This week’s birthday celebrants.
New Orleans pianist/singer Professor Longhair (born Henry Roeland Byrd), December 19, 1918
Jazz pianist/composer Bobby Timmons, December 19, 1935
Earth Wind & Fire leader Maurice White, December 19, 1941
Other December 19 birthdays:
Jazz trumpeter Joe “King” Oliver, 1885
Conductor Fritz Reiner, 1888
French chanteuse Edith Piaf, 1915
Country singer Little Jimmy Dickens, 1920
Jazz trombonist Bob Brookmeyer, 1929
Folk singer Phil Ochs, 1940
Ten Years After frontman Alvin Lee, 1944
Kajagoogoo singer Limahl, 1958
English cellist Steven Isserlis, 1958
The Saints guitarist/songwriter Ed Kuepper, December 20, 1955
Other December 20 birthdays:
Contemporary classical composer John Harbison, 1938
Blood, Sweat & Tears drummer Bobby Colomby, 1944
Kiss drummer Peter Criss, 1945
English singer/songwriter Billy Bragg, 1957
Minutemen/fIREHOSE bassist/singer Mike Watt, 1957
Dir En Grey guitarist Die, 1974
Modern composer/guitarist/iconoclast Frank Zappa, December 21, 1940, and Zappa band/King Crimson/solo guitarist/singer Adrian Belew, 1949
Glam singer/songwriter Nick Gilder, December 21, 1951
Other December 21 birthdays:
San Francisco Symphony conductor Michael Tilson Thomas, 1944
Spanish guitarist Paco de Lucia, 1947
Soul singer Betty Wright, 1953
Bee Gees Maurice and Robin Gibb, December 22, 1949
Other December 22 birthdays:
Venezuelan classical pianist Teresa Carreño, 1853
Italian opera composer Giacomo Puccini, 1858
Austrian composer Franz Schmidt, 1874
French avant-garde composer Edgard Varèse, 1883
Big Brother and the Holding Company guitarist James Gurley, 1939
Cheap Trick guitarist Rick Nielsen, 1946
Chi-Lites singer/songwriter Eugene Record, 1940
Other December 23 birthdays:
French composer Joseph Bodin de Boismortier, 1689
Jazz trumpeter and singer Chet Baker, 1929
R&B singer Esther Phillips, 1935
Folk singer/songwriter Tim Hardin, 1941
Genesis and solo guitarist/singer Anthony Phillips, 1951
Pearl Jam frontman Eddie Vedder, 1964
New Orleans singer Lee Dorsey, 1924
Other December 24 birthdays:
Songwriter (“I Only Have Eyes for You”) Harry Warren, 1893
Jazz drummer Warren “Baby” Dodds, 1898
Soundtrack composer (Sunset Boulevard) Franz Waxman, 1906
Jazz pianist Ray Bryant, 1931
Motorhead frontman Lemmy Kilmister, 1945
Blues singer/guitarist Joe Louis Walker, December 25, 1949
Other December 25 birthdays:
English composer Orlando Gibbons, 1583
African-French composer Chevalier de Saint-Georges, 1745
Jazz trombonist Edward “Kid” Ory, 1886
Jazz bandleader Cab Calloway, 1907
Isley Brothers singer O’Kelly Isley, 1937
Jazz pianist/composer Bob James, 1939
Cream lyricist Pete Brown, 1940
Jimi Hendrix Experience bassist Noel Redding, 1945
Laid-back icon Jimmy Buffett, 1946
