Birthdays on the Tube: 17-23 January

An ongoing series celebrating musicians' birthdays. This week's include gypsy jazz guitarist Django Reinhart, who would have been 100 this week, Simon Rattle enthusing about Mahler and talking about the Berlin Philharmonic going digital, Roy Plomley on Desert Island Discs with Paul McCartney and a trio of divas: Eartha Kitt wanting to be evil, Spanish singer Lola Flores and the Japanese teen pop star Rika Ishikawa of the girl group Def Diva in a high budget video set in a gents' toilet. The song "Peace" topped the Japanese charts and sold a million. See videos below.

23 January 1910: Django Reinhart was brought up in Gypsy camps outside Paris. A fire when he was 18 paralysed two fingers but he still became the most celebrated of  all European jazz guitarists when he formed the Quintette du Hot Club de France with violinist Stephane Grappelli. Among his many honours, he even has a minor planet named after him - Django 24291.

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21 January 1923: Lola Flores was part-Gypsy also. A diva whose life has been made into the film Lola (2007). Her son was so upset when she died he took an overdose and is buried next to her.

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19 January 1955: Sir Simon Rattle here enthusing over and conducting Mahler's Third Symphony.

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Less enthused, but interesting anyway, here Rattle explains how the Berlin Philharmonic is going digital and why in an interview with the music critic of Die Zeit a couple of months ago.

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20 January 1914: Roy Plomley, who created Desert Island Discs, in an extract from an Arena TV documentary where he has Sir Paul McCartney as guest.

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17 January 1927: Eartha Kitt, in a terrific performance, wants to be evil. She wants to shoot pool, drink booze: "Whatever I got, I'm eager to lose".

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19 January 1985: Rika Ishikawa had her first hit here on 2000 as part of teen girl group Morning Musume (she does a solo bit in the middle). She then joined Def Diva. The video for the song "Peace" is bafflingly shot in a giant gents' toilet which is transformed into a disco. It sold a million.

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