Les McCann

Les McCann, American soul-jazz singer and pianist (died 2023)

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Born: September 23, 1935
Died: December 29, 2023
Zodiac sign: Libra
Birth year: 1935

About Les McCann

Leslie Coleman McCann was an American jazz pianist and vocalist. He is known for his innovations in soul jazz and his 1969 recording of the protest song "Compared to What". His music has been widely sampled in hip hop. During his service in the Navy, McCann won a singing contest, which led to an appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show. The main part of McCann's career began in the early 1960s, when he recorded as a pianist with his trio for Pacific Jazz.

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

The world when Les McCann was born

Les McCann was born in 1935. 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 1935

#1 song"Cheek to Cheek" – Fred Astaire
Top movieMutiny on the Bounty
Best-selling bookGreen Light - Lloyd C. Douglas

Headlines and milestones

Major sports momentJesse Owens sets 3 world records in 45 minutes at Big Ten meet
Top headlineSocial Security Act signed into law by FDR
Technology milestoneRadar first demonstrated
Defining fadMonopoly officially released by Parker Brothers
Notable inventionBeer in cans
World population2.23 billion

United States snapshot

U.S. leaderFranklin D. Roosevelt
Sports championDetroit Tigers (World Series)
U.S. population127.3M

1935 versus 2026

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

Measure	1935	2026
Gas	$0.19	$3.45/gal
Average home	$5,000	$435,000
Average income	$2,700	$67,500
Minimum wage	$0.25	$7.25/hr (federal)
Movie ticket	$0.25	$11.95
Postage stamp	$0.03	$0.73
Population	127.3M	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.