Norman Connors is an American drummer, composer, producer, and arranger who emerged in the Seventies behind Pharoah Sanders. He attained bandleader status with the 1972/73 Cobblestone titles Dance of Magic and Dark of Light. For Buddah, he cut the 1974–77 jazz-funk albums Love From the Sun, Slewfoot, Saturday Night Special, You Are My Starship, and […]
Cortex was a French samba-jazz/funk combo that released two albums and a standalone single between 1975 and 1977 on Espérance, followed by a 1978 third album on Crypto. A 54-minute disc of material for a shelved 1979 album appeared in 2006 on Underdog Records. Members: Alain Labib (alto saxophone), Alain Mion (keyboards, vocals), Jean Grevet […]
Sagittarius was the pop-psych studio project of American producers Curt Boettcher and Gary Usher. Their project yielded two albums: Present Tense (Columbia, 1968) and The Blue Marble (Together Records, 1969). Members: Gary Usher (vocals), Curt Boettcher (vocals) Background Sagittarius was a Los Angeles studio pop-psych project masterminded by producers Gary Usher and Curt Boettcher. The […]
Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes were an American soul group, formed in 1954 as The Blue Notes. They cut four albums between 1972 and 1975 on Philadelphia International and scored R&B crossover hits with “If You Don’t Know Me by Now,” “The Love I Lost,” “Bad Luck,” “Hope That We Can Be Together Soon,” […]
The James Gang was an American hard-rock band that debuted with the 1969 Bluesway release Yer’ Album, followed by four studio albums and a live disc on ABC Records, including the popular 1970/71 titles Rides Again and Thirds. Two songs, “Funk #49” and “Walk Away,” remain staples of classic rock radio. Multiple guitarists passed through […]
Larry Young (October 7, 1940 – March 30, 1978) was an American organist who released eleven albums between 1960 and 1976 and had backing stints with Grant Green, Miles Davis, John McLaughlin, and Tony Williams. In the early 1960s, Young built his reputation through soul-jazz recordings and extensive sideman work. He released his first three […]
Dalbello — aka Lisa Dal Bello (born May 22, 1959) — is a Canadian vocalist and performer who released two albums on MCA and Talisman in 1977 and 1978, followed by three albums on Capitol between 1981 and 1987. Her first three albums bear her full name, after which she adopted the more recognized “Dalbello” […]
Haruomi Hosono — 細野晴臣 (July 9, 1947) — is a Japanese multi-instrumentalist, songwriter, and producer who first emerged as the bassist for blues-psych rockers Apryl Fool in the late 1960s. Between 1970 and 1973, he recorded three albums with folk-rockers Happy End. In 1978, co-founded the electro-pop trio Yellow Magic Orchestra, which achieved global success […]
Nico (1938–1988) was a German singer, model, and actress who emerged as a co-vocalist in the Velvet Underground. After singing on their 1967 album The Velvet Underground & Nico, she went solo with that year’s Verve release Chelsea Girl. She jumped to Elektra for the 1968 avant-garde album The Marble Index, followed by the 1970 […]
The Movies were an English adult-oriented rock band from Cambridge that premiered with a 1975 album on A&M, followed by the 1977–78 albums Double A and Bullets Through the Barrier and the 1980–81 RCA titles India and Motor Motor Motor. Its three co-founders came from the 1973 Sovereign one-off Public Foot the Roman. Members: Greg […]
IQ are an English symphonic-rock band that released the 1983 album Tales From the Lush Attic on The Major Record Company, followed by 1985’s The Wake on Sahara Records. After their 1986 single “Intelligence Quotient,” IQ released the 1987–89 Mercury albums Nomzamo and Are You Sitting Comfortably? Their 1993 comeback album Ever sparked a thirty-year […]
KC and the Sunshine Band were an American group formed in Hialeah, Florida, by keyboardist and singer Harry Wayne Casey and bassist, percussionist, and engineer Richard Finch. The pair developed the group inside the TK Records studio operation and drew its personnel from the label’s Miami session pool. Casey and Finch directed the group through […]
Osanna was an Italian symphonic/hard-rock band on Fonit Cetra that released the 1971–74 albums L’uomo, Palepoli, and Landscape of Life, plus the soundtrack to the 1972 crime film Milano calibro 9. In 1974, the members split for the one-album acts Città Frontale and Uno. They reunited Osanna for the 1978 CBS release Suddance. Members: Lino […]
The Gap Band was an American soul-funk band from Tulsa that released the small-label albums Magician’s Holiday (1974, Shelter) and The Gap Band (1977, Tattoo). On Mercury (1979–80) and Total Experience (1982–87) they released nine self-titled numerical albums. Between 1980 and 1986, the Gap Band scored ten Top 5 hits on the US Billboard Hot […]
Pete Townshend (born May 19, 1945) is an English musician, composer, and singer who rose to global prominence as the guitarist and songwriter for The Who, which released 10 studio albums between 1965 and 1982. His first proper solo album, Who Came First, appeared on Track Records in 1972. As the Who’s activities became more […]
Brian Auger & The Trinity was an English jazz-rock/soul band that released three albums between 1967 and 1969 on Marmalade — two with singer Julie Driscoll — followed by a 1970 fourth on RCA Victor. They scored a 1968 UK Top 5 hit with the Bob Dylan cover “This Wheel’s On Fire.” Auger, a specialist […]
Carla Bley (May 11, 1936 – October 17, 2023) was an American jazz pianist and composer who appeared on 1970s albums by Charlie Haden, Don Cherry, Gary Burton, and husband Michael Mantler. As a bandleader, she released eight studio albums between 1974 and 1989 on WATT Works. Background Carla Bley was born Lovella May Borg […]
The Meters were an American funk band from New Orleans that released three albums on Josie Records in 1969 and 1970, followed by another five albums on Warner/Reprise between 1972 and 1977. They evolved from the Neville Sounds, formed in 1960 by keyboardist Art Neville and his two brothers, Cyril and Aaron. When the latter […]
Chris Rea is an English singer, guitarist, and songwriter who released nine albums between 1978 and 1987 on Magnet, followed by further titles on WEA, EastWest, and Jazzee Blue over the subsequent three decades. Rea’s 1989–91 albums The Road to Hell and Auberge both topped the UK Albums Chart and spawned Top 20 title singles. […]
The Silesian Blues Band — commonly billed as SBB — are a Polish symphonic/space-rock band that debuted with a 1974 live album, followed by seven studio albums between 1975 and 1981, including the popular 1976/77 titles Pamięć, Ze słowem biegnę do ciebie, and Follow My Dream. Members: Józef Skrzek (vocals, bass, keyboards, Hammond, Mini Moog, […]
Johnny Hammond (aka Johnny Smith, Dec. 16, 1933 — June 4, 1997) was an American jazz keyboardist who debuted in 1958 with a solo organ album as Johnny Smith. Adopting the name Johnny “Hammond” Smith, he released three soul-jazz albums on Prestige-subsidiary New Jazz in 1959/60, then switched to Prestige for 16 further albums between […]
Toyah Willcox (born May 18, 1958) is an English New Wave vocalist, actress, and television personality from Birmingham who released five studio albums and two live discs on Safari between 1979 and 1983. In 1986, she cut a collaborative spoken-word/ambient album with Robert Fripp, whom she married that year. Early Life Toyah Ann Willcox was […]
Scott Walker (Jan. 9, 1943 – March 22, 2019) was an American singer who achieved UK pop fame during the mid-1960s as a member of the Walker Brothers. He went solo with the 1967 Philips release Scott, a mix of originals and select covers (mainly Brel/Shuman), followed by the similar Scott 2, Scott 3, and […]
Millie Jackson is an American soul singer who made nineteen albums between 1972 and 1983 on Spring/Polydor, followed by seven further titles on Jive and Ichiban during the subsequent 12-year period. She rose to prominence with the albums Caught Up (1974) and Still Caught Up (1975), which combined deep soul balladry with candid spoken-word monologues. […]
Megadeth are an American metal band from Los Angeles that Dave Mustaine formed in 1983 after his exit from Metallica. The group debuted with Killing Is My Business… And Business Is Good! on Combat in 1985 and began its Capitol run one year later with Peace Sells… But Who’s Buying? They carried that run through […]
Sadistic Mika Band (サディスティック・ミカ・バンド) was a Japanese art-pop/funk sextet that released three albums between 1973 and 1975 on Doughnut. Their second and third albums — Black Ship (1974) and Hot! Menu (1975) — also appeared on Harvest (UK/US). After the departure of singer Mika Kato and guitarist/singer Kazuhiko Kato, the remaining band shorted the name […]
Al Jarreau (April 12, 1940 — Feb. 12, 2017) was an American soul and jazz singer who released eleven albums between 1975 and 1988 on Warner/Reprise. Jarreau rose to prominence with We Got By (1975) and Glow (1976), then expanded his audience through This Time (1980), Breakin’ Away (1981), and Jarreau (1983), which featured the […]
The Damned is an English punk-rock/psych band from London that released two albums on Stiff Records in 1977. They split in early 1978 but reformed later that year with a revised lineup in which original bassist Captain Sensible switched to guitar, opening the door to a succession of bassists. In 1979, the band released Machine […]
Catapilla was an English jazz-rock/psych band that released two albums on the Vertigo “swirl” label in 1971/72. They fused post-psych effects with jazz-based improvisation in a similar manner to Affinity and Tonton Macoute. Members: Anna Meek (vocals), Robert Calvert (saxophone), Graham Wilson (guitar), Theirry Reinhardt (alto flute, clarinet, 1971), Hugh Eaglestone (tenor saxophone, 1971), Dave […]
Hummingbird was an English-American jazz-funk band that released three albums between 1975 and 1977 on A&M: Hummingbird, We Can’t Go On Meeting Like This, and Diamond Nights. They featured three-fifths of the second Jeff Beck Group, including keyboardist Max Middleton, who plays on Beck’s 1975–76 jazz-rock albums Blow by Blow and Wired. Members: Bobbie Tench […]
Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds are a goth-rock/cabaret ensemble formed in London circa 1983 by Australian vocalist/keyboardist Nick Cave. Between 1984 and 2008, the band released 17 albums on Mute Records, followed by a further round of discs on self-press Bad Seed in the 2010s. Members: Nick Cave (vocals, piano, organ, harmonica), Mick Harvey […]
Ashford & Simpson were an American soul-pop duo from N.Y.C. comprising the husband-and-wife musical team of Nickolas Ashford (May 4, 1941 – Aug. 22, 2011) and Valerie Simpson (b. Aug. 26, 1946). The pair debuted with a standalone single in 1964, followed by a half-decade behind the scenes as staff writers for Motown. The couple […]
Samla Mammas Manna was a Swedish avant-garde/trad band that released five albums between 1971 and 1980 on Silence Records. In 1976, they collaborated with U.S.-born Scandinavian composer Gregory Allan Fitzpatrick on his four-part Snorungarnas Symfoni suite for the MNW label. The instrumental folk of their 1972–74 albums Måltid and Klossa Knapitatet gave way to an […]
Ten Wheel Drive was an American brass-rock big band from New Jersey led by singer Genya Ravan. She fronted their 1969 Polydor debut Construction #1 and the 1970/71 followups Brief Replies and Peculiar Friends. After she went solo, writer/arrangers Aram Schefrin and Michael Zager reconfigured Ten Wheel Drive with singer Ann E. Sutton for a […]
Terje Rypdal is a Norwegian jazz-rock guitarist who’s released more than 25 albums since 1968 in solo and combo form, mostly on ECM. He gained jazz world plaudits in the late 1960s playing with Jan Garbarek and the Arild Andersen–Jon Christensen rhythm section. His early work includes Sart (1971) with Garbarek and What Comes After […]
Zao was a French Zeuhl ensemble, active during the 1970s and later sporadic intervals. Between 1973 and 1977, they released five albums on Vertigo, Urus, and RCA, beginning with their debut Z=7L, which featured François “Faton” Cahen on keyboards, Yochk’o Seffer on saxophones, and Mauricia Platon on vocals. Their second album, Osiris (1974), saw Seffer […]
John Abercrombie (Dec. 16, 1944 — Aug. 22, 2017) was an American jazz guitarist who played in the supergroups Dreams and Atmospheres. In 1975, he debuted as a bandleader with the ECM release Timeless. His output spans jazz-rock, free-form, post-bop, and solo unaccompanied sets. Background John Abercrombie was born on December 16, 1944, in Port […]
Rumplestiltskin was an English hard-rock/psych studio band that released a 1970 self-titled album on Bell Records, followed by a 1972 second, Black Magician, on the German Bellaphon label. The members also recorded instrumental-psych albums as Hungry Wolf and Ugly Custard. Members: Peter Lee Stirling [Peter Charles Greene, aka Daniel Boone] (vocals), Alan Hawkshaw [aka Jeremy […]
A Flock of Seagulls are an English new wave band from Liverpool, best known for the Eighties classics “I Ran (So Far Away),” “Space Age Love Song,” and “Wishing (If I Had a Photograph of You),” all staples of early MTV. Their first two albums (A Flock of Seagulls and Listen) helped spearhead the Second […]
The Muffins were an American jazz-rock band that released two proper albums: the Canterbury-style Manna / Mirage (1978) and the No Wave-inspired 185, both on the avant-garde DC label Random Radar Records. Tracks from their earlier incarnation (circa 1975–76) later surfaced on the Cuneiform CD Chronometers. They backed Fred Frith on his 1980 Ralph Records […]
Carpe Diem was a French space-rock band that released the 1975–77 Crypto albums En Regardant Passer le Temps and Cueille le Jour. Members: Christian Truchi (organ, synthesizer, piano, lead vocals), Gilbert Abbenanti (guitar, 1970-77), Alain Bergé (bass, 1970-77), Claude Méchard (drums, 1970-74), Claude “Marius” David (soprano saxophone, flute, percussion, 1974-79), Alain Faraut (drums, percussion, 1974-79), […]
Lucio Battisti (March 5, 1943 — Sept. 9, 1998) was an Italian singer, songwriter, arranger, and producer who released Ricordi albums between 1969 and 1971, then moved through a long Numero Uno run from Umanamente uomo: il sogno through L’apparenza. His later CBS and Columbia albums closed a studio sequence that ran through Hegel in […]
Bruce Cockburn (born May 27, 1945) is a Canadian singer-songwriter from Ottawa, best known for a long string of albums on the True North label, starting in 1970. His biggest hits include “Wondering Where the Lions Are” and the politically-charged “If I Had a Rocket Launcher.” Background He was born in Ottawa, Ontario, the son […]
Rick Derringer (August 5, 1947 — May 26, 2025) was an American guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer famed for his 1973 evergreen “Rock and Roll, Hoochie Koo.” He originated in Sixties pop-rockers The McCoys of “Hang On Sloopy” fame. After stints with Johnny and Edgar Winter, he launched a solo career interspersed with albums by […]
Eurythmics were an English electro-pop duo that released seven studio albums and a soundtrack between 1981 and 1989 on RCA. They scored multiple 1983–85 hits, including “Sweet Dreams,” “Who’s That Girl?” “Here Comes the Rain Again,” and “Would I Lie to You?” The duo consisted of vocalist Annie Lennox and multi-instrumentalist David Stewart. They recorded […]
Jaco Pastorius (1951–1987) was an American bassist renown for his fretless style. He exploded onto the scene in 1976 with a star-backed solo album and guest appearances on titles by Joni Mitchell (Hejira) and Pat Metheny (Bright Size Life). That year, he joined Weather Report for a six-album stint. Background He was born John Francis […]
The Blackbyrds were an American soul-funk band from Washington, D.C., named after the 1973 album by trumpeter and band-mentor Donald Byrd, who taught the members at Howard University. They released six albums and a soundtrack between 1974 and 1980 on Fantasy Records. Members: Kevin Toney (piano, synthesizer, vocals), Keith Killgo (drums, percussion, vocals), Joe Hall […]
Love Unlimited was an American soul trio from Los Angeles comprised of two sisters, Glodean and Linda James, and their cousin Diane Taylor. Barry White served as their writer, arranger, and producer. They debuted with a 1972 album on Uni Records, followed by the 1973/74 titles Under the Influence and In Heat on 20th Century. […]
Betty Davis (1944–2022) was an American soul-funk singer who released the 1973/74 small-label albums Betty Davis and They Say I’m Different and the 1975 Island title Nasty Gal. Her two subsequent albums, Is It Love or Desire (recorded 1976) and Crashin’ From Passion (recorded 1979), remained vaulted until her 21st century reappraisal. Background Davis was […]
Popol Vuh was a Norwegian art-rock band that released two albums circa 1972/73 on Polydor. Upon discovery of the namesake German outfit, the band changed its name to Popol Ace for two further albums. Members: Pete Knutsen (keyboards, guitar), Arne Schultze (guitar), Terje Methi (bass), Thor Andreassen (drums), Jahn Teigen (vocals, 1972-77), Fred Alvad (Hammond […]
Steve Winwood (born May 12, 1948) is an English vocalist, keyboardist, and songwriter from Birmingham who emerged as the voice of the Spencer Davis Group, which he joined in 1963 at age 15. After four years, three proper albums, and assorted singles with the band — including the soul-rock evergreens “Gimme Some Lovin’” and “I’m […]
Joe Henderson (April 24, 1937 — June 30, 2001) was an American tenor saxophonist with a forty-year jazz career. He emerged in New York in 1962 as a sideman for trumpeter Kenny Dorham, who provided guidance and mentorship. He soon joined Horace Silver’s band and contributed a solo to the 1963 jukebox hit “Song for […]
Galliard was an English brass-rock band from Birmingham that released the 1969/70 Deram albums Strange Pleasure and New Dawn. Frontman Geoff Brown continued in the mid-’70s jazz-funk combo Muscles. Along with Colosseum, Heaven, Brainchild, the Greatest Show on Earth, and the Keef Hartley Band, Galliard represented a UK wing of the brass-laden jazz-rock-soul sound, reflecting […]
Sheena Easton is a Scottish singer who emerged with the 1980 EMI hits “Modern Girl” and “Morning Train (Nine to Five),” followed by the 1981 albums Take My Time and You Could Have Been With Me, released around “For Your Eyes Only,” her ballad theme for the James Bond movie. She followed her initial flurry […]
Caldera was an American Latin jazz-rock band that released four albums between 1976 and 1980 on Capitol. They synthesized jazz-funk with Afro-Cuban styles on their debut, Caldera (1976), then expanded their textural range on Sky Islands (1977), which features guest vocalist Dianne Reeves. The band continued to refine its complex, Latin-rooted fusion across Time and […]
Burning Spear — aka Winston Rodney (born March 1, 1945) — is a Jamaican dub/roots-reggae artist who issued a round of singles on Bamboo and Studio One between 1969 and 1971, followed by a 1972 debut album on Coxsone. Signed to Island Records, he released the popular 1975 album Marcus Garvey, followed by a dub […]
Chrisma was an Italian synthpunk duo that released the 1977–79 Polydor albums Chinese Restaurant and Hibernation. They respelled their name Krisma for a string of Eighties synthpop albums. Members: Maurizio Arcieri, Christina Moser Background Chrisma formed in Milan in 1976 when Italian pop veteran Maurizio Arcieri (b. April 30, 1941, Milan) formed a duo with […]
Wigwam was a Finnish psychedelic jazz-rock/art-rock band that cut seven studio albums between 1969 and 1977 on Love Records. They formed around English singer–pianist Jim Pembroke, organist Jukka Gustavson, and drummer Ronnie Österberg. Bassist Pekka Pohjola joined on the second album. Their early albums Hard N’ Horny (1969) and Tombstone Valentine (1970) blended jazz touches […]
Burnin Red Ivanhoe was a Danish post-psychedelic jazz-rock that band released five albums (1969–74) on Sonet. They emerged with the double-album M 144, followed by the 1970/71 albums Burnin Red Ivanhoe and W.W.W. After their collaborative effort with singer/songwriter and trumpeter Povl Dissing (6 Elefantskovcikadeviser), they made the 1972–74 albums Miley Smile/Stage Recall and Right […]
Chris De Burgh (born Oct. 15, 1948) is an Irish singer/songwriter who launched his five-decade career with the 1975 A&M albums Far Beyond These Castle Walls and Spanish Train and Other Stories. His songs combine lyrical storytelling with arrangements steeped in folk, art pop, and lavish orchestration. Stateside, De Burgh achieved his biggest successes with […]
Elias Hulk was an English hard-rock-psych band from Bournemouth, Dorset, that released the album Unchained on Young Blood in 1970. Members: Peter Thorpe [Big Pete Thorpe] (lead vocals), Neil Tatum (lead guitar), Granville Frazer (rhythm guitar), James Haines (bass guitar), Bernard James (drums) Elias Hulk was instigated in 1968 by Bournemouth teenagers Peter Grenville ‘Gren’ […]
Jerry Butler (December 8, 1939 — February 19, 2025) was an American soul singer who first fronted The Impressions, which he co-founded in 1958 with Curtis Mayfield. After three Impressions singles, he went solo and scored his first hit with the 1960 R&B No. 1 “He Will Break Your Heart.” Butler made four albums between […]
Yusef Lateef (October 9, 1920 — December 23, 2013) was an American reedist and composer with a six-decade jazz career. After early stints behind Dizzy Gillespie and Donald Byrd, Lateef launched his bandleader career with the 1957 Savoy Records release Jazz for the Thinker. He followed with albums such as Jazz Mood and Prayer to […]
Wayne Shorter (1933–2003) was an American saxophonist and composer who did stints with Art Blakey & the Jazz Messengers (1959–64) and Miles Davis (1964–70). Between 1959 and 1970, he recorded fourteen bandleader albums for Blue Note. In 1971, he co-founded Weather Report, a jazz-funk supergroup with Austrian keyboardist Joe Zawinul. Background Wayne Shorter was born […]
Stevie Nicks is an American singer and songwriter who first emerged in the early 1970s as one-half of the folk-pop duo Buckingham Nicks with then-boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. She joined Fleetwood Mac in late 1974 and helped drive the band’s most successful run on the albums Fleetwood Mac (1975), Rumours (1977), Tusk (1979), Mirage (1982), and […]
Ash Ra Tempel was a German space-rock band that released four albums between 1971 and 1973 on Ohr. Guitarist/keyboardist Manuel Göttsching made a 1975 solo album then trimmed the name to Ashra for a late-Seventies run on Virgin Records. Members: Manuel Göttsching (guitar, vocals, electronics), Hartmut Enke (bass, guitar, electronics, 1970-73), Klaus Schulze (drums, steel […]
Manu Dibango (Dec., 12 1933 — March 24, 2020) was a Cameroonian saxophonist, malletist, and composer with a music career that spanned more than fifty years. In 1972 he cut the Afro-funk classic “Soul Makossa,” which became a much-covered, widely sampled global hit for the artist. Background Manu Dibango was born Emmanuel N’Djoké Dibango on […]
Cos was a Belgian avant-jazz-rock band that released four albums on IBC between 1974 and 1979, followed by two 1983–84 titles on Lark. Keyboardist Charles Loos (Abraxis/Julverne) appears on the first and third albums, Postaeolian Train Robbery and Babel. Former Placebo keyboardist Marc Moulin produced their 1976 release Viva Boma, which features sundry instrumentation from […]
Killing Floor was an English hard-rock band that released a self-titled album on Spark in 1969, followed by Out of Uranus on Penny Farthing in 1970. Members: Bill Thorndycraft (vocals, harp, 1968-71), Mick Clarke (guitar), Lou Martin (keyboards, 1968-69, 1971, 2002-present), Bazz Smith (drums, 1968-71), Stuart McDonald (bass, 1968-69, 1970-71, 2002-present), Jon Taylor (bass, 1969), […]
Murray Head (born March 5, 1946) is an English singer–songwriter and actor who portrayed Judas Iscariot on the 1970 rock musical album Jesus Christ Superstar by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber. He released the albums Nigel Lived (CBS, 1972) and Say It Ain’t So (Island, 1975), which offered source material for Roger Daltrey (“Say […]
Dixie Dregs were an American instrumental band that fused jazz-rock and bluegrass across six studio albums between 1977 and 1982. Their Capricorn-era titles—Free Fall (1977), What If (1978), and Night of the Living Dregs (1979)—featured guitarist Steve Morse and violinist Allen Sloan as primary soloists. After moving to Arista, they issued Dregs of the Earth […]
Arco Iris are an Argentine folk-rock/art-rock quartet with a prolific 1970s output and a sporadic body of subsequent work. The band released six studio albums between 1970 and 1977, including the ambitious double-LPs Sudamérica o el Regreso a la Aurora and Agitor Lucens V. Mastering the chromatic fluidity and epic grandeur of symphonic jazz-rock, the […]
Alphataurus was an Italian symphonic-rock band that released a 1973 self-titled album on Magma. A second album, recorded later that same year, surfaced in 1992 as an archival disc on Mellow Records. Members: Pietro Pellegrini (Hammond organ, keyboards, vibraphone), Guido Wasserman (guitar), Giorgio Santandrea (drums), Alfonso Oliva (bass, 1970-73), Michele Bavaro (lead vocals, 1970-73) Background […]
Akiko Yano — 矢野顕子 (born Feb. 13, 1955) — is a Japanese art-pop singer who released five albums on Philips between 1976 and 1979, followed by three albums on Japan Records during the early 1980s. She has released more than two dozen titles since that time, mostly on Epic and Midi Inc. Background Yano was […]
Clannad was an Irish family group from Gweedore, County Donegal, that moved from Gaelic folk-rooted records in the 1970s into spacious keyboard-led work that shaped the Celtic/New Age crossover of the 1980s and 1990s. Their early albums—Clannad, Clannad 2, Dúlamán, and Crann Úll—centered on close vocal harmonies, harp, flute, acoustic strings, and traditional material drawn […]
Foreigner was an English-American melodic-rock band formed in New York by ex-Spooky Tooth guitarist Mick Jones and former Black Sheep vocalist Lou Gramm. The band released six albums on Atlantic between 1977 and 1987, scoring stateside with the radio evergreens “Feels Like the First Time,” “Double Vision,” “Hot Blooded,” “Urgent,” “Waiting for a Girl Like […]
Cocteau Twins were a Scottish goth/dream-pop trio that was active for 16 years, starting in 1981. Between 1982 and 1990, the band released six albums and assorted EPs on 4AD. Two additional longplayers appeared on Fontana during the 1990s. Members: Elizabeth Fraser (vocals), Robin Guthrie (guitar), Will Heggie (bass, 1981-83), Simon Raymonde (bass, 1983-97) Background […]
Mellow Candle was an Irish folk-rock band, first formed in 1963 as a girl trio. After a one-off single in 1968, they reconfigured as a five piece. Their singular album, Swaddling Songs, appeared in 1972 on Deram. In the late ’90s, the album’s popularity spread globally across the internet, prompting a release of 1969–71-era material […]
Catalyst was an American jazz-funk band that released four albums between 1972 and 1975. Their first, a self-titled release on Cobblestone, features future Weather Report bassist Alphonso Johnson. After the label was acquired by Muse Records, Catalyst released the albums Perception, Unity, and A Tear & A Smile. Members: Eddie Green (keyboards, vocals), Alphonso Johnson […]
The Incredible String Band was a Scottish folk-rock band from Edinburgh that released six studio albums and a live double-LP between 1966 and 1970 on Elektra, followed by five further albums between 1971 and 1974 on Island Records. Formed in 1966 by multi-instrumentalists Robin Williamson and Mike Heron with original member Clive Palmer, The Incredible […]
Robert Palmer (Jan. 19, 1949 — Sept. 26, 2003) was an English soul-rock singer famed for the hits “John and Mary,” “Addicted to Love,” and “Simply Irresistible.” He charted with songs originated by Andy Fraser (“Every Kinda People”), Moon Martin (“Bad Case of Loving You”), and The System (“You Are In My System”). He got […]
