Back then, if you lived in the country or in a small town, and you wanted to hear bluesmen play, you´d head for the local juke joint on Saturday night, usually a house on the edge of one of the plantations …They´d shove the furniture into a backroom, sell whiskey and chitlins, and hire whoever …
John Mayer BioJoel Hoard contributed to this articleIn the 2000s, when he wasn’t shagging starlets or performing stand-up comedy, John Mayer was leveraging his two distinct gifts: His virtuosic guitar skills and his aptitude for classy pop-rock songs. Putting those abilities to use both on his solo albums and with the John Mayer Trio, his …
Kurt Cobain BiographySinger (1967–1994) A talented yet troubled grunge performer, Kurt Cobain became a rock legend in the 1990s with his band, Nirvana. He committed suicide at his Seattle home in 1994. SynopsisKurt Cobain was born February 20, 1967, in Aberdeen, Washington. In 1988, he started the grunge band Nirvana. Nirvana made the leap to a major …
How long does it take to become a legend ? John Wooden started coaching the UCLA basketball team in 1948 and it was 16 years, some of them pretty rough, until his team won its first national championship. He ultimately won 10 of them in 12 years, including seven in a row, and is considered …
Ry Cooder BiographyGuitarist, Songwriter, Singer (1947–)Grammy Award–winning musician Ry Cooder has released multiple American-roots-style records under his own name, and has also recorded with musicians worldwide. SynopsisRy Cooder was born on March 15, 1947, in Los Angeles. He has played with notable musicians and groups, including the Rolling Stones, and released multiple records under his own name, including Paradise and …
Probably the best-known soul guitarist in the world, Steve Cropper came to prominence in the early ’60s, first with the Mar-Keys (“Last Night”), then as a founding member of Booker T. & the MG’s. A major figure in the Southern soul movement of the ’60s, Cropper made his mark not only as a player and …
Magic Sam Biography No blues guitarist better represented the adventurous modern sound of Chicago’s West side more proudly than Sam Maghett. He died tragically young (at age 32 of a heart attack), just as he was on the brink of climbing the ladder to legitimate stardom, but Magic Sam left behind a thick legacy of bone-cutting blues that …
There are a great many reasons to esteem blues legend B.B King. One that stands out, though, is a tireless work ethic that is paralleled by very few other professional musicians, especially when it comes to touring. He was a bona fide troubadour, and has routinely played between 250 and 300 concerts a year during …
Freddy King, ¨The Texas Cannonball¨, was born in Guilmer, Texas in 1934. His mother and uncle taught started teaching him to play guitar when he was 6. At 16 years of age, he moved with his family from Texas to Chicago. The guitar playing style of Freddy King is a unique mixture of Chicago and …
Tiny Grimes Biography Tiny Grimes was one of the earliest jazz electric guitarists to be influenced by Charlie Christian, and he developed his own swinging style. Early on, he was a drummer and worked as a pianist in Washington. In 1938, he started playing electric guitar, and two years later he was playing in a popular jive …
