My Ten Favourite Bands or Groups

I have compiled below a list of my favourite bands or as some people cal them groups. Well they are today they may not be tomorrow. I would like to hear of any I have missed and please feel free to list them in the comments!

By way of definition I call a band a group of performers who not only sing but some use musical instruments?

The Eagles would be my most favorite band without a doubt.

The Eagles would have to be one of the most enduring bands going around.

After the Eagles came out of "retirement" with their "Hell Freezes Over" tour they seemed to be bigger than ever and a lot more relaxed. There was a tour of Australia which went really well.

The make up of the band hasn't changed much at all after the hick-up they had with Don Fender. (settled out of court).
* Glenn Frey – vocals, guitars, keyboards, synthesizers, harmonica
* Don Henley – vocals, drums , percussion, guitar, synthesizer
* Joe Walsh – guitars, vocals, keyboards, synthesizers
* Timothy B. Schmit – bass, vocals.
I believe one reason for their longevity is that they are all goods musicians and vocalists in their own rights.

"Little River Band" are an Australian rock band formed in Melbourne in 1975 and named after a road sign for the Victorian township of Little River, on the way to Geelong. Which is a town about 60km from Melbourne.

They were the first Australian rock group to enjoy commercial success in the United States. During their career the band have sold more than 25 million records and scored 13 American Top 40 hits.

The band's original members:-

• Glenn Sharrock, lead singer.
• Graeham Goble, guitarist and vocals
  
• Beeb Birtles, guitarist and vocals
  
• Roger Mclachlan, bassist.
  
• Derek Pellicce, drummer.
  

The group evolved from the harmony laden country rock group Mississippi in 1975. Prior to that, Birtles had been the bassist in 1960s pop band Zoot (which also included singer-guitarist Rick Springfield a future star of American TV), and Shorrock had been the lead singer of leading Australian 60s pop band The Twilights and early 1970s country rock band Axiom.
The Original Little River Band are considered to be among Australia's most significant bands.

The "classic lineup" of the band (Birtles, Shorrock, Goble, Pellicci, Briggs and McArdle) were inducted into the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) Hall of Fame at the 18th Annual ARIA Music Awards of 2004. They performed "Help Is On Its Way" at the induction ceremony in Australia on 17 October 2004. Shorrock who wrote "Cool Change", had previously been inducted into the ARIA Hall of Fame in 1991.

Three founding members, Birtles, Shorrock and Goble, continued to perform reunion concerts but due to the fact they lost the rights to the name Little River Band, they appear under the name Birtles Shorrock Goble. The trademark owner, has effectively stopped Birtles, Shorrock, and Goble from using any references to their LRB past.

"Reminiscing", written by Goble, has been recognised as one of the most frequently played songs in the history of American radio, with more than four million plays to its credit. John Lennon once named "Reminiscing" as one of his favorite songs.

Over time the legal owners of LRB have changed and the legal version of Little River Band continues to work in the US and performs around 100 shows every year.

Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981.

Bill Haley and His Comets was one of the earliest groups of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of white America and the rest of the world. From the end of 1954 until the end of 1956 the group would place nine singles into the Top 20, one of those a number one and three more in the Top Ten.

Bandleader Bill Haley had previously been a country performer; after recording a country and western-styled version of "Rocket 88", a rhythm and blues song, he changed musical direction to a new sound which came to be called " rock and roll".

Although several members of the Comets became famous, Bill Haley remained the star. With his spit curl and the band's matching plaid dinner jackets and energetic stage behaviour, many fans consider them to be as revolutionary in their time as The Beatles or the Rolling Stones were in theirs.

Bill Haley and His Comets started Rock and Rock with their version of "Rock around the Clock" in about 1956. The song featured in a movie of the same name and was an immediate success. Also in the movie where other classics , such as "See ya Later Aligator"

The Bee Gees

The Bee Gees were a singing trio of brothers — Barry, Robin, and Maurice Gibb. They were born on the Isle of Man to English parents, lived in Chorlton-cum-Hardy, Manchester, England, United Kingdom and during their childhood years moved to Brisbane, Australia, where they began their musical careers. Their worldwide success came when they returned to the United Kingdom and signed with producer Robert Stigwood.

The multiple award-winning group was successful for most of its forty years of recording music, but it had two distinct periods of exceptional success: as a harmonic "soft rock" act in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and as the foremost stars of the disco music era in the late 1970s. The group sang three-part tight harmonies that were instantly recognizable; as brothers, their voices blended perfectly, in the same way that The Everly Brothers and The Beach Boys did. Barry sang lead on many songs, in an R&B falsetto introduced in the disco years; Robin provided the clear vibrato lead that was a hallmark of their pre-disco music; Maurice sang high and low harmonies throughout their career. The three brothers co-wrote most of their hits, and they said that they felt like they became 'one person' when they were writing. The group's name was retired after Maurice died suddenly in January 2003.

The Bee Gees were inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1997; fittingly, the presenter of the award to "Britain's first family of harmony" was Brian Wilson, leader of the Beach Boys, America's first family of rock harmony.

It has been estimated that the Bee Gees' record sales total more than 200 million, easily making them one of the best-selling music artists of all-time. The above figure in record sales does not include record sales for artists for whom they have written and with whom they have collaborated. Their 1997 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame citation says "Only Elvis Presley, The Beatles, Michael Jackson, Garth Brooks and Paul McCartney have outsold the Bee Gees".

Chicago

Chicago is an American pop rock band formed in 1967 in Chicago, Illinois.

The band began as a politically charged, sometimes experimental, rock band and later moved to a predominantly softer sound, becoming famous for producing a number of hit ballads.

The band was formed when a group of students from DePaul University began play late night jams at clubs and off campus.

The band finally finished up going pro with 7 members including

• Walter Parasaider, saxaphone
• James Pankow , trombone
• Lee loughnane, trumpet
• Terry Kath, guitarist
• Robert lamm, Keyboard
• Danny Seraphine , Drummer
• Peter Cetera, Bassist

Chicago started out life as "The Big Thing" and were persuaded to change their name to "Chicago Transit Authority" but after threatened legal action changed to just "Chicago"

They had a steady stream of hits throughout the 1970s and 1980s. Second only to the Beach Boys in terms of singles and albums.

Chicago is one of the longest running and most successful U.S. pop/rock and roll groups. According to Billboard, Chicago was the leading U.S. singles charting group during the 1970s. They have sold over 120 million albums worldwide, scoring 22 gold, 18 platinum, and 8 multiplatinum albums. Over the course of their career they have charted five No. 1 albums, and have had 21 top ten hits.

Abba

The band Abba consisted of:-

• Anni-Frid Lyngstad

• Björn Ulvaeus

• Benny Andersson

• Agnetha Fältskog

ABBA  topped the charts worldwide from the mid-1970s to the early 1980s. The name "ABBA" is an acronym formed from the first letters of each of the group members' given names (Agnetha, Benny, Björn, Anni-Frid).

ABBA gained immense international popularity employing catchy song hooks, simple lyrics, and a very full sound achieved by overdubbing the female singers' voices in multiple harmonies.

 As Abba's  popularity grew, they were sought after to tour Europe, Australia, and North America, drawing crowds of near-hysterical fans, very much so in Australia.

 Touring for the band became a contentious issue, being particularly unpopular with Agnetha, but they continued to release studio albums to great commercial success.

 At the height of their popularity, however, both marriages of the band members (Benny with Frida, and Björn with Agnetha) failed, and the relationship changes were reflected in their music, as they produced more thoughtful lyrics with different compositions.

They remain a fixture of radio playlists and are one of the world's best selling bands, having sold over 370 million records world wide; they still sell two to four million records a year.

 ABBA was also the first pop group from mainland Europe to enjoy consistent success in the charts of English-speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada, Ireland, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand.

 The song Mamma Mia has now be turned into a successful Musical and a Movie starring of all people Meryl Streep and Pierce Brosnan.(of James Bond fame) and Colin Firth.

The movie Mamma Mia has now become the highest grossing film in the UK of all time!

Fleetwood Mac

Fleetwood Mac are on my selective best list , in other words I have to be in the mood. I think "Dreams" is a classic in the genre. I hope you don't mind but I've put in here a cover version done by the "Corr's" live on stage featuring Mike Fleetwood on the drums I hope you enjoy this version!

Sorry folks, I just could not do it to you. I've gone back to the one and only origonal with Ms Nicks. I you ask me nicely I'll alternate it with the Corrs version.

Buddy Holly and the Crickets

Buddy Holly and The Crickets were formed by singer/songwriter Buddy Holly in the 1950s. Their first hit record was "That'll Be the Day," released in 1957.
     Buddy Holly and the Crickets were a rock and roll band from Lubbock Texas formed by Buddy Holly with lead guitarist and vocalist Buddy Holly, drummer Jerry Allison, bassist Joe B. Mauldin, and rhythm guitarist Niki Sullivan. Sullivan dropped out after a little more than one year to resume his education.

The Crickets, now a trio, continued to make stage and TV appearances, and recorded more songs, many composed by the band members themselves.

There is an interesting story that Buddies band was going to be called "The Beatles" because there was a lot of bird bands around at the time , However he settled on "The Crickets".  When the "Beatles" formed they used that name to pay homage to Buddy Holly!

During 1957 Norman Petty the producer and recording engineer for the band arranged for The "Crickets" recordings to be marketed under two separate names. The solo vocals went out as "Buddy Holly" and the songs with dubbed backing vocals were issued as "The Crickets."

Petty correctly reasoned, that disc jockeys might be reluctant to program a single artist too heavily, but would have no problem playing records by two seemingly different groups. Some disc jockeys referred to the band as "Buddy Holly and The Crickets," but the record labels never used this wording until after Holly's death.

In 1958, Holly broke with Petty and moved to New York to be more involved with the publishing and recording businesses. Allison and Mauldin chose not to move and returned to Lubbock. Holly now recorded under his own name with studio musicians Tommy Allsup and Carl Bunch. Waylon Jennings toured with him shortly after The Crickets folded.
Allison and Mauldin looked forward to rejoining Holly after he returned from a winter tour through the northern Midwest. It was on that tour that Holly was killed in a plane crash.

Queen

Will we ever forget Freddie Mercury and come on is there anyone out there who has not stamped or clapped to 'we will rock you'
Queen were an English rock band formed in 1970 in London by guitarist Brian May, lead vocalist Freddie Mercury and drummer Roger Taylor, with bassist John Deacon completing the lineup the following year.

The band is noted for their musical diversity, multi-layered arrangements, vocal harmonies, and incorporation of audience participation into their live performances. Their 1985 Live Aid performance was voted the best live rock performance of all time in an industry poll.

Queen enjoyed success in the UK in the early 1970s with the albums Queen and Queen II, but it was with the release of Sheer Heart Attack in 1974 and A Night at the Opera the following year that the band gained international success. They have released fifteen studio albums, five live albums, and numerous compilation albums. Eighteen of these have reached number one on charts around the world.

Following Mercury's death in 1991 and Deacon's retirement in 1997, May and Taylor have performed infrequently under the Queen name. Since 2004 they have been collaborating with Paul Rodgers, under the moniker Queen + Paul Rodgers.

AC/DC aka "Acca Dacca"

AC/DC are an Australian rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by brothers Malcolm and Angus Young. Although the band are commonly classified as hard rock, and considered pioneers of heavy metal, they have always classified their music as "rock and roll".

Malcolm and Angus Young got the idea for the band name from the back of the sewing machine beloning to their sister Margaret and seeing the intitials AC/DC (meaning alternating current /direct current) decided that would be the name of their band!
Usually pronounced one letter at a times "AC/DC" , the band is popularly known in Australia as "Acca Dacca".