Naming the 20 Top Male Rock Vocalists of All Time might sound like an insurmountable task, but I decided to take on the challenge.
Of course, it was difficult because you do have to make the distinction between metal, postmodern, rock punk etc but I did my best to keep them separate.
In compiling this list, I also took your requests from Facebook and Youtube and have included some special mentions at the end.
Please make sure to share with me who you thought should have made the list. I hope you enjoy the video!
Ken Tamplin Vocal Academy – Where The PROOF Is In The Singing!
Here are some fun facts about the singers in this video:
David Coverdale
“It was a ridiculous time for around about three years
when MTV became this global monster. I’d go into a hotel room, andeight times out of 10, the TV would be showing MTV. And nine times outof 10, it was playing the video for ‘Still Of The Night’, ‘Is ThisLove’ or ‘Here I Go Again’ I wasn’t prepared for that at all,” he says. “I was with Tawny in L.A. and we couldn’t go anywhere. If we stopped at a red light on Sunset, we’d be chased by the paparazzi like something out of THEBEATLES’ ‘A Hard Day’s Night’. It was whack. That was the primaryreason why I moved out of L.A. to Lake Tahoe to live in a village of5,000 people.”________________________________________________________
Lou Gramm
Interview on his conversion
“At the end of an afterparty, after a showparty, and I knew my wifeand children would be expecting me, but, at number one, I could’tdrive myself, nor did I wanna have them see me like that. So I stayedthe night in Manhattan and grappled with the person I had become.”
Scott: What did you see?
Lou: “Something that I didn’t like, I didn’t like and didn’t respectand I saw the possibility of my own demise. It was in this huge, poshhotel room that I got down on my knees asking for God’s help to healme and help me to get rid myself of this horrible addiction. I juststarted praying, because I knew there wasn’t anybody in the world thatcould help me.”
Did you know how to pray?
Lou: “I think I just started talking to God, it wasn’t necessary aprayer in a pre-fabicated form. It was a conversation.”
Scott: Saying…?
Lou Gramm: “That I didn’t want to be in this position and that Ireally believed that that lifestyle had the better of me and that Icouldn’t walk away from it on my own, that I needed it, more than itneeded me; and I prayed for the strenght and the sense to break thechains.”
Scott: What happened?
Lou: “The next morning I called a place that a friend have told meabout, called ‘Hazelden’ in Minnesota, and went to rehab. I didn’tknow for what was it but it was a good facility and there was a pastoras part of the rehab to re-connect with God. That’s where I became aChristian. I received Jesus that moment.”
Scott: Did you prayed, “Jesus Christ, come into my life”?
Lou: “Yes, I was asked if I was sure about it. I definitely did itbecause that’s what I wanted for a long time and it was an option thatHe was offering to me.”
Scott: Did you tell your bandmates?
Lou: “Not right away, but when I returned in the next tour monthslater, nothing in the band had changed. They said they were allthrilled that I had cleaned myself up. After a show, as usual, we weredriving on the bus to the next city, and the cocaine lines and thejoints came out, and I let them know that I wouldn’t be doing thatwith them anymore.”
Scott: And the response was?
Lou: “ ―’What in the world’s wrong with you?’―”
Scott: About your relationship with Jesus, how did your bandmates received that?
Lou: “Most of them were pretty angry, because making the desitionchanged me from the old. It kept for, I’m saying, about another sevenor eight years, but there were more and more breaks between tours andthe next album, in which I was heavily involved in the melody and thelyrics, started having inferences to God.”
AND FINALLY.. (in regards to “I Want to Know What Love Is”)
I remember when we were recording the song a friend of Mick Jones camein, and he was a representative for a small gospel group of NewJersey. He suggested that we should use a choir for that song, andsuggested a choir that he was involved in, the ‘New Jersey MassChoir’. They came in, and before they sang, they made a big circle andhold their hands and said the Lord’s prayer while we were in thecontrol room. When they started singing, it was just changed!, itchanged the meaning of the song. The song was big enough in itslyrics, that when the choir was put on it, kind of got a doublemeaning, so that it could be about a person and his God, you know.”
Paul Rodgers
A number of rock ’n’ roll greats worship Paul Rodgers and hisincredible voice. What do some of the biggest names in the businesshave to say?
“Paul Rodgers has been, and still is, by far, one of the finesttalents of our musical genre”
— Jimmy Page
“Paul was a hero to Freddie and us when we were starting out. When Ifirst worked with him, I was in awe of him.”
— Queen’s Brian May
“I am a huge fan. His voice is probably the greatest rock-blues voicewe have here in the U.K. I remember when we first played on a showwith Free, The Small Faces were on the bill. Steve Marriott and Istood stunned at the authority of Paul’s sound, style, and control.They were the tightest, simplest and straightest band alive in theirtime. Every one of them was a master of simplicity and dignity — aword you can rarely use in our game.”
— The Who’s
Pete Townshend
Source: “Rock stars worship the work of Paul Rodgers” By Jeb Wrightfrom Goldmine the music collectors magazine April 12, 2010
Freddie Mercury
It was The principal headmaster of St Peter’s (who) had noticedFreddie’s musical talent, and wrote to his parents suggesting thatthey might wish to pay a little extra on Freddie’s school fees toenable him to study music properly. They agreed, and Freddie began tolearn to play the piano.
After Jimi Hendrix exploded onto the scene in 1967, and Freddie becamean ardent fan, he spent time sketching and drawing his hero (Hendrix);drawings he would frame and use to decorate the walls of his flat inKensington
Freddie designed the band’s logo using their birth signs: two fairiesfor him (Virgo), two lions for Roger and John (Leo) and a crab forBrian (Cancer).
Robert Plant
Plant’s early years were spent in books, with the rocker choosingstamp collecting as a hobby rather than music. In fact, Plant hadactually aspired to become a chartered accountant, thanks in part tohis father’s influence. Leaving school after two weeks of training inthis field, he abandoned his studies in favour of becoming part of theblues scene that was becoming popular at the time
Initially, Led Zeppelin formed as The New Yardbirds, and were frontedby Jimmy Page. While auditioning members to be in the group, Page hadreportedly witnessed countless musicians try their luck at being theband’s singer. In fact, two of the musicians that Page liked includedScottish folk singer Donovan, and Steve Winwood, who would later gainfame as a member of Blind Faith and Traffic.Robert also prompted Pageto select his former bandmate John Bonham on drums after ProcolHarum;s BJ Wilson turned the gig down.
If you were to take a look at the credits of Led Zeppelin’sself-titled debut record, you might recognise that there wereapproximately no songs credited to Plant, despite the fact that heactually wrote six of the nine songs on the record. Reportedly, thereason for this is that Plant was still under contract for a recordcompany different to Atlantic, Led Zeppelin’s record label at the time
A famous story about Robert Plant’s early days involve the rockerattempting to buy a shirt in London’s upmarket Carnaby Street.Apparently, Plant attempted to buy the shirt using a cheque, for whichhe needed identification. Upon being asked for ID and having none, heinstead went out to his car, grabbed a copy of Led Zeppelin’s firstalbum (which was, for some reason, in his vehicle), and showed it tothe sales assistant, who allowed him to purchase the shirt.
Mickey Thomas
Thomas joined the Elvin Bishop Group as a backing vocalist andeventually made it to lead vocals. After leaving the Elvin BishopGroup, he recorded three songs for the 1978 film Skateboard, whichalso featured a cameo by Jefferson Starship guitarist Craig Chaquicowho in turn asked him to join the group after the departure of MartyBalin and Grace Slick
After a series of unfortunate events (cancelled shows, failing albumsales) , Thomas and drummer Baldwin go into a bar fight after whichdoctors would insert three titanium plates in an effort to stabilizehis face. Reconstructive surgery involved a cranial facial entry,which “basically means that they took my face off and then reattachedit, with 60 staples in the top of my head,” said Thomas
Steven Tyler
In 1969, Tyler attended a local rock show in Sunapee, New Hampshire,where he first saw future bandmates Joe Perry (guitars) and TomHamilton (bass), who at the time were playing in a band called the JamBand. Tyler later stated, “If I don’t join up with these guys, I’mgoing to miss out on being a very rich man.”
Steve Leber describes why he wanted to manager the band because theband was “the closest thing I’ve ever seen to the Rolling Stones”.
Tyler and Perry often were called the Toxic Twins for their legendaryintake of stimulants and heroin. After Perry and Whitford left theband due to Tyler’s increase in His heroin addiction was at its worstbetween 1979 and 1982, when he would roam the streets of New York Citylooking for dealers
Eventually, Perry and Whitford would rejoin the band, but Tyler stillusing drugs and collapsed while performing in Springfield, Illinois,on the 1984 tour. In 1986, the band held a meeting in which the bandmembers staged an intervention on Tyler, and persuaded him to enter adrug rehabilitation program. After he completed rehabilitation, hisbandmates did likewise; all had completed treatment by the mid-1980s.
Luck came again when Tyler and Perry appeared on Run–D.M.C.’s cover ofAerosmith’s “Walk This Way” in 1986, a track that combined elements ofhip-hop and rock, that broke down the barriers between the two genres,broke rap into the mainstream, and introduced Aerosmith to a newgeneration
Chris Cornell
As an adolescent, he experimented with drugs and stealing. Among thethings he stole were a collection of Beatles records from hisneighbour’s basement which sparked an interest in songwriting. Thoughhis parents had given him piano lessons from early on, Chris said hismother saved his life when she bought him a snare drum. A week laterhe bought himself an entire drum kit and thus began his forage intorock n roll.
Cornell dropped out of school at the age of 15 for two reasons: onewas because he had problems with authority, the other was that hewanted to work to help his mother support the family. He waited tablesand later on became a cook. He honed his skills as a songwriter andmusician by playing in bands on the side.
Chris Cornell has been at the forefront of many creations: Soundgardenwere the first of the Seattle grunge bands to get signed by a majorlabel during the late 80s, introduced his best friend Eddie Vedder tolight with the formation of Temple of the Dog (before Pearl Jam’sformation) and in a turn of fortune, 2000 was also the year producerRick Rubin suggested Cornell jam with the remaining members of Zach dela Rocha’s abandoned band, Rage Against The Machine. The collaborationwas so successful, Cornell along with guitar virtuoso Tom Morello,innovative bassist Tim Commerford and powerhouse drummer Brad Wilkformed Audioslave, a multi-platinum supergroup which lived to deny itsdetractors, producing three top-selling albums, touring the world andbecoming the first American band to bring rock to Castro’s Cuba
Bon Scott
After a night of heavy drinking Scott climbed into the backseat of acar and quickly passed out after his friends left him there to sleepit off. When they returned to the car the next morning, Scott wasdead.
How he got is name “Bon” (His first name being Ronald) “My newschoolmates threatened to kick the sh*t out of me when they heard myScottish accent,” Scott said. “I had one week to learn to speak likethem if I wanted to remain intact… It made me all the more determinedto speak my own way. That’s how I got my name, you know. The BonnyScot, see?” (bonny is a Scottish slang for pretty and scot for beingScottish)
Bon Scott signed on to AC/DC as the frontman when their previousfrontman refused to go on stage. It was through Scott’s checkered pastand rebellious attitude that the band cemented itself as a raucous,crude rock group. Scott, who had been rejected from the army becausehe was “socially maladjusted,” brought that attitude into AC/DC. Andit stuck
Back in Black was released just six weeks after Scott’s death leavingsome to speculate that Scott had written much of what’s featured onthe album. An ex-girlfriend of his claims to have seen his journalsand notebooks with lyrics to the infamous You Shook Me All Night Longprior to his death. Some felt he deserved credit for the albumposthumously and not his replacement, Brian Johnson
Brian Johnson
It was was actually Bon Scott who told his bandmates about BrianJohnson, whom Scott had witnessed onstage during his first trip toEngland in the early ‘70s.What made Johnson’s performance soimpressive to Scott was that during the performance Johnson had aterrible case of appendicitis, and in the words of Brian Johnson, “Iwent down on my side, kicking and going, ‘Ooh!’ But I kept on singing.Apparently, [Bon later] told the boys, ‘I saw this guy Brian Johnsonsing, and he was great. He was on the floor, kicking and screaming —what an act!’ Of course, it wasn’t an act. I was really ill.”
So, when it came time for Angus and his brother Malcolm Young to makethe difficult decision to continue AC/DC after Scott’s death, theyadded Johnson to their list of potential replacements, alongsidecandidates like Slade’s Noddy Holder, Buzz Shearman of Canadianrockers Moxy, the late Alan Fryer of Australia’s Heaven and onetimeBack Street Crawler singer Terry Slesser. But it was Johnson, nowlargely retired from music and working in an auto shop in his nativeNewcastle, who wound up beating out the rest — though he had torequest time off simply to make his way to London for the audition.
Once there, Johnson got so distracted shooting pool with AC/DC’sroadies while awaiting his turn to sing that they had to fetch him tobelt out “Whole Lotta Rosie,” a cover of Tina Turner’s “Nutbush CityLimits” and a few other jams. In the end, Johnson’s down-to-earthfriendliness, as much as his amazing voice and natural charisma, woundup earning him the gig.
Ronnie James Dio
Quotes from Lauder.com interview 2008
“I majored in pharmacy at university. As parents always say, ‘Ifyou’re gonna play this stupid rock ’n’ roll, you need something as aback-up.’ Being obedient and because they’d worked hard to send me touniversity, I felt obliged to comply.”
“My real surname [Padavona] was too long and exotic. It had to bememorable. Wanting to keep my Italian identity, I chose a Mafia bossnamed Johnny Dio. Not to cash in on his infamy, but because it wasshort and to the point.”
Ian Gillan
Initially influenced by Elvis Presleywhen he heard his records at alocal youth club and actually left school to become an actor likeElvis. ,he joined Deep Purple but left after being hospitalized forexhaustion while Smoke on the Water was just climbing the charts
Among other projects, he sang the role of Jesus in the originalrecording of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rock opera Jesus Christ Superstar(he recorded his entire vocal contributions in three hours – but didnot perform in the movie as he wanted Deep Purple to be paid forhaving to cancel shows) and did a year-long stint as the vocalist forBlack Sabbath in 1983
Bob Seger
After several false starts in the highly competitive Detroit musicscenve of the early seventies (including collaberations with GlennFrey, Think Lizzy and Van Morrison), Seger created the Silver Bulletband. The album Live Bullet was a huge success in Detroit, butreceived little attention elsewhere. ( In June 1976, he was a featuredperformer at the Pontiac Silverdome outside Detroit in front of nearly80,000 fans. The next night, Seger played before fewer than a thousandpeople in Chicago) The album was only released because Night Moves hadnot been finished yet. However, because of Night Moves, Live Bullethas been claimed as one of the greatest live rock albums of all time.
Old Time Rock and Roll been ranked the second-most played JukeboxSingle of all time, behind Patsy Cline’s “Crazy”.[12] “Old Time Rockand Roll” was named one of the Songs of the Century in 2001. Seger hassince remarked that not taking one-third writing credit on hisrecording was, financially, “the dumbest thing I ever did”.
Geddy Lee
His parents survived 3 concentration comps (they actually met the at12 and 13). It was at this time that they actually built one of theconcentration camps
At one point they were separated with the mother going to Auschwitzand the father going to Dachau where they survived for more than 2years! Which is a remarkable because every day they were lined up andone group was selected to go left and the other to go right(unbeknownst to them, one group would end up going to work while theother group would end up going to the gas chamber.) However each daythey survived as their mother, (Lee’s grandmother) aligned them up inorder so they would all go into the same line (either to all go to thework camp or the gas chamber)
They were reunited after the liberation when his mother was hangingclothes out the window and saw his father hitchhiking down the street(as he was hiking around Europe trying to find her.) She almostfainted and fell out the window upon seeing him
But it wasn’t until 50 years later when Geddy took his mother to aholocaust reunion where she stood with the rest of her clan that hadnot been annihilated that she felt they finally won the war
Tommy Shaw
He was discovered by Styx while playing music at a bowling alley: “ Isat around the piano with them, and they gave me the high note on”Lady.” That was it; I was a part of the band.”
He told al.com, “We lived on Madison Avenue (Alabama), and there was agreat flow of traffic there. I had a little amplifier, and I wouldplay on the front porch. I seized on the traffic as my audience. “
Steve Perry
His parents separated she he was 8, an event that he still cannot talkabout. He said, “[There] was nowhere to talk it out, so I got to singit out instead.” In fact, on his 12th birthday, his mother, presentedher son with a gold eighth note pendant; Perry wears the pendant tothis day.
In his early 20s, Perry moved to Sacramento to start a band with16-year-old future music producer Scott Mathews, who co-wrote, playeddrums and guitar and sang. That band, Ice, was poised to “make it” inthe music business. During the day in 1972 they recorded at the RecordPlant studios in Los Angeles while Stevie Wonder recorded his TalkingBook album by night. Upon returning to Sacramento, Ice disbanded asthe band had no management, Mathews was still in high school, and therecordings went virtually unheard.
After several failed music acts, Perry returned to his mom’s farm anddecided not to continue his singing career, but at the urging of hismother, Perry answered a call from Walter “Herbie” Herbert, manager ofstruggling San Francisco-based band Journey. (Herbert had been given ademo of one of Perry’s songs)
Elvis
Presley was supposed to be a twin, but his brother, Jesse Garon(sometimes spelled Jessie) was stillborn.
Raised by loving, working-class parents, Presley’s family had littlemoney, and they moved from place to place frequently. He was deeplydevoted to his parents, especially his mother, Gladys, and was raisedto have a strong faith in God. Presley attended the Assembly of GodChurch with his parents, where gospel music became an importantinfluence for him.
Presley received his first guitar as a gift from his mother on his11th birthday in 1946 and had his first taste of musical success a fewyears later when he won a talent show at Humes High School in Memphis.
He cut his first demo record at what later became known as Sun Studiothat year, and before long, Sam Phillips, the record label owner,decided to take the young performer under his wing. Presley soon begantouring and recording, trying to catch his first big break. “That’sAll Right” was Presley’s first single in 1954.
He signed with RCA Records, a deal worked out by his manager, ColonelTom Parker, scored his first No. 1 single with “Heartbreak Hotel,” aswell as his first No. 1 album, Elvis Presley, and signed a moviecontract with Paramount Pictures — all in 1956.
Bryan Adams
The Adams family lived in Portugal, Austria, Israel, and Japan duringBryan’s childhood. When his parents divorced when he was 12, Adamsdidn’t see his father for a decade—that is, until the mid-’90s when aconcert tour took him to Japan and the two reconciled over dinner.
HIS FIRST LABEL CONTRACT IN 1978 WAS FOR $1.
“Contracts have to have a denomination passed back and forth to makethem legal. And because they didn’t want to give me any money, onedollar was the minimum amount to make the contract legally binding,”Adams told Rolling Stone last year. “I still have the check somewhere… It proves the absurdity of the whole thing.”
Adams’s monster hit, “(Everything I Do) I Do It For You,” wasspecifically written for the 1991 movie Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves,but he had to compete with the likes of Annie Lennox, Kate Bush, andPeter Cetera for the job. Michael Kamen, the composer for the film,thought Adams had enough roughness and edge to make the balladcompelling and romantic without becoming saccharine.
“I write sweet melodies,” Kamen has said, “and sometimes they needsomeone to deliver them with enough authority to make sure that youdon’t fall asleep.” It worked: Adams and super-producer Mutt Langewrote the lyrics in roughly 45 minutes to fit with Kamen’sorchestration, and the song went on to be one of the best-sellingsingles of all time (as well as a wedding staple for the entirety ofthe ’90s).
Sammy Hagar
Sammy Hagar’s boxing roots date back to his father who was aprofessional fighter who fought under the name Bobby Burns in the1930’s and 40’s. Sammy thought about following in his father’sfootsteps and fought for a bit.
All four studio albums Van Halen released with Sammy Hagar as lead hit#1 on the Billboard charts.
He is also a gourmet chef having been inspired by his grandfather. Hesays in his cookbook: “He was an immigrant who came from Italy when hewas about 11 years old, landed in New York, didn’t speak the languageand went to work in restaurants” His grandfather was so good, Sammyclaims, “I never went to a restaurant until I was in my 20s.”Sammy isso good, he has cooked for celebrity chefs like Emeril Lagasse andMario Batali.
In the late 1990s, Hagar began selling Cabo Wabo tequila, a handmadetequila he’d commissioned from a family-owned distillery in theMexican state of Jalisco. By 2006 it was the second-best sellingpremium tequila in the United States. The following year Hagar sold an80% interest in his Cabo Wabo Tequila to Gruppo Campari for $80million. In doing so, he made more money in a single day than in hisentire music career.
John Fogerty
Who will stop the rain?: The song is often interpreted as a protest ofthe Vietnam War (like “Fortunate Son”) but Fogerty told the crowd thathe had been at Woodstock, watching the rain come down. He watched thefestival goers dance in the rain, muddy, naked, cold, huddlingtogether, and it just kept raining. So when he got back home afterthat weekend, he sat down and wrote “Who’ll Stop the Rain,” making itnot a Vietnam protest at all, but a recounting of his Woodstockexperience.
Saul Zaentz, owner of Fantasy Records claimed that “The Old Man Downthe Road” shared the same chorus as “Run Through the Jungle”, a songfrom Fogerty’s days with Creedence Clearwater Revival years before.(Fogerty had relinquished copyrights and publishing rights of hisCreedence songs to Zaentz and Fantasy, in exchange for release fromhis contractual obligations to them.) Zaentz sued (Fantasy, Inc. v.Fogerty) but the defendant Fogerty ultimately prevailed when he showedthat the two songs were whole, separate and distinct compositions.Bringing his guitar to the witness stand, he played excerpts from bothsongs, demonstrating that many songwriters (himself included) havedistinctive styles that can make different compositions sound similarto less discerning ears.[10]
After prevailing as defendant, Fogerty sued Zaentz for the cost ofdefending himself against the copyright infringement. In such(copyright) cases, prevailing defendants seeking recompense were boundto show that original suit was frivolous or made in bad faith. Thiscase, Fogerty v. Fantasy, Inc., became precedent when the U.S. SupremeCourt (1993) overturned lower court rulings and awarded attorneys’fees to Fogerty, without Fogerty having to show that Zaentz’s originalsuit was frivolous.
Rod Stewart
Stewart excelled at soccer. He worked a series of odd jobs, includingworking as a grave digger, before his singing career took off. Duringthe 1960s, Stewart was a part of several different bands. In 1966, hejoined the blues-influenced Jeff Beck Group and experienced his firsttaste of success. The group toured the United Kingdom and the UnitedStates and released two hit albums. In 1969, he joined what becameknown as the Faces. Ron Wood was one of his bandmates and became amember of the Rolling Stones. Stewart also performed as a solo artistand scored his first big solo success with the album Every PictureTells A Story, which featured the hit single “Maggie May” in 1971.That same year, the Faces had a hit with the song “Stay With Me.”
I don’t know if you can use this but it is a popular urban legend:Stewart wrote that he once had his publicist share a room with hiswife’s 7-year-old son because a hotel was overbooked. (Side note:Don’t do that to your publicist or a child. Inconsiderate.)
The now-deceased publicist met a man at a bar and brought him back tothe room, so Stewart fired him the next day, Stewart said. But thepublicist’s revenge, Stewart said, was “absolutely inspired.”
“He fed the press a story in which, as a consequence of an eveningspent orally servicing a gang of sailors in a gay bar in San Diego, Ihad been required to check into a hospital emergency room to have mystomach pumped,” Stewart wrote. “I have never orally pleasured even asolitary sailor, let alone a ship’s worth in one evening. And I havenever had my stomach pumped, either of naval-issue semen or of anyother kind of semen.”
Roger DaltryDaltrey made his first guitar from a block of wood in 1957,[14] acherry red Stratocaster replica, and joined a skiffle band called theDetours, who were in need of a lead singer. They told him that he hadto bring a guitar, and within a few weeks he showed up with it. Whenhis father bought him an Epiphone guitar in 1959, he became the leadguitarist for the band; soon afterwards he was expelled from schoolfor tobacco smoking.
Early on, Daltrey was the band’s leader (called, “The Detours) ,earning a reputation for using his fists to exercise control whenneeded, despite his small stature. According to Townshend, Daltrey”ran things the way he wanted. If you argued with him, you usually gota bunch of fives [a hard punch]. The band discovered another bandperforming as the Detours and discussed changing their name. Townshendsuggested “the Hair” and Townshend’s roommate Richard Barnes suggested”the Who.”
The other members of the Who fired Daltrey from the band in late 1965after he beat up their drummer Keith Moon for supplying illegal drugsto Townshend and Entwistle, causing him to re-examine his methods ofdealing with people. A week later, Daltrey was admitted back to theband, but was told he’d be on probation. He promised that there wouldbe no more violent outbursts or assaults. Daltrey recalled, “I thoughtif I lost the band I was dead. If I didn’t stick with the Who, I wouldbe a sheet metal worker for the rest of my life.”
When Daltrey went to check the Who’s books, he found they had falleninto disarray under the management of Kit Lambert and Chris Stamp.Lambert was also Pete Townshend’s artistic mentor, and challenging himled to an altercation where Townshend hit Daltrey over the head withhis guitar, and Daltrey responded by knocking Townshend unconsciouswith a single blow
Mick Jagger
The 1969 Altamont Speedway Free Festival in northern California becameknown for its violence. Though the festival was meant to be a“Woodstock of the West”, it turned far from it. The crowd has alreadyerupted in violence. By the moment the band departed from theirhelicopter ride, a fan instantly hit Mick Jagger in the face.
Jagger attempted to keep the show going, partially out of fear whatwould happen if they stop.
The security team assigned, The Hells Angels motorcycle club had tosubdue 18-year-old Meredith Hunter. Evidence shows that Hunter, alsohigh in drugs, had a revolver and pointed it at the air. The securityteam sprung into action and in the scuffle, stabbed Hunter to death.The young man died mere feet from where The Rolling Stones wereperforming.
When Jagger met Jerry Hall, she was actually engaged to anotherrockstar Bryan Ferry when Jagger sought after her affections. Herevealed to her that he took LSD daily for an entire year. Thisapparently disgusted Hall and told him she wouldn’t speak to him untilhe quit.
Jagger apparently went cold turkey and impressed Hall which then ledthe two to remain together for over two decades.
There are too many other stories but most are raunchy including havingslept with 4000 women, courting Angelina Jolie fow weeks but skippedout on their first date so he could have an affair with Farrah Faucet,he pledged to never tour with the Stones after Kieth Richards whoreferred to his privates as a “short mic stand” and of course, hisfamous affair with David Bowie
Paul McCartney
In the photo used on the Abbey Road sleeve, Paul McCartney is out ofstride with the other three Beatles, and is also the only Beatlebarefoot. These chance details would later be taken as principalpieces of “evidence” for a conspiracy theory that still inspires asignificant literature to this day: that in late 1966 the realMcCartney had died in an accident and that at the time of this photohe had been replaced by an impostor who has played the role of “PaulMcCartney” ever since. (He didn’t; he hadn’t.)
In 1960, The Beatles were playing in Hamburg, Germany, but after localcomplaints, the band was told to leave the country. Paul and bandmatePete Best were packing in a dark room and lit a condom to get somelight. Accused of trying to set the building on fire, they werearrested by the local police and spent a few hours in jail beforeheading back to England.
AUL PLAYED TO WHAT’S BELIEVED TO BE THE LARGEST PAID AUDIENCE INRECORDED HISTORY.
In 1989, Paul played a solo concert to a crowd of 350,000-plus in Brazil.
6. HE WITNESSED THE 9/11 ATTACKS.
On September 11, 2001, Paul was on an airplane in New York City. Helooked out the window and saw one of the planes crash into the TwinTowers. Paul said that after he got off the plane, he went right to abar to get a drink.
Brad DelpIn 1969, guitarist Barry Goudreau introduced Delp to Tom Scholz, whowas looking for a singer to complete some demo recordings
During the mid-1990s until his death in 2007, Delp played in a sideproject when he had time off from Boston – a Beatles tribute bandcalled Beatlejuice. The Beatles had been a personal favorite of Delp,and he revered them for their songwriting
Sometime between 11:00 pm on March 8 and 1:20 pm on March 9, 2007,Delp committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning at his home onAcademy Avenue, in Atkinson, New Hampshire.[3] It was due to manyprivate reasons. Delp left the public notes scattered throughout hishouse from his car to the master rooms. The Atkinson police discoveredhis body on the floor of his master bathroom after Pamela Sullivan sawa dryer vent tube connected to the exhaust pipe of Delp’s car. A setpair of two charcoal grills were found to have been lit inside thebathtub causing the room to fill with smoke.[4] A suicide note waspaper-clipped to the neck of his T-shirt, which read: “Mr. Brad Delp.’J’ai une âme solitaire’. I am a lonely soul.” Delp left four sealedenvelopes in his office addressed to his children, his former wifeMicki, his fiancée, and another unnamed couple
There are two stories regarding the reasons for his suicide:
Court documents from the trials show Scholz claimed that personalproblems plagued Delp.[12] Boston Herald attorneys point to voluminoustestimony from former Boston members, other local musicians, Delp’sdoctor, and Delp’s friends, including Meg Sullivan (his fiancée’ssister), many of whom say the singer did not like Scholz, desperatelywanted to quit the band, and felt tormented by his role as middlemanin an ugly conflict between Scholz and former band members. All ofthis was summarized in a 140-page statement filed by the Herald inApril, 2012
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His fiancée Meg discovered a hidden camera planted in her room.[14]After confronting Delp, he admitted to planting the camera and laterwrote a series of emails pleading for forgiveness. Todd Winmill, Meg’sboyfriend, implored Delp to admit his wrongdoings to Pamela on March3. After promising to tell her in a few days, Delp purchased thegrills and tubing he later used to commit suicide. Pamela found hisbody on March 9. In the bathroom were several notes written by Delp,one of which read: “I have had bouts of depression and thoughts ofsuicide since I was a teenager … [Pamela] was my ‘ray of sunshine’,but sometimes even a ray of sunshine is no substitute for a goodpsychiatrist.
Glenn Hughes
Hughes was recruited to replace Roger Glover as bassist in Deep Purplein 1973, though he considered himself more a vocalist than a bassist.He was reportedly uninterested in the Deep Purple job until some ofthe other members proposed that Paul Rodgers of Free be brought in asco-lead vocalist. Although the recruitment of Rodgers fell through,Hughes had now become interested in the “two-lead-singer thing”, andDavid Coverdale was later hired as Deep Purple’s lead vocalist
Glenn was replaced by vocalist Ray Gillen after six shows with BlackSabbath due to Black sabbath’s production manager punching Glenn inthe cheek which broke a piece of cheekbone, perforating his nose andcausing large amounts of blood to dry in his throat. It took himalmost a year to recover from the incident.
Klaus Mein
Unknowing fans often use the article “The” in conjunction with theband’s name (e.g. “The Scorpions”). Their name is actually just“Scorpions”.
Lead vocalist Klaus Meine lost his voice during the recording ofBlackout (to the extent that he couldn’t even speak properly) and hehad to undergo surgery on his vocal cords. Meine was advised by hisdoctor to consider another profession because of his voice problems.It was uncertain whether he would be able to record the album till theend. Demos of the material were recorded with Don Dokken as vocalist;however none of those recordings are featured on the album.
He and Rudolf Schenker are the only members of the Scorpions that haveappeared on every one of the band’s albums.
Don Henley
Boys of summer The guitar player Mike Campbell of Tom Petty originallywrote the track and Tom passed on it so he gave it to Don Henley whowrote the lyrics and the chorus
Axl came down to add some background vocals to Henley’s ‘I Will Not GoQuietly’ and Henley returned the favor a short time later when regularGuns N’ Roses drummer Steven Adler was in rehab. GN’R were set toperform on the 1989 American Music Awards and they needed a drummer,so Henley filled in, drumming on the mellow ‘Patience.’
Steve Walsh
Walsh is the only original member of the band to not be from the stateof Kansas and retired from the band after 41 years of singing
Regarding his retirement, founding member Phil Ehart:
“It really wasn’t emotional, Steve had his son there in a car sittingoutside. We all kind of walked to the front of the stage together andwaved at the audience. He walked off the stage, got into a car andthey drove off. That was it. But that’s the kind of way people arefrom the Midwest of the United States. We’re just pragmatic people. Itended and we moved on.”
