Red Line 3, Coursebook

eighty-seven 87 Text 5 c The story of pop music 1 Before you read You are going to read some entries from an encyclopedia of pop music. Look at the pictures before you read the entries. Answer these questions: 1. How many of the entries are about bands? 2. Of the entries about solo musicians, how many are about women? How many are about men? 5 10 15 20 A is for ABBA ABBA were two men and two women from Sweden, but all of their hits were in English. The band’s name came from the first names of its members: A gnetha (vocals), B jörn (keyboards, vocals), B enny (guitar, vocals) and A nni-Frid (vocals). They played and made records together from 1972 until they split up in 1982, but ABBA still sell a huge number of CDs every year. They were the first pop band from Sweden who were able to sell their music in the English-speaking world. B is for Beyoncé Beyoncé Knowles, who was born on 4th September 1981, is an American R&B singer, songwriter and dancer who has also acted and worked as a model. From 1996 until 2003 she was a member of Destiny’s Child, the best-selling female group of all time with over fifty million albums and singles sold. Since 2003 she has sung successfully on her own. E is for Elvis Elvis Presley, whose other names are ‘the King of Rock and Roll’, or just ‘the King’, was a singer and actor who was born in 1935. He became famous in the 1950s, and d ied when he was 42, in 1977. Elvis sang in lots of different styles an d was as famous for his dancing as for his fa ntastic voice. At the end of his short life he w as so ill that he wasn’t able to get up in the m ornings – or sleep at night – without drugs. 25 30 Nur zu Prüfzwecken – Eigentum des Verlags öbv