Today in History and Celebrity Birthdays

Celebrity Birthdays for Sept. 18: Hockey Hall of Fame coach Scotty Bowman is 91. Gospel singer Bobby Jones is 85. Singer-actor Frankie Avalon is 84. Singer-songwriter Michael Franks is 80.

Celebrity Birthdays for Sept. 21: Don Preston, keyboards player with the Mothers of Invention from 1965-70, is 92. Country singer-songwriter Dickey Lee is 88. Author-comedian Fannie Flagg is 83. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer is 81.

Celebrity Birthdays for Sept. 19: Actress Rosemary Harris is 97. Singer Bill Medley of the Righteous Brothers is 84. Singer Sylvia Tyson of Ian and Sylvia is 84. Singer-songwriter Paul Williams is 84. Singer Freda Payne is 82.

Celebrity Birthdays for Sept. 20: Actress Sophia Loren is 90. Bassist Chuck Panozzo (Styx) is 76. Game of Thrones author George R. R. Martin is 76. Actor Tony Denison is 75. Jazz guitarist Peter White is 70.

Celebrity Birthdays for Sept. 17: Singer LaMonte McLemore of the Fifth Dimension is 89. Basketball Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson is 79. Singer Fee Waybill of The Tubes is 74. Narendra Modi, Prime Minister of India, is 74.

Celebrity Birthdays for Sept. 16: Actor George Chakiris ("West Side Story") is 92. Bluesman Billy Boy Arnold is 89. Movie director Jim McBride is 83. Actress Linda Miller is 82. Bernie Calvert, bass guitarist with the Hollies, is 82.

Today in Music History for Sept. 28: In 1928, the Victor Recording Co. organized the first commercial recording session in Nashville.

Today in Music History for Sept. 22: In 1929, Canadian composer and conductor Serge Garant was born in Quebec City. He died in 1986. In 1958, "To Know Him is to Love Him" by "The Teddy Bears" entered the Billboard Hot 100.

Today in Music History for Sept. 24: In 1941, Linda McCartney was born in Scarsdale, N.Y. She married Paul McCartney in 1969, soon after he broke up with Jane Asher.

Today in Music History for Sept. 23: In 1926, jazz saxophonist John Coltrane was born in Hamlet, N.C.