People Flashcards
Bessie Smith
Era: Classic Blues
Significance: “Empress of the Blues”, sung “St Louis Blues”
Blind Lemon Jefferson
Era: Country Blues
Significance: First country blues star, sung “That Black Snake Moan”
Carter Family
Era: Early Country Music
Significance: Adapted old Anglo-American folk songs
Charley Patton
Era: Country Blues, Mississippi Delta Blues
Significance: Sang “Tom Rushen Blues”
Gertrude “Ma” Rainey
Era: Classic Blues
Significance: “Mother of the Blues”
Jimmie Rodgers
Era: Early Country Music
Significance: Sung “Blue Yodel No. 2”, image of footloose wanderer
Mamie Smith
Era: Race records
Significance: A black vaudeville performer, her discovery prompted the promotion of race records
Robert Johnson
Era: Country Blues/Delta Blues
Significance: Rumored to have sold his soul to the devil at the crossroads to play guitar
William Christopher Handy
Era: Classic Blues
Significance: The most influential classic blues composer
Woodrow Wilson “Woody” Guthrie
Era: Great Depression
Significance: Sung “This Land is Your Land”, closely associated with plight of American workers
Benny Goodman
Era: Swing
Significance: Celebrity swing bandleader, “The King of Swing”
Duke Ellington
Era: Swing (and earlier, Jazz)
Significance: Adapted to changes in the swing era, recorded “Caravan”
Fletcher Henderson
Era: Swing
Significance: Bandleader, credited with inspiring the rise of swing
Glenn Miller
Era: Swing
Significance: The superstar of swing, his orchestra recorded “In the Mood”
Roy Claxton Acuff
Era: Swing
Significance: Most popular hillbilly singer of the swing era.
Gene Autry
Era: Swing
Significance: The first successful “singing cowboy”
Bob Wills
Era: Swing
Significance: Seminal figure in the popularization of “western swing” (country-influenced swing)
William “Count” Basie
Era: Swing (Kansas City Swing)
Significance: Led the swing big band most closely associated with blues tradition
Xavier Cugat
Era: Swing
Significance: Bandleader who did the most to popularize Latin music during the swing era
John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie
Era: Swing
Significance: Afro-Cuban jazz trumpeter
Francisco Raul Gutierrez “Machito” Grillo
Era: Swing
Significance: Bandleader who started a new jazz/Afro-Cuban band
Frank Sinatra
Era: Post-war
Significance: Postwar crooner, and one of the first big-band singers to take advantage of changes in music business
Nat “King” Cole
Era: Post-war
Significance: An African-America, the greatest postwar crooner
Pete Seeger
Era: Post-war
Significance: Political activist, banjo player, and irban folk singer; led the Weavers
Damaso Perez Prado
Era: Post-war
Significance: Did the most to popularize the post-war “mambo” Latin music craze
Louis Jordan
Era: Post-war
Significance: Leader of the Tympany Five, the most successful jump blues band
McKinley “Muddy Waters” Morganfield
Era: Post-war
Significance: Created the Chicago electric blues sound
Willie Dixon
Era: Post-war
Significance: Composed “Hoochie Coochie Man”, performed by Muddy Waters
Ruth Brown
Era: Post-war
Significance: Influential female R&B singer, sung “Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean”
Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton
Era: Post-war
Significance: Influential female R&B singer, sung “Hound Dog”
Patti Page
Era: Post-war
Significance: Country musician, sold more records than any other female singer of her era
Bill Monroe
Era: Post-war
Significance: The pioneer of bluegrass music
Hank Williams
Era: Post-war
Significance: Most significant post-war country musician
Big Joe Turner
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Originally sung “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” in the jump blues style
Bill Hayley and the Comets
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Covered “Shake, Rattle, and Roll” by Big Joe Turner; in a western swing style
Elvis Presley
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: The biggest star of the rock n roll era and all of American pop music
Herman “Little Junior” Parker
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Led the band “Little Junior’s Blue Flames”, which recorded “Mystery Train”; later covered by Elvis
Charles Edward Anderson “Chuck” Berry
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: The first big rock n roll star, burst onto the scene with “Maybellene”
Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman)
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: His sound & visual performance characteristics influenced later performers
Antoine “Fats” Domino
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: R&B singers who found rock n roll success with “Aint It a Shame”
Professor Longhair
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: R&B pianist, influenced Fats Domino
Buddy Holly (Charles Hardin Holley)
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Clean-cut presence, recorded “That’ll Be the Day”
Wanda Jackson
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Most influential pioneering rock n roll woman
Ritchie Valens
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Most popular musician from Los Angeles Latin rock n roll scene
The Coasters
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Performed “Charlie Brown”, written by songwriting duo Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller
Johnny Mathis
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Found success with Tin Pan Alley songs in the rock n roll era
The Kingston Trio
Era: Rock n roll
Significance: Most popular folk group in rock n roll era
The Beatles
Era: British Invasion, 1960s
Significance: Led the “British Invasion” of bands into American pop music
The Beach Boys (Brian Wilson)
Era: 1960s
Significance: Bestselling American group of the 60s
The Supremes
Era: 1960s, Motown
Significance: Sung “You Can’t Hurry Love”
The Temptations
Era: 1960s, Motown
Significance: Sung “My Girl”
Ramon “Mongo” Santamaria
Era: 1960s
Significance: Performed the biggest bugalu (Latin soul) hit, “Watermelon Man”
Ray Barretto
Era: 1960s
Significance: Performed the bugalu (Latin soul) hit “El Watisu”
Joao Gilberto
Era: 1960s
Significance: Credited with initiating the Brazilian bossa nova genre
Stan Getz
Era: 1960s
Significance: Collaborated with Joao Gilberto in the bossa nova genre
Herb Alpert
Era: 1960s
Significance: Led the Tiajuana brass, major Mexican pop influence in the 60s
Patsy Cline
Era: 1960s
Significance: Pioneered the “countrypolitan” Nashville sound
Ray Charles
Era: 1960s
Significance: Pioneered “soul music”
Sam Cooke
Era: 1960s
Significance: “The King of Soul”, brought spiritual perspective to pop
James Brown
Era: 1960s
Significance: The “Godfather of Soul”, sung “Papa’s Got a Brand New Bag”
Aretha Franklin
Era: 1960s
Significance: “Lady Soul”, sung “Respect”, female empowerment
Bob Dylan
Era: 1960s
Significance: Urban Folk musician, sung “Like a Rolling Stone”
Jefferson Airplane (Grace Slick)
Era: 1960s
Significance: The most important female musician and band in the San Francisco alt rock scene
Janis Joplin
Era: 1960s
Significance: Competed with Jefferson Airplane’s Grace Slick as queen of the San Francisco rock scene
Jerry Garcia
Era: 1960s
Significance: Permanent member of Grateful Dead
The Doors
Era: 1960s
Significance: Most controversial rock band of the era
Jimi Hendrix
Era: 1960s
Significance: Most influential guitarist of the rock era
Eric Clapton
Era: 1960s
Significance: Most influential British guitarist of the era, played in Cream
Ralph Peer
Era: Classic blues
Significance: Talent scout, coined term “race records”
John Hammond
Era: Swing & beyond
Significance: Influential Jazz promoter in the Swing era (and beyond)
Alan Freed
Era: 1950s
Significance: Disc Jockey, coined the term “Rock n Roll”
Milt Gabler
Era: 1950s
Significance: Record producer, worked with Louis Jordan (Tympany Five, jump blues) to record string of hits
Jerry Leiber
Era: 1960s
Significance: Worked with Mike Stoller as a hit rock n roll songwriting team.
Mike Stoller
Era: 1960s
Significance: Worked with Jerry Leiber as a hit rock n roll songwriting team.
Dick Clark
Era: 1960s
Significance: Host of American Bandstand
Phil Spector
Era: 1960s
Significance: Founded Philles Records.
Berry Gordy Jr.
Era: 1960s, Motown
Significance: Created Motown Records (in Detroit)
