Born: February 19, 1950
Place: Stepney, East London, England

Andy Powell is the guitarist and founder of the rock band Wishbone Ash. Though he is currently based in Connecticut, United States, he hails from London and he is the last and only early member of the band.
Andy Powell is also known for his performances in “Twin Lead Guitar” with his fellow guitarist Ted Turner. Their playing has influenced many rock bands like the Big Country, Judas Priest, Iron Maiden and Thin Lizzy.

Andy Powell - Wishbone Ash

It is said that during Andy Summers early years, he could not afford to buy an electric guitar and used to borrow from his fellow guitar players. Later he decided to make a guitar for himself and it turned out well. His early interest helped him create several custom crafted guitars.

Martin Turner and Steve Upton had published an advertisement for a guitarist in th Melody Maker magazine for their band during 1969. Andy on reading the news applied for it. Ted Turner another guitarist had also applied and they were unable to decide upon whom to choose and hence they chose both of them.

Though their first album was released in 1970, “Wishboe Ash”, the band gained popularity with their third album, “Argus” in the year 1972. This was titled “The Best British Album of the Year”.

Andy and Ted Turner made their famous tour “Night of the Guitar” in 1988. This tour had many other guitar legends on the stage like Steve Howe, Steve Hunter, Alvin Leee, Robbie Krieger, Peter Haycock, Jan Akkerman and Randy California.

Andy uses a Gibson Flying V 1967 Model.

Andy Gibb was an English singer  and the youngest brother of the legendary band members Maurice Gibb, Barry and Robin of the Bee Gees.

Andrew Roy Gibb was born in March 5, 1958 in Manchester England to Hugh and Barbara Gibb. The Gibbs family emigrated to Australia when Andy was six months old.

Andy Gibb

Andy Gibb started his career by playing in Spanish tourist clubs in the islands of Lbiza. He was lured to join the Bee Gees. However, he was unable to join them due to the difference in ages. He was more than 11 years younger to his elder brother Barry.

After performing in Spain and Isle of Man, he returned to Australia where his parents lived in 1975. Here he started enhancing his skills as a singer and songwriter. He recorded his own compositions and released a single “Words and Music”. The single was released by veteran Col Joye’s ATA label. The single reached Top Five in 1976 Sydney music charts.

The success of “Words and Music” helped Andy build his musical career to a large extent. Robert Stigwood, Bee Gees manager invited Andy Gibb to sign a label at the RSO Records. Gibbs moved to Miami Beach, Florida to work with his brother and his producers on his single.

A year before Gibb left to Australia, he married his girlfriend, Kim Reeder and had a daughter Peta Jaye. However, before the child was born, Gibb and Jaye split and had a divorce a year later. It is reported that Andy Gibbmet his daughter just once after she was born.

Moving on to United States, Gibb became hugely popular. The song, “I Just Want to Be Your Everything”, was a major hit while his first album Flowing Rivers sold more than a million copies. The album also was listed among the US Top 20.  The song “(Love Is) Thicker Than Water” was a huge hit in 1978. “Night Fever” surpassed “Stayin’ Alive” in the top US Charts.

Andy Gibb with Guitar

These huge successes were preceeded with his second album Shadow Dancing. This album achieved a platinum status with the single running seven weeks at the Number One position in 1978. The songs “An Everlasting Love” and “(Our Love) Don’t Throw It All Away” were sold a million copies.

However, due to this huge successes, fame and accomplishments, Andy Gibb gave way to drugs. His drug addiction affected his career and led him to the down fall. His relationships with Victoria Principal, Tai Babilonia and Donna Rice further worsened his career. He was now into serious cocaine addiction.

Andy Gibb performed with Andrew Lloyd Webbers Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, The Pirates of Penzane and a co-host in Solid Gold a television music show. However, as the drug intake worsened, he was considered unreliable and was kept aside by producers and musicians.

In March 1988, after celebrating his 30th birthday, Andy was admitted in John Radcliffe Hospital for chest pain. By now his heart had been weakened and inflated due to cocaine intake. Just five days after his 30th birthday, the great teen idol who had accomplished great achievements died of myocarditis. Though he had earned millions in sales through his music, Andy Gibb became bankrupt a year before he passed away.

Born on January 1st 1956, Andy Gill was the guitarist and the founder of the legendary English rock band, the Gang of Four from Leeds. Andy Gill was known for his guitar playing style. He would also stop playing the guitar many times letting the drum and the bass go on.

Andy Gill - Gang of Four

Considered as one of the most influential post-punk bands in the 80’s, the band inspired many guitarists and singers. Michael Stipe from R.E.M stated that “Gang of Four knew how to swing. I stole a lot from them.” Bono from the popular band U2 once described, "Hard, angular, bold... Andy Gill's chin is the very black hole of '90's music we should have all disappeared into... if we had sense... a dimple atop the body politic, a pimple on the arse of pop.   A Gang of Four metal guru, a corporation of common sense, a smart bomb of text that had me 'at home feeling like a typist.'"

Andy Gill started listening to the Beatles and the Rolling Stones when he was a kid. One of his early excitements which lead him learn the guitar was “Satisfaction”. Velvet Underground and the Band and Jimi Hendrix were some of his other inspirations in his younger years.

Before forming the Gang of Four, Andy Gill played with different local bands in the mid 1970’s. One of the bands was Bourgeois Brothers. Andy studied at the Leeds and this is how he met Jon King. The duo started writing songs together and planned to form a group. They met Hugo Burnham and Dave Allen who later became the drummer and bass player of the band.

The bands first album, Entertainment was not a big hit. However, it was welcomed by critics with songs like “Glass”, “Anthrax”, “I found that essence rare”, “Not Great Men”, “Natural’s Not In It”. The latter had a guitar riff in the middle of the song which was accompanied by two voices.

Andy Gill and the Gang

Gang of Four were requested to perform a song in the then famous British music show, “Top of the Pops”. However, after requesting for a performance, “Top of the Pops” felt that they were too extreme for a family show and wanted to avoid them. The show managers asked the band members to change words for censorship which the band obliged. However, purposeful repeated change requests irritated the band members and they unfortunately did not play on the show.

Andy Gill and the Gang of Four had influenced many legends in music. Flea of the Red Hot Chilli Peppers describes that, “Gang of Four is the first rock band I could truly relate to. These limies rocked my world.” Michael Hutchence of INXS mentions, “Gang of Four took no prisoners. It was art meets the devil via James Brown.”. By the 1980’s the band had influenced and revolutionized many in the post-punk era.

Andres Torres Segovia is considered as the legendary Spanish classical guitarist from the beginning and mid of the twentieth century. Andres Segovia was born in Linares, Spain on February 21st 1893.

Though most of his yearly life has not been documented, it is belived that Andres Segovia started playing the guitar at the age of six. He learnt to be a flamenco guitarist and owned a guitar played by the greatest flamenco guitarist Paco de Lucena.

Andres Segovia

Segovia learnt from Agustinillo, a fan of Paco de Lucena. Agustinillo was an ameture guitarist. Later, during Segovia’s yearly years as a teenager, he moved to Granada where he further enhanced his guitar skills.

At the age of sixteen, Segovia gave his first public performance in Spain. This followed a professional concert in Madrid where he played the works of Fransico Tarrega and J.S. Bach. Miguel Llobet who was one of his tutors helped Segovia as an advicer and also helping him transcribe piano notes.

Segovia had a unique way of playing the flamenco guitar. He used his fingernails and the finger tip in combination to produce a sharper tone. This helped him create an unique sound which was sharper and clear. This type of playing was later adopted by many classical guitarists. Segovia is also regarded as one of the first to use nylon strings instead of gut strings after the World War Two.

However, by the beginning of the twentieth century, the craze and culture of classical guitar faded and was present only in Rio de la Plata and Barcelona. Segovia along with Llobet tried bringing back the glory of guitar through various recordings, radio and air travels.

Segovia had five purposes which he outlined in Guitar Review Issue 32.

1. To extract the guitar from the noisy and disreputable folkloric amusements.
2. I requested the living composers not in the field of guitar to write for me. This was the second of my purposes: to create a wonderful repertoire for my instrument. 
3. My third purpose was to make the guitar known by the philharmonic public of the world. 
4. To provide a unifying medium for those interested in the development of the guitar. This I did through my support of the now well known international musicological journal, the Guitar Review 
5. I am still working on my fifth and maybe the last purpose, which is to place the guitar in the most important conservatories of the world for teaching the young lovers of it, and thus securing its future.

Through his long career, Segovia earned many awards and achievements. He was awarded the Danish Sonning Award in 1974 and the Grammy Award in 1986 for Lifetime Achievement. Segovia was ennobled in 1981 by King Juan Carlos I formally styled as "El señor don Andrés Torres Segovia, marqués de Salobreña" (the Most Illustrious Lord The Marquess of Salobreña). Segovia was also awarded the honours Ph.D, honoris causa from ten universities.

Two movies were made on Andres Segovia life when he was 75 and 84 years old. Andres was seen playing even in his ripe age of 80s. At the age of 94, the classical guitar legend Segovia died in Madrid of a hart attack. He was buried in Casa Museo de Linares in Andalusia.