meet. By 1949, he had become a fixture at the Hideaway Club. That same year he met Dave Bartholomew, who became his longtime producer, bandleader and collaborator. It proved to be a fortuitous partnership that yielded a bounty of durable, straight-ahead New Orleans rhythm & blues records. While less of an outgoing personality than some of his extroverted rock and roll contemporaries, he exhibited staying power based on the solid musicality of his recordings and live performances. In short, he all but dominated the Fifties, insofar as rock and roll was concerned.

After he left Imperial for ABC-Paramount in 1963, he would only enter the Top 40 one more time. The surprise was not that he fell out of fashion, but that he'd maintained his popularity so long while the essentials of his style remained unchanged. This was during an era, remember, when most of rock's biggest stars had their careers derailed by death or scandal, or were made to soften up their sound for mainstream consumption. Although an active performer in the ensuing decades, his career as an important artist was essentially over in the mid-'60s. He did stir up a bit of attention in 1968 when he covered the Beatles' "Lady Madonna" single, which had been an obvious homage to Fats' style.

In the 1980s, he decided he would no longer leave New Orleans, having a comfortable income from royalties and a dislike for touring, and claiming he could not get any food that he liked anyplace else. His induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and an invitation to perform at the White House failed to persuade Domino to make an exception to this policy. He lived in a mansion in a predominantly working-class Lower 9th Ward neighborhood, where he was a familiar sight in his bright pink Cadillac. He makes yearly appearances at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and other local events. Domino was awarded the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award in 1987. In 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him #25 on their list of the 100 Greatest Artists of All Time.

When Hurricane Katrina was approaching New Orleans in August 2005, Domino chose to stay at home with his family, due to his wife's poor health. For days they were thought to be dead but had actually been recused by a United States Coast Guard helicopter. His house and office was ruined by the flood and vandalized, but by January 2006, work to gut and repair his home and office had begun. He returned to stage on May 19th, 2007 at Tipitina's at New Orleans, performing to a full house. Find out more about this musical icon at: www.rockhall.com/inductee/fats-domino

Research info provided by: www.wikipedia.org


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David Bowie

David Bowie (born David Robert Hayward Jones on January 8, 1947) is an iconic cross-era English rock musician. Bowie is commonly known as the chameleon of rock, due to his ability to predict (and even set) musical trends, adjusting his musical persona accordingly.

A multi-instrumentalist, he is famous for playing the guitar, piano and saxophone; but also plays the harmonica, drums, cello, marimba, bass guitar, koto, stylophone and spoons. He rose to fame with the heady 1969 folk rock single "Space Oddity", but is perhaps best known for the single "Changes" from Hunky Dory (1971), and the flamboyant, androgynous glam rock of The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars (1972). Subsequent albums have explored blue-eyed soul, electronica and new wave, often predating these genres' popularity or even the point at which they were defined as genres.

Bowie is one of the most influential rock musicians from the 1970s to the present. He has sold an estimated 136 million albums in his career and has been inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Due to his wide spread into different genres, it could be said that he influences every band to date at least on an indirect level (e.g. Bowie influenced a band who influenced them). In addition to his musical career, Bowie has had success as a painter, webdesigner, sculptor and actor, starring in many films (including Labyrinth, The Man Who Fell To Earth, Merry Christmas Mr. Lawrence, The Hunger, and The Prestige) across the years.

On September 11, 1977, David Bowie appeared alongside Bing Crosby for the filming Crosby's annual Christmas special. Their duet of Little Drummer Boy proved to be one of the most influential moments of music history as they bridged the generations with a single song. Crosby died a month later.

He is also credited as being a major inspiration behind the new romantic/futurist movement, and subsequent development of electronic/electronica music. All of which eventually led to dance music as we know it now.

He is also famous for dressing up in concert for entertainment purposes. His most famous onstage look was that of Ziggy Stardust. Other persona include Major Tom, Aladdin Sane (for which he painted a lightning bolt across his face) and the Thin White Duke.He has been married to supermodel Iman since 1992. They have one daugther (both have a child from a previous marriage). The couple make their home in Manhattan and London. "Let's Dance" is my all-time favorite. Find out more about this living legend at: http://www.davidbowie.com/

Research info provided by: www.last.fm and www.wikipedia.org


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