| 1829 | Louis Moreau Gottschalk, A composer and pianist and native of New Orleans, Louisiana. He was a virtuoso performer of his own romantic piano works. From an early age he was recognized as a wunderkind by the New Orleans bourgeois establishment. In 1840, he gave his informal public debut at the new St. Charles Hotel. His music was very popular during his lifetime, and his earliest compositions created a sensation in Europe. Early pieces like "Le Bananier" and "Bamboula" were based on Gottschalk's memories of the music he heard during his youth in Louisiana. Gottschalk chose to travel to South America, where he continued to give frequent concerts. During one of these concerts, in Rio de Janeiro on November 24, 1869, he collapsed from having contracted malaria. He passed away in 1869 at the age of 40.
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| 1910 | Mary Lou Williams, To say that she had a long and productive career is an understatement. Although for decades she was often called jazz's greatest female musician (a pianist), she would have been considered a major artist no matter what her sex. She died in 1981.
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| 1925 | Luke (Long Gone) Miles, A blues singer and a native of Lachute, Louisiana. He spent his early years working on a cotton plantation. In 1952, he went to Houston to meet Lightnin' Hopkins. He played and recorded with Hopkins for about 10 years. In the early 60's he went to LA and recorded sparingly until 1970, when he quit music completely. He passed away in November 1987 at the age of 65.
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| 1940 | Ricky Nelson, Singer who was one of the very biggest of the '50s teen idols, so it took awhile for him to attain the same level of critical acclaim as other early rock greats. Yet now the consensus is that he made some of the finest pop/rock recordings of his era... - "I'm Walkin'". He died in 1985.
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| 1941 | John Fred Gourrier, A singer and native of Baton Rouge, Louisiana. He was the front man for the blue-eyed soul outfit John Fred & His Playboy Band were among the biggest one-hit wonders of the 1960s, topping the Billboard charts with their tongue-in-cheek Beatles homage "Judy in Disguise (With Glasses)." John died in 2005 in New Orleans at the age of 63.
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| 1943 | Toni Tenille, Singer in the 70's popular group calle "The Captain and Tenille" - "Love Will Keep Us Together".
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| 1944 | Gary Glitter, Rock singer in the 1960's and 70's - "I'm The Leader of the Gang".
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| 1945 | Keith Jarrett, One of the most significant pianists to emerge since the 1960s, Keith Jarrett's career has gone through several phases.
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