Rosie Flores

Rosie Flores (born September 10, 1950 in San Antonio, Texas) is a rockabilly and country music artist of Mexican American heritage. Her music blends rockabilly, honky tonk, jazz, and Western swing along with traditional influences from her Tex-Mex heritage. She currently resides in Austin, Texas, where August 31 was declared Rosie Flores Day by the Austin City Council in 2006.

In 1995, she joined Wanda Jackson on a coast-to-coast North American tour.

She has appeared on Austin City Limits and Late Night with Conan O'Brien.

If you want to know more over Rosie Flores please visit her website.

Rocky Burnette

Rocky Burnette (born Jonathan Burnette, 12 June 1953, Memphis, Tennessee, United States) is the son of rock and roll pioneer, Johnny Burnette. He is best known for his 1980 hit single "Tired of Toein' the Line."

Rocky Burnette was part of the early 1980s revival of the rockabilly style. He released his first album, Son of Rock 'n' Roll, on EMI America in 1979. In the summer of 1980, his single "Tired of Toein' the Line" became a Top Ten hit in the United States. The song was also popular internationally, becoming a Number 1 hit in Australia. EMI America's financial problems interfered with promotion efforts for the follow-up singles (several of which became hits in other countries), and Burnette's second album, Heart Stopper, was not successful.

In 1981, Burnette toured Europe with the final version of his late father's The Rock and Roll Trio. He also used the band on his next album, Get Hot or Go Home! on Enigma Records. It also sold poorly, and Enigma dropped Burnette and the Trio rather than release a follow-up.

Burnette worked with Rosie Flores and Dwight Twilley in the mid-1990s, and also contributed vocals and the original "Trouble Is I'm in Love With You" to Paul Burlison's 1997 Train Kept A-Rollin'. In 1996, Burnette released Tear It Up on Core Records.

Burnette wrote the European hit "You Got Away With Love" for Percy Sledge in 1997. He continues to tour internationally and maintains a devoted fan base in the U.S.

King Kurt

King Kurt was a 1980s psychobilly rock band from the UK.

They formed in 1981 with Jef Harvey on vocals, replaced by "Smeg" (Gary Cayton) after their "Zulu Beat" 7in single, and before the Stiff Records contract; Paul ("Thwack") Laventhol, and John Reddington on guitars; Rory Lyons on drums; Bert Boustead on bass guitar, plus schoolboy "Maggot" on saxophone. Originally known as Rockin' Kurt & The Sour Krauts before settling for King Kurt.

They had a few minor hit singles that featured in the UK Singles and UK Indie Charts, such as "Zulu Beat", "Mack The Knife" and "Banana Banana", along with their Top Forty hit - "Destination Zululand ".

During 1988 the band effectively split, though between 1992 and 1996 the group featuring three of the original members were performing as a live act. John Reddington, on the other hand, is now an Attorney with William Powells.

In the early 80s, King Kurt were known for their stage performances in which eggs and bags of flour were thrown around and buckets of wallpaper paste dumped into the audience. sometimes they also had a large wheel on stage called "The Wheel of Misfortune" which fans were strapped to and force fed Snakebite through a tube pushed down into the throat, then spun round until they vomitted. Fans could also get haircuts or medical examinations with a Snakebite anesthetic, then would have their scrotums wrapped up with gaffa tape and have buckets of gunge tipped over them.

The Polecats

The Polecats are a new wave and rockabilly band formed at the end of the 1970s.

The Polecats are a rockabilly band formed in 1977 in North London. The original line-up was Tim Worman (a.k.a Tim Polecat, vocalist), Martin "Boz" Boorer, (guitarist and vocalist), Phil Bloomberg, (bassist), and Chris Hawkes (drummer), who originally played under the name "Cult Heroes." Finding difficulty persuading promoters to book them on the rockabilly circuit with a name sounding "too punk", they adopted Hawkes' suggested band name The Polecats. Hawkes was later replaced by Neil Rooney.The Polecats played rockabilly with a "punk sense of anarchy and helped revive the genre for a new generation in the early '80s"

The band were first signed by the fledgling British rockabilly record label Nervous Records, and recorded their first single "Rockabilly Guy" at Guitarist Alan Warner's "Lane Studios" in 1979. Formerly with the hugely successful "Foundations" band Warner toured and recorded with the Polecats for about a year.

In 1980 the band signed to Mercury Records, and released their most successful LP, Polecats Are Go! They had UK chart success with a David Bowie cover "John, I'm Only Dancing", a reworking of "Rockabilly Guy", and another cover version of the T-Rex (Marc Bolan) song "Jeepster". In 1983, they hit the charts in the United States with their song "Make a Circuit With Me." Shortly after this, John Buck replaced Neil Rooney on drums.

Two of their songs were on the soundtrack to the 1986 film Joey.

Boz Boorer left the group to work as a guitarist, musical director, and co-songwriter with Morrissey, but led a Polecats reunion in 1989, which produced a live album and a new studio set. Tim Polecat moved to Los Angeles, California13 Cats with drummer Slim Jim of the Stray Cats, stand-up bassist Smutty Smith of The Rockats, and guitarist Danny B. Harvey of The Swing Cats. Musically, Tim Polecat also continues to work as a film composer and solo singer-songwriter. and formed the band

The band continue to tour and as of summer 2009 are playing gigs in Europe, Japan and USA.

In November 2006 frontman Jarvis Cocker of the British band Pulp, along with bassist Steve Mackey, released a 2-CD compilation album, The Trip, which features a wide selection of tracks by artists as varied as The Fall, Gene Pitney, The Beach Boys, The Everly Brothers, Dion, Sonny Bono plus The Polecats with their hit "John, I'm Only Dancing".

In June 2008 Disney Pixar film, WALL E, used The Polecats 1983 hit song, "Make a Circuit With Me" in their television trailers for the film.

Line-up

• Tim 'Polecat' Worman — Lead Vocals, Guitar
• Martin 'Boz' Boorer — Vocals, Lead Guitar, Saxophone, Piano
• Chris Hawkes/Neil Rooney/John Buck — Drums
• Phil Bloomberg — Slap bass

Discography singles

• "Rockabilly Guy" - Nervous Records
• "John I'm Only Dancing" / "Big Green Car" - Mercury - #35 UK
• "Rockabilly Guy" - Mercury - #35 UK
• "Jeepster" / "Marie Celeste" - Mercury - #53 UK
• "Make A Circuit With Me" - Mercury

Discography albums

• Polecats Are Go! (1981) - Mercury
• Live In Hamburg 1981 - Maybee Crayzee
• Cult Heroes (1984) - Nervous Records
• Live And Rockin' (1989) - Link
• The Polecats Won't Die (1989) - Vinyl Japan
• Virtual Rockabilly: Tim Polecat (1994) - Nervous Records
• The Polecats Won't Die (1996) - Jappin' & Rockin'
• Nine (1997) - Jappin' & Rockin'
• Pink Noise (1999) - Rock-It
• The Best Of The Polecats (2000) - Cleopatra Records
• Rockabilly Guys: The Best Of The Polecats (2001) - Raucous Records
• Between The Polecats: Boz Boorer (2001) - Raucous Records UK
• Polecats Are Go! (2004 Reissue with Bonus Tracks) - Anagram Records
• The Best Of The Polecats (with Bonus Track Desire) (2005) - Cleopatra Records
• Not Nervous! Rare 1980 Demos Remastered (2006) - NV Records
• Rockabilly Cats (2008) - Cleopatra Records

Discography EP's

• "John I'm Only Dancing" - Mercury
• "Jeepster" - Mercury
• "Make A Circuit With Me" (1983) - Mercury U.S.
• "Live In Hamburg" - NV Records

If you want to know more over the Polecats please visit their own official website.

The Blasters

The Blasters are a rock and roll music group formed in 1979 in Downey, California by brothers Phil Alvin (vocals and guitar) and Dave Alvin (guitar), with bass guitarist John Bazz and drummer Bill Bateman. Phil Alvin explained the origin of the band's name: "I thought Joe Turner’s backup band on Atlantic records – I had these 78s – I thought they were the Blues Blasters. That ends up it was Jimmy McCracklin. I just took the 'Blues' off and Joe finally told me, that’s Jimmy McCracklin’s name, but you tell ‘im I gave you permission to steal it."

Their self-described "American Music" was a blend of blues music, rockabilly, early rock and roll, punk rock, mountain music, and rhythm and blues. They have a devoted fan base and have received largely positive critical reviews, but have earned only limited mainstream success. Critic Mark Deming wrote of them, "the Blasters displayed a wide-ranging musical diversity [and] were a supremely tight and tasteful band with enough fire, smarts, and passion for two or three groups."

The Alvin brothers had an early interest in blues music, and attended concerts by T-Bone Walker, Big Joe Turner and others, sometimes jamming and reminiscing with the musicians. Phil Alvin remembers that his mother would take him backstage to get harmonica lessons from Sonny Terry when Phil was still a boy. Rhythm and Blues saxophone legend Lee Allen joined The Blasters for two albums and toured with the original line up until his death in 1994. Steve Berlin (later of Los Lobos) joined, playing baritone sax, and Gene Taylor joined as well, performing boogie woogie style piano.

The Blasters' energetic live performances gained a local following, and they became fixtures of the early 1980s Los Angeles punk rock scene, performing alongside X, Black Flag, The Gun Club, The Screamers and others. In 1986, members of the Blasters appeared with Screamers front-man Tomata du Plenty in the punk rock musical Population: 1. Former Black Flag singer and current Rollins Band leader Henry Rollins wrote of the Blasters, "In my mind, they were a great band that not enough people found out about. Bill Bateman is one of the best drummers there is, and then of course, there are the Alvin brothers. A lot of talent for one band." (Rollins, 36)

The Blasters toured almost continuously for much of their existence. The notes for The Blasters Collection report that in one particular month, they toured with psychobilly pioneers The Cramps, with western swing revivalists Asleep at the Wheel and on a leg of Queen's west coast tour. The Blasters gave boosts to both Los Lobos and Dwight Yoakam by inviting them on tour; Yoakam would later score a modest hit with his version of Dave Alvin's "Long White Cadillac".

Their song "Dark Night" was featured in a 1985 episode of Miami Vice, and they gained more exposure in the Walter Hill film Streets of Fire, performing two songs for the soundtrack as well as appearing as themselves in the film, and in 1996 they also appeared in the Quentin Tarantino-Robert Rodriguez collaboration From Dusk Till Dawn.

Dave Alvin--always the group's primary songwriter--left the band in 1986 for a critically acclaimed if sometimes only moderately successful solo career. He was replaced by Hollywood Fats (birth name: Michael L. Mann) who appeared with them at Farm Aid. Phil Alvin has led various incarnations of The Blasters intermittently since then, including a few reunion tours and live albums of the original lineup. Personnel as of 2008 is Phil Alvin together with John Bazz, Keith Wyatt, and Bill Batemen.
Discography albums

Albums by the "original" Blasters:

• American Music (1979)
• The Blasters (1981)
• Over There (live EP) (1982)
• Non-Fiction (1983)
• Hard Line (1985)
• The Blasters Collection (1xCD Best Of) (1990)
• Testament: The Complete Slash Recordings (2xCD Anthology) (2002)
• Trouble Bound (live) (2002)
• Going Home (live) (2004)

Albums by current line-up:

• 4-11-44 (2005)

If you want to know more over the Blasters please visit there own website.

Shakin' Stevens

Shakin' Stevens, also known as "Shaky" (born Michael Barrett, 4 March 1948) is a platinum selling Welsh rock and roll singer and songwriter, who has the distinction of being the top selling male UK singles artist of the 1980s. His recording and performing career began in the late 1960s, although it was not until 1980 that he saw commercial success in his native land. In the UK alone, Stevens has charted no fewer than 33 top 40 hit singles in the sales charts, making him one of the most charted (and biggest selling) acts of all-time.

Early days

Michael Barrett, who would adopt the stage name Shakin' Stevens, was the youngest of 11 children born in Ely, a suburb on the outskirts of Cardiff in South Wales to Jack and May Barrett. His father was a First World War veteran who by 1948 was working in the building trade. The oldest of his siblings were born in the later part of the 1920s, and by the time of his birth some of them were already married and had children of their own. Jack Barrett died in 1972 at the age of 75, while May survived until 1984 and the age of 79.

Shaky married his wife Carole on 7 October 1967 and they have three children. At the time of their marriage, his official occupation was a milkman, and they lived in a flat which formed part of an office block in inner-city Cardiff. The office block was demolished several years later.

As a teenager in the mid 1960s Barrett formed his first amateur rock and roll band with school friends and became its vocalist and frontman. Originally named The Olympics, then The Cossacks, the short lived band finally renamed as The Denims and performed gigs in the local Cardiff and South Wales area.

In the late 1960s Stevens was associated with the Young Communist League (YCL), the youth wing of the Communist Party of Great Britain - playing at YCL events. At the time the YCL was associated with several leading music industry figures, including Pete Townshend.

The Sunsets

He began his professional performing career during 1968, fronting Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets, created and managed by South Wales rock and roll promoter and impresario Paul 'Legs' Barrett (no relation). The Sunsets were a 1950s-influenced rock'n'roll outfit from Penarth, South Glamorgan that had evolved from a band, previously called The Backbeats since 1958, who invited Stevens to join them after he had been an avid fan of the band for several years and occasionally hopped on stage to do a guest vocal.

An early break for Shaky and the band presented itself when they were given a support slot for The Rolling Stones in December 1969. Despite landing a recording contract with Parlophone Records the following year and releasing a Dave Edmunds produced album, the optimistically and prematurely titled A Legend, the band found success hard to come by, at least in their native Great Britain, though they had several hit singles in other countries. The band toured Germany and the Netherlands in between regular UK dates as the band's reputation for staging a vibrant and exciting show grew.

"Elvis!" and a hit record

In 1977, after seven years of constant touring and recording, Shaky had been spotted during a London Sunset's gig by Jack Good who personally invited him to attend a London audition for his planned new West End "Elvis!" musical. Three actors were to portray Elvis's life during the course of the show and Shaky landed one of the lead roles, playing Elvis in his prime charting, army and movie star years, with young actor Tim Whitnall covering the earlier formative years and veteran 1960s singer P J Proby taking over the part for Elvis's 'Las Vegas' years.

The rest of the Sunsets waited in South Wales, doing occasional performances with drummer Robert 'Rockin Louis' Llewellyn taking the frontman duties, but fully expecting Shaky to return to the band and recommence touring after the show's planned short six month run. However, the expectations were overtaken by subsequent events. The media wise Good made sure that both the audition process and the early months of the show were widely and regularly covered by the British daily press and TV shows. The photogenic Shakin' Stevens came to such prominence that almost overnight all agegroups of the UK population knew who he was. During the "Elvis!" show's highly successful and then twice extended two year run Shaky made regular TV appearances, firstly on Good's revived British ITV show Oh Boy and later on his follow up 30 week long series Let's Rock that was syndicated in thirty two countries including the United States. This led almost inevitably to his first major chart success with a cleverly reworked version of a Buck Owens song "Hot Dog", which Owens would go on to re-record using Stevens's arrangement, which had been created by pedal steel guitar player B.J. Cole.

The 1980s and 1990s

In late 1979, Shaky signed what was to be his most successful management deal with music industry doyenne Freya Miller, who immediately advised Stevens to sever his association with The Sunsets and continue developing a more lucrative solo career. Under Miller's deft hand, in 1981, Shaky scored his first UK chart topping number 1 with "This Ole House" and would follow up with ten more songs reaching the top five, including three number 1 hits with "Green Door", "Oh Julie" and "Merry Christmas Everyone", while "You Drive Me Crazy" and "A Love Worth Waiting For" reached number 2 in 1981 and 1984 respectively. His 1984 hit "Teardrops", which reached #5 in the UK, featured Hank B. Marvin on guitar and Stevens has often featured famous musicians such as Albert Lee, Roger Taylor, Bonnie Tyler and more recently Tony Joe White on his recordings. In the mid 1980s, Stevens reunited with former producer Dave Edmunds to record an album Lipstick, Powder and Paint and the Christmas smash Merry Christmas Everyone, which was a number 1 hit over Christmas 1985. Its original planned release was put back by a year to avoid clashing with the runaway success of Band Aid's charity single "Do They Know It's Christmas?", to which he did not contribute, having been out of the country touring at the time of recording. Despite Stevens's chart domination over the previous few years, he was not invited to perform at Live Aid on 13 July 1985.

The hits continued throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. Chart successes also included his album Shaky reaching number 1 in the album charts.

It was in the 1990s, however, that Stevens took a lengthy break from recording and was stung by a court ruling, relating to unpaid royalties from the Legend album which had been re-released to some commercial success, requiring a substantial payout to former band members of the Sunsets although the final settlement was significantly less than Stevens had offered the band before litigation began sixteen years earlier. In 1999, Shaky returned to performing live and undertook tours all that year and the following year.

The 2000s

Stevens hit a low point in January 2002 when he was very publicly convicted of a drink-driving charge and banned from driving for two years, but in 2004 things started to look up again when he had a further platinum CD / DVD album in Denmark and a gold album in South Africa.

In the sitcom I'm Alan Partridge, Stevens's fictional endorsement of Partridge's book Bouncing Back - in which he described it as "lovely stuff" - was supposedly critical to its success.

In 2005, he returned once again to the charts in the United Kingdom, with his greatest hits album The Collection, which reached the UK top 5. That year, he also appeared in the video to Tony Christie's and Peter Kay's #1 hit single "Is This the Way to Amarillo", alongside many other UK stars, including Ronnie Corbett, Jim Bowen, Michael Parkinson and Geoffrey Hayes. He was the winner on the reality television show, Hit Me Baby One More Time. This was quickly followed by a re-release of his cover and his own biggest hit sung in the show, ("Trouble" covering Pink's version) / "This Ole House"), which reached #20 on the UK Singles Chart in June 2005, his 33rd Top 40 hit in the United Kingdom.

Present day

In May 2007, Stevens released a new album entitled Now Listen with the album being released first in Denmark. In December 2007, Stevens re-entered the UK charts with a re-issue of "Merry Christmas Everyone" twenty two years after its original launch, reaching a UK chart position of 22.

Chris Evans featured a special Shaky Week on his Radio 2 show during early March 2008 to celebrate Stevens's 60th birthday and later in 2008, despite his aging years, Shaky embarked on a string of major concerts in the UK and Europe that started at Lulworth Castle on 4 July. On 24 August 2008 Shakin' Stevens performed at a major concert in Poland featuring many European pop stars of the 1980s, including Kim Wilde, Modern Talking, Samantha Fox, Sandra Cretu, Sabrina Salerno and Limahl. The concert formed a part of the Sopot International Song Festival 2008 and was presented live on the Polish television channel TVN. To wind up 2008 Stevens followed his European tour with a short tour of Ireland and an appearance at London's O2 Arena, supported by a ten-piece band. His appearances in 2009 will open with a tour of Poland to coincide with the Polish release of the Now Listen album.

In mid July 2006, Shaky took to the stage at an open air concert 'The Big Buzz' in Swansea, Wales. He was top of the bill, and performed a repertoire of his hits, including "Oh Julie", "Marie Marie" and "Turning Away". He also performed two songs from his most recent album, Now Listen ("Now Listen" and "Baby It's You"). The concert also featured Dave Edmunds and was broadcast live on BBC Radio Wales.

Stevens's original band The Sunsets have continued to perform regularly over the years without him and still tour annually in the UK, Europe and Australia with a show of authentic vintage rock and roll. In recent years the band has been fronted by Shaky's younger nephew, Levi Barrett.

In April 2008, it was announced that Shakin' Stevens would be performing at 2008's Glastonbury Festival as the opening act on the Pyramid stage on Saturday 28 June, which he did, opening the day at 11am to a capacity crowd - several hours before the BBC started to film the day's performers for broadcast, although Stevens' performance still received media attention.

On 8 December 2009 Shaky played a one - off gig at the O2 academy Islington to promote the release of the "Epic Masters Box Set" (due in 2010) which marks the thirtieth anniversary of his first hit "Hot Dog". On 10 December 2009, Shakin' Stevens appeared in court in Ballymena, Northern Ireland, charged with assaulting photographer Hugo McNiece on 3 December 2008 at the Tullyglass Hotel in Ballymena.

If you want to know more over Shakin' Stevens please visit his official website.

Teddy Boy/Girl

The British Teddy Boy subculture is typified by young men wearing clothes inspired by the styles of the Edwardian period, which Savile Row tailors had tried to re-introduce after World War II. The group got its name after a 1953 newspaper headline shortened Edward to Teddy and coined the term Teddy Boy (also known as Ted). The subculture started in London in the 1950s and rapidly spread across the UK, soon becoming strongly associated with American rock and roll music of the period. Although there had been youth groups with their own dress codes called "Scuttlers" in 19th century Manchester and Liverpool, Teddy Boys were the first youth group in England to differentiate themselves as teenagers, helping create a youth market.

The US film Blackboard Jungle marked a watershed in the United Kingdom. When shown in Elephant and Castle, south London, in 1956 the teenage Teddy boy audience began to riot, tearing up seats and dancing in the cinema's aisles. After that, riots took place around the country wherever the film was shown.

Some Teds formed gangs and gained notoriety following violent clashes with rival gangs which were often exaggerated by the popular press. The most notable was the 1958 Notting Hill race riots, in which Teddy Boys were present in large numbers and were implicated in attacks on the West Indian community.

Style

Teddy Boys made it acceptable for young people to care about what they looked like and to dress for show instead of having work or school clothes and Sunday-best. The trend arose as income increased after the war. Teddy Boy clothing was long drape jackets, usually in dark shades, sometimes with velvet trim collar and pocket flaps; high-waist "drainpipe" trousers, often showing brightly coloured socks. Favoured footwear was chunky brogues, large crepe-soled shoes, often suede (known as brothel creepers). Plus a high-necked loose collar on a white shirt (known as a Mr B. collar because it was often worn by jazz musician Billy Eckstine); a narrow Slim Jim tie, and a brocade waistcoat. The clothes were mostly tailor-made at great expense and paid for through weekly instalments. Preferred hairstyles included long, strongly-moulded greased-up hair with a quiff at the front and the side combed back to form a duck's arse at the rear. Another style was the Boston, in which the hair was greased straight back and cut square across at the nape.
Teddy Girls

Teddy girls wore drape jackets, hobble skirts, long plaits, straw boater hats, cameo brooches, espadrilles and coolie hats. Later they adopted the American fashions of toreador pants, voluminous circle skirts, and hair in ponytails.

Revivals

During the 1970s, rockabilly music enjoyed a renewed period of popularity and saw a resurgence of interest in Teddy Boy fashions; the look was taken up by Vivienne Westwood and Malcolm McLaren through their shop Let it Rock on London's Kings Road. This new generation of Teds adopted some aspects of the 1950s but with a large glam rock influence, including louder colours for drape jackets, brothel creepers and socks. Additionally, rather than grease to style their hair, they were more likely to use hairspray. In the later 1970s, the new generation became the enemies of the Westwood and Sex Pistol-inspired punk rockers.

The early 1990s saw a revival of original Teddy Boy style by a group known as The Edwardian Drape Society (T.E.D.S). Based in the Tottenham area of north London, they were concerned with reclaiming the style they felt had become bastardised by pop/glam bands such as Showaddywaddy and Mud in the 1970s. They have been the subject of a short film, The Teddy Boys, by Bruce Weber, at the Cambridge Film Festival in July 2006.

Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds (born 15 April 1944, Cardiff, Glamorgan, South Wales) is a Welsh singer, guitarist and record producer. Although he is primarily associated with Pub rock and New Wave, and had numerous hits in the 1970s and early 1980s, his natural leaning has always been towards 1950s style rock and roll.

Career

Early years

As a teenager Edmunds first played with a band called the '99ers' and later in the 'Heartbeats' with his older brother Geoff. The first group that Edmunds fronted was the Cardiff based 1950s style rockabilly trio 'The Raiders', along with Bob 'Congo' Jones on drums and John Williams on bass, that worked almost exclusively in the South Wales area. In the late 1960s, the band shifted to a more blues-rock sound, adding second guitarist Mickey Gee and renaming as the short lived 'The Human Beans', a band that played mostly in London and on the UK university circuit. In 1967 the band recorded a cover of "Morning Dew" on the Columbia label, that failed to have any chart impact. After just eighteen months the core of 'Human Beans' formed a new band called Love Sculpture that again reinstated Edmunds, Jones and Williams as a trio, who scored a quasi-novelty Top 5 hit by reworking Khachaturian's classical piece "Sabre Dance" as a speed-crazed rock number, inspired by Keith Emerson's classical rearrangements. "Sabre Dance" became a hit after garnering the enthusiastic attention of British DJ John Peel.
Solo career

After Love Sculpture split, Edmunds had a UK Christmas Number 1 single in 1970 with "I Hear You Knocking", a Smiley Lewis cover, which he came across while producing Shakin' Stevens and the Sunsets' first album entitled A Legend. The recording was the first release on Edmunds's manager's MAM Records label. This single also reached #4 in the U.S., making it Edmunds's biggest hit by far on either side of the Pond. Edmunds had intended to record Wilbert Harrison's "Let's Work Together", but when he was beaten to that song by Canned Heat, he adapted the arrangement he intended to use for it to "I Hear You Knocking", producing a highly original remake. Unfortunately, the success of the single caused EMI's Regal Zonophone Records to use an option that it had to claim Edmunds's album, 1972's Rockpile, and the momentum from the single's success on a different label went away.

Edmunds's only acting role followed, as a band member in the David Essex movie, Stardust. After learning the trade of producer, culminating in a couple of singles in the style of Phil Spector, "Baby I Love You" and "Born to Be with You", he became linked with the pub rock movement of the early 1970s, producing Brinsley Schwarz, Ducks Deluxe, and also The Flamin' Groovies, using a stripped down, grittier sound. Edmunds had bought a house in Rockfield, Monmouth a few miles away from Charles and Kingsley Ward's Rockfield Studios where he became an almost permanent fixture for the next twenty years. His working regime involved arriving at the studio in the early evening and working through till well after dawn, usually locked in the building alone. Applying the layered Spector sound to his own productions it was not unusual for Edmunds to multilayer up to forty separately recorded guitar tracks into the mix.

Rockpile and other collaborations

His own solo LP from 1975, Subtle as a Flying Mallet, was similar in style. The Brinsley Schwarz connection brought about a collaboration with Nick Lowe starting with this album, and in 1976 they formed the group Rockpile, with Billy Bremner and Terry Williams. Because Edmunds and Lowe signed to different record labels that year, they could not record as Rockpile until 1980, but many of their solo LPs (such as Nick Lowe's Labour of Lust and Edmunds's own Repeat When Necessary) were group recordings. Edmunds had more UK hits during this time, including Elvis Costello's "Girls Talk", Nick Lowe's "I Knew The Bride", Hank DeVito's "Queen of Hearts" (written for Edmunds and later a U.S. hit for Juice Newton), Graham Parker's "Crawling from the Wreckage", and Melvin Endsley's "Singing the Blues" (originally a hit for Marty Robbins).

Unexpectedly, after Rockpile released their first LP under their own name, Seconds of Pleasure (1980), the band split, generally attributed to tensions not between Edmunds and Lowe but their respective managers. Edmunds spent the 1980s collaborating with and producing an assortment of artists, from Paul McCartney to King Kurt, and from Stray Cats and Fabulous Thunderbirds to Status Quo. He recorded the soundtrack for Porky's Revenge, supplying the main theme, "High School Nights," and was the musical director for a television special starring Carl Perkins, with assorted guests including George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Rosanne Cash.

On his 1983 release, Information, Edmunds collaborated on two songs with Jeff Lynne, the leader of Electric Light Orchestra. One of these songs, a Lynne composition, "Slipping Away", became Edmunds's only other U.S. Top 40 hit, albeit just barely, spending a single week at #39. It was not a hit in the UK. In 1984, Lynne produced six tracks on Edmunds's following album, Riff Raff.

In 1986, Dave Edmunds participated in Carl Perkins's Rockabilly Session television special to pay tribute to his hero. Other musicians involved in the project include George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Eric Clapton.

Recent events

Edmunds recorded less frequently after the mid 1980s, living in Wales in semi-retirement, but occasionally touring. He joined up with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band for tours in 1992 and 2000. However, 2007 marked a return to touring for Edmunds, alongside Joe Brown, on a lengthy tour around the UK. He made an appearance on stage alongside Stray Cats, at the Brixton Academy in London, on 10 September 2008, playing "The Race Is On" and "Tear It Up" with the band.

On New Year's Eve 2008 he appeared on Jools Holland's annual Hootenanny, performing "Girls Talk" and "I Hear You Knocking". He was Holland's guest again at Borde Hill Garden on 20 June 2009, on 28 August at at open air concert at Carrickfergus Castle., 31 October at Ipswich Regent, 7 November at Stoke Victoria Hall and 14 November at Nottingham Concert Hall. Edmunds also played a five song set, including I Hear You Knocking, I knew the bride and Sabre Dance with the Holland Big Band at the Royal Albert Hall on November 27 2009.

Discography studio albums

with Love Sculpture:

• Blues Helping (December 1968)
• Forms and Feelings (January 1970)

as Dave Edmunds:

• Rockpile (June 1972)
• Subtle as a Flying Mallet (April 1975)
• Get It (April 1977)
• Tracks on Wax 4 (September 1978)
• Repeat When Necessary (June 1979) (UK #39, U.S. #54)

with Rockpile:

• Seconds of Pleasure (October 1980) (UK #34, U.S. #27)

as Dave Edmunds:

• Twangin... (April 1981) (UK #37)
• D.E. 7th (March 1982) (UK #60, U.S. #46)
• Information (April 1983) (UK #92, U.S. #51)
• Riff Raff (September 1984) (U.S. #140)
• Closer to the Flame (April 1990) (U.S. #146)
• Plugged In (August 1994)
• Hand Picked: Musical Fantasies (January 2000)

Discography live albums/compilations

as Dave Edmunds:

• The Best of Dave Edmunds (January 1982) (U.S. #163)
• I Hear You Rocking (June 1987) (U.S. #106)
• The Anthology: 1968-1990 (April 1993)
• A Pile of Rock: Live (September 2001)
• From Small Things: The Best of Dave Edmunds (April 2004)
• Alive and Pickin' (February 2005)
• The Many Sides of Dave Edmunds - The Greatest Hits and More (September 2008)

If you want to know more over Dave Edmunds please visit his official website.

Stray Cats

Stray Cats are an American rock band from Castro Valley California. formed in 1980 by guitarist/vocalist Brian Setzer (Bloodless Pharaohs/Brian Setzer Orchestra) with school friends Lee Rocker (bass) and Slim Jim Phantom (drums) in the Long Island town of Massapequa, New York. The group had several hit singles in the UK, Australia and the U.S. during the early 1980s.

History

Formation and move to UK

The group, whose style was based upon the sounds of Sun Records artists from the 1950s and heavily influenced by Bill Haley & His Comets, had little initial success in the New York music scene. When Setzer heard that there was a revival of the 1950s Teddy Boy youth subculture in England, the band moved to the UK. The band found themselves in the midst of a nascent rockabilly revival, with youth wearing drape jackets, brothel creepers and updating the 1950s look by using hairspray instead of grease to style their hair and by wearing bright, "loud" colours.

After a gig in London, Stray Cats met producer Dave Edmunds, well known as a roots rock enthusiast for his work with Rockpile and as a solo artist. Edmunds offered to work with the group, and they entered the studio to record their self-titled debut album, Stray Cats, released in England in 1981 on Arista Records. They had three hits that year with "Runaway Boys", "Rock This Town," and "Stray Cat Strut." The UK follow-up to Stray Cats, Gonna Ball, was not as well-received, providing no hits. But the combined sales of their first two albums was enough to convince EMI America to compile the best tracks from the two UK albums and issue an album (Built for Speed) in the U.S. in 1982.

Breakup and reunions

Steve Huey, in an Allmusic biography of the band, describes later developments as follows: Personality conflicts began to emerge in the ways that the individual members handled their new-found success; Phantom married actress Britt Ekland, while Setzer made guest appearances with stars like Bob Dylan and Stevie Nicks and became the concert guitarist for Robert Plant's Honeydrippers side project. In late 1984, Setzer broke up the band. Rocker and Phantom formed a trio called Phantom Rocker & Slick (the "Slick" being former David Bowie guitarist Earl Slick), while Setzer went on to a solo career, exchanging his rockabilly focus for a more wide-ranging roots rock/Americana sound on albums such as 1986's The Knife Feels Like Justice. In 1986, the Stray Cats reunited in Los Angeles, and recorded the covers-heavy Rock Therapy, which sold poorly. In 1989, they reunited once again for the album Blast Off!, which was accompanied by a tour with US blues guitarist Stevie Ray Vaughan. No longer with EMI America, they entered the studio with Nile Rodgers for the lackluster Let's Go Faster, issued by Liberation in 1990. 1992's Dave Edmunds-produced Choo Choo Hot Fish also attracted little attention, and after another covers album, Original Cool, the group called it quits again.

In 2002, the album Forever Gold was released on the St. Clair Entertainment label. It contained four direct-to-record acoustic studio takes, plus eight live recordings (including a seven minute version of "Rock This Town"), without locations or credits being provided. According to one reviewer, "The sound is a bit thin, especially since Slim Jim Phantom used a minimal drum kit of snare, cymbal, and bass drum. Listening to the performances of Fishnet Stockings, Rumble in Brighton, Double Talkin' Baby, and Rock This Town reminds you why this band, rockabilly or otherwise, was one of the most exciting of the early '80s."

In 2004, the Stray Cats reunited for a month-long tour of Europe. A live album culled from those concerts, Rumble In Brixton, included one new studio track, "Mystery Train Kept A Rollin'." In 2007, they reunited once again for a successful and long awaited US tour with ZZ Top and The Pretenders. This was their first North American tour in over 15 years. In the 2000s, the band toured Europe as part of their Farewell Tour. In early 2009, for the first time in 18 years, the Stray Cats visited Japan and New Zealand which included several consecutive sold out shows of their Farewell (Australia) Tour.

Band members follow-up careers

The Stray Cats have reunited periodically for live performances. Setzer is still part of his 1990s swing-revival band The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Rocker and Phantom went on to form Swing Cats as well as releasing some solo material. Slim Jim Phantom also plays the drums in another rockabilly band 13 Cats, as well as the Rock and Roll band The Head Cat with Lemmy (Motörhead) and Danny B. Harvey (13 Cats, RocKats). The band was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame on October 15, 2006.

Tours

• European Tour 2004
• North American Tour 2007
• Farewell Tour 2008-2009

Discography albums

• Stray Cats (1981) (UK only) - UK #6
• Gonna Ball (1981) (UK only) - UK #48
• Built for Speed (1982) (American debut - 11 songs extracted from first two UK albums plus the title track, which had not been available in the UK.) - US #2
• Rant N' Rave with the Stray Cats (1983) - US # 14/ UK #51
• Rock Therapy (1986)- US #122
• Blast Off! (1989) - US # 111/ UK #58
• Let's Go Faster! (1990)
• The Best of the Stray Cats: Rock This Town (1990)
• Choo Choo Hot Fish (1992)
• Original Cool (1993)
• Forever Gold (2002), St. Clair Entertainment; re-released 2007, Rock-A-Billy.
• Rumble in Brixton (2004)

Discography UK singles

7" vinyl singles with catalogue numbers Issued on Arista Records:

• 1980 "Runaway Boys" / "My One Desire" - SCAT 1 - UK #9
• 1981 "Rock This Town" / "Can't Hurry Love" - SCAT 2 - UK #9
• 1981 "Stray Cat Strut" / "Drink That Bottle Down" (Recorded Live) SCAT 3 - UK #11
• 1981 "You Don't Believe Me" / "Cross That Bridge" - SCAT 4 - UK #57
• 1981 "Little Miss Prissy" / "Sweet Love On My Mind" (Live) & "Something Else" (Live) - SCAT 5
• 1983 "(She's) Sexy + 17" / "Lookin' Better Every Beer" - SCAT 6 - UK #29
• 1983 "Rebels Rule" / "Looking Out My Backdoor" - SCAT 7

Issued on EMI Records:

• 1989 "Bring It Back Again" / "Runaway Boys" (Live) - MTS 62 - UK #64
• 1989 "Gina" / "Two Of A Kind" - MTS 67

Discography US singles

Issued on EMI America Records

• 1982 "Rock This Town" / "You Can't Hurry Love" - B-8132 - #9 US
• 1982 "Stray Cat Strut" / "You Don't Believe Me" - B-8122 - #3 US
• 1983 "(She's) Sexy + 17" / "Lookin' Better Every Beer" - B-8168 - #5 US
• 1983 "I Won't Stand In Your Way" / "I Won't Stand In Your Way" (A Cappella Version) - B-8185 - #35 US
• 1984 "Look At That Cadillac" / "Lucky Charm" - B-8194- # 68 US

Discography French singles

Issued on Arista Records Arabella Eurodisc Distribution.

• 1981 "Little Miss Prissy" / "Cross That Bridge" - #103812 or AE 130

If you want to know more over the Stray Cats please visit their own official website.

The Tielman Brothers

The Tielman Brothers were the first Dutch-Indonesian band that successfully went international in the 1950s. They were one of the pioneers of rock and roll in The Netherlands. The band was quite famous in Europe, long before The Beatles and The Rolling Stones. Their music was called Indorock, a fusion of Indonesian and Western music, and has roots in Kroncong.

History

The Timor Rhythm Brothers (1945-1957)
Reggy Tielman (banjo, guitar, vocal)- Surabaya, 20 May 1933
Ponthon Tielman (double bass, guitar, vocal)- 4 August 1934 - 29 April 2000
Andy Tielman (guitar, vocal)– 30 May 1936
Loulou Tielman (Herman Lawrence)(drum, vocal)– 30 october 1938 - 4 August 1994
Jane Tielman (Janette Loraine)(vocal)- 17 August 1940 - 25 juni 1993.

The Four Tielman Brothers - The 4 T's (1957-1959)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, vocal)
Ponthon Tielman (double bass, vocal)
Loulou Tielman (drums, vocal).

The Tielman Brothers (1960-1963)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, vocal)
Franky Luyten (rhytm guitar, vocal)
Ponthon Tielman (bass guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)

The Tielman Brothers (1963-1964)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Alphonse Faverey (lead guitar) ex-stringers to The Four Beat Breakers > The Time Breakers
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)
Franky Luyten (rhythm guitar, vocal) to The Four Beat Breakers > The Time Breakers
Ponthon Tielman (bass guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)to Tielman Royal; afterwards back to Indonesia
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)
Jane Tielman (vocal)

The Tielman Brothers (1964-1969)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, 6 string bass,vocal)
Hans Bax (rhythm guitar, vocal)
Robby Latuperisa (bass, guitar, 6 string bass)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)
Jane Tielman (vocal)

Andy Tielman and his Indonesians (1969-1971)
Andy Tielman (lead guitar, vocal)
Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, 6 string bass, vocal)
Rob Latuperisa (bass guitar, 6 string bass)
Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal)
Benny Heynen (tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar)
Leo Masengi (tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar)ex-The High Five

Andy Tielman & The Tielman Brothers Eddy Chatelin (guitar, vocal) Reggy Tielman (2nd lead guitar, rhythm guitar) Maurice de la Croix (rhythm guitar) Leo Masengi (tenor saxophone, rhythm guitar) Rob Latuperisa (bass guitar) Benny Heynen (tenor saxophone, trompet, guitar) Loulou Tielman (drum, vocal).

Discography

FOUR TIELMAN BROTHERS
1958 Rock Little Baby Of Mine / You're Still The One (Fernap FP 5001)

THE TIELMAN BROTHERS SINGLES:
1959 Record Hop / Swing It Up (Imperial HI 1026)
1960 My Maria / You're Still The One (Imperial HI 1032)
1960 Black Eyes / Rock Littie Baby (Imperial HI 1033)
1960 18th Century Rock / Pretend (Imperial HI 1049)
1960 18th Century Rock / Pretend (Capitol 4569)
USA 1960 I Can't Forget You / AAA (Imperial HI 1060)
1961 April In Paris / 0 Rosalie (Imperial HI 1203)
1962 Java Guitars / Warum Weinst Du Kleine Tamara (Ariola AT 10032)
1962 In The Mood / Sunday (ooit uitgebracht?)
1962 Tahiti Jungle / Fern Am Amazones (Ariola AT 45366)
1963 Little Hanschen Twist / Twistin'The Carioca (Ariola AT 10484)
1965 Little Girl / Yes I'm In Love (Ariola AT 18054)
1965 Love So True / Don't Go Away (Ariola AT 18056)
1965 Maria / Marabunta (Ariola ANG 10004)
1965 Exodus / Real Love (Ariola ANG 10006)
1965 White Christmas / I Wonder (Ariola ANG 10007)
1965 Little Lovely Lady / Warte Ab Darling Rosmarie
1966 Hello Catharina / Say You're Mine (Ariola AT 18276)
1966 No One But You / You Are The One (Ariola AT 18278)
1966 Maria / I Wonder (Ariola AT 18614)
1966 Exodus / White Christmas (Ariola AT 18654)
1966 Michelle / Du Gehst Vor,ber (Ariola AT 18768)
1966 Wanderer Ohne Ziel / Viel Zu Spat (Ariola AT 18898)
1966 You Got To Much Going For Love / Can't Help Falling In Love
1967 Little Bird / Gone For Good (Delta DS 1263)
1967 Little Bird / Gone For Good (Vogue DV 14696)
1967 Little Bird / She's Gone For Good (Rainwood R-807)
USA 1968 I Can't Help Falling In Love / Goodbye Mama (Delta DS 1271)
1968 Absence / Little Dog (Injection TAR 61012)
1968 Nina Don't Go / Maria My Love (Imperial TAR 61013)
1968 Nanana Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye / It's Magic In You Girl (Fontana YF 278838)
1970 Manolito / Unter'm Bambus Von Trinidad
1971 Say A Simple Word / Summer Without You
1972 Poor People / Forever And Evermore (met Jane Tielman)(Negram NG 309)
1972 With Your Help / Tell Me Your Name (Injection 134548)
1973 Hey Hey / I'm A Stranger In My Land (Negram NG 329)
1975 Hey Hey / I'm A Stranger In My Land (heruitgave)(Negram NG 2013)
1975 Goodbye Mama / Country Girl
1976 Rip It Up / Move It (Philips 6012641)
1980 Jesus / Part 2 (Killroy KR 2894 KL)
1980 Jesus / Part 2 (12-inch disco version)(Killroy KR 119504 KL)
1981 Little Bird / Poor People (EMI 5 006-26704)
1981 Cheryl Moana Marie / Blue Bayou
1991 Black Eyes Rock / Rollin' Rock

Indorock

Indorock is a musical genre, originating in the 1950s in the Netherlands and Europe. It is a fusion of Indonesian and Western music, and has roots in Kroncong (Traditional Indonesian Music).

History

After to Indonesian independence on August 17, 1945, many Indo (Dutch-Indonesian) musicians repatriated to the Netherlands. One of the effects of this cultural process was that, in the mid-1950s, an instrumental music genre called Indorock became popular.

The guitar was imported to the Indian archipelago by Portuguese explorers in the 14th century. The traditional Portuguese song styles, saudade and fado, played with guitar accompaniment, later became krontjong music. Krontjong is characterized by guitars which seem to be "talking" to each other. The guitarists play rhythmic and melodic parts instinctively.

Many Indorock musicians had a predilection for Hawaiian music, which was popular in the Netherlands at the time. Other significant influences included American country & western, and the rock & roll repertoire played on radio stations in Indonesia via American (AFN) stations from the Philippines and Australia.

Influential artists

• The (Real) Room Rockers (1957 - after 1959, known as The Hurricane Rollers)
• The Hot Jumpers (1958)
• The Bell Boys (later The Black Dynamites)
• The Rhythm Stars
• Oety & his Real Rockers
• Electric Johnny & The Skyrockets
• The Rocking Diamonds and The Blue Eagles
• Tielman Brothers (Andy, Reggy, Ponthon and Loulou Tielman)^[2]
• The Javalins

Werly Fairburn

Werly Fairburn (b. Folsom, Louisiana, Nov. 27, 1924 - d. Jan, 18, 1985) was an American rockabilly musician.

Fairburn listened to the Grand Ole Opry and played guitar as a youngster, learning to play from a local blues musician alongside the hillbilly music he heard on the radio. With the outbreak of World War II, he took a job at a New Orleansshipyard, and then served in the Navy in Hawaii.

Upon his return to New Orleans he trained as a barber and attempted to start a singing career simultaneously. Known as the "Singing Barber" on local radio stations such as WJBW and WWEZ, he became a local country music star. In the early 1950s he also began recording, starting with Trumpet Records, and following this, Columbia, Capitol, and Savoy (often with his backing group called The Delta Boys). Fairburn also owned a label called Milestone Records in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Fairburn's style blended elements of country, blues, and New Orleans-style R&B. He became well-known throughout the South, and appeared on the Big D Jamboree in Dallas without ever having scored a regional hit in the area. As rockabilly became more popular, he adapted to the style, and remained a regional favorite, though he never made the national charts.

In 1964, Fairburn sang his tune "I Guess I'm Crazy" on Louisiana Hayride, and Jim Reeves decided to cover the tune. This version was the single in current rotation when Reeves was killed in a plane crash in July of that year.

Fairburn continued to perform after moving to California in the 1960s, nearly up until he died of lung cancer in 1985. Nine years later, Bear Family Records collected his singles and released them on CD as Everybody's Rockin'.