Portrait of Brenton Wood

Birthday profile

Brenton Wood

Brenton Wood, American R&B singer-songwriter and keyboard player (died 2025)

Born
July 26, 1941
Died
January 3, 2025
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1941

About Brenton Wood

Alfred Jesse Smith, known professionally as Brenton Wood, was an American singer and songwriter. Three 1967 singles of Wood's, "The Oogum Boogum Song", "Gimme Little Sign", and "Baby You Got It" were hits. The record sold over one million copies and was awarded a gold disc. Wood's novelty song "The Oogum Boogum Song" was released on Double Shot Records, and reached No. 19 on the US Billboard R&B chart and No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1967. In 1972, Wood formed his own record label and released, co-produced and co-wrote the track "Sticky Boom Boom Part I and II" with collaborators George Semper (co-producer, arranger) and Al McKay (co-writer, performer) of Earth, Wind & Fire fame.

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

Brenton Wood timeline

  1. Wood's novelty song "The Oogum Boogum Song" was released on Double Shot Records, and reached No. 19 on the US Billboard R&B chart and No. 34 on the Billboard Hot 100 in the spring of 1967.
  2. Three 1967 singles of Wood's, "The Oogum Boogum Song", "Gimme Little Sign", and "Baby You Got It" were hits.
  3. In 1972, Wood formed his own record label and released, co-produced and co-wrote the track "Sticky Boom Boom Part I and II" with collaborators George Semper (co-producer, arranger) and Al McKay (co-writer, performer) of Earth, Wind & Fire fame.

The world when Brenton Wood was born

Brenton Wood was born in 1941. 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 1941

  • #1 song"Chattanooga Choo Choo" – Glenn Miller
  • Top movieCitizen Kane
  • Best-selling bookThe Keys of the Kingdom – A.J. Cronin

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe DiMaggio's 56-game hitting streak
  • Top headlineJapan bombs Pearl Harbor — United States enters World War II
  • Technology milestoneFirst commercial television broadcasts (CBS, NBC)
  • Defining fadVictory gardens
  • Notable inventionAerosol spray can
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population133.4M

1941 versus 2026

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

Measure19412026
Gas$0.19$3.45/gal
Average home$5,500$435,000
Average income$3,400$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population133.4M341 million

Sources and editorial standards

This profile combines a biographical source with structured birthday and historical context. Sources recorded for this profile: Wikipedia, 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.