Brian Setzer (born April 10, 1959 in New York) is an American guitarist, singer and songwriter whose popular big band orchestra is most appreciated commercially for their swinging take on Christmas holiday classics.

Early in his career Setzer was a member of the NYC band Bloodless Pharaohs, and later fronted the popular rockabilly revival band, Stray Cats. The Stray Cats particularly caught America's attention with the 1982 album Built for Speed, which included the two Top Ten hits, "Rock This Town" (#9) and "Stray Cat Strut" (#3), as well as with the follow-up 1983 album Rant 'N Rave, which included the two successful singles "(She's) Sexy + 17" (#5), and "I Won't Stand In Your Way" (#35).

In the mid 1990s, Setzer led a comeback of sorts for swing music and big band music, when he formed Brian Setzer Orchestra. The band has released at least 5 albums to date and one live DVD. This group had one hit, "Jump, Jive, and Wail" around the same time swing revival acts like the Cherry Poppin' Daddies' "Zoot Suit Riot" had been received favorably in mainstream America.

Brian Setzer also recorded some solo albums during Stray Cats' break in the 1980s along with some in the 1990s. In 2001 he released an album titled Ignition with his band '68 Comeback Special. A new solo album titled Rockabilly Riot Vol. 1: A Tribute To Sun Records was released on July 26, 2005, in the United States.

From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brian_Setzer Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.