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.
June 27, 1897 ~ Composer, bandleader Maceo Pinkard born in Bluefield, West Virginia, USA ~ Perhaps best remembered for co-penning Sweet Georgia Brown, a No.1 hit for Ben Bernie in 1925. The song has since become a jazz standard recorded by over an estimated 1,000 artists including Cab Calloway, Art Tatum, Charlie Parker, Anita O'Day, Nancy Sinatra, Roberta Flack, and Danny Gatton. Other songs written or co-written by Pinkard include Those Draftin' Blues (Arthur Collins, Skeets Tolbert), Pile Of Logs And Stone (Clarence Williams), Give Me A Little Kiss (Will Ya Huh) (Ed Smalle, Jean Goldkette, Louis Prima), Sugar (Ethel Waters, Alberta Hunter, Peggy Lee), I'll Be A Friend With Pleasure (Bix Beiderbecke, Eddie Condon), and Them There Eyes (Hal Kemp, Billie Holiday, Frankie Avalon) ~ Pinkard passed away in 1962
June 27, 1897 ~ Antonio Sparbaro, commonly known as jazz drummer Tony Sbarbaro, born in New Orleans, Louisiana, USA ~ Best known as drummer and last remaining original member of the Original Dixieland Jazz Band, remaining with the band from 1917 until its disbandement over 5 decades later. Wrote or co-wrote several of the band's well known songs, notably Mourning Blues. Sbarbaro has also worked with the Frayle Brothers, Papa Jack Laine, Merritt Brunies, Carl Randall, Miff Mole, Big Chief Russell Moore, Pee Wee Erwin, and Eddie Condon ~ Sbarbaro passed away in 1969
June 27, 1874 ~ Actor, producer, songwriter John Golden, full name John Lionel Golden, born in New York, New York, USA ~ As a songwriter perhaps best known for co-writing Poor Butterfly with Raymond Hubbell. The song was inspired by the Giacomo Puccini-opera Madame Butterfly and written for the Broadway show The Big Show, in which it was introduced by Sophie Bernard. Over time it would be recorded by well over 300 artists, including early versions in the mid-1910s by Elizabeth Spencer and Edna Brown, as well as later versions by Paul Whiteman, Sarah Vaughan, Sonny Rollins, Tony Bennett, and Johnny Mathis. Golden has co-written or co-produced well over 50 plays, including musicals, and a handful of films ~ Golden passed away in 1955