2026 has gotten off to a terrible and uneasy start for most of us. But we’re here in February. Of course, February is a super busy month: It’s Black History Month, which I’ve made sure to celebrate in some way on this site for much of its history. But there are also a number of important birthdays in music history that we must celebrate. So let’s get to it.
- Big Boi celebrated his 51st birthday on February 1
- Rick James was born 78 years ago on February 1
- Stan Getz was born 99 years ago on February 2
- Stone Temple Pilots‘ Robert DeLeo celebrated his 60th — yes, 60th y’all! –birthday on February 2
- LCD Soundsystem frontman and DFA Records founder James Murphy celebrated his 56th birthday on February 2
- The legendary Graham Nash, known for his work with Crosby Stills and Nash, Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, The Hollies and as a solo artist, celebrated his 84th birthday on February 2
- The Temptations‘ second and longest tenured lead vocalist Dennis Edwards was born 83 years ago on February 3
- The Offspring‘s guitarist Noodles — born, Kevin John Wasserman — celebrated his 63rd birthday on February 4
- Guns N’ Roses‘ Duff McKagan celebrated his 62nd birthday on February 5
- Bobby Brown celebrated his 57th birthday on February 5
- The legendary Bob Marley was born 81 years ago on February 6
- Natalie Cole, the daughter of the legendary jazz singer and pianist Nat King Cole was born 76 years ago on February 6
- James Dewit Yancey, best known to the entire world as J. Dilla, one of the most influential and important hip-hop producers and beatmakers was born 52 years ago on February 7
- Motley Crüe‘s Vince Neil celebrated his 65th — yes, y’all, 65th! — birthday on February 8
- French touch pioneer and one-half of acclaimed electronic outfit Daft Punk, Guy-Manuel de Homem-Christo, celebrated his 52nd birthday on February 8
- Singer/songwriter and musician Carole King celebrated her 84th birthday on February 9
- The legendary Roberta Flack was born 89 years ago on February 10
Sheryl Crow celebrates her 64th birthday today. Over the course of her career. she has released 12 studio albums, five compilations, three live albums and of course, contributed to several film soundtracks.
Crow has earned 32 Grammy Award nominations, winning nine while selling over 50 million albums globally. Somehow, I forgot that she was inducted in the Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Fame back in 2023. Hey, time has become so very weird now.
For me, Crow’s work is the sound of the mid 1990s-early 2000s. We’re taking about listening to the radio on Friday and Saturday nights while studying — or trying to make mixtapes straight from the radio. Watching many of these videos brought all of that back to mind.
Happy birthday, Sheryl!
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The Joy of Violent Movement is a completely independent and completely D.I.Y. media outlet. Over the course of this site’s 15+ year history, I’ve used my fiercely independent stance to cover music with an eclectic and global perspective that a lot of other publications just don’t have — and will likely never have.
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