Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

Norman Jesse Whitfield
(May 12, 1940 – September 16, 2008)

was an American songwriter and producer, who worked with Berry Gordy's Motown labels during
the 1960s. He has been credited as one of the creators of the Motown Sound and of the late-1960s
subgenre of psychedelic soul. During his 25-year career, Whitfield co-wrote and produced many
enduring hits for Motown artists, including "Ain't Too Proud to Beg", "(I Know) I'm Losing You",
"I Heard It Through the Grapevine", "Cloud Nine", "I Can't Get Next to You", "War",
"Ball of Confusion (That's What the World Is Today)", "Just My Imagination (Running Away with Me)",
"Smiling Faces Sometimes", and "Papa Was a Rollin' Stone". Whitfield worked extensively with the
Temptations as a producer and songwriter, producing eight of their albums between 1969 and 1973.
He then started his own label, Whitfield Records, in 1975, which yielded the Rose Royce hit
"Car Wash". Alongside his Motown lyrical collaborator Barrett Strong, he was inducted into the
Songwriter's Hall of Fame in 2004. He wrote or co-wrote 61 hits on the UK charts and 92 on the
US charts. Whitfield was born and raised in Harlem, New York, and spent much of his teen years
in local pool halls.










William Lance Swan
(born May 12, 1942)

is an American country singer-songwriter, best known for his 1974 single "I Can Help".
Swan was born in Cape Girardeau, Missouri, United States. It was rumored that Swan worked
as a security guard at Graceland. While he was friends with one of the security guards he
never worked at Graceland. He then moved to Nashville, Tennessee, which enabled him to
write hit country songs for numerous artists, including Conway Twitty, Waylon Jennings,
and Mel Tillis. In 1969, Swan first took on the role of record producer, producing
Tony Joe White's Top Ten hit "Polk Salad Annie". Swan also played bass guitar for
Kris Kristofferson and then signed a solo recording deal with Monument Records.










Stephen Lawrence Winwood
(born 12 May 1948)

is an English musician, singer and songwriter whose genres include blue-eyed soul, rhythm and blues,
blues rock and pop rock. Though primarily a guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist prominent for
his distinctive, soulful high tenor voice, Winwood plays other instruments proficiently, including drums,
mandolin, bass and saxophone. Winwood was an integral member of three groups of the 1960s and
1970s: the Spencer Davis Group, Traffic and Blind Faith. Winwood was born on 12 May 1948 in
Handsworth, Birmingham.











William Haislip Squier
(born May 12, 1950)

is an American rock musician and singer who had a string of arena rock and crossover hits in the
early 1980s. His best-known songs include "The Stroke", "Lonely Is the Night", "My Kinda Lover",
"In the Dark", "Rock Me Tonite", "Everybody Wants You", "Emotions in Motion", "Love Is the Hero",
"Don't Say You Love Me" and "The Big Beat". Squier's best-selling album, 1981's Don't Say No, is
considered a landmark release within the arena rock genre, bridging the gap between power pop
and hard rock. Squier was born in Wellesley, Massachusetts.










Anthony Frank Hawk
(born May 12, 1968),

nicknamed Birdman, is an American professional skateboarder, entrepreneur, and the owner of the
skateboard company Birdhouse. A pioneer of modern vertical skateboarding, Hawk completed the
first documented "900" skateboarding trick in 1999. He also licensed a skateboarding video game
series named after him published by Activision that same year. He retired from competing
professionally in 2003 and is regarded as one of the most influential skateboarders of all time.
Tony Hawk was born on May 12, 1968, in San Diego, California, to Nancy (1924–2019) and
Frank Peter Rupert Hawk, and was raised in San Diego.