Michael Jackson Elvis Silver Coin King of Rock n Roll Pop Music LP Signed Legend

EUR 18,54 EUR 16,68 Compralo Subito o Proposta d'acquisto, EUR 7,12 Spedizione, 30-Giorno Restituzione, Garanzia cliente eBay
Venditore: checkoutmyunqiuefunitems ✉️ (3.666) 99.9%, Luogo in cui si trova l'oggetto: Manchester, Take a look at my other items, GB, Spedizione verso: WORLDWIDE, Numero oggetto: 276356211807 Michael Jackson Elvis Silver Coin King of Rock n Roll Pop Music LP Signed Legend. Music – Schools. What is the connection between music and emotions?. Scholes, Percy A. (1977). Oxford University Press. Music and emotion. Classic and Romantic Music: A Comprehensive Survey. Online Etymology Dictionary. Michael Jackson & Elvis The Kings of Music Coin Silver & Gold Plated Commemorative Coin The coin you will receive would not have been removed from its capsule The front has  the image of MJ from "This is it" it also has his autograph, trademark and the words "Micheal Jackson" & "King of Pop" The other side is like a Vinyl Record  In the middle is an image of Elvis Presley  with the words "Elvis Presley" & "King of Rock and Roll". It also has his autograph The coin you will receive will come in air-tight acrylic coin holder which it has never been removed from The coin is 40mm in diameter, weighs about  1 oz In Excellent Condition Comes from a pet and smoke free home Sorry about the poor quality photos.  They don't  do the coin justice it looks a lot better in real life Click Here to Check out my other Music Coins Bid with Confidence - Check My Almost 100% Positive Feedback from over 2000 Satisfied Customers I have over 10 years of Ebay Selling Experience - So Why Not Treat Yourself? I have got married recently and need to raise funds to meet the costs also we are planning to move into a house together  I always combined postage on multiple items  Instant Feedback Automatically Left Immediately after Receiving Payment All Items Sent out within 24 hours of Receiving Payment.

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Michael Jackson

American singer, songwriter, and dancer

    

Also known as: “King of Pop”, Michael Joe Jackson, Michael Joseph Jackson

Written by 

Fact-checked by 

Last Updated: Oct 15, 2023 • Article History

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

See all media

Category: Arts & Culture

In Full: Michael Joseph Jackson

Or: Michael Joe Jackson

Born: August 29, 1958, Gary, Indiana, U.S.

Died: June 25, 2009, Los Angeles, California (aged 50)

Awards And Honors: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (2001) Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum (1997) Grammy Award (1995) Grammy Award (1989) Grammy Award (1985) Grammy Award (1984) Grammy Award (1983) Grammy Award (1979)

Notable Works: “We Are the World”

Notable Family Members: sister Janet Jackson

Recent News

Oct. 14, 2023, 6:57 AM ET (Yahoo News)

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Top Questions

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Michael Jackson, in full Michael Joseph Jackson or Michael Joe Jackson (see Researcher’s Note), (born August 29, 1958, Gary, Indiana, U.S.—died June 25, 2009, Los Angeles, California), American singer, songwriter, and dancer who was the most popular entertainer in the world in the early and mid-1980s. Reared in Gary, Indiana, in one of the most acclaimed musical families of the rock era, Michael Jackson was the youngest and most talented of five brothers whom his father, Joseph, shaped into a dazzling group of child stars known as the Jackson 5. In addition to Michael, the members of the Jackson 5 were Jackie Jackson (byname of Sigmund Jackson; b. May 4, 1951, Gary), Tito Jackson (byname of Toriano Jackson; b. October 15, 1953, Gary), Jermaine Jackson (b. December 11, 1954, Gary), and Marlon Jackson (b. March 12, 1957, Gary).

The Jackson 5

the Jackson 5

the Jackson 5

Motown Records president Berry Gordy, Jr., was impressed with the group and signed them in 1969. Sporting the loudest fashions, the largest Afros, the snappiest choreography, and a youthful, soulful exuberance, the Jackson 5 became an immediate success. They scored four consecutive number one pop hits with “I Want You Back,” “ABC,” “The Love You Save,” and “I’ll Be There” in 1970. With Michael topping the pop charts as a solo performer with “Ben” and reaching number two with “Rockin’ Robin,” and with the Jackson 5 producing trendsetting dance tracks such as “Dancing Machine,” the family’s string of hits for Motown lasted through 1975. As Michael matured, his voice changed, family tensions arose, and a contract standoff ensued. The group finally broke with Motown, moving to Epic Records as the Jacksons. Jermaine remained at Motown as a solo performer and was replaced by his youngest brother, Randy Jackson (in full Steven Randall Jackson; b. October 29, 1961). As a recording act, the Jacksons enjoyed consistent success through 1984, and their sister Janet Jackson embarked on her own singing career in the early 1980s; however, Michael’s solo albums took on an entirely different status.

Microphone on a stand

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The “King of Pop”

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Jackson’s first solo effort for Epic, Off the Wall (1979), exceeded all expectations and was the best-selling album of the year (it eventually sold more than 20 million copies). Produced by industry veteran Quincy Jones, Off the Wall yielded the massive international hit singles “Don’t Stop ’til You Get Enough” and “Rock with You,” both of which showcased Michael’s energetic style and capitalized on the contemporary disco dance fad. Three years later he returned with another collaboration with Jones, Thriller, a tour de force that featured an array of guest stars and elevated him to worldwide superstardom. Thriller captured a slew of awards, including a record-setting eight Grammys; remained on the charts for more than two years; and sold more than 40 million copies, long holding the distinction of being the best-selling album in history. The first single on the album, “The Girl Is Mine,” an easygoing duet with Paul McCartney, went to number one on the rhythm-and-blues charts and number two on the pop charts in the fall of 1982. The follow-up single, “Billie Jean,” an electrifying dance track and the vehicle for Jackson’s trademark “moonwalk” dance, topped the pop charts, as did “Beat It,” which featured a raucous solo from famed guitarist Eddie Van Halen. Moreover, “Beat It” helped break down the artificial barriers between Black and white artists on the radio and in the emerging format of music videos on television.

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

By 1984 Jackson was renowned worldwide as the “King of Pop.” His much anticipated Victory reunion tour with his brothers was one of the most popular concert events of 1984. In 1985 Jackson and Lionel Richie cowrote “We Are the World,” the signature single for USA for Africa, an all-star project aimed at famine relief. Further solo albums—Bad (1987), which produced five chart-topping hits (among them the title song and “Man in the Mirror”), and Dangerous (1991), much of which was produced by New Jack Swing sensation Teddy Riley—solidified Jackson’s dominance of pop music. In 2001 he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame; the Jackson 5 were inducted in 1997.

Child molestation accusations, financial difficulties, and death

Michael Jackson

Michael Jackson

Jackson’s eccentric, secluded lifestyle grew increasingly controversial in the early 1990s. His reputation was seriously damaged in 1993 when he was accused of child molestation by a 13-year-old boy he had befriended; a civil suit was settled out of court. In 1994 Jackson secretly married Lisa Marie Presley, daughter of Elvis Presley, but their marriage lasted less than two years. Shortly thereafter Jackson married again, this marriage producing children, though it too ended in divorce. While he remained an international celebrity, his image in the United States was slow to recover, and it suffered even more in November 2003 when he was arrested and charged with child molestation. Called to testify in Jackson’s defense during the trial that ensued was actor Macaulay Cuklin, who had met and become friends with Jackson when he was nine years old and Jackson was an adult. Culkin said they bonded over their common experiences of having to deal with fame at a young age and having overbearing fathers. Culkin maintained that he had never experienced anything inappropriate with Jackson. After a 14-week trial that became something of a media circus, Jackson was acquitted in 2005.

In the wake of these events, Jackson suffered a financial collapse that resulted in the sale of many of his considerable assets, including, ultimately, his lavish Neverland ranch. He was preparing for a series of high-profile concerts he hoped would spark a comeback when he died suddenly of cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009—prompting a widespread outpouring of grief from his fans that culminated in a memorial celebration of his life and legacy on July 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, featuring tributes by friends and luminaries such as Stevie Wonder, Berry Gordy, Jr., Brooke Shields, and Al Sharpton. In August 2009 the coroner ruled Jackson’s death a homicide; the cause was a lethal combination of sedatives and propofol, an anesthetic. In November 2011 Jackson’s personal physician was found guilty of involuntary manslaughter.

Elvis Presley Biography | A Comprehensive history of Elvis Presley's dynamic life

By: David Troedson

Source: Elvis Australia

January 1, 2016

Elvis Biography, Elvis Articles, Elvis Interviews, Video and Audio, Elvis News

Print this page.

A biography is a detailed description or account of someone's life, yet how detailed do you want it? Do you want to know about the genesis moment when Elvis Presley ... all of a sudden ... just got started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool - and with this one song started his phenomenal career and arguably the birth of Rock 'n' Roll, certainly modern music as we know it today? Or are you interested in his childhood?

In the links below we have the important separate articles focusing on each of these individual topics and more and then following that, as much of an overview as one could reasonably be expected to want to read as a basic summary of the life of the one and only King Of Rock 'N' Roll ... Elvis Presley ...

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Family History

Articles about Elvis Presley Jessie D. McDowell (J.D.) Presley: Elvis Presleys Grandfather

Articles about Elvis Presley Gladys and Vernon Presley: Elvis Presley's Mother and Father

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley: 1956 : The Year Elvis Bought Rock 'N' Roll To America

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley on National TV: 1956-57

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley's Graceland: 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley In The U.S. Army

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley's Movies

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley's Lisa Marie : Convair 880 Jet Plane

Articles about Elvis Presley The Death Of Elvis Presley: August 16, 1977

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis' middle name, is it Aron or Aaron?

Elvis Presley Biography

Elvis Aaron Presley was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi, on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child.

Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee, in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953. Elvis' musical influences were the pop and country music of the time, the gospel music he heard in church and at the all-night gospel sings he frequently attended, and the black R&B he absorbed on historic Beale Street as a Memphis teenager. In 1954, Elvis began his singing career with the legendary Sun Records label in Memphis. In late 1955, his recording contract was sold to RCA Victor. By 1956, he was an international sensation.

With a sound and style that uniquely combined Elvis' diverse musical influences and blurred and challenged the social and racial barriers of the time, he ushered in a whole new era of American music and popular culture. Elvis Presley's dynamic life story from his humble beginnings through his rise to stardom is a fascinating journey that has earned Elvis his still undefeated title of the 'King of Rock 'N Roll'.

Tupelo Childhood Classmates @ Lawhon Junior High School in 1943.

Tupelo Childhood Classmates @ Lawhon Junior High School in 1943.

Elvis Presley; Evon Farrar, now Mrs. Bobby Richey; James Farrar, Fourth District Justice of the Peace; (middle row)

Guy Harris, captain with the Tupelo Police. Photo courtesy of Guy Harris and Wanda Powell Heagy.

His songs are unforgettable - they have stood the test of time, especially his singles of the 1950s, a decade in which he had a song at No. 1. for a full 6 months of that year. An even more incredible statistic is Elvis only started at RCA in January of 1956, there is only two years until he is drafted into the U.S. Army, he made 4 movies during this time. A testament to his incredible breakthrough is the fact that he managed to sell twice as many records in the entire decade of the 1950s with only these two years of recording than any other performer. (There were also the SUN years 1954-1955 but these were not huge for record sales like when he became a national sensation in 1956).

Elvis Presley Video Dixie Locke Emmons | Elvis' girlfriend

Elvis News Latest Video Updates

They were also unpredictable. Who could know what the next one would be like? Elvis liberally altered his style to suit each song. There were the early country-boy rockabillies sung in a breathless high pitch, of which My Baby Left Me, Milkcow Blues Boogie and Money Honey are examples. His more mature, aggressive rock 'n' roll stance came out with songs such as Blue Suede Shoes, One Night and A Big Hunk O' Love. his approach to ballads ranged from the ethereal vocal effects on the guitar-tapping version of Blue Moon to smooth crooning on As Long As I Have You, Can't Help Falling In Love and many other slow numbers and movie songs.

January 8, 1935

Elvis Aaron Presley, in the humblest of circumstances, was born to Vernon and Gladys Presley in a two-room house in Tupelo, Mississippi on January 8, 1935. His twin brother, Jessie Garon, was stillborn, leaving Elvis to grow up as an only child. He and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee in 1948, and Elvis graduated from Humes High School there in 1953.

His First Guitar

On Elvis' eleventh birthday, his parents bought him a guitar. With the help of his uncle Johnny (Smith) and pastor Frank Smith of the Assembly of God Church, which the Presleys were now attending, he learned some basic cords. However while Elvis did play rhythm in the 1950's he never progressed further as a guitar player, content to let the guitar become more of a prop as time went on. When you have a voice as good as Elvis Presley's, you are not motivated to learn more, instead, he concentrated on improving his voice to get it where he wanted, to be able to sing the bigger songs, like Are You Lonesome Tonight?, It's Now Or Never, both from 1960 and songs such as My Way in the 1970s just to name but a few.

Getting to SUN

Soon after Elvis graduated in June of 1953, he began to explore the possibilities of singing professionally. In July, he went to 706 Union Avenue, a facility owned and run by Sam Phillips, where you could walk in and, for the amount of $3.98, record a two-sided record of your own performance. Elvis chose My Happiness and That's When Your Heartaches Begin. Amazingly both tracks and his follow-up recording in July 1954 of I'll Never Stand In Your Way / It Wouldn't Be The Same (Without You) survived and are available on CD to this day. Biographer Peter Guralnick argues that he chose SUN in the hope of being discovered. Asked by receptionist Marion Keisker what kind of singer he was, Elvis responded, 'I sing all kinds'.

When she pressed him on whom he sounded like, he repeatedly answered, 'I don't sound like nobody'. After he recorded, Sun boss Sam Phillips asked Keisker to note down the young man's name, which she did along with her own commentary: 'Good ballad singer. Hold'. Elvis cut a second acetate in January 1954 - I'll Never Stand In Your Way and It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You - but again nothing came of it.

Not long after, he failed an audition for a local vocal quartet, the 'Songfellows'. He explained to his father, 'They told me I couldn't sing'. Songfellow Jim Hamill later claimed that he was turned down because he did not demonstrate an ear for harmony at the time. In April, Elvis began working for the Crown Electric company as a truck driver. His friend Ronnie Smith, after playing a few local gigs with him, suggested he contact Eddie Bond, leader of Smith's professional band, which had an opening for a vocalist. Bond allegedly rejected him after a tryout, advising Elvis to stick to truck driving 'because you're never going to make it as a singer'.

Then Sam Phillips received a song from Nashville music publisher Sam Wortham, the same person who had delivered Just Walking In The Rain, SUN's first big hit record (The Prisonaires (Sun 186)). Phillips heard something in this new song, but he couldn't find the singer on the demo, so he finally decided that it just might fit the young man that Marion had kept reminding him about. The song was called Without You, a heartfelt, but an unexceptional ballad. The date, June 26, 1954, Marion phoned Elvis asking if he could come down to the studio. Elvis later said he ran all the way. But Elvis just couldn't get it right. This could have been the final rejection, the ultimate disappointment, if not for Sam's belief in raw talent and how to uncover it. He invited Elvis to sing everything he knew. Although just shop-worn ballads were presented to him, Phillips did not make a final decision on 'the boy'. Sam talked about it with Scotty Moore, guitarist in the group 'The Starlite Ranglers'. Sam told Scotty to check Elvis out and gave him Elvis' phone number.

On July 4, 1956 Elvis went over to Scotty Moore's house to sing with Scotty and Bill Black to see what Elvis could do. Bobbie Moore, Scotty's wife says he had a good voice and they sang a lot of songs like 'I Love You Because' (Eventually it become the second song professionally recorded and released on Elvis' first RCA LP, Elvis Presley). When Elvis left, Scotty and Bill discussed the proceedings, Bill turned to Scotty and looked at him kinda funny, 'What do you think of him?' Scotty said, 'Well, he's got a good voice, good singer, if we can find the right material'. So he called Sam and Sam said, You got the next night to rehearse' (At SUN).

July 5, 1954 : Rockabilly and Rock 'N' Roll are Born

July 5, as agreed, Elvis, Scotty, and Bill arrived at the SUN Studio after work. Sam went into the control room. The threesome continued, as they had done at Scotty's house, with what was basically a recap of artists like Eddy Arnold, Hank Snow and 'The Ink Spots'. The first documented song was Harbor Lights, a #1 hit in 1950 for Sammy Kaye and his Orchestra, but covered instantly by Bing Crosby.

The evening's defining moment came after four shaky attempts at Leon Payne's 1949 country hit, I Love You Because. It was during a break that Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup's That's All Right materialized.

That's All Right

Scotty Moore: 'All of a sudden, Elvis just got started singing this song, jumping around and acting the fool, and then Bill picked up his bass and started acting the fool, too, and I started playing with them. Sam had the door to the control room open and stuck his neck out. 'What are you doing?' he asked. 'We don't know', we said. 'Well, back up, try to find a place to start, and do it again'.

Elvis: 'I never sang like that in my life, until I made that first record ... I remembered that song because I heard Arthur sing it, and I thought I would like to try it. That was it'.

The DJ : Dewey Phillips

SUN 209.After Elvis had gone home, Sam called local DJ Dewey Phillips (No relation) and played him 'That's All Right' over the phone. Sam was convinced, but both men were acutely aware of the big question: What was it, really? The next morning, Dewey call Sam and asked to have two reference discs made - his hesitation was over, he wanted to play it on the show that night. When Dewey played the song that night, the switchboard 'lit up like a Christmas tree'. Calls kept coming in and Dewey kept spinning the record - seemingly over and over, announcing that it was going to be a hit. No one knew it was the beginning of the phenomenal career of Elvis Presley, and arguably the birth of Rock 'n' Roll, and certainly modern music as we know it today.

Interviewing Elvis on-air, Phillips asked him what high school he attended in order to clarify his color for the many callers who had assumed he was black.

Blue Moon Of Kentucky: The 'B' Side

A B-side was needed so on July 7 the trio again gathered at SUN with nothing prepared. Scotty Moore: 'Bill was the one who started to clown around singing the Bill Monroe song, Blue Moon Of Kentucky, imitating Bill Monroe in a high falsetto voice, but at a fast tempo, whereas the original was done real slow. (But it can be said he was no imitating Elvis' performance on That's All Right). Elvis started singing along, with both singing high tenor. Things started to happen real fast. Two-sided dubs were sent to nearby radio stations, including Bob Neal at WMPS and 'Sleepy-Eyed' John at WHHM. Concerned about control, Sam convinced Scotty Moore to take on Elvis' management, ensuring that the teenager would be insulated from opportunists.

It is interesting that Bill Monroe who wrote Blue Moon of Kentucky and recorded it with his Bluegrass Boys in 1946 re-recorded it himself in 4/4 time rather than the original 3/4 after hearing--and seeing--Elvis perform it and at the Louisiana Hayride. (See Peter Guralnick's Last Train to Memphis, pages 121-129, for a more detailed account of this interesting collision of musical worlds.) Sam Phillips was relieved when the country legend and 'founder' of Bluegrass offered praises rather than the anticipated scorn for Presley's version of his tune. At 19, Elvis somehow had the instinct to sing the song perfectly. Even the songwriter admitted it.

The First Live performances

The trio played publicly for the first time on July 17 at the Bon Air club - Elvis still sporting his child-size guitar.

At the end of the month, they appeared at the Overton Park Shell, with Slim Whitman headlining. A combination of his strong response to rhythm and nervousness at playing before a large crowd led Elvis to shake his legs as he performed: his wide-cut pants emphasized his movements, causing young women in the audience to start screaming. Moore recalled, 'During the instrumental parts he would back off from the mike and be playing and shaking, and the crowd would just go wild'. Black, a natural showman, whooped and rode his bass, hitting double licks that Elvis would later remember as 'really a wild sound, like a jungle drum or something'.

Soon after, Moore and Black quit their old band to play with Elvis regularly, and promoter Bob Neal became the trio's manager. From August through October, they played frequently at the Eagle's Nest club and returned to Sun Studio for more recording sessions, and Elvis quickly grew more confident on stage. According to Moore, 'His movement was a natural thing, but he was also very conscious of what got a reaction. He'd do something one time and then he would expand on it real quick'. Elvis made what would be his only appearance on Nashville's Grand Ole Opry on October 2; after a polite audience response, Opry manager Jim Denny told Phillips that his singer was 'not bad' but did not suit the program. Two weeks later, Elvis was booked on Louisiana Hayride, the Opry's chief, and more adventurous, rival. The Shreveport-based show was broadcast to 198 radio stations in 28 states. Elvis had another attack of nerves during the first set, which drew a muted reaction. A more composed and energetic second set inspired an enthusiastic response.

House drummer D.J. Fontana brought a new element, complementing Elvis' movements with accented beats that he had mastered playing in strip clubs. Soon after the show, the Hayride engaged Elvis for a year's worth of Saturday-night appearances. Trading in his old guitar for $8 (and seeing it promptly dispatched to the garbage), he purchased a Martin instrument for $175, and his trio began playing in new locales including Houston, Texas, and Texarkana, Arkansas. In October D.J. Fontana was hired to play drums for Elvis.

Using a very bare-bones drum kit, D.J. sat behind a curtain, unseen by the audience, and played behind Elvis and the boys as they performed the two songs allotted them, which were That's Alright Mama, and possibly (D.J.'s memory was a little sketchy) Blue Moon of Kentucky.

By early 1955, Elvis' regular Hayride appearances, constant touring, and well-received record releases had made him a substantial regional star, from Tennessee to West Texas. In January, Neal signed a formal management contract with Elvis and brought the singer to the attention of Colonel Tom Parker, whom he considered the best promoter in the music business. Parker, Dutch-born, though he claimed to be from West Virginia - had acquired an honorary colonel's commission from country singer turned Louisiana governor Jimmie Davis. Having successfully managed top country star Eddy Arnold, he was now working with the new number one country singer, Hank Snow. Parker booked Elvis on Snow's February tour. When the tour reached Odessa, Texas, a 19-year-old Roy Orbison saw Elvis for the first time: 'His energy was incredible, his instinct was just amazing, I just didn't know what to make of it. There was just no reference point in the culture to compare it'.

RCA and The Colonel

RCA Victor acquired Elvis' contract in a deal arranged by Colonel Tom Parker, who would go on to be his famous manager. Parker arranged with the owners of Hill and Range Publishing, Jean and Julian Aberbach, to create two entities, Elvis Presley Music and Gladys Music, to handle all of the new material recorded by Elvis. Songwriters were obliged to forego one-third of their customary royalties in exchange for having him perform their compositions. By December, RCA had begun to heavily promote its new singer, and before month's end had reissued many of his Sun recordings. Elvis, at 20, was still a minor, so his father signed the contract.

Commercial breakout and controversy (1956-58) : First national TV appearances

On January 10, 1956, Elvis made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville. Extending the singer's by now customary backup of Scotty Moore, Bill Black, and D.J. Fontana, RCA enlisted pianist Floyd Cramer, guitarist Chet Atkins, and three background singers, including Gordon Stoker of the popular Jordanaires quartet, to fill out the sound. The session produced the moody, unusual Heartbreak Hotel, released as a single on January 27. Colonel Parker finally brought Elvis to national television, booking him on CBS's Stage Show for six appearances over two months. The program, produced in New York, was hosted on alternate weeks by big band leaders and brothers Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. After his first appearance, on January 28, Elvis stayed in town to record at RCA's New York studio. The sessions yielded eight songs, including a cover of Carl Perkins' rockabilly anthem Blue Suede Shoes.

In February, Elvis' I Forgot to Remember to Forget, a Sun recording initially released the previous August, reached the top of the Billboard country chart. Neal's contract was terminated and, on March 2, Parker became Elvis' manager. RCA Victor released Elvis' self-titled debut album on March 23. Joined by five previously unreleased Sun recordings, its seven recently recorded tracks were of a broad variety. There were two country songs and a bouncy pop tune. The others would centrally define the evolving sound of rock and roll: Blue Suede Shoes - 'an improvement over Carl Perkins' in almost every way', according to critic Robert Hilburn - and three R&B numbers that had been part of Elvis' stage repertoire for some time, covers of Little Richard, Ray Charles, and The Drifters.

As described by Hilburn, these 'were the most revealing of all. Unlike many white artists, who watered down the gritty edges of the original R&B versions of songs in the '50s, Elvis reshaped them. He not only injected the tunes with his own vocal character but also made guitar, not piano, the lead instrument in all three cases'. It became the first rock and roll album to top the Billboard chart, a position it held for 10 weeks. While Elvis was not an innovative instrumentalist like Moore or contemporary African American rockers Bo Diddley and Chuck Berry, cultural historian Gilbert B. Rodman argues that the album's cover image, 'of Elvis having the time of his life on stage with a guitar in his hands played a crucial role in positioning the guitar, as the instrument that best captured the style and spirit of this new music'.

Historic Television Guest Appearances

In 1956, Elvis made his network television debut.

The first of his six appearances on Stage Show, a weekly variety program hosted by Tommy and Jimmy Dorsey. He followed these with two appearances on The Milton Berle Show, the second of which included a performance of Hound Dog that was so provocative (for that time, anyway) that it caused a national scandal. Elvis next appeared on The Steve Allen Show, with Allen mocking the sensation of the Berle appearance by having Elvis dress in a tuxedo, eliminate his usual physical gyrations, and sing Hound Dog to a Basset Hound.

Ed Sullivan had once said he would never have the controversial singer on his top-rated show, but that was before the week that Elvis' appearance on Steve Allen had surpassed Sullivan's ratings.

After negotiating with Elvis' manager, Ed Sullivan paid Elvis the huge sum of $50,000 for appearing on three of his shows: September 9, 1956, October 28, 1956, and then on January 6, 1957. $50,000 was, at the time, more money than any performer had ever been paid to appear on a network variety program. Elvis' first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show was a major success. Over 60 million people, both young and old, watched the show and many people believe it helped bridge the generation gap for Elvis' acceptance into the mainstream. Elvis performed, Don't Be Cruel, Love Me Tender, Ready Teddy and Hound Dog.

When Elvis made his third Sullivan appearance in January of 1957, Ed Sullivan surprised Elvis by telling him on camera that his show had never had a better experience with a name act, and said 'I wanted to say to Elvis and the country that this is a real decent, fine boy'.

It was on this very same Sullivan appearance that Elvis was shown on camera from the waist up only, one of early television history's most memorable moments. Elvis' next network television appearance was in 1960 when Frank Sinatra gave his variety show a 'Welcome Home, Elvis' theme to herald Elvis' return from the army. Elvis was paid $125,000 to appear - again, making history.

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Milton Berle Show and 'Hound Dog'

Elvis made the first of two appearances on NBC's Milton Berle Show on April 3. His performance, on the deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, prompted cheers and screams from an audience of sailors and their dates. A few days later, a flight taking Elvis and his band to Nashville for a recording session left all three badly shaken when an engine died and the plane almost went down over Arkansas. Twelve weeks after its original release, Heartbreak Hotel became Elvis' first number one pop hit. In late April, Elvis began a two-week residency at the New Frontier Hotel and Casino on the Las Vegas Strip. The shows were poorly received by the conservative, middle-aged hotel guests - 'like a jug of corn liquor at a champagne party', wrote a critic for Newsweek.

Amid his Vegas tenure, Elvis, who had serious acting ambitions, signed a seven-year contract with Paramount Pictures. He began a tour of the Midwest in mid-May, taking in 15 cities in as many days. He had attended several shows by Freddie Bell and the Bellboys in Vegas and was struck by their cover of Hound Dog, a hit in 1952 for blues singer Big Mama Thornton. It became the new closing number of his act. After a show in La Crosse, Wisconsin, an urgent message on the letterhead of the local Catholic diocese newspaper was sent to FBI director J. Edgar Hoover. It warned that 'Elvis is a definite danger to the security of the United States, (His) actions and motions were such as to arouse the sexual passions of teenaged youth, After the show, more than 1,000 teenagers tried to gang into Elvis' room at the auditorium, Indications of the harm Elvis did just in La Crosse were the two high school girls, whose abdomen and thigh had Elvis' autograph'.

The second Milton Berle Show appearance came on June 5 at NBC's Hollywood studio, amid another hectic tour. Berle persuaded the singer to leave his guitar backstage, advising, 'Let 'em see you, son'. During the performance, Elvis abruptly halted an uptempo rendition of Hound Dog with a wave of his arm and launched into a slow, grinding version accentuated with energetic, exaggerated body movements.

Elvis' gyrations created a storm of controversy. Television critics were outraged: Jack Gould of The New York Times wrote, 'Mr. Elvis has no discernible singing ability, His phrasing if it can be called that, consists of the stereotyped variations that go with a beginner's aria in a bathtub, His one specialty is an accented movement of the body, primarily identified with the repertoire of the blond bombshells of the burlesque runway'. Ben Gross of the New York Daily News opined that popular music 'has reached its lowest depths in the 'grunt and groin' antics of one Elvis Presley, Elvis, who rotates his pelvis, gave an exhibition that was suggestive and vulgar, tinged with the kind of animalism that should be confined to dives and bordellos'. Ed Sullivan, whose own variety show was the nation's most popular, declared him 'unfit for family viewing'.

To Elvis' displeasure, he soon found himself being referred to as 'Elvis the Pelvis', which he called 'one of the most childish expressions I ever heard, comin' from an adult'.

Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley swap autographs, Overton Park Shell, Memphis June 1, 1956

Carl Perkins and Elvis Presley swap autographs, Overton Park Shell, Memphis June 1, 1956.

Steve Allen Show and first Sullivan appearance

The Berle shows drew such high ratings that Elvis was booked for a July 1 appearance on NBC's The Steve Allen Show in New York. Allen, no fan of rock and roll, introduced a 'new Elvis' in a white bow tie and black tails. Elvis sang 'Hound Dog' for less than a minute to a basset hound wearing a top hat and bow tie.

As described by television historian Jake Austen, 'Allen thought Elvis was talentless and absurd, (he) set things up so that Elvis would show his contrition'. Allen, for his part, later wrote that he found Elvis' strange, gangly, country-boy charisma, his hard-to-define cuteness, and his charming eccentricity intriguing' and simply worked the singer into the customary 'comedy fabric' of his program.

Elvis would refer back to the Allen show as the most ridiculous performance of his career. Later that night, he appeared on Elvis Hy Gardner Calling a popular local TV show. Pressed on whether he had learned anything from the criticism to which he was being subjected, Elvis responded, 'No, I haven't, I don't feel like I'm doing anything wrong, I don't see how any type of music would have any bad influence on people when it's only music, I mean, how would rock 'n' roll music make anyone rebel against their parents?'

The next day, Elvis recorded Hound Dog, along with Any Way You Want Me and Don't Be Cruel. The Jordanaires sang harmony, as they had on The Steve Allen Show; they would work with Elvis through the 1960s. A few days later, the singer made an outdoor concert appearance in Memphis at which he announced, 'You know, those people in New York are not gonna change me none. I'm gonna show you what the real Elvis is like tonight'. In August, a judge in Jacksonville, Florida, ordered Elvis to tame his act. Throughout the following performance, he largely kept still, except for wiggling his little finger suggestively in mockery of the order. The single pairing Don't Be Cruel with Hound Dog ruled the top of the charts for 11 weeks - a mark that would not be surpassed for 36 years. Recording sessions for Elvis' second album took place in Hollywood during the first week of September. Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, the writers of Hound Dog, contributed Love Me.

The Ed Sullivan Show

Allen's show with Elvis had, for the first time, beaten CBS's The Ed Sullivan Show in the ratings. Sullivan, despite his June pronouncement, booked the singer for three appearances for an unprecedented $50,000. The first, on September 9, 1956, was seen by approximately 60 million viewers - a record 82.6 percent of the television audience. Actor Charles Laughton hosted the show, filling in while Sullivan recuperated from a car accident. Elvis appeared in two segments that night from CBS Television City in Hollywood. According to Elvis legend, Elvis was shot only from the waist up. Watching clips of the Allen and Berle shows with his producer, Sullivan had opined that Elvis 'got some kind of device hanging down below the crotch of his pants - so when he moves his legs back and forth you can see the outline of his cock, I think it's a Coke bottle, We just can't have this on a Sunday night. This is a family show!' Sullivan publicly told TV Guide, 'As for his gyrations, the whole thing can be controlled with camera shots'.

In fact, Elvis was shown head-to-toe in the first and second shows. Though the camera work was relatively discreet during his debut, with leg-concealing close ups when he danced, the studio audience reacted in customary style: screaming. Elvis' performance of his forthcoming single, the ballad Love Me Tender, prompted a record-shattering million advance orders. More than any other single event, it was this first appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show that made Elvis a national celebrity of barely precedented proportions. Accompanying Elvis' rise to fame, a cultural shift was taking place that he both helped inspire and came to symbolize. Igniting the 'biggest pop craze since Glenn Miller and Frank Sinatra, Elvis brought rock'n'roll into the mainstream of popular culture', writes historian Marty Jezer. 'As Elvis set the artistic pace, other artists followed, Elvis, more than anyone else, gave the young a belief in themselves as a distinct and somehow unified generation - the first in America ever to feel the power of an integrated youth culture'.

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Elvis Presley's Graceland

Graceland, Elvis Presley's home and refuge for twenty years, is one of the most visited homes in America today, now attracting over 600,000 visitors annually. It is also the most famous home in America after the White House. In 1991, Graceland Mansion was placed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Elvis Presley's Graceland - 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard

Elvis Presley's Graceland - 3764 Elvis Presley Boulevard.

Military service and mother's death (1958-60)

On March 24, 1958, Elvis was inducted into the U.S. Army as a private at Fort Chaffee, near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Captain Arlie Metheny, the information officer, was unprepared for the media attention drawn by the singer's arrival. Hundreds of people descended on Elvis as he stepped from the bus; photographers then accompanied him into the base. Elvis announced that he was looking forward to his military stint, saying he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else: 'The Army can do anything it wants with me'. Later, at Fort Hood, Texas, Lieutenant Colonel Marjorie Schulten gave the media carte blanche for one day, after which she declared Elvis off-limits to the press. Soon after Elvis had commenced basic training at Fort Hood, he received a visit from Eddie Fadal, a businessman he had met when on tour in Texas. Fadal reported that Elvis had become convinced his career was finished - 'He firmly believed that'.

During a two-week leave in early June, Elvis cut five sides in Nashville. He returned to training, but in early August his mother was diagnosed with hepatitis and her condition worsened. Elvis was granted emergency leave to visit her, arriving in Memphis on August 12. Two days later, Gladys died of heart failure, aged 46. Elvis was devastated; their relationship had remained extremely close - even into his adulthood, they would use baby talk with each other and Elvis would address her with pet names.

After training at Fort Hood, Elvis joined the 3rd Armored Division in Friedberg, Germany, on October 1. The Army also introduced Elvis to karate, which he studied seriously, later including it in his live performances. Fellow soldiers have attested to Elvis' wish to be seen as an able, ordinary soldier, despite his fame, and to his generosity while in the service. He donated his Army pay to charity, purchased TV sets for the base, and bought an extra set of fatigues for everyone in his outfit.

While in Friedberg, Elvis met 14-year-old Priscilla Beaulieu. They would eventually marry after a seven-and-a-half-year courtship. In her autobiography, Priscilla says that despite his worries that it would ruin his career, Parker convinced Elvis that to gain popular respect, he should serve his country as a regular soldier rather than in Special Services, where he would have been able to give some musical performances and remain in touch with the public. Media reports echoed Elvis' concerns about his career, but RCA producer Steve Sholes and Freddy Bienstock of Hill and Range had carefully prepared for his two-year hiatus. Armed with a substantial amount of unreleased material, they kept up a regular stream of successful releases. Between his induction and discharge, Elvis had ten top 40 hits, including Wear My Ring Around Your Neck, the best-selling Hard Headed Woman, and One Night in 1958, and (Now and Then There's) A Fool Such as I and the number one A Big Hunk O' Love in 1959. RCA also managed to generate four albums compiling old material during this period, most successfully Elvis' Golden Records (1958), which hit number three on the LP chart.

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Focus on movies (1960-67) : Elvis Is Back

Elvis returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5. The train that carried him from New Jersey to Tennessee was mobbed all the way, and Elvis was called upon to appear at scheduled stops to please his fans. Back in Memphis, he wasted no time in returning to the studio. Sessions in March and April yielded two of his best-selling singles, the ballads It's Now or Never and Are You Lonesome Tonight?, and Elvis Is Back! The album features several songs described by Greil Marcus as full of Chicago blues 'menace, driven by Elvis' own super-miked acoustic guitar, brilliant playing by Scotty Moore, and demonic sax work from Boots Randolph. Elvis' singing wasn't sexy, it was pornographic'.

As a whole, the record 'conjured up the vision of a performer who could be all things', in the words of music historian John Robertson: 'a flirtatious teenage idol with a heart of gold; a tempestuous, dangerous lover; a gutbucket blues singer; a sophisticated nightclub entertainer; (a) raucous rocker'. Released only days after recording was complete, it reached number two on the album chart.

Elvis returned to television on May 12 as a guest on The Frank Sinatra Timex Special - ironic for both stars, given Sinatra's not-so-distant excoriation of rock and roll. Also known as Welcome Home Elvis, the show had been taped in late March, the only time all year Elvis performed in front of an audience. Parker secured an unheard-of $125,000 fee for eight minutes of singing. The broadcast drew an enormous viewership.

It is important to note that at the time Elvis came to prominence it was the normal thing for a big star in the music field to cross over to movies. They did not have the technology nor music videos, MTV etc. So Hollywood it was, and it was Elvis' dream to be a good actor, he held out hope for years that he would be given a good script and succeed in the movie business, eventually accepting this was not to be ...

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Elvis Presley starred in 31 feature films as an actor and two theatrically released concert documentary films, all of which enjoyed financial success. For a number of years he was one of Hollywood's top box office draws and one of its highest-paid actors. His two most critically acclaimed films, Jailhouse Rock (1957) and King Creole (1958) have become classics of their era. His movies and concert films enjoy a healthy life today in television syndication and home video sales and rentals. Some of his top-selling music came from his movies. Eleven of his movie soundtrack albums went to the top ten, and of those, four went to number one.

The soundtrack for G.I. Blues (1960), was number one on the Billboard Top 100 album chart for 10 weeks and remained on the chart for 111 weeks. The album from Blue Hawaii was number one for 20 weeks and was on the chart for 79 weeks G.I. Blues, the soundtrack to Elvis' first film since his return, was a number one album in October. His first LP of sacred material, His Hand in Mine, followed two months later. It reached number 13 on the U.S. pop chart and number 3 in Great Britain, remarkable figures for a gospel album.

In February 1961, Elvis performed two shows for a benefit event in Memphis, on behalf of 24 local charities. During a luncheon preceding the event, RCA presented him with a plaque certifying worldwide sales of over 75 million records. A 12-hour Nashville session in mid-March yielded nearly all of Elvis' next studio album, Something for Everybody. As described by John Robertson, it exemplifies the Nashville sound, the restrained, cosmopolitan style that would define country music in the 1960s. Presaging much of what was to come from Elvis himself over the next half-decade, the album is largely 'a pleasant, unthreatening pastiche of the music that had once been Elvis' birthright'. It would be his sixth number one LP. Another benefit concert, raising money for a Pearl Harbor memorial, was staged on March 25, in Hawaii. It was to be Elvis' last public performance for seven years.

On location for the picture 'Follow That Dream'.

On location for the picture 'Follow That Dream'.

Lost in Hollywood

Parker had by now pushed Elvis into a heavy movie making schedule, focused on formulaic, modestly budgeted musical-comedies. Elvis at first insisted on pursuing more serious roles, but when two films in a more dramatic vein - Flaming Star (1960) and Wild in the Country (1961) - were less commercially successful, he reverted to the formula. For the remainder of the decade, during which he made 27 movies, there were few further exceptions. His films were almost universally panned; one critic dismissed them as a 'pantheon of bad taste'. Nonetheless, they were virtually all profitable. Hal Wallis, who produced nine of them, declared, 'An Elvis picture is the only sure thing in Hollywood'. Of Elvis' films in the 1960s, 15 were accompanied by soundtrack albums and another 5 by soundtrack EPs. The movies' rapid production and release schedules - he frequently starred in three a year - affected his music.

According to Jerry Leiber, the soundtrack formula was already evident before Elvis left for the Army: 'three ballads, one medium-tempo (number), one up-tempo, and one break blues boogie'. As the decade wore on, the quality of the soundtrack songs grew 'progressively worse'. Julie Parrish, who appeared in Paradise, Hawaiian Style (1966), says that he hated many of the songs chosen for his films. The Jordanaires' Gordon Stoker describes how Elvis would retreat from the studio microphone: 'The material was so bad that he felt like he couldn't sing it'.

Most of the movie albums featured a song or two from respected writers such as the team of Doc Pomus and Mort Shuman. But by and large, according to biographer Jerry Hopkins, the numbers seemed to be 'written on order by men who never really understood Elvis or rock and roll'. Regardless of the songs' quality, it has been argued that Elvis generally sang them well, with commitment. Critic Dave Marsh heard the opposite: 'Elvis isn't trying, probably the wisest course in the face of material like No Room to Rumba in a Sports Car and Rock-a-Hula Baby.

In the first half of the decade, three of Elvis' soundtrack albums hit number one on the pop charts, and a few of his most popular songs came from his films, such as Can't Help Falling in Love (1961) and Return to Sender (1962). Viva Las Vegas, the title track to the 1964 film, was a minor hit as a B-side, and became truly popular only later.) But, as with artistic merit, the commercial returns steadily diminished.

During a five-year span - 1964 through 1968 - Elvis had only one top ten hit: Crying in the Chapel (1965), a gospel number recorded back in 1960. As for non-movie albums, between the June 1962 release of Pot Luck and the November 1968 release of the soundtrack to the television special that signaled his comeback, only one LP of new material by Elvis was issued: the gospel album How Great Thou Art (1967). It won him his first Grammy Award, for Best Sacred Performance. As described in The New Rolling Stone Album Guide, Elvis was 'arguably the greatest white gospel singer of his time (and) really the last rock & roll artist to make gospel as vital a component of his musical personality as his secular songs'.

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Shortly before Christmas 1966, more than seven years since they first met, Elvis proposed to Priscilla Beaulieu. Elvis Presley Video They were married on May 1, 1967, in a brief ceremony in their suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. The flow of formulaic movies and assembly-line soundtracks rolled on. It was not until October 1967, when the Clambake soundtrack LP registered record low sales for a new Elvis album, that RCA executives recognized a problem. 'By then, of course, the damage had been done', as historians Connie Kirchberg and Marc Hendrickx put it. 'Elvis was viewed as a joke by serious music lovers and a has-been to all but his most loyal fans'.

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Comeback (1968-73) : Elvis: the '68 Comeback Special

Elvis' only child, Lisa Marie, was born on February 1, 1968, during a period when he had grown deeply unhappy with his career. Of the eight Elvis singles released between January 1967 and May 1968, only two charted in the top 40, and none higher than number 28. His forthcoming soundtrack album, Speedway, would die at number 82 on the Billboard chart. Parker had already shifted his plans to television, where Elvis had not appeared since the Sinatra Timex show in 1960. He maneuvered a deal with NBC that committed the network to both finance a theatrical feature and broadcast a Christmas special.

Later known as the '68 Comeback Special, the show featured lavishly staged studio productions as well as songs performed with a band in front of a small audience - Elvis' first live performances since 1961. The live segments saw Elvis clad in tight black leather, singing and playing guitar in an uninhibited style reminiscent of his early rock and roll days. Director and co producer Steve Binder had worked hard to reassure the nervous singer and to produce a show that was far from the hour of Christmas songs Parker had originally planned. The show, NBC's highest rated that season, captured 42 percent of the total viewing audience. Jon Landau of Eye magazine remarked, 'There is something magical about watching a man who has lost himself find his way back home. He sang with the kind of power people no longer expect of rock 'n' roll singers. He moved his body with a lack of pretension and effort that must have made Jim Morrison green with envy'.

From Elvis In Memphis and the International

Buoyed by the experience of the Comeback Special, Elvis engaged in a prolific series of recording sessions at American Sound Studio, which led to the acclaimed From Elvis in Memphis. Released in June 1969, it was his first secular, non-soundtrack album from a dedicated period in the studio in eight years. As described by Dave Marsh, it is 'a masterpiece in which Elvis immediately catches up with pop music trends that had seemed to pass him by during the movie years. He sings country songs, soul songs and rockers with real conviction, a stunning achievement'. The album featured the hit single In the Ghetto, issued in April, which reached number three on the pop chart - Elvis' first non-gospel top ten hit since Bossa Nova Baby in 1963. Further hit singles were culled from the American Sound sessions: Suspicious Minds, Don't Cry Daddy, and Kentucky Rain.

Elvis was keen to resume regular live performing. Following the success of the Comeback Special, offers came in from around the world. The London Palladium offered Parker $28,000 for a one-week engagement. He responded, 'That's fine for me, now how much can you get for Elvis?' In May, the brand new International Hotel in Las Vegas, boasting the largest showroom in the city, announced that it had booked Elvis. He was scheduled to perform 57 shows over four weeks beginning July 31. Moore, Fontana, and the Jordanaires declined to participate, afraid of losing the lucrative session work they had in Nashville.

Elvis assembled new, top-notch accompaniment, led by guitarist James Burton and including two gospel groups, The Imperials and Sweet Inspirations. Nonetheless, he was nervous: his only previous Las Vegas engagement, in 1956, had been dismal. Parker, who intended to make Elvis' return the show business event of the year, oversaw a major promotional push. For his part, hotel owner Kirk Kerkorian arranged to send his own plane to New York to fly in rock journalists for the debut performance.

Elvis Presley : Las Vegas : August 17, 1969.

Elvis Presley : Las Vegas : August 17, 1969.

Elvis took to the stage without introduction. The audience of 2,200, including many celebrities, gave him a standing ovation before he sang a note and another after his performance. A third followed his encore, Can't Help Falling in Love (a song that would be his closing number for much of the 1970s).

At a press conference after the show, when a journalist referred to him as 'The King', Elvis gestured toward Fats Domino, who was taking in the scene. 'No', Elvis said, 'that's the real king of rock and roll'. The next day, Parker's negotiations with the hotel resulted in a five-year contract for Elvis to play each February and August, at an annual salary of $1 million. Newsweek commented, 'There are several unbelievable things about Elvis, but the most incredible is his staying power in a world where meteoric careers fade like shooting stars'. Rolling Stone called Elvis' upernatural, his own resurrection'. In November, Elvis' final non-concert movie, Change Of Habit, opened.

The double album From Memphis To Vegas/From Vegas To Memphis came out the same month; the first LP consisted of live performances from the International, the second of more cuts from the American Sound sessions. Suspicious Minds reached the top of the charts - Elvis' first U.S. pop number one in over seven years, and his last. Cassandra Peterson, later television's Elvira, met Elvis during this period in Las Vegas, where she was working as showgirl. She recalls of their encounter, 'He was so anti-drug when I met him. I mentioned to him that I smoked marijuana, and he was just appalled'.

He said, 'Don't ever do that again'. Elvis was not only deeply opposed to recreational drugs, he also rarely drank. Several of his family members had been alcoholics, a fate he intended to avoid.

Back on tour and meeting Nixon

Elvis returned to the International early in 1970 for the first of the year's two month-long engagements, performing two shows a night. Recordings from these shows were issued on the album On Stage. In late February, Elvis performed six attendance-record - breaking shows at the Houston Astrodome. In April, the single The Wonder of You was issued - a number one hit in Great Britain, it topped the U.S. adult contemporary chart, as well.

Badge presented to Elvis Presley deputizing him as a special agent of the Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous DrugsMGM filmed rehearsal and concert footage at the International during August for the documentary Elvis: That's the Way It Is. Elvis was by now performing in a jumpsuit, which would become a trademark of his live act. During this engagement, he was threatened with murder unless $50,000 was paid. Elvis had been the target of many threats since the 1950s, often without his knowledge. The FBI took the threat seriously and security was stepped up for the next two shows. Elvis went onstage with a Derringer in his right boot and a .45 pistol in his waistband, but the concerts went off without incident.

The album That's the Way It Is, produced to accompany the documentary and featuring both studio and live recordings, marked a stylistic shift. As music historian John Robertson notes, 'The authority of Elvis' singing helped disguise the fact that the album stepped decisively away from the American-roots inspiration of the Memphis sessions towards a more middle-of-the-road sound.

With country put on the back burner, and soul and R&B left in Memphis, what was left was very classy, very clean white pop - perfect for the Las Vegas crowd, but a definite retrograde step for Elvis'. After the end of his International engagement on September 7, Elvis embarked on a week-long concert tour, largely of the South, his first since 1958. Another week-long tour, of the West Coast, followed in November.

On December 21, 1970, Elvis engineered a bizarre meeting with President Richard Nixon at the White House, where he expressed his patriotism and his contempt for the hippie drug culture. He asked Nixon for a Bureau of Narcotics and Dangerous Drugs badge, to add to similar items he had begun collecting and to signify official sanction of his patriotic efforts. Nixon, who apparently found the encounter awkward, expressed a belief that Elvis could send a positive message to young people and that it was therefore important he 'retain his credibility'. Elvis told Nixon that The Beatles, whose songs he regularly performed in concert during the era, exemplified what he saw as a trend of anti-Americanism and drug abuse in popular culture. (Elvis and his friends had had a four-hour get-together with The Beatles five years earlier.)

Elvis Presley and President Nixon at the White House - December 21, 1970

President Richard Nixon and Elvis Presley : The Oval Office : December 21, 1970.

The U.S. Junior Chamber of Commerce named Elvis one of its annual Ten Most Outstanding Young Men of the Nation on January 16, 1971. Not long after, the City of Memphis named the stretch of Highway 51 South on which Graceland is located 'Elvis Presley Boulevard'. The same year, Elvis became the first rock and roll singer to be awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award (then known as the Bing Crosby Award) by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, the Grammy Award organization. Three new, non-movie Elvis studio albums were released in 1971, as many as had come out over the previous eight years. Best received by critics was Elvis Country, a concept record that focused on genre standards. The biggest seller was Elvis Sings the Wonderful World of Christmas, 'the truest statement of all', according to Greil Marcus. 'In the midst of ten painfully genteel Christmas songs, every one sung with appalling sincerity and humility, one could find Elvis tom-catting his way through six blazing minutes of Merry Christmas, Baby, a raunchy old Charles Brown blues, If (Elvis') sin was his lifelessness, it was his sinfulness that brought him to life'.

Marriage breakdown and Aloha from Hawaii

MGM again filmed Elvis in April 1972, this time for Elvis on Tour, which went on to win the Golden Globe Award for Best Documentary Film that year. His gospel album He Touched Me, released that month, would earn him his second Grammy Award, for Best Inspirational Performance. A 14-date tour commenced with an unprecedented four consecutive sold-out shows at New York's Madison Square Garden.

The evening concert on July 10 was recorded and issued in LP form a week later. Elvis: As Recorded at Madison Square Garden became one of Elvis' biggest-selling albums. After the tour, the single Burning Love was released - Elvis' last top ten hit on the U.S. pop chart. 'The most exciting single Elvis has made since All Shook Up, wrote rock critic Robert Christgau. 'Who else could make 'It's coming closer, the flames are now licking my body' sound like an assignation with James Brown's backup band?' Elvis and his wife, meanwhile, had become increasingly distant, barely cohabiting. The Presleys separated on February 23, 1972, after Priscilla disclosed her relationship with Mike Stone, a karate instructor Elvis had recommended to her. Five months later, Elvis' new girlfriend, Linda Thompson, a songwriter and one-time Memphis beauty queen, moved in with him. Elvis and his wife filed for divorce on August 18. In January 1973, Elvis performed two benefit concerts for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in connection with a groundbreaking TV special, Aloha from Hawaii. The first show served as a practice run and backup should technical problems affect the live broadcast two days later.

Aired as scheduled on January 14, 'Aloha from Hawaii' was the first global concert satellite broadcast, reaching approximately 1.5 billion viewers live and on tape delay.

Elvis' costume became the most recognized example of the elaborate concert garb with which his latter-day persona became closely associated. As described by Bobbie Ann Mason, 'At the end of the show, when he spreads out his American Eagle cape, with the full stretched wings of the eagle studded on the back, he becomes a god figure'. The accompanying double album, released in February, went to number one and eventually sold over 5 million copies in the United States. It proved to be Elvis' last U.S. number one pop album during his lifetime. At a midnight show the same month, four men rushed onto the stage in an apparent attack. Security men leapt to Elvis' defense, and the singer's karate instinct took over as he ejected one invader from the stage himself.

Elvis Presley Photos Elvis Presley : Arriving In Hawaii : January 9, 1973

Elvis Presley Photos Elvis Presley : Aloha From Hawaii Rehearsal Concert : January 12, 1973

Elvis Presley Photos Elvis Presley : Receiving an award, backstage : January 13, 1973, before his Aloha Concert

Elvis Presley Video Elvis Presley Photos Elvis Presley : Hawaii : January 14, 1973

Health deterioration and death (1973-77)

Elvis' divorce took effect on October 9, 1973. He was now becoming increasingly unwell.

On July 13, 1976, Vernon Presley - who had become deeply involved in his son's financial affairs - fired 'Memphis Mafia' bodyguards Red West (Elvis' friend since the 1950s), Sonny West, and David Hebler, citing the need to 'cut back on expenses'. Elvis was in Palm Springs at the time. An associate of Elvis', John O'Grady, argued that the bodyguards were dropped because their rough treatment of fans had prompted too many lawsuits. Elvis and Linda Thompson split in November, and he took up with a new girlfriend, Ginger Alden. He proposed to Alden and gave her an engagement ring two months later, though several of his friends later claimed that he had no serious intention of marrying again.

RCA, which had enjoyed a steady stream of product from Elvis for over a decade, grew anxious as his interest in spending time in the studio waned. After a December 1973 session that produced 18 songs, enough for almost two albums, he did not enter the studio in 1974. Parker sold RCA on another concert record, Elvis: As Recorded Live on Stage in Memphis. Recorded on March 20, it included a version of How Great Thou Art that would win Elvis his third and final competitive Grammy Award. (All three of his competitive Grammy wins - out of 14 total nominations - were for gospel recordings.) Elvis returned to the studio in Hollywood in March 1975, recording 10 songs that would form the Elvis Today album, (his last studio album). but Parker's attempts to arrange another session toward the end of the year were unsuccessful. In 1976, RCA sent a mobile studio to Graceland that made possible two full-scale recording sessions at Elvis' home. Even in that comfortable context, the recording process was now a struggle for him.

For all the concerns of his label and manager, in studio sessions between July 1973 and October 1976, Elvis recorded virtually the entire contents of six albums. Though he was no longer a major presence on the pop charts, five of those albums entered the top five of the country chart, and three went to number one: Promised Land (1975), From Elvis Presley Boulevard, Memphis, Tennessee (1976), and Moody Blue (1977).

'The Lisa Marie' : Elvis Presley's Convair 880 Jet

On April 17, 1975 Elvis bought a Convair 880 Jet recently taken out of service by Delta Airlines for the then-substantial sum of $250,000. With complete refurbishing the total exceeded $600,000. He immediately rechristened it the Lisa Marie. But this wasn't just an impulse purchase of some sort of ultimate flying Cadillac.

The Lisa Marie in Flight - To Denver

The Lisa Marie in Flight.

Elvis Presley Photos Elvis Presley' Lisa Marie Convair 880 Jet

Articles about Elvis Presley The Death Of Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley died at Graceland on August 16, 1977. He was 42 years old.

Through the early morning of the 16th Elvis took care of last minute tour details and relaxed with family and staff. He was to fly to Portland, Maine that night and do a show there on the 17th, then continue the scheduled tour. Elvis retired to his master suite at Graceland around 7:00 AM to rest for his evening flight. By late morning, Elvis Presley had died of heart failure. In a matter of hours the shock registered around the world. Read more.

Articles about Elvis Presley The Death Of Elvis Presley: August 16, 1977

Interviews with or about Elvis Presley Interview with Vernon Presley by Nancy Anderson: Good Housekeeping, January 1978

Overview of Elvis Presley's Achievements

Elvis starred in 33 movies, made history with his television appearances and specials, and knew great acclaim through his many, often record-breaking, live concert performances on tour and in Las Vegas.

Globally, he has sold over one billion records, more than any other artist. His American sales have earned him gold, platinum or multi-platinum awards for 131 different albums and singles, far more than any other artist. Among his many awards and accolades were 14 Grammy nominations (3 wins) from the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences, the Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award, which he received at age 36, and his being named One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 by the United States Jaycees. Without any of the special privileges his celebrity status might have afforded him, he honorably served his country in the U.S. Army.

His talent, good looks, sensuality, charisma, and good humor endeared him to millions, as did the humility and human kindness he demonstrated throughout his life. Known the world over by his first name, he is regarded as one of the most important figures of twentieth century popular culture. Elvis died at his Memphis home, Graceland, on August 16, 1977.

Record Sales

It is estimated that Elvis Presley has sold over one billion record units worldwide, more than anyone in record industry history. In America alone, Elvis has had 141 different albums and singles that have been certified gold, platinum or multi-platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with more certifications expected as research into his past record sales continues and as current sales go on.

Research is also underway to document his record sales achievements in other countries. It is estimated that 40% of Elvis' total record sales have been outside the United States.

Articles about Elvis Presley For The Billionth And The Last Time: Lifting the Lid on the King's record sales

Elvis News Elvis Presley: Australia Single & Album Charts (With links to US and UK Charts)

International Acclaim

Elvis Presley's trophy room at Graceland is filled with gold and platinum records and awards of all kinds from around the world. Some of the countries represented are Norway, Yugoslavia, Japan, Australia, South Africa, England, Sweden, Germany, France, Canada, Belgium, and the Netherlands.

It is interesting to note that, except for a handful of movie soundtrack songs, Elvis did not record in other languages, and, except for five shows in three Canadian cities in 1957, he did not perform in concert outside the United States. Still, his recordings and films enjoyed, and continue to enjoy, popularity all over the globe, and he is known throughout the world by his first name.

Record Chart Statistics

Elvis Presley has had no less than 149 songs to appear on Billboard's Hot 100 Pop Chart in America. Of these, 114 were in the top forty, 40 were in the top ten, and 18 went to number one. His number one singles spent a total of 80 weeks at number one. He has also had over 90 charted albums with ten of them reaching number one. These figures are only for the pop charts, and only in America. He was also a leading artist in the American country, R&B, and gospel fields, and his chart success in other countries was substantial.

Television Specials

Elvis Presley's three network television specials: Elvis (1968), Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, via Satellite (1973), and Elvis in Concert (1977) - stand among the most highly rated specials of their time. His 1968 special, Elvis, is one of the most critically acclaimed music specials of all time. His 1973 special, Elvis: Aloha from Hawaii, via Satellite, was seen in 40 countries by 1 billion to 1.5 billion people and made television history. It was seen on television in more American homes than man's first walk on the moon.

Elvis Presley Video Mindy Campbell flight attendant

Elvis News Latest Video Updates

The Concert Stage

When Elvis returned to the live stage after the success of his 1968 television special and the wrap-up of his Hollywood movie contract obligations, he opened at the International Hotel in Las Vegas in the summer of 1969 for a 4-week, 57-show engagement that broke all existing Las Vegas attendance records.

He returned to the International a few months later in early 1970, during the slow winter season in Vegas, and broke his own attendance record. Right after that came a record-breaking six-show engagement at the Astrodome in Houston, where Elvis played to a total of 207,494 people.

Elvis took his elaborate live show on the road in the latter part of 1970 for his first concert tour since 1957. Throughout the 1970's Elvis toured America, breaking box office records right and left, and continued to play an engagement or two per year in Las Vegas and Lake Tahoe. Among the outstanding highlights of this period was in 1972, when Elvis performed four sold-out shows at Madison Square Garden. During his 'concert years' from 1969 to 1977, Elvis gave nearly 1,100 concert performances.

Elvis Presley's Grammy Awards

Elvis received 14 Grammy nominations from the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences (NARAS). His three wins were for gospel recordings - the album How Great Thou Art (1967), the album He Touched Me (1972) and his live Memphis concert recording of the song How Great Thou Art (1974). In 1971, NARAS also recognized him with their Lifetime Achievement Award (known then as the Bing Crosby Award ... in honor of its first recipient). Elvis was 36 years old at the time. Five of Elvis' recordings have been inducted into the NARAS Hall of Fame - his original 1956 recordings of Hound Dog (inducted 1988) and Heartbreak Hotel (inducted 1995), his original 1954 recording of That's All Right (inducted 1998), his original 1969 recording of Suspicious Minds (inducted 1999), and his original 1956 recording of Don't Be Cruel (inducted 2002). The Hall of Fame recognizes 'early recordings of lasting, qualitative or historical significance, with many inductees being recordings that were created and released before the 1958 inception of NARAS and the Grammy Awards.

One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation

The United States Junior Chamber of Commerce (the Jaycees) named Elvis Presley One of the Ten Outstanding Young Men of the Nation for 1970 in a ceremony on January 16, 1971, one of Elvis' proudest moments. This award has been given since 1938 and has honored men of achievement in all areas of endeavor - sports, government, science, medicine, entertainment, etc. It recognizes outstanding personal achievement and the exemplification of the opportunities available in the free enterprise system, along with patriotism, humanitarianism, and community service. (In the 1980s, eligibility was opened to women as well as men, and the award has since been presented to the year's Ten Outstanding Young Americans.)

Charitable Endeavors

Elvis Presley was famous for giving away Cadillacs, cash, and jewelry, often on the spur of the moment. But, the true depth and breadth of his generosity and community involvement is not so widely known.

In 1961, Elvis gave a benefit concert at Bloch Arena in Hawaii that raised over $65,000 toward the building of the U.S.S. Arizona Memorial at Pearl Harbor. The resulting publicity gave new life to the fund-raising effort, which had, by then, lost its momentum. The memorial opened a year later.

Audience tickets for his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii television special and its pre-broadcast rehearsal show carried no price, as each audience member was asked to pay whatever he or she could. The performances and concert merchandise sales were a benefit raising $75,000 for the Kui Lee Cancer Fund in Hawaii.

Each year, for many years, Elvis gave $1,000 or more to each of fifty Memphis-area charities, but also continually made many other charitable donations in Memphis and around the country. Most of Elvis' philanthropic endeavors received no publicity at all. Throughout his adult life, for friends, for family, and for total strangers, he quietly paid hospital bills, bought homes, supported families, paid off debts, and much more.

Elvis' legacy of generosity continues through the work of the Elvis Presley Charitable Foundation, which is the philanthropic branch of Elvis Presley Enterprises, Inc. and the creator of the Elvis Presley Endowed Scholarship Fund at the University of Memphis. The tradition of giving also continues through the work of the Elvis fan clubs worldwide, most of which are heavily involved in charitable endeavors in Elvis' memory.

The Elvis Presley Stamp

In 1992, the U.S. Postal Service announced that Elvis' image would be used for a commemorative postage stamp. The Postal Service narrowed the artwork choices down to two images - one of Elvis in the 1950s as a sizzling young rocker, and one of him as a still-svelte concert superstar in his 1973 Aloha from Hawaii special. In an unprecedented move, the USPS put the decision to the American people and distributed ballots coast to coast. Over 1.2 million votes were cast, and the image of the young rocker won. The stamp was released on January 8, 1993, with extravagant first day of issue ceremonies at Graceland. The Elvis stamp is the most widely publicized stamp issue in the history of the U.S. Postal Service, and it is the top-selling commemorative postage stamp of all time. The USPS printed 500 million of them, three times the usual print run for a commemorative stamp. Several countries outside the USA also have issued Elvis stamps over the years.

Special Posthumous Honors

The 1984 W.C. Handy Award from the Blues Foundation in Memphis recognized Elvis for 'keeping the blues alive in his music - rock and roll'. The Academy of Country Music's first Golden Hat Award presented in 1984 recognized Elvis' influence on country music. In 1986, Elvis was among the first group of inductees into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. In 1987, Elvis was honored with the first posthumous presentation of the Award of Merit by the American Music Awards, 1987. In 1998, Elvis received the Country Music Association's highest honor, induction into the Country Music Hall of Fame. In 2001, Elvis was inducted into the Gospel Music Association's Gospel Music Hall of Fame. With that honor, Elvis is the only person, so far, to become a member of all three of these halls of fame - Rock and Roll, Country and Gospel.

Generations of Fans

Currently, there are over 625 active Elvis Presley fan clubs worldwide. Elvis' popularity is at an all-time high, and his legacy continues to reach new audiences. Half of Graceland's visitorship is age 35 and under.

A New Concert Career

On August 16, 1997, Elvis Presley, via video, starred in an extravagant concert production titled Elvis in Concert '97 at the Mid-South Coliseum in Memphis, Tennessee, accompanied live on stage by over thirty of his former bandmates and the Memphis Symphony Orchestra. The show played before a capacity crowd of fans who had come to Memphis from around the world to commemorate the twentieth anniversary of Elvis' death. Elvis broke the Mid-South Coliseum's all-time record dollar figure for box office sales. This concert was the prototype for the 1998/99 touring production Elvis Presley In Concert (On DVD as Elvis Lives). By being the first performer ever to headline a live concert tour while no longer living, Elvis made history again. The March 1998 tour included a three-show smash engagement at Radio City Music Hall in New York. The August 1998 tour included the excitement of Elvis' 'return' to the Las Vegas Hilton with an eight-show engagement. The January/ February 1999 European tour opened with a sell-out at London's Wembley Arena and, in effect, marked Elvis Presley's first-ever concerts outside of North America. The show continues to tour periodically.

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley: A Musical Prodigy

Elvis was a genius. He didn't express himself the way the middle classes do, which is with wordplay and being able to explain his actions and reactions. He acted on gut instinct and expressed himself by the way he held the microphone, by the way he moved his hips, by the way that he sang down the microphone. That was his genius ... I believe the essence of any performer is gut instinct ... Because it's all in you, it's instinct.

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis' musical style, as a musician and impact as a vocalist and stage performer

'Elvis Presley has been described variously as a baritone and a tenor. An extraordinary compass- the so-called register-, and a very wide range of vocal color have something to do with this divergence of opinion. The voice covers two octaves and a third, from the baritone low-G to the tenor high B, with an upward extension in falsetto to at least a D flat. Presley's best octave is in the middle, D-flat to D-flat, granting an extra full step up or down. Call him a high baritone. In 'It's Now Or Never', (1960), he ends it in a full voice cadence (A, G, F), that has nothing to do with the vocal devices of R&B and Country. That A-note is hit right on the nose, and it is rendered less astonishing only by the number of tracks where he lands easy and accurate B-flats. Moreover, he has not been confined to one type of vocal production. In ballads and country songs he belts out full-voiced high G's and A's that an opera baritone might envy. He is a naturally assimilative stylist with a multiplicity of voices - in fact, Elvis' is an extraordinary voice or many voices.

Articles about Elvis Presley The Fifty Voices of Elvis Presley

So different are Elvis' voices, that if one could find a person who has never heard his recordings and you put him or her on an island and then had them listen to these fifty songs, mixed with say, those of 12 other distinctive singers, and then you then ask him or her, to classify them, to separate the singers, I could bet a million dollars that the person will never say that there are 13 singers, as would be the case, but at least 25.

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley and Racism: The Ultimate, Definitive Guide

Articles about Elvis Presley Elvis Presley Family History

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Tupelos Own Elvis Presley DVD, Never before have we seen an Elvis concert from the 50s with sound

Buy the DVD now.

Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD

Elvis Presley Video Tupelo's Own Elvis Presley DVD

Never before have we seen an Elvis Presley concert from the 1950's with sound. Until Now! The DVD Contains recently discovered unreleased film of Elvis performing 6 songs, including Heartbreak Hotel and Don't Be Cruel, live in Tupelo Mississippi 1956. Included we see a live performance of the elusive Long Tall Sally seen here for the first time ever. + Plus Bonus DVD Audio.

This is an excellent release no fan should be without it.

The 'parade' footage is good to see as it puts you in the right context with color and b&w footage. The interviews of Elvis' Parents are well worth hearing too. The afternoon show footage is wonderful and electrifying : Here is Elvis in his prime rocking and rolling in front of 11.000 people. Highly recommended. 

Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm, or otherwise expressive content.[1][2][3] Definitions of music vary depending on culture,[4] though it is an aspect of all human societies and a cultural universal.[5] While scholars agree that music is defined by a few specific elements, there is no consensus on their precise definitions.[6] The creation of music is commonly divided into musical composition, musical improvisation, and musical performance,[7] though the topic itself extends into academic disciplines, criticism, philosophy, and psychology. Music may be performed or improvised using a vast range of instruments, including the human voice.

In some musical contexts, a performance or composition may be to some extent improvised. For instance, in Hindustani classical music, the performer plays spontaneously while following a partially defined structure and using characteristic motifs. In modal jazz, the performers may take turns leading and responding while sharing a changing set of notes. In a free jazz context, there may be no structure whatsoever, with each performer acting at their discretion. Music may be deliberately composed to be unperformable or agglomerated electronically from many performances. Music is played in public and private areas, highlighted at events such as festivals, rock concerts, and orchestra performances, and heard incidentally as part of a score or soundtrack to a film, TV show, opera, or video game. Musical playback is the primary function of an MP3 player or CD player and a universal feature of radios and smartphones.

Music often plays a key role in social activities, religious rituals, rite of passage ceremonies, celebrations, and cultural activities. The music industry includes songwriters, performers, sound engineers, producers, tour organizers, distributors of instruments, accessories, and sheet music. Compositions, performances, and recordings are assessed and evaluated by music critics, music journalists, and music scholars, as well as amateurs.

Etymology and terminology

In Greek mythology, the nine Muses were the inspiration for many creative endeavors, including the arts, and eventually became closely aligned with music specifically.

The modern English word 'music' came into use in the 1630s.[8] It is derived from a long line of successive precursors: the Old English 'musike' of the mid-13th century; the Old French musique of the 12th century; and the Latin mūsica.[9][10][n 1] The Latin word itself derives from the Ancient Greek mousiké (technē)—μουσική (τέχνη)—literally meaning "(art) of the Muses".[9][n 2] The Muses were nine deities in Ancient Greek mythology who presided over the arts and sciences.[13][14] They were included in tales by the earliest Western authors, Homer and Hesiod,[15] and eventually came to be associated with music specifically.[14] Over time, Polyhymnia would reside over music more prominently than the other muses.[11] The Latin word musica was also the originator for both the Spanish música and French musique via spelling and linguistic adjustment, though other European terms were probably loanwords, including the Italian musica, German Musik, Dutch muziek, Norwegian musikk, Polish muzyka and Russian muzïka.[14]

The modern Western world usually defines music as an all-encompassing term used to describe diverse genres, styles, and traditions.[16] This is not the case worldwide, and languages such as modern Indonesian (musik) and Shona (musakazo) have recently adopted words to reflect this universal conception, as they did not have words that fit exactly the Western scope.[14] Before Western contact in East Asia, neither Japan nor China have a single word that encompasses music in a broad sense, but culturally, they often regard music in such a fashion.[17] The closest word to mean music in Chinese, yue, shares a character with le, meaning joy, and originally referred to all the arts before narrowing in meaning.[17] Africa is too diverse to make firm generalizations, but the musicologist J. H. Kwabena Nketia has emphasized African music's often inseparable connection to dance and speech in general.[18] Some African cultures, such as the Songye people of the Democratic Republic of the Congo and the Tiv people of Nigeria, have a strong and broad conception of 'music' but no corresponding word in their native languages.[18] Other words commonly translated as 'music' often have more specific meanings in their respective cultures: the Hindi word for music, sangita, properly refers to art music,[19] while the many Indigenous languages of the Americas have words for music that refer specifically to song but describe instrumental music regardless.[20] Though the Arabic musiqi can refer to all music, it is usually used for instrumental and metric music, while khandan identifies vocal and improvised music.[21]

History

Main article: History of music

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Origins and prehistory

Further information: Origins of music and Prehistoric music

Bone flute from Geissenklösterle, Germany, dated around c. 43,150–39,370 BP.[22]

It is often debated as to what extent the origins of music will ever be understood,[23] and there are many competing theories that aim to explain it.[24] Many scholars highlight a relationship between the origin of music and the origin of language, and there is disagreement surrounding whether music developed before, after, or simultaneously with language.[25] A similar source of contention surrounds whether music was the intentional result of natural selection or was a byproduct spandrel of evolution.[25] The earliest influential theory was proposed by Charles Darwin in 1871, who stated that music arose as a form of sexual selection, perhaps via mating calls.[26] Darwin's original perspective has been heavily criticized for its inconsistencies with other sexual selection methods,[27] though many scholars in the 21st century have developed and promoted the theory.[28] Other theories include that music arose to assist in organizing labor, improving long-distance communication, benefiting communication with the divine, assisting in community cohesion or as a defense to scare off predators.[29]

Prehistoric music can only be theorized based on findings from paleolithic archaeology sites. The Divje Babe flute, carved from a cave bear femur, is thought to be at least 40,000 years old, though there is considerable debate surrounding whether it is truly a musical instrument or an object formed by animals.[30] The earliest objects whose designations as musical instruments are widely accepted are bone flutes from the Swabian Jura, Germany, namely from the Geissenklösterle, Hohle Fels and Vogelherd caves.[31] Dated to the Aurignacian (of the Upper Paleolithic) and used by Early European modern humans, from all three caves there are eight examples, four made from the wing bones of birds and four from mammoth ivory; three of these are near complete.[31] Three flutes from the Geissenklösterle are dated as the oldest, c. 43,150–39,370 BP.[22][n 3]

Antiquity

Main article: Ancient music

Musicians of Amun, Tomb of Nakht, 18th Dynasty, Western Thebes

The earliest material and representational evidence of Egyptian musical instruments dates to the Predynastic period, but the evidence is more securely attested in the Old Kingdom when harps, flutes and double clarinets were played.[32] Percussion instruments, lyres, and lutes were added to orchestras by the Middle Kingdom. Cymbals[33] frequently accompanied music and dance, much as they still do in Egypt today. Egyptian folk music, including the traditional Sufi dhikr rituals, are the closest contemporary music genre to ancient Egyptian music, having preserved many of its features, rhythms and instruments.[34][35]

The "Hurrian Hymn to Nikkal", found on clay tablets that date back to approximately 1400 BCE, is the oldest surviving notated work of music.[36][37]

Music was an important part of social and cultural life in ancient Greece, in fact it was one of the main subjects taught to children. Musical education was considered to be important for the development of an individual's soul. Musicians and singers played a prominent role in Greek theater,[38] and those who received a musical education were seen as nobles and in perfect harmony (as can be read in the Republic, Plato). Mixed gender choruses performed for entertainment, celebration, and spiritual ceremonies.[39] Instruments included the double-reed aulos and a plucked string instrument, the lyre, principally a special kind called a kithara. Music was an important part of education, and boys were taught music starting at age six. Greek musical literacy created significant musical development. Greek music theory included the Greek musical modes, that eventually became the basis for Western religious and classical music. Later, influences from the Roman Empire, Eastern Europe, and the Byzantine Empire changed Greek music. The Seikilos epitaph is the oldest surviving example of a complete musical composition, including musical notation, from anywhere in the world.[40] The oldest surviving work written on the subject of music theory is Harmonika Stoicheia by Aristoxenus.[41]

Asian cultures

Main article: Music of Asia

Indian women dressed in regional attire playing a variety of musical instruments popular in different parts of India

Asian music covers a vast swath of music cultures surveyed in the articles on Arabia, Central Asia, East Asia, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Several have traditions reaching into antiquity.

Indian classical music is one of the oldest musical traditions in the world.[42] Sculptures from the Indus Valley civilization show dance[43] and old musical instruments, like the seven holed flute. Various types of stringed instruments and drums have been recovered from Harappa and Mohenjo Daro by excavations carried out by Sir Mortimer Wheeler.[44] The Rigveda, an ancient Hindu text, has elements of present Indian music, with musical notation to denote the meter and the mode of chanting.[45] Indian classical music (marga) is monophonic, and based on a single melody line or raga rhythmically organized through talas. Silappadhikaram by Ilango Adigal provides information about how new scales can be formed by modal shifting of the tonic from an existing scale.[46] Present day Hindi music was influenced by Persian traditional music and Afghan Mughals. Carnatic music, popular in the southern states, is largely devotional; the majority of the songs are addressed to the Hindu deities. There are also many songs emphasizing love and other social issues.

Indonesia is the home of gong chime, there are many variants across Indonesia, especially in Java and Bali.

Indonesian music has been formed since the Bronze Age culture migrated to the Indonesian archipelago in the 2nd to 3rd centuries BCE. Indonesian traditional music often uses percussion instruments, especially kendang and gongs. Some of them developed elaborate and distinctive musical instruments, such as the sasando stringed instrument on the island of Rote, the Sundanese angklung, and the complex and sophisticated Javanese and Balinese gamelan orchestras. Indonesia is the home of gong chime, a general term for a set of small, high pitched pot gongs. Gongs are usually placed in order of note, with the boss up on a string held in a low wooden frame. The most popular and famous form of Indonesian music is probably gamelan, an ensemble of tuned percussion instruments that include metallophones, drums, gongs and spike fiddles along with bamboo suling.

Chinese classical music, the traditional art or court music of China, has a history stretching over around three thousand years. It has its own unique systems of musical notation, as well as musical tuning and pitch, musical instruments and styles or musical genres. Chinese music is pentatonic-diatonic, having a scale of twelve notes to an octave (5 + 7 = 12) as does European-influenced music.

Western classical

Main article: Western Classical Music

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Early music

Breves dies hominis

3:32

by Léonin or Pérotin

Musical notation from a Catholic Missal, c. 1310–1320

The medieval music era (476 to 1400), which took place during the Middle Ages, started with the introduction of monophonic (single melodic line) chanting into Roman Catholic Church services. Musical notation was used since Ancient times in Greek culture, but in the Middle Ages, notation was first introduced by the Catholic church so that the chant melodies could be written down, to facilitate the use of the same melodies for religious music across the entire Catholic empire. The only European Medieval repertory that has been found in written form from before 800 is the monophonic liturgical plainsong chant of the Roman Catholic Church, the central tradition of which was called Gregorian chant. Alongside these traditions of sacred and church music there existed a vibrant tradition of secular song (non-religious songs). Examples of composers from this period are Léonin, Pérotin, Guillaume de Machaut, and Walther von der Vogelweide.

Renaissance music (c. 1400 to 1600) was more focused on secular (non-religious) themes, such as courtly love. Around 1450, the printing press was invented, which made printed sheet music much less expensive and easier to mass-produce (prior to the invention of the printing press, all notated music was hand-copied). The increased availability of sheet music helped to spread musical styles more quickly and across a larger area. Musicians and singers often worked for the church, courts and towns. Church choirs grew in size, and the church remained an important patron of music. By the middle of the 15th century, composers wrote richly polyphonic sacred music, in which different melody lines were interwoven simultaneously. Prominent composers from this era include Guillaume Dufay, Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina, Thomas Morley, and Orlande de Lassus. As musical activity shifted from the church to the aristocratic courts, kings, queens and princes competed for the finest composers. Many leading important composers came from the Netherlands, Belgium, and northern France. They are called the Franco-Flemish composers. They held important positions throughout Europe, especially in Italy. Other countries with vibrant musical activity included Germany, England, and Spain.

Common practice period

Baroque

Main article: Baroque music

Toccata and Fugue in D minor, BWV 565

8:34

Toccata and Fugue by J.S. Bach

The Baroque era of music took place from 1600 to 1750, as the Baroque artistic style flourished across Europe; and during this time, music expanded in its range and complexity. Baroque music began when the first operas (dramatic solo vocal music accompanied by orchestra) were written. During the Baroque era, polyphonic contrapuntal music, in which multiple, simultaneous independent melody lines were used, remained important (counterpoint was important in the vocal music of the Medieval era). German Baroque composers wrote for small ensembles including strings, brass, and woodwinds, as well as for choirs and keyboard instruments such as pipe organ, harpsichord, and clavichord. During this period several major music forms were defined that lasted into later periods when they were expanded and evolved further, including the fugue, the invention, the sonata, and the concerto.[47] The late Baroque style was polyphonically complex and richly ornamented. Important composers from the Baroque era include Johann Sebastian Bach (Cello suites), George Frideric Handel (Messiah), Georg Philipp Telemann and Antonio Lucio Vivaldi (The Four Seasons).

Classicism

Main article: Classical period (music)

Symphony No. 40 G minor

8:14

Symphony 40 G minor by W.A. Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical period.

The music of the Classical period (1730 to 1820) aimed to imitate what were seen as the key elements of the art and philosophy of Ancient Greece and Rome: the ideals of balance, proportion and disciplined expression. (Note: the music from the Classical period should not be confused with Classical music in general, a term which refers to Western art music from the 5th century to the 2000s, which includes the Classical period as one of a number of periods). Music from the Classical period has a lighter, clearer and considerably simpler texture than the Baroque music which preceded it. The main style was homophony,[48] where a prominent melody and a subordinate chordal accompaniment part are clearly distinct. Classical instrumental melodies tended to be almost voicelike and singable. New genres were developed, and the fortepiano, the forerunner to the modern piano, replaced the Baroque era harpsichord and pipe organ as the main keyboard instrument (though pipe organ continued to be used in sacred music, such as Masses).

Importance was given to instrumental music. It was dominated by further development of musical forms initially defined in the Baroque period: the sonata, the concerto, and the symphony. Other main kinds were the trio, string quartet, serenade and divertimento. The sonata was the most important and developed form. Although Baroque composers also wrote sonatas, the Classical style of sonata is completely distinct. All of the main instrumental forms of the Classical era, from string quartets to symphonies and concertos, were based on the structure of the sonata. The instruments used chamber music and orchestra became more standardized. In place of the basso continuo group of the Baroque era, which consisted of harpsichord, organ or lute along with a number of bass instruments selected at the discretion of the group leader (e.g., viol, cello, theorbo, serpent), Classical chamber groups used specified, standardized instruments (e.g., a string quartet would be performed by two violins, a viola and a cello). The Baroque era improvised chord-playing of the continuo keyboardist or lute player was gradually phased out between 1750 and 1800.

One of the most important changes made in the Classical period was the development of public concerts. The aristocracy still played a significant role in the sponsorship of concerts and compositions, but it was now possible for composers to survive without being permanent employees of queens or princes. The increasing popularity of classical music led to a growth in the number and types of orchestras. The expansion of orchestral concerts necessitated the building of large public performance spaces. Symphonic music including symphonies, musical accompaniment to ballet and mixed vocal/instrumental genres such as opera and oratorio became more popular.

The best known composers of Classicism are Carl Philipp Emanuel Bach, Christoph Willibald Gluck, Johann Christian Bach, Joseph Haydn, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert. Beethoven and Schubert are also considered to be composers in the later part of the Classical era, as it began to move towards Romanticism.

Romanticism

Main article: Romantic music

Die Walküre

27:57

Die Walküre by Richard Wagner

The piano was the centrepiece of social activity for middle-class urbanites in the 19th century (Moritz von Schwind, 1868). The man at the piano is composer Franz Schubert.

Romantic music (c. 1810 to 1900) from the 19th century had many elements in common with the Romantic styles in literature and painting of the era. Romanticism was an artistic, literary, and intellectual movement was characterized by its emphasis on emotion and individualism as well as glorification of all the past and nature. Romantic music expanded beyond the rigid styles and forms of the Classical era into more passionate, dramatic expressive pieces and songs. Romantic composers such as Wagner and Brahms attempted to increase emotional expression and power in their music to describe deeper truths or human feelings. With symphonic tone poems, composers tried to tell stories and evoke images or landscapes using instrumental music. Some composers promoted nationalistic pride with patriotic orchestral music inspired by folk music. The emotional and expressive qualities of music came to take precedence over tradition.

Romantic composers grew in idiosyncrasy, and went further in the syncretism of exploring different art-forms in a musical context, (such as literature), history (historical figures and legends), or nature itself. Romantic love or longing was a prevalent theme in many works composed during this period. In some cases, the formal structures from the classical period continued to be used (e.g., the sonata form used in string quartets and symphonies), but these forms were expanded and altered. In many cases, new approaches were explored for existing genres, forms, and functions. Also, new forms were created that were deemed better suited to the new subject matter. Composers continued to develop opera and ballet music, exploring new styles and themes.[38]

In the years after 1800, the music developed by Ludwig van Beethoven and Franz Schubert introduced a more dramatic, expressive style. In Beethoven's case, short motifs, developed organically, came to replace melody as the most significant compositional unit (an example is the distinctive four note figure used in his Fifth Symphony). Later Romantic composers such as Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, Antonín Dvořák, and Gustav Mahler used more unusual chords and more dissonance to create dramatic tension. They generated complex and often much longer musical works. During the late Romantic period, composers explored dramatic chromatic alterations of tonality, such as extended chords and altered chords, which created new sound "colors." The late 19th century saw a dramatic expansion in the size of the orchestra, and the industrial revolution helped to create better instruments, creating a more powerful sound. Public concerts became an important part of well-to-do urban society. It also saw a new diversity in theatre music, including operetta, and musical comedy and other forms of musical theatre.[38]

20th and 21st century

Main article: 20th-century music

Landman's 2006 Moodswinger, a 3rd-bridged overtone zither and an example of experimental musical instruments

In the 19th century, one of the key ways that new compositions became known to the public was by the sales of sheet music, which middle class amateur music lovers would perform at home on their piano or other common instruments, such as violin. With 20th-century music, the invention of new electric technologies such as radio broadcasting and the mass market availability of gramophone records meant that sound recordings of songs and pieces heard by listeners (either on the radio or on their record player) became the main way to learn about new songs and pieces. There was a vast increase in music listening as the radio gained popularity and phonographs were used to replay and distribute music, anyone with a radio or record player could hear operas, symphonies and big bands right in their own living room, while during the 19th century, the focus on sheet music restricted access to new music to the middle class and upper-class people who could read music and who owned pianos and instruments. This allowed lower-income people, who could not afford an opera or symphony concert ticket to hear this music. It also meant that people could hear music from different parts of the country, or even different parts of the world, even if they could not afford to travel to these locations. This helped to spread musical styles.

Luciano Pavarotti

The focus of art music in the 20th century was characterized by exploration of new rhythms, styles, and sounds. The horrors of World War I influenced many of the arts, including music, and some composers began exploring darker, harsher sounds. Traditional music styles such as jazz and folk music were used by composers as a source of ideas for classical music. Igor Stravinsky, Arnold Schoenberg, and John Cage were all influential composers in 20th-century art music. The invention of sound recording and the ability to edit music gave rise to new subgenre of classical music, including the acousmatic[49] and Musique concrète schools of electronic composition. Sound recording was also a major influence on the development of popular music genres, because it enabled recordings of songs and bands to be widely distributed. The introduction of the multitrack recording system had a major influence on rock music, because it could do much more than record a band's performance. Using a multitrack system, a band and their music producer could overdub many layers of instrument tracks and vocals, creating new sounds that would not be possible in a live performance.

Jazz evolved and became an important genre of music over the course of the 20th century, and during the second half of that century, rock music did the same. Jazz is an American musical artform that originated in the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States from a confluence of African and European music traditions. The style's West African pedigree is evident in its use of blue notes, improvisation, polyrhythms, syncopation, and the swung note.[50]

Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed in the 1950s from 1960s rock and roll, rockabilly, blues, and country music.[51] The sound of rock often revolves around the electric guitar or acoustic guitar, and it uses a strong back beat laid down by a rhythm section. Along with the guitar or keyboards, saxophone and blues-style harmonica are used as soloing instruments. In its "purest form", it "has three chords, a strong, insistent back beat, and a catchy melody."[This quote needs a citation] The traditional rhythm section for popular music is rhythm guitar, electric bass guitar, drums. Some bands also have keyboard instruments such as organ, piano, or, since the 1970s, analog synthesizers. In the 1980s, pop musicians began using digital synthesizers, such as the DX-7 synthesizer, electronic drum machines such as the TR-808 and synth bass devices (such as the TB-303) or synth bass keyboards. In the 1990s, an increasingly large range of computerized hardware musical devices and instruments and software (e.g. digital audio workstations) were used. In the 2020s, soft synths and computer music apps make it possible for bedroom producers to create and record some types of music, such as electronic dance music, in their own home, adding sampled and digital instruments and editing the recording digitally. In the 1990s, some bands in genres such as nu metal began including DJs in their bands. DJs create music by manipulating recorded music on record players or CD players, using a DJ mixer.

Innovation in music technology continued into the 21st century, including the development of isomorphic keyboards and Dynamic Tonality.

Creation

Composition

Main article: Musical composition

French Baroque music composer Michel Richard Delalande (1657–1726), pen in hand

People composing music in 2013 using electronic keyboards and computers

"Composition" is the act or practice of creating a song, an instrumental music piece, a work with both singing and instruments, or another type of music. In many cultures, including Western classical music, the act of composing also includes the creation of music notation, such as a sheet music "score", which is then performed by the composer or by other singers or musicians. In popular music and traditional music, the act of composing, which is typically called songwriting, may involve the creation of a basic outline of the song, called the lead sheet, which sets out the melody, lyrics and chord progression. In classical music, the composer typically orchestrates his or her own compositions, but in musical theatre and in pop music, songwriters may hire an arranger to do the orchestration. In some cases, a songwriter may not use notation at all, and instead, compose the song in her mind and then play or record it from memory. In jazz and popular music, notable recordings by influential performers are given the weight that written scores play in classical music.

Even when music is notated relatively precisely, as in classical music, there are many decisions that a performer has to make, because notation does not specify all of the elements of music precisely. The process of deciding how to perform music that has been previously composed and notated is termed "interpretation". Different performers' interpretations of the same work of music can vary widely, in terms of the tempos that are chosen and the playing or singing style or phrasing of the melodies. Composers and songwriters who present their own music are interpreting their songs, just as much as those who perform the music of others. The standard body of choices and techniques present at a given time and a given place is referred to as performance practice, whereas interpretation is generally used to mean the individual choices of a performer.[citation needed]

Although a musical composition often uses musical notation and has a single author, this is not always the case. A work of music can have multiple composers, which often occurs in popular music when a band collaborates to write a song, or in musical theatre, when one person writes the melodies, a second person writes the lyrics, and a third person orchestrates the songs. In some styles of music, such as the blues, a composer/songwriter may create, perform and record new songs or pieces without ever writing them down in music notation. A piece of music can also be composed with words, images, or computer programs that explain or notate how the singer or musician should create musical sounds. Examples range from avant-garde music that uses graphic notation, to text compositions such as Aus den sieben Tagen, to computer programs that select sounds for musical pieces. Music that makes heavy use of randomness and chance is called aleatoric music, and is associated with contemporary composers active in the 20th century, such as John Cage, Morton Feldman, and Witold Lutosławski. A more commonly known example of chance-based music is the sound of wind chimes jingling in a breeze.

The study of composition has traditionally been dominated by examination of methods and practice of Western classical music, but the definition of composition is broad enough to include the creation of popular music and traditional music songs and instrumental pieces as well as spontaneously improvised works like those of free jazz performers and African percussionists such as Ewe drummers.

Performance

Main article: Performance

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Chinese Naxi musicians

Assyrians playing zurna and Davul, instruments that go back thousands of years

Performance is the physical expression of music, which occurs when a song is sung or when a piano piece, electric guitar melody, symphony, drum beat or other musical part is played by musicians. In classical music, a musical work is written in music notation by a composer and then it is performed once the composer is satisfied with its structure and instrumentation. However, as it gets performed, the interpretation of a song or piece can evolve and change. In classical music, instrumental performers, singers or conductors may gradually make changes to the phrasing or tempo of a piece. In popular and traditional music, the performers have a lot more freedom to make changes to the form of a song or piece. As such, in popular and traditional music styles, even when a band plays a cover song, they can make changes to it such as adding a guitar solo to or inserting an introduction.

A performance can either be planned out and rehearsed (practiced)—which is the norm in classical music, jazz big bands, and many popular music styles–or improvised over a chord progression (a sequence of chords), which is the norm in small jazz and blues groups. Rehearsals of orchestras, concert bands and choirs are led by a conductor. Rock, blues and jazz bands are usually led by the bandleader. A rehearsal is a structured repetition of a song or piece by the performers until it can be sung or played correctly and, if it is a song or piece for more than one musician, until the parts are together from a rhythmic and tuning perspective. Improvisation is the creation of a musical idea–a melody or other musical line–created on the spot, often based on scales or pre-existing melodic riffs.

Many cultures have strong traditions of solo performance (in which one singer or instrumentalist performs), such as in Indian classical music, and in the Western art-music tradition. Other cultures, such as in Bali, include strong traditions of group performance. All cultures include a mixture of both, and performance may range from improvised solo playing to highly planned and organized performances such as the modern classical concert, religious processions, classical music festivals or music competitions. Chamber music, which is music for a small ensemble with only one or a few of each type of instrument, is often seen as more intimate than large symphonic works.

Improvisation

Main article: Musical improvisation

Musical improvisation is the creation of spontaneous music, often within (or based on) a pre-existing harmonic framework or chord progression. Improvisers use the notes of the chord, various scales that are associated with each chord, and chromatic ornaments and passing tones which may be neither chord tones nor from the typical scales associated with a chord. Musical improvisation can be done with or without preparation. Improvisation is a major part of some types of music, such as blues, jazz, and jazz fusion, in which instrumental performers improvise solos, melody lines, and accompaniment parts.

In the Western art music tradition, improvisation was an important skill during the Baroque era and during the Classical era. In the Baroque era, performers improvised ornaments, and basso continuo keyboard players improvised chord voicings based on figured bass notation. As well, the top soloists were expected to be able to improvise pieces such as preludes. In the Classical era, solo performers and singers improvised virtuoso cadenzas during concerts.

However, in the 20th and early 21st century, as "common practice" Western art music performance became institutionalized in symphony orchestras, opera houses, and ballets, improvisation has played a smaller role, as more and more music was notated in scores and parts for musicians to play. At the same time, some 20th and 21st century art music composers have increasingly included improvisation in their creative work. In Indian classical music, improvisation is a core component and an essential criterion of performances.

Art and entertainment

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Khatia Buniatishvili playing a grand piano

Music is composed and performed for many purposes, ranging from aesthetic pleasure, religious or ceremonial purposes, or as an entertainment product for the marketplace. When music was only available through sheet music scores, such as during the Classical and Romantic eras, music lovers would buy the sheet music of their favourite pieces and songs so that they could perform them at home on the piano. With the advent of the phonograph, records of popular songs, rather than sheet music became the dominant way that music lovers would enjoy their favourite songs. With the advent of home tape recorders in the 1980s and digital music in the 1990s, music lovers could make tapes or playlists of their favourite songs and take them with them on a portable cassette player or MP3 player. Some music lovers create mix tapes of their favourite songs, which serve as a "self-portrait, a gesture of friendship, prescription for an ideal party... [and] an environment consisting solely of what is most ardently loved".[52]

Amateur musicians can compose or perform music for their own pleasure and derive their income elsewhere. Professional musicians are employed by a range of institutions and organisations, including armed forces (in marching bands, concert bands and popular music groups), religious institutions, symphony orchestras, broadcasting or film production companies, and music schools. Professional musicians sometimes work as freelancers or session musicians, seeking contracts and engagements in a variety of settings. There are often many links between amateur and professional musicians. Beginning amateur musicians take lessons with professional musicians. In community settings, advanced amateur musicians perform with professional musicians in a variety of ensembles such as community concert bands and community orchestras.

A distinction is often made between music performed for a live audience and music that is performed in a studio so that it can be recorded and distributed through the music retail system or the broadcasting system. However, there are also many cases where a live performance in front of an audience is also recorded and distributed. Live concert recordings are popular in both classical music and in popular music forms such as rock, where illegally taped live concerts are prized by music lovers. In the jam band scene, live, improvised jam sessions are preferred to studio recordings.

Notation

Main article: Musical notation

Sheet music is a written representation of music. Homorhythmic (i.e., hymn-style) arrangement of the traditional "Adeste Fideles" in standard two-staff format for mixed voices. playⓘ

In the 2000s, music notation typically means the written expression of music notes and rhythms on paper using symbols. When music is written down, the pitches and rhythm of the music, such as the notes of a melody, are notated. Music notation also often provides instructions on how to perform the music. For example, the sheet music for a song may state that the song is a "slow blues" or a "fast swing", which indicates the tempo and the genre. To read music notation, a person must have an understanding of music theory, harmony and the performance practice associated with a particular song or piece's genre.

Written notation varies with the style and period of music. In the 2000s, notated music is produced as sheet music or, for individuals with computer scorewriter programs, as an image on a computer screen. In ancient times, music notation was put onto stone or clay tablets. To perform music from notation, a singer or instrumentalist requires an understanding of the rhythmic and pitch elements embodied in the symbols and the performance practice that is associated with a piece of music or a genre. In genres requiring musical improvisation, the performer often plays from music where only the chord changes and form of the song are written, requiring the performer to have a great understanding of the music's structure, harmony and the styles of a particular genre (e.g., jazz or country music).

In Western art music, the most common types of written notation are scores, which include all the music parts of an ensemble piece, and parts, which are the music notation for the individual performers or singers. In popular music, jazz, and blues, the standard musical notation is the lead sheet, which notates the melody, chords, lyrics (if it is a vocal piece), and structure of the music. Fake books are also used in jazz; they may consist of lead sheets or simply chord charts, which permit rhythm section members to improvise an accompaniment part to jazz songs. Scores and parts are also used in popular music and jazz, particularly in large ensembles such as jazz "big bands." In popular music, guitarists and electric bass players often read music notated in tablature (often abbreviated as "tab"), which indicates the location of the notes to be played on the instrument using a diagram of the guitar or bass fingerboard. Tablature was also used in the Baroque era to notate music for the lute, a stringed, fretted instrument.

Oral and aural tradition

Many types of music, such as traditional blues and folk music were not written down in sheet music; instead, they were originally preserved in the memory of performers, and the songs were handed down orally, from one musician or singer to another, or aurally, in which a performer learns a song "by ear". When the composer of a song or piece is no longer known, this music is often classified as "traditional" or as a "folk song". Different musical traditions have different attitudes towards how and where to make changes to the original source material, from quite strict, to those that demand improvisation or modification to the music. A culture's history and stories may also be passed on by ear through song.

Elements

Main article: Elements of music

Music has many different fundamentals or elements. Depending on the definition of "element" being used, these can include pitch, beat or pulse, tempo, rhythm, melody, harmony, texture, style, allocation of voices, timbre or color, dynamics, expression, articulation, form, and structure. The elements of music feature prominently in the music curriculums of Australia, the UK, and the US. All three curriculums identify pitch, dynamics, timbre, and texture as elements, but the other identified elements of music are far from universally agreed upon. Below is a list of the three official versions of the "elements of music":

Australia: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics and expression, rhythm, form and structure.[53]

UK: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, duration, tempo, structure.[54]

USA: pitch, timbre, texture, dynamics, rhythm, form, harmony, style/articulation.[55]

In relation to the UK curriculum, in 2013 the term: "appropriate musical notations" was added to their list of elements and the title of the list was changed from the "elements of music" to the "inter-related dimensions of music". The inter-related dimensions of music are listed as: pitch, duration, dynamics, tempo, timbre, texture, structure, and appropriate musical notations.[56]

The phrase "the elements of music" is used in a number of different contexts. The two most common contexts can be differentiated by describing them as the "rudimentary elements of music" and the "perceptual elements of music".[n 4]

Pitch

Main article: Pitch (music)

Pitch is an aspect of a sound that we can hear, reflecting whether one musical sound, note, or tone is "higher" or "lower" than another musical sound, note, or tone. We can talk about the highness or lowness of pitch in the more general sense, such as the way a listener hears a piercingly high piccolo note or whistling tone as higher in pitch than a deep thump of a bass drum. We also talk about pitch in the precise sense associated with musical melodies, basslines and chords. Precise pitch can only be determined in sounds that have a frequency that is clear and stable enough to distinguish from noise. For example, it is much easier for listeners to discern the pitch of a single note played on a piano than to try to discern the pitch of a crash cymbal that is struck.

Melody

Main article: Melody

The melody to the traditional song "Pop Goes the Weasel" playⓘ

A melody (also called a "tune") is a series of pitches (notes) sounding in succession (one after the other), often in a rising and falling pattern. The notes of a melody are typically created using pitch systems such as scales or modes. Melodies also often contain notes from the chords used in the song. The melodies in simple folk songs and traditional songs may use only the notes of a single scale, the scale associated with the tonic note or key of a given song. For example, a folk song in the key of C (also referred to as C major) may have a melody that uses only the notes of the C major scale (the individual notes C, D, E, F, G, A, B, and C; these are the "white notes" on a piano keyboard. On the other hand, Bebop-era jazz from the 1940s and contemporary music from the 20th and 21st centuries may use melodies with many chromatic notes (i.e., notes in addition to the notes of the major scale; on a piano, a chromatic scale would include all the notes on the keyboard, including the "white notes" and "black notes" and unusual scales, such as the whole tone scale (a whole tone scale in the key of C would contain the notes C, D, E, F♯, G♯ and A♯). A low, deep musical line played by bass instruments such as double bass, electric bass, or tuba is called a bassline.

Harmony

Main article: Harmony

A player performing a chord (combination of many different notes) on a guitar

Harmony refers to the "vertical" sounds of pitches in music, which means pitches that are played or sung together at the same time to create a chord. Usually, this means the notes are played at the same time, although harmony may also be implied by a melody that outlines a harmonic structure (i.e., by using melody notes that are played one after the other, outlining the notes of a chord). In music written using the system of major-minor tonality ("keys"), which includes most classical music written from 1600 to 1900 and most Western pop, rock, and traditional music, the key of a piece determines the "home note" or tonic to which the piece generally resolves, and the character (e.g. major or minor) of the scale in use. Simple classical pieces and many pop and traditional music songs are written so that all the music is in a single key. More complex Classical, pop, and traditional music songs and pieces may have two keys (and in some cases three or more keys). Classical music from the Romantic era (written from about 1820–1900) often contains multiple keys, as does jazz, especially Bebop jazz from the 1940s, in which the key or "home note" of a song may change every four bars or even every two bars.

Rhythm

Main article: Rhythm

Rhythm is the arrangement of sounds and silences in time. Meter animates time in regular pulse groupings, called measures or bars, which in Western classical, popular, and traditional music often group notes in sets of two (e.g., 2/4 time), three (e.g., 3/4 time, also known as Waltz time, or 3/8 time), or four (e.g., 4/4 time). Meters are made easier to hear because songs and pieces often (but not always) place an emphasis on the first beat of each grouping. Notable exceptions exist, such as the backbeat used in much Western pop and rock, in which a song that uses a measure that consists of four beats (called 4/4 time or common time) will have accents on beats two and four, which are typically performed by the drummer on the snare drum, a loud and distinctive-sounding percussion instrument. In pop and rock, the rhythm parts of a song are played by the rhythm section, which includes chord-playing instruments (e.g., electric guitar, acoustic guitar, piano, or other keyboard instruments), a bass instrument (typically electric bass or for some styles such as jazz and bluegrass, double bass) and a drum kit player.

Texture

Main article: Texture (music)

Musical texture is the overall sound of a piece of music or song. The texture of a piece or song is determined by how the melodic, rhythmic, and harmonic materials are combined in a composition, thus determining the overall nature of the sound in a piece. Texture is often described in regard to the density, or thickness, and range, or width, between lowest and highest pitches, in relative terms as well as more specifically distinguished according to the number of voices, or parts, and the relationship between these voices (see common types below). For example, a thick texture contains many 'layers' of instruments. One of these layers could be a string section or another brass. The thickness also is affected by the amount and the richness of the instruments. Texture is commonly described according to the number of and relationship between parts or lines of music:

monophony: a single melody (or "tune") with neither instrumental accompaniment nor a harmony part. A mother singing a lullaby to her baby would be an example.

heterophony: two or more instruments or singers playing/singing the same melody, but with each performer slightly varying the rhythm or speed of the melody or adding different ornaments to the melody. Two bluegrass fiddlers playing the same traditional fiddle tune together will typically each vary the melody by some degree and each add different ornaments.

polyphony: multiple independent melody lines that interweave together, which are sung or played at the same time. Choral music written in the Renaissance music era was typically written in this style. A round, which is a song such as "Row, Row, Row Your Boat", which different groups of singers all start to sing at a different time, is an example of polyphony.

homophony: a clear melody supported by chordal accompaniment. Most Western popular music songs from the 19th century onward are written in this texture.

Music that contains a large number of independent parts (e.g., a double concerto accompanied by 100 orchestral instruments with many interweaving melodic lines) is generally said to have a "thicker" or "denser" texture than a work with few parts (e.g., a solo flute melody accompanied by a single cello).

Timbre

Main article: Timbre

Spectrogram of the first second of an E9 suspended chord played on a Fender Stratocaster guitar. Below is the E9 suspended chord audio: 

0:13

Timbre, sometimes called "color" or "tone color" is the quality or sound of a voice or instrument.[61] Timbre is what makes a particular musical sound different from another, even when they have the same pitch and loudness. For example, a 440 Hz A note sounds different when it is played on oboe, piano, violin, or electric guitar. Even if different players of the same instrument play the same note, their notes might sound different due to differences in instrumental technique (e.g., different embouchures), different types of accessories (e.g., mouthpieces for brass players, reeds for oboe and bassoon players) or strings made out of different materials for string players (e.g., gut strings versus steel strings). Even two instrumentalists playing the same note on the same instrument (one after the other) may sound different due to different ways of playing the instrument (e.g., two string players might hold the bow differently).

The physical characteristics of sound that determine the perception of timbre include the spectrum, envelope, and overtones of a note or musical sound. For electric instruments developed in the 20th century, such as electric guitar, electric bass and electric piano, the performer can also change the tone by adjusting equalizer controls, tone controls on the instrument, and by using electronic effects units such as distortion pedals. The tone of the electric Hammond organ is controlled by adjusting drawbars.

Expression

Expressive qualities are those elements in music that create change in music without changing the main pitches or substantially changing the rhythms of the melody and its accompaniment. Performers, including singers and instrumentalists, can add musical expression to a song or piece by adding phrasing, by adding effects such as vibrato (with voice and some instruments, such as guitar, violin, brass instruments, and woodwinds), dynamics (the loudness or softness of piece or a section of it), tempo fluctuations (e.g., ritardando or accelerando, which are, respectively slowing down and speeding up the tempo), by adding pauses or fermatas on a cadence, and by changing the articulation of the notes (e.g., making notes more pronounced or accented, by making notes more legato, which means smoothly connected, or by making notes shorter).

Expression is achieved through the manipulation of pitch (such as inflection, vibrato, slides etc.), volume (dynamics, accent, tremolo etc.), duration (tempo fluctuations, rhythmic changes, changing note duration such as with legato and staccato, etc.), timbre (e.g. changing vocal timbre from a light to a resonant voice) and sometimes even texture (e.g. doubling the bass note for a richer effect in a piano piece). Expression therefore can be seen as a manipulation of all elements to convey "an indication of mood, spirit, character etc."[62] and as such cannot be included as a unique perceptual element of music,[63] although it can be considered an important rudimentary element of music.

Form

See also: Strophic form, Binary form, Ternary form, Rondo form, Variation (music), and Musical development

Sheet music notation for the chorus (refrain) of the Christmas song "Jingle Bells" Jingle Bells refrain vector.midⓘ

In music, form describes the overall structure or plan of a song or piece of music,[64] and it describes the layout of a composition as divided into sections.[65] In the early 20th century, Tin Pan Alley songs and Broadway musical songs were often in AABA 32 bar form, in which the A sections repeated the same eight bar melody (with variation) and the B section provided a contrasting melody or harmony for eight bars. From the 1960s onward, Western pop and rock songs are often in verse-chorus form, which comprises a sequence of verse and chorus ("refrain") sections, with new lyrics for most verses and repeating lyrics for the choruses. Popular music often makes use of strophic form, sometimes in conjunction with the twelve bar blues.[citation needed]

In the tenth edition of The Oxford Companion to Music, Percy Scholes defines musical form as "a series of strategies designed to find a successful mean between the opposite extremes of unrelieved repetition and unrelieved alteration."[66] Examples of common forms of Western music include the fugue, the invention, sonata-allegro, canon, strophic, theme and variations, and rondo.

Scholes states that European classical music had only six stand-alone forms: simple binary, simple ternary, compound binary, rondo, air with variations, and fugue (although musicologist Alfred Mann emphasized that the fugue is primarily a method of composition that has sometimes taken on certain structural conventions.[67])

Where a piece cannot readily be broken down into sectional units (though it might borrow some form from a poem, story or programme), it is said to be through-composed. Such is often the case with a fantasia, prelude, rhapsody, etude (or study), symphonic poem, Bagatelle, impromptu, etc.[citation needed] Professor Charles Keil classified forms and formal detail as "sectional, developmental, or variational."[68]

Philosophy

Main article: Philosophy of music

The Woman in Red by Giovanni Boldini

The philosophy of music is the study of fundamental questions regarding music. The philosophical study of music has many connections with philosophical questions in metaphysics and aesthetics. Some basic questions in the philosophy of music are[according to whom?]:

What is the definition of music? (What are the necessary and sufficient conditions for classifying something as music?)

What is the relationship between music and mind?

What does music history reveal to us about the world?

What is the connection between music and emotions?

What is meaning in relation to music?

In ancient times, such as with the Ancient Greeks, the aesthetics of music explored the mathematical and cosmological dimensions of rhythmic and harmonic organization. In the 18th century, focus shifted to the experience of hearing music, and thus to questions about its beauty and human enjoyment (plaisir and jouissance) of music. The origin of this philosophic shift is sometimes attributed to Alexander Gottlieb Baumgarten in the 18th century, followed by Immanuel Kant. Through their writing, the ancient term 'aesthetics', meaning sensory perception, received its present-day connotation. In the 2000s, philosophers have tended to emphasize issues besides beauty and enjoyment. For example, music's capacity to express emotion has been a central issue.[citation needed]

In the 20th century, important contributions were made by Peter Kivy, Jerrold Levinson, Roger Scruton, and Stephen Davies. However, many musicians, music critics, and other non-philosophers have contributed to the aesthetics of music. In the 19th century, a significant debate arose between Eduard Hanslick, a music critic and musicologist, and composer Richard Wagner regarding whether music can express meaning. Harry Partch and some other musicologists, such as Kyle Gann, have studied and tried to popularize microtonal music and the usage of alternate musical scales. Also many modern composers like La Monte Young, Rhys Chatham and Glenn Branca paid much attention to a scale called just intonation.[citation needed]

It is often thought that music has the ability to affect our emotions, intellect, and psychology; it can assuage our loneliness or incite our passions. The philosopher Plato suggests in The Republic that music has a direct effect on the soul. Therefore, he proposes that in the ideal regime music would be closely regulated by the state (Book VII).[69] In Ancient China, the philosopher Confucius believed that music and rituals or rites are interconnected and harmonious with nature; he stated that music was the harmonization of heaven and earth, while the order was brought by the rites order, making them extremely crucial functions in society.[70]

Psychology

Main article: Music psychology

Modern music psychology aims to explain and understand musical behavior and experience.[71] Research in this field and its subfields are primarily empirical; their knowledge tends to advance on the basis of interpretations of data collected by systematic observation of and interaction with human participants. In addition to its focus on fundamental perceptions and cognitive processes, music psychology is a field of research with practical relevance for many areas, including music performance, composition, education, criticism, and therapy, as well as investigations of human aptitude, skill, intelligence, creativity, and social behavior.

Neuroscience

Main article: Neuroscience of music

The primary auditory cortex is one of the main areas associated with superior pitch resolution.

Cognitive neuroscience of music is the scientific study of brain-based mechanisms involved in the cognitive processes underlying music. These behaviours include music listening, performing, composing, reading, writing, and ancillary activities. It also is increasingly concerned with the brain basis for musical aesthetics and musical emotion. The field is distinguished by its reliance on direct observations of the brain, using such techniques as functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), magnetoencephalography (MEG), electroencephalography (EEG), and positron emission tomography (PET).

Cognitive musicology

Main article: Cognitive musicology

Cognitive musicology is a branch of cognitive science concerned with computationally modeling musical knowledge with the goal of understanding both music and cognition.[72] The use of computer models provides an exacting, interactive medium in which to formulate and test theories and has roots in artificial intelligence and cognitive science.[73]

This interdisciplinary field investigates topics such as the parallels between language and music in the brain. Biologically inspired models of computation are often included in research, such as neural networks and evolutionary programs.[74] This field seeks to model how musical knowledge is represented, stored, perceived, performed, and generated. By using a well-structured computer environment, the systematic structures of these cognitive phenomena can be investigated.[75]

Psychoacoustics

Main article: Psychoacoustics

Psychoacoustics is the scientific study of sound perception. More specifically, it is the branch of science studying the psychological and physiological responses associated with sound (including speech and music). It can be further categorized as a branch of psychophysics.

Evolutionary musicology

Main article: Evolutionary musicology

Evolutionary musicology concerns the "origins of music, the question of animal song, selection pressures underlying music evolution", and "music evolution and human evolution".[76] It seeks to understand music perception and activity in the context of evolutionary theory. Charles Darwin speculated that music may have held an adaptive advantage and functioned as a protolanguage,[77] a view which has spawned several competing theories of music evolution.[78][79][page needed][80] An alternate view sees music as a by-product of linguistic evolution; a type of "auditory cheesecake" that pleases the senses without providing any adaptive function.[81] This view has been directly countered by numerous music researchers.[82][83][84]

Cultural effects

Main article: Culture in music cognition

An individual's culture or ethnicity plays a role in their music cognition, including their preferences, emotional reaction, and musical memory. Musical preferences are biased toward culturally familiar musical traditions beginning in infancy, and adults' classification of the emotion of a musical piece depends on both culturally specific and universal structural features.[85][86] Additionally, individuals' musical memory abilities are greater for culturally familiar music than for culturally unfamiliar music.[87][88]

Perceptual

Since the emergence of the study of psychoacoustics in the 1930s, most lists of elements of music have related more to how we hear music than how we learn to play it or study it. C.E. Seashore, in his book Psychology of Music,[89] identified four "psychological attributes of sound". These were: "pitch, loudness, time, and timbre" (p. 3). He did not call them the "elements of music" but referred to them as "elemental components" (p. 2). Nonetheless, these elemental components link precisely with four of the most common musical elements: "Pitch" and "timbre" match exactly, "loudness" links with dynamics, and "time" links with the time-based elements of rhythm, duration, and tempo. This usage of the phrase "the elements of music" links more closely with Webster's New 20th Century Dictionary definition of an element as: "a substance which cannot be divided into a simpler form by known methods"[90] and educational institutions' lists of elements generally align with this definition as well.

Although writers of lists of "rudimentary elements of music" can vary their lists depending on their personal (or institutional) priorities, the perceptual elements of music should consist of an established (or proven) list of discrete elements which can be independently manipulated to achieve an intended musical effect. It seems at this stage that there is still research to be done in this area.

A slightly different way of approaching the identification of the elements of music, is to identify the "elements of sound" as: pitch, duration, loudness, timbre, sonic texture and spatial location,[91] and then to define the "elements of music" as: sound, structure, and artistic intent.[91]

Sociological aspects

Main article: Sociomusicology

Song dynasty (960–1279) painting, Night Revels of Han Xizai, showing Chinese musicians entertaining guests at a party in a 10th-century household

Many ethnographic studies demonstrate that music is a participatory, community-based activity.[92][93] Music is experienced by individuals in a range of social settings ranging from being alone to attending a large concert, forming a music community, which cannot be understood as a function of individual will or accident; it includes both commercial and non-commercial participants with a shared set of common values. Musical performances take different forms in different cultures and socioeconomic milieus. In Europe and North America, there is often a divide between what types of music are viewed as a "high culture" and "low culture." "High culture" types of music typically include Western art music such as Baroque, Classical, Romantic, and modern-era symphonies, concertos, and solo works, and are typically heard in formal concerts in concert halls and churches, with the audience sitting quietly in seats.

Other types of music—including, but not limited to, jazz, blues, soul, and country—are often performed in bars, nightclubs, and theatres, where the audience may be able to drink, dance, and express themselves by cheering. Until the later 20th century, the division between "high" and "low" musical forms was widely accepted as a valid distinction that separated out better quality, more advanced "art music" from the popular styles of music heard in bars and dance halls.

However, in the 1980s and 1990s, musicologists studying this perceived divide between "high" and "low" musical genres argued that this distinction is not based on the musical value or quality of the different types of music.[citation needed] Rather, they argued that this distinction was based largely on the socioeconomics standing or social class of the performers or audience of the different types of music.[citation needed] For example, whereas the audience for Classical symphony concerts typically have above-average incomes, the audience for a rap concert in an inner-city area may have below-average incomes.[citation needed] Even though the performers, audience, or venue where non-"art" music is performed may have a lower socioeconomic status, the music that is performed, such as blues, rap, punk, funk, or ska may be very complex and sophisticated.

When composers introduce styles of music that break with convention, there can be a strong resistance from academic music experts and popular culture. Late-period Beethoven string quartets, Stravinsky ballet scores, serialism, bebop-era jazz, hip hop, punk rock, and electronica have all been considered non-music by some critics when they were first introduced.[citation needed] Such themes are examined in the sociology of music. The sociological study of music, sometimes called sociomusicology, is often pursued in departments of sociology, media studies, or music, and is closely related to the field of ethnomusicology.

Role of women

Main article: Women in music

19th-century composer and pianist Clara Schumann

Women have played a major role in music throughout history, as composers, songwriters, instrumental performers, singers, conductors, music scholars, music educators, music critics/music journalists and other musical professions. In the 2010s, while women comprise a significant proportion of popular music and classical music singers, and a significant proportion of songwriters (many of them being singer-songwriters), there are few women record producers, rock critics and rock instrumentalists. Although there have been a huge number of women composers in classical music, from the medieval period to the present day, women composers are significantly underrepresented in the commonly performed classical music repertoire, music history textbooks and music encyclopedias; for example, in the Concise Oxford History of Music, Clara Schumann is one of the few female composers who is mentioned.

Women comprise a significant proportion of instrumental soloists in classical music and the percentage of women in orchestras is increasing. A 2015 article on concerto soloists in major Canadian orchestras, however, indicated that 84% of the soloists with the Orchestre Symphonique de Montreal were men. In 2012, women still made up just 6% of the top-ranked Vienna Philharmonic orchestra. Women are less common as instrumental players in popular music genres such as rock and heavy metal, although there have been a number of notable female instrumentalists and all-female bands. Women are particularly underrepresented in extreme metal genres.[94] In the 1960s pop-music scene, "[l]ike most aspects of the...music business, [in the 1960s,] songwriting was a male-dominated field. Though there were plenty of female singers on the radio, women ...were primarily seen as consumers:... Singing was sometimes an acceptable pastime for a girl, but playing an instrument, writing songs, or producing records simply wasn't done."[95] Young women "...were not socialized to see themselves as people who create [music]."[95]

Women are also underrepresented in orchestral conducting, music criticism/music journalism, music producing, and sound engineering. While women were discouraged from composing in the 19th century, and there are few women musicologists, women became involved in music education "...to such a degree that women dominated [this field] during the later half of the 19th century and well into the 20th century."[96]

According to Jessica Duchen, a music writer for London's The Independent, women musicians in classical music are "...too often judged for their appearances, rather than their talent" and they face pressure "...to look sexy onstage and in photos."[97] Duchen states that while "[t]here are women musicians who refuse to play on their looks,...the ones who do tend to be more materially successful."[97] According to the UK's Radio 3 editor, Edwina Wolstencroft, the music industry has long been open to having women in performance or entertainment roles, but women are much less likely to have positions of authority, such as being the conductor of an orchestra.[98] In popular music, while there are many women singers recording songs, there are very few women behind the audio console acting as music producers, the individuals who direct and manage the recording process.[99] One of the most recorded artists is Asha Bhosle, an Indian singer best known as a playback singer in Hindi cinema.[100]

Media and technology

Further information: Computer music and Music technology

Music production in the 2000s using a digital audio workstation (DAW) with an electronic keyboard and a multi-monitor set-up

Since the 20th century, live music can be broadcast over the radio, television or the Internet, or recorded and listened to on a CD player or MP3 player.

In the early 20th century (in the late 1920s), as talking pictures emerged in the early 20th century, with their prerecorded musical tracks, an increasing number of moviehouse orchestra musicians found themselves out of work.[101] During the 1920s, live musical performances by orchestras, pianists, and theater organists were common at first-run theaters.[102] With the coming of the talking motion pictures, those featured performances were largely eliminated. The American Federation of Musicians (AFM) took out newspaper advertisements protesting the replacement of live musicians with mechanical playing devices. One 1929 ad that appeared in the Pittsburgh Press features an image of a can labeled "Canned Music / Big Noise Brand / Guaranteed to Produce No Intellectual or Emotional Reaction Whatever"[103]

Sometimes, live performances incorporate prerecorded sounds. For example, a disc jockey uses disc records for scratching, and some 20th-century works have a solo for an instrument or voice that is performed along with music that is prerecorded onto a tape. Some pop bands use recorded backing tracks. Computers and many keyboards can be programmed to produce and play Musical Instrument Digital Interface (MIDI) music. Audiences can also become performers by participating in karaoke, an activity of Japanese origin centered on a device that plays voice-eliminated versions of well-known songs. Most karaoke machines also have video screens that show lyrics to songs being performed; performers can follow the lyrics as they sing over the instrumental tracks.

The advent of the Internet and widespread high-speed broadband access has transformed the experience of music, partly through the increased ease of access to recordings of music via streaming video and vastly increased choice of music for consumers. Another effect of the Internet arose with online communities and social media websites like YouTube and Facebook, a social networking service. These sites make it easier for aspiring singers and amateur bands to distribute videos of their songs, connect with other musicians, and gain audience interest. Professional musicians also use YouTube as a free publisher of promotional material. YouTube users, for example, no longer only download and listen to MP3s, but also actively create their own. According to Don Tapscott and Anthony D. Williams, in their book Wikinomics, there has been a shift from a traditional consumer role to what they call a "prosumer" role, a consumer who both creates content and consumes. Manifestations of this in music include the production of mashes, remixes, and music videos by fans.[104]

Education

Further information: Music education

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Non-institutional

A Suzuki violin recital with students of varying ages

The incorporation of some music or singing training into general education from preschool to post secondary education is common in North America and Europe. Involvement in playing and singing music is thought to teach basic skills such as concentration, counting, listening, and cooperation while also promoting understanding of language, improving the ability to recall information, and creating an environment more conducive to learning in other areas.[105] In elementary schools, children often learn to play instruments such as the recorder, sing in small choirs, and learn about the history of Western art music and traditional music. Some elementary school children also learn about popular music styles. In religious schools, children sing hymns and other religious music. In secondary schools (and less commonly in elementary schools), students may have the opportunity to perform in some types of musical ensembles, such as choirs (a group of singers), marching bands, concert bands, jazz bands, or orchestras. In some school systems, music lessons on how to play instruments may be provided. Some students also take private music lessons after school with a singing teacher or instrument teacher. Amateur musicians typically learn basic musical rudiments (e.g., learning about musical notation for musical scales and rhythms) and beginner- to intermediate-level singing or instrument-playing techniques.

At the university level, students in most arts and humanities programs can receive credit for taking a few music courses, which typically take the form of an overview course on the history of music, or a music appreciation course that focuses on listening to music and learning about different musical styles. In addition, most North American and European universities have some types of musical ensembles that students in arts and humanities are able to participate in, such as choirs, marching bands, concert bands, or orchestras. The study of Western art music is increasingly common outside of North America and Europe, such as the Indonesian Institute of the Arts in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, or the classical music programs that are available in Asian countries such as South Korea, Japan, and China. At the same time, Western universities and colleges are widening their curriculum to include music of non-Western cultures, such as the music of Africa or Bali (e.g. Gamelan music).

Institutional

Manhattan School of Music professor and professional double bass player Timothy Cobb teaching a bass lesson in the late 2000s. His bass has a low C extension with a metal "machine" with buttons for playing the pitches on the extension.

People aiming to become professional musicians, singers, composers, songwriters, music teachers and practitioners of other music-related professions such as music history professors, sound engineers, and so on study in specialized post-secondary programs offered by colleges, universities and music conservatories. Some institutions that train individuals for careers in music offer training in a wide range of professions, as is the case with many of the top U.S. universities, which offer degrees in music performance (including singing and playing instruments), music history, music theory, music composition, music education (for individuals aiming to become elementary or high school music teachers) and, in some cases, conducting. On the other hand, some small colleges may only offer training in a single profession (e.g., sound recording).

While most university and conservatory music programs focus on training students in classical music, there are a number of universities and colleges that train musicians for careers as jazz or popular music musicians and composers, with notable U.S. examples including the Manhattan School of Music and the Berklee College of Music. Two important schools in Canada which offer professional jazz training are McGill University and Humber College. Individuals aiming at careers in some types of music, such as heavy metal music, country music or blues are less likely to become professionals by completing degrees or diplomas in colleges or universities. Instead, they typically learn about their style of music by singing or playing in many bands (often beginning in amateur bands, cover bands and tribute bands), studying recordings available on CD, DVD and the Internet and working with already-established professionals in their style of music, either through informal mentoring or regular music lessons. Since the 2000s, the increasing popularity and availability of Internet forums and YouTube "how-to" videos have enabled many singers and musicians from metal, blues and similar genres to improve their skills. Many pop, rock and country singers train informally with vocal coaches and singing teachers.

Academic study

Musicology

Main article: Musicology

Musicology, the academic study of the subject of music, is studied in universities and music conservatories. The earliest definitions from the 19th century defined three sub-disciplines of musicology: systematic musicology, historical musicology, and comparative musicology or ethnomusicology. In 2010-era scholarship, one is more likely to encounter a division of the discipline into music theory, music history, and ethnomusicology. Research in musicology has often been enriched by cross-disciplinary work, for example in the field of psychoacoustics. The study of music of non-Western cultures, and the cultural study of music, is called ethnomusicology. Students can pursue the undergraduate study of musicology, ethnomusicology, music history, and music theory through several different types of degrees, including bachelor's degrees, master's degrees and PhD degrees.

Music theory

Main article: Music theory

Music theory is the study of music, generally in a highly technical manner outside of other disciplines. More broadly it refers to any study of music, usually related in some form with compositional concerns, and may include mathematics, physics, and anthropology. What is most commonly taught in beginning music theory classes are guidelines to write in the style of the common practice period, or tonal music. Theory, even of music of the common practice period, may take many other forms. Musical set theory is the application of mathematical set theory to music, first applied to atonal music. Speculative music theory, contrasted with analytic music theory, is devoted to the analysis and synthesis of music materials, for example tuning systems, generally as preparation for composition.

Zoomusicology

Main article: Zoomusicology

Zoomusicology is the study of the music of non-human animals, or the musical aspects of sounds produced by non-human animals. As George Herzog (1941) asked, "do animals have music?" François-Bernard Mâche's Musique, mythe, nature, ou les Dauphins d'Arion (1983), a study of "ornitho-musicology" using a technique of Nicolas Ruwet's Langage, musique, poésie (1972) paradigmatic segmentation analysis, shows that bird songs are organised according to a repetition-transformation principle. Jean-Jacques Nattiez (1990), argues that "in the last analysis, it is a human being who decides what is and is not musical, even when the sound is not of human origin. If we acknowledge that sound is not organised and conceptualised (that is, made to form music) merely by its producer, but by the mind that perceives it, then music is uniquely human."

Ethnomusicology

Main article: Ethnomusicology

Ethnomusicologist Frances Densmore recording Blackfoot chief Mountain Chief for the Bureau of American Ethnology (1916)

In the West, much of the history of music that is taught deals with the Western civilization's art music, which is known as classical music. The history of music in non-Western cultures ("world music" or the field of "ethnomusicology") is also taught in Western universities. This includes the documented classical traditions of Asian countries outside the influence of Western Europe, as well as the folk or indigenous music of various other cultures. Popular or folk styles of music in non-Western countries varied widely from culture to culture, and from period to period. Different cultures emphasised different instruments, techniques, singing styles and uses for music. Music has been used for entertainment, ceremonies, rituals, religious purposes and for practical and artistic communication. Non-Western music has also been used for propaganda purposes, as was the case with Chinese opera during the Cultural Revolution.

There is a host of music classifications for non-Western music, many of which are caught up in the argument over the definition of music. Among the largest of these is the division between classical music (or "art" music), and popular music (or commercial music – including non-Western styles of rock, country, and pop music-related styles). Some genres do not fit neatly into one of these "big two" classifications, (such as folk music, world music, or jazz-related music).

As world cultures have come into greater global contact, their indigenous musical styles have often merged with other styles, which produces new styles. For example, the United States bluegrass style contains elements from Anglo-Irish, Scottish, Irish, German and African instrumental and vocal traditions, which were able to fuse in the United States' multi-ethnic "melting pot" society. Some types of world music contain a mixture of non-Western indigenous styles with Western pop music elements. Genres of music are determined as much by tradition and presentation as by the actual music. Some works, like George Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue, are claimed by both jazz and classical music, while Gershwin's Porgy and Bess and Leonard Bernstein's West Side Story are claimed by both opera and the Broadway musical tradition. Many current music festivals for non-Western music include bands and singers from a particular musical genre, such as world music.

Indian music, for example, is one of the oldest and longest living types of music, and is still widely heard and performed in South Asia, as well as internationally (especially since the 1960s). Indian music has mainly three forms of classical music, Hindustani, Carnatic, and Dhrupad styles. It has also a large repertoire of styles, which involve only percussion music such as the talavadya performances famous in South India.

Therapy

Main article: Music therapy

A music therapist from a "Blues in the Schools" program plays harmonica with a US Navy sailor at a Naval Therapy Center.

Music therapy is an interpersonal process in which a trained therapist uses music and all of its facets—physical, emotional, mental, social, aesthetic, and spiritual—to help clients to improve or maintain their health. In some instances, the client's needs are addressed directly through music; in others they are addressed through the relationships that develop between the client and therapist. Music therapy is used with individuals of all ages and with a variety of conditions, including: psychiatric disorders, medical problems, physical disabilities, sensory impairments, developmental disabilities, substance abuse issues, communication disorders, interpersonal problems, and aging. It is also used to improve learning, build self-esteem, reduce stress, support physical exercise, and facilitate a host of other health-related activities. Music therapists may encourage clients to sing, play instruments, create songs, or do other musical activities.

In the 10th century, the philosopher Al-Farabi described how vocal music can stimulate the feelings and souls of listeners.[106] Music has long been used to help people deal with their emotions. In the 17th century, the scholar Robert Burton's The Anatomy of Melancholy argued that music and dance were critical in treating mental illness, especially melancholia.[107] He noted that music has an "excellent power ...to expel many other diseases" and he called it "a sovereign remedy against despair and melancholy." He pointed out that in Antiquity, Canus, a Rhodian fiddler, used music to "make a melancholy man merry, ...a lover more enamoured, a religious man more devout."[108][109][110] In the Ottoman Empire, mental illnesses were treated with music.[111] In November 2006, Michael J. Crawford and his colleagues also found that music therapy helped schizophrenic patients.[112][113]

See also

Main articles: Outline of music and Index of music articles

Music portal

Glossary of music terminology

LGBT music

Lists of musicians

List of musicology topics

Music and emotion

Music archaeology

Music history

Music-specific disorders

References

Notes

 A now discredited theory held by many medieval thinkers was that 'music' was descended from the Egyptian word moys, meaning water, thought to connect to Moses.[11]

 For the further etymological origins, mousiké derives from the feminine form of mousikos, which is anything "pertaining to the muses", from the Ancient Greek word for Muse, Mousa.[9] There is no agreement on the origins of the word Mousa,[12] though see Muses § Etymology for proposed theories.

 See Morley (2013, pp. 43–45) for a comprehensive table on all eight surviving flutes from the Geissenklösterle, Hohle Fels and Vogelherd caves

 In the 1800s, the phrases "the elements of music" and "the rudiments of music" were used interchangeably.[57][58] The elements described in these documents refer to aspects of music that are needed to become a musician, Recent writers such as Espie Estrella seem to be using the phrase "elements of music" in a similar manner.[59] A definition which most accurately reflects this usage is: "the rudimentary principles of an art, science, etc.: the elements of grammar."[60] The UK's curriculum switch to the "inter-related dimensions of music" seems to be a move back to using the rudimentary elements of music.

Citations

 OED, § 1.

 AHD, § 1.

 Epperson 2022, § para. 1.

 Mithen 2005, pp. 26–27.

 Morley 2013, p. 5.

 Gardner 1983, p. 104.

 Nettl 2001, §III "3. Music among the arts".

 Online Etymology Dictionary, § para 2.

 Online Etymology Dictionary, § para 1.

 Hoad, T. F., ed. (2003) [1996]. "music". The Concise Oxford Dictionary of English Etymology. ISBN 978-0-19-283098-2. Archived from the original on 30 May 2022. Retrieved 30 May 2022.

 Apel 1969, p. 548.

 Anderson & Mathiesen 2001, § para 1.

 Murray 2020, pp. 13–14.

 Nettl 2001, §I "1. Etymology".

 Anderson & Mathiesen 2001, § para 2.

 Nettl 2001, §II "1. Contemporary Western culture".

 Nettl 2001, §II "2. East Asia".

 Nettl 2001, §II "5. Some African cultures".

 Nettl 2001, §II "4. India".

 Nettl 2001, §II "6. Some Amerindian and Oceanian cultures".

 Nettl 2001, §II "3. Iran and the Middle East".

 Morley 2013, p. 43.

 Merker, Morley & Zuidema 2015, § "Introduction".

 Morley 2013, pp. 2–3.

 Wallin, Merker & Brown 2000, p. 8.

 Huron 2003, p. 61.

 Huron 2003, p. 62.

 Wallin, Merker & Brown 2000, p. 11.

 Nettl 2001, § 8 "On the Origins of Music".

 Morley 2013, pp. 38–39.

 Morley 2013, p. 42.

 Music of Ancient Egypt Archived 13 October 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Kelsey Museum of Archaeology, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

 "UC 33268". digitalegypt.ucl.ac.uk. Archived from the original on 27 July 2013. Retrieved 27 October 2015.

 Hickmann, Hans (1957). "Un Zikr Dans le Mastaba de Debhen, Guîzah (IVème Dynastie)". Journal of the International Folk Music Council. 9: 59–62. doi:10.2307/834982. JSTOR 834982.

 Hickmann, Hans (January–March 1960). "Rythme, mètre et mesure de la musique instrumentale et vocale des anciens Egyptiens". Acta Musicologica. 32 (1): 11–22. doi:10.2307/931818. JSTOR 931818.

 Stolba, K. Marie (1995). The Development of Western Music: A History (brief second ed.). Madison: Brown & Benchmark Publishers. p. 2.

 West, Martin Litchfield (May 1994). "The Babylonian Musical Notation and the Hurrian Melodic Texts". Music and Letters. Vol. 75. pp. 161–179.

 Savage, Roger. "Incidental music", Grove Music Online. Oxford Music Online, accessed 13 August 2012 (subscription required) Archived 25 April 2021 at the Wayback Machine Savage, Roger (2001). Incidental music | Oxford Music. doi:10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.43289. ISBN 978-1-56159-263-0. Archived from the original on 25 April 2021. Retrieved 30 July 2022.

 West, Martin Litchfield (1994). Ancient Greek music. Oxford University Press.

 Winnington-Ingram, Reginald P. (October 1929). "Ancient Greek Music: A Survey". Music & Letters. 10 (4): 326–345. doi:10.1093/ml/X.4.326. JSTOR 726126.

 Aristoxenus, Henry Stewart Macran (1902). Harmonika Stoicheia (The Harmonics of Aristoxenus). Georg Olms Verlag. ISBN 978-3-487-40510-0. OCLC 123175755. Archived from the original on 2 January 2020. Retrieved 7 April 2016.

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Sources

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Further reading

Kennedy, Michal; Kennedy, Joyce Bourne (2013) [2012]. Tim Rutherford-Johnson (ed.). The Oxford Dictionary of Music (6th paperback ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-957854-2.

Small, Christopher (1977). Music, Society, Education. John Calder Publishers, London. ISBN 0-7145-3614-8

Tymoczko, Dmitri (2011). A Geometry of Music: Harmony and Counterpoint in the Extended Common Practice. New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-533667-2.

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Top 100 Greatest Music Artists of All-Time (Ranked)

by kungasagar | created - 09 Apr 2017 | updated - 14 Dec 2017 | Public

This is my take on a definitive ranking of the greatest artists ever.

Sort by:

List Order

  View:

 49 names

The Beatles 

1. The Beatles

Soundtrack | The Beatles: Get Back

The Beatles were an English rock band that became arguably the most successful act of the 20th century. They contributed to music, film, literature, art, and fashion, made a continuous impact on popular culture and the lifestyle of several generations. Their songs and images carrying powerful ideas...

Michael Jackson 

2. Michael Jackson

Soundtrack | Michael Jackson: Thriller

Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958 in Gary, Indiana, and entertained audiences nearly his entire life. His father, Joe Jackson (no relation to Joe Jackson, also a musician), had been a guitarist, but was forced to give up his musical ambitions following his marriage to Michael's ...

Stevie Wonder 

3. Stevie Wonder

Soundtrack | The Woman in Red

Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan, United States, to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Due to being born six weeks premature, Stevie Wonder was born with a condition called retinopathy of prematurity, which made him blind. Stevie Wonder, even with this disability, made his ...

The Rolling Stones 

4. The Rolling Stones

Soundtrack | The Boat That Rocked

The Rolling Stones are the legendary British rock band known for many popular hits, such as Paint it Black, Lady Jane, Ruby Tuesday, and (I Can't Get No) Satisfaction. Almost everyone who attended their shows is quick to comment on their ability to start you up and shake your hips. Their song "...

James Brown 

5. James Brown

Actor | The Blues Brothers

James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 - December 25, 2006) was an American singer, dancer, musician, record producer, and bandleader. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th century music, he is often referred to by the honorific nicknames "Godfather of Soul", "Mr. Dynamite", and ...

Led Zeppelin 

6. Led Zeppelin

Soundtrack | The Song Remains the Same

Led Zeppelin are a popular British band best known for their iconic "Stairway to Heaven" as well as for co-creating the music genre of heavy metal. Since their nine albums were recorded between 1968 and 1979, Led Zeppelin has been one of the most popular bands of all time, having sold more than 300...

Bob Dylan 

7. Bob Dylan

Soundtrack | Renaldo and Clara

Robert Allen Zimmerman was born 24 May 1941 in Duluth, Minnesota; his father Abe worked for the Standard Oil Co. Six years later the family moved to Hibbing, often the coldest place in the US, where he taught himself piano and guitar and formed several high school rock bands. In 1959 he entered the...

Jimi Hendrix 

8. Jimi Hendrix

Soundtrack | Woodstock

Widely regarded as the greatest and most influential guitarist in rock history, Jimi Hendrix was born on November 27, 1942 in Seattle, Washington, to African-American parents Lucille (Jeter) and James Allen Hendrix. His mother named him John Allen Hendrix and raised him alone while his father, Al ...

Prince 

9. Prince

Soundtrack | Under the Cherry Moon

Prince Rogers Nelson was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to Mattie Shaw, a jazz singer and social worker, and John L. Nelson, a lyricist and pianist. His father's stage name was "Prince Rogers". His parents were both from African-American families from Louisiana. They separated during his youth, ...

Bob Marley 

10. Bob Marley

Soundtrack | I Am Legend

Bob Marley was born on February 6, 1945, in Nine Miles, Saint Ann, Jamaica, to Norval Marley and Cedella Booker. His father was a Jamaican of English descent. His mother was a black teenager. The couple planned to get married but Norval left Kingston before this could happen. Norval died in 1955, ...

Elvis Presley 

11. Elvis Presley

Soundtrack | Girls! Girls! Girls!

Elvis Aaron Presley was born on January 8, 1935 in East Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Presley (née Gladys Love Smith) and Vernon Presley (Vernon Elvis Presley). He had a twin brother who was stillborn. In 1948, Elvis and his parents moved to Memphis, Tennessee where he attended Humes High School. ...

David Bowie 

12. David Bowie

Soundtrack | Labyrinth

David Bowie was one of the most influential and prolific writers and performers of popular music, but he was much more than that; he was also an accomplished actor, a mime and an intellectual, as well as an art lover whose appreciation and knowledge of it had led to him amassing one of the biggest ...

Marvin Gaye 

13. Marvin Gaye

Soundtrack | High Fidelity

Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. (known professionally as Marvin Gaye; April 2, 1939 - April 1, 1984) was an American singer and songwriter. He helped to shape the sound of Motown in the 1960s, first as an in-house session player and later as a solo artist with a string of successes, earning him the nicknames ...

Madonna 

14. Madonna

Soundtrack | A League of Their Own

The remarkable, hyper-ambitious Material Girl who never stops reinventing herself, Madonna is a seven-time Grammy Award-winner who has sold over three hundred million records and CDs to adoring fans worldwide. Her film career, however, is another story. Her performances have consistently drawn ...

Pink Floyd 

15. Pink Floyd

Soundtrack | Tang shan da xiong

Syd Barrett: vocals, guitar (born: Roger Keith Barrett; 6 January, 1946; Cambridge, Cambridgeshire, England, UK). In 1968, Syd Barrett left the band. Syd died in July, 2006 at aged 60 from pancreatic cancer.

David Gilmour: vocals, guitar (born: David John Gilmour; 6 March, 1946; Cambridge, ...

Queen 

16. Queen

Soundtrack | Flash Gordon

Queen were one of the longest-lasting and most commercially successful bands to emerge from the British heavy rock scene of the early 1970s, but unlike their contemporaries such as Led Zeppelin, Deep Purple and Black Sabbath, they soon became just as popular with pop fans as fans of hard rock and ...

Tupac Shakur 

17. Tupac Shakur

Actor | Juice

Born in New York City, Tupac grew up primarily in Harlem. In 1984, his family moved to Baltimore, Maryland where he became good friends with Jada Pinkett Smith. His family moved again in 1988 to Oakland, California. His first breakthrough in music came in 1991 as a member of the group Digital ...

The Who 

18. The Who

Soundtrack | The Who : The Kids Are Alright

Roger Daltrey formed the Detours in 1962, with several member changes and role swaps abound, John Entwistle joined. Sometime later, on John's recommendation, Pete Townshend was added to the line up. In the meantime, The Detours had become a four-piece band; the drummer was changed with Keith Moon ...

Whitney Houston 

19. Whitney Houston

Soundtrack | The Bodyguard

Whitney Elizabeth Houston was born into a musical family on 9 August 1963, in Newark, New Jersey, the daughter of gospel star Cissy Houston (née Emily Lee Drinkard) and John Russell Houston, Jr., and cousin of singing star Dionne Warwick.

She began singing in the choir at her church, The New Hope ...

The Beach Boys 

20. The Beach Boys

Soundtrack | The Boat That Rocked

The Beach Boys is an American rock band formed in Hawthorne, California, in 1961. The group's original lineup consisted of brothers Brian Wilson, Dennis Wilson, and Carl Wilson; their cousin Mike Love; and their friend Al Jardine. The Beach Boys are one of the most critically acclaimed, ...

The Notorious B.I.G. 

21. The Notorious B.I.G.

Soundtrack | Bad Boys

Christopher Wallace, a.k.a. Biggie Smalls, was born on May 21, 1972 in Brooklyn, New York. He was the son of Jamaican parents, Voletta Wallace, a pre-school teacher, and Selwyn George Latore, a welder and small-time politician. He was raised in the poor Brooklyn neighborhood of Bedford-Stuyvesant. ...

Nirvana 

22. Nirvana

Soundtrack | The Batman

Nirvana was an American rock band formed by lead singer and guitarist Kurt Cobain and bassist Krist Novoselic in Aberdeen, Washington, in 1987. Nirvana went through a succession of drummers, the longest-lasting and best-known being Dave Grohl, who joined in 1990. Despite releasing only three ...

AC/DC 

23. AC/DC

Soundtrack | Iron Man

AC/DC is a legendary rock band from Australia, formed in Sydney in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. AC/DC have sold more than 200 million records worldwide, including 71.5 million albums in the United States, adding them to the list of highest-certified music artists in the United States ...

Nas 

24. Nas

Soundtrack | Belly

Nas, born Nasir bin Olu Dara Jones on September 14, 1973, is the son of Olu Dara, an unconventional jazz musician. At age nine he was a member of the Devastatin' Seven in the mid-1980s, the fruits of which can be heard on his 1994 debut, "Illmatic," which was released on Columbia/SME later that ...

Chuck Berry 

25. Chuck Berry

Soundtrack | Men in Black

Charles Edward Anderson Berry was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist who pioneered rock and roll. Nicknamed the "Father of Rock and Roll", he refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive with songs such as "Maybellene" (1955), "Roll ...

Aretha Franklin 

26. Aretha Franklin

Actress | The Blues Brothers

Grammy-winning Queen of Soul and the first woman to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Aretha Louise Franklin was born in Memphis, Tennessee, to Barbara Vernice (Siggers) and C. L. Franklin, a Baptist minister, who preached at the New Bethel Baptist Church in Detroit for over thirty ...

Jay-Z 

27. Jay-Z

Soundtrack | The Harder They Fall

Jay-Z was born Shawn Corey Carter on December 4, 1969 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York. Carter was a school friend of The Notorious B.I.G.. He first started releasing records in the late 1980s. In 1990, he appeared on records by his close friend, Jas ("The Originators") and Original Flavor ("...

Tina Turner 

29. Tina Turner

Soundtrack | Mad Max Beyond Thunderdome

With almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner became one of the most commercially successful international female rock stars. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contributed to her legendary status.

Born to a ...

Johnny Cash 

29. Johnny Cash

Soundtrack | The Johnny Cash Show

Johnny Cash was born February 26, 1932, in Kingsland, Arkansas, to Carrie Cash (Rivers) and Raymond Cash. He made his first single, "Hey Porter", for Sun Records in 1955. In 1958 he moved to Columbia Records. He had long periods of drug abuse during the 1960s, but later that decade he successfully ...

Ye 

29. Ye

Soundtrack | The Great Gatsby

Kanye Omari West (born June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, entrepreneur and fashion designer. His musical career has been marked by dramatic changes in styles, incorporating an eclectic range of influences including soul, baroque pop, electro, indie rock, ...

Elton John 

31. Elton John

Soundtrack | Kingsman: The Golden Circle

Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (...

The Clash 

32. The Clash

Soundtrack | Grosse Pointe Blank

The Clash were an English rock band formed in London in 1976 as a key player in the original wave of British punk rock. The Clash achieved commercial success in the United Kingdom with the release of their self-titled debut album, The Clash, in 1977. Their third album, London Calling, released in ...

The Velvet Underground 

32. The Velvet Underground

Soundtrack | Men in Black 3

The Velvet Underground had its origins, oddly enough, in the world of manufactured pop music, around 1965. Long Island native songwriter/singer/guitarist Lou Reed had gone from college at Syracuse University to a day job as a staff composer and musician for Pickwick Records, whose specialities (...

John Lennon 

34. John Lennon

Actor | A Hard Day's Night

John Winston (later Ono) Lennon was born on October 9, 1940, in Liverpool, England, to Julia Lennon (née Stanley) and Alfred Lennon, a merchant seaman. He was raised by his mother's older sister Mimi Smith. In the mid-1950s, he formed his first band, The Quarrymen (after Quarry Bank High School, ...

U2 

35. U2

Soundtrack | Morning Joe

U2 has been perhaps the biggest music act in the world since the late 1980s to the current day. They take prominent stands on human rights issues, expressed through their lyrics and other public statements and actions. The band's lead singer, Bono, has become quite prominent in charity movements ...

Diana Ross 

36. Diana Ross

Soundtrack | The Wiz

Best known as the the lead singer of the popular 1960s singing group The Supremes, Diana Ernestine Earle Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second of six children of African-American parents Ernestine Lillian (Moten), a schoolteacher, and Fred Earl Ross, who served in the ...

Guns N' Roses 

37. Guns N' Roses

Soundtrack | Body of Lies

Guns N' Roses is an American hard rock band from Los Angeles, California, formed in 1985. The lineup, when first signed to Geffen Records in 1986, consisted of vocalist Axl Rose, lead guitarist Slash, rhythm guitarist Izzy Stradlin, bassist Duff McKagan, and drummer Steven Adler. Guns N' Roses has ...

Bruce Springsteen 

38. Bruce Springsteen

Soundtrack | Blinded by the Light

Bruce Frederick Joseph Springsteen was born September 23, 1949 in Long Branch, New Jersey, USA. His father, Douglas Frederick Springsteen, worked as a bus driver, and was of Irish and Dutch ancestry. His mother, Adele Ann (Zerilli), worked as a legal secretary, and was of Italian descent. He has an...

Paul McCartney 

39. Paul McCartney

Soundtrack | Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band

Sir Paul McCartney is a key figure in contemporary culture as a singer, composer, poet, writer, artist, humanitarian, entrepreneur, and holder of more than 3 thousand copyrights. He is in the "Guinness Book of World Records" for most records sold, most #1s (shared), most covered song, "Yesterday," ...

The Doors 

40. The Doors

Soundtrack | The Doors

The Doors were an American rock band formed in 1965 in Los Angeles, with vocalist Jim Morrison, keyboardist Ray Manzarek, guitarist Robby Krieger, and John Densmore on drums. The band got its name, at Morrison's suggestion from the title of Aldous Huxley's book The Doors of Perception. They were ...

Eminem 

41. Eminem

Soundtrack | 8 Mile

Eminem was born Marshall Bruce Mathers III in St. Joseph, Missouri, to Deborah R. (Nelson) and Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr., who were in a band together, Daddy Warbucks. He is of English, as well as some German, Scottish, and Swiss-German, ancestry. Marshall spent his early childhood being shoved ...

Ray Charles 

42. Ray Charles

Actor | The Blues Brothers

A tragic fate may have given this visionary a heightened sensitivity, perception, awareness, even expansion to his obvious musical gifts that he may have never touched upon had he not suffered from his physical affliction. Whatever it was, Ray Charles revolutionized American music and was ...

Little Richard 

44. Little Richard

Actor | Last Action Hero

Richard Wayne Penniman, better known as Little Richard, the self-proclaimed "Architect of Rock 'n' Roll", traveled in his early days with the legendary vaudeville star Spencer "Snake" Anthony. One of Richard's early bands had the young, then unknown singer James Brown (the Godfather of Soul), a ...

Eagles 

45. Eagles

Soundtrack | Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings

The Eagles are an American rock band formed in Los Angeles in 1971. With five number-one singles and six number-one albums, six Grammy Awards and five American Music Awards, the Eagles were one of the most successful musical acts of the 1970s in North America.

Founding members-were recruited by ...

Public Enemy 

45. Public Enemy

Soundtrack | Do the Right Thing

Public Enemy is known for Do the Right Thing (1989), Star Trek Beyond (2016) and End of Watch (2012).

The Kinks 

46. The Kinks

Soundtrack | The Boat That Rocked

The Kinks were an English rock band formed in Muswell Hill, north London, in 1963 by brothers Ray and Dave Davies. They are regarded as one of the most influential rock bands of the 1960s. The band emerged during the height of British rhythm and blues and Merseybeat, and were briefly part of the ...

Joni Mitchell 

47. Joni Mitchell

Soundtrack | Two Weeks Notice

Joni Mitchell is one of the most highly regarded and influential songwriters of the 20th century. Her melodious tunes support her poetic and often very personal lyrics to make her one of the most authentic artists of her time. As a performer she is widely hailed for her unique style of playing ...

Beyoncé 

48. Beyoncé

Soundtrack | Dreamgirls

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles was born on September 4, 1981 in Houston, Texas. Her mom, Tina Knowles-Lawson designs their glittering costumes & her dad, Mathew Knowles manages Destiny's Child. Solange, her sister (they're 4 years apart) has released her debut album. She dances with her big sister during ...

Parliament Funkadelic 

49. Parliament Funkadelic

Actor | Funk Wars

Parliament Funkadelic is known for Funk Wars (2007), God Said Give 'Em Drum Machines (2022) and Great Performances (1971).

  • Condition: In Excellent Condition
  • Denomination: The Kings of Music
  • Year of Issue: 2023
  • Number of Pieces: 1
  • Time Period: 2000s
  • Fineness: 0.5
  • Collection: Elvis & MJ
  • Features: Commemorative
  • Country/Region of Manufacture: United Kingdom
  • Country of Origin: Great Britain
  • Colour: Silver

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