About Sonny Rollins
Walter Theodore "Sonny" Rollins (September 7, 1930 – May 25, 2026) was an American jazz tenor saxophonist who is widely recognized as one of the most important and influential of jazz musicians. In a seven-decade career, Rollins recorded more than 60 albums as a leader. His 1956 album Saxophone Colossus was selected for preservation by the National Recording Registry of the Library of Congress in 2016. A number of his compositions, including "St. Thomas", "Oleo", "Doxy", and "Airegin", have become jazz standards. Rollins was often called "the greatest living improviser". Sometimes known as "saxophone colossus", Rollins was awarded a lifetime Grammy Award and was honored with the Kennedy Center Honors in 2011. He was credited as a defining figure of the jazz genre. == Early life == Walter Theodore Rollins was born on September 7, 1930, at a tenement house on 137th Street between Lenox Avenue and Seventh Avenue, in Harlem, New York City, to parents – Walter, a naval steward, and Valborg (née Solomon) – who were from what was then the Danish Virgin Islands: his father was born in Saint Croix, his mother in Saint Thomas. The youngest of three siblings, Rollins grew up in central Harlem and its Sugar Hill district in a musical family: his father played the clarinet, his sister played piano, and his older brother played violin.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.