50 Most Influential Musicians

Photo: Courtesy EMP

Heart

Ann and Nancy Wilson, sisters who’d grown up in California and Taiwan before moving to Seattle, in the early ’70s joined—and then transformed—what would become not only the first rock band from Seattle that most of America had ever heard of (the Ventures were from Tacoma) but the first rock band most Americans knew of that was led by two women—at a time when a band with even one was remarkable. Few hard-rock groups of any era have had as brassy a lead singer as Ann Wilson, who could shriek like a police siren and purr like a panther. Fewer had the run of hits that Heart did in its first heyday; ’70s singles as down-the-middle irresistible as “Crazy on You,” “Magic Man,” and “Barracuda” would be rare at any time. And the band also had an unexpected commercial comeback with a series of mid-’80s power-ballads. Perhaps history won’t be kind to the overbuffed wiles of “What About Love?” or “All I Wanna Do Is Make Love to You,” but the upside is that the Wilsons pooled their proceeds to become partners until 1997 in the downtown studio now known as Bad Animals. One of the city’s (and nation’s) top recording facilities, it’s where Soundgarden’s Superunknown, R.E.M.’s Automatic for the People, and Alice in Chains’ self-titled album came together. _—Michaelangelo Matos _

Because of them… The male-dominated world of music realized that women could rock.
Now hear this: Ann’s throaty wail dueling with the lead guitars of “Crazy on You” from Dreamboat Annie is right up there with any Led Zeppelin epic.

Jimi Hendrix

After dropping out of Garfield High School, Hendrix learned in his early teens from soul men the Isley Brothers, Little Richard (who often claims Hendrix copped his style), and Ike and Tina Turner (whose feral sexuality no doubt made quite an impression). He went on in the late ’60s to mix rock, blues, funk, gospel, jazz, and soul, saturating the result with a psychedelically psychotic subtext of inner demons for a sound that has yet to be matched by anyone anywhere on the planet. His influence can be felt in every important musical movement that followed him, whether because of his sheer technical brilliance on the electric guitar—alternating between long wailing notes and rapid-fire attack—or his flamboyant way with the instrument, sometimes setting it on fire. Whereas most legends take a lifetime to make their mark, Hendrix’s output is confined to barely a decade—less than 10 years ended in a suffocating death brought on by an overdose of sleeping pills. He remains Seattle’s most reluctant and tragic prodigal son. —RR

Because of him… The guitar has been elevated to an importance in rock music rivaled only by the human voice.
Now hear this: The poetic masterwork “1983… (A Merman I Should Turn to Be)” from Electric Ladyland seems a conventional rock ballad until the 4:20 mark when it becomes a meditative dream for seven minutes before returning for a fiery climax.

Photo: Courtesy EMP

Quincy Jones

To call his output prodigious would be an understatement. A Northwest transplant, Jones played with Ray Charles while a student at Garfield High School (he was 14, Charles was 16). As instrumentalist, composer, arranger, bandleader, and producer, he has moved effortlessly from big band (in 1951 with Lionel Hampton) to bebop (in 1956 with Dizzy Gillespie) to pop (racking up number-one singles as producer as early as Lesley Gore’s “It’s My Party” in 1963). He became a household name in 1982 after producing Michael Jackson’s Thriller, still the top-selling album in history. He has won 27 Grammy Awards to date, and secured seven Oscar nominations (he was one of the producers of Steven Spielberg’s The Color Purple as well as the composer of its score). His production company is the force behind TV shows like The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and magazines including Vibe. He’s garnered praise worldwide for his work against famine (Remember that little song “We Are the World” back in 1985? That was Jones’s brainchild). Frank Sinatra, Peggy Lee, Chaka Khan, and many others have spent time in the recording studio with him. His local loyalties have never wavered. He recently stepped in along with Tacoma songstress Diane Schuur to save Ernestine Anderson’s home from foreclosure (Anderson is a personal friend he retained from the days when they were both members of Lionel Hampton’s band). —RR

Because of him… There are solid bridges between every entertainment medium and musical genre.
Now hear this: The kicky, insouciant “Soul Bossa Nova” from Big Band Bossa Nova lasted well beyond its 1962 recording date. Yet another example of Jones’s chameleonic wizardry, the track returned to popularity as the theme to the Austin Powers movies.

Eva Heinitz

She was known as the grande dame of the cello, a musician worthy of mention alongside Pablo Casals. In her native Berlin, Heinitz studied and played with the great European musicians and conductors of the pre-WWII years before becoming one of the first modern players of the viola da gamba. She joined the University of Washington’s music faculty in 1948, where she was a member of its string quartet and of the Collegium Musicum ensemble dedicated to music of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries. Her approach to early music performance was an extension of the formal tradition that played Bach and Telemann as if it belonged in a nineteenth-century concert hall, a philosophy that many later musicians and audiences criticized as an overly romantic imagining of the past. She taught both cello and viola da gamba at UW until she retired in 1976. Heinitz was known as a woman of strong opinions who was not afraid to express them. Yet, in spite of her outspoken manner, she was widely respected as both a player and a teacher. —JR

Because of her… A foundation was laid for the local early music boom that began in the 1970s.
Now hear this: Heinitz’s Authentic Baroque Music Performed in a Non-Authentic Manner demonstrates early music as she believed it should be played—flowing lines, connected phrases and all.

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Published: December 2008