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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06/20/1819 - 05/10/1880
Jacques Offenbach (20 June 1819 – 5 October 1880) was a Prussian-born French composer, cellist and impresario. He is remembered for his nearly 100 operettas of the 1850s–1870s and his uncompleted operaThe Tales of H...
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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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05/11/1888 - 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.
03/31/1913 - 09/23/2006
Etta Baker (March 31, 1913 – September 23, 2006) was a Piedmont blues guitarist and singer. Etta’s music ranges over a century of music styles and influences from 19th century parlor music to post-WW II electric blues.
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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01/16/1979 - 08/25/2001
Brooklyn-born and Detroit-raised R&B singer Aaliyah hit the big time in her early teens with a spate of hit records before she embarked at the ripe old age of twenty on a film acting career. A losing appearance on "Star Search" at ag...
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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...
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08/02/1924 - 07/14/2005
Joe Harnell (August 2, 1924, The Bronx, New York City - July 14, 2005, Sherman Oaks, California) was an American easy listening composer and arranger.
08/25/1918 - 10/14/1990
Leonard Bernstein (August 25, 1918 – October 14, 1990) was an American conductor, composer, author, music lecturer and pianist. He was among the first conductors born and educated in the United States of America to receive worldwide acclaim....
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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.
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...
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10/09/1927 - 05/18/2004
Elvin Ray Jones (September 9, 1927 – May 18, 2004) was a jazz drummer of the post-bop era. He showed interest in drums at a young age, watching the circus bands march by his family's home in Pontiac, Mi...
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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...
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