The singer has Dutch and Jewish roots and hails from a quiet California beach town — but musically, she's traveled a path far afield from her upbringing.
In Cold War Russia, getting your hands on an American rock record was close to impossible. But a few bootleggers found a way to hide their contraband in the last place anyone would think to look.
The Queen of Soul, who recently brought down the house at the Kennedy Center with the hit "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman," spoke to Fresh Air's Terry Gross about her life and music in 1999.
King, who recently received a Kennedy Center Lifetime Artistic Achievement Award, says the thrill of hearing one of her songs on the radio "doesn't go away." Originally broadcast April 11, 2012.
Once an outspoken avant garde critic of the establishment, Boulez went on to serve as the conductor of both the New York Philharmonic and the BBC Symphony Orchestra. Originally broadcast in 2005.
A Tribe Called Quest talk about the 25th anniversary remastered release of People's Instinctive Travels and the Paths of Rhythm. This story originally aired on Nov. 13, 2015, on All Things Considered.
Subway commuters in major cities live by unspoken codes of conduct. In Washington, D.C., a local rule of escalator etiquette inspired jazz musicians Aaron Myers and Oren Levine to write a song.
NPR's Scott Simon speaks with Roy Clark, a musician in the country music hall of fame and co-host of the variety show Hee Haw, about his time on the TV show he once believed would fail.