Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

August 17, 1919 Jazz singer Georgia Gibbs is born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Known for the 1950 hit "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake."

August 13, 1919 Jazz pianist George Shearing is born in Battersea, London, England. Composer of "Lullaby of Birdland."

May 16, 1919 Liberace is born Władziu Valentino Liberace in West Allis, Wisconsin, along with a twin who dies at birth.

May 3, 1919 Pete Seeger is born in Manhattan. Throughout his career, Seeger champions folk music and uses the form to push for civil rights and environmental issues.

April 21, 1919 '50s pop singer Don Cornell ("It Isn't Fair," "Hold My Hand") is born Luigi Varlaro in The Bronx, New York City.

April 12, 1919 Orchestra leader and singer Billy Vaughn is born in Glasgow, Kentucky.

March 21, 1919 Music executive Lew Bedell, also known by the pseudonym Billy Joe Hunter, is born in El Paso, Texas. He establishes Doré Records, later known as Era Records, in 1958. The label's first hit is the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him."

March 17, 1919 Nat King Cole is born Nathaniel Adams Cole in Montgomery, Alabama, but would be raised in Chicago, Illinois.

February 13, 1919 Tennessee Ernie Ford is born in Bristol, Tennessee.

February 8, 1919 Big band trombonist Buddy Morrow is born Muni Zudekoff in New Haven, Connecticut. He starts a three-decade run as leader of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1977.

January 27, 1919 Ross Bagdasarian is born in Fresno, California. Using the stage name David Seville, he would create the The Chipmunks.

December 12, 1918 Jazz singer Joe Williams is born Joseph Goreed in Cordele, Georgia.

December 2, 1918 Milton DeLugg is born in Los Angeles, California. Aside from being a talented accordionist, he writes the Nat King Cole hit "Orange Colored Sky," and composes music for popular game shows such as The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, The Gong Show, and What's My Line?

September 26, 1918 Voice actor and horror host John "The Cool" Zacherle is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

September 14, 1918 Double bassist/composer Cachao is born Israel López Valdés in Habana Vieja, La Habana, Cuba. Pioneered the modern mambo with the 1938 song "Mambo."

September 13, 1918 Actor/singer Dick Haymes is born in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Co-starred in the 1945 musical State Fair and recorded a string of duets with swing singer Helen Forrest during WWII.

August 25, 1918 Composer Leonard Bernstein is born in Lawrence, Massachusetts. Known for his work on Broadway smashes West Side Story, Peter Pan and On the Town, among others.

July 31, 1918 Jazz pianist Hank Jones is born in Vicksburg, Mississippi. In addition to releasing over 60 albums, he also accompanies Marilyn Monroe as she famously sings "Happy Birthday, Mr. President," to John F. Kennedy on May 19, 1962.

May 15, 1918 Country singer Eddy Arnold is born on a farm near Hendersonville, Tennessee.

April 18, 1918 Guitarist Tony Mottola, known for working with Frank Sinatra and Perry Como, is born in Kearny, New Jersey.

April 11, 1918 Jazz bassist Jimmy Lewis is born in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for working with the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, and King Curtis, among others.

March 29, 1918 Actress/singer Pearl Bailey is born in Virginia.

March 21, 1918 Jazz pianist Charles Thompson is born in Springfield, Ohio.

March 20, 1918 Jazz pianist Marian McPartland is born Margaret Marian Turner in Slough, Berkshire, England. In 1978, she becomes the host of NPR's long-running radio show Piano Jazz.

February 16, 1918 Patty Andrews (lead singer of The Andrews Sisters) is born in Mound, Minnesota.

February 15, 1918 Country singer Hank Locklin ("Please Help Me, I'm Falling", "Send Me the Pillow You Dream On") is born in McLellan, Florida.

January 27, 1918 Lyle "Skitch" Henderson is born on a farm near Halstad, Minnesota. As a pianist and composer, he will work with the likes of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby.

January 27, 1918 Elmore James is born Elmore Brooks in Richland, Mississippi.

December 2, 1917 Jazz singer Sylvia Syms is born Sylvia Blagman in Brooklyn, New York. In 1956 she lands her breakthrough hit with a cover of "I Could Have Danced All Night."

November 29, 1917 Merle Travis, writer and original performer of "Sixteen Tons," is born in Rosewood, Kentucky.