07/06/1925 - 02/09/1981
Bill Haley (July 6, 1925 – February 9, 1981) was one of the first American rock and roll musicians. He is credited by many with first popularizing this form of music in the early 1950s with his group Bill Haley & His Comets and their hit...
read more
read more
07/28/1928 - 02/04/2003
Charlie Biddle, otherwise known as Charles Reed Biddle (July 28, 1926 – February 4, 2003) was a Canadian jazz bassist.
Biddle and his bass fiddle brought Jazz not only to Montreal but also to all of Quebec.
04/23/1936 - 12/06/1988
Roy Kelton Orbison (April 23, 1936 – December 6, 1988) was an American singer-songwriter and musician, well known for his distinctive, powerful voice, complex compositions, and dark emotional ballads. His greatest success came with Monument...
read more
read more
Lou Rawls (Louis Allen Rawls)
12/01/1933 - 01/06/2006
Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls (December 1, 1933 – January 6, 2006) was an American soul, jazz, and blues singer.
Elliot Smith (Steven Paul Smith)
08/08/1969 - 10/21/2003
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith (August 6, 1969 – October 21, 2003) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided...
read more
read more
Tex Beneke (Gordon Lee Beneke)
02/12/1914 - 05/30/2000
Gordon Lee Beneke (February 12, 1914 - May 30, 2000), professionally known as Tex Beneke, was an American saxophonist, singer, and bandleader. His career is a history of associations with bandleader Glenn Miller and former musicians and singers wh...
read more
read more
Woody Guthrie (Woodrow Wilson Guthrie)
07/14/1912 - 10/03/1967
Woodrow Wilson "Woody" Guthrie (July 14, 1912 – October 3, 1967) is best known as an American singer-songwriter and folk musician, whose musical legacy includes hundreds of political, traditional and children's songs, ball...
read more
read more
04/25/1917 - 06/15/1996
Ella Jane Fitzgerald (April 25, 1917 – June 15, 1996), also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist. With a vocal range spanning three octaves (Db3 to Db6), she was noted...
read more
read more
01/23/1910 - 05/16/1953
Jean "Django" Reinhardt (23 January 1910 – 16 May 1953) was a pioneering virtuoso jazz guitarist and composer
09/23/1926 - 07/17/1967
John William Coltrane (sometimes abbreviated "Trane"; September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist and composer. He was prolific, organizing at least fifty recording sessions as a leader during his reco...
read more
read more
05/23/1910 - 12/30/2004
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004), better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writ...
read more
read more
08/06/1930 - 08/14/2010
Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010),better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress.
Gene Vincent (Vincent Eugene Craddock)
02/11/1935 - 10/12/1971
Vincent Eugene Craddock (February 11, 1935–October 12, 1971), better known as Gene Vincent, was an American musician who pioneered the styles of rock and roll and rockabilly. His 1956 top ten hit with his Blue Caps, "Be-Bop-A-Lula...
read more
read more
06/14/1936 - 07/01/2005
Renaldo "Obie" Benson (June 14, 1936 – July 1, 2005) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was best known as the bass of Motown group the Four Tops, which he joined in 1953 and continued to perform with for ove...
read more
read more