Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

August 29, 1920 Jazz great Charlie Parker is born in Kansas City, Kansas. A sax player, he develops an innovative style known as bebop that influences players like Dizzy Gillespie and Miles Davis.

August 3, 1920 Jazz trumpeter Charlie Shavers, who will work with the likes of Dizzy Gillespie and Billie Holiday, is born in New York City.

July 27, 1920 Henry D. "Homer" Haynes (of the country music parody duo Homer and Jethro) is born near Knoxville, Tennessee.

July 21, 1920 Isaac Stern, violinist and conductor, is born in Kremenets, Ukraine.

May 26, 1920 Peggy Lee is born Norma Deloris Egstrom in Jamestown, North Dakota.

April 7, 1920 Ravi Shankar, Hindustani classical musician and composer (and dad to Norah Jones), is born Robindro Shaunkor Chowdhury in Benares, India.

March 10, 1920 Kenneth C. "Jethro" Burns (of the country duo Homer & Jethro) is born in Conasauga, Tennessee.

February 13, 1920 Songwriter Boudleaux Bryant is born in Shellman, Georgia. Co-wrote hit songs with wife Felice Bryant, including "All I Have to Do Is Dream" and "Bye Bye Love" for The Everly Brothers.

February 13, 1920 Radio and opera singer Eileen Farrell is born in Willimantic, Connecticut.

February 7, 1920 Folk singer-songwriter Oscar Brand is born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, but is raised in Brooklyn, New York.

February 3, 1920 Actor/singer Russell Arms is born in Berkeley, California. In the '50s, he becomes a popular vocalist on the NBC series Your Hit Parade.

January 17, 1920 Jazz composer George Handy is born George Joseph Hendleman in New York City.

November 14, 1919 Pop singer Johnny Desmond is born Giovanni Alfredo De Simone in Detroit, Michigan. His highest-charting hit was "The Yellow Rose of Texas" in 1955.

October 30, 1919 Jazz tenor saxophonist Illinois Jacquet, known for the 1942 solo hit "Flying Home," is born in Broussard, Louisiana.

October 11, 1919 Jazz drummer/bandleader Art Blakey is born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

August 17, 1919 Jazz singer Georgia Gibbs is born in Worcester, Massachusetts. Known for the 1950 hit "If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake."

August 13, 1919 Jazz pianist George Shearing is born in Battersea, London, England. Composer of "Lullaby of Birdland."

May 16, 1919 Liberace is born Władziu Valentino Liberace in West Allis, Wisconsin, along with a twin who dies at birth.

May 3, 1919 Pete Seeger is born in Manhattan. Throughout his career, Seeger champions folk music and uses the form to push for civil rights and environmental issues.

April 21, 1919 '50s pop singer Don Cornell ("It Isn't Fair," "Hold My Hand") is born Luigi Varlaro in The Bronx, New York City.

April 12, 1919 Orchestra leader and singer Billy Vaughn is born in Glasgow, Kentucky.

March 21, 1919 Music executive Lew Bedell, also known by the pseudonym Billy Joe Hunter, is born in El Paso, Texas. He establishes Doré Records, later known as Era Records, in 1958. The label's first hit is the Teddy Bears' "To Know Him Is To Love Him."

March 17, 1919 Nat King Cole is born Nathaniel Adams Cole in Montgomery, Alabama, but would be raised in Chicago, Illinois.

February 13, 1919 Tennessee Ernie Ford is born in Bristol, Tennessee.

February 8, 1919 Big band trombonist Buddy Morrow is born Muni Zudekoff in New Haven, Connecticut. He starts a three-decade run as leader of the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra in 1977.

January 27, 1919 Ross Bagdasarian is born in Fresno, California. Using the stage name David Seville, he would create the The Chipmunks.

December 12, 1918 Jazz singer Joe Williams is born Joseph Goreed in Cordele, Georgia.

December 2, 1918 Milton DeLugg is born in Los Angeles, California. Aside from being a talented accordionist, he writes the Nat King Cole hit "Orange Colored Sky," and composes music for popular game shows such as The Newlywed Game, The Dating Game, The Gong Show, and What's My Line?

September 26, 1918 Voice actor and horror host John "The Cool" Zacherle is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

September 14, 1918 Double bassist/composer Cachao is born Israel López Valdés in Habana Vieja, La Habana, Cuba. Pioneered the modern mambo with the 1938 song "Mambo."