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John Illsley
John Illsley (born 1949) is an English bass guitarist, co-founder of Dire Straits (1977–1995), bandmate of Mark Knopfler, holder of Grammys and the 2018 Rock Hall induction, painter, pub owner, and 2021 memoirist.
John Kahn
John Kahn (1947–1996) was an American bassist, Jerry Garcia's principal collaborator outside the Grateful Dead from 1970 to 1995: Jerry Garcia Band constant member, Old & In the Way, Legion of Mary, acoustic duo partner, and session player for Bloomfield, Hooker, and Brewer & Shipley.
John Kander
John Kander (born 1927) is the American Broadway composer of the Kander and Ebb partnership with lyricist Fred Ebb, writing Cabaret, Chicago, Kiss of the Spider Woman, and the song New York, New York; distinct from photographer Nadav Kander and politician Jason Kander.
John Kastner
John Kastner (born 1969, Beaconsfield, Quebec) is the Canadian punk musician who sang for the Asexuals, founded the Doughboys and All Systems Go!, and later composed soundtracks in Los Angeles; distinct from filmmaker John Kestner and designer John Kestner.
John Kay (musician)
John Kay (Joachim Fritz Krauledat, born 1944) is the German-born Canadian frontman of Steppenwolf, whose 1968 hit Born to Be Wild introduced heavy metal to lyrics; he led the band from 1967 to its 2018 retirement and later runs the Maue Kay Foundation.
John Kiffmeyer
John Kiffmeyer, stage name Al Sobrante, is an American punk-rock drummer who was Green Day's original drummer from 1988 to 1990, playing on the debut album 39/Smooth.
John Knox Bokwe
John Knox Bokwe (1855–1922) was a Xhosa Presbyterian minister, journalist, and composer who worked at Lovedale, helped found the University of Fort Hare, and became one of the most celebrated Xhosa hymn writers.
John L. Nelson
John L. Nelson (John Lewis Nelson, 1916–2001), Minneapolis jazz pianist and songwriter, leader of the Prince Rogers Trio and father of Prince; co-wrote Computer Blue, The Ladder, and Scandalous with his son.
John Lee Hooker
John Lee Hooker (1917–2001), the "King of the Boogie," was a Mississippi-born, Detroit-based blues guitarist and singer whose one-chord boogie style, "Boogie Chillen," "Boom Boom," and late-career album The Healer shaped blues and rock.
John Legend
John Legend (John Roger Stephens, born 1978, Springfield, Ohio) is an American R&B singer-songwriter and EGOT winner whose 2004 debut Get Lifted, released via Kanye West's G.O.O.D. Music, yielded "Ordinary People" and later "All of Me."
John Lennon
John Lennon (1940–1980), English singer-songwriter, Beatles member 1960–1969, Plastic Ono Band founder with Yoko Ono; 25 US number-one singles, Imagine, Double Fantasy, killed in New York 1980.
John Leyton
John Leyton (John Dudley Leyton), English actor and singer; 1961 UK No. 1 "Johnny Remember Me" (Goddard/Meek, BBC-banned), hits Wild Wind and Lonely City, films The Great Escape and Guns at Batasi. Note: birth year reported as both 1936 and 1939.
John Lodge (musician)
John Lodge (1943–2025) was the English bass guitarist, co-lead vocalist, and songwriter of the Moody Blues from 1966, writer of "Ride My See-Saw" and "I'm Just a Singer," Blue Jays collaborator with Justin Hayward, and Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
John Lurie
John Lurie (born 1952, Minneapolis) is an American saxophonist, actor, and painter who co-founded the Lounge Lizards, starred in Jarmusch's Stranger Than Paradise and Down by Law, created Fishing with John and HBO's Painting with John, and wrote the 2021 memoir The History of Bones.
John Luther Adams
John Luther Adams (born 1953, Meridian, Mississippi) is an American composer of Alaskan wilderness-inspired music, winner of the 2014 Pulitzer Prize for Become Ocean and the 2015 Grammy; distinct from composer John Adams.
John Lydon
John Lydon, born 1956 in London, known as Johnny Rotten, fronted the Sex Pistols from 1975 to 1978 and then founded post-punk pioneers Public Image Ltd, later writing Anger is an Energy and feuding with former Pistols bandmates.
John Martyn
John Martyn, born Iain David McGeachy (1948–2009), was a British singer-songwriter and guitarist whose music blended folk, jazz, blues, and dub; his signature album was Solid Air (1973).
John Maus
John Maus (born 1980, Austin, Minnesota) is an American synth-pop musician and political science PhD, ex-Ariel Pink's Haunted Graffiti keyboardist, known for We Must Become the Pitiless Censors of Ourselves (2011) and Later Than You Think (2025).
John Mayer
John Mayer (John Clayton Mayer, born 1977) is an American singer-songwriter and guitarist behind Room for Squares, Continuum, and Sob Rock, a seven-time Grammy winner, PRS Silver Sky co-designer, and Dead & Company lead guitarist.
John McCrea (musician)
John McCrea (born 1964) is the American singer, songwriter, and guitarist who founded the Sacramento alternative rock band Cake in 1991, known for deadpan vocals, 'The Distance,' Upbeat Records independence, and a No. 1 album in 2011.
John McFee
John McFee (born 1950, Santa Cruz, California) is a multi-instrumentalist and longtime Doobie Brothers guitarist, formerly of Clover (on Elvis Costello's My Aim Is True) and Southern Pacific, and a 2020 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.
John McGeoch
John McGeoch (1955–2004), Scottish post-punk guitarist of Magazine, Siouxsie and the Banshees, Visage, the Armoury Show, and Public Image Ltd; known for icy effects-driven playing, "Spellbound", "Shot by Both Sides", and influence on Marr, Frusciante, and The Edge.
John McVie
John McVie (John Graham McVie), born 1945, is a British bassist whose name supplies the "Mac" in Fleetwood Mac, which he joined in 1967 after playing with John Mayall's Bluesbreakers.
John Michael Montgomery
John Michael Montgomery, born 1965, is an American country singer from Danville, Kentucky who dominated mid-1990s charts with number one hits like "I Swear" and "Sold," selling over 16 million albums.
John Miles (musician)
John Miles (John Errington, 1949–2021), English rock singer-guitarist-keyboardist from Jarrow, famous for the 1976 UK No. 3 ballad "Music" and for touring with Tina Turner, the Alan Parsons Project, and Jimmy Page.
John Murphy (composer)
John Murphy (born 1965, Liverpool) is a British film composer, legal name John Paul Murphy, known for 28 Days Later, Sunshine, Kick-Ass, The Suicide Squad, Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3, and Superman (2025), and for the widely licensed cues In the House – In a Heartbeat and Adagio in D Minor.
John Myung
John Myung (born 1967, Chicago) is the American bassist and founding member of Dream Theater, also of Platypus and the Jelly Jam; Berklee-trained, known for six-string Music Man signature basses, three-finger technique, and the 2010 MusicRadar Greatest Bassist poll win.
John Newman (singer)
John Newman (born 1990) is an English soul-pop singer from Settle, Yorkshire, known for Love Me Again, Rudimental's Feel the Love, and Calvin Harris's Blame; albums Tribute and Revolve, later a dance-music and DJ career.
John Oates
John Oates is an American singer and guitarist, best known as cofounder of the duo Daryl Hall and John Oates. The duo sold over 80 million albums.
John Otto (drummer)
John Otto (John Everett Otto, born 1977, Jacksonville, Florida) is the jazz-trained drummer and founding member of rap rock band Limp Bizkit, distinct from a same-named composer.