April 23
We remember rock's most operatic voice Roy Orbison on his birthday today in 1936, "The Big O" whose three-octave range and dark sunglasses on hits like "Crying" and "Pretty Woman" made him one of the era's most distinctive voices before his death in 1988 silenced pop's greatest balladeer… Tin Pan Alley lost one of its greatest composers on this day in 1986 when Harold Arlen died at 81, ending the career of the songwriter whose "Over the Rainbow" and work with lyricist Yip Harburg created the Great American Songbook's most enduring standards… Business met betrayal today in 1987 when Carole King sued her former mentor Lou Adler for $400,000 in royalties and publishing rights, the lawsuit exposing how even Brill Building's greatest songwriter had been exploited by the music industry's most trusted figures… Punk lost its most self-destructive junkie today in 1991 when New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders ...
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