Louie Bluie (Howard Donald Armstrong)
03/04/1909 - 07/30/2003
Howard "Louie Bluie" Armstrong was an African American string band and cantry blues musician who played fiddle, mandolin and guitar and also sang. He was also a notable visual artist and raconteur.
04/02/1939 - 04/01/1984
Marvin Pentz Gay, Jr., better known by his stage name Marvin Gaye, was an American singer-songwriter and musician with a four-octavevocal range. Starting as a member of the doo-wop group The Moonglows...
read more
read more
06/28/1902 - 12/30/1979
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partner...
read more
read more
01/20/1888 - 12/06/1949
Huddie William Ledbetter (January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk-blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs, in conjunction with his notoriously violent life, made him a leg...
read more
read more
07/29/1916 - 03/02/1942
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. He was one of the first to produce improvised masterpieces using electrically amplified equipment.
12/28/1903 - 04/22/1983
Earl Kenneth Hines, universally known as Earl "Fatha" Hines, (December 28, 1903 – April 22, 1983) was "one of a small number of pianists whose playing shaped the history of jazz
10/30/1930 - 06/26/1956
Clifford Brown (October 30, 1930 – June 26, 1956), aka "Brownie," was an influential and highly rated American jazz trumpeter. He died aged 25, leaving behind only four years' worth of recordings. Nonetheles...
read more
read more
06/20/1924 - 06/30/2001
Chester Burton Atkins (June 20, 1924 – June 30, 2001), better known as Chet Atkins, was an American guitarist and record producer who, along with Owen Bradley, created the smoother country music style known as the Nashville sound,...
read more
read more
05/11/1888 - 09/22/1989
Irving Berlin (May 11, 1888 – September 22, 1989) was an American composer and lyricist, widely considered one of the greatest American songwriters in history.
09/20/1927 - 02/06/2010
Sir John Phillip William Dankworth (20 September 1927 – 6 February 2010), known in his early career as Johnny Dankworth, was an English jazz composer, saxophonist and clarinetist. He was the husband of jazz singer Dame Cleo Laine, who surviv...
read more
read more
Peter Tosh (Winston Hubert McIntosh)
10/19/1944 - 09/11/1987
Peter Tosh, born Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), was a Jamaican reggae musician who was a major member of the musical band The Wailers (1963-1974), and who afterward had a successful solo career as well as...
read more
read more
02/13/1921 - 05/25/1955
Wardell Gray (1921–1955) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who straddled the swing and bebop periods. Today often overlooked, Gray's playing displays a unique style, an unmatched tone and a strong presence.
09/28/1913 - 03/20/2000
Vivian Fine (Chicago, 28 September 1913 - Bennington, Vermont, 20 March 2000) was an American composer.
Billy Cowsill (William Cowsill)
01/09/1948 - 02/18/2006
William "Bill" Cowsill, Jr., also known as Billy, (January 9, 1948 – February 18, 2006) was an American singer best known as lead singer and guitarist of The Cowsills who had three top 10 singles in the late 1960s.
