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May 1: Judy Collins, 85
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Known for eyes so strikingly blue that they reportedly inspired the Crosby, Stills & Nash song “Suite: Judy Blue Eyes,” the folk legend came up in the 1960s coffeehouse circuit, where she popularized songs by everyone from Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell to Kurt Weill and Stephen Sondheim. In fact, her cover of “Send in the Clowns” won song of the year at the 1975 Grammys. Collins has showed no signs of slowing down musically. In 2019, at the age of 80, she topped her first Billboard chart when her album Winter Stories hit number one on the bluegrass albums list, and her 2022 album, Spellbound — her first album of all original music — was nominated for best folk album at the Grammys.
May 1: Ray Parker Jr., 70
Ray Parker Jr. will forever be best known for his Oscar-nominated, Grammy-winning theme song from Ghostbusters, but that’s only one small part of a legendary career that began when he started cowriting songs with Marvin Gaye at the age of 15. He would go on to join Stevie Wonder’s touring band and become a session guitarist for such icons as Aretha Franklin and Tina Turner, before putting together his own R&B/funk band, Raydio. His work with the group and on his own landed him five Top 10 hits on the Billboard Hot 100, and this spring, to celebrate the release of Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, he performed his most famous song on The Tonight Show, accompanied by the Roots, Jimmy Fallon, Ernie Hudson and Bill Murray.
May 1: Wes Anderson, 55
The Texas-born filmmaker got his start in the movies while a student at UT Austin, where he and classmate Owen Wilson filmed a short called Bottle Rocket that would go on to screen at the Sundance Film Festival. In the decades that followed, Anderson developed one of the most instantly recognizable visual styles of any working director, known for his symmetry, intricate compositions and nostalgic color palettes. And while critics loved films like The Royal Tenenbaums and The Grand Budapest Hotel, he didn’t win his first Oscar until this year, when he took home the best live action short film trophy for his Roald Dahl adaptation, The Wonderful Story of Henry Sugar. Next up, he’s set to begin shooting a feature, The Phoenician Scheme, in Germany with Benicio del Toro, Michael Cera and Bill Murray.
May 3: Frankie Valli, 90
Best known for his mile-high falsetto, the Jersey-born Four Seasons vocalist led the quartet to chart-topping success with 1960s hits like “Sherry,” “Walk Like a Man” and “Working My Way Back to You,” and they later staged a mid-’70s comeback with “December, 1963 (Oh What a Night).” As a solo artist, Valli conquered the radio again with “Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You” and the Barry Gibb–penned title track of Grease. His group’s music was so enduring that it eventually spawned the 2005 Broadway hit Jersey Boys, which won best musical at the Tonys before being turned into a Clint Eastwood–directed film adaptation. In 2021, Valli tried out a new genre with his album A Touch of Jazz, and he has continued to tour, even performing at Radio City Music Hall this spring.
May 4: Randy Travis, 65
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As a child, the North Carolina–born country star idolized legends like Hank Williams and Gene Autry and hoped to revitalize their traditional sound. He broke out with 1986’s Storms of Life, which topped the country charts, and he was soon invited to join the Grand Ole Opry. Over the years, Travis has earned seven Grammys, most recently for the duet “I Told You So” with Carrie Underwood. In recent years, he has dealt with a host of health issues, including cardiomyopathy and aphasia caused by a stroke; his musical output has subsequently slowed substantially, but in 2020, he performed with Josh Turner on a cover of his song “Forever and Ever, Amen.”
May 8: Melissa Gilbert, 60
One of the finest child actors in TV history, Melissa Gilbert enjoyed a nine-season run as Laura Ingalls Wilder on Little House on the Prairie, and she would go on to earn a 1980 Emmy nomination for playing another inspirational historical figure, Helen Keller, in The Miracle Worker. In 2001, she made the leap to a Hollywood leadership role when she was elected to what would be a two-term stint as president of the Screen Actors Guild, and she later competed on Dancing with the Stars. More recently, she launched Modern Prairie, a lifestyle brand for older women, inspired by Little House, that includes online workshops on topics like grief, crafting classes and products by women-owned businesses.
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