John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, better known as John Peel, was an English radio presenter and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original disc jockeys on BBC Radio 1, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004.
Nicholas Rodney Drake was an English musician. An accomplished acoustic guitarist, Drake signed to Island Records at the age of twenty while still a student at the University of Cambridge. His debut album, Five Leaves Left, was released in 1969, and was followed by two more albums, Bryter Layter (1971) and Pink Moon (1972). While Drake did not reach a wide audience during his brief lifetime, his music found critical acclaim and he gradually received wider recognition following his death.
David Vickerman Bedford was an English composer and musician. He wrote and played both popular and classical music. He was the brother of the conductor Steuart Bedford, the grandson of the composer, painter and author Herbert Bedford and the composer Liza Lehmann, and the son of Leslie Bedford, an inventor, and Lesley Duff, a soprano opera singer.
Atom Heart Mother is the fifth studio album by the English rock band Pink Floyd. It was released by Harvest on 2 October 1970 in the United Kingdom, and on 10 October 1970 in the United States. It was recorded at EMI Studios in London, and was the band's first album to reach number 1 in the UK, while it reached number 55 in the US, eventually going gold there.
Kevin Ayers was an English singer-songwriter who was active in the English psychedelic music movement. Ayers was a founding member of the psychedelic band Soft Machine in the mid-1960s, and was closely associated with the Canterbury scene. He recorded a series of albums as a solo artist and over the years worked with Brian Eno, Syd Barrett, Bridget St John, John Cale, Elton John, Robert Wyatt, Andy Summers, Mike Oldfield, Nico and Ollie Halsall, among others. After living for many years in Deià, Mallorca, he returned to the United Kingdom in the mid-1990s before moving to the south of France. His last album, The Unfairground, was released in 2007. The British rock journalist Nick Kent wrote: "Kevin Ayers and Syd Barrett were the two most important people in British pop music. Everything that came after came from them."
Ronald Frederick Geesin is a Scottish musician, composer and writer known for his unusual creations and novel applications of sound, as well as for his collaborations with Pink Floyd and Roger Waters.
The Strawbs are an English rock band founded in 1964 as the Strawberry Hill Boys. The band started out as a bluegrass group, but eventually moved on to other styles such as folk rock and progressive rock.
Dandelion Records was a British record label started on 18 July 1969 by the British DJ John Peel.
Kevin Coyne was an English musician, singer, composer, film-maker, and a writer of lyrics, stories and poems. He was born in Derby, Derbyshire, England, and died in his adopted home of Nuremberg, Bavaria, Germany.
Medicine Head were a British blues rock band – initially a duo – active in the 1970s. Their biggest single success was in 1973 with "One and One Is One", which reached number 3 on the UK Singles Chart. The group recorded six original albums, the first three of which were released by John Peel's Dandelion label.
Roger Keith "Syd" Barrett was an English singer, guitarist and songwriter who co-founded the rock band Pink Floyd in 1965. Barrett was the band's original frontman and primary songwriter, known for his whimsical style of psychedelia, English-accented singing, and stream-of-consciousness writing style. As a guitarist, he was influential for his free-form playing and for employing effects such as dissonance, distortion, echo and feedback.
Beau, born Christopher John Trevor Midgley, is a British singer-songwriter and twelve-string guitar player, who first became known in the late 1960s through his recordings for John Peel's Dandelion Records label. He released two albums on Dandelion – Beau (1969) and Creation (1971), plus the single "1917 Revolution" which had greater success abroad than it did in the United Kingdom. "1917 Revolution" is said to have been the inspiration for America's "A Horse with No Name".
Principal Edwards Magic Theatre was an English performance art collective in the United Kingdom made up of about 14 musicians, poets, dancers, and sound and lighting technicians. It existed between 1968 and 1971, after which core members formed a more conventional rock band under the shortened name Principal Edwards.
"River Man" is the second listed song from Nick Drake's 1969 album Five Leaves Left. According to Drake's manager, Joe Boyd, Drake thought of the song as the centrepiece of the album. In 2004, the song was remastered and released as a 7" vinyl and as enhanced CD single, including a music video by Tim Pope.
"Northern Sky" is a song from the English singer-songwriter Nick Drake's 1971 album Bryter Layter, produced by Joe Boyd. During the recording sessions for the album, the chronically shy and withdrawn songwriter formed a friendship and a mentorship of sorts with producer Joe Boyd, an early supporter of Drake. Boyd saw commercial potential in the acoustic and unaccompanied demo version of the song, and recruited former Velvet Underground member John Cale as producer. Cale added piano, organ and celesta arrangements, initially against Drake's wishes.
Tractor is an English rock band founded in Rochdale, Lancashire by guitarist/vocalist Jim Milne and drummer Steve Clayton in 1971. Both had been members of a beat group, The Way We Live, since 1966. They are notable both for their appreciation by John Peel and Julian Cope, but also for their longevity because as of 2007, they were still performing. The band was produced initially by schoolfriend sound engineer John Brierley.
Glaxo Babies are a Bristol-based post-punk band, formed in late 1977. There were three distinct phases in the band's life and after initially breaking up in 1980, they reformed in 1985, only to finally break up again in 1990. The band reformed once again in 2015 for the Un-Peeled 2015 event with Steve Street on bass and Tony Wrafter's son Oscar on vocals.
Hux Records is a British record label based in England, which was launched in 1998. They specialise in releasing old material, especially in unreleased BBC recordings such as John Peel Sessions and BBC Radio 1 concerts. Hux has gained a reputation as an excellent independent record label, offering an eclectic selection of classic archive recordings. Hux has also re-released recordings by such artists as Malcolm Morley's Sam Apple Pie and Help Yourself; and Man's debut album, which was recorded in 1976 but not released latterly.
Songs for the Gentle Man is a 1971 folk rock album by singer-songwriter Bridget St John. A follow-up to her highly successful debut album, Songs for the Gentle Man propelled her to cult status in the United Kingdom. The album was produced by Ron Geesin, who had worked with Pink Floyd.
Robin Frederick is an American songwriter, author and children's television contributor. She is a former Director of A&R and Production for Rhino Records and Executive Producer of over 60 albums. She has written and produced more than 500 songs for television, records, theater, and audio products. She is the former Vice President of the Los Angeles chapter of the Recording Academy and former president of Los Angeles Women in Music (LAWIM).
