Wednesday, October 31, 2007

Ben Jelen

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New York City-based multi-instrumentalist Ben Jelen writes lush, orchestral pop songs that celebrate the breadth and complexity of human emotion. The nomadic tunesmith -- he's lived in England, Scotland, Texas, and New Jersey -- spent his formative years honing his skills on the guitar, violin, and piano, occasionally sitting in with friends' bands. He made a self-produced demo while working as an engineer at a local studio, and was discovered by a Calvin Klein marketing executive at a Jane's Addiction concert who wanted to offer Jelen a shot at a modeling career. Jelen declined, but piqued the interest of the now-revealed CEO of Fearless Management, Joseph Janus, with his enthusiasm for a career in music. Janus signed on as the young artist's manager and figured prominently in his signing with Madonna's Maverick Recording Company. Jelen released his debut, Give It All Away, in March 2004. The ecologically themed Ex-Sensitive arrived in 2007. ~ James Christopher Monger, All Music Guide



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Ben Harper

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Combining shuddering, groove-laden funky soul and folky handcrafted acoustics, singer/songwriter Ben Harper had cult status during the course of the '90s but gained wider attention toward the end of the decade. Harper combined elements of classic singer/songwriters, blues revivalists, Jimi Hendrix, and '90s jam bands like Blues Traveler, Hootie & the Blowfish, and Phish, which meant that he was embraced by critics and college kids alike. Though he never had a hit album, his body of work sold consistently and he toured constantly, building a solid, dedicated fan base.

A native of California, Harper grew up listening to blues, folk, soul, R&B, and reggae. As a child, he started playing guitar, and began to perform regularly as a preteen. During his adolescence, he turned toward acoustic slide guitar, which would eventually become his signature instrument. After steady gigging in the Los Angeles area, Harper scored a deal with Virgin Records in 1992. He released his debut album, Welcome to the Cruel World, two years later to positive reviews.

Released in 1995, the politically heavy Fight for Your Mind made for a strong sophomore effort, an obvious growth in musical experimentation and individual declamation. Harper's third album, 1997's The Will to Live, pushed his blues-oriented alternative folk into the middle mainstream, becoming a mainstay at college radio and making inroads at adult alternative radio. Recorded over two years of touring in support of Fight for Your Mind, The Will to Live introduced the Innocent Criminals, Harper's supporting band. The Innocent Criminals -- bassist Juan Nelson, drummer Dean Butterworth, and percussionist David Leach -- solidified Harper's musical rhythms and emotional diversity.

Aside from working on his own material, Harper has built a strong rapport with other artists, playing guest spots on records by Beth Orton, John Lee Hooker, and Gov't Mule. He played the 1997 and 1999 Tibetan Freedom Concerts, and opened for R.E.M., Radiohead, Metallica, Pearl Jam, and the Fugees. Harper's career gained momentum during 1998-1999. His most successful album to date, 1999's Burn to Shine blended Harper's fondness of '20s jazz compositions and urban beatboxing, resulting in a clever and passionate collection of songs. "Steal My Kisses" and "Suzie Blue" were radio favorites, landing him two headlining world tours and an opening spot on the Dave Matthews Band's summer trek of 2000. In spring 2001, Harper issued Live from Mars, a double disc of live electric and acoustic material spanning the previous year's tour and including covers of material by Led Zeppelin, the Verve, and Marvin Gaye.

When it came to recording his fifth studio effort, Harper went back to his drawing board. He'd circled the world countless times and, naturally, he brashly sang about it on the worldbeat-inspired Diamonds on the Inside, which appeared in March 2003. After a European tour with the Blind Boys of Alabama in 2004, the two acts entered the studio together and laid down ten tracks in two different sessions at Capitol Records' basement studios. The resulting collaborative album (issued under the names of both Harper and the Blind Boys of Alabama), There WiIl Be a Light, was released in September 2004. The CD/DVD set Live at the Apollo followed in fall 2005. The double album Both Sides of the Gun appeared in March 2006 and reached number seven on the Billboard album charts. Lifeline dropped in 2007. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide




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Ben Folds

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Singer/pianist Ben Folds (born September 12, 1966, in Winston-Salem, NC) is best known as the leader of the power pop trio Ben Folds Five, but has also struck out on his own as a solo artist. Despite playing in bands in high school, his musical career didn't really get off the ground until the late '80s, as a bassist for Majosha (the outfit issued such obscure releases as Party Night: Five Songs About Jesus and Shut Up and Listen to Majosha). Proving his multi-instrumental talents, Folds also played drums as a session musician in Nashville. After relocating to New York, Folds started acting again (he'd done some theater in high school previously) and signed a publishing deal with Sony Music.

Moving back to North Carolina, Folds in 1994 formed Ben Folds Five, a trio that also included bassist Robert Sledge and drummer Darren Jessee. Whereas most alternative bands of the '90s specialized in distorted teen-angst rock, the guitarless trio was a refreshing break from the norm, their sound akin to such past power popsters as Todd Rundgren, Jellyfish, early Joe Jackson, and such piano-driven artists as Billy Joel and early Elton John. But like punk bands, Ben Folds Five put on a high-energy, blistering live show. The band was signed to the independent Caroline Records shortly afterward, resulting in their self-titled debut one year later. Due to airings of their humorous anthem "Underground" (which poked fun at the politics of the punk/alternative scene) on MTV's 120 Minutes) and constant touring, quite a buzz was stirring for the band by the time of their second album.

Released in 1997, Whatever and Ever Amen was pure pop perfection -- easily one of the year's best releases and perhaps the best power pop release of the '90s. The band's songwriting and sound had improved even further, as evidenced by such gems as "One Angry Dwarf and 200 Solemn Faces," "Fair," "Kate," and "Battle of Who Could Care Less," plus their whimsical tribute to breakups, "Song for the Dumped." But it was the ballad "Brick" that broke the band commercially -- unlike the majority of their material, which was upbeat, the song contained melancholic music and vocals, as the lyrics told the story of a teenage couple who decides to get an abortion (it has been speculated that the tale was autobiographical for Folds). The single didn't hit until several months after the album was released, which meant that the band stayed on the road for well over a year, playing with such notables as Dave Matthews, Beck, and as part of the 1997 H.O.R.D.E. festival -- earning Whatever platinum status.

While 1998 didn't see a new studio album by the band, BF5's former label issued a 16-track rarities collection (Naked Baby Photos), as Folds released his first solo album, Volume 1, under the pseudonym Fear of Pop. Although the album went largely unnoticed, it included the song "In Love," which included overly dramatic vocals from none other than Captain Kirk himself, William Shatner (comparable in approach to Shatner's must-hear 1968 album, The Transformed Man) and which was performed on The Conan O'Brien Show shortly after the album's release. Ben Folds Five regrouped with 1999's The Unauthorized Biography of Reinhold Messner, which was a more mature work than its predecessors, although the energetic lead-off single, "Army," showed that Folds' humorous approach hadn't dulled at all. Folds officially went solo again in 2001 with Rockin' the Suburbs. A series of EPs followed, with the new long-player Songs for Silverman dropping in 2005. He released Supersunnyspeedgraphic: The LP the following year. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide




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C+C Music Factory

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C+C Music Factory wasn't really a group -- it was the product of Robert Clivillés and David Cole, two pop-savvy dance producers. In 1989, Clivillés and Cole hired all the singers and created all the tracks for Gonna Make You Sweat, C+C Music Factory's first album. While it was prepackaged, it wasn't necessarily faceless; in Freedom Williams, the producers had a solid, if not original or distinctive, rapper. What was really important to the success of the album was how Clivillés and Cole assembled the tracks, melding hip-hop and club sensibilities to mindlessly catchy pop songs. The three hit singles -- "Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now)," "Here We Go," "Things That Make You Go Hmmmm..." -- were very good pop singles, and all of them were massive hits in early 1991.
After their moment in the sun, Williams left for an unsuccessful solo career and Clivillés and Cole released Greatest Remixes, Vol. 1, a collection of their work with C+C Music Factory as well as other artists; the album had a hit single with their re-recording of U2's "Pride."
C+C Music Factory released their second album, Anything Goes!, in the summer of 1994; it was a moderate hit, spending nine weeks on the charts. Unfortunately, it was the last album the duo ever made -- David Cole died of spinal meningitis in early 1995. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine, All Music Guide



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Azure Ray

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The Southern dream pop duo of Azure Ray began their rise in 2001 when former Bright Eyes members Orenda Fink and Maria Taylor joined Crooked Fingers/Archers of Loaf's Eric Bachmann for something musically enchanting. A little more stripped than Bright Eyes and their other outfit, Little Red Rocket, Fink, and Taylor shaped a delicate soundscape for their 2001 critical self-titled debut. The next winter, Azure Ray issued the November EP on Saddle Creek, which featured collaborative work with Andy Lemaster (Now It's Overhead). Sophomore effort Burn and Shiver followed in spring 2002 and exuded a more serene soundscape and slick production work from Bachmann. Fink and Taylor also collaborated with Moby on the song "The Great Escape" for his 2002 release, 18. A year later, Funk and Taylor continued their steady pace of writing and recording. Their naturally warm tone was polished up for Hold On Love. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide



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Axl Rose

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Depending who you ask, Guns N' Roses vocalist Axl Rose is either considered a rock music icon who is worshipped by millions as an almost Christ-like figure, or hated as a homophobic, misogynistic, and woefully self-indulgent "rock star" (in his defense, Rose has denied that he's a homophobe or a misogynist), as well as thought of as a tyrant by his ex-bandmates. William Bruce Rose was born on February 6, 1962, in Lafayette, IN, and suffered sexual abuse from his biological father and physical abuse from his eventual stepfather at an early age (Rose changed his name to William Bailey after his mother remarried). Rose was also an outcast in school, where he was picked on for being "different," but found solace in singing with his school and church vocal choir and eventually rock music. His rough teenage years were eased a bit when he befriended a Keith Richards-worshipping chap by the name of Jeff Isbell, who shared Rose's interest in music. Isbell left Indiana for the streets of Los Angeles in the early '80s with hopes of forming a rock band, and Rose followed shortly thereafter, changing his name to W. Axl Rose (while Isbell soon adopted the name Izzy Stradlin).
The L.A. rock music scene at the time was split down the center between rough-and-ready punk rock and hair spray-soaked glam rock/heavy metal, and Rose wanted to form an outfit that borrowed equally from each genre. Stradlin and Rose plowed through several outfits that went nowhere (Hollywood Rose being one) before hooking up with fellow streetwise rockers Slash (guitar, real name Saul Hudson), Duff McKagan (bass), and Steven Adler (drums). After slugging it out on the Sunset Strip and honing their act, the newly christened Guns N' Roses signed a recording contract with Geffen Records after issuing an independent live EP (1986's Live Like a Suicide). Their full-length debut, Appetite for Destruction, was released a year later, and at first the public didn't know what to make of the album or the band. Slowly but surely, rock's fickle audience came around, and by summer 1988, Guns N' Roses was fast becoming one of the world's top rock bands (on the strength of such hit singles/MTV-saturated videos as "Welcome to the Jungle," "Sweet Child O' Mine," and "Paradise City").
But with fame came death-defying drug and alcohol abuse among all five bandmembers (as well as last-minute tour/concert cancellations) -- it appeared as though the more successful they became, the more problems arose. To fill the void for a new GNR album, Geffen put out the eight-track stopgap EP G N' R Lies in late 1988, amid widespread rumors of an impending band breakup. The album was another big seller (on the strength of the hit acoustic ballad "Patience"), but Axl Rose came under immense fire and criticism for the song "One in a Million," in which Rose had derogatory comments for gays, blacks, and immigrants. Undeterred, Rose and co. regrouped and worked on their much-anticipated follow-up to Appetite, which seemed to always miss its numerous projected release dates. Adler was sacked during the recording, while 1991 finally saw the release of the two-part sophomore effort Use Your Illusion. Both discs were massive hits, but the band appeared to have reinvented itself as a bombastic and indulgent rock act, often recalling the music that their punk rock idols attempted to destroy in the mid-'70s. A mammoth two-year tour followed (with Stradlin leaving the band mid-tour) in which GNR found themselves losing their validity as a streetwise rock act in the face of the stripped-down grunge movement (which included such acts as Nirvana, Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, et al.).
It only made Rose seem more out of touch from reality when he would hold the band up from going on-stage, resulting in ridiculous multi-hour delays. His public image took a few more shots when several concerts were marred by audience riots caused by Rose's notorious hijinks and when he tried to pick a fight with Nirvana leader Kurt Cobain backstage at the 1992 MTV Video Music Awards for disparaging (yet quite on the mark) remarks Cobain made about Rose in the press. When the tour finally ground to a halt in 1993, GNR issued a lukewarmly received collection of covers, The Spaghetti Incident?, and took a well-deserved rest. But after numerous aborted writing/recording sessions for their third proper studio album, the remaining other two original members (Slash and McKagan) either quit the band or were dismissed by Rose. Rose had been granted full ownership of the name Guns N' Roses, so he slowly formed a whole new band around himself.
With rumors running rampant that he had become a bloated, bald, and drug-addled hermit (due to the fact that he did not grant a single interview between 1994-1999, staying completely out of the spotlight), Rose continued to work on GNR's next release himself. 1999 saw GNR's first new song released in nearly eight years, the industrial rocker "Oh My God" from the End of Days soundtrack, as well as a live compilation of old-school GNR tracks, Live Era: '87-'93, yet both came and went without much fanfare. But all that changed when Rose and his new cohorts (which included ex-Nine Inch Nails guitarist Robin Finck, mask-wearing solo guitarist Buckethead, ex-Replacements bassist Tommy Stinson, ex-Primus drummer Brian Mantia, plus longtime GNR keyboardist Dizzy Reed) played their first live shows together in early 2001, receiving unanimously favorable reviews. With a world tour booked and album nearing completion (reportedly to be titled Chinese Democracy), the GNR/Axl Rose hype machine appeared to be building up to a feverish pitch once again. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide



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AZ

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One of the numerous thoughtful, literate gangsta rappers to emerge from New York during the mid-'90s, AZ never garnered the attention of peers like Nas and Jay Z. Instead, he saw his debut album, Doe or Die, become a critical favorite in late 1995 before his career suddenly went downhill after such modest and short-lived success. Critics and b-boys alike celebrated AZ and his debut album for a literate approach to the gangsta lifestyle. Like his aforementioned peers Nas and Jay Z, AZ not only brought intelligence to his rhymes but also an impressive flow and delivery that further set him apart from the flood of New York MCs fighting for survival in the crowded rap game. Unfortunately, despite Doe or Die's quiet success, AZ stumbled in successive years, finally scoring a new major-label relationship with Motown in the early 2000s.

Born in Brooklyn as Anthony Cruz, AZ first came to the greater rap community's attention in a big way after his stellar performance on Nas' "Life's a Bitch" in 1994. Given AZ's similarity to Nas and the overwhelming response to Nas' Illmatic album, it was just a matter of time before AZ would score a record deal, a feat he accomplished in 1995. The resulting debut album, Doe or Die, shook the New York hip-hop scene as Nas' Illmatic and Mobb Deep's Infamous had done shortly before it. Like those albums, Doe or Die reveled in the street life -- hustling for cash, peddling drugs, violent encounters, mandatory boasting, struggling daily just to maintain -- but took a literate and thoughtful approach to the often exploitative gangsta motifs. Furthermore, like Nas, AZ had Pete Rock crafting the beats, which won the young rapper instant credibility among the hip-hop community.

When word hit the street that AZ was an official member of the supergroup known as the Firm, his status only rose higher. Anchored by Nas, Foxy Brown, Nature, and AZ on the mics, with Dr. Dre and the Trackmasters on the beats, it would seem as if the group could do no wrong. The group's 1997 album ended up being a surprise failure, though, buried under ridiculous expectations and too much hype. But AZ's bad fortune didn't stop there. He returned a year later with his sophomore album, Pieces of a Man, an album that came and went relatively unnoticed and uncelebrated. For the next few years, AZ became a forgotten name. No longer with a major-label contract, he managed to release the little-heard S.O.S.A. record in 2000. It didn't sell many copies or resurrect his career but rather re-affirmed the fact that he was indeed a talented rapper whether the public and the industry wanted to acknowledge it or not.

Within a year's time, AZ secured a new major-label relationship with Motown, a label that had never had much, if any, success with rap artists. Still, the Brooklyn rapper wouldn't let the label's reputation hold him back, as he illustrated on 9 Lives, unofficially billed as his comeback album. Though lacking big-name production and employing a skimpy roster of guest rappers, the album did showcase AZ's lyrical prowess and his endurance, anchored by the sample-laced lead single "Problems." Aziatic from 2002 received positive reviews overall and two years later by the double disc career overview Decade 1994-2004. ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide




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Avril Lavigne

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Wild child Avril Lavigne hit big in summer 2002 with her spiky-fun debut song, "Complicated," shifting pop music into a different direction. Lavigne, who was 17 at the time, didn't seem concerned with the glamour of the TRL-dominated pop world and such confidence allowed her star power to soar. The middle of three children in small-town Napanee, Ontario, Lavigne's rock ambitions were noticeable around age two. By her early teens, she was already writing songs and playing guitar. The church choir, local festivals, and county fairs also allowed Lavigne to get her voice heard, and luckily, Arista Records main man Antonio "L.A." Reid was listening.
He offered her a deal, and at 16 Lavigne's musical dreams became reality. With Reid's assistance and a new Manhattan apartment, Lavigne found herself surrounded by prime songwriters and producers, but it wasn't impressive enough for her to continue. She had always relied on her own ideas to create a musical spark, and things weren't going as planned. Lavigne wasn't disillusioned, though. She headed for Los Angeles and Nettwerk grabbed her. Producer/songwriter Clif Magness (Celine Dion, Wilson Phillips, Sheena Easton) tweaked Lavigne's melodic, edgy sound and her debut, Let Go, was the polished product. Singles such as "Complicated" and "Sk8er Boi" hit the Top Ten while "I'm with You" and "Losing Grip" did moderately well at radio. Butch Walker of the Marvelous 3, Our Lady Peace frontman Raine Maida, and Don Gilmore (Linkin Park, Good Charlotte) signed on to produce Lavigne's second album, Under My Skin, which appeared in May 2004. The album topped the Billboard charts and produced the number one hit "My Happy Ending." Other singles like "Nobody's Home" and "Fall to Pieces" did respectably well also. Settling down a bit from her punk rock wild child persona, Lavigne married her boyfriend of two years, Sum 41 frontman Deryck Whibley, in July 2006.
Although she spent some time dabbling with a film career -- lending a voice to the 2006 animated film Over the Hedge and appearing in Richard Linklater's fictional adaptation of Fast Food Nation that same year -- Lavigne spent most of 2006 working on her third album, The Best Damn Thing, which was released in April 2007. It marked a return to the bratty, spunky punk-pop of Let Go, best heard on the album's first single, the chart-topping "Girlfriend" (which later became the subject of controversy as the '70s power pop band the Rubinoos sued Lavigne, claiming that her tune reworked their 1979 song "I Wanna Be Your Boyfriend"). The Best Damn Thing debuted at number one on the Billboard charts upon the week of its release. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide



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Drake Bell

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Though he had been acting since he was five, when he filmed in his first commercial, Drake Bell (born Jared Drake Bell in Orange County, CA) didn't start playing the guitar until he was cast in the 2001 TV movie Chasing Destiny, also starring the Who's Roger Daltrey, who gave the young performer his initial lessons. As a teenager, though Bell was focusing on acting, he continued to play music and write songs on the side, and after a program he was in, Nickelodeon's The Amanda Show, was canceled in 2002, and a spinoff, The Drake and Josh Show, was started (it first aired in 2004), Bell was able to finally show off his chops onscreen, writing the theme song, "Found a Way," and playing an exaggerated version of his guitarist self named Drake Parker. Heavily influenced by the Beatles and the Beach Boys, Bell released his debut, Telegraph, independently in 2005, soon after which he signed to Universal, who put out his sophomore record, It's Only Time, the following year. ~ Marisa Brown, All Music Guide



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Aventura

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A New York-based, Dominican boy band with their roots deep in bachata? If that sounds unlikely, well, Aventura has managed to cope with it. Formed in 1994 in the Bronx by a group of four boys (Anthony Santos, Lenny Santos, Max Santos, and Henry Santos Jeter) who were determined to break Dominican bachata music out from its traditional base and fuse it with the other sounds they heard every day, like hip-hop and R&B. Interestingly, unlike other youths seeking success, they didn't give themselves over to a producer who might mold their sound; instead, they proceeded to learn all the skills they needed themselves, from production to instruments. Their real break came in 1999. Signed to BMG, they released their debut -- with an outside producer. The material, however, was their own, and they resisted the attempt to turn them into a cookie-cutter boy band in the style of the Backstreet Boys or *NSYNC by ensuring the bachata element remained dominant. However, it fell between the cracks of both the burgeoning Latin movement and the pop/R&B chart-toppers. Three years would pass before they released We Broke the Rules, in which time they worked hard to refine what they were doing, and find a true direction. Whatever they did, it appeared to work, as the single "Obsesion" became a hit with Latin youth, finding a strong crossover into hip-hop. However, as the album's title promised, they did break all the bachata rules, bringing the style very much into the new millennium without sacrificing the style's roots. While catching a growing U.S. audience, they also became popular in Europe, thanks to frequent touring and a different sound. In 2003, they returned with Love & Hate, which saw them progressing even further with their sound, adding merengue into the mix and upping the R&B/hip-hop quotient without losing touch with their background, singing in Spanish, English, and Spanglish. God's Project, released in 2005, was widely regarded as the group's best album to date, and it was followed with the stopgap release K.O.B.: Live. ~ Chris Nickson, All Music Guide



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Belanova

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One of the most sensational Mexican pop acts of the mid-2000s, Belanova enjoyed tremendous success in their native country, especially with their second album, Dulce Beat, whose single "Por Ti" notably logged a record-setting 29 weeks atop MTV Mexico's Top 20 chart. Vocalist/songwriter Denisse Guerrero, programmer/keyboardist Edgar Huerta, and bassist Ricardo Arreola formed Belanova in Guadalajara, Jalisco, in 2000. After a couple years, they signed to Virus Records, a Mexican dance label owned by Universal Music. They recorded their debut album, Cocktail (2003), with producer Alex Midi Ortega at Virus Studios, and scored a number one hit with their lead single, "Tus Ojos."

This didn't happen right away, however. In fact, Cocktail languished for months after being released in February. It wasn't until the car company Mitsubishi used "Tus Ojos" in a commercial that Belanova earned any substantial notice. Once "Tus Ojos" caught on, though, it caught on in a big way, becoming a chart-topper and driving Cocktail up the album chart to number five. Moreover, Belanova promoted the album heavily, performing concerts all over Mexico while issuing a couple follow-up singles ("Suele Pasar" and "Aún Así Te Vas," the former peaking at number eight, the latter at 12).

All of this initial success was far eclipsed by that of Dulce Beat (2005), Belanova's second album, which the band recorded in Buenos Aires with producer Cachorro López, who is perhaps best known for his brilliant work with Julieta Venegas. Dulce Beat resembles Cocktail in style -- thoroughly contemporary disco-pop with feel-good lyrics written and sung with charisma by Guerrero -- yet it's somewhat more accessible, no doubt with the teen market as well as increased international appeal in mind. The lead single, "Me Pregunto," was released to Mexican radio in May and went on to spend five weeks atop the Top 100 airplay chart. Moreover, it was a Top Ten hit in Chile and Argentina, setting the stage well for "Por Ti," the second single from Dulce Beat. It took only three weeks for "Por Ti" to rocket atop the Mexican airplay chart after its October release, and it remained in rotation on radio and MTV well into the summer of the following year.

Around the time Belanova finally released a third single from Dulce Beat, "Rosa Pastel," they also reissued the album itself, retitling it Dulce Beat 2.0 and adding a bonus disc of acoustic versions and remixes. (As with the standard edition, this re-release didn't get issued in the States until months afterward.) As 2006 came to a close, Belanova garnered a Latin Grammy nomination for Dulce Beat (Pop Album by a Duo or Group with Vocals, ultimately awarded to La Oreja de Van Gogh for Guapa) and López also garnered a nomination for his work on the album (Producer of the Year, which he took home). ~ Jason Birchmeier, All Music Guide




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Avenged Sevenfold

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The members of metalcore outfit Avenged Sevenfold (or A7X) were still attending high school in Huntington Beach, CA, when they formed their band in 1999. Nevertheless, it didn't take long for M. Shadows (vocals), Zacky Vengeance (guitar), Synyster Gates (guitar), the Reverend (drums), and Johnny Christ (bass) to make an impression with their aggressive hybrid of metal and punk-pop. The band made its official debut in July 2001, releasing Sounding the Seventh Trumpet on the Good Life label, before moving to the Hopeless roster for 2003's Waking the Fallen. Warner Bros took interest in the band's aggressive sound and issued their breakthrough release, City of Evil, in June 2005. The album reached number 30 on Billboard's Top 200, propelled in part by the Top Ten success of the single "Bat Country." The accompany music video was heavily rotated on MTV and Fuse, where live appearances also helped boost Avenged's growing profile, and the band ultimately won the Best New Artist Award (though they were hardly newcomers) at the 2006 MTV Video Music Awards. As demand for their music increased, Avenged Sevenfold cancelled their tour dates for Fall 2006 and decamped to Houston, TX, where they set to work on a fourth studio album. Boasting a grittier sound than previous releses, the self-titled disc appeared in October 2007. ~ Christina Fuoco, All Music Guide



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Avec

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Avec was born in 2003. During the previous six years, three of the members, Brooks, Scott and Adam, played under the name Sand Which Is. Sand Which Is toured the U.S. consistently for four years playing over 300 shows, gathering a small cult of experimental rock fans, as well as releasing two 7" records and a full length CD. The CD was recorded in Brooks's hometown, El Paso, Texas and was produced by Brooks's childhood best friend, Jim Ward. (At the Drive-In, Sparta). Guest vocals were lent to the record by Cedric Bixler, (At the Drive-In, Mars Volta)—another of Brooks's childhood pals. A fourth member, Shawna, was added to the Sand Which Is lineup in 2002. The new guitarist / singer came from the now defunct, all girl fronted Nashville rock band, Fair Verona. Fair Verona toured the U.S. playing South by Southwest, CMJ, Mackrock and multiple Lady Fests. Fair Verona released a CD on IV records and worked heavily in the studio having the opportunity to work with the legendary Eddie Kramer (Jimi Hendrix, Kiss). Brooks, Shawna, Adam and Scott began writing new material for an EP at the end of 2002. They felt that the sound was different enough to warrant a new name. As a result, Avec was born. The name may be new, but Avec is an experienced and hard working group of musicians. They have a song on Deep Elm Records – "Emo Diaries #9" and have released an EP on ReStart Records (At the Drive-In, Sparta, DeFacto) and Big Crunch. The EP was mastered at the famous Inner Ear studios by Chad Clark (Beauty Pill, Fugazi, Dismemberment Plan) and promises to win Avec even more acclaim as a hot new new sound in rock music.



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Considered to be one of the leading death metal bands to emerge from Poland in the 1990s, Behemoth has endured quite a few lineup shifts during their career (especially in the bass department), with founding singer/guitarist Nergal being the only constant member. Behemoth was formed during 1991 (originally as a trio), and began issuing several demos shortly thereafter, the most circulated one being 1993's From the Pagan Vastlands. The same year, Behemoth issued their debut release (via the Italian independent record label, Entropy), And the Forests Dream Eternally. Two years later, the group released their first full-length recording, Sventevith, which received favorable reviews by the metal underground press. For 1996's Grom, Behemoth widened their musical vision by experimenting with acoustic guitars, synthesizers, and female vocalists, but all the while retained their brutal, extreme metal sound; leading to the group's inaugural full-on tour of Europe. 1997's three-track stopgap EP, Bewitching the Pomerania, proved to be the first recording to feature drummer Inferno, who would soon become a driving force (and permanent fixture) in Behemoth.

Their fifth release overall, Pandemonic Incantations, was issued a year later in 1998, as Behemoth continued to average at least one lineup change per release. Behemoth's last release as a trio (and first for new label Avantgarde), 1999's Satanica, continued to expand the group's following among the black metal masses, as they secured supporting slots on two separate tours with leading bands of the genre: Deicide and Satyricon. Behemoth's first release of the 21st century, 2000's Thelema.6, saw the group's lineup expand to four members for the first time, as newcomers Novy (bass) and Havoc (guitar) signed on with stalwarts Nergal and Inferno. The album proved to be the first of the group's career to receive worldwide distribution (issued in the U.S. a year after its initial release), and also featured Nergal collaborating lyrically with outsider Krzysztof Azarewicz. Behemoth embarked on their most substantial tour yet, playing shows alongside the likes of Morbid Angel and Nile, and even launched a few headlining tours on their own. In 2002, a home video/DVD was issued (recorded in their homeland of Poland), The Art of Rebellion: Live. ~ Greg Prato, All Music Guide




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Avant

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Hailed as the "new voice of ghetto soul" and acknowledged as the first act signed to NBA great Magic Johnson's Magic Johnson Music, Cleveland native Avant celebrated the MCA Records release of his debut album, My Thoughts, on May 2, 2000. Around the same time, the 22-year-old singer/songwriter was enjoying a Top Five Billboard R&B/Hip Hop hit single, "Separated." The video for the song was getting massive play on cable channels BET and The Box. Avant's style of modern soul owes heavily to singer R. Kelly. Originally, Avant's manager, Eric Payton, released "Separated" in January 1998 on his Payton Entertainment label. The single began getting airplay on top-rated radio station WGCI in Chicago before eventually being included on the 1999 MCA compilation Summer Heat. The singer/songwriter wrote "Separated" based on his feelings following a failed romantic relationship. Avant felt that the Lord had blessed him enough for being allowed to put his sadness down on paper. Recorded in Chicago, My Thoughts was produced by accomplished multi-instrumentalist Steve Huff. Huff and Avant's overall high-quality musicianship gives My Thoughts a refreshing depth. The cover of René & Angela's 1983 R&B ballad classic "My First Love" stands out with a wonderfully swirling string arrangement by veteran Chicago arranger Tom Tom Washington (aka Tom Tom 84). The slammin' song "Reaction" contains a rhythm guitar sample from Issac Hayes' 1974 hit "Wonderful." In 2002, a new album again featuring production from Steve Huff, Ecstasy, was released on Johnson's subsidiary. 2003's Private Room and 2006's Director followed; both albums spawned a clutch of Top 20 R&B singles. ~ Ed Hogan, All Music Guide



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Lou Bega

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Like the Afro-Cuban and mambo music that inspires his music, Lou Bega is a hybrid, born and raised in Germany as the son of a Sicillian mother and Ugandan father. He sang and danced as a child and listened to R&B and reggae as a teenager, but a trip to Miami as an 18-year old acquainted him with the songs of the mambo kings of the '30s and '40s. Fascinated by mambo's sounds and stylish fashions, Bega returned to Germany and created his own version of the music. The result was the single Mambo No. 5, which went double platinum in Germany in the summer of 1999 and soon became a global hit. Later that year, Bega's full-length debut A Little Bit Of Mambo met similar success. ~ Heather Phares, All Music Guide



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The Avalanches

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Never mind digging in the crates -- the Avalanches probably just buy them whole, sight unseen, and find a way to bounce off each platter. Eventually morphing into a gang of six merrymakers bent on filtering their all-encompassing record collections through original instrumentation and a great deal of sampling, the Avalanches came from one of the most unlikely places to generate mind-bending dance music -- Australia.
Perfectly fitting with the band's range, the roots of the crew are in punk. Robbie Chater and Darrin Seltmann were in a couple of short-lived outfits together, most notably the Swinging Monkey Cocks. Gordon McQuilten, Toni Diblasi, and Dexter Fabay eventually joined in on the mess, but they acquired turntables and set their sights on dance music of the sample-based variety, originally leaning on abstract hip hop and naming themselves the Avalanches. Trifekta Records released the Rock City single in 1997, which soon brought the interest of Australian label Modular. With a long-term deal freshly inked, they released the seven-track El Producto EP and polished their outlandish live show, including dates with the Beastie Boys and Public Enemy. Rex issued the Undersea Community EP in 1998, which culled from the band's demo trove. Somewhere along the way, keyboardist James De La Cruz was added to the lineup.
An extensive patch of time was spent building Since I Left You, a 60-minute melting pot of the band's collective that sounds like a postcard to anyone who has ever made a record. Released in their native land in late 2000 and preceded by the appetite-whetting Frontier Psychiatrist EP, it received a response from critics and the public that reflected the album's glowing nature. The group even had the blessing of Madonna, who allowed them to sample the bass line to "Holiday" -- the first time she okayed such a thing. Beggars Banquet-offshoot XL issued the album in the U.K. in May of 2001; Sire released it in the U.S. in November of the same year. ~ Andy Kellman, All Music Guide



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Beenie Man

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One of Jamaica's most crucial DJs, Beenie Man's recording career stretches back to 1981, although it was in the sound systems where he later made his mark. The witty toaster began his true ascent to stardom in the early '90s, and by 1994, his reputation couldn't be beat. Then again, when you're a recording veteran at age ten, one wonders just what took him so long. Every country has its child stars; just look at Shirley Temple, but few treat their prodigies with the respect of Jamaica. Talent competitions lead to radio and TV appearances, and even record contracts, but what's truly amazing is how many of these charming tots continue their career into adulthood. Elsewhere, early stardom inevitably leads to adolescent failure as they're a lot less cute at 18 than they were at eight. But not Jamaica, where they love them as toddlers, adore them as teens, and worship them as adults. Beenie Man is just one stellar example.

Beenie Man (aka Moses Davis) was born in the tough Waterhouse district of Kingston, Jamaica, on August 22, 1973. By the time he was ready for school, the toddler had already decided on a career as a DJ. He wasn't the first tot with dreams of the limelight, but Beenie actually had a true gift for gab. His shot at stardom came when he was only eight, when he took first prize at the national Teeny Talent contest. This led to a meeting with producer Junjo Lawes, who recorded the diminutive DJ's debut single, "Too Fancy." Bunny Lee then took the boy under his wing and put him to work at his Unlimited sound system. By 1983, the youngster found himself appearing on Lawes' Junjo Presents Two Big Sounds, which was recorded live and featured such DJ heavyweights as Dillinger and Fathead. Along with Unlimited, Beenie was also DJing at Prince Jammy's Volcano sound systems, had a hit single to his credit, "Over the Sea," produced by Niney Holness, and even had a debut album out. Produced by Lee, The Invincible Beenie Man, the 10 Year Old DJ Wonder's title pretty much sums it all up. He recorded some songs with Barrington Levy in 1984, two of which, "Under Mi Sensi" and "Two Sounds," would resurface in remixed form later in the '90s. But for the moment, his recording career came virtually to a close, bar the occasional single. But the young DJ remained a sound system favorite, even as he now turned his attention to his schoolwork.

Not surprisingly, Beenie's younger brother, Little Kirk, was keen to follow in his footsteps, and five years later the siblings hooked up with producer Patrick Roberts and began recording a series of singles that quickly brought them into the national spotlight. In 1992, Beenie appeared at Reggae Sunsplash and such was the response that the DJ now felt ready to take on the big guns. Beenie's first target was the acclaimed Bounty Killer, although the young DJ had cause for his attack as the veteran had stolen his catch phrase, "people dead," and the war was on. There was a lull in the very public battle in 1993 when Beenie left Kingston for almost a year after being booed off the stage at a national show celebrating the visit of Nelson Mandela. Upon his return the next year, there was a public reconciliation with Bounty Killer, which resulted in the split album Guns Out.

Beenie had obviously had a major change of heart, further evidenced by his single "No Mama No Cry," a version of Bob Marley's "No Woman No Cry," a scathing indictment of violence, inspired by the murder of fellow DJ Pan Head. The song topped the Jamaican chart and brought the DJ instant acclaim. Jamaica's violent crime rate remains shockingly high and affects people at all levels of society. While drug overdoses and suicide are a proportionately high cause of death for American artists, murder is often the tragic cause in Jamaica. That many of these crimes go unsolved, Pan Head's included, add to the emotional devastation and so does the fact that the violence seemingly comes in waves, carrying off a number of noted figures in the course of a year. Beenie, too, was affected by these events and Sly & Robbie, the producers of his "No Mama No Cry" single, were instrumental in guiding the young DJ toward his conversion to Rastafarianism.

A new attitude and a new hit single instantly turned Beenie's career around. Now working with all the island's top producers, the DJ recorded a slew of singles, many of them religiously themed, "Praise Him" and "World Dance" (which took the Best Single Award at the Jamaican Music Awards) included. The hits-heavy Defend It and Dis Unu Fi Hear were both released in 1994 and combined more culturally themed raps with a hardcore dancehall sound. Many of these singles, bar the Taxi releases, were rounded up on Gold by the British Charm label. Beenie's stardom was confirmed by his taking the DJ of the Year Award that same year. Signing to Island Records, Beenie released the seminal Blessed album, which featured another clutch of hits, including the dancehall smash "Slam."

While in the U.K., the DJ fired the British dancefloors with a jungle remix of "Under Mi Sensi." 1995 also brought a pair of collaborative albums, including Three Against War, which united the DJ with Dennis Brown and Triston Palma, and Mad Cobra Meets Lt. Stitchie & Beenie Man, a tag-team dancehall affair. Joined by Lady Saw, Beenie also scored a major hit with "Healer" that year, just one of many successful collaborative singles that included "Papa Was a Rolling Stone," which paired him with Third World. By the end of the year, Beenie was a shoo-in for the DJ of the Year Award. 1996 brought Maestro, Beenie's first "real" album, as compared to his previous hits collections. Produced by Patrick Roberts, it was a stunning effort featuring a kaleidoscope of moods. The following year proved to be his break out in Britain, when his and Chevelle Franklin's "Dance Hall Queen" bounced up the national chart. Both that single and its follow-up, "Who Am I," were number ones back at home, while the latter rocketed its way into the U.K. Top Ten. In fact, Beenie Man could now do no wrong, and a sound system's worth of his singles flew their way up the Jamaican chart that year and the next. The autobiographical Many Moods of Moses features a number of these smashes, including "Oysters & Conch" and "Foundation."

After headlining Reggae Sunsplash in 1998, Beenie signed to Virgin Records in the U.S.; The Doctor was the first fruit of this new union and was an instant dancehall classic. 1999 brought the King Jammy-produced album Y2K, which never actually mentions everyone's greatest fear that year -- the millennium bug, but does take on a host of other issues from AIDS to illiteracy. And the hit singles just kept on coming, and coming, and coming. Beenie was unstoppable, whether on his own or with other artists, and at times the Jamaican chart seemed to be the DJ's private preserve. "Hot Bwoy" with Buccaneer, "Mi Nu Walla," "Forget You," "Ruff Like We" with Redrose, "100 Dollar Bag," "So Nice" with Silvercat, "In This Together," "Skettel Tune" with Angel Doolas, and "L.O.Y." are just a sampling of the singles the DJ released between 1999 and 2000. The Art & Life album, released in the new century, showcased the DJ at his most eclectic and included guests Arturo Sandoval and Wyclef Jean of Fugees fame. The following year, Beenie reunited with Jean behind the mixing board to produce the debut album by actor Steven Seagal. Janet Jackson, the Neptunes, Lady Saw, and Lil' Kim all turned up as guests on 2002's Tropical Storm, the Beenie Man album with the most crossover appeal. 2004's Back to Basics was just that, a straight-up return to dancehall. The hit-collecting compilation From Kingston to King of the Dancehall appeared in early 2005, and Undisputed, which featured production work from Scott Storch and Don Corleon, among others, was released the next year. ~ Jo-Ann Greene, All Music Guide




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The Autumn Defense

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The Autumn Defense arrived with the 21st century, capturing colors of a bygone era. Fronted by John Stirratt, longtime member of Wilco and formerly Uncle Tupelo, the Autumn Defense is the result of a collaboration between Stirratt and musical compatriot Pat Sansone (who has worked with Joseph Arthur, Swan Dive, and Josh Rouse to name a few). Sharing roots in the Southern rock scene of the late '80s, the two converged a decade later in New Orleans after Stirratt's completion of the Mermaid Avenue sessions with Wilco and Billy Bragg.
Between noontime highs and slipping sunsets, the Autumn Defense create a sound which both embraces and resists the moods of autumn, and so defines their name. The multi-instrumental duo chase the sun westward to the California coast, gathering inspiration from classic L.A. pop and well-crafted melody in the '60s and '70s traditions. Between gentle harmonies and instrumental texturing, the associations are tempting: a trace of the Beach Boys or a Wilson brother? The Byrds, the Bee Gees, Bread, the Zombies piano pop? Stirratt himself quotes the seminal Forever Changes (Love) as one shaping influence to their sound.
The Autumn Defense's first studio effort found Stirratt delivering the bulk of the writing effort, with Sansone flexing his talents in arrangement and engineering. Other contributors included former Wilco players Ken Coomer (drums) and Bob Egan (pedal and lap steel). The Green Hour was released in 2000 on Stirratt's own Broadmoor label.
Always busy with other musical commitments, Sansone and Stirratt carried the Autumn Defense forward in low gear. Work began on the second album in the winter of 2002 at a friend's studio in Nashville, and after the passing of two summers and another winter, and numerous volleys between Chicago and New York, Circles was ready for release in October of 2003 on the Arena Rock label. Circles revealed a more earthy, pensive, and suitably autumnal disposition -- a work of deeper beauty and maturity. ~ Lisa M. Smith, All Music Guide



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Autopilot Off

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Autopilot Off is an emo-punk four-piece from Orange County, NY. Composed of Chris Hughes (guitar), Chris Johnson (guitar/vocals), Phil Robinson (drums), and Rob Kucharek (bass), they formed in 1996 under the name Cooter. Building a fan base through its live shows, the group was found sharing stages with the likes of MXPX, Less Than Jake, H20, and Sum 41 throughout the '90s. They eventually issued their debut full-length, Looking Up, in 1999 on Fastmusic. (They later re-released the album under the name Autopilot Off.) Next up came a 2000 split release with Slick Shoes on Fueled by Ramen; the band then changed its name to Autopilot Off prior to signing with Island Records. The guys released their eponymous Island debut EP in the spring of 2002 before the full-length Make a Sound appeared in April 2004. Autopilot Off later left Island, announcing in August 2005 that they would be going on an indefinite hiatus. Hughes went on to form the label Broken English (a part of East West) with producer John Naclerio. ~ Bradley Torreano & Corey Apar, All Music Guide



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The Bee Gees

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No popular music act of the '60s, '70s, '80s, or '90s experienced more ups and downs in popularity, or attracted a more varied audience across the decades than the Bee Gees. Beginning in the mid- to late '60s as a Beatlesque ensemble, they quickly developed as songwriters in their own right and style, perfecting in the process a progressive pop sound all their own. Then, after hitting a trough in their popularity in the early '70s, they reinvented themselves as perhaps the most successful white soul act of all time during the disco era. Their popularity faded with the passing of disco's appeal, but the Bee Gees made a successful comeback in virtually every corner of the globe. What remained a constant through their history is their extraordinary singing, rooted in three voices that were appealing individually and comprised so perfectly and naturally by melding together that they make such acts as the Beatles, the Everly Brothers, and Simon & Garfunkel -- all noted for their harmonies -- almost seem arch and artificial.

The group was also rock's most successful brother act. Barry Gibb, born on September 1, 1946, in Manchester, England, and his fraternal twin brothers Robin Gibb and Maurice Gibb, born on December 22, 1949, on the Isle of Man, were three of five children of Hugh Gibb, a bandleader, and Barbara Gibb, a former singer. The three of them gravitated toward music very early on, encouraged by their father, who reportedly saw his sons at first as a diminutive version of the Mills Brothers, a '30s and '40s black American harmony group. The three Gibb brothers made their earliest performances at local movie theaters in Manchester in 1955, singing between shows. Their intention was merely to mime to records as a novelty entertainment act, but when the records got broken, they sang for real and got a rousing response from the delighted audience. They performed under a variety of names, including the Blue Cats and (reportedly) the Rattlesnakes, and for a time, fell under the influence of England's skiffle king, Lonnie Donegan, and proto-rock & roller Tommy Steele.

Their early lives were interrupted when the family moved to Australia in 1958, resettling in Brisbane. The trio, known as the Brothers Gibb -- with Barry writing songs by then -- continued performing at talent shows and attracted the attention of a local DJ, Bill Gates, which led to an extended engagement at the Beachcomber Nightclub. They eventually got their own local television show in Brisbane, and it was around this time that they took on the name the Bee Gees (for Brothers Gibb). In 1962, they landed their first recording contract with the Festival Records label in Australia, debuting with the single "Three Kisses of Love." The trio was astoundingly popular among the press and on television, and performed to very enthusiastic audience response. They eventually released an LP, The Bee Gees Sing and Play 14 Barry Gibb Songs, but actual hit records eluded them in Australia. They were witness during 1963 and 1964 to the explosion of British beat music half a world away with the success of the Beatles, whose harmony-based approach to rock & roll and reliance on original songs only encouraged the three Gibb brothers to keep pushing in those directions.

By late 1966, however, they'd decided to stop trying to conquer the Australian music world, or to reach the rest of the world from Australia, and return to England -- which, thanks to the Beatles, was now the center of rock and popular music for the whole world. It was while on the boat, in mid-ocean, that the Gibb family learned that the Bee Gees had finally topped the charts back in Australia with their final release, "Spicks and Specks." Just as the Seekers had done upon leaving Australia, the group had sent demo recordings ahead of them to England, and "Spicks and Specks" had attracted the interest of Robert Stigwood (an associate of Brian Epstein). The trio was signed by Stigwood to a five-year contract upon their arrival, and they began shaping their sound anew in the environment of Swinging London in 1967. Barry Gibb and Robin Gibb alternated the lead vocal spot, harmonizing together and with Maurice Gibb. Barry played rhythm guitar as well, while Maurice, in addition to his backing vocal spot, was the triple-threat musician in the core lineup, playing bass, piano, organ, and Mellotron, among other instruments. The brothers soon expanded the group with the addition of guitarist Vince Melouney and drummer Colin Petersen, whose presence turned them into a fully functional performing group. Their first English recording, "New York Mining Disaster 1941," released in mid-1967, made the Top 20 in England and America and established a pattern for the group's work for the next two years. As an original by the group, it had a haunting melody and a strange lyric; it wasn't so much psychedelic (though it could pass for psychedelia in a pop vein) as it was surreal. They had successful follow-ups with "Holiday" and "To Love Somebody."

Robert Stigwood arranged for Polydor to release the Bee Gees' records in England and Europe, and for Atlantic Records to issue their work in America. Atlantic had missed out on the entire British Invasion and now they had a group whose music resembled that of the Beatles at their most accessible. The Bee Gees' records had gorgeous melodies and arrangements and were steeped in romantic yet complex lyrics, many of them containing a strangely downbeat mood that no one seemed to mind. One curious offshoot of their appeal was that Stigwood was able to convince Atlantic Records, as part of the deal for the Bee Gees, to accept and release the recordings of a relatively unknown trio called Cream. At the time, Eric Clapton was not much more than a cult figure in the United States, more "rumor" than star (his recordings with the Yardbirds had never even appeared in America with his name mentioned on them), but Atlantic -- which recorded Disraeli Gears -- helped change that, selling millions of records in the bargain.

The Bee Gees single "Massachusetts" was a chart-topper in England and launched the group on their first wave of stardom. Their music was made even more attractive by the fact that their albums were unusually well put together. Reflecting the influence of the Beatles, a lot of attention was lavished on the group's LP tracks rather than relying on the presence of a hit or two to justify their existence. Bee Gees 1st, cut in early 1967, had its weaker spots, but not a throwaway track on it, while Horizontal and Idea were strong LPs filled with beautiful and unusual songs and lush arrangements (courtesy of conductor Bill Shepherd), all carefully recorded, mixing electric instruments and orchestra. What made their work even more impressive was that after Bee Gees 1st, which was produced by their Australian friend Ossie Byrne, the three Gibb brothers took over producing their own records; even more surprising, as is now known from various bootleg releases of live performances of the period, the group -- with Melouney and Petersen in the lineup -- was also able to perform their music note-perfect, with spot-on vocals while on-stage, something that the Beatles had never even attempted seriously with their post-1965 efforts.

The group enjoyed two major hits in 1968, "I Started a Joke" and "I've Gotta Get a Message to You," both from Idea. Whatever they put out seemed to work, including the delightful psychedelic pop ode "Barker of the UFO," a B-side that is a spot-on perfect example of late-'60s English freakbeat, hardly a genre on which the Bee Gees are commonly thought to have contributed. It was easy, amid the sheer beauty of their records, to overlook the range of influences that went into their sound -- the Bee Gees may have been making pop/rock, but their underlying sounds came from a multitude of sources, including American country music and soul music. Indeed, one of the group's biggest hits, "To Love Somebody," had been written for Otis Redding to record, but the Stax/Volt singing legend didn't live long enough to record it himself. At this point in their history, they were most comfortable deconstructing elements in the singing and harmonies of black American music and rebuilding them in their style, as the Beatles had done with the music of the Shirelles and various Motown acts.

It was in 1969 when the trio lost all the momentum they'd built up, ironically over a dispute involving their most ambitious recording to date. They'd just finished a double-LP set, called Odessa, a lushly orchestrated, heavily overdubbed, and thoroughly haunting body of music. The seven-minute-long title track was filled with eerie images and ideas and gorgeous choruses around a haunting lead performance and it was only the jumping-off point for the album. The brothers, however, were unable to agree on which song was to be the single and in the resulting dispute, Robin decided to part company with Barry and Maurice. They held on to the Bee Gees name for one LP, Cucumber Castle, while Robin released the album Robin's Reign, on which he was producer, arranger, and songwriter, and sang all of the parts himself.

Eventually, even Barry and Maurice Gibb parted company. Melouney had left at the outset of the Odessa sessions and Petersen left the two-man group behind a few days into Cucumber Castle, though not without a good deal of legal squabbling. (At one point the drummer, in a bizarre twist, filed a lawsuit claiming that he owned the Bee Gees name.) Without a group to tour behind or even make television appearances promoting it, the Odessa album never sold the way it might have, even with a hit, "First of May." Cucumber Castle was at least peripherally connected to a British television special of the same name -- sort of the Bee Gees' better (and funnier) answer to the Beatles' Magical Mystery Tour movie -- and generated several singles that were successful in England and/or Germany, including the reggae-influenced "I.O.I.O." and "Don't Forget to Remember." Ironically, even during a period with their music partnership in tatters, the Gibb brothers were writing and recording profoundly beautiful songs -- Robin Gibb's "Saved by the Bell," with its lush, ornate multi-layered vocals, justifiably topped the British charts, and the two-man Bee Gees B-side "Sun in My Morning" was one of the prettiest songs ever issued by the group.

In 1970, they finally decided to try and re-form. Almost two years older and a good deal wiser, they related to each other better and had also evolved musically out of pop-psychedelia and into a kind of pop-progressive rock sound, similar to the Moody Blues of the same era but with better singing and more attractive songs. They came back on a high note with two dazzling songs: "Lonely Days," the group's first number one hit in America and their first gold record in the United States. The other was "Morning of My Life," a song originally known as "In the Morning," originally authored by Barry Gibb; included on the soundtrack to the movie Melody, it proved so popular with fans that the group was still doing it in concert several years later.

They enjoyed another huge international success with "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart" in 1971, but the accompanying album, Trafalgar, lacked some of the variety of sounds that had made their earlier LPs so interesting. Moreover, it and the 2 Years On LP that preceded it never reached higher than the mid-30s on the American charts (and never charted in England at all), a considerable falloff from their '60s albums' sales. In 1972, the group had another Top 20 hit with "Run to Me," but their album that year, To Whom It May Concern, was forgotten almost instantly after a brief run to number 35.

There was a sense that they were losing ground, particularly as the music world was increasingly defined by albums and driven by album sales. Pop/rock was developing around them in new and harder directions and the trio's Beatlesque harmonies and Paul McCartney-like melodies were starting to run a little thin at the source. Their 1973 album Life in a Tin Can and the accompanying single, "Saw a New Morning," which were used to launch the new RSO Records label, marked a change in the group's base of operations from England to America. Despite a heavy promotional tour, the single never made the Top 40 and the album stalled after climbing to the mid-60s.

When their proposed next album, tentatively titled A Kick in the Head (Is Worth Eight in the Pants), was rejected by Stigwood, the trio knew they were in a deep creative and commercial hole. Rescue came in the form of a suggestion by their RSO labelmate, Eric Clapton, that they try recording at the studio where he'd just cut 461 Ocean Boulevard, at Criteria Studios in Miami, FL. Stigwood agreed and the Bee Gees came back in 1974 with Mr. Natural, produced by Arif Mardin. This record was a departure for them with its heavily Americanized, R&B-flavored sound. The album didn't even sell as well as Life in a Tin Can and it yielded no hits, but it got better reviews and it pointed in a direction that seemed promising. It also seemed to free up the brothers' thinking about the kinds of songs they could do.

The next year, with Mardin again producing, they plunged head-first into the new sound with Main Course. This was the beginning of the Bee Gees' second (or third, if you count their Australian period) era. The emphasis was now on dance rhythms, high harmonies, and a funk beat. They had a new band in place, with Alan Kendall on lead guitar, Dennis Byron at the drums, and Blue Weaver on keyboards, but spearheading the new sound was Barry Gibb, who, for the first time, sang falsetto and discovered that he could delight audiences in that register. "Jive Talkin'," the first single off the album, became their second American number one single, but it was a long way from Lonely Days" in style. It was followed up with the hit "Nights on Broadway" and then the album Children of the World, which yielded the hits "You Should Be Dancing" and "Love So Right." In the midst of this string of new hits, the group released their first concert LP, Bee Gees Live, which gingerly walked a line between their old and new hits.

Then in 1977, coming off of their recent success, the group was approached about contributing to the soundtrack of a forthcoming movie, called Saturday Night Fever. Their featured numbers -- "Stayin' Alive," "How Deep Is Your Love," and "Night Fever" -- each made number one on the charts and the album stayed in the top spot for 24 weeks, even as the film broke existing box office records. In the process, the disco era was born -- or more properly, reborn. It had already taken root in Europe, where it had become passé, and in the black and gay subcultures in America as well, but there it had stalled out. Saturday Night Fever, as an album and a film, supercharged the phenomenon and broadened its audience to tens of millions of middle-class and working-class white listeners, with the Bee Gees at the forefront of the music.

Suddenly, they were outstripping the sales that the Beatles had enjoyed with their records in the 1960s, and were even eclipsing Paul McCartney's multi-platinum '70s-era popularity. It was a profound moment, joining the ranks of their one-time idols in the highest reaches of music success, if not musical or social significance. They could (and did) fill arenas across the country with their new fans, although some of their older admirers -- who were admittedly a minority in the context of the tens of millions of record sales they were enjoying in the mid-'70s -- resented the group's new sound and the disco era that it embodied.

Ironically, there wasn't that much difference in the group between the two eras. Apart from Barry Gibb's falsetto, the voices were the same and as good as ever, and they had a superb band and all of the production resources that a recording act could want. And amid the dance numbers, the group still did a healthy portion of romantic ballads that each offered a high "haunt" count and memorable hooks. They'd simply decided, at Arif Mardin's urging, to forget the fact that they were white Englishmen -- or the reticence that went with it -- and plunged head first into soul music, emulating, in their own terms, the funkier Philadelphia soul sounds that all three brothers knew and loved. Luckily for them, they had the voices, the band, and the songwriting skills to do it convincingly, so much so that by 1977 the Bee Gees were getting played on black radio stations that were normally unwilling to run any white acts. What's more, "Nights on Broadway" or "Love So Right" were no less beautiful songs or records than, say, "Melody Fair" or "First of May," and if one accepted Dennis Byron's and Maurice Gibb's driving beat on "You Should Be Dancing," it was impossible not to be impressed with the vocal acrobatics and the sheer panache of the song. In one fell swoop, the group had managed to meld every influence they'd ever embraced, from the Mills Brothers and the Beatles and early-'70s soul, into something of their own that was virtually irresistible. The worldwide sales of the 1979 Spirits Having Flown album topped 30 million and was accompanied by three more number one singles in "Tragedy," "Too Much Heaven," and "Love You Inside Out." As a sidelight to the group's success, a fourth Gibb brother, Andy Gibb, was enjoying massive chart success during this same period as a singer, working in a slightly lighter-textured dance vein.

By the end of the '70s, however, the disco era was on the wane, from a combination of the bad economy, political chaos domestically and around the world (leading to the election of Ronald Reagan), and a general burnout of the participants from too many drugs and profligate sex (which would precipitate an epidemic of sexually transmitted diseases and herald the outbreak of AIDS in the United States). There had already been an ad hoc reaction against the group's dominance of the airwaves with mass burnings of Bee Gees posters and albums at public forums spurred on by DJs and ordinary listeners weary of the dance hits by the group that seemed to soar effortlessly to the top of the charts; meanwhile, some radio stations began looking askance at new releases by the group after 1979. The group itself helped contribute to the end of the party with their own excesses, in particular their participation (at Stigwood's insistence) in the film Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, "inspired" (if that's the word) by the Beatles' album and songs. The movie was a box office and critical disaster and an embarrassment to all concerned; the accompanying soundtrack LP was a $1.99 cut-out only six months after its 1978 release, lingering in bargain bins and warehouses for years afterward.

In 1981, the group's new LP, Living Eyes, was recorded after an extended layoff in the wake of four years of hard work, but didn't even make the Top 40. Suddenly, with the disco era over and out of favor, the Bee Gees couldn't even get arrested and were being shunned for the excesses that it represented. The most tragic of all was the fate of Andy Gibb. The older Gibb brothers had, at various times, struggled with personal demons such as alcohol and drug use, but the youngest sibling fell very hard when the '70s ended, eventually losing his life in 1988, five days after his 30th birthday at the end of a horrendous downward personal spiral. In America, the Bee Gees were virtually invisible as recording artists for most of the '80s. Instead, Barry Gibb pursued work as a producer for other artists, creating hits for Barbra Streisand and Diana Ross, among others; the Bee Gees had songs on the soundtrack to Stayin' Alive, the tepid sequel to Saturday Night Fever, but they were no longer taken seriously by the music press.

They made their first attempt at a comeback in 1987 with E.S.P., an album that got favorable reviews and sold well in every corner of the globe except the United States, yielding a number one single (outside of the U.S.) in "You Win Again." A new album in 1989, One, got a good reception around the world and even generated a Top Ten U.S. single in the form of its title track. Polygram Records, which had bought out the RSO Records catalog, struggled long and hard over the release of Tales from the Brothers Gibb, a box set anthology that was really aimed more at the international market rather than the United States, although it has sold well enough to remain in print in America. High Civilization (1991) and Size Isn't Everything (1993) attracted somewhat less attention, but their induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 led to the release of Still Waters. In 1998, they issued the second live album in their history, One Night Only, cut at their first concert appearance in America in almost a decade, at the MGM Grand Hotel. In 2000, they participated in the making of the biographical video, This Is Where I Came In, which covered their whole history, and an accompanying album of the same name.

The Bee Gees remained active until the death of Maurice in January 2003. While receiving treatment for an intestinal blockage, he suffered cardiac arrest and died at the age of 53. Following his death, Robin and Barry decided to cease performing as the Bee Gees. ~ Bruce Eder, All Music Guide




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Autolux

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Los Angeles noise pop trio Autolux formed in 2000. Singer/bassist Eugene Goreshter met ex-Ednaswap drummer Carla Azar while collaborating on the score for Dario Fo's play Accidental Death of an Anarchist, and following the addition of former Failure guitarist Greg Edwards, the group made its live debut that summer at the noted L.A. area club the Silverlake Lounge. Upon releasing the self-produced EP Demonstration in the spring of 2001, Autolux signed with producer T-Bone Burnett's fledgling DMX label and began writing material for their upcoming debut LP -- however, in May 2002 Azar fell from a stage and shattered her elbow, making a complete recovery following an experimental surgery that required the implementation of eight titanium screws. At year's end the group finally entered the studio, and while recording wrapped in early 2003, Autolux spent more than a year refining the final mix and Future Perfect did not hit retail until October 2004. Tours in support of the Secret Machines and Nine Inch Nails followed, as did an appearance on the Vincent Gallo-curated All Tomorrow's Parties festival. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Music Guide



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Bedroom Walls

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Adam Goldman (guitar/vocals), Kris Canning (bass), Sean Hoffman (guitar), Vanessa Kaufman (drums), and Aurisha Smolarski (violin) compose the romanticore sounds of Bedroom Walls. The bandmembers themselves coined the term romanticore to describe the dreamy, bittersweet, and sometimes moody atmosphere surrounding the sound of this Los Angeles-based indie rock group. In 2002, engineer Rafter Roberts (Black Heart Procession, GoGoGo Airheart, the Album Leaf) joined Bedroom Walls at Singing Serpent Studios in San Diego for the recording of the band's debut album. The luxurious I Saw You Coming Back to Me followed in summer 2003. All Good Dreamers Pass This Way followed three years later. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide



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Authority Zero

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Jason DeVore (vocals), Bill Marcks (guitar/vocals), Jeremy Wood (bass/vocals), and Jim Wilcox (drums) comprise the exotic punk sound of Authority Zero. Formed in Mesa, AZ, in 1994, Authority Zero initially started off as a five-piece with vocalist Jerry Douglas. Douglas left the group in 1999, but remained an integral part of the Authority Zero family. Over the course of the '90s, the band eagerly pushed its sound, playing countless house parties, colleges, and club shows in and around Arizona. They quickly drew comparisons to Rage Against the Machine, and the local independent label Zia Records caught on. In 2001, Zia issued Authority Zero's debut, self-titled EP. College radio immediately jumped on the band, as the heavy drive of "One More Minute" and "Sky's the Limit" became moderate hits. That same year, Authority Zero scaled back on the riveting metal-like sound for structured hard rock that accented the band's multi-cultural backgrounds and diverse musical tastes. Atlantic's label sibling Lava signed Authority Zero within months of the Authority Zero EP becoming Zia's best-selling release. The band's full-length debut, A Passage in Time, appeared in fall 2002, containing nods to influences like Bad Religion, Dick Dale, Manu Chao, and Sublime. Tours with Guttermouth and H2O followed, spending time on the Warped Tour as well, and as the word-of-mouth buzz continued to spread, the band found itself having to play local shows under various alias in order to stay close to their hometown scene. Writing their next album in the span of a month, the band returned in 2004 with the culturally diverse and Latin-flavored Andiamo, produced by Ryan Greene (Lagwagon, Strung Out). Subsequent touring and their deal with Lava done, the live acoustic Rhythm and Booze appeared in June 2006 on Suburban Noize. Dates with Zebrahead were played that fall, during which time Wood exited and the band carried on with a temporary replacement. Authority Zero returned in late January 2007 with the faster skatepunk sounds of 12:34, again with production by Greene, and hit the road in support of it on dates with Rehab. ~ MacKenzie Wilson, All Music Guide



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Bedouin Soundclash

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This reggae-influenced Canadian band started in its native Kingston, Ontario -- not the traditional Jamaican reggae capital. In early 2000, bassist Eon Sinclair, drummer Pat Pengelly, and vocalist/guitarist/visual artist Jay Malinowski met at university and discovered a mutual love of dub reggae music. All musicians, the trio began performing classic reggae numbers at university. This continued for some time, and djembe player Brett Dunlop was added to create a fuller sound. In 2001, Bedouin Soundclash (who took their name from Israeli producer Badawi's 1996 album) won a battle of the bands competition at Queen's University. The group has performed in Canada and the United States, opening up for David Usher, Default, the Slackers, and Wide Mouth Mason. In late 2001 and early 2002, the band entered the studio to record its debut album (Dunlop was no longer in the lineup by this point). The album, Root Fire****, was released in April 2002. Sounding a Mosaic, which was produced by Bad Brains' Darryl Jenifer, followed two years later. ~ Jason MacNeil, All Music Guide



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