Chris Cornell (Soundgarden, Audioslave)

Chris Cornell, the lead singer of the Seattle-based bands Soundgarden, and Audioslave tragically died 17 May 2017, aged 52. Hevwas Born 11 July 1964 in Seattle, to Ed Boyle, a pharmacist, and Karen (nee Cornell), an accountant, Chris had three younger sisters and two older brothers. After his parents’ divorce, when Chris was a teenager, he and his siblings took their mother’s maiden name. He attended a Catholic elementary school, Christ the King, then Shorewood high school, but left education at 16, and worked various jobs (including sous-chef at Ray’s Boathouse restaurant).

He eventually found his feet as a musician, when he joined a covers band called The Shemps, and it was while performing with the Shemps, that he met guitarist Kim Thayil andbass player Hiro Yamamoto, with whom he subsequently formed Soundgarden in 1984 with Matt Cameron becoming their full-time drummer in 1986. After releasing a single, Hunted Down (1987) on the Seattle-based Sub Pop label, and a debut album, Ultramega OK (1988), for the independent SST, Yamamoto left the band, and was briefly replaced by Jason Everman, formerly of Nirvana, before Ben Shepherd joined on bass. Soundgarden signed to A&M records, and their second release for that label, Badmotorfinger (1991), became a multi-platinum seller in the US, also reaching the Top 40 in the UK. The singles from that album, Outshined and Rusty Cage, received heavy play on alternative radio stations and MTV, and Badmotorfinger earned a Grammy nomination in 1992 and were one of the trailblazers of Seattle’s grunge movement in the late 1980s and 90s.

Soundgarden opened for Guns N’ Roses on their Use Your Illusion tour (1991-93) and Skid Row, this introduced them to huge new audiences in both the US and Europe. They also appeared on the 1992 Lollapalooza tour alongside Ministry, the Red Hot Chili Peppers and fellow Seattleites Pearl Jam. This solidified Soundgarden as one of the rising names in American alternative rock. (In 1990 Cornell had joined with members of Pearl Jam to form Temple of the Dog, in tribute to the late Andy Wood of another Seattle band, Mother Love Bone. They released an eponymous album in 1991, and last year reunited for a 25th-anniversary tour.) Cornell also had a solo cameo performance in Cameron Crowe’s 1992 Seattle-based romcom Singles, with his gentle acoustic track Seasons.

Soundgarden’s next album, Superunknown (1994), topped the US chart (and reached No 4 in the UK), and went on to sell 5m copies in the States alone. After extensive international touring, Soundgarden started work on their fifth album, Down on the Upside, though Cornell’s desire to lighten the group’s dark, metallic sound with acoustic instruments triggered arguments with his bandmates. Down the Upside was released in 1996, and After a further marathon bout of touring, the group announced they were splitting in April 1997.

Having achieved stardom with Soundgarden, he went on to further great success with Audioslave in the new millennium, while also developing a flourishing solo career and his first solo album, Euphoria Morning, in 1999. This found him exploring a mix of rock, pop and psychedelia, allowing him to use different facets of his impressive vocal range beyond a heavy-rock roar, though again critical enthusiasm did not translate into huge sales. But his solo career was put on hold when he formed Audioslave in 2001, with former Rage Against the Machine members Tom Morello, Brad Wilk and Tim Commerford, who had been recommended Cornell by the producer Rick Rubin.

Between 2002 & 2006 Audioslave recorded three albums, Audioslave (2002), Out of Exile (2005) and Revelations (2006). Audioslave was by far the most successful, selling 3m albums in the States and spinning off five hit singles including Cochise, Like a Stone and I Am the Highway. The release of Revelations (which reached No 2 on the US charts and 12 in Britain) was preceded by the appearance of two of its tracks, Wide Awake and Shape of Things to Come, in Michael Mann’s film Miami Vice (2006).

In 2006, Cornell composed and recorded You Know My Name, the theme song for the James Bond movie Casino Royale. He put out his second solo effort, Carry On, in 2007, and promoted it with a campaign of touring, both in his own right and as a support act to Aerosmith. Cornell quit Audioslave in early 2007. This was a significant period in his career, since he had been suffering from problems with drug and alcohol abuse during his later years with Soundgarden, and had made a strenuous effort to overcome them. “It was really hard to recover from, just mentally,” he recalled. “I think Audioslave suffered from that because my feet hadn’t hit the ground yet. I was sober but I don’t think my brain was clear … It took me five years of sobriety to even get certain memories back.”

In 2009 he released his next album, Scream, on which he collaborated with the producer Timbaland. It reached No 10 on the US album chart, Cornell’s highest solo chart placing. In 2011 he released the live album Songbook, a document of his solo acoustic Songbook tour on which he played songs from all phases of his career as well as versions of Led Zeppelin’s Thank You and John Lennon’s Imagine. He also began working with the reformed Soundgarden, who released the compilation Telephantasm: A Retrospective (2010). Their first new song to go public was Live to Rise, which featured in the 2012 movie The Avengers, and later that year they followed up with an album of new material, King Animal (it reached No 5 in the US and 21 in Britain). Cornell’s most recent solo album was Higher Truth (2015), a mellow, melodic work, which entered the US Top 20.

He is survived by his wife, Vicky Karayiannis, whom he married in 2004, their son, Christopher Nicholas, their daughter, Toni, and by a daughter, Lillian, from his first marriage, to Susan Silver, which ended in divorce. At the time of his death, Cornell was in the middle of a tour with Soundgarden, who had re-formed after a 13-year hiatus, and had just performed at the Fox theatre in Detroit.

Ian Curtis (Joy Division)

English musician, singer and songwriter Ian Curtis tragically committed suicide on 18 May 1980. He was Born 15 July 1956. He is best known as the lead singer and lyricist of the post-punk band Joy Division. Joy Division released their debut album, Unknown Pleasures, in 1979 and recorded their follow-up album Closer, In 1980. Curtis became known for his baritone voice, dance style, and songwriting filled with imagery of desolation, emptiness and alienation.In 1995, Curtis’ widow Deborah published Touching from a Distance: Ian Curtis and Joy Division, a biography of the singer. His life and death have been dramatised in the films 24 Hour Party People (2002) and Control In 1976 , Curtis met Bernard Sumner and Peter Hook at a Sex Pistols gig. They were trying to form a band, and Curtis immediately proposed himself as vocalist and lyricist.

The trio then unsuccessfully recruited a number of drummers before selecting Stephen Morris as their final member. Initially the band was called Warsaw, but as their name conflicted with the group, Warsaw Pakt, the name was changed to Joy Division. The moniker was derived from a 1955 novel The House of Dolls, which featured a Nazi concentration camp with a sexual slavery wing called the “Joy Division”. After starting Factory Records with Alan Erasmus, Tony Wilson signed the band to his label following the band’s appearance on Wilson’s Something Else television programme, itself prompted by an abusive letter sent to Wilson by Curtis.

Whilst performing for Joy Division, Curtis became known for his quiet and awkward demeanour, as well as a unique dancing style reminiscent of the epileptic seizures he experienced, sometimes even on stage.There were several incidents when he collapsed and had to be helped off stage. In an interview for Northern Lights cassette magazine in November 1979, Ian Curtis made his only public comment on his dancing and performance. He explained the dance as a type of sign language with which to further express a song’s emotional and lyrical content: “Instead of just singing about something you could show it as well, put it over in the way that it is, if you were totally involved in what you were doing”. Curtis’ writing was filled with imagery of emotional isolation, death, alienation, and urban decay. He sang in a baritone voice, in contrast to his speaking voice, which fell in the tenor range.

Earlier in their career, Curtis would sing in a loud snarling voice similar to shouting; as on the band’s debut EP, An Ideal for Living (1978). producer Martin Hannett developed Joy Division’s sparse recording style, and some of their most innovative work was created in Strawberry Studios in Stockport ( 10cc) and Cargo Recording Studios Rochdale in 1979), which was developed from John Peel’s investing money into the music business in Rochdale. Although predominantly a vocalist, Curtis also played guitar on a handful of tracks (usually when Sumner was playing synthesizer; “Incubation” and a Peel Session version of “Transmission” were rare instances when both played guitar). At first Curtis played Sumner’s Shergold Masquerader, but in September 1979 he acquired his own guitar, a Vox Phantom Special VI which had many built-in effects used both live and in studio.

Sadly Curtis, suffered from epilepsy and depression, and tragically died on the eve of Joy Division’s first North American tour, resulting in the band’s dissolution and the subsequent formation of New Order by Stephen Morris, Peter Hook and Bernard Sumner who inherited Curtis’s guitar and used it in several early New Order songs, such as “Everything’s Gone Green”. Curtis also played keyboard on some live versions of “She’s Lost Control”. He also played the melodica on “Decades” and “In a Lonely Place”; the latter was written and rehearsed for the cancelled American tour and later salvaged as a New Order B-side. Curtis’ last live performance was on 2 May 1980, at High Hall of Birmingham University, a show that included Joy Division’s first and only performance of “Ceremony”, later recorded by New Order and released as their first single. The last song Curtis performed on stage was “Digital”. The recording of this performance is on the Still album. Curtis was cremated at Macclesfield Crematorium and his ashes were buried. His memorial stone, inscribed with “Ian Curtis 18 – 5 – 80″ and “Love Will Tear Us Apart”, was stolen in July 2008 from the grounds of Macclesfield Cemetery. The missing memorial stone was later replaced by a new stone.

Donna Summer

Donna Summer, the late great Queen of Disco sadly passed away 17 May 2012. Donna Summer was born LaDonna Adrian Gaines on 31st December 1948 in Boston, Massachusetts. Summer’s performance debut occurred at church when she was ten years old after being invited to perform by the local pastor. Summer attended Boston’s Jeremiah E. Burke High School where she performed in school musicals and was considered popular. She was also something of a troublemaker, skipping home to attend parties, circumventing her parents’ strict curfew. In 1967, just weeks before graduation, Summer left for New York where she was a member of the blues rock band Crow.

Summer auditioned for a role in the musical, Hair. When Melba Moore was cast in the part, Summer agreed to take the role in the Munich production of the show. She moved to Munich, Germany after getting her parents’ reluctant approval. She achieved fame after signing as a solo artist to the pioneering disco label, Casablanca, in 1975 and her soaring voice and effervescent stage presence helped to propel her first single “Love to Love You Baby” to No 4 in the UK charts and ignited the disco craze of the 1970s, which was defined by sex, drugs and extravagant clothes. She participated in the musicals Ich bin ich (the German version of The Me Nobody Knows), Godspell and Show Boat and moved to Vienna. In 1968, Summer released her first single, a German version of the title “Aquarius” from the musical “Hair,” followed in 1971 by a second single, a cover of The Jaynetts’ “Sally Go ‘Round the Roses”, in 1972 she released the single “If You Walkin’ Alone” and married Austrian actor Helmuth Sommer in 1973 with whom she had a daughter, Mimi, the same year. Sadly she later divorced Sommer Citing marital problems caused by her affair with German artist (and future live-in boyfriend), Peter Mühldorfer. However She kept his last name, but anglicized it to “Summer”.

She provided backing vocals on producer-keyboardist, Veit Marvos’ 1972 Record Nice to See You. Summer then met German-based producers, Giorgio Moroder and Pete Bellotte while at a recording session at Munich’s Musicland Studios and The trio began collaborating on songs together. Summer’s first album, Lady of the Night contained the songs “The Hostage” and “Lady of the Night”. Summer and Morodor then released the song love to Love You and an American label requested that Moroder produce a longer version for discothèques. So Moroder, Bellotte and Summer returned with a 17-minute version. The song generated controversy due to Summer’s moans and groans and some American and European radio stations, including the BBC, refused to play it. Despite this “Love to Love You Baby” became incredibly successful And was followed by “Try Me, I Know We Can Make It”, “Could It Be Magic”, “Spring Affair”, and “Winter Melody”, she released The albums love Trilogy and Four Seasons of Love and Then In 1977, Summer released the concept album I Remember Yesterday, which included the song “I feel Love”.

She released Another concept album, Once Upon a Time and In 1978, released “MacArthur Park” and “Heaven Knows”. In 1978 Summer married Bruce Sudano & acted in the film Thank God It’s Friday playing a singer determined to perform at a hot disco club. This contained the song “Last Dance” which won a Grammy Award. In 1979, Summer performed at the world-televised Music for UNICEF Concert, joining ABBA, Olivia Newton-John, the Bee Gees, Andy Gibb, Rod Stewart, John Denver, Earth, Wind & Fire, Rita Coolidge and Kris Kristofferson for a TV special that raised funds and awareness for the world’s children. Summer’s next album Bad Girls became a huge success spawning the hits “Hot Stuff”, “Dim All the Lights”. With “MacArthur Park”,“Bad Girls” and the Barbra Streisand duet “No More Tears (Enough is Enough)”, these together with the songs. “Heaven Knows”, “Last Dance”, “Dim All the Lights” and “On the Radio” (from her upcoming double-album). “Hot Stuff” later won her a second Grammy in the Best Female Rock Vocal Performance.Summer released On the Radio: Greatest Hits Volumes I & II, her first (international) greatest hits set, in 1979 featuring A new song “On the Radio. Summer signed withGeffen Records in 1980 Summer’s first Geffen album, The Wanderer, featured an eclectic mixture of sounds similar to Bad Girls combined with rock, rockabilly, new wave and gospel music. And contained the Singles The Wanderer, “Cold Love” and “Who Do You Think You’re Foolin’,”. Eventually, though Moroder and Bellotte and Summer left Geffen and hired top R&B and pop producer Quincy Jones to produce Summer’s next album, Donna Summer (1982) which contained the songs “Love Is in Control (Finger on the Trigger)” “State of Independence” and “The Woman in Me”.

Summer’s next album featured the song She Works Hard for the Money which became a major hit & also garnered another Grammy nomination as well as “Unconditional Love” & “Love Has A Mind of Its Own”. Donna Summer’s next release. Cats Without Claws included the Song s”There Goes My Baby”, “Eyes” and “I’m Free,” . On January 19, 1985, she sang at the 50th Presidential Inaugural Gala before the second inauguration of Ronald Reagan. then In 1987, Summer returned with the album All Systems Go, featuring the singles “Dinner with Gershwin,” and “All Systems Go”. For Summer’s next album, She teamed up with Stock Aitken Waterman (or SAW), who enjoyed incredible success writing and producing for such acts as Kylie Minogue, Dead or Alive, Bananarama and Rick Astley, , entitled Another Place and Time, The album featured the singles “This Time I Know It’s for Real” “I Don’t Wanna Get Hurt” and “Love’s About to Change My Heart”. Then In 1990, the compilation, The Best of Donna Summer, was released. In 1991 Summer released the album Mistaken Identity containing the song “When Love Cries” and in 1992 Summer embarked on a world tour to promote the album and later that year received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. In 1993, the two-disc set The Donna Summer Anthology was released, containing 34 tracks. In 1994 Summer released the Christmas album Christmas Spirit which included renditions of classic Christmas songs such as “O Holy Night” and “Joy to the World” together with Summer-penned songs. Then Another hits collection, Endless Summer: Greatest Hits, was released, featuring eighteen songs that were single cuts of the songs differentiating from the Anthology set, where fuller length recordings were featured.

In 1992, she reunited with Giorgio Moroder, to record the dance song “Carry On”, which won Summer the first Grammy given to anyone in its dance category, then In 1995 she released the dance tune “Melody of Love (Wanna Be Loved)”. Summer was also offered a guest role on the sitcom Family Matters as Steve Urkel’s (Jaleel White) Aunt Oona, making a second appearance in 1997. Summer received a Grammy Award in 1998 for Best Dance Recording, after a remixed version of her 1992 collaboration with Giorgio Moroder, “Carry On”, was released in 1997. Then In 1999, Summer taped a live television special for VH1 titled Donna Summer – Live and More Encore, Featuring the songs “I Will Go with You (Con te partirò)” and “Love Is the Healer”. In 2000, Summer participated in VH1’s third annual Divas special, dedicated to Diana Ross, singing her own material and In 2003, Summer issued her autobiography, Ordinary Girl: The Journey, and released a best-of set titledThe Journey: The Very Best of Donna Summer. In 2004, Summer was inducted into the Dance Music Hall of Fame alongside the Bee Gees and Barry Gibb as an artist. In 2004 and 2005, Summer released the songs “You’re So Beautiful” and “I Got Your Love”. Summer also claimed that whilst living in Manhattan she had a premonition concerning The September 11 Attacks one month before they occurred

In 2008, Summer released her first studio album of fully original material in 17 years, entitled Crayons, which contained the songs “I’m a Fire”, “Stamp Your Feet”, “Fame (The Game)”,”The Queen is Back”,the ballad “Sand on my Feet” and “Mr. Music” with J.R. Rotem and Evan Bogart, the son of Casablanca Records founder Neil Bogart. On December 11, 2009, Summer performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Concert in Oslo, Norway in honor of American President Barack Obama, backed by the Norwegian Radio Orchestra. In August 2010, she released the single “To Paris With Love”, and also appeared in the PBS television special Hitman Returns: David Foster and Friends. In it Summer performed with Seal on a medley of the songs “Un-Break My Heart / Crazy / On the Radio” before closing the show with “Last Dance”. On September 15, 2010, Summer appeared as a guest celebrity singing alongside rising star Prince Poppycock on the television show America’s Got Talent. On October 16, 2010, she performed at a benefit concert at the Phoenix Symphony. On June 6, 2011, Summer was a guest judge on the show Platinum Hit in an episode entitled “Dance Floor Royalty”. In July 2011, Summer worked Paramount Recording Studios in Los Angeles with her nephew, the rapper and producer Omega Red, producing the song “Angel”.

Sadly After having a glittering career that spanned four decades, Donna Summer tragically passed away in Florida, while attempting to put the finishing touches to her 24th album after having a short but acute battle with lung cancer which she beleived was the result of inhaling toxic dust from the collapsed Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in the aftermath of 9/11 terror attack. Donna was announced to be one of the 2013 inductees to theRock and Roll Hall of Fame and was inducted on April 18, 2013, at Los Angeles’ Nokia Theater. During her incredible music career Summer made 24 albums which put the disco into discography, won five Grammys and in 2012 she was a nominee for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, to celebrate her extraordinary life, long-lasting career and her continuing legacy.

Andrea Corr MBE

Irish musician, songwriter, and actress. Andrea Jane Corr MBE was born 17 May 1974. She is the youngest of the four Corr children. The family was raised in Dundalk, Ireland. Her parents Gerry and Jean had their own band, Sound Affair, which played songs by ABBA and The Eagles in local pubs in Dundalk where they would often bring along their children. With the encouragement of her parents, Andrea took up the tin whistle and was taught the piano by her father. Throughout their teenage years, she and her siblings would often practice in Jim’s bedroom at a house he had rented. Andrea sang lead vocals, Sharon played the violin and both Caroline and Jim played keyboards. Andrea took part in school plays at her school, Dundalk’s Dun Lughaidh Convent.

Their career launched in 1991 when they auditioned for Alan Parker’s film The Commitments in which Andrea gained a speaking role as Sharon Rabbitte. John Hughes noticed the quartet when they auditioned for the movie, and agreed to become their manager. In 1996, Alan Parker was directing the film version of the rock opera Evita which starred Madonna. He was so keen on having Andrea in the film that he cast her as Juan Peron’s mistress. Corr provided the singing voice for Kayley in Warner Brothers’ first fully animated film, 1998’s The Quest for Camelot. Corr resumed her acting career in 2003 where she was cast as Anne in The Boys from County Clare. The film was not a commercial success, but she won the Film Discovery Jury Award for Best Actress in the US Comedy Arts Festival and was nominated for Best Actress in the IFTA Awards. During the Corrs’ hiatus she was featured in the 2005 film The Bridge and the 2006 film Broken Thread. Corr appeared as Christina in the play Dancing at Lughnasa staged at The Old Vic theatre in London from February until May 2009 .She played the title role in Jane Eyre by Alan Stanford at the Gate Theatre in Dublin which opened on 9 November 2010.

Andrea formed the Celtic band The Corrs with her siblings Sharon, Caroline and Jim in 1990. The Corrs signed with Atlantic Records in 1995 and travelled to North America to record their debut album Forgiven, Not Forgotten. The album featured six instrumental selections among its Celtic-influenced tracks. When released, it was successful in Ireland, Australia, Japan, and Spain. The album reached platinum status in the United Kingdom and Australia, and quadruple platinum in Ireland, which made it one of the most popular debuts by an Irish group. Following on from the success of their debut album, they released Talk on Corners and In Blue in 1997 and 2000 respectively Originally Talk on Corners met with lukewarm success, until a remix version was released, when it topped the charts in many countries, and reached platinum status in the United Kingdom and Australia. In Blue moved towards mainstream pop, placing heavy emphasis on electronic synthesisers. Sadly though During the production of In Blue, their mother, Jean, died while waiting for a lung transplant in the Freeman Hospital in Newcastle, Britain. She was laid to rest at St. Patrick’s cemetery in Dundalk. Bono, Larry Mullen, Brian Kennedy and Paul Brady were among the attendees. “No More Cry”, written by Andrea and Caroline Corr for the album, was dedicated to their father hoping to help with his grief.

In 2003, Andrea recorded “Time Enough For Tears”, a song written by Bono and Gavin Friday for the film In America. This track was featured on The Corrs’ 2004 album Borrowed Heaven. Borrowed Heaven was dedicated to their late mother, Jean, and their father, Gerry. The band also dedicated their 2005 tribute album Home to their deceased mother. Between 2005 and 2015 the band had a break. After getting back together The band covered many traditional Irish songs taken from their mother’s songbook to commemorate their 15 years as a band. Their sixth studio album, White Light, was released in 2015, and was accompanied by a world tour. With the others, Corr has released six studio albums, two compilation albums, one remix album and two live albums. Andrea has also pursued a solo career, releasing her debut album, Ten Feet High, in 2007. The album moved away from the sound of the Corrs and features a dance-pop sound. Her next album, released on 30 May 2011, was entirely made up of covers of songs that were important to her when younger.

Andrea is also involved in many charitable activities. She has played charity concerts to raise money for the Pavarotti & Friends Liberian Children’s Village, Freeman Hospital in Newcastle upon Tyne, England, the victims of the Omagh bombing in Northern Ireland and The Prince’s Trust in 2004. She is an ambassador for the Nelson Mandela’s “46664” campaign, raising awareness towards AIDS in Africa. During the Edinburgh Live 8 on 2 July 2005 The Corrs performed “When the Stars Go Blue” alongside Bono to promote the Make Poverty History campaign. Along with her siblings, she was appointed an honorary M.B.E. in 2005 by Queen Elizabeth II for her contribution to music and charity.

Trent Reznor

American singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer Michael Trent Reznor Jr. was born May 17, 1965. As both a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist, Reznor has led the splendidly noisy industrial rock project Nine Inch Nails since 1988. Reznor was previously associated with the bands Option 30, The Innocent,and Exotic Birds in the mid-80s. He gained employment at Right Track Studios in Cleveland and began creating his own music during the studio’s closing hours under the name of Nine Inch Nails. Reznor’s first release as Nine Inch Nails, the 1989 album Pretty Hate Machine, was a commercial and critical success and Reznor has since released seven major studio albums.

Most of Reznor’s work as a musician has been as founding and primary member of Nine Inch Nails. Pretty Hate Machine was a moderate commercial success, and was certified Gold in 1992. Amidst pressure from his record label to produce a follow-up to Pretty Hate Machine, Reznor secretly began recording under various pseudonyms to avoid record company interference, resulting in an EP called Broken (1992). Nine Inch Nails was included in the Lollapalooza tour in the summer of 1991, and won a Grammy Award in 1993 under “Best Heavy Metal Performance” for the song “Wish”. Nine Inch Nails’ second full-length album, The Downward Spiral, entered the Billboard 200 chart in 1994 at number two, and remains the highest-selling Nine Inch Nails release in America. To record the album, Reznor rented and moved into the 10050 Cielo Drive mansion, where the 1969 Manson Family murders took place. He built a studio space in the house, which he renamed Le Pig, after the word that was scrawled on the front door in Sharon Tate’s blood by her murderers. Reznor told Entertainment Weekly that, despite the notoriety attached to the house, he chose to record there because he “looked at a lot of places, and this just happened to be the one I liked most”. Nine Inch Nails toured extensively over the next few years, including a performance at Woodstock ’94, although he admitted to the audience that he did not like to play large venues. However Reznor’s studio perfectionism, struggles with addiction, and bouts of writer’s block prolonged the production of a follow-up to The Downward Spiral.

Outside of Nine Inch Nails, he has contributed to the albums of artists such as Marilyn Manson and Saul Williams. In 1997, Reznor appeared in Time magazine’s list of the year’s most influential people and Spin magazine described him as “the most vital artist in music”. One of Reznor’s earliest collaborations was a Ministry side project in 1990 under the name of 1000 Homo DJs. Reznor sang vocals on a cover of Black Sabbath’s “Supernaut”. Due to legal issues with his label, Reznor’s vocals had to be distorted to make his voice unrecognizable. The band also recorded additional versions with Al Jourgensen doing vocals. While there is still debate as to which version is Reznor and which is Jourgensen, it has been definitively stated that Reznor’s vocals were used in the TVT Records’ Black Boxbox set. Reznor sang backing vocals on “Past The Mission” by Tori Amos on her 1994 album Under the Pink. 

He produced Marilyn Manson’s first album, Portrait of an American Family (1994), and several tracks on Manson’s albums Smells Like Children (1995) andAntichrist Superstar (1996). He also produced the soundtracks for Oliver Stone’s 1994 film Natural Born Killers and David Lynch’s 1997 film Lost Highway. Reznor is credited for “Driver Down” and “Videodrones; Questions” on the Lost Highway soundtrack; another song, “The Perfect Drug”, is credited to Nine Inch Nails. Reznor produced a remix of the Notorious B.I.G.’s song “Victory”, featuring Busta Rhymes, in 1998.In 2007 he left Interscope Records and is now an independent recording artist. In May 2008 Reznor founded The Null Corporation and Nine Inch Nails released the studio album the Slip as a free digital download.

As of 2010, he and his wife Mariqueen Maandig are members of the post-industrial group How to Destroy Angels, with Reznor’s fellow composer Atticus Ross and graphic designer Rob Sheridan. Reznor and Ross scored the David Fincher films The Social Nework and The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, winning the Academy Award for Best Original Score for the former and the Grammy Award for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media for the latter.The group also digitally released a self-titled six song EP on June 1, 2010. Reznor announced that the group’s next release would be an EP entitled An Omen EP, they released a song and music video from An Omen EP entitled “Keep it Together” and some of the EP’s songs also appear on the band’s first full length album entitled Welcome to Oblivion which was released In 2013.

Enya

Irish singer, instrumentalist, and songwriter Enya (born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin was born 17 May 1961. Enya began her musical career in 1980, when she briefly joined her family band Clannad before leaving to perform solo. She gained wider recognitionfor her music in the 1986 BBCseries The Celts. Shortly afterwards, her 1988 album Watermark propelled her to further international fame and she became known for her distinctive sound, characterised by voice-layering, folk melodies, synthesised backdrops and ethereal reverberations. She has performed in 10 languages.Enya continued to enjoy steady success during the 1990s and 2000s; her 2000 album A Day Without Rain sold 15 million copies,and became the top selling new age album of the 2000s in the US, according to Nielsen SoundScan. She received the world’s best-selling female award at the World Music Awards in 2001. She is Ireland’s best-selling solo musician.Her records sales were more than 75 million worldwide, including over 26.5 million in album sales in the US, making her one of world’s best-selling artists of all time. Her work has earned her four Grammy Awards and an Academy Award nomination.

Enya was born and brought up in Gaoth Dobhair, County Donegal, in the northwest corner of Ireland. She is part of an Irish-speaking and musical familyEnya recorded two solo instrumental pieces called “An Ghaoth Ón Ghrian” (Irish for “The Solar Wind”) and “Miss Clare Remembers” that were released on the 1984 album Touch Travel. She was first credited as Enya (as opposed to Eithne) for writing some of the music for the 1984 movie The Frog Prince, which was released on a soundtrack album of the same title. Another early appearance on record followed in 1987, where Enya provided spoken (not sung) vocals in Irish on the song “Never Get Old” on Sinéad O’Connor’s debut album,The Lion and the Cobra. Enya became successful 1988 with the album Watermark, which featured the hit song “Orinoco Flow” (erroneously known as “Sail Away”). “Orinoco Flow”, reported to be named after Orinoco Studios (now Miloco Studios), where it was conceived, topped the charts in the United Kingdom, peaked at number 2 in Germany and the Watermark album sold eleven million copies

Three years later she followed with another hit album, Shepherd Moons, which sold twelve million copies and earned Enya her firstGrammy Award. Shepherd Moons is also her longest charting album to date, spending 238 weeks on the Billboard 200. The songs “On Your Shore” and “Exile” (from Watermark) and “Epona” (from Enya) were featured in the 1991 film L.A. Story. “Ebudæ” is also featured on the soundtrack to the Robin Williams feature film Toys, while the 1990 feature film Green Card features “River”, “Watermark”, and “Storms In Africa”. “Book Of Days” was featured prominently in the movie Far and Away, with an English-lyric version created for the film then replacing the old Irish language version on all pressings of the Shepherd Moons album from 1993 onwards. In 1993, her recording of “Marble Halls” from Shepherd Moons was featured in the Martin Scorsese film, The Age of Innocence.

In 1992, a re-mastered version of the Enya album was released as The Celts including a longer, modified version of “Portrait”, which was renamed “Portrait (Out of the Blue)”.Four years after Shepherd Moons she released The Memory of Trees (1995), another Top Five success in both the UK and Germany, as well as her first Top 10 album in the U.S. Singles released from the album were “Anywhere Is” and “On My Way Home”.in 1997, Enya released her greatest hits collection, Paint the Sky with Stars: The Best of Enya, again a top five smash in the UK and Germany, which featured two new songs: “Paint the Sky with Stars” and “Only If…”; “Only If…” later became a single. (“Only If You Want To”, is an early version of “Only If..Following a five-year break Enya released the album A Day Without Rain in 2000, the album is Enya’s most successful to date, peaking at number two on the U.S. Billboard 200 chart. The first single, “Only Time”, was used in the film Sweet November and received U.S. radio airplay in late 2000. In May 2001, NBC began using “Only Time” to accompany commercials for their television series Friends, which helped the song top the Adult Contemporary and Adult Top 40 charts. After the 11 September 2001 attacks “Only Time” was used as a soundtrack in many radio and television reports about the attacks. In 2001, Enya recorded “May It Be”, which was featured in the first installment of The Lord of the Rings film trilogy, Fellowship of the Ring, and was her second consecutive single to enter the German charts at number one. The video features scenes from the Peter Jackson film

In November 2005, a new album, entitled Amarantine, was released. It reached the Top 10 in both the UK and the US, and peaked at number 3 in Germany. The album won the Grammy Award for Best New Age Album for 2007, Enya’s fourth. In 2006, Enya released several Christmas-themed CDs with newly recorded material. On 10 October 2006 Sounds of the Season: The Enya Holiday Collection was released containing six songs: the previously released “Oíche Chiúin” (a.k.a. “Silent Night”) and “Amid the Falling Snow”, new recordings of the standards “Adeste Fideles” (a.k.a. “Oh Come All Ye Faithful”) and “We Wish You a Merry Christmas” as well as two original songs, “Christmas Secrets” and “The Magic of the Night”. This CD was released only in the United States in an exclusive partnership with the NBC television network and the Target department store chain. Enya was awarded the World’s Best-Selling Irish Act award at the World Music Awards in London on 19 November 2006In March 2009, Warner Music Japan released Enya’s first 4 albums in a new format, called SHM-CD. On 23 November 2009 Enya released a new album called The Very Best of Enya. It includes most of her hits from 1987 to 2008 including a new version of “Aníron”, a song created for “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship Of The Ring” in 2001. In 2010, singer Rihanna sampled “One By One” on the song “Fading” from her album Loud. In a May 2011 interview, Enya’s manager said that she is working on a new album and will likely tour to support it, with part of the recording taking place in Abbey Road Studios in London.”.

Bill Bruford/Rick Wakeman (Yes/King Crimson)

Bill Bruford, Who was Drummer, percussionist and composer with Progressive Rock Bands Yes & King Crimson was born 17th May 1949. He was the original drummer in the band, from 1968-1972, who achieved worldwide success with their progressive music, mystical lyrics, elaborate album art, live stage sets and symphonic style of rock music. They are regarded as one of the pioneers of the progressive genre. They were Formed in 1968 and released two albums together but began to enjoy success after the release of The Yes Album and Fragile, which featured new arrivals Steve Howe and Rick Wakeman. They achieved further success with the albums Close to the Edge and Tales from Topographic Oceans. Bruford began playing the drums when he was thirteen, and was influenced by jazz drumming, which manifested itself on early Yes albums and remained an influence on his style throughout his career.

During his time with Yes Bruford played on their first five albums including the LPs The Yes Album, Fragile, and Close to the Edge. Bruford has also performed for numerous other acts as well, including a stint as touring drummer for Genesis in 1976. Following his departure from Yes and at various times until 1997, Bruford was the drummer for progressive rock band King Crimson, But moved away from progressive rock to concentrate on jazz, leading his own jazz group, Earthworks, for several years. He retired from public performance in 2009, but continues to run his two record labels and to speak about music. His autobiography, Bill Bruford: The Autobiography, was published in early 2009.

Rick Wakeman

Keyboard player, composer and songwriter Rick Wakeman was also born 18th May 1949). He is best known for being the former keyboardist with progressive rock band Yes. He has also written many solo albums and hosted a radio show on Planet Rock called Rick’s place, that aired until December 2010.Wakeman was born in West London. He purchased his first electronic keyboard at 12 years of age. In 1968, he studied the piano, clarinet, orchestration and modern music at the Royal College of Music before leaving after a year in favour of session music work.

He went on to feature on songs by artists including Ozzy Osbourne, David Bowie, T. Rex, Elton John and Cat Stevens. Wakeman joined the folk group Strawbs in 1969 and played on three of their albums. He first joined Yes in 1971 to replace Tony Kaye, and left the group in 1974 to work on his solo career. He returned in 1976 before leaving with lead vocalist Jon Anderson in 1980. Wakeman was part of the side project Anderson Bruford Wakeman Howe, a group of ex-Yes members formed in 1989, and the eight-member Yes line-up that followed until his third departure in 1992.He returned for two years in 1995 and once more in 2002, where he was part of the band’s 35th anniversary tour until its end in 2004. Wakeman began his solo career during his first run with Yes. His perhaps most known records being his first three, The Six Wives of Henry VIII, Journey to the Centre of the Earth and The Myths and Legends of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. He has produced over 100 solo albums that have sold more than 50 million copies. In November 2010, Wakeman was awarded the Spirit of Prog award at the annual Marshall Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards,

Brian Eno

 Innovative English musician, composer, record producer, singer, and visual artist, Brian Eno was born 15 May 1948. Eno was a student of Roy Ascott on his Groundcourse at Ipswich Civic College. He then studied at Colchester Institute art school in Essex, England, taking inspiration from minimalist painting. During his time on the art course at the Institute, he also gained experience in playing and making music through teaching sessions held in the adjacent music school. He joined the band Roxy Music as synthesiser player in the early 1970s. Roxy Music’s success in the glam rock scene came quickly, but Eno soon became tired of touring and of conflicts with lead singer Bryan Ferry.

Eno’s solo music has explored more experimental musical styles and ambient music. It has also been immensely influential, pioneering ambient and generative music,[6] innovating production techniques, and emphasising “theory over practice”.[6] He also introduced the concept of chance music to popular audiences, partially through collaborations with other musicians. Eno has also worked as an influential music and album producer. By the end of the 1970s, Eno had worked with Robert Fripp on the LPs No Pussyfooting and Evening Star, David Bowie on the seminal “Berlin Trilogy” and helped popularise the American band Devo and the punk-influenced “No Wave” genre. He produced and performed on three albums by Talking Heads, including Remain in Light (1980), and produced seven albums for U2, including The Joshua Tree (1987). Eno has also worked on records by James, Laurie Anderson, Coldplay, Paul Simon, Grace Jones, James Blake and Slowdive, among others.

Eno also pursues multimedia ventures in parallel to his music career, including art installations, a regular column on society and innovation in Prospect magazine, and “Oblique Strategies” (written with Peter Schmidt), a deck of cards in which cryptic remarks or random insights are intended to resolve dilemmas. Eno continues to collaborate with other musicians, produce records, release his own music, and write.———————-English musician and composer Gordon “Mike” Oldfield was born 15 May 1953 in the Battle Hospital in Reading, Berkshire, and he attended St. Joseph’s Convent School, Highlands Junior School, St. Edward’s preparatory school,and Presentation College in Reading. When he was 13, he moved with his parents to Harold Wood in Essex and attended Hornchurch Grammar School, where, having already begun his career in music, he took just one GCE examination, in English. Oldfield’s career began fairly early, playing acoustic guitar in local folk clubs. At this time, he already had two 15-minute instrumental pieces in which he would “go through all sorts of moods”, precursors to his landmark 1970s compositions.

In his early teens, Oldfield was involved in a beat group playing The Shadows-style music (he has often cited Hank Marvin as a major influence, and would later cover The Shadows’ song “Wonderful Land”). In 1967, Oldfield and his sister formed the folk duo The Sallyangie and, after exposure in the local folk scene, were signed to Transatlantic Records. An album, Children of the Sun, was issued in 1968. After The Sallyangie disbanded, he formed another duo, called Barefoot, with his brother, which took him back to rock music.In 1970, Oldfield joined The Whole World – former Soft Machine vocalist Kevin Ayers’s backing group – playing bass and occasionally lead guitar. He is featured on two Ayers albums, Whatevershebringswesing and Shooting at the Moon. The band also included keyboardist and composer David Bedford, who quickly befriended Oldfield, encouraged him in his composition of an early version of Tubular Bells and later arranged and conducted an orchestral version of the Tubular Bells album. Oldfield was also the reserve guitarist for the musical Hair and played with the Sensational Alex Harvey Band.

Having recorded sections of this early version of Tubular Bells as demo pieces, Oldfield attempted to persuade record labels to take on the Tubular Bells project. In 1971, he attended recording sessions at The Manor Studio – owned by young entrepreneur Richard Branson, playing bass for the Arthur Louis Band. Branson already had several business ventures and wanted to start his own record label, Virgin Records. Branson heard some of Oldfield’s demo music and gave him one week’s worth of recording time at The Manor during which, he completed “Part One” of Tubular Bells. Part Two” was then compiled over subsequent months. Tubular Bells is Oldfield’s most famous work, and was released in 1973 as the inaugural album of Richard Branson’s label Virgin Records. This groundbreaking classic album became a huge hit in it Oldfield played more than twenty different instruments in a multi layered recording which included many diverse musical genres. The title track became a top 10 hit single in the US after the opening was used in The Exorcist film.

In 1974, Oldfield played guitar on the critically acclaimed album Rock Bottom by Robert Wyatt. In late 1974, the follow-up LP, Hergest Ridge, was No. 1 in the UK for three weeks before being dethroned by Tubular Bells, despite being released over a year after Tubular Bells, In 1979, Oldfield’s music was used as the musical score for The Space Movie, a Virgin movie that celebrated the tenth anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.Like Tubular Bells, Hergest Ridge is a two-movement instrumental piece, this time evoking scenes from Oldfield’s Herefordshire country retreat. It was followed in 1975 by the pioneering world music piece Ommadawn released after the death of his mother Maureen. In 1978 Oldfield released the album Incantations, which introduced more diverse choral performances from Sally Oldfield, Maddy Prior, and the Queen’s College Girls Choir. In 1975, Oldfield recorded a version of “In Dulci Jubilo” and in 1976 he released “Portsmouth”. In 1975, Oldfield received a Grammy award for Best Instrumental Composition in “Tubular Bells – Theme from The Exorcist”. Oldfield, his sister and band member Pekka Pohjola recorded Oldfield’s next album Mathematician’s Air Display. Oldfield then embarked on a European tour to promote Incantations, spawning the live album “Exposed”, much of which was recorded at the National Exhibition Centre,Birmingham. In 1979, he recorded an updated theme tune for the program Blue Peter and In 1981, Oldfield was asked to compose a piece for the Royal Wedding of Charles, Prince of Wales, and Lady Diana Spencer, titled “Royal Wedding Anthem”.

During the1980s Oldfield recorded shorter instrumental tracks and contemporary cover versions on Platinum and QE2 (the latter named after the ocean liner) and began Songwriting collaborating with various vocalists including Maggie Reilly on Moonlight Shadow and also covered Hall and Oates song “Family Man”. Oldfield also turned to film and video, writing the score for The Killing Fields. Oldfield”s next album Islands contained an instrumental piece on one side and rock/pop singles on the other. Including Magic Touch, Pictures in the Dark and The title track “Islands”, which was sung by Bonnie Tyler and “Magic Touch”, with vocals by Max Bacon (in the US version) and Glasgow vocalist Southside Jimmy. Oldfield’s next album Earth Moving was released in July 1989 and contained the songs “Innocent”, “Holy” and “Hostage”. Oldfield’s next album was Amarok, an hour-long work featuring rapidly changing themes (supposedly devised to make cutting a single from the album impossible). Oldfield sang lead vocals on His next album Heaven’s Open. Oldfield signed with Warner Brothers and released Tubular Bells II which was premiered at a live concert at Edinburgh Castle and also composed The Songs of Distant Earth (based on Arthur C. Clarke’s novel of the same name) and also had an asteroid, 5656 Oldfield, named after him. In 1995, Oldfield released the Celtic-themed album Voyager, After meeting Luar na Lubre, a Galician Celtic-folk band (from A Coruña, Spain) in 1992. The band’s popularity grew after Oldfield covered their song “O son do ar” (“The sound of the air”) on his Voyager album.

In 1998, Oldfield produced the third Tubular Bells album which premiered at Horse Guards Parade, London), and drew from Balearic Dance Music and was inspired by themes from Tubular Bells. In 1999 Oldfield released two albums “Guitars”, which used guitars as the source for all the sounds on the album, including percussion and “The Millennium Bell”, which consisted of pastiches of a number of styles of music representing various historical periods and was performed live in Berlin in 1999–2000. Oldfield began the MusicVR project, combining his music with a virtual reality-based computer game. His first work on this project is Tr3s Lunas launched in 2002, a virtual game where the player can interact with a world full of new music. To celebrate the 30th Anniversary of Tubular Bells, In 2003, Oldfield released Tubular Bells 2003, a re-recording of the original Tubular Bells, on CD, and DVD-Audio, which fixed many “imperfections” in the original caused by the limited recording technologies of the early 1970s, for which the original voice of the ‘Master of Ceremonies’ (the late Viv Stanshall) was replaced by the voice of John Cleese. In 2004 Oldfield launched his next virtual reality project, Maestro, which contains music from the Tubular Bells 2003 album and also some new chillout melodies. The games have since been made available free of charge on Tubular.net. In 2005 a double album, Light + Shade, was released containing music of contrasting moods, disc one is relaxed (Light) while disc two is more edgy and moody (Shade). In2006 and 2007 Oldfield headlined the pan-European Night of the Proms tour.

Oldfield’s autobiography Changeling was published in May 2007 and in 2008 he released his first classical album, Music of the Spheres, containing the single “Spheres”. The album was nominated for a Classical Brit Award, the NS&I Best Album of 2009. In 2008, Oldfield’s albums were re-released together with outtakes and rarities from the archives. Since then further albums have been reissued plus compilation albums such as Two Sides. In 2008, Oldfield contributed an exclusive song (“Song for Survival”) to a charity album called Songs for Survival, in support of the Survival International. In 2012, Oldfield was featured on Terry Oldfield’s Journey into Space album and on a track called “Islanders” by German producer Torsten Stenzel’s York project. In 2013 Oldfield and York released a remix album titled Tubular Beats. At the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony, Oldfield performed renditions of Tubular Bells, “Far Above the Clouds” and “In Dulci Jubilo” during a segment about the National Health Service. This track appears on the Isles of Wonder album. In October 2013, the BBC broadcast Tubular Bells: The Mike Oldfield Story, an hour-long appreciation of Oldfield’s life and musical career. Oldfield has released more than 20 albums among his most recent is Man on the Rocks, released in 2014

C.C.DeVille

C.C. DeVille (Bruce Anthony Johannesson), lead guitarist of the multi-platinum-selling glam metal band Poison. Was born May 14, 1962 in the Bay Ridge area of Brooklyn, New York. His interest in music began at age two while watching The Beatles perform on The Ed Sullivan Show. DeVille began playing the guitar at the age of five after he was given a $27 Japanese Telecaster copy. As his love of music grew, he began listening to bands such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, Aerosmith, Van Halen, The Who, Cheap Trick, New York Dolls, Queen, and especially Kiss. At the age of 18, DeVille auditioned for and eventually joined the band Lace based in Boro Park Brooklyn, NY, which adopted a highly sexual, “glam” image. It was during this time period that DeVille began writing the song “Talk Dirty To Me”, which would later appear on Poison’s first album, Look What the Cat Dragged In. DeVille began studying music theory at New York University, but never completed his studies. Instead, he moved to Los Angeles in 1981 and played in various bands, including Screaming Mimi, Lace Slip, and St. James, before auditioning for Poison.

DeVille’s audition impressed drummer Rikki Rockett and bassist Bobby Dall, but angered vocalist Bret Michaels. DeVille refused to play the songs that had been given to him as preparation, and instead jammed with a guitar riff he had written. The riff, which would eventually be featured in the Poison single “Talk Dirty to Me”, would ultimately launch the band’s career. Slash, who would go on to fame with Guns N’ Roses, also auditioned for the position and made it to the final three, but lost to DeVille; In his autobiography Slash acknowledged discomfort with Poison’s image when Rikki Rockett suggested that Slash wear make-up and change his clothing style.

DeVille co-wrote Poison’s debut album with Bret Michaels, Bobby Dall, and Rikki Rockett. Look What the Cat Dragged In was released on August 2, 1986. It included the hits “Talk Dirty to Me”, “I Want Action”, and “I Won’t Forget You”. Sales for the album topped 3 million copies in the United States. DeVille also wrote much of the material for Poison’s second album, the multi-platinum selling Open Up And Say… Ahh!, which was released on May 21, 1988 and would ultimately go on to sell 8 million copies worldwide. It included the hit song “Nothin’ But a Good Time”, co-written by DeVille, and Poison’s only number 1 single “Every Rose Has Its Thorn”.

In 1990, Poison released the multi-platinum selling Flesh & Blood, an album which was again largely written by DeVille. During this period, DeVille also performed lead guitar on Warrant’s hit song “Cherry Pie”, from the album Cherry Pie. despite Poison’s success, substance abuse and tensions with other members of the band, particularly lead singer Bret Michaels, led to conflict within the band. While touring in support of Flesh and Blood, and the live album Swallow This Live. conflict between Michaels and DeVille culminated in a fistfight backstage at the 1991 MTV Video Music Awards after DeVille played the wrong song, playing “Talk Dirty To Me” instead of “Unskinny Bop”, and being high and intoxicated during the performance. DeVille subsequently left Poison and was replaced by guitarist Richie Kotzen.

Following his departure from Poison, DeVille joined a band called “Needle Park” and recorded “Hey Good Lookin’” for the soundtrack to the Pauly Shore movie Son In Law. He later joined Samantha 7, a short-lived band composed of guitarist DeVille, guitarist Ty Longley, bassist Krys Baratto, and drummer Francis Ruiz. They played at Woodstock 1999. Originally the band’s name was The Stepmothers, but the band was forced to change their name following a legal dispute with another band of the same name. DeVille can be heard referring to this band as The Stepmothers in a Behind the Music interview. Samantha 7 released the self-titled album Samantha 7 in 2000, and toured the US and UK in support of the record that was released on Columbia/Portrait Records. The Samantha 7 song “I Wanna be Famous” would later be used in the opening of the reality show The Surreal Life: Fame Games, in which DeVille starred.

In 1996 DeVille regained contact with his ex-bandmates from Poison and made a successful return to the band for the Greatest Hits reunion tour in 1999. Several shows were recorded and released as a studio album/live album hybrid release in the following year titled Power to the People. DeVille continues to record and perform with Poison. In 2005 and 2006, DeVille starred in a popular TV series South of Nowhere on The N. He played the role of Raife Davies, the father of Ashley Davies and Kyla Woods. Also in 2006 when Poison celebrated their 20th anniversary, DeVille starred in The Surreal Life on VH1. He also starred in the spin-off series The Surreal Life: Fame Games in 2007. In 2002, DeVille had a brief cameo appearance as “Lloyd”, a member of the airband GFK Groovecart, on the last episode of season 6 of Just Shoot Me (titled “The Boys In The Band”).

B.B.King

Legendary American blues musician, singer, songwriter, and guitarist B B. King sadly passed away 14 May 2015. He was born September 16, 1925 and grew up singing in the gospel choir at Elkhorn Baptist Church in Kilmichael. At the age of 12, he purchased his first guitar for $15.00, although another source indicates he was given his first guitar by Bukka White, his mother’s first cousin (King’s grandmother and White’s mother were sisters). In 1943, King left Kilmichael to work as a tractor driver and play guitar with the Famous St. John’s Quartet of Inverness, Mississippi, performing at area churches and on WGRM in Greenwood, Mississippi. In 1946, King followed Bukka White to Memphis, Tennessee. White took him in for the next ten months. However, King shortly returned to Mssissippi, where he decided to prepare himself better for the next visit, and returned to West Memphis, Arkansas, two years later in 1948. He performed on Sonny Boy Williamson’s radio program on KWEM in West Memphis, where he began to develop a local audience for his sound. King’s appearances led to steady engagements at the Sixteenth Avenue Grill in West Memphis and later to a ten-minute spot on the legendary Memphis radio station WDIA. King’s Spot became so popular, it was expanded and became the Sepia Swing Club.Initially he worked at WDIA as a singer and disc jockey, gaining the nickname Beale Street Blues Boy, which was later shortened toBlues Boy and finally to B.B.It was there that he first met T-Bone Walker.

In 1949, King began recording songs under contract with Los Angeles-based RPM Records. Many of King’s early recordings were produced by Sam Phillips, who later founded Sun Records. Before his RPM contract King had debuted on Bullet Records by issuing the single “Miss Martha King” (1949), which did not chart well. “My very first recordings [in 1949] were for a company out of Nashville called Bllet, the Bullet Record Transcription company,” King recalls. “I had horns that very first session. I had Phineas Newborn on piano; his father played drums, and his brother, Calvin, played guitar with me. I had Tuff Green on bass, Ben Branch on tenor sax, his brother, Thomas Branch, on trumpet, and a lady trombone player. The Newborn family were the house band at the famous Plantation Inn in West Memphis.”Performing with his famous guitar, LucilleKing assembled his own band; the B.B. King Review, under the leadership of Millard Lee. The band initially consisted of Calvin Owens and Kenneth Sands (trumpet), Lawrence Burdin (alto saxophone),George Coleman (tenor saxophone), Floyd Newman (baritone saxophone), Millard Lee (piano),George Joyner (bass) and Earl Forest and Ted Curry (drums). Onzie Horne was a trained musician elicited as an arranger to assist King with his compositions. By his own admission, he cannot play chords well and always relies on improvisation. This was followed by tours across the USA with performances in major theaters in cities such as Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, Detroit and St. Louis, as well as numerous gigs in small clubs and juke joints of the southern US states.

In 1949, King played at a dance hall in Twist, Arkansas Sadly During a performance, a brawl resulted in the hall bursting into flames, which triggered an evacuation. Once outside, King realized that he had left his guitar inside the burning building. He entered the blaze to retrieve his beloved guitar, a Gibson hollow electric. Two people died in the fire. The next day, King learned that the two men were fighting over a woman named Lucille. King named that first guitar Lucille, as well as every one he owned since that near-fatal experience, as a reminder never again to do something as stupid as run into a burning building or fight over women. King also toured the entire “Chitlin’ circuit”, with 342 concerts booked during 1956. He also founded his own record label, Blues Boys Kingdom, with headquarters at Beale Street in Memphis, he produced artists such as Millard Lee and Levi Seabury. In the 1950s, B.B. King became one of the most important names in R&B music, amassing an impressive list of hits including “3 O’Clock Blues”, “You Know I Love You,” “Woke Up This Morning,” “Please Love Me,” “When My Heart Beats like a Hammer,” “Whole Lotta Love,” “You Upset Me Baby,” “Every Day I Have the Blues”, “Sneakin’ Around,” “Ten Long Years,” “Bad Luck,” “Sweet Little Angel”, “On My Word of Honor,” and “Please Accept My Love.”

During 1956 King made 342 appearances and 3 recording sessions. In November 1964, King recorded the Live at the Regal album at the Regal Theater in Chicago, Illinois and won a Grammy Award for “The Thrill Is Gone”; which is 183 in Rolling Stone magazine’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time. He gained further visibility among rock audiences as an opening act on The Rolling Stones’ 1969 American Tour. King’s mainstream success continued throughout the 1970s with songs like “To Know You is to Love You” and “I Like to Live the Love”. King was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame in 1980, and inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. In 2004 he was awarded the international Polar Music Prize, given to artists “in recognition of exceptional achievements in the creation and advancement of music.”

During the 1980s he remained active appearing on numerous television shows and performing 300 nights a year. In 1988, King reached a new generation of fans with the single “When Love Comes to Town”, a collaborative effort between King and the Irish band U2 on their Rattle and Hum album. Also that year King played for the 1988 Republican National Convention at the behest of the notorious Republican operative Lee Atwater. King has remained friendly with the Bush Family ever since and in 1990 was awarded the Presidential Medal of the Arts by George H.W. Bushand the Medal of Freedom by George W. Bush in 2008. In 2000, King teamed up with guitaristEric Clapton to record Riding With the King. In 1998, King appeared in The Blues Brothers 2000, playing the part of the lead singer of the Louisiana Gator Boys, along with Clapton, Dr. John, Koko Taylor and Bo Diddley.

In 2006, King played at Hallam Arena in Sheffield, England supported by Northern Irish guitarist Gary Moore, with whom King had previously toured and recorded, and on June 28, 2009 King returned to Wembley arena with British blues icon John Mayall. In July King went back to Europe, playing twice at the Zürich at the Blues at Sunset and the 40th Montreux Jazz Festival where he jammed with Joe Sample, Randy Crawford, David Sanborn, Gladys Knight, Lella James, Andre Beeka, Earl Thomas, Stanley Clarke, John McLaughlin, Barbara Hendricks and George Duke. In November and December, King played six times in Brazil. .”In June 2006, King was present at a memorial of his first radio broadcast at the Three Deuces Building in Greenwood, Mississippi, where an official marker of the Mississippi Blues Trail was erected. The same month, a groundbreaking was held for a new museum, dedicated to King. in Indianola, Mississippi. The B.B. King Museum and Delta Interpretive Center opened on September 13, 2008. In late October 2006, he recorded a concert CD and DVD entitled B.B. King: Live at his B.B. King Blues Clubs in Nashville and Memphis. which was his first live performance recording in 14 years.On July 28, 2007, King played at Eric Clapton’s second Crossroads Guitar Festival with 20 other guitarists to raise money for the Crossroads Centre for addictive disorders. Performing in Chicago, he played “Paying the Cost to Be the Boss”, “Rock Me Baby” and “Thrill is Gone” ( with Robert Cray, Jimmie Vaughan and Hubert Sumlin. Also in 2007, King accepted an invitation to contribute to Goin’ Home: A Tribute to Fats Domino (Vanguard Records). With Ivan Neville’s DumpstaPhunk, King contributed his version of the title song, “Goin’ Home”.

In 2007 King performed “One Shoe Blues” on the Sandra Boynton children’s album Blue Moo, In June 2008, King played at the Bonnaroo Music and Arts Festival in Manchester, Tennessee; he was also the final performer at the 25th annual Chicago Blues Festival on June 8, 2008, and at the Monterey Blues Festival, following Taj Mahal. King was also inducted into the Hollywood Bowl Hall of Fame alongside Liza Minnelli and Sir James Galway.In July 2008, Sirius XM Radio’s Bluesville channel was renamed B.B. King’s Bluesville. On December 3, King was the closing act at the 51st Grammy Nomination Concert, . On December 30, 2008, King played at The Kennedy Center Honors Awards Show; his performance was in honor of actor Morgan Freeman.European Tour 2009, Vienna, July 2009In Summer 2009, King started a European Tour with concerts in France, Germany, Belgium, Finland and Denmark.In March 2010, King contributed to Cyndi Lauper’s album Memphis Blues. King performed at the Mawazine festival in Rabat, Morocco, In 2010 and played the pyramid stage at The Glastonbury Music Festival in 2011 . He embarked on a European tour starting at The Royal Albert Hall, London, supported byDerek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi, Ronnie Wood, Mick Hucknall and Slash.Barack Obama and B.B. King singing “Sweet Home Chicago”. in 2012, Barack Obama and Michelle Obama hosted, “In Performance at the White House: Red, White and Blues”, a celebration of blues music held in the East Room of the White House and B.B. King was among the performers. Later on that night, President Obama, encouraged by Buddy Guy and B.B. King, sang part of “Sweet Home Chicago”. In 2012, King played a concert at the Chicago House of Blues, where Benson made a guest appearance and both King & Benson held a jammin’ session for over 20 minutes, it was also the celebration of Benson’s birthday.King performed on the debut album of rapper and producer Big K.R.I.T., who also hails from Mississippi.On July 5, 2012, King performed a concert at the Byblos Festival, Lebanon.

During his 64 years as. Performer, King played in excess of 15,000 performances. A feature documentary about B.B. King narrated by Morgan Freeman, was released In 2012. King was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1987. He is one of the most influential blues musicians of all time, earning the nickname “The King of Blues”, and one of the “Three Kings of the Blues Guitar” (along with Albert King and Freddie King). Rolling Stone magazine ranked him at No. 6 on its list of the 100 greatst guitarists of all time , and he was ranked No. 7 in Gibson’s “Top 50 Guitarists of All Time”. Throughout his musical career King performed tirelessly, appearing at 250-300 concerts per year until his seventies. Over the years, King developed one of the world’s most identifiable guitar styles. He borrowed from Blind Lemon Jefferson, T-Bone Walker and others, integrating his precise and complex vocal-like string bends and his left hand vibrato, he has inspired thousands of players, from Eric Clapton and George Harrison to Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck. King has mixed blues, jazz, swing, mainstream pop and jump into a unique sound