• 1932 ~ Nam June Paik, Korean-born American avant-guarde composer
• 1938 ~ Jo Ann Campbell, Singer
• 1940 ~ Billboard magazine published its first listing of best-selling singles. 10 tunes were listed.
• 1943 ~ John Lodge, Guitar with Justin Hayward, singer with the Moody Blues
• 1944 ~ T.G. Shepherd (William Bowder), Country Singer
• 1946 ~ Kim Carnes, Grammy Award-winning singer, co-wrote score to Flashdance
• 1946 ~ John Almond, Reeds, keyboards, vibes with Johnny Almond and the Music Machine
• 1947 ~ Carlos Santana, Mexican-born American rock guitarist
• 1958 ~ Mick McNeil, Keyboards with Simple Minds
• 1961 ~ Stop the World, I Want to Get Off opened in London. The show went to Broadway in 1962.
• 1963 ~ Dino Esposito, Singer
• 1963 ~ Ray Conniff received two gold-record awards – for the albums, Concert in Rhythm and Memories are Made of This – on Columbia Records. Conniff recorded dozens of albums of easy listening music for the label. He had been a trombonist and arranger with Bunny Berigan, Bob Crosby, Harry James, Vaughn Monroe andArtie Shaw.
• 1964 ~ Chris Cornell, Grammy Award-winning musician: drums, singer, songwriter with Soundgarden
• 1811 ~ Vincenz Lachner, German organist, conductor and composer
• 1906 ~ Klauss Egge, Norwegian composer
• 1913 ~ Charles Teagarden, trumpeter, bandleader, brother of Jack
• 1926 ~ Sue Thompson (Eva McKee), singer of Norman and Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)
• 1937 ~ George Hamilton IV, Singer
• 1939 ~ Jack Teagarden and his orchestra recorded Aunt Hagar’s Blues for Columbia Records. Teagarden provided the vocal on the session recorded in Chicago, IL.
• 1941 ~ Natalya Besamertnova, Ballet Dancer with the Bolshoi ballet
• 1942 ~ The Seventh Symphony, by Dmitri Shostakovitch, was performed for the first time in the United States by Arturo Toscanini and the NBC Symphony Orchestra.
• 1946 ~ Alan Gorrie, Rock Singer with the Average White Band
• 1947 ~ Bernie Leadon, Musician, guitar with The Eagles
• 1947 ~ Brian Harold May, Musician, guitarist, singer and songwriter with Queen, who had the 1975 UK No.1 single Bohemian Rhapsody, which returned to No.1 in 1991. Queen scored over 40 other UK Top 40 singles, and also scored the 1980 US No.1 single Crazy Little Thing Called Love. May had the solo 1992 UK No.5 single Too Much Love Will Kill You. May was made Commander of the Order of the British Empire in 2005 for ‘services to the music industry and his charity work’. May earned a PhD in astrophysics from Imperial College, London, in 2007.
• 1949 ~ Singer Harry Belafonte began recording for Capitol Records on this day. The first sessions included They Didn’t Believe Me and Close Your Eyes. A short time later, Capitol said Belafonte wasn’t “commercial enough,” so he signed with RCA Victor (for a very productive and commercial career).
• 1952 ~ Allen Collins, Musician, guitar with Lynyrd Skynyrd
• 1952 ~ “Paint Your Wagon” closed at Shubert Theater New York City after 289 performances
• 1966 ~ Frank Sinatra married actress Mia Farrow this day.
• 1963 ~ Kelly Shiver, Country Singer
• 1980 ~ Billy Joel, pianist, singer-songwriter, and composer, earned his first gold record with It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me, which reached the top of the Billboard pop music chart. He would score additional million-sellers with Just the Way You Are, My Life, Uptown Girl (for girlfriend and later, wife and supermodel Christie Brinkley) and We Didn’t Start the Fire. Joel reached the top only one other time, with Tell Her About It in 1983.
• 2000 ~ H. LeBaron Taylor, a Sony executive who pioneered the mass marketing of music rooted in black culture and fostered minority development in the corporate world, died at the age of 65 of a heart attack. He was recognized by Ebony magazine as one of the top 50 black executives in corporate America. In the 1970s, Taylor was at CBS Records, leading its Black Music Marketing department, which sold music originating in black culture and styles that sprang from it, such as blues, soul, rap and hip-hop.
Roadtrip! is a primer level method book for very early beginners ages 4 and up. Students master basic music fundamentals while creating a musical memory book that becomes a keepsake item to commemorate their maiden voyage into piano lessons.
18 songs: Non-position based; black key pieces; R.H. & L.H. only pieces; on-staff reading only
Also features: improvisation activities; ear training; composition; teacher duets
What this means for the O’Connor Music Studio – younger beginners will be able to get a great start to their musical lives. Previously, I’ve only accepted students starting at age 6.
Starting with the new school year, interested parents can enroll their students from the age of 4.
• 1889 ~ Carli Zoeller, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1891 ~ Franco Casavola, Composer
• 1894 ~ Juventino Rosas, Composer, died at the age of 26
• 1898 ~ Guglielmo Marconi patented the radio
• 1903 ~ August Reissmann, Composer, died at the age of 77
• 1906 ~ Harry Sosnik, American orchestra leader of the Jack Carter Show and Your Hit Parade
• 1909 ~ David Branson, Composer
• 1909 ~ Paul Constantinescu, Composer
• 1909 ~ Washington Castro, Composer
• 1913 ~ Ladislav Holoubek, Composer
• 1915 ~ Paul Williams, Jazz saxophonist and band leader Williams played with Clarence Dorsey in 1946, and then made his recording debut with King Porter in 1947 for Paradise before forming his own band later that year.
More information about Williams
• 1921 ~ Ernest Gold, Composer
• 1921 ~ Charles Scribner Jr, Music publisher
• 1923 ~ Asger Hamerik (Hammerich) German composer, died at the age of 80
• 1924 ~ Carlo Bergonzi, Italian tenor
• 1926 ~ Meyer Kupferman, American composer
• 1928 ~ Donal Michalsky, Composer
• 1932 ~ Per Nørgård, Danish composer
More information about Nørgård
• 1934 ~ Roger Reynolds, Composer
• 1936 ~ Izydor Lotto, Composer, died at the age of 91
• 1939 ~ Frank Sinatra made his recording debut with the Harry James band. Frankie sang Melancholy Mood and From the Bottom of My Heart.
• 1942 ~ Roger McGuinn, Musician, guitarist and vocalist with the Byrds (1965 US & UK No.1 single ‘Mr Tambourine Man’). He was the only member of The Byrds to play on the hit, the others being session players. He toured with Bob Dylan in 1975 and 1976 as part of Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue, and later worked with fellow ex-Byrds Gene Clark and Chris Hillman to form “McGuinn, Clark and Hillman”.
• 1951 ~ Arnold Schoenberg, Austrian-born composer, died in Los Angeles; he was best known for his 12-note serial method and his composition Verklaerte Nacht and his opera “Moses und Aaron.”
More information about Schoenberg
• 1942 ~ Stephen Jo Bladd , American drummer with the J Geils Band
• 1954 ~ Louise Mandrell, American country singer with the Mandrell Sisters
• 1958 ~ Karl Erb, German tenor, died on 81st birthday
• 1959 ~ Dedicated to the One I Love, by The Shirelles, was released. The tune went to number 83 on the Top 100 chart of “Billboard” magazine. The song was re-released in 1961 and made it to number three on the charts.
• 1961 ~ Lawrence Donegan, Musician, bass with Lloyd Cole & The Commotions
• 1965 ~ Neil Thrasher, Country Singer
• 1973 ~ Martian Negrea, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1973 ~ The Everly Brothers called it quits during a concert at the John Wayne Theatre in Buena Park, CA. Phil Everly walked off the stage in the middle of the show and brother Don said, “The Everly Brothers died ten years ago.” The duo reunited a decade later for a short time.
• 1976 ~ Max Butting, Composer, died at the age of 87
• 1978 ~ Antonio Veretti, Composer, died at the age of 78
• 1985 ~ Duran Duran took A View to a Kill, from the James Bond movie of the same name, to the top of the record charts this day. The song stayed on top for two weeks.Live and Let Die by Wings and Nobody Does It Better by Carly Simon — both James Bond themes — got only as high as number two on the record charts.
• 1985 ~ Live Aid, a rock concert masterminded by Bob Geldof, took place in London and Philadelphia and raised over 60 million dollars for famine in Africa.
• 1992 ~ Carla van Neste, Belgian violinist, died at the age of 78
• 1994 ~ Eddie Boyd, Blues vocalist and pianist, died at the age of 79
• 1943 ~ Christine (Perfect) McVie, Singer with Fleetwood Mac
• 1946 ~ Benjamin Britten’s “Rape of Lucretia,” premiered at Glyndebourne
• 1947 ~ James Melvin Lunceford, American jazz dance-band leader, passed away
More information about Lunceford
• 1949 ~ John Wetton, Bassist, singer with Asia
• 1952 ~ Liz Mitchell, Singer
• 1953 ~ Marie-Alphonse-Nicolas-Joseph Jongen, Belgian composer, died at the age of 79
• 1956 ~ Sandi Patti, Gospel Singer
• 1958 ~ “Li’l Abner” closed at St James Theater New York City after 693 performances
• 1958 ~ Yakety Yak, by The Coasters, became the number one song in America according to Billboard magazine. It was the first stereo record to reach the top of the chart.
• 1962 ~ The Rolling Stones first performance, at the Marquee Club, London. The lineup featured Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, bass player Dick Taylor and drummer Mick Avory. Taylor and Avory were soon replaced.
• 1970 ~ Blues-Rock singer Janis Joplin’s debut, in Kentucky
• 1979 ~ Kalervo Tuukkanen, Composer, died at the age of 69
• 1979 ~ Minnie Ripperton (Andrea Davis) Singer, died at the age of 30
• 1985 ~ “Singin’ in the Rain” opened at Gershwin Theater New York City for 367 performances
• 1990 ~ Les Miserables opened at National Theatre, Washington
• 1995 ~ Alan David Marks, Pianist and composer, died at the age of 49
• 1995 ~ Earl Coleman, Singer, died at the age of 69
• 1995 ~ Ernie Furtado, Bassist, died at the age of 72
• 1996 ~ Gottfried von Einem, Composer, died at the age of 78
• 1996 ~ Jonathan Melvoin, Keyboardist with Smashing Pumpkins, died
• 2000 ~ Ras Shorty I, who fused calypso with an up-tempo beat that he said represented the true soul of calypso, died of bone cancer. He was 59. He was born Garfield Blackman and started singing calypso as Lord Shorty. Dozens of musicians later adopted his up-tempo “soca” beat, which he called the “Indianization of calypso,” bringing together the music of his Caribbean nation’s two major ethnic groups, descendants of African slaves and of indentured laborers from India.
• 2001 ~ James Bernard, who composed the eerie musical scores for some of Britain’s most famous horror films, died at the age of 75. The British composer was best known for his work with Hammer Film studios, which made low-budget gothic horror films featuring actors Peter Cushing and Christopher Lee. During his nearly 40-year career, Bernard composed scores for “The Curse of Frankenstein” (1957), “Dracula” (1958) and “The Devil Rides Out” (1968). He won an Academy Award, but not for his music. Bernard shared an Oscar in 1951 with Paul Dehn for best motion picture story for “Seven Days to Noon.” His last work was the score for “Universal Horror” in 1998, a documentary of Universal Studios’ horror films of the 1930s and 1940s.
• 1862 ~ Liza Nina Mary Frederica Lehmann, Composer
• 1892 ~ Giorgio Federico Ghedini, Composer
• 1897 ~ Blind Lemon Jefferson, Singer
• 1914 ~ Ahti Sonninen, Composer
• 1916 ~ Howard Brubeck, Composer
• 1918 ~ Enrico Caruso bypassed opera for a short time to join the war (WWI) effort. Caruso recorded Over There, the patriotic song written by George M. Cohan.
• 1927 ~ Herbert Blomstedt, American-born Swedish conductor of the Oslo Philharmonic from 1954 until 1961
• 1928 ~ Robert Washburn, Composer
• 1929 ~ Hermann Prey, German baritone
• 1931 ~ Thurston Harris, American vocalist
• 1931 ~ Tab Hunter (Arthur Gelien), Singer
• 1932 ~ Alex Hassilev, American vocalist with the Limeliters
• 1937 ~ George Gershwin, Composer of An American Paris, died at the age of 38
More information about Gershwin
• 1938 ~ Terry Garthwaite, American guitarist and singer
• 1944 ~ Bobby Rice, Singer
• 1945 ~ Debbie Harry, Singer
• 1947 ~ Jeff Hanna, Singer, guitarist with Nitty Gritty Dirt Band
• 1950 ~ Patty Pointer, Singer with Pointer Sisters
• 1950 ~ Timotei Popovici, Composer, died at the age of 79
• 1951 ~ Bonnie Pointer, Singer with Pointer Sisters
• 1957 ~ Peter Murphy, Singer with Bauhaus
• 1959 ~ Richie Sambora, Guitarist
• 1964 ~ 18-year-old Millie Small was riding high on the pop music charts with My BoyLollipop. Rod Stewart played harmonica. Millie Small was known as the ’Blue Beat Girl’ in Jamaica, her homeland.
• 1967 ~ Kenny Rogers formed The First Edition just one day after he and members Thelma Camacho, Mike Settle and Terry Williams left The New Christy Minstrels. The First Edition hosted a syndicated TV variety show in 1972.
• 1969 ~ David Bowie released Space Oddity in the UK for the first time. It was timed to coincide with the Apollo moon landing but had to be re-released before it became a hit, later in the year in the UK (but not until 1973 in the US).
• 1969 ~ Rolling Stones released Honky Tonk Woman
• 1973 ~ Alexander Vasilyevich Mosolov, Russian Composer, died at the age of 72
• 1980 ~ Boleslaw Woytowicz, Composer, died at the age of 80
• 1984 ~ Karel Mengelberg, Composer, died at the age of 81
• 1993 ~ Mario Bauza, Cuban/American jazz musician ~ died at the age of 82
• 1994 ~ Charles “Lefty” Edwards, Saxophonist, died at the age of 67
• 1994 ~ Lex P Humphries, Drummer, died at the age of 57
• 1996 ~ Louis Gottlieb, Musician, died at the age of 72
• 2001 ~ Herman Brood, an artist and musician in the Dutch rock scene for 30 years, died at the age of 55. Brood became a sensation with his 1978 hit single Saturday Night, which he wrote as leader of the band Wild Romance. Over 25 years, he recorded nearly 20 albums. He also appeared in Dutch movies.
• 2002 ~ Blues singer Rosco Gordon died of a heart attack. He was 74. Rosco was known for 1950s hits including Booted, No More Doggin’, Do theChicken and Just aLittle Bit, which sold more than 4 million copies in covers by Etta James, Elvis Presley, the Beatles and Jerry Butler. His offbeat, rhythmic style influenced the early sounds of ska and reggae after he toured the Caribbean in the late ’50s. Gordon quit the music business in the 1960s and invested his winnings from a poker game in a dry cleaning business. He started his own record label in 1969 and returned to concert performances in 1981.
• 1755 ~ Gottlob Harrer, Composer, died at the age of 52
• 1774 ~ Giuseppi Maria Carretti, Composer, died at the age of 83
• 1791 ~ Nicolas Ledesma, Composer
• 1794 ~ Pascal Boyer, Composer, died at the age of 51
• 1805 ~ Henry John Gauntlett, Composer
• 1821 ~ Tommaso Sogner, Composer, died at the age of 58
• 1826 ~ Friedrich Ludwig Dulon, Flautist and composer, died at the age of 56
• 1839 ~ Carl Baermann, Composer
• 1841 ~ Carl Christian Lumbye, Composer
• 1855 ~ Johann P Zilcher, German composer
• 1879 ~ Ottorino Respighi, Italian composer, viola-player, pianist and conductor Respighi’s Pines of Rome is featured in Fantasia 2000.
More information about Respighi
• 1882 ~ Richard Hageman, Dutch and American pianist, composer and conductor
• 1883 ~ Adrien Louis Victor Boieldieu, Composer, died at the age of 67
• 1967 ~ The Beatles’All You Need is Love was released
• 1967 ~ Doors’ Light My Fire hit #1
• 1968 ~ Rock group “Yardbirds” disbanded
• 1972 ~ Paul McCartney appeared on stage for the first time since 1966 as his group, Wings, opened at Chateauvillon in the south of France.
• 1977 ~ Undercover Angel, by songwriter (turned pop singer) Alan O’Day, reached the top spot on the Billboard chart. It was not the first visit to the top of the pop music world for O’Day, though the million-seller would be his last as a singer. He wroteAngie Baby, a number one hit for Helen Reddy and the #3 hit, Rock And Roll Heaven, for The Righteous Brothers.
• 1978 ~ Aladar Zoltan, Composer, died at the age of 49
• 1978 ~ “Hello, Dolly!” closed at Lunt-Fontanne Theater New York City after 152 performances
• 1981 ~ Oscar van Hemel, Composer, died at the age of 88
• 1984 ~ Randall Thompson, American composer, died at the age of 85
• 1986 ~ A new Broadway showplace opened. It was the first new theatre on Broadway in
• 13 years. The Marquis Theatre, located at the corner of 46th Street and Broadway, seated 1,600 theatregoers.
• 1994 ~ Cornelius Boyson, Bassist, died at the age of 57
• 1994 ~ William “Sabby” Lewis, Jazz Pianist and Arranger, died at the age of 79
• 1994 ~ “Les Miserables” opened at Imperial Theatre, Tokyo
• 1876 ~ Josef Dessauer, Composer, died at the age of 78
• 1882 ~ Percy Aldridge Grainger, Australian-born American pianist and composer. He is famed for his use of folk-song melodies and is best remembered for his Country Gardens and Molly on the Shore.
• 1885 ~ Hendrick Waelput,Flemish Composer and conductor (Blessing of Arms), died at the age of 39
• 1894 ~ Vladimir Nikitich Kashperov, Composer, died
• 1900 ~ George Antheil, American composer
• 1904 ~ Bill Challis, Arranger and pianist
• 1907 ~ Kishio Hirao, Composer
• 1907 ~ Florenz Ziegfeld staged the first Ziegfeld Follies at the roof garden of the New York Theatre.
• 1957 ~ Henry Fevrier, Composer, died at the age of 81
• 1958 ~ The first gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded. It went to the soundtrack LP, Oklahoma!. The honor signified that the album had reached one million dollars in sales. The first gold single issued by the RIAA was Catch a Falling Star, by Perry Como, in March of 1958. A gold single also represents sales of one million records.
• 1961 ~ Andy Fletcher, Musician with Depeche Mode
• 1961 ~ Graham Jones, Musician, guitarist with Haircut 100
• 1961 ~ Julian Bautista, Composer, died at the age of 60
• 1969 ~ Gladys Swarthout, Opera singer and actress (Ambush), died at the age of 64
• 1994 ~ Dominic Lucero, Dancer and singer, died
• 1996 ~ James Woodie Alexander, Songwriter and vocalist, died at the age of 80
• 2002 ~ Lore Noto, producer of “The Fantasticks,” the world’s longest-running musical, died after a long battle with cancer. He was 79. It was Noto, a former actor and artists’ agent, who saw the possibilities in a small one-act musical written by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt when it was first produced in 1959 at Barnard College in New York. He commissioned the authors to expand the show, which eventually opened at the tiny Sullivan Street Playhouse in Greenwich Village on May 3, 1960. It ran for 17,162 performances, closing Jan. 13 after a more than 40-year run. The musical, with book and lyrics by Jones and music by Schmidt, told an affecting tale of first love. A girl and boy are secretly brought together by their fathers and an assortment of odd characters including a rakish narrator, an old actor, an Indian named Mortimer and a Mute. Over the years, scores of performers appeared in the New York production. Among the musical’s better-known alums are its original El Gallo, Jerry Orbach, and such soap-opera stars as Eileen Fulton and David Canary. F. Murray Abraham, long before his Academy Award for “Amadeus”, played the Old Actor in the ’60s. Early in the show’s run, Noto went on in the role of the boy’s father and played the part, off and on, for 17 years.
• 1927 ~ Doc (Carl) Severinsen, Bandleader, trumpeter, The Tonight Show Band, The Doc Severinsen Band, played with Charlie Barnet and Tommy Dorsey Orchestras, owner of a trumpet factory
• 1927 ~ Charlie Louvin (Loudermilk), Country singer, joined Grand Ole Opry in 1955
• 1940 ~ Ringo Starr, British rock drummer and singer with The Beatles
• 1944 ~ Warren Entner, Musician, guitarist and singer with The Grass Roots
• 1950 ~ David Hodo, Singer with The Village People
• 1954 ~ Cherry Boone, Singer; daughter of singer Pat Boone, sister of singer DebbyBoone
• 1962 ~ Mark White, Rock Musician
• 1962 ~ Orchestra leader David Rose reached the top spot on the popular music charts. The Stripper stayed at the pinnacle of musicdom for one week. Rose’s previous musical success on the charts was in 1944 with Holiday for Strings.
• 2001 ~ Folk singer Fred Neil, who had such hits as Everybody’s Talking, and Candyman, died at the age of 64. Neil started his music career in 1955 when he moved from St. Petersburg to Memphis, Tenn. He released his first single, You Ain’t Treatin’ Me Right/Don’tPut the Blame On Me, two years later. The singer became a cult favorite in New York City’s Greenwich Village folk scene after Roy Orbison released a blues recording of Neil’s Candyman in 1960. Neil released his first solo album, Bleecker & MacDougal, in 1965. After moving back to Florida, Neil took an interest in protecting dolphins. He frequently visited Kathy, the star of the television show Flipper, and wrote a song called The Dolphins, which was released on his 1967 album Fred Neil. In 1970, Neil co-founded the Dolphin Research Project to help curb the capture and exploitation of dolphins worldwide. His last big hit came in 1969 when the film Midnight Cowboy featured singer Harry Nilsson’s version of Neil’s Everybody’s Talking.
• 2002 ~ Dorle Jarmel Soria, a writer and co-founder of the music label Angel Records, died. She was 101. Soria and her husband, Dario Soria, together founded Angel Records, which distributed some of the labels of EMI, a British company. The label released some 500 recordings, including the work of singer Elisabeth Schwarzkopf, pianist Walter Gieseking and conductor Herbert von Karajan. The company was eventually sold by EMI, and the Sorias went on to help found Gian Carlo Menotti’s Festival of Two Worlds in Italy. Before founding Angel, Soria had a career in journalism and worked for Arthur Judson, who was a concert manager for the New York Philharmonic. Soria wrote regularly for several music magazines, and had a weekly column for the Carnegie Hall program in the 1960s. She also published a book about the history of the Metropolitan Opera.
On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. This declaration announced to the world that the 13 colonies would no longer be held by British rule. Today Americans celebrate by the flying of a flag, cooking at home (usually a cookout, also known as a barbecue), and watching a brilliant fireworks display.
• 1826 ~ Stephen Foster, American composer of songs
More information about Foster
• 1832 ~ It was on this day that America was sung in public for the first time — at the Park Street Church in Boston, MA. Dr. Samuel Francis Smith wrote the words, borrowing the tune from a German songbook. Ironically, and unknown to Dr. Smith at the time, the melody is the same as the British national anthem.
• 1895 ~ America the Beautiful, the famous song often touted as the true U.S. national anthem, was originally a poem written by Katherine Lee Bates. The Wellesley College professor’s poem was first published this day in the Congregationalist, a church newspaper.
• 1898 ~ Michael Aaron, Piano Educator
• 1900 ~ Louis “Satchmo” Armstrong, American jazz trumpeter, singer and bandleader Read quotes by and about Armstrong
More information about Armstrong
• 1909 ~ Alec Templeton, Pianist
• 1911 ~ Mitch Miller, American conductor, oboist, record company executive, producer, arranger for the Sing Along with Mitch LPs and TV show
• 1937 ~ Ray Pillow, Singer
• 1938 ~ Bill Withers, Grammy Award-winning songwriter, singer
• 1942 ~ The Irving Berlin musical, This is the Army, opened at New York’s Broadway Theatre. Net profits of the show were $780,000.
• 1943 ~ Al ‘Blind Owl’ Wilson, Musician, guitarist, harmonica, singer with Canned Heat
• 1943 ~ The Rhythm Boys, Bing Crosby, Al Rinker and Harry Barris, were reunited for the first time since the 1930s on Paul Whiteman Presents on NBC radio.
• 1948 ~ Jeremy Spencer, Musician, guitarist with Fleetwood Mac
• 1955 ~ John Waite, Singer
• 1958 ~ Kirk Pengily, Rock Musician
• 1985 ~ A crowd, estimated at one million, gathered in Philadelphia to celebrate the 209th anniversary of America’s independence. The Beach Boys were joined by Mr. T. on drums to really add some fireworks to the festivities. The Oak Ridge Boys, Joan Jett and Jimmy Page joined in the celebration.
• 2001 ~ Maceo Anderson, a tap dancer and founding member of the Four Step Brothers, died in Los Angeles at the age of 90. The group tap danced all over the world, performing for the queen of England and the emperor of Japan. The Four Step Brothers also performed at Radio City Music Hall. The group started as a trio. In the mid-1920s, the group performed at the Cotton Club with Duke Ellington, who wrote The Mystery Song for them. Anderson began dancing as a child in the South. When he was six, he and his mother moved to a basement apartment in Harlem. He taught tap dance at his own school in Las Vegas and across the country until 1999.
Grammy winner
On July 4, 1776 the Continental Congress adopted the Declaration of Independence. This declaration announced to the world that the 13 colonies would no longer be held by British rule. Today Americans celebrate by the flying of a flag, cooking at home (usually a cookout, also known as a barbecue), and watching a brilliant fireworks display.
MaryO'Studio 