Descended from full-blooded Sicilian stock, Caroline Vincinette LoTempio was born in Niagara Falls, New York, in 1929. Between the pasta and meatballs, con sardi with olive oil and anchovies, music was the most important ingredient in the family household. All were blessed with an ability to sing, and Caroline had a voice to die for.
Quite a few major acts have a song in their catalogue that sets my teeth on edge, not particularly because I don’t like it but because I don’t trust the motives behind it. It’s the song where they play to the balcony, one that’s written intentionally as an encore. It’s the song that presses the right buttons for the kind of people that Ma…
Amy Rigby never stops rocking and rolling and, as the title of her most recent album says, Hang In There With Me. Or, rather, try and keep up. From childhood in less-than-lively Pittsburgh, she moved to art college in the Big Apple and music took over. The New York punk scene alongside the likes of Richard Hell (although playing in a curious folk g…
Originally a snarky term coined by the British music press and aimed at a handful of bands, shoegaze has evolved into one of alternative music’s most influential movements. Through interviews with original pioneers and today’s new wave of artists, in Record Collector June 2026 issue, Wesley Doyle tells us how a handful of experimental 90s bands…
As The Anchoress, I’ve been soundtracking other people’s bad decisions for 10 years now. Hollyoaks breakups. Made In Chelsea meltdowns. Apparently, if you need someone to cry to, my musical back catalogue is at your service.
The Dancing Did formed in the Worcestershire market town of Evesham in 1979 and released only one album: 1982’s And Did Those Feet. That LP remains a spectral wonder, informed in equal parts by punk, prog, folklore and quintessentially English eccentricity.
A member of The John Barry Seven, The Graham Bond Organisation and Georgie Fame & The Blue Flames in the 60s, Ray Russell became a pioneer of jazz-rock fusion in the 70s, pushing the boundaries with The Ray Russell Quartet and Sextet and his 12-piece ensemble, Rock Workshop, featuring Alex Harvey.
When they first topped the charts in 1982, young Birmingham reggae outfit Musical Youth were a sensation, in demand everywhere from John Peel to Pebble Mill At One. But they were no manufactured boy band – they’d been playing the clubs for some time. Success took its toll and by the mid-80s they’d split, but several members are still playing …
Soul singer Gloria Brown, better known as Tami Lynn, achieved a modicum of celebrity in this country with her 1971 Top 10 hit, I’m Gonna Run Away From You, collaborations with Dr John and cameo appearance on arguably The Rolling Stones’ best album.
I’ve always wanted to write a rock novel.I don’t know why. There’s something about the sheer difficulty of conveying the way music makes people feel through the medium of the written word which interests me. I mean, it’s impossible: rock novels are like movies about fashion – it’s impossible to capture the sheer insanity (and inanity) o…
