Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today October 30
1939
Grace Slick is born, the defiant voice of psychedelic San Francisco
Grace Slick is born in Highland Park, Illinois: the voice of “White Rabbit” and “Somebody to Love” with Jefferson Airplane. A former model turned arch-provocateur of the counterculture, she was among the first women to front a massive rock band. Her onstage and political audacity opened a path traveled from Patti Smith to today.
Grace Slick
Jefferson Airplane
1897
Agustín Lara is born, who composed "Granada" without ever having set foot in Spain
On October 30, 1897, Agustín Lara was born in Mexico, a brothel and cabaret pianist who became the most covered Mexican composer in the world. He wrote "Solamente una vez", "Piensa en mí" and "María Bonita", dedicated to his wife María Félix. His most famous song, "Granada", he composed imagining a Spanish city he knew only from books; when he finally visited, they gave him a house.
Agustín Lara
María Félix
1930
Clifford Brown is born: the clean-living trumpeter who died at twenty-five
On October 30, 1930, Clifford Brown was born in Delaware. His trumpet had a rounded tone and a precision that left no argument to those who believed bebop demanded self-destruction: he did not drink, did not use drugs and was known for his calm temperament. With Max Roach he led one of the finest quintets in history. In June 1956 he died in a car crash on the way to a concert, aged 25.
Clifford Brown
Max Roach
1939
Eddie Holland is born, one third of the team that wrote twenty-five number ones
On October 30, 1939, Eddie Holland was born in Detroit. He started as a singer and discovered he hated the stage. He moved to writing alongside his brother Brian and Lamont Dozier, and the trio became Motown's hit factory: they signed "Stop! In the Name of Love", "Baby Love", "Reach Out I'll Be There" and a further twenty-odd number ones. In 1968 they sued the label over royalties and left.
Eddie Holland
Holland-Dozier-Holland
1941
Otis Williams is born, the last original Temptation standing
Otis Williams is born in Texarkana, Texas: founder of The Temptations, the most successful male vocal group in Motown history. From “My Girl” to “Papa Was a Rollin' Stone”, he survived every lineup, tragedy and trend, keeping the brand active for more than six decades. His constancy is a lesson in artistic stewardship.
Otis Williams
The Temptations
1908
Patsy Montana is born: the first woman in country to sell a million copies
On October 30, 1908, Ruby Blevins was born in Arkansas, the only daughter among eleven children. As Patsy Montana she recorded "I Want to Be a Cowboy's Sweetheart" in 1935, a song in which the heroine does not wait for the cowboy but rides alongside him. It was the first record by a female country singer to sell a million copies, and it opened up to women a genre that until then had treated them as accompaniment.
Patsy Montana
1947
Timothy B. Schmit is born, who replaced the same man twice in two different bands
On October 30, 1947, Timothy B. Schmit was born in Sacramento, a bassist with a coincidence in his résumé that is hard to repeat: he joined Poco in 1970 to fill the place Randy Meisner was leaving, and eight years later joined the Eagles to fill exactly the same place, left by exactly the same man. With the Eagles he sang "I Can't Tell You Why", the first single he recorded with them.
Timothy B. Schmit
Eagles
Poco
1951
Trilok Gurtu is born, who plays seated on the floor with a Western drum kit beside him
On October 30, 1951, Trilok Gurtu was born in Bombay, son of an Indian classical singer and grandson of a sitar player. He refused to choose between traditions: he built a setup where he sits on the floor with Indian tabla and, around him, cymbals, a bucket of water and a drum kit he plays with his hands. With that combination he recorded with John McLaughlin, Joe Zawinul and Pharoah Sanders.
Trilok Gurtu
John McLaughlin
1965
Gavin Rossdale is born: the Briton who sold grunge to the country that invented it
On October 30, 1965, Gavin Rossdale was born in London. He had spent a decade trying to succeed in bands that went nowhere when he formed Bush in 1992. The album "Sixteen Stone" drew no interest in the United Kingdom and instead sold six million copies in the United States, an unlikely outcome: an English group triumphing with the Seattle sound while the British press ignored them completely.
Gavin Rossdale
Bush
1969
Snow is born, whose record became a worldwide hit while he was in jail
On October 30, 1969, Darrin O'Brien was born in Toronto, raised in a social housing estate where his Jamaican neighbours taught him dancehall. He recorded "Informer" and went to prison after a fight; while he was serving his sentence the song reached number one in the United States and became the best-selling reggae single in the country's history. He walked out to discover he was famous.
Snow
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