… of D.J. Fontana, Elvis Presley’s drummer for 14 years, is 77.
… of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg. She’s 75.
… of Judd Hirsch. He’s 73.
… of Beach Boy Mike Love. He’s 67. Love is the cousin of brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson.
Subsequently, the band has intermittently released new albums and toured like clockwork every summer while making headlines for various extracurricular mishaps: the accidental drowning death of Dennis Wilson in 1983; the legal battles over Brian’s conservatorship between elements in the Beach Boys’ camp and his control-oriented (and since-deposed) psychologist, Eugene Landy; and Mike Love’s lawsuit against Brian, wherein he claimed to have coauthored certain Beach Boys songs credited to Brian alone. Burdened by these and myriad other subplots, the Beach Boys at time seemed to be rock and roll’s longest-running soap opera. At the same time, they’ve been responsible for some of the most perfect harmonies and gorgeous melodies in rock and roll history, and it is for this vast accumulation of timeless music for which they will ultimately be remembered and celebrated.
… of Sylvester Stewart. He’s 65.
Sly and the Family Stone took the Sixties ideal of a generation coming together and turned it into deeply groove-driven music. Rock’s first integrated, multi-gender band became funky Pied Pipers to the Woodstock Generation, synthesizing rock, soul, R&B, funk and psychedelia into danceable, message-laden, high-energy music. In promoting their gospel of tolerance and celebration of differences, Sly and the Family Stone brought disparate audiences together during the latter half of the Sixties. The group’s greatest triumph came at the Woodstock Festival in August 1969. During their unforgettable nighttime set, leader Sly Stone initiated a fevered call-and-response with the audience of 400,000 during an electrifying version of “I Want to Take You Higher.”
… of Ry Cooder. He’s 61.
He is known for his slide guitar work, his interest in the American roots music, and, more recently, for his collaborations with traditional musicians from many countries. Cooder was ranked number 8 on Rolling Stone’s “The 100 Greatest Guitarists of All Time.”
… of Eva Longoria Parker, desperate at turning 33.
Andrew Jackson, the seventh president of the U.S., was born on this date in 1767.