Inspired by the “skiffle boom”, a student at Quarry Bank School in Liverpool named John Lennon decided to form a group in 1957 which laid the foundation to what was to become the most famous rock band of all time. John’s original name was “The Blackjacks”. However, this name only lasted a week and John used the school name as […]

Cat Stevens, born Steve Georgiou in London, England, July 21, 1947, was the son of a Greek father and a Swedish mother. People close to him during his career always referred to him as Steve, not Cat. Much of Cat Stevens’ success came in the ’70s, but his music career began years earlier, when he landed his first hit in […]

Early yearsSkinner acquired his first keyboard by the age of five. As a teenager, he built a miniature recording studio in his bedroom. He began writing hip hop and garage music in his home in West Heath in Birmingham, with a crew of other rappers. He describes his background as “Barratt class: suburban estates, not poor but not much money […]

Born in Cambridge, England in 1948, the youngest child of Professor Brin Newton-John and Irene, daughter of Nobel Prize winning physicist, Max Born, Olivia moved to Melbourne, Australia with her family when she was five. By the age of fifteen, she had formed an all-girl group called Sol Four. Later that year she won a talent contest on the popular […]

John Michael Osbourne was born on December 3, 1948 in Birmingham, England. Throughout an extraordinary career, which has so far spanned three decades, Osbourne has made major contributions to the worlds of music and popular culture. As co-founder, lead singer, and songwriter for Black Sabbath (1970-79) he was, in effect, a chief architect of the genre now known as “heavy […]

“I don’t wanna be misunderstood,” sings James Morrison. “I’ve got to take this chance and make it into something good.” There’s a sense of urgency the 22-year-old U.K. singer/songwriter brings to the music on his debut Interscope Records album Undiscovered that suggests he won’t remain that way for long. No less a legend than Atlantic Records producer and co-founder Jerry […]

Imogen Heap (b. December 9, 1977) is a British singer-songwriter from Essex. She grew up playing music from an early age, and had begun to write songs by the time of her eleventh birthday. Heap enjoyed a prestigious live debut – performing four songs, backed by friends Acacia, between sets by The Who and Eric Clapton at the 1996 Prince’s […]

With a remarkable combination of middle-of-the-road appeal and talent and vision that has produced some of the better music of his time, composer-singer-drummer-actor Phil Collins has made an indelible impact on the entertainment industry. Truly one of the hardest working men in show business, he has written for and performed with two legendary and vastly different bands, found great success […]

Born Catherine Bush, 30 July 1958, Bexleyheath, Kent, England. While still at school, the precocious Bush was discovered by Pink Floyd ‘s David Gilmour, who was so impressed by the imaginative quality of her songwriting that he financed some demo recordings. EMI Records were equally taken with the product and in an unusual act of faith decided not to record […]

Some ageing rockstar once said that what he feared most, in a musical sense, was the songwriting well running dry. That’s something that’s unlikely ever to worry James Blunt. He has, it can be said without exaggeration, lived a life that should provide enough material for a dozen albums, with sufficient left over for a couple of screenplays. Sure – […]