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In music, a concept album is an album that is "unified by a theme, which can be instrumental, compositional, narrative, or lyrical."^[1] Commonly, concept albums tend to incorporate preconceived musical or lyrical ideas rather than being improvised or composed in the studio, with all songs contributing to a single overall theme or unified story. This is in contrast to the practice of an artist or group releasing an album consisting of a number of unconnected (lyrically or otherwise) songs performed by the artist.

History[link]

1940s and 1950s[link]

Woody Guthrie's Dust Bowl Ballads (1940) is considered to be the first concept album. Before the advent of rock and roll, concept albums had their original heyday in jazz of the early to mid '50s with artists such as Nat King Cole and Frank Sinatra, the latter of whom would record numerous concept albums for Capitol throughout the last half of the '50s such as In the Wee Small Hours, Come Fly with Me, Where Are You? and Nice 'n' Easy. In the late fifties Johnny Cash recorded songs for his first two concept albums, Songs of Our Soil and Ride This Train, in which were released in 1959 and 1960 respectively.

1960s[link]

Perhaps the first examples from rock were the albums of The Ventures. Starting from 1961's Colorful Ventures (each song had a color in the title), the group became known for issuing records throughout the 1960s whose tracks revolved around central themes, including surf music, country, outer space, TV themes, and psychedelic music.^[2] Ray Charles also issued his Modern Sounds recordings, which departed from his well-known R&B and soul style to conceptually country music records.

In 1966, several rock releases were arguably concept albums in the sense that they presented a set of thematically-linked songs - and they also instigated other rock artists to consider using the album format in a similar fashion: The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds was a musical portrayal of Brian Wilson's state of mind at the time (and a major inspiration to Paul McCartney). Although it has a unified theme in its emotional content, the writers (Brian Wilson and Tony Asher) have said continuously that it was not necessarily intended to be a narrative. However, Brian Wilson has stated that the idea of the record being a "concept album" is mainly within the way the album was produced and structured.^[3] However, later in 1966, Brian Wilson began work on the Smile album, which was intended as a narrative. The album was scrapped before completion, only to be revived in November 2011. The Mothers of Invention's sardonic farce about rock music and America as a whole, Freak Out! by Frank Zappa and Face to Face by The Kinks, the first collection of Ray Davies's idiosyncratic character studies of ordinary people, are conceptually oriented albums. However, out of the albums above, only Pet Sounds attracted a huge commercial audience.

This all changed with The Beatles' most celebrated album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band in June 1967. With the release of Sgt. Pepper, the notion of the concept album came to the forefront of the popular and critical mind, with the earlier prototypes and examples from traditional pop music and other genres sometimes forgotten.

In fact, as pointed out by many critics since its original reception, Sgt. Pepper is a concept album only by some definitions of the term. There was, at some stage during the making of the album an attempt to relate the material to firstly the idea of aging, then as an obscure radio play about the life of an ex-army bandsman and his shortcomings. These concepts were lost in the final production. While debate exists over the extent to which Sgt. Pepper qualifies as a true concept album, there is no doubt that its reputation as such helped inspire other artists to produce concept albums of their own, and inspired the public to anticipate them. Lennon and McCartney distanced themselves from the "concept album" tag as applied to that album.^[4]

Days of Future Passed, released the same year as Sgt. Pepper's, was fellow UK musicians The Moody Blues' first foray into the concept album. Originally presented with an opportunity to rock out Dvořák's Symphony No. 9 "From the New World" by their new stereophonic label, the band instead forged ahead to unify their own orchestral-based threads of a day in the life of a common man.^[5]

The Who Sell Out by The Who followed with its concept of a pirate radio broadcast. Within the record, joke commercials recorded by the band and actual jingles from recently outlawed pirate radio station Radio London were interspersed between the songs, ranging from pop songs to hard rock and psychedelic rock, culminating with a mini-opera titled "Rael."^[6]

In October 1967, the British group Nirvana released The Story of Simon Simopath (subtitled "A Science Fiction Pantomime"), an album that tells the story of the title character. It was only a moderate commercial success. The album S.F. Sorrow (released in December 1968) by British group the Pretty Things is generally considered to be among the first creatively successful rock concept albums - in that each song is part of an overarching unified concept – the life story of the main character, Sebastian Sorrow.^[7]

Released in April 1969, was the rock opera Tommy composed by Pete Townshend and performed by The Who. This acclaimed work was presented over two discs (unusual at the time) and it took the idea of thematically based albums to a much higher appreciation by both critics and the public. It was also the first story-based concept album of the rock era (as distinct from the song-cycle style album) to enjoy commercial success. The Who went on to further explorations of the concept album format with their follow-up project Lifehouse, which was abandoned before completion, and with their 1973 rock opera, Quadrophenia.^[8]

Five months after the release of Tommy, The Kinks released another concept album, Arthur (Or the Decline and Fall of the British Empire) (September 1969), written by Ray Davies; though considered by some a rock opera, it was originally conceived as the score for a proposed but never realised BBC television drama. It was the first of several concept albums released by the band through the first few years of the 1970s. These were: Lola Versus Powerman and the Moneygoround, Part One (1970), Muswell Hillbillies (1971), Preservation: Act 1 (1973), Preservation: Act 2 (1974), Soap Opera (1975) and Schoolboys in Disgrace (1976).^[9]

1970s[link]

Concept albums are considered de rigueur in the progressive rock genre of the 1970s. Pink Floyd recast itself from its 1960s guise as a psychedelic band into a commercial success with its series of concept albums, most famously with The Dark Side of the Moon (which, according to the RIAA, is the second best selling album in history) and later with the double album rock opera The Wall.

From 1975 to 1979, a Canadian progressive power trio, Rush, released three albums containing sidelong epics, regarded by some as concept albums (though not actually concept albums by strict definition of the term; that is, none of the other songs on the album have anything to do with each other or the 20-minute sidelong epic, so there is no pervasive concept or story). The first of these was released in 1975, titled Caress of Steel. The second was their breakthrough album, 2112, released the following year in 1976. Their third was released in 1978, Hemispheres.

Yes also produced concept albums during the '70s, most notably Tales from Topographic Oceans, which would become a defining album of prog rock, but its critical backlash would lead to the genre's decline in popularity and the rise of punk rock.^[10][11] The group's keyboardist Rick Wakeman released many concept albums on his own, most notably The Six Wives of Henry VIII and Journey to the Centre of the Earth, which was based on the novel by Jules Verne.

Another progressive rock act, Genesis, released the concept album The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway in 1974, a double disc that told the story of the street punk Rael. Rock musician David Bowie also made three popular concept albums; The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders From Mars, about the fictional character, Ziggy Stardust and his band; Aladdin Sane; and Diamond Dogs.

In the 1970s and 80s, The Alan Parsons Project was a British progressive rock group which specialized entirely in concept albums.

1980s[link]

Though the progressive rock genre was beginning to decrease in popularity, concept albums had become a medium that continued. The progressive bands that were still around were still having major successes with concept albums.

In 1985, the British neo-progressive rock band Marillion achieved their only UK Number One album - and the best-selling album of their career - with Misplaced Childhood, a concept album featuring lyrics by frontman Fish which were partly autobiographical. The album was played as two continuous pieces of music on the two sides of the vinyl and produced the band's two biggest hit singles, "Kayleigh" and "Lavender".

Styx continued to have multiplatinum albums with their 1981 release Paradise Theater (a concept album about a decaying theater in Chicago which became a metaphor for childhood and American culture) and 1983's Kilroy Was Here (a science fiction rock opera about a future where moralists imprison rockers).^[12]

The British group A Flock of Seagulls, released their self-titled concept album based on an alien invasion.

In the 1980s, concept albums also became popular among rock bands like Kiss, with their album, 1981's Music from "The Elder", which went on to become the group's poorest selling and charting album in their history, primarily because of its radical departure in musical style compared to Kiss's previous offerings. Queensrÿche fared better later the decade, releasing the rock opera Operation: Mindcrime in 1988, which tells a story of a young man, Nikki, awoken from a coma suddenly remembering work done as a political assassin.^[13] The comedy group Buckner & Garcia released a novelty concept album, Pac-Man Fever, that went gold and produced a hit single of the same name; all of the songs on the album pertained to popular video games of the time.

The heavy metal band King Diamond gained cult status during the 1980s releasing mostly all concept albums. Releases such as Abigail, "Them," and The Eye told elaborate sagas of horror and the supernatural.

In 1985 Kerrang! magazine ran a coverstory on Phenomena,^[14] announcing "the return of the concept album". Tom Galley had started the project, and together with his brother Mell and Metalhammer magazine founder Wilfried Rimensberger developed it into an international multi-media rock music project with contributions from a string of rock superstars, that, apart from so far a total of 5 albums, produced the Dreamrunner album and an ongoing following around the world. Phenomena's main story lines are dealing with the supernatural and unexplained, that were also turned in to scripts for musical, rock opera stage productions, feature films and video games. Iron Maiden also released several concept albums including Seventh Son of a Seventh Son, which follows the folklore and myths of a seventh son of a seventh son having mystical powers.^[15]

1990s[link]

In the 1990s prog rock had all but faded from popular music. With the advent of alternative rock, however, a number of artists still continued to use the format.

In this decade, the rock band Marilyn Manson created three rock opera concept albums, namely Antichrist Superstar (1996), Mechanical Animals (1998) and Holy Wood (2000), which formed an ambitious concept trilogy. Though each one came with individual conceptual backgrounds, they are also meant to be taken together to form a larger abstract storyline. The albums were released in reverse order thus in the larger overarching 'fourth storyline' is divulged in reverse chronological order.^[16][17][18]

In 1994, industrial metal band Nine Inch Nails released The Downward Spiral which focuses on a life going in a downward spiral.^[19] In 1996, Meat Loaf released Welcome to the Neighborhood, a concept album that tells the story of a relationship. Heavy metal band Iced Earth, released their 1996 album The Dark Saga which is based upon the comic book character Spawn, created by Todd McFarlane. Alternative metal band Fear Factory, released several concept albums in the 90s. Also, in 1994 Charly García recorded "La hija de la Lágrima". He was the first musician in Argentina to record a concept album.

In 1999, progressive metal band Dream Theater released Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory, a story concept album. This was a specific follow-up to a song called "Metropolis Pt. 1: The Miracle and the Sleeper", which was released on the band's 1992 breakthrough album, Images and Words. While "Pt. 1" introduced a story, further parts of the "Metropolis" story were unseen on that album or subsequent releases for seven years. Although the band had created a twenty-minute follow-up to Part 1 in the mid-nineties, it hadn't been released. After the band gained complete creative control from their record company, they decided to expand their follow-up of the Metropolis story into a full album: Metropolis Pt. 2: Scenes from a Memory. This album builds on concepts introduced in "Part 1", both lyrically and musically. Although it did not achieve the same levels of commercial success as the band's later releases (it reached #73 on the Billboard 200), it has been hailed by many fans and critics as Dream Theater's masterpiece and the band's defining album.

The Swedish progressive extreme metal band Opeth released two concept albums in the late 90s. In 1998 they released My Arms, Your Hearse, telling the story of a man who has died and become a ghost. Their fourth album Still Life told the story of an exiled man who has come back to his home town to find the woman he loves.

2000s and 2010s[link]

With the advent of the World Wide Web and other multimedia technologies, bands such as The Smashing Pumpkins (with the album Machina/The Machines of God), Coheed And Cambria (with the Amory Wars as a backing story for every one of their albums), and Nine Inch Nails (with the album Year Zero)^[20] exploited emergent cultural phenomena such as the alternate reality game to provide additional web-based content beyond that on the album itself.

In the 2000s, the rock band 30 Seconds to Mars released two concept albums, 30 Seconds to Mars (2002) and This Is War (2009). Also in the 2000s, My Chemical Romance released four concept albums, the most popular being Three Cheers for Sweet Revenge and The Black Parade. In 2003, The Protomen released their debut album Act 1 (The Protomen) which borrows from the story of the Megaman franchise to create a dystopian rock opera. The follow-up album entitled Act II - The Father of Death was released in 2009 and serves as a prequel to Act I by establishing the history of Dr. Light, Dr. Wily, and how the world came under the rule of Wily.

Also in the 2000s, pop punk outfit Green Day abandoned the pop punk scene and turned to more alternative and progressive rock influences and produced two Grammy-winning concept albums, namely, 2004's American Idiot and 2009's 21st Century Breakdown.^[21] In 2010, American Idiot became the first punk rock opera to make it to Broadway^[22] where it has garnered two Tony Awards.^[23]

In August 2009, The Antlers released their first concept album Hospice. It tells the story of an emotionally abusive relationship, explained through the analogy of a hospice worker and terminally-ill patient. It is known for its realism, sadness, and use of expressive instrumental segments.

The Chilean alternative duo The Paintings formed in Santiago de Chile, 2009 by Eija-Lynn and Hieronymus released their debut album Tiny Tales Of Tides & Suns in February 2010. It is a concept album about the persistence of matter, energy and memory in the Universe. It is a 10 song work where the last track finishes right at the beginning of the first one. "It is designed to be listened to as a cycle."^[24] Their second album TEA. is scheduled to be released in the late trimester of 2011. It is a 2-disc set concept album where each part is sung entirely by a half of the duo. Disc 1 is sung entirely by Eija-Lynn and it is about "a possible future where all the cities on Earth have disappeared under the snow of a centuries long winter. Seeds of trees that have been waiting for ages start to grow, multiply and take over again. It will all be written in their annual rings: the memory of trees. Meanwhile, a human spaceship that was sent out to space long ago when the planetary winter began crashes in some foreign planet and the local civilization buries all evidence of the accident."^[25] Disc 2 is sung entirely by Hieronymus and it is "about a possible past where humans have evolved from an alien organic source buried in our planet billions of years ago. All the many species that have existed, have an ancestor in that alien molecule. Through the epochs and in the sand the fossils lie entombed: the memory of sand. Billions of years later, all evidence of that fact has been erased or denied and it is considered just a silly theory. The weather starts to change in a dramatic way leading to a planetary winter and a few space travellers sail out to wander in the cosmic ocean in search of answers about their place in the universe. They end up crashing in a foreign planet."^[26]

In May 2010, Ayurveda released H. luminous. It is a 25-minute, eight-movement, concept piece recorded live in the studio at Pyramid Sound Studios in Ithaca, NY. H. luminous takes the listener on a shamanic journey of humankind's transformation and evolution from homo sapiens to homo luminous. The piece was conceptualized by lyricist, Tom Burchinal, and offers an anti-apocalyptic viewpoint of the popularized end-date of the Mayan Long Count Calendar in 2012. CD sleeves for H. luminous were silk-screened and printed by the band using 100% post-consumer recycled cardboard. The 16-panel album insert features artwork from five Ithaca-based artists and follows the symbolic transformation from homo sapiens to enlightened beings as portrayed in H. luminous. Under Burchinal's direction, Nicoli Schwiep designed both the album cover and insert layout.

In September 2010, Linkin Park released A Thousand Suns. It is a 48 minute album based on nuclear warfare and human fears.

In 2007 rapper, Jay-Z, released American Gangster, his first concept album, inspired by the movie of the same name, it was met with critical praise.

In addition, Grammy-winning metal band Mastodon has released three concept albums, Leviathan, Blood Mountain and Crack the Skye, which, along with their debut album, Remission, make up a quadrilogy, each representing its own element: water, earth, air and fire, respectively.

In 2005, Christian progressive hard rock artist Neal Morse released the concept album "? (Question Mark)", containing a dozen tracks with similar lyrical and instrumental themes, which Morse believes "should be considered one long epic track rather than twelve separate tracks".

British rapper Plan B released a concept album titled The Defamation of Strickland Banks in which he plays a soul singer named Strickland Banks.

Progressive metal band Dominici, released three albums in 2005, 2007 and 2008. These were story concept albums which named as O3: A Trilogy, Part One, O3: A Trilogy, Part Two, and O3: A Trilogy, Part Three.

English alternative rock band Coldplay released a concept album, Mylo Xyloto, in October 2011. Lead singer Chris Martin says, "It’s based on a love story with a happy ending."

The 2011 contemporary classical concept album Troika is composed of new orchestral songs set to Russian, English, and French-language poetry by five multilingual Russian-born writers: Joseph Brodsky, Mikhail Lermontov, Vladimir Nabokov, Aleksandr Pushkin and Fyodor Tyutchev.

Raleigh, North Carolina heavy metal band Alesana is scheduled to release a concept album, A Place Where the Sun Is Silent, during October 2011. The band has stated the two-disc CD will be based on the seven deadly sins. It is the second concept album that they will release, after releasing The Emptiness in 2009.

Avenged Sevenfold's Nightmare was originally meant to be a concept album about worst nightmares. However, after the death of The Rev, most of the songs were lyrically altered to surround him.

Blue October's Any Man in America is a concept album about the divorce and custody battle of the lead singer, Justin Furstenfeld from his wife. It was released in August 2011.

Baltimore, MD heavy metal band Periphery plans to release a concept album entitled Juggernaut in late 2012.

Massachusetts-based Hardcore Punk band Defeater has released two full length albums and one EP telling the story of an alcoholic WWII veteran and the trials and tribulations of his family.

Hudson is a folk indie rock band with two narrative concept albums released to date. Their first album released in October 2010 is Eastward which is "about a young man's journey East to save his brother." Their sophomore album, Crimson, was released in January 20012. It tells "the story of a castaway's rebellion and a battle for justice." How they create their music is described on their website:"each album is written and recorded over the course of a musically immersive seven days, and tells a unique story."^[27]

Electra Heart is the concept album of UK singer Marina And The Diamonds. it was released on the 27th of April in Ireland and the 30th of April in the UK, and features the titular character, Electra Heart, as a fictional character of Marina's creation who epitomizes the American female at her very worst, in the four "Archetypes"; The Primadonna, SuBarbieA, Homewrecker, Teen Idles.

See also[link]

• List of concept albums
• Rock opera
• Album musical
• Program music

References[link]

Anaïs Mitchell
New Bedford Summerfest July 4, 2010
Background information
Born	(1981-03-26) March 26, 1981 (age 31)
Origin	Montpelier, Vermont, U.S.
Genres	Folk, Indie folk
Instruments	Guitar
Years active	2002–present
Labels	Righteous Babe Records
Associated acts	Bon Iver, Ani DiFranco
Website	Official Website

Anaïs Mitchell (English: /ɑːneɪˈs/; born March 26, 1981) is an American singer-songwriter.

Early life[link]

Anaïs Mitchell is the daughter of a novelist and a college professor. She began writing and performing songs at the age of seventeen. As a child she grew up on a farm in Addison County, Vermont, traveled to the Middle East, Europe and Latin America and later attended Middlebury College.^{[1] [2]}

Career[link]

On a single afternoon in 2002, Mitchell recorded her debut album The Song They Sang When Rome Fell.^{[citation needed]}

In 2003 Mitchell won the New Folk award at the Kerrville Folk Festival.^[1][3]

Her album, Hymns for the Exiled, was released on Chicago's Waterbug Records label in 2004.^[1] This recording attracted the attention of singer/songwriter, Ani DiFranco who signed Mitchell to the Righteous Babe Records label.^[2]

In 2006 Mitchell debuted a draft of her Hadestown "folk opera" which she wrote in collaboration with arranger Michael Chorney and director Ben T. Matchstick.^[4] A revised version of Hadestown was staged in 2007 and Mitchell's third album, The Brightness, was released on Righteous Babe Records that same year.^[5]

In 2008 Mitchell was nominated in the Contemporary Artist category of the third annual Folk Alliance awards show broadcast.^[6] In September that same year Righteous Babe Records released country e.p., a split vinyl/CD EP Mitchell recorded with Rachel Ries.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2009, Mitchell said she intended to release a recording of Hadestown. Mitchell lent her vocals to the song "Miss Independence", off of Burlington-based singer Myra Flynn's album "Crooked Measures".^[7]

Hadestown, a recording of Mitchell's folk opera was released on Righteous Babe records in March 2010 in the US (late April 2010 in the UK) and received favorable reviews.^[8][9] Her manager, Slim Moon, described it as "the story of Orpheus and Eurydice set in post-apocalyptic Depression-era America." The album includes guest appearances by Ani DiFranco, Greg Brown, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Ben Knox Miller of The Low Anthem, and The Haden Triplets (Petra, Rachel, and Tanya Haden).

Mitchell released an album called Young Man in America, on her Wilderland Records label in 2012.^[10]

Reception[link]

Mitchell has received favorable reviews on her musical style, sound and performance. An article in Acoustic Guitar magazine calls Mitchell "fearlessly emotive" and compares her to Dylan, Cohen, and Welch.^[11]

A review in No Depression magazine describes Mitchell as "girlishly sprite and brimming with innocence" and says that she "brings to mind the hippie-throwback charm of Victoria Williams and "80s pop star Cyndi Lauper".^[12]

Margaret Reges of Allmusic describes Mitchell as having "the earthiness of Shawn Colvin, the child-like bite of Joanna Newsom, and the urban jumpiness of Ani DiFranco"^[13]

Discography[link]

• The Song They Sang... When Rome Fell (2002)
• Hymns for the Exiled (2004) Waterbug Records
• The Brightness (2007) Righteous Babe Records
• Country E.P. (2008) Righteous Babe Records (with Rachel Ries)
• Hadestown (2010) Righteous Babe Records (with Ani DiFranco, Justin Vernon of Bon Iver, Greg Brown and Ben Knox Miller)
• Young Man in America (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Anaïs Mitchell

• Official website
• Boston Globe music review
• Sing Out! sound recording review of The Brightness by Rich Warren June 22, 2007.
• State of Mind Our Lady of the Underground: A Conversation with Anais Mitchell by Matt Bushlow March 2010.
• nthWORD Magazine Interview by Ryan O'Connor June 7, 2010
• NPR Music Review

Lin-Manuel Miranda
Miranda at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009
Born	(1980-01-16) January 16, 1980 (age 32) New York City

Lin-Manuel Miranda (born January 16, 1980) is a Puerto Rican-American composer, rapper, lyricist, and actor. He is most famous for writing and starring as Usnavi in the Broadway musical In the Heights, which opened on Broadway at the Richard Rodgers Theatre in 2008 and for which he won the Tony Award as composer and lyricist.

Early life[link]

Lin-Manuel was born in northern Manhattan, New York City, New York. He grew up in the Inwood section of Manhattan and is of Puerto Rican descent.^[1]

Education[link]

After graduating from Hunter College High School, Miranda went on to attend Wesleyan University^[1][2] and graduated in 2002. During this time, he co-founded a hip hop comedy troupe called Freestyle Love Supreme. He wrote the earliest draft of In the Heights in 1999, his sophomore year of college. After the show was accepted by Wesleyan's student theater company The Second Stage, Miranda worked on adding "freestyle rap ... bodegas, and salsa numbers."^[1] It played from 20 April to 22 April.

Miranda wrote and directed several other musicals at Wesleyan. He also acted in many other productions, ranging from musicals to Shakespeare.

[edit] In the Heights

In 2002, Miranda and Mailer worked with director Tommy Kail and wrote five separate drafts of In the Heights that were dissected. During this time, Miranda worked as an English teacher at his former high school. After making it off-Broadway, the play went to Broadway in 2008.^[1] Miranda made his last performance in the Broadway show on February 15, 2009.^[3]

However, Miranda reprised his role of Usnavi when the national tour of In the Heights played in Los Angeles, California from June 23 to July 25, 2010.^[4][5] The tour continued without him at the helm until it played in San Juan, Puerto Rico, where he played Usnavi.

The Broadway production played its final performance on January 9, 2011 after 29 previews and 1,185 regular performances. Miranda reprised the role of Usnavi from December 25, 2010 until the closing of the production.^[6]

Other work[link]

Miranda wrote, directed, and acted in an independent film called Clayton's Friends (1996). In 2007, Miranda made an appearance on the television series The Sopranos in the episode "Remember When."^[7] Miranda also worked as an English teacher at his former high school, wrote for the Manhattan Times as a columnist and restaurant reviewer, and composed music for commercials.^[8] In 2008, Miranda was invited by composer-lyricist Stephen Schwartz to contribute two new songs to a revised version of Schwartz and Nina Faso's 1978 musical Working, which opened in May 2008 at the Asolo Repertory Theatre in Sarasota, Florida.^[9]

Miranda wrote Spanish language dialogue and worked with Stephen Sondheim to translate into Spanish song lyrics for the revival of West Side Story, which opened on Broadway in March 2009.^[10][11] He is also a composer and actor on the 2009 revival of The Electric Company. Miranda also appeared in the CollegeHumor sketch "Hardly Working: Rap Battle," playing himself working as an intern and rapper.^[12] In September 2009, Miranda played Alvie, Gregory House's roommate in a psychiatric hospital, in the two-hour season six premiere episode of House. He reprised the role in May 2010.^[13] He also has done work for Sesame Street, where he has played occasional roles and sings the theme song to Murray Has a Little Lamb.^[14]

He is a member of Freestyle Love Supreme, a performance group of freestylers that make up words on the spot. Chris Jackson, a member of the original Broadway cast of In the Heights, is also a member.

Miranda and the cast of In the Heights performed segments from the show at the Lincoln Center Barnes and Noble. They also performed at the Virgin Megastore. Recently a flash mob performance done by Flash Mob America showing a large scale street version of 96,000 being performed as Miranda ate lunch. Miranda has made several popular YouTube videos centered on In the Heights, performing songs like "Bet on It" from High School Musical 2 and "Run This Town" with lyrics altered to concern the show.

He is working on The Hamilton Mixtape, a hip hop album based upon the life of Alexander Hamilton.^[15] He performed part of it at the White House Evening of Poetry, Music, and the Spoken Word on May 12, 2009, accompanied by Alex Lacamoire.^[16]

He also co-wrote the music and lyrics for Bring It On: The Musical, with Tom Kitt and Amanda Green. The musical opened on October 30, 2011 at the Ahmanson Theatre, Los Angeles, California at the start of a US National tour.^[17][18]

Personal life[link]

Miranda married Vanessa Nadal, a high school friend who grew up with him in Washington Heights, in September 2010 after dating her for five years.^[19][20][21]

The principal female character in In the Heights, Vanessa, is not based on Nadal, as many people believe. At the wedding reception, Miranda, along with the wedding party, presented Vanessa with a group rendition of the Fiddler on the Roof song "L'Chaim".^[22] The video was posted on YouTube^[23] and quickly became popular on the internet.

Miranda received an honorary degree from Yeshiva University during its May 14, 2009 graduation ceremony. He is the youngest person to receive an honorary degree from Yeshiva University.^[24] His show In the Heights is based in the upper Manhattan community of Washington Heights, which is also home to Yeshiva's campus. Ed Koch, former mayor of New York City, presented Miranda with the degree and remarked about first meeting him when Miranda was seven years old.^{[citation needed]}

Awards[link]

Miranda has won the following awards:

• 2009 Grammy, Best Musical Show Album, In the Heights
• 2008 Tony Award, Best Musical, In the Heights
• 2008 Tony Award, Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theatre, In the Heights
• 2008 Dramatists Guild of America Frederick Loewe Award ("achievement in a theatrical score presented on Broadway in the previous theatrical season")^[25]
• 2007 Theatre World Award for Outstanding Debut, In the Heights
• 2007 Clarence Derwent Award, In the Heights
• 2007 Obie Award for Music and Lyrics, In the Heights
• 2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Ensemble Performance, In the Heights
• 2007 Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Musical, In the Heights
• 2007 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Musical, In the Heights
• 2007 Broadway.com Audience Award for Favorite Off-Broadway Musical, In the Heights

In addition, Miranda was nominated for the following awards:

• 2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Lyrics, In the Heights
• 2007 Drama Desk Award Outstanding Music, In the Heights^[7]
• 2008 Tony Award Best Performance by a Leading Actor in a Musical
• 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama, one of three finalists

See also[link]

	Puerto Rico portal
	Biography portal
	Literature portal

• Puerto Rican literature

References[link]

External links[link]

• Website: http://linmanuel.com/
• Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Internet Broadway Database
• Lin-Manuel Miranda at the Internet Movie Database

This biographical article needs additional citations for verification. Please help by adding reliable sources. Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately, especially if potentially libelous or harmful. (September 2010)

Skye Edwards
Skye (Prague, 2009)
Background information
Birth name	Shirley Klaris Yonavieve Edwards
Also known as	Skye
Born	(1974-05-27) 27 May 1974 (age 38) London, United Kingdom
Origin	London, United Kingdom
Genres	Pop rock, electronic, alternative, downtempo
Years active	With Morcheeba: 1995–2003, 2010–present Solo Artist: 2006–2010
Labels	Independent
Associated acts	Morcheeba
Website	www.myspace.com/myskyesite

Skye Edwards (born Shirley Klaris Yonavieve Edwards, 27 May 1974) is a British singer-songwriter, born in East London. Her career began in 1994 when she and the Godfrey brothers (DJ Paul Godfrey and multi-instrumentalist Ross Godfrey) formed the band Morcheeba, which released five albums with Skye as lead vocalist. Since exiting the band in 2003, Skye has released two solo albums: Mind How You Go in 2006, and Keeping Secrets in 2009.

In 2010, Edwards returned to Morcheeba as lead vocalist.

Edwards decided to shorten her name to Skye by taking the first letter of each of her names and putting them together. She is married to bass player Steve Gordon and they have three children. Edwards has sung on two charity collaborations, Perfect Day 1997, in aid of Children in Need and Band Aid 20, in 2004, in aid of famine relief in Sudan, Africa.

[edit] Mind How You Go

Edwards' debut solo album, Mind How You Go was released on 27 February 2006 in Europe, the first single "Love Show" was a radio hit throughout Europe.^{[citation needed]} The next single was "What's Wrong With Me". Music videos were released with both songs.^[1] Asked about her album: "People ask what this record means to me, but that's an alien question because I've been living and breathing it," says Skye. "It's not a question of what it means to me. This record is me."^{[citation needed]}

Skye's song, "Love Show", was featured on a third season episode of Grey's Anatomy called "Great Expectations" . It was also featured on the fifth season of the Portuguese soap opera Morangos com Açúcar. It also appears on an American TV commercial for Nivea 'Sun-kissed' body lotion.

[edit] Keeping Secrets

In October 2009 Edwards' released her second album, Keeping Secrets. The first single "I Believe" has been released, along with a music video. She has made the video and a number of new songs available for viewing without charge on her Myspace page.

Other songs[link]

In 2008 she collaborated with Marc Collin of the French group Nouvelle Vague. He has put together Hollywood, Mon Amour, an album of popular songs featured in movies from the 1980s. Skye sings several songs on this album, including Blondie's "Call Me" and Duran Duran's "A View To A Kill" from the James Bond film.

Skye has covered the Gorillaz song "Feel Good Inc" live on KCRW radio station (along with other tracks from her album),^[2] and also at some live shows; this is also available on her MySpace site.

On the John Martyn tribute album Johnny Boy Would Love This....A Tribute to John Martyn, released in 2011, Skye sings the track Solid Air from the Martyn 1973 album of the same name. In the notes to the album, Skye says "it was a bitter sweet feeling recording 'Solid Air'. I was excited to be doing a cover of one of my favourite songs but I was sad knowing that John was no longer with us."

Skye is currently putting the finishing touches to her third solo album due to be released sometime in 2012.

Discography[link]

• Mind How You Go (2006)
• Keeping Secrets (2009)
• New Solo LP TBA (2012)

References[link]

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Skye Edwards

• Skye Edwards on Myspace
• Skye Edwards on Twitter
• Skye Edwards on Facebook

Robert George "Joe" Meek (5 April 1929 Newent, Gloucestershire – 3 February 1967 in London^[1]) was a pioneering English record producer and songwriter.

His most famous work was The Tornados' hit "Telstar" in 1962, which became the first record by a British group to hit #1 in the US Hot 100. It also spent five weeks atop the UK singles chart, with Meek receiving an Ivor Novello Award for this production as the "Best-Selling A-Side" of 1962.

Meek's other notable hit productions include "Don't You Rock Me Daddy-O" and "Cumberland Gap" by Lonnie Donegan (as engineer), "Johnny Remember Me" by John Leyton, "Just Like Eddie" by Heinz, "Angela Jones" by Michael Cox, "Have I the Right?" by The Honeycombs, and "Tribute to Buddy Holly" by Mike Berry. Meek's concept album I Hear a New World is regarded as a watershed in modern music for its innovative use of electronic sounds.

Joe Meek was also producing music for films, most notably Live It Up! (US title Sing and Swing), a 1963 pop music film starring Heinz Burt, David Hemmings and Steve Marriott, also featuring Gene Vincent, Jenny Moss, The Outlaws, Kim Roberts, Kenny Ball, Patsy Ann Noble and others. Meek wrote most of the songs and incidental music, much of which was recorded by The Saints and produced by Meek.^[2]

His commercial success as a producer was short-lived and Meek gradually sank into debt and depression. On 3 February 1967, using a shotgun owned by musician Heinz Burt, Meek murdered his landlady before turning the gun on himself.

Biography[link]

Pre-London years[link]

Meek developed an interest in electronics and performance art at a very early age, filling his parents' garden shed with begged and borrowed electronic components, building circuits, radios and what is believed to be the region's first working television. A stint in the Royal Air Force as a radar operator escalated his life-long interest in electronics and outer space. From 1953 he worked for the Midlands Electricity Board. He used the resources of the company to develop his interest in electronics and music production, including acquiring a disc cutter and producing his first record.

London 1954–1959[link]

He left the electricity board to work as an audio engineer for a leading independent radio production company that made programmes for Radio Luxembourg, and made his breakthrough with his work on Ivy Benson's Music for Lonely Lovers. His technical ingenuity was first shown on the Humphrey Lyttelton jazz single "Bad Penny Blues" (Parlophone Records, 1956) when, contrary to Lyttleton's wishes, he 'modified' the sound of the piano and compressed the sound to a greater than normal extent. The record became a hit. He then put enormous effort into Denis Preston's Landsdowne Studio but tensions between Preston and Meek soon saw Meek forced out. During his time he recorded US actor George Chakiris for SAGA Records and it was this that led him to Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and an independent career.

Triumph Records[link]

In January 1960, together with Barrington-Coupe, Meek founded Triumph Records. At the time Barrington-Coupe was working at SAGA records in Empire Yard, Holloway Road for Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks and it was the Major who provided the finance. The label very nearly had a #1 hit with Meek's production of Angela Jones by Michael Cox. Cox was one of the featured singers on Jack Good's TV music show Boy Meets Girl and the song was given massive promotion. As an independent label,Triumph was at the mercy of small pressing plants, which could not -or would not – keep up with sales demand. The record made a respectable appearance in the Top Ten, but it proved Meek needed the major companies' distribution muscle to get his records into the shops when it mattered.

In spite an interesting catalogue of Meek productions, its indifferent business results and Joe proving difficult to work with eventually led to the label's demise. Meek later licensed many Triumph recordings to labels such as Top Rank and Pye.

That year Meek conceived, wrote and produced an "Outer Space Music Fantasy"' concept album I Hear A New World with a band called Rod Freeman & The Blue Men. The album was shelved for decades, apart from some EP tracks taken from it.

304 Holloway Road[link]

	"Telstar" noicon "Telstar" featured a clavioline, a keyboard instrument with a distinctive electronic sound. The song won an Ivor Novello Award and sold over five million copies worldwide.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

Meek went on to set up his own production company known as RGM Sound Ltd (later Meeksville Sound Ltd) with toy importer, Major Wilfred Alonzo Banks as his financial backer. He operated from his now-legendary home studio which he constructed at 304 Holloway Road, Islington, a three-floor flat above a leather-goods store.

His first hit from Holloway Road was a UK #1 smash: John Leyton's Johnny Remember Me (1961) written by active psychic Geoff Goddard. This memorable "death ditty" was cleverly promoted by Leyton's manager, expatriate Australian entrepreneur Robert Stigwood. Stigwood was able to get Leyton to perform the song several times in an episode of ITV's short-lived^[3] department store-based TV soap opera Harpers West One in which he was making a guest appearance. Meek's third UK #1 and last major success was with The Honeycombs' Have I The Right? in 1964, which also became a number 4 hit on the American Billboard pop charts. The success of Leyton's recordings was instrumental in establishing Stigwood and Meek as two of Britain's first independent record producers.

When his landlords, who lived downstairs, felt that the noise was too much, they would indicate so with a broom on the ceiling. Joe would signal his contempt by placing loudspeakers in the stairwell and turning up the volume.

A privately manufactured "black plaque" (designed to ape the official blue plaque) has since been placed at the location of the studio to commemorate Meek's life and work.^[4]

Murder and suicide[link]

Meek was obsessed with the occult and the idea of "the other side". He would set up tape machines in graveyards in a vain attempt to record voices from beyond the grave, in one instance capturing the meows of a cat he claimed was speaking in human tones, asking for help. In particular, he had an obsession with Buddy Holly (claiming the late American rocker had communicated with him in dreams) and other dead rock and roll musicians.

His professional efforts were often hindered by his paranoia (Meek was convinced that Decca Records would put hidden microphones behind his wallpaper in order to steal his ideas), drug use and attacks of rage or depression. Upon receiving an apparently innocent phone call from Phil Spector, Meek immediately accused Spector of stealing his ideas before hanging up angrily.

Meek's homosexuality – illegal in the UK at the time – put him under further pressure; he had been convicted of "importuning for immoral purposes" in 1963 and fined £15: he was consequently subject to blackmail.^[5] In January 1967, police in Tattingstone, Suffolk, discovered a suitcase containing the mutilated body of Bernard Oliver. According to some accounts, Meek became concerned that he would be implicated in the murder investigation when the Metropolitan Police said they would be interviewing all known homosexual men in the city.

The hits had dried up and Meek's depression deepened as his financial position became increasingly desperate. French composer Jean Ledrut accused Joe Meek of plagiarism, claiming that the tune of "Telstar" had been copied from "La Marche d'Austerlitz", a piece from a score Ledrut had written for the 1960 film Austerlitz. This lawsuit meant Meek never received royalties from the record during his lifetime.

On 3 February 1967, the eighth anniversary of Buddy Holly's death, Meek killed his landlady Violet Shenton and then himself^[6] with a single barreled shotgun that he had confiscated from his protegé, former Tornados bassist and solo star Heinz Burt at his Holloway Road home/studio. Meek had flown into a rage and taken the gun from Burt when he informed Meek that he used it while on tour to shoot birds. Meek had kept the gun under his bed, along with some cartridges. As the shotgun had been registered to Burt, he was questioned intensively by police, before being eliminated from their enquiries.

Meek was subsequently buried at Cemetery lodge Newent, Gloucestershire. His black granite tombstone can be found near the middle of the cemetery.

The lawsuit against Meek was eventually ruled in Meek's favour three weeks after his death in 1967. It is unlikely that Meek was aware of Austerlitz, as it had been released only in France at the time.

Meek's legacy[link]

Despite not being able to play a musical instrument or write notation, Meek displayed a remarkable facility for writing and producing successful commercial recordings. In writing songs he was reliant on musicians such as Dave Adams, Geoff Goddard or Charles Blackwell to transcribe melodies from his vocal "demos". He worked on 245 singles, of which 45 were major hits (top fifty).

He pioneered studio tools such as multiple over-dubbing on one- and two-track machines, close miking, direct input of bass guitars, the compressor, and effects like echo and reverb, as well as sampling. Unlike other producers, his search was for the 'right' sound rather than for a catchy musical tune, and throughout his brief career he single-mindedly followed his quest to create a unique "sonic signature" for every record he produced.

At a time when many studio engineers were still wearing white coats and assiduously trying to maintain clarity and fidelity, Meek, the maverick, was producing everything on the three floors of his "home" studio and was never afraid to distort or manipulate the sound if it created the effect he was seeking.

Meek was one of the first producers to grasp and fully exploit the possibilities of the modern recording studio. His innovative techniques—physically separating instruments, treating instruments and voices with echo and reverb, processing the sound through his fabled home-made electronic devices, the combining of separately-recorded performances and segments into a painstakingly constructed composite recording—comprised a major breakthrough in sound production. Up to that time, the standard technique for pop, jazz and classical recordings alike was to record all the performers in one studio, playing together in real time, a legacy of the days before magnetic tape, when performances were literally cut live, directly onto disc.

Meek's style was also substantially different from that of his contemporary Phil Spector, who typically created his famous "Wall of sound" productions by making live recordings of large ensembles that used multiples of major instruments like bass, guitar and piano to create the complex sonic backgrounds for his singers.

In 1993, ex-Joe Meek session singer Ted Fletcher introduced a line of audio equipment named after Joe Meek, due to his influence in the early stages of audio compression. The name and product line were sold to the American company PMI Audio Group in 2003. This product line includes a microphone series called "Telstar", named after Joe Meek’s most famous work.^[7][8]

Meek's reputation for experiments in recording music was acknowledged by The Music Producers Guild who created The Joe Meek Award for Innovation in Production in 2009.^[9] MPG chairman Mike Howlett said the award was "paying homage to this remarkable producer’s pioneering spirit".^[9] The winner of the inaugural award in 2009 was producer and musician Brian Eno.^[9]

Artists Meek recorded[link]

He passed up the chance to work with the then unknown David Bowie, The Beatles (the latter he once described as "just another bunch of noise, copying other people's music") and Rod Stewart. John Repsch, in The Legendary Joe Meek recounts that upon hearing Stewart sing, Meek rushed into the studio, put his fingers in his ears and screamed until Stewart had left. He preferred to record instrumentals with the band he sang with – The Moontrekkers.

In 1963 Meek worked with a then-little-known singer Tom Jones, then the lead vocalist of Tommy Scott & The Senators. Meek recorded seven tracks with Jones and took them to various labels in an attempt to get a record deal, with no success. Two years later after Jones gained popularity with the worldwide hit It's Not Unusual in 1965, Meek was able to sell the tapes he'd recorded with Jones to Tower (USA) and Columbia (UK).^[10] Meek also recorded the following artists:

Robb Shenton, Screaming Lord Sutch and The Savages, The Tornados, The Honeycombs, The Syndicats, The Buzz, Mike Berry, The Outlaws, The Moontrekkers, Gene Vincent, Billy Fury, Deke Arlon and The Offbeats, David John and the Mood, John Leyton, Geoff Goddard, Petula Clark, Lonnie Donegan, Humphrey Lyttelton, Diana Dors, The Blue Men, Tom Jones, Tony Dangerfield and the Thrills, Heinz and The Wild Boys, Dave Adams, Joy and Dave, Chico Arnez, Jimmy Miller and the Barbecues, Mike Preston, Emile Ford and the Checkmates, Chris Williams and the Monsters, Lance Fortune, Peter Jay and the Jaywalkers, Yolanda^{[disambiguation needed ]}, Big Jim Sullivan, Ricky Wayne and The Offbeats, George Chakiris, Michael Cox, Frankie Vaughan, Iain Gregory, Danny Rivers, Gerry Temple, Cliff Bennett and the Rebel Rousers, The Charles Blackwell Orchestra, Don Charles, The Stonehenge Men, Andy Cavell, The Dowlands, Houston Wells and the Marksmen, The Packabeats, Jenny Moss, Burr Bailey and the Six Shooters, The Checkmates, The Saints, The Cameos, Sounds Incorporated, The Puppets, The Beat Boys, Mike Sarne, The Ambassadors, Pamela Blue, Glenda Collins, The Sharades, Roger LaVern and the Microns, Gunilla Thorne, Kim Roberts, Billie Davis, Freddie Starr and the Midnighters, Shade Joey and the Night Owls, Flip and the Dateliners, Valerie Masters, Alan Dean and his Problems, The Blue Rondos, Peter Cook, Jess Conrad, The Saxons, The Shakeouts, Bobby Rio and the Revelles, Peter London, The Four Matadors, The Cryin' Shames, The Riot Squad, The Millionaires, The Impac, Shirley Bassey, Anne Shelton, Kenny Graham and the Satellites, Tommy Steele, Chris Barber, The Fabulous Flee-Rakkers, Carter-Lewis and the Southerners, Brian White & The Magna Jazz Band, The Ferridays (Scorpions), Ray Dexter and The Layabouts, Neil Christian, Kenny Hollywood, Jamie Lee and The Atlantics, Toby Ventura, Wes Sands, The Thunderbolts, Silas Dooley Jr., Bobby Cristo and The Rebels, Malcolm and The Countdowns, The Diamond Twins, The Hotrods, Charles Kingsley Creation, Danny's Passion, The Classics, The Manish Boys, Pete, Chris and The Outcasts, Simplicity Pattern, and Joe Meek himself.

Unreleased recordings aka the Tea Chest Tapes[link]

After the death of Joe Meek the thousands of recordings Meek hid at his studio remained unreleased and preserved by Cliff Cooper of The Millionaires. At the time of Joe's death in 1967, Mr. Cooper is said to have purchased all of Joe's recordings for £300. These recordings were called the "Tea Chest Tapes" among fans, as they were stored in a tea chest when Cooper took them out of his apartment.^[11] Alan Blackburn, former president of the Joe Meek Appreciation Society, is the only person known to the public who has listened to all these tapes, as he catalogued all of them in the mid-1980s.^[12]

On 4 September 2008 these unreleased recordings went up for auction in Fame Bureau's 'It's More Than Rock 'N' Roll' auction. The auction website states they fetched £200,000, but others have said considerably more was taken. The auction site says that there are over 5000 recordings on 1850 tapes containing recordings by David Bowie as singer and sax player with the Konrads, Gene Vincent, Denny Laine, Billy Fury, Tom Jones, Jimmy Page, Mike Berry, John Leyton, Ritchie Blackmore, Jess Conrad, Mitch Mitchell and Screaming Lord Sutch. The tapes also contain many examples of Joe Meek composing songs and experimental sound techniques. Tape 418 has Meek composing songs for the film Live It Up!.^[13]

The future of these unreleased Joe Meek "Tea Chest Tapes" recordings remains unknown.

Tributes and references[link]

Songs[link]

• Franco-English pop singer-songwriter MeeK chose his stage name as a homage to the British producer.
• British punk Wreckless Eric recounts Meek's biography and recreates some of his studio effects in his song "Joe Meek" from the album Donovan of Trash.^[14]
• According to some, the song "Green Door" alludes to Meek. "When I said, 'Joe sent me,' someone laughed out loud behind the green door".^[15]
• The Marked Men, a Texas punk band, have a song titled "Someday" with lyric: "Joe Meek wanted all the world to know about the news he found."
• The Frank Black song "White Noise Maker" deals with Meek's suicide by shotgun, the white noise maker of the title. "It's been so long since my Telstar."
• The Bleeder Group, a Danish alternative rock group recorded a song on their second album Sunrise, called "Joe Meek Shall Inherit The Earth"
• Matmos, an Electronic duo, have a song on their 2006 album The Rose Has Teeth in the Mouth of the Beast called "Solo Buttons for Joe Meek".
• Pluto Monkey, British left field artist, released a three track CD single on Shifty Disco featuring the tracks "Joe Meek" and "Meeksville Sound Is Dead"
• Swing Out Sister include a short instrumental named "Joe Meek's Cat" on their 1994 album Shapes and Patterns, inspired by Joe's 1966 ghost-hunting expeditions to Warley Lea Farm during which he allegedly captured recordings of a talking cat channeling the spirit of a former landowner who committed suicide at the farm
• Graham Parker's 1992 album Burning Questions includes the cryptic "Just Like Joe Meek's Blues"
• Sheryl Crow claimed that her song "A Change Would Do You Good" was inspired by an article she read about Joe Meek
• Jonathan King recorded a song about Meek called "He Stood In The Bath He Stamped On The Floor".^[16]
• Johnny Stage, Danish producer and guitarist released an album in tribute of Meek, entitled The Lady with the Crying Eyes featuring various Danish artists, on 3 February 2007(www.myspace.com/joemeektribute
• Dave Stewart (the keyboardist) and Barbara Gaskin recorded the song "Your Lucky Star" dealing with the life and death of Joe Meek, released on the 1991 album "Spin".
• Dave Stewart also recorded a version of Joe Meek’s "Telstar" hit on the occasion of its 40th anniversary in 2002. This was later released on the Dave Stewart and Barbara Gaskin 2009 mini-album “Hour Moon”. The album also features the duo’s previously released Meek tribute "Your Lucky Star" from their 1991 album "Spin".
• The Spanish label Spicnic released in 2001 a tribute CD, "Oigo un nuevo no mundo. Homenaje a Joe Meek", featuring various Spanish bands.^[17]
• Trey Spruance from the band Mr. Bungle has stated that the 10 part song/instrumental "The Bends" from their album Disco Volante is inspired by Joe Meek's music. Specifically "I Hear a New World".
• Thomas Truax regularly performed his Meek tribute "Joe Meek Warns Buddy Holly" on his 2008 tours, a song apparently about Meek's supposed warning via spirit-writing predicting Buddy Holly's death. A single and accompanying video was scheduled for release on 3 February 2009, the 50th anniversary of Holly's demise, also the date of Meek's suicide.
• Robb Shenton released /*Lonely Joe*/ as a tribute to the legendary producer on 28 October 2008. Robb was one of Joe's artists and was with five Meek bands between 1963 and early 1966: The Bobcats, David John and the Mood, The Prestons, The Nashpool and Flip and the Dateliners. He also sang backing vocals with many others.
• 'Meet Joe Meek' sometimes known as 'Just like Joe Meek' by the Babysitars sampled the BBC2 Arena documentary on Joe Meek and their composition 'Crazyhead' said to be inspired by Joe Meek himself.

[edit] Telstar: The Joe Meek Story – play and film

Telstar: The Joe Meek Story, a stage play by Nick Moran and James Hicks which premiered in 2005, is a dramatisation of Joe Meek's life and starred Con O'Neill as Meek and Linda Robson as his landlady.^[18] It was also made into a film, released in the UK in June 2009, directed by Nick Moran starring Kevin Spacey, Ralf Little and Pam Ferris with O'Neill reprising his stage role.^[19][20]

Documentary film[link]

• A Life in the Death of Joe Meek, an independent American documentary,^[21] by Howard S. Berger and Susan Stahman.

The production includes over 60 interviews with Meek's family, close friends, associates, musicians and pop culture movers and shakers.

• The Very Strange Story of the Legendary Joe Meek A 1991 UK TV documentary from BBC TV's Arena series.^[22]

Radio play[link]

In March 1994, BBC Radio 4 broadcast Lonely Joe, a radio play based on the life of Joe Meek, written by Janey Praeger and Peter Kavanagh.

Literatur[link]

• John Repsch: The Legendary Joe Meek (UK; 1989, Jul 2003) ISBN 1-901447-20-0
• Barry Cleveland: Creative Music Production – Joe Meek's BOLD Techniques (USA; Jul 2001) ISBN 1-931140-08-1
• Nick Moran with James Hicks: "Telstar – The Joe Meek Story", (UK, Oberon Books 1/2007) ISBN 978-1-84002-588-0^[23]
• The penultimate chapter of Alan Moore's spoken word piece "The Highbury Working" concerns Joe Meek's last moments.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Joe Meek at the Internet Movie Database
• Photo of Meek's grave
• BBC Music Profile: Joe Meek
• Biography by John McCready (Mojo Magazine)
• Joe Meek discography at Discogs