November 24, 1924 Eileen Barton is born in Brooklyn, New York, to two vaudeville performers. Known for her 1950 hit "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake."
August 14, 1924 Lyricist Lee Adams is born in Mansfield, Ohio. Known for his work with composer Charles Strouse, particularly Bye Bye Birdie.
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 5, 1923 Joe Oliver and King Oliver's Creole Jazz Band, featuring a young Louis Armstrong, make the first jazz recordings by an African American band at Gennett Records in rural Richmond, Indiana.More
January 31, 1923 Broadway and film star Carol Channing is born in Seattle, Washington. Her breakout role comes in 1949 when she plays Lorelei Lee in the Broadway production of Gentlemen Prefer Blondes and introduces the popular tune "Diamonds Are a Girl's Best Friend."
December 5, 1922 Songwriter Don Robertson is born in Beijing, China. Aside from his own 1956 hit, "The Happy Whistler," he penned songs for several artists, including Elvis Presley ("Anything That's Part of You," "Love Me Tonight," among others), The Chordettes ("Born to Be with You") and Les Paul and Mary Ford ("Hummingbird").
October 7, 1922 Actress Martha Stewart (not to be confused with the TV personality Martha Stewart) is born Martha Haworth in Bardwell, Kentucky, but would be raised in Brooklyn, New York.
July 27, 1922 Record producer Bob Thiele is born in New York City. Co-wrote Louis Armstrong's "What a Wonderful World" under the pseudonym George Douglas.
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 28, 1921 Johnny Otis is born Ioannis Alexandres Veliotes in Vallejo, California. A singer and songwriter in his own right, he also works as a talent scout and discovers several artists, including Etta James and "Hound Dog" singer Big Mama Thornton.
December 15, 1921 Alan Freed is born in Johnstown, Pennsylvania. At the Cleveland radio station WJW, he becomes the first white disc jockey to play upbeat rhythm and blues records north of the Mason Dixon line. At the time, they are called "race" records, but Freed calls the music "rock and roll." Freed attracts a large following on WJW, and his late-night radio show, the Moondog Rock 'n' Roll Party, helps increase the popularity of rhythm and blues and makes Cleveland a trendsetter in Midwestern pop culture.
September 21, 1921 Jimmy Young is born in Cinderford, Gloucestershire, England. Before becoming a successful BBC Radio 1 broadcaster, he records a string of pop hits, including "Too Young" in 1951.
August 6, 1921 Jazz/Blues musician Buddy Collette (tenor saxophonist, flautist, and clarinetist) is born in Los Angeles, California. He became a founding member of Chico Hamilton's quintet.
August 4, 1921 Jazz guitarist Herb Ellis is born in Farmersville, Texas. Along with drummer Buddy Rich, he was part of the backing band for comeback albums by Louis Armstrong and Ella Fitzgerald.
July 24, 1921 Jazz pianist and composer Billy Taylor is born in Greenville, North Carolina. He penned the unofficial civil rights anthem "I Wish I Knew How It Would Feel to Be Free" in 1963.
June 1, 1921 Nelson Riddle is born in Oradell, New Jersey. He'll become famous as the orchestrator and arranger behind countless hits for Capitol Records artists like Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Dean Martin, Peggy Lee, and - decades later - Linda Ronstadt.
May 25, 1921 Lyricist Hal David, frequent collaborator of Burt Bacharach, is born in New York City.
April 12, 1921 Chicago blues musician Shakey Jake Harris is born James D. Harris in Earle, Arkansas, but would be raised in Chicago, Illinois. A professional gambler, he borrows his nickname from the dice players' expression "shake 'em."
December 14, 1920 Swing trumpeter Clark Terry is born in St. Louis, Missouri. One of the most recorded jazz musicians, he would play with the likes of Charlie Barnet, Count Basie, Duke Ellington and Quincy Jones.
November 2, 1920 KDKA in Pittsburgh becomes the first commercially licensed radio station in the United States. They are not the first station on the air, but the first to get the broadcast license. With consumers unsure of the benefits of radio, the station announces results of the Harding-Cox presidential election, getting the news to those with a radio much faster than everyone who had to wait for the morning paper.
July 27, 1920 Henry D. "Homer" Haynes (of the country music parody duo Homer and Jethro) is born near Knoxville, Tennessee.
October 17, 1919 The Radio Corporation of America, soon to be simply known as RCA, is founded by General Electric as a publicly held monopoly, much the same way "the phone company" was originally envisioned.
March 19, 1919 Jazz music plays throughout New Orleans after a serial killer threatens to murder anyone not listening to it.More
April 11, 1918 Jazz bassist Jimmy Lewis is born in Nashville, Tennessee. Known for working with the Count Basie Orchestra, Duke Ellington, Billie Holiday, Sam Cooke, and King Curtis, among others.
January 27, 1918 Lyle "Skitch" Henderson is born on a farm near Halstad, Minnesota. As a pianist and composer, he will work with the likes of Judy Garland, Frank Sinatra, and Bing Crosby.
October 10, 1917 Jazz pianist/composer Thelonious Monk is born in Rocky Mount, North Carolina. Composed many jazz standards, including "Round Midnight," "Ruby, My Dear" and "Well, You Needn't," to name a few.
March 26, 1917 Funky soul singer Rufus Thomas, known for his recordings at Stax Records, is born in Mississippi.
January 10, 1917 Jerry Wexler is born in New York City. As a producer and executive with Atlantic Records, he plays a key role in the success of Aretha Franklin, Led Zeppelin and Wilson Pickett.
December 12, 1915 Frank Sinatra is born Francis Albert Sinatra in Hoboken, New Jersey.More
November 28, 1915 Jazz trumpeter Dick Vance is born in Mayfield, Kentucky, but will be raised in Cleveland, Ohio. He blows his horn for a number of prominent Big Bands, including Chick Webb's orchestra.
©2026 Songfacts®, LLC