On This Day

August 1942 in Music History

Events in Music

  • Aug 1 American Federation of Musicians labor union begins a strike over royalty payment disagreements, refusing to perform on commercial recordings. ban lasts over two years

Historic Siege

Aug 9 Dmitri Shostakovich's 7th Symphony, dedicated to city of Leningrad, performed in Leningrad by starving musicians and broadcast to German forces over loudspeakers during siege by Nazi forces

Dmitri Shostakovich
Composer Dmitri Shostakovich

Birthdays in Music

  • Aug 1 André Gagnon, French Canadian pianist and composer, born in Saint-Pacôme-de-Kamouraska, Quebec (d. 2020)

Jerry GarciaJerry Garcia (1942-1995)

Aug 1 American rock and bluegrass guitarist, singer-songwriter (Grateful Dead - "Uncle John's Band"; "Ripple"; "Brokedown Palace"), and painter, born in San Francisco, California

Jerry Garcia
  • Aug 5 Chuck Day (also known as "Bing" Day), American session guitarist, bassist and blues performer, born in Chicago, Illinois (d. 2008)
  • Aug 5 Rick Huxley, British rock guitarist (Dave Clark Five - "Glad All Over"), born in Dartford, England (d. 2013)
  • Aug 7 B.J. Thomas, American singer ("Raindrops Keep Fallin' On My Head"; "Hooked On A Feeling"; "Growing Pains Theme"), born in Hugo, Oklahoma (d. 2021)
  • Aug 7 Caetano Veloso, Brazilian Tropicalismo singer-songwriter, and guitarist, born in Santo Amaro, Brazil
  • Aug 7 David Rubinson, American sound engineer, record producer (Herbie Hancock; Santana; The Pointer Sisters; The Clancy Brothers), and film producer, born in Brooklyn, New York City
  • Aug 8 Jay David, rocker (Dr Hook & Medicine Show)
  • Aug 8 Vardo Rumessen, Estonian classical pianist, musicologist, politician, and independence advocate, born in Pärnu, Estonian SSR, USSR (d. 2015)
  • Aug 9 Jack DeJohnette, American Jazz drummer (Skyline), born in Chicago, Illinois
  • Aug 10 Norbert Putnam, American session bassist (Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section), and record producer (Jimmy Buffett; Dan Fogelberg; Joan Baez), born in Florence, Alabama
  • Aug 11 Mike Hugg, British rock drummer (Manfred Mann - "Mighty Quinn"), and film composer (Up The Junction), born in Gosport, Hampshire, England
  • Aug 13 (Frank) "Son" Seals, American electric blues guitarist and singer (Nothing But the Truth), born in Osceola, Arkansas (d. 2004)
  • Aug 13 Sheila Armstrong, English soprano, born in Ashington, Northumberland
  • Aug 15 Peter York, British rock drummer (Spencer Davis Group), born in Redcar, Yorkshire
  • Aug 17 John Tyrrell, British musicologist (Leoš Janáček; The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians), born in Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia (now Harare, Zimbabwe) (d. 2018)
  • Aug 17 Tommy West [Picardo], American record producer (Jim Croce; Anne Murray), and singer-songwriter, born in Jersey City, New Jersey (d. 2021)

Isaac HayesIsaac Hayes (1942-2008)

Aug 20 American musician and composer ("Shaft"), born in Covington, Tennessee

Isaac Hayes
  • Aug 23 Patricia McBride, American ballerina (New York City Ballet, 1959-89), artistic director and ballet master (Charlotte Ballet), born in Teaneck, New Jersey
  • Aug 24 Joe Chambers, American rock guitarist and vocalist (Chambers Brothers), born in Los Angeles, California
  • Aug 25 Walter Williams, American rock vocalist (O'Jays - "Love Train"; Use Ta Be My Girl"), born in Canton, Ohio
  • Aug 26 Keith Alison, American session and touring guitarist (Paul Revere and The Raiders, 1968-75), and songwriter, born in Coleman, Texas (d. 2021)
  • Aug 26 Vic Dana [Samuel Mendola], American singer and dancer ("Red Roses For A Blue Lady"), born in Buffalo, New York
  • Aug 27 "Chip" Douglas [Hatlelid], American songwriter, arranger, bassist (The Turtles, 1966-67 -"Happy Together"), and record producer (The Monkees), born in San Francisco, California
  • Aug 27 Daryl Dragon, American keyboardist (Captain & Tennille - "Love Will Keep Us Together"), born in Pasadena, California (d. 2019)
  • Aug 29 Sterling Morrison, American rock guitarist (Velvet Underground - "Sweet Jane"), born in East Meadow, New York (d. 1995)

Deaths in Music

  • Aug 4 Alberto Franchetti, Italian composer, dies at 81
  • Aug 11 Richard Heinrich Stein, German composer, and music theorist (La musica moderna), dies at 60
  • Aug 18 Erwin Schulhoff, Czech-Russian composer and pianist (Ogelala), dies of tuberculosis at 48 in a German concentration camp in Wülzburg, Bavaria
  • Aug 22 Henry Eichheim, American violinist, composer, organologist, and ethno-musicologist dies at 72
  • Aug 22 Mikhail Fokine, Russian ballet dancer and choreographer, dies at 62
  • Aug 25 Panayot Pipkov, Bulgarian bandmaster, composer, pedagogue, and (with his son) Antarctic glacier namesake, dies at 70

Famous Musicians

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