Christmas Countdown: Mary Did You Know

• 1791 ~ Peter Joseph Von Lindpaintnerr, German composer,

• 1837 ~ Charles-Emile Waldteufel, French pianist, conductor and composer of dance music

• 1882 ~ Joaquín Turina, Spanish pianist and composer

• 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.

• 2004 ~ Country and Western singer Jerry Scoggins, whose baritone rendition of the theme song of “The Beverly Hillbillies” became one of television’s favorite tunes, died at age 93.