The late Wilbert Harrison was born on this date in 1929. His best-known hit is “Kansas City.” That and other songs from 1959 make up today’s playlist.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 11-21-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the November 21 birthdays of Carly Rae Jepsen, The Sugarcubes’ Björk, Phoenix’s Thomas Mars, Dr. John, WAR’s Lonnie Jordan, Vivian Blaine, and Amanda Lepore; and the November 22 birthdays of Talking Heads/Tom Tom Club’s Tina Weymouth, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs’ Karen O, Cypress Hill’s Sen Dog, Max Romeo, The Trashmen’s Steve Wahrer, The Youngblood’s Jesse Colin Young, Climax’s Sonny Geraci, Jason & the Scorchers’ Jason Ringenberg, Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band’s Steve Van Zandt, Lynda Lyndell, and composer Hoagy Carmichael.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist: 9-22-22
Today’s playlist celebrates the September 21 birthday of Leonard Cohen, inadvertently missed the other day; the September 22 birthdays of Joan Jett, Nick Cave, Whitesnake’s David Coverdale, Mystikal, Toni Basil, Right Said Fred’s Richard Fairbrass, The Rentals’ Matt Sharp, Debby Boone, Concrete Blonde’s Johnette Napolitano, Marlena Shaw, Martin Solveig, The Jones Girls’ Shirley Jones, Timebox’s Mike Patto, and Pat Suzuki; and the September 23 birthdays of Bruce Springsteen, John Coltrane, Ray Charles, Ani DiFranco, The Whispers’ Walter and Wallace Scott, Jermaine Dupri, Freeez’s John Rocca, K’s Choice’s Sam Bettens, Paul Petersen, Anya Marina, and Mary Kay Place.
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Throwback Thursday: 1960
Look at some of the names who had hits in 1960: Elvis Presley, James Brown, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, Buddy Holly, Ella Fitzgerald, The Everly Bros., Roy Orbison, Fats Domino, The Drifters, Ike & Tina Turner, Dion, Jackie Wilson, Bobby Darin, Chubby Checker, Brenda Lee. It’s like the radio only played superstars. Here are 30 of that year’s best:
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Throwback Thursday: 1961
The years between 1958 and 1963 are often thought of as a sleepy time for rock and roll, a quiet time between the genre’s initial burst onto the charts and the onslaught of the British Invasion. However, lots of great records were charting during those years. Check out this playlist of thirty hits from 1961 for proof.
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Throwback Thursday: 1962
A popular misconception that I sometimes fall into is that the years after The Day The Music Died (early 1959) and before The Beatles hit in America (early 1964) the pop chart was pretty dull. Sure, there was a lot of schmaltz on the Hot 100 – there always is – but there was a lot of exciting stuff, too, as today’s Throwback Thursday playlist will attest. Girl groups, Motown, Ray Charles, James Brown, Frankie Valli, Sam Cooke, The Beach Boys and lots of other good stuff made the top 40. Have a listen to thirty of 1962’s best.
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A Chaka Khan Playlist
Chaka Khan was born Yvette Marie Stevens on this date in 1953. At age 13 Yvette was given the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Yemoja Hodarhi Karifi Khan by an African priest. Though there was no Chaka Khan character in the movie Judas and the Black Messiah, she did befriend Fred Hampton in 1967 and joined the Black Panthers. She left the group two years later. Below are thirty things she’s done since then.
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Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (12-23-20)
Inspired by the season and the December 23 birthdays of Pearl Jam‘s Eddie Vedder, The Chi-Lites’ Eugene Record, Blood Orange’s Dev Hynes, Esther Phillips, Tim Hardin, Chet Baker, Harold Dorman, Johnny Kidd, Rainbow’s Graham Bonnett, and Harry Shearer.
Your (Almost) Daily Playlist (12-11-20)
Inspired by the season and the December 11 birthdays of Jermaine Jackson, Brenda Lee, Mos Def, Bread’s David Gates, Perez Prado, Big Mama Thornton, J. Frank Wilson and Jon Brion.