The Maiden story started on Christmas day 1975 when Steve Harris first set up what is now known as Iron Maiden, named after a medieval torture device which was a coffin shaped box with sharp nails protruding from either side.

After going through various line up changes, Maiden went into Spaceward studios in Cambridge on New Years Eve 1978 to record “The Soundhouse Tapes”, which were paramount in getting the break they needed after DJ Neal Kay played the four tracks ‘Prowler’ ‘Invasion’ ‘Strange world’ and ‘Invaders’ at his DJ nights at the Soundhouse nightclub in Kingsbury.

The exposure Neal Kay gave Maiden helped them increase their fan base, and all five thousand copies of the demo sold out within a week.

Soon after this Maiden gained a residency slot at the Ruskin arms in Manor Park, London , and through a friend of Steve Harris their demo was passed on to ex Steve Harley manager Ron Smallwood.

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With Ron on board Maiden quickly had national gigs booked, and gained the attention of EMI records, who subsequently signed them in December 1979.

Maiden released their debut album the self titled ‘Iron Maiden’ in 1980 to good press, and it featured the classic tracks ‘Prowler’ and ‘Iron maiden’ which are all out rockers with big sing-along choruses and the now instantly recognisable twin guitar riffs.

This album featured Paul Di’annio on vocals, whose gritty punk-esque voice gave the album a more punk edge.

1981’s follow up ''Killers'' was the album that people really stood up and started to take notice of Maiden. With Adrian Smith joining the band as a second guitarist, replacing Dennis Stratton, Maiden really had found their sound with the simply awesome ‘Wrath Child’.

‘Number Of The Beast’ followed in 1982, and featured ex Samson lead singer Bruce Dickinson after Paul Di’annio left due to alcohol and drug issues.

This created the line-up of Bruce Dickinson, Steve Harris, Dave Murray, Adrian Smith, and Clive Burr, which with the exception of Clive Burr, who was replaced on 1983’s ‘Piece of Mind’ album by Nicko Mcbrain, is thought to be the classic Maiden line up.

From then, through to the present day, Maiden have recorded a further eleven studio albums, nine live albums, and countless compilation albums.

They have a style which is unique to them, and no matter how many bands try and copy it, it will never be done with as much panache, quality, and pure song writing brilliance as Steve Harris and Iron Maiden do.

Aaron Phillips

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American based funk rockers The Red Hot Chili Peppers were formed back in 1983 by school friends Antony Kiedis, Hillel Slovak, Jack Irons, and Michael ‘Flea’ Balzary. Although there first gig comprised of the band improvising and Kiedis performing a rap he had written, they received a lively response from the crowd, which pushed them into writing more original songs of there own.

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After only playing the LA circuit for several months, they were noticed by EMI records, and were subsequently signed by the label. There debut self titled album was released on August 10th 1984, and although they only achieved mildly pleasing sales of 300,000, airplay on college radio and MTV introduced the band to a growing fan base.

During the next few years front man Kiedis, and guitarist Slovak had developed serious heroin addictions, sadly resulting in the guitarists death from a overdose on June 25th 1988. This caused drummer Jack Irons to leave the band citing “he did not want to be in a band where his friends were dying.”

Subsequently the band recruited guitarist John Frusciante, and drummer Chad Smith, and went on to record the album that thrust them into the mainstream ‘Blood Sugar Sex Magik’ in 1991.

This was the start of the success for the Chili’s, with them churning out top 5 singles ‘Give it Away’ and ‘Under the Bridge’, and from 2002’s By the Way self titled single.

After their 9th studio album 'Stadium Arcadium', John has decided to quit the band for the second time to pursue his solo career. He has since been replaced by Josh Klinghoffer. 

With there trademark sound, and Fleas’ funk driven bass lines, The Red Hot Chili Peppers have one of the most distinctive sounds around, and with millions of album sales under there belt and a new album on the way and they show no signs of retiring just yet.

Aaron Phillips

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Terry Nelhams aka Adam Faith was one of the most successful charts acts of the 1960’s. Adam Faith was known for being a teeny bop idol and later on, a Bafta nominated actor, TV regular and in his later years a financial journalist for the Daily mail/Mail On Sunday. Faith had top 10 hits from 1959-1963.

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Faith left school in Shepherds Bush in the summer of 1955, harbouring hopes and aspirations of a career in music or film. By 1956 after various runner jobs in film studios, Faith landed himself a job as an assistant film editor. This job would occupy Faith right up until 1958, when he was offered a record deal with EMI after landing a spot on BBC pop show 6-5 special, the early singles recorded with EMI received little or no chart success.

In late 1959, Faith met singer/songwriter Johnny Worth, (otherwise known as Les Vandyke) Worth penned the song “What Do You Want “ for Adam Faith, and in November 1959 the song went straight to No. 1 on the UK singles chart, Adam Faith had arrived.

Faith followed the success of “What Do You Want” up with another No.1, the Johnny Worth penned “Poor Me”, Worth would write over twenty songs for faith from 1960-1961. Faith peppered the UK top 40 for the next 5 years with varying success. Even though Faith continued to record all the way up until 1993, his days of heady chart success were over by the late sixties. He remained in the music industry after discovering and managing Leo Sayer and producing Roger Daltrey’s major label debut.

Later on in Adam Faith’s career he was a reasonably successful actor, which peaked with a Bafta nomination for his role in the movie “Stardust” alongside David Essex. In the mid Eighties he was employed as a financial journalist for the Daily Mail/Mail on Sunday, he reprised this role well into the nineties. He continued to act on TV, Film and Stage until his death in 2004. Faith will be remembered as the all around entertainer who wasn’t afraid to reinvent himself whether it was as the front man or behind the scenes, Faith was always willing to take a risk to follow his dreams.

Source: Segun Murray Ogunsheye

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The English band, Radiohead, was founded in 1985 in Oxfordshire, England. The 5 band members all met whilst attending Abingdon School.  At the time the band was called On A Friday as they used to meet on a Friday to rehearse. The line up consists of Thom Yorke (rhythm guitar, beats, piano and lead vocals), Ed O’Brien (backing vocals and guitar), Jonny Greenwood (keyboard, lead guitar and other instruments), Phil Selway (percussion and drums) and Colin Greenwood (synthesizers and bass guitar).

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Radiohead’s debut single was the song 'Creep' in 1992, which initially failed to impress but became a huge hit with the release of their debut album, 'Pablo Honey' in 1993. The release of their second album 'The Bends' in 1995 boosted their popularity in the UK. 1997 saw the release of third album, 'OK Computer', which propelled them to greater international fame and is now considered a landmark record of the 1990s. Their next 2 albums, 'Kid A' and 'Amnesiac' saw the group incorporate electronic music, Krautrock, post-punk and jazz influences. In 2003 the band released, “Hail to the Thief”, their last album through record label, EMI. 'In Rainbows', their seventh album was released independently and each customer could set their own price. It was a critical and chart success.

Radiohead have been nominated for numerous music awards including 8 BRIT award nominations (which they have never won), 14 Grammy award nominations (including 3 wins), 10 MTV awards nominations (of which they won 9), 3 Q Awards and an Ivor Novello award. The band are still active today.

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Kate Bush caught the attention of David Guilmore of Pink Floyd, whilst studying piano and violin and London, who helped fund her first demo sessions. She went on to sign a a contract with EMI when she was 16. In the first two years of her contract, Bush did not release an album, instead continued to study music and made demos of almost 200 songs.

Her first album, ‘The Kick Inside’, was released in 1978, and featured songs she had written during the previous two years, including the single ‘Wuthering Heights’, which topped the UK charts and became an international hit.

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A second album, ‘Lionheart’ was quickly recorded; Bush has often expressed disatisfaction with it, feeling she needed more time to get it right. Then there was the endless promotional work and an exhausting tour, the only one of her career. Kate disliked the exposure and the celebrity lifestyle, feeling it was taking her away from her main priority: making music. She moved into producing her own work with ‘Never for Ever’.

A pattern began to form in the eighties where Kate would disappear for up to four years while she produced her new material until it was ready for release. After the release of ‘The Red Shoes’ in 1993 there was no reason to suppose that she wouldn't reappear in three or four years with another set of songs. But the period of silence that followed her seventh studio album was much longer than anyone had anticipated.
Bush dropped out of the public eye for many years, although her name occasionally cropped up in the media in connection with rumours of a new album.

On 31 August, 2005, EMI put speculation to rest and confirmed that Kate's eighth studio album Aerial will be released on a double CD in November, after a single release "King of the Mountain" in October.

On 13 March 2006, EMI re-released all Bush's previous albums, including her greatest hits album The Whole Story, on compact disc with cardboard cases made to look like the original vinyl pressings.

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Craig Douglas, nicknamed 'The Singing Milkman', was born on 12th August 1941 on the Isle of Wight. Douglas. He got his break on television programme Six – Five Special where he performed alongside Cliff Richard and Joe Brown.

He still managed to create an impression and a few days later he was presented with a sack full of fan mail and signed a recording contract. Manager Bunny Lewis thought it appropriate to change his name as their were a number of 'Terry's' around at the time and he had seen the name Craig Douglas outside a house in Scotland.

Douglas was voted ‘Best New Singer’ in 1959 and went on to record 8 covers of past American hit records and reached number 1 with "Only Sixteen", recorded at EMI's Abbey Road Studios and released by Top Rank records, easily outselling Sam Cooke's original in the UK. He had a string of top 10 hits and reached number 9 with four consecutive songs.

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Douglas wasn't really a rock & roll singer, his diction being too good and his delivery too straight-ahead for that designation. His early records call up images of Ricky Nelson but, like a lot of young British singers of his era, he quickly aimed for a more mature audience. His singing was very emotive but also very clean. He was obviously more comfortable with dignified pop music, such as "Time," than with the more rocking numbers like "Ring-A-Ding" that he was occasionally called upon to record, with its slurred lyrics, honking saxes, and loud electric guitars (although Douglas acquitted himself well in that setting). 

1961 saw Douglas enter 'A Song for Europe' in which his song, "The Girl Next Door" fared badly as it went joint bottom with The Allisons 'Are you Sure'. Craig Douglas had a clean cut image which was mirrored in future US stars such as Pat Boone and Ricky Nelson. In 1963 he topped the bill on The Beatles first major stage show which was also the year of his last top 40 hit with "Town Crier" reaching number 36. After the rise of the Liverpool sound, the demand of Craig Douglas's work declined and his major recording career came to an end.

Still touring today Craig can be found on cruise ships or doing cabaret across the UK.

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The Quireboys formed in London in 1984, then known as The Queerboys. Formed by friends Spike Gray (vocals) and Guy Bailey (guitar), the band have seen multiple reformations of the group.

In 1987, The Quireboys recorded its debut single, ‘Mayfair’, released under the Survival Records label. Three years later the group's first album, ‘A Bit of What You Fancy’, was released through EMI. Four of the tracks from that full-length debut found their way onto the charts, carrying The Quireboys from hushed fame to the public spotlight. Tours followed throughout England and Europe, and helped develop the bands strong fanbase.

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A live album was put together in a rush for a following release, conveniently enough titled ‘Live Album’. The music was The Quireboys, but the live recording badly done and held enough flaws to be a disappointment. In 1993, a third album hit the market, ‘Bitter Sweet & Twisted’. The writing was already on the wall for the group by then, and members called it quits.

Even though The Quireboys had come to a halt, its music hadn't, and two more albums were released during the band's sabbatical. The first, ‘From Tooting to Barking’, came from some early demo works by the band. The second was a double-CD offering that carried the tracks from the albums ‘A Bit of What You Fancy and Bitter Sweet & Twisted’, as well as a number of extra tracks.

Through the rest of the '90s, The Quireboys regrouped with new members, then disbanded. Many of those members went on to become part of other bands, like God's Hotel, Dogs d'Amour, Blood From a Stone, and Nancy Boys.

In 2000, the newest makeup of the group released another album, ‘Lost in Space'. The group continue to perform.

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Source: Carly Page

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