Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for September 8th

Na-na-na-na-na-nahhhhh-na-na! You say it's your birthday...

9/08/1932 - Born this date in Winchester, Virgina, one of the most successful, influential and acclaimed female vocalists of the 20th century -- the first female solo artist to be inducted into the Country Music Hall Of Fame -- give it up for the truly legendary Patsy Cline! Her run of classic hits began in 1957 with "Walkin' After Midnight", "I Fall To Pieces", Willie Nelson's "Crazy", and ending in 1963 with Don Gibson's "Sweet Dreams". Tragically, Patsy died at the height of her career in a plane crash on March 5, 1963. She was 30 years old.

9/08/1945 - Born on this date, Ron McKernan, who, in the early 1960's, started a rock band as front man, playing harmonica and keyboards and singing in a beautiful blues style; affectionately nicknamed "Pigpen" for his funky approach to life and sanitation. That band started out as The Warlocks, then soon became known as The Grateful Dead. Like other notable rock artists before him (Jim Morrison, Jimi Hendrix and Janis Joplin), Ron was just 27 years old when he died on March 8, 1973. The rock and roll lifestyle finally caught up with Pigpen: cause of death -- cirrhosis of the liver.

9/08/1955 - Born on this date, Benjamin Orr, bassist and co-lead vocalist for The Cars. Benjamin Orzechowski started out as lead singer/guitarist for Cleveland, Ohio outfit The Grasshoppers in 1964 when he met up with songwriter Ric Ocasek. The two moved to Boston in 1973, first as a folk music act called Milkwood; they switched to rock and roll when keyboadist Greg Hawkes joined to form the band Richard And The Rabbits. Add in guitarist Elliott Easton for another name change to Cap'n Swing, then change drummers -- when David Robinson joins as drummer, they become...The Cars; that's Ben's fantastic voice singing lead on Cars classics like "Just What I Needed", "Let's Go", "Bye Bye Love", "It's All I Can Do" and "Drive". Ben died from pancreatic cancer on October 3, 2000. He was 45 years old.

Any suggestions for the Calendar? Let us know right here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"As soon as you get it/You want something new...", xoxo!