Calendar Search Results: take it o
March 15, 1955 Dee Snider (lead singer of Twisted Sister) is born in Astoria, Queens, New York.More
October 2, 1954 Elvis Presley makes his one and only appearance at the Grand Ole Opry, where he sings "Blue Moon Of Kentucky." It doesn't go over well with the crowd, which does not approve of his take on traditional country music. The Opry's talent director, Jim Denny, reportedly tells Presley he should go back to driving a truck. Elvis swears never to return.
March 21, 1952 Cleveland stakes a claim on rock history when the Moondog Coronation Ball is held at the Cleveland Arena. Organized by the WJW DJ Alan Freed ("Moondog" on the air), it is widely considered the first rock concert. It may also be one of the shortest, as it is shut down after one song.More
October 2, 1951 Sting is born Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner in Wallsend, Northumberland, England. He earns his nickname when a fellow musician says he looks like a bee in his yellow-and-black striped sweater. He is working as a schoolteacher when his band The Police hit the big time.More
May 9, 1949 Billy Joel is born in The Bronx, New York, raised in Hicksville on Long Island.More
October 9, 1948 Jackson Browne is born Clyde Jackson Browne in Heidelberg, Germany, where his American serviceman father is stationed. After doing time in the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and as a staff songwriter, he releases his first album in 1972, the same year the Eagles land their first hit with "Take It Easy," co-written by Browne.
January 8, 1947 David Jones is born in London. At age 18, he changes his name to David Bowie (after the Bowie knife) to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of The Monkees.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
December 25, 1946 Jimmy Buffett is born in Pascagoula, Mississippi. He's raised in Mobile, Alabama, but his true home will always be in "Margaritaville."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
May 24, 1944 Patti LaBelle is born Patricia Louise Holt in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She leads the vocal group Patti LaBelle And The Blue Belles, which evolves into the R&B trio Labelle of "Lady Marmalade" fame. Her solo career takes off in the '80s with hit singles like "New Attitude" and "On My Own."
January 27, 1944 The Siege of Leningrad ends, a harsh military operation undertaken by Germany under Hitler's command to attempt to seize the Russian city. The Decemberists would later commemorate this event with their song "When The War Came."
September 6, 1943 Roger Waters of Pink Floyd is born George Roger Waters in Great Bookham, Surrey, England. A founding member of the group, he takes creative control starting with their 1979 masterpiece The Wall, alienating his bandmates along the way. He leaves in 1985 and is gobsmacked when they soldier on without him, led by David Gilmour.
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
June 5, 1942 Capitol Records' first recording session takes place when "The General Jumped at Dawn" by Paul Whiteman's New Yorker Hotel Orchestra is recorded at Radio Recorders Studio in Los Angeles. The record flops, but Capitol soon becomes the most successful record company of the era.
February 28, 1942 Big Band orchestra music is huge, and Glenn Miller is king. His song "Moonlight Cocktail" takes the #1 spot on the Billboard tally, where it stays for 10 weeks.
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
August 14, 1941 David Crosby is born in Los Angeles. With The Byrds, he takes folk-rock to new heights; with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, he sets new standards in harmony vocals. Along the way, he has lots of (mostly drug-related mishaps) and in 1986 does five months in prison.
January 18, 1941 David Ruffin (of The Temptations) is born in Meridian, Mississippi. He takes the lead on the hits "My Girl" and "Ain't Too Proud To Beg."
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
September 15, 1938 Motown songwriter Sylvia Moy ("Uptight (Everything's Alright)," "It Takes Two") is born in Detroit.
January 16, 1938 Clarinetist Benny Goodman, who many call an improvisational genius, breaks through cultural barriers to play the first-ever jazz concert at Carnegie Hall.More
September 26, 1937 Bessie Smith dies of severe injuries she sustained in a late-night car accident near Clarksdale, Mississippi, at age 43. The story goes that she was refused admission to a whites-only hospital, and she bled to death. In actuality, two ambulances showed up at the scene - one for the white hospital, one for the black hospital - and being in the Deep South during segregation, she was taken to the latter, where her arm was amputated before she died. Had she been taken to the white hospital, however, she would not have been treated.
March 22, 1936 Roger Whittaker is born in Nairobi, British Kenya.
October 12, 1935 Sam Moore is born Samuel Hicks in Miami, Florida. He takes the last name of his stepfather, Charlie Moore, and forms the duo Sam & Dave with Dave Prater. Their big hits are "Soul Man," "I Thank You" and "Hold On, I'm Comin'."
September 8, 1934 Country singer Bill Parsons is born in Crossville, Tennessee. Known for his association with Bobby Bare, who was the real voice on the 1959 hit "The All American Boy," which was mistakenly credited to co-writer Parsons.
February 12, 1924 The "Experiment In Modern Music" concert takes place at Aeolian Hall in New York, where a sold out crowd checks out a relatively new music called Jazz. George Gershwin's "Rhapsody in Blue" is performed in public for the first time at the show with Gershwin performing on piano with the orchestra.
April 3, 1922 Actress and singer Doris Day is born Doris Mary Ann Kappelhoff in Cincinnati, Ohio. She turns to singing when a car accident wrecks her dreams of becoming a professional dancer.More
December 12, 1915 Frank Sinatra is born Francis Albert Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey.More
January 25, 1915 Folk singer Ewan MacColl is born James Henry Miller in London. In 1957 he takes an hour to write "First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" for a play his mistress is appearing in and, 15 years later, it becomes a #1 hit for Roberta Flack.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC