*Eugene Haynes’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1927. He was a Black classical pianist, composer, and music pedagogue. Eugene Haynes was born in East St Louis, Illinois. He started playing piano at the age of 4. As a teenager, he worked in a warehouse and used his lunch breaks to play a piano […]
learn more*Clyde Stubblefield was born on April 18, 1943. He was a Black funk and blues drummer. Born to Frank D. and Vena Stubblefield, Clyde Austin Stubblefield grew up in Chattanooga, Tennessee. After seeing musicians in a parade, he wanted to drum, and the industrial sounds of factories influenced his sense of rhythm and the trains […]
learn more*Memphis Slim was born on this date in 1915. He was a Black blues pianist, singer, and composer. Memphis Slim was born John Len Chatman in Memphis, Tennessee. For his first recordings, for Okeh Records in 1940, he used the name of his father, Peter Chatman (who sang, played piano and guitar, and operated juke […]
learn more*Barbara Dane was born on this date in 1927. She was a white-American folk, blues, and jazz singer, guitarist, record producer, and activist. Barbara Jean Spillman was born in Detroit, and her parents arrived from Arkansas in the 1920s. She was the eldest child of a pharmacist. In 1936, her father publicly admonished her for […]
learn more*Rita Marley was born on this date in 1946. She is an Afro Cuban singer-songwriter and entrepreneur. Alfarita Constantia “Rita” Marley was born to Leroy Anderson and Cynthia “Beda” Jarrett in Santiago de Cuba. Her parents moved to Kingston, Jamaica, when she was three months old. She was raised in Trenchtown in Kingston, Jamaica. Early […]
learn more*LL Cool J was born on this date in 1968. He is a Black rapper and actor. James Todd Smith was born in Bay Shore, on Long Island, New York, to Ondrea Griffith and James Louis Smith Jr, also known as James Nunya. According to the Chicago Tribune, “[As] a kid growing up middle class […]
learn more*Nesuhi Ertegun was born on November 26, 1917. He was a white Turkish-American record producer and Atlantic Records and WEA International executive. Born in Istanbul in the Ottoman Empire, Nesuhi and his family moved to Washington, DC, in 1935 when their father was appointed the Turkish Ambassador to the United States that year. From an […]
learn more*Sadie Chandler Cole’s birth is celebrated on this date in 1865. She was a Black singer, music educator, and activist. Sadie Chandler was born in Cincinnati, Ohio, and was the daughter of Abraham Washington Chandler and Sarah Hatfield Chandler. Her parents were involved in the Underground Railroad movement and helped found a Baptist church in […]
learn more*Florence Cole Talbert was born on this date in 1890. She was a Black operatic soprano, music educator, and musician. Florence Cole was born in Detroit, Michigan, to a family deeply rooted in music and the performing arts. Her mother, Sadie Chandler Cole, was a mezzo-soprano and member of the Fisk Jubilee Singers. Her father […]
learn more*Manet Harrison Fowler was born on this date in 1895. She was a Black musician, dramatic soprano, artist, voice coach, piano teacher, conductor, music educator, and midwife. Manet Helen Harrison was born in Fort Worth, Texas, to Taylor Henry Harrison, an African, and Carrie Vickers Harrison, a Creole, both Louisiana natives. She was a child […]
learn more