Today in Music History for July 10: In 1941, Ian Whitcomb, singer, record producer and pop music historian, was born. In 1941, pianist and composer Jelly Roll Morton, who claimed he invented jazz, died in Los Angeles at age 50. Morton, born Ferdinand La Menthe in New Orleans, may not have created jazz, but he was the first jazz composer to put his works down on paper.
Among the jazz classics that flowed from Morton's pen were "Jelly Rolly Blues," "Wolverine Blues" and "King Porter Stomp." Morton's peak years of popularity were from 1917-22, when his "Red Hot Peppers Band" played college and hotel dates and recorded for the Victor company. But with the coming of the swing era in the '30s, Morton's combination of ragtime and blues was considered old-fashioned.
He recorded his music and his life story for the U.S. Library of Congress three years before his death.
In 1942, legendary heavy metal singer Ronnie James Dio was born in Portsmouth, N.H. He rose to fame in 1975 as the first lead singer of "Rainbow," the heavy metal band put together by guitarist Ritchie Blackmore, who had just quit "Deep Purple.
" He then replaced Ozzy Osbourne in "Black Sabbath" in 1980 with the critically acclaimed album "Heaven and Hell," considered by many critics to be one of the finest heavy metal albums of all time. He also enjoyed a successful solo career with his self-titled band, "Dio," in between his three stints with "Black Sabbath" (1980-82; 1992; and 2007-2009 when the band toured as "Heaven.