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Curated playlist

Art pop musicians

  • David BowieDavid Bowie died two days after releasing his final album. He planned Blackstar as a parting gift while privately dying.
  • Fleetwood MacPeter Green picked the name Fleetwood Mac to lure bassist John McVie into his new band. McVie first refused.
  • Kate BushKate Bush's second UK number one came 44 years after her first. That gap beat Tom Jones's record of 42 years.
  • Peter GabrielOn the 19th of June 1971, Peter Gabriel took a running jump off a stage and expected the audience to catch him. They moved aside instead. He landed on the floor and broke his ankle, then performed the next several Genesis shows with a…
  • Brian WilsonOn a flight to Houston in 1964, Brian Wilson broke down sobbing. He then quit touring with the Beach Boys.
  • BjörkBjörk had a record deal before she finished primary school. A teachers' recording of her singing aired nationally.
  • Billie EilishBillie Eilish was 18 years old when she left the 62nd Annual Grammy Awards in 2020 holding all four of the ceremony's general field prizes. Only one person had done that before her, and no woman had. Not long before, she had been a…
  • Grace JonesGrace Jones once slapped the chat-show host Russell Harty on live television. She was promoting a record, and she felt ignored when he turned away to interview other guests. The moment suits a performer who has never been easy to look…
  • Sigur RósSigur Rós took their name from Jónsi's baby sister, born days before the band formed in 1994.
  • Damon AlbarnDamon Albarn was due to speak at a rally in Hyde Park in February 2003. A million people had taken to the streets of London to protest the coming war in Iraq. He never gave the speech, because he was too emotional. Afterwards he explained…
  • David ByrneDavid Byrne was turned away from his middle school choir, which judged him "off-key and too withdrawn". That boy grew up to be an American musician, writer, visual artist and filmmaker. Over his career he has received an Academy Award, a…
  • FKA TwigsFKA Twigs chose the first three letters of her stage name for how they sounded, not for what they meant. Many listeners assumed FKA stood for "formerly known as". She has said in multiple interviews that it does not. Her own explanation…
  • GrimesGrimes is the stage name of Claire Elise Boucher, a Canadian musician whose name came from a mistake. When MySpace let artists list three musical genres, she typed "grime" in all three boxes. She had no idea what grime music actually was.…

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