December 17
Rock's most soulful British voice Paul Rodgers celebrates his 76th birthday today, the singer whose powerful vocals with Free on "All Right Now" and Bad Company's string of 1970s hits proved that white British blues could rival its American counterparts in emotional authenticity… Smooth jazz lost one of its pioneers today in 1999 when saxophonist Grover Washington Jr. suffered a fatal heart attack on stage during a taping of The Saturday Early Show in New York at 56, the sudden death shocking fans who had embraced his crossover success… Chicago blues found its white champion when Paul Butterfield was born on this day in 1942, the harmonica virtuoso whose integrated blues band brought authentic Chicago sound to rock audiences and helped launch Mike Bloomfield's career before his death from drug-related peritonitis in 1987… Delta blues lost one of its last authentic voices today in 1982 when Big Joe Williams died in Macon, Mississippi at 79, en...
