Today, the great Bob Dylan turned 80 years old. He was born May 24, 1941 (a half-year before the attack on Pearl Harbor).
Here is a video of Mr. Dylan singing the 1968 song "Abraham, Martin and John," with singer Clydie King; Ms. King was perhaps best-known for her frequent work, over the years, as a back-up singer. The video, taken during a tour Mr. Dylan made in 1980, appears to be of a rehearsal.
The vocals, and Mr. Dylan's piano playing, are, I think, quite beautiful.
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x7t6afl
Clydie King died in 2019, at 75. Here is another video in which she appears, from December of 1973.
It is from a telecast of NBC's The Midnight Special, and features Linda Ronstadt singing "You're No Good." It is a superb performance by Ms. Ronstadt--a tremendously talented singer--and by her musical ensemble. Clydie King sings back-up for the song, along with the singer Sherlie Matthews. José Feliciano, host for that evening's broadcast, introduces the performance. (Five years earlier, in 1968, he had released "Light My Fire," his cover of, and extraordinary re-interpretation of, the 1967 hit by The Doors.)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q3SOosWH6_M
Ms. Ronstadt's first hit song came in 1967, when she sang with the group The Stone Poneys. The song was "Different Drum," which had been written in 1964 by another outstanding musician, Michael Nesmith, the year before he joined the cast of The Monkees, the television show which brought him to fame.
It is a lovely song. Here, in a video from 1992, is an enjoyable and charming live performance of "Different Drum," by Mr. Nesmith. At the end of the performance, he mentions, warmly, Ms. Ronstadt.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SMkiZ9tO-Zs
Lastly, here is José Feliciano's hit recording of "Light My Fire," from 1968. I was very young at the time, twelve years old, yet I remember the sense of exhilaration one felt, hearing the song. Everyone seemed to be talking about the record--not only about Mr. Feliciano's exquisite vocal, on the recording, but about his virtuosic guitar-playing.
