02/01/1948 - 08/06/2004
James Ambrose Johnson, Jr. (February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004), better known by his stage name Rick James, was an American singer, songwriter, musician and record producer. James was a popula...
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01/27/1885 - 11/11/1945
Jerome David Kern (January 27, 1885 – November 11, 1945) was an American composer of musical theatre and popular music. One of the most important American theatre composers of the early 20th century, he wrote more than 700 songs, used in ove...
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03/06/1923 - 06/15/1968
John Leslie "Wes" Montgomery (March 6, 1923 – June 15, 1968) was an American jazz guitarist. He is widely considered one of the major jazz guitarists. DigitalDreamDoor named Montgomery the greatest jazz gui...
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08/06/1930 - 08/14/2010
Anna Marie Wooldridge (August 6, 1930 – August 14, 2010),better known by her stage name Abbey Lincoln, was a jazz vocalist, songwriter, and actress.
06/29/1901 - 03/06/1967
Nelson Ackerman Eddy (June 29, 1901 - March 6, 1967) was an American singer and movie star who appeared in 19 musical films during the 1930s and 1940s, as well as in opera and on the concert stage, radio, television, and in nightclubs. He was one...
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05/26/1926 - 09/28/1991
Miles Davis was an American jazz composer, trumpeter and multi-instrumentalist and was one of the most influential, innovative and original musicians of the twentieth century.
Teddy Pendergrass (Theodore DeReese Pendergrass)
08/17/1950 - 01/13/2010
Theodore DeReese "Teddy" Pendergrass (August 17, 1950 – January 13, 2010) was an American R&B/soul singer and songwriter. Pendergrass first rose to fame as lead singer of Harold Melvin & the Blue No...
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01/03/1810 - 05/17/1849
Frédéric François Chopin (22 February or 1 March 1810 – 17 October 1849) was a Polish composer, virtuoso pianist, and music teacher of French–Polish parentage. He w...
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Teena Marie (Mary Christine Brockert)
03/05/1956 - 12/26/2010
Mary Christine Brockert, better known by her stage name Teena Marie, (March 5, 1956 – December 26, 2010) was an American singer, songwriter and producer. She was known as Tina before taking the stage name Teena Marie; she later acquired the...
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Duke Ellington (Edward Kennedy Ellington)
04/29/1899 - 05/24/1974
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (born April 29, 1899, Washington, D.C., U.S.—died May 24, 1974, New York, N.Y.) American pianist who was the greatest jazz composer and bandleader. One of the originators of big-band jazz, Elli...
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08/04/1901 - 07/06/1971
Louis Daniel Armstrong nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana.
Coming to prominence in the 1920s as an "inventive" cornet an...
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07/03/1952 - 08/26/2004
Laura Ann Frances Branigan (July 3, 1952 – August 26, 2004) was an American singer-songwriter and actress of Italian and Irish ancestry. She is best known in the United States for her 1982 Platinum-cer...
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07/22/1941 - 02/11/2009
Estelle Bennett (July 22, 1941 – February 11, 2009) was a member of the girl group The Ronettes, along with her sister Ronnie Spector (the 'Ronnie' of the band's name) and cousin Nedra Talley.
Long John (John William Baldry)
01/12/1941 - 07/21/2005
John "Long John" William Baldry was an English and Canadian blues singer and a voice actor. He sang with many British musicians, with Rod Stewart and Elton John appearing in bands led by Baldry in the 1960s.
03/02/1950 - 02/04/1983
Karen Anne Carpenter (March 2, 1950 – February 4, 1983) was an American singer and was the lead singer for the soft-rock duo the Carpenters, who scored a string of Top 10 hits in the early