Artists - O
O’Jays, The
The O'Jays formed fresh from high school in 1959 and named themselves after Eddie O'Jay, a disc-jockey on Radio WABQ in their hometown of Cleveland, Ohio.
The group was a quintet back then and they made their...
Oasis
Guitarist Paul 'Bonehead' Arthurs, bass player Paul 'Guigsy' McGuigan and drummer Tony McCarroll originally formed as 061 (after the telephone area code for their home city of Manchester), then changed their name to The Rain.
Lacking...
Ocean Colour Scene
This four-piece combo formed in suburban Solihull in the West Midlands in 1989 around singer and ex-journalist Simon Fowler, laconic guitarist Stephen Craddock, agreeable bassist Damon Minchella and strong silent-type drummer Oscar Harrison - four freshly scrubbed,...
October Country
Michael Lloyd signed his first music publishing deal at the age of 13 and signed with Epic to cut his album, October Country, when he was 18.
Taking the title October Country from a book by Ray Bradbury,...
Odetta
Odetta Holmes was born in Birmingham, Alabama (USA) in 1930 and moved with her family to Los Angeles at the age of six. When her father died, she took her stepfather's last name, Felious.
Hearing her...
Offspring, The
Bryan Holland and Greg Kriesel attended Pacifica High in Garden Grove, California, together, where they were both on the cross-country team.
They formed their first band together (Manic Subsidal) with two other cross-country teammates one night...
Ohio Express
Though marketed as a band, it would be more accurate to say that the name "Ohio Express" served as a brand name used by Jerry Kasenetz's and Jeffrey Katz's Super K Productions to release the...
Ohio Players, The
The Ohio Players started life in the 1960s as The Ohio Untouchables and their first real claim to fame was that they were featured vocalists behind Wilson Pickett on I Found A Love, whilst he...
Oingo Boingo
Oingo Boingo originally formed in 1972 as The Mystic Knights of the Oingo Boingo - a musical troupe in the tradition of Frank Zappa, performing an eclectic repertoire ranging from Cab Calloway covers to Russian ballet...
Ol’ 55
Formed in Sydney, Australia, in 1975, OL'55 enjoyed enormous popularity with a retro-fifties style that bordered on parody. The band took its name from the Tom Waits song (as covered by The Eagles).
Under the direction of astute manager...
Olivia Newton-John
Shortly after Olivia's birth (in Cambridge, England, in September 1948), her family moved from England (where her Welsh-born father was head of King's College, Cambridge) to Australia and settled in Melbourne.
When she was a teenager, Olivia...
Olympics, The
The Olympics began life in 1954 as The Challengers while still at high school in Compton, California.
Their debut single, Western Movies (1958), reached #8 in the USA and made the UK Top 20, and featured a comic...
One In A Million
Initially known as The Jaygars, Alan Young (vocals and rhythm guitar), Billy Scenters (bass) and brothers Jimmy and Jack McCulloch (lead guitar and drums respectively) regrouped as One In A Million when they moved down...
Only Ones, The
The Only Ones emerged in 1977 with an independent single, Lovers Of Today b/w Peter & The Pets, and a swag of Velvet Underground-like songs of heroin addiction and the futility of existence.
Preferring flawed romance to fiery nihilism, street...
Opal
Opal was formed by two of the leading lights of LA's paisley underground scene - former Rain Parade guitarist David Roback and ex-Dream Syndicate bass player Kendra Smith.
Their sole album, Happy Nightmare Baby (1987), veered from the...
Oppressed, The
The Oppressed was an Oi! band formed in March 1981 in Cardiff by Russell Payne (guitar), his brother Ronnie (bass), Gary Tier (drums) and Martin Brennan (vocals).
After several changes, it was the line-up with Roddy Moreno (vocals),...
Orange Juice
Lovelorn, naive and vibrant, these foppish lads from the middle-class Glasgow suburb of Bearsden fashioned post-Byrds jangle and skinny white soul into their own nervy, lo-fi brand of romantic pop, paving the way for The Smiths, Belle &...
Orchestral Manoeuvres In The Dark (OMD)
In 1978, Andy McCluskey and Paul Humphreys - two strait-laced kids from the Wirral - hosted an evening they considered to be a self-indulgent experiment in anti-music at a club in Liverpool, England.
They called the...
Original Mirrors
Original Mirrors formed in Liverpool in 1980 after the demise of vocalist Steve Allen's art rock group Deaf School. Guitarist Ian Broudie had previously played with Big in Japan.
The band split up in 1981. Broudie became a...
Os Mutantes
The experimental psych rock of Os Mutantes was an anomaly in late 60s Brazil - this was, after all, a country entering a brutal military dictatorship, where even the most playful dissent was being crushed.
But...
