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...
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04/13/1919 - 11/07/2004
Harold Clifford Keel (April 13, 1919 – November 7, 2004), known professionally as Howard Keel, was an American actor and singer. He starred in many film musicals of the 1950s. He is best known to...
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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...
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Long John (John William Baldry)
01/12/1941 - 07/21/2005
John "Long John" William Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s.
Bo Diddley (Ellas Otha Bates)
12/30/1928 - 06/02/2008
Ellas Otha Bates (December 30, 1928 – June 2, 2008), known by his stage name Bo Diddley, was an American rhythm and blues vocalist, guitarist, songwriter (usually as Ellas McDaniel), and inventor.
02/07/1864 - 08/03/1933
Arthur Francis Collins (February 7, 1864 – August 3, 1933) in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania was an American singer who recorded a significant number of early records. With tenor singer Byron G. Harlan, Collins recorded the first song...
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Buddy Rich (Bernard Rich )
09/30/1917 - 04/02/1987
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and sp...
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Teddy Pendergrass (Theodore DeReese Pendergrass)
08/17/1950 - 01/13/2010
Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass (August 17, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American R&B/soul singer and songwriter. Pendergrass first rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue No...
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08/10/1928 - 09/22/2010
Edwin John Fisher (August 10, 1928 – September 22, 2010), better known as Eddie Fisher, was an American singer and entertainer, who was one of the world's most famous and successful singers in the 1950s, selling millions of records and h...
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10/15/1925 - 12/23/2007
Oscar Emmanuel Peterson (August 15, 1925 – December 23, 2007) was a Canadian jazz pianist and composer. He was called the "Maharaja of the keyboard" by Duke Ellington, "O.P." by his...
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06/29/1943 - 04/10/2003
Eva Narcissus Boyd (June 29, 1943 – April 10, 2003), known by the stage name of Little Eva (after a character from Uncle Tom's Cabin), was an American pop singer.
09/09/1941 - 12/10/1967
Otis Ray Redding, Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American soul singer. Often called the "King of Soul", he is renowned for an ability to convey strong emotion through his voice.
Redding's...
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05/11/1897 - 12/18/1961
Leo (F.) Reisman (October 11, 1897 - December 18, 1961) was a violinist and bandleader in the 1920s and 1930s. Born and reared in Boston, Reisman studied violin as a young man, and formed his own band in 1919. He became famous for having...
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Sammy Kaye (Samuel Zarnocay)
03/13/1910 - 06/02/1987
Sammy Kaye (March 13, 1910–June 2, 1987), born Samuel Zarnocay, Jr., was an American bandleader and songwriter, whose tag line, "Swing and sway with Sammy Kaye", became one of the most famous of the...
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08/22/1917 - 06/21/2001
John Lee Hooker (August 22, 1917 – June 21, 2001) was an American blues singer-songwriter and guitarist, born near Clarksdale, Mississippi. Hooker began his life as the son of a sharecropper, William Hooker, and rose to prominence performing...
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