Roots of Little River Band

America is an American rock band formed in 1970 by Dewey Bunnell, Dan Peek, and Gerry Beckley. The trio met as sons of US Air Force personnel stationed in London, where they began performing live. Achieving significant popularity in the 1970s, the trio was famous for its close vocal harmonies and light acoustic folk rock sound. The band released a string of hit albums and singles, many of which found airplay on pop and soft rock stations.

Thin Lizzy were an Irish rock band formed in Dublin in 1969. The band initially consisted of bass guitarist, lead vocalist, and principal songwriter Phil Lynott, drummer Brian Downey, guitarist Eric Bell, and organist Eric Wrixon, although Wrixon left after a few months. Bell left at the end of 1973 and was briefly replaced by Gary Moore, who himself was replaced in mid-1974 by dual lead guitarists: Scott Gorham, who remained with the band until their break-up in 1983, and Brian Robertson, who remained with the band until 1978 when Moore re-joined. Moore left a second time and was replaced by Snowy White in 1980, who was himself replaced by John Sykes in 1982. The line-up was augmented by keyboardist Darren Wharton in 1980.

Santana is an American rock band formed in San Francisco, California in 1966 by Mexican-American guitarist Carlos Santana. The band has had various recording and performing line-ups in its history, with Santana being the only consistent member. After signing with Columbia Records, the band's appearance at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 increased their profile and they went on to record the critically acclaimed and commercially successful albums Santana (1969), Abraxas (1970) and Santana III (1971). These were recorded by the group's "classic" line-up, comprising organist and lead vocalist Gregg Rolie, percussionists José "Chepito" Areas and Michael Carabello, drummer Michael Shrieve and bassist David Brown. Hit songs of this period include "Evil Ways" (1970), "Black Magic Woman" (1970), "Oye Como Va" (1971) and the instrumental "Samba Pa Ti" (1970).

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.