Happy Birthday to the Multitalented Crooner Harry Connick Jr.!

Wowing crowds since since age ten, Harry Connick Jr. followed the musical career of his choosing. Undeterred by the chaotic musical environment of his adolescence (think New Wave, hip-hop, and metal leading the charge), Connick stuck to his guns and love for jazz and etched himself firmly into the modern makeup of the genre.

Born this day in 1967, in the musically rich city of New Orleans, Louisiana, Harry Connick Jr.'s fondness for music probably sprouted from his parents who, besides being attorneys, owned their own record store. While it might be cute to posit that music was the rebellious out for young Connick, it is worth the mention that a large part of his family has been deeply involved with Louisiana law and politics. There is something that intrinsically links this wild-eyed, handsome devil with New Orleans' musical history. He's become quite the spokesperson for music in Louisiana as well as the exported pretty face of it to the world.

But it isn't all song and dance for Connick Jr. He's portrayed servicemen in hits like Memphis Belle and Independence Day, charismatic creeps in Copycat and Bug as well as a four-year stint on Will & Grace as Grace's husband.

With over twenty albums to his credit as singer, pianist, and composer/arranger, Harry's also a bit of an inventor and holds a 2002 patent for a coordination device for orchestras.

He's had his hands in New Orleans funk, Broadway musicals and even logged in an arrest early in his twenties for carrying a weapon at JFK in New York. That's his street cred we think. He's also a humanitarian helping to create alongside Branford Marsalis and Habitat for Humanity, the Musicians' Village in New Orleans after the devastation wrought by Katrina and the government's lack of a swift response to said devastation.

On that note, it is also important to point that not only did Harry Connick Jr. carry over the "crooners" torch to various generations who would've never sought the Sinatras and Martins out on their own, Connick is also identified with Christmas music, finding some of his biggest successes with the genre.

Here are a few of our favorite Connick songs.

"Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious"

"When My Heart Finds Christmas"

"Here Comes the Big Parade"

"Let's Just Kiss"

"And I Love Her"

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