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Tom Kerstens is a Dutch classical guitarist active in the UK.
Kerstens studied in the Netherlands, Spain and England. He has an advanced degree from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London, and a degree in musicology and philosophy from the University of Utrecht.
His UK performing debut came in 1987 at the Greenwich Festival. Since then, he has played at most of the other British festivals, and has toured Europe. His recordings include Fandango!, played on three different types of guitar (baroque, romantic and modern); Serenade, a CD of Romantic guitar music; and two (so far) volumes entitled New Music for Guitar. He has also recorded Deirdre Gribbin's guitar piece, The Sanctity of Trees, for a collection of her music.
Kerstens has been Artistic Director and CEO of the International Guitar Foundation since 1995. In this role, he has commissioned over 80 new works for the guitar, including pieces by Philip Cashian, Graham Fitkin, Alastair King, Bruce MacCombie, Edward McGuire, John Metcalfe, Howard Skempton, Joby Talbot, Kevin Volans and Errollyn Wallen.
Kerstens' most recent album, 'Utopia', is his first with his new G Plus ensemble and was recorded at Peter Gabriel's Real World Studios in Wiltshire, England before being released online exclusively to Bowers & Wilkins Music Club members as a lossless download (high quality digital format).
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George Washington Benson is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He began his professional career at the age of 19 as a jazz guitarist.
New Order are an English rock band formed in 1980 by vocalist and guitarist Bernard Sumner, bassist Peter Hook and drummer Stephen Morris. The members regrouped after the disbandment of their previous band Joy Division due to the death by suicide of lead singer Ian Curtis. They were joined by Gillian Gilbert on keyboards later that year. New Order's integration of post-punk with electronic and dance music made them one of the most acclaimed and influential bands of the 1980s. They were the flagship band for Manchester-based independent record label Factory Records and its nightclub The Haçienda, and they worked in long-term collaboration with graphic designer Peter Saville.
Reggae is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first popular song to use the word reggae, effectively naming the genre and introducing it to a global audience. While sometimes used in a broad sense to refer to most types of popular Jamaican dance music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that was strongly influenced by traditional mento as well as American jazz and rhythm and blues, and evolved out of the earlier genres ska and rocksteady. Reggae usually relates news, social gossip, and political commentary. It is instantly recognizable from the counterpoint between the bass and drum downbeat and the offbeat rhythm section. The immediate origins of reggae were in ska and rocksteady; from the latter, reggae took over the use of the bass as a percussion instrument.
Television was an American rock band from New York City, most notably active in the 1970s. The group's most prominent lineup consisted of Tom Verlaine, Richard Lloyd (guitar), Billy Ficca (drums), and Fred Smith (bass). An early fixture of CBGB and the 1970s New York rock scene, the band, described by critics as new wave, is considered influential in the development of punk and alternative rock.
The Pogues were an English or Anglo-Irish Celtic punk band fronted by Shane MacGowan and others, founded in King's Cross, London in 1982, as "Pogue Mahone" – the anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic póg mo thóin, meaning "kiss my arse". The band reached international prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s, recording several hit albums and singles. MacGowan left the band in 1991 owing to drinking problems, but the band continued – first with Joe Strummer and then with Spider Stacy on vocals – before breaking up in 1996. The Pogues re-formed in late 2001, and played regularly across the UK and Ireland and on the US East Coast, until dissolving again in 2014. The group did not record any new material during this second incarnation.
Anthony James Donegan, known as Lonnie Donegan, was a Scottish skiffle singer, songwriter and musician, referred to as the "King of Skiffle", who influenced 1960s British pop and rock musicians. Born in Scotland and brought up in England, Donegan began his career in the British trad jazz revival but transitioned to skiffle in the mid-1950s, rising to prominence with a hit recording of the American folk song "Rock Island Line" which helped spur the broader UK skiffle movement.
Christopher John Spedding is an English guitarist and record producer. In a career spanning more than 50 years, Spedding is best known for his studio session work. By the early 1970s, he had become one of the most sought-after session guitarists in England. Spedding has played on and produced many albums and singles. He has also been a member of eleven rock bands: the Battered Ornaments, Frank Ricotti Quartet, King Mob, Mike Batt and Friends, Necessaries, Nucleus, Ricky Norton, Sharks, Trigger, and the Wombles. In May 1976, Spedding also produced the very first Sex Pistols recordings.
Gomez are an English indie rock band from Southport, comprising Ian Ball, Paul "Blackie" Blackburn (bass), Tom Gray, Ben Ottewell and Olly Peacock. The band has three singers and four songwriters, employing traditional and electronic instruments. Their music covers the genres of blues, indie, alternative, rock, folk, psychedelic and experimental.
Keane are an English alternative rock band from Battle, East Sussex, formed in 1995. They met while at Tonbridge School together. The band currently comprises Tom Chaplin, Tim Rice-Oxley, Richard Hughes, and Jesse Quin. Their original line-up included founder and guitarist Dominic Scott, who left in 2001.
John Renbourn was an English guitarist and songwriter. He was best known for his collaboration with guitarist Bert Jansch as well as his work with the folk group Pentangle, although he maintained a solo career before, during and after that band's existence (1967–1973). He worked later in a duo with Stefan Grossman.
Ronald 'Ron' Tree is an English musician and songwriter, best known as frontman and bassist for the English space rock band Hawkwind from 1995 to 2002. He also played both these roles in the reunited Steve Took's Horns in 2002, taking the place of Steve Peregrin Took. He later became the vocalist/songwriter in the Hawklords, alongside Jerry Richards, Harvey Bainbridge, Dave Pearce and Tom Ashurst.
Thomas Oliver Chaplin is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer, best known as the lead singer of the English alternative rock band Keane.
Stuart Patrick Jude Zender is an English bassist. He is best known as a former member of the band Jamiroquai.
Thomas Richard Paxton is an American folk singer-songwriter who has had a music career spanning more than sixty years. In 2009, Paxton received a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award. He is a music educator as well as an advocate for folk singers to combine traditional songs with new compositions.
Steven Gene Wold, commonly known as Seasick Steve, is an American blues musician. He plays mostly personalized guitars and sings, usually about his early life doing casual work. From the late 1960s, he worked as a musician and recording engineer in the US and Europe; he played bass in Shanti and was in a disco band called Crystal Grass as well as other bands. He also pursued other works, including producing an album for Modest Mouse. He achieved his breakthrough, initially in the UK, at the end of 2006 when he appeared on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny as Seasick Steve. He has since released a number of commercially successful albums, including I Started Out with Nothin and I Still Got Most of It Left, Man from Another Time, and Sonic Soul Surfer.
Gwyn Ashton is a Welsh–Australian blues/rock guitarist and singer-songwriter.
Carlos Antonio Bonell is an English classical guitarist of Spanish origin. He has been described by Classical Guitar magazine as "one of the great communicators of the guitar world".
Benjamin John Howard is an English singer-songwriter, musician and composer. His self-released debut EP Games in the Dark (2008) was followed by two more EPs, These Waters (2009) and Old Pine (2010). Signed to Island Records, his debut studio album came in 2011 titled Every Kingdom. The album reached number four on the UK Albums Chart and was certified double platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Howard later released two more EPs, Ben Howard Live (2011) and The Burgh Island E.P. (2012).
Norbert Susemihl is a German trumpeter, drummer, singer, and bandleader. He is a promoter of New Orleans Jazz and New Orleans Music.
Matthew James Bellamy is an English singer, musician, producer, and songwriter. He is primarily known as the lead vocalist, guitarist, pianist, and primary songwriter for English rock band Muse. He is recognised for his eccentric stage persona, wide tenor vocal range and musicianship. Bellamy has released solo compositions and plays bass in the supergroup the Jaded Hearts Club, also producing their debut album, You've Always Been Here (2020).
