Cash enlisted in the Air Force on July 7, 1950, shortly after the start
of the Korean War and served till he was honorably discharged in
1954.

John R. Cash  (February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003)

Cash died of complications from diabetes at age 71,less than
four months after his wife June.

        
        
        
        
        
        
       
The King of Rock and Roll teamed up with TV’s reigning variety
program, as Elvis Presley (21) appeared on “The Ed Sullivan
Show” for the first time on September 9, 1956.        

With 60 million viewers—or 82.6 percent of TV viewers at the time—tuning in, the appearance garnered the show’s best
ratings in two years and became the most-watched TV
broadcast of the 1950s.

Although “The Ed Sullivan Show” was filmed in New York,
Presley performed remotely from CBS’s Los Angeles
studio because he was filming his first movie, Love Me
Tender, in California. 

  
Ed and Elvis 
       

Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)

Michael Jackson was born on August 29, 1958, in Gary, Indiana.

Jackson began performing with his four brothers in the pop
group the Jackson 5 when he was a child. The group scored
its first No. 1 single in 1969, with “I Want You Back.” By age
11, Jackson was appearing on TV, and by age 14 he had
released his first solo album.

A Jackson 5 TV cartoon series appeared in the early ’70s, and
in 1976 the Jackson family, including sister Janet Jackson,
launched a TV variety show called The Jacksons that ran for
one season. Throughout the 70s, media attention focused on
Michael, who piped vocals in his high voice for “ABC,” “I’ll Be
There,” and many other Top 20 hits.

Ray Charles Robinson Sr.
(September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004)

Ray Charles was an singer, songwriter and pianist. He is regarded
as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history,
and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Genius."

Among friends and fellow musicians he preferred being called
"Brother Ray." Charles was blinded during childhood, possibly
due to glaucoma.    
   
Ray Charles died on June 10, 2004, at age 73, of complications
resulting from liver failure at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

Statue in Ray Charles Plaza in Albany, Georgia.

Long before his stature in the world of show business earned
him the nickname “Chairman of the Board,” Frank Sinatra was
known simply as “The Voice.”

Francis Sinatra died of a heart attack on May 14, 1998, at the
age of 82 with his immediate family by his side at Cedars-
Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles.

Six days later, some 400 mourners attended his private funeral
at the Roman Catholic Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly
Hills, with thousands more lining the streets outside.