Birth Name: Benjamin Earl Nelson
Date of Birth: September 28, 1938
Place of Birth: Henderson, North Carolina, United States
Date of Death: April 30, 2015
Place of Death: Hackensack, New Jersey
Ethnicity: African-American
Ben E. King was an American soul and R&B singer. He was most well known for his song Stand by Me. Ben was African-American.
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Birth Name: Riley Ben King
Date of Birth: September 16, 1925
Place of Birth: Berclair, Mississippi, U.S.
Date of Death: May 14, 2015
Place of Death: Las Vegas, Nevada
Ethnicity: African American
B.B. King was an American blues singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He born in Berclair, Mississipi, to African American parents, Nora Ella (Pulley) and Albert King.
B.B.’s paternal grandparents were Fredrick Douglas King (the son of Jeff King and Easter Kimble) and Betty McQuiston (the daughter of Simon McQuiston and Mahala).
B.B.’s maternal grandparents were Jasper Pulley (the son of Mary Jane) and Elnora Davidson (the daughter of Pompey Davidson and Emily Jane).
Source: Genealogy of B.B. King – http://www.geni.com
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Birth Name: Matthew Dellavedova
Place of Birth: Maryborough, Victoria, Australia
Date of Birth: 8 September 1990
Ethnicity: Italian
Matthew Dellavedova is a proffesional basketball player who was born in Melbourne, Australia. His surname Dellavedova is of Italian origin and is often written as Della Vedova. He grew up in rural Australia.
By Erik Drost from United States (Cleveland Cavaliers) [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Place of Birth: Rockford, Illinois, U.S.
Date of Birth: March 26, 1974
Ethnicity: Italian
Natasha Leggero is an American comedian, actress, and television personality. She is of Italian descent.
Source: https://gpodder.net
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Birth Name: Yanet Garcia
Ethnicity: Mestizo Mexican
Yanet Garcia is a Mexican television weather reporter.
Place of Birth: Grand Rapids, Michigan
Date of Birth: October 30, 1996
Ethnicity:
*African-American (father)
*possibly Spanish (mother)
Devin Booker is an American professional basketball player. He was selected number 13 overall in the 2015 NBA draft. He is the son of Veronica Gutierrez and former professional basketball player Melvin Booker. A picture of his parents can be seen here.
Birth Name: Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain
Place of Birth: Portsmouth, England
Date of Birth: 15 August 1993
Ethnicity: Afro-Jamaican, English
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is a professional English football player. He was born to Mark Chamberlain, a former professional football player. Alex’s father is of Afro-Jamaican descent and his mother, Wendy Oxlade, is English.
Photo by Football.ua [CC BY-SA 3.0, CC BY-SA 3.0 or GFDL], via Wikimedia Commons
Birth Name: Joseph Satriani
Place of Birth: Westbury, New York, US
Date of Birth: July 15, 1956
Ethnicity: Italian
Joe is a legendary guitarist and multi-instrumentalist who was born to Italian immigrant parents. He was inspired to become a guitarist when he heard Jimi Hendrix at age 14.
Joe is the son of John Satriani and Katherine M. Volpe.
Joe’s paternal grandparents were Corrado Satriani and Rosa.
Joe’s maternal grandparents were likely James Volpe and Mary.
Source: Joe’s father on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
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Birth Name: Marcus Ardel Taulauniu Mariota
Place of Birth: Honolulu, Hawaii
Date of Birth: October 30, 1993
Ethnicity: Samoan, German
Family Info: Marcus Mariota is a professional football player and was born in Hawaii to Toa Mariota and Alana Deppe-Mariota. His father is of Samoan heritage while his White mother has a German ancestry.
Source:
http://www.midweekkauai.com/kauai-coverstory/marcus-mariota/
Place of Birth: Frankfurt, Germany
Date of Birth: 12 January 1994
Ethnicity: Turkish
Emre Can is a professional German football player of Turkish heritage. He is eligible to represent the Turkish national team but considers himself German. He is a midfielder and defender and stands at 6 feet 1 inch tall.
Photo By md.faisalzaman from Worcester, MA [CC BY 2.0], via Wikimedia Commons
Birth Name: Mamiko Eriana Miyamoto
Place of Birth: Sasebo Japan
Date of Birth: 12 May 1994
Ethnicity: African American, Japanese
Family Info: Ariana Miyamoto is the first person of mixed heritage to win Miss Japan title. She is the Miss Japan 2015. Miyamoto was born to an African American father and a Japanese mother.
Ariana speaks grew up in Japan and is fluent in Japanese. She moved to the US at age 13 to live with her father but returned to Japan to attend high school.
Place of Birth: Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States
Date of Birth: October 5, 1958
Ethnicity: African-Caribbean, Puerto Rican
Neil deGrasse Tyson is an American astrophysicist, cosmologist, author, and science communicator. He is the son of Sunchita Maria (Feliciano), a gerontologist, and Cyril deGrasse Tyson, a sociologist. His father was from an Afro-Caribbean family. His mother was born in New York, to parents from Puerto Rico.
Neil’s paternal grandparents were Albert Tyson and Altima deGrasse. Albert and Altima were born in the Caribbean, with Altima having been born in Nevis.
Source: Neil’s father on the 1930 U.S. Census – https://familysearch.org
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Birth Name: Michael A. Schwartz
Place of Birth: San Francisco, California
Date of Birth: April 4, 1970
Ethnicity:
*Filipino (mother)
*German or German Jewish (father)
Mix Master Mike is an American turntablist, hip hop DJ, and producer. He is well known as being the DJ for the rap group Beastie Boys. His mother is Filipino. His father is said to be of German or German Jewish descent.
Growing up in San Francisco, he met his then-rival DJ Qbert, and the two formed a DJ crew that dominated the world DJ competitions in the early 1990s. Interestingly, his DJ crew, The Invisibl Skratch Piklz, are all of Bay Area Filipino descent. While the Beastie Boys all have/had Jewish ancestry.
Source: Jewish Community of Solano County by By Rachel Raskin-Zrihen, Rachel Rae Moncharsh-Lessem and Shoshana Deutscher-Nurik
Birth Name: Alain Macklovitch
Place of Birth: Montréal, Quebec, Canada
Date of Birth: March 30, 1982
Ethnicity: Russian Jewish, Moroccan Jewish
A-Trak is a Canadian hip hop and electro DJ, turntablist, record producer, and music label executive. He won the world DMC championship at the age of fifteen, and has gained mainstream fame as Kanye West’s tour DJ. Since then, he has produced music for various rap and dance artists, and formed the group Duck Source with fellow DJ/producer Armand Van Helden.
His father is of Russian Jewish descent and his mother is of Moroccan Jewish ancestry.
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Place of Birth: Sydney, Australia
Date of Birth: August 4, 1983
Ethnicity: Croatian, German
Nathaniel is an Australian actor. He is known for playing Kol Mikaelson in The Vampire Diaries.
Nathaniel’s background is a mix of Croatian and German. His mother is from Split in Croatia, and he calls Croatia his homeland and states it in Croatia, “Hrvatska je moja domovina”. He is a first-generation Australian.
Source: http://www.wetpaint.com
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Birth Name: Benjamin Simmons
Place of Birth: Melbourne, Victoria
Date of Birth: 20 July 1996
Ethnicity: African American, Anglo Australian
Family Background: Ben Simmons is the son of former professional Basketball player, Dave Simmons and an Australian mother, Julie. His father, Dave is an American who was a prominent basketball player in the Australian domestic league in the late 80s and 90s. Ben has a sister named Olivia and 4 half siblings from his mother’s previous marriage.
Source:
Birth Name: Tessa Lynn Thompson
Place of Birth: Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Date of Birth: October 3, 1983
Ethnicity:
*Afro-Panamanian (father)
*Mexican, European (mother)
Tessa Thompson is an American actress. Her father, Marc Anthony Thompson, was a singer/songwriter for the band Chocolate Genius, Inc.
Tessa’s father is of Panamanian descent. Tessa’s mother is of half Mexican and half European ancestry.
Tessa has played the role of an African-American and bi-racial woman in her career. In the 2010 film For Colored Girls, Tessa was one of nine actresses depicting the lives and struggles of women of color. In the 2014 film Dear White People, Tessa played a biracial college student dealing with racial tensions within Ivy league schools.
Tessa’s maternal grandfather was Bobby Ramos.
Source: Mention of Tessa’s ancestry – https://www.yahoo.com
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Birth Name: Aaron Addison Gordon
Place of Birth: San Jose, California
Date of Birth: September 16, 1995
Ethnicity: African American, Osage, Welsh, Irish or Scottish
Aaron Davis is a professional basketball player of mixed race. His father Ed Gordon is African American with Osage Native American heritage while his mother Shelley Davis (daughter of Floyd Davis and Gale Griffith) is of Welsh and possibly Irish or Scottish heritage.
He mentioned in an interview that his paternal great great grandfather was a 7 foot tall Osage Native American. On his maternal side, his great grandparents were Mae Boyd and Nathan Davis.
Source:
Birth Name: Shane Patrick Lysaght MacGowan
Place of Birth: Tonbridge, Kent, England
Date of Birth: December 25, 1957
Ethnicity: Irish
Shane MacGowan is an Irish musician and singer. He is the lead singer of the celtic punk band The Pogues. He was born in Tonbridge, Kent, England, grew up in Tipperary, Ireland, and moved back to England when he was six and a half years old.
Shane is the son of Therese (Cahill), a singer and traditional Irish dancer, and Maurice MacGowan, a wages clerk at C&A. A picture of Shane and his parents can be seen here.
Shane’s Irish ancestry is very influentual in his songwriting. Many of his and The Pogues’ songs are about Irish history and nationalism, as well as the experience of Irish people in London and the United States.
Source: Birth certificate of Shane MacGowan – https://familysearch.org
Birth Name: Laura Nerina Morante
Place of Birth: Santa Fiora, Province of Grosseto, Tuscany, Italy
Date of Birth: 21 August 1956
Ethnicity: Italian (including Sicilian), Jewish (paternal great-grandmother)
Laura Morante is an Italian film actress.
Laura is the daughter of Marcello Morante and Maria Bona Palazzeschi. Laura’s aunt, Elsa Morante, was a prominent novelist.
Laura’s paternal grandparents were Francesco Lo Monaco and Irma Poggibonsi/Poggibonzi. Francesco was from Acireale, Province of Catania, Sicily, Italy. Irma was from Modena, Emilia-Romagna, Italy, and was Jewish on her mother’s side. “Morante” was the surname of Marcello’s stepfather, Augusto Morante, who was Jewish and from Rome.
Source: Irma Poggibonzi’s mention – https://books.google.it
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