Showing posts with label hard rock. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hard rock. Show all posts

Thursday, August 4, 2011

Jon Bon Jovi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jon_Bon_Jovi

John Francis Bongiovi Jr. was born on March 2, 1962 in Sayreville, New Jersey. He is an American musician, singer, songwriter and actor. During the 1980s, he was the front man of a band named after him, Bon Jovi. The band was declared the 2nd richest band of all in 2011, right behind U2. He is of Sicilian, German, Russian, and Slovak ancestry, and has said that he is a blood relative of Frank Sinatra.

In 1983, the band Bon Jovi formed, with Richie Sambora, Tico Torres, Alec John Such, him and David Bryan. Their first hit was the song Runaway. In Oct. 1984, the band opened up for the heavy metal band KISS at the Queen's Hall in Leeds. They released their Slippery When Wet album in 1986, which included tracks like You Give Love a Bad Name, Livin' on a Prayer and Wanted Dead or Alive.

In 2000, the band released the album Crush, which included the track It's My Life, and this album helped get a younger audience into the music of Bon Jovi. In Sept. 2005, they released the album Have a Nice Day, and on one of the tracks, Who Says You Can't Go Home, he sang it as a duet with Sugarland member Jennifer Nettles.

His music has also been used for movies. In the movie Young Guns II, the song Blaze of Glory plays at the end credits


He also has starred in movies, such as: Moonlight and Valentino, The Leading Man, Destination Anywhere, Homegrown, Little City, No Looking Back, Row Your Boat, Vampires Los Muertos, U-571, Cry Wolf, National Lampoon's Pucked, Pay It Forward, where he played Helen Hunt's abusive ex-husband

On April 29, 1989, while on tour, he made a scret trip to Las Vegas to marry his high school sweetheart, Dorothea Hurley. Together they have 4 kids: Stephanie Rose, Jesse James Louis, Jacob Hurley, Romeo John.
He is also a very charitable person, he works with the Special Olympics, the American Red Cross, The Elizabeth Glasner Pediatric AIDS Foundation, Habitat for Humanity, Project H.O.M.E, The Jon Bon Jovi Soul Foundation

Stevie Van Zandt

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stevie_Van_Zandt

Steven Lento was born on Nov. 22, 1950, in Winthrop, Massachusetts. He is best known by his stage name of Stevie Van Zandt, adopted from his grandfather. He is an Italian-American  radio DJ, musician, songwriter, music arranger, producer, actor. His nicknames include Little Miami Steve and he is best known for being a member of Bruce Springsteen's E-Street Band, where he plays guitar and mandolin. He also acts on the side, playing Silvio Dante on the HBO show The Sopranos.



He grew up in the Jersey Shore neighborhood, nowadays popularly known as the Shore, made famous by the MTV show Jersey Shore. He joined the E-Street band in 1975, and was partially responsible for the song Born to Run. He lists his musical influences as the Dave Clark 5 and Paul Shaffer. In 1984, Van Zandt left the E-Street band officially,and after a few albums as a solo man, he rejoined the band which was reformed in 1995. When the band played at the 2009 Super Bowl, Van Zandt and Springsteen got the most face time during their rendition of Glory Days. In 1999, Van Zandt took on the role of level-headed, deadly mob consigliere and strip club owner Silvio Dante on the HBO show The Sopranos. That is where he met the woman who would soon be his real life wife. Maureen Van Zant is an actress who occasionally played his wife Gabriella Dante. His trademark look consists of gypsy like clothes and a bandanna on his head. It is to cover up a permanent hair loss recieved from a car accident long ago where he hit his head on the windshield. However, on the Sopranos, he wears a pompadour toupee to cover up his hair loss.

Ever since 2002, he has been the host of a radio show called Little Steven's Underground Garage, which frequently gives airplay to musicians from the 1950s and on, and garage rock band. He also has a show on the Sirius radio network. One of the hosts of the show, called Underground Garage, includes former Rolling Stones manager Andrew Loog-Oldham, rock singer Joan Jett, punk rocker Handsome Dick Manitoba. but he is not to be confused with Steve Van Zandt, who does Steve and Jackie in hte Morning, a show on WROW out of Albany, New York

He is currently married to Maureen Santoro(now Maureen Van Zandt), who played his Sopranos wife Gabriella Dante. At the wedding, the wedding band from the Godfather film played, and they married on Dec. 31, 1982, with Bruce Springsteen as best man and Little Richard as the reverend. And at the reception, Percy Sledge sang his hit When a Man Loves a Woman.

Tuesday, August 2, 2011

V is for Van Halen

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Van_Halen

Van Halen is an American-based rock band that formed in Pasadena, California in 1974. This band has had almost 3 lead singers, and has had drama surrounding the departure of various members, like Gary Cherone, Sammy Hagar, or David Lee Roth.



From 1974-1985, David Lee Roth was the lead singer of the band, and brothers Eddie and Alex Van Halen let him be the lead singer for their band Mammoth. They wanted to change their name to something like Genesis, but thwne they discovered that the name Genesis had already been used, they changed it to Van Halen. Alot of their early gigs were at well known clubs, like the Whiskey A Go Go, which is a very well known L.A. nightclub.

In 1984, their album of the same name debuted, with tracks like Panama and Hot for Teacher, many tracks of which had videos on MTV. This album hit #2 on the Billboard charts behind Michael Jackson's Thriller. Basically Roth was kicked out of the band for his flamboyant behavior and overly excited stage persona, almost trying to be like Steven Tyler.

From 1985-1996, Sammy Hagar replaced Roth. And I think he might have been a more well controlled and better replacement. The reason he left is tension began to rise between Hagar and the Van Halen brothers, and it was during the recording of songs for the film Twister. Hagar left on Father's Day in 1996.

From 1996-1999, they had yet another lead singer, Gary Cherone, who was then the lead vocalist for the Boston-based band Extreme. The 1st album they produced all together was Van Halen III, most of the tracks were more mysterious and longer, and most of the tracks were basically ballads instead of the traditional rock songs they had been doing for the past years.

Current members consist of: Eddie Van Halen- lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards and backing vocals
                                           Alex Van Halen- drums and percussion
                                           David Lee Roth- lead vocals
                                          Wolfgang Van Halen- bass, backing vocals

Former members consist of: Mark Stone- bass, backing vocals
Michael Anthony- bass, backing vocals
Sammy Hagar- lead vocals, rhythm guitar
Gary Cherone- lead vocals





Monday, August 1, 2011

Rolling Stone Magazine

Everyone may have at one time or another seen or read an issue of this magazine. This magazine is a US-based magazine devoted to all things music and music culture, and politics. Almost every musician since the beginning of time has at one time or more then once gotten their image on the cover of this magazine. Thia magazine was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wellner and music critic Ralph J. Gleason. In the 1990s, this magazine changed it's format slightly to appeal to a younger audience.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rolling_Stone

When this magazine first started, it mainly reported on the hippie counterculture world of Haight-Ashbury, and they came in newspaper format. Rolling Stone had come under fire for discussing musicians that ahd previously been ignored, such as OutKast, Queen, Radiohead, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, AC/DC, The Beach Boys, Nirvana, Weezer, 2Pac.

For many years, they have maintained a main site where you can listen to some songs by some of the artists that have been on the cover, download songs onto your MP3s, read articles, read blogs, read reviews of albums and artists, and even read biographies about different artists. And if social media is your thing, they also have a page on Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Some people have appeared on the cover many times. Here are just some of those people:

  1. Issue 1: John Lennon
  2. Issue 2: Tina Turner
  3. Issue 3: the Beatles
  4. Issue 4: Jimi Hendrix, Donovan and Otis Redding
  5. Issue 5: Jim Morrison
  6. Issue 6: Janis Joplin
  7. Issue 7: Jimi Hendrix
  8. Issue 8: Monterey Pop Festival
  9. Issue 9: John Lennon and Paul McCartney
  10. Issue 10: Eric Clapton
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_celebrities_who_have_appeared_on_the_cover_of_Rolling_Stone_magazine
Here are all of the people who have recieved the honor of appearing on the magazine:

A
Adele
Paula Abdul
Jessica Alba
Clay Aiken
Sade Adu
Fiona Apple
Bille Joe Armstrong


B
Drew Barrymore
David Bowie
Pat Benatar
John Belushi
Mary J. Blige
Orlando Bloom
Jon Bon Jovi

C
Belinda Carlisle
Karen Carpenter
Dana Carvey
Johnny Carson
Ray Charles
Eric Clapton
Alice Cooper
D
John Denver
Robert De Niro
Johnny Depp
Bo Diddley
Mike Dirnt
Bob Dylan
DMX

E
Clint Eastwood
Zac Efron
John Entwistle
Phil and Don Everly
Missy Elliot

F
Edie Falco
Peter Falk
Mick Fleetwood
John and Tom Fogerty
Michael J. Fox
Ace Frehley
Aretha Franklin
Nelly Furtado

G
Peter Gabriel
Marvin Gaye
Sarah Michelle Gellar
Richard Gere
Heather Graham
Macy Gray
Buddy Guy

H
Sammy Hagar
George Harrison
Arsenio Hall
Geri Halliwell
James Hetfield
Abbie Hoffman
Whitney Houston
Kate Hudson
William Hurtt

I
Ice-T
Billy Idol
James Iha
Michael Imperioli

J
Michael Jackson
Mick Jagger(he's been on the cover several times!)



Wyclef Jean
Jewel
Billy Joel
Elton John
Joe, Kevin and Nick Jonas
K
John F. Kennedy
Robert F. Kennedy
Alicia Keys
Martin Luther King
B.B. King
Johnny Knoxville
Beyonce
Ashton Kutcher

L
Patti LaBelle
Teva Ladd(victim of the 1979 Who trampling incident)
Lady Gaga
Avril Lavigne
Heath Ledger
Tommy Lee
John Lennon
Julian Lennon
Sean Lennon
LL Cool J
Jane Lynch


M
Andie MacDowell
Benji and Joel Madden
Madonna
Malcolm X
Charles Manson
Marilyn Manson
Nick Mason
Linda and Paul McCartney
Duff McKagan
Cory Monteith
Keith Moon
Dudley Moore
Larry Mullen Jr
Eddie Murphy
Mike Myers

N
Graham Nash
Dave Navarro
Chuck Negron
Vince Neil
Stevie Nicks
Jack Nicholson
Don Novello

O
John Oates
Mary Kate and Ashley Olsen
Yoko Ono
Jack, Kelly, Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne
Donny Osmond

P
Al Pacino
Jimmy Page
Joe Perry
Robert Plant
Amy Poehler
Natalie Portman
Prince
Richard Pryor
Freddie Prinze

R
Gilda Radner
Bonnie Raitt
Robert Redford
Christopher Reeve
Keanu Reeves
Alexandra Richards(daughter of Keith Richards)
Theodora Richards(daughter of Keith Richards)
Keith Richards
Chris Rock
Axl Rose

S
Claudia Schiffer
Boz Scaggs
Shakira
Gene Simmons
Carly Simon
Nikki Sixx
Slash
Sylvester Stallone
Bruce Springsteen
Ringo Starr
Sting
Donna Summer

T
Ben Taylor
Mick Thompson
Lily Tomlin
Pete Townshend
Aida Turturro
Shania Twain
Steven Tyler
U
Usher
Brendon Urie
Lars Ulrich

V
Sid Vicious
Eddie Van Halen
Alex Van Halen
Vince Vaughn
Eddie Vedder

W
Rufus Wainwright
Andy Warhol
Denzel Washington
Charlie Watts
Roger Waters
Brad Whitford
Kate Winslet
Ronnie Wood
Bill Wyman

Y
Neil Young
Angus Young
Thom Yorke

Z
Rob Zombie
Frank Zappa

X is for X-Pensive Winos

If you have never heard of these guys, then maybe you have heard of one of the members, he's quite famous, he's had a few big fights with Rolling Stone Mick Jagger--yup, you may have guessed it right, Keith Richards. The X-Pensive Winos is the band he went on to form when him and the rest of the Stones were taking a break from each other.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/X-pensive_Winos
This band consisted of guitarist Waddy Wachtel, sax player Bobby Keys, keyboard player Ivan Neville, and Charley Drayton on bass.

There aren't many pics of these guys except maybe of Keith, he was the only real well known person in the band considering the fact he formed it.



W is for Whitesnake

Whitesnake is a British rock band that formed in 1978, founded by David Coverdale, after he left Deep Purple. Alot of their early stuff has been compared in many ways to Deep Purple, but by the mid 1980s, they moved into more heavy metal music. Even though this band has been considered to be an all British band, everyone in the band with the exception of Coverdale himself is American.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitesnake

The current members of Whitesnake consist of: David Coverdale(lead singer) and the only original member, Doug Alrich(guitars, backing vocals), Reb Beach(guitars), Brian Tichy(drums), Michael Devin(bass), Bryan Ruedy(keyboards)

Alot of their early stuff had been blues-rock and easy stuff, but then by the mid 1980s, they had moved into more heavy metal. In March 2008, Whitesnake played at the Rock2Wgtn with KISS, Alice Cooper, Ozzy Osbourne, Poison, Lordi, which basically was a big concert. And in the summer of 2008, they headlined a UK tour with Def Leppard, with southern rockers Black Stone Cherry opening the UK shows in June and the band Thunder opening the shows in July, and this was to promote their Good to Be Bad album, which was their 10th studio album.




David Coverdale
Doug Alrich
Reb Beach
Brian Tichy
Michael Devin
Bryan Ruedy