Where Were you on this Day in Music History: October 10th!

A Day in Music History        

October 10th...

Art Todd

March 11^th, 1914 - October 10^th, 2007 (93)

Births

1908: Johnny Green

1914: Ivory Joe Hunter

1917: Thelonious Monk

1923: Louis Gottlieb

1943: Denis D'Ell (The Honeycombs)

1945: Alan Cartwright (Procol Harum)

1945: Jerry Lacroix (Blood Sweat and Tears, Edgar Winter's White Trash)

1946: John Prine

1946: Ben Vereen

1948: Cyril Neville (The Neville Brothers)

1958: Tanya Tucker

Deaths

2007: Art Todd

Events

1902: Kalamazoo, MI, mandolin maker Orville Gibson founds the Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Mfg. Co, Ltd. In 1936 it would create the first commercially successful electric guitar.

1959: Paul McCartney helps to force the last non-Beatle member of the Quarrymen, Ken Brown, from the skiffle group after Brown gets paid for an engagement at Liverpool's Casbah Club for which he was too sick to perform. This leaves the Quarrymen as John, Paul, and George; by May of the following year, the group, now featuring Stu Sutcliffe and Pete Best, would be known as the "Beatals."

1959: Brenda Lee is diagnosed with thyroid deficiency -- the first of many neck problems for the full-throated singer -- and admitted to a Nashville hospital.

1970: The first issue of the legendary UK rock newspaper Sounds is published.

1970: The US' Federal Communications Commission (FCC) head, Nicholas Johnson, responds to recent comments made by Vice President Spiro Agnew that attacked radio stations for playing songs that contained "drug culture propaganda... (in) too many of the lyrics the message of the drug culture is purveyed," saying, "If we really want to do something about drugs, let's do something about life... The song writers are trying to help us understand our plight and deal with it. It's about the only leadership we're getting. They're not really urging you to adopt a heroin distribution program, Mr. Vice President."

1978: At tonight's Aerosmith show in Philadelphia, PA, an audience member tosses a "cherry bomb" firecracker onto the stage, injuring singer Steven Tyler and guitarist Joe Perry. Thereafter, the band performs behind a chain-link fence.

1979: Los Angeles Mayor Tom Bradley declares today "Fleetwood Mac Day" and unveils a star for the band on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 6608 Hollywood Blvd.

1979: The film The Rose, a thinly-veiled biopic of Janis Joplin starring Bette Midler, premieres in Hollywood.

1997: Jimmy Osmond becomes the proud father of his second child, Zachary James, who becomes the 50th member of the Osmond clan.

1999: Las Vegas' Grand Hotel holds an auction of several hundred thousand dollars' worth of Elvis memorabilia, including the King's wristwatch, cigar box, and his 1956 Lincoln Continental.

2001: Dennis DeYoung sues Styx, his former band, for touring and singing his songs without him. He'd left the band in 1999 due to chronic fatigue syndrome.

Releases

1959: The Miracles, "Bad Girls"

1964: The Shangri-Las, "Leader Of The Pack"

1970: Pink Floyd, Atom Heart Mother

1970: Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, "The Tears Of A Clown"

Recording

1940: Lanny Ross, "Moonlight And Roses"

1963: Elvis Presley: "Once Is Enough," "Catchin' On Fast," "Anyone," "Smokey Mountain Boy," "There's Gold In The Mountains," "One Boy, Two Little Girls," "Kissin' Cousins," "Barefoot Ballad," "Tender Feeling"

1968: The Beatles: "Piggies," "Glass Onion," "Why Don't We Do It In The Road?"

Charts

1953: Stan Freberg's "St. George And The Dragonet" hits #1

1956: Elvis Presley's "Love Me Tender" enters the charts

1960: Larry Verne's "Mr. Custer" hits #1

1970: Neil Diamond's "Cracklin' Rosie" hits #1

Where Were you on this Day in Music History: October 9th!

Jacques Brel

 April 8^th, 1929 - October 9^th, 1978 (aged 49)

A Day in Music History        

October 9th...

Births

1937: Pat Burke (The Foundations)

1939: O.V. Wright

1940: John Lennon

1944: John Entwistle (The Who)

1944: Peter Tosh

1948: Jackson Browne

Deaths

1978: Jacques Brel

1988: Cliff Gallup (Gene Vincent and his Blue Caps)

Events

1959: At 22 years of age, Bobby Darin becomes the youngest performer to headline the Sands Hotel in Las Vegas' famed Copa Room.

1962: The BBC bans Bobby "Boris" Pickett's hit "Monster Mash," feeling the subject matter -- comical as it is -- may be deemed grotesque or otherwise tasteless to some listeners.

1964: The Rolling Stones cancel an upcoming South African tour when the British Musicians Union declares an embargo of the country due to their apartheid polices.

1964: Bobby Darin begins filming his eighth movie, That Funny Feeling, in Hollywood.

1967: Legendary New York DJ Murray The K is fired from station WOR-FM, where he had moved to take advantage of the new free-form format of FM radio, when the station's new owners decided to move to a set playlist.

1967: Doc Severinsen, already a member of the house band on NBC-TV's Tonight Show, replaces Skitch Henderson as its leader.

1969: BBC's Top Of The Pops refuses to play the Number One hit in the country for the first time. The song, Serge Gainsbourg's "Je T'Aime Moi Non Plus," is considered one of the first "orgasm records," that is, one of the first to feature heavy female breathing and moaning.

1973: Priscilla Presley finalizes her divorce from Elvis with a second, revised settlement giving her $14,200 a year in support, $725,000 in cash now, half of the sale of the couple's Palm Springs home, and five percent of all new recordings. The ex-couple leave the courthouse holding hands.

1975: On father John Lennon's 35th birthday, Yoko Ono gives birth to Sean Ono Taro Lennon.

1978: The Faces' Ian McLagan marries his longtime girlfriend, former model (and first wife of Keith Moon) Kim Kerrigan.

1980: Despite years of hits in the UK, Gary Glitter declares bankruptcy.

1984: The extraordinarily popular children's show Thomas The Tank Engine And Friends begins its run on BBC-TV, featuring a narrator by the name of Ringo Starr.

2000: Barry White gives a speech to the debate squad at Oxford University.

2006: During tonight's show at Madison Square Garden, Barbra Streisand loses control and yells at a heckler to "Shut the ---- up."

Releases

1971: Van Morrison, "Wild Night"

1978: David Bowie, Stage

1979: Styx, "Babe"

Recording

 1931: Russ Columbo, "Prisoner Of Love"

1958: Eddie Cochran, "C'mon Everybody"

1964: The Beach Boys, "Dance, Dance, Dance"

1968: The Beatles, "Long Long Long," "Why Don't We Do It In The Road"

Charts

1961: Ray Charles' "Hit The Road, Jack" hits #1

1965: The Beatles' "Yesterday" hits #1

1965: The Miracles' "My Girl Has Gone" enters the charts

1976: Walter Murphy and the Big Apple Band's "A Fifth Of Beethoven" hits #1

Certifications

1973: Paul Simon's "Loves Me Like A Rock" is certified gold

Where Were you on this Day in Music History: October 8th!

A Day in Music History        

October 8th...

Barrie Wilson A.K.A,  B.J Wilson

March 18, 1947 - October 8, 1990 (aged 43)

Births

1934: Doc Green (The Drifters)

1940: Fred Cash (The Impressions)

1941: George Bellamy (The Tornadoes)

1941: Dave Arbus (East Of Eden)

1942: Buzz Clifford

1944: Susan Raye

1945: Ray Royer (Procol Harum)

1945: Butch Rillera (Redbone)

1947: Tony Wilson (Hot Chocolate)

1949: Hamish Stuart (The Average White Band)

1950: Robert "Kool" Bell (Kool and the Gang)

Deaths

1990: Barrie Wilson (Procol Harum)

Events

1935: Bandleader Ozzie Nelson marries his lead vocalist, Harriet Hilliard.

1962: Joining what he is told is a gospel music tour in England with Sam Cooke, Little Richard instead finds himself part of a rock and roll revue (featuring a young Billy Preston on keyboards). Cooke's popularity with his secular set convinces Richard to return to rock, and his self-imposed exile is ended... for the first time, anyway.

1966: Cream drummer Ginger Baker collapses while on stage at a Sussex University gig in England, just after completing his epic 20-minute solo on "Toad."

1968: "Mama" Cass Elliot's initial solo engagement at Caesars' Palace is a disaster, with Elliot collapsing from exhaustion and her backup band ill-rehearsed. While hospitalized, she contracts tonsillitis, forcing the cancellation of the entire two-week engagement.

1977: NBC airs The Paul Simon Special, which again reunites the singer with old friend Art Garfunkel.

1985: Little Richard passes out behind the wheel while driving his sports car in West Hollywood and runs into a telephone pole, seriously injuring him and forcing him to miss his induction in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. After he recovers, he returns yet again to spiritual music.

1987: The acclaimed Chuck Berry documentary Hail! Hail! Rock 'n' Roll premieres in US theaters on the same day that Berry himself is awarded a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame at 1777 N. Vine.

1987: Promoting their space-themed Afterburner record, ZZ Top book passage on what is announced as the first passenger flight to the moon.

1988: The Rolling Stones' Keith Richards performs his first solo single, "Take It So Hard," on tonight's episode of Saturday Night Live.

1989: After Rolling Stone Ron Wood suggested the Who were reforming for the money alone, Who guitarist Pete Townshend publicly answered: "Mick needs a lot more than I do. His last album was a flop," referring to the Stones' legendary miscue Dirty Work.

1992: The US Postal Service issues a booklet of commemorative rock and roll stamps featuring Elvis Presley, Buddy Holly, Otis Redding, Bill Haley, Ritchie Valens, Clyde McPhatter, and Dinah Washington.

Releases

1979: Fleetwood Mac, Tusk

Recording

1941: Benny Goodman, "Buckle Down Winsocki"

1957: Jerry Lee Lewis, "Great Balls Of Fire"

1964: The Beatles, "She's A Woman"

1968: The Beatles, "Long Long Long," "I'm So Tired," "The Continuing Story Of Bungalow Bill"

Charts

1955: The Four Aces' "Love Is A Many-Splendored Thing" hits #1

1977: Billy Joel's LP The Stranger enters the charts

Certifications

1974: Dionne Warwick and The Spinners' "Then Came You" is certified gold

Who is Lionel Richie?

Lionel Richie

Lionel Richie spent his youth on the campus of the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama where he was born. His grandfather's house was across the street from campus, where he once worked with founder and renowned educator and activist Booker T. Washington. After his family relocated to Joliet, Illinois, Richie returned to Tuskegee on a tennis scholarship and graduated with a degree in economics. But his interest in music soon brought about big changes in his life.

In 1968, Lionel Richie formed the eclectic R&B/soul group The Commodores along with several other freshmen at the Tuskegee Institute. The group first signed with Atlantic, jumping quickly to the influential Motown Records after just one record. They toured extensively with groups like The Jackson 5, Stevie Wonder and The Rolling Stones, perfecting their live show and building a strong fan base. The group had chart success with funkier tracks like "Machine Gun" and "Brick House," but it was ballads like "Easy" and "Three Times A Lady," written by and featuring Lionel on lead vocal, that truly propelled them to the pinnacle of fame and success.

Who is James Taylor?

James Taylor

James Taylor is a singer/songwriter who has earned 40 gold, platinum, and multi-platinum awards for his songs and albums. He's a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and the prestigious Songwriter's Hall of Fame, and has received Billboard magazine's Century Award for distinguished creative achievement.

In 1971, Time magazine featured him on its cover and called him the harbinger of the singer/songwriter era.

Some of his most well-known songs include "Fire and Rain," "Country Road," "Something In The Way She Moves," "Mexico," "Shower the People," "Walking Man," "Sweet Baby James," "Never Die Young," "Copperline," and of course, "Carolina In My Mind."

Life in Chapel Hill

Born in Boston in 1948, James Taylor came to Chapel Hill with his family when he was three years old. He began writing music in the mid 1960's while a student at a New England boarding school, far removed from his family and friends in Chapel Hill. He eventually graduated from Chapel Hill High School. Isaac Taylor, James' late father, was for a time Dean of the UNC-Chapel Hill medical school.