Music History Events: Births
June 23, 1937 Niki Sullivan (original guitarist for Buddy Holly's Crickets) is born in South Gate, California.
June 20, 1937 Jerry Keller, known for the 1957 pop hit "Here Comes Summer," is born in Fort Smith, Arkansas.
June 15, 1937 Waylon Jennings is born in Littlefield, Texas.
June 5, 1937 R&B singer Floyd Butler (of The Friends Of Distinction) is born in California.
June 4, 1937 Freddy Fender is born Baldemar Huerta in San Benito, Texas. He'll have a #1 hit in 1974 with "Before The Next Teardrop Falls."
June 2, 1937 Jimmy Jones, known for the 1960 rock and roll hit "Handy Man," is born in Birmingham, Alabama.
May 15, 1937 Pop singer and guitarist Trini Lopez, known for the '60s hits "If I Had A Hammer" and "Lemon Tree," is born in Dallas, Texas.
May 9, 1937 R&B singer Dave Prater (of Sam & Dave) in Ocilla, Georgia.
May 9, 1937 Rock and roll singer-songwriter Sonny Curtis (of Buddy Holly's The Crickets) is born in Meadow, Texas.
May 4, 1937 Surf rock guitarist Dick Dale is born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Massachusetts.
May 4, 1937 Surf rocker Dick Burns (of The Hondells) is born in Buffalo, New York.
April 22, 1937 Jack Nitzsche, musician, songwriter, and film composer who worked alongside Phil Spector throughout the '50s and later co-wrote the Academy Award-Winning "Up Where We Belong" for An Officer and a Gentleman, is born Bernard Alfred "Jack" Nitzsche in Chicago, Illinois.
April 15, 1937 Country singer-songwriter Bob Luman ("Let's Think About Living") is born in Blackjack, Texas.
April 7, 1937 R&B vocalist Charlie Thomas (of The Drifters) is born in Lynchburg, Virginia.
April 6, 1937 Country musician Merle Haggard is born in Oildale, California. For the first years of his life, he lives in an abandoned boxcar that his father converted into a home.
March 24, 1937 Soul musician Billy Stewart is born in Washington, D.C.
March 22, 1937 Country/pop singer Johnny Ferguson is born in Nashville, Tennessee.
March 20, 1937 Country performer Jerry Reed is born Jerry Reed Hubbard in Atlanta, Georgia.
March 20, 1937 R&B singer Joe Rivers (of Johnnie & Joe) is born in Charleston, South Carolina.
March 19, 1937 R&B singer Clarence "Frogman" Henry, known for the 1961 hit "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do," is born in New Orleans, Louisiana.
February 14, 1937 Bluesman Magic Sam (Samuel Maghett) is born in Mississippi.
February 10, 1937 Roberta Flack is born in rural Black Mountain, North Carolina. She teaches music before releasing her first album in 1969, when she's 32. In the '70s, she lands three #1 hits: "Killing Me Softly With His Song," "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" and "Feel Like Makin' Love."
February 1, 1937 Don Everly of The Everly Brothers is born Isaac Donald Everly in Brownie, Kentucky. Two years later, brother Phil is born.
February 1, 1937 Ray "Eye Patch" Sawyer (of Dr. Hook & the Medicine Show) is born in Chickasaw, Alabama.
January 8, 1937 Shirley Bassey is born in Cardiff, Wales. Known for recording several of the James Bond themes in the '60s and '70s.
January 7, 1937 Paul Revere (keyboardist for Paul Revere & the Raiders) is born Paul Revere Dick in Harvard, Nebraska.
January 6, 1937 R&B singer-songwriter Doris Troy is born Doris Elaine Higginsen in The Bronx, New York.
December 17, 1936 Tommy Steele is born Thomas William Hicks in Bermondsey, London, England.
December 5, 1936 Chad Mitchell (of the Chad Mitchell Trio) is born in Portland, Oregon.
November 28, 1936 Jazz drummer Roy McCurdy (of Blood, Sweat & Tears) is born in Rochester, New York.
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