Born On This Day

March 8th

1942 - Ralph Ellis

Ralph Ellis from British group The Swinging Blue Jeans who had the 1964 UK No.2 & US No.24 single 'Hippy Hippy Shake'.

1943 - Andrew Semple

Andrew Semple, guitarist and singer from English harmony beat group The Fortunes, who had the 1965 UK No.2 & US No.7 single 'You've Got Your Troubles' and the hits 'Here It Comes Again and 'Storm in a Teacup'.

1945 - Michael Dolenz

Michael Dolenz, singer and drummer with The Monkees who had the 1967 UK & US No.1 single 'I'm A Believer' plus 10 US & 8 UK Top 40 singles. Dolenz is now a actor, television director, radio personality and theatre director.

1946 - Carole Bayer Sager

Carole Bayer Sager, singer, songwriter. Wrote 'Groovy Kind Of Love', hit for The Mindbenders and Phil Collins. Sinatra, Pitney and Dolly Parton have all recorded her songs. Married Burt Bacharach in 1982.

1946 - Randy Meisner

Randy Meisner, guitarist with US group Poco who later joined The Eagles who had the 1977 US No.1 & UK No.8 single 'Hotel California'. He quit The Eagles in 1977.

1947 - Mike Allsup

Mike Allsup, guitarist with US group Three Dog Night who had the 1970 UK No.3 & US No.1 single with their version of the Randy Newman song 'Mama Told Me Not To Come'.

1948 - Peggy March

Little Peggy March, (Margaret Battivio.) US singer who had the 1963 US No.1 single 'I Will Follow Him'.

1948 - Mel Galley

Mel Galley, guitarist with Whitesnake who had the 1987 US No.1 & UK No.9 single 'Here I Go Again'. Died of cancer on 1st July 2008.

1949 - Dave Lambert

Dave Lambert with English folk rock group The Strawbs who scored the 1973 UK No.2 single with 'Part Of The Union'.

1954 - Cheryl Baker

Cheryl Baker,singer with British pop group Bucks Fizz who had the UK hits 'Making Your Mind Up' (1981), 'The Land of Make Believe' (1981) and 'My Camera Never Lies' (1982) and became one of the top-selling groups of the 1980s. Baker now works as a TV presenter.

1957 - Clive Burr

Clive Burr, drummer with UK Rock group Iron Maiden who had the 1982 UK No.1 album The Number Of The Beast, and the 1991 UK No.1 single 'Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter'. Burr died on 13th March 2013 at the age of 56. He had been suffering from multiple sclerosis, and died in his sleep. Burr was a member of up-and-coming British metal band, Samson, before joining Maiden in 1979.

1958 - Gary Numan

Gary Numan, singer with Tubeway Army who had the 1979 UK No.1 single 'Are Friends Electric'. As a solo artist had the 1979 UK No.1 & 1980 US No.9 single 'Cars' plus 18 other UK Top 40 singles.

1960 - Richard Darbyshire

Richard Darbyshire, singer, songwriter from UK group Living In A Box, who had the 1987 UK No.5 single 'Living In A Box'.

1962 - Steve Grantley

Steve Grantley from Eighth Wonder who had the 1988 UK No.7 single 'I'm Not Scared'.

1964 - Peter Gill

Peter Gill, drummer with Frankie Goes To Hollywood, the British band who formed in Liverpool and had the 1984 UK No.1 & US No.10 single 'Relax'. The single eventually sold 2 million copies in the UK alone, making it the seventh best-selling single in the UK Singles Chart's history. Their debut album, Welcome to the Pleasuredome, reached No.1 in the UK in 1984 with advanced sales of over one million.

1968 - Shawn Mullins

Shawn Mullins, US male singer, songwriter who had the 1999 UK No.9 single 'Lullaby'.

1976 - Gaz Coombes

Gaz Coombes singer, songwriter with UK group Supergrass who had the 1995 UK No.2 single 'Alright'. Their 1995 UK No.1 album I Should Coco spent 35 weeks on the UK chart. He first entered the music scene aged sixteen as the lead singer of the band The Jennifers.

1979 - Tom Chaplin

Tom Chaplin singer, songwriter with UK group Keane who had the 2004 UK No.1 album 'Hopes And Fears' which was the second best-selling British album of the year.

1988 - Eleanor Jackson

Eleanor Jackson, singer with La Roux who had the 2009 UK No.1 single 'Bulletproof'.