Michael John Moorcock is an English writer, best-known for science fiction and fantasy, who has published a number of well-received literary novels as well as comic thrillers, graphic novels and non-fiction. He has worked as an editor and is also a successful musician. He is best known for his novels about the character Elric of Melniboné, a seminal influence on the field of fantasy since the 1960s and '70s.
Jimmy Layne Webb is an American songwriter, composer, and singer. He has written numerous platinum-selling songs, including "Up, Up and Away", "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", "MacArthur Park", "Wichita Lineman", "Worst That Could Happen", "Galveston" and "All I Know". He had successful collaborations with Glen Campbell, Michael Feinstein, Linda Ronstadt, the 5th Dimension, the Supremes, Art Garfunkel and Richard Harris.
Jonathan David Larson was an American composer, lyricist and playwright most famous for writing the musicals Rent and Tick, Tick... Boom!, which explored the social issues of multiculturalism, substance use disorder, and homophobia. He received three posthumous Tony Awards and a posthumous Pulitzer Prize for Drama for Rent.
"Fire and Rain" is a song written and performed by James Taylor and released in August 1970 on Warner Bros. Records as a single from his second album, Sweet Baby James. The song follows Taylor's reaction to the suicide of Suzanne Schnerr, a childhood friend, and his experiences with drug addiction and fame. After its release, "Fire and Rain" peaked at number two on RPM's Canada Top Singles chart and at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.
Arjen Anthony Lucassen is a Dutch singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist musician and record producer best known for his long-running progressive metal/rock opera project Ayreon. Lucassen started his career in 1980 as the guitarist and backing vocalist of Dutch band Bodine as Iron Anthony, before joining Vengeance in 1984. After eight years he left the band, wanting to go into a more progressive direction, and released two years later an unsuccessful solo album entitled Pools of Sorrow, Waves of Joy under the nickname Anthony.
FireHouse is an American hard rock band that formed in Richmond, Virginia, and then moved to Charlotte, North Carolina, where they were signed to Epic Records in 1989. The band reached stardom during the early 1990s with hit singles like "Reach for the Sky", "Don't Treat Me Bad" and "All She Wrote", as well as their signature power ballads "I Live My Life for You", "Love of a Lifetime" and "When I Look into Your Eyes". At the 1992 American Music Awards, FireHouse won the award for "Favorite New Heavy Metal/Hard Rock Artist".
Bonfire is a German heavy metal band, founded by Hans Ziller in Ingolstadt in 1972. In 1986, based on the advice of the record company and the management, the band changed its name to Bonfire. Original founder Ziller is still in the band and is the only one who has the rights to the Bonfire name.
H-Blockx is a German rock band founded in Münster in 1991. After the success of their debut album in 1994, Time to Move, the band received a nomination for Best Breakthrough Artist at the 1995 MTV Europe Music Awards. In 1999, the World Wrestling Federation contacted them to record a song, "Oh Hell Yeah", for wrestler Stone Cold Steve Austin, and their song "Countdown to Insanity" appears in the European version of the 2007 music video game Rock Band. Between 1994 and 2012, H-Blockx released seven studio albums.
Axel Rudi Pell is a German heavy metal guitarist.
Lyudmila Stefanovna Petrushevskaya is a Russian writer, novelist and playwright. She began her career writing and putting on plays, which were often censored by the Soviet government, and following perestroika, published a number of well-respected works of prose.
Don't Touch the Light is the first album by German hard rock band Bonfire, following its name change from Cacumen. It was released in 1986 on RCA Records.
Fireworks is the second album by the German hard rock band Bonfire. It was released in 1987 on the label BMG International with two different covers, the worldwide one had a patterned similar to a decorated vault door while the North American version was simply four pictures of each band member in each corner of the cover. This album was recorded with a guest drummer, Ken Mary from Fifth Angel, because the band's drummer was fired during the writing sessions. A new drummer was hired just before the band toured in support of Fireworks. In 2003, the album was certified a Gold seller. Originally the band had recorded 25 songs, settling on 11 tracks.
Point Blank is the third album by the hard rock band Bonfire. It was released in 1989 on the label BMG International. During the recording sessions of this album, Hans Ziller was fired from the band, but the album features 10 songs written by him as well as 3 that feature him playing. Freddy Curci from Alias, Sheriff and Zion also contributed to additional backing vocals for this album. Originally, the band had recorded 30 songs and settled on 17 tracks for the album.
The Decameron, subtitled Prince Galehaut and sometimes nicknamed l'Umana commedia, is a collection of short stories by the 14th-century Italian author Giovanni Boccaccio (1313–1375). The book is structured as a frame story containing 100 tales told by a group of seven young women and three young men; they shelter in a secluded villa just outside Florence in order to escape the Black Death, which was afflicting the city. Boccaccio probably conceived of the Decameron after the epidemic of 1348, and completed it by 1353. The various tales of love in The Decameron range from the erotic to the tragic. Tales of wit, practical jokes, and life lessons contribute to the mosaic. In addition to its literary value and widespread influence, it provides a document of life at the time. Written in the vernacular of the Florentine language, it is considered a masterpiece of classical early Italian prose.
Carl Begai is a Canadian music journalist, and author.
Joerg Deisinger is a German musician and the former bassist and a founding member of the German 1980s heavy metal band Bonfire.
Michael Bormann is a German singer. He was a founding and longtime member of the hard rock band Jaded Heart. He has been involved with several other groups as their lead vocalist, having accepted contracts to record his vocals on albums rather than being a full-time member of the bands.
Lindemann is a German musical project fronted by vocalist Till Lindemann. It was formed in 2013 as a super-duo alongside Swedish multi-instrumentalist Peter Tägtgren. Tägtgren originally defined their sound as a cross between his project Pain and Lindemann's main band Rammstein, adding "at least it's a mix of Rammstein vocals and Pain music." Together, they released the two albums Skills in Pills (2015) and F & M (2019). Tägtgren departed Lindemann in 2020, leaving Lindemann as a solo project.
Songs of Surrender is an upcoming album of re-recorded songs by Irish rock band U2. Produced by guitarist the Edge, it is scheduled to be released on 17 March 2023 on Island Records and Interscope Records. The album will comprise re-recorded and reinterpreted versions of 40 songs from the group's back catalogue. The full track listing is organized into four "albums" each named for one of the band members. All studio albums from the group's career are represented with the exception of October (1981) and No Line on the Horizon (2009).
