May 18

Surf-pop's most laid-back voice Jack Johnson celebrates his 51st birthday today, the former professional surfer whose mellow acoustic songs proved that Hawaiian beach culture could dominate early 2000s coffee shops while critics dismissed his pleasant melodies as background music for yoga studios…

 

Progressive rock's most virtuosic keyboardist Rick Wakeman was born on this day in 1949, the Yes member whose cape-wearing theatrics and multi-keyboard setups defined the genre's excess while his solo career and session work for David Bowie proved his talents extended beyond 20-minute epics…

 

Pub-rock's scrappiest survivor Wreckless Eric celebrates his 72nd birthday today, born Eric Goulden, the Stiff Records artist whose "Whole Wide World" became a cult classic proving that British new wave could embrace punk's energy without abandoning romantic vulnerability…

 

Jazz lost one of its most powerful drummers on this day in 2004 when Elvin Jones died at 76, ending the career of the John Coltrane Quartet timekeeper whose polyrhythmic approach influenced every jazz and rock drummer while his brothers Hank and Thad created a musical dynasty…

 

We remember rock and roll's founding shouter Big Joe Turner on his birthday today in 1911, the Kansas City bluesman whose "Shake, Rattle and Roll" became one of the genre's first hits before Elvis and others sanitized it, his death in 1985 ending seven decades of blues bellowing.