Tony Bennet
Speaking of which…
Neil Young
Also, since Mick Jagger got a mention, you also have to give props to the guy responsible for all those great Rolling Stones guitar licks:
Keith Richards
While you may have a point with regard to Little Richard, Jerry Lee Lewis had a long career in Country Music after scandal killed his Rock and Roll career. Moreover, he has been touring forever (though ill health has interfered in recent years). Don’t disqualify the Killer!!
Little Richard has become a self-parody, but his early work was so amazing I think you have to cut him some slack. Give a listen to the Rhino Records collection of his early stuff and it will really open your ears. Chuck Berry is often credited with inventing rock’n’ roll, but if you listen to Little Richard’s contemporaneous recordings, I think you’d have to at least give him credit as co-creator.
An aside: Isn’t it odd that the guys who lived the hardest lives, did the most drugs and drank the most liquor are the ones still kicking around? (Keith Richards, George Jones, Jerry Lee Lewis, Dylan…) I mean, who would have thought Jerry Lee Lewis would be the last member of Sun Records’ “million dollar quartet” still alive?
I’m surprised James Brown hasn’t come up yet.
Thing is, the man is now completely insane.
There’s also Tina Turner…very sane, and still very cool.
What??? Noone nominated John Tesch?
How about these two:
**Merle Haggard
Lou Reed**
Well, they’re one of my favorite groups, too, but I think the OP is looking for specific people.
How about Wayne Newton? He’s played a Bond villain!
Elton John, maybe?
I vote for Willie Nelson, followed closely by BB King.
Reminds me of the song by George Jones - “Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes?”
Who’s gonna give their heart and soul to get to me and you?
Lord, I wonder, who’s gonna fill their shoes?
“Too many notes!” 
My vote for a jazz legend would be Oscar Peterson, who is also still performing at 80+ years. Close contenders would be Ellis Marsalis, who has spawned one of the most amazing jazz families ever, and Dave Brubeck, who educated a lot of Americans (including me) about the joys of jazz.
In the blues arena, BB King is still knocking them dead in concerts around the country and is one of the last of the old-time blues artists. John Lee Hooker inspired a lot of garage bands with his boogie-blues style, and would be a close contender.
John Lee died on June 12, 2001.
Les Paul is certainly a musical legend, and he still does his thing once a week at the Iridium in New York City. He’ll be 89 next month. Can’t believe I forgot about him.
Oooh Tina Turner…most excellent nomination. Except she hasn’t had a good album, AFAIK, in yeears, but she has a voice…that voice…and stage presence and legs…and hair…
Ok, she can be nominated.
spoke- and I are on the same wavelength (we are fellow Georgians!), because my first thoughts were Jerry Lee Lewis and Bob Dylan.
Dylan…I mean, the man is a legend, truly.
But for the past ten years or so he seems to be the poster-boy for the “Shadows of Their Former Selves” club. I think he really has killed a few too many brain cells, and now I just don’t know what to think of him. The bizzarro element of seeing him in that Victoria’s Secret advert really shook me to my foundations. Truly a “w.t.f.” moment if ever there were.
It’s impossible to deny the enormity of his contribution, and the fact he is still alive. But has he entered the James Brown Society of Demented Celebrities? Ray Charles, Johnny Cash, B.B. King, Willie Nelson,…these folks (among a few others mentioned), both alive and dead, kept not only performing, but being relevant (as well as coherent) to this very year.
I look at the current crop of music “icons”, and I don’t see them lasting beyond 2010. I’m glad to say I was alive during the tail-end of the golden age of pop. But what the future holds, I just don’t know.
Ahh, but Ornette Coleman is still alive. The influence he’s had on every bit of jazz since then is enormous . . .
I’m going to have to go with B.B. King. His influence is so immense that it can’t be ignored. Every rock or blues guitarist from SRV to Jeff Beck to Flea is influenced by him. He’s been recording for more than 50 years and hasn’t slipped a bit. Have you listened to Completely Well lately?
You’re putting me on.
If I had a frickin’ Time Machine, the first thing I’d do would be travel fifty years into the past, and have Ellis Marsalis neutered.
Let’s not forget about Ike. While he may be insane, strung-out, a wifebeater and or megalomaniacal or some combination of all of the above, he really was one of the founders of rock’n’roll and a fantastic composer/performer in the early days.
Also still around (though I’m sure not for much longer) from the Elvis and before days: Artie Shaw, Earl Scruggs, Buck Owens (way more influential than his Hee-Haw fame might imply), and Quincy Jones.
A couple more:
Ralph Stanley
John Fogerty, maybe? The man churned out a lot of great songs.
Sacrilege! But I know where you’re coming from on that, and agree to some extent.
Willie Nelson. When Johnny and Ray died, my reaction was somber reflection and a twinge of sadness. When Willie dies, it’s going to be like losing a *family member.*I don’t even want to think about it!