BIRTHDAYS
1933     Bob Barnard, Trumpet, b. Melbourne, Australia
1905     Harry Barris, vocals. b. New York, NY, USA, d .Dec. 13, 1962. Best recalled as one of Paul Whiteman's 'The Rhythm Boys' (Barris, Bing Crosby, and Al Rinker). It is little recalled now but it was Barris' excellent Piano playing and song composisng that contributed greatly to both The Rhythm Boys, in general, and Bing Crosby in particular, success with the Whitman orchestra. Al Rinker was Vocalist Mildred Bailey's brother. Bailey also sang with Whiteman's band. She Later married Red Norvo and sang with his band.
1935     Jim Benham, Label owner (Palo Alto Records), b. Joliet, IL, USA.
1941     Pete Best, drums, b. Madras, India (raised in Liverpool, England). Member group 'The Beatles' briefly. Talk about bad luck! On August 16, 1962, Beatles manager Brian Epstein told Best he was being replaced by Ringo Starr, -just weeks before the group would record their first single. Epstein set him up (not as the leader, but as the drummer) with another popular Liverpool band, 'Lee Curtis & the All Stars'. Best only recorded one 1963 single with them before Curtis & the All Stars went their separate ways. Capitalizing on the drummer's fame, Decca then renamed the All Stars the 'Pete Best Four', however Best didn't sing on their one Decca single (from 1964).
1944     Bev Bevan, drums, b. Birmingham, England. né: Beverly Bevan. Member groups: 'The Move', and 'Electric Light Orchestra'..His father, Charles (nicknamed Bev), also was a drummer in various local venues.
1941     Gary Boyle, Guitar, b. Patna, India
1910     Stella Brooks, vocal, b. San Francisco, CA, USA, d. Dec. 13, 2002, San Francisco, CA, USA. Age: 92. (NOTE: Some sources credit her date of birth as October 24, but, in an interview with San Francisco Chronicle reporter Blake Green, she mentioned her birth date as Nov. 24, 1910. At that time, Brooks told Blake Green, "It's hard to have been hot s-- and be nothing".) Brroks was raised in a San Francisco orphanage. When she was about 8 years old, her widowed mother sent her away, - with her siblings, to the Jewish Orphans' Home in San Francisco. Her mother was remarrying, and her new husband didn't want to raise another man's children. Her mother, who raised six more children, rarely spoke to her daughter again. In the 1930s, a trombonist friend told her, "You're too chic for here," and handed her a steamship ticket. In 1937, she took up residence in New York City, where she appeared with Art Hodes at Billy Skully's Pirate's Den in the 'Greenwich Village' neighborhood, and soon found a modest career as a singer with a distinctive semi-spoken style. Brooks didn't so much sing as recite words to the music ("I was a diseuse," she once said). During her time in New York, many great Jazz stars accompanied her, including bandleaders Georg Brunis and Joe Sullivan, soprano saxophonist and clarinetist Sidney Bechet, and pianist Art Hodes. She was often heard in New York's 52nd Street -famed "Swing Street"- clubs, most often at the Onyx Club. With the advent of rock and roll, the public's taste changed and Brooks found bookings scarce. In 1962, with her confidence ebbing, and feeling she had lost her singing voice, Brooks stopped performing. After working briefly as a telephone operator in Los Angeles, Brooks returned to San Francisco (in 1962) and made a living cutting hair. In 1965. always a shapely woman, Brooks stood in as the busty double for a statue of Elizabeth Taylor, created for the 1965 movie "The Sandpiper." Interviewed years later, Brooks cited many reasons why she slipped out of the jazz scene. For one, she said, she was just too old. "The songs they write are only good until you're 30," she said. "Then you look pretty silly singing them." During her life, she counted Marlon Brando, Truman Capote, Norman Mailer and e.e. cummings among her "buddies at the bar." A friend of both Billie Holiday and playwright Tennessee Williams (who wrote about her in his Memoirs), Brooks was often referred to as "the white Billie Holiday". (However, "Lady Day" herself, praised Brooks as the only white singer whom she admired.)
1953     James Bryan, (Bluegrass) fiddler, b. Mentone, AL, USA.
1955     Clem Burke, vocals, b. New York, NY, USA. Member group: 'Blondie'
1958     Carmel (McCourt), guitar/vocals, England.
1940     Johnny Carver, (C&W) singer/songwriter, b. (rural area near) Jackson, MS, USA. Among his earlier hits were "New Lips," (a Top 20 hit for singer Roy Drusky), In 1967, Carver made his recording debut with a self-titled album, with the Top 30 hit "Your Lily White Hands". Through 1970, Carver enjoyed some minor hits, including "I Still Didn't Have the Sense to Go" (1968) and "That's Your Hang Up" (1969). In late 1972, after three more Top 50 hits, he moved to ABC, where both he and the group 'Tony Orlando and Dawn' had major hits with "Tie A Yellow RIbbon (Round the Old Oak Tree)". A string of Top 40 hits followed, including "Don't Tell (That Sweet Old Lady of Mine - 1974)", and "Afternoon Delight" (1976). In 1977, after two Top 40 hits, "Living Next Door to Alice" and "Down at the Pool," Carver did not have another real hit until 1981 with his cover of the pop group ABBA's "S.O.S." (got to the Top 75). This was his last hit. Since the early 1990s, Carver and his Nashville All-Star Band. have played the square and round dance circuit in and around the Branson, Missouri area.
1923     Serge Chaloff, Baritone Sax, b. Boston, MA, USA. d. July 16, 1957, Boston, MA, USA. Father w with Boston Symphony, Mother taught at New England Conserv.of Mus. Played with Georgie Auld; Count Basie; Jimmy Dorsey; Woody Herman; Stan Kenton; Boyd Rayburn
1925     Al Cohn, tenor sax/arranger/composer/leader, b. New York (Brooklyn), NY, USA. d. Feb. 15, 1988, East Stroudsburg, PA. Played with Manny Albam; Mose Allison; Georgie Auld; Buddy Rich; Woody Herman; Elliot Lawrence; Joe Marsala; Boyd Raeburn; Alvino Rey; Artie Shaw; Zoot Sims; Ernie Wilkins.
1963     Scott Colley, bass
1942     William "Billy" Connolly, actor/banjo, b. Anderston, Glasgow, Scotland, UK. Member group: The Humblebums
1918     William Strethen "Wild Bill" Davis, Organ, b. Glasgow, MO, USA. d. Aug. 17, 1995, Moorestown, NJ, USA. Age: 76. Played with Count Basie; Duke Ellington; Earl Hines; Louis Jordan. "Wild" Bill provided a bridge from the 1930s and ‘40s big band Swing to the organ-driven R&B of the 1950s and '60s. Together with guitarist Floyd Smith and drummer Chris Columbus, Davis set the framework for the jazz organ combo sound.
1941     Donald "Duck" Dunn, bassist, b. Memphis, TN, USA. Member group: "Booker T. & the MG's", and the "Mar-Keys".
1918     Tom C. Fouts "Captain Stubby", C&W comedy/vocals, b. Carroll County, IN, USA. Member group: "Captain Stubby and the Buccaneers". Among the men who played with the Buccaneers, are Tom C. Fouts, Jerald R. Richards, Sonny Fleming, Curly Myers, Chuck Kagy, Tiny Stokes, Peter Kunatz, Buddy Ross, and Tony Walber. After Tony Walberg was killed in an auto accident, it was Pete Kaye played the accordion.
1957     Chris Hayes, guitar, b. Sacramento, CA, USA. Member group: Huey Lewis & the News. né: Christopher John Hayes.
1896     Rosa Henderson, Vocal, b. Henderson, KY, USA. d. 1968
1942     Wayne Jackson, trumpet, b. West Memphis, AR, USA. Jackson was a part of the 'Memphis Horns' (Wayne Jackson and tenor sax Andrew Love), who were were a critical part of the Stax label during the 1960s and '70s. After the label's demise, they were prolific contributors to numerous other sessions. Though the name is identified with the duo of Jackson and Love, the band at one time also included Ed Logan (tenor sax), Lewis Collins and Jack Hale (both trombonists), and James Mitchell (bari sax).
1868     Scott Joplin, composer/piano, b. Texarkana, TX, USA. d. April 1, 1917, New York, NY. USA (Complications due to Tertiary Syphilis). Known as the "King of Ragtime Composers". Works incl. "Maple Leaf Rag" (1899); "Wall Street Rag", "Orig. Rag"; "Sugar Cane Rag"; and two operas - "Tremonisha" and and "A Guest of Honour". Played with Queen City Negro Band, and Texas Medley Vocal Quartet.
1895     Vee Lawnhurst, piano/songwriter, b. New York, NY, USA. d. Member Louis Jordan Orch.
1956     Terry Lewis, composer/record producer, b. Omaha, NE, USA.
1949     Anita Louis vocals, b. Memphis, TN, USA. Member: 'The Soul Children'.
1923     Earl Payton, harmonica, b. Pine Bluff, AR, USA.
1932     Ray Perkins, vocals, b. Toronto, ONT, Canada. Member: Crew Cuts
1914     Rolph Pommer, alto sax, b. Ipswich-qld, Australia, d. Ipswich-qld, Australia
1968     Dawn Robinson, vocals, b. New London, CT, USA. Member group: En Vogue
1950     Ruthie Smith, Tenor/soprano/alto Sax, b. Manchester, England
1962     John Squire, guitarist/songwriter, b. Broadheath, Gt. Manchester, England. Member groups: 'The Stone Roses', and 'The Seahorses'.
1962     Gary Stonedage, bass, Member group: 'Big Audio Dynamite'. In 1984, Clash guitarist Mick Jones (b. 26 June 1955, Brixton, London, England) was fired from that group. Then he, with former Clash drummer Topper Headon, formed an ill-fated outfit. Subsequently, the pair linked up with ex-Roxy DJ and filmmaker Don Letts to form 'Big Audio Dynamite' (known as: BAD) that also included (besides Jones on guitar, and Letts on keyboards and effects), Dan Donovan (keyboards, son of famed photographer Terence Donovan), Leo Williams (bass), and Greg Roberts (drums).
1970     Chad Taylor, guitar/background vocals, b. York, PA, USA. Member group: 'Live', a group that included Chad Gracey (drums), Chad Taylor (guitar), Edward Kowalczyk (vocals), Patrick Dahleimer (bass).
1943     Richard Tee, Keyboard, b. New York, NY, USA. d. July 21, 1993.
1947     Anatoly Petrovich Vapirov, Reeds, b. Berdyansk, Ukraine
1912     Theodore "Teddy" Wilson, pianist/leader, b: Austin, TX, USA. d: July 31, 1986, New Brittain, CT, USA. Four years of Piano and Violin study at Tuskegee Inst. Then Music Theory at Talladega College. Best recalled as pianist with the Benny Goodman small groups.
1939     Jim Yester, guitar/keyboards/vocals; b. Birmingham, Alabama, USA. Member group: The Association
         Notable Events on this date include:
1937.    The Andrews Sisters recorded one of their biggest hits" "Bei Mir bist Du Schön". (Decca 1562)
1941.    Dick Wilson, tenor sax, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 30. Worked with Andy Kirk Orch.
1969.    J. T. Brown, tenor sax, died in Chicago, IL, USA. Age: 59. Worked with Elmore James
1993.    Albert Collins, guitar, died in Las Vegas, NV, USA. Age: 61
1987.    Robert "Bud" Garrett, guitar, died in Free Hall, TN, USA. Age: 71
1959.    George Irish, sax/arranger, died in Boston, MA, USA. Age: 49. Worked with Cab Calloway
1964.    Buster Pickens, piano, died in Houston, TX, USA. Age: 48. Worked with Lightnin' Hopkins
1966.    Abner Silver, composer, died in New York, NY, USA. Age: 66
1975.    Asher Sizemore, member: Grand Ole Opry show, died in Arkansas, USA. Age: 69
1977.    Emil Dopyera, the man credited with inventing the Dobro, died. Age: 74.
1985.    Big Joe Turner, singer-songwriter, died in Inglewood, CA, USA. Age: 74
1992.    June Tyson, vocals, died in Phildelphia, PA, USA. Age: 56
         Songs Recorded/Released this date include:
     1950 "Rudolph, The Red-Nosed Reindeer", - Gene Autry
     1956 "Rock-A-Bye Your Baby With A Dixie Melody", - Jerry Lewis
     1956 "Love Me", - Elvis Presley
     1958 "Problems", - Everly Brothers
     1962 "Love Came To Me", - Dion
     1973 "Show And Tell", - Al Wilson
     1973 "Living For The City", - Stevie Wonder
     1979 "Rock With You", - Michael Jackson
     1984 "Run To You", - Bryan Adams
     1984 "Like A Virgin", - Madonna
     1984 "Born In The U.S.A.", - Bruce Springsteen
     1984 "All I Need", - Wagner Jack
     1990 "Justify My Love", - Madonna
     1990 "First Time, The", - Surface