Alison Goldfrapp began her musical career in the early 1990's as a guest vocalist with the electronic band, Orbital and Tricky, a trip-hop artist. She meet Will Gregory in 1999. He invited her to prepare and record a demo for a film soundtrack he was composing. The demo never got completed but Alison and Will found they worked well together.After months of talking,they formed the band Goldfrapp, using Alison's last name. In August of 1999, they signed a recording contract with Mute records.
Goldfrapp is considered an electronic band even though their style has changed numerous times. Their music is characterized by Alison's soft,breathy vocals and Will's multi-layered synthesizer and string arrangements. They have a passion for haunting melody, experimented with electronic sound and had a great appreciation of cinematic sound. They have forged a distinctive and erotic sound. Their music is dark and combines sounds from new and old music. You feel the their passion, fears, obsessions, and desires. They use sex-glam, with a twist of love and lonliness and a dash of shock value. Goldfrapp's sound is beautiful and sincere while it can be haunting and dark at the same time. Sex, subversion, style, humor, and lyrics are pop music's greatest components. And Goldfrapp knows how to make it work. They played throughout Europe and have received top 40 status in Germany. In the U.S., the band played sold-out audiences in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Montreal. Goldfrapp's debut album, " Felt Mountain", was released in September of 2000. It featured Alison's synthesized vocal's over cinematic sound-scapes. It reached number fifty-seven on the UK charts. To promote their album, Goldfrapp toured the UK, Europe and the U.S. with alternative bands, Nick and the Bad Seeds and the Doves. Their second album, " Black Cherry", was released in April 2003. This album focused more on dance music and glam-rock. "Black Cherry" hit number nineteen in the UK but it hit number four on Billboard in the U.S. and went platinum. Their third album, " Supernature", was released in 2005. In 2006, Goldfrapp released, " We Are Glitter", a compilation of remixes from " Supernature". This was a U.S. only release. Their fourth album was "Seventh Tree", released at the end of 2008. In March 2010 they released their fifth album, " Head First".
Hold onto your hats Goldfrapp fans! Goldfrapp will have a very busy summer ahead. Not only do they have huge list of tour dates for Europe and Australia, they have found time to squeeze in four U.S. dates. The shows will be towards the end of June. They will begin with June 21st, in Washington DC. Then it will be followed by New York City on June 23rd, Oakland on June 26th, and Los Angeles on June 27th.
This exciting summer treat will start on June 7th, just one day before their new single, “Alive”, is set for release. The second single off of Head First will contain remixes by Joakim, Tensnake, Dave Aude, and Arno Cost. The video will follow in the footsteps of Goldfrapp’s unusual visual tastes. Tickets are currently on sale for all U.S. dates.
Ronnie James Dio, the epiphany of Metal music has died at the age of 67. Dio had announced last summer after finishing his tour in Atlantic City, New Jersey that he was battling stomach cancer. He was touring with the incarnation of Black Sabbath called Heaven and Hell. Dio whose soaring vocals, poetic lyrics and mythic tales of a never-ending struggle between good and evil broke new ground in heavy metal. In addition to his wife, Ronnie is survived by son Daniel, grandchildren Julie and Joey, and father Pat. Wendy Dio said that friends and family were able to say their goodbyes to her husband, and asked for the family to have a bit of privacy. She concluded by saying, "Please know he loved you all and his music will live on forever."
Ronnie was born July 10, 1942 in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. His birth name was Ronald James Padavona. He was an only child and was raised as Catholic. His musical career in began in 1957. He was a musical legend in Heavy metal, hard rock, and blues-rock. He was not only a singer but also producer as well as wrote music. Dio had been a member of the following bands: The Vegas Kings who were also called Ronnie & The Rumblers or Ronnie And The Red Caps, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Dio, and Heaven & Hell. Dio is credited with popularizing the devil's horns hand gesture. Dio was multi-talented and could sing and play four instruments: bass, guitar, keyboards and the trumpet. He even recorded several singles when he was young playing his trumpet. He rose to fame in 1975 as the first lead singer of Rainbow, the heavy metal band put together by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who had just quit Deep Purple.Dio then replaced legendary vocalist Ozzy Osbourne in Black Sabbath in 1980 with the highly acclaimed album "Heaven & Hell," considered by many critics to be one of the finest heavy-metal albums of all time. His on-again, off-again relationship with Black Sabbath caused a huge debate among fans as to which singer was the true essence of the band — a discussion that lasted until his death. Dio had a successful solo career with his band, Dio, in between his three stints with Black Sabbath in 1980-82,1992, and 2007-2009. Dio was inducted into the Rock Walk of Fame in Hollywood in 2007. Many of his most memorable songs revolved around the struggle between good and evil, including his signature tune "Heaven & Hell." He drew heavily on medieval imagery in songs like "Neon Knights," "Killing The Dragon" and "Stargazer." His solo hits included "Rainbow In The Dark," "The Last In Line" and "Holy Diver."
"He possessed one of the greatest voices in all of heavy metal, and had a heart to match it," said Twisted Sister guitarist Jay Jay French, whose band had toured with Dio since 1983, and was to do so again this summer at European rock festivals. "He was the nicest, classiest person you would ever want to meet." Ronnie organized an all-star charity event in 1986 called "Hear N Aid" to raise money for famine relief in Africa.
Chairlift is an electro-pop band from America. Their Indie-folk roots are in Brooklyn, NY. Members of the band are Aaron Pfenning ( songwriter/vocals/electronics/guitar ), Patrick Wimberly ( drums/bass/keyboard/production ), and Caroline Polachek ( songwriting/vocals/tambourine/synthesizer ). Caroline was an art student, Aaron was majoring in art and Patrick was a jazz student. The band formed as a project between Aaron and Caroline, at the University of Colorado, October 2005. Their original idea was to make background music for haunted houses. Along with bassist, Kyle McCabe, they recorded the beginning of their self-released album, "Daylight Savings", at New Monkey Studio, in LA, California in April of 2006. In August 2006, they re-located to Williamsburg, Brooklyn and signed to Kanine Records in 2007. Their song "Bruises ", was featured in the 2008 commercial for the fourth generation iPod Nano. Their re-location deepened their concentration between honesty and irony, strange and familiar, modern and vintage, and anonymity and communion. “I think our dream is to be the first band to play a concert on Mars,” states Aaron of Brooklyn-based trio Chairlift. “The problem is Patrick won’t go, he’s afraid of space.” Drummer Patrick agrees that any intergalactic gigs would have to be without his percussion section, “I’m afraid of heights and space so I’m going to stay on planet Earth my entire life.” Chairlift's debut album, " Does You Inspire You", is an appetizing mix of the childlike, eerie, and spacey, with an underlying creepiness mixed in. Caroline’s honeyed vocals fluctuate between hushed sweetness and impassioned wails. Some tracks feature space-rock synths, computer game beeps and beats that click and tick. Others have country melodies or thumping bass, all of which melt into an intriguing sound that’s hard to pin down, but at the same time strikingly recognizable. The band members are a mixture of timidity and enthusiasm with an undertone of mischief. Caroline and Aaron always have chains and initials emblazoned up their arms drawn with permanent markers. Aaron sports a faded design that says "Totally True". In the band’s early days, Caroline and Aaron’s practice sessions would descend into the realm of the strange and unusual, which inspired plans for the haunted house tour. “We came up with everything,” says Aaron, “except we didn’t actually do it.” These early sessions slipped into their debut, but Caroline cites the source of their underlying creepy vibe as a juxtaposition between things that are supposed to be comforting but aren’t and things that are very normal. Modern life is part of the mix of influences. " Earwig Town" is a skin crawling exploration of surveillance and the your-call-may-be-recorded aspect of everyday life. " Garbage" is a reflection on the re-use and recycling of the band’s home state, Colorado. Despite their move to Brooklyn, human waste is still an inspiring notion. Caroline says the idea of all our garbage sitting in a landfill longer than we’ll even be alive was actually kind of a beautiful idea. And it's kind of like the real tombstone we leave behind, it’s beautiful in that kind of normal/creepy way that she likes. " Bruises" may have elicited a surge of interest in the band, with some fans attending gigs only for that song, but Chairlift find that reaction humorous. Aaron had even compiled a screen-shot collection of online comments referring to it. Thirteen-year-old girls write, they only like " Bruises" and the rest of the album is just ok. Patrick says he’s happy with how quickly people have gotten into the band’s music as a whole, though. With their popularity on the rise, Chairlift’s thoughts turn to a new album. Tracks are being composed and the band is excited about taking on a production role. They’re even thinking about recording in the desert. Before that though, they have a heavy touring schedule to complete. Mars may not be on the tour yet, but Caroline is still looking skywards.
The Killers are an American rock band from Las Vegas Nevada, who began in 2002. The members are Brandon Flowers ( vocals,keyboard ), Dave Kuening ( vocals,guitar ), Mark Stoermer ( bass,vocals ), and Ronnie Vannucci ( drums, percussion ). They draw they style from the 1980's post-punk revolution. "Hot Fuss", their first album released in 2004, was accepted with very high acclaim. The second album, " Sam's Town", was released in 2006. In 2007, they released a compilations album," Saw Dust", which contained B-sides, rarities, and new materials. The third studio album, " Day & Age", was released in 2008. The Killers have sold over 5 million albums in the United States, 4.5 in the UK, and 15 million world-wide. In 2001, Brandon Flowers was abandoned from his first band after he refused to move to LA California. It was a synth-pop band called Blush Response. He met Dave Kuening while responding to an ad that Dave was running in a Las Vegas paper, listing for people interested in music influenced by Oasis, The Cure, U2, and the Beatles. The name "The Killers" comes from bass drum of a fictional band in the video for The New Order song, "Crystal". The Killers fired two drummers in the first year and the original bassist quit. in late 2002, Mark and Ronnie joined the band. Initially, the band played at small Las Vegas clubs and often played at drag shows. They sent out demo tapes to all the major recording companies in the U.S. and continuously got turned down. Finally they caught the eye of Alex Gilbert, a British representative for Warner Bros.. Although Warner Bros. didn't like the band, he took a demo back with him and showed it to Ben Durling. Ben worked at the UK Indie label called Lizard King. In 2003, The Killers signed on with the British label.
" Mr. Brightside" premiered on August 19, 2003, on DJ Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show. They travelled to London and began to play in clubs where the crowds grew nightly. Word of mouth and raving reviews , were extremely positive and The Killers returned to the States. Now that they had made their mark in the UK, they were quickly signed by Island Def Jam. They have won four NME awards : Best International band in 2005, 2008 and 2009...Best video " BONES", in 2006. They picked up two awards in the first NME Awards USA for best band and best track for " TRANQUILIZE". They have been nominated for seven Grammy's, although they haven't won yet. In 2006, they won the BRIT Award for best International band and their album " Sam's Town", won best International album.
The Killers decided to take a brief hiatus as they had been on the road continuously over the last six years. On February 24, 2010, Rolling Stone Magazine, announced that Ray Davies, has chosen The Killers to contribute to a cover album of The Kinks songs, which is due out at the end of the year. In April 2010, Brandon announced he will be releasing a solo later this year and Ronnie will be joining Mt. Desolation, along with members of Keane and Mumford & Sons, to release an album of country songs.
Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul. The band has received praise across the music media even before they gained mainstream success, especially from the BBC who played a large part in Florence and the Machine's rise to prominence by promoting her as part of BBC Introducing. The band's debut album, "Lungs" was released on July 6, 2009 and held the No. 2 position for its first five weeks in the UK Album Chart. On January 17,2010, the album reached No. 1 on the UK album chart, having remained in the chart for 28 consecutive weeks up until that point. At the 2010 Brits Awards, "Lungs", won the Mastercard British Album award.
Florence Leontine Mary Welch,born August 28,1986 in London, is the daughter of Evelyn Welch, a Harvard-educated Professor of Renaissance Studies and Academic Dean of Arts at Queen Mary University of London and author, and Nick Welch, her father works in advertising.
Welch's fascination with terror and doom was intensified by the death of her grandparents within a few years of each other. At age 10, Welch witnessed her grandfather's deterioration and her maternal grandmother, an art historian who died when Welch was 14. When Welch was 13 years old, her mother moved in with her next door neighbor and his three teenage children. According to Florence they get along now, but it was a nightmare then. She would just stay in her room and dance around and sing.
Florence was educated at Alleyn's School, South East London. Despite doing well academically, Welch often didn't focus at school and was often in trouble for improptu singing and just belting out a tune any time. Welch was diagnosed with dyslexia and dysmetria and she suffers from OCD,ADD and insomnia. Upon leaving school, Florence studied at Camberwell College of the Arts, before dropping out to focus on her music. She contributed vocals to the David Byrnes and Fatboy Slim's, 2010 album, "Here Lies Love".
The Machine is Welch's back-up band, composed mostly of session musicians, who differ dependent on Welch's requirements when performing. The Machine and Florence actually performed as "Florence and the Machine" when she was a solo artist, before she met them, and attributes her acts name to her original musical project with "Isabella Machine" as a teenager. Like most solo female singers, Welch relies on a regular line up of musicians to support her in live shows. The current line up includes session musicians Robert Ackroyd on guitar, Chris Hayden on drums, Isabella Summers on keyboard, Mark Saunders on bass and Tom Monger on harp. In the past, Welch has praised the Machine for understanding her creative process, claiming it's because she has worked with most of them for a long time and they know her style, know the way she writes, and they know what she wants.” According to Welch, the name "Florence and the Machine", started off as a private joke that got out of hand. She made music with her friend, who she called Isabella Machine and she was Florence Robot. In 2006, Welch's performances in small London venues under the name, " Florence Robot is a Machine", began to attract notice.
Florence and the Machine are managed by Mariread Nash, who decided to manage the singer when an very drunk Florence followed Nash into the toilets and sang the Etta James song, "Something's Got A Hold On Me". The album was officially launched with a set at the Rivioli Ballroom in Brockley, South East London.
The album peaked at the number 1 position in the UK and the number 13 position in Europe. As of August 6, 2009, the album had sold over 100,000 copies in the UK and by August 10, 2009, had been at the number 2 position for five straight weeks. Following its July 25, 2009, release for download in the United States, the album debuted at the number 17 position on the Billboard "Heatseekers" chart. The album was released in the U.S. on October 20, 2009 by Island Records. The album was produced by James Ford, Paul Epworth, Steve Mackey, and Charlie Hugall. Much of the material on the album was written as reaction to what turned out to be a temporary break-up with Welch's current boyfriend. She said that he preferred her not to talk about it so she found it funny and sang about it instead. The follow-up single, " Dog Days are Over", was recorded with no instruments in a studio the size of a restroom. The third single from the album was "Rabbit Heart(Raise it Up). Part of the song's melody, as well as the lyrics, "How quickly the glamor fades" were taken from New York band Gang Gang Dance's song "House Jam", without credit on the " Lung's" liner notes. Members of the group noticed and brought it to the attention of Florence and The Machine's label, Island Records, who acknowledged infringement and agreed to pay Gang Gang Dance a share of the song's publishing royalties. Welch agreed that she had screwed up and said her intent was to pay homage to the band.
After the release of "Lungs", the singles, "Drumming Song" and " Candi Staton" cover and "You've Got the Love" were released. The latter went on to become part of a mash-up called, " You Got the Dirty Love", between Welch and British rapper, Dizzee Rascal. The two performed the mash-up together at the 2010 BRIT Awards and the recorded performance was released as a single the following day.In January 2010, " Hurricane Drunk", was originally announced as the next single from the album. However, on March 3, 2010, a re-release of "Dog Days Are Over", the opening track from "Lungs", was announced on the band's website. The single was to be released digitally on April 11, 2010, on 7" vinyl and will have a new video released, too. "Cosmic Love" has been confirmed to be the 7th and final single from Florence's debut album "Lungs", with a music video having already been shot.
Goldfrapp is considered an electronic band even though their style has changed numerous times. Their music is characterized by Alison's soft,breathy vocals and Will's multi-layered synthesizer and string arrangements. They have a passion for haunting melody, experimented with electronic sound and had a great appreciation of cinematic sound. They have forged a distinctive and erotic sound. Their music is dark and combines sounds from new and old music. You feel the their passion, fears, obsessions, and desires. They use sex-glam, with a twist of love and lonliness and a dash of shock value. Goldfrapp's sound is beautiful and sincere while it can be haunting and dark at the same time. Sex, subversion, style, humor, and lyrics are pop music's greatest components. And Goldfrapp knows how to make it work. They played throughout Europe and have received top 40 status in Germany. In the U.S., the band played sold-out audiences in New York, Chicago, Los Angeles and Montreal. 
Goldfrapp's debut album, " Felt Mountain", was released in September of 2000. It featured Alison's synthesized vocal's over cinematic sound-scapes. It reached number fifty-seven on the UK charts. To promote their album, Goldfrapp toured the UK, Europe and the U.S. with alternative bands, Nick and the Bad Seeds and the Doves. Their second album, " Black Cherry", was released in April 2003. This album focused more on dance music and glam-rock. "Black Cherry" hit number nineteen in the UK but it hit number four on Billboard in the U.S. and went platinum. Their third album, " Supernature", was released in 2005. In 2006, Goldfrapp released, " We Are Glitter", a compilation of remixes from " Supernature". This was a U.S. only release. Their fourth album was "Seventh Tree", released at the end of 2008. In March 2010 they released their fifth album, " Head First".
