Intriguing Vintage Photos of French Rockabilly Gangs in 1982

Beginning in the 1970s, rockabilly—a look and culture spawned in 1950s Tennessee—experienced a revival, first in California, then in the UK, and from there spread elsewhere. In 1982 Normandy, Gil Rigoulet trailed a group of bandmates and friends, adherents of the rockabilly subculture, watching and photographing them in an intimate yet documentary style. Here he described his experience:

 

“A couple of six-packs of “Kro” sit on the boot of the blue Chambord with a white roof, Saturday afternoon in a dead end street of St Michel. Detached houses from the Fifties stand all around us, the car’s backlight needs to be changed, the pompadours look sharp, we are discussing the rusty patches, the Ranch where the gang is to meet that evening; a young girl with a headscarf dating from another era sits next to us, two Arondes pull in, the afternoon is slipping away, from the Chambord’s tape player tunes from Crazy Cavan & The Rhythm Rockers fill the air, the six-packs are gone, not a “Kro” left, the V8 of the Simca Versailles is purring like an American one, we all cram into the cars about to roar off, my Nikon F burns the Tri X…

“For the next three months, I will follow Marco, Raynald, Michel, Eric, Boumé, Lionel, Titi, Denis, Alan, Jimmy, Laurent, Bouboule and the others, in their bedroom, with their parents, at the Tuffier hair saloon, at work, at King Bee’s record vendor, on the parking lot where they fix their Arondes, the Chambord … at the Liberty bar, during the dancing parties at the Jularedo Ranch; the gang where pals are more important than a gal.”

Gil Rigoulet’s portraits and street photographs of the scene was compiled into his book Rockabilly 82. Take a brief look through 33 intriguing pictures:

 

See more»

20 Amazing Photographs of Eric Clapton on the Stage in the 1970s and 1980s

Eric Clapton is already in the music business for almost 50 years and is considered one of the best guitarists of all time. However, he almost had a shorter career due to his addiction during the 1970s.

“I don’t know how I survived, the seventies especially,” he told Classic Rock Magazine in an interview in 2017. “There was one point there where they were flying me to hospital in St Paul [Minnesota] and I was dying, apparently. I had three ulcers and one of them was bleeding. I was drinking three bottles of brandy and taking handfuls of codeine and I was close to checking out. And I don’t even remember. It’s amazing that I’m still here, really.”

Clapton finally kicked his drug habit and reemerged onto the music scene in 1973 with two concerts at London’s Rainbow Theater organized by his friend Pete Townshend of The Who. Later that year he released 461 Ocean Boulevard, featuring one his most popular singles, a cover of Bob Marley’s “I Shot the Sheriff”. The album marked the beginning of a remarkably prolific solo career during which Clapton produced notable album after notable album. Highlights include No Reason to Cry (1976), featuring “Hello Old Friend”; Slowhand (1977), featuring “Cocaine” and “Wonderful Tonight”; and Behind the Sun (1985), featuring “She’s Waiting” and “Forever Man”.

In 1985, Clapton found a new audience following his performance at the worldwide charity concert, Live Aid. Annual stands at the Royal Albert Hall and successful albums like August, Journeyman and the Crossroads box set kept him well in the public mind. In the late 1980s, he carved out a second career as the composer of film scores. His career went from strength to strength and reached new heights in 1992 with the release of Unplugged and the Grammy winning single, “Tears In Heaven.”

See more»

Fascinating Vintage Photos of Stevie Wonder in the ‘70s

Stevie Wonder is an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. A prominent figure in popular music during the second half of the 20th century, Wonder is one of the most successful songwriters and musicians. A virtual one-man band, his use of synthesizers and further electronic musical instruments during the 1970s reshaped the conventions of R&B. Often hailed as a “genius”, Wonder has been credited as a pioneer and influence to musicians of various genres including rhythm and blues, pop, soul, gospel, funk and jazz.

Blind since shortly after his birth, Wonder was a child prodigy known as Little Stevie Wonder, leading him to sign with Motown's Tamla label at the age of 11. When Wonder was 13, his single Fingertips peaked at number one on the Billboard Hot 100, making him the youngest artist ever to top the chart. Wonder's critical success was at its peak in the 1970s. His “classic period” began in 1972 with the releases of Music of My Mind and Talking Book, the latter featuring Superstition, one of the most distinctive and famous examples of the sound of the Hohner Clavinet keyboard.

His works Innervisions (1973), Fulfillingness' First Finale (1974) and Songs in the Key of Life (1976) all won the Grammy Award for Album of the Year, making him the tied-record holder for the most Album of the Year wins, with three. He is also the only artist to have won the award with three consecutive album releases.

Take a look back at the genius in the 1970s through 30 vintage photographs:

See more»

Amazing Photographs of Steven Tyler of Aerosmith on the Stage in the 1970s and 1980s

Steven Tyler (born March 26, 1948) took up drums and singing before becoming the bombastic, colorful leader of the rock band Aerosmith. The group would enjoy major chart success with hits like “Dream On,” “Walk This Way,” “Love in an Elevator” and “I Don’t Want to Miss a Thing,” having more than four decades worth of staying power. Tyler also served as an American Idol judge for two years.

Steven Tyler loves fashion, as he told in an interview: “I love it. Somewhere in 1967, when I was in high school, I remember getting made fun of because I wore cowboy boots. I sewed buttons on each side of the cowboy boot, which I attached to my pants, so they wouldn’t ride up. The haircuts and the style of clothes that I loved were Mod English, Carnaby Street, Anita Pallenberg.”

Also, he designs all the clothes for Aerosmith’s tours: “We did 33 tours since 1970. I designed most of the stage clothes. When you’re out shopping in Paraguay, you’re going to come home with some ostrich boots and a black-and-white checkered hat and some bolos they caught the ostrich with.”

See more»

26 Funny Vintage Album Covers Released by Šaban Bajramović From Between the 1960s and 1990s

Šaban Bajramović (April 16, 1936 – June 8, 2008) was a Serbian vocalist and recording artist of Romani ethnicity. He was one of the most internationally critically acclaimed Romani singer-songwriters. Due to his eminent impact on music in Eastern Europe, he was dubbed the “King of Romani music.” During his career, which spanned over four decades, he recorded 50 singles and 20 albums, and he is believed to have written 700 songs.

At 19 years he ran away from the army, out of love. As a deserter, he was sentenced to three years prison on the island Goli Otok. He spent his time as a good goalkeeper in the prison football team. Because of his nimbleness and speed, they called him “Black Panther.” Soon he forced his way into the prison orchestra that played, among other things, jazz (mostly Louis Armstrong, Frank Sinatra, and sometimes John Coltrane) with Spanish and Mexican pieces.

After Goli Otok, his intensive music career began. He made his first record in 1964, with the recording act Crna mamba (Black Mamba). He continued to produce music with Crna mamba for 20 years. The highlight of their career was their performance for Indira Gandhi in India, where he gained the title “King of Romani music.” He also performed to Yugoslav politician Josip Broz Tito.

In the early nineties, he recorded “Đelem, Đelem,” which is considered the Romani people’s ethnic anthem. At the time, he decided to change his stage presence, starting to wear sunglasses while performing.

Bajramović was a prominent figure in Serbian music presenting Romani music in modern Serbian. Due to his enormous influence, on 12 August 2010, a statue to honor his impact was built. The statue had been vandalized multiple times. Time Magazine polled Bajramović in the top 10 best jazz musicians.

See more»

John Bonham: One of the Greatest Drummers of All Time

Born 1948 in Redditch, Worcestershire, English musician and songwriter John Bonham was best known as the drummer for the English rock band Led Zeppelin. Esteemed for his speed, power, fast bass drumming, distinctive sound, and feel for the groove, he is regarded as one of the greatest and most influential rock drummers in history.

Bonham took up drums at the age of five, receiving a snare drum at the age of 10 and a full drum set at the age of 15. He played with multiple local bands both at school and following school, eventually playing in two different bands with Robert Plant.

Following the demise of the Yardbirds in 1968, Bonham joined Plant, guitarist Jimmy Page and bassist John Paul Jones to form Led Zeppelin. With the band, Bonham mostly showcased a hard-hitting hard rock style, but also handled funk and Latin-influenced grooves in later releases. His drum solo, “Moby Dick”, was featured on the group’s second album and was a staple of their concerts, often lasting over 20 minutes.

Outside of Led Zeppelin, Bonham played drums for other artists, including the Family Dogg, Screaming Lord Sutch, Lulu, Jimmy Stevens and Wings. He played with Led Zeppelin until his death at the age of 32, in September 1980 following a day of heavy drinking. The surviving members disbanded the group out of respect for Bonham after his death.

A mostly self-taught drummer, Bonham’s influences included Max Roach, Gene Krupa and Buddy Rich. He was posthumously inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1995 as a member of Led Zeppelin. In 2016, Rolling Stone ranked him first in its list of the “100 Greatest Drummers of All Time”.

Take a look at these fabulous photos to see portrait of John Bonham during his career.

See more»

Amazing Photographs of Karen Carpenter Playing Drums and Singing

Karen Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and drummer who, along with her elder brother Richard, was part of the duo the Carpenters. For those who aren’t aware of Karen’s involvement with the drums, let it be known that they were her first passion and came before she began her career as a singer. Karen’s drumming can be heard on many tracks on several Carpenters albums.

What’s also most notable about Karen is that she sang and drummed simultaneously... her singing never hindered her drumming, and vice versa... she never ever hit a sour note or missed a beat. An extremely small amount of people can profess to having such a talent.

Karen began to study the drums in high school and joined the Long Beach State choir after graduating. After several years of touring and recording, Carpenters were signed to A&M Records in 1969, achieving commercial and critical success throughout the 1970s. Initially, Carpenter was the band’s full-time drummer, but gradually took the role of frontwoman as drumming was reduced to a handful of live showcases or tracks on albums.

Karen started out as both the group’s drummer and co-lead singer, and she originally sang all of her vocals from behind the drum set. She sang most of the songs on the band’s first album, Offering (later retitled Ticket to Ride). As well as drumming, Karen played bass guitar on two songs, “All of My Life” and “Eve”.

Because she was just 5 feet 4 inches (1.63 m) tall, it was difficult for people in the audience to see Karen behind her kit. After reviews complained that the group had no focal point in live shows, Richard and manager Sherwin Bash persuaded her to stand at the microphone to sing the band’s hits while another musician played the drums. She initially struggled in live performances singing solo, as she felt more secure behind the drum kit. After the release of Now & Then in 1973, the albums tended to have Carpenter singing more and drumming less, and she did become the focal point of all records and live performances; Bash said “she was the one that people watched.”

Starting with the Carpenters’ 1976 concert tour and continuing thereafter, she would perform a showcase in which she moved around the stage playing various configurations of drums.

See more»

Rare Behind the Scenes Photos of Brian Jones Getting Ready for ‘Thank Your Lucky Stars’ TV Show, 1964

Thank Your Lucky Stars was a British television pop music show made by ABC Television, and broadcast on ITV from 1961 to 1966. Of all the show’s presenters, Brian Matthew is perhaps the best remembered. Many of the top bands performed on it, and for millions of British teenagers it was essential viewing. As well as featuring British artists, it often included American guest stars.

It would appear from the surviving footage that the bands mimed their latest 45. Occasionally a band was allowed to do two numbers (possibly the A-side and B-side sides of the latest single or an EP or LP track); bands of a higher status such as The Beatles or The Rolling Stones would sometimes play up to as many as four numbers. The show ended on June 25, 1966 after two thousand artists appearances.

These candid photographs were taken by Terry O’Neill, they show a young Brian Jones getting ready at ABC Television’s Teddington Studios, Middlesex for Thank Your Lucky Stars TV show in 1964.

See more»

The Only Known Photos of The Beatles Meeting Elvis Presley on August 27, 1965

The most infamous rock and roll meeting of all time occurred when Elvis Presley met The Beatles on August 27, 1965. John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr along with their manager Brian Epstein, publicist and assistants came to Presley’s house at 525 Perugia Way in Los Angeles (Bel Air) to meet their rock and roll idol.

The Beatles were the ones who pushed for the meeting. After all, it was Elvis who was one of the main influences for John Lennon to start the band. “Without Elvis, there would be no Beatles,” Lennon famously remarked in later years.

During their concert tour in the summer of 1964, The Beatles tried to arrange a meeting with Elvis, but they could never coordinate their schedules. Instead, manager Colonel Parker visited with The Beatles and gave them gifts of Elvis souvenirs.

Finally, in August 1965, the stars seemed to align since The Beatles were in L.A. for their concert at The Hollywood Bowl and Elvis was in L.A. having just returned from Hawaii where he was filming Paradise Hawaiian Style.

Elvis’ friend and confidante Jerry Schilling was there on the night, and revealed it started with an awkward silence: “It was a little strange right in the beginning. Elvis didn’t usually have entertainers at his house. At the time, The Beatles were at the top of their career. Elvis sits down on the couch and the guys didn’t know what to say. He said to them, ‘If you’re going to sit here all night staring at me I’m going to bed.’ They laughed and that broke the ice. It was an exciting night.”

PAUL: So although we tried many times [to meet Elvis], Colonel Tom [Parker, his manager] would just show up with a few souvenirs, and that would have to do us for a while. We didn’t feel brushed off we felt we deserved to be brushed off. After all, he was Elvis, and who were we to dare to want to meet him? But we finally received an invitation to go round and see him when he was making a film in Hollywood.

JOHN: We were always in the wrong place at the wrong time to meet him, and we would have just gone round or something, but there was a whole lot of palaver about where we were going and how many people should go and everything, with the managers, Colonel Tom and Brian [Epstein], working everything out.

GEORGE HARRISON: Meeting Elvis was one of the high-lights of the tour. It was funny, because by the time we got near his house we’d forgotten where we were going. We were in a Cadillac limousine, going round and round along Mulholland, and we’d had a couple of “cups of tea” in the back of the car. It didn’t really matter where we were going – it’s like the comedian Lord Buckley says, “We go into a native village and take a couple of peyote buds, we might not find out where we is, but we’ll sure find out who we is.”

Anyway, we were just having fun, we were all in hysterics. (We laughed a lot. That’s one thing we forgot about for a few years - laughing. When we went through all the lawsuits, it looked as if everything was bleak, but when I think back to before that, I remember we used to laugh all the time.) We pulled up at some big gates and someone said, “Oh yeah, we’re going to see Elvis,” and we all fell out of the car laughing, trying to pretend we weren’t silly: just like a Beatles cartoon.

JOHN: It was very exciting, we were all nervous as hell, and we met him in his big house in L.A. - probably as big as the one we were staying in, hut it still felt like “big house, big Elvis.” He had lots of guys around him, all these guys that used to live near him (like we did from Liverpool; we always had thousands of Liverpool people around us, so I guess he was the same). And he had pool tables! Maybe a lot of American houses are like that, but it seemed amazing to us. It was like a nightclub.

RINGO: I was pretty excited about it all, and we were lucky because it was the four of us and we had each other to be with. The house was very big and dark. We walked in, and Elvis was sitting down on a settee in front of the TV. He was playing a bass guitar, which even to this day I find very strange. He had all his guys around him, and we said, “Hi, Elvis.” He was pretty shy, and we were a little shy, but between the five of us we kept it rolling. I felt I was more thrilled to meet him than he was to meet me.

PAUL: He showed us in, and he was great. I mean it was Elvis. He just looked like Elvis-we were all major fans, so it was hero worship of a high degree. He said, “Hello, lads - do you want a drink?” We sat down, and we were watching telly, and he had the first remote switcher any of us had ever seen. You just aimed it at the telly and – wow! That’s Elvis! He was playing [Charlie Rich’s] “Mohair Sam” all evening – he had it on a jukebox.

JOHN: It was nice meeting Elvis. He was just Elvis, you know? He seemed normal to us, and we were asking about his making movies and not doing any personal appearances or TV. I think he enjoys making movies so much. We couldn’t stand not doing personal appearances, we’d get bored – we get bored quickly. He says he misses it a bit.

We never talked about anything [else] – we just played music. He wasn’t bigger than us, but he was “the thing.” He just wasn’t articulate, that’s all.

PAUL: These were great times, so even if you didn’t enjoy all of the events that much, you could still go home to Liverpool and say, “Well, you know who I met?” I mean, to meet Elvis, or anybody like that, or to say you’ve been to Sunset Strip – it was very impressive.”

The meeting was not publicized and there were no recordings and unfortunately no professional photos taken. It has been speculated that the Colonel let it be known to some though because there were fans outside the gates. It is said these photographs were taken by a fan from an adjacent tree somewhere between 2:30 and 3:30 AM.

The Beatles leaving Elvis’ house in Bel Air, CA – Aug. 27, 1965. The photo shows John (in white pants), George (far right) and Elvis (left corner).

Elvis walking alongside the limo. Inside limo: Paul, Ringo and Brian Epstein.

The Beatles’ driver Alf Bicknell walking past reporters towards second limousine that carries George and John.

Flanked by his girlfriend Priscilla and friends, Elvis bids the Beatles a friendly goodbye. Back Row: Elvis, Alveena the maid, Patsy Lacker. Front row: Chris Hutchins, Priscilla (pink and white). Jo Fortas (red pants) and Jo Smith.

Roberta Flack Performing at the “Soul to Soul” Concert in Ghana, 1971

Here are some wonderful photographs of Roberta Flack performing at the “Soul to Soul” concert in Accra, Ghana on March 6, 1971. The photos were taken by Dennis Stock.

On March 6, 1971, Tina and Ike Turner – the African-American husband-and-wife musical duo played an epic 15-hour Independence Day concert dubbed the Soul to Soul Concert in Accra, Ghana, as part of the 14th Anniversary of the county’s independence.

Till date, the concert remains a very important Pan-African moment in history and it should be cherished forever. In 1971, the length of the concert was a big deal. However, this is not what places reputation on the concert. It is the value of people of African descent in America bringing back culture (through music) that is greatly influenced by their African roots to their own people.

The Turner duo was with Wilson Pickett, also a black-American singer and songwriter. The show also featured the Staples Sisters, Santana (who played with the drummer Willie Bobo), Roberta Flack, Voices of East Harlem, Les McCann and Eddie Harris, as well as local musicians like Kwaa Mensah, Charlotte Daddah and the Magic Aliens.

“I think it was that they’d never seen a big show like that,” Wilson Pickett said afterwards. “They were spellbound, because I saw them looking at me so hard. And they were very curious about the whole thing.”