who in your opinion do you think would have been successful musically and influenced mondern music if they didnt pass away prematurely….

mine..

Glen Miller
Marvin Gaye
John Lennon

(close 3rd) Marc Bolan (heavily influenced by my wife!)

John Lennon was piss poor at everything except being a middle class hypocrite.

Ian Curtis could have produced some interesting stuff, but would probably have gone horribly introspective and rubbish.

Elvis however… 🙂

I thought about Elvis but feel he may have turned into a bit of a Cliff maybe.

Better of dead!

Hendrix.

Jim Morrison

Stevie Ray Vaughan.

Lennon's best work was behind him when he died. Plus, he'd already influenced popular culture. To a lesser degree, could you also not say the same about Marvin Gaye? Hendrix would be an obvious one, although he was highly influential despite his early death.

I would vote for Nick Drake. 3 albums, each better than the last, then 🙁

as above about Lennon. If Macca had died and Lennon lived, Macca would have left a legacy, whilst Lennon would be singing with the frogs.

As it is some of Lennons solos stuff is painfully shite.

Buddy Holly.
Possibly Jim Morrison.
Probably Glen Miller.
Gram Parsons.
err, 2Pac.
Nick Drake.

Although it's hard to know what's meant by 'modern music'.

John Lennon was piss poor at everything except being a middle class hypocrite.

Sorry to disagree but John Lennon was an extremely talented musician, not afraid to push the boundries – true, but a great songsmith nontheless.

Elvis however was on the skids, sad but true. Performer? Yes. As the per the post above, if he had have survived I think that him and Cliff would have done quite a few "Christmas" specials.

Second Marvin Gaye – maybe he would have revisited What's Going On.
Not sure about Nick Drake – there's a creative arc to his released albums and epitaphs don't get much poignant than Pink Moon (my favourite of his albums). But to hear more from Jeff Buckley and Gram Parsons would have been great.

Gateley.

no, Lennon was awful. FACT.

nothing anyone can type, say or play me will ever convince me that lennon and the beatles were anything more than a below average band who got lucky.

however please note the smiley after my elvis suggestion…;-)

Duane Allman who would have been 62 years old today. RIP Skydog.

Andrew Wood from Mother Love Bone. A beautiful voice. God knows what he'd be like today.

i love the beatles and some lennon solo stuff but he was a spent force when he died – his last few solo albums are utter rubbish

elvis was also well done

as was Jim Morrisson

Marvin Gaye was spending his days out of his mind sitting on the wall outside his dads house – he was done

the vast majority of musicians/ bands do their best work on their first 3 albums. No doubt some utter geniuses died before their time, but we haven't heard of them!

John Coltrane… was still turning out ground breaking music when he died.

I really liked the direction Hendrix's music was heading in before he died, but also can't help but think he'd maybe have ended up like Santana, whose performance at woodstock gave no indication of future duets with Enrique Iglesias… 🙄

Jeff Buckley's career could have been interesting, as could Kurt Cobain's.

Hendrix and Bob Marley double act!

Robert Johnson?

Brian Jones. The creative force in the Stones – unafraid to experiment musically. After he died they became just another rock band.

Hendrix. Needed to get his shit together again or he might have become a blues bore but… it would be great to know

Tim Buckley (Jeff's pops) seemed to be finding his groove again prior to his premature checking out.

D Boone.

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Adrian Borland