Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

February 6, 1950 Natalie Cole is born in Los Angeles, California, to crooner Nat King Cole and former Duke Ellington Orchestra singer Maria Hawkins Cole.

February 1, 1950 Mike Campbell (lead guitarist for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers) is born in Panama City, Florida.

January 25, 1950 Michael Cotten (of The Tubes) is born in Kansas City, Missouri.

January 23, 1950 Bill Cunningham (original bass guitarist/keyboardist for The Box Tops) is born in Memphis, Tennessee.

January 23, 1950 Danny Federici (organist, accordionist for Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band) is born in Flemington, New Jersey.

January 21, 1950 Billy Ocean is born Leslie Sebastian Charles in Trinidad and Tobago. At age 10 he moves to London with his family. He first charts in 1976 with "Love Really Hurts Without You," but he really breaks through with "Caribbean Queen (No More Love On The Run)" in 1984, kicking off a run of hits that includes "There'll Be Sad Songs (To Make You Cry)" and "When The Going Gets Tough, The Tough Get Going."

January 16, 1950 Damo Suzuki (lead singer of the German band Can) is born Kenji Suzuki in Japan.

January 13, 1950 Jinx Dawson, practitioner of the dark arts and frontwoman of the metal band Coven, is born in Indianapolis, Indiana.More

January 9, 1950 David Johansen, lead singer of New York Dolls, is born in Staten Island, New York.

January 5, 1950 Chris Stein (guitarist for Blondie) is born in Brooklyn, New York.

January 1, 1950 Morgan Fisher (keyboardist for Mott The Hoople) is born Stephen Morgan Fisher in Mayfair, London, England.

December 23, 1949 Adrian Belew is born Robert Steven Belew in Covington, Kentucky. The guitarist plays with Frank Zappa, David Bowie, Talking Heads, Tom Tom Club, King Crimson, Paul Simon, Nine Inch Nails, Primus, and William Shatner.

December 17, 1949 Paul Rodgers, lead singer and lyricist of Free and Bad Company, is born in Middlesbrough, England.

December 16, 1949 Billy Gibbons (guitarist, lead vocalist of ZZ Top) is born in Houston, Texas.

December 14, 1949 Cliff Williams (bassist for AC/DC) is born in Romford, Essex, England.

December 13, 1949 Tom Verlaine (frontman for Television) is born Thomas Miller in Denville, New Jersey.

December 13, 1949 Randy Owen (lead singer for Alabama) is born in Fort Payne, Alabama.

December 8, 1949 Ray Shulman (of Gentle Giant) is born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England.

December 7, 1949 Tom Waits is born in Pomona, California.

December 3, 1949 Mickey Thomas (Jefferson Starship singer) is born in Cairo, Georgia.

December 3, 1949 Nicky Stevens (Brotherhood of Man vocalist) is born Helen Thomas in Carmarthen, Wales.

November 28, 1949 Paul Shaffer is born in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada. The multi-instrumentalist finds fame as a bandleader on the Late Show with David Letterman.

November 21, 1949 Drummer Randy Zehringer, brother of The McCoys' guitarist Rick Derringer, is born in Celina, Ohio.

November 18, 1949 Herman Rarebell (drummer for the Scorpions) is born in Schmelz, Germany.

November 16, 1949 Pattie Santos (It's a Beautiful Day vocalist) is born in San Francisco, California.

November 15, 1949 Steve Fossen (bassist, percussionist for Heart) is born.

November 14, 1949 Styx guitarist James Young is born in the Chicago suburb of Western Springs, Illinois.

November 13, 1949 Rocker Terry Reid is born in Huntingdon, England. Known for '60s songs like "Better By Far" and The Hollies' "A Man With No Expression," which he wrote with Graham Nash (later recorded by Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young as "Horses Through a Rainstorm").

November 13, 1949 Roger Steen (guitarist for The Tubes) is born in Pipestone, Minnesota.

November 8, 1949 Bonnie Raitt is born in Burbank, California. She becomes a headline act in the '70s but ebbs in the '80s until a remarkable resurgence with her 1989 album Nick Of Time, which wins four Grammy Awards and goes to #1 in America.