[2Much2Lose]

RM, you're far too quick to call a TKO. If I had listed ALL of NJ's great musicians, no one from Canada would have even dared to try. And, I have limited myself to artists who have topped the charts in their respective genres.

Even with that limitation, NJ has a clear edge over Canada, as follows:




Count Basie (1904–1984), jazz pianist, organist, bandleader (Red Bank)
Gord performs at the Count Basie Theatre in Red Bank

Lauryn Hill (born 1975), musician (South Orange)

Whitney Houston (born 1963) (b. Newark, grew up in East Orange)

(Marie) Dionne Warrick (born December 12, 1940 in East Orange, Whitney Houston’s aunt)

Jon Bon Jovi (born 1962), musician (Perth Amboy), and much of his band

Frank Sinatra (b. 1915), singer, actor -- Hoboken, NJ

Nancy Sinatra (b. 1940) -- Jersey City

Bruce Springsteen (b. 1949) -- Freehold, and the following members of the E Street Band:

Max Weinberg (b. 1951) -- Newark, drums, tv personality, founder of Max Weinberg 7,
the band for Conan O’Brian’s Late Show
Danny Federici (b. 1950 near Flemington, NJ) – organ, piano, keyboards
David Sancious (b. 1953) – Asbury Park, NJ, keyboards and guitar (the band practiced
and formed its sound at his mother’s house on E Street in Belmar, a few miles
south of Asbury Park)
Gary Tallent (b. 1949 in Detroit, raised in NJ in various shore towns), bass player
Steven Van Zandt (b. 1950 in Winthrop, Mass., raised since age 7 in Middletown, NJ),
lead guitar; tv actor: consigliere Silvio Dante on “The Sopranos”; co-founder and
songwriter for Southside Johnnie and the Asbury Jukes
Patti Scialfa (b. 1953) Deal, NJ, Springsteen’s bandmate, wife
Frankie Valli (born 1937), singer (Newark) and at least the following “Jersey Boys”
members of the Four Seasons (the group’s name was taken from an NJ bowling
alley):
Joe Long (b. 1941) -- Elizabeth, vocals
Bob Crewe (b. 1931) -- Newark, producer/songwriter
Bob Gaudio – (b. 1932 Bronx, NY, raised in Bergenfield, NJ), vocals, keyboards
Tommy DeVito (b. 1936) -- Belleville, NJ, vocals and lead guitar

Sarah Vaughan (born 1924, --Newark) jazz singer.

Larry Young (1940–1978), hard bop jazz organist

Clint Black - b. 1962 (Long Branch, NJ) country singer

Mary Chapin Carpenter – b. 1958 (Princeton)

George Clinton – b. 1940 (Plainfield, NJ) fusion keyboards

Daniel Fagen – b. 1948 (Passaic, NJ) (“Steely Dan”)

Connie Francis – b. 1938 (Newark)

Debbie Harry – b. 1945 (Hawthorne, NJ) of Blondie

Marilyn McCoo – b. 1943 (Jersey City) of The Fifth Dimension

Rickie Nelson – b. 1945 (Teaneck)

Les Paul – b. 1915 (Mahwah) guitarist and guitar maker

Queen Latifah – b. 1970 (Newark) rapper

Kate Pierson – b. 1948 (Weehawken) lead singer of B-52’s

Eddie Rabbit – b. 1941 (East Orange), country singer

Nelson Riddle – b. 1921 (Oradell)

Richard Shindell – b. 1960 (Lakehurst), folk singer, composer

Gloria Gaynor – b. 1949 (Newark)

Charles Smith – b. 1948 (Jersey City) lead guitarist/ songwriter for Cool and the Gang

Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes – Asbury Park band founded by Steven Van Zandt
and John :”Southside Johnnie” Lyon (b. 1948) – Ocean Grove, NJ (the first
town ‘southside’ of Asbury Park)

Phoebe Snow – b. 1952 (NYC, grew up in Teaneck and currently resides in NJ) her stage
name is taken from a NJ train on the line upon which I commuted to NYC

Paul Robeson (Newark)

Ice T -- b. 1958), rapper and actor (b. Newark, moved to California, now resides in North Bergen, NJ) -- I've left out numerous other rappers

Paul Simon (b.1941), musician, composer (born in Newark)

Patti Smith – b. 1946 in Chicago, raised in Woodbury, NJ

David Cassidy (born 1950), actor/singer in Partridge family (Englewood)

Sherwood Schwartz (b. 1916), television producer (Passaic, New Jersey, wrote
theme songs for The Brady Bunch and Gilligan’s Island.)



Other Bands Formed in NJ include:

1910 Fruitgum Company (1960s bubble-gum group from Brick, NJ)
Blues Traveler (group formed in 1987 in Princeton)
Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show (group formed in Union City in 1968)
Looking Glass (band formed 1969 in New Brunswick by NJ musicians)
The Rascals / Young Rascals (formed in NJ in 1965, half the group are NJ born)
Fountains of Wayne (named for a garden supply store in Wayne, NJ)


Born elsewhere, made it big and reside in NJ:

George Benson (b. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania), lives in Englewood

Sean Combs ("Diddy") (b. New York City, New York ), lives in Alpine

Lil' Kim (b. New York City, New York), lives in Alpine




But the one that give NJ the title by an outright KO is a question for Char:

Who is that Paul Anka you are talking about? It couldn't be the same Paul Anka who was born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, but now resides in Tenafly, NJ, could it? Paul "Jersey Boy" Anka?

(NJ, grinning broadly, does a little tap dance over fallen Canadian opposition.)



David