March 21

Supertramp's dreamy voice Roger Hodgson celebrates his 76th birthday today, the singer-songwriter whose "Dreamer" and "Breakfast in America" showcased his optimistic counterpoint to Rick Davies' cynicism before his 1983 departure left the band without its most distinctive vocalist…

 

Rock and roll lost its greatest inventor today in 1991 when Leo Fender died at 81 from Parkinson's disease, ending the life of the man who never learned to play guitar but created the Telecaster and Stratocaster, the instruments that define electric guitar's sound…

 

The Delta blues lost its last direct link to Robert Johnson on this day in 2011 when "Pinetop" Perkins died at 97, ending the career of the pianist who had personally known the legendary guitarist and kept Mississippi blues alive into the 21st century…

 

We remember blue-collar rock's most honest voice Eddie Money on his birthday today in 1949, the former New York cop whose "Two Tickets to Paradise" and working-class anthems made him MTV's most relatable star before his death in 2019 from cancer…

 

Show business met Hollywood today in 1963 when Barbra Streisand married actor Elliott Gould in New York, beginning the eight-year marriage between the rising singer and M*A*S*H star before divorce freed her to become one of entertainment's most powerful figures…

 

Delta blues found one of its founding fathers when Son House was born on this day in 1902, the bottleneck slide guitarist and preacher whose intensity influenced Robert Johnson and Muddy Waters before his rediscovery during the 1960s folk revival brought him late recognition…

 

Blues-rock's greatest comeback arrived today in 1989 with the release of Bonnie Raitt's 'Nick of Time,' the album that rescued the 40-year-old slide guitarist's stalled career with four Grammys and proved that quality could triumph over ageism in the music industry.