April 29
Country music's greatest outlaw Willie Nelson celebrates his 93rd birthday today, the Texas troubadour whose "Red Headed Stranger" and endless touring proved that authenticity and marijuana advocacy could create a six-decade career defying Nashville's conventions and the IRS… We remember jazz's greatest composer Duke Ellington on his birthday today in 1899, the bandleader whose sophisticated orchestrations and compositions like "Mood Indigo" elevated jazz to high art while his Cotton Club residency made him Harlem Renaissance's most elegant voice before his death in 1974… Glam rock lost its greatest sideman today in 1993 when Mick Ronson died at 46 from liver cancer, ending the career of David Bowie's "Spider from Mars" guitarist whose arrangements and playing had been essential to Ziggy Stardust while his solo work remained criminally underrated… Pop met Hollywood today in 1992 when Paula Abdul married actor Emilio Es...
