Legend
Some artists change music forever. Legend tells the incredible life stories of musical pioneers. How did they become legends? And what does their music tell us about our times? We go deep into the artist's world and get to know the life beyond the legend. Latest series: Miles Davis.
Episodes
The Joni Mitchell Story: Trailer
How did the greats become the greats? And what did it cost them to get there? Legend is a musician biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the life and music of the pioneering artists who shaped modern music. Series one tells the story of Joni Mitchell and explores her incomparable body of work – from her earliest home recordings to masterpieces like Blue, Court and Spark, and Hejira. It’s a s
The Joni Mitchell Story: 1. Urge for Going
Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.In the first episode, we hear how young Joni loves to watch the trains go by from the window of her house in a Saskatchewan prairie town. Even as a child, there is a desire to see what's around the next bend. She's a tombo
The Joni Mitchell Story: 2. Lady of the Canyon
Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.In episode two we follow Joni from 1964 through to late 1969. Joni makes a 'bad marriage', signs adoption papers, leaves a bad marriage, makes it to Greenwich Village and then to LA's Laurel Canyon. We find out about the i
The Joni Mitchell Story: 3. Blue
Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.In episode three we follow Joni from 1970 through to 1974 - an incredibly fertile period during which she creates her albums Blue, For the Roses and Court and Spark. A period of romantic highs and lows, heady successes and
The Joni Mitchell Story: 4. Refuge of the Roads
Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.In episode four we follow Joni from 1974 through to 1978. In 1974 Court and Spark is released to huge acclaim but already Joni is heading in new directions musically. This is the era of The Hissing of Summer Lawns, Hejira
The Joni Mitchell Story: 5. Dog Eat Dog
Joni Mitchell’s songs have soundtracked our lives and her pioneering work changed music forever. Jesca Hoop explores her extraordinary story to reveal the life behind the legend.In episode five, we hear how meeting a towering figure of jazz leads to a new collaboration, but Joni's hopes for a hit are unfulfilled. As the 1980s arrive, Joni continues to experiment with new sounds, but discovers the
The Joni Mitchell Story: 6. Both Sides Now
Legend is a new music biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the extraordinary life stories of pioneering artists who changed music forever.In the final episode, we hear how Joni comes full circle. She reunites with the daughter she gave up for adoption, retires then returns to music, suffers from and then recovers from a near-fatal brain aneurysm, all those years after contracting and surviv
The Bruce Springsteen Story: Trailer
How did the greats become the greats? And what did it cost them to get there? Legend is the award-winning music biography series from BBC Radio 4 exploring the lives of pioneering artists who shaped modern music.In Legend: The Bruce Springsteen Story, we discover how a scrawny, long-haired introvert from New Jersey became the iconic, muscular – and oft-misunderstood – rock star of the 1980s, and u
The Bruce Springsteen Story: 1. My Hometown
How did Bruce become The Boss, and what did it cost him to get there? Laura Barton explores the extraordinary life story of Bruce Springsteen, taking a front-row seat at five important gigs to reveal the life behind the legend. Bruce’s story begins in the small factory town of Freehold, New Jersey. His father, Douglas, is distant. The love from his Grandmother Alice is fierce. His life changes for
The Bruce Springsteen Story: 2. Born to Run
How did Bruce become The Boss, and what did it cost him to get there? Laura Barton explores the extraordinary life story of Bruce Springsteen, taking a front-row seat at five important gigs to reveal the life behind the legend.Bruce’s story continues in Asbury Park, New Jersey, where he's living above a beauty parlour, broke, writing songs amongst the hairdryers. It's here he writes his first albu
The Bruce Springsteen Story: 3. Born in the USA
How did Bruce become The Boss, and what did it cost him to get there? Laura Barton explores the extraordinary life story of Bruce Springsteen, taking a front-row seat at five important gigs to reveal the life behind the legend.Bruce's story continues in rural Holmdel, New Jersey, alone with a four-track tape recorder. He goes back into his childhood, drives the streets of his early years, searchin
The Bruce Springsteen Story: 4. The Promise
How did Bruce become The Boss, and what did it cost him to get there? Laura Barton explores the extraordinary life story of Bruce Springsteen, taking a front-row seat at five important gigs to reveal the life behind the legend.Bruce is living in Hollywood, L.A, making music without his long-time bandmates. It's a time of Bruce being far away from his roots - and from some of his most loyal fans. B
The Bruce Springsteen Story: 5. The Land of Hope and Dreams
How did Bruce become The Boss, and what did it cost him to get there? Laura Barton explores the extraordinary life story of Bruce Springsteen, taking a front-row seat at five important gigs to reveal the life behind the legend.In our final chapter, we trace Bruce’s journey to his latest tour - The Land of Hope and Dreams - where he speaks out on stage against the President of the United States. Ho
The Miles Davis Story: Trailer
Trumpeter Miles Davis didn’t just change jazz; he redefined the sound of the 20th century. But that constant reinvention came at a price. Clarke Peters explores a visionary artist, to reveal the man behind the legend: a complicated genius whose relentless pursuit of the "new" often scorched his own life and the lives of those around him.
The Miles Davis Story: 1. Don't Call Me Legend
Clarke Peters explores the life and legacy of a visionary artist whose relentless pursuit of the "new" often scorched his own life and the lives of those around him. In September 1944, an 18-year-old Miles Davis arrives in New York with a trumpet in his hand and a secret mission. He may have first arrived in New York to take up a place at the prestigious Juilliard School, but in reality Miles was
The Miles Davis Story: 2. Back off the Ropes
Clarke Peters explores a period when Miles Davis, the "King of Cool," was nearly knocked out for good. By the early 1950s, Miles had hit rock bottom - scraped off a Manhattan gutter by a friend and forced to pawn his trumpet to fund a heroin habit that had swallowed his career and his reputation. Clarke follows Miles on a desperate, 20-hour bus ride back to his father’s farm, where he would face h
