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 7th!

A Day in Music History        

October 7th...

Smiley Lewis

July 5, 1913 - October 7, 1966 (aged 53)

Births

1911: Vaughn Monroe

1911: "Papa" Jo Jones

1922: Martha Stewart

1927: Al Martino

1939: Colin Cooper (The Climax Blues Band)

1941: Tony Silvester (The Main Ingredient)

1941: Martin Murray (The Honeycombs)

1945: Kevin Godley (10cc)

1949: David Hope (Kansas)

1950: David Taylor (Edison Lighthouse)

Deaths

1966: Smiley Lewis

Events

1950: CBS debuts The Frank Sinatra Show, a variety program and the first TV show for the crooner. Though he has a five-year contract, the show only lasts two seasons.

1952: The Philadelphia dance show Bandstand, hosted by Bob Horn and, later, by Dick Clark as American Bandstand, debuts on WFIL-TV.

1957: Elvis Presley's upcoming first Christmas album, entitled simply Elvis' Christmas Album, goes gold in pre-orders nine days before its release.

1959: Connie Stevens lands the role that will make her famous, as the TV detective show Hawaiian Eye debuts on ABC-TV.

1964: The Beatles appear (on tape) during a special British Invasion-themed episode of the popular ABC-TV variety show Shindig!, performing "Kansas City / Hey-Hey-Hey-Hey!," "I'm A Loser," and "Boys."

1967: After a London hotel accuses the Mamas and the Papas' Cass Elliot of running out on her bill, the singer is jailed overnight and strip-searched, forcing the cancellation of both an upcoming gig and television appearance.

1967: Promoter Sid Bernstein, who had promoted the Beatles at their first two Shea Stadium concerts, offers one million dollars to the group, who is retired from the road, to perform a third concert there. They refuse.

1968: At the fifth game in baseball's World Series (Detroit vs. St. Louis), Jose Feliciano stuns and outrages the attendees with his jazzy acoustic take on the US National Anthem.

1975: The US Court of Appeals overturns the longstanding deportation order for John Lennon, ruling that Lennon, in being held accountable for violating a foreign law (a 1968 rap for possession of marijuana in England), had been denied due process.

1976: Dennis Edwards announces he is leaving the Temptations. Four years later, he would rejoin for the group's successful Power album.

1978: The Rolling Stones perform their new single, "Beast Of Burden," on tonight's episode of NBC-TV's Saturday Night Live.

1978: Merle Haggard marries third wife Leona Williams, a bass player and singer with Loretta Lynn. The marriage lasts six years.

1978: Billboard magazine reveals that Marvin Gaye has declared bankruptcy twice in the past year claiming debts of over seven million dollars.

1982: Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page is given a one year suspended sentence for cocaine possession.

Releases

1971: Michael Jackson, "Got To Be There"

Recording

1940: Artie Shaw, "Stardust"

1960: Elvis Presley, "Flaming Star"

1968: The Beatles, "Long Long Long"

Certifications

1969: The Youngbloods' "Get Together" is certifie

Where Were you on this Day in Music History: October 6th!

A Day in Music History        

October 6th...

Nelson Riddle

June 1, 1921 - October 6, 1985 (aged 64)

Births

1945: Robin Shaw (The Flowerpot Men)

1946: Millie Small

1949: Thomas McClary (The Commodores)

1949: Bobby Farrell (Boney M)

1951: Kevin Cronin (REO Speedwagon)

1951: Gavin Sutherland (The Sutherland Brothers)

Deaths

1966: Johnny Kidd

1978: Johnny O'Keefe

1985: Nelson Riddle

Events

1967: Jimi Hendrix performs on the new BBC 1 radio show Top Gear, with Stevie Wonder, who was visiting the studios, sitting in on drums for a jam called (appropriately enough) "Jammin'" and a version of Stevie's "I Was Made To Love Her."

1971: Pat Boone guest-stars on tonight's "The Academy" episode of NBC-TV's thriller Night Gallery.

1977: Rod Stewart is named in a $15 million "palimony" suit by actress Britt Eklund.

1978: ABBA songwriter / musician Benny Anderson marries fellow band vocalist Anni-Frid Lyngstad in Sweden. The marriage lasts three years. (The group's other male-female pair had been married in 1971.)

1978: The Rolling Stones' Mick Jagger apologizes to activist Jesse Jackson, who raised a public outcry over the lyrics of the Stones' recent song "Some Girls," specifically the line "black girls just want to get ------ all night." Jagger refuses calls to change the lyrics.

1980: With the disco craze officially over, The Bee Gees file a $200 million mismanagement lawsuit against longtime manager Robert Stigwood and his label RSO Records, one that would within the year be settled out of court.

1991: The Fox TV network airs the special Ray Charles: 50 Years Of Music, featuring guests Stevie Wonder, Willie Nelson, Paul McCartney, Randy Travis, Michael Bolton, and more.

1991: Michael Jackson gives Elizabeth Taylor away to Larry Fortensky during her eighth wedding, held at Jackson's California ranch, Neverland.

2002: Mick Jagger of the Rolling Stones donates 100,000 pounds to the school he once attended in Dartford, England, for musical instruments and a band director. The resultant musical center is named after the singer.

2006: Before Game Three of baseball's AL Divisional Playoff in Detroit, MI, the Four Tops sing the US national anthem.

Releases

1956: Elvis Presley, "Love Me Tender"

1969: The Beatles, "Something" b/w "Come Together"

1979: The Eagles, "Heartache Tonight"

Recording

1941: Claude Thornhill, "Autumn Nocturne"

1964: The Beatles, "Eight Days A Week"

1965: Gary Lewis and the Playboys, "She's Just My Style," "Sure Gonna Miss Her"

1967: The Beatles, "Blue Jay Way"

1976: Salsoul Orchestra, "Christmas Medley"

Charts

1973: Cher's "Half-Breed" hits #1

1979: Robert John's "Sad Eyes" hits #1

Certifications

1976: Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots' "Disco Duck" is certified gold

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.