A Yardstick for Lunatics — 1. Guitarist Ed King of Strawberry Alarm Clock (“Incense and Peppermints”) later joined A. The Marshall Tucker Band B. The Allman Brothers Band C. Lynyrd Skynyrd D. Atlanta Rhythm Section 2. Professional wrestling manager Jimmy Hart, known as “The Mouth of the South,” was once a member of what band? …

The 2021 documentary The Beatles: Get Back could not have come at a better time for Leo Sayer. The singer-songwriter often crossed paths with the group as a young performer in London, managed by singer Adam Faith. Sayer’s relationship with Faith went sour when Sayer discovered he’d been ripped off…

Most people know “Shake a Tail Feather” from the 1980 film The Blues Brothers; Ray Charles performed it as a crowd danced outside Ray’s Music Exchange. The song was the creation of singer, writer and producer and Andre Williams, an underrated R&B pioneer who co-wrote “Shake a Tail Feather” with…

July and August were part of a turbulent 1974 for John Lennon. In the midst of an 18-month separation from Yoko Ono, a period Lennon called his Lost Weekend, he was living in New York City with May Pang and recording the Walls and Bridges album at Record Plant East. …

“I play the harmonica. The only way I can play is if I get my car going really fast, and stick it out the window.” — Steven Wright 11. “What I Like About You” by the Romantics When “What I Like About You” was released in late 1979, it only…

Fans of classic rock radio are never far from hearing a song Jim Messina had a hand in creating. Messina, a singer, guitarist and songwriter in three celebrated bands, has also worked as an engineer and producer with some of rock’s biggest stars. Messina formed his first band, Jim Messina…

Ann Wilson, the singer-songwriter who, with sister Nancy Wilson, burst on the scene in Heart, will release her latest solo album, Fierce Bliss, on April 29. Fierce Bliss is a collection of 11 originals and classics by the Eurythmics and Robin Trower. It is sure to be one of the…

Bobby Rydell was rarely off the record charts in the early 1960s. The teen idol had 34 singles on the Billboard Hot 100 that included “Wild One,” “Swingin’ School” and “Forget Him.” Rydell, 79, died April 5. The cause of death was pneumonia. In The Beatles Anthology, Paul McCartney said…

“Twist and Shout” became one of the Beatles’ big hits when it was released in March 1964 at the outset of Beatlemania. The song was a cover of the Top 20 hit two years earlier by the Isley Brothers. Since then, many have recorded “Twist and Shout,” from the Mamas…