Josef Locke (1917 - 1999)

Known as The Singing Bobby, Josef Locke became a local celebrity before starting to work the UK variety circuit, where he played nineteen seasons in the northern English seaside resort of Blackpool. The renowned Irish tenor John McCormack (1884–1945) advised him that his voice was better suited to a lighter repertoire than the operatic one […]

Lucrezia Bori (1970 - 1960)

Lucrezia Bori was born on December 24, 1887, in Valencia, Spain. Her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho. Her father was an officer in the Spanish army. Her family were descended from the influential family of the Italian Renaissance, the House of Borgia and she herself was named after her ancestor, Lucrezia […]

Joseph Wapner (1919 - 2017)

Joseph Albert Wapner was born on November 15, 1919, in Los Angeles to Jewish parents. His father, Max Wapner, an attorney, immigrated to California from Romania, while his mother, Fannie (née Friedman), was from Russia. He had a younger sister, Irene. Wapner attended Hollywood High School and dated actress Lana Turner once while in high […]

Alan Colmes (1950 - 2017)

Alan Colmes began his career in stand-up comedy. He developed his radio career in the Northeast, eventually working at stations such as WABC, WNBC, WHN, WMCA, and WEVD in New York City; WNHC in New Haven, Connecticut; and WEZE and WZLX in Boston. His radio career took off when WABC hired him for the morning drive […]

Henry Wade (1914 - 2001)

Henry Wade, one of eleven children, was born in Rockwall County, Texas, outside Dallas. A good student, Wade, along with five of his seven brothers, entered the legal profession. Shortly after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1939, Wade joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation, headed by J. Edgar Hoover. Wade’s assignment […]

Norma McCorvey (1947 - 2017)

Norma McCorvey was born in Simmesport, Louisiana. She was briefly raised at her family’s residence in Lettsworth in Pointe Coupee Parish. Later in her childhood, the family moved to Houston, Texas. McCorvey’s father left the family when she was 13 years old and her parents subsequently divorced. She and her older brother were raised by […]

Bill Paxton (1955 - 2017)

Bill Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray) and John Lane Paxton. His father was a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and occasional actor. His mother was Roman Catholic, and he and his siblings were raised in her faith. Paxton was in the crowd when President […]

Eleanor Holm (1913 - 2004)

Eleanor Holm was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a fireman; she learned to swim while very young. Winning her first national swimming title at age 13, she was selected to compete in the 1928 Summer Olympics, where she finished fifth in her specialty, the 100-meter backstroke. She was talented in several other […]

Lincoln Chase (1926 - 1980)

Lincoln Chase was born in New York City, the only child of West Indian immigrants. Lorenzo, his father, was born in Cuba and his mother, Edith (or Elizabeth), was a native of the British West Indies. He was raised in New York City. His wife was Monica D. Chase. His children are Alton D Chase, […]

Chuck Willis (1926 - 1958)

Chuck Willis was born in Atlanta, Georgia, either in 1926 or 1928. He was spotted at a talent contest by Atlanta radio disc jockey Zenas Sears, who became his manager and helped him to sign with Columbia Records in 1951. After one single, Willis began recording on a Columbia subsidiary, Okeh. During his stay at […]

Lynn Taitt (1934 - 2010)

Born Nerlynn Taitt, in San Fernando, Trinidad, he got his start as a musician playing in local steel drum bands, before taking up the guitar aged 14. He formed his own band, which was booked by Byron Lee to perform at the 1962 independence celebrations in Jamaica. Lynn Taitt decided to stay in Jamaica, living […]

Roland Alphonso (1931 - 1998)

Born in Havana, Cuba, Roland Alphonso came to Jamaica at the age of two with his Jamaican mother, and started to learn saxophone at the Stony Hill Industrial School. In 1948 he left school to join Eric Deans’ orchestra and soon passed through other bands in the hotel circuit and first recorded as a member of […]

Tommy McCook (1927 - 1998)

Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s. McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in […]

Lloyd Knibb (1931 - 2011)

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1931, Lloyd Knibb, grew up on Bond Street, close to where a local band rehearsed, and he made his own drum kit from a wooden box and paint cans to practice the sounds that he had heard. Like a lot of musicians in the 1940s, he honed his craft in […]

Duke Reid (1915 - 1975)

Duke Reid was born in Portland, Jamaica. After serving ten years as a Jamaican police officer, Reid left the force to help his wife Lucille run the family business, The Treasure Isle Grocery and Liquor Store at 33 Bond Street in Kingston. He made his way into the music industry first as a sound system (outdoor […]

Delroy Wilson (1948 - 1995)

Delroy Wilson began his recording career at the age of thirteen, while still a pupil at Boys Town Primary School. Wilson released his first single “Emy Lou” in 1962 for record producer, Clement “Coxsone” Dodd. His early years with Coxsone yielded a number of ska hits, the biggest of which, the Lee Perry-written “Joe Liges” […]

Don Drummond (1932 - 1969)

Don Drummond (12 March 1932 – 6 May 1969) was a Jamaican ska trombonist and composer. He was one of the original members of The Skatalites, and composed many of their tunes. Drummond was born at the Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, to Doris Monroe and Uriah Drummond. He was educated at Kingston’s Alpha Boys School, […]

Coxsone Dodd (1932 - 2004)

Coxsone Dodd used to play records to the customers in his parents’ shop. During a spell in the American South he became familiar with the rhythm and blues music popular there at the time. In 1954, back in Jamaica, he set up the Downbeat Sound System, being the owner of an amplifier, a turntable, and […]

Joe Higgs (1940 - 1999)

Joe Higgs was instrumental in the foundation of modern Jamaican music, first recording in 1958 for producer and businessman (and later Jamaican Prime Minister) Edward Seaga, both as a solo artist and with Roy Wilson. He is often called the “Godfather of Reggae”. His first release (with Wilson) was “Oh Manny Oh” in 1958, which […]

Peter Tosh (1944 - 1987)

Peter Tosh began recording and released his solo debut, Legalize It, in 1976 with CBS Records company. The title track soon became popular among endorsers of marijuana legalization, reggae music lovers and Rastafari all over the world, and was a favourite at Tosh’s concerts. His second album Equal Rights followed in 1977, featuring his recording […]

Chris Wood (1944 - 1983)

Born in Quinton, a suburb of Birmingham, Chris Wood had an interest in music and painting from early childhood. Self-taught on flute and saxophone, which he commenced playing at the age of 15, he began to play locally with other Birmingham musicians who would later find international fame in music: Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie), […]

Alex Sadkin (1949 - 1987)

Alex Sadkin (Florida 1949 – 25 July 1987) is best remembered as a record producer in the early 1980s, but actually got his start in the music industry as a saxophonist for the Las Olas Brass in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Sadkin grew up in Fort Lauderdale across the street from Bennett Elementary School, and played saxophone […]

Leslie Kong (1933 - 1971)

Leslie Kong  and his two older brothers Cecil and Lloyd ran a restaurant, ice cream parlour and record shop called Beverley’s in Orange Street, Kingston. In 1961, he encountered a young Jimmy Cliff outside of his shop singing a song he had written called “Dearest Beverley,” in the hopes that the mention of the establishment […]

Carl Radle (1942 - 1980)

Carl Dean Radle (June 18, 1942 – May 30, 1980) was a bassist who toured and recorded with many of the most influential recording artists of the late 1960s and 1970s. He was posthumously inducted to the Oklahoma Music Hall of Fame in 2006. Carl Radle was best known for his long association with Eric Clapton, […]

Jimmy Miller (1942 - 1994)

Prior to working with the Rolling Stones, Jimmy Miller had been trained and was widely known as the protege of Stanley Borden (RKO, ARTIA, AFTER HOURS UNIQUE). Borden the original backer of Island Records, suggested Miller to Chris Blackwell, who in turn brought him to the UK where he rose to fame by producing successful […]

Bobby Keys (1943 - 2014)

Bobby Keys met the Rolling Stones at the San Antonio Teen Fair in 1964. He is best known for his impressive resume as a musician (his contributions include the saxophone solo on the 1971 hit “Brown Sugar”) and his friendship with Keith Richards. Keys and Richards share exactly the same date of birth. Notably, Keys […]

Tony Sheridan (1940 - 2013)

Tony Sheridan was born in Norwich, Norfolk, where he grew up at 2 Hansell Road in Thorpe St Andrew and attended the City of Norwich School. In his early life, Sheridan was influenced by his parents’ interest in classical music, and by age seven, he had learned to play the violin. He eventually came to play […]

Bill Eyden (1930 - 2004)

Bill Eyden (born William James Eyden, 4 May 1930, Hounslow, Middlesex – 15 October 2004, Isleworth, Middlesex) was an English jazz drummer. The son of James Eyden and Ivy (née Tiller), of 129 Martindale Road, Hounslow, London, his first professional gig was in 1952 with the Ivor and Basil Kirchin Band. He was soon working with […]

Joe Moretti (1938 - 2012)

Joseph Edward “Joe” Moretti (10 May 1938 – 9 February 2012) was a Scottish guitarist renowned for his work on seminal UK rock and roll records such as Vince Taylor’s “Brand New Cadillac” and Johnny Kidd & the Pirates’ “Shakin’ All Over”. He lived in South Africa until his death from lung cancer. Joe Moretti also […]

Tony Meehan (1943 - 2005)

Tony Meehan was born to Irish parents at New End Hospital, New End, Hampstead, North London, England. He was 10 when he became interested in playing drums. By 13, he had his first job with a band playing in a dance hall at Willesden, London. He also played timpani with the London Youth Orchestra. When […]