James Taylor *III 12 1948 — The Life You Give

James Taylor, born March 12 1948, in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.A., is the singer, songwriter, and guitarist who defined the singer-songwriter movement of the 1970s. Bob Dylan brought confessional poetry to folk rock, but Taylor became the epitome of the troubadour whose life was the subject of his songs.Among the experiences that shaped Taylor, who grew… Continue reading James Taylor *III 12 1948 — The Life You Give

Jim Morrison *XII 8 1943 — The Life You Give

Jim Morrison, born James Douglas Morrison, December 8, 1943, in Melbourne, Florida, U.S.A., is the singer and songwriter who was the charismatic front man of the psychedelic rock group the Doors.Morrison’s father was a naval officer (ultimately an admiral), and the family moved frequently, though it settled down in the Washington, D.C., suburb of Alexandria,… Continue reading Jim Morrison *XII 8 1943 — The Life You Give

Tom Waits *XII 7 1949 — The Life You Give

Tom Waits, born Thomas Alan Waits, December 7, 1949, in Pomona, California, U.S.A., is the singer-songwriter and actor whose gritty, sometimes romantic depictions of the lives of the urban underclass won him a loyal if limited following and the admiration of critics and prominent musicians who performed and recorded his songs.Born into a middle-class California… Continue reading Tom Waits *XII 7 1949 — The Life You Give

Leonard Cohen *IX 21 1934 — The Life You Give

Leonard Cohen, born Leonard Norman Cohen, September 21, 1934, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, is the singer-songwriter whose spare songs carried an existential bite and established him as one of the most distinctive voices of 1970s pop music.Already established as a poet and novelist (his first book of poems, Let Us Compare Mythologies, was published in… Continue reading Leonard Cohen *IX 21 1934 — The Life You Give

The Life You Give: Billy Joel *1949

Billy Joel, born William Martin Joel, on May 9, 1949, in Bronx, New York, U.S.A., is singer, pianist, and songwriter in the pop ballad tradition whose numerous hit songs in the 1970s and ’80s made him an enduring favourite on the concert circuit.Joel, whose father was a German Jewish immigrant, was raised in Hicksville, a… Continue reading The Life You Give: Billy Joel *1949

The Life You Give: Sam Cooke *1931

Sam Cooke, born Samuel Cook, on January 22 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi, U.S.A., was singer, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur who was a major figure in the history of popular music and, along with Ray Charles, one of the most influential Black vocalists of the post-World War II period. If Charles represented raw soul, Cooke symbolized… Continue reading The Life You Give: Sam Cooke *1931