Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

January 20, 1952 Paul Stanley of Kiss is born Stanley Harvey Eisen in Queens, New York.

January 20, 1952 Judas Priest bass player Ian Hill is born in West Bromwich, England.

January 19, 1952 Dewey Bunnell (of America) is born in Harrogate, Yorkshire, England.

January 15, 1952 Cellist Melvyn Gale (of Electric Light Orchestra) is born in London, England.

December 31, 1951 Tom Hamilton (bass player for Aerosmith) is born in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He co-writes the hits "Janie's Got A Gun" and "Sweet Emotion."

December 31, 1951 Fermin Goytisolo (percussionist for KC and the Sunshine Band) is born in Cuba.

December 30, 1951 Chris Jasper (of The Isley Brothers) is born in Cincinnati, Ohio.

December 29, 1951 Broadway singer Yvonne Elliman is born in Honolulu, Hawaii.

December 27, 1951 Folk rocker Karla Bonoff is born in Santa Monica, California. Linda Ronstadt covered several of her songs for the 1976 album Hasten Down The Wind, including "All My Life, a popular duet with Aaron Neville.

December 26, 1951 Paul Quinn (guitarist for Saxon) is born in Barnsley, West Riding of Yorkshire, England.

December 23, 1951 Johnny Contardo (of Sha Na Na) is born in Boston, Massachusetts.

December 21, 1951 Nick Gilder is born in London, England, but will be raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

December 17, 1951 Wanda Hutchinson (of The Emotions) is born in Chicago, Illinois.

December 10, 1951 Country singer Johnny Rodriguez is born Juan Raul Davis Rodriguez in Sabinal, Texas. Among other hits, reached #5 on the country charts with a cover of the Eagles' "Desperado."

December 4, 1951 Gary Rossington is born in Jacksonville, Florida. He becomes a founding member and guitarist of both Lynyrd Skynyrd and the Rossington-Collins Band. Rossington is inducted into the Rock and Hall of Fame in 2006 as a member of Lynyrd Skynyrd.

December 1, 1951 Jaco Pastorius (bassist for Weather Report) is born in Norristown, Pennsylvania.

November 29, 1951 Rock guitarist Barry Goudreau (of Boston) is born in Boston, Massachusetts.

November 14, 1951 Singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop is born Earl Stephen Bishop in San Diego, California.

November 14, 1951 Alec John Such, Bon Jovi's bass player from their founding in 1983 until his departure in 1994, is born in Yonkers, New York.

November 13, 1951 Bill Gibson (drummer for Huey Lewis & the News) is born in Sacramento, California.

November 1, 1951 Ronald Bell, the musical director for Kool & the Gang who plays a variety of instruments in the group, is born in Youngstown, Ohio. He forms the band with his older brother, Robert "Kool" Bell.

October 27, 1951 Kenneth "K.K." Downing (guitarist for Judas Priest) is born in West Bromwich, England.

October 26, 1951 Bass player Bootsy Collins is born William Earl Collins in Cincinnati, Ohio. He rises to prominence as a member of James Brown's backing band from 1969-1971, then joins Parliament-Funkadelic, where he writes songs with George Clinton and comes up with otherworldly bass grooves that forge the sound of funk.

October 20, 1951 Al Greenwood (keyboardist for Foreigner) is born in New York.

October 15, 1951 Frank DiMino (lead singer for Angel) is born in Washington, D.C.

October 6, 1951 Kevin Cronin (lead vocalist for REO Speedwagon) is born in Evanston, Illinois.

October 6, 1951 Gavin Sutherland (bassist/vocalist for The Sutherland Brothers) is born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire, Scotland.

October 5, 1951 Sir Bob Geldof (lead singer for The Boomtown Rats) is born in Dún Laoghaire, Ireland.

September 22, 1951 David Coverdale is born in Saltburn-by-the-Sea, Redcar and Cleveland, England. After fronting Deep Purple from 1973-1976, he forms his own band, Whitesnake, in 1978.

September 19, 1951 Record producer/musician Daniel Lanois is born in Hull, Quebec. Produced albums for an array of artists, including Bob Dylan, Peter Gabriel, Neil Young, and Emmylou Harris, and for bands like U2 (notably The Joshua Tree).