Music of New Jersey

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Music of the United States
Local music
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Some of the most renowned musicians from New Jersey are Hoboken native Frank Sinatra, who was one of the most popular singers of the 20th century; and The Four Seasons (group) who had their first No. 1 hit record, "Sherry", in 1962. They were the first group to have a falsetto lead: Newark native, Frankie Valli. The popular group had many hits and held heir own against the British Invasion throughout the 1960s. Frankie Valli went on to a successful solo career. Bruce Springsteen became a 1980s icon with complex lyrical stories about teens growing up in Freehold and other economically depressed areas of New Jersey. In addition, Francis Hopkinson of Bordentown, is perhaps the first American composer. William Dunlap wrote the first American opera, The Archers. Other famous Jersey musicians include Lauryn Hill, Whitney Houston, Jon Bon Jovi, My Chemical Romance, and Kool and the Gang. Punk Rock and its creation also plays a large role in the music of New Jersey, with names, U.S. Chaos, The Burnt and Blanks 77.

Also, the phonograph record was invented by Thomas Edison in Menlo Park, and the Victor Talking Machine Company established its headquarters and plant in Camden.

Contents

[edit] Jazz

In the early 20th century, Newark was an important center for jazz innovation. James P. Johnson and other pioneers helped invent stride. Other famous New Jersey jazzmen include bandleader Count Basie and trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie, who lived in Englewood from 1965 until his death in 1993.

[edit] Hardcore punk

Main article: Punk rock

Punk rock is one of the most innovative and important styles of music in New Jersey. New Jersey has many early punk bands, early circa 1977-'80, including The Misfits, The Burnt, Shrapnel, and The Pleasure Hounds, and developed several regional, overlapping hardcore punk scenes by 1981-'82. New Jersey sports the largest amount of punk rock groups, as well as artists; that have met with international notoriety per-capita in the world.

Proximity to New York and Philadelphia has long tended to draw punk and hardcore bands away from New Jersey, with historic examples including the Bergen County bands The Misfits The Radicals, later turned into U.S. Chaos[1],[1], defecting in one direction, Cause For Alarm and South Jersey bands such as Sadistic Exploits defecting in the other. Adrenalin OD (post Paterson Boys Quire), was probably the most important early hardcore punk band to identify primarily with New Jersey, however there were and continue to be multitudes of others, many of whom are nationally popular.

[edit] Hip Hop

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Please help improve this article with relevant internal links. (October 2007)


RAP PRINT MEDIA:

The first Hip Hop magazine to ever exist "The Hip Hop Hit List" was published in 1985 by the Carroll brothers Vincent and Charles Carroll both Newark, NJ natives and lets not forget their partner Jae Burnette. Nelson George a noted Hip Hop journalist and writer for Billboard Magazine mentioned the publication and Vincent in his summer 1987 Billboard column. It is also mentioned in books about the history of Hip Hop including books by notable authors Bill Adler and Professor Cheryl Keys. The Hip Hop Hit List was at one time the only media outlet to promote or read about rap music. It was the first publication to ever print unedited interviews of Rappers to expose the true essence of their personalities. It also was the first form of media to define Hip Hop as a culture recognizing every aspect of its connections the music art, dance, art and fashion. It is also known as the first publication to give many rappers their first cover interviews including Whodini, LL Cool J and more. Although the magazine was short lived for that time, Vincent Carroll went on to help market some of the biggest names in music, The Fugees, Outsidaz w/ Eminem, Rah Digga, Nelly, Akon, Murphy Lee, Wyclef Jean, The Pussy Cat Dolls, Lauryn Hill the Boost Mobile "Where You At?" campaign and more. The Hip Hop Hit List also had many notable hip hop contributors and writers including X-Clan's DJ “Paradise” Claude Gray who was the Photographer, Tommy Boy Records Monica Lynch, Zomba Jive Records Ann Carley aka “Tokyo Rose”, Mark Barbee aka “Marko”, Cheryl Keys, Bill Adler and so many more. The Hit List was the #1 launching pad for most of the independent and major record labels at the that time including, Select Records, Sunshine, Next Plateau, Jive, K-Tel, Warner Bros, Columbia, Universal etc.

For more on Vincent Carroll the New Jersey marketing guru. Go to: [2]

NIGHT CLUBS: Below is a list of night clubs that played rap and became some of the first venues in New Jersey to allow rap concerts on a regular basis

CLUB SENSATIONS, THE RINK, HIGH ROLLERS ROLLER RINK, OUTER SKATES ROLLER RINK, THE VFW, THE CORONET, THE BLACK BOX (OWNED BY VINCENT CARROLL) AND THE PEPERMINT LOUNGE.

[edit] Rap

  • Joe Budden, born in East Harlem, moved to Jersey City at a very young age. Joe currently resides and openly acknowledges Jersey City as his hometown.
  • Solo.X, Born in 1987. Solo.X staked his claim on the mic in Asbury Park. Releasing independent tapes & cds he quickly gained a name for himself. And at the age of 15 was already rocking the stage with NYC underground heavyweights. In 2007 his group The Braves released their debut LP "Reporting Live"

which features Canibus & cuts from Total Eclipse of the X-Ecutioners. He is also set to release a solo LP with the legendary underground producer Domingo for 2008. You can find out more about him and his group at www.solofordolo.com & www.thebravesmusic.com

  • P.O.E.F.A.R, (Born 1988), Paterson,New Jersey native,Underground Hip-Hop Artist with some of the most intricate and sometimes catchy songs.website

[edit] Prominent musicians from or with connections to New Jersey

  • Bruce Springsteen, who has sung of New Jersey life on most of his albums, hails from Freehold, and is the most popular rock musician to ever come out of the state. Some of his songs that represent New Jersey life are "Born to Run", "Spirit in the Night", "Rosalita (Come Out Tonight)", "Thunder Road", "Atlantic City", and "Jungleland."
  • Frank Sinatra, the only child of working-class Italian-American immigrants, was born December 12, 1915 in a tenement at 415 Monroe St. in Hoboken. He sang with a neighborhood vocal group, the Hoboken Four, and appeared in neighborhood theater amateur shows before he became an entertainment legend as an Academy Award winning actor, and one of, if not the, greatest male vocalists of all time. Some of his greatest hits include "Strangers in the Night", "My Way", "Luck Be A Lady", and "New York, New York."
  • Another Italian-American singer was Russ Columbo of Camden. His career was just starting to pick up with key hits ("Prisoner of Love", "You Call It Madness, But I Call It Love") and appearances, and could have been famous had he not died suddenly in a freak shooting accident at the age of 26. Columbo was one of the famed "crooners" whose contemporaries include Rudy Vallee, Bing Crosby, and later Sinatra.
  • Free Yon is from Central NJ.
  • Connie Francis is perhaps the state's best known solo artist from the pop/rock era of the late 1950s and early 60s. Born in Newark, Francis was raised in Belleville and developed into a prominent national and international recording star. Hits included her signature, "Where the Boys Are," along with "Who's Sorry Now?" and "Everybody's Somebody's Fool."
  • Legendary jazz pianist and bandleader Count Basie, was born in Red Bank in 1904. In the 1960s, he collaborated on several albums with fellow New Jersey native Frank Sinatra. There is a theater in Red Bank named in his honor.
  • Renowned arranger Nelson Riddle was born in Oradell, near Paramus in Bergen County, and graduated from nearby Ridgewood High School. Riddle's collaborations with Sinatra are credited with helping revive the singer's sagging career in the early 1950s. Riddle began his career arranging for local North Jersey bands before scoring big in Hollywood with the likes of Sinatra, Nat King Cole and Ella Fitzgerald, and in helping score movies and TV shows including Batman and Route 66.
  • The Broadway musical Jersey Boys is based on the lives of the members of the Four Seasons, three of whose members were born in New Jersey (Tommy DeVito, Frankie Valli, and Nick Massi)
  • Dionne Warwick was born in East Orange and has had a long career, including nearly 60 charted hits, from "Do You Know the Way to San Jose?" (winning the first of her five Grammys), "Alfie", "I'll Never Fall In Love Again", and "That's What Friends Are For." She is a cousin of Whitney Houston.
  • Jon Bon Jovi, who hails from Sayreville, reached fame in the 1980s with hard rock outfit Bon Jovi. The band has also written many songs about life in New Jersey including "Livin' On A Prayer" and even named one of his albums after the state (see New Jersey).
  • Whitney Houston was born in the city of Newark, but grew up in neighboring East Orange. She had a successful solo career in the 1980s and 1990s, and is best known for her cover of Dolly Parton's "I Will Always Love You" which set new records for sales and weeks at number one. Houston has sold well over 180 million records internationally. Her mother is Cissy Houston, winner of two Grammy's in her own right.
  • Multilingual actor, star Rutgers University athlete, writer, activist and bass-baritone concert singer Paul Robeson was born in Princeton in 1898. Robeson's deep voice will forever be associated with the song, "Old Man River," signature theme for the Broadway musical, Showboat.
  • The Shirelles were one of the early 1960s most famous "Girl Groups." Led by Shirley Alston Reeves, the group formed at Passaic High School before achieving national fame with major hits including, "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" and "Soldier Boy."
  • Joey Dee and The Starliters hailed from the Passaic area and fueled the early 1960s nationwide dance craze with their classic, "The Peppermint Twist." The song took its name from New York's famed Peppermint Lounge - where it frequently performed. Leader, Joey Dee, is a native of Passaic. Eventually, he recruited David Brigati, from neighboring Garfield, in forming this legendary group's nucleus.
  • David's brother, Eddie Brigati, along with Dino Danelli, formed part of the nucleus of another important 1960s soul-influenced group, The Rascals, in Garfield. With lead vocals provided by New Yorker Felix Cavaliere, the group's mid-to late-decade smash hits included "Groovin'," "Good Lovin'" and "People Just Got to Be Free."
  • Teen pop icon Lesley Gore hailed from Tenafly and teamed with famed producer Quincy Jones in churning out some major hits, starting in 1963 with "It's My Party." This was followed by "Judy's Turn to Cry," a sequel to the former. Gore's other hits included "You Don't Own Me" and "California Nights."
  • Debbie Harry from Blondie was raised in Hawthorne She attended Hawthorne High School in Hawthorne, New Jersey.
  • The Happenings were a 1960s Paterson area pop group whose biggest hit, "See You in September," peaked in 1966. Their modernized rendition of the Al Jolson standard, "Mammy," also charted.
  • Disco pioneer and diva Gloria Gaynor was born in Newark and achieved one of the early hits of the genre, remaking The Jackson Five's "Never Can Say Goodbye" in 1975. Her biggest hit, and signature tune, came in 1979 with the Number One smash "I Will Survive." The song has inspired countless remakes and parodies.
  • Jazz singer Sarah Vaughan was born in Newark, where she sang in church as a child. Newark was also the birthplace of recording star Connie Francis, Paul Simon, and rappers Queen Latifah and Ice-T.
  • Though born in Wisconsin, jazz guitar legend and audio/recording pioneer Les Paul is a long-time Bergen County resident. Paul teamed with singer-wife Mary Ford in the 1940s and 50s to make some technologically groundbreaking records for iheir time, and also made significant improvements to the electric guitar which have impacted succeeding generations of musicians to this day. In his early 90s, Paul still regularly performs before live audiences at a New York club.
  • Donald Fagen, a major creative force behind the 1970s jazz-rock band Steely Dan, has major New Jersey connections. Born in Passaic, Fagen graduated from South Brunswick High School in Central Jersey. The band eventually morphed into a two-man studio duo, also featuring Walter Becker. At its peak, the group's biggest hits included "Rikki Don't Lose that Number," "Reelin' In the Years" and "Do It Again."
  • Former Fugee Lauryn Hill, is a South Orange resident and is hip-hop's best-selling solo female artist. Her 1998 debut album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, sold 10 million copies internationally.
  • Marilyn McCoo, who had hits with the Fifth Dimension and her husband Billy Davis, Jr. hails from Jersey City.
  • Also from Jersey City are members of The famed 1970s R&B group, Kool and The Gang, whose big hits included "Jungle Boogie," "Celebration" and "Ladies Night."
  • The Isley Brothers are another R&B band whose members grew up in the Teaneck area and came to prominence in the early 1960s with the classic, "Shout." Other hits included "Twist and Shout," popularized later by The Beatles, and their 1969 signature, "It's Your Thing." The group recorded on T-Neck records, the label they named after their adopted hometown.
  • Acclaimed drummer Max Weinberg was born in Newark. Weinberg fronts The Max Weinberg 7, house band for NBC TV's Late Night With Conan O'Brien talk show, and is a member of Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band.
  • Other E Street Band members from New Jersey include Springsteen's wife, singer, songwriter and guitarist, Patti Scialfa (born in Deal), accordion player/organist Danny Federici - grew up on the Jersey shore - and bass guitarist Garry Tallent (a Hunterdon Central High School graduate).
  • The Garden State contributed at least one major artist to the country music scene. Before makng it big in Nashville as a songwriter and then a singer in the late 1970s, Eddie Rabbitt grew up in East Orange.
  • Walter Trout, always rated in the "top ten guitarist of all time" polls in Europe, was born in Ocean City, the little known island town south of Atlantic City. He was raised in a chaotic but musically literate family and was given trumpet lessons as a child. After hearing a Paul Butterfield album, his future as a rock/blues guitarist was sealed. After playing from 1968 to 1970 in Jersey coast cover bands, the 20 year old left for California and, subsequently, stints with John Lee Hooker, Joe Tex, Canned Heat, and John Mayall. As front man for his own band, Walter Trout and the Radicals, he continues a heavy touring schedule and has had several successful CD releases.
  • George Antheil, avant garde composer of ballets, film scores, and perhaps most famously, theme for the long-running CBS News documentary TV program, The 20th Century, was born in Trenton.
  • The Feelies , are from Haledon, NJ.
  • The Roches have their origin in the state.
  • Mastermind originated and still lives in Brown Mills NJ.
  • Janis Ian Also grew up in N.J.
  • Dean Friedman is a Garden State one-hit wonder who grew up in Paramus, has composed music for films and TV, and remains popular in the underground music scene. He peaked at #26 on the charts in 1977 with his tune. "Ariel." It is based on a fictional Jewish girl, who, like Friedman, grew up in Bergen County and makes references to life in suburban North Jersey. The song mentions "Paramus," and speaks of how its subject is left "standing at the waterfall" at Paramus Park, one of three major shopping malls in Friedman's hometown.
  • Three of the four members of legendary death metal band Hate Panda are from New Jersey, and the foursome met while attending school there.
  • Opera singer Richard Crooks (tenor) was born in Trenton in 1900. Was the "Voice of Firestone" and had a star in the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
  • Though born in New York, Italian-American singer/comedian Lou Monte achieved his greatest fame while a longtime Lyndhurst resident and was a major contributor to the novelty songs genre of the late 1950s and early 1960s, with songs reflective of his proud heritage. These included his signature, "Peppino The Italian Mouse," as well as "Dominick the Donkey" and "Lazy Mary."
  • Jimmy Roselli is another noted Italian-American singer with New Jersey roots. Yet, unlike Monte, crooner Roselli's Italian songs tended to invoke a more serious tone. These included his signature, "When Your Old Wedding Ring Was New." Like Sinatra, Roselli is a Hoboken native, but he never attained the same international star status of that city's more famous native.
  • Singer Joan Weber, from Paulsboro, was a one-hit wonder as a 20-year old during the dawn of the rock era with her haunting classic, "Let Me Go Lover!" in 1955. The song benefitted from one of the first major merchandising tie-ins in the history of popular music, after it was featured in an episode of the TV anthology Studio One and then stocked in stores by Columbia Records mogul Mitch Miller. Weber was never heard from again, and died tragically at 46 in 1981.
  • Celia Cruz was a three-time Grammy Award and four-time Latin Grammy winning Cuban-American salsa singer who spent most of her career living in New Jersey, and working in the United States and several Latin American countries
  • The Knickerbockers hailed from Bergenfield and were a one-hit wonder with the song, "Lies," in 1964. The group attempted to emulate a Beatles-style British Invasion sound and was named after Knickerbocker Avenue, a major thoroughfare in their hometown.
  • Another legendary one-hit wonder, Looking Glass, formed in 1969 at Rutgers University and achieved their fling with fame with the smash number one hit, "Brandy," in the summer of 1972. Part of the Jersey shore sound, the quartet followed up with a minor hit, "Jimmy Loves Marianne," one year later.
  • Rutgers also produced another noted musicmaker of much earlier vintage. Ozzie Nelson, from Jersey City and who grew up in Ridgefield Park, played football on the Scarlet Knights before achieving greater fame as a Big Band leader in the 1930s and 40s - and then as television star and producer. Perhaps Nelson's biggest contribution to early rock and roll was his son and fellow TV star, Ricky Nelson. The teen sensation achieved fame as s vocalist with major hits while living on the West Coast - but was born in Teaneck.
  • Ted Fiorito, another notable Big Band leader, was born in Newark. Fiorito's band scored two number one hits in the 1930s and was a major musical presence during the heyday of old-time network radio. Additionally, he wrote over 100 songs with various collaborators, played the piano and Hammond organ, and worked with various female vocalists, including Betty Grable and June Haver.
  • Brothers Les & Larry Elgart were two noted jazz trumpeters who grew up in Pompton Lakes with roots in the Big Band era. As a duo in the 1950s, both worked to keep the sound alive even as the genre was fading. Yet they will forever be associated with an instrumental that served as an anthem during the earliest days of rock and roll -"Bandstand Booogie." Their original version of the theme was used during the earliest years of the popular long-running dance music show - American Bandstand.
  • An occasional collaborator with Les Paul, famed jazz guitarist Bucky Pizzarelli was born in Paterson and raised his musical family, including son, noted jazz singer/guitarist, John Pizzarelli, in Bergen County. Bucky Pizzarelli collaborated with the likes of Vaughn Monroe and Benny Goodman. John keeps an active club schedule, occasionally records albums and hosts a jazz-oriented, syndicated radio show.
  • Parliament-Funkadelic was an influential R&B musical collective formed in the late 1960s as a hybrid from two groups under the leadership of Plainfield native, George Clinton. Its earliest beginnings came as a doo-wop group, The Parliaments, formed in Plainfield in 1956. Clinton also served as a songwriter at Motown. One of its best-known compositions is "One Nation Under a Groove."
  • Seminal 1960s "garage band," Richard and The Young Lions, formed in Newark in the mid-1960s and barely cracked the Billboard Hot 100 with the cult favorite, "Open Up Your Door," in 1966. Still, the band attained a popular underground following, particularly through their live concerts in the Midwest, and worked with a famous producer with connections to Newark's more famous The Four Seasons - Bob Crewe, also from Newark.
  • Crewe later became a one-hit wonder himself, recording as The Bob Crewe Generation with the 1967 hit instrumental, "Music to Watch Girls By." His hit became the signature theme for Pepsi Cola during television and radio commercials of the era.
  • Gary Wright spent his formative years in Cresskill as a child actor before joining legendary rock band Spooky Tooth in England in 1967 and embarking on a solo career that saw the keyboardist enjoy major success in the mid-1970s, most notably through a Number One hit, "Dream Weaver."
  • Blues Traveler was formed at Princeton High School in 1987. John Popper, along with high school buddies drummer Brendan Hill, guitarist Chan Kinchla and the late bassist Bobby Sheehan are all natives of New Jersey.
  • Spin Doctors began as Trucking Company in 1989 with Chris Barron (lead singer) and Eric Schenkman and were high school friends of the aforementioned Blues Traveler frontman John Popper at Princeton High School.
  • Dr. Hook & The Medicine Show was formed in Union City in 1968
  • Blues-rock guitarist Justin Scheuble grew up in Montville, New Jersey.
  • Four of the five members of the popular new rock group My Chemical Romance hail from New Jersey. Gerard Way, Mikey Way and Frank Iero are from Belleville, and Ray Toro is from Kearny. Some of their more popular songs include "Helena", "The Ghost of You" and "Welcome to the Black Parade". The band frequently speak about their home state, and guitarist Frank Iero can be seen on occasion wearing a guitar strap with the letter NJ encircled in a heart. Former drummer, Matt Pelissier is also from New Jersey, but was replaced by Illinois native Bob Bryar in 2004.
  • Musical artists Fountains of Wayne [3], a group of New Jerseyans who took the name of a semi-famous lawn and garden store [4] on Route 46 in Wayne.
  • Zakk Wylde, who is currently the guitarist with Ozzy Osbourne and fronts his own metal band, Black Label Society, was born in Bayonne, and was raised in Jackson Township. Wylde is famous for his signature "Bulls-eye" Gibson Les Paul guitar and is considered to be among the best new guitarists in rock.
  • The alternative rock band Dramarama was formed in Wayne in 1982.
  • The first American Oi! Punk band U.S.Chaos is from Paterson, New Jersey formed around 1981.
  • Alex Kinen and Gary Reitmeyer formed The Radicals in 1979, an endeavor which lasted until about 1981. Afterwards, Alex Kinen moved on to form Cause For Alarm, which would later become New York hardcore supergroup Agnostic Front. Meanwhile, Reitmeyer formed the band U.S. Chaos that is managed by talent manager and producer Marty Munsch. The band is the first known American version of British aggressive punk music style known as Oi! (Gary Bushell 1982).
  • Punk Alternative band Mattress Armada And Your Ruse Both hail from Boonton and Montville.
  • The new wave group Anything Box was formed in 1986 by Claude S. along with two friends, Dania Morales and Paul Rijnders. The New Jersey trio signed with Epic and released their debut album, Peace, in 1990, notching a hit with the upbeat "Living in Oblivion."
  • The rock band Monster Magnet hails from Red Bank. The band is best known for their late 90's alt-rock hit "Space Lord."
  • In the 1960s, famed Brill Building pop songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin lived in West Orange for a time and penned The Monkees 1966 hit "Pleasant Valley Sunday," about life in suburbia. The song took its name from Pleasant Valley Way, a major street in the town.
  • Goffin and King worked under the tutelage of legendary producer/impressario and music publisher, Don Kirshner, who was largely responsible for The Monkees early success. Kirshner, founder of Aldon Records, grew up in East Orange and lived in South Orange.
  • Hip-hop's longest running radio show, was founded by two Jerseyans, Special K (Kevin Bonners) and Teddy Ted (Ted Whiting) of Hackensack (known as the Awesome 2), began on New York's WHBI in 1982 and now appears on WPAT-AM.
  • Other rap artists, including Irvington's Queen Latifah, the first female rapper to succeed in music, film, and TV, and the Grammy-winning Naughty By Nature of East Orange, who cut 1992's smash hit "O.P.P." Redman, an influential underground figure and Newark native, has recently found commercial success through collaborations with Eminem and the Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man.
  • Singer/actor Constantine Maroulis, a popular finalist on the television show, American Idol, Season 4 (2005), spent a good portion of his formative years in Wyckoff, where he graduated from Ramapo High School. Maroulis is developing a television sitcom for ABC based on his family life in New Jersey and the surrounding metropolitan New York City area.
  • Ashley Tisdale was born in West Deal, New Jersey. Her songs, such as What I've Been Looking For, Stick To The Status Quo, Bop To the Top, and We're All In This Together were featured in the Disney movie High School Musical.
  • Uncle Floyd Vivino was raised in Paterson.
  • His younger brother, trumpeter Jimmy Vivino, was also raised there. He is a member of TV's The Max Weinberg 7 (see entry on Weinberg above) and has also made his mark in creating music for Broadway and various films.
  • The band Snowball 37 [5], a group of brothers who were inspired by a Kevin Smith reference, is based out of Jersey City.
  • Punk music is also an important music style in New Jersey, perhaps starting with the band The Burnt hailing from Midland Park, Bergen County. The Misfits that essentially invented horror punk, who also formed a few moths earlier in 1976, who hail from Lodi. Blanks 77 In the early 1990s, The Bouncing Souls, The Fiendz, Sticks and Stones, Marty Munsch is also a premminant producer whom is also from bergen County.
  • The Cryptkeeper Five are from Hamilton, New Jersey as well as The Checkers.
  • The DeLeo brothers of Stone Temple Pilots are both from Point Pleasant. The brothers, Dean and Robert, are the guitarist and bassist for the band.
  • Pete Yorn is a singer/songwriter from Montville. He has two albums out: musicforthemorningafter (2001) and Day I Forgot (2003).
  • Indie Rock band Suit of Lights are from Totowa, NJ. Their song "Goodbye Silk City" was written in tribute to Paterson, NJ.
  • Indie rock band Green Arrows are from Freehold, NJ.
  • Four out of the five members of the 1980s metal group Skid Row are originally from the Jersey Shore area. The band rose to fame in 1989 with hits such as "18 & Life", and "I Remember You."
  • Progressive metal outfit Symphony X formed in North Jersey in 1994.
  • American Idol season 4 contestant Anwar Robinson, considered to be one of AI's most talented male singers, was born in Newark and grew up in East Orange and Montclair. He currently teaches music at Edison Middle School in West Orange
  • Indie rock band Yo La Tengo makes its home in Hoboken.
  • Glenn Danzig is an accomplished singer and musician, and the creative force behind The Misfits, Samhain, and Danzig. He is one of the most influential individuals in dark rock music.
  • The Grammy-winning Naughty By Nature of East Orange cut 1992's smash hit "O.P.P."
  • Redman, an influential underground figure and Newark native, has recently found commercial success through collaborations with Eminem and the Wu-Tang Clan's Method Man.
  • Catch 22 originated in East Brunswick as well as the band Streetlight Manifesto, which was created by former Catch 22 members.
  • Ted Leo of Ted Leo and the Pharmacists grew up in Bloomfield, New Jersey and went on to write The Goldfinch and The Red Oak Tree; a song about his love for the state.
  • Heavy metal band Overlorde is from Dover, New Jersey.
  • The heavy metal band Divinity Destroyed is from Toms River, New Jersey
  • Thrash metal band Overkill is from northern New Jersey, although a few of their founding members were from Queens.
  • Hailing from New Brunswick, New Jersey, Franke Previte was lead singer for 80s band Frankie and the Knockouts. Previte won an Academy Award for Best Achievement in Music and Best Song for "(I've Had) The Time of My Life" and a Golden Globe Award for Best Original Song in 1987.
  • Hardcore bands The Dillinger Escape Plan, Folly, Emergency Defibrillator, and The Number 12 Looks Like You, all hail from New Jersey, as well as post hardcore band Thursday.
  • Fountains of Wayne, an American indie rock band, take their name from a lawn-ornament store in Wayne, New Jersey, called "Fountains of Wayne", not far from Montclair, New Jersey.
  • The Jonas Brothers, a pop/punk trio consisting of Kevin, Joseph, and Nicholas Jonas from Wyckoff, New Jersey
  • Hip-hop artist Sister Souljah lived in Englewood, and attended Rutgers University.
  • Jack Antonoff of SteelTrain was raised in Woodcliff Lake. Evan Winker also of SteelTrain was raised in Teaneck, New Jersey.
  • Post-Hardcore band Senses Fail hails from Ridgewood
  • Rock band Armor for Sleep are based in Maplewood and Teaneck
  • Akon (Aliaune Thiam) was born in Senegal but moved and was raised in Jersey City. He was also arrested & detained for robbery in New Jersey.
  • Blanks 77 A prominent punk band of the 1990s still on the forefront of the genre. They are popular worldwide and have influenced 2 generations (if not more) of rockers.
  • Someday Never, is also from NJ, having started out in Marlboro, NJ.
  • Robert Randolph of Robert Randolph & The Family Band is from Maplewood.
  • Chris Conley of Saves The Day is from Princeton.

[edit] Music venues and events in New Jersey

  • Live Earth, a worldwide television and Internet-streamed benefit music event promoting causes to stop what supporters contend is global warming, took place during the spring of 2007 in the state. It used Giants Stadium in East Rutherford as the stage for its American concert venue. A wide array of performers, from a variety of music genres, took part in raising proceeds. Former Vice President Al Gore helped organize the effort.
  • Asbury Park, is home of The Stone Pony, where Bruce Springsteen, Bon Jovi, and Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes frequented early in their careers, and which is still considered by many to be a "Mecca" for up-and-coming Jersey Shore sound musicians.
  • The Velvet Underground gave their first performance as a band at Summit High School in Summit, New Jersey. Songs included "There She Goes Again" and "Heroin."
  • Legendary rock band Queen (touring with Bad Company frontman Paul Rodgers) chose a New Jersey venue - the Continental Airlines Arena - to perform their first USA concert in 23 years on October 16, 2005. The crowd surprised them with a strong reaction and plentiful participation, even in what were thought to be the lesser-known songs.
  • Princeton Record Exchange, the Northeast's largest independent record store, was founded in 1980 and is located in Princeton, New Jersey. They have been featured in the New York Times and in Billboard magazine, and have been praised by LCD Soundsystem in Wired magazine. On a note of trivia, they have employed Micky of Ween before the band's rise to fame.
  • The biggest concert Green Day ever played in the USA was at Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, New Jersey on September 1, 2004.
  • The Bloomfield Ave Cafe & Stage in Montclair has brought up and coming bands to NJ since 2002. Past bands have included: The Casualties, The Slackers, My Chemical Romance, Fallout Boy, Avail, Hidden In Plane View, Planes Mistaken For Stars, The Academy Is, The Banner, 108, Ensign, Further Seems Forever, Chiodos, The Fall of Troy, Off Broadway, Bio-Feedback and countless others.
  • The Dirt Club, world famous rock club, Bloomfield New Jersey mid 1970s to late 1980s
  • The Pipeline Club, world famous Punk and Industrial club. Newark, New Jersey 1985 to 1998 played host to 2 generations of punk specific music. Bands like Nine Inch Nails, GBH, The Exploited, Fahrenheight 451, Ministry, The Wretched Ones, Blanks 77, U.S.CHAOS, DOA, as well as thousands of bands had played, to its patrons in 13 years of operation. Its Idiology and name became synonymous for NJ and eastern US Punk, as did CBGB's in NYC. It had the worlds loudest sound system for its relatively small square footage and capacity. The engineers used the vibrating aluminum siding outside the club to verify proper operation of the overpowered mono sound system of at least 20,000 watts.
  • City Gardens Calhoun St. Trenton, New Jersey Famous Punk venue 1978-1998.
  • The 449 Room 449 S Broad St. Trenton, New Jesey Intimate underground venue that opened in 2006. Located in the same building as the renown Greenlight Vegetarian Cafe, it has played host to surprising number of major-label, national touring bands of all genres.
  • The Brighton Bar, New Jersey shore punk venue
  • The Capitol Theatre in Passaic hosted a number of famous acts in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including The Clash, Motörhead, Ozzy Osbourne, Van Halen, and Bruce Springsteen. Marty Munsch was first employed at Passaic The Capitol Theatre, as an engineer's assistant in 1984 and later was the head stage manager and engineer at The Pipeline in Newark [6]
  • Palisades Amusement Park in Fort Lee/Cliffside Park staged major concerts at its famous music pavilion, featuring current pop/rock acts and teen idols, throughout the 1960s. They were hosted by then-WABC (AM) Musicradio disc jockey Cousin Brucie, a.k.a. Bruce Morrow. The attraction closed permanently in 1971. Coincidentally, the park's popularity inspired the monster 1962 rock hit, "Palisades Park," by Freddy Cannon. The tune was written by Chuck Barris, before his days as a pioneering TV game show producer.
  • Studio One, Rock Club, Newark, New Jersey. Acts including Skid Row, L.A. Guns, Dirty Looks, The Fiends, Heft, Kix, Warrant and many others. It re-opened as Tequila Joe's and was used in The Sopranno's as Adriana's rock club the Crazy Horse.

[edit] Trivia

Three of the state's most famous recording artists, Frank Sinatra, Dionne Warwick and Connie Francis, share the same birth date - December 12.

[edit] References

  • Andrea Witting, (2007) All Grown Up The Movie, U.S. Chaos cited interview, extensive. It's a movie and not to be considered a LIE or designed to change history, according to the opinion of one person, who never had anything to do with punk prior to it's publishing like American Hardcore".[2]
  • Blush, Steven (2001). American Hardcore: A Tribal History. Los Angeles, CA: Feral House. ISBN 0-92291-571-7.


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