John Milo Slick (born September 28, 1953 in Fort Wayne, Indiana) was a Christian rock musician from the [[Christian rock band Petra. Slick is currently retired from music and works in the computer industry.
Slick received classical piano training, studied at Indiana University and Belmont College and earned a B.A. in Music, in 1981.
In 1981, Slick joined Petra and played on their albums Never Say Die, More Power To Ya, and Not of This World (in this album he even wrote some songs). After leaving the band at the conclusion of the US Not of This World Tour in 1984, he worked in the Nashville music industry, composing musicals, transcribing piano-vocal songbooks, and playing on various recording projects.
Eventually, Slick left the music industry in favor of software engineering. Slick worked five years as a product specialist for New England Digital, the manufacturer of the Synclavier digital recording system. Slick's responsibilities included supporting the technical needs of N.E.D. customers including Miami Sound Machine, CNN, Barbra Streisand, Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Frank Zappa, Sting, Paul Simon, Pat Metheny, and many prominent sound studios in Atlanta, Los Angeles, Chicago, and New York. Slick also spent a month in Miami, Florida, working as a Synclavier specialist on the Miami Sound Machine album, Cuts Both Ways. Slick received an album credit for his "Synclavier chops".
Earl Slick (born Frank Madeloni in Staten Island, New York, 1 October 1952) is a guitarist best known for his collaborations with David Bowie, Jim Diamond and Robert Smith, although he has also worked with other artists (John Lennon: Double Fantasy, Milk and Honey, Yoko Ono), John Waite, and released some solo recordings.
In the early 1970s, Earl Slick gained his reputation on New York music scene as a talented, skillful rock guitarist while playing in a band called Mack Truck featuring both singer/songwriter Jimmie Mack and his brother, drummer Jack Mack. His work with Scottish singer/songwriter Jim Diamond was as the duo Slick Diamond. They toured and gave performances for a short time in the late 1970s.
Slick was initially hired by David Bowie to replace Mick Ronson as lead guitarist for the Diamond Dogs tour in 1974 (the live album David Live was culled from this tour). Slick also played lead guitar on Bowie's Young Americans and Station To Station albums, released in 1975 and 1976 respectively. It was Slick's powerful playing that made the latter album's "Stay" an enduring favourite of fans of Bowie and of guitar virtuosity alike. After running afoul of Bowie's management, Slick was replaced as lead guitarist for the Station To Station tour (1976), his role being taken by Stacey Heydon. Slick continued working in the studio with Leo Sayer, Ian Hunter, John Lennon, and Yoko Ono, but also formed his own solo band.
David Bowie ( /ˈboʊ.i/ BOH-ee; born David Robert Jones on 8 January 1947) is an English musician, actor, record producer and arranger. A major figure for over four decades in the world of popular music, Bowie is widely regarded as an innovator, particularly for his work in the 1970s. He is known for his distinctive voice and the intellectual depth and eclecticism of his work.
Bowie first caught the eye and ear of the public in July 1969, when his song "Space Oddity" reached the top five of the UK Singles Chart. After a three-year period of experimentation he re-emerged in 1972 during the glam rock era with the flamboyant, androgynous alter ego Ziggy Stardust, spearheaded by the hit single "Starman" and the album The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars. Bowie's impact at that time, as described by biographer David Buckley, "challenged the core belief of the rock music of its day" and "created perhaps the biggest cult in popular culture." The relatively short-lived Ziggy persona proved merely one facet of a career marked by continual reinvention, musical innovation and striking visual presentation.
John Winston Ono Lennon, MBE (9 October 1940 – 8 December 1980) was an English musician and singer-songwriter who rose to worldwide fame as one of the founder members of The Beatles, one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Together with Paul McCartney, he formed one of the most celebrated songwriting partnerships of the 20th century.
Born and raised in Liverpool, Lennon became involved as a teenager in the skiffle craze; his first band, The Quarrymen, evolved into The Beatles in 1960. As the group disintegrated towards the end of the decade, Lennon embarked on a solo career that produced the critically acclaimed albums John Lennon/Plastic Ono Band and Imagine, and iconic songs such as "Give Peace a Chance" and "Imagine". After his marriage to Yoko Ono in 1969, he changed his name to John Ono Lennon. Lennon disengaged himself from the music business in 1975 to devote time to raising his infant son Sean, but re-emerged with Ono in 1980 with the new album Double Fantasy. He was murdered three weeks after its release.
John Roger Stephens (born December 28, 1978), better known by his stage name John Legend, is an American singer-songwriter and actor. He has won nine Grammy Awards, and in 2007, he received the special Starlight award from the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Prior to the release of his debut album, Stephens' career gained momentum through a series of successful collaborations with multiple established artists. Stephens added his voice to those of other artists, assisting in them reaching chart-topper hits. He lent his voice to Kanye West's All of the Lights, on Slum Village's "Selfish" and Dilated Peoples' "This Way". Other artists included Jay-Z's "Encore", and he sang backing vocals on Alicia Keys' 2003 song "You Don't Know My Name" and Fort Minor's "High Road." Stephens played piano on Lauryn Hill's "Everything Is Everything."
Stephens was born on December 28, 1978, in Springfield, Ohio. He is the son of Phyllis, a seamstress, and John Mills, a factory worker and former National Guardsman. Throughout his childhood, Stephens was homeschooled on and off by his mother. At the age of four, he began playing the piano and at the age of seven, he performed with his church choir. When he was ten, his parents divorced, causing his mother to suffer a breakdown. At the age of 12, Stephens attended North High School, from which he graduated four years later. He graduated salutatorian.