Born on February 16th in music

Born On This Day In Music, February 16th

1994
American singer and songwriter Ava Max. Her breakthrough single ‘Sweet but Psycho‘ released in August 2018 was a No. 1 hit in 22 countries.

1990
Canadian singer-songwriter and record producer The Weeknd, (Abel Makkonen Tesfaye). He has received numerous accolades, including four Grammy Awards, 19 Billboard Music Awards, 15 Juno Awards, six American Music Awards and two MTV Video Music Awards.

1989
American multi-instrumentalist, singer and songwriter Danielle Haim with pop rock band Haim, which also consists of her two sisters, Este Haim and Alana Haim.

1967
Damon Reece, drummer from English space rock band Spiritualized. They released the critically acclaimed 1997 Ladies and Gentlemen We Are Floating in Space, which NME magazine named as their Album of the Year.

1965
Dave Lombardo, drummer with American thrash metal band Slayer who released the 1986 album ‘Reign in Blood’.

1962
Tony Kylie, from British new wave group The Blow Monkeys who had the 1986 hit ‘Digging Your Scene’ and the 1987 UK No.5 single ‘It Doesn’t Have To Be This Way’.

1961
Andy Taylor, guitarist with Duran Duran who had the 1983 UK No.1 single ‘Is There Something I Should Know’ plus 25 other UK Top 40 singles including the 1984 US No.1 single ‘The Reflex’. Also a member of The Power Station who had the 1985 UK No.14 single ‘Some Like It Hot’.

1960
British musician Pete Willis, best known as a founding member of Def Leppard. He co-wrote many tracks and played guitar on the band’s first three albums: On Through the Night, High ‘n’ Dry, and Pyromania, which was being recorded at the time of his departure.

1958
Ice-T, (Tracy Morrow), male rapper who had the 1993 UK No.21 single ‘That’s How I’m Livin’.

1953
John Bradbury, best known for having been the drummer in the English ska group The Specials, who co-wrote ‘The Selecter’, a joint ‘A’ side with ‘Gangsters’ and who had the 1981 UK No.1 single ‘Ghost Town’. Bradbury died aged 62 on 28 Dec 2015.

1952
James Ingram, American singer, who had the 1987 UK No.8 single with Linda Ronstadt, ‘Somewhere Out There’, and the 1990 US No.1 single ‘I Don’t Have The Heart’. Ingram also co-wrote ‘P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)’ the sixth single from Michael Jackson’s album, Thriller and co-wrote the 1983 hit duet with Michael McDonald ‘Yah Mo B There.’ Ingram died on 29 January 2019 after a long battle with brain cancer age 66.

1949
Lynn Paul, singer with The New Seekers who had the 1972 UK No.1 single ‘I’d Like To Teach The World To Sing‘.

1939
American singers Harold and Herbie Kalin, The Kalin Twins who had the 1958 UK No.1 & US No.5 single ‘When.’ The brothers were the first twins to score a No.1 record followed years later by The Proclaimers.

1935
American singer-songwriter, producer, actor, and politician Sonny Bono, who had the 1965 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Got You Babe‘, as Sonny & Cher. Bono began his music career as a songwriter at Specialty Records, where his song ‘Things You Do to Me’ was recorded by Sam Cooke, and went on to work for record producer Phil Spector in the early 1960s. He was mayor of Palm Springs, California, from 1988 to 1992, and the Republican congressman for California’s 44th district, serving from 1995 until his death in 1998. He was killed on 5 January 1998, aged 62, in a skiing accident.

1934
Herbie and Harold Kalin (of the pop duo Kalin Twins) are born in Port Jervis, New York. Harold died August 24, 2005 (aged 71). Herbert died July 21, 2006 (aged 72).

1931
Otis Blackwell, composer of the seminal rock ‘n roll tunes “Great Balls of Fire” and “All Shook Up,” and the R&B sizzler “Fever,” is born in Brooklyn, New York. Blackwell died from a heart attack on May 6th 2002.

1918
Patty Andrews from The Andrew Sisters who were an American close harmony singing group of the swing and boogie-woogie eras. Throughout their long career, the sisters sold over 75 million records. Their 1941 hit ‘Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy’ can be considered an early example of rhythm and blues. She died of natural causes on 30 January 2013 at the age of 94.