Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

November 9, 1845 Elizabeth Reed Napier is born. She provides the title for the The Allman Brothers Band song "In Memory Of Elizabeth Reed" when Dickey Betts sees her headstone at Rose Hill Cemetery in Macon, Georgia.

January 21, 1834 Peter Dodds McCormick, the man who is best known for the patriotic tune, "Advance Australia Fair", is born in Glasgow, Scotland. Though his date of birth is usually given as being on an unknown date in 1834, this is a little off. Twenty-two years later, he would emigrate to Sydney, Australia, where in 1878, he would compose his famous tune, as well as many other patriotic songs, most of which were Scottish tunes. A little side note, one of Peter's siblings, most likely a brother, was credited as having invented the life jacket.

December 8, 1828 Martha Ella Blocksom, subject of the song "Lorena," is born in Zanesville, Ohio.

February 1, 1825 Francis Child, publisher of The Child Ballads, is born in Boston.

February 22, 1819 Composer Joseph Philbrick Webster, who wrote the song "Lorena," is born in Manchester, New Hampshire.

April 2, 1805 Hans Christian Andersen is born in Odense, Denmark. The author is later the subject of a song by Danny Kaye.

March 31, 1732 Joseph Haydn is born in Rohrau, Austria.

February 23, 1685 German-English baroque composer George Frideric Handel is born in Halle, Duchy of Magdeburg, in modern day Germany.

May 4, 1655 Florentine harpsichord maker Bartolomeo Cristofori is born. He invents the piano in 1709.

April 23, 1564 William Shakespeare, whose works inspire centuries of song lyrics, is born in Stratford-upon-Avon, England. (The date is a best estimate; it's known that he was baptized on April 26.)