Birthday profile

Dave "Baby" Cortez

Dave "Baby" Cortez, American R&B pianist, organist, and composer (died 2022)

Born
August 13, 1938
Died
May 31, 2022
Zodiac sign
Leo
Birth year
1938

About Dave "Baby" Cortez

David Cortez Clowney, known by the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez, was an American pop and R&B organist and pianist, best known for his 1959 hit, "The Happy Organ". David Cortez Clowney (August 13, 1938 – May 31, 2022), known by the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez, was an American pop and R&B organist and pianist, best known for his 1959 hit, "The Happy Organ". The record, crediting Clowney as Dave "Baby" Cortez, was the first instrumental No. 1 on Billboard magazine's Hot 100 chart. Clowney made his first record in 1956 under his own name, and also sang with two doo-wop groups, the Pearls and the Valentines, in the mid-1950s. Clowney was scheduled to record his original song "The Happy Organ" during a 1959 recording session.

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

Dave "Baby" Cortez timeline

  1. David Cortez Clowney (August 13, 1938 – May 31, 2022), known by the stage name Dave "Baby" Cortez, was an American pop and R&B organist and pianist, best known for his 1959 hit, "The Happy Organ".
  2. Clowney made his first record in 1956 under his own name, and also sang with two doo-wop groups, the Pearls and the Valentines, in the mid-1950s.
  3. Clowney was scheduled to record his original song "The Happy Organ" during a 1959 recording session.

The world when Dave "Baby" Cortez was born

Dave "Baby" Cortez was born in 1938. 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 1938

  • #1 song"A-Tisket, A-Tasket" – Ella Fitzgerald
  • Top movieThe Adventures of Robin Hood
  • Best-selling bookRebecca – Daphne du Maurier

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJoe Louis knocks out Max Schmeling in round 1
  • Top headlineWar of the Worlds broadcast causes nationwide panic
  • Technology milestoneNuclear fission discovered
  • Defining fadSuperman debuts in Action Comics #1
  • Notable inventionInstant coffee (Nescafé)
  • World population2.30 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championNew York Yankees (World Series)
  • U.S. population129.8M

1938 versus 2026

These figures put everyday life in Dave "Baby" Cortez's birth year beside the site's latest United States snapshot.

Measure19382026
Gas$0.20$3.45/gal
Average home$5,100$435,000
Average income$2,800$67,500
Minimum wage$0.25$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.25$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population129.8M341 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.