Today is the 28th 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
- Maceo Parker, who celebrated his 81st birthday on February 14
- SWV
- Meshell Ndegeocello
- Ice T, who celebrated his 66th birthday on February 16
- Dr. Dre, who celebrated his 59th birthday on February 18
- Seal, who celebrated his 61st birthday on February 19
- The great Smokey Robinson also celebrated his 84th birthday on February 19
- John Coltrane
- Nina Simone, who was born 91 years ago on February 21
- Chaka Khan
- Mary J. Blige
- Ella Fitzgerald
- Erykah Badu
- Luther Vandross
- Jimi Hendrix
- Pioneering garage rock/punk rock outfit Death
New Orleans-born and-based singer/songwriter, pianist and rock ‘n roll pioneer Fats Domino was born 96 years ago on February 26. His first single, 1949’s Dave Bartholomew co-written “The Fat Man” has been cited by some historians as the first rock single to sell more than one million copies. Continuing his collaboration with Bartholomew, Domino scored a string of mainstream hits between 1955-1960 that would quickly become rock staples, beginning with 1955’s “Ain’t That a Shame,” and resulted in 11 Top 10 US pop hits.
In fact by 1955, Domino had five records that sold more than a million copies, earning gold certification. Four of his records were named to the Grammy Hall of Fame for their significance to music — “Blueberry Hill,” “Ain’t That a Shame,” “Walking to New Orleans,” and of course, “The Fat Man.”
Fats Domino was also one of the more influential and beloved artists of his day: Elvis Presley and The Beatles are among the biggest names to cite the pioneering legend’s work as influential to them. And unsurprisingly, he was a member of the first class of inductees to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1986.
Happy birthday, legend! Happy birthday, wherever you are!
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