Although remembered principally for his large-scale orchestral works and concertos, Dmitri Shostakovich’s output for the big screen was also prolific.He was, in essence, the Russian John Williams of his day. Between 1929 and 1970 Shostakovich wrote more than thirty movie soundtracks, but it’s his score for the 1955 film The Gadfly that remains the big […]
Big Mama Thornton
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton was an American singer and songwriter of blues and R&B. While Thornton’s birth certificate states that she was born in Ariton, Alabama, in an interview with Arhoolie Records producer Chris Strachwitz, she claimed Montgomery, Alabama, as her birthplace. She was introduced to music in a Baptist church, where her father […]
Crystal Gayle
Brenda Gail Webb known professionally as Crystal Gayle, is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit “Don’t It Make My Brown Eyes Blue”. Initially, Gayle’s management and record label were the same as that of her oldest sister, Loretta Lynn. Not finding success with the arrangement after several years, and with […]
Kinga Glyk
Kinga Glyk began her career at the tender age of 12. She joined her family band, Głyk P.I.K trio, where she gained invaluable experience in performing at a young age. In 2015, at the age of 18, she released her debut album, “Rejestracja,” which received positive reviews from Polish radio station Trójka and magazines like […]
Magali Datzira
Magalí Datzira is a double bass player and a vocalist. In the second CD-DVD of the Sant Andreu Jazz Band, which she took part in the recording of when she was only 13 years old, she started to sing and we were able to glimpse an original and very personal voice. She has a very […]
Ann Pennington
Anna Rebecca Pennington was an American actress, dancer, and singer who starred on Broadway in the 1910s and 1920s, notably in the Ziegfeld Follies and George White’s Scandals. Pennington was born in Wilmington, Delaware, on December 23, 1893, to John I. Pennington and his wife, Mary (Reeder) Pennington. There are differing accounts of Pennington’s early […]
Viola Smith
Viola Clara Smith was an American drummer best known for her work in orchestras, swing bands, and popular music from the 1920s until 1975. She was one of the first professional female drummers, and was the world’s longest-lived female drummer, dying in October 2020 at the age of 107. She played five times on The […]
Alexis Korner
Alexis Andrew Nicholas Koerner, known professionally as Alexis Korner, was a British blues musician and radio broadcaster, who has sometimes been referred to as “a founding father of British blues”. He spent his childhood in France, Switzerland and North Africa, and arrived in London in 1940 after the start of the Second World War. One […]
Ndlovu Youth Choir
The Ndlovu Youth Choir is a South African musical group founded in 2009 by Ndlovu Care Group childcare community based in Elandsdoorn, Limpopo. In October 2018, they released a single “Shape of You” with South African flautist Wouter Kellerman. The song won Best Independent Music Video at the Hollywood Music Awards. Towards the end of […]
Carla Thomas
Carla Venita Thomas is an American singer, who is often referred to as the Queen of Memphis Soul. Thomas was born and raised in the Foote Homes Projects in Memphis, Tennessee. Along with her siblings, Marvell and Vaneese, she was one of three musical children of Rufus and Lorene Thomas. Despite growing up in the […]