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Influential American Musical Artists 1920-Present Day

By smodle
  • Johnny Cash

    Johnny Cash
    Johnny Cash was born in Kingsland, Arkansas. He had six siblings, born to Ray Cash, and Carrie Cloveree. He was mostly of Scottish and English ancestry.
  • Elvis Aaron Presley

    Elvis Aaron Presley
    Presley was born on January 8, 1935, in Tupelo, Mississippi, to Gladys Love and Vernon Elvis Presley in the two-room shotgun house built by Vernon's father in preparation for the child's birth. Jesse Garon Presley, his identical twin brother, was delivered stillborn 35 minutes before his own birth. Thus, as practically-speaking an only child, Presley became close to both parents and formed an especially close bond with his mother.
  • Elvis's Initial Musical Inspiration

    Elvis's Initial Musical Inspiration
    The Presley family attended an Assembly of God, where he found his initial musical inspiration. Although he was in conflict with the Pentecostal church in his later years, he never officially left it. Rev. Rex Humbard officiated at his funeral, as Presley had been an admirer of Humbard's ministry
  • Otis Williams

    Otis Williams
    Williams was born Otis Miles, Jr. in Texarkana, Texas to Otis Miles and Hazel Louise Williams, an unmarried couple who separated shortly after their son's birth. While he was still a toddler, his mother married and moved to Detroit, Michigan, leaving the younger Otis Miles to be raised by both of his grandmothers in Texarkana. Hazel Williams moved her son to Detroit when he was ten years old, where he lived with his mother and his stepfather
  • "The Landsberg Barbarians"

     "The Landsberg Barbarians"
    Johnny Cash enlisted in the United States Air Force on July 7, 1950. After basic training at Lackland Air Force Base and technical training at Brooks Air Force Base, both in San Antonio, Texas, Cash was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the U.S. Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, Germany. It was there he created his first band, named "The Landsberg Barbarians." He was eventually honorably discharged, then he returned to Texas.
  • Presley's first Performance

    Presley's first Performance
    During junior year, Presley began to stand out more among his classmates because of his appearance: he grew out sideburns and styled his hair with rose oil/Vaseline. In his free time, he would head down to Beale Street, the heart of Memphis's thriving blues scene, and gaze at the wild, flashy clothes in the windows of Lansky Brothers. By senior year, he was wearing them. Overcoming his reticence about performing outside the Lauderdale Courts, he competed in a talent show in April 1953.
  • Presley's Failures

    Presley's Failures
    In January 1954, Presley cut a second acetate at Sun Records—"I'll Never Stand In Your Way" and "It Wouldn't Be the Same Without You"—but again nothing came of it. Not long after, he failed an audition for a local vocal quartet, the Song-fellows. He explained to his father, "They told me I couldn't sing." Song-fellow Jim Hamill later claimed that he was turned down because he did not demonstrate an ear for harmony at the time..
  • Cash and the Tennessee Two

    Cash and the Tennessee Two
    In 1954, Cash and Vivian moved to Memphis, Tennessee, where he sold appliances while studying to be a radio announcer. At night he played with guitarist Luther Perkins and bassist Marshall Grant. Perkins and Grant were known as the Tennessee Two. Cash worked up the courage to visit the Sun Records studio, hoping to get a recording contract.
  • Cash's first Recordings

    Cash's first Recordings
    After auditioning for Sam Phillips, singing mostly gospel songs, Phillips told him that he didn't record gospel music any longer. Cash eventually won over the producer with new songs delivered in his early rockabilly style. In 1955, Cash made his first recordings at Sun, "Hey Porter" and "Cry! Cry! Cry!", which were released in late June and met with success on the country hit parade.
  • First National TV Appearances and Debut Album

    First National TV Appearances and Debut Album
    On January 10, 1956, Presley made his first recordings for RCA in Nashville.The session produced the moody, unusual "Heartbreak Hotel", released as a single on January 27. Parker finally brought Presley to national television, booking him on CBS's Stage Show for six appearances over two months.
  • Million Dollar Quartet

    Million Dollar Quartet
    Elvis Presley dropped in on Phillips while Carl Perkins was in the studio cutting new tracks, with Jerry Lee Lewis backing him on piano. Cash was also in the studio and the four started an impromptu jam session. Phillips left the tapes running and the recordings, they survived and have since been released under the title Million Dollar Quartet. In Cash: the Autobiography, Cash wrote that he was the one farthest from the microphone and was singing in a higher pitch to blend in with Elvis.
  • Presley's live shows

    Presley's live shows
    The audience response at Presley's live shows became increasingly fevered. Moore recalled, "He'd start out, 'You ain't nothin' but a Hound Dog,' and they'd just go to pieces. They'd always react the same way. There'd be a riot every time." At the two concerts he performed in September at the Mississippi-Alabama Fair and Dairy Show, 50 National Guardsmen were added to the police security to prevent crowd trouble. Elvis, Presley's second album, was released in October and quickly rose to number 1!
  • Sun's Most Consistently Selling and Prolific Artist Leaves

    Sun's Most Consistently Selling and Prolific Artist Leaves
    Cash felt constrained by his contract with the small label partly due to the fact that Phillips wasn't keen on Johnny recording gospel, and he was getting only a 3% royalty as opposed to the standard rate of 5%. Presley had already left Sun, and Phillips was focusing most of his attention on Lewis. The following year, Cash left the label to sign a lucrative offer with Columbia Records, where his single "Don't Take Your Guns to Town" became one of his biggest hits.
  • Military Service

    Military Service
    On March 24, 1958, Presley was conscripted into the U.S. Army as a private at Fort Chaffee, near Fort Smith, Arkansas. Hundreds of people descended on Presley as he stepped from the bus; photographers then accompanied him into the fort. Presley announced that he was looking forward to his military stint, saying he did not want to be treated any differently from anyone else. Presley returned to the United States on March 2, 1960, and was honorably discharged with the rank of sergeant on March 5.
  • Michael Joseph Jackson

    Michael Joseph Jackson
    Michael Joseph Jackson was born on August 29, 1958. He was the eighth of ten children in the Jackson family, a working-class African-American family living in a two-bedroom house on Jackson Street in Gary, Indiana, an industrial city in the Chicago metropolitan area. Jackson stated that he was physically and emotionally abused by his dad during incessant rehearsals, though he credited his father's strict discipline with playing a large role in his success
  • Williams Early Career

    Williams Early Career
    Becoming interested in music as a teenager, Otis Miles, Jr. adopted his mother's maiden name for his stage name, and as Otis Williams put together a number of singing groups. These groups included Otis Williams and the Siberians, the El Domingoes and the Distants. In 1959, The Distants scored a local hit, co-written by Williams and their manager/producer Johnnie Mae Matthews, called "Come On", with lead vocals by Richard Street.
  • The Temptations ( Paul Williams from The Primes later joined Williams, Bryant, and Franklin to create the Elgins, who signed to Motown in March 1961 as "The Temptations".

    The Temptations   ( Paul Williams from The Primes later joined Williams, Bryant, and Franklin to create the Elgins, who signed to Motown in March 1961 as "The Temptations".
    The Temptations eventually became one of the most successful acts in black music over the course of its nearly five-decade existence, notable singers such as David Ruffin, Dennis Edwards, former Distant Richard Street, Damon Harris, Ron Tyson, Ali-Ollie Woodson, Theo Peoples, Ray Davis & former Spinners singer G.C. Cameron have all been members. The group's lineup changes were so frequent, stressful & troublesome that Williams & Melvin Franklin promised each other they would never quit.
  • Cash's Divorce

    Cash's Divorce
    While in Air Force training, Cash met 17-year-old Vivian Liberto at a roller skating rink. They dated for three weeks until Cash was deployed to Germany. During that time, the couple exchanged hundreds of love letters. On August 7, 1954, one month after his discharge, they were married in San Antonio. They had four daughters. Liberto said that Cash's drug/alcohol abuse, constant touring, affairs with other women, and his close relationship with June Carter led her to file for divorce in 1966.
  • Kurt Cobain

    Kurt Cobain
    Cobain was born at Grays Harbor Hospital in Aberdeen, Washington, the son of waitress Wendy Elizabeth and automotive mechanic Donald Leland Cobain. Cobain's family had a musical background. His maternal uncle, Chuck Fradenburg, played in a band called The Beachcombers; his aunt, Mari Earle, played guitar and performed in bands throughout Grays Harbor County; and his great-uncle, Delbert, had a career as an Irish tenor.
  • Marriage, Child, and Divorce

    Marriage, Child, and Divorce
    More than seven years since they first met, Presley proposed to Priscilla Beaulieu. They married May 1, 1967, in their suite at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas. Presley's only child, Lisa Marie, was born February 1, 1968, during a period when he had grown deeply unhappy with his career.Presley and his wife had become increasingly distant, barely cohabiting. In 1971, an affair he had with Joyce Bova resulted, saying that he was likely to leave Priscilla. The Presleys separated February 23, 1972.
  • Cash's Second Marriage

    Cash's Second Marriage
    Cash met June Carter, of the famed Carter Family while on tour and became infatuated, as did she. In 1968, 13 years after they first met backstage at the Grand Ole Opry, Cash proposed to June, during a live performance in London, Ontario. The couple married on March 1, 1968, in Franklin, Kentucky. They had one child together, John Carter Cash, born March 3, 1970.
  • Mariah Carey

    Mariah Carey
    Mariah Carey was born in Huntington, New York, to Patricia (née Hickey) and Alfred Roy Carey. Her mother is of Irish descent, while her father had African-American and Afro-Venezuelan ancestry. The surname "Carey" was adopted by her Venezuelan grandfather, Francisco Núñez, after immigrating to New York. After their elopement, Patricia's family disowned her for marrying a black man. Carey later explained that she felt neglected by her maternal family while growing up, which affected her greatly
  • Lesane Parish Crooks (Tupac)

    Lesane Parish Crooks (Tupac)
    Shakur was born on June 16, 1971, in the East Harlem section of Manhattan in New York City. His birth name was Lesane Parish Crooks, but in 1972, he was renamed after the last Incan emperor, Túpac Amaru II, the 18th-century Peruvian revolutionary who was executed after leading an indigenous uprising against Spanish rule. Shakur was African American.
  • Mashall Bruce Mathers the 3rd (Eminem)

    Mashall Bruce Mathers the 3rd (Eminem)
    Eminem was born October 17, 1972, in St. Joseph, Missouri, by Marshall Bruce Mathers, Jr. and Deborah Rae "Debbie" Nelson. Debbie,14 when she met 18-year-old Bruce; at age 17, she nearly died during her 73-hour labor. Eminem's parents were in a band until separating. Bruce left the family, moving to Cali. and having 2 other kids. Debbie had son "Nate" Kane Samara. During his childhood, Eminem and mom shuttled between Michigan and Missouri, rarely staying in 1 house for more than a year or 2.
  • Presley's Health Deterioration

    Presley's Health Deterioration
    After the divorce, he was now becoming increasingly unwell. He overdosed twice on barbiturates, spending 3 days in a coma after the first incident. Toward the end of 1973, he was hospitalized from the effects of pethidine addiction. According to his primary care physician, Dr. George C. Nichopoulos, Presley "by getting [drugs] from a doctor, he wasn't the common junkie getting off the street." Since his comeback, he had staged more live shows with each passing year, and 1973 saw 168 concerts.
  • The Jackson 5

    The Jackson 5
    In June 1975, the Jackson 5 signed with Epic Records, a subsidiary of CBS Records and renamed themselves the Jacksons. Younger brother Randy formally joined the band around this time, while Jermaine chose to stay with Motown and pursue a solo career. The Jacksons continued to tour internationally, and released six more albums between 1976 and 1984. Michael was the group's lead songwriter during this time.
  • Cobain's Early Music Interest & Parent's Divorce

    Cobain's Early Music Interest & Parent's Divorce
    Cobain began developing an interest in music early in life. According to his aunt Mari, he began singing at the age of two. At age four, he started playing the piano and singing, writing a song about a trip to a local park. When Cobain was nine years old, his parents divorced. He later said that the divorce had a profound effect on his life, while his mother noted that his personality changed dramatically; Cobain became defiant and withdrawn.
  • Presley in Rapid City

    Presley in Rapid City
    By early 1977, Presley had become a grotesque caricature of his sleek, energetic former self. Hugely overweight, his mind dulled by the pharmacopoeia he daily ingested, he was barely able to pull himself through his short concerts. He was sometimes hard to understand and ended up laying in bed for parts of his concerts. In Rapid City, South Dakota, "he was so nervous on stage that he could hardly talk", according to Presley historian Samuel Roy, and unable to "perform any significant movement."
  • Presley's Death/Legacy

    Presley's Death/Legacy
    Presley's rise to national attention in 1956 transformed the field of popular music & had a huge effect on the broader scope of popular culture. As the catalyst for the cultural revolution that was rock and roll, he was central not only to defining it as a musical genre but making it a touchstone of youth culture. Ginger Alden discovered him unresponsive on his bathroom floor. Attempts to revive him failed, and death was officially pronounced at 3:30 p.m. at Baptist Memorial Hospital.
  • Michael Jackson's acting career

    Michael Jackson's acting career
    Jackson's work in film began in 1978, when he moved to New York City to star as the Scarecrow in The Wiz, a musical directed by Sidney Lumet. The film was a box-office failure. It's score was arranged by Quincy Jones, whom Jackson had previously met when he was 12 at Sammy Davis Jr.'s house. Jones agreed to produce Jackson's next solo album.
  • Michael Jackson's Thriller

    Michael Jackson's Thriller
    Jackson's sixth album, Thriller, released in late 1982. The album earned Jackson 7 more Grammys and 8 American Music Awards, including the Award of Merit, the youngest artist to win it. It was the best-selling album worldwide in 1983 and became the best-selling album of all time in the United States and the best-selling album of all time worldwide, selling an estimated 65 million copies. It topped the Billboard 200 chart for 37 weeks and was in the top 10 of the 200 for 80 consecutive weeks.
  • Kurt Cobain's Life as a Student

    Kurt Cobain's Life as a Student
    Cobain was not into sports, although his father wanted to be. He purposely did horrible in wrestling and bowling to try and get out of it. He also had a gay friend in school, so people assumed he was gay and bullied him. So he purposely would act gay even thought he wasn't. One of his personal journals states, "I am not gay, although I wish I were, just to piss off homophobes." He also enjoyed drawing in school, but his teacher often degraded his art work. He eventually dropped out of school.
  • Michael Jackson's Humanitarian Work with Pepsi Raises Billions

    Michael Jackson's Humanitarian Work with Pepsi Raises Billions
    Jackson's humanitarian work was recognized on May 14, 1984, when he was invited to the White House to receive an award from President Ronald Reagan for his support of charities that helped people overcome alcohol and drug abuse, and in recognition of his support for the Ad Council's and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration's Drunk Driving Prevention campaign. Jackson donated the use of "Beat It" for the campaign's public service announcements.
  • (Beginnings of Nirvana) Kurt Cobain received his first guitar from his uncle on his 14th Bday

    (Beginnings of Nirvana) Kurt Cobain received his first guitar from his uncle on his 14th Bday
    While hanging out at the Melvins' practice space, he met Novoselic, a fellow devotee of punk rock. Novoselic's mother owned a hair salon, and the pair would occasionally practice in the upstairs room of the salon. A few years later, Cobain tried to convince Novoselic to form a band with him by lending him a copy of a home demo recorded by Cobain's earlier band, Fecal Matter. After months of asking, Novoselic finally agreed to join Cobain, forming the beginnings of Nirvana.
  • Class of '55

    Class of '55
    In 1986, Cash returned to Sun Studios in Memphis to team up with Roy Orbison, Jerry Lee Lewis, and Carl Perkins to create the album Class of '55; according to Hilburn, Columbia still had Cash under contract at the time, so special arrangements had to be made to allow him to participate
  • Eminem's Early Life

    Eminem's Early Life
    At 14, Eminem began rapping with high-school friend Mike Ruby; they adopted names "Manix" and "M&M", which evolved into "Eminem". He snuck into neighboring Osborn High School with friend and fellow rapper Proof for lunchroom freestyle rap battles. On Saturdays, they attended open mic contests at Hip-Hop Shop on West 7 Mile, considered "ground zero" for the Detroit rap scene. Struggling to succeed in a predominantly black industry, he was appreciated by underground hip-hop audiences.
  • Mariah's Early Struggles

    Mariah's Early Struggles
    Carey worked as a waitress for various restaurants, usually getting fired after two weeks. Living in a one bedroom apartment with four other women, she needed work to pay for her rent, Carey still had musical ambitions, as she continued working late into the night with Margulies in hopes of completing a demo. After completing her four-song demo tape, Carey attempted to pass it to music labels, but failed each time. Shortly thereafter, she was introduced to rising pop singer Brenda K. Starr.
  • Otis Williams into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

    Otis Williams into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
    In 1989, Otis Williams was inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of The Temptations. Williams received an honorary doctorate from Stillman College in May 2006.
  • Pac's High school Years at Tamalpais High School in California

    Pac's High school Years at Tamalpais High School in California
    Shakur contributed to school's drama department by performing in several productions. He wrote a paper, "Conquering All Obstacles," in which he said: "our raps not the sorry-story raps everyone is so tired of. They are about what happens in the real world. Our goal is to have people relate to our raps, making it easier to see what really is happening out there. Even more important, what we may do to better our world." He began attending the poetry classes of Leila Steinberg in 1989.
  • Emotions, Critics, and an Outcome

    Emotions, Critics, and an Outcome
    Carey began recording her second studio album, Emotions, in 1991. Critics questioned whether Carey would embark on a world tour to promote her material. Although Carey explained that stage fright and the style of her songs made a tour very daunting, speculation grew that Carey was a "studio worm," and that she was incapable of producing the perfect pitch and 5-octave vocal range for which she was known. With her following albums, Carey began to take more initiative and control with her music.
  • 2pac's Rise to Fame

    2pac's Rise to Fame
    Although Shakur began recording in 1987, his professional entertainment career did not take off until the early 1990s. Shakur appeared in an accompanying music video. After his rap debut, he performed with Digital Underground again on the album Sons of the P. Shakur went on to feature Shock G and Money-B from Digital Underground in his track "I Get Around", which ranked #11 on US Billboard Hot 100. Later, he released his first solo album, 2Pacalypse Now.
  • Jackson's Heal the World Foundation and The Dangerous World Tour

    Jackson's Heal the World Foundation and The Dangerous World Tour
    Jackson founded the Heal the World Foundation in 1992. The charity brought underprivileged children to Jackson's Ranch to enjoy the property's theme park rides, and sent millions of dollars around the globe to help children threatened by war, poverty, and disease. The Dangerous World Tour began on June 27, 1992, and finished on November 11, 1993, having grossed $100 million. He sold the broadcast rights to his Dangerous world tour to HBO for $20 million, a record-breaking deal that still stands.
  • Cobain's Musical Influences

    Cobain's Musical Influences
    The Beatles were an early and lasting influence on Cobain; his aunt Mari remembers him singing "Hey Jude" at the age of two. Cobain was also a fan of 1970s hard rock and heavy metal bands, including Led Zeppelin, AC/DC, Black Sabbath, Aerosmith, Queen, and Kiss. Nirvana's acoustic Unplugged set provided a hint of Cobain's musical direction. The record compares to R.E.M.'s 1992 release, in 1993 he himself said the next Nirvana album would be "pretty ethereal, acoustic, like R.E.M.'s last album"
  • "Thug Life"

    "Thug Life"
    In late 1993, Shakur formed the group Thug Life with a number of his friends, including Big Syke (Tyruss Himes), Macadoshis (Diron Rivers), his stepbrother Mopreme Shakur, and the Rated R (Walter Burns). The group released their only album Thug Life: Volume 1 on September 26, 1994, which went gold.
  • Cobain's Death and Legacy

    Cobain's Death and Legacy
    On April 8, Cobain's body was discovered at his Lake Washington Boulevard home by an electrician named Gary Smith who had arrived to install a security system. A high concentration of heroin and traces of diazepam were also found in his body. Cobain's body had been lying there for days; the coroner's report estimated Cobain to have died on April 5, 1994. Cobain has been remembered as one of the most iconic rock musicians in the history of alternative music. A sign was put up for @ Aberdeen.
  • Shakur's Influences

    Shakur's Influences
    Shakur's music and philosophy is rooted in many American, African-American, and world entities, including the Black Panther Party, Black nationalism, egalitarianism, and liberty. Shakur's love of theater and Shakespeare also influenced his work. All Eyez on Me was a change of style from his earlier works; while still containing socially conscious songs and themes, Shakur's album was heavily influenced by party tracks and tended to have a more "feel good" vibe than his first albums.
  • Michael Jackson's first Marriage

    Michael Jackson's first Marriage
    Jackson married Lisa Presley, the daughter of Elvis and Priscilla Presley. They met in 1975, when a 7-year-old Presley attended one of Jackson's family engagements, then reconnected through a mutual friend. According to a friend of Presley's, "their adult friendship began in November 1992" They stayed in contact over the phone. As the child molestation accusations became public, Jackson became dependent on her for emotional support; she was concerned about his faltering health and drug addiction
  • 2pac's "Me Against the World"

    2pac's "Me Against the World"
    Shakur began serving his prison sentence on sexual-assault charges at Clinton Correctional Facility on February 14, 1995. Shortly afterward, he released his Multi-Platinum album Me Against the World. Shakur became the first artist to have an album at number one on the Billboard 200 while serving a prison sentence. Me Against the World made its debut on the Billboard 200 and stayed at the top of the charts for four weeks.
  • Eminem's Personal Life

    Eminem's Personal Life
    Eminem was married twice to Kimberly Anne "Kim" Scott. He met Kim in high school; he was 15 and she was 13. Kim and her twin sister Dawn had run away from home; they moved in with Eminem and his mother, and he began an on-and-off relationship in 1989. Their daughter Hailie was born on December 25, 1995; they married in 1999, divorcing in 2001. He and Kim briefly remarried in January 2006. He filed for divorce in early April, agreeing to joint custody of Hailie.
  • "All Eyez On Me"

    "All Eyez On Me"
    All Eyez on Me was the fourth studio album by 2Pac, recorded in October 1995 and released on February 13, 1996, by Death Row Records and Interscope Records. The album is frequently recognized as one of the crowning achievements of 1990s rap music. It has been said that "despite some undeniable filler, it is easily the best production 2Pac's ever had on record" The album featured the Billboard Hot 100 number one singles "How Do U Want It" and "California Love".
  • 2pac's Death

    2pac's Death
    Shakur, who was standing up through the sunroof, exchanged words with women @ a stoplight and invited them to Club, a white, four-door, late-model Cadillac with an unknown number of people pulled up to the other side and rapidly fired gunshots at Shakur. He was hit four times, twice in the chest, once in the arm, and once in the thigh. He was placed on life-support machines, and had to be put in an induced coma. He was pronounced dead at 4:03pm on Sep. 13th at age 25.
  • Eminem as "Slim Shady"

    Eminem as "Slim Shady"
    Eminem attracted more attention when he developed Slim Shady, a sadistic, violent alter ego. It allowed him to express his anger about drugs, rape, and murder. In the spring of 1997 he recorded his debut EP, the Slim Shady EP, which was released that winter. The EP also explored the more-serious themes of dealing with poverty and marital and family difficulties and revealed his direct, self-deprecating response to criticism
  • Artist of The Decade and Best-Selling Female Artist

    Artist of The Decade and Best-Selling Female Artist
    After she received Billboard's Artist of the Decade Award and the World Music Award for Best-Selling Female Artist of the Millennium, Carey parted from Columbia and signed a $100 million five-album recording contract with Virgin Records America (EMI Records) in April 2001. Carey was given full conceptual and creative control over the project. She opted to record an album partly mixed with 1980s influenced disco and other similar genres, in order to go hand-in-hand with the film's setting.
  • The Eminem Show

    The Eminem Show
    The Eminem Show was released in May 2002. It was another success, reaching #1 on the charts and selling over 1.332 million copies during its first full week.The Eminem Show (certified 10× platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America) examines the effects of the rapper's rise to fame, his relationship with his wife and daughter and status in the hip-hop community, addressing an assault charge by a bouncer he saw kissing his wife.The Eminem Show was the best-selling album of 2002
  • Shakur's Legacy

    Shakur's Legacy
    Chuck Philips writes that "the slaying [of Tupac Shakur] silenced one of modern music's most eloquent voices—a ghetto poet whose tales of urban alienation captivated young people of all races and backgrounds. The 25-year-old Shakur had helped elevate rap from a crude street fad to a complex art form, setting the stage for the current global hip-hop phenomenon". In 2003, MTV's "22 Greatest MCs" countdown listed Shakur as the "Number 1 MC", as voted by the viewers.
  • June Cash's death

    June Cash's death
    Cash and Carter continued to work, raise their children, create music, and tour together for 35 years until June's death in May 2003. Throughout their marriage June attempted to keep Cash off of amphetamines, often taking his drugs and flushing them down the toilet. Throughout the multiple rehab visits and years of drug abuse, June's love and devotion never wavered. After June's passing, Cash believed that his only reason for living was his music. Cash died four months later..
  • Johnny Cash's Death

    Johnny Cash's Death
    While hospitalized at Baptist Hospital in Nashville, Cash died of complications from diabetes at approximately 2:00 a.m. CT on September 12, 2003, aged 71—less than four months after his wife. It was suggested that Johnny's health worsened due to a broken heart over June's death. He was buried next to his wife in Hendersonville Memory Gardens near his home in Hendersonville, Tennessee.
  • Mariah-1 Elvis-0

    Mariah-1 Elvis-0
    By spring 2007, Carey had begun to work on her eleventh studio album, E=MC². Two weeks before the album's release, "Touch My Body," the record's lead single, reached the top position on the Billboard Hot 100, becoming Carey's eighteenth number one and making her the solo artist with the most number one singles in United States history, pushing her past Elvis Presley into second place according to the magazine's revised methodology.
  • Eminem's Relapse

    Eminem's Relapse
    Relapse was released on May 19; its first single and music video, "We Made You", had been released on April 7. Although Relapse did not sell as well as the rapper's previous albums, it was a commercial success which received positive reviews and re-established his presence in the hip-hop world. Relapse was named one of the top albums of 2009, and has sold more than five million copies worldwide.
  • The Death of Michael Jackson

    The Death of Michael Jackson
    On June 25, 2009, Jackson stopped breathing while attempting to sleep under the care of Conrad Murray, his personal physician. Murray had reportedly given Jackson an array of medications in an attempt to help him sleep at his rented mansion in Holmby Hills, Los Angeles. Attempts at resuscitating Jackson were unsuccessful. Jackson was reportedly not breathing and CPR was performed. He was pronounced dead at 2:26 pm
  • Eminem's Recovery

    Eminem's Recovery
    Recovery was released June 18th, 2010. It sold 741,000 copies during its first week, topping the Billboard 200 chart. Recovery remained atop the Billboard 200 chart for 5 consecutive weeks of a 7-week total. Billboard reported that it was the bestselling album of 2010, making Eminem the first artist in Nielsen SoundScan history with 2 year-end bestselling albums. Its first single, "Not Afraid", was released April 29 and debuted atop the Billboard Hot 100; its music video was released on June 4.
  • Carey's Legacy

    Carey's Legacy
    Carey's vocal style and singing ability have significantly impacted music. As music critic G. Brown from The Denver Post wrote, "For better or worse, Mariah Carey's five-octave range and melismatic style have influenced a generation of pop singers. According to Rolling Stone, "Her mastery of melisma, the fluttering strings of notes that decorate songs like "Vision of Love," inspired the entire American Idol vocal school and virtually every other female R&B singer since the Nineties."
  • Johnny Cash's Legacy

    Johnny Cash's Legacy
    Cash received multiple Country Music Association Awards, Grammys, and other awards, in categories ranging from vocal and spoken performances to album notes and videos. In a career that spanned almost five decades, during which he rose to recording industry icon status, Cash was the personification of country music to many people around the world. He recorded songs that could be considered rock and roll, blues, rockabilly, folk, and gospel, and exerted an influence on each of those genres
  • Eminem's Legacy

    Eminem's Legacy
    Eminem is considered one of the greatest hip-hop artists of all time. He was 83rd on Rolling Stone's 100 Greatest Artists of All Time and 79th on the VH1 100 Greatest Artists of All Time lists. In 2010, MTV Portugal ranked Eminem the seventh-biggest icon in pop-music history. However, there are some people still question his place in hip hop culture being that he is white despite his success.