April 6

Classical music lost one of its greatest revolutionaries on this day in 1971 when Igor Stravinsky died at 88, ending the career of the Russian composer whose 'The Rite of Spring' caused a riot in 1913 and whose modernist innovations influenced everyone from jazz to rock across six decades…

 

Rock's eternal rooster Rod Stewart married model Alana Hamilton today in 1979 in Beverly Hills, beginning the union that would produce two children before their 1984 divorce added another chapter to the singer's legendary romantic history spanning multiple decades…

 

Punk's most confrontational performer Wendy O. Williams took her own life on this day in 1998 at 48 with a self-inflicted gunshot wound, ending the career of the Plasmatics frontwoman whose chainsaw guitars and explosives made her shock rock's most dangerous female icon…

 

We remember Chicago blues harmonica's greatest voice Big Walter Horton on his birthday today in 1921, the musician whose work with Muddy Waters and solo recordings influenced every harp player who followed before his death in 1981 ended six decades of authentic Delta blues…

 

Country music lost its First Lady today in 1998 when Tammy Wynette died at 55, ending the career of the "Stand by Your Man" singer whose five marriages and tumultuous life with George Jones proved as dramatic as her songs about suffering women…

 

Session guitar's most reliable architect Danny Kortchmar was born on this day in 1946, the musician whose work with James Taylor, Carole King, and countless others made him one of the Laurel Canyon sound's most essential contributors across five decades…

 

We remember country's greatest outlaw Merle Haggard on his birthday today in 1937, the Bakersfield Sound pioneer whose "Okie from Muskogee" and San Quentin past made him authentically country before his death in 2016 ended eight decades of honky-tonk truth.