Famous Birthdays on June 21

Sir Raymond Douglas Davies is an English musician. He was the lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and primary songwriter for the rock band the Kinks, with his younger brother Dave providing lead guitar and backing vocals; the Davies brothers were the band's only consistent members. He has also acted in, directed and produced shows for theatre and television. Known for focusing his lyrics on rock bands, English culture, nostalgia and social satire, he is often referred to as the "Godfather of Britpop", though he disputes this title. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame as a member of the Kinks in 1990. After the dissolution of the Kinks in 1996, he embarked on a solo career.

Kathleen Alice Mattea is an American country music and bluegrass singer. Active since 1984 as a recording artist, she has charted more than 30 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs charts, including four that reached No. 1: "Goin' Gone", "Eighteen Wheels and a Dozen Roses", "Come from the Heart", and "Burnin' Old Memories", and 12 more that charted within the top ten. She has released 15 studio albums, two Christmas albums, and one greatest hits album. Most of her material was recorded for Universal Music Group Nashville's Mercury Records Nashville division between 1984 and 2000, with later albums being issued on Narada Productions, her own Captain Potato label, and Sugar Hill Records. Among her albums, she has received five gold certifications and one platinum certification from the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). She has collaborated with Dolly Parton, Michael McDonald, Tim O'Brien, and her husband, Jon Vezner. Mattea is also a two-time Grammy Award winner: in 1990 for "Where've You Been", and in 1993 for her Christmas album Good News. Her style is defined by traditional country, bluegrass, folk, and Celtic music influences. She was inducted into the Grand Ole Opry in 2025.

Marcella Levy, known professionally as Marcy Levy and Marcella Detroit, is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. She co-wrote the 1977 Eric Clapton hit "Lay Down Sally" and released her debut studio album Marcella in 1982. She joined Shakespears Sister in 1988 with ex-Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey. Their first two studio albums, Sacred Heart (1989) and Hormonally Yours (1992), both reached the top 10 of the UK Albums Chart. Detroit sang the lead vocals on their biggest hit, "Stay", which spent eight consecutive weeks at number one on the UK Singles Chart in 1992. Detroit left the band in 1993 and had a UK top 20 hit with "I Believe" in 1994. She formed the Marcy Levy Band in 2002, and finished third in the 2010 ITV series Popstar to Operastar.

Mary Therese McCarthy was an American novelist, critic and political activist, best known for her novel The Group, her marriage to critic Edmund Wilson, her intimate friendship with her colleague Hannah Arendt and her storied feud with playwright Lillian Hellman. McCarthy was the winner of the Horizon Prize in 1949 and was awarded two Guggenheim Fellowships, in 1949 and 1959. She was a member of the National Institute of Arts and Letters and the American Academy in Rome. In 1973, she delivered the Huizinga Lecture in Leiden, the Netherlands, under the title Can There Be a Gothic Literature? The same year she was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She won the National Medal for Literature and the Edward MacDowell Medal in 1984. McCarthy held honorary degrees from Bard, Bowdoin, Colby, Smith College, Syracuse University, the University of Maine at Orono, the University of Aberdeen, and the University of Hull.

Harold Wade Phillips is an American football coach. He has served as the head coach of the Denver Broncos, Buffalo Bills, Dallas Cowboys, Houston Roughnecks, and San Antonio Brahmas. He has also served as an interim head coach for the New Orleans Saints, Atlanta Falcons, and Houston Texans. Additionally, Phillips has long been considered to be among the best defensive coordinators in the NFL. In his long career, he has served as defensive coordinator in eight separate stints with seven different franchises. Multiple players under Phillips' system have won Defensive Player of the Year: Reggie White, Bryce Paup, Bruce Smith, J. J. Watt, and Aaron Donald. Others under Phillips have won Defensive Rookie of the Year: Mike Croel and Shawne Merriman. In Phillips' lone Super Bowl victory, a defensive player would be named Super Bowl MVP: Von Miller.

Juan Manuel DeBiedma, better known by his alias Hungrybox, is an Argentine–American professional Super Smash Bros. player, streamer, tournament organizer and commentator. Recognized as one of the greatest and most successful Super Smash Bros. Melee players of all time, he is considered one of the historical "Five Gods of Melee" along with Adam "Armada" Lindgren, Jason "Mew2King" Zimmerman, Joseph "Mang0" Marquez, and Kevin "PPMD" Nanney, and is regarded as the greatest Jigglypuff player in history. He is also an active competitor in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, and has been a member of Team Liquid since 2015, becoming its co-owner in December 2021. He is currently ranked as the 3rd best Melee player in the world for 2025.

Michael Aaron Einziger is an American musician, songwriter and producer. He is the guitarist and a founding member of the rock band Incubus, and has also co-written, produced and collaborated with a wide array of artists including Pharrell Williams, Hans Zimmer, Skrillex, Tyler the Creator, Avicii, Damian Marley, Jason Schwartzman and Steve Martin among many others. Incubus has sold over 23 Million albums worldwide, and in 2013, Einziger co-wrote the hit song "Wake Me Up", alongside Avicii and Aloe Blacc. As an entrepreneur, Einziger is the co-founder and co-chairman of the wireless technology platform MIXhalo, and also the co-founder and CEO of the biotechnology startup Versicolor Technologies. Einziger received his education at Harvard University.

Irene van Dyk is a former netball international who represented both New Zealand and South Africa. Between 2000 and 2014 she made 145 senior appearances for New Zealand. She was a member of the New Zealand teams that won the 2003 World Netball Championships and the 2006 and 2010 Commonwealth Games titles. Between 1994 and 1999 she made 72 senior appearances for South Africa. She was member of the South Africa team that were silver medallists at the 1995 World Netball Championships. She captained South Africa at the 1999 World Netball Championships. During her international netball career, she scored 5917 goals from 6572 attempts at 90%. Van Dyk remains the world's most capped netball international. She was the 2003 New Zealand Sportswoman of the Year. Between 2003 and 2013, van Dyk played for Waikato Bay of Plenty Magic. In 2005 and 2006, she was a member of the Magic team that won two successive National Bank Cup titles and in 2012, she was a member of the Magic team that won the ANZ Championship. In 2009, van Dyk was appointed a Member of the New Zealand Order of Merit, for services to netball. In 2022, she was included on a list of the 25 best players to feature in netball leagues in New Zealand since 1998. In 2024 she was inducted into the Netball New Zealand Hall of Fame.

Alexander Thomson of Banchory FRSE (1798–1868) was a 19th-century Scottish advocate, agriculturalist, antiquary, author, philanthropist and traveller. He owned an estate at Banchory-Devenick in Aberdeenshire. After qualifying as an advocate in Edinburgh he returned to the estate and did not pursue a career at the bar preferring to follow the life of a country gentleman. He travelled extensively in Europe, spending many years studying overseas. He settled crofters on his estate and planted many trees. His position in life allowed to give time to many interests including antiquarian studies, geology, biology and social reform. He attempted to unite Marischal and King's Colleges in Aberdeen University. At the Disruption he sided with the Free Church and was a prominent leader in that cause. He died in 1868 and bequeathed a sizeable museum and collection of books to the church. He also gave a substantial amount of money to set up a Free Church College in Aberdeen.

Eivor Mona-Lisa Pursiainen, née Strandvall, was a Finnish female sprinter, who was especially successful in 1973–1974, being ranked #2 in the world over 100 metres and # 3, over 200 metres and 400 metres in 1973. In 1974, she was ranked #7 in the 100 metres and #6 in the 200 metres. She won 100 metres and 200 metres at the 1973 Summer Universiade held in Moscow. She won a bronze medal in the 200 metres at the 1974 European Athletics Championships, as well as a silver medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay, and helped Finland to a National Record of 3:25.7. She would take two silver medals over the 100 metres and 200 metres at the 1975 Summer Universiade in Rome.

Alois Hába was a Czech composer, music theorist and teacher. He belongs to the important discoverers in modern classical music, and to the major composers of microtonal music, especially using the quarter-tone scale, though he used others such as sixth-tones, fifth-tones, and twelfth-tones. From the other microtonal conceptions, he discussed a "three-quarter tone" system in his theoretical works but he used scales in this tuning in sections of some of his compositions. In his prolific career, Hába composed three operas, an enormous collection of chamber music including 16 string quartets, piano, organ and choral pieces, some orchestral works and songs. He also had special keyboard and woodwind instruments constructed that were capable of playing quarter-tone scales.

Matthew Simpson was an American bishop of the Methodist Episcopal Church, elected in 1852 and based mainly in Philadelphia. During the Reconstruction Era after the Civil War, most evangelical denominations in the North, especially the Methodists, were initially strong supporters of radical policies that favored the Freedmen and distrusted the Southern whites. However, by the late 1860s in border state conferences, the MEC North moved well away from their work with the Freedmen's Bureau and often sided with the grievances of Southern white members. Bishop Simpson played a leading role in mobilizing the Northern Methodists for the cause. His biographer calls him the "High Priest of the Radical Republicans."

Fyodor Vasilyevich Gladkov was a Soviet and Russian socialist realist writer, best known for his 1925 novel Cement. Gladkov joined a Marxist group in 1904, and in 1905 went to Tiflis and was arrested there for revolutionary activities. He was sentenced to three years' exile. He then moved to Novorossiysk. Among other positions, he served as the editor of the newspaper Krasnoye Chernomorye, secretary of the journal Novy Mir, special correspondent for Izvestia, and director of the Maxim Gorky Literature Institute in Moscow from 1945 to 1948. He received the Stalin Prize for his literary accomplishments, and is considered a classic writer of Soviet Socialist Realist literature.

John Inglis Young, OAM, known professionally as John Paul Young, is an Australian pop singer who is best known for having a worldwide hit with "Love Is in the Air" in 1978. His career was boosted by regular appearances as a performer and guest host on Countdown, a 1974–1987 TV series for Australia's national broadcaster ABC. Besides "Love Is in the Air", Young had top ten chart success in Germany and the Netherlands with "Standing in the Rain", released in 1977, and four other top ten hits in South Africa, including No. 1 hits "Yesterday's Hero" in 1975, and "I Hate the Music" in 1976.

Mark Traecey Patrick Kimmitt is a retired American general and former diplomat. He served as the 16th Assistant Secretary of State for Political-Military Affairs under George W. Bush from August 2008 to January 2009. Before he joined the State Department, he was a brigadier general in the United States Army and served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for Middle East. Kimmitt has also served as deputy director for strategy and plans for the United States Central Command and deputy director for operations/chief military spokesman for coalition forces in Iraq; he also served at NATO's SHAPE headquarters in Belgium.

Field Marshal Sir Claude John Eyre Auchinleck was a British Indian Army commander who saw active service during both World War I and World War II. A career soldier who spent much of his military career in India, he rose to become commander-in-chief of the Indian Army by early 1941 during the Second World War. In July 1941 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the Middle East Theatre, but after initial successes, the war in North Africa turned against the British-led forces under his command and he was relieved of the post in August 1942 during the North African campaign.

Milward Rodon Kennedy Burge was an English civil servant, journalist, crime writer and literary critic. He was educated at Winchester College and New College, Oxford. He served with British Military Intelligence in World War I and then worked for the International Labour Organization and the Egyptian government. He was London editor of the Empire Digest and reviewed mystery fiction for The Sunday Times and The Guardian. He retired in the 1960s to West Sussex. Burge married Georgina Lee in 1921 and after her death married Eveline Schrieber Billiat in 1926. He also wrote under the pseudonym Evelyn Elder.

Michel François Platini is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, and came seventh in the FIFA Player of the Century vote. In recognition of his achievements, he was named a Knight of the Legion of Honour in 1985 and became an Officer in 1998. As the president of UEFA in 2015 he was banned from involvement in football under FIFA's organisation, over ethics violations. The ban lasted until 2023.

Manu Chao is a French-Spanish musician. He sings in French, Spanish, English, Italian, Arabic, Catalan, Galician, Portuguese, Greek and occasionally in other languages. Chao began his musical career in Paris, busking and playing with groups such as Hot Pants and Los Carayos, which combined a variety of languages and musical styles. With friends and his brother Antoine Chao, he founded the band Mano Negra in 1987, achieving considerable success, particularly in Europe. He became a solo artist after its breakup in 1995 and since then has toured regularly with his live band, Radio Bemba Sound System.