Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today July 15
1956
Ian Curtis is born, the poet who danced like an electric shock
On July 15, 1956, Ian Curtis was born in Stretford — the deep voice and convulsive dance of Joy Division. In just two albums, 'Unknown Pleasures' and 'Closer', he turned Manchester's industrial alienation into a new language that founded post-punk. His short life and naked lyrics made him the secular patron of all the introspective music that followed.
Ian Curtis
Joy Division
1923
Philly Joe Jones is born: the drummer Miles Davis did not want to play without
On July 15, 1923, Joseph Rudolph Jones was born in Philadelphia — drummer in Miles Davis's first great quintet, the one that also held John Coltrane and Red Garland. Miles said he could recognise him from a single stroke, and that without Philly Joe the band did not sound the same. His trademark was a dry off-beat snare hit musicians called the Philly lick. His heroin problems eventually cost him the chair.
Philly Joe Jones
Miles Davis
1946
Linda Ronstadt is born, the voice that dared every genre and won in all of them
On July 15, 1946, Linda Ronstadt was born in Arizona — the most versatile singer of her generation: queen of seventies country-rock, interpreter of orchestral standards, Mexican rancheras and even operetta. Her 1971 backing band became the Eagles. By the time Parkinson's took her voice, she had proved no genre was too big for her.
Linda Ronstadt
1951
Gregory Isaacs is born: the Cool Ruler who made reggae seductive
On July 15, 1951, Gregory Isaacs was born in Kingston — the man who turned reggae into a bedroom affair. While the genre filled up with Rastafari messages and social protest, he sang about desire and heartbreak in an immaculate suit, with a smooth voice that earned him the nickname Cool Ruler. "Night Nurse", from 1982, is his peak and one of the most covered Jamaican songs. Cocaine cost him money, teeth and freedom, and he died in 2010.
Gregory Isaacs
1978
'Some Girls' at number one: the Stones answer punk and disco
On July 15, 1978, the Rolling Stones' 'Some Girls' reached number one on the Billboard 200. The album was the band's answer to those who declared them finished in the face of punk and disco: they absorbed both languages with 'Miss You' and 'Respectable' and came out stronger. In time it became their best-selling album in the United States. Rarely has a veteran band answered its era with such cunning and such bite.
The Rolling Stones
1905
Dorothy Fields is born: the woman who broke into the lyric business alone
On July 15, 1905, Dorothy Fields was born in New Jersey, daughter of a comic actor who forbade her to go into showbusiness. She ignored the ban and became one of the very few women who made a living writing lyrics in 1930s New York. "I Can't Give You Anything But Love" is hers, as is "The Way You Look Tonight" — which won the Oscar in 1936 — and, thirty years later, "Big Spender". She worked until the year she died.
Dorothy Fields
1929
Francis Bebey is born: the Cameroonian who plugged the thumb piano into a drum machine
On July 15, 1929, Francis Bebey was born in Douala, Cameroon. He worked as a journalist and a Unesco official before turning to music full time. He made records where the sanza, the pygmy flute and cheap drum machines coexisted without hierarchy, decades before anyone called that fusion. He also published award-winning novels and a book on African music that remains a standard reference. He died in Paris in 2001.
Francis Bebey
1949
Trevor Horn is born: the man who invented the sound of the eighties
On July 15, 1949, Trevor Horn was born in Durham, England. With The Buggles he wrote 'Video Killed the Radio Star', the song that opened MTV, and from the mixing desk he redefined what could come out of a radio. As a producer he sculpted hits for Yes, Frankie Goes to Hollywood and Seal, earning the nickname 'the man who invented the eighties'. His obsession with technology and detail turned the recording studio into one more instrument.
Trevor Horn
The Buggles
1952
Johnny Thunders is born: the guitarist who taught the world to play badly with style
On July 15, 1952, John Genzale was born in Queens. As Johnny Thunders he was the guitar in the New York Dolls, the band that dressed in women's clothes, played out of tune and showed all of London what punk would look like two years before it existed. He later formed the Heartbreakers and recorded "Chinese Rocks", a song about heroin that summarised his own life. He was found dead in a New Orleans room in 1991, aged 38.
Johnny Thunders
New York Dolls
1956
Joe Satriani is born: the teacher who turned the guitar into his own language
On July 15, 1956, Joe Satriani was born in Westbury, New York. Before becoming an instrumental star he was a guitar teacher, and his students included Steve Vai and Metallica's Kirk Hammett. With 'Surfing with the Alien' (1987) he proved that an instrumental guitar album could chart and fill arenas. His legacy is twofold: a virtuoso body of work of his own and an entire school of guitarists who learned at his side.
Joe Satriani
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