Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

May 5, 1959 Ian McCulloch (frontman for Echo & The Bunnymen) is born in Liverpool, England.

May 4, 1959 Country singer Randy Travis is born Randy Bruce Traywick in Marshville, North Carolina. It takes while for him to get a record deal, but when he does, he's off to the races, with 15 #1 Country hits from 1986-1994.

May 3, 1959 David Ball is born in Blackpool, England. Best known as half of the duo Soft Cell, he helps shape the sound of British electronic music, sticking with analog synthesizers as digital machines become the norm.

April 27, 1959 Sheena Easton is born in Glasgow, Scotland, the youngest of six children. She wins the Best New Artist Grammy in 1981 and has a string of hits that decade, including "Morning Train (Nine To Five)" and the Bond theme "For Your Eyes Only."

April 21, 1959 Robert Smith of The Cure is born in Blackpool, Lancashire, UK.

April 21, 1959 Alt rocker Michael Timmins (guitarist for Cowboy Junkies) is born in Montreal, Quebec, Canada.

April 10, 1959 R&B singer-songwriter Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.

March 31, 1959 Robert Holmes (guitarist for 'Til Tuesday) is born in England.

March 27, 1959 Keyboard player Andrew Farriss, who forms INXS along with his brothers, Tim and Jon, is born in Perth, Western Australia. He and lead singer Michael Hutchence team up to write most of the group's songs.

March 23, 1959 Kevin Godfrey is born in Surrey, England. Taking the name "Epic Soundtracks," he forms the group Swell Maps and plays drums in Crime & the City Solution and These Immortal Souls.

March 17, 1959 Mike Lindup (keyboardist, singer for Level 42) is born in London, England.

March 16, 1959 Flavor Flav is born William Jonathan Drayton, Jr. He becomes a rapper with Public Enemy and also a reality TV star.

February 27, 1959 Johnny Van Zant is born in Jacksonville, Flordia. He performs and records with the Johnny Van Zant Band and as a solo artist, but is best known for succeeding his deceased brother Ronnie Van Zant as frontman for Lynyrd Skynyrd in 1987.

February 27, 1959 Jerry Lee Lewis and his third wife (and first cousin once removed) Myra have a son, Steve Allen Lewis, who is named after the TV host. The boy dies in a swimming pool accident three years later.

February 25, 1959 Mike Peters (lead singer for The Alarm) is born in Prestatyn, Wales.

February 15, 1959 Ali Campbell (lead singer of UB40) is born in Birmingham, England, to Scottish folk singer Ian Campbell.

February 10, 1959 Country singer Lionel Cartwright is born in Gallipolis, Ohio, but is raised in Glen Dale, West Virginia.

February 7, 1959 Brian Travers (saxophonist for UB40) is born in Birmingham, England.

February 3, 1959 Laurence "Lol" Tolhurst of The Cure is born in Horley, Surrey, England. A founding member, he starts out on drums, then moves to keyboards before he is sacked by Robert Smith in 1989.

January 30, 1959 Jody Watley is born in Chicago, Illinois.

January 23, 1959 Earl Falconer (bass player for UB40) is born in Meriden, Warwickshire, England.

January 16, 1959 Sade is born Helen Folasade Adu in Ibadan, Nigeria. She moves to England with her mother when she's 4, and after studying fashion design in London, she forms the band Sade in 1982. Their first album, Diamond Life, is released in 1984 and includes the hit "Smooth Operator."

January 14, 1959 Geoff Tate (lead singer for Queensryche) is born in Stuttgart, West Germany.

January 14, 1959 Chas Smash (of Madness) is born Cathal Joseph Smyth in London, England.

January 12, 1959 Per Gessle of Roxette is born in Sweden.

January 6, 1959 Kathy Sledge (of Sister Sledge) rounds out the R&B group when she's born the youngest of the five sisters in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

January 6, 1959 Neil Simpson (bass player for Climax Blues Band) is born in Stoke-on-Trent, England. At age four, he receives a toy guitar featuring a picture of The Beatles.

December 23, 1958 Folk rocker Victoria Williams, known for "Crazy Mary" and "Century Plant," is born in Shreveport, Louisiana.

December 19, 1958 Pop singer Limahl (lead singer of Kajagoogoo) is born Christopher Hamill in Pemberton, Wigan, England.

December 17, 1958 Mike Mills (bassist, keyboardist for R.E.M.) is born in Orange County, California. He meets future bandmate Bill Berry when he moves to Macon, Georgia, at age 10.