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Often called the world’s greatest rock-and-roll band, the Rolling Stones recorded what is widely regarded as their greatest album in less-than-favorable conditions. Having fled England amid a tax dispute with the British government, the group holed up in the south of France in the summer of 1971, in a luxurious villa rented by Keith Richards, who was busy feeding his heroin habit at the time. Mick Jagger, meanwhile, seemed more interested in his recent marriage to Nicaraguan-born model Bianca Pérez Morena de Macias. Despite the tensions, drugs and distractions, the Stones somehow managed to produce a masterpiece. Released as a double album, Exile on Main Street featured a glorious mess of ro...

In 1986, Little Richard successfully mounted a career comeback following the twin tragedies the previous year of his mother's death and his own near-fatal car crash. First he released an authorized biography, Quasar of Rock: The Life and Times of Little Richard, and starred in the movie Down and Out in Beverly HIlls, alongside Nick Nolte, Bette Midler and Richard Dreyfuss. Then he landed a contract with Warner Bros. and released, Lifetime Friend, his first album in seven years. To top it off, the artist behind massive early hits like "Tutti Frutti" and "Good Golly Miss Molly," one of the first black crossover artists and the man who influenced performers from Paul McCartney to...