Inspired by the September 23 birthdays of Bruce Springsteen, Ray Charles, John Coltrane, Freeez’s John Rocca, Ani DiFranco, Jermaine Dupri, Paul Petersen, Anya Marina, Mary Kay Place, K’s Choice’s Sam Bettens and The Whispers’ Walter and Wallace Scott.
Inspired by the September 16 birthdays of B.B. King, Elastica’s Justine Frischmann, The Long Blondes’ Kate Jackson, Marc Anthony, Little Willie Littlefield, Gillette, David Bellamy, Babybird’s Stephen Jones and Hinds’ Ana Perrote; and the September 15 birthdays of Jimmy Gilmer and Cannonball Adderley.
Inspired by the September 2 birthdays of Billy Preston, Joe Simon, Bobby Purify, Victor Lundberg and K-Ci Hailey.
Inspired by the July 16 birthdays of The Police’s Stewart Copeland, BROCKHAMPTON’s Kevin Abstract, William Bell, Desmond Dekker, The Searchers’ Tony Jackson, and Live’s Ed Kowalczyk; the July 15 birthdays of Linda Ronstadt, Joy Division’s Ian Curtis, The Buggles/The Art of Noise’s Trevor Horn, Years & Years’ Olly Alexander, Gregory Isaacs, The Heartbreakers’ Johnny Thunders, Alicia Bridges, and Pamela Myers; and the July 14 birthdays of Belly/Throwing Muses’ Tanya Donelly, Woody Guthrie, Jamey Johnson, and Cliff & Claude Trenier.
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 28 birthdays of Mel Brooks, Gilda Radner and 2 Unlimited’s Ray Slijngaard.
Inspired by Black Music Month, LGBTQ Pride Month, and the June 22 birthdays of Cyndi Lauper, Jimmy Somerville, Todd Rundgren, The Turtles’ Howard Kaylan, Primal Scream’s Bobby Gillespie, Kris Kristoffersson, Schoolly-D, Scritti Politti’s Green Gartside, Peter Asher, Jai Rodriguez, Jesus Jones’ Mike Edwards, and The Mighty Mighty Bosstones’ Dicky Barrett.
Inspired by the May 28 birthdays of Creedence Clearwater Revival’s John Fogerty, Gladys Knight, Fine Young Cannibals’ Roland Gift, Kylie Minogue, Adam Green, The Presidents of the United States of America’s Chris Ballew, the Caesar’s Cesar Vidal, Fam-Lay and Patricia Quinn.
Inspired by the May 11 birthdays of The Animals’ Eric Burdon, Disclosure’s Howard Lawrence, R. Dean Taylor and composer Irving Berlin.
Inspired by May the Fourth and the May 4 birthdays of Nic Ashford, Little Boots, Sharon Jones, Dick Dale, The Angels’ Peggy Santiglia, Green Day’s Mike Dirnt, New Radicals’ Gregg Alexander, and Pia Zadora.
2020 seemed like just another year, until this week. Something mind-boggling happened. No, the president of the U.S. didn’t display empathy. Get this: The Village People are presently in the Top 40 on the Adult Contemporary chart with a ballad taken from their 2019 Christmas album. The key terms in that sentence: Village People, presently, Top 40, Adult Contemporary, ballad, Christmas. It’s 2020! The song is called “If You Believe” and it jumped from #53 to #25 this week with a 310% increase in radio airplay over last week. “If You Believe?” More like “Hard to Believe!” Am I right, people?
Today’s playlist is inspired by the May 3 birthdays of James Brown, Frankie Valli, Father John Misty, Soft Cell’s David Ball, Pete Seeger, Christopher Cross, Mary Hopkin and Napoleon XIV.