Then there's Blake and Owen and Smart...FFS.

Fallible wrote:

Look, this is just too hard, Orph.

Life! Don't talk to me about life...

archibald wrote:

orpheus wrote:

archibald wrote:oh, sorry

Linda Lovelace
Anais Nin
Jenna Jameson......

Ah, now we're talking!

In all honesty, given your reminder of the point of the OP, I would have to sheepishly put my hand up and say I'm not kidding in this instance....lol

What is the other hand doing?

William Topaz McGonagall
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_McGonagall
I kid yee not.
No man has ever writen about a rail disaster so ...interestingly.
http://www.mcgonagall-online.org.uk/gems/the-tay-bridge-disaster

Varangian wrote:

archibald wrote:

In all honesty, given your reminder of the point of the OP, I would have to sheepishly put my hand up and say I'm not kidding in this instance....lol

What is the other hand doing?

That's between me and the sheep in question. What happens in the pasture stays in the pasture.

orpheus wrote:Just to clarify about this thread, folks, what I'm asking is which artists have had the greatest influence on your life. These may not be the same as your favorite artists - though of course they may, or there may be overlap between the two sets.

Of course, the discussion may morph into something different from what I originally had in mind. But I think the original question is actually more interesting and revealing.

I agree & it's what I had in mind when choosing mine (difficult question to answer but really interesting)

I only have four, all singers:
Esther Ofarim (in Hebrew); Esther Ofarim (in English); Esther Ofarim (in French) and Esther Ofarim (in German).

PS, anyone who thinks she only did a couple of silly pop songs in the late sixties, like "Cinderella, Rockerfella", should get out more!

It took a bit of thought as to whom I would say influenced me.

Artists:
Frank Hampson plus Rev Marcus Morris for the idea
JMW Turner
John Constable
Picasso
Leonardo Da Vinci
Escher

Musicians/ Composers
Anon (who wrote some of the best folk songs ever)
Jacqueline Du Pre (if for nothing else then Elgar’s Cello Concerto)
Sir Edward Elgar
Steeleye Span
The Moody Blues
Simon and Garfunkel
Ludwig Van Beethoven
J S Bach
Ewan McColl and Peggy Seeger
W S Gilbert for the words and A Sullivan for the music


Writers
Isaac Asimov
Arthur C Clarke
J R R Tolkien
Richmal Crompton
Capt. W E Johns
The script writers responsible for “Round the Horne”, “The Navy Lark”, “I’m Sorry I’ll Read That Again”, “The Clitheroe Kid” and many others.
Douglas Adams
Iain M Banks
William Shakespeare
A E Van Vogt
Frank Herbert
Arthur Koestler

I have added a couple of university lecturers: Arthur Bennett, Professor Robert Fletcher and Professor Gordon Ruskell all of whom spent 3 years trying to make me understand optometry.