| 1899 | Harry Shields, Traditional jazz clarinetist from New Orleans, Louisiana. He was born into a New Orleans musical family that included brothers, Eddie and Larry. He is well-known as one of the great players of the early 20th century in the Crescent City. He played in Norman Brownlee's band around the end of World War I. He then played with legends Johnny Wiggs, Sharkey Bonano and Tom Brown. Harry died in New Orleans on January 18, 1971.
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| 1917 | Lena Horne, Singer who's primary occupation was nightclub entertaining, a profession she pursued successfully around the world for more than 60 years, from the 1930s to the 1990s. In conjunction with her club work, she also maintained a recording career that stretched from 1936 to 2000 and brought her three Grammys, including a Lifetime Achievement Award in 1989.
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| 1919 | Paul Guma, Traditional jazz clarinetist and gutiarist from New Orleans, Louisiana. Primarily played dixieland.
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| 1925 | Wallace Davenport, A trumpeter and a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. One of the few traditional jazz musicians who later branched out into swing and bop, he has also backed gospel and R&B vocalists during an extensive career. He played with The Young Tuxedo Brass Band in 1938 and with Papa Celestin in 1941 before leaving New Orleans to serve in the Navy. He died in 2004 at the age of 78.
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| 1937 | Andrew Hill, He has been a great and even groundbreaking composer and pianist. While many of his contemporaries were totally jettisoning the rhythmic and harmonic techniques of bop and hard bop, Hill worked to extend their possibilities.
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| 1943 | Florence Ballard, Singer in the group 'Supremes'. By 14, she befriended the group the Primes (later to become the Temptations) and performed gigs with the trio at various Detroit venues. The Primes' manager, Milton Jenkins, encouraged Ballard to form a sister group to the Primes, so she recruited Mary Wilson, Betty McGlown (soon to be replaced with Barbara Martin), and Diane Earle (better known as Diana Ross). She died in 1976.
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| 1951 | Stanley Clarke, Bassist in 'Return To Forever'. A brilliant player on both acoustic and electric basses, he has spent much of his career outside of jazz, although he has the ability to play jazz with the very best.
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| 1968 | Philip Hansen (Phil) Anselmo, A vocalist and a native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He is most widely known as the lead singer for the metal band Pantera. Pantera released studio records from 1986 until 2000. He says he was influenced was mainly influenced by Judas Priest, Slayer, Hellhammer and Venom. His current band is called Down, and has toured and recorded with them since 2006. (58) |
| 1969 | Tom Melville Drummond, A bassist, background, vocalist and producer and a native of Shreveport, Louisiana. He is best known as one of the four original founding members who formed Better Than Ezra in 1988. Drummond, along with lead vocalist Kevin Griffin, are the only two original members of Better Than Ezra currently active with the band. He is also well-known in New Orleans as a producer. (57) |
