- Gretchen Wilson
Gretchen Frances Wilson (born June 26, 1973) is an American country music singer and guitarist. Her debut album, "Here for the Party", topped the US country charts in 2004 and reached #2 on the Billboard 200 chart. Her two subsequent albums "All Jacked Up" and "One of the Boys" have also reached the top of the US country charts. She has won a Grammy Award for her music. - Roger McGuinn
James Roger McGuinn (known professionally as Roger McGuinn and born James Joseph McGuinn III on July 13, 1942) is a popular rock American singer-songwriter and guitarist of the 1960s and 1970s. He is best known for being the lead singer and lead guitarist on many of The Byrds' hit records, the pioneering folk-rock band of the 1960s, contributing much to the band's unique sound. - Laurie Anderson
Laurie Anderson (born Laura Phillips Anderson, on June 5 1947, in Glen Ellyn, Illinois) is an American experimental performance artist and musician. She is the inventor of the tape-bow violin, which has a tape head in place of strings, and a strip of magnetic tape in place of the hairs on a bow. - Miles Davis
Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926 - September 28, 1991) was an American jazz musician, widely considered one of the most influential of the 20th century. A trumpeter, bandleader and composer, Davis was at the forefront of almost every major development in jazz from World War II to the 1990s. He played on various early bebop records and recorded one of the first cool jazz records. He was partially responsible for the development of modal jazz, … - Michelle Williams
Michelle Williams (born Tenitra Michelle Williams on July 23, 1980) is an American gospel and R&B singer, songwriter, and actress, who was a background singer for Monica, before rising to fame as one-third of the successful Grammy Award-winning musical group Destiny's Child, the world's best-selling female group of all time, selling over 100 million records worldwide. - R. Kelly
Robert Sylvester Kelly (born January 8, 1967 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American Urban R&B singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and occasional rapper. He first appeared on the music scene as the founder and lead singer of Public Announcement whose smooth mixture of hip-hop beats, soul, and funk propelled the group's 1992 debut album "Born Into the '90s" to platinum status. - Grace Slick
Grace Slick (born October 30, 1939) is an American singer and songwriter, who was one of the lead singers of the rock groups Jefferson Airplane, Jefferson Starship, Starship, and also as a solo artist, for nearly three decades, from the mid-1960s to the mid-1990s. Slick is considered to be one of the most important musicians in bringing the 1960s psychedelic rock to mainstream appeal. She is known for her witty, influential, thought-provoking lyrics, … - D'Arcy Wretzky
D'arcy Elizabeth Wretzky (born May 1, 1968 in South Haven, Michigan), also known simply as D'arcy, is a rock musician best known for her work as a bass player with the highly successful alternative rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. - David Lee Murphy
David Lee Murphy (born January 7, 1959 in Herrin, Illinois) is a country music singer-songwriter. - Pete Wentz
Peter Lewis Kingston Wentz III (born June 5, 1979) is the bassist, back-up vocalist, and primary lyricist of Chicago-based band Fall Out Boy. - Dizzy Reed
Dizzy Reed is the keyboardist for the rock band Guns N' Roses. He has been a member of Guns N' Roses since 1990, playing on their 1991 blockbuster albums "Use Your Illusion I" and "Use Your Illusion II", as well as, on the band's 1993 punk cover album, "The Spaghetti Incident?". He is the band's original keyboardist and, aside from lead singer Axl Rose, is the only remaining member from what is considered the band's heyday. - Bun E. Carlos
Bun E. Carlos (born Brad Carlson, June 12, 1951 in Rockford, Illinois) is the drummer for American rock band Cheap Trick. He is the band's chief setlister and archivist, and maintains recordings of all the band's shows, some of which have been released under the name 'Bun E's Bootlegs'. The name "Bun" comes from a sign the family would pass on their yearly trip to Florida. Bun E.'s family includes Kurt Carlson, a member of the hijacked plane (Flight 847) in 1985. - Rick Nielsen
Richard Nielsen (born December 22, 1946 in Rockford, Illinois) is the lead guitarist and primary songwriter of the rock band Cheap Trick. For the band's first few albums, Nielsen wrote the majority of the material himself. He is well known for having many custom-made guitars from Hamer Guitars, including his famous five-neck guitar. He sings lead vocals on the demo for the song "World's Greatest Lover", which appears on the Cheap Trick boxed set entitled "Sex, America, … - Tim McIlrath
Tim McIlrath (born November 3, 1979) is the guitarist and lead singer for the American melodic hardcore band Rise Against. He is known for his versatile voice, and is able to sing softly, or an all out scream. He is also a competent guitarist; during Rise Against's time without a second guitarist, McIlrath filled this role alone - Ray Manzarek
Raymond Daniel Manzarek or Manczarek (b. February 12, 1939, Chicago, Illinois) is an American musician, singer, producer, movie director, writer, co-founder and keyboardist of The Doors from 1965 to 1973, and the Doors of the 21st Century (renamed Riders on the Storm) since 2001. - Darryl Jones
Darryl Jones (born December 11, 1961), also known as "The Munch", is an American bassist, highly regarded in both jazz and rock music. Jones was born in Chicago, Illinois. He joined Miles Davis' band in 1983, playing on the albums "Decoy" and "You're under Arrest". Jones has worked with jazz artists such as Herbie Hancock's Headhunters, Mike Stern, John Scofield, and Steps Ahead, as well as pop and rock artists Sting, Peter Gabriel, Madonna, … - Phil Perry
Phil Perry (born in East St. Louis, IL on January 12, 1952) is an R&B musician and a former member of The Montclairs. The Montclairs left Paula and disbanded in 1975. Perry later teamed with Richard Sanlin in a duo that had a short stay at Capitol in 1980. In 1985 he married soul/jazz singer Lillian "Tang" Tynes, and began a marriage partnership that has lasted ever since. In the 1990s he had his biggest success with the number-one R&B hit "Call Me", … - Jeff Austin
Jeff Austin (born in Arlington Heights, Illinois) is a mandolinist and singer best known for being a part of the Yonder Mountain String Band. Although Austin was born in Arlington Heights, he grew up in Elk Grove, Illinois and attended Rolling Meadows High School. Austin attended the University of Cincinnati, but soon made his way to Urbana, Illinois, where he met future banjoist Dave Johnston. Receiving a request from Johnston to perform in his band The Bluegrassholes, … - Dave Johnston
Dave Johnston (born in Aurora, Illinois) is a banjoist and singer most notable for being a member of the progressive bluegrass group Yonder Mountain String Band. Johnston first started learning the banjo during his years at the University of Illinois. The practice produced results; within one year, he was already playing concerts. It was during this time that he met Jeff Austin, a future member of Yonder Mountain String Band. - Todd Mohney
Todd Mohney is an American guitarist, who formerly played guitar for the melodic hardcore band Rise Against. He is from Joliet, IL and currently resides in Los Angeles. He is active in The Killing Tree side-project band with Rise Against vocalist Tim McIlrath. He currently plays guitar on the punk "super-group" band The Falcon, though he only appeared on the original EP, not being able to attend the recording session for the band's first full length, … - K.Flay
K.Flay (born Kristine Flaherty on June 30, 1985 in Wilmette, Illinois) is a female rapper and student at Stanford University in California. - Jimmy Chamberlin
James Joseph "Jimmy" Chamberlin (born June 10, 1964 in Joliet, Illinois) is a musician best known as the drummer for the rock band The Smashing Pumpkins. Chamberlin's early musical training was primarily as a jazz drummer, and he played in several Chicago area outfits before joining the Smashing Pumpkins shortly after their formation in 1988. - Steve Digiorgio
Steve DiGiorgio (born November 7, 1967, Waukegan, Illinois) is an American musician. He played bass guitar in metal bands such as Death, Autopsy, Control Denied, Testament, Vintersorg, Iced Earth, and Sadus. He is widely renowned for his technical skills, and he is one of the very few bass players in the metal scene who plays a fretless bass. He is also a founding member of the jazz-band Dark Hall and is also the bass player for the Sebastian Bach band, … - Charlotte Martin
Charlotte Ann Martin is an American singer-songwriter, who performs predominantly on the piano. She has written several studio albums, two of which have received mainstream commercial releases, 2004's "On Your Shore" and 2006's "Stromata". - Jeff Tweedy
Jeffrey Scott Tweedy (born August 25, 1967 in Belleville, Illinois, United States) is an American songwriter, musician, and poet. Tweedy joined rockabilly band The Plebs with high school friend Jay Farrar in the early 1980s, but Tweedy's musical interests caused one of Farrar's brothers to quit. The Plebs changed their name to The Primitives in 1984, but changed its name to Uncle Tupelo in 1987 due to the success of a British band named The Primitives. - Bruce Johnston
Bruce Arthur Johnston (born Benjamin Baldwin and then adopted, on June 27 1942, Peoria, Illinois) is a member of The Beach Boys and a Grammy Award-winning songwriter for composing "I Write the Songs." Johnston was not one of the original members of the band. He joined in April 1965 after Glen Campbell (who was deputising on stage for the group's chief song writer Brian Wilson) decided to embark on a solo career. - Jonathan Cain
Notable_instruments =Jonathan Cain (born Jonathan Leonard Friga, 26 February 1950, in Chicago, Illinois) is an American musician, most known for his keyboards and songwriting roles in the rock band, Journey. - Jon Brant
Jon Brant (b. February 20, 1954), was the bass player for the band Cheap Trick from the years 1981 to 1987. When Tom Petersson, the original bassist for the band, left in 1980, Cheap Trick made a much-publicized replacement with Pete Comita. Comita was fired before the end of the year after having only played on Cheap Trick's contributions to the "Heavy Metal" soundtrack. With a new album due out in 1981, Cheap Trick went into the studio sans bassist, … - Steve Stell
Steve Stell was born in Elk Grove, IL. (A Suburb of Chicago) on September 2, 1976. He is the founding member of the Chicago based melodic death/thrash metal band Enforsaken. Enforsaken were active in the metal scene from 1998 until 2006 when the group disbanded. Enforsaken released 2 critically acclaimed albums and one EP in their 8 year history. These CDs were released on various labels in the USA, Europe and Japan. - Enforsaken
Enforsaken was an American death metal/thrash metal band that was formed in 1998 and disbanded in 2006. Enforsaken was formed in 1998 by Steve Stell and Patrick O'Keefe. The band didn't acquire a full line-up until 2000. The band's final show was at Metro in Chicago on August 19, 2006. - Joe Principe
Joe Principe is the bass guitarist and co-founder of the punk rock band Rise Against. He is known for his elaborate bass patterns in their songs. Some of the finest examples of his playing are the bass intro/outro on Like The Angel, and the bridge on Life Less Frightening. He primarily uses Fender basses, Ampeg amps and cabinets, and he uses pick-playing exclusivley - Adam Jones
Adam Thomas Jones (born January 15, 1965 in Park Ridge, Illinois) is a Grammy Award-winning musician, guitarist and visual artist, best known for his work with the band Tool. Jones was rated the 75th Greatest Guitarist of all time by "Rolling Stone Magazine" and placed 9th in "Guitar World's" Top 100 Greatest Heavy Metal Guitarists. He is also responsible for most of Tool's music videos. - Wayne Nelson
Wayne Nelson (born June 1, 1950 in Kansas City, MO) is an American musician best known for being a member of the famed Australian rock band, Little River Band. Shortly after his birth in Kansas City, Nelson's family moved to Rome, Illinois, a suburb of Peoria, Illinois. During his teenage years and early twenties, Nelson played in various regional bands around the Chicago area, emulating multiple styles but focusing on rhythm and blues. - Barry Goldberg
Barry Goldberg (born 1941 in Chicago, Illinois) is a blues keyboardist. He played piano in the band supporting Bob Dylan during his 1965 'electrified' appearance at the Newport Folk Festival. He formed Electric Flag with Mike Bloomfield in 1967, and later formed the Barry Goldberg Reunion in 1968. In 2005-6, he has been touring with the Chicago Blues Reunion. Barry Goldberg's songs have been recorded by many artists including Rod Stewart, Gladys Knight, Percy Sledge, … - Alan Goldsher
Alan Goldsher is an author and a musician. - Paul Hamer
Paul E. Hamer, Jr. (born September 23, 1952) is an entrepreneur and guitar player, famous for founding Hamer Guitars. - Gina Glocksen
Gina Glocksen (born July 4 1984) was the ninth-place finisher on the sixth season of "American Idol". She was eliminated on April 4, 2007. - Paris Bennett
Paris Ana'is Bennett (born August 21, 1988 is an American singer. She came to national recognition as a contestant on the fifth season of the reality television talent show, "American Idol", and was eliminated from the competition on May 3, 2006, finishing in fifth place. On May 8, 2007, Paris Bennett released her debut album "Princess P" on 306 Entertainment/TVT Records - Muriel Anderson
Muriel Anderson, born in Downers Grove, Illinois, is a composer and award winning guitarist. Anderson studied classical music in college at DePaul University with Leon Borkowski. She later took master courses with classical virtuoso Christopher Parkening. In 1989 she became the first woman to win the National Fingerpicking Guitar Championship. Her recordings have traveled as far as outer space, accompanying the astronauts on a space shuttle mission. - Joe Daniels
Joe Daniels (born August 4, 1970) is a veteran rock drummer.
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