Roots of Duran Duran

The Average White Band were a Scottish funk and R&B band that had a series of soul and disco hits between 1974 and 1980. They were best known for their million-selling instrumental track "Pick Up the Pieces", and their albums AWB and Cut the Cake. The band name was initially proposed by Bonnie Bramlett. They have influenced others, such as the Brand New Heavies, and been sampled by various musicians, including the Beastie Boys, Public Enemy, TLC, the Beatnuts, Too Short, Ice Cube, Eric B. & Rakim, Nas, A Tribe Called Quest, Christina Milian, and Arrested Development, making them the 15th most sampled act in history.

The Rapture is an American rock band from New York City, formed in 1998. During their first incarnation, the band consisted of Luke Jenner, Vito Roccoforte, and Gabriel Andruzzi. The classic lineup (1999–2009) added Mattie Safer playing bass and sharing lead vocal duties with Jenner. Safer and Jenner's harmonized choruses became part of the signature sound of the band, featuring on several of the band's more well known songs.

Spandau Ballet were an English pop band formed in Islington, London, in 1979. Inspired by the capital's post-punk underground dance scene, they emerged at the start of the 1980s as The Applause, playing "European dance music" as the house band for the "Blitz Kids" club night. They became one of the most successful groups of the New Romantic era of British pop, were members of the new pop movement, and were part of the Second British Invasion of the Billboard Top 40 in the 1980s, selling 25 million albums and having 23 hit singles worldwide. The band have had eight UK top 10 albums, including three greatest hits compilations and an album of re-recorded material. Their musical influences ranged from punk rock and soul music to the American crooners Frank Sinatra and Tony Bennett.

Peter Rauhofer was an Austrian-American disc jockey (DJ), remixer and producer who formerly worked under the moniker Club 69 as well as Size Queen. A native of Vienna, Austria, he was famous for a variety of his remixes including Cher's "Believe" and a number of Madonna's songs including "Nothing Really Matters", "American Life", "Nothing Fails", "Nobody Knows Me", "Get Together", "Impressive Instant" and "4 Minutes", as well as her collaboration with Britney Spears, "Me Against the Music" and various collaborations with Janet Jackson. He has also provided remixes for Donna Summer, Kylie Minogue, Whitney Houston, Jessica Simpson, Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, Yoko Ono, Pink, Tori Amos, Pet Shop Boys, Depeche Mode, Yazoo, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, Book of Love, Soft Cell, Duran Duran and Mariah Carey, among others. He was also behind the tribal house record label Star 69 and was a frequent producer of the label's releases.

Orson were an American rock band from California, formed in 2000. The band, despite being American, were much more successful in the United Kingdom.

Parlophone Records Limited is a German-British record label founded in Germany in 1896 by the Carl Lindström Company as Parlophon. The British branch of the label was founded on 8 August 1923 as the Parlophone Company Limited, which developed a reputation in the 1920s as a jazz record label. On 5 October 1926, the Columbia Graphophone Company acquired Parlophone's business, name, logo, and release library, and merged with the Gramophone Company on 31 March 1931 to become Electric & Musical Industries Limited (EMI). George Martin joined Parlophone in 1950 as assistant to Oscar Preuss, the label manager, taking over as manager in 1955. Martin produced and released a mix of recordings, including by comedian Peter Sellers, pianist Mrs Mills, and teen idol Adam Faith.

Talk Talk were an English post-rock and new wave band formed in 1981 by Mark Hollis, Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass), and Simon Brenner (keyboards). Initially a synth-pop group, Talk Talk's first two albums, The Party's Over (1982) and It's My Life (1984), reached top 40 in the UK and produced the international hit singles "Talk Talk", "Today", "It's My Life", and "Such a Shame".

AM is an American songwriter, musician, composer and producer born in Tulsa, Oklahoma, raised in New Orleans, and currently residing in the Los Angeles Echo Park neighborhood in California. AM or A.M. refers to his band and is also the moniker for this artist. Known for his seamless fusing of pop, soul, funk and world music, recording artist AM has released several critically acclaimed albums and toured the world. His newest collaboration with London artist/producer Shawn Lee, has been described by Rolling Stone as "hypnotic" and by Daytrotter as "intricate, groove-filled dreamscapes that are every bit organic and every bit mad genius."

Bernard Edwards was an American bassist known primarily for his work in disco with guitarist Nile Rodgers, with whom he co-founded Chic. In 2017, Edwards was selected as the 53rd greatest bassist of all time by Bass Player magazine.

Signing Off is the debut album by British reggae band UB40, released in the UK on 29 August 1980 by Dudley-based independent label Graduate Records. It was an immediate success in their home country, reaching number 2 on the UK albums chart, and made UB40 one of the many popular reggae bands in Britain, several years before the band found international fame. The politically-concerned lyrics struck a chord in a country with widespread public divisions over high unemployment, the policies of the recently elected Conservative party under Margaret Thatcher, and the rise of the National Front party, while the record's dub-influenced rhythms reflected the late 1970s influence in British pop music of West Indian music introduced by immigrants from the Caribbean after the Second World War, particularly reggae and ska – this was typified by the 2 Tone movement, at that point at the height of its success and led by fellow West Midlands act The Specials, with whom UB40 drew comparisons due to their multiracial band line-up and socialist views.

Paul Mark Oakenfold, formerly known mononymously as Oakenfold, is an English record producer, remixer, and electronic music DJ. He has created over 100 remixes for over 100 artists including U2, Moby, Madonna, Britney Spears, Massive Attack, The Cure, New Order, The Rolling Stones, The Stone Roses and Michael Jackson. Oakenfold was voted the No. 1 DJ in the World twice in 1998 and 1999 by DJ Magazine.