Nicholas II, Czar of Russia, 1868–1918

* Nicholas II was the last Emperor of Russia. He ruled from 1 November 1894 until his forced abdication on 15 March 1917. His reign saw Imperial Russia go from being one of the foremost great powers of the world to economic and military collapse.

I have updated his data entry on Astrodatabank, quoting the date and time of birth from his mother's diary. Thankyou to Susan Carmichael for inspiring my research.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 6 May [OS] or 18 May [NS] 1868, 14:30 (2:30PM) LMT (-2:01:40), Tsarskoye Selo, Russia (59n43, 30e25). ASC: 2 Libra. RR: AA (from quoted birth record). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield cites his mother's diary as quoted in "Kejserinde Dagmar Maria Fjodorovna: en udstilling om den danske prinsesse som blev kejserinde af Rusland" by O. Villumsen Krog (Christiansborg Slot, 1997), p. 118: "In her diary she related how the boy who was to become Russia's last emperor came into this world: '(May 6/18). I woke up at four o'clock with a bad stomach ache, ... I stood it until half past seven, ... Finally I had to go into the bedroom ... And finally it was over and a little child’s cry announced the birth of our little angelic son at half past two.'"

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Jack Huddle,1928–1973 (American rockabilly musician and songwriter)

* Jack Huddle performed and recorded with Buddy Holly early in Holly's career. In 1953 Huddle gave a young Buddy Holly a break when he let him perform with his friend Jack Neal as the Buddy & Jack duo on the talentshow "Around Lubbock." On April 28, 1957, Huddle made the trip to Clovis, New Mexico, together with his friend and writing partner Jim Robinson. Buddy Holly was also there or was asked by Jack to go with him. Buddy played lead guitar on the recordings made that day: "Starlight" and "Believe Me". The instrumental break on "Starlight" was often considered as one of the most catchy guitar breaks by Buddy on a non-Buddy or non-Crickets record. The session was kicked off by Jim Robinson (Jimmie Zed Robinson) singing "Whole Lot of Lovin'" and "It's a Wonderful Feeling." After that it was Huddle's turn. Jack and Jim recorded two other songs in Clovis in 1959. "Midnight Monsters Hop" and "Tarzan and Jane". Buddy didn't play on them. Jack and Jim also wrote "Frankie Frankenstein" that was recorded in Clovis and sung by Jerry Allison, Buddy Holly's drummer.

Jimmy Giuffre, 1921-2008 (American musician)

* Jimmy Giuffre was a jazz clarinet and saxophone player, composer and arranger. He is notable for his development of forms of jazz which allowed for free interplay between the musicians, anticipating forms of free improvisation. 

Free improvisation? How about Uranus on the Part of Fortune, and  Moon in Sagittarius ruling a Cancerian Ascendant?!

Grady Gaines (American musician)

* Grady Gaines is an American electric blues, Texas blues and jazz blues tenor saxophonist, who performed and recorded with Little Richard in the 1950s. He also backed other musicians such as Dee Clark, Little Willie John, Sam Cooke, James Brown, Jackie Wilson, and Joe Tex. He has released three albums.

Lefty Frizzell, 1928-1975 (American country music singer, songwriter)

* Lefty Frizzell was an American country music singer and songwriter of the 1950s, and a proponent of honky tonk music. His relaxed style of singing was an influence on later stars Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson, Roy Orbison, George Jones and John Fogerty. He is a member of the Country Music Hall of Fame. 

Frizzell had C&W Sagittarius rising, with the Sun conjunct its ruler, Jupiter. 

J. B. Floyd (America concert pianist, composer)

* J. B. Floyd is a concert pianist (jazz, classical, avant-garde, and the like), composer, and music pedagogue at the collegiate level. He has long-been a professor of music, which has included Chairman of Keyboard Performance, at the University of Miami Frost School of Music. Floyd is a Yamaha Artist.

Morty Corb, 1917—1996 (American jazz double-bassist)

* Morty Corb had a long career as a jazz musician that began in 1946 and lasted until his death. Corb performed for four years on Bob Crosby's television program. He also did extended work as a session musician in studios, and though he did little of this after the 1950s, he appears on some 300 recordings. He worked in bands in Disneyland after moving to California in 1947, and recorded his only album as a leader, Strictly from Dixie, in 1957. Corb was fascinated by Halloween and, from 1973, decked his house out with detailed, elaborate decorations. He incorporated some of what he had learned about special effects from the Disney studios, and continued to construct ever more ornate designs each year up until his death of a brain aneurysm in 1996.

Juke Boy Bonner, 1932–1978 (American blues singer, harmonica player, and guitarist)

* Juke Boy Bonner was influenced by Lightnin' Hopkins, Jimmy Reed, and Slim Harpo. He described the bleak prospects of black urban existence in songs like "Life is a Nightmare", "Struggle Here in Houston" and "Going Back to the Country", accompanying himself on guitar, harmonica and drums in the self-sufficient one-man band mode of Joe Hill Louis and Dr. Ross. 

Bonner had Pluto in the 1st House in close trine with Mars in Pisces on the MC.

Louie Spence (English dance expert, choreographer, television personality)

* Louie Spence is best known as the artistic director at the Pineapple Dance Studios. He was a professional dancer in his youth, performing in West End musicals including Cats and Closer to Heaven, although more recently, he has become known for his appearances in the Sky1 series Louie Spence's Showbusiness and appearing as a judge on the seventh series of Dancing on Ice.

Which are the dancing planets? Certainly Neptune — which rises in its own house in Spence's chart and rules his IC in the last degree of Pisces. And probably Jupiter — here ruling his Sagittarius Ascendant from the last degree of Virgo smack-bang on the MC.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Louie Spence, 6 April 1969, 00:01 (12:01 a.m.) BST (-1), London, England (51n30, 0w10). ASC: 2 Sagittarius. RR: A/B (From him in an autobiography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (©) quotes Louie Spence, Still Got It, Never Lost It!: My Story (Harper, 2012): "my parents lived with us three children . . . in Enfield, London . . . [when] . . . I was born at 12.01 exactly . . . on 6 April 1969 . . . If I were born on 5 April . . . " Same data from Frank C. Clifford and Andrea Miles.

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Paolo Tosti, 1846–1916 (composer, music teacher)

* Italian-British composer, Sir Paolo Tosti, born at "four in the monring," had melodic Venus in Pisces on his Ascendant.

Sir Paolo Tosti (April 9, 1846 – December 2, 1916) was an Italian, later British, composer and music teacher.

Tosti is remembered for his light, expressive songs, which are characterized by natural, singable melodies and sweet sentimentality. He is also known for his editions of Italian folk songs entitled "Canti popolari Abruzzesi".

His style became very popular during the Belle Époque and is often known as salon music. His most famous works are Serenata (lyrics: Cesareo), Good-bye! (lyrics: George J. Whyte-Melville) which is sometimes performed in Italian as Addio (lyrics: Rizzelli), and the popular Neapolitan song, Marechiare, the lyrics of which are by the prominent Neapolitan dialect poet, Salvatore Di Giacomo. Malia, Ancora and Non t'amo piu were and remain popular concert pieces.

Tosti wrote well for the voice, allowing, indeed encouraging, interpretation and embellishment from operatic singers. Most artists, therefore, specializing in the classical Italian repertoire have performed and recorded Tosti songs; yet Tosti never composed opera. Notable examples on record include Alessandro Moreschi (the only castrato who ever recorded) singing "Ideale", Mattia Battistini singing "Ancora", Nellie Melba singing "Mattinata" and Jussi Björling singing "L'alba separa dalla luce l'ombra"

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

"Tosti is remembered for his light, expressive songs, which are characterized by natural, singable melodies and sweet sentimentality." Sounds like melodic Venus in sentimental Pisces very close to the Ascendant in the expressive 1st House!

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 9 April 1846, 04:00 (4:00 a.m.) LMT (-0:57:36), Ortona, Italy (42n21, 14e24). ASC: 7 Pisces. RR=AA (birth certificate quoted in a biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Francesco Sanvitale and Andreina Manzo, Francesco Paolo Tosti, 1846-1916: The Song of a Life (Ashgate, 2004), p. 1: "Francesco Paolo Tosti was born at four in the morning on 9 April 1846 in his father Giuseppe's house, in the main square of Ortona, a small town in the province of Chieti, on the Adriatic coast in central Italy."

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Newsmaker: Elle Macpherson (Supermodel, businesswoman, actor)

* Born in 1963 or 1964?? Elle Macpherson tweeted today that she is turning 49 yet other accounts claim she is now 50.

Elle Macpherson (born 29 March 1963) is an Australian businesswoman, television host, model, and actress. She is well known for her record five cover appearances for the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue beginning in the 1980s, leading to her nickname "The Body". She is also known as the founder primary model and creative director for a series of business ventures, including Elle Macpherson Intimates, a lingerie line, and The Body, a line of skin care products.

In 2010, she became the host and executive producer of Britain & Ireland's Next Top Model. She is currently the host and an executive producer of NBC's Fashion Star.

Read more from her Wikipedia biography.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

There seems no reason to disbelieve her. Macpherson reportedly finished high school in Sydney in 1981, consistent with a 1964 birth (unless she was held back a year). Both charts are below. The 1964 chart is the most Venusian - Venus in Taurus possibly rising, Libra Moon. The Aries stellium explains her business acumen, with an unaspected Mars in the last degree of Pisces.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 29 March 1964, between 7:55 and 10:20 a.m. AEST (-10), Sydney, NSW, Australia (33s52, 151e13). ASC: Taurus, degree unknown. RR=A (from a magazine biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes "All about Elle," Flare [Toronto], January 1995 (17.1), p. 8: "Birthplace: Sydney, Australia. Age: 30. Sign: Aries with Taurus rising."

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1964 chart

1963 chart

These blog posts and emails are for private recipients only. If it comes to your attention that these posts are being transferred to public media such as a mailing list please notify us.

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Charles-Marie Widor: Composer (New Astrology data and chart)

* Charles-Marie Widor's birth record is transcribed and translated in a comprehensive biography by John R. Near.

Charles-Marie Jean Albert Widor (21 February 1844 – 12 March 1937) was a French organist, composer and teacher.

Widor was born in Lyon, to a family of organ builders, and initially studied music there with his father, François-Charles Widor, titular organist of Saint-François-de-Sales from 1838 to 1889. The French organ builder Aristide Cavaillé-Coll, reviver of the art of organ building, was a friend of the Widor family; he arranged for the talented young organist to study in Brussels in 1863 with Jacques-Nicolas Lemmens for organ technique and with the elderly François-Joseph Fétis, director of the Brussels Conservatoire, for composition. After this term of study Widor moved to Paris, where he would make his home for the rest of his life. At the age of 24 he was appointed assistant to Camille Saint-Saëns at Église de la Madeleine.

In January 1870, with the combined lobbying of Cavaillé-Coll, Saint-Saëns, and Charles Gounod, the 25-year-old Widor was appointed as "provisional" organist of Saint-Sulpice in Paris, the most prominent position for a French organist. The organ at St-Sulpice was Cavaillé-Coll's masterwork; the instrument's spectacular capabilities proved an inspiration to Widor. Despite his job's ostensibly "provisional" nature, Widor remained as organist at St-Sulpice for nearly 64 years, until the end of 1933. He was succeeded in 1934 by his former student and assistant, Marcel Dupré.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

Widor was of one of France's most distinguished musicians. His Pisces Sun is the focal planet in a distinctive Boomerang pattern.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert Widor, 21 February 1844, 14:00 (2 p.m.), Lyon, France (45n45, 04e61). ASC: 22 Cancer. RR=AA (transcribed and translated birth record). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes John R. Near, Widor: A Life beyond the Toccata (University of Rochester Press, 2011), p. 6, according to "the records of the Lyon Municipal Archives, entry number 700," 22 February 1844, "an infant male born yesterday, at two o'clock in the afternoon . . . given the first names Charles-Marie-Jean-Albert." Same data in John Richard Near's book, Symphonie II (A-R Editions, 1991), p. xxiv: "The composer's birth certificate, located by the editor in 1982, shows that Widor was born around 2 p.m. on 21 February 1844."

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Lance Bass (New Astrology Data and Chart)

* The birth time of openly-gay American former pop star, Lance Bass, is 1:20pm according to an unofficial biography. He states his full birth name, James Lance Bass, in his autobiography Out of Sync.

Lance Bass is an American pop singer, dancer, actor, film and television producer, and author. He grew up in Mississippi and rose to fame as the bass singer for the American pop boy band 'N Sync. 'N Sync's success led Bass to work in film and television. He starred in the 2001 film On the Line, which his company, Bacon & Eggs, also produced. Bass later formed a second production company, Lance Bass Productions, as well as a now-defunct music management company, Free Lance Entertainment, a joint venture with Mercury Records.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

The space-age planet Uranus is prominent in Bass's chart: appearing on his Scorpio IC in hard aspect with both luminaries. Bass moved to Star City, Russia, in 2002 and was certified by both NASA and the Russian Space Program after several months of cosmonaut training. However, his plan to join the TMA-1 mission to the International Space Station was unsuccessful after his financial sponsors backed out. Although his lifelong dream of space travel has been thwarted to date, in a 2007 interview with GQ magazine, Bass stated that he "absolutely" still intends on going to space, and that he hopes to work on a space documentary. With his angular Uranus in Scorpio (and unaspected Jupiter) he's unlikely to give up his space exploration plans anytime soon. Particularly because his Uranus is ruled by Pluto at the head of a Kite pattern: this guy just wants to fly, deeply, high and wide.

Bass came out as gay in a cover story for People magazine dated 26 July 2006. TR Moon crossed his ascendant that night and TR Uranus was conjunct his South Node. TR Neptune was opposite his Moon.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 4 May 1979, 13:20 (1:20 PM) CDT (+5), Laurel, Mississippi, USA (31n41, 89w07). ASC: 24 Leo. RR=B (from a biography). SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Sarah Jane's book Lance Bass (New York: Scholastic, 2001), p. 56: "Lance was born at 1:20 p.m."

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Michael Fassbender (New Astrology data and chart)

Michael Fassbender is a German-Irish actor. His most popular roles include Lieutenant Archie Hicox in the film Inglourious Basterds (2009), Magneto in the superhero film X-Men: First Class (2011), and the android David in the science fiction film Prometheus (2012).

His other credits include the fantasy action film 300 (2007); the drama film Fish Tank (2009); the romantic drama film Jane Eyre (2011); the historical film A Dangerous Method (2011), the biographical film Hunger (2008) and the drama film Shame (2011), both directed by Steve McQueen. For his role in Shame, he won the Volpi Cup best-actor award at the 68th Venice International Film Festival held in August 2011 along with being nominated for a Golden Globe Award and BAFTA.

Read more from his Wikipedia biography.

Photo by Gage Skidmore.

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HOROSCOPE NOTES

In his horoscope, Fassbender has Neptune rising in Sagittarius, an Aries Sun and a Virgo Moon. The focal planet of his distinctive Kite-Boomerang pattern overlay is Pluto in Libra on the MC.

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NATAL DATA and ASTROLOGY CHART

BIRTH DATA: 2 April 1977, 00:30 (12:30 AM) CET (-1), Heidelberg, West Germany (49n25, 08e43). ASC: 13 Sagittarius. SOURCE: Sy Scholfield (c) quotes Fassbender in the article, "I'm a terrible flirt, I'm married to work and I can't fake it with women" by Patricia Danaher, Irish Daily Mail, 9 February 2012, pp. 30-31: "He turns 35 in April. [Fassbender says:] 'I was almost born on April Fool's Day, but my dad was telling my mum to hang on! I was born at, I think, 12.30 instead of midnight.'"

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