Today's celebrity birthdays: May 19, 2026

Happy birthday to entertainers like Pete Townshend, Grace Jones, and Sam Smith! Keep on reading to see who else is celebrating their birthday and some career highlights!

Celebrity birthday highlights for May 19 2026:

Musician Pete Townshend (1945) built The Who's catalog as the band's lead guitarist and principal songwriter, scoring early hits "I Can't Explain" and "My Generation" before composing the rock opera "Tommy." He wrote the era-defining anthems "Baba O'Riley" and "Won't Get Fooled Again," was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame with The Who, and received Kennedy Center Honors alongside his bandmates.

Singer Grace Jones (1948) turned heads at Studio 54 before recording "Warm Leatherette" and "Nightclubbing," which gave her the hit "Pull Up to the Bumper." She menaced 007 as May Day in "A View to a Kill" and scored the club anthem "Slave to the Rhythm."

Singer Sam Smith (1992) rocketed to fame as the featured vocalist on Disclosure's "Latch" before releasing the debut album "In the Lonely Hour" and its hit "Stay With Me." They swept four Grammys in 2015, including Best New Artist, won the Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Writing's on the Wall," and topped the Billboard Hot 100 with "Unholy."