James Blake (born September 1988) is a Grammy-nominated electronic musician and singer-songwriter from London, England, United Kingdom. Blake is primarily considered a dubstep producer and is frequently heralded as a leading figure in the “post-dubstep” community, but he is also noted for his prominent soul influences. Blake was nominated the Critic’s Choice award by the 2011 BRIT Awards and the Sound of 2011 award by the BBC, and won second place in the latter. In addition, his self-titled debut LP, James Blake, was nominated for the 2011 Mercury Prize. Blake has also released material under the alias Harmonimix.
James Blake began his final year at Goldsmiths in September 2009 studying popular music while recording songs in his bedroom. In July 2009, he attended the Latymer School and released his debut single “Air and Lack Thereof” on Hemlock Audio. It was a firm favorite with Gilles Peterson from BBC Radio 1, and Blake was invited to do a special mix on Peterson’s worldwide show, which included an exclusive Mount Kimbie track.
Blake released his debut EP The Bells Sketch on 8 March 2010 on Hessle Audio, followed soon after by CMYK on 31 May 2010 and Klavierwerke on 10 October 2010, both on R&S Records. All three EPs were met with significant critical acclaim: BBC’s Nick Grimshaw chose CMYK as his Record of the Week, the title track of CMYK was ranked 24th on Frontier Psychiatrist’s top 40 songs of the year, and all three of Blake’s 2010 EPs were collectively ranked 8th on Pitchfork’s top 50 albums of 2010.
Born (January 5, 1981) and raised in Niagara Falls, Canada, Joel Zimmerman (aka “deadmau5”) has become one of the most sought-after artists on the electronic music scene in recent times. He is known for his highly entertaining live gigs, often performing wearing a large cartoon mouse head.
He first started his career as co-producer of the Niagara Falls radio show “The pooooop to collaborate with many other artists and record labels around the world.
In 2005, deadmau5 released his first album, “Get Scraped, which had many genres and was very different from his new sound.” After that, he released Vexillology, in 2006. His first mainstream album, and his third album, was Random Album Title in 2008, which went towards a progressive house sound and featured many hit songs like Arguru, Not Exactly and I Remember, with Kaskade. His next album was For Lack of a Better Name, which had more of a tech house style. After that was 4x4=12, which contains his two released dubstep songs. His latest album is > album title goes here <, which shows a few similarities to Get Scraped. His latest album is “At Play in the USA, Volume 1,” released in 2013.
He has worked with a number of artists both underground and mainstream - including Melleny Melody, Orgy, Kaskade, MC Flipside, Rob Swire of Pendulum, Skrillex, Tiësto and Steve Duda.
Owl City is an American electropop musical project by Adam Young. Young started out making music in 2007 in his basement in his hometown of Owatonna, Minnesota, United States, later developing a following through his MySpace profile before being signed to Universal Republic. Young has released four albums under the Owl City moniker: “Maybe I’m Dreaming” (2008), “Ocean Eyes” (2009), “All Things Bright and Beautiful” (2011) and “The Midsummer Station” (2012). Young’s 2009 single “Fireflies” reached #1 in the United States, United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and The Netherlands. His second major hit, 2012’s “Good Time” featuring Carly Rae Jepsen reached #8 in the US and #1 in New Zealand.
Ray Charles (Ray Charles Robinson, Albany, Georgia, September 23, 1930 - Beverly Hills, California, June 10, 2004), was an American singer-songwriter, musician, arranger, and band leader.
As a rock and roll, rhythm & blues, soul, blues, jazz, country and pop musician he helped to shape the sound of rhythm & blues.
He brought a soulful sound to everything from country music (“I Can’t Stop Loving You”) to rock and roll (“Mess Around”), to pop standards to a now-iconic rendition of “America The Beautiful.” Frank Sinatra called him “the only genius in the business.”
Ray Charles was born in Albany, Georgia on September 23, 1930. He was the son of Aretha Williams, a share cropper, and Bailey Robinson, a railroad repair man, mechanic and handyman. The two were never married. The family moved to Greenville, Florida, when Ray was an infant. Bailey had three more families, leaving Aretha to raise the family on her own.
Ray Charles was not born blind. He started to lose his sight somewhere at the age of five. He was rendered totally blind by the age of seven. Charles never knew exactly why he lost his sight, though there are sources that suggest his blindness was due to glaucoma, and some other sources suggest that Ray began to lose his sight from an infection caused by soapy water to his eyes which was left untreated. He attended school at the Florida School for the Deaf and the Blind in St. Augustine, Florida from 1937-1945 where he developed his musical gift that he is known and remembered for today. His father died when he was ten, followed by his mother five years later.
Frankmusik (birth name Vincent James Turner) is the stage name of a producer, songwriter from Thornton Heath, South East London, England. According to Songfacts, “Frank” is derived from the surname of his grandfather, whose name he took in tribute.
One day, he decided that it was high time that he made some pop music that was a little different. Through a combination of retro synths, Commodore 64 samples, fast chunky drum riffs, and tried and tested lyrics, Frankmusik decided to get the ball rolling in 2007 and was signed to Island/Universal December of that year. His debut album “Complete Me” was released on 3 August 2009.
Frankmusik went on to changing his stage name to Vincent Did It in January, 2012, however he reverted back to Frankmusik in March, 2012.
The album, Do It in the AM, was released in September 2011 and peaked at number 178 on the UK Albums Chart.
On 19 October 2011, Frankmusik announced via his official Twitter page that he had parted ways with his UK label, Island Records.
#085: R. Kelly
#084: Sean Paul
#083: Peter Gabriel
#082: Mika
#081: Blake Shelton
#080: Childish Gambino
#079: Freddie Mercury
#078: The-Dream
#077: Miles Davis
#076: Lupe Fiasco
#075: Eric Clapton
#074: Will Young
#073: Jack Johnson
#072: Nat King Cole
#071: Gavin DeGraw
#070: James Blake
#069: deadmau5
#068: Owl City
#067: Ray Charles
#066: Frankmusik