Today's Famous Birthdays

[IceWizard]

Edward Kennedy "Duke" Ellington
(April 29, 1899 – May 24, 1974)

was an American jazz pianist, composer, and leader of his eponymous jazz orchestra from 1923
through the rest of his life. Born and raised in Washington, D.C., Ellington was based in New York City
from the mid-1920s and gained a national profile through his orchestra's appearances at the
Cotton Club in Harlem. A master at writing miniatures for the three-minute 78 rpm recording format,
Ellington wrote or collaborated on more than one thousand compositions; his extensive body of
work is the largest recorded personal jazz legacy, and many of his pieces have become standards.
He also recorded songs written by his bandsmen, such as Juan Tizol's "Caravan", which brought
a Spanish tinge to big band jazz.










Willie Hugh Nelson
(born April 29, 1933)

is an American singer, songwriter, musician, political activist and actor. He was one of the main figures
of outlaw country, a subgenre of country music that developed in the late 1960s as a reaction to the
conservative restrictions of the Nashville sound. The critical success of his album Shotgun Willie (1973),
combined with the critical and commercial success of Red Headed Stranger (1975) and Stardust (1978),
made Nelson one of the most recognized artists in country music. Nelson has acted in over 30 films,
co-authored several books, and has been involved in activism for the use of biofuels and
the legalization of marijuana. Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas, on April 29, 1933, the son of
Ira Doyle Nelson and Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw). His birthday was incorrectly recorded by
Dr. F. D. Sims as April 30. In 1990, Nelson's assets were seized by the Internal Revenue Service, which
claimed that he owed $32 million. The difficulty of paying his outstanding debt was aggravated by
weak investments he had made during the 1980s. In 1992, Nelson released The IRS Tapes:
Who'll Buy My Memories?; the profits of the double album—destined to the IRS—and the auction
of Nelson's assets cleared his debt.

*Footnote
After the auction, everyone "donated" what they bought back to Willie. I was there










Bernard Lawrence Madoff
(April 29, 1938 – April 14, 2021)

was an American fraudster and financier who was the mastermind of the largest Ponzi scheme in
history, worth about $64.8 billion. He was at one time chairman of the Nasdaq stock exchange.
Madoff's firm had two basic units: a stock brokerage and an asset management business; the
Ponzi scheme was centered in the asset management business.









Tommy James
(born Thomas Gregory Jackson; April 29, 1947),

also known as Tommy Tadger, is an American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer,
widely known as frontman of the 1960s rock band Tommy James and the Shondells, who were
known for their hits including "Mony Mony" and "Crimson and Clover". Born in Dayton, Ohio,
James and his family later moved to Niles, Michigan. He was a child model at the age of four.
In 1959, at the age of twelve, he formed the band "The Echoes", which eventually became
"Tom and the Tornadoes". In 1964 the band changed its name to The Shondells.










Ralph Dale Earnhardt Sr.
(April 29, 1951 – February 18, 2001)

was an American professional stock car driver and team owner, who raced from 1975 to 2001 in
the former NASCAR Winston Cup Series (now called the NASCAR Cup Series), most notably driving
the No. 3 Chevrolet for Richard Childress Racing. His aggressive driving style earned him the
nicknames "The Intimidator", "The Man in Black" and "Ironhead"; after his son Dale Earnhardt Jr.
joined the Cup Series circuit in 1999, Earnhardt was generally known by the retronym
Dale Earnhardt Sr. He is regarded as one of the greatest drivers in NASCAR history.
Ralph Dale Earnhardt was born on April 29, 1951, in the Charlotte suburb of Kannapolis, North Carolina,
as the third child of Martha (née Coleman, 1930–2021) and Ralph Earnhardt (1928-1973).








David Vaughan Icke
(born 29 April 1952)

is an English conspiracy theorist and a former footballer and sports broadcaster. He has written
over 20 books, self-published since the mid-1990s, and spoken in more than 25 countries.
The middle son of three boys born seven years apart, Icke was born in Leicester General Hospital
to Beric Vaughan Icke and Barbara J. Cooke, who were married in Leicester in 1951. Beric Icke
served in the Royal Air Force as a medical orderly during World War II, and after the war
became a clerk in the Gents clock factory.










Michelle Marie Pfeiffer
(born April 29, 1958)

is an American actress. A prolific performer whose screen career spans over four decades, she
became one of Hollywood's most bankable stars during the 1980s and 1990s, as well as one of
the era's most popular sex symbols. The recipient of various accolades, she has received a
Golden Globe Award and a British Academy Film Award, in addition to nominations for three
Academy Awards and a Primetime Emmy Award. In 2007, she was awarded a motion picture
star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. Michelle Marie Pfeiffer was born on April 29, 1958, in
Santa Ana, California, the second of four children of Donna Jean (née Taverna; 1932–2018),
a housewife, and Richard Pfeiffer (1933–1998), an air-conditioning contractor.










Mike Hogan
born April 29, 1973.

He is an actor, known for A Bad Moms Christmas (2017), Mix Tape (2003) and The Cranberries:
Promises (1999). He has been married to Siobhan since July 6, 1998. They have two children.
The Cranberries were an Irish rock band formed in Limerick, Ireland. Originally named the
Cranberry Saw Us, the band were formed in 1989 by lead singer Niall Quinn, guitarist Noel Hogan,
bassist Mike Hogan and drummer Fergal Lawler. Quinn was replaced as lead singer by
Dolores O'Riordan in 1990 and they changed their name to the Cranberries. The band classified
themselves as an alternative rock group, but incorporated aspects of indie rock, jangle pop,
dream pop, folk rock, post-punk and pop rock into their sound.