Music History Events: Births
July 10, 1895 German composer Carl Orff, known for the 1937 cantata Carmina Burana, is born in Munich.
January 27, 1895 Composer Harry Ruby ("A Kiss to Build a Dream On") is born in New York City.
January 11, 1895 Laurens Hammond, inventor of the Hammond organ, is born in Evanston, Illinois.
December 19, 1894 Composer/conductor Paul Dessau is born in Hamburg, Germany.
April 15, 1894 Blues singer Bessie Smith is born in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
June 26, 1893 Country-blues musician Big Bill Broonzy is born Lee Conley Bradley in Lake Dick, Arkansas.
March 6, 1893 Country blues guitarist Furry Lewis is born Walter Lewis in Greenwood, Mississippi. He would earn his nickname from his childhood friends.
September 4, 1892 Composer Darius Milhaud is born in Marseilles, France. Taught jazz pianist Dave Brubeck at Mills College in Oakland, California.
April 19, 1892 French composer Germaine Tailleferre, the sole female member of the composers group Les Six, is born in Saint-Maur-des-Fossés, Val-de-Marne, France.
January 31, 1892 Singer and entertainer Eddie Cantor is born Edward Israel Iskowitz in New York City. He catches his break when he lands a contract with the popular theatrical revue Ziegfeld Follies.
February 21, 1891 Circus music composer Karl Lawrence King is born in Ohio.
March 28, 1890 Bandleader Paul Whiteman is born in Denver, Colorado.
July 29, 1887 Austro-Hungarian composer Sigmund Romberg is born Siegmund Rosenberg in Nagykanizsa, Hungary.
April 9, 1887 Classical composer Florence Beatrice Price is born in Little Rock, Arkansas.
February 7, 1887 Composer Eubie Blake is born in Baltimore, Maryland.
January 13, 1887 Comic singer Sophie Tucker is born Sonya Kalish in the Ukraine. She settles in Hartford, Connecticut, and sings at her family's restaurant for tips.
May 26, 1886 Al Jolson is born Asa Yoelson in Seredžius, Lithuania (then part of the Russian Empire).
April 26, 1886 Blues singer Ma Rainey is born Gertrude Malissa Nix Pridgett in Columbus, Georgia.
January 27, 1885 Jerome Kern, a storied composer of Broadway musicals, is born in New York City. His songs include "The Way You Look Tonight" (from Swing Time), "Ol' Man River" (from Show Boat) and "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" (from Roberta).
January 20, 1885 Folk and blues musician Leadbelly is born Huddie William Ledbetter in Mooringsport, Louisiana.
December 16, 1882 Composer Zoltan Kodaly is born in Kecskemét, Hungary.
June 17, 1882 Composer Igor Stravinsky is born in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
April 17, 1882 Classical pianist Artur Schnabel is born in Lipnik, in the Austro-Hungarian Empire (now part of Bielsko-Biala, Poland).
August 10, 1880 Composer/violinist Clarence Cameron White is born in Clarksville, Tennessee.
December 4, 1879 The Irish composer Herbert Hamilton Harty is born.
March 7, 1875 Composer Maurice Ravel is born in France.
September 21, 1874 Gustav Holst, the English composer known for the orchestral suite The Planets, is born in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England.
September 13, 1874 Composer/painter Arnold Schoenberg is born in the Leopoldstadt district of Vienna, Austria.
December 20, 1871 Composer/conductor Henry Kimball Hadley is born in Somerville, Massachusetts.
May 17, 1866 Composer and pianist Erik Satie is born in Honfleur, France.
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