Tommy’s Coffee Break Calendar for January 19th

Remembering three classic artists all born on this date...

1/19/1939 - Born on this day, Phil Everly, half of the legendary and highly influential vocal duo The Everly Brothers: they scored no less than 15 U.S. Top 20 singles between 1957 and 1962, including the Number One's "Wake Up Little Susie" , "All I Have To Do Is Dream" and "Cathy's Clown" -- their style of harmonizing was deeply admired by The Beatles and Simon & Garfunkel, who both consistently pointed out the Everly's talents, always raving about how much the Brothers' music meant to them. Sadly, the same old story though: after years of smoking cigarettes, Phil died just a couple of weeks before his 75th birthday from lung disease.

1/19/1943 - Born on this day in Port Arthur, Texas, the one and only "Queen Of Psychedelic Soul", the fantastic Janis Lyn Joplin. Initially rising to fame as the lead singer for Big Brother And The Holding Company, her talent was too big to stay with the burgeoning San Francisco acid scene, so Janis went solo and formed her own backing groups, The Kozmic Blues Band and The Full Tilt Boogie Band. Her performance at the Monterey Pop Festival (1967) quickly (and rightly) became the stuff of legend. Unfortunately, Janis was never able to shake her demons or find true love -- she died October 4, 1970, at age 27; fans were stunned and the music world was shocked as Janis' passing occurred just sixteen days after Jimi Hendrix died, also at age 27. Her only Number One hit was the posthumous "Me And Bobby McGee". Unforgettable chops. Just watch her kick Tom Jones' ass here:

1/19/1949 - Born on this date, one of the most versatile vocalists and stylists in all of rock, Robert Palmer. There really wasn't any kind of music that he couldn't sing: soul, reggae, hard blues, ballads, jazz, electronic dance -- Robert cut 'em all with a grace and ease that meant most of his recorded works and live performances were (unfortunately) taken for granted. Though he was best known for his worldwide smash "Addicted To Love", you really owe it to yourself to check out the albums "Sneakin' Sally Through The Alley" (1974, with most of Little Feat as his backing band) and "Clues" (from 1980, one of the era's most danceable/infectious party records). Sadly passed away too soon: on September 26, 2003, Robert unexpectedly died in a Paris hotel room from cardiac arrest -- he was only 54 years old.

Share your etc.'s and so on's with the Calendar here on our web site and on the WBLM Facebook and Twitter pages with the hashtag #TommysCoffeeBreak.

"If there's some left for you/You don't mind if you do...", xoxo!