May 7

The Grateful Dead's most steady timekeeper Bill Kreutzmann was born on this day in 1946, the drummer whose rhythmic partnership with Mickey Hart created the "rhythm devils" foundation that allowed Jerry Garcia's improvisations to soar across three decades of psychedelic exploration…

 

We remember Romantic music's greatest symphonist Johannes Brahms on his birthday today in 1833, the German composer whose perfectionism and Classical influences made him Beethoven's spiritual heir while his influence on chamber music and orchestral writing shaped everything that followed before his death in 1897…

 

Country-pop lost its smoothest crossover voice today in 1998 when Eddie Rabbitt died at 56 from lung cancer, ending the career of the singer whose "I Love a Rainy Night" proved that Nashville could embrace disco while his songwriting for Elvis showed his versatility…

 

We honor the Beatles' most psychedelic publicist Derek Taylor on his birthday today in 1942, the press officer whose flowery prose helped shape the band's image during their most experimental period while his work for the Byrds and Monterey Pop proved essential to 1960s counterculture before his death in 1997…

 

We remember classical music's most emotionally dramatic composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky on his birthday today in 1840, the Russian whose ballets and symphonies made him famous enough for Chuck Berry to sing "roll over Beethoven, tell Tchaikovsky the news" over a century after his mysterious death in 1893…

 

Psychedelic drumming's most versatile architect Prairie Prince was born on this day in 1950 in Charlotte, the Tubes timekeeper whose work with Jefferson Starship and countless sessions proved that North Carolina could produce San Francisco's most imaginative percussionists…

 

Alternative pop's one-hit wonder Eagle Eye Cherry was born on this day in 1969, jazz trumpeter Don Cherry's son whose "Save Tonight" became an inescapable radio hit in 1997 despite his Swedish upbringing and inability to replicate that massive success.