Pick a Day

Music History Events: Births

May 5, 1942 Tammy Wynette is born Virginia Wynette Pugh on a cotton farm in Mississippi. Her signature song comes in 1968 with "Stand By Your Man," which she says she spent 15 minutes writing and a lifetime defending.

April 24, 1942 Barbra Streisand is born in Brooklyn, New York City.More

March 25, 1942 Aretha Franklin is born in Memphis, Tennessee. More

March 2, 1942 Lou Reed is born Lewis Allan Reed in Brooklyn, New York.

February 9, 1942 Carole King is born Carol Joan Klein in Manhattan, New York City. She meets husband and songwriting partner Gerry Goffin while attending Queens College.More

January 11, 1942 Clarence Clemons, the saxophone player in Bruce Springsteen's E Street Band, is born in Virginia.More

December 19, 1941 Earth, Wind & Fire founder Maurice White is born in Memphis, Tennessee.

October 13, 1941 Paul Simon is born in Newark, New Jersey. He meets his longtime music partner, Art Garfunkel, when they both perform in a school production of Alice in Wonderland for their sixth grade graduation. They would become Simon & Garfunkel.

October 3, 1941 Chubby Checker is born Ernest Evans in Spring Gulley, South Carolina; he is raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.More

May 24, 1941 Bob Dylan is born Robert Allen Zimmerman in Duluth, Minnesota. He moves to New York City in 1961, where he becomes the breakout star of the Greenwich Village folk scene, known for intricate, incisive, and often mysterious lyrics that are examined in great detail throughout his career. We're still trying to make sense of "Desolation Row."

February 20, 1941 Singer-songwriter Buffy Sainte-Marie is born. According to her birth certificate, she's born Beverly Jean Santamaria in Stoneham, Massachusetts, but she claims to be Native-Canadian, born Beverly Sainte-Marie in Qu'Appelle Valley, Saskatchewan and adopted by a couple in Stoneham.More

January 24, 1941 Neil Diamond (yep, that's his real name) is born in Brooklyn, New York.

October 23, 1940 Ellie Greenwich is born Eleanor Louise Greenwich in Brooklyn, New York. One of the most successful songwriters of the '60, her co-writes include "Leader of the Pack" and "Be My Baby."

October 9, 1940 John Winston Lennon is born in Liverpool, England. The "Winston" comes from British Prime Minister Winston Churchill - John would later add "Ono" to his middle name in honor of Yoko.

July 22, 1940 George Clinton (leader of Parliament/Funkadelic) is born in Kannapolis, North Carolina.

February 19, 1940 Smokey Robinson is born William Robinson Jr. in Detroit. Nicknamed "Smokey Joe" by his uncle, he fronts the Motown group The Miracles and is a top songwriter and producer for the label.

November 26, 1939 Tina Turner is born Anna Mae Bullock in Brownsville, Tennessee. She takes her stage name at the behest of Ike Turner when they start performing together in 1960.

July 18, 1939 Dion DiMucci, better known as Dion, is born in The Bronx, New York.

April 2, 1939 Marvin Gaye is born Marvin Pentz Gay Jr. in Washington, DC.More

February 9, 1939 Barry Mann is born Barry Imberman in Brooklyn, New York City. He teams with wife Cynthia Weil to write a number of classic hits, including "You've Lost That Lovin' Feelin'."

January 25, 1938 Blues singer Etta James, known for the enduring ballad "At Last," is born Jamesetta Hawkins in Los Angeles, California.More

January 21, 1938 Lupine disc jockey Wolfman Jack is born Robert Weston Smith in Brooklyn, New York. In the 1960s he blasts rock 'n roll to the masses from a high-powered border blaster signal at XERF-AM in Mexico.

May 4, 1937 Surf rock guitarist Dick Dale is born Richard Anthony Monsour in Boston, Massachusetts.

September 24, 1936 Jim Henson is born in Greenville, Mississippi. Renowned for his work on Sesame Street and The Muppets, he also lands two chart hits: "Rubber Duckie" (as Ernie - #16 in 1970) and "Rainbow Connection" (as Kermit the Frog - #25 in 1979).

September 7, 1936 Buddy Holly is born. He lives just 22 years but influences many of the biggest stars of the '60s, including The Beatles. Don McLean's "American Pie" is about his death.

May 14, 1936 Bobby Darin is born Walden Robert Cassotto in East Harlem, New York City. Teenage Nina Cassotto became pregnant out of wedlock and, to avoid scandal, had her mother raise the baby as her own while Nina passed him off as her younger brother. Bobby finds out years later that the woman he knew as his beloved mother was actually his grandmother.

April 23, 1936 Roy Orbison is born in Vernon, Texas. He has a run of hits in the early '60s that include "Crying," "In Dreams" and "(Oh) Pretty Woman," and in the '80s he makes a remarkable comeback when he's championed by the likes of George Harrison, Bruce Springsteen and Tom Petty.

April 22, 1936 Glen Campbell is born in Billstown, Arkansas. Raised in abject poverty as the seventh of 12 children, he makes his way to Los Angeles in 1960 and becomes a sought-after session musician.More

January 2, 1936 Country singer-songwriter Roger Miller - known for crossover hits like 1964's "King of the Road" - is born in Fort Worth, Texas.

October 1, 1935 Julie Andrews is born Julia Elizabeth Wells in Walton-on-Thames, Surrey, England.More