Music Subject Guide: Rock, Pop, Rap, R&B, Country
Pop Musicians
Rock Musicians
Rap, R&B, Reggae Artists
Country Musicians
Computer Music: Topic Page
Term used to describe music composed or performed with the aid of a computer.
Country music has roots in various strains of folk music, including African American blues and a wide range of traditional British music.
Dance Music: Topic Page
Genre of pop music, the 1980s offspring of soul music, funk, hip hop, and disco music. The term 'dance' has come to cover music made by and for disc jockeys (DJs) and played to club audiences on vinyl records as a component of live sets.
Rap (music): Topic Page
Rap music is a central feature of hip hop culture, comprising just one of hip hop's four basic elements: graffiti, break dancing, DJing and rapping (or MCing).
Pop Music: Topic Page
Any contemporary music not categorizable as jazz or classical. Pop music contains strong rhythms of African origin, simple harmonic structures often repeated to strophic melodies, and the use of electrically amplified instruments.
Rock: Topic Page
Essentially hybrid in origin, rock music includes elements of several black and white American music styles: black guitar-accompanied blues; black rhythm and blues, noted for saxophone solos; black and white gospel music; white country and western music; and the songs of white popular crooners and harmony groups.
James Brown (1928 - 2006): Topic Page
Musician, born in Barnwell, South Carolina, USA. One of the most significant figures in black pop music, he began his singing career in Macon, GA with the Gospel Starlighters.
Ray Charles (1930 - 2004): Topic Page
Singer, pianist, and composer, born in Albany, Georgia, USA. A major influence on popular black music during his early years, he influenced both white musicians and audiences.
Nat "King" Cole (1919 - 1965): Topic Page
Musician, born in Montgomery, Alabama, USA. By 1950 he had become the first black male to attain mainstream acceptance as a popular singer, and he released a continual series of hit records over the remainder of his career.
Bing Crosby (1904 - 1977): Topic Page
Popular singer and actor, born in Tacoma, Washington, USA. Became one of the earliest crooners who established a clear split between classical and popular singing.
Aretha Franklin (1942 - 2018): Topic Page
Soul singer, born in Memphis, Tennessee, USA. Although she began recording at age 18, it was at Atlantic Records (1966) that she worked with experienced rhythm-and-blues musicians and was encouraged to use her gospel roots.
Whitney Houston (1963 - 2012): Topic Page
Singer and film actress, born in Newark, New Jersey, USA. In 1988 she broke a US chart record with seven consecutive number 1 hits, overtaking the previous record of six achieved by The Beatles and The Bee Gees.
Michael Jackson (1958 - 2009): Topic Page
Popular singer and songwriter. He was a child star with his brothers in a popular Motown soul group, the Jackson Five, and had his first solo hits in the early 1970s. His second solo album, Thriller (1982), sold over 30 million copies and made him a superstar.
Glenn Miller (1904 - 1944): Topic Page
Trombonist and bandleader, born in Clarinda, Iowa, USA. He achieved a distinctive sound with a saxophone–clarinet combination, his many successes including 'Moonlight Serenade' (his theme song), 'Little Brown Jug', and 'In the Mood' (1939).
Roy Orbison (1936 - 1989): Topic Page
Country-pop singer and songwriter, born in Vernon, Texas, USA. Had a succession of smash hits including 'Cryin'' (1961), 'Blue Bayou', 'In Dreams' (both 1963), and 'Oh, Pretty Woman' (1964).
Diana Ross (1944 - ): Topic Page
Popular singer and film actress, born in Detroit, Michigan, USA. Lead singer of the extremely successful trio, the Supremes, she went solo in 1969, recording the hits 'Reach Out and Touch Somebody's Hand' and 'Ain't No Mountain High Enough' in 1970.
Dusty Springfield (1939 - 1999)
From The faber companion to 20th century popular music Of all the white female singers to emerge from Britain in the sixties, Springfield, with her husky, breathy voice, made the greatest use of R&B and soul models on recordings like 'I Only Want to Be with You'* (1963) and 'You Don't Have to Say You Love Me'.
The Beatles: Topic Page
British pop group, formed in Liverpool, NW England, UK in 1960. 'Beatlemania' spread around the world in 1964, buoyed by international hits such as 'She Loves You' and 'I Want to Hold Your Hand'.
David Bowie (1947 - ): Topic Page
Rock singer, born in Brixton, London, UK. His career blossomed throughout the 1970s as he adopted a range of extreme stage images to suit a variety of musical styles.
Eric Clapton (1945 - ): Topic Page
Rock guitarist and singer, born in Ripley, Surrey, SE England, UK. In the 1960s he was in British rhythm-and-blues bands The Yardbirds and John Mayall's Bluesbreakers, then 'supergroups' Cream and Blind Faith.
Bo Diddley (1928 - 2008): Topic Page
Musician, born in McComb, Mississippi, USA. He became one of the earliest black stars of rock 'n' roll, making many television appearances and touring widely through the mid-1960s.
Bob Dylan (1941 - ): Topic Page
Folk and rock songwriter and singer, born in Duluth, Minnesota, USA.
Jerry Garcia (1942 - 1995): Topic Page
US guitarist, songwriter, and leader of the group the Grateful Dead. Closely involved with the San Francisco hippie movement and the use of drugs such as LSD, the band first played 'psychedelic' rock but moved on to a more diverse repertory of rock styles in the 1970s.
George Harrison (1943 - 2001): Topic Page
Singer, musician, and songwriter, born in Liverpool, Merseyside, NW England, UK. He played lead guitar and sang with the Beatles, and developed an interest in Indian music and Eastern religion.
Jimi Hendrix (1942 - 1970): Topic Page
Rock guitarist, singer, and songwriter, born in Seattle, Washington, USA. After his 1965 discharge from the army, he explored electronic tricks on his guitar at ear-splitting amplitude, to which he added stage gimmicks, playing behind his back or with his teeth.
Mick Jagger (1943 - ): Topic Page
Singer, born in Dartford, Kent, SE England, UK. He attended the London School of Economics, but left to form his own rock group, The Rolling Stones, together with Keith Richards, Bill Wyman, Charlie Watts, and Brian Jones.
John Lennon (1940 - 1980): Topic Page
Pop star, composer, songwriter, and recording artist, born in Liverpool, Merseyside, NW England, UK. He was the Beatles rhythm guitarist, keyboard player, and vocalist, and a partner in the Lennon–McCartney song-writing team.
Paul McCartney (1942 - ): Topic Page
Musician, songwriter, and composer. The Beatles' bass guitarist, vocalist, and member of the Lennon–McCartney songwriting team.
Elvis Presley (1935 - 1977): Topic Page
Popular singer and film actor, born in Tupelo, Mississippi, USA.
The Rolling Stones: Topic Page
Rock group, members Mick Jagger (1943–) vocals, Keith Richards (1943–) guitar, Bill Wyman (1941–) bass, Charlie Watts (1942–) drums, Ron Wood (1947–) guitar, former member Brian Jones (1944–69) guitar, one of the longest-running and most successful popular music groups to emerge in the 1960s.
Bruce Springsteen (1949 - ): Topic Page
Musician, born in Freehold, New Jersey, USA. Promoted as the new Bob Dylan, his highly-anticipated debut album was released in 1973, but not until his third album, Born to Run (1975), did he enjoy widespread commercial success.
U2: Topic Page
Irish rock group formed in Dublin in 1977. U2 became one of the most popular and successful rock bands of the 1980s and 1990s, managing to sustain their fan base throughout two decades by clever reinvention.
Ringo Starr (1940 - )
From The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular MusicIn contrast to the more exploratory and innovatory solo careers of his fellow Beatles, Starr successfully sustained his cheerful, easy-going Beatles persona in a series of pop hits throughout the seventies. In the process he became one of the grand old men of rock.
Frank Zappa (1940 - 1995): Topic Page
Avant-garde rock musician and composer, born in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. He led the satirical 'underground' band The Mothers of Invention.
Tupac Shakur (1971 - 1996): Topic Page
Briefly one of the nineties most popular and controversial rap stars, Tupac (or 2Pac) Shakur mixed successful gangsta rap recordings with film work.
Bob Marley (1945 - 1981): Topic Page
Singer, guitarist, and composer of reggae music, born in St Ann's, near Kingston, Jamaica. He made his first record at the age of 19, and in 1965 formed the vocal trio, The Wailers, with Peter Tosh and Bunny Livingstone.
Johnny Cash (1932 - 2005): Topic Page
Musician, born in Kingsland, Arkansas, USA. A singer, guitarist, and songwriter, he was born into a poor cotton-farming family and became one of the greatest stars of country music.
Willie Nelson (1933 - ): Topic Page
Country music singer and songwriter, born in Fort Worth, Texas, USA.
Hank Williams: Topic Page
Composer and lyricist, born in Mount Olive West, Alabama, USA. Called the 'hillbilly Shakespeare', he wrote simple melodies mixing gospel, blues, and country, and his words and singing evoked a powerful sense of emotion.
Broadcasting: Topic Page
The transmission of sound and vision programmes by radio and television.
Compact Disc: Topic Page
(CD), a small plastic disc used for the storage of digital data.
Eurovision Song Contest: Topic Page
First staged in Switzerland in 1956, the event is now transmitted in over 40 countries. Eurovision is actually the name given to the Europe-wide TV distribution network run by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU).
Grand Ole Opry: Topic Page
Weekly American radio program featuring live country and western music. The nation's oldest continuous radio show, it was first broadcast in 1925 on Nashville's WSM as an amateur showcase.
From Contemporary Youth Culture: An International Encyclopedia
Robert Pittman—the father of MTV—had the idea of asking popular music stars to produce short films constructed around their hit songs.
Radio: Topic Page
Transmission or reception of electromagnetic radiation in the radio frequency range. The term is commonly applied also to the equipment used, especially to the radio receiver.
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