Crowned by four of Buddy Holly and The Crickets’ best-loved and biggest-selling singles – “That’ll Be The Day”, “Not Fade Away”, “Maybe Baby” and “Oh, Boy!” – the album was one of only two he recorded in his tragically brief career. (more…)

As part of the esteemed Classic Albums series, this film tells the story of story of Don McLean’s second album American Pie. Crowned by its titular overture and “Vincent”, McLean’s equally moving tribute to Van Gogh, American Pie is a classic of the folk-rock genre, earning its place alongside Carole King’s Tapestry, Joni Mitchell’s Blue and Neil Young’s After The Goldrush as one of the ...

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He was lanky, he wore glasses and he sang as if permanently battling hiccups. Aesthetically, Buddy Holly might have been the most unlikely-looking rock ’n’ roll star of the 1950s. But he was, after Elvis Presley, unquestionably the most influential.

It was an all-too-brief career that lasted barely eighteen months from ‘That’ll Be The Day’ topping the Billboard charts to the plane crash in February, ...

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“Harmonies from Heaven” celebrates –over the period of the end of the 1950s and the beginning of the ‘ 60’s–  the phenomenon of the Everly Brothers, arguably the greatest harmony duo that the world has ever witnessed, who directly influenced the greatest and most successful bands of the 60s and 70s, the Beatles, the Stones, the Beach Boys  and Simon & Garfunkel to name but ...

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“I want to make people cry even when they don’t understand my words.”   Edith Piaf

In this unique film for BBC FOUR we explore the story of the lyric-driven French chanson and look at some of the greatest artists and examples of the form.

Award-winning singer and musician Petula Clark who shot to stardom in France in the late 1950’s for her nuanced singing and lyrical exploration ...

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