January 17

 

The Rolling Stones' most tasteful guitarist Mick Taylor celebrates his 77th birthday today, the British blues master whose melodic solos from 1969-1974 represented the band's most musically adventurous period before his departure left many wondering what more he could have contributed…

 

British blue-eyed soul's smoothest voice Paul Young turns 70 today, the singer whose covers of "Everytime You Go Away" and "Come Back and Stay" made him one of the 1980s' most successful artists while his genuine love of American soul music shone through every performance…

 

The Bangles' most photogenic dreamer Susanna Hoffs celebrates her 67th birthday today, the guitarist-vocalist whose "Eternal Flame" vocals and MTV presence helped make the Los Angeles jangle-pop band the most successful all-female group of the 1980s…

 

Music publishing lost one of its most powerful figures on this day in 2011 when Don Kirshner died of heart failure at 76, ending the life of the "Man with the Golden Ear" who built the Brill Building empire and created the Monkees' music machine…

 

Country-rock's most tragic visionary received his final artistic statement today in 1974 when Gram Parsons' 'Grievous Angel' was released posthumously, the album recorded just before his 1973 drug overdose proving what cosmic American music had lost at age 26.