Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today December 5
1932
Little Richard is born, rock and roll's screaming architect
Richard Penniman is born in Macon, Georgia; with “Tutti Frutti” (1955) he set off rock's sonic big bang: pounded piano, gospel screams and a defiant ambiguity decades ahead of its time. The Beatles, Prince and David Bowie built upon his audacity. He summed it up himself, immodestly and correctly: “I am the architect of rock and roll”.
Little Richard
1912
Sonny Boy Williamson II is born, who stole another man's name and made it his own
On December 5, 1912, by the date usually given, Alex Miller was born in Mississippi. He presented himself to the public under the name of a famous harmonica player who was still alive at the time. The con worked so well that nobody remembers the original today. He turned the harmonica into a talking instrument, hosted King Biscuit Time and in the sixties recorded in London with the Yardbirds and the Animals.
Sonny Boy Williamson II
1938
J.J. Cale is born, the quiet man who wrote Clapton's hits
J.J. Cale is born in Oklahoma City: inventor of the “Tulsa sound”, that lazy, perfect groove Eric Clapton turned to gold with “Cocaine” and “After Midnight”. Cale always preferred the shadows, recording at home and dodging fame while his royalties funded that freedom. He is the patron saint of musicians who choose calm.
J.J. Cale
1940
Frank Wilson is born, author of the most expensive single in soul history
On December 5, 1940, Frank Wilson was born in Houston, a Motown producer who in 1965 cut a record of his own, "Do I Love You (Indeed I Do)". Berry Gordy preferred him behind the console and ordered the pressing destroyed. A couple of copies survived, and the British northern soul circuit turned them into a cult object and the most expensive single ever sold. Wilson went on producing for others.
Frank Wilson
Berry Gordy
1965
Wayne Smith is born, who sang over a cheap keyboard and digitised all of reggae
On December 5, 1965, Wayne Smith was born in Kingston. In 1985 he turned up at King Jammy's studio with a toy Casio and a preset rhythm they had sped up by accident. Out of that came "Under Mi Sleng Teng", the track that replaced bands with machines and gave birth to digital dancehall. That same pattern was reused on hundreds of Jamaican songs over the following years.
Wayne Smith
King Jammy
1927
W.D. Amaradeva is born, who invented a music of its own for Sri Lanka
On December 5, 1927, Wannakuwattawaduge Don Albert Perera was born near Colombo; he would take the name Amaradeva. He studied North Indian classical music and crossed it with Sinhala folk melodies to build a repertoire that a newly independent country could recognise as its own. He composed more than a thousand songs and his voice accompanied four generations.
W.D. Amaradeva
1946
José Carreras is born, who came back from leukaemia to invent the Three Tenors
On December 5, 1946, José Carreras was born in Barcelona, a tenor at the peak of his career at forty when he was diagnosed with leukaemia and given a one-in-ten chance of surviving. He survived. The 1990 concert in Rome with Plácido Domingo and Luciano Pavarotti, staged to celebrate his return, ended up being the best-selling classical record in history.
José Carreras
1947
Jim Messina is born, the engineer who ended up joining the band he was recording
On December 5, 1947, Jim Messina was born in Maywood, California. He was hired as Buffalo Springfield's sound engineer and promoted to bass player as the group began falling apart. With Richie Furay he founded Poco, and a good deal of seventies country rock came out of it. He then produced an unknown songwriter's first album and ended up signing it alongside him: Loggins and Messina.
Jim Messina
Buffalo Springfield
Kenny Loggins
1962
José Cura is born, the Argentine who came to opera through the choir door
On December 5, 1962, José Cura was born in Rosario, Argentina. He began studying composition and conducting and only discovered in his mid-twenties that he had a tenor voice. He settled in Europe and built a career around Otello and Samson, heavy roles that he sings and sometimes also conducts, something hardly any opera singer dares to attempt.
José Cura
1982
Keri Hilson is born, who wrote half the industry's hits before singing her own
On December 5, 1982, Keri Hilson was born in Decatur, Georgia. By fourteen she was already working as a professional songwriter. She was part of a writing team that supplied songs to Britney Spears, Ciara, Usher and Mary J. Blige before anyone knew her name. Only in 2009 did she release her own album, with "Knock You Down", and discover that the front of the stage was a different job.
Keri Hilson
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