Born Johnny Allen Hendrix November 1942 in Seattle, Washington. Singer, Songwriter, Guitarist he played with various backing bands in the U.S. where he honed his excellent guitar work. Chas Chandler (ex Animals) took him to London and helped him form the Jimi Hendrix Experience with bassist Noel Redding and drummer Mitch Mitchell.
Their first release “Hey Joe” reached the top ten in the U.K. Other singles include "Purple Haze", "The Wind Cries Mary", "Burning of the Midnight Lamp", "All Along the Watchtower" and “Crosstown Traffic". Studio albums released were “Are You Experienced ?”, “Axis: Bold as Love” and “Electric Ladyland”.
Formed Manchester, England in 1963 as The Heartbeats.
Herman’s Hermits
They were one of the most commercially successful groups to be part of what was known as the Brits invasion of America.
In 1964 they released the Goffin & King composition “I’m Into Something Good” which was produced by Mickie Most and reached number one in the U.K charts.
Other records of the sixties include “Silhouettes”, “Wonderful World”, “A Must To Avoid”, “No Milk Today”, “I'm Henry The Eighth I Am”, “Mrs. Brown You've Got A Lovely Daughter”,”There's A Kind Of Hush”, “Sleepy Joe”, “Sunshine Girl”, Something's Happening” and “My Sentimental Friend”.
Formed Manchester, England in 1962. The Hollies
signed with EMI Parlophone records and in 1963 released their first singles “(Ain't That) Just Like Me”, “Searchin”, and “Stay”. With their close harmonies and excellent musicianship they continued to be one of the best groups of the sixties. Other releases included their number one “I’m Alive”, “Just One Look”, “Look Through Any Window”, “I Can’t Let Go”, “Bus Stop”, “Stop! Stop! Stop!”, “On A Carousel”, “Carrie Anne”, “King Midas In Reverse”, “Jennifer Eccles”, “Listen To Me”, “Sorry Suzanne” and “He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother”.
Arnold George Dorsey born Madras, India in 1936. He began his singing career as Gerry Dorsey. He joined manager Gordon Mills and changed his name to
Engelbert Humperdinck
In 1967 his third record release on the Decca Label “Release Me” hit the number one spot in the U.K. charts and a string of hits followed including “There Goes My Everything”, “ Am I That Easy To Forget”, “A Man Without Love”, “ Les Bicyclettes De Besize”, “The Way It Used To Be”, “ I'm A Better Man”, “Winter World Of Love” and the record played at most weddings which reached number one in Britain “The Last Waltz”.
The Isley Brothers
Formed the 1950’s in Cincinnati, Ohio. Originally four brothers O’Kelly, Rudolph, Ronald and Vernon who died in a road accident. They wrote and recorded “Shout” which later sold over a million records and became a hit for Joey Dee and the Starlighters and also Lulu & the Luvvers. In 1962 they had their first top forty hit with “Twist and Shout” which was covered by a number of artists including the Beatles. They later signed with Tamla Motown and had hits with the Holland-Dozier-Holland compositions "This Old Heart of Mine (Is Weak for You)", "Put Yourself in My Place" and "Behind a Painted Smile". They continued to be a top attraction in both the U.S. And U.K.
JAN & DEAN
Los Angeles born William Jan Berry and Dean Ormsby Torrence Were a rock n’ roll duo who became better known for their “Surf Music”. They signed with Liberty Records and released a few singles before getting their number one "Surf City". These included . "A Sunday Kind of Love" , "Who Put the Bomp" and "Linda".
Other sixties records released were "Honolulu Lulu", "Drag City", "Dead Man's Curve", "The Little Old Lady from Pasadena", "Ride The Wild Surf" and "Batman!". After this release in 1966, Jan had a serious car accident from which he received severe head injuries.
Formed 1965, in San Francisco California.
Jefferson Airplane
Began as a psychedelic,hippie group they merged folk, pop and rock into what later became known as west - coast rock. In 1966 they recorded their first album “Jefferson Airplane Takes Off” which they took three singles from without any success. Their second album “Surrealistic Pillow” went gold and the singles from the album “"Somebody to Love" and “White Rabbit" were both hits.
Other single releases of the sixties include "Two Heads", "Watch Her Ride", "Greasy Heart", "Crown of Creation", "Plastic Fantastic Lover", "Volunteers" and "Ballad of You and Me and Pooneil",
TOM JONES
Born Thomas Woodward, June 1940, Pontypridd, Mid Glamorgan, Wales. He began his musical career in the group Tommy Scott and the Senators which later changed to the Squires. He was spotted by Gordon Mills who signed him with Decca records after changing his name to Tom Jones. In 1965 his second single “It’s Not Unusual” reached number one in the U.K. Charts. Other records of the sixties include “Once Upon A Time”, “What's New Pussycat”, “Green Green Grass Of Home”, “Detroit City”, “I'll Never Fall In Love Again”, “I'm Coming Home”, “Delilah”, “Help Yourself ”, “Love Me Tonight” and “Without Love”.
Formed 1965 in San Francisco
Big Brother & The Holding Co became better known as the backing group for the blues singer Janis Joplin (nicknamed Pearl) born in 1943, Texas, U.S.A..
She joined the group in June 1966 and they became one of the most formidable live groups of the 60’s. They released the album “Cheap Thrills” which turned multi platinum.
She left Big Brother in 1968 and formed the Kozmic Blues Band. She died from drug and alcohol abuse on the 4th October 1970.
Formed in London 1963 TheKinks consisted of Dave Davies, Peter Quaife, Mick Avory and Ray Davies who’s songwriting talents are up there with the best. Their third single “You Really Got Me” reached number one in the U.K. Charts in September 1965. This was followed by a succession of sixties hits composed by Ray Davies which included “All Day And All Of The Night”, “Tired Of Waiting for You”, “Everybody's Gonna Be Happy”, “Set Me Free”, “See My Friend”, “Till The End Of The Day”, “Dedicated Follower Of Fashion”, “Sunny Afternoon”, “Dead End Street”, “Waterloo Sunset”, “Autumn Almanac”, “Days” “Wonderboy”, “Plastic Man” and “Victoria”.
They were one of the most influential groups of the 60’s.
Formed in Atlanta in the fifties as the pips they later changed to
Gladys Knight And The Pips.
They had early chart successes but didn’t make an impact until they joined Motown in 1966.They released "Just Walk in My Shoes", "Take Me in Your Arms and Love Me", "Everybody Needs Love" and their biggest 60’s hit "I Heard It Through the Grapevine" written by Norman Whitfield and Barrett Strong.
Other sixties releases include "The End of Our Road", "It Should Have Been Me", "I Wish It Would Rain", "Didn't You Know (You'd Have to Cry Sometime)", "The Nitty Gritty" and "Friendship Train".
Formed in London in 1968 blues, rock, heavy metal band
Led Zeppelin
consists of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist John Paul Jones and drummer John Bonham.
They rose from the ashes of The Yardbirds and changed their name after completing a Scandinavian tour as The New Yardbirds. Their two sixties albums both sold multi platinum “Led Zeppelin” and “Led Zeppelin II” as did most of their later albums. Sixties singles were “Good Times Bad Times” and “A Whole Lotta Love”.
Singer, Songwriter, Pianist
Jerry Lee Lewis
“nicknamed the Killer”was born in Ferriday, Louisiana in 1935.
In 1957 he had his first smash hits with ”Great Balls of Fire” and “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On”. In his live shows he would kick away his stool, stand up, play with his feet, jump on top of his piano and wave the microphone around in a frenzy. His records of the sixties include "What'd I Say", "Hi Heel Sneakers", "To Make Love Sweeter For You" and "One Minute Past Eternity".
Folk, Rock, pop group the
Lovin’ Spoonful
formed 1965 in New York. Their self penned compositions mainly constructed by John Sebastion gave them a string of sixties hits including
"Do You Believe In Magic",
"You Didn't Have to Be So Nice", "Daydream", "Did You Ever Have To Make Up Your Mind?", "Summer in the City" "Rain on the Roof", "Nashville Cats" and "Darlin' Be Home Soon". By 1968 their founder members Zalman Yanovsky and John Sebastian had left taking their performing and songwriting talents with them.