Shivaree was an Americana and alternative country band from the US founded in 1997, consisting of Ambrosia Parsley (vocals), Danny McGough (keyboard), and Duke McVinnie (guitar). The band took its name from the Cajun term “shivaree”, which means, roughly, a noisy mock serenade for newlyweds. It is most commonly used along and to the west […]
¿Quién será? (Sway)
“¿Quién será?” is a bolero-mambo song written by Mexican composers Luis Demetrio and Pablo Beltran Ruiz. However, because Demetrio sold his rights to Beltrán, the song has often been misattributed to the latter. Beltrán recorded the song for the first time with his orchestra in 1953. Pedro Infante, for whom the song was written, performed […]
Fun Boy Three
Fun Boy Three were an English new wave pop band, active from 1981 to 1983 and formed by singers Terry Hall, Neville Staple and Lynval Golding after they left the Specials. They released two albums and had seven UK top 20 hits. Fun Boy Three reduced the ska sound that they and Jerry Dammers had […]
Yard Act
Yard Act is a British rock band from Leeds, West Yorkshire. Critics have categorised the band’s music as post-punk and indie rock, often making use of elements of 1970s Italo disco, ’90’s hip-hop and early 2000’s indie rock. Their lyrics are often political, discussing opposition to topics including capitalism, gentrification and social class, told using […]
Stardust
“Stardust” is a 1927 song composed by Hoagy Carmichael, with lyrics later added by Mitchell Parish. Soon considered a standard of the Great American Songbook, the song has been recorded as an instrumental or vocal track over 1,500 times. Carmichael developed a taste for jazz while attending Indiana University. He formed his own band and […]
Emilia Jones
Emilia Jones is an English actress. Jones was born in London to Welsh singer and presenter Aled Jones and his wife, English circus performer Claire Fossett. She grew up in Barnes with her younger brother Lucas. She attended an improv class run by an agent, through whom Jones was cast in One Day. Jones’ acting […]
Donovan
Donovan Phillips Leitch, known simply as Donovan, is a Scottish musician, songwriter and record producer. He developed an eclectic and distinctive style that blended folk, jazz, pop, psychedelic rock and world music (notably calypso). He has lived in Scotland, London, California, and—since at least 2008—in County Cork, Ireland, with his family. Emerging from the British […]
Coventry Carol
The “Coventry Carol” is an English Christmas carol dating from the 16th century. The carol was traditionally performed in Coventry as part of a mystery play called The Pageant of the Shearmen and Tailors originally performed by the city’s guilds. The play depicts the Christmas story from Matthew chapter 2: the carol itself refers to […]
In The Bleak Midwinter
“In the Bleak Midwinter” is a poem by the English poet Christina Rossetti, commonly performed as a Christmas carol. The poem was published, under the title “A Christmas Carol” in the January 1872 issue of Scribner’s Monthly and was first collected in book form in Goblin Market, The Prince’s Progress and Other Poems (Macmillan, 1875). […]
Sussex Carol
The “Sussex Carol” is a Christmas carol popular in Britain, sometimes referred to by its first line “On Christmas night all Christians sing”. Its words were first published by Luke Wadding, a 17th-century Irish bishop, in a work called Small Garland of Pious and Godly Songs (1684). It is unclear whether Wadding wrote the song […]