Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey), nicknamed "The Boss," is an American singer-songwriter who records and tours with the E Street Band. Springsteen is widely known for his brand of heartland rock, poetic lyrics, and Americana sentiments centered on his native New Jersey.
Springsteen's recordings have included both commercially accessible rock albums and more somber folk-oriented works. His most successful studio albums, Born in the U.S.A. and Born to Run, showcase a talent for finding grandeur in the struggles of daily American life; he has sold more than 65 million albums in the United States and 120 million worldwide and he has earned numerous awards for his work, including 20 Grammy Awards, two Golden Globes and an Academy Award. He is widely regarded by many as one of the most influential songwriters of the twentieth century, and in 2004, Rolling Stone Magazine ranked him as the 23rd greatest artist of all time in its 100 Greatest Artists of All Time list.
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits (born December 7, 1949) is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car." With this trademark growl, his incorporation of pre-rock music styles such as blues, jazz, and vaudeville, and experimental tendencies verging on industrial music, Waits has built up a distinctive musical persona. He has worked as a composer for movies and musical plays and as a supporting actor in films, including Down By Law and Bram Stoker's Dracula. He was nominated for an Academy Award for his soundtrack work on One from the Heart.
Lyrically, Waits' songs frequently present atmospheric portrayals of grotesque, often seedy characters and places – although he has also shown a penchant for more conventional ballads. He has a cult following and has influenced subsequent songwriters despite having little radio or music video support. His songs are best-known to the general public in the form of cover versions by more visible artists: "Jersey Girl", performed by Bruce Springsteen, "Ol' '55", performed by the Eagles, and "Downtown Train", performed by Rod Stewart. Although Waits' albums have met with mixed commercial success in his native United States, they have occasionally achieved gold album sales status in other countries. He has been nominated for a number of major music awards and has won Grammy Awards for two albums, Bone Machine and Mule Variations. In 2011, Waits was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
The Clash The Clash were an English punk rock band that formed in 1976 as part of the original wave of British punk. Along with punk, their music incorporated elements of reggae, ska, dub, funk, rap, dance, and rockabilly. For most of their recording career, the Clash consisted of Joe Strummer (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Mick Jones (lead guitar, vocals), Paul Simonon (bass guitar, vocals) and Nicky "Topper" Headon (drums, percussion). Headon left the group in 1982, and internal friction led to Jones's departure the following year. The group continued with new members, but finally disbanded in early 1986. The Clash achieved commercial success in the United Kingdom with the release of their debut album, The Clash, in 1977. Their third album, London Calling, released in the UK in December 1979, brought them popularity in the United States when it came out there the following month. Critically acclaimed, it was declared the best album of the 1980s a decade later by Rolling Stone magazine. The Clash's politicized lyrics, musical experimentation and rebellious attitude had a far-reaching influence on rock, alternative rock in particular. They became widely referred to as "The Only Band That Matters", originally a promotional slogan introduced by the group's record label, CBS. In January 2003, the band—including original drummer Terry Chimes—were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked the Clash number 28 on their list of the 100 greatest artists of all time.
Pantera has been dubbed one of the greatest heavy metal bands of all time, and has sold around 20 million albums. Starting as a glam metal band, Pantera became famous for a heavier groove and thrash sound when they released Cowboys from Hell in 1990. Their second album Vulgar Display of Power, released in 1992, revealed a heavier sound than Cowboys from Hell and their 1994 release of Far Beyond Driven debuted at No.1 in the Billboard 200.
Tensions began to surface amongst the band members when Phil Anselmo became addicted to heroin in 1995. This resulted in the recording sessions for The Great Southern Trendkill to be recorded separately. The ongoing tensions lasted for another seven years, in which only one studio album, Reinventing the Steel was released.
Pantera disbanded in 2003 due to Anselmo's time away from the band, which resulted in the Abbott brothers, who felt that Anselmo abandoned Pantera, forming Damageplan. Any hopes of reunion were lost on December 8, 2004, when Dimebag Darrell was shot and killed onstage during a Damageplan performance.
The band released only one studio album, Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs, which featured prominent lead guitar from guitarist Duane Allman with one of the most prolific and most memorable contributions in rock music on the album's title track Layla along with powerful slide guitar work throught the songs on which he contributed to within the album of the Allman Brothers Band. The album went on to receive critical acclaim, but initially faltered in sales and in radio airplay. Although released in 1970 it was not until March 1972 that the album's single "Layla" (a tale of unrequited love inspired by Clapton's relationship with his friend George Harrison's wife, Pattie Boyd Harrison) would make the top ten in both the United States and the United Kingdom. The album, which has received praise from both critics and fans alike, is often considered to be the defining achievement of Clapton's career.
Berry foi influenciado por Nat King Cole, Louis Jordan e Muddy Waters, que acabaria o apresentando a Leonard Chess, da gravadora Chess. Enquanto ainda existem controvérsias sobre quem lançou o primeiro disco de rock, as primeiras gravações de Chuck Berry, como "Maybellene", de 1955, sintetizavam totalmente o formato rock and roll, combinando blues com música country e versos juvenis sobre garotas e carros, com dicção impecável e diferentes solos de guitarra.
A maioria de suas gravações mais famosas foram lançadas pela Chess Records, com o pianista Johnnie Johnson, o baixista Willie Dixon e o baterista Fred Below. Juntamente com o guitarrista Berry, eles se tornaram o sumário de uma banda de rock.
Durante sua carreira ele gravaria tanto baladas românticas (como "Havana Moon") quanto blues ("Wee Wee Hours"), mas foi no recém-nascido rock que Berry ganhou sua fama. Ele gravou mais de trinta sucessos a aparecerem no Top Ten, e suas canções ganharam versões de centenas de músicos de blues, country e rock and roll. Entre seus clássicos podemos citar "Roll Over Beethoven", "Sweet Little Sixteen", "Route 66", "Memphis, Tennessee", "Johnny B. Goode" (que possui provavelmente a mais famosa introdução de guitarra da história do rock), "Nadine", entre outras.
Quando jovem, Berry passou três anos em um reformatório por tentativa de assalto. Mas acusação pior viria em 1959, quando ele convidou uma índia apache de 14 anos que havia conhecido no México para trabalhar em seu clube noturno em St. Louis. A garota acabaria sendo pega pela polícia, assim como Berry, que foi acusado de entrar com uma menor nos limites do estado com propósitos sexuais. Ele foi condenado a cinco anos de prisão e multado em 5,000 dólares. Chuck foi solto em 1963, mas seus dias de glória ficaram para trás. Mesmo assim ele ainda obteve sucessos com "You never can tell" e "No particular place to go", lançada em 1964. Em 1966 ele gravou pelo selo Mercury Records uma compilação de todos os seus sucessos, utilizando técnicas mais modernas de gravação. A partir de então, Chuck Berry raramente voltaria a lançar músicas novas, preferindo capitalizar para si o sucesso que suas canções clássicas tinham junto ao público.
Como exemplo de sua influência profunda, podemos lembrar das bandas inglesas dos anos 60. The Beatles, Animals, Rolling Stones, entre outros, regravaram suas músicas. Os Rolling Stones literalmente basearam seu estilo de tocar rock 'n' roll no dele. Quando Keith Richards premiou Berry no Hall da Fama, disse: "É difícil pra mim apresentar Chuck Berry, porque eu copiei todos os acordes que ele já tocou!"
Chuck viajou em turnê por muitos anos carregando apenas sua guitarra Gibson, confiante no fato de que poderia contratar uma banda que conhecia suas músicas em qualquer lugar que ele fosse. Entre os muitos artistas que serviram de apoio para Berry estiveram Bruce Springsteen e Steve Miller.
Depois de tocar seus maiores sucessos durante os anos 70, inclusive lançando um álbum ao vivo que foi grande sucesso comercial (London Sessions, de 1972), Berry teve problemas legais novamente em 1979, quando foi considerado culpado de sonegação de impostos. Ele foi sentenciado a quatro meses de prisão e a cumprir 1,000 horas de trabalho comunitário fazendo shows beneficentes.
Em 1986, Keith Richards organizou para seu ídolo confesso um grande show para comemorar seus 60 anos, realizado em Saint Louis. Nele foi filmado o documentário "Hail!Hail!Rock 'n' Roll", no qual Chuck Berry, acompanhado de Etta James, Julian Lennon, Robert Cray, Eric Clapton, entre outros convidados, celebrava sua carreira. Foi o seu último grande momento artístico na mídia, embora tenha continuado nos anos seguintes a fazer turnês. Chuck Berry teve seis de suas músicas incluidas na Lista das 500 melhores canções de sempre da Revista Rolling Stone, sendo "Johnny B. Goode" a sétima da lista. Com relação à sua música mais famosa, "Johnny B. Goode", há, ainda, a curiosidade de ser um dos sons humanos levados pelas naves Voyager 1 e 2 para o espaço, caso haja contato com seres extraterrestres.
Em junho de 2008, Chuck Berry realizou shows nas cidades de Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Curitiba e Porto Alegre, e em agosto de 2009 em São Paulo, Porto Alegre, Belo Horizonte e Fortaleza.
Michael Lee Aday (born Marvin Lee Aday; September 27, 1947), better known by his stage name, Meat Loaf, is an Americanrockmusician and actor. He is noted for the Bat Out of Hell album trilogy consisting of Bat Out of Hell,Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell and Bat Out of Hell III: The Monster Is Loose.Bat Out of Hell has sold more than 43 million copies. After more than 30 years, it still sells an estimated 200,000 copies annually and stayed on the charts for over nine years, making it one of the best selling albums of all time.
Although he enjoyed success with Bat Out of Hell and Bat Out of Hell II: Back into Hell and earned a Grammy Award for Best Rock Vocal Performance, Solo for a track on the latter album, Meat Loaf experienced some initial difficulty establishing a steady career within his native US. However, he has retained iconic status and popularity in Europe, especially the UK, where he ranks 23rd for the number of weeks overall spent on the charts. He ranked 96th on VH1's "100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock."
Meat Loaf has also appeared in over 50 movies or television shows, sometimes as himself or as characters resembling his stage persona. His most notable roles include Eddie in the American premiere of The Rocky Horror Show and The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Robert "Bob" Paulson in Fight Club.
