by Britt Ryan | Sep 13, 2020 | Today in Music History
“The Velvet Fog” was a household name back in the day. Mel Torme, born in Chicago on this day in 1925, was “a supreme vocal technician whose style encompassed everything from intimate pop crooning to jet-propelled scat improvisations,” the New York Times said in...
by Britt Ryan | Sep 12, 2020 | Today in Music History
Legendary R&B singer passed away in 2003 at age 58. Born in Galveston, Texas, on this day in 1944, he is unofficially credited with setting the mood for a whole lot of loving with the impossibly deep-voiced “crushed-velvet pillow talk” he brought to such classics...
by Britt Ryan | Sep 11, 2020 | Today in Music History
“It had to be you,” Harry Connick Jr. Happy 53rd birthday to the singer, pianist, composer, actor and guy who cut 10 number-one jazz albums, more than any other artist in U.S. jazz chart history. Here he is playing piano at the Newport Jazz Festival in 2004. He also...
by Britt Ryan | Sep 10, 2020 | Today in Music History
Jimi Hendrix is not the only legendary performer who courted controversy with a unique rendition of America’s national anthem. Born in Lares, Puerto Rico, on this day in 1945, rising young pop singer Jose Feliciano was invited to perform “The Star-Spangled Banner”...
by Britt Ryan | Sep 9, 2020 | Today in Music History
The sounds of whistling and waves crashing on the shore accompany the great soul singer Otis Redding on his signature classic “(Sittin’ On) The Dock of the Bay.” Conceived while bobbing on rock promoter Bill Graham’s houseboat in Sausalito and completed with guitarist...
by Britt Ryan | Sep 8, 2020 | Today in Music History
A young fellow named Frank Sinatra made his earliest known recording at age 19 on this day in 1935, when he and his bandmates from the Hoboken Four (billed as “Singing & Dancing Fools) appeared on “Major Bowes Amateur Hour” radio program. He also volunteered to...
