Elvis Presley was born in a two-room shotgun house built by his father in East Tupelo, MS on January 8, 1935. He had an identical twin brother named Jessie Garon Presley. Elvis arrived about 30 minutes later. And though he never met his brother, his life and ours would no doubt have been a hell of a lot different if he had. 42 years later, Elvis’ fiancee, Ginger Alden found his lifeless body. You better already know the rest.
Although his recording career remarkably spanned roughly one year, Robert Johnson is considered by many to be the most influential blues artists of all time. And although his entire catalog of recordings fill just two compact discs, Rolling Stone magazine ranked him #5 on their list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. His minimal recording output couldn’t deny the considerable vocal, guitar-playing and songwriting talent he possessed. And that fact that not much is known about his history coupled with the fact that only two photographs of him even exist, add to a legend that is as big as any in popular music. Even the most respected historians of music could, at best, find sources who claimed they heard “this” or “that” about Johnson’s life in and around Clarksdale, Mississippi. A popular legend has it that he went to a darkened Mississippi crossroad with his guitar and met a man representing the devil who tuned his guitar and played a few songs on it, there bequeathing Johnson phenomenal guitar skills in exchange for is soul. True or not, Johnson has been called the “grandfather of rock ‘n roll,” a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and has been cited as a direct influence on the likes of Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Jeff Beck to name just a very few. Robert Johnson’s death is as mysterious as his life,with the most popular, though disputed story being that he drank whiskey that had been laced with strychnine by the jealous husband of a woman Johnson is said to have flirted with at a juke joint. He allegedly died a slow and painful death from the poison a few days later, at the age of just 27. A further testament to the overall mystery surrounding Johnson’s life is the fact there are three separate tombstones said to mark his place of burial.
Best remembered as the front man of the Dubliners, Ronnie Drew was a world renowned Irish folk musician and singer. He formed the group in the early ’60s and soon they were one of Ireland’s most popular folk bands thanks to many shows throughout the pubs and hotels in Dublin and beyond. Drew left the group in the mid ’90s and found a new audience thanks to collaborations with the likes of Dropkick Murphys, U2’s The Edge, the Pogues and Christy Moore. He died after a long struggle with cancer on August 16, 2008. He was 73.
Many jazz fans consider Max Roach to have been one of the genre’s greatest drummers. One of the early practitioners of bebop, Roach made his mark playing behind some of popular music’s greatest musicians. That list includes Dizzy Gillespie, Duke Ellington, Charles Mingus and Sonny Rollins. Throughout a recording career that spanned nearly 60 years, Roach performed on over 100 albums, either as a sideman or leader. Of those albums, 1962’s Money Jungle with Mingus and Ellington has been called the greatest trio album ever recorded. Off the stage, Roach was an civil rights activist. He passed away at the age of natural causes at the age of 83.
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan
October 13, 1948 – August 16, 1997
Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan was a popular Punjabi singer and musician who played a form of Islamic music. In 2006, Time magazine included him of a list of Asian heroes, while Spin called him one of 1998’s most influential musicians. Khan found an audience in the West thanks to his work with Peter Gabriel which began in the mid ’80s, and later with Eddie Vedder and Massive Attack. His 1997 Intoxicated Spirit received a Grammy nomination for Best Traditional Folk album. Over the course of his 30+ year career, he recorded an astonishing 125 albums. Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan died of cardiac arrest while awaiting a kidney transplant. He was 48 years old.