Since today is my birthday, I thought it would be cool to list some notable people who were also born on May 13. Some famous, some infamous. (Excerpts from Wikipedia)
Joseph Louis Barrow (May 13, 1914 – April 12, 1981), better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949.
Beatrice “Bea” Arthur (May 13, 1922 – April 25, 2009) was an American actress, comedian, and singer. In a career spanning seven decades, Arthur achieved success as the title character Maude Findlay on the 1970s sitcom Maude, and as Dorothy Zbornak on the 1980s sitcom The Golden Girls; she won Emmys for both roles. Also a stage actress, she won the Tony Award for her performance as Vera Charles in the original cast of Mame.
Maurice Robert “Mike” Gravel (born May 13, 1930) is a former Democratic United States Senator from Alaska, who served two terms from 1969 to 1981, and a former candidate in the 2008 presidential election.
James Warren “Jim” Jones (May 13, 1931 – November 18, 1978) was the founder of the Peoples Temple, which is best known for the November 18, 1978 death of over 900 Temple members in Jonestown, Guyana along with the deaths of nine other people at a nearby airstrip in Georgetown.
Harvey Keitel (born May 13, 1939) is an Academy Award-nominated American actor whose latest work is that of Detective Lieutenant Gene Hunt on ABC’s crime drama “Life on Mars”. He is widely known for the “tough-guy” characters he portrays and for his memorable roles from Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction, Martin Scorsese’s Mean Streets and Taxi Driver, Ridley Scott’s The Duellists and Thelma and Louise, Jane Campion’s The Piano and Abel Ferrara’s Bad Lieutenant.
Ritchie Valens (Richard Steven Valenzuela; May 13, 1941 – February 3, 1959) was an American singer, songwriter and guitarist. A rock and roll pioneer and a forefather of the Chicano rock movement, Valens’ recording career lasted only eight months. During this time, however, he scored several hits, most notably “La Bamba”, which was originally a Mexican folk song that Valens transformed with a rock rhythm and beat that became a hit in 1958, making Valens a pioneer of the Spanish-speaking rock and roll movement.
Mary Esther Wells (May 13, 1943 – July 26, 1992) was an American singer who defined the early sound of Motown Records in the early sixties. Along with The Miracles, The Temptations, The Supremes, and The Four Tops, Wells was said to have been part of the charge in black music onto radio stations and record shelves of mainstream America “bridging the color lines in music at the time.”
Stevie Wonder (born Stevland Hardaway Judkins on May 13, 1950, name later changed to Stevland Hardaway Morris) is an American singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and record producer. A prominent figure in popular music during the latter half of the 20th century, Wonder has recorded more than thirty U.S. top ten hits, won twenty-two Grammy Awards the most ever won by a solo artist in history, and the lifetime achievement.
Dennis Keith Rodman (born May 13, 1961) is an American retired professional basketball player of the National Basketball Association’s (NBA) Detroit Pistons, San Antonio Spurs, Chicago Bulls, Los Angeles Lakers and Dallas Mavericks. Born in Trenton, New Jersey, he was nicknamed “Dennis the Menace” and “The Worm” and was known for his fierce defensive and rebounding abilities. Playing small forward in his early years before becoming a power forward, Rodman earned NBA All-Defensive First Team honors seven times and was voted NBA Defensive Player of the Year twice. He also led the NBA in rebounds per game for a record seven consecutive years and won five NBA championships (1989, 1990, 1996, 1997, 1998).
Stephen Tyrone Colbert (born May 13, 1964) is an American political satirist and television host. He is the host of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, a satirical news show in which Colbert portrays a caricatured version of conservative political pundits.
Darius Rucker (born May 13, 1966 in Charleston, South Carolina) is an American musician. He is known mainly for his role as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the rock band Hootie & the Blowfish, of which he has been a member since the band’s inception in 1986.
Parrish J. Smith (born May 13, 1968), better known as PMD (Parrish Making Dollars), is an east coast rapper from Smithtown, Long Island and one-half of EPMD.
Michael “Mike” Bibby (born May 13, 1978, in Cherry Hill, New Jersey) is an American professional basketball point guard for the NBA’s Atlanta Hawks. He is a 6′2″ point guard and he attended Shadow Mountain High School in Phoenix, Arizona. He is the son of former NBA player Henry Bibby and Virginia Bibby.
Mickey Madden (born Michael Allen Madden, May 13, 1979 in Austin, Texas) is an American musician. Madden is best known for being the bassist in the pop rock band Maroon 5.
These are a few. Please feel free to comment with other names that didn’t make the list.
