Oct. 7: Toni Braxton is 43 today.

R&B singer-songwriter Toni Michelle Braxton (has won six Grammy Awards in her career and has sold 40 million records worldwide.

Braxton and her four sisters (Traci, Trina, Towanda, and Tamar) began performing as The Braxtons in the late 1980s and were signed to Arista Records in 1989. Their first single, "Good Life," was released in 1990. Though the song was not successful, it attracted the attention of Antonio "L.A." Reid and Kenneth "Babyface" Edmonds.

Braxton topped the Billboard 200 with her 1993 self-titled debut album and continued that streak with her second studio album Secrets, which spawned the number-one hits "You're Makin' Me High" and "Un-Break My Heart."

Despite her recording success, Braxton filed for bankruptcy, then returned with her chart-topping third album, The Heat. In 2009, she returned to the spotlight with "Yesterday," a #2 R&B hit and the first single off her new album Pulse, released in May 2010,debuted at #1 on Billboard and remained there for four weeks.

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Braxton was involved in the 7th season of the reality show "Dancing with the Stars." She and her partner, Alex Mazo, were voted off in week five of the competition.

(Follow links below to view You Tube Videos:)

-- "You're Makin' Me High"

-- "Unbreak my Heart"

-- "Yesterday"

Oct.6: "Pink Ranger" and singer Amy Jo Johnson is 40 today.

Amy Jo Johnson, who was born in Dennis, Massachusetts, is best known for her roles as Kimberly Ann Hart, the first Pink Ranger of the "Power Rangers franchise" (as in Mighty Morphin Power Rangers,) and as Julie Emrick on The WB's college drama "Felicity."

On "Felicity," Amy played a college freshman who becomes the best friend to the star of The show. Her character was originally cast as a dancer, but Johnson managed to convince the producers to turn the role into that of a singer and guitarist, which eventually led Johnson to being able to play a song of her own composition, titled "Puddle of Grace." The song was added to the show's official soundtrack.

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-- Mighty Morphing Power Rangers The Movie

-- "Puddle of Grace"

-- "Clear Blue Day"

   

Her debut album performed with her band, The Amy Jo Johnson Band was titled "The Trans-American Treatment." Amy dropped the band and limited the instrumental presence in her shows to her acoustic guitar and her voice. She released another album titled "Imperfect" in March 2005.

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Puddle of Grace

Imperfect

Dancing Inbetween

Her musical talent led to her starring in the movie Sweetwater: A True Rock Story, a biography about the life of singer Nancy Nevins and Sweetwater, who were the first band to play at the Woodstock festival.

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As for her "Pink Power Ranger role": Amy became interested in gymnastics and after training for years, decided to aim for the Olympic Games. She eventually reached Class One and participated in competitions hosted in the United States and Europe in all four events: uneven bars, vault, beam and floor. She was forced to abandon gymnastics following a severe injury.

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Oct. 6: David Hidalgo of "Los Lobos" is 56 today.

David Hidalgo & Linda Ronstadt

Singer-songwriter David Hidalgo, born in Gila, Arizona, is best known for being a member of the American Chicano rock band Los Lobos, which means "The Wolves" in English.

Los Lobos are three-time Grammy Award winners. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country music, folk, R&B, blues, and traditional Spanish and Mexican music such as boleros and norteños. Mexican-American roots-rock group Los Lobos has been performing and releasing albums since the late 1970s. In addition to guitar, Hidalgo also plays the accordion, violin, 6-string banjo, cello, requinto jarocho, percussion and drums.

(Follow links below to view You Tube Videos:)

-- "Don't Worry Baby"

-- "Evangeline"

--"Fiesta Latina"

Hidalgo is also a member of the supergroup Los Super Seven and of the Latin Playboys, a side project band made up of some of the members of Los Lobos. David formed another side project band with Mike Halby of Canned Heat, called Houndog.

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Oct. 6: Millie Small - "My Boy Lollipop" - is 64 today.

Millie - born Millicent Dolly May Small in 1946 - is a Jamaican singer-songwriter, often known as "Little Millie Small." her biggest hit was hit, "My Boy Lollipop," which she recorded in 1964 when she was 18 years-old.

In her teens, Millie was part of a duo with Roy Panton who recorded under the name "Roy and Millie." They had a minor local hit with "We'll Meet".

In 1963 she went to Forest Hill, London to make a recording of "My Boy Lollipop", which had been released by Barbie Gaye in late 1956. Small's cover was a massive hit, reaching number two both in the UK Singles Chart and in the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. It also topped the chart in Australia. Initially it sold over 600,000 copies and the record has since sold more than seven million copies worldwide.

Small is credited as the first artist to have a hit recorded in the bluebeat style - a music genre that had recently emerged from Jamaica, and which, as with ska, was a direct ancestor of reggae. On the single's label in the U.S. Millie was billed as "The Blue Beat Girl."

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Millie continued to tour and perform up to the early 1970s but never had another major hit record.

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Oct. 5: Colin Meloy, lead singer and songwriter for The Decemberists is 36 years-old today.

Colin Patrick Henry Meloy was born in Helena, Montana. Meloy attended the University of Oregon in Eugene for two years, studying English, before returning to Montana and enrolling in the creative writing program at the University of Montana in Missoula.

In high school, Meloy was a member of the band Happy Cactus. In college, he was the lead singer and songwriter for Tarkio. Both were indie/folk/alternative country bands.

After college, Meloy moved to Portland. There he started going to open mics, and "... sometimes with no one else in the room save the bartender," he said during a 2009 interview,  "... However, when I was in that position, with nobody to appeal to or scare away, I thought, ‘I might as well do whatever I want to do, and that created a new thing."

In Portland, Meloy met future Decemberists bandmates Jenny Conlee and Nate Query. In addition to vocals, Colin performs with an acoustic guitar, 12-string acoustic guitar, electric guitar, bouzouki, percussion and interpretive hand gestures. The other members of the band are Chris Funk (guitar, multi-instrumentalist), Jenny Conlee (hammond organ, accordion, melodica, piano, keyboards, harmonica), Nate Query (bass guitar, string bass), and John Moen (drums, backing vocals, melodica, guitar).

The band's debut EP, 5 Songs, was self-released in 2001. Their sixth full-length album, The King Is Dead, was released in January 2011, by Capitol Records. It was the band's third record with the label.

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In addition to their lyrics, which often focus on historical incidents and/or folklore, The Decemberists are also well known for their eclectic live shows. Audience participation is often a part of each performance, typically during encores. The band stages whimsical reenactments of sea battles and other centuries-old events, typically of regional interest, or acts out songs with members of the crowd.

In 2004, Meloy wrote a 100-page book on The Replacements' third album, Let It Be, released as part of the 33⅓ series. In 2005, he went on his first solo tour to support the self-released six-song EP, Colin Meloy Sings Morrissey, consisting of six Morrissey covers. Only 1000 copies of the album were made and they were sold only on this tour.

Meloy did a second solo tour in January 2006, playing with Laura Veirs and Amy Annelle. On this tour, he sold an EP featuring covers of British folk artist Shirley Collins. 2006 tour performances were recorded for a live release.

Meloy contributed an online bonus track for Lavender Diamond on their Imagine Our Love album. He performed a solo version of "Oh No."

Meloy's began another solo tour in April, 2008. This coincided with the release of his debut solo album, Colin Meloy Sings Live!, on the Kill Rock Stars label. Singer-songwriter Laura Gibson was the supporting act for the full tour. As with previous EPs, Meloy sold an EP only available on this run: Colin Meloy Sings Sam Cooke, a collection of five Sam Cooke songs, arranged and performed by Meloy, with Laura Gibson singing harmonies.

On September 4, 2010, the band opened for Neko Case and the headliner, Bob Dylan, the first day of the Bumbershoot Arts and Music Festival in Seattle, WA. There they announced that they were wrapping up a new album before debuting three of the upcoming album's tracks. The King is Dead was released on January 18, 2011 with Peter Buck of R.E.M. appearing on three tracks.

"Down by the Water," a track from the new album, was released via the band's official site on November 2nd, and was immediately available on iTunes as a free download. The King Is Dead debuted at #1 on the Billboard 200 in the United States upon its release.

Compared to The Decemberists' previous work, The King Is Dead is more influenced by genres including country, blues, and folk.


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