Every Day Is Special: October 7 – Happy Birthday, Yo-Yo Ma and Toni Braxton

October 7 – Happy Birthday, Yo-Yo Ma and Toni Braxton

Posted October 7, 2016

Today we celebrate music!

Yo-Yo Ma was born in Paris, France, to Chinese parents; the family moved to New York City when Ma was just seven years old. I have seen him referred to as an American, a Chinese American, and a French American.

And I would add world-famous citizen of the world!

Yo-Yo Ma is a great cellist. He was a child prodigy who began performing at age 5. He graduated from some of the best schools – Julliard and Harvard – and has been popular as a soloist and as a recording artist. He has put out more than 90 albums and has won more than 18 Grammy Awards!

Ma is married and has two children.

He has won numerous other awards, including the prestigious Presidential Medal of Freedom, and he has served as a U.N. Messenger of Peace for a decade. Everyone says he is humble and of extremely high character.

One thing that is cool about Ma is that he has not just stuck with classical music. He's used his amazing talent to bring us American bluegrass music, traditional Chinese music, tangos from Argentina and music from Brazil.

Toni Braxton was born in the U.S. of A., and she has been described as American and African American. She is a singer, a songwriter, a pianist, and a record producer. And she was one of the top female artists in the 1990s, so she earned titles like “Queen of R&B.”

She has put out nine albums – but she has sold more than 67 million records worldwide! She has earned seven Grammy Awards and a bunch of other honors.