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

Ray Smith (rockabilly singer)

Ray Smith (October 30, 1934 – November 29, 1979) was an American rockabilly musician.

Smith recorded for Vee-Jay Records, Tollie Records, Smash Records, and Sun Records during his career, and had a hit with the song "Rockin' Little Angel" in 1960 on Judd Records. "Rockin' Little Angel" took a portion of its melody from the 1844 song "Buffalo Gals". The record sold over one million copies, earning a gold disc. Smith often recorded material written by Charlie Rich, and was heavily influenced by Elvis Presley.

Smith committed suicide on November 29, 1979, at the age of 45. Smith's Judd and Sun singles and session material have been released on Germany's Bear Family Records.

References

Jump up ^ Rockabillyhall.com - accessed May 2009

^ Jump up to: a b Review, Allmusic

^ Jump up to: a b Joel Whitburn, The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits. 7th edn, 2000

Jump up ^ Murrells, Joseph (1978). The Book of Golden Discs (2nd ed.). London: Barrie and Jenkins,. p. 129. ISBN 0-214-20512-6.

Ray Smith Info

Born October 30, 1934

Origin Melber, Kentucky

Died November 29, 1979 (aged 45)

Genres Rock and roll, Rockabilly, R&B, C&W

Occupations Singer, songwriter, musician

Instruments Vocals, piano

Years active 1956–1979

Labels Sun Records

Judd Records

Vee-Jay Records

Tollie Records

Smash Records

Various independent record labels

Associated acts Ray Smith and the Country Boys (1956)

Dave Edmunds

David William "Dave" Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.

Early bands
Edmunds was born in Cardiff. As a teenager, he first played in 1954 with a band called The Edmunds Bros Duo with his older brother Geoff (born in 1940, Cardiff); this was a piano duo. Then the brothers were in The Stompers later called The Heartbeats formed in c 1957 with Geoff on rhythm guitar; Dave on lead guitar; Denny Driscoll on lead vocals; Johnny Stark on drums and Ton Edwards on bass. Then Dave and Geoff were in The 99ers along with scientist and writer Brian J. Ford. After that Dave Edmunds was in Crick Feather's Hill-Bill's formed in c 1960, with Feathers (Edmunds) on lead guitar; Zee Dolan on bass; Tennessee Tony on lead vocals; Tony Kees on piano and Hank Two Sticks on drums. The first group that Edmunds fronted was the Cardiff-based 1950s style rockabilly trio The Raiders formed in 1961, along with Brian 'Rockhouse' Davies on bass and Ken Collier on drums. Edmunds was the only constant member of the group, which later included bassist Mick Still, Bob 'Congo' Jones on drums and John Williams (stage name John David) on bass. The Raiders worked almost exclusively in the South Wales area.

In 1966, after a short spell in Parlophone recording band The Image (1965–1966), with local drummer Tommy Riley, Edmunds shifted to a more blues-rock sound, reuniting with Congo Jones and bassist John Williams and adding second guitarist Mickey Gee to form the short lived Human Beans, a band that played mostly in London and on the UK university circuit. In 1967, the band recorded a cover of "Morning Dew" on the Columbia label, that failed to have any chart impact. After just eighteen months, the core of 'Human Beans' formed a new band called Love Sculpture that again reinstated Edmunds, Jones and Williams as a trio. Love Sculpture scored a quasi-novelty Top 5 hit by reworking Khachaturian's classical piece "Sabre Dance" as a speed-crazed rock number, inspired by Keith Emerson's classical rearrangements. "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ John Peel. The band issued two albums.

Solo career
After Love Sculpture split, Edmunds had a UK Christmas Number 1 single in 1970 with "I Hear You Knocking", a Smiley Lewis cover, which he came across while producing Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets' first album entitled A Legend. The recording was the first release on Edmunds' manager's MAM Records label. This single also reached #4 in the US, making it Edmunds' biggest hit by far on either side of the Pond. It sold over three million copies, and was awarded a gold disc. Edmunds had intended to record Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together", but when he was beaten to that song by Canned Heat, he adapted the arrangement he intended to use for it to "I Hear You Knocking", producing a highly original remake. Unfortunately, the success of the single caused EMI's Regal Zonophone Records to use an option that it had to claim Edmunds' album, 1972's Rockpile, and the momentum from the single's success on a different label went away.

Edmunds' only acting role followed, as a band member in the David Essex movie, Stardust. After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of singles in the style of Phil Spector, "Baby I Love You" and "Born to Be with You", he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, and also The Flamin' Groovies, using a stripped down, grittier sound. Edmunds had bought a house in Rockfield, Monmouth a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios where he became an almost permanent fixture for the next twenty years. His working regime involved arriving at the studio in the early evening and working through till well after dawn, usually locked in the building alone. Applying the layered Spector sound to his own productions it was not unusual for Edmunds to multilayer up to forty separately recorded guitar tracks into the mix.

Danny Gatton

Danny Gatton (September 4, 1945 – October 4, 1994) was an American guitarist who fused rockabilly, jazz, and country styles to create his own distinctive style of playing. A biography, Unfinished Business: The Life and Times of Danny Gatton by Ralph Heibutzki, was published in 2003. It has a voluminous discography. When Rolling Stone magazine selected the 100 Greatest Guitarists of all Time in 2003, senior editor David Fricke ranked Gatton 63rd on his ballot. On May 26, 2010, Gibson.com ranked Gatton as the 27th best guitarist of all time.

Gatton's playing combined musical styles such as jazz, blues and rockabilly in an innovative fashion, and he was known by some as "the Telemaster." He was also called "the world's greatest unknown guitarist". His most common nickname was "The Humbler", owing to his ability to out-play anyone willing to go up against him in "head-cutting" jam sessions. It was Amos Garrett, guitar player for Maria Muldaur, who nicknamed Gatton "The Humbler". After a successful gig, Garrett would pull out a tape of Gatton and tell his band, "You think we played well tonight. Let's take a minute to listen to the Humble-lizer." A photo published in the October 2007 issue of Guitar Player magazine shows Gatton playing in front of a neon sign that says "Victims Wanted".

However, he never achieved the commercial success that his talent arguably deserved. His album 88 Elmira Street was up for a 1990 Grammy Award for the song "Elmira Street Boogie" in the category Best Rock Instrumental Performance, but was beaten by Eric Johnson with "Cliffs of Dover".

His skills were most appreciated by his peers such as Eric Clapton, Willie Nelson, Steve Earle, and his childhood idol Les Paul. During his career, Gatton appeared on stage with guitar heroes such as Alvin Lee and Jimmie Vaughan, the latter literally walking in one night on a Gatton club gig. There is also an apocryphal rumor about an on-stage "head-cutting" jam between Gatton and fellow Washington DC-area resident (and Telecaster player who also held the title of The Greatest Unknown Guitarist) Roy Buchanan. (Gatton had roomed with Buchanan in Nashville, Tennessee in the mid '60s and they became frequent "jamming partners", according to Guitar Player magazine's October 2007 issue). He also performed with old teenage friend Jack Casady and Jorma Kaukonen (from Jefferson Airplane and Hot Tuna) as "Jack and the Degenerates". Those recordings were never commercially released, but live tapes are in circulation. In 1993, Gatton was invited by rocker Chris Isaak to record tracks for Isaak's San Francisco Days CD. Reports of where Gatton's playing can be heard on the CD vary, with unconfirmed reports placing him on either "Can't Do a Thing (To Stop Me)", "5:15" or "Beautiful Houses". Gatton reportedly brought a customized Fender Telecaster and Stratocaster to the recording session.

He usually played a 1953 Fender Telecaster (Fender now manufactures a replica of his heavily customized instrument), with Joe Barden pick-ups and Fender Super 250L's, or Nickel Plated Steel (.010 to .046 with a .015 for the G) strings. For a slide, Gatton was known for using a beer bottle or mug (still half full of beer), without regard to whether it might spill all over stage or his guitar. During a 1991 performance on Austin City Limits, he followed this by wiping the guitar neck with a rag, then holding the rag between his fingers and the frets, all the while playing flawlessly. In the March 1989 issue of Guitar Player magazine, he said he preferred to use an Alka-Seltzer bottle or long 6L6 vacuum tube as a slide, but that audiences liked the beer bottle. He did, however, only play slide overhand, citing his earlier training in steel guitar [Guitar Player, March 1989] One amplifier Gatton is known to have used was a 1970 Fender Dual Showman Reverb.

He always played with a jazz-style teardrop pick, and was capable of intricate passages combining Bluegrass, bebop, and garage sounds, executed with amazing clarity and at dizzying speeds. His picking technique was a hybrid combination of pick and fingers, primarily his middle and ring fingers on his right hand. The basis of his picking technique was using banjo rolls; he was an accomplished banjo player and from that he learned the traditional (Scruggs style) right-hand technique. His forward roll consisted of a pick downstroke, then middle finger, then ring finger. His backward roll consisted of middle finger, then a pick upstroke, then a pick downstroke. He possessed a classical guitar left hand technique, thumb behind the neck, fretting with arched fingers.

Also among his admirers are Les Paul, James Burton, Lenny Breau, Joe Bonamassa (whom Danny mentored when Joe was eleven years old), Vince Gill, Evan Johns (of Evan Johns and His H-Bombs), Chris Cheney, Bill Kirchen, Albert Lee, Steve Vai, Buckethead, Lee McAdams (The Cosmic Factory), Arlen Roth, Johnny Hiland, Ricky Skaggs, Slash (Guns N' Roses), and Richie Sambora.[3]

Billy Swan

Swan was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. As a child, he learned drums, piano and guitar, and began writing songs. His first big break was in 1962 when Clyde McPhatter recorded "Lover Please", a song written by Swan when he was in a local band called Mirt Mirly & the Rhythm Stoppers, and which had first been recorded by Bill Black. McPhatter's version quickly became a No. 7 pop hit.

Swan moved to Memphis to work with Black, but this was cut short with Black's illness and subsequent death in 1965. He also for a time worked on Elvis Presley's Graceland estate. He then moved to Nashville, which enabled him to write hit country songs for numerous artists, including Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings, and Mel Tillis. In 1969, Swan first took on the role of record producer, producing Tony Joe White's Top Ten hit "Polk Salad Annie". Swan also played bass guitar for Kris Kristofferson, and then signed a solo recording deal with Monument Records.

His first album included the song "I Can Help", a rockabilly number that topped both the Billboard Hot 100 and country charts in 1974, also becoming a hit in many other countries. Swan recorded the song in two takes (without overdubs) with an RMI organ that Kristofferson and singer Rita Coolidge had bought for him as a wedding gift. However, other albums with Monument, A&M, and Epic did not have nearly the success of his first.

In 1979, Swan traveled to Havana, Cuba, to participate in the historic Havana Jam festival that took place between March 2–4, alongside Stephen Stills, the CBS Jazz All-Stars, the Trio of Doom, Fania All-Stars, Weather Report, Bonnie Bramlett, Mike Finnegan, Kris Kristofferson, Rita Coolidge and Billy Joel, plus an array of Cuban artists such as Irakere, Pacho Alonso, Tata Güines and Orquesta Aragón. His performance is captured on Ernesto Juan Castellanos's documentary Havana Jam '79.

Swan continued to tour as a member of Kristofferson's band, and has recorded two albums with Randy Meisner of The Eagles. In 1986 he walked into a Californian studio (Bench Records) as part of a band called Black Tie and along with Meisner, Jimmy Griffin (Bread), David Kemper (drummer), David Miner and David Mansfield recorded an album called When the Night Falls. He recorded another solo album, Like Elvis Used to Do in 2000, and another Black Tie-style album with Meisner and Charlie Rich, Jr. billed as "Meisner, Swan & Rich". As of 2005, Swan remained a backing singer and session musician.
Swan was married to his late wife Marlu for 30 years. They had two daughters, recording artists Planet Swan & Sierra Swan.