1984
Matthew Murphy, vocals, guitar and keyboards for English indie rock band The Wombats.
1981
Canadian musician Steve ‘Stevo32’ Jocz, drummer with Sum 41, who had the 2001 UK No 13 single ‘In Too Deep’, and the 2007 Canadian No.1 album Underclass Hero. He has also worked with Avril Lavigne and Iggy Pop. He directs music videos for the band’s “Underclass Hero,” “With Me,” and “Screaming Bloody Murder.”
1980
Michelle Williams, Destiny’s Child, (2000 US No.1 single ‘Say My Name’, 2001 US & UK No.1 single and album ‘Survivor’).
1973
Fran Healy, vocals, guitar, with Scottish rock band Travis. Their 1999 UK album The Man Who spent nine weeks at No.1 on the UK Charts and one-hundred and thirty-four weeks in the top 100 of the chart. Travis had and 1999 UK No.10 single ‘Why Does It Always Rain On Me’, plus over 10 other UK Top 40 singles.
1971
Alison Krauss, bluegrass-country singer, songwriter and fiddler. She released her first solo album in 1987 and then was invited to join the band with which she still performs, Alison Krauss and Union Station. Winner of 1996 Rolling Stone’s critic’s choice best country artist. Krauss recorded Raising Sand with Robert Plant in 2007 which was nominated for and won 5 Grammys at the 51st Grammy Awards.
1971
Chad Gracey, drummer, from American rock band Live who achieved worldwide success with their 1994 album Throwing Copper, which sold eight million copies in the US.
1970
Sam Watters, from American R&B group Color Me Badd who had the 1991 UK No.1 single ‘I Wanna Sex You Up’, and the 1991 US No.1 single ‘I Adore Mi Amor’.
1965
Rob Dickinson, vocals, Catherine Wheel, (1992 UK No.35 single ‘I Want To Touch You’).
1965
Slash, (Saul Hudson), guitarist with Guns N’ Roses who had the 1988 US No.1 and 1989 UK No.6 single Sweet Child o’ Mine and the 1991 US and UK No.1 album Use Your Illusion II. Their 1987 debut album, Appetite for Destruction has sold approximately 30 million copies worldwide, including 18 million in the US, making it the best-selling debut album of all time. Slash went on to form the side project Slash’s Snakepit and then Velvet Revolver, who had the 2004 US No.1 and UK No.11 album Contraband.
1964
Nick Menza, drums, Megadeth, (1990 UK No.13 single ‘No More Mr Nice Guy’, 1992 US No.2 album ‘Countdown To Extinction’). Menza died on 21st May 2016 after suffering a “massive heart attack” on stage, while performing with his band, OHM, in Los Angeles.
1964
Tim Kellett, keyboards and trumpet with Simply Red who had the 1986 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Holding Back The Years’). With Olive he had the 1997 UK No.1 single ‘You’re Not Alone’.
1961
Martin Gore, keyboards, with English electronic band Depeche Mode. The group have had 50 songs in the UK Singles Chart and seventeen top 10 albums in the UK chart and have sold over 100 million records worldwide.
1957
Dennis Greaves, guitar, vocals, with UK R&B group Nine Below Zero.
1953
American guitarist and songwriter Chris Pinnick, best known for his work with the band Chicago from 1979-1986. His guitar work can also be heard on Herb Alpert’s single ‘Rise,’ which reached No.1 on the Billboard Hot 100 in October 1979.
1952
Janis Siegel, singer, Manhattan Transfer, (1977 UK No.1 ‘Chanson D’amour’, 1981 US No.7 single ‘Boy From New York City’).
https://youtu.be/I7MjwVkIbhw
1952
John Rutsey, Canadian drummer, best known as a co-founding member of Rush, and performing on the band’s debut album. Rutsey died in his sleep of an apparent heart attack, related to complications from diabetes on May 11, 2008.
1950
Blair Thorton, guitar, Bachman Turner Overdrive, (1974 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘You Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet’).
1947
David Essex, UK singer, actor, (1974 UK No.1 single ‘Gonna Make You A Star’, plus 18 other UK Top 40 singles, 1974 US No.5 single, ‘Rock On’).
1947
Tony Joe White, US singer, songwriter, best known for his 1969 US No.8 single, ‘Polk Salad Annie’ (also recorded by Elvis Presley and Tom Jones) and ‘Rainy Night in Georgia’ which he wrote but was first made popular by Brook Benton in 1970. He also wrote ‘Steamy Windows’ a UK No.13 single for Tina Turner. White died of a heart attack on October 24, 2018, at the age of 75.
1946
English multi-instrumentalist, Andy Mackay, who with Roxy Music scored the hit singles ‘Street Life’, ‘Love is the Drug’, ‘Dance Away’, ‘Angel Eyes’, ‘Jealous Guy’ and ‘Avalon’. Mackay has also worked with Duran Duran, Mott the Hoople, John Cale and Paul McCartney.
1946
American bass guitarist Keith Ferguson who was a member of The Fabulous Thunderbirds who had two hit songs in the 1980s, ‘Tuff Enuff’ and ‘Wrap It Up.’ He died of liver failure at the age of 50, on April 29, 1997, due in part to a nearly thirty-year addiction to heroin.
1944
Dino Danelli, drummer with American rock band, The Rascals (initially known as The Young Rascals) who had the US No.1 hits ‘Good Lovin” (1966), ‘Groovin” (1967), and ‘People Got to Be Free’ (1968). He died on December 15, 2022 aged 78.
1942
American soul singer, Madeline Bell, who with Blue Mink had the 1970 UK No.3 single ‘Melting Pot’. Her version of Paul McCartney’s ‘Step Inside Love’ was a minor hit in the US in 1969.
1935
Cleveland Duncan, The Penguins, (1954 US No.8 single ‘Earth Angel, Will You Be Mine’).
This website uses cookies so that we can provide you with the best user experience possible. Cookie information is stored in your browser and performs functions such as recognising you when you return to our website and helping our team to understand which sections of the website you find most interesting and useful.
Strictly Necessary Cookies
Strictly Necessary Cookie should be enabled at all times so that we can save your preferences for cookie settings.
If you disable this cookie, we will not be able to save your preferences. This means that every time you visit this website you will need to enable or disable cookies again.
3rd Party Cookies
This website uses Google Analytics to collect anonymous information such as the number of visitors to the site, and the most popular pages.
Keeping this cookie enabled helps us to improve our website.
Please enable Strictly Necessary Cookies first so that we can save your preferences!