December 12, 1940 Marie Dionne Warwick, singer and activist, was born in East Orange, New Jersey. Warwick began singing gospel as a child and sang her first solo at the age of 6. In 1958, she and other members formed the Gospelaires which in their first performance together won the weekly amateur contest at the [...]
Archive | December 12, 2011
December 12th in African American History – Ike Wister Turner
December 12, 2007 Ike Wister Turner, bandleader and record producer, died. Turner was born November 5, 1931 in Clarksdale, Mississippi. His music career began in the late 1940s when he formed a group called The Kings of Rhythm. In 1951, the band recorded “Rocket 88” which many historians recognize as the first rock and roll [...]