Trade Mark

Trademark was formed around the time of 1995 by two teenage cousins Oliver Horton and Stuart Meads. They had previously played music together as children, and by their mid teens they wanted to formulate themselves as a group. The pair were both heavily into electronic pop music. After a number of experimental projects, the pair began to produce material of some substance around 1997. By the Christmas of 1997 the group played their first live gig. The set list comprised of tracks the pair had written during the previous year. Oli & Stu continued to write and record like this for the next few years. In 1999 the pair were joined by Paul Soulsby. Paul had been recording songs with different friends since he was ten, in the same way that Oli and Stu had. The first material to be completed with the new line up was and album they called 'Audiologue', recorded in the summer of 1999 (not available).


Trademark performed for the first time in their current line up at the Truck Festival in Oxfordshire, in 2000. Two new songs were recorded in winter months of 2000, whereupon a long period of inactivity occurred as the members time was taken up by university degrees. There were plenty of new songs but they were all consigned to demo form for a long time. Once everything had settled down, Trademark started work on new material. The band self released 'Fear : Disconnection' (no longer available) in January 2003. Trademark also began to gig regularly, and for the first time were premiering unreleased material to their audience.

A highly successful gig at the 2002 Truck Festival (where Trademark were noted as being the only band without guitars) led to a series of performances in Oxford, including Trailerpark at the Cellar and Gappy Tooth at the Zodiac.


The band also played regularly in London with a few notable appearance at The Fan Club at The Verge in Kentish Town. As the band's reputation grew, Trademark supported Chicks on Speed at Oxford Zodiac and The Human League at Ocean in London. 'Fear : Disconnection' was sold by the band at gigs and over the website to a great reception. Trademark's growing reputation lead to them being signed by Truck records and the putting together of "Trademark Want More" which features tracks from "Fear:Disconnection" and the self released follow up "This is Our Trademark" plus a few new tracks."Want More" was released in June 2004 to the critical acclaim of The Sunday Times among others. In December 2004 Trademark went on a 20 date tour of the UK with The Human League. 2006 sees the band preparing to release "Raise the Stakes", a brand new album which the band have been working hard on for the past year. Trademark also recently remixed the theme music for Five's Brainteaser, which can be heard every week day on Five.

source : http://www.trademark-online.co.uk/Biography.htm

The Click Five

It's been said that you can tell a lot about people by looking at the company they keep. So what, then, could you say about a band that's collaborated with members of Kiss, Fountains of Wayne and The Cars, opened for Alanis Morissette and Ashlee Simpson and honed their craft at Berklee School of Music?

Well, you could say they're conversant in all 57 varieties of pop-rock. You could say they're as unlikely to be pigeonholed as any band around. Or you could simply say "yeah!" as you pop on Greetings From Imrie House, the Lava Records debut from The Click Five, the Boston-based quintet that's managed to grab all the brass rings mentioned above - all in less than two years together.

"We all love melodies," says bassist Ethan Mentzer. "If I can't sing it, I'm not crazy about it. I like songs that are so damn catchy that you wake up in the morning with them in your head. When I started playing the guitar at age 12, I wanted to listen to music where you could really hear the guitar - bands like Green Day and Weezer and Stone Temple Pilots became my favorites, so when the direction of this band started going towards rock, even though the songs were pop, it only felt natural."

Greetings From Imrie House collects 11 timeless power-pop confections, odes to both the good, clean and naughtily winking sorts of fun. They capture the former in the sunny tones of the artfully sleek first single "Just The Girl," and the shimmering "Catch Your Wave" (which layers Beach Boys-styled harmonies atop a contagiously jittery new wave melody) and dive into the latter on the young lovers lust-fest "Friday Night."

The quintet - none of who is older than 23 - stands out from the current pop pack on several levels. First, there are those snappy suits (a look that dates back to the days of playing mod covers during off-time at Berklee). The more important distinctions, however, come in the aural realm - in the ringing five-part harmonies that vein just about every song, and in the alternately peppy and atmospheric keyboard parts contributed by Ben Romans.

"I'm a keyboard player trapped in a guitar player's body," he laughs. "I think it's almost comical what we do with keyboards, maybe a little off the wall. It may shadow a band like The Cars or something and we're aware of that, but in the making of this album, we got introduced to a lot of really cool stuff from around 1977-82 that we really weren't aware of before."

Quick learning and stellar instincts earned The Click Five - originally known as The Click - the endorsement of several musicians who were active during that golden era, notably Paul Stanley of Kiss, who co-wrote the strutting "Angel to You (Devil To Me)" with Romans, and Elliott Easton of The Cars, who blazes through the guitar solo on the track.

"We went to see Kiss the day before Thanksgiving of 2003 and then we got to have Thanksgiving dinner with Paul, which was an experience in itself," recalls Romans. "Paul and I sat down to write and it went amazingly well. He taught us a lot about being onstage and about songs - a lot of people forget that someone like Paul Stanley doesn't just write Kiss songs."

The Click Five's members learned a lot about songcraft while playing in a wide variety of high school bands, shifting from covers to originals and from style to style. The core of the band solidified under the roof of the apartment building that lends its name to their debut, a place that Romans remembers as "a rock and roll frat house" with a dozen residents, intermittent heat and a lobby adorned with a huge replica of The Who's logo.

While they were all in different bands at the time, they gravitated towards each other after discovering how huge a swath of musical common ground they shared. And even some they didn't- as guitarist Joe Guese remembers, "We had to study a lot of jazz at Berklee, and while it's a noble style and I certainly learned a ton about the technicalities of my guitar playing, we all really wanted to play music that just gets people out of their seats." The only missing piece was a frontman - a problem that drummer Joey Zehr thought could be solved by recruiting childhood pal Eric Dill, who'd just finished a stint at Purdue University.

"From day one, we decided that this band was going to be our lives - priorities number one, two, three and down the line," says drummer Joey Zehr "I don't even think we realize how successful we are at this point simply because our method of operation was to have a huge goal but then achieve hundreds of small goals to get there."

The band cut its teeth on Boston's notoriously tough club scene (including a three month residency at the legendary Paradise rock club), promptly winning over tastemakers who put them on arena-sized bills with acts like Alanis Morissette, Rod Stewart and Fleetwood Mac. "I was a little worried when we were booked to do those last two," admits Romans. "It was for people my parents' age, but it went over great. I guess a lot of the older folks thought it reminded them of something from their past."

They fared just as well when they played a one-off show with teen sensation Ashlee Simpson - who later tabbed them as one of the opening acts on her 2005 North American tour. "That audience is very young and enthusiastic," says singer Eric Dill. "What's cool is that they're looking for reasons to like you, not reasons to be aloof."

Produced by Mike Denneen (Fountains of Wayne, Aimee Mann, Letters to Cleo), Greetings From Imrie House opens the door to 11 inviting reasons to be fond of The Click Five - from the soaring balladry of "I'll Take My Chances," to the sensual throb of "Resign" and the starry-eyed pining of "Pop Princess." And to prove those pop history lessons stuck with 'em, they even include a cover of the Thompson Twins favorite "Lies," which would make any new wave fan proud.

"That's the song that probably got us to turn in the direction we're in now," says Romans. "We were almost kidding about it, saying 'let's pretend we're in New York in 1978,' but then we realized it's a really great song. Working that out helped us stop worrying about being the coolest band in the world, and to just start trying to be the best."

Eric Dill - Vocals, Rhythm Guitar
Joe Guese - Lead Guitar, Vocals
Ethan Mentzer - Bass, Vocals
Ben Romans - Keyboards, Vocals
Joey Zehr - Drums, Vocals

(Bio courtesy of Atlantic Records)

T-Pain

Who ever coined the phrase "never judge a book by its cover" must have had a premonition about 20-year old singer/songwriter/rapper/producer T-Pain when they thought it up. At a time when image is considered just as important as vocal capability, T-Pain is introducing music fans to a new sound as well as a brand new look for R&B singers. T-Pain is unique.

Born Faheem Najm in Tallahassee, Florida to a pair of entrepreneur parents, T-Pain learned how to do things for himself as a youngster. At the tender age of ten he turned his bedroom into a mini sonic sanctuary with a keyboard, beat machine and four-track recorder. That same day he made a beat, rapped over it and he's been doing it ever since.

His first foray into music industry was a productive one. He was one-fifth of the rambunctious rap outfit Nappy Headz who enjoyed moderate success in the early 2000's with regional anthems "Robbery" and "F.L.A." Being that he is the middle of five children, he had no problem sharing the spotlight. But after the group's flame burned out he dreamed of pushing the envelope and earlier this year he delivered.

Disenchanted with the R&B he was hearing on the radio T-Pain flipped the script and started recording his own brand, called Hard & B, for his exclusive listening pleasure. As with most secrets, the word got out when a friend heard what he was making he relayed the message to 100.7 The Beat personality Felisha Foxx who asked for a copy of the CD. Impressed, she played the unplanned single "Time To Make Love" three times that night. Soon after, the song was added to the station's playlist.

T-Pain continued to fan his flames by recording as well as directing and editing the video for his street record "Fucked Up," a timely reworked version of Akon's prison life ode "Locked Up." The song grew so popular that some thought it was actually Akon who was borrowing from the dreadlocked songster. More than intrigued, the convict turned crooner reached out the young music maker and eventually singed him to his newly formed Konvict Music imprint.
The first single from T-Pain's aptly-titled debut Rappa Ternt Sanga is the Roger Troutman-esque "I'm Sprung," a catchy, but far from cookie-cutter tune about the crazy that love, not lust, will make you do. T-Pain built the song from experience as he is now married to the woman that he wrote the song about.

His matchless songwriting skills shine through out the album, showing a rare range and compassion found in younger artists. Mid-tempo tracks like the cathartic "Going Through A Lot" leads listeners deeper into his musical psyche while the autobiographical "Fly Away" shares accounts of the relationship he has with his father. "You Not the Same" finds T-Pain pleading for a love interest to revisit the personality that he grew to appreciate. He also reveals truthful, and almost embarrassing, feelings for exotic dancers on the bravely stated "I’m In Love With A Stripper."

While his moniker, short for "Tallahassee Pain," was created to represent the struggle of growing up in the oft overlooked Florida state capitol, the self-admitted fast driver also has fun with his music. His energetic stage show is unrivaled, featuring the Rappa Ternt Sanga demonstrating his other passion, dancing.

Raised to be unapologetic and independent T-Pain is poised to be a threat to status quo of R&B music. Expect the music book with the rough looking cover to be on the bestsellers list for years to come.
source : http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/T-Pain-Biography/52C932708E6A4887482570E00014ABCF

Timbaland

BIOGRAPHY: b. Tim Mosley, 10 March 1971, Norfolk, Virginia, USA. Timbaland has rapidly established himself as one of the hottest producers of the 90s thanks to his highly acclaimed work with hip-hop and R&B artists including Aaliyah, Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott and Ginuwine. Since the late 80s he has worked on and off with rapper Magoo, a fellow Virginian. Timbaland's concerted efforts to break into the music business bore its first fruits on Jodeci's Diary Of A Mad Band and The Show, The After-Party, The Hotel, co-writing the latter's "Bring On Da Funk". His real breakthrough came in autumn 1996, when he worked on Aaliyah's One In A Million, the follow-up to her R. Kelly -produced debut.

Timbaland worked his magic touch on stand-out tracks such as "If Your Girl Only Knew", "4 Page Letter" and "One In A Million". On a roll, he then wrote and produced hits for Ginuwine ("Pony") and SWV ("Can We"), before hooking up with Elliott, his other long-term musical partner. Timbaland and Magoo's major contributions to Elliott's Supa Dupa Fly introduced a new sound to the record-buying public. The funky syncopated beats on the hugely popular single "Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)" confirmed the arrival of a new southern dynamic to rival the traditional east oast/west coast hip-hop axis. Timbaland built on his success with October 1997's Welcome To Our World, a joint effort with Magoo that was hailed as one of the year's key albums. It was premiered by "Up Jumps Da' Boogie", a Top 10 R&B/number 12 Hot 100 hit in September. The following May's "Clock Strikes" single sampled the theme to Knight Rider, and reached number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100.

By now Timbaland was heavily in-demand as a producer, and the oundtracks for Can't Hardly Wait and Dr. Dolittle included his remixes of lliott's "Hit 'Em Wit Da' Hee", Busta Rhymes' "Turn It Up/Fire It Up", Aaliyah's "Are You That Somebody" and All Saints' "Lady Marmalade". He then worked with Elliott's prot?g?e Nicole on her August 1998 breakthrough, Make It Hot, and collaborated with Elliott on the soundtrack to Why Do Fools Fall In Love, which included Destiny Child's "Get On The Bus", Coko's "He Be Back", Total's "What The Dealio", and the Missy Elliott collaborations with Busta Rhymes ("Get Contact") and Mel B. of the Spice Girls ("I Want You Back"). Timbaland also contributed to Jay-Z's chart-topping Vol. 2 ... Hard Knock Life ("Ni*** What, Ni*** Who", "Paper Chase"), and, in November, released his debut set Tim's Bio, the soundtrack to a purported movie about his life and music. The following March saw the release of Ginuwine's eagerly awaited new set, 100% Ginuwine, and in June Elliott's sophomore se
t Da Real World received excellent reviews.

Thanks to Sasha(The Next One In A Million Legend) for submitting the biography.
source : http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/Timbaland-Biography/3E73F07539AB9E5048256A2D002A4C6A

The Verve

FORMED: 1989, Wigan, Lancashire, EnglandDISBANDED: April 28, 1999
The Verve, from Wigan in Lancashire, were formed in 1990. The band's line-up was originally Richard Ashcroft (vocals, guitar), Nick McCabe (guitar), Simon Jones (bass) and Peter Salisbury (drums). In 1995, after the band broke up for the first time, Simon Tong (guitar, keyboards) joined Richard Ashcroft's group. In fact, orignally, Tong taught Jones and Ashcroft how to play guitar. Richard, Simon and Pete knew each other from Upholland High School and recruited Nick from Winstanley College. Whatever went through their minds and into their mouths in the months that followed can only be guessed at, but whatever it was, it worked. Nurtured by great music and Social Security and with eyes fixed firmly on the horizon they started making a sound that reached far higher than it had a right to. Early gigs led writers to describe them as "Gigantic" and "Already immortal" before they had released a record. Those that saw them saw something potentially disconcerting, something inspiring. In a music scene that was waiting for anything to happen, down came Verve. Like beggars in a Bentley these boys were reaching for the stars, doing something that belied their age and roots. And people began to respond.
The band, who signed to Hut Recordings in September 1991, were described as: "the liquid essence of rock 'n' roll", and easily met everyone's initial expectations when their first three singles in 1992 - All In The Mind, She's A Superstar, and Gravity Grave - all reached the top of the Independent Charts. The songs, the sleeves and even the B-sides were something to behold. Together they demonstrated a vision that was absent from many of their peers. But it was a vision that wouldn't bend for anyone. Live shows saw them literally unplugged by Philistines and, occasionally, simply stopping if they felt that things weren't right. Capricious arrogance perhaps, but if you're sure you're right, where's the sense in going wrong?
They went on to support The Black Crowes, play their first dates in the U.S.A. and release another single, Blue, in May '93. Rich Robinson of The Black Crowes was the one who inspired Richard to preform on stage with no shoes or socks. In June of the same year, the band's stylish debut album, A Storm In Heaven was released. It was a truly ambitious LP, perhaps even a nineties' psychedelic classic, that fulfilled the claims that both the band and the media had been making. Most of the songs were generated in the studio (Sawmills in Cornwall) with John Leckie and it proved a risk worth taking. For all Verve's charisma, however, they proved too elusive and, quite rightly, engrossed in their own ideals to be caught up in the music business fame machine. As Richard said at the time: "I don't think we're ever going to achieve what we want to achieve. It would be impossible, but that's the point, to aim further."
America was next. By September the single Slide Away was starting to make headway across the Atlantic and this set up the band for a gruelling round of appearances on 1994's Lollapalooza spectacle. Touring on such a scale can do things to a band. You improve but people crack, furniture goes out of windows and arrests are made (it was a bad year legally, not only did Pete find himself in a Kansas jail but the band formally known as Verve found themselves forced to adopt the The at the behest of the irate jazz label's lawyers). But you live and learn and they headed out to Europe in August for more festival hi-jinx and hotel illness.
In November the stage was set for the second album. What followed was, to quote Richard, "Four intense, mad months. Really insane. In great ways and terrible ways. In ways that only good music and bad drugs and mixed emotions can make." The record was produced at Loco studios in Wales - with final touches and an orchestra at Abbey Road - by Owen Morris. "We needed a producer who would be extreme", said Richard, "Owen brought his personality to the record. He's the only person I know who can smash a thirty foot window in the studio and then do his job. He admitted he nearly had a nervous breakdown, and I think that's a commendable performance."
The album, A Northern Soul, powerfully demonstrated how accomplished The Verve had become, something which has become even more evident as time has passed. A Northern Soul has enduring qualities - at once robust and fragile, dense, juicy, melodic, abrasive and freeform - which make it certain to be remembered as one of the defining moments of nineties music. Richard described the album as "one character going through twelve different experiences of pain, elation, sex, loss, romance....all the emotions piled into one album. This is to the point, to the heart and from the soul".
The singles, This Is Music and On Your Own entered the UK top 40 in the summer of '95 and History reached hitherto uncharted (no pun intended) territory at Number 24 in September. These were to be the last releases from The Verve for almost two years as the band split after their performance at the T In The Park festival in Glasgow. Richard, Simon and Pete later decided to continue working together, with new recruit Simon Tong, and early in '97 Nick returned to the fold.
In the time they were away, the extraordinary ambition of A Northern Soul was properly assimilated, with due recognition accorded to The Verve's towering achievement. The band grew in stature, becoming a substantial influence and consequently being used as a reference point by journalists and other bands.
And in 1997, from the band who have always known how good they could be, has come the music that would only have been released once they were happy it matched their formidable collective imagination. After months of work in Metropolis and Olympic studios in London, The Verve created a groundbreaking LP, Urban Hymns, which has not only been hailed as the best of the year, but one which will set the standard for the rest of the nineties. Produced and mixed by the band and Chris Potter, with initial help from Youth, this is the record that will see The Verve achieve the success which has always been within their reach.
The first single (released on 16th June), was the string laden epic Bitter Sweet Symphony which became the defining song of Summer 1997. It entered the charts at Number 2 (in the UK charts) and stayed around for three months. A sell out tour to coincide with the release was postponed due to illness and rescheduled for August. The shows were unforgettable - a true release of energy and passion which ended in a magnificent headlining appearance at the Reading festival.
The Verve's first Number 1 single (in the UK charts) The Drugs Don't Work was released on September 1st 1997. It paved the way for Urban Hymns, one of the fastest selling British albums of all time. A third single, Lucky Man was released in November (reaching No. 7) following a sold out US tour.
In 1998, things went sour for The Verve. Nick McCabe decided to quit touring, and the band had to bring in pedal steel guitarist BJ Cole to fill his spot. Of course, nobody could replace Nick, so the reviews of the tour turned out very unfavourably.
In 1999, after much speculation, The Verve announced once again that they had split. Richard Ashcroft decided that he would embark on a solo career, and Pete Salisbury joined Richard on drums. Simon Jones announced that he would join John Squire's (ex-Stone Roses) new band. Plans for the rest of the band are unknown, but I'm sure they'll surface somewhere or another.

source:http://www.sing365.com/music/lyric.nsf/The-Verve-Biography/AC86C54087AAC7F54825689E00034FC1