Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today November 8
1971
Led Zeppelin releases the untitled album containing “Stairway to Heaven”
Led Zeppelin releases its fourth album with no title and no band name on the cover: just four symbols. It was their haughty answer to the critics, and the contents did the rest: “Black Dog”, “Rock and Roll”, “When the Levee Breaks” and “Stairway to Heaven”. With tens of millions of copies sold, it is hard rock's absolute summit.
Led Zeppelin
1947
Minnie Riperton is born, owner of five octaves and one of the highest notes ever recorded
On November 8, 1947, Minnie Riperton was born in Chicago. She studied opera as a child and ended up singing soul. Her range spanned five octaves and on "Lovin' You", from 1975, she reached a note so high almost nobody has managed to repeat it. She was diagnosed with breast cancer in 1976 and chose to announce it on television, unheard of at the time. She died in 1979 at 31; her daughter is the actress Maya Rudolph.
Minnie Riperton
Stevie Wonder
1949
Bonnie Raitt is born, the slide queen who triumphed when no one was betting on her
Bonnie Raitt is born in Burbank, California: a disciple of the old bluesmen and one of the finest slide guitarists of any era. After two decades of critical respect and modest sales, she swept the 1990 Grammys with “Nick of Time”, newly sober and past 40. Her career is the best argument against expiration dates in music.
Bonnie Raitt
1989
SZA is born, who was handling fish in a laboratory until she was fired and made an album
On November 8, 1989, Solána Rowe was born in St. Louis, daughter of a Muslim executive and a Christian manager, and raised in New Jersey. She studied marine biology and was working in a laboratory when she was fired. She recorded some demos and in 2017 released "Ctrl", an album about insecurity and desire that became a generation's emotional manual. Five years later "SOS" spent ten weeks at number one.
SZA
1927
Patti Page is born: the first singer to sing her own backing vocals
On November 8, 1927, Clara Ann Fowler was born in Oklahoma, one of eleven children in a railway family. As Patti Page she recorded "Tennessee Waltz" in 1950, one of the best-selling singles in history. Her signature was technical: the label had no money for backing singers, so they recorded her singing over herself several times. Hers were among the first overdubbed voices in popular music.
Patti Page
1946
Roy Wood is born, who founded ELO and left after the first album
On November 8, 1946, Roy Wood was born in Birmingham, leader of The Move and a multi-instrumentalist able to play more than twenty instruments. In 1970 he proposed an idea: a rock band with cellos and horns, to pick up where the Beatles had left "I Am the Walrus". That is how Electric Light Orchestra was born. He made the first album, fell out with Jeff Lynne and left to found a different band.
Roy Wood
Electric Light Orchestra
Jeff Lynne
1956
Mari Boine is born, who reclaimed a song form the church had banned
On November 8, 1956, Mari Boine was born in northern Norway, of the Sámi people. She grew up ashamed of her origins: at school she was taught her language was inferior, and joik, the traditional Sámi chant, was considered sinful by the Lutheran church. As an adult she reclaimed it and crossed it with rock and jazz. She refused to sing at the 1994 Olympic opening ceremony, considering it decorative.
Mari Boine
1970
Diana King is born: the first Jamaican artist to come out publicly as a lesbian
On November 8, 1970, Diana King was born in Jamaica. She started out selling food on the street and singing at neighbourhood parties. In 1995 "Shy Guy" appeared in an action film and became a worldwide dancehall pop hit. In 2012 she wrote on social media that she was a lesbian: the first known Jamaican artist to do so, in a country where the matter remained dangerous.
Diana King
1971
Tech N9ne is born, who sold millions of records without signing to a major label
On November 8, 1971, Aaron Yates was born in Kansas City, raised by a mother with lupus and epilepsy in a house where a great deal of praying went on. He raps at ferocious speed, with a technique his peers call chopper style. Tired of major labels not knowing what to do with him, he founded his own in 1999 and built from it one of the most profitable independent careers in hip-hop.
Tech N9ne
1980
Laura Jane Grace is born, who announced her transition in an interview and kept touring
On November 8, 1980, Laura Jane Grace was born in Georgia, daughter of a soldier, and founded Against Me! at seventeen playing acoustic punk at house parties. In 2012, in a magazine interview, she announced that she was a trans woman and would transition publicly. Two years later she released "Transgender Dysphoria Blues", an entire album about the process, and the band kept touring without a break.
Laura Jane Grace
Against Me!
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