Throwback: Happy 57th Birthday, Ol’ Dirty Bastard!

At this point, we’ve made it through about 90% of the year. It’s been a brutal soul-sucking slog of a year hasn’t it? But the show must go on as they say. 

So, November is a busy month of music birthdays. 

• Red Hot Chili Peppers‘ frontman Anthony Kiedis celebrated his 63rd birthday on November 1
• Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen celebrated his 62nd birthday on November 1
• Mobb Deep’s Prodigy  was born 51 years ago on November 2
• ONYX’s Sticky Fingaz celebrated his 52nd birthday on November 3 
• Radiohead‘s and The Smile‘s Jonny Greenwood celebrated his 54th birthday on November 5
• Bryan Adams celebrated his 66th birthday on November 5
• The Screaming Eagle of Soul, Charles Bradley was born 77 years ago on November 5
• Living Colour‘s powerhouse frontman Corey Glover celebrated his 61st birthday on November 6
• Bad Religion frontman Dr. Greg Graffin celebrated his 61st birthday on November 6 
• The Eagles‘ Glenn Frey was born 77 years ago on November 6
• The incomparable and legendary Joni Mitchell celebrated her 82nd birthday on November 7
• Bonnie Raiit celebrated her 76th birthday on November 8
• Salt-N-Pepa‘s Sandra “Pepa” Denton celebrated her 56th birthday on November 9
• Scarface, one of my favorite rappers ever celebrated his 55th — yes, 55th! — birthday on November 9
• Eric B and Rakim‘s Eric B celebrated his 62nd birthday on November 9
• Warren G. celebrated his 55th — yes, 55th! — birthday on November 10
• XTC co-founder and primary songwriter Andy Partridge celebrated his 72nd birthday on November 11
• Neil Young celebrated his 80th — yes, y’all, 80th! — birthday on November 12
• Booker T celebrated his 81st birthday on November 12
• Run DMC‘s Rev. Run celebrated his 61st birthday on November 14

Wu-Tang Clan‘s Ol’ Dirty Bastard was born on this day 57 years ago today. ODB was one of hip-hop’s most unique, unpredictable and unforgettable personalities and arguably one of the most towering figures of the genre’s history. 

We lost him 21 years ago. (Typing that seems impossible but true.) But his influence and unique personality stands above the rest, even to this day. Happy birthday, brother! Happy birthday, wherever you are!

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