Curated playlist
1998 deaths
- Frank SinatraFrank Sinatra was dropped by his record label in 1952. A movie role then brought him back to the top.
- Ahmad HuseinOn January 9, 1958, Ahmad Husein helped announce a rival government to President Sukarno's.
- Eberhard ReesWernher von Braun personally chose Eberhard Rees to lead the Marshall Space Flight Center.
- Alan ShepardAn inner ear disease grounded astronaut Alan Shepard for years before he walked on the Moon.
- Akira KurosawaRashomon won Venice's Golden Lion in 1951 after its own studio entered it reluctantly.
- Yoshifumi KondōYoshifumi Kondō directed only one film before he died at 47. Many at Studio Ghibli saw him as heir to Miyazaki.
- Linda McCartneyLinda McCartney was the first woman to put a photograph on the cover of Rolling Stone.
- Lew GradeLew Grade offered to make The Muppet Show in Britain after American networks turned Jim Henson down.
- Carl PerkinsCarl Perkins learned guitar on a cigar box and a broomstick. He later wrote "Blue Suede Shoes" for Sun Records.
- Alfred SchnittkeAlmost completely paralyzed, composer Alfred Schnittke wrote his Ninth Symphony with his left hand.
- James Earl RayJames Earl Ray escaped from the Missouri State Penitentiary on the 23rd of April 1967 by hiding in a truck that carried bread out of the prison bakery. Thirty-one years later, on that same date, he died. In the years between, he became the…
- Julian SimonJulian Simon bet Paul Ehrlich that five metals would get cheaper. All five did.
- Georgy SviridovMillions of Soviet viewers heard Georgy Sviridov's music every evening without knowing his name.