Birthdays (December)

[Chris P]

02: 1948 - Bill Harkleroad pka Zoot Horn Rollo (Palmdale, California) Captain Beefheart & the Magic Band, Mallard

[uiwangmike]

Only just in time, three late arrivals for late December:
25: 1919 – John Ray "Curly" Seckler (China Grove, North Carolina)
Mandolin-playing member of the Blue Grass Boys and the Foggy Mountain Boys, still active as he approaches his 90th birthday.
http://www.curlyseckler.net/bio.htm

26: 1941 - “Rattlesnake Annie” McGowan (Ashville, N. Carolina)
Wikipedia gives Puryear, Tennessee as her birthplace. Not in the First Division of country singers, but she has made some unusual career moves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rattlesnake_Annie

30: 1937 – Noel "Paul" Stookey (Baltimore, Maryland) Peter, Paul & Mary

And two departures:
11: Tom Brumley – died February 3, 2009
16: Shelby Singleton – died October 7, 2009

[judith]

His bio is included in Allmusic (AMG) and his birthdate is on other lists yet not on ours. This will not do so I've added his name to the main list.

December
15: 1946 - Alan Balfour (Soho, London) critic/reviewer, blues sleeve note author


---------------
Mike, I noticed your additions and departures on your post above (Mon Dec 21, 2009) were not included on the main list, so I added them.

[Alan Balfour]

His bio is included in Allmusic (AMG) and his birthdate is on other lists yet not on ours. This will not do so I've added his name to the main list.

One's sins will find one out, as they say.

The blurb on AMG makes me cringe each time it's brought to my attention. That was originally given by myself, over the phone, to the editor of an 80s "history of rock" type part-work to accompany a feature I contributed about blues appreciation in Britain. AMG must lifted it from that. How do I know? They perpetuate an error. I wasn't news editor of the 70s monthly Black Music, but of the weekly Black Echoes! Which is where I first came across SOTW member Mike Atherton, who at the time was contributing a weekly blues column.

[judith]

Thanks for clearing that up, Alan. Sorry to have made you cringe but glad you had the opportunity to correct a few errors!

[john poole]

DECEMBER UPDATES
01: 1935 - Allan Konisberg pka "Woody Allen" (Brooklyn) clarinet
01: 1939 - Dianne Lennon (Los Angeles) The Lennon Sisters
01: 1944 - Eric Bloom (New York City) Blue Oyster Cult
01: 1959 - Steven Hamper pka "Billy Childish" (& others) (Chatham, Kent) Thee Headcoats
02: 1941 - Thomas "Tom" McGuinness (Wimbledon) Manfred Mann; McGuinness Flint
03: 1921 - Quinton Claunch (Tishomingo, Mississippi) Goldwax Records
03: 1931 - Mary Morgan pka "Jaye P. Morgan" (Mancos, Colorado)
03: 1942 - Kenneth Hawker pka "Ken Lewis" (Small Heath, Birmingham) Carter - Lewis
04: 1921 - Deanna Durbin (Winnipeg, Canada)
04: 1934 - Charles "Chas" McDevitt (Eaglesham, Glasgow) 'Freight Train'
04: 1939 - Frederick Picariello pka "Freddy Cannon" (Swampscott, Mass.) 'Palisades Park'
04: 1942 - James "Bob" Moseley (Paradise Valley, California) Moby Grape
04: 1947 - Terry Woods (Dublin) Gay & ..... ; Steeleye Span; The Pogues [1 of 2]
04: 1948 - John Lyon pka "Southside Johnny" (Neptune, New Jersey) .... & the Asbury Jukes
04: 1973 - Kate Rusby (Sheffield) The Divine ...
05: 1940 - Frank Wilson (Houston, Texas) Motown songwriter / producer
05: 1947 - Kim Simmonds (Newbridge, Caerphilly) Savoy Brown
06: 1939 - Steve Alaimo (Omaha, Nebraska) 'Everyday I Have to Cry'
06: 1943 - Keith Hopkins pka "Keith West" (Dagenham) Tomorrow; "Teenage Opera"
06: 1954 - Chris Stamey (Chapel Hill, N. Carolina) The dB's
06: 1954 - Edward Tudor-Pole (London)
06: 1956 - Peter Buck (Berkeley, California) R.E.M.
07: 1910 - Edmundo Ros (Port of Spain, Trinidad) band leader
07: 1922 - Don Maddox (Boaz, Alabama) Maddox Brothers and Rose (only survivor)
07: 1941 - Valerie "Val" Wilmer (Harrogate, Yorks) photographer; writer
08: 1938 - Bernie Krause (Detroit) Beaver and Krause
08: 1945 - Ramon Ayala (Nuevo Leon, Mexico) "King of the accordian"
09: 1927 - Pierre Henry (Paris) composer
09: 1932 - Donaldson "Donald" Byrd (Detroit) The Blackbyrds
09: 1957 - Donald "Donny" Osmond (Ogden, Utah)
10: 1941 - David Chadwick pka "Chad Stuart" (Windermere, Cumbria) Chad & Jeremy
10: 1941 - Ralph Tavares (New Bedford, Mass.) The Tavares
11: 1908 - Elliott Carter (New York City) composer (three works since he turned 100)
11: 1931 - Rosita Alverio pka "Rita Moreno" (Humacao, Puerto Rica) "Anita" in "West Side Story" [1 of 2]
11: 1931 - Benny Spellman (Pensacola, Florida) 'Fortune Teller'
11: 1940 - David Gates (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
11: 1946 - Martin Stone (Wokingham, Surrey) Mighty Baby; Chilli Willi & the Red Hot Peppers; antiquarian
12: 1923 - Bob Dorough (Arkansas) 'Three is a Magic Number'
12: 1936 - Reggie Young (Caruthersville, Missouri) session guitarist (American Sound)
12: 1946 - Christopher "Ace" Kefford (Moseley, Birmingham) The Move
12: 1957 - Sheila Escovedo pka "Sheila E." (Oakland, California)
13: 1928 - Joe Messina (Detroit) Motown guitar player
13: 1948 - David O'List (Chiswick, London) The Nice
14: 1924 - Melinda Matthews pka "Linda Hopkins" (New Orleans)
14: 1932 - Abigail Lassman pka "Abbe Lane" (Brooklyn) married & sang with Xavier Cugat
14: 1943 - Robert Livingstone pka "Dandy Livingstone" (Kingston, Jamaica)
14: 1946 - Jackie McAuley (Coleraine, N. Ireland ) Them; Trader Horne
14: 1958 - Michael "Mike" Scott (Edinburgh) The Waterboys
14: 1958 - Peter "Spider" Stacy (Eastbourne) The Pogues [2 of 2]
15: 1939 - Cynthia "Cindy" Birdsong (Philadelphia) The Supremes (from 1967)
15: 1943 - Peter Guralnick (Boston, Mass) writer
15: 1946 - Carmine Appice (Brooklyn, New York) Vanilla Fudge
16: 1943 - Glenda Collins (London) "Joe Meek's primary female singer"
16: 1949 - Billy Gibbons (Tanglewood, Houston, Texas) ZZ Top
16: 1949 - James Whiting pka "Sugar Blue" (Harlem, New York) 'Miss You'
17: 1943 - Ronald "Ron" Geesin (Stevenston, Ayrshire) composer
17: 1945 - Sam Dees (Birmingha, Alabama) singer / songwriter
17: 1946 - Eugene Levy (Hamilton, Ontario, Canada) "Mitch & Mickey"
18: 1941 - Sam Andrew (Taft, California) Big Brother & the Holding Co.
19: 1929 - Robert "Bob" Brookmeyer (Kansas City) trombone
19: 1937 - Joseph "Joe" Byrd (Louisville, Kentucky) The United States of America
19: 1941 - Maurice White (Memphis) Chess / Ramsey Lewis Trio drummer; Earth Wind & Fire
19: 1944 - Graham Barnes pka "Alvin Lee" (Nottingham) Ten Years After
20: 1941 - Michael Hurley (Pennsylvania?)
20: 1955 - Edmund "Ed" Kuepper (Bremen, Germany) The Saints
20: 1956 - Anita Ward (Memphis, Tennessee) 'Ring My Bell'
21: 1921 - Luigi Creatore (Hell's Kitchen, NYC) Hugo & Luigi (songwriters / producers)
21: 1940 - Douglas "Tony" Rivers (Shildon, County Durham) ... & the Castaways
21: 1943 - Gwen Mosley pka "Gwen McCrae" (Pensacola, Florida) (wife of George)
21: 1948 - Martin Belmont (Bromley, Kent) Ducks Deluxe; The Rumour
22: 1944 - Colin "Barry" Jenkins (Leicester) The Nashville Teens; The Animals (From 1966)
22: 1945 - Carol Hedges pka "Billie Davis" (Woking, Surrey)
23: 1940 - Jorma Kaukonen (Washington, DC) Jefferson Airplane; Hot Tuna
23: 1943 - Harry Shearer (L.A.) Spinal Tap; The Folksmen; C. Montgomery Burns ....
23: 1946 - Luther Grosvenor aka "Ariel Bender" (Evesham, Worcs) Spooky Tooth; Mott The Hoople
23: 1949 - Robert "Adrian" Belew (Covington, Kentucky) KIng Crimson
23: 1958 - Victoria Williams (Shreveport, Louisiana)
24: 1931 - Raphael "Ray" Bryant (Philadelphia) 'Madison Time'
24: 1945 - Ian Kilmister pka "Lemmy" (Burslem, Stoke-on-Trent) Motorhead
25: 1913 - Alvin Morris pka "Tony Martin" (San Francisco) vocalist with Burns & Allen; three singles on Motown
25: 1940 - Pete Brown (Ashtead, Surrey) ... & Piblokto; Jack Bruce's lyricist
25: 1948 - Merry Clayton (Gert Town, New Orleans) 'Gimme Shelter'
25: 1949 - Mary "Sissy" Spacek (Quitman, Texas) "Coal Miner's Daughter"
25: 1964 - Bob Stanley (Horsham, Sussex) Saint Etienne
26: 1966 - Jay Farrar (Belleville, Illinois) Uncle Tupelo; Son Volt
27: 1939 - Carl Fisher (Wharton County, Texas) The Vibrations
27: 1941 - Michael "Mike" Pinder (Erdington, Birmingham) The Moody Blues [1 of 2]
27: 1942 - James Michael "Mike" Heron (Edinburgh) The Incredible String Band
27: 1946 - Lenny Kaye (New York City) The Patti Smith Group [1 of 2]; compiler of "Nuggets"
27: 1948 - Gerard Depardieu (Chateauroux, Indre, France) "The Singer"
28: 1932 - Grace "Nichelle" Nichols (Robbins, Illinois) "Lt. Uhuru)
28: 1940 - Lonnie Liston Smith (Richmond, Virginia)
28: 1943 - Charles "Chas" Hodges (Edmonton,London) The Outlaws; Chas & Dave
28: 1947 - Edgar Winter (Beaumont, Texas) Johnny's brother
28: 1948 - Mary Weiss (Jamaica, Queens, New York) The Shangri-Las (lead)
29: 1935 - Virgil Johnson (Cameron, Texas) The Velvets (lead)
29: 1939 - William Edwin "Ed" Bruce (Keiser, Arkansas) singer / songwriter
29: 1941 - Ray Thomas (Stourport-on-Severn) The Moody Blues [2 of 2]
29: 1944 - Patti Drew (Charleston, S. Carolina) 'Workin' on a Groovy Thing'
29: 1951 - Yvonne Elliman (Honolulu) 'If I Can't Have You'
30: 1926 - Stanley "Stan" Tracey (Denmark Hill, South London)
30: 1933 - Melvin Goins (Bramwell, West Virginia) bluegrass
30: 1934 - Russell "Russ" Tamblyn (L.A.) "Riff" in "west Side Story" [2 of 2]
30: 1939 - Agatha "Kim" Weston (Detroit) (also reported as 20th December)
31: 1945 - Mary Aiese pka "Reparata" (New York) ... & the Delrons

SENIOR BIRTHDAYS (lots of them in December)

Elliott Carter (102); Edmundo Ros (100); Tony Martin (97); Curly Seckler (91); Dave Brubeck (90); Clark Terry (90); Little Jimmy Dickens (90); Dave Bartholomew (90); Johnny Otis (89); Quinton Claunch (89); Deanna Durbin (89); Luigi Creatore (89); Don Robertson (88); Jean Ritchie (88); Rose Lee Maphis (88); Don Maddox (88); Tsegue-Maryam Guebro (87); Bob Dorough (87); Linda Hopkins (86); Ferlin Husky (85)

[judith]

so I'd suggest that you leave them here (as with the months you didn't originate) rather than taking up all your time and risking any problems with the original list. Even I began to lose interest halfway through ....

I shall follow your suggestion, John. I don't mind the time it takes. Actually, I like looking at the names and dates. However, the risk is unnerving, even with the saving of copies. I will go in and do the amended dates, departures, and deletions though...later probably.

[judith]

All departures and amendments and deletions duly noted on the main list. I put Kate Rusby's correct birthdate on the main list while I was there.

[judith]

John, I would like to add Sonny Boy Williamson II (Aleck Rice Miller/Aleck Ford) on an alternate birthdate. Even though, according to Wikipedia, his gravestone says March 11, 1908, I would like to at least note the date he seems to have chosen for his birthday, Dec. 5. I like Garth's notion that he and Little Richard share the same birthday, historically accurate? In a way.

Also, I couldn't find his name on the March birthday list? Perhaps I overlooked it or for lack of verification, he wasn't included.

[john poole]

John, I would like to add Sonny Boy Williamson II (Aleck Rice Miller/Aleck Ford) on an alternate birthdate. Even though, according to Wikipedia, his gravestone says March 11, 1908, I would like to at least note the date he seems to have chosen for his birthday, Dec. 5. I like Garth's notion that he and Little Richard share the same birthday, historically accurate? In a way.

Also, I couldn't find his name on the March birthday list? Perhaps I overlooked it or for lack of verification, he wasn't included.

I'm quite happy for his birthdate to be added, but we don't normally include birthdays for people who passed on 45 years ago, so we might be creating a precedent.... He did appear to have had a fair number of alternate birthdates and his gravestone even seems to have an incorrect date for his death (I'm assuming his Death Certificate is correct). After having looked at a few websites - on or around 5th December, 1912 now appears to be the most popular guess for his birth(although he certainly looks older than someone not long past his 50th birthday on those clips from the tours of Europe in 1963/4).

Continued on Monday :- Judith, on reflection, perhaps I could start a separate section to go after the updates with a small selection (say 10-20) of birthdays each month to represent those who passed on before the lists commenced?

[judith]

I'm quite happy for his birthdate to be added, but we don't normally include birthdays for people who passed on 45 years ago, so we might be creating a precedent

You mean to tell me the man is dead?

Seriously, I don't know what I was thinking. Not that long ago Jaybird and I had a conversation about the list being of the living.

Sure, we could have a section for those who have already died though I don't know how much extra work that would be for you. I have noticed that when people have favorite artists, they tend to bring up their birthday or date of passing on their own. I do agree that a small selection would be the way to do it.

(the obvious question which follows is would the section be open to debate? nominations?)

[john poole]

Sure, we could have a section for those who have already died though I don't know how much extra work that would be for you. I have noticed that when people have favorite artists, they tend to bring up their birthday or date of passing on their own. I do agree that a small selection would be the way to do it.

On second thoughts - why not one name per day, starting from Sonny Boy Williamson II for December 5th. For today I'm proposing Ira Gershwin (born 6th December, 1896)

(the obvious question which follows is would the section be open to debate? nominations?)

Yes it would (although I sometimes wonder if more than three or four of us still read this section). I'll take this opportunity to recommend the best site I've found for music birthdates & deathdates (although it's not infallible) -
http://www.bittersuiteband.com/music_bi ... cember.htm

[judith]

I think there's three or four of us who read it, sometimes five. I occasionally feel like a diligent, mad Essene pouring over scrolls. Doesn't matter. I happily do so.

One per day is good. Wow, was it that long ago Gershwin was born? Because of his popularity with my parents' generation I hadn't realized he was of my grandparents' generation.

I've bookmarked your source. It's much different than the ones I've had.

[AndyM]

I read it too, admiring the commitment and dedication.

[Rob Hall]

Another reader here.