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.
May 1, 1933 ~ Singer Titus Turner born in Atlanta, Georgia, USA ~ R&B, East Coast blues singer, songwriter best known for songs such as We Told You Not To Marry, Sound Off, Leave My Kitten Alone (later recorded by Johnny Preston, the Beatles, and Elvis Costello), Sticks And Stones (later recorded by Ray Charles), and Tell Me Why ~ Turner passed away in 1984
May 1, 1931 ~ Jazz trumpeter, flugelhornist, flutist, saxophonist, composer Ira Sullivan born in Washington DC, USA ~ Started in the 1950s playing trumpet and sax with jazz greats such as Charlie Parker, Lester Young, Wardell Gray, Roy Eldridge, and with Art Blakey. Moved to Florida in the 1960s, out of the spotlight, playing with local younger players including Jaco Pastorius and Pat Metheny. This would lead to focusing more on teaching as well as incorporating other instruments and genres, such as rock. Sullivan also performed and recorded extensively with Red Rodney in the 1980s, focusing on the music of their youth ~ Sullivan passed away in 2020
May 1, 1930 ~ Marion Walter Jacobs, commonly known as blues harpist, guitarist, singer Little Walter, born in Chicago, Illinois, USA ~ One of the most influential and admired blues harpists. Best known for songs such as Juke and My Babe. Has worked with Sonny Boy Williamson II, Sunnyland Slim, Muddy Waters (Country Boy), David Honeyboy Edwards, Floyd Jones, Ike Turner, Willie Dixon, Junior Wells, John Brim, Memphis Minnie, Bo Diddley, Otis Rush, Robert Nighthawk, the Rolling Stones, Hound Dog Taylor, and Koko Taylor ~ Jacobs passed away in 1968
May 1, 1928 ~ James Hugh Loden, commonly known as country, country pop singer, guitarist Sonny James, born in Hackleburg, Alabama, USA ~ Dubbed the “Southern Gentleman”, known best for his 1957 hit single Young Love, considered by some the first teenage country crossover hit, topping both the pop and country charts. James would regularly reach the higher echelons of the Billboard Country charts into the 1970s, well known songs including First Date First Kiss First Love, Uh-huh-mm, The Minute You're Gone, Baltimore, You're The Only World I Know, I'll Keep Holding On Just To Your Love, Behind The Tear, Take Good Care Of Her, Room In Your Heart, and I'll Never Find Another You ~ Loden passed away in 2016
May 1, 1927 ~ Jazz trombonist, arranger Billy Byers, full name William Mitchell Byers, born in Los Angeles, California, USA ~ Arthritis forced Byers to give up the piano in his teens, yet he would go on to become a respected arranger and trombonist. Byers got his start in music playing with Karl Kiffe, and following a stint in US Army at the end of World War II would spend the remainder of the 1940s playing with Georgie Auld, Buddy Rich, Benny Goodman, and Teddy Powell. In the 1950s, he wrote for radio and television, notably associated with the New York station WMGM-FM, worked with Ray Ventura in Paris, France, and teamed up with Quincy Jones, eventually serving as the latter's assistant at Mercury Records through the mid 1960s. Over the course of his lengthy career, Byers has arranged music for the likes of Coleman Hawkins, Eydie Gormé, Shirley Horn, Dizzy Gillespie, Chris Connor, Diahann Carroll, Rod McKuen, Liza Minnelli, Al Jarreau, and Pat Longo, and played trombone and horn on albums by Al Cohn, Manny Albam (Jazz Workshop), Kenny Clarke, Nat Pierce, Cootie Williams (Cootie Williams In Hi-Fi), Woody Herman, Gene Krupa, Charlie Byrd, Bob Brookmeyer, Oliver Nelson (Afro-American Sketches), Jimmy Rushing, Jimmy Smith, Jack McDuff, and Sarah Vaughan. Later on in his career, Byers would tour with Frank Sinatra and work extensively as an arranger and conductor for film, TV, and Broadway, his work on a 1989 production of the musical comedy City Of Angels earning him a Drama Desk Award. As a composer, Byers is best known for writing Doodle Oodle and Rabble Rouser, both recorded by Count Basie in 1964. Byers has sporadically recorded as a leader, perhaps most notably the acclaimed 1961 album Impressions Of Duke Ellington. To rock audiences, Byers may be known for his trombone solo on the title track of Frank Zappa's 1972 album The Grand Wazoo ~ Byers passed away in 1996
May 1, 1924 ~ Mabel Louise Smith, commonly known as singer Big Maybelle, born in Jackson, Tennessee, USA ~ Revered singer known best for her 1956 hit Candy. Also known for recording Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On in 1955, produced by a then-unknown Quincy Jones, two years before Jerry Lee Lewis's pivotal rock & roll version. Active since the mid 1930s working with the all-female the International Sweethearts Of Rhythm, Christine Chatham, Tiny Bradshaw, and Hot Lips Page. Other well known early R&B recordings include Gabbin' Blues, My Country Man, and Way Back Home ~ Smith passed away in 1972
May 1, 1913 ~ Pianist, conductor, teacher Walter Susskind, full name Jan Walter Susskind, born in Prague, Czechoslovakia ~ While in Amsterdam for a piano recital, Germany invaded his native Czechoslovakia. On advise from his mother he decided not to return home, but flee to the UK. Susskind would go on to become a sought-after conductor, working with renowned orchestras in his adopted homeland the UK, Australia, the USA, and Canada, where he founded the National Youth Orchestra of Canada in 1960. Although Susskind, a naturalised Brit, spent considerable periods of time outside of Britain, he said he would never dream of giving up his British citizenship. Susskind's mother would be interned by the Nazis, but survived the war ~ Susskind passed away in 1980
May 1, 1911 ~ Ralph Basso Jr, commonly known as jazz, R&B talent scout, A&R executive, producer, songwriter Ralph Bass, born in the Bronx, New York, USA ~ Considered a pioneer in bring African-American music into the mainstream. Worked for labels such as Black & White Records, Savoy Records, King Records, Federal Records and Chess Records. Incremental in the careers of Lena Horne, Roosevelt Sykes, Jack McVea, T-Bone Walker, Johnny Otis, Clara Ward, the Platters, the Dominoes, Etta James, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Earl Bostic ~ Basso passed away in 1997May 1, 1908 ~ Jazz trombonist Henderson Chambers born in Alexandria, Louisiana, USA ~ Best known as a trombonist, active since the early 1930s, over the course of his career Chambers has also doubled on tenor saxophone, trumpet, and tuba. Most closely associated with Buck Clayton during the 1950s, with Ray Charles during the pianist's early 1960s hit streak, and with Count Basie with whom he played intermittently throughout most of his career. An in-demand touring and session musician, Chambers has appeared on albums by Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald (Lullabies Of Birdland), Jimmy Rushing (Goin' To Chicago), Earl Coleman (Earl Coleman Returns), Mildred Bailey, Sammy Davis Jr, Cat Anderson, Ernie Wilkins, Gene Ammons, and Frank Sinatra (At The Sands). Chambers passed away at age 59 from a heart attack ~ Chambers passed away in 1967
May 1, 1907 ~ Soprano singer Kate Smith, full name Kathryn Elizabeth Smith, born in Greenville, Virginia, USA ~ Dubbed “the Songbird of the South” and active since the mid-1920, most notably on radio and TV including several own radio shows throughout the 1930s. Best known for her rendition of Irving Berlin's God Bless America ~ Smith passed away in 1986May 1, 1904 ~ Composer Antonín Dvorák, full name Antonin Leopold Dvorak, passed away in Prague, Czechoslovakia ~ One of the first Czech composers to achieve worldwide recognition ~ Dvorák was born in 1841