The Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1970 by songwriters and multi-instrumentalists Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood with drummer Bev Bevan. Their music is characterised by a fusion of pop and classical arrangements with futuristic iconography. After Wood's departure in 1972, Lynne became the band's sole leader, arranging and producing every album while writing nearly all of their original material. From this point until their first break-up in 1986, Lynne, Bevan, and keyboardist Richard Tandy were the group's only consistent members.
The Beat are a British band formed in Birmingham, England, in 1978. Their music fuses Latin, ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock.
Bond or BOND is an Australian/British string quartet that specialises in classical crossover and synth-pop music. The quartet has sold five million albums.
Jean-Luc Ponty is a French jazz and jazz fusion violinist and composer.
Helen O'Hara is a British musician. She was a member and violinist of Dexys Midnight Runners from 1982 to 1987, including performing on songs such as "Come on Eileen", and in 2021 rejoined the band.
The Wonder Stuff are a British alternative rock band. Originally based in Stourbridge in the West Midlands, England, the band's first lineup released four albums and nearly 20 singles and EPs, enjoying considerable chart and live success in the UK. The band have continued to tour and record since 2000.
Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band formed in 1986 in Stourbridge in the West Midlands of England with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a grebo act, they changed style to incorporate sample-driven indie and industrial rock. Graham Crabb describes their sound as "electronic, punk, alternative hip-hop, hybrid music for fucking, fighting & smoking cigars". Their highest-charting single was the 1993 top-ten hit "Get the Girl! Kill the Baddies!". After initially disbanding in 1996, and having a brief reformation in 2005, they issued their first release in more than five years in 2010.
Miles Stephen Hunt is an English singer, songwriter and guitarist. He fronts the alternative rock band The Wonder Stuff.
Mary Ramsey is a member of folk rock duo John & Mary and lead singer and violinist for the American alternative rock band 10,000 Maniacs. Ramsey has also worked with other well-known artists such as Jackson Browne, Goo Goo Dolls, Billy Bragg, Warren Zevon, Alex Chilton and Ani DiFranco.
Tim Kliphuis is a Dutch violinist renowned for mixing gypsy jazz with classical and folk music, whose recent works have been dedicated to raising awareness about climate change.
Iva Bittová is a Czech avant-garde violinist, singer, and composer. She began her career as an actor in the mid-1970s, appearing in several Czech feature films, but switched to playing violin and singing in the early 1980s. She started recording in 1986 and by 1990 her unique vocal and instrumental technique gained her international recognition. Since then, she has performed regularly throughout Europe, the United States and Japan, and has released over eight solo albums.
Suspended by Stars is the sixth studio album by English rock band the Wonder Stuff, released on 20 February 2006, on the IRL record label. After touring in support of Escape from Rubbish Island (2004), their fifth studio album, frontman Miles Hunt moved to Shropshire and began writing new songs. Bookending a tour of the United States in April and May 2005, the band recorded songs at Doghaus in New York City and Vada in Stratford-upon-Avon. Hunt missed hearing the sound of a violin, and Erica Nockalls was drafted to add the instrument to several of the album's songs.
Rob Jones, known by his nickname The Bass Thing, or by some as Bob Jones, was an English musician. He was a founding member and original bassist for The Wonder Stuff, based in Stourbridge.
Ray Suen is an American musician based in Los Angeles, California, best known for his work with Childish Gambino, Lorde and Mariachi El Bronx.
Immaculate Fools were a pop/rock group formed in 1984, who had their biggest UK success in 1985 with the single "Immaculate Fools", and continued until 1997, releasing six studio albums before splitting up. In 2015, Kevin Weatherill reformed the group with new members.
Susan Voelz is an American musician. A Grammy Award-nominated vocalist, violinist, and composer. She is a member of the alternative rock band, Poi Dog Pondering. She has also worked with a long list of famous musicians.
Luke Anthony "Jocko" Johnson is an English rock musician, drummer and songwriter. He is most commonly known as 'Jocko'. Johnson began his music career in the late 1990s drumming for a spree of small local West Midlands- punk and metal bands. In early 2003 Johnson was approached by California punk band Amen to join the ranks. After his departure from Amen in 2005, Johnson formed Beat Union as drummer and songwriter with Dave Warsop, Dean Ashton and Mark Andrews. Johnson joined the Welsh alternative metal band Lostprophets in 2009 until their disbanding in 2013. Johnson has also been involved in other musical projects, including working alongside Producer John Feldmann and has performed session work for a variety of bands, including The Wonder Stuff and Foxy Shazam.
Laura Kidd is a record producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist releasing music and podcast episodes as Penfriend, and formerly known as She Makes War. After releasing four full length albums between 2010 and 2018, She Makes War was formally disbanded in December 2019, and she launched new music project Penfriend in May 2020, with accompanying weekly podcast series Attention Engineer. Her collaboration project with Rat, Obey Robots, launched in December 2020.
30 Goes Around the Sun is the eighth studio album to be recorded by English rock band the Wonder Stuff. It was released on 18 March 2016 through the label IRL. Following a line-up change in 2014, frontman Miles Hunt began writing for the band's next album in early 2015. After a two-month writing hiatus, they began jamming new songs with their sound engineer Simon Efemey at a rehearsal space in Stourbridge, West Midlands. Recording sessions were held at Mockingbird Studio in Stourbridge with Efemey as producer. 30 Goes Around the Sun is an alternative rock album; some of its songs recall the material on the band's earlier releases. Hunt had initially struggled to writer lyrics following writing a book based on his diaries.
Escape from Rubbish Island is the fifth studio album by English rock band the Wonder Stuff, released on 27 September 2004, through the IRL record label. The band had broken up in 1994; they reformed in 2000 and had been playing shows sporadically over the next few years. Frontman Miles Hunt began making drum loops in his home studio, and his flatmate, former Radical Dance Faction member Mark McCarthy, added bass over them. An argument between Hunt and bandmate Martin Gilks resulted in the latter leaving, followed by violinist Martin Bell soon after. Hunt continued working on the tracks, recording at Vada Studios in Stratford-upon-Avon in 2004 with Matt Terry producing. The album saw a return to the band's rock sound of their early albums.
