Famous Birthdays on January 9

Brenda Gail Webb, known professionally as Crystal Gayle, is an American country music singer widely known for her 1977 hit "Don't It Make My Brown Eyes Blue". Initially, Gayle's management and record label were the same as that of her oldest sister, Loretta Lynn. Not finding success with the arrangement after several years, and with Lynn's encouragement, Gayle decided to try a different approach. She signed a new record contract and began recording with Nashville producer Allen Reynolds. Gayle's new sound was sometimes referred to as middle-of-the-road (MOR) or country pop, and was part of a bigger musical trend by many country artists of the 1970s to appeal to a wider audience. Subsequently, Gayle became one of the most successful crossover artists of the 1970s and 80s. She is also known for her floor-length hair.

Chad Ochocinco Johnson, known from 2008 to 2012 as Chad Ochocinco, is an American former professional football player who was a wide receiver for 11 seasons in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Santa Monica Corsairs and the Oregon State Beavers, and played for the Cincinnati Bengals and the New England Patriots during his tenure playing in the NFL. He was selected by the Bengals in the second round of the 2001 NFL draft, and played for them for 10 seasons. "Ochocinco", which means "eight five" in Spanish, derives from his number, eighty-five. In 2011, Johnson was traded to the Patriots, for whom he played in Super Bowl XLVI.

Katherine Callan is an American actress and writer. In a career spanning more than six decades, Callan appeared in more than 150 film and television productions. She made her big screen debut starring in the 1970 satirical drama Joe and later appeared in films A Touch of Class (1973), The Onion Field (1979), American Gigolo (1980), Frankie & Johnny (1991), Nine Lives (2005) and Knives Out (2019). On television she played Clark Kent's mother Martha in the ABC comedy-drama series, Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman (1993-1997). She also had recurring roles on Dallas, Coach, Carnivàle, How I Met Your Mother, Getting On, Veep and Widow's Bay.

Noel Scott Engel, better known by his stage name Scott Walker, was an American-British singer-songwriter, composer, and record producer. Walker was known for his emotive baritone voice and his unorthodox career path, which took him from being a teen pop icon in the 1960s to an avant-garde musician from the 1990s to his death. Walker was most successful in the United Kingdom, where he achieved fame as a member of pop trio the Walker Brothers, who scored several hit singles during the mid-1960s, including two number-one hits on the UK singles chart with "Make It Easy on Yourself" (1965) and "The Sun Ain't Gonna Shine Anymore" (1966). He lived in the UK from 1965 onwards, and became a UK citizen in 1970.

Álvaro Tauchert Soler is a Spanish-German singer. He rose to prominence across Europe and Latin America with his 2015 hit "El mismo sol", primarily achieving success in Italy, Switzerland and Mexico. A special bilingual Spanish-English version of "El mismo sol", featuring Jennifer Lopez, was also recorded for international release in the United States, in the United Kingdom, and worldwide. His follow up single "Sofia" in 2016 also achieved chart success in European countries, reaching number 1 in Poland, Italy, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Belgium and Switzerland; and it is the most-viewed video on his YouTube channel. Soler has released four studio albums, Eterno agosto in 2015, Mar de colores in 2018, Magia in 2021 and El camino in 2025. His single "La cintura" taken from his second album has become a pan-European hit for him.

Carrie Chapman Catt was an American women's suffrage leader who campaigned for the Nineteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution, which gave U.S. women the right to vote in 1920. Catt served as president of the National American Woman Suffrage Association from 1900 to 1904 and 1915 to 1920. She founded the League of Women Voters in 1920 and the International Woman Suffrage Alliance in 1904, which was later named International Alliance of Women. She "led an army of voteless women in 1919 to pressure Congress to pass the constitutional amendment giving them the right to vote and convinced state legislatures to ratify it in 1920". She "was one of the best-known women in the United States in the first half of the twentieth century and was on all lists of famous American women."

Jack Campbell is an American former professional ice hockey goaltender. Prior to his professional career, Campbell played for the Windsor Spitfires and Sault Ste. Marie Greyhounds of the Ontario Hockey League. Nicknamed "Soup/Soupy", in reference to Campbell's, he was selected in the first round by the Dallas Stars in the 2010 NHL entry draft and made his NHL debut in 2013. After spending several years in the minors, Campbell was traded to the Los Angeles Kings, serving as the team's backup before joining the Toronto Maple Leafs in 2020, where he emerged as an effective starting netminder and was named to the NHL All-Star Game in 2022. He left Toronto after the 2021–22 season to sign with the Edmonton Oilers. Performing poorly with the Oilers, he was waived by the team in November 2023, and assigned to their American Hockey League (AHL) affiliate, the Bakersfield Condors, before being bought out at the end of the season.

Bruce Allan Boudreau is a Canadian professional ice hockey coach and former player. He previously served as head coach of the Washington Capitals, Anaheim Ducks, Minnesota Wild, and Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). As a player, Boudreau played professionally for 20 seasons, and was a third round pick of the Toronto Maple Leafs at the 1975 NHL amateur draft. He played 141 games in the NHL with the Maple Leafs and Chicago Black Hawks, and 30 games in the World Hockey Association (WHA) with the Minnesota Fighting Saints. Boudreau played most of his career in the American Hockey League (AHL) for various teams where he was known for his goals and point-scoring abilities, recording 316 goals and 483 assists for 799 points in 634 games.

Giovanni Papini was an Italian journalist, essayist, novelist, short story writer, poet, literary critic, and philosopher. A controversial literary figure of the early and mid-twentieth century, he was the earliest and most enthusiastic representative and promoter of Italian pragmatism. Papini was admired for his writing style and engaged in heated polemics. Involved with avant-garde movements such as futurism and post-decadentism, he moved from one political and philosophical position to another, always dissatisfied and uneasy: he converted from anti-clericalism and atheism to Catholicism, and went from convinced interventionism – before 1915 – to an aversion to war. In the 1930s, after moving from individualism to conservatism, he finally became a fascist, while maintaining an aversion to Nazism.

Agafya "Halyna" Andriivna Kuzmenko was a Ukrainian teacher and anarchist revolutionary. After moving to southern Ukraine, she became a prominent figure within the ranks of the Makhnovshchina, a mass movement to establish a libertarian communist society. Kuzmenko spearheaded the movement's educational activities, promoted Ukrainization and acted as an outspoken advocate of women's rights. Along with her husband, the anarchist military leader Nestor Makhno, in 1921 she fled into exile from the political repression in Ukraine. While imprisoned for subversive activities in Poland, she gave birth to her daughter Elena Mikhnenko, whom she brought with her to Paris. Following the death of her husband, the outbreak of World War II saw her deportation for forced labour, first by the Nazis and then by the Soviets. After her release, she spent her final days with her daughter in Kazakh SSR.

James Beckford is a Jamaican track and field athlete competing in the long jump. He represented Jamaica at the Olympic level in 1996, 2000 and 2004. He was the silver medallist in the long jump at the 1996 Olympics and also has two silvers from the World Championships in Athletics. He was chosen as the Jamaica Sportsman of the Year for 1995, 1996 and 2003. He is the current holder of the Jamaican record for the triple jump with a mark of 17.92 m, and was also the holder of the long jump record at 8.62m until 28 September. 2019 when it was replaced with a mark of 8.69 m by Tajay Gayle at the World Championships in Athletics in Doha, Qatar.

Bryan Bartlett Starr was an American professional football quarterback and head coach for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Alabama Crimson Tide, and was selected in the 17th round of the 1956 NFL draft by the Packers, for whom he played for 16 seasons until 1971. Starr is the only quarterback in NFL history to lead a team to three consecutive league championships (1965–1967). He led his team to victories in the first two Super Bowls: I and II. As the Packers' head coach, he was less successful, compiling a 52–76–3 (.408) record from 1975 through 1983.

Ágnes Keleti was a Hungarian and Israeli artistic gymnast and coach, who won multiple Olympic medals. She was the oldest living Olympic champion and medallist, reaching her 100th birthday on 9 January 2021. While representing Hungary at the Summer Olympics, she won 10 Olympic medals including five gold medals, three silver medals, and two bronze medals, and is considered to be one of the most successful Jewish Olympic athletes of all time. Keleti earned more Olympic medals than any other individual with Israeli citizenship, and more Olympic medals than any other Jew, except Mark Spitz. She was the most successful athlete at the 1956 Summer Olympics.

Simon Vouet was a French painter who studied and rose to prominence in Italy before being summoned by Louis XIII to serve as Premier peintre du Roi in France. He and his studio of artists created religious and mythological paintings, portraits, frescoes, tapestries, and massive decorative schemes for the king and for wealthy patrons, including Cardinal Richelieu. During this time, "Vouet was indisputably the leading artist in Paris," and was immensely influential in introducing the Italian Baroque style of painting to France. He was also, according to Pierre Rosenberg, "without doubt one of the outstanding seventeenth-century draughtsmen, equal to Annibale Carracci and Lanfranco."

Dame Gracie Fields was a British actress, singer, and comedian. A star of cinema and music hall, she was one of the top ten film stars in Britain during the 1930s and was considered the highest-paid film star in the world in 1937. Fields was known affectionately as Our Gracie and the Lancashire Lass and for never losing her strong, native Lancashire accent. She was appointed a Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) and an Officer of the Venerable Order of St John (OStJ) in 1938, and a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1979.

Kaushik Basu is an Indian economist who was Chief Economist of the World Bank from 2012 to 2016 and Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India from 2009 to 2012. He is the C. Marks Professor of International Studies and Professor of Economics at Cornell University, and academic advisory board member of upcoming Plaksha University. He began a three-year term as president of the International Economic Association in June 2017. From 2009 to 2012, during the United Progressive Alliance's second term, Basu served as the Chief Economic Adviser to the Government of India. Basu is winner of the Humboldt Research Award 2021.

John Broadus Watson was an American psychologist who popularized the scientific theory of behaviorism, establishing it as a psychological school. Watson advanced this change in the psychological discipline through his 1913 address at Columbia University, titled Psychology as the Behaviorist Views It. Through his behaviorist approach, Watson conducted research on animal behavior, child rearing, and advertising, as well as conducting the controversial "Little Albert" experiment and the Kerplunk experiment. He was also the editor of Psychological Review from 1910 to 1915. A Review of General Psychology survey, published in 2002, ranked Watson as the 17th most cited psychologist of the 20th century.

Paolo Giovanni Nutini is a Scottish singer-songwriter from Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Nutini's debut album, These Streets (2006), peaked at number three on the UK Albums Chart. Its follow-up, Sunny Side Up (2009), debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart. Both albums have been certified quintuple platinum by the British Phonographic Industry. Five years later, Nutini released his third studio album, Caustic Love, in April 2014, which debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the BPI. In July 2022, he released his fourth album, Last Night in the Bittersweet.

Adolf von Schlagintweit was a German botanist and explorer of Central Asia. Brothers Hermann, Adolf and Robert Schlagintweit were commissioned by the British East India Company to study the Earth's magnetic field in South and Central Asia. They were the first Europeans to cross the Kunlun Mountains and the first to explore the region between Karakoram and Kunlun. After their joint exploration, Adolf Schlagintweit made a separate expedition of his own, crossing the present day disputed Aksai Chin region for the first time. Mistaken for a Chinese spy, he was executed in Kashgar.