Birthdays (April)

[judith]

01: 1921 - Arthur "Guitar Boogie" Smith (Clinton, South Carolina)
01: 1939 - Rudolph Isley (Cincinnati, Ohio) The Isley Brothers
01: 1947 - Robin Scott pka "M" (Croydon, Surrey, England) "Pop Musik"
01: 1948 - Jimmy Cliff (St Catherine, Jamaica)
01: 1949 - Gil Scott Heron (Chicago, Illinois)
02: 1942 - Don Bryant (Memphis, Tennessee) songwriter, Hi Records
02: 1942 - Leon Russell (Tulsa, Oklahoma)
02: 1947 - Emmylou Harris (Birmingham, Alabama)
03: 1924 - Doris von Kappelhoff pka 'Doris Day' (Cincinnati, Ohio)
03: 1936 - Jimmy McGriff (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania) [died 24 May 24 2008]
03: 1938 - Joel Adelberg pka "Jeff Barry" (Brooklyn, New York)
03: 1942 - Billy Joe Royal (Valdosta, Georgia)
03: 1949 - Richard Thompson (London, England) Fairport Convention (1 of 2 in April)
03: 1950 - Jimme O'Neill (Glasgow, Scotland) Fingerprintz; the Silencers
03: 1968 - Jamie Hewlett (Horsham, Sussex, England) Gorillaz
04: 1939 - Hugh Masekela (Johannesburg, South Africa)
04: 1939 - Danny Thompson (Teignmouth, Devon)
04: 1954 - Eduardo Makaroff (Buenos Aires, Argentina) Gotan Project
04: 1977 - Abdul Rasheed Bello pka 'JJC' (Kano, Nigeria) ...& 419 Squad
05: 1931 - Jack Clement (Memphis, Tenn) producer at Sun Records - Johnny C, Jerry Lee, etc.
05: 1931 - Bill Clifton (Riverwood, Md).
05: 1941 - Dave Swarbrick (New Malden, Surrey, England) Fairport Convention (2 of 2 in April)
05: 1942 - Allan Clarke (Salford, Lancashire, England) Lead singer, The Hollies
05: 1950 - Agnetha Fältskog (Jönköping, Sweden) Abba (1 of 2 in April)
05: 1951 - Everett Morton (St Kitts, W.I.) The Beat
06: 1937 - Merle Haggard (Bakersfield, California)
07: 1920 - Ravi Shankar (Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, India)
07: 1935 - Bobby Bare (Ironton, Ohio)
07: 1937 - Charlie Thomas (Lynchburg, Virginia) The Drifters
07: 1938 - Freddie Hubbard (Indianapolis, Indiana)
07: 1942 - Joel Dorn (New York, NY) producer, Atlantic Records [died December 17, 2007]
07: 1951 - Janis Fink pka 'Janis Ian' (New York, NY)
08: 1928 - Monty Sunshine (Stepney, East London, England) Chris Barber Band (1 of 2 in April)
08: 1939 - Bhupinder Singh (New Delhi, India) Free Spirits
08: 1942 - Leon Huff (Camden, New Jersey) Gamble & Huff - The Philadelphia Sound
09: 1928 - Tom Lehrer (New York City, NY)
10: 1947 - Neville Livingston pka 'Bunny Wailer' (Kingston, Jamaica) The Wailers
10: 1949 - Papo Lucca (Puerto Rico) La Sonora Poncena
10: 1953 - Terre Roche (Park Ridge, New Jersey) The Roches
10: 1959 - Brian Setzer (Massapequa, Long Island, New York) The Stray Cats
11: 1934 - Cleotha Staples (Drew, Mississippi) The Staple Singers
11: 1946 - Bob Harris (Northampton, England) BBC Radio 2
11: 1956 - Neville Staple (Christiana, Jamaica) The Specials; Fun Boy Three
11: 1957 - Jim Lauderdale (Statesville, North Carolina)
11: 1958 - Lokua Kanza (Bukavu, Kivu, DRC)
12: 1940 - Herbie Hancock (Chicago, Illinois)
12: 1944 - Joachim Fritz Krauledat pka "John Kay" (Tilsit, East Germany) vocal, Steppenwolf
12: 1957 - Vince Gill (Norman, Oklahoma)
13: 1926 - Cosimo Matassa (New Orleans, Louisiana) Recording engineer
13: 1944 - Jack Casady (Washington D.C.) bass player, Jefferson Airplane
13: 1945 - Ernie Payne (Evangeline Parish, Louisiana) [died October 2007]
13: 1946 - Al Green (Forrest City, Arkansas)
13: 1951 - Max Weinberg (Newark, New Jersey) drummer, E Street Band
13: 1975 - Sergei "Shnur" Shnurov (Russia) lead vocalist, Leningrad
14: 1922 - Ali Akbar Khan (Shibpur, Comilla (now Bangladesh))
14: 1932 - D.L.Menard (Erath, Louisiana) Cajun pioneer
14: 1934 - Loretta Lynn (Butcher Hollow, Kentucky)[alternate date 1935]
14: 1947 - Oliver De Coque (Ezinifite, Anambra State, Nigeria) [died 23 June 2008]
15: 1939 - Reginald Smith pka "Marty Wilde" (Greenwich, London, England)
15: 1944 - Dave Edmunds (Cardiff, Wales)
15: 1958 - Mariam Doumbia (Bamako, Mali) Amadou & Mariam
15: 1958 - Benjamin Zephaniah (Birmingham, England)
16: 1919 - Nilla Pizzi - (Sant'Agata Bolognese, Italia)
16: 1931 - Bobby Vinton (Canonsburg PA)
16: 1936 - Å aban Bajramovic (Nis, Serbia) [died 8 June 2008]
16: 1945 - Stefan Grossman (New York, New York) Kicking Mule Records
16: 1952 - Chaz Jankel (Stanmore, Middlesex, England) keyboards, co-writer, Ian Dury & the Blockheads
16: 1952 - Gerry Rafferty (Paisley, Scotland)
16: 1953 - Geoffrey Oryema (Soroti, Uganda)
16: 1964 - Esbjörn Svensson (Skultuna, Sweden) E.S.T. [died June 14, 2008]
17: 1919 - Isabel Vargas Lizano pka 'Chavela Vargas' (San Joaquín de Flores, Costa Rica)
17: 1930 - Chris Barber (Welwyn Garden City, England) ...Band (2 of 2 in April) trombone
17: 1934 - Don Kirshner (New York, New York) Music Publisher: Aldon; Screen Gems
17: 1955 - Peter McNeish pka 'Pete Shelley' (Leigh, Greater Manchester, England) The Buzzcocks
17: 1957 - Nick Hornby (Redhill, Surrey, England) author, Hi Fidelity
17: 1957 - Kevin Donovan pka "Afrika Bambaataa" (New York, N.Y.)
17: 1967 - Liz Phair (New Haven, Connecticut)
17: 1976 - Miguel Collins pka "Sizzla" (St Mary, Jamaica)
17: 1980 - Maria do Céu Whitaker Poças pka 'Céu' (São Paulo, Brazil)
18: 1939 - Glen D Hardin (Wellington, Texas) keyboards, The Crickets (as session musician); The Shindogs
18: 1940 - Mike Vickers (Southampton, England) guitar/sax, Manfred Mann
18: 1943 - Clyde Stubblefield (Chattanooga, Tennessee) drummer, eg James Brown
19: 1942 - Alan Price (Fairfield, County Durham, England) keyboards, The Animals
19: 1949 - Manley Buchanan pka "Big Youth" (Trenchtown, Kingston, Jamaica)
20: 1939 - Johnny Tillotson (Jacksonville, Florida) "Poetry in Motion"
21: 1941 - Pee Wee Ellis (Bradanton, Florida) sax, James Brown Band
21: 1947 - James Osterberg, Jr.pka "Iggy Pop" (Muskegon, Michigan) The Stooges
21: 1948 - Paul Davis (Meridian, Mississippi) [died April 22, 2008]
21: 1958 - Mike Barson (Edinburgh, Scotland) piano & songwriter, Madness
21: 1959 - Robert Smith (Blackpool, England) The Cure
22: 1921 - Candido Camero (Cuba) percussionist
22: 1931 - Gilberto Miguel Calderón pka "Joe Cuba" (New York, NY) "Bang Bang"
22: 1936 - Glen Campbell (Delight, Arkansas)
22: 1939 - Simon Napier-Bell (Ealing, West London, England) manager, Wham
23: 1923 - Roshanara Khan "Annapurna Devi" (Maihar, India) surbahar
23: 1935 - Bunky Green (Milwaukee, Wisconsin) alto sax, The Charlie Mingus Group
24: 1928 - Johnny Griffin (Chicago, Illinois) tenor sax [died 25 July, 2008]
24: 1942 - Barbra Streisand (New York, New York)
24: 1945 - Doug 'Cosmo' Clifford (Palo Alto, California) drums, Creedence C'water R'v'l (1 of 2 in Apr)
24: 1971 - Alejandro "El Potrillo" Fernández (Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico)
25: 1925 - Antoine Kalosoy pka 'Wendo Kolosoy' (Mushie, Bandundu, DRC) [died 28 July, 2008]
25: 1933 - Jerry Leiber (Baltimore, Maryland) songwriter, Leiber & Stoller
25: 1945 - Björn Olvaeus (Gothenburg, Sweden) ABBA (2 of 2 in April)
25: 1945 - Stu Cook (Stanton, California) Creedence Clearwater Revival (2 of 2 in April)
26: 1921 - Jimmy Giuffre (Dallas, Texas) clarinet [died April 24 2008]
26: 1938 - Duane Eddy (Corning, New York)
26: 1938 - Maurice Williams (Lancaster, North Carolina) ...and the Zodiacs
26: 1940 - Giorgio Moroder (Ortisei, Italy)
26: 1945 - Nobesuthu Mbadu (Durban, South Africa) Mahotella Queens
26: 1969 - Daby Balde (Kolda, Fouladou, Casamance, Senegal)
26: 1970 - Tionne Watkins pka "T-Boz" (Des Moines, Iowa) TLC
26: 1981 - Niomi McLean Daley pka "Ms. Dynamite" (Archway, London, England)
27: 1940 - McArtha Lewis pka "Calypso Rose" (Bethel, Tobago)
27: 1942 - Jim Keltner (Tulsa, Oklahoma) LA session drummer
27: 1947 - Ann Peebles (St Louis, Missouri)
27: 1959 - Sheena Easton (Belshill, North Lanarkshire, Scotland)
27: 1976 - Isobel Campbell ( Glasgow, Scotland) Belle & Sebastian; IC & Mark Lanegan
28: 1950 - Willie Colon (New York, New York)
28: 1961 - Roland Gift (Birmingham, England) The Fine Young Cannibals
29: 1922 - Jean 'Toots' Thielemans (Brussels, Belgium) harmonica
29: 1928 - Carl Gardner (Tyler, Texas) The Coasters
29: 1934 - Otis Rush (Philadelphia, Mississippi)
29: 1945 - Hugh Hopper (Kent, England) Soft Machine
29: 1947 - Thomas Jackson pka "Tommy James" (Dayton, Ohio) ... and the Shondells
29: 1951 - Vinicius Cantuária (Manaus, Amazonas, Brazil)
29: 1953 - Bill Drummond (Butterworth, South Africa) KLF
29: 1956 - Fedora Gogoleva (Tabaga, Sakha-Yakutia, Siberia, Russia ) Albina, Olga & Fedora
30: 1933 - Willie Nelson (Abbott, Texas)
30: 1941 - Johnny Farina (Brooklyn, New York) Santo & Johnny
30: 1964 - Barrington Levy (Clarendon, Jamaica)

[NormanD]

April 9: 1928, Tom Lehrer (Connecticut{?}, USA).

I can't think of a song of his I don't like, but this one came back to mind after GW II's cake walk into Baghdad in 2003:

Send The Marines (1965)

When someone makes a move
Of which we don't approve,
Who is it that always intervenes?
U.N. and O.A.S.,
They have their place, I guess,
But first - send the Marines!

We'll send them all we've got,
John Wayne and Randolph Scott;
Remember those exciting fighting scenes?
To the shores of Tripoli,
But not to Mississippoli,
What do we do? We send the Marines!

For might makes right,
And till they've seen the light,
They've got to be protected,
All their rights respected,
Till somebody we like can be elected.

Members of the corps
All hate the thought of war;
They'd rather kill them off by peaceful means.
Stop calling it aggression,
Ooh, we hate that expression!
We only want the world to know
That we support the status quo.
They love us everywhere we go,
So when in doubt,
Send the Marines!


More lyrics here: http://members.aol.com/quentncree/lehrer/
Norman

[judith]

April 6 or 7 (sources vary) - Ravi Shankar, 1920, India
April 8 - Lil Ed Williams, 1955, Chicago
April 10 - Bunny Wailer, 1947, Kingston
April 11 Luther Johnson "Guitar Junior", 1939, Mississippi
April 22 - Pat Enright, 1945, Indiana
April 28 - Jean Redpath, 1937, Edinburgh

April 2 - Leon Russell, 1942, Oklahoma

[uiwangmike]

Bobby Vinton, born in Canonsburg PA (also the birthplace of Perry Como) turns 72 on April 16. Unlike Perry, and a lot of his contemporary hitmakers from the eastern states, he was not of Italian extraction, but Polish. His first No. 1 was Roses are Red in 1962, and in the next 10 years he had three more, including Blue Velvet, making him the most successful solo male singer of the 60s era (You learn some remarkable things in Wikipedia!)

I suppose he’d be categorized as one of the exponents of the genre that Nick Cohn called “highschoolâ€

[Charlie]

Thanks for these additions

I've put in Ravi & Tom, but sorry Mike, Bobby Vinton ain't gonna make any list of mine....

[uiwangmike]

That's OK with me, though Wikipedia records that later in his career he made some records in Polish, which might just allow him to creep in as a bona fide World Musician. I was intrigued by the fact that his heyday (1962-72) was pretty well co-terminous with that of the Beatles. It's easy to hark back to the 60s as the era of the Beatles and the Stones, the Airplane and the Dead, Dylan, Hendrix, etc., but I think it's interesting to recall that a lot of people were listening to and buying a lot of other things too.
And if you happpen to be reading this, many happy returns of today, Chris Barber.

[Charlie]

And if you happpen to be reading this, many happy returns for today, Chris Barber.

A phone conversation, earlier today:

"Hello, who is this?"

I introduced myself. "Just calling to say happy birthday, Chris."

"That's very kind. I heard they'd retired you."

"Not exactly, I just had to stop doing that BBC London show. So what are you up to?"

"100 miles an hour, actually. But it's OK, I'm in Germany where that's allowed."

"I'd better get off the phone then."

"Yes, but you might be interested to know I'm starting a new label, Blues Legacy, we've got Clapton and Chris Rea on the advisory board. We've found these tapes from 1958 to 62 of my band with Muddy Waters, Howling Wolf, Sonny [Terry] and Brownie [McGhee], and we're going to release a 3-CD box set. I'll make sure you receive one."

"Thanks, Chris, have a good birthday."

Chris Barber is 77.

[Des]

Chris Barber is a legend - I saw him and his band in concert last autumn and they were HOT! Happy birthday Chris.

[uiwangmike]

Last weekend’s birthdays:

April 21: James Newell Osterberg, Jr., aka Iggy Pop, Muskegon MI, 1947

April 22: Glen Campbell, Delight AR, 1936

Jack Nicholson, Neptune City NJ, 1937

(Nice place names)

[Charlie]

Last weekend’s birthdays:

April 21: James Newell Osterberg, Jr., aka Iggy Pop, Muskegon MI, 1947

April 22: Glen Campbell, Delight AR, 1936

Jack Nicholson, Neptune City NJ, 1937

(Nice place names)

I'm beginning to think we need a second list each month for the birthday people who are worth noting without actually putting them in the 'A' list.

Iggy Pop is a prime example of the inexplicably celebrated, as far as I'm concerned, a great exhibitionist sure, and his song 'The Passenger' makes a nice soundtrack for a TV ad, but overall, did his music move us anywhere interesting?

Glen Campbell was given some good songs to record, but he had one of the most uninteresting voices of his time, although B.J.Thomas and yes, Bobby Vinton, might give him a run for his money. If you suspect me of having a prejudice against singers whose biggest earnings came from their stints in Vegas, I stand accused and plead 'guilty'.

Jack Nicholson - I suppose he came close to qualifying for inclusion for his role in Five Easy Pieces, which launched Tammy Wynette outside the country market.

[garth cartwright]

Charlie, Iggy was not only rock's great "exhibitionist" but also it's greatest "expressionist" - he took that wild mess of post white boy blues rock in the 70s and carved out something like no one else, a sonic Jackson Pollock. None of the Stooges albums are perfect but each of them contains tunes that are amongst - to me - the most potent rock music ever recorded.

Perhaps our differences on this matter are due to the ages we first heard him - i was 13 or 14 and the sound of the first Stooges album resonated within me from its opening chords (1969 - blissssss!). And this is understandable as its made by teenagers for a teenage audience. These days i find it hard to hear what's special in teenage rock bands but obviously many teens find their own potent reaction.

As i got older blues and soul and jazz spoke more deeply to me - admittedly, i enjoyed them all as a teen but life teaches lessons and thus O.V. Wright moves me more now than when i was 18 and first digging him.

[uiwangmike]

Charlie wrote:

Glen Campbell . . . had one of the most uninteresting voices of his time, although B.J.Thomas and yes, Bobby Vinton, might give him a run for his money

Maybe you're forgetting about Bobby Rydell (born Robert Louis Ridarelli, 26 April 1940), who I see still performs as part of "The Golden Boys" with childhood pals and fellow Philadelphians Frankie Avalon and Fabian.
Thanks again to Wikipedia, which also notes that his contribution to the highschool genre was recognized when the school in Grease was named "Rydell High".

[Charlie]

a sonic Jackson Pollock.

OK, where Mike and Garth come together, I surrender, he's in

But not Bobby Rydell, Mike, there are limits...

[uiwangmike]

Charlie wrote last month:

Glen Campbell was given some good songs to record, but he had one of the most uninteresting voices of his time . . .

. . . but see this from a rather long article in the Independent by Christopher Maume:

I'd arrived in Las Vegas the previous evening . . . when I walked in to the venue, he was already on stage, playing the William Tell overture immaculately, and at speed, on a 12-string guitar which was balanced on his head.

Any chance of second thoughts, Charlie? OK, maybe not, but I think the article is well worth a read. Not only for trivia like the fact that GC played guitar on Strangers in the Night, and By the Time I Get to Phoenix was first recorded by Johnny Rivers (the arch-coverer covered!), but also for what it says about the confluence of music, politics and drugs in America in the 60s and 70s. What Campbell has to say about Elvis is very similar to something I saw recently in an interview with Connie Francis.
http://news.independent.co.uk/people/pr ... 525672.ece

[Charlie]

Any chance of second thoughts, Charlie? OK, maybe not, but I think the article is well worth a read.

Fantastic article, as good as history of pop music in the 60s and 70s as I've ever read. Glenn sounds like a great guy to spend time with, much more interesting and funny than I would have expected. The best line is: "I'm not half as modest as I think I am."

He chose some very good songs to record, but he still has one of the blandest voices in all pop, and I stand my ground.