Music · 1925–1981Bill Haleysinger, guitarist, bandleaderRock and roll pioneer of “Rock Around the Clock,” born in Highland Park, the Ford factory town surrounded by Detroit, in 1925.DETROIT / A living lexicon / ¼
Famous Detroiters
People who were born here, moved here or built their careers in Detroit: musicians, carmakers, athletes, writers, inventors, civil-rights leaders and a few notorious names. With their dates, their Detroit story and the places where they lived, worked and played, closed ones included.
- 664 famous people
- 66 Detroit places
- 7 fields
Field
Connection
Born in
A–Z (family name)
8 people
Clear filtersMusic · 1925–1981Bill Haleysinger, guitarist, bandleaderRock and roll pioneer of “Rock Around the Clock,” born in Highland Park, the Ford factory town surrounded by Detroit, in 1925.
Film & TV · 1922–2002Kim Hunterstage, film and television actressDetroit-born actress who created Stella in A Streetcar Named Desire on Broadway, won an Oscar for the film, and later played Zira in Planet of the Apes.
Theatre & dance · 1925–2013Julie HarrisactressOne of the great actresses of the American stage, winner of five Tony Awards for Best Actress in a Play, born and raised in Grosse Pointe.
Religion · 1920–2004James Aloysius HickeyCatholic cardinal, Archbishop of WashingtonMichigan-born cardinal who trained for the priesthood at Detroit's Sacred Heart Seminary before leading the Archdiocese of Washington for twenty years.
Music · 1929–2021Barry Harrisjazz pianist, composer, educatorDetroit bebop pianist whose family home was a jam-session school for a generation of the city's jazz musicians, and who became one of jazz's great teachers.
Visual art · 1925–1996Duane HansonsculptorAmerican hyperrealist sculptor of lifelike ordinary people, who earned his MFA at the Cranbrook Academy of Art in Bloomfield Hills.
Music · 1927–2007Joe Hunterpianist, bandleader, arrangerFirst leader of the Funk Brothers (1959–1964), who recruited James Jamerson and played piano on "Shop Around", "Do You Love Me" and "Heat Wave".The lexicon keeps growing. Every entry lists its sources at the bottom. Dates were checked against Wikidata and Wikipedia. The texts are our own.