Bronski Beat were a British synth-pop band formed in 1983 in London, England. The initial lineup, which recorded the majority of their hits, consisted of Scottish musicians Jimmy Somerville (vocals) and Steve Bronski and English musician Larry Steinbachek. Simon Davolls contributed backing vocals to many songs.
James William Somerville is a Scottish singer who rose to prominence in the 1980s with the synth-pop groups Bronski Beat and the Communards. With Bronski Beat, Somerville achieved commercial success with the 1984 single "Smalltown Boy" which reached the top spot in Belgium, Italy, the Netherlands and the US Hot Dance Club Play. Additionally, it reached the top five in the United Kingdom, West Germany, Ireland and New Zealand as well as charting within the US Billboard Hot 100. Bronski Beat's debut album The Age of Consent (1984) was the only release Somerville contributed to as lead vocalist before leaving the band in 1985 and joining The Communards.
Alexander Bengt Magnus Bard is a Swedish musician, author, lecturer, artist, songwriter, music producer, TV personality, religious and political activist, and one of the founders of the Syntheist religious movement alongside his co-author Jan Söderqvist. Bard is a member of music band Army of Lovers.
The music of Hawaii includes an array of traditional and popular styles, ranging from native Hawaiian folk music to modern rock and hip hop. Styles like slack-key guitar are well known worldwide, while Hawaiian-tinged music is a frequent part of Hollywood soundtracks. Hawaii also made a contribution to country music with the introduction of the steel guitar. In addition, the music which began to be played by Puerto Ricans in Hawaii in the early 1900s is called cachi cachi music, on the islands of Hawaii.
Samantha Brown is an English singer, songwriter and musician.
Jyoti Prakash Mishra, better known by his stage name White Town, is a British-Indian singer, musician, and producer. He is best known for his 1997 hit song "Your Woman".
A cover band is a band that plays songs recorded by someone else, sometimes mimicking the original as accurately as possible, and sometimes re-interpreting or changing the original. These remade songs are known as cover songs. New or unknown bands often find the format marketable for smaller venues, such as pubs, clubs or parks. The bands also perform at private events, for example, weddings and birthday parties, and may be known as a wedding band, party band, function band or band-for-hire. A band whose covers consist mainly of songs that were chart hits is often called a top 40 band. Some bands, however, start as cover bands, then grow to perform original material. For example, the Rolling Stones released three albums consisting primarily of covers and then recorded one with their own original material.
Amanda MacKinnon Palmer is an American singer, songwriter, musician, and performance artist who is the lead vocalist, pianist, and lyricist of the duo the Dresden Dolls. She performs as a solo artist and was also a member of the duo Evelyn Evelyn and the lead singer and songwriter of Amanda Palmer and the Grand Theft Orchestra. She has gained a cult fanbase and was one of the first musical artists to popularize the use of crowdfunding websites.
Rodney Crowell is an American musician, known primarily for his work as a singer and songwriter in country music. Crowell has had five number one singles on Hot Country Songs, all from his 1988 album Diamonds & Dirt. He has also written songs and produced for other artists.
This is a list of notable events in country music that took place in the year 1980.
Steve McCutcheon, known professionally as Steve Mac, is a British record producer, songwriter and musician. A multi-award-winning producer, he is one of the most prolific songwriters and record producers in modern British music, with contributions to 30 number one singles in the UK Singles Chart.
Peter William Dawkins was a New Zealand record producer and musician, best known for his late-1960s to mid-1970s New Zealand hits and his 1970s productions for Australian-based pop artists, including Dragon, Australian Crawl and Air Supply. He won multiple production awards, including the Countdown Producer of the Year. In the late 1980s, he developed Parkinson's disease.
Donald Roeser, known professionally as Buck Dharma, is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the sole constant member of hard rock band Blue Öyster Cult since the group's formation in 1967. He wrote and sang vocals on several of the band's best-known hits, including "(Don't Fear) The Reaper", "Godzilla" and "Burnin' for You".
Jeremiah Patrick Lordan was an English songwriter, composer and singer. He had three hit singles on the UK Singles Chart before focusing purely on songwriting. Amongst his songwriting credits were the chart hits "I've Waited So Long", "Apache", "Wonderful Land", "Atlantis", "Diamonds", and "A Girl Like You".
"The Wanderer" is a song written by Ernie Maresca and originally recorded by Dion, released on his 1961 album, Runaround Sue. The song, with a 12-bar blues-base verse and an eight-bar bridge, tells the story of a travelling man and his many loves. The song is ranked number 243 on the Rolling Stone magazine's list of The 500 Greatest Songs of All Time.
Ian Timothy Whitcomb was an English entertainer, singer-songwriter, record producer, writer, broadcaster and actor. As part of the British Invasion, his hit song "You Turn Me On" reached number 8 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart in 1965.
Julien Doré is a French singer-songwriter, musician and actor.
Do-Ré-Mi was an Australian pop rock band formed in Sydney in 1981 by Deborah Conway, Dorland Bray, Helen Carter and Stephen Philip (guitar). They were one of Australia's most respected and successful post-punk groups. Do-Ré-Mi recorded self-titled EP and The Waiting Room for independent label Green Records before signing to Virgin Records and recording their first LP, Domestic Harmony in 1985 with Gavin MacKillop producing. Domestic Harmony achieved gold sales and contained their most played song, "Man Overboard", which was a top 5 hit single in 1985. This song was notable for its lyrical references to penis envy and pubic hair. Do-Ré-Mi's follow-up singles Idiot Grin and Warnings Moving Clockwise reached the Top 100.
Jean Akin Cunningham was an American performer, composer, songwriter, producer, writer and host of the video based web site The Composers Corner. She toured with Lionel Richie, David Crosby of Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young and worked closely with Ike and Tina Turner. She was also the co-author and voice of the ongoing children's audio book series Los Diggities, written about three rescued dogs living in Los Angeles. Seven cds of her music have been released on both domestic and international labels, as well as 2 performance DVDs.
Mike Jackson OAM is an Australian children's entertainer, recording artist, songwriter, radio show host, and author. He is perhaps best known for his version of Bananas in Pyjamas and appearances on ABC Television.
