January 25

 

Acoustic intimacy met Beatle legend today in 1991 when Paul McCartney appeared on MTV's Unplugged, the former Beatle stripping down his catalog and proving that even the most produced pop songs could work with just voices and acoustic instruments…

 

R&B's most sophisticated voice Alicia Keys celebrates her 45th birthday today, the New York singer-songwriter whose classical piano training and powerful vocals on "Fallin'" made her one of the 2000s' most respected artists bridging hip-hop and soul…

 

Delta blues found one of its most authentic voices when Sleepy John Estes was born on this day in 1899, the Tennessee guitarist whose conversational singing style and collaboration with harmonica player Hammie Nixon preserved country blues traditions before his death in 1977…

 

Music management lost one of its most powerful figures on this day in 1986 when Albert Grossman died of a heart attack aboard the Concorde at 59, ending the life of the manager who guided Bob Dylan, Janis Joplin, and The Band to stardom…

 

Beatles history pivoted today in 1963 when EMI awarded US label Vee-Jay the rights to distribute Beatles records in America, the small Chicago R&B label releasing "Please Please Me" months before Capitol would finally take the Fab Four seriously…

 

We remember blues power Etta James on her birthday today in 1938, the vocalist whose raw emotional delivery on "At Last" and lifelong battles with addiction made her one of music's most respected and troubled voices before her death in 2011.