Today in rock history: on this date in 1941, singer/songwriter Harry Nilsson was born in the borough of Brooklyn in New York City. Growing up in California, Harry developed an interest in music at a young age and started writing songs. Soon some of Harry’s compositions would be recorded by popular 1960s pop band The Monkees and his career would take off. A string of strong, consistent records would soon come as other artists would continue to record his songs. A major endorsement came when, in the late 1960s, after being asked who their favorite artist was during an interview, The Beatles unanimously declared Nilsson as their choice. Best known for his pop hit “Everybody’s Talkin’” which, incidentally, he didn’t write, Harry also found success with his Caribbean-influenced hit single, “Coconut.” After becoming close friends with former Beatle John Lennon, Nilsson went into seclusion after Lennon’s 1980 murder and stopped recording. An underrated artist, it’s not uncommon to hear many of Harry’s fans express their distaste for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame’s failure to bestow the honor of induction on him. Nilsson passed away in 1994 at the age of 52 but his clever songs and his recorded output continue to influence a wide and varied group of musicians and listeners.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1937, country music legend Waylon Jennings was born in Littlefield, Texas. Waylon started his career in music as a radio DJ as well as an aspiring musician. Hired by the late, great Buddy Holly in the late 1950s to join his band, legend has it that Jennings gave up his seat on the small plane that ultimately crashed and killed Holly after a concert in Iowa. Jennings’s most successful musical era came in the 1970s when he and fellow country music giant Willie Nelson launched the outlaw country movement which eschewed the glitzy, glamorous world of pop country music and instead focused on a grittier, more authentic form of heartfelt music. The 1976 album Wanted! The Outlaws with Willie Nelson, Tompall Glaser, and Jessi Colter, became the very first country music album to ever achieve a platinum award marking sales in excess of 1 million copies. Jennings continued to record right up to his death in 2002 at the age of 64 and will forever be regarded as a country music hero in for his unwavering spirit and his dedication to keeping the true spirit of the music alive for many years.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1969, hip-hop giant Ice Cube was born in Los Angeles, California. Born O’Shea Jackson, Cube became interested in hip-hop and started writing raps and rhymes as a teenager. He’d soon join the outspoken and notorious west coast rap outfit N.W.A. which would garner its own fair share of controversy and press thanks to the brutally honest and explicit accounts of poverty, violence and racial inequality within their songs. A solo career would further Ice Cube’s career and albums like AmeriKKKa’s Most Wanted and Death Certificate would catapult him to be one of the best known and admired hip-hop artists of his era. Cube later branched out into acting and appeared in films like Boyz n the Hood, Barbershop, Are We There Yet? and the Friday series among many others. An entrepreneur and successful businessman, Ice Cube remains a well-respected and revered architect in the creation of gangsta-rap.

Today in rock history: on this date in 1996, one of the greatest vocalists of all time was lost when the great Ella Fitzgerald passed away at the age of 79. Commonly regarded as the best female jazz singer of all time, Ella was often referred to as the “Queen of Jazz” or the “First Lady of Song." Her pure, clear delivery and her superb, soaring voice made her stand out among her contemporaries for years. A fantastic improviser, Fitzgerald was also commonly recognized as the quintessential scat singer, a style that relies heavily on made up and improvised notes and syllables. Ella collaborated with many of the greats throughout her long career including Louis Armstrong, Duke Ellington and Louis Jordan. Her “Songbook” series of albums focused on specific composers on each volume and were tremendous successes that honored the great works of great American songwriters like Cole Porter, George and Ira Gershwin and Irving Berlin. Ella’s career also found her appearing in films and television programs but her most memorable and familiar appearance came in a 1970s TV commercial for Memorex Tapes where her stunning voice proved to shatter glass even when realistically captured on one of the brand’s cassettes. Ella Fitzgerald will forever be remembered as one of the most gifted singers of all time and her timeless, flawless recordings will influence vocalists for many years to come.