12-22: The Clash : Jamaica 1982 - Minutemen : KPFK Los Angeles 1985 - Ustvolskaya : Compositions I II & III / de Leeuw 1993 - Krenek : Kammermusik / Hierdeis et al 2002

Not shown: Jean-Joseph Mouret, Ishmail Spicer, Arthur H. Bird & Powell Weaver

1738 – Jean-Joseph Mouret (French composer)
1797 – Giovanni Marco Rutini (Italian composer)
1832 – Ishmail Spicer (American composer, publisher & teacher)
1874 – Johann Peter Pixis (German pianist & composer)
1875 – Nikolai Alexeyevich Titov [Николай Алексеевич Титов] (Russian composer, "Father of Russian Song")
1893 – Benedikt Randhartinger (Austrian tenor, conductor & composer, peer of Schubert)
1923 – Arthur H. Bird (American composer)
1939 – Ma Rainey (American blues singer & songwriter)
1941 – Leopoldo Mugnone (Italian conductor)
1950 – Julius Weismann (German composer & conductor)
1950 – Walter Damrosch (German-born American conductor & composer)
1951 – Powell Weaver (American organist & composer, pupil of Respighi)
1964 – Bonifacio Gil García (Spanish folklorist & composer)
1973 – Domingo Julio Gómez García (Spanish composer)
1977 – Johann Nepomuk David (Austrian composer & organist)
1985 – D. Boon (American punk rock singer, songwriter & guitarist, The Minutemen)
1986 – Celius Dougherty (American pianist & composer)
1987 – Leonidas Zoras [Λεωνίδας Ζώρας] (Greek composer & conductor)
1987 – Luca Prodan (Italian-born Argentine rock singer, Sumo)
1988 – Tucker Smith (American actor, singer & dancer, "Ice" in West Side Story)
1990 – Cecil Effinger (American composer, oboist & inventor of the Musicwriter & Tempowatch)
1991 – Ernst Krenek (Czech-born Austrian, later American composer)
1992 – Harry Bluestone (English violinist, soundtrack composer, conductor, producer & author)
1997 – Johnny Coles (American jazz trumpeter, "Little Johnny C")
2002 – Joe Strummer (English punk rock singer, songwriter & guitarist, The Clash)
2003 – Dave Dudley (American country singer)
2006 – Dennis Linde (American country & rock songwriter, singer & multi-instrumentalist)
2006 – Galina Ustvolskaya [Гали́на Уство́льская] (Russian composer, pupil of Shostakovich)

Yes, it's a big day, with one of the great Russian composers of the 20th century (who happens also to have been one of the greatest female composers of the 20th century)... plus one of the greatest vocal icons of early urban blues... plus two great icons of punk rock. It's hard to believe that it's been 10 years since Joe Strummer left us, and maybe even harder to believe that if D. Boon were alive today, he'd be twice the age he was when that van accident took his life back in '85. I don't know about you, but today's a day that makes me feel my age.

11-12: Chic : Risqué 1979 - Jimi Hendrix Experience Copenhagen 1968-1970 - Górecki : Kleines Requiem & Lerchenmusik / de Leeuw 1993

1948 – Umberto Giordano (Italian opera composer, Andrea Chénier)
1966 – Quincy Porter (American composer)
1972 – Rudolf Friml (Czech operetta & song composer & pianist)
1987 – Cornelis Vreeswijk (Dutch folk singer, songwriter, guitarist, poet & actor, active in Sweden)
1996 – Gwen Catley (English coloratura soprano)
1997 – Carlos Surinach (Spanish-born American composer & conductor)
2000 – Franck Pourcel (French easy listening conductor & violinist)
2001 – Albert Hague (German-born American actor, songwriter & composer, Fame, How the Grinch Stole Christmas)
2003 – Tony Thompson (American R&B, disco & rock drummer, Chic, Power Station)
2008 – Mitch Mitchell (English rock drummer, Jimi Hendrix Experience)
2010 – Henryk Górecki, Polish composer (b. 1933)

Pretty exciting to have two of the finest drummers in rock and pop music in the past few decades on the list today, with the bands they were most known for playing in, Chic and the Experience, representing the cream of the crop of their respective genres - 70s-era funk/disco, and the late-60s hard-rock power-trio-with-guitar-god.

There's another person on our list who I was intrigued to learn something about. You will probably recognize Albert Hague by how he's depicted in our collage, as the demanding but avuncular music teacher Mr. Shorofsky from the 80s motion picture and television series Fame. What you may not know is that Hague really was a very talented musician, and composed a fair amount of music for television and film. His most recognizable contribution in this area was the music for the original Dr. Seuss cartoon How the Grinch Stole Christmas (1966). You're a versatile one, Mr. Hague! Well, you were. Until you pooped.