. 1571 ~ Michael Praetorius, German organist, composer and theorist
More information about Praetorius

. 1797 ~ Heinrich Engelhard Steinway, German piano manufacturer
More information about Steinway

. 1847 ~ Robert Fuchs, Austrian composer and music teacher

. 1905 ~ Harold Arlen, (Hyman Arluck) American composer of musicals and songs
More information about Arlen

. 1918 ~ Hank Locklin (Lawrence Hankins Locklin), Country singer

. 1932 ~ George Burns and Gracie Allen debuted as regulars on The Guy Lombardo Show on CBS radio. The couple was so popular that soon, they would have their own Burns & Allen Show. George and Gracie continued on radio for 18 years before making the switch to TV. All in all, they were big hits for three decades.

. 1941 ~ Brian Holland, Songwriter

. 1941 ~ Duke Ellington and his orchestra recorded one of big band’s all time classics on this day. Take the “A” Train was recorded at Victor’s Hollywood studio and became the Duke’s signature song.

. 1944 ~ Mick Avory, Drummer with The Kinks

. 1951 ~ Melissa Manchester, Singer

. 1958 ~ Get A Job, by The Silhouettes, reached the top spot on the music Tunedex. It remained at #1 for two weeks. Talk about sudden change in American popular music! One week earlier, the number one song was Sugartime, by The McGuire Sisters, a song that definitely was not classified as rock ‘n’ roll. Get A Job was replaced by Tequila, an instrumental by a studio group known as The Champs.

. 1959 ~ Ali (Alistair) Campbell, Guitarist, lead singer with UB40

. 1965 ~ This was a sad day in music, as singer Nat ‘King’ Cole died in Santa Monica, CA. The music legend was 45.

. 1986 ~ Whitney Houston reached the #1 spot on the music charts. Her single, How Will I Know, replaced a song recorded by her first cousin, Dionne Warwick (That’s What Friends Are For). Whitney is the daughter of singer Cissy Houston.

. 1992 ~ William Schuman passed away. Schuman was an American composer and arts administrator.