Forty Other People Born on July 31st

Today is my 39th birthday, which means this time next year I will mark 40 years of me. To celebrate I am posting an appropriately themed countdown each month leading up to the big day, starting... now!

Oh, and if you're wondering how you can participate in all the fun, follow this link for directions on how to submit your suggestion for the "Top 40 Project". And thank you!

Forty Other People Born on July 31^st

1143 – Emperor Nijo of Japan (d. 1165)

1527 – Maximilian II, Holy Roman Emperor (d. 1576)

1598 – Alessandro Algardi, sculptor and architect (d. 1654)

1800 – Friedrich Wöhler, invented organic chemistry (d. 1882)

1803 – John Ericsson, Swedish inventor and engineer (d. 1889)

1837 – William Quantrill, Civil War rebel guerrilla leader (d. 1865)

1847 – Ignacio Cervantes, pianist and composer (d. 1905)

1867 – Sebastian S. Kresge, philanthropist (d. 1966)

1901 – Jean Dubuffet, painter and sculptor (d. 1985)

1904 – Brett Halliday, pulp writer of the Shayne detective novels (d. 1977)

1911 – Liberace, pianist (d. 1983)

1912 – Milton Friedman, American economist, Nobel laureate (d. 2006)

1918 – Paul D. Boyer, chemist / Nobel Prize Laureate

1919 – Primo Levi, author / chemist (d. 1987)

1921 – Peter Benenson, founder of Amnesty International (d. 2005)

1921 – Whitney Young, civil rights activist / Kentuckian (d. 1971)  

1932 – John Searle, philosopher

1943 – William Bennett, 3rd United States Secretary of Education

1945 – Gary Lewis, singer (Gary Lewis & the Playboys)

1945 – William Weld, 68th Governor of Massachusetts

1946 – Bob Welch, musician (Fleetwood Mac) (d. 2012)

1956 – Michael Biehn, actor (Terminator)

1956 – Bill Callahan, football coach

1956 – Deval Patrick, 71st governor of Massachusetts

1957 – Daniel Ash, musician (Bauhaus)

1958 – Bill Berry, musician (R.E.M.)

1962 – Wesley Snipes, actor/ tax evader

1963 – Norman Cook, musician (The Housemartins, Fatboy Slim)

1964 – Jim Corr, musician (The Corrs)

1965 – J. K. Rowling, apparently invented magic and books

1966 – Dean Cain, actor / Superman (Lois & Clark)

1968 – Mark Cuban, basketball enthusiast

1969 – Loren Dean, actor (Mumford)

1970 – Ben Chaplin, actor (The Thin Red Line, The Water Horse)

1974 – Ben Phelan, pal / American writer / musician (Apples in Stereo)
1977 – Tim Couch, quarterback / Kentuckian

1978 – Will Champion, musician (Coldplay)

1979 – B. J. Novak, actor (The Office, Inglorious Basterds)

1981 – Harry Potter, fictional wizard

1982 – Jeff DaRosa, musician (Dropkick Murphys)

The Top 40 Project

If you know me then you know I spend a lot of time thinking, talking and writing about, listening to, promoting and otherwise rolling around in music.

You should also know that I love birthdays - especially my own - and I have a big one coming up.

To celebrate the impending four-decade marker I will be posting an appropriately themed countdown here each month for the year leading up to my 40th birthday.

As part of the celebration I am asking you to help create a Top 40 birthday countdown.

Simply think of a song that best reminds you of me or that you would like to share, and send it my way. Consider it your gift to me, one for which I am already and forever grateful.

Suggestions will be reviewed, stacked, relished and presented here on July 31, 2013... and the countdown will not be limited to forty tracks in spite of the title - it just sounds better that way given the occasion.

Leave your suggestion in the comments section, via email or Facebook message. Thanks!

Artist:

Song:

Reason for Selection: (brief explanation / history)