Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today December 11
1964
Sam Cooke dies at 33, in circumstances that still hurt and are still debated
Sam Cooke is shot dead by a Los Angeles motel manager in a confused episode the courts closed quickly and history keeps questioning. He was 33, with a perfect voice and pioneering business vision for Black artists. Weeks later “A Change Is Gonna Come”, his civil rights anthem, was released: his involuntary testament.
Sam Cooke
1890
Carlos Gardel is born, the man who sings better every day and whose birthplace is still disputed
On December 11, 1890, according to French records, Charles Romuald Gardes was born — the future Carlos Gardel. Uruguay has maintained for a century that he was born in Tacuarembó and Argentina claims him as its own: the dispute has never been settled. What nobody disputes is that he turned tango into song, and that his death in a plane crash in Medellín in 1935 fixed him forever in youth.
Carlos Gardel
1916
Pérez Prado is born, the Cuban who had to leave for Mexico to invent the mambo
On December 11, 1916, Dámaso Pérez Prado was born in Matanzas, Cuba, a pianist and arranger whom Havana orchestras considered too strident. He settled in Mexico in 1949 and from there launched the mambo on the whole world. "Cherry Pink and Apple Blossom White" spent ten weeks at number one in the United States in 1955, grunts included.
Pérez Prado
1926
Big Mama Thornton is born, who recorded "Hound Dog" first and "Ball and Chain" before Janis
On December 11, 1926, Willie Mae Thornton was born in Alabama. In 1952 she recorded "Hound Dog" and spent seven weeks at number one on the R&B chart, three years before Elvis turned it into something else. She wrote "Ball and Chain" herself, the song Janis Joplin made famous. For neither did she ever receive a payment remotely proportional to what they earned.
Big Mama Thornton
Elvis Presley
Janis Joplin
1938
McCoy Tyner is born, who left Coltrane because he could no longer hear himself
On December 11, 1938, McCoy Tyner was born in Philadelphia, pianist in John Coltrane's quartet from 1960 to 1965, the years of "A Love Supreme". His way of stacking chords in fourths changed jazz piano forever. He left the group when the music got so dense and free that, as he explained, he could no longer hear what he himself was playing.
McCoy Tyner
John Coltrane
1944
Brenda Lee is born, “Little Miss Dynamite” with the giant voice
Brenda Lee is born in Atlanta; by 13 she was already recording hits, and with “I'm Sorry” she ruled the 1960 charts. Her carol “Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree”, cut at 13, returned to Billboard's number one in 2023, 65 years later: an absolute record of patience. Under five feet tall, one of the most powerful voices of her era.
Brenda Lee
1973
Mos Def is born, who made conscious rap into a record you could also dance to
On December 11, 1973, Dante Smith was born in Brooklyn. As Mos Def he recorded the Black Star album with Talib Kweli in 1998 and "Black on Both Sides" on his own the following year. They were two of the most cited answers to the commercial rap of the period, without ever sounding like a sermon. He later changed his name to Yasiin Bey and took up acting.
Mos Def
Talib Kweli
1803
Hector Berlioz is born, who turned a romantic obsession into a symphony on opium
On December 11, 1803, Hector Berlioz was born near Grenoble, a medical student who abandoned the career on discovering opera. In 1830 he premiered the "Symphonie fantastique", the tale of an artist who poisons himself with opium and dreams he murders the woman he loves: that woman was an Irish actress he barely knew and whom he ended up marrying years later.
Hector Berlioz
1954
Jermaine Jackson is born, the only brother who stayed at Motown when the rest left
On December 11, 1954, Jermaine Jackson was born in Gary, Indiana, bassist and second voice of the Jackson 5. In 1975 the family left Motown for a better contract and he decided to stay: he had married Berry Gordy's daughter. His brothers carried on without him for years, and the decision cost him a part of the family bond that never quite mended.
Jermaine Jackson
The Jackson 5
Berry Gordy
1958
Nikki Sixx is born, declared dead for two minutes and back on stage soon after
On December 11, 1958, Frank Feranna was born in San Jose, California. He changed his name to Nikki Sixx and founded Mötley Crüe. He wrote most of the band's songs, including "Kickstart My Heart", inspired by the night in 1987 when a heroin overdose left him clinically dead for two minutes until a paramedic revived him with adrenaline.
Nikki Sixx
Mötley Crüe
One ephemeris a day, one editorial a week. Zero spam, pure archive.