Birthdays (December)

[Gordon Neill]

I'm pretty certain that Anita Baker was born on 26 January 1958 in Toledo, Ohio (she was raised in Detroit). This is not based on being her number one fan and dressing up as Anita while I dance to all her records every Tuesday. I've had a look at two of her fan websites (or possibly the websites of both of her fans). Tellingly, one of them refers to the false 20 December 1957 smear. Case closed.

[judith]

December

17: 1949 - Paul Rogers (Middlesbrough, England) Free
21: 1947 - Francisco Sanchez Gomez pka Paco de Lucia (Algeciras, Cádiz)
21: 1953 - Betty Wright (Miami, Florida)


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[judith]

Dec

13: 1928 - Joe Messina (Detroit, Michigan) Funk Brothers, guitar

[judith]

12: 1923 - Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou (Addis Ababa, Ethiopia)

By the only recent accounts I have been able to find - and most of them read as though they were copied from liner notes on Ethiopiques 21 (2006?) - she is still alive and living in a monastery in Jerusalem.

[judith]

08: 1922 - Jean Ritchie (Perry County, Kentucky)

Worked with Woodie Guthrie, wrote "The L & N Don't Stop Here Anymore" (I like Michelle Shocked's version), and has been called "The Mother of Folk" as is noted in Wikipedia.

12: 1929 - Toshiko Akiyoshi (Liaoyang, Manchuria) jazz pianist/composer

cited as being among the few successful female jazz instrumentalists.

[Charlie]

and here we are

[uiwangmike]

December’s batch of country cousins (hopefully all still living this time, Judith), including seven from Texas. If anyone would like to hear it again, Wink Martindale's big hit is on Youtube. Bobby Osborne (7th) is the older of the two Osborne brothers, but the only one still active. It’s interesting to see their archetypically bluegrass signature song “Rocky Topâ€

[Yves Santoire]

and here we are

Yes, albeit 3 days late for my bunch of misfits...

01: 1944 - John Densmore (Los Angeles, California) The Doors
01: 1956 - Julee Cruise (Creston, Iowa)
04: 1930 - Jim Hall (Buffalo, New York) Master jazz guitarist
04: 1944 - Anna McGarrigle (St-Sauveur, Québec, Canada)
04: 1969 - Shawn Carter pka 'Jay-Z' (New York, New York)
05: 1947 - Egberto Gismonti (Carmo, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
05: 1980 - Ibrahim Maalouf (Beyrouth, Lebanon) Trumpeter
08: 1947 - Gregg Allman (Nashville, Tennessee) The Allman Brothers Band
09: 1971 - Geoff Barrow (Walton in Gordano, Somerset, England) Portishead
10: 1974 - Meg White (Grosse Pointe Farms, Michigan) The White Stripes
12: 1943 - Dickey Betts (West Palm Beach, Florida) The Allman Brothers Band
12: 1950 - Richard Galliano (Cannes, France) Accordionist
13: 1949 - Thomas Miller pka 'Tom Verlaine' (Morristown, New Jersey) Television
14: 1946 - Jane Birkin (London, England)
14: 1952 - John Lurie (Minneapolis, Minnesota) The Lounge Lizards
15: 1936 - Eddie Palmieri (New York, New York)
18: 1943 - Bobby Keys (Slaton, Texas) Saxophonist
18: 1959 - Grantley Marshall pka 'Daddy G' (Bristol, England) Massive Attack
19: 1942 - Cornell Dupree (Fort Worth, Texas) Session guitarist
20: 1953 - Benjamin Escoriza (Granada, Andalusia, Spain) Radio Tarifa
21: 1929 - Billy 'The Kid' Emerson (Tarpon Springs, Florida)
22: 1958 - José Alberto 'El Canario' (Villa Consuelo, Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic)
24: 1951 - Nick Kent (North London, England) Writer (New Musical Express)
24: 1970 - Will Oldham aka 'Bonnie Prince Billy' (Louisville, Kentucky)
25: 1971 - Florian Armstrong pka 'Dido' (London, England)
25: 1949 - Joe Louis Walker (San Francisco, California)
27: 1968 - Diego Jiménez Salazar pka 'Diego el Cigala' (Madrid, Spain)
28: 1936 - Obediah Jessie pka 'Young Jessie' (Lincoln Manor, Texas)
28: 1950 - Alex Chilton (Memphis, Tennessee) Box Tops - Big Star
28: 1956 - Nigel Kennedy (Brighton, England)
31: 1943 - Pete Quaife (Tavistock, Devon, England) The Kinks

[Charlie]

3 days late for my bunch of misfits...

Far from misfits, as usual several essential names from both of you, many thanks

5: 1922 - Don Robertson (Peking, China) songwriter/piano session player

wrote 'Born to be with you,' a wonderful song

[judith]

(hopefully all still living this time, Judith)

Oh, I used to worry over my accuracy as well but I've learned that someone usually catches the errors. Far more important and quite amazing are the names that you and Yves have resourced and posted.

[uiwangmike]

24: 1918 – Carolyn (née Caroline) DeZurik (Royalton, Minnesota)

One site gives her birthdate as January 1, 1919, but that might be a default date. Her sister Mary (née Marie) Jane died quite young in 1981.
For me at least, the sisters were an Andy Kershaw discovery. So here’s wishing him better things in 2009.

[Charlie]

24: 1918 – Carolyn (née Caroline) DeZurik (Royalton, Minnesota)

I'm sure that any formerly famous person who is still living does not what to hear 'I didn't realise she was still alive' but it's hard to avoid thinking this about one of those marvellous Dezurik sisisters included on the Trikont compilation Flowers in the Wildwood, which was a favourite of John Peel, Andy K and myself on its release about six years ago

[uiwangmike]

From my morning paper:
9: 1969 - Jakob Dylan (New York City)

[tulsehill charlie]

12: 1946 Pelham Goddard (Clarence Street, St. James, Trinidad). One of the founders of soca music: composer, musical arranger, record producer, instrumentalist - keyboards, steel pan.

[judith]

05: 1939 - Aashish Khan Debsharma (Maihar, India) sarode