Pretty Willie | en

Derek Vincent Smith (born November 25, 1981) is an American electronic music artist who performs under the stage name Pretty Lights. He is also the proprietor of an associated music label, Pretty Lights Music. Smith's music relies heavily on digital sampling and crosses many genres, forming a combination of "glitchy hip-hop beats, buzzing synth lines, and vintage funk and soul samples.". Pretty Lights' sound is generated by manipulating samples and organic beats using the Novation X-Station, monome and the Akai MPD32. Smith uses these digital controllers to program the music production software Ableton Live 8. When performing live, Smith uses...

Willie Bobo was the stage name of William Correa (February 28, 1934 – September 15, 1983),[1] a Latin and jazz percussionist of Puerto Rican ancestry. His youngest son, Eric Bobo (Eric Correa), is a percussionist with crew Cypress Hill. He also performed on the Beastie Boys' 1994 album Ill Communication, as well as doing the 1994 Lollapalooza tour with the group His grandson William Valen Correa, son of Bobo's first son William Gill Correa, is Co-Founder of the music-based non-profit organization HNDP Los Angeles. Willie Bobo, who grew up in Spanish Harlem, New York made his name in Latin Jazz...

Willie Ninja (April 12, 1961 – September 2, 2006) was an American dancer and choreographer best known for his appearance in the documentary film Paris is Burning. Ninja, who was gay, was a fixture of ball culture at Harlem's drag balls who took inspiration from sources as far-flung as Fred Astaire and the world of haute couture to develop a unique style of dance and movement. He caught the attention of Paris is Burning director Jennie Livingston, who featured Ninja prominently in the film. The film, a critical and box office success, served as a springboard for Ninja. He parlayed...

Blind Willie McTell (born William Samuel McTier; May 5, 1898 – August 19, 1959) was a Piedmont and ragtime blues singer and guitarist. He played with a fluid, syncopated fingerstyle guitar technique, common among many exponents of Piedmont blues, although, unlike his contemporaries, he came to use twelve-string guitars exclusively. McTell was also an adept slide guitarist, unusual among ragtime bluesmen. His vocal style, a smooth and often laid-back tenor, differed greatly from many of the harsher voice types employed by Delta bluesmen, such as Charley Patton. McTell embodied a variety of musical styles, including blues, ragtime, religious music and...

Pretty Balanced played from Nov 2004 to Feb 2010. For the last nine months of their existence, they were known as The Alphabet. They showcased a new sound that's been called piano chamber rock, rock electronica, and finally by the band, Ctrl+Alt+tronica: the amalgamation of classical instruments, primarily piano, violin, double bass, and contemporary ones- vocals, drums and plenty of electronics. On 18 April 2009, the band announced on its site that it was no longer Pretty Balanced, but would instead be performing under the name The Alphabet. On the band's website, Shimer says "it was a long time coming;...