Jessica Cleaves

Jessica Cleaves, American singer-songwriter (died 2014)

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Born: December 10, 1948
Died: May 2, 2014
Zodiac sign: Sagittarius
Birth year: 1948

About Jessica Cleaves

Jessica Marguerite Cleaves (December 10, 1948 – May 2, 2014) was an American singer and songwriter who was the lead singer of the Friends of Distinction, Earth, Wind & Fire, Parliament Funkadelic, and Raw Silk. The Friends of Distinction was founded by Harry Elston and Floyd Butler, and beside Cleaves, it included Barbara Jean Love (plus Charlene Gibson, who replaced Love during her pregnancy). Jessica Cleaves was born to Mary Gladys Cleaves (née Wilkerson), a librarian, and Lane C. She went on to appear on EWF's 1972 LP Last Days and Time and 1973 album Head to the Sky.

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

The world when Jessica Cleaves was born

Jessica Cleaves was born in 1948. 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 1948

#1 song"Twelfth Street Rag" – Pee Wee Hunt
Top movieHamlet
Top TV showTexaco Star Theater (Milton Berle)
Best-selling bookThe Naked and the Dead – Norman Mailer

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentCleveland Indians win the World Series
Top headlineState of Israel declared
Technology milestoneLong-playing vinyl record (LP) introduced
Defining fadTelevision sets in homes
Notable inventionVelcro
World population2.50 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderHarry S. Truman
Sports championCleveland Indians (World Series)
Also wonBaltimore Bullets (BAA)
U.S. population146.6M

1948 versus 2026

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

Measure	1948	2026
Gas	$0.26	$3.45/gal
Average home	$8,300	$435,000
Average income	$5,000	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.40	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.40	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	146.6M	341 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.