Rock and Roll

While most bands undergo a number of changes over the course of their careers, few groups experienced such radical stylistic changes as Fleetwood Mac. Initially conceived as a hard-edged British blues combo in the late '60s, the band gradually evolved into a polished pop/rock act over the course of a decade. Throughout all of their incarnations, the only consistent members of Fleetwood Mac were drummer Mick Fleetwood and bassist John McVie -- the rhythm section that provided the band with its name. Ironically, they had the least influence over the musical direction of the band. Originally, guitarists Peter Green and Jeremy Spencer provided the band with its gutsy, neo-psychedelic blues-rock sound, but as both guitarists descended into mental illness, the group began moving toward pop/rock with the songwriting of pianist Christine McVie. By the mid-'70s, Fleetwood Mac had relocated to California, where they added the soft rock duo of Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks to their lineup. Obsessed with the meticulously arranged pop of the Beach Boys and the Beatles, Buckingham helped the band become one of the most popular groups of the late '70s. Combining soft rock with the confessional introspection of singer/songwriters, Fleetwood Mac created a slick but emotional sound that helped 1977's Rumours become one of the biggest-selling albums of all time. The band retained its popularity through the early '80s, when Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine McVie all began pursuing solo careers. The band reunited for one album, 1987's Tango in the Night, before splintering in the late '80s. Buckingham left the group initially, but the band decided to soldier on, releasing one other album before Nicks and McVie left the band in the early '90s, hastening the group's commercial decline.
The roots of Fleetwood Mac lie in John Mayall's legendary British blues outfit, the Bluesbreakers. Bassist John McVie was one of the charter members of the Bluesbreakers, joining the group in 1963. In 1966 Peter Green replaced Eric Clapton, and a year later drummer Mick Fleetwood joined. Inspired by the success of Cream, the Yardbirds, and Jimi Hendrix, the trio decided to break away from Mayall in 1967. At their debut at the British Jazz and Blues Festival in August, Bob Brunning was playing bass in the group, since McVie was still under contract to Mayall. He joined the band a few weeks after their debut; by that time, slide guitarist Jeremy Spencer had joined the band. Fleetwood Mac soon signed with Blue Horizon, releasing their eponymous debut the following year. Fleetwood Mac was an enormous hit in the U.K., spending over a year in the Top Ten. Despite its British success, the album was virtually ignored in America. During 1968, the band added guitarist Danny Kirwan. The following year, they recorded Fleetwood Mac in Chicago with a variety of bluesmen, including Willie Dixon and Otis Spann. The set was released later that year, after the band had left Blue Horizon for a one-album deal with Immediate Records; in the U.S., they signed with Reprise/Warner Bros., and by 1970, Warner began releasing the band's British records as well.

Fleetwood Mac released English Rose and Then Play On during 1969, which both indicated that the band was expanding its music, moving away from its blues purist roots. That year, Green's "Man of the World" and "Oh Well" were number two hits. Though his music was providing the backbone of the group, Peter Green was growing increasingly disturbed due to his large ingestion of hallucinogenic drugs. After announcing that he was planning to give all of his earnings away, Green suddenly left the band in the spring of 1970; he released two solo albums over the course of the '70s, but he rarely performed after leaving Fleetwood Mac. The band replaced him with Christine Perfect, a vocalist/pianist who had earned a small but loyal following in the U.K. by singing with Spencer Davis and the Chicken Shack. She had already performed uncredited on Then Play On. Contractual difficulties prevented her from becoming a full-fledged member of Fleetwood Mac until 1971; by that time she had married John McVie.

Christine McVie didn't appear on 1970's Kiln House, the first album the band recorded without Peter Green. For that album, Jeremy Spencer dominated the band's musical direction, but he had also been undergoing mental problems due to heavy drug use. During the band's American tour in early 1971, Spencer disappeared; it was later discovered that he left the band to join the religious cult the Children of God. Fleetwood Mac had already been trying to determine the direction of their music, but Spencer's departure sent the band into disarray. Christine McVie and Danny Kirwan began to move the band towards mainstream rock on 1971's Future Games, but new guitarist Bob Welch exerted a heavy influence on 1972's Bare Trees. Kirwan was fired after Bare Trees and was replaced by guitarists Bob Weston and Dave Walker, who appeared on 1973's Penguin. Walker left after that album, and Weston departed after making its follow-up, Mystery to Me (1973). In 1974, the group's manager, Clifford Davis, formed a bogus Fleetwood Mac and had the band tour the U.S. The real Fleetwood Mac filed and won a lawsuit against the imposters -- after losing, they began performing under the name Stretch -- but the lawsuit kept the band off the road for most of the year. In the interim, they released Heroes Are Hard to Find. Late in 1974, Fleetwood Mac moved to California, with hopes of restarting their career. Welch left the band shortly after the move to form Paris.

Early in 1975, Fleetwood and McVie were auditioning engineers for the band's new album when they heard Buckingham-Nicks, an album recorded by the soft rock duo Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks. The pair were asked to join the group and their addition revived the band's musical and commercial fortunes. Not only did Buckingham and Nicks write songs, but they brought distinctive talents the band had been lacking. Buckingham was a skilled pop craftsman, capable of arranging a commercial song while keeping it musically adventurous. Nicks had a husky voice and a sexy, hippie gypsy stage persona that gave the band a charismatic frontwoman. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac released their eponymous debut in 1975 and it slowly became a huge hit, reaching number one in 1976 on the strength of the singles "Over My Head," "Rhiannon," and "Say You Love Me." The album would eventually sell over five million copies in the U.S. alone.

While Fleetwood Mac had finally attained their long-desired commercial success, the band was fraying apart behind the scenes. The McVies divorced in 1976, and Buckingham and Nicks' romance ended shortly afterward. The internal tensions formed the basis for the songs on their next album, Rumours. Released in the spring of 1977, Rumours became a blockbuster success, topping the American and British charts and generating the Top Ten singles "Go Your Own Way," "Dreams," "Don't Stop," and "You Make Loving Fun." It would eventually sell over 17 million copies in the U.S. alone, making it the second biggest-selling album of all time. Fleetwood Mac supported the album with an exhaustive, lucrative tour and then retired to the studio to record their follow-up to Rumours. A wildly experimental double album conceived largely by Buckingham, 1979's Tusk didn't duplicate the enormous success of Rumours, yet it did go multi-platinum and featured the Top Ten singles "Sara" and "Tusk." In 1980, they released the double-album Live.

Following the Tusk tour, Fleetwood, Buckingham, and Nicks all recorded solo albums. Of the solo projects, Stevie Nicks' Bella Donna (1981) was the most successful, peaking at number one and featuring the hit singles "Stop Draggin' My Heart Around," "Leather and Lace," and "Edge of Seventeen." Buckingham's Law and Order (1981) was a moderate success, spawning the Top Ten "Trouble." Fleetwood, for his part, made a world music album called The Visitor. Fleetwood Mac reconvened in 1982 for Mirage. More conventional and accessible than Tusk, Mirage reached number one and featured the hit singles "Hold Me" and "Gypsy."

After Mirage, Buckingham, Nicks, and Christine McVie all worked on solo albums. The hiatus was due to a variety of reasons. Each member had his or her own manager, Nicks was becoming the group's breakaway star, Buckingham was obsessive in the studio, and each member was suffering from various substance addictions. Nicks was able to maintain her popularity, with The Wild Heart (1983) and Rock a Little (1985) both reaching the Top 15. Christine McVie also had a Top Ten hit with "Got a Hold on Me" in 1984. Buckingham received the strongest reviews of all, but his 1984 album Go Insane failed to generate a hit. Fleetwood Mac reunited to record a new album in 1985. Buckingham, who had grown increasingly frustrated with the musical limitations of the band, decided to make it his last Fleetwood Mac project. When the resulting album, Tango in the Night, was finally released in 1987, it was greeted with mixed reviews but strong sales, reaching the Top Ten and generating the Top 20 hits "Little Lies," "Seven Wonders," and "Everywhere."

Buckingham decided to leave Fleetwood Mac after completing Tango in the Night, and the group replaced him with guitarists Billy Burnette and Rick Vito. The new lineup of the band recorded their first album, Behind the Mask, in 1990. It became the band's first album since 1975 to not go gold. Following its supporting tour, Nicks and Christine McVie announced they would continue to record with the group, but not tour. Vito left the band in 1991, and the group released the box set 25 Years -- The Chain the following year. The classic Fleetwood Mac lineup of Fleetwood, the McVies, Buckingham, and Nicks reunited to play President Bill Clinton's inauguration in early 1993, but the concert did not lead to a full-fledged reunion. Later that year, Nicks left the band and was replaced by Bekka Bramlett and Dave Mason; Christine McVie left the group shortly afterward. The new lineup of Fleetwood Mac began touring in 1994, releasing Time the following year to little attention. While the new version of Fleetwood Mac wasn't commercially successful, neither were the solo careers of Buckingham, Nicks, and McVie, prompting speculation of a full-fledged reunion in 1997. The live album Shrine 69 was released in 1999. Say You Will, the first Fleetwood Mac studio album in 15 years, appeared in April 2003. It also marked the group's first set without Christine McVie since 1997's live effort,

The Doors were a four person musical band of the 1960s and early 1970s, consisting of Jim Morrison (vocals, b. 1943 d. 1971), Ray Manzarek (organ, keyboard, b. 1939), Robbie Krieger (guitar, b. 1946) and John Densmore (drums, b. 1944)

The group started in 1965 in Los Angeles, California, after a meeting between UCLA film school graduates Morrison and Manzarek. Morrison sang Manzarek some of his poetry and song lyrics including "Moonlight Drive." Manzarek was already in a band called Rick And The Ravens while Krieger and Densmore were playing with The Psychedelic Rangers, but knew Manzarek from shared meditation instruction. The latter two, along with a female bass player, were rapidly recruited and the band took up a number of club residences first at LA's "London Fog" and later the "Whiskey-A-Go-Go".

To fans of the Doors, the music included socially and politically charged lyrics mostly written by Jim Morrison. The jazz drumming of John Densmore, the swirling keyboards of Ray Manzarek, whose left hand played the parts typically associated with bass guitar, and Robbie Krieger's guitar playing, which showed the influence of flamenco, Indian, the blues and classical music, combined to form a distinctive sound.

The band took their name from a line in a book by Aldous Huxley, The Doors of Perception, which was in turn borrowed from a line of poetry by the 18th century artist and poet William Blake: "If the doors of perception were cleansed, everything would appear to man as it truly is, infinite."

The Doors quickly earned a reputation as an entertaining live act. In one known incident, at a 1969 concert in Miami, Florida, Morrison allegedly exposed himself. Misdemeanour and felony charges were brought against Morrison. The misdemeanour charges stuck. The incident remains inconclusive. Jim Morrison said, "I wasted a lot of time with the Miami trial. About a year and a half. But I guess it was a valuable experience because before the trial I had a very unrealistic schoolboy attitude about the American judicial system. My eyes have been opened up a bit."

In 1971, Morrison died in mysterious circumstances while living in Paris, leaving some fans believing that Morrison faked his death in order to escape the spotlight. The remaining Doors continued, Manzarek replacing Morrison as singer, and released two more albums, Other Voices and Full Circle. The band was very successful with all four original members.

In late 2002, Manzarek and Krieger revived the Doors, recruiting singer Ian Astbury of The Cult, as well as drummer Ty Dennis and bassist Angelo Barbera, both of the Robbie Krieger Band. The Doors are remembered for shamanistic live performances. Some people of the "establishment" thought that they were just more American rock music rebels. Jim Morrison said "I like any reaction I can get with my music. Just anything to get people to think. I mean if you can get a whole room full of drunk, stoned people to actually wake up and think, you're doing something."

Their ongoing popularity is tallied by continuing sales of their early work.

Welcome To A Short Biography On The Life Of
Elvis Aaron Presley. No One Page Could Explain
The Amazing Life He Led, But Here We Will Babble
A Little For The Ones Who May Not Be Familiar
With His Life Story. Or, For People That Are
Just Now Becoming Elvis Fans.
Elvis Aron Presley Was Born To Gladys And Vernon
Presley On January 8th, 1935. In The Humblest Of
Circumstances, In A Two Room House In Tupelo,
Mississippi. He Also Had A Stillborn Brother Named
Jesse Garon, Which Arrived About A Half Hour Before
Elvis Did. After Some Very Hard Times In Tupelo,
Elvis And His Parents Moved To Memphis, Tennessee
In 1948 And Elvis Graduated From "Humes High School"
There In 1953. He Worked Various Jobs Through His
High School Years, He Was A Movie "Usher" And Even
Drove A Truck For "Crown Electric" Before His Rise To
Fame. The Presley's Moved Around Memphis Quite A
Bit Before Elvis Bought "Graceland" In March Of 1957.
(Elvis Owned Several Houses, Not Only Graceland ..
He Would Also Later Change The Spelling Of His Middle
Name To Aaron, It Was Spelled Aron On His Birth
Certificate). His Musical Influences Were The Pop And
Country Music Of The Day, The Country Gospel He
Heard In Church And At The All Night Sings He
Frequently Attended, As Well As The Black R&B He
Absorbed On Historic "Beale Street" As A Memphis
Teenager. He Started His Singing Career Pre 1954,
Even Making A Record (Supposedly) As A Gift For His
Mother In July Of 1953, With The Legendary "SUN"
Records Label In Memphis. In Late 1955 His Contract
Was Sold To RCA Victor. By 1956 He Was A Inter-
national Sensation! His Sound And His Style Were
Uniquely Combined With A Diverse Musical Influence
And It Challenged The Social And Racial Barriers Of The
Time. He Ushered In A Whole New Era Of American Music
And Popular Culture! By The 1960's He Was Starring In
Movies, 33 In All. He Had Even Made A Couple Of
Movies Before The 1960's. He Was Inducted Into The
Army In 1958, Until His Leave From The Army In 1960.
After Returning He Gets Right Back Into The Movie Deals
And Soundtrack Albums. He Would Not Perform In Front
Of Live Crowds Again Until 1968, The Comeback Special.
Late 1960's He Would Tour In Las Vegas And By 1970 He
Was Back On Tour, Wearing The Famous Jumpsuits. The
King Of Rock & Roll Had Returned! Throughout The 1970's
Elvis Would Remain Touring. His Talent, Good Looks,
Sensuality, Charisma And Good Humor Endeared Him To
Millions. Known The World Over By His First Name, He
Is Regarded As The Most Important Cultural Figure Of The
20th Century!! The World's Most Photographed Man!
Elvis Died In His Beloved Home "Graceland" On August 16th, 1977.
.. Long Live The King ..

Not to be confused with the British punk band Boys, the American clod rock of the Boyzz brought biker imagery, a bit of Godz blasphemy, and the heavy boogie of Black Oak Arkansas to the late-'70s commercial party. The Boyzz were vocalist "Dirty" Dan Buck, keyboardist Anatole Halinkovich (now Tony Hall), guitarists Gil Pini and Mike Tafoya, bassist Dave Angel, plus drummer Kent Cooper. The ruckus of their first and only slab, Too Wild to Tame, caused tremors throughout the heartland and is now something of a lost metal curio. But lack of intellectualism and record sales caught up to the band, with Halinkovich, Tafoya, and Angel clearing out and cleaning up to become the ace pop act B'zz. Around the turn of the century, Tafoya, Buck, and Angel re-formed the Boyzz

Formed : 1959 (Tacoma, WA)
Genres: Instrumental rock, Surf, Rock and roll
Principal Members: Bob Bogle (b. Robert Lenard Bogle, January 16, 1934, Wagoner, OK): bass guitar, lead guitar
Don Wilson (b. February 10, 1933, Tacoma, WA): rhythm guitar
Nokie Edwards (b. Nole Floyd Edwards, May 9, 1935, Nahoma, OK): lead guitar, bass guitar
Mel Taylor (b. September 24, 1933, New York, NY (Brooklyn); d. August 11, 1996, Tarzana, CA): drums

Contributions to music:
The world's most popular instrumental rock group of all time
One of the crucial elements in the development of and popularizing of surf music
Have covered thousands of songs from all areas of the modern musical landscape
Important in popularizing the guitars/bass/drums combo as the standard for rock music
Helped popularize the lead guitar as a crucial component of rock and roll
A major influence on surf, hard rock, punk, and metal guitarists
Early years: Seattle guitarists Bob Dogle and Don Wilson originally got together, ironically enough, to cut a vocal record, an ultra-rare 45 called "Cookies and Coke" that went nowhere in 1959. The next year, however, they recorded a version of Chet Atkins' album track "Walk Don't Run," done in the new surf-rock style, and pressed it on their own Blue Horizon label, started with money from Wilson's mother. It originally went nowhere, too, but they convinced DJ Pat O'Day, of local station KJR, to use "Walk" as a lead-in to news broadcasts. Before long, local Dolton Records -- which had turned down their vocal 45 -- picked it up.
Success: The record was an instant national smash, and the Ventures began cranking out album after album of similar instrumentals, all built around popular fads and tunes of the day -- surfing, twisting, country, whatever. At their peak they recorded five or sis albums a year, and they all sold well: 1963 saw the group with five albums in the Billboard Hot 100 simultaneously. In 1962, Howie Johnson left the group due to injuries suffered from a car accident and was replaced by session man Mel Taylor, who'd played on Bobby "Boris" Pickett's "Monster Mash" and other big hits of the day. This solidified their '60s lineup.
Later years: In 1969, the group scored another huge single with their version of the "Hawaii Five-O" theme, which also got its initial notice when a radio station began using it as background music in commercials for the popular CBS detective show. But by the early Seventies, their style of music had begun to wane in popularity (albeit only in their homeland). Although recognized as masters by guitar aficionados, most of their touring today centers around Europe and Japan, where they remain a wildly popular draw, with Bob and Don still leading the group after almost fifty years.
Other facts:
Other members have included: Skip Moore, drums (1960); Howie Johnson, drums (1960-1962); Gerry McGee, guitar (1968-1972, 1985-present); John Durrill, keyboards (1969-1973); Leon Taylor, drums (1996-present)
"Walk Don't Run" is the only song to hit the US Top 40 in two different versions by the same band
"The 2000 Lb. Bee" was the first recording to use a "fuzz box" on guitar, and was played at John Belushi's funeral
The group has sold over 40 million records in Japan, and sold twice as many records as the Beatles there in the Sixties
Made four "instructional" albums, each with a different member's instrument deleted
Awards/Honors:
GRAMMY Hall of Fame (2006)
Pacific Northwest Hall of Fame (1999)
Guitar Player Magazine Lifetime Achievement Award (1993)
Recorded work: Top 10 hits:
Pop:
"Walk -- Don't Run" (1960)
"Walk-Don't Run '64 (1964)
"Hawaii Five-0" (1969)
Top 10 albums:
Pop:
The Ventures Play Telstar, The Lonely Bull (1963)
The Ventures' Christmas Album (1965)
Other notable recordings: "No Trespassing," "Perfidia," "Ram-Bunk-Shush," "Lullaby Of The Leaves," "Yellow Jacket," "Driving Guitars (Ventures Twist)," "Roadrunner," "Twisted," "Spudnik," "Night Drive," "2000 Pound Bee, Pts. 1 & 2," "The Savage," "Moon Child," "Journey To The Stars," "Fugitive," "Pedal Pusher," "Slaughter On Tenth Avenue," "Diamond Head," "Action Plus," "Dick Tracy," "Flights Of Fantasy," "Underground Fire"
Covered by: The Shadows, Everclear

Singer/songwriter Jimmy Buffett has translated his easy-going Gulf Coast persona into more than just a successful recording career -- he has expanded into clothing, nightclubs, and literature. But the basis of the business empire that keeps him on the Fortune magazine list of highest-earning entertainers is his music.

Buffett was born on Christmas Day on the shores of the Gulf Coast in Pascagoula, Mississippi and later moved to Mobile, Alabama where he was raised. This is where he developed his early Cajun influences and appreciation for country/folk music. The Gulf Coast is also where Jimmy developed his love for the sea and sailing, largely due to the influences of his grandfather.

Jimmy attended Auburn University, and later received a B.S. in History from the University of Southern Mississippi in 1969.

Jimmy's own words describe his early days:
"I got into music basically to meet girls, no doubt about it. Women have always been an influence on my music, good and bad. It looked like the greatest job in the world. I was in college at the time, a freshman at Auburn University. I was a shy, awkward kid from Mobile, kind of a wallflower. My roommate had a guitar, and even though he knew only three chords, he always seemed to be the center of attention with women. I said, 'Teach me those chords'."

So I learned the guitar and started hanging around folk clubs, watching the bands. They all had big shiny Martin guitars; I would've given my right arm for a Martin guitar. And the women -- all the time women -- were hanging around the band. I thought: this is the job for me"

Before he signed his first record contract in 1970, Jimmy worked as a writer for Billboard Magazine in Nashville, Tennessee.

He released one album for Barnaby Records, called "Down to Earth" in 1970, the single from which, a socially conscious song called, "The Christian," suggested he might be more at home protesting in Greenwich Village. Barnaby "lost" his second album, "High Cumberland Jubilee", though they would find it and release it after he became successful. Instead, he moved to Key West, FL, where he gradually evolved the beach bum character and tropical folk-rock style that would endear him to millions.

Jimmy tells the story:
"I was always a lover of the lyrical song, and I think the people who influenced me in those days typified my upbringing. I grew up in Mobile, and my relatives on my grandmother's side were a kind of Cajun, Indian, wild people from that area. My grandfather was a sailing-ship captain who migrated from Nova Scotia. So it was a gumbo type of musical experience. I'd listen to the radio from New Orleans -- Benny Spellman, Irma Thomas, and great old black New Orleans artists -- which is contrary to what most people think. They assume if you come from Alabama, you listen to country music. I didn't really like it much; all my early influences were out of New Orleans".

"I first started playing in folk clubs, and I drew on all this great Gulf Coast, New Orleans, black input. I was also listening to people like Gordon Lightfoot and Joni Mitchell, who were great writers above everything else. I wanted to write clever, good songs like those people".

"I was in Nashville in 1971. I'd been turned down by 26 record labels and couldn't get songs published. I had wrecked my first wife's car, and I had no alternative, I thought, but to look toward warmer climates. So I took an expired Diner's Club card, held my thumb over the expiration date, went to the TWA counter, and bought a ticket to Miami. I was supposed to have a job at a little coffee house called the Flip, the "in" place for folkies in south Florida then. At any rate, I got to Miami, and of course there was no job. I was in Florida, with no job, and I was broke. Fortunately my old friend Jerry Jeff Walker had a house there and took me in. So I lived in Coconut Grove for about 6 months and worked the folk circuit. I had always wanted to go to Key West. Watching Edward G. Robinson and Humphrey Bogart in Key Largo was the catalyst that sent me farther South. So we got into Jerry Jeff's '47 Packard and took the old overseas highway to Key West. We got there sometime in November; the temperature was about 85 degrees, there was a sailboat race going on, I found a bar, and the rest is history".

Signing to ABC-Dunhill Records, Buffett achieved notoriety but not much else with his second (released) album, White Sport Coat & a Pink Crustacean (1973), which featured a song called, "Why Don't We Get Drunk" ("... and screw?," goes the chorus).

Buffett revealed a more thoughtful side on "Living & Dying in 3/4 Time" (1974), with its song of marital separation "Come Monday," his first singles-chart entry.

"I was in Europe on a film documentary, shopping in a department store in London, when I heard "Come Monday" over the loudspeaker. I thought I'd better call home and see what was happening, and by that time it was #10 or so. I had to stay in Europe for three more months, yet everything had taken off in the U.S."

But it took the Top Ten song "Margaritaville" and the album in which it was featured, "Changes in Latitudes, Changes in Attitudes" (1977), to capture Buffett's tropical worldview and, for a while, turn him into a pop star. The next release, the title track from the album, sounded so much like Margaritaville that it received little air-play and follow-ups got even less. Still, Buffett's beach bum image made fans flock to his concerts and he became a top draw.

By the start of the '80s, Buffett's yearly albums had stopped going gold, and he briefly tried the country market again. But by the middle of the decade, it was his yearly summer tours that were filling his bank account, as a steadily growing core of Sun Belt fans he dubbed "Parrotheads" made his concerts into Mardi Gras-like affairs. Buffett launched his Margaritaville line of clothes and opened the first of his Margaritaville clubs in Key West. He also turned to fiction writing, landing on the book bestseller lists. He also found time for his passion of flying, purchasing his own sea-plane and taking off in an F-14 Tomcat from the deck of an air-craft carrier.

His recording career, meanwhile, languished, though a hits compilation called "Songs you know by heart", sold millions, a 1990 live album, "Feeding Frenzy", went gold, and a 1992 box-set retrospective, "Boats, Beaches, Bars & Ballads", became one of the bestselling box sets ever.

Buffett finally got around to making a new album in 1994, when "Fruitcakes" became one of his fastest-selling records, reaching "platinum" status. The title track received plenty of radio air-play and the LP entered Billboard's Top 200 album chart at number 5. It was followed in 1995 by "Barometer Soup", which entered the charts at number 6 and went "gold" (with some help from The Weather Channel even), and the number 4 platinum selling "Banana Wind" in 1996, from which he got airplay with a radio single of James Taylor's "Mexico". The following year, Buffett began working on a musical adaptation of Herman Wouk's novel Don't Stop the Carnival with the author himself. After Broadway producers expressed little interest, the production ran for six weeks in Miami during 1997. In spring of 1998, Buffett released "Don't Stop The Carnival", an album based on the book and the play. He began mulling over the idea of taking the play on the road (it went to Miami and the Bahamas). He also released another book - the number one selling A Pirate Looks At Fifty.

1999 brought more successful live shows and the release of two new albums, "Beach House On the Moon" and "Buffett Live - Tuesdays, Thursdays, Saturdays", both of which went "gold".

March of 2002 saw the release of "Far Side of the World", Buffett's first studio album for his new self-run label, Mailboat Records. In mid 2003 a double-album hits compilation "Meet Me In Margaritaville" was released and his 2003 Tiki Time Tour shows were recorded and released on Mailboat. Amidst the summer tour was a number one single with Alan Jackson on "It's Five O'Clock Somewhere" - Buffett's first ever number one in music. The Tiki Time Tour ended in January of 2004 in Hawaii (the live album and DVD was released through Mailboat in the fall of 2004 and was released nation wide in the spring of 2005 with the same DVD from the two shows). In December, before the Hawaii shows, he recorded a new record in Key West with a group of country stars and various well respected musicians. Originally called Conchy Tonk , (and later changed to) "License To Chill" debuted at number one on the Billboard LP chart in mid-July of 2004 - Jimmy's first ever number one album. It spun off two Top Ten videos on CMT - the Hank Williams cover of "Hey Good Lookin'" and the Buffett / Martina McBride duet "Trip Around The Sun". Jimmy was even featured in Rolling Stone - the summer of 2004 was truly Buffett's summer. Part of the Chill tour was playing Fenway Park in Boston.

Just in time for Christmas of 2004, he released another book, a continuation of the travels of Tully Mars (from Tales From Margaritaville). A Salty Piece of Land did not get to number one but it did sell very well. Its first printing run included a song called "A Salty Piece Of Land" that was a leftover from the Conchy Tonk / License To Chill sessions.

A Salty Piece Of Land 2005 Summer Tour saw Jimmy playing in football stadiums (Pittsburgh) and another baseball stadium (Wrigley in Chicago for two nights) along with the usual ampitheatres.

In February, 2006, Buffett announced that he would take the summer off from touring. "I'm kinda taking it easy now," he said in a conversation with Radio Margaritaville DJ Miles Hampton. "It's the last summer with my kids before they go off to boarding school, so I'm gonna travel with them and work the spring and the fall. I don't want to do much right now."

Buffett has also been putting in time at his Shrimp Boat Studios in Key West, Fla., recording the follow-up to 2004's "License to Chill".

Jimmy Buffett remains one of the hottest concert draws ever, playing sold out shows to legions of "Parrot Heads" where ever he goes.

Detroit's Amboy Dukes are best remembered for their 1968 acid-rock classic "Journey to the Center of the Mind," as well as introducing the world to "the Motor City Madman", guitarist Ted Nugent.

Nugent was born in Detroit, Michigan in 1948 and started playing guitar at age nine. Early in 1960, he formed his first group, "the Royal High Boys", and by 1962 had moved on to "the Lourds". The Lourds won a Battle of the Bands contest, with fourteen year old Nugent doing a guitar solo on the judge's table. Soon, they were opening for the Supremes and The Beau Brummels.

Much to his regret, Nugent's family moved to Chicago in 1965 where young Ted formed a new band. He had heard of a Detroit group who had just broken up called "Amboy Dukes" and started using the name for his new Chicago band. "The Amboy Dukes" was actually the name of a novel about gang members and their lifestyle. In later interviews, Nugent said that although many people have given him a copy of the book, he has never actually read it.

Nugent returned to southeastern Michigan in 1967, and assembled a new Dukes line-up including vocalist John Drake, a former bandmate in the Lourds, as well as rhythm guitarist Steve Farmer, bassist Bill White, keyboardist Rick Lober and drummer Dave Palmer. The group quickly emerged as one of the hottest attractions in the Detroit.

After a series of line-up shifts which saw White and Lober exit in favor of bassist Greg Arama and keyboardist Andy Solomon, in 1968 the Dukes released their album "Journey to the Center of the Mind" on the local "Mainstream" label. The title track, which Nugent wrote the music for Steve Farmer's lyrics, was released as a single and climbed the U.S. pop chart to number 16. Despite its apparent drug related theme, Nugent himself claims to have "never smoke a joint...never done a drug in my life. I thought 'Journey to the Center of the Mind' meant look inside yourself, use your head, and move forward in life".

By the time the Amboy Dukes recorded their follow-up L.P. in 1969, vocalist Rusty Day had replaced John Drake. "Migrations", failed to equal the success of its predecessor and a third effort, "Marriage on the Rocks" was issued later that same year. It was also a disappointment, and after 1971's "Survival of the Fittest", Nugent dismissed Day and Solomon as Dave Palmer left the group to accept an engineering job at Electric Lady Studios.

Nugent would later explain, "There never really was a break-up of the Amboy Dukes. It just got to be such a revolving door mentality with the musicians. I was so upset internally with the amount of effort I was putting out with the constant human battering I was doing with the musicians. I was bailing them out of jail for breaking into a Coke machine or because they got caught with a joint. I felt like I was a babysitter. I also acted as a road manager. I used to book the band. I used to maintain all the equipment. I used to change the oil in the cars. I used to drive the truck and set it up. I handled all the hotels. I kept all the ledger books. I did everything. So for the first time in my life I took a year off. It was too loony".

As it turned out, Nugent took only three months off, but it changed his life. He went to Colorado to go deer hunting and found it to be of incredible therapeutic value.

Nugent's magnificent self-titled 1975 solo album set the stage for a spectacular career of hell raising guitar mayhem. A master guitarist, accomplished songwriter and wild showman, it was no surprise that the success of Ted Nugent led to a rapid fire succession of multi-platinum albums including "Free For All" (featuring budding musical star Meat Loaf on several cuts), "Cat Scratch Fever", "Double Live Gonzo", "Weekend Warriors" and "State Of Shock".

On a sad note, Nugent's old friend from his Amboy Duke days, bassist Greg Arama was killed in a motorcycle accident on September 18th, 1979, at the age of 29.

By the time the Eighties arrived, Ted Nugent's commercial fortunes took a nosedive. But the ever resilient guitarist carried on, recording a string of new studio albums ("Scream Dream", "Intensities In 10 Cities", "Nugent", "Penetrator", "If You Can't Lick 'Em, Lick 'Em") and logging millions of miles on the rock and roll highway.

The Nineties were kinder to Ted, with a major renaissance in the shape of a new supergroup, "Damn Yankees", a band whose recruits included former Styx guitarist, Tommy Shaw, ex-Night Ranger bassist, Jack Blades and drummer Michael Cartellone. The group's self-titled 1990 debut was an instant success and included the # 3 smash, "High Enough". Enjoying his newfound commercial success, Nugent was able to balance a blockbuster career with Damn Yankees and as a solo artist, while allowing ample time for his other great love, hunting, and what he celebrates as "The Great Spirit Of The Wild".

Into the 21st Century, after five decades of hard rockin', Ted Nugent remains a distinctive and uncompromising musician whose thirst for rock and roll is unequalled. A world renowned hunter, NRA board member, New York Times best selling author, magazine publisher (Ted Nugent's Adventure Outdoors), award-winning writer for over forty publications, radio personality, and business entrepreneur, Ted Nugent still lives and dies for the raucous scream that is his sacred rock and roll. A live 2001 album called "Full Bluntal Nugity" was supported by a 28 date tour with Lynyrd Skynyrd and Deep Purple.

In January, 2004, Ted hopped on the reality TV bandwagon, hosting "Surviving Ted: The Ted Commandments" for VH1, where contestants attempt to live in survival mode on one of his ranches. Ted almost didn't survive himself, having an unfortunate accident with a chainsaw during the making of the show. He required 40 stitches to close the wound.

With a two minute recording "KIND OF A DRAG," five teenagers from Chicago's west side, found themselves propelled into the national spotlight. Neighborhood kids drawn together by music, they had landed a showcase on WGN TV's All Time Hits, and succeeded in recording their first original song on USA Records. In February of 1967, the single swiftly climbed to the #1 spot on the national music charts.


The Buckinghams formed in 1965 when Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna of The Centuries joined up with Jon Jon Poulos and Dennis Tufano of The Pulsations. After adding keyboard player Dennis Miccoli, the group won a 'Battle of the Bands' for a Chicago TV show called All Time Hits and became regulars on the show for 14 weeks. The British invasion was happening at that time and the TV show wanted the band to have a more British sounding name. A security guard that worked for the TV station suggested the name The Buckinghams.

Landing a contract with Chicago's USA Records in 1966, the group was sent to Chess studios where they were paired with producer Dan Belloc. Their first releases were all cover versions of other artists songs: James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy", the Beatles' "I Call Your Name" and the Hollies' "I've Been Wrong Before." While these songs did well in the Chicago area, it took the wistful, Jim Holvay written, "Kind of a Drag" to break the group nationally. The song featured the powerful vocals of Dennis Tufano and a punchy, soul-styled horn section that was the brainchild of James Guercio, who would later go on to produce the band Chicago. Soon after "Kind Of A Drag" was recorded, Dennis Miccoli was replaced by Marty Grebb, the keyboard player from the Chicago folk-rock band The Exceptions.

In just a few weeks, the Buckinghams had a million-selling, chart-topper on their hands. "Kind of a Drag" did for The Buckinghams what no other act seemed to be able to do at that time...knock the Monkees' monster hit "I'm A Believer" out of the #1 spot.

After the demise of USA Records, the Buckinghams signed with Columbia Records and followed "Kind Of A Drag" with a cover version of Lloyd Price's, "Lawdy Miss Clawdy" that quickly stalled at number 36. Columbia wasted no time in going back to the formula that worked so well the first time out, releasing another song co-written by Jim Holvay along with Gary Beisbier called "Don't You Care". That effort secured another top ten hit, when it reached number 6 on the Billboard chart. Not all of their singles had quite as much success though, as "Back In Love Again" topped out at #32.

Cashing in on a good thing, The Buckinghams appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show, The Jerry Lewis Show, American Bandstand, The Smothers Brothers, Entertainment Tonight, P.M. Magazine, and Classic Rock with Wolfman Jack. Between appearances, the band recorded a vocal adaptation of Cannonball Adderley's jazz standard "Mercy, Mercy, Mercy," that soared to number 5.

Still in 1967, Columbia kept pushing out Buckingham singles and a Holvay / Beisbier / Guercio composition called "Susan" made it up to number 11, while "Hey Baby" (They're Playin' Our Song) went to number 12.

Despite selling millions of records and being voted "The Most Listened-To Band of 1967" by Billboard Magazine, the band's Fortunas began to decline in 1968. Their cleverly titled album, "In One Ear and Gone Tomorrow" seemed to be a forecast of things to come, as the LP couldn't produce a hit single. Several line-up changes only undermined their sound and by late 1969, The Buckinghams had decided to pack it in.

Carl Giammarese and Dennis Tufano continued working as an acoustic duo. Work was tough to find and Chicago area clubs were not interested. A demo tape for Reprise Records was turned down. Jon Poulos had started to manage local bands and tried to help. Giammarese and Tufano recorded an entire album demo for Poulos to promote, but nobody wanted to sign them. From there the pair contacted producer Jack Richardson, who worked with The Guess Who. Richardson brought in members of Poco as studio musicians and they laid down three promotional tracks. Poulos sent the demo to every major label, but got no response. He finally contacted former Mamas and Papas producer Lou Adler, who now had his own custom label, Ode Records. Two days after receiving the tape, Adler called to say that he liked the sound and Giammarese and Tufano flew to Los Angeles to audition live. Adler was even more impressed and signed them.

A self-titled Tufano - Giammarese album was released on Ode in 1973 and the first single, "Music Everywhere" managed to climb to #68 on Billboard's Hot 100. A second tune called "Rise Up" was issued the same year, but did not chart. To promote the album, Tufano and Giammarese went out on a two month, nine state promotional tour with Cheech & Chong.

Four tracks for a second album for Ode had been finished when Lou Adler took sick and had to keep leaving the sessions. A discouraged Giammarese decided he'd had enough and began doing session work. During this period, Adler's health declined to a point where he could not make records anymore, but eventually, the second album, titled "The Tufano & Giammarese Band" came together. When the subject of a third album came up, Adler said he will not do another unless he had assurance that Giammarese would stick around for the whole project. To get back on track, the pair assembled a new band, worked clubs and learned new songs. Lou Adler agreed to produce a third LP called "The Other Side". By now Ode was being distributed by Epic Records. Adler hired Hank Cicalo as an engineer and Tom Scott to arrange. On the first day of recording, Adler announced 'I cannot produce anymore, I lost my ear. I want to make movies.' Tom Scott and Hank Cicalo became the producers. The record was finished and made it into record stores, but one week later, Adler cut off the distribution deal with Epic. He wanted to be distributed by Columbia instead. Adler re-released the album, but Columbia had little interest and failed to promote it.

In 1980 The Buckinghams were invited to do a reunion by Chicago radio station WLS. Marty Grebb had to decline because he was working with Leon Russell. 32 year old Jon Jon Poulos died of drug-related causes earlier in the year. It had been eleven years since anyone had seen The Buckinghams play, but after they rehearsed, the pulled off three shows like they had never been apart. The exposure brought a lot of other offers to appear, but Tufano lived in Los Angeles and had other commitments. Carl Giammarese and Nick Fortuna however, decided to reunite as The Buckinghams.

The band toured extensively as a nostalgia act with Giammarese and Fortuna and released new recordings, the album "A Matter Of Time" and the single "Veronica" in 1985 for Red Label records. They were also a part of the highly successful Happy Together Tour which featured The Turtles, The Grass Roots and Gary Lewis. The tour was consistently one of the Top 10 grossing tours.

During the '80s and 90s, Tufano was not only involved in acting, but joined up with Elton John's songwriting partner, Bernie Taupin in a band called Farm Dogs. An album by Farm Dogs, "Last Stand In Open Country" was released in July, 1996 on Discovery Records.

The Buckinghams continued to be a very impressive band, playing festivals, concerts, casinos, cruises, and corporate dates around the world as interest in 60's hits and the bands that made them famous continued. Their clean and tight musical ability combined with trademark vocals made them a popular draw.

More recently, the latest edition of The Buckinghams released some new recordings that include, 1998's "Terra Firma" and "Made In Chicago" in 2001. In October, 2004, The Buckinghams sang the national anthem at Comiskey Park in Chicago before game one of the American Baseball League playoffs. They also toured the country with the "Solid Gold Sixties Tour" along with Tommy James, The Turtles, The Grass Roots, Paul Revere and the Raiders and Gary Puckett.

Biography
CHUCK BERRY
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------GENERAL INFORMATION

Birth Name: Charles Edward Anderson Berry
Born: October 18, 1926, in St. Louis, Missouri
Parents: Henry and Martha Berry
Wife: Themetta "Toddy" Suggs
Children: Four; one daughter, Ingrid Berry Clay, is a singer and often performs with her father
Weight: 180 pounds
Musically influenced by: Nat "King" Cole, Muddy Waters


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------


FAVORITES

Food: Enjoys beef and seafood, peaches, home fries, candied yams, chili,
grape soda, orange juice, Snickers bars and Dutch apple pie. Despises liver,
okra, gumbo, celery, carrots, cooked onions, grapefruit, salami and liquor.

Hobbies: Playing music, softball, twenty questions, chess, croquet, highway driving

Comedians: Lucille Ball


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Riding Along In My Automobile..." - lyrics which for many encapsultate
the music of Charles Edward Anderson Berry - better known as Chuck Berry,
or as John Lennon once said: "If you tried to give rock'n'roll another name,
you might call it 'Chuck Berry' ".

Born 18th October 1926 in St. Louis, Missouri where he learned the guitar.
After a period in jail for armed robbery at the age of eighteen, Berry began
playing guitar in various St. Louis bar bands.

It wasn't until 1951, however that he actually recorded some of his composition
ideas on a home tape recorder. He then joined Johnnie Johnson (piano) and
Ebby Hardy (drums) to form a trio which became a popular club attraction,
playing everything from R'n'B to country & Nat King Cole songs.

In 1955, Berry went to Chicago with a demo tape and through a meeting with
Muddy Waters was introduced to Leonard Chess. One song on the tape, "Ida Mae",
impressed Chess, and after a re - write, turning the song into "Maybellene",
Chuck Berry had his debut single - at nearly thirty years old! The record became
a favourite of D.J. Alan Freed who played it extensively - taking a share of the
composer royalties as his "reward". The song became a national Top 5 smash,
as well as an R'n'B No. 1.

There followed a stream of chart successes like "Roll Over Beethoven",
"Brown Eyed Handsome Man" and his UK chart debut "School Days".

Drawing from country and R'n'B, Berry's songs told of the teenage obsession - the
generation gap - which managed to transcend the colour bar which had blighted
many other black artists' careers. It was Chuck Berry who had the hits, not some
white artist's insipid and inferior cover version, as had been the case before.

Between 1955 - 1960, Berry's success went from strenght to strenght. He appeared in
several "rock" films, one of them, "Jazz on A Summer Day", recorded live at the 1958
Newport Jazz Festival, which captured on film Berry's now famous "duckwalk". Then,
in October 1961, he was imprisoned again, this time for "transporting an under - age
girl across state lines for immoral purposes". Berry spent 20 months in prison, continuing
to write, but unable to continue his recording career.

During those two years, the UK pop scene changed out of all recognition, with the emergence
of the "Liverpool Beat" scene, and the opposing white R' n' B groups. The former gave us
The Beatles, the latter The Rolling Stones and The Yardbirds. When The Beatles included a
song called "Roll Over Beethoven" on their second album " With The Beatles " in 1963, and
The Rolling Stones chose "Come On" as their first single, many of their young fans wondered
who this "Berry" was, credited with writing the songs. It began a surge of new interest in the
Chuck Berry catalogue, and with his release from jail in October '63, his 1958 recording of
"Memphis Tennessee", which his namesake fan, Dave Berry had taken into the British Top 20
a month earlier, charged into the Top 10, leap - frogging the cover version and becoming Chuck's
biggest UK hit to date. For the next two years, Chuck continued to have enormous chart
succes both in Britain and America, touring Britain with Carl Perkins, giving these new fans
a taste of the Berry R'n'B sound and a glimpse of the outrageous "duckwalk",
"No Particular Place To Go" became his biggest UK hit, reaching No. 3 in the summer of 1964.

Then, as the mid - 60's turned from R'n'B to Psychedelia, and the Beatles rejected the guitar
for the sitar and studio wizardry, Berry's star waned. He continued to tour but it wasn't until
he performed a long - used showstopper, "My Ding A Ling" in a 1972 recorded concert,
that he archived what all rock stars hanker after; a No. 1 hit. His career was revived yet again,
and today Berry is cited by many rock superstars, such as Bruce Springsteen and Keith Richards,
as the original Mr. Rock'n'Roll.

With their 1978 eponymous debut, Van Halen simultaneously re-wrote the rules for rock guitar and hard rock in general. Guitarist Eddie Van Halen redefined what electric guitar could do, developing a blindingly fast technique with a variety of self-taught two-handed tapping, hammer-ons, pull-offs, and effects that mimicked the sound of machines and animals. It was wildly inventive and over-the-top, equaled only by vocalist David Lee Roth, who brought the role of a metal singer to near performance art standards. Together, they made Van Halen into the most popular American rock & roll band of the late '70s and early '80s, and, in the process, set the template for hard-rock and heavy metal for the '80s. Throughout the '80s, it was impossible not to hear Van Halen's instrumental technique on records that ranged from the heaviest metal to soft-pop.
Through all the upheaval over lead vocalists, Eddie Van Halen and his prodigious talent remained at the core of Van Halen. The son of a Dutch bandleader, Eddie and his family moved from the Netherlands to Pasadena, California in 1967, when he was 12 years old and his older brother Alex was 14. As their father supported the family by playing in wedding bands, Eddie and Alex continued their classical piano training. Soon, both boys were enraptured by rock & roll. Eddie learned how to play drums and Alex took up the guitar, eventually switching instruments. The brothers began a hard-rock band called Mammoth and began playing around Pasadena, eventually meeting David Lee Roth. At the time, Roth, who had been raised in a wealthy Californian family, was singing in Redball Jet. Impressed by the Van Halen brothers, he joined forces with the group. Shortly afterward, bassist Michael Anthony, who was singing with Snake, became a member of Mammoth.

Eddie Van Halen became a role model for modern guitarists, regardless of their tastes and preferences. His talent and skill were unquestioned, and he demonstrated a dazzling array of techniques, from simple riffs to extended solos filled with intricate fret work. "Eruption," an instrumental track on the first album, became his calling card as it was transformed into a lengthy showcase during concerts.




EVH Gear



The Custom built "Franken-Strat"
1978 to 1984

Edward bought the ash body from Linn Ellsworth in 1975 for fifty dollars and the neck (also a cast-off) for eighty dollars. Originally, the body came with single-coil bridge, neck, and middle pickup positions pre-routed and Van Halen, with a chisel, excavated a hole to house a humbucker in the bridge position. He placed in this chiseled hole a P.A.F. from a 1961 Gibson ES-335. The pickup was also "ruined" but sounded good so it's what he used. The single-coil neck pick-up was completely disengaged. The guitar was first sprayed with black and then white Scwinn acrylic lacquer bicycle paint and mounted a black strat-style pickguard (also home-made) eventually only covering the two front (electronics) routings. The Guitar was eventually repainted with red, black and white stripes and orange truck reflectors added to the back of the guitar.. This red-Frankenstrat first appeared as the black and white guitar pictured on the debut VH album The nut was brass and the tailpiece unit was from a 1961 Fender Stratocaster. This guitar was Edward's main instrument for the first several albums and tours. During the band's second world wide stampede Van Halen replaced the original tremelo with then-prototype Floyd Rose. A quarter was attached just under the top-back side of the floyd Rose to keep it from rising up.That first Linn Ellsworth neck was broken by the guitarist's rigorous stage antics and replaced with whatever was handy (including a Danelectro at one point). The Ellsworth neck sported Gibson jumbo frets ("I put those in with the help of some Crazy Glue"-EVH). The tuning heads were Schallers. "There's really no secret. The reason I use what I use is through trial and error,"-EVH


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Kramer Guitars
1983 to 1991

In 1983 Ed began endorsing Kramer guitars and used customized Kramer guitars and necks.

Although a Kramer EVH signature model was never created the Kramer "Baretta" was modeled after Ed's frankenstrat (minus the paint job and other EVH customizations)




--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Stienberger
1986 to 1998

Edward introduced the Stienberger Tran's Trem equipped guitar into his arsenal in 1986.
This transposing trem first appeared on the 5150 album and tour. The trans-trem tremelo can be heard on the songs "Summer Nights" and "Me Wise Magic" to name a few


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

EVH Music Man Signature Guitars
1991 to 1994

In 1991 Ed collaborated with Earnie Ball to create a EVH signature guitars of Ed's design.

Ed and Earnie Ball split in 1994
due to problems with slow production and distribution.

Size: 12 5/8" wide, 1" thick, 36 5/8" long
Weight: 8 pounds. Varies Slightly
Body: Wood Basswood with bookmatched figure mapel top
Finish: High gloss polyester
Bridge: Music Man Floyd Rose licensed tremolo
Neck
Size Scale: 25" Radius: 10"
Headstock: Only 5 7/8" long
Frets: 22 - Special design unique profile fretwire
Width: 1 5/8" at nut, 2 5/32" at last fret
Wood Selected: maple neck and fingerboard, digitally carved
to Ed's specifications
Tuners: Schaller M6La with pearl buttons
Electronics
Pickups: 2 Custom DiMarzio Humbucking
Controls: 500K volume pot with "tone" knob (the way Ed likes it!)
Switch: 3-way toggle pickup selector


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The Peavey EVH Wolfgang
1995 - Present

Edward considers the Wolfgang the natural evolution of the Ernie Ball/Music Man guitar. "It's what I would've done had I stayed with Music Man. That would've been the next step," suggests Ed. "The angle of the neck is better, it's balanced better, it's got an arched top, and it's got the D-Tuner," he points out. Ed, in fact, owns the patent to the unique D-tuner. (The "D-Tuna" d-tuner allows you to drop the low E string to a D with the flick of a switch without unclamping the trems nut lock.)

Scale: 23 1/2"
Body: Basswood or figured Maple top with
basswood bottom
Neck: Bolt on oil finished figured birdseye Maple, graphite
reinforced scuplted joint
Fret Board: Birdseye Maple
Frets: 22
Pickups: Two Humbucking designed to Edward
Van Halen's specifications.
Controls: Volume, Tone, # wat Pickup Selector
Bridge: Floyd Rose Licensed double locking tremelo with
patented D-Tuner


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Fernandez Sustainer

Ed uses the Fernandez Sustainer pickup which is housed in a Custom Wolfgang guitar (not offered by Peavey). The sustainer can be heard on the songs "Me Wise Magic" and "A Year To The Day" to name a few.

Ed has started using a Wolfgang Special's equipped with the Stienberger transtrem which replaces his customized Stienberger guitar


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Guitar Setup
Ed's guitars are strung with Peavey extra-light strings, gauges .009 to .042 Ed sets his action as low as possible for the easiest playability with the least amount of resistance. His personal setup recipe is as follows, "I lower the strings to the point of buzz and then back it off just a hair. Why make it hard?" Ed uses a non-floating Floyd Rose tremelo system which preserves the bridge to guitar-body contact giving a more stop tail piece level of sustain and tone"

I don't know anybody that uses the damn tone control on a guitar, at least I don't. For me, it's all the way up, period." -EVH

"I like thin frets, that way it's more precise, the bigger, the fatter the fret is the worse the intonation is."-EVH

"He's our kind of guy." -- Frank Beard to Billy Gibbons after Beard introduced himself to Dusty Hill in a bar. Hill passed out drunk before returning Beard's greeting.--1969
Best known for: Classic rock trio known for its Texas heritage, bearded, haggard look, reclusive mystique, hard-nosed business tactics, and blues-rock sound.

Born: ZZ Top (aka, That Little ol' Band from Texas): 1969; Billy F. Gibbons (guitar): Houston, September 16, 1949; Dusty Hill (bass): Dallas, May 19, 1949; Frank Beard (drums): Dallas, June 11, 1949; Bill Mack Ham (manager): Waxahachie, 1937.

Family: Billy Gibbons, the son of a financially well-off family living in the Tanglewood suburb of Houston, never married. Dusty Hill is divorced with a college-age daughter. Frank Beard is married and has two twin boys and a daughter who reportedly goes to college in Houston and will be part of the University class of 2001.

Education: While growing up in suburban Houston, Gibbons learned about R&B music from his family's maid, who was African-American.

Career: Guitarist Billy Gibbons met his future manager, Waxahachie native Bill Mack Ham, backstage at a Doors concert in Houston in 1967. Gibbons' band at the time, the Moving Sidewalks, had a local hit with the song "99th Floor." They soon opened on the Doors' Texas tour. After later opening for the Jimi Hendrix Experience, Hendrix named Gibbons his favorite guitar player during an appearance on "The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson." The Sidewalks broke up and Gibbons and Ham contracted to form a new band.

After a few false starts with other musicians, the Gibbons-Hill-Beard version of ZZ Top was founded in 1969. According to Gibbons, the name came from one or more of the following: the two brands of rolling-paper, Zig-Zag and Top, a tribute to blues legend Z.Z. Hill, and/or Gibbons seeing the two words running together on a dilapidated bill board. Hill and Beard had been members of a Dallas band called American Blues.

The trio spent its first few years playing mostly regional concerts. Ham's bosses, Houston record producer Pappy Daily and family, cut a deal with him to finance "ZZ Top's First Album" (1970). Five other records followed on the London Records label. The third album, "Tres Hombres" (1973), brought them national attention. Its hit song "La Grange," about a whorehouse, was allegedly based on John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen." It is still the band's signature riff tune. Also included was "Beer Drinkers & Hell Raisers," the would-be anthem.

In an event that tried to be a rock-style Willie Nelson Picnic, the group was the featured headliner in the "Rompin' and Stompin' Barndance and Barbecue," held in Austin on Labor Day, September 1, 1974. Appearing with them before a crowd of 80,000 was San Francisco legend Bill Graham, Santana, Joe Cocker and Bad Company making its U.S. debut. This was ZZ Top's first concert in which they were seen as more than just a Texas act. It was the biggest concert in Austin's history, and the last to be held in Memorial Stadium on the University of Texas Campus for another twenty years. The stadium had been trashed by concert-goers, who had suffered from the heat and lack of food, water and toilets.

The year-and-a-half-long Worldwide Texas Tour, with stage props like haystacks, ranch tools and Longhorn cattle, began in 1975. It featured songs from "Tres Hombres" and "Fandango," their fourth album. Although their concert earnings were now in the tens of millions, by the end of the tour the group was exhausted. They took a break that ended up lasting three years. Manager Bill Ham stayed busy, however, shrewdly negotiating a lucrative recording contract with Warner Brothers that is still talked about in the music business. Their next two albums, "Deguello" and "El Loco," were well received with hits like "Cheap Sunglasses" and "Tube Snake Boogie."

The next album, "Eliminator," featuring musically controversial electronic instruments, debuted ZZ Tops biggest hits, "Legs" and "Sharp-Dressed man." The synthesizers and drum machines caused controversy in other ways as well. According to former roadie David Blayney in his book, "Sharp Dressed Men," sound engineer Linden Hudson co-wrote much of the material on the album as a live-in high-tech music teacher to Beard and Gibbons. Hudson claims that in addition to not getting songwriting credit, Ham worked to cover up his contributions to the album. Despite continued denials by the band, it settled a five-year legal battle with Hudson, paying him $600,000 after he allegedly proved he held the copyright on the song "Thug." Another copyright suit was brought by a co-writer of John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen," the alleged basis of "La Grange." That case was settled and sealed. The group's eighth album, "Afterburner," with its continued use of synthesizers, became a worldwide smash hit.

Until MTV came along in the '80s, ZZ Top had declined all offers for TV appearances. Their first video, "Gimme All Your Lovin'," set the style for follow-ups "Legs" and "Sharp-Dressed man." The addition of videos took the band's famous mystique and popularity to an all-time high.

In 1981, ZZ Top joined a diverse group, organized by art patron and civic leader Marilyn Lubetkin and including such philanthropists as Dominique de Menil, to donate money to purchase J.D. McKissack's Orange Show from his heir. The Orange Show, an open-air, multimedia sculptural installation dedicated to the orange, is Texas' leading example of an art form called "folk art environment." For their support of the blues and an art form, the band was given a piece of wood from Muddy Waters' shack in Clarksdale, Mississippi. They had it made into a guitar, named it the "Muddywood," and sent it on a tour to raise funds for the Delta Blues Museum.

By 1990, the band had sold 50 million records. Tragedy struck in 1991 when Ham's wife, Cecile, was murdered. A 23-year-old man on parole with three prior convictions strangled her for her car so he wouldn't have to walk to his halfway house. In spite of hard times personally, ZZ Top's 1996 album, "Rythmeen" was considered one of their best. Gibbons called it the "first pure trio record of our career," because only the three of them played on it. That return to an earlier sound, made more pure and raw, continued on their 1999 album, "XXX," which celebrates the band's thirtieth anniversary. At the turn of the century, ZZ Top was the only rock group with its original members after three decades. Amazing !!!!

With his astonishingly accomplished guitar playing, Stevie Ray Vaughan ignited the blues revival of the '80s. Vaughan drew equally from bluesmen like Albert King, Otis Rush, and Muddy Waters and rock & roll players like Jimi Hendrix and Lonnie Mack, as well as the stray jazz guitarist like Kenny Burrell, developing a uniquely eclectic and fiery style that sounded like no other guitarist, regardless of genre. Vaughan bridged the gap between blues and rock like no other artist had since the late '60s. For the next seven years, Stevie Ray was the leading light in American blues, consistently selling out concerts while his albums regularly went gold. His tragic death in 1990 only emphasized his influence in blues and American rock & roll.

Born and raised in Dallas, Vaughan began playing guitar as a child, inspired by older brother Jimmie. When he was in junior high school, he began playing in a number of garage bands, which occasionally landed gigs in local nightclubs. By the time he was 17, he had dropped out of high school to concentrate on playing music. Vaughan's first real band was the Cobras, who played clubs and bars in Austin during the mid-'70s. Following that group's demise, he formed Triple Threat in 1975. Triple Threat also featured bassist Jackie Newhouse, drummer Chris Layton, and vocalist Lou Ann Barton. After a few years of playing Texas bars and clubs, Barton left the band in 1978. The group decided to continue performing under the name Double Trouble, which was inspired by the Otis Rush song of the same name; Vaughan became the band's lead singer.

For the next few years, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble played the Austin area, becoming one of the most popular bands in Texas. In 1982, the band played the Montreux Festival and their performance caught the attention of David Bowie and Jackson Browne. After Double Trouble's performance, Bowie asked Vaughan to play on his forthcoming album, while Browne offered the group free recording time at his Los Angeles studio, Downtown; both offers were accepted. Stevie Ray laid down the lead guitar tracks for what became Bowie's Let's Dance album in late 1982. Shortly afterward, John Hammond, Sr. landed Vaughan and Double Trouble a record contract with Epic, and the band recorded its debut album in less than a week at Downtown.

Vaughan's debut album, Texas Flood, was released in the summer of 1983, a few months after Bowie's Let's Dance appeared. On its own, Let's Dance earned Vaughan quite a bit of attention, but Texas Flood was a blockbuster blues success; receiving positive reviews in both blues and rock publications, reaching number 38 on the charts, and crossing over to album rock radio stations. Bowie offered Vaughan the lead guitarist role for his 1983 stadium tour, but he turned him down, preferring to play with Double Trouble. Vaughan and Double Trouble set off on a successful tour and quickly recorded their second album, Couldn't Stand the Weather, which was released in May of 1984. The album was more successful than its predecessor, reaching number 31 on the charts; by the end of 1985, the album went gold. Double Trouble added keyboardist Reese Wynans in 1985, before they recorded their third album, Soul to Soul. The record was released in August 1985 and was also quite successful, reaching number 34 on the charts.

Although his professional career was soaring, Vaughan was sinking deep into alcoholism and drug addiction. Despite his declining health, Vaughan continued to push himself, releasing the double live album Live Alive in October of 1986 and launching an extensive American tour in early 1987. Following the tour, Vaughan checked into a rehabilitation clinic. The guitarist's time in rehab was kept fairly quiet, and for the next year Stevie Ray and Double Trouble were fairly inactive. Vaughan performed a number of concerts in 1988, including a headlining gig at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and wrote his fourth album. The resulting record, In Step, appeared in June of 1989 and became his most successful album, peaking at number 33 on the charts, earning a Grammy for Best Contemporary Blues Recording, and going gold just over six months after its release.

In the spring of 1990, Stevie Ray recorded an album with his brother Jimmie, which was scheduled for release in the fall of the year. In the late summer of 1990, Vaughan and Double Trouble set out on an American headlining tour. On August 26, 1990, their East Troy, WI, gig concluded with an encore jam featuring guitarists Eric Clapton, Buddy Guy, Jimmie Vaughan, and Robert Cray. After the concert, Stevie Ray boarded a helicopter bound for Chicago. Minutes after its 12:30 a.m. takeoff, the helicopter crashed, killing Vaughan and the other four passengers. He was only 35 years old.

Family Style, Stevie Ray's duet album with Jimmie, appeared in October and entered the charts at number seven. Family Style began a series of posthumous releases that were as popular as the albums Vaughan released during his lifetime. The Sky Is Crying, a collection of studio outtakes compiled by Jimmie, was released in October of 1991; it entered the charts at number ten and went platinum three months after its release. In the Beginning, a recording of a Double Trouble concert in 1980, was released in the fall of 1992 and the compilation Greatest Hits was released in 1995. In 1999, Vaughan's original albums were remastered and reissued, with The Real Deal: Greatest Hits, Vol. 2 also appearing that year. 2000 saw the release of the four-disc box SRV, which concentrated heavily on outtakes, live performances, and rarities.

Planning a visit to The House That Rock Built?

Here’s what you need to know before you go.

Since its opening in 1995, the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum has established itself as the preeminent home for the celebration and study of rock and roll music. Our exhibits, educational programs and performance events have made the Museum a mecca for fans, scholars and the artists themselves. In fact, our research shows that the Museum is the most popular and best-attended hall of fame in the country.

We invite you to come to Cleveland to journey through the past, present and future of rock and roll.

Location
Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum
One Key Plaza
751 Erieside Ave
Cleveland, Ohio 44114
(East Ninth Street at Lake Erie)

Hours
10 a.m. - 5:30 p.m. daily
(open until 9 p.m. on Wednesdays)

Closed Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Summer Hours: From Memorial Day (May 26, 2007) to Labor Day (September 1, 2007), the Museum is also open until 9 p.m. on Saturdays.

*Hours subject to change without notice

Admission
General Public


Adults: $20
Seniors (60+): $14
Children ages 9-12: $11
Children eight years of age & under: FREE
Free Museum admission for children eight and under with the purchase of an adult admission. Tickets may be purchased at the Museum box office.

To purchase tickets in advance, visit the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum box office, call Ticketmaster at 800.493.ROLL. visit your Ticketmaster outlet or ticketmaster.com.

Members


Admission is free

Accessibility

Elevators serve all levels of the Museum and Hall of Fame.
Visitor Services maintains a limited supply of wheelchairs and strollers at the Information Desk located on the Plaza Level.
Call 24 hours in advance and a Visitor Service Representative will have a wheelchair waiting for curbside pickup from the fire lane. Call 216.515.1266 for details and reservations.
Visitor Services offers Braille guides, as well as foreign language brochures available in German, French, Portuguese, Spanish and Japanese at the Information Desk located on the Plaza Level.
All three main theaters offer closed captioning for the hearing impaired. Ask the Visitor Services Representative at each cinema to activate the closed captioning.
Visitor Services can accommodate nursing mothers who would like a private, quiet place to care for their infant. Please contact a Visitor Service Representative for assistance.
Family restrooms are available in our administrative offices. Please contact a Visitor Service Representative for assistance.
Services
FYE Museum Store and Rock Hall Café


The Museum store carries official Museum merchandise, as well as a wide selection of CDs, books, collectibles and other items. There is no admission charge to visit the store. Gift certificates are available for purchase at the Museum store or by calling 216.515.1292. Gift certificates can be purchased in $10, $25 and $50 denominations and can be used towards tickets, membership, merchandise or in the café. If ordered over the phone (credit card only), there is an additional $4.95 shipping fee.
The Museum has a café that serves light meals and refreshments and is accessible to ticketed Museum visitors and members. The café does accept credit cards.
Photography
Many of the artists who have generously loaned or donated artifacts to the Museum have stipulated that these items are not to be photographed or reproduced in any way. Due to our agreements with these artists, photography and video are allowed only in the Museum Lobby. Cameras should be left at the coat and camera checkroom on the Museum’s Ground Level.

Please Note
The Museum’s exhibits contain straightforward depictions of the history of rock and roll and its culture. Some exhibits and films contain mature themes and images. Please note the parental advisories listed in the Museum’s exhibit guide, available upon entering the Museum.

To capture the ever-evolving spirit of rock and roll, the exhibits are changed frequently and some items are displayed on a temporary basis. Areas of the Museum may be closed during your visit for exhibit changes and maintenance.

Notice
No food, beverages, drugs, cans, glass containers, or any kind of contraband are allowed in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum. It is suggested that backpacks, large bags or luggage be checked in at coat check or be taken back to your vehicle. All bags are subject to search at any time. No solicitation is allowed. No Smoking Allowed. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum will not be held liable for ANY ITEM of personal property or its contents lost or damaged in coat check.

It is illegal to carry a firearm, deadly weapon, or dangerous ordinance anywhere on these premises. Unless otherwise authorized by law, no person shall knowingly possess, have under the person’s control, convey, or attempt to convey a deadly weapon or dangerous ordnance onto these premises.