May 3

We remember the Godfather of Soul James Brown on his birthday today in 1933, the hardest working man in show business whose funk innovations and explosive performances influenced everyone from Michael Jackson to hip-hop while his control issues and legal troubles proved genius came with a dark side before his death in 2006…

 

We honor folk's greatest activist Pete Seeger on his birthday today in 1919, the banjo-playing troubadour whose "We Shall Overcome" and blacklist survival proved that music could fight McCarthyism and advance civil rights across seven decades of leftist conviction before his death in 2014…

 

We remember crooning's first multimedia star Bing Crosby on his birthday today in 1903, the singer whose "White Christmas" became the best-selling single ever while his film career and pioneering use of recording technology made him the 20th century's most successful entertainer before his death in 1977…

 

Doo-wop's most enduring falsetto Frankie Valli was born today in 1937, the Four Seasons frontman whose impossible high notes on "Can't Take My Eyes Off You" and "Sherry" proved that Italian-American street corner harmony could dominate pop music across six decades of unlikely survival…

 

Folk-pop's sweetest discovery Mary Hopkin celebrates her 76th birthday today, the Welsh singer whose Paul McCartney-produced "Those Were the Days" made her an overnight sensation in 1968 though her discomfort with fame led to early retirement from the spotlight…

 

Yacht rock's smoothest captain Christopher Cross turns 75 today, the Texas singer-songwriter whose "Sailing" and five Grammy sweep in 1981 proved that unassuming soft rock could achieve perfection before his subsequent albums revealed him as a magnificent one-album wonder.