"Lady Day" left an indelible mark on jazz and had a rare vocalization style that lent itself to improvisation. Holiday said she was deeply influenced by the instrumentalists of the era, and sought the phrasing and tempo of Louis Armstrong, and others. We're featuring her voice on these channels.
This R&B, soul, and funk band formed sixty years ago in Jersey City, New Jersey. It took nearly a decade for Robert "Kool" Bell & the Gang to hit the top 10, with their breakout hit Jungle Boogie. The band went on to sell over 70 million records worldwide.
Here's to the art form that's been going strong for more than a half century. On August 11, 1973, some teenagers threw a back-to-school party in the rec room of their apartment building in the Bronx. And presiding over it all was deejay Kool Herc. Since then, hip-hop has evolved and it continues to explode.
Country singer-songwriter Mary Chapin Carpenter celebrates a birthday today. Carpenter has won five Grammy Awards and is the only artist to have won four consecutive Grammy Awards for Best Female Country Vocal Performance. On October 7, 2012, Carpenter was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington (April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974) was an American composer, pianist, and bandleader of a jazz orchestra, which he led from 1923 until his death in a career spanning over fifty years.