idkk

Gabriela Bee

Artist

Arca

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The Black Eyed Peas

Halsey

Citizen

Banda estadounidense | Emo pop, pop punk, indie rock, post-hardcore, grunge (2009)

Coldplay

My Chemical Romance

The Beatles

The Beatles recorded together for a little over seven years. Between October 1962 and May 1970, they released thirteen albums and a number of tracks issued on standalone singles. The catalogue created in that short period has sold more than that of any other group in history and its commercial success continues - the world’s best selling album during the first decade of the 21st century was a collection of The Beatles’ chart-topping singles called 1. But the group’s significance stems not just from huge sales figures. Their music has inspired generation upon generation of musicians, songwriters and producers. As Mark Ronson put it: ‘Everything we take for granted - they absolutely invented it.’ Tom Petty was a teenager during the years The Beatles’ records appeared in quick succession: ‘They were just out in front. There was The Beatles …and then there was everyone else. And everyone else could be great, but The Beatles were leading the way and that’s just irrefutably true.’ The Beatles’ story began in Liverpool in March 1957, when <a href="spotify:artist:4x1nvY2FN8jxqAFA0DA02H">John Lennon</a> (born 9 October 1940) formed a group named The Quarry Men. His life was changed by the excitement of rock ’n’ roll music - heralded by Bill Haley and His Comets, but taken to another level when Elvis Presley stormed the charts during 1956. The next year saw the arrival in the UK of hits by Little Richard, Buddy Holly and The Crickets, the Everly Brothers and, in movie theatres, the exciting rock film The Girl Can’t Help It!, featuring Eddie Cochran singing ‘Twenty Flight Rock’. Introduced to John on 6 July 1957 at a church fete in Woolton, Liverpool, <a href="spotify:artist:4STHEaNw4mPZ2tzheohgXB">Paul McCartney</a> (born 18 June 1942) sang Eddie’s song word perfect. Impressed, John invited the fifteen-year old to join his group. In February 1958, Paul’s younger school pal <a href="spotify:artist:7FIoB5PHdrMZVC3q2HE5MS">George Harrison</a> (born 25 February 1943) won his place in The Quarry Men when he impressed the others with his guitar skills, especially on the current hit instrumental ‘Raunchy’ by Bill Justis. With a constant nucleus of John, Paul and George, the group underwent a series of line-up changes and names. Having gained a dependable drummer - Pete Best - in August 1960, The Beatles made their first visit to West Germany to perform in the clubs of Hamburg. Playing long sets through the night, they spent hundreds of hours onstage during five visits to the city. Back home in Liverpool, their regular stomping ground was The Cavern Club, where they played nearly 300 times. The experience gained in Hamburg and at The Cavern helped to make The Beatles the most proficient and popular group on Merseyside. At this time, a group from Liverpool had the odds stacked against them when trying to gain a foothold in a record business focused on London. In early 1962, they had acquired an ambitious and rather refined manager, record shop boss Brian Epstein. He faced regular rejection from music companies until George Martin signed the group to EMI’s Parlophone label. By fate, The Beatles had found both the ideal manager and perfect producer. The last piece of the picture slotted into place just three weeks before recording their first single on 4 September 1962. <a href="spotify:artist:6DbJi8AcN5ANdtvJcwBSw8">Ringo Starr</a> (born 7 July 1940) was asked to take over as drummer. He had been playing with Rory Storm & The Hurricanes - another Liverpool group who played long stints in the clubs of Hamburg. Ringo’s personality, sense of humour and rock solid, inventive drumming proved to be just right for The Beatles. Their first Parlophone single was released on 5 October 1962. Both sides of the disc were original compositions - a remarkable statement of intent from a group making their first steps in the music business. In fact, George Martin had urged them to record Mitch Murray’s ‘How Do You Do It?’, which he felt was a sure-fire hit. They had reluctantly agreed, but were able to persuade George to shelve the recording in favour of their own songs ‘Love Me Do’ and ‘P.S. I Love You’. Just one example of how The Beatles’ story might have been very different with a less open-minded record producer. George Martin’s faith in The Beatles, and in John and Paul as songwriters, was soon vindicated by the release of ‘Please Please Me’ in January 1963. The single reached the top of all but one of the UK charts. It was followed by the number one ‘From Me To You’ and their first album Please Please Me, which topped the chart for 30 weeks until their next LP replaced it at number one. The debut album featured eight Lennon/McCartney compositions and six cover versions of recent American Rhythm and Blues records. The selection, a result of The Beatles’ constant search for the unusual, showed their impeccable taste. Compared to the sophisticated arrangement of an R&B original like ‘Twist And Shout’, their versions were stripped down reinventions for a four-piece beat group. George Martin has confirmed that ‘it was primarily the American Rhythm and Blues sound that was their inspiration. It’s probably what the so-called Beatles sound was, because all the black music was a tremendous influence on them.’ However, that source was unknown to the majority of their British fans. The super-confident second album With The Beatles was issued in November 1963 when the single ‘She Loves You’ was at number one. Once more, it featured eight original compositions - including ‘All My Loving’ and George Harrison’s first recorded song ‘Don’t Bother Me’ - and six cover versions. A week later, ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ was released and also reached number one. The group had become the biggest musical phenomenon in British show business - ever. Among the key factors that led to this success were the chemistry between the four personalities in the group, their immense charm and a daring image - nobody had worn their hair that long. Their interviews were funny and articulate, they had a charismatic presence when performing, and girls screamed and swooned over them. The term ‘Beatlemania’ was coined by the press to describe the hysteria aroused by the group but, as an appearance on The Royal Variety Show demonstrated, their popularity stretched way beyond the teenage market. What The Beatles did next was extraordinary for a British act. In February 1964, they arrived in the USA to appear on the Ed Sullivan Show. They performed to 73 million viewers, the biggest television audience to date, and with ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ at the top of the charts, America was suddenly held spellbound by The Beatles. As their success spread across the world, almost everything the group did from then on was unprecedented. In addition to unparalleled success on record - they held all top five positions in the American chart in the first week of April - their first movie A Hard Day’s Night was a box office hit and acclaimed for its wit, invention and unbeatable self-composed songs. Premiered in July 1964, it was perfectly timed to capitalise on their international breakthrough. They rounded off the year with Beatles For Sale and the massive hit single ‘I Feel Fine’. In 1965, they starred in the film Help!. Like their first movie, it was directed by Richard Lester and featured a brilliant batch of songs on its accompanying album. Tucked away towards the end of the LP was a performance by Paul McCartney of his composition ‘Yesterday’. Not even released as a single in the UK, it was a number one in America. It quickly became - and remains - the most covered song of all time. ‘Yesterday’ is an example of how The Beatles and their producer did not compromise; whatever best served the song was always pursued. In the case of ‘Yesterday’, the bold choice was a classical arrangement for string quartet. For the next album Rubber Soul, more studio time was made available to try out unusual instrumentation and adventurous recording techniques. The words of the songs were more mature and the vocal blend, heard on tracks such as ‘Nowhere Man’ and ‘Michelle’, is one of the album’s most distinctive qualities. The Beatles’ sound is, of course, distinguished by the character of their voices. Few groups were blessed with two powerful lead singers as versatile as John Lennon and Paul McCartney. Furthermore, George Harrison not only contributed at least one lead vocal to every album, his voice was integral to the intricate harmony vocals on many Beatles tracks. Ringo Starr usually sang a solo on albums, making such Lennon/McCartney songs as ‘Yellow Submarine’ and ‘With A Little Help From My Friends’ unimaginable without his voice. Released on the same day as Rubber Soul, 5 December 1965, ‘We Can Work It Out’/‘Day Tripper’ was the first of The Beatles’ double A-Sides. They ended another frantically busy year with their final British tour. There was a deadline to complete their next album, because concerts had been scheduled for the summer of 1966 all over the world. But this did not affect their approach to recording at all. The Revolver sessions saw the group reach a new peak of creativity in performance, songwriting and innovative studio techniques. In addition to the songwriting mastery displayed by John and Paul, the LP contained the biggest contribution to date from George with three songs. His caustic ‘Taxman’ was given the status of the album’s opening track. ‘Eleanor Rigby’ is now regarded as a fully realised masterpiece, but when released in August 1966 on Revolver and as a single coupled with ‘Yellow Submarine’, its solemn subject matter and stark arrangement were radically different. A year before, in August 1965, their appearance in front of 55,600 fans at Shea Stadium in New York had broken the record for concert attendance and box-office revenue. But live performance had become an unsatisfying charade ...and dangerous too. Who cares how lucrative it was? That had to stop. The Beatles’ final concert for a paying audience took place at Candlestick Park, San Francisco on 29 August 1966. At the end of 1966, The Beatles started work on ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’. Its long evolution showed the musical imagination and technical experimentation heard on Revolver would be continued. To stop the long wait for new material, ‘Strawberry Fields Forever’ and ‘Penny Lane’ were released in February 1967. Although songs were always credited to Lennon and McCartney, it soon became clear that whoever sang the lead vocal was usually the main composer. The double A-sided single shows how their different stylistic approaches established a perfect counterbalance. Having set themselves a task of writing about their Liverpool childhoods, John’s song is dreamy and steeped in melancholy, while Paul’s is uplifting and brimming with brilliantly observed vignettes. Many were shocked when the unconventional promotional films for both songs were broadcast. Even their moustaches and John’s spectacles were considered to be evidence of how weird The Beatles had become. The square world worried. Everyone else listened over and over until they ‘got it’. Released on 1 June 1967, the immediate artistic and commercial success of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band vindicated the new approach taken by The Beatles. It was the album that provided the soundtrack to the so-called ‘summer of love’, but its appeal is ageless. The Beatles performed their next single ‘All You Need Is Love’ for the first time on the TV programme Our World - broadcast live to an audience of 350 million around the globe. Their place at the top of contemporary pop music was indisputable. Sadly, soon afterwards, The Beatles were shaken by the sudden death of their manager Brian Epstein in August 1967. They rallied to write and direct Magical Mystery Tour - a film shown on television in the UK at Christmas. Some of the millions who saw it, did not like it. As Paul McCartney remembered: ‘They were looking for the plum-pudding special. That’s what they were expecting, and they very much didn’t get it! We were giving it to the young kids. Why shouldn’t they see something far out?’ The music was as successful as ever. The six new songs in the film and the number one ‘Hello, Goodbye’ completed a momentous year of recording. Three more tracks from 1967 remained unreleased until they were heard in the movie Yellow Submarine premiered in 1968. The film’s imaginative animation evoked the ‘psychedelic’ spirit of Sgt. Pepper to reveal the triumph of Love over Evil. Nowadays, following a year as busy as The Beatles had in 1967, an artist would take an extended break. In fact, the group did allow themselves a little time off. The first music of 1968 came in March on their seventeenth single ‘Lady Madonna’. Soon after it was recorded, The Beatles flew to Rishikesh, India for several weeks of meditation with Maharishi Mahesh Yogi. At this remote and peaceful location, they enjoyed a prolific period of songwriting. As George Harrison explained: ‘When we came back, it became apparent that there were more songs than would make up a single album.’ Recorded in five months, the double LP The Beatles was soon known as ‘The White Album’ because of its plain white cover. ‘Hey Jude’ and ‘Revolution’ were the first songs to be heard from the sessions when they were released as a single on 30 August 1968 - the first Beatles record to be pressed with the Apple label. Never interested in repeating themselves, The Beatles took a different approach in the studio in 1968. Ringo Starr remembered: ‘On “The White Album” we ended up being a band again and that’s what I always love. I love being in a band.’ Discussing his songwriting, John Lennon reflected: ‘It was a complete reversal from Sgt. Pepper. My songs on the double album were fairly simple and basic.’ It is still astonishing to hear The Beatles moving through every style of popular music imaginable, including a pastiche of a Hollywood musical number (‘Honey Pie’), an intense blues (‘Yer Blues’) and heavy rock (‘Helter Skelter’). As with Sgt. Pepper, no singles were released from ‘The White Album’ in the UK and USA during the 1960s. But it is full of tracks that could have been huge hits, such as ‘Back In The USSR’, ‘Ob-la-di, Ob-la-da’ and ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. In January 1969, while ‘The White Album’ was still at number one, The Beatles assembled to write and rehearse brand new songs for a televised live concert. The plan changed so that, in the end, their work was documented in a movie released over a year later. Its final scene showed The Beatles performing on the roof of their Apple office building in Savile Row, London with most of the audience gathered in the street below. ‘Get Back’, a number one single from the sessions at Apple, was swiftly followed by ‘The Ballad Of John And Yoko’ - a chronicle of John’s marriage to Yoko Ono and their honeymoon/‘Bed-In’ for peace in Amsterdam. Recorded mostly during the summer of 1969, the last album The Beatles made together was named after the street where EMI’s studios are located. It was a fitting tribute to the place where the majority of their songs had been recorded. The Beatles’ collaboration with producer George Martin and the engineers at Abbey Road had challenged the way that popular music was created. On many occasions this team re-wrote the rule book and set a new standard to which their contemporaries had to aspire. In contrast to the January recordings at Apple, which were ‘as live’ with no overdubs, their return to Abbey Road studios with George Martin resulted in carefully crafted tracks with ambitious musical arrangements. The album’s varied highlights include ‘Come Together’ and two songs that showed George Harrison’s songwriting had hit a peak - ‘Something’ and ‘Here Comes The Sun’. However, the character of Abbey Road is dominated by the sophisticated medley the group called ‘The Long One’. It brought the album, and The Beatles’ recording career, to an impressive conclusion. What a farewell. Measured in terms of its enormous popularity and musical ingenuity, Abbey Road now challenges the status of Sgt. Pepper Lonely Hearts Club Band as The Beatles’ greatest achievement. When the earlier set of recordings from 1969 was finally released as Let It Be in May 1970, news had already broken that the group had split up. The album’s title track and ‘The Long And Winding Road’ took the total of American number ones by The Beatles to twenty in six years - a feat unequalled by any other artist. When The Beatles began making records, no one anticipated that they would be listened to far into the future. Pop music was regarded as disposable. But the timeless appeal of The Beatles’ catalogue ensured it was built to last and highly valued. In 1979, the distinguished conductor and composer Leonard Bernstein wrote: ‘Three bars of “A Day In The Life” still sustain me, rejuvenate me, inflame my senses and sensibilities.’ There is also another dimension to the seductive power of The Beatles’ music. Filled with the spirit of the era in which it was born, it is joyous and generous. ‘All You Need Is Love’. ‘With our love - we could save the world.’ ‘The love you take is equal to the love you make.’ Tom Petty felt it: ‘We grew up with The Beatles and grew up trusting them. They could have chosen to do anything and they chose to do good, which is a great example for the rest of us.’ Kevin Howlett

Queen

Queen epitomize all the glittery excess of album-oriented rock in the 1970s, marrying the crunch of heavy metal to the pomp of prog rock then leavening the heady mixture with camp humor. It's an eccentric blend that proves to be surprisingly versatile, allowing for the mock-operatic "Bohemian Rhapsody," soaring arena rock like "Somebody to Love," thumping rockers like "Fat Bottomed Girls," the neo-rockabilly "Crazy Little Thing Called Love," and the disco excursion "Another One Bites the Dust." Queen's range proves that they were a deceptively egalitarian band: they're the only classic rock group where each member wrote at least one of the group's signature songs. Despite this division of labor, frontman <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Freddie Mercury</a> commanded attention both during his life and after his death. A powerful singer with a penchant for drama, <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a> possessed an exaggerated charisma and a devilish sense of humor, qualities that made him one of the great rock stars of his generation. Queen's reign began in earnest with 1975's A Night at the Opera and lasted through The Game in 1980, a half-decade filled with big hits that turned into enduring standards. Although the hits weren't as big in the '80s, the group retained its international popularity through <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a>'s death in 1991. After his passing, Queen's original LPs found a new audience, partially cultivated by surviving members <a href="spotify:artist:2NcbLU1bW55eahD0UgD7U3">Brian May</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2PZEd7yktruWruOqORRChA">Roger Taylor</a> tending to archival releases and staying on the road, either with <a href="spotify:artist:2gaWNB3YrlTc0KRlHNqhol">Paul Rodgers</a> or <a href="spotify:artist:6prmLEyn4LfHlD9NnXWlf7">Adam Lambert</a> as <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a>'s replacement. Queen's legacy also was assisted by the 2018 release of Bohemian Rhapsody, a biopic of the band featuring Rami Malek in an Oscar-winning turn as <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Freddie Mercury</a>. The origins of Queen lay in the hard rock psychedelic group Smile, which guitarist <a href="spotify:artist:2NcbLU1bW55eahD0UgD7U3">Brian May</a> and drummer <a href="spotify:artist:2PZEd7yktruWruOqORRChA">Roger Taylor</a> joined in 1967. Following the departure of Smile's lead vocalist, <a href="spotify:artist:6EtRaGeodP9stdGz92vPtB">Tim Staffell</a>, in 1971, <a href="spotify:artist:2NcbLU1bW55eahD0UgD7U3">May</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2PZEd7yktruWruOqORRChA">Taylor</a> formed a group with <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Freddie Mercury</a>, the former lead singer for Wreckage. Within a few months, bassist <a href="spotify:artist:6KrRVxAW7yvCYrO1ALqPG5">John Deacon</a> joined them, and they began rehearsing. Over the next two years, as all four members completed college, they simply rehearsed, playing just a handful of gigs. By 1973, they had begun to concentrate on their career, releasing their debut album, Queen, that year and setting out on their first tour. Produced by the band, along with <a href="spotify:artist:5UnZl2Izl86NC6yfVwG0CT">Roy Thomas Baker</a> and John Anthony, Queen was more or less a straight metal album and drew favorable comparisons to <a href="spotify:artist:36QJpDe2go2KgaRleHCDTp">Led Zeppelin</a>. However, it was with their sophomore album, Queen II, that the band unexpectedly broke through in Britain in early 1974. Before its release, the band played Top of the Pops, performing "Seven Seas of Rhye." Both the song and the performance were smash successes, and the single rocketed into the Top Ten, setting the stage for Queen II to reach number five. Following its release, the group embarked on its first American tour, supporting <a href="spotify:artist:6ysQi6NI88X627t2srsWz6">Mott the Hoople</a>. On the strength of their campily dramatic performances, the album climbed to number 43 in the States. Queen released their third album, Sheer Heart Attack, before the end of 1974. The music hall-meets-<a href="spotify:artist:36QJpDe2go2KgaRleHCDTp">Zeppelin</a> "Killer Queen" climbed to number two on the U.K. charts, taking the album to number two as well. Sheer Heart Attack made some inroads in America, setting the stage for the breakthrough of 1975's A Night at the Opera. Queen labored long and hard over the record; according to many reports, it was the most expensive rock record ever made at the time of its release. The first single, "Bohemian Rhapsody," became Queen's signature song, and with its bombastic, mock-operatic structure punctuated by heavy metal riffing, encapsulated their ambitious, genre-bending musical vision. To support "Bohemian Rhapsody," Queen shot one of the first conceptual music videos, and the gamble paid off as the single spent nine weeks at number one in England, breaking the record for the longest run at number one. The song and A Night at the Opera were equally successful in America, as the album climbed into the Top Ten and quickly went platinum. Following A Night at the Opera, Queen were established as superstars, yet they continued to work at a rapid rate. In the summer of 1976, they performed a free concert at London's Hyde Park that broke attendance records, and they released the hit single "Somebody to Love" a few months later. It was followed by A Day at the Races, which was essentially a scaled-down version of A Night at the Opera that reached number one in the U.K. and number five in the U.S. They continued to pile up hit singles in both Britain and America over the next five years, as each of their albums went into the Top Ten, always going gold and usually platinum in the process. Featuring the Top Five double-A-sided single "We Are the Champions"/"We Will Rock You," News of the World became a Top Ten hit in 1977. The following year, Jazz nearly replicated that success, with the single "Fat Bottomed Girls"/"Bicycle Race" becoming an international hit. Queen were at the height of their popularity as they entered the '80s, releasing The Game, their most diverse album to date, in 1980. On the strength of two number one singles -- the rockabilly-inspired "Crazy Little Thing Called Love" and the disco-fied "Another One Bites the Dust" -- The Game became the group's first American number one album. Their largely instrumental soundtrack to Flash Gordon arrived later that same year. With the help of <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a>, Queen were able to successfully compete with new wave with the 1981 hit single "Under Pressure" -- their first U.K. number one since "Bohemian Rhapsody" -- which was included both on 1981's Greatest Hits and 1982's Hot Space. Hot Space proved a moderate hit and paved the way for the more rock-oriented The Works, which arrived in 1984. Also a minor hit, it was buoyed the singles "Radio Ga Ga," "Hammer to Fall," and "I Want to Break Free." Shortly afterward, Queen left <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elektra%22">Elektra</a> and signed with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Capitol%22">Capitol</a>. During this period, Queen began touring foreign markets, cultivating a large, dedicated fan base in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. In 1985, they returned to renewed popularity in Britain in the wake of their show-stopping performance at Live Aid. The following year, they released A Kind of Magic to strong European sales. It debuted at number one in the U.K. and remained there for over 60 weeks, spawning the singles "A Kind of Magic," "One Vision," "Friends Will Be Friends," and "Who Wants to Live Forever." The Miracle followed in 1989 and proved similarly successful, debuting at number one in the U.K. and cracking the Top 30 of the Billboard 200. The group's 14th studio album, 1991's Innuendo, was greeted even more favorably, going gold and peaking at number 30 in the U.S. It was a far bigger success in Europe, entering the U.K. charts at number one. However, by 1991, Queen had drastically scaled back their activity, causing rumors to circulate about <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Freddie Mercury</a>'s health. On November 23, the singer issued a statement confirming that he had AIDS. <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a> died the next day from bronchial pneumonia resulting from his illness. The following spring, the remaining members of Queen held a memorial concert at Wembley Stadium that was broadcast to an international audience of more than one billion. Featuring such guest artists as <a href="spotify:artist:0oSGxfWSnnOXhD2fKuz2Gy">David Bowie</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:3PhoLpVuITZKcymswpck5b">Elton John</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:5MspMQqdVbdwP6ax3GXqum">Annie Lennox</a>, <a href="spotify:artist:6H1RjVyNruCmrBEWRbD0VZ">Def Leppard</a>, and <a href="spotify:artist:3qm84nBOXUEQ2vnTfUTTFC">Guns N' Roses</a>, the concert raised millions for the Mercury Phoenix Trust, which was established for AIDS awareness. The concert coincided with a revival of interest in "Bohemian Rhapsody," which climbed to number two in the U.S. and number one in the U.K. in the wake of its appearance in the Mike Myers comedy Wayne's World. Following <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a>'s death, the remaining members of Queen were fairly quiet. <a href="spotify:artist:2NcbLU1bW55eahD0UgD7U3">Brian May</a> released his second solo album, Back to the Light, in 1993, ten years after the release of his first record. <a href="spotify:artist:2PZEd7yktruWruOqORRChA">Roger Taylor</a> cut a few albums with the Cross, which he had been playing with since 1987, while <a href="spotify:artist:6KrRVxAW7yvCYrO1ALqPG5">Deacon</a> essentially retired. The three reunited in 1994 to record backing tapes for vocal tracks <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a> recorded on his deathbed. The resulting album, Made in Heaven, was released in 1995 to strong sales, particularly in Europe. Crown Jewels, a box set repackaging their first eight LPs, followed in 1998. Archival live recordings, DVDs, and compilations continued to appear into the new millennium. The Queen name was revived in 2005, but this time with "+ <a href="spotify:artist:2gaWNB3YrlTc0KRlHNqhol">Paul Rodgers</a>" appended to it. <a href="spotify:artist:2gaWNB3YrlTc0KRlHNqhol">Rodgers</a>, the former lead singer of <a href="spotify:artist:2e53aHBQdCMKWqHDuyJsjC">Free</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:5AEG63ajney2BoDXi0Vb84">Bad Company</a>, joined <a href="spotify:artist:2NcbLU1bW55eahD0UgD7U3">Brian May</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:2PZEd7yktruWruOqORRChA">Roger Taylor</a> (<a href="spotify:artist:6KrRVxAW7yvCYrO1ALqPG5">John Deacon</a> remained retired) for several live shows, one of which was documented on 2005's Return of the Champions, a double-disc release issued by the <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Hollywood%22">Hollywood</a> label. International touring continued, as did a new studio album featuring <a href="spotify:artist:2gaWNB3YrlTc0KRlHNqhol">Rodgers</a>' vocals. Released under the "Queen + <a href="spotify:artist:2gaWNB3YrlTc0KRlHNqhol">Paul Rodgers</a>" tag, The Cosmos Rocks appeared in September 2008, followed by an American release one month later. Reception was decidedly mixed. <a href="spotify:artist:2gaWNB3YrlTc0KRlHNqhol">Rodgers</a> departed Queen in 2009 and in his wake came a new compilation called Absolute Greatest. TV appearances followed over the next two years, including a spot on the 2009 American Idol finale where they performed with <a href="spotify:artist:6prmLEyn4LfHlD9NnXWlf7">Adam Lambert</a>, and in 2010 Queen wound up leaving their home of <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI%22">EMI</a> for <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Island%22">Island</a>, which brought all of the group's recordings to <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Universal+Records%22">Universal Records</a>. A new round of reissues followed in 2011, along with a performance with <a href="spotify:artist:6prmLEyn4LfHlD9NnXWlf7">Lambert</a> at the MTV Europe Music Awards, and the vocalist soon became a fixture with the band, as Queen performed several big concerts and television performances in 2012 and 2013, followed by a full tour in 2014. Also that year, Queen released another compilation, Queen Forever, which was anchored by reworked versions of three old songs, including a solo number by <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a> where he duetted with <a href="spotify:artist:3fMbdgg4jU18AjLCKBhRSm">Michael Jackson</a>. The archival live album, A Night at the Odeon, featuring the band's 1975 Christmas Eve performance at London's Hammersmith Odeon, appeared in 2015. Over the next two years, the band stayed active, appearing live with <a href="spotify:artist:6prmLEyn4LfHlD9NnXWlf7">Lambert</a>. In 2018, Queen was the subject of the biopic Bohemian Rhapsody, which starred Rami Malek as <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Freddie Mercury</a>. The band contributed to the soundtrack, which featured classic tracks as well as live recordings and several songs reworked for the film. Bohemian Rhapsody became an international hit and took home four Academy Awards, including Malek's award for Best Actor. A concert collection featuring <a href="spotify:artist:6prmLEyn4LfHlD9NnXWlf7">Lambert</a>, Live Around the World, arrived in October 2020 but the next major Queen project was an elaborate Collector's Edition reissue of The Miracle. The 1989 album was expanded into a five-CD set containing additional Blu-Rays, DVDs and LPs, all featuring previously unheard material, such as the <a href="spotify:artist:4M1FpEWs2PeYfJe7xxJfhH">Mercury</a>-sung "Face It Alone," which was released as a single prior to the box's October 2022 release. The band continued to tour semi-regularly with <a href="spotify:artist:6prmLEyn4LfHlD9NnXWlf7">Lambert</a> as vocalist, hitting North America in 2023 and Japan in early 2024.~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Lamp

Chevy

joji

Brandy

Whether she was singing pop-friendly urban soul or acting in her own family-oriented sitcom, Brandy's winningly wholesome persona helped catapult her to stardom during her teenage years. She scored the longest-running number one female duet in chart history (teamed with Monica on "The Boy Is Mine"), a testament to her mainstream appeal, and she spent several years as the title character on Moesha, the top-rated series on the fledgling UPN network during the late '90s. As she grew older, her music increasingly mined the middle ground between urban R&B and soft adult contemporary pop, and thanks to her consistent exposure in other arenas, it became more popular than ever. Brandy Rayana Norwood was born February 11, 1979, in McComb, MS, and began singing in church at age two. When she was four, her father was hired as music director at a church in Carson, CA, and after singing a few years later, she decided to pursue a professional singing career, inspired by Whitney Houston. With the help of her family, she began hunting for a record contract, and in 1992 began singing backup for the kiddie R&B group Immature; after enrolling in the Hollywood High Performing Arts Center, she also launched an acting career, appearing in films like Arachnophobia and Demolition Man. She eventually landed a record deal at the mere age of 14 after performing at an Atlantic Records talent showcase; around the same time, she won a supporting role on the short-lived ABC sitcom Thea. In 1994, Brandy released her self-titled debut album, which immediately produced Billboard Hot 100 Top Ten smashes in "I Wanna Be Down" and "Baby," both of which hit number one on the R&B chart; "Brokenhearted" and "Best Friend" went on to smaller successes, and Brandy went on to sell over four million copies during the next several years. She toured with Boyz II Men in 1995, and for a time dated group member Wanya Morris. In 1996, Brandy scored her biggest hit yet with "Sittin' up in My Room," a song she recorded for the Waiting to Exhale soundtrack; it hit number two pop and number one R&B. Early that year, she also debuted on UPN as the star of Moesha, parlaying her musical success into a concurrent acting career. In fact, she took a lengthy hiatus from recording to concentrate on Moesha; apart from "Sittin' up in My Room," her only real activity over the next couple of years was the Set It Off soundtrack single "Missing You," on which she teamed with Chaka Khan, Gladys Knight, and Tamia. In 1997, she branched out by taking the title role in Disney's made-for-TV version of Cinderella, appearing alongside her idol Whitney Houston; the film's star power and integrated cast made it a significant ratings success. Finally, Brandy set about recording her second album. Never Say Never was released in the summer of 1998, and its first single, the Monica duet "The Boy Is Mine," was a mammoth hit, topping the Hot 100 for a staggering 13 weeks. In its wake, "Top of the World" (featuring guest rapper Mase) and "Have You Ever?" were both substantial hits as well, with the latter becoming Brandy's first solo number one Hot 100 hit. Never Say Never spun off an additional three singles -- "Almost Doesn't Count," "Angel in Disguise," and "U Don't Know Me (Like U Used To)" -- on its way to sales of over five million copies. Meanwhile, Brandy's acting career continued to blossom; in 1998, she landed her first major theatrical film role in I Still Know What You Did Last Summer, and the following year, she appeared in another TV movie with Diana Ross called Double Platinum. After being hospitalized for dehydration in late 1999, she cut back her schedule somewhat, concentrating mostly on Moesha until the show was canceled in the spring of 2001. The same year, she voiced a character in the animated film Osmosis Jones, and secretly married producer/songwriter Robert Smith. In early 2002, Brandy released her third album, Full Moon, which entered the Billboard 200 chart at number two and spun off an immediate hit in "What About Us?." That summer, Brandy gave birth to her first child, and her pregnancy became the subject of an MTV documentary series. The singer's fourth album, Afrodisiac, was released in 2004. Its lead single, "Talk About Our Love," was produced by Kanye West and peaked at number 36 on the Hot 100. Although the reviews were positive overall, the album didn't sell as well as any of her previous releases and the singer subsequently split from her longtime label. In December 2006, while driving on the San Diego Freeway, Brandy hit the car in front of her -- an accident that killed the driver and caused a four-car chain reaction. She recorded her fifth album, Human, an adult contemporary R&B leaning set that was released in December 2008 and peaked at number 15 on the Billboard 200. It was her lone release for Epic. A couple years later, she starred beside her brother and parents in the reality television series, Brandy & Ray J: A Family Business. A soundtrack of sorts was released in 2011. She teamed up with Monica once more for the single "It All Belongs to Me" prior to the collaboration-heavy Two Eleven, released in 2012. ~ Steve Huey & Andy Kellman