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.
August 1, 1946 ~ Raymond Burrell, commonly known as guitarist, bassist, singer Boz Burrell, born in Lincolnshire, UK ~ Member of King Crimson in the early 1970s, appearing on the albums Islands and Earthbound. Co-founding member of Bad Company, with whom he recorded about half a dozen albums including the acclaimed Bad Company debut album and its follow-up Straight Shooter. Also worked with Tea Time 4, Kenny Lynch, Elkie Brooks, Feel For Soul, King Crimson, Roger Chapman, Alvin Lee, Ruby Turner, Duster Bennett, Peter Sinfield, Snape, Jon Lord, and Boxer ~ Burrell passed away in 2006August 1, 1944 ~ Richard Cecil McPherson, commonly known as songwriter Cecil Mack, passed away in New York, New York, USA ~ Wrote, co-wrote songs such as Charleston (Elisabeth Welch, Louis Prima, Jean Goldkette), He's A Cousin Of Mine (Maria Cahill, Clarice Vance, Sam Cooke), Old Fashioned Love (Adelaide Hall, Bob Wills, Lena Horne), and You're In The Right Church But The Wrong Pew (Bert Williams) ~ McPherson was born in 1883
August 1, 1942 ~ Gloria Jean Williamson, commonly known as singer Gloria Williams, born in Detroit, Michigan, USA ~ Original lead singer of the Del-fi's alongside Annette Beard, Rosalind Ashford and notably Martha Reeves, scoring a minor hit with I'll Let You Know. Williams would eventually become disillusioned and leave the group. The remaining trio would become known as Martha & the Vandellas ~ Williams passed away in 2000
August 1, 1942 ~ Rock, psychedelic rock, jam guitarist, singer, songwriter Jerry Garcia, full name Jerome John Garcia, born in San Francisco, California, USA ~ Best known as co-founding and key member of the Grateful Dead, known for their excessive touring building a devoted cult following. The band scored a Billboard Hot 100 top 10 hit with A Touch Of Grey in 1987. Garcia has also worked with several Dead-side projects and is an in-demand collaborator. Has worked with the Jerry Garcia Band, Legion Of Mary, the New Riders Of The Purple Sage, Reconstruction, the Hart Valley Drifters, the Warlocks and with Old & In The Way ~ Garcia passed away in 1995August 1, 1941 ~ Songwriter, screenwriter Etienne Roda-Gil born in Septfonds, France ~ Best known as regular songwriting partner of Julien Clerc, co-penning a significant amount of Clerc's songs from the late 1960s forward including La Cavalerie, Ce N'Est Rien, Dance S'Y, and one of his best known This Melody. Others who have recorded songs co-written by Roda-Gil include Barbara, Claude François, Riccardo Cocciante, Vanessa Paradis (Joe Le Taxi), and Johnny Hallyday ~ Roda-Gil passed away in 2004
August 1, 1941 ~ Ney de Souza Pereira, commonly known as folk rock, pop rock singer Ney Matogrosso, born in Bela Vista, Brazil ~ Considered one of Brazil's all-time greatest singers noted for his countertenor voice. Rose to fame in the early 1970s as member of glam rock outfit Secos & Molhados. As a solo artist known for songs such as Bandolero, Nao Existe Pecasi Ao Sol Do Equador, Pro Debaxo Dos Panos, Tanto Amar, Ando Melo Desligado, Sanguie Latino, Vereda Tropical and perhaps his best known America Do Sul
August 1, 1938 ~ Piper, bodhran player Paddy Moloney born in Dublin, Ireland ~ Leader of the Chieftains, which he co-founded in 1962 with Seán Potts and Michael Tubridy. The band has recorded over 40 albums, all of which featuring Moloney, and is especially known for their vast work of collaborations including with artists such as Elvis Costello, Ry Cooder, Rosanne Cash, Béla Fleck, James Galway, Art Garfunkel, Mark Knopfler, Emmylou Harris, and Mick Jagger ~ Moloney passed away in 2021
August 1, 1936 ~ Ska, rocksteady, reggae DJ, percussionist, singer, producer Uziah Thompson, also known as Uziah Sticky Thompson, born in Mannings Mountain, Jamaica ~ In-demand session musician and sideman. Appeared on classic recordings by the Skatalites, notably Ball Of Fire, El Pussy Cat Ska and Guns Of Navarone. Would go on to work with Joe Gibbs, Big Youth, Dennis Brown, the Congos, Peter Tosh, Burning Spear, Jimmy Cliff, Black Uhuru, Grace Jones, Joe Cocker, Serge Gainsbourg, Sinéad O'Connor, Stephen Marley, and the GG All-Stars ~ Thompson passed away in 2014August 1, 1930 ~ Actor, dancer, choreographer, singer, director, painter Geoffrey Holder, full name Geoffrey Lamont Holder, born in Port Of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago ~ Principal dancer for the Metropolitan Ballet before starting a film career, first appearing on-screen in the 1957 film Carib Gold. Best known for portraying Baron Samedi in the Bond film Live & Let Die in 1973 ~ Holder passed away in 2014
August 1, 1919 ~ Theater impresario, composer Oscar Hammerstein I passed away in Manhattan, New York, USA ~ Credited with rekindling opera's popularity in America, specifically as entrepreneur, founder, proprietor of several opera houses in New York starting with the Harlem Opera House on 125th Street opened in 1889. Composed the comic opera Santa Maria, presented in 1896 in his fourth venue the Olympia Theatre on Longacre Square. Would produce several contemporary operas and presented American premieres of Gustave Charpentier's Louise, Claude Debussy's Pelleas Et Melisande, Richard Strauss's Salomé and other works ~ Hammerstein was born in 1846
August 1, 1910 ~ Loreto Domenic Fraieli, commonly known as songwriter Jimmie Crane, born ~ Best remembered for co-penning Hurt with Adolph Jacobs, an early 1960s smash hit and signature song for Timi Yuro. The song has been covered by over a 100 artists including Marty Robbins, Dinah Washington, Bobby Vinton, Billie Jo Spears, and Elvis Presley. Others who have recorded songs written or co-written by Crane include Denise Lor, Al Martino, Connee Boswell (If I Give My Heart To You), Connie Francis, and Joni James ~ Fraieli passed away in 1998
August 1, 1910 ~ Pianist, conductor, arranger, film composer Walter Scharf born in Manhattan, New York, USA ~ Helped orchestrate the George Gershwin Broadway-musical Girl Crazy, accompanied singer Helen Morgan, pianist and arranger for singer Rudy Vallée. Hollywood film composer, music director since the early 1930s, with over 100 film credits to his name including The Nutty Professor, several Elvis Presley films starting with Loving You, Barbra Streisand's Funny Girl, and the original 1971 version of Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. Composed for dozens of TV series ~ Scharf passed away in 2003
August 1, 1899 ~ Hans Wilhelm Steinberg, commonly known as conductor, violinist, pianist William Steinberg, born in Cologne, Germany ~ Violinist with the Cologne Opera Orchestra fired for using his own bowings, but quickly rehired as an assistant. Music director for the Frankfurt Opera, notably conducting the world premiere of Arnold Schoenberg's Von Heute Auf Morgen in 1930. Of Jewish descent Steinberg would be relieved from his post in 1933, the Nazi brownshirts literally storming in and lifting the baton out of his hand. Relocated to British Mandate of Palestine, current day Israel, by 1936, and to America two years later, finding employ as Arturo Toscanini's assistant for the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Best known for his tenure with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, serving as its music director from 1952 through 1976. Has also guest conducted most major US orchestras, including the Chicago Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, the Los Angeles Philharmonic, as well as a wide array of foreign orchestras ~ Steinberg passed away in 1978