Born on this day ...

[Ruby]

Stephen Kendall ‘Steve’ Gadd was born on this day in 1945, in Irondequoit, New York. He had an early introduction to drumming by an uncle and took to it like the proverbial duck to water. Known primarily as a jazz drummer and very well respected, his list of credits and session work across many different genres is ridiculous – it’s probably easier to pick out who he hasn’t play with. Just a very few names whose performances and recordings he's graced include Paul Simon (and Simon and Garfunkel, Concert in Central Park), James Taylor, George Benson, Kate Bush, Chick Corea, The Manhattan Transfer, Jim Croce, Tony Banks, Weather Report, Al di Meola, Paul McCartney, BB King, Eric Clapton, his own bands, of course, and not least Steely Dan.

Any opportunity to trot out the masterpiece that is “Aja” …

[Jerome]

Fantastic mixing on this album - you can hear everything clearly. For some or other reason I only have a handful of SD albums. Must get this one as well. Thx for the tip Ruby.

[Ruby]

^You're welcome. Great album.

[Ruby]

Jesse Willard "Pete" Carr was born on this day in 1950, Daytona Beach, Florida, USA. It’s a mystery as to where the Pete originated! Or why??! He’s a session guitarist with a couple of solo albums to his credit – listening for guitar aficionados. I chose him for today because I was curious about the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section who played on a huge number of releases for various artists and had their own recording studio – he joined them in the late 60’s. 

I loved the anecdotes in this clip – among other things, they speak about their collaboration with Bob Seger – worked with him for ten years and never had a written contract, just their word and handshakes. Their kept their sides of the bargain, and he his. Most unusual in this game, from what I can tell! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tyM-X01c8a4
 
Pete Carr has played for Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, Barbara Streisand, Rod Stewart, and many others. He discovered early on that he preferred playing behind the scenes and the production aspect of the biz, to performing himself.
 
A Seger track with the ‘Swampers’ as they were affectionately known – I seem to remember you like this one MH … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KcdxcuLPpaE- they won a Grammy for the album …
 
And an ambitious cover from his album Multiple Flash …

[Ruby]

Narada Michael Walden was born on this day in 1952, in Kalamazoo, Michigan, USA. He’s a drummer, percussionist, composer and producer, and also plays the piano. 

He acquired the name Narada in the psychedelic seventies – it was bestowed on him by Sri Chinmoy as was Devadip on Carlos Santana, with whom he played at the time (he did a stint with the Mahavishnu Orchestra too - unsurprisingly!). He’s had many accolades heaped upon him for his more mainstream R&B stuff and a list of credits, the length of which made me glaze over, for composition and production as well as for soundtracks and other collaborations. 

This is a lovely piece from Santana’s Oneness: Silver Dreams – Golden Reality on which he contributes piano …

[Ruby]

Björn Kristian Ulvaeus was born on this day in 1945, in Gothenburg, Sweden. You’d have to have been living under a rock for the past forty years or so to not know that he was one of the B’s in ABBA, and that he’s a lot more besides. Quite fascinating, the partnership of Benny and Björn – two of the best pop songwriters of our time - a meeting of destiny ... they just had/have this incredible knack for catchy and fairly emotive hooks ... phenomenal! 
 
Post ABBA – from the musical Chess - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mnqj31VPNoE
 
And a personal favourite …

[Ruby]

Rita Coolidge was born on this day in 1945, in Lafayette, Tennessee. Very active and popular in the post Woodstock glory days, she was already making a name for herself when she met Kris Kristofferson in 1970 (they married in 1973) with whom she recorded three albums alongside her own solos. They had met at an airport when they were taking the same flight to Tennessee. He famously left the plane with her at Memphis instead of carrying on to his own destination – Nashville. She’s of Cherokee extraction, a heritage she wears proudly – raised in a musical family where it was tradition to record and retell stories in song.

Delaney and Bonnie discovered her and invited her to join them on their travels which was how her career began – prior to that, and after graduating from Florida State with a degree in art, she’d been plugging away singing jingles for radio stations – the acronyms – you know “WKRP in Cincinnati”, that sort of thing!! The association with D&B led to her meeting, among others, Stephen Stills with whom she became romantically entangled, but then ditched not too much later for Graham Nash. Legend, urban or otherwise, says that the stuffed giraffe on Stills’ debut solo album cover had been a gift from Rita Coolidge, or that they had mutually acquired it while still together. It’s been the subject of much speculation, that red giraffe! She also joined Leon Russell and Joe Cocker on the ‘Mad Dogs and Englishmen’ tour which sounds like a completely debauched affair – no surprises there!



Later in life, having worked with Robbie Robertson on his project recording with Native American artists, and at his suggestion, she and her sister Priscilla and Priscilla’s daughter Laura Satterfield formed a group named Walela and recorded three albums honouring their Cherokee lineage, language and music. Tragically, in 2014, Priscilla was shot dead by her husband as she slept, after which he also put an end to his own miserable existence – an event which has taken a severe and lasting toll on the family, especially Rita who had been extraordinarily closely bonded with her oldest sibling.
 
She scooped up a couple of Grammy’s in her heyday and also made a Bond theme song … “All Time High” from Octopussy https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bFurkDf6WXg

This is a Walela song – from their debut eponymously title album … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AXEENirp6Cw

With Kristofferson … https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EACg8GoSm_4

And one of her best known, I would imagine … “We’re All Alone” – written by Boz Scaggs …

[James Otto Sweet Heart]

Happy 51st birthday to Tim McGraw!

God bless you and him always!!!

Holly

[Ruby]

Richie Furay was born on this day in 1944, in Yellow Springs, Ohio, USA. He was a member of Buffalo Springfield before co-founding Poco who are credited with pioneering country rock, and with whom he remained for five years, reuniting briefly with them a lot further down the line. "Kind Woman" is his best known song from that initial period - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8OZs_JbEDyY. 

He was also one third of the short-lived so-called country rock supergroup, The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band. In actual fact, until they settled into their best known line-ups, the Eagles, Poco and Firefall all seemed to have had a couple of interchangeable members at one stage or another! And Furay, although having moved off in a completely different direction to his original rock star pretensions (by becoming a pastor), maintains good relationships with his previous bandmates and fellow artists, contributing to a variety of releases over the years. He, Stills and Young reunited in 2011 for a tour (which was cut short, at great inconvenience to a whole lot of other people, by the volatile Mr Young who had suggested it in the first place!!), he’s on Jock Bartley’s fairly recent album, and has got together with Timothy B Schmidt and others for live performances here and there as well as recording a string of solo albums. Furay is known for his particularly clear singing voice, he’s a guitarist and he writes and arranges too.

Going with a Souther-Hillman-Furay number here (the band name doesn't exactly trip off the tongue does it??) ... 

[Ruby]

Neil Mullane Finn, OBE, is 60 today. Happy Birthday to him! Born on this day in 1958, in Te Awamutu, New Zealand, and somehow mysteriously missing from this thread up to now!

There’s not a lot to add to the extensive and comprehensive information already available on this site, courtesy of CRAZY-HORSE. All I can really say is that I love his most recent release, Out of Silence, that there seems to be a collaborative something in the works with son Liam, and that he’s recently joined Fleetwood Mac and will be touring with them ... http://www.neilfinn.com/news/

Links to threads that were sent underground …

https://www.music-discussion.com/showthr...p?tid=5491 - Neil and Tim Finn
https://www.music-discussion.com/showthr...p?tid=5445 – Split Enz
https://www.music-discussion.com/showthr...p?tid=5472 - Crowded House
https://www.music-discussion.com/showthr...p?tid=5908 – Pajama Club