(b. 1948) – Opera star born in Stephens, Hendricks received her musical training and Bachelor of Music at the Julliard School of Music in New York where she studied with mezzo-soprano Jennie Tourel. She made her American and European operatic debuts in 1974 at the San Francisco Opera and the Glyndebourne Festival and went on to appear at all major opera houses throughout the world, including the Paris Opera, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden and La Scala. Since her 1974 New York Town Hall debut, Barbara Hendricks has been acclaimed as one of the leading and most active recitalists of her generation. www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net

 (1890-1979) – Born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas, Freeman Owens served in World War I as a combat cameraman. He changed the movie making business forever when he perfected the process of putting sound on film, and later advanced cinematography technology when he designed and developed cameras and lenses used by Eastman-Kodak Company. Owens was 89 years old when he passed away in Pine Bluff. www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net

 (b. 1955) – Born in Jonesboro, Arkansas, to a construction worker and a homemaker, the family moved to Southaven, Mississippi in 1967 where John graduated from Southaven High School in 1973. As a child, he dreamed of being a professional baseball player. Realizing he didn’t have the right stuff for a pro career, he shifted gears. Grisham majored in accounting at Mississippi State University, received his degree in 1977, and graduated from Ole Miss Law School in 1981. He practiced both civil and criminal law in Southaven until 1990. Elected to the Mississippi House of Representatives in 1983, he served from January 1984 until September 1990. In 1989, he published his first novel, A Time to Kill. The book received good reviews but sold only moderately well. Completed in 1988, The Firm proved to be his breakout hit. In 1990, before the novel was published, Paramount Pictures purchased the film rights. That same year, he resigned from the Mississippi House of Representatives and bought a farm near Oxford, Mississippi. Since then, Grisham has gone on to be recognized as one of the world’s best-selling novelists. Among his twenty-one publications are: A Time to Kill, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Client, A Painted House (set in 1952 Arkansas), Skipping Christmas, The Summons and many more. www.johngrishamonline.com

 (b. 1953) – Born in El Dorado, Arkansas, Dunn is a member of the award-winning country music duo Brooks and Dunn. Their recording hits include: “Maria,” “Boot Scootin’ Boogie” and “Hard Working Man.” Brooks and Dunn received the 1996 CMA Entertainers of the Year Award, and in 1995 and 1996 the Entertainers of the Year award from the Academy of Country Music; shared Duo of the Year honors from CMA for eight consecutive years, and from the ACM for seven consecutive years, and 15 top chart-topping tunes, with 26 songs placed in the Top Ten. www.ronniedunn.com

 (b. 1932) – Stephens began his television career at the dawn of the rock-and-roll era, appearing on Little Rock television station Channel 11 in various shows. His dance party, ”Steve’s Show,” was an instant success and helped launch the careers of such performers as Conway Twitty, Charlie Rich, Johnny Cash, songwriter Melvin Endsley, Brenda Lee, Fabian, Tommy Sands and Carl Perkins. www.encyclopediaofarkansas.net

 (b. 1931) – Little Rock native who began classical piano studies at the age of four and a half. Norris worked professionally (1944-1950) with Howard Williams’s 19-piece band in Little Rock, and in 1949 he also worked with Bitsy Mullins. His trio had a nine month stay at the El Morocco in Las Vegas before moving on to Los Angeles where he worked in the quartets of Stan Getz, Dexter Gordon, Johnny Griffin, Teddy Edwards, Zoot Sims, Buddy DeFranco, Herb Geller and Charlie Ventura. In addition to becoming a Steinway Artist in 1995, he was selected for the Arkansas Jazz Hall of Fame by the Jazz Heritage Foundation. In August 1998 he formed Sunburst Recordings, Inc. www.walter-norris.de

 (1895-1978) – This Little Rock native was a violinist and composer of ballets, symphonies, operas, and other musical works. He began his musical career with W.C. Handy at Memphis, and then later worked with Earl Carroll, Artie Shaw, and Paul Whiteman. His compositions were the first works by an African-American composer to be performed by major orchestras, earning him the title, “Dean of Afro-American Composers.” Still would continue to add to his list of firsts, being the first African American to conduct a major symphony orchestra (the Los Angeles Philharmonic at the Hollywood Bowl), the first African American to have an opera (Troubled Island) performed by a major opera company (1949), and the first to have an opera (A Bayou Legend) performed on national television (1981). He is still regarded as America’s greatest African-American composer. www.williamgrantstill.com