June 11: This Day in Black Music History

Black Music Month originated in 1979. Jimmy Carter proclaimed the month of June as Black Music Month to celebrate the wonderful music, the achievements, births, important timelines, events and to remember those we lost.

1. Clarence ‘Pine Top’ Smith

1904: Clarence Smith was born this day. He was better known as Pinetop Smith or Pine Top Smith and was a boogie-woogie style blues pianist. He died in 1929 at age 24 from a gun shot wound he received during a dance-hall fight in Chicago. In 1991 he was inducted posthumously into the Alabama Jazz Hall of Fame. (Photo: YouTube)

2. Lil Zane

1982: Happy Birthday to rapper & actor Lil Zane