Aitken, Laurel [real name Oliver Anthony Stephens] (1925–2005), singer, songwriter, and record producer, was born on 22 April 1925, in Jamaica, one of six children of a Jamaican father and a Cuban mother. His early years were spent in Havana, Cuba, but the family moved to ...
Article
Aitken, Laurel [real name Oliver Anthony Stephens] (1925–2005), singer, songwriter, and record producer
Steve Barker
Image
Amoo, Edward Robert [Eddy] (1944–2018)
Maker: unknown
In
Eddy Amoo (1944–2018), by unknown photographer, 1977
Alamy
Article
Amoo, Edward Robert [Eddy] (1944–2018), singer and songwriter
Spencer Leigh
Amoo, Edward Robert [Eddy] (1944–2018), singer and songwriter, was born on 5 May 1944 at the Smithdown Road Infirmary, 126 Smithdown Road, Liverpool, the son of Robert Ofei Amoo (1917–1989), an engine greaser in the merchant navy, and his wife, ...
Article
Barrett, Roger Keith [Syd] (1946–2006), musician and songwriter
Rikky Rooksby
Barrett, Roger Keith [Syd] (1946–2006), musician and songwriter, was born on 6 January 1946 at 60 Glisson Road, Cambridge, the fourth of five children of Arthur Max Barrett, medical practitioner, and his wife, Winifred Flack, née Heeps. Educated at the Cambridge and County High School for Boys...
Image
Barrett, Roger Keith [Syd] (1946–2006)
Maker: Gems
In
Audio
Barrett, Roger Keith [Syd], musician and songwriter (1946–2006)
In
Barrett, Roger Keith [Syd], musician and songwriter (1946–2006)
Article
Bart [formerly Begleiter], Lionel (1930–1999), song-writer and composer of musicals
Mark Wheeler
Bart [formerly Begleiter], Lionel (1930–1999), song-writer and composer of musicals, was born on 1 August 1930 at 24 Underwood Road in the East End of London to a Jewish family, the youngest of the eleven children of Morris Begleiter, a master tailor, and his wife, ...
Article
Boulton, Sir Harold Edwin, second baronet (1859–1935), songwriter and philanthropist
Anne Pimlott Baker
Boulton, Sir Harold Edwin, second baronet (1859–1935), songwriter and philanthropist, was born at Lower Woolwich Road, Charlton, Kent, on 7 August 1859, the elder son and third of eight children of Samuel Bagster Boulton (1830–1918), of Copped Hall, Totteridge, Hertfordshire, who was created baronet in 1905, and his wife, ...
Article
Brown, Errol Ainsworth Glenstor (1943–2015), singer and songwriter
Chloe Govan
Brown, Errol Ainsworth Glenstor (1943–2015), singer and songwriter, was born on 12 November 1943 in Kingston, Jamaica. The result of a teenage pregnancy, he barely knew his police officer father, Ivan Brown, from whom his mother Edna (d. 1963), a secretary, had become estranged shortly after his birth. Desperate to rescue her son from a cultural backdrop of poverty and gang violence, ...
Image
Brown, Errol Ainsworth Glenstor (1943–2015)
Maker: Fin Costello
In
Brown, Errol Ainsworth Glenstor (1943–2015), by Fin Costello, 1978
© Getty Images
Article
Browne, George Edric (1920–2007), singer, songwriter, and actor
Val Wilmer
Browne, George Edric (1920–2007), singer, songwriter, and actor, was born Edric Browne on 4 May 1920 in Corbeau Town, Port of Spain, Trinidad, the only son and youngest of three children of Ernest Browne, a government printer, and his wife, Frances, née Noriega...
Image
Browne, George Edric (1920–2007)
Maker: V. Wilmer
In
Article
Cameron, William [nicknamed Hawkie] (c. 1787–1851), pedlar and beggar
David M. Hopkin
Cameron, William [nicknamed Hawkie] (c. 1787–1851), pedlar and beggar, was probably born at St Ninians, Stirlingshire, the son of Dugald Cameron of Braemar, a mashman, and his wife, Janet Paterson. As members of the Burgher Secession church the family barely feature in parochial registers, so details of ...
Article
Campbell, Ian (1933–2012), folk singer and songwriter
Ken Hunt
Campbell, Ian (1933–2012), folk singer and songwriter, was born on 10 June 1933 at 89 Skene Street, Aberdeen, the son of David Dunn Campbell, fish worker and later a trade union official, and his wife, Isabella Armstrong, née Sutherland. He was the eldest of four children, followed by his brother, ...
Article
Campion, Thomas (1567–1620), poet and musician
David Lindley
Campion, Thomas (1567–1620), poet and musician, was born in London on 12 February 1567 and baptized on the following day at St Andrew's, Holborn, the second child of John Campion (d. 1576) and Lucy, née Searle (d. 1580), widow of Roger Trigg...
Article
Capaldi, Nicola James [Jim] (1944–2005), musician, singer, and songwriter
Ken Hunt
Capaldi, Nicola James [Jim] (1944–2005), musician, singer, and songwriter, was born on 2 August 1944 at 5 Avonside, Evesham, Worcestershire, the eldest of seven children of Nicola (Nicholas) Capaldi (1913–2005) and his wife, Marie, née Houchin (1913–1987). At the time of his birth registration the family lived at ...
Article
Carey, Henry (1687–1743), poet and songwriter
Suzanne Aspden
Carey, Henry (1687–1743), poet and songwriter, was born on or about 26 August 1687. The Gentleman's Magazine for July 1795 claimed he was the illegitimate son of George Savile, marquess of Halifax (1633–1695). Circumstantial evidence supports a Savile connection: three of Carey's sons were named ...
Article
Carr, Michael [real name Maurice Alfred Cohen] (1905–1968), songwriter
Derek B. Scott
Carr, Michael [real name Maurice Alfred Cohen] (1905–1968), songwriter, was born at 85 Portland Crescent, Leeds, on 11 March 1905. He was the son of Morris Cohen, cabinet-maker and boxer, known as Cockney Cohen, and an Irish mother, Gertrude Jane, née Beresford...
Article
Carrick, John Donald (1788–1837), songwriter and journalist
Jennett Humphreys
revised by Douglas Brown
Carrick, John Donald (1788–1837), songwriter and journalist, was born on 22 April 1788 at Glasgow, the son of Elizabeth Donald and William Carrick, a porter. His father was originally from Buchlyvie, Stirlingshire. He was put to work early in the office of a ...
Article
Carter, Sydney Bertram (1915–2004), songwriter and journalist
Ken Hunt
Carter, Sydney Bertram (1915–2004), songwriter and journalist, was born on 6 May 1915 at 36 St Paul's Road, Canonbury, London, the son of Bertram Rust Carter, a jeweller's sundryman's salesman, and his wife, Ada, née Jenner. He attended Montem Street school in Islington...