02/17/1940 - 04/05/2006
Gene Francis Alan Pitney (February 17, 1940 – April 5, 2006) was an American singer-songwriter, musician, and sound engineer. Through the mid-1960s, he enjoyed success as a recording artist on both sides of the Atlantic. Pitney was amon...
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04/22/1927 - 07/17/2005
Lorenzo Aitken (April 22, 1927 – July 17, 2005), better known as Laurel Aitken, was a singer and one of the originators of Jamaican ska music . He is often referred to as the "Godfather of ska
Patsy Cline (Virginia Patterson Hensley)
09/08/1932 - 03/05/1963
Patsy Cline (September 8, 1932 – March 5, 1963), born Virginia Patterson Hensley, was an American country music singer who enjoyed pop music crossover success during the era of the Nashville sound in the early 1960s. Since her death in 1963...
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07/10/1959 - 10/21/2006
Sandy West (July 10, 1959 – October 21, 2006) was an American musician, singer, songwriter, and drummer. She was hailed by fans and critics alike to be a groundbreaking musician, as a drummer. She was one of the founding members of...
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Billie Holiday (Eleanora Fagan)
04/07/1915 - 07/17/1959
Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan, April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday had a seminal influence on jazz and pop si...
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03/13/1942 - 12/03/1999
John Paul Larkin (March 13, 1942 – December 3, 1999), better known by his stage name Scatman John, was an American jazz musician and singer who created a fusion of scat singing and dance music, best known for his 1994 hit "Scatman (Ski-...
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07/10/1942 - 05/16/2010
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...
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09/25/1933 - 08/03/2008
Erik Darling (September 25, 1933 – August 3, 2008) was an American songwriter and a folk music artist. He was an important influence on the folk scene in the late 1950s and early 1960s.
06/14/1936 - 07/01/2005
Renaldo "Obie" Benson (June 14, 1936 – July 1, 2005) was an American soul and R&B singer and songwriter. He was best known as the bass of Motown group the Four Tops, which he joined in 1953 and continued to perform with for ove...
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Count Basie (William Basie)
09/21/1904 - 04/26/1984
William "Count" Basie (August 21, 1904 – April 26, 1984) was an American jazz pianist, organist, bandleader, and composer. Basie led his jazz orchestra almost continuously for nearly 50 years...
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07/03/1952 - 08/26/2004
Laura Ann Frances Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-cer...
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05/23/1910 - 12/30/2004
Arthur Jacob Arshawsky (May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004), better known as Artie Shaw, was an American jazz clarinetist, composer, and bandleader. He was also the author of both fiction and non-fiction writ...
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09/23/1930 - 06/10/2004
Ray Charles Robinson, better known by his shortened stage name Ray Charles, was an American musician. He was a pioneer in the genre of soul music during the 1950s by fusing rhythm & blues,gospel, and blues styles...
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05/21/1917 - 01/06/1993
John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993 was an American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise
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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