Rock's Backpages: Search Results

Profile and Interview by Don Snowden, Los Angeles Times, 23 November 1980

THE TEST OF time is one accepted yardstick for determining great songs and, by that standard, Smokey Robinson certainly ranks as one of the premier ...

Ray Davies: A Dedicated Chronicler of Fashions

Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 28 November 2010

IN LATE 1965, Ray Davies threw a party. One of his guests was a clothes designer, and as Davies recalled: "I got pissed off with ...

Pajama Club: Marital Records

Profile and Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, October 2011

The moment their kids left home, Neil and Sharon Finn formed a new band. Pajama Club is their "empty-nest album". ...

Laura Nyro: The Unsung Blues

Profile and Interview by Rob Steen, The Independent, 2 December 1993

MY WIFE KEPT REMINDING ME: "Whatever you do, don't mention you named our daughter after her." Too creepy. What about the dispassionate dignity of the ...

Joe Jackson: "Actually, I quite like landmines"

Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, Daily Telegraph, 5 January 2008

Joe Jackson, songwriter and contrarian, talks to Robert Sandall about smoking, Berlin, and his new album. ...

Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris: Rodney Crowell: Country's New Laureate?

Profile and Interview by Todd Everett, L.A. Weekly, 1 October 1981

"I EXPECTED him to be more of a household word than he is now," admits Emmylou Harris, echoing the opinion of some of the world's ...

Prefab Sprout: Paddy McAloon: "I'll do without an audience to make the music I want"

Profile and Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 5 September 2013

Prefab Sprout sold millions of records in the '80s, but singer Paddy McAloon always made music for himself rather than the masses. Now he's back ...

Ellie Goulding: Pop Sensation

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 12 December 2009

"I KNOW THESE cups look dirty," says Ellie Goulding, frowning at the two floral mugs she carries across the room, "but really they're not. It's just ...

James Bay

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, Q, July 2015

IN TWO YEARS, THE YOUNG BRIT SINGER-SONGWRITER JAMES BAY HAS GONE FROM BARMAN TO CHART-TOPPING, AWARD-WINNING HEARTTHROB AND IS MOBBED WHEREVER HE TRAVELS. NO WONDER ...

Michael Kiwanuka: Move on Up

Profile and Interview by Stevie Chick, MOJO, November 2016

Two years ago, in crisis, doubting his worth and dismissed by his own label. Then he started to sing about that uncertainty, and everything changed. ...

Ian Tyson: Cowboy troubadour: Ian Tyson is riding high again

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 February 1989

THE AUDITORIUM was a sea of cowboy hats in a variety of styles – High Sierra, Ridgetop and Cattleman. The ranchers, cowhands and wives were ...

Fleet Foxes: How Fleet Foxes are handling high expectations

Profile and Interview by Laura Barton, The Guardian, 16 June 2011

Huge success began a steep learning curve for the Seattle band. Bandleader Robin Pecknold explains how the second album put the band in a "dark ...

Joanna Newsom: Daydream Believer

Profile and Interview by Frances Morgan, Plan B, September 2004

Joanna Newsom is a new kind of folk heroine, plucking out spells and lullabies on 46 thrumming strings. ...

Lionel Richie: "There was something seriously wrong with Michael Jackson. But this is Hollywood"

Profile and Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Event Magazine, 25 April 2015

The downside of marrying a model half his age. The day he discovered Michael Jackson was as mad as a snake. And why the Ku ...

Sheryl Crow: Why Sheryl Crow is starting over

Profile and Interview by Sheryl Garratt, Daily Telegraph, 26 January 2008

Battling cancer and adopting a child led Sheryl Crow to reassess what is important in life. No longer concerned with what people think, she has ...

The The: Lip Tripping

Profile and Interview by Jon Wilde, Volume, April 1993

IT'S HARDLY A surprise to learn that Matt Johnson, that most untypical of pop star types, experienced a less than typical upbringing. ...

Michael Hurley: On the Trail of the Lonesome Snock

Profile and Interview by Byron Coley, Arthur, 27 April 2013

Wily folkplayer Michael Hurley (aka Elwood Snock) has charmed hip audiences for over fifty years now with his timeless surrealist tunes and sweetly weird comics, ...