May 19, 1951 – April 15, 2001
Jeffrey Hyman had all the makings of an awkward kid. He was tall, shy and struggled with obsessive-compulsive disorder. But he found solace in music. He loved bands like The Who and The Beatles. He learned to play the drums. He joined a band. Then he joined another band. Then he changed his name to “Joey Ramone” and became an icon.
October 3, 1938 – April 17, 1960
Rock ‘n’ roll and Rockabilly pioneer Eddie Cochran began playing guitar as a young boy. He got pretty good, pretty quick. By the time he was high school, he knew he was destined to be a musician. He dropped out and never looked back. By the time he was 16, he was already in the studio and, by 1957, had his first hit – “Sittin’ in the Balcony” – at the age of 18. That same year he appeared alongside Jayne Mansfield and a slew of other musicians in the comedy The Girl Can’t Help It. His career exploded. Continue reading
October 5, 1942 – February 27, 2013
Richard Street was born and raised in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Northwestern High School with his cousin, Melvin Franklin, and another young man named Otis Williams. Along with Al Bryant and a few others, they formed the singing group that would eventually become Otis Williams and the Distants. In 1960, Williams, Franklin and Bryant left the Distants to form the Elgins…which became the Temptations. Continue reading
July 10, 1959 – October 21, 2006
In the summer of 1975, a 15 year-old drummer named Sandra Pesavento (going by “Sandy West”) met a 16 year-old guitarist named Joan Larkin (going by “Joan Jett”). They liked each other instantly and decided to start an all-girl rock band. Continue reading
February 1, 1948 – August 6, 2004
James Ambrose Johnson Jr. was born in Buffalo, NY. His mother worked as a dancer and numbers runner to make ends meet. Young James would often accompany her on her rounds and he was exposed to bars that featured musicians like Miles Davis and Etta James. Needless to say, he liked what he saw and it was music from there out. Well, music and drugs, but I digress. He got in trouble quite a bit as a young man, so he joined the Navy, as one does. Not finding military life to be for him, and finding himself under orders to go to Vietnam, he fled to Toronto and started performing music under the name Ricky James Matthews. Long story short, he met Neil Young, moved to Detroit, met Stevie Wonder (who encouraged him to shorten his stage name to “Ricky James”) and signed with Motown. Continue reading
March 25, 1966 – March 2, 2008
Jeff Healey’s place in pop-culture extends well beyond the fact that he was a talented blues-rock guitarist and singer who had one really great year. His eponymous trio, The Jeff Healey Band, had a monster hit in Canada and the U.S. with 1989’s “Angel Eyes” and he dominated the Toronto club scene in the mid-to-late 1980s. After the success of their first single and album, The JHB went on to record four more albums over the ensuing dozen or so years. But, Jeff didn’t just front his blues-rock band. Continue reading
October 8, 1948 – September 15, 2004
Guitarist for the pioneer punk group the Ramones, Johnny Ramone (John William Cummings) was the downstroke/bar chord king. Formed in 1974 in Forest Hills, Queens, Johnny, Joey, Dee Dee and Tommy Ramone (all adopted pseudonyms) exploded onto the New York City club scene with their “wall of sound” and lightning fast songs. Their performances at storied venues GBGB and Max’s Kansas City drew massive attention and helped usher in a new genre of rock-and-roll: Punk. Johnny’s no-nonsense playing style was the rhythmic driving force behind the band’s massive hits like “Rockaway Beach”, “I Wanna Be Sedated” and “Blitzkrieg Bop.” Continue reading
September 18, 1951 – June 5, 2002
1-2-3-4…
Douglas Colvin, aka Dee Dee Ramone, was the bass player and most prominent songwriter for the legendary punk rock band, the Ramones. Colvin was the first to adopt a “Ramone” pseudonym after urging the rest of the band to do the same and call themselves the Ramones. Early on, Dee Dee was the main singer, but eventually opted to just play, leading to former-drummer Joey taking over lead vocals. After recording 11 albums with the Ramones, Dee Dee left the band in 1989 to pursue other solo projects – including, but certainly not limited to, a critically-panned hip hop album. Continue reading
July 20, 1964 – May 18, 2017
An enormous talent and an unmistakable voice, Chris Cornell not only soared from the early 1990’s grunge-rock movement, but helped define and shape it. Cornell’s first success was found with the Seattle-based grunge-pioneer band, Soundgarden, which he fronted from the mid-80s until the band dissolved in 1997. Soundgarden shot through the charts and their seminal 1994 release, Superunknown – the band’s 4th – remains one of the most successful and influential albums of that decade. Following Soundgarden, Cornell joined members of Rage Against the Machine to form the supergroup, Audioslave, which went on to release 3 albums and the gold-single “Like a Stone.” Continue reading
October 20, 1950 – October 02, 2017
You belong among the wildflowers
You belong in a boat out at sea
You belong with your love on your arm
You belong somewhere you feel free
“Wildflowers” – Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty was rock and roll’s everyman. Whether fronting the eponymous Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, jangling along with his friends as a member of the Traveling Wilburys or simply selling millions of albums as a solo artist, Petty’s 40-year career was nothing short of legendary. Petty won 3 Grammys and worked with everybody who was anybody in music. Continue reading
