Showing results for "F" in Composers & Musicians

Thanks to a thrown beer bottle and a fan letter to a P.O. box, Melissa Auf der Maur's first band scored an opening slot for the Smashing Pumpkins in her bohemian home town, Montreal. Sensing Melissa's talent, Billy Corgan recommended her to Courtney Love. Whisked from her local scene, Melissa joined Hole just after the deaths of Kurt Cobain and Hole's prior bassist, Kristen Pfaff, with the just-widowed Courtney Love at the centre of it all.

Ariana Grande captured the hearts of a nation with her One Love Manchester concert. Less than a fortnight after a terrorist killed twenty-two people at her Manchester show, the petite princess stood tall at her tribute concert that united and healed a shaken nation. She was the emotional core of a powerful evening that reminded us all of music's redemptive power. But who is Ariana Grande?

Philip Norman’s acclaimed biography paints a frank but sympathetic portrait, from Elton’s rise to success to the attempted suicides, from football club chairman to flamboyant Versace shopaholic, and the extraordinary moment in Westminster Abbey when ‘Candle in the Wind’ turned into a requiem for his friend Diana, Princess of Wales.

In 1967, 21-year-old Pauline Butcher was working for a London secretarial agency when a call came through from a Mr Frank Zappa asking for a typist. The assignment would change her life forever. For three years, Pauline served as Zappa's PA, moving with him, his family and the Mothers of Invention to a log cabin in the Hollywood Hills, where the straight young English girl mixed with Oscar winners and rock royalty. 

As the lead singer of Modern Romance he toured the world, as the screenwriter of Kinky Boots he conquered Hollywood, now comes Geoff Deane's latest act as a quite brilliant and witty ranconteur in his hilarious memoir From Mohair Suits to Kinky Boots….

What do Motörhead, Black Sabbath, Elvis Costello, Rush and Chumbawumba have in common? Kim Hawes, a pioneering female tour manager. Through hard work, hard partying and hard times, Kim refused to conform to others' expectations. She hurled a TV through the glass ceiling of the male-dominated music industry, blazing a trail for young women today. Hers is no ordinary tale of life on the road.

Fleetwood Mac have had a chart-topping career that spans over fifty years and includes some of the biggest-selling albums and greatest hits of the 20th and 21st centuries. But the band's story is one of enormous triumph and also unimaginable tragedy. There has never been a band in the history of music riven with as much romantic drama, sexual tension and incredible highs and lows as Fleetwood Mac.

As lead singer of Happy Mondays and Black Grape, Shaun Ryder was the Keith Richards and Mick Jagger of his generation - one of the last real rock 'n' roll stars. A true rebel, who formed and led not one but two seminal bands, he's had number-one albums, headlined Glastonbury, toured the world numerous times, taken every drug under the sun, been through rehab - and come out the other side as a national treasure. 

Seven brothers and sisters. All of them classically trained musicians. One was Young Musician of the Year and performed for the royal family. The eldest has released her first album, showcasing the works of Clara Schumann. These siblings don’t come from the rarefied environment of elite music schools, but from a state comprehensive in Nottingham. How did they do it? Their mother, Kadiatu Kanneh-Mason, opens up about what it takes to raise a musical family in a Britain divided by class and race.