Byrd Artist Bio

1. William Byrd – c.1539/40 or 1543 – 4 July 1623, by the Julian calendar, 14 July 1623, by the Gregorian calendar) was an English composer of the Renaissance. He wrote in many of the forms current in England at the time, including various types of sacred and secular polyphony, keyboard (the so-called Virginalist school), and consort music. He produced sacred music for use in Anglican services, although he himself became a Roman Catholic in later life and wrote Catholic sacred music as well.

2. James Byrd is a guitarist from Kirkland, WA who came to prominence in the metal scene in the mid-1980s with the band Fifth Angel, considered a pioneer of the early Power Metal movement. Since this time he has released numerous solo albums on the labels Shrapnel Records, Mascot, JVC Victor and Lion Music as well as starting his own guitar company Byrd Guitars who market the original design Super Avianti instrument. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.