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Photo: Estrada/Retna Born February 20th, 1967 (died circa April 5th, 1994) Key Tracks “Smells Like Teen Spirit,” “Lithium,” “All Apologies” Influenced Dae Grohl, Gain Rossdale, Rivers Cuomo Kurt Cobain’s ferocious rasp clawed its way out of the rock & roll underground in 1991, transforming the fury and anguish of punk rock into pop singing like [...]
Photo: Smillie/Camera Press/Retna Born January 27th, 1930 Key Tracks “I Pity the Fool,” “Farther Up the Road,” “Cry, Cry, Cry” “Turn On Your Love Light” Influenced Van Morrison, B.B. King Bland called it a “squall” — the choked, gospel-inspired near-scream that became his trademark. “I got the idea from Rev. C.L. Franklin, Aretha’s father,” Bland [...]
Photo: Gwinn/Retna Born September 12th, 1931 Key Tracks “He Stopped Loving Her Today,” “She Thnks I Still Care,” “(We’re Not) The Jet Set” Influenced Garth Brooks, Elvis Costello, Alan Jackson George Jones doesn’t sound like he was influenced by any other singer: He sounds like a steel guitar. It’s the way he blends notes, the [...]
Photo: Russell/Redferns/Retna Born November 7th, 1943 Key Tracks “Both Sides Now,” “Help Me,” “Raised on Robbery” Influenced Robert Plant, Jewel, Fiona Apple Joni Mitchell began as the archetype of the folkie female singer-songwriter, an heir to Joan Baez. But she quickly moved forward, incorporating influences from jazz and the blues. “Joni Mitchell heard Billie Holiday [...]
Photo: Montfort/Camera Press/Retna Born October 18th, 1926 Key Tracks “Johnny B. Goode,” “Promised Land” “No Particular Place to Go” Influenced The Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen “You’re great, you sing country and rock & roll,” Jerry Lee Lewis’ mother once told him. “But Chuck is the king.” Chuck Berry approached the great rock & [...]
Photo: Putland/Retna Born June 3rd, 1942 (died December 26th, 1999) Key Tracks “People Get Ready,” “Superfly” “I’m So Proud” Influenced Bob Marley, Tracy Chapman, Jimi Hendrix Curtis Mayfield was actually proud of his ability to silence a crowd: “They could just be screaming and hollering and getting down, but when the Impressions came out, they [...]
Photo: Goodacre/Retna UK Born November 17th, 1966 (died May 29th, 1997) Key Tracks “Mojo Pin,” “Last Goodbye,” “Hallelujah” Influenced Chris Martin, Damien Rice, Rufus Wainwright Hearing Jeff’s Live at Sin-é EP was one of those moments that happens only a few times in your life as a music fan — it was something otherworldly, and [...]
Photo: Redfern/Redferns/Retna Born March 25th, 1947 Key Tracks “Your Song,” “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road,” “Tiny Dancer” Influenced Rivers Cuomo, George Michael, Axl Rose John Lennon once told Rolling Stone that when he heard Elton John singing “Your Song” — the 1970 breakthrough ballad that spotlighted John’s voice and its union of rock & roll grandness [...]
Photo: Persson/Redferns/Retna Born November 12th, 1945 Key Tracks “Heart of Gold,” “Powderfinger,” “Rockin’ in the Free World” Influenced Jeff Tweedy, Wayne Coyne, Conor Oberst An engineer at an early Neil Young studio session told him, “You’re a good guitar player, kid, but you’ll never make it as a singer.” But Young soon proved himself able [...]
Photo: Gershoff/Retna Born September 23rd, 1949 Key Tracks “Thunder Road,” “Born in the U.S.A.,” “Girls in Their Summer Clothes” Influenced Eddie Vedder, Jon Bon Jovi, Brandon Flowers, Win Butler “When Bruce Springsteen does those wordless wails, like at the end of ‘Jungleland,’ that’s the definition of rock & roll to me,” says Melissa Etheridge. “He [...]