Pat Benatar's polished mainstream pop/rock made her one of the more popular female vocalists of the early '80s. Although she came on like an arena rocker with her power chords, tough sexuality, and powerful vocals, her music was straight pop/rock underneath all the bluster. Born Patricia Andrzejewski on January 10, 1953, in Greenpoint, Brooklyn, the singer was raised in the nearby town of Lindenhurst on Long Island, NY. Benatar began singing regularly in the New York City area by the '70s, where she was discovered at the Catch a Rising Star club and signed by Chrysalis Records. Backed by a stellar band led by guitarist Neil Geraldo (who the singer would later marry) that provided the perfect accompaniment that was able to effortlessly alternate between rockers and ballads. Benatar quickly established herself as one of rock's top vocalists, scoring a hit right of the bat with her debut album, 1979's In the Heat of the Night, which spawned such radio favorites as "Heartbreaker" and "I Need a Lover" (the latter of which was written by a then-unknown John Mellencamp). 

Benator's sophomore effort, 1980's Crimes of Passion, more than delivered on the debut's promise and it's often considered to be the finest recording of her career. Spurred on by such classic rock radio standards as "Hit Me With Your Best Shot," "Treat Me Right," and "You Better Run," the album was certified platinum shortly after its release and Benatar became a certified arena headliner in the U.S. Benatar also became one of the most-played artists during MTV's early days, received several Grammy Awards around this time, and continued to enjoy massive hits and sold-out tours throughout the early to mid-'80s, including such albums as 1981's Precious Time, 1982's Get Nervous, 1983's Live from Earth, 1984's Tropico, 1985's Seven the Hard Way, and 1988's Wide Awake in Dreamland, plus the singles "Fire & Ice," "Promises in the Dark," "Shadows of the Night," "Love Is a Battlefield," "We Belong," and "Invincible." But by the end of the decade, it appeared as though Benatar had fallen of the face of the Earth as the hits seemed to dry up.

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Benatar opted to shift musical gears and issue an album of blues and R&B, 1991's True Love, which failed to return the singer back to the top of the charts. Benatar returned back to her patented arena rock sound with such further studio releases as 1993's Gravity's Rainbow and 1997's Innamorata (although the latter of which was largely acoustic-based) and while the albums didn't exactly measure up to her earlier releases, both were solid efforts. The late '90s saw a pair of live archival releases hit record store shelves, 1998's 8-15-80 and 1999's The King Biscuit Flower Hour Live, in addition to countless hits collections (although the best of the bunch proved to be 1989's Best Shots, which remains a steady seller to this day). The singer began touring again by the middle of the decade (after taking a five-year hiatus from the road), co-headlining shows with REO Speedwagon, Fleetwood Mac, the Steve Miller Band, and Styx. She also continued to dabble in acting, appearing in the ABC Afterschool Special Torn Between Two Fathers and on various sitcoms. In August 2003, Benatar returned to recording with Go (Vanguard), her first studio LP since 1997's Innamorata. The LP revisited the arena rock/MOR sound that had defined Benatar's career, and was accompanied by an extensive tour.

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Delaney Bramlett started out in the Shindogs, the house band on US television’s “Shindig”. He also made several unsuccessful solo singles prior to meeting Bonnie Lynn, who had already sung with names including “Ike And Tina Turner”. The couple’s first album, “Home”, was only released in the wake of the exemplary white-soul collection “Accept No Substitute”.

An expanded ensemble, featuring Bobby Keys (saxophone), Jim Price (trumpet), Bobby Whitlock (guitar), Carl Radle (bass) and Jim Keltner (drums), toured America with “Blind Faith”, and “Eric Clapton” joined them during a tour of Britain. The backing group then left for Joe Cocker’s “Mad Dogs And Englishmen” escapade. “To Bonnie From Delaney”, recorded with the Dixie Flyers and Memphis Horns, lacked the purpose of previous albums. After two more albums the couple’s marriage soured and they broke up in 1972, then later divorced. 

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Delaney and Bonnie are generally best remembered for their albums “On Tour with Eric Clapton” and “Motel Shot”. On Tour was their best-selling album by far, and is the only official document of their live work. Delaney and Bonnie were considered by many to be at their best on stage. In his autobiography, Atlantic Records executive Jerry Wexler stated that the studio album he produced for the band, To Bonnie from Delaney, "didn't quite catch the fire of their live performances." Clapton makes an even stronger statement in his autobiography: "For me, going on [with Blind Faith] after Delaney and Bonnie was really, really tough, because I thought they were miles better than us." Motel Shot, although technically a studio album, was largely recorded "live in the studio" with acoustic instruments - a rarity for rock bands at the time, foreshadowing the “Unplugged” phenomenon by nearly twenty years. Delaney and Bonnie's daughter Bekka Bramlett is active in the music business as well. Bekka briefly sang lead with Fleetwood Mac in the early 1990s, and has since pursued a successful career as a backing vocalist, most notably with Faith Hill.

The group recorded their last album (D&B together) in 1972, in 2008 Delaney recorded his last album as a solo artist, he died later that year.

Mathew Jones

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1967. Elvis marries Pricilla, Milton Keynes is founded, Pink Floyd release their debut album, and in London – Fleetwood Mac is born. Over 40 years later the band is still going strong; having experienced varied levels of success and a veritable conveyor belt of personnel.

The line-up of today’s Fleetwood Mac is vastly different from the one seen at its inception (founding member Mick Fleetwood being the only constant); 14 musicians have been part of the band at one time or another. Mick Fleetwood, Peter Green and John McVie, having met in the blues band ‘John Mayall and the Bluesbreakers’, resolved to form their own band. John McVie was at first reluctant to join (despite Fleetwood and Green’s attempt to entice him by including his surname in the band’s name), and the band’s first handful of gigs were without him. McVie soon relented, and the band’s self-titled debut was released in 1968 to great acclaim – reaching number 4 in the UK album chart. A rawer-sounding second album – Mr Wonderful – followed just seven months later.

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1969 saw several sea changes in the band; a move from the Blue Horizon label to Warner Bros. Records, and an evolution in their sound; from blues, to the rockier sound heard in their third studio album Then Play On. The next four years featured several changes in personnel and the release of six albums – Kiln House (1970), Future Games (1971), Bare Trees (1972), Penguin (1973), Mystery To Me (1973), and Heroes Are Hard To Find (1974) – that became progressively more pop-orientated, eventually leading to their 1975 self-titled breakthrough (affectionately known as the ‘White Album’ due to its cover art) reaching Number 1 on the US Billboard chart – selling over 4.5 million copies and launching three top 20 singles.

Two years later, the release of their eleventh studio album, Rumours, propelled the band to even greater success – the album won the 1978 Grammy award for Album of the Year and went on to sell in excess of 40 million copies. Tusk followed in 1979, and while not scaling the heights reached by Rumours, it still went double platinum and provided two top 10 singles.

Fleetwood Mac continued this remarkable run of success when 1982’s Mirage spent five weeks at the summit of the US Billboard chart. While the flow of band members began to slow as the 1980s became the 1990s, the hit albums certainly didn’t; Tango In The Night (1987) went 8 times Platinum, while Behind The Mask was certified as Platinum three years later. A tumultuous period in the band’s lineup resulted in 1995’s disappointing Time. Fleetwood Mac continue to rock to this very day – their last release being the well-received Gold certified 2003 album Say You Will – and are widely regarded as one of popular music’s most important bands. Rumours remains one of the top 10 biggest selling albums in history – having shifted in excess of 40 million copies, and many of their songs are rightfully referred to as true timeless classics.

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Stephanie Lynn "Stevie" Nicks (born on May 26, 1948, in Phoenix, Arizona) is an American singer-songwriter, best known for her work with the legendary and iconic band Fleetwood Mac and an extensive solo career, which collectively have produced over forty Top 50 hits and has sold nearly 120 million albums. She has been noted for her ethereal visual style and symbolic lyrics.

CURRENT TOUR DATES

Sat 8/20/11 Cincinnati, OH PNC Pavilion

Tue 8/23/11 Chicago, IL Rosemont Theatre

Wed 8/24/11 Prior, MN Mystic Lake Casino

Sat 8/27/11 Bethel, NY Bethel Woods Center for the Arts

Mon 8/29/11 Boston, MA Bank of America Pavilion

Tue 8/30/11 Saratoga Springs, NY Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Thu 9/1/11 Holmdel, NJ PNC Bank Arts Center

Sat 9/3/11 Bristow, VA Jiffy Lube Live

Sun 9/4/11 Wantagh, NY Nikon at Jones Beach Theatre

Tickets available here

In the early 1980s, and after a hugely successful first solo album, Rolling Stone deemed her "The Reigning Queen of Rock and Roll". Nicks was invited to join Fleetwood Mac in 1975 after Mick Fleetwood heard "Frozen Love", a song she had written and recorded with her boyfriend Lindsey Buckingham. Initially, Fleetwood only intended to hire Lindsey Buckingham, but Buckingham told him: "We're a package deal." Fleetwood Mac's first album after the incorporation of Nicks and Buckingham produced four Top 40 singles and it remained #1 on the American album charts for over 30 weeks.

With the commercial and critical success of Fleetwood Mac's Rumours album in 1977 (which sold over 33 million copies worldwide), Fleetwood Mac gained international fame. Nicks began her solo career in 1981 with Bella Donna, and she has produced five more solo studio albums to date. Overcoming cocaine addiction, dependency on tranquilizers, and chronic fatigue syndrome, Nicks remains a successful solo performer.

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Nicks has been nominated for seven Grammy Awards, and, with Fleetwood Mac, won the 1977/1978 Grammy for Album of the Year for Rumours. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, she was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Nicks has a contralto vocal range. As a young child, Nicks had difficulty pronouncing her given name Stephanie, instead pronouncing it "tee-dee", which became the nickname "Stevie".

With the Goya guitar that she received for her sixteenth birthday, Nicks wrote her first song called "I've Loved and I've Lost, and I'm Sad But Not Blue". She joined her first band "The Changing Times" while attending Arcadia High School in Arcadia, CA, a suburb of Los Angeles.

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IN YOUR DREAMS  2011

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