Today is the 15th day of Black History Month. As we go through the month, I’m going to talk about a collection of Black artists. It’ll be fairly comprehensive and eclectic list — although it won’t be a complete list.
So far I’ve talked about:
- Rick James, who was born 76 years ago on February 1
- OutKast‘s Big Boi, who celebrated his 49th birthday on February 1
- Sister Rosetta Tharpe
- John Lee Hooker
- Patti LaBelle
- The Temptations‘ second and longest tenured lead vocalist Dennis Edwards, who was born 81 years ago on February 4
- Tina Turner
- Aretha Franklin
- Bobby Brown, who celebrated his 55th birthday on February 5
- Bob Marley, who was born 79 years ago on February 6
- The Supremes
- J. Dilla, who was born 50 years ago on February 7
- Queen Latifah
- Black Moon, DJ Evil Dee and Buckshot
- Dionne Warwick
- Big Mama Thornton
- Evelyn “Champagne” King
- Bad Brains
- Fishbone
- Grace Jones
- TLC
This month is a busy month. Not only is it Black History Month, there are a batch of important music birthdays throughout the month, including the legendary Maceo Parker, who turned 81 yesterday.
Parker has worked with some of the most legendary acts known to mankind, including James Brown, Parliament-Funkadelic and Prince, recording some of the most memorable sax lines and solos on some of the funkiest and influential songs ever written or recorded — James Brown’s smash hits in the 60s and Parliament Funkadelic’s smash hits in the 70s.
If you’ve been even somewhat conscious since the 1960s, you know Parker’s work and have danced to it at some point.
So let’s wish Maceo a very happy 81st birthday! Happy birthday! May there be many, many, many more!
