Steve Miller was born October 5, 1943 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Steve’s family was very involved with music. His mother was a jazz-influenced singer, and his father was a pathologist that very interested in the world of music. Dr. Miller was friends with many musicians which greatly aided in young Steve’s development in music. One of his father’s friends included Les Paul, who showed Steve some chords on a guitar at the age of five. Les Paul proved to be a very valuable mentor to Steve, and he became a good friend of the family. When Steve was seven his family moved to Dallas, where he was exposed to a different type of artists that usually did not visit Milwaukee. His father took him to see greats such as Hank Williams, Chuck Berry, and Carl Perkins. Steve was particularly drawn to T-Bone Walker, the father of Texas-style electric blues. This proved to be very influential in Steve’s life, and it is evident by the blues-sound that he exhibited in his guitar playing.
In 1955, Steve Miller started his first band at the age of twelve, the Marksmen. This band consisted of guitarists James Burton and Bob Hayden, and he acquired Barron Cass to play the drums. Steve taught his older brother Buddy to play the bass so that he had someone to drive them to their gigs. They played songs by Ray Charles and the Four Freshman. Steve was finally given the chance to display his showmanship such as spinning into split or throwing the guitar behind his head mid-song. Upon graduating high school Steve moved to Madison, Wisconsin to go to college. At the University of Wisconsin he started his studies in literature. Here he assembled a group called the Ardells. Ben Sidran played the keyboard, and Steve convinced his friend Boz Scaggs to play rhythm guitar. The band received some success, but they got tired of playing meaningless parties and other small-time gigs. Miller decided to study literature his senior year at the University of Copenhagen. After arriving back in the states he heard an act the Paul Butterfield Blues Band. This caught his attention and he left for Chicago to enter the blues-scene, at this point he was only six credits shy of graduating. Once in Chicago he did session work for Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Howlin’ Wolf.
Scott Joplin, commonly known as the "King of Ragtime" music, was born on November 24, 1868, in Bowie County, Texas near Linden. Joplin came from a large musical family. His father, Giles Joplin was a musician who had fiddled dance music while serving as a slave at his master's parties. His mother, Florence Givens Joplin, born free and out of slavery, sang and played the banjo, and four of his brothers and sisters either sang or played strings.
Anderson had a very strong musical education. At age eleven he began piano lessons and music studies at the New England Conservatory of Music in Cambridge. At his high school graduation from the Cambridge High and Latin School, Anderson composed, orchestrated, and conducted his class song. In 1925 he entered Harvard College. While at Harvard he studied musical harmony with Walter Spalding, counterpoint with Edward Ballantine, canon and fugue with William C. Heilman, and orchestration with Edward B. Hill and Walter Piston. Between 1926 and 1929 he played trombone for the Harvard University Band. He eventually became the director of the Harvard University Band for four years. In 1929 Anderson received a B.A. magna cum laude in Music from Harvard. The magna cum laude is the next-to-highest of three special honors for grades above the average. He was also elected into Phi Beta Kappa. Anderson continued into graduate school at Harvard. In 1930, he earned an M.A. with a major in music. He began studying composition with Walter Piston and Georges Enesco; organ with Henry Gideon and double bass with Gaston Dufresne of the Boston Symphony Orchestra. As well as his studies in music, he continued for his PhD in German and Scandinavian languages. He ultimately mastered Danish, Norwegian, Icel...
Though Jelly Roll Morton began his career without formal training, he grew to live an influential life. His piano style, musical notations on paper, and creative compositions thrived in the 1910s and the 1920s and even weaved its way into the later eras as musicians used Morton’s music as the foundation for their own. Even past his death, Jelly Roll Morton remains a legendary figure. His works are meticulously preserved and displayed in the prestigious Smithsonian Museum and universities around the world continue his legacy by teaching students about Jelly Roll Morton and his influential career.
Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas on February 26, 1932 (Enslow 19). He began to take an interest to music when his father bought a radio. His mother loved listening to music and his mother and Johnny would sing songs all throughout the house. Taught by his mother and childhood friend, he learned to play guitar (Enslow 19). Working hard and practicing, he became very good at guitar and singing. However, he grew up through the Great Depression and this was very difficult for him and his family. In Edward Enslow’s “The Man in Black” Johnny Cash states, “We were very poor, and I almost died of starvation as a child.” This quote shows how life was a struggle for Cash in his early life. Facing all the many challenges was difficult for him but he found a way through it. Through his older brother Jack, he was able to cope with his life growing up. Jack was a huge role model to Johnny growing up, he would teach...
As Kerr is an educator and a professor in universities and not an economist, he examines his idea or creativity in the organization by making inquires starting from top management to the bottom in the organization and also to people who knew what the buyer or customer should be; then he would run it through his network in and outside GE to cross examination and double check or assessment (Davenport et al). Kerr’s successes effectively with the standing of ideas and creativity mainly rely on his continuing exploratory research with great creative thinking skills, expertise and motivation, and they also depend on his outstanding leadership and exceptional organizational culture of innovation in GE (Davenport et al, 2003).
Thaddeus Stevens was a congressman from Pennsylvania who was a member of the House of Representatives during of the time of the Civil War and Reconstruction. He was the leader of a radical wing of the Republican Party called the Radical Republicans. Stevens was one of the most powerful members of the House of Representatives who focused much of his political life on civil rights. He believed in equality for all men whether they were rich or poor, no matter what color their skin. Stevens was instrumental in drafting the 14th Amendment to the Constitution which was meant to protect the civil right of all Americans regardless of their race or gender. He was nicknamed the “Great Commoner” because he championed the plight of the everyday man. Stevens also advocated very harsh policies toward the southern states during the time of Reconstruction. Even though many of his ideas were controversial, he was regarded as a very important national figure during and immediately following the Civil War.
One man made his impression on the music world soon after he arrived to America. His
Omaha, AR(DE)- Amazingly, the act of ending one’s life ultimately saved it. Steve Huey was suffering from an inoperable and fatal brain tumor. Doctors had given him only two months to live, so Huey decided to end it sooner rather than face the pain. He wrote a suicide note and then placed the gun on his head and shot. Later, friends found him on the floor in a pool of blood.
Widely considered country music’s first superstar, Hiram/Hank Williams was born September 17, 1923, in mount olive, Alabama. Williams, the third child of Lon and Lillie Williams, grew up in a household that never had much money. His father worked as a logger before entering the Veterans’ Administration hospital when young hank was just six. Father and son rarely saw each other over the next decade, with William’s mother, who ran rooming houses, moving the family to Greenville, and later, Montgomery, Alabama. (Hank Williams) Everyone knew Hank was a good guy, but like any man had his ups and his downs throughout the short life he lived. Hank grew up rough and he knew it; however nothing was going to stop this young man from doing what he set out to pursue. What he did was astonishing changing art or “so called” music. Hank redefined country music with his personal opinion on what music really was.
Composer-lyricist-librettist of RENT, a rock opera inspired by "La Bohème", Jonathan Larson was born in Mt. Vernon, New York, and raised in suburban White Plains, the second child of Allan and Nanette Larson. Both Jonathan's parents loved music and theatre, and show tunes and folk music were always playing in their home. Jon and his sister Julie took piano lessons during elementary school. He could play by ear, and his teacher encouraged him to experiment with rhythm, harmony, and setting words. By high school, he was called the "Piano Man" after the enormously popular song of that title by Billy Joel; he also played tuba in the school marching band. Active in school and community theatre, Jonathan had major roles in several musicals.
John Philip Sousa’s life started on November sixth, 1854 in Washington. “Philip was a rugged individualist at the age of four.”(9). His early stubborn nature prevented him from attending school due to catching pneumonia from sleeping outdoors when his mother denied him sweets. Sousa’s home-schooling left him craving for an activity and John Esputa started to teach young Philip music. A variety of music lessons took place, leaving Sousa frustrated with critical teachers and challenging new instruments. Eventually he enrolled in school, mainly for safety from the upcoming war, but the young musician excelled in his studies. Meanwhile, trouble with his music lessons occurred, leading him to quit music and attempt baking instead. His heart already belonged to music though, and he returned to music as the child prodigy who fearlessly performed at age ten for large audiences. He already conducted a band of grown men, accepted offers to play in a circus band, and ended up joining the Marine Band before his late teens. The Marine Band a...
Art Menius said, “The African-American music of the rural south provided the source for gospel, jazz, and blues, while the often ignored black contribution to country music and hillbilly music went far beyond providing the banjo and Charley Pride.” In 1928, A.P. Carter, the patriarch of the legendary Carter Family, the first family of country music, met a blues guitarist by the name of Lesley “Esley” Riddle. Lesley Riddle had created a unique picking and sliding technique on the guitar while he was recovering from an accident on the job. The Carter Family was looking for a new sound of music, and they were so overwhelmed by the sound that Lesley produced, they wanted him to teach them how to play that way. Lesley Riddle influenced Maybelle Carter’s style of guitar playing called the “Carter Scratch,” which became legendary. According to birthplaceofcountrymusic.org, Riddle’s influe...
Rag time as it is most commonly know was the type of fast paced music played around 1885 in St. Louis. Scott Joplin was born in 1868 and lived until 1917, but has done a lot in his life span. He was one of the first African Americans to be know as a composer. Born in Texarkana, Texas to a large family with musical background, he began learning to play the guitar and beagle, and gained free piano lessons by showing such fast progression to his teachers. After death of his mother, he left the house at age fourteen. He learned much form traveling through Mississippi playing in local spots and learning form what was offered to him. In 1885 he arrived in St. Louis, at the time a center for a new music phenomenon called ragtime.
Born in San Francisco, Jerry Garcia was the son of a registered nurse and an immigrant big bandleader. When Garcia's band broke up, he went into the bar business. It was right after the Depression. "It was a job he had to take to survive. Back then, you had to take any damn thing." Continuing the pattern of loss, Garcia drowned when Jerry was five. It is notable that he grew up with a single parent, an environment that characterizes many of today's children's formative experiences. When his father died, his decided to continue the bar business. As a result of this, what was left of the Garcia family moved around the San Francisco area quite frequently during the childrens' formative years. All the family members the children knew lived within a five-block radius. This enabled them to have an even bigger run of the city, as they would often ride the train around town to visit relatives.
He had exposure to several different genres growing up in his St. Louis, MO hometown. He heard country from the whites, rhythm & blues (R&B) from mostly blacks, even Latin music. His family environment set him up well for future success while growing up in a middle class home in the middle of the Great Depression of the 1930s. His parents sun...