Elvis Aaron Presley, known mononymously as Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Known as the "King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Presley's energized performances and interpretations of songs, and sexually provocative performance style, combined with a singularly potent mix of influences across color lines during a transformative era in race relations, brought both great success and initial controversy.
Peter Guralnick is an American music critic, author, and screenwriter. He specializes in the history of early rock and roll and has written books on Elvis Presley, Sam Phillips, and Sam Cooke.
"Love Is Strange" is a crossover hit by American rhythm and blues duet Mickey & Sylvia, which was released in late November 1956 by the Groove record label.
Los Lobos is a Chicano rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cumbia, boleros and norteños. The band rose to international stardom in 1987, when their version of "La Bamba" peaked at the top of the Billboard Hot 100, and also topped the charts in the United Kingdom, and several other countries. Songs by Los Lobos have been recorded by Elvis Costello, Waylon Jennings, Frankie Yankovic, and Robert Plant. In 2015, they were nominated for induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2018, they were inducted into the Austin City Limits Hall of Fame. They are also known for performing the theme song for Handy Manny. As of 2024, they have been nominated for twelve Grammy Awards and have won four.
Robert Calvin Bland, known professionally as Bobby "Blue" Bland, was an American blues singer. Bland developed a sound that mixed gospel with the blues and R&B. He was described as "among the great storytellers of blues and soul music... [who] created tempestuous arias of love, betrayal and resignation, set against roiling, dramatic orchestrations, and left the listener drained but awed." The inspiration behind his unique style was a Detroit Preacher, CL Franklin, because Bland studied his sermons. He was sometimes referred to as the "Lion of the Blues" and as the "Sinatra of the Blues". His music was influenced by Nat King Cole.
The 41st Annual Grammy Awards were held on February 24, 1999, at Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles. They recognized accomplishments by musicians from the year 1998. Lauryn Hill received the most nominations with 10, setting a record for the most nominations for female artist in one night. During the ceremony, Hill became the first woman to receive 5 Grammy Awards in a single night, and the first woman rapper to take home Best New Artist. Her album The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill became the first hip hop album to win the award for Album of the Year. Hill's Grammys sweep is widely considered as one of the biggest moments in hip hop history.
Henry St. Claire Fredericks Jr., better known by his stage name Taj Mahal, is an American blues musician. He plays the guitar, piano, banjo, harmonica, and many other instruments, often incorporating elements of world music into his work. Mahal has done much to reshape the definition and scope of blues music over the course of his more than 50-year career by fusing it with nontraditional forms, including sounds from the Caribbean, Africa, India, Hawaii, and the South Pacific.
Christopher John Farley is a Jamaican-born American journalist, columnist, and author.
Electric Mud is the fifth studio album by Muddy Waters, with members of Rotary Connection playing as his backing band. Released in 1968, it presents Muddy Waters as a psychedelic musician. Producer Marshall Chess suggested that Muddy Waters record it in an attempt to appeal to a rock audience.
American singer-songwriter Bob Dylan has released 40 studio albums, 21 live albums, 17 volumes of The Bootleg Series, 44 compilation albums, seven soundtracks as main contributor, 24 notable extended plays, 104 singles, 61 music videos, 17 music home videos and two non-music home videos. Dylan has been the subject of eleven documentaries, starred in three theatrical films, appeared in an additional thirty-six films, documentaries and home videos, and is the subject of the semi-biographical tribute films I'm Not There and A Complete Unknown. He has written and published lyrics, artwork and memoirs in 11 books and three of his songs have been made into children's books. He has done numerous collaborations, appearances and tribute albums. The albums Planet Waves and Before the Flood were initially released on Asylum Records; reissues of those two and all others were on Columbia Records.
A cutting contest is a type of musical battle that was traditionally held between various stride piano players from the 1920s to the 1940s, and to a lesser extent in improvisation contests on other jazz instruments during the swing era.
Joseph M. Palmaccio also credited as Joe Palmaccio was an American mastering engineer born in rural South Carolina.
Gavin Lurssen is an American mastering engineer. He owns Lurssen Mastering in Hollywood, California. Lurssen's Grammy Award–winning work includes Raising Sand, a collaborative album featuring Alison Krauss and Robert Plant, and the soundtrack for the Coen Brothers film, O Brother, Where Art Thou?. He has also mastered recordings by Tom Waits, Sheryl Crow, Loretta Lynn, Matchbox Twenty, T-Bone Burnett, Jennette McCurdy and many others. Lurssen is an alumnus of Berklee College of Music.
Ali Ibrahim "Ali Farka" Touré was a Malian singer and multi-instrumentalist, and one of the African continent's most internationally renowned musicians. His music blends traditional Malian music and its derivative, African American blues and is considered a pioneer of African desert blues. Touré was ranked number 76 on Rolling Stone's list of "The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time" and number 37 on Spin magazine's "100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time".
Martin J. Sammon was an American blues keyboardist. He was recognized for his energetic performances, improvisation and mastery of traditional styles, having established himself as an ambassador of Chicago blues with appearances on several commercially distributed DVDs, television shows and Grammy Award-winning albums. His book Blues Keyboard Method, with a foreword by Chuck Leavell, of the Rolling Stones, was published by Hal Leonard in 2015.
Hossam Ramzy was an Egyptian percussionist and composer. He worked with English artists including Jimmy Page and Robert Plant, Siouxsie Sioux, as well as with Arabic music artists like Rachid Taha and Khaled.
Richard "Tuff" Green was an American jazz and R&B bassist and bandleader.
Nothing but the Blues is a 1995 documentary film about Eric Clapton's musical journey and his love for Blues music. Martin Scorsese was one of the executive producers. It is not to be confused with the 2003 album release Martin Scorsese Presents the Blues: Eric Clapton.
Colin Escott is a British music historian and author specializing in early U.S. rock and roll and country music. His works include a biography of Hank Williams, histories of Sun Records and The Grand Ole Opry, liner notes for more than 500 albums and compilations, and major contributions to stage and television productions. Honors include multiple Grammy Awards and a Tony Award nomination.
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