07/29/1916 - 03/02/1942
Charles Henry "Charlie" Christian (July 29, 1916 – March 2, 1942) was an American swing and jazz guitarist. He was one of the first to produce improvised masterpieces using electrically amplified equipment.
04/04/1913 - 04/04/1983
McKinley Morganfield, known as Muddy Waters, was an American blues musician, generally considered the Father of modern Chicago blues. A major inspiration for the British blues explosion in the 1960s, Muddy was ranked #17...
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Red Garland (William Garland)
05/13/1923 - 04/23/1984
William "Red" Garland (May 13, 1923 – April 23, 1984) was an American hard bop jazz pianist whose block chord style, in part originated by Milt Buckner, influenced many forthcoming pianists in the...
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06/28/1902 - 12/30/1979
Richard Charles Rodgers (June 28, 1902 – December 30, 1979) was an American composer of music for more than 900 songs and for 43 Broadway musicals. He also composed music for films and television. He is best known for his songwriting partner...
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Buddy Rich (Bernard Rich )
09/30/1917 - 04/02/1987
Bernard "Buddy" Rich (September 30, 1917 – April 2, 1987) was an American jazz drummer and bandleader. Rich was billed as "the world's greatest drummer" and was known for his virtuosic technique, power, groove, and sp...
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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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03/17/1919 - 02/15/1965
Nathaniel Adams Coles (March 17, 1919 – February 15, 1965), known professionally as Nat King Cole, was an American musician who first came to prominence as a leading jazz pianist. Although an accomplished pianist, he owes most of his popular...
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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
Larry Adler (Lawrence Cecil Adler)
02/14/1914 - 08/07/2001
Lawrence "Larry" Cecil Adler was an American musician, widely acknowledged as one of the world's most skilled harmonica players. During the later stage of his career he was known for his collaborations with p...
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Bud Freeman (Lawrence Freeman)
04/13/1906 - 03/15/1991
Lawrence "Bud" Freeman (April 13, 1906 - March 15, 1991) was a U.S. jazz musician, bandleader, and composer, known mainly for playing the tenor saxophone, but also able at the clarinet. He was one of the most influential and important ja...
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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.
01/20/1888 - 12/06/1949
Huddie William Ledbetter (January 20, 1888 – December 6, 1949) was an American folk-blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist whose ability to perform a vast repertoire of songs, in conjunction with his notoriously violent life, made him a leg...
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06/16/1971 - 09/13/1996
Tupac Amaru Shakur (June 16, 1971 – September 13, 1996), known by his stage names 2Pac (or simply Pac) and Makaveli, was an American rapper. Shakur has sold over 75 million albums worldwide, making him one of the best-selling music artists i...
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05/21/1972 - 03/09/1997
Christopher George Latore Wallace (May 21, 1972 – March 9, 1997) was an American rapper. He was popularly known as Biggie Smalls (after a character in the 1975 film Let's Do It Again), Big Poppa, Frank White (after the main character of...
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Jelly Morton (Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe)
09/20/1885 - 07/10/1941
Ferdinand Joseph LaMothe (September 20, 1885 – July 10, 1941), known professionally as Jelly Roll Morton, was an American ragtime and early jazz pianist, bandleader and composer.