BIRTHDAYS
1906     "Lee" William Allen, C&W singer, b. Sewanee, TN, USA. Member: "Allen Brothers"
1940     Yolande Bavan, Vocals, b. Columbo, Ceylon (now: Sri Lanka). né: Yolande Mari Wolffe. With vocal group: 'Lambert, Hendricks and Bavan'.
1950     Joe Bloggs, composer/conductor/arranger/flutist/clarinetist
1915     Johnny Bond, singer/songwriter/actor/author/guitar, b. Enville, OK, USA, d. June 12, 1978. né: Cyrus Whitfield Bond worked with 'The Jimmy Wakely Trio'
1934     Pat Boone, vocals, b. Jacksonville, FL, USA. né: Charles Eugene Boone
1950     "Charlene" (née: Charlene D'Angelo), vocals, b. Hollywood, CA, USA. In 1982, her single "I've Never Been To Me" reached. No. 3 in the USA, and No. 2 in the UK.
1961     Richard Comeaux, C&W vocals/guitar.
1962     Jan De Haas, vibraphone, drums, b. Brussels Belgium-
1935     Hazel Dickens, C&W singer-songwriter, b. Mercer County, WV, USA.
1953     Ronnie Gene Dunn, C&W vocalist/Bassist, b. Coleman, TX, USA. Member duo: 'Brooks & Dunn' (Leon Eric "Kix" Brooks, born in Shreveport, LA, in 1955)
1949     Rich Delgrosso, guitar/mandolin, b. Detroit, MI, USA
1968     Jason Donovan, actor/ vocals. In 1989, his single "Too Many Broken Hearts" reached No. 1 in the UK.
1952     John Ellis, guitar. Member group: The Vibrators.
1960     Simon Gallup, R&R bass, Member: The Cure
1926     Andy Griffith, actor/musician (guitar), b. Mount Airy, NC, USA. Basically an actor, but Andy loves music and plays his guitar and Ukulele very well indeed.
1907     Alvin Hayes, Bass, b. Chicago, IL, d. Dec. 30, 1972. New York, NY, USA
1915     Bart Howard,composer, piano, bass, b. Burlington, Iowa, USA. d. Feb. 21, 2004, Carmel, NY, USA. -complications from a stroke; Age: 88. (Some sources claim b. 1916. né: Howard Joseph Gustafson. His best known song: "Fly Me To The Moon"). This composer of over 200 songs once told an interviewer "I've always said it took me 20 years to find out how to write a song in 20 minutes."
1879     Raymond Hubbell, Composer, b. Urbana, OH, USA, d. Dec. 13, 1954, Homestead, FL, USA
1963     Mike Joyce, drums. Member group: The Smiths
1941     Wayne Kemp, C&W singer-songwriter/guitar, b. Greenwood, AR, USA
1918     Marie Knight, piano, b. Sanford, FL, USA (worked with Rosetta Tharpe)
1896     Sidney Kyte, Leader, b. Stamford Hill, London, UK, d. July 21, 1981
1919     Lafayette Leake, Piano, b. Winona, MS, USA. d. August 8, 1990, Chicago, IL, USA.
1917     George Leaner, label co-owner ('One-Derful'), b. MS, USA, d. Sept. 18, 1983, Chicago, IL, USA. Age: 66
1924     Herbert E. "Herbie" Lovelle, Drums, b. New York, NY, USA.
1924     Hal McKusick, Alto-tenor sax, clarinet, flute, b. Medford, MA, USA.. né: Harold Wilfred Mc Kusick. 1944/5 with Boyd Raeburn orch.; 1948/9 with Claude Thornhill band; and in 1952/7 with Elliot Lawrence band, also stints with Don Elliott and Terry Gibbs.
1896     Elsie McWilliams, songwriter, b. Harperville, MS, USA, d. Dec. 30, 1985, Meridian, MS, USA. Age: 89
1911     Gertrude Michael, Singer/Actress, b. Talladega, Alabama, USA, d. Dec. 31, 1964, Beverly Hills, Los Angeles, California, USA. née: Lillian Gertrude Michael. Another of those "How fleeting is fame" personalities. Michael appeared in well over 75 Film, TV and Radio shows, yet is little recalled today. Part of a musical family, her two older brothers, Arnold and Alan, played piano and violin. At age 14, she graduated from high school and first appeared on radio, as a musician and "Home Arts" advisor. Subsequently, she attended the University of Alabama, and Converse College in Cincinnati, Ohio. In 1929, while in Cincinnati, she made her stage debut in a stock company headed by Stuart Walker. In 1931, she appeared on Broadway in Rachel Crothers' "Caught Wet". In 1932, she appeared in her first movie, playing Richard Arlen's finaceé in "Wayward". In 1934, she had, perhaps, her best remembered role as the jealous Rita Ross of "Murder at the Vanities". 60 or 70 more shows followed. Gertrude had a rather tempestuous love-affair with Paul Cain, a hard-boiled short-story writer who wrote for the screen under the pseudonym Peter Ruric. Both Gertrude and Cain were heavy boozers, and after they divorced, Cain wrote about her in the only novel of his published during his lifetime, "Fast One" (she was the inspiration for the dipsomaniac lover, Granquist).
1926     Marilyn Monroe, actress/singer, d. 1962
1974     Alanis Morissette, singer-songwriter, b. Ottawa, ON, Canada.
1929     Lenard "Lennie" Niehaus, Alto Sax/arranger/Composer, b. St.Louis, MO, USA.
1928     Francis Davis "Frank" Parr, trombone, b. Liverpool, Lancashire, UK. Has worked with Monty Sunshine; Mick Mulligan and Mike Cotton
1889     Molly Picon, [née: Pyekoon], actress/singer/composer, b. New York, NY, USA. d. April 6, 1992, Lancaster, PA, USA. All during the 1920s and '30s, she was a star in New York City's 'Yiddish Theater', and was widely known as "theSweetheart of Second Avenue".”
1921     Nelson Riddle, Composer/Arranger, b. Oradell, NJ, USA. d. Oct. 6, 1985.
1950     Graham Russell vocals. Member group: Air Supply.
1964     Debbie Schreyer, Banjo/drums/arranger, b. Mankato, MN, USA. Has worked with Kim Cusack; Tom Bartlett; Wally Rose; Ernie Carson; Wayne Jones; Mike Walbridge and Bill Rutan
1945     Linda Scott, vocalist
1941     Robertinho Silva, drums/percussion
1935     Marc Steckar, Bass Trombone, trombone, tuba, euphonium, b. Cherbourg, France.
1962     Dan St. Marseille, tenor sax
1925     Jimmie Dale Warren, (C&W) vocals, b. Summerville, KY, USA. (Member of The Sons of The Pioneers band.)
1947     Konstantin Wecker, vocals. b. Germany.
1898     Harry Alexander "Father" White, Trombone, cornet, sax, arranger, piano, composer, b. Bethlehem, PA, USA. d. August. 14, 1962, New York, NY, USA. As a young boy, White first played the drums, but ca. 1919, he moved to Washington D.C., and made the trombone his primary instrument. While in Washington, during the early 1920s, he worked in the Ellington, Snowden, and Hopkins orchestras, before starting his own "White Brothers Orchestra". His band is known to have played in Philadelphia during 1925, while also performing regularly in New York city. In the late 1920s, he was part of the Luis Russell orchestra. In 1931 he was part of the 'Mills Blue Rhythm Orchestra'. In 1932, he joined Cab Calloway where he played trombone as well as arranging and composing. Some musicologists have noted that Calloway's trumpeter, Edwin Swayzee supposedly heard White use the word "Jitterbug". In 1934, Swayzee composed a song called "The Jitterbug", which Calloway recorded. "Jitterbug" soon became common usage among "Swing Era" kids. In 1935, he returned to the Luis Russell band, then fronted by Louis Armstrong. During the great world wide economic depression of the early 1930s, he found gigs few and far between. As the depression lessened, prior to World War II, White joined drummer Manzie Johnson's orchestra (occasionally playing alto saxophone). Subsequently, White played with trumpeter Oran "Hot Lips" Page, pianist Edgar Hayes, and saxophonist Bud Freeman.
1959     Alan Wilder, vocals/synthesizer. Member group: Depeche Mode
1947     Ron Wood, guitar, b . London, England, UK. Member of 'The Rolling Stones', and the 'Jeff Beck Group'
1930     Edward Woodward, actor/singer.
         Notable Events occuring this date include:
1942.    George G. DeSylva, John Mercer, and Glenn E. Wallichs appear before Los Angeles county and California state Notary Public Leta Niccum to acknowledge that they have executed articles of incorporation for Liberty Records, Inc. which will be filed with the state of California on April 9, 1942. The three will apply for a Certificate of Amendment on May 27, 1942, before Ms. Niccum again, to change the name of the corporation to Capitol Records, Inc. which will be filed with the state of California on June 1, 1942. (thanks to Mr. Mark Heimback-Nielsen for this information)
1948.    Sonny Boy Williamson, Harmonica, died in Chicago, IL, USA. Age: 34 (b. March 30, 1914, Jackson, Tennessee, USA)
1949.    Clarence W. Jones, piano, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 59
1963.    17 year old vocalist Lesley Gore's single "It's My Party" reached No. 1 on the USA charts.
1963.    King Mose Taylor, drums, died in Chicago, IL, USA.
1968.    Simon and Garfunkel's single "Mrs Robinson" hit No. 1 on USA charts. It was also the featured song in the Dustin Hoffman and Ann Bancroft film 'The Graduate'
1981.    Jimmy Murphy, C&W singer/songwriter died.
1966.    "Papa" Jack Laine, drums, leader, and one of the 'founding fathers' of Jazz, died in New Orleans, LA, USA. (b. Sept. 21, 1873, New Orleans, LA, USA. )
1969.    Stan Brenders, piano, leader, died one day after his 65th Birthday. ( born May 31, 1904 in Bruxelles, Belgium )
1982.    Eddie El, guitar, died in Chicago, IL, USA. Age: 67
1982.    Art Pepper, alto sax, died in Panorama City, PA, USA. Age: 56 (some sources say d June 15)
1984.    Nate Nelson, vocals, died in Boston, MA, USA. Age: 52. (Heart attack) Member: 'The Flamingos (b. April 10, 1932 )
1988.    Jimmy Henderson, trombone, leader (posthumous Glenn Miller Orch.), died in New York, NY, USA. (Caution: Do not confuse with 1930s and '40s singer and songwriter of the same name.
1991.    David Ruffin, vocals, died in Philadelphia, PA, USA. Age: 50. Member: 'The Temptations'
1994.    Betty Jackson King, (gospel) vocals, died in Wildwood, NJ, USA. Age: 66. Member: Jacksonian Trio"
1996.    Len Kunstadt, label owner (Spivey), died in New York, NY, USA.
1996.    Don Grolnick, keyboards died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 48.
         Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
1926   "When The Red Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin' Along", - Al Jolson voc.
1928   "Margie", - Red Nichols and his Five Pennies
1928   "Get Out and Get Under The Moon", - Hal Kemp Orch.
1937   "I'll Never Be The Same", - Teddy Wilson Orch. (Billie Holiday voc.)
1937   "Me, Myself and I", - Teddy Wilson Orch. (Billie Holiday voc.)
1944   "G.I. Jive", - Jordan, Louis
1951   "Christmas In Killarney", - Dennis Day voc.
1951   "I'm In Love Again", - April Stevens voc.
1959   "Bobby Sox To Stockings", - Frankie Avalon voc
1959   "Along Came Jones", - The Coasters
1959   "My Heart Is A Open Book", - Carl Dobkins voc.
1959   "Lipstick On Your Collar", - Connie Francis voc.
1959   "Frankie", - Connie Francis
1963   "Blue On Blue", - Bobby Vinton
1968   "Reach Out Of The Darkness", - Friend & Lover
1968   "Look Of Love, The", - Sergio Mendes
1968   "Angel Of The Morning", - Rush, Merrilee & The Turnabouts
1974   "On And On", - Knight, Gladys & The Pips
1985   "You Give Good Love", - Whitney Houston
1985   "Goonies 'R' Good Enough", - Cyndi Lauper
1985   "Everytime You Go Away", - Young, Paul
1991   "Gypsy Woman (She's Homeless)", - Crystal Waters