Portrait of Mel McDaniel

Birthday profile

Mel McDaniel

Mel McDaniel, American singer-songwriter and guitarist (died 2011)

Born
September 6, 1942
Died
March 31, 2011
Zodiac sign
Virgo
Birth year
1942

About Mel McDaniel

Melvin Huston McDaniel (September 6, 1942 – March 31, 2011) was an American country music artist. Many of his top hits were released in the 1980s, including "Louisiana Saturday Night", "Big Ole Brew", "Stand Up", "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On" (which reached number one on the country chart), "I Call It Love", "Stand on It", and a remake of Chuck Berry's "Let It Roll (Let It Rock)". McDaniel's type of country music has been referred to as "the quintessential happy song" in comparison to other country artists who discuss broken hearts and lost loves. When asked why most of his songs were positive in their outlook, McDaniel told the Anchorage Daily News that "there's enough things in the world to keep you bummed out" and that his fans did not want to "hear me singing something that's gonna bum 'em out some more." With the help of music publisher Bob Beckham, McDaniel signed to Capitol Records in 1976 and released his first single, "Have a Dream on Me". McDaniel became a member of the Grand Ole Opry on January 11, 1986, and made frequent appearances on the show. Many of his top hits were released in the 1980s, including "Louisiana Saturday Night", "Big Ole Brew", "Stand Up", "Baby's Got Her Blue Jeans On", "I Call It Love", "Stand on It", and a remake of Chuck Berry's "Let It Roll ".

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

Mel McDaniel timeline

  1. With the help of music publisher Bob Beckham, McDaniel signed to Capitol Records in 1976 and released his first single, "Have a Dream on Me".
  2. McDaniel became a member of the Grand Ole Opry on January 11, 1986, and made frequent appearances on the show.

The world when Mel McDaniel was born

Mel McDaniel was born in 1942. 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 1942

  • #1 song"White Christmas" – Bing Crosby
  • Top movieCasablanca
  • Best-selling bookThe Song of Bernadette – Franz Werfel

Headlines and milestones

  • Major sports momentFirst Negro League World Series
  • Top headlineBattle of Midway becomes turning point of WWII in the Pacific
  • Technology milestoneEnrico Fermi achieves first nuclear chain reaction
  • Defining fadRationing and war bonds
  • Notable inventionNapalm
  • World population2.35 billion

United States snapshot

  • U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
  • Sports championSt. Louis Cardinals (World Series)
  • U.S. population134.9M

1942 versus 2026

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

Measure19422026
Gas$0.20$3.45/gal
Average home$5,600$435,000
Average income$3,800$67,500
Minimum wage$0.30$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket$0.27$11.95
Postage stamp$0.03$0.73
Population134.9M341 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.