Kristoffer “Kris” Kristofferson is an influential American country music songwriter, singer and actor. He is best known for hits such as “Me and Bobby McGee”, “Sunday Mornin’ Comin’ Down”, and “Help Me Make It Through the Night”.
Kris Kristofferson (June 22, 1936 – )
Posted in Music, The Big Screen
Clarence playing with Bruce Springsteen
Clarence Anicholas Clemons, Jr. (January 11, 1942 – June 18, 2011), also known as The Big Man, was an American musician and actor. From 1972 until his death, he was a prominent member of Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band, playing the tenor saxophone. He released several solo albums and in 1985 had a hit single with “You’re a Friend of Mine”, a duet with Jackson Browne. As a guest musician he also featured on Aretha Franklin’s classic “Freeway of Love” and on Twisted Sister’s “Be Chrool to Your Scuel” as well as performing in concert with The Grateful Dead and Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. As an actor Clemons featured in several films, including New York, New York and Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure. He also made cameo appearances in several TV series, including Diff’rent Strokes, Nash Bridges, The Simpsons and The Wire. Together with his television writer friend Don Reo he published his autobiography, Big Man: Real Life & Tall Tales, in 2009. Clemons suffered a stroke on June 12, 2011 and died of complications from the stroke on June 18 at 69 years of age.
Posted in Music
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an acclaimed American folk music singer, author and actor.
Possibly his most remembered role today is as narrator Sam the Snowman in the Rankin-Bass animated television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964).
Ives’ “A Holly Jolly Christmas” is a very popular tune during the Christmas season, as it’s frequently played on the radio and was featured in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special.
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (June 14, 1909 – April 14, 1995)
Posted in Music, The Little Screen (Television)
Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), better known as Ronnie James Dio, was an Italian-American heavy metal vocalist and songwriter. He performed with, amongst others, Elf, Rainbow, Black Sabbath, Heaven & Hell, and his own band Dio. He was widely hailed as the most powerful singer in heavy metal, renowned for his consistently powerful voice. He consistently ranks as one of the greatest rock vocalists of all time in various online polls and lists. He is credited with popularizing the “devil horns” hand gesture in metal culture. Prior to his death, he was collaborating on a project with former Black Sabbath bandmates Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler, and Vinny Appice, under the moniker Heaven & Hell, whose first studio album, The Devil You Know, was released on April 28, 2009. Dio died of stomach cancer on May 16, 2010. One of the last songs he recorded was titled “Metal Will Never Die”.
Ronald James Padavona (July 10, 1942 – May 16, 2010), better known as Ronnie James Dio.
Posted in Music
George Glenn Jones (September 12, 1931 – April 26, 2013)
George Jones was an American country music singer known for his long list of hit records, his distinctive voice and phrasing, and his marriage to Tammy Wynette.
For the last 20 years of his life, Jones was frequently referred to as the greatest living country singer. Country music scholar Bill C. Malone wrote, “For the two or three minutes consumed by a song, Jones immerses himself so completely in its lyrics, and in the mood it conveys, that the listener can scarcely avoid becoming similarly involved.” Waylon Jennings, in his song “It’s Alright” expressed a common jealousy when he said, “If we all could sound like we wanted to, we’d all sound like George Jones.”
Throughout his long career, Jones made headlines often as much for tales of his drinking, stormy relationships with women, and violent rages as for his prolific career of making records and touring. His wild lifestyle led to Jones missing many performances, earning him the nickname “No Show Jones.” With the help of his fourth wife, Nancy, he was sober for more than the last 10 years of his life. Jones had more than 150 hits during his career, both as a solo artist and in duets with other artists. The shape of his nose and facial features gave Jones the nickname “The Possum.”
Jones announced his final concert was to be held on November 22, 2012, at Bridgestone Arena in Nashville. Jones also mentioned a duet album with Dolly Parton would be released as his final studio album.
Jones died early in the morning of April 26, 2013 at the age of 81. He had been hospitalized since April 18, 2013 at Vanderbilt University Hospital in Nashville with fever and irregular blood pressure. The New York Times described him as “the definitive country singer of the last half-century”. Several singers tweeted their condolences, including The Oak Ridge Boys, Clay Aiken, Blake Shelton and Keith Urban.
Jones has received many honors during his long career, from Most Promising New Country Vocalist in 1956, being inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1992, and being named a Kennedy Center Honoree in 2008. In 2012 he was presented with a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. At the ceremony his longtime friend Merle Haggard paid tribute to him.
Posted in Music
Robert George Pickett (February 11, 1938 – April 25, 2007), best known as one-hit wonder musician Bobby “Boris” Pickett. He was best known for co-writing and singing the 1962 hit novelty song, “Monster Mash”.
Bandstand in the 50s, New Year’s Rockin’ Eves for the past 30 years, Dick Clark has been around and seen (and introduced) it all… he passed away as the “World’s Oldest Teenager” at the age of 82.
Richard Wagstaff “Dick” Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012)
Dick Clark was an American radio and television personality, best known for hosting American television’s longest-running variety show, American Bandstand, from 1957 to 1987. He also hosted the game show Pyramid and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve, which transmitted Times Square’s New Year’s Eve celebrations worldwide.
As host of American Bandstand, with his strong communication skills, Clark was a “primary force in legitimizing rock and roll,” not only to teenagers, but also to America’s adult population. The show gave many new music artists their first exposure to national audiences, including Ike and Tina Turner, Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Stevie Wonder, Talking Heads and Simon & Garfunkel. His shows were among the first where blacks and whites performed on the same stage and the live audience seating was desegregated. Singer Paul Anka claimed that Bandstand was responsible for creating a “youth culture.” Due to his youthful appearance, Clark was often referred to as “America’s oldest teenager”.
As a successful businessperson, he served as chairman and chief executive officer of Dick Clark Productions, part of which he sold off in his later years. He also founded the American Bandstand Diner, a restaurant chain modeled after the Hard Rock Cafe. In 1973, he created and produced the annual American Music Awards show, similar to the Grammy Awards.
Clark suffered a massive stroke in December 2004. With speech ability still impaired, Clark returned to his New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show on December 31, 2005/January 1, 2006. Subsequently, he appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006, and every New Year’s Rockin’ Eve show through the 2011/2012 show. Clark died on April 18, 2012, after suffering a heart attack following a medical procedure.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives was an acclaimed American folk music singer, author and actor.
Possibly his most remembered role today is as narrator Sam the Snowman in the Rankin-Bass animated television special, Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer (1964).
Ives’s “A Holly Jolly Christmas” is a very popular tune during the Christmas season, as it’s frequently played on the radio and was featured in the Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer special.
Burl Icle Ivanhoe Ives (14 June 1909 – 14 April 1995)
Posted in Because I Can, Music, The Little Screen (Television)
Don Ho, born Donald Tai Loy Ho (August 13, 1930 – April 14, 2007) was a Hawaiian musician and entertainer. He was best known for his song, “Tiny Bubbles.”
Posted in Because I Can, Music
Ignore the girls (if you want) – but check out these cars!!! (Oh, and the music!)
https://youtu.be/T95NMc9qHto
Posted in Music, Planes Trains and Automobiles
Jeff Healey (March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008)
Norman Jeffrey Healey, known professionally as Jeff Healey, was a blind Canadian jazz and blues-rock guitarist and vocalist. Healey was most widely known for his appearance as the blind guitar player in Roadhouse, and for his distinctive way of playing his guitar laid flat across his lap.
Healey was blind; he lost his sight when he was one year old, due to retinoblastoma, a rare cancer of the eyes which he suffered from throughout his life and which ultimately killed him.
Posted in Because I Can, Music
Johnny Cash (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003)
Johnny Cash, born J. R. Cash, was a Grammy Award-winning American country singer-songwriter. Cash is widely considered to be one of the most influential American musicians of the 20th century.
Cash was known for his deep, distinctive voice, the boom-chick-a-boom or “freight train” sound of his Tennessee Three backing band, his demeanor, and his dark clothing, which earned him the nickname “The Man in Black”. He traditionally started his concerts with the simple introduction “Hello, I’m Johnny Cash.”
He sold over 90 million albums in his nearly fifty-year career and came to occupy a “commanding position in music history”.
Posted in Because I Can, Music
Ray Stevens (born Harold Ray Ragsdale) is an American country music and pop singer-songwriter known for his novelty songs. His two most-popular songs are “Everything Is Beautiful” and “The Streak”.
Harold Ray Ragsdale (January 24, 1939 – )
Posted in Because I Can, Humor, Music
Little Jimmy Dickens (December 19, 1920 – January 2, 2015)
James Cecil Dickens, better known as Little Jimmy Dickens, was an American country music singer famous for his humorous novelty songs, his small size, 4’11” (150 cm), and his rhinestone-studded outfits (which he is given credit for introducing into country music live performances). He started as a member of the Grand Ole Opry in 1948 and became a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1983. At the time of his death, he was the oldest living member of the Grand Ole Opry.
Dickens was hospitalized after a stroke on December 25, 2014, days after his last appearance on the Opry to mark his birthday. He died of cardiac arrest on January 2, 2015, at the age of 94.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZfYFx6MOTYU
Roger Dean Miller (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992)
Roger Miller was an American singer, songwriter, and musician.
Wikipedia Link
Posted in Because I Can, Music
John Robert “Joe” Cocker, OBE (May 20, 1944 – December 22, 2014) was an English rock and blues singer and musician who came to popularity in the 1960s. He was known for his gritty voice, spasmodic body movement in performance, and cover versions of popular songs, particularly those of The Beatles.
Cocker’s cover of The Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends” reached number one in the UK in 1968. He performed the song live at Woodstock in 1969, and at the Party at the Palace concert for the Golden Jubilee of Elizabeth II in 2002. His version also became the theme song for the TV series The Wonder Years. His 1974 cover of “You Are So Beautiful“, reached number five in the US. Cocker was the recipient of several awards, including a 1983 Grammy Award for his US number one “Up Where We Belong”, a duet with Jennifer Warnes.
Joe Cocker died of lung cancer on December 22, 2014.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbMyksobL-U
Richard Wagstaff “Dick” Clark (November 30, 1929 – April 18, 2012)
Richard Wagstaff “Dick” Clark is an American television personality and businessman, best known for hosting long-running shows such as American Bandstand, various Pyramid game shows, and Dick Clark’s New Year’s Rockin’ Eve.
Clark has long been known for his continued youthful appearance, earning the moniker “America’s Oldest Teenager”, and also for his good health — until he suffered a stroke in 2004. With some speech ability still impaired, Clark made a dramatic return to his New Year’s show on December 31, 2005, and appeared at the Emmy Awards on August 27, 2006.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
Charles Edward Daniels is an American country music, Southern rock, and jazz singer, fiddler, and guitarist.
Charles Daniels (October 28, 1936 – )
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
Roger Miller (January 2, 1936 – October 25, 1992)
Roger Dean Miller was an American singer, songwriter, musician and actor, best known for his honky-tonk-influenced novelty songs. His most recognized tunes included the chart-topping country music and pop music hits King of the Road, Dang Me, and England Swings, all of which came from the Nashville sound era of the mid-1960s.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
