Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today November 24
1991
Freddie Mercury dies, one day after telling the world he had AIDS
Freddie Mercury dies at his Kensington home at 45, barely 24 hours after publicly confirming he had AIDS. His death shook global awareness of the disease in an era of stigma, and the Wembley tribute concert raised millions for the fight against HIV. Queen's voice went silent; its echo has never stopped growing.
Freddie Mercury
Queen
1868
Scott Joplin is born: the king of ragtime who won a Pulitzer fifty-nine years after dying
On November 24, 1868, Scott Joplin was born in Texas, son of a former slave. In 1899 "Maple Leaf Rag" sold hundreds of thousands of copies of sheet music and gave him a steady income, almost impossible for a Black composer of the period. He became obsessed with writing an opera, "Treemonisha", that nobody would stage. He died in an asylum in 1917; in 1976 he was awarded the Pulitzer Prize.
Scott Joplin
1912
Teddy Wilson is born, who in 1936 walked onto a stage where he was not supposed to be
On November 24, 1912, Teddy Wilson was born in Texas, a pianist of an elegance and cleanness that made him the ideal accompanist. In 1936 Benny Goodman brought him into his trio and they performed together in public: one of the first racially mixed groups to play American stages, with promoters warning there would be trouble. He also recorded Billie Holiday's finest sessions.
Teddy Wilson
Benny Goodman
Billie Holiday
1941
Donald “Duck” Dunn is born, the bass that walked beneath soul music
Donald “Duck” Dunn is born in Memphis: bassist of Booker T. & the M.G.'s and of the entire Stax label. His walking lines hold up “Soul Man”, Otis Redding's “Respect” and hundreds more classics, always with a pipe in his mouth and zero fuss. His turn in “The Blues Brothers” also made him the lovable face of the session trade.
Donald "Duck" Dunn
Booker T. & the M.G.'s
1970
Julieta Venegas is born, who swapped the electric guitar for an accordion and it worked
On November 24, 1970, Julieta Venegas was born in Long Beach and raised in Tijuana, on the border. She started out playing in Mexican rock and ska bands, and in the early 2000s decided to build songs around an accordion, an instrument Latin pop associated with her grandparents' norteña music. With that mixture she won several Latin Grammys and filled stadiums across Latin America.
Julieta Venegas
1927
Alfredo Kraus is born: the tenor who refused roles that would ruin his voice
On November 24, 1927, Alfredo Kraus was born in Las Palmas, to an Austrian father and a Canary Islander mother, and studied industrial engineering before turning to singing. His fame comes as much from how he sang as from what he refused to sing: throughout his career he turned down the heavy roles he was offered, convinced they would wreck the instrument. He was still singing with an intact voice past seventy.
Alfredo Kraus
1941
Pete Best is born, sacked from the Beatles weeks before their first single
On November 24, 1941, Pete Best was born in India, son of an English mother who later opened a club in Liverpool. He was the Beatles' drummer for two years, including the Hamburg residencies. In August 1962 the manager told him he was out; Ringo Starr came in. He worked twenty years in a government office, until in 1995 the archive releases finally brought him royalties.
Pete Best
The Beatles
1941
Wayne Jackson is born, whose trumpet plays on fifty-two number ones
On November 24, 1941, Wayne Jackson was born in Memphis. With saxophonist Andrew Love he formed the Memphis Horns, the most booked horn section in the history of soul. They are on "Soul Man", on "(Sittin' On) The Dock of the Bay" and on records by Aretha Franklin, Elvis, U2, Neil Diamond and Peter Gabriel. They are reckoned to have played on more than fifty recordings that reached number one.
Wayne Jackson
The Memphis Horns
1956
Terry Lewis is born, sacked by Prince and later beating him on the charts
On November 24, 1956, Terry Lewis was born in California, bassist in the band The Time. In 1983 Prince fired him along with Jimmy Jam because a snowstorm stopped them reaching a concert: they had been secretly producing another group. That sacking set them free. Three years later they produced "Control" for Janet Jackson and defined the sound of rhythm and blues for the whole decade.
Terry Lewis
Jimmy Jam
Janet Jackson
1974
Machel Montano is born, who sang at Trinidad's carnival at nine
On November 24, 1974, Machel Montano was born in Trinidad. He walked onto a carnival stage at nine and won a national competition. He became the biggest name in soca, the fast, euphoric music of Caribbean carnival, and the artist who took it off the islands: he crossed the genre with hip-hop, dancehall and pop, and recorded with Pitbull, Ariana Grande and Angela Hunte.
Machel Montano
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