Arts in Birmingham
Encyclopedia
This article is about culture
and the arts
in the city of Birmingham
, England. It covers both notable history and notable contemporary activities.
bands such as Billy King and the Nightriders, Pat Wayne and The Deltas and The Dominettes gave rise in the following decade to the Brum Beat
era of the early 1960s featuring early progressive rock and blues
bands such as The Spencer Davis Group
, Traffic
, The Fortunes
, The Rockin' Berries
, The Idle Race
, The Moody Blues
and The Move
(members of the last two going on to form The Electric Light Orchestra
and Wizzard
).
era of the early 1960s featured early progressive rock and blues
bands such as The Spencer Davis Group
, Traffic
, The Fortunes
, The Rockin' Berries
, The Idle Race
, The Moody Blues
, The Uglys and The Move
(members of the last two going on to form The Electric Light Orchestra
and Wizzard
).
The city is often cited as the birthplace of heavy metal music
in the late 1960s, with Black Sabbath
and Judas Priest
coming from Birmingham. Robert Plant
and John Bonham
, later members of Led Zeppelin
and being local to the city, played in bands which were part of the Birmingham music scene, they performed and rehearsed frequently in the city. Rob Halford
of Judas Priest attributes the band's success to 'Birmingham having that [...] tough, working-class feeling [...] We weren't born with a silver spoon
in our mouths. We had to go to work and work really hard. Some people that work in a coal mine or work in the car industry might argue and say, "These guys haven't worked a day in their lives." That's not true. To be in a band – to be in a worldwide, successful band – is incredibly hard work.'http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/ENT/506100344/1031/NEWS03
Also in the late 1960s, there were psychedelic rock bands, such as Velvett Fogg
a cult British psychedelic rock
band. Tony Iommi
was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath
. Their lone eponymous album was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records
in 2002. Also Bachdenkel
, who Rolling Stone called "Britain's Greatest Unknown Group".
and Wizzard
. In the 1970s, Birmingham's increasing West Indian population contributed to the popularity of reggae
, with Steel Pulse
's ground-breaking album Handsworth Revolution
being a notable product of the time.
nightclub
played a significant role in rock music in the city, particularly in the case of New Romantic
supergroup Duran Duran
. Dexys Midnight Runners
, Stephen Duffy
, The Au Pairs and The Bureau
also emanated from the city's music scene at this time.
Later Musical Youth
, UB40
, the first truly mixed-race UK dub
band, and Pato Banton
found commercial success, as did 2 Tone
band The Beat
who drew their influences from Jamaican ska music.
Political skiffle was, for a short time in the mid-1980s, a notable Birmingham sound - led by bands such as Terry & Gerry.
The hip hop scene dates back to at least 1980, and has produced popular performers like Moorish Delta 7
and Brothers and Sisters.
music, a blend of punk
and heavy metal, was pioneered in the city by Napalm Death
. The Charlatans, Dodgy, Felt
, The Lilac Time
, and Ocean Colour Scene
were other notable rock bands founded in the city and its surrounding area in this period. Pop Will Eat Itself
formed in nearby Stourbridge
and consisted of Birmingham band members, as did Neds Atomic Dustbin.
House had been played in the City from the mid eighties, DJ's such as Constructive Trio, Rhythm Doctor at the Powerhouse. Rhythm Doctor worked in one of the shops selling a lot of the early house 12"'s, Tempest. Frenchy (Constructive Trio) also worked in a record shop selling house - Summit Records & Tapes as well as being involved in radio. Pretty B Boy (constructive Trio) had his own record shop opposite St Martin's Church. Mixmaster (constructive Trio) was, as his name suggests, a master of the mix, and also worked in radio.
There were places such as 49er's, Roccoco, Willies T Pot, Mojo, Dial B, Salvation..which played a mixture, from funk, jazz, soul through to house via hip hop and all sorts of everything. Bill, Dick used to do 49ers bar and Roccoco, and earlier Anthony's, along with Ean and Aidan, who did Mjo and Willie's T pot. Nathan dj'd at 49er's around this time, playing everything from Prince to House and Balearic.
The city embraced the national acid house
scene with Lee Fisher and John Slowy's Hypnosis on a Thursday night at the Hummingbird Carling Academy Birmingham
. Followed shortly after by Snapper club at the same venue, which was Jock Lee and John Maher's Friday night, along with Jock and John, DJ's such as Martin & Bear, Pretty Boy B, amongst others. This span off into bank holiday all-dayers with guests including Lee Fisher, Sacha, Carl Cox etc. Although illegal acid house parties had been popping up in Birmingham before, the first proper legal all night acid party/rave was at The Hummingbird also, and was called Biology, which was a London organisation. Acid house
nights such as Spectrum took place in Tamworth and at The Hummingbird in Birmingham. Land of Oz at The Dome with Paul Oakenfold and Trevor Fung in 1989 which occurred on a Wednesday night, the same night The Happy Mondays played at The Hummingbird. Pirate stations such as Fresh FM and PCRL help publicize the music and parties, which help expand the scene in Birmingham. West End Bar was a major meeting place before parties, with Steve Wells and Steve Griffiths and was another important venue throughout this period of time. Electribe 101 hit the charts in 1988 with 'talking with myself'.
Besides popular music on the airwaves, Birmingham was also witnessing a huge explosion in 'invisible' music, notably from the Indian sub-continent and also with the popularity of gospel and 'black church' music. Evolving out of the latter musical movement, Birmingham's a cappella quintet Black Voices, established in 1987, was instrumental in creating a niche with their soulful renditions in both the sacred and secular. Black Voices has continued with that tradition up to the present (2010).
, Higher Intelligence Agency
, Big Beat
musicians Bentley Rhythm Ace
, UK garage
/house
act The Streets
, and Electronica
bands Broadcast
, Pram
, Plone
, Surgeon
, Add N to X, Electribe 101
, Mistys Big Adventure, Editors
and Avrocar
.
Electroacoustic and experimental music emerged in the city, via ensembles such as BEAST.
The city's cultural diversity also contributed to the blend of bhangra and ragga
pioneered by Apache Indian in Handsworth. When hip hop performer Afrika Bambaata visited Britain he inspired new rappers and hip hop
DJs including Moorish Delta 7
Elements, Juice Aleem
, Roc1, Mad Flow, Creative Habits, Lord Laing, Fraudulent Movements, and DJ Sparra (twice winner of the DMC
mixing championships). Brothers and Sisters took place in the 'Coast to Coast' club in the old ATV
television studios on Broad Street
in the early 1990s. Then came Fungle Junk, held for many years beneath House music
club 'Fun
'., and bringing The Psychonaughts, Andy Weatherall and the Scratch Perverts
to the city.
, Steve Gibbons
, Mike Kellie
(of Spooky Tooth
), Blaze Bayley
(former vocalist of Wolfsbane
and Iron Maiden
), Keith Law (of Velvett Fogg
& Jardine) Jeff Lynne
, Phil Lynott
, Carl Palmer
(of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
), Roy Wood
, Jamelia
, Kelli Dayton of The Sneaker Pimps
, Juice Aleem
(from Big Dada
Records), Martin Barre
(guitarist with Jethro Tull
), Nick Mason
(of Pink Floyd
), Bev Bevan
, Ali Campbell
, Steve Cradock
(guitarist for Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller), Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy
, Tony Iommi
, Ozzy Osbourne
, Denny Laine
, Fritz Mcintyre
(keyboardist of Simply Red
), Christine Perfect (of Fleetwood Mac
), Robert Plant (born in West Brom and played in Brumbeat bands), Nick Rhodes
, Ranking Roger
, John Henry Rostill (bass guitarist/composer for The Shadows
), Matt Skinner, Dave Swarbrick
(of Fairport Convention
), John Taylor
, Roger Taylor
, Ruby Turner
, Ted Turner
(guitar/vocals, Wishbone Ash
), Peter Overend Watts, Steve Winwood
and Dave Mason
.
. Over the next 15 years, the Mellotron had a major impact on rock
music and is a trademark sound of the progressive rock bands.
, The Streets
, Rockers Hi-Fi
, Editors
, Surgeon
, Mistys Big Adventure, 51 Breaks, Munchbreak, and Broadcast
.
Notable dance music record labels include Network Records
(of Altern8 fame), Different Drummer
, Urban Dubz Records, Badger Promotions, Jibbering Records, Iron Man, Earko, FHThttp://www.fuckinghardtechno.co.uk and Munchbreak Records. Punch Records
, in the Custard Factory, run street dance and DJ training courses.
While there is a thriving music scene in the city and a number of rehearsal studios such as Robannas, Rich Bitch and Madhouse (many of which have their own demo recording studios) there are very few working at a professional level. Until Circle Studios opened its 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) facility in 2007, aside from private studios in the hands of UB40 and Ocean Colour Scene and smaller studios such as Artisan Audio, there was no high-end recording studio operating in Birmingham.
Independent shops in the city selling records
include Swordfish Records, Tempest Records, Jibbering Records, Punch Records, Old School Daze, Dance Music Finder Records, Three Shades Records and Hard To Find Records, which is the original 'dance music finder' in the UK and now trades as one the largest vinyl record and DJ shops in the world. Summit Records sells mainly reggae
and doubles as an Afro-Caribbean
barbers.
, O2 Academy Birmingham, the National Exhibition Centre
, The CBSO Centre, The Glee Club, The Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire, The Yardbird, mac
(Midlands Arts Centre) at Cannon Hill Park, The Custard Factory
, the Drum Arts Centre
, The Jam House, and pub and bar venues including The Rainbow (Digbeth), The Bull's Head (in the suburb of Moseley), The Cross (Moseley), the Ceol Castle (Moseley), the Hare and Hounds (Kings Heath), Scruffy Murphy's, the Jug of Ale, The Queen's Arms (city centre), a branch of Barfly
and the Hibernian. Leftfoot
is a soul jazz and funk night that has featured on BBC Radio 1.
Party in the Park
is Birmingham's largest annual music festival, at Cannon Hill Park
, where up to 30,000 revellers of all ages listen to popular chart music.
The newest music festival that Birmingham has to offer is Gigbeth, first piloted in March 2006 and now annual on the first weekend of November in Digbeth. Gigbeth is a music festival celebrating local independent music from the West Midlands.
is popular in the city. Many venues support a jazz scene in the city, often promoted by Birmingham Jazz
. Jazz musicians associated with the city include Andy Hamilton
, Soweto Kinch
, Julian Arguelles
, Ronnie Ball
, Tony Kinsey
, Douglas "Dougle" Robinson and King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys.
The busiest promoter of contemporary jazz in the city is the voluntary organisation Birmingham Jazz
, which mounts dozens of concerts every year featuring local, national and international artists in venues such as the CBSO Centre, the mac arts centre, the Glee Club and Symphony Hall. It enjoys the support of the city council and the Arts Council of England and also commissions new works from both local performers and performers of international standing.
took place from 1784–1912 and was considered the grandest of its kind throughout Britain. Music was written for the festival by Mendelssohn
, Gounod, Sullivan
, Dvořák
, Bantock
and most notably Elgar, who wrote four of his most famous choral pieces for Birmingham.
Albert William Ketèlbey was born in Alma Street, Aston on 9 August 1875, the son of a teacher at the Vittoria School of Art. Ketèlbey attended the Trinity College of Music
, where he beat the runner-up, Gustav Holst
, for a musical scholarship.
John Joubert
, the distinguished composer of choral works, joined the University of Birmingham's Music Department as Senior Lecturer in 1962, retiring in 1986 to concentrate on his music. During that time he had written the second of his operas and was working on his third, as well as completing a number of orchestral and chamber works. In 1995 the orchestra of Birmingham Composers Forum put on what was only the second UK performance of his Second Symphony, dating from 1970.
The internationally-renowned City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
's home venue is Symphony Hall, which in acoustic terms is widely considered to be one of the greatest concert halls of the twentieth century and also hosts concerts by many visiting orchestras.
Other professional orchestras based in the city include the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
, a chamber orchestra specialising in modern music with some world premieres; the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
, who give concert performances under music director Barry Wordsworth in addition to playing for the Birmingham Royal Ballet; and Ex Cathedra
, one of the country's oldest and most respected early-music
and Baroque
period instrument ensembles
.
Birmingham is an important centre for musical education as the home of the UCE Birmingham Conservatoire
, founded in 1859. The Royal College of Organists
is based in Digbeth
. Birmingham City Council
appoint the Birmingham City Organist
to provide a free series of weekly public organ recitals.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet
resides in the city as does the Elmhurst School for Dance
, based in Edgbaston, and which claims to be the world's oldest vocational dance school.
Birmingham's professional opera company - the Birmingham Opera Company
- specialises in staging innovative performances in unusual venues (in 2005 it performed Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria in a burnt-out ice rink in the Chinese Quarter). Its artistic director, Graham Vick, has also directed at La Scala
, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera
in New York and the Royal Opera House
in London.
Visiting opera companies such as Opera North
and Welsh National Opera
perform regularly at the Hippodrome
.
Birmingham's other principal classical music venues include The National Indoor Arena
(NIA), CBSO Centre
, Adrian Boult Hall
(ABH) at Birmingham Conservatoire, the Barber Concert Hall at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts
and Birmingham Town Hall
. Concerts also regularly take place in churches around the city including St Phillips Cathedral
, St Paul's
in the Jewellery Quarter
, St Alban's in Highgate and The Oratory
on the Hagley Road.
The city also has literary publishers such as Tindal Street Press
and hosts The Young Book Reader UK festival, as well as an online literary community called Birmingham Words.
are possibly Birmingham's most famous members of the theatrical scene. The Birmingham School of Acting
trains actors in the city.
("the Alex"), Birmingham Repertory Theatre
("The Rep"), the Birmingham Hippodrome
and the Old Rep
. The mac
and Drum arts centres, the Crescent Theatre
and the Old Joint Stock Theatre
also host many professional plays. Sutton Coldfield Town Hall
has theatre facilities and hosts numerous amateur productions. The actors in the long-running Radio 4
serial The Archers
live in and around Birmingham, where the supposedly rural programme is recorded.
Birmingham also hosts a number of independent and community theatre
companies, including Banner Theatre
which was founded in the city over thirty years ago. Round midnight ltd produce work for schools, colleges and arts centres as well as film, television and radio. For ten years, Birmingham's Fierce! festival has presented a performance art festival. It has recently begun commissioning new works from British and international performers.
, Tony Hancock
, Jasper Carrott
and Shazia Mirza
. Other leading figures include Jo Enright (Lab Rats, Phoenix Nights, Time Trumpet), Natalie Haynes, James Cook, Weakest Link winner Andy White and Barbara Nice (the creation of actress Janice Connolly). The Glee Club and Birmingham Jongleurs are both prominent comedy venues. The Drum Arts Centre
and the mac
also host monthly comedy sessions while smaller independent comedy promoters/ venues include The Cheeky Monkey Comedy Club (The Station pub, Kings Heath - and the city's longest running independent comedy club), plus The Laughing Sole (in Strichley) and Retort Cabaret (Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath) with other nights at Old Joint Stock Theatre (city centre), Library Theatre and Alexandra Theatre (Real Deal Comedy).
The Birmingham Comedy Festival was founded in 2001 and runs over 10 days at the beginning of October with a line-up that combines leading TV names with rising talent from Birmingham and the West Midlands. The 2008 festival (Oct 3-12), in association with Wye Valley Brewery and supported by BirminghaMail.net, features Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Lee Evans, Ken Dodd and Dylan Moran.
was a famous Birmingham watercolour artist and President of the Associated Artists in Water Colour in 1810.
An "Academy of Arts" was organised in 1814, and an exhibition of paintings took place in Union Passage that year. A School of Design, or "Society of Arts", was started Feb. 7, 1821; Sir Robert Lawley, Bt
(the first Lord Wenlock) presenting a valuable collection of casts from Grecian sculpture. The first exhibition was held in 1826, in a building on New Street.
The first Ballot for pictures to be chosen from the Annual Exhibition of Local Artists took place in 1835.
Edward Burne-Jones
was born in Birmingham, spent his first twenty years in the city, and later became the president of the Birmingham Society of Artists (which dates from 1826). He strongly influenced the Birmingham Group, which formed the link between late Romanticism in the visual arts and the Birmingham Surrealists
who were prominent in the city's arts in the early and mid 20th century.
The Scottish painter William Gear
(1915–97) had studied with Fernand Léger
in Paris and after World War 2 became the only British member of the Surrealist-influenced COBRA
, the most avant-garde movement of the time. Between 1964-75 he was head of the Faculty of Fine Art at Birmingham College of Art and continued to live in the city until his death.
The Birmingham Arts Lab
at Gosta Green
was an important centre for alternative comic art in the late 1970s; in the 1990s the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery staged a historical retrospective of the work made there.
(1838–1914) lived and worked in Erdington, Birmingham. The Birmingham Central Library now holds the Benjamin Stone Collection. The Victorian "father of art photography", Oscar Gustave Rejlander
lived and worked at nearby Wolverhampton, and was a founder member of the Birmingham Photographic Society. The BPS later elected Henry Peach Robinson
as a member.
The famous photographer Bill Brandt
made an extensive series of photographs for the Bournville Village Trust in Birmingham, between 1939 and 1943. These have been published as the book Homes Fit For Heroes (Dewi Lewis, 2004). The post-war changes in the cityscape, especially the clearance of older housing and the changes to the central markets, were documented by Phyllis Nicklin (1913?-1969).
In late 1979, Derek Bishton (now Consultant Editor for The Daily Telegraph), John Reardon (became Picture Editor of The Observer), and Brian Homer were three community photographers and activists in Hnadsworth, and they facilitated the 'Handsworth Self Portrait' series of self-portraits on the streets of Handsworth, Birmingham. Other notable photographers include Pogus Caesar
, his OOM Gallery Archive holds in excess of 14,000 photographic images from 1982–present. Caesar's recent exhibitions include From Jamaica Row - Rebirth of the Bullring, Muzik Kinda Sweet and That Beautiful Thing, his work is represented in Birmingham Central Library
.
The city is home to famed fashion photographer Garazi Gardner.
(1706–1775) was a noted type designer, the developer of wove paper, and typographic businessman in fine printing. His Baskerville font is still in wide use today. The Birmingham Guild and School of Handicrafts
operated a fine arts small-press, the Press of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft. From 1895 until 1919 this Press produced books in the Kelmscott Press tradition of the Arts and Crafts Movement
. George Kynoch's Kynoch Press (1876–1981) was a Birmingham printing house that substantially contributed to the development of a British typography. The teacher Leonard Jay (1888–1963) made the Birmingham School of Printing a profound influence on a generation of typographers, and set the pattern for printing education worldwide. More recent small-press printers included F.E.Pardoe and David Wishart.
(or "spraycan art") culture appeared in the early 1980s, with the area featuring in Channel 4
documentary Bombing. Local artists who use urban Birmingham as their canvas (this is illegal, and regarded by some as vandalism) have included Chu and Goldie
. Street art competitions are still regularly held at the Custard Factory.
A variety of contemporary public art is located around the city centre, most of it created by artists from outside the Midlands. The construction of the Bull Ring Shopping Centre included three light wand
s which were erected at the main entrance, a huge mural on a glass façade
located at the entrance facing New Street station
and three fountains in St Martin's Square in the shape of cube
s, which are illuminated at night in different colours.
Contemporary African Caribbean artists and photographers who have exhibited internationally include Pogus Caesar
, Keith Piper
and the late Donald Rodney
.
There are a variety of other small and private galleries in the city.
during September, where families can enjoy many of the city's arts, for free. It is said to be the largest free arts festival in the UK. In December 2006 the City Council announced that it would no longer hold Artsfest. http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/columnists/thestirrer/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=18192354%26siteid=50002-name_page.html, but it continued in 2008 under the support of Brindley Place, Centro, Kerrang Radio and of course, Birmingham City Council. There are a number of events scheduled for the forthcoming months in Birmingham http://www.bebirmingham.org.uk/events.php.
Culture
Culture is a term that has many different inter-related meanings. For example, in 1952, Alfred Kroeber and Clyde Kluckhohn compiled a list of 164 definitions of "culture" in Culture: A Critical Review of Concepts and Definitions...
and the arts
ARts
aRts, which stands for analog Real time synthesizer, is an audio framework that is no longer under development. It is best known for previously being used in KDE to simulate an analog synthesizer....
in the city of Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England. It covers both notable history and notable contemporary activities.
History
Birmingham has had a vibrant and varied musical history in popular pop and rock music, since the 1950s.1950s
Fifties1950s
The 1950s or The Fifties was the decade that began on January 1, 1950 and ended on December 31, 1959. The decade was the sixth decade of the 20th century...
bands such as Billy King and the Nightriders, Pat Wayne and The Deltas and The Dominettes gave rise in the following decade to the Brum Beat
Brum Beat
Brum Beat was a magazine about the music of Birmingham, England and the neighbouring towns. It was started as Midlands Beat by promoter and band-manager Jim Simpson, who sold it to its latter editor, Steve Morris, who in turn relaunched it in newspaper format as The Beat, before converting it into...
era of the early 1960s featuring early progressive rock and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
bands such as The Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, The Fortunes
The Fortunes
The Fortunes are an English harmony beat group. Formed in Birmingham, The Fortunes first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US and UK Top 10s...
, The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries are a pop group from Birmingham, England, who had several hit records in the UK in the 1960s. A version of the group, emphasising comedy routines as well as music, continues to perform to the present day.-History:...
, The Idle Race
Idle Race
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s who had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success...
, The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
and The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....
(members of the last two going on to form The Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
and Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
).
1960s
The Brum BeatBrum Beat
Brum Beat was a magazine about the music of Birmingham, England and the neighbouring towns. It was started as Midlands Beat by promoter and band-manager Jim Simpson, who sold it to its latter editor, Steve Morris, who in turn relaunched it in newspaper format as The Beat, before converting it into...
era of the early 1960s featured early progressive rock and blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
bands such as The Spencer Davis Group
Spencer Davis Group
The Spencer Davis Group was a mid-1960s British beat group from Birmingham, England, formed by Spencer Davis with Steve Winwood and his brother Muff Winwood...
, Traffic
Traffic (band)
Traffic were an English rock band whose members came from the West Midlands. The group formed in April 1967 by Steve Winwood, Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason...
, The Fortunes
The Fortunes
The Fortunes are an English harmony beat group. Formed in Birmingham, The Fortunes first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US and UK Top 10s...
, The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries
The Rockin' Berries are a pop group from Birmingham, England, who had several hit records in the UK in the 1960s. A version of the group, emphasising comedy routines as well as music, continues to perform to the present day.-History:...
, The Idle Race
Idle Race
The Idle Race were a British rock group from Birmingham in the late 1960s and early 1970s who had a cult following but never enjoyed mass commercial success...
, The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues
The Moody Blues are an English rock band. Among their innovations was a fusion with classical music, most notably in their 1967 album Days of Future Passed....
, The Uglys and The Move
The Move
The Move, from Birmingham, England, were one of the leading British rock bands of the 1960s. They scored nine Top 20 UK singles in five years, but were among the most popular British bands not to find any success in the United States....
(members of the last two going on to form The Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
and Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
).
The city is often cited as the birthplace of heavy metal music
Heavy metal music
Heavy metal is a genre of rock music that developed in the late 1960s and early 1970s, largely in the Midlands of the United Kingdom and the United States...
in the late 1960s, with Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
and Judas Priest
Judas Priest
Judas Priest are an English heavy metal band from Birmingham, England, formed in 1969. The current line-up consists of lead vocalist Rob Halford, guitarists Glenn Tipton and Richie Faulkner, bassist Ian Hill, and drummer Scott Travis. The band has gone through several drummers over the years,...
coming from Birmingham. Robert Plant
Robert Plant
Robert Anthony Plant, CBE is an English singer and songwriter best known as the vocalist and lyricist of the iconic rock band Led Zeppelin. He has also had a successful solo career...
and John Bonham
John Bonham
John Henry Bonham was an English musician and songwriter, best known as the drummer of Led Zeppelin. Bonham was esteemed for his speed, power, fast right foot, distinctive sound, and "feel" for the groove...
, later members of Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin
Led Zeppelin were an English rock band, active in the late 1960s and throughout the 1970s. Formed in 1968, they consisted of guitarist Jimmy Page, singer Robert Plant, bassist/keyboardist John Paul Jones, and drummer John Bonham...
and being local to the city, played in bands which were part of the Birmingham music scene, they performed and rehearsed frequently in the city. Rob Halford
Rob Halford
Robert John Arthur "Rob" Halford is an English singer-songwriter, who is best known as the lead vocalist for the Grammy Award-winning heavy metal band Judas Priest. He is nicknamed the "Metal God" as a tribute to his influence on metal, and after the Judas Priest song of the same name from 1980's...
of Judas Priest attributes the band's success to 'Birmingham having that [...] tough, working-class feeling [...] We weren't born with a silver spoon
Silver spoon
The English language expression silver spoon is synonymous with wealth, especially inherited wealth; someone born into a wealthy family is said to have "been born with a silver spoon in his mouth". As an adjective, "silver-spoon" describes someone who has a prosperous background or is of a...
in our mouths. We had to go to work and work really hard. Some people that work in a coal mine or work in the car industry might argue and say, "These guys haven't worked a day in their lives." That's not true. To be in a band – to be in a worldwide, successful band – is incredibly hard work.'http://www.app.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050610/ENT/506100344/1031/NEWS03
Also in the late 1960s, there were psychedelic rock bands, such as Velvett Fogg
Velvett Fogg
Velvett Fogg are a cult British psychedelic rock band. Tony Iommi was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath. Their lone eponymous album was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records in 2002.-Development:...
a cult British psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock
Psychedelic rock is a style of rock music that is inspired or influenced by psychedelic culture and attempts to replicate and enhance the mind-altering experiences of psychedelic drugs. It emerged during the mid 1960s among folk rock and blues rock bands in United States and the United Kingdom...
band. Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath
Black Sabbath are an English heavy metal band, formed in Aston, Birmingham in 1969 by Ozzy Osbourne , Tony Iommi , Geezer Butler , and Bill Ward . The band has since experienced multiple line-up changes, with Tony Iommi the only constant presence in the band through the years. A total of 22...
. Their lone eponymous album was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records
Sanctuary Records Group Limited was a record label based in the United Kingdom and a subsidiary of Universal Music Group. Until June 2007, it was the largest independent record label in the UK and the largest independent music management company in the world...
in 2002. Also Bachdenkel
Bachdenkel
Bachdenkel were an English rock group which came to life in and around the King's Heath area of Birmingham in the late 1960s, evolving out of a combo called "U No Who"....
, who Rolling Stone called "Britain's Greatest Unknown Group".
1970s
In the 1970s members of The Move and The Uglys formed the Electric Light OrchestraElectric Light Orchestra
Electric Light Orchestra were a British rock group from Birmingham who released eleven studio albums between 1971 and 1986 and another album in 2001. ELO were formed to accommodate Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne's desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones...
and Wizzard
Wizzard
Wizzard was a Birmingham-based band formed by Roy Wood, former member of The Move and co-founder of Electric Light Orchestra. The Guinness Book of 500 Number One Hits states, "Wizzard was Roy Wood just as much as Wings were Paul McCartney."-Biography:...
. In the 1970s, Birmingham's increasing West Indian population contributed to the popularity of reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
, with Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse
Steel Pulse is a roots reggae musical band. They originally formed at Handsworth Wood Boys School, in Birmingham, England, composed of David Hinds , Basil Gabbidon , and Ronald McQueen .-History:...
's ground-breaking album Handsworth Revolution
Handsworth Revolution
Handsworth Revolution is a reggae album by Steel Pulse. It is named after the Handsworth district of Birmingham, England, the band's home....
being a notable product of the time.
Early 1980s
As the 1980s arrived, the Rum RunnerRum Runner (nightclub)
The Rum Runner nightclub was opened on Broad Street, Birmingham in the city centre in 1964. It was demolished in 1987 to make way for the Hyatt Hotel....
nightclub
Nightclub
A nightclub is an entertainment venue which usually operates late into the night...
played a significant role in rock music in the city, particularly in the case of New Romantic
New Romantic
New Romanticism , was a pop culture movement in the United Kingdom that began around 1979 and peaked around 1981. Developing in London nightclubs such as Billy's and The Blitz and spreading to other major cities in the UK, it was based around flamboyant, eccentric fashion and new wave music...
supergroup Duran Duran
Duran Duran
Duran Duran are an English band, formed in Birmingham in 1978. They were one of the most successful bands of the 1980s and a leading band in the MTV-driven "Second British Invasion" of the United States...
. Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners
Dexys Midnight Runners are a British pop group with soul influences, who achieved their major success in the early to mid 1980s. They are best known for their songs "Come On Eileen" and "Geno", both of which went No. 1 on the UK Singles Chart....
, Stephen Duffy
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy is an English singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was a founding member and vocalist/bassist of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his older brother...
, The Au Pairs and The Bureau
The Bureau
The Bureau were a New Wave soul group formed in late 1980 in Birmingham, England, when the original lineup of Dexys Midnight Runners split-up....
also emanated from the city's music scene at this time.
Later Musical Youth
Musical Youth
Musical Youth are a British reggae band. The group originally formed in 1979 at Duddeston Manor School in Birmingham, UK. They are best remembered for their successful 1982 Grammy-nominated single, "Pass the Dutchie". The group featured two sets of brothers, Kelvin and Michael Grant, plus Junior...
, UB40
UB40
UB40 are a British reggae/pop band formed in 1978 in Birmingham. The band has placed more than 50 singles in the UK Singles Chart, and has also achieved considerable international success. One of the world's best-selling music artists, UB40 have sold over 70 million records.Their hit singles...
, the first truly mixed-race UK dub
Dub music
Dub is a genre of music which grew out of reggae music in the 1960s, and is commonly considered a subgenre, though it has developed to extend beyond the scope of reggae...
band, and Pato Banton
Pato Banton
Pato Banton is a reggae singer and toaster from Birmingham, England. He received the nickname 'Pato' from his stepfather, and 'Banton' from the disc jockey slang for a "heavyweight DJ".-Biography:Born in Birmingham, Banton first came to public attention in the early 1980s when he worked with The...
found commercial success, as did 2 Tone
2 Tone
2 Tone is a music genre created in the United Kingdom in the late 1970s by fusing elements of ska, punk rock, rocksteady, reggae, and New Wave. It was called 2 Tone because most of the bands were signed to 2 Tone Records at some point. Other labels associated with the 2 Tone sound were Stiff...
band The Beat
The Beat (band)
The Beat are a 2 Tone ska revival band founded in England in 1978. Their songs fuse ska, pop, soul, reggae and punk rock, and their lyrics deal with themes of love, unity and sociopolitical topics....
who drew their influences from Jamaican ska music.
Political skiffle was, for a short time in the mid-1980s, a notable Birmingham sound - led by bands such as Terry & Gerry.
The hip hop scene dates back to at least 1980, and has produced popular performers like Moorish Delta 7
Moorish Delta 7
Moorish Delta 7 are a hip hop/UK garage outfit from the Newtown area of Birmingham, England. The trio formed in 1995 and have sold over 50,000 records.-History:...
and Brothers and Sisters.
Late 1980s
Later in the 1980s, GrindcoreGrindcore
Grindcore is an extreme genre of music that started in the early- to mid-1980s. It draws inspiration from some of the most abrasive music genres – including death metal, industrial music, noise and the more extreme varieties of hardcore punk....
music, a blend of punk
Punk rock
Punk rock is a rock music genre that developed between 1974 and 1976 in the United States, the United Kingdom, and Australia. Rooted in garage rock and other forms of what is now known as protopunk music, punk rock bands eschewed perceived excesses of mainstream 1970s rock...
and heavy metal, was pioneered in the city by Napalm Death
Napalm Death
Napalm Death are a death metal band formed in Birmingham, England in 1981. While none of its original members remain in the group, the lineup of vocalist Mark "Barney" Greenway, bassist Shane Embury, guitarist Mitch Harris and drummer Danny Herrera has remained consistent for most of the band's ...
. The Charlatans, Dodgy, Felt
Felt (band)
Felt were a 1980s British alternative rock band led by Lawrence, whose surname was never listed in any credits or press; the band's name was inspired by Tom Verlaine's emphasis of the word "felt" in the Television song "Venus"...
, The Lilac Time
The Lilac Time
The Lilac Time is a British alternative rock band that was originally formed in Herefordshire, England by Stephen Duffy, his brother Nick Duffy and their friend Michael Weston in 1986. The band's name was taken from a line in the Nick Drake song "River Man."...
, and Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene
Ocean Colour Scene are an English Britpop band formed in Moseley, Birmingham in 1989. They have had five Top 10 albums and six Top 10 singles to date.-Early days :...
were other notable rock bands founded in the city and its surrounding area in this period. Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself
Pop Will Eat Itself are an English alternative rock band, originally formed in Stourbridge in 1986, with members from Birmingham, Coventry and the Black Country. Initially known as a Grebo act, their style changed to incorporate sample driven indie and industrial rock...
formed in nearby Stourbridge
Stourbridge
Stourbridge is a town within the Metropolitan Borough of Dudley, in the West Midlands of England. Historically part of Worcestershire, Stourbridge was a centre of glass making, and today includes the suburbs of Amblecote, Lye, Norton, Oldswinford, Pedmore, Wollaston, Wollescote and Wordsley The...
and consisted of Birmingham band members, as did Neds Atomic Dustbin.
House had been played in the City from the mid eighties, DJ's such as Constructive Trio, Rhythm Doctor at the Powerhouse. Rhythm Doctor worked in one of the shops selling a lot of the early house 12"'s, Tempest. Frenchy (Constructive Trio) also worked in a record shop selling house - Summit Records & Tapes as well as being involved in radio. Pretty B Boy (constructive Trio) had his own record shop opposite St Martin's Church. Mixmaster (constructive Trio) was, as his name suggests, a master of the mix, and also worked in radio.
There were places such as 49er's, Roccoco, Willies T Pot, Mojo, Dial B, Salvation..which played a mixture, from funk, jazz, soul through to house via hip hop and all sorts of everything. Bill, Dick used to do 49ers bar and Roccoco, and earlier Anthony's, along with Ean and Aidan, who did Mjo and Willie's T pot. Nathan dj'd at 49er's around this time, playing everything from Prince to House and Balearic.
The city embraced the national acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
scene with Lee Fisher and John Slowy's Hypnosis on a Thursday night at the Hummingbird Carling Academy Birmingham
Carling Academy Birmingham
-History & Former Venue:The former venue of the O2 Academy was known in the 1980s and 1990s as the Hummingbird and previously the site of the Rank Ballroom. The venue underwent refurbishment in the late 1990s and opened as the Birmingham Academy in 2000, being rebranded as the "Carling Academy"...
. Followed shortly after by Snapper club at the same venue, which was Jock Lee and John Maher's Friday night, along with Jock and John, DJ's such as Martin & Bear, Pretty Boy B, amongst others. This span off into bank holiday all-dayers with guests including Lee Fisher, Sacha, Carl Cox etc. Although illegal acid house parties had been popping up in Birmingham before, the first proper legal all night acid party/rave was at The Hummingbird also, and was called Biology, which was a London organisation. Acid house
Acid house
Acid house is a sub-genre of house music that emphasizes a repetitive, hypnotic and trance-like style, often with samples or spoken lines rather than sung lyrics. Acid house's core electronic squelch sounds were developed around the mid-1980s, particularly by DJs from Chicago who experimented with...
nights such as Spectrum took place in Tamworth and at The Hummingbird in Birmingham. Land of Oz at The Dome with Paul Oakenfold and Trevor Fung in 1989 which occurred on a Wednesday night, the same night The Happy Mondays played at The Hummingbird. Pirate stations such as Fresh FM and PCRL help publicize the music and parties, which help expand the scene in Birmingham. West End Bar was a major meeting place before parties, with Steve Wells and Steve Griffiths and was another important venue throughout this period of time. Electribe 101 hit the charts in 1988 with 'talking with myself'.
Besides popular music on the airwaves, Birmingham was also witnessing a huge explosion in 'invisible' music, notably from the Indian sub-continent and also with the popularity of gospel and 'black church' music. Evolving out of the latter musical movement, Birmingham's a cappella quintet Black Voices, established in 1987, was instrumental in creating a niche with their soulful renditions in both the sacred and secular. Black Voices has continued with that tradition up to the present (2010).
1990s
Electronic artists include electro dub music creators Rockers Hi-FiRockers Hi-Fi
Rockers Hi-Fi were an electronic dub/dance outfit formed in Birmingham, England in 1992 as Original Rockers. In 1994 they changed their name to Rockers Hi-Fi...
, Higher Intelligence Agency
Higher Intelligence Agency
Higher Intelligence Agency, often also referred to by its acronym HIA, is the main electronic music project of Birmingham UK based Bobby Bird....
, Big Beat
Big beat
Big beat is a term employed since the mid-1990s by the British music press to describe much of the music by artists such as The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Chemical Brothers, The Crystal Method, and Propellerheads typically driven by heavy breakbeats and synthesizer-generated loops and patterns in...
musicians Bentley Rhythm Ace
Bentley Rhythm Ace
Bentley Rhythm Ace are a duo formed in Birmingham, England in 1997, consisting of Mike Stokes and Richard March.-Career:The band was formed in Birmingham by Richard March, formerly with the group Pop Will Eat Itself, and Mike Stokes, with guest appearances by James Atkin, a member of indie band EMF...
, UK garage
UK garage
UK garage is a genre of electronic dance music originating from the United Kingdom in the early-1990s. UK garage is a descendant of house music which originated in Chicago and New York, United States. UK garage usually features a distinctive syncopated 4/4 percussive rhythm with 'shuffling'...
/house
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
act The Streets
The Streets
The Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
, and Electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
bands Broadcast
Broadcast (band)
Broadcast are an electronic music band, founded in Birmingham, England. Original members were Trish Keenan , Roj Stevens , Tim Felton and James Cargill . Various drummers played with the band, including Keith York, Phil Jenkins, Jeremy Barnes, Steve Perkins, and Neil Bullock...
, Pram
Pram (band)
Pram are an experimental band who formed in the Balsall Heath/Moseley area of Birmingham, England in 1990.-History:Originally from Harrogate, North Yorkshire, Rosie Cuckston and Matt Eaton went to school together. They moved to Birmingham in the late 80s, schoolfriend Andy Weir keeping in touch...
, Plone
Plone (band)
Plone was an electronic music band from Birmingham, England.-Career:The group was created in late 1994 when Mark Cancellara and Mike Johnston started to buy old analogue keyboards and fx and began to rehearse making huge soundscapes...
, Surgeon
Surgeon (musician)
Surgeon is the pseudonym of Anthony Child, an English electronic musician and DJ. Child releases music on his own labels Counterbalance and Dynamic Tension. Established imprints, such as Tresor, Soma, and Harthouse, have also released Surgeon's original material and remixes...
, Add N to X, Electribe 101
Electribe 101
Electribe 101 was a British-based electronic music group in the late 1980s and early 1990s, managed by Tom Watkins of Bros, Pet Shop Boys, and 2wo Third3 fame.-Career:...
, Mistys Big Adventure, Editors
Editors
Editors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith , Chris Urbanowicz , Russell Leetch and Ed Lay .Editors have so far released two platinum studio...
and Avrocar
Avrocar (band)
Avrocar are an electronica band from Birmingham, England. Band member Antony Harding has another more folk-oriented project called July Skies.-Discography:* Cinematography * Live at Ochre 7* Guidance * Against the Dying of the Light...
.
Electroacoustic and experimental music emerged in the city, via ensembles such as BEAST.
The city's cultural diversity also contributed to the blend of bhangra and ragga
Ragga
-Origins:Ragga originated in Jamaica during the 1980s, at the same time that electronic dance music's popularity was increasing globally. One of the reasons for ragga's swift propagation is that it is generally easier and less expensive to produce than reggae performed on traditional musical...
pioneered by Apache Indian in Handsworth. When hip hop performer Afrika Bambaata visited Britain he inspired new rappers and hip hop
Hip hop music
Hip hop music, also called hip-hop, rap music or hip-hop music, is a musical genre consisting of a stylized rhythmic music that commonly accompanies rapping, a rhythmic and rhyming speech that is chanted...
DJs including Moorish Delta 7
Moorish Delta 7
Moorish Delta 7 are a hip hop/UK garage outfit from the Newtown area of Birmingham, England. The trio formed in 1995 and have sold over 50,000 records.-History:...
Elements, Juice Aleem
Juice Aleem
-Biography:After putting years of energy into the Birmingham Hip Hop scene, Juice's "Ghetto Grammer" Freestyle rap sessions started featuring such other future stars as Ty, Skinnyman and MPHO. In 1996 Will Ashon starts up his new Ninja Tune backed label Big Dada and plans a roster of performers...
, Roc1, Mad Flow, Creative Habits, Lord Laing, Fraudulent Movements, and DJ Sparra (twice winner of the DMC
Digital mixing console
In professional audio, a Digital Mixing Console , is an electronic device for combining, routing, and changing the dynamics of digital audio samples. The digital audio samples are summed to produce a combined output. A professional digital mixing console is a dedicated desk or control surface...
mixing championships). Brothers and Sisters took place in the 'Coast to Coast' club in the old ATV
Associated TeleVision
Associated Television, often referred to as ATV, was a British television company, holder of various licences to broadcast on the ITV network from 24 September 1955 until 00:34 on 1 January 1982...
television studios on Broad Street
Broad Street, Birmingham
Broad Street is a major thoroughfare and popular nightspot in Birmingham City Centre, United Kingdom. Traditionally, Broad Street was considered to be outside Birmingham City Centre, but as the city centre expanded with the removal of the Inner Ring Road, Broad Street has been incorporated into...
in the early 1990s. Then came Fungle Junk, held for many years beneath House music
House music
House music is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in Chicago, Illinois, United States in the early 1980s. It was initially popularized in mid-1980s discothèques catering to the African-American, Latino American, and gay communities; first in Chicago circa 1984, then in other...
club 'Fun
Fun
Fun is the enjoyment of pleasure and, according to Johan Huizinga, "an absolutely primary category of life, familiar to everybody at a glance right down to the animal level." Fun may be encountered in many human activities during work, social functions, recreation and play, and even seemingly...
'., and bringing The Psychonaughts, Andy Weatherall and the Scratch Perverts
Scratch Perverts
The Scratch Perverts are a collective of turntablist DJs from London, formed in 1996 by Tony Vegas, Prime Cuts and DJ Renegade.-Biography:The Scratch Perverts originally consisted of 4 members; Tony Vegas, Renegade, First Rate and Mr Thing. The Scratch Perverts later expanded to an 8-member...
to the city.
List of notable historical musical artists
Successful Birmingham singer/songwriters and musicians include: Joan ArmatradingJoan Armatrading
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist...
, Steve Gibbons
Steve Gibbons Band
Steve Gibbons is an English rock vocalist.-The Dominettes:Steve Gibbons started his professional life as a plumber's apprentice in Harborne. He joined the Dominettes by 1960 to replace Colin Smith, who had left to join Jimmy Powell's backing group...
, Mike Kellie
Mike Kellie
Mike Kellie is an English drummer. Most notably, he has played in Spooky Tooth and The Only Ones. Kellie has also played with Peter Frampton and in various bands with Chris Wood....
(of Spooky Tooth
Spooky Tooth
Spooky Tooth are an English rock band principally active, with intermittent breakups, between 1967 to 1974. In recent years, the band has been reconstituted at various points, and continues to perform occasionally.-Career:...
), Blaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley
Blaze Bayley is an English singer and songwriter. He has been the lead singer of Wolfsbane from 1984 to 1994, and nowadays since their recent reunion. Blaze is however world-known for having been the lead singer of British metal band Iron Maiden from 1994 to 1999...
(former vocalist of Wolfsbane
Wolfsbane (band)
Wolfsbane are an English heavy metal band. Formed in 1984, the band remained active until lead singer Blaze Bayley went on to join Iron Maiden in 1994. After a couple of reunion shows in 2007 and 2009, Wolfsbane officially reunited in June 2010...
and Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden
Iron Maiden are an English heavy metal band from Leyton in east London, formed in 1975 by bassist and primary songwriter Steve Harris. Since their inception, the band's discography has grown to include a total of thirty-six albums: fifteen studio albums; eleven live albums; four EPs; and six...
), Keith Law (of Velvett Fogg
Velvett Fogg
Velvett Fogg are a cult British psychedelic rock band. Tony Iommi was a member in mid-1968, but soon left to form Black Sabbath. Their lone eponymous album was released in January 1969, and re-released on CD by Sanctuary Records in 2002.-Development:...
& Jardine) Jeff Lynne
Jeff Lynne
Jeffrey "Jeff" Lynne is an English songwriter, composer, arranger, singer, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer who gained fame as the leader and sole constant member of Electric Light Orchestra and was a co-founder and member of The Traveling Wilburys together with George Harrison, Bob...
, Phil Lynott
Phil Lynott
Philip Parris "Phil" Lynott was an Irish musician who first came to prominence as a founding member, principal songwriter, and frontman of the Irish rock band Thin Lizzy....
, Carl Palmer
Carl Palmer
Carl Frederick Kendall Palmer is an English drummer and percussionist. He is credited as one of the most respected rock drummers to emerge from the 1960s...
(of Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer
Emerson, Lake & Palmer, also known as ELP, are an English progressive rock supergroup. They found success in the 1970s and sold over forty million albums and headlined large stadium concerts. The band consists of Keith Emerson , Greg Lake and Carl Palmer...
), Roy Wood
Roy Wood
Roy Adrian Wood is an English singer-songwriter and musician. He was particularly successful in the 1960s and 1970s as member and co-founder of the bands The Move, Electric Light Orchestra, and Wizzard. As a songwriter, he contributed a number of hits to the repertoire of these bands.-Career:Wood...
, Jamelia
Jamelia
Jamelia Niela Davis , best known mononymously as Jamelia, is an English singer-songwriter, model, entertainer, television presenter and actress. She is most famous for her use of a cappella and prolific work in the R&B genre...
, Kelli Dayton of The Sneaker Pimps
Sneaker Pimps
Sneaker Pimps were a British trip-hop band formed in Hartlepool, England in 1994. They are best known for their first album Becoming X and particularly the singles "6 Underground", "Spin Spin Sugar", and "Tesko Suicide" from the same album...
, Juice Aleem
Juice Aleem
-Biography:After putting years of energy into the Birmingham Hip Hop scene, Juice's "Ghetto Grammer" Freestyle rap sessions started featuring such other future stars as Ty, Skinnyman and MPHO. In 1996 Will Ashon starts up his new Ninja Tune backed label Big Dada and plans a roster of performers...
(from Big Dada
Big Dada
Big Dada Recordings is the Hip Hop imprint of London-based independent record label, Ninja Tune. It is best known for being the home of prominent British hip hop artist Roots Manuva. It was started by reputed hip hop journalist Will Ashon in February 1997...
Records), Martin Barre
Martin Barre
Martin Lancelot Barre is an English rock musician.Barre has been the guitarist for rock band Jethro Tull since 1969. He has appeared on every Jethro Tull album except their debut This Was...
(guitarist with Jethro Tull
Jethro Tull (band)
Jethro Tull are a British rock group formed in 1967. Their music is characterised by the vocals, acoustic guitar, and flute playing of Ian Anderson, who has led the band since its founding, and the guitar work of Martin Barre, who has been with the band since 1969.Initially playing blues rock with...
), Nick Mason
Nick Mason
Nicholas Berkeley "Nick" Mason is an English drummer and songwriter, best known for his work with Pink Floyd. He was the only constant member of the band since its formation in 1965...
(of Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
), Bev Bevan
Bev Bevan
Bev Bevan is an English rock musician, who was the drummer and one of the original members of The Move and Electric Light Orchestra...
, Ali Campbell
Ali Campbell
Ali Campbell, , is a British singer, solo artist and songwriter and was the lead singer and founding member of UB40. As part of UB40, Campbell sold over 70 million records world wide and toured the globe for 30 years. In 2008 Campbell left UB40 and embarked on a successful solo career.-Personal...
, Steve Cradock
Steve Cradock
Steve Cradock is an English guitarist, most notable for playing in the rock group Ocean Colour Scene. Cradock is also the second guitarist in Paul Weller's band, having appeared on all of Weller's solo records following Weller's self titled debut album.He is a distinctive guitarist, who has a...
(guitarist for Ocean Colour Scene and Paul Weller), Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy
Stephen Duffy
Stephen Anthony James Duffy is an English singer/songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist. He was a founding member and vocalist/bassist of Duran Duran. He went on to record as a solo performer under several different names, and is the singer and songwriter for The Lilac Time with his older brother...
, Tony Iommi
Tony Iommi
Anthony Frank "Tony" Iommi is an English guitarist and songwriter best known as the founding member of pioneering heavy metal band Black Sabbath, and its sole continual member through multiple personnel changes.Iommi is widely recognised as one of the most important and influential guitarists in...
, Ozzy Osbourne
Ozzy Osbourne
John Michael "Ozzy" Osbourne is an English vocalist, whose musical career has spanned over 40 years. Osbourne rose to prominence as lead singer of the pioneering English heavy metal band Black Sabbath, whose radically different, intentionally dark, harder sound helped spawn the heavy metal...
, Denny Laine
Denny Laine
Denny Laine is an English songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, guitarist, and lead singer of The Moody Blues' 1965 debut album "The Magnificent Moodies"; and, later, best known for his role as co-founder of Wings...
, Fritz Mcintyre
Fritz McIntyre
Fritz McIntyre is a British musician, most famous for his tenure as keyboard player in the original line-up of Simply Red.-Career:...
(keyboardist of Simply Red
Simply Red
Simply Red were a British soul band that sold more than 50 million albums over a 25-year career. Their style drew influences from blue-eyed soul, new romantic, rock, reggae and jazz...
), Christine Perfect (of Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac are a British–American rock band formed in 1967 in London.The only original member present in the band is its eponymous drummer, Mick Fleetwood...
), Robert Plant (born in West Brom and played in Brumbeat bands), Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes
Nick Rhodes is an English musician, is best known as the keyboardist of the pop rock band Duran Duran...
, Ranking Roger
Ranking Roger
Ranking Roger is an English musician. He was a vocalist in the 1980s two-tone band, The Beat and General Public...
, John Henry Rostill (bass guitarist/composer for The Shadows
The Shadows
The Shadows are a British pop group with a total of 69 UK hit-charted singles: 35 as 'The Shadows' and 34 as 'Cliff Richard and the Shadows', from the 1950s to the 2000s. Cliff Richard in casual conversation with the British rock press frequently refers to the Shadows by their nickname: 'The Shads'...
), Matt Skinner, Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick
Dave Swarbrick is an English folk musician and singer-songwriter. He has been described by Ashley Hutchings as 'the most influential [British] fiddle player bar none' and his style has been copied or developed by almost every British, and many World folk violin players that have followed him...
(of Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention
Fairport Convention are an English folk rock and later electric folk band, formed in 1967 who are still recording and touring today. They are widely regarded as the most important single group in the English folk rock movement...
), John Taylor
Nigel John Taylor
John Taylor is an English musician who is best known as the bass guitarist and co-founder of pop rock band Duran Duran....
, Roger Taylor
Roger Andrew Taylor
Roger Andrew Taylor is an English double grammy award winning musician who is best known as the drummer of British rock band Duran Duran from their inception until 1985, and again from 2001 onwards, the band selling in excess of 80 million records worldwide in the process.-Early life:Taylor began...
, Ruby Turner
Ruby Turner
Ruby Turner is a British R&B and soul singer, songwriter and actress. In 1967, she relocated with her family to Handsworth, Birmingham, England when she was nine years old...
, Ted Turner
Ted Turner
Robert Edward "Ted" Turner III is an American media mogul and philanthropist. As a businessman, he is known as founder of the cable news network CNN, the first dedicated 24-hour cable news channel. In addition, he founded WTBS, which pioneered the superstation concept in cable television...
(guitar/vocals, Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash
Wishbone Ash are a British rock band who achieved success in the early and mid-1970s. Their popular records included Wishbone Ash , Argus , There's the Rub , and New England...
), Peter Overend Watts, Steve Winwood
Steve Winwood
Stephen Lawrence "Steve" Winwood is an English international recording artist whose career spans nearly 50 years. He is a songwriter and a musician whose genres include soul music , R&B, rock, blues-rock, pop-rock, and jazz...
and Dave Mason
Dave Mason
David Thomas "Dave" Mason is an English singer, songwriter, and guitarist from Worcester, who first found fame with the rock band Traffic...
.
Famous instruments
Birmingham-based tape recorder company, Bradmatic Ltd helped develop and manufacture the MellotronMellotron
The Mellotron is an electro-mechanical, polyphonic tape replay keyboard originally developed and built in Birmingham, England in the early 1960s. It superseded the Chamberlin Music Master, which was the world's first sample-playback keyboard intended for music...
. Over the next 15 years, the Mellotron had a major impact on rock
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
music and is a trademark sound of the progressive rock bands.
Contemporary bands, labels and recording studios
Many varieties of music from metal to punk and electronic to dance continue to cross-fertilise in the city with acts such as The Bluebeat Arkestra, Bentley Rhythm AceBentley Rhythm Ace
Bentley Rhythm Ace are a duo formed in Birmingham, England in 1997, consisting of Mike Stokes and Richard March.-Career:The band was formed in Birmingham by Richard March, formerly with the group Pop Will Eat Itself, and Mike Stokes, with guest appearances by James Atkin, a member of indie band EMF...
, The Streets
The Streets
The Streets were a British rap/garage project from Birmingham, United Kingdom, led by vocalist and multi-instrumentalist Mike Skinner and has included a myriad of other contributors most notably drummer Johnny Drum Machine, vocalist Kevin Mark Trail and the Italian-American beatmaker Leroy.The...
, Rockers Hi-Fi
Rockers Hi-Fi
Rockers Hi-Fi were an electronic dub/dance outfit formed in Birmingham, England in 1992 as Original Rockers. In 1994 they changed their name to Rockers Hi-Fi...
, Editors
Editors
Editors are a British indie rock band based in Birmingham, who formed in 2002. Previously known as Pilot, The Pride and Snowfield, the band consists of Tom Smith , Chris Urbanowicz , Russell Leetch and Ed Lay .Editors have so far released two platinum studio...
, Surgeon
Surgeon (musician)
Surgeon is the pseudonym of Anthony Child, an English electronic musician and DJ. Child releases music on his own labels Counterbalance and Dynamic Tension. Established imprints, such as Tresor, Soma, and Harthouse, have also released Surgeon's original material and remixes...
, Mistys Big Adventure, 51 Breaks, Munchbreak, and Broadcast
Broadcast (band)
Broadcast are an electronic music band, founded in Birmingham, England. Original members were Trish Keenan , Roj Stevens , Tim Felton and James Cargill . Various drummers played with the band, including Keith York, Phil Jenkins, Jeremy Barnes, Steve Perkins, and Neil Bullock...
.
Notable dance music record labels include Network Records
Network Records
Network Records was a rave music independent record label, based in Birmingham, England, during the late 1980s and mid 1990s.The label concentrated on bringing Garage music to Britain & taking UK House music to a new level as well as playing a massive role in the development of Early Hardcore and...
(of Altern8 fame), Different Drummer
Leftfoot
Leftfoot is a musical event. It started life in Birmingham's Medicine Bar and the Bulls Head Public House in the suburb of Moseley in the late 1990s.Primarily an acid jazz night, many other major music styles such as hip hop, funk and dub are included....
, Urban Dubz Records, Badger Promotions, Jibbering Records, Iron Man, Earko, FHThttp://www.fuckinghardtechno.co.uk and Munchbreak Records. Punch Records
Punch Records
Punch Records is UK's premier Music & Arts development agency - It produces concerts, festivals, tours and innovative educational & outreach programmes for young people-History:...
, in the Custard Factory, run street dance and DJ training courses.
While there is a thriving music scene in the city and a number of rehearsal studios such as Robannas, Rich Bitch and Madhouse (many of which have their own demo recording studios) there are very few working at a professional level. Until Circle Studios opened its 3000 square feet (278.7 m²) facility in 2007, aside from private studios in the hands of UB40 and Ocean Colour Scene and smaller studios such as Artisan Audio, there was no high-end recording studio operating in Birmingham.
Independent shops in the city selling records
Gramophone record
A gramophone record, commonly known as a phonograph record , vinyl record , or colloquially, a record, is an analog sound storage medium consisting of a flat disc with an inscribed, modulated spiral groove...
include Swordfish Records, Tempest Records, Jibbering Records, Punch Records, Old School Daze, Dance Music Finder Records, Three Shades Records and Hard To Find Records, which is the original 'dance music finder' in the UK and now trades as one the largest vinyl record and DJ shops in the world. Summit Records sells mainly reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
and doubles as an Afro-Caribbean
British African-Caribbean community
The British African Caribbean communities are residents of the United Kingdom who are of West Indian background and whose ancestors were primarily indigenous to Africa...
barbers.
Contemporary Venues and Music Festivals
Birmingham's current music venues - large and small - include Symphony Hall at the ICC, The National Indoor ArenaNational Indoor Arena
The National Indoor Arena is a large indoor arena and is owned by the NEC Group. It is situated in central Birmingham, England and was opened in 1991, as the largest indoor arena at the time in the UK...
, O2 Academy Birmingham, the National Exhibition Centre
National Exhibition Centre
The National Exhibition Centre is an exhibition centre in Birmingham, England. It is near junction 6 of the M42 motorway, and is adjacent to Birmingham International Airport and Birmingham International railway station. It has 20 interconnected halls, set in grounds of 628 acres making it the...
, The CBSO Centre, The Glee Club, The Adrian Boult Hall at Birmingham Conservatoire, The Yardbird, mac
Mac (Birmingham)
mac is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which host plays, concerts and films shows; and holds art exhibitions, music classes, and workshops for all ages.The centre re-opened...
(Midlands Arts Centre) at Cannon Hill Park, The Custard Factory
Custard Factory
The Custard Factory is an arts and media production centre in Birmingham, England .Located on the redeveloped site of the Bird's Custard factory in the industrial district of Digbeth, it is home to a community of businesses, primarily with an artistic and media slant, but also including...
, the Drum Arts Centre
Drum Arts Centre
The Drum is an arts centre in the Newtown area of Aston, in Birmingham, England, established as the United Kingdom's national centre for Black British and British Asian arts. Activities include music, drama, spoken word, visual arts, comedy and dance....
, The Jam House, and pub and bar venues including The Rainbow (Digbeth), The Bull's Head (in the suburb of Moseley), The Cross (Moseley), the Ceol Castle (Moseley), the Hare and Hounds (Kings Heath), Scruffy Murphy's, the Jug of Ale, The Queen's Arms (city centre), a branch of Barfly
Barfly (club)
Barfly is a chain of live music venues nightclubs in the UK operating as part of the MAMA Group. It has venues in Brighton, London & York. They regularly feature live music. Their club nights tend to feature rock, alternative and independent music...
and the Hibernian. Leftfoot
Leftfoot
Leftfoot is a musical event. It started life in Birmingham's Medicine Bar and the Bulls Head Public House in the suburb of Moseley in the late 1990s.Primarily an acid jazz night, many other major music styles such as hip hop, funk and dub are included....
is a soul jazz and funk night that has featured on BBC Radio 1.
Party in the Park
Party in the Park
Party in the Park is the generic name given to music concerts organised by various radio stations and local authorities in England and Wales, typically in large parks during the summer.-Leeds' Party in the Park:...
is Birmingham's largest annual music festival, at Cannon Hill Park
Cannon Hill Park
Cannon Hill Park is a park located in south Birmingham, England. It is the most popular park in the city, covering consisting of formal, conservation, woodland and sports areas...
, where up to 30,000 revellers of all ages listen to popular chart music.
The newest music festival that Birmingham has to offer is Gigbeth, first piloted in March 2006 and now annual on the first weekend of November in Digbeth. Gigbeth is a music festival celebrating local independent music from the West Midlands.
Jazz
JazzJazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
is popular in the city. Many venues support a jazz scene in the city, often promoted by Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz is a voluntary, non-profit organisation responsible for promoting and commissioning some of the most exciting jazz and related contemporary music in the UK.- Organisation :Tony Dudley-Evans has been Chairman of Birmingham Jazz since 1992....
. Jazz musicians associated with the city include Andy Hamilton
Andy Hamilton (saxophonist)
Andy Raphael Thomas Hamilton MBE is a Jamaican-born British jazz saxophonist and composer.Hamilton was born in Port Maria, Jamaica, and learnt to play saxophone on a bamboo instrument...
, Soweto Kinch
Soweto Kinch
Soweto Kinch is a British jazz alto saxophonist and rapper.Born in London, England to a Barbadian father, who is a playwright, and British-Jamaican mother, who is an actress, Kinch began playing saxophone at the age of nine after learning clarinet at Allfarthing Primary School, Wandsworth, SW London...
, Julian Arguelles
Julian Argüelles
Julian Argüelles is a saxophonist. He is currently a member of the HR Big Band in Frankfurt am Main, Germany....
, Ronnie Ball
Ronnie Ball
Ronald "Ronnie" Ball was a jazz pianist born in Birmingham, England.Ball moved to London in 1948, and in the early 1950s he worked both as a bandleader and under Ronnie Scott, Tony Kinsey, Victor Feldman, and Harry Klein...
, Tony Kinsey
Tony Kinsey
Cyril Anthony 'Tony' Kinsey is an English jazz drummer and composer.Kinsey held jobs on trans-Atlantic ships while young, studying while at port with Bill West in New York City and with local musician Tommy Webster in Birmingham. He had a close association with Ronnie Ball early in his life; the...
, Douglas "Dougle" Robinson and King Pleasure and the Biscuit Boys.
The busiest promoter of contemporary jazz in the city is the voluntary organisation Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz
Birmingham Jazz is a voluntary, non-profit organisation responsible for promoting and commissioning some of the most exciting jazz and related contemporary music in the UK.- Organisation :Tony Dudley-Evans has been Chairman of Birmingham Jazz since 1992....
, which mounts dozens of concerts every year featuring local, national and international artists in venues such as the CBSO Centre, the mac arts centre, the Glee Club and Symphony Hall. It enjoys the support of the city council and the Arts Council of England and also commissions new works from both local performers and performers of international standing.
History
The Birmingham Triennial Music FestivalBirmingham Triennial Music Festival
The Birmingham Triennial Musical Festival, in Birmingham, England, founded in 1784, was the longest-running classical music festival of its kind. Its last performance was in 1912.-History:...
took place from 1784–1912 and was considered the grandest of its kind throughout Britain. Music was written for the festival by Mendelssohn
Felix Mendelssohn
Jakob Ludwig Felix Mendelssohn Barthóldy , use the form 'Mendelssohn' and not 'Mendelssohn Bartholdy'. The Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians gives ' Felix Mendelssohn' as the entry, with 'Mendelssohn' used in the body text...
, Gounod, Sullivan
Arthur Sullivan
Sir Arthur Seymour Sullivan MVO was an English composer of Irish and Italian ancestry. He is best known for his series of 14 operatic collaborations with the dramatist W. S. Gilbert, including such enduring works as H.M.S. Pinafore, The Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado...
, Dvořák
Antonín Dvorák
Antonín Leopold Dvořák was a Czech composer of late Romantic music, who employed the idioms of the folk music of Moravia and his native Bohemia. Dvořák’s own style is sometimes called "romantic-classicist synthesis". His works include symphonic, choral and chamber music, concerti, operas and many...
, Bantock
Granville Bantock
Sir Granville Bantock was a British composer of classical music.-Biography:Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was a Scottish doctor. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at...
and most notably Elgar, who wrote four of his most famous choral pieces for Birmingham.
Albert William Ketèlbey was born in Alma Street, Aston on 9 August 1875, the son of a teacher at the Vittoria School of Art. Ketèlbey attended the Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music
Trinity College of Music is one of the London music conservatories, based in Greenwich. It is part of Trinity Laban.The conservatoire is inheritor of elegant riverside buildings of the former Greenwich Hospital, designed in part by Sir Christopher Wren...
, where he beat the runner-up, Gustav Holst
Gustav Holst
Gustav Theodore Holst was an English composer. He is most famous for his orchestral suite The Planets....
, for a musical scholarship.
John Joubert
John Joubert (composer)
John Joubert is a British composer of South African descent, particularly of choral works. He has lived in Moseley, a suburb of Birmingham, England, for over 40 years. A music academic at the universities of Hull and Birmingham for 36 years, Joubert took early retirement in 1986 to concentrate on...
, the distinguished composer of choral works, joined the University of Birmingham's Music Department as Senior Lecturer in 1962, retiring in 1986 to concentrate on his music. During that time he had written the second of his operas and was working on his third, as well as completing a number of orchestral and chamber works. In 1995 the orchestra of Birmingham Composers Forum put on what was only the second UK performance of his Second Symphony, dating from 1970.
Groups, venues and orchestras
City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra
The City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra is a British orchestra based in Birmingham, England. The Orchestra's current chief executive, appointed in 1999, is Stephen Maddock...
's home venue is Symphony Hall, which in acoustic terms is widely considered to be one of the greatest concert halls of the twentieth century and also hosts concerts by many visiting orchestras.
Other professional orchestras based in the city include the Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group
Birmingham Contemporary Music Group is a chamber orchestra based in Birmingham, England. BCMG specialises in the performance of new and contemporary music. BCMG performs regularly at the CBSO Centre and Symphony Hall in Birmingham...
, a chamber orchestra specialising in modern music with some world premieres; the Royal Ballet Sinfonia
Royal Ballet Sinfonia
The Royal Ballet Sinfonia is the Orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet.The Sinfonia appears with Birmingham Royal Ballet in its home town, in London and around the UK, and frequently appears with The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House and on tour...
, who give concert performances under music director Barry Wordsworth in addition to playing for the Birmingham Royal Ballet; and Ex Cathedra
Ex Cathedra
Ex Cathedra is a British choir and early music ensemble based in Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. It performs choral music spanning the 15th to 21st centuries, and regularly commissions new works....
, one of the country's oldest and most respected early-music
Early music
Early music is generally understood as comprising all music from the earliest times up to the Renaissance. However, today this term has come to include "any music for which a historically appropriate style of performance must be reconstructed on the basis of surviving scores, treatises,...
and Baroque
Baroque music
Baroque music describes a style of Western Classical music approximately extending from 1600 to 1760. This era follows the Renaissance and was followed in turn by the Classical era...
period instrument ensembles
Musical ensemble
A musical ensemble is a group of people who perform instrumental or vocal music. In classical music, trios or quartets either blend the sounds of musical instrument families or group together instruments from the same instrument family, such as string ensembles or wind ensembles...
.
Birmingham is an important centre for musical education as the home of the UCE Birmingham Conservatoire
UCE Birmingham Conservatoire
Birmingham Conservatoire is an international conservatoire and a major concert venue, its main platform being the Adrian Boult Hall. Prior to 1989, it was known as the Birmingham School of Music and was one of the faculties of Birmingham City University, the only one out of the nine conservatoires...
, founded in 1859. The Royal College of Organists
Royal College of Organists
The Royal College of Organists or RCO, is a charity and membership organisation based in the United Kingdom, but with members around the world...
is based in Digbeth
Digbeth
Digbeth is an area of Birmingham, England. Following the destruction of the Inner Ring Road, Digbeth is now considered a district within Birmingham City Centre. As part of the Big City Plan, Digbeth is undergoing a large redevelopment scheme that will regenerate the old industrial buildings into...
. Birmingham City Council
Birmingham City Council
The Birmingham City Council is the body responsible for the governance of the City of Birmingham in England, which has been a metropolitan district since 1974. It is the most populated local authority in the United Kingdom with, following a reorganisation of boundaries in June 2004, 120 Birmingham...
appoint the Birmingham City Organist
Birmingham City Organist
Birmingham City Organist is an appointment made by the City of Birmingham. The purpose of the appointment is to have an organist for civic occasions and who will provide a series of free public organ recitals....
to provide a free series of weekly public organ recitals.
The Birmingham Royal Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet is one of the three major ballet companies of the United Kingdom, alongside the Royal Ballet and the English National Ballet....
resides in the city as does the Elmhurst School for Dance
Elmhurst School for Dance
Elmhurst School for Dance is one of the foremost classical ballet schools in the United Kingdom and is the official associate school of the Birmingham Royal Ballet. First established in Camberley, Surrey, the school is the oldest established vocational dance school in the United Kingdom and...
, based in Edgbaston, and which claims to be the world's oldest vocational dance school.
Birmingham's professional opera company - the Birmingham Opera Company
Birmingham Opera Company
Birmingham Opera Company is a professional opera company based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England, that specialises in innovative and avant-garde productions of the operatic repertoire, often in unusual venues....
- specialises in staging innovative performances in unusual venues (in 2005 it performed Monteverdi's Il Ritorno d'Ulisse in Patria in a burnt-out ice rink in the Chinese Quarter). Its artistic director, Graham Vick, has also directed at La Scala
La Scala
La Scala , is a world renowned opera house in Milan, Italy. The theatre was inaugurated on 3 August 1778 and was originally known as the New Royal-Ducal Theatre at La Scala...
, Milan, the Metropolitan Opera
Metropolitan Opera
The Metropolitan Opera is an opera company, located in New York City. Originally founded in 1880, the company gave its first performance on October 22, 1883. The company is operated by the non-profit Metropolitan Opera Association, with Peter Gelb as general manager...
in New York and the Royal Opera House
Royal Opera House
The Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
in London.
Visiting opera companies such as Opera North
Opera North
Opera North is an English opera company based in Leeds. The company's home theatre is the Leeds Grand Theatre, but it also presents regular seasons in several other cities, at the Theatre Royal, Nottingham, the Lowry Centre, Salford Quays and the Theatre Royal, Newcastle...
and Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
perform regularly at the Hippodrome
Birmingham Hippodrome
The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End...
.
Birmingham's other principal classical music venues include The National Indoor Arena
National Indoor Arena
The National Indoor Arena is a large indoor arena and is owned by the NEC Group. It is situated in central Birmingham, England and was opened in 1991, as the largest indoor arena at the time in the UK...
(NIA), CBSO Centre
CBSO Centre
The CBSO Centre is the administrative home and rehearsal centre of the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, the City of Birmingham Symphony Choruses , and Birmingham Contemporary Music Group on the corner of Berkley Street and Holliday Street, in Birmingham, England.It...
, Adrian Boult Hall
Adrian Boult Hall
The Adrian Boult Hall is the main concert hall of the Birmingham Conservatoire in central Birmingham, England. It is named after the conductor Adrian Boult....
(ABH) at Birmingham Conservatoire, the Barber Concert Hall at the Barber Institute of Fine Arts
Barber Institute of Fine Arts
The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is an art gallery and concert hall in Birmingham, England. It is situated in purpose-built premises on the campus of the University of Birmingham....
and Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall
Birmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...
. Concerts also regularly take place in churches around the city including St Phillips Cathedral
St Philip's Cathedral, Birmingham
The Cathedral Church of Saint Philip is the Church of England cathedral and the seat of the Bishop of Birmingham. Built as a parish church and consecrated in 1715, St Philip's became the cathedral of the newly formed Diocese of Birmingham in the West Midlands in 1905...
, St Paul's
St Paul's Square, Birmingham
St Paul’s Square, is a Georgian square in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham, England, named after the church in its centre. It is the last remaining Georgian Square in the city....
in the Jewellery Quarter
Jewellery Quarter
The Jewellery Quarter is an area of Birmingham City Centre, England, situated in the south of the Hockley area. It is covered by the Ladywood district. There is a population of around 3,000 people in a area....
, St Alban's in Highgate and The Oratory
Birmingham Oratory
The Birmingham Oratory is a Catholic oratory and church, on the Hagley Road, in the Birmingham suburb of Edgbaston in England.-History:The church was constructed between 1907 and 1910 in the Baroque style as a memorial to Cardinal Newman, founder of the English Oratory...
on the Hagley Road.
Historical authors
- W.V. AwdryW.V. AwdryWilbert Vere Awdry, OBE , was an English clergyman, railway enthusiast and children's author, better known as the Reverend W. Awdry and creator of Thomas the Tank Engine, who starred in Awdry's acclaimed Railway Series.-Life:Awdry was born at Ampfield vicarage near Romsey, Hampshire in 1911...
wrote his first Thomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank EngineThomas the Tank Engine is a fictional steam locomotive in The Railway Series books by the Reverend Wilbert Awdry and his son, Christopher. He became the most popular character in the series, and the accompanying television spin-off series, Thomas and Friends.Thomas is a tank engine, painted blue...
in Kings NortonKings NortonKings Norton is an area of Birmingham, England. It is also a Birmingham City Council ward within the formal district of Northfield.-History:...
and remained in the city until 1965. - W. H. AudenW. H. AudenWystan Hugh Auden , who published as W. H. Auden, was an Anglo-American poet,The first definition of "Anglo-American" in the OED is: "Of, belonging to, or involving both England and America." See also the definition "English in origin or birth, American by settlement or citizenship" in See also...
grew up in HarborneHarborneHarborne is an area three miles southwest from Birmingham city centre, England. It is a Birmingham City Council ward in the formal district and in the parliamentary constituency of Birmingham Edgbaston.- Geography :...
, Birmingham, and taught for many years at schools in nearby Malvern. Local references include Bristol Street in "As I walked out one evening" and his panegyric of 'The view from Birmingham to Wolverhampton' in "Letter to Lord Byron". - Barbara CartlandBarbara CartlandDame Barbara Hamilton Cartland, DBE, CStJ , was an English author, one of the most prolific authors of the 20th century...
was born in EdgbastonEdgbastonEdgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
in 1901. The family home was on Cartland Road, Kings Heath. - Henry Francis CaryHenry Francis CaryHenry Francis Cary was a British author and translator, best known for his blank verse translation of The Divine Comedy of Dante.-Biography:Henry Francis Cary was born in Gibraltar, on 6 December 1772...
, a translator best known for his version of Dante's Divine Comedy, was educated at grammar schools in Sutton Coldfield and Birmingham during the 1780s and published a volume of Odes & Sonnets while at the latter. - Charles DickensCharles DickensCharles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature's most iconic...
once gave readings in Birmingham Town HallBirmingham Town HallBirmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...
and was the sixteenth President of The Birmingham and Midland InstituteBirmingham and Midland InstituteThe Birmingham and Midland Institute , now on Margaret Street in the city centre of Birmingham, England was a pioneer of adult scientific and technical education and today offers Arts and Science lectures, exhibitions and concerts. It is a registered charity...
. - Leonard CottrellLeonard CottrellLeonard Eric Cottrell was a prolific and popular British author and journalist. The majority of his books were popularisations of the archaeology of ancient Egypt.-Details:...
was a Brummie author, archaeologist, commentator, and producer for the British Broadcasting Corporation. He also worked as a war correspondent for the Royal Air ForceRoyal Air ForceThe Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
, and later wrote many work on ancient history became the editor of the Concise Encyclopaedia of Archaeology (1965). - Arthur Conan DoyleArthur Conan DoyleSir Arthur Ignatius Conan Doyle DL was a Scottish physician and writer, most noted for his stories about the detective Sherlock Holmes, generally considered a milestone in the field of crime fiction, and for the adventures of Professor Challenger...
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/doyle lived in AstonAstonAston is an area of the City of Birmingham, in the West Midlands of England. Lying to the north-east of the Birmingham city centre, Aston constitutes an electoral ward within the council constituency of Ladywood.-History:...
from about Spring 1879 - early 1882 and some of his works include references to people or places he knew there. - John Drinkwater, a Georgian poetGeorgian PoetryGeorgian Poetry was the title of a series of anthologies showcasing the work of a school of English poetry that established itself during the early years of the reign of King George V of the United Kingdom....
and playwright who came to the city in 1901, he eventually became the first manager of Birmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory TheatreBirmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
. - D. J. EnrightD. J. EnrightDennis Joseph Enright was a British academic, poet, novelist and critic, and general man of letters.-Life:He was born in Royal Leamington Spa, Warwickshire, and educated at Leamington College and Downing College, Cambridge...
(born in Leamington Spa) was an Extramural Tutor at Birmingham University between 1950-3. There are references to the city and Black CountryBlack CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
in his early poetry. - Edgar GuestEdgar GuestEdgar Albert Guest was a prolific English-born American poet who was popular in the first half of the 20th century and became known as the People's Poet.In 1891, Guest came with his family to the United States from England...
was born in the city in 1881, moved to America with his family as a boy and achieved fame there as a poet. - Alfred Hayes was born in Wolverhampton and educated in Birmingham. Secretary of the Birmingham and Midland InstituteBirmingham and Midland InstituteThe Birmingham and Midland Institute , now on Margaret Street in the city centre of Birmingham, England was a pioneer of adult scientific and technical education and today offers Arts and Science lectures, exhibitions and concerts. It is a registered charity...
from 1889–1912, he wrote the school song for King Edward's School, BirminghamKing Edward's School, BirminghamKing Edward's School is an independent secondary school in Birmingham, England, founded by King Edward VI in 1552. It is part of the Foundation of the Schools of King Edward VI in Birmingham, and is widely regarded as one of the most academically successful schools in the country, according to...
and was author of several volumes of poetry. - Gerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley HopkinsGerard Manley Hopkins, S.J. was an English poet, Roman Catholic convert, and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous 20th-century fame established him among the leading Victorian poets...
taught under John Henry Newman at the Oratory School in EdgbastonEdgbastonEdgbaston is an area in the city of Birmingham in England. It is also a formal district, managed by its own district committee. The constituency includes the smaller Edgbaston ward and the wards of Bartley Green, Harborne and Quinton....
when he graduated and converted to Catholicism in 1867. It was here that he first developed his ideas of inscape and instressInscapeInscape is a concept derived by Gerard Manley Hopkins from the ideas of the medieval philosopher Duns Scotus.[Hopkins] felt that everything in the universe was characterized by what he called inscape, the distinctive design that constitutes individual identity. This identity is not static but...
that were to prove central to his poetic practice.
- William HuttonWilliam Hutton (Birmingham historian)William Hutton was a poet and the first significant historian of Birmingham, England.-Biography:...
1723-1815, moved from Derby to Birmingham at a young age and became well known in the region as a poet and documented the history of the region in many books. - Washington IrvingWashington IrvingWashington Irving was an American author, essayist, biographer and historian of the early 19th century. He was best known for his short stories "The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle", both of which appear in his book The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. His historical works...
http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/irving stayed with his sister in Birmingham for some time, during which he wrote stories including Rip van WinkleRip Van Winkle"Rip Van Winkle" is a short story by the American author Washington Irving published in 1819, as well as the name of the story's fictional protagonist. Written while Irving was living in Birmingham, England, it was part of a collection entitled The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon...
and The Legend of Sleepy HollowThe Legend of Sleepy Hollow"The Legend of Sleepy Hollow" is a short story by Washington Irving contained in his collection The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent., written while he was living in Birmingham, England, and first published in 1820...
. Bracebridge Hall, or, The Humorists, A Medley is based on Aston HallAston HallAston Hall is a municipally owned Jacobean-style mansion in Aston, Birmingham, England. Washington Irving used it as the model for Bracebridge Hall in his stories in The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon.-History:...
. - Samuel JohnsonSamuel JohnsonSamuel Johnson , often referred to as Dr. Johnson, was an English author who made lasting contributions to English literature as a poet, essayist, moralist, literary critic, biographer, editor and lexicographer...
's father, a Lichfield bookseller, ran a bookstall in Birmingham market at the start of the 18th century. Johnson stopped in the city between the end of 1732 and the start of 1734, writing articles for the Birmingham JournalBirmingham Journal (eighteenth century)The Birmingham Journal was the first newspaper known to have been published in Birmingham, England. Little is known of it as few records remain, but a single copy survives in Birmingham Central Library: Number 28, dated Monday May 21, 1733...
, with whose editor he was lodging. During this time he also wrote his first book, A Voyage to Abyssinia, which was published in the city. - Edward LowburyEdward LowburyEdward Joseph Lister Lowbury was a pioneering and innovative English medical bacteriologist and pathologist, and also a published poet.-Life:...
came to work as a microbiologist at Birmingham Accident HospitalBirmingham Accident HospitalBirmingham Accident Hospital formerly known as Birmingham Accident Hospital and Rehabilitation Centre was established in April 1941 as Birmingham's response to two reports, the British Medical Association's Committee on Fractures and the Interdepartmental Committee on the Rehabilitation of...
in 1949. Between then and his departure from the city in 2001 he wrote his most distinguished poetry, as well as the topographical collection Birmingham! Birmingham! - Louis MacNeiceLouis MacNeiceFrederick Louis MacNeice CBE was an Irish poet and playwright. He was part of the generation of "thirties poets" which included W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender and Cecil Day-Lewis; nicknamed "MacSpaunday" as a group — a name invented by Roy Campbell, in his Talking Bronco...
lectured in classics at the University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
in the early 1930s, and wrote several poems about the city, including parts of Autumn Journal. - Charles MadgeCharles MadgeCharles Madge , was an English poet, journalist and sociologist, now most remembered as a founder of Mass-Observation.As a sociologist, he co-founded Mass-Observation with Tom Harrisson in 1937, an endeavour which would occupy more of his time than literature...
was professor of Sociology at Birmingham University from 1950-70. During the 1930s he made a reputation as a Left-leaning progressive poet. - Constance Naden was renowned for her scientific and philosophical essays and judged by William Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
to be among the top eight women poets of the 19th century. She died at the age of 31 in 1889 and a medal named after her is annually awarded by Birmingham University for the best MA thesis in the Faculty of Arts. - John Henry Newman, theologian and churchman, lived in the city almost continuously from 1847 to his death. Among his better known work written there was the autobiographical Apologia Pro Vita SuaApologia Pro Vita SuaApologia Pro Vita Sua is the classic defence by John Henry Newman of his religious opinions, published in 1864 in response to what he saw as an unwarranted attack on him, the Catholic priesthood, and Roman Catholic doctrine by Charles Kingsley. The work quickly became a bestseller and has...
and the poem The Dream of GerontiusThe Dream of GerontiusThe Dream of Gerontius, popularly called just Gerontius, is a work for voices and orchestra in two parts composed by Edward Elgar in 1900, to text from the poem by John Henry Newman. It relates the journey of a pious man's soul from his deathbed to his judgment before God and settling into Purgatory...
. - Charles Talbut OnionsCharles Talbut OnionsCharles Talbut Onions was an English grammarian and lexicographer and the fourth editor of the Oxford English Dictionary....
: Birmingham born and educated, he was a prominent etymologist who worked on the Oxford English DictionaryOxford English DictionaryThe Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...
and was general editor of its shorter version. - Lenrie PetersLenrie PetersLenrie Leopold Wilfred Peters ) was a Gambian surgeon, novelist, and poet.-Background:Peters was born in Bathurst to Lenrie Ernest Ingram Peters and Kezia Rosemary. Lenrie Sr. was a Sierra Leone Creole of West Indian or black American origin. Kezia Rosemary was a Gambian Creole of Sierra Leonean...
, the Gambian surgeon and poet, worked at Birmingham Accident Hospital in the early 1960s, during which his early poetry and one novel were written. - Enoch PowellEnoch PowellJohn Enoch Powell, MBE was a British politician, classical scholar, poet, writer, and soldier. He served as a Conservative Party MP and Minister of Health . He attained most prominence in 1968, when he made the controversial Rivers of Blood speech in opposition to mass immigration from...
was born and raised in Birmingham, and was a significant poet as well as a politician.
- John Rogers was born and educated in Deritend and went on to become the compiler and editor of the 1537 Matthew BibleMatthew BibleThe Matthew Bible, also known as Matthew's Version, was first published in 1537 by John Rogers, under the pseudonym "Thomas Matthew". It combined the New Testament of William Tyndale, and as much of the Old Testament as he had been able to translate before being captured and put to death...
, parts of which he also translated. This was the first complete authorised version of the BibleBibleThe Bible refers to any one of the collections of the primary religious texts of Judaism and Christianity. There is no common version of the Bible, as the individual books , their contents and their order vary among denominations...
to be printed in the English language and the most influential of the early English printed Bibles, providing the basis for the later Great BibleGreat BibleThe Great Bible was the first authorized edition of the Bible in English, authorized by King Henry VIII of England to be read aloud in the church services of the Church of England. The Great Bible was prepared by Myles Coverdale, working under commission of Sir Thomas Cromwell, Secretary to Henry...
and the Authorized King James Version. Rogers' 1548 translation of Philipp MelanchthonPhilipp MelanchthonPhilipp Melanchthon , born Philipp Schwartzerdt, was a German reformer, collaborator with Martin Luther, the first systematic theologian of the Protestant Reformation, intellectual leader of the Lutheran Reformation, and an influential designer of educational systems...
's Weighing of the Interim, possibly translated in DeritendDeritendDeritend is an historic area of Birmingham, England, built around a crossing point of the River Rea. It is first mentioned in 1276. Today Deritend is usually considered to be part of Digbeth.-History:...
, is the first book by a Birmingham man known to have been printed in England. - Sax RohmerSax RohmerArthur Henry Sarsfield Ward , better known as Sax Rohmer, was a prolific English novelist. He is best remembered for his series of novels featuring the master criminal Dr...
, author of the Fu ManchuFu ManchuDr. Fu Manchu is a fictional character introduced in a series of novels by British author Sax Rohmer during the first half of the 20th century...
thrillers , was the pseudonym of Arthur Henry Ward, who was born in Birmingham but pursued his writing career in London and then New York. - J. R. R. TolkienJ. R. R. TolkienJohn Ronald Reuel Tolkien, CBE was an English writer, poet, philologist, and university professor, best known as the author of the classic high fantasy works The Hobbit, The Lord of the Rings, and The Silmarillion.Tolkien was Rawlinson and Bosworth Professor of Anglo-Saxon at Pembroke College,...
spent most of his childhood in the Birmingham area, and his work is much influenced by his time there http://www.birmingham.gov.uk/tolkien; his parents also came from Birmingham. - R.F. Willetts, Professor of Greek and Chairman of the School of Hellenic and Roman Studies at the University of Birmingham, wrote several works on Ancient CreteAncient CreteThe term Ancient Crete refers to the civilization that existed on the island of Crete, just south of Greece, in the Mediterranean Sea. From around 3000–1100 B.C., inhabitants known as Minoans controlled the island of Crete and ruled the island autonomously...
. He was also a published poet and translator. - Although never a resident of the city, the philosopher Ludwig WittgensteinLudwig WittgensteinLudwig Josef Johann Wittgenstein was an Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic, the philosophy of mathematics, the philosophy of mind, and the philosophy of language. He was professor in philosophy at the University of Cambridge from 1939 until 1947...
had close links with Birmingham, visiting the city regularly in the years leading up to World War IWorld War IWorld War I , which was predominantly called the World War or the Great War from its occurrence until 1939, and the First World War or World War I thereafter, was a major war centred in Europe that began on 28 July 1914 and lasted until 11 November 1918...
to stay with his friend David PinsentDavid PinsentDavid Hume Pinsent was a friend and collaborator of the Austrian philosopher Ludwig Wittgenstein. Wittgenstein described him as his first and only friend, and dedicated his Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus to Pinsent's memory....
in Selly ParkSelly ParkSelly Park is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb of Selly Park is located between the Bristol Road and the Pershore Road .-Toponymy:...
. It was in Paradise Street opposite Birmingham Town HallBirmingham Town HallBirmingham Town Hall is a Grade I listed concert and meeting venue in Victoria Square, Birmingham, England. It was created as a home for the Birmingham Triennial Music Festival established in 1784, the purpose of which was to raise funds for the General Hospital, after St Philip's Church became...
in 1913 that he dictated the typescript that would become Notes on Logic, his first philosophical work. Wittgenstein was to visit the city regularly again in the 1930s and 1940s, when he was part of a close circle of friends centred around George ThomsonGeorge Derwent ThomsonGeorge Derwent Thomson was an English classical scholar, Marxist philosopher, and scholar of the Irish language.-Classical scholar:...
and Nicholas Bachtin at the University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
, whose intellectual culture at the time was more outward looking than that at CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
, where he was based. - Emma Jane Worboise, known as Mrs Etherington Guyton, was born in Birmingham in 1825 and was well known for her many novels (including "Overdale", subtitled "The Story of a Pervert").
- John WyndhamJohn WyndhamJohn Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris was an English science fiction writer who usually used the pen name John Wyndham, although he also used other combinations of his names, such as John Beynon and Lucas Parkes...
, author of The Day of the TriffidsThe Day of the TriffidsThe Day of the Triffids is a post-apocalyptic novel published in 1951 by the English science fiction author John Wyndham Parkes Lucas Beynon Harris, under the pen-name John Wyndham. Although Wyndham had already published other novels using other pen-name combinations drawn from his lengthy real...
, The Midwich CuckoosThe Midwich CuckoosThe Midwich Cuckoos is a science fiction novel written by English author John Wyndham, published in 1957. It has been filmed twice as Village of the Damned in 1960 and 1995.-Plot summary:...
and many others, was born in nearby KnowleKnowleKnowle is a large village a few miles southeast of the town of Solihull, UK. Knowle lies within the historic county boundaries of Warwickshire, and since 1974 it has been part of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull within the West Midlands...
and lived in Edgbaston until he was eight years old. - Francis Brett YoungFrancis Brett YoungFrancis Brett Young was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and composer.-Life:Brett Young was born in Halesowen, Worcestershire. He schooled first at a private school in Sutton Coldfield...
was born in Halesowen and studied medicine at Birmingham University. It was only after he left the city in 1907 that he began writing the ‘Mercian novels’ that made him famous; in these Birmingham and the Black CountryBlack CountryThe Black Country is a loosely defined area of the English West Midlands conurbation, to the north and west of Birmingham, and to the south and east of Wolverhampton. During the industrial revolution in the 19th century this area had become one of the most intensely industrialised in the nation...
often figure, but under fictitious names.
Contemporary authors
- Gavin Bantock, grandson of the composer Granville BantockGranville BantockSir Granville Bantock was a British composer of classical music.-Biography:Granville Ransome Bantock was born in London. His father was a Scottish doctor. He was intended by his parents for the Indian Civil Service but was drawn into the musical world. His first teacher was Dr Gordon Saunders at...
, was born in Barnt GreenBarnt GreenBarnt Green is a village and civil parish in the Bromsgrove District of Worcestershire, England, located immediately south of Birmingham, with a population at the 2001 census of 1,733.-Origins:...
in 1939 and educated at Kings Norton Grammar School and Birmingham Theatre School. He has lived in Japan since 1969 but his poetry continues to be published in England. - Jonathan CoeJonathan CoeJonathan Coe is an English novelist and writer. His work has an underlying preoccupation with political issues, although this serious engagement is often expressed comically in the form of satire. For example, What a Carve Up! reworks the plot of an old 1960s spoof horror film of the same name...
was born and raised in Birmingham, which is the setting of two of his novels The Rotters' Club and The Closed Circle. - Judith CutlerJudith CutlerJudith Cutler is a writer of crime fiction whose novels are mostly in three series: ten in the series about amateur sleuth and lecturer Sophie Rivers; six about Detective Sergeant Kate Power; plus a forthcoming series with Caffy Tyler...
's crime novels are set in present-day Birmingham. - Andrew Bidmead's political polemic 'The Last of England' is set in Birmingham
- Roshan Doughe became the fifth Poet Laureate for Birmingham in October 2000.
- Julie Boden became the seventh Poet Laureate for Birmingham in October 2002.
- Roy FisherRoy FisherRoy Fisher is a British poet and jazz pianist. He was one of the first British writers to absorb the poetics of William Carlos Williams and the Black Mountain poets into the British poetic tradition. Fisher was a key precursor of the British Poetry Revival.Fisher was born in Handsworth, Birmingham...
was born, educated and taught in Birmingham, before moving to the Department of American Studies at Keele UniversityKeele UniversityKeele University is a campus university near Newcastle-under-Lyme in Staffordshire, England. Founded in 1949 as an experimental college dedicated to a broad curriculum and interdisciplinary study, Keele is most notable for pioneering the dual honours degree in Britain...
in 1971. Also a poet, his first significant work was City, an evocation of Birmingham. Other local references occur in the "Handsworth Liberties" sequence. - Roi KwabenaRoi KwabenaDr. Roi Ankhkara Kwabena was a cultural anthropologist, who worked with all age ranges in Europe, Africa, Latin-America and the Caribbean for over 30 years....
(1956–2008) lived continuously in the city from 1995 and was its sixth Poet Laureate (2001-2). He was also a story-teller, drummer and cultural ambassador. - David LodgeDavid Lodge (author)David John Lodge CBE, is an English author.In his novels, Lodge often satirises academia in general and the humanities in particular. He was brought up Catholic and has described himself as an "agnostic Catholic". Many of his characters are Catholic and their Catholicism is a major theme...
taught in the English Department at Birmingham University. In his novels, the city figues as Rummage. - Femi Oyebode, Professor of Psychiatry at the Queen Elizabeth Psychiatric Hospital, has published seven poetry volumes in Nigeria.
- Nick ToczekNick ToczekNick Toczek is a British writer and performer working variously as poet, journalist, magician, vocalist, lyricist and radio broadcaster. He was raised in Bradford and then took a degree in Industrial Metallurgy at Birmingham University where he began reading and publishing his poetry...
, performance poetPerformance poetryPerformance poetry is poetry that is specifically composed for or during a performance before an audience. During the 1980s, the term came into popular usage to describe poetry written or composed for performance rather than print distribution.-History:...
and children's writer, studied industrial metallurgy at Birmingham University between 1969–72 and lived in the city again between 1974-9, when he began publishing innovatory poetry and prose. - Benjamin ZephaniahBenjamin ZephaniahBenjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is an English writer and dub poet. He is a well-known figure in contemporary English literature, and was included in The Times list of Britain's top 50 post-war writers in 2008....
is a black dub poetDub poetryDub poetry is a form of performance poetry of West Indian origin, which evolved out of dub music consisting of spoken word over reggae rhythms in Jamaica in the 1970s....
from HandsworthHandsworth, West MidlandsHandsworth is an inner city area of Birmingham in the West Midlands, England. The Local Government Act 1894 divided the ancient Staffordshire parish of Handsworth into two urban districts: Handsworth and Perry Barr. Handsworth was annexed to the county borough of Birmingham in Warwickshire in 1911...
who tackles prejudice, poverty and injustice.
The city also has literary publishers such as Tindal Street Press
Tindal Street Press
Tindal Street Press is a Birmingham-based independent publisher of contemporary literary fiction, with a particular focus on writers born, or living, in Birmingham and the West Midlands...
and hosts The Young Book Reader UK festival, as well as an online literary community called Birmingham Words.
Famous stage names
Kenneth Peacock Tynan and David EdgarDavid Edgar (playwright)
David Edgar is a British playwright and author who has had more than sixty of his plays published and performed on stage, radio and television around the world, making him one of the most prolific dramatists of the post-1960s generation in Great Britain.He was resident playwright at the Birmingham...
are possibly Birmingham's most famous members of the theatrical scene. The Birmingham School of Acting
Birmingham School of Acting
Birmingham School of Acting is a drama school located in Birmingham, England....
trains actors in the city.
Theatres
There are many theatres in Birmingham. The four largest professional theatres are the Alexandra TheatreAlexandra Theatre
The New Alexandra Theatre, commonly known as The Alex, is a theatre on Station Street in Birmingham, England.Construction of the theatre commenced in 1900 and was completed in 1901. The architects were Owen & Ward. The theatre was opened on 27 May 1901 as the Lyceum Theatre on John Bright Street;...
("the Alex"), Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre
Birmingham Repertory Theatre is a theatre and theatre company based on Centenary Square in Birmingham, England...
("The Rep"), the Birmingham Hippodrome
Birmingham Hippodrome
The Birmingham Hippodrome is a theatre situated on Hurst Street in the Chinese Quarter of Birmingham, England.Although best known as the home stage of the Birmingham Royal Ballet, it also hosts a wide variety of other performances including visiting opera and ballet companies, touring West End...
and the Old Rep
Old Rep
The Old Rep is a theatre located in Station Street in Birmingham, England, managed by Birmingham City Council.Construction began in October 1912 and it was opened on February 15, 1913 with a performance of Twelfth Night and then a reading by its founder, Barry Jackson, of a poem written by John...
. The mac
Mac (Birmingham)
mac is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which host plays, concerts and films shows; and holds art exhibitions, music classes, and workshops for all ages.The centre re-opened...
and Drum arts centres, the Crescent Theatre
Crescent Theatre
The Crescent Theatre is a small, amateur theatre run mostly by volunteers, based in Sheepcote Street, Brindleyplace in Birmingham, England.It houses one of the oldest theatre companies in the city: The Crescent Theatre Company. The Crescent also plays host to numerous visiting companies every year,...
and the Old Joint Stock Theatre
Old Joint Stock Theatre
The Old Joint Stock Theatre is a pub theatre located at 4 Temple Row West in the centre of Birmingham, England.The theatre seats 80 in a flexible arrangement and is located on the first floor of the Old Joint Stock pub - a grade II listed building built as the Birmingham Joint Stock Bank by...
also host many professional plays. Sutton Coldfield Town Hall
Sutton Coldfield Town Hall
Sutton Coldfield Town Hall is a former hotel and council building in Sutton Coldfield, England. The building is a Grade A locally listed building....
has theatre facilities and hosts numerous amateur productions. The actors in the long-running Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
serial The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
live in and around Birmingham, where the supposedly rural programme is recorded.
Birmingham also hosts a number of independent and community theatre
Community theatre
Community theatre refers to theatrical performance made in relation to particular communities—its usage includes theatre made by, with, and for a community...
companies, including Banner Theatre
Banner theatre
Banner Theatre is a community theatre company based in Birmingham, England. The theatre was founded in 1974.-History:Founded in 1974, the theatre works with marginalized and disadvantaged communities using a combination of documentary theatre, music and recorded voices...
which was founded in the city over thirty years ago. Round midnight ltd produce work for schools, colleges and arts centres as well as film, television and radio. For ten years, Birmingham's Fierce! festival has presented a performance art festival. It has recently begun commissioning new works from British and international performers.
Comedy
Famous comedians from Birmingham include Sid FieldSid Field
-Early Years:Sid Field was an English comedy entertainer. He was born Sidney Arthur Field in Ladywood, Birmingham, son of Albert and Bertha . Field spent most of his childhood at 152 Osborn Road, Sparkbrook, Birmingham.Field had entertainment in his blood from an early age...
, Tony Hancock
Tony Hancock
Anthony John "Tony" Hancock was an English actor and comedian.-Early life and career:Hancock was born in Southam Road, Hall Green, Birmingham, England, but from the age of three was brought up in Bournemouth, where his father, John Hancock, who ran the Railway Hotel in...
, Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott
Jasper Carrott OBE is a British comedian, actor, television presenter and personality.-Early life:...
and Shazia Mirza
Shazia Mirza
Shazia Mirza is a British comedian and columnist from Birmingham, England.-Background:Shazia was born as the eldest daughter in Birmigham to Pakistani parents, Mohammed and Sarwat Mirza...
. Other leading figures include Jo Enright (Lab Rats, Phoenix Nights, Time Trumpet), Natalie Haynes, James Cook, Weakest Link winner Andy White and Barbara Nice (the creation of actress Janice Connolly). The Glee Club and Birmingham Jongleurs are both prominent comedy venues. The Drum Arts Centre
Drum Arts Centre
The Drum is an arts centre in the Newtown area of Aston, in Birmingham, England, established as the United Kingdom's national centre for Black British and British Asian arts. Activities include music, drama, spoken word, visual arts, comedy and dance....
and the mac
Mac (Birmingham)
mac is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which host plays, concerts and films shows; and holds art exhibitions, music classes, and workshops for all ages.The centre re-opened...
also host monthly comedy sessions while smaller independent comedy promoters/ venues include The Cheeky Monkey Comedy Club (The Station pub, Kings Heath - and the city's longest running independent comedy club), plus The Laughing Sole (in Strichley) and Retort Cabaret (Kitchen Garden Cafe, Kings Heath) with other nights at Old Joint Stock Theatre (city centre), Library Theatre and Alexandra Theatre (Real Deal Comedy).
The Birmingham Comedy Festival was founded in 2001 and runs over 10 days at the beginning of October with a line-up that combines leading TV names with rising talent from Birmingham and the West Midlands. The 2008 festival (Oct 3-12), in association with Wye Valley Brewery and supported by BirminghaMail.net, features Frankie Boyle, Jimmy Carr, Lee Evans, Ken Dodd and Dylan Moran.
History of painting and illustration
David CoxDavid Cox (artist)
- David Cox Junior :David Cox had a son of the same name who followed his calling as a watercolour painter. He was born in Dulwich, but educated in Hereford. He exhibited in London from 1827, although today he is known mainly through association with his father. He died in Streatham on 4 December...
was a famous Birmingham watercolour artist and President of the Associated Artists in Water Colour in 1810.
An "Academy of Arts" was organised in 1814, and an exhibition of paintings took place in Union Passage that year. A School of Design, or "Society of Arts", was started Feb. 7, 1821; Sir Robert Lawley, Bt
Robert Lawley, 1st Baron Wenlock
Robert Lawley, 1st Baron Wenlock was a British landowner and politician, the eldest son of Sir Robert Lawley, 5th Baronet and Jane Thompson.Attended the military school at Brienne, France, at the time Napoleon Bonaparte was there....
(the first Lord Wenlock) presenting a valuable collection of casts from Grecian sculpture. The first exhibition was held in 1826, in a building on New Street.
The first Ballot for pictures to be chosen from the Annual Exhibition of Local Artists took place in 1835.
Edward Burne-Jones
Edward Burne-Jones
Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet was a British artist and designer closely associated with the later phase of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, who worked closely with William Morris on a wide range of decorative arts as a founding partner in Morris, Marshall, Faulkner, and Company...
was born in Birmingham, spent his first twenty years in the city, and later became the president of the Birmingham Society of Artists (which dates from 1826). He strongly influenced the Birmingham Group, which formed the link between late Romanticism in the visual arts and the Birmingham Surrealists
Birmingham Surrealists
The Birmingham Surrealists were an informal grouping of artists and intellectuals associated with the Surrealist movement in art, based in Birmingham, England from the 1930s to the 1950s....
who were prominent in the city's arts in the early and mid 20th century.
The Scottish painter William Gear
William Gear
William Gear was a painter, born on 2 August 1915 in Methil in the south-east of Fife, Scotland. Born into a mining family, he studied at Edinburgh College of Art before travelling to Paris to study with Fernand Léger....
(1915–97) had studied with Fernand Léger
Fernand Léger
Joseph Fernand Henri Léger was a French painter, sculptor, and filmmaker. In his early works he created a personal form of Cubism which he gradually modified into a more figurative, populist style...
in Paris and after World War 2 became the only British member of the Surrealist-influenced COBRA
COBRA (avant-garde movement)
COBRA was a European avant-garde movement active from 1948 to 1951. The name was coined in 1948 by Christian Dotremont from the initials of the members' home cities: Copenhagen , Brussels , Amsterdam .-History:...
, the most avant-garde movement of the time. Between 1964-75 he was head of the Faculty of Fine Art at Birmingham College of Art and continued to live in the city until his death.
The Birmingham Arts Lab
Birmingham Arts Lab
The Birmingham Arts Laboratory or Arts Lab was an experimental arts centre and artist collective based in Birmingham, England from 1968 to 1982 – an "arts and performance space dedicated to radical research into art and creativity"...
at Gosta Green
Gosta Green
Gosta Green is an area in the city of Birmingham, England. It lies at the edge of the city centre, about three-quarters of a mile to the north-east of Birmingham New Street station via Corporation St or the High St....
was an important centre for alternative comic art in the late 1970s; in the 1990s the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery staged a historical retrospective of the work made there.
History of photography
Victorian photographer Sir Benjamin StoneJohn Benjamin Stone
Sir John Benjamin Stone , known as Benjamin, was a British Conservative politician, and noted photographer.Stone was born in Aston, Birmingham the son of a local glass manufacturer...
(1838–1914) lived and worked in Erdington, Birmingham. The Birmingham Central Library now holds the Benjamin Stone Collection. The Victorian "father of art photography", Oscar Gustave Rejlander
Oscar Gustave Rejlander
Oscar Gustave Rejlander was a pioneering Victorian art photographer and an expert in photomontage...
lived and worked at nearby Wolverhampton, and was a founder member of the Birmingham Photographic Society. The BPS later elected Henry Peach Robinson
Henry Peach Robinson
Henry Peach Robinson was an English pictorialist photographer best known for his pioneering combination printing - joining multiple negatives to form a single image, the precursor to photomontage...
as a member.
The famous photographer Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt
Bill Brandt was an influential British photographer and photojournalist known for his high-contrast images of British society and his distorted nudes and landscapes.-Career and life:...
made an extensive series of photographs for the Bournville Village Trust in Birmingham, between 1939 and 1943. These have been published as the book Homes Fit For Heroes (Dewi Lewis, 2004). The post-war changes in the cityscape, especially the clearance of older housing and the changes to the central markets, were documented by Phyllis Nicklin (1913?-1969).
In late 1979, Derek Bishton (now Consultant Editor for The Daily Telegraph), John Reardon (became Picture Editor of The Observer), and Brian Homer were three community photographers and activists in Hnadsworth, and they facilitated the 'Handsworth Self Portrait' series of self-portraits on the streets of Handsworth, Birmingham. Other notable photographers include Pogus Caesar
Pogus Caesar
Pogus Caesar is a British artist, television producer and director. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England.-History:...
, his OOM Gallery Archive holds in excess of 14,000 photographic images from 1982–present. Caesar's recent exhibitions include From Jamaica Row - Rebirth of the Bullring, Muzik Kinda Sweet and That Beautiful Thing, his work is represented in Birmingham Central Library
Birmingham Central Library
Birmingham Central Library is the main public library in Birmingham, England, and the largest non-national library in Europe. It is managed by Birmingham City Council...
.
The city is home to famed fashion photographer Garazi Gardner.
History of typography
John BaskervilleJohn Baskerville
John Baskerville was an English businessman, in areas including japanning and papier-mâché, but he is best remembered as a printer and typographer.-Life:...
(1706–1775) was a noted type designer, the developer of wove paper, and typographic businessman in fine printing. His Baskerville font is still in wide use today. The Birmingham Guild and School of Handicrafts
Birmingham Guild and School of Handicrafts
Birmingham Guild of Handicraft was an arts & crafts organisation operating in Birmingham, England. Its motto was 'By Hammer and Hand'.It began as a loose part of the Birmingham Kyrle Society, then became a more fully formed group within the Kyrle Society in 1890, under the leadership of the...
operated a fine arts small-press, the Press of the Birmingham Guild of Handicraft. From 1895 until 1919 this Press produced books in the Kelmscott Press tradition of the Arts and Crafts Movement
Arts and Crafts movement
Arts and Crafts was an international design philosophy that originated in England and flourished between 1860 and 1910 , continuing its influence until the 1930s...
. George Kynoch's Kynoch Press (1876–1981) was a Birmingham printing house that substantially contributed to the development of a British typography. The teacher Leonard Jay (1888–1963) made the Birmingham School of Printing a profound influence on a generation of typographers, and set the pattern for printing education worldwide. More recent small-press printers included F.E.Pardoe and David Wishart.
Contemporary artists
GraffitiGraffiti
Graffiti is the name for images or lettering scratched, scrawled, painted or marked in any manner on property....
(or "spraycan art") culture appeared in the early 1980s, with the area featuring in Channel 4
Channel 4
Channel 4 is a British public-service television broadcaster which began working on 2 November 1982. Although largely commercially self-funded, it is ultimately publicly owned; originally a subsidiary of the Independent Broadcasting Authority , the station is now owned and operated by the Channel...
documentary Bombing. Local artists who use urban Birmingham as their canvas (this is illegal, and regarded by some as vandalism) have included Chu and Goldie
Goldie
Clifford Joseph Price, better known as Goldie is an English electronic music artist, disc jockey, visual artist and actor. He is well known for his innovations in the jungle and drum and bass music genres, having previously gained exposure for his work as a graffiti artist...
. Street art competitions are still regularly held at the Custard Factory.
A variety of contemporary public art is located around the city centre, most of it created by artists from outside the Midlands. The construction of the Bull Ring Shopping Centre included three light wand
Wand
A wand is a thin, straight, hand-held stick of wood, stone, ivory, or metal. Generally, in modern language, wands are ceremonial and/or have associations with magic but there have been other uses, all stemming from the original meaning as a synonym of rod and virge, both of which had a similar...
s which were erected at the main entrance, a huge mural on a glass façade
Facade
A facade or façade is generally one exterior side of a building, usually, but not always, the front. The word comes from the French language, literally meaning "frontage" or "face"....
located at the entrance facing New Street station
Birmingham New Street Station
Birmingham New Street is the main railway station serving Birmingham, England, located in the city centre. It is an important hub for the British railway system, being served by a number of important long-distance and cross-country lines, including the Birmingham loop of the West Coast Main Line,...
and three fountains in St Martin's Square in the shape of cube
Cube
In geometry, a cube is a three-dimensional solid object bounded by six square faces, facets or sides, with three meeting at each vertex. The cube can also be called a regular hexahedron and is one of the five Platonic solids. It is a special kind of square prism, of rectangular parallelepiped and...
s, which are illuminated at night in different colours.
Contemporary African Caribbean artists and photographers who have exhibited internationally include Pogus Caesar
Pogus Caesar
Pogus Caesar is a British artist, television producer and director. He was born in St Kitts, West Indies, and grew up in Birmingham, England.-History:...
, Keith Piper
Keith Piper (artist)
Keith Piper is a British artist, curator, critic and academic. He was a founder member of the BLK Art Group, an association of black British art students, mostly based in the West Midlands region of the UK. His work explores multi-media elements such as tape/slide, sound and video within an...
and the late Donald Rodney
Donald Rodney
Donald Gladstone Rodney was a British artist. He was a leading figure in Britain's BLK Art Group of the 1980s and became recognised as "one of the most innovative and versatile artists of his generation." Rodney's work appropriated images from the mass media, art and popular culture to explore...
.
Current art galleries
- The Barber Institute of Fine Arts is housed at the University of BirminghamUniversity of BirminghamThe University of Birmingham is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Birmingham Medical School and Mason Science College . Birmingham was the first Redbrick university to gain a charter and thus...
and although only a small gallery it was declared 'Gallery of the Year' by the Good Britain Guide 2004. - Birmingham has one of the largest collections of Pre-Raphaelite art in the world at The Birmingham Museum & Art GalleryBirmingham Museum & Art GalleryBirmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...
. - The Ikon GalleryIkon GalleryThe Ikon Gallery is an English gallery of contemporary art, located in Brindleyplace, Birmingham. It is housed in the Grade II listed, neo-gothic former Oozells Street Board School, designed by John Henry Chamberlain in 1877. The gallery's current director is Jonathan Watkins.Ikon was set up to...
is housed in a neo-gothic former school in BrindleyplaceBrindleyplaceBrindleyplace is a large mixed-use canalside development, in the Westside district of Birmingham, England. It is often written erroneously as Brindley Place, the name of the street around which it is built...
and showcases modern artModern artModern art includes artistic works produced during the period extending roughly from the 1860s to the 1970s, and denotes the style and philosophy of the art produced during that era. The term is usually associated with art in which the traditions of the past have been thrown aside in a spirit of...
. Number 9 The Gallery is close by. - The Halcyon GalleryHalcyon GalleryHalcyon Gallery has two art galleries in the United Kingdom. They are situated on New Bond Street and Bruton Street in Mayfair. In February 2008, Halcyon Gallery opened a five-storey contemporary gallery at 24 Bruton Street with a new exhibition by sculptor Lorenzo Quinn.In the summer of 2008,...
is located inside the International Convention CentreInternational Convention Centre, BirminghamThe International Convention Centre is a major conference venue in central Birmingham, England. The centre includes Symphony Hall and it faces Centenary Square. The building has another entrance leading to the canals of Birmingham. The Convention Quarter area, which includes Brindleyplace, is...
. It opened with a major retrospective of Robert LenkiewiczRobert LenkiewiczRobert Oscar Lenkiewicz was one of the South West England's most celebrated artists of modern times. Perennially unfashionable in high art circles, his work was nevertheless popular with the public...
, and has continued with exhibitions by artists as diverse as Rolf HarrisRolf HarrisRolf Harris, CBE, AM is an Australian musician, singer-songwriter, composer, painter and television personality.Born in Perth, Western Australia, Harris was a champion swimmer before studying art. He moved to England in 1952, where he started to appear on television programmes on which he drew the...
and L. S. LowryL. S. LowryLaurence Stephen Lowry was an English artist born in Barrett Street, Stretford, Lancashire. Many of his drawings and paintings depict nearby Salford and surrounding areas, including Pendlebury, where he lived and worked for over 40 years at 117 Station Road , opposite St...
. - The Waterhall gallery in the Birmingham Museum & Art GalleryBirmingham Museum & Art GalleryBirmingham Museum and Art Gallery is a museum and art gallery in Birmingham, England.Entrance to the Museum and Art Gallery is free, but some major exhibitions in the Gas Hall incur an entrance fee...
displays a regular showcase of modern art which includes local artists and others sometimes from the city's own extensive collection. - Harborne Gallery, the Royal Birmingham Society of ArtistsRoyal Birmingham Society of ArtistsThe Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is a learned society of artists and an art gallery based in the Jewellery Quarter in Birmingham, England. it is both a registered charity. and a registered company The Royal Birmingham Society of Artists or RBSA is a learned society of artists and an...
and the 'New Gallery' in St Paul's square also shows local artists. - The old Bird's Custard FactoryCustard FactoryThe Custard Factory is an arts and media production centre in Birmingham, England .Located on the redeveloped site of the Bird's Custard factory in the industrial district of Digbeth, it is home to a community of businesses, primarily with an artistic and media slant, but also including...
is now one of the largest media and arts villages in Europe, with occasional exhibitions and modern sculptureSculptureSculpture is three-dimensional artwork created by shaping or combining hard materials—typically stone such as marble—or metal, glass, or wood. Softer materials can also be used, such as clay, textiles, plastics, polymers and softer metals...
and water features. - OOM Gallery online collaborates with the private, public and voluntary sector by developing and producing a diverse range of multimedia art projects.
- The macMac (Birmingham)mac is a non-profit arts centre situated in Cannon Hill Park, Edgbaston, Birmingham, England. It was established in 1962 and is registered as an educational charity which host plays, concerts and films shows; and holds art exhibitions, music classes, and workshops for all ages.The centre re-opened...
hosts theatre performances, concerts, literature and poetry showcases, courses, film screenings and small art exhibitions. - The Drum Arts CentreDrum Arts CentreThe Drum is an arts centre in the Newtown area of Aston, in Birmingham, England, established as the United Kingdom's national centre for Black British and British Asian arts. Activities include music, drama, spoken word, visual arts, comedy and dance....
features works of African, Asian and Caribbean contemporary artists. - Selly OakSelly OakSelly Oak is a residential suburban district in south-west Birmingham, England. The suburb is bordered by Bournbrook and Selly Park to the north-east, Edgbaston and Harborne to the north, Weoley Castle and Weoley Hill to the west, and Bournville to the south...
ball park is home to many graffiti murals that change on a regular basis. Other graffiti art can be seen across the city on disused buildings and canal towpaths as well as subways.
There are a variety of other small and private galleries in the city.
Major arts events
From 1997 the city has hosted an annual arts festival ArtsFestArtsFest
ArtsFest is an annual arts festival held in September in Birmingham, England.Since 1997 ArtsFest has brought together free short demonstrations of dance, music, film and theatre to concert halls, theatres, and open-air stages in various parts of central Birmingham...
during September, where families can enjoy many of the city's arts, for free. It is said to be the largest free arts festival in the UK. In December 2006 the City Council announced that it would no longer hold Artsfest. http://icbirmingham.icnetwork.co.uk/mail/news/columnists/thestirrer/news/tm_method=full%26objectid=18192354%26siteid=50002-name_page.html, but it continued in 2008 under the support of Brindley Place, Centro, Kerrang Radio and of course, Birmingham City Council. There are a number of events scheduled for the forthcoming months in Birmingham http://www.bebirmingham.org.uk/events.php.