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Todays Date
Todays Date 09-19-2026
Birthday Wishes
| Year | birthday |
|---|---|
| 1921 | Billy Ward, Singer and pianist for 'Billy Ward and The Dominoes' - "Sixty-Minute Man". (105) |
| 1930 | Muhal Richard Abrams, Composer, arranger, and jazz pianist. He was a founding member and the first president of the Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM), he is a widely influential artist, having played sides for many musicians early in his career, releasing important recordings as a leader, and writing classical works such as his second string quartet which was performed by the Kronos Quartet. (96) |
| 1931 | Brook Benton (Benjamin Franklin Peay ), Very popular soul singer in the early 1960s, perhaps most widely known for "Rainy Night in Georgia", "Fools Rush In", "This Time of the Year", and "It's Just A Matter Of Time", his first big hit. He was also a songwriter whose songs were performed by both he and other artists. He died in 1988. (95) |
| 1932 | Lol Coxhill, Free improvising saxophonist. He usually plays the soprano or sopranino saxophones. He has collaborated with many other musicians during his career, including Kevin Ayers, Steven Miller, Mike Oldfield, Morgan Fisher (ex Mott The Hoople), Chris McGregor's Brotherhood of Breath, The Dedication Orchestra, punk rock group The Damned, Hugh Metcalfe, Derek Bailey and street theatre performance art group Welfare State. (94) |
| 1940 | Paul Williams, Singer and songwriter who was responsible for a number of enduring pop hits from the 1970s, including "(Just an) Old Fashioned Love Song", a U.S. top-ten hit for the band Three Dog Night in late 1971, and a number of Carpenters hits, most notably "We've Only Just Begun", which has since become a cover-band standard and de rigueur for weddings throughout North America. (86) |
| 1940 | Sylvia Tyson, Singer, songwriter, broadcaster, and guitarist who found early fame in Canada and abroad with her then-husband Ian Tyson in their folk duo Ian and Sylvia. (86) |
| 1940 | Bill Medley, Singer and songwriter, best known as one half of The Righteous Brothers singing duo. He met his singing partner Bobby Hatfield while attending California State University, Long Beach. The pair began singing as a duo in 1962 - "I've Had The Time of My Life". (86) |
| 1943 | 'Mama' Cass Elliott, Singer for 'The Mamas & The Papas' - "California Dreamin'". She died in 1974. (83) |
| 1945 | Freda Payne, African-American singer and actress. She is the older sister of Scherrie Payne, the final lead singer in the Motown act The Supremes. Singer for for the group 'Band Of Gold' - "Bring The Boys Home". (81) |
| 1945 | David Bromberg, Guitarist with an eclectic style, playing bluegrass, blues, folk, country and western, and rock & roll equally well. He is known for his quirky, humorous lyrics. He has played with Jerry Jeff Walker and Bob Dylan, and is the co-writer, with former Beatle George Harrison, of the song The Holdup. (81) |
| 1947 | Lol Crème, Singer and musician in the popular group called '10CC'. (79) |
| 1951 | Daniel Lanois, Canadian record producer and singer-songwriter. He has produced albums for a wide variety of artists and released a number of albums of his own work. Artists he has worked with include Bob Dylan, U2, Brian Eno, Peter Gabriel, Robbie Robertson, Chris Whitley, Ron Sexsmith and Nash the Slash. (75) |
| 1952 | Nile Rogers, Guitarist for 'Honeydrippers' - "Sea Of Love". (74) |
| 1952 | Thaddeus Bunol (Tad) Jones, A native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a music historian and researcher best known for discovering Louis Armstrong's correct birth date, August 4, 1901. He was also responsible for conducting numerous interviews with New Orleans musicians, many of which are housed in the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. He died unexpectedly on January 1, 2007 from a fall at the age of 55. (74) |
| 1956 | Rex Smith, One of four brothers of a musical family. He's an actor and singer. His brothers in order of birth are Paul Evan Smith III, Michael, and Webster. All the brothers have had careers in the music business. P.E. (Evan) as a road manager, Michael as lead singer in the band Starz, Webster as a pianist. (70) |
| 1964 | Trisha Yearwood, Country singer. (62) |
| 1969 | Espraronza Griffin, R&B singer. (57) |
Todays_Events
| Year | Musical_Fact |
|---|---|
| 1960 | Chubby Checker's "The Twist" peaked at #1 in the pop charts on this day. |
| 1961 | New Orleans, Louisiana native and guitarist, Lonnie Johnson and Victoria Spivey played the 8th of 13 nights at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village on this day. |
| 1961 | Louis (Satchmo) Armstrong And his All Stars recorded for Columbia Records on this day. The songs were "Good Reviews", "Nomad", "Lonesome" and other tracks. The pianist on the session is Dave Brubeck, and vocalist Carmen McRae. |
| 1964 | 'The Newbeats' reached #2 on the pop charts with "Bread And Butter" on this day. |
| 1964 | New Orleans native and 1950's and 1960's hitmaker, Antoine 'Fats' Domino hit the Billboard R&B charts on this day with the tune 'Sally Was A Good Old Girl'. |
| 1970 | "Ain't No Mountain High Enough" by Diana Ross reached the #1 spot on the Billboard pop charts on this day. |
| 1972 | Andrew Morgan, traditional jazz clarinetist and trumpeter from Pensacola, Florida passed away on this day. Andrew was one of many musical brothers of a New Orleans musical clan. He began his musical career in the early twenties with the 'Young Superior Band' and Leonard Bechet. Shortly after joined the 'Young Morgan Band', which was led at different times by his brothers Isaiah and Sam. During the 1930's, he performed with Mike Delay and Kid Thomas. During the remainder of his career he played with Kid Rena, 'The Young Tuxedo Brass Band' and at Preservation Hall. Andrew died in Algiers, Louisiana. |
| 1987 | Micheal Jackson rose to #1 on the Billboard charts with "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" on this day. |
| 1996 | Dorothy Simmons, gospel singer, choir director, publisher and a native of Powhatan, Louisiana passed away on this day at the age of 86. She is most well known for her association with Doris Akers. Together they formed the Simmons-Akers singers. |
| 2004 | Waldren 'Frog' Joseph passed away on this day at the age of 86. A native of New Orleans and multi-instrumentalist, he played drums, piano, bass, but was most well known as a trombonist. During his career. He had a diverse career during which he played with Joe Robichaux, Sidney Desvigne, Lee Allen and recorded with Big Joe Turner, Earl King and Smiley Lewis. He is the father of virtuoso sousaphonist Kirk Joseph. |
| 2008 | Earl Palmer, an R&B, Rock n' Roll and Jazz drummer from New Orleans, Louisiana passed away on this day at the age of 83. He was a member of the original J&M studio band, under direction of Dave Bartholemew. Some say that Palmer is probably the most recorded drummer in history. He recorded with Little Richard, Professor Longhair, Ike & Tina Turner, Sonny and Cher and many others too numerous to name here. He played on all of Phil Spector's smash hits of the 1960's and was inducted into the Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame. In 2000, he became one of the first session musicians to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. |
