Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

January 28, 1985 J. Cole is born Jermaine Cole on an American military base in Frankfurt, Germany. He's raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina. In 2009 he becomes the first artist signed to Jay-Z's Roc Nation label.

January 22, 1985 Singer/songwriter Orianthi Panagaris is born in Adelaide, Australia. She was slated to be Michael Jackson's lead guitarist for his This Is It concert series.

January 20, 1985 Country singer Brantley Gilbert is born in Jefferson, Georgia. His 2009 debut album, Modern Day Prodigal Son, puts him on the map with the hit "Country Must Be Country Wide," and he quickly becomes one of the biggest names in country music, known for high-energy performances and blue-collar hits like "Bottoms Up" and "What Happens In A Small Town."

December 8, 1984 Country singer-songwriter Sam Hunt is born in Cedartown, Georgia. He has a huge hit in 2017 with "Body Like a Back Road," which sets a record with 34 weeks at #1 on the Country chart.

November 28, 1984 Rapper Trey Songz is born Tremaine Aldon Neverson in Petersburg, Virginia.

October 18, 1984 Jazz bassist Esperanza Spalding is born in Portland, Oregon. She wins the 2011 Grammy Award for Best New Artist, becoming the first Jazz artist to do so... beating out nominee Justin Bieber in the process.

September 30, 1984 T-Pain, known for his Auto-Tuned productions, is born Faheem Najm in Tallahassee, Florida.

September 1, 1984 Fall Out Boy guitarist Joe Trohman is born in Hollywood, Florida.

June 23, 1984 Duffy (Amie Ann Duffy) is born in Gwynedd, Wales. Her 2008 album, Rockferry, is a worldwide smash, but her 2010 follow-up, Endlessly, is a disappointment, and she retreats from the public eye.More

April 27, 1984 Patrick Stump, lead singer of Fall Out Boy, is born Patrick Martin Stumph in Evanston, Illinois. He grows up in nearby Glenview.

April 8, 1984 Vampire Weekend frontman Ezra Koenig is born in Glen Ridge, New Jersey.

March 31, 1984 Jack Antonoff is born in Bergenfield, New Jersey. He's the guitarist in the band Fun ("We Are Young") before going solo as Bleachers. His biggest impact is as a songwriter-producer for the likes of Taylor Swift, Lorde and Lana Del Rey.

February 15, 1984 Blues guitarist Gary Clark, Jr. is born in Austin, Texas.

December 2, 1983 Jana Kramer is born in Michigan. She stars in the TV series One Tree Hill before launching a career as a country singer.

June 19, 1983 Rapper Macklemore (Macklemore & Ryan Lewis) is born Ben Haggerty in Seattle, Washington.

January 22, 1983 Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders and Ray Davies of The Kinks have a daughter, Natalie Rae Hynde. They following year, Hynde marries Jim Kerr of Simple Minds.

December 8, 1982 Nicki Minaj is born Onika Tanya Maraj-Petty in Trinidad. With a panoply of flows and a striking visual presense, she signs with Lil Wayne's Young Money label and becomes the most popular female rapper in history, with over 100 chart placements, mostly features on tracks by the likes of Rihanna, Usher and Post Malone.

November 4, 1982 Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz of Talking Heads become parents when their son Robin is born in Nassau, Bahamas, where the band is recording their Speaking In Tongues album.

September 28, 1982 St. Vincent (Annie Clark) is born in Tulsa, Oklahoma.

January 31, 1982 Singer Helena Paparizou is born in Borås, Sweden.

January 29, 1982 Adam Lambert is born in Indianapolis, Indiana. After making his mark on American Idol, he goes on to a successful solo career and becomes the frontman for Queen.

September 21, 1981 Nicole Richie is born Nicole Escovedo in Berkeley, California. Born to percussion player Peter Escovedo, she is taken in by Lionel Richie and his wife Brenda at age 3, and adopted by the couple at 9. She becomes a popular socialite, starring with Paris Hilton on the reality show The Simple Life.

September 11, 1981 Charles Kelley of the trio Lady A is born in Augusta, Georgia. His brother is the singer Josh Kelley.

August 28, 1981 Country singer Jake Owen is born Joshua Ryan Owen in Winter Haven, Florida. Arriving with him is fraternal twin brother, Jarrod.

May 20, 1981 Rachel Platten is born in New York City. She grows up in Newton, Massachusetts.

May 3, 1981 Josh Tillman is born in Rockville, Maryland. He is the drummer for Fleet Foxes before going solo as Father John Misty.

April 30, 1981 Justin Vernon of Bon Iver is born in Eau Claire, Wisconsin. His minimalist, emotionally fraught debut album, For Emma, Forever Ago, earns him a record deal in 2007, and his self-titled 2011 follow-up leads to a Grammy win for Best New Artist.

January 15, 1981 Pitbull is born Armando Pérez in Miami. His high-energy, Latin-flavored rap finds an audience with his 2004 debut album M.I.A.M.I., but he goes international with his 2009 hit "I Know You Want Me (Calle Ocho)."

January 5, 1981 DJ/producer Deadmau5 is born in Niagara Falls, Canada. His birth name is Joel Zimmerman; he takes the name Deadmau5 (pronounced "Deadmouse") as his chatroom handle after claiming to find a dead mouse in his computer.

September 8, 1980 Eric Hutchinson ("Rock and Roll," "OK, It's Alright With Me") is born in Takoma Park, Maryland.