Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today November 7
1943
Joni Mitchell is born, the songwriter who raised song to high art
Joni Mitchell is born in Fort Macleod, Canada: painter, poet and, according to many of her peers, the most influential songwriter of her century. From “Blue”, the definitive confessional album, to the jazz adventures of “Hejira”, she never repeated a formula or asked permission. Prince, Dylan and legions of songwriters cite her as the summit.
Joni Mitchell
1903
Ary Barroso is born, author of the most recorded Brazilian song in the world
On November 7, 1903, Ary Barroso was born in Minas Gerais, an orphan raised by an aunt who taught him piano. In 1939 he wrote "Aquarela do Brasil" during a stormy night when he could not leave the house; Disney used it in a film and it has been recorded hundreds of times worldwide ever since. He was also a football commentator, and blew a harmonica every time his team scored.
Ary Barroso
1942
Johnny Rivers is born, the king of the Whisky a Go Go
Johnny Rivers is born in New York; from Los Angeles' Whisky a Go Go club he turned live rock into a recording phenomenon with “Memphis” and “Secret Agent Man”. Beyond 17 top 40 hits, he had a businessman's eye: his Soul City label discovered and launched The 5th Dimension. Artist and talent scout, twice the merit.
Johnny Rivers
1967
David Guetta is born, who put European electronics inside American pop
On November 7, 1967, David Guetta was born in Paris, son of a Moroccan sociologist and a Belgian mother. He spent twenty years DJing in French clubs before anyone abroad knew him. In the late 2000s he did what no European DJ had managed: he persuaded American rappers and singers to record over his tracks, and with "I Gotta Feeling" changed the sound of radio across half the world.
David Guetta
Black Eyed Peas
1922
Al Hirt is born, whose mouth was smashed by a brick during Mardi Gras
On November 7, 1922, Al Hirt was born in New Orleans, a trumpeter of colossal technique who made dozens of albums and won a Grammy in 1964 for "Java". He was an institution in his city and had his own club on Bourbon Street. In 1970, riding a Mardi Gras float, someone threw a brick that split his lip: for a trumpeter, the worst possible injury. He was playing again months later.
Al Hirt
1926
Joan Sutherland is born, christened La Stupenda in Italy
On November 7, 1926, Joan Sutherland was born in Sydney; her mother was a singer and taught her at home. She debuted in London and in 1960, after a performance in Venice, the Italian public christened her La Stupenda. A young Pavarotti toured with her for years and said he learned to breathe by putting his hand on her diaphragm while she sang, to work out where all that air came from.
Joan Sutherland
Luciano Pavarotti
1957
Jellybean Benitez is born: the Bronx DJ who produced Madonna's first hit
On November 7, 1957, John Benitez was born in the Bronx to Puerto Rican parents, and made his name DJing at the Funhouse, a club whose crowd was mostly Latino and teenage. From there he jumped into the studio: he produced "Holiday" and remixed Madonna's first album, and dated her for a time as well. He was among the first to turn the DJ's trade into the producer's.
John "Jellybean" Benitez
Madonna
1960
Tommy Thayer is born, who worked as a Kiss assistant before becoming Kiss
On November 7, 1960, Tommy Thayer was born in Oregon, a guitarist whose path into Kiss is unique: first he admired them as a teenager, then he worked for the band on production and archive duties, and at one point taught Ace Frehley the guitar parts Frehley himself had recorded and no longer remembered. In 2002 he replaced him, and has worn his make-up ever since.
Tommy Thayer
Kiss
1967
Sharleen Spiteri is born: the Glasgow hairdresser who took a Scottish band to millions of sales
On November 7, 1967, Sharleen Spiteri was born in Glasgow, daughter of a Maltese sailor, and was cutting hair in a salon when she formed the band Texas with a regular customer. The name came from a film. With "I Don't Want a Lover" and later "Say What You Want" they sold more than forty million records in Europe, though in the United States almost nobody knew them.
Sharleen Spiteri
Texas
1969
Hélène Grimaud is born: the pianist who founded a wolf conservation centre
On November 7, 1969, Hélène Grimaud was born in Aix-en-Provence, a hyperactive child taken to the piano on medical advice to channel her energy. She entered the Paris Conservatoire at thirteen. In 1991 a chance encounter with a she-wolf in Florida became an obsession: she founded a conservation centre for the species in New York which she has run ever since, alongside an international concert career.
Hélène Grimaud
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