Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a new lineup 18 years later following a reunion concert at the University of Missouri. The band’s musical style drew on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Byrds.
About Big Star in brief
Big Star was an American rock band formed in Memphis, Tennessee, in 1971 by Alex Chilton, Chris Bell, Jody Stephens, and Andy Hummel. The group broke up in early 1975, and reorganized with a new lineup 18 years later following a reunion concert at the University of Missouri. The band’s musical style drew on the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, and the Byrds. Big Star produced a style that foreshadowed the alternative rock of the 1980s and 1990s. Since December 2010, several surviving members have appeared in a series of live tribute performances of the album ThirdSister Lovers, under the billing “Big Star’s Third”. As of 2017, that project has remained active. Big Star was inducted into the Memphis Music Hall of Fame in 2014. R. E. M. and the Replacements, as well as other popular bands, cited the group as an influence in their early 1980s albums. The band remained active, performing tours in Europe and Japan, and released a new studio album, In Space, in 2005. Chilton died in March 2010 after suffering from heart problems, Hummel died of cancer four months later. Stephens is the sole surviving founding member of the Big Star band, and she is the only surviving member of Big Star who was not in the band at the time of its first reunion concert in 1993. The first two Big Star LPs were released together in the UK as a double album. Four years later, the band’s third album was finally issued soon afterward.
It found limited commercial success, but has since become a cult classic. In 1992, interest was further stimulated by Rykodisc’s reissues of the group’s albums, complemented by a collection of Bell’s solo work. Bell was killed in a car accident at the age of 27. After leaving the group, he recorded a solo studio album. He was offered the role of lead vocalist for Blood, Sweat & Tears, but turned down the offer as “too commercial”. : 76–89 Chilton was the lead singer for the blue-eyed soul group the Box Tops, who scored a No.1 hit with the song “The Letter” when he was 16. Chilton asked Bell to work with him as a duo modeled on Simon & Simon, but Bell declined, but invited Chilton to join his own band, Icewater. Attracted by Icewater’s music, Chilton showed the three his new song, and was asked to join the band. One of many Big Star Markets in Memphis at the. time, it had a five-pointed star logo consisting of a 5-pointing star. One member was given the name Big Star when one of the members often visited a grocery store for snacks during recording sessions. The now four-piece band adopted the name when one member was give the idea of a Big Star member. One of the songs on Big Star’s first album, #1 Record, was called “Watch the Sunrise” and later included on the album, “Thirteen”
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This page is based on the article Big Star published in Wikipedia (as of Nov. 04, 2020) and was automatically summarized using artificial intelligence.
