Born: April 17, 1926

Died: September 21, 2009

Drummer in electric Mississippi Delta blues trio The Jelly Roll Kings known for his minimalist drum kit, died from congestive heart failure on 9/21/2009, age 83

Born: April 17, 1931

Died: February 05, 2017

Top-level 60s and 70s music producer, worked with jazz and R&B artists from Cannonball Adderly to Lou Rawls and varied pop acts as David McCallum and The Electric Prunes, enjoyed a resurgence of sorts when hip hop acts sampled his work in the 90s, died of lung cancer on 2/5/2017, age 85.

Born: April 17, 1934

Died: January 17, 2011

Entertainment mogul, led Brill Building songwriting teams, formed The Monkees, owned Kirshner Records ("Sugar Sugar" by The Archies, #1, 1969), major concert promoter, TV music show host, died of heart failure 1/17/2011, age 76

Born: April 17, 1936

Died: 0000-00-00

Vocals and founding member of important 50s R&B/doo wop The Moonglows, "Sincerely" (R&B #1, 1955)

Born: April 17, 1937

Died: September 14, 2016

Berkeley-trained NASA engineer, musician, business entrepreneur and unheralded electronic music pioneer, his many creations were mostly outside of contemporary bounds but included precursors to 80s synthesizers and computer-based keyboard controllers, his "Buchla Box" supplied the sound for Ken Kesey's "Acid Tests" and Grateful Dead sounds systems in the 60s, died of cancer on 9/14/2016, age 79

Born: April 17, 1940

Died: January 28, 1983

Early British rock 'n' roll singer and songwriter, "Halfway To Paradise"" (UK #3, 1961) and 25 other UK Top 40 singles between 1959 and 1966, starred as rock 'n' roller "Stormy Tempest" in the film That'll Be The Day (1973) with David Essex and Ringo Starr, died of a heart attack on 1/28/1983, age 42

Born: April 17, 1942

Died: 0000-00-00

Vocals for New York R&B/doo wop one hit wonder Vito & The Salutations, "Unchained Melody" (1963)

Born: April 17, 1943

Died: 0000-00-00

Bassist for experimental art rock Captain Beefheart & The Magic Band, then Frank Zappa-led satirical rock group The Mothers Of Invention, "Brown Shoes Don't Make It" (1967), co-founded Southern-fried blues-boogie rock Little Feat, "Dixie Chicken" (1973), left after their first two albums to rejoin various Zappa projects, currently serving 25 years without parole for sexually abusing a child on several occasions

Born: April 17, 1945

Died: 0000-00-00

Founding member, rhythm guitar and lead vocals for Britbeat pop-rock The Merseybeats, "Mr. Moonlight'" (UK #5, 1964) and seven other UK Top 40 hits but no chart presence in the US, then folk-pop vocal duo The Merseys, "Sorrow" (UK #4, 1966), reformed The Merseybeats in 1993 and continues with the band

Born: April 17, 1948

Died: 0000-00-00

Jazz-rock fusion keyboardist with Mahavishnu Orchestra, Jeff Beck Group, composed and performed TV's "Miami Vice Theme" (#1, 1985)

Born: April 17, 1948

Died: May 02, 2008

Brit pop-rock vocalist as a solo act and bandmember, started with psych-pop band Skip Bifferty in the 60s, recorded the rock opera Tommy with the London Symphony Orchestra, joined jazzy prog rock Every Which Way and formed pop-rock Bell & Arc in the 70s, toured with and did session work for Long John Baldry, Jackie Lomax and others, died of cancer on 5/2/2008, age 60

Born: April 17, 1954

Died: 0000-00-00

Producer, composer, session guitarist for many pop-rock acts, solo one hit wonder singer, "Maniac" (#1, 1983) from the film Flashdance (1983)

Born: April 17, 1955

Died: December 06, 2018

Co-founder, lead guitarist, principal songwriter and vocalist for early and seminal punk-pop Buzzcocks, the band's melodic punk and power pop in a sea of hard core punk created eight charting UK singles, including "Ever Fallen in Love (With Someone You Shouldn't've)" (UK #12, 1978), after Buzzcocks broke up in 1981 balanced a 30-year solo career ("On Your Own," Dance #10, 1986) with several reunions of the band and collaborative recordings, died from a heart attack on 12/6/2018, age 63.

Born: April 17, 1957

Died: 0000-00-00

Proto-rap hip-hop DJ and electro-funk artist, "Planet Rock" (#48, R&B #4, 1986), Zulu Nation spiritual leader

Born: April 17, 1964

Died: 0000-00-00

Founder, frontman, songwriter and lead vocalist for Grammy-winning prog-metal band Tool, "Vicarious" (Modern Rock #2, 2006) plus side project alt rock A Perfect Circle, "Weak And Powerless" (Mainstream Rock #1, 2003)

Born: April 17, 1967

Died: 0000-00-00

Lo-fi indie pop-rock singer/songwriter and guitarist, "Why Can't I?" (#32, Top 40 #10, 2004)

Born: April 17, 1967

Died: 0000-00-00

Widely-heard session drummer, played on over 200 albums with rock and pop bands such as Christina Aguilera, Tori Amos, Fiona Apple, David Bowie, Edie Brickell & The New Bohemians, Peter Gabriel, Elton John, Morrissey, Pearl Jam, The Wallflowers, Natalie Merchant, John Mayer, William Shatner and many others

Born: April 17, 1970

Died: 0000-00-00

Actor, producer and funk/reggae-tinged rapper, "How High" (#13, Rap #2, 1995), worked with Method Man on the 1999 album Blackout!, featured on Christina Aguilera's "Dirrty" (#48, UK #1, 2002)

Born: April 17, 1974

Died: 0000-00-00

Vocals and "Posh Spice" in pop-rock girl-group Spice Girls, "Wannabe" (#1, 1997), married soccer star David Beckham in June 1999

Born: April 17, 1930

Died: March 02, 2021

English jazz musician and bandleader known for helping launch the UK "skiffle" craze in the 50s and the subsequent Brit-beat scene by mentoring and promoting non-jazz pop acts such as Lonnie Donegan and, in the early 60s, by arranging UK tours of authentic American blues acts, including Muddy Waters, his efforts leading to the British blues-rock explosion of the mid-60s and the later success of The Yardbirds, John Mayall and The Rolling Stones and many others, continued to front traditional jazz and bop bands until suffering from dementia in his last years and dying on 3/2/2021, age 90.

Born: April 17, 1930

Died: April 26, 2021

Apprentice in the 1950s for the legendary recording engineer Tom Dowd, rose to become a twenty-time Grammy-winning record producer and sound engineer with RCA, Capitol, United and East/West Studios, among others, along the way engineering over 150 gold and platinum albums and producing albums for Hot Tuna, Neil Young, Jefferson Airplane, Jackson Browne and dozens of other top artists, died from natural causes on 4/26/2021, age 91.

Born: April 17, 1946

Died: July 11, 2025

Brit keyboardist and actor best known for portraying the character of Viv Savage in the Rob Reiner-produced film mockumentary This Is Spinal Tap and appeared with the group for a time after the film’s release in 1984, previously played with prog-rock Rare Bird on five albums fin 1969 to 1977 and the lone hit “Sympathy” (UK #27, 1976), most recently fronted metal group Mutual of Alameda’s Wild Kingdom, was not scheduled to appear in the Spinal Tap sequel due out in late 2025, died in his sleep from undisclosed causes on 7/11/2025, age 79.