On its final approach to Madison, Wisconsin on December 10,
1967, the private plane carrying soul-music legend Otis Redding 
(26)crashed into the frigid waters of a small lake three miles short         
of the runway, killing seven of the eight men aboard, including
Redding. “Sittin’ On The Dock Of The Bay”, which he had been
recording, would be released in its “unfinished” form several
weeks later, with Redding’s whistled verse a seemingly
indispensable part of the now-classic record and would soon
become history’s first posthumous #1 hit and the biggest pop
hit of Redding’s career.       

John Lennon, a former member of the Beatles, the rock group
that transformed popular music in the 1960s,was shot and
killed by an obsessed fan in New York City. 

The 40-year-old artist was entering his luxury Manhattan
apartment building when Mark David Chapman shot him four
times at close range with a .38-caliber revolver. Lennon,
bleeding profusely, was rushed to the hospital but died en
route. Chapman had received an autograph from Lennon
earlier in the day and voluntarily remained at the scene of
the shooting until he was arrested by police.

Chapman turned 68 May 10th.

(FOX NEWS) – Denny Laine, co-founder of Wings with Paul
McCartney, died Tuesday after battling lung disease. He was
79.

The "Band on the Run" singer formed two of the biggest rock
bands of all time, both with The Moody Blues and McCartney’s
Wings.

Denny Laine with Linda and Paul McCartney…Wings.

Little Richard (Richard Wayne Penniman)
(December 5, 1932 – May 9, 2020)  

Singer, pianist, and songwriter Little Richard was an influential
figure in popular music and culture for seven decades. He is 
described as the "Architect of Rock and Roll." 

Little Richard was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
as part of its first group of inductees in 1986.

After a two-month illness, Richard died at the age of 87 at his
home in Tullahoma, Tennessee, from a cause related to bone
cancer. 

George Dewey Hay (November 9, 1895 – May 8, 1968) was 
an American radio personality, announcer and newspaper 
reporter. He was the founder of the original Grand Ole
Opry radio program.

The Grand Ole Opry, one of the longest-lived and most popular showcases for western music, began broadcasting live from
Nashville, Tennessee on November 28, 1925. The showcase
was originally named the Barn Dance, after a Chicago radio
program called the National Barn Dance that had begun
broadcasting the previous year.

Impressed by the popularity of the Chicago-based National
Barn Dance, producers at WSM radio in Nashville decided
to create their own version of the show to cater to southern
audiences who could not receive the Chicago signal. Both
the Grand Ole Opry and the National Barn Dance aired on
Saturday nights and featured folk music, fiddling, and the
relatively new genre of country-western music.

The home of country music and original broadcasting site
of the Grand Ole Opry, the Ryman is one of the most
historic and widely visited tours in Tennessee.

Minnie Pearl (Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon)
(October 25, 1912 – March 4, 1996)