March 18
Rock and roll lost its founding architect today in 2017 when Chuck Berry was found dead at his St. Louis home at 90, ending the life of the guitarist whose duck walk, storytelling songs like "Johnny B. Goode," and guitar licks essentially invented the template for rock music… The Mamas and the Papas mourned their troubled leader on this day in 2001 when John Phillips died at 65 from heart failure, ending the career of the songwriter whose "California Dreamin'" defined 1960s folk-rock while his drug addiction and incestuous relationship with daughter Mackenzie tainted his legacy… We remember soul's most explosive voice Wilson Pickett on his birthday today in 1941, the "Wicked Pickett" whose raw power on "In the Midnight Hour" and "Mustang Sally" defined Memphis soul's intensity before his death in 2006 silenced one of R&B's most commanding vocalists… Pop-rock's most calculated frontman Adam Levin...
