JANUARY BIRTHDAYS and DEATHS: MUSICIAN BIRTHDATES, CELEBRITY DEATHS

January 1st..
1867: Lew Fields/Moses Schoenfeld (US vaudeville star, comedian, theatre manager)*20.July.1941..
1884: Oscar "Papa" Celestin (New Orleans jazz bandleader, trumpeter, singer.)*15.Dec.1954..
1892: Artur Rodzinski (Polish opera and symphonic conductor)*27.Nov.1958..
1894: Jasper Taylor (US drummer; Buffalo Bill's Wild West show/Original Washboard Band)*07.Nov.1964..
1900: Xavier Cugat (Spanish violinist, band leader; Latin-American dance music)*27.Oct.1990..
1908: Bill Tapia/Uncle Bill/Tappy (US jazz guitarist, banjo and ukulele player)*02.Dec.2011..
1906: Giovanni D'Anzi (Italian songwriter)*15.April.1974..
1907: Erich Schmid (Swiss composer; Tonhalle Orchestra)*17.Dec.2000..
1908: Bill Tapia (American singer, guitarist, ukulele)
1911: Roman Totenberg (Polish-American violinist, educator).
1919: Al McKibbon (American bass player; Giants of Jazz)*29.July.2005..
1919: Yoshio Tabata (Japanese singer)
1920: Antonio Virgilio Savona (Italian singer, composer, pianist; Quartetto Cetra)*27.Aug.2009..
1922: Roza Baglanova (Soviet-Kazakh soprano opera, popular music singer)*08.Feb.2011..
1923: Milt Jackson (US vibraphonist)*09.Oct.1999..
1926: Richard Verreau (Canadian tenor)*07.July.2005..
1928: Fuat Mansurov (Russian conductor)*12.June.2010..
1931: Helmut Brandt (German baritone saxophonist)* 26.July.2001..
1931: Manny Oquendo (US jazz percussionist)*25.March.2009..
1932: Giuseppe Patanè (Italian opera conductor)*29.May.1989..
1933: Joseph Koo (Chinese composer)
1936: Sonny Greenwich (Canadian jazz guitarist)
1941: Frances Yip (Hong Kong singer)
1942: Judy Stone (Australian pop singer)
1942: Joe McDonald (US vocals, harmonica, guitar; Country Joe and the Fish)
1942: Yoshio Ikeda (Japanese bass player)
1946: Winston Riley (Jamaican reggae musician and producer)*19.Jan.2012.
1946: Susannah McCorkle (US jazz singer)*19.May.2001.
1947: Leonid Chizhik (Moldavian avant-garde jazz and post-bop pianist)
1947: Frances Yip (Hong Kong singer)
1949: Paula Tsui (Hong Kong cantopop singer)
1949: Daniel E Gawthrop (American composer)
1950: Morgan Fisher (UK keyboardist, producer, writer, artist; Mott the Hoople/Morgan/Solo).
1950: Steve Ripley (US singer, songwriter, studio engineer, guitarist, inventor; Tractors)
1951: Andy Gonzalez (US jazz bass player)
1952: Urs Leimgruber (Swiss tenor jazz saxophonist)
1953: Alpha Blondy/Seydou Koné (Ivorian reggae singer)
1953: Greg Carmichael (UK guitarist; Acoustic Alchemy)
1956: Ziad Rahbani (Lebanese composer)
1958: Ren Woods (US actress, singer)
1958: Grandmaster Flash/Joseph Saddler (DJ, rapper)
1958: David Wayne (American singer, Metal Church)*10.May.2005..
1961: Eiichi Hayashi (US alto saxophonist)
1961: Sergei Babayan (US classical pianist)
1963: Michael Hanson (Canadian; original drummer for Glass Tiger).
1966: Adam Paskowitz (US singer; The Flys)
1966: Amelia Fletcher (UK singer, guitarist; Talulah Gosh/Heavenly/Marine Research/Tender Trap)
1967: John Digweed (UK disc jockey and record producer)
1967: Tim Dog/Tim Blair (American rapper)
1968: Miki Higashino (Japanese composer)
1970: Fredro Starr/Fredro Scruggs (US rapper; Onyx)
1971: Phoebus/Evangelos-Phoebus Tassopoulos (Greek songwriter)
1971: Chris Potter (US alto saxophonist, multi-musician)
1972: Tom Barman (Belgian singer, guitar, film director; Belgium band dEUS)
1973: Magnus Sahlgren (Swedish guitarist: Lake of Tears)
1975: Thomas Bangalter (French keyboardist, film director; Daft Punk)
1975: Robert Westerholt (Dutch guitarist; Within Temptation)
1976: Jean Grae/Tsidi Ibrahim (South African rapper; The Roots)
1978: Tarik O'Regan (British composer)
1979: Brody Dalle (Australian guitarist; The Distillers)
1986: Lee Sung Min (Korean vocalist; boy band Super Junior)

January 2nd.
1905: Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE (English composer)*08.Jan.1998..
1925: Irina Arkhipova (Russian mezzo-soprano)*11.Feb.2010..
1930: Julius LaRosa (US singer)
1936: Roger Miller (US country singer)*25.Oct.1992..
1935: Neil Downing (Irish writer, delta blues musician).
1943: Baris Manço (Turkish singer, television producer)*31.Jan.1999..
1944: Péter Eötvös (Hungarian composer and conductor)
1946: Richard Cole (UK tour manager; Led Zeppelin/Eric Clapton/Black Sabbath/many others)
1946: Chick Churchill/Michael George Churchill (UK keyboards, Ten Years After).
1950: David Shifrin (American classical clarinetist).
1952: Graeme "Shirl" Strachan (Australian rock singer; Skyhooks)*29.Aug.2001..
1952: Christine Lavin (US folksinger-songwriter).
1954: Dawn Silva (US singer; The Brides of Funkenstein/P-Funk).
1954: Glenn Goins (singer, guitarist; Parliament/Quazar)*29.July.1978..
1955: Vivien Savage (French singer)
1958: Vladimir Ovchinnikov (Russian classical pianist).
1963: Keith Gregory (UK bassist; Wedding Present/Cha Cha Cohen)?
1967: Robert Gregory (UK drummer; Babybird)?
1970: Robert Fertitta (American opera singer).
1970: Eric Whitacre (US composer).
1970: Sanda Ladosi (Romanian singer).
1971: Renee Elise Goldsberry (American actress and singer).
1971: Skoob/Books/Willie Hines (hip-hop,rapper; Das EFX).
1972: Christopher Lennertz (US composer)
1975: Chris Cheney (Australian singer, guitarist; The Living End).
1975: Douglas Robb (US lead singer, guitars; Hoobastank).
1981: Kelton "LDB" Kessee (US singer; Immature).
1986: Troy Andrews aka Trombone Shorty (US trombone and trumpet player)
1985: Luis Beza (US trumpet player; Suburban Legends/sessionist).
1987: Syesha Mercado (US singer, actress)
1993: Tyler Rix (British classical saxophonist)

January 3rd.
1895: Borys Lyatoshynsky (Ukrainian composer, conductor, teacher)*15.April.1968.
1902: Preston Jackson/James Preston McDonald (American trombonist)*12.Nov.1983.
1909: Victor Borge (Danish pianist, humorist)*23.Dec.2000.
1916: Maxene Andrews (US high harmony singer; The Andrews Sisters)*21.Oct.1995.
1916: Bernard Greenhouse (US cellist; Beaux Arts Trio)*13.May.2011.
1919: Herbie Nichols (American jazz pianist, composer)*12.April.1963
1920: Renato Carosone (Italian jazz singer)*20.May.2001.
1921: Musa Kaleem (American tenor saxophonist)
1922: Ronald Smith (British pianist)*27.May.2004.
1922: Harold 'Geezil' Minerve (Cuban international freelance alto saxophonist)*04.June.1992.
1924: Nell Rankin (American opera singer)*13.Jan.2005.
1926: George Martin (UK producer; The Beatles/Humphrey Lyttleton many more)
1928: Al Belletto (US alto saxophonist)
1929: Ernst Mahle (Brazilian composer)
1936: Ray Goins (US bluegrass banjoist; Pine Fiddlers/Goins Brothers)*07.July.2007.
1938: Noel Crow (Australian bandleader, clarinetist)
1938: Ian Hunter-Randall (UK trumpeter)
1939: Gene Summers (US rock/rockabilly singer)
1939: Brian Smith (New Zealand-born flautist, saxophonist)
1941: Van Dyke Parks (US songwriter, producer, keyboards, piano; session player]
1944: David Atherton (British conductor)
1945: Stephen Stills (UK guitar, keyboards, bass; Crosby, Stills & Nash/Buffalo Springfield/freelance/solo)
1946: Motohiko Hino (Japanese international drummer; many sessions)*13.May.1999.
1946: John Paul Jones (UK bassist, keyboards; Led Zeppelin).
1954: Ross the Boss/Ross Funicello/Ross Friedman (US guitarist; The Dictators)
1955: Palmolive/Paloma Romero (Spanish born drummer; The Slits, The Raincoats)
1955: Helen O'Hara/Helen Bevington (Violin, Fiddle; Dexy's Midnight Runners/Whispers)
1964: Raymond McGinley (singer, songwriter, guitarist; Scotland's Teenage Fanclub)
1966: Martin Galway (Irish composer; computer games)
1969: James Carter (US saxophones, flute, bass clarinet; session/freelance)
1972: Nichole Nordeman (US christian singer-songwriter)
1975: Thomas Bangalter (French disc jockey of Daft Punk fame)
1977: Michelle Stephenson (UK singer, TV presenter/The Spice Girls-briefly)
1978: Kimberley Locke (American Singer)
1980: Rob Arnold (US guitarist; Chimaira)
1981: Naresh Iyer (Indian singer)
1986: Lloyd Polite (UK R&B singer)
1989: Julia Nunes (US singer, ukulele player)

January 4th.
1872: Ottilie Sutro (US pianist; duo with her sister Rose Sutro)*12.Sept.1970.
1916: Lionel Newman (US conducter, pianist, TV & film music composer)*03.Feb.1989.
1923: Don Butterfield (American classical and jazz tuba player)*27.Nov.2006.
1936: John Gorman (UK singer,director for entertainment; Scaffold/Weekend TV)
1937: Grace Bumbry (US singer)
1941: Joe Renzetti (US film composer)
1942: John McLaughlin (UK jazz guitarist, Mahavishnu Orchestra)
1945: Vesa-Matti "Vesku" Loiri (Finnish actor, singer, flutist, comedian)
1946: Arthur Conley (US soul singer, songwriter)*16.Nov.2003.
1944: Jimmy Campbell (UK singer, songwriter; The Kirkbys/23rd Turnoff/Rockin' Horse)*12.Feb.2007.
1947: Chris Cutler (UK drummer; Henry Cow/Pere Ubu/Residents)
1954: Eugene Chadbourne (US guitarist, composer; Camper Van Chadbourne/Shockabilly)
1955: Clive Gregson (UK singer, songwriter, guitar; Clive Gregson & Christine Collister, Any Trouble)
1955: Mark Hollis (UK vocals, guitar, piano, organ, composer; Talk Talk)
1956: Nels Cline (US guitarist, composer).
1956: Bernard Sumner (UK guitarist; Electronic:Joy Division/New Order)
1957: Patty Loveless (US singer, guitarist)
1957: Gurdas Maan (Eminent Punjabi singer, actor, lyricist)
1958: Marcel Neville King (UK singer; Sweet Sensation/solo)*05.Oct.1995.
1960: Michael Stipe (US lead singer; R.E.M.)
1960: Art Paul Schlosser (US comedian, singer, song writer)
1962: Robin Guthrie (Scottish guitar, keyboards, programming; Cocteau Twins)
1962: Peter Steele/Petrus T.Ratajczyk (US singer, bassist; Fallout/Carnivore/Type O Negative)*14.April.2010.
1963: Till Lindemann (German singer; Rammstein)
1965: David Glasper (UK lead singer; Breathe/Hands To Heaven).
1965: Beth Gibbons (UK singer; Portishead)
1965: Cait O'Riordan (UK bassist; Pogues/Elvis Costello)
1966: Deana Kay Carter (US country singer, guitarist)
1967: David Berman (US poet and singer/songwriter; Silver Jews)
1967: Benjamin Darvill (Canadian harmonica, mandolin, acoustic, electric guitar; Crash Test Dummies)
1974: Ian Moor (UK singer).
1977: Timothy Wheeler (Irish guitarist, vocals; Irish band Ash)
1978: Mai Meneses/María Isabel González-Meneses García-Valdecasas (Spanish singer)
1979: Jeph Howard (US bassist; The Used).
1981: Silvy Melody/Silvy De Bie (Belgian singer; Sylver).
1983: Spencer Chamberlain (US vocalist; Underoath/This Runs Through).

January 5th.
1871: Frederick Converse (American composer)*08.June.1940.
1895: Elizabeth Cotten (US blues/folk guitarist, singer, songwriter)*29.June.1987.
1904: Erika Morini (Austrian violinist)*31.Oct.1995.
1919: Severino Gazzelloni (Italian flautist)*21.Nov.1992.
1920: Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli (Italian classical pianist)*12.June.1995.
1926: John Joseph "Jack" Brokensha (Australian/US jazz vibraphonist; Australian Jazz Quartet)*28.Oct.2010.
1923: Sam Phillips (American founder of Sun Records/much more)*30.July.2003.
1929: Wilbert Harrison (US solo singer)*26.Oct.1994.
1931: Alfred Brendel KBE (Austrian classical pianist)
1932: Johnny Adams (US soul singer)*14.Sept.1998.
1940: George Malone (second tenor; Monotones)
1940: Athol Guy (Australian bass player; The Seekers)
1941: Grady Thomas (US singer; Parliament Funkadelic/Funkadelic)
1942: Maurizio Pollini (Italian pianist)
1944: Jo Ann Kelly (US blues singer, acoustic guitarist)*21.Oct.1990.
1949: George Brown (US drummer, Kool & The Gang)
1950: Chris Stein (US guitar, song writer; Blondie)
1951: Peter 'Biff' Byford (UK lead singer; Saxon)
1953: Steve Archer (US singer; The Archers)
1960: Phil Thornalley (UK songwriter/vocals/guitar; Cure)
1961: Iris Dement (country singer/songwriter)
1963: Grant Young (US drummer; Soul Asylum)
1965: Randy Thurman (US guitarist, artist, poet, composer).
1966: Kate Schellenbach (US drummer; Beastie Boys/Luscious Jackson)
1968: DJ Bobo/Peter René Cipiriano Baumann (Swiss singer, songwriter, dancer, music producer).
1969: Marilyn Manson/Brian Warner (US shock-rock singer)
1972: Sakis Rouvas (Greek singer)
1973: Phil Joel (New Zealand bassist; Newsboys)
1976: Matt Wachter (US bassist; 30 Seconds to Mars)
1985: Michael Cuccione (Canadian actor, singer)*13.Jan.2001.
1986: Teppei Koike (Japanese actor, singer)
1988: Pauline/Pauline Vasseur (French singer)
1999: Marc Yu (US pianist, violist, celloist)

January 6th.
1903: Maurice Abravanel (Greek-born conductor)*22.Sept.1993.
1908: Menachem Avidom (Israeli composer)*05.Aug.1995.
1924: Earl Scruggs (US five-string banjo virtuoso, singer)
1931: David Whitaker (English composer, songwriter, arranger, conductor)*11.Jan.2012.
1933: Hector Rivera (US latin soul keyboardist, arranger, composer).
1935: Nino Tempo (American singer, actor).
1937: Doris Troy/Doris Higginson (US soul/R&B singer, solo/backup/musicals/songwriter)*16.Feb.2004.
1937: Paolo Conte (Italian singer, pianist, composer, lawyer).
1938: Adriano Celentano (Italian singer, songwriter, comedian, actor, film director, TV host).
1940: Van McCoy (US singer and producer)*06.July.1979.
1946: Roger "Syd" Barrett (UK original singer/lead guitar of Pink Floyd)*07.July.2006.
1947: Shirley Brown (US southern soul singer)
1947: Sandy Denny (UK singer, piano, guitar; Fairport Convention)*21.April.1978.
1949: Joey Miskulin (US 12-bass accordion; sessionist/freelance)
1951: Kim Wilson (US frontman, harmonica; Fabulous Thunderbirds/solo)
1953: Jett Williams/Antha Belle Jett (US country singer; daughter of Hank Williams Sr)
1953: Malcolm Young (Scottish born, Australian guitarist; AC/DC)
1959: Neil Simpson (UK bassist, 7 string bass, midi bass-synthesizer; Climax Blues Band).
1959: Kathie Sledge (US singer, Sister Sledge)
1960: Muzz Skillings (US bassist, guitar, singer; Living Colour/Medicine Stick)
1962: Michael Houser (US lead guitarist, song-writer; Widespread Panic)*10.Aug.2002.
1963: Jazzie B/Trevor Beresford Romeo OBE (UK singer, DJ, music producer; Soul II Soul)
1964: Mark O'Toole (UK bassist; Frankie Goes To Hollywood)
1964: Yuri Valenzuela Canseco (Mexican actress, singer)
1969: Tim Garbutt (UK musician; dance-metal duo Utah Saints).
1966: Sharon Cuneta (Filipina singer, actress)
1966: Andrew Wood (US singer; Mother Love Bone)*19.March.1990.
1966: A. R. Rahman (Indian composer)
1971: Gary Wiseman (US punk-rock drummer; Bowling for Soup)
1971: Irwin Thomas (Australian singer; Southern Sons)
1972: Nek/Filippo Neviani (Italian singer)
1972: Dean Turner aka Dean Dirt (Australian bassist, record producer; Magic Dirt)*21.Aug.2009.
1975: Chase Hampton (US roots soul singer)
1975: Jason King (UK radio DJ; Radio 1)
1976: Johnny Yong Bosch (US actor, singer, guitarist; Eyeshine).
1978: Nikki Einfeld (Canadian opera singer)
1981: Sache/Mike Jones (US rapper; Souf Folk)
1983: Mithra Jin (South-Korean hip hop musician)
1986: Alex Turner (UK vocalist, guitarist, songwriter; Arctic Monkeys/The Last Shadow Puppets)

January 7th.
1895: Clara Haskil (Jewish Swiss classical pianist)*07.Dec.1960.
1898: Albert Allick "Al" Bowlly (Sth African singer, songwriter, composer, band leader)*17.April.1941.
1899: Francis Poulenc (French composer)*30.Jan.1963.
1906: Henry "Red" Allen (US jazz trumpeter, singer)*17.April.1967.
1907: Nicanor Zabaleta (Spanish harpist)*31.March.1993.
1900: John Brownlee (Australian tenor)*10.Jan.1969.
1912: Günter Wand (German conductor, composer)*14.Feb.2002.
1917: Ulysses Kay (US composer)*20.May.1995.
1922: Jean-Pierre Rampal (flute virtuoso)*20.May.2000.
1922: Eric Jupp (UK-born Australian composer, arranger, conductor)*02.Jan.2003.
1935: Kenny Davern (American jazz clarinetist, sax player)*12.Dec.2006.
1935: John Thomas Johnson (US tuba player; 2,000 film soundtracks)*16.Oct.2006.
1937: Paul Revere (US keyboards, vocals; Paul Revere & The Raiders)
1938: Rory Storm/Alan Caldwell (UK lead singer; Rory Storm & The Hurricanes)*28.Sept.1972.
1939: Lefty Baker/Eustace Britchforth (US guitar, banjo, vocals; Spanky & Our Gang)*11.Aug.1971.
1941: Iona Brown OBE (British violinist, conductor)*05.June.2004.
1942: Danny Williams (South African singer; solo)*06.Dec.2005.
1942: Horatiu Radulescu (Romanian composer, spectral music pioneer)*25.Sept.2008.
1943: Leona Williams (US singer, bassist; Helton Family Band/Loretta Lynn's band/solo)
1943: Sir Richard Armstrong (UK conductor)
1944: Mike McGear/Michael McCartney (UK singer, songwriter; Scaffold/McGough & McGear)
1945: Engin Yörükoglu (Turkish drummer; pioneering rock band Mogollar)*23.April.2010.
1945: Dave Cousins (UK leader, vocals,guitar: the Strawbs)
1946: Jann Wenner (US founder, editor, publisher; Rolling Stone magazine)
1946: Andy Brown (UK drummer, Fortunes)
1948: Kenny Loggins (US singer, songwriter, soundtrack king)
1949: Marshall Chapman (US singer/songwriter)
1950: Juan Gabriel (Mexican singer and songwriter)
1954: José María Vitier (Cuban music composer, pianist)
1956: Uwe Ochsenknecht (German actor, singer)
1959: Jon Larsen (Norwegian guitarist, composer, record producer)
1959: Kathy Valentine (US bassist; The Go-Go's)
1963: Clint Mansell (UK vocalist, guitarist, composer; Pop Will Eat Itself)
1966: Ehab Tawfik (Egyptian singer)
1972: Tom Simpson (Scottish DJ, keyboardist; Snow Patrol).
1973: Jonna Tervomaa (Finnish singer)
1974: John Rich (US bassist, vocals; Big & Rich)
1981: Rasaq/Rasaq Dayo Seriki (US rapper)
1988: Haley Bennett (US singer, actress)

January 8th.
1905: Giacinto Scelsi (Italian composer)*09.Aug.1988.
1918: Evelyn Dall (American singer, actress)*10.March.2010.
1922: Abbey Simon (US classical pianist)
1923: Giorgio Tozzi (US bass vocalist)
1924: Benjamin Lees (US classical composer)
1926: Giannis Christou (Greek composer)*08.Jan.1970.
1926: Evelyn Lear (US soprano)
1928: Luther Perkins (US country music guitarist; Tennessee Three)*05.Aug.1968.
1931: Bill Graham/Wolodia Grajonca (German-born American music promoter)*25.Oct.1991.
1935: Elvis Presley (The King Of Rock 'n' Roll)*16.Aug.1977.
1935: Ian Bargh (British-born Canadian jazz pianist, composer)*02.Jan.2012.
1936: Zdenek Mácal (Czech conductor)
1937: Dame Shirley Bassey (Welsh singer)
1938: Yevgeny Nesterenko (Russian bass-baritone)
1940: Little Anthony/Anthony Gourdune (US singer; Little Anthony & The Imperials)
1942: Faron Ruffley (UK vocalist, Farons Flamingos/The big Three/Gerry & the Pacemakers)
1942: Valya Balkanska (Bulgarian folk singer)
1942: Jon Lucien (US smooth jazz singer-songwriter)*18.Aug.2007.
1943: Lee Jackson (UK vocals, bass; The Nice)
1943: Marcus Hutson (US vocalist; The Whispers)
1944: Joel DiGregorio (US keyboardist; Charlie Daniels Band/solo)*12.Oct.2011.
1945: Jeannie Lewis (Australian actress, singer)
1945: Terry Sylvester (UK guitarist, Swinging Blue Jeans)
1945: John Petersen (US drummer, Beau Brummels/Harpers Bizarre)*11.Nov.2007.
1946: Robby Krieger (US guitarist, songwriter; The Doors/freelance).
1947: David Bowie/Ziggy Stardust/David Jones (UK singer, multi musician, songwriter, actor, producer)
1947: Terry Sylvester (UK guitar, vocals; Swinging Blue/Hollies/solo)
1948: Paul King (UK guitar, kazoo, jug; Mungo Jerry/Skeleton Krew/Earl King Boogie Band)
1952: Vladimir Feltsman (Russian-American pianist)
1955: Mike Reno (Canadian lead singer; Loverboy)
1958: Marc Moreland (US rock guitarist; Wall of Voodoo/The Skulls/others)*13.March.2002.
1959: Paul Hester (Australian drummer; Split Enz/Crowded House)*26.March.2005.
1962: Chris Marion (US singer, keyboardist; Little River Band)
1967: R. Kelly/Robert Sylvester Kelly (US singer, song writer, producer)
1969: Jeff Abercrombie (US bassist; Fuel)
1971: Karen Poole (UK singer; Alisha's Attic)
1973: Sean Paul (Jamaican singer,vocal arrangement; Reggae star)
1974: Steven King (US bassist; Mansun)
1975: DJ Clue/Ernesto Shaw (US DJ and producer)
1975: Tift Merritt (US singer songwriter)
1975: Harris Jayaraj (Indian music composer)
1976: Jenny Lewis (US actress, singer-songwriter, multi-musician; Rilo Kiley)
1979: Torry Castellano (US drummer; The Donnas)
1982: William "Wil" Francis (US singer).
1983: Felipe Colombo (Argentine/Mexican actor, singer)
1985: Rachael Lampa (American singer)
1991: Asuka Hinoi (Japanese singer)

January 9th.
1898: Gracie Fields/Grace Stansfield, DBE (UK singer, music hall performer)*27.Sept.1979.
1901: Ishman Bracey (US blues singer, guitarist)*12.Feb.1970.
1909: Herva Nelli (Italian-born soprano)*31.May.1994.
1914: Liaqat Ali Salaam/Kenny (Klook) Clarke (US jazz drummer, composer)*26.Jan.1985.
1916: Vic Mizzy (US orchestra leader)*17.Oct.2009.
1920: Clive Dunn (UK singer, actor)
1926: Giannis "Jani" Christou (Greek composer)*09.Jan.1970.
1928: Palghat R. Raghu (Burmese-born Indian musician, percussionist)*02.June.2009.
1928: Domenico Modugno (Italian singer, songwriter)*06.Aug.1994.
1934: Mahendra Kapoor (Indian singer; repertoire extended to 25,000 songs)*27.Sept.2008.
1935: Sherrill Milnes (American baritone)
1940: Jimmy Boyd (US actor, singer)*09.March.2009.
1940: Barbara Buczek (Polish composer)*17.Jan.1993.
1940: Al Downing (US singer)*04.July.2005.
1941: Joan Baez (US folk rock singer; songwriter)
1943: Kenneth Kelley (US vocalist; The Manhattans)
1943: Freddie Starr/Frederick Leslie Fowell (UK comedian, singer)
1943: Dick Yount (guitar, bass, drums; Harpers Bizarre)
1943: Scott Walker/Noel Scott Engel (US vocals; Walker Brothers/solo)
1944: Jimmy Page (UK guitarist /producer, Yardbirds/Led Zeppelin/Honeydrippers/freelance)
1948: William "Bill" Cowsill Jr. (US singer, guitarist; The Cowsills)*17.Feb.2006.
1948: Paul King (UK guitar, banjo, harmonica, kazoo; Mungo Jerry/King Earl Boogie Band/Skeleton Crew).
1948: Tim Hart (UK vocalist, guitar, dulcimer; Steeleye Span)*24.Dec.2009.
1948: Cassie Gaines (US singer; The Honkettes/Lynyrd Skynyrd)*20.Oct.1977.
1950: Steve McRay (keyboards, vocals; 38 Special, Ted Nugent, Sessions)
1950: David Johansen (vocals, harmonica; New York Dolls)
1950: Rio Reiser/Ralph Christian Möbius (German singer; Ton Steine Scherben)*20.Aug.1996.
1951: Crystal Gayle/Brenda Gail Webb (US singer, songwriter)
1956: Kenny MacLean (Scottish/Canadian bassist; Platinum Blonde)*24.Nov.2008.
1957: Bibie/Béatrice Adjorkor Anyankor (Ghanaian singer).
1957: Phil Lewis (US singer; L.A. Guns)
1959: Cristi Minculescu (Romanian lead singer; Iris)
1963: Eric Erlandson (guitar, Hole)
1964: Phil Hartnoll (one half of the techno duo Orbital)
1965: Haddaway/Alexander Nestor Haddaway (producer, mixing, singer)
1966: Jan Johansen (Swedish singer)
1967: Carl Bell (founder , guitarist; Fuel)
1967: Steve Harwell (lead vocals; Smash Mouth)
1967: Dave Matthews (South African-American singer, songwriter, guitarist)
1968: Al Schnier (US rock guitarist; moe)
1970: Lara Fabian (Belgian singer)
1970: Alex Staropoli (Italian keyboardist; Rhapsody Of Fire)
1970: Mia X/Mia Young (US rapper)
1971: MF Doom/Daniel Dumile (US hip hop artist)
1971: Angie Martinez (US rapper, radio talk host)
1973: Sean Paul/Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques (Jamaican ragga - hip hop musician)
1978: A.J. McLean/Alexander James McLean (vocals, Backstreet Boys)
1979: Tomiko Van (Japanese singer)
1987: Paolo Nutini (Scottish singer, songwriter)
1996: Paris Quinn Monroe (US singer; Clique Girlz)

January 10th.
1897: Sam Chatmon (US Delta blues guitarist, singer, multi-musician)*02.Feb.1983.
1904: Ray Bolger/Raymond Bulcao (US actor, singer, dancer; Scarecrow-Wizard of Oz)*15.Jan.1987.
1905: Albert Arlen (Australian pianist, composer, actor, director)*24.March.1993.
1910: Jean Martinon (French conductor, composer)*01.March.1976.
1915: Dean Dixon (US conductor)*03.Nov.1976.
1917: Jerry Wexler (US co-owner of Atlantic records, vice president at Warner Brothers)*15.Aug.2008.
1924: Max Roach (US bebop/hard bop drummer, composer; the greats/own bands)*16.Aug.2007.
1927: Gisele MacKenzie (Canadian singer)*05.Sept.2003.
1927: Johnnie Ray (US singer)*24.Feb.1990.
1929: Derek Hammond-Stroud (English operatic baritone)
1935: Ronnie Hawkins (US rockabilly singer, The Hawks)
1935: Eddy "The Chief" Clearwater/Edward Harrington (US blues guitarist,singer).
1935: Sherrill Milnes (US baritone)
1935: Georg Katzer (German composer)
1939: Scott McKenzie/Philip Blondheim (US singer; Mamas & Papas/solo).
1939: Sal Mineo (American actor, singer)*12.Feb.1976.
1940: Dr. Kattassery Joseph Yesudas (Indian playback singer, classical musician)
1943: Jim Croce (US guitarist, songwriter, pianist, singer)*20.Sep.1973.
1944: Frank Sinatra Jr (US singer)
1945: Rod Stewart (UK singer, harmonica; The Hoochie Coochie Men/Faces/solo]
1946: Aynsley Dunbar (UK drummer; Jefferson Starship/Journey/Whitesnake/sessionist)
1946: Bob Lang (UK bassist; Mindbenders)
1948: Fayette Regina Pinkney (US singer; The Three Degrees)*27.June.2009.
1948: Teresa Graves (US actress, singer)*10.Oct.2002.
1948: Cyril Neville (US vocals, percussion, Neville Brothers)
1948: Donald Fagen (US vocalist, keyboards; Steely Dan)
1948: Mischa Maisky (Latvian cellist)
1952: Scott Thurston (US guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter, session musician).
1953: Pat Benatar/Patricia Andrejewski (US singer)
1955: Luci Martin (US vocalist; Chic/solo)
1955: Michael Schenker (German guitarist; Scorpions/UFO/own bands)
1956: Shawn Colvin (US singer, songwriter, guitarist)
1958: Samira Said/Samira Bensaïd (Egyptian-Moroccan singer).
1959: Curt Kirkwood (US guitarist, singer; Meat Puppets)
1961: Nadja Salerno-Sonnenberg (Italian violinist)
1964: Brad Roberts (Canadian vocals, guitar, Crash Test Dummies)
1969: Janko Kastelic (Canadian conductor).
1973: Aerle Taree (US vocalists; Arrested Development)
1974: Akari Kaida (Japanese composer)
1978: Brent Smith (US singer; Blind Thought/Shinedown)
1979: Daddy Mack/Chris Smith (US hip hop, rapper; Kris Kross)
1980: Petri "Pete" Lindroos (Finnish guitarist, vocalist; Ensiferum/Norther)
1980: Sarah Shahi/Aahoo Jahansouz (US actress, model)
1981: Inga Jankauskaite (Lithuanian actress, singer, piano player)
1981: Brian Minkyu Joo (Korean-American singer; Fly To The Sky/solo)

January 11th.
1975: Reinhold Moritzevich Glière (Soviet Russian composer of German–Polish)*23 June 1956.
1895: Laurens Hammond (inventor of the Hammond organ)*03.July.1973.
1902: Maurice Duruflé (French composer)*16.June.1986.
1910: Izler Solomon (US conductor)*06.Dec.1987.
1924: Don Cherry (US singer, NOT the trumpet player).
1924: Slim Harpo/Harmonica Slim/James Moore (US blues musician)*31.Jan.1970.
1926: Susan Reed (Irish-American folk singer, harpist and zitherist)*25.April.2010.
1930: Lula Mae Hardaway (US songwriter, mother of singer Stevie Wonder)*31.May.2006.
1933: Leonard Skinner (US school teacher; Lynyrd Skynyrd)*20.Sept.2010.
1938: Vladimir Krpan (Croatian pianist)
1942: Clarence "The Big Man" Clemons (US saxophonist; E Street Band/freelance)*18.June.2011.
1946: Tony Kaye/Anthony John Selvidge (UK keyboards; Yes/Circa).
1946: Naomi Judd/Diana Ellen Judd (US country singer, songwriter; The Judds/solo).
1948: Terry Williams (Welsh rock drummer; Dire Straits).
1949: Daryl Braithwaite (Australian rock singer; Sherbet)
1949: Frederick "Dennis" Greene (US singer; The Kingsmen/Sha Na Na).
1952: Lee Ritenour (US guitarist, composer, producer; top sessionist)
1956: Robert Earl Keen Jr (US country, folk singer, songwriter).
1958: Vicki Peterson (vocals, guitar; Bangs/The Bangles/freelance).
1963: Simon Cohen (UK drummer; Roman Holliday).
1968: Tom Dumont (US guitarist; No Doubt/Invincible Overlord).
1970: Joy Nilo (Filipino composer)
1971: Mary J. Blige (US R&B, hip-hop singer).
1971: Chris Willsher (UK singer-songwriter, drummer, writer, performer)
1971: Tom Rowlands (member of the Chemical Brothers).
1972: MC Bat Commander/Christian Jacobs (US singer, actor; The Aquabats)
1977: Nadia Turner (US singer, songwriter, actress, radio/television personality).
1979: Siti Nurhaliza (Malaysian singer)
1981: Jamelia/Jamelia Niela Davis (UK singer).
1981: Tom Meighan (UK lead singer; Kasabian).
1982: Ashley Taylor Dawson (British actor and singer)
1985: Rie Fu (Japanese pop & folk rock singer, songwriter).
1985: Newton Faulkner (British guitarist, singer)
1997: Cody Simpson (Australian singer)

January 12th.
1900: Harry Roy (UK singer, swing clarinetist, bandleader)*01.Feb.1971.
1904: Fred McDowell (US blues musician)*03.July.1972.
1905: Tex Ritter/Woodward Maurice Ritter (American country music singer, movie actor)*02.Jan.1974.
1912: Huang You-di (Taiwanese musician, composer)*04.July.2010.
1916: Jay McShann (US blues and swing pianist, bandleader, singer)*07.Dec.2006.
1916: William Pleeth (British cellist)*06.April.1999.
1917: Walter Hendl (US conductor)*10.April.2007.
1926: Morton Feldman (US composer)*03.Sept.1987.
1926: Ray Price (American singer)
1928: Ruth Brown/Ruth Weston (US R&B singer)*17.Nov.2006.
1932: Hadley Caliman (US jazz tenor saxophonist)*08.Sept.2010.
1932: Des O'Connor (UK singer, comedian, TV presenter)
1931: Roland Alphonso (Jamaican tenor saxophonist; The Skatalites/Soul Vendors)*20.Nov.1998.
1930: Glenn Yarborough (US singer; Limelighters)
1936: Raimonds Pauls (Latvian Composer)
1937: Rene Netto (US clarinet/saxophone/flute; solo/session).
1937: Vicente Sardinero (Spanish baritone)*09.Feb.2002.
1939: William Lee Golden (country singer; Oak Ridge Boys/solo)
1940: Ronald Shannon Jackson (drummer; Music Revelation Ensemble/Last Exit/freelance)
1941: Long John Baldry (UK blues singer; Bluesology/Steampacket)*21.July.2005.
1944: Viktoria Postnikova (Russian pianist)
1945: Maggie Bell (Scottish rock singer, Stone The Crows/Midnight Flyer).
1945: Abe Tilmon (American vocalist with Detroit Emeralds)*06.July.1982.
1946: George Duke (US piano, synthesizer pioneer, singer).
1946: Cynthia Robinson (US vocalist; Sly & The Family Stone).
1949: Haneken/Kentaro Haneda (Japanese pianist; movies/video game music)*02.June.2007.
1951: Chris Bell (US guitarist, co-founder; Big Star)*27.Dec.1978.
1952: Ricky Van Shelton (US country singer).
1954: Felipe Rose (US singer, dancer; American Indian chief of the Village People/solo).
1955: Tom Ardolino (US drummer; New Rhythm and Blues Quartet aka NRBQ)*06.Jan.2012.
1959: Per Gessle (Swedish producer, acoustic guitarist, mixer; Roxette)
1959: Blixa Bargeld/Christian Emmerich (German guitarist; Einstürzende Neubauten/Bad Seeds/freelance).
1960: Charlie Gillingham (keyboards, Counting Crows)
1961: Ivo Perelman (Brazilian free jazz saxophonist).
1963: Guy Chambers (UK singer/songwriter/producer; Lemon Trees/Robbie Williams).
1963: Nando Reis (Brazilian singer, guitarist, composer).
1965: Mark Moore (UK record producer)
1965: Rob Zombie/Robert Bartleh Cummings (USsinger, songwriter, film director; White Zombie).
1968: Keith Anderson (US country music singer-songwriter)
1968: Junichi Masuda (Japanese composer)
1970: Miguel Ayesa (Australian singer, pianist; musicals)
1970: Zack de la Rocha (US rapper,poet, activist, vocalist, lyricist; Rage Against the Machine).
1970: Raekwon/Corey Woods (Hip-Hop, Rap artist; Wu-Tang Clan/solo).
1973: Dan Haseltine (singer; Jars of Clay).
1973: Matt Wong (Hawaiin bassist; Reel Big Fish).
1973: Hande Yener (Turkish popular music singer).
1974: Mel C /Sporty Spice/Melanie Chisholm (singer; Spice Girls/solo).
1975: Sarah Masen (US singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist).
1975: Jason Freese (American multi-musician; Green Day/Freelance).
1976: Miki Nakatani (Japanese actress, singer)
1977: Kris Roe (US singer, guitarist and songwriter; The Ataris).
1978: Jeremy Camp (US guitarist, singer).
1980: Amerie/Amerie Mi Marie Rogers (US R&B singer, songwriter, record producer, actress, model).
1991: Pixie Lott/Victoria Louise Lott (UK singer)
1993: Aika Mitsui (Japanese singer)
1995: Laurel McGoff (American singer)

January 13th.
1884: Sophie Tucker/Sonia Kalish (Czarist Russian (born) singer, comedian)*09.Feb.1966.
1885: James Vincent Monaco (Italian-born American composer of popular music)*16.Oct.1945.
1898: Carlo Tagliabue (Italian baritone)*05.April.1978.
1890: Steve Brown (US jazz string bassist; New Orleans Rhythm Kings/others)*15.Sept.1965.
1902: Louis "Putney" Dandridge (US bandleader, jazz pianist, vocalist)*15.Feb.1946.
1904: Richard Addinsell (British composer; Warsaw Concerto/film scores)*14.Nov.1977.
1909: Quentin "Butter" Jackson (US jazz trombonist)*02.Oct.1976.
1909: Danny Barker (jazz banjoist, singer, guitarist, songwriter, ukelele)*13 March 1994.
1921: Johnny Roadhouse (UK saxophonist; BBC Northern Variety Orchestra)*11.April.2009.
1923: Daniil Shafran (Russian cellist)*27.Feb.1997.
1926: Melba Doretta Liston (US trombone, composer, musical arranger)*23.April.1999.
1927: Liz Anderson (US country music singer-songwriter)*31.Oct.2011.
1929: Joe Pass (American jazz guitarist)*23.May.1994.
1930: Bobby "Lester" Dallas (US lead singer; Moonglows)*15.Oct.1980.
1930: Earl Gilliam (US blues pianist; Joe "Guitar" Hughes/own bands/sessionist)*19.Oct.2011.
1930: Liz Anderson/Elizabeth Jane Haaby (US singer)
1936: Renato Bruson (Italian operatic baritone)
1937: William Richard Davis (US christian music composer; over 150 songs/Alfonso Gugliucci).
1938: Shivkumar Sharma (Indian santoor player, music composer)
1946: Al James (UK bass; Showaddywaddy).
1946: Eero Koivistoinen (Finish tenor jazz saxophonist).
1946: Bill Easley (American tenor saxophonist, multi-reed player; sessionist).
1947: John Lees (UK guitarist, vocals; Barclay James Harvest).
1954: Trevor Rabin (South African guitarist; Yes/solo/sessionist).
1955: Paul Kelly (Australian singer-songwriter, guitarist, harmonica player)
1955: Fred White (US drummer; Earth Wind and Fire/Al McKay All-Stars/freelance)
1957: Don Snow (UK keyboards; Squeeze/solo/freelance).
1957: Jim Paris (UK bassist, Carmel)?
1959: James Lomenzo (American bassist with Megadeth).
1961: Suggs/Graham McPherson (UK singer, actor, radio DJ, TV personality; Madness).
1961: Wayne Coyne (US lead singer, songwriter; The Flaming Lips)
1962: Tracy Darrell "Trace" Adkins (American country music singer-songwriter).
1963: Tim Kelly (US guitarist, vocals; Slaughter)*05.Feb.1998.
1965: Wayne Coyne (bassist; Flaming Lips).
1964: David McClusky (drums; Bluebells).
1970: Shinya Yamada (Japanese drummer; Luna Sea) not Shinya, drummer of Dir en grey
1972: Park Jin-Young (Korean singer)
1980: Krzysztof Czerwinski (Polish conductor, organist).
1981: Jason James (US bassist; Bullet for My Valentine).
1984: Nathaniel Motte (US singer; 3OH!3)
1987: Lee Seung Gi (South Korean singer, actor, MC)
1989: Triinu Kivilaan (Estonian singer; Vanilla Ninja).

January 14th.
1895: Erskine Tate (US bandleader, banjoist, violinist)*17.Dec.1978.
1908: Russ Columbo/Ruggiero Eugenio di Rodolpho Colombo (US singer, violinist, actor)*02.Sept.1934.
1917: Billy Butterfield (US jazz trumpeter)*18.March.1988.
1929: Billy Walker (US country singer, guitarist)*21.May.2006.
1925: Louis Quilico (Canadian baritone opera singer)*15.July.2000.
1930: Johnny Grande (US pianist, accordianist; Bill Haley and The Comets)*03.June.2006.
1931: Manuel Galbán (Cuban guitarist, pianist; Los Zafiros/Buena Vista Social Club)*07.July.2011.
1931: Caterina Valente (French-born Italian singer, actress, dancer).
1936: Clarence Carter (blind US singer, guitarist)
1937: Billie Jo Spears (US female country singer)*14.Dec.2011.
1938: Allen Toussaint (US singer, songwriter, producer)
1938: Jack Jones (US pop & jazz singer).
1943: José Luis Rodríguez "El Puma" (Venezuelan singer).
1943: Mariss Jansons (Latvian conductor)
1945: Jim Gordon (US drummer; Derek & The Dominos/sessionist)
1948: Tim Harris (UK drums; The Foundations).
1948: Joseph Henry "T-Bone" Burnett (US guitar, singer, songwriter, sessionist).
1949: Lamar Williams (US bassist; The Allman Brothers Band/Sea Level)*21.Jan.1983.
1956: Ben Heppner (Canadian tenor singer; (opera and classical).
1956: Étienne Daho (French singer, songwriter, record producer).
1956: Bob Bradbury (UK lead singer, guitar; Hello).
1956: Ben Heppner (Canadian tenor)
1959: Carl Smyth aka Chas Smash (UK hornist, percussion; Madness).
1959: Geoff Tate (US singer; Queensryche).
1962: Patricia Morrison (US bassist, singer; Sisters Of Mercy).
1961: Mike Tramp/Michael Trampenau (Danish singer; White Lion/Freak of Nature).
1965: Slick Rick/Richard D. Walters (UK rapper).
1965: Ellis Paul (US singer-songwriter, folk musician)
1966: Marco Hietala (Finnish vocalist, bassist)
1967: Zakk Wylde (US guitarist; Black Label Society/Ozzy Osbourne Band).
1967: Steve Bowman (US drummer, songwriter; Counting Crows).
1968: LL Cool J/James Todd Smith (US rapper).
1969: Dave Grohl (US drummer, guitarist; Queens of the Stone Age/Foo Fighters/Nirvana).
1970: Fazil Say (Turkish pianist, composer)
1978: Just Blaze/Justin Smith (US hip hop producer)
1979: John Reuben (US Christian hip hop artist).
1981: Rosa López (Spanish popular singer).
1982: Caleb Followill (US lead singer, rhythm guitar; Kings of Leon).
1988: Mikalah Gordon (US singer: American pop idol).

January 15th.
1893: Ivor Novello (Welsh singer, composer & actor)*06.March.1951.
1909: Gene Krupa (US jazz & big band drummer)*16.Oct.1973.
1913: Miriam Hyde (Australian composer)*11.Jan.2005.
1920: Yvonne King Burch (American singer; The King Sisters)*13.Dec.2009.
1925: Ruth Slenczynska (US pianist)*11.Jan.2005.
1935: Malcolm Frager (American classical pianist)*20.June.1991.
1941: Captain Beefheart/Don Glen Vliet (US singer, multi-musician, artist; The Magic Band)*17.Dec.2010.
1942: Edward "Sonny" Bivens (US vocalist; The Manhattans).
1943: Alphonso 'Fonce' Mizell (US record producer; Motown / Sky High Productions)*05.July.2011.
1945: Joan Johnson (US Singer; Dixie Cups).
1947: Pete Waterman, OBE (pop writers, producer, TV presenter)
1948: Ronnie Van Zandt (US lead vocalist; Lynyrd Skynrd)*20.Oct.1977.
1951: Martha Davis (vocals, The Motels).
1952: Melvyn Gale (UK celloist, pianist; Electric Light Orchestra).
1952: Boris Blank (Swiss keyboards, sampling, percussion, vocals,composer, arranger; Yello).
1953: Rob Gretton (UK manager; New Order/Joy Division)*15.May.1999.
1956: Miki Fujimura (Japanese singer)
1959: Peter Trewavas (UK bassist; Marillion).
1959: Sister Carol/Carol Theresa East (Jamaican reggae singer).
1960: Aaron Jay Kernis (American composer).
1961: Damian O'Neill (Irish guitarist; The Undertones).
1963: Cronos/Conrad Thomas Lant (UK vocalist, bassist; speed metal band Venom).
1964: Osmo Tapio Räihälä (Finnish composer)
1964: Saúl Hernández (Mexican singer, guitarist; Caifanes/ Jaguares).
1965: Derek B/EZQ/Derek Boland (British rapper, DJ)*15.Nov.2009.
1965: Adam Jones (US guitarist, songwriter, make-up artist; Tool/The Melvins).
1967: Lisa Lisa/Lisa Velez (vocals, Lisa Lisa & Cult Jam)
1971: Max Beesley (UK percussionist, pianist, actor; sessionist/Robbie Williams/Take That/Paul Weller).
1979: Ken Chu (Taiwanese singer, composer; F4)
1979: Young Dro/D'Juan Hart (American rapper)
1981: Howie Day (US pop singer).
1981: Pitbull/Armando Christian Pérez (US rapper)
1987: Aria C Jalali (US vocalist, guitar; Railcars)
1988: Sonny Moore (US electronic musician; From First to Last/solo).

January 16th.
1893: Daisy Kennedy (Australian violinist)*30.July.1981.
1894: Irving Mills aka Joe Primrose (US jazz music publisher)*21.April.1985.
1913: Vido Musso (Italian tenor sax/clarinet, Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey)*09 Jan.1982.
1914: Roger Wagner (American choral musician)*17.Sept.1992.
1917: Sandy Block aka Sid Block (US jazz bassist, Chick Webb Band, Van Alexander Orchestra)*????
1928: Pilar Lorengar (Spanish soprano)*02.June.1996.
1934: Marilyn Horne (US opera singer)
1934: Bob Bogle (US bass guitarist, lead guitarist; The Ventures)*14.June.2009.
1938: Jô Soares (Brazilian author, musician, TV personality)
1939: Ray Phillips (US lead singer; Nashville Teens).
1941: Mike Waterson (UK folk singer-songwriter; The Watersons/Blue Murder)*22 June 2011.
1942: René Angélil (Canadian music executive)
1942: William Francis (US keyboardist; Dr. Hook)
1942: Barbara Lynn (US singer).
1943: Gavin Bryars (UK composer, double bassist)
1943: Brian Ferneyhough (British composer)
1943 or 44: Ronnie Milsap (US piano, keyboards, singer).
1944: Jim Stafford (US guitar, multi-musician, all round entertainer).
1946: Ronnie Milsap (US singer, songwriter).
1946: Katia Ricciarelli (Italian soprano)
1950: Damo Suzuki (Japanese singer; Can)
1951: Tommy Crain (US guitarist; Charlie Daniels Band/Crosstown Allsaters)*13.Jan.2011.
1959: Sade Adu/Helen Folasade Adu (UK singer, songwriter, composer, record producer).
1960: Mark C. Deren (US DeeJay; Mark From Holland).
1961: Kenneth Sivertsen (Norwegian guitarist, composer, poet, comedian*24.Dec.2006.
1961: Jill Sobule (US singer-songwriter)
1961: Paul Raven (UK rock bassist; Ministry/Killing Joke)*20.Oct.2007.
1962: Paul Webb (UK bassist; Talk Talk).
1965: Maxine Jones (US singer, En Vogue).
1969: Dead/Per Yngve Ohlin (Swedish black metal vocalist; Mayhem)*08.April.1991.
1970: Brendan O'Hare (Scottish drummer; Teenage Fanclub/Telstar Ponies).
1972: Greg Page (Australian guitarist, drums, keyboard, actor; The Wiggles).
1976: Stuart Fletcher (UK bassist; Seahorses/The Yard).
1978: Charles Richard "Ricky" Wilson (UK lead singer; Kaiser Chiefs).
1979: Aaliyah/Aaliyah Dana Haughton (US singer, dancer, actress and model)*25.Aug.2001.
1980: Lin Manuel Miranda (US actor, composer, lyricist).
1981: Nick Valensi (US guitar; Strokes).
1981: Beverley O'Sullivan (Irish singer, actress)*02.Nov.2009.
1982: Samuel Dylan Murray Preston (UK lead singer; The Ordinary Boys).
1983: Benyamin Sönmez (German-born Turkish cellist)*30.Nov.2011.
1984: Jared Slingerland (Canadian guitarist, programming; Left Spine Down/Front Line Assembly)

January 17th.
1905: Peggy Gilbert/Margaret F. Knechtges (US jazz saxophonist, bandleader)*12.Feb.2007.
1907: Henk Badings (Dutch composer)*26.June.1987.
1910: Sidney Catlett (US swinging jazz drummer)*25.March.1951.
1916: Tommy Reynolds (American jazz clarinetist)*30.Sept.1986.
1927: Eartha Kitt (US singer, actress, cabaret star)*25.Dec.2008.
1927: Norman Kaye (Australian actor, musician)*28.May.2007.
1928: Jean Barraqué (French composer)*17.Aug.1973.
1929: Grady Martin (US guitarist, fiddle, piano; noted session musician)*03.Dec.2001.
1934: Cedar Anthony Walton Jr (American hard bop jazz pianist).
1941: Dame Gillian Weir (New Zealand organist)
1942: Ulf Hoelscher (German violinist)
1943: Chris Montez/Ezekiel Christopher Montanez (Mexican American singer).
1944: Françoise Hardy (French singer, actress)
1945: William Hart (US vocals; Delfonics).
1948: Jim Ladd (US freeform 'radio format' disc jockey)
1948: Carmen Dragon (US classical harpist)*11.July.2010.
1948: Mick Taylor (UK guitar, slide guitar; John Mayalls Bluesbreakers/Rolling Stones/freelance).
1949: Thomas Roady (US studio & touring drummer with many top artists)*28.Nov.2011.
1953: Sheila Hutchinson (vocals; Emotions).
1953: Jeff Berlin (US international electric bass player; freelance/sessionist/guest).
1953: Carlos Johnson (US blues singer-songwriter, guitarist)
1954: Cheryl Bentyne (US singer; Manhattan Transfer/solo).
1955: Steve Earle (US singer, songwriter).
1955: Kazumasa Akiyama (Japanese guitarist).
1956: Paul Antony Young (UK bassist, singer; Streetband/Kat Kool & The Kool Kats/Streetband/Q-Tips).
1958: Jez Strode (UK drummer; Kajagoogoo).
1959: Susanna Hoffs (US rhythm guitarist, vocals, The Bangles).
1959: Momoe Yamaguchi (Japanese actress and pop singer).
1960: John Crawford (US bassist, keyboards; Berlin).
1961: Dave Collard (keyboards; Jo Boxers)?
1962: Ari Up/Ariane Forster (German-born British singer; The Slits/solo/guest)*20.Oct.2010.
1963: Cyrus Chestnut (American international jazz and blues pianist; sessionist/freelance/solo).
1963: Kai Hansen (German power metal guitarist, vocalist; Gamma Ray/Iron Savior/Freelance).
1964: Andy Rourke (UK bassist, The Smiths).
1966: Stephin Merritt (US singer-songwriter; The Magnetic Fields/The 6ths/The Gothic Archies)
1966: Shabba Ranks/Rexton Rawlston Fernando Gordon (Jamaican singer, rapper).
1967: Richard Hawley (UK singer, guitarist, songwriter; Pulp, The Longpigs)
1971: Kid Rock/Robert James Ritchie (US singer, multi-musician).
1971: Jon Wysocki (US drummer; Staind).
1971: Lil Jon/Jonathan Mortimer Smith (US rapper; Lil Jon & The East Side Boyz)
1972: Ken Hirai (Japanese R&B and pop singer).
1974: Vesko Kountchev (Bulgarian composer, violist, drums)
1975: Tom Jenkinson (UK bass guitar, synthesizer; Squarepusher)
1978: Ricky Wilson (lead singer; Kaiser Chiefs).
1980: Gareth McLearnon (Northern Irish flautist)
1981: Ray J/William Ray Norwood Jr (American actor and R&B singer).
1982: Fany Hwang (Korean singer, actor)
1982: Alex Varkatzas (American metalcore vocalist; Atreyu).
1984: Calvin Harris (Scottish music producer, vocalist)
1985: Kang-In (South Korean singer, dancer, actor, MC, DJ).
1985: Simone Simons (Dutch mezzo-soprano singer; symphonic metal band Epica).
1986: Chloe Rose Lattanzi (Australian actress and singer).

January 18th.
1904: Anthony Galla-Rini (US concert accordionist)*30.July.2006.
1913: Danny Kaye/David Daniel Kominski (singer/actor/entertainer)*03.March.1987.
1913: Giannis Papaioannou (Greek composer, musician)*03.Aug.1972.
1915: Paul Gunther (US drummer; Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown)*1996.
1915: Vassilis Tsitsanis (Greek singer and songwriter)*18.Jan.1984.
1921: Ray Sims (American jazz trombonist).
1926: Johnny Bragg (vocals, songwriter; Johnny Bragg & the Prisonaires)*31.Aug.2004.
1931: Chuck Metcalf (US jazz bass player)
1932: Irene Kral (US jazz singer; Woody Herman/Maynard Ferguson/others/solo)*15.Aug.1978.
1940: Don Thompson (Canadan bassist, vibraphonist, pianist; Rob McConnell/freelance/award winner).
1941: Bobby Goldsboro (US country-pop singer, guitar, composer).
1941: David Ruffin/Davis Eli Ruffin (US vocalist; The Temptations/solo)*01.June.1991.
1942: Martin Fierro (US tenor saxophonist; highly sort after sessionist)*13.March.2008.
1943: Dave Greenslade (UK keyboard; Thunderbird/If/Colisseum/Greenslade).
1944: Al Foster (UK jazz drummer; many greats/freelance).
1944: Larry "Legs" Smith (UK drummer; Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band).
1945: José Luis Perales (Spanish singer)
1951: Steve Grossman (American soprano saxophonist; Elvin Jones/Miles Davis/freelance)
1951: Adrian Baker (UK singer, guitarist, songwriter; solo/sessionist/freelance).
1952: Russell Ferrante (US jazz pianist; Yellowjackets).
1952: Robert Steven Moore (US multi-musician, singer, multi-genre).
1953: Brett Hudson (US singer; Hudson Brothers).
1954: Tom Bailey (UK singer, keyboardist; Thompson Twins).
1956: Mark Collie (US country music singer, actor).
1957: Roman Schwaller (Swiss tenor saxophonist).
1959: Bob Rosenberg (music producer, remixer, DJ; Will To Power).
1961: Bobby Broom (US jazz guitarist; Kenny Burrel/Deep Blue Organ Trio/Sonny Rollins/solo).
1961: Frits Landesbergen (Dutch vibraphonist; solo/freelance).
1962: Jeremy Healy/Jeremiah Healy (UK guitarist, dj, mixer; Haysi Fantayzee/ E-Zee Possee).
1963: Jojo Mayer (Swiss drummer; Monty Alexander’s Group/guest/sessions/solo).
1967: Peter Epstein (American alto jazz saxophonist).
1969: Jim O'Rourke (US experimental rock guitarist, R.P; Sonic Youth/Illusion of Safety/freelance).
1969: Jesse L. Martin/Jesse Lamont Watkins (American actor, broadway singer).
1970: DJ Quik/David Martin Blake (American rapper and record producer).
1971: Jonathan Davis (US vocalist, multi-musician; KoRn/Sexart).
1973: Crispian Mills/Crispian John David Boulting (UK guitar, vocals; Kula Shaker).
1974: Christian Burns (UK acoustic guitar, vocals; BBMak).
1976: Damien Leith (Irish-born Australian singer; winner of Australian Idol 2006)
1977: Richard Archer (British lead singer; Hard-Fi)
1979: Jay Chou (Taiwanese multi-instrumentalist,vocalist, actor).
1982: Quinn Allman (US guitarist; The Used).
1982: Joanna Newsom (US harpist, pianist, singer-songwriter).
1983: Samantha Mumba (Irish singer, actress).
1986: Robert O'Connor (Irish singer-songwriter).
1986: Marya Roxx/Maarja Kivi (Estonian singer)
1988: Ronnie Day/Ronald Guglielmone Jr (US singer-songwriter)

January 19th.
1909: Hans Hotter (German operatic bass-baritone)*06.Dec.2003.
1917: John Raitt (US singer, actor)*20.Feb.2005.
1919: Kaifi Azmi (Indian poet, multi-award winning songwriter, composer)*10.May.2002.
1919: Ray Eberle (US vocalist with Glenn Miller Orchestra/The Modernaires)*25.Aug.1979.
1919: Israel Crosby (American jazz double bassist)*11.Aug.1962.
1926: Bob Wooler (UK compere, deejay, promoter)*08.Feb.2002.
1931: Horace Parlan (US hard bop & post-bop piano player).
1932: Russ Hamilton/Ronald Hulme (UK singer)*11.Oct.2008.
1935: Johnny O'Keefe (Australian singer, TV personality)*06.Oct.1978.
1936: Willie "Big Eyes" Smith (US vocalist, harmonica, drummer; Muddy Waters/others)*16.Sept.2011.
1937: Phillips Elder Wilson Jr. (US jazz trombonist, arranger, teacher).
1937: Giovanna Marini (Italian singer-songwriter)
1939: Sam T. Brown (American session guitarist; Keith Jarrett/others)*28.Dec.1977.
1939: Phil Everly (singer, songwriter, Everly Brothers).
1941: Joe Butler (vocals; Lovin Spoonful).
1942: Michael Crawford/Michael Patrick Dumbell-Smith (UK actor, singer).
1943: Ray Pizzi (US jazz bassoonist and multi-reedist).
1943: Janis Joplin (US singer, songwriter; Big Brother & The Holding Company/others)*04.Oct.1970.
1944: Shelley Fabares (US actress, singer).
1944: Laurie London (UK actor, boy singer).
1945: Trevor Williams (UK bass guitarist, vocalist, lyricist; Audience/Nashville Teens/others)
1946: Dolly Parton (US singer, songwriter, actress).
1947: Rod Evans (UK singer; Deep Purple/ Captain Beyond/ The Maze/ The Horizons).
1948: Harvey Hinsley (UK guitarist, singer; Hot Chocolate).
1949: Robert Palmer (UK guitarist, singer, and songwriter,)*26.Sept.2003.
1951: Dewey Bunnell (Anglo-American singer; America).
1951: Martha Davis (UK vocalist; The Motels).
1954: Francis Buchholz (German bassist; Scorpions).
1954: Katey Sagal (American actress, singer, writer).
1955: Sir Simon Denis Rattle, CBE, FRSA (English conductor; Birmingham S.O/Berlin Philharmonic).
1956: Carman Dominic Licciardello (US Contemporary Christian multi-musician, writer).
1957: Mickey Virtue (UK keyboardist; UB40).
1960: Joe Magnarelli (American trumpeter).
1962: Darren 'Wiz' Brown (UK lead-singer, guitarist; Serpico/Mega City Four/Ipanema)*06.Dec.2006.
1963: Caron Wheeler (UK vocalist, Soul II Soul).
1964: Ricardo Arjona (Guatemalan composer, singer, basketball player).
1966: Lena Philipsson (Swedish singer; Eurovision Song Contest 2004).
1968: Whitfield Crane (US lead singer; Ugly Kid Joe).
1969: Trey Lorenz (US singer, songwriter).
1971: John Wozniak (US lead singer, guitarist, song writer; Marcy Playground).
1972: Angham Mohamed Ali Suleiman (Egyptian singer, record producer, actress)
1973: Antero Manninen (Finnish cellist)
1975: Noah Georgeson (US multi-musician, singer, producer)
1977: Nicole/Denisse Lillian Laval Soza (Chilean singer)
1977: Cocco/Satoko Makishi (Japanese singer)
1978: Ricky Wilson (UK lead singer; Kaiser Chiefs).
1978: VL Mike/Michael Allen (American rapper)*20.April.2008.
1979: Wiley/Richard Kylea Cowie (UK rapper)
1980: Kotoko (Japanese singer)
1982: Angela Chang (Taiwanese singer, actress)
1983: Utada Hikaru (American-Japanese pop singer, songwriter).
1985: Rika Ishikawa (Japanese pop vocalist; Morning Musume).

January 20th.
1867: Yvette Guilbert (French music-hall singer, actress)*04.Feb.1944.
1876: Josef Hofmann (Polish-American virtuoso pianist, composer)*16.Feb.1957.
1981: Mischa Elman (Ukrainian violinist)*05.April.1967.
1894: Walter Piston (US classical composer, music theorist)*12.Nov.1976.
1914: Roy Plomley (Desert Island Discs radio presenter)*28.May.1985.
1918: Juan García Esquivel (Mexican bandleader, pianist, composer)*03.Jan.2002.
1921: Connie Haines/Yvonne Marie Antoinette JaMais (American singer)*22.Sept.2008.
1923: Nora Brockstedt (Norwegian singer; Eurovision Song Contest 1960/61).
1922: Ray Anthony/Raymond Antonini (US trumpeter, bandleader, actor).
1924: Slim Whitman (American country singer, guitarist, songwriter).
1924: Johnny Hawksworth (UK composer, double bassist; Ted Heath Band).
1924: Lee Pockriss (American songwriter)*14.Nov.2011.
1926: David Eugene Tudor (US pianist, composer of experimental music)*13.Aug.1996.
1927: Bill LeSage (UK pianist, vibraphonist; Johnny Dankworth Seven/others)*31.Oct.2001.
1929: Jimmy Cobb (American jazz drummer; freelance/sessions/guest).
1931: Earl Grant (US pianist, organist, singer)*10.June.1970.
1931: Hachidai Nakamura (Japanese songwriter, pianist)*10.June.1992.
1932: King Coleman/Carlton Coleman (US R&B singer. radio DJ; James Brown/solo)*11.Sept.2010.
1933: Ron Townson (US singer; Fifth Dimension)*02.Aug.2001.
1935: Dorothy Provine (US singer, dancer, actress, comedienne)*25.April.2010.
1941: Pierre Lalonde (Canadian singer, television host)
1942: William Powell (US vocalist; The O'Jays)*26.May.1977.
1943: Rick Evans (US singer, guitarist; Zager and Evans).
1943: Valery Ponomarev (Russian born jazz trumpeter).
1944: Chuck Domanico (US bass player; West Coast sessionist)*17.Oct.2002.
1944: Farhad Mehrad (Persian rock singer-songwriter, multi-musician; Black Cats/solo)*31.Aug.2002.
1945: Eric Stewart (UK guitar, keyboards, vocals, Mindenders/ Hotlegs /10cc).
1946: Jimmy Chambers (US singer; Londonbeat).
1947: George Grantham (US drummer; Poco).
1948: Mel Pritchard (UK drummer; Barclay James Harvest)*28.Jan.2004
1951: Ian Hill (UK bassist; Judas Priest).
1951: Ivan Fischer (Hungarian conductor)
1952: Paul Stanley (guitar, vocals; Kiss).
1954: Ken Page (US cabaret singer, actor)
1956: Riccardo Del Fra (Italian session bassist).
1957: Andy Sheppard (Award winning UK flautist and tenor saxophonist).
1960: Scott Thunes (US guitarist; Frank Zappa/Steve Vai/ The Waterboys).
1965: Nathan Moore (vocals, Brother Beyond/ Pop Idol manager)
1965: John Michael Montgomery (US country singer, rhythm).
1965: Greg Kriesel (UK bass; The Offspring).
1965: Heather Small (UK singer, M People).
1966: Tracii Guns/Tracy Irving Ulrich (US guitarist; L.A. Guns/Brides of Destruction/Contraband/others).
1969: Nicky Wire/Nicholas Allen Jones (Welsh bassist; Manic Street Preachers).
1969: Tina O'Neill (UK drummer; We've Got A Fuzzbox And We're Gonna Use It = Fuzzbox).
1970: Edwin McCain (US pop/rock singer, guitarist, composer).
1970: Mark Trojanowski (US drummer; Sister Hazel).
1970: Mitch Benn (UK comedian, songwriter, actor)
1971: Paul Albert Masvidal (US guitarist, singer; Cynic).
1971: Questlove/Ahmir Thompson (US drummer, DJ, music journalist; The Roots).
1971: Derrick Green (US singer; heavy metal band Sepultura).
1971: Gary Barlow (UK singer, pianoist, songwriter, Take That/solo).
1977: Melody/Nathalie T'Sobbel (Belgian singer)
1977: DJ Mehdi /Mehdi Favéris-Essadi (French hip hop-electro musician, producer)*13.Sept.2011.
1978: Sid Wilson (US turntablist; Slipknot)
1979: Will Young (UK singer).
1979: Rob Bourdon (US drummer; Linkin Park).
1981: Nathan Connolly (Northern Irish lead guitarist, backing vocals; Snow Patrol).
1983: Mari Yaguchi (Japanese singer; Morning Musume)

January 21st.
1899: Alexander Tcherepnin (Russian born American composer)*29.Sept.1977.
1909: Todor Skalovski (Macedonian composer)*01.July.2004.
1910: Eua Sunthornsanan (Thai composer, bandleader)*01.April.1981.
1921: Bess Lomax Hawes (US folklorist, musician, teacher)*27.Nov.2009.
1923: Lola Flores (Spanish singer, dancer, actress)*16.May.1995.
1924: Benny Hill (UK actor, comedian, singer)*20.April.1992.
1925: Telly Savalas (US singer, actor)*22.Jan.1994.
1926: Brian Brockless (English organist)*18.Dec.1995.
1938: Wolfman Jack/Robert Weston Smith (American howling DJ)*01.July.1995.
1936: Snooks Eaglin/Fird Eaglin Jr (US blind blues guitarist, singer)*18.Feb.2009.
1931: Rudi Maugeri (Canadian baritone singer, Radio DJ; Crew Cuts)*07.May.2004.
1941: Richie Havens (US folk singer).
1941: Placido Domingo (Spanish tenor opera singer).
1942: Freddy Breck/Gerhard Brecker (German schlager singer)*17.Dec.2008.
1942: Edwin Starr/Charles Edwin Hatcher (US motown/soul singer)*02.April.2003.
1942: Mac Davis (UK singer, songwriter).
1945: Chris Britton (UK guitarist; Troggs).
1946: Nella Martinetti (Swiss singer-songwriter)*29.July.2011.
1947: Michel Jonasz (French singer, composer).
1947: Pye Hastings (Scottish guitarist, singer; Caravan).
1947: Jimmy Ibbotson (US multi-musician; Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/solo)?
1950: Billy Ocean/Leslie Sebastian Charles (Trinidadian singer).
1954: Nigel Glockler (UK drums; Saxon).
1956: Rob Brill (US drummer; Berlin).
1958: Frank Ticheli (American composer).
1965: Jam Master Jay/Jason Mizell (DJ, rapper; founder & DJ of Run-DMC)*30.Oct.2002.
1965: Cordell Crockett (US bassist; Ugly Kid Joe)
1966: 3D/Robert Del Naja (UK singer; The Wild Bunch / Massive Attack).
1966: Wendy James (UK vocals; Transvision Vamp/Racine)?
1970: Mark Trojanowski (American drummer; Sister Hazel)
1971: Tweet/Charlene Keys (US R&B, soul singer-songwriter, guitarist).
1972: Yasunori Mitsuda (Japanese composer).
1972: Cat Power/Charlyn Marshall (US guitarist, piano, singer).
1976: Emma Lee Bunton/Baby spice (UK singer; Spice Girls)
1977: Rick Ross (American rapper).
1978: Phil Stacey (US singer;solo/American Idol finalist).
1978: Nokio/Tamir Mateen Raheem Hameed Ruffin (US singer, rapper; Dru Hill).
1979: Spider Loc/Curtis Norvell Williams (US rapper; member of G-Unit).
1980: Nana Mizuki (Japanese voice actress, singer).
1981: Gillian Chung (Hong Kong singer, actress; Twins).
1981: Andy Lee (Korean singer; Shinhwa).
1981: Alex Ubago (Spanish-Basque singer-songwriter).
1988: William Johansson (Swedish composer).
1994: BooBoo Stewart/Nils Allen Stewart Jr (US singer, actor, dancer)

January 28th.
1834: Sabine Baring-Gould (UK lyricist hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist)*02.Jan.1924.
1887: Arthur Rubinstein (Polish pianist; 5 time Grammy award winner)*20.Dec.1982.
1908: Paul Misraki (French composer, songwriter)*29.Oct.1998.
1923: Fausto Papetti (Italian alto saxophone player)*15.June.1999.
1927: Ronnie Scott/Ronald Schatt (UK jazz saxophonist, Ronnie Scott's night club)*23.Dec.1996.
1929: Acker Bilk (UK jazz clarinetist).
1936: Jack Scott/Giovanni Dominico Scafone Jr (Canadian-born songwriter, rockabilly singer).
1936: Bill Phillips (US country music singer)*23.Aug.2010.
1941: King Tubby/Osbourne Ruddock (reggae producer)*06.Feb.1989.
1943: Dick Taylor (UK bassist, vocals; Rolling Stones/The Pretty Things).
1943: Brian Keenan (US drummer; The Losers/Chambers Brothers/Manfred Mann)*05.Oct.1985.
1944: John Tavener (UK composer)
1945: Robert Wyatt-Ellidge (UK singer; Soft Machine/Matching Mole/solo).
1946: Rick Allen (US keyboardist; Box Tops).
1947: David Byron/David Garrick (UK lead singer; Uriah Heep/Spice/solo)*28.Feb.1985.
1948: Corky Laing (drums, Mountain/West, Bruce and Laing)
1950: Bob Hay (US songwriter, multi-musician; Squalls/Jolly Beggars/Noogeez/Supercluster/others).
1951: William "Billy Bass" Nelson (bassist; P Funk/Funkadelic/freelance)
1952: George Green (American songwriter; John Mellencamp)*28.Aug.2011.
1953: Chris Carter (UK synthesist; Throbbing Gristle/Chris & Cosey)
1959: Dave Sharp (Welsh guitar, vocals, The Alarm)
1959: Burkhard Dallwitz (German-born composer)
1962: Leslie "Sam" Phillips (US guitar, singer, songwriter, solo)
1963: Dan Spitz (US guitarist; Anthrax)
1967: Jan Lamb Hoi Fong (Chinese disc jockey, comedian)
1968: Sarah McLachlan (Canadian singer, songwriter)
1968: DJ Muggs/Lawrence Muggerud (US producer, DJ, Cypress Hill)
1968: Rakim/William Griffin Jr (US rapper)
1971: Anthony Hamilton (US soul singer)
1975: Tanya Chua (Singaporean singer)
1975: Lee Latchford- Evans (singer - Steps)
1976: Rick Ross/William Leonard Roberts II (US rapper; founded of Maybach Music Group)
1976: Jarrod Montague (US drummer; Taproot)
1977: Matt DeVries (US guitarist; Chimaira)
1977: Joseph "Joey" Fatone (US singer; N'SYNC).
1977: Tweety/Raphael Brown (US singer; Next)
1980: Nick Carter (US singer; Backstreet Boys)
1980: Brian Fallon (US lead singer, guitarist; The Gaslight Anthem)
1985: J. Cole/Jermaine Lamarr Cole (US rapper)
1991: Calum Worthy (Canadian actor, singer; TV/theatre/musicals/films).

January 29th.
1876: William "Havergal" Brian (UK classical composer)*28.Nov.1972.
1915: John Serry Sr (US accordionist, arranger, composer, organist, educator)*14.Sept.2003.
1923: Ivo Robic (Croatian singer and songwriter)*09.March.2000.
1924: Luigi Nono (Italian avant-garde composer)*08.May.1990.
1926: Franco Cerri (Italian guitarist)
1930: Derek Bailey (UK guitarist, founder of Incus records)*25.Dec.2005.
1933: Laci/75 Cents/Ladislav Demeterffy (Croatian singer, accordion player)*19.Nov.2010.
1933: Sacha Distel/Sacha Alexandre (French singer, guitarist)*22.July.2004.
1936: James Jamerson (US bassist; Funk Brothers/session)*02.Aug.1983.
1937: Jeff Clyne (UK jazz bassist, double bassist; Ronnie Scott/many other bands)*16.Nov.2009.
1942: Claudine Longet (French singer, dancer).
1943: Tony Blackburn (UK radio, pirate, & TV DJ; first D.J. on BBC Radio One).
1943: Mark Wynter/Terence Lee Lewis (UK singer, theatre actor).
1944: Steve Reid (American jazz drummer; sessionist)*13.April.2010.
1944: Andrew Loog Oldham (UK producer, impresario, author; first Rolling Stones manager).
1945: Joe Beck (US guitarist; international sessionist/solo).
1947: David Byron (UK singer; Spice/Uriah Heep/others)*28.Feb.1985.
1947: Marián Varga (Slovak organist, composer)
1952: Tommy Ramone/Thomas Erdelyi (Hungarian born drummer; The Ramones).
1953: Peter Baumann (German keyboardist, songwriter; Tangerine Dream).
1953: Louie Perez (US percussionist, guitarist; Los Lobos/Latin Playboys).
1953: Teresa Teng (Taiwanese singer)*08.May.1995.
1954: Rob Manzoli (UK singer; Right Said Fred).
1954: Richard Manitoba/Richard Blum (US singer; The Dictators/ MC5)
1959: Johnny Spampinato (US bassist; NRBQ/sessionist).
1960: James George Thirlwell/Clint Ruin/Frank Want/Foetus (Australian vocalist).
1961: Eddie Jackson (US bassist; Queensrÿche).
1961: Dave Baynton-Power (UK drummer; James).
1961: Pauline Henry (Scottish singer; Chimes).
1962: Marcus Vere (UK synthesizers; Living In A Box).
1964: Roddy Frame (Scottish guitarist, singer, songwriter; Aztec Camera).
1968: Richard Battersby (UK drummer; The Wildhearts)?
1969: Hyde/Hideto Takarai (Japanese singer; L'Arc-en-Ciel)
1974: Malina Olinescu (Romanian singer)*12.Dec.2011.
1976: Chris Castle (US singer-songwriter)
1981: Jonny Lang/Jon Gordon Langseth, Jr (US blues guitarist, singer).
1981: Álex Ubago (Spanish singer-songwriter, guitarist)
1981: Rui En (Singaporean actress, singer)
1982: Adam Lambert (US actor, singer)
1985: Mikey Hachey (US bassist; Suburban Legends)

January 30th.
1911: Roy Eldridge (US jazz trumpet player)*26.Feb.1989.
1928: Ruth Brown (US R&B singer)*17.Nov.2006.
1930: Buddy Montgomery (US jazz composer, arranger, pianist, vibraphonist)*15.May.2009.
1935: Edward "Tubby" Hayes (UK tenor saxophone, jazz multi-instrumentalist)*08. June.1973.
1936: Horst Jankowski (German jazz & easy listening pianist; band leader/guest)*29.June.1998.
1940: Tony Levin (British jazz drummer; Sophia Domancich/Humphrey Lyttelton/others)*03.Feb.2011.
1941: Joe Terranova (US singer; Danny & The Juniors).
1942: Marty Balin (US singer; Jefferson Airplane).
1943: Sandy Deane/Yaguda (US singer; Jay and the Americans)?
1947: Steve Marriott (UK singer, guitarist, songwriter; Small Faces/Humble Pie)*20.April.1991.
1946: Michael Scott Smith (US jazz drummer, percussionist)*02.Jan.2006.
1949: William King (US trumpeter; Commodores)
1951: Phil Collins (UK drums, piano, vocals, Genesis/solo).
1952: Steve Bartek (US guitarist, film composer, conductor, orchestrator.Oingo Boingo).
1959: Jody Watley (US vocals,songwriter, dancer; Shalamar).
1959: Mark Eitzel (US guitarist, singer, songwriter; American Music Club/solo).
1960: Alejandro Sokol (Argentine bassist, drummer, vocals; Sumo / Las Pelotas)*12.Jan.2009.
1964: Angie Stone (UK singer, songwriter, keyboards; Vertical Hold/Mantronix/Devox/solo).
1967: Jay Gordon (US vocalist, composer; Orgy)
1968: Trevor Dunn (US composer, bass guitarist, double bassist; Mr.Bungle/Fantômas/Secret Chiefs 3)
1972: Lupillo Rivera/Guadalupe Rivera (Mexican singer)
1975: Yumi Yoshimura (Japanese singer; Puffy Amiyumi)
1980: Josh Kelley (US singer, songwriter, guitarist, keyboardist).
1984: Kid Cudi/Scott Ramon Seguro Mescudi (US hip hop performer)
1986: Sam Duckworth (UK singer-songwriter).
1989: Khaleed Leon "Khleo" Thomas (US actor, rapper).
1990: Eiza Gonzalez (Mexican actress, singer).

January 31st.
1797: Franz Peter Schubert (Austrian composer)*19.Nov.1828.
1892: Eddie Cantor/Edward Israel Iskowitz (US singer, vaudeville performer, radio & TV)*10.Oct.1964.
1894: Isham Jones (US bandleader, saxophonist, bassist, songwriter)*19.Oct.1956.
1902 or 05: Bill Blue/William Thornton Blue (US jazz/blues clarinetist; Andy Preer Orch/others)*1968.
1906: Roosevelt "Honeydripper" Sykes (Jazz Pianist)*17.July.1983.
1907: Benny Morton (American jazz trombonist)*28.Dec.1985.
1907: Emmanuel "Manny" Sayles (American jazz banjoist, guitarist)*05.Oct.1986.
1915: Bobby Hackett (US jazz, big band trumpeter, cornet, guitar)*07.June.1976.
1915: Alan Lomax (US singer, guitarist, folklorist, musicologist)*19.July.2002.
1921: Carol Channing (US actress, singer).
1921: Mario Lanza/Alfred Arnold Cocozza (US tenor singer, actor)*07.Oct.1959.
1928: Chuck Willis/Harold Willis (Blues, R&B singer)*10.April.1958.
1932: Ottilie Patterson (Irish jazz singer; Chris Barber's band).
1936: Garnett Brown (US jazz trombonist; The Crusaders/Herbie Hancock/Lionel Hampton).
1936: Lester George Sterling (Jamaican saxophone player, trumpet; The Skatalites/solo).
1937: Philip Glass (American composer)
1939: Claude Gauthier (Canadian singer, songwriter)
1940: Sandy Yaguda/Sandy Deane (US vocalist; Jay & The Americans).
1942: Tony Mann (UK session drummer).
1944: Charlie Musselwhite (American blues singer, harps).
1946: Terry Kath (US guitarist, Chicago)*23.Jan.1978.
1948: Paul Jabara (US actor, singer, songwriter; solo/stage musicals)*29.Sept.1992.
1951: Phil Manzanera (UK guitarist, keyboards; Roxy Music/The Explorers/Quiet Sun)
1951: Harry Wayne Casey (US keyboardist; KC & Sunshine Band)
1951: Dave Benton/Efren Eugene Benita (Aruban born singer; Eurovision Song Contest 2001 winner).
1952: William "Curley" Smith (US drums, vocalist, harp; Jo Jo Gunne)
1954: Adrian Vandenburg (Dutch guitarist; Whitesnake/Manic Eden/Little Caesar)
1956: Johnny Rotten/John Lydon (UK singer; Sex Pistols/Public Image Ltd/Time Zone)
1961: Lloyd Cole (UK lead vocals, guitar; Lloyd Cole and the Commotions).
1962: Sophie Muller (UK music video director)
1964: Billey Shamrock Gleissner (Swedish singer, stand-up comedian, songwriter).
1964: Jeff Hanneman (US guitarist; Slayer).
1966: Al Doughty/Alan Jaworski (UK bass; Jesus Jones).
1967: Chad Channing (US drummer; Nirvana/The Fire Ants/Redband/East Of The Equator)
1967: Jason Cooper (UK drummer; The Cure)
1967: Fat Mike/Michael John Burkett (US bassist; NOFX/Me First/Gimme Gimmes).
1970: Danny Michel (Canadian singer, songwriter, guitarist)
1970: Chen Lin (Chinese pop singer)*31.Oct.2009.
1977: Shingo Katori (Japanese actor, singer; SMAP)
1978: Ray Shah (Irish DJ, TV, radio presenter)
1980: Ryan Kienle (US bassist; Matchbook Romance/Fizzlewink).
1981: Justin Timberlake (US singer; N'Sync/solo)
1982: Elena Paparizou (Greek singer; Eurovision Song Contest 2005 winner).
1985: Kalomoira/Maria Kalomira Sarantis (Greek singer)
1990: Kota Yabu (Japanese actor, singer)

Born January ????
1969: Lou Breese/Luigi G. Calabrese (68) American banjo player and trumpeter, born in Milford, Massachusetts. He began violin lessons when he was five years old, but in later years he concentrated on the trumpet. He graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music and paid his way through school by playing banjo at society debut parties and campus functions in the Boston area. He went on to work with the likes of Bert Lowe and His First String Orchestra, Paul Specht and His Orchestra, Lou Calabrese and His Hot Shotss, The Capitolians, and The Georgians. Luigialso, under the name of Lou Breese had his own radio show and dance band that was popular in the 1930's and 1940's. His career covered almost all facets of the entertainment world including night clubs, theatres, radio, and films (?) b. February 10th 1900.
1988: Ilona Fehér (86) Hungarian violinist, born in Budapest, she studied with Jeno Hubay for six years at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest. Between the two world wars she performed all over Europe, in particular with Willem Mengelberg and the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. She lived in Budapest until 1942 when she was interned with her daughter in a concentration camp. They managed to escape in 1944, and joined Hungarian and Czechoslovak partisans until the liberation by the Soviet Red Army. She later returned to the concert stage to perform only in Soviet-controlled Eastern Europe. In 1949 she emigrated to Israel to begin a new life as a violin teacher. Her 250 pupils included some of the most outstanding violinists such as Pinkas Zukerman, Shlomo Mintz, Hagai Shaham, Ittai Shapira, Moshe Hammer and Yehonatan Berick, chamber music players Shmuel Ashkenasi and David Ehrlich (?) b. December 1st 1901.
2009: Ron Asheton (60) American guitarist and original member of The Stooges, the influential protopunk band founded in Ann Arbor in 1967, his distorted guitar was a hallmark of the Iggy Pop-led group. He appeared as guitarist on the Stooges first two albums, and later appeared as bassist for their third, "Raw Power", when he was replaced in both instrument and songwriting prominence by The Stooges' new guitar player, James Williamson. When the Stooges reformed in 2007, he once again appeared as the band's guitarist, they released "The Weirdness," their first album in three decades. Apart from The Stooges, he also played in the bands The New Order (not the UK band New Order), Destroy All Monsters, New Race, Dark Carnival, Empty Set, The Powertrane and more recently with Mike Watt, J. Mascis, Thurston Moore of Sonic Youth and Mark Arm of Mudhoney among others. He was named the 29th greatest guitarist of all time in 2003 by Rolling Stone. (Found dead on his settee in his apartment in Ann Arbor, Michigan, of a probable heart attack. He had been dead for several days) b. July 17th 1948. ... NOTE: Ron Asheton's death was announced on January 6th

January 1st.
1953: Hank Williams/Hiram King Williams (29) US legendary country singer, guitarist, songwriter; he has become an icon of country music and one of the most influential songwriters of the 20th century. A leading pioneer of the honky tonk style, his songbook is one of the backbones of country music, and several of his songs are pop standards as well. He had 11 number one hits in his career, "Lovesick Blues", "Long Gone Lonesome Blues", "Why Don't You Love Me?", "Moanin' the Blues", "Cold, Cold Heart", "Hey Good Lookin'", "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)", "I'll Never Get Out of This World Alive", "Kaw-Liga", "Your Cheatin' Heart", "Take These Chains From My Heart"—as well as many other top-ten hits. He is ranked No.2 in CMT's 40 Greatest Men of Country Music in 2003, behind only Johnny Cash. His son Hank Williams, Jr., daughter Jett Williams, grandson Hank Williams III, and granddaughters Hilary Williams and Holly Williams are also country musicians (died of a heart attack; before leaving the old Andrew Johnson Hotel in Knoxville, Tennessee, he injected himself with B12 and morphine. He then left in a chauffeur driven Cadillac, though contrary to popular belief, he did not have a bottle of whiskey with him. The only items found in the backseat of his car were a few cans of beer and the hand-written lyrics to an unrecorded song. When the 17-year-old chauffeur Charles Carr pulled over at an all-night service station in Oak Hill, West Virginia, he discovered that Hank was unresponsive and becoming rigid. Upon closer examination, it was discovered that Hank Williams was dead.. Over 20,000 mourners attended his funeral) b. September 17th 1923.
1972: Maurice Auguste Chevalier (83) French actor, singer, and popular entertainer; born in Paris, his trademark was a boater hat, which he always wore on stage with his tuxedo. Maurice's first working job was as an acrobat, until a severe accident turned him toward singing and making pictures. He was singing, unpaid, at a café when a member of the theatre saw him and suggested he try for a local musical. He got the part. He made a name as a mimic and a singer. His act in l'Alcazar in Marseille was so successful, he made a triumphant rearrival in Paris. He also made short films in France, the year being 1908. He joined the French Army in World War I, but was wounded, captured, and imprisoned by the Germans. While in prison, he learned the English language from fellow prisoners. After the war, he returned to making French films. When Hollywood started to make talkies, he decided to relocate to America in 1928. In 1929, he was matched up with the opeattic singer/actress, Jeanette MacDonald to make the movie, Love Parade. They made three more pictures together, the most successful being, Love Me Tonight. In the late 1930's, Maurice returned to Europe, making several French and English films. World War II interrupted his career for he was accused of being a Nazi collaborator - later being vindicated. In the 1950's, he returned to Hollywood, he was older and gray-headed. He made the movie Gigi (1958), this gave him his signature songs, "Thank Heaven for Little Girls", and "I Remember it Well". He also received a special oscar that year. In the 1960's, he continued to make a few more films, and in 1970, he sang the title song for Walt Disney's, Aristocats. This marked his last contribution to the film industry (tragically Maurice died of a cardiac arrest after surgery for a kidney problem) b. September 12th 1888.
1980: Adolph Deutsch (82) English born American composer, conductor and arranger born in London. In 1914, he started out as a "Buffalo movie house musician", accompanying silent films and he began his composing career on Broadway in the 1920s and 1930s before working for Hollywood films. He won Oscars for his background music for Oklahoma! in 1955, and for conducting the music for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers in 1954 and Annie Get Your Gun in 1950. He was also nominated for The Band Wagon in 1953 and the 1951 film version of Show Boat. For Broadway and Hollywood, he conducted, composed and arranged music, but never wrote songs. In addition to his music for westerns and his conducting of the scores for musicals, Adolph also composed for films noir, including The Mask of Dimitrios, The Maltese Falcon, Nobody Lives Forever, Some Like It Hot and the Wilder comedies The Apartment. Adolph retired to Palm Desert, California in 1961 (?) b. October 20th 1897.
1984: Alexis Korner (55) French writer, radio broadcaster, pioneering blues and jazz guitarist, sometimes referred to as "the Founding Father of British Blues". A major influence on the sound of the British music scene in the 1960s. After starting out in the Chris Barber Band in the late 40s, he and Cyril Davies started working together and in 1961, they formed Blues Incorporated, initially a loose-knit group of musicians with a shared love of electric blues and R&B music. The group included, at various times, influential musicians Charlie Watts, Jack Bruce, Ginger Baker, Long John Baldry, Graham Bond, Danny Thompson and Dick Heckstall-Smith. In 1970 he formed the group C.C.S/ The Collective Consciousness Society, in 1973, he formed another group, Snape, with Boz Burrell, Mel Collins, and Ian Wallace, and in 1981, he joined "supergroup" Rocket 88, a project led by Ian Stewart based around boogie-woogie keyboard players, which featured a rhythm section comprising Jack Bruce and Charlie Watts, among others, as well as a horn section (lung cancer) b. April 19th 1928.
1991: Buck Ram (73) US manager and songwriter to The Platters; he wrote 99% of the Platter's hits such as "Only You", "The Great Pretender", "Twilight Time", he also wrote, produced and/or arranged for The Coasters, The Drifters, Ike and Tina Turner, Ike Cole, Duke Ellington, Glenn Miller, Ella Fitzgerald, and many others. He wrote the lyrics to "I'll Be Home For Christmas" as a sixteen year old college student as a gift for his mother. In 1942, Buck's publisher chose to hold the song for release because they were going to release Irving Berlin's "White Christmas" first. Not completely satisfied with the song, Buck discussed his concerns with two acquaintances in a bar. He left a copy of the song with them but never discussed it with them again. Both Buck and his publisher were shocked when the song was released. His publisher sued and won (?) b. November 21st 1907.
1994: Dewey Jackson (93) American jazz trumpeter and cornetist; he began playing professionally at an early age, with the Odd Fellows Boys' Band-1912, Tommy Evans 1916-17, and George Reynolds's Keystone Band. He played with Charlie Creath on riverboats, and then led his own Golden Melody Band from 1920 -1923. He recorded only four sides as a leader in 1926. Among his sidemen were Pops Foster, Willie Humphrey, Don Stovall, Morris White, Albert Snaer, William Thornton Blue, and Clark Terry. He continued to be a regular performer on riverboats into the early 1940s, heading his own groups and working as a sideman for Creath and Fate Marable. In 1926, he played for four months with Andrew Preer at the Cotton Club in New York City. Dewey played little in the 1940s but returned to work in the 1950s with Singleton Palmer and Don Ewell (?) b. June 21st 1900.
1997: Ivan Graziani (51) Italian singer, songwriter and guitarist born at Teramo, Abruzzo. His first band was The Serogan, which he formed in 1963 with Giuseppe Canala, Bruno Tartaglia, and Luciano Cordivani. He then played in Anonima Sound until 1972, after which he went solo, releasing his debut solo album, "Desperation", in 1973. This was followed by 16 more albums, the last being "Per sempre Ivan" released in 1999 after his death. He launched into acting in 1981 and wrote a book, Arcipielago Chieti, in 1988 (?) b. October 6th 1945.
1997: Townes Van Zandt (52) American country-folk singer-songwriter and poet; throughout his career he was widely admired by fellow songwriters, particularly in the folk and country genres, but greater fame eluded him, in part because of his unconventional vocal style and because of his erratic personal behavior. Many of his songs, including "Pancho and Lefty," "If I Needed You," and "To Live's to Fly," have been recorded by other notable performers and are considered standards of their genre. His songs have been covered by such notable and varied musicians as Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark, Steve Earle, Merle Haggard, Hoyt Axton, Tindersticks, Devendra Banhart, Norah Jones, Lyle Lovett, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss, The Be Good Tanyas, Gillian Welch, and the Dixie Chicks. The film "Be Here to Love Me" chronicling the artist's life and legacy was released in the United States in 2006 (massive pulmonary embolus, blood clot in the lungs) b. March 7th 1944.
1997: Hagood Hardy (57) Canadian composer, pianist, vibraphonist, born in Angola, Indiana, he received a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Trinity College in the University of Toronto. . He is best known for the 1975 single, "The Homecoming," and for his soundtrack to the Anne of Green Gables and Anne of Avonlea films. In the 1960's he played vibraphone in the bands of Martin Denny, Gigi Gryce, Herbie Mann and George Shearing. In 1992 Hagood was made a Member of the Order of Canada (?) b. February 26th 1937.
2006: Bryan Harvey (49) American singer and musician, he first gained attention in the early 1980s as singer-guitarist in a power pop band based out of Richmond, Virginia called The Dads. Popular at East Coast colleges, they released a self titled album in 1984 on CBS records. Harvey's subsequent musical career included long-time participation in the indie supergroup Gutterball, which featured former Dream Syndicate frontman Steve Wynn. Harvey's most enduring project, however, was House of Freaks, a two-man band with Richmond percussionist Johnny Hott, who had a penchant for banging on anything he could drag into the studio that made the noise he wanted. House of Freaks split in 1995. Both members were involved with the making of the most recent Gutterball outing. Bryan completed a solo album in early 1997, which remains unreleased. (He was murdered with his wife Kathryn and their two daughters Stella aged 9 and 4 year old Ruby) b. April 27th 1956.
2007: Julius Hegyi (83) American conductor and violinist born in New York City; he spent his lifetime building orchestras, founding chamber music groups and instilling a passion for music in young and old alike. His belief in contemporary music, especially American music, as conductor, violinist and mentor, brought compelling listening experiences to his audiences. He was well-known for his expert grasp of European repertoire, routinely giving commanding performances of Beethoven and Brahms, for example (?) b. February 2nd 1923.
2007: Del Reeves (74) American country singer born in Sparta, North Carolina; he became one of the most successful male country singers of the 1960s, best known for his "girl-watching" novelty-type songs such as "The Girl on the Billboard" and "The Belles of Southern Bell", both highlights from his career. He is also known for his 1968 trucker's anthem "Looking at the World through a Windshield" which proved he was capable of singing more than just novelty songs. He and his wife became a songwriting team, writing songs for the likes of Rose Maddox, Carl Smith and Roy Drusky, to name a few. He joined the Grand Ole Opry in 1966, his last Opry performance was in August 2002 (emphysema) b. July 14th 1942
2007: Thaddeus "Tad" Jones (54) American music historian and researcher best known for discovering Louis Armstrong's correct birthdate. He was co-author of "Up From the Cradle of Jazz", long anticipated book on the early life of Louis Armstrong was almost complete when he died. He was also responsible for conducting numerous interviews with musicians from every period and style of New Orleans music, many of which are housed in the William Ransom Hogan Jazz Archive at Tulane University. He also served as consultant for documentaries and films (died unexpectedly from a fall) b. September 19th 1952.
2009: Walter Haynes (80) American steel guitarist and music producer who worked with such artists as Jimmy Dickens, Del Reeves, The Everly Brothers and Jeanne Pruett. He also co-wrote a number of songs including "Girl on the Billboard" - a song that became a #1 hit for Del Reeves in 1965. An addition to his time in Dickens’ Country Boys group, he worked the road with Ferlin Husky and Webb Pierce. He also worked for 13 years as a staff musician on the Grand Ole Opry. In the studio, he was versatile enough to play on such disparate recordings as Dickens’ rockabilly-fused “Hey Worm! (You Wanna Wiggle),” to Patsy Cline’s elegant “Walkin’ After Midnight” to rocker J.J. Cale’s 1971 Naturally album. He was also a member of the Steel Guitar Hall of Fame and at the time of his death he had been teaching music lessons in Bullard, Texas (?) b. 1928.
2010: Lhasa de Sela (37) American singer-songwriter who spent her adult life between Canada and France. After moving to Montreal when she was 19, Lhasa worked the bar circuit before releasing her debut album, 'La Llorona' in 1997. The album won the Quebec Félix Award in Canada for "Artiste québécois - musique du monde" in 1997 and a Canadian Juno Award for Best Global Artist, in 1998. In 1999 she joined her sister in France and Lhasa joined a circus, before moving to Marseille where she started writing songs again. She then returned to Montreal to produce her second album, 'The Living Road', which was released in 2003. She has appeared as a guest on albums with Tinderstick singing "Sometimes It Hurts", duetted with Stuart Staples singing "That Leaving Feeling" and featured on Arthur H, Jérôme Minière, and the French gypsy music group Bratsch albums. In 2005 Lhasa received the BBC World Music Award for Best Artist of the Americas. Her third and final album "Lhasa" was released in April 2009 (sadly died after a long battle with breast cancer) b. September 27th 1972.
2010: Gregory Slay (40) American rock drummer with the Birmingham, Alabama-based alternative rock band Remy Zero, who got their big break when the group's demo was heard by Radiohead, who were so impressed they invited Remy Zero to join them on their 'Bends' tour. Remy Zero went on to record three albums, scoring hit singles with 1998's 'Prophecy' and 2001's 'Save Me', which came from their album The Golden Hum was chosen as the theme tune for the WB's Superman restart show "Smallville.". They disbanded in 2003. Gregory then worked on his own music in the band he founded, Sleepwell, and various other projects, including his Emmy-nominated work on the theme song for the television series 'Nip/Tuck'. He also worked frequently with his former Remy Zero band mates, most recently teaming up with guitarist Jeffrey Cain on an album produced for musician Eliot Morris called 'All Things In Time.' (tragically passed away after a life-long battle with cystic fibrosis) b. ??.??.1969.
2011: Marin Constantin (85) Romanian musician, conductor and composer, born in Urleta, he was the founder in 1963 of the Madrigal Chamber Choir and had been its conductor and director ever since. He was well-known all over the world for his expertise on Renaissance music, Baroque, Gregorian songs and Traditional Romanian music. In over 45 years, over 3500 concerts have been performed by the choir in Romania and abroad. He was also designated a UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador in 1992 (?) b. February 27th 1925.
2011: Charles Fambrough (60) American jazz bassist and composer from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was a member of Art Blakey's Jazz Messengers during the early 1980s. He also played with Freddie Hubbard, Airto Moreira, and Shirley Scott to name only a few (?) b. August 25th 1950.
2011: Gil Garfield (77) American songwriter and singer with The Cheers, a rock and roll vocal group that had a string of hits in the mid 1950s starting with "(Bazoom') I Need Your Lovin'", which hit No.15 on the U.S. charts in 1954. This was the first hit written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller to chart on the Pop charts in the US. They followed it up with a No.6 hit "Black Denim Trousers and Motorcycle Boots", also written by Leiber and Stoller, a song about a wild-living leather-jacketed motorcyclist (died after a long battle with cancer) b. May 20th 1933.
2011: David Gurland (43) American cabaret singer; during his career, he performed at such venues as the Laurie Beechman Theatre, BB KINGS, The Bitter End, The Cutting Room, The Living Room, Downtime, CB's Gallery, The Metropolitan Room, Eighty-Eights, The Duplex , Don't Tell Mama, and The Gardenia, among many others. He was also a member of the acclaimed vocal group Uptown Express. David's honors include the MAC Hanson Award and the Back Stage Bistro Award (tragically died after a massive brain aneurysm) b. 1967.
2011: Verne Langdon (69) American musician, record producer and make-up artist, best known for his tracks "Pipe Dreams" and "The Neanderthal Stomp". Born in Oakland, California, hewas known in cult monster mask circles as the creative force behind the Don Post Studios "Calendar Masks". He was also the creator of the most sought-after collector's mask, "The Zombie", and was creator-producer of the cult classic Decca LP An Evening With Boris Karloff And His Friends. With Jay Stein and Terry Winnick he created The Land Of A Thousand Faces Makeup Show in 1975 and the Castle Dracula horror show in 1980 for Universal Studios Tour. He has produced, written, performed and recorded thirty one albums, his most recent album was released in March 2009, Jonathan Winters - A Very Special Time, with all music composed by himself (?) b. September 15th 1941.
2011: Flemming Jørgensen (63) Danish pop singer and actor, best known as lead singer of the band Bamses Venner/Teddy Bear's Friends. During the recent years he also released some solo albums, the latest being Tæt på /Close-up from 2010. His band was part of the Danish music scene for more than 35 years, and sold more than 3.5 million albums. He occasionally worked as an actor and 1986 he received a Robert Award for best male supporting actor of the year in the movie Ofelia kommer til byen/Ophelia comes to town (sadly died of a cardiac arrest in his home in Egå) b. February 7th 1947.
2011: Albert Raisner (88) French television presenter and harmonica player born in Paris; he started in his childhood at the piano and violin, before taking up the harmonica in the early 1930s. As a musician, he gained his reputation in the 1950s as a harmonica in the trio Raisner. He also wrote a book on the harmonica, which he made a history of the instrument and its major users, and traces his own musical career. On radio, he was one of the original presenters of Game of 1000 francs , and hosted the television show Age Tender Blockhead, who received all the stars of pop music (sadly passed to pneumonia) b. September 30th 1922.
2012: Yafa Yarkoni /Yafa Abramov (86) Israeli singer born in Giv'at Rambam and dubbed Israel's “songstress of the wars”. In 1948, during Israel's War of Independence, she joined an IDF song troupe affiliated with the Givati Brigade. Bab el-Wad, a song she performed at the time, became a classic and sung every year on Israel's Memorial Day. After the war, she performed songs for a program on the Kol Yisrael radio station. Among her most well-known songs are "Don't Say Goodbye, Say I Will See You," about a soldier parting from his girlfriend before battle, and "Road to Jerusalem," about soldiers transporting food to Jerusalem when the city was under siege in 1948. In 1998, Yafai was awarded the Israel Prize, for Hebrew song. In 2005, she was voted the 153rd-greatest Israeli of all time, in a poll by the Israeli news website Ynet to determine whom the general public considered the 200 Greatest Israelis (Yafa sadly died at Reut Medical Center in Tel Aviv) b. December 24th 1925.
2012: Fred Milano (72) American doo-wop singer; born in New York, he was a member of The Belmonts who became successful in the late 1950s as Dion and the Belmonts. Their breakthrough came when "I Wonder Why" reached No. 22 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and the group appeared for the first time on American Bandstand. They followed it with the ballads "No One Knows" and "Don’t Pity Me". In March 1959, Dion and the Belmonts’ next single, "A Teenager in Love", was released, reaching No. 5 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 28 in the UK Singles Chart, and this was followed by an album, Presenting Dion and the Belmonts. Their biggest hit, "Where or When", was released in November 1959, and reached No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100. In early 1960, Dion checked into a hospital for heroin addiction. Dion and the Belmonts reunited in 1966 for the album Together Again and again in 1972 for a one-off show at Madison Square Garden, recorded and released as a live album. In 2000, Fred along with the Belmonts was inducted in the Vocal Group Hall of Fame (Fred sadly died three weeks after his cancer was diagnosed) b. August 22nd 1939.
2012: Nina Miranda (86) Uruguayan tango singer and composer; her first break came when she was invited to sing with an all girls group "Las Golondrinas" with whom she toured Latin America… in 1952 while waiting in a studio for colleague Ernesto Fama, the orchestra leader noticed her and asked her to substitute immediately in a recording session for a singer that did not work out… the piece recorded that day, "Maula", became an instant major hit…this led to an invitation to perform in the play "Tu Cuna Fue Un Conventillo" which had great success and where she premiered another hit "Tu Corazon"… many events followed including the creation of her own group… she wrote the lyrics to the tango "No Hagas Caso a La Gente" and the music to "Cancion Para Mi Amor" which was recorded by Colombian star Mirta Perez (?) b. November 8th 1925.
2012: Anders Frandsen (51) Danish singer and TV presenter. He came to fame in 1991 when he won The Danish national final for the Eurovision Song Contest) with the song "Lige der hvor hjertet slår" and was placed 19th in Eurovision Song Contest. The following year at the Danish national final, he was the host, after which he became a TV host on TV3 for the next few years. He appeared on lots of shows like "Knald eller Fald" (a dating programme), "Stjerneskud" (a talent competition for look-alikes), and also presented the network's morning TV. At the Danish national final in 2001, presenting one of the songs, and also guest-starred in an episode of Ørnen and in 2005 he guest-starred in an episode of the Danish TV show Twist & Shout (On the evening of Jan 1st 2012, Anders was found lifeless in his apartment by friends. He was pronounced dead on site and Danish Police have said they are treating his death as suspicious due to circumstances) b. December 8th 1960.

January 2nd.
1915: Karl Goldmark (84) Hungarian composer; he was largely self-taught as a composer. He first supported himself in Vienna playing the violin in theatre orchestras, at the Carlstheater. One of his many works The Rustic Wedding Symphony , Op. 26 which premiered 1876, a work that was kept in the repertory by Sir Thomas Beecham, includes five movements, like a suite composed of coloristic tone poems: a wedding march with variations depicting the wedding guests, a nuptial song, a serenade, a dialogue between the bride and groom in a garden, and a dance movement (?) b. May 18th 1830
1924: Sabine Baring-Gould (89) English hagiographer, antiquarian, novelist born in Exeter. His bibliography consists of more than 1240 publications, though this list continues to grow. He is remembered particularly as a writer of hymns, the best-known being "Onward, Christian Soldiers" and "Now the Day Is Over". He also translated the carol "Gabriel's Message" from the Basque language to the English. His first book of songs, Songs and Ballads of the West, was the first folk song collection published for the mass market (?) b. January 28th 1834.
1941: Mischa Levitzki () Russian-born pianist () b. 1898
1950: Theophrastos Sakellaridis () Greek composer and conductor () b. 1883
1973: Joe Harriott/Joe Arthurlin (44) Jamacian alto saxophonist; initially a bebopper, he is now widely acknowledged as one of the worldwide pioneers of free jazz. He was educated at Kingston's famed Alpha Boys School, which produced a number of prominent Jamaican musicians. He moved to the UK as a working musician in 1951 and lived in the country for the rest of his life.He worked freelance and in the band of trumpeter Pete Pitterson. In 1954, he landed an important gig with drummer Tony Kinsey; the next year he played in saxophonist Ronnie Scott's big band. His first album as a leader was 1959's Southern Horizon. He was big influence in the British Jazz world (sadly lost his battle with cancer) b. July 15th 1928.
1974: Tex Ritter/Woodward Maurice Ritter (68) American country music singer and movie actor popular from the mid-1930s into the 1960s, and the patriarch of the Ritter family in acting, son John and grandson Jason. In 1944, he scored a hit with "I'm Wastin' My Tears on You", which hit No. 1 on the country chart and eleven on the pop chart. "There's a New Moon Over My Shoulder" was a country chart No. 2 and pop chart No. 21. In 1945, he had the No. 1, 2, and 3 songs on Billboard's Most Played Jukebox Folk Records poll, a 1st in the industry. Between 1945 and 1946, he registered seven consecutive top five hits, including a No.1 hit "You Two-Timed Me One Time Too Often", which spent eleven weeks on the charts. In 1948, "Rye Whiskey" and his cover of "The Deck of Cards" both made the top ten and "Pecos Bill" reached No.15. In 1950, "Daddy's Last Letter (Private First Class John H. McCormick)" also became a hit. His last song, "The Americans", recorded in 1973, became a posthumous hit shortly after his death. His motion picture debut was in Song Of The Gringo-1936 for Grand National Pictures. Between 1938 and 1945, he starred in around forty "singing cowboy" movies as well as starring in dozens of other films. He has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6631 Hollywood Boulevard; he and John Ritter were the first father-and-son pair to be so honored in different categories. In 1980, he was inducted into the Western Performers Hall of Fame at the National Cowboy & Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. He is also a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. (sadly died from a heart attack) b. January 12th 1905.
1977: Errol Garner (55) American pianist and composer, one of the most virtuosic and popular pianists in jazz. He was influenced by Fats Waller and was entirely self-taught. He spelled Art Tatum in the latter's trio in 1945 and subsequently formed his own three-piece group, achieving commercial success with Concert by the Sea in 1958, one of the best-selling albums in jazz. He wrote some 200 songs, including 'Misty', 'Dreamy' and 'Solitaire'. He developed a unique style of piano playing and toured throughout the world from the 1940s through the 1960s. Amazingly he never learnt to read music and remained an "ear player" all his life (?) b. June 15th 1951.
1981: David Lynch (51) American tenor vocalist and an original member of the legendary Platters an influencial doo-wop vocal group which was formed in 1953. Their distinctive sound created by Buck Ram was a bridge between the pre-rock Tin Pan Alley tradition, and the burgeoning new genre. The original group members were David Lynch, Alex Hodge, Cornell Gunther, Joe Jefferson, Gaynel Hodge and Herb Reed. They were the first rock and roll group to have a Top Ten album in America, and had hit singles such as "Only You", "Great Pretender", "Enchanted", "The Magic Touch", "My Prayer", "Twilight Time", "Harbor Lights", "To Each His Own", "If I Didn't Care" and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes". David later joined Ram's Platters lineup, with lead vocalist Sonny Turner, Herb Reed, Nate Nelson and Sandra Dawn; they enjoyed a short chart renaissance in 1966-67, with the comeback singles "I Love You 1000 Times", "With This Ring", and the Motown-influenced "Washed Ashore". David along with the Platters was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1990, the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 1998 and the Hit Parade Hall of Fame in 2009 (sadly died of cancer) b. July 3rd 1929.
1986: Dick James () English music publisher (Northern Songs) (b. 1920)
1987: Peter Lucia (39) American drummer and founder member of Tommy James and Shondells, whose period of greatest success came in the late 1960s. They had two number one singles in the US - "Hanky Panky" in 1966 and "Crimson and Clover" in 1969, and also released five other top ten hits; "I Think We're Alone Now," "Mony Mony," "Crystal Blue Persuasion", "Mirage", and "Sweet Cherry Wine". Peter co-wrote "Crimson and Clover". In 2006, Tommy James & the Shondells were inducted into the Michigan Rock and Roll Legends Hall of Fame (Tragically Peter died very unexpectedly, heart problems) b. February 2nd 1947.
1991: Mort Shuman (54) American singer, pianist and songwriter, after teaming up with Doc Pomus, working in New York City's Brill Building. Their songwriting collaboration saw Doc write the lyrics and Shuman the melody, although occasionally they worked on both. Their compositions would be recorded by artists such as Dion, Andy Williams, Bobby Darin, Fabian, The Drifters, and Elvis Presley, among others. Their most famous songs include "A Teenager in Love", "Turn Me Loose", "This Magic Moment", "Save The Last Dance For Me", "Little Sister", "Can't Get Used to Losing You", "(Marie's the Name) His Latest Flame" and "Viva Las Vegas". In 1965, he moved to Paris, France where he wrote songs for the French rocker Johnny Hallyday. He wrote and sang many songs in French, such as Le Lac Majeur, Allo Papa Tango Charlie, Sha Mi Sha, Un Eté de Porcelaine, Brooklyn by the Sea which became great hits in France. Mort was elected to the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 (died from complications due to a liver operation) b. November 12th 1936.
1997: Randy California/Randy Craig Wolfe (45) American guitarist, singer, songwriter and one of the original members of the rock group Spirit. He moved to New York City in the summer of 1966, it was there, at Manny's Guitars, that Randy met Jimi Hendrix. He played in Hendrix's band Jimmy James & the Blue Flames that summer. The stage name "Randy California" was given to him by Hendrix to distinguish him from another Randy in the band, who Hendrix dubbed "Randy Texas". Together with his step father Ed Cassidy, songwriter/front-man Jay Ferguson, bassist Mark Andes, with whom Randy and Ed initially had formed a band called the Red Roosters, and keyboardist John Locke, he founded the band Spirit, originally named Spirits Rebellious, after Kahlil Gibran's poem in 1967 (Randy tragically drowned while rescuing his 12 year old son when he was sucked into a riptide in the surf off Hawaii) b. February 20th 1951.
1999: Rolf Liebermann () Swiss composer (b. 1910)
2000: Nathaniel Adderley (68) American jazz cornetist who played in the hard bop and soul jazz genres. Born in Tampa, Florida, Nat and his brother saxophonist Julian "Cannonball" Adderley played with Ray Charles in the early 1940s in Tallahassee. In the 1950s he worked with his brother's original group, with Lionel Hampton, and with J. J. Johnson, then in 1959 joined his brother's new quintet and stayed with it until Cannonball's death in 1975. He composed "Work Song," "Jive Samba," and "The Old Country" for this group. After his brother's death he led his own groups, recording extensively, releasing around 38 albums. During this period he worked with, among others, Ron Carter, Sonny Fortune, Johnny Griffin, Antonio Hart and Vincent Herring. He also helped in the founding and development of the annual Child of the Sun Jazz Festival, held annually at Florida Southern College in Lakeland (?) b. November 25th 1931.
2002: Armi Aavikko (43) Finnish singer; best known for her duets with Ilkka Lipsanen aka Danny. She was chosen as Miss Finland in 1977. Armi achieved some posthumous fame in 2006 when an old music video "I Wanna Love You Tender" featuring herself and Danny became a notorious Internet phenomenon (pneumonia, brought on by chronic alcoholism) b. September 1st 1958.
2002: Zachary Sebastian Rex James "Zac" Foley (31) UK bassist with EMF; thrown out of school at 16 for having long hair, he gravitated towards the local indie music scene. He played for the IUCs before joining EMF on its formation in 1989. After finding a Casio sampler and sequencer in a local charity shop, they added a light techno element to their rock-orientated sound, and within a year Unbelievable had conquered the charts, reaching number 3 in the UK charts and was a number one hit on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100 and their debut album, Schubert Dip, went to number 3 in the UK Albums Chart. They made 2 more albums, 92's "Stigma" and 95's "Cha Cha Cha" . The band split after Zak's death (died due to an overdose of heroin, cocaine, ecstasy, barbiturates and alcohol). b. December 9th 1970.
2003: Eric Jupp (80) British-born musician, composer, arranger and conductor who gained wide popularity in Australia after settling there in the 1960s, hosting a long-running light music TV show and composing for film and TV. He is best remembered for his theme music to the TV series Skippy the Bush Kangaroo. Born in Brighton he began to study piano at seven. He left school and started his musical career at fourteen, playing in nightclubs. He joined the R.A.F.at the outbreak of WW II, after which, he went to London, where he soon became a prominent member of several leading big bands, working as a pianist, composer and arranger. Eric worked as an arranger for both of Britain's top bandleaders of the period, Stanley Black and Ted Heath. As pianist and arranger Eric was also a long-serving member of the Oscar Rabin Band. In 1951 he formed his own orchestra at the request of the BBC and began making regular radio broadcasts and also appeared in the Hammer Films TV series Bands On Parade. He began writing music for films in Britain, beginning with the crime drama The Secret Place in 1957. In 1961 he launched his popular and long-running weekly ABC-TV series The Magic of Music, which was seen in 29 countries and ran from 1961 to 1974. After relocating to Australia in the early 60s he soon made a name for himself there as a leading composer for film and TV. Among many projects he became music director for the 1971 Fauna Productions adventure series Barrier Reef. He composed music for the TV series Bailey's Bird-1977 and wrote the score for Michael Pate's 1979 film version of Colleen McCullough's first novel, Tim, starring the then unknown Mel Gibson (sadly died after battling illness for several months) b. January 7th 1922.
2006: Bill DeArango (84) American jazz guitarist, he played in Dixieland jazz bands while attending Ohio State University. After serving in the Army from 1942-44, he moved to New York City, where he played with Don Byas, Ben Webster, Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie, Sarah Vaughan, Slam Stewart, Ike Quebec, Ray Nance, and Eddie "Lockjaw" Davis. He recorded under his own name for the first time in 1945, and co-led a band with Terry Gibbs shortly thereafter. Bill left New York to return to Cleveland in 1947, where he essentially disappeared from the music world. He did an album with pianist John Williams in 1954 for EmArcy, but remained strictly a local musician for more than 20 years, in addition to running a record store. Late in the 1960s he managed the rock band Henry Tree, and held a regular gig in the 1970s at the Smiling Dog Saloon in Cleveland with Ernie Krivda and Skip Hadden. In 1978 he recorded with Barry Altschul, and with Kenny Werner in 1981; he won significant renown for his 1993 collaboration with Joe Lovano, Anything Went. After the release of this record, DeArango played locally but had primarily gone into retirement (He entered a nursing home in 1999 suffering dementia until his death seven years later) b. September 20th 1921.
2006: Michael Scott Smith (59) American jazz drummer and percussionist, he grew up in Meadville, Pennsylvania where his father exposed him to jazz at an early age. At age 8, he began taking drum lessons from local jazz drummer, Cootie Harris. In 1968, he joined his friend, bassist Terry Plumeri in the group, Love, Cry, Want, a free-improvisation group with jazz, blues, and rock influences. He eventually recorded with Plumeri on two albums, He Who Lives In Many Places and Water Garden in 1978, formerly titled Ongoing. In 2007, these two albums were re-issued on CD by GMMC records. Michael based himself in the Washington D.C., Baltimore area for most of his 40-year career, He played with many jazz greats including, but not limited to Dave Liebman, Herbie Hancock, John Abercrombie, Randy Brecker, Tommy Flanagan, Billy Eckstein, Astrud Gilberto, Freddie Hubbard, Herb Ellis, and Milt Jackson. (?) b. January 30th 1946.
2008: Ben Marlin (31) American bassist with the brutal death metal band Disgorge. Ben was playing bass as a member of the death metal band Strangulation, when in 1998 he was asked to join, Disgorge who were then just signing with Unique Leader Records. Shortly after they recorded and released their second album, "She Lay Gutted", in November 1999. They toured worldwide in Europe, North America and South America. Disgorge recorded their third album "Consume the Forsaken" in 2002 and "Parallels Of Infinite Torture" in 2005 touring in Japan, Australia, New Zealand, Thailand, Mexico and Indonesia to promote their new release. (Ben sadly died after battling cancer for more than a year and a half) b. March 19th 1976.
2011: Robert Trumble (91) Australian writer, musician and son of international cricketer Hugh Trumble; Robert dedicated his first book, The Golden Age of Cricket, to his father. His musical career was noted by the Australian media and in 2003 he was awarded the Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres for reviving the work of Vincent d'Indy. He had previously spent thirty years as a concert manager for the Australian Broadcasting Corporation. He was also commissioned to write for the British Music Society in 2004, and also published a biography of d'Indy, Vincent d'Indy: His Greatness and His Integrity in 1994 and The Compositions of Vincent d'Indy in 2000 (?) b. April 15th 1919.
2012: Ian Bargh (76) British-Canadian jazz pianist and composer, he emigrated to Toronto in 1957. Through the 60s & 70s he played with the likes of Buddy Tate, Buck Clayton, Bobby Hackett, Vic Dickenson, Eddie "Cleanhead" Vinson, Ernestine Anderson, Harry "Sweets" Edison, Edmund Hall, Doc Cheatham, and Tyree Glenn. In the 80s, he began an 8 year association with Jim Galloway's “Toronto Alive” project at the Sheraton Ctre. Live collaborations at the centre included those with, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Lee Konitz, Peter Appleyard, Frank Wright, Scott Hamilton, Rob McConnell, Guido Basso, Ed Bickert, Dizzy Reece, and Warren Vache, among others. During this period, he also toured in jazz festivals across the world in an all-star group again led by Galloway. Towards the end of this period, he began a 15-year association with the Toronto Jazz Festival, leading the rhythm section of the the host hotel's house band. It was at this venue that he performed with scores of musicians, including, Jake Hanna, Plas Johnson, Spanky Davis, Harold Ashby, both Warren and Allan Vache, Fraser MacPherson, Joe Temperley, Randy Sandke and George Masso (sadly Ian died of lung cancer) b. January 8th 1935.
2012: Larry "Rhino" Reinhardt (63) American rock guitarist born in Florida, After playing with several local bands in 1969, he, along with bassist Richard Price and drummer Ramone Sotolongo, formed a "power trio" The Load performing mostly original, psychedelic blues-rock and landed a house gig in Gainesville, at a club called Dubs. He was also guitarist, breifly for The Second Coming before joining Iron Butterfly. In 1970, Iron Butterfly released an album that included Larry and Mike Pinera, titled Metamorphosis, which was officially credited to "Iron Butterfly With Pinera & Rhino. In 1970 Larry and Iron Butterfly bassist Lee Dorman formed Captain Beyond, recruiting former Johnny Winter/Rick Derringer drummer Bobby Caldwell >>>READ MORE<<< (Larry sadly died after battling cancer and sclerosis of the liver) b. July 7th 1948.

January 3rd.
1967: Mary Garden (92) Scottish soprano described as "the Sarah Bernhardt of opera"; she spent the latter part of her childhood and youth in America and eventually became a citizen, she also lived in France for many years and eventually retired to Scotland. In 1907, Oscar Hammerstein convinced her to join the Manhattan Opera House in New York where she became an immediate success. By 1910 she was a household name in America and appeared in operas in several major American cities; including performing with the Boston Opera Company and the Philadelphia Opera Company. Between 1910-1932 Mary worked in several opera houses in Chicago and joined the Chicago Opera Association in 1915, ultimately becoming the company's director in 1921. Although director for only one year, she was notably responsible for staging the world premiere of Sergei Prokofiev's The Love for Three Oranges before the company went bankrupt in 1922. Shortly thereafter she became the director of the Chicago Civic Opera where she commissioned the opera Camille by 28 year old composer Hamilton Forrest. She sang roles at the Civic Opera until 1931, notably in several US and world premieres. Also Mary appeared in two silent films made by Samuel Goldwyn. After retiring from the opera stage in 1934, Mary worked as a talent scout for MGM (sadly passed with dementia) b. February 20th 1874.
1980: Amos Milburn (52) American blues & boogie pianist, singer born in Houston. He was one of the greatest pioneers in the history of R&B pounding out some of the most hellacious boogies of the postwar era, usually recording in Los Angeles for Aladdin Records, specializing in good-natured upbeat romps about booze and its effects that proved massive hits during the immediate pre-rock era. "Hold Me Baby" and "Chicken Shack Boogie" landed numbers eight and nine on Billboard's survey of 1949's R&B Bestsellers. Among his best known songs was "One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer". In 1950 his "Bad, Bad, Whiskey" reached the top of the R&B charts and began a string of drinking songs. Amos's final recording was on an album by Johnny Otis. This was in 1972 after he had been incapacitated by a stroke, so much so that Otis had to play the left-hand piano parts for his old friend. (His second stroke led to the amputation of a leg because of circulatory problems. He sadly died shortly after a third stroke) b. April 1st 1927.
1982: Tommy Bryant (51) American jazz double-bassist, grew up in a musical family in Philadelphia; his mother was a choir director, his brother Ray Bryant is a pianist, and another brother, Len Bryant, is a vocalist and drummer. He began playing bass at age twelve and played in many local outfits, including Billy Krechmer's. In the late 1940s he joined Elmer Snowden's band, staying there until 1952, when he took a tour of duty during the Korean War. In 1956 he returned and formed his own trio, though he is better known for his work with musicians such as Jo Jones, Charlie Shavers, Roy Eldridge Dizzy Gillespie, Barney Wilen, Benny Golson, Big Joe Turner and Coleman Hawkins. In the last ten years of his life he played in the follow-up band to The Ink Spots. Tommy also recorded with Mahalia Jackson under the name Tom Bryant (?) b. May 21st 1930.
1989: Eddie Heywood Jr (73) American jazz pianist, born in Georgia, he became very popular in the 1940s. He played with several popular jazz musicians such as Wayman Carver in 1932, Clarence Love from 1934 to 1937 and Benny Carter from 1939 to 1940 after which moving to New York. After starting his own band, he occasionally played back-up for Billie Holiday in 1941. In 1943, he put together the first sextet, including Doc Cheatham and Vic Dickenson. After their version of "Begin the Beguine" became a hit in 1944, they had three successful years. Between 1947 to 1950, he was stricken with a partial paralysis of his hands and could not play at all. In the 1950s, Eddie wrote and recorded "Land of Dreams" and "Soft Summer Breeze" and is probably best known for his 1956 recording of "Canadian Sunset," all of which he recorded with Hugo Winterhalter and his orchestra. After a second partial paralysis in the 1960s, Heywood made another comeback and continued his career in the 1980s. Eddie has a "Star" on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (?) b. December 4th 1915.
1990: Arthur Gold (72) American pianist; he met fellow pianist Robert Fizdale during their student years at Juilliard. They formed a lifelong gay partnership based around their interests of music and formed one of the most important Piano duos of the 20th century. Some say that Gold and Fizdale revolutionized the art of performing as a 2-piano duo, agree or not, they were commissioned and premièred many of the most important works for this ensemble in the second half of the 20th century, including works by John Cage, Paul Bowles, Virgil Thomson, Ned Rorem and many other important American Composers. The Duo released recordings featuring works by Les Six, Vittorio Rieti, and many other composers, as well as a series of Concerto recordings with Leonard Bernstein and The New York Philharmonic, including the Poulenc Concerto for Two Pianos, The Mozart Two Piano Concerto and Saint-Saëns's "Carnival of the Animals" (?) b. February 6th 1917.
2002: Juan García Esquivel (83) Mexican band leader, pianist, and film score composer, born in Tampico. He is recognized today as one of the foremost exponents of a sophisticated style of largely instrumental music that combines elements of lounge music and jazz with Latin flavors. He is called by many "The King of Space Age Pop" and "The Busby Berkley of Cocktail Music" and is considered one of the foremost exponents of a style of late 1950s-early 1960s quirky instrumental pop that became known as "Space Age Bachelor Pad Music". He arranged many traditional Mexican songs like "Bésame Mucho", "La Bamba", "El Manisero" and "La Bikina"; also Brazilian songs like "Aquarela do Brasil"/"Brazil", "Surfboard" and "Agua de Beber", and composed spicy lounge-like novelties such as "Mini Skirt", "Yeyo", "Latin-Esque", "Mucha Muchacha" and "Whatchamacallit". He was commissioned to compose the music of a Mexican children's TV show Odisea Burbujas. Juan's concerts featured elaborate light shows years before effects like that became popular in live music. He performed in Las Vegas on several occasions, often as the opening act for Frank Sinatra (?) b. January 20th 1918.
2007: Janos Furst (71) Hungarian orchestral conductor, he originally studied the violin at the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in his native Budapest. After the 1956 Soviet invasion of Hungary, he continued studies at the conservatory in Brussels. He attended the Conservatoire de Paris and there won a Premier Prix. He took a job in 1958 with the Radio Éireann Symphony Orchestra, and developed his career as an orchestra leader. In 1963, he founded the Irish Chamber Orchestra, and became concertmaster of the Ulster Orchestra in 1966. In the 70s, 80s and 90s he held positions as Chief Conductor and-or Music Director, and recorded with orchestras in Malmö, Aalborg, Winterthur, Dublin, the Opéra de Marseille and was Chief Guest Conductor of the Helsinki Philharmonic Orchestra. He worked and recorded with many others including the Bamberg Symphony Orchestra (sadly Janos died of cancer in Paris) b. August 8th 1935
2010: Gustavo Becerra-Schmidt (84) Chilean composer, a prolific composer in Chile before he moved to Germany to teach at Oldenburg University, a job he held since 1974. His catalogue includes 100s of compositions that goes from the most traditional to the most avant-garde, from popular songs to large scale cantatas, symphonies and oratorios. Highlights are his cantatas La Araucana and Lord Cochrane de Chile, the Macchu Picchu oratorio on texts by Neruda, the Concerto for Flute & Strings, and a most recent Harp Concerto from 2006, not forgetting the electroacoustic works. Gustavo also was an important teacher, some of his pupils were or are among the most important composers of Chile, these include Luis Advis, Sergio Ortega, Fernando García, and Cirilo Vila (lung cancer) b. August 26th 1925.
2011: Geraldo Flach (65) Brazilian pianist, composer, and considered one of the leading names in instrumental music in southern Brazil. He collaborated with the likes of Nana Caymmi, Ivan Lins, Renato Borghetti and Yamandu Costa, and had songs recorded by Elis Regina, and Emilio Santiago Taiguara, among others. His work, which mixes folk roots with urban music filtered into the language of jazz, was awarded in Brazil and abroad (cancer) b. ????
2011: Suchitra Mitra (86) Indian singer, composer and a well respected exponent of Rabindra Sangeet or the songs of Bengal's poet laureate Rabindranath Tagore. As an academic she remained a Professor and the Head of 'Rabindra Sangeet Department' at the Rabindra Bharati University for many years. She has also done playback singing and acted in a Bengali films as well, and for many years remained associated with IPTA. Some of her notable awards include: Tagore Hymn Prize in 1945 from London Tagore Hymn Society, Padma Shri in 1973 from the Government of India, Sangeet Natak Academy Award in 1986 from the Government of India, HMV Golden Disc Award, Shiromoni Puraskar from Asian Paints, Desikottama from Visva-Bharati, Allauddin Puraskar from the Government of West Bengal, among numerous others (cardiac arrest) b. September 19th 1924.
2012: Enrique de Melchor/Enrique Jiménez Ramírez (61) Spanish flamenco guitarist, born near Seville, but lived in Madrid most of his life. Considered the equal of Paco de Lucia and Manolo SanLucar, he has worked with the soulful greats among flamenco singers, including Antonio Mairena, Camarón de La Isla, La Perla de Cádiz, Pansequito, Rocío Jurado, Chiquetete, El Lebrijano, El Fary, María Jiménez and José Menese among others. As a soloist, he appears at venues such as Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, Carnegie Hall in New York, along with the Madrid’s Teatro Real de Madrid and Barcelona’s Liceo. He also accompanied Spanish opera singers Montserrat Caballé and José Carreras (sadly Enrique died fighting cancer) b. July 15th 1950.
2012: Robert 'Bob' Weston (64) British musician born in Plymouth, Devon, best known for his brief role as guitarist and songwriter with the rock band Fleetwood Mac in late 1972-74. He recorded the Penguin album in January 1973 as a lead guitarist alongside Bob Welch, but stood out on his slide guitar, especially on "Remember Me", and his accomplished harmonica and banjo playing. He also sang with Christine McVie on the song "Did You Ever Love Me", and wrote the instrumental, "Caught in the Rain". Bob went on to record with Murray Head, then briefly join, along with bassist Nick South and drummer Ian Wallace, Steve Marriott's newly formed All-Stars Band. When Marriott opted to play lead guitar himself, Bob went on to do a few solo albums. In January 2008, he started working on new recordings, recorded at Markant Studios in the Netherlands and were released later in the year (sadly Bob was found dead flat in his flat at Brent Cross, London) b. November 1st 1947.

January 4th.
1969: Paul Laurence Dunbar Chambers Jr. (33) American musician born in Pittsburgh, he was one of the most influential jazz bassists of the 20th century. A prominent figure in many rhythm sections during the 50s and 60s, his importance in the development of jazz bass can be measured not only by the length and breadth of his work in this short period but also his impeccable time, intonation, and virtuosic improvisations. He was in great demand as a session musician recording with dozens of greats, including such landmarks as Thelonious Monk's Brilliant Corners, Coltrane's Giant Steps, and Oliver Nelson's The Blues and the Abstract Truth. Many musicians wrote songs dedicated to Paul. Red Garland, wrote the tune "The P.C. Blues", and Coltrane's song "Mr. P.C.", Tommy Flanagan wrote "Big Paul", which was performed on the John Coltrane and Kenny Burrell Prestige 1958 LP. Max Roach wrote a drum solo called "Five For Paul", on his 1977 "impossible to find" drum solo LP recorded in Japan, and Sonny Rollins wrote "Paul's Pal" for him (sadly died prematurely of tuberculosis) b. April 22nd 1935.
1970: Neil Boland (?) English chauffeur, bodyguard and friend of The Who's drummer, Keith Moon. (Keith accidently ran over Neil as he was escaping from a Gang of skinheads after a fight broke out at a pub in Hatfield, England. Keith had never passed his driving test and never got over it) b. ????
1981: Ruth Lowe (66) Canadian songwriter, pianist born in Toronto; in 1936, she became a member of the All Girl band, The Melodears. She went on to become a successful songwriter, her songs included "I'll Never Smile Again", written after her husband died. The song was later covered by many artists, including Frank Sinatra, his first great hit while with Dorsey; and The Ink Spots. Also she composed the Frank Sinatra hit "Put Your Dreams Away", Frank's 'signature' song, which was played at his funeral. In 1982, the year after she died, Ruth was inducted into the American Music Hall of Fame with an honorary Grammy Award (?) b. August 12th 1914.
1985: Lovro von Matacic (85) Croatian conductor and composer born in Sušak. He was a member of the Vienna Boys' Choir, then studied at the Vienna Hochschule für Musik. There he studied piano, organ, composition, and conducting. He he went on to be especially praised for his control over the immense formal structures of Bruckner's symphonies and his masterly control of phrasing. However, he also included in his favorite repertory music of the whole Romantic era and the music of Beethoven, Mozart, and Haydn. His reputation with the most serious music of the era did not preclude him from having a light touch where recalled; his recording of Léhar's The Merry Widow, with Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, is particularly prized (?) b. February 14th 1899.
1986: Phil Lynott (36) Irish singer, bassist, songwriter, composer, founder member of Thin Lizzy; he released two solo albums and also formed and fronted the band Grand Slam. Born in West Bromwich, England, but when Phil was four years old, he went to live with his grandmother Sarah in Crumlin, Dublin, while his mother stayed in Manchester. In the mid 1960s, he began singing in his first band, the Black Eagles. Around this time, he befriended Brian Downey, who was later persuaded to join the band. Before long the Black Eagles broke up and Phil joined 'Kama Sutra' before settling into a short stint singing in (Irish) Skid Row. In 1969, Phil and Brian Downey formed Thin Lizzy with guitarist Eric Bell and keyboard player Eric Wrixon. Phil was the main songwriter for Thin Lizzy, as well as the lead singer and bassist. Their first top ten hit was in 1973, with a rock version of the traditional Irish song "Whiskey in the Jar". In 1980, though Thin Lizzy were still enjoying considerable success, Phil launched a solo career with the album, Solo in Soho. In 1984, he formed a new band, Grand Slam, with Doish Nagle, Laurence Archer, Robbie Brennan, and Mark Stanway. His last single, "Nineteen", was released a few weeks before his death (heart failure and pneumonia after being in a coma for eight days following a drug overdose) b. August 20th 1949.
1988: Lily Laskine (94) French harpist, she was one of the most prominent harpists of the twentieth century. She was a frequent performing partner of several distinguished French flautists, including Marcel Moyse and Jean-Pierre Rampal. Laskine also served as professor of harp at the Conservatoire de Paris from 1948 to 1958. She was awarded the Legion of Honour in 1958 (?) b. August 31st 1893.
1991: Leo Wright (57) A first-rate bop-oriented alto saxophonist, clarinetist, he was also one of the finest flutists jazz, born in Wichita Falls, Texas. In the late 1950s he played with Charles Mingus, Kenny Burrell, Johnny Coles, Blue Mitchell and Dizzy Gillespie who in rhe 1960s he appeared at several major international festivals and made records including A Musical Safari. From the end of the 60s he lived in Europe where he played with various bands. In the mid-80s he performed and record with Nat Adderley, Kenny Drew, and his vocalist wife Elly, and led his own groups (?) b. December 14th 1933.
1994: Rahul Dev Burman (54) Indian composer and actor born in Calcutta; he was famous for his unique, grunting bass singing style. He sang playback in 18 movies which he composed and he also acted in the film Bhoot Bungla '65 and Pyar Ka Mausam '67. Out of his 331 released movies 292 were in Hindi, 31 in Bangla, 3 in Telugu, 2 each in Tamil & Oriya and 1 in Marathi. He also composed for 5 TV Serials in Hindi and Marathi and scored a large number of non-film songs in Bangla aka Pooja songs or modern songs, which are available in different albums. (?) b. June 27th 1939.
1995: Eduardo Mata (52) Mexican conductor and composer; born in Mexico City, he studied guitar privately for 3 years before attending the National Conservatory of Music. He composed several works in the 50s and 60s, including 3 symphonies, chamber works, sonatas, and works for ballet. His 3rd symphony and some chamber works have been recorded. In 1965 he was appointed head of the Music Department of the National Autonomous University of Mexico and conductor of the Guadalajara Orchestra. From '77 to '93 he was music director of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and guest conductor of several famous orchestras in the US, Europe and Latin America. He recorded over fifty albums, most of them with the UNAM Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and London Symphony Orchestra (Eduardo and a passenger were en route from Cuernavaca, Morelos, to Dallas, Texas; he was piloting his own Piper Aerostar. One engine failed shortly after takeoff, tragically the plane crashed during an emergency landing attempt, killing them both)b. September 5th 1942.
1996: Ramón Vinay (84) Chilean operatic tenor born in Chillán, Chile, probably best remembered for his appearances in the title role of Giuseppe Verdi's tragic opera Otello. His overall tenor repertoire embraced heavy Wagnerian roles, he sang at the Bayreuth Festival in 1952-57, as well as Canio in Leoncavallo's Pagliacci, Don José in Bizet's Carmen and Samson in Saint-Saëns's Samson et Dalila. Apart from Iago, the baritone parts which he performed included Telramund, Bartolo, Falstaff and Scarpia (died in Mexico) b. August 31st 1911. NOTE:some sources give YOB 1912
1998: John Gary (66) American pop vocalist; considered by many to be one of the best crooners due to his extaordinary breath control and tonal quality of his voice. He had an exceptionally wide range of 3 octaves. He sang in movies, on Broadway, had his own TV show, and appeared at Carnegie Hall, with numerous symphonies. He appeared 30 times as a guest on The Tonight Show with Jack Paar, Steve Allen and Johnny Carson. He traveled across the U.S. and Canada with around 40 concerts per year. For six years he gave Community concerts in over 400 cities and towns. John recorded 23 albums for RCA Victor Records. His 1967 single "Cold", r was his most successful, topping the billboard easy listening chart for two weeks(?) b. November 29th 1932.
2001: Les Brown (88) American big band leader and composer, best known for his nearly seven decades of work with his group Les Brown and His Band of Renown from 1938 to 2001. Before which he graduated from New York Military Academy in 1932, Les attended college at Duke University from 1932-1936. There he led the group Les Brown and His Blue Devils, performing regularly on campus and up and down the east coast. The first feature length film that Les and the band appeared in was the war-time movie "Seven Days Leave". "Rock-A-Billy Baby", in 1957, was their second movie and in 1963, they appeared in Jerry Lewis' comedy The Nutty Professor. Les and his band were also the house band for the Steve Allen show from 1959-1961 and the Dean Martin Variety Show from 1963-1972. They performed with virtually every major performer of their time, including Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald and Nat "King" Cole (?) b. March 14th 1912.
2003: Yfrah Neaman OBE (79) Lebonese violinist and an eminent pedagogue born in Sidon; he studied in Paris and then settled in London where he continued his studies with Carl Flesch and Max Rostal. Yfrah gave the first performances in Britain of the violin concertos of Walter Piston in 1952 and Roberto Gerhard in 1955. He taught at the Guildhall School of Music and was artistic director of the Carl Flesch Competition. Among his students were Krzysztof Smietana, David Takeno, Wolfgang David, Sung-Sic Yang, Gennady Filimonov, Mihai Craioveanu, and Radoslaw Szulc. Yfrah was awarded the Order of the British Empire in 1983 (?) b. February 13th 1923.
2004: Jake Hess (76) American 4 time Grammy Award-winning gospel singer and founder of The Imperials. He began his career at the age of 16, when he joined the John Daniel Quartet, making his recorded debut on "Just a Prayer Away". After which, he sang with three of his brothers as the Hess Brothers Quartet. He also sang with the Sunny South Quartet and their rival, the Melody Masters Quartet. From 1948 until 1963 Jake sang lead with the Statesmen Quartet. Upon leaving the Statesmen Quartet, Jake formed the Imperials, they went on to become pioneers in Contemporary Christian Music, and would eventually be inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame. Elvis Presley had long harbored a love for gospel and Jake Hess in particular. The group recorded with Elvis in sessions from May 1966 to June 1971. This included his last two Grammy Award-winning albums: How Great Thou Art, featuring a duet with Jake on the classic Statesmen song "If The Lord Wasn’t Walking By My Side" and He Touched Me, which used many of the songs that the Imperials had recorded on their own albums. (sadly died from a heart attack) b. December 24th 1927.
2008: Mort Garson (83) Canadian electronic musician born in Saint John, New Brunswick, and was an best known for his albums that predominantly feature Moog synthesizers. He went on to work in television and film, scoring a wide variety of music for many different movies and TV shows, from Beware! The Blob! to Kentucky Fried Movie to National Geographic specials. Closely associated with Heatter-Quigley Productions, he created the theme songs and music cues for the TV game shows such as "Amateur's Guide to Love", "Gambit", "Runaround", "Baffle", "The Magnificent Marble Machine", and "Battlestars". composed the score for the 1983 West End musical Marilyn! The Musical (?) b. July 20th 1924
2008: Keith Baxter (36) British drummer; in 1990, he was a founder member of folk metal pioneers Skyclad, releasing their debut album 'The Wayward Sons of Mother Earth' in 1991. After a tour with Overkill they recorded their follow-up album 'A Burnt Offering for the Bone Idol' in 1992. He recorded 3 more albums with them before leaving in 1995 to move to London where he joined '3CR'/'3 Colours Red'. Their 1997 debut album "Pure" was follFollowing the band split in 1999 he formed the band Elevation with former bandmate, Pete Vuckovic. The following year he moved back to his hometown of Lancaster and briefly played with the Nth.Irish band, Therapy in 2002. Following 3 Colours Red's reformation and second split, Kieth played with Lancaster-based Baby Judas (sadly died from gastro-intestinal hemorrhage in hospital surrounded by family and friends) b. February 19th 1971.
2010: Sandro de América/Roberto Sánchez (64) Argentinian singer, guitarist and actor born in Buenos Aires, learning and playing Romani guitar as a child. In the 1960s he started the group Sandro & los de Fuego, which gained popularity on the TV show Sábados Circulares and had hits with songs like Trigal, Tengo, ¿A esto le llamas amor?, Eres el demonio disfrazado, Porque yo te amo and Rosa, Rosa. He was the first Latino singer to fill Madison Square Garden doing so five times during the 1970s. He was also the first singer to do a television concert via satellite, the concert was broadcast from Madison Square Garden in April 1970. This concert marked the debut of Latino music for a world audience. Sandro also appeared in various films, among others: Quiero Llenarme de Ti ("I Want to fill myself with you") and telenovelas, including Fue sin Querer/"It wasn't on purpose" (died from complications after having heart and lung transplant surgery) b. August 19th 1945.
2010: Tony Clarke (68) British musician and record producer born in Coventry started his musical career playing bass guitar in skiffle bands in the mid 1950s, and in rock bands into the early 1960s. At this time he also worked as a session musician for Decca Records, but in 1964 he transferred to the production department. He also worked as a songwriter; his tune "Our Song" was recorded by Malcolm Roberts and Jack Jones. His first production was with Pinkerton's Colours No.8 hit "Mirror, Mirror", soon followed by The Equals's No.1 hit "Baby Come Back" as well as writing "The Guy Who Made Her A Star" for the band. In 1966 he was given The Moody Blues, and produced what became their 1967 symphonic rock album "Days of Future Passed" which included the now classic track, "Nights in White Satin", it was also the first album to feature Justin Hayward and John Lodge. Tony produced The Four Tops for a UK-only release in 1972, which was comprised entirely of songs written by the Moody Blues. He stayed with Moody Blues till their 1978 comeback album, Octave, earning the name "the Sixth Moody" from friends and fans. He went on to produce a number of film soundtracks and produced the likes of the Irish folk rock outfit Clannad, Yes man Rick Wakeman, and Nicky Hopkins, among others () b. ??.??.1941.
2011: Mick Karn/Andonis Michaelides (52) Cypriot-born British bass guitarist, saxophonist and keyboardist born in Nicosia; in 1961, his family emigrated to London, England, where he was educated at Catford Boys' School. He and his friends formed the New Wave group, Japan in 1974 and achieved success in the late '70s and '80s, when they were often associated with the burgeoning New Romantic fashion movement. They debuted with their '78 album Adolescent Sex, followed up with Obscure Alternatives, both albums acheiving success outside the UK . Their next 5 albums all charted in the UK, the last being Rain Tree Crow in 1991, when they briefly reformed for this one-off project, and their final album. After Japan broke up, he recorded a solo album before forming Dalis Car with Peter Murphy of the gothic post-punk group Bauhaus, who recorded one album in 1984. In the 90s he worked with artist David Torn and a number of Japanese musicians, and formed the multinational New Wave band, NiNa. Since then Mick has worked as a solo artist and as a sculptor and photographer. He has also played on recordings by other artists, contributing bass guitar and saxophone to Gary Numan's Dance album, and played with Kate Bush and Joan Armatrading (sadly died from cancer) b. July 24th 1958.
2011: Tavo Kupinski (36) Argentine left-hander guitarist and founding member of the rock band Los Piojos formed in 1988. In 1991, they headed to Europe to participate in an anti-racist music festival in France, playing with groups from Mali, Burkina Faso, Cuba, and Spain. He recorded eleven albums with the band, but in 2009, when the internal crisis started he moved on as reinforcement of Las Pelotas band; also along with Paul Guerra, Sebastián Cardero and Changuito Gómez Farías, he formed the rock band Revealados (tragically Tavo died along with his wife in a car crash) b. January 18th 1974
2011: Gerry Rafferty (63) Scottish singer-songwriter and guitarist born in Paisley, near Glasgow best known for his hits "Right Down the Line" and "Baker Street". In 1963 he left St Mirin's Academy and had several jobs while playing in a local group, the Mavericks. In 1966 Gerry and his old school friend Joe Egan released a single, "Benjamin Day"/"There's Nobody Here", as members of The Fifth Column. He then joined Billy Connolly in a folk band The Humblebums, recording 2 albums with Billy, 'The New Humblebums' and 'Open Up the Door'. It was Gerry who urged Connolly to go it alone as a comic, after which Gerry recorded a first solo album, 'Can I Have My Money Back'. In 1972, Gerry and Joe Egan >>> READ MORE <<< (Gerry has sadly died after suffering a long time with chronic liver and kidney illnesses) b. April 16th 1947.
2011: Grady Chapman (81) American doo-wop singer; born in Greenville, South Carolina, he joined The Robins in 1952, singing alongside Bobby Nunn, Billy Richards, Roy Richards, Ty Terrell, and later Carl Gardner. During that time, the Robins recorded for RCA, and later Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller's LA based "Spark" label. In 1958, he wrote "Sweet Pea" for Bob and Earl. Grady would later become a member of one of the the Coasters' many spin-off groups, The Coasters Mark II, which included Bobby Nunn, Bobby Sheen, and Billy Richards, Jr. In 1977, along with Billy Guy and Jerome Evans, he sang on "Paid The Price" on Michelle Phillips' album Victim Of Romance. He would also substitute for Carl Gardner a few times in the 1990s and 2000s with The Coasters. He still performed as Grady Chapman & The Robins, until his death (heart failure) b. October 1st 1929.
2011: Jeff Jacobs (41) American trumpeter and keyboardist, and a member of the San Francisco spaghetti-Western-jazz ensemble The Drift. Over the years they have toured in Europe, Japan, Canada, and the United States and has produced multiple recordings (sadly died after a battle with cancer) b.????
2012: Kerry McGregor (37) Scottish singer-songwriter and actress born in West Lothian and began her career performing with bands including Nexus and QFX. In 1997, she came second in the The Great British Song Contest, the UK selection for the Eurovision Song Contest, with the song "Yodel in the Canyon of Love". She appeared in a number of stage and television shows including the Channel 4 comedy The Book Group playing Kenny's love-interest Carol Ann, and the BBC1 Children's drama series Grange Hill. In 2006, Kerry was a finalist in the third UK series of TV talent show The X Factor, but was eliminated in the third week of the live shows along with Dionne Mitchell. In 2010, she supported Scottish singer-songwriter Jay Brown, and was working with producer and musician Calais Brown at the time of her death (sadly Kerry died while fighting cancer) b. 1974.

January 5th.
1946: Katherine "Kitty" Cheatham (82) American singer, diseuse and actress, born and raised in Nashville, Tennessee. She began her career in music at age 14 by performing at First Presbyterian Church in Nashville. She later went on to study in New York, Paris, and Berlin. Her professional stage debut was made in London, England in 1904, where she performed renditions of African-American folk songs. She is credited with having helped preserve these traditional songs and bring them to European audiences (?) b. 1864.
1956: Mistinguett/Jeanne Bourgeois (80) French vaudeville performer born in Enghien-les-Bains, Val-d'Oise, Île-de-France. She began as a flower seller in a restaurant in her home town, singing popular ballads as she sold her flowers. Jeanne made her debut as Mistinguett at the Casino de Paris in 1895, and also appeared in shows as the Folies Bergère, Moulin Rouge, and Eldorado. Her risqué routines captivated Paris and she went on to become the most popular French entertainers of her time and the highest paid female entertainer in the world. In 1919 her legs were insured for the then astounding amount of 500,000 francs. She first recorded her signature song 'Mon Homme' in 1916. During a tour of the America, she was asked by Time magazine to explain her popularity. Her answer was: "It is a kind of magnetism. I say 'Come closer' and draw them to me." (?) b. April 5th 1875.
1970: Robert Gerhard (73) Catalan Spanish composer, musical scholar and writer. He spent several years with Schoenberg in Vienna and Berlin. Returning to Barcelona in 1928, he devoted his energies to new music through concerts and journalism, in conjunction with the flourishing literary and artistic avant-garde of Cataloni. He was forced to flee to France in 1939 and later that year settled in Cambridge, England. As well as his many works, he was perhaps the first important composer of electronic music in Britain; his music for the 1955 Stratford-on-Avon King Lear – one of many such commissions for the Royal Shakespeare Company - was the first electronic score for the British stage (sadly died of a heart disease) b. September 25th 1896.
1974: Lev Oborin (66) Russian pianist; in 1921, he was accepted into Moscow Conservatory as a student of piano and composition. He completed his piano studies in 1926 and in 1927 he was the winner of the first International Chopin Piano Competition. During the years 1941 to 1963, Lev played in a piano trio with David Oistrakh and the cellist Sviatoslav Knushevitsky, achieving international fame (?) b. September 11th 1907.
1976: Mal Evans (40) English roadie; best known as the road manager, assistant, and a friend of The Beatles: John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr. In the early 1960s, Evans was employed as a telephone engineer, and also worked part-time as a bouncer at the Cavern Club, where The Beatles performed. Manager Brian Epstein later hired Evans as their assistant road manager, in tandem with Neil Aspinall. He contributed to many Beatle recordings, and appeared in some of the films they made. The Beatles stopped touring in 1966, but Mal carried on assisting the band and working with them in the studio. Mal enjoyed an executive position at Apple until 1969, when Allen Klein was hired as a manager to reorganise the whole company. Mal was fired by Klein the next year, because Klein complained to Lennon that Aspinall and Evans were "living like kings—like f***g emperors", although he was later reinstated after McCartney, Harrison and Starr complained. He produced several songs recorded by the Iveys/Badfinger in 1969 and 1970. The most notable of these is the song "No Matter What" by Badfinger, which charted on Billboard's Top 10 in December 1970. He also produced some tracks for Keith Moon's solo album Two Sides of the Moon and co-wrote "You and Me (Babe)" with George Harrison, which appears on Ringo's solo album, Ringo, in 1973. (tragically Mal was shot dead by police at his LA apartment; he pointed a rifle at the police while upset) b. May 27th 1935.
1979: Charles Mingus (56) American jazz pianist, bassist and bandleader born at a US Army Base in Nogales, Arizona. His compositions retained the hot and soulful feel of hard bop and drew heavily from black gospel music while sometimes drawing on elements of Third stream, free jazz, and classical music. Many musicians passed through his bands and later went on to impressive careers. He recruited talented and sometimes little-known artists whom he assembled into unconventional and revealing configurations. As a performer, he was a pioneer in double bass technique and considered the heir apparent to Duke Ellington. Epitaph is considered to be one of Charles Mingus' masterpieces. The composition is 4,235 measures long, requires two hours to perform, and is one of the longest jazz pieces ever written. (sadly died from Lou Gehrig's disease) b. April 22nd 1922.
1997: Burton Lane/Burton Levy (84) American composer and lyricist; best known for his Broadway musicals, "Finian's Rainbow" and "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever", He also wrote the music for the Broadway shows, Hold On to Your Hats, Laffing Room Only, Junior Miss, and Carmelina. He wrote music for many films such as Dancing Lady, Babes on Broadway, and Some Like it Hot. For a time, he was president of the American Guild of Authors and Composers, during which period he campaigned against music piracy. He also served three terms on the board of directors of the American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP). He is credited with discovering the 11-year-old Frances Gumm aka Judy Garland Lane's best-known songs include "Old Devil Moon," "How are Things In Glocca Morra?", "Too Late Now," "How About You?", and the title song from "On a Clear Day." He shared a Grammy Award in 1965 for Best Broadway Cast Album of the year "On a Clear Day You Can See Forever" (?) b. February 2nd 1912.
1998: Salvatore ''Sonny'' Bono (62) American record producer, singer, actor, and politician born in Detroit but attended Inglewood High School in Inglewood, California, but did not graduate. He began his music career working at Specialty Records where his song "Things You Do to Me" was recorded by Sam Cooke, and went on to work for the legendary record producer Phil Spector in the early 1960s as a promotion man, percussionist and "gofer". One of his earliest songwriting efforts was "Needles and Pins" which he co-wrote with Jack Nitzsche. Later in the same decade, he achieved commercial success, along with his then-wife Cher, as part of the singing duo Sonny and Cher. Bono wrote, arranged, and produced a number of hit records with singles like "I Got You Babe" and "The Beat Goes On". He also played a major part in Cher's early solo career with recordings such as "Bang Bang" and "You Better Sit Down Kids". Sonny later went into acting and politics (tragically killed in a skiing accident at a resort near Lake Tahoe) b. February 16th 1935.
1998: Ken Forssi (55) American bassist born in Florida; along with several Sarasota friends, he migrated to Anaheim, California in 1964, and began commuting to the school. At this time, his interest in music became much more intense, he learned new techniques very rapidly. Soon he got the position as bass player in a late-period lineup of The Surfaris, and touring Japan with the band. In 1965 he met Arthur Lee, who then had a band called "Grass Roots", Lee hired Ken as bassist, and they soon officially formed Love. Their music reflected different influences, combining elements of rock and roll, garage rock, folk and psychedelia. Ken can be heard on their first three albums. After Love his talent as a bassist gained him studio session work and offers to join various other rock groups. He played briefly with a band called "The Elves Themselves" and worked on a record with Jimi Hendrix. (sadly died from a brain tumor) b. March 30th 1943.
2003: Doreen Carwithen aka Mary Alwyn (80) British composer, born in Haddenham; she started both piano and violin at age 4. At age 16 she began composing by setting Wordsworth's I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud/Daffodils for voice and piano. In 1941 she entered the Royal Academy of Music and played the cello in a string quartet and with orchestras. She went on to write scores for over 30 films, including Harvest from the Wilderness in 1948; Boys in Brown -1950; Mantrap, released in the U.S. as Man in Hiding -1952; and East Anglian Holiday -1954. She also scored Elizabeth is Queen, the official film of the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. Doreen also composed some orchestral music: an overture ODTAA/One Damn Thing After Another -1945; a Concerto for piano and strings -1948; the overture Bishop Rock -1952; a Suffolk Suite -1964 and two award-winning but little-known string quartets. In 1999 a stroke left her paralysed on one side (?) b. November 15th 1922.
2005: Danny Sugerman (50) US music manager; the second manager of the Los Angeles based rock band The Doors, and who wrote several books about Jim Morrison and The Doors, including 'No One Here Gets Out Alive' co-authored with Jerry Hopkins, and the autobiography 'Wonderland Avenue'. He helped film director Oliver Stone with the production of the 1991 movie The Doors. He also managed Iggy Pop, producing his song "Repo Man", and wrote the book Appetite For Destruction: The Days of Guns 'N Roses in 1991 (lung cancer) b. October 10th 1954.
2009: Sam "Bluzman" Taylor (74) American singer-songwriter and guitarist whose music has been recorded by everyone from Elvis Presley and Son Seals to DMX and EPMD. He was part of Joey Dee & The Starlighters when they had their hit "Peppermint Twist" in 1962. Through the 1970s, he spent his days writing, producing, arranging and teaching more notably for 1970s legendary Funk/Soul group B.T Express when they had their No.1 R&B hits "Do It (Til You're Satisfied)" and "Express" in 1974/1975. He was also well known for his own blues work, of more than 12 albums, including "I Came from Dirt" and 2004's "Voice of the Blues", and his appearances at Long Island blues clubs. In 2006 he was inducted into the Long Island Music Hall of Fame and just before his death, he released his autobiography "Caught In The Jaws Of The Blues" (heart disease) b. October 25th 1934.
2009: Claude Jeter (94) American gospel music singer, known for his falsetto vocals; one time member of the Dixie Hummingbirds, he formed the Four Harmony Kings in 1938 with his brother and two fellow coal miners, which was later renamed as the Silvertone Singers. After the group was hired by a radio program based in Knoxville, Tennessee that was sponsored by the local Swan Bakery, they were renamed as the Swan Silvertones, the group would eventually become one of the most popular gospel quartets of the post-war era. During the 1950s many of the elements of the group's style resembled the then-prevalent rhythm and blues vocal group style. He received many offers to perform R&B or rock and roll, but rejected them all, citing a commitment he had made to his mother that he would always sing for the Lord () b.October 26th 1914.
2010: Willie Mitchell (81) American soul, R&B, rock and roll, pop and funk music producer and arranger who ran Royal Recording in Memphis, Tennessee. At the age of eight, he began to play the trumpet. While in high school, he was a featured player in popular local big bands. He later formed his own combo, which from time to time included musicians such as trumpeter Booker Little, saxophonists Charles Lloyd, and George Coleman, and pianist Phineas Newborn, Jr. He was maybe better known for his Hi Records label of the 1970s, whose sound was derivative of Booker T and the MG's, releasing albums by a large stable of popular Memphis soul artists, including among others Al Green, Syl Johnson, Ann Peebles and of course himself, as a trumpeter and bandleader he released a few popular singles for his Hi Records in the 1960s, including "Soul Serenade". He released his first solo record in 1963 and made another 16 instrumental albums over the next forty years. Willie and Al Green revived their successful recording partnership in 2003 when Green recorded I Can't Stop. They followed this up in 2005 with Everything's OK (cardiac arrest) b. March 23rd 1928.
2010: Harold Lewis (98) American flute player and session musician born in New York City. Harold was an accomplished flutist and respected studio musician for more than 25 years having worked at Disney, RKO, Paramount, 20th Century Fox, Warner Brothers, Goldwyn, Universal, and Hal Roach Studios, where he performed in numerous motion pictures including "Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs," "Bambi," "Pinocchio," and his piccolo solo can be heard in "The Three Little Pigs." Other films include "Citizen Kane," "The Ten Commandments," "Gone With the Wind," "Love With the Proper Stranger," "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm," and a number of Laurel and Hardy comedies. Harold was honored to accompany artists such as Mel Torme, Lily Pons, and Jascha Heifetz and to work with numerous talented composers and conductors such as Alfred Newman, George Gershwin, and Elmer Bernstein. (?) b. March 25th 1911.
2011: Keijiro Yamashita (71) Japanese rockabilly singer; he started his career in 1958 at the age of 18, appearing in the “Western Carnival” stage show at the Nihon Gekijo in Tokyo. From there, he quickly found fame as one of the “Rockabilly Sannin Otoko” along with Masaaki Hirao and Mickey Curtis. Despite being hospitalized and undergoing treatment, he performed a dinner show in the Tochigi prefecture on December 26 2010. Sitting in a wheelchair on stage, he extended the performance from its originally scheduled 10 minutes to 40 minutes. Among the songs he performed during the show was his well-known cover of Paul Anka’s “Diana” (cancer) b.????
2011: Brian Rust (88) British jazz discographer and music journalist; born in London, he collected records from the age of 5. He worked in the BBC's record library from 1945-1960, and supervised broadcasting selections. He wrote for The Gramophone from 1948-1970, and wrote freelance from 1960, including copious liner notes for jazz releases. He hosted the Mardi Gras radio program on Capital Radio from 1973-1984. His Jazz Records 1897-1942, revised several times since its initial publication in 1961, is a standard jazz discography (?) b. March 19th 1922.
2012: Amit Saigal (46) Indian rock musician, promoter of rock music, publisher and impresario. Saigal founded the music magazine Rock Street Journal, the first rock magazine in India, and promoted alternative music in India. Amit was also termed as "Papa Rock" by the rock music community of India (sadly drowned while on his boat which was anchored off Bogmalo beach in Goa) b. July 6th 1965.
2012: Hikaru Hayashi (81) Japanese composer, pianist and conductor born in Tokyo. He composed more than 30 operas and was artistic director and resident composer of the Opera Theatre Konnyakuza. His oeuvre also includes symphonic works, works for band, chamber music, choral works, songs and more than 100 film scores. He wrote more than 20 books including Nihon opera no yume / The Dream of Japanese Opera and in 1998 Hikarui won the 30th Suntory Music Award (tragically Hikaru died after collapsing in front of his home hitting his head. He was rushed to the hospital but was unresponsive) b. October 22nd 1931.

January 6.
1942: Emma Calvé/Rosa Emma Calvet (83) French soprano born in Decazeville; she studied the art of singing under Jules Puget. After her debut at the Brussels La Monnaie, she took lessons in Paris from the celebrated teacher Mathilde Marchesi. She made a tour of Italy, where she saw the famous actress Eleonora Duse, whose impersonations made a deep impression on the young singer. She trained herself in stage craft and gesture by closely observing Duse's performances. Emma went on to be probably the most famous French female opera singer of the Belle Époque. Hers was an international career, and she sang regularly and to considerable acclaim at the Metropolitan Opera House, New York, and the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (?) b. August 15th 1858.
1980: Georgeanna Marie Tillman Gordon (36) American singer brought up in Detroit, she joined a singing group with high school friends Gladys Horton, Georgia Dobbins, Katherine Anderson, and Wyanttea Cowart and called the Casinyets. After coming in second place during a talent contest, the group, now known as The Marvels, went to Motown's Hitsville USA studio and auditioned for the label's head Berry Gordy and leading artist/staffer Smokey Robinson. The group performed well but was required to come back with their own song. Georgia co-wrote the song "Please Mr. Postman" for the group and the Marvels signed to Motown's Tamla label in 1961, Gordy altering their name to the Marvelettes. Georgeanna remained a member from then on until 1965 when her illness began to affect her performances (sadly died young with sickle cell anemia) b. February 5th 1944
1986: Joe Farrell/Joseph Carl Firrantello (48) US jazz saxophonist and flutist; well known for his performance with Chick Corea in Return to Forever, as well as a series of albums under his own name on the CTI label having a major hit with his third album “Moon Gems,” in 1972, backed by top sidemen including Herbie Hancock, Stanley Clarke and Jack DeJohnette. He also recorded with Charles Mingus, The Band, Maynard Ferguson Big Band, Slide Hampton, Andrew Hill, Average White Band, Jaki Byard, Hall & Oates, Fuse One and Elvin Jones among others. He is bettwr known for a series of albums under his own name on the CTI record label and for playing in the initial incarnation of Chick Corea's Return to Forever (died of bone cancer) b. December 16th 1937.
1993: Dizzy Gillespie/John Birks Gillespie (75) American jazz trumpet player, bandleader, singer, and composer dubbed "the sound of surprise", his image is almost inseparable from his trademark trumpet, whose bell bends upward at a 45-degree angle rather than pointing straight ahead as in the conventional design. Born in Cheraw, South Carolina, he started to play the piano at the age of four and taught himself how to play the trombone as well as the trumpet by the age of twelve. His first professional job was with the Frank Fairfax Orchestra in 1935, after which he joined the respective orchestras of Edgar Hayes and Teddy Hill, in 1937. Teddy Hill’s band was where Dizzy Gillespie made his first recording, King Porter Stomp. In 1939, Dizzy joined Cab Calloway's orchestra. During this time started writing big band music for bandleaders like Woody Herman and Jimmy Dorsey. He then freelanced with a few bands, most notably Ella Fitzgerald's orchestra, made up of members of the late Chick Webb's band, in 1942. 1943, saw Dizzy with the Earl Hines orchestra, but in 1945, he left Eckstine's band wanting to play with a small combo and he e and Charlie Parker worked together. After his work with Parker, Dizzie led other small combos, including ones with Milt Jackson, John Coltrane, Lalo Schifrin, Ray Brown, Kenny Clarke, James Moody, J.J. Johnson, and Yusef Lateef and finally put together his first successful big band. Dizzie was a major figure in the development of bebop and modern jazz. He taught and influenced many, many other musicians, including trumpeters Miles Davis, Fats Navarro, Clifford Brown, Arturo Sandoval, Lee Morgan, Jon Faddis and Chuck Mangione. (sadly died of pancreatic cancer) b. October 21st 1917.
1999: Michel Petrucciani (36) French jazz pianist; Michel was born with osteogenesis imperfecta, in his early career his father and brother occasionally carried him, literally, because he could not walk far on his own unaided. Although he trained for years as a classical pianist, an enthusiast of Duke Ellington, and jazz remained his main interest. He gave his first professional concert at the age of 13 and moved to America in 1982, where he successfully encouraged Charles Lloyd to resume playing actively. Then on February 22nd 1985, with Michel cradled in his arms, Charles Lloyd walked onto the stage at Town Hall in New York City and sat Michel on his piano stool for what would be an historic evening in jazz history: the filming of One Night with Blue Note. In 1986 he recorded a live album with Wayne Shorter and Jim Hall. He also played with diverse figures in the US jazz scene including Dizzy Gillespie. In 1994 Michel was granted a Légion d'honneur in Paris (sadly died from a pulmonary infection) b. December 28th 1962.
2003: Hirini Melbourne (53) Maori composer, singer, university lecturer, poet and author, from Ngai Tuhoe and Ngati Kahungunu Maori tribes. He is known in New Zealand for his work surrounding the revival Maori culture. A member of Nga Tamatoa, which petitioned the New Zealand Government to have Maori taught in schools as part of its focus on Maori identity, he also studied at Auckland University and later became the Dean and associate professor of Maori and Pacific development. The power of his melodies and the brilliance of his compositions have still to be widely recognised, although dozens of his now classic songs are sung in classrooms throughout New Zealand. He regularly played with Richard Nunns. This partnership lead to the release of ‘Te Ku Te Whe’, a CD of original and traditional compositions for a variety of Maori flutes which has been awarded a Gold Disc Award. A second CD together with a DVD ‘Te Hekenga-a-rangi’ was released in 2003. In 2002 Hirini was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Waikato where he had been a lecturer in the Department of Maori. He was made an Officer of the New Zealand Order of Merit in the 2003 New Year’s Honours just before his untimely death a week later (?) b. 21 July 1949.
2005: Les Robinson (90) American jazz musician; started on the trumpet, but famous for playing and recording alto-sax and sometimes clarenet with the big swing bands of Artie Shaw, Tommy Dorsey, Benny Goodman, Howard Thomas to mention just a few. He was Artie Shaw's lead alto on the classic "Begin the Beguine" and he is all Artie Shaw's recordings from 1937 to 1939 (?) b. November 10th 1914
2006: Louis Allen "Lou" Rawls (72) American jazz, soul, R&B singer-songwriter born in Chicago. Lou was a high school classmate of Sam Cooke, they sang together in the Teenage Kings of Harmony, a '50s gospel group. After 3 years in the US Army as a paratrooper in the 82nd Airborne Division, leaving as a sergeant, he travelled to LA with The Pilgrim Travelers. While touring the South in 1958 with the Travelers and Sam Cooke, he was in a serious car crash. Lou was pronounced dead before arriving at the hospital, it took him nearly a year to fully recuperate, allowing him to perform at the Hollywood Bowl in 1959. This led him to be signed to Capitol Records. His debut Capitol solo release, a jazz album, Stormy Monday (a.k.a. I'd Rather Drink Muddy Water) was the first of 28 albums made with Capitol. As well as his recording and touring career, he appeared as an actor in motion pictures and on television, and voiced-over many cartoons. He had been called "The Funkiest Man Alive". In 1967 Lou won his first Grammy Award for Best R&B Vocal Performance, for the single "Dead End Street" and he performed the national anthem of the United States, "The Star Spangled Banner", prior to the Earnie Shavers-Muhammad Ali title fight at Madison Square Garden. They requested him to sing the anthem many times over the next 28 years. Although he was seriously ill with cancer, his final performance there, was on October 23rd, 2005 at the Chicago White Sox and Houston Astros, Game Two of the 2005 World Series. (complications of lung and brain cancers) b. December 1st 1933.
2007: Sneaky/Pete Kleinow (72) American pedal steel guitarist, co-founded influential 1960s country rock group the Flying Burrito Brothers; born in South Bend, Indiana, he originally worked as a special effects artist and stop motion animator for movies and television, including the Gumby, Outer Limits, and Davey and Goliath series. He also sat in with Bakersfield Sound-oriented combos and early country-rock aggregations playing the pedal steel guitar. This is where he became acquainted with Chris Hillman and Gram Parsons of The Byrds, helping the group to replicate their newly country-oriented sound onstage with banjoist Doug Dillard. After leaving the Byrds, in 1968, Parsons and Hillman invited Pete to join their new band, the Flying Burrito Brothers. He left behind his career in visual effects and spent the next thirteen years as a professional musician. He became an in demand session player for an eclectic range of artists, including Joe Cocker, Delaney, Bonnie and Friends and Little Feat. In 1972 Sneaky teamed up with Laramy Smith in the super group ARIZONA. He also added steel guitar to records by Frank Zappa, the Bee Gees, John Lennon, Linda Ronstadt and Fleetwood Mac. In 1974 Pete was part of a new band, Cold Steel, and then a reconstituted Flying Burrito Brothers. His first solo album, Sneaky Pete, was released in 1978 and The Legend and the Legacy followed in 1994. He had also returned to special effects and created the dinosaurs for the comic film Caveman (1981), starring Ringo Starr and Barbara Bach. In 1983, his work on the television miniseries The Winds of War was recognized with an Emmy Award for Special Visual Effects.Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, Pete created special effects for movies such as The Empire Strikes Back, Gremlins, The Right Stuff, The Terminator, and Terminator 2, while continuing to work sporadically as a professional musician. In 2000, Kleinow formed a group called Burrito Deluxe, the name of a 1970 Flying Burrito Brothers album. The group recorded three albums, Georgia Peach, The Whole Enchilada and 2007's Disciples Of The Truth, which feature his last studio recordings. Pete's last performance was at a 2005 Gram Parsons tribute concert in Waycross, Georgia, the home town of Gram Parsons (complications of Alzheimer's disease) b. August 20th 1934.
2008: Seymour Marvin "Cy" Leslie (75) American music and video executive, he began his career by founding Voco Records, producing record greeting cards and children's records. He later e founded Pickwick Records, and was the first president and founder of MGM/UA Home Entertainment Group. Pickwick Records aimed to make music more affordable, and carried such artists as Elvis Presley at various times. MGM Home Video was the first company to enter the home video business, which today has become the home entertainment industry including DVD and other sales (?) b. December 16th 1922.
2009: {date his death was announced} Ronald Frank Asheton (60) American guitarist and co-songwriter with Iggy Pop and rock band The Stooges ~ b. July 17th 1948... MORE INFO
2009: Maria Dimitriadi (58) Greek singer, born in Athens; she was considered a "total voice" and one of the most renowned performers of the songs of Mikis Theodorakis and Thanos Mikroutsikos. She primarily connected with political left-wing songs during the Junta and Metapolitefsi era in Greece, but she also experimented with other styles and genres, of a more lyrical tone (sadly died from a rare lung disease) b. April 11th 1950.
2011: Richard Wiedamann (78) German pianist, composer and cultural mediator born in Regensburg. In 1982 he was co-founder of the Jazz Weekend in the Old Town of Regensburg, initially with 15 Bands and 6000 mark budget. In 1987 he founded the National Youth Jazz Orchestra of Bavaria, he was the organization manager for 10 years until his move to Marktoberdorf. Shortly before his death he was awarded the Cultural Prize of the City of Regensburg 2010th (?) b. May 14th 1932.
2012: W. Francis McBeth (78) American composer, whose wind band works are highly respected. His primary musical influences included Clifton Williams, Bernard Rogers, and Howard Hanson. The popularity of his works in the United States during the last half of the twentieth century led to many invitations and appearances as a guest conductor, where he often conducted the premiere performances of some of his compositions, the majority of which were commissioned. His conducting activities have taken him to forty-eight states, three Canadian provinces, Japan, and Australia. At one time, his "Double Pyramid Balance System" was a widely used pedagogical tool in the concert band world. As well as been honoured with several awards, from '57 until his retirement in 1996, he taught at Ouachita Baptist University in Arkadelphia, Arkansas. (?) b. March 9th 1933.
2012: Tom Ardolino (56) American drummer; he joined the Miami rock band, New Rhythm and Blues Quartet aka NRBQ in 1974 when original drummer Tom Staley departed. Tom remained behind the drums for the next 30 years, playing on 15 studio albums and countless live shows, until the group went on hiatus in 2004. NRBQ is known for its live performances, containing a high degree of spontaneity and levity, and blending rock, pop, jazz, blues and Tin Pan Alley styles. Although he played at NRBQ reunion concerts in the intervening years, Tom wasn’t well enough to resume drum duties when keyboardist Terry Adams reconstituted the band with a new lineup in 2011. As a resident of Springfield, Massachusetts, Tom appeared in a promotional video to campaign for the world premiere of The Simpsons Movie in Springfieldand he also released a solo album "Unknown Brain" was released in 2004 (sadly Tom died following a long illness) b. January 12th 1955.

January 7.
1936: Guy d'Hardelot/Helen Rhodes nee Helen Guy (77) French composer, pianist, and teacher. Born at Chateau d'Hardelot, near Boulogne-sur-Mer. This old castle, from which she took her pen name, was once occupied by Henry VIII and Anne Boleyn. Most of her life, she was engaged in teaching singing and diction at her home in London, and many of her pupils attained success. In 1896 she toured the US with Calvé. Her first real success as a composer was won with "Because", though her song "Sans Toi" had previously been favorably received. Among her other successes may be mentioned "I Know a Lovely Garden", "I Think", "I Hid My Love", "Dawn", and "A Bunch of Violets" (?) b. August ?? 1858
1946: Adamo Didur (72) Polish operatic bass vocalist; he studied in Lwów with Valery Wysocki. He later worked with Franz Emmerich in Milan. His concert debut came in Milan in a performance of Ludwig van Beethoven's Ninth Symphony. He went on to sing extensively in opera in Europe and appeared at New York's Metropolitan Opera from 1908 to 1932 (?) b. December 24th 1874.
1964: Cyril Davies (32) English musician, born in Denham, Buckinghamshire, he was one of the first UK blues harmonica players and blues musicians. Cyril began his career in the early 1950s first within Steve Lane's Southern Stompers, then as part of an acoustic skiffle and blues group with Alexis Korner. He began as a banjo and 12-string guitar player before becoming Britain's first Chicago-style blues harmonica player. In 1962, he and Alexis Korner opened a club called the Ealing Club in London, adding bassist Jack Bruce, saxophonist Dick Heckstall-Smith and drummer Charlie Watts, to form the electric band Blues Incorporated, and they recorded the album R&B from the Marquee. Many budding young musicians visited the Ealing Club and 'guested' with Blues Incorporated, including Rod Stewart, Paul Jones, Ronnie Wood, Keith Richards, Eric Burdon, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones and Ginger Baker (frequently reported as of leukaemia, but some accounts suggest pleurisy and others small cell lung cancer) b. January 23rd 1932.
1967: Carl Schuricht (86) German conductor, in 1909 he succeeded Siegfried Ochs as director of the Rühlscher Oratorienverein in Frankfurt-am-Mein and at 31 was appointed musical director of the municipal orchestra in Wiesbaden; festivals of modern music (Richard Strauss, Reger, Mahler, Delius and Arnold Schoenberg) made Wiesbaden an internationally-renowned centre for music. In later years during the late 40s and 50s Carl conducted throughout Switzerland, at the re-opening of the Salzburg Festival in 1946, in Paris, and at the festivals of Holland, Lucerne, Aix-en-Provence and Montreux. He regularly conducted the South German Radio Symphony Orchestra from 1950 to 1966. When the Vienna Philharmonic made their first tour to the USA in 1956, he share the conducting during the six-weeks with André Cluytens (?) b. July 3rd 1880.
1980: Larry Williams (44) American singer, saxophonist, keyboards, and pianist born in New Orleans, Louisiana; best known for writing and recording some Rock'n'Roll standards from 1957 to 1959 for Specialty Records, including "Bony Moronie" and "Dizzy Miss Lizzy". He also began acting in the 1960s, appearing on film in Just for the Hell of It-1968, The Klansman-1974, and Drum-1976 (tragically died from a gun-shot wound in his LA, California home. The death was deemed suicide, though there was much speculation otherwise. No suspects were ever arrested or charged) b. May 10th 1935.
1981: Chink Martin/Chink Abraham (94) American jazz tubist born in New Orleans; he played guitar before settling on tuba. He played with Papa Jack Laine's Reliance Brass Band around 1910, and worked in various other brass bands in the city in the 1910's. In 1923, he traveled to Chicago and played with the New Orleans Rhythm Kings, as well as with the Halfway House Orchestra, the New Orleans Harmony Kings, and the New Orleans Swing Kings. In the 1930s, he worked as a staff musician at WSMB radio. He continued to play tuba for his entire career, though he also picked up double-bass from the 1930s onward. He played with dozens of noted New Orleans jazz musicians, appearing on record with Sharkey Bonano, Santo Pecora, Pete Fountain, Al Hirt, and others, and released one album under his own name on Southland Records in 1963 (?) b. June 10th 1886.
1998: Owen Bradley (82) American record producer and pianist who, along with Chet Atkins and Bob Ferguson, was one of the chief architects of the 1950s and 60s Nashville sound in country music and rockabilly. He learned piano at an early age, and began playing in local nightclubs and roadhouses when he was a teenager. At 20, he got a job at WSM-AM radio, where he worked as an arranger and musician and in 1942, he became the station's musical director. As well as becoming a recording artist, he enjoyed record production and in 1952, he and his brother Harold built their own recording studio where they began to record singers such as Ernest Tubb and Kitty Wells. By 1956, they had moved to larger premises and had their famed Quonset hut studio on 16th Avenue South, Nashville. It was here that Buddy Holly and Gene Vincent recorded some of their earliest sessions. Owen also recorded several of the new country artists of the time, including Johnny Cash and Marty Robbins. The area surrounding the old Quonset hut became known as Music Row. It was here that, over the years, the recording industry of Nashville developed. He did, in fact, record both pop and country artists. He also appeared as a musician, not only on some of Decca recording sessions but he actually played with Chet Atkins on Elvis Presley's RCA session, on the recording of Heartbreak Hotel. Between 1958 and 1968, he was the country A&R director for Decca and was then promoted to be the label's vice president in Nashville. Owen was elected to the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1974. He retired from production in the early 1980s, but continued to work on the selected projects, such as k.d. Lang's acclaimed 1988 album, Shadowland (?) b. October 21st 1915.
2001: James Carr (58) American R&B and soul singer, born in Coahoma, Mississippi, and began singing in church and was performing in gospel groups. He first made the R&B charts in 1966 with "You've Got My Mind Messed Up", followed by his most famous song "The Dark End of the Street". A resurgence in interest in his music, spurred by his portrayal in Peter Guralnick's 1986 book Sweet Soul Music, helped return Carr to the recording studio, but he didn't have any further chart success (sadly James died after a battle with lung cancer) b. June 13th 1942.
2002: Jon Lee (33) Welsh musician and the original drummer for the successful British rock band Feeder. Born in Newport, Wales, he was inspired to play the drums, having acquired a drum kit in his teens, he teamed up in the early 1990s with Grant Nicholas to form a band called "Temper Temper". Without much in the way of success, the two took to London to set up a new band called "Hum", but the true turning point came when a Japanese bassist called Taka Hirose answered an ad in "Loot" magazine to form a new band called "Reel" and a record contract with the Echo Label followed in November 1994 when their name was "Real". From here the band changed their name to Feeder named after Grant's goldfish (sadly suicide, found hanged at his Miami home) b. March 28th 1968.
2004: John Guerin (64) American top session drummer; self-taught on drums, percussion and keyboards, an extremely successful "crossover" artist, frequently bridging the gaps between jazz and rock with his expansive drum vocabulary. Born in Hawaii and raised in San Diego, he began performing with Buddy DeFranco in 1960. In the late 60s he moved to LA where his talented drum work was utilised by artists including Frank Sinatra, George Harrison, Frank Zappa, Joni Mitchell, The Byrds, Peggy Lee, Them, Thelonious Monk, Lou Rawls, Ray Conniff, George Shearing, Ella Fitzgerald, Linda Ronstadt, Nelson Riddle and countless others. In jazz and pop, he is one of the most recorded drummers of all time. Among his many contributions to motion picture and TV scores, John's most celebrated work was on the soundtrack for Clint Eastwood's 1988 film biography of Charlie Parker, titled Bird. He also played on the original title tune for the television series Hawaii Five-O. In more recent years Guerin worked with Tyrell, Oscar Peterson, John Faddis, Jimmy Heath, Ray Charles, Sonny Rollins, Justin Morell, Andreas Pettersson, David Basse, David Garfield, Gary Lemel, and Mike Melvoin (pneumonia) b. October 31st 1939.
2009: Alex van Heerden (34) South African trumpeter, vocalist, accordionist, producer, composer, historian and explorer; a self-taught musician that started to play trumpet at the age of 17. As well as his solo career, he worked with Robbie Jansen in Jansen's jazz group Sons of Table Mountain. Later he studied his own ethnic music and in the process became aware of the influence of ghoema, vastrap (a SA dance form) and other Coloured music on boeremusiek. He also worked together with Swedish musician and producer Håkan Lidbo, creating electronic music. He was on the verge of co-launching a second album with Cape Town jazz musician Hilton Schilder, with who he had toured parts of Europe and Hong Kong with on several occasions, and a second CD with Gramadoelas, the band he co-founded (died in a car accident in Cape Town) b. November 23rd 1974
2010: Eric Shark/Thomas Sam Davis (59) British singer with the Liverpool based band, Deaf School. Eric had been in poor health for several years and was waiting for a lung transplant, but he continued to play a part in Deaf School concerts until September, when he sat at a table at the side of the stage, with microphone in hand and oxygen mask and cylinder close by (lung disease) b. ????
2011: Phil Kennemore (57) American bassist he was a member of Y&T, who were formerly known as Yesterday And Today, and played with the hard rock band at every stage of their 36-year history since 1974, helping the band sell over four million albums in the process. He appeared on all of their 21 albums, including the classic albums In Rock We Trust, which featured their biggest hit ‘Summertime Girls’, and Mean Streak, and the band’s most recent studio record Facemelter which was released last year. Y&T is one of the San Francisco Bay Area's own innovators of the hard rock sound. World-renowned headliners on their own, the band also remained the most requested support act on the hard rock road, touring with icons Ozzy Osbourne, AC/DC, Aerosmith, Mötley Crüe, and more (sadly died after his brave fight with lung cancer) b. 1954

January 8.
1970: Giannis Christou (44)Greek composer, born in Heliopolis, Egypt, of Greek parents. In 1948 he gained an MA in philosophy after having studied with Ludwig Wittgenstein and Bertrand Russell in Cambridge. During that time he also studied music with Hans Redlich and studied orchestration with Angelo Francesco Lavagnino in Rome in '49, also that year he composed Phoenix Music for orchestra and First Symphony. His last works from 1967 to 1970 include Anaparastasis I (The baritone),
Anaparastasis III (The pianist), Oedipus Rex and also Oresteia which was unfinished (Tragically died on his birthday in a car accident in Athens, Greece) b. January 8th 1926.
1975: Richard Tucker/Rubin Ticker (61) American operatic tenor; a highly regarded operatic tenor throughout his career, and is generally considered by vocal-music historians and critics as being the greatest American-born, American-trained tenor of his era. On December 15th 1945, under the baton of Emil Cooper, Richard made his debut as Enzo in La Gioconda. The debut, one of the most successful in the annals of the Metropolitan, foretold his 30-year career as the leading American tenor of the postwar era (He died of a heart attack while resting before an evening performance in Kalamazoo, Michigan. He is the only person whose funeral has been held on the stage of the Metropolitan Opera. In tribute to his legacy at the Met, the city of New York designated the park adjacent to Lincoln Centre as Richard Tucker Square) b. August 28th 1913.
1979: Sara Carter (80) American country musician; known for her deep and distinctive singing voice, she was the lead singer on most of the recordings of the historic Carter Family act in the 1920s and 1930's. She married A. P. Carter on June 18, 1915. Sara was inducted as part of The Carter Family in the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1970, in 1993, her image appeared on a U.S. postage stamp honoring the Carter Family and in 2001 she was inducted into the International Bluegrass Music Hall of Honor (??) b. July 21st 1898.
1986: Pierre Fournier (88) French cellist, he graduated from the Paris Conservatory at 17, in 1923. He was hailed as "the cellist of the future" and won praise for his virtuosity and bowing technique. In the period 1925-1929 he was a member of the Krettly Quartet, led by Odette's brother Robert Krettly. He became well known when he also played with the Concerts Colonne Orchestra in 1925 and began touring all over Europe. Pierre taught at the École Normale de Musique in Paris and the Paris Conservatoire from 1937 to 1949. He made his first tour of the United States in 1948 and played to great acclaim in New York and Boston. After 1956, he made his home in Switzerland, and taught privately at his home in Geneva until his death: the British cellist Julian Lloyd Webber was among his pupils (?) b. June 24th 1906.
1991: Steve Clark (30) English co-lead guitarist for British heavy metal band Def Leppard. Born in Sheffield, he started playing guitar at aged 11 and was soon playing in a local band, Electric Chicken, before joining Def Leppard in 1978 where he was nicknamed "The Riffmaster". He contributed to half of the songs on the band's 1992 album Adrenalize just prior to his death, he is also showcased on the 1979 EP Def Leppard and albums, On Through the Night, High 'n' Dry, Hysteria, Pyromania, Adrenalize, and Retro Active (sadly died from a drug overdose) b. April 23rd 1960.
1998: Sir Michael Kemp Tippett OM CH CBE (93) English composer was one of the foremost British composers of the 20th century he was a student in the Royal College of Music, where he studied composition with Charles Wood and C. H. Kitson, he also studied conducting with Adrian Boult and Malcolm Sargent. As a composer his works comprised of five string quartets, four concerti, four symphonies, five operas and a number of vocal and choral works. Michael was knighted in 1966, and awarded the Order of Merit in 1983. He remained very active composing and conducting. His opera, New Year, received its premiere in 1989. Then came Byzantium, a piece for soprano and orchestra premiered in 1991. His autobiography, Those Twentieth Century Blues also appeared in 1991. A string quartet followed in 1992. In 1995 his ninetieth birthday was celebrated with special events in Britain, Canada and the US, including the premiere of his final work, The Rose Lake. In that year a collection of his essays, Tippett on Music, also appeared (While in Stockholm for a retrospective of his concert music, he developed pneumonia. He was brought home, but died soon after) b. January 2nd 1905.
1996: Howard Taubman (88) American music and theatre critic, born in Manhattan; he began working for The New York Times and joined the Music Department there in 1930 and became music editor in 1935. For about a year, from 1944-1945, he served in the Army and worked in Italy as a writer for Stars and Stripes. In the 1950s, he acted as the ghostwriter for opera singer Marian Anderson’s autobiography My Lord, What a Morning. In 1960, he took the post of Chief Drama Critic for the Times and from 1966 until he retired in 1972, Howard was a critic-at-large for the Times. He wrote several books including How to Bring up your Child to Enjoy Music, How to Build a Record Library, The Maestro: The Life of Arturo Toscanini, Music on My Beat: An Intimate Volume of Shop Talk, Music as a Profession, and Opera: Front and Back (?) b. July 4th 1907.
2002: David McWilliams (56) Northern Irish singer, songwriter, guitarist born in Belfast and moved to Ballymena at the age of 8. He began playing guitar and writing songs in his early teens and he started a local dance band, the Coral Showband. He is maybe best known for his 1967 song "Days of Pearly Spencer". Although he never had a 'hit' in England, he was very popular on continental Europe, Italy, France, Belgium, the Netherlands and also Japan. (heart attack) b. July 4th 1945.
2003: Ron Goodwin (77) British composer and conductor; he learned the piano from an early age and studied trumpet in London at the Guildhall School of Music. His first job was as copyist and arranger for publishing companies and bands, including work with the BBC. Through documentary music he was introduced to music for movies, and worked as a ghostwriter for Phil Green, Stanley Black, Geraldo and Peter Yorke among others. He later worked as a conductor in recording sessions for popular music artists, including Petula Clark. His many film scores include Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Alfred Hitchcock's Frenzy, and 2 movies featuring Morecambe and Wise, as well as Norman Wisdom films. He composed the music for Lancelot and Guinevere, four Miss Marple movies, Force 10 From Navarone, The Spaceman and King ArthurWalt Disney's One of Our Dinosaurs is Missing, among others. Ron won three Ivor Novello Awards, including one for lifetime achievement in 1994. He was given honorary Freedom of the City of London (?) b. February 17th 1925.
2009: Deborah Riedel (50) Australian operatic soprano, generally regarded as one of the greatest voices ever produced in Australia. She sang with such companies as the Royal Opera, Covent Garden; the Rome Opera; the Vienna State Opera, and many others. She won the inaugural Givenchy French Operatic Award in 1994. Her American debut that year was as Amina in La sonnambula in San Diego. She also appeared with the Metropolitan Opera and San Francisco Opera. Her work in Australia included roles in The Magic Flute, Don Giovanni, Maria Stuarda, Norma, La traviata, Il trovatore, La bohème, Tosca, Faust, The Tales of Hoffmann, Turandot and others. Internationally she sang the Marschallin in Der Rosenkavalier and Ellen Orford in Peter Grimes. In 2004, she was Sieglinde in the first Wagner Ring Cycle ever staged in Australia, by the State Opera of South Australia (sadly lost to cancer) b. July 31st 1958.
2011: Elfa Secioria (51) Indonesian jazz pianist, born in Garut, West Java; he showed great keyboard talents from the age of 5, and was already performing before appreciative crowds with his own jazz trio by age 8. Before his 20th birthday this musical genius had completed courses in symphonic music, musical arrangement, music theory and musical history. His songs and his performances, time and again, won Indonesia top honors at the ASEAN Song Festival, Tokyo Song Festival, Golden Kite Festival-Kuala Lumpur, World Song Festival-Tokyo. His educational and musical directing abilities also earned his groups world titles in international choral and marching band competitions. Elfa's best-selling recording "From Indonesia with Love" remains the definitive compendium of modern arrangements of traditional national songs gathered from Sabang to Merauke (?) b. February 20th 1959.
2012: Dave Alexander aka Omar Sharriff/Omar Hakim Khayam (73) American blues singer and self taught pianist, born in Shreveport, Louisiana and grew up in Marshall, Texas. He joined the US Navy in 1955, then moved to Oakland, California in 1957, where he played with Big Mama Thornton, Jimmy Witherspoon, Muddy Waters, Buddy Guy, and Albert Collins. In 1968, he recorded 'Oakland Blues', his first songs for the World Pacific label. He performed at the Ann Arbor Blues and Jazz Festival in 1970, and played at the San Francisco Blues Festival, many times from 1973 onward. His songs include "The Hoodoo Man (The Voodoo Woman & The Witch Doctor)", "Cold Feelin", "St. James Infirmary", "Blue Tumbleweed", "Sundown", "Sufferin' With The Lowdown Blues", "Jimmy, Is That You?", "So You Wanna Be A Man" "Strange Woman", and "The Dirt On The Ground" (Tragically, Dave died of an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound at his home in Marshall, Texas) b. March 10th 1938.
2012: Alexis Weissenberg (82) Bulgarian classical pianist, born in Sofia; he gave his first public performance at the age of eight. After escaping to what was then Palestine in 1945, where he he was studying, he went to the Juilliard School in 1946 to study. In 1947 he made his New York debut with the Philadelphia Orchestra. His more notable interpretations were those of Liszt Sonata in B minor, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Johannes Brahms's Piano Concerto No. 1, as well as his Piano Concerto No. 3, also his readings of Schumann, and many works by Frédéric Chopin. Alexis was also a composer of much piano music and a musical, Nostalgie, that was premiered at the State Theatre of Darmstadt in October 1992 (?) b. July 26th 1929.

January 9.
1939: Johann Strauss III (72) Austrian conductor and violinist, whose father was Eduard Strauss, whose uncles were Johann Strauss II & Josef Strauss, and whose grandfather was Johann Strauss I. He was unofficially entrusted with the task of upholding his family's tradition after the disbandment of the Strauss Orchestra by his father in 1901. Despite his keen interest in composing, he was better remembered as a conductor. His only stage work, the three-act operetta Katze und Maus, composed in 1898, premiered in Vienna on 23 December 1898, at the Theatre an der Wien. He also conducted from the violin in the style of the Vorgeiger and of his family. In 1903, he elevated the Strauss family to a new age of development when the Deutsche Grammophon AG of Germany recorded his conducting of the Johann Strauss Orchestra on eight single-sided records of works by his family. Principally, he was the first conductor in the Strauss family to actively conduct works to be recorded by prominent recording companies (?) b. February 16th 1866.
1962: Leroy Shield (68)American film score and radio composer, born in Waseca, Minnesota; he started at RCA Victor's National Broadcasting Company, where he composed and conducted on-air musical pieces. Around 1922 he was a Victor house musician, conducting and providing piano accompaniment on many hundreds of popular and USF Victor recordings. He also worked as a part-time employee for the Hal Roach film studio, composing countless background themes that became associated with such Roach comedy series as Laurel and Hardy, Our Gang, ZaSu Pitts and Thelma Todd, and Charley Chase. One of his compositions for the 1930 Our Gang 1930 short Teacher's Pet, "Good Old Days," became the theme song of the series. His 1930 song "Beautiful Lady" was used as the theme song for the Pitts and Todd films () b. October 2nd 1893.
1970: Jani Christou (44) Greek composer, born in Heliopolis, Egypt, of Greek parents and educated at the English School in Alexandria. He took his first piano lessons from the important Greek pianist Gina Bachauer. His earlier composing works up to the Second Symphony (with chorus, 1958), draw on Stravinsky, Berg and Mahler. Then he developed a style of ostinato patterning aimed at activating primordial emotions, as in the oratorio Tongues of Fire, 1964. Later works, called Anaparastasis (‘Re-enactments’), move away from traditional notation to provide psychic rituals for the performers. (Tragically died in a car accident in Athens) b. January 9th 1926.
1981: Kazimierz Serocki (58) Polish composer and one of the founders of the Warsaw Autumn contemporary music festival. Between 1946-51 he performed many times as a concert pianist in Poland and abroad, but for the rest of his career, he was focused exclusively on composition. His output is concentrated in two main spheres: orchestral music and vocal-instrumental pieces to Polish texts selected with fine discrimination. He was vice-president of the central administration of the Polish Composers' Union from 1954-55. He received a number of Polish and foreign awards, including several State Prizes, among them one in 1952 for his music to the film Young Chopin. He also received a prize at the UNESCO competition in 1959, for the Sinfonietta and the award of the Minister of Culture and Fine Arts in 1963 for the whole of his work (?) b. March 3rd 1922.
1982: Vido Musso (69) Italian-born jazz tenor saxophonist, clarinetist and bandleader born in Carini, Sicily, best-known for his many contributions to the big bands of Gene Krupa, Tommy Dorsey, Harry James, Benny Goodman, Stan Kenton and Woody Herman. His family moved to the United States in 1920. He began on clarinet before switching to tenor sax. He is most associated with Stan Kenton who he first worked with in 1930. He reached his peak of notoriety with Kenton from 1945 to 1947. Perhaps his most notable work with the Kenton orchestra was his "Come Back to Sorrento". (Vido died in Rancho Mirage, California) b. January 7th 1913.
1995: Peter Cook (57) English comedian, writer, and satirist, who is widely regarded as the leading figure in the British satire boom of the 1960s. There is a cult following among some Cook fans for a little-remembered project that he was involved with in the 1970s. This was his participation – playing multiple roles – on the 1977 concept album Consequences, written and produced by former 10cc members Kevin Godley and Lol Creme. A mixture of spoken-word comedy and progressive rock music with an environmental subtext, Consequences started out as a single that Godley and Creme planned to make to demonstrate their new invention, an electric guitar effect called The Gizmo. The project gradually grew into a triple LP boxed set. The comedy sections of the album were originally intended to be performed by an all-star cast including Spike Milligan and Peter Ustinov, but after meeting Peter Cook, Godley and Creme realised that Peter could perform most of the parts himself (internal haemorrhaging) b. November 17th 1937.
2009: Dave Dee/David Harman (65) British singer with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich; In his early days he was a policeman, as such he was at the scene of the automobile accident that took the life of American rocker Eddie Cochran and injured Gene Vincent in April 1960. Dave had taken Cochran's guitar from the accident and held it until it could be returned to his family. He formed a group in 1961 called Dave Dee And The Bostons. They soon changed their name to Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick & Tich — an amalgam of their nicknames. They had top 10 UK hits with "Hideaway", "Hold Tight", "Bend It", "Save Me", "Touch Me, Touch Me!", "Okay" and "Zabadak".and a No.1 hit "The Legend of Xanadu". which became a worldwide hit. As well as from performing in Britain, they also played in Hamburg at Star-Club and Top Ten Club, and in Cologne at Storyville. In September, 1969, he left the group for a solo career.(prostate cancer) b. December 17th 1943.
2009: Jon Hager (67) American country musician, one half of The Hager Twins, also known as the Hager Brothers, with his identical twin Jim, they were a duo of American country music singers and comedians who first gained fame on the TV series Hee Haw. The twins first sang in the church choir. then as s teenagers, they sang on a Saturday morning WGN-TV series. Both brothers served in the United States Army and performed at Officers' Clubs and NCO Clubs in the United States and Europe. After leaving the military, the Hager brothers moved to California and performed at the Ledbetter's Night Club in Los Angeles with The Carpenters, The New Christy Minstrels, John Denver, Steve Martin and Kenny Rogers. They also worked at Disneyland, which is where Buck Owens saw them perform and signed them to contracts. In addition to Owens, the brothers served as opening acts for Tex Ritter, Wynn Stewart, Billie Jo Spears and Lefty Frizzell. (heart attack) b. August 30th 1941.
2011: Debbie Friedman (58) American songwriter, composer and singer of songs with Jewish religious content. Born in Utica, New York but moved with her family to Minnesota at age 5, she is best known for her musical version of “Mi Sheberach”, the prayer for healing, which is used by hundreds of congregations across America. Between 1971 and 2011 she recorded more than 19 albums, useing English and Hebrew lyrics and wrote for all ages. Some of her other songs include "The Aleph Bet Song", "Not By Might", For Hanukkah, "Miriam's Song", for Passover, and "I am a Latke", also for Hanukkah. In 2004, A Journey of Spirit, a documentary film about Friedman, was produced by Ann Coppel. In 2007, Friedman accepted an appointment to the faculty of Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion's School of Sacred Music in New York where she instructed both rabbinic and cantorial students (a sufferer of Multiple Sclerosis, Debbie sadly died from pneumonia) b. 1952.
2012: Bridie Gallagher (87) Irish singer, born in Creeslough, came to fame in 1956 with her recording of A Mother's Love's A Blessing and achieved international acclaim with her legendary rendition of The Boys From County Armagh. During her career, which spans over six decades, she has appeared in many leading venues across the globe, making songs such as 'The Homes of Donegal' famous. Bridie also holds the record for the largest number of people in attendance in the Albert Hall London, a record that was never equalled as it went on to be come an all seater venue. Bridie played in many other of the world's best known theatre's including Sydney Opera House and Carnegie Hall in New York. Bridie sang mainly ballads or as they later became known as Country and Irish. She had her own Radio Show on RTÉ, as well as many appearances on television RTÉ, BBC, UTV, and coast to coast in the United States (?) b. September 7th 1924.
2012: Ernie Carson (74) American Dixieland jazz cornetist, pianist, and singer. He was born in Portland, Oregon and played with the Castle Jazz Band in the mid-50s prior to a stint in the U.S. Marines. Following this he worked in L.A. with Dave Wierbach, Jig Adams, Ray Bauduc, Pat Yankee, and Turk Murphy, and led several of his own groups from the 70s, including the Capital City Jazz Band and a new version of the Castle Jazz Band. After more than twenty years of playing based in Atlanta, he moved back to Oregon in 1995 (?) b. December 4th 1937.

January 10.
1941: Frank Bridge (61) English composer; born in Brighton and studied at the Royal College of Music in London from 1899 to 1903. He played the viola in a number of string quartets, most notably the English String Quartet, and conducted, sometimes deputising for Henry Wood, before devoting himself to composition, receiving the patronage of Elizabeth Sprague Coolidge. He privately tutored a number of pupils, most famously Benjamin Britten, who later championed his teacher's music and paid homage to him in the Variations on a Theme of Frank Bridge-1937, based on a theme from the second of Frank's Three Idylls for String Quartet-1906. One of his most famous works is a piece for violin called Moto perpetuo, written 1900, revised 1911. Other frequently performed works are the Adagio in E for organ, Rosemary for piano, and the masterful Cello Sonata in D minor 1913–17. The Scherzetto for cello and piano was rediscovered in the library of London's Royal College of Music by the cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (He died in Eastbourne) b. February 26th 1879.
1969: John Brownlee (69) Australian operatic baritone, born in Geelong. He became a junior naval cadet in the Royal Australian Navy, serving during World War I. After which he entered a singing contest in Ballarat, winning first prize. Several singing engagements followed. One of these, a performance of Messiah, was attended by Nellie Melba, who convinced him to go to Paris for serious study with Dinh Gilly. His debut took place at Covent Garden on 8th June 1926, in the performance of La bohème in which Melba made her farewell appearance. That autumn he was engaged by the Paris Opera, the first time a British subject had been made a permanent member of that company; his Paris debut was in Thaïs in 1927. On 17 February 1937, he appeared for the first time at the Metropolitan Opera. The opera was Rigoletto. Besides making important appearances elsewhere, Brownlee remained a regular at Covent Garden, the Paris Opera, and the Met, making his last performance there in March 1957. His greatest successes were in the Mozart repertory, particularly at the Glyndebourne Festival. An Australian scholarship in his name was first awarded after his death in 1969 (?) b. January 7th 1900
1972: Al Goodman (81) Russian born conductor, songwriter, stage composer, musical director, arranger, and pianist. He was first introduced to musical comedy by the late Earl Carroll who persuaded him to collaborate in producing his musical, So Long Letty. This success, followed by the hit, “Sinbad”, which he produced with Al Jolson, led to positions as orchestra conductor for many Broadway productions including the highly successful Flyin’ High, The Student Prince, and Blossom Time. In all, during this period of his career, he directed over 150 first-night performances and became one of the Great White Way's most popular conductors. He also wrote some memorable songs such as "When hearts Are Young", "Call Of Love" and "Twlilight". (?) b. August 12th 1890.
1976: Howlin' Wolf/Chester Arthur Burnett (65) American blues guitarist, singer, and harmonica player, born in White Station, Mississippi; he was an experimental bluesman who formulated a wide range of moods and possibilities for his songs. His raw, rasping, fierce voice, combined with his imposing physical presence and wild stage abandon, made him unforgettable. His influence stretched far beyond the realm of the blues, and many songs popularized by him such as "Smokestack Lightnin'," "Back Door Man" and "Spoonful", have become standards of blues and blues rock. He is portrayed by Eamonn Walker in the 2008 motion picture Cadillac Records. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame listed 1956 Smokestack Lightning, 1960 Spoonful and 1962's The Red Rooster by Howlin' Wolf of the 500 songs that shaped rock and roll and his Smokestack Lightning was inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame, which is a special Grammy award established in 1973 to honor recordings that are at least twenty-five years old, and that have "qualitative or historical significance." (died peacefully, complications arising from kidney disease) b. June 10th 1910.
1978: Don Gillis (65) American composer, conductor and teacher born in Cameron, Missouri; the composition which has gained him most recognition is his orchestral Symphony No. 5½, A Symphony for Fun. His music drew upon popular material, particularly emphasizing jazz, which he considered a revitalizing element in American music. He became production director for the radio station WBAP, later moving to NBC where he became producer for the NBC Symphony Orchestra during the tenure of its conductor Arturo Toscanini. He held several teaching posts at academic institutions in the southern United States during his career, and also helped to found the Symphony of the Air orchestra. (?) b. June 17th 1912.
1985: Anton Karas (79) Austrian zither player, born in Vienna, he is best known for his soundtrack to Carol Reed's The Third Man. By the end of 1949, a half million copies of "The Harry Lime Theme" had been sold, an unprecedented amount for the time. The success of the score also caused a surge in zither sales. Anton went on his first world tour in 1950. He went on tour again in 1951, travelling to Montreal and Las Vegas, followed by a number of other tours, including Japan in 1962, 1969 and 1972, where he performed for emperor Hirohito. In 1954, he opened his own Heuriger which was fashionable among Hollywood celebrities like Orson Welles, Gina Lollobrigida, Curd Jürgens, Hans Moser, Paul Hörbiger, Marika Röck or Johannes Heesters. (?) b. July 7th 1906.
1987: Marion Hutton/Marion Thornburg (67) American singer and actress; elder sister of actress Betty Hutton. Both sisters sang with the Vincent Lopez Orchestra. She was discovered by Glenn Miller and was invited to join the Glenn Miller Orchestra in 1938. She remained with Miller on and off until the orchestra disbanded in 1942. After Glenn Miller joined the Army in 1942, she went with fellow Miller alumni Tex Beneke and the Modernaires on a theatre tour. The next important event in her entertainment career was a role in In Society with Abbott and Costello in the mid-1940s. Marion appeared with the Desi Arnaz orchestra in October 1947 at the Radio City Theatre in Minneapolis. As the 1940s wound down, so did Marion's career. Her last film role was in 1949, acting in the Marx Brothers' Love Happy (sadly lost her battle with cancer) b. March 10th 1919.
1997: Kenneth Pickett (54) British singer and founder member of "The Creation", an English freakbeat band, formed in 1966. The most popular of 11 Creation singles was "Painter Man", which made the Top 40 in the UK charts in late 1966, and No.8 in the German chart in April '67. Their style was originally loud pop art, but developed into a more typically mid 60s psychedelic rock sound, which has been retroactively described as freakbeat. He had previously been in The Mark Four with John Dalton, who left the band to join The Kinks. The band split in '67, but re-formed in the mid '80s, releasing a single and recording an album in a more contemporary rock style. The reformed band continued to tour, with various line-up changes, capitalising on their cult notoriety with the underground mod and garage rock audiences (heart attack) b. September 3rd 1942.
2001: Bryan Gregory (46) American guitarist, songwriter and founder member with the punk rock band, The Cramps. He was known for his oozing guitar sound, wild stage antics, long hair with a skunk stripe over his eye, and acne scarred face. He appeared on The Cramps first two albums "Gravest Hits" and "Songs The Lord Taught Us". He went on to play in Beast from 1980-1984, The Dials from 1992-1995 and also played in a band called Shiver. (sadly died of a heart attack) b. February 20th 1954.
2005: Margherita Carosio (96) Italian operatic soprano born in Genoa was one of the leading sopranos at La Scala in Milan for over 20 years. In 1924, still only 16, she made her operatic debut in the taxing role of Lucia di Lammermoor at Novi Ligure and in 1928, she sang Musetta and Feodor to Chaliapin's Boris Godunov at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, but did not return to London until after the second world war. Her expressive and expertly produced voice is preserved in many Parlophone and Ultraphon recordings made before World War II, as well as a memorable series made for HMV in London, beginning in 1946. She was still singing leading roles in her early sixties and was considered one of the leading bel canto sopranos of her day (?) b. June 7th 1908.
2008: Dave Day/Dave Havlicek (66) American banjoist, rhythm guitarist with garage rock band The Monks, a pre-punk band, made up of former American GI's, primarily active in Germany in the mid to late 60s. They reunited in 1999 and have continued to play concerts, although no new studio recordings have been made. The Monks stood out from the music of the time, and have developed a cult following amongst many musicians and music fans. (died four days after suffering a heart attack) b.1941
2008: Rod Allen/Rodney Bainbridge (63) British lead singer and bassist with The Fortunes; he came to international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the American and British Top Ten charts. An archetypal English beat group, originally a trio called The Cliftones, they signed to Decca in the UK in 1963. Their first single as The Fortunes, "Summertime, Summertime," was oddly credited to both groups. Their follow-up in 1964, "Caroline", was used as the signature tune for the influential pirate radio station, Radio Caroline. In 1966, their manager Reginald Calvert was shot dead in a dispute over pirate radio stations, after which they had several more hit singles in UK and USA. Rod fronted an ever changing version of The Fortunes from 1963 up to his death (liver cancer) b. March 31st 1944.
2009: Ana Isabel "Anabel" Ramirez Bosch (32) Filipino singer who fronted several Filipino rock bands. She started singing while at high school, when she became a regular at Club Dredd in Quezon City. She soon became a lead singer for Tropical Depression, a popular Filipino rock band in the late 1990s. She also sang for the rock bands Elektrikoolaid, Spy and Analog (She was stricken with a brain aneurysm on New Year's Day 2009, and lapsed into unconsciousness) b. January 25th 1976
2010: Mano Solo/Emmanuel Cabut (46) French singer born in Châlons-sur-Marne; at 17 Mano co-founded and played guitar in a punk rock group, les Chihuahuas, before launching his solo career and singing his own compositions in the early nineties. His first album, La Marmaille Nue/"The Naked Children", was released in 1993 and sold 100,000 copies in the first year. 1995 saw his second album, Les Années Sombres/"The Dark Years" which also went gold in its first months. He went on to record eight more albums, the last being Rentrer au port in 2009. Mano also sang regularly at the Tourtour theatre in Paris, alongside singers Marousse and P'tit Louis (aneurysm rupture) b. April 24th 1963.
2010: Jayne Walton Rosen/Dorothy Jayne Flanagan (92) American singer of San Antonio; from an early age she performed as a singer, after graduating from Brackenridge High School, she sang professionally around the country and eventually joined the Lawrence Welk Orchestra performing ballads in ballrooms throughout the Midwest and in New York. During The Lawrence Welk Show's first year on the air, the Welk hour instituted several regular features. To make Welk's "Champagne Music" tagline visual, the production crew engineered a "bubble machine" that spouted streams of large soap bubbles across the bandstand. Whenever the orchestra played a polka or waltz, Welk himself would dance with the band's female vocalist, the "Champagne Lady", Jayne was his first "Champagne Lady" to appear on the televised show. After six years, Jayne left the band to pursude a solo career (?) b. August 28th 1917.
2011: Margaret Whiting (86) American pop singer born in Detroit, Michigan; at the age of only seven she sang for singer-lyricist Johnny Mercer, with whom her father had collaborated on some popular songs. In 1942, Mercer started Capitol Records and signed Margaret to one of Capitol's first recording contracts. Her first recordings were as featured singer with various orchestras, such as "That Old Black Magic", with Freddie Slack and His Orchestra in 1942, "Moonlight in Vermont", with Billy Butterfield's Orchestra in 1943 and "It Might as Well Be Spring" with Paul Weston and His Orchestra in 1945. That same year she debuted under her own name with "All Through the Day" followed by "In Love In Vain", "Guilty", "Oh, But I Do", "A Tree in the Meadow", No.1 hit "Slippin Around" and others. She had a No.1 hit single again in 1966, with "The Wheel of Hurt" and carried on recording until the early 1970's (?) b. July 22nd 1924.
2011: Boško Petrovic (75) Croatian vibraphonist, music producer and The founder of the popular jazz band 'Zagreb Jazz Quartet', which was performed within Miljenko Prohaska, Krešimi Remeta, D. and Sylvia Kajfeš Glojnaric, and its value confirmed in Europe. He is the author of many radio and television show, the organizer of numerous music festivals, while at the same time acting as a producer and educator. During his musical career, has won numerous awards and is also a multiple winner of the prestigious Croatian discography awards' Porin'. His discography includes dozens of albums, which include his first recordings with Bosko Petrovic Quartet and members of the Quincy Jones Orchestra, and co-operation with great jazz musicians such as Clark Terry, Ernie Willkins and Art Farmer, Joe Pass, Buck Clayton, Joe Turner, Buddy de Franco, Kenny Drew, NHO Pedersen, and Alvin Queen. He recorded with numerous Zagreb Soloists Quartet Boilers, Eastern European and Californian jazz soloists, orchestras and Gerry Mulligan Oliver Nelson, pianist and Davor Kajfes Neven Franges, while at the same time popularizing ethnic repertoire. As a guest performance at the world's most prestigious jazz festivals such as Montreux , Monterey, Detroit, and Berlin. Bosko is a member of the International Biografical Association and the International Who is Who in Music (?) b. February 18th 1935.
2011: María Elena Walsh (80) Argentine pianist, poet, composer, and writer; at 15 years old she had some of her poems published in the "El Hogar" magazine and La Nación newspaper. In 1947, before graduating from art school, she published her first book, “Otoño Imperdonable,” a selection of poems which received recognition from other Latin American writers. Maria graduated in 1948, traveled to North America and Europe, then moved to Paris for four years in the early 1950s. While there, she performed in concerts featuring Argentine folklore. Returning to Argentina, she wrote numerous TV scripts, plays, poems, books and songs. Her work has often contained an underlying political message, as in the song "El País del Nomeacuerdo" / "The Country of Idontremember", which was later used as the theme song for The Official Story, the winner of the 1985 Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film (?) b. February 1st 1930.

January 11.
1947: Eva Tanguay (67) Canadian-born singer and entertainer who billed herself as "the girl who made vaudeville famous", making her first appearance on stage at the age of eight. With her parents' assistance, she pursued a show business career, working her way through a variety of amateur contests that eventually landed her a spot with a comedy troupe before making her vaudeville debut in New York City in 1904. She went on to have a long-lasting vaudeville career and eventually commanded one of the highest salaries of any performer of the day earning as much as $3,500 a week at the height of her fame around 1910. Eva only made one recording "I Don't Care" in 1922 for Nordskog Records. In addition to her singing career, she also starred in two film comedies that, despite the limitations of silent film, used the screen to capture her lusty stage vitality to its fullest. The first, titled Energetic Eva was made in 1916 and the following year she starred opposite Tom Moore in The Wild Girl. Eva was said to have lost more than $2 million in the Wall Street crash of 1929 and in the 1930s, she retired from show business. Cataracts caused her to lose her sight, but Sophie Tucker, a friend from vaudeville days, paid for the operation that restored her vision. In 1953 Mitzi Gaynor portrayed Eva in a fictionalized version of her life in the Hollywood motion picture, The I Don't Care Girl (?) b. August 1st 1879.
1952: Aureliano Pertile (67) Italian tenor singer; considered to have been one of the most exciting Italian operatic artists of the inter-war period, and one of the most important tenors of the 20th century.After singing in regional Italy and South America, he first sang at the premier Italian opera house, La Scala, Milan, in 1916. He then participated in Met performances of Louise in Philadelphia and Brooklyn. Thereafter he returned to Italy, where he established himself as the leading tenor at La Scala from 1927 to 1937, and becoming a favorite of the conducter Arturo Toscanini. He also sang at the Royal Opera House in London from 1927 to 1931, and at the Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires in 1923-29. His final stage appearances were in 1946, in Pagliacci. He then taught at the Milan Conservatory until his death (He died in Milan) b. November 9th 1885.
1954: Oscar Nathan Straus (83) Austrian Viennese composer of operettas and film scores and songs. He also wrote about 500 cabaret songs, chamber music, and orchestral and choral works. In 1939, following the Nazi Anschluss, he fled to Paris, where he received the honour of a Chevalier of the Légion d'honneur, and then to Hollywood. After the war, he returned to Europe, and settled at Bad Ischl. Oscar's best-known works are Ein Walzertraum/A Waltz Dream, and Der tapfere Soldat/The Chocolate Soldier. The waltz arrangement from the former is probably his most enduring orchestral work (?) March 6th 1870.
1957: Rose Sutro (86) American pianist born in Baltimore, she was one half of a piano duo with her sister Ottilie Sutro. They both studied in Berlin at the Royal Hochschule für Musik under Karl Heinrich Barth, and made their debut in London in July 1894. Their American debut was with the Seidl Society in Boston on November 13th of the same year, in a Bach concerto. They toured in the United States and Europe (?) b. September 15th 1870.
1958: Alec Rowley (65) English composer and writer on music. He studied at London's Royal Academy of Music with Frederick Corder, and later taught at Trinity College in the same city. He frequently performed and broadcast piano duets with Edgar Moy, and was widely known for his compositions for amateur forces. His seven choral songs, A Sailors Garland, are full of good music, and he wrote many pieces for solo piano and solo organ. He was for many years the organist of St Alban's Church, Teddington and was a contributor to 'The Rotunda', the house magazine of Henry Willis & Sons Ltd. (?) b. March 13th 1892.
1961: Elena Gerhardt (77) German mezzo-soprano singer born in Connewitz, nr. Leipzig. She was associated with the singing of German classical lieder, of which she was considered one of the great interpreters. She left Germany for good to live in London in October 1934. Elena graced many of the major opera houses in Europe and America (?) b. November 11th 1883.
1968: Rezso Seress (78) Hungarian singer, pianist, songwriter; being Jewish, he was taken to a labour camp by the Nazis during WW2. He survived the camp and after spells of employment in the theatre and the circus, where he was a trapeze artist, he concentrated on songwriting and singing after an injury. His most famous composition was "Szomorú Vasárnap" (Gloomy Sunday) written in 1933, which gained infamy as it became associated with a spate of suicides. The first suicide was that of Joseph Keller, a cobbler, in Budapest in February 1936. His suicide note contained the words of Gloomy Sunday. Following this event, 17 additional people took their lives in a way related to the song. Over 100 others are rumoured to have done the same worldwide. The song was banned in many places and has been banned from BBC radio until recently when it was lifted. (He survived the Nazi forced labour in the Ukraine, although beaten heavily many times, the composer survived the Holocaust, but sadly his mother didn't. Rezso tragically committed suicide by jumping out of a window) b. November 3rd 1889.
1987: Albert Ferber (75) Swiss-English pianist Although best known as a concert pianist and recording artist, he had a brief association with the theatre and the cinema, conducting theatre orchestras during the 1940s for productions such as The Beggar's Opera. A little later he appeared as pianist in the Brian Hurst film The Mark of Cain 1947, and composed scores for two films, The Hangman Waits in 1947 and Death in the Hand in 1948, both directed by the Australian, Albert Barr-Smith. After this his performing activities prevented further composition until near the end of his life when he wrote a set of six songs to texts by Paul Verlaine. As a pianist for over 4 decades he worked with the likes of Sir Thomas Beecham and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Josef Krips and the Hallé Orchestra, and further work with Sir Adrian Boult, Sergiu Celibidache, Jascha Horenstein and Hans Schmidt-Isserstedt. His career took him to most parts of the world, although he had a special affinity with South American countries. In the UK he made regular recital appearances in London at the Queen Elizabeth and Wigmore Halls and continued to broadcast for the BBC until illness ended his performing career (?) b. March 29th 1911.
1995: Josef Gingold (85) Russian-American violinist and teacher, born in Brest-Litovsk, and emigrated to NewYork City, in 1920, where he became one of the most influential violin teachers in the US. He gave the first performance of Ysaÿe's 3rd Sonata for Solo Violin. In 1937, he won a spot in the NBC Symphony Orchestra, with Arturo Toscanini as its conductor; he then served as the concertmaster and occasional soloist of the Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and later was the Cleveland Orchestra's concertmaster. His recording of Fritz Kreisler's works was nominated for a Grammy Award. Some of the numerous honors he received during his lifetime include the American String Teachers Association Teacher of the Year; the Chamber Music America National Service Award; the Fredrick Bachman Lieber Award for Distinguished Teaching at Indiana University; Baylor University's Robert Foster Cherry Award for Great Teachers; and the American Symphony Orchestra League's Golden Baton Award. Josef also taught at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music for more than thirty years, until his death and was a founder of the quadrennial Indianapolis Violin Competition (?) b. October 28th 1909.
1996: Ike Isaacs (73) Burmese-British jazz guitarist born in Rangoon, Burma, best known for his work with Stephane Grappelli. He started playing professionally while he was a chemistry student at university. In 1946 he moved to England, where he freelanced for many years; he played in the BBC Show Band, as well as playing with George Chisholm and Barney Kessel. In the 1960s and 1970s he played with Stephane Grappelli extensively. He also played with Digby Fairweather, Len Skeat, and Denny Wright in the group Velvet in the 1970s, before moving to to Australia in the 1980s, where he taught at the Sydney Guitar School (?) b. December 1st 1919.
1998: Klaus Tennstedt (71) German musician and conductor from Merseburg. He studied violin and piano at the Leipzig Conservatory. He became concertmaster of the orchestra at the Halle Municipal Theatre in 1948. However, a finger injury stopped his career as a violinist, and afterwards he worked as a coach to singers at the same theatre. He then directed his talents toward conducting. In 1958, he became music director of the Dresden Opera, and in 1962, music director of the Schwerin State Orchestra and Theatre. He worked at many of the major orchestras around the world including the Swedish Radio Symphony Orchestra, the Toronto Symphony Orchestra, the Boston Orchestra, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic Orchestra and the London Symphony Orchestra (?) b. June 6th 1926.
1999: Barry Pritchard (55) English vocalist, guitarist and founder member of the beat harmony group The Fortunes, formed in Birmingham in 1963. They first came to prominence and international acclaim in 1965, when "You've Got Your Troubles" broke into the US and UK Top 10s. Afterwards they did a succession of hits including "Here It Comes Again" and "Here Comes That Rainy Day Feeling Again"; continuing into the 1970s with more globally successful releases such as "Storm in a Teacup" and "Freedom Come, Freedom Go" (sadly Barry died from a heart attack) b. April 3rd 1944.
1999: Fabrizio de André (58) Italian singer-songwriter born in Genoa, he started playing the violin first, then the guitar, and joined a number of local jazz bands. In 1961 Fabrizio recorded his first two songs, "Nuvole barocche"/"Baroque Clouds" and "E fu la notte"/"And There Was Night". In the following years he wrote a number of songs which soon becoming classic hits: "La guerra di Piero" /"Peter's War", "La ballata dell'eroe"/"The Hero's Ballad", "Il testamento di Tito"/"Titus's Will", "La Ballata del Michè"/"Mike's Ballad", "Via del Campo"/"Field Street", "La canzone dell'amore perduto"/ "Song for the Lost Love", "La città vecchia"/"Old Downtown", and "Carlo Martello ritorna dalla battaglia di Poitiers"/"Charles Martel on His Way Back from Poitiers" among others and went on over to release 26 albums his career (sadly died from lung cancer) b. February 18th 1940.
2003: Mickey Finn (55) British percussionist and sideman to Marc Bolan in his band Tyrannosaurus Rex, and later, the 1970s glam rock group, T.Rex. He can be heard on the album, "A Beard of Stars" released in March 1970. After Bolan and T.Rex's demise, he played sessions for The Blow Monkeys and The Soup Dragons. During the late 80s and early 90s, he made a few guest appearances with the London rock band, Checkpoint Charlie, fronted by Mick Lexington. He returned to the mainstream music scene in 1997, fronting a new, version of T. Rex... Mickey Finn's T. Rex, playing old T. Rex songs (alcohol related kidney and liver problems) b. June 3rd 1947.
2003: Bill Russo (74) American trombone player, teacher and considered by many to be one of the greatest jazz composer and arranger. Born in Chicago, he played trombone in dance and jazz bands, and began writing and arranging while still in his early teens. In 1947 he formed his own rehearsal band while a student, under the name of Experiment in Jazz. In the '50s he wrote ground breaking orchestral scores for the Stan Kenton Orchestra, one of the more famous works he wrote for the Kenton Orchestra is Halls Of Brass. In the early 1960s Bill moved to England, where he founded the London Jazz Orchestra, and was a contributor to the Third Stream movement that tried to close the gap between jazz and classical music. He returned to the US in 1965, where he founded Columbia College's music department, he started the Chicago Jazz Ensemble, which was dedicated to preserving and expanding jazz and he was also the Director of Orchestral Studies at Scuola Europea d’Orchestra Jazz in Palermo, Italy. He also composed classical music, including operas, symphonies, choral works, as well as a rock cantata "The Civil War". In his long career Bill composed more than 200 pieces for jazz orchestra, and there were more than 30 recordings of his work, including work with Duke Ellington, Leonard Bernstein, Cannonball Adderley, Yehudi Menuhin, Dizzy Gillespie, Seiji Ozawa, Billie Holiday, and others. In addition to playing, composing, arranging, conducting and teaching, he also wrote and/or co-wrote three books on music: Composing for the Jazz Orchestra, Jazz Composition and Orchestration, and Composing Music: A New Approach. In 1990, Bill received a Lifetime Achievement Grammy Award for his amazing contribution to music (?) b. June 25th 1928.
2004: Max Duane Barnes (67) American counrty music singer with the Golden Rockets, songwriter; his songs have been recorded by George Jones, Vince Gill, Conway Twitty, Loretta Lynn, Vern Gosdin, the Kendalls, Randy Travis, Pam Tillis, Keith Whitley, Waylon Jennings, John Anderson and Eddy Raven, among others. Max was a two-time winner of the Country Music Association's prestigious Song of the Year prize: in 1998 for "Chiseled In Stone," co-written with Gosdin, and in 1992 for "Look At Us," co-written with Gill. He was inducted to the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1992 and American Old Time Country Music Hall Of Fame along with his sister Ruthie Barnes Steele in 2006. He was also a BMI Award-winning songwriter and a writing partner of Harlan Howard, Merle Haggard, Vince Gill, his son Max T. Barnes, and sister Ruthie (pneumonia) b. July 24th 1936.
2005: Jimmy Griffin (61) American singer, guitarist, and award winning songwriter who grew up in Memphis, but was born in Cincinnati. In the 1960s, Jimmy teamed with songwriter Michael Z. Gordon to write songs for such diverse singers as Ed Ames, Gary Lewis, Bobby Vee, Brian Hyland, Leslie Gore, The Standells, Sandy Nelson and Cher. The pair won a BMI award for 'Apologize'. In 1968, he teamed with David Gates and Robb Royer to form the band Bread. They had No.1 Hot 100 hit, with the song "Make It With You". Other hits by Bread included "Everything I Own", "Baby I'm-a Want You", and "If". Although Jimmy was a significant contributor to Bread's albums as a writer and singer, every one of the group's 13 songs that made the Billboard Hot 100 chart was written and sung by Gates, a situation that created huge friction between the two. After the release of Guitar Man in '72, Bread went on hiatus, they reformed in '76 for one final album, Lost Without Your Love. In 1970, Griffin and Robb Royer, under the pseudonyms Arthur James and Robb Wilson, wrote the lyrics for Fred Karlin's music for the song "For All We Know," featured in the film Lovers and Other Strangers. It won the Academy Award for Best Song. In 1977, he released a third solo album, James Griffin, after which in 1982 he teamed with Terry Sylvester on the album Griffin & Sylvester in 1982 and was a member of Black Tie which released When The Night Falls in 1985. Jimmy then joined The Remingtons with Richard Mainegra and Rick Yancey. They released their first single in 1991, followed by the albums Blue Frontier and Aim for the Heart. Their single, "A Long Time Ago" went top-10 on Billboard's country chart in 1992. Jimmy and Gates put aside their past differences for a Bread reunion tour in 1996–1997 with Botts and Knechtel. In early 2004, Griffin recorded a duet with Holly Cieri of his Oscar winning song 'For All We Know' (sadly he lost his fight with cancer) b. August 10th 1943.
2005: Spencer Dryden (67) Amercan drummer and half brother to Charlie Chaplin. He was born in New York City and moved to LA as an infant. In mid 1966 Spencer was recruited to replace Skip Spence as the drummer in leading San Francisco psychedelic band Jefferson Airplane, staying with the band until 1970. He then joined up with The New Riders of the Purple Sage, performing and recording with them from late 1970 until 1977, at which point he became the manager of the band. After leaving the New Riders, he went on to play a lengthy stint with The Dinosaurs and Barry Melton's band before retiring from drumming in 1995. In 1996, Spencer was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame along with the rest of Jefferson Airplane.(He died from colon cancer, sadly in relative obscurity) b. April 7th 1938.
2005: Miriam Beatrice Hyde AO, OBE (91) Australian composer, pianist, poet and music educator. She composed over 150 works for piano, songs and other instrumental and orchestral works and performed as a concert pianist with eminent conductors including Sir Malcolm Sargent, Sir Bernard Heinze and Geoffrey Simon. One of her best known pieces is the piano solo Valley of RocksIn 1981 she was made an Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) and in 1991 was made an Officer of the Order of Australia (AO). She was awarded an honorary doctorate by Macquarie University in 1993, and in 2004 she received an award for Distinguished Services to Australian Music at the Australian Performing Rights Association and Australian Music Centre Classical Music Awards. She was appointed Patron of the Music Teachers' Association of South Australia (MTASA) and established the Miriam Hyde Award for the Association. Her 90th birthday was celebrated with concerts and broadcasts throughout Australia. (?) b. January 15th 1913.
2007: Puchi Balseiro (81) Puerto Rican singer, guitarist, composer, songwriter, radio & television personality born in Santurce, San Juan. Her best known compositions were: "En La Soledad"/In Solitude and "Tu y mi Canción"/You and my Song. "En la Soledad", was a hit song in the 1970s for Tito Rodríguez, although there were previous versions sung by Chucho Avellanet, Julio Angel, and Flor de Loto, among others. She was also a producer, script writer and host of various radio & television shows, hosting her own television show, broadcasted by WIPR-TV, titled: Usted y mi Mundo/You and My World. Among many other things she also originated, produced, and directed the: "Festivales del Filin"/The Feeling Festivals (?) b. November 1st 1926.
2009: Andy DeMize/ Andrew Martinez (25) American drummer from Hacienda Heights, California was influenced by drummers Wade Youman and John Bonham. Andy joined the pop punk group Up Syndrome in October 2001, before he and Tony "Slash" Red-Horse formed The Rocketz in December 2003. In May 2006, he replaced James Meza as the drummer for the Nekromantix. He made his album debut with the group on Life Is a Grave & I Dig It! (killed in a car accident while travelling south on Route 57 outside of Fullerton, California at roughly 85 miles per hour when the driver, Osvaldo Orozco lost control) b. March 11th 1983.
2010: George Garanian (75) Russian jazz saxophonist and bandleader, born in Moscow. George was one of the first Russian musicians who attracted attention of Western world as part of the jazz from the USSR. He belonged to the first generation of Russian jazzmen who started to perform after World War II. As a musician, alto saxophonist, conductor and composer he was the leader of country's best big bands: Melodia through 1970s and 1980s; and Moscow Big Band from 1992 to 1995. He also led the Municipal Big Band in the Southern Russian city of Krasnodar. (sadly died from a cardiac arrest) b. August 15th 1934.
2010: Mick Green (65) British rock and roll guitarist born in in Matlock, Derbyshire. He began his career playing with Johnny Kidd & The Pirates in the early 1960s, then joined Billy J. Kramer and the Dakotas in 1964. His ability to play lead and rhythm guitar simultaneously influenced a number of British guitarists to follow, including Pete Townshend and Wilko Johnson, the original guitarist for Dr. Feelgood. Mick's song "Oyeh!" was on Dr. Feelgood's debut album, Down by the Jetty; and a song he co-wrote, "Going Back Home" appeared on Dr. Feelgood's 1975 Malpractice and the live album, Stupidity in 1976. Mick reformed The Pirates in the mid 1970s as well as being a member of the band, Shanghai, who released two albums, in 1974 and 1976, and supported Status Quo on their Blue for You tour. In the 1980s and 1990s Mick played with amongst others, Bryan Ferry, Van Morrison and Paul McCartney, as well as playing with The Pirates with whom he continued to gig well into the 2000s. In 2008, Green performed regularly with the Van Morrison band, and played guitar on five of the tracks on Van Morrison's 2008 album, Keep It Simple. (heart failure) b. February 22nd 1944.
2011: John Modinos (84) Cypriot opera baritone, born near Limassol, and emigrated to the United States after WWII, where he completed a formal education in music. His career spanned four decades and included numerous operatic performances, including a total of 223 appearances in Verdi's "Rigolleto" (heart failure) b.1927
2012: David Whitaker (80) English composer, songwriter, arranger and conductor born in Kingston upon Thames. He collaborated with some of the most prestigious British and French artists including Air, Etienne Daho, Marianne Faithfull, Claude François, Serge Gainsbourg, France Gall, Johnny Hallyday, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Page (Death Wish II), Saint Etienne, Simply Red, Sylvie Vartan and others like Lee Hazlewood, Kings of Convenience and Francesco De Gregori. He composed Hammer Films atmospheric score for the 1971 production of Dr Jekyll & Sister Hyde, other films included Scream & Scream Again; Run Wild, Run Free; Vampira; The Sword and the Sorcerer; Shadow Run, and others. David also recorded several sessions with the BBC Radio Orchestra at the Maida Vale Studios, London in the early 80s, featuring a mixture of his own compositions and arrangements, to high-acclaim. He was nominated in 2001 for the César Award for Best Music Written for a Film with the French movie With a Friend Like Harry/Harry, un ami qui vous veut du bien (?) b. January 6th 1931.

January 12.
1921: Gervase Elwes (55) English tenor, born in Billing, Northampton; he first trained as a lawyer and diplomat, spending some years in Brussels. It was there that he began formal singing lessons at the age of 28. However he had to overcome a social convention of resistance to one of his class his making a professional career as a singer, and not until the early 1900s, in his late thirties, did he gave his first professional performances in London. His first professional appearance in London was opposite Agnes Nicholls, in Wallfahrt nach Kevlaar by Engelbert Humperdinck at the St James's Hall, with the Handel Society under J. S. Liddle in late April 1903, and immediately afterwards he appeared at the Westmorland Festival. He went on to be an international star and much loved artist where ever he performed (Gervase tragically died in a horrific railroad accident in Boston, USA while at the height of his career) b. November 15th 1866.
1934: Pawel Kochanski (47) Polish violinist, composer and arranger born in Orel, Russia; he studied violin first with his father and then at age 7 in Odessa with Emil Mlynarski. From 1909 to 1911 he taught at the Warsaw Conservatory as professor of violin. In 1909 he and Arthur Rubinstein gave the first performance of Karol Szymanowski's Violin Sonata in D minor. He went on to play in all the major opera houses and recital halls around Europe, America and Sth America. In 1921, he made a sensational debut in the Brahms Violin Concerto at the Carnegie Hall, and was immediately in demand and in April 1922 he was playing in Buenos Aires. As well as all his international appearances, Pawel also taught at the Juilliard School in New York City, from 1924, heading the violin faculty, until his death (sadly died from cancer) b. September 14th 1887.
1971: Captain John Handy (70) US jazz alto saxophonist & clarinetist; played clarinet in New Orleans bands from the 1920s, including in his own Louisiana Shakers. He switched to alto saxophone in 1928, and was little-known outside of Louisiana until the 1960s, when he began playing frequently with Kid Sheik Cola and the Preservation Hall Jazz Band and recorded for GHB Records, RCA, and Jazz Crusade. He is well known for playing in the December Band along side "Kid" Thomas Valentine, "Big" Jim Robinson, Sammy Rimington, Bill Sinclair, Dick Griffith, "Mouldy" Dick Mccarthy and Sammy Pen. His solo in Ice cream is one of the most well known in New Orleans Jazz (?) b. June 24th 1900.
1983: Anthony "Rebop" Kwaku Baah (37) Ghanaian percussionist born in Konongo;he met up with the UK band Traffic while they toured Sweden, and played with them from 1971 to 1974, appearing on the albums The Low Spark of High Heeled Boys, Shoot Out at the Fantasy Factory, On the Road, and Welcome to the Canteen. In 1973 he played in Eric Clapton's Rainbow Concert along with Eric, Pete Townshend, Rick Grech, Jim Capaldi, Ronnie Wood, Jimmy Karstein, and Steve Winwood. After Traffic had broken up, he played on Steve Winwood’s self-titled debut solo 1977 album. Also in 1977, he joined the German band 'Can' along with former Traffic bassist Rosko Gee, playing with them until their breakup in 1979, appearing on the albums Saw Delight, Out of Reach and Can. In 1983 he recorded a jazz fusion album with Zahara. Rebop also recorded 4 solo albums, the last being Melodies in a Jungle Mans Head in 1983 (he sadly died of a brain haemorrhage during a performance in Sweden while touring with Jimmy Cliff's touring band) b.February 13th 1944.
2001: Luiz Floriano Bonfá (78) Brazilian guitarist and composer; born in Rio de Janeiro, he began teaching himself to play guitar as a child and he studied in Rio with Uruguayan classical guitarist Isaías Sávio from the age of twelve. He was part of the burgeoning days of Rio de Janeiro's thriving jazz scene, it was commonplace for musicians, dramatists and artists to collaborate in theatrical presentations. Luiz wrote some of the original music featured in the film, including the numbers "Samba de Orfeu" and his most famous composition, "Manhã de Carnaval" (of which Carl Sigman later wrote a different set of English lyrics titled "A Day in the Life of a Fool"), which has been among the top ten standards played worldwide, according to The Guinness Book of World Records. Luiz lived in the USA from the early 1960s until 1975. He worked with American musicians such as Quincy Jones, George Benson, Stan Getz, and Frank Sinatra, recording several albums while in there. Elvis Presley sang a Bonfá composition, "Almost in Love", in the 1968 MGM film "Live a Little, Love a Little" (sadly died from prostate cancer complicated by ischemia) b. October 17th 1922.
2003: Maurice Gibb (53) British singier and songwriter in the internationally famed group, The Bee Gees, formed with his brothers Robin and Barry. The trio got their start in Australia, and found major success when they returned to England. The Bee Gees became one of the most successful pop groups of all time and have been awarded 9 grammys among their many other awards; have been inducted into 8 Hall of Fames and have a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. (sadly died from heart attack during abdominal surgery) b: December 22nd 1949.
2004: Randy VanWarmer (48) US singer, songwriter, composer; best remembered for his hit "Just When I Needed You Most." It reached No.8 in the UK Singles Chart and No.4 in the Billboard Hot 100 in September 1979. There are several cover versions of this song, including those by Dolly Parton and Smokie. He wrote several songs for the group The Oak Ridge Boys including "I Guess It Never Hurts To Hurt Sometimes." His final album was released posthumously only in Japan and was a tribute to Stephen Foster (died after a long battle with leukaemia) b: March 30th 1955.
2007: Alice Coltrane (69) American jazz pianist, organist, harpist, composer, wife of the late saxophone legend John Coltrane After his death she continued to play with her own groups, moving into more and more meditative music, and later playing with her children. She was one of the few harpists in the history of jazz. Her essential recordings were made in the late 1960s and early 1970s for Impulse! Records. (sadly died due to respiratory failure) b. August 27th 1937.
2009: Alejandro Sokol (48) Argentine rock musician with bands Sumo and Las Pelotas. He was the bassist, and then the drummer of rock band "Sumo" introducing British post-punk to the Argentine scene, with almost the whole lyrics in English. In 1987 he formed the band "Las Pelotas" together with fellow ex-Sumo Germán Daffunchio. After 17 years with the band, he left to form his own group, "El Vuelto S.A.", featuring his son Ismael Sokol, Nicolás Angiolini and Gustavo Bustos on guitars, Sebastián Villegas on bass and Damián Bustos playing drums. (died in the bus depot in Río Cuarto, Córdoba province, of cardio-respiratory failure, when waiting for a bus to take him to Buenos Aires back from the Traslasierra district) b. January 30th 1960.
2010: Jimmy O/ Jean Jimmy Alexandre (35) Haitian Hip Hop artist, rapper and songwriter, born in Port-au-Prince and lived in New York City. He was involved with Wyclef Jean's Yéle Haiti Foundation, a grass-roots charitable organization established by Wyclef Jean in 2005. As a musician, Jimmy O helped develop new talent and artists in Haiti. Jimmy was also preparing to release his debut album. (Tragically he was crushed in a vehicle during the 7.0-magnitude earthquake in Haiti) b. March 9th 1974.
2010: Brian Damage/Brian Keats (46) American punk and rock drummer born in New York
he played in the bands Genocide and Verbal Abuse, before in October of 1983 Glenn Danzig invited him to join The Misfits. His first and only performance with The Misfits, a Halloween show in Detroit, Brian was so drunk he could not perform properly, it also turned out to be the band's farewell show. After The Misfits, Brian remained in New York City playing drums for Hellbent, The Kretins, The Hellhounds, The Diamondbacks, The Skulls, Angels In Vain, Princess Pang, and Raging Slab. He later moved to LA where he played and/or recorded with Baron Jive, The Light Bachwood Movement, Wink, Pressurehed, Sylvain Sylvain, Link Protrudi And The Jaymen, Paul Inman, Marioux, Low Pop Suicide, 3 Day Wheely, Bortek, Susanna Hoffs, Doppler, The Fuzztones, and Tramdriver as well as playing live performances with Kathy Fisher, Sages & Seers, African Violet, Tim Harrington, $100 Band, Jason Falkner, Woozy, and Dave Vanian and the Phantom Chords and recorded sessions demos with Zoe Poledouris And Bubble Gun, Bijou Phillips, Swirl 360, Tallulah, Marie Wilson, Michael Hately, Kim Richey, Billy Idol, Tom Anderson, Leah Andreone, and Colony (complications of colon cancer) b. February 11th 1963.
2010: Dewey Tucker (24) American bassist and smooth jazz bassist who has world toured and been playing with Lauryn Hill over the last few years and played with Oakland hip-hop group the Coup. He was also a member of the Greater St. Paul Baptist Church band in Oakland. (Dewey was found dead in his vehicle Tuesday night, having been killed in a random shooting on his way to band practice in Oakland) b. ??.
2010: Yabby You/Vivian Jackson (63) Jamaican reggae singer and producer born in Kingston, Jamaica. At 17, Yabby was so malnourished that he had to be hospitalized, he eventually left with severe arthritis and crippled legs. While he could not work in certain jobs, he had a musical talent and taking divine inspiration from the sounds of nature around him, and with the help of friends, in 1972 he founded a harmony trio, the Prophets. Their debut single "Conquering Lion," was a classically styled reggae song with a deep personal message. They made a few more singles which appeared on Yabby's successful debut album, also called Conquering Lion. He was closely affiliated with King Tubby, whose dubs often appeared on the B-sides of his singles. Yabby's success allowed him to branch out as a producer, and he began working with both upcoming and more established artists including Wayne Wade, Michael Rose, Tommy McCook, Michael Prophet, Big Youth, Trinity, Dillinger and Tapper Zukie, while continuing to release his own material (died after suffering a brain aneurysm) b. August 14th 1946.
2012: Sadao Bekku (89) Japanese composer, born in Tokyo, his works include five symphonies, film scores, a flute sonata, a piano concerto, choral work and art songs, and the opera, Prince Arima. His work took strong influence from jazz. His most famous works include the film score, Matango in 1963 (sadly Sadao passed away with pneumonia) b. May 24th 1922.
2012: Rosalind "Lindy" Runcie née Turner (79) British pianist and wife of the late Robert Runcie, Archbishop of Canterbury. She gave piano recitals in both the UK and the USA and according to a 1983 article of the Wrexham Evening Leader, she had raised over £60,000 for charity through her recitals. She also taught piano privately and at St Albans School and St Albans High School for Girls (?) b. January 23rd 1932.

January 13.
1864: Stephen Collins Foster (37) American songwriter; born in Lawrenceville, Pennsylvania, known as the "father of American music", he was the pre-eminent songwriter in the United States of the 19th century. His songs such as "Oh! Susanna", "Old Black Joe", "Camptown Races", "Old Folks at Home"/"Swanee River", "Hard Times Come Again No More", "My Old Kentucky Home","Jeanie with the Light Brown Hair", and "Beautiful Dreamer", remain popular over 150 years after their composition. While in Cincinnati, Stephen penned his first successful songs, among them "Oh! Susanna" which would prove to be the anthem of the California Gold Rush in 1848–1849. In 1849, he published Foster's Ethiopian Melodies, which included the successful song "Nelly Was a Lady", made famous by the Christy Minstrels. Many of his songs were of the blackface minstrel show tradition popular at the time. He sought, in his own words, to "build up taste ... among refined people by making words suitable to their taste, instead of the trashy and really offensive words which belong to some songs of that order". Although many of his songs had Southern themes, Foster never lived in the South and visited it only once, by river-boat voyage, on his brother Dunning's steam boat, the Millinger, down the Mississippi to New Orleans, in 1852 (suffering a fever Stephen sadly died from a head injury 3 days after a tragic accident in his hotel room) b. July 4th 1826.
1963: Sonny Clark/Conrad Yeatis (31) American hard bop pianist. An underappreciated jazz artist during his time, his work has become much more widely known after his death. He is known for his unique touch, sense of melody and complex, hard-swinging style . He frequently recorded for Blue Note Records, on which he played as a sideman with many of the most important hard bop players, including: Kenny Burrell, Donald Byrd, Paul Chambers, John Coltrane, Dexter Gordon, Art Farmer, Curtis Fuller, Grant Green, Philly Joe Jones, Clifford Jordan, Jackie McLean, Hank Mobley, Art Taylor, and Wilbur Ware. He also recorded sessions with jazz luminaries Charles Mingus, Sonny Rollins, Billie Holiday, Stanley Turrentine, and Lee Morgan. As a band leader, his albums Sonny Clark Trio, with Paul Chambers and Philly Joe Jones, and Cool Struttin' , and Sonny Clark Trio with George Duvivier and Max Roach are considered among his finest. (heroine overdose) b. July 21st 1931
1971: Robert Still (60) English composer, educator and amateur tennis player, born in London; his compositions include songs, 4 symphonies, a piano concerto, violin concerto, instrumental & chamber works, orchestral works, motets and an opera. An archive is held at the Jerwood Library in Greenwich, London. He remained predominantly tonal, using dissonance to great effect. (Robert died suddenly of a heart attack) b. June 10th 1910.
1971: William T. Lewis (65) American jazz clarinetist and bandleader, born in Cleburne, Texas. He attended the New England Conservatory of Music, then played in Will Marion Cook's orchestra. When Cook's band was taken over by Sam Wooding, William traveled with him on his tours of Europe, South America, and North Africa, remaining until Wooding disbanded the orchestra in 1931. Following this he set up his own band, Willie Lewis and His Entertainers, which featured some of Wooding's old players and played to great success in Europe. Among those who played under Lewis were Herman Chittison, Benny Carter, Bill Coleman, Garnet Clark, Bobby Martin, and June Cole. (?) b. June 10th 1905
1974: Raoul Jobin/Joseph Roméo (67) French-Canadian operatic tenor, particularly associated with the French repertory. He made his professional debut 28 May 1930 in Liszt's oratorio Christus at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. He made his debut at the Metropolitan Opera on February 19, 1940, as des Grieux in Manon. He remained with the company until 1950, where he sang many roles alongside such singers as Lily Pons, Bidu Sayao, Licia Albanese, Rise Stevens, under conductors such as Wilfrid Pelletier and Thomas Beecham, among many others. He made regular appearances in San Francisco, Chicago, Boston, New Orleans, etc., also appearing in Mexico City, Rio de Janeiro, and Buenos Aires. He had been created Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur in 1951, and he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada in 1967 (?) b. April 8th 1906.
1979: Marjorie Lawrence (71) Australian international soprano, born at Deans Marsh; she was particularly noted as an interpreter of Richard Wagner's operas. She was the first soprano to perform the immolation scene in Götterdämmerung by riding her horse into the flames as Wagner had intended. Afflicted by polio from 1941, her autobiography was filmed in 1955 as Interrupted Melody. Marjorie later served on the faculty of the School of Music at Southern Illinois University Carbondale. In 1946 she was awarded the cross of the Légion d'honneur for her work in F