35.2064° N, 90.0889° W

MEMPHIS

Most Famous People Born in Memphis, United States

Notable people
950
Peak decade
1940s
Median birth year
1953
Most distinctive
Rapper 16.4×

The 7.4× songwriter over-index is Stax and Sun Studio in one number — the city where Aretha Franklin was born and Elvis is buried still disproportionately manufactures the people who write American pop. The 16.4× rapper multiplier is a newer chapter, Three 6 Mafia and a generation of Memphis horror-rap running through the same neighborhoods that taught Morgan Freeman his accent.

Through the Decades

One face per decade — the most globally famous figure born in Memphis during each.

Notable Births by Decade

Click a decade to filter the list below. Peak: 1940s with 127 notable births.

What Memphis Is Known For

Click any row to filter the list of people below.

Football is Memphis's biggest profession — 15% of all notables (140).

Memphis over-indexes on rapper16.4× the global rate.

Memphis under-produces politician — only 0.6× the global rate.

  1. Football140
  2. Basket91
  3. Actor69
  4. Singer68
  5. Politician67
  6. Music61
  7. Baseball57
  8. Lawyer25
  1. Rapper1716.4×
  2. Basket917.6×
  3. Songwriter137.4×
  4. Baseball575.3×
  5. Music614.5×
  6. Pianist114.3×
  7. Singer683.5×
  8. Lawyer251.5×
  1. Politician670.6×
  2. Writer200.7×

Profession Mix Over Time

Each band shows a profession family's share of Memphis's notable births by decade. Hover the chart for the breakdown at any decade.

1700175018001850190019502000
  • Sports
  • Music
  • Film & TV
  • Politics & Law
  • Writing
  • Science
  • Other
All950
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Showing 127 of 950 notable people

0002 SINGER

Aretha Franklin

1942 - 2018

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0004 ACTOR

Kathy Bates

Born 1948

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0011 SINGER

Maurice White

1941 - 2016

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0019 MUSIC

Donald "Duck" Dunn

1941 - 2012

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0020 WRESTLER

Ric Flair

Born 1949

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0022 RADIO

Herman Cain

1945 - 2020

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0026 ACTOR

Michael Beck

Born 1949

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0028 PIANIST

Booker T. Jones

Born 1944

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0029 SINGER

Arthur Lee (musician)

1945 - 2006

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0050 WRITER

Alan Lightman

Born 1948

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0054 ACTOR

William Sanderson

Born 1944

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0057 SINGER

Carla Thomas

Born 1942

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0061 ACTOR

Olivia Cole

1942 - 2018

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0069 MUSIC

Bobby Whitlock

Born 1948

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0076 ACTOR

Steven Williams

Born 1949

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0078 POLITICIAN

Steve Cohen

Born 1949

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0083 ACTOR

Frank McRae

Born 1944

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0126 MUSIC

David Porter (musician)

Born 1941

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0131 PHILOSOPHER

J. Baird Callicott

Born 1941

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0138 SINGER

Wendy Rene

1947 - 2014

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0149 POLITICIAN

Harold Ford Sr.

Born 1945

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0150 ATHLETIC

John Pennel

1940 - 1993

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0158 BASEBALL

Tim McCarver

Born 1941

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0162 MUSIC

John Kahn

1947 - 1996

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0171 MUSIC

Andrew Love (musician)

1941 - 2012

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0176 EXECUTIVE

Cary Fowler

Born 1949

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0184 NATURALIST

Lee McGeorge Durrell

Born 1949

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0188 POLITICIAN

Larry Combest

Born 1945

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0190 ARTIST

Hilton McConnico

1943 - 2018

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0193 SINGER

Carolyn Franklin

1944 - 1988

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0207 TRUMPET

Ben Cauley

1947 - 2015

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0212 WRITER

Daniel Pinkwater

Born 1941

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0216 BASKET

Bingo Smith

Born 1946

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0220 PIANIST

Judith Lang Zaimont

Born 1945

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0228 FOOTBALL

Claude Humphrey

Born 1944

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0229 PRODUCER

Don Nix

Born 1941

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0232 MUSIC

Frank Lowe

1943 - 2003

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0237 PIANIST

Bobby Lyle

Born 1944

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0259 SINGER

Johnny Echols

Born 1947

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0267 BASKET

Rick Roberson

1947 - 2020

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0278 PASTOR

Michael Pearl

Born 1945

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0303 BUSINESS

E. Hunter Harrison

1944 - 2017

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0312 POLITICIAN

W. W. Herenton

Born 1940

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0322 KEYBOARDIST

Marvell Thomas

1941 - 2017

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0327 BASKET

Al Henry

Born 1949

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0335 ENGINEER

Lilia Ann Abron

Born 1945

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0338 MUSIC

Larry Lee (musician)

1943 - 2007

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0347 COMPOSER

Sorrel Hays

1941 - 2020

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0352 LAWYER

D'Army Bailey

1941 - 2015

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0353 ACTOR

Ilunga Adell

Born 1948

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0361 BASKET

Mike Butler (basketball)

1946 - 2018

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0368 SINGER

Spencer Wiggins

Born 1942

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0376 BASKET

Rich Jones (basketball)

Born 1946

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0377 MUSIC

James Alexander (musician)

Born 1949

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0378 MUSIC

Mwata Bowden

Born 1947

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0381 CHEMIST

Rodney J. Bartlett

Born 1944

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0385 WRITER

George Edward Stanley

1942 - 2011

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0390 JUMPER

Melanie Smith (equestrian)

Born 1949

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0404 NOVELIST

Scott Sanders (novelist)

Born 1945

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0412 SINGER

Don Bryant (songwriter)

Born 1942

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0416 NOVELIST

Steve Stern

Born 1947

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0420 SCREENWRITER

Judy Freudberg

1949 - 2012

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0423 SPORT

John Bramlett

1941 - 2014

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0426 MATHEMATICIAN

Carolyn Mahoney

Born 1946

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0429 SONGWRITER

Homer Banks

1941 - 2003

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0430 ARTIST

Anthony Alofsin

Born 1949

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0431 ENTREPRENEUR

Pitt Hyde

Born 1942

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0434 FOOTBALL

Pat Jones (American football)

Born 1947

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0438 JUDGE

Ronald Lee Gilman

Born 1942

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0455 EDITOR

Beverly Guy-Sheftall

Born 1946

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0471 ACTOR

Chuck Patterson

1945 - 2013

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0492 BASEBALL

Phil Gagliano

1941 - 2016

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0494 SONGWRITER

Charles Hodges

Born 1947

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0512 SAXOPHONIST

Floyd Newman

Born 1940

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0514 FINANCIAL ADVISER

Harold Evensky

Born 1942

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0515 GOLF

Tom McGinnis

Born 1947

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0517 LITERARY

Arnold Weinstein (scholar)

Born 1940

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0526 ACTOR

Jeannie Wilson

Born 1947

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0533 FOOTBALL

Sam Walton (American football)

1943 - 2002

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0535 LAWYER

Jon Phipps McCalla

Born 1947

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0544 BASEBALL

Ike Brown

1942 - 2001

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0551 MUSIC

Howard Grimes

Born 1941

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0554 DIPLOMAT

Margaret Scobey

Born 1949

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0556 DRUMMER

Danny Smythe

1948 - 2016

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0558 WRITER

Thomas McNamee

Born 1947

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0564 FOOTBALL

Rufus Mayes

1947 - 1990

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0569 LAWYER

Charles Burson

Born 1944

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0579 WRITER

Mel Watkins (author)

Born 1940

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0584 POLITICIAN

John Ford (Tennessee politician)

Born 1942

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0595 SINGER

Blues Boy Willie

Born 1946

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0596 DIPLOMAT

Robert McCallum Jr.

Born 1946

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0600 LAWYER

Jerome Turner

1942 - 2000

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0610 FOOTBALL

Benjy Dial

1943 - 2001

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0613 LAWYER

Robert L. Echols

Born 1941

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0615 SINGER

Bob Frank

1944 - 2019

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0620 TEACHER

David W. Mullins Jr.

1946 - 2018

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0622 MARINE

Walter K. Singleton

1944 - 1967

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0633 POLITICIAN

Lois DeBerry

1945 - 2013

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0648 DIPLOMAT

James W. Pardew

Born 1944

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0649 SINGER

Lalomie Washburn

1941 - 2004

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0653 FOOTBALL

Odell Barry

Born 1941

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0660 FOOTBALL

Dave Hathcock

Born 1943

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0669 ARTIST

Ken Rhodes

1945 - 2016

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0676 POLITICIAN

Mike Roos

Born 1945

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0688 FOOTBALL

Dick Hudson

1940 - 2016

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0714 FOOTBALL

Ted Davis (American football)

Born 1942

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0724 POLITICIAN

Thomas S. Boyland

1942 - 1982

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0729 FOOTBALL

Justin Canale

1943 - 2011

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0731 POLITICIAN

Emmitt Ford

1943 - 2014

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0743 LAWYER

Samuel H. Mays Jr.

Born 1948

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0757 SONGWRITER

Gary Talley

Born 1947

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0760 LAWYER

William Joseph Haynes Jr.

Born 1949

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0774 POLITICIAN

Nathaniel Exum

Born 1940

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0798 FOOTBALL

Francis Winkler

Born 1946

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0802 POLITICIAN

Mac Huddleston

Born 1943

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0807 BUSINESS

Avron Fogelman

Born 1940

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0814 PIANIST

Bobby Sowell

Born 1947

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0825 BUSINESS

Rufus E. Jones

1940 - 2019

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0847 NEUROLOGIST

John N. Whitaker

1940 - 2001

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0852 POLITICIAN

Steve Hettinger

Born 1945

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0853 ACADEMIC

Albert C. Yates

Born 1942

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0860 FOOTBALL

Whit Canale

1941 - 2011

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0894 BASEBALL

Ralph Gagliano

Born 1946

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0904 PHYSICIST

Clint Sprott

Born 1942

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0913 ACADEMIC

J. Barry Mason

Born 1941

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0926 MARINE

Dennis M. Hedlund

Born 1947

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0932 BUSINESS

Fred Jones Jr.

Born 1948

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