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.
October 27, 1941 ~ Pop, folk, folk rock, blues singer, guitarist, percussionist, songwriter Don Partridge, full name Donald Eric Partridge, born in Bournemouth, UK ~ Busker and one-man-band who briefly found unexpected commercial success at the tail end of the sixties, his 1968 singles Rosie and its follow-up Blue Eyes both reaching top 10 in his native UK, and Breakfast On Pluto released the following year charting in the top 30. Partridge is also known for co-founding Accolade, with whom he recorded two albums during the early 1970s ~ Partridge passed away in 2010
October 27, 1939 ~ Singer, songwriter Dallas Frazier born in Spiro, Oklahoma, USA ~ Moderately successful as a late 1950s singer best known for writing and first recording Alley Oop, later a hit for the Hollywood Argyles. Would find his greatest fame as a songwriter, his songs recorded by Ferlin Husky (Timber I'm Falling), OC Smith, George Jones, Jack Greene (There Goes My Everything), Diana Ross, Johnny Duncan (Johnny One Time), Engelbert Humperdinck, Jerry Lee Lewis (Touching Home), Connie Smith (In My Baby's Arms Again), Willie Nelson, Brenda Lee, Charley Pride, Merle Haggard, Charlie Rich (Mohair Sam), Gene Watson (Fourteen Carat Mind), Elvis Presley (True Love Travels On A Gravel Road), Moe Bandy (Don't Anyone Make Love At Home Anymore), Roy Head, Charlie Louvin, Rodney Crowell, Dan McCafferty, Poco, Ronnie Hawkins, Henson Cargill (This Just Ain't No Good Day For Leavin'), Anne Murray, Stoney Edwards (Hank And Lefty Raised My Country Soul), Glen Campbell, George Strait, Randy Travis, and Patty Loveless. In 1988 Frazier left the music industry to become a Christian minister ~ Frazier passed away in 2022October 27, 1939 ~ Country singer Ruby Wright born in Nashville, Tennessee, USA ~ Eldest child of Johnny Wright and Kitty Wells. Also recorded under the moniker Ruby Wells, to avoid confusion with big band singer Ruby Wright. Best known for her 1964 Billboard Country top 20 hit Dern Ya, an answer song to Roger Miller's Dang Me. Her sole full-length album of the same name, Dern Ya, followed in 1966 ~ Wright passed away in 2009
October 27, 1934 ~ Jazz bassist, double bassist Barre Phillips born in San Francisco, California, USA ~ Considered a prime bass improviser. Over two dozen albums to his name as leader or co-leader. Specifically noted for the 1971 Music From Two Basses, a collaborative album with Dave Holland. Member of influential 1970s outfit the Trio alongside saxophonist John Surman and drummer Stu Martin. Regularly recorded with the London Jazz Composers Orchestra during the 1980s and 1990s, including on the acclaimed Theoria album. Other notable associations include Eric Dolphy, Lee Konitz (Zo-Ko-Ma), Mal Waldron, Gong, Terje Rypdal, Charlie Mariano, Gunter Hampel (Jubilation), Peter Brötzmann, Michel Montanaro, Paul Bley (Chaos), Masashi Harada, Jeanette Lambert, and Joe Morris ~ Phillips passed away in 2024
October 27, 1934 ~ Jazz trumpeter, conductor, arranger Ivan Jullien born in Vincennes, France ~ To pop audiences perhaps best known for his association with Elton John, appearing on the early 1970s albums Honky Château and Don't Shoot Me I'm Only The Piano Player. Jullien has also played with Claude Bolling and Jacques Denjean early on in his career, led the mid 1960s ensemble the Paris Jazz All-Stars, and guested on albums by Jef Gilson, Eddy Mitchell, Didier Lockwood, Charles Aznavour, Claude Nougaro, and Raymond Fol ~ Jullien passed away in 2015
October 27, 1933 ~ Pianist Floyd Cramer born in Samti, Louisiana, USA ~ Considered one of the pioneers of the Nashville sound. Frequent collaborator of guitarist Don Gibson and saxophonist Boots Randolph. Renowned for his slip note technique. Has recorded prolifically as a solo artist, his instrumental renditions of classics, including Last Date, On The Rebound, and San Antonio Rose, regularly becoming hits. In-demand session pianist, present on hit singles by Elvis Presley (Heartbreak Hotel), Brenda Lee, Hank Locklin (Please Help Me I'm Falling), Patsy Cline, the Browns, Jim Reeves, Eddy Arnold, Roy Orbison, Don Gibson, and the Everly Brothers ~ Cramer passed away in 1997October 27, 1931 ~ Francis Dominic Joseph Dallas, commonly known as jazz bassist, singer Sonny Dallas, born in Rankin, Pennsylvania, USA ~ Most closely associated with Lennie Tristano. Also worked with Charlie Spivak, Ray Eberle, Claude Thornhill, Sal Salvador, Tony Scott, Chet Baker, Buck Clayton, Lee Konitz, Warne Marsh, Phil Woods, Gene Quill, Zoot Sims, Al Cohn, Elvin Jones, Mary Lou Williams, George Wallington, and Jackie Paris ~ Dallas passed away in 2007
October 27, 1927 ~ Composer Bernard Parmegiani born in Paris, France ~ Known for his electronic or acousmatic music. Studied mime from 1957 to 1961, a period he later regarded as important to his work as a composer. Worked with Iannis Xenakis, Westdeutscher Rundfunk, the Third Ear Band, and François Bayle. Cited as a major influence by later acts such as Aphex Twin, Autechre and Sonic Youth ~ Parmegiani passed away in 2013October 27, 1927 ~ Operatic, choral composer Dominick Argento born in York, Pennsylvania, USA ~ Wrote fourteen operas, including Miss Havisham's Fire Opera, Masque Of The Angels, and Aspern Papers Opera, orchestral works, major song cycles, of which From The Diary Of Virginia Woolf won him the 1975 Pullitzer Prize for Music, and choral works. Married to soprano singer Carolyn Bailey, whom he often referred to as his muse ~ Argento passed away in 2019
October 27, 1927 ~ Opera singer Robert White born in New York, New York, USA ~ Best known for his tenures with the New York Philharmonic and the Philadelphia Orchestra. Premiered works, some written specifically for him, by composers such as Mark Adamo, William Bolcom, John Corigliano, Lukas Foss, Stephen Hough, Libby Larsen, Lowell Liebermann, Gian Carlo Menotti, Tobias Picker, Ned Rorem, and David Del Tredici
October 27, 1924 ~ Mary Joan Kath, commonly known as country, rock & roll, rockabilly singer Bonnie Lou, born in Towanda, Illinois, USA ~ Influenced by Patsy Montana. Along with the likes of Wanda Jackson generally considered as one of the first women in what would later become known as rockabilly, enjoying popularity from the early 1950s onwards. Started performing on WJBC AM radio station at age 16, moving on to the nationally syndicated KMBC radio show the Brush Creek Follies show the following year. At the time the show would be considered one of the biggest music programs in country. Well-known for songs such as the early 1950s Billboard Country top 10 hits Seven Lonely Days and Tennessee Wig-Walk ~ Kath passed away in 2015
October 27, 1924 ~ Giacinto Figlia, commonly known as jazz pianist George Wallington, born in Palermo, Italy ~ Starting in 1943 Wallington spend a decade playing with artists such as Dizzy Gillespie, Joe Marsala, Charlie Parker, Serge Chaloff, Allen Eager, Kai Winding, Terry Gibbs, Brew Moore, Al Cohn, Gerry Mulligan, Zoot Sims, and with Red Rodney, and recording as a leader for Savoy Records and Blue Note Records. Toured Europe in 1953 as a member of Lionel Hampton's big band. From 1954 onwards Wallington led groups that included young talents including Donald Byrd, Jackie McLean and Phil Woods. In 1960 Wallington retired from the music business, citing the stress of endless touring, but has made a number of albums in the 1980s ~ Figlia passed away in 1993
October 27, 1919 ~ Lee Brown, commonly known as jazz singer, songwriter Babs Gonzales, born in Newark, New Jersey, USA ~ Noted for penning Pop Pop-a-da. Worked with Charlie Barnet and with Lionel Hampton before forming his first own ensemble in 1946. His sidemen over the years would include Tadd Dameron, Tony Scott, Roy Haynes, James Moody, JJ Johnson, Julius Watkins, Sonny Rollins, Art Pepper, Wynton Kelly, and Don Redman. Later in his career he would collaborate with artists such as Jimmy Smith, Bennie Green, Lenny Hambro, and Johnny Griffin ~ Brown passed away in 1980
October 27, 1913 ~ Bandleader, bass saxophonist Boyd Raeburn, full name Boyd Albert Raeburn, born in Faith, South Dakota, USA ~ Has led a number of swing and big band ensembles since the 1930s, which at times included sidemen such as Serge Chaloff, Trummy Young, Lucky Thompson, Buddy DeFranco, and pianist George Handy. Raeburn would make considerable contributions to the development of jazz for a brief period during the mid 1940s, the ensemble noted for its daring and at the time considered avant-garde arrangements by pianist Handy. Reportedly, they were also the first to record the Dizzy Gillespie-classic Night In Tunisia. Raeburn would mostly retire from music by the mid 1950s ~ Raeburn passed away in 1966