Calendar Search Results: i he w
March 11, 1914 Art Todd is born in Baltimore, Maryland. Billed as Art and Dotty Todd, he forms a singing duo with wife Dotty in the '50s.
February 13, 1914 ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, is formed in New York City.
February 12, 1914 Saxophonist Tex Beneke, who solos on the Glenn Miller Orchestra's "In The Mood," is born in Fort Worth, Texas.
February 11, 1914 Matt Dennis is born in Seattle, Washington. Among many other tunes, he composes the pop standard "Everything Happens to Me," first recorded by the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra featuring Frank Sinatra.
December 25, 1913 Singer/actor Tony Martin is born Alvin Morris in San Francisco, California. A steady presence on the pop charts throughout the '40s and '50s, his biggest hits are 1940's "It's a Blue World" (#2) and 1949's "There's No Tomorrow" (#2).
December 1, 1913 Broadway performer Mary Martin, star of the original productions of The Sound of Music and South Pacific, is born in Weatherford, Texas.
October 26, 1913 Jazz saxophonist Charlie Barnet is born in New York City. Known for a hit rendition of "Cherokee" and the 1944 swing hit "Skyliner."
August 23, 1913 Bob Crosby, Dixieland bandleader and swing singer (of the Bob-Cats), is born in Spokane, Washington. He is one of seven siblings, one of them another famous entertainer: Bing Crosby.
July 5, 1913 R&B singer and guitarist Smiley Lewis, known for the 1955 hit "I Hear You Knocking," is born Overton Amos Lemons in DeQuincy, Louisiana.
June 22, 1913 Pop singer Dotty Todd is born Doris Dabb in Elizabeth, New Jersey. She and her husband will form the '50s singing duo Art and Dotty Todd, known for the UK hits "Broken Wings" and "Chanson D'Amour."
April 26, 1913 13-year-old Mary Phagan is found murdered in the basement of a pencil factory in Atlanta, Georgia. Her death inspires the song "Little Mary Phagan."
January 26, 1913 Composer Jimmy Van Heusen, who teams with lyricist Sammy Cahn to write a number of hits, including "Come Fly With Me" for Frank Sinatra, is born Edward Chester Babcock in Syracuse, New York.
December 31, 1912 Twelve-year-old Louis Armstrong fires his stepfather's pistol during a New Year's Eve celebration and is sent to the New Orleans Home for Colored Waifs, where his musical training begins. He joins the band and takes up cornet, astounding instructors by learning solo on "High Society."
December 5, 1912 Blues legend Sonny Boy Williamson, author of "Eyesight To The Blind" and "One Way Out," is born Alex "Rice" Miller in Tallahatchie County, Mississippi. This is the date he claims he was born, but his headstone (erected 12 years after his death) reads March 11, 1908. He became Sonny Boy Williamson after impersonating another blues musician with that name, and is often referred to as Sonny Boy Williamson II so they don't get mixed up.
November 24, 1912 Jazz pianist Teddy Wilson is born in Austin, Texas. He works with a host of influential performers, including Billie Holiday, Louis Armstrong, and Lena Horne.
October 31, 1912 Western singer-songwriter Dale Evans is born Lucille Wood Smith (changed to Frances Octavia Smith soon after) in Uvalde, Texas. She meets screen partner Roy Rogers in 1944 and the pair marry in 1947.
October 25, 1912 Country comedian and Hee Haw regular Minnie Pearl is born Sarah Ophelia Colley Cannon in Centerville, Hickman County, Tennessee.
July 17, 1912 20-year-old Dorothy Goetz, the first wife of Irving Berlin, dies of typhoid fever in New York. They had been married less than 6 months. Berlin writes his first ballad: "When I Lost You."
July 14, 1912 Woody Guthrie is born in Okemah, Oklahoma. He writes thousands of songs, many that remain unrecorded as lyric sheets in the Guthrie Archives.
July 5, 1912 Prolific songwriter Mack David, known for his work on Disney films such as Cinderella and Alice In Wonderland, is born in New York City. His younger brother is songwriter Hal David, known for his collaborations with Burt Bacharach.
April 2, 1912 Jazz singer Herbert Mills (of The Mills Brothers) is born in Piqua, Ohio.
March 24, 1912 Novelty singer Nervous Norvus (Jim Drake) is born in Memphis. He has a hit with "Transfusion" in 1956.
February 2, 1912 Burton Lane, known for composing the music for the Broadway productions of Finian's Rainbow (1947) and On A Clear Day You Can See Forever (1965), is born Morris Hyman Kushner in New York City.
October 19, 1911 George Cates, known as the music director for the long-running Lawrence Welk Show, is born in New York City.
October 7, 1911 Jazz drummer "Papa" Jo Jones is born Jonathan David Samuel Jones in Chicago, Illinois. He was a member of Count Basie's Orchestra from 1934-1948.
July 31, 1911 George Liberace, violinist and elder brother to the mononymous entertainer Liberace, is born in Menasha, Wisconsin.
July 16, 1911 Ginger Rogers is born Virginia Katherine McMath in Independence, Missouri. She begins her partnership with Fred Astaire in the 1933 RKO musical Flying Down to Rio.
July 6, 1911 Contralto singer LaVerne Sophia Andrews (firstborn of The Andrews Sisters) is born in Mound, Minnesota.
July 4, 1911 Mitch Miller, an influential A&R executive at Columbia Records throughout the '50s and '60s, is born in Rochester, New York. Signed Aretha Franklin to her first record deal.
June 29, 1911 Bernard Herrmann, a film composer who often collaborated with Alfred Hitchcock, is born Max Herman in New York City.
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