All these famous musicians died during the first week of February: The Week the Music Died

-- Buddy Holly: 1936-1959 (died in a plane crash along with two other musical greats, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper Richardson....Holly laid the groundwork for the evolution of rock and roll in the 1960s and was the major influence upon The Beatles, Bob Dylan, Mick Jagger and Elton John)

-- Ritchie Valens: 1941-1959 (brought Latin R&R to the mainstream)

-- J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson: 1930-1959 (had the first ever music video in 1958 and coined the phrase, "music video")

-- Karen Carpenter: 1950-1983 (I met and knew Karen Carpenter personally; her house is now torn down along with the dealership where she bought her first car also gone. Ringo Starr of The Beatles and Joe Morello were her inspirations to begin playing the drums and was a musical prodigy; however, it was HER VOICE -- that ANGELIC VOICE -- that had a 3-octave range, that sold her to music producers in Los Angeles, namely A&M Records. She was a major influence upon future stars Sheryl Crow, Shania Twain and yes, even Madonna. There are few singing stars who's death was more shocking and sad to me than her's was. SHE IS GREATLY MISSED!!)

-- Sid Vicious: 1957-1979 (played bass guitar with The Sex Pistols)

-- Maurice White: 1941-2016 (founder, singer and main songwriter for the great Earth, Wind & Fire group)

-- Liberace: 1919-1987 (pianist, singer and actor)

Other famous people who died this week...............

-- Coretta Scott King: 1927-2006 (civil rights activist and wife of Martin Luther King, Jr.)

-- A.A. Milne: 1882-1956: (creator of beloved children's character, "Winnie--the--Pooh", poet and playwright)

-- Philip Seymour Hoffman: 1967-2014 (actor)

Those born this week.................

-- Don Everly: 1937-2021 (one-half of the famous singing duo, The Everly Brothers)

-- Brandon Lee: 1965-1993 (actor, son of martial artist Bruce Lee

-- Farrah Fawcett: 1947-2009: (actress)

-- Suzanne Pleshette: 1937-2008 (actress; once married to teen heartthrob, Troy Donahue)

-- Carol Channing: 1921-2009 (actress)

-- Terry Jones: 1942-2020 (comedian, director, member of Monty Python troupe)

-- Gene Kelly: 1912-1996 (actor, singer, dancer, choreographer, director....one of my most favorite actors in Hollywood filmdom....this man could DO...IT...ALL!!! Never has been and never will be another one like him!)

-- George Romero: 1940-2017 (pioneering filmmaker; debut film was the shocking "Night of The Living Dead" -- one of the scariest movies I've ever seen; he created the modern "zombie" genre of movies)