10/02/1938 - 04/17/1960
Eddie Cochran (October 2, 1938 – April 17, 1960), was an American rock and roll pioneer who in his brief career had a small but lasting influence on rock music through his guitar playing. Cochran's rockabilly songs, such as "C...
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12/25/1893 - 04/29/1957
Belle Baker (25 December 1893, New York City, New York – 29 April 1957, Los Angeles, California) was an American singer and actress. Popular throughout the 1910s and 1920s, Baker introduced a number of ragtime and torch songs including Irvin...
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10/10/1917 - 02/17/1982
Thelonious Sphere Monk (October 10, 1917 – February 17, 1982) was an American jazz pianist and composer considered "one of the giants of American music". Monk had a unique improvisational style and made numerous contributions to th...
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02/03/1935 - 05/17/1996
Johnny "Guitar" Watson (February 3, 1935 – May 17, 1996) was an American blues and funk guitarist and singer. John Watson, Jr. was born in Houston, Texas. His father John Sr. was a pianist, and taught his son the instrument. But yo...
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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...
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04/22/1935 - 01/04/1969
Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers, Jr. (April 22, 1935 – January 4, 1969) was a jazz bassist. A fixture of rhythm sections during the 1950s and 1960s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not on...
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Teena Marie (Mary Christine Brockert)
03/05/1956 - 12/26/2010
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and producer. She was known as Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie; she later acquired the...
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Dan Fogelberg (Daniel Grayling Fogelberg)
08/13/1951 - 12/16/2007
Daniel Grayling "Dan" Fogelberg (August 13, 1951 – December 16, 2007) was an American singer-songwriter, composer, and multi-instrumentalist, whose music was inspired by sources as diverse as folk,pop,...
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08/20/1942 - 08/10/2008
Isaac Lee Hayes, Jr. (August 20, 1942 – August 10, 2008) was an American songwriter, musician, singer, and occasionally an actor. Hayes was one of the creative geniuses behind the southern soul music label Stax Records, where he...
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06/16/1971 - 09/13/1996
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists i...
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07/06/1924 - 02/14/2009
Luigi Paulino Alfredo Francesco Antonio Balassoni (July 6, 1924 – February 14, 2009), better known by the stage name Louie Bellson (his own preferred spelling, although he is often seen in sources as Louis Bells...
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03/17/1961 - 03/06/2006
Dana Reeve (née Morosini) (March 17, 1961 – March 6, 2006) was an American actress, singer, and activist for disability causes.
Jelly Morton (Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe)
09/20/1885 - 07/10/1941
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (September 20, 1885 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.
06/24/1900 - 01/24/1972
Gene Austin (June 24, 1900 – January 24, 1972) was an American singer and songwriter, one of the first "crooners". His 1920s compositions "When My Sugar Walks Down the Street" and "The Loneso...
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05/03/1933 - 12/25/2006
James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. Eventually referred to as "The Godfather of Soul",
Brown started singing in gospel groups and worked his way on up. He...
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