February 11

 

Rock's most resilient survivor Sheryl Crow celebrates her 64th birthday today, the Missouri singer-songwriter whose "All I Wanna Do" launched a career proving that roots-rock authenticity and radio success could coexist while she battled breast cancer and personal setbacks…

 

Beatles love found its first wedding today in 1965 when Ringo Starr married longtime girlfriend Maureen Cox at London's Caxton Hall Register Office, the union producing three children before divorce in 1975 ended the marriage that had survived Beatlemania's chaos…

 

Pop lost its greatest voice today in 2012 when Whitney Houston was found dead in her Beverly Hilton Hotel bathtub at 48, drowning after years of drug abuse ended the career of the singer whose powerful vocals had made her the most awarded female artist ever…

 

Brill Building royalty was born on this day in 1939 when Gerry Goffin entered the world, the lyricist whose partnership with wife Carole King produced "Will You Love Me Tomorrow" and countless hits before mental illness and their divorce ended one of pop's greatest collaborations, his death coming in 2014…

 

We remember rockabilly's wildest rebel Gene Vincent on his birthday today in 1935, the leather-clad singer whose "Be-Bop-A-Lula" and dangerous image influenced British rockers despite never achieving Elvis-level fame before alcoholism and a leg injury from a motorcycle crash contributed to his death at 36 in 1971.