August Birthdays

Since it's August, it's time to say Happy Birthday!

Joe Elliott

-Birth name: Joseph Thomas Elliott Jr.

-DOB: 8/1/1959

-Where: Sheffield, England

-Is a massive fan of Queen and Mott the Hoople

James Jagger

-DOB: 8/28/1985

-Where: New York City, New York

-Told the media that he and Twilight actor Robert Pattinson had drama class in high school together

Rob Halford

-Birth name: Robert John Arthur Halford

-DOB: 8/25/1951

-Where: Sutton Coldfield, United Kingdom

-His struggle with his homosexuality caused him to start abusing drugs and alcohol. Once he did come out, people still accepted him as their Metal God front man of Judas Priest

Dustin Hoffman

-Birth name: Dustin Lee Hoffman

-DOB: 8/8/1937

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He only pursued acting because he didn't want to work or go into the military

Glenn Hughes

-DOB: 8/21/1952

-Where: Cannock, United Kingdom

-Had a small fling with Linda Blair on the set of The Exorcist II

Ian Gillan

-DOB: 8/19/1945

-Where: Chiswick, London, England

-Over the years he's had a rocky relationship with former Deep Purple/Rainbow guitarist Ritchie Blackmore

Robert Plant

-Birth name: Robert Anthony Plant

-DOB: 8/20/1948

-Where: West Bromwich, England

-Was in a car crash in the mid 1970s and as a result, he injured his arm. To this day, he cannot fully extend his right arm

Bruce Dickinson

-Birth name: Paul Bruce Dickinson

-DOB: 8/7/1958

-Where: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England

-First got into music when he attended a boarding school and heard Deep Purple's "Child in Time" blaring out another student's room

Viola Davis

-DOB: 8/11/1965

-Where: Saint Matthews, South Carolina

-Her mother, Mary Alice, worked as a maid, a factory worker and a civil rights activist. Her father, Dan Davis, worked as a horse groomer and trainer

Antonio Banderas

-Birth name: Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas

-DOB: 8/10/1960

-Where: Malaga, Spain

-Initially, Hollywood was hesitant to cast him in movies because of his strong Spanish accent. He learned English phonetically and was able to start appearing in movies

Sean Connery

-Birth name: Sir Thomas Sean Connery

-DOB: 8/25/1930

-Where: Glasgow, Scotland

-Best known for portraying spy James Bond

Vivian Campbell

-Birth name: Vivian Patrick Campbell

-DOB: 8/25/1952

-Where: Belfast, Ireland

-Was previously in the bands DIO and Whitesnake

John Deacon

-Birth name: John Richard Deacon

-DOB: 8/19/1951

-Where: Oadby, United Kingdom

-He was actually one of the last bass players brought into the band Queen

Joe Elliott says he's having vocal issues

The longtime Def Leppard vocalist says that in recent months, he's been having vocal problems. He says that when he became sick in 2016, he worked for five long months to try and save his voice. Def Leppard was forced to cancel some dates because of this particular issue

Fellow band mate, guitarist Vivian Campbell was quoted as saying that if he didn't stop performing, he could risk "irreparable damage" to his vocal cords. In an interview with The Express, Elliott mentioned "We did one of those rock cruises, and I had to pull out. I introduced the band and then watched from the side." Watching other singers fill in for him, he recalled "This is the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

From the same interview, he said "I took a five-day break thinking "This has always sorted me out in the past." It didn't have to cancel a tour. ...I had to take five months of working every single day for an hour or two with my vocal coach, who's also a shrink in many respects."

This coach had some strong positive, uplifting words for Elliott. He helped Elliott believe he could resolve the issues, but "it took a long, long, long time." The job description didn't include teaching Joe Elliott how to sing, but it did include how "not to use your voice."

Joe was warned that it might not work out, despite the fact the situation seemed to be resolving itself. "When I got pneumonia and I got the hundred-day cough, it totally destroyed my vocal cords, to the point where my throat doctor said to me "If you weren't you, I'd tell you to retire because this is never going to get better."" Thankfully it did work out. Elliott says "It's stronger than it used to be, best it's ever been."

August Birthdays

Since it's August, time to say Happy Birthday!!

Glenn Hughes

-DOB: 8/21/1957

-Where: Cannock, Staffordshire, England

-Named after Glenn Miller

Ian Gillan

-DOB: 8/19/1945

-Where: London, England

-Got in to heated arguments with then Purple guitarist Ritchie Blackmore repeatedly

Joe Elliott

-Birth name: Joseph Thomas Elliott, Jr.

-DOB: 8/1/1959

-Where: Sheffield, England

-Heavily influenced by Queen and David Bowie

Daniel Dae Kim

-Birth name: Kim-Dae-hyun

-DOB: 8/4/1968

-Where: Busan, South Korea

-Is best known for his role on Lost and as Five-O detective Chin Ho Kelly on Hawaii Five-O

James Jagger

-DOB: 8/28/1985

-Where: New York City, New York

-Shared a drama class with Robert Pattinson

Wow, he's handsome. But, eerily, he looks just like his dad!

Antonio Banderas

-Birth name: Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas

-DOB: 8/10/1960

-Where: Malaga, Andalucia, Spain

-When he arrived in the US, to hopefully break into the acting world in Hollywood, he had to learn English phonetically

Viola Davis

-DOB: 8/11/1965

-Where: Saint Matthews, South Carolina

-She was born on the Singleton Plantation, which was owned by her grandmother

Robert De Niro

-Birth name: Robert Anthony De Niro Jr.

-DOB: 8/17/1943

-Where: New York City, New York

-Earned his nickname "Bobby Milk" because of his pale complexion

Sean Connery

-Birth name: Thomas Sean Connery

-DOB: 8/25/1930

-Where: Edinburgh, Scotland

-He stated losing his hair at age 17 and had to wear a hairpiece in most of his James Bond films. Though, in his later movies, he did not wear a hairpiece

Vivian Campbell

-Birth name: Vivian Patrick Campbell

-DOB: 8/25/1962

-Where: Belfast, Northern Ireland, UK

-Has two daughters, Lily Rose and Una Marigold

Rob Halford

-Birth name: Robert John Arthur Halford

-DOB: 8/25/1951

-Where: Sutton Colfield, West Midlands, England

-Is thinking about releasing an autobiography some time down the road

Robert Plant

-Birth name: Robert Anthony Plant

-DOB: 8/20/1948

-Where: West Bromwich, England

-His first wife was East Indian and moved to England with her family

Bruce Dickinson

-Birth name: Paul Bruce Dickinson

-DOB: 8/7/1958

-Where: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England

-There are three things he is best known for: 1.) Waving the English flag back and forth and wearing a Revolutionary War British cavalry uniform during "The Trooper", 2.) His high pitched vocals earning him the nickname "The Air Raid Siren" and 3.) Saying "Scream for Me" before saying the name of the city Iron Maiden is in

Dustin Hoffman

-Birth name: Dustin Lee Hoffman

-DOB: 8/8/1937

-Where: Los Angeles, California

-He was born and raised into a strongly Jewish family that hailed from Ukraine, Russia, Poland and Romania

John Deacon

-Birth name: John Richard Deacon

-DOB: 8/19/1951

-Where: Leicester, Leicestershire, England

-Two of Queen's best known songs "You're My Best Friend", written as a tribute to his wife Veronica and "Another One Bites the Dust" were both written by him

August Birthdays

Since it's August, time to say Happy Birthday to the following people

Joe Elliott

-Birth name: Joseph Thomas Elliott

-DOB: 8/1/1958

-Where: Sheffield, England

-Going to be: 57

-Came up with the name for an imaginary band called Deaf Leopard. To keep it from being associated with punk, the band name was intentionally misspelled as "Def Leppard" and it stuck!

Glenn Hughes

-DOB: 8/21/1952

-Where: Cannock, Staffordshire, England

-Going to be: 64

-Was named after the big band legend Glenn Miller

Daniel Dae Kim

-DOB: 8/4/1968

-Where: Pusan, South Korea

-Going to be: 48

-Has played a variety of characters both onscreen and on stage, such as the King of Siam, a social worker, a counter-terrorist agent for the government or a police officer on a special task force

Michelle Yeoh

-Birth name: Yeoh Chu-kheng

-DOB: 8/6/1962

-Where: Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia

-Going to be: 54

-Prior to acting, was a former Miss Malaysia

James Jagger

-DOB: 8/28/1985

-Where: New York City, New York

-Going to be: 31

-His half-sisters are Jade and Karis Jagger and his half-brother is Lucas Jagger while his brother is Gabriel Jagger and his sisters are models named Elizabeth and Georgia May Jagger

-Also plays a character named John Turnbull on Sex, Drugs and Rock & Roll

Rikki Rockett

-Birth name: Richard Allan Ream

-DOB: 8/8/1961

-Where: Mechanicsburg, Pennsylvania

-Going to be: 55

-Drummer for the glam metal band Poison

Antonio Banderas

-Birth name: Jose Antonio Dominguez Banderas

-DOB: 8/10/1960

-Where: Malaga, Spain

-Going to be: 56

-Prior to acting, he held jobs as a waiter and in modeling

Viola Davis

-DOB: 8/11/1965

-Where: Saint Matthews, South Carolina

-Going to be: 51

-Her mother, Mary Alice (Logan) was a civil rights activist

Robert De Niro

-Birth name: Robert Anthony De Niro Jr

-DOB: 8/17/1943

-Where: New York City, New York

-Going to be: 73

-Despite having an Italian name, he only has a small percentage of Italian ancestry, from his paternal grandfather's side

Vivian Campbell

-Birth name: Vivian Patrick Campbell

-DOB: 8/25/1962

-Where: Belfast, Ireland

-Going to be: 54

-He shares a birthday with Judas Priest vocalist Rob Halford and Kiss bassist Gene Simmons

Rob Halford

-Birth name: Robert John Arthur Halford

-DOB: 8/25/1951

-Where: Sutton Colfield, United Kingdom

-Going to be: 65 

-Rather than face embarrassment over a receding hairline, in the late 1980s, Rob simply shaved his head completely

My sister has the biggest crush on him...

Robert Plant

-Birth name: Robert Anthony Plant

-DOB: 8/20/1948

-Where: West Bromwich, West Midlands, England

-Going to be: 68

-He's known for adding spiritual, mystical or philosophical lyrics into his songs (i.e. references to Lord of the Rings in "Ramble On")

Sean Connery

-Birth name: Thomas Sean Connery

-DOB: 8/25/1930

-Where: Edinburgh, Scotland

-Going to be: 86

-Prior to acting, he held a variety of jobs, ranging from lorry driver to milkman to model for Edinburgh College of Art to bodybuilder to coffin polisher

Gene Simmons

-Birth name: Chaim Weitz

-DOB: 8/25/1949

-Where: Tirat Carmel, Israel

-Going to be: 67

-When he initially met Paul Stanley, he was not very enamored of Paul

Bruce Dickinson

-Birth name: Paul Bruce Dickinson

-DOB: 8/7/1958

-Where: Worksop, Nottinghamshire, England

-Going to be: 58

-Has an estranged sister named Helen who he describes as "she was planned, I was an accident", referring to the fact his sister was a planned birth while his birth was accidental (Thank God he was born. History for Maiden might have been ALOT different!). His mother was 17 and father was 18 when Paul Bruce Dickinson was born. This definitely explains a lot on his solo album Accident of Birth

Still handsome for his age. Always will be :)

People I Would Find Interesting to Read About

It seems like every time you turn your head, some famous person is coming out with a memoir or autobiography. Just recently, Def Leppard's lead guitarist Phil Collen released an autobiography called Adrenalized: Life, Def Leppard and Beyond. BTW, it's good especially if you're a Def Leppard fan and/or a fan of Phil Collen ;)

Here are some people that I would love to read about

Geezer Butler

-I'd love to read about Geezer because out of all the books I've ever read about Black Sabbath or any of it's members, they all say that the lyrics come from Geezer. He has to be a pretty intelligent guy coming up with lyrics that deep, about stuff you'd never imagine hearing in songs. After reading that book I Am Ozzy about Ozzy Osbourne, he describes Geezer as an intellectual guy. When he's not writing lyrics, he's buried nose deep in a book about poetry or ancient Greek warfare, how he's a vegan and that came in handy during the early days of Sabbath, etc. Or how Geezer was actually training to be an accountant and how he worked in the accounting department of a factory in Aston. I'd love to read about him because he just seems like a very interesting person. Not to mention, he just looks like an overall sweet guy, like he'd be the most down to earth person you'd ever meet.

 

Nikki Sixx

-After reading that book The Dirt, which is essentially Motley Crue's own biography, reading the parts about Nikki Sixx interested me. He moved a lot when he was a kid. He was considered a quiet and polite young man who was into bands like Blue Cheer, The Sweet, Alice Cooper, Black Sabbath, etc. He had dreams of becoming a musician. But he also had a wild streak. He slit his wrists and accused his mother of attacking him. Or when he moved to somewhere out west, kids made fun of him, calling him things like poor white California trash. That had to be brutal. Not to mention, one of Crue's more famous songs, "Kickstart My Heart" was inspired by Nikki's heroin overdose and the adrenaline shot injected into his heart along with the fact that after he was checked into the hospital for it, he got up and walked out. Nowadays, he fronts a band called Sixx A.M., which consists of him on guitars, DJ Ashba on bass and James Michael on vocals, each person's name making up the name of the band. Something else that I never really knew is that Nikki Sixx's real name is Frank Carlton Serafino Ferrana. He was named after his father, Frank Ferrana. So essentially, Nikki Sixx is Italian. Hmmm, no wonder he's so good looking, lol!!!

 

 

Rob Halford

-I've been a Priest fan since early college. After seeing the video for "Turbo Lover" on VH1 Classic, I've been forever hooked, lol. I'd love to read about what it was like when he was younger, what got him into music, how he got into Priest and other cool stuff. Or what it was like when he finally came out of the closet in the late 1990s. I'm sure a lot of Judas Priest fans realized he was gay way before he ever came out. It doesn't exactly take a rocket scientist to figure out something's up when he was never seen or photographed with women, wearing black leather studded clothing and bondage gear, carrying either a whip or riding crop on stage with him or wearing handcuffs on his hips, lol. But, all in all, he's still a phenomenal singer. From the way I hear it, Rob is an incredibly kind person, the kindest, most down to earth person you could ever meet. The sweetest guy alive. I'm sure all the guys in Priest are like that. I would love, more than life itself, to meet Judas Priest. I'd make sure to have my sister with me. The looks on her face would be priceless!!! I know I laugh a lot when my sister says he's so cute even though he's gay! I agree with her. Despite being gay, he's still an incredibly handsome man. And I personally think that my sister finds him cute with the additional tattoos, lol!!

Glenn Tipton

-He's cute. Blonde haired and English. Kind of a weakness for me, lol. What else can I say, lol? Besides, he's handsome for his age. My sister, on the other hand, thinks he's really cute in leather, lol. Not to mention he's an amazing guitarist. From the way I read it in this book about Judas Priest called Judas Priest: Heavy Metal Painkillers, it sounds like Glenn writes a majority of the lyrics. How awesome is this? I never knew he's the one who usually wrote the lyrics. Or it might be someone else who occasionally writes. I guess it's all a matter of working together on the lyrics of songs.

 

 

 

Bruce Dickinson

-I know a lot of people might be confused by this, as I only started listening to Maiden very recently, I see all sorts of cool stuff about Bruce on the internet, about how he visits sick kids in the hospital, does all sorts of nice things, how he battled cancer, how he is a fully licensed commercial pilot and flies the Maiden jet Ed Force One with the band on board to their gigs. I would very much like to read about him. He seems interesting. Not to mention I'm completely amazed by how good Maiden is. To be 100% honest, I always thought Iron Maiden was what I call a "screamo metal band", you know, the metal bands with the singer who is usually screaming so loud or their voice is so distorted you don't know what they're saying? After hearing "Flight of Icarus", that soon changed, thank God!!! I can safely say that I've never had a bad word or insult against these guys. I simply didn't know where to start because, like all musicians, they have a severely long song catalogue.

-But, also, I recently found out he will be coming out with an OFFICIAL autobiography in 2018, at least the paperback edition, in 2018. E-book versions of it will come out in 2017. Just needed to toss that out!!!!!!!!!

 

Sylvester Stallone

-I'd love to read about him because he's one of my favorite actors. I'd love to know what it was like growing up for him. If he was ever bullied for the way he talks out of one side of his mouth. I can't imagine he wasn't; kids can be cruel sometimes. Or read about how he got into acting, or what some of the movies he's done over the years were like. I know I either read or heard somewhere that his first acting role was in a soft core porn movie called The Party at Kitty and Stud's, where he played a male gigolo. That had to be severely awkward for him, appearing fully naked and being sex crazed, which unfortunately only adds to that Italian stereotype of Italians being hot blooded. Plus, even if he looks rough in the eyes of most, to me he's still handsome. Those rough looks come from a life of hard action films, lol

Joe Elliott

-I'm a pretty big Def Leppard fan. Have been since college, which is ironically the place where I started listening to a lot of the music I now listen to. After watching Joe Elliott on this VH1 Classic series called Rock Icons, it amazes me that Joe Elliott proudly admits he's obsessed with music. He can't get enough of it. He also said he loves the fact that he can go out and not be recognized all the time, that the sense of anonymity makes him happy. I love watching that episode; you find out all sorts of cool things about him. Like when he was younger, around 8 years old or so, he wrote a song about a girl leaving a boy and he jokingly said "I was 8 years old. I didn't know anything about a girl leaving me". He can also play the guitar. Which I never knew. He can also play the piano. There's evidence of his excellent piano playing in the video for "Miss You in a Heartbeat" by Def Leppard. Hmm, very handsome, lol. He also fronts a side project called the Down N' Outz, which does covers of old Mott the Hoople songs, for which he is a giant fan.