Portrait of Wynonie Harris

Birthday profile

Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris, American singer and guitarist (died 1969)

Born
August 24, 1915
Died
June 14, 1969
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1915

About Wynonie Harris

Wynonie Harris (August 24, 1915 – June 14, 1969) was an American blues shouter best remembered as a singer of upbeat songs, featuring humorous, often ribald lyrics. He had fifteen Top 10 hits between 1946 and 1952. Harris is attributed by many music scholars to be one of the founding fathers of rock and roll. His "Good Rocking Tonight" is mentioned at least as a precursor to rock and roll. His dirty blues repertoire included "Lolly Pop Mama" (1948), "I Like My Baby's Pudding" (1950), "Sittin' on It All the Time" (1950), "Keep On Churnin' (Till the Butter Comes)" (1952), and "Wasn't That Good" (1953). == Biography == === Early life and family === Harris's mother, Mallie Hood Anderson, was fifteen and unmarried at the time of his birth. His paternity is uncertain. His wife, Olive E. Goodlow, and daughter, Patricia Vest, said that his father was a Native American named Blue Jay. Wynonie had no father figure in his family until 1920, when his mother married Luther Harris, fifteen years her senior. In 1931, at age 16, Harris dropped out of high school in North Omaha.

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

Career and life highlights

Wynonie Harris timeline

  1. During the 1942–44 musicians' strike, Harris was unable to pursue a recording career, relying instead on personal appearances.
  2. On May 26, 1944, Harris made his recording debut with Lucky Millinder and His Orchestra.

The world when Wynonie Harris was born

Wynonie Harris was born in 1915. 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 1915

  • Top movieThe Birth of a Nation
  • Best-selling book"The Turmoil" – Booth Tarkington

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentJess Willard defeats Jack Johnson for heavyweight title in Havana
  • Top headlineLusitania sunk by German submarine — 1,198 die
  • Technology milestoneFirst transcontinental telephone call (Bell to Watson)
  • World population~1.75B

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderWoodrow Wilson
  • U.S. population98.4M

1915 versus 2026

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

Measure19152026
Gas$0.25$3.45/gal
Movie ticket$0.10$11.95
Population98.4M341 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.