Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

April 5, 1932 R&B singer Billy Bland, known for the '60s hits "Let the Little Girl Dance" and "Harmony," is born in Wilmington, North Carolina.

April 4, 1932 Music mogul Clive Davis, founder of Arista Records, is born in Brooklyn, New York. In addition to working with artists like Kelly Clarkson, TLC, Alicia Keys, and Aretha Franklin, he will help launch the careers of Whitney Houston and Barry Manilow.

April 1, 1932 Singin' in the Rain star Debbie Reynolds is born Mary Frances Reynolds in El Paso, Texas.

March 27, 1932 Bluesman Junior Parker is born Herman Parker Jr. in either Clarksdale, Mississippi, or West Memphis, Arkansas.

March 22, 1932 Blues musician Juke Boy Bonner is born Weldon H. Philip Bonner in Bellville, Texas.

March 17, 1932 Trucker-turned-singer Dick Curless is born in Fort Fairfield, Maine. He's known for his eye patch, and for truck-driving songs like "A Tombstone Every Mile," inspired by the treacherous logging roads of northern Maine.

March 15, 1932 Record producer Arif Mardin is born in Istanbul, Turkey. He works at Atlantic Records for 30 years before becoming general manager of Manhattan Records (then under the umbrella of EMI).

March 9, 1932 Jazz singer Keely Smith is born Dorothy Jacqueline Keely in Norfolk, Virginia.

March 4, 1932 Miriam Makeba is born in Johannesburg, South Africa.

February 24, 1932 Michel LeGrand is born in Bécon les Bruyères, France. A noted film composer, he earns his first Academy Award in 1968 for The Thomas Crown Affair's title song, "The Windmills Of Your Mind."

February 8, 1932 John Williams is born in Floral Park, New York. The prolific composer is known for his iconic scores for classics like the Star Wars and Indiana Jones series and Jaws.

February 2, 1932 Jazz musician Arthur Lyman, known as "The King of Lounge Music," is born in Kauai, Hawaii.

January 26, 1932 Country singer Claude Gray, dubbed The Tall Texan, is born in Henderson, Texas. Known for the 1960 hit "Family Bible."

January 5, 1932 Blues singer Johnny Adams, known for the '60s hits "Release Me" and "Reconsider Me," is born Laten John Adams in New Orleans, Louisiana.

December 30, 1931 Country singer Skeeter Davis, known for the 1962 crossover hit "The End of the World," is born Mary Frances Penick in Dry Ridge, Kentucky. She performs as part of the duo The Davis Sisters in the '40s before going solo in the '50s.

December 29, 1931 R&B singer John "Buddy" Bailey (of The Clovers) is born in Seneca, Virginia.

December 27, 1931 Jazz pianist Walter Norris is born in Little Rock, Arkansas.

December 27, 1931 Scotty Moore (Elvis Presley's original guitarist) is born in Gadsden, Tennessee.

December 16, 1931 Karl Denver is born in Springburn, Glasgow, Scotland. He lands several '60s-era hits on the UK pop chart with his signature falsetto yodeling.

December 11, 1931 Singer and actress Rita Moreno, known for her role as Anita in the Broadway smash and subsequent film West Side Story, is born Rosa Dolores Alverío in Humacao, Puerto Rico. She is raised in New York City.

December 7, 1931 Bobby Osborne (of The Osborne Brothers) is born in Leslie County, Kentucky.

December 3, 1931 Pop singer Jaye P. Morgan is born Mary Margaret Morgan in Mancos, Colorado. Her high school classmates nickname Mary, the class treasurer, "Jaye P." after the famous banker J. Pierpont Morgan.

November 30, 1931 Teddy Wilburn (of the country duo The Wilburn Brothers) is born in Hardy, Arkansas. In addition to recording hit records, Teddy and brother Doyle start a music publishing company and sign an up-and-coming singer named Loretta Lynn.

November 25, 1931 Nat Adderley, jazz cornet and trumpet player, is born in Tampa, Florida, to a family that includes older brother, Julian, also known as sax player Cannonball Adderley.

November 24, 1931 Guitarist Tommy Allsup (of The Crickets) is born in Owasso, Oklahoma. Co-wrote The Ventures' "Guitar Twist." Allsup nearly became a tragic footnote in music history when he flipped a coin to win a seat on the plane that killed Buddy Holly, Ritchie Valens and J.P. "The Big Bopper" Richardson, but he "lost" to Valens.

November 16, 1931 Folk singer Bob Gibson is born in Brooklyn, New York. Introduces Joan Baez to a national audience at the 1959 Newport Folk Festival.

November 5, 1931 Ike Turner is born in Clarksdale, Mississippi.

September 26, 1931 George Chambers (of The Chambers Brothers) is born in Carthage, Mississippi.

September 24, 1931 Anthony Newley is born in London, England. The actor will also write a string of popular ballads with songwriting partner Leslie Bricusse, including "Feeling Good."

September 19, 1931 Pop/R&B singer Brook Benton is born Benjamin Franklin Peay in Lugoff, South Carolina.