BIRTHDAYS
1957     Rabih Abou-Khalil, Oud, composer, flute, vocal, harmonica, b. Lebanon. As a child, he learned to play the oud, a fretless, Lebanese lute. In 1978 he moved to Munich, Germany where he studied the classical flute at the Academy of Music. He subsequently returned to the Oud exploring new ways to play Arabic music, and began to incorporate techniques more associated with the "Jazz" guitar. Down Beat has praised Abou-Khalil's music as "a unique hybrid that successfully spans the world of traditional Arabic music and Jazz." Among the Arabic, Indian, and American jazz musicians with whom he has worked are harmonica player Howard Levy, frame drummer and percussionist Glen Valez, conga drummer Milton Cardona, alto saxophonist Sonny Fortune, and bassists Glen Moore and Steve Swallow. In the early-'90s, he was commissioned by Southwest German radio to write two pieces that were debuted in a performance with the Kronos String Quartet at the Stuttgart Jazz Summit in 1992, and recorded with the Belanescu Quartet four years later.
1924     Laurie Deniz, guitar, b. London, England, UK
1939     Luther Allison, guitar, b. Mayflower, Arkansas, USA.
1955     Grazyna Auguscik, This Polish-born Chicago vocalist is an excellent scat singer, bandleader, who has performed vocal versions of a number of tunes (by Ron Carter, Kenny Garrett, Mulgrew Miller & Makato Ozone) that perviously existed only as instrumentals. RAM Arts & Entertainment Guide's Doug Collier has written, "Auguscik is a terrific vocalist who does not use theatrics, and strives to make every note significant."
1921     Rita M. Cote Breau, C&W vocals/guitar, b. Sherbrooke, Quebec, Canada. Member: of "Lone Pine & Betty Cody". "Lone Pine" was Harold John Breau, Vocals, Guitar, b. June 5, 1916, Pea Cove, Maine, USA, d. March 26, 1977.
1917     Walter Brown, vocals, b. Dallas, TX, USA. Worked with Jay McShann
1927     Sam "The Man" Butera, tenor sax, b. New Orleans, LA, USA. Worked with Sammy Davis, but most remembered for his work with Louis Prima (and Prima's then wife and vocalist, Keely Smith).
1933     Michel Camicas, Trombone, b. Antioch, Syria.
1958     Belinda Carlisle, guitar/vocals, b. Hollywood, CA, USA. Member group: 'The Go-Go's'. 1982 single "We Got The Beat" charted US No.2, and 1987 single "Heaven Is A Place On Earth" charted US and UK No.1.
1962     Gilbert "Gilby" Clarke, guitar, b. Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Member: 'Guns N' Roses', before that he was with "Kill for Thrills"
1909     Larry Clinton, leader/trombone/arranger/composer, b. Brooklyn, NY, USA. d. May 2, 1985, Tucson, AZ, USA. Tag: "The Old Dipsy Doodler". And Bea Wain sang all those lovely melodies.
1970     Steve Cole, Tenor-Soprano-Alto sax, b. Chicago, Illinois, USA.
1969     De La Soul, vocals, né: Kelvin Mercer. 1990 single "The Magic Number" charted UK No.7.
1960     Maria Pia De Vito, singer, composer, and arranger, b. Naples, Italy. Early on, De Vito first studied opera, music theory and harmony. In 1976, she began her musical career as a singer and guitarist (and, later on, as a pianist) in ethno-oriented groups specialising in music from the Mediterranean and the Balkans. Starting in the 1980s she became active on the jazz scene, and has worked with such stars as Kenny Wheeler, Ralph Towner, Joe Zawinul, Michael Brecker, Steve Turre, and the Art Ensemble of Chicago, among others. She has toured internationally.
1933     Mark Dinning, vocals, b. (Grant County), Oklahoma, USA, d. March 22, 1986 (coronary arrest. Age: 52). Mark was the younger brother of the well-known 1940s vocal trio 'The Dinning Sisters' (Louise, Ginger and Jean). He learned to play the electric guitar when he was 17. In 1957, Nashville publisher Wesley Rose helped him get an MGM recording contract. Two years later (in early 1960), Mark's single of his sister Jean's song "Teen Angel" took the ballad to number 1 in the US charts. It charted No. 37 in the UK.
1920     George B. Duvivier, bass, arranger, b. New York, NY, USA. d. July 11, 1985, New York, NY, USA. (AIDS related)
1937     "Guitar Gable", R&B guitar, b. Belleville, LA, USA. né: Gabriel Perrodin.
1922     Arvin Garrison, Guitar, b. Toledo, OH, USA. d. 1960
1919     Georgia Gibbs, vocals, b. Worcester, MA, USA. d. Dec. 9, 2006, New York, NY, USA. Age: 87 (complications from leukemia). née: Frieda Lipschitz. Tag: 'Her Nibs, Miss George Gibbs'. Gibbs grew up in a Worcester, MA, Jewish orphanage and at age 13 began singing in Boston movie theaters to support her siblings. She first adopted the name 'Fredda Lipson' (Lipschitz was unacceptably ethnic). She once told an interviewer that when she refused to give into the advances of a record company executive, he assaulted her, then blocked her career. It was bandleader Artie Shaw who took her to the William Morris Agency, where her name was changed to Georgia Gibson. During appearances on the Gary Moore and Jimmy Durante radio show, she was introduced as "Her Nibs, Miss Georgia Gibbs". She soon became a regular on television's "Hit Parade," as well as "Toast of the Town" and many other shows. including programs hosted by Gary Moore, Jimmy Durante, and comedian Danny Kaye, and was a frequent guest on other radio and early TV variety shows hosted by Ed Sullivan, Milton Berle, Bob Hope, Red Skelton, Ed Wynn, and Steve Allen. She also was interviewed by Edward R. Murrow on "Person to Person." During World War II, she toured hospitals, performing with Bing Crosby. After the war, she toured military bases in the newly formed state of Israel. She remained an ardent Zionist her entire life. It wasn't until 1950 that she had her first big hit, "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake". However, in 1952, she had perhaps her biggest success with the tango "Kiss of Fire," which hit no. 1 on the Pop charts. A versatile singer, Gibbs was well-suited for the post-World War II era of transition to TV from radio and to R&B-influenced pop and early rock ‘n' roll from big-band music. One interesting sidelight on her career is that Gibbs was extraordinarily successful for covering songs by early Black rock 'n' roll singers, and outselling them in white markets. It has been reported that singer Laverne Baker was so incensed at Gibbs's success with Baker's song "Tweedle Dee" (1955) that she named Gibbs as beneficiary when she took out flight insurance, -in case an accident prevented Baker from providing Gibbs with more material. (Actually, at that time, artists had no right to pick their own songs; the record companies did it for them.) After "Tweedle Dee", Gibbs scored another hit with "Dance With Me Henry," a cleaned-up version of Etta James's "The Wallflower". In 1958, she had her last top 40 record, "The Hula Hoop Song." She was a featured performer at the 1956 wedding of Prince Rainier of Monaco and Grace Kelly. In the 1960s, Gibbs recorded little although she continued to play club dates. In the late 1960s, she married Frank Gervasi, a journalist who worked as a foreign correspondent for United Press during World War II and later published books supporting Israel. On her demise, her executor, Rochelle Mancini, told reporters that Gibbs left unfinished a volume of memoirs, including her supposed blacklisting in the 1950s for appearing at a benefit for Russian war orphans.
1965     Glen Goldsmith, rock vocals/guitar
1965     Steve Gorman, drums, Member group: The Black Crowes
1961     Everette Harp, alto and soprano sax
1949     Sib Hashian, drums, Member: 'Boston'. 1986 single "Amanda" charted US No.1.
1933     Bobby Helms, vocals. d. June 19, 1997
1938     Aubrey Holt, C&W Vocals. né: Aubrey Lee Holt. member: 'The Boys From Indiana'
1941     Jerry Holt, C&W vocals. né: Jerry Roy Holt. member: 'The Boys From Indiana'
1916     Melvin "Lil' Son" Jackson, guitar, b. Tyler, TX, USA. (aka: "Little Son" Jackson).
1964     Colin James, Blues Vocals/Guitar/Composer, b. Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
1954     Eric Johnson, guitar, b. Austin, TX, USA.
1970     Peter Martin, Piano, b. Florida (raised in St. Louis, MO), USA. Born into a musical family, -his father was a violist who worked with the St. Louis Symphony, and his mother was a violin teacher. Peter was playing the violin before he had learned to talk. At only age three, he began to study the piano, and within two years had learned read and write music. He was even composing at that time. As a child, he was mentored by Wynton Marsalis, and as a young man, Martin studied at New York's famed Juilliard School of Music. He has subsequently worked with a variety of artists with backgrounds from Scotland to Harlem USA, including such Jazz stars as Harry Connick Jr., vocalist Betty Carter, Dianne Reeves, Stanley Turrentine, Terence Blanchard, Joshua Redman, Roy Hargrove, Jazz Futures II, Nicholas Payton, and Christian McBride. He also contributes to New York's Lincoln Center Jazz Orchestra, which is led by his first Jazz mentor, Marsalis.
1926     George Melly, Jazz vocals, writer, b. Liverpool, England, UK. d. July 5, 2007, London, England, UK. ( vascular dementia, incipient emphysema and lung cancer). né: Alan George Heywood 'George' Melly. His greatest fame came when working with trumpeter Mick Mulligan (b.July 24, 1928, Harrow, Middlesex, England, UK. d. Dec 20, 2006, Chichester, West Sussex, England, UK.) From 1965-1973 he was a film and television critic for The Observer. He also lectures on art history, with an emphasis on Surrealism. After World War II, Melly first worked in a London surrealist gallery, eventually drifting into the world of Jazz, when he began singing with Mick Mulligan's Magnolia Jazz Band. during the Trad-Jazz revival in Britain. In a Daily Telegraph obituary for trumpeter Mick Mulligan, dated Dec. 22, 2006, an incident with Melly's landlord was reported. "Something of its flavour can be gleaned from a letter from Melly's landlord, giving him notice to quit:"
      "I cannot and will not tolerate this house becoming a common bagnio, a sponge house, a
       place of assignation, a pimp's brothel, or for Mick the Mulligan to bring his doxies here
      and perform his strange tribal rites with them in the early hours of the morning. And I strongly
      object that I have the next morning to straighten every picture in the house....."
There was much more in a similar vein." In the early 1960s, he retired from jazz and became a film critic for The Observer. He also became the writer on the Daily Mail's satirical newspaper strip 'Flook', illustrated by 'Trog'. He was also scriptwriter on the 1967 satirical film Smashing Time. In the early 1970s, he returned to jazz with 'John Chilton's Feetwarmers', a partnership that ended in 2003. Currently, (ca 2005) he sings with Digby Fairweather's band. Melly remains active in music, journalism, and lecturing on Surrealism and other aspects of modern art, despite worsening health problems such as incipient emphysema and lung cancer. Technically, Melly is bisexual, but moved from strictly homosexual relationships in his 'teens and twenties to largely heterosexual relationships from his thirties onwards. He married twice and has a child from each marriage. He married his current wife, Diana, in 1963. Their son, Tom, was born two days after the wedding. Diana has recently published an autobiography of their life and (open) marriage together. He is an Honorary Associate of the National Secular Society and a Distinguished Supporter of the British Humanist Association.
1964     Maria McKee, vocals, b. Los Angeles, CA, USA. Member group: 'Lone Justice'. 1990 single "Show Me Heaven" charted UK No. 1
1955     Kevin Moulding, singer/songwriter, bass, b. Swindon, Wiltshire, England, UK. Member group: 'XTC'. 1982 single "Senses Working Overtime" charted UK No. 10.
1932     "Duke" Pearson, piano/composer/bandleader/producer/arranger, b. Atlanta, GA, USA. d. Aug. 4, 1980. né: Calvin Columbus Pearson, Jr.
1952     Jay Peterson, vocals, b. Oakland, CA, USA.
1925     Billy Pinkney, vocals. member: The Drifters
1961     David Porterhouse, vocals/guitar, b. Gateshead, Tyne And Wear, England, UK. Member group: 'Hurrah!'
1969     "Posdnous", rapper, b. New York, NY, USA. né: Kevin Mercer. Member rap group: 'De La Soul', a trio of Posdnous, Dave (Jolicouer), and Maseo (Vincent "Maceo" Mason, whose family had moved from Brooklyn, NY). The group members were all born in New York, but whose families had moved to Amityville, LI, NY while they were still children.
1951     Steve Price, vocals. Member: 'Pablo Cruise', an American Pop band formed in 1973 in the San Francisco, California area
1918     Ike Abrams Quebec,tenor sax, b. Newark, NJ, USA. d. Jan. 16, 1963
1921     Wayne Raney, singer/songwriter/harmonica, b. Wolf Bayou, AR, USA, d. Jan. 23, 1993, né: Wayne T. Raney. Worked with 'Delmore Bros'.
1943     Dave "Snaker" Ray, guitar, b. St. Paul, MN, USA
1916     Ola Belle Reed, C&W singer/songwriter, b. Lansing, NC, USA.
1977     Claire Richards, vocals. 1998 single "Heartbeat" charted UK No.1.
1923     Larry Rivers, Saxophone/filmmaker/actor/cartoonist/sculptor/painter/teacher, d. Aug. 14, 2002, Southampton, NY, USA, (Cancer of the liver.) né: Yitzroch Loiza Grossberg. Was a member of The East 13th Street Band - Worked with David Levy, Jack Kerouac and Allen Ginsberg
1939     Carman Romano, vocals, b. New York, NY, USA. Member: 'The Elegants'.
1953     Kevin Rowland, guitar, b. Wolverhampton, England, UK. Member group: 'Dexy's Midnight Runners'. 1980 single "Geno" charted UK No.1; 1980 single "There There My Dear" charted UK No.7; 1982 single "Come On Eileen" charted UK No.1 and 1983 US No.1; 1986 single "Because Of You" charted UK No.13.
1939     Ed Sanders, vocals/guitar, b. Kansas, USA. Member: 'The Fugs'
1908     Jimmy Sherman, Piano/Arranger, b. Williamsport, PA, USA. d. October 11, 1975. During his 4 decade career, he played piano for "Stuff" Smith, Lil Armstrong, the vocal group 'The Charioteers' (with tenor lead, vocalist Billy Williams.) and singer Mildred Bailey. He is best known for co-composing (with Jimmy Davis and Roger Ramirez) the Jazz standard "Lover Man.", The tune was first recorded by Billie Holiday, and has since been recorded by Lena Horne, Sarah Vaughan, Carmen McRae, Betty Carter, and Shirley Horn, among others,
1931     Derek Smith, Piano, b. London, England
1922     Jack Sperling, drums. b. Trenton. NJ, USA. d. Feb. 26, 2004. Originally studied the violin, but the rhythm section always interested him. He attended Pennington Central High School in New Jersey, and led the school's dance band. It was Benny Goodman's rendition of "Stardust", with Gene Krupa on the drums, that made a big impressions on Jack. Still in High School, he found work with the Al Zahler band in and around the Trenton, New Jersey area where he learned about keeping steady time. It was an invaluable experience for the young drummer. In July of 1941, he joined the Bunny Berigan Orch. (then experiencing rough times), and playing with these seasoned musicians was still another factor in advancing Jack's drumming technique, d. Feb. 26, 2004. Berigan taught Jack to "Swing", and to keep the feeling of the piece alive. He next played at the Fallsview Hotel in the Catskill Mountains (suburban New York City), earning enough to pay for lessions from famed drum instructor Henry Adler. On November 11, 1942, during WWII, he enlisted in the Navy, and was immediately sent to the Navy School of Music where he studied theory, and harmony. 11 months later, he was transferred to the Naval Air Technical Training Center in Norman, Oklahoma, where he met Tex Beneke. Tex, who at the time held the rating of Chief Specialist, and was in charge of the 'Gremlins Dance Band'. He became the band's drummer and continued to play with the band until the end of 1945, when he was sent back to the Naval School of Music. It was Beneke who got Jack an early discharge so he could become a member of the Glenn Miller Band --the band Miller had planned to form after the war. It was a large ensemble which included strings and a vocal group. The band had such key players, such as Rolly Bundock on Bass, Bobby Gibbons on Guitar and Henry Mancini on piano. The arrangements were written for this band by Billy May, Mancini, Jerry Gray and many others. In 1949, he joined the 'Les Brown Band of Renown', then playing for the Bob Hope Show. In late 1954, Jack left to play with the Bob Crosby TV show. During this time, he also worked for Disney and other Hollywood studios. He was also active recording TV music. His drumming is heard on "Bewitched" (theme song), "Peter Gunn,""Hogan's Heroes," "Mr. Lucky" and a host of others. He was the NBC staff drummer for 13 years, playing on the "Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In" show among others. During the 1960s, he frequently recorded with Pete Fountain, and is heard on the "Pete Fountain Day" and "Pet Project" albums. As a drummer, he occasionally filled in for the Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Buddy Rich Bands. Jack's drumming can be heard on such albums as: "Live!" (Abe Most ), "Hello Dolly to Goodbye Charlie" (Bobby Darin), "Chet Atkins in Hollywood", "Dave Pell Octet Plays Irving Berlin", "Dave Pell Octet Plays Burke and Van Heusen", "Get Happy" (Ella Fitzgerald ), "Mellow Guitar" (George Van Eps), "Original Reunion Band" (Glenn Miller), and "Charade" (Henry Mancini). Jack can be heard on the following Les Brown Band albums: "Anything Goes", "Digital Swing Over the Rainbow", "Hollywood Palladium", and "Hollywood Palladium, Vol. 2". He played drums with Megan West -"Megan West Swingin' Big Band", with Paul Smith on the album "Saratoga", and he's on the album "Peanuts Hucko with His Pied Piper Quintet" . He can be heard on the Pete Fountain albums "Music from Dixie", "South Rampart Street Parade", and "Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?" He was on the Scatman Crothers album "Oh Yeah!", and with Sheb Wooley's "Purple People Eater" album. He can be heard on Tex Beneke's albums "Palladium Patrol", Dancers Delight", and "Jukebox Saturday Night". He has also recorded with Thomas Talbert, and many others. Jack is alive and well today (Aug. 17, 2002) and still playing.
1969     Robert Stewart, (hard bop) tenor saxophone, b. Oakland, CA, USA. Stewart did not take up the instrument until the age of 17, and subsequently worked with his own personal mentor, Pharoah Sanders. In 1994, he debuted with 'Judgement', and returned a year later with 'In the Gutta'.
1947     Gary Talley, guitar, b. Memphis, TN, USA. Leader: 'Box Tops', a group formed in 1967, and originally comprised of Bill Cunningham, Danny Smythe, Alex Chilton, Gary Talley and John Evans. They disbanded in 1970, and nearly 30 years later reformed in 1997 Gary still tours and records with the group, contributing original songs and background vocals.
1920     Gloria Van, Vocalist, b: Alliance, OH, USA, d: Dec. 24, 2002, Kidney Failure. age 82. née: Lucia Fanolla. Born same year as singer Jo Stafford. At age 5 her family moved to southeast side of Chicago, where her father, a baker, found work selling Yeast. It was the Prohibition period, and he was selling to two Gangs who needed the yeast for their 'bootleg' beer works. Mobster Al Capone 'requested' him to sell only to the Capone gang. Feeling that this was not essential, he continued. In 1929, Chicago Police found him dead. After completing high school and then working briefly as a clerk at Goldblatt's Bakery, Van found work a few nights a week singing popular tunes at Siegel's Barbecue Stand on the South Side (of Chicago) before working full time at Knowle's Cafe in Hyde Park. Subsequently, Ms. Van would find full time work singing with such bands as Johnny "Scat" Davis, Art Van Damme, Hal McIntyre, and Gene Krupa, all of whom also toured widely. By now, She had taken the stage name of Gloria Van, and would appear on stage wearing sequined gowns. She was the singer on NBC television's "Wayne King Show," where she was dressed sometimes as an Italian peasant girl, or as a Native American Indian on the variety show. Gloria, a woman whom some said defined "torch singer", next became a regular on Jack Paar's "The Tonight Show". In 1960, at composer Hoagie Carmichael's request, she sang his song "Stardust", with a 100-piece orchestra at the Chicago Music Festival in Soldier Field. She was often a guest performer on TV shows including those of comedian Bob Hope, Don McNeil's Breakfast Club, and Chance of A Lifetime. Gloria's met her husband, Lynn Allison, (Sax and vocals) when they were both working with the Gene Krupa band. Lynn later also worked with the Glenn Miller band. and had his own music shop. (Lynn died in 1993.) During that time, Gloria stayed home caring for their three children. She also worked in the insurance industry, and, after undergoing two successful open-heart surgeries, she joined 'Mended Hearts', a group that visits recovering heart patients. And, she kept right on singing! In subsequent years, Gloria worked with the Dick Kress Band and the Elk Grove, Mt. Prospect and Yorkville community bands. Just three months before her demise, she appeared with Rick Falotta and the Yorkville band at the Paramount Arts Center in Aurora, Illinois. Gloria possessed a very smooth Big Band singing voice and loved performing. She was survived by her two daughters, Sue Stuberg and Nan Allison; and six grandchildren.
1947     Gary Talley, guitar, Member group: The Box Tops, 1967 US No.1 and UK No.5 single The Letter.
1969     Donald E. "Donnie" Wahlberg Jr., vocals, b. Boston, MA, USA. Member group: New Kids On The Block. 1989 single "You Got It" charted UK No.1. 1990 single "Step By Step" charted US No.1.
1935     Albert Washington, guitar, b. Rome, GA, USA
1955     Kevin Welch, C&W singer/songwriter, b. Los Angeles, CA, USA.
1927     E. W. Bud Wendell, show manager (Grand Ole Opry), b. Akron, OH, USA.
1893     Mae West, one of America's great er..er..singers/actress/playwright, b. New York (Brooklyn), NY, USA. d. Nov. 22, 1980, Hollywood, CA, USA. (complications from strokes). née: Mary Jane Mae West. During her career, Mae appeared in Burlesque, vaudeville, Broadway and movies. Among her films are 'She Done Him Wrong' (1933, a film which made Cary Grant a star), and 'My Little Chickadee' (1940, co-starring W. C. Fields). As a playwright, her works include 'Sex' (1926, for which she was arrested and spent ten days in jail on obscenity charges), and 'Diamond Lil' (1928, a huge Broadway success). The 1978 film 'Sextette' was her last. Her demise came when she suffered a series of Strokes. Her autobiography, entitled "Goodness had nothing to do with it", is a line she spoke in her very first film "Night After Night". A hat check girl, after seeing Mae's jewlery. exclaimed, "Goodness! What lovely diamonds!" Mae replied, "Goodness had nothing to do with it, dearie." Although Mae had only a small part, she displayed a wit that would to make her world famous. Movie-goers fell in love with the first woman to make racy comments on film. Her co-star, George Raft, said of Mae, "She stole everything but the cameras."
1909     Hugo Winterhalter, leader. d. Sept. 17, 1973
          Notable Events on this date include:
1922.    James "Buddy" Butts, vocals, died in Norfolk, VA, USA. Age: 25 Member: 'Norfolk Jubilee'
1951.    Ray Wetzel, trumpet, died in Sedgwick, CO, USA.
1954.    The Newport Jazz Festival opened at the Newport Casino in Rhode Island. This first show featured such Jazz legends as Gerry Mulligan and Ella Fitzgerald, and Dizzy Gillespie.
1966.    Rolf Gunnar Billberg, alto sax, died in Käringön, Gothenburg archipaelago), Sweden. (b. August 22,1930, Lund, Sweden (raised in Gothenburg, Sweden)
1968.    Marcel Chauvard, discographer, died in Paris, France, Age: 42
1971.    Tab Smith, arranger/alto sax, died in St. Louis, MO, USA. Age: 62
1972.    "Baby" Tate, guitar, died in Columbia, SC, USA. Age: 56
1973.    Paul Williams, vocals, died in Birmingham, MI, USA. Age: 34. Member: 'The Temptations'. He was in his car, wearing only swimming trunks, with a bullet through his head. It was probably suicide although no note was found.
1979.    Rev. Morris Elmore Jr., gospel vocals, died in Cincinnati, OH, USA
1980.    Harold Adamson, lyricist, died in Beverly Hills, California.USA.
1983.    Lyricist Ira Gershwin dies in Hollywood, CA, USA.
1983.    Dub poet Michael Smith is stoned to death in Stony Hill, Jamaica. It is generally believed that the thugs who murdered him were members of the ruling Jamaica Labour Party. ("Dub Poetry" is a performance poetry - normally prepared, -unlike the the extemporisation of a DJ - and consisting of spoken word over reggae rhythms. It originated in 1970s Jamaica.)
1984.    Hammie Nixon, Blues harmonica, died in Brownsville, TN, USA. Age: 76
1990.    Pearl Bailey, actress/singer died in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Age: 72 (Coronary).
1993.    W. L. Richardson, vocals, died in Nashville, TN, USA. Age: 80 Member: 'Fairfield Four'
1993.    Johnny Sayles, vocals, died in Hazel Crest, IL, USA. Age: 56
1994.    Paul Murphy, guitar, died in Sao Paulo, Brazil. Age: 40 worked with Duke Robillard
1995.    "Wild" Bill Davis, organ/piano/arranger, died in Moorestown, NJ, USA. Age: 77 Worked with Louis Jordan
1996.    "Pinky" Williams, alto, tenor & baritone sax, clarinet, died
2001.    "Flip" Philips, tenor sax, died in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, USA. (b. Feb. 26, 1915, New York (Brooklyn), NY, USA )
          Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
1917    "Ghost of a Saxophone", - The Six Brown Brothers.
1917    "I Miss The Old Folks Now", - Gus Van and Joe Schenk vocal duet.
1923    "Sobbin' Blues", - Benson Orch., of Chicago (Art Kassell/Vic Berton tune)
1929    "The World's Greatest Sweetheart Is You", - Paul Specht Orch.
1931    "When The Moon Comes Over The Mountain", - Kate Smith Vocal.
1932    "Sentimental Gentleman From Georgia", - Isham Jones Orch.
1934    "Then I'll Be Tired Of You", - Fats Waller Orch.
1934    "Have A Little Dream On Me", - Fats Waller Orch.
1938   "There's No Place Like Your Arms", - Tommy Dorsey Orch.
1939    "Vol Vistu Gaily Star", - Harry James Orch.
1939    "It's Funny To Everyone But Me", - Harry James Orch.
1939    "And Then I Wrote The Minuet in G", - Matty Malneck Octet
1939    "Park Avenue Fantasy", - Matty Malneck Octet
1959    "Red River Rock", - Johnny & The Hurricanes
1959    "Sleep Walk", - Santo & Johnny
1959    "I'm Gonna Get Married", - Lloyd Price
1959    "Broken-Hearted Melody", - Sarah Vaughan
1963    "Surfer Girl", - Beach Boys
1963    "Heat Wave", - Martha & The Vandellas
1968    "Slip Away", - Clarence Carter
1974    "Beach Baby", - First Class
1974    "You Haven't Done Nothin'", - Stevie Wonder
1985    "Dress You Up", - Madonna
1991    "Something To Talk About", - Bonnie Raitt