Jan and Dean was an American rock duo consisting of William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence. In the early 1960s, they were pioneers of the California Sound and vocal surf music styles popularized by the Beach Boys.
Franklin Joseph Lymon was an American rock and roll/rhythm and blues singer and songwriter, best known as the boy soprano lead singer of the New York City-based early rock and roll group The Teenagers. The group was composed of five boys, all in their early to mid-teens. The original lineup of the Teenagers, an integrated group, included three African-American members, Frankie Lymon, Jimmy Merchant, and Sherman Garnes; and two Puerto Rican members, Joe Negroni and Herman Santiago. The Teenagers' first single, 1956's "Why Do Fools Fall in Love", was also their biggest hit. After Lymon went solo in mid-1957, both his career and that of the Teenagers fell into decline. He was found dead at the age of 25 on the floor of his grandmother's bathroom from a heroin overdose. His life was dramatized in the 1998 film Why Do Fools Fall In Love.
Famous in the Last Century is the twenty-fourth studio album by British rock band Status Quo, released in 2000 to largely negative reviews. According to the band's autobiography, the idea to record it came from manager David Walker, who said they should celebrate the millennium with an album containing twenty of their favourite hits from the past century. "Another bloody covers album!" grumbled Francis Rossi. "We went along with it, as usual, but inside I felt like a fraud... for me it was the worst Quo album there had ever been - or ever will be!"
John Lennon Anthology is a four-CD box set of home demos, alternative studio outtakes and other unreleased material recorded by John Lennon over the course of his solo career from "Give Peace a Chance" in 1969 up until the 1980 sessions for Double Fantasy and Milk and Honey.
Hawthorne, CA, subtitled Birthplace of a Musical Legacy, is the second anthology collection by The Beach Boys and released through Capitol Records. A double-compact disc, it was put together after the positive reaction to the Endless Harmony Soundtrack to give hardcore Beach Boys fans more rarities and alternate versions of well-known songs. The collection features spoken word tracks from different band members recorded throughout the 1990s during production of the Endless Harmony documentary, as well as a clip from a 1969 radio show. Home recordings dating back to 1960 and a backing track from 1973's "Sail On, Sailor" were also included. It never charted in either the United States or the United Kingdom, and it is currently out of print.
Good Timin': Live at Knebworth, England 1980 is the fourth live album and a concert film by American rock band the Beach Boys that was recorded at Knebworth, Hertfordshire on June 21 1980. It is their only released concert performance that features Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, Carl Wilson, Mike Love, Al Jardine and Bruce Johnston together.
Frankie J. Holden, also known as Frank Holden, is an Australian singer, actor and TV presenter. In the 1970s, he fronted Ol' 55, which had a hit with "On the Prowl" from their debut album, Take It Greasy which peaked at number three on the Australian Kent Music Report Albums Chart in 1976. For Return Home Holden was nominated for Best Actor in a Lead Role at the 1990 AFI Awards.
Glenn A. Baker is an Australian journalist, commentator, author, and broadcaster well known in Australia for his vast knowledge of Rock music. He has written books and magazine articles on rock music and travel, interviewed celebrities, managed bands such as Ol' 55 and promoted tours of international stars. In the mid-1980s, Baker took the BBC's "Rock Brain of the Universe" crown three times. Baker was the Australian editor of Billboard for over 20 years. He won the inaugural Australian Travel Writer of the Year award in 1995 from the Australian Society of Travel Writers, and he won the award again in 2000.
Ol' 55 were an Australian band specialising in retro, 1950s-era Rock 'n' Roll. They formed as Fanis in 1972 in Sutherland, Sydney. Drummer Geoff Plummer was working with Glenn A. Baker at the NSW Department of Media and invited Baker to hear his part-time band, including Patrick "Meatballs" Drummond, Rockpile Jones and Jimmy Manzie. In 1975, Baker took on their management, renamed them as Ol' 55 for the Tom Waits song, and recruited front man Frankie J. Holden and, later in the year, saxophonist Wilbur Wilde.
Meet the Supremes is the debut studio album by The Supremes, released in late 1962 on Motown.
"School Days" is a rock-and-roll song written and recorded by Chuck Berry and released by Chess Records as a single in March 1957 and on the LP After School Session two months later. It is one of his best-known songs and is often considered a rock-and-roll anthem.
"Who Put the Bomp " is a doo-wop style novelty song from 1961 co-written and recorded by Barry Mann. It was originally released as a single on the ABC-Paramount label (10237).
Made in U.S.A. is a 1986 double vinyl album compilation of some of The Beach Boys' biggest successes. Released by their original record label, Capitol Records, it marked a brief return to the label, with whom The Beach Boys released one further album, 1989's Still Cruisin'.
The Very Best of the Beach Boys is an UK-exclusive album released by the American rock and roll band The Beach Boys. The album was released by EMI in 2001 and features 30 of their greatest hits digitally remastered. The album is the first compilation of The Beach Boys that makes a full retrospective of their career, displaying their greatest hit songs, during their 40-year career. Other compilations had already been released throughout the years, but only focusing on certain time periods of the band, or focusing on their complete career, but with several volumes.
Anthology, also known as Anthology: The Best of The Supremes, first released in May 1974, is a series of same or similarly titled compilation albums by The Supremes. Motown released revised versions in 1986, 1995 and 2001. In its initial version, a 35-track triple record collection of hits and rare material, the album charted at #24 on Billboard's "Black Albums" and #66 on "Pop Albums".
James William Manzie, known as Jimmy Manzie or Jim Manzie, is an Australian musician and songwriter for a variety of bands including rock revival band Ol' 55 (1975–1979), pop groups The Breakers (1979–1982) and The Fives (1982) before turning to solo work, production and composing for film/television scores and soundtracks. As a member of Ol' 55, Manzie wrote "On the Prowl" their top 20 hit single on the Australian Kent Music Report in late 1975, which was followed by their debut album, Take It Greasy which reached No. 3 on the Kent Music Report Albums Chart in 1976.
"Almost Grown" is a song written and recorded by Chuck Berry. It was released as a double A-side with "Little Queenie". The song is featured in the 1973 film American Graffiti, and on its soundtrack album.
The Liverbirds were an English all-female rock band from Liverpool, active between 1963 and 1968. The group consisted of vocalist and guitarist Valerie Gell, guitarist and vocalist Pamela Birch, bassist and vocalist Mary McGlory, and drummer Sylvia Saunders. They were one of the very few female bands on the Merseybeat scene, as well as one of the first all-female rock and roll bands in the world. They took their name from the fictional liver bird, which is the symbol of their native Liverpool. They were mostly a cover band, except for three of their songs being written by Pamela Birch.
Live – The 50th Anniversary Tour is a live album by the Beach Boys released on May 21, 2013. The album was recorded during the band's 50th anniversary reunion tour.
"On the Prowl" is a song written by Jimmy Manzie and recorded by Australian band Ol' 55. The song was released in May 1976 as the lead single from the band's debut studio album, Take It Greasy (1976). The song peaked at number 14 on the Australian Kent Music Report, becoming the band's first top 50 single.
