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.
March 29, 1909 ~ Aubrey Wilson Mullican, commonly known as singer, pianist Moon Mullican, born in Polk County, Texas, USA ~ Influenced by blues artists such as Bessie Smith, Blind Lemon Jefferson, Leroy Carr, and by country musicians such as Jimmie Rodgers and Bob Wills. Dubbed “the King of the Hillbilly piano players” and hugely influential on rockabilly and country artists including Jim Reeves, Hank Williams, Bill Haley, Elvis Presley and especially Jerry Lee Lewis. Worked with Leon Selph, the Blue Ridge Playboys (Ain't You Kind Of Sorry), the Texas Wanderers (Truck Driver's Blues, I'll Keep On Loving You), the Sunshine Boys, Jimmie Davis, Black Boy Shine, Floyd Tillman, Ernest Tubb, Red Foley. As a solo artist best known for late 1940s, early 1950s recordings such as The Leaves Mustn't Fall, Hey Shah, You Don't Have To Be A Baby To Cry, Nine Tenths Of The Tennessee River and I Was Sorta Wonderin' ~ Mullican passed away in 1967
March 29, 1902 ~ Conductor Mario Rossi born in Bitetto, Italy ~ Closely associated with the RAI Orchestra, serving as chief conductor from 1946 through 1950 and elevating the orchestra to an international level. Also known for his recordings of Il Matrimonio Segreto, The Barber Of Seville, Don Pasquale, Un Ballo In Maschera, Otello, and Falstaff ~ Rossi passed away in 1992March 29, 1901 ~ Clarinetist Sidney Arodin born in Westwego, Louisiana, USA ~ Perhaps best remembered for co-penning Lazy River with Hoagy Carmichael, first recorded by Carmichael in 1930. The song has become a jazz standard covered by over an estimated 400 artists including Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Gene Vincent, Louis Prima, Bobby Darin, Brenda Lee, and Count Basie. Arodin has been playing professionaly since his mid-teens, working with Johnny Stein, Jimmy Durante, Wingy Manone, Sharkey Bonano, the New Orleans Rhytm Kings, Abbie Brunies, Monk Hazel, and Jones & Collins Astoria Hot Eight ~ Arodin passed away in 1948
March 29, 1878 ~ Albert Gumm, commonly known as songwriter Albert von Tilzer, born in Indianapolis, Indiana, USA ~ Best remembered for co-writing Take Me Out To The Ball Game with Jack Norworth. The song, which has become un unofficial anthem of American baseball, would first be recorded by Harvey Hindermeyer in 1908 and has been covered by well over a hundred artists including the Andrews Sisters, Gordon Macrae, Bobby Troup, Bing Crosby, the Ink Spots, Willie The Lion Smith, and Frank Zappa. Von Tilzer got his start in music as a music director for a vaudeville company before being hired as a staff writer at his brother Harry von Tilzer's publishing company. Von Tilzer has contributed songs to numerous films of the 1920s and 1930s, and scored Broadway musicals such as Honey Girl, The Gingham Girl, and Adrienne. Well-known songs co-written by Von Tilzer include Put Your Arms Around Me Honey (Collins & Harlan, Blossom Seeley, the Pine Ridge Boys, Moon Mullican, Fats Domino), The Alcoholic Blues (Vernon Dalhart, Billy Murray, Steve Pistorius, Lead Belly), I'll Be With You In Apple Blossom Time (Mabelle Wagner-Shank, the Andrews Sisters, Vera Lynn, Louis Prima, Chet Atkins, the Platters), I Used To Love You But It's All Over Now (Orlando's Orchestra, George Brunies, Nat King Cole, Pee Wee Russell), and Dapper Dan (Frank Crumit, Merle Travis). Acknowledged as a foundational figure in the Tin Pan Alley tradition, Von Tilzer was posthumously inducted in the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 1970 ~ Von Tilzer passed away in 1956