| 1912 | Andy Anderson, Traditional jazz trumpeter from New Orleans, Louisiana. He played in the 'Young Tuxedo Brass Band' and the George Williams brass bands, and also played dances until the 1970's.
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| 1914 | Wallace Cheese Read, A cajun fiddler and a native of Eunice, Louisiana. Although considered a top-flight Cajun musician, he was never really a professional musician. His repertoire of tunes includes the lively "Fiddle Stomp," the livelier "Bosco Stomp," and the liveliest "Cajun House Party," the latter treated to a superb recording in collaboration with Marc Savoy. Cheese Read was one of a group of historic Cajun performers profiled by filmmaker Yasha Aginsky. He passed away on November 15, 1981 at 67 years of age.
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| 1920 | Percy Mayfield, Minden, Louisiana native, and singer, songwriter and pianist. He was a masterful songwriter whose blues ballad "Please Send Me Someone to Love," was a number one R&B hit in 1950. He died in 1984.
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| 1925 | Earl Coleman, A ballad singer with a deep baritone voice influenced by Billy Eckstine. He made his place in history by recording "This Is Always" and "Dark Shadows" in 1947, while being accompanied by Charlie Parker. He died in 1995.
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| 1926 | Joe Jones, Singer, songwriter and producer from New Orleans, Louisiana. He's also credited with discovering "The Dixie Cups". As a singer his greatest hit was "You Talk Too Much". He died on November 25, 2005.
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| 1927 | Mstislav Rostropovich, Cellist who had a lifetime of music achievments that all came together in 1996, when he produced his first integral set of the unaccompanied Cello Suites of Bach, an acclaimed recording expressing the culmination of a lifetime of studying and performing these masterpieces.
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| 1929 | Buck Owens, Singer - "I've Got a Tiger By The Tale". He was the leader of the Bakersfield sound, an twangy, electricified, rock-influenced interpretation of hardcore honky tonk that emerged in the '60s.
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| 1930 | Porter Wagoner, Country singer - "Satisfied Mind". He's among the most immediately recognizable figures in country music, largely due to his exploiting TV.
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| 1933 | Reverend Frederick Douglass Kirpatrick, a native of Haynesville, La. and a Baptist minister who was an associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He was a guitarist, square-dance caller and singer. He was also the director of folk culture for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. He composed ''Everybody's Got a Right to Live,'' one of the anthems of the civil-rights marches in the 1960's. Kirkpatrick passed away at the age of 53 in August of 1986. (93) |
| 1940 | Rod Bernard, Singer and guitarist from Opelousas, Louisiana. Rod hit the R&B charts with his hit 'This Should Go On Forever'.
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| 1941 | Jennifer Warnes, Singer - "Right Time Of The Night". She has succeeded in a number of unrelated areas of popular music including contemporary pop, country and movie themes.
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| 1941 | Roland Stone (Roland Leblanc), An R&B singer and native of New Orleans, Louisiana. In 1959 he was spotted by Mac Rebennack who persuaded him to join his group, The Skyliners. This led to the release of his first record, "Preacher's Daughter" (a re-working of the traditional blues 'Junco Partner'). It was followed up with "Just A Moment", which sold an estimated 100,000 copies in the South. he seemingly disappeared until the '90s when he recorded again and two CD's on Orleans Records met with critical acclaim. He died in 1999 at the age of 58.
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| 1949 | Mark Knopfler, Guitarist, singer and songwriter for the rock group 'Dire Straits' - "Sultans of Swing".
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| 1951 | Herman Ernest III (Roscoe), New Orleans native and influential drummer on the New Orleans scene known for his funk style, which he labeled "Diesel Funk". He played with a who's who of local and national artists, but was widely known as the drummer and musical director for Dr. John's Lower 911 band for almost 30 years. Herman passed away on March 6, 2011 from cancer.
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| 1961 | Roy Hay, Guitarist for radio pop group 'Culture Club' - "Karma Chameleon".
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