Meet famous people born in August. Barack Obama, Madonna, Whitney Houston, Michael Jackson, Tim Tebow, Ingrid Bergman, Halle Berry, Tony Bennett, Jack Black, Coco Chanel, and Andy Warhol are just some of the names you'll find share an August birthday.
Spanning jazz to soul to funk, to more contemporary genres like R&B, rap and pop, African-American musicians are responsible for chart-topping hits like "I Feel Good," "Respect," "Georgia on My Mind," "Let The Good Times Roll," "Good Golly Miss Molly" and "Thriller." Explore our collection of famous black musicians, including Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner, B.B. King, Duke Ellington, James Brown, Little Richard, Beyoncé Knowles, and more.
The first Grammy Awards ceremony was held in 1959, after Walk of Fame recording executives compiled a list of industry leaders who they realized would never get a star on Hollywood Boulevard, but deserved recognition. The group helped found the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences, and named their award the "Grammy" as a nod to Edison's gramophone. Since then, hundreds of music industry members have received Grammys for their notable accomplishments in the field of music and recording. Here are the many winners of this now-prestigious award.
With its roots in the blues, jazz has been referred to as America's classical music, yet has also become a major global phenomenon, branching off into a variety of forms. Earlier pioneers like Scott Joplin and Jelly Roll Morton paved the way for the swinging big-band sounds of Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington. In contrast, contemporaries Dizzie Gillespie, Charlie Parker and Thelonious Monk developed bebop, with its speedy, dissonant harmonies and improvisations. And Miles Davis heralded the birth of cool jazz, modal jazz and fusion at different points in his career. Famous jazz instrumentalists have tended to be male, yet women have been at the forefront of the genre when it comes to vocalization, from the brassy blues of Bessie Smith to the haunting eclecticism of Nina Simone.
Take a look at famous people named Bill, such as Bill Gates, Bill Maher, and Bill Cosby.
View famous people who died in 1980 such as Alfed Hitchcock, Colonel Harland Sanders, and Mohammed Hatta.
Meet famous people such as Johnny Cash, Dorothy Dandridge, James Dean, Grace Kelly, Jimi Hendrix, and Steve Irwin, who died in the month of September.
Browse notable pianists such as Ray Charles, Ludwig van Beethoven, and Sun Ra.