April 5: Allan Clarke, lead singer with The Hollies,("Bus Stop," "Carrie Anne") is 69 today.

Harold Allan Clarke, who was born in Salford, Lancashire, England, had been friends with Graham Nash since they were schoolboys. Both were founding members of The Hollies.  

The Hollies were formed in Manchester in the early 1960s, though most of the band members are from East Lancashire. Known for their distinctive vocal harmony style, they became one of the leading British groups of the era. They enjoyed considerable popularity in many countries, although they did not achieve major US chart success until 1966.

In a 2009 interview, Graham Nash said that the group decided just prior to a performance to call themselves the "Hollies" because of their admiration for Buddy Holly.

Clarke and Nash began singing together in Manchester while still at school. In 1963, they added Tony Hicks on guitar, who, along with Bobby Elliot and Bernie Calvert became the Hollies.

Clarke was their lead vocalist, but also on occasion played guitar and harmonica. In the U.K. they enjoyed 29 chart singles, 17 of which made the Top 10, with two - "I'm Alive" (1965) and "He Ain't Heavy, He's My Brother" - reaching No. 1.

In the U.S. they achieved 23 chart singles, six of which hit the Top 10. Many of the group’s songs were co-written by Clarke, usually with Hicks and Nash, until Nash's departure at the end of 1968 to join Crosby, Stills and Nash. Allan, Graham and Tony used the pseudonym "L. Ransford" initially for their song-writing credits. 

(Graham Nash was replaced by guitarist-singer Terry Sylvester formerly with The Escorts and The Swinging Blue Jeans.)

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Anxious to launch his own solo career, Clarke left the group in 1971, and was replaced by the Swedish singer Mikael Rickfors formerly with Bamboo.

During the next three years, Allan released three albums on his own - My Real Name Is 'arold, Headroom and Allan Clarke (1974).

Ironically, after Clarke left the Hollies, "Long Cool Woman in a Black Dress," a song from their 1971 album Distant Light, which he had co-written with songwriters Roger Cook and Roger Greenaway, and on which Clarke sang lead and played lead guitar, became an international hit, reaching No. 2 in the U.S.

Clarke rejoined the Holllies in July 1973. Their first single with him back was another of his songs, "The Day that Curly Billy Shot Down Crazy Sam McGee," a Top 40 hit.  

Clarke continued to release solo albums while remaining with the Hollies, although his solo career did not achieve much chart success. He also performed guest vocals on the 1977 album I Robot by The Alan Parsons Project (most notably, lead vocals on the FM-hit Breakdown).

Allan left the Hollies for the second time in March but returned again in August. His final solo album was Reasons To Believe in 1990.

By this time the Hollies' UK chart career was almost over; their run of hit singles culminated with "The Air That I Breathe," No. 2 in 1974, which was followed by a long absence of hits, although they still drew huge crowds when they toured throughout the world. Allan retired for good in 1999.

 

Along with The Rolling Stones and The Searchers, they are one of the few British pop groups of the early 1960s that have never officially broken up and that continue to record and perform.  The Hollies still tour with two original members, Hicks and Elliott.

In 1995 The Hollies were awarded an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music.

They were inducted to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2010.

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April 4: R&B singer-songwriter, poet, and actress Jill Scott is 39 years-old today.

Jill Scott grew up in a North Philadelphia neighborhood. After graduating from high school, she attended Temple University while working two jobs. She studied secondary education for three years and had planned to become a high school English teacher, but after spending time as a teacher's aide, disillusionment with teaching set in and she dropped out of school.

Prior to breaking through the music industry, Scott worked at a variety of jobs, including a number of retail positions and stints at a construction site and an ice cream parlor.
Scott began her performing career as a spoken word artist, appearing at live poetry readings. 

She was eventually discovered by Amir "?uestlove" Thompson of The Roots. ?uestlove invited her to join the band in the studio. The collaboration resulted in a co-writing credit for Scott on the song, "You Got Me." In 2000, Erykah Badu and The Roots won a Grammy for best rap performance by a duo or group for "You Got Me." Scott debuted as an artist during a Roots live show, singing as original artist/singer of the song.  Scott then collaborated with Eric Benet, Will Smith, and Common, and broadened her performing experience by touring Canada in a production of the Broadway musical Rent.

Scott was the first artist signed to Steve McKeever's 'Hidden Beach Recordings' label. Her debut album, Who Is Jill Scott? Words and Sounds Vol. 1 was released in 2000. She had chart success with the single "A Long Walk," eventually earning a Grammy nomination in early 2003 for Best Female Vocal Performance. While she did not win that award she did win a 2005 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative R&B Performance for "Cross My Mind."

The live album, Experience: Jill Scott 826+, was released November 2001. Scott's second full-length album, Beautifully Human: Words and Sounds Vol. 2, followed in 2004. Scott combines jazz, R&B, spoken word, and hip hop among other genres to create a distinct style that many refer to as neo soul.

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Scott continues to write poetry; a compilation volume of her poems, The Moments, The Minutes, The Hours, was published and released by St. Martin's Press in April 2005. In early 2007, Scott was featured on the George Benson & Al Jarreau collaboration "God Bless The Child," which earned Scott her second Grammy award, Best Traditional R&B Vocal Performance, at the 2007 Grammy Awards ceremony. Scott shared the win with Benson & Jarreau.

Recently, Scott was featured on hip-hop artist Lupe Fiasco's 2006 single "Daydreaming" which won a 2008 Grammy for Best Urban/Alternative Performance and also appeared on a new Scott collection called Collaborations in January 2007.

Collaborations  served as lead-in for her next studio album, The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3 released in September 2007. A clip of the title track was released on a bonus disc from Hidden Beach Records and included with Collaborations. The lead single "Hate on Me," gained airplay in May 2007 with a video released in mid-July.

In advance of the album's release, Hidden Beach released a 17-minute album sampler through their forums. Included along with the dozen songs on the sampler was a personal explanation from Jill for the inspiration behind some of her songs.

In 2008, Scott released her second live album, Live In Paris+, which consists of 8 songs recorded during her set list of the "Big Beautiful Tour" in Europe. The bonus DVD contains the same concert, plus some live cuts from The Real Thing: Words and Sounds Vol. 3. In the same year, "Whenever You're Around," a single from The Real Thing which features George Duke, was a moderate hit on urban radio.

Following up 2007's Grammy nominated Gold certified album The Real Thing, Scott began recording her fourth studio album titled The Light of the Sun. However, after a tumultuous legal battle with previous label Hidden Beach—which found her counter-suing the label's claim that she violated her contract with them for a six-album deal last year—Jill Scott signed a distribution deal with Warner Brothers Records. Jill plans to release The Light of the Sun, June 28, 2011.

Before she releases the album, her former record label Hidden Beach Recordings is releasing a 10 song compilation entitled Just Before Dawn: Jill Scott From the Vault, Vol. 1.

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