Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today November 5
1941
Art Garfunkel is born, the angelic voice of “Bridge Over Troubled Water”
Art Garfunkel is born in New York: owner of one of popular music's purest tenors. His performance of “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is one of those recordings that define an era, and his harmonies with Paul Simon set the standard for folk pop. The creative tension between them, made of friendship and rivalry, is essential to the myth.
Art Garfunkel
Simon & Garfunkel
1938
Joe Dassin is born: the New Yorker who became France's best-loved voice
On November 5, 1938, Joe Dassin was born in New York, son of the film director Jules Dassin, who fled with his family to Europe when the Hollywood blacklist left him unemployable. He studied ethnology before turning to singing. "Les Champs-Élysées" and "Et si tu n'existais pas" became anthems in France and, in translation, played across Latin America. He died of a heart attack in 1980, aged 41.
Joe Dassin
1946
Gram Parsons is born, who invented country rock and ended up burning in the desert
On November 5, 1946, Gram Parsons was born in Florida, heir to a citrus fortune, who decided to cross country with rock when both camps despised each other. He passed through the Byrds, founded the Flying Burrito Brothers and discovered Emmylou Harris. He died of an overdose at Joshua Tree at 26; his road manager stole the coffin from the airport and burned it in the desert, keeping a promise.
Gram Parsons
The Byrds
Emmylou Harris
1959
Bryan Adams is born, the Canadian with the raspy voice and impossible records
Bryan Adams is born in Kingston, Canada: the jeans-and-Stratocaster rocker who defined eighties radio with “Summer of '69” and “Run to You”. His ballad “(Everything I Do) I Do It for You” spent 16 consecutive weeks at number one in Britain, a record still unbroken. Few careers have been so consistent with so little scandal.
Bryan Adams
1911
Roy Rogers is born, who started picking fruit and ended up king of the cowboys
On November 5, 1911, Leonard Slye was born in Ohio and came to California with his family picking fruit during the Depression. He founded the Sons of the Pioneers, a vocal group whose harmonies defined the sound of the West on screen. As Roy Rogers he starred in nearly a hundred films and a television show. His horse Trigger was as famous as he was and ended up stuffed in a museum dedicated to them both.
Roy Rogers
Sons of the Pioneers
1921
Georges Cziffra is born, who played in a circus at five and in a labour camp at thirty
On November 5, 1921, Georges Cziffra was born in Budapest, son of Roma musicians so poor that at five they put him to improvise in a circus for money. He entered the conservatoire at nine. In 1950 he tried to flee communist Hungary, was caught and spent three years in a forced labour camp carrying stones, which wrecked his wrists. He escaped in 1956 and became a piano legend in France.
Georges Cziffra
1942
George M. Cohan dies: the man who invented the American musical
On November 5, 1942, George M. Cohan died in New York, son of vaudeville performers who put him on stage as a baby. He wrote, directed, produced and starred in more than thirty shows, and composed "Give My Regards to Broadway" and "Over There", the song the United States sang through both world wars. He was the first man from the performing arts to receive the Congressional Gold Medal.
George M. Cohan
1948
Peter Hammill is born: the progressive musician the punks respected
On November 5, 1948, Peter Hammill was born in London, founder of Van der Graaf Generator. When punk arrived to sweep away anything that smelled of progressive rock, he was strangely spared: John Lydon cited him as an influence and David Bowie declared him one of the best singers he had ever heard. His voice jumps from a whisper to a scream without warning, and he has made more than forty albums.
Peter Hammill
Van der Graaf Generator
John Lydon
1960
Johnny Horton dies, who had married Hank Williams's widow
On November 5, 1960, Johnny Horton died when a drunk driver hit his car head-on in Texas. He was 35. He had been stringing together hits with songs that narrated historical episodes: "The Battle of New Orleans" was the best-selling single of 1959. The coincidence that followed his family is that he was married to Billie Jean, Hank Williams's widow, who had also died young and on the road.
Johnny Horton
Hank Williams
1991
Flume is born, who learned to produce with software from a cereal box
On November 5, 1991, Harley Streten was born in Sydney. At thirteen he found a disc with a free music production program inside a cereal box and spent his teens playing with it. From that improbable start he built a broken, air-filled electronic sound that won him a Grammy in 2016 and that half the pop industry copied in the years that followed.
Flume
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