Events in 1919
- George Shearing was born in the Battersea district of London. He later became a British jazz pianist and composer, known among other works for the jazz compositions “Lullaby of Birdland” and “Conception”.
- Jazz singer Frieda Lipschitz, known professionally as Georgia Gibbs, was born in Worcester, Massachusetts. She became famous for hits such as “Kiss of Fire”, “Dance With Me Henry (Wallflower)” and “If I Knew You Were Comin' I'd've Baked a Cake”.
- Jazz saxophonist Irv Williams was born.
- American country singer and songwriter Ellen Muriel Deason, known as Kitty Wells and the “Queen of Country Music”, was born in Nashville, Tennessee. Her 1952 hit “It Wasn’t God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels” made her the first female country singer to reach No. 1 on the US country chart and the first female country star. Wells died on July 16, 2012, at the age of 92.
- English singer Teddy Johnson was born. With his wife Pearl Carr, he formed an English husband-and-wife singing duo that was popular in the 1950s and early 1960s. They represented the United Kingdom at the 1959 Eurovision Song Contest and finished second with “Sing, Little Birdie.”
- American jazz drummer and bandleader Art Blakey, also known as Arthur Blakey, was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He worked with leading bebop musicians, including Thelonious Monk, Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie. In the mid-1950s, he co-founded the Jazz Messengers with Horace Silver and led the group for approximately 35 years. The band also became famous for helping develop young jazz talent. Blakey died of lung cancer on October 16, 1990, at the age of 71.