Popular musicians Book

This four-volume set contains 532 articles on the lives and careers of musicians popular in the U.S. since the late 1950s. Arranged, alphabetically, it covers solo performers, bands, and vocal groups with a focus on pop and rock music and their subgenres, rap and hip- hop, country, soul, disco, blues, and folk music. Although jazz as a genre falls outside the scope of the set, 14 articles cover central, well-known jazz figures who have been widely influential. It also includes a number of pre-1950 artists whose popularity has spanned generations. Essays on individuals begin with birth and death information, the title and date of the person's first single of album release, and musical styles; group entries contain a listing of group members, original and later members, the best-known configurations, first release, and musical styles. Articles range from about 600 to 5,000 words and conclude with the contributor's byline, a discography, select awards, and cross-references. Includes many b&w photographs. Thoroughly indexed. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR

"Fans of popular music--rock, folk, country, rap, hip-hop, disco, and blues--will enjoy leafing through this set. Over 500 alphabetically arranged, signed articles recap the careers, successes, and critical reputations of a wide range of contemporary artists. Each profile begins with a summary listing the artist's musical style, first album release, and list of band members, and ends with a select discography, awards, and corss-references to other relevant articles. Other useful features include a glossary, bibliography, time line of first releases, index of song and album titles, and a list of articles by musical style. Superbly organized, attractively presented, and filled with interesting information in an easy-to-read format, this source should be widely popular in school, public, and academic libraries alike."--"Outstanding reference sources 2000", American Libraries, May 2000. Comp. by the Reference Sources Committee, RUSA, ALA.