Portrait of Phyllis Hyman

Birthday profile

Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Hyman, American singer-songwriter and actress (died 1995)

Born
July 6, 1949
Died
June 30, 1995
Zodiac sign
Cancer
Birth year
1949

About Phyllis Hyman

Phyllis Linda Hyman (July 6, 1949 – June 30, 1995) was an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Hyman's music career spanned the late 1970s through the early 1990s, and she was best known for her expansive contralto range. Some of her most notable songs are "You Know How to Love Me" (1979), "Living All Alone" (1986) and "Don't Wanna Change the World" (1991). Hyman is also known for her covers of popular songs, which include renditions of "Betcha by Golly, Wow", "Here's That Rainy Day", and "What You Won't Do For Love". Hyman performed on Broadway in the 1981 musical revue Sophisticated Ladies, which ran from 1981 until 1983. The revue, based on the music of Duke Ellington, earned Hyman a Theatre World Award and a Tony Award nomination for Best Performance by a Featured Actress in a Musical. After an extended struggle with mental health issues, Hyman died by suicide in 1995, aged 45, at her New York City apartment. == Early life and early career == The eldest of seven children, Hyman was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States, to Phillip, a World War II veteran, and Louise Hyman, a waitress at a local night club, and grew up in St. Clair Village, the South Hills section of Pittsburgh. After leaving Pittsburgh, Hyman started her music training at a music school.

Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.

Career and life highlights

Phyllis Hyman timeline

  1. She also did a two-year stint leading a band called "Phyllis Hyman and the P/H Factor." In 1975, music industry veteran Sid Maurer, and former Epic Records promoter Fred Frank, discovered and signed her to their Roadshow Records/Desert Moon imprint.
  2. Hyman sang with Pharoah Sanders and the Fatback Band while working on her first solo album, Phyllis Hyman, released in 1977 on the Buddah Records label.

The world when Phyllis Hyman was born

Phyllis Hyman was born in 1949. The year snapshot below places that birthday in its cultural and historical setting: the music and films people were following, the headlines shaping public life, and the everyday prices families encountered.

Culture in 1949

  • #1 song"Riders in the Sky" – Vaughn Monroe
  • Top movieAll the King's Men
  • Top TV showTexaco Star Theater
  • Best-selling bookThe Egyptian - Mika Waltari

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe Louis retires from boxing as undefeated heavyweight champion
  • Top headlineNATO established
  • Technology milestoneFirst stored-program computer runs its first program
  • Defining fadSilly Putty
  • Notable inventionSilly Putty
  • World population2.52 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • Also wonMinneapolis Lakers (BAA)
  • U.S. population149.2M

1949 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Phyllis Hyman's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19492026
Gas$0.27$3.45/gal
Average home$8,400$435,000
Average income$5,000$67,500
Minimum wage$0.40$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.46$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population149.2M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, IMDb, MusicBrainz, Wikidata. See our editorial policy for sourcing, corrections, and review standards.

Read the source biography on Wikipedia. Wikipedia text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License.