Music Sunday: The "Born on the Same Day" Edition

Today's theme could very well be "odd coincidence".

First stop: a little bit of classical music from the violin of Itzhak Perlman, because he is very good and also because his birthday was yesterday. He was born August 31, 1945. Here he discusses a short, obscure piece of music before he plays it:



While I was looking around for something of Perlman's to share I found this, where he answers questions submitted over Internet. here, he talks about practicing, something I suspect he's done a lot of. I think what he has to say goes for practicing just about anything:



And now, some of the trivia. It turns out that Van Morrison's birthday was yesterday, as well. Further, it turns out that he was not only born in the same month and the same day as Itzhak Perlman, but that they were born in the same year, making them exactly the same age.

I'm not really a huge Van Morrison fan. On the other hand, I do like a lot of his music. One of his best-known songs is this one, "Wild Night":



My own favorite of Morrison's music is probably "Moondance", which is very jazzy:



Interesting, that two musicians who became so well known in very different spheres of music would have been born on the same day. But wait, as they say, there's more. Yesterday was also Bob Welch's birthday. Welch is no longer with us, and is not nearly as well known as Van Morrison or Itzhak Perlman, but he did have a huge hit with his 1977 album, "French Kiss". Arguably, the biggest hit from that album (there were three), was "Sentimental Lady". But, what is probably not widely known (or, at least, I didn't known it) is that the song was first recorded by Fleetwood Mac, on their album "Bare Trees" (1972) Welch was part of Fleetwood Mac from 1971 through 1974, and "Bare Trees" was the second album he recorded with them. I liked the solo version when it came out, but having now listened to the original version, I think I like it better:



One more thing: Not only was Bob Welch born on August 31, just like Morrison and Perlman, he was also born in 1945, making him also exactly the same age as them. Like I said, this week's theme is coincidence. More research could prove me wrong, but I can't think of too many cases of three people, born on the same day, finding any kind of public success in the same general arena.

Well, there were the Del Rubio triplets - Eadie, Elena, and Milly. They were actually triplets, all born on August 23, 1921, who were nightclub performers in the 1950s and then later did guest appearances on a number of television series and had a resurgence of popularity as a novelty act in the 1980s.

Here they are, guesting on Pee-Wee Herman's "Pee-Wee's Christmas Special":



But they are a special case. Perlman, Morrison, on the other hand, starting in very different places - Tel Aviv, Belfast, and Los Angeles - and with very different backgrounds, all managed to find some success in the same general field. The fact that all of them ended up being noted in the same field, albeit for very different kinds of music, fascinates me.