February 25

We remember the Quiet Beatle George Harrison on his birthday today in 1943, the guitarist whose spiritual seeking and songwriting growth from "Something" to "My Sweet Lord" proved he had been sitting in the shadows of Lennon-McCartney's brilliance before lung cancer claimed him in 2001…

 

Musical genius received America's highest honor today in 2009 when President Obama awarded Stevie Wonder the Gershwin Prize, recognizing six decades of innovation from child prodigy to social conscience that made him one of popular music's most important voices…

 

The Voice fell silent on this night in 1995 when Frank Sinatra sang before a live audience for the final time at a private party for 1,200 guests, the 79-year-old Chairman of the Board's farewell performance ending the most influential singing career of the 20th century…

 

Southern rock lost its guitar poet on this day in 1993 when Marshall Tucker Band founder Toy Caldwell died at 45 from cocaine-related heart failure, ending the career of the lead guitarist whose melodic solos had helped define the genre's more sophisticated side…

 

Pop's most ubiquitous one-hit wonder Daniel Powter was born today in 1971, the Canadian singer-songwriter whose "Bad Day" became impossible to escape in 2006 despite his inability to replicate that massive success with any subsequent releases…

 

Folk's most fragile masterpiece arrived today in 1972 with the release of Nick Drake's 'Pink Moon,' the stark acoustic album recorded in just two nights that went unnoticed until after his 1974 suicide made it a cult classic of melancholic beauty.