Richard Hugh Blackmore is an English guitarist and songwriter. He was one of the founding members of Deep Purple in 1968, playing jam-style hard rock music that mixed guitar riffs and organ sounds. Blackmore is prolific in creating guitar riffs and is often noted for his classically influenced solos.
Richard Spencer Robinson is an American musician and founding member of the rock and roll band The Black Crowes. Along with older brother Chris Robinson, Rich formed the band in 1984 while the two were attending Walton High School in Marietta, Georgia. At age 15, Rich wrote the music for 'She Talks to Angels', which became one of the band's biggest hits.
Peter Allen Greenbaum, known professionally as Peter Green, was an English blues rock singer-songwriter and guitarist. As the founder of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998. Green's songs, such as 'Albatross', 'Black Magic Woman', 'Oh Well', 'The Green Manalishi ' and 'Man of the World', appeared on singles charts, and several have been adapted by a variety of musicians.
Jerome John Garcia was an American singer-songwriter and guitarist, best known for being a principal songwriter, the lead guitarist and a vocalist with the rock band the Grateful Dead, of which he was a founding member and which came to prominence during the counterculture of the 1960s. Although he disavowed the role, Garcia was viewed by many as the leader of the band.
Keith Richards, often referred to during the 1960s and 1970s as Keith Richard, is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He is best known as the co-founder, guitarist, secondary vocalist, and co-principal songwriter of the Rolling Stones. Rolling Stone magazine called Richards the creator of 'rock's greatest single body of riffs' on guitar and ranked him fourth on its list of 100 best guitarists in 2011. The magazine lists fourteen songs that Richards wrote with the Rolling Stones' lead vocalist Mick Jagger on its 'Rolling Stone's 500 Greatest Songs of All Time' list.
Clifford Williams is an English musician, best known as the bassist and backing vocalist of the Australian hard rock band AC/DC. He started his professional music career in 1967 and had previously been in the English groups Home and Bandit. His first studio album with AC/DC was Powerage in 1978. Williams was inducted into the American Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of AC/DC in 2003. Williams announced his retirement from AC/DC in 2016, but returned for their 2020 comeback album Power Up along with band mates Brian Johnson and Phil Rudd. His side projects include benefit concerts.
Janis Lyn Joplin was an American singer-songwriter who sang rock, soul and blues music. One of the most successful and widely known rock stars of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and 'electric' stage presence.
Alan 'Blind Owl' Christie Wilson was an American musician, best known as the co-founder, leader, co-lead singer, and primary composer of the blues band Canned Heat. He sang and played harmonica and guitar with the group live and on recordings. Wilson was the lead singer for the group's two biggest U.S. hit singles: 'On the Road Again' and 'Going Up the Country'.
Denny Laine is an English musician, singer, and songwriter, known as a founder of two major British rock bands: the Moody Blues, with whom he played from 1964 to 1966, and Wings, with whom he played from 1971 to 1981. Laine has worked with a variety of artists and groups over a six decade career, and continues to record and perform as a solo artist. In 2018, Laine was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Moody Blues.
John Mayall, OBE is an English blues singer, guitarist, organist and songwriter, whose musical career spans over sixty years. In the 1960s, he was the founder of John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band which has counted among its members some of the most famous blues and blues rock musicians.
Ross Friedman, also known as Ross the Boss, is a guitarist, known as a founding member of both the punk band the Dictators, and the heavy metal band Manowar.
Takahiro 'Tak' Matsumoto is a Grammy Award-winning Japanese guitarist, producer, arranger, composer, singer and songwriter. In addition to being the guitarist and lead composer for the rock duo B'z, the best-selling music act in their native Japan, he has also had a successful solo career. He is only the fifth guitarist in the world to have his own Gibson signature model guitar. The instrumental album Take Your Pick (2010) made in collaboration with Larry Carlton won an award for the Best Pop Instrumental Album at the 53rd Grammy Awards.
Sir Roderick David Stewart is a British rock and pop singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born and raised in London, he is of Scottish and English ancestry. With his distinctive raspy singing voice, Stewart is one of the best-selling music artists of all time, having sold over 250 million records worldwide. He has had 10 number-one albums and 31 top ten singles in the UK, 6 of which reached number one. Stewart has had 16 top ten singles in the US, with four reaching number one on the Billboard Hot 100. He was knighted in the 2016 Birthday Honours for services to music and charity.
Crystal Lynn Bowersox is an American singer, songwriter and actress who was the runner-up on the ninth season of American Idol. She was the first female finalist in three years.
Bill Wyman is an English musician, record producer, songwriter and singer. He was the bassist for the English rock and roll band the Rolling Stones from 1962 until 1993. Since 1997 he has recorded and toured with his own band, Bill Wyman's Rhythm Kings. He has worked producing records and films, and has scored music for films and television.
Paul William Chapman was a Welsh rock guitarist best known for his work in bands such as UFO and Lone Star. Chapman was well known by his nickname 'Tonka', allegedly acquired because of his indestructible qualities.
Earl Slick is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, John Lennon, Yoko Ono, and Robert Smith. He has also worked with other artists including John Waite, Tim Curry and David Coverdale, in addition to releasing several solo recordings, and two records with Phantom, Rocker & Slick, the band he formed with Slim Jim Phantom & Lee Rocker (both from Stray Cats.
Freddie King was an American blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the 'Three Kings of the Blues Guitar'. Mostly known for his soulful and powerful voice and distinctive guitar playing, King had a major influence on electric blues music and on many later blues guitarists.
Stephen Lawrence Winwood is an English singer, songwriter, and musician whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues, blues rock, and pop rock. Though primarily a vocalist and keyboard player, Winwood proficiently plays other instruments, including drums, mandolin, guitars, bass, and saxophone.
Benjamin Chase Harper is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae, and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances, and activism. He has released twelve regular studio albums, mostly through Virgin Records and has toured internationally.
John Symon Asher Bruce was a Scottish bassist, singer-songwriter, musician and composer. He gained popularity as the co-lead vocalist and bassist of British rock band Cream. After the group disbanded in 1968, he pursued a solo career and also played with several bands.
Daniel Roland Lanois is a Canadian record producer, guitarist, vocalist, and songwriter.
Patrick James Carney is an American musician and producer best known as the drummer of the Black Keys, a blues rock band from Akron, Ohio. He currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee.
Lonnie McIntosh, known as Lonnie Mack, was an American singer-guitarist. He performed and recorded in a broad range of popular genres, including roots-rock, blues, R&B, country, gospel, bluegrass, and soul. He is most widely recognized, however, as an influential pioneer of blues-rock music and rock guitar melodic soloing.
Paul Francis Kossoff was an English blues rock guitarist. He was most notably a member of the band Free.
George Roger Waters is an English songwriter, singer, bassist, and composer. In 1965, he co-founded the progressive rock band Pink Floyd. Waters initially served solely as the bassist, but following the departure of singer-songwriter Syd Barrett in 1968, he also became their lyricist, co-lead vocalist, and conceptual leader.
Daniel David Kirwan was a British musician whose greatest success came with his role as guitarist, singer and songwriter with the blues rock band Fleetwood Mac between 1968 and 1972. He released three albums as a solo artist from 1975 to 1979, recorded albums with Otis Spann, Chris Youlden, and Tramp, and worked with his former Fleetwood Mac colleagues Jeremy Spencer and Christine McVie on some of their solo projects. As a member of Fleetwood Mac, he was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1998.
Michael Kevin Taylor is an English musician, best known as a former member of John Mayall's Bluesbreakers (1967–69) and the Rolling Stones (1969–74). As a member of the Stones, he appeared on: Let It Bleed (1969), Get Yer Ya-Ya's Out! The Rolling Stones in Concert (1970), Sticky Fingers (1971), Exile on Main St. (1972), Goats Head Soup (1973) and It's Only Rock 'n Roll (1974).
George Lawrence Thorogood is an American musician, singer and songwriter from Wilmington, Delaware. His 'high-energy boogie-blues' sound became a staple of 1980s rock radio, with hits like his original songs 'Bad to the Bone' and 'I Drink Alone'. He has also helped to popularize older songs by American icons, such as 'Move It on Over', 'Who Do You Love?', and 'House Rent Blues/One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer'.
David Coverdale is an English rock singer-songwriter best known for his work with Whitesnake, a hard rock band he founded in 1978. Before Whitesnake, Coverdale was the lead singer of Deep Purple from 1973 to 1976, after which he established his solo career. A collaboration with Jimmy Page resulted in a 1993 album that was certified Platinum. In 2016, Coverdale was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Deep Purple, giving one of the band's induction speeches. Coverdale is known in particular for his powerful blues-tinged voice.
Eric Patrick Clapton, is an English rock and blues guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist and separately as a member of the Yardbirds and of Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and influential guitarists of all time. Clapton ranked second in Rolling Stone's list of the '100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time' and fourth in Gibson's 'Top 50 Guitarists of All Time'. He was also named number five in Time magazine's list of 'The 10 Best Electric Guitar Players' in 2009.
Howard Duane Allman was an American rock guitarist, session musician, and the founder and original leader of the Allman Brothers Band.
James Patrick Page is an English musician, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and record producer who achieved international success as the guitarist and founder of the rock band Led Zeppelin.
Saul Hudson, better known as Slash, is an English-American musician, songwriter, and record producer. He is best known as the lead guitarist of the American hard rock band Guns N' Roses, with whom he achieved worldwide success in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Slash has received critical acclaim and is considered one of the greatest guitarists in history.
Robert C. Christie Hunter was an American lyricist, singer-songwriter, translator, and poet, best known for his work with the Grateful Dead. Born near San Luis Obispo, California, Hunter spent some time in his childhood in foster homes, as a result of his father's abandoning his family, and took refuge in reading and writing. He attended the University of Connecticut for a year before returning to Palo Alto, where he became friends with Jerry Garcia. Garcia and Hunter began a collaboration that lasted through the remainder of Garcia's life.