Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today July 11
1969
'Space Oddity' lifts off days before man walks on the Moon
On July 11, 1969, David Bowie released 'Space Oddity', his ballad about a lost astronaut, just five days before Apollo 11's launch. The BBC used it in its Moon coverage, perhaps without listening closely: Major Tom never comes home. It was Bowie's first hit and the seed of his entire space mythology, from Ziggy to 'Blackstar'.
David Bowie
1937
George Gershwin dies at 38, the bridge between Broadway and eternity
On July 11, 1937, George Gershwin died in Hollywood at 38, of a brain tumor. In a very short life he fused jazz with concert music in 'Rhapsody in Blue' and gave the American songbook dozens of standards that jazz, pop and even rock keep revisiting. Few early deaths ever left such an inexhaustible catalog.
George Gershwin
1957
Michael Rose is born: the voice of the first reggae record to win a Grammy
On July 11, 1957, Michael Rose was born in Kingston. Raised in the Waterhouse district, he was Black Uhuru's lead voice in their strongest period, the one recorded over Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare's rhythm section. In 1985 the album "Anthem" won the first Grammy the academy ever awarded to reggae, recognition that arrived four years after Bob Marley's death. Rose left the group soon after to record on his own.
Michael Rose
Black Uhuru
1974
Lil' Kim is born: the rapper who seized the men's vocabulary
On July 11, 1974, Kimberly Jones was born in Brooklyn. She emerged from the Junior M.A.F.I.A. collective under Notorious B.I.G.'s wing and in 1996 released "Hard Core", an album on which she talked about sex with the same rawness and the same power her male peers had been wielding for a decade. The industry could not decide whether to be scandalised or to copy her, and ended up copying her: nearly every female rapper since owes her the permission.
Lil' Kim
Junior M.A.F.I.A.
2014
Tommy Ramone dies and the last original Ramone is gone
On July 11, 2014, Tommy Ramone died in Queens, New York, at 65, from bile duct cancer. Founding drummer and conceptual brain of the Ramones, he played on the first three albums that invented punk — 'Ramones', 'Leave Home' and 'Rocket to Russia' — and later carried on as the band's producer. His death, following those of Joey, Dee Dee and Johnny, left the world without a single original member of the group that changed rock forever.
Tommy Ramone
Ramones
1836
Carlos Gomes is born: the first Latin American composer Europe applauded
On July 11, 1836, Antônio Carlos Gomes was born in Campinas, Brazil, the son of a small-town bandmaster, and went on to premiere an opera at La Scala in Milan. "Il Guarany", based on a Brazilian indianist novel, opened there in 1870 and earned him Verdi's praise. He was the first Latin American composer taken seriously by the European circuit, though he died in 1896 poor and largely forgotten in his own country.
Antônio Carlos Gomes
1950
Bonnie Pointer is born: the sister who built the group and then left alone
On July 11, 1950, Bonnie Pointer was born in Oakland, daughter of two ministers who forbade her to listen to anything but gospel. It was she who talked her sisters into forming a group, and the Pointer Sisters ended up singing jazz, country and disco with equal ease. In 1978 she signed with Motown on her own and scored a huge hit with "Heaven Must Have Sent You". She died in 2020, never having fully returned to the group.
Bonnie Pointer
The Pointer Sisters
1957
Peter Murphy is born, the godfather of goth
On July 11, 1957, Peter Murphy, vocalist and co-founder of Bauhaus, was born in Northampton, England. With his baritone voice, sharp cheekbones and somber theatricality, he embodied like no one else the gothic rock aesthetic his band inaugurated in 1979 with 'Bela Lugosi's Dead'. After Bauhaus disbanded he built a solid solo career with albums like 'Deep'. Not for nothing did the press crown him the 'godfather of goth'.
Peter Murphy
Bauhaus
1959
Suzanne Vega is born, and her unaccompanied voice ends up inside every MP3
On July 11, 1959, Suzanne Vega was born — a New York songwriter who in 1987 recorded "Tom's Diner" a cappella, without a single instrument. Years later the German engineer developing the MP3 format chose it as his test piece: if the algorithm could compress that naked voice without ruining it, it would work on everything else. Hence her nickname, the mother of the MP3. She also wrote "Luka", a worldwide hit about child abuse.
Suzanne Vega
1959
Richie Sambora is born, the guitar that made Bon Jovi soar
On July 11, 1959, Richie Sambora was born in New Jersey, Bon Jovi's guitarist and essential co-writer for three decades. His talkbox on 'Livin' on a Prayer' and his pen on anthems like 'Wanted Dead or Alive' were decisive in turning the band into a global phenomenon of the eighties. With Jon Bon Jovi he formed one of hard rock's most successful songwriting partnerships, recognized with induction into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Richie Sambora
Bon Jovi
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