1923 | John (Willie) Cook, He was a lead trumpeter and a native of Tangipahoa, Louisiana. During his long career he played lead for such jazz luminaries as Duke Ellington, Johnny Hartman, and Count Basie. He also has played with Earl "Fatha" Hinds, Jimmy Lunceford, B.B. King, and Dizzy Gillespie. He moved to Sweden in 1982. He passed away in 2000.
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1925 | Gunther Schuller, He is said to have been a "Scholar, composer, conductor, teacher, author, music publisher, indefatigable advocate".
He studied flute, horn, and theory, advancing rapidly enough as a hornist to join the Cincinnati Symphony as principal horn at 17 and the orchestra of the Metropolitan Opera at 19. He became actively involved in the New York bebop scene, performing and recording with such jazz greats as Dizzy Gillespie, Miles Davis, and John Lewis.
He has written more than 160 original compositions in virtually every musical genre, including commissions from the Baltimore Symphony, Berlin Philharmonic, Boston Symphony, Chicago Symphony and Minneapolis Symphony just to name a few.
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1927 | Mose Allison, A jazz and blue musician and composer, his songs have been covered by Van Morrison, John Mayall, The Who, The Clash, Eric Clapton, the Yardbirds, Elvis Costello and Bonnie Raitt to name a few.
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1929 | LaVern Baker, Born (Delores Williams), she was one of the sexiest divas gracing the mid-'50s rock & roll circuit, boasting a brashly seductive vocal delivery tailor-made for belting the catchy novelties "Tweedlee Dee," "Bop-Ting-a-Ling," and "Tra La La" for Atlantic Records during rock's first wave of prominence. After a comeback in the 90's she died on March 10, 1997.
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1934 | David Lastie, He was a tenor saxophonist and a New Orleans, Louisiana native, who came from a musical family that included his brother Melvin, his uncle Louis Nelson and cousins Walter "Papoose" Nelson and Lawrence "Prince La La" Nelson. He was trained in the bebop jazz tradition and recorded with Snooks Eaglin, James Booker and others before forming his own band. He died in 1987 at 53.
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1944 | Jesse Colin Young, Singer and musician for the popular group "The Youngbloods".
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1945 | Vince Martell, Singer and guitarist for the rock group "Vanilla Fudge".
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1946 | Chris Dreja, Guitarist for the rock group "The Yardbirds". At one point or another this goup spawned Rock greats Jimi Page, Jeff Beck and Eric Clapton.
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1947 | Pat Daugherty, Bassist for the rock group "Black Oak Arkansas".
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1948 | Marvin Hannibal Peterson, Cornetist who unlike many contemporary free jazz players, is adept at older styles; he's played under such adventurous yet tradition-bound bandleaders as Rahsaan Roland Kirk, Gil Evans, and Elvin Jones, and with such dyed-in-the-wool avant-gardists as Roswell Rudd, Ken McIntyre, and Deidre Murray.
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1950 | Jim Peterick, Keyboardist for the rock group "Survivor" known for their hit "Eye of the Tiger".
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1952 | Paul Cowsill, Singer for the popular group called the "Cowsills" - "Hair".
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1962 | Mic Michaeli, Keyboardist for the group called "Europe" - "The Final Countdown".
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1968 | Ronnie Devoe, Singer for New Edition, Bel Biv Devoe and Poison.
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1968 | Wyatt Pauley, Guitarist for the group "Linear".
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1972 | Robert Mercurio, He is a bassist and founding member of the New Orleans funk and jam band Galactic. After attending Tulane University, the band was formed with Mercurio, stanton Moore and others and continues ground-breaking music today.
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