Still Going Strong

Keith Richards is an internationally recognized iconic figure in contemporary culture and popular music as a singer, guitar player, songwriter, film actor, and public figure. He was voted 10th greatest guitarist of all time by Rolling Stone Magazine, and was elected to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989...

Best known as the the lead singer of the popular 1960s singing group The Supremes, Diana Ross was born on March 26, 1944, in Detroit, Michigan, the second of six children born to Fred and Ernestine. She is of African American and Native American descent. After being raised in housing projects for most of the late 1940s and early 1950s...

After almost fifty years in the music business, Tina Turner has become one of the most commercially-successful international female rock stars to date. Her sultry, powerful voice, her incredible legs, her time-tested beauty and her unforgettable story all contribute to her legendary status. Born to a share-cropping family in the segregated South...

Dolly Rebecca Parton was born on January 19, 1946, one of 12 children of Robert Lee Parton, a tobacco farmer, and Avie Lee Parton (née Owens). Dolly grew up on a run-down farm in Locust Ridge, Tennessee. At 12, she was appearing on Knoxville TV and, at 13, she was already recording on a small label and appearing at the Grand Ole Opry...

Michael Philip Jagger was born in Dartford, Kent on 26th July 1943. When he was 4 he met Keith Richards until they went into secondary schools and lost touch. But one day in 1960 they accidentally met on the Dartford train line and both realized that they had an interest in rock n roll combined with blues...

Ringo Starr is a British musician, actor, director, writer, and artist best known as the drummer of The Beatles who also coined the title 'A Hard day's Night' for The Beatles' first movie. He was born Richard Starkey on July 7, 1940, in a small two-storey house in the working class area of Liverpool...

Mary Wilson, co-founder of The Supremes, helped garner an unequaled record of Number One Hits by a Female Group. Recording for Motown, Mary guided The Supremes into rock 'n roll history, turning her group into one of the three icons of the 1960's, alongside Elvis Presley and The Beatles...

Multi-talented performer/writer/producer Smokey Robinson's career, and life, is inextricably tied up with Motown Records' founder Berry Gordy (his first two children are named Tamla, for the Gordy-owned label Smokey recorded for, and Berry, for Gordy himself). He and Gordy have had a professional and personal relationship since the late 1950s...

Sir Elton John is one of pop music's great survivors. Born 25 March, 1947, as Reginald Kenneth Dwight, he started to play the piano at the early age of four. At the age of 11, he won a scholarship to the Royal Academy of Music. His first band was called Bluesology. He later auditioned (unsuccessfully) as lead singer for the progressive rock bands King Crimson and Gentle Giant...

Barbra Streisand was born on April 24, 1942, in Brooklyn, New York. She is an actress, director, producer and writer. Among her many films are Hello, Dolly!, A Star Is Born, Yentl and The Mirror Has Two Faces. As a child she attended the Beis Yakov Jewish School in Brooklyn. She is good friends with singer/songwriter Neil Diamond...

Born Darlene Wright in Los Angeles in 1938, she began her career as lead singer with the vocal trio, The Blossoms. After a spell as regulars on ABC TV's variety show Shindig! in the early 60s, the trio went on to sing backup on a variety of Elvis Presley recordings, and even backed him on his 1968 NBC-TV special Elvis...

Born in Pontypridd, South Wales, in 1940 to a traditional coal-mining family, he began singing at an early age in church and in the school choir. Left school at 16 and was married, having a son a year later. He brought in money for his family from an assortment of jobs, singing in pubs at night. By 1963...

Born Stevland Hardaway Judkins in Saginaw, Michigan, United States, to Calvin Judkins and Lula Mae Hardaway. Due to being born six weeks premature, Stevie Wonder was born with a condition called retinopathy of prematurity, which made him blind. Stevie Wonder, even with this disability, made his landmark to be a pioneer and innovator in the music industry...

Acclaimed singer, songwriter and composer Jimmy Webb was born on August 15, 1946 in Elk City, Oklahoma. His father was a Baptist minister. An avid lover of music since he was a little boy, Webb made his first public appearance as a performer playing the organ at his father's church. He also improvised...

Lesley Gore hit the music scene at 17 years of age in 1963 with the teen anthem "It's My Party". Born in Brooklyn (Kings County), New York, USA, she was discovered at a party by legendary producer Quincy Jones, who signed her to Mercury Records and produced "It's My Party". More hits followed: "Judy's Turn to Cry"...

Petula Clark was a star at the age of 11. She starred in the music halls and on BBC radio singing for the troops during WWII. She was a child star in a series of British films from the end of WWII through to the early 1950s. She moved to France where she achieved success as a pop singer. Returning to England...

Born in Glasgow in 1948. As a teenager, she toured the northern clubs with her band, "the Luvvers". After her initial success with a cover of "Shout" reaching #7 in 1964, Lulu went on to establish herself as one of the biggest-selling British female singers of the 1960s. She made her film début in To Sir, with Love...

Nancy Wilson was born in San Francisco, California and joined her sister Ann Wilson in the Seattle, Washington based hard rock-band Heart in the early-seventies. She sang lead vocals on the number one-hit "These Dreams" and on the top-twenty hit "Stranded". Ann performed on "The Battle of Evermore" on the Soundtrack of the film Singles with "The Lovemongers"...

Eric Clapton was born in Ripley, Surrey, England, on March 30, 1945. His real father was a Canadian pilot but he didn't find that out until he was 53. When he was 2 his mother felt she was unable to look after him, so Eric then went to live with his grandparents. When he was 14 he took up the guitar...