Chapter 01 — Today in music
On a day like today December 25
2006
James Brown dies on Christmas Day: the funk machine stops
James Brown, the Godfather of Soul, dies of heart failure in Atlanta at 73, in the early hours of Christmas Day. Inventor of funk with “Papa's Got a Brand New Bag” and a model of brutal stage discipline, he is the most sampled artist in history: all of hip-hop dances on his grooves. The hardest working man in show business finally rested.
James Brown
1886
Kid Ory is born, whose band made the first jazz recording by Black New Orleans musicians
On December 25, 1886, Edward Ory was born on a Louisiana plantation, a trombonist who put together his first band with home-made instruments. In 1922, by then in Los Angeles, he cut the first records by a Black New Orleans jazz group. Louis Armstrong and King Oliver both passed through his orchestra as young men. In the thirties he retired to raise chickens, then came back.
Kid Ory
Louis Armstrong
King Oliver
1907
Cab Calloway is born, who published a dictionary so people could follow how he spoke
On December 25, 1907, Cab Calloway was born in Rochester, bandleader at Harlem's Cotton Club. In 1931 he recorded "Minnie the Moocher", the first record by a Black artist to sell a million copies, with a wordless chorus the audience shouted back at him. He also published a dictionary of the slang he used, so that white listeners could follow his lyrics.
Cab Calloway
1942
Enrique Morente is born, the cantaor who enraged the flamenco purists
On December 25, 1942, Enrique Morente was born in the Albaicín district of Granada. He first sang the most orthodox flamenco and then decided to break all of it. In 1996 he released "Omega", recorded with a rock band, setting verses by Federico García Lorca and Leonard Cohen. Purists accused him of betrayal; it is now considered one of the most influential records in the genre.
Enrique Morente
Leonard Cohen
1948
Merry Clayton is born, whose voice cracks on the take that stayed on "Gimme Shelter"
On December 25, 1948, Merry Clayton was born in New Orleans, a professional backing singer who was called in the middle of the night to record a few lines with the Rolling Stones. She turned up at the studio in her nightclothes with curlers in her hair. On the take that stayed on "Gimme Shelter" you can hear her voice crack as she screams. Decades later a documentary finally gave her the credit.
Merry Clayton
The Rolling Stones
1949
Simone is born, the Brazilian contralto who sings an entire country's Christmas
On December 25, 1949, Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira was born in Salvador da Bahia. She was a basketball player before she took up singing. Her deep contralto became one of the most recognisable voices in Brazil. Her version of "Então É Natal", an adaptation of John Lennon's carol, has played on every radio station in the country each December for four decades.
Simone Bittencourt de Oliveira
1954
Annie Lennox is born, the androgynous voice that defined synth-pop
Annie Lennox is born in Aberdeen, Scotland; with Dave Stewart she formed Eurythmics after their previous band failed and their own romance ended. “Sweet Dreams (Are Made of This)”, with her orange-cropped androgynous image, redefined what a woman could be in pop video. Her contralto is one of British music's finest instruments.
Annie Lennox
Eurythmics
1939
Bob James is born, whose smooth jazz albums ended up as raw material for rap
On December 25, 1939, Bob James was born in Missouri, a jazz pianist and arranger who in the seventies made a series of elegant, accessible albums that critics dismissed. A decade later hip hop producers found those grooves: "Nautilus", from 1974, is one of the most sampled recordings in history, present on hundreds of rap songs.
Bob James
1945
Noel Redding is born, a guitarist talked into playing bass with Hendrix
On December 25, 1945, Noel Redding was born in Folkestone. In 1966 he went to an audition to play guitar in a new band. He did not get the job, but Chas Chandler asked whether he could play bass: he was looking for someone to back a newly arrived American guitarist. Redding agreed, having barely touched the instrument, and the Jimi Hendrix Experience was born.
Noel Redding
Jimi Hendrix
Chas Chandler
1976
Armin van Buuren is born, who has been making the same radio show for over twenty years
On December 25, 1976, Armin van Buuren was born in Leiden. He was studying law while producing electronic music in his bedroom. In 2001 he started a weekly trance radio show that he is still broadcasting two decades later, heard in more than a hundred countries. He was voted the world's best disc jockey five times in DJ Mag's poll.
Armin van Buuren
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