Curated playlist
Singer-songwriters from Florida
- Jim MorrisonOn live TV in 1967, Jim Morrison sang a lyric censors had told him to change. Ed Sullivan then banned the Doors.
- Ray CharlesRay Charles Robinson, known to the world as Ray Charles, carried two nicknames that pulled in different directions. Contemporaries called him "The Genius." Among friends and fellow musicians, he preferred to be called "Brother Ray." Frank…
- River PhoenixRiver Phoenix was an American actor and musician, and at the 92nd Academy Awards his brother Joaquin spoke one of River's lyrics aloud. Accepting the Best Actor prize, Joaquin told the room that River wrote it at 17: "run to the rescue…
- Ariana GrandeAriana Grande organized a benefit concert after the Manchester Arena bombing. It raised $23 million.
- Tom PettyTom Petty was ten years old in the summer of 1961 when his uncle, who was working on the set of Elvis Presley's film Follow That Dream in nearby Ocala, Florida, invited him to watch the filming. Petty became a Presley fan on the spot.…
- Hulk HoganHulk Hogan held the World Wrestling Federation championship for 1,474 days during his first reign. That is the third-longest run in the history of the title. The man under the bandana and the blond moustache was born Terry Gene Bollea.…
- DiploDiplo, an American DJ and record producer, played a set from a hot air balloon at the 35th Burning Man festival. This was in August 2023. Then a rainstorm turned the grounds of Black Rock City, Nevada, into a mud pit. He left on foot and…
- Camila CabelloCamila Cabello was told she was going to Walt Disney World. She was between six and seven years old, and the promise was her mother's way of coaxing a child toward a new country. The real destination was Miami, reached after a 36-hour ride…
- Fred DurstFred Durst chose the name Limp Bizkit because he wanted a name that would repel listeners. It was a strange strategy for a man who would become one of the most recognizable faces of nu metal. Durst was born Frederick Allen Mayne III on the…
- Aaron CarterAaron Carter was nine years old when he walked onto a stage in Berlin in March 1997 to open for the Backstreet Boys, the group his older brother belonged to. He was 34 when he died, in 2022. Between those two points lay millions of records…
- Bo DiddleyBo Diddley ignored his orders on The Ed Sullivan Show in 1955. Asked for "Sixteen Tons", he played his own hit.
- XXXTentacionXXXTentacion, born Jahseh Dwayne Ricardo Onfroy, was shot dead on the 18th of June 2018 near a motorcycle dealership in Deerfield Beach, Florida. He was 20 years old. At the time, he was a rising and deeply polarizing figure in hip-hop.…
- Mandy MooreMandy Moore, the American singer and actress, once offered to refund everyone who had bought her first two albums. In 2006 she said she would give her fans their money back if she could. Then, during a radio interview in April of that…
- Debbie HarryDebbie Harry spent 1979 handing out a reminder that she was not her own band. That year Blondie ran a button campaign with a blunt slogan: "Blondie is a group." The pins existed because the public kept confusing the woman at the microphone…