Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today December 16
1949
Billy Gibbons is born, the most famous beard in blues rock
Billy Gibbons, guitarist and voice of ZZ Top, is born in Houston. Hendrix praised him when he fronted the psychedelic Moving Sidewalks; later, with “La Grange” and “Sharp Dressed Man”, he distilled Texas boogie into a perfect formula. With beard, shades and dry humor, he proved blues could sell millions in the MTV era without betraying its grime.
Billy Gibbons
ZZ Top
1882
Zoltán Kodály is born, who toured Hungarian villages with a phonograph on his back
On December 16, 1882, Zoltán Kodály was born in Kecskemét. With Béla Bartók he set out across the villages of Hungary recording peasant songs onto wax cylinders before they disappeared. Out of that material he remade Hungarian music and designed a teaching method based on singing and hand signs that is used in schools all over the world today.
Zoltán Kodály
Béla Bartók
1946
Benny Andersson is born, ABBA's melodic brain
Benny Andersson is born in Stockholm: pianist and songwriting half of ABBA alongside Björn Ulvaeus. From his keyboard came “Dancing Queen”, “The Winner Takes It All” and a catalogue that made Sweden a pop-exporting superpower. His instinct for the bittersweet melody, between Nordic folklore and perfect pop, remains unrivaled.
Benny Andersson
ABBA
1957
Antonio Vega is born, author of the song that defines an entire Spanish generation
On December 16, 1957, Antonio Vega was born in Madrid. He was studying aeronautical engineering when he formed Nacha Pop with his cousin. In 1980 he released "La chica de ayer", three minutes of luminous melancholy that became the involuntary anthem of the movida madrileña. He spent the rest of his life fighting addiction and died in 2009, aged fifty-one.
Antonio Vega
Nacha Pop
1968
Lalah Hathaway is born, capable of singing two notes at the same time
On December 16, 1968, Lalah Hathaway was born in Chicago, daughter of singer Donny Hathaway, who died when she was ten. She studied at Berklee and built a career at a distance from R&B fashions. She is known for producing polyphonic overtones with her voice: on several live recordings she can be heard holding two simultaneous notes, something almost nobody manages.
Lalah Hathaway
Donny Hathaway
1899
Noël Coward is born, who revived his career singing in a Las Vegas casino
On December 16, 1899, Noël Coward was born near London, a playwright and composer who wrote his own songs for his own plays with an irony that defined English interwar humour. In 1955, with his career in decline, he accepted a cabaret season at a Las Vegas casino and the success was such that it put him back at the centre of things.
Noël Coward
1921
"El Piporro" is born, who gave Mexican song its humour and its northern accent
On December 16, 1921, Eulalio González was born in Los Herreras, Nuevo León, known as El Piporro. He started as a radio announcer doing impressions and ended up as an actor and singer of comic corridos portraying life on the border, the migrant worker and the return to the village. He recorded dozens of albums and starred in more than sixty films.
Eulalio González
1971
Michael McCary is born, the deep voice that spoke in the middle of Boyz II Men ballads
On December 16, 1971, Michael McCary was born in Philadelphia, the bass voice of the quartet Boyz II Men. The spoken monologues that interrupt "End of the Road" and "I'll Make Love to You" are his, a trademark copied by dozens of groups. He left the band in 2003 because of degenerative scoliosis that made touring impossible.
Michael McCary
Boyz II Men
1971
Paul van Dyk is born, who learned music from a forbidden radio on the other side of the Wall
On December 16, 1971, Matthias Paul was born in East Germany. He grew up secretly listening to West Berlin stations because that music did not exist in his country. When the Wall came down he began playing at Berlin's newly opened clubs and, as Paul van Dyk, became one of the first trance disc jockeys with a worldwide career.
Paul van Dyk
1973
Scott Storch is born, who went from keyboard player in The Roots to losing an entire fortune
On December 16, 1973, Scott Storch was born in Long Island. He played piano on "You Got Me" with The Roots before turning to production. Within a few years he had hits for Dr. Dre, Beyoncé, 50 Cent and Chris Brown, and amassed a fortune he lost almost entirely to addiction. He went back to work a decade later, starting from considerably further down.
Scott Storch
The Roots
Dr. Dre
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