Music (277)

Declan Patrick MacManus was born in 1954 in London and his father, Ross MacManus was a musician and bandleader. Declan grew up in Twickenham and like his father had strong musical leanings. In 1971, he moved with his mother to Birkenhead, Cheshire, to finish his schooling. Aged 17, he formed a folk duo called Rusty, with Allan Mayes.

Richard and Karen Carpenter (1950 - 1983) were both born in New Haven, Connecticut. Richard Lynn was born in 1946 and Karen Anne followed in 1950. From an early age they both loved to listen to music and because Richard had shown an aptitude his parent moved to LA to be closer to the industry.

The band formed in 1965 in Northbridge, California by Alan “Blind Owl” Wilson (bottleneck guitar) and Bob “The Bear” Hite (vocals). The boys were blues fanatics and started a jug band with drummer Frank Cook and they would appear at the odd gig around LA. Canned Heat were dedicated to revive the Blues and to that extent would compare favourably to John Mayall in the UK.

In the years prior to music videos, live TV programs had a problem when artists were unable to appear. The viewers needed something to take their visual attention while the record was being played and producers decided to use ‘Go Go Girl’ dancers fashionably dressed in mini-skirts and high boots. In the UK, Top of the Pops (BBC 1) was the premier pop chart program and used a girl dance troupe called The Go-Jos, They were formed by Jo Cook in 1964 and she also was the choreographer.

Billy “The Big Yin" Connolly was born in Glasgow in 1942. He started off as a folk sing and played banjo. His first band was an old time country music group called The Skillet Lickers and was formed in the 1960s. Later he joined a novelty musical group called The Acme Brush Company.