Died On This Date (May 31, 1967) Billy Strayhorn / Jazz Great
themusicsover Billy Strayhorn
November 29, 1915 – May 31, 1967
Billy Strayhorn was a jazz composer and musician who is most famous for his work alongside Duke Ellington. Strayhorn first became interested in music as a child while living with his grandmother. By the time he was high school, Strayhorn had formed a combo and was writing his first songs. One of which would eventually become one of his signature songs, “Lush Life.” Although more interested in classical music, Strayhorn set his sites on jazz, since it was next to impossible for a Black man to have a career playing classical music in those days. Strayhorn met Ellington after a show in 1938, impressing the man enough to hire him on as arranger and composer. They collaborated with each other for the next 25 years. Besides “Lush Life,” Strayhorn penned such classics as “Chelsea Bridge,” and “Take The A Train.” Billy Strayhorn died of esophageal cancer at the age of 51.
Born in Queens, Barry Lederer, started his DJ career while attending college in upstate New York. It was there that began throwing parties, entertaining guests with tapes he made from the radio. Lederer moved back to New York City after college and started hanging out a club called the Firehouse. After complaining to management about the music being played, he was given a shot at putting his money where his mouth was. Before long, he was drawing crowds of as many as 1500 on weekends. He soon became a popular draw at the gay clubs throughout New York’s Fire Island. Lederer also wrote a Disco column in Billboard magazine during the hieght of the era. He passed away of heart disease on May 31, 2008.
Brian Duffy was a respected London-born fashion photographer who made a handful of contributions to the history of popular music as well. He is perhaps best known for his cover shots for three David Bowie albums, the most iconic being Aladdin Sane. Throughout the ’50s and ’60s, Duffy worked with a who’s who of the top fashion models and celebrities, helping to create the “swinging London” ideal of the era. Over the course of his career, he photographed the likes of 
Johnnie Taylor was one of those rare talents who could adapt his style to fit whatever the current trend was looking for. He found success with gospel, soul, blues, doo wop, and disco. Taylor’s first break came in 1957 when he replaced 
Jazz innovator Herman Blount (aka Sun Ra)was born either in Birmingham, Alabama or on another planet, as he would like us to believe. Wherever he came from, his influence on contemporary music is as big as the persona he created. Hard Bop, Swing, Poet, Avant Garde, Big Band Leader, Philosopher, Pianist, Composer, Organist, Cosmic, Educator, Student, American, Extraterrestrial…are all words that make up Sun Ra. Much of Blount’s life remained a mystery for decades. What is known is that he was a skilled pianist in his early teens, and by his mid teens he was performing semi professionally. At twenty, he joined a touring group that he eventually took over and renamed the Sonny Blount Orchestra. Two years later the band was dissolved when he accepted a scholarship to Alabama A&M. It is said that while in college, Blount experienced some sort of mind altering event that would start him on the journey that would lead him to eventually become Sun Ra. He and his “Arkestra” stayed extremely active into the early ’90s, only slowing down when Blount suffered a stroke in 1990. Within a couple of years Sun Ra was too ill to go on so he moved back to Birmingham where he passed away while suffering from a bout of pneumonia. He was 79 (maybe!). Sun Ra been credited for being a direct influence on the likes of Sonic Youth, New York Dolls, George Clinton, King Crimson, Phish, 