The “Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy” was composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky as part of his ballet, “The Nutcracker.” It was premiered at the Imperial Mariinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1892. It had only modest success at first, but has since become deeply woven into the fabric of music and dance, in addition to appearances in animation, video games, and a host of other media. The New York City Ballet produced George Balanchine’s staged reinterpretation in 1954 and has done so for every Christmas season since, to houses packed particularly with parents bringing their children to see the grand two-hour spectacle.
"Mercy, Mercy, Mercy" by Joe Zawinul
Jazz piano legend Joe Zawinul was a composer, performer, electronic keyboard innovator, and band co-leader who left his enduring mark on music through the songs he wrote and in collaborations with the likes of Wayne Shorter, Miles Davis, Jimi Hendrix, Aretha Franklin, Jaco Pastorius and “Cannonball” Adderley.
"Lean On Me" by Bill Withers
Drummer, front-man, music journalist, historian, and educator Questlove refers to his hero Bill Withers as, “the last African-American Everyman.” Of himself, Withers claims he’s, “not a virtuoso, but I was able to write songs that people could identify with.” Grammy Award-winning and Hall of Fame songwriter Bill Withers composed timeless songs from the soul that will live in R&B, rock and pop music for lifetimes to come, though he spent just over eight years in the music industry.
"The Twist" by Hank Ballard
Singer-songwriter Boz Scaggs gave the introduction during Hank Ballard’s induction into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1990. Scaggs quoted Ballard’s perspective on life as “all about having a good time, and feeling good, and looking fine, and having some laughs, and getting others to do the same.” Scaggs spoke of Ballard as being a “very vital, very positive, very dynamic man.”