Though, music has been incepted for a long time, the 70s music starting the development and use of technology in music production. The music produced had a different magic and had various forms experimented in this era. This section covers some of the artists that I’ve enjoyed listening to in times of joy and pain. Its too strong for me to say this, but I guess 70s artists had a mentality that artists who could sing would be the only ones to come forward.
I have shared some of the best 70s music artists and a link to their collection and hit songs. Feel free to explore this section and leave your personal favourite tracks so that we can share our music interest and explore artists that we haven’t heard.
The Collection
Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley came from very humble beginnings and grew up to become one of the biggest names in rock ‘n’ roll. By the mid-1950s, he appeared on the radio, television and the silver screen. On August 16, 1977, at age 42, he died of heart failure, which was related to his drug addiction. Since his death, Presley has remained one of the world’s most popular music icons. Read more
Bob Dylan
Folk-rock singer-songwriter Bob Dylan signed his first recording contract in 1961, and he emerged as one of the most original and influential voices in American popular music. Dylan has continued to tour and release new studio albums, including Together Through Life (2009), Tempest (2012), Shadows in the Night (2015) and Fallen Angels (2016). The legendary singer-songwriter has received Grammy, Academy and Golden Globe awards, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom and the Nobel Prize for Literature. Read more
Neil Young
Neil Young arrived in the U.S. in the mid-1960s and co-founded the band Buffalo Springfield. He earned fame both as a member of Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSN&Y) and as a solo artist, writing and recording such timeless songs as “Old Man,” “Hey Hey, My My (Into the Black),” “Rockin’ in the Free World” and “Heart of Gold”—a No. 1 hit. Nicknamed the “Godfather of Grunge” for his undeniable influence on that genre.
Young is also a strong advocate for environmental and disability issues, as demonstrated by his co-founding of the Benefit for Farm Aid and the Bridge School Benefit Concerts. More than 50 years into his musical career, he continues to record and tour on a regular basis. Read more
Aerosmith
Steven Victor Tallarico, better known as Steven Tyler, was born on March 26, 1948, in Yonkers, New York. The son of a music teacher, he started playing drums at a young age, but then focused on singing.
After moving to Boston in the late 1960s, Tyler eventually met up the musicians that would form the rock group Aerosmith. He reportedly met up with guitarist Joe Perry and bassist Tom Hamilton while they were playing in different bands in the Sunapee, New Hampshire, area. Guitarist Ray Tabano (who was later replaced by Brad Whitford) and drummer Joey Kramer joined up with the others to form Aerosmith. The band played its first gig together in 1970, and shared an apartment in Boston. Read more
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton was born on 30 March 1945 in his grandparents’ home at 1 The Green, Ripley, Surrey, England. He was the son of 16-year-old Patricia Molly Clapton (b. 7 January 1929, d. March 1999) and Edward Walter Fryer (b. 21 March 1920, d. 1985), a 24-year-old Canadian soldier stationed in England during World War II.
Before Eric was born, Fryer returned to his wife in Canada. It was extraordinarily difficult for an unmarried 16-year-old to raise a child on her own in the mid-1940s. Pat’s parents, Rose and Jack Clapp, stepped in as surrogate parents and raised Eric as their own. Thus, he grew up believing his mother was his sister. Read more
Curtis Mayfield
Curtis Lee Mayfield made his first recordings in 1958 as a member of a Chicago Soul/R & B group, The Impressions. He was 16, from the city’s notorious Cabrini Green Housing Projects. He was strictly a backup singer with the group – no guitar, no production, no songwriting. This would change, and sooner than later.
Mayfield made his last recording, “New World Order,” in 1995 after four decades of hit making as a solo artist, producer, composer and as a symbol for Black Pride and Black Capitalism within the music industry. Mayfield’s last go round in the studio was an example of courage and will. Paralyzed following an on stage accident, he recorded one line of a song at a time, lying on his back to allow his diaphragm to work and breath to get into his lungs. Read more
BB King
For more than half a century, Riley B. King – better known as B.B. King – has defined the blues for a worldwide audience. Since he started recording in the 1940s, he has released over fifty albums, many of them classics. He was born September 16, 1925, on a plantation in Itta Bena, Mississippi, near Indianola. In his youth, he played on street corners for dimes, and would sometimes play in as many as four towns a night.
In 1947, he hitchhiked to Memphis, TN, to pursue his music career. Memphis was where every important musician of the South gravitated, and which supported a large musical community where every style of African American music could be found. B.B. stayed with his cousin Bukka White, one of the most celebrated blues performers of his time, who schooled B.B. further in the art of the blues. Read more
Bruce Springsteen
Bruce Springsteen’s new Columbia Records album Letter To You, his 20th studio album and a twelve-track paean to rock music and rock bands, enjoys one of the strongest worldwide sales debuts of the year, entering at #1 in 11 countries. In the U.S., the album enters at #2 on the Billboard 200 and #1 on the Albums Chart, #1 on the Top Rock Albums Chart, and #1 on the Vinyl Albums and Tastemaker Albums charts.
In the UK, Letter To You is Springsteen’s twelfth #1 and the second biggest album of the year to date. In Ireland, Letter To You is the fastest selling album of 2020 so far, outselling the others in the top five combined, and Springsteen’s sixth consecutive #1 studio album. The #4 debut for Letter To You in France makes it the top international debut of the year. Letter To You was also the top selling international album in Germany in its first week, and brought 2019 release Western Stars back onto the charts. Read more
David Bowie
Rock star David Bowie’s first hit was the song “Space Oddity” in 1969. The original pop chameleon, Bowie became a fantastical sci-fi character for his breakout Ziggy Stardust album. He later co-wrote “Fame” with Carlos Alomar and John Lennon, which became his first American No. 1 single in 1975. An accomplished actor, Bowie starred in The Man Who Fell to Earth in 1976. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1996. Shortly after releasing his final album, Bowie died from cancer on January 10, 2016.
Known as a musical chameleon for his ever-changing appearance and sound, David Bowie was born David Robert Jones in Brixton, South London, England, on January 8, 1947. Read more
Aretha Franklin
o say that Aretha Franklin was one of the greatest American artists of all time is an understatement. Her multi-octave voice moved millions around the world during an unrivaled career that spanned six decades and garnered the singer-songwriter every achievement and honor imaginable. Her reign as the Queen of Soul will play out across four discs on a new boxed set from Rhino that is the first to span her entire career, including songs from every label she recorded with.
ARETHA arrives on November 20 on CD ($59.98) and digitally. Among the collection’s 81 newly remastered tracks, 19 are making their CD and digital debuts, including alternate versions of classic hits, demos, rarities, and live tracks, like her stunning performance of “(You Make Me Feel) Like A Natural Woman” at The 38th Annual Kennedy Center Honors in 2015. To put Franklin’s life and career into perspective, the collection is accompanied by liner notes written by Rochelle Riley, author and director of arts and culture for the City of Detroit. Read more
James Brown
James Brown worked his way to the top of the funk and R&B music earning the moniker “The Godfather of Soul.” His unique vocal and musical style influenced many artists. Brown was also known for his turbulent personal life, as well as his social activism, both in his songwriting (“America is My Home,” “Black and Proud”) and advocating the benefits of education to schoolchildren.
James Joe Brown Jr. on May 3, 1933, in a one-room shack in the woods of Barnwell, South Carolina, a few miles east of the Georgia border. His parents split when he was very young, and at the age of 4, Brown was sent to Augusta, Georgia, to live with his Aunt Honey, the madam of a brothel. Growing up in abject poverty during the Great Depression, a young Brown worked whatever odd jobs he could find, for literal pennies. He danced for the soldiers at nearby Fort Gordon, picked cotton, washed cars and shined shoes. Read more
Queen
Queen is a British rock band founded in 1970 by its singer, Freddie Mercury, Brian May on guitar, Roger Taylor on drums and John Deacon on bass. Despite the absence of some of its members, the band was active until 2009.
Brian May and Roger Taylor founded the band Smile in 1968, with Tim Staffell as the vocalist. He studied with Freddie Mercury at Ealing Art College, who was a big fan of the band. Therefore, when Tim Staffell left the group to join another, Humpy Bong, May and Taylor immediately thought of Mercury. Once the three of them were together, Smile’s name became Queen’s at the suggestion of Freddie himself. After playing songs of other bands and artists, they renewed some that they had composed for Smile and other previous bands. Read more
Marvin Gaye
Marvin Gaye sang in his father’s church and in the Moonglows before signing with Motown. He recorded songs by Smokey Robinson before becoming his own producer on the protest album What’s Going On (1971). Gaye’s later records developed his production style and yielded several hits, including “Let’s Get It On,” “Sexual Healing” and “I Heard it Through the Grapevine.” Gaye was killed in 1984 during a domestic dispute with his father.
Singer Marvin Pentz Gaye, Jr., also known as the “Prince of Soul,” was born in Washington, D.C., on April 2, 1939. Gaye was raised under the strict control of his father, Reverend Marvin Gay Sr.—Marvin Gaye Jr. added the “e” on the end of his name later in life—the minister at a local church, against a bleak backdrop of widespread violence in his neighborhood. Read more
Eagles
The Eagles were unquestionably the biggest mainstream American rock band to emerge in the 1970s. Not only did they sell more records and concert tickets than their peers — Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) and Hotel California are two of the biggest-selling albums of all time — but they captured the shifting zeitgeist of the ’70s, riding the country-rock hippie hangover at the end of the ’60s until it reached the slick, expensive, and expansive pop/rock of Southern California in the late ’70s.
Co-leaders Don Henley and Glenn Frey didn’t seem like brothers, but rather partners who made a pact to lead a coolly professional outfit designed to maximize their impact. Read more
The Rolling Stones
The story of the Rolling Stones begins with an encounter between its foundational pieces, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, at a train station in Dartford, England, in October 1961.
This wasn’t the pair’s initial introduction, as the two grew up in Dartford and attended grammar school together, but they had since lost touch. At the train station, with Jagger off to the London School of Economics and Richards on his way to Sidcup Art College, the old friends got to talking, particularly about the collection of blues and R&B records under Jagger’s arm.
Both had been influenced by the exciting sounds drifting from across the Atlantic to their radios, according to The Rolling Stones: A Musical Biography. Jagger, with his talent for mimicry, had already developed a unique singing style. And Richards, who hailed from a musical family and once sang in a church choir, was rapidly gaining ground with his guitar. Read more
Pink Floyd
In 1965, Barrett and Waters meet an experimental percussionist and an extraordinarily gifted keyboards-player — Nick Mason and Rick Wright respectively. The result is Pink Floyd, which more than 40 years later has moved from massive to almost mythic standing.
Through several changes of personnel, through several musical phases, the band has earned a place on the ultimate roll call of rock, along with the Beatles, the Stones and Led Zeppelin. Their album sales have topped 250 million. In 2005, at Live 8 — the biggest global music event in history — the reunion of the four-man line-up that recorded most of the Floyd canon stole the show. And yet, true to their beginnings, there has always been an enigma at their heart.
Roger ‘Syd’ Barrett, for example. This cool and charismatic son of a university don was the original creative force behind the band (which he named after the Delta bluesmen Pink Anderson and Floyd Council).
Elton John
Elton John’s unique blend of pop and rock styles turned him into one of the 20th century’s biggest music icons. He was musically gifted from a young age, and released his first self-titled American album in 1970, making him a huge international star. Some of his chart-topping hits include “Crocodile Rock,” “Philadelphia Freedom” and “Candle in the Wind.” He also found success on Broadway, composing the score for Billy Elliot (2008), which went on to win 10 Tony Awards. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1994 and knighted in 1998.
Singer, songwriter, composer and icon Elton John was born Reginald Kenneth Dwight on March 25, 1947, in Pinner, Middlesex, England. He discovered his passion for music at an early age and taught himself how to play the piano when he was only four years old. Proving to be a great talent, he won a scholarship to a youth program at the Royal Academy of Music in London.
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin was one of the most successful and influential British rock bands of the 1970s. Combining Robert Plant’s wailing vocals and sensual stage presence, Jimmy Page’s guitar virtuosity and songwriting prowess, John Paul Jones’ thick, consistent bottom end, and John Bonham’s resounding percussion, Led Zeppelin formed the pinnacle of 1970s hard rock.
Led Zeppelin was a profoundly important bridge between the blues based rock of the 1960s and the heavy metal and modern rock of the last two decades of the 20th century. It is hard to imagine connecting the dots from the Rolling Stones to U2, or from the Beatles to Iron Maiden, without the link that was Led Zeppelin. The members of Led Zeppelin epitomized the concept of the rock star in the 1970s and continue to do so today.
Stevie Wonder
Stevie Wonder is an American musician and a former child prodigy who became one of the most creative musical figures of the 20th century with hits like “My Cherie Amour,” “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Superstition.”
Stevie Wonder made his recording debut at age 11, becoming a 1960s force to be reckoned with via chart hits like “Fingertips, Pt. 2,” “I Was Made to Love Her” and “My Cherie Amour.” Over the next decade, Wonder had an array of No. 1 songs on the pop and R&B charts, including “Superstition,” “You Are the Sunshine of My Life” and “Higher Ground.” He continued to churn out hits into the 1980s, including “I Just Called to Say I Love You” and “Part-Time Lover.” Read more
Paul McCartney
Sir Paul McCartney was a member of the Beatles and is still one of the most popular solo performers of all time. Paul McCartney’s work as a singer/songwriter with the Beatles in the 1960s helped transform popular music into a creative, highly commercial art form, with an uncanny ability to blend the two. He is also one of the most popular solo performers of all time, in terms of both sales of his recordings and attendance at his concerts.
James Paul McCartney was born on June 18, 1942, in Liverpool, England, to Mary and James McCartney. His mother was a maternity nurse, and his father a cotton salesman and jazz pianist with a local band. Read more
The Jackson 5
Accepting the Grammy Legend Award in 1993, pop superstar Michael Jackson said the following: “My childhood was taken away from me. There was no Christmas, there were no birthdays, it was not a normal childhood, nor the normal pleasures of childhood. Those were exchanged for hard work, struggle and pain and eventually material and professional success. But as an awful price I cannot recreate that part of my life. Nor would I change any part of my life.”
Strong words from a performer whose early life – alongside eight siblings in a simple, two-bedroom house in Gary, Indiana – has been much discussed and analyzed for insights into the family that spawned some of the greatest entertainers of the last century. Read more
Ray Charles
Ray Charles was a pioneer of soul music, integrating R&B, gospel, pop and country to create hits like “Unchain My Heart,” “Hit the Road Jack” and “Georgia on My Mind.” A blind genius, he is considered one of the greatest artists of all time.
Born in Georgia in 1930, Ray Charles was a legendary musician who pioneered the genre of soul music during the 1950s. Often called the “Father of Soul,” Charles combined blues, gospel and jazz to create groundbreaking hits such as “Unchain My Heart,” “Hit the Road Jack” and “Georgia on My Mind.” He died in 2004, leaving a lasting impression on contemporary music. Read more
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