- Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons was an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and pianist. A solo artist as well as a member of the International Submarine Band, The Byrds and The Flying Burrito Brothers, he is best known for a series of recordings which anticipate the so-called country rock of the 1970s and the alt-country movement that began around 1990. Parsons described his records as "Cosmic American Music". He died of a drug overdose at the age of 26. In 2004, … - 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. - David Crosby
David Van Cortlandt Crosby (born August 14, 1941) is an American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. He is best known for being a founding member of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young (CSNY). Crosby is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame for his work in the Byrds and CSN. - Gene Clark
Harold Eugene Clark (born Tipton, Missouri, November 17, 1944 - May 24, 1991) was an American singer-songwriter, and one of the founding members of the folk-rock group The Byrds. Gene Clark is best remembered for his association with the Byrds between 1964 and 1966 but there was much more to his body of work than that legacy. - Chris Hillman
Chris Hillman (born Christopher Hillman, December 4 1944, in Los Angeles, California) was one of the original members of The Byrds (1965) with Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, David Crosby, and Michael Clarke. Along with frequent collaborator Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman was a key figure in the development of country rock, virtually defining America's most successful genre through his seminal work in The Byrds & The Flying Burrito Brothers, … - Pete Seeger
Peter Seeger (born May 3, 1919), almost universally known as Pete Seeger, is a folk singer, political activist, and author. As a member of the Weavers, he had a string of hits, including a 1949 recording of Leadbelly's "Goodnight Irene" that topped the charts for 13 weeks in 1950. He was formerly a member of the Communist Party of the United States of America and a major contributor to folk and pioneer of protest music in the 1950s and the 1960s. - Clarence White
Clarence White (June 7, 1944 – July 14, 1973) was a guitar player for Nashville West, The Byrds, Muleskinner, and the Kentucky Colonels. His parents were French-Canadians from New Brunswick, Canada. The father, Eric White, Sr., played fiddle, guitar, banjo and harmonica, and his children, Roland, Eric Jr., Joanne and Clarence took up music at a young age. - Leon Russell
Leon Russell (born Claude Russell Bridges on April 2 1942 in Lawton, Oklahoma) is a singer, songwriter, pianist, and guitarist. Russell attended Will Rogers High School in Tulsa, Oklahoma. He is occasionally referred to as "The Master of Space and Time," a title he acquired around the time of his collaborations with Joe Cocker. First known mostly as a session musician, Russell has played with artists as varied as Jerry Lee Lewis, … - Gene Parsons
Gene Parsons (born April 9, 1944 in Los Angeles, California) is an American drummer, banjoist, guitarist and singer-songwriter, best known for his work with The Byrds from 1968 to 1972. Parsons was brought in by Clarence White to replace previous drummer Kevin Kelley. Parsons has also released solo albums and played in Nashville West, The Flying Burrito Brothers, and Parsons Green. - Michael Clarke
Michael Clarke (born Michael James Dick) (June 3, 1946 - December 19, 1993), was an American musician, best known as the drummer for the 1960s rock music group The Byrds from 1964 to 1968. He died in 1993, at age 47, from liver failure due to more than three decades of heavy alcohol consumption. - Terry Melcher
Terry Melcher was an American musician and record producer. Doris Day was just 17 when she gave birth to Terence Jorden in New York City. His father was trombonist Al Jorden, whom she divorced when Terry was an infant. (Jorden much later committed suicide.) Day left Terry with her mother in Ohio as she toured as a big band singer. When she got a foothold in Hollywood, she sent for him. Terry was later adopted by Day's third husband, … - Skip Battin
Clyde "Skip" Battin (born February 18, 1934 in Gallipolis, Ohio, died July 6th, 2003 in Salem, Oregon) was a successful singer-songwriter, musician, performer and recording artist. Skip's early musical career began in 1956 when he collaborated with Gary Paxton and formed The Pledges, the same duo, later successfully recording under the appellation Skip & Flip. After a few years out of the music industry, he led the short-lived folk-rock group Evergreen Blueshoes, … - Mike Campbell
Michael (Mike) Wayne Campbell (born February 1 1950 in Panama City, Florida in the U.S.) is a guitarist and record producer, best known for his work with Tom Petty. Noted mostly for his longtime work as Tom Petty's lead guitarist, Campbell is also a successful producer and songwriter on his own. One of the quieter legends of rock, he is an excellent guitarist and perfect companion songwriter to Tom Petty's 'meat and potatoes' rock & roll style. - Hugh Masekela
Hugh Ramopolo Masekela (born Witbank South Africa, April 4, 1939) is a South African trumpet, flugelhorn and cornet player. He began singing and playing piano as a child. At age 14, after seeing the film, "Young Man With a Horn" (where Kirk Douglas portrays American Jazz trumpeter, Bix Beiderbecke), he took up playing the trumpet. His first trumpet was given to him by Archbishop Trevor Huddleston, the anti-apartheid chaplain at St. Peters Secondary School. - Bob Gibson
Samuel Robert ("Bob") Gibson was a folk singer who led a folk music revival in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was known for playing both the banjo and the 12-string guitar. He introduced Joan Baez at the Newport Folk Festival of 1959. He produced a number of LPs in the decade from 1956 to 1965. His best known album, "Gibson & Camp at the Gate of Horn", was released in 1961. His songs have been recorded by, among others, Peter, Paul and Mary, Simon & Garfunkel, … - Hal Blaine
Hal Blaine may well be the most prolific drummer in rock and roll history. He's certainly played on more hit records than any drummer in the rock era, including 40 #1 singles and 150 that made the Top Ten. Eight of the records he played on won Grammys for Record of the Year. Blaine, who was born Harold Simon Belsky in 1929, became a professional drummer in 1948 and joined teen idol Tommy Sands ' band in the late Fifties. - Curt Boettcher
Curt Boettcher sang some background vocals on The Byrds' "The Notorious Byrd Brothers" album, a Gary Usher production job. He started out working with a folk quartet in the early 60s called The GoldeBriars. Two albums were released by Epic Records, and a third (which apparently found them heading in a prototypical folk-rock direction) was recorded but was rejected for release. The group had added drummer Ron Edgar prior to recording their third album, … - Byron Berline
Byron Berline (born 6 July 1944) is an American fiddle player. He is widely considered one of the world's preeminent fiddle players and is also one of the most significant figures in contemporary bluegrass music. In his career, Berline has recorded with several of the best known musicians of modern time, including The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Elton John, The Byrds, Earl Scruggs, Dillard & Clark, Willie Nelson, Bill Monroe, John Denver, Rod Stewart, The Eagles, The Band, … - Larry Knechtel
Larry Knechtel (born Lawrence William Knechtel, 4 August 1940, Bell, California) is a session musician best-known for his work with Simon and Garfunkel, The Beach Boys ("Pet Sounds", "Smile") and as part of the 1970s band, Bread. Knechtel's musical education began with piano lessons. In 1957 he joined the Los Angeles based rock and roll band Kip Tyler and the Flips, followed in 1959 by four years with Duane Eddy's touring group, The Rebels. - Charlie Louvin
Charlie Louvin (born Charles Elzer Loudermilk, July 7, 1927 in Henagar, Alabama) is an American country music singer/songwriter. He was a cousin of John D. Loudermilk. Louvin began singing professionally with his brother Ira as a teenager on local radio programs in Chattanooga, Tennessee. The boys sang traditional and gospel music in the harmony style they had learned while performing in their church's choir. - Johnny Rogan
Johnny Rogan is an Irish/English author who first emerged in the late 70s with writings on West Coast American music. Rogan was born and spent his early childhood in the Pimlico area of London. His parents emigrated to London from Waterford (Ireland) in the 1930s. He is related to the actor John Rogan. His first book "Timeless Flight", an acclaimed biography of The Byrds was published when he was still a student at Oxford's Lady Margaret Hall. - John Jorgenson
John Jorgenson is an American musician, considered one of the world's most versatile and accomplished guitarists, probably most well-known for his guitar work with bands such as the Desert Rose Band and The Hellecasters, although Jorgenson is also proficient in the mandolin, mandocello, Dobro, pedal steel, piano, upright bass, clarinet, bassoon and saxophone. While a member of the Desert Rose Band, … - Terry Oldfield
Terry left school at 16 to travel the world and worked as a roadie for various bands including the Byrds, setting-up stage and sound mixing systems. During an extended stay on the Greek island of Hydra, he took up his first musical instrument, the flute. Says Terry "I think it was learning to play in this way, with no formal guidance, that allowed me to develop the ability to compose music. - Pamela des Barres
Pamela Des Barres aka "Miss Pamela" (born Pamela Ann Miller on September 9, 1948) is a former rock and roll groupie, author, and magazine writer. Des Barres was born in Reseda, California. Her mother was a housewife and her father worked for Anheuser-Busch and occasionally worked as a gold miner. She idolized the Beatles and Elvis Presley as a child, and fantasized about meeting and dating her favorite Beatle, Paul McCartney. - Greg Leisz
Greg Leisz (pronounced "Lees") is an American multi-instrumentalist, playing lap and pedal steel guitars, guitar, mandolin, and bass. Little known by his own name, his highly respected playing has appeared on recordings by Bill Frisell, Dave Alvin, Tracy Chapman, the Smashing Pumpkins, Matthew Sweet, the Jayhawks, Beck, Me'shell Ndegeocello, Bruce Cockburn, Wilco, Shawn Colvin, Lucinda Williams, Peter Case, Joni Mitchell, Whiskeytown, Girish, Bad Religion and Sheryl Crow, … - Meridian Green
Meridan Green is a California-based folk musician, and one half of Parsons Green, a collaboration with Byrds guitarist Gene Parsons. - Mike Pender
Mike Pender was born Michael John Prendergast on March 3, 1942 in Kirkdale, Liverpool and was an original founding member of British invasion rock group, The Searchers. He is best known as the lead vocalist on many hit singles by The Searchers, including the song "Needles & Pins". From his humble beginnings performing alongside bands such as The Beatles in Liverpool, England, Mike Pender has been a recogniseable voice of rock and roll for more than 45 years. - Billy James
Billy James is a publicist and talent scout; best known for his work in the 1960s and 1970s discovering and developing musical talent for record companies such as Columbia, Electra, and RCA Records. As a young publicist for Columbia, James became Bob Dylan's emissary at the label and was reportedly one of the only "suits" Dylan trusted. Sent to the West Coast, James found himself in the middle of the West Coast music scene. He wrote liner notes for the Byrds first albums, … - Idris Davies
Idris Davies (January 6, 1905 - April 6, 1953), was a Welsh poet, originally writing in Welsh, but later writing exclusively in English. He is now known mostly for The Bells of Rhymney, a ballad on a mining accident on the pattern of the nursery rhyme "Oranges and Lemons" that was set to music by Pete Seeger, and became a folk rock standard. Davies was born and brought up in Rhymney (then Monmouthshire), Wales, … - Floyd Crosby
Floyd Delafield Crosby (December 12 1899 - 30 September 1985) was an award winning cinematographer. A native of New York City, in 1940 married Aliph Van Cortland Whitehead and had two children, one of whom is David Crosby of The Byrds and Crosby, Stills, Nash, and Young. He divorced Aliph in 1960 and married Betty Cormack in the same year. He retired in the late 1960s to Ojai, California, where he died in 1985. - David Wiffen
David Wiffen (born March 11, 1942 in Surrey, England) is a Canadian folk music singer-songwriter. Wiffen moved to Canada at age 16, and became part of the burgeoning folk music scene. In 1965, he was invited to perform at Vancouver's Bunkhouse club on a live ensemble album; it became Wiffen's first solo album when the other invited musicians failed to show up. He was subsequently in several bands, including The Children, whose members also included Bruce Cockburn, … - Richard X. Heyman
Richard X. Heyman is an American singer-songwriter, born and raised in Plainfield, NJ, who has released six albums ("Living Room!!", 1988; "Hey Man!", 1990; "Cornerstone", 1998; "Basic Glee", 2002; "Rightovers", 2003 and "Actual Sighs", 2007), two EP's ("Actual Size", 1986 and "Heyman, Hoosier & Herman", 2001), one single ("Vacation" b/w "Takin' My Chances", 1980), a memoirs entitled "Boom Harangue" and a video retrospective of his career, "X-Posures." Richard released his first indie EP, … - Brad Cotter
Brad Cotter (born September 29, 1970) is an American country music singer who won the 2004 "Nashville Star" competition, aired on the USA Network. From Opelika, Alabama, Cotter trained with Jerry Redd, who had performed with Elvis Presley and the gospel music group The Stamps Quartet. His first public performance was at the age of nine in a church in Columbus, Georgia. He recorded five gospel records in the next eight years, … - David Hoffman
David Hoffman is one of America’s veteran documentary filmmakers. During his 40-year career, Hoffman has made five feature-length documentaries including "King, Murray", an experimental feature film about a Long Island salesman who goes to Las Vegas on a junket to gamble with other high rollers. "King, Murray" was the winner of the Critics Award at The Cannes Film Festival. Other feature films include: "Earl Scruggs: His Family and Friends", … - Mike Brewer
Mike Brewer (born Oklahoma City, Oklahoma in 1944) with Tom Shipley were the popular music duo Brewer & Shipley. Mike Brewer formed a duo in Los Angeles in early 1966 called Mastin & Brewer with singer/songwriter Tom Mastin. The group recruited drummer Billy Mundi and bass player Jim Fielder for live dates, opening for The Byrds and Buffalo Springfield in spring 1966. When Mastin left abruptly during sessions for an album, … - Jacques Levy
Jacques Levy (29 July 1935 - 30 September 2004) was a Jewish American songwriter, theatre director, and clinical psychologist. Levy was born in New York City in 1935, later attending its City College. He continued to earn a doctorate in psychology from Michigan State University. Levy then returned to New York and became a clinical psychologist. In 1965, he directed Sam Shepard's play "Red Cross". - Jak Housden
Jak Housden was born John Paul Housden on June 12, 1969. He is an Australian musician. He has played guitar since he was about 10 years old. He joined his first professional band, Real Life when he was just 15 years old. He is the brother of Stephen Housden lead guitarist of Little River Band. He is the Uncle of Paul Housden, who was part of the now defunct Pornland album "In the Nude" and currently leader of the band Paul Housden and the Futurists. - David Van Cortland Crosby
His late father was the esteemed cinematographer Floyd Crosby. He was jailed for 3 months in 1985 on drug charges. Had a liver transplant. Is good friends with Larry Hagman, who also had a liver transplant. Is the biological father of the two children of Melissa Etheridge and Julie Cypher. Elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (as a member of The Byrds) in 1991. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997 (as a member of Crosby Stills & Nash). Briefly - Harold Eugene Clark
Gene Clark is best known for his short stint with the Byrds in 1965 as a singer/primary songwriter. Although his partners Roger McGuinn and David Crosby were both ranked above him, he was the band's songwriter. He wrote and sang some of the band's best songs including "Feel A Whole Lot Better", "Eight Miles High", and "She Don't Care About Time". After leaving the Byrds because of a fear of flying, his career garnered little commercial but great critical success. He died only a few... - Gram Parsons
Briefly attended Harvard University His mother was a wealthy Florida citrus heiress Was briefly a member of The Byrds, but refused to tour South Africa with the group, citing his opposition to apartheid. He then left to form The Flying Burrito Brothers. Has a daughter, Polly Parsons, born in August 1968 to his girlfriend Nancy Ross. Wrote the song 'Drug Store, Truck Drivin' Man' about country music DJ Ralph Emery. He was voted the 87th Greatest Rock 'n' Roll Artist of all time by...
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