News & Updates — psych

Today is the birthday of Jeffrey Hyman aka Joey Ramone, front man of The Ramones and pop-punk idol. He came out of Forest Hills, Queens with his love of '60s rock, girl groups and glam and joined Sniper in the early '70s playing shows with groups like the NY Dolls and Suicide. In '74 he formed the Ramones (the name a reference to a Paul McCartney pseudonym). Joey was originally the drummer of the band, but being an excellent self-taught singer it wasn't long before he was the frontman to one of the best punk bands in the world for...

Perhaps best known to casuals as the bassist of Cream, the Scottish virtuoso Jack Bruce in fact had a long and varied career that included rock, blues, jazz, classical, third stream, Latin, world music and fusion. He could play electric & upright bass, cello, piano, harmonica and was a singer/songwriter as well. Growing up listening to jazz, he studied classical cello and was kicked out of music school for playing jazz on the side. In the early '60s he toured Europe in a big band and joined the legendary Blues Incorporated in '62, which splintered off into the Graham Bond...

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...

The English electronic music composer Delia Derbyshire may be best known for her eerie Doctor Who theme song but she held a creative chair at the BBC Radiophonic Workshop for over ten years, contributing to hundreds of productions. From Coventry, she played piano and violin as a child and expressed interest in mathematics and sound. After flat rejections from record companies that refused to hire a woman for the studio (ahem, Decca), she found some work with Luciano Berio in '62, as well as joining the BBC that year. There she and her colleagues composed for various science & learning...

The Canadian electronic music pioneer and instrument-builder/inventor Bruce Haack has a birthday today. An inspired creative person, the man participated in a wide array of projects. Early on he played jazz & Ukrainian folk music, participated in authentic pow-wows, hosted a radio show and got into tape & electro-acoustic music in the '50s. He also worked as a pop songwriter for the Dot & Coral labels, as well as composed for dance & theater. He built several musical toys including synths, samplers, a vocoder and music-playing robots that could perform in concert. He made several high-concept children's records, recorded electronic...