Curated playlist
English expatriate musicians in the United States
- David BowieDavid Bowie died two days after releasing his final album. He planned Blackstar as a parting gift while privately dying.
- John LennonJohn Lennon was ordered to leave the United States in 1973. His anti-war activities had alarmed President Nixon.
- Keith RichardsKeith Richards, guitarist of the Rolling Stones, began his musical life by stretching toward an instrument he could not reach. His maternal grandfather, Augustus Theodore "Gus" Dupree, toured Britain with a jazz big band called Gus Dupree…
- Ozzy OsbourneOn the 5th of July 2025, Ozzy Osbourne sat on a black throne at Villa Park in Birmingham, because Parkinson's disease had left him unable to stand. More than 40,000 people filled the ground. At its peak, the livestream drew 5.8 million…
- Mick JaggerMick Jagger was carrying records by Chuck Berry and Muddy Waters on Platform Two of Dartford railway station on the 17th of October 1961. The man he met there was Keith Richards. The records revealed a shared passion for rhythm and blues,…
- M.I.A. (rapper)M.I.A. arrived in London as an eleven-year-old refugee speaking no English. She later became a Grammy and Oscar nominee.
- Chris MartinChris Martin, the English singer and pianist born on the 2nd of March 1977, composed a three-minute instrumental called "Electric Thunder" when he was 12 years old. In February 2020, a former fellow pupil found it on a cassette tape.…
- Bee GeesA broken record forced the Bee Gees to sing live at a Manchester cinema in 1957.
- Sting (musician)Sting, the English musician and actor born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner, once disowned his own first name on camera. In the 1985 documentary Bring On the Night, a journalist addressed him as Gordon. He answered, "My children call me Sting,…
- Robbie WilliamsRobbie Williams walked onto a stage at Knebworth on the 1st of August 2003 and faced a crowd of 125,000 people. He then did it again on the 2nd and the 3rd. Three consecutive nights, with that many people each time, made it the biggest…
- Ringo StarrRingo Starr's first drum was a cotton bobbin used to tap the cabinets by his hospital bed.
- Mick FleetwoodMick Fleetwood is the only member on every Fleetwood Mac studio album. He held the band together as drummer.
- Phil CollinsPhil Collins is the only artist who performed at both Live Aid concerts on the 13th of July 1985. He crossed between London and Philadelphia by helicopters and a Concorde to do it. Born Philip David Charles Collins, he went on to sell an…
- Victoria BeckhamOn the 8th of July 2000, Victoria Beckham performed alone in public for the first time. The setting was London's Hyde Park, where a crowd of 100,000 had gathered for a Prince's Trust charity concert. She sang "Out of Your Mind", her first…
- Idris ElbaIdris Elba spent a night locked alone in a cell on Robben Island. He did it to prepare to play Nelson Mandela.
- Jeff LynneJeff Lynne helped finish John Lennon's demo "Free as a Bird" for the Beatles. George Harrison asked him to join in 1994.
- Pete BestPete Best's Beatles bandmates could not fire him themselves, so they asked their manager to.
- Keith MoonKeith Moon's 21st birthday ended with police arriving, guns drawn, at a Holiday Inn in Flint, Michigan.
- MorrisseySteven Patrick Morrissey, known to the world as Morrissey, once led a tour of Manchester for the Oxford Road Show in 1985. Late in that tour he reached the secondary school he had attended. He described it in harsh terms and closed with a…