Johnny Allen Hendrix, singer, guitarist and songwriter was born on November 27, 1942 in Seattle Washington. His father changed his name to James Marshall. At 15 years of age Hendrix acquired his first acoustic guitar for $5. He taught himself how to play the guitar by constant practice and getting tips from experienced players. He was a blues music fan with influences from the music of Muddy Waters and B.B. King.

His first ever electric guitar was a white Supro Ozack. The Velvetones was his first formal band performing regularly at Yesler Terrace Neighborhood House without a pay. His left-handed playing of a right–handed guitar together with his flashy style made him a standout amongst others of his time. He later played professionally when he joined the Rocking Kings.

In 1961, Hendrix enlisted in the United States Army to escape imprisonment. After a year of service in the army, Hendrix was discharged due to injuries. He moved to nearby Clarksville Tennessee together with his army pal Billy Cox and forms The Kings Kasual. Hendrix tried his luck in New York and in February 1964 won first prize in an amateur contest. He was later hired by the Isley Brothers as guitarist and joined them in their national tour.

He quit the band to work for Gorgeous George Odell.  In October 1964 Hendrix was hired by Little Richards. While on tour he played a session with Rosa Lee Brooks. In 1965, Hendrix played with different bands until he formed his own group, Jimmy James and the Blue Flames. Hendrix meets Chas Chandler in mid-1966 and asked Hendrix to create The Jimi Hendrix Experience and to go to London to join forces with musicians Mitch Mitchell and Noel Redding.

The band gain quite a following with Eric Clapton, Jeff Beck, The Who, The Rolling Stones, and members of The Beatles all England’s rock royalty. “Hey Joe” was the bands first hit single that brought them success followed by “Purple Haze” and “The Winds Cry Mary”. All three songs were all Top10 hits. His outrageous guitar playing skills, experimental and innovative sounds delighted audiences every time he played.

At the Monterey Pop festival Hendrix awed his fellow Americans with a stunning performance with him lighting his guitar on fire. In his second album, Axis: Bold as Love released in 1968 Jimi Hendrix quickly becomes a rock music superstar. “Electric Ladyland” part of the Jimi Hendrix Experience was his final album and it featured a Bob Dylan original the hit “All Along the Watchtower”. At the Woodstock Festival held that same year Hendrix performed his famous rock version of “The Star Spangled Banner” demonstrated his considerable talent as a musician that never fails to amaze the crowd.

In the late 1969, Hendrix formed Band of Gypsy with drummer Buddy Miles and army pal Billy Cox but it never took off and decided to work on a new album tentatively called “First Rays of the New Rising Sun” with Mitch Mitchell from The Jimi Hendrix Experience and Billy Cox. But Hendrix never had the chance to finish the project. His untimely death due to drug related complications left a mark in the music industry. “Live Fast, Die Young” 

Sheryl Suzanne Crow singer, pianist and guitarist was the daughter of Wendell and Bernice Crow. She was born on February 11, 1962 in Kenneth, Missouri. Her father before becoming a lawyer was a trumpet player in a swing band and her mother Bernice was a teacher in piano. She has two older sisters Kathy and Karen and a younger brother named Steven. At a young age of 5 she began taking piano lessons and growing up to the music of Bob Dylan, Elton John and Christine McVie. She wrote her first song at the age of 13. While studying at the University of Missouri in Columbia, where she majored in music, she joined a rock band doing covers named Cashmere. After college Sheryl taught music at St. Louis Elementary School teaching autistic children. By night she stills perform with another cover band P.M...

By 1986 she moved to Los Angeles to pursue her career as a singer / songwriter. She began her career recording jingles for advertising companies including singing the McDonald’s jingle. At this time Sheryl audition as a back-up singer for Michael Jackson and got accepted for the Bad tour. After the tour she managed to survive by doing back-up for Don Henley’s End of the Innocence Tour, Sting, Rod Stewart, Stevie Wonder and Foreigner. Her songwriting talent was maximized by writing songs for the likes of Wynonna Judd, Eric Clapton and Celine Dion.    

Sheryl recorded a self-titled album in 1991 for the now defunct A&W Records but the record company decided to shelve the project. Kevin Gilbert who was then Sheryl’s boyfriend attempted to remix the album and presented it to engineer and producer Bill Bottrel. Together with singer/songwriter David Baerwald, Gilbert, Bottrel and a few other musicians began holding jam sessions at local clubs Tuesday nights thus the Tuesday Night Music Club was born and eventually Sheryl was invited in. 1993 marks the released of Sheryl’s debut album  with hits like “Leaving Las Vegas” and the smash hit “All I Wanna Do”. A comment by Sheryl on an interview with David Letterman proved lethal to the band’s existence. To her bandmates it was a dismissal of the contributions they made in the album and the beginning of the end of the Tuesday Night Music Club. But the album earned Sheryl three Grammy Awards in 1995. Record of the Year for “All I Wanna Do”, Best Pop Female Performance for Tuesday Night Music Club and Best New Artist. The album sold over six million copies.

Sheryl’s second album was a self titled released in 1996 and immediately “If It Makes You Happy” was a smash hit. Sheryl walked away with two Grammies for Best Rock Vocal Performance and Best Rock Album in 1997. Her third album, "The Globe Sessions” was nominated for Best Album and Best Rock Album in the 41st Annual Grammy Awards in 1999. She won the Grammy for the Best Rock Album of the Year. She was also nominated for Best Producer the Year, Best Female Rock Vocal Performance for the song “There Goes the Neighborhood” and Best Female Pop Vocal Performance for “My Favorite Mistakes”. Sheryl Crow and Friends: Live in Central Park was released in 1999 for the holiday season. It features artists like The Dixie Chicks, Sarah McLachlan, Eric Clapton and Stevie Nicks.     

The Rolling Stones is one of the legendary bands from London and part of the so called “British Invasion” in the music scene during the 60’s. The band’s name was inspired by Muddy Waters song “Rolling Stone”. They are considered as the longest lived continuously active group in rock and roll history. Calling themselves as the “World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” in the late 6o’s proved to be fitting to a band that spans four decades of adapting thru the latest styles and sounds without compromising their origins as guitar based blues loving rock and roll band. Their remarkable career it seems in all aspects has no apparent end in sight.

Mick Jagger (vocals) and Keith Richards (guitars, vocals) the core of the Rolling Stones were friends’ way back in 1951. They met as children at Dartford Maypole Primary School. Their friendship was interrupted when both of
 their families moved in the mid-Fifties. They ran into each other in a train station on October 1960. By then Jagger was a hardcore blues fanatic playing with Dick Taylor in a blues band called Little Boy Blue and the Blue Boys while Richards’ was more on the Chuck style Rock and Roll. Within a year after Richards joined the band, they met Brian Jones (guitar, vocals) a Blues Incorporated member with Alexis Korner fronting. Jagger, Richards and Jones soon become musical collaborators. Brian wanted to form his own band so with Dick Taylor on bass the band recruited drummer Mick Avery and Ian Stewart on keyboards. Thus the Rolling Stones were born.

On July 12, 1962, on a BBC radio show Jones seized the opportunity to launch his new band. It was the band’s first public appearance. Soon after the band inked an eight-month resident gig at the Crawdaddy Club, fans and fellow musicians trooped to the club to watch them. The band’s final line-up will include founding members Jagger, Richards and Jones with Charlie Watts on drums and bass player Bill Wyman. In May 1963 the band cut its first record under Decca label. “Come on” penned by Chuck Berry on the A side and “I Wanna Be Love” a Willie Dixon cover on the flip. “I Wanna Be Your Man” by Lennon/McCartney original was given to the Stones for their second single. In early ’64 they release a Buddy Holly cover “Not Fade Away” that reached number three in the U.K. and in the spring of that year reach number 48 as their first American hit. “It’s All Over Now” was their first UK number 1 hit but missed America’s top 40. The band’s first original single was released on June of 1964. “Tell Me” was the band’s first U.S. top 40 while “Time Is on My Side” became their first U.S. top 10. But the song that really made the Stones was “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” in 1965 in which Richard’s compelling fuzz tone guitar riff was built around. Number one for four weeks, it opens for a string of top ten single in the next two years of their careers. Hits like “As Tears Go By”, “Get Off My Cloud”, and “19th Nervous Breakdown”.  

The first album of The Rolling Stone was “Aftermath” released in April 1966. The album includes “Under My Thumb”, “Lady Jane” and “Have You Seen Your Mother, Baby (Standing in the Shadow)”. Some of their greatest hits includes “Honky Tonk Woman”, Paint It Black”, “Jumpin’ Jack Flash” “As Tears Go By” and many more to this date lives and lingers among rock and roll fans. The Rolling Stones made 27 albums to date and still planning on doing their 28th.

The band member has changed through all the past four decades. Jagger and Richards remains as the core of the group. Brian Jones even before his death on July 3, 1969 was replaced by Mick Taylor. Others who joined the legendary band are drummer Charlie Watts and guitarist Ronnie Wood who up to this day is an official member of the Stones and Bill Wyman bassist who left the band in 1992.