December 2

 

Rock royalty received America's highest artistic honor on this day in 2012 when Led Zeppelin was awarded Kennedy Center Honors at a White House dinner, with President Obama acknowledging that the British hard rock legends had fundamentally changed popular music despite never having performed there before…

 

Folk-rock lost one of its journeymen today in 1982 when David Blue died of a heart attack at 41 while jogging in New York's Washington Square Park, ending the career of the Bob Dylan associate whose "Outlaw Man" became an Eagles hit and whose Rolling Thunder Revue participation captured a unique moment…

 

The Rolling Stones mourned their longtime saxophonist today in 2014 when Bobby Keys died at 70 after a lengthy illness, ending the life of the Texas horn player whose gritty solos on "Brown Sugar" and decades of touring made him an honorary Stone…

 

Psychedelic rock lost an iconic voice today in 2006 when Shocking Blue singer Mariska Veres died of cancer at 59, silencing the Dutch vocalist whose distinctive delivery on "Venus" had made the one-hit wonder an international sensation in 1970…

 

Pop's most scrutinized star Britney Spears celebrates her 44th birthday today, the Louisiana singer whose transition from Mickey Mouse Club to teen pop phenomenon to tabloid fixture to conservatorship survivor has made her one of entertainment's most complex and tragic figures.