Today is the birthday of singer and guitarist Lydia Lunch, who was born in 1959 in Rochester, New York. Confrontational, unabashed and unapologetic, Lunch has made a name for herself as a vocalist of considerable clout as well as a performance artist to rival Madonna at her most bawdy. At 16 she joined her first band, Teenage Jesus and the Jerks, using her stark vocal range to alternately shriek or chant in monotone. In 1980 she left the group and began recording solo records, beginning in 1980 with Queen of Siam. Lunch continued working with other musicians in a number of projects, including 8 Eyed Spy and the Devil Dogs, before moving to California and starting her own band, 13.13.

Lunch also collaborated with California folks like the Birthday Party on their EP, The Agony is the Ecstasy, and with Exene Cervenka in a book called Adulterers Anonymous. Throughout the 1980s Lunch gave spoken-word performances, leading to the formation in 1984 of Widowspeak Productions for the release of her own and others' writing. Lunch also appeared in two films by underground producer Richard Kern, including Right Side of My Brain, with Henry Rollins, and Fingered, and in Beth B's Thanatopsis

Lunch has continued to write, record and collaborate; in the late 1980s she formed Harry Crews with Sonic Youth bassist Kim Gordon, and recorded The Crumb with Sonic Youth's Thurston Moore. She's taught at the San Francisco Art Institute and in 1993 released a three-CD box set of her spoken word performances called Crimes Against Nature. In 1995 Lunch again hooked up with Cervenka to record Rude Heiroglyphics.

Other birthdays: Charlie Watts (Rolling Stones), William Guest (Gladys Knight & the Pips), Antone "Chubby" Tavares (Tavares), Marvin Hamilisch, Tony Hadley (Spandau Ballet), Michael Steele (Bangles) and Tiffany. -- Beth Winegarner