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I listen to a lot of artists and bands in various genres and styles. I find many different artists and bands really interesting and enjoyable to listen to. Like everyone I have a handful of of favourite artists and bands but also have a more extensive list of other artists and bands that I also consider favourites.

From the handful it might not be hard to guess that the Beatles are at the top of the list. They are there because they and their music has been part of my life since such an early age. See Music Is My Life part one for more details. Initially I didn't know that the Beatles had broken up several years earlier and I didn't know that they had all gone on to release solo albums. Paul was the first I found out about when I bought his 'Pipes Of Peace' album which included a song 'Say Say Say' that he sang with Michael Jackson. I also saw a movie he was in called 'Give My Regards To Broad street' released in 1984. Later on I discovered the solo work of John and George I saw the movie documentary 'imagine' featuring John and got the album 'All Things Must Pass' by George. In 2009 I even bought the best of Ringo Starr.

Next on the list would be Phil Collins. Like most people I first discovered Phil with the song 'In The Air tonight' and it came from his absolutely brilliant debut solo album 'Face Value'. I automatically got his two follow ups 'Hello I Must Be Going' and the mega successful 'No Jacket Required'. I then found out he sang and played drums with this other band who were called Genesis. I bought 'Invisible Touch'. Another artist I quite liked was Peter Gabriel. It was Joe from Angel Records that joined the dots for me. He pointed out that Peter Gabriel was a former member of Genesis and that Genesis had been established in the late 60's. They had released something like 25 albums, all of which eventually found there way into my collection. To answer the question Genesis fans want to know I think I prefer the Gabriel era the most. Peter Gabriel was the lead singer up until he left the band in '75. After auditing many other singers none of whom worked out Phil Collins decided to try singing and the rest as they say is history.

Continuing on my list we have Billy Joel. Like everyone else I discovered him with songs like 'Piano Man', 'Just The Way You Are' , 'Alan Town' , 'You May Be Right', 'My Life' and later on his smash hit album 'An Innocent Man'. I found though that some of his best work is off albums that are not as well known, in my opinion anyway. I'm talking about albums such as 'Turnstiles' and probably my favourite album of his 'The Nylon Curtain'.

Other artists and bands I consider the core favourites (can you have non core favourites?) are Sting/Police, Elvis Costello, Split Enz/Crowded House (anything Finn related really), The Cure, Fleetwood Mac, Pink Floyd, Supertramp and last but not least Dire Straits.

So my intention with the Artist and Bands section is to over the coming months write about each of the above in more detail. Maybe introduce or reintroduce you to them, maybe even to inspire or encourage you to buy certain albums. Once the above have all been written about I can then start telling you about the other favourites I have. These other favourite artists and bands are listed below.

Abba
Tori Amos
Joan Armatrading
Aztec Camera
The Badloves
Bably Drawn Boy
The Beach Boys
Bee Gee's
Ben Folds
David Bowie
Eddie Brickell
Sam Brown
Cake
Paul Carrick
Eric Clapton
The Clouds
Marc Cohn
Cold Chisel
Deborah Conway
The Counting Crows
Depeche Mode
Duran Duran
Bob Dylan
Electric Light Orchestra (ELO)
Eskimo Joe
Eurogliders
Eurythmics
Fairground Attraction
John Farnham
Foo Fighters
Frente!
Gin Blossoms
Hall & Oates
Jimmy Hendrix
Hoodoo Gurus
Hootie & The Blowfish
Hunters & Collectors
Icehouse
Indigo Girls
INXS
Chris Issak
Joe Jackson
The Jayhawks
Elton John
Paul Kelly
King Crimson
Lenny Kravitz
K D Lang
Led Zeppelin
Huey Lewis and The News
The Little River Band
Massive Attack
Dave Mathews Band
Wendy Mathews
Matt Finish
Sarah McLaughlin,
John Mellencamp
Katie Melua
Natalie Merchant,
Midnight Oil
Mike & The mechcanics
Alison Moyet
My Friend The Choclate Cake
Not Drowning Waving
Robert Palmer
Michael Penn
Richard Pleasance
Powderfinger
Portishead
REM
The Rembrandts
The Rolling Stones
Roxette
Roxy Music
Rush
Seal
Ron Sexsmith
Max Sharam
Paul Simon
Simply Red
Bruce Springsteen
The Style Council
The Sundays
Talk Talk
Talking Heads
U2
The Verve
Vika and Linda
The Waterboys
The Whitlams
World Party
You Am I
Frank Zappa