Stephen L. Wiley is recognized as the first artist to have recorded a full-length Christian rap album. Wiley was born and grew up in Muskogee, Oklahoma, and attended college at the University of Oklahoma. He began a career as a jazz drummer in 1979 and wrote a song called “Basketball”. This tune would later go … Read more
July 5, 1949 – December 7, 2007 Glenn Edward Burleigh was the first of three children born to Rev. Nathaniel and Iona Burleigh, July 5, 1949 in Guthrie, Oklahoma. He graduated from Favor High School in 1967 and entered the University of Oklahoma as a piano major studying with Digby Bell and Lois Gauger, and … Read more
They call jazz “America’s classical music.” Jazz was born and bred in the United States; originally inspired by ragtime and folk songs, early jazz artists drew their musical inspiration from country dances, field hollers, work songs, and the blues. Oklahoma musicians were instrumental in the creation of the so-called “Kansas City” style of jazz, bluesy … Read more
September 21, 1944 – June 22, 1988 2002 Blues Inductee Jesse Ed Davis was born in Norman, Oklahoma on September 21, 1944 of Kiowa and Cherokee parents. He was playing guitar at venues in and around Oklahoma City by his early teens with other young musicians like bassist John Selk, vocalist Jerry Fisher, and drummer … Read more
Ernestine Dillard, from Bixby, is perhaps best remembered for her April 23, 1995 performance, when she electrified 11,000 mourners and a national television audience with her “God Bless America” medley that closed the Oklahoma City Memorial Service for the victims of the Murrah Building bombing. In 1994, she ended a 33-year career as a registered nurse, the last … Read more
November 28, 1950 – February 2001 Born Deborah Ruth Vorhies on November 28, 1950 in Forth Worth, Texas, Debbie received her first guitar as a Christmas gift from her parents when she was 12 years old. She began touring nationally while still in her teens with an all-girl band, the Kandy Kanes, and then went … Read more
October 26, 1911 — January 27, 1972 Born as Mahala Jackson and nicknamed “Halie”, Jackson grew up in the Black Pearl section of the Carrollton neighborhood of Uptown New Orleans, Louisiana. The three-room dwelling on Pitt Street housed thirteen people and a dog. This included Little Mahala (named after her aunt, Mahala Clark-Paul whom the … Read more
November 18, 1952 — February 3, 2003 Ace Moreland was born in Miami, Oklahoma, in 1952. He was part Cherokee. A guitar player since age five, Moreland played in his first band by the time he was 12. Once he figured out the fret board, he concentrated on learning how to play slide guitar, harmonica, … Read more
June 17, 1948 — Glenn R. Townsend, born in Sulphur, Oklahoma, moved to Tulsa at the age of four. His music career began in 1961 with just two week’s practice; Townsend played his first gig with the regional rhythm & blues touring band Ram Rods as a rhythm guitarist. Over the next few years he … Read more
Dizzy Gillespie is one of the most iconic and influential jazz musicians worldwide. Although he passed away 29 years ago, his music remains legendary as he pioneered countless jazz subgenres and became famous for his iconic ability on the well-known “bent” trumpet. It is a lasting symbol of his exceptional career, and this trumpet managed … Read more