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
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
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
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
Stephen (“Stevie”) Ray Vaughan, born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist, known as one of the most influential electric blues musicians in history. He is often referred to by his initials, SRV.
Stevie Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990)
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
James Joseph “Jim” Croce (January 10, 1943 – September 20, 1973)
James Joseph “Jim” Croce (“crow-chee”) was an American singer-songwriter. Between 1966 and 1973, Croce released six studio albums and 11 singles. His singles “Bad, Bad Leroy Brown” and “Time in a Bottle” were both number one hits on the Billboard Hot 100 charts.
Croce, 30, Maury Muehleisen, 24, and four others died in a small commercial plane crash on September 20, 1973 after leaving a concert.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
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
Van Morrison, (born August 31, 1945) is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It’s Too Late to Stop Now, are widely viewed as among the greatest ever made.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
Stephen (“Stevie”) Ray Vaughan (October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990), born in Dallas, Texas, was an American blues guitarist, known as one of the most influential electric blues musicians in history. He is often referred to by his initials, SRV.
Accidental death
Vaughan’s comeback was cut short when, in the early morning of August 27, 1990, he died in a helicopter crash near East Troy, Wisconsin. After a concert at the Alpine Valley Music Theater, where earlier in the evening he appeared with Robert Cray, Buddy Guy, Eric Clapton and his older brother Jimmie Vaughan, the musicians expected a long bus ride back to Chicago. Stevie was informed that three seats were open on one of the helicopters returning to Chicago with Clapton and his crew, enough for Stevie, Jimmie, and Jimmie’s wife Connie. It turned out there was only one seat left, which Stevie requested from his brother; Jimmie obliged. Taking off into deep fog, the helicopter crashed moments later into a ski slope on the side of a hill within the Alpine Valley Resort. Vaughan, the pilot, and members of Clapton’s crew (his agent, assistant tour manager, and a bodyguard) died on impact. No one realized that the crash had occurred until the helicopter failed to arrive in Chicago, and the wreckage was only found with the help of its locator beacon.
Stevie Ray Vaughan is interred in the Laurel Land Memorial Park, Dallas, Texas.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day
Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935–August 16, 1977)
Elvis Aaron Presley, was an American singer, musician and actor. He is a cultural icon, often known as “The King of Rock ‘n’ Roll”, or simply “The King”.
Posted in Because I Can, Music, On This Day, 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 Because I Can, Music
Wikipedia Link