Calendar Search Results: i he w
September 17, 1926 Rock 'n Roller Bill Black is born in Memphis, Tennessee. He would later play slap bass in Elvis Presley's early trio, The Blue Moon Boys, before fronting his own Bill Black's Combo.
September 9, 1926 The Radio Corporation of America, later known as RCA, launches its new radio network, the National Broadcasting Company (later known as NBC).
August 5, 1926 Jazz singer/pianist Jeri Southern is born Genevieve Hering in Royal, Nebraska. Known for the 1957 hit "Fire Down Below."
August 3, 1926 Tony Bennett is born Anthony Dominick Benedetto in Astoria, Queens, New York. In 1962, he will perform "I Left My Heart in San Francisco" for the first time, and it becomes his signature song.
July 14, 1926 Lowman "Pete" Pauling (songwriter, guitarist for The 5 Royales) is born in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
June 21, 1926 '50s pop singer Nick Noble, known for "The Tip Of My Fingers" and "Moonlight Swim," is born Nicholas Valkan in Chicago, Illinois.
March 14, 1926 Phil Phillips is born Philip Baptiste in Lake Charles, Louisiana.
February 26, 1926 Louis Armstrong introduces scat singing when he records "Heebie Jeebies." As Armstrong tells it, he improvised his vocals when his lyric sheet fell off the stand.
January 3, 1926 Beatles producer George Martin is born in London. He signs the group to EMI in 1962 and his expertise as an arranger helps shape the band's unique sound. Upon Martin's death in 2016, Paul McCartney states: "If anyone earned the title of the fifth Beatle it was George."
January 2, 1926 The first edition of the legendary British music magazine Melody Maker is published, promising news and information for "all who are interested in the production of popular music."
December 13, 1925 Actor/entertainer Dick Van Dyke is born in West Plains, Missouri, but grows up in Danville, Illinois. He stars and sings in the hit musicals Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, featuring the famous title song.
December 8, 1925 Sammy Davis, Jr. is born in New York City. By the age of 3, he is a vaudeville performer alongside his father in the Will Mastin Trio. An all-around entertainer, he excels as a singer, actor and comedian, often performing with Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin as part of The Rat Pack. His most famous song is "The Candy Man," a #1 hit in 1972.
December 3, 1925 George Gershwin premieres his "Concerto In F," the first jazz concerto for piano and orchestra, at New York City's Carnegie Hall. Gershwin is also the featured soloist on flugelhorn.
November 28, 1925 The "WSM Barn Dance" debuts on the Nashville radio station WSM. Two years later, the show is rechristened "The Grand Ole Opry."
November 27, 1925 Folk musician Derroll Adams is born in Portland, Oregon. He meets fellow folkie Ramblin' Jack Elliott while busking in Los Angeles, and the two begin playing together. They release their debut album, The Rambling Boys, in 1957.
November 24, 1925 Al Cohn, jazz saxophonist, composer, and arranger, is born in Brooklyn, New York. Known for his work with clarinetist Woody Herman and fellow sax player Zoot Sims.
November 20, 1925 Jazz singer June Christy is born Shirley Luster in Springfield, Illinois. She would start her career as vocalist for Stan Kenton's Orchestra, garnering hits like "Shoo Fly Pie and Apple Pan Dowdy," "Tampico," and "How High the Moon" before going solo.
October 29, 1925 Jazz saxophonist Zoot Sims, who came up under Woody Herman's big band, is born in Inglewood, California.
October 29, 1925 Israeli songwriter Haim Hefer is born Haim Feiner in Sosnowiec, Poland.
October 22, 1925 Singer-songwriter Dory Previn is born Dorothy Langan in New Jersey. She writes the lyrics to many movie song compositions from her second husband, André Previn.
October 20, 1925 Tom Dowd is born in New York City. After giving up a career in nuclear physics, he becomes a top producer, able to coax sounds out of many famous artists with his technical expertise and agreeable personality. His production credits include Idlewild South by The Allman Brothers and 461 Ocean Boulevard by Eric Clapton.
September 16, 1925 Guitarist Charlie Byrd is born in Suffolk, Virginia. He helps bring bossa nova to America with his 1962 album, Jazz Samba, a collaboration with Stan Getz.
September 13, 1925 Jazz singer Mel Tormé, aka The Velvet Fog, is born in Chicago, Illinois. He would begin his professonal music career at age 4, singing "You're Driving Me Crazy" with the Coon-Sanders Original Nighthawk Orchestra.
September 2, 1925 Pianist Russ Conway is born Trevor Herbert Stanford in Bristol, England. Known for hit instrumental singles like "Side Saddle" and "Roulette," both released in 1959.
August 28, 1925 Song-and-dance man Donald O'Connor is born in Chicago, Illinois. Known for starring in Singin' in the Rain with Gene Kelly.
August 7, 1925 Songwriter Felice Bryant is born Matilda Genevieve Scaduto in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Co-wrote hit songs with husband Boudleaux Bryant, including the widely covered hit "Love Hurts."
July 25, 1925 William "Benny" Benjamin (drummer for the Motown house band, The Funk Brothers) is born in Mobile, Alabama.
July 16, 1925 Latin jazz musician Cal Tjader is born in St. Louis, Missouri. His parents are Swedish American vaudevillians who eventually settle in San Mateo, California, when Cal is 2 years old. At 16, he wins a Gene Krupa drum solo contest with "Drum Boogie."
July 16, 1925 Nat Pierce, pianist and arranger for the Woody Herman band in the '50s, is born Somerville, Massachusetts.
July 9, 1925 Fifties pop singer Alan Dale ("(The Gang that Sang) Heart of My Heart") is born Aldo Sigismondi in Brooklyn, New York City.
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