Today's birthdays:
Moby, 58.
Richard Melville Hall, known professionally as Moby, is an American musician, songwriter, singer, producer, and animal rights activist. He has sold 20 million records worldwide. AllMusic considers him to be "among the most important dance music figures of the early 1990s, helping bring dance music to a mainstream audience both in the United States and the United Kingdom".
His 1991 single "Go" was his mainstream breakthrough, especially in Europe, where it peaked within the top ten of the charts in the Netherlands and the United Kingdom. Between 1992 and 1997 he scored eight top 10 hits on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart including "Move (You Make Me Feel So Good)", "Feeling So Real", and "James Bond Theme (Moby Re-Version)". Throughout the decade he also produced music under various pseudonyms, released the critically acclaimed Everything Is Wrong (1995), and composed music for films. His punk-oriented album Animal Rights (1996) alienated much of his fan base.
Moby found commercial and critical success with his fifth album Play (1999) which, after receiving little recognition, became an unexpected global hit in 2000 after each track was licensed to films, television shows, and commercials. It remains his highest selling album with 12 million copies sold. Its seventh single, "South Side", featuring Gwen Stefani, remains his only one to appear on the US Billboard Hot 100, reaching No. 14. Moby followed Play with albums of varied styles including electronic, dance, rock, and downtempo music, starting with 18 (2002), Hotel (2005), and Last Night (2008). His later albums saw him explore ambient music, including the almost four-hour release Long Ambients 1: Calm. Sleep. (2016). Moby continues to record and release albums; his twenty-first studio album, Resound NYC, was released in May 2023.
Kygo, 32.
Kyrre Gorvell-Dahll, known professionally as Kygo, is a Norwegian DJ and record producer. He garnered international attention with his December 2013 remix of the track "I See Fire" by Ed Sheeran and his December 2014 single "Firestone" (featuring Conrad Sewell). In late 2015, he reached 1 billion streams on Spotify faster than any other artist, and by June 2016, he had reached 2 billion streams.
Kygo has since released several singles, such as "Stole the Show", "Here for You", and "Stay" in 2015, "It Ain't Me" collaborating with Selena Gomez in 2017 and a 2019 remix of "Higher Love" performed by Whitney Houston, all of which have debuted on several international charts. His debut album, Cloud Nine, was released on 13 May 2016.
Kygo became the first house music producer to perform at an Olympics closing ceremony in August 2016 at the 2016 Rio Olympics. In March 2018, Billboard ranked Kygo 3rd on its 2018 ranking of dance musicians titled Billboard Dance 100. The same year, he was ranked 32 on DJ Mag's top 100 DJs of the world, and in October 2019 he was ranked 42.
Ludacris, 46.
Christopher Brian Bridges), known professionally as Ludacris, is an American rapper and actor.
Grammy Award-winning rapper who hit the charts in 2000 with the album Back for the First Time. He has had a second career as an actor and has appeared in several films in the Fast and Furious series. He collaborated with Usher and Lil Jon on the hit 2004 song "Yeah!".
He is often cited as one of the first Dirty South rappers to achieve mainstream success in the 21st century, with several commercially and critically successful studio albums. Throughout his career, Ludacris has won three Grammy Awards, a Screen Actors Guild Award, a Critic's Choice Award and an MTV Video Music Award.
Richard Ashcroft, 52.
Richard Paul Ashcroft (born 11 September 1971) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. He was the lead singer and occasional rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band The Verve from their formation in 1990 until their original split in 1999. Songs he wrote for the band include "Bitter Sweet Symphony", "Lucky Man", and the UK number one "The Drugs Don't Work". He became a successful solo artist, releasing three UK top three solo albums. The Verve reformed in 2007 but again broke up by summer 2009. Ashcroft then founded a new band, RPA & The United Nations of Sound, and released a new album on 19 July 2010. Ashcroft released his fourth solo album, These People, on 20 May 2016. Ashcroft went on to release the album Natural Rebel in 2018, and the compilation of acoustic versions of his best hits: Acoustic Hymns Vol. 1 in 2021.
In May 2019, Ashcroft received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music from the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers, and Authors. Chris Martin of Coldplay has described Ashcroft as "the best singer in the world".
On this day today:
1960 - Tommy Sands marries Nancy Sinatra (they divorce five years later).
1962 - At Abbey Road studios in London, The Beatles record their first British singles: "Love Me Do" and "P.S. I Love You."
1965 - The Beatles' "Help!" album hits #1 in America and stays for nine weeks.
1968 - The Beatles record most of "Glass Onion," John Lennon's song about fans who suss out hidden messages in his lyrics.
1967 - Frank Sinatra, who is playing at the Sands casino in Las Vegas, gets in a fight when he is denied credit as part of a policy put in by the new owners. He breaks two teeth in the altercation and soon takes his talents (and money) to Caesar's Palace.
1971 - The Jackson 5 cartoon series, called The Jackson 5ive, debuts on ABC. Each episode shows various adventures with animated versions of the group, along with Michael's pet mice Ray and Charles, and his snake Rosie. The cartoon runs from 1971-1973.
1973 - Bruce Springsteen releases his second album, "The Wild, The Innocent And The E Street Shuffle".
1974 - WROV-AM in Roanoke, Virginia, starts playing the The Doobie Brothers album cut "Black Water" in honor of a local tributary of the same name. The resounding response from listeners prompts a single release two months later, and in March 1975, the song becomes a #1 hit.
1977 - David Bowie joins Bing Crosby to record the crooner's Merrie Olde Christmas special. Bowie refuses to sing "Little Drummer Boy" with Crosby, so his part is rewritten as "Peace On Earth." Crosby dies a month later before the show airs, and the duet becomes a Christmas classic, growing even more popular when MTV starts playing the clip a few years later.
1982 - Frank Zappa's "Valley Girl" reaches its chart peak of #32 on the Hot 100. It's the only Top 40 hit for the eccentric singer, who releases over 60 albums in his lifetime. His daughter, Moon Unit Zappa, plays the Valley Girl in the song.
1982 - John Mellencamp becomes the first male solo artist with a #1 album (American Fool) and two Top 10 singles, all at the same time ("Hurts So Good" at #8; "Jack & Diane" at #4).
1987 - Reggae musician Peter Tosh is shot and killed at age 42 during a robbery in his home.
2000 - Huey Lewis and Gwyneth Paltrow release a cover of Smokey Robinson's "Cruisin'" as a duet. The single reaches #1 on the Adult Contemporary chart for a week and also appears in the 2000 film Duets, which stars the pair.
2001 - On the afternoon of the terrorist attacks against the country, a group of US senators and congressmen gather on the Capitol steps to sing Irving Berlin's "God Bless America." The song is invoked many times in the following days.
2001 - Amid the chaos of terrorist attacks, PJ Harvey wins the Mercury Prize (an annual award given to the best album from the UK and Ireland) for "Stories From The City, Stories From The Sea". She recalls: "It was very strange, particularly since we were in Washington. I woke up to people hammering on the door, saying the Pentagon was on fire – which we could see from our hotel. Sadly I didn't I feel at all present in terms of winning the Mercury Prize. And it was an honor for me to receive it."
2001 - As Gerard Way watches in horror from the Manhattan ferry as the World Trade Center's Twin Towers collapse, he realizes life is too short to not follow his dream. Shortly after, he starts his own band: My Chemical Romance.
2001 - The Strokes' debut album, "Is This It", drops on vinyl in the US. It contains the song "New York City Cops," an anthem against police brutality. The defiant track is removed from the forthcoming CD release in light of the terrorist attacks and the valiant response of the NYPD.
2003 - Jewel cancels her North American tour after Terome "T-Bone" Hannon, her bassist of three years, dies suddenly of a brain aneurysm at age 39.
