About maketodayrock.com: We celebrate musicians' birthdays, remember those we've lost, and highlight key moments in music such a release dates, chart peak dates, or anything else tied to a specific date. Pick any day from the menu in the top right. The front page shows recent obituaries.
April 8, 1929 ~ Singer, guitarist, pianist, songwriter, actor Jacques Brel, full name Jacques Romain Georges Brel, born in Schaerbeek, Belgium ~ Master of the modern chanson. Influenced Scott Walker, David Bowie, Alex Harvey, Marc Almond, Rod McKuen. Brel has acted in close to a dozen films yet is best remembered as a singer, known for songs such as Le Moribond, Le Colombe, Amsterdam, Marieke and perhaps his best known Ne Me Quitte Pas. English translations of his songs have been recorded by Ray Charles, Judy Collins, John Denver, the Kingston Trio, Nina Simone, Shirley Bassey, Frank Sinatra, and Andy Williams ~ Brel passed away in 1978
April 8, 1929 ~ Operatic bass-baritone Walter Berry born in Vienna, Austria ~ Closely associated with the Vienna State Opera, remaining with the company for the most of his career. Married to mezzo-soprano Christa Ludwig, with whom he has also worked, from 1957 through 1970. As a lieder singer praised for his interpretations of works by Franz Schubert and Gustav Mahler. Regularly appeared at the Metropolitan Opera during the 1960s and 1970s ~ Berry passed away in 2000
April 8, 1928 ~ Lyricist, songwriter Fred Ebb born in Manhattan, New York, USA ~ Frequent songwriting partner of composer John Kander, including on the 1977 The Act Broadway musical which earned Liza Minnelli a Tony Award. Ebb has been actively writing since the early 1950s. Well-known songs include Mandolino (Les Paul), My Coloring Book (Barbra Streisand, Kitty Kallen, Brenda Lee), Cabaret (Jill Haworth, Louis Armstrong, Judi Dench), All That Jazz (Chita Rivera, Ella Fitzgerald), and New York New York (Minelli, Frank Sinatra) ~ Ebb passed away in 2004April 8, 1922 ~ Jazz singer, pianist Carmen McRae born in New York, New York, USA ~ Pianist, singer with over 60 albums to her name. Worked with Teddy Wilson, Benny Carter, Mercer Ellington, Dave Brubeck, Betty Carter, George Shearing, and Cal Tjader. Never performed a show without singing at least one Billie Holiday song, a huge inspiration and close friend of McRae's ~ McRae passed away in 1994
April 8, 1914 ~ Irving Goldberg, commonly known as songwriter, lyricist, screenwriter Irving Taylor, born in Brooklyn, New York, USA ~ Best known for co-penning Everybody Loves Somebody Sometimes with Sam Coslow and Ken Lane. The song would first be recorded by Peggy Lee in 1947 and covered by well over a hundred artists, including Frank Sinatra, Dinah Washington, Brenda Lee, and Sarah Vaughan. Other songs co-written by Taylor have been recorded by the Merry Macs, Vaughn Monroe (Three Little Sisters), Guy Lombardo, Paula Watson, Doris Day (Quicksilver), Kay Starr (The Man With The Bag), and Tennessee Ernie Ford ~ Goldberg passed away in 1983
April 8, 1909 ~ Trumpeter George Dixon born in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ~ Played with Sammy Stewart starting in the late 1920s. With Earl Hines in the 1930s. Led a Navy band in Memphis during World War II. Moved to Chicago to play with Floyd Campbell, Ted Eggleston, and Rozelle Claxton, as well as lead his own band. From about the mid 1950s Dixon stopped playing full-time ~ Dixon passed away in 1994
April 8, 1902 ~ Violinist, conductor Josef Krips, full name Josef Alois Krips, born in Vienna, Austria ~ Brother of conductor Henry Krips. Of Jewish descent, Krips fled Austria after the Anschluss with Nazi Germany. Upon his return after the war was one of the few conductors allowed to perform, since he had not worked under the Nazi regime. Krips has conducted orchestras such as the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna State Opera, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra, the Montreal Symphony Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, and notably the San Francisco Symphony, serving as the latter's music director from 1963 through 1970 ~ Krips passed away in 1974
April 8, 1896 ~ Songwriter, lyricist Yip Harburg, full name Edgar Yipsel Harburg, born in Manhattan, New York, USA ~ Frequent collaborator of composers such as Harold Arlen, Vernon Duke, Jerome Kern, Jule Styne and Burton Lane. Perhaps best known for co-writing all of the songs of The Wizard Of Oz including Over The Rainbow, performed by Judy Garland in the original 1939 film ~ Harburg passed away in 1981
April 8, 1889 ~ Conductor Adrian Boult, full name Adrian Cedric Boult, born in Chester, UK ~ Associated with the Royal Opera House, the City Of Birmingham Orchestra, the BBC Sympony Orchestra, the London Symphony Orchestra, the Philharmonia Orchestra, and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra ~ Boult passed away in 1983April 8, 1848 ~ Composer Gaetano Donizetti, full name Domenica Gaetano Maria Donizetti, passed away in Bergamo, Italy ~ Along with Gioachino Rossini and Vincenzo Bellini a leading composer of the bel canto era. Wrote close to 70 operas, his best known perhaps being 1832's L'Elisir D'Amore, 1837's Roberto Devereux and 1843's Don Pasquale ~ Donizetti was born in 1797