“Stone cold sober? I don’t believe in that.” That quote by Jerry Lee Lewis, born 76 years ago today, might make an appropriate epitaph for a man who’s not only one of rock ‘n’ roll’s original innovators and iconic figures but also one of its most outrageous madmen and irrepressible…

Marvin Lee Aday, AKA Meat Loaf, was born 64 years ago today, and though the origin of his nickname remains clouded in legend (it possibly has something to do with the fact that he originally weighed in at more than 300 pounds!), it joins some of the more distinctive monikers…

Ani DiFranco is many things. So many, in fact, that it’s sometimes difficult to get a handle on them all. Best known as an artist, entrepreneur, parent, and activist for a variety of feminist and political causes, she’s even befuddled her fans at times, particularly when it comes to matters…

In the minds of most people, a cave is a dark, foreboding locale. It seems somewhat appropriate then that Nick Cave is a somewhat scary guy. What other way to describe an artist who is best known for his mercurial ruminations and anguished pontification. To the uninitiated, Cave’s music — with…

Leonard Cohen, who turns 77 today, may be the most unlikely of pop stars. His age notwithstanding, his dark, somnambulant vocals and unassuming demeanor hardly qualify him for the rabid following he’s attained over the decades, especially since returning to the limelight after having abandoned his music in favor of…

Had he not succumbed to a combination of heart failure and painkillers on January 1, 1953, Hank Williams would have turned 88 years old today. Yet the fact that he died at the tragically young age of 29 doesn’t diminish the indelible imprint that he left not only on the…

Anyone the least bit familiar with the blues is bound to know the name B.B. King. In fact, there’s no blues man alive today who is more widely recognized or duly honored, given his numerous accomplishments. Born on a Mississippi cotton plantation 86 years ago today, Riley B. King has…

Born 41 years ago today, Neko Case represents alt-country’s dark side… and its seductive side as well. For the past 14 years or so, she’s carved out a successful solo career spiked with an insurgent attitude and uncompromising character. Along the way, she’s also plied her talents with various roots-rock…

“I think all of my records are exactly the same,” indie-rock singer/songwriter John Vanderslice reflects. “I’m not saying this is a good thing — it might be a bad thing — but I don’t think my sensibilities have changed since I was 15 years old. I really don’t feel that…

Arguably the greatest rock drummer of all time, Keith Moon had a talent that was surpassed only by his penchant for mischief and mayhem. Born Keith John Moon on August 23, 1946, but famously nicknamed “Moon the Loon,” he would have been 65 today had he not succumbed on September…

Turning 73, Kenny Rogers still looks every bit like the refined country gentleman he’s portrayed since early on, with his perfectly coiffed hair, silvery beard and GQ three-piece apparel. But has the man whose ongoing list of hits famously included “The Gambler” really taken that much of a gamble with…

Two portraits of Robert Plant: One, the most familiar, at least to those who still picture him as the once and always Led Zeppelin front man, a bare-chested banshee with a mop of blond curls, strutting and posturing at the microphone stand as his band wails relentlessly behind him. The…

Music inspired by tints and tones is a pretty obtuse concept, but the Dear Hunter’s latest outing works surprisingly well in practice. Over the course of nine EPs — and an album that samples the best of the batch — the experimental rock act’s founder, lead singer, songwriter, and all-around…

It’s inevitable that when singers leave bands with which they started, anything they do in their solo career will inevitably get compared to those earlier efforts. Rod Stewart may have proved an exception, but we’d wager that even such icons as Mick Jagger, Roger Daltrey, and Sting will always find…