Brian Setzer

With his sky-high pompadour and rollicking vintage guitar style, Brian Setzer is the once and future king of rockabilly and swing. Born in 1959, the Long Island native cut his teeth playing in jazz bands before diving into the punk realm with the late-’70s group the Bloodless Pharaohs. In the early ’80s, he fronted the power trio the Stray Cats, leaders of the neo-rockabilly movement that found success on MTV and the charts with hits including “Stray Cat Strut” and “Rock This Town.” After that band broke up in 1984, Setzer dabbled in solo work—notably, he portrayed rock ’n’ roll icon Eddie Cochran in the movie La Bamba—but found a new niche with The Brian Setzer Orchestra. Buoyed by the ’90s swing revival, this troupe has explored jump blues and other retro styles, including on 1998’s Grammy-winning cover of Louis Prima’s “Jump Jive an' Wail” and multiple Christmas albums.