Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

April 13, 1940 Lester Chambers of The Chambers Brothers is born in Mississippi.

April 12, 1940 Jazz musician Herbie Hancock is born in Chicago, Illinois. After playing in Miles Davis' band, he makes very eclectic and experimental jazz music. In 1983 he has a hit with "Rockit," which incorporates synthesizers and turntable scratching.

April 4, 1940 Songwriter Sharon Sheeley, who writes hits for Glen Campbell, Brenda Lee and Eddie Cochran, is born in California. She also pens Ricky Nelson's first #1 hit, "Poor Little Fool."

March 29, 1940 Pop singer Eden Kane is born Richard Graham Sarstedt in New Delhi, India.

March 27, 1940 Ska musician Derrick Morgan is born in Jamaica.

March 21, 1940 Solomon Burke is born James Solomon McDonald in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

March 20, 1940 "If I Had A Girl" singer Rod Lauren is born in Fresno, California.

March 15, 1940 Grateful Dead bass player Phil Lesh is born in Berkeley, California. A founding member of the band, he's with them for their entire run, which ends in 1995 when Jerry Garcia dies. He keeps the music going with offshoots Phil Lesh And Friends, The Other Ones and The Dead.

March 13, 1940 Daniel Bennie (of the Detroit doo-wop group The Reflections) is born in Johnstone, Scotland.

March 12, 1940 Al Jarreau is born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

March 10, 1940 Dean Torrence (of Jan & Dean) is born in Los Angeles, California.

February 29, 1940 Pop singer Gretchen Christopher (of The Fleetwoods) is born in Olympia, Washington.

February 28, 1940 Joe South is born Joseph Souter in Atlanta, Georgia. His most popular song as an artist is "Games People Play," but South also writes the Deep Purple hit "Hush" and Lynn Anderson's "(I Never Promised You A) Rose Garden."

February 19, 1940 Bobby Rogers of The Miracles is born in Detroit.

February 17, 1940 Gene Pitney is born in Hartford, Connecticut. He has a string of hits in the '60s, including "(The Man Who Shot) Liberty Valance" and "Only Love Can Break A Heart."

February 10, 1940 Jimmy Merchant (of Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers) is born in New York City.

February 9, 1940 Brian Bennett (drummer for The Shadows) is born in Palmers Green, North London, England.

February 3, 1940 Angelo D'Aleo (of Dion & The Belmonts) is born in the Belmont neighborhood of The Bronx, New York City.

February 2, 1940 Alan Caddy (guitarist of The Tornados, Johnny Kidd & the Pirates) is born in Chelsea, London, England.

January 23, 1940 Pop singer Joe Dowell is born in Bloomington, Indiana, but grows up in Bloomington, Illinois.

January 22, 1940 Addie "Micki" Harris (of The Shirelles) is born in Passaic, New Jersey.

January 8, 1940 Jerome "Little Anthony" Gourdine of Little Anthony & the Imperials is born in Brooklyn, New York.

January 6, 1940 Van McCoy is born in Washington, D.C. Known for the 1975 disco hit "The Hustle," he also writes a string of '60s hits, including "Giving Up" (Gladys Knight & the Pips and, later, Donny Hathaway) and "I Get the Sweetest Feeling" (Jackie Wilson).

December 30, 1939 Felix Pappalardi (bassist, vocalist for Mountain) is born in the Bronx, New York.

December 29, 1939 Country singer Ed Bruce is born William Edwin Bruce Jr. in Keiser, Arkansas, but is raised in Memphis, Tennessee.

December 22, 1939 James Gurley (guitarist for Big Brother & the Holding Company) is born in Detroit, Michigan.

December 20, 1939 Soul singer Kim Weston is born Agatha Nathalia Weston in Detroit, Michigan. She signs with Motown Records in 1961.

December 17, 1939 Eddie Kendricks (of The Temptations) is born in Union Springs, Alabama. Kendricks' famous falsetto takes the lead on "The Way You Do The Things You Do" and "Just My Imagination."

December 15, 1939 Cindy Birdsong is born in Mount Holly, New Jersey. One of the original members of Patti LaBelle & The Blue Belles, she quits the group in the mid-'60s to join The Supremes as a replacement for Florence Ballard. The remaining Blue Belles rebrand themselves as Labelle.

December 9, 1939 Sam Strain (Little Anthony & The Imperials, The O'Jays) is born in Brooklyn, New York.