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It’s time to return to the Rhino Reading Room to remind you of three artists from the Rhino catalog who are celebrating birthdays this month and have either written memoirs or have had biographies written about them. You don’t necessarily have to be a big fan of all three artists to keep reading, but if you enjoy getting immersed in the life stories of musicians, then you might just want to read about all of them! Belinda Carlisle, Lips Unsealed: A Memoir From Amazon: “The women of the iconic eighties band the Go-Go’s will always be remembered as they appeared on the back of their debut record

Eddie Cochran (guitar, vocals; born October 3, 1938; died April 17, 1960)Although Eddie Cochran was only 21 when he died, he left a lasting mark as a rock and roll pioneer. Cochran zeroed in on teenage angst and desire with such classics as "C'mon Everybody," "Something Else," "Twenty Flight Rock" and "Summertime Blues." A flashy stage dresser with a tough-sounding voice, Cochran epitomized the sound and the stance of the Fifties rebel rocker. But he was also a virtuoso guitarist, overdubbing parts like Les Paul even on his earliest singles and playing with an authority that led music

1. "Come See About Me" The Supremes My favorite Supremes cut! A Holland-Dozier-Holland composition, it's all about the groove. I distinctly remember dancing to this at the following year's bar mitzvah parties. That's right, some tracks are so rhythmic they incite us to get up from our chairs and ask Nancy or Betty or Jennifer to dance. And it's not about them so much as us. We hold our heads high in the air as we sing along. At least I did! 2. "I Feel Fine" The Beatles The flip side was "She's A Woman," number 7 on this list, and the funny thing is I never dug it back then but it resonates

Another legend has left the building to join that rock and roll band in heaven: Liverpool's Gerry Marsden, known and loved around the world as the frontman of Gerry and the Pacemakers, has died at the age of 78. According to his family, the singer passed away on Sunday (January 3) after a “after a short illness in no way connected with COVID-19," adding that wife, daughters and grandchildren are "devastated." Gerry and the Pacemakers emerged from the "Merseybeat" scene with such hits as "Ferry Cross the Mersey" and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." The group was legendary for being the

It’s Black Music Month, as just as we’ve done in past years here at Rhino, we’re celebrating the occasion by sprinkling in a number of posts where we spotlight a black artist or an album by a black artist. Today we’re shining the spotlight on one of the most iconic R&B singers ever signed to Atlantic Records, but that spotlight is on a very specific – and often forgotten – period of his career. Ben E. King’s star as a singer began to rise just as the 1950s came to a close, thanks to George Treadwell, manager of The Drifters, who decided to fire the entire lineup of the group and replace them

Award for Musical ExcellenceGlyn Johns (producer, engineer; born February 15, 1942)Glyn Johns, born in Epsom, Surrey, England, February 15, 1942, has been producer or engineer of a number of rock's classic albums, including those by the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, the Eagles, the Who, the Beatles, the Clash and such singular artists as Joan Armatrading and Ryan Adams. Having been trained as a chorister, and performing in a semi-pro band in his teens, Johns left school to begin an apprenticeship in 1959 at London's IBC Studios as an engineer, and a number of artists Johns worked with would

Songwriting partners Gerry Goffin and Carole King composed a string of classic hits and cherished album tracks for a variety of artists during the Sixties. A brief sampling: "Up On the Roof" (the Drifters), "One Fine Day" (the Chiffons), "I'm Into Something Good" (Herman's Hermits), "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" (the Shirelles), "Take Good Care of My Baby" (Bobby Vee), "Chains" (the Cookies), "Don't Bring Me Down" (the Animals), "Take a Giant Step" (the Monkees) and "Goin' Back" (the Byrds). The prolific duo, who remained married for much of the Sixties, even tapped their babysitter to sing one

Little Richard (vocals, piano; born December 5, 1932)He claims to be "the architect of rock and roll," and history would seem to bear out Little Richard's boast. More than any other performer - save, perhaps, Elvis Presley, Little Richard blew the lid off the Fifties, laying the foundation for rock and roll with his explosive music and charismatic persona. On record, he made spine-tingling rock and roll. His frantically charged piano playing and raspy, shouted vocals on such classics as "Tutti Frutti," "Long Tall Sally" and "Good Golly, Miss Molly" defined the dynamic sound of rock and roll

Inductee: Duane Eddy (guitar; born April 26, 1938)One of the earliest guitar heroes, Duane Eddy put the twang in rock and roll. "Twang" is a reverberating, bass-heavy guitar sound boasted by primitive studio wizardry. Concocted by Eddy and producer Lee Hazlewood in 1957, twang came to represent the sound of revved-up hot rods and an echo of the Wild West on the frontier of rock and roll. Eddy obtained his trademark sound by picking on the low strings of a Chet Atkins-model Gretsch 6120 hollowbody guitar, turning up the tremolo and running the signal through an echo chamber. Behind the mighty

It’s Wednesday, so it must be time to take another dip into the Rhino catalog and trot out a new quartet of cover songs that you may or may not have heard before. Let’s get started, shall we? • Bernard Cribbins, “When I’m Sixty-Four” (1967): This Beatles cover was released as a standalone single by Cribbins in 1967, but what’s more interesting is the man who recorded it. If his name doesn’t ring a bell, then there’s a good chance you’re not British, since Cribbins is a legend in the UK, and understandably so: in addition to a recording career in the early ‘60s that provided him with two top-10