Today (December 12) is the birthday of many well-known musicians and a few not quite so well-known. If you can spare about twenty minutes out of your busy day (and I suspect you can), please help me celebrate the birth of these folks.
We begin with two members of the Rat Pack -- Sammy Davis, Jr. and Frank "Ol' Blue Eyes" Sinatra. Sammy was born in Wilmington, NC in 1900. Little-known fact: he started his musical career as a drummer! Francis was born in 1915 in Hoboken, NJ.
Sammy and Frank were buddies and it is rumored that Frank intervened on Sammy's behalf with certain [ahem] influential folks in Vegas to open some doors there for Sammy.
Rumor has it that a guy named Musk plays "Fly me to the Moon" at every staff meeting.
Another New Jersey product born on this day (Newark, 1937) is Concetta Franconero, better known as Connie Francis. I'm reluctant to post a Connie Francis video because I really did not like her singing very much. But you might, so...
And we have to include Dickie Betts on our birthday list (Bradenton, FL 1948). Dickie is best know as a key member of the Allman Brothers band. Imagine playing guitar well enough to join Greg and Duane Allman!
It's 1957, Oakland, CA. Shiela Escovedo is born. She became a drummer and singer and songwriter and a good pal of Prince Rogers Nelson (aka Prince), who wrote this song. She helped bring funk to the masses and for that we should all be grateful
And finally, there's Eric Schenkman, born on this day in 1963 somewhere in Massachusetts. He co-founded the Spin Doctors, who wrote and recorded one of my favorite little ditties. Enjoy!
So far I’ve watched Sheila and the Spin Doctors. Gotta love the choreography, shoes and hair in Sheila’s video! Wasn’t expecting that ending of the Spin Doctors - but that was some guitar playing! My first thought when I saw the song title was that it must be the perfect song for that mischievous granddaughter of yours!
ReplyDelete