Jeff Beck - Apache and Sleepwalk

While he was as innovative as Jimmy Page, as tasteful as Eric Clapton, and nearly as visionary as Jimi Hendrix, Jeff Beck never achieved the same commercial success as any of those contemporaries, primarily because of the haphazard way he approached his career. After Rod Stewart left the Jeff Beck Group in 1971, Beck never worked with a charismatic lead singer who could have helped sell his music to a wide audience. Furthermore, he was simply too idiosyncratic, moving from heavy metal to jazz fusion within a blink of an eye. As his career progressed, he became more fascinated by automobiles than guitars, releasing only one album during the course of the '90s. All the while, Beck retained the respect of fellow guitarists, who found his reclusiveness all the more alluring.

Click here to see the Full Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine (ALLMUSIC)

Jeff Healey Band - While My Guitar Gently Weeps - Live At Montreux 1997

What made Jeff Healey different from other blues-rockers was also what kept some listeners from accepting him as anything other than a novelty -- the fact that the blind guitarist played his Fender Stratocaster on his lap, not standing up. With the guitar in his lap, Healey could make unique bends and hammer-ons, making his licks different and more elastic than most of the competition. Unfortunately, his material leaned toward standard AOR blues-rock, which rarely let him cut loose, but when he did, his instrumental prowess could be shocking.

Healey lost his sight at the age of one, after developing eye cancer. He began playing guitar when he was three years old and began performing with his band Blues Direction at the age of 17. Healey formed the Jeff Healey Band in 1985, featuring bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen. This trio released one single on its own Forte record label, which led to a contract with Arista Records. the Jeff Healey Band released their debut album, See the Light, in 1988 and the guitarist immediately developed a devoted following in blues-rock circles. Featuring the hit single "Angel Eyes," the record went platinum in the U.S. While the Jeff Healey Band's subsequent records were popular, none were as successful as the debut.

As the 21st century dawned, Healey began to change his direction. He taught himself to play the trumpet and began to lean toward the kind of traditional 1920s and '30s jazz that had always fascinated him. He released two classic jazz albums, 2002's Among Friends and 2004's Adventures in Jazzland, on his own HealeyOphonic label, and a third traditional jazz outing with It's Tight Like That, which appeared on Stony Plain in 2006. And while he continued to do shows in his earlier blues-rock style, he increasingly gigged with his jazz combo, the Jazz Wizards. In 2008, a month before the release of his last studio-recorded blues album, Mess of Blues, Healey died from cancer. Songs from the Road, a collection of live blues-rock performances from 2006 and 2007, was released by the Ruf imprint in 2009, nearly 18 months after Healey's death. His final studio jazz album, Last Call, was issued by Stony Plain in April 2010.

Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Jeff Healey and the Jazz Wizards - I Would Do Anything For You

What made Jeff Healey different from other blues-rockers was also what kept some listeners from accepting him as anything other than a novelty -- the fact that the blind guitarist played his Fender Stratocaster on his lap, not standing up. With the guitar in his lap, Healey could make unique bends and hammer-ons, making his licks different and more elastic than most of the competition. Unfortunately, his material leaned toward standard AOR blues-rock, which rarely let him cut loose, but when he did, his instrumental prowess could be shocking.

Healey lost his sight at the age of one, after developing eye cancer. He began playing guitar when he was three years old and began performing with his band Blues Direction at the age of 17. Healey formed the Jeff Healey Band in 1985, featuring bassist Joe Rockman and drummer Tom Stephen. This trio released one single on its own Forte record label, which led to a contract with Arista Records. the Jeff Healey Band released their debut album, See the Light, in 1988 and the guitarist immediately developed a devoted following in blues-rock circles. Featuring the hit single "Angel Eyes," the record went platinum in the U.S. While the Jeff Healey Band's subsequent records were popular, none were as successful as the debut.

As the 21st century dawned, Healey began to change his direction. He taught himself to play the trumpet and began to lean toward the kind of traditional 1920s and '30s jazz that had always fascinated him. He released two classic jazz albums, 2002's Among Friends and 2004's Adventures in Jazzland, on his own HealeyOphonic label, and a third traditional jazz outing with It's Tight Like That, which appeared on Stony Plain in 2006. And while he continued to do shows in his earlier blues-rock style, he increasingly gigged with his jazz combo, the Jazz Wizards. In 2008, a month before the release of his last studio-recorded blues album, Mess of Blues, Healey died from cancer. Songs from the Road, a collection of live blues-rock performances from 2006 and 2007, was released by the Ruf imprint in 2009, nearly 18 months after Healey's death. His final studio jazz album, Last Call, was issued by Stony Plain in April 2010.

Artist Biography by Stephen Thomas Erlewine

Mobile payments, IoT and wearables all the talk at Mobile World Congress

Source: Mobile payments, IoT and wearables all the talk at Mobile World Congress


Mobile World Congress may be over, but the dust is still settling from the biggest mobile event of the year.

With so many announcements before, during and after the event, it can be hard to separate the gold dust from the gimmicks. To help, here's our summary of some of the biggest mobile payments trends from the event, and what they mean for the industry in 2016 and beyond.

The Decline of Tablets and Smartwatches?
Trends can often be identified by what is missing and major tablet launches – once such a fixture of MWC – were conspicuous by their absence. Ever expanding smartphone screens have led to decreasing consumer demand for tablets, meaning decreasing profit margins for manufacturers. The result? Some industry commentators are claiming that the tablet market is no more but we'll have to wait for the full picture.

Similarly, there were no significant smartwatch announcements. Early adopters, however, needn't fear. The smartwatch is not dead, just resting. Barcelona marked the calm before the storm with developers and manufacturers refining and perfecting their offering. Rest assured, we can expect some big announcements in the second half of this year.

Virtual Reality & Tokenization
No tablets? No smartwatches? The hype that has traditionally surrounded these technologies may lead you to wonder how the organizers filled some 110,000 meters of exhibition space. It was a good job, then, that the launch of Samsung's Gear VR, HTC's Vive and the countless demos on the show floor has seen 2016 heralded as the year that virtual reality (VR) moved from a sci-fi pipe dream to our sofas.

VR was everywhere. Even at the Bell ID booth, where our VR demonstration was back by popular demand. The demo immersed delegates in the tokenization process, enabling them to see every step in the mobile contactless payments chain, where each player sits and how they interact with each other to deliver seamless, secured mobile payments for customers.

Tokenization itself also continued to make the headlines. For example, Giesecke and Devrient announced that it has integrated its cloud-based payments platform with the MasterCard Digital Enablement Service (MDES). This is undoubtedly good progress for tokenization, as it underpins its position as the technology for securing mobile payments.

However, by becoming a Token Service Provider, as Canadian debit network Interac recently did, issuing banks have the freedom to integrate with any payment scheme and therefore any mobile device or wearable. This ensures they can adapt to the complex and fluid dynamics of the mobile payments market, rather than be tied to a single payment scheme or original equipment manufacturer (OEM).

Mobile Payments
As expected, the mobile payments announcements came thick and fast. MasterCard confirmed that its biometric authentication system for mobile payments (popularly known as ‘Selfie Pay’ but also including fingerprint recognition) will soon be rolled out across the U.S., Canada and parts of Europe. The launch is in response to a successful trial in the Netherlands, where nine out of ten participants confirmed they would 'definitely' like to replace passwords with biometric authentication. As security concerns are often cited by consumers as a barrier for adoption, this is an important development for the industry.

PayPal also came to Barcelona armed with a big announcement. Its customers in the U.S. and Australia will now be able to make NFC payments through the PayPal Android mobile app, and consumers across Europe will be able to tap and pay using their phone through the Vodafone mobile wallet, thanks to a partnership between the two companies. This is a big moment for PayPal as it marks an expansion into the increasingly lucrative in-store contactless payments market, and also a vindication for NFC technology, which PayPal had previously rejected as being unsuitable for in-store payments.

But what of the various 'OEM Pay' platforms? Prior to the show, Samsung announced that Samsung Pay had hit over 5 million users in just five months. This figure is only going to head north with the platform set to launch in China in March and the U.K. later in 2016. Watch this space for various new market announcements from all the OEM Pay platforms throughout 2016.

Barcelona also heralded good news for banks looking for alternative ways to integrate with Android Pay. Bell ID announced that its customers worldwide can utilize its token service provider (TSP) software to enable and secure NFC payments functionality on Android phones. In addition, Oberthur Technologies confirmed that it will support Android Pay in Australia.

Internet of Things (IoT)
We were treated to a glimpse of how IoT technology and payments will intersect in the coming years, with the announcement that Visa is expanding its Visa Ready program to include manufacturers of wearables, automobiles, household appliances and clothing, to name just a few. This news also confirmed that tokenization technology will be key to securing these emerging payment technologies. Expect to hear much more on this at future events.

As one would expect and hope, there was also a lot of focus on security at MWC, particularly in the IoT sector. Rambus announced that it has expanded its technology to support in-field provisioning. This means that credentials can be secured and managed not only on the silicon chip in the factory, but also in the cloud when in the hands of the consumer. As we enter the IoT era, this flexibility will be key to supporting the growing requirements of trusted applications, including secure mobile banking, identity and entertainment.

Changing Face of Mobile
On a broader note, for many years Mobile World Congress focused on smartphones. 'Mobile', however, is becoming an increasingly broad concept, and this year's show was perhaps the biggest indicator of this trend. This increased diversity will play a central role in how we pay using our mobile devices, whatever they may be, now and in the years to come.

ZZ Top Waitin' for the Bus" and Jesus Just Left Chicago

This sturdy American blues-rock trio from Texas consists of Billy Gibbons (guitar), Dusty Hill (bass), and Frank Beard (drums). They were formed in 1970 in and around Houston from rival bands the Moving Sidewalks (Gibbons) and American Blues (Hill and Beard). Their first two albums reflected the strong blues roots and Texas humor of the band. Their third album (Tres Hombres) gained them national attention with the hit "La Grange," a signature riff tune to this day, based on John Lee Hooker's "Boogie Chillen." Their success continued unabated throughout the '70s, culminating with the year-and-a-half-long Worldwide Texas Tour.

Exhausted from the overwhelming workload, they took a three-year break, then switched labels and returned to form with Deguello and El Loco, both harbingers of what was to come. By their next album, Eliminator, and its worldwide smash follow-up, Afterburner, they had successfully harnessed the potential of synthesizers to their patented grungy blues groove, giving their material a more contemporary edge while retaining their patented Texas style. Now sporting long beards, golf hats, and boiler suits, they met the emerging video age head-on, reducing their "message" to simple iconography. Becoming even more popular in the long run, they moved with the times while simultaneously bucking every trend that crossed their path. As genuine roots musicians, they have few peers; Gibbons is one of America's finest blues guitarists working in the arena rock idiom -- both influenced by the originators of the form and British blues-rock guitarists like Peter Green -- while Hill and Beard provide the ultimate rhythm section support.

One of the few rock & roll group with its original members still aboard after four decades, ZZ Top play music that is always instantly recognizable, eminently powerful, profoundly soulful, and 100% American in derivation. They have continued to support the blues through various means, perhaps most visibly when they were given a piece of wood from Muddy Waters' shack in Clarksdale, MS. The group members had it made into a guitar, dubbed the "Muddywood," then sent it out on tour to raise money for the Delta Blues Museum. ZZ Top's support and link to the blues remains as rock solid as the music they play. A concert CD and DVD, Live from Texas, recorded in Dallas in 2007 and featuring a still vital band, were both released in 2008. The Rick Rubin and Gibbons-produced La Futura, the band's 15th studio album, and the group's first new studio outing since 2003's Mescalero, appeared in 2012.

Artist Biography by Cub Koda

ZZ Top - Official Web Site