Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today December 23
1964
Eddie Vedder is born, the baritone who gave grunge its gravity
Eddie Vedder is born in Evanston, Illinois: the San Diego surfer who recorded vocals over a demo tape that arrived by mail and ended up fronting Pearl Jam. His seismic baritone on “Alive” and “Black” defined the voice of the nineties, imitated to exhaustion. Three decades later, he still leads his generation's most principled band.
Eddie Vedder
Pearl Jam
1929
Chet Baker is born, who lost his teeth at thirty-seven and learned to play all over again
On December 23, 1929, Chet Baker was born in Oklahoma, a trumpeter with a matinee-idol face and a fragile voice who in 1954 won the Down Beat poll ahead of Miles Davis. Heroin took the next two decades. In 1966 a beating cost him several teeth and he had to rebuild his technique from nothing. He died in 1988 falling from a window in Amsterdam.
Chet Baker
Miles Davis
1935
Esther Phillips is born, to whom Aretha Franklin handed over her own Grammy
On December 23, 1935, Esther Mae Jones was born in Texas. At fourteen she already had a number one on the R&B chart. Addiction took a whole decade of her career. In 1973, when Aretha Franklin won the Grammy for best female rhythm and blues performance, she went up on stage and handed the statuette to Esther Phillips, saying it belonged to her.
Esther Phillips
Aretha Franklin
1940
Eugene Record is born, whose horn line ended up holding up "Crazy in Love" thirty years later
On December 23, 1940, Eugene Record was born in Chicago, singer and writer for the Chi-Lites. He wrote "Have You Seen Her" and "Oh Girl", two of the most delicate moments in seventies soul. Decades later Beyoncé built "Crazy in Love" on a horn fragment from another of his songs, and so a whole generation heard him without knowing it.
Eugene Record
The Chi-Lites
Beyoncé
1940
Jorma Kaukonen is born, Jefferson Airplane's acid guitar
Jorma Kaukonen is born in Washington D.C.: Jefferson Airplane's lead guitarist and the electric edge of “Somebody to Love”. A master of acoustic fingerpicking as well, he founded Hot Tuna with Jack Casady to return to roots blues. His Fur Peace Ranch is now a guitar school: sixties acid turned into pedagogy.
Jorma Kaukonen
Jefferson Airplane
1949
Adrian Belew is born, spotted by Zappa playing covers in a Nashville bar
On December 23, 1949, Adrian Belew was born in Kentucky. He was playing in a covers band in Nashville when Frank Zappa walked into the bar and hired him. From there he went on to David Bowie, Talking Heads and King Crimson, where he sang and played for thirty years. His trademark is making the guitar sound like anything but a guitar: elephants, seagulls, engines.
Adrian Belew
King Crimson
David Bowie
1935
Johnny Kidd is born, author of the best English rock record before the Beatles
On December 23, 1935, Frederick Heath was born in London. He put on an eyepatch and the name Johnny Kidd. In 1960 he recorded "Shakin' All Over", a track with a menacing riff that went to number one in the United Kingdom and is now regarded as the best thing British rock produced before the Liverpool invasion. He died in a car crash at thirty.
Johnny Kidd
1956
Dave Murray is born, who joined Iron Maiden in 1976 and is still there
On December 23, 1956, Dave Murray was born in London, a self-taught guitarist who bought his first instrument with money from odd jobs. He joined Iron Maiden in 1976, when the band was still playing pubs in east London, and apart from one brief gap has been on every one of their albums. He plays without writing anything down, going entirely by ear.
Dave Murray
Iron Maiden
1966
Badi Assad is born, who plays guitar, sings and drums on her own body at once
On December 23, 1966, Badi Assad was born in the interior of São Paulo, younger sister of the celebrated guitar duo Sérgio and Odair Assad. To step out of that shadow she built a language of her own: she strikes the body of the instrument, sings with her mouth closed and adds body percussion, all at the same time, in a repertoire running from choro to pop.
Badi Assad
1985
Dev Hynes is born, who went from British punk to producing New York's most elegant soul
On December 23, 1985, Devonté Hynes was born in London. He started at nineteen in a noisy electronic punk band. He moved to New York, changed names several times and as Blood Orange developed a soft, melancholy soul dealing with race and identity. He also writes and produces for others: much of the album that made Solange's name is his.
Dev Hynes
Solange
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