Columbia Encyclopedia

(Encyclopedia)  Price, Lloyd, 1933-2021, b. Kenner, La. Price began his first band at age 18 while also working in construction. Signed to Specialty Records, his firs...

(Encyclopedia) Prince, 1958–2016, American singer and songwriter, b. Minneapolis, Minn., as Prince Rogers Nelson. Biracial, slim, and sexily androgynous, he was an electrifying performer who composed hundreds of s...

(Encyclopedia) Rodgers, Jimmie (James Charles Rodgers), 1897–1933, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter often called “the father of country music,” b. Meri...

(Encyclopedia) Scott-Heron, Gil, 1949–2011, American poet, musician, and songwriter, b. Chicago. Often considered “the godfather of rap music,” he rejected that ...

(Encyclopedia) gelatin or animal jelly, foodstuff obtained from connective tissue (found in hoofs, bones, tendons, ligaments, and cartilage) of vertebrate animals by the action of boiling water or dilute acid. It is...

(Encyclopedia) Led Zeppelin, English pop music group formed in 1968 by guitarist Jimmy Page (1944–), singer Robert Plant (1948–), bassist John Paul Jones (1946–), and drummer John “Bonzo” Bonham (1948–80...

(Encyclopedia) autogiro jīˈrəplān [key], type of aircraft supported in the air by a horizontally mounted airfoil similar to that of a helicopter but unpowered. Invented by the Spaniard Juan de la Cierva, it was ...

(Encyclopedia) Franklin, Aretha, 1942–2018, American singer and pianist, b. Memphis. The daughter of the well-known minister C. L. Franklin, she began singing in the choir of his Detroit Baptist church, where she ...

(Encyclopedia) Joplin, Janis jŏpˈlĭn [key], 1943–70, American blues-rock singer, b. Port Arthur, Tex. After dropping out of college (1963) and singing folk rock in Texas clubs, she moved (1966) to San Francisco...

(Encyclopedia) tumbleweed, any of several plants, particularly abundant in prairie and steppe regions, that commonly break from their roots at maturity and, drying into a rounded tangle of light, stiff branches, rol...