The evolution of the Big Mountain band started in 1986 as the San Diego reggae band Rainbow Warriors. In 1988, future Big Mountain frontman Joaquin “Quino” (pronounced Keeno) McWhinney joined as the lead singer of the band Shiloh. Quino is of Mexican/Irish heritage, and several members of his family were mariachi musicians. His interest in […]
D:Ream
D:Ream is a Northern Irish/English pop & dance group. In 1992, D:Ream released the single “U R the Best Thing”, a piano-house tune which did not chart. However, thanks to a Sasha remix, it was Pete Tong’s Essential Tune of 1992. “Things Can Only Get Better”, released in the spring of 1993, gave the group […]
Francesca Michielin
Francesca Michielin is an Italian singer and songwriter. She rose to fame after winning the fifth season of the Italian talent show X Factor. Her first single, “Distratto”, debuted atop the Italian FIMI Top Digital Downloads chart and was certified double platinum by the Federation of the Italian Music Industry. Michielin’s debut studio album, Riflessi […]
There’s No Business Like Show Business
“There’s No Business Like Show Business” is an Irving Berlin song, written for the 1946 musical Annie Get Your Gun and orchestrated by Ted Royal. The song, a slightly tongue-in-cheek salute to the glamour and excitement of a life in show business, is sung in the musical by members of Buffalo Bill’s Wild West Show […]
Isn’t This a Lovely Day
“Isn’t This a Lovely Day?” is a popular song written by Irving Berlin for the 1935 film Top Hat, where it was introduced by Fred Astaire in the scene where his and Ginger Rogers’ characters are caught in a gazebo during a rainstorm. The lyric is an example of a song which turns a bad […]
Shivaree
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 […]