aerosmith
Santana
Santana is the primary exponent of Latin-tinged rock, particularly due to its combination of Latin percussion (congas, timbales, etc.) with bandleader Carlos Santana's distinctive, high-pitched lead guitar playing. The group was the last major act to emerge from the psychedelic San Francisco music scene of the 1960s and it enjoyed massive success at the end of the decade and into the early '70s.
The musical direction then changed to a more contemplative and jazzy style as the band's early personnel gradually departed, leaving the name in the hands of Carlos Santana, who guided the group to consistent commercial success over the next quarter-century. By the mid-'90s, Santana seemed spent as a commercial force on records, though the group continued to attract audiences for its concerts worldwide. But the band made a surprising and monumental comeback in 1999 with Supernatural, an album featuring many guest stars that became Santana's best-selling release and won a raft of Grammy Awards.
Mexican-native Carlos Santana (born July 20, 1947, in Autlan de Navarro, Mexico) moved to San Francisco in the early '60s, by which time he was already playing the guitar professionally. In 1966, he formed the Santana Blues Band with keyboard player and singer Gregg Rolie (born June 17, 1947, in Seattle, WA) and other musicians, the personnel changing frequently. The group was given its name due to a musician’s union requirement that a single person be named a band's leader and it did not at first indicate that Carlos was in charge.
Bass player David Brown (born February 15, 1947, in New York, NY) joined early on, as did Carlos' high school friend, conga player Mike Carabello (born November 18, 1947, in San Francisco), though he did not stay long at first. By mid-1967, the band's line-up consisted of Carlos, Rolie, Brown, drummer Bob “Doc” Livingston, and percussionist Marcus Malone. The name was shortened simply to Santana and the group came to the attention of promoter Bill Graham, who gave it its debut at his Fillmore West theatre on June 16, 1968.
Santana was signed to Columbia Records, which sent producer David Rubinson to tape the band at a four-night stand at the Fillmore West December 19-22, 1968. The results were not released until almost 30 years later, when Columbia/Legacy issued Live at the Fillmore 1968 in 1997. Livingston and Malone left the line-up in 1969 and were replaced by Carabello and drummer Michael Shrieve (born July 6, 1949, in San Francisco), with a second percussionist, Jose “Chepito” Areas (born July 25, 1946, in Leon, Nicaragua) making Santana a sextet.
The band recorded its self-titled debut album and began to tour nationally, making an important stop at the Woodstock festival on August 15, 1969. Santana was released the same month. It peaked in the Top Five, going on to remain in the charts over two years, sell over two million copies, and spawn the Top 40 single "Jingo" and the Top Ten single "Evil Ways." Santana's performance of "Soul Sacrifice" was a highlight of the documentary film Woodstock and its double-platinum soundtrack album, which appeared in 1970.
The band's second album, Abraxas, was released in September 1970 and was even more successful than its first. It hit number one, remaining in the charts for more than a-year-and-a-half and eventually selling over four million copies while spawning the Top Five hit "Black Magic Woman" and the Top Ten hit "Oye Como Va." By the end of the year, the group had added a seventh member, teenage guitarist Neal Schon (born February 27, 1954).
Sanatana's third album, Santana III, was performed by the seven band members, though several guest musicians were also mentioned in the credits, notably percussionist Coke Escovedo, who played on all the tracks. Released in September 1971, the album was another massive hit, reaching number one and eventually selling over two million copies while spawning the Top Ten hit "Everybody's Everything" and the Top 20 hit "No One to Depend On." But it marked the end of the Woodstock-era edition of Santana, which broke up at the end of the tour promoting it, with Carlos retaining rights to the band name.
Following a tour with Buddy Miles that resulted in a live duo album - Carlos Santana & Buddy Miles! Live! - Carlos reorganized Santana and recorded the fourth Santana band album, Caravanserai, on which each track featured individual musician credits. From the previous line-up, Rolie, Shrieve, Areas, and Schon appeared, alongside pianist Tom Coster, percussionist James Mindo Lewis, percussionist Armando Peraza, guitarist/bassist Douglas Rauch, and percussionist Rico Reyes, among others. (Rolie and Schon left to form Journey.)
The album was released in September 1972; it peaked in the Top Five and was eventually certified platinum. It was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Pop Instrumental Performance with Vocal Coloring. Carlos, who had become a disciple of the guru Sri Chinmoy and adopted the name Devadip (meaning "the eye, the lamp, and the light of God"), next made a duo album with John McLaughlin, guitarist with the Mahavishnu Orchestra (Love Devotion Surrender).
Meanwhile, the line-up of Santana continued to fluctuate. On Welcome, the band's fifth album, released in November 1973, it consisted of Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, Rauch, keyboard player Richard Kermode, and singer Leon Thomas. The album went gold and peaked in the Top 20. In May 1974, Lotus, a live album featuring the same line-up, was released only in Japan (it was issued in the U.S. in 1991).
Carlos continued to alternate side projects with Santana band albums, next recording a duo LP with John Coltrane's widow Alice Coltrane (Illuminations). Columbia decided to cash in on the band's diminishing popularity by releasing Santana's Greatest Hits in July 1974. The compilation peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went double platinum. The sixth new Santana album, Borboletta, followed in October.
The band personnel for the LP featured Carlos, Shrieve, Areas, Coster, Peraza, a returning David Brown, saxophonist Jules Broussard, and singer Leon Patillo, plus guest stars Flora Purim, Airto Moreira, and Stanley Clarke. Borboletta peaked in the Top 20 and eventually went gold. Carlos steered Santana back to a more commercial sound in the mid-'70s in an attempt to stop the eroding sales of the band's albums. He enlisted Santana's original producer, David Rubinson, to handle the next LP.
The band was streamlined to a sextet consisting of himself, Coster, Peraza, Brown, drummer Ndugu Leon Chancler (Shrieve having departed to work with Stomu Yamashta), and singer Greg Walker. The result was Amigos, released in March 1976, which returned Santana to the Top Ten and went gold. The band was back only nine months later with another Rubinson production, Festival, for which Santana consisted of Carlos, Coster, returning members Jose “Chepito” Areas and Leon Patillo, drummer Gaylord Birch, percussionist Raul Rekow, and bass player Pablo Telez. This album peaked in the Top 40 and went gold.
Never having issued a live album in the U.S., Santana made up for the lapse with Moonflower, released in October 1977, for which the band consisted of Carlos, Coster, Areas, Rekow, Telez, returning member Greg Walker, percussionist Pete Escovedo, drummer Graham Lear, and bass player David Margen. The album peaked in the Top Ten and eventually went platinum, its sales stimulated by the single release of a revival of the Zombies' "She's Not There" that peaked in the Top 20, Santana's first hit single in nearly six years.
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Turning to producers Dennis Lambert and Brian Potter, Santana returned to the studio for Inner Secrets, released in October 1978. The revamped line-up this time was Carlos, Rekow, Walker, Lear, Margen, returning members Coke Escovedo and Armando Peraza, keyboard player Chris Rhyne, and guitarist/keyboard player Chris Solberg. The album was quickly certified gold, and a revival of the Classics IV hit "Stormy" made the Top 40, but Inner Secrets peaked disappointingly below the Top 20.
Once again adopting his guru name of Devadip, Carlos issued his first real solo album (Oneness/Silver Dreams – Golden Reality) in February 1979. Marathon, the tenth Santana band studio album, followed in September, produced by Keith Olsen, the band here being Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Solberg, singer Alex Ligertwood, and keyboard player Alan Pasqua. The album equalled the success of Inner Secrets, peaking outside the Top 20 but going gold, with "You Know That I Love You" becoming a Top 40 single.
Again, Carlos followed in the winter with another solo effort (the Swing of Delight). Santana (Carlos, Rekow, Lear, Margen, Peraza, Ligertwood, keyboard player Richard Baker, and percussionist Orestes Vilato) spent some extra time on its next release, not issuing Zebop! until March 1981, and the extra effort paid off. Paced by the Top 20 single "Winning," the album reached the Top Ten and went gold. The band lavished similar attention on Shango, which was released in August 1982. The same line-up as that on Zebop! was joined by original member Gregg Rolie, who also co-produced the album.
A music video helped Santana enjoy its first Top Ten single in more than a decade with "Hold On," but that did not translate into increased sales for the album, which peaked in the Top 20 but became the band's first LP not to at least go gold. Carlos followed with another solo album (Havana Moon), but did not release a new Santana band album until February 1985 with Beyond Appearances, produced by Val Garay. By now the line-up consisted of Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Ligertwood, Vilato, returning member Greg Walker, bass player Alphonso Johnson, keyboard player David Sancious, drummer Chester C. Thompson, and keyboard player Chester D. Thompson.
"Say It Again," the album's single, reached the Top 40, but that was better than the LP did. Santana staged a 20-year anniversary reunion concert in August 1986 featuring many past band members. The February 1987 album Freedom marked the formal inclusion of Buddy Miles as a member of Santana, alongside Carlos, Rekow, Peraza, Vilato, Johnson, Chester D. Thompson, and returning members Tom Coster and Graham Lear. The album barely made the Top 100.
Carlos followed in the fall with another solo album (Blues for Salvador), winning his first Grammy Award in the process (Best Rock Instrumental Performance for the title track). In 1988, he added Wayne Shorter to the band for a tour, then put together a reunion edition of Santana that featured Areas, Rolie, and Shrieve beside Johnson, Peraza, and Thompson. In October, Columbia celebrated the 20-year anniversary of the band's signing to the label with the retrospective Viva Santana!
The next new Santana album was Spirits Dancing in the Flesh, released in June 1990, for which the band was Carlos, Peraza, Thompson, returning member Alex Ligertwood, drummer Walfredo Reyes, and bass player Benny Rietveld. A modest seller that made only the lower reaches of the Top 100, it marked the end of the band's 22-year tenure at Columbia Records. In 1991, Santana signed to Polydor Records, which, in April 1992, released the band's 16th studio album, Milagro. The line-up was Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Rietvald, and percussionist Karl Perazzo.
Polydor was not able to reverse the band's commercial decline, as the album became Santana's first new studio release not to reach the Top 100. The group followed in November 1993 with Sacred Fire - Live in South America, which featured Carlos, Thompson, Ligertwood, Reyes, Perazzo, singer Vorriece Cooper, bass player Myron Dove, and guitarist Jorge Santana, Carlos' brother. The album barely made the charts. In 1994, Carlos, Jorge, and their nephew Carlos Hernandez, released Santana Brothers, another marginal chart entry.
The same year, Areas, Carabello, Rolie, and Shrieve formed a band called Abraxas and released the album Abraxas Pool, which did not chart. Santana left Polydor and signed briefly to EMI before moving to Arista Records, run by Clive Davis, who had been president of Columbia during the band's heyday. Carlos and Davis put together Supernatural, which was stuffed with appearances by high-profile guest stars including Eagle-Eye Cherry, Wyclef Jean, Eric Clapton, Lauryn Hill, Rob Thomas of Matchbox 20, Everlast and Dave Matthews.
Arista released the album in June 1999, followed by the single "Smooth" featuring Rob Thomas. Album and single hit number one and in 2000, a second single, "Maria Maria," also topped the charts. Supernatural's sales exploded, taking it past ten million copies and the album garnered 11 Grammy nominations. Santana won eight Grammys, for Record of the Year ("Smooth"), Album of the Year, Best Pop Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Maria Maria"), Best Pop Collaboration with Vocals ("Smooth"), Best Pop Instrumental Performance ("El Farol"), Best Rock Performance by a Duo or Group with Vocal ("Put Your Lights On"), Best Rock Instrumental Performance ("The Calling"), and Best Rock Album, and "Smooth" won the Grammy for Song of the Year for authors Rob Thomas and Itaal Shur.
The follow-up, Shaman, appeared in 2002. Three years later All That I Am arrived with Steven Tyler, Michelle Branch, Big Boi, Joss Stone, Bo Bice, and many more making guest appearances. ~ William Ruhlmann, All Music Guide
Source: http://www.artistdirect.com/
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Lenny Kravitz
American “retro” rocker, Lenny Kravitz’s style has been compared to such greats as Prince and Jimi Hendrix. His career boasts multi-platinum albums, four consecutive Grammy awards for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance and over 40 million album sales globally.
Kravitz’s influence also reaches his peers. His collaborative efforts read more like a Hollywood A-List party - Jay-Z, Aerosmith, Mick Jagger and P. Diddy amongst others.
In the 80s, Kravitz worked under the stage name Romeo Blue. He developed a demo but was told he wasn’t “black enough” to compete with the RnB styles that dominated the radio airwaves at the time. Undeterred and without a label, Kravitz decided to started work on an album and managed to attract the attention of Virgin Records.
Within a few years, he traded the Shakespearian nom de plume for a freshly signed Virgin Records contract and released his debut album Let Love Rule in 1989 to mixed reviews.
In the first few years of the 90s, Kravitz spent writing and producing for other artists including Madonna’s Justify My Love but also experienced his first chart success with second album Mama Said. This album featured a song titled It Ain’t Over Til It’s Over and collaborations with Guns 'N' Roses’ Slash and Beatles’ Offspring, Sean Lennon.
In 1993, Are You Gonna Go My Way was released and reached #12 on the Billboard charts and won Kravitz a BRIT award. He followed up with Circus in 1995 which hit #10 despite it only having two moderately successful singles.
In 1998, Kravitz exploded onto the mainstream music scene with his fifth album, suitably named 5, thanks to the hit single Fly Away. This song helped make the album multi-platinum, featured on advertisements and secured Kravitz his first Grammy in 1999.
Success continued in 2001 with an award-winning, cover version of the Guess Who’s American Woman for the second Austin Powers movie soundtrack.
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Kravitz subsequently released three more studio albums and became more involved in other projects like political activism, acting and collaboration. He also established his own record label named Roxie Records and a design company aptly named Kravitz Designs. In an era of throwaway music careers, Kravitz has proven his critics wrong with a three decade long career that continues to flourish.
Juanita Appleby
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AEROSMITH
One of America’s most popular hard-rock acts and arguably one of the biggest bands of all time, Aerosmith formed in the New England area of Boston, Massachusetts in 1970. Lead vocalist, Steven Tyler (originally named Steven Tallarico) joined guitarist Joe Perry in a Cream-styled rock combo. Together with Tom Hamilton, Joey Kramer and Ray Tabano, the band’s original line-up was complete, however after a very short period of time, Brad Whitord replaced Tabano.
After their first gig at the Nipmuc Regional High School, the band took the name, Aerosmith (named after the book, “Arrow Smith by Sinclair Lewis). Their popularity grew, and a triumphant gig at Max’s Kansas City in 1973 led to a recording contract with Columbia Records.
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That year, Aerosmith secured a minor chart placing with their self-titled debt album. Its attendant single, ‘Dream On’, peaked at number 59 (it became a top 10 hit in 1976). Jack Douglas proved to become a great asset to the band with producing the highly successful album, ‘Toys in the Attic’, which sold in excess of six million copies worldwide. Tyler’s remarkable physical resemblance to Mick Jagger, and his foil like relationship with guitarist Joe Perry, also inspired comparisons with The Rolling Stones.
In 1978, tension between Tyler and Perry proved to be irreconcilable. The guitarist left the band and founded the Joe Perry Project, who was replaced by Jimmy Crespo in 1980. The following year Brad Whitford left to persue a new musical career. Rick Dufay debuted on ‘Rock In a Hard Place’, but this set failed to capture the fire of the band’s classic recordings.
Contact between the remaining band members and Perry and Whitford was re-established during a 1984 tour. Antagonisms were set aside and the following year the quintet’s most enduring line-up was performing together again. Tyler and Perry rid themselves of their notorious drug and alcohol dependencies. In 1986 they accompanied Run-DMC on ‘Walk this Way’, an Aerosmith song from ‘Toys in the Attic’ and a former US top 10 entry. The collaboration, which reached number 4, rekindled interest in Aerosmith’s career and helped push rap music into the mainstream.
‘Permanent Vacation’ became one of their best selling albums, and the first to make an impression in the UK. The following year they achieved a US number 1 with the infamous ‘I Don’t Want To Miss A Thing’. The song stayed at the top for four weeks and provided the band with their first top 5 UK single.
Aerosmith’s latest album, ‘Honkin’ On Bobo’ is dedicated to the blues roots of their music and the music they all grew up listening to. Aerosmith have even had a rollercoaster dedicated to them called the Rockin’ Rollercoaster at MGM studios Disney World, Florida.
Discography:
Aerosmith, Columbia, 1973.
Get Your Wings, Columbia, 1974.
Toys in the Attic, Columbia, 1975.
Rocks, Columbia, 1976.
Pure Gold, Columbia, 1976.
Draw the Line, Columbia, 1977.
Live Bootleg, Columbia, 1978.
A Night in the Ruts, Columbia, 1979.
Greatest Hits, Columbia, 1980.
Rock in a Hard Place, Columbia, 1982.
Done with Mirrors, Geffen, 1986.
Classics Live, Columbia, 1986.
Permanent Vacation, Geffen, 1987.
Gems, Columbia, 1989.
Pump, Geffen, 1989.
Get a Grip, Geffen, 1993.
Nine Lives, Columbia, 1997.
Just Push Play, Columbia, 2001.
Honkin' on Bobo, Columbia, 2004.
Sources: Mathew Jones; Joan Goldsworthy
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THUNDER
Once described (by themselves) as being the biggest rock 'n' roll band you've never heard of, Thunder are one of the great British rock acts (they sound like a cross between Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple, The Rolling Stones and Bad Company - it's true). Having toured the world extensively since 1989, and released a huge body of records (both studio and live), they've notched up 18 top 40 UK hits. How? Not with massive Radio and TV support, no far from it, their success has been down to a combination of their reputation as a phenomenal live act, and the fanatical support of their ever growing fanbase.
Thunder have toured with acts such as Aerosmith, Bon Jovi, Van Halen, Whitesnake, Status Quo, Deep Purple, Bryan Adams, ZZ Top, Metallica, the list goes on. They've won awards galore, including best Rock Vocalist (Danny Bowes - Burrn magazine Japan) and Best Live Rock Act by readers of Kerrang magazine UK.
Thunder formed in 1989, and released their debut album "Backstreet Symphony" in 1990, which went Gold. The follow-up "Laughing on Judgement Day" (which also achieved gold status), peaked at No. 2 in the UK album charts. Their legendary appearance in 1990 at Monsters of Rock at Donington cemented their place in the hearts of British rock fans. Twenty years later, after twenty top-50 singles and 9 studio albums Thunder have announced their retirement !!
Albums:
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