Music

IT DEAD '60S FOLKIE Richard Farina

AGE 29 at time of death in 1966 WHY HIM? The musician and novelist left behind only two albums (recorded with wife and musical partner Mimi Baez Farina) and one novel (Been Down So Long It Looks Like Up to Me), but his legacy is being reexamined, thanks to David Hajdu's four-way bio Positively 4th Street: The Lives and Times of Joan Baez, Bob Dylan, Mimi Baez Farina and Richard Farina. CLAIM TO POSTERITY ''His first album with Mimi combined folk and world music, literate lyrics, and [electric] rock & roll before Dylan,'' says Hajdu. ''The DNA of Beck is in those two Richard and Mimi Farina albums'' (Celebrations for a Grey Day and Reflections in a Crystal Wind). CAREER LOW His grand plan for setting the 1965 Newport Folk Festival on fire was doused, both literally (by a rainstorm) and figuratively (the Farinas were dramatically upstaged by Dylan, who went electric that night). CAREER HIGH It would probably have been the publication party for his first novel, but it happened to fall on the same day he died in a motorcycle accident. CLOSEST BRUSH WITH CAREER IMMOLATION ''He produced a rock & roll record for [sister-in-law] Joan Baez that was so out there, it would have killed her career,'' says Hajdu. ''Fortunately, it never came out.''

IT TWO-STEPPER Craig David

AGE 20 WHY HIM? With the quadruple-platinum debut of Born to Do It, he's the first superstar of Britain's two-step movement (electronic dance beats with R&B vocals). CAN'T WORK WITHOUT ''My Macintosh G4 Titanium laptop. And CDs...I'm listening to Musiq Soulchild and Sunshine Anderson.'' CAUTIONARY TALE ''Terence Trent D'Arby. I don't know where he's gone. My mum was a massive fan--played him all the time. It was a learning curve, seeing how someone can be really talented, yet [success] can be taken away as quickly as you got it.'' INFLUENCE ''Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. The title for my album came from [a line in it].'' IF HE WEREN'T MAKING MUSIC, HE'D... ''Be a barrister. In school we'd have debates. I was always able to back up a point with facts.'' NEXT Born--including the MTV single ''Fill Me In''--hits America July 17.

IT GARAGE BAND The White Stripes

AGES Jack White, 25; Meg White, 26 WHY THEM? The lovably salacious Detroit duo--ostensibly a brother-sister act (wink, wink)--bring pop songs to life with just an electric guitar, a drum kit, and a greasy garage-rock aesthetic. And Jack's home studio serves as a magnet for local musicians in Detroit's bristling rock scene. INFLUENCES ''Meg likes country--Emmylou Harris and Loretta Lynn--and I'm big on blues. Blind Willie McTell and Son House are my favorites.'' CAREER HIGH ''A teacher taught her second-grade class our song 'Apple Blossom,' and she sent us a videotape,'' says Jack. ''They had all drawn pictures of me and Meg. It was amazing--I was crying.'' CREATIVE TALISMAN ''I made this big wooden red-and-white peppermint that's always with us when we rehearse.'' DREAM COLLABORATOR Beck. NEXT Their third album, White Blood Cells, due June 21.