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 21, 2024 ~ Composer, film composer Jan AP Kaczmarek, full name Jan Andrzey Pawel Kaczmarek, passed away in Kraków, Poland ~ Has written scores for over 70 films and documentaries, including 2004's Finding Neverland for which he received an Academy Award. Other notable soundtrack credits include Washington Square, Unfaithful, The Visitor, Hachi (A Dog's Tale), and The Karamazovs. Outside the film industry most acclaimed for writing Cantata For Freedom to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the Solidarity movement, and Oratorio 1956 commemorating the 50th anniversary of an uprising against the totalitarian government in Poznan, both works premiered live on Polish television ~ Kaczmarek was born in 1953
May 21, 2023 ~ Edmund Dantes Urick, commonly known as traditional pop singer, actor Ed Ames, passed away in Los Angeles, California, USA ~ Member of family outfit the Ames Brothers, known for a number of 1950s hits including Rag Mop, Sentimental Me, Can Anyone Explain (No No No), Undecided, The Man With The Banjo, The Naughty Lady Of Shady Lane and Tammy. Ames is also well known as an actor, noted for portraying Mingo in the TV series Daniel Boone ~ Ames was born in 1927May 21, 2022 ~ Actress, opera singer Yam Bing-yee passed away in Hong Kong, China ~ First performed as a singer in her early teens. Would go on to star in over an estimated 150 films, often playing co-lead roles in Cantonese opera films. Has also starred in stage productions, including notably the Hong Kong premiere of The Flower Princess with the Sin Fung Ming Opera Company in 1957 ~ Bing-yee was born in 1931
May 21, 2021 ~ Francesco Battiato, commonly known as singer, guitarist, pianist, film maker Franco Battiato, passed away in Milo, Italy ~ One of Italy's most beloved singer-songwriters drawing from a wide array of idioms including beat, new wave, progressive pop, new age, experimental, free jazz, psychedelica. Internationally perhaps best known for teaming up with singer Alice, representing Italy in the 1984 Eurovision Songfestival with the song I Treni Di Tozeur reaching 5th place despite being tapped as winner by the bookmakers ~ Battiato was born in 1945
May 21, 2019 ~ Singer Maelyn Jarmon wins NBC's The Voice ~ Maelyn Jarmon wins the 16th season of NBC's talent show The Voice, runner-up would be Gyth Rigdon. Despite landing a record deal with Republic Records, Jarmon failed to repeat her success of the show and has only released about half a dozen singlesMay 21, 2018 ~ Actress, singer, dancer Allyn Ann McLerie passed away in North Bend, Washington , USA ~ Enjoyed popularity during the Golden Age of musicals, including on Broadway and in numerous films. Would also venture into character acting guesting in TV shows ranging from Bonanza to St Elsewhere ~ McLerie was born in 1926
May 21, 2018 ~ The Hootie & the Blowfish debut album Cracked Rear View is certified 21x Platinum by the RIAA ~ Released in 1994 as their debut album Cracked Rear View would eventually sell over 21 million copies, overtaking Guns 'n Roses' Appetite For Destruction as the all-time best-selling debut album of any artist in America. At the time of its original release three of the album's singles, Hold My Hand, Let Her Cry and Only Wanna Be With You, would all reach top 10 Billboard Hot 100May 21, 2018 ~ Indie pop, folk pop singer, guitarist, keyboardist, songwriter Maddie Poppe wins American Idol ~ Singer Maddie Poppe wins the 16th season of talent show American Idol aired on ABC. Runner-up would be singer, songwriter Caleb Lee Hutchison. Poppe had previously released her Songs From The Basement debut album in 2016. Following the show's success she released Whirlwind in 2019, spawning the minor hits Made You Miss and Not Losing You
May 21, 2015 ~ Bassist, songwriter Louis Johnson passed away in Las Vegas, Nevada, USA ~ Member of the Brothers Johnson, known for 1970s hits such as I'll Be Good To You, Strawberry Letter 23 and Stomp. In-demand session musician, notably present on songs such as Michael Jackson's Don't Stop Till You Get Enough and Billie Jean, Michael McDonald's I Keep Forgetting Every Time You're Near, and George Benson's Give Me The Night. Also appeared on albums by Billy Preston, Bobby Womack, Grover Washington Jr (Feels So Good), Bill Withers, Herbie Hancock, Quincy Jones, the Pointer Sisters, the Crusaders, Patti Austin (Every Home Should Have One), the Passage, Lee Ritenour, Donna Summer, James Ingram, Peabo Bryson, the Jacksons (Victory), Aretha Franklin (Who's Zoomin' Who), the Isley Brothers, George Duke, and Brian McKnight ~ Johnson was born in 1955
May 21, 2013 ~ Robert Lamar Thompson, commonly known as composer, arranger, bandleader Bob Thompson, passed away in Los Angeles, USA, USA ~ Popular bandleader from the 1950s through the 1980s. Leading figure in exotica and space age pop. Has worked with artists such as Rosemary Clooney, Mae West, Julie London, Bing Crosby, the Andrews Sisters, Duane Eddy, Judy Garland, and Phil Ochs ~ Thompson was born in 1924May 21, 2013 ~ Hard rock, glam rock, progressive rock bassist Trevor Bolder passed away in Cottingham, UK ~ Member of the Spiders From Mars, David Bowie's early 1970s backing unit present on albums such as Hunky Dory, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust And The Spiders From Mars and Aladdin Sane. Longtime member of Uriah Heep, first appearing on the 1977 Firefly album and present on most of the band's albums until his death in 2013. Has also worked with the Cybernauts, Mick Ronson, Ken Hensley, and Wishbone Ash ~ Bolder was born in 1950
May 21, 2010 ~ Guitarist Jane Wiedlin of all-female rock outfit the Go-Go's injures her knees falling 20 feet down a cliff on a hiking trip ~ While hiking near San Francisco the Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin injures her knees falling down a cliff. She would require surgery and up to a year of recovery time, forcing the band to cancel their upcoming Farewell Tour. After 2010 the idea of a “farewell” tour seemed to have been abandoned as they would tour several times in the following years. In 2023 Belinda Carlisle announced the group had disbanded
May 21, 2009 ~ Double bassist, bassist Uli Trepte passed away in Berlin, Germany ~ Played avantgarde, free jazz in the mid 1960s, working with the likes of Yusef Lateef, Gato Barbieri, Barney Wilen, John McLaughlin, Mal Waldron, and notably with Irène Schweizer. Switched to bass guitar in the late 1960s, forming krautrock outfit Guru Guru with drummer Mani Neumeier in 1968. Formed his own unit Spacebox in 1975, with whom he worked through the early 1980s. Recorded about half a dozen albums as a solo artist, starting with Real Time Music released in 1996 ~ Trepte was born in 1941
May 21, 2008 ~ Rock singer David Cook wins American Idol ~ Visibly to his own surprise David Cook wins the 7th season of talent show American Idol aired on Fox with 56% of the public's vote, leaving singer David Archuleta in 2nd place. Following his win Cook's singles The Time Of My Life and Light On would both reach top 20 on the all-genre Billboard Hot 100
May 21, 2008 ~ Music manager Lou Pearlman sentenced to 25 years in prison ~ Entrepreneur Lou Pearlman, to music audiences best known as manager of O-Town, LFO (Lyte Funky Ones), Take 5, Innosense, NSYNC and notably the Backstreet Boys, the latter the all-time best-selling boy band, pleads guilty to conspiracy, money laundering and using false statements in a bankruptcy proceeding. Pearlman would leave over $300 million in debt in one of the largest and longest-running Ponzi schemes in US history. Sentenced to 25 years in prison Pearlman was offered the opportunity to reduce his prison time by one month for every million dollars he helped a bankruptcy trustee recover. He died in prison in 2016
May 21, 2005 ~ Singer Helena Paparizou wins the 50th edition of the Eurovision Songfestival held in Kyiv, Ukraine ~ Representing Greece, Helena Paparizou wins with the song My Number One written by Christos Dantis and Natalia Germanou. Runner-ups would be Malta's Chiara with Angel in 2nd place and Romania's Luminita Anghel with In My Dreams in 3rd
May 21, 2004 ~ Singer, guitarist Robert Quine, full name Robert Wolfe Quinne, passed away in New York, New York, USA ~ Draws from a wide range of influences, including jazz, rock and blues. In-demand collaborator, most noted for his associations with the Dim Stars and Richard Hell & the Voidoids. Has also worked with Brian Eno, Lou Reed (The Blue Mask), John Zorn, Ikue Mori, Marc Ribot, Marianne Faithfull, Matthew Sweet, and Tom Waits ~ Quine was born in 1942
May 21, 2003 ~ R&B, gospel, pop singer Ruben Studdard wins American Idol ~ R&B, gospel, pop singer Ruben Studdard wins the 2nd season of talent show American Idol aired on Fox. Runner-up would be singer Clay Aiken, losing by a tiny margin. Following his win on the show, Studdard would receive a Grammy Award for his performance of Superstar. He has since released over half a dozen albums, noted specifically for his first two Soulful and I Need An Angel, and has segued into television and stage work including notably portraying the role of Fats Waller in a tour revival of the biographical musical revue Ain't Misbehavin'
May 21, 2001 ~ Country singer Faith Hill releases There You'll Be, recorded for the Pearl Harbor soundtrack ~ Written by Diane Warren to be used for the soundtrack of the romantic war drama Pearl Harbor. The song was first offered to Céline Dion, but she declined as she did not feel like doing another romantic love theme for a soundtrack. For Faith Hill, it would be one of her biggest hits abroad, reaching top 10 in over a dozen countries including the No.1 spot in Canada, Portugal, Poland, and Sweden. There You'll Be earned Hill a Grammy Award nomination for Best Female Pop Vocal Performance, and songwriter Warren an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Song. The track would be included on the soundtrack album as well as on several of Hill's compilation sets
May 21, 2000 ~ Benjamin Drootin, commonly known as jazz drummer Buzzy Drootin, passed away in Englewood, New Jersey, USA ~ Got his professional start in music in the early 1940s, touring with Ina Ray Hutton. Drootin would go on to back artists such as Al Donahue, Wingy Manone, and Eddie Condon. Other notable associations include Bobby Hackett, Sidney Bechet, Serge Chaloff, Ruby Braff (Hustlin' & Bustlin'), Herb Hall, Pee Wee Russell, Ralph Sutton, Anita O'Day, and Lee Konitz. Drootin would form the Drootin Brothers Jazz Band in the 1970s with his brother saxophonist, clarinetist Al Drootin and nephew pianist Sonny Drootin, among others. Drootin remained active into the 1980s ~ Drootin was born in 1920May 21, 1992 ~ Singer, actress Bette Midler is the last guest on Johnny Carson's The Tonight Show aired on NBC ~ Midler is the last guest on Carson's show, which ran for three decades starting in 1962. Bette Midler serenades him with the jazz standard One For My Baby (And One More For The Road). Carson would do one more show, the following day, without guests
May 21, 1990 ~ Tyrone Walker, commonly known as rapper A$AP TyY, born in Harlem, New York, USA ~ Member of hip hop collective A$AP Mob. As a solo artist active since the mid-2010s, releasing a number of mixtapes and notably the single Chamber Lock featuring A$AP Yams
May 21, 1990 ~ Rock, alternative rock outfit Concrete Blonde release Joey, lifted off their Bloodletting album ~ The band's only single to chart on the Billboard Hot 100, peaking at No.19. The song is sung from the perspective of a woman in love with an alcoholic. The band's lead singer and bassist Johnette Napolitano would later reveal she wrote the song about her relationship with Wall Of Voodoo guitarist Marc Moreland. She avoided writing the lyrics until the last possible moment. In a 2013 interview with Songfacts, she conveyed: “"I knew what I wanted to say, but I wasn't looking forward to saying it. So it was the last vocal that I recorded. And I remember Chris Tsangarides every day, ‘Do we have vocals to Joey yet? Do we have words to Joey yet?’ And I'm like, ‘Not yet.’ So I literally wrote them in a cab. I knew what I was going to say, it's just a matter of like a cloud's forming and then it rains.”
May 21, 1990 ~ Publisher, label executive Morris Levy passed away in Ghent, New York, USA ~ Founder of Roulette Records and the the Birdland Jazz Club jazz club. Described as “one of the record industry's most controversial and flamboyant players” and “a notorious crook who swindled artists out of their own royalties”. At the peak of his career, Levy owned more than 90 companies, including a record-pressing plant, a distribution company, the Strawberries chain of record stores, and numerous record labels. Convicted of extortion in 1990, Levy passed away two months before he was scheduled to report to prison ~ Levy was born in 1927May 21, 1988 ~ Jazz bassist Harry Babasin, full name Yervant Harry Babasin Jr, passed away in Los Angeles, California, USA ~ Leader and sideman, nicknamed “the Bear”. Worked with Herb Ellis, Charlie Fisk, Jimmy Joy, Bob Strong, Billie Rogers, Gene Krupa, Charlie Barnet, Boyd Raeburn, Benny Goodman, Woody Herman, Frank Devol, Jerry Gray, Roy Harte, Bud Shank, Dodo Marmarosa, Oscar Pettiford, and John Banister ~ Babasin was born in 1921