Portrait of Jerry Harrison

Birthday profile

Jerry Harrison

Jerry Harrison, American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and producer

Born
February 21, 1949
Age in 2026
77
Zodiac sign
Pisces
Birth year
1949

About Jerry Harrison

Jeremiah Griffin Harrison (born February 21, 1949) is an American musician, songwriter, producer, and entrepreneur. He began his professional music career as a member of the band the Modern Lovers, before becoming keyboardist and guitarist for the new wave group Talking Heads. In 2002, Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads. Following David Byrne's announcement of Talking Heads' disbanding in 1991, Harrison has focused more on producing other bands, a role he started while still with Talking Heads, first producing the album Milwaukee with Elliott Murphy, and then later working with Violent Femmes on their third album, The Blind Leading the Naked, in 1986. During the 1990s, he produced a number of hit albums for bands such as Live, The Verve Pipe, Big Head Todd and the Monsters, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd among others. He has also released three albums of solo music (all while Talking Heads were still active) and has participated in a number of partial reunions of Talking Heads. In 1999, he helped found the online music community GarageBand.com. From this time, Harrison remembered a pamphlet that Guy Debord created named "The Red and The Black" and he "just really liked" the title. In 1988, he created Casual Gods, recorded in Milwaukee in a bomb shelter-turned studio by the brother of Harrison's best friend in elementary school. Between tours, Harrison started producing records, working with a group called the Escalators in New York and also New Wave soul singer Nona Hendryx.

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

Jerry Harrison timeline

  1. In 1988, he created Casual Gods, recorded in Milwaukee in a bomb shelter-turned studio by the brother of Harrison's best friend in elementary school.
  2. In 2002, Harrison was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of Talking Heads.

The world when Jerry Harrison was born

Jerry Harrison 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 Jerry Harrison'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, MusicBrainz. 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.