Add Joan Armatrading to the list.
Corrine Baily Rae
Also, Tina Turner! When she wanted to jump-start her career in the 80s, she made a conscious decision to work with mainstream rockers like Mark Knopfler.
Since Rock is basically Blues dumbed down so we white folks can get into it, being on this list is not necessarily a Good Thing.
How do you figure? If anything, lots of rock music is far more complex in form and style than the relatively simple blues. If you’re just making a joke, that’s one thing, but rock has grown far beyond its blues-based beginnings, and there’s so much more variety than just I-IV-V chord progressions, that you sound like one of these NPR-listening music snob/purists who think that rock is some inferior music compared to blues. (I notice this a lot among jazz listeners as well.)
Agreed…I am puzzled by that remark.
Meshell Ndegeocello
Shingai Shoniwa of The Noisettes
Doug Pinnick, Kings X
Not sure what he has done lately.
George Benson – not exactly rock, but a mean guitar player.
Fugi, Charlie Allen of Pacific Gas & Electric, Rick James proteges Shotgun, Nona Hendryx. Parlaiment Funkadelic were arguably more rock than soul- Eddie Hazel’s solo album definitely rocks.
Steve Ewing of the Urge.
Just listening to Faith No More and remembered Chuck Moseley
Doug Pinnick pinch-hit for Corey Glover during Living Colour’s most recent European tour. Corey committed to a Broadway show before the dates were finalized. I heard he did a good job.
I think various members of Fishbone handled lead vocals.
Philly’s Res had a great debut single, “They Say Vision.”
Terance Trent D’Arby sang rock on many tracks, and fronted INXS briefly after Michael Hutchence’s death
Rick James has impressive rock credentials (playing and writing with Neil Young).
The Isley Brothers straddled the R&B and rock genres in the late 60s and early 70s.
I’m with ya, Lou! And modern “blues”? I have a definition for it: “A guitar solo with some words tacked onto each end.” That definition applies to all modern blues, since every song sounds the same after a while.
Oh, and I like Fefe Dobson.
Fifty-five posts and nobody remembers Sly Stone?
Or War?
Or Jon Butcher? (okay maybe not so much)
Chuck Berry
Fats Domino
Ouch! Well, I base my snap dismissal of artistically ambitious Rock on an adolescence (late 70s) engulfed by “art rock” by the likes of Yes, Genesis, Jethro Tull and ELP. Frankly, three-chord songs about girls and cars are a lot less pretentious and I respect them more, but I do see Rock as an inherently debased medium.
And I don’t just listen to NPR; there’s also a local Pacifica affiliate.