May 1: pioneering Delta blues singer Charley Patton (1891), Big Maybelle
born Mabel Louis Smith (1924), Harry Belafonte (1927), Sonny James (1929),
Little Walter born Marion Walter Jacobs (1930), Titus Turner (1933), Shirley
Horn (1934), Judy Collins (1939), Rita Coolidge (1944), Mimi Farina (1945),
Ray Parker Jr. (1954), Johnny Colt of the Black Crowes (1966), Tim McGraw
(1967), D'Arcy Wretsky-Brown of Smashing Pumpkins (1968), Trecina 'Tina'
Evette Campbell of Mary Mary (1975), punk rocker Nick Traina (1978)
May 2: Bing Crosby (1903 [or '01 or '04 depending on your reference]),
Link Wray born Frederick Lincoln Wray, Jr. (1929), organist Richard "Groove"
Holmes (1931), John Lee Gardner of the Mothers of Invention (1933), Hilton
Valentine of The Animals (1943), Goldy McJohn of Steppenwolf (1945), Lesley
Gore (1946), Larry Gatlin (1948), Lou Gramm of Foreigner (1950), Prescott
Niles of The Knack (1954), Joe Callis of Human League (1955)
May 3: Pete Seeger (1919), James Brown (1933), Engelbert Humperdinck
(1936), Frankie Valli born Frank Castelluccio (1937), Mary Hopkin of "Those
Were the Days" fame (1950), Christopher Cross (1951), Bruce Hall of REO
Speedwagon (1953)
May 4: Maynard Ferguson (1928), Ed
Cassidy of Spirit (1931), Dick Dale (1937), Ron Carter (1937), soul singer
Tyrone Davis (1938), Nick Ashford (1942), Ronnie Bond of The Troggs (1942),
Peggy Santiglia of The Angels (1944), George Wadenius of Blood Sweat & Tears
(1945), Jackie Jackson of The Jackson Five (1951), Randy Travis (1959), Mike
Dirnt of Green Day (1972), Lance Bass of 'N Sync (1979)
May 5: Blind Willie McTell (1901), Johnnie Taylor (1938), Tammy Wynette
(1942), Bill Ward of Black Sabbath (1948), Martin Simpson (1953), Kevin
Mooney of Adam and the Ants (1962), Kevin James LaBrie of Dream Theater
(1963)
May 6: Peggy Lee (1920), Chicago bluesman Eddie C. Campbell (1939), Herb Cox
of the Cleftones (1939), Mungo Jerry aka Colin Earl of Foghat (1942), Bob
Seger (1945), Davey Johnstone of Elton John's trio (1951), Billy Burnette of
Fleetwood Mac (1954), John Flansburgh of They Might Be Giants (1960), Mark
Ryan of Hootie and the Blowfish (1967)
May 7: Johannes Brahms (1833), Pyotr Il'yitch Tchaikovsky (1840), jazz/pop
singer Teresa Brewer (1931), Beatles' publicist Derek Taylor (1932), Motown
singer Jimmy Ruffin (1939), Johnny Maestro of The Crests (1939), Jerry Nolan
of The New York Dolls (1945), Bill Dannoff of Starland Vocal Band (1946),
Janis Ian (1951), Marty Wilson-Piper of The Church (1959), Motorhead's Phil
Campbell (1961)
May 8: jazz pianist Mary Lou Willams (1910), blues legend Robert Johnson
(1911), the first to introduce the Top 40 radio format Todd Storz (1924),
Ricky Nelson (1940), frat party scenemaker John Fred (1941), Paul Samwell-Smith
of The Yardbirds (1943), Toni Tennille of the Captain and Tennille (1943),
Chris Frantz of Talking Heads (1951), Phillip Bailey of Earth Wind & Fire
(1951), Alex Van Halen (1955), Dave Rowntree of Blur (1964), Savage Garden's
Darren Hayes (1972), Enrique Iglesias (1975)
May 9: Hank Snow (1914), Nokie Edwards (1935), Dave Prater of Sam and Dave
(1937), Sonny Curtis of The Crickets (1937), Pete Birrell of Freddie and The
Dreamers (1941), Tommy Roe (1942), Ritchie Furay of Buffalo Springfield and
Poco (1944), Blood, Sweat and Tears' Steve Katz (1945), Billy Joel (1949),
Dave Gahan of Depeche Mode (1962), Paul Heaton of The Housemartins (1962)
May 10: Fred Astaire (1899), Maybelle Carter (1909), session guitarist Bert
Weedon (1920), Cliff Goldsmith (1925), Fats Domino (1929), Larry Williams
(1935), Arthur Alexander (1940), "Groovy" Joe Poovey (1941), Danny Rapp of
Danny & The Juniors (1941), Donovan born Donovan Phillip Leitch (1946),
Graham Goldman of 10cc (1946), Dave Mason (1947), Sly Dunbar of Sly and
Robbie (1952), Sid Vicious (1957), Bono born Paul Hewson (1960), Krist
Novoselic of Nirvana (1965), Young MC (1967), Jason Dalyrimple of Soul for
Real (1980)
May 11: Irving Berlin (1888), British
blues diva Beryl Bryden (1920), record exec Ewart Abner (1923), Who manager
Kit Lambert (1935), jazz pianist-composer Carla Bley (1938), Eric Burdon
(1941), Les Chadwick of Gerry and the Pacemakers (1943), Arnie Silver of The
Dovells (1943), Art of Noise's Jonathan Jeczalik (1955)
May 12: Burt Bacharach (1928), The Cardinals' Leon Hardy (1932), Jay Otis
Washington of The Persuasions (1941), Ian Dury (1942), singer-songwriter
Billy Swan (1942), Ian McLagan of Small Faces (1945), Steve Winwood (1948),
Billy Squier (1950), Kix Brooks of Brooks & Dunn (1955), Billy Duffy of The
Cult (1959) Actor Ving Rhames aka Irving Christopher 'Ving' Rhames (1959), Black Sabbath singer Ray Gillen (1959),
Jason Harrow
aka Kardinal Offishall a Canadian hip hop MC and producer of Jamaican
descent (1976), Jason Biggs (1978)
May 13: editor of the Schwann Catalog William Schwann (1913), Memphis DJ
Dewey Phillips (1926), The Weavers' Fred Hellerman (1927), Ritchie Valens
(1941), Mary Wells (1943), Caolyn Franklin (1944), harp player "Magic" Dick
Salwitz of The J.Geils Band (1945), bassist Danny Klein of The J.Geils Band
(1946), Peter "Overend" Watts of Mott the Hoople (1947), Stevie Wonder born
Steveland Morris (1950), Danny Kirwan of Fleetwood Mac (1950), Paul Thompson
of Roxy Music (1951), Darius Carlos Rucker of Hootie & The Blowfish (1966)
May 14: Frederick Van Pallandt of Nina and Frederick (1934), Bobby Darin
born Walden Robert Cassotto (1936), songwriter Ed Labunski (1937), Jack
Bruce of Cream (1943), Derek Leckenby of Herman's Hermits (1943), Gene
Cornish of The Rascals (1945), David Byrne (1952), Ian Astbury of The Cult
(1962), C.C. DeVille of Poison (1962), Mike Inez of Alice in Chains (1966),
Charlie Ray Wiggins aka Raphael Saadiq of Tony! Toni! Tone! (1966), Fabrice "Fab" Morvan of Milli Vanilli (1966), Danny Wood of New Kids on the
Block (1969), Freaky Tah of The Lost Boyz (1971), Natalie Appleton of All
Saints (1973), R&B singer Shanice (1973), Billionaire Facebook founder
and CEO Mark Elliot Zuckerberg (1984)
May 15: Eddy Arnold (1918), Hi Records owner Joe Cuoghi (1922), Trini Lopez
(1937), K.T. Oslin (1942), Graham Goble of the Little River Band (1947),
Brian Eno born Brian Peter St. George De La Salle Eno (1948), Dennis
Fredericksen of Toto (1951), Phil Seymour of The Dwight Tilley Band (1952),
Mike Oldfield
(1953),
Melvin Glover aka Mele Mel of Grandmaster Flash & the Furious Five (1961), Prince Be of PM Dawn (1970), Ahmet Zappa (1974)
May 16: Liberace born Wladziu Valentino Liberace (1919), Betty Carter born
Lillie Mae Jones (1930), The Diamonds' Ted Kowalski (1931), Kripp Johnson of
The Del-Vikings (1933), Billy Cobham (1944), Robert Fripp (1946), The
Chiffons' Barbara Lee (1947), Nazareth's Darrell Sweet (1947), Iron Maiden's
Paul Di'anno (1959), Krist (Chris) Novoselic (1965), Janet Jackson (1966),
New Edition's Ralph Tresvant (1968), Bobby Konders of Hot 97's reggae show
with Jabba (?)
May 17: R&B singer-pianist Sonny Knight (1934), Malcolm Hale of Spanky And
Our Gang (1941), Taj Mahal (1942), Jesse Winchester (1944), Bill Bruford
(1949), George Johnson of The Brothers Johnson (1953), Enya (1961), Page
McConnell of Phish (1963), Dave Abbruzzese (1964), Trent Reznor (1965),
Jordan Knight of New Kids on the Block (1970)
May
18: Big Joe Turner (1911), Perry Como (1918), Joe Bonsall of The Oak Ridge
Boys (1948), Rick Wakeman of Yes (1949), Bill Wallace of The Guess Who
(1949), George Strait (1952)
May 19: Alma Cogan (1932), Pete Townshend born Peter
Dennis Blandford Townshend (1945), Phil Rudd of AC/DC (1946), Gregory
Herbert (1947), ZZ Top's Dusty Hill (1949), Joey Ramone (1951), Grace Jones
(1952), Heaven 17's Martyn Ware (1956), Ian Harvie of Del Amitri (1962),
Jenny Berggren of Ace of Base (1972), Rohan Anthony Marley - son of Bob
Marley (1972)
May 20: Vic Ames of the Ames Brothers (1926), Shorty Long
(1940), Jill Jackson aka Paula of Paul and Paula (1942), Joe Cocker (1944),
Cher born Cherilyn Sarkisian La Pier (1946), Jimmie Henderson of Black Oak
Arkansas (1954), The Go-Go's Jane Weidlin (1958), Susan Cowsill of the
Cowsills (1960), Haircut 100's Nick Heyward (1961), Tom Garman of Belly
(1966), Busta Rhymes (1972), Naturi Naughton of 3LW (1984)
May 21: Thomas "Fats" Waller (1904), Henry Glover (1921),
Ronald Isley (1941), Hilton Valentine of The Animals (1943), Bill Champlin
of Chicago (1947), Leo Sayer (1948)
May 22: Wilhelm Richard Wagner (1813), Sun Ra born Sonny
Blount (1914), Jimmy Keyes (1930), Jackie Landry (1941), Bernie Taupin
(1950), Morrissey (1959), Jesse Valenzuela of The Gin
Blossoms
(1962), Johnny Gill (1966), Dan Roberts of Crash Test Dummies (1967), The
Rapper Plies aka Algernod Lanier Washington (1976)
May 23: Jimmy Bracken (1908), Scatman Crothers (1910),
Artie Shaw (1910), Billy Wright (1918), Arthur Gunter (1926), Rosemary
Clooney (1928), Robert Moog (1934), Jim Mankey of Concrete Blond (1955),
Phil Selway of Radiohead (1967), Noel Gallagher of Oasis (1968), R&B crooner Maxwell
aka Maxwell Rivera aka Gerard Maxwell Menard (1972), Jewel (1974)
May 24: Nervous Norvus born James Drake (1912), Bob Dylan
born Robert Allen Zimmerman (1941), Derek Quinn of Freddie & the Dreamers
(1942), Patti LaBelle (1944), Steve Upton of Wishbone Ash
(1946), Albert
Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult (1947), Rosanne Cash (1955), Dwight Myers aka
Rapper Heavy D of Heavy D and the Boyz (1967),
Rich Robinson of the Black Crowes (1969), country wunderkind Billy Gilman
(1988)
May 25: record store mogul "Waxie Maxie" Silverman (1910),
Hal David (1921), Miles Davis (1926), producer Norman Petty (1927), Tom T.
Hall (1936), Donnie Elbert (1936), Jessi Colter born Miriam Johnson Eddy
(1943), Klaus Meine of The Scorpions (1948), Paul Weller (1958), Lauryn Noel Hill
(1975)
May 26: blues diva Mamie Smith (1883), Al Jolson (1886),
Louis Hardin (1916), Peggy Lee (1920), Levon Helm of The Band (1942), Ray
Innes of The Swinging Blue Jeans (1942), Garry Peterson of The Guess Who
(1945), Mick Ronson of Bowie's band
(1946), Stevie Nicks (1948), Hank
Williams Jr. (1949), Verden Allen of Mott the Hoople (1949), Leonard Albert
Kravitz aka Guitarist Lenny Kravitz
(1964), Kristen Pfaff of Hole (1967)
May 27: Junior Parker (1932), Ramsey Lewis (1935), pop
singer Cilla Black born Priscilla White (1943), Bruce Cockburn (1945), Pete
Sears of Jefferson Starship (1948), Siouxsie Sioux of Siouxsie & the
Banshees (1957), Neil Finn of Crowded House and Split Enz (1957), Eddie
Harsch of The Black Crowes (1957), Sean Kinney of Alice in Chains (1966),
Lisa "Left Eye" Lopes of TLC (1967), Andre Lauren Benjamin aka
Andre 3000 aka Dre of OutKast (1975)
May 28: T-Bone Walker born Aaron Thibeaux Walker (1910),
"Papa" John Creach (1917), songwriter Wally Gold (1928), Prince Buster
(1938), Gladys Knight (1944), Billy Vera (1944), John Fogerty (1945), Stacy
Sutherland of The 13th Floor Elevators (1946), Larry Gatlin of The Gatlin
Brothers (1948), Ray Laidlaw of Lindisfarne (1948), Wendy O. Williams of The
Plasmatics (1949), Roland Gift of Fine Young Cannibals (1952), Kylie Minogue
(1968)
May 29: Gary Brooker of Procol Harum (1945), Roy Crewsdon
of Freddie & The Dreamers (1949), Larry Blackmon of Cameo (1956), LaToya
Jackson (1956), The Time's Jesse Johnson (1960), Mel Gaynor of Simple Minds
(1960), Melissa Etheridge (1961), Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher (1967),
Chad Kinchla of Blues Traveler (1969)
May 30: Benny Goodman (1909), Johnny Gimble
(1926), Lenny
Davidson of The Dave Clark Five (1944), Nicky "Topper" Headon of The Clash
(1955), Roxette's Marie Fredericksson (1958), Wynonna Judd (1964), Rage
Against the Machine's Tom Morello (1964), Jamaican Dj Spragga Benz aka
Carlton Grant (1969), Patrick Dalheimer of Live (1971), Remy Ma aka
Reminisce Smith aka Remy Martin of Terror Squad.
May 31: E.T. "King of Highlife" Mensah (1919), Peter
Yarrow of Peter, Paul & Mary (1938), Charles Miller
of War (1939), Mick Ralphs of Mott The Hoople and Bad Company (1944), Junior Campbell of
Marmalade (1947), John "Bonzo" Bonham (1948), Jimmy Silva (1952), Corey Hart
(1962), Darryl McDaniel of Run-D.M.C (1964)
DJ Casey Kasem Casey has a birthday this
month, actually, last month
the Duke Ellington Duke Ellington was born in 1899
Muddy Waters Muddy Waters in New York City
in 1980