Today’s Soul Birthdays – December 8

Dan Hartman – American musician, singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Jerry Butler – American soul singer-songwriter, producer, musician, and retired politician. He is also noted as being the original lead singer of the R&B vocal group the Impressions, as well as a 1991 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee.

Jimmy Smith – American jazz musician whose albums often charted on Billboard magazine. He helped popularize the Hammond B-3 organ, creating a link between jazz and 1960s soul music.

Sammy Davis, Jr. – American singer, dancer, actor, vaudevillian and comedian who has been called “the greatest entertainer ever to grace a stage in these United States.”