Neon Trees with Tinie Tempah and the great Freddie Mercury

    Our music blog this week is on a couple of new artists Tinie Tempah who is a huge success in Britain at the moment and Neon Trees who have a great unique smooth sound.A band who I believe have a good future in the music business.We are flashbacking to the fantastic Freddie Mercury and queen. They had so many super songs and anthems,too numerous to cover them all. Freddie was a super talented person.An artist who will be remember long into the future of music.

Tinie Tempah 

  Born Patrick Junior C. Okogwu  Nov 7th, 1988 in Plumstead, South London, stage name of Tinie Tempah, a rapper, MC and CEO of Disturbing London Records. Tinie gained chart success upon the release of his major label debut single Pass Out which debuted at 1 on the UK Singles Chart in March 2010. His debut album, titled Disc-Overy, was released on October 1st 2010 and debuted at 1 on the Official UK Album Chart.

Written in the Stars

Neon Trees 

The Alternative Rock Pop act from Utah

Tyler Glenn: lead vocals/keyboards Chris Allen: guitars
Branden Campbell: bass
Elaine Bradley: drums/vocals

Make up Neon Trees

    Their debut album "Habits."  contains plenty of get-up-and-go, but doesn't get too loud . Opener "Sins of My Youth" blends harmonic vocals with a pumping bassline, while the hand claps and cheery keyboard on lead single "Animal" with a line that requests you to "take a bite of my heart tonight."Other good songs on the set are Our War and, Girls and Boys in School.

Animal

Flashback

Queen and Freddie Mercury

       
    Freddie Mercury was born Farrokh Bulsara on Thursday September 5th 1946 on the small spice island of Zanzibar.He died 24th november 1991.

Freddie was  an excellent sportsman,but it was his artistic skills at drawing and music where he excelled.

After Jimi Hendrix exploded onto the scene in 1967, and Freddie became an ardent fan, he spent time sketching and drawing his hero, drawings he would frame and use to decorate the walls of his flat in Kensington.

       A fellow student at Ealing College was bass player Tim Staffell, with whom Freddie became good friends. As Tim's and Freddie's friendship became closer, Tim took him along to rehearsals of his band called Smile, with Brian May on the guitar and Roger Taylor on the drums. Freddie got on famously with Brian and Roger and loved the sound that Smile had achieved.He also had immense admiration  for Brian's guitar playing.Freddie left Ealing College in June 1969, with a diploma in graphic art and design.

  

    In 1971 John Deacon joined the band and Queen were complete. Freddie designed the band's logo using their birth signs two fairies for him (Virgo), two lions for Roger and John (Leo) and a crab for Brian (Cancer). Freddie was the author of the first Queen song that entered the British charts Seven Seas Of Rhye, the first big hit Killer Queen and the most famous Queen song that was on the top of charts for 9 weeks Bohemian Rhapsody. 

   Somebody To Love

Queen Live

We are the Champions

Great Pretender

Picture This and Raise Your Glasses with Pink and Blondie.

      Just picture this and raise your glasses to some great rock artists and musicians this week. Pink with her new single.Kings of Leon with their rock hit Radioactive and our flashback artist the beautiful Deborah Harry and Blondie with a highlight on their Parallel Lines album of 1978 so many great songs on this album.Enjoy the week my friends and hope these great songs lighten your week.    

Pink 

   Born on September 8th 1979 her name Alecia Moore. In her adolescent she jumped from one extreme to another e.g. gymnast to  skateboarder to rave child to hip-hopper . This probably explains her self-confidence and rebellious nature, she has seen a lot and done a lot and this is reflected in her music.She spent several years as part of the club scene in Philadelphia, singing guest spots and performing for talent shows.Then followed success for her with the album Cant Take Me Home. Then another smash single ‘Get The Party Started’ and  her follow-up album Missunderstood. Pink is gearing up for the release of her Greatest Hits album and she has just released a brand new single called “Raise Your Glass”

Pink Raise Your Glass

   

Kings of Leon Story 

   The Followill brothers are sons of a preacher who were raised on the road throughout the South, traveling from one Pentecostal church to the next. But after getting into  bands like Led Zeppelin, they started crafting their own brand of Southern rock & roll and soon became a rough and ready touring act. They have became one of the biggest bands in rock.This is a behind the scene look at their new single Radioactive.

Radioactive Kings of Leon

Flashback
Blondie and Deborah Harry

 After three years on the road.Parallel Lines, Blondie's third album, provided the group with its commercial breakthrough in the states, going platinum and peaking at No. 6 during a 103-week run on The Billboard 200. The single "Heart of Glass" which Harry says she and guitarist Chris Stein wrote several years earlier, hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100, and "One Way or Another" made it to 24.

    The album has sold more than 20 million copies worldwide, but Harry was most pleased about its impact in the States. "We'd had hits all over the world  in Europe, in the U.K., in Australia," she says. "But having a hit at home  was really, really important to us.

Parallel Lines Brilliant Album Full of Classics

Heart of Glass
One Way or Another 
Hangin on the Telephone

Picture This

A great Buddy Holly Cover

I'm Gonna Love You Too

 

Akon and Angel of the Morning Under His Umbrella

    Akon with his great new song Angel is certain to be another hit for the talented singer producer and with the fortuitous signing of Lady Ga Ga to his recording company in 2008.He must be finding life pretty good compared to his life of crime and jail period a few years back.How things can turn around after a few years.Which brings us to our flashbackthis week to the classic Chip Taylor song Angel of the Morning pretty much what Ga Ga must be for Akon. Two genuine super talented artists.The future looks very promising for both in music and life in general.

 Akon Angel

     

 AKON

   Aliaune Damala Dakha Bouga Time Puru Nacka Lu Lu Lu Badara Akon Thiam, often going by the shorter Aliaune Thiam, is best known by his fans simply as Akon. Born on April 30, 1973 in St Louis Missouri . He lived his early childhood in Senegal then returned to the states when 7 years old.

He was jailed for armed robbery and drug distribution charges. He used his time to begin writing his own songs.

    Being brought up in an environment that treasures the true artistic value of musicianship and revels in the mastering of instrumental skill, it was Akon's deep rooted love and passion for music that later on encouraged him to record tracks in a home studio upon being freed . The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal which eventually released Akon's debut LP "Trouble" in June 2004. This catapulted him to international stardom, thanks to the hit single "Locked Up," written based on his experience of serving a three-year jail sentence for grand theft auto, that brought him a Sixshot Award for Best Single of 2004.
     Konvicted was released on November 14, 2006 and raised his fame meter even higher. Its first single "Smack That," featured Eminem and shot to #2 in Billboard Hot 100 chart and stayed at the No 2 spot for five consecutive weeks. "I Wanna Love You", the second single off "Konvicted," was released in September the same year. Featured a collaboration with Snoop Dog, this single topped the U.S. charts for two consecutive weeks, earning Akon his first number one single on the Billboard Hot 100.It was at this time he bought the record label and signed Lady Ga Ga to his KonLive label an imprint of Interscope and the rest is Money,Money,Money.

Akon  and Lady Ga Ga Interview

 Akon on Lady Ga Ga

    She's pretty much retired me,the singer said of Gaga, who is signed to his KonLive label at Interscope Records. "She was definitely a blessing. She came at the right moment. I'm glad I believed in her, boy. That goes to show you, if you believe in something strong enough, it will pay off."

Gaga, one of last year's top-selling artists, was dropped from at least one major record label. She was available just as Akon closed his deal with Interscope chairman Jimmy Iovine, the Senegalese singer said in a recent interview.

"And I was like 'Yo, I want to sign that right there. She needs to be under my umbrella,'" Akon said. "Jimmy was like 'Yeah, whatever you want. Take her. Let's get it done.' And she just blossomed into a super megastar, man.

 Lady Ga Ga Disco Heaven

Angel of the Morning Merrilee Rush

There'll be no strings to bind your hands
not if my love can't bind your heart.
And there's no need to take a stand
for it was I who chose to start.
I see no reason to take me home,
I'm old enough to face the dawn.

Chip Taylor

Angelina Jolies uncle 

    Born in 1944 and raised in Yonkers, New York, Chip a.k.a. James Wesley Voight began his love affair with music early in life.His ability to write in varied voices and styles is demonstrated in two of his best known songs, "Wild Thing" and "Angel of The Morning". The ubiquitous, "Wild Thing", (Jimi Hendrix, The Troggs, X) with its guitar driven, sexually charged theme is in direct contrast to the hauntingly romantic, "Angel Of The Morning"

Angel 

Shaggy and his take on the song by Chip Taylor