February 14

The Grateful Dead's captain found love today in 1994 when Jerry Garcia married filmmaker Deborah Koons, his third wife staying with him through his final health struggles until his death just 18 months later in August 1995…

 

Pop's most flamboyant showman entered his first marriage today in 1984 when Elton John wed recording engineer Renate Blauel in Sydney, Australia, the union lasting four years before divorce as the singer continued struggling with his sexuality and addiction…

 

Rock's darkest poet Lou Reed married Sylvia Morales today in 1980 at his New York apartment, the union producing no children but lasting seven years before Reed's relationship with performance artist Laurie Anderson became his final great love…

 

We remember folk's most ethereal voice Tim Buckley on his birthday today in 1947, the singer-songwriter whose five-octave range and jazz-influenced experimentations influenced his son Jeff before heroin and morphine killed him at 28 in 1975…

 

Pop-rock's most earnest voice Rob Thomas was born today in 1972, the Matchbox Twenty frontman whose songwriting on "Smooth" for Santana proved more successful than his own band's radio dominance in the late 1990s and early 2000s…

 

We honor Jerry Garcia's musical partner Merl Saunders on his birthday today in 1934, the keyboardist whose jazz-fusion collaborations with the Grateful Dead guitarist helped bridge psychedelic rock and improvisational jazz before his death in 2008…

 

Power pop lost its architect today in 2010 when Knack singer Doug Fieger died at 57 after battling cancer, ending the life of the frontman whose "My Sharona" became one of the most infectious and controversial hits of 1979…

 

Purple romance bloomed on this day in 1996 when The Artist Formerly Known as Prince married backup dancer Mayte Garcia in a Minneapolis church, the union producing a son who died from a rare genetic disorder before their divorce in 2000…

 

Daytime television got surreal today in 1972 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono began a week-long run as co-hosts of The Mike Douglas Show, the former Beatle bringing counterculture chaos to Middle America's living rooms…

 

Rock's most powerful live document was captured today in 1970 when The Who performed at Leeds University in England, the explosive show recorded for 'Live at Leeds,' widely considered one of the greatest live albums ever released…

 

Television met avant-garde rock today in 1986 when Frank Zappa appeared on 'Miami Vice' as a crime boss, the composer's cameo proving that Don Johnson's pastel world could accommodate even music's most uncompromising iconoclast…

 

Folk-rock's most introspective statement arrived on this day in 1972 with the release of Neil Young's 'Harvest,' the album featuring "Heart of Gold" and "The Needle and the Damage Done" that became his most commercially successful work despite his discomfort with mainstream acceptance.