Ringo Starr ( b7 )

Starr's first recording session as a member of the Beatles took place on 4 September 1962. He stated that Martin had thought that he "was crazy and couldn't play ... because I was trying to play the percussion and the drums at the same time, we were just a four piece band". For their second recording session with Starr, which took place on 11 September 1962, Martin replaced him with session drummer Andy White while recording takes for what would be the two sides of the Beatles' first single, "Love Me Do", backed with "P.S. I Love You". Starr played tambourine on "Love Me Do" and maracas on "P.S. I Love You". Concerned about his status in the Beatles, he thought: "That's the end, they're doing a Pete Best on me." Martin later clarified: "I simply didn't know what Ringo was like and I wasn't prepared to take any risks."

By November 1962 Starr had been accepted by Beatles fans, who were now calling for him to sing songs. Soon afterwards, he began receiving an amount of fan mail equal to that of the others, which helped to secure his position within the band. Starr considered himself fortunate to be on the same "wavelength" as the other Beatles: "I had to be, or I wouldn't have lasted. I had to join them as people [sic] as well as [as] a drummer." He was given a small percentage of Lennon and McCartney's publishing company, Northern Songs, but he derived his primary income during this period from a one-quarter share of Beatles Ltd, a corporation financed by the band's net concert earnings. He commented on the nature of his lifestyle after having achieved success with the Beatles: "I lived in nightclubs for three years. It used to be a non-stop party." Like his father Starr became well known for his late-night dancing and he received considerable praise for his skills.

During 1963, the Beatles enjoyed increasing popularity in Britain. In January, their second single, "Please Please Me", followed "Love Me Do" into the UK charts and a successful television appearance on Thank Your Lucky Stars earned them favourable reviews, leading to a boost in sales and radio play.

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Deep Purple ( B4 )

The group had success in North America with a cover of Joe South's "Hush", and by September 1968, the song had reached number 4 on the BillboardHot 100 in the US and number 2 in the Canadian RPM charts, pushing the Shades LP up to No. 24 on Billboard's pop album charts. The following month, Deep Purple was booked to support Cream on their Goodbye tour.

The band's second album, The Book of Taliesyn, was quickly recorded, then released in North America in October 1968 to coincide with the tour. The album included a cover of Neil Diamond's "Kentucky Woman", which cracked the Top 40 in both the US (No. 38 on the Billboard charts) and Canada (No. 21 on the RPM charts), though sales for the album were not as strong (No. 54 in US, No. 48 in Canada). The Book of Taliesyn would not be released in the band's home country until the following year and, like its predecessor, it failed to have much impact in the UK charts. Early in 1969, the band recorded a single called "Emmaretta", named after Emmaretta Marks, then a cast member of the musical Hair, whom Evans was trying to seduce. By March of that year, the band had completed recording for their third album, Deep Purple. The album contained strings and woodwind on one track ("April"), showcasing Lord's classical antecedents such as Bach and Rimsky-Korsakov, and several other influences were in evidence, notably Vanilla Fudge. (Lord and Blackmore had even claimed the group wanted to be a "Vanilla Fudge clone".) This would be the last recording by the original line-up.

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Istoric ( 55 )

03.08.1967 - Jimi Hendrix canta primul concert dintr-o serie de 5 la Salvation Club in New York.

Scorpions - I'm Going Mad ( L1 )

Walking through the desert
You know what it's about
It's really from the church
Too foreign
That was never there
Yet you know I'm in heaven
But it is a hell
Sun is drying up my brain
The smile and installations
Are my pain
I'm going mad
I'm going mad
I'm going mad
Aaaayowwww!!!

Walking through the desert
You know what it's about
It's really from the church
Too foreign
That was never there
I'm goin' mad!
Sun is drying out my brain
The smile and installations
Are my pain
I'm goin' mad!
I'm goin' mad!
I'm goin' mad!
mad!

Diverse ( 48 )

Freddie Mercury ( b8 )

Mercury's two full albums outside the band were Mr. Bad Guy (1985) and Barcelona (1988). Mr. Bad Guy debuted in the top ten of the UK Album Charts. In 1993, a remix of "Living on My Own", a single from the album, posthumously reached number one on the UK Singles Charts. The song also garnered Mercury a posthumous Ivor Novello Award from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors. Allmusic critic Eduardo Rivadavia describes Mr. Bad Guy as "outstanding from start to finish" and expressed his view that Mercury "did a commendable job of stretching into uncharted territory". In particular, the album is heavily synthesiser-driven in a way that is not characteristic of previous Queen albums.

His second album, Barcelona, recorded with Spanish soprano Montserrat Caballé, combines elements of popular music and opera. Many critics were uncertain what to make of the album; one referred to it as "the most bizarre CD of the year". The album was a commercial success, and the album's title track debuted at No. 8 in the UK and was also a hit in Spain.The title track received massive air play as the official anthem of the 1992 Summer Olympics (held in Barcelona one year after Mercury's death). Caballé sang it live at the opening of the Olympics with Mercury's part played on a screen, and again prior to the start of the 1999 UEFA Champions League Finalbetween Manchester United and Bayern Munich in Barcelona.

In addition to the two solo albums, Mercury released several singles, including his own version of the hit "The Great Pretender" by The Platters, which debuted at No. 5 in the UK in 1987. In September 2006 a compilation album featuring Mercury's solo work was released in the UK in honour of what would have been his 60th birthday. The album debuted in the UK top 10.

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Ringo Starr ( b6 )

By early 1960 the Hurricanes had become one of Liverpool's leading bands. In May, they were offered a three-month residency at a Butlins holiday camp in Wales. Although initially reluctant to accept the residency and end his five-year machinist apprenticeship that he had begun four years earlier, Starr eventually agreed to the arrangement. The Butlins gig led to other opportunities for the band, including an unpleasant tour of US Air Force bases in France about which Starr commented: "The French don't like the British; at least I didn't like them." The Hurricanes became so successful that when initially offered a highly coveted residency in Hamburg, they turned it down because of their prior commitment with Butlins. They eventually accepted, joining the Beatles at Bruno Koschmider's Kaiserkeller on 1 October 1960, where Starr first met the band. Storm's Hurricanes were given top-billing over the Beatles, who also received less pay. Starr performed with the Beatles during a few stand-in engagements while in Hamburg. On 15 October 1960, he drummed with John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison, recording with them for the first time while backing Hurricanes singer Lu Walters on the George Gershwin/DuBose Heyward aria "Summertime". During Starr's first stay in Hamburg he also met Tony Sheridan, who valued his drumming abilities to the point of asking Starr to leave the Hurricanes and join his band.

1962–1970: The Beatles

Starr quit Rory Storm and the Hurricanes in January 1962 and briefly joined Sheridan in Hamburg before returning to the Hurricanes for a third season at Butlins. On 14 August, Lennon asked Starr to join the Beatles; he accepted. On 16 August, Beatles manager Brian Epstein fired their drummer, Pete Best, who recalled: "He said 'I've got some bad news for you. The boys want you out and Ringo in.' He said [Beatles producer] George Martin wasn't too pleased with my playing [and] the boys thought I didn't fit in." Starr first performed as a member of the band on 18 August 1962, at a horticultural society dance at Port Sunlight. After his appearance at the Cavern Club the following day, Best fans, upset by his firing, held vigils outside his house and at the club shouting "Pete forever! Ringo never!" Harrison received a black eye from one of the upset fans, and Epstein, whose car tyres they had flattened in anger, temporarily hired a bodyguard to ensure his safety.

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Deep Purple ( B3 )

HEC persuaded Blackmore to return from Hamburg to audition for the new group. Blackmore was making a name for himself as a studio session guitarist, and had also been a member of the Outlaws, Screaming Lord Sutch, and Neil Christian. Curtis' erratic behaviour and lifestyle, fuelled by LSD use, caused a sudden disinterest in the project he had started, forcing HEC to dismiss him from Roundabout. But HEC was now intrigued with the possibilities Lord and Blackmore brought, while Lord and Blackmore were also keen to continue. The two carried on, recruiting additional members and keeping Tony Edwards as their manager. Lord convinced Simper to join for good, but left Carlo Little behind in favour of drummer Bobby Woodman.

In March 1968, Lord, Blackmore, Simper and Woodman moved into Deeves Hall, a country house in South Mimms, Hertfordshire.The band would live, write and rehearse at Deeves Hall, which was fully kitted out with the latest Marshall amplification. According to Simper, "dozens" of singers were auditioned (including Rod Stewart and Woodman's friend Dave Curtiss) until the group heard Rod Evans of the club band The Maze, and thought his voice fit their style well. Tagging along with Evans was his band's drummer, Ian Paice. Blackmore had seen Paice on tour with The Maze in Germany in 1966, and had been impressed by the 18-year-old's drumming. The band hastily arranged an audition for Paice, given that Woodman was vocally unhappy with the direction of the band's music. Both Paice and Evans won their respective jobs, and the line-up was complete.

During a brief tour of Denmark and Sweden in April, in which they were still billed as Roundabout, Blackmore suggested a new name: "Deep Purple", named after his grandmother's favourite song. The group had resolved to choose a name after everyone had posted one on a board in rehearsal. Second to Deep Purple was "Concrete God", which the band thought was too harsh to take on.

Early years (1968–1970)

In May 1968, the band moved into Pye Studios in London's Marble Arch to record their debut album, Shades of Deep Purple, which was released in July by American label Tetragammaton, and in September by UK label EMI.

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Freddie Mercury ( b7 )

Mercury played the piano in many of Queen's most popular songs, including "Killer Queen", "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Good Old Fashioned Lover Boy", "We Are the Champions", "Somebody To Love", and "Don't Stop Me Now". He used concert grand pianos and, occasionally, other keyboard instruments such as the harpsichord. From 1980 onward, he also made frequent use of synthesisers in the studio. Queen guitarist Brian May claims that Mercury was unimpressed with his own abilities at the piano and used the instrument less over time because he wanted to walk around onstage and entertain the audience. Although he wrote many lines for the guitar, Mercury possessed only rudimentary skills on the instrument. Songs like "Ogre Battle" and "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" were composed on the guitar; the latter featured Mercury playing rhythm guitar on stage and in the studio.

Solo career

In addition to his work with Queen, Mercury put out two solo albums and several singles. Although his solo work was not as commercially successful as most Queen albums, the two off-Queen albums and several of the singles debuted in the top 10 of the UK Music Charts. His first solo effort goes back to 1972 under the pseudonym Larry Lurex, when Trident Studios' house engineer Robin Geoffrey Cable was working in a musical project, at the time when Queen were recording their debut album; Cable enlisted Mercury to perform lead vocals on the songs "I Can Hear Music" and "Goin' Back", both were released together as a single in 1973. Eleven years later, Mercury made a contribution to the Richard "Wolfie" Wolf mix of Love Kills on the 1984 album (the song also used as the end title theme for National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1) and new soundtrack to the 1927 Fritz Lang film Metropolis. The song, written by Giorgio Moroder in collaboration with Mercury, debuted at the number 10 position in the UK charts. It was produced by Moroder and Mack. Mack also produced the 1987 single "Hold On" which Mercury recorded with actress Jo Dare for a German action drama Zabou.

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Canned Heat - Rollin' And Tumblin' ( L1 )

I roll and I tumble, cried the whole night long
Yes I roll and I tumble, I cried the whole night long
I got up this morning, feeling that something going on wrong

Well now want you to love me baby, or please let me be
Yes love me baby, or please let me be
If you don't like my peaches please don't shake my tree

Well I want you to love me baby, and come on and say you'll be mine
I want you to love me baby, come and say you'll be mine
If you don't like my potatoes, please don't dig up my vine

AC/DC ( I2 )

Ringo Starr ( b5 )

1957–1961: First bands

Soon after Trafford piqued Starkey's interest in skiffle, the two began rehearsing songs in the manufacturing plant's cellar during their lunch breaks. Trafford recalled: "I played a guitar, and [Ritchie] just made a noise on a box ... Sometimes, he just slapped a biscuit tin with some keys, or banged on the backs of chairs." The pair were joined by Starkey's neighbour and co-worker, the guitarist Eddie Miles, forming the Eddie Miles Band, later renamed Eddie Clayton and the Clayton Squares after a Liverpool landmark. The band performed popular skiffle songs such as "Rock Island Line" and "Walking Cane", with Starkey raking a thimble across a washboard, creating primitive, driving rhythms. Starkey enjoyed dancing as his parents had years earlier, and he and Trafford briefly took dance lessons at two schools. Though the lessons were short-lived, they provided Starkey and Trafford with an introduction that allowed them to dance competently while enjoying nights out on the town.

On Christmas Day 1957, Graves gave Starkey a second-hand drum kit consisting of a snare drum, bass drum and a makeshift cymbal fashioned from a rubbish bin lid. Although basic and crude, the kit facilitated his progression as a musician while increasing the commercial potential of the Eddie Clayton band, who went on to book prestigious local gigs before the skiffle craze faded in early 1958 as American rock and roll became popular in the UK.

In November 1959, Starkey joined Al Caldwell's Texans, a skiffle group who were looking for someone with a proper drum kit so that the group could transition from one of Liverpool's best-known skiffle acts to a full-fledged rock and roll band. They had begun playing local clubs as the Raging Texans, then Jet Storm and the Raging Texans before settling on Rory Storm and the Hurricanes soon before recruiting Starkey. About this time he adopted the stage name Ringo Starr; derived from the rings he wore and also because it implied a country and western influence. His drum solos were billed as Starr Time.

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Deep Purple ( B2 )

Deep Purple were ranked number 22 on VH1's Greatest Artists of Hard Rockprogramme and a poll on British radio station Planet Rock ranked them 5th among the "most influential bands ever". The band received the Legend Award at the 2008 World Music Awards. Deep Purple (specifically Blackmore, Lord, Paice, Gillan, Glover, Coverdale, Evans and Hughes) were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2016.

History

Beginnings (1967–1968)

In 1967, former Searchers drummer Chris Curtis contacted London businessman Tony Edwards, in the hope that he would manage a new group he was putting together, to be called Roundabout. Curtis' vision was a "supergroup" where the band members would get on and off, like a musical roundabout. Impressed with the plan, Edwards agreed to finance the venture with his two business partners John Coletta and Ron Hire, who comprised Hire-Edwards-Coletta Enterprises (HEC).

The first recruit to the band was the classically trained Hammond organ player Jon Lord, Curtis' flatmate who had most notably played with the Artwoods (led by Art Wood, brother of future Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood, and including Keef Hartley). Lord was then performing in a backing band for the vocal group The Flower Pot Men (formerly known as the Ivy League), along with bassist Nick Simperand drummer Carlo Little. Simper had previously been in Johnny Kidd and the Pirates and survived the 1966 car crash that killed Kidd. Lord put the two on alert that he'd been recruited for the Roundabout project, after which Simper and Little suggested guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, whom Lord had never met. Simper had known Blackmore since the early 1960s when his first band, the Renegades, debuted around the same time as one of Blackmore's early bands, the Dominators.

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Istoric ( 54 )

24.12.2012 - American musician Ray Collins died aged 76. Collins was the lead vocalist on early Mothers of Invention albums, including Freak Out!, Absolutely Free, and Cruising with Ruben & the Jets and continued to contribute to other Frank Zappa projects through the mid-1970s.

Electric Light Orchestra ( B12 )

Associated

• Rick Price – bass guitar (1970) (recorded the original bass lines for the first album, however they were deleted)
• Rick Payne – cello (1971) (intended to be a live cellist but never played live with E.L.O.)
• Mike Atkins – cello (1971) (intended to be a live cellist but never played live with E.L.O.)
• Trevor Smith – cello (1971–1972) (intended to be a live cellist but never played live with E.L.O.)
• Rick Pannell - cello, sound engineer (1972–1974) (pretended to play cello during TV appearances)
• Louis Clark – conductor, arranger (1974–1979, 1983)
• Rainer Pietsch – conductor, arranger (1981)

Discography

Studio albums

• The Electric Light Orchestra (1971)
• ELO 2 (1973)
• On the Third Day (1973)
• Eldorado (1974)
• Face the Music (1975)
• A New World Record (1976)
• Out of the Blue (1977)
• Discovery (1979)
• Time (1981) (credited as "ELO")
• Secret Messages (1983)
• Balance of Power (1986)
• Zoom (2001)
• Alone in the Universe (2015) (credited as "Jeff Lynne's ELO")

Soundtrack album

• Xanadu (1980)

Freddie Mercury ( b6 )

Over the course of his career, Mercury performed an estimated 700 concerts in countries around the world with Queen. A notable aspect of Queen concerts was the large scale involved. He once explained, "We're the Cecil B. DeMille of rock and roll, always wanting to do things bigger and better." The band was the first ever to play in South American stadiums, breaking worldwide records for concert attendance in the Morumbi Stadium in São Paulo in 1981. In 1986, Queen also played behind the Iron Curtain when they performed to a crowd of 80,000 in Budapest, in what was one of the biggest rock concerts ever held in Eastern Europe. Mercury's final live performance with Queen took place on 9 August 1986 at Knebworth Park in England and drew an attendance estimated as high as 160,000. With the British national anthem "God Save the Queen" playing at the end of the concert, Mercury's final act on stage saw him draped in a robe, holding a golden crown aloft, bidding farewell to the crowd.

Instrumentalist

As a young boy in India, Mercury received formal piano training up to the age of nine. Later on, while living in London, he learned guitar. Much of the music he liked was guitar-oriented: his favourite artists at the time were The Who, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, David Bowie, and Led Zeppelin. He was often self-deprecating about his skills on both instruments and from the early 1980s began extensively using guest keyboardists. Most notably, he enlisted Fred Mandel (a Canadian musician who also worked for Pink Floyd, Elton John, and Supertramp) for his first solo project, from 1982 Mercury collaborated with Morgan Fisher (performed with Queen in concert during the Hot Space leg), and from 1985 onward Mercury collaborated with Mike Moran (in the studio) and Spike Edney (in concert).

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Diverse ( 47 )

Ringo Starr ( b4 )

On 17 April 1953, Starkey's mother married Harry Graves, an ex-Londoner who had moved to Liverpool following the failure of his first marriage. Graves, an impassioned fan of big band music and their vocalists, introduced Starkey to recordings by Dinah Shore, Sarah Vaughan and Billy Daniels. Graves stated that he and "Ritchie" never had an unpleasant exchange between them; Starkey later commented: "He was great ... I learned gentleness from Harry." After the extended hospital stay following Starkey's recovery from tuberculosis, he did not return to school, preferring instead to stay at home and listen to music while playing along by beating biscuit tins with sticks.

Beatles biographer Bob Spitz described Starkey's upbringing as "a Dickensian chronicle of misfortune". Houses in the area were "poorly ventilated, postage-stamp-sized ... patched together by crumbling plaster walls, with a rear door that opened onto an outhouse." Crawford commented: "Like all of the families who lived in the Dingle, he was part of an ongoing struggle to survive."The children who lived there spent much of their time at Princes Park, escaping the soot-filled air of their coal-fuelled neighbourhood. Adding to their difficult circumstances, violent crime was an almost constant concern for people living in one of the oldest and poorest inner-city districts in Liverpool. Starkey later commented: "You kept your head down, your eyes open, and you didn't get in anybody's way."

After his return home from the sanatorium in late 1955, Starkey entered the workforce but was lacking in motivation and discipline; his initial attempts at gainful employment proved unsuccessful. In an effort to secure himself some warm clothes, he briefly held a railway worker's job, which came with an employer-issued suit. He was supplied with a hat but no uniform and, unable to pass the physical examination, he was laid off and granted unemployment benefits. He then found work as a waiter serving drinks on a day boat that travelled from Liverpool to North Wales, but his fear of conscription into military service led him to quit the job, not wanting to give the Royal Navy the impression that he was suitable for seafaring work. In mid-1956, Graves secured Starkey a position as an apprentice machinist at a Liverpool equipment manufacturer. While working at the facility Starkey befriended Roy Trafford, and the two bonded over their shared interest in music. Trafford introduced Starkey to skiffle, and he quickly became a fervent admirer.

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Deep Purple ( B1 )

Deep Purple are an English rock band formed in Hertford in 1968. The band is considered to be among the pioneers of heavy metal and modern hard rock,although their musical approach changed over the years. Originally formed as a progressive rock band, the band shifted to a heavier sound in 1970. Deep Purple, together with Led Zeppelin and Black Sabbath, have been referred to as the "unholy trinity of British hard rock and heavy metal in the early to mid-seventies". They were listed in the 1975 Guinness Book of World Records as "the globe's loudest band" for a 1972 concert at London's Rainbow Theatre, and have sold over 100 million copies of their albums worldwide.

Deep Purple have had several line-up changes and an eight-year hiatus (1976–1984). The 1968–1976 line-ups are commonly labelled Mark I, II, III and IV.Their second and most commercially successful line-up consisted of Ian Gillan(vocals), Jon Lord (keyboards, backing vocals), Roger Glover (bass), Ian Paice(drums), and Ritchie Blackmore (guitar). This line-up was active from 1969 to 1973, and was revived from 1984 to 1989, and again from 1992 to 1993. The band achieved more modest success in the intervening periods between 1968 and 1969 with the line-up including Rod Evans (lead vocals) and Nick Simper (bass, backing vocals), between 1974 and 1976 (Tommy Bolin replacing Blackmore in 1975) with the line-up including David Coverdale (lead vocals) and Glenn Hughes (bass, vocals), and between 1989 and 1992 with the line-up including Joe Lynn Turner (vocals). The band's line-up (currently including Ian Gillan, and guitarist Steve Morse from 1994) has been much more stable in recent years, although keyboardist Jon Lord's retirement from the band in 2002 (being succeeded by Don Airey) left Ian Paice as the only original Deep Purple member still in the band.

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Diverse ( 46 )

Electric Light Orchestra ( B11 )

Former members

• Bev Bevan – drums, percussion, vocals (1970–1986)
• Roy Wood – lead and backing vocals, guitar, bass guitar, cello, keyboards, drums, clarinet, bassoon, oboe, recorder, producer, songwriter, composer, arranger (1970–1972)
• Bill Hunt – keyboards, French horn, hunting horn (1971–1972)
• Steve Woolam – violin (1971; died 1971)
• Andy Craig – cello (1971–1972)
• Hugh McDowell – cello (1972, 1973–1979)
• Mike Edwards – cello (1972–1975; died 2010)
• Wilfred Gibson – violin (1972–1973; died 2014)
• Mike de Albuquerque – bass guitar, backing vocals (1972–1974)
• Colin Walker – cello (1972–1973)
• Mik Kaminski – violin (1973–1979)
• Kelly Groucutt – bass guitar, backing and lead vocals (1974–1983; died 2009)
• Melvyn Gale – cello (1975–1979)

Former live members

• Mik Kaminski – violin (1981–1982, 1986) (also appeared in music videos during this period)
• Louis Clark – synthesisers, keyboards (1981–1982, 1986)
• Dave Morgan – synthesisers, acoustic guitar, backing vocals (1981–1982, 1986)
• Martin Smith – bass (1986)
• Peggy Baldwin – cello (2000–2001)
• Gregg Bissonette – drums, backing vocals (2000–2001)
• Matt Bissonette – bass guitar, backing vocals (2000–2001)
• Marc Mann – guitars, keyboards, backing vocals (2000–2001, 2014)
• Sarah O'Brien – cello (2000–2001)
• Rosie Vela – backing vocals (2000–2001)
• Mick Wilson – percussion, backing vocals (2014)
• Chereene Allen – violin (2014)

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Freddie Mercury ( b5 )

Live performer

Mercury was noted for his live performances, which were often delivered to stadium audiences around the world. He displayed a highly theatrical style that often evoked a great deal of participation from the crowd. A writer for The Spectator described him as "a performer out to tease, shock and ultimately charm his audience with various extravagant versions of himself." David Bowie, who performed at the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert and recorded the song "Under Pressure" with Queen, praised Mercury's performance style, saying: "Of all the more theatrical rock performers, Freddie took it further than the rest... he took it over the edge. And of course, I always admired a man who wears tights. I only saw him in concert once and as they say, he was definitely a man who could hold an audience in the palm of his hand." Queen guitarist Brian May wrote that Mercury could make "the last person at the back of the furthest stand in a stadium feel that he was connected". Mercury's main prop on stage was a broken microphone stand, which after accidentally snapping off the heavy base during an early performance, he realised could be used in endless ways.

One of Mercury's most notable performances with Queen took place at Live Aid in 1985. Queen's performance at the event has since been voted by a group of music executives as the greatest live performance in the history of rock music. The results were aired on a television program called "The World's Greatest Gigs". Mercury's powerful, sustained note during the a cappella section came to be known as "The Note Heard Round the World". In reviewing Live Aid in 2005, one critic wrote, "Those who compile lists of Great Rock Frontmen and award the top spots to Mick Jagger, Robert Plant, etc all are guilty of a terrible oversight. Freddie, as evidenced by his Dionysian Live Aid performance, was easily the most godlike of them all."

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Ginger Baker ( i1 )

Ringo Starr ( b3 )

In an effort to reduce their housing costs, his family moved in 1944 to another neighbourhood in the Dingle, Admiral Grove; soon afterwards his parents separated, and they divorced within the year.Starkey later stated that he has "no real memories" of his father, who made little effort to bond with him, visiting as few as three times thereafter. Elsie found it difficult to survive on her ex-husband's support payments of thirty shillings a week, so she took on several menial jobs cleaning houses before securing a position as a local barmaid, an occupation that she held for twelve years.

At age six Starkey developed appendicitis. Following a routine appendectomy he contracted peritonitis, causing him to fall into a coma that lasted for days.His recovery spanned twelve months, which he spent away from his family at Liverpool's Myrtle Street children's hospital. Upon his discharge in May 1948, his mother allowed him to stay home, causing him to miss school. At age eight, he remained illiterate, with a poor grasp of mathematics. His lack of education contributed to a feeling of alienation at school, which resulted in his regularly playing truant at Sefton Park. After several years of twice-weekly tutoring from his surrogate sister and neighbour, Marie Maguire Crawford, Starkey had nearly caught up to his peers academically, but in 1953, he contracted tuberculosis and was admitted to a sanatorium, where he remained for two years. During his stay the medical staff made an effort to stimulate motor activity and relieve boredom by encouraging their patients to join the hospital band, leading to his first exposure to a percussion instrument: a makeshift mallet made from a cotton bobbin that he used to strike the cabinets next to his bed. Soon afterwards, he grew increasingly interested in drumming, receiving a copy of the Alyn Ainsworth song "Bedtime for Drums" as a convalescence gift from Crawford. Starkey commented: "I was in the hospital band ... That's where I really started playing. I never wanted anything else from there on ... My grandparents gave me a mandolin and a banjo, but I didn't want them. My grandfather gave me a harmonica ... we had a piano – nothing. Only the drums."

Starkey attended St Silas, a Church of England primary school near his house where his classmates nicknamed him "Lazarus", and later Dingle Vale Secondary modern school, where he showed an aptitude for art and drama, as well as practical subjects including mechanics. As a result of the prolonged hospitalisations, he fell behind his peers scholastically and was ineligible for the 11-plus qualifying examination required for attendance at a grammar school.

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Uriah Heep ( I1 )

The Kinks ( B27 )

Live albums

• Live at Kelvin Hall (1967)
• One for the Road (1980)
• Live: The Road (1988)
• To the Bone (1994)

UK/US Top ten singles

• "You Really Got Me" (1964) UK & US
• "All Day and All of the Night" (1964) UK & US
• "Tired of Waiting for You" (1965) UK & US
• "Set Me Free" (1965) UK
• "See My Friends" (1965) UK
• "Till the End of the Day" (1965) UK
• "Dedicated Follower of Fashion" (1966) UK
• "Sunny Afternoon" (1966) UK
• "Dead End Street" (1966) UK
• "Waterloo Sunset" (1967) UK
• "Autumn Almanac" (1967) UK
• "Lola" (1970) UK & US
• "Apeman" (1970) UK
• "Come Dancing" (1982) US

Charts, sales certifications and recognition

The Kinks had five Top 10 singles on the US Billboard chart. Nine of their albums charted in the Top 40. In the UK, the group had seventeen Top 20 singles along with five Top 10 albums. The RIAA has certified four of the Kinks' albums as gold records. Greatest Hits!, released in 1965, was certified gold for sales of $1,000,000 on 28 November 1968—six days after the release of The Kinks Are The Village Green Preservation Society, which failed to chart worldwide. The group would not receive another gold record award until 1979's Low Budget. The 1980 live album One For The Road was certified gold on 8 December 1980. Give The People What They Want, released in 1981, received its certification on 25 January 1982, for sales of 500,000 copies. ASCAP, the performing-rights group, presented the Kinks with an award for "One of the Most Played Songs Of 1983" for the hit single "Come Dancing".

The group received the Ivor Novello Award for "Outstanding Service to British Music", and in 1990 the original four members of the Kinks were inducted into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame. The Kinks were inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame in November 2005.

Istoric ( 53 )

14.04.2009 - George Harrison primeste post mortem o stea pe bulevardul Hollywood Walk of Fame. Paul Mc Cartney o insoteste pe sotia lui Harrison.

Electric Light Orchestra ( B10 )

Legacy and influence

When ELO emerged, they were often dismissed by musical cognoscenti as Beatles copyists. According to music journalist Simon Price, ELO was "arguably the most uncool, even defiantly anti-cool, of the lot, and have been the slowest to be rehabilitated since ... They've been sampled by dozens upon dozens of acts, from Company Flow to the Pussycat Dolls!, if you go looking. Every now and then, in my journalistic career, it's been possible to coax a contemporary band to admit to an ELO influence, the Flaming Lips and Super Furry Animals being two examples. But the band with, arguably, the greatest amount of ELO DNA are outside the rock genre altogether: Daft Punk."

In November 2016, Jeff Lynne's ELO won Band of the Year at the Classic Rock Roll of Honour Awards. In October 2016, ELO were nominated for the 2017 class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for the first time. It was the first time that the Hall had announced in advance the members of bands who would be inducted; the members of ELO listed were Jeff Lynne, Roy Wood, Bev Bevan and Richard Tandy. On 20 December 2016, it was announced ELO had been elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Class of 2017.

Personnel

Members

Current members

• Jeff Lynne – lead and backing vocals, guitars, bass, cello, keyboards, drums, percussion, producer, songwriter, composer, arranger (1970–1986, 2000–2001, 2014–present)
• Richard Tandy – keyboards, synthesisers, bass, guitar, backing vocals, producer, arranger (1971–1986, 2000–2001, 2014-present)

Current live members (Jeff Lynne's ELO)

• Milton McDonald – lead guitar, backing vocals (2014–present)
• Mike Stevens – guitar, backing vocals (2014–present)
• Iain Hornal – backing vocals, guitar (2014–present)
• Lee Pomeroy – bass guitar (2014–present)
• Marcus Byrne – keyboards (2014–present)
• Bernie Smith – keyboards (2014–present)
• Donavan Hepburn – drums (2014–present)
• Melanie Lewis-McDonald – backing vocals (2014–present)
• Rosie Langley – violin (2016–present)
• Amy Langley – cello (2016–present)
• Jess Cox – cello (2016–present)
• Jo Webb – keyboards (2017–present)

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Diverse ( 45 )

Freddie Mercury ( b4 )

The Who lead singer Roger Daltrey called Mercury "the best virtuoso rock 'n' roll singer of all time. He could sing anything in any style. He could change his style from line to line and, God, that's an art. And he was brilliant at it."

A research team undertook a study in 2016 to understand the appeal behind Mercury's voice. Led by Professor Christian Herbst, the team identified his notably faster vibrato and use of subharmonics as unique characteristics of Mercury's voice, particularly in comparison to opera singers, and confirmed a vocal range from F#2 to G5 (just over 3 octaves) but were unable to confirm claims of a 4-octave range. The research team studied vocal samples from 23 commercially available Queen recordings, his solo work, and a series of interviews of the late artist. They also used an endoscopic video camera to study a rock singer brought in to imitate Mercury's singing voice.

Songwriter

Mercury wrote 10 of the 17 songs on Queen's Greatest Hits album: "Bohemian Rhapsody", "Seven Seas of Rhye", "Killer Queen", "Somebody to Love", "Good Old-Fashioned Lover Boy", "We Are the Champions", "Bicycle Race", "Don't Stop Me Now", "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", and "Play the Game". In 2003 Mercury was posthumously inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame, and in 2005 he was posthumously awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Song Collection from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors.

The most notable aspect of his songwriting involved the wide range of genres that he used, which included, among other styles, rockabilly, progressive rock, heavy metal, gospel, and disco. As he explained in a 1986 interview, "I hate doing the same thing again and again and again. I like to see what's happening now in music, film and theatre and incorporate all of those things." Compared to many popular songwriters, Mercury also tended to write musically complex material. For example, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is acyclic in structure and comprises dozens of chords. He also wrote six songs from Queen II which deal with multiple key changes and complex material. "Crazy Little Thing Called Love", on the other hand, contains only a few chords. Despite the fact that Mercury often wrote very intricate harmonies, he also claimed that he could barely read music. He wrote most of his songs on the piano and used a wide variety of different key signatures.

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Ringo Starr ( b2 )

He achieved commercial and critical success with his 1973 album Ringo, which was a top ten release in both the UK and the US. He has been featured in a number of documentaries and hosted television shows. He also narrated the first two series of the children's television programme Thomas & Friends and portrayed "Mr Conductor" during the first season of the PBS children's television series Shining Time Station. Since 1989, he has toured with thirteen variations of Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band.

Starr's creative contribution to music has received praise from other drummers such as Phil Collins, who described him as "a great musician", and Steve Smith, who commented: "Before Ringo, drum stars were measured by their soloing ability and virtuosity. Ringo's popularity brought forth a new paradigm ... we started to see the drummer as an equal participant in the compositional aspect ... His parts are so signature to the songs that you can listen to a Ringo drum part without the rest of the music and still identify the song." He was inducted into the Modern Drummer Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2011, Rolling Stone readers named Starr the fifth-greatest drummer of all time. Starr, who was previously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a Beatle in 1988, was inducted for his solo career in 2015, making him one of 21 performers inducted more than once. He was appointed a Knight Bachelor in the 2018 New Year Honours for services to music.

1940–1956: Early life

Richard Starkey was born on 7 July 1940, at 9 Madryn Street, in Dingle, Liverpool. He was the only child of confectioners Richard Starkey (1913–1981) and Elsie Gleave (1914–1987).  Elsie enjoyed singing and dancing, a hobby that she shared with her husband, an avid fan of swing. Prior to the birth of their son – whom they nicknamed "Ritchie" – the couple had spent much of their free time on the local ballroom circuit, but their regular outings ended soon after his birth. Elsie adopted an overprotective approach to raising her son that bordered on fixation. Subsequently, "Big Ritchie", as Starkey's father became known, lost interest in his family, choosing instead to spend long hours drinking and dancing in pubs, sometimes for several consecutive days.

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The Kinks ( B26 )

Discography

The Kinks were active for 32 years from 1964 to 1996, releasing 28 regular albums in the UK (24 studio, four live), and 30 in the USA (24 studio, four live, two compilation). The early 1960s US albums were slightly different from the British albums partly due to the method that publishing royalties were calculated in the two countries, partly due to difference in popularity of the extended play format (popular in the UK but not in the US, so US albums had the EP releases bundled onto them), and partly due to the US albums including the hit singles, and the UK albums not; after The Kink Kontroversy in 1965 the albums were the same. There have been somewhere between 100 and 200 compilation albums released worldwide. Their hit singles include three UK number-one singles, starting in 1964 with "You Really Got Me"; plus 18 Top 40 singles in the 1960s alone and further Top 40 hits in the 1970s and 1980s.

Studio albums

• Kinks (1964)
• Kinda Kinks (1965)
• The Kink Kontroversy (1965)
• Face to Face (1966)
• Something Else by The Kinks (1967)
• The Kinks Are the Village Green Preservation Society (1968)
• Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (1969)
• Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970)
• Percy (soundtrack) (1971)
• Muswell Hillbillies (1971)
• Everybody's in Show-Biz (studio & live) (1972)
• Preservation Act 1 (1973)
• Preservation Act 2 (1974)
• Soap Opera (1975)
• Schoolboys in Disgrace (1975)
• Sleepwalker (1977)
• Misfits (1978)
• Low Budget (1979)
• Give the People What They Want (1981)
• State of Confusion (1983)
• Word of Mouth (1984)
• Think Visual (1986)
• UK Jive (1989)
• Phobia (1993)

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