Names to Know in Music

'NOTE: THIS PAGE IS EXTREMELY INCOMPLETE AND PROTECTED FOR ONE WEEK SO THAT ONLY ADMINS CAN EDIT IT. ADMINS ARE WELCOME TO ADD EXPLANATIONS WHY THESE PEOPLE ARE ON THE LIST, NEW ENTRIES, AND NEW SECTIONS. THE TALK PAGE SHOULD BE EDITABLE BY EVERYONE.'

This page is part of the "Names to Know" project.

The groundbreaking, the influential, the seminal... but not necessarily the most famous people in the music industry, in any and all styles and genres of music.

An extremely incomplete list. For example, no rappers are on the list yet.

Groups

 * The Beatles - The most popular group of the British Invasion, the "Fab Four" still get airplay a half-century after they broke up.
 * Bill Haley & His Comets - The first Rock and Roll group to chart a hit, legitimizing the entire Rock genre.
 * The Grateful Dead - They were spending their lives on tour before it was cool.
 * Led Zeppelin - Three Words: "Stairway to Heaven"
 * My Bloody Valentine - the first big "shoegazing" group
 * Nirvana - The "grunge" group.
 * The Ramones - The first Punk Rock group.
 * Red Hot Chilli Pipers - Popularizers of rock music on the bagpipes.
 * The Rolling Stones - The "bad boys" of the British Invasion.
 * Rush - Canada's greatest rock group (unless you think The Tragically Hip is). The literate great Canadian band.
 * The Three Tenors - Turned high culture into pop culture.
 * The Tragically Hip - Canada's greatest rock group (unless you think Rush is). The socially-aware great Canadian band.
 * The Who - The third of the big three British Invasion groups, and the one that inspired (but didn't play) Punk Rock.
 * The Yardbirds - Another British Invasion group, best-known nowadays for some of their members: Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, and Keith Moon.

Guitarists

 * Bo Diddley
 * Bob Dylan
 * Bruce Springsteen
 * Buddy Holly
 * Django Reinhardt - The seminal jazz guitarist.
 * Eric Clapton
 * Jeff Beck - It's said there are two groups of guitarists in the world: Jeff Beck and people who want to be Jeff Beck. This is not an exaggeration; the man plays in every style imaginable and keeps winning awards for his work.
 * Jimi Hendrix
 * Jimmy Page
 * John Lennon
 * Johnny Cash
 * Les Paul

Bassists

 * Geddy Lee

Drummers

 * Keith Moon

Pianists and Keyboardists

 * Glenn Gould
 * Liberace - "Mr. Showmanship" proved you could make a fortune playing the piano
 * Oscar Peterson
 * Stevie Wonder
 * Victor Borge

Harpists

 * Loreena McKennitt

Clarinetists

 * Benny Goodman - The "King of Swing" made jazz respectable.

Singers

 * Björk
 * Cab Calloway
 * Elvis Costello
 * Elvis Presley
 * Freddie Mercury
 * Gene Autry
 * Gord Downie
 * Joan Baez - The female protest singer
 * Joni Mitchell
 * Kate Bush
 * Leonard Cohen
 * Luciano Pavarotti
 * Neil Young
 * Phil Ochs
 * Prince - who really should also be listed in half of the other sections in this list

Composers

 * Giuseppe Verdi
 * Lerner and Loewe
 * Ludwig van Beethoven
 * Richard Wagner
 * Rogers and Hammerstein
 * Stephen Schwartz
 * Stephen Sondheim

Behind the Scenes

 * Phil Spector
 * Sam Phillips