Music Bank
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John Watts
One of the founding members of UK art punk outfit Fischer-Z, John Watts is a songwriter, musician, writer, and general media-centric jack of all trades. His foray into music began in an official manner with the formation of Fischer-Z in the mid seventies. That band would go on to sign with United Artists, tour the world and sell a good amount of records. As a solo artist, Watts first hit the shelves with One More Twist in 1982. He followed that with The Iceberg Model in 1983, but duties with Fischer-Z took center stage, and it was to be a good long while until Watts returned as a solo artist…
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Frankie Lymon
Frankie Lymon (1942-1968) and the Teenagers were a New York doo wop group consisting of Joe Negroni, Herman Santiago, Jimmy Merchant, and Sherman Garnes, but centered around the extraordinary talents of their lead singer, 13-year-old Frankie Lymon. Lymon was credited with their first big hit, “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” (in the early ’90s, a federal judge ruled after a lengthy trial that Lymon hadn’t written “Why Do Fools Fall in Love” — another member of the Teenagers had)…
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Rosanne Cash
The history of popular music is littered with the careers of the children of famous artists, performers who manage to carve out some small measure of success based far less on talent than on the recognition that their famous names afford them. Perhaps no greater exception to this trend was Rosanne Cash, the daughter of Johnny Cash, whose idiosyncratic and innovative music made her one of the preeminent singer/songwriters of her day…
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Hall & Oates
From their first hit in 1974 through their heyday in the ’80s, Daryl Hall and John Oates’ smooth, catchy take on Philly soul brought them enormous commercial success — including six number one singles and six platinum albums. Hall & Oates’ music was remarkably well constructed and produced; at their best, their songs were filled with strong hooks and melodies that adhered to soul traditions without being a slave to them, incorporating elements of new wave and hard rock…
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The Leisure Society
A folk-inflected chamber pop project led by London-based singer/songwriter Nick Hemming, the Leisure Society generated significant buzz in the U.K. following the 2009 release of their debut album, The Sleeper. Their sense of wistful grandeur and lushly arranged pop songcraft drew acclaim throughout the British press, which they soon parlayed into chart success on further releases like 2011’s Into the Murky Water and 2013’s Alone Aboard the Ark…
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Bobby Mitchell
Bobby Mitchell & the Toppers were part of the wave of New Orleans rock & rollers who followed in the wake of Fats Domino and Lloyd Price. Although the group had limited success (their best-known song, “Try Rock ‘n Roll,” climbed into the R&B Top 20 nationally, and “I’m Gonna Be a Wheel Someday” was a smash in numerous localities without ever charting nationally) and broke up in 1954, Mitchell remained a popular figure in New Orleans R&B for 35 years…
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The Young Fresh Fellows
Unsung heroes of the Seattle rock community, the Young Fresh Fellows were one of the first independent bands from the rainy city to earn a nationwide reputation in the 1980s, gaining an enthusiastic cult following and the approval of critics. Few bands were more admired by their peers than the Fellows, and their skewed but tuneful mix of British Invasion-era pop, garage rock, offbeat humor, and pop culture obsessiveness had a long shelf life, with the band still making joyful noise when they were still of a mind more than three decades after they began…
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Trees
Although success eluded them during their early-’70s run, the brief catalog of British folk-rock band Trees managed to age gracefully into cult status over the ensuing years. Like their contemporaries Fairport Convention, the London quintet combined traditional folk music with guitar-driven rock, adding their own progressive and psychedelic flair into the mix. After a pair of albums for CBS, they disbanded in 1973. In 2020, Trees celebrated their legacy with a 50th anniversary box set containing both of their albums and an array of rare and unreleased material…
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Clarence “Frogman” Henry
He could sing like a girl, and he could sing like a frog. That latter trademark croak, utilized to the max on his 1956 debut smash “Ain’t Got No Home,” earned good-natured Clarence Henry his nickname and jump-started a rewarding career that endured for over 40 years around the Crescent City. Naturally, Fats Domino and Professor Longhair were young Clarence Henry’s main influences while growing up in the Big Easy. He played piano and trombone with Bobby Mitchell & the Toppers from 1952 to 1955 before catching on with saxist Eddie Smith’s band….
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The Upper Room
The Upper Room were a rock band based in Brighton, England. Sony Records were brought to the band’s studio via mutual friends and they were signed in time for their first single, “All Over This Town”, in summer 2004. The band’s only album Other People’s Problems was released in May 2006. It was recorded in Dairy Studios, Brixton, with Paul Schroeder, who previously worked with The Stone Roses…
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