February 21

Rock radio lost one of its founding personalities today in 1982 when Murray the K died of cancer at 60, ending the life of the New York DJ who befriended the Beatles during their first US visit and helped popularize British Invasion music to American audiences…

 

We remember the High Priestess of Soul Nina Simone on her birthday today in 1933, the classically trained pianist whose powerful voice and civil rights activism on songs like "Mississippi Goddam" made her one of music's most uncompromising and influential artists before her death in 2003…

 

We honor the Grateful Dead's most tragic keyboardist Vince Welnick on his birthday today in 1951, the former Tubes member who joined after Brent Mydland's death but struggled with depression before taking his own life in 2006, continuing the keyboard position's curse…

 

Talking Heads' intellectual architect Jerry Harrison celebrates his 77th birthday today, the keyboardist-guitarist whose avant-garde sensibilities and production work helped define new wave while proving that art school experimentalism could create danceable pop…

 

Country-folk's most literate voice Mary Chapin Carpenter was born today in 1958, the singer-songwriter whose intelligent lyrics and Grammy success in the 1990s proved that thinking woman's country could dominate radio alongside Nashville's traditional sounds…

 

Music business royalty David Geffen celebrates his 83rd birthday today, the mogul who founded Asylum and Geffen Records while managing everyone from Joni Mitchell to Guns N' Roses, becoming one of entertainment's most powerful and wealthy figures…

 

The Monkees mourned their genuine musician on this day in 2019 when Peter Tork died at 77 from adenoid cystic carcinoma, ending the life of the bassist-keyboardist who had resented being part of a manufactured TV band despite proving his authentic musical abilities.