R.I.P1950's

 

Hank Williams (1923-1953)

Hiram King "Hank" Williams (September 17, 1923–January 1, 1953) was an American country music performer. Though unable to read or write music to any significant degree, he came to be regarded as among the greatest country music stars of all time. Williams died at age 29; his death is widely believed to have resulted from a mixture of alcohol and drugs. He charted numerous number one hits in the country music world, and his songs have been recorded by hundreds of other artists, many of whom have also had hits with the tunes. Williams has been covered in a range of pop, gospel, blues and rock styles. His son Hank Williams, Jr., daughter Jett Williams, and grandchildren Hank Williams III, Holly Williams, and Hilary Williams are also professional singers. His music was widely influential, and has been covered by performers including Townes Van Zandt, Bob Dylan, Beck Hansen, Johnny Cash, Tony Bennett, Patsy Cline, Ray Charles and Louis Armstrong.On January 1, 1953, Williams was due to play at a New Years Day concert in Canton, Ohio, but he was unable to fly due to weather problems with snow and ice in Ohio. He hired a college student, Charles Carr, to drive him to the concerts he was to perform during the few final days of 1952 and early 1953. Upon leaving the Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, Williams apparently had injected himself with some pain-killers which included a morphine/Vitamin B-12 combination. Also found in the Cadillac convertible were some empty cans of beer and the handwritten lyrics to a song yet to be recorded. According to some, Williams was carried semi-conscious to his automobile by Carr and a hotel employee, who wondered about Williams' condition, and later believed he might have been dead at that point.-For more info:http://www.hankwilliams.com


 

Buddy Holly (1936-1959)

Charles Hardin Holley (September 7, 1936 – February 3, 1959) known professionally as Buddy Holly, was an American singer-songwriter and a pioneer of rock and roll. Although his success lasted only a year and a half before his death in an airplane crash, Holly is described by critic Bruce Elder as "the single most influential creative force in early rock and roll.His works and innovations inspired and influenced both his contemporaries and later musicians, notably The Beatles, The Rolling Stones, Don McLean, and Bob Dylan, and exerted a profound influence on popular music.Holly was in the first group of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.In 2004, Rolling Stone ranked Holly #13 among "The Fifty Greatest Artists of All Time.In January of 1959, Buddy, along with Ritchie Valens, the Big Bopper and other acts embarked on what was billed as the winter dance party. Holly, Valens, the Bopper and their pilot perished en route to a performance when their four-seat chartered plane crashed shortly after take off from Mason City Iowa on February 3rd. It was a terrible tragedy, as Don Mclean hauntingly put it in his 1971 hit “ The day the music died.”-For more info:http://www.buddyhollyandthecrickets.com


 
Ritchie Valens (1941-1959)
Ritchie Valens (Ricardo Esteban Valenzuela Reyes; May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist.A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens' recording career lasted only eight months. During this time, however, he scored several hits, most notably "La Bamba", which was originally a Mexican folk song that Valens transformed with a rock rhythm and beat that became a hit in 1958,making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as The Day the Music Died, Valens was killed in a small-plane crash in Iowa, a tragedy that also claimed the lives of fellow musicians Buddy Holly and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson.-For more info:http://www.ritchievalens.org

 
The Big Bopper (1930-1959)
Jiles Perry "JP" Richardson, Jr. (October 24, 1930 – February 3, 1959) commonly known as The Big Bopper, was an American disc jockey, singer, and songwriter whose big voice and exuberant personality made him an early rock and roll star. He is best known for his recording of "Chantilly Lace". On February 3, 1959, on what has become known as The Day the Music Died, Richardson was killed in a small-plane crash in Iowa, along with Buddy Holly and Ritchie Valens.-For more info:http://www.officialbigbopper.com

Billie Holiday (1915-1959)
Billie Holiday (born Elinore Harris;April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz singer and songwriter. Nicknamed Lady Day by her friend and musical partner Lester Young, Holiday was a seminal influence on jazz and pop singing. Her vocal style, strongly inspired by jazz instrumentalists, pioneered a new way of manipulating phrasing and tempo. Above all, she was admired all over the world for her deeply personal and intimate approach to singing.Critic John Bush wrote that she "changed the art of American pop vocals forever."She co-wrote only a few songs, but several of them have become jazz standards, notably "God Bless the Child", "Don't Explain", "Fine and Mellow", and "Lady Sings the Blues". She also became famous for singing jazz standards including "Easy Living" and "Strange Fruit".On May 31, 1959, she was taken to Metropolitan Hospital in New York suffering from liver and heart disease. Police officers were stationed at the door to her room. She was arrested for drug possession as she lay dying, and her hospital room was raided by authorities.Holiday remained under police guard at the hospital until she died from cirrhosis of the liver on July 17, 1959. In the final years of her life, she had been progressively swindled out of her earnings, and she died with $0.70 in the bank and $750 (a tabloid fee) on her person.-For more info:http://www.billieholiday.com