1   1830 ~ Frédéric Chopin left Warsaw for Paris, never to return. 
           He was presented a cup of Polish soil on this day. 
      1902 ~ Eugen Jochum, German conductor
      1921 ~ Jan Tausinger, Rumanian-born Czech composer
      1923 ~ Victoria de Los Angeles, Spanish soprano
      1926 ~ Lou Donaldson, Alto saxophone, singer
      1937 ~ ‘Whispering' Bill (James) Anderson, Songwriter, singer
      1940 ~ Barry Sadler, Songwriter, singer
      1944 ~ Keith Emerson, Keyboards with Emerson, Lake & Powell as well as Emerson, Lake & 
           Palmer
      1944 ~ Chris Morris, Guitarist with Paper Lace
      1945 ~ Rick Grech, Bassist, violinist
      1950 ~ Dan Peek, Guitarist, singer with America
      1951 ~ Ronald Bell, Saxophone with Kool & The Gang
      1957 ~ Lyle Lovett, Grammy Award-winning singer, Best Male Country Vocal in 1989
      1959 ~ Eddie MacDonald, Bass with The Alarm
      1962 ~ Rick Allen, Drummer with Def Leppard
      1962 ~ Mags Furuholmen, Keyboards, singer with a-ha
      1968 ~ George Harrison's soundtrack LP, "Wonderwall", was released. It was the first 
           solo album by one of The Beatles. The album was also the first on the new Apple 
           label.
      1969 ~ Warner Brothers Records added Faces, to its roster. They fared OK, but even 
           better when lead singer Rod Stewart stepped out to become a superstar on his own. 
           The group's former label, Mercury, capitalized on the fact by releasing Maggie 
           Mae and three other Faces tunes before Stewart went solo for Warner exclusively. 
      1969 ~ The last album of The Beatles reached #1 on the album chart. "Abbey Road" was the 
           top LP for eleven nonconsecutive weeks. 
      1975 ~ Elton John's Island Girl hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The 
           song parked itself at the top of the hit heap for 3 weeks. 

   2      1739 ~ Karl Ditters von Dittersdorf, Austrian composer and violinist
           More information about Dittersdorf
      1937 ~ Earl ‘Speedoo' Carroll, Singer with these groups the Carnations, the Cadillacs 
           and the Coasters
      1938 ~ Jay Black (David Blatt), Singer with Jay and The Americans
      1941 ~ Brian Poole, Singer with Brian Poole & The Tremeloes
      1941 ~ Bruce Welch (Cripps), Guitarist with The Shadows
      1944 ~ Keith Emerson, British rock keyboardist
      1946 ~ Giuseppe Sinopoli, Italian conductor and composer
      1952 ~ Maxine Nightingale, Singer
      1955 ~ The first pop song by Julie London appeared on the charts. London's smoky and 
           sultry rendition of Cry Me a River stayed on the pop chart for five months, 
           reaching as high as #9. Julie was Mrs. Jack Webb (Dragnet) and Mrs. Bobby Troup 
           (songwriter, trumpeter).
      1958 ~ Billboard magazine introduced a new chart. It ranked the top singles in order, 
           from number 1 to 100. Previously, only 30 records had been on the weekly hit 
           list. 
      1963 ~ After giving benefit performances for years, singer Kate Smith presented her 
           first full concert performance to a paying crowd at Carnegie Hall in New York  
           City. 
      1968 ~ Another biggie for Stevie Wonder went on sale. For Once in My Life reached #2 
           on the pop charts on December 28, 1968. 
      1974 ~ The first of the former Beatles to try a nationwide concert tour was in Los 
           Angeles, appearing at the Forum. Unfortunately, only half the house was filled to 
           see George Harrison. He stopped touring soon thereafter.
      1985 ~ On this day, for only the second time, a TV soundtrack LP topped the album 
           charts. "Miami Vice" (title track by Jan Hammer) enjoyed a run of 11 
           (nonconsecutive) weeks. The only other TV soundtrack LP to chart at #1 was Henry 
           Mancini's "Peter Gunn" in 1959.

   3   1587 ~ Samuel Scheidt, German organist and composer
      1801 ~ Vincenzo Bellini, Italian composer 
         1911 ~ Vladimir Ussachevsky, Russian-born American composer
           More information about Ussachevsky
      1933 ~ John Barry, Academy Award~winning composer
      1941 ~ The classic Jerry Gray arrangement of String of Pearls was recorded by the 
           Glenn Miller Orchestra on Bluebird 78s. The recording featured the trumpet of 
           Bobby Hackett.
      1948 ~ Lulu (Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie), Singer.  She changed her name to Lulu 
           (and The Luvvers) in Scotland, early in her career. Married to singer 
           Maurice Gibb
      1954 ~ Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard), Singer
      1956 ~ The classic MGM film, The Wizard of Oz, was first seen on television. The film 
           cost CBS $250,000 to show. The movie was shown 18 times between 1956 and 1976, 
           and you can probably catch it again no matter what year it is. 
      1957 ~ Sam Phillips, owner of legendary Sun Records in Memphis, TN, released Great 
           Balls of Fire, by Jerry Lee Lewis. Looking carefully at the original label, one 
           will find credit to Lewis and "his pumping piano." 
      1960 ~ James Prime, Keyboards with Deacon Blue
      1960 ~ "The Unsinkable Molly Brown", opened on Broadway. The play would become an 
           American theater standard and a smashing career launch for Shirley MacLaine. 
      1962 ~ Billboard magazine dropped the "Western" from its chart title. The list has 
           been known as Hot Country Singles ever since. 
      1972 ~ Singers Carly Simon and James Taylor were married in Carly's Manhattan 
           apartment. The couple was said to be the highest-paid couple in the world next to 
           Elizabeth Taylor and Richard Burton. Carly and ‘Sweet Baby' James would divorce 
           years later, but they are still good friends. 
      1990 ~ Mary Martin died
      2000 ~ Mary Hunter Wolf, one of the first female directors on Broadway died at the age 
           of 95. 
         Wolf made her Broadway debut directing the 1944 production of Horton Foote's "Only 
           the Heart." The following year, she directed the first black Broadway musical,  
           "Carib Song." 
         After directing a string of successful plays and musicals, Wolf was hired as an 
           associate director for Jerome Robbins' "Peter Pan," starring Mary Martin. 
         In 1947 Wolf was tapped to direct a new musical "High Button Shoes," but was 
           dismissed by the show's producers before rehearsals began. Wolf sued, charging 
           that her contract had been broken because she was a woman. Two years later the 
           New York Supreme Court ruled in her favor. 
         During her third year at Wellesley College, Wolf visited her aunt, author Mary 
           Austin, in Santa Fe, N.M. where she found herself introduced into the circle of 
           D.H Lawrence, Willa Cather and Sinclair Lewis. She soon abandoned her studies to 
           pursue a directing career.

   4     Election Day 

      Karl Tausig (1841) Polish pianist
      1847 ~ Felix Mendelssohn died
           More information about Mendelssohn
      1922 ~ Paul Rovsing Olsen, Danish composer, ethnomusicologist and music critic
      1922 ~ Anthony Vazzana, American composer
      1938 ~ Harry Elston, Musician with Friends of Distinction
      1938 ~ You're a Sweet Little Headache, from the movie "Paris Honeymoon", was recorded by 
           Bing Crosby on Decca. 
      1940 ~ Delbert McClinton, Songwriter, singer
      1947 ~ Mike Smith, Musician, saxophone
      1954 ~ Florence Henderson, who was all of 20 years old, joined with Ezio Pinza and 
           Walter Slezak in "Fanny". The show lit up Broadway 888 times. 
      1962 ~ Bob Dylan gave his first major concert outside of Greenwich Village. The 
           Carnegie Hall solo appearance was not well attended. 
      1963 ~ The Beatles played a Royal Command Performance as part of an evening of 
           entertainment for Queen Elizabeth at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. David 
           Frost was the emcee. 
      1984 ~ The Artist Formerly Known as Prince kicked off his fall tour in Detroit. He 
           broke the record for sold-out performances at the 20,000-seat Joe Louis Arena. 
           The previous record-holder was The Artist Still Known as Neil Diamond, in 1983.
      2000 ~ Vernel Fournier, who was a drummer for premier jazz acts such as Charlie 
           Parker and Dizzy Gillespie, passed away after suffering an aneurysm. He was 72. 
         Fournier, a New Orleans native, took lessons from a Bourbon Street drummer and as a 
           teen played in New Orleans. He performed with jazz singers including Nancy Wilson 
           and Billy Eckstine. 
         He moved from New York City, where he lived for more than 30 years, to Madison 
           County in 1998.  

   5   1895 ~ Walter Gieseking, German pianist
      1912 ~ Roy Rogers (Leonard Slye) ‘King of the Cowboys', singer, married to Dale Evans
      1929 ~ McKinney's Cotton Pickers picked and fiddled their way to the Victor studios to 
           record Plain Dirt.  Among those pickin' and grinnin' were luminaries such as 
           Fats Waller (on piano), Benny Carter and Coleman Hawkins.
      1931 ~ Ike Turner, American soul-rock singer, pianist and guitarist, duo with Ike and
           Tina Turner Revue, owner of a recording studio
      1936 ~ Billy Sherrill, Songwriter, musician: saxophone, record producer, VP/Executive 
           Producer of CBS Nashville
      1941 ~ Art Garfunkel, American folk-rock singer, songwriter and actor, duo ~ Simon and 
           Garfunkel
      1942 ~ George M. Cohan passed away at the age of 
           64. Cohan was a legendary songwriter whose spirited and star~spangled tunes lit 
           up Broadway and will be a part of Americana forever. 
           More information about Cohan
      1946 ~ Gram Parsons (Cecil Ingram Connor), Singer with The Byrds, 
           songwriter
      1947 ~ Peter Noone (Peter Blair Denis Bernard Noone), Guitarist, piano, singer, Herman 
           of Herman's Hermits, actor
      1955 ~ The Vienna State Opera House in Austria formally opened, celebrating the end of 
           17 years of foreign occupation. 
      1959 ~ Bryan Adams, Singer, songwriter
      1963 ~ Andrea McArdle, Actress, singer in Annie
      1977 ~ Guy Lombardo passed away at the age of 75.  He 
           was a musical fixture for decades, especially on New Year's Eve.  Guy
           Lombardo, leader of the Royal Canadians, is fondly remembered for many songs he 
           made famous but his most popular remains Auld Lang Syne.
      1986 ~ Dick Clark registered for an initial public stock offering for his TV 
           production company (DCP). On the registration form, he called his product ‘mind 
           candy'.
      1989 ~ Vladimir Horowitz passed away
           Read more about Horowitz
      1989 ~ Barry Sadler passed away
      2000 ~ Frances Mercer, a leading model of the 1930s who went on to star in films, 
           radio, television and on Broadway, died at the age of 85. 
         Chosen as one of New York's most beautiful models while still in her teens, Mercer 
           made her film debut in 1938 playing Ginger Rogers' rival for James Stewart's 
           affections in "Vivacious Lady." 
         In the next two years Mercer made eight more movies, including "The Mad Miss 
           Manton" opposite Barbara Stanwyck. 
         In theater work, she had costarring roles in the Broadway musicals "All the Things 
           You Are" and "Something for the Boys." 
         Mercer also had her own New York-based radio show, "Sunday Night at Nine." 
         On TV, Mercer played a vituperative mother-in-law on the soap opera "For Better or 
           Worse" and surgical nurse Ann Talbot in the 1955-1957 syndicated series, "Dr. 
           Hudson's Secret Journal."
      2000 ~ Jack O'Brian, a newspaper columnist and Associated Press critic who wrote about 
           television and Broadway gossip, died at the age of 86.
         O'Brian chronicled soap opera plot twists and celebrities and the quiz show 
           scandals of the 1950s. The cultural figures who met with his approval included  
           Bert Lahr, Perry Como and Walter Cronkite. 
         He took a job as a cub reporter with a Buffalo newspaper and established a  
           reputation for cantankerousness when he skewered the local orchestra's young 
           accordionists. 
         He joined the AP as its drama and movie critic in 1943. Later, he wrote about 
           television and Broadway for a string of newspapers and a nationally syndicated 
           column. He also hosted a WOR-AM radio show.   

   6      1814 ~ Adolphe Sax, Belgian instrumentalist, inventor of the saxophone
           and saxotromba
           More information about Sax
         1854 ~ John Phillip Sousa, American bandmaster and composer; 
           "The March King"
           Read quotes by and about Sousa
           More information about Sousa
      1860 ~ Ignace Jan Paderewski, Composer, pianist, Polish patriot, First Premier of 
           Poland (1919), brought white Zinfandel wine grapes to U.S. for the first time
           More information about Ignace Jan Paderewski
      1916 ~ Ray Conniff, American conductor, arranger and composer of popular music, 
           trombonist
      1932 ~ Stonewall Jackson, Singer
      1936 ~ This was the day that big band icon Woody Herman played in his first recording 
           session. He recorded Wintertime Dreams on Decca disc #1056.
      1937 ~ Eugene Pitt, Singer
      1938 ~ P.J. Proby (James Smith), Singer
      1940 ~ Guy Lombardo and the Royal Canadians recorded one of their lesser-known songs 
           for Decca. It was The Moon Fell in the River.
      1941 ~ Doug Sahm, Singer, founded Sir Douglas Quintet
      1943 ~ Mike Clifford, Singer 
      1947 ~ George Young, Guitarist with The Easybeats
      1948 ~ Glenn Frey, Songwriter, singer with The Eagles
      2001 ~ John Denman, a clarinetist who was most recently artistic adviser to 
           the Tucson Symphony Orchestra's pops division, died from complications 
           of esophageal cancer. He was 68. 
         Denman, a native of London, was a principal clarinetist for the orchestra 
           for more than 20 years. 
         Denman also played principal clarinet with the London Symphony Orchestra 
           and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. He taught music at Trinity 
           College in England before coming to teach at the University of Arizona. 
         He joined the Tucson Symphony Orchestra in the late 1970s. 
         In 1984, Denman left the University of Arizona after failing to receive 
           tenure. For the rest of his life, he focused on his performing career. 
           He also designed a small clarinet, the Kinder-Klari, to make practicing 
           easier for young hands. 
         Denman performed and recorded with jazz icon Buddy DeFranco and was a 
           member of several jazz bands.
      2002 ~ Maria Johansson, an organist who became a local legend for singing 
           religious songs and hymns in one of Stockholm's main squares every day 
           for nearly three decades, died at the age of 84.
         The daughter of a preacher, Johansson often served homemade sandwiches to 
           the poor during breaks in her daily performance. At one point, she went 
           to work at a bakery to help pay for the sandwiches, her husband said.

   7   1922 ~ Al Hirt, Trumpeter, Flight of the Bumble Bee as theme song for TV's The Green          
           Hornet, played in singer Don Gibson's band, regular on Make Your Own Kind of 
           Music
      1926 ~ Dame Joan Sutherland, Australian coloratura soprano
      1930 ~ The Waltz You Save for Me, by ‘The Waltz King' himself, Wayne King, was 
           recorded on Victor. It became King's theme.
      1937 ~ Mary Travers, American folk singer, Mary of Peter, Paul and Mary
      1938 ~ Dee (Delectus) Clark, Singer
      1942 ~ Johnny Rivers (John Ramistella), Singer
      1943 ~ Joni Mitchell, Canadian folk-rock singer, songwriter and guitarist
      1947 ~ Billboard magazine began listing the top 15 popular records. Only 10 songs had 
           been featured previously.
      1956 ~ Elvis Presley hit the charts with Love Me. The song was the first 
           million-seller to make the charts without being released as a single. It was, 
           instead, an EP (extended play) 45 rpm, with three other songs on it: Rip It Up, 
           Paralyzed and When My Blue Moon Turns to Gold Again on RCA Victor. 
      1970 ~ Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? was released by Columbia. It became 
           the third tune by Chicago to hit the pop music charts. Make Me Smile and 25 or 6 
           to 4 were previous hits. Does Anybody Really Know What Time It Is? made it to #7 
           on the charts, January 7, 1971. 
      1976 ~ Gone With the Wind was aired (over two nights) on NBC-TV. The showing was the 
           highest-rated TV show in history. 65 percent of all viewers turned on their sets 
           to watch Scarlet O'Hara and Rhett Butler. 
      1978 ~ Nick Gilder, Singer
      1979 ~ The Rose, starring Bette Midler, got star treatment with a world premiere in 
           Los Angeles. The movie was modeled after the life of Janis Joplin. 
      2000 ~ Doug Nelson, bassist in teen blues star Jonny Lang's band, was killed when he 
           was hit by a pickup truck on a rural highway in northern Minnesota. He was 46. 
         Nelson began playing professionally at age 15. He worked in Los Angeles for a time 
           and toured with Olivia Newton-John, before returning in the late 1980s to the  
         Twin Cities, where he played with local bands. 
         He joined Lang's group about three years ago. 
      2000 ~ Columbia Legacy and Verve released a five-CD box set companion titled 
           "Ken Burns Jazz: The Story of American Music" in addition to 22 individual 
            artist discs.  Read the newsitem
      2001 ~ Gene Wooten, a dobro player who backed Patty Loveless, the Osborne 
           Brothers, Wilma Lee Cooper and other country stars, died from complications 
           of lung cancer. He was 49. 
         "He was like a teacher for everyone," said mandolinist Roland White. "He was 
           like our guru. He just helped everybody in music. ... There was no ego ever -              
           ever - and that's hard to find." 
         Wooten, a native of Franklinton, N.C., attended Appalachian State University 
           in Boone, N.C., where he began his career in music. He moved to Nashville in 
           1977 and was hired by Cooper. 
         Wooten played on the Mountain Soul album by Loveless this year. He was 
           voted best dobro player three times by the Society for the Preservation of 
           Bluegrass in America. 

   8   1793 ~ The Louvre Museum opened in Paris.
      1880 ~ Sarah Bernhardt made her American stage debut. Bernhardt appeared in Adrienne 
           Lecouvreur in New York City.
      1890 ~ Composer César Franck died in Paris
      1921 ~ Jerome Hines, American bass
           More about Jerome Hines           
      1924 ~ Sergei Mikhailovich Liapunov
      1927 ~ Patti Page, American singer of popular music
      1927 ~ Chris Conner, Singer
      1932 ~ The team of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II debuted with their show, Make 
           Mine Music.  The Broadway production continued for 342 performances.
      1939 ~ This day marked Frank Sinatra's last recording session with the Harry James 
           Band. Sides  recorded were Every Day of My Life and Ciribiribin. 
      1939 ~ "Life With Father" premiered on Broadway in New York City. Eight years later, the 
           show broke the existing record for longest-running stage production. 
      1941 ~ Rodney Slater, Saxophone, trumpet with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
      1944 ~ Bonnie Bramlett, Songwriter, singer with Delaney and Bonnie and Friends
      1946 ~ Roy Wood (Ulysses Adrian Wood), Singer, songwriter, formed Electric Light 
           Orchestra
      1947 ~ Minnie (Julia) Riperton, Singer
      1949 ~ Alan Berger, Bass with Southside Johnny & The Asbury Jukes
      1949 ~ Bonnie Raitt, American blues-rock singer and guitarist, won the Grammy 
           Award in 1990, daughter of actor, John Raitt
      1954 ~ Ricki Lee Jones, Singer
      1958 ~ Terry Lee Miall, Drummer with Adam & The Ants
      1964 ~ Judy Garland and her daughter, Liza Minnelli, appeared together at the London 
           Palladium. The program was shown on U.S. TV; and the LP, Live at the London 
           Palladium became a classic on Capitol Records.  
      1967 ~ The first solo movie by a Beatle opened in the U.S. It was John Lennon's How I 
           Won the War.
      2003 ~ Henry Phace Roberts, a tap dancer who performed with the Copasetics, the 
           Five Blazers and the Three Rockets, died. He was 92.
         Roberts performed on television on "The Tonight Show" and "The Ed Sullivan S
           Show" and was in the films "Cabin in the Sky," "Stormy Weather" and "The 
           Cotton Club."
         Born in Savannah, Ga., he was trained to tap dance on the streets as a child.
         Roberts began dancing professionally at 14, and performed for the last time at 
           87 with the Copasetics on a European tour.

   9     Alice S.  

      1881 ~ Johannes Brahms gave the first performance of his Piano Concert No.2 in 
           Budapest.
      1899 ~ "Mezz" Mezzrow, American jazz clarinetist and saxophonist
      1929 ~ Piero Cappuccili, Italian baritone
      1930 ~ Ivan Moravec, Czech pianist
      1938 ~ 24-year-old Mary Martin made her Broadway stage debut in the musical comedy 
           "Leave It to Me". She brought down the house as she sang My Heart Belongs to Daddy.  
           And the critics raved about New York's bright new star. 
         The following year brought Martin a top-ten hit with the same song. Martin suddenly 
           found herself singing duets with Bing Crosby; starring on "Broadway in One Touch  
           of Venus" in 1943; "Lute Song" in 1946; touring in "Annie Get Your Gun"; and then 
           taking on what would become her immortal role, that of Nellie in "South Pacific". 
         South Pacific was one of Broadway's biggest hits and the cast album was one of the  
           first of its kind, also a big seller. Then came Mary's stage and TV performances 
           as Peter Pan. This would become her signature role, a memorable moment as the 
           petite actress flew through the air with Tinkerbell and fought the dangerous 
           Captain Hook. 
         Broadway called to Mary Martin again in 1959 for "The Sound of Music" and once more 
           in 1966 for "I Do, I Do". 
         Back in 1951, Mary Martin recorded a duet with a young man who was also destined 
           for instant and long-term stardom. The song they sang together was Get Out Those 
           Old Records. The twenty-year-old was her son, Larry Hagman, who later played J.R. 
           Ewing. This is one man that Mary Martin didn't want to wash out of her hair! 
      1955 ~ Harry Belafonte recorded Jamaica Farewell and Come Back Liza for RCA Victor. 
           The two tunes completed the Calypso album which led to Belafonte's nickname,  
           ‘Calypso King'. 
      1967 ~ The first issue of Rolling Stone was published. John Lennon was on the cover. 
           The magazine said it was not simply a music magazine but was also about "...the 
           things and attitudes that music embraces." 
      2003 ~ Saxophonist Buddy Arnold, who performed with such jazz greats as 
           Stan Kenton, Buddy Rich and Tommy Dorsey and co-founded a program to 
           help musicians suffering from drug and alcohol abuse, died at the 
           age of age 77.
         Born Arnold Buddy Grishaver, he began playing the saxophone at age 9. 
           And by the time he was 16, he was touring as a professional sideman 
           and performing at the Apollo Theater in Harlem with bandleader 
           George Auld. After serving in the Army during World War II, Arnold 
           joined the band of super-drummer Buddy Rich on a West Coast tour. 
         Arnold earned his first recording credits in 1949 on the Mercury 
           Records release of Gene Williams and the Junior Thornhill Band, and 
           he toured with clarinetist Buddy DeFranco's orchestra in 1951. But 
           he soon descended into a decades-long struggle with drug addiction. 
         Although he landed a recording contract with ABC Paramount in 1956 
           following an 18-month hospitalization, he was sentenced to prison in 
           1958 on an attempted burglary conviction. Pardoned two years later, 
           he played with the Dorsey Band and toured with Stan Kenton. 
         He later settled in Los Angeles and recorded four albums for Capitol 
           Records.
         Arnold took a job in a drug treatment program after his early release 
           from prison and went on to establish the Musician's Assistance 
           Program with his wife, Carole Fields, in 1992. The organization, 
           dedicated to helping needy musicians obtain treatment for drug and 
           alcohol addiction, has served more than 1,500 individuals during the 
           past decade.  

   10     Ashleigh H.  

      1483 ~ Martin Luther, German religious reformer, composer of hymns and flutist
        1668 ~ François Couperin, French composer and organist
           Read more about Couperin
      1888 ~ Fritz Kreisler, a 13-year-old violinist from Vienna, made his American debut in 
           New York City. 
      1900 ~ "Floradora" opened in New York City this day. The play was received by cheering 
           audiences.
      1939 ~ Muggsy Spanier and his band recorded Dipper Mouth Blues on Bluebird Records.
        1944 ~ Tim Rice, British author and librettist
           Read more about Rice
       1956 ~ Billie Holiday returned to the New York City stage at Carnegie Hall after a 
           three-year absence. The concert was called a high point in jazz history.
       1969 ~ On this day, twenty years after the first release of "Rudolph the Red-Nosed 
           Reindeer", Gene Autry received a gold record for the single. 
      1969 ~ "Can you tell me how to get ... how to get to Sesame Street?" The classic, 
           "Sesame Street" debuted on 170 Public Broadcasting stations and 20 commercial 
           outlets. Created by the Children's Television Workshop, the show starred 
           endearing characters including Gordon, Susan, Bob, Bert, Ernie, the Cookie 
           Monster, Oscar the Grouch and, of course, Big Bird! 
      1986 ~ "Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Live/1975-85", the long-anticipated 
           album by ‘The Boss', hit record stores this day. Fans made the LP a one~day 
           sellout, buying over a million copies and generating more first-day dollars than 
           any record in 30 years. It's a five-disc, 40-song set.
       1994 ~ Carmen McRae passed away

   11     Veteran's Day  
      1918 ~ This is Armistice Day or Remembrance Day or Veterans Day or Victory Day or 
           World War I Memorial Day. The name of this special day may be different in 
           different places throughout many nations; but its significance is the same. It 
           was on this day, at 11 a.m., that World War I ceased. The Allied and Central 
           Powers signed an armistice agreement at 5 a.m. in Marshal Foch's railway car in 
           the Forest of Compiegne, France. Even today, many still bow their heads in 
           remembrance at the 11th hour of this the 11th day of the 11th month.
      1883 ~ Ernst Ansermet, Swiss conductor
      1927 ~ Mose Allison, American jazz pianist, trumpeter and singer       
      1929 ~ Dick Clark, TV producer, host of American Bandstand, former Philadelphia DJ
      1929 ~ Andy Kirk and his orchestra recorded "Froggy Bottom" in Kansas City.
      1931 ~ Leslie Parnas, American cellist
      1932 ~ The National Broadcasting Company opened its new studios at Radio City in New 
           York City. They celebrated with a gala program at Radio City Music Hall.
      1938 ~ Kate Smith sang God Bless America for the very first time. It would later 
           become her signature song. Irving Berlin penned the tune in 1917 but never 
           released it until Miss Smith sang it for the first time on her radio broadcast.
           Actually, the song was then 20 years old, but it had never been publicly 
           performed before.
      1944 ~ Frank Sinatra began a long and successful career with Columbia Records.
      1974 ~ Leonardo DiCaprio, American actor
      1979 ~ Dimitri Tiomkin passed away
      1992 ~ Erskine Hawkins passed away
      2000 ~ Isadore Granoff, a Ukrainian immigrant who started teaching violin lessons as a 
           teen-ager and built a famed music school in Philadelphia, died in his sleep at 
           the age of 99. 
         Granoff taught Dizzy Gillespie, John Coltrane and others during more than a half-
           century at the Granoff School of Music. 
         Granoff taught amateurs and professionals. Some of his students went on to become 
           prominent players of classical music, jazz, swing, big band and Latin sounds. 
         Granoff sold the school in 1970 and later stepped down from the board of directors, 
           renouncing the new owner's promotional tactics. 

   12      1833 ~ Alexander Borodin, Russian composer
           Links to more information about Borodin
      1920 ~ Jo Stafford, Singer
      1925 ~ Louis Armstrong recorded "My Heart", starting a career that brought him 
           worldwide fame. 
      1939 ~ Lucia Popp, Czech soprano
      1940 ~ Walt Disney released "Fantasia". One critic called the film "As terrific as 
           anything that has ever happened on the screen."
      1941 ~ Hot Lips Page performed the vocal for Artie Shaw's very long and very slow 
           version of St. James Infirmary on RCA Victor.
      1943 ~ Brian Hyland, Singer
      1943 ~ John Maus, Bass, singer with the trio, The Walker Brothers
      1944 ~ Booker T. Jones, Musician with Booker T and the MG's
      1945 ~ Neil Young, Canadian folk-rock singer, songwriter and guitarist, with Crosby, 
           Stills, Nash & Young
      1948 ~ Errol Brown, Songwriter with Tony Wilson singer with Hot Chocolate
      1950 ~ Barbara Fairchild, Singer
      1955 ~ Leslie McKeown, Singer with The Bay City Rollers
      1967 ~ Pearl Bailey took over the lead in the Broadway musical, "Hello Dolly". ‘Pearlie 
           Mae' was a smash hit in the role.
      1970 ~ After a successful London run, Anthony Quayle starred in the Broadway opening 
           of "Sleuth".
      1980 ~ John Lennon's "Starting Over" was released. John and Yoko were seen kissing on 
           the record cover. 
      1983 ~ Lionel Richie began the first of four consecutive weeks at the top of the music 
           charts as All Night Long (All Night) became the most popular song in the U.S. 
      2001 ~ Broadway composer Albert Hague, who won a Tony for his work on Redhead and 
           who played the part of cranky music teacher Benjamin Shorofsky in the Fame 
           movie and television series, died of cancer. He was 81.
         Hague composed the music for many Broadway shows, including The Fig Leaves Are
           Falling, Plain and Fancy, Cafe Crown and Miss Moffat, which starred Bette 
           Davis. He won his Tony in 1959. 
         He also wrote the music for the animated TV classic How the Grinch Stole 
           Christmas and appeared in a number of movies, including the Michael Jordan-
           Bugs Bunny comedy Space Jam, in which he played a psychiatrist. 
         It was his long-running role as white-bearded, German-accented teacher 
           Shorofsky that brought him to Los Angeles. He played the part for five years 
           on TV. 
         Other TV acting credits included guest appearances on such shows as Hotel, 
           Beauty and the Beast and Tales From the Dark Side. 
         Born Albert Marcuse in Berlin, Hague fled his native Germany for Rome with his 
           mother in 1937 after the Nazis came to power. He eventually settled in the 
           United States, where he studied music at the University of Cincinnati and 
           was adopted by Dr. Elliott B. Hague, an eye surgeon. 
         In recent years, he and his late wife, actress Renee Orin Hague, had a 
           successful cabaret act, appearing at Carnegie Hall two years ago.
      2003 ~ Guy Livingston, a theater maven and journalist who reviewed stage performances
           for Variety, died. He was 92.
         After serving in World War II, Livingston became a drama critic for Variety, traveling 
           between Boston and New York reviewing musicals. Later, he became a press agent for 
           many musicals, as well as for musical artists, among them Judy Garland, Nat ‘King' Cole 
           and Ray Charles.
      2003 ~ Tony Thompson, the driving force behind such groups as Chic and the Power 
           Station, and a drummer whose effortless ability to move from jazz to rock to funk 
           made him a prized session man, died of renal cell cancer. He was 48.
         The drummer was noted not only for keeping perfect time but also for subtle cymbal 
           syncopation and raw power, talents that kept him in demand as a session player for 
           such stars as Madonnas, David Bowie, Diana Ross, Patti LaBelle and Sister Sledge.
         By the late 1970s, Chic was one of the most popular groups of the disco era. The 
           group sold millions of records beginning with the hit single Dance, Dance, 
           Dance in 1977. Other hits included the singles Le Freak and Good 
           Times and the albums C'est Chic and Risque.
         After the group disbanded in 1983, Thompson kept busy as a session player, appearing 
           on Sister Sledge's We Are Family album in 1979, Bowie's Let's Dance 
           in 1983 and Madonna's Like a Virgin in 1984. He also appeared on Mick 
           Jagger's solo album She's The Boss in 1985.
         That same year, Thompson and others formed Power Station. The group's hits included 
           Some Like it Hot.

   13   1817 ~ Louis Lefébure-Wély, French organist and composer
      1854 ~ George Whitefield Chadwick, American composer and conductor
      1921 ~ Loonas Kokkonen, Finnish composer
      1943 ~ Leonard Bernstein replaced an indisposed Bruno Walter as conductor of the New 
           York Philharmonic Orchestra. Thus began a legendary career and worldwide 
           appreciation for Bernstein's many compositions with the orchestra.
      1951 ~ Nicolai Karlovich Medtner died
      1965 ~ Julie Harris starred in "Skyscraper", which opened on Broadway in New York 
           City. The musical ran for seven months.
      1968 ~ This was a good day for The Beatles. Their movie, "Yellow Submarine", premiered 
           in the U.S. and the single, Hey Jude, topped the pop music charts (it was in 
           its 7th of 9 weeks at #1). 
      1975 ~ Whoa Whoa Whoa, Feeeelings. One of the great lounge-lizard songs of all time, 
           Feelings by Morris Albert, went gold.
      1999 ~ Donald Mills passed away
      2000 ~ Cecil Blackwood, a gospel singer who was a member of the Blackwood Brothers and 
           crooned with Elvis Presley, of cancer at the age of 66.
         The Blackwood Brothers, who have won nine Grammys and 20 Dove awards, were a 
           favorite of Elvis Presley, who briefly sang with Cecil Blackwood in a group named 
           the Songfellows. 
         The Blackwood Brothers were formed in 1934, the same year Blackwood was born in 
           Ackerman, Miss. He became the group's baritone in 1954. 
         The Blackwood Brothers have recorded 300 albums, backed country stars Porter 
           Wagoner and Barbara Mandrell, and are members of the Southern Gospel Music Hall 
           of Fame. 
      2000 ~ Jimmy Payne Sr., a tap dancer whose rhythm and technique as well as a 
           mastery of precise steps attracted Bob Fosse, June Allyson, Gregory Hines, 
           Lena Horne and others to his Chicago studio, died Nov. 13 at the age of 95. 
         The son of a Cuban mother and Barbadian father, Payne grew up in the Panama 
           Canal Zone before moving to New York in 1917. 
         After traveling from New York to Chicago in 1947, Payne helped introduce African 
           and Afro-Cuban rhythms to the dance scene. He taught in a number of Chicago 
           dance studios from the 1950s into the 1970s. 
         He continued to teach some of the city's top dancers until his regimen was 
           slowed by a number of strokes in his early 90s. 
      2000 ~ New York entertainment lawyer and tax expert Joseph Taubman, who wrote how-
           to books for people working in the business side of show business, died at the 
           age of 81. Taubman's clients included Lionel Richie, Pete Seeger, Joan Baez 
           and Arlo Guthrie. He also served as counsel to the National Film Board of 
           Canada. 
         Taubman wrote "Financing a Theatrical Production," and his treatises on 
           various aspects of the entertainment business published in the 1970s remain in 
           print. 
      2000 ~ The site, thebeatles.com, went live  
           and is the band's only official presence on the Internet among a flood of 
           unofficial fan sites. 
      2002 ~ Mieke van Hoek, a dance choreographer and teacher, died. She was 56.
         The Dutch-born van Hoek taught modern-dance choreography and dance 
           improvisation at the Rotterdamse Dansacademie.
         After emigrating to the United States in 1977, van Hoek worked as a teaching 
           assistant at the American Dance Festival in Durham, N.C., and studied at the 
           Laban/Bartenieff Institute in New York.
         She founded a center for meditation, healing and the arts in Canones in 2000.

   14   1778 ~ Johan Nepomuk Hummel, German pianist and composer
         1900 ~ Aaron Copland, American composer and conductor
           Read quotes by and about Copland
           More information about Copland
      1904 ~ Art Hodes, Russian-born American jazz pianist
      1915 ~ Martha Tilton, Singer, actress in The Benny Goodman Story, Sunny
      1920 ~ Johnny Desmond (Giovanni DeSimone), Singer with the Bob-O-Links, the Bob Crosby 
           Band, Glenn Miller AAF band, Don McNeill's Breakfast Club, Your Hit Parade, Face 
           the Music and an actor
      1921 ~ KYW radio, Chicago, IL broadcast the first opera by a professional company. 
           Listeners heard Samson Et Dilila as it was being performed at the Chicago 
           Auditorium.
      1940 ~ Freddie Garrity, Singer with Freddie and the Dreamers
      1944 ~ An outstanding array of musicians gathered in Hollywood to record a classic. 
           Tommy Dorsey and orchestra made Opus No. 1, Victor record number 20-1608. 
           Buddy Rich was the drummer in the session, Al Klink and Buddy DeFranco blew sax 
           and Nelson Riddle played trombone on the Sy Oliver arrangement. 
      1948 ~ James Young, Guitarist with Styx
      1951 ~ Stephen Bishop, Singer, guitarist, songwriter
      1953 ~ Alexander O'Neal, Songwriter, singer
      1954 ~ Yanni (Chrysomallis), Pianist, music used on broadcasts of: Tour de France, 
           Olympic Games, World Series; swimmer on the Greek National Swim Team
      1955 ~ Frankie Banali, Musician with Quiet Riot
      1956 ~ Alec Such, Bass with Bon Jovi
      1967 ~ The Monkees received a gold record for Daydream Believer. 
      1975 ~ They Just Can't Stop It (The Games People Play) became a gold record for the 
           Spinners. Their other hits include Then Came You (with Dionne Warwick), Could It 
           Be I'm Falling in Love, The Rubberband Man, Working My Way Back to You, Cupid, 
           It's a Shame and I'll Be Around, for Motown. 
      1981 ~ For the second week in a row, Daryl Hall and John Oates owned the top spot on 
           the pop music charts with Private Eyes.
      2000 ~ David Wilson, drummer and backup vocalist for The Cascades, died at the age of 63. 
           The Cascades were best known for their No. 1 1963 hit Rhythm of the Rain, as 
           well as Second Chance and Shy Girl. 
         Wilson was born in 1936 in Scotland and moved to the United States with his family 
           six years later. 
         After he joined the Navy, Wilson formed a band with songwriter John Gummoe and some 
           friends in San Diego. They first called themselves the Thunder Notes, but later 
           took the name The Cascades when they recorded Rhythm of the Rain. The single 
           earned the group a gold record.      

   15   1914 ~ Jorge Bolet, Cuban-born American pianist
      1926 ~ NBC broadcast its first music program.  It featured the New York Symphony 
           Orchestra and many distinguished soloists.  24 stations carried the first 
           broadcast. The program was a gala 4½-hour broadcast from the Waldorf-Astoria 
           Hotel in New York City. Two remote pickups were also on the program. Opera star 
           Mary Garden sang from Chicago and Will Rogers presented a humorous monologue from 
           Independence, Kansas. Charles Lindbergh was among the luminaries who attended the 
           broadcast.
      1928 ~ C.W. McCall (William Fries), Singer, songwriter
      1932 ~ Petula Clark, British pop singer (Downtown, My Love)
      1933 ~ Clyde (Lensley) McPhatter, Singer with the Dominoes
      1937 ~ Little Willie John (William Edward John), Singer, convicted of manslaughter
         1942 ~ Daniel Barenboim, Argentine-born Israeli pianist and conductor of English Chamber 
           Orchestra
           Read quotes by and about Barenboim
           Read a newsitem about Barenboim
      1945 ~ Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Singer with Abba
      1946 ~ Janet Lennon, Singer with The Lennon Sisters
      1954 ~ Tony Thompson, Drummer with Chic; played with Led Zeppelin, Live Aid, drummer 
           with Patti LaBelle
           More about Thompson
      1954 ~ Studio One on CBS-TV featured Joan Weber singing Let Me Go, Lover. The song had 
           enjoyed limited popularity before the TV show, but skyrocketed to fame 
           immediately after. 
      1956 ~ Love Me Tender, the first Elvis Presley film, premiered. 
      1967 ~ Mari Fernandez, Singer with Sweet Sensation
      1969 ~ The first album featuring Karen and Richard Carpenter was released by A&M 
           Records. Offering would not be a big seller, but a single from the disc, a remake 
           of The Beatles' Ticket to Ride, would gain national attention. Their next album, 
           however, would establish them as major international stars (Close to You). 
      1974 ~ The most expensive 2-record album was released-on Casablanca Records. It was a 
           comedy disc titled, Here's Johnny - Magic Moments from the Tonight Show. 
      1974 ~ The group, Faces, released their tune with the longest title. You Can Make Me 
           Dance, Sing or Anything (Even Take the Dog for a Walk, Mend a Fuse, Fold Away the 
           Ironing Board, Or Any Other Domestic Shortcomings). 
      1980 ~ After years of success on the music charts with the New Christy Minstrels and 
           the First Edition, Kenny Rogers got his first #1 song. Lady, written by Lionel 
           Richie, stayed at the top for six weeks. 
      1986 ~ The first major operetta written by Gian Carlo Menotti in over 20 years was 
           presented at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Starring tenor Placido 
           Domingo, Goya was said by critics to be only "intermittently good." 
      2003 ~ David Holt, a former child actor once touted by Paramount Pictures as its 
           answer to Shirley Temple, has died. He was 76.
         Holt, who later became a successful jazz musician and songwriter, died 
           of congestive heart failure.
         Although his career never rivaled Temple's, Holt had his share of success as a 
           child actor, playing Elizabeth Taylor's older brother in "Courage of 
           Lassie" in 1946 and appearing as bratty Sidney Sawyer in "The Adventures 
           of Tom Sawyer" in 1938.
         He also played the crippled boy for whom New York Yankee great Lou Gehrig hit 
           a home run in "Pride of the Yankees" and appeared in "The Big Broadcast 
           of 1936."
         Paramount signed Holt to a long-term contract after his 1934 role as a boy 
           whose mother dies in "You Belong To me."
         Holt eventually segued into music. He co-wrote the song The Christmas 
           Blues with Sammy Cahn and wrote the music for numerous jazz albums. He 
           hosted the TV show "American Music Shop" in the 1990s.
 
 
   16     1873 ~ W.C. Handy, American blues composer and bandleader
           More information about Handy
      1889 ~ George S. (Simon) Kaufman, Playwright: The Cocoanuts, A Night at the Opera,  
           with Moss Hart, The Man Who Came to Dinner, You Can't Take It with You
         1895 ~ Paul Hindemith, German-born American composer and conductor
           Read quotes by and about Hindemith
           More information about Hindemith
      1896 ~ Lawrence Mervil Tibbett, American baritone
      1905 ~ Eddie (Albert) Condon, Guitarist, bandleader, promoter of Dixieland Jazz
      1908 ~ Conductor Arturo Toscanini made his debut in the United States this day. He 
           appeared at the Metropolitan Opera House in New York, conducting Aida.
      1931 ~ Bob Gibson, Singer, songwriter, leader of folk music movement in late '50s, 
           duo of Gibson and (Bob) Camp
      1932 ~ The Palace in New York City closed its doors. It was the most famous vaudeville 
           theatre in America. Later, it became a movie house with live performances 
           preceding the flicks; most notably: the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis in 
           their heyday. 
      1935 ~ The Rodgers and Hart musical, Jumbo, opened in New York City for a run of 233 
           performances. 
      1937 ~ Bob Crosby and his orchestra recorded South Rampart Street Parade on Decca 
           Records. 
      1945 ~ Martine Van Hammel, Ballet, American Ballet Theatre
      1955 ~ ‘Tennessee' Ernie Ford drove to the top spot on the record charts on this day.
           Sixteen Tons, where he owed his "soul to the company store...", became the 
           fastest-selling record in history, jumping to #1 in just 3 weeks. The tune, on 
           Capitol Records, stayed at #1 for eight weeks. 
      1970 ~ Anne Murray received a gold record for Snowbird. She was the first Canadian 
           recording artist to receive a gold record.
      2000 ~ Russ Conway, a British pianist known as the "Prince Charming of Pop" who sold 
           more than 30 million records in the 1950s and '60s, died at age 75. 
         He had 17 consecutive hits in the late 1950s and early 1960s, and won a silver disc 
           when his record Roulette topped 250,000 sales - a total rapidly equaled by 
           three other hits, Sidesaddle, China Tea and Snow Coach. 
         Conway's formal piano education consisted of one lesson at age 4. 
         He left school at 14 and got work in a lawyer's office. But he was sent to juvenile 
           detention for three years for taking money he found in a package. In a detention 
           center, he found a piano to play. 
         While doing a stint as a pianist in a club, he was discovered by choreographer 
           Irving Davies. He went on to provide piano accompaniment to a string of singers. 
         Soon he was composing the songs that made him famous and won him the nicknames 
           "Prince Charming of Pop" and the "Sheik of the Keyboard."
      2001 ~ Blue guitarist and singer Isaac Scott, a major figure in the city's music 
           scene for more than a quarter century, died of complications from diabetes. 
           He was 56.
         A stream of musicians paid their respects to Scott, said his ex-wife, Eloise 
           DePoe. He was found in his apartment Nov. 4 and never regained 
           consciousness. 
         Scott recorded several albums, including "The Isaac Scott Band," "Big Time 
           Blues Man" and "High Class Woman." He also appeared on the compilation 
           albums "Live at the San Francisco Jazz Festival" and "Live at the 
           Roadhouse." 
         Primarily a "cover artist," Scott did not write his own songs, which hindered 
           national recognition. But he received several local honors, including the 
           Washington Blues Society's Hall of Fame (1991) and lifetime-achievement 
           (2000) awards. He also performed at last year's opening of the Experience 
           Music Project. 
         Scott taught himself piano and guitar, and started out playing gospel music, 
           once touring the West Coast with the Five Blind Boys of Mississippi. 
         In 1974, he turned his attention to blues, with a sound flavored by his love 
           of Seattle-born guitar legend Jimi Hendrix. 
         Like Albert Collins, an early influence, Scott played electric guitar with his 
           thumb instead of a pick, which contributed to his distinctive sound. He also 
           was known for his stamina, often playing two- and three-hour sets.  
      2001 ~ Tommy Flanagan, a jazz pianist who worked with such artists as Ella 
           Fitzgerald, died of an arterial aneurysm. He was 71. 
         Flanagan, part of his own classic jazz trio, accompanied Fitzgerald for 20 
           years, also acting as her musical director. He also worked for Tony Bennett. 
         He became a celebrated figure in jazz with such trio albums as "Jazz Poet" 
           (1989) and "Let's" (1993). 
         Flanagan's trio included bassists George Mraz and Peter Washington, and 
           drummers Kenny Washington, Lewis Nash and Albert Heath. Flanagan won the 
           distinguished Danish Jazzpar Prize in 1993. 
         Born in Detroit, Flanagan was the youngest of six children. 
         He recorded "Sunset and the Mockingbird: The Birthday Concert," live at the 
           Vanguard in 1998. He was to appear at Iridium this holiday season. 
 
   17   1877 ~ The first production of Gilbert and Sullivan's opera, The 
           Sorcerer, was presented, in London.
      1891 ~ Poland's premier and premier ivory tickler, Ignace Jan Paderewski, made his 
           American debut at Carnegie Hall in New York City. In later years, Paderewski, who 
           suffered from arthritis, settled in Paso Robles, CA. The hot mineral baths 
           located there eased his pain. He played only Steinway grand pianos custom-built 
           to his specifications. In fact, five were made just for his use.
      1925 ~ Sir Charles Mackerras, Australian conductor
      1930 ~ David Amram, American composer and French-horn player
      1938 ~ Gordon Lightfoot, Canadian folk singer, songwriter and guitarist
      1938 ~ Orchestra leader Kay Kyser, speaking to an audience at the College of the City 
           of New York (CCNY) told of the "inner workings and artistic features of swing 
           music." It marked the first of a series of lectures on swing music presented by 
           Kyser, who went on to present The Kollege of Musical Knowledge on radio.
      1941 ~ Gene Clark, Singer, guitar with The Byrds
      1942 ~ Bob Gaudio, Singer with The Royal Teens; The Four Seasons
      1946 ~ Martin Barre, Guitarist with Jethro Tull
      1950 ~ Roberta Peters filled in for the lead in Mozart's Don Giovanni, making her 
           debut at the Metropolitan Opera in New York City. She would become one of the 
           Met's most famous stars. 
      1962 ~ The 4 Seasons, with Frankie Valli as lead singer, began a five-week run at the 
           top of the tunedex with Big Girls Don't Cry. 
      1967 ~ Ronald DeVoe, Singer with New Edition
      1970 ~ Elton John recorded an album live, on what was WABC-FM in New York City. It 
           marked the first time that a concert was aired live and recorded for release as 
           aired. The LP was titled, 11/17/70.
      1981 ~ Bob Eberly died
      2001 ~ Jerry Jerome, a tenor sax player who was a featured soloist with the bands of 
           Glenn Miller and Benny Goodman, died of leukemia. He was 89. 
         One of the big names in the Big Band era, Jerome was a featured soloist with the 
           Glenn Miller, Benny Goodman, Red Norvo and Artie Shaw orchestras. 
         He then became a successful musical director and conductor on radio and 
           television. Jerome also established a music business, scoring and arranging 
           commercial jingles. 
         Three years ago, Arbors Records released Jerome's "Something Old, Something New." 
           The sequel recording, "Something Borrowed, Something Blue," will be released in          
           December. 
         Born in Brooklyn, N.Y., Jerome started playing the sax while in high school. He 
           attended the University of Alabama and went on the medical school, playing gigs 
           at jazz clubs to earn tuition money. 
         He joined Goodman's orchestra at the height of its popularity in 1938. 
         When Goodman broke up his band in 1940, Jerome joined Shaw. While with Shaw, he 
           appeared in the film "Second Chorus," with Fred Astaire and Burgess Meredith. 
      2003 ~ Arthur Conley, a 1960s soul singer and protege of Otis Redding's, died at his 
           home in the town of Ruurlo, in the eastern Netherlands. He was 57.
         Conley was born in Atlanta and started his recording career in 1959 as leader of 
           the group Arthur and the Corvets. He was best known for his 1967 hit, Sweet 
           Soul Music, which he co-wrote with Redding based on a number by Sam Cooke. 
           Conley had several minor hits in the following two years.
         He moved to Europe in the early 1970s after several tours of the continent, 
           deciding that he was "fed up with the pressure" in the United States, said 
           Giesen.
         In the Netherlands, Conley appeared on television and radio, and ran an independent 
           record label. In the last five years he was an adviser to The Original Sixties 
           R&B and Soul Show, which sought to reproduce the sound and look of the heyday of 
           soul.
 
   18   1307 ~ The story of William Tell shooting the apple off of his young son's head is 
           said to have taken place on this day. Gioachino Rossini made this story into an 
           opera.
         1786 ~ Carl Maria von Weber, German composer, 
           conductor and pianist, began the era of German romantic music
           More information about von Weber
         1838 ~ Sir William Schwenck Gilbert, British playright and librettist,
           best known for his comic operettas
           Read quotes by and about Gilbert
           More information about Gilbert
      1889 ~ Amelita Galli-Curci, Opera soprano, "If not the greatest coloratura soprano of 
           all time, she must surely be recognized as among the world's finest examples of 
           true operatic artistry."
         1899 ~ Eugene Ormandy (Jeno Blau), Hungarian-born American conductor of 
           The Philadelphia Orchestra
           More information about Ormandy
      1909 ~ Johnny (John Herndon) Mercer, Academy Award-winning composer, 
           lyricist, wrote or co-wrote over a thousand songs
      1926 ~ Dorothy Collins (Marjorie Chandler), Singer on Your Hit Parade,
           sang with Benny Goodman band
      1936 ~ Hank Ballard, Singer, songwriter with The Midniters, wrote and recorded The Twist
           More about Hank Ballard
      1950 ~ Graham Parker, Singer with Graham Parker and The Rumour
      1953 ~ Herman Rarebell, Drummer with Scorpions
      1960 ~ Kim Wilde, Singer
      1967 ~ Lulu's To Sir with Love, from the movie of the same name, started its fifth and 
           final week at number one.
      1974 ~ Frank Sinatra emerged from retirement to do a TV special with dancer 
           Gene Kelly. The show was a smash hit and revived Sinatra's career. 
      1975 ~ John Denver received a gold record for I'm Sorry. 
      1986 ~ The Roseland Ballroom reopened in New York City. The 67-year-old home for those 
           wanting to dance cheek to cheek featured America's dean of society music, Lester 
           Lanin. He played for patrons who wanted to cut a rug on the 112-by-55-foot, maple 
           wood dance floor.
      1999 ~ Doug Sahm passed away
      2003 ~ Oscar-nominated composer, conductor and arranger Michael Kamen, one of Hollywood's most
           sought-after musicians, died at age 55 after suffering from multiple sclerosis for 
           several years.
         The native New Yorker and Juilliard School of Music Graduate was one of Hollywood's most 
           successful composers who worked on music for the "Lethal Weapon" series and scored "Die 
           Hard" among many other films. 
         In the late 1960s, he helped found the New York Rock 'n' Roll Ensemble, a critically 
           acclaimed group that fused classical with pop and recorded five albums before dissolving. 
         In the 1970s, Kamen scored ballets, served as musical director for David Bowie's "Diamond 
           Dogs" tour and began writing scores for film. 
         Although he began in Hollywood working on offbeat films like "Polyester" and "Brazil," he 
           turned more mainstream in the 1980s, working on the "Lethal Weapon" series, "Robin Hood: 
           Prince of Thieves," "Mr. Holland's Opus" and "X-Men," plus the HBO series "Band of 
           Brothers." 
         In 1991, Kamen earned his first Academy Award nomination for "(Everything I Do) I Do It for 
           You," the Bryan Adams pop hit from the movie, "Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves." 
         Co-written with Adams and Robert John "Mutt" Lange, the song received two Grammys. The 
           three united in 1993 for "All for Love." In 1999, Kamen conducted the orchestra which 
           backed Metallica on their S&M project. 


   19   1826 ~ Composer Felix Mendelssohn and his sister Fanny 
           performed his overture to "A Midsummer Night's Dream" for the first time.
         1859 ~ Mikhail Ippolitov-Ivanov, Russian composer and conductor
           More information about Ippolitov-Ivanov
      1905 ~ Tommy Dorsey, American trombonist and bandleader
      1937 ~ Ray Collins, Songwriter
      1938 ~ Hank Medress, Singer with The Tokens, record producer
      1943 ~ Fred Lipsius, Piano, sax with Blood Sweat & Tears
      1943 ~ Stan Kenton and his orchestra recorded Artistry in Rhythm, the song that later 
           become the Kenton theme. It was Capitol record number 159. The other side of the 
           disk was titled, Eager Beaver.
      1944 ~ Agnes Baltsa, Greek mezzo-soprano
      1954 ~ Sammy Davis, Jr. was involved in a serious auto accident in San Bernardino, CA. 
           Three days later, Davis lost the sight in his left eye. He later referred to the  
           accident as the turning point of his career. 
      1961 ~ A year after Chubby Checker reached the #1 spot with The Twist, the singer 
           appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show to sing the song again. The Twist became the 
           first record to reach #1 a second time around, on January 13, 1962. 
      1962 ~ For the first time, a jazz concert was presented at the White House. Jazz had 
           previously been served as background music only.

   20   1894 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist, died
           More information about Rubinstein
      1925 ~ June Christy (Shirley Luster), Singer, sang with Stan 
           Kenton band
      1929 ~ Leo Reisman and his orchestra recorded Happy Days are Here 
           Again for Victor Records. The classic was recorded just three weeks after the 
           stock market crash that plunged the nation into the Great Depression. 
      1937 ~ Ruth Laredo, American pianist
      1940 ~ Tony Butala, Singer with The Lettermen
      1942 ~ Norman Greenbaum, Singer
      1943 ~ Meredith Monk, American composer, dancer, choreographer and singer
      1946 ~ Duane Allman, Guitarist with The Allman Brothers Band
      1946 ~ Ray Stiles, Bass, singer with Mud
      1947 ~ George Grantham, Drummer, singer with Poco
      1947 ~ Joe Walsh, Guitarist, singer with he Eagles; James Gang
      1948 ~ Barbara Hendricks, American soprano
      1957 ~ Jimmy Brown, Drummer with UB40
      1959 ~ One of America's great rock jocks was fired from WABC radio in New York. The 
           ‘Moondoggy' himself, Alan Freed, was axed in the midst of the payola music 
           scandal. 
      1966 ~ Cabaret opened on Broadway for the first of 1,166 stellar performances. Joel 
           Gray starred in the hugely successful musical that is an adaptation of both the 
           play, "I Am a Camera", and the novel, "Goodbye to Berlin". 
      1971 ~ Isaac Hayes of Memphis, TN got his first #1 hit as the Theme from Shaft began a 
           two-week stay at the top of the charts. 
      1984 ~ The largest crowd to see the unveiling of a Hollywood Walk-of-Fame star turned 
           out as Michael Jackson got his piece of the sidewalk right in front of Mann's 
           Chinese Theatre in Los Angeles. ‘The Gloved One' became star number 1,793 on the 
           famed walk.
      2003 ~ Katherine Bidwell, who supported performing arts programs and held positions at the
           Metropolitan Opera Guild and Lincoln Center, died. She was 66.
         A musician herself, Bidwell joined the St. Louis Municipal Opera when she was 18. She became a 
           trustee at Sarah Lawrence College, her alma mater, and sponsored performing arts programs there.
         In 1966, Bidwell joined the board of the Metropolitan Opera Guild. She was its president and chief 
           executive from 1979 to 1986, and for the next 10 years, she was director of special projects for 
           Lincoln Center.
         Bidwell founded the Katherine Bidwell Foundation for Young Singers and the patrons' program of the 
           Chamber Music Society of Lincoln Center.
         She was a trustee of several other organizations, including Westminster Choir College and the London 
           School of Music and Dramatic Arts.

   21   1710 ~ Bernardo Pasquini
      1877 ~ Thomas A. Edison, who really enjoyed the jazz he heard 
           coming from his newest invention, told those gathered that he just invented 
           the ‘talking machine' (phonograph). On February 19, 1878, Edison received a
           patent for the device. 
      1904 ~ Coleman Hawkins, American jazz tenor saxophonist, solo with the Fletcher 
           Henderson band, jazz bandleader
      1931 ~ Malcolm Williamson, Australian composer
      1933 ~ Jean Shepard, Country singer
      1934 ~ Cole Porter's Anything Goes opened at the Alvin Theatre in New York City. 
           The show ran for 420 performances. 
      1936 ~ James DePreist, Orchestra leader with the Oregon Symphony
      1937 ~ Following Carnegie Hall performances in both 1906 and 1919, Artur Rubinstein 
           presented another historic and highly acclaimed performance at the arts center 
           this day. 
           More information about Rubinstein
      1940 ~ Dr. John (‘Mac' Malcolm John Rebennack), Organ, guitar, singer, songwriter
      1940 ~ Natalia Makarova, Ballerina with the Kirov Ballet (now Saint Petersburg 
           Ballet) from 1959 until 1970
      1944 ~ Happy trails to you, until we meet again.... The Roy Rogers Show was first 
           heard on the Mutual Broadcasting System. Singing along with Roy (‘The King of 
           the Cowboys'), were the Whippoorwills and The Sons of the Pioneers. 
      1944 ~ I'm Beginning to See the Light, the song that would become the theme song 
           for Harry James and his orchestra, was recorded this day. The song featured 
           the lovely voice of Kitty Kallen (Little Things Mean a Lot). 
      1948 ~ Lonnie (LeRoy) Jordan, Keyboards, singer
      1950 ~ Livingston Taylor, American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, brother 
           of singer James Taylor
      1952 ~ Lorna Luft, Singer, actress, daughter of singer-actress Judy Garland and 
           producer Sid Luft; sister of singer-actress Liza Minnelli
      1955 ~ The first lady of the American stage, Helen Hayes, was honored for her many 
           remarkable years in show business, as the Fulton Theatre in New York City was 
           renamed the Helen Hayes Theatre. 
      1959 ~ Following his firing from WABC Radio in New York the day before, Alan Freed 
           refused "on principle" to sign a statement that he never received money or  
           gifts (payola) for plugging records. Incidentally, few may remember, but Freed 
           left WABC while he was on the air. He was replaced in mid~record by Fred 
           Robbins, who later became a nationally~known entertainment reporter for Mutual 
           Radio. 
      1981 ~ Olivia Newton-John started the first of 10 weeks at the top of the pop music 
           charts when Physical became the music world's top tune. 
      1990 ~ Instrument lovers have paid some pretty awesome prices for violins made by 
           Antonio Stradivari.  But a red Strad owned by the 
           family of composer Felix Mendelssohn sold on this day 
           for an all-time high of $1,700,00.
      2001 ~ Ralph Burns, who won Academy Awards, an Emmy and a Tony as a music 
           arranger after making a name for himself in jazz as a piano player in the 
           Woody Herman band, died at the age of 79. 
         Burns collected his first Academy Award for adapting the musical score of the 
           1972 movie "Cabaret." He won another Oscar for adapting the musical score 
           for "All That Jazz," an Emmy for television's "Baryshnikov on Broadway" and 
           a Tony in 1999 for the Broadway musical "Fosse." 
         His other film credits included "Lenny," "In The Mood," "Urban Cowboy," 
           "Annie," "My Favorite Year" and "The Muppets Take Manhattan." 
         He also collaborated with Jule Styne on "Funny Girl" and Richard Rodgers on 
           "No Strings." 
         The Massachusetts native, who took up piano as a child, was playing in dance 
           bands in Boston when he was 12, graduating to jazz orchestras by his teens. 
         He worked with Herman band's for 15 years as both a writer and piano player, 
           composing some of the group's biggest hits. Among them were "Apple Honey," 
           "Bijou" and the three-part "Summer Sequence." 
         "Early Autumn," written later as a fourth movement for "Summer Sequence," 
           became a hit with singers after Johnny Mercer supplied words for it. 
         Later, Burns worked in the studio with such popular singers as Tony Bennett, 
           Johnny Mathis, Ray Charles, Aretha Franklin and Natalie Cole. 
      2003 ~ Teddy Randazzo, co-author of more than 600 songs for acts including The 
           Temptations and Frank Sinatra, died at the age of 68. 
         With co-author Bobby Weinstein and others, Randazzo wrote hits such as Goin' Out 
           of My Head, Hurt So Bad and It's Gonna Take a Miracle for acts 
           such as Little Anthony and the Imperials, The Lettermen, Linda Ronstadt, The 
           Temptations and Sinatra.
         Randazzo began his career at age 15 as lead singer of the group The Three Chuckles. 
           The group's first hit, Runaround, rose to No. 20 on the Billboard charts and 
           sold more than 1 million copies.
         Randazzo started a solo career in 1957 and found modest success over the next seven 
           years before meeting Weinstein.
         The duo's songs have been recorded by more than 350 artists, including Gloria Gaynor, 
           Queen Latifah and Luther Vandross.
         They parted ways in 1970 and Weinstein became an executive for Broadcast Music Inc. 
           and Randazzo became a producer for Motown Records. 

   22     Sam F.  
      1880 ~ Lillian Russell made her vaudeville debut, in New York City.
      1899 ~ Hoagy (Hoagland Howard) Carmichael, American jazz pianist and songwriter, 
           singer, band leader, attorney
      1909 ~ Helen Hayes appeared for the first time on the New York stage. She was a member 
           of the cast of In Old Dutch, which opened at the Herald Square Theatre.
         1913 ~ Lord Benjamin Britten, British composer
           Read quotes by and about Britten
           More information about Britten
            Grammy winner
      1925 ~ Gunther Schuller, American composer, conductor, French-horn player and 
           educator
      1938 ~ Bunny Berigan and his orchestra recorded Jelly Roll Blues on Victor Records. 
           The tune became a standard for the band. 
      1943 ~ Floyd Sneed, Drummer with Three Dog Night
      1946 ~ Aston Barrett, Musician with ‘Family Man', bass with Bob Marley & The Wailers
      1949 ~ Steve ‘Miami' Van Zandt, Singer, songwriter, guitar
      1950 ~ Tina (Martina) Weymouth, Bass with Talking Heads
      1953 ~ Craig Hundley, Pianist with the Craig Hundley Trio
      1955 ~ RCA paid the unheard of sum of $25,000 to Sam Phillips of Memphis, TN for the 
           rights to the music of a truck driver from Tupelo, Mississippi: Elvis Presley. 
           Thanks to negotiations with Elvis' manager, Colonel Tom Parker, RCA tossed in a 
           $5,000 bonus as well,for a pink Cadillac for Elvis' mother. 
      1957 ~ The Miles Davis Quintet debuted with a jazz concert at Carnegie Hall in New 
           York. 
      1965 ~ The production of Man of LaMancha, including the classic The Impossible Dream, 
           opened in New York City for the first of 2,328 performances. 
      1975 ~ Dr. Zhivago appeared on TV for the first time. The production, including 
           Somewhere My Love, had earned $93 million from theatre tickets over ten years. 
           NBC paid $4 million for the broadcast rights. 
      1977 ~ Tony Orlando returned to the concert stage after a self-imposed, three-month 
           retirement following the suicide death of his good friend, Freddie Prinze. 
           Orlando appeared in concert in San Carlos, California.
      2001 ~ Norman Granz, the impresario who helped make jazz more accessible to the 
           public while making the music business fairer to black performers, died in 
           Geneva, Switzerland, of complications from cancer. He was 83.
         Granz owned four labels - Clef, Norgran, Verve and Pablo - and at one time or 
           another recorded most of the major names in jazz, including Louis Armstrong, 
           Count Basie, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Dizzy Gillespie, Billie 
           Holiday, Charlie Parker and Oscar Peterson. 
         Many historians credit him with bringing top jazz performers in integrated 
           bands into venues across the country through a series called Jazz at the 
           Philharmonic. 
         Granz's efforts also helped end a system in which white performers generally 
           earned far more than blacks. He insisted on equality in pay, dining and 
           accommodations for his musicians. In 1947, he told Down Beat magazine that 
           he lost $100,000, then a sizable sum, by turning down bookings in segregated 
           concert halls. 

   23   1666 ~ Guiseppi Guarneri, Italian violin maker
         1876 ~ Manuel de Falla, Spanish composer and conductor
           More information about de Falla
      1889 ~ The first ‘Nickel-in-the-Slot' (jukebox) was placed in service in the Palais 
           Royal Saloon in San Francisco, California. Juke, at the time, was a slang word 
           for a a disorderly house, or house of ill repute. 
         The unit, developed by Louis T. Glass, contained an Edison tinfoil phonograph with
           four listening tubes. There was a coin slot for each tube. 5 cents bought a few 
           minutes of music. The contraption took in $1,000 in six months! 
      1903 ~ Enrico Caruso, famed Italian tenor, made his debut in the United States at the 
           Metropolitan Opera House in New York City. He sang in the role of the Duke in 
           Rigoletto.
           More information about Caruso
      1924 ~ Vincent Lopez and some 40 jazz musicians presented a concert of upbeat music at 
           the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC.
      1928 ~ Jerry Bock, American songwriter for the musical theater
         1933 ~ Krzysztof Penderecki, Polish
           More information about Penderecki 
      1935 ~ Ethel Leginska became the first woman to write an opera and conduct it. Her 
           original work, titled Gale, opened at the Chicago City Opera Company.
      1938 ~ Bob Hope and Shirley Ross recorded a song for the film, The Big Broadcast of 
           1938. Thanks for the Memory became Decca record number 2219. It also became 
           Hope's theme song. 
      1974 ~ Billy Swan reached the #1 spot on the singles charts for the first and only 
           time. I Can Help was the most popular song in the U.S. for two weeks.  

   24   1848 ~ Lilli Lehmann, German soprano
         1868 ~ Scott Joplin, American ragtime composer and pianist
           More information about Joplin
      1934 ~ Alfred Schnittke, Soviet composer
      1937 ~ Music from the Raymor Ballroom in Boston, Massachusetts was beamed coast to 
           coast on NBC radio. The special guests during this broadcast were Glenn Miller 
           and his orchestra. 
      1937 ~ Three lovely ladies, known as The Andrews Sisters, recorded Decca record number 
           1562 this day. It became one of their biggest hits: Bei Mir Bist Du Schön.
      1950 ~ The musical comedy, Guys and Dolls, from the pen of Frank Loesser, opened at 
           the 46th Street Theatre in New York City. The show ran for 1,200 performances. 
      1958 ~ Jackie Wilson's Lonely Teardrops was released, as was a disk by Ritchie Valens 
           featuring Donna on one side and La Bamba on the other. 
      1958 ~ Harold Jenkins, who changed his name to Conway Twitty, got his first #1 hit on 
           this day. It's Only Make Believe was the most popular song in the U.S. for one 
           week. 
      1972 ~ A Friday night show that would compete head-to-head with NBC's Midnight Special 
           premiered. In Concert featured Chuck Berry, Alice Cooper, Blood Sweat and Tears, 
           Seals and Crofts and Poco. Robert W. Morgan of KHJ, Los Angeles was the offstage 
           announcer for the ABC-TV show that was staged before a live audience. In Concert 
           was the creation of the guy who dreamed up the fictitious group The Archies and 
           brought fame to The Monkees: rock promoter, Don Kirshner. 
      1973 ~ Following over two years of retirement, Frank Sinatra went back to work again 
           with a TV special on NBC titled, "Ol' Blue Eyes is Back". Despite the fact that the 
           show finished third in the ratings (in a three-show  race), at least one critic 
           called the program, “The best popular music special of the year.” 
      1976 ~ The Band, appearing at the Winterland in San Francisco, announced that this was 
           to be the group's last public performance.
      1985 ~ Big Joe Turner passed away
      1993 ~ Albert Collins, passed away
      2003 ~ Teddy Wilburn, half of the country music duo the Wilburn Brothers, died. 
           He was 71.
         Wilburn and his brother, Doyle, had 30 songs on the country charts from 1955 to 1972, 
           including the hits Hurt Her Once for Me, Trouble's Back in Town and 
           Roll, Muddy River.
         Doyle Wilburn died of cancer in 1982.
         Teddy Wilburn was born in the Ozark Mountain community of Hardy, Ark. He and Doyle 
           first performed publicly at ages 6 and 5, with the Wilburn Family band.
         After recording on Decca records as the Wilburn Brothers, Teddy and Doyle joined the 
           Grand Ole Oprycast.
         Between 1963 and 1974, the Wilburn Brothers were hosts of one of country music's 
           first syndicated color TV shows. In 1972 they were nominated for the Country Music 
           Association's Vocal Group of the Year award. 

   25    1896 ~ Virgil Thomson, American composer, conductor and music critic
           Read quotes by and about Thomson
           More information about Thomson
      1924 ~ Paul Desmond, American jazz also saxophonist and composer
      1925 ~ Derroll Adams, Country singer, played with Jack Elliott
      1931 ~ Nat Adderley, Musician, cornet, mellophone, French horn, trumpet, brother 
           of Cannonball Adderley
      1941 ~ Percy Sledge, Singer
      1949 ~ Rudolph, the Red-Nosed Reindeer, by Johnnie Marks, appeared on the music 
           charts and became THE musical hit of the Christmas season. Although Gene 
           Autry's rendition is the most popular, 80 different versions of the song 
           have been recorded, with nearly 20,000,000 copies sold.
      1955 ~ Following a summer at the top of the American pop charts, Rock Around the 
           Clock by Bill Haley and His Comets became the #1 song in Great Britain.
      1959 ~ Steve Rothery, Guitarist with Marillion
      1960 ~ Amy Grant, Singer
      1966 ~ Stacey Lattisaw, Singer

   26   1789 ~ Thanksgiving was celebrated nationally for the first time in the
           United States.

      1925 ~ Eugene Istomin, American pianist
           More about Istomin
      1932 ~ Alan Stout, American composer
      1933 ~ Robert Goulet (Stanley Applebaum), Singer, actor
      1935 ~ Marian Mercer, Singer, actress
      1938 ~ Ray Brown, Singer with The Four Freshmen
      1938 ~ Tina Turner (Annie Bullock), American soul-rock singer, Grammy 
           Award-winning Pop Singer of the Year, 1985; Ike Turner's ex-wife
      1940 ~ Xavier Cugat and his orchestra recorded Orchids in the Moonlight on the 
           Columbia label.
      1944 ~ Alan Henderson, Bass with Them
      1946 ~ John McVie, Guitarist with Fleetwood Mac
      1956 ~ Tommy Dorsey passed away at the age of 51. 
           His records sold more than 110,000,000 copies.
      1963 ~ Amelita Galli-Curci passed away 
      1968 ~ Cream gave a farewell performance filmed by the BBC in London. The rock 
           group played before a capacity crowd at Royal Albert Hall.
      1969 ~ The Band received a gold record for the album, The Band.
      1978 ~ Frank Rosolino passed away
      1980 ~ "Wings Over America" premiered in New York City. The movie is about the 
           first American tour of Paul McCartney and Wings.
      2001 ~ Paul Hume, a music critic who once drew the ire of President Harry Truman 
           after he panned his daughter's recital, died of pneumonia at his home in 
           Baltimore. Hume was 85.
         Hume worked for The Washington Post and built a reputation as one of the most 
           learned critics in the nation. Classical music legends Vladimir Horowitz, 
           Eugene Ormandy and Leonard Bernstein all held Hume in high esteem. 
         Hume will always be remembered for his review of a recital by Truman's 
           daughter, Margaret, in 1950, in which he criticized her singing as flat. 
         After reading the review, Truman wrote an angry, threatening letter to Hume. 
           Truman's remarks got him in hot water with the public, which felt he 
           shouldn't take time to joust with critics as the nation fought the Korean 
           War. 
         A Chicago native, Hume taught music history at Georgetown University from 1950 
           to 1977 and was a visiting professor at Yale University from 1975 to 1983. 
         He wrote several books, including a study of Catholic church music and a 
           biography of Giuseppe Verdi.
      2003 ~ Meyer Kupferman, a prolific composer whose work ranged from contemporary
           classical music to opera, ballet and jazz, died. He was 77.
         Kupferman, a virtuoso clarinetist, taught composition and music theory at 
           Sarah Lawrence College, where he was a staff member from 1951 to 1993. 
           During his tenure there, he also served as chair of the music department 
           and conducted the orchestra, chorus and chamber improvisation ensemble.
         In 1948 Kupferman wrote both his first piano concerto and opera. In all, he 
           produced seven operas, 12 symphonies, nine ballets, seven string quartets, 
           10 concertos and hundreds of chamber works. His compositions have been 
           performed and recorded worldwide.
         Kupferman also was commissioned by the Hudson Valley Philharmonic to write 
           'FDR' for the centennial of Franklin Roosevelt's birth. The manuscript of 
           the piece is now held by the Roosevelt Library.
         William Anderson, a family friend and a guitarist who performed Kupferman's 
           music, told the New York Times that Kupferman died of heart failure. 
      
   27     Fairfax County Student Holiday 
               
      Have a Happy and Blessed Thanksgiving!    
      Thanksgiving Books, CD's and Videos
      Thanksgiving Fun
      Thanksgiving Music

         1471 ~ Guillaume Du Fay, French composer, died.
           Considered the leading composer of the early Renaissance.
           More information about Du Fay
      1750 ~ Anton Thadaus Johann Nepomuk Stamitz
      1804 ~ Sir Julius Benedict, Musician, composer
      1813 ~ Michele Puccini, Composer
      1867 ~ Charles (Louis Eugène) Koechlin, French composer. He studied under 
           Massenet and Fauré at the Paris Conservatoire. He excelled in colourful and 
           inventive orchestration in his symphonies, symphonic poems, choral-
           orchestral works (including seven based on Kipling's Jungle Book), film 
           music, and works inspired by Hollywood, such as the Seven Stars Symphony. 
           He also wrote prolifically for a wide range of vocal and chamber 
           combinations. His writings included studies of recent French music and 
           treatises on music theory. 
      1900 ~ Leon Barzin, Belgian conductor (NY City Ballet 1948-58)
      1904 ~ Sir Julius Benedict, German-born English conductor and composer
      1912 ~ David Merrick (Margulois), Broadway producer of Gypsy, Hello, Dolly!, 
           Beckett, Oliver, Fanny, Stop the World: I Want to Get Off, 42nd Street
      1926 ~ Louis ‘Satchmo' Armstrong recorded You Made Me Love You on Okeh Records.
      1935 ~ Al Jackson, Jr., Dummer with Booker T. and the M.G.'s; Roy Milton Band
      1935 ~ Eeny Meeny Miney Mo was recorded by Ginger Rogers and Johnny Mercer. The 
           tune was recorded at Decca Records in Los Angeles.
      1942 ~ Jimi (James Marshall) Hendrix, American rock guitarist, singer and songwriter
      1944 ~ Dozy (Trevor Davies), Bass with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich
      1944 ~ Eddie Rabbitt, Songwriter, Kentucky Rain  for Elvis Presley; singer, his 
           17 albums garnered 26 #1 country hits and 8 pop hits
      1953 ~ Boris Grebenshikov, Russian rock musician
      1959 ~ Charlie Burchill, Guitarist with Simple Minds
      1967 ~ The Association, a California group, earned a gold record for the hit 
           Never My Love, on Warner Bros. Records. The group also earned worldwide 
           fame for other hits including Windy, Cherish and Along Comes Mary.
      1982 ~ The #1 song in the U.S. was former Commodore Lionel Richie's Truly. The 
           love song stayed at the top of the charts for two weeks. The song was his 
           first solo hit and followed Endless Love, a duet with Diana Ross in 1981.
      2000 ~ Walter Bailes, a member of the popular 1940s-era Grand Ole Opry duo The 
           Bailes Brothers, died at the age of 80. 
         Walter Bailes, a West Virginia native, and his brother Johnny were the classic 
           Bailes Brothers duo. Brothers Kyle and Homer also performed with the group 
           over the years in varying combinations. 
         Walter wrote much of the group's material, including popular songs like Dust 
           on the Bible and I Want to be Loved. During their run on the Grand Ole  
           Opry from 1944 to 46, they were among the show's most popular acts. 
         Kitty Wells, Flatt & Scruggs, and The Everly Brothers all recorded songs 
           written by Walter Bailes. 
         The Bailes Brothers left the Opry in 1946 and moved to Shreveport, La., where 
           they helped launch the Louisiana Hayride radio show. They continued to 
           occasionally perform throughout the 1950s. 

   28     1632 ~ Jean-Baptiste Lully, Italian-born French composer
           More information about Lully     
        1829 ~ Anton Rubinstein, Russian composer and pianist
           More information about Rubinstein
      1895 ~ Joseé Iturbi, Musician, pianist, conductor of the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra
      1915 ~ Dick Vance, Trumpeter
      1929 ~ Berry Gordy, Jr., Founder of Motown Records
      1934 ~ Ethel Ennis, Singer with Benny Goodman Orchestra
      1939 ~ Gary Troxel, Singer with The Fleetwoods
      1940 ~ Bruce Channel, Singer
        1943 ~ Randy (Randall Stuart) Newman, American pop-rock songwriter, singer and pianist
           More information about Newman
            Grammy winner
      1945 ~ R.B. Greaves, Singer
      1948 ~ Beeb Birtles, Guitarist with The Little River Band
      1949 ~ Alexander Godunov, Ballet dancer, actor
      1949 ~ Paul Shaffer, Band leader on Late Show with David Letterman, comedian
      1956 ~ Holding the #1 spot on the music charts: Guy Mitchell singing Singing the 
           Blues. The song remained at the top of the Hit Parade for 10 weeks. Here's a 
           bit of trivia: Ray Conniff whistled the intro to Singing the Blues. 
      1966 ~ The New Vaudeville Band received a gold record for Winchester Cathedral
           this day.
      1974 ~ John Lennon appeared in concert for the last time, at NYC's Madison Square 
           Garden. Lennon joined Elton John to sing Whatever Gets You Through the Night 
           as well as I Saw Her Standing There.

   29   1770 ~ Peter Hansel, composer
        1797 ~ Gaetano Donizetti, Italian composer
           More information about Donizetti 
      1825 ~ Rossini's Barber of Seville was presented in New York City. It was the 
           first Italian opera to be presented in the United States. 
      1877 ~ Thomas Alva Edison demonstrated a hand-cranked sound recording phonograph 
           machine that was capable of recording human voice and other sounds.
      1895 ~ Busby Berkeley (William Berkeley Enos), Director of Forty Second Street, 
           Gold Diggers of 1935, Footlight Parade, Hollywood Hotel, Stage Struck, Gold 
           Diggers in Paris, Babes in Arms, Strike Up the Band, Girl Crazy, Take Me Out 
           to the Ball Game, Babes on Broadway, For Me and My Gal
      1915 ~ Billy Strayhorn, American jazz composer, lyricist and pianist
      1917 ~ Merle Travis, Songwriter, singer
      1932 ~ John Gary (Strader), Singer, songwriter, diver, inventor.  He holds
           two patents on underwater propulsion devices - diving buddy and aqua-peller
      1932 ~ Ed Bickert, Jazz guitarist with Paul Desmond Quartet
      1932 ~ The Gay Divorcee opened in New York City. The Cole Porter musical featured 
           the classic, Night and Day. 
      1933 ~ John Mayall, Songwriter, bandleader
      1938 ~ Tommy Dorsey and his orchestra recorded Hawaiian War Chant for Victor 
            Records. 
      1939 ~ Meco (Monardo), Musician, music producer
      1940 ~ Chuck Mangione, American jazz musician (flugelhorn) and Grammy Award-winning composer
      1941 ~ Denny Doherty, Singer with Mamas and Papas, TV host
      1944 ~ Felix Cavaliere, Singer with The (Young) Rascals
      1947 ~ Louis Armstrong and his sextet lit up Carnegie Hall in New York City with 
           a night of jazz and more. 
      1948 ~ The first opera to be televised was broadcast from the Metropolitan Opera 
           House in New York City. Othello, by Verdi, was presented over WJZ-TV. 
      1950 ~ I Fly Anything, starring singer Dick Haymes in the role of cargo pilot 
           Dockery Crane, premiered  on ABC Radio. The show only lasted one season and 
           Haymes went back to singing. 
      1951 ~ Barry Goudreau, Guitarist with Orion the Hunter; Boston
      1968 - Jonathan Rashleigh Knight, Singer, dancer with New Kids on the Block
      1975 ~ Silver Convention had the #1 pop tune this day, called Fly, Robin, Fly. 
      1986 ~ The blockbuster five-record set, Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band 
           Live/1975-85, debuted at #1 on the album charts this day. No five-record set 
           had made the top 25 until then. No five-record set had ever gone platinum 
           until then. The price tag? $25.
      2001 ~   George Harrison, the "quiet Beatle" who added both rock 'n' roll flash and 
           a touch of the mystic to the band's timeless magic, died. He was 58.
         Harrison died at 1:30 p.m. at a friend's Los Angeles home following a battle 
           with cancer, longtime friend Gavin De Becker told The Associated Press late 
           Thursday. Harrison's wife, Olivia Harrison, and son, Dhani, 24, were with 
           him. 
         "He left this world as he lived in it, conscious of God, fearless of death, 
           and at peace, surrounded by family and friends," the Harrison family said in 
           a statement. "He often said, 'Everything else can wait but the search for 
           God cannot wait, and love one another."' 
         With the death of Harrison, the band's lead guitarist, there remain two 
           surviving Beatles, Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr. John Lennon was shot to 
           death by a deranged fan in 1980. 
         "I am devastated and very, very sad," McCartney told reporters outside his 
           London home Friday. "He was a lovely guy and a very brave man and had a 
           wonderful sense of humor. He is really just my baby brother." 
         In a statement, Starr said: "George was a best friend of mine. I loved him 
           very much and I will miss him greatly. Both (wife) Barbara and I send our 
           love and light to Olivia and Dhani. We will miss George for his sense of 
           love, his sense of music and his sense of laughter." 
         More about George Harrison

   30   1634 ~ Andres de Sola
      1813 ~ Charles-Henri Valentin Alkan, Composer
      1859 ~ Sergei Mikhailovich Liapunov
      1915 ~ "Brownie" McGee, American jazz singer and guitarist
      1931 ~ Thurman ‘Teddy' Wilburn, Singer with Wilburn Brothers, Grand Ole Opry
         More about Wilburn
      1932 ~ Bob Moore, Instrumentalist with Moby Grape 
      1935 ~ Jack Reno, Country singer
      1937 ~ (Noel) Paul Stookey, American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist, 
           Peter, Paul and Mary
      1939 ~ Harry James and his big band recorded Concerto for Trumpet on Columbia 78s. 
      1940 ~ Lucille Ball and Cuban musician Desi Arnaz were married. Lucy filed for 
           divorce the day after their final TV show was filmed in 1960.
      1943 ~ Nat ‘King' Cole and his trio recorded Straighten Up and Fly Right on 
           Capitol Records. It was the first recording for the King Cole trio.
      1943 ~ Leo Lyons, Bass with the Jaybirds
      1944 ~ Rob Grill, Singer with The Grass Roots
      1944 ~ Luther Ingram, Singer
      1945 ~ Radu Lupu, Rumanian pianist
      1945 ~ Roger Glover, Bass with these groups: Episode Six, Rainbow, Deep Purple
      1953 ~ Shuggie (Johnny) Otis, Jr., Guitarist, bass, harmonica and keyboards
      1954 ~ George McArdle, Bass guitarist with Little River Band
      1954 ~ June Pointer, Singer with The Pointer Sisters
      1955 ~ Billy Idol (Broad), Guitarist, singer, songwriter
      1957 ~ John Aston, Guitarist with these groups: Photons, Psychedelic Furs
      1957 ~ Richard Barbieri, Drummer with Japan, composer
      1968 ~ Diana Ross and The Supremes hit the #1 spot on the music charts with Love 
           Child. The somewhat controversial tune (for the times) stayed at the top for 
           two weeks. 
      1971 ~ ABC-TV presented Brian's Song as the ABC Movie of the Week. The touching 
           story was about Chicago Bears running back Brian Piccolo and his friendship 
           with Gayle Sayers, who watched Brian die a tragic death. The theme song, 
           Brian's Song, was performed by Michel Legrand. 
      1974 ~ The Eagles hit, Best of My Love, was released. It would take until March 
           1, 1975 for it to reach the #1 spot on the top 40 charts.
      1970 ~ Des'ree, Singer      
      1996 ~ Tiny Tim died performing Tiptoe Through the Tulips 
           to an audience at a benefit in Minneapolis, Minnesota. He cut the song short, 
           commenting to his wife, Miss Sue, that he felt ill.
         As he was making his way with Sue to her table, amidst the applause of 
           his loyal fans, he collapsed, was taken to a Minneapolis hospital and 
           died without regaining consciousness.

December

   1   1709 ~  Franz Xaver Richter
      1879 ~ Gilbert and Sullivan's operetta, H.M.S. Pinafore, opened. 
           Arthur Sullivan conducted the orchestra while William Gilbert played the 
           role of a sailor in the chorus and in the Queen's Nay-vee.
      1913 ~ Mary Martin, American singer and actress, primarily for the musical theater,
           Tony and Emmy Award-winning actress, mother of actor Larry Hagman
           More about Mary Martin
      1924 ~ Lady Be Good opened in New York City. George Gershwin wrote the music 
           while Fred and Adele Astaire were well-received by the show's audience for 
           their dancing talents.
      1936 ~ Lou Rawls (Louis Allen), American Grammy Award-winning singer of popular 
           music, TV regular on Dean Martin Presents
      1938 ~ Sandy Nelson, Drummer
      1939 ~ Diane Lennon, Singer with The Lennon Sisters on Lawrence Welk Show, 
           Jimmy Durante Presents the Lennon Sisters
      1940 ~ Glenn Miller got a call from ASCAP  (American Society of Composers and 
           Publishers). He was informed that he couldn't use his Moonlight Serenade as 
           his band's theme song. He had to use Slumber Song instead because of an 
           ASCAP ban.
      1945 ~ Bette Midler, American Grammy Award-winning pop-rock singer and actress
      1945 ~ Burl Ives made his concert debut. He appeared at New York's Town Hall. We 
           lovingly listen every year for the voice of this old-time radio personality 
           as the narrator and banjo-pickin' snowman in TV's Rudolph the Red-Nosed 
           Reindeer. 
      1946 ~ Gilbert (Raymond) O'Sullivan, Singer
      1950 ~ John Wesley Ryles, Singer
      1950 ~ Ernest John Moeran passed away
      1968 ~ Promises, Promises opened on Broadway. The play ran for 1,281 performances, 
           earning $35,000 in profits each week of 1969. Dionne Warwick had a hit 
           version of the title song. 
      1986 ~ Horace Heidt passed away
      1989 ~ Alvin Ailey passed away
      1990 ~ Russell Markert passed away

   2   1774 ~ Johann Friedrich Agricola
      1856 ~ Robert Kajanus, Finnish conductor and composer
      1899 ~ Sir John Barbirolli, British conductor and cellist
      1914 ~ Eddie Sauter, Drummer, trumpeter, composer, orchestra leader of the Sauter-
           Finegan Orchestra, arranger for Benny Goodman and Artie Shaw
      1916 ~ Charlie Ventura, Tenor sax, played with Gene Krupa, Stan Kenton, Charlie 
           Parker, Count Basie, band leader 
      1917 ~ Sylvia Syms, Singer, ‘world's greatest saloon singer'
      1918 ~ Milton DeLugg, Bandleader on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson; 
           Milton DeLugg and His Orchestra: Abe Burrows' Almanac, The Chuck Barris Rah 
           Rah Show, Dagmar's Canteen, Doodles Weaver, The Gong Show, Judge for 
           Yourself, Your Hit Parade; played accordion in The Milton DeLugg Quartet and
           songwriter
      1928 ~ Jörg Demus, Austrian pianist
      1934 ~ Billy Paul (Paul Williams), Singer
      1941 ~ Tom McGuinness, Bass, guitar with Manfred Mann; McGuinness Flint; and 
           Blues Band
      1942 ~ Ted Bluechel, Jr., Singer, drummer with The Association
      1944 ~ Eric Bloom, Singer, guitarist
      1945 ~ John Densmore, Musician with The Doors
      1952 ~ Michael McDonald, Singer, songwriter, keyboard with The Doobie Brothers
      1960 ~ Rick Savage, Bass with Def Leppard
      1972 ~ Motown's Temptations reached the #1 spot on the top 40 charts with Papa 
           Was a Rollin' Stone. It was the fourth #1 hit for the Temptations, joining 
           My Girl, I Can't Get Next to You and Just My Imagination. 


   3   1596 ~ Nicola Amati, Italian violin maker, teacher of    
           Guarneri and Stradivari
      1729 ~ Padre Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler
      1876 ~ Hermann Goetz died
         1883 ~ Anton Webern,
           Read quotes by and about Webern
           More information about Webern
      1907 ~ Connie (Connee) Boswell, Singer
          Connie or Connee (a spelling she preferred later in life), who also played 
           several musical instruments, arranged vocals for herself and her two 
           sisters. 
         Although she was stricken with polio and worked from her wheelchair, she never 
           let this get in the way of being part of her jazz-singing trio. The Boswell 
           Sisters' talent was quickly recognized and by the time Connee was 24 years 
           old, the sisters were doing vaudeville, radio, playing New York's Paramount 
           Theatre, recording with the Dorsey Brothers: You Oughta Be in Pictures; 
           making films and appearing on the U.S.A.'s first public TV broadcast. 
         One thing led to another and Connie went solo, entertaining World War II 
           troops, making films, appearing on Broadway and recording with big names 
           like Woody Herman's; even a duet classic with Bing Crosby: Basin Street Blues. 
         Her musical influence spanned many generations and music styles. If you'd have 
           asked Ella Fitzgerald, she would have told you, "They just don't make 'em 
           like Connee Boswell anymore."
         1923 ~ Maria Callas (Calogeropoulous), American soprano          
           More information about Callas
           Read quotes by and about Callas
      1925 ~ The first jazz concerto for piano and orchestra was presented at Carnegie 
           Hall in NYC.  Commissioned by Walter Damrosch, American composer George 
           Gershwin presented Concerto In F, and was also the featured soloist playing 
           a flugelhorn in a slow, bluesy style as one of his numbers.
      1927 ~ Phyllis Curtin, Singer: soprano with the New York City Opera, Metropolitan 
           Opera, Vienna Staatsoper, La Scala, Teatro Colon; coordinator of Voice Dept 
           and Opera at Yale School of Music, Dean Emerita of Boston Univ School for 
           the Arts
      1927 ~ Ferlin Husky (aka: Simon Crum, Terry Preston), Singer
      1930 ~ Andy (Howard Andrew) Williams, American Emmy Award-winning 
            entertainer, singer
      1931 ~ Jaye P. (Mary Margaret) Morgan, Singer, performer
      1941 ~ Johann Christian Sinding
      1944 ~ Frank Sinatra was in the Columbia Records studio recording Old Man River.
      1948 ~ Ozzy (John) Osbourne, Songwriter, singer
      1949 ~ Mickey Thomas, Singer with Jefferson Starship
      1953 ~ Kismet opened on Broadway in New York. The show ran for 583 performances. 
      1955 ~ Elvis Presley's first release on RCA Victor Records was announced. No, it 
           wasn't Hound Dog or Heartbreak Hotel. The first two sides were actually 
           purchased from Sam Phillips of Sun Records: Mystery Train and I Forgot to 
           Remember to Forget. Elvis was described by his new record company as "The 
           most talked about personality in recorded music in the last 10 years." 
      1960 ~ Camelot opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York City. Richard Burton 
           and Julie Andrews played the leading roles in the musical written by Lerner 
           and Loewe. Robert Goulet got rave reviews for his songs, If Ever I Would 
           Leave You, Then You May Take Me to the Fair and How to Handle a Woman,
           among others. Camelot had a run of 873 performances. Broadway went Hollywood 
           in the 1967 film version of Camelot. Its run was not quite as successful. 
      1968 ~ The O'Kaysions received a gold record for Girl Watcher. The song had a 
           promotional reprise in the 1990s as a theme for Merv Griffin's Wheel of 
           Fortune, with the revamped lyrics, I'm a Wheel Watcher... 
      1977 ~ After 29 weeks in the #1 position on the album charts (a record, 
           literally...), Rumours, by Fleetwood Mac, was replaced at the top spot by 
           the album Simple Dreams, sung by Linda Ronstadt.
      1999 ~ Handel's Messiah Gets Modern Makeover in Ireland
      2000 ~ Kevin Mills, a member of the Christian rock groups Newsboys and White 
           Heart, died after a motorcycle accident in Hollywood. He was 32. 
         Mills, of Louisville, Ky., was a singer and bass player, his family said. He 
           also was a member of the Screen Actors Guild and appeared on TV in "An  
           Inconvenient Woman" in 1991. 
         White Heart started in 1982. Newsboys, an Australian band now based near 
           Nashville, was formed four years later. Newsboys have sold nearly 3 million 
           records and earned three Grammy nominations on the religious rock circuit.
      2000 ~ Washington Honored Eastwood, Baryshnikov, Others 
      2002 ~ Rich Dangel, credited with creating the opening guitar chords of garage  
           band staple Louie Louie, died of an aneurysm at his home. He was 60.
         Dangel was a member of the seminal Northwest rock band the Wailers, who 
           introduced the nation to the Northwest sound - raw, unpolished and catchy.
         He may be best known for coming up with the power chords that opened the 
           Wailers' 1961 regional hit, Louie, Louie, written by rhythm-and-blues 
           singer Richard Berry and taken to the top of the national charts by another 
           Northwest band, the Kingsmen from Portland, Ore.
         Dangel co-wrote his first chart hit, "Tall Cool One" with fellow Wailer John 
           Greek when he was still in high school. The song resulted in the group's 
           first album, "The Fabulous Wailers," a cross-country tour and a 1959 
           appearance on Dick Clark's "American Bandstand."

   4    1660 ~ André Campra, French composer
      1667 ~ Michel Pignolet De Monteclair
      1861 ~ Lillian Russell (Helen Louise Leonard), Singer, actress, burlesque
      1879 ~ Sir Herbert Hamilton Harty
      1915 ~ Eddie Heywood, Jr., Pianist, composer
      1927 ~ Duke Ellington's big band opened the famed Cotton Club in Harlem. It was 
           the first appearance of the Duke's new and larger group. He played the club 
           until 1932.
      1934 ~ Ethel Merman recorded I Get a Kick Out of You, from Cole Porter's musical, 
           Anything Goes. She was backed by the Johnny Green Orchestra. The tune was 
           recorded for Brunswick Records.
      1934 ~ Wink (Winston Conrad) Martindale, TV host, singer
      1938 ~ Yvonne Minton, Australian mezzo-soprano
      1940 ~ John Cale, Bass, keyboard, viola, singer with The Velvet Underground
      1942 ~ Bob Mosley, Bass with Moby Grape
      1942 ~ Chris Hillman, Guitar, bass, mandolin with The Byrds
      1944 ~ Dennis Wilson, American rock-and-roll singer and drummer
      1948 ~ Southside Johnny (Lyon), Singer with Southside Johnny and The Asbury Dukes
      1965 ~ Composer, lyricist, and singer, Jacques Brel made his American debut in 
           concert at Carnegie Hall in New York City. Brel composed Jackie, You're Not 
           Alone, If You Go Away and more.
      1972 ~ Billy Paul from Philadelphia received a gold record for his smash hit, Me 
           and Mrs. Jones.
      1976 ~ Baron (Edward) Benjamin Britten (of Aldeburgh) died in Aldeburgh.  He was a 
           British composer, conductor, and pianist.           
           More information about Britten
      2002 ~ Emmy-nominated pianist George Gaffney, who accompanied such musicians as 
           Peggy Lee, Engelbert Humperdink and Sarah Vaughan, died. He was 62.
         Born in New York City, Gaffney began studying the piano at age 10 but switched  
           to the trombone. After serving in the U.S. Marine Corps from 1958 to 1961, 
           Gaffney returned to New York, where he played piano and began arranging and 
           accompanying singers.
         Gaffney moved to the Chicago area in the mid-1960s and was musical director of 
           the Playboy Club in Lake Geneva, Wis., where he first met Vaughan.
         Gaffney came to California in the early 1970s and found work as a studio 
           musician and accompanist. He worked on a number of television programs, 
           including the TV series "Moonlighting," and was nominated for an Emmy. From  
           1980 to 1990, he was Vaughan's accompanist and musical director.
         He moved to Las Vegas in 1994 and worked as Humperdink's musical director. In 
           recent years, he also orchestrated tunes for Rita Moreno.
      2002 ~ Mary Hansen, guitarist and vocalist with the '90s alternative band 
           Stereolab died. She was 36.
         Hansen, from Maryborough in Queensland, Australia, died in a cycling accident 
           in London, The Independent newspaper reported Friday.
         Details of the accident were not available. Band spokesman Mick Houghton was 
           quoted by The Independent as saying a truck might have backed into her, "but 
           I really don't know much more than that."
         Hansen joined the band in 1992, two years after it was formed by Tim Gane, 
           formerly of the band McCarthy, and his girlfriend Laetitia Sadier.
         Among hundreds of messages posted on the band Web site, one from a fan who 
           identified himself as Louis called Hansen "the soul" of the band.
         Hansen, who played several instruments, first appeared on 1992's LoFi single 
           and all subsequent releases, including 1994's Mars Audiac Quintet and 1996's 
           Emperor Tomato Ketchup.
         Stereolab had been working on a new album, expected to be released next year.
      2003 ~ Barry Morell, a tenor who played leading roles at the Metropolitan Opera and 
           internationally for more than two decades, died of esophageal cancer. He was 75.
         Morell began his career as a baritone, until he sought the guidance of former 
           Metropolitan Opera baritone Giuseppe Danise, who told him he should be a tenor.
         He was best known for performing the operas of Puccini. He made his debut as Pinkerton 
           in "Madame Butterfly" in 1955 with the New York City Center Opera Company. In 1958, 
           he made his Met debut in the same role.
         He appeared in Berlin, Barcelona, Vienna and other opera houses in Europe, South 
           America and across the United States.
         Among his more than 20 roles during 257 performances at the Met were Rodolfo in "La 
           Boheme," Enzo in "La Gioconda" and the title roles of "Don Carlo" and "Faust".

   5   1687 ~ Francesco Xaverio Geminiani, Italian violinist, writer and composer
      1791 ~ Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, composer, died in Vienna, 
           Austria at the age of 35. Mozart, the precocious child prodigy,            
           composed several pieces that are deemed central to the 
           classical era. Though he ranked as one of the greatest musical 
           genius, he did not live a life of affluence as none of his     
           compositions earned him a decent commission. 
      1826 ~ Carl Maria von Weber (born in 1786) and died in London. 
      1870 ~ Vitezslav Novak
      1901 ~ Walt Disney, Man behind many much-loved animated musicals
      1922 ~ Don Robertson, Nashville Songwriters Association Hall of Famer, whistler
      1930 ~ Larry Kert, Actor, singer, dancer in the West Side Story original cast, 
           1957
      1932 ~ Little Richard (Pennimann), US rock 'n roll artist, preacher
      1936 ~ Chad Mitchell, Singer with Chad Mitchell trio
      1936 ~ Bing Crosby took over as host of The Kraft Music Hall. Jimmy Dorsey (who 
           would later be host, himself) led the Kraft Orchestra.
      1945 ~ José Carreras, Spanish tenor with the New York Metropolitan Opera
      1947 ~ Jim Messina, American rock guitarist and singer, duo of Loggins and 
           Messina and groups: Buffalo Springfield and Poco
      1960 ~ Les Nemes, Bass with Haircut 100
      1960 ~ Jack Russell, Singer with Great White
      2003 ~ Avie Parton, mother of country music singer, songwriter and actress Dolly Parton, 
           died after a long illness. She was 80.
         Parton was responsible for stitching the patchwork rag coat for young Dolly that the 
           singer later recounted in the song, Coat of Many Colors. The song helped propel 
           Dolly Parton to stardom and came to symbolize her climb from rags to riches.
         She also was the witness at Dolly's secret marriage to Carl Dean in 1966 in Ringgold, 
           Ga.

   6   1877 ~ Thomas Alva Edison made the first sound recording ever  
             by reciting and recording the nursery rhyme, "Mary had a Little Lamb". 
             Edison recorded sound on a cylinder, which was then rotated against a 
             needle. The needle moved up and down in the grooves of the cylinder, 
             producing vibrations that were amplified by a conical horn. Edison 
             assuumed that this would be useful only for office dictation 
             purposes and not much for recording music. 
      1896 ~ Ira Gershwin (Israel Gershvin), American librettist and lyricist
        1920 ~ Dave Brubeck, American jazz pianist and composer
           More information about Brubeck
      1929 ~ Nikolaus Harnoncourt, German conductor, cellist and musicologist
      1930 ~ Bobby Van (Bobby King Robert Stein), Actor, dancer
      1939 ~ Steve Alaimo, Singer, actor
      1941 ~ Helen Cornelius, Singer
      1942 ~ Len Barry (Borrisoff), Singer, with The Dovells
      1944 ~ Jonathan (Kenneth) King, Singer, songwriter, producer
      1944 ~ Red Bank Boogie, Count Basie's salute to his hometown, was recorded on 
           Columbia Records. The tune is a tribute to Red Bank, New Jersey.
      1948 ~ Arthur Godfrey's Talent Scouts debuted on CBS-TV. The show ran for almost 
           10 years and the redhead introduced such talent as Pat Boone, The 
           Chordettes, Carmel Quinn, The McGuire Sisters, Rosemary Clooney, Tony 
           Bennett, Connie Francis, Steve Lawrence and Al Martino. 
      1956 ~ Peter Buck, Guitarist with R.E.M.
      1956 ~ Rick (Paul) Buckler, Drummer, singer with The Jam
      1960 ~ Eileen Farrell debuted at the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC in the title 
           role of Gluck's Alcestis. 
      1962 ~ Ben Watt, Guitarist, keyboard, singer with Everything but the Girl
      1969 ~ Musician Cab Calloway turned actor as he was seen in the Hallmark Hall of 
           Fame presentation of The Littlest Angel on NBC. The big band singer, known 
           for such classics as Minnie the Moocher, became a movie star in The Blues 
           Brothers (1980) with John Belushi and Dan Ackroyd. 
      1969 ~ Na Na Hey Hey Kiss Him Goodbye, by Steam, reached the #1 spot on the top 
           40. It stayed at the top for two weeks and was the only major hit for the 
           group.  
      1984 ~ Two former Beatles debuted in two film releases this day. Paul McCartney's 
           Give My Regards to Broad Street and George Harrison's A Private Function 
           were finalized for theatre audiences.
      1988 ~ Roy Orbison, Singer, passed away
      1989 ~ Sammy Fain passed away
           More information about Fain
      2000 ~ Werner Klemperer, a Jewish refugee from Nazi Germany who went on to play 
           the inept German prison-camp commandant Col. Klink on TV's "Hogan's Heroes," 
           died of cancer at the age of 80. 
         Klemperer fled Germany in 1935 with his father, Otto, a distinguished 
           conductor and composer. He won two Emmy Awards for his portrayal of the 
           monocled Col. Wilhelm Klink on the 1960s sitcom about World War II Allied 
           prisoners of war. 
         He was a gifted actor on both film and stage, receiving a Tony nomination in 
           1988 as a feature actor in a musical for his role in Hal Prince's revival of 
           "Cabaret." 
         Other Broadway roles included starring opposite Jose Ferrer in "The Insect 
           Comedy," and with Tallulah Bankhead in the 1955 production of "Dear 
           Charles." Most recently, he co-starred in Circle in the Square's production 
           of Chekhov's "Uncle Vanya." 
         Klemperer also appeared as a narrator with nearly every major symphony 
           orchestra in the United States. His repertoire included such works as 
           Beethoven's "Egmont" and "Fidelio," Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat" and 
           "Oedipus Rex." 
         His narration of Mozart's "The Impresario," with the Mostly Mozart Festival 
           Orchestra, aired on PBS's "Live from Lincoln Center." He also performed in 
           various operas, including "The Sound of Music," with the New York City 
           Opera. He played Prince Orlofsky in "Die Fledermaus" with companies in 
           Seattle and Cleveland. 
      2003 ~ Hans Hotter, the world's leading Wagnerian bass-baritone of his time, died at 
           the age of 94.
         The 6-foot-4 Hotter, whose career spanned half a century, was known for his 
           booming, noble voice.
         He mastered such roles as Wotan in Wagner's Ring Cycle, Gurnemanz in "Parsifal", 
           the title role in "The Flying Dutchman" and Hans Sachs in Die 
           Meistersinger. He also won praise for Schubert lieder.
         Hotter started his operatic career in 1930, and sang in Prague and Hamburg and at 
           the Munich Opera, where he became a leading singer in 1937. He remained with the 
           company until 1972. He also was a member of the Vienna Opera from 1939 until 
           1970.
         Hotter created the role of Olivier in the world premiere of Richard Strauss 
           "Capriccio" in 1942. According to the British newspaper The Guardian, the role 
           of Jupiter in Strauss's "Die Liebe der Danae" had been written for him but its 
           premiere was disrupted when all theaters were closed after the assassination 
           attempt on Adolf Hitler in August 1944.
         After the war, Hotter began a 12-year association with the Wagner family's opera 
           house at the Bayreuth festival in 1952. The same year, he made his Metropolitan 
           Opera debut as the Dutchman.
         He also became a producer. His final production was in 1981 in Chicago of 
           Beethoven's "Fidelio".

   7   1637 ~ Bernardo Pasquini
      1840 ~ Hermann Goetz
      1842 ~ The Philharmonic Society of New York, the first permanent orchestra in the 
           U.S., held its first concert.  Despite uncomfortable seating, the event was 
           a huge success. They performed works of Beethoven.
        1863 ~ Pietro Mascagni, Italian composer and conductor
           More information about Mascagni
      1879 ~ Rudolf Friml, Musician, composer
      1887 ~ Ernst Toch, Austrian-born American composer
      1911 ~ Louis Prima, Trumpeter, bandleader with Louis Prima and His New Orleans 
           Gang, Gleeby Rhythm Orchestra; songwriter, singer, married to Keely Smith
      1931 ~ Bobby Osborne, Musician, mandolin, singer with the duo - Osborne Brothers
      1942 ~ Harry Chapin, American folk-rock singer and songwriter, 
           Recipient of Special Congressional Gold Medal, Worldwide Humanitarian for 
           the Hungry, Needy and Homeless
      1948 ~ NBC presented Horace Heidt's Youth Opportunity Program for the first time. 
           The talent show earned Dick Contino, an accordionist, the $5,000 prize as 
           the program's first national winner.
      1949 ~ Tom Waits, Singer, songwriter, playwright, married to Kathleen Brennan
      1954 ~ Mike Nolan, Singer with Bucks Fizz
      1957 ~ Pat Boone was at the top of the pop charts for the first of six weeks with 
           April Love. His other number one hits included Ain't That a Shame, I Almost 
           Lost My Mind, Don't Forbid Me and Love Letters in the Sand. 
      1984 ~ Michael Jackson was in Chicago to testify that the song, The Girl is Mine, 
           was exclusively his and he didn't swipe the song, Please Love Me Now. It was 
           a copyright infringement case worth five million dollars. He won.
      1990 ~ Dee (Delectus) Clark passed away


   8   1731 ~  Frantisek Xaver Dusek
         1865 ~ Jean (Johan) Julius Christian Sibelius, Finnish composer
           Read quotes by and about Sibelius
           More information about Sibelius
      1882 ~  Manuel Maria Ponce,
      1890 ~  Bohuslav Martinu
      1925 ~ Jimmy Smith, Grammy Award-winning musician, modern jazz organist
      1925 ~ Sammy Davis, Jr., American singer of popular music
         1939 ~ James Galway, Irish flutist
           Read quotes by and about Galway
           More information about Galway
      1939 ~ Jerry Butler, Singer with The Impressions
      1941 ~ Ray Eberle and The Modernaires teamed with the Glenn Miller Orchestra to 
           record Moonlight Cocktail on Bluebird Records. By April, 1942, the song was 
           a solid hit.
      1942 ~ Bobby Elliott, Drummer with The Hollies
      1943 ~ Jim (James Douglas) Morrison ‘The Lizard King', 
           Singer in the rock group The Doors
      1946 ~ John Rubinstein, Tony Award-winning actor, composer
      1947 ~ Gregg Allman, Keyboards, guitar, singer with Allman Brothers Band
      1957 ~ Phil Collen, Guitarist with Def Leppard
      1961 ~ Surfin', The Beach Boys first record, was released on Candix Records. It 
           became a local hit in Los Angeles but only made it to #75 nationally. The 
           surfin' music craze didn't take hold across America for another year. By the 
           time Surfin' Safari entered the Top 40 (September, 1962), though, The Beach 
           Boys were ridin' a wave of popularity that continues today.
      1963 ~ Florence Henderson and Jose Ferrer co-starred in The Girl Who Came to 
           Supper on Broadway. The production, however, only lasted for 112 shows. 
      1963 ~ Frank Sinatra, Jr. was kidnapped in Lake Tahoe, Nevada. He was set free 
           four days later. It was discovered that Sinatra, Jr. cooperated with his 
           abductors in their plot. Dad was not proud, nor pleased. Frank, Jr. went on 
           to conduct the big band for Frank, Sr. and all was well.
      1966 ~ Sinead O'Connor, Singer
      1980 ~ John Lennon was shot and killed on 
           this day as he stood outside of his New York City apartment house, the 
           Dakota. A deranged, obsessed ‘fan' asked Lennon to autograph an album, then  
           shot him as Lennon started to comply. The man was quickly apprehended by 
           others gathered at the scene. A several-days vigil by hundreds of mourning 
           fans is remembered as candles flickered and the song Give Peace a Chance
           was heard, a continuing tribute to the musician and songwriter of a  
           generation. 
         John Lennon's wife, Yoko Ono, together with New York's officials, set up a 
           permanent memorial to her husband: a section of Central Park, opposite the 
           Dakota, named Strawberry Fields.
      1982 ~ Marty Robbins passed away
      2003 ~ Lewis Allen, producer of the Broadway hit "Annie" and winner of three Tony Awards,
           died of pancreatic cancer, his wife said. He was 81.
         "Annie" opened in 1977 and ran for six years. Allen won a Tony for it and for two plays he 
           produced: Herb Gardner's "I'm Not Rappaport" in 1986 and Terrence McNally's "Master Class" 
           in 1996.
         Allen also produced several films, including Shirley Clarke's "The Connection" (1961), 
           Francois Truffaut's "Fahrenheit 451" (1966) and both the 1963 and 1990 versions of "Lord of 
           the Flies."
         He was an early supporter of "Annie," which started life at a regional theater in 
           Connecticut. Although that production received lukewarm reviews, Allen got producer-
           director Mike Nichols to join him in backing the Broadway version, which spawned the 1982 
           film version that Allen did not produce.
         Allen was born in Berryville, Va., graduated from the University of Virginia and served with 
           the American Field Service during World War II.
         His wife, Jay Presson Allen, wrote the screenplays for "Cabaret" (1972) and Alfred 
           Hitchcock's "Marnie" (1964).
      2003 ~ Cuban pianist Ruben Gonzalez, who found new fame in the mid-1990s playing with
           Compay Segundo's Buena Vista Social Club band, died. He was 84.
         Gonzalez's keyboard gymnastics provided the heartbeat of the Buena Vista Social Club's 
           string of traditional Cuban "son" music albums beginning in 1997.
         The smallish man with grizzled hair and beard gained worldwide attention as the 
           pianist on the opening album of the series, the Grammy-winning "Buena Vista Social 
           Club."

   9   1791 ~  Peter Joseph Von Lindpaintner
      1837 ~  Charles-Emile Waldteufel
      1882 ~  Joaquín Turina
      1906 ~ Freddy Martin ‘Mr. Silvertone', Tenor sax, bandleader
      1915 ~ Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, German soprano
      1926 ~ Benny Goodman's first recording session was this day. He played clarinet 
           with the Ben Pollack Orchestra on a tune titled Downtown Shuffle on Victor 
           Records. Goodman, incidentally, was all of 17 years old.
      1938 ~ Tatiana Troyanos, American mezzo-soprano
      1938 ~ David Houston, Grammy Award,winning singer, actor
      1944 ~ Neil Innes, Keyboard, singer, songwriter with The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band
      1950 ~ Joan Armatrading, British rock singer and songwriter
      1953 ~ Frank Sinatra recorded Young At Heart. The song was turned down by Nat 
           ‘King' Cole and other artists, believe it or not. It became a top hit in the 
            U.S. in March of 1954.
      1954 ~ Jack Hues, Singer with Wang Chung
      1956 ~ Sylvia (Sylvia Allen), Singer
      1956 ~ The Million Dollar Session was held at Sun Records in Memphis, TN. Elvis 
           Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis gathered for an 
           impromptu jam session. Six songs by the artists were recorded at this 
           session. None of the songs was released for nearly three decades. 
      1957 ~ Donny Osmond, Singer with the Osmond Brothers, TV host of Donny and Marie, 
           actor
      1973 ~ Keith Moon, Rod Stewart and Roger Daltrey opened the rock opera Tommy in 
           London. The show featuring Tommy, Pinball Wizard and other tunes, was so hot  
           that tickets sold for $50 and up. 
      1984 ~ The Jackson's Victory Tour came to a close at Dodger Stadium in Los 
           Angeles after 55 performances in 19 cities. The production was reported to 
           be the world's greatest rock extravaganza and one of the most problematic. 
           The Jackson brothers received about $50 million during the five-month tour 
           of the U.S., with some 2.5 million fans in attendance.
      2000 ~ Marina Koshetz, who followed her famous Russian diva mother Nina to the 
           opera and concert stage and into the movies, died at the age of 88.


   10     1822 ~ César-Auguste-Jean-Guillaume-Hubert Franck, Belgian composer and organist
      1906 ~ Harold Adamson, Lyricist
         1908 ~ Olivier Messiaen, French composer
           More information about Messiaen
      1910 ~ Dennis Morgan (Stanley Morner), Singer, actor
      1910 ~ Tenor Enrico Caruso and conductor Arturo Toscanini were featured at the 
           Metropolitan Opera House in New York City for the world premiere of 
           Puccini's The Girl of the Golden West. 
      1913 ~ Morton Gould, American Pulitzer Prize-winning composer, conductor and 
           pianist
      1924 ~ Ken Albers, Bass singer with The Four Freshmen
      1927 ~ For the first time, famed radio announcer George Hay introduced the WSM 
           Barn Dance as the Grand Ole Opry. The show's title may have changed but it 
           remained the home of country music.
      1930 ~ Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded the haunting Mood Indigo 
           on Victor Records. It became one of the Duke's most famous standards. 
      1943 ~ Chad Stuart, Guitarist, lyricist, singer with the duo - Chad & Jeremy
      1946 ~ Christopher ‘Ace' Kefford, Bass with The Move
      1947 ~ Walter ‘Clyde' Orange, Drummer, singer with The Commodores
      1948 ~ Jessica Cleaves, Singer with Friends of Distinction
      1949 ~ Frank Beard, Drummer with ZZ Top
      1949 ~ Fats Domino recorded his first sides for Imperial Records. The legend from 
           New Orleans recorded The Fat Man, one of the earliest rock and roll records. 
           The title also turned into Domino's nickname and stayed with him through his 
           years of success.
      1951 ~ John (Raul) Rodriguez, Singer
      1953 ~ Harry Belafonte debuted on Broadway in Almanac at the Imperial Theatre. 
           Critics hailed Belafonte's performance as "electrifyingly sincere." Also 
           starring in the show: Hermione Gingold, Billy DeWolfe, Polly Bergen and 
           Orson Bean. 
      1966 ~ The Beach Boys made a one-week stop at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 as 
           Good Vibrations made it to #1. It was the third #1 hit the group scored. The 
           others were I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda. 
      1967 ~ Otis Redding and four members of the Bar-Kays (Otis' backup group) were 
           killed in the crash of a private plane near Madison, Wisconsin. Redding was 
           26 years old. His signature song, (Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay was 
           recorded three days before his death. It was #1 for four weeks beginning 
           February 10, 1968. Redding was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 
           in 1989. 
         The Bar-Kays biggest hit was in July, 1967: Soul Finger. James Alexander, bass 
           player for the group, was not on the plane. Ben Cauley, trumpet player,
           survived the crash. The group played for a time with various new members.
      1987 ~ Jascha Heifetz passed away
           Read quotes by and about Heifetz
           More information about Heifetz


   11       1803 ~ Louis-Hector Berlioz, French composer, 
           conductor, music critic and major force in the development of musical form 
           during the Romantic Era
           More information about Berlioz
      1876 ~ Mieczyslaw Karlowicz
      1882 ~ The Bijou Theatre in Boston, MA became the first theatre to be lighted by 
           electricity.
      1908 ~ Elliot Cook Carter, Jr., American composer
      1916 ~ (Damaso) Perez Prado, Piano, organ
      1926 ~ Willie Mae ‘Big Mama' Thornton, Blues singer
      1931 ~ Rita Moreno (Rosita Alverio), Dancer, Academy and Emmy Award-winning 
           actress
      1934 ~ Curtis Williams, Singer with The Penguins
      1935 ~ Tom Brumley, Steel guitar with Buck Owens and the Buckaroos, Stone Canyon  
           Band
      1939 ~ Marlene Dietrich recorded Falling In Love Again on the Decca label.
      1940 ~ David Gates, Guitarist, keyboard, singer with Bread
      1944 ~ Brenda Lee (Tarpley), American singer of popular music   
      1944 ~ "The Chesterfield Supper Club" debuted on NBC radio. Perry Como, Jo 
           Stafford and many other stars of the day shared the spotlight on the 
           15-minute show that aired five nights a week. The show was sponsored by 
           Chesterfield cigarettes. 
      1952 ~ An audience of 70,000 people watched from 31 theatres as Richard Tucker 
           starred in Carmen. The event was the first pay-TV production of an opera. 
           Ticket prices ranged from $1.20 to $7.20. 
      1954 ~ Jermaine Jackson, Singer with The Jackson Five, brother of Michael, 
           Janet, La Toya, Tito, Randy, Marlon and Jackie
      1973 ~ Karen and Richard Carpenter received a gold record for their single, Top 
           of the World. 
      1982 ~ Toni Basil reached the #1 one position on the pop music charts for the 
           first time, with her single, Mickey. 
      2000 ~ Ruth Martin, a writer whose translations of both popular and obscure 
           operas were widely used in American opera houses, died at the age of 86. 
         Martin collaborated with her husband Thomas Martin in translating the 
           librettos of some of the world's most famous operas, including Mozart's 
           Don Giovanni and The Marriage of Figaro, as well as Puccini's  
           Boheme, and Bizet's Carmen. 
         Martin and her husband also translated some of the rarest operas, such as 
           Offenbach's Grand Duchess of Gerolstein, and Dvorák's Rusalka. 
         The Martins' translations were marked by their clarity and singability, 
           and despite the increasing use of closed-captioning systems in major 
           opera houses, their translations are still used widely. 
         Martin contributed articles on opera for Opera News, Aria, and Theater 
           Arts. She also served on the boards of the New York Federation of Music 
           Clubs, the Liederkranz Foundation and the National Opera Foundation. 
      2001 ~ Erik Johns, who wrote the libretto for Aaron Copland's only full-length 
           opera, The Tender Land, died in a fire at his home in Fishkill, N.Y. He was 
           74. 
         Born Horace Eugene Johnston in Los Angeles, Johns began his career in music as 
           a dancer. He met Copland when he was 19 at a New Year's Eve party in New 
           York. 
         In 1952 the two began collaborating on an opera based on Let Us Now Praise 
           Famous Men, a book by writer James Agee and photographer Walker Evans that 
           describes the lives of several Southern sharecropper families during the 
           Depression. 
         Copland composed the music and Johns wrote the libretto, or the words. 
         The work was originally commissioned as a television opera by NBC but was 
           subsequently rejected by the network. The New York City Opera performed it 
           at its premiere at City Center in April 1954 in a short two-act version. The 
           two later added a third act. 
      2001 ~ Jose Fajardo, a Cuban flutist who was one of the most influential 
           bandleaders in Latin music, died an aneurysm. He was 82. 
         The Cuban native had emigrated from Cuba in 1961, when he refused a request 
           from the Cuban government to continue a musical tour to other communist 
           countries. 
         During his lengthy career, Fajardo recorded more than 40 albums and performed 
           around the world. He was credited with expanding the audience for charanga, 
           a Cuban musical style that backs a singer with flute, violins, piano, bass 
           and percussion. 
         Fajardo started his first group, Fajardo y sus Estrellas, in the 1940s. He 
           later led three bands by the same name. 
         After moving to the United States, he founded bands in New York and Miami and 
           began performing in new style called pachanga, featuring a slightly more 
           assertive rhythm. 
         Fajardo was featured on "Cuban Masters: Los Originales," an album of 
           performances by leading Cuban musicians that was released November 2001.
      2002 ~ Kay Rose, the first woman to win an Academy Award for sound editing, died.  
           She was 80.
         Rose won the statuette for her work on the 1984 film The River.
         A native of New York, Rose was recognized in March with a career achievement 
           award from the Cinema Audio Society. The Motion Picture Sound Editors gave 
           her a similar lifetime achievement award in 1993.
         In October 2002, directors George Lucas and Steven Spielberg endowed the
           Kay Rose Chair in the Art of Sound and Dialogue Editing at the University of 
           Southern California's School of Cinema-Television. The chair is the first of its 
           kind in the country.
         After studying film at Hunter College, she became a civilian film apprentice 
           for the Army Signal Corps during World War II. There, she helped create such 
           training films as How to Erect a Double Apron Barbed Wire Fence and 
           the John Huston documentary Report from the Aleutians.
         She moved to Hollywood in 1944 and found a job as an assistant to an editor at 
           Universal studios. In 1951, she married film editor Sherman Rose. Together, 
           they produced the 1954 sci-fi cult classic, Target Earth. They later 
           divorced.
         During her five-decade career, Rose received sound editing credits on such 
           films as The Rose, Ordinary People, On Golden Pond, 
           The Milagro Beanfield War, The Prince of Tides, For the Boys 
           and Speed.

   12   1887 ~ Kurt Atterberg
      1915 ~ Frank (Francis Albert) Sinatra, American actor and singer of popular music
      1918 ~ Joe Williams (Joseph Goreed), Jazz singer, sang with Count Basie, actor on 
           The Bill Cosby Show
      1938 ~ Connie Francis (Concetta Franconero), American singer and actress
      1941 ~ Terry Kirkman, Wind instruments, keyboards with The Association
      1941 ~ Dionne Warwick, American Grammy Award-winning of popular music
      1942 ~ Mike Pindar, Keyboards with The Moody Blues
      1943 ~ Dickie Betts, Guitar with The Allman Brothers and also Great Southern
      1943 ~ Mike Smith, Organs, singer with The Dave Clark Five
      1943 ~ Grover Washington, Jr., American jazz saxophonist
      1946 ~ Clive Bunker, Drummer with Jethro Tull
      1949 ~ Paul Rodgers, Piano, vocals with Free, Bad Company, The Firm
      1959 ~ Sheila E. (Escovedo), Drummer, singer
      1959 ~ Paul Rutherford, Singer with Frankie Goes to Hollywood
      1984 ~ The group known as Band Aid, 38 of Britain's top rock musicians, recorded 
           Do They Know This is Christmas? for Ethiopian famine victims. Despite the 
           best of intentions, much of the food raised never got to the starving 
           Ethiopians. In fact, much of it was found rotting on docks, not fit for 
           human consumption. More than a Band-Aid was needed to fix that political 
           mess.
      1989 ~ Lindsay Crosby son of crooner Bing Crosby, died
      2002 ~ Actor Brad Dexter, who rode with Yul Brynner as one of the "Magnificent 
           Seven" and became a confidant of both Marilyn Monroe and Frank Sinatra, died.   
           He was 85.
         Burly and handsome, he was often cast as a tough guy in supporting roles, 
           which included 1958's "Run Silent, Run Deep," starring Burt Lancaster and 
           Clark Gable, and 1965's "None but the Brave," starring Sinatra.
         He made his film debut in the "The Asphalt Jungle" in 1950, but his most 
           prominent role came in 1960's "The Magnificent Seven," in which he starred 
           with Brynner, Steve McQueen, Charles Bronson and James Coburn.
         Born Boris Milanovich in Goldfield, Nev., Dexter made guest appearances on the 
           1950s television shows "Zane Gray Theater," "Death Valley Days" and "Wagon 
           Train."
         In January 1953, he married singer Peggy Lee, but they divorced eight months 
           later.
         Soon after his divorce, Dexter befriended Monroe. In 1954, he tried 
           unsuccessfully to persuade her to stay with her husband, Joe DiMaggio.
         His friendship with Sinatra took on legendary proportions during the filming 
           of "None but the Brave" in 1964. On location in Hawaii, Sinatra nearly 
           drowned and Dexter saved his life.
      2002 ~ Marvin O. Herzog, who traveled the world with his Bavarian Polka Band for 
           58 years, died of pancreatic cancer. He was 70.
         Herzog was a polka celebrity who regularly booked 170 appearances a year. He 
           and his band would travel more than 75,000 miles a year in a converted 
           Greyhound bus.
         For years, Herzog was the star and co-sponsor of Frankenmuth's Summer Music 
           Fest, which drew about 25,000 visitors annually to the town known for its 
           Bavarian events and shopping.
         Born in Frankenmuth, Herzog lived there his entire life. He quit his job at 
           Star of the West Milling in 1973 to concentrate full-time on polka music.
         He played a Cordovox - a mix of organ and accordion.
         Herzog recorded 32 albums, including his Schnitzelbank and Octoberfest records  
           in German as well as Polish, Italian and English polkas. He had a radio show 
           and co-hosted a television show.
         Herzog was inducted into the International Polka Association Hall of Fame in 1979.

   13    1761 ~ Johann Andreas Streicher, German piano maker
      1835 ~ Phillips Brooks, Lyricist, O Little Town of Bethlehem
      1838 ~ Alexis Vicomte De Castillon
      1843 ~ Charles Dickens published his play "A Christmas Carol"
      1874 ~ Josef Lhévinne, Russian pianist, teacher. After gaining fame as a 
           soloists in Russia and Europe, he and Rosa came to the U.S.A. in 1919. While 
           they continued to concertize, they both taught at Juilliard; although he had 
           the more prominent concert career, she lived on to become legendary for 
           teaching an endless succession of prominent pianists including Van Cliburn. 
      1903 ~ Carlos Montoya, Spanish Flamenco guitarist
      1925 ~ Wayne Walker, Songwriter
      1925 ~ Dick Van Dyke, American Emmy Award-winning actor and comedian
      1928 ~ Audiences at Carnegie Hall heard the first performance of 
           George Gershwin's composition, An American in Paris. The debut was performed 
           by the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of 
           Walter Damrosch. 
         Advertised as "a tone poem with jazz and sound effects", it was used as a ballet for 
           Gene Kelly's 1951 performance in the movie of the same name. 
           Unfortunately, George Gershwin did not live to see his composition being 
           danced to in the Academy Award-winning An American in Paris. It won six 
           Oscars: Best Art Direction/Set Direction [Color], Best Color Cinematography, 
           Best Costume Design [Color], Best Story and Screenplay, Best Picture ... and 
           Best Score.
      1929 ~ Christopher Plummer (Orme), Actor, Sound of Music, Doll's House
      1929 ~ Hoagy Carmichael recorded with Louis Armstrong. They did Rockin' Chair on 
           Columbia records and cylinders.
      1940 ~ The two-sided jump tune, The Anvil Chorus, was recorded by Glenn Miller 
           and his orchestra for Bluebird Records in New York. The 10-inch, 78 rpm 
           record ran six minutes (including flipping). 
      1941 ~ John Davidson, Actor, singer, TV game show host of the Hollywood Squares
      1948 ~ Jeff ‘Skunk' Baxter, Guitarist with Steely Dan, The Doobie Brothers
      1948 ~ Ted Nugent, Guitarist, singer with Amboy Dukes
      1948 ~ The American Federation of Musicians went back to work after an 11½-month 
           strike. During the strike, there was an 11½-month ban on phonograph records 
           as well. 
      1949 ~ Randy Owen, Guitarist, singer with Alabama
      1949 ~ Tom Verlaine (Miller), Guitarist, singer with Television
      1974 ~ Former  George Harrison was greeted at the White House. President 
           Gerald R. Ford invited Harrison to lunch. The two exchanged buttons, Ford 
           giving George a WIN (Whip Inflation Now) pin and Harrison gave the President 
           an OM (Hindu mantra word expressing creation) button.
      2000 ~ Cellist Yo-Yo Ma made a special guest appearance on NBC television's 
           West Wing.  No, he did't play a partisan leader, but he was 
           featured in some of the music of Bach.
      2002 ~ Maria Bjornson, a set and costume designer whose work on the hit musical 
           The Phantom of the Opera won critical acclaim, was found dead at her 
           London home. She was 53.
         Bjornson was born in Paris in 1949 and grew up in London, the daughter of a 
           Romanian woman and a Norwegian father. She went to the French Lycee in 
           London and then studied at the Byam Shaw School of Art and the Central 
           School of Art and Design.
         Bjornson worked as a theater designer from 1969, and designed 13 productions 
           at the Glasgow Citizens' Theater. She worked for the Welsh National Opera 
           and its English and Scottish counterparts, and was involved with the Royal 
           Shakespeare Company and the Royal Ballet.
         Her colorful and grand design for Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Phantom of 
           the Opera at Her Majesty's Theater in London in 1986 won her 
           international acclaim.
         In 1988, Bjornson's work on Phantom won two Tony Awards, one for sets 
           and the other for costumes.
         After Phantom she collaborated with Lloyd Webber again on Aspects of 
           Love, and worked on the Royal Ballet's production of Sleeping 
           Beauty at Covent Garden in London in 1994 and on Cosi Fan Tutte 
           at Glyndebourne in 1991.
      2002 ~ Former Lovin' Spoonful guitarist Zal Yanovsky, who traded in the wild rock 
           star life for a quiet existence as a restaurant owner in Canada, died. 
         The Toronto native died of a heart attack at his home in Kingston, Ontario,  
           six days before his 58th birthday. 
         Famed for such hits as Do You Believe in Magic and Summer in the City,
           the Lovin' Spoonful enjoyed a brief reign in the mid 1960s as America's 
           answer to the Beatles. The quartet, led by singer/guitarist John Sebastian, 
           racked up seven consecutive top 10 singles in 16 months. 
         Yanovsky, a tall Russian Jew who resembled Ringo Starr, joined forces 
           with Sebastian in New York City in 1964. The pair shared a love of folk 
           music, and both had played in the Mugwumps, a short-lived combo that also 
           included future Mamas and Papas members "Mama" Cass Elliot and Denny Doherty. 
         The Lovin' Spoonful, named after a Mississippi John Hurt song, took shape in 
           1965 when Yanovsky and Sebastian teamed up with drummer Joe Butler and bass 
           player Steve Boone. 
         The group's first single, Do You Believe In Magic reached the top 10 
           that year. Its followup, You Don't Have To Be So Nice also went top 
           10 in early 1966. Summer in the City was their sole No. 1. Besides 
           recording five albums, the band also did the soundtracks to Woody Allen's 
           What's Up, Tiger Lily? and Francis Ford Coppola You're A Big Boy Now. 
         Yanovsky was the zany member of the group. He was the focal point during live 
           performances, but his biting humor often rubbed his colleagues the wrong 
           way, especially when one of his girlfriends ended up with Sebastian. 
         In 1966, the group's banner year, Yanovsky was faced with deportation after he 
           and Boone were arrested for marijuana possession in San Francisco. They 
           turned in their dealer, which damaged the band's hipster credentials. 
         Amid rising tensions, Yanovsky was voted out of the band in 1967, but remained 
           on amicable terms with his colleagues. He recorded a solo album, Alive 
           and Well in Argentina, in 1968. 
         Sebastian, the band's creative force, left that year, and the band soon broke 
           up. The original members reunited in 1980 to appear in the Paul Simon film 
           One-Trick Pony and then in 2000 when it was inducted into the Rock 
           and Roll Hall of Fame. 
         Yanovsky dabbled in TV before going into the restaurant business. He ran Chez 
           Piggy, an acclaimed eatery in Kingston.
      2003 ~ Jazz trumpeter Webster Young, who played with greats such as Miles 
           Davis and John Coltrane in the 1950s, died of a brain tumor. He was 71.
         Young's career got an early boost when Louis Armstrong took him as a 
           student when he was 10 years old. As a teenager, Young jammed with Dizzy 
           Gillespie, earning the nickname "Little Diz" in Washington D.C.-area 
           clubs for a style that resembled Gillespie's.
         Young broke into the modern jazz scene in New York City in the late 1950s, 
           recording several albums. He returned to Washington D.C. in the 1970s to 
           raise his family. He toured in Europe in the 1980s and performed 
           regularly at jazz clubs until eight months before his death.
         Young's career peaked in 1957, when he played coronet with John Coltrane 
           for the album "Interplay for Two Trumpets and Two Tenors" for the 
           Prestige record label.

   14    1911 ~ "Spike" (Lindley Armstrong) Jones, American drummer, 
           bandleader of satiric music
      1913 ~ Dan Dailey, Singer, dancer, actor
      1914 ~ Rosalyn Tureck, American pianist and harpsichordist
      1920 ~ Clark Terry, Trumpet, flugelhorn with Lionel Hampton, Count Basie, 
           Duke Ellington, Quincy Jones
      1928 ~ America's original Funny Girl, Fanny Brice, recorded If You Want the 
           Rainbow, a song from the play, My Man, on Victor Records. 
      1932 ~ Abbe Lane (Lassman), Singer, glamour actress, photographed in bathtub 
           filled with coffee, bandleader Xavier Cugat's ex-wife
      1936 ~ You Can't Take It with You opened at the Booth Theatre in New York City.
      1946 ~ Patty Duke, US film actress
      1947 ~ Christopher Parkening, American guitarist
      1953 ~ Fred Allen returned from semiretirement to narrate Prokofiev's 
           classic, Peter and the Wolf, on the Bell Telephone Hour on NBC radio.
      1963 ~ Singer Dinah Washington died in Detroit. 
      1970 ~ George Harrison received a gold record for his single, My Sweet Lord.
      1983 ~ The musical biography of Peggy Lee opened at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre 
           in New York City. The show was titled Peg. 
      1984 ~ The Cotton Club opened around the U.S. There were nine classic songs 
           by Duke Ellington on the soundtrack of the movie.
      1990 ~ Opera lovers were turned into couch potatoes.  For four 
           evenings, starting on this day, they watched and listened to an 
           unabridged telecast of Richard Wagner's 
           marathon-length opera The Ring.
      2001 ~ Conte Candoli, a Trumpet player and staple of The Tonight Show band during 
           Johnny Carson's era, died of cancer. He was 74. 
         Candoli was recognized for developing a musical style based on Dizzy 
           Gillespie's bebop playing, with a touch of Miles Davis and Clifford Brown. 
         The Indiana-born Candoli, grew up surrounded by musical instruments and 
           influences. His father, a factory worker, played the trumpet and wanted 
           Candoli and his brother Pete to become musicians. 
         At 16, he worked in Woody Herman's orchestra during summer vacations. 
         While playing in California, Candoli began his association with the then New 
           York-based Tonight Show. In 1972, when Carson moved the show to Burbank, 
           Candoli joined the band. He left when Carson retired in 1992. 

   15    1910 ~ John Hammond, American jazz critic
      1922 ~ Alan Freed, American disc jockey
      1939 ~ One of the most celebrated motion pictures of all time, Gone with the Wind, 
           starring with Vivien Leigh and Clark Gable was premiered in Atlanta to critical
           acclaim. The picture ran for close to four hours.
      1941 ~ A musical standard was recorded this day on Victor Records. Lena Horne 
           sang the torch classic that became her signature: Stormy Weather. "Don't 
           know why there's no sun up in the sky. Stormy weather..." 
      1942 ~ Dave Clark, British rock drummer and singer
      1943 ~ Fats (Thomas Wright) Waller died 
           at the age of 39 from pneumonia
           More information about Waller
      1944 ~ Glenn Miller  passed away when 
           his plane disappeared over the English Channel.  Major Glenn Miller was 
           on his way to lead his Air Force Band in a Christmas concert.
      1954 ~ Davy Crockett, Indian Fighter was featured on Walt Disney's TV series 
           for the first time.  Crockett was played by Fess Parker. It wasn't long 
           before the Davy Crockett craze brought a new number one song to the pop
           music charts. "Davy, Davy Crockett, king of the wild frontier."
      1962 ~ The first record album to poke fun at a U.S. President became the #1 
           LP in the country. Vaughn Meader's The First Family made the humorist a 
           household word. The album stayed at #1 for three months.
      1984 ~ Jan Peerce passed away
      1986 ~ Violinist Isaac Stern arrived in a horse-drawn carriage to cut the 
           ribbon for the renovated Carnegie Hall in New York City.
      1986 ~ Kenny Rogers cut himself a deal with the Dole Food Company. The singer 
           became the highest-paid celebrity pitchman, ‘doling' out nice words 
           about pineapple and other Dole products for 17 million dollars.
      2000 ~ Revered conjunto musician Valerio Longoria, who taught accordion to 
           children in San Antonio for many years, died at the age of 76. 
         Musicians and friends remembered the master accordionist as an innovator 
           and influential stylist of conjunto music, a Texas-based rhythm fueled 
           by the accordion and the bajo sexto, a 12-string Spanish bass guitar. 
         As a teen-ager, Longoria played weddings and parties in Harlingen. In 
           1942, he was drafted into the U.S. Army and at the end of World War II 
           was stationed in Germany, where he managed to get an accordion and play 
           in nightclubs. 
         In 1945, he moved to San Antonio, where he began recording for Corona 
           Records. 
         Longoria was among the first inductees into the Tejano Conjunto Music Hall 
           of Fame in 1982, and in 1986 he received the National Heritage Award, 
           the nation's highest honor for folk artists. 
      2001 ~  Rufus Thomas, a musician whose Bear Cat helped Sun Records get its 
           start and whose Funky Chicken gave a boost to the Stax Label, died 
           at the age of 84. 
         Rufus Thomas was best known for novelty dance recordings like Walking the 
           Dog, Do the Funky Chicken and Push and Pull. 
         He began tap dancing on the streets of Memphis for tips and performed in 
           amateur shows in high school. 
         In the 1940s, Thomas ran his own Beale Street amateur show that attracted B.B. 
           King, Bobby "Blue" Bland and many other performers who went on to become 
           famous. 
         In his declining years, Thomas took on the title of Beale Street 
           ambassador and liked to refer to himself as the world's oldest teen-
           ager. 
         In 1953, Thomas recorded Bear Cat, an answer to Big Mama Thornton's 
           Hound Dog, and it became Sun Record's first hit. 
         That was before Elvis Presley arrived on the scene to become Sun's undisputed 
           star. Thomas complained in later years that Sun's black artists were pushed 
           aside after Presley's success. 
         In the 1960s, Thomas became one of the founding performers for Stax Records, 
           which created what came to be known as "the Memphis sound," with performers 
           like Isaac Hayes, Otis Redding and Sam and Dave. 
      2002 ~ John Crosby, founder and longtime former general director of the Santa Fe 
           Opera, died in Rancho Mirage, Calif., after a brief illness. He was 76.
         Crosby founded the Santa Fe Opera in 1957 and was its general director until 
           his retirement at the end of the 2000 season.
         After his military service during World War II, Crosby majored in music theory 
           at Yale and studied under composer Paul Hindemith, whom Crosby later brought 
           to Santa Fe for the 1961 U.S. premiere of Hindemith's opera News of the 
           Day.
         Crosby also had worked as a Broadway arranger and studied at Columbia 
           University in New York before making his move to found an opera company in 
           Santa Fe.
         With $200,000 in financing from his father, Crosby purchased a ranch seven 
           miles north of Santa Fe and oversaw construction of a 480-seat, open-air 
           theater.
         The inaugural performance July 3, 1957, was Puccini's Madama Butterfly.
         With the participation of Igor Stravinsky, early Santa Fe seasons gained world 
           attention. Stravinsky brought music to the 1957 through 1963 seasons.
         His last night as both conductor and general director was Aug. 24, 2000, when 
           he led Richard Strauss' Elektra.
         Former President Bush presented Crosby a National Medal of Arts in 1991. He 
           also received an Officer's Cross of the Federal German Order of Merit in 
           1992 for his service to German music.
      2002 ~ Rick Chase, a morning radio personality for KWIN-FM of Stockton, was found 
           dead in his apartment. He was 45.
         Chase was best known for his work at KMEL-FM in San Francisco from 1986 to 
           1998. He also worked at KFRC-FM and KITS-FM in the Bay Area, KNVQ-FM in Reno 
           and KZZO-FM in Sacramento.
         Chase, a 20-year radio veteran known to his listeners for his bombastic on-air 
           personality, had worked at KWIN for two years.
      2002 ~ Washington, DC Area:  The storied history and sweeping skyline of US 
           Airways Arena ended in a billowing cloud of dust Sunday morning as 
           technicians reduced it to rubble with hundreds of pounds of dynamite.
         Almost 200 people, some of whom grew up watching sports and cultural events at 
           arena, gathered hundreds of yards away in the chill morning to say goodbye 
           to the piece of 20th-century Washington's history just outside the Capital 
           Beltway. A shopping center will replace it.
         The arena began life in 1973 as the Capital Centre, a state-of-the-art 
           architectural gem. In the ensuing decades, it housed the Washington Bullets 
           basketball team and the Washington Capitals hockey team and held concerts by 
           Elvis Presley, Michael Jackson, Frank Sinatra, the Rolling Stones, Luciano 
           Pavarotti.
         "I remember seeing the Washington Bullets when they were really good and the 
           Caps when they were really bad, as well as Prince and Tina Turner," said 
           Stewart Small, who grew up near the arena and now lives in Alexandria, Va. 
           "I know it's not Ebbets Field, but it had a lot of memories for me."
         Crews used about 400 pounds of dynamite at 500 locations to do the job. In 
           just over 15 seconds, the stadium that took 15 months to build caved into a 
           cloud of light brown dust. Some in the crowd cheered, but most were silent. 
           A few were teary-eyed as dust soared above where the 18,000-seat arena had 
           stood.
         The arena opened Dec. 2, 1973, to a sellout crowd that watched the Bullets 
           beat the Seattle SuperSonics 98-96. It has had no regular clients since the 
           NBA Bullets, now Wizards, and the NHL Capitals moved to the MCI Center 
           downtown.

   16       1770 ~ Ludwig van Beethoven, Composer
           Beethoven's Pastoral Symphony was featured in 
           the Walt Disney movie Fantasia and his    
           Symphony Number 5 in Fantasia 2000
           Listen to Beethoven's music
           More information on Beethoven
            Grammy winner
         1882 ~ Zoltán Kodály, Hungarian composer and collector of folk songs
           More information on Kodály
      1893 ~ Antonin Dvorák attended the first performance of his New World Symphony 
           at Carnegie Hall in New York City. 
      1899 ~ Sir Noel Coward, British composer of musical comedies, actor and 
           producer
      1905 ~ Sime Silverman published the first issue of Variety, the weekly show 
           biz magazine. The first issue was 16 pages in length and sold for a 
           nickel. Variety and Daily Variety are still going strong. 
      1907 ~ Eugene H. Farrar became the first singer to broadcast on radio. He 
           sang from the Brooklyn Navy Yard in New York. The song was Do You 
           Really Want to Hurt Me? 
      1940 ~ Bob Crosby and his Bobcats backed up brother Bing as San Antonio Rose 
           was recorded on Decca Records. 
      1960 ~ Lucille Ball took a respite from her weekly TV series to star in the 
           Broadway production of Wildcat, which opened at the Alvin Theatre in New 
           York City. The show ran for 171 performances. 
      1967 ~ The Lemon Pipers released Green Tambourine on an unsuspecting 
           psychedelic world this day. The tune made #1 on February 3, 1968. 
      1971 ~ Melanie (Safka) received a gold record for the single, Brand New Key, 
           about roller skates and love and stuff like that. This one made it to #1 
           on Christmas Day, 1971. 
      1971 ~ Don McLean's eight-minute-plus (8:32) version of American Pie was 
           released. It became one of the longest songs with some of the most 
          confusing (pick your favorite interpretation) lyrics to ever hit the pop 
          charts.  American Pie hit #1 on January 15, 1972. 
      1972 ~ Paul McCartney's single, Hi, Hi, Hi, was released. It peaked at #10 on 
          the top tune tabulation (February 3, 1973). 
      2003 ~ Singer and guitarist Gary Stewart, who had a No. 1 country hit in 
           1975 with She's Actin' Single (I'm Drinkin' Doubles), died of 
           an apparently self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 58.
         A native of Letcher County, Ky., Stewart was a compelling songwriter 
           and performer of guitar-driven, honky tonk country. His last album, 
           Live at Billy Bob's Texas, was released in 2003.
         Besides the 1975 chart-topper, his hits included Drinkin' Thing 
           and Out of Hand.
         He worked with Southern rock greats Dickie Betts and Gregg Allman/a> of 
           The Allman Brothers Band on the 1980 album Cactus and a Rose.

   17   1749 ~ Domenico Cimarosa, Italian composer
         1894 ~ Arthur Fiedler, American violinist and conductor
           More information on Fiedler
      1910 ~ Sy (Melvin James) Oliver, Trumpeter, singer, arranger, bandleader, 
           composer
      1926 ~ Benny Goodman played a clarinet solo. This was not unusual for Benny 
           except that it was his first time playing solo within a group recording 
           session. Goodman was featured with Ben Pollack and His Californians
           on He's the Last Word.
      1936 ~ Tommy Steele (Hicks), Singer, actor
      1937 ~ Art Neville, Keyboards, percussion, singer with The Neville Brothers
      1937 ~ Nat Stuckey, Country singer, songwriter
      1939 ~ Eddie Kendricks, Singer with The Temptations
      1942 ~ Paul Butterfield, American blues singer and harmonica player with Paul 
           Butterfield Blues Band
      1943 ~ Dave Dee (Harmon), Tambourine, singer, record promoter
      1955 ~ Carl Perkins wrote Blue Suede Shoes. Less than 48 hours later, he 
           recorded it at the Sun Studios in Memphis. The tune became one of the 
           first records to be popular simultaneously on rock, country and rhythm &
           blues charts.
      1958 ~ Mike Mills, Bass with R.E.M
      1961 ~ Sarah Dallin, Singer with Bananarama
      1969 ~ Tiny Tim (Herbert Buchingham Khaury) married Miss Vickie (Victoria 
           Budinger) on The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. This is the Tiny 
           Tim of the falsetto version of Tiptoe Through the Tulips fame. 
         The NBC-TV program earned the second-highest, all-time audience rating; 
           second only to Neil Armstrong's walking on the the moon. 
         Mr. Tiny Tim and Miss Vickie had a daughter, Tulip. Then in 1977 they 
           stopped tiptoeing together. 
      1969 ~ Chicago Transit Authority became a gold record for the group of the 
           same name (they later changed their name to Chicago). When the album was 
           released by Columbia Records, it marked the first time an artist's
           debut LP was a double record.
      1970 ~ The Beach Boys played to royalty at Royal Albert Hall in London. 
           Princess Margaret was in attendance and shook the royal jewelry to such 
           classics as Good Vibrations, I Get Around and Help Me, Rhonda. 
      1977 ~ Elvis Costello, making a rare TV appearance, agreed to perform on 
           NBC's Saturday Night Live.
      1978 ~ Don Ellis passed away
      1999 ~ Rex Allen passed away

   18      Nancy S.   

         1644 ~ Antonio Stradivari, Italian, 
           most celebrated of all violin makers
           Read more information about Stradivari
      1778 ~ Joseph Grimaldi, Clown: ‘greatest clown in history', ‘king of 
           pantomime', Joey the Clown; singer, dancer, acrobat, his character was 
           part of the plot for the movie "Her Alibi".  He died in 1837.
      1786 ~ Baron Karl von Weber, Opera composer
         1869 ~ Edward Alexander MacDowell, American composer and pianist
           More information about MacDowell
      
      1892 ~ Premiere of The Nutcracker ballet by Tchaikovsky.  This traditional 
           Christmas ballet is so popular that its annual performances keeps many opera 
           companies afloat. Act 1 tells a story of how little Clara aids her magical 
           Christmas gift (a Nutcracker in the form of a soldier) defeat an army of 
           mice. As a reward, he takes her to his magic kingdom and introduces her to a 
           variety of subjects in a colorful stream of character dances. Tchaikovsky's 
           supply of themes is endless and he constantly provides brilliant 
           orchestration.    
      1919 ~ Anita O'Day (Colton), American jazz singer
      1920 ~ Conductor Arturo Toscanini made his first recording for Victor Records 
           in Camden, New Jersey.
      1934 ~ Willie Smith sang with Jimmy Lunceford and his orchestra on Rhythm is 
           Our Business on Decca Records
      1941 ~ Sam Andrew, Guitarist with Big Brother and the Holding Company
      1943 ~ Keith Richards, British rock guitarist and singer with The Rolling Stones
      1948 ~ Bryan ‘Chas' Chandler, Bass with the Animals
      1961 ~ The Tokens celebrated their first #1 hit single. The Lion Sleeps 
           Tonight (Wimoweh) was a chart topper for four weeks in a row. 
      1972 ~ Helen Reddy received a gold record for the song that became an anthem 
           for women's liberation, I Am Woman. The song had reached number one on 
           December 9, 1972. 
      1975 ~ Rod Stewart announced that he was leaving the group, Faces, and was 
           going solo in a deal with Warner Brothers. 
      1981 ~ Rod Stewart gave a concert at the Los Angeles Forum, which was 
           televised to 23 countries and carried by FM radio stations in the US to 
           an audience of about 35 million. 
      1982 ~ Daryl Hall and John Oates reached the #1 spot on the music charts for 
           the fifth time with Maneater. The song stayed in the top spot for four 
           weeks, making it Hall and Oates' most popular hit.
      2001 ~ Eddie Baker, whose efforts to create a jazz hall of fame planted the seeds 
           for the American Jazz Museum in Kansas City, died after complications from 
           heart surgery. He was 71. 
         Baker, a trumpeter and pianist, had led the New Breed Jazz Orchestra since the 
           1960s, forming close relationships with many top jazz artists. He began 
           calling for a jazz hall of fame as early as the 1970s. 
         He held what he hoped would be the first annual induction to the International 
           Jazz Hall of Fame in 1985 at the Music Hall. But attendance was low, despite 
           a star-studded roster of talent that included the Count Basie Orchestra, 
           George Benson and Woody Herman. He maintained the hall of fame on paper, 
           even though it never had a physical home. 
         Through the years, Baker suggested building a jazz hall in several spots in 
           Kansas City, including the 18th and Vine district and Union Station. 
         His push generated interest in the project, but the American Jazz Museum 
           opened under a different name in 1997 without his involvement. 
         He also was an original member of the Kansas City Jazz Commission, which 
           organized pub crawls and promoted jazz in the 1980s, and he helped organize 
           the Elder Statesmen of Jazz, a service organization of older musicians.

   19     Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1888 ~ Fritz Reiner, Hungarian-born American conductor who was the musical 
           director of the Pittsburgh Symphony, New York Metropolitan Opera and 
           Chicago Symphony.  He died in 1963
      1915 ~ Edith Piaf (Edith Giovanna Gassion), French chanteuse and songwriter
      1925 ~ ‘Little' Jimmy Dickens, Country Music Hall of Famer
      1928 ~ Galt MacDermot, Composer
      1940 ~ Phil Ochs, American folk singer, songwriter and guitarist
      1941 ~ Maurice White, Singer, drummer, founder of the group Earth, Wind & Fire
      1944 ~ Alvin Lee, Musician with Ten Years After
      1944 ~ Zal Yanovsky, Guitarist, singer with The Lovin' Spoonful
           more about Zal Yanovsky
      1952 ~ Jeff Davis, Bass with Amazing Rhythm Aces
      1952 ~ Janie Fricke, Singer, Country Music Association Female Vocalist of the 
           Year in 1982 and 1983
      1957 ~ Meredith Willson's The Music Man opened at the Majestic Theatre in New 
           York City. The Broadway show starred Robert Preston and had a run of 
           1,375 shows. It also had 76 trombones and 101 cornets in the band...
      1960 ~ Neil Sedaka's Calendar Girl was released on RCA Victor Records. The 
           song became Sedaka's fourth record to make the charts. Other hits from 
           the guy who made money off of a love song for Carole King (Oh,
           Carol) include The Diary, Stairway to Heaven, Bad Girl, Next Door to an 
           Angel, Happy Birthday Sweet Sixteen, Laughter in the Rain and Breaking 
           Up is Hard to Do. 
      1960 ~ Frank Sinatra recorded his first session with his very own record 
           company. Frank did Ring-A-Ding-Ding and Let's Fall in Love for Reprise 
           Records.
      2000 ~ Milt Hinton, a jazz bassist and photographer called "The 
           Judge" by the jazz greats he worked with and photographed during 
           a 70-year career, died at the age of 90. 
         During his career, Hinton performed with almost every luminary of 
           jazz and popular music, from Louis Armstrong, Cab Calloway, 
           Dizzy Gillespie and John Coltrane to Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, 
           Barbra Streisand and Paul McCartney. 
         Hinton also documented his world with a camera, compiling close to 
           60,000 negatives depicting hundreds of jazz artists and popular 
           musicians on the road, in the studio, backstage and at parties. 
      2001 ~ Bill Bissell, a former University of Washington marching band director who 
           helped create "The Wave", died in his sleep. He was 70. 
         Bissell directed the Huskies' band with flair, innovation and humor from 1970 
           until he retired in 1994. 
         He and former Washington yell leader Robb Weller introduced "The Wave," in 
           which fans stand with arms raised and cheer section by section, to college 
           football 20 years ago. 
         Bissell directed halftime shows at 14 bowl games, including six Rose Bowls and 
           an Orange Bowl, and was awarded a Citation of Excellence from the National 
           Band Association in 1981. 

   20     Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1728 ~ Franz Xaver Pokorny
      1783 ~ Padre Antonio Francisco Javier Jose Soler
      1871 ~ Henry Kimball Hadley, American composer and conductor
      1898 ~ Irene (Marie) Dunne, Actress in Show Boat, Anna and the King of Siam,  
           Alternate Delegate to the United Nations, Kennedy Center Honors Lifetime  
           Achievement Award in 1985.
      1909 ~ Vagn Holmboe, Danish composer and music critic
      1920 ~ An English-born comedian named Leslie Downes became an American 
           citizen. He had lived in the United States since 1908 and became one of 
           the nation's true ambassadors for show business and charity. We say, 
           "Thanks for the memories," to Bob Hope.
      1928 ~ For the first time, a living actress in the United States had a 
           theatre named after her. The Ethel Barrymore Theatre opened in New York 
           City.
      1932 ~ Al Jolson recorded April Showers on Brunswick Records.
      1938 ~ John Harbison, American composer and conductor
      1944 ~ Bobby Colomby, Drummer, singer with Blood, Sweat & Tears
      1948 ~ Little Stevie Wright, Singer with The Easybeats
      1949 ~ Harry Belafonte had his second session with Capitol Records. Included 
           in the session were Whispering and Farewell to Arms. With eight tunes 
           then recorded and little enthusiasm from record buyers, Capitol decided 
           to part company with Belafonte by not renewing the singer's contract. He 
           went to RCA Victor in April, 1952.
      1952 ~ Jimmy Boyd reached the #1 spot on the record charts with the Christmas 
           song of the year, I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus. 
      1957 ~ Billy (Steven) Bragg, Songwriter, guitarist, singer
      1966 ~ Chris Robinson, Singer with The Black Crowes
      1972 ~ Jack Albertson and Sam Levine starred as two retired vaudevillians in 
           Neil Simon's classic comedy, The Sunshine Boys, which opened at the 
           Broadhurst Theatre in NYC. The play had a run of 538 performances. The 
           movie version later became a box office smash, as well.
      1973 ~ Singer Bobby Darin passed away following open-heart 
           surgery at the age of 37. He left a legacy of memories in rock 'n' roll 
           and pop tunes, as well as on television and in movies (even an Oscar 
           nomination for his role in Captain Newman, M.D.). The story of Darin 
           being groomed to replace Frank Sinatra at Capitol Records is absolutely 
           true. Unfortunately, Capitol didn't think the grooming was going so 
           well, and withheld many of Darin's songs for many years; releasing them 
           in a compilation CD in 1995. Good stuff to listen to: Splish Splash, 
           Queen of the Hop, Dream Lover, Mack the Knife, Beyond the Sea, If I Were 
           a Carpenter, etc. At the end, Darin, who had recorded for Atco, Capitol 
           and Atlantic Records had just begun recording for Motown.
      1980 ~ Shirley Temple Black became a grandmother. Her oldest daughter gave 
           birth to a baby girl.
      1999 ~ Hank Snow passed away
      2000 ~ Roebuck "Pops" Staples, patriarch of the Staple Singers whose lyrics 
           on "Respect Yourself" and other hits delivered a civil rights message 
           with a danceable soul beat, passed away.
         "They took this really positive message music and made it contemporary and 
           popular by putting it with electric guitars and inserting a groove," 
           said Sherman Wilmott, who is helping create a museum in Memphis, 
           Tennessee, honoring the musical stars at Stax Records, the Staple 
           Singers' principal label.
         Born in Winona, Mississippi, Staples learned to sing acappella and 
           developed his Delta blues electric guitar style.
         Starting out as a gospel group in 1948, the Staple Singers with son Pervis 
           and daughters Mavis and Cleotha as singers reached an even wider 
           audience with 1970s soul hits such as Respect Yourself, I'll Take You
           There and If You're Ready (Come Go With Me).
         Before achieving stardom, Staples resisted taking his family on tour and 
           held jobs in Chicago's stockyards andsteel mills.
         Staples came to believe he could contribute in song to the battle for 
           blacks' civil rights being waged by the Rev. Martin Luther King and 
           others, Wilmott said. "He sang and played guitar. He was extremely well-
           spoken and calm and intelligent," he said.
         Another daughter, Yvonne, told the Tribune: "When Dr. King started 
           preaching, Pops said 'I think we can sing it.' That's what he felt," she 
           said. "He believed that the world could be made a better place for all 
           of us."
         At age 80, Staples won a Grammy Award as a solo artist in 1994 for his 
           album "Father Father." He also received a National Heritage Fellowship 
           Award at the White House from first lady Hillary Rodham Clinton. The 
          group entered the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame last year.
         In a 1998 interview with the Tribune, Staples said his musical education 
           began early. "We'd come home and didn't have anything to do after we eat 
           but go to bed. So we'd go out in the yard and sing." 
      2000 ~ Rob Buck, lead guitarist for the rock band 10,000 Maniacs, died of 
           liver failure at the age of 42, three weeks after he collapsed at his 
           home in western New York.

   21     Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1810 ~ Ludwig Schuncke
      1850 ~ Zdenek Fibich
      1913 ~ Andor Foldes, Pianist who played with Budapest Philharmonic at eight 
           years of age
      1921 ~ Alicia Alonso (Martinez Hoyo), Dancer
      1933 ~ Freddie Hart, Country singer
      1940 ~ Frank Zappa, American rock guitarist, composer, arranger and songwriter,
          with Mothers of Invention, father of Dweezil and Moon Unit Zappa
         1944 ~ Michael Tilson Thomas, American conductor and pianist, 
           jazz band conductor, led the London Symphony Orchestra and Los Angeles 
           Philharmonic
           More information about Tilson Thomas
      1946 ~ Carl Wilson, Guitarist with The Beach Boys, brother of Brian and 
           Dennis, his original group was Carl and the Passions
      1953 ~ Andras Schiff, Hungarian pianist
      1966 ~ The Beach Boys received a gold record for the single, Good Vibrations. 
      1985 ~ Springsteen's album, Born in the USA, passed Michael Jackson's 
           Thriller to become the second longest-lasting LP in the top 10. It 
           stayed there for 79 weeks. Only The Sound of Music, with Julie Andrews, 
           lasted longer at 109 weeks.

   22   2003   Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1723 ~ Carl Friedrich Abel
      1821 ~ Giovanni Bottesini 
      1853 ~ Maria Teresa Carreno
         1858 ~ Giacomo Puccini, Italian opera composer
           More information about Puccini          
         1883 ~ Edgard Varèse, French-born American avant-garde composer
           More information about Varèse
      1874 ~ Franz Schmidt
      1885 ~ (Joseph) Deems Taylor, American opera composer and writer, 
           music critic for New York World from 1921 until 1925, New York American from 
           1931 to 1932, intermission commentator for Sunday radio broadcasts of NY 
           Philharmonic (1936 to 1943), president of ASCAP, married to poet and 
           playwright Mary Kennedy
      1901 ~ André Kostelanetz, Russian-born American conductor and arranger of 
           Broadway show tunes
      1939 ~ Gertrude ‘Ma' Rainey passed away
      1941 ~ Jimmy Lunceford and his orchestra recorded Blues in the Night on 
           Decca. The song became one of Lunceford's biggest hits. Between 1934 and 
           1946 Jimmy Lunceford had more hits (22) than any other black jazz
           band (except Duke Ellington and Cab Calloway).
      1944 ~ Barry Jenkins, Drummer with Nashville Teens and also the Animals
      1946 ~ Rick Nielsen, Guitarist, singer with Cheap Trick
      1949 ~ Maurice Gibb, Bass, songwriter with the Bee Gees, married to singer Lulu, twin 
           of Robin Gibb
           More about Maurice Gibb and the Bee Gees
      1949 ~ Robin Gibb, Songwriter for Bee Gees, twin of Maurice Gibb
           More about the Bee Gees
      1958 ~ The Chipmunks were at the #1 position on the music charts on this day 
           in 1958 as Alvin, Simon, and Theodore sang with David Seville. 
           The Chipmunk Song, the novelty tune that topped the charts for a month, 
           is still a Christmas favorite today... 

                          Christmas, Christmas time is near
                           Time for toys and time for cheer
                          We've been good, but we can't last
                             Hurry Christmas, hurry fast 

                           Want a plane that loops the loop
                              Me, I want a hula hoop
                            We can hardly stand the wait
                           Please Christmas, don't be late 
      1972 ~ Folk singer Joni Mitchell received a gold record for the album, For 
           the Roses. The album included the song, You Turn Me on, I'm a Radio.
      1981 ~ London was the scene of a rock 'n' roll auction where buyers paid 
           $2,000 for a letter of introduction from Buddy Holly to Decca Records. 
           Cynthia and John Lennon's marriage certificate was worth $850
           and an autographed program from the world premiere of the Beatles film 
           Help! brought $2,100. 
      1984 ~ CBS Records announced plans for the release of Mick Jagger's first 
           solo album, set for February,
      1985 ~ The Rolling Stones went solo after a 20-year career with the self-
           proclaimed "greatest rock 'n' roll band in the world." The album: She's  
           the Boss. 
      2002 ~ Joe Strummer (John Mellors), who brought punk attitude 
           and politics to one of the most significant bands in rock 'n' roll history, the 
           Clash, died of a heart attack at his home in Somerset, England. He was 50.
         Strummer, a singer, guitarist, songwriter, activist and actor, had been touring 
           with his band the Mescaleros since the release of their second album "Global a-
           Go-Go" in July 2001; the latest leg of the tour ended in November in Liverpool. 
         The Clash, which formed in 1976, released its first album in '77 and broke up for 
           good in 1986, will be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in March. 
           The original lineup of Strummer, Mick Jones, Terry Chimes and Paul Simonon was 
           expected to re-form for the induction ceremony and play the band's first 
           single, "White Riot," at the ceremony. 
         Although it was written as an advertising tagline, the Clash successfully lived 
           up to its slogan as "the only band that matters." 
         The son of a diplomat, Strummer was born John Graham Mellor on Aug. 21, 1952, in 
           Ankara, Turkey. He attended boarding schools in London, and as a teenager grew 
           infatuated with reggae, R&B and rock 'n' roll. He formed a pub band, the 
           101ers, in 1974, which he gave up to form the Clash with Jones, Chimes and 
           Keith Levene. 
         The band was playing standard rock 'n' roll prior to Strummer's arrival. He added 
           reggae to the mix and upped the ante in politics and intensity. He took a Jones 
           tune, for example, that was a complaint about a girlfriend and turned it into 
           one of the band's early anthems, "I'm So Bored With the U.S.A." 
         "Within the Clash, Joe was the political engine of the band," British troubadour 
           Billy Bragg said. "Without Joe there's no political Clash, and without the 
           Clash the whole political edge of punk would have been severely dulled." 
         Jones and Strummer penned all of the tunes on their debut and often worked as a 
           team, though later albums would have songs attributed solely to Strummer and, 
           for their final two efforts, have all songs attributed to the band. 

 

   23     Michael's  Birthday :)          

      2003   Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1689 ~ Joseph Bodin De Boismortier
      1907 ~ Don McNeill, Radio host
        1918 ~ José Greco, Italian flamenco dancer 
           More information about José Greco
      1929 ~ Chet Baker, American jazz trumpeter and singer
      1934 ~ Claudio Scimone, Italian conductor and musicologist
      1935 ~ ‘Little' Esther Phillips (Esther Mae Jones), Pianist, singer, Grammy 
           nomination for Best female R & B vocalist in 1973. Aretha Franklin won but  
           she gave the award to Esther
      1939 ~ Johnny Kidd (Frederick Heath), Singer, songwriter with Johnny Kidd & The 
           Pirates
      1940 ~ Tim Hardin, Singer, composer
      1940 ~ Jorma Kaukonen, Guitarist with Jefferson Airplane and also Hot Tuna
      1940 ~ Eugene Record, Singer with Chi-Lites
      1942 ~ Bob Hope agreed to entertain U.S. airmen in Alaska. It was the first of 
           his many famous Christmas shows for American armed forces around the world. 
           The tradition continued for more than three decades. 
      1943 ~ The first complete opera to be televised was aired on WRBG in Schenectady, 
           NY. (WRGB was named after GE engineer Dr. W.R.G. Baker. It was not named, as 
           many have thought over the years, for red, blue and green, the three primary 
           colors of a TV picture tube.) Humperdinck's "Hansel and Gretel" was the 
           opera presented. 
      1945 ~ Ron Bushy, Drummer with Iron Butterfly
      1951 ~ Johnny Contardo, Singer with Sha-Na-Na, formerly Eddie and The Evergreens
      1964 ~ Eddie Vedder (Mueller), Songwriter, singer with Pearl Jam
      1964 ~ Rock 'n' roll radio,in the guise of Pirate Radio, went to the U.K. Radio 
           London began its regular  broadcasts. 
         It was joined, at sea, by other pirates like Radio Caroline and Radio 
           Luxembourg. It was a gallant effort to broadcast commercial radio, which
           was illegal in Great Britain. 
         On England's mainland, one had to listen to ‘Auntie Beeb' (the BBC) or nothing 
           at all. It was generally like a battle. Government agents would attempt to 
           board a floating radio station, take it over, and shut it down. 
         Many times the ships would broadcast from different locales to foil the 
           governmental crackdown on the high seas. 
         Later, the BBC split into four different radio networks, Radio 1, 2, 3 and 4,
           to stem the tide of the pirates who gained huge audiences by playing popular 
           music. Eventually, limited commercial broadcasting came to Great Britain.
      1969 ~ B.J. Thomas received a gold record for the single, Raindrops Keep Fallin'
           on My Head from the motion picture, Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 
           Raindrops hit number one on the pop charts on January 3, 1970 and stayed 
           there for 4 weeks. 
      1969 ~ Elton John met with arranger Paul Buckmaster, writer Bernie Taupin and 
           producer Gus Dudgeon.  The collaboration marked the start of one of the most 
           successful milestones of music in the 1970s. Together, they created Your
           Song, Friends, Levon, Tiny Dancer, Rocket Man and many more.
      2000 ~ Pianist Victor Borge, died in his sleep. 
      2001 ~ Anthony Charles Chavis, Zydeco musician and son of the late Zydeco pioneer 
           Boozoo Chavis, died after suffering a heart attack He was 45. 
         His death came just eight months after his father's. 
         Charles Chavis, in addition to playing the washboard, was lead vocalist on 
           numerous recordings with Boozoo, including his 1996 hit What You Gonna 
           Do? 
         After Boozoo Chavis' death, his sons had agreed to continue the Magic Sounds 
           Band. It was not clear how Charles Chavis's death would affect the group. 
         In addition to his music, Charles Chavis had worked with his father as a 
           jockey and trainer at Chavis stables. 

   24      Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1719 ~ Johann Christoph Altnikol
      1818 ~ Franz Gruber of Oberndorf, Germany, composed the 
           music for "Silent Night" to words written by 
           Josef Mohr. The traditional song was sung 
           for the first time during Midnight Mass on this 
           night.
      1824 ~ Peter Cornelius, German composer and writer
      1871 ~ Opera-goers in Cairo, Egypt were treated to Verdi's Aida in its world 
           premiere. The composer was commissioned to write the opera for festivities 
           celebrating the opening of the Suez Canal
      1887 ~ Lucrezia Bori, Spanish lyric composer
      1893 ~ Harry Warren (Salvatore Guaragna), Composer, Song Writer's Hall of Famer: 
           Best Song Oscar
      1906 ~ Professor Reginald A. Fessenden sent his first radio broadcast from Brant 
           Rock, MA. The program included a little verse, some violin and a speech.
      1918 ~ Zara Nelsova, Canadian-born American cellist
      1914 ~ Ralph Marterie, ‘Caruso of the trumpet': musician, bandleader
      1924 ~ Carol Haney, Dancer, member of Jack Cole dance company, worked with Bob 
           Fosse, in films
      1928 ~ The first broadcast of The Voice of Firestone was heard. The program aired 
           each Monday evening at 8:00. The Voice of Firestone became a hallmark in 
           radio broadcasting. It kept its same night, time (in 1931 the start time 
           changed to 8:30) and sponsor for its entire run. Beginning on September 5,
           1949, the program of classical and semiclassical music was also seen on 
           television. 
      1930 ~ Robert Joffrey (Khan), Choreographer with The Joffrey Ballet; died in 1988
      1931 ~ Ray Bryant, Pianist, composer
      1944 ~ Mike Curb, Music executive, producer, Oscar-winner
      1944 ~ The Andrews Sisters starred in the debut of The Andrews Sisters' Eight-To-
           The-Bar-Ranch on ABC radio. Patti, Maxine and LaVerne ran a fictional dude 
           ranch. George ‘Gabby' Hayes was a regular guest along with Vic Schoen's 
           orchestra. The ranch stayed in operation until 1946.
      1945 ~ Lemmy (Ian Kilmister), Bass, singer with Motorhead
      1946 ~ Jan Akkerman, Guitar, lute with bands: Friendship Sextet, Johnny and the 
           Cellar Rockers
      1951 ~ Menotti's "Amahl and the Night Visitors", the first opera composed for 
           television, made its debut on NBC-TV. Amal and the Night Visitors became a
           Christmas classic.
      1955 ~ The lovely Lennon Sisters debuted as featured vocalists on The Lawrence 
           Welk Show on ABC-TV. They became regulars with Welk within a month and 
           stayed on the show until 1968. 
      1957 ~ Ian Burden, Keyboards with Human League
      1977 ~ The Bee Gees spent Christmas and New Year's Eve at the top of the music 
           charts. How Deep is Your Love became #1 this day and stayed that way for 
           three weeks.
      2000 ~ Felix Popper, a conductor and music administrator at the New York City 
           Opera, died at the age of 92. 
         Popper joined the New York City Opera in 1949 as an assistant conductor and 
           vocal coach. 
         By 1958 he was named music administrator, and he played an important role in 
           guiding the opera through a period in which the house truly established 
           itself. 
         During this time, the company is credited with discovering important American 
           singers such as Johanna Meier, Tatiana Troyanos, Gianna Rolandi, Faith Esham 
           and Jane Shaulis. 
         Popper retired from the opera in 1980 but continued to work as a consultant 
           and vocal coach. 
      2000 ~ Longtime Detroit blues radio personality and promoter Famous Coachman died                  
           of an apparent heart attack. He was 75. 
         Coachman was host of the weekend blues and gospel show on Detroit's WDET for 
           21 years until 1997 and remained busy in the city's music world until his 
           death. 
         "Everybody knew Coachman," said JoAnn Korczynska, blues music director for 
           WHFR at Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn. "He really did know B.B.
           King and John Lee Hooker. When I met John Lee Hooker, one of the first 
           things he said to me was `How is Coachman doing?'"
         Coachman said he was named "Famous" because "my mother knew I would be."
      2000 ~ Nick Massi, an original member of the Four Seasons who handled bass vocals 
           and vocal arrangements throughout the band's glory days, died of cancer at 
           the age of 73.
         Massi was born in Newark as Nicholas Macioci. The longtime West Orange 
           resident performed with several bands before joining Frankie Valli in a 
           group called the Four Lovers. 
         By 1961, the group had evolved into the Four Seasons. 
         Massi remained with the group until 1965, when he grew tired of touring, Valli 
           said. Massi performed on hits such as Sherry, Big Girls Don't Cry, Walk
           Like a Man and Rag Doll, which friends said was his favorite. 
         During his tenure, the group made the Billboard Top 40 chart 17 times and 
           toured throughout the United States and overseas, melding doo-wop vocals 
           with a contemporary beat. They were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of 
           Fame in 1990. 
         Valli's falsetto was the band's trademark, but he said Massi was his musical 
           mentor. 
         "He could do four-part modern harmonies that would amaze musicians who had 
           studied for years. And he did it all in his head without writing it down," 
           Valli said. 

   25      Fairfax County Student Holiday  
      2003   Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      
 
Merry Christmas 

Merry Christmas!

Christmas Family Fun

Christmas Music

Christmas Music Lyrics

      
         1583 ~ Orlando Gibbons
           Read quotes by and about Gibbons
           More information about Gibbons
      1896 ~ John
           Philip Sousa wrote the melody to a song that had haunted him for 
           days. On Christmas Day, that melody was finally titled, The Stars and           
           Stripes Forever. 
      1907 ~ Cab Calloway (Cabell Calloway III), American jazz singer and bandleader
      1912 ~ Tony Martin (Alvin Morris), Singer, actor, married to dancer Cyd Charisse
      1915 ~ Pete Rugolo, Bandleader, arranger, scored TV's The Fugitive
      1931 ~ Lawrence Tibbett was the featured vocalist as radio came to the 
           Metropolitan Opera House in  New York City. The first opera was Hansel und 
           Gretel by Humperdinck, heard on the NBC network of stations. 
           In between acts of the opera, moderator Olin Downes would conduct an opera 
           quiz, asking celebrity guests opera-related questions. The program's host 
           and announcer was Milton Cross. He worked out of the Met's Box 44. 
      1932 ~ Little Richard, American rock-and-roll singer, pianist and songwriter
      1937 ~ O'Kelly Isley, Singer with the Grammy Award-winning group, 
           The Isley Brothers
      1937 ~ Arturo Toscanini conducted the first broadcast of Symphony of the Air over 
           NBC radio. 
      1939 ~ The Charles Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, was read by Lionel 
           Barrymore on The Campbell Playhouse on CBS radio. The reading of the tale 
           became an annual radio event for years to come.
      1944 ~ Henry Vestine, Guitarist with Canned Heat, sideman for Frank Zappa
      1945 ~ Noel Redding, Bass with Noel Redding Band and also The Jimi Hendrix 
           Experience
      1946 ~ Jimmy Buffett, Songwriter, singer
      1948 ~ Barbara Mandrell, CMA Entertainer of the Year (1980, 1981), Female 
           Vocalist of the Year in 1979
      1954 ~ Robin Campbell, Guitar, singer with UB40
      1954 ~ Annie Lennox, Singer with Eurythmics
      1957 ~ Shane MacGowan, Songwriter, musician: guitar, singer with The Pogues

   26      Fairfax County Student Holiday   

      2003   Hanukkah  
           
      Chanukah
      Chanukah Music
      Chanukah Music Lyrics     
      1678 ~ Johann Georg Pisendel
      1762 ~ Franz Wilhelm Tausch
      1921 ~ Steve Allen, Comedian, author, musician, composer, TV host of The Tonight 
           Show, The Steve Allen Show; films: The Benny Goodman Story, married to Jayne 
           Meadows
      1926 ~ Earle Brown, American avant-garde composer
           More about Brown
      1931 ~ George Gershwin's musical, Of Thee I Sing, opened at the Music Box Theatre 
           in New York City.  The show became the first American musical to be awarded 
           a Pulitzer Prize.
      1935 ~ Abdul ‘Duke' Fakir, Singer with The Four Tops
      1939 ~ W.C. Handy of Memphis, TN one of the legendary blues composers of all 
           time, recorded the classic St. Louis Blues. W.C. and his band recorded in 
           New York for Varsity Records. Handy was one of the first to use the flat 
           third and seventh notes in his compositions, known in the music world as 
           ‘blue' notes. The music awards for blues artists' are called the W.C. Handy 
           National Blues Awards. 
      1940 ~ Phil Spector, ‘Tycoon of Teen', record company executive, originator of 
           Wall of Sound, sang with The Teddy Bears, songwriter
      1942 ~ Adriana Maliponte, Italian soprano
      1952 ~ André-Michel Schub, French-born American pianist
      1963 ~ Capitol Records rushed to release its first single by the Fab Four, 
           otherwise known as The Beatles. I Want to Hold Your Hand, backed with I Saw
           Her Standing There, reached #1 on February 1, 1964. The flood of music by 
           John, Paul, George and Ringo had started the British Invasion; changing 
           contemporary music forever. 
      1964 ~ More Beatles news: The Fab Four got their sixth #1 hit song since February 
           1, as I Feel Fine became the top tune this day. The first five #1 hits by 
           The Beatles were: I Want to Hold Your Hand, She Loves You, Can't Buy Me
           Love, Love Me Do and A Hard Day's Night. 
      1967 ~ A sad day for jazz fans, as the Dave Brubeck Quartet formally disbanded 
           after sax man Paul Desmond left the group. Desmond was a fixture with the 
           quartet for 16 years and can be heard on all the immortal Brubeck standards,  
           including Take Five. 
      1999 ~ Curtis Mayfield passed away
      2001 ~ Edward Downes, a professor best known as host of the "Texaco Opera Quiz" 
           heard during live Metropolitan Opera radio broadcasts, died at the age of 90. 
         Opera experts answered questions from listeners in the opera quiz, held during 
           opera intermissions from 1958 to 1996. Known for his wit and mellow baritone 
           voice, Downes put his panelists at ease and offered teasing hints to the 
           answers when experts were stumped. 
         Born in Boston, Downes began attending operas at a young age with his father, 
           Olin Downes, who later became chief music critic at The New York Times. 
         Edward Downes, who never completed an undergraduate degree, received a Ph.D. 
           in musicology from Harvard University at the age of 47. He later taught at 
           Wellesley College, the Longy School of Music, the University of Minnesota 
           and Queens College.

   27    1879 ~ "Bunk" Johnson, American jazz trumpeter
      1901 ~ Marlene Dietrich, German singer and actress 
      1903 ~ The barbershop quartet favorite, Sweet Adeline, was sung for the first 
           time, in New York City. The song was composed by Henry Armstrong with the 
           words of Richard Gerard. The title of the song came from a theatre 
           marquee that promoted the great operatic soprano, Adelina Patti. Now 
           female barbershop quartets call themselves Sweet Adelines. 
      1906 ~ Oscar Levant, American pianist, composer, writer and radio personality
      1911 ~ Anna Russell, Operatic parodies
      1927 ~ The Jerome Kern (music) and Oscar Hammerstein II (lyrics) musical, Show 
           Boat, opened at the Ziegfeld Theatre in New York City. Its star, Helen 
           Morgan, received excellent reviews from critics of the show; a musical 
           about riverboat show people and their romances and disappointments.
      1931 ~ Walter Norris, Pianist, composer
      1932 ~ Radio City Music Hall, in New York City, opened. It was the largest 
           indoor theatre in the world. The gala grand opening show was a six-hour 
           extravaganza that lost half a million dollars within three weeks. The
           theatre has since been renovated to recapture its original decorative 
           charm. An Art Deco cathedral of entertainment, it seats more than 6,200 
           people and is still a must-see for those visiting New York. During the
           holiday season, audiences continue to get a kick out of seeing the world-
           famous Rockettes perform in precision on Radio City Music Hall's nearly 
           10,000-square-foot stage which is a combination movie palace and live 
           theater.  It remains a showcase for many exciting musical events. It has 
           a seating capacity of 6,200 seats.
      1939 ~ The Glenn Miller Show, also known as Music that Satisfies, started on CBS 
           radio. The 15-minute, twice-a-week show was sponsored by Chesterfield 
           cigarettes and was heard for nearly three years.
      1940 ~ Singer Al Jolson and actress Ruby Keeler were divorced after 12 years of 
           marriage. They had separated a year earlier; but Jolson talked Keeler into 
           co-starring with him in the Broadway show, Hold on to Your Hats. She left 
           the show before the opening and then left the marriage. 
      1941 ~ Leslie Maguire, Pianist with Gerry and The Pacemakers
      1944 ~ Mick Jones, Guitarist with Foreigner
      1952 ~ David Knopfler, Guitarist, singer with Dire Straits
      1953 ~ Elliot Easton (Shapiro), Guitarist with The Cars
      1975 ~ The Staple Singers reached the top spot on the pop music charts for the 
           second time in their career. This time with Let's Do It Again. The song, the 
           theme from the movie soundtrack of the same name, was the last hit the group 
           would have. I'll Take You There was The Staple Singers' first number one hit 
           (June 3, 1972). 
      1980 ~ The John Lennon hit, (Just Like) Starting Over, began a five-week stay at 
           #1 on the pop charts. The hit was from the album, Double Fantasy. Lennon was 
           murdered on December 8th of that year, as the single and LP had started 
           their climb up the charts. 
      2003 ~ Vestal Goodman, a pioneering gospel music singer who performed for half 
           a century, including a stint on "The PTL Club" with Jim and Tammy Faye 
           Bakker, died. She was 74.
         Goodman and her late husband Howard "Happy" Goodman were part of The Happy 
           Goodman Family act, which recorded 15 No. 1 gospel music songs and 
           performed more than 3,500 concerts.
         In the mid-1980s, the couple were regulars on "The PTL Club" television 
           show starring the Bakkers. They left in 1988 after three years on the 
           show, and were not linked to financial improprieties as others on the 
           show were.
         The Happy Goodman Family was inducted into the Gospel Music Hall of Fame in 
           1998. They were original members of "The Gospel Singing Jubilee" 
           syndicated TV program that was a pioneer in gospel music broadcasting, 
           appearing on more than 100 U.S. stations.
         The Goodmans sang at the White House in 1979 for President Carter.
      2003 ~ Bobbie Nell Brookshire Gordon, a singer who toured in the 1970s with jazz great
           Duke Ellington, died. She was 64.
         Gordon, a Dayton native, was discovered in 1961 while singing at a bar in her hometown.
           She performed with pianist Betty Greenwood and had come to the attention of Ellington,
           the noted bandleader.
         Gordon toured from 1970 to 1974 with Ellington. A newly released digital video disc of a
           1971 performance, "Live at Tivoli Gardens," includes Gordon singing "Love You Madly" and
           "One More Time."
         Gordon was featured as "Nell Brookshire" with Ellington on the cover of Jet magazine
           in September 1971.
      2003 ~ Dick St. John, half of the Dick & Dee Dee duo, whose 1961 hit, The Mountain's High, 
           made No. 2 on the Billboard pop singles chart, died. He was 63.
         Dick & Dee Dee's biggest hit was The Mountain's High, but they also cracked the Top 25 
           pop singles chart in 1963 with Young and In Love and 1965's Thou Shalt Not Steal.
         St. John, born Richard Gosting, began performing with his friend Mary Sperling in junior 
           high. With St. John as the chief songwriter, the two soon attracted the attention of 
           Liberty Records in Los Angeles.
         St. John and Sperling, who was renamed Dee Dee by the label, combined elements of doo-
           wop, soul and R&B in their sound. They toured with the Beach Boys and the Rolling 
           Stones.
         Dick & Dee Dee were semi-regulars on such musical shows as "American Bandstand." St. John 
           also wrote songs that were recorded by Lesley Gore, Jan and Dean, the Four Seasons and 
           Quincy Jones, and he contributed music to many television shows.

   28    1812 ~ Julius Rietz
      1896 ~ Roger Sessions, American composer
      1905 ~ Earl "Fatha" Hines, American jazz pianist and bandleader, a classic duet 
           with Louis Armstrong was Weather Bird, songwriter
      1911 ~ San Francisco established its own symphony orchestra as part of its 
           comeback from a disastrous earthquake. 
      1921 ~ Johnny Otis (Veliotes), ‘Inventor of R&B', composer, song writer, drummer 
           vibes with The Johnny Otis Show
      1930 ~ Edmund Thigpen, Jazz Drummer   
      1932 ~ Dorsey Burnette, Singer, brother of singer Johnny Burnette
      1938 ~ Charles Neville, Saxophone, flute, percussion with The Neville Brothers
      1943 ~ Bobby Comstock, Singer
      1944 ~ The musical, On the Town, opened in New York City for a run of 462 
           performances. It was Leonard Bernstein's first big Broadway success. The 
           show's hit song, New York, New York, continues to be successful.   
      1946 ~ Edgar Winter, American rock vocalist, saxophonist, guitarist and keyboardist
      1946 ~ Carrie Jacobs Bond passed away
      1947 ~ Dick Diamonde (Dingeman Van Der Sluys), Bass with The Easybeats
      1950 ~ Alex Chilton, Guitarist, singer
      1953 ~ Richard Clayderman, Pianist
      1953 ~ Joe Diffie, Country Singer
      1957 ~ At The Hop, by Danny and The Juniors, hit #1 on the music charts. It 
           stayed at the top spot for seven weeks. The title of the tune was originally 
           Do the Bop, but was changed at the suggestion of ‘America's Oldest
           Living Teenager' Dick Clark. Trivia: Danny and The Juniors filled in for a 
           group that failed to appear on Clark's American Bandstand show in 
           Philadelphia. He called The Juniors to come into the studio immediately. 
           They did and lip-synced At The Hop (written by Junior, Dave White and a 
           friend, John Medora). It took off like a rocket to number one. (A few years 
           later, Danny and The Juniors handed stardom to Chubby Checker when they 
           failed to appear on Clark's show.)      
      1963 ~ Paul Hindemith passed away
           More information about Hindemith
      1964 ~ Principal filming of the movie classic, Dr. Zhivago, began on location 
           near Madrid, Spain. When completed, the film was 197 minutes long and so 
           spectacular that it received ten Oscar nominations, winning five of the 
           Academy Awards, including Best Original Score. Lara's Theme was first heard 
           in this movie. 
      1981 ~ WEA Records (Warner-Elektra-Atlantic) raised the price of its 45 rpm 
           records from $1.68 to $1.98 this day. The company was the leader of the pack 
           with other labels soon boosting their prices. Within a few years, the 45 rpm 
           record was boosted right out of existence.
      2001 ~ Frankie Gaye, whose combat experience during the Vietnam War was credited 
           with influencing his older brother Marvin's legendary Motown album "What's 
           Going On," died of complications following a heart attack. He was 60. 
         Gaye was a radio operator stationed in Vietnam in the 1960s when he wrote 
           letters to his brother expressing his dissatisfaction with the war. His 
           experiences influenced several songs on his brother's 1971 album, including 
           Save The Children, Inner City Blues and Mercy Mercy Me, according to Ralph 
           Tee in the book "Soul Music Who's Who." 
         Gaye, like his brother, had begun singing in church as a youngster. He went on 
           to work with several Motown artists, including Mary Wells and Kim Weston and 
           provided background vocals on many of his brother's albums, including 
           "What's Going On" and 1977's "Marvin Gaye, Live at the London Palladium." 
         On his own, Gaye composed the soundtrack to the 1972 film "Penitentiary 1" and 
           toured extensively, both in the United States and England. He also released 
           the singles Extraordinary Girl in 1989 and My Brother in 1990.

   29      Fairfax County Student Holiday  
      1876 ~ Pablo Casals, Spanish cellist and conductor
           More information about Casals
      1912 ~ Peggy Glanville-Hicks, Australian composer and music critic
      1922 ~ Rose Lee Maphis, Entertainer, half of the team: Mr. and Mrs. Country Music 
           with husband Joe, Hee Haw regular
      1942 ~ Ray Thomas, Flute, saxophone, harmonica, singer with The Moody Blues
      1943 ~ San Fernando Valley was recorded by Bing Crosby. He chose the tune because 
           he felt it would be a big hit. He was right. Within a week after its 
           release, the song became a popular favorite everywhere, including the San 
           Fernando Valley in California.
      1945 ~ Sheb Wooley recorded the first commercial record made in Nashville, TN. 
           The song was recorded on the Bullet label; but it was 13 years before Wooley 
           would finally score with a big hit (The Purple People Eater was #1 for six 
           weeks in June and July, 1958). Wooley (whose first name is Shelby) played 
           the part of Pete Nolan on TV's Rawhide, recorded novelty tunes under the 
           name, Ben Colder, and acted in High Noon, Rocky Mountain, Giant and 
           Hoosiers. The Country Music Association honored him with the title of 
           Comedian of the Year in 1968. If you remember the TV show Hee Haw, with Buck 
           Owens and Roy Clark, it was Sheb Wooley who wrote the theme song.
      1951 ~ Yvonne Elliman, Actress, singer joined Eric Clapton in his 1974 comeback 
           tour
      1952 ~ Gelsey Kirkland, Dancer, ballerina, author of Dancing on My Grave: An 
           Autobiography, Shape of Love
      1957 ~ Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme were married. They became popular singers 
           on the The Tonight Show with Steve Allen, and as Las Vegas showroom regulars 
           and recording artists. They are still together in one of Hollywood's most  
           enduring marriages. 
      1961 ~ Mark Day, Guitarist with Happy Mondays
      1963 ~ Much to the chagrin of the disc jockeys at 50,000-watt WABC in New York, 
           the 5,000-watt blowtorch known as WMCA and its famed ‘Good Guys' became the 
           first New York radio station to play The Beatles' I Want to Hold Your Hand. 
           It didn't take long for WABC to get revenge. It started calling itself the 
           ‘official' Beatles station (W-A-Beatle-C).
      1967 ~  Orchestra leader Paul Whiteman passed away at the age of 76. 
           Known as the King of Jazz, Whiteman had 28 #1 hits between 1920 and 1934 
           including Three O'Clock in the Morning, My Blue Heaven, All of Me and Smoke 
           Gets in Your Eyes.
      2001 ~ Cassia Eller, one of the most irreverent singers of Brazilian rock music, 
           died at the age of 39.
         Eller's fame peaked in 2001 with the sale of about 250,000 copies of her "MTV 
           Unplugged" album and a performance in January's Rock in Rio festival in 
           front of hundreds of thousands of fans, singing along with one of her hits,     
           I just ask God for a little indecency. 
      2001 ~ Jazz pianist Ralph Sutton, a leading practitioner of the stride piano, 
           died at the age of 79.
         Born in St. Charles, Mo., in 1922, Sutton made his professional debut at age 
           11 with his father's band. He later signed on with trombone great Jack 
           Teagarden, and played at several clubs along New York's famed 52nd Street. 
         To create his eclectic style, Sutton drew from the jazz piano, from ragtime 
           and the blues to stride, in the style made famous by James P. Johnson, 
           Willie "The Lion" Smith, and Fats Waller. 
         Critics hailed Sutton as one of the best contemporary jazz pianists with a 
           mastery of his instrument. He was a founding member of the 1968 World's 
           Greatest Jazz Band, which performed at Elitch Gardens in Denver.
      2003 ~ Manny Dworman, who owned a Greenwich Village nightspot where comedians including 
           Jerry Seinfeld, Ray Romano and Jon Stewart performed, died. He was 73.   
         Dworman, a musician who played the oud, guitar and mandolin, owned the Comedy Cellar and 
           the Olive Tree Cafe upstairs.
         The club was previously the site of Cafe Feenjon, a Middle Eastern nightclub that 
           originally opened as a coffeehouse in 1960.
         Dworman performed at Cafe Feenjon with his band, the Feenjon Group, which recorded five 
           albums, performed at Carnegie Hall and inspired the radio show "Music From Around the 
           World."
         Comedy Cellar, which opened in 1980, also hosted performances by Chris Rock and Colin 
           Quinn. Discussions at the club inspired the Comedy Central show "Tough Crowd with 
           Colin Quinn."  Dworman was featured in the 2002 documentary "Comedian" by Jerry 
           Seinfeld.

   30      Fairfax County Student Holiday  
      1756 ~ Pavel Vranicky
      1853 ~ Andre-Charles-Prosper Messager 
      1859 ~ Josef Bohuslav Foerster
      1895 ~ Vincent Lopez, Bandleader, played at NYC's Astor Hotel, some of the greats 
           started with him: Artie Shaw, Buddy Morrow, Buddy Clark
        1904 ~ Dmitri Kabalevsky, Russian composer, pianist and conductor
           More information about Kabalevsky
      1910 ~ Paul Frederic Bowles, American composer and novelist
      1914 ~ Bert Parks (Jacobson), Radio/TV host of Miss America Pageant, Break the 
           Bank, Stop the Music
      1919 ~ Sir David Willcocks, British organist, conductor and educator
      1928 ~ Bo Diddley (Otha Ellas Bates McDaniel), Singer
      1931 ~ Skeeter Davis (Mary Frances Penick), Singer
      1936 ~ The famous feud between Jack Benny and Fred Allen was ignited. After a 10-
           year-old performer finished a violin solo on The Fred Allen Show, Mr. Allen 
           said, "A certain alleged violinist should hide his head in shame for his 
           poor fiddle playing." It didn't take long for Mr. Benny to respond. The 
           humorous feud lasted for years on both comedian's radio shows. 
      1937 ~ John Hartford, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, banjo, fiddle, guitar on 
           Glen Campbell's Good Time Comedy Hour
      1939 ~ Del Shannon (Charles Westover), Singer, songwriter, inducted into the Rock 
           and Roll Hall of Fame
      1942 ~ Michael Nesmith, Guitarist with The Monkees, formed The First National 
           Band, movie producer of the first Grammy-winning video
      1945 ~ Davy Jones (David Thomas Jones), Singer with The Monkees, actor
      1947 ~ Jeff Lynne, Singer, guitar with The Electric Light Orchestra, songwriter
      1948 ~ Alfred Drake and Patricia Morrison starred in Kiss Me Kate which opened at 
           the New Century Theatre in New York City. Cole Porter composed the music for 
           the classic play that was adapted from Shakespeare's comedy, The Taming of 
           the Shrew. The show ran for 1,077 performances on the Great White Way. 
      1942 ~ Frank Sinatra opened at New York's Paramount Theatre for what was 
           scheduled to be a 4-week engagement (his shows turned out to be so popular 
           that he was booked for an additional 4 weeks). An estimated 400 policemen 
           were called out to help curb the excitement. It is said that some of the 
           teenage girls were hired to scream, but many more screamed for free. Sinatra 
           was dubbed ‘The Sultan of Swoon', ‘The Voice that Thrills Millions', and 
           just ‘The Voice'. Whatever he was, it was at this Paramount Theatre 
           engagement that modern pop hysteria was born. 
      1954 ~ Pearl Bailey opened on Broadway in the play, House of Flowers, about two 
           madams with rival bordellos. Diahann Carroll was also cast in the play, 
           written by Truman Capote. Harold Arlen provided the musical score. 
       1969 ~ Peter, Paul and Mary received a gold record for the single, Leaving On a 
           Jet Plane. The song had hit #1 on December 20. 
       1970 ~ Paul McCartney sued the other three Beatles to dissolve the partnership 
           and gain control of his interest. The suit touched off a bitter feud between 
           McCartney and the others, especially his cowriter on many of
           the Beatles compositions, John Lennon. The partnership officially came to 
           end in 1974. 
      1976 ~ The Smothers Brothers, Tom and Dick, played their last show at the Aladdin 
           Hotel in Las Vegas and retired as a team from show business. Each continued 
           as a solo artist. They reunited years later for another stab at TV (on NBC) 
           plus concert appearances that proved very successful.
      1979 ~ Richard Rodgers passed away
           More about Richard Rodgers
      2000 ~ Bohdan Warchal, a violinist and conductor who was one of Slovakia's most 
           popular musicians, of an unspecified illness at the age of 70.
         A violinist in the Slovak Philharmonic, Warchal, who died on Saturday, won 
           acclaim as the founder and conductor of the Slovak Chamber Orchestra, which 
           has given concerts all over the world ever since it was established in 1960. 
         Warchal was awarded a medal by President Rudolf Schuster for his life-time 
           work last year.
      2003 ~ Hong Kong's Canto-pop diva and actress Anita Mui died. She was 40 years old.
           Mui began her career after winning a singing contest in Hong Kong in 1982. She rose to 
           stardom with her song Homecoming in 1984.
         Canto-pop refers to hits sung in Cantonese, the dialect of Chinese that is widely spoken 
           in Hong Kong and in many overseas Chinese communities.
         Mui also turned to acting and won Taiwan's Golden Horse film award for best actress in 
           1987 for her role as a tormented ghost in the movie "Rouge."

   31      Fairfax County Student Holiday   
                              New Year's Eve

      1894 ~ Ernest John Moeran
      1904 ~ Nathan Milstein, Russian-born American violinist and composer
      1908 ~ Jonah Jones (Robert Elliott Jones), Trumpeter, singer, played with Cab 
           Calloway and threw spitball that got Dizzy Gillespie fired from a band
      1922 ~ Rex Allen, ‘The Arizona Cowboy', entertainer, rodeo star, singer, 
           songwriter who published over 300 songs
      1923 ~ Singer Eddie Cantor opened in the lead role of Kid Boots. Broadway critics 
           called the production, "A smash musical hit!" Eddie made several of the 
           songs from that show into smash hits also, like Alabamy Bound and
           If You Knew Susie. Three years later, If You Knew Susie became the title 
           song for a movie starring Cantor. 
      1928 ~ Ross Barbour, Singer with The Four Freshmen
      1929 ~ Guy Lombardo and his Royal Canadians played Auld Lang Syne as a New Year's 
           Eve song for the first time. Auld Lang Syne had been the band's theme song 
           long before 1929. However, this night was the start of a New Year's Eve 
           tradition as Lombardo's famed orchestra played at the Hotel Roosevelt Grill  
           in New York City to usher in the new year. 
         Where did it Auld begin? Scottish poet Robert Burns said he heard an old man 
           singing the words, and wrote them down; but Burns is considered the original 
           author. The literal translation means "old long since"; less literal means 
           "days gone by". Auld Lang Syne and Happy New Year!
      1930 ~ Odetta (Holmes Felious Gordon), American folk-blues singer, guitarist, 
           songwriter and actress
      1940 ~ As a result of a dispute between the radio networks and ASCAP (the 
           American Society of Composers and Publishers), the radio industry was 
           prevented from playing any ASCAP-licensed music. The ban lasted for ten 
           months. An ASCAP competitor, BMI (Broadcast Music Incorporated) made giant 
           strides, expanding to include 36,000 copyrights. Many radio stations had to 
           resort to playing public domain songs, such as marches and operas, to keep 
           their stations on the air. Even kids songs were played over and over again 
           until the ban was lifted.
         One of the most popular songs to be played was Happy Birthday to You, which 
           was performed in many different languages just to get past the ban. The 
           original song is now, in fact, a copyrighted piece of music, though it 
           wasn't at the time.
      1942 ~ Andy Summers (Somers), Guitarist, singer with The Police
      1943 ~ John Denver (Deutschendorf), American singer and songwriter of popular 
           music
      1943 ~ Pete Quaife, Bass with The Kinks
      1946 ~ Patti Smith, Songwriter, singer, playwright
      1947 ~ Burton Cummings, Jr., Singer with The Guess Who
      1947 ~ Roy Rogers, ‘the King of the Cowboys', and Dale Evans were hitched in 
           marriage. They rode off into that sunset together for over fifty years. (Roy 
           died July 6, 1998.) 
      1948 ~ Donna Summer (LaDonna Gaines), Grammy Award-winning singer
      1951 ~ Tom Hamilton, Bass with Aerosmith
      1960 ~ After playing California nightclubs as The Pendletones, Kenny and the 
           Cadets, and Carl and the Passions, a new group emerged this day: The Beach 
           Boys. The group's first national hit, Surfin' Safari, was soon to be.
           They recorded for local (Los Angeles) Colpix Records and at the height of 
           their popularity, Capitol Records. The Beach Boys also recorded under the 
           Reprise Records banner. The revitalized group still tours and Capitol 
           continues to reissue various greatest hits packages. The Beach Boys were 
           inducted into The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.
      1972 ~ Joe McIntyre, Singer with New Kids on the Block
      1975 ~ Elvis Presley performed before 60,000 fans at the Silverdome in Pontiac, 
           MI. He earned $800,000 for the concert, a world record for a single concert 
           by a single artist. 
      1985 ~ Over 54,500 people played kazoos in downtown Rochester, New York. The 
           assembled multitude played A Bicycle Built for Two. Any idea why? Well, they 
           felt it was appropriate for the last day of the year and it got the crowd 
           listed in the Guiness Book of World Records for ‘Most Kazoo-ers'.
      2000 ~ Tanaquil Le Clercq, the ballerina who dazzled the world in the 1940s and 
           '50s before her career was cut short by paralytic polio, died of pneumonia  
           at the age of 71. 
         Le Clercq contracted the disease, which left her paralyzed below the waist, in 
           1956. At the time, she was the fourth wife of George Balanchine and had 
           attracted an adoring public because of her long-legged elegance. 
         She later became a teacher at Dance Theater of Harlem, wrote two books and 
           regularly attended dance performances. 
         The New York City Ballet, of which Le Clercq was a charter member, paid 
           tribute to her in 1988, when it opened its 50th-anniversary season. She 
           acknowledged a thunderous New York State Theater ovation from her 
           wheelchair. 
         Le Clercq was blessed with an elongated physique that she used with refinement 
           or humor. She epitomized the modernized look in classical dancing, which 
           enthralled Balanchine, who once cast her as a dragonfly. 
         As the first City Ballet ballerina trained since childhood by Balanchine, she 
           was naturally identified with the roles he created for her in his major 
           works, such as the ballets "Symphonie Concertante," "Symphony in C" and "La 
           Valse," in which her doomed heroine danced herself to death. 
         She was equally unforgettable in the ballets of Jerome Robbins and as the 
           white-faced allegorical figure of Sacred Love in "Illuminations" in 1950. 
      2000 ~ José Greco, the famed flamenco dancer and choreographer who founded the 
           José Greco Spanish Dance Company,of heart failure at the age of 82. 
         Born in Montorio nei Frentani, Italy, of Spanish-Italian parents, he moved to 
           Seville, Spain, at the age of 3, then was raised in Brooklyn from the age of        
           10. He began his career in 1937 and became known as the greatest Spanish 
           dancer in the world. 
         In 1941, the already famous Argentine-born dancer La Argentinita (known off 
           the stage as Encarnacion Lopez) was preparing for an American tour when she 
           saw Greco dance and asked him to perform as her partner and the featured 
           male performer in her company until she died in 1945. After that, Greco 
           danced with her sister Pilar Lopez. 
         In 1951, Greco shared with Carol Channing the title of "New Broadway 
           Personality of the Year." The José Greco Dance Company, which helped 
           integrate flamenco with mainstream ballet, toured extensively in North 
           America, and six times worldwide, over the following two decades. 
         In 1962, he Greco was knighted by the Spanish government. 
         In 1971, Greco formed the Foundation for Hispanic Dance. His autobiography, 
           "Gypsy in My Soul: The Autobiography of Jose Greco," was published in 1977. 
      2000 ~ Eddy Shaver, a guitarist who performed with his father Billy Joe Shaver and 
           Dwight Yoakam, died at the age of 38. 
         Eddy Shaver grew up around music because of his father, a celebrated 
           songwriter whose songs include I'm Just an Old Chuck of Coal (But I'm Gonna 
           Be a Diamond Someday) and Georgia on a Fast Train. Dickie Betts of The 
           Allman Brothers Band helped teach Eddy Shaver to play and gave him his two 
           favorite guitars, one formerly owned by the late guitarist Duane Allman. 
         Eddy Shaver began playing guitar with his father at 13, and gradually became 
           Billy Joe Shaver's musical partner and sometime co-writer. Billy Joe Shaver 
           merged from country to a more rock-influenced sound because of his son. 
         Albums by the band Shaver include "Tramp on Your Street," the live "Shaver: 
           Unshaven," and "Electric Shaver." A new album, "The Earth Rolls On," was 
           released on March 20, 2001. 
      2001 ~ Marie Hartford, a well-known businesswoman on Music Row and widow of the late 
           songwriter and performer John Hartford, died of lung cancer. She was 67. 
         Marie Hartford worked at Glaser Publishing, booking the studios at the Glaser 
           Brothers' Music Row operation, where country music's Outlaw movement was bred. 
         John Hartford, who wrote the standard Gentle on My Mind, died June 4 after a 
           decade-long battle with cancer. The song was recorded more than 300 times, most 
           prominently by Glen Campbell in 1967 but also by Dean Martin, Elvis Presley and 
           Aretha Franklin.
      2003 ~ Renata Babak, an internationally known mezzo-soprano with the Bolshoi Opera who 
           defected from the Soviet Union in 1973, died of pancreatic cancer. She was 69.
         Babak gave recitals until last year, singing in a sweet but powerful and well-controlled 
           voice described by critics as among the best in the world. Her last opera was in 1997, 
           when she performed in Tchaikovsky's Iolanta with Opera Camerata of Washington.
         Babak was an international star with 10 years' experience at the Bolshoi when she 
           defected while the opera company was playing at La Scala in Milan, slipping out of a 
           hotel lobby wearing a wig and dark glasses. She immigrated to Canada and went into 
           hiding for two years.
         Babak's U.S. debut at Carnegie Hall in 1975 was met with enthusiastic reviews. She moved 
           to New York and then to Washington in the hopes of working with George London, then 
           general director of the Washington Opera. Babak joined the faculty of the Washington 
           Conservatory of Music when London was disabled by a stroke.