The World's Greatest Musicians

Take a look under Elton John’s belt and you’ll not find much missing from his four decades of accomplishments. His brilliant career is reflected with appreciation ranging from Grammy Awards, an a Academy, Golden Globe and Tony awards, induction to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and knighted by Queen Elizabeth II to boot. His fans appreciation hasn’t wavered either, transcending generations that have been touched by his music.

Born in Pinner, Middlesex, England on March 25, 1947 as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, Elton John’s musical road started as a weekend pianist at a local pub. Adopting his name from former “Bluesology” band members, he was introduced to lyricist Bernie Taupin by Ray Williams. His collaboration with Bernie Taupin was through the mail, but the chemistry was instant. In 1967, their first collaboration brought forth “Scarecrow” and a partnership was forged.

The Elton John/Bernie Taupin partnership has since penned more than thirty albums. Classics such as “Your Song,” “Rocket Man,” and “Bennie And The Jets,” are topped decades later by hits such as “I’m Still Standing,” “Sad Songs” and the rewrite of “Candle In The Wind,” in memory of the late Diana, Princess of Wales.

Aside from writing hits, touring and composing smash musicals such as “Aida,” “The Lion King,” and “Billy Elliot,” Elton John has also been active in advancing the efforts of HIV related campaigns. Using his public profile and collaboration for the American Foundation for AIDS Research, he later founded the Elton John AIDS Foundation in 1992, rumoured to have influence by tarot card readings.

Still actively writing and performing, Elton John seems far from saying goodbye to the Yellow Brick Road and his fans are more than willing to accompany him all the way.

Face it: even though The Beatles have not put out a record since 1970, they are still the most popular, and biggest selling, band on the planet. There is no artist in the history of music that has had the impact that The Beatles have. Young and old still buy their records, and bands that weren’t alive when John Lennon was doing his solo stuff count them as one of their influences. They are one of the few bands that you can guarantee a number one record when a remastered record of songs that everyone already has is released. Just look at the reaction when they finally released their music to iTunes a few months ago.

People may be surprised that The Beatles, George Harrison and John Lennon on guitar, Paul McCartney on bass, and Ringo Starr on drums, only released 12 studio records (though for a band that was only officially together for 10 years, that’s quite a studio haul, especially with the rumoured time they spent on mature phone sex). With that said, their discography features titles, like “The White Album”, “Sgt. Peppers Lonely Hearts Club Band” and “Revolver” that are regularly seen among lists of the greatest albums ever released. It’s hard to sum up just how important The Beatles were to the history of Rock and Roll.

Aretha Franklin, a famous American singer was born in 1942 in Memphis. Her mother was a popular gospel singer; her father was one of the most prominent priests of a special category of church. Aretha Franklin started singing in the church choir as a child; in several years her talent developed and she became a discovery in the world of the gospel music.

When Aretha Franklin was 14 years old (in 1956) she debuted on stage having sung a prayer to an audience of 4,500 people of a Baptist church in Detroit. This day was the start of her outstanding career. During her lifetime, the singer established a very high standard of the “soul” music style. As a matter of fact, all her life was dedicated to the art of music and vocal singing; very few singers and musicians who endeavoured to copy her style had to reach a very high level of art. Aretha Franklin obtained a nickname “Soul Lady” for her diligence and talent.

It must be mentioned, that her music career was supplemented by a cinematographic debut. She starred in “The Blues Brothers” a popular movie that has won a reputation of being a masterpiece of the cinema art. I watched the premier of that movie in the company some intelligent London escorts.

Scenic achievements of Aretha Franklin include: over 12 million of sold out singles; 20 “number one” hits in the rhythm-and-blues chart; 15 Grammy awards and many others. Her medals include: the National Medal of Arts (awarded by B. Clinton) and the Civil Rights Protection Award (M.L. King).

People who were born in the early to mid 80′s probably don’t realize just how big of a star Michael Jackson was in that time period. While he was later known for his legal issues and his erratic behavior, in the 1980′s Jackson was mostly known for his music, and was arguably the most popular artist of his era. Starting with off the wall (which was technically released in late 1979), Jackson released some of the most iconic music of the decade including “Bad” and “Thriller”.

“Thriller”, which was released in November 1982, is the biggest selling record of all time, with more then 50 million albums sold world wide, an incredible 29 million of which was sold in the United States. The album featured hits like “Billie Jean”, “Beat It”, and, of course, “Thriller”, a single that would also go on to change the way that artists made music videos. Following “Thriller”, Jackson released “Bad” in 1987, which sold another 30 million copies worldwide and featured nine hit singles, a feat which would make any man celebrate with lovely Birmingham escorts.

Jackson would go onto release three more studio albums: “Dangerous” in 1991, “HIStory” in 1997 and “Invincible” in 2001. While he was never able to capture the type of sales he had in the 80′s, he continued to be one of the top artists in the world even after his death in 2009.

James Brown, a famous American singer and a film actor was born in 1933 in the North Carolina, USA. During his life and an intensive creative career he obtained several nicknames, such as: “Godfather of the soul style” (for being a famous “soul” musician); “Mister please, please, please” (for his first single) and “Mister Dynamite” (for his hot-tempered character).

In fact, his young ages passed in a juvenile correction facility. He has won a stable reputation of a hooligan that became a part of his scenic image. As a musician he played percussion, drums, organ and other instruments. His vocal data made him popular in a “gospel” style band “The Famous Flames” which he formed in 1954. The band performed in the USA playing gospels and rhythm-and-blues. His world famous single “Please, Please, Please” was created in 1959. Around one million of copies of single were sold that year. Intensive concert activity of his band has promoted the song “Try Me” into the “Top 50”. It resulted in signing psychic readings with Ben Bart from an agency named “Universal Attraction”. Brilliant management performed by this producer resulted in putting the single in to the American “Top 40”.

This tremendous success made James Brown’s style even more hot and dramatic. During the next three years the musician himself and his band recorded a number of tracks which received worldwide popularity. In 1962 there was recorded a legendary album “Live at the Apollo” which was the first to go to the charts.