Talking Heads were an American rock band that formed in 1975 in New York City. The band was composed of David Byrne, Chris Frantz (drums), Tina Weymouth (bass) and Jerry Harrison. Described as "one of the most critically acclaimed bands of the '80s", Talking Heads helped to pioneer new wave music by combining elements of punk, art rock, funk, and world music with an anxious, clean-cut image.
Douglas Glenn Colvin, better known by his stage name Dee Dee Ramone, was an American musician. He was the bassist and a founding member of the punk rock band Ramones. Throughout the band's existence, he was the most prolific lyricist and composer, writing many of their best-known songs, such as "53rd & 3rd", "Chinese Rock", "Commando", "Wart Hog", "Rockaway Beach", "Poison Heart" and "Bonzo Goes To Bitburg". The latter won the New York Music Award for best independent single of the year in 1986, while Animal Boy, which the song is from, won for best album.
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band formed in Leyton, East London, in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Although fluid in the early years of the band, the lineup for most of the band's history has consisted of Harris, lead vocalist Bruce Dickinson, drummer Nicko McBrain, and guitarists Dave Murray, Adrian Smith and Janick Gers. As pioneers of the new wave of British heavy metal movement, Iron Maiden achieved initial success during the early 1980s. After several lineup changes, the band went on to release a series of UK and US Platinum and Gold albums, including 1980's debut album, 1981's Killers, and 1982's The Number of the Beast – its first album with Bruce Dickinson, who replaced Paul Di'Anno as lead singer – which was a turning point in their career, helping establish them as one of heavy metal's most important artists. The Number of the Beast is among the most popular heavy metal albums of all time, having sold almost 20 million copies worldwide.
Dhani Harrison is a British musician, composer and singer-songwriter. He is the only child of George and Olivia Harrison. Dhani debuted as a professional musician assisting in recording his father's final album, Brainwashed, and completing it with the assistance of Jeff Lynne after his father's death in November 2001. Harrison formed his own band, thenewno2, in 2002 and has performed at festivals, including Coachella, where Spin magazine dubbed their performance as one of the "best debut performances of the festival." The band also played Lollapalooza three times, with Harrison joining the festival's founder Perry Farrell on a cover of The Velvet Underground's "Sweet Jane" at 2010's event. In 2017, Harrison released his debut solo album IN///PARALLEL. The 2019 film IN///PARALIVE, showcases the live version of his debut solo album and was recorded in the round at Henson Studios in Los Angeles. Harrison's latest single, "Motorways ", was described by Rolling Stone as "a psychedelic track with a robust beat".
The Dictators are an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1973. Critic John Dougan said that they were "one of the finest and most influential proto-punk bands to walk the earth."
James Ure is a Scottish musician, singer-songwriter and record producer. His stage name, Midge, is a phonetic reversal of Jim, the diminutive form of his actual name. Ure enjoyed particular success in the 1970s and 1980s in bands including Slik, Thin Lizzy, Rich Kids and Visage, and as the frontman of Ultravox. In 1984, he co-wrote and produced the charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", which has sold 3.7 million copies in the UK. The song is the second-highest-selling single in UK chart history. Ure co-organised Band Aid, Live Aid and Live 8 with Bob Geldof. He acts as a trustee for the charity and also serves as an ambassador for Save the Children.
Fabrizio Moretti is a Brazilian-American musician and visual artist best known as the drummer for American rock band The Strokes, with whom he has released six studio albums since 2001. A collaborative artist, he has been part of a series of groups since the mid-2000s, most notably the Brazilian-American band Little Joy, which released one album in 2008, and the experimental pop collective Machinegum, which he has led since 2018. Throughout his career, Moretti has worked on a variety of art projects which span the mediums of drawing, sculpture, and installation and performance art.
Coheed and Cambria are an American progressive rock band from Nyack, New York, formed in 1995. The band consists of Claudio Sanchez, Travis Stever, Josh Eppard, and Zach Cooper. The group's music incorporates aspects of progressive rock, pop, heavy metal, and post-hardcore.
Paul Melvyn Carrack is an English singer, musician, songwriter and composer who has recorded as both a solo artist and as a member of several popular bands. The BBC dubbed Carrack "The Man with the Golden Voice", while Record Collector remarked: "If vocal talent equalled financial success, Paul Carrack would be a bigger name than legends such as Phil Collins or Elton John."
James Chance, also known as James White, is an American saxophonist, keyboard player, and singer.
James Sclavunos is an American drummer, multi-instrumentalist musician, record producer, and writer. He is best known as a drummer, having been a member of two seminal no wave groups in the late 1970s. He is also noted for stints in Sonic Youth and the Cramps, and has been a member of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds since 1994. Sclavunos has led his own group the Vanity Set since 2000.
The Moldy Peaches are an American indie group founded by Adam Green and Kimya Dawson. Leading proponents of the anti-folk scene, the band had been on hiatus since 2004, but in 2023 announced they would be reuniting on Twitter. The appearance of their song "Anyone Else but You" in the film Juno significantly raised their profile; Dawson and Green made a handful of reunion appearances together in December 2007.
Band of Susans was an American alternative rock band formed in New York City in 1986 and active until 1996. It originally consisted of Robert Poss (guitar/vocals), Susan Stenger (bass/vocals), Ron Spitzer (drums), with Susan Lyall (guitar), Susan Tallman (guitar), and Alva Rogers (vocals). The band would undergo several permutations over the years, usually involving three guitarists. Poss, Stenger, and Spitzer were the band's core members throughout its duration. They originated in the New York noise rock scene, but due to their layered guitar sound were sometimes seen as the American counterparts to the UK shoegazing bands and also drew influence from modern experimental composers Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca.
James Miller was an American record producer and musician. While he produced albums for dozens of different bands and artists, he is most closely associated for his work with several key musical acts of the 1960s and 1970s.
Bush Tetras are an American post-punk No Wave band from New York City, formed in 1979. They are best known for the 1980 song "Too Many Creeps", which exemplified the band's sound of "jagged rhythms, slicing guitars, and sniping vocals". Although they did not achieve mainstream success, the Bush Tetras were influential and popular in the Manhattan club scene and college radio in the early 1980s. New York's post-punk revival of the 2000s was accompanied by a resurgence of interest in the genre, with the Tetras' influence heard in many of that scene's bands.
Richard Barone is an American rock musician who first gained attention as frontman for the Bongos. He works as a songwriter, arranger, author, director, and record producer, releases albums as a solo artist, tours, and has created concert events at Carnegie Hall, Hollywood Bowl, SXSW, and New York's Central Park. He serves on the Board of Governors for The Recording Academy (Grammys) and the Board of Advisors for Anthology Film Archives, and is affiliated with the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music at New York University and The New School for Jazz and Contemporary Music.
Andy Shernoff is an American musician, songwriter and record producer.
Jonathan Kane is an American musician and composer. Coming out of New York's Downtown Music scene of the early 1980s, Kane is known for his work with minimalist composers La Monte Young and Rhys Chatham, and was a founding member of NYC band Swans. He also leads his own minimalist blues band called Jonathan Kane's February.
Motoyuki Ōtsuka, known mononymously as Morrie, is a Japanese singer-songwriter. He is best known as vocalist and co-founder of the influential heavy metal band Dead End, active from 1984 to 1990, and Morrie's distinctive visual appearance and rough vocal style inspired many later prominent musicians in Japan's visual kei movement. When they disbanded, he began a solo career for five years, before moving to New York City and going into hiatus. He reemerged in 2005 with the solo project Creature Creature, which utilizes several well-known Japanese musicians, reunited with Dead End four years later, and released his first solo album in twenty years in 2015.
Philip T. Gammage is an American songwriter, vocalist, and multi-instrumentalist. He is best known as a solo recording and touring artist in addition to his lead guitar playing for the New York post-punk rock band Certain General.
