Paul Rodgers

The Firm were a British rock supergroup comprising former Free and Bad Company singer Paul Rodgers, ex-Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page, ex-Uriah... Heep and Manfred Mann's Earth Band drummer Chris Slade and bass player Tony Franklin. Page and Rodgers originally wanted former Yes drummer Bill Bruford and fretless bassist Pino Palladino in the group; however, Bruford was contracted to another label and Palladino had tour commitments with singer Paul Young. Both Page and Rodgers refused to play any material from their former bands and instead opted for a selection of Firm songs plus tracks from both their solo albums. The new songs were heavily infused with a soulful and more commercially-accessible sound, courtesy of Franklin's fretless bass guitar underpinning an understated song structure. Despite refusing to play old material, the last track from The Firm, "Midnight Moonlight", was originally an unreleased Led Zeppelin song entitled "The Swan Song". This caused some critics to believe that Page had begun to run out of ideas. In subsequent press interviews, Page had indicated that the band were never meant to last more than two albums.
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For other bands named Law, see Law The Law were an English rock group formed in 1991 comprising drummer Kenney Jones and singer Paul Rodgers . The... two teamed up with the idea of using different supporting musicians, in order to allow Paul Rodgers to pursue whatever musical style he felt like. They assembled a core band of studio musicians, including guitarist John Staehely and bassist Pino Palladino, and landed guest spots from guitarists like David Gilmour, Bryan Adams, and Chris Rea. They produced Billboard's #1 AOR Chart hit "Laying Down The Law" written by Rodgers, but the album peaked at a disappointing #126 on Billboard's Pop Albums chart. An album of outtakes from the first album has been released as a bootleg, often referred to as The Law II. The Law played one show at Milton Keynes Bowl supporting ZZ Top and Bryan Adams; they were joined for this show by John Young on keyboards. The Law derived its name, and the title of its only single, "Layin' Down the Law", from the 1970s American band Law, that recorded two albums on MCA Records when that band opened for Bad Company at the Cleveland Agora circa 1975.
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Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor .... Queen's earliest works were influenced by progressive rock, but the band gradually ventured into more conventional and radio-friendly works, incorporating more diverse and innovative styles in their music. Before joining Queen, Brian May and Roger Taylor had been playing together in a band named Smile with bassist Tim Staffell. Freddie Mercury was a fan of Smile, and encouraged them to experiment with more elaborate stage and recording techniques after Staffell's departure in 1970. Mercury himself joined the band shortly thereafter, changed the name of the band to "Queen", and adopted his familiar stage name. John Deacon was recruited prior to recording their eponymous debut album . Queen enjoyed success in the UK with their debut and its follow-up, Queen II , but it was the release of Sheer Heart Attack and A Night at the Opera that gained the band international success.
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Victor Entertainment is a subsidiary of Japan Victor Company that produces and distributes music, movies and other entertainment products such as anime and television shows in Japan. It was formerly known as Victor Music Industries . It was affiliated with RCA Victor Records. Listed... alphabetically by group or first name. Names are in Western order .
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SPV GmbH is an independent German record label. Founded on January 1, 1984, it has slowly grown to be one of the largest independent distributors and record labels worldwide. It also has several sublabels that it produces and distributes, including the heavy metal labels Steamhammer, Synthetic... Symphony, Oblivion, SPV Recordings/SPV America and Audiopharm. SPV's most successful artists include Sepultura, Kreator, Klaus Schulze, Rhapsody of Fire, Sodom, Evildead, Angra, Eric Burdon, Blackmore's Night, Whitesnake, Motörhead, Doro, Helloween, Kamelot, Iced Earth, Moonspell, Saxon, Monster Magnet, Type O Negative, Skinny Puppy and Judas Priest. The managing partner, Manfred Schütz, decided to submit an application to commence insolvency proceedings on 25 May 2009 – roughly equivalent to Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in the USA. In response to this, on 27 May 2009, the District Court of Hannover appointed the attorney Manuel Sack as the provisional insolvency administrator.
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E1 Music , the primary subsidiary of E1 Entertainment LP, is an independent record label in the United States. It is also distributed by the Universal Music Group in Europe under the name E1 Universal. On January 22, 2009, Koch Records was officially branded as "E1 Music" by parent company... Entertainment One. E1 Music was formed in May 1999 as "Koch Records" to serve as the North American umbrella for E1 Entertainment's labels . They would sign many country, classical, and rock acts including, Cledus T. Judd, Ringo Starr, Joan Baez, Chris Brubeck, Bob James, and an exclusive distribution with Suge Knight's embattled Death Row Records. The label soon began to gain ground on the other independent record labels in the United States. In the 2000s, they began to sign more hip hop acts and become one of the biggest hip hop labels in the world. They signed various distribution deals with labels like Open Bar Entertainment, Terror Squad, D-Block Records, and others. In 2004, they were able to sign a deal with Snoop Dogg and his Doggystyle Records along with Mobb Deep.
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Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the... United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads. The blues form, ubiquitous in jazz, rhythm and blues, and rock and roll is characterized by specific chord progressions, of which the twelve-bar blues chord progression is the most common. The blue notes that, for expressive purposes are sung or played flattened or gradually bent in relation to the pitch of the major scale, are also an important part of the sound. The blues genre is based on the blues form but possesses other characteristics such as specific lyrics, bass lines and instruments. Blues can be subdivided into several subgenres ranging from country to urban blues that were more or less popular during different periods of the 20th century. Best known are the Delta, Piedmont, Jump and Chicago blues styles.
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Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and in the... United States. With roots in blues rock and psychedelic rock, the bands that created heavy metal developed a thick, massive sound, characterized by highly amplified distortion, extended guitar solos, emphatic beats, and overall loudness. Heavy metal lyrics and performance styles are generally associated with masculinity and machismo. The first heavy metal bands, such as Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath, and Deep Purple, eventually attracted large audiences, though many were critically reviled , a status common throughout the history of the genre. In the mid-1970s Judas Priest helped spur the genre's evolution by discarding much of its blues influence; Motörhead introduced a punk rock sensibility and an increasing emphasis on speed. Bands in the New Wave of British Heavy Metal such as Iron Maiden followed in a similar vein. Before the end of the decade, heavy metal fans became known as "metalheads" or "headbangers".
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