Top Lite Rock Artists on Rhapsody Online

Billy Joel

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:21 -0800

Owner of more hit singles than there are strip malls in his native Long Island, N.Y., Billy Joel has fashioned the quintessential pop career from unparalleled songcraft, a penchant for genre-bouncing from one album to the next, and over-the-top stage performances. A child of 1950s R&B and 1960s British Invasion, Joel has always maintained an extraordinary knack for coming up with songs that sound just as good (if not better) on the AM radio of your uncle's '73 Pinto as they do on the living room hi-fi. This devotion to the pop aesthetic over the course of twelve studio albums and innumerable radio hits -- beginning with the autobiographical "Piano Man" in 1973 on through "The River of Dreams" 20 years later -- has won Joel a fan base ranging from 20-somethings raised on his late '70s/early '80s classics ("My Life," "Only The Good Die Young," and "Pressure" among them) to the parents of those same 20-somethings who hear a bit of the Beatles, Dylan, and Smokey Robinson in those same classics. Although Joel removed himself from the pop fold following River of Dreams, his mighty back catalog continues to sell in hefty chunks. - Charles Hodgkins

James Taylor

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:23 -0800

A folkie with a dark past, upbeat sound and clear pop inclinations, James Taylor was the poster boy for the '70s singer-songwriter movement. He had personal or professional ties to almost all of the era's stars, including Carole King, Joni Mitchell and Carly Simon -- his wife of more than a decade -- and several of his hits, including "Fire and Rain" and his cover of King's "You've Got a Friend," are definitive. Taylor came from a musical family -- three siblings were professional musicians -- and got his first break when Paul McCartney signed him to the Beatles' Apple Records in 1968. By then, he had already endured a 10-month stay in a psychiatric hospital for depression and was battling heroin addiction. That back-story colored his music. The collision of confessional songwriting and bright, catchy acoustic pop on Taylor's early records established the model for legions of folk-poppers. He continued racking up hits throughout the '70s with a combination of breezy originals and rootsy covers. The template has hardly changed in the ensuing decades, though hints of jazz and the classic pop songbook shine through on later albums. - Eric Shea

Paul McCartney

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:31 -0800

Paul McCartney's gift for light-pop songwriting has made him the most commercially successful ex-Beatle and one of the most successful songwriters of the century. He answered his critics in 1976 with the single "Silly Love Songs," one of many post-Beatles hits. If, as some critics maintain, his solo work hasn't measured up to the standards of his collaborations with John Lennon, McCartney has still shown a consistent talent for writing songs that are tuneful and popular. McCartney was also the only ex-Beatle to form a permanent working band; Wings, which he led from 1971 to 1981, recorded for more years than the Beatles. Sir Paul is the only ex-Beatle to date to have been knighted.

Paul McCartney grew up in working-class Liverpool. His father, James, led the Jim Mac Jazz Band in the 1920s. A few months after his mother, Mary, died of breast cancer in 1956, Paul bought his first guitar and learned to play. In June 1956 he met Lennon and asked to join his band, the Quarrymen; McCartney's rendition of Eddie Cochran's "Twenty Flight Rock" at a subsequent audition won him entry.

In 1963 McCartney met Jane Asher, to whom he addressed many of his best-known love songs, and on Christmas Day 1967, at a McCartney family party, he announced their engagement. But by July 1968 the engagement was off. Soon after, he met American photographer Linda Eastman, whom he married on March 12, 1969.

In April 1970, only two weeks before the scheduled release of the Beatles' Let It Be, McCartney released his first nonsoundtrack solo album — a one-man-studio-band LP recorded in Campbelltown, England, in late 1969. The double-platinum McCartney (Number One, 1970) had a pronounced homemade quality; it was spare and sounded almost unfinished, but it also contained "Maybe I'm Amazed," which became an international hit and McCartney's first post-Beatles pop standard (the Beatles had only recently disbanded as the tune became a hit). The winsome, homespun-ditty motif continued with Ram (Number Two, 1971), credited to Paul and Linda McCartney. It also inspired Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?"— a vicious, thinly veiled attack on McCartney. Meanwhile, Ram yielded two major hits in "Another Day" (Number Five, 1971) and "Uncle Albert/Admiral Halsey," which made Number One in America.

Later in 1971 McCartney formed Wings, which was intended as a recording and touring outfit. Along with Linda, Wings featured American session drummer Denny Seiwell and ex-Moody Blues guitarist Denny Laine. Wings' Wild Life, with Linda on keyboards and backup vocals, sold only moderately, failing to yield a hit single. In 1972, ex-Grease Band guitarist Henry McCullough joined. McCartney spent 1972 releasing several singles, including "Give Ireland Back to the Irish" (Number 16 U.K.) (rush-released after the January 1972 "Bloody Sunday" incident in which British soldiers killed 13 Irish civilians in Londonderry, Ireland; the song was banned by the BBC), "Mary Had a Little Lamb" (Number Nine U.K.; Number 28 U.S.) (yes, the nursery rhyme), and the hard-rocking, mildly salacious "Hi Hi Hi." Only the latter was a major U.S. hit, going to Number Ten in 1973.

Red Rose Speedway (Number One, 1973), the next Wings album, yielded a Number One hit single in the U.S. with the heavily orchestrated ballad "My Love." Also in 1973, McCartney was arrested and then released on a drug charge, and he did his own television special, which received mixed reviews in both the U.S. and the U.K. Later Wings made its first major tour of Britain and recorded the title theme song for the James Bond film Live and Let Die, which went to Number Two in the U.S. Laine released a solo album, Ahh Laine.

After Wings' U.K. tour, Seiwell and McCullough left the group. Denny Laine accompanied Paul and Linda to Nigeria to record Band on the Run. While each of the previous Wings albums had ended up going gold, Band on the Run (Number One, 1974) went triple platinum in short order and yielded two Top 10 hit singles--"Helen Wheels (Number Ten, 1974) and "Jet" (Number 7, 1974)--and the bouncy title track minisuite (Number 11, 1974). It also included McCartney's answer to Lennon's "How Do You Sleep?" in "Let Me Roll It," and featured a over photo of McCartney accompanied by such celebrities as film actors James Coburn and Christopher Lee.

McCartney formed a new Wings, recruiting guitarist Jimmy McCulloch from Thunderclap Newman and Stone the Crows, and drummer Geoff Britton, a British karate expert. They recorded "Junior's Farm" (Number Three, 1974) in Nashville in 1974 and later that year went to New Orleans (where they found new drummer Joe English) to record Venus and Mars, which yielded the Number One "Listen to What the Man Said," among other hits, and went platinum. Wings at the Speed of Sound found McCartney giving his band members a chance to compose and sing much of the material, but McCartney's own contributions were almost all hits. Two went gold: "Silly Love Songs" (Number One, 1976) and "Let 'Em In" (Number Three, 1976). Shortly after the album's release, Wings completed a world tour that had begun in Britain on September 9, 1975, and ended on October 21, 1976. The Wings Over America triple-LP live album was recorded on that tour.

In 1977 McCartney, under the pseudonym Percy Thrillington, recorded an obscure, all-instrumental version of Ram and produced Denny Laine's Holly Days, a solo album of Buddy Holly songs. A live "Maybe I'm Amazed" hit Number Ten in 1977. That year saw the release of the McCartney-Laine "Mull of Kintyre," based on a Scottish folk song, which became the first single ever to sell two million copies in Britain and was a minor hit in the U.S. as well. It was McCartney's first Britsh Number One single since he'd left the Beatles. Later that year, under the name Susie and the Red Stripes, McCartney and Wings had another minor hit single in the reggae-inflected "Seaside Woman."

After 1978's London Town, which yielded another Number One, "With a Little Luck," Jimmy McCulloch departed for the re-formed Small Faces. Back to the Egg failed to yield a hit and sold unspectacularly. In January 1979 McCartney was arrested for possession of marijuana in Tokyo at the beginning of a Japanese tour, jailed for 10 days, then freed and not prosecuted. Soon after, he and Wings embarked on a British tour, after which drummer English left. McCartney then organized the all-star benefit concerts for the people of Kampuchea and released McCartney II (Number Three, 1980), his first one-man-band album since his solo debut. It contained the Number One hit "Coming Up."

In April 1981 Denny Laine announced he was leaving Wings, the reason being McCartney's reluctance to tour because of the death threats he was receiving in the wake of John Lennon's murder. McCartney continued with the well-received Tug of War, a solo album featuring a host of guest performers (Laine, ex-Beatle Ringo Starr, Beatles producer George Martin), most notably Stevie Wonder, who sang with McCartney on the Number One hit single "Ebony and Ivory." Tug also yielded a Number 10 hit in "Take It Away." McCartney sang on Michael Jackson's "The Girl Is Mine," a Top 10 hit in 1983. Jackson returned the favor by singing on Pipes of Peace's "Say Say Say," which topped the chart later the same year.

Embittered by the 1967 sale of publishing rights to his and John Lennon's Beatles songs to British film producer Lew Grade---a sale made while the Beatles were in India with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi---McCartney has invested extensively in pop-song copyrights over the years. Among his holdings are the entire Buddy Holly catalogue, "On Wisconsin," and "Autumn Leaves." However, shortly after "Say Say Say" was a hit, McCartney advised Michael Jackson to invest in music publishing--and Jackson later bought the Northern Songs catalogue, which included all the Beatles songs McCartney had written with Lennon. McCartney never hid his anger at the move, especially when Jackson began licensing Beatles tunes for television commercials (such as "Revolution," used in a late-'80s Nike sneaker ad). McCartney later told Musician magazine that "complications with Yoko" (whose son Sean was a friend of Jackson's) had prevented him from making a competitive bid for his own songs.

In 1984 McCartney made a dramatic feature film, Give My Regards to Broad Street, set within London's music industry, which was roundly panned by critics. Its soundtrack (Number 21, 1984) consisted largely of rerecorded Beatles and McCartney hits; the album went gold, and one new track, the ballad "No More Lonely Nights," became a Number 6 pop hit. He scored a Number 7 pop hit in 1985 with the theme song to the comedy film Spies Like Us. Press to Play (Number 30, 1986) found McCartney collaborating with ex-10cc Eric Stewart; the album's only hit was "Press" (Number 21, 1986). In 1988, as a sort glasnost gesture, McCartney released an album of rock oldies exclusively on the Soviet Melodiya label under the name CHOBA B CCCP ("Back in the USSR," roughly translated). For Flowers in the Dirt (Number 21, 1989), McCartney collaborated on some songs with Elvis Costello (McCartney also cowrote and played on a couple tracks on Costello's Spike, including the hit "Veronica"). The album yielded a hit in "My Brave Face" (Number 25, 1989), but McCartney was reportedly quite disappointed that the album failed to chart higher, despite a 1989 world tour (with a band featuring ex-Pretenders guitarist Robbie McIntosh and ex-Average White Band bassist Hamish Stuart) that was documented on Tripping the Live Fantastic (Number 26, 1990).

In early 1991 McCartney became one of the first major artists to release an album from his appearance on MTV's Unplugged acoustic showcase; Unplugged (The Official Bootleg) hit Number 14. Later that year McCartney released CHOBA B CCCP in the U.S. (it reached Number 109) and unveiled his first classical work, Liverpool Oratorio (Number 177, 1991), which failed to impress classical critics. McCartney returned to pop with Off the Ground; the album entered the chart at Number 17 but dropped quickly and failed to yield a hit single. His New World tour fared better and resulted in the album Paul Is Live (Number 78, 1993). In April 1993 McCartney was joined onstage by Starr for "Hey Jude" at an all-star Earth Day concert in Los Angeles.

In 1994 McCartney quietly assumed the pseudonym the Fireman and released Strawberries Oceans Ships Forest, a techno-dance collaboration with ambient producer Youth (a second Fireman album, Rushes, came out in 1998). Executed with far less stealth was the massive Beatles Anthology project, in which he reunited with George Harrison and Ringo Starr for a documentary miniseries and three double albums of demos and live rarities (all three topped the U.S. chart). Anthology 1 and 2 each included a "new" Beatles song ("Free as a Bird," Number Six, 1995, and "Real Love," Number 11, 1996, respectively, which were built upon John Lennon demo recordings.

McCartney was knighted by the Queen of England in 1997. Later that year he released Flaming Pie (Number Two) (the title a reference to a joke Lennon told about how the Beatles got their name), which featured guest appearances by Starr, George Martin, Steve Miller, Jeff Lynne, and McCartney's son, James, on guitar. He closed out the year by releasing his second classical piece, Standing Stone (Number 194).

On April 17, 1998, McCartney lost the love of his life when Linda succumbed to breast cancer. Except for the 10 days he spent in jail in Japan, the couple had never been apart. Though her musical talent was often questioned by critics, Linda found great success as an animal-rights activist, photographer, vegetarian cookbook author, and vegan frozen-foods entrepreneur. The couple had four children: Heather (from Linda's previous marriage), Mary, Stella (who in the 2000s would become a major name in fashion design), and James. After a year of mourning, McCartney went back into Abbey Road studios with a band including Pink Floyd's David Gilmour and Deep Purple's Ian Paice and recorded a number of vintage rock and roll covers. Along with three new originals, those covers made up Run Devil Run (Number 27, 1999). He celebrated its release with a one-off gig at Liverpool's Cavern Club on December 14, 1999, which was broadcast over the Internet to an audience of more than 3 million. Earlier that year he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a solo artist. The year 2000 saw the release of A Garland for Linda (Number Seven Classical), a benefit of modern classical pieces, including McCartney's own "Nova."

In 2001, McCartney released Driving Rain (Number 26), an often moving meditation on life as a widower dealing with new love and old memories. The new love in question was the much younger model Heather Mills, whose relationship with McCartney had gone public in 2000. They married in 2002. Also in 2001, McCartney recorded the Oscar-nominated title song from Cameron Crowe's film Vanilla Sky. He also helped organize a major benefit concert for New York victims of the September 11th attacks. McCartney, whose father was a fireman, was especially shaken by the attacks. He also played at the Concert for George in late 2002, on the anniversary of George Harrison's passing. He toured through much of 2002 and played the Super Bowl pre-game that year (and performed the halftime show in 2005). He also headlined the Glastonbury Festival in 2004.

Chaos and Creation in the Backyard (Number Six, 2005) found McCartney working with producer Nigel Godrich (Pavement, Beck, Radiohead), while 2007's Memory Almost Full (Number Three) was McCartney's first album on Hear Music, the house label of the chain coffeehouse giant Starbucks; that was followed by The McCartney Years, a triple DVD set of live performances, videos, and unreleased footage. Between albums, McCartney began acrimonious divorce proceedings with Mills, which dragged out in public for over two years.

Bee Gees

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:22 -0800
The Bee Gees made whiney falsetto hip, wide polyester collars the height of high-rolling fashion, and defined cool for an entire generation. A '70s supergroup who actually began as a brothers act in 1959, the Bee Gees have proven remarkably versatile throughout their long career, unafraid to experiment with everything from country to R&B to straight pop balladry. They scored a number of hits during the 1960s and early '70s with shimmering hits like "I've Got to Get a Message to You" and "How Can You Mend a Broken Heart." Some of the Bee Gees' most memorable tracks stemmed from the height of the disco era, culminating in 1977's Saturday Night Fever soundtrack with tunes like "Night Fever," "How Deep is Your Love," and of course, "Stayin' Alive." Lush harmonies, symphonic arrangements, and a tendency to reinvent themselves when the going gets tough have made this band one of the longest-running pop acts around. - Sarah Bardeen

Rod Stewart

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:31 -0800
Rod Stewart once sat at the right hand of nearly every critic, enjoying the fulsome praise due a rock 'n' roll wunderkind. Then came commercial success, and the critics dismissed their former fave as a trendy sellout. After an incredibly productive stint from 1960 to 1975, in which Stewart matched Faces releases with solo albums (with the Faces backing him), he left the band to explore new currents in the mainstream. From the slick soft rock of "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" to the polyester pop of "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?," Stewart openly pandered to public tastes; but to goof on "Rod the Bod" without acknowledging his important early work with the Jeff Beck Group and Faces is unfair. Recent box-set anthologies sample moments from Stewart's lengthy career, bringing them together in a convincing argument for his election into rock's elite. They remind listeners that from the down-home Folk-Rock of "Handbags and Gladrags" to the Zeppelin-esque "(I Know) I'm Losing You" and wistful pop of "Downtown Train," there is little Stewart hasn't done and done well -- with or without critics' blessings. Then, in 2002, he changed course again and cut a standards collection that became one of the biggest sellers, prompting him to release a string of "American Songbook" collections. - Chad Driscoll

Chicago

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:14:58 -0800
Not to be confused with Boston or Kansas, Chicago forged a driving, horn-filled, white jazz-rock-soul sound before staggering into their later romantic ballad era, which eventually led to grizzled-geezer casino tours. Their many platinum-selling hits were catchy enough to stay in your head after just a glance at their title ("25 or 6 to 4," "Saturday in the Park," "You're the Inspiration"). - Jessy Terry

Hall & Oates

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:15:02 -0800
There was a time in the early 1980s when the breezy pop of Hall and Oates was inescapable. Next to The Righteous Brothers, the duo is probably the most famous Blue-Eyed Soul group in the world. They hold the record for most Top-40 hits as a duo with twenty-nine -- as many as the number of years the group has been around. The band started in the late 1960s in Philadelphia with a sound that drew from folk and rock, but especially from Soul, particularly from the sounds of Gamble and Huff's Philly International Records. Based around Daryl Hall's sweet expressive tenor and John Oates' backup vocals and guitar work, their early hits "She's Gone" and "Sarah Smile" didn't give any real indication of the chart dominance the band would have begin in 1980 when their album Voices started a string of hits that didn't diminish for another five years. - Tom Heyman

Phil Collins

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:29 -0800
In 1970, Phil Collins answered a "drummer wanted" ad in the back of Melody Maker magazine, auditioned at the home of Peter Gabriel's parents and joined a band called Genesis just as they emerged as one of the world's best progressive rock bands. When Gabriel quit the band in 1975, Collins became the singer, a tenure that spanned 21 years and produced many chart-topping songs, such as "Invisible Touch" and "Land of Confusion." His 1980 first solo album, Face Value, was a huge commercial success due in part to the FM radio staple "In the Air Tonight." His Grammy-winning "Against All Odds" and 1985's No Jacket Required made him a darling of the emerging MTV generation. Collins was seemingly everywhere during the 1980s.

He performed at two Live Aid concerts on the same day in 1985: London's Wembley Stadium and Philadelphia's JFK Stadium, where he drummed with a reunited Led Zeppelin. Shortly after disbanding Genesis in 1996 he formed the Phil Collins Big Band and released one record, A Hot Night in Paris. He won an Oscar in 1999 for "You'll Be in My Heart" from the Disney film Tarzan. That year, Collins appeared as himself in the video game Grand Theft Auto: Vice City Stories. - Nate Baker

John Denver

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:15:45 -0800
If thrift store record bins are any sort of barometer, it would seem that every person in America at one time owned a John Denver record. By this same logic, you can also guess to say that they all tossed them out at the same time. At some point, John Denver went from being America's most loved singer-songwriter to being the punchline on late-night talk shows. Blame it on overexposure or his constant mugging with Muppets, George Burns, and other bloodless creatures. Eventually, his humanitarian concerns took precedence over his folk/pop. The author of such heart-on-a-sleeve snapshots as "Sunshine On My Shoulder" and "Rocky Mountain High" died in a plane crash in 1997. John Denver's real name was Henry John Deutschendorf. He was raised on many Air Force bases, but always loved and championed the outdoors. - Eric Shea

Cat Stevens

Wed, 16 Dec 2009 11:55:36 -0800
For the balance of the 1970s Cat Stevens was a trans-Atlantic superstar whose soft, romantic, hooky, and often-mystical singles were Top Ten mainstays. After eight gold albums in a row, the commercially and critically lauder singer/songwriter's star began to fade. By the late-1970s, following a near-drowning experience, Stevens converted to Islam and changed his name to Yusef Islam dropping out of music throughout the 1980s and most of the 1990s. By the turn of the millennium, however, he began to make a comeback albeit under a different persona.

The son of a Greek father and Swedish mother, Stevens (b. Steven Demetri Georgiou, Jul 21, 1947, London, Eng.) spent his early youth developing a love of Greek folk songs and dances. By the time he entered secondary school, he had also taken an interest in rock and roll and English and American folk music. While attending Hammersmith College in the mid-1960s, he began writing his own songs and performing solo.

In 1966 independent producer Mike Hurst (formerly with the Springfields) produced Stevens' first U.K. hit single, "I Love My Dog." In 1967 "Matthew and Son" went to Number Two on the British chart. Meanwhile, Stevens' tunes were British hits for other performers as well. P.P. Arnold hit with "The First Cut Is the Deepest" (later covered by Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow), the Tremeloes with "Here Comes My Baby." Stevens toured England and Europe, becoming something of a teen idol, and shared bills with Jimi Hendrix and Engelbert Humperdinck, among others.

But Stevens became disenchanted with what he considered the shallowness of his ventures. After his 1968 hit "I'm Gonna Get Me a Gun" (Number Six U.K.), he tried to work ambitious classical arrangements into his tunes, to his producers' chagrin. Stevens' career then came to a standstill when he contracted a near-fatal case of tuberculosis in late 1968 and was confined to a hospital for a year. He took that time to work on his new material, which was unveiled in Mona Bone Jakon, a critical success that yielded a British hit single in "Lady D'Arbanville" (Number Eight U.K., 1970) (purportedly about the actress Patti D'Arbanville). The muted accompaniment was by flutist Peter Gabriel (who would soon find his own fame in Genesis), percussionist Harvey Burns, and perennial Stevens collaborator guitarist Alun Davies.

Stevens' next album, Tea for the Tillerman, hit the U.S. Top Ten and stayed on the charts for well over a year, yielding the hit "Wild World." Stevens was now a highly successful concert performer as well. The next album was another hit; Teaser and the Firecat went to Number Three, then gold, and contained the hits "Morning Has Broken" (Number Six), "Peace Train" (Number Seven), and "Moon Shadow" (Number 30). Though Catch Bull at Four and Foreigner were also certified gold, they yielded no big hits. At that time, unbeknownst to many of his fans, Stevens was living in Brazil, donating much of his earnings to charities such as UNESCO. With Buddah and the Chocolate Box, featuring "Oh Very Young" (Number 10), and Numbers, Stevens' sales dropped off.

In 1975 Stevens began studying the Koran and later converted to the Muslim religion. In late 1981 the rechristened Stevens announced, "I'm no longer seeking applause and fame," and auctioned off all his material possessions, including his gold records. By then he had married Fouzia Ali; as of the late 1980s, they had five children, and he was running a Muslim school outside London. In 1987 10,000 Maniacs covered "Peace Train," and the following year Maxi Priest hit the U.K. Top Ten with a version of "Wild World." What might have grown into a Stevens revival, however, was nipped in 1989, when the media reported that the singer allegedly supported Iran's death-sentence condemnation of Satanic Verses author Salman Rushdie, whose book had supposedly blasphemed the Muslim faith (Stevens claims he was misinterpreted). American radio stations observed an airplay boycott of Stevens' material; 10,000 Maniacs removed "Peace Train" from later pressings of the album on which it appeared.

In the mid-'90s Yusef Islam founded his own label, Mountain of Light, on which he released spoken-word albums. The albums A Is for Allah (2000) and I Look, I See (2003) contain songs for children in addition to spoken pieces. He followed those with the concert disc A Night of Remembrance: Live at the Royal Albert Hall. In 2000 Islam, who has supported humanitarian efforts in Bosnia, oversaw the release of a Stevens retrospective and began to resurface in the music press, claiming to have been unfairly vilified and misquoted about the Rushdie incident. Twenty-eight years after he left the major-label pop world as Cat Stevens, he returned on Atlantic Records as Yusef Islam with An Other Cup (Number 52, 2006), a set of folk-pop songs that hearkened back to his pop-star days but with clear religious messages. He continues to release religious albums and music for children independently.

Kenny Loggins

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:23 -0800
Long before he wrote songs for movies about an elite school of U.S. Naval Avation cadets, country club golfing hijinks or small towns that outlawed teenage dancing, Kenny Loggins was a full-blown country rocker. In fact, in the 1970s he wrote songs for the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band. These twangy ditties caught the ear of Poco's Jim Messina, and the two formed Loggins & Messina. They cranked out a few country-tinged soft rock albums before disbanding in 1976, leaving Loggins to a life of writing and recording songs for movies and his solo albums (which are admirable works in their own right). - Eric Shea

Barry Manilow

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:17:02 -0800
Barry Manilow's recordings no longer top the charts the way they did throughout the 1970s but he still commands a large, loyal following. A low-key, honestly humble man who can transform into a dynamic performer, Manilow's ability to marry classic pop and Swing with Soft Rock while respecting each form is commendable. Manilow's fall in the pop charts made him take more artistic chances, and while he doesn't always succeed, his choices are never expected. Manilow started out as a behind-the-scenes jingle writer and one of his best moves was to pen a number of melodies to newly discovered Johnny Mercer songs. A true gentleman, he had jazz singer Nancy Wilson record them and the tune "When October Comes" (which Barry crooned on his album 2:00 AM Paradise Cafe) in 1984. - Nick Dedina

The Carpenters

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:26 -0800
A popular brother-and-sister team, the Carpenters sold millions of hit records in the early '70s. Richard started taking piano lessons at age 12 and studied classical piano at Yale before the family relocated to Downey, California, in 1963. Richard studied at USC and Cal State at Long Beach. He formed his first group in 1965, a jazz-pop instrumental trio that included younger sister Karen on drums and their friend Wes Jacobs (who later abandoned pop for a seat in the Detroit Symphony) on bass and tuba. The group won a battle of the bands at the Hollywood Bowl and subsequently signed with RCA. Four sides were recorded, but after label executives deemed them not commercially viable, they were never released. In late 1966 the trio broke up. Richard and Karen recruited four Cal State students into the vocal harmony-oriented band Spectrum. They played various Southern California venues to less than ecstatic response and disbanded.

The Carpenter siblings' densely layered, pop-oriented demo tapes eventually caught the attention of Herb Alpert, who signed them to A&M in 1969. They released their first album that November. Originally titled Offering, it was ignored until it was repackaged as Ticket to Ride, on the strength of the moderate success of their Beatles-cover single. Close to You's title track, a Burt Bacharach tune, sold more than a million copies and went to Number One in the U.S. and several other countries. Their hits continued: "We've Only Just Begun" (Number Two, 1970), "For All We Know" (Number Three, 1971; it won an Oscar for Best Song in 1970), "Rainy Days and Mondays" (Number Two, 1971), "Superstar" (Number Two, 1971; written by Leon Russell), "It's Going to Take Some Time" (Number 12, 1972), "Hurting Each Other" (Number Two, 1972), "Goodbye to Love" (Number Seven, 1972), "Sing" (Number Three, 1973), "Yesterday Once More" (Number Two, 1973), "Top of the World" (Number One, 1973), "Won't Last a Day Without You" (Number 11, 1974), "Please Mr. Postman" (Number One, 1975), and "Only Yesterday" (Number Four, 1975).

The 1973 LP The Singles 1969–1973 was a bestseller, and the Carpenters were three-time Grammy winners. They hosted a short-lived variety series, Make Your Own Kind of Music, on NBC in 1971. At the request of President Nixon, they performed at a White House state dinner honoring West German Chancellor Willy Brandt on May 1, 1973. They toured internationally through the mid-'70s. Their 1976 tour of Japan was, at the time, the biggest-grossing concert ever in that country. From 1976 to 1980 the pair hosted five ABC television specials. Through the late '70s the Carpenters were noticeably absent from the charts, but returned to the Top 20 in 1981 with "Touch Me When We're Dancing."

On February 4, 1983, Karen Carpenter died in her parents' home of cardiac arrest, resulting from her long struggle with anorexia nervosa. Her story was presented in the highly rated made-for-television movie The Karen Carpenter Story in 1988. The posthumous LP Lovelines drew critical notice for its inclusion of four tracks Karen had recorded for an unreleased 1980 solo album. Richard's solo effort, Time, featured duets with Dionne Warwick and Dusty Springfield yet failed to chart. The followup merely features easy-listening, instrumental revisions of various Carpenters songs.

With time, the duo's saccharine image has receded somewhat, and Karen Carpenter is acknowledged by women rock musicians, including Chrissie Hynde and Madonna, as a pioneer. Sonic Youth, Sheryl Crow, Matthew Sweet, Cracker, and the Cranberries were among the fourteen acts who contributed to the 1994 Carpenters tribute album If I Were a Carpenter. Around the same time that fall, the Karen and Richard Carpenter Performing Arts Center at Cal State University opened in Long Beach, California. Karen Carpenter's eponymous solo debut, recorded in 1979 and 1980 but unreleased until 1996, continued to keep her memory alive. The somewhat mature — but hardly edgy — album found her experimenting with disco and mildly suggestive lyrics.

from The Rolling Stone Encyclopedia of Rock & Roll (Simon & Schuster, 2001)

Gordon Lightfoot

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:14:11 -0800
Melancholy folk-rock minstrel Gordon Lightfoot is one of Canada's proudest exports, with a prodigious career spanning over six decades, including seven Grammy nominations, 17 Juno Awards, and a number of prestigious accolades, among them the Order of Canada in 1970 and the Governor's Performing Arts Award in 1997 - the highest official honor, conferred on the very few (Joni Mitchell is also a recipient). The singer began his long career at a remarkably early age, cutting his first record at the age of 10 in a single take, with his sister Bev as his accompanist. His first brush with fame occurred shortly after when the principal of his elementary school played the disc over the school's PA on Parent's Day. Lightfoot never looked back, forging his storied career first as choral performer and dancer on the CBC's Country Hoedown for two years, before drumming for a revue dubbed Up Tempo '61, under the unexpected pseudonym Charles Sullivan. But his anonymity didn't last long. "Remember Me (I'm The One)," which he recorded as a member of the folk duo Two Tones with partner Terry Whelan, climbed up the Canadian charts and reached a respectable No. 10, and in 1964, he was "discovered" by popular folk duo Ian & Sylvia at Steele's Tavern in Toronto. They were wowed by his weathered voice and sparse, striking arrangements, and recorded some of the young artist's songs, which led Bob Dylan's manager, Albert Grossman, to sign him. Lightfoot performed at the Newport Folk Festival in 1965, that seminal day when Dylan -- a life-long friend who wrote in the liner notes to his own Biograph box set: "Gordon Lightfoot, every time I hear a song of his, it's like I wish it would last forever" -- went electric and set the folk community on its ear. By the mid-'60s, Lightfoot became a much sought-after songwriter, his ethereal compositions becoming hits for Peter Paul & Mary and Johnny Cash, while "Ribbon of Darkness," a song he penned for Marty Robbins, topped the country charts. Lightfoot's star really began to rise at the beginning of the next decade, when he entered the U.S. charts for the first time with "If You Could Read My Mind," which reached No. 5 on the singles chart. But his career didn't reach its commercial apex until 1974, when his album Sundown perched on top of the U.S. charts. The next year, "Rainy Day People" peaked at a still-respectable No. 26 on the singles charts, and two years later 'The Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald" soared to No. 1 -- but it was clear that commercial tides were changing. The musician continued to record his soft-focus, mature singer-songwriter-styled material, but it just wasn't as appealing to this new rock audience, who hungered for harder music. Nevertheless, Lightfoot's popularity has been sustained over the decades because an astonishing number of high wattage performers like Bob Dylan, Elvis Presley, Barbra Streisand and Ron Sexsmith have covered his material. If that weren't reason enough, the iconic balladeer lives on in "Lightfoot," a rather serious-minded tribute by the Guess Who that references Lightfoot's own songs. The folk legend nearly died in 2002, after an artery ruptured in his abdomen during a performance. He was airlifted to a nearby hospital, and spent three months in recovery, including five weeks in a coma. He returned to performing in 2004. - Jaan Uhelszki

America

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:52 -0800
With hits like "Ventura Highway" and "A Horse With No Name," America took the California sound to new plateaus in the 1970s and '80s. Even with the innovative and pristine production of Elliott Shiner (who also produced Randy Newman) and Phil Galdston (Jill Sobule, Vanessa Williams), the folk-rock band still made the kind of free and easy music that rocked dads' leather-craft night classes and your moms' latch-hook rug-making parties. Their albums' popularity trickled off as the '80s progressed, possibly owing to the band's shift from a rootsier, Neil Young-influenced sound to more polished soft rock (complete with synthesizers), but the tours, live albums and greatest-hits collections continued to flow. In 2007, with younger, hipper listeners finding a new appreciation for lite-FM sounds of the '70s and '80s, the band reasserted its relevance with Here & Now, a double album produced by Smashing Pumpkins' James Iha and Fountains of Wayne's Adam Schlesinger, featuring appearances by Bryan Adams and Ben Kweller, along with covers of songs by Nada Surf and My Morning Jacket. - Eric Shea

Carly Simon

Fri, 11 Dec 2009 11:41:05 -0800
If you don't remember Carly Simon first hand, then you surely remember her as the woman that always took up a few spots in your mother's record collection, probably nestled somewhere alongside Carole King's Tapestry. A singer-songwriter whose star shone brightest in the 1970s -- she was among the most prominent of the confessional bunch during the genre's heyday -- Simon's music was both pleasantly undaunting and mildly shocking in its frankness, and her light piano playing and run-of-the-mill vocals contrasted with her uninhibited lyrics. In the face of increasingly emotional songwriting that's emerged over the years, the sharp-pointed phrases that filled Simon's music seem to have become relatively blunt, and her music now fits perfectly in the tame playlists of Lite Rock radio. But a night spent dusting off her records and listening to her sing of life's trials, tribulations and excesses can revive some of the emotion still contained therein. - Nick Dedina

Carole King

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:19 -0800
No self-respecting 1970s co-ed dorm was without a copy of Carole King's Tapestry, a mondo hit that did for female singer-songwriters what Paul Simon did for the guys. One of the main consequences of this key album was that the public got clued into all the great songs King had written -- often with Jerry Goffin -- for other artists when the Brill Building ruled '60s pop. Such wonders as "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" and "You've Got a Friend" are ultra-catchy, yet have a depth that is sorely missing in today's market of disposable singles. King's career was the inspiration behind the movie Grace of My Heart. - Nick Dedina

Alan Parsons Project

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:23 -0800
Alan Parsons came to light as the man to have in the studio in the late '60s/early '70s (he worked on Abbey Road and Dark Side of the Moon). Typical of the studio indulgences of the '70s, the Alan Parsons Project involved themselves in dense fluff with notions of classicism. In 1975, Tales of Mystery and Imagination spelled out their highbrow ambitions on a concept album dedicated to the work of Edgar Allan Poe. Eye in the Sky (and its title track) brought the band their widest success in '82, as well as the indefatigable chorus "I can read your mind" and a record cover that would fool a generation of Siouxsie and the Banshees fans into buying their first soft-rock LP. Ammonia Avenue, released in 1984, balanced classic rock with the electronic inclinations of contemporaries like Hall & Oates. In 1987, the group indulged its most grandiose urges with Gaudi, an audio portrait of the visionary Catalan architect. - Philip Sherburne

Bread

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:28 -0800
The premier soft rock band of the 1970s (and, let's face it, all time), Bread reigned supreme when it came to the then-fashionable art of combining gentle rock drumming, semi-Beatle melodies and heart-tugging, often incredibly sappy lyrics. Bread enjoyed massive amounts of success on AM radio in the early '70s, on the strength of a string of hit singles written by session musician and songwriter-to-the-stars David Gates. Although Gates seemed to make mention of either rainbows or sunsets or both at every opportunity, when it came to singing said lyrics, he was the unrivaled king of the "feelin' it" vocal delivery, and Bread's music is about the only thing worth listening to when one's emotions have been laid bare by catastrophic romantic events. - Mike McGuirk

Cher

Wed, 23 Dec 2009 13:31:51 -0800
Few entertainers' career paths have been as forked as Cher's. Getting her start when Sonny Bono took her under his wing and became her producer, collaborator and eventually husband, the duo produced some of the most popular duets of all time, including "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On." They parlayed that success into a 1970s variety show that showcased the pair's onstage banter and had everyone asking (as Joe Jackson would later put it), "Is she really going out with him?" Once divorced, Cher pursued a solo career with some success. "Gypsies, Tramps & Thieves" and "Half-Breed" were imaginative story-songs in the Vegas revue tradition that established her as a torchy, impassioned vocalist. As her acting career began to take precedence during the '80s, her singing career fell into arrears, as evidenced on disco debacles Take Me Home and Prisoner. Recently Cher has reasserted her singing prowess and charting abilities with the 1998 hit Believe; both the title track and "Strong Enough" fared favorably on dancefloors. Clubby, slickly produced, and re-mix ready, Cher's new sound shows she'll never be too old to learn new tricks -- especially when those tricks come from Madonna. - Chad Driscoll

Boz Scaggs

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:31 -0800
Boz Scaggs is best remembered for the 1976 album Silk Degrees, which spawned two huge hits, "Lowdown" and "Lido Shuffle." The singer-songwriter and guitarist got his start as a member of the Steve Miller Band and broke out on his own in 1968. - Mike McGuirk

Stevie Nicks

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:29 -0800
Everyone's favorite blonde-haired gypsy spun off from Fleetwood Mac into a successful solo career. Nicks' otherworldly, smoky blues voice and dreamy image -- she's often gauzily photographed twirling in satin and lace -- are a comforting constant in the ever changing pop landscape. Bella Donna, her 1981 solo debut, is her best recording, and set the stage for her subsequent releases. - Nick Dedina

Olivia Newton-John

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:19 -0800
Olivia Newton-John was in many ways the Doris Day of the 1970s. She radiated natural beauty in a clean, friendly way that comforted kids yet titillated their parents. Olivia Newton-John was an English girl raised in Australia whose career first took off in the U.K. when she became a regular feature of Cliff Richards' variety show. After enjoying a string of hits in Britain, Newton-John finally broke through to the American market with the Grammy-award winning "Let Me Be There." She moved to the U.S. and became a very successful country/ADCO vocalist in the Anne Murray mold (much to the consternation of the Nashville establishment, who enjoyed getting bested by an Aussie even less than by a Canadian). But by the time Grease made Newton-John a superstar, she had already successfully transitioned to MOR adult contemporary music. Newton-John entered the 1980s as a star beloved by the entire family but few fresh-faced singing actresses could survive cinematic bombs on the level of the roller disco fiasco Xanadu. This follow-up to Grease single-handedly capsized her movie career (and the short-lived resurgence of the movie musical) but it did sport an era-defining soundtrack and gave Olivia Newton-John a big summer single with "Magic" (a great collaboration with ELO). Newton-John wisely co-mingled sex and fitness for 1981's Physical, achieving both the biggest-selling album and single of her career in the process. Having reached the apex of her musical popularity, Olivia Newton-John slowly receded from the charts and spotlight over the years, although she has continued to record and perform sporadically. Though she successfully beat back cancer, Newton-John has been the victim of a rather innocuous suburban myth that she was once married to Elton John. - Nick Dedina

Air Supply

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:52 -0800
During the early 1980s, sensitive heartbroken nymphets ran to Air Supply's synth-rich soft rock when they were feeling "All Out Of Love." By 1985, this Australian group found their long line of hits drying up. They've continued on since then, releasing albums, selling them on home shopping TV shows, and drawing large crowds at county fairs. - Nick Dedina

Little River Band

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:23 -0800
In the 1970s Australia produced two soft-rock giants: Air Supply and the Little River Band. While the former took their cues from "The Air That I Breathe"-era Hollies, L.R.B. filtered their glistening harmonies through the West Coast vibrations of the Eagles and Firefall. As a result, they became the first band from Down Under to make it big here in the States, selling in excess of 25 millions records. Tunes like "Reminiscing," "Lonesome Loser" and "Lady" remain radio staples to this very day. In addition to writing ridiculously catchy pop tunes, the Little River Band's success can be attributed to a hellish tour schedule. Between 1975 and '85, most of the band's days were spent wandering the planet, playing one sold-out gig after another. There was a downside to this, however: incessant personnel changes, which have created a mildly surreal situation. While an act called the Little River Band continues to tour, the dudes who actually formed the band and wrote all the hits (Beeb Birtles, Glenn Shorrock and Graham Goble) no longer control the rights to the band name. Thus, they are forced to perform under their own names whenever the occasional reunion concert presents itself. - Justin Farrar

Donavon Frankenreiter

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:43:34 -0800
With his chipper dude-next-door appeal and background in pro surfing, it'd be easy to mistake Donovan Frankenreiter's biography with that of blockbusting folkie Jack Johnson. In fact, California-born Frankenreiter and Johnson were friends before either had successful music careers -- they met when Frankenreiter rented a room from Johnson's parents while on a Hawaiian surfing junket. Johnson released Frankenreiter's debut LP on his own Brushfire label in 2004, a warmly received collection of easygoing folk pop that underlined their musical kinship. Frankenreiter moved to Lost Highway in 2006, self-producing Move By Yourself, which yielded some modest radio success. Pass It Around appeared in 2008, also on Lost Highway. For it, Frankenreiter called in his musical idols, champions of corduroy sounds like Ben Harper, Grant-Lee Phillips and G Love.

Harry Nilsson

Sat, 12 Dec 2009 11:17:07 -0800
By the time his first LP, Pandemonium Shadow Show,appeared in 1967, Harry Nilsson was a music-industry veteran. He'd quit his bank job, the story went, after hearing the Monkees' version of his "Cuddly Toy" on the radio. Soon, his inventive medley of Beatle tunes, "You Can't Do That," had caught the group's ear, if not the world's. Despite his rich variety of self-penned classicist pop gems, it wasn't until Nilsson's cover of Fred Neil's "Everybody's Talkin'" was used in the film Midnight Cowboy that he scored a hit. He carried his gorgeous, vaguely precious style, rife with overdubbed voices (all his), through two more albums and the beloved kids' TV special The Point! before leaping in another direction. Hooking up with producer Richard Perry, he recorded Nilsson Schmilsson, a state-of-the-art pop-rock disc that still retained every bit of the artist's strange charm. Filled with oddball touches from a solo version of Louis Jordan's "Early in the Morning" to the mock-Caribbean "Coconut" and the thunderous rock 'n' roll of "Jump Into the Fire," it ultimately became best known for its most conventional track. Badfinger's "Without You" became a standard in Nilsson's version, which spent four weeks at No. 1. A bona fide superstar for the moment, Nilsson set off on the path of self-destruction. His excesses while recording 1974's Pussy Cats with John Lennon at the board led to his permanently damaging his voice. He continued to make occasionally striking music afterward -- most interestingly for the soundtrack to Robert Altman's Popeye -- but he never had another hit. Released around the time of his death in 1994, the two-CD anthology Personal Best did much for Nilsson's profile. His was suddenly a hip name to drop again in circles that revered the Beach Boys' and the Zombies' artier moments. He'd no doubt appreciate the irony of being at once an easy-listening oldies staple and a favorite of twentysomething indie rockers. - Jaan Uhelszki

Loggins & Messina

Fri, 27 Nov 2009 10:24:57 -0800
A decade before Kenny Loggins set the '80s on fire with a string of killer soundtrack anthems, he was just another beardo soft rocker making his way in denim-clad L.A. Originally a pro songwriter (the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band recorded several of his tunes), Loggins hooked up with Jim Messina in 1970. At first, Messina -- who wasn't looking for a new project after stints in Buffalo Springfield and Poco had both ended badly -- only wanted to help his young, talented friend secure a record contract. But their chemistry was so combustible that their casual collaboration quickly grew into a full-time band. As with the era's other classic duos (Seals & Croft, Batdorf & Rodney, England Dan & John Ford Coley), Loggins & Messina blended roots rock, folk and touches of Caribbean/Latin music into a smooth, radio-friendly pop product (later to be tagged "yacht rock"). Hits came fast and hard for the pair: "Vahevala," "Your Mama Don't Dance," "Thinking of You." There was no stopping Loggins, however. The songs he wrote were taken to the top of the charts by everybody from Anne Murray to the Doobies. In 1976 Kenny flew the coop, ready to become a pop star in his own right. - Justin Farrar

Poco

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:44:25 -0800
They say for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction, and that adage certainly holds true for Poco, whose roots lie in the disintegration of Buffalo Springfield. After Neil Young and Stephen Stills left Buffalo Springfield in 1968, members Richie Furay and Jim Messina enlisted Rusty Young, George Grantham and Randy Meisner to form Poco. Forerunners of the Country Rock genre, the glimmer of commercial success throughout the 1970s wavered almost as much as the interest of various members: Randy Meisner left to join the Eagles and Jim Messina went on to form Loggins & Messina, both of which were far more commercially successful than Poco, who finally scored in 1978 with "Crazy Love." Poco continued their (r)evolving lineup throughout the '80s and '90s, with Rusty Young and Paul Cotton at the core. - Eric Shea

Christopher Cross

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:28 -0800
It's unclear whether or not the term "wimp rock" was born shortly after Christopher Cross released "Sailing" in 1980, but his ultra-Lite production values and wispy falsetto make a pretty good case for the argument. A string of airy hits with unbelievably perfect hooks culminated in the immortal "Arthur's Theme (the Best That You Can Do)" a #1 smash from the soundtrack to the fun-lovin'-est depiction of a fatal disease (alcoholism) ever shot. Cross' music defined the cocaine-riddled transition of America from the free-for-all of the Disco Era to the paranoid hangover of the '80s. The songs are tastefully extravagant and dripping with '70s pseudo-liberal inspiration, air-tight studio craft, and Beatles-via-Bob Welch melodies. While the passage of time may not have been so kind to Cross' credibility as an artist, the fact of his uncommon ability with a hook remains in these instant atmosphere-inducing, unforgettable songs. - Mike McGuirk

The Association

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:58 -0800
The Association's place in rock history is an interesting one. Nowadays, the band is considered nothing more than an oldies act forever associated with AM pop. However, along with the Byrds and the Mamas and the Papas, the sextet emerged from Los Angeles' folk-rock scene of the mid-'60s. The Association sounded a bit more saccharine than their contemporaries, yet they gained instant street cred with their second single, "Along Comes Mary," a British Invasion-inspired nugget that sparked controversy when more than a few squares claimed the song extolled the virtues of cannabis (aka Mary Jane). In an attempt to cement their rep in the burgeoning underground, the Association played the Monterey International Pop Music Festival in the summer of 1967. At the same time, the group shared little in common with Janis and Jimi. Scoring one Billboard smash after another, including the radio staples "Cherish" and "Windy," the Association favored a mix of smooth harmonies, lush strings and punchy brass, a sound that would prove influential on soft-rock acts like Bread and Air Supply. By the early '70s the band's glory days were behind it, yet it continues to record and tour to this day. - Justin Farrar

Dr. Hook

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:30 -0800
Dr. Hook started out as Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show. They scored a minor hit in 1972 with the country rock novelty "Cover of Rolling Stone," and their early work was marked by crude humor and a sort of Flamin' Groovies-gone-country sound and aesthetic. Children's author and Playboy cartoonist Shel Silverstein wrote all the songs on their 1971 debut. By 1975, they had cut the name down to simply Dr. Hook, and were playing a soft-rock/disco hybrid that proved quite successful as the band strung together several hits. "Sexy Eyes" and "When You're In Love With a Beautiful Woman" are the songs you still hear on the radio today. - Mike McGuirk

Seals and Crofts

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:29 -0800
Best known these days for the '70s lite rock staple "Summer Breeze" -- but decided rulers of the charts while they were active -- Seals & Crofts fall somewhere between Air Supply's '80s-style schmaltz and England Dan & John Ford Coley's "rocking" album-oriented rock. "We May Never Pass This Way Again," "Get Closer" and "Diamond Girl" are songs folks may not recognize by title, but they reside deep in the collective consciousness of anyone raised in the '70s. Jim Seals and Dash Crofts were both born in Texas and played in several bands together (one included Glen Campbell) before deciding to go it as a duo in 1969. A trio of albums failed to produce any type of reaction but a fourth record, Summer Breeze, managed a No. 7 showing on the strength of the title cut. From there Seals & Crofts remained perennially on the Top 40 throughout the decade, finally calling it quits in 1980 after they were dropped by Warner Bros. The pair reunited in 1991 for a brief tour; after another long break, they resumed recording. Today appeared in 1998, Traces in 2004, and Sudan Village in 2008. - Mike McGuirk

Ambrosia

Sun, 27 Dec 2009 10:14:29 -0800
Ambrosia were one of a number of bands that successfully combined Art Rock tastes with Pop aspirations to come up with a handful of FM hits. Veering closer to soft rock territory than such contemporaries as Supertramp and ELO, Ambrosia had more in common with Firefall and Pablo Cruise, minus the Country Rock touches. At its best the group produced a sound that echoed both the fragility of Hall & Oates' "Sara Smile" and the smoky sensuality of "So Into You" by Atlanta Rhythm Section. Their biggest hits were "How Much I Feel" and "Biggest Part of Me," each of which hit No. 3 (in 1978 and 1980, respectively), securing the group staple status on high school dance playlists of the era, as well as frequent play on Lite Rock radio to this day. - Mike McGuirk

Leon Russell

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:02 -0800
Leon Russell is one of the most gifted songwriters of his generation. Though he was wont to cover songs, particularly by Bob Dylan (on Leon Russell & the Shelter People) and Hank Williams (on Hank Wilson's Back), he also handed out many a cover song himself. Joe Cocker trademarks "The Ballad of Mad Dogs and Englishmen" and "Delta Lady" were Russell songs, and so was Helen Reddy's "Bluebird." Born in Oklahoma, Russell served a tour of duty at the famous Muscle Shoals Studio in Alabama, where he soaked in the flavors of R&B, Swamp Pop, and southern Soul. As a result, Russell seems to evoke a dream South where races harmonize and the longhaired stranger is welcome at every table. Though there's more gravel in his voice than you'll find on a mile stretch of railroad, there is a plain sweetness here, too, especially on songs such as "Delta Lady" and "Lady Blue." It's a four-hour drive from Beale St. to Bourbon St., but pick up a Russell record and you can cut your travel time to a few minutes. - Chad Driscoll

Atlanta Rhythm Section

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:52 -0800
Best known for the smoldering lite-rock staple "So Into You," Atlanta Rhythm Section started out as the house band for Studio One, a recording studio based in Doraville, Ga., that saw the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Billy Joe Royal, Al Kooper and Bonnie Bramlett, among others, pass through its doors. Members of another shadowy band made up of session players, Classics IV ("Spooky"), formed the nucleus of the group. With a propensity for playing well beyond the parameters of Southern rock, incorporating anything from jazz to reggae into the reservedly boogie-ing mash, Atlanta Rhythm Section built up a local following throughout the early '70s. But it wasn't until the appearance of their fifth album, A Rock and Roll Alternative, with its No. 7 hit "So Into You," that the band became known outside the South. "Imaginary Lover," from 1978's Champagne Jam, also managed to reach No. 7 on the charts, but from there Atlanta Rhythm Section's popularity began to wane. Despite lagging sales and their growing status as a one-hit wonder, the band continued to release new albums (as well as nearly annual greatest-hits packages) into the '00s. - Mike McGuirk

Rickie Lee Jones

Thu, 26 Nov 2009 11:28:40 -0800
Rickie Lee Jones' story starts off like almost any modern day Nashville starlet; only she left home at an early age in the 1970s to waitress in Los Angeles instead of Music City. And rather than hooking up with Harlan Howard or Kris Kristofferson, she bonded with a young Tom Waits who shared her adoration for jazzy folk songs, gripping narratives and beatnik styled live monologues. She busted out with her self-titled debut in 1979 and hit high on the charts with the jazzy R&B folk pop hit "Chuck E's in Love," a rhythmically constructed ditty about singer/songwriter Chuck E. Weiss (an obsession of hers who would find his way into many more of her lyrics). Although she has been compared to Joni Mitchell time and time again, Jones' songs are much more rooted in free-form arrangements (as much as free-form can be arranged) as well as elastic vocal inflections that exude more style and grace than vocal gymnastics. But she's also quite the powerful balladeer as heard on the romantic and wistful "On Saturday Afternoons In 1963." - Eric Shea

Anne Murray

Thu, 24 Dec 2009 13:15:44 -0800
Canadian singer Anne Murray is emblematic of the country/pop crossover of the 1970s and early '80s. Her rich alto voice and prescient choice of songs has taken her to the top of charts numerous times. She first hit with the song "Snowbird" in 1972, which was produced by Brian Ahern, Emmylou Harris's longtime producer and husband. The song sold millions and set the stage for a long career that eventually shed any real connection to country music and found Murray on the radio alongside singers such as Kenny Rogers and Barbra Streisand. - Eric Shea

B.J. Thomas

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:51:08 -0800
Most remembered for singing the Academy Award winning Bacharach/David movie theme "Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head," B.J. Thomas was a country pop crooner with a foundation in rock 'n' roll. Despite being so strongly associated with "Raindrops," Thomas had numerous hits in the late 1960s and early '70s, including the original "Hooked On a Feeling," ÃÂRock and Roll Lullaby" and the horribly titled "(Hey Won't You Play) Another Somebody Done Somebody Wrong Song." By the mid-1970s Thomas had transitioned into a Nashville hitmaker of considerable, if under publicized success. While his style of virile, non-cowboy hat wearing country went the way of the buffalo, B.J. Thomas remains in the spotlight as a vital nostalgia act. - Nick Dedina

Gerry Rafferty

Sat, 19 Dec 2009 10:51:08 -0800
You know that soft rock song "Baker Street" with the mentally contaminating saxophone hook? You can thank Gerry Rafferty for that one. He grew up in Scotland and tooled around in folky bands like the Humblebums and then Stealers Wheel who hit with "Stuck In The Middle With You," (a song that enjoyed an unexpected after life when it made it on the soundtrack for the Quentin Tarantino film Reservoir Dogs) before embarking upon a career as a singer-songwriter. But despite that career redirection, when "Baker Street" topped the charts in the late '70s, Rafferty refused to tour the record. - Eric Shea

England Dan & John Ford Coley

Sun, 13 Dec 2009 10:14:04 -0800
Dan Seals (brother of Jim Seals of Seals & Crofts) and John Ford Coley had a string of Raspberries-like pop rock hits in the '70s, most notably "Nights Are Forever Without You" and "I'd Really Love to See You Tonight," with which the band is all but inextricably linked these days. With a trajectory similar to that of Seals & Crofts, the first three England Dan & John Ford Coley records failed to chart, but their fourth album, Nights Are Forever, shot the band into years of near-constant rotation on '70s radio. In some ways England Dan & John Ford Coley's lite but decidedly organic balladry paved the way for '80s stylistic (but more synth-heavy) followers Ambrosia; at times, the two are nearly indistinguishable (see England Dan's Utopia cover "Love Is the Answer"). After the pair stopped recording together in 1980, Dan Seals launched a successful country music career, regularly charting throughout the '80s. - Mike McGuirk

Dave Mason

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:55 -0800
Before embarking on a solo career and hitting it big with the breakup masterpiece "We Just Disagree," Dave Mason was a founding member of British jazz-rock supergroup Traffic. Upon leaving Traffic over artistic differences with Steve Winwood, Mason did time with seminal country rock 'n' gospel hippies Delaney & Bonnie. In 1970, he went solo and released Alone Together, which did well on the strength of the modest hit "Only You Know And I Know," a song previously performed by Delaney & Bonnie. Mason continued to release records into the '70s, moving in a lite rock direction all the while, but he did not hit it big until 1977's Let It Flow, which featured the aforementioned "We Just Disagree." Anyone born in the '70s is likely to know this song by heart, thanks to it having one of the catchiest choruses ever written and its success on AM and FM radio. But Mason's career flagged from this point, and he never scored another hit again. Nevertheless, he has always been respected as a talented, if minor, songwriter. - Mike McGuirk

10cc

Tue, 22 Dec 2009 10:24:23 -0800
An art rock supergroup of sorts, 10cc were major stars in 1970s England, best known in the States for their 1975 soft rock masterpiece "I'm Not In Love." Originally formed as Hotlegs, they released the surprise hit single "Neanderthal Man" in 1970. A year later Eric Stewart and Graham Gouldman (of Wayne Fontana & the Mindbenders) and Kevin Godley and Lol CrÃ¨me (hot shot session guys) configured as 10cc and released a chart-topping, extremely playful take on doo-wop called "Donna." A string of similarly styled explorations of odd pop forms marked at times by bizarre vocal techniques was followed by their explorations in super artsy production. Godley and CrÃ¨me left the group in 1976, to work as a duo and to pursue high profile production work. After their defection, Stewart and Gouldman scored two more hits, 1977's "The Things We Do For Love" and 1978's "Dreadlock Holiday." - Mike McGuirk

Donald Fagen

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 13:49:06 -0700
The singing half of Steely Dan, Donald Fagen dripped with grad school irony while showing off a library of pop, jazz and R&B influences when sincere singers ruled the 1970s roost. Maybe that's why the original wave of Indie rockers hated him so much -- he's just like them, but with complex harmonies and chords replacing the Velvets and punk rock. After Steely Dan ran its course, Fagen released the excellent The Nightfly in 1982. A new sweetness was apparent on this theme album involving a 1950s adolescent dreaming about adult romance and adventure. The rest of the Reagan decade was a professional wash for Fagen, but at least he got around writer's block by penning the score to Bright Lights, Big City. He later called Steely Dan's Walter Becker in order to get a creative kick in the butt, and together they crafted Kamakiriad (1993), a typically sunny/bleak Fagen theme album that took the listener on a tour of retro-futurist ennui. Since he and Becker were working together again anyway, they reformed Steely Dan. - Nick Dedina

Al Stewart

Sun, 20 Dec 2009 09:42:17 -0800
American audiences will know the name for two reasons, "Time Passages" and "Year of the Cat." Before Al Stewart hit American pay dirt, however, his recorded output consisted largely of pastoral folk tunes that indicated a preoccupation with lyric poetry and romanticized notions of the Old Country. But whether he's singing about courtly ladies-in-waiting or downtown ladies-for-the-taking, Stewart's restrained delivery, his incredible equanimity is what makes his music instantly recognizable and downright hypnotic. He sounds like a man who found Zen early on and just kind of stayed there. - Chad Driscoll

Jose Feliciano

Fri, 25 Dec 2009 11:17:26 -0800
One of the few artists to have hits in both English and Spanish, Jose Feliciano is an easily identifiable pop icon. As a blind singer and guitarist, he first received attention playing in the coffeehouses of Greenwich Village while still in high school. His passionate, soulful voice and Flamenco guitar embellishments catapulted him into the pop mainstream, and his version of the Doors' "Light My Fire" topped the hit parade in 1968; he even performed the national anthem at the World Series that year. He could be seen regularly on network television in the 1970s performing songs such as "Feelings." A prolific recording artist, he recorded light versions of popular rock songs that were embellished with strings and marketed to mature audiences. Although first cast under the American spotlight, he ended up more popular with Latino audiences. - Robert Leaver

Art Garfunkel

Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:57:31 -0800
Though he'll probably always be remembered as the second fiddle in his iconic partnership with Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel's unclouded tenor was as elemental to the duo's sound as Simon's literate writing, and he forged a solo career on the strength of it alone. Personal and profession differences with Simon led them to split after 1970's Bridge Over Troubled Water, when Garfunkel began a reasonably successful sideline career as an actor. After a somewhat bungled adaptation of Joesph Heller's Catch 22, he starred opposite Jack Nicholson in 1971's racy Carnal Knowledge and earned a Golden Globe nomination. When he returned to music a couple years later the expectations were huge in light of the success of his former partner's brilliant pair of solo records, so Garfunkel played it safe by reuniting with Simon & Garfunkel producer Roy Haylee for Angel Care in 1973. Never a writer, Garfunkel made a hit out of Jimmy Webb's sappy "All I Know" -- likely a chart success due to its similarity to "Bridge Over Troubled Water" -- and thereby set the standard for the solo career to follow: well-groomed and buttressed by crack session musicians and top shelf guest stars, but doomed to exist in Simon's tall shadow. It was his second solo effort, Breakaway, that got the most traction on American charts, thanks to the Flamingos' "I Only Have Eyes For You." A string of records followed over the next decade, but the tepid response to 1981's Scissors Cut diminished his aspirations as a solo artist. - Nate Cavalieri

Helen Reddy

Fri, 18 Dec 2009 12:08:53 -0800

Firefall

Thu, 17 Dec 2009 10:45:25 -0800

Captain & Tennille

Sun, 6 Dec 2009 09:55:35 -0800