The Modern Lovers were an American rock band led by Jonathan Richman in the 1970s and 1980s. The original band existed from 1970 to 1974 but their recordings were not released until 1976 or later. It featured Richman and bassist Ernie Brooks with drummer David Robinson and keyboardist Jerry Harrison. The sound of the band owed a great deal to the influence of the Velvet Underground, and is now sometimes classified as "proto-punk". It pointed the way towards much of the punk rock, new wave, alternative and indie rock music of later decades. Their only album, the eponymous The Modern Lovers, contained idiosyncratic songs about dating awkwardness, growing up in Massachusetts, and love of life and the USA.
Arthur Blakey was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. He was briefly known as Abdullah Ibn Buhaina after he converted to Islam for a short time in the late 1940s.
The Connells are an American musical group from Raleigh, North Carolina. They play a guitar-oriented, melodic, jangle-pop style of rock music with introspective lyrics that often reflect the history or culture of the American South.
Rooney is the primary musical project of singer-songwriter Robert Schwartzman, evolving from its origin as an American rock band formed by high school friends in Los Angeles. Before Schwartzman decided to continue with the project and take it in a different direction, the band's most enduring line-up consisted of Schwartzman, Louie Stephens, Taylor Locke, Matthew Winter and Ned Brower. The band is named after Ed Rooney, the principal in Ferris Bueller's Day Off.
The Wrecking Crew was a loose collective of session musicians based in Los Angeles whose services were employed for thousands of studio recordings in the 1960s and 1970s, including several hundred Top 40 hits. The musicians were not publicly recognized in their era, but were viewed with reverence by industry insiders. They are now considered one of the most successful and prolific session recording units in music history.
Anne Preven is an American songwriter, musician, and record producer. As a member of the alternative rock band Ednaswap, she wrote "Torn" which was covered by Lis Sørensen (Danish), Trine Rein (Norwegian), and then Natalie Imbruglia (Australian) whose version became a worldwide number one airplay song, spending 11 weeks on the Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Chart in the US. "Torn" has sold an estimated four million copies, it is certified platinum in three countries, and was declared the "number one radio single of the 1990s" by radio personality Rick Dees. As a songwriter, Preven has collaborated with some of the music industry's top artists including Madonna, Beyoncé, Katy Perry, Sinéad O'Connor, Miley Cyrus, Demi Lovato, Jordin Sparks, Zac Brown Band, Pnau, Andy Grammer, Lea Michele, Pixie Lott, and Westlife.
The Hippos were an American rock band formed in 1995 in Los Angeles, California, and disbanded in 2002. The band released three full-length albums. Their early work is best classified as part of the third wave of ska music, or as ska-punk, though in the later years of their career the band transitioned to a more synthesizer-driven power pop and rock sound.
Andrew Douglas Paley is an American songwriter, record producer, composer, and multi-instrumentalist who formed the Paley Brothers, a 1970s power pop duo, with his brother Jonathan Paley. Following their disbandment, Andy was a staff producer at Sire Records, producing albums for artists such as Brian Wilson, Jonathan Richman, NRBQ, John Wesley Harding, the Greenberry Woods, and Jerry Lee Lewis. He has also worked in film and television, composing scores and writing songs mostly for cartoons such as The Ren & Stimpy Show, SpongeBob SquarePants, and Camp Lazlo.
Arik Ben Marshall is an American guitarist, singer, songwriter, poet, and author, best known as a one-time member of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.
Peter Rowan is an American bluegrass musician and composer. Rowan plays guitar and mandolin, yodels and sings.
David Karl Krusen is an American musician who is best known for being the first drummer for the American rock band Pearl Jam and for his work on the band's debut album, Ten. Krusen was also a member of the bands Hovercraft and Unified Theory, and is currently the drummer for Candlebox.
Robert Wayne "Bob" Birch was an American musician. He was primarily a session musician and sideman to a variety of notable artists.
Mulgrew Miller was an American jazz pianist, composer, and educator. As a child he played in churches and was influenced on piano by Ramsey Lewis and then Oscar Peterson. Aspects of their styles remained in his playing, but he added the greater harmonic freedom of McCoy Tyner and others in developing as a hard bop player and then in creating his own style, which influenced others from the 1980s on.
Joseph Edward Covington was an American drummer, best known for his involvements with Jefferson Airplane, Hot Tuna and Jefferson Starship.
Dewey Martin was a Canadian rock drummer, best known for his work with Buffalo Springfield.
Adam Watts is an American music and visual artist. His work as a rock and pop artist, singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, producer, mixing engineer and visual artist has garnered critical acclaim. His songwriting and productions are featured on over 50 million records sold worldwide in both the mainstream and contemporary Christian music industries. Watts owns a fine art gallery in Downtown Fullerton, CA which features his haunting and poignant mixed media assemblage fine art and photography, as well as his handmade leather goods.
Fool's Gold is an American musical collective that combines Western pop with African and Middle Eastern music. The group started as a side project of musicians Luke Top and Lewis Pesacov, who set out to explore their shared love of various forms of African music, Krautrock, and 1980s dance influenced pop music.
Shane Alexander is a contemporary American singer-songwriter and musician. Alexander was born in San Diego, California, raised in Pennsylvania and Maryland, and is currently residing in Southern California.
George Earth is an American musician, guitarist, songwriter, composer, music producer, comic book artist, and talk show host from Echo Park, California. He is perhaps best known as the lead guitarist for both World Entertainment War and Switchblade Symphony, later touring and recording with Angel Corpus Christi, Stolen Babies, and other bands before forming Los Angeles-based Small Halo in 2008. He publishes a semi-regular comic book series and hosts a regular talk show, The Talk Show, in which he also leads The Talk Show Band.
David Kendrick is an American rock drummer who is a former member of Gleaming Spires and Devo, and has recorded and toured with Sparks. He is based in Los Angeles, California.
