Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

September 7, 1963 Eric "Eazy-E" Wright (member of N.W.A., founder of Ruthless Records, executive producer) is born in Compton, California.

June 9, 1963 Johnny Depp is born in Kentucky. He stars in the Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers video for "Into The Great Wide Open," and plays guitar on tracks by Oasis, Patti Smith and Ryan Adams.

May 8, 1963 Academy Award-winning filmmaker Michel Gondry (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) is born in Versailles, France. The imaginative director is also known for his surreal music videos for artists like Bjork, The White Stripes, The Chemical Brothers, and others.More

March 14, 1963 Mike Muir (lead vocalist for Suicidal Tendencies) is born in Venice, California, and raised in Santa Monica.

March 10, 1963 Producer Rick Rubin is born Frederick Jay Rubin in Long Beach, New York. Albums he produced include Raising Hell by Run-D.M.C., Shake Your Money Maker by The Black Crowes and Wildflowers by Tom Petty.

February 4, 1963 Kevin "Noodles" Wasserman (lead guitarist for The Offspring) is born in Los Angeles, California.

February 2, 1963 Eva Cassidy is born in Washington, D.C. She is raised in Maryland.

November 2, 1962 Ron McGovney (original Metallica bassist) is born in Los Angeles, California. McGovney can be heard on the first Metallica demos, Power Metal and No Life 'Til Leather.

November 1, 1962 a-ha keyboardist Magne Furuholmen is born in Oslo, Norway.

July 10, 1962 Christopher "Play" Martin (of Kid 'N Play) is born in Queens, New York City.

May 9, 1962 Pop singer Paul Heaton (of The Housemartins) is born in Machynlleth, Powys, Wales.

April 2, 1962 Bass player and songwriter Tony Franklin is born Anthony James Franklin.

February 21, 1962 Mudhoney singer/guitarist Mark Arm is born Mark McLaughlin, at the Vandenberg Air Force Base in Lompoc, California.

January 4, 1962 Peter Steele, the 6' 8" leader of the doom-rock band Type O Negative, is born in Brooklyn, New York.

December 16, 1961 Bobby Darin and Sandra Dee welcome their first an only child, a son named Dodd Mitchell Darin.

September 6, 1961 Paul Waaktaar-Savoy, guitarist and songwriter of a-ha, is born in Oslo, Norway.

April 13, 1961 Hiro Yamamoto (original bass player for Soundgarden) is born in Park Forest, Illinois.

April 3, 1961 Eddie Murphy is born in New York City. In 1985, he has a hit with "Party All The Time," written and produced by Rick James. Murphy also makes the charts with the novelty song "Put Your Mouth On Me" and the Michael Jackson collaboration "Whatzupwitu."

June 24, 1960 Siedah Garrett, co-writer of Michael Jackson's "Man In The Mirror" and his duet partner on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You," is born in Los Angeles.

May 30, 1960 Stephen Duffy is born in Alum Rock, Birmingham, England. A founding member of Duran Duran, he leaves the band shortly before they are signed to EMI. He later finds moderate success as a solo artist under the name Stephen "Tin Tin" Duffy with the song "Kiss Me."

April 25, 1960 Thrash metal singer Paul Baloff (of Exodus) is born in San Francisco, California.

April 10, 1960 Katrina Leskanich of Katrina & the Waves is born in Topeka, Kansas.

January 5, 1960 Phil Thornalley, "Torn" songwriter and producer of The Cure's Pornography album, is born in Worlington, near Mildenhall, Suffolk, England.

December 20, 1959 Jackie Fox is born Jacqueline Fuchs in California. She gives up a promising career in mathematics when she joins The Runaways as bass player at the age of 15, rather than taking early entry into UCLA. After leaving the band, she returns to her studies, graduating from UCLA and then Harvard - where she is a classmate of Barack Obama - and goes on to work as an entertainment lawyer.

October 10, 1959 Singer Kirsty MacColl, known for her vocals on the Pogues song "Fairytale Of New York," is born in Croydon, Surrey, England. Her dad is the folk singer Ewan MacColl.

September 16, 1959 Vicki Blue (Victory Tischler-Blue) is born in Newport Beach, California. In 1977 she joins The Runaways after bassist Jackie Fox leaves, and plays on their fourth album. After the breakup of the band, Blue goes on to forge a career as an actress: playing Cindy in the 1984 mockumentary movie This is Spinal Tap.

September 14, 1959 Morten Harket, lead singer of the synthpop group a-ha, is born in Kongsberg, Norway.

July 10, 1959 Sandy West is born Sandy Pesavento in Long Beach, California. Together with Joan Jett, she is a founding member of the teenage all-female rock band The Runaways, playing drums. After the band splits she leaves the music industry, and dies at the age of 47 from lung cancer.

April 11, 1959 Music producer and composer David Lowe, known for his compositions for BBC News themes, is born in Birmingham, England.

April 10, 1959 Brian Setzer (of Stray Cats, The Brian Setzer Orchestra) is born in Massapequa, New York.