Joan Baez

Born January 9, 1941, Baez hit immediately in 1960: her first three albums went gold before she'd written much herself. She became known as an interpreter, covering everyone from Woody Guthrie to the Beatles, but her early championing of Bob Dylan—recording his songs when he was still unknown—made his name as much as hers. Their relationship, messy and public, later fed songs by both. She sang fourteen sets at Woodstock in 1969, wrote "Diamonds & Rust," and spent six decades in civil rights and nonviolence work. Her music drifted from folk into rock, pop, gospel, and country, but the through-l…