Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950 – October 2, 2017) was an American musician. He was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the late 1980s supergroup the Traveling Wilburys, and had success as a solo artist.
From 1974 until 1985, Van Halen consisted of Eddie Van Halen; Eddie’s brother, drummer Alex Van Halen; vocalist David Lee Roth; and bassist/vocalist Michael Anthony.[6] Upon its release in 1978, the band’s self-titled debut album reached No. 19 on the Billboard pop music charts and would sell over 10 million copies in the U.S. By 1982, the band released four more albums (Van Halen II, Women and Children First, Fair Warning, and Diver Down), all of which have since been certified multi-platinum. By the early 1980s, Van Halen was one of the most successful rock acts of the day.[7] The album 1984 was a commercial success with U.S. sales of 10 million copies and four successful singles. Its lead single, “Jump“, was the band’s only U.S. number one single.
In 1985, Roth left the band to embark on a solo career and was replaced by former Montrose lead vocalist Sammy Hagar. With Hagar, the group released four U.S. number-one, multi-platinum albums over the course of 11 years (5150 in 1986, OU812 in 1988, For Unlawful Carnal Knowledge in 1991, and Balance in 1995). Hagar left the band in 1996 shortly before the release of the band’s first greatest hits collection, Best Of – Volume I. Former Extreme frontman Gary Cherone replaced Hagar and recorded the commercially unsuccessful album Van Halen III with the band in 1998, before parting ways in 1999. Van Halen then went on hiatus until reuniting with Hagar in 2003 for a worldwide tour in 2004 and the double-disc greatest hits collection The Best of Both Worlds. Hagar again left Van Halen in 2005. In 2006 Roth returned, but Anthony was replaced on bass guitar by Eddie’s son, Wolfgang Van Halen. In 2012, the band released their final studio album A Different Kind of Truth, which was commercially and critically successful. It was also Van Halen’s first album with Roth in 28 years and the only one to feature Wolfgang.
As of March 2019, Van Halen is 20th on the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) list of best-selling artists in the United States; the band has sold 56 million albums in the States[8][9] and more than 80 million worldwide, making them one of the best-selling groups of all time.[10][11][12] As of 2007, Van Halen is one of only five rock bands with two studio albums to sell more than 10 million copies in the United States[13] and is tied for the most multi-platinum albums by an American band. Additionally, Van Halen has charted 13 number-one hits on Billboard‘s Mainstream Rock chart. VH1 ranked the band seventh on a list of the top 100 Hard Rock artists of all time.[14] Eddie was diagnosed with cancer in 2001, and died of the disease on October 6, 2020.[15][16][17] A month after his father’s death, Wolfgang confirmed that Van Halen had disbanded.[1]
Sam Roy Hagar (born October 13, 1947), also known as the Red Rocker,[1] is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. In the early 1970s he was a member of the hard rock band Montrose before launching a solo career, scoring a hit in 1984 with “I Can’t Drive 55“. He replaced David Lee Roth as the second lead vocalist of Van Halen in 1985, but left in 1996. He returned to the band from 2003 to 2005. In 2007, Hagar was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Van Halen. His musical style primarily consists of hard rock and heavy metal.[2][3][4][5][6]
Rush was a Canadian rock band formed in 1968 in Toronto, that was comprised primarily of Geddy Lee (bass, vocals), Alex Lifeson (guitar), and Neil Peart (drums, percussion, lyricist). The band was formed in Toronto in 1968 by Lifeson, drummer John Rutsey, and bass guitarist/vocalist Jeff Jones, who was immediately replaced by Lee. After Lee joined, the band went through several line-up configurations before arriving at its classic power trio line-up with the addition of Peart in July 1974, who replaced Rutsey four months after the release of their self-titled debut album; this line-up remained intact for the remainder of the band’s career.
Rush achieved commercial success in the 1970s with Fly by Night (1975), 2112 (1976), A Farewell to Kings (1977) and Hemispheres (1978). The band’s popularity continued throughout the 1980s and 1990s, with albums charting highly in Canada, the US and the UK, including Permanent Waves (1980), Moving Pictures (1981), Signals (1982), Grace Under Pressure (1984) and Counterparts (1993). Rush continued to record and perform until 1997, after which the band entered a four-year hiatus due to personal tragedies in Peart’s life. The trio regrouped in 2001 and released three more studio albums: Vapor Trails (2002), Snakes & Arrows (2007), and Clockwork Angels (2012). Rush ceased touring at the end of 2015, and Lifeson announced in January 2018 that the band would not continue,[9][10] which was cemented by Peart’s death from glioblastoma, a type of brain cancer, on January 7, 2020, at the age of 67.[11]
Rush were known for their musicianship, complex compositions and eclectic lyrical motifs drawing heavily on science fiction, fantasy and philosophy. The band’s style changed over the years, from a blues-inspired hard rock beginning, later moving into progressive rock, then a period in the 1980s marked by heavy use of synthesizers, before returning to guitar-driven hard rock at the end of the 1980s. Their final work from 2012, marked a return to progressive rock. The members of Rush have been acknowledged as some of the most proficient players on their respective instruments, with each winning numerous awards in magazine readers’ polls over the years.
As of 2022, Rush ranks 84th in the U.S. with sales of 26 million albums[12] and industry sources estimate their total worldwide album sales at over 42 million. Rush has been awarded 14 platinum and 3 multi-platinum albums in the US[13] plus 17 platinum albums in Canada. Rush was nominated for seven Grammy Awards,[14] won several Juno Awards, and won an International Achievement Award at the 2009 SOCAN Awards.[15] The band was inducted into the Canadian Music Hall of Fame in 1994 and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2013.[16][17]
The album benefited from two band members installing studios at home, which allowed them to develop more sophisticated songs and arrangements and expand their musical style. Several songs subsequently became fixtures in the group’s live set, including “The Song Remains the Same“, “The Rain Song” and “No Quarter“. Other material recorded at the sessions, including the title track, was shelved and released on the later albums Physical Graffiti and Coda. All instruments and vocals were provided by the band members Robert Plant (vocals), Jimmy Page (guitar), John Paul Jones (bass, keyboards), and John Bonham (drums). The album was produced by Page and mixed by Eddie Kramer.
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1970 by Freddie Mercury (lead vocals, piano), Brian May (guitar, vocals), and Roger Taylor (drums, vocals), later joined by John Deacon (bass). Their earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, hard rock, and heavy metal, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works by incorporating further styles, such as arena rock and pop rock.
Before forming Queen, May and Taylor had played together in the band Smile. Mercury was a fan of Smile and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques. He joined in 1970 and suggested the name “Queen”. Deacon was recruited in February 1971, before the band released their self-titled debut album in 1973. Queen first charted in the UK with their second album, Queen II, in 1974. Sheer Heart Attack later that year and A Night at the Opera in 1975 brought them international success. The latter featured “Bohemian Rhapsody“, which stayed at number one in the UK for nine weeks and helped popularise the music video format. The band’s 1977 album News of the World contained “We Will Rock You” and “We Are the Champions“, which have become anthems at sporting events. By the early 1980s, Queen were one of the biggest stadium rock bands in the world. “Another One Bites the Dust” from The Game (1980) became their best-selling single, while their 1981 compilation album Greatest Hits is the best-selling album in the UK and is certified nine times platinum in the US. Their performance at the 1985 Live Aid concert is ranked among the greatest in rock history by various publications. In August 1986, Mercury gave his last performance with Queen at Knebworth, England.
Though he kept his condition private, Mercury was diagnosed with AIDS in 1987. The band released two more albums, The Miracle in 1989 and Innuendo in 1991. On 23 November 1991, Mercury publicly revealed that he had AIDS, and the next day died of bronchopneumonia, a complication of AIDS. One more album was released featuring Mercury’s vocal, 1995’s Made in Heaven. John Deacon retired in 1997, while May and Taylor continued to make sporadic appearances together. Since 2004, they have toured as “Queen +”, with vocalists Paul Rodgers and Adam Lambert.
Def Leppard are an English rock band formed in Sheffield in 1976. Since 1992, the band has consisted of Rick Savage (bass, backing vocals), Joe Elliott (lead vocals), Rick Allen (drums), Phil Collen (guitar, backing vocals), and Vivian Campbell (guitar, backing vocals). They established themselves as part of the new wave of British heavy metal of the early 1980s. Their greatest commercial success came between the early 1980s and mid–1990s.
With a line-up of Savage, Elliott, Allen and guitarists Steve Clark and Pete Willis, the band’s first album, 1980’s On Through the Night, reached the Top 15 in the UK but received little notice elsewhere. Their second album, 1981’s High ‘n’ Dry, was produced by Mutt Lange, who helped them to define their melodic hard rock style. The album’s most popular track “Bringin’ On the Heartbreak” became one of the first rock videos played on MTV in 1982, but the album reached only the Top 30 and 40 in the UK and US. Willis was replaced by Collen in 1982. Their next studio album, Pyromania, was released in January 1983, with “Photograph” and “Rock of Ages” both topping the US Rock Tracks chart and reaching the top 20 of the Hot 100. Reaching No. 2 on the US album chart, Pyromania was certified Diamond in the US. It reached the top 20 in the UK but did not sell much elsewhere.
The band’s fourth album, the more pop-oriented Hysteria (1987), sent Def Leppard into the stratosphere, and made them the most popular band in the world at the time. “Hysteria” topped the UK, US, Canadian and Australian charts, and remained on the charts for over Two years, from 1987 to 1989. It has been certified 12× platinum for sales in the US, selling over 30 million copies worldwide to date, making it one of the best-selling albums of all time, and the highest selling glam rock album to date.[1] It spawned six Top 20 US singles, including the US Billboard Hot 100 No. 1 “Love Bites“, alongside “Pour Some Sugar on Me” (US No. 2), “Hysteria“, “Armageddon It“, “Animal” (at No. 6, the biggest UK hit), and “Rocket” (a Top 15 hit in many countries).
Clark died in 1991, with the band recording their next studio album, Adrenalize, as a four-piece. The album reached No. 1 on the UK, US and Australian charts in 1992. It contained several hits, including the Billboard chart-topper “Let’s Get Rocked“, which became their biggest hit in several countries, including No. 2 in the UK. The third single, “Have You Ever Needed Someone So Bad“, was a Top 10 song in the US, UK and Canada. Adrenalize went on to sell over eight million copies worldwide. Campbell joined the band soon after the album’s completion. Their 1993 album, Retro Active, contained the acoustic Top 5 hit “Two Steps Behind“. Their greatest-hits album Vault, released in 1995, featured the UK No. 2 hit “When Love & Hate Collide” and reached the Top 10 in several countries, going 5× platinum in the US. Beginning with Slang, Def Leppard released five albums between 1996-2008, with most usually reaching the Top 15 in several countries, including the UK, US and Canada. Their self-titled album, released in 2015, reached the Top 10 in several countries. Their newest studio album, Diamond Star Halos, was released in May 2022 and reached the Top 10 in the US, UK and Australia, and soon became the band’s highest rated and best selling album since Adrenalize in 1992.
As one of the world’s best-selling music artists, Def Leppard have sold more than 100 million records worldwide,[2] and have two albums with RIAAdiamond certification: Pyromania and Hysteria,[3] making them one of only five rock bands with two original studio albums selling more than 10 million copies in the US.[4][5] The band were ranked No. 31 in VH1‘s “100 Greatest Artists of Hard Rock”[6] and No. 70 in “100 Greatest Artists of All Time”.[7] They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2019.[8]
Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen (born September 23, 1949) is an American rock singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Nicknamed “the Boss”,[2] he has released 21 studio albums during a career spanning six decades, most of which feature his backing band, the E Street Band. Springsteen is a pioneer of heartland rock, a genre combining mainstream rock music with poetic and socially conscious lyrics that feature narratives primarily concerning working class American life. He is known for his descriptive lyrics and energetic concerts, which sometimes last over four hours.[3]
Seven years after releasing The Ghost of Tom Joad, the longest gap between any of his studio albums, Springsteen released The Rising (2002), which he dedicated to the victims of the September 11 attacks. He released two more folk albums, Devils & Dust (2005) and We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions (2006), followed by two more albums with the E Street Band, Magic (2007) and Working on a Dream (2009). The next two albums, Wrecking Ball (2012) and High Hopes (2014), topped album charts worldwide. From 2017 to 2018, and again in 2021, Springsteen performed a critically acclaimed show Springsteen on Broadway, in which he performed some of his songs and told stories from his 2016 autobiography; an album version from the Broadway performances was released in 2018. He then released the solo Western Stars (2019), Letter to You (2020) with the E Street Band, and a solo covers album Only the Strong Survive (2022). Letter to You reached No. 2 in the U.S., making Springsteen the first artist to release a Top 5 album across six consecutive decades.[4]
Born in Liverpool, McCartney taught himself piano, guitar, and songwriting as a teenager, having been influenced by his father, a jazz player, and rock and roll performers such as Little Richard and Buddy Holly. He began his career when he joined Lennon’s skiffle group, the Quarrymen, in 1957, which eventually evolved into the Beatles in 1960. Sometimes called “the cute Beatle”, McCartney later immersed himself in the London avant-garde scene and played a key role in incorporating experimental aesthetics into the Beatles’ studio productions. Starting with the 1967 album Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, he gradually became the band’s de facto leader, providing creative impetus for most of their music and film projects. Many of his Beatles songs, including “And I Love Her“, “Yesterday“, “Eleanor Rigby“, and “Blackbird“, rank among the most covered songs in history.[5][6] Although primarily a bassist with the Beatles, he played a number of other instruments, including keyboards, guitars, and drums, on various songs.
The Cars were at the forefront of the merger of 1970s guitar-oriented rock with the new synthesizer-oriented pop that became popular in the early 1980s. Robert Palmer, music critic for The New York Times and Rolling Stone, described the Cars’ musical style: “They have taken some important but disparate contemporary trends—punk minimalism, the labyrinthine synthesizer and guitar textures of art rock, the ’50s rockabilly revival and the melodious terseness of power pop—and mixed them into a personal and appealing blend.”[5]
The Cars disbanded in 1988.[6] Orr died in 2000 from pancreatic cancer. In 2007, Easton and Hawkes joined Todd Rundgren and others to form the offshoot band The New Cars. The surviving original members of the Cars reunited in 2010 to record the band’s seventh and final album, Move Like This, which was released in May 2011.[7] Following a short tour in support of Move Like This, the band once again went on hiatus. In April 2018, the Cars were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and reunited to perform at the induction ceremony.[4] It was the band’s final performance with Ocasek, who died on September 15, 2019, of cardiovascular disease.[8]
