Ivan Koloff (1942 - 2017)

Ivan Koloff Ivan Koloff — the “Russian Bear” whom pro wrestling fans loved to hate as the Cold War stand-in for the Soviet Union — has died at 74, his daughter and World Wrestling Entertainment confirmed. Koloff, who lived in Winterville, North Carolina, died Saturday after a long struggle against liver cancer, NBC station WITN […]

Judge Joseph Albert Wapner Jr (1919 - 2017)

Judge Joseph Albert Wapner Jr Joseph A. Wapner, a retired California judge whose flinty-folksy style of resolving disputes on the show “The People’s Court” helped spawn an entire genre of courtroom-based reality television with no-nonsense jurists and often clueless litigants, died Feb. 26 at his home in Los Angeles. He was 97. A grandson, Gabriel […]

Louisa Horton (1920 - 2008)

Louisa Fleetwood Horton Hill (September 10, 1920 – January 25, 2008) was an American film, television and stage actress, who used her given name, Louisa Horton, professionally. She was the former wife of the late The Sting director, George Roy Hill. Louisa Horton was born to Jeter Rice and Frances Breckinridge (née Steele) Horton in Beijing, […]

Strother Martin (1919 - 1980)

Strother Martin was born in Kokomo in Howard County in north central Indiana. For a short time, the Martins moved to San Antonio, Texas but soon returned to Indiana. As a child, he excelled at swimming and diving; he was nicknamed “T-Bone Martin” because of his diving expertise. At 17, he won the National Junior […]

George Roy Hill (1921 - 2002)

George Roy Hill was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, to George Roy and Helen Frances (Owens) Hill, part of a well-to-do Roman Catholic family with interests in the newspaper business; the family owned the Minneapolis Tribune. Hill was no relation to George W. Hill, director and cinematographer of numerous silent movies and early sound films in […]

Anatoli Firsov (1941 - 2000)

Anatoli Vasilievich Firsov (Russian: Анатолий Васильевич Фирсов; 1 February 1941 – 24 July 2000) was a Russian ice hockey left wing and center, who competed internationally for the USSR. In the IIHF World Championships, he won the scoring title four times and was named the best forward three times. He was also named the most […]

Karl Engel (1923 - 2006)

Karl (Rudolf) Engel (Birsfelden, 1 June 1923 – Chernex, 2 September 2006) was a Swiss pianist. In 1952 Karl Engel was awarded the second prize at the Queen Elisabeth competition. Throughout his concert career, he cultivated the art song repertory and worked extensively on works of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Ludwig van Beethoven and Robert Schumann. He […]

Irmgard Seefried (1919 - 1988)

Irmgard Seefried (9 October 1919 – 24 November 1988) was a distinguished German soprano who sang opera and lieder. Maria Theresia Irmgard Seefried was born in Köngetried, near Mindelheim, Bavaria, Germany, the daughter of educated Austrian-born parents. She studied at Augsburg University before making her debut in Aachen as the priestess in Verdi’s Aida in 1940. […]

Geoffrey Parsons (1929 - 1995)

Geoffrey Parsons was born in the Sydney suburb of Ashfield, to a working-class family. He had two older brothers and a large extended family. He originally intended to study architecture, but his love of music prevailed. He studied with Winifred Burston (a student of Ferruccio Busoni) at the NSW State Conservatorium of Music from 1941 […]

Kathleen Ferrier (1912 - 1953)

Kathleen Mary Ferrier, CBE (22 April 1912 – 8 October 1953) was an English contralto singer who achieved an international reputation as a stage, concert and recording artist, with a repertoire extending from folksong and popular ballads to the classical works of Bach, Brahms, Mahler and Elgar. Her death from cancer, at the height of […]

Gerald Moore (1899 - 1987)

Gerald Moore was born in Watford, Hertfordshire, the eldest of four children of David Frank Moore, owner of a men’s outfitting company, and his wife Chestina, née Jones. He was educated at Watford Grammar School, and took piano lessons from a local teacher  Though innately musical, with perfect pitch, Moore was a reluctant piano student: […]

Josef Locke (1917 - 1999)

Known as The Singing Bobby, Josef Locke became a local celebrity before starting to work the UK variety circuit, where he played nineteen seasons in the northern English seaside resort of Blackpool. The renowned Irish tenor John McCormack (1884–1945) advised him that his voice was better suited to a lighter repertoire than the operatic one […]

Lucrezia Bori (1970 - 1960)

Lucrezia Bori was born on December 24, 1887, in Valencia, Spain. Her real name was Lucrecia Borja y González de Riancho. Her father was an officer in the Spanish army. Her family were descended from the influential family of the Italian Renaissance, the House of Borgia and she herself was named after her ancestor, Lucrezia […]

Joseph Wapner (1919 - 2017)

Joseph Albert Wapner was born on November 15, 1919, in Los Angeles to Jewish parents. His father, Max Wapner, an attorney, immigrated to California from Romania, while his mother, Fannie (née Friedman), was from Russia. He had a younger sister, Irene. Wapner attended Hollywood High School and dated actress Lana Turner once while in high […]

Alan Colmes (1950 - 2017)

Alan Colmes began his career in stand-up comedy. He developed his radio career in the Northeast, eventually working at stations such as WABC, WNBC, WHN, WMCA, and WEVD in New York City; WNHC in New Haven, Connecticut; and WEZE and WZLX in Boston. His radio career took off when WABC hired him for the morning drive […]

Henry Wade (1914 - 2001)

Henry Wade, one of eleven children, was born in Rockwall County, Texas, outside Dallas. A good student, Wade, along with five of his seven brothers, entered the legal profession. Shortly after graduating from the University of Texas at Austin, in 1939, Wade joined the Federal Bureau of Investigation, headed by J. Edgar Hoover. Wade’s assignment […]

Norma McCorvey (1947 - 2017)

Norma McCorvey was born in Simmesport, Louisiana. She was briefly raised at her family’s residence in Lettsworth in Pointe Coupee Parish. Later in her childhood, the family moved to Houston, Texas. McCorvey’s father left the family when she was 13 years old and her parents subsequently divorced. She and her older brother were raised by […]

Bill Paxton (1955 - 2017)

Bill Paxton was born and raised in Fort Worth, Texas, the son of Mary Lou (née Gray) and John Lane Paxton. His father was a businessman, lumber wholesaler, museum executive, and occasional actor. His mother was Roman Catholic, and he and his siblings were raised in her faith. Paxton was in the crowd when President […]

Eleanor Holm (1913 - 2004)

Eleanor Holm was born in Brooklyn, New York, the daughter of a fireman; she learned to swim while very young. Winning her first national swimming title at age 13, she was selected to compete in the 1928 Summer Olympics, where she finished fifth in her specialty, the 100-meter backstroke. She was talented in several other […]

Lincoln Chase (1926 - 1980)

Lincoln Chase was born in New York City, the only child of West Indian immigrants. Lorenzo, his father, was born in Cuba and his mother, Edith (or Elizabeth), was a native of the British West Indies. He was raised in New York City. His wife was Monica D. Chase. His children are Alton D Chase, […]

Chuck Willis (1926 - 1958)

Chuck Willis was born in Atlanta, Georgia, either in 1926 or 1928. He was spotted at a talent contest by Atlanta radio disc jockey Zenas Sears, who became his manager and helped him to sign with Columbia Records in 1951. After one single, Willis began recording on a Columbia subsidiary, Okeh. During his stay at […]

Lynn Taitt (1934 - 2010)

Born Nerlynn Taitt, in San Fernando, Trinidad, he got his start as a musician playing in local steel drum bands, before taking up the guitar aged 14. He formed his own band, which was booked by Byron Lee to perform at the 1962 independence celebrations in Jamaica. Lynn Taitt decided to stay in Jamaica, living […]

Roland Alphonso (1931 - 1998)

Born in Havana, Cuba, Roland Alphonso came to Jamaica at the age of two with his Jamaican mother, and started to learn saxophone at the Stony Hill Industrial School. In 1948 he left school to join Eric Deans’ orchestra and soon passed through other bands in the hotel circuit and first recorded as a member of […]

Tommy McCook (1927 - 1998)

Tommy McCook (3 March 1927 – 5 May 1998) was a Jamaican saxophonist. A founding member of The Skatalites, he also directed The Supersonics for Duke Reid, and backed many sessions for Bunny Lee or with The Revolutionaries at Channel One Studios in the 1970s. McCook was born in Havana, Cuba, and moved to Jamaica in […]

Lloyd Knibb (1931 - 2011)

Born in Kingston, Jamaica in 1931, Lloyd Knibb, grew up on Bond Street, close to where a local band rehearsed, and he made his own drum kit from a wooden box and paint cans to practice the sounds that he had heard. Like a lot of musicians in the 1940s, he honed his craft in […]

Duke Reid (1915 - 1975)

Duke Reid was born in Portland, Jamaica. After serving ten years as a Jamaican police officer, Reid left the force to help his wife Lucille run the family business, The Treasure Isle Grocery and Liquor Store at 33 Bond Street in Kingston. He made his way into the music industry first as a sound system (outdoor […]

Delroy Wilson (1948 - 1995)

Delroy Wilson began his recording career at the age of thirteen, while still a pupil at Boys Town Primary School. Wilson released his first single “Emy Lou” in 1962 for record producer, Clement “Coxsone” Dodd. His early years with Coxsone yielded a number of ska hits, the biggest of which, the Lee Perry-written “Joe Liges” […]

Don Drummond (1932 - 1969)

Don Drummond (12 March 1932 – 6 May 1969) was a Jamaican ska trombonist and composer. He was one of the original members of The Skatalites, and composed many of their tunes. Drummond was born at the Jubilee Hospital in Kingston, Jamaica, to Doris Monroe and Uriah Drummond. He was educated at Kingston’s Alpha Boys School, […]

Coxsone Dodd (1932 - 2004)

Coxsone Dodd used to play records to the customers in his parents’ shop. During a spell in the American South he became familiar with the rhythm and blues music popular there at the time. In 1954, back in Jamaica, he set up the Downbeat Sound System, being the owner of an amplifier, a turntable, and […]

Joe Higgs (1940 - 1999)

Joe Higgs was instrumental in the foundation of modern Jamaican music, first recording in 1958 for producer and businessman (and later Jamaican Prime Minister) Edward Seaga, both as a solo artist and with Roy Wilson. He is often called the “Godfather of Reggae”. His first release (with Wilson) was “Oh Manny Oh” in 1958, which […]