January 30, 1956 Elvis Presley records "Blue Suede Shoes," "My Baby Left Me," "One-Sided Love Affair," and "So Glad You're Mine."
November 22, 1955 Elvis Presley sends a telegram to his new manager, Colonel Tom Parker, which reads: "Dear Colonel, Words can never tell you how my folks and I appreciate what you did for me. I've always known and now my folks are assured that you are the best, most wonderful person I could ever hope to work with. Believe me when I say I will stick with you through thick and thin and do everything I can to uphold your faith in me. Again, I say thanks and I love you like a father."
November 26, 1954 On tour, Elvis Presley sends a telegram to his parents: "Hi babies, here's the money to pay the bills, don't tell no one how much I sent I will send more next week. There is a card in the mail. Love Elvis."
February 26, 1953 Michael Bolton is born Michael Bolotin in New Haven, Connecticut. Before reaching soft-rock stardom, he fronts a hard-rock band called Blackjack.More
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
May 13, 1950 Stevie Wonder is born Stevland Morris in Saginaw, Michigan.More
June 20, 1949 Lionel Richie is born in Tuskegee, Alabama. He becomes a member of the Commodores before finding fame as a solo artist.More
June 15, 1949 Russell Hitchcock, lead singer of Air Supply, is born in Melbourne, Australia. The group has a string of soft-rock hits in the early '80s that includes "The One That You Love" and "Making Love Out Of Nothing At All."
September 5, 1946 Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is born as Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar (a set of islands off the coast of Africa).More
January 19, 1946 Dolly Parton is born in Sevier County, Tennessee, the fourth of 12 children. In 1967, she gets a big break when country star Porter Wagoner brings her on to co-host his popular TV variety show; Parton writes the song "I Will Always Love You," later a huge hit for Whitney Houston, as a heartfelt goodbye when she sets out on her own.
September 5, 1945 Boudleaux Bryant and Felice Scaduto get married. The couple become one of the most successful songwriting teams in pop music, with over 700 songs published, including "Wake Up Little Susie" and "Bye Bye Love."
January 3, 1945 Stephen Stills of Buffalo Springfield, and later, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, is born in Dallas, Texas. As a solo artist, he has a hit with his 1970 single "Love The One You're With."
December 27, 1944 Foreigner guitarist Mick Jones is born in Portsmouth, England. Along with lead singer Lou Gramm, he's the primary songwriter in the band, whose hits include "Juke Box Hero" and "I Want to Know What Love Is."
December 11, 1944 Brenda Lee is born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta, Georgia. Her small stature and big voice inspire the nickname "Little Miss Dynamite," which she lives up to by blowing up the charts with rockabilly bops ("Sweet Nothin's"), pop ballads ("I'm Sorry"), and Christmas tunes ("Rockin' Around The Christmas Tree") throughout the '60s.
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September 12, 1944 R&B singer Barry White is born Barry Eugene Carter in Galveston, Texas. He is raised in South Central Los Angeles.More
September 19, 1940 Singer/songwriter Paul Williams is born in Omaha, Nebraska. A TV fixture in the '70s and '80s, he also writes many popular songs, including Three Dog Night's "An Old Fashioned Love Song," the Carpenters' "We've Only Just Begun," and David Bowie's "Fill Your Heart."
April 26, 1940 Synthpop pioneer Giorgio Moroder is born in Italy. As Donna Summer's producer, he crafts a disco sound on hits like "I Feel Love" and "Bad Girls" that elevates her to queen of the genre. In the '80s he writes and produces the soundtrack hits "Flashdance... What a Feeling" and "Danger Zone."
October 2, 1939 Lolly Vegas (guitarist/vocalist for Redbone) is born Candido Vasquez in Coalinga, California. One of the biggest acts of Native American heritage, Redbone has a huge hit in 1974 with "Come and Get Your Love."
August 27, 1939 Operatic tenor Allan Jones records "I'm Falling In Love With Someone."
November 12, 1934 Charles Manson is born. Why is he on a music calendar? He wrote and recorded songs before he was imprisoned, including one called "Cease To Exist," which Dennis Wilson re-wrote for The Beach Boys as "Never Learn Not to Love."
May 12, 1929 Burt Bacharach is born in Kansas City, Missouri.More
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