People, Locations, Episodes

Smiley Lewis, Vocalist born

Smiley Lewis was born on this date in 1913. He was an African American vocalist and one of the greatest New Orleans R&B artists of the 1950s.

Anna Mae Winburn, Singer and Bandleader born

*Anna Mae Winburn was born on this date in 1913. She was a Black singer, guitarist, and bandleader.    Born Anna Mae Darden in Port Royal, Tennessee, she was the daughter of Andrew Jackson Darden and Lula Carnell, a musical family. She was the fourth oldest of nine siblings, five brothers and three sisters. When she was […]

Herb Jefferies, Singer, and Actor born

*Herb Jeffries was born on this date in 1913. He was a Black singer and actor. From Detroit, MI., his white Irish mother ran a rooming house, and his father, whom he never knew, was of Sicilian, Ethiopian, French, Italian, and Moorish ancestry. Jefferies grew up in a mixed neighborhood. He showed definitive interest in singing during his […]

Kenny Clarke, Bebop Drummer born

Kenny Clark was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American jazz drummer and bandleader.

Kenneth Spearman Clark was born into a musical family in Pittsburgh. He studied piano, trombone, drums, vibraphone, and music theory in public schools. From 1929 to 1933, he had his first professional experience as a drummer with Leroy Bradley’s Band, and later with Roy Eldridge. In 1934, he left Pittsburgh for short stint in St. Louis and eventually moved to New York. There he joined the Edgar Hayes Orchestra, and in 1937, he made his first European tour and recording debut.

Sonny Boy Williamson, Blues Musician born

*Sonny Boy Williamson was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American Blues musician.

Noah Ryder, Choral Conductor, and Educator born

Noah Ryder was born on this date in 1914. He was an African American conductor, singer and educator.

Sun Ra, Eclectic Musician, and Composer born

*On this date in 1914, Sun Rawas was born. He was a Black jazz composer, bandleader, pianist, synthesizer player, and poet. Sun Ra was born Herman Poole Blount in Birmingham, Alabama. He was named after the popular vaudeville stage magician Black Herman, who had deeply impressed his mother. He was nicknamed “Sonny” from childhood, had an […]

The Hippodrome Theater in Richmond, VA. Opens

*The Hippodrome Theater, a black entertainment venue in Richmond, Virginia’s Jackson Ward neighborhood, was celebrated on this date in 1914. Charles A. Somma opened the Hippodrome Theater as a vaudeville and movie theater. The theater played a significant role in entertaining Richmond’s Black community during the early 20th century. It is located on Second Street in Richmond, […]

Billy Eckstine, Vocalist born

This date marks the day Billy Eckstine was born in 1914. He was an African American singer.

Born William Clarence Eckstein in Pittsburgh, he began singing at the age of 11 but until his late teens was undecided between a career as a singer or football player. He won a sporting scholarship but soon afterward broke his collarbone and decided that singing was less dangerous.

Ivory Joe Hunter, Lyricist, and Singer born

On this date in 1914, Ivory Joe Hunter was born. He was an African American singer, songwriter, and piano player.

‘Pops’ Staples, Singer, and Composer born

On this date “Pops” Staples, an African American gospel and blues singer, was born in 1914.

Roebuck “Pops” Staples’ was born in Winona, MS, and was introduced to music by singing in the church. At the age of 15, Staples began experimenting with the Blues. Robert Johnson, Bubba White, and “Big Bill” Broonzy were among those who influenced his singing and guitar style.

In 1935, Staples moved to Chicago with his wife Oceola and two children, Pervis and Cleotha. There, the family grew with the addition of Yvonne and Mavis.

Dean Dixon, Orchestral Conductor born

This is the day of Dean Dixon’s birth on this date in 1915. He was an African American orchestral conductor.

Alan Lomax, Ethnomusicologist born

*Alan Lomax was born on this date in 1915. He was a white-American ethnomusicologist, musician, folklorist, and filmmaker. Lomax was born in Austin, Texas, and the third of four children born to Bess Brown, a folklorist and author John A. Lomax. The elder Lomax, a former professor of English at Texas A&M. Due to childhood asthma […]

Josh White, Master of Folk/Blues born

*Josh White was born on this date in 1915. He was an influential African American Folk and Blues singer.

From Greenville, S.C. White started singing in churches as a child and left school at an early age to work in South Carolina, North Carolina, Chicago and elsewhere as a guide and accompanist to blind street singers, including Blind John Henry Arnold, Blind Joe Taggart, Blind Blake, Blind Lemmon Jefferson. In 1932 White moved to New York and started making a living as a professional guitarist and singer.

Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Gospel Singer born

*Sister Rosetta Tharpe was born on this date in 1915. She was an African American singer and one of the first gospel singers to tour Europe.

Her career spanned five decades. Born Rosetta Nubin, in Cotton Plant, Arkansas, her family moved to Chicago when she was five. Her singing debut, with her mother, was before an audience of 1,000 people. The 1920’s and 30’s were years when Sister Rosetta sang the gospel songs of composers such as W.H. Brewster and blues-tinted gospels songs of Thomas A. Dorsey. Rosetta Tharpe was married three times.