November 17, 1966 Jeff Buckley, known as Scott "Scottie" Moorhead to his family, is born in Los Angeles, California.More
July 1, 1966 Bob Dylan releases the "thin, wild mercury" sound of Blonde on Blonde, rock's first double album. Minds are blown.More
July 25, 1965 Dylan plugs in! At the Newport Folk Festival, Bob Dylan plays an electric set for the first time, horrifying folkies everywhere.More
May 26, 1964 Lenny Kravitz is born in Manhattan, New York, to The Jeffersons actress Roxie Roker and TV executive Sy Kravitz. He releases his debut album, Let Love Rule, in 1989.More
May 17, 1963 The very first Monterey Folk Festival begins at the Monterey Fairgrounds in California. Over the weekend, Bob Dylan makes his first West Coast performance, Jerry Garcia's band wins an amateur competition, and Janis Joplin draws a crowd on the second stage.More
May 10, 1960 Paul Hewson is born in Dublin. He shortens his nickname from Bono Vox (Latin for "good voice") to simply Bono and fronts the band U2.More
May 4, 1959 The very first Grammy Awards are held in Los Angeles, with Record of the Year going to Domenico Modugno's "Nel Blu, Dipinto di Blu (Volare)" and Henry Mancini's The Music From Peter Gunn soundtrack winning Album of the Year. The Champs' "Tequila," for some reason, takes home Best Rhythm and Blues Performance.
September 12, 1957 Hans Zimmer is born in Frankfurt, Germany. Known for his innovative style of combining electronic and traditional instrumentation, he becomes one of the most sought-after film composers in Hollywood. He lands his breakthrough gig with the 1988 movie Rain Man, starring Tom Cruise and Dustin Hoffman, and writes the music on a Fairlight digital synthesizer. He goes on to score hit movies like Gladiator (2000), The Dark Knight (2008), The Lion King (1994), and Dune (2021), with the latter two earning him his first Academy Award wins for Best Original Score.More
November 12, 1951 The musical Paint Your Wagon opens at the Shubert Theater, New York City. In 1969, it's turned into a movie musical starring Clint Eastwood and Lee Marvin.
October 7, 1951 John Mellencamp is born in Seymour, Indiana. He has Spina bifida, but survives thanks to an experimental surgery performed at Riley Children's Hospital in Indianapolis.More
December 30, 1946 Punk rock icon Patti Smith is born in Chicago. Never all that popular (her big hit is a reworking of "Because The Night," written by Bruce Springsteen), she's one of the most influential singer-songwriter-poets of her time.More
September 5, 1946 Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is born as Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar (a set of islands off the coast of Africa).More
June 17, 1943 Barry Manilow is born Barry Alan Pincus in Brooklyn, New York. Despite never wanting to be an entertainer, he becomes one of the best-selling artists in the world as a famous soft-rock balladeer.More
March 25, 1942 Aretha Franklin is born in Memphis, Tennessee. More
February 9, 1942 Carole King is born Carol Joan Klein in Manhattan, New York City. She meets husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin while attending Queens College.More
February 20, 1941 Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is born. According to her birth certificate, she's born Beverly Jean Santamaria in Stoneham, Massachusetts, but she claims to be Native-Canadian, born Beverly Sainte-Marie in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan and adopted by a couple in Stoneham.More
November 10, 1938 On her radio show, Kate Smith sings the Irving Berlin song "God Bless America" for the first time, introducing it to the country. Berlin composed the song for a 1918 musical he wrote, but decided not to use it.More
March 19, 1919 Jazz music plays throughout New Orleans after a serial killer threatens to murder anyone not listening to it.More
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