B.W. Stevenson (Born Lewis Stevenson)
October 5, 1949 – April 28, 1988
Born in Dallas, Texas, B.W. Stevenson was singer-songwriter of country pop songs. He had one big hit, 1973’s “My Maria,” which reached #9 on the Billboard pop singles chart. The song became a #1 country hit for Brook & Dunn in 1996. Stevenson died while undergoing heart valve surgery on April 28, 1988. He was 38.
Tom “Big Daddy” Donahue
May 21, 1928 – April 28, 1975
Tom Donahue was a ground breaking disc jockey who took a San Francisco foreign language station and transformed it into America’s first “free form” station which would become the model for FM album oriented stations across the country. Donahue started his radio career in South Carolina in 1949, but moved to the Bay Area after the payola scandal where he started a record label for the Beau Brummels who he discovered and managed. e also produced concerts and opened a psychedelic club. In 1972, he became the GM of KSAN and encouraged the on-air talent to dig deep into the albums, play songs from different genres and eras, and inject political commentary. The station became an instant hit with the counter-culture, so Donuhue and his wife, Raechel Donahue successfully brought his idea to Los Angeles stations, KPPC and future legend, KMET. Similar stations spread across the country through the rest of the ‘70s. Donahue suffered a fatal heart attack on April 28, 1975.
Charley Patton
DOB Unknown – April 28, 1934
If Delta Blues has a flash point, it was most likely Charley Patton. His gritty voice, passionate singing and flashy guitar playing made him a local celebrity throughout the juke joints and plantation dances of the 1920s South. He’s influenced no less than John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters and Robert Johnson. As stated at allmusic.com, “He epitomized the image of a ’20s sport blues singer: rakish, raffish, easy to provoke, capable of downing massive quantities of food and liquor, a woman on each arm, with a flashy, expensive-looking guitar fitted with a strap and kept in a traveling case by his side, only to be opened up when there was money or good times involved.” Charley Patton was indeed the blues’ first superstar. He died of heart failure on April 28, 1934. Although his actual date of birth remains a mystery, most believe he was 34 when he died.
Ron O’Brien
October 24, 1951 – April 27, 2008
Big Ron O’Brien was a popular disc jockey who in recent years could be heard in the afternoons on Philadelphia rock station, WOGL 98.1. O’Brien’s love for radio began in high school where he worked at the school’s station, and soon thereafter, he was spinning records at Kansas City’s KUDL. Over the rest of his career, O’Brien worked at such stations as KISS in Los Angeles, WRKO in Boston, WCAR in Detroit, and WNBC in New York where he worked alongside Howard Stern. Ron O’Brien died of complications from pneumonia on April 27, 2008. He was 56.
Al Hirt
November 7, 1922 – April 27, 1999
Al Hirt was given his first trumpet at six and by sixteen, he and friend Pete Fountain were already playing professionally around New Orleans. After a tour of duty as a bugler in WWII, went to work in various swing bands, backing the likes of Benny Goodman, Tommy Dorsey and Jimmy Dorsey. He settled back in New Orleans by the ’50s, becoming an integral part of the city and its musical heritage. Over the next two decades, more than twenty of his albums appeared on the Billboard pop charts. One of Hirt’s other loves was football, and in 1967, he became a minority owner of the New Orleans Saints. Al Hirt died at 76 of liver failure after spending a year in a wheelchair due to edema in his leg.
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