Curated playlist

20th-century American singers

Michael JacksonMichael Jackson bought a music catalog with most of the Beatles's material in 1985. He paid 47.5 million dollars.
Kanye WestKanye West recorded "Through the Wire" with his jaw still wired shut. A 2002 car accident had shattered it.
Adam SandlerAdam Sandler once made a Western comedy that critics almost universally panned. On the 6th of January 2016, Netflix announced that the film, The Ridiculous 6, had been watched more times in thirty days than any other movie in the service's…
Billie HolidayBillie Holiday died with seventy cents in the bank. She earned $250,000 in the three years before her 1947 arrest.
Aretha FranklinOtis Redding said Aretha Franklin took his song "Respect" away from him. Her version hit number one in 1967.
Dean MartinDean Martin, born Dino Paul Crocetti, delivered one of his sharpest hometown jokes in a 1967 spy spoof. In The Ambushers, his secret agent Matt Helm is about to be executed and is offered a last cigarette. Helm tells the man who hands it…
Prince (musician)Prince once changed his name to an unpronounceable symbol to protest his record label.
Judy GarlandMGM fired Judy Garland in 1950, and Bing Crosby invited her onto his radio show. The audience gave her an ovation.
Mary Elizabeth McGlynnMary Elizabeth McGlynn won a 2007 award for voicing Major Motoko Kusanagi.
Tina TurnerTina Turner crossed a Texas freeway on foot on the 1st of July 1976 with 36 cents and a Mobil credit card in her pocket. She had slipped out of a hotel suite in Dallas after a fight, while her husband slept. Her destination was a nearby…
Sam CookeSam Cooke walked into a recording session and began singing Gershwin. His label's head, Art Rupe, was furious.
Ginger RogersGinger Rogers and Fred Astaire were only supporting players in Flying Down to Rio, a film meant for other stars.
Chuck BerryChuck Berry was buried with a cherry-red guitar bolted inside his coffin lid. The rock and roll pioneer died in 2017.
George Clinton (funk musician)George Clinton says a flying metallic object once hit his car. The funk musician was riding with Bootsy Collins.
Bing CrosbyBing Crosby had to re-record "White Christmas" in 1947 because the 1942 master had worn out.
Lucille BallLucille Ball's real-life pregnancy became an I Love Lucy episode, and CBS banned the word "pregnant."
Will SmithWill Smith turned down the lead role in The Matrix to make Wild Wild West. He later called that choice a mistake.
Lauryn HillLauryn Hill stood at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards and said, "This is crazy. This is hip-hop!" She had just become the first woman to win five Grammys in a single night. Her wins spanned album, song, vocal performance and best new artist,…
MC HammerMC Hammer started out as an 11-year-old selling baseballs in a parking lot. The Oakland A's owner hired him on the spot.
CherCher, the American singer and actress born Cheryl Sarkisian, first reached radio in 1964 with a record that programmers misjudged. The single was “Ringo, I Love You,” produced by Phil Spector and released under the name Bonnie Jo Mason.…
D'AngeloD'Angelo, born Michael Eugene Archer, released only three studio albums in his lifetime. Rolling Stone still placed him 75th on its 2023 list of the 200 Greatest Singers of All Time. The same magazine ranked his second album, Voodoo, 28th…
Snoop DoggSnoop Dogg bought Death Row Records, the label that launched his career, in February 2022. It took nearly three decades.
Linda McCartneyLinda McCartney was the first woman to put a photograph on the cover of Rolling Stone.
Brandy NorwoodBrandy Rayana Norwood, known simply as Brandy, once held the top spot on the Billboard Hot 100 for thirteen weeks in a row. The song was "The Boy Is Mine," a duet with the singer Monica. It is still counted as the most successful song by a…
Jack WhiteJack White, born John Anthony Gillis on the 9th of July 1975, once came close to becoming a Catholic priest. He described the moment to Mike Wallace on 60 Minutes in 2005. A seminary in Wisconsin had accepted him. Then, at the last second,…
SelenaSelena Quintanilla-Pérez was 23 years old when she died on the 31st of March 1995, and major television networks interrupted their regular programming to announce it. She was a singer from Texas who performed Tejano music, a…
Christina AguileraChristina Aguilera sang "A Sunday Kind of Love" on the television contest Star Search in 1990 and was eliminated in the semi-final round. That loss decided nothing. She would go on to sell more than 100 million records worldwide, and…
Goldie HawnGoldie Hawn was born on the 21st of November 1945, and her first major film role won her an Academy Award. That is a startling debut for a performer who, only a short time earlier, had been known for giggling her way through a television…
Kurt CobainKurt Cobain turned 14 on the 20th of February 1981, and his uncle put a choice in front of him. He could have a bicycle or a used guitar. Kurt took the guitar. Soon afterward he was attempting Led Zeppelin's "Stairway to Heaven," then…
Bill CosbyBill Cosby holds the record for the most Grammy Awards for Best Comedy Album, with seven wins. To a vast television audience, he was also Cliff Huxtable, the father at the center of The Cosby Show. That role earned him a reputation as…
Dave GrohlDave Grohl, born David Eric Grohl on the 14th of January 1969, once sat at number one on the modern rock charts for 17 of 18 consecutive weeks. The run stretched from the 26th of October 2002 to the 1st of March 2003. He managed it as a…
Pink (singer)Pink, the American singer and songwriter born Alecia Beth Moore, once walked out to sing the US national anthem before Super Bowl LII while fighting influenza. For her it was the fulfilment of a childhood dream. As a girl in 1991, she had…
Joan BaezJoan Baez was singing at a music festival called Bratislavská lýra in Communist Czechoslovakia in May 1989 when someone cut off her microphone. From the stage, she had just greeted members of Charter 77, a dissident human-rights group.…
Usher (musician)Usher, the American singer, songwriter, dancer and actor, drew 123 million viewers within the United States to his Super Bowl LVIII halftime show in 2024. Very few performers ever stand in front of a crowd that size. Fewer still get there…
Chester BenningtonChester Bennington left his own birthday party early to record an audition. That audition opened the way to Linkin Park, and with it a place among the most recognizable rock voices of the 2000s. Yet the same singer fought a pain that he…
Brittany MurphyBrittany Murphy stood on the stage of the 2003 Independent Spirit Awards with a very simple job. She was to read the names of five nominees, open an envelope and announce the winner. Instead, the American actress and singer turned the…
R. KellyBeneath the Chicago "L" tracks, at the Jackson stop on the Red Line in the Loop, a young school dropout named Robert Kelly sang for passing commuters. Decades later, as R. Kelly, he had sold more than 75 million albums and singles…
Lenny KravitzLenny Kravitz won the Grammy Award for Best Male Rock Vocal Performance four years in a row, from 1999 to 2002. That run broke the record for wins in the category. It also set a record for consecutive wins in one category by a male…
Bo DiddleyBo Diddley ignored his orders on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. Asked for "Sixteen Tons", he played his own hit.
Marilyn MansonMarilyn Manson is the stage name of Brian Hugh Warner, an American rock singer whose band has sold over 50 million records worldwide. Few musicians have been argued over in so many rooms. Politicians condemned his lyrics, critics fought…
Meat LoafMeat Loaf was born Marvin Lee Aday in Dallas, Texas, and by his own account he was bright red for days afterward. His father took one look at the baby and said he resembled "nine pounds of ground chuck." The father then talked hospital…
Eddie VedderEddie Vedder was born Edward Louis Severson III on the 23rd of December 1964 in Evanston, Illinois. The surname the world knows him by was not the one he was born with. He grew up to become the lead vocalist, primary lyricist and one of…
Dick Van DykeDick Van Dyke walked onto the stage of The Masked Singer in 2023 disguised as a character called Gnome, and he was the first contestant eliminated. The show had promoted his unmasking as "the most legendary, decorated and beloved unmasking…
Sylvia RobinsonSylvia Robinson pushed Grandmaster Flash's group to record "The Message" in 1982.
Fred RogersFred Rogers weighed 143 pounds for most of his adult life, and he treated the number as a private message. In a 1998 Esquire profile, he told the writer Tom Junod, "the number 143 means 'I love you.' It takes one letter to say 'I' and four…
Jonathan DavisKorn singer Jonathan Davis was a coroner's assistant at sixteen. He also worked as a professional embalmer.
Billy PrestonBilly Preston got his name on a Beatles single. The 1969 "Get Back" was credited to "The Beatles with Billy Preston."
Diana RossDiana Ross got her name from a birth certificate mistake. Her mother had planned to name her Diane.
Adam LevineAdam Levine was twelve years old when he played his first professional gig at The Troubadour. He was so nervous that he played with his back to the audience. Today he is the lead singer, rhythm guitarist and only continuous member of the…