As frontwoman of The Pretenders, Hynde helped create some of the most critically acclaimed albums of the late '70s and '80s and cemented her place as a punk and new wave pioneer. Smith's 1975 debut album Horses, which she once called "three-chord rock merged with the power of the word" was ahead of its time, foreseeing an explosion in DIY music-making and also the targeting of songs to the disenfranchised. Brown sang jazz ballads with ease and her R&B prowess won her a Bessie Smith Award for Best Blues Singer, according to Goldmine Magazine. Sister Rosetta Tharpe Born in 1915, Tharpe began playing guitar and singing in church at age four. Sister Rosetta Tharpe with Duke Ellington (at piano) and Cab Calloway, with trombonist J.C. Higginbotham ad trumpeter Hot Lips Page looking over the Duke’s shoulder, taken in 1939. And her own compositions are finally getting the recognition they deserve too, particularly her 1846 Piano Trio in G minor, different recordings of which are discussed above. For her entire career she's fought the sexism and discrimination women in the music industry faced through her merciless lyrics — with songs like "Bad Boys Get Spanked" — and her bada-- image. 1 in history for an African-American girl group and kick-started King's extraordinary career. Radio 1 Live Music - Bring Me The Horizon, Tom Walker & Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Leave A Light On. People now listen to music through tiny, computer speakers? [LISTEN] Patti Smith - Key of Life interview with Mary Anne. Additionally, the former Playboy bunny used her fashion and beauty to promote feminism in the male-dominant world of rock and roll. From the unique modulations of her voice to her sharp, cerebral lyrics, Joni Mitchell is one of a kind. In 2016, 65,000 fans turned out to London's Hyde Park to see King perform the album. Though she occasionally performed with other folk giants of the '60s like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez, during the formative years of her career Mitchell mostly performed solo, just her and her guitar or piano, resulting in deeply intimate and affecting performances. You may not visually recognize her, but put on almost any popular song from the '50s through the '70s, and chances are Carol Kaye played bass on it. Harry emerged from the New York punk scene in the mid-'70s with the band Blondie and embraced the burgeoning new wave sound. Correctly or not, Kassia - born around 805 - is often called "the first female composer of the Occident" (the Western world) and her place in Byzantine folkore was sealed even before we knew of her music. It became the first No. She learned to play the guitar when she was 4, and her love of music led her to New York during the late ‘30s. We live in a wondrous time for technology. Mitchell influenced numerous artists including Prince, Taylor Swift, and Bonnie Raitt. [LISTEN] Carole King is nominated for Michael Ball's Singers Hall of Fame. But there was far more to Robinson than just hip hop. [WATCH] Tomorrow's World - Origin of British techno music? The 1960s and 70s witnessed a boom in female singer-songwriters, from Joni Mitchell, to Dolly Parton and Carly Simon, and they all owe much to Carole King, the most successful female songwriter of the second half of the 20th century in both the US and UK. But the tune wasn't written by Robert Plant or Jimmy Page. Check out the artists we're taking to SXSW! Chrissie Hynde has never been one to back down from a fight. Kaye started as a jazz guitarist and even played on an album for Sam Cooke. Your Guide to Starting a Career in Virtual Reality. Sylvia Robinson was a true pioneer. We have in Sister Rosetta Tharpe a singer, songwriter and guitarist who had a considerable influence on spiritual and popular music in her … Great, thought Björk, I'll make an album (2001's Vespertine) that sounds perfect at those sound frequencies. Did Derbyshire inadvertently invent British techno music in the course of her work at the BBC? The only woman I'd seen in performance where I thought, 'Yeah, she's got balls, she's awesome!' Quiz: Have you been getting these lyrics wrong all this time? Sister Rosetta Tharpe Considered the “godmother of rock n' roll,” Sister Rosetta Tharpe, a queer black woman, rose to fame in the 1940s. Broonzy once said Minnie "can pick and sing as good as any man I've ever heard; she can make a guitar cry, moan, talk and whistle the blues.". Following these recordings, Sister Rosetta became a sensation – even though her mixture of gospel lyrics with secular music stirred controversy. Joplin hit it big during the countercultural movement in San Francisco during the late 1960s, and while she mesmerized crowds with her unique voice and energetic showmanship, her off-stage persona was equally as important to her legacy. Her soul, sass and mastery of music live on in contemporary superstars like Beyoncé, Alicia Keys, Mary J. Blige and Adele. Like Quatro, Deal inspired a generation of female listeners to pick up the bass guitar. She was from a wealthy family and dissed Emperor Theophilos at a "bride show" after he used the story of Eve from the Book of Genesis to suggest that women were responsible for much evil. My friends' eldest child is turning 6, and I'd like to make her a playlist of female artists. During the 1950s, Atlantic Records was referred to as "the House That Ruth Built" thanks to Ruth Brown's success and influence in the industry. The gospel music, delta blues, and New Orleans jazz Tharpe was exposed to as a child helped form her unique style, according to NPR. In addition to proving that women had a place in the punk and hard rock realms, Quatro taught female listeners — who weren't familiar with Carol Kaye, that is — that it was cool to play the bass guitar. Long Live the Internet (predicting a future of "getting", not "searching" - apps, in short), she rose to the challenge again with her so-called 'app' album Biophilia, but it was far more than a gimmick. Sister Rosetta Tharpe has been named the Godmother of rock and roll for her groundbreaking influence on the genre. A Hollywood biopic is coming soon. She was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2018. Often decked out in head-to-toe black leather outfits and wielding a voice that could toe the line of musical and banshee screaming, Quatro instantly found a niche for herself in the emerging hard rock arena of the '70s. Like us on Facebook to see similar stories, Election Commission junks Didi claim, studying if April 1 events merit action, Upcoming CarWale reviews and videos to go live from 5 to 10 April. Microsoft and partners may be compensated if you purchase something through recommended links in this article. In an In Our Time episode broadcast in the same year, Melvyn Bragg said: "Little known until 30 years ago, the music of Hildegard is now regarded among the best of the Middle Ages, but remarkably her music is only a small aspect of her overall achievement. We'd love to hear your choices, and your reasons why. People who were like me, different…". After moving to Chicago with her Christian-evangelist mother, Katie Bell, she went on to become a major force in the forging of gospel and popular music—which began with her 1939 hit, “This Train.” Listen to Cerys discussing Hildegard of Bingen on Radio 4's Great Lives: [LISTEN] Great Lives - Hildegard Von Bingen, [LISTEN] David Owen Norris on the recordings of Clara Schumann's Piano Trio in G minor, We're now moving on 700 years to the great German pianist and composer Clara Schumann - a jump that says much about the pressures on women not to compose music throughout history, as Schumann knew all too well. While most Detroit bands of the decade like KISS, Alice Cooper, and Bob Seger found success in the US, Quatro hit it big in the UK with hits like "Can the Can" and "Devil Gate Drive." By the 70s, she broke out as a recording and performing star in her own right, particularly with her smash 1971 album Tapestry, and in 2013 became the first ever female recipient of the Library of Congress Gershwin Prize for Popular Song. In 1987, Debbie Harry told the Associated Press she didn't see herself as a pioneer. But more than four decades after Blondie's first album, it's hard to deny the singer's impact on rock and roll. Here's her 1948 self-penned hit, Up Above My Head: [LISTEN] Doctor Who at 50 - Creating the theme tune, Above, former BBC Radiophonic Workshop employee Brian Hodgson explains how the bare bones of the Doctor Who theme were written by Australian composer Ron Grainer and taken to the Workshop to be reimagined in a structures sonore ('sonorous sculptures') style. From the moment she released her first album in 1967, she developed a growing fanbase and continually pleased critics with her innovative songwriting. Aretha's 1985 album Who's Zoomin' Who? 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