Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

December 25, 1946 Jimmy Buffett is born in Pascagoula, Mississippi. He's raised in Mobile, Alabama, but his true home will always be in "Margaritaville."More

September 5, 1946 Queen frontman Freddie Mercury is born as Farrokh Bulsara in Zanzibar (a set of islands off the coast of Africa).More

July 15, 1946 Linda Ronstadt is born in Tucson, Arizona. Her music career starts as lead singer of the folk trio the Stone Poneys.

May 20, 1946 Cher is born Cherilyn Sarkisian in El Centro, California. She first records as "Bonnie Jo Mason," and then "Cherilyn." Teaming up with Sonny Bono in 1964, they record as "Caesar and Cleo," before changing it to "Sonny and Cher" the next year. When they hit it big with "I Got You Babe," she sticks with Cher.

January 7, 1946 Magazine magnate Jann Wenner, most famous for his work with Rolling Stone and for his role in establishing the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, is born in New York City.

December 24, 1945 Lemmy (lead singer for Motörhead) is born Ian Fraser Kilmister in Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, England. He would earn the nickname Lemmy from his classmates.

November 12, 1945 Neil Young is born in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. He is raised in the small, rural town of Omemee, Ontario, where the Youngtown Museum will be established in his honor.

July 31, 1945 Gary Lewis, future leader of Gary Lewis and the Playboys, is born Cary Levitch. His name is changed two years later when his dad changes his name from Joseph Levitch to Jerry Lewis.

May 28, 1945 John Fogerty is born, but not on the bayou; the Creedence Clearwater Revival leader claims Berkeley, California as his birthplace.More

May 19, 1945 Pete Townshend of The Who is born in Chiswick, United Kingdom.

May 6, 1945 Bob Seger is born in Lincoln Park, Michigan. He becomes a fixture on the Detroit music scene in the late '60s and becomes a star with his 1976 album Night Moves. He rocks out on songs like "Old Time Rock And Roll" and "Katmandu" but is best known for songs like "Turn The Page" and "Against The Wind," which stir up a range of emotions.

March 30, 1945 Eric Clapton is born in Ripley, England. He forms the bands Cream, Blind Faith and Derek & the Dominos. His birth name is often erroneously reported as "Eric Clapp," as Clapp is the surname of his grandparents who raised him.

February 6, 1945 Bob Marley is born Nesta Robert Marley in Jamaica. His mother is a native of Jamaica and his father an officer in the British military.More

January 10, 1945 Rod Stewart is born in London, England. He joins the Jeff Beck Group from 1967-69 and Faces from 1969-75, but makes his biggest impact as a solo artist.

June 2, 1944 Marvin Hamlisch is born in New York City. The composer will not only win a Pulitzer Prize for Drama for A Chorus Line in 1975, but will snag multiple Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Academy Awards for his work for stage and screen (The Way We Were, The Sting).

January 9, 1944 James Patrick "Jimmy" Page is born in Heston, Middlesex, England. He is a session musician in England before forming The Yardbirds and Led Zeppelin.

December 18, 1943 Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards is born in Dartford, Kent, England.More

November 28, 1943 Randy Newman is born in Los Angeles, California.

August 10, 1943 Ronnie Spector, lead singer of The Ronettes, is born Veronica Bennett in New York City. They define the girl group sound of the '60s with hits like "Be My Baby" and "Walking in the Rain." Ronnie marries their producer, Phil Spector, in 1968, but it's a tumultuous relationship that ends in divorce in 1974.

July 26, 1943 Mick Jagger of The Rolling Stones is born Michael Philip Jagger in Dartford, Kent, England.

June 25, 1943 Carly Simon is born in New York City. Her dad is Richard L. Simon, co-founder of Simon & Schuster publishing. (Simon's birthdate is often reported as June 25, 1945, but birth records prove she was born in 1943.)

February 25, 1943 George Harrison is born in Liverpool, England. He becomes lead guitarist of The Beatles, a successful solo artist, and a member of The Traveling Wilburys.

January 19, 1943 Janis Joplin is born in Port Arthur, Texas.

January 10, 1943 Jim Croce is born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. His song "Bad, Bad Leroy Brown" hits #1 in July 1973, but Croce is killed in a plane crash just two months later. In the wake of his death, his song "Time In A Bottle" goes to #1.

December 7, 1942 Harry Chapin is born in New York City. The folk rocker debuts in 1972 with the album Heads & Tales, featuring his first hit, "Taxi."

August 20, 1942 Soul superstar Isaac Hayes is born in Covington, Tennessee.

August 1, 1942 Jerry Garcia of the Grateful Dead is born in San Francisco, California.

July 21, 1942 Kim Fowley is born in Los Angeles, California. The flamboyant writer and record producer puts together the all-female rock band The Runaways in 1975 and later goes on to write for Kiss and Alice Cooper.

July 13, 1942 Roger McGuinn of The Byrds is born in Chicago, Illinois. With his trusty Rickenbacker 12-string guitar, he creates the signature jangle heard on hits like "Turn! Turn! Turn! (To Everything There Is a Season)" and "Eight Miles High."

June 20, 1942 Brian Wilson of The Beach Boys is born in Inglewood, California. The main songwriter in the group, his early songs focus on surfing and fun, but in the mid-'60s he makes complex, groundbreaking music exemplified by "Good Vibrations," which he recorded using dozens of musicians over 17 sessions.