P.P. Arnold was an Ikette (backing vocalist with Ike and Tina Turner’s band) in 1965, and then went solo. She had a couple of UK hits in the ’60s and is still recording fifty years later.

Dawayne Bailey is a session guitarist best known for his work with Chicago in the late ’80s and for his acoustic guitar on Bob Seger’s “Like a Rock.”

Lindsey Buckingham has had some success as a solo artist, but he is best known as a member of the most famous version of Fleetwood Mac. He is their lead guitarist and male vocalist.

Ben Cauley was a trumpeter for The Bar-Kays and was on the plane that crashed and killed Otis Redding and four members of The Bar-Kays. He was the only survivor, and continued with the band for a few more years. He left the band before they became a ’70s funk group.

Chubby Checker invented The Twist, a dance that everyone from aged 3 to 93 knows how to do, even sixty years later.

Eddie Cochran was an early rock and roll idol who died tragically in 1960 at the age of 21.

John Curulewski was the guitarist for Styx on their first five albums before Tommy Shaw joined the band in 1975. Curulewski left right before Styx hit it big, but he did so to spend time with his wife and family, so good for him. He went on to become a guitar teacher, so also good for him. To be honest, Styx wouldn’t have hit it big without adding Tommy Shaw, so win-win.

Jack Grondin was the original drummer for 38 Special and played on all of their classic ’70s and ’80s albums before leaving the band in 1991.

Frank Hannon is the guitarist for Sacramento band Tesla.

Jack Harris is a virtually unknown vocalist who sang lead and backing vocals on a few albums for The Alan Parsons Project in the ’70s.

India.Arie is a four-time Grammy Award winner who has sold over three million records during her twenty year career.

Talib Kweli has been rapping for almost twenty-five years, first as a member of Black Star with Mos Def and then as a solo artist.

Ronnie Laws was a member of Earth Wind & Fire for about eighteen months and worked on their third album Last Days and Time in 1972. He followed that with a solo career that produced several Top 40 albums on the soul charts as well as production and session work with several artists throughout the next twenty years.

Tommy Lee is the drummer for Motley Crue. He was once married to a famous model/actress named Pamela Anderson.

G. Love is the leader of G. Love & Special Sauce.

Antonio Martinez was the guitarist for Spanish rock group Los Bravos. They are best known for their hit “Black Is Black.”

Dan Miller joined They Might Be Giants in 1998 and has been their guitarist ever since. Most recently, he worked with 90-year old William Shatner to produce Shatner’s new album Bill.

Keb’ Mo’ is a blues musician and five-time Grammy Award winner.

Alan O’Day was a ’70s songwriter and one-hit wonder before becoming an Emmy Award winning writer of over one hundred songs for the children’s show Muppet Babies in the ’80s.

Steve Reich is one of the greatest American composers and one of the father’s of minimalism in music.

Kevin Richardson is one of The Backstreet Boys. He is the old one.

Jake Shears is the lead vocalist for the band Scissor Sisters.

Billy Strings is a 28-year old, Grammy Award winning, 21st century bluegrass guitarist.

Tetsuya is the bassist for Japanese band L’Arc-en-Ciel.

Stevie Ray Vaughan is a guitar legend whose legacy has only grown since his tragic death in 1990. He is the Artist of the Week.

George Wein was a music promoter, founder of the Newport Jazz Festival, and co-founder of the Newport Folk Festival with Pete Seeger.

Lajon Witherspoon is the vocalist for metal band Sevendust.

Eddie Cochran “C’mon Everybody”: Eddie Cochran was the ultimate image of rock star, teen icon, and bad boy. He was one of a tragic foursome of young rock idols who would have shaped the sound of the ’60s, but three of them (Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens, and Cochran) died before their careers had barely started. Gene Vincent survived the car crash that killed Cochran, but his career was marred by alcoholism and violence after the death of his friend.

Chubby Checker “Let’s Twist Again”: Chubby Checker’s recordings created many dances, including one, “The Twist,” that is still famous today. Between 1959 and 1965 he charted twenty two Top 40 hits. This is his “answer-song” to “The Twist.”

Los Locos Del Ritmo “Nena, No Me Importa (Baby, I Don’t Care)”: Los Locos Del Ritmo were a rock and roll band from Mexico who began in the ’50s and performed for decades. They were one of the first Mexican rock groups and performed Spanish-language rock songs influenced by artists such as Elvis, Chuck Berry, and other American stars.

Mexico

Los Locos Del Ritmo “Nena, No Me Importa (Baby, I Don’t Care)”: See Unsung Heroes of Rock and Roll

Spain

Los Bravos “Black Is Black”: This 1966 debut single by Los Bravos was the first international hit by a Spanish rock band, peaking at # 2 in the UK and # 4 in America.

Japan

L’Arc-en-Ciel “Ready Steady Go”: During their thirty-year career, L’Arc-en-Ciel have sold over forty million records and were the first Japanese band to headline Madison Square Garden. They are international superstars. This song was the theme to the anime Fullmetal Alchemist.

Sevendust “Denial”: Sevendust have slowly grown into one of the most successful metal acts of the last twenty-plus years. They continue to record and tour, and have sold millions of records over their thirteen-album career.

Tesla “I Want To Take You Higher”: Tesla have enjoyed a forty-plus year career with several hits and a fair amount of success. During those years, this Sacramento band has shown themselves to be not only a first-rate metal band, but masters at producing hard rock covers of all sorts of songs. This Sly and The Family Stone cover is from their 2007 album of covers, Reel to Reel Volume 2.

Motley Crue “Shout at the Devil”: I have never understood why Guns ‘n’ Roses are treated like rock and roll royalty, including induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, while Motley Crue receive much less attention. Motley Crue are a first-generation Glam Metal band who built the bridge between early Van Halen and Guns ‘n’ Roses. Along with Ratt and Quiet Riot, Motley Crue brought metal into the mainstream with Top 40 hits and MTV videos throughout the ’80s. Their five ’80s albums can stand up against almost any metal band’s output over a ten-year period.

Black Star “Definition”: This song is from the 1998 debut album by Black Star, the rap band formed by Mos Def and Talib Kweli. Both artists followed their Black Star work with successful solo careers. Mos Def is also a fantastic actor, especially in 16 Blocks and Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.

Kool Moe Dee “Knowledge is King”: This is the title track from Kool Moe Dee’s 1989 album.

Grandmaster Caz “The Grandest of Them All”: This is the title track from Grandmaster Caz’s 1992 debut album, but his work as one of the original hip hop artists goes back to the ’70s.

Also known as Casanova Fly, Caz was a member of one of the first hip hop crews, Mighty Force. He was also the first rapper to perform as both a DJ and MC at the same time. He was a member of the Cold Crush Brothers, which led to his biggest claim to fame. While Caz was a member of this group, Big Bank Hank stole his rhymes and included them in the first true rap hit, “Rapper’s Delight” by Sugerhill Gang, and Caz was never given royalties or credit. In the song, Big Bank Hank literally raps Casanova Fly’s tag line, “Check it out, I’m the C-A-S-A-, N-O-V-A, and the rest is F-L-Y.” He has been named as an influence by Will Smith (The Fresh Prince), Rakim, Jay Z, and many others.

Steve Reich is one of the originators of minimalist music. His work in the ’60s helped create a movement in music based on repetition, minimalism, tape loops, and other experimental devices.

He has been composing for over fifty years, and his experimentation continues to evolve across the decades. He has received multiple awards and commendations over his career, and is a living legend. His influence stretches from classical composition to various styles of rock – King Crimson, Sonic Youth, Godspeed You Black Emperor, Sufjan Stevens are only a few examples – to electronic music to soundtrack composing to modern dance and out from there.

It is difficult to select just one piece of music to represent all that he has accomplished, and listening to only a section of a Reich composition fails to deliver the overall power of his performances. The combination of sonically meditative sounds, beautifully arranged instrumentation, and genius innovation give each of his pieces their own signature. Most importantly, the ability of his work to provide the listener with a reaction that is different for everyone is the true sign of his genius. He is arguably the greatest American composer of the 20th century.

Perhaps his most powerful work, “Different Trains” juxtaposes his childhood memories of train trips in the early ’40s with the trains that transferred Jewish children to their deaths in concentration camps.

Reich’s first attempt to translate his phased looping technique from a studio creation of tape loops into a live performance was “Piano Phase” in 1967.

Reich’s first attempt at composing a piece for a large ensemble is the incredibly dense and sophisticated “Music for 18 Musicians” in 1974. This work broadened his musical idealogy and allowed for his work in the ’80s and beyond to incorporate all of his earlier concepts.

Toshiko Akiyoshi Band “Between Me and Myself”: This is a straight ahead tune by one of my favorites with her combo, live at Newport in 1957.

Dizzy Gillespie “I Remember Clifford”: This song was written by Benny Golson in memory of his friend and great trumpeter Clifford Brown. Brown died in a car accident in 1956 at the age of 25, and this performance is from the 1957 Newport Jazz Festival.

Duke Ellington “Things Ain’t What They Used To Be”: This is one of the classic Ellington songs written by Billy Strayhorn. This performance was recorded live at Newport in 1959.

Keb’ Mo’ “Am I Wrong”: Kevin Moore (Keb’ Mo’) had a twenty year career in the music industry before recording his debut Keb’ Mo’ album in 1994 (he recorded an album as Kevin Moore fifteen years earlier). Over the last twenty-five years he has recorded an eclectic mix of albums that combine blues, rock, jazz, and folk music. This song is from his 1994 self-titled album.

Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble “Mary Had a Little Lamb (live),” “Pride and Joy,” and “Life By The Drop”: See Artist of the Week