Imelda May

Imelda Mary Higham (born Imelda Mary Clabby; 10 July 1974), professionally known as Imelda May, is an Irish musician, producer and singer-songwriter. Born and raised in The Liberties area of Dublin, May began her career in music at age sixteen—performing with a number of local bands and musicians— before forming her own band in 2002. She released her debut studio album, No Turning Back, in 2003 and relocated to London, United Kingdom with husband and guitarist Darrel Higham after its release. Following an appearance on the BBC music programme Later... with Jools Holland in 2008, she released her second studio album, Love Tattoo (2009).

May collaborated and toured with a number of artists following its release. Her similarly received third studio album, Mayhem, was released in 2010 and earned her a nomination for the Choice Music Prize.

Although known primarily as a singer, May also plays the bodhrán, guitar, bass guitar and tambourine. Described as "a unique vocal talent," May is known for her musical style of rockabilly revival and has also been compared to female jazz musicians such as Billie Holiday.

She won the Best Female Artist of the Year award at the 2009 Meteor Awards.

The Baseballs

The Baseballs are a German rock and roll band founded in Berlin in 2007. They became popular with 50s and 60s style rock cover versions of modern hits such as "Umbrella" by Rihanna, "Crazy in Love" by Beyoncé Knowles, "Hot n Cold" by Katy Perry and "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen. The band members are only credited by their nicknames (Sam, Digger and Basti). Their version of "Umbrella" was a hit in Germany, Spain, the Netherlands, Belgium, Finland, Iceland, Austria, Switzerland, Sweden and Norway and charted in all seven countries.

Their debut album, Strike!, was produced by JMC Music and released in May 2009 in Germany, Switzerland and Austria,[8] in October 2009 in Finland,[9] in December 2009 in Sweden,[10] in February in Norway[11] and in March 2010 in The Netherlands. It reached No. 15 in Austria, No. 6 in Germany, No. 2 in Switzerland and the Netherlands, No. 1 in Finland, No. 1 in Sweden and No. 1 in the Norwegian album charts. In the UK it was released on Rhino Records UK on 17 May 2010.

The band re-released the album in 2010 as Strike! Back! The lead single is a rockabilly version of Snow Patrol's "Chasing Cars." The video features the band rocking a 1950s prom.

In the UK, The Baseballs have appeared on ITV1's The David Dickinson Show, Magic Numbers and This Morning. In Ireland, The Baseballs have appeared on RTÉ's The Late Late Show.[16] In Australia the group appeared on Channel 9's Hey Hey It's Saturday

 In New Zealand they appeared on TVNZ's Good Morning

In 2010 the band supported guitarist Jeff Beck on his "Emotion and Commotion" tour as his opening act.

On 6 June 2011, The Baseballs released their second album titled Strings 'n' Stripes. It included new singles tracks such as Candy Shop, Hello and Paparazzi.

On 1 August 2011, The Baseballs released together with General Mills – the producer of the ice cream Häagen-Dazs – within an advertising campaign with Cosma Shiva Hagen a free download of the song "Wha Wha" – which was written especially for the campaign. The track is freely available and can be downloaded from the German site of the brand Häagen-Dazs.

On 25 May 2012, The Baseballs released their first live CD/DVD, "Strings 'n' Stripes Live".

Mississippi Queen

"Mississippi Queen" is a song by the American rock band Mountain. Considered a rock classic,[1] it was their most successful single, reaching #21 in the Billboard Hot 100 record chart in 1970.[2] "Mississippi Queen" has been recorded by several artists, including Ozzy Osbourne, who had a hit with the song in 2005.

"Mississippi Queen" was recorded during the sessions for Mountain's 1970 debut album Climbing!. According to drummer Corky Laing, he had developed some of the lyrics and the drum part prior to his joining the band.[3] Later, when guitarist Leslie West was looking for lyrics for a guitar part he had written, Laing pulled out "The Queen" and the two worked out the song together;[3] bassist/producer Felix Pappalardi and lyricist David Rea also received songwriting credits. When the group[4] proceeded to record "Mississippi Queen", Pappalardi insisted on numerous takes. Growing weary, Laing started using the cowbell to count off the song. Pappalardi liked it so much he left it in the mix, creating the instantly recognizable intro to the song.[3]

Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" (born Michael Barratt, 4 March 1948 in Cardiff, Wales) is a platinum-selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter who holds the distinction of being the UK's biggest-selling singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted 33 Top 40 hit singles.

Early days
Michael Barratt, who would adopt the stage name Shakin' Stevens, was the youngest of 13 children born in Ely, a suburb on the outskirts of Cardiff in South Wales to English parents Jack and May Barratt. His father was a First World War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building trade. The oldest of his siblings were born in the later part of the 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barratt died in 1972 at the age of 75, while May survived until 1984 and the age of 79.

Stevens married his wife Carole on 7 October 1967 and they have three children. At the time of their marriage, his official occupation was a milkman, and they lived in a flat which formed part of an office block in inner-city Cardiff. The office block was demolished several years later.[2]
As a teenager in the mid-1960s Stevens formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman. Originally named The Olympics, then The Cossacks, the short-lived band finally renamed as The Denims and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area.

In the late 1960s Stevens was associated with the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain - playing at YCL events. At the time the YCL was associated with several leading music industry figures, including Pete Townshend.

He is a lifelong supporter of his local football team Cardiff City F.C.

Grady Martin

Thomas Grady Martin (January 17, 1929 – December 3, 2001) was an American session guitarist in country music and rockabilly.

A member of The Nashville A-Team, he played guitar on hits such as Marty Robbins' "El Paso", Loretta Lynn's "Coal Miner's Daughter" and Sammi Smith's "Help Me Make It Through the Night". During a nearly 50-year career, Martin backed such names as Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Johnny Burnette, Don Woody and Arlo Guthrie, Johnny Cash, Patsy Cline and Bing Crosby. He is a member of the Rockabilly Hall of Fame.

Biography

Grady Martin was born on January 17, 1929 in Chapel Hill, Tennessee. He grew up on a farm with his oldest sister, Lois, his older brothers, June and Bill, and his parents, Claude and Bessey;[2] and had a horse he named Trigger. His mother played the piano and encouraged his musical talent.[2]
At age 15, Martin was invited to perform regularly on WLAC-AM in Nashville, Tennessee, and made his recording debut two years later on February 15, 1946[3] with Curly Fox and Texas Ruby in Chicago, Illinois.

That same year, he joined Paul Howard's Western swing-oriented Arkansas Cotton Pickers as half of Howard's twin guitar ensemble with Robert "Jabbo" Arrington and performed on the Grand Ole Opry. When Howard left, Opry newcomer Little Jimmy Dickens hired several former Cotton Pickers, including Martin, as his original Country Boys road band. He later joined Big Jeff Bess and the Radio Playboys followed by a stint with the Bailes Brothers Band.

By 1950, Martin was a part of the rising Nashville recording scene as a studio guitarist and fiddler, and his guitar hooks propelled Red Foley's "Chattanoogie Shoe Shine Boy" and "Birmingham Bounce". In 1951, he signed with Decca Records with own country-jazz band, Grady Martin and the Slew Foot Five.[5] In addition to backing mainstream acts like Bing Crosby and Burl Ives, they began to record in their own right, with later sessions under the name Grady Martin and his Winging Strings[6] when he introduced his twin-neck Bigsby guitar.[7] The band, with Hank Garland, Bob Moore, Tommy Jackson and Bud Isaacs made regular appearances on ABC-TV's Ozark Jubilee in the mid-1950s.

Conway Twitty

Conway Twitty (September 1, 1933 – June 5, 1993), born Harold Lloyd Jenkins, was an American country music artist. He also had success in early rock and roll, R&B and pop music. He held the record for the most number one singles of any act, with 40 No. 1 Billboard country hits, until George Strait broke the record in 2006. From 1971 to 1976, Twitty received a string of Country Music Association awards for duets with Loretta Lynn. Although never a member of the Grand Ole Opry, he was inducted into both the Country Music and Rockabilly Halls of Fame.

Early life
Conway Twitty was born on September 1, 1933 in Friars Point in Coahoma County in northwestern Mississippi. He was named by his great uncle, after his favorite silent movie actor, Harold Lloyd. The Jenkins family moved to Helena, Arkansas when Harold was ten years old. In Helena, Harold formed his first singing group, the Phillips County Ramblers.

Two years later, Harold had his own local radio show every Saturday morning. He also played baseball, his second passion. He received an offer to play with the Philadelphia Phillies after high school (Smiths Station High School), but he was drafted into the US Army. He served in the Far East and organized a group called The Cimmerons to entertain fellow GIs.

Wayne Hause, a neighbor, suggested that Harold could make it in the music industry. Soon after hearing Elvis Presley's song "Mystery Train", Harold began writing rock and roll material. He went to the Sun Studios in Memphis, Tennessee and worked with Sam Phillips, the owner and founder, to get the "right" sound.

Stage name
Accounts of how Harold Jenkins acquired his stage name of Conway Twitty vary. Allegedly, in 1957, Jenkins decided that his real name wasn't marketable and sought a better show business name. In The Billboard Book of Number One Hits Fred Bronson states that the singer was looking at a road map when he spotted Conway, Arkansas, and Twitty, Texas, and chose the name Conway Twitty.
Another account says that Jenkins met a Richmond, Virginia, man named W. Conway Twitty Jr. through Jenkins' manager in a New York City restaurant. The manager served in the US Army with the real Conway Twitty. Later, the manager suggested to Jenkins that he take the name as his stage name because it had a ring to it. In the mid-1960s, W. Conway Twitty subsequently recorded the song "What's in a Name but Trouble", lamenting the loss of his name to Harold Jenkins.

Eddie Cochran

Edward Raymond 'Eddie' Cochran (October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960) was an American musician. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C'mon Everybody", "Somethin' Else", and "Summertime Blues", captured teenage frustration and desire in the late 1950s and early 1960s.[1] He experimented with multitrack recording and overdubbing even on his earliest singles,[2] and was also able to play piano, bass and drums. His image as a sharply dressed but rugged and good-looking young man with a rebellious attitude epitomized the stance of the 50s rocker, and in death he achieved an iconic status.

Cochran was born in Minnesota and moved with his family to California in the early 1950s. He was involved with music from an early age, playing in the school band and teaching himself to play blues guitar.[4] In 1955, he formed a duet with the guitarist Hank Cochran (no relation), and when they split the following year, Cochran began a song-writing career with Jerry Capehart. His first success came when he performed the song "Twenty Flight Rock" in the movie The Girl Can't Help It, starring Jayne Mansfield. Soon afterwards, Liberty Records signed him to a recording contract.

Cochran died aged 21 after a road accident, whilst travelling in a taxi, in the town of Chippenham, Wiltshire during his British tour in April 1960 having just performed at Bristol's Hippodrome theatre. Though his best-known songs were released during his lifetime, more of his songs were released posthumously. In 1987 Cochran was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. His songs have been much covered by bands such as The Who, The Beach Boys, The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, The Move, Dick Dale & his Del-Tones, Blue Cheer, Led Zeppelin, Rush, Humble Pie, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, Teenage Head, Tiger Army, UFO, The White Stripes, the Stray Cats, and the Sex Pistols