Canadian pianist, arranger, composer, bandleader, Gil Evans was the first call arranger time and time again with Miles Davis and later developed an obsession with Jimi Hendrix. Born in Toronto but moving around mining towns until the family settled in California, he saw Duke Ellington play in '27 and got the orchestration bug. He also took influence from Kurt Weill and Spanish & Brazilian music. He moved to NYC in the '40s with a gig arranging for Claude Thornhill.  In the late '40s his apartment hosted incubator sessions with Miles, Charlie Parker, Gerry Mulligan, George Russell and others to develop...

The songs sung by Mary Wells in the early '60s are much-loved and recognizable the world over. She grew up in poverty in Detroit with some major health issues. In fact, she took to singing to ease her problems. After singing in choirs she approached Motown as a wanna-be songwriter and Berry Gordy auditioned her as a singer, with her first record being Wells' self-penned hit "Bye Bye Baby" hitting the charts in 1960. Her first album came out in '61. She was an early star on the growing Motown family of labels, singing hits like "My Guy", "You Beat...

The first popular Chicano rocker was Richard Valenzuela aka Richie Valens. Coming from LA, he was influenced by Little Richard, mariachi, jump blues, flamenco and rockabilly. Airplane disaster first effected him when in his schoolyard he witnessed two planes crashing into each other, killing several schoolmates. A fear of flying had to be overcome to maintain his gig schedule. He was a natural left-hander that played guitar right-handed. He started the rock-en-Español movement with his 1958 hit "La Bamba". His other big hits were "Donna" and "Come On, Let's Go" (his tunes were cut with musicians who would later be...

This one is not going to be up the alley of most people but since it's my project to write these little bios of some musical icons I am feeling no shame to include the Father of Death Metal, the late Chuck Schuldiner. While I completely understand that death metal is not to everybody's liking, I am disgusted with the proclamations about it being "shit music" or that these bands glorify negativity. As far as the former, death metal is in my opinion some of the BEST rock music ever made. Bands like Atheist, Cynic, Sadus and Chuck's band Death...

Most people may not know his name but they will know his work. Norman Whitfield is one of the most important producers of R&B/funk/disco due to his imaginative work with Motown and his later disco material. He was originally from Harlem but moved to Detroit as a teenager and started hanging around the Motown studios. As early as 1963 he was being credited as a songwriter and wrote for Marvin Gaye, The Velvelettes and the Marvelettes ("Too Many Fish In The Sea"). His 1966 breakout hit "Ain't To Proud To Beg" with The Temptations afforded him the role as their...