April 17th

Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Anja Silja (86), Jan Hammer (78), Monochrome Set lead guitarist Tom Hardy AKA Lester Square (72), Buzzcocks frontman Pete Shelley (71), Tool lead singer Maynard Keenan AKA MJK (62), Liz Phair (59), rapper Reggie Noble AKA Redman (56), Victoria Beckham (52), and Grinspoon frontman Phil Jamieson (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical pianist Artur Schnabel, born on this day in 1882... for jazz trombonist Chris Barber, born today in 1930... for producer & impresario Don Kirshner, who would have been 89 today... for early British rocker Ronald Wycherley AKA Billy Fury, who would have been 86span style="font-family: "georgia" , "times new roman" , serif;">... for Eddie Cochran, who was killed in a car crash today in 1960 at the age of 21... for Cream producer and original Mountain bassist Felix Pappalardi, who was shot to death by his wife today in 1983 at the age of 43... for former Bob Marley & the Wailers drummer Carlton Barrett, who was shot dead outside his house in Kingston, Jamaica on this day in 1987 at the age of 36... for country singer Hank Penny, who passed away in 1992... for Linda McCartney, who died in 1998... and for E Street Band organist Danny Federici, who left us today in 2008.  

Also on April 17th: Mozart's opera The Magic Flute is performed in America for the first time, in an English translation at the Park Theater in NYC (1833)... In San Francisco, Enrico Caruso sings in Bizet's Carmen with the SF Metropolitan Opera Company the night before the earthquake and fire that destroy most of the city (1906)... Philips Records releases Dusty Springfield's debut album A Girl Called Dusty (1964)... Disguised in an overcoat, cloth cap, moustache and glasses, Paul McCartney spends the day shopping for furniture in Portobello Road, London (1965)... While performing at the White House at the invitation of President Richard Nixon, Johnny Cash is asked to sing 'Okie From Muskogee'. Cash declines because it is not his song, but was a success for Merle Haggard. Instead, Cash performs his № 1 hit, 'A Boy Named Sue'... Santana begin the sessions for what will be their breakthrough album Abraxas at the Wally Heider Recording Studio in San Francisco... Deram Records release Cricklewood Green by Ten Years After (1970)... All four Beatles have solo singles in the UK charts: Paul McCartney with 'Another Day', John Lennon with 'Power To The People', George Harrison with 'My Sweet Lord', and Ringo Starr, 'It Don't Come Easy'. Meanwhile, Three Dog Night's 'Joy to the World' is at № 1 in the USA (1971)... Dark Side of the Moon is certified Gold in the US (1973)... Elvis buys a Convair 880 Jet formerly owned by Delta Airlines for $250,000, and re-christens it 'Lisa Marie'. The King spends a further $600,000 refurbishing the jet to include personal quarters, a meeting area and a dance floor (1975)... The Stranglers, Cherry Vanilla, The Police and The Jam all appear on the same bill at The Roundhouse in London (1977)... At a gig at Seattle's OK Hotel, Nirvana play their new song 'Smells like Teen Spirit' in public for the first time (1991)... Pink Floyd have the № 1 album in the UK with The Division Bell (1994)... Kurt Cobain's Mark IV-style Mosrite Gospel guitar sells for $100,000 at the 'Icons of 20th Century Music' auction held in Dallas, TX. Other items sold include Elton John and Bernie Taupin's song writing piano, which goes for $140,000, and a 1966 Rickenbacker guitar once owned by the Byrds' Roger McGuinn's fetches $99,000 (2006)... Bryan Ferry is forced to make an apology after praising Nazi iconography in a German magazine. Talking to 'Welt am Sonntag', he said the Nazis "knew how to put themselves in the limelight and present themselves... I'm talking about the films of Leni Riefenstahl and the buildings of Albert Speer and the mass marches and the flags. Just amazing ~ really beautiful." British MPs subsequently asked shoppers to think twice about shopping at Marks and Spencer,  asking for Ferry to be dropped as the face of the M&S Autograph menswear collection. Ferry says he is "deeply upset" by the publicity surrounding the interview (2007)... Morrissey walks off stage during his set at the Coachella festival after declaring he could "smell burning flesh". The committed vegetarian took offence to the smell coming from nearby barbecues. Sir Paul McCartney, The Killers and The Cure are also on the bill today (2009).

April 16th

Musical birthdays today include Bobby Vinton (91), pop singer Vince Hill (89), former Midnight Oil lead singer Peter Garrett (73), former Minor Threat guitarist Ian MacKaye (64), Jimmy Osmond (63), Soul Asylum frontman Dave Pirner (62), and singer-songwriter Marié Digby (43). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Henry Mancini, and former Bill Haley & His Comets saxophonist Rudy Pompilli, both born on this day in 1924... for jazz flautist Herbie Mann, born in 1931... for empresario & producer Robert Stigwood, born in 1934... for Dusty Springfield, who would have been 86... for original Foghat lead singer Dave Peverett, who would have been 83... for Gerry Rafferty, who would have been 79... for Selena, who would have been 54... for original Jefferson Airplane drummer Skip Spence, who died in 1999... and for prog rock guitarist Allan Holdsworth, who left us today in 2018. 

Also on April 16th: Meyerbeer's opera Le Prophète premieres in Paris (1840)... Heitor Villa-Lobos' opera Izaht is performed in Rio de Janeiro for the first time (1940)... Decca Records release Buddy Holly's debut single, 'Blue Days, Black Nights' (1956)... At Gerde's Folk City, Bob Dylan performs 'Blowin' in the Wind' in public for the first time (1962)... The Rolling Stones' eponymous debut album is released in the UK... The Beatles film the 'chase scenes' for 'A Hard Day's Night ' with actors dressed as policemen in the Notting Hill Gate area of London. In the evening, the band record the title track for the film at Abbey Road. John and Paul had the title first, and then finished the song around it. They complete the track in nine takes (1964)... Transatlantic records release Bert Jansch's self-titled debut (1965)... Pye Records release A Gift from a Flower to a Garden, the first double album of Donovan's career (1968)... Desmond Dekker and the Aces have the № 1 single in the UK with 'The Israelites', making them the first Jamaican artists to top the British chart... Elektra Records drop The MC5 from their label after the band took out an advertisement in a Detroit newspaper that included the company logo and the words 'Fuck Hudson's.' The band were expressing their displeasure at the Michigan department store's refusal to stock their albums (1969)... 'Whole Lotta Love' is certified Gold in the US after selling over a million copies. The single peaked at № 4 on the US singles chart. In the UK, Atlantic Records had expected to issue the 45 RPM as well, and pressed initial copies for release on the of 5th December 1969. However, Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant was adamant that the band maintain a 'no-singles' approach to marketing their recorded music in Britain, and he halted the release (1970)... The Electric Light Orchestra make their debut at The Fox and Greyhound in Croydon, Surrey. ELO were formed to accommodate the desire of Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne, both former members of The Move, to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. Wood departed following the band's debut record, leaving Lynne to write and arranged all of the group's original compositions and produce every album (1972)... Paul McCartney's first television special, 'James Paul McCartney', airs in America on the ABC network. The show, which includes performances by McCartney and Wings, will be broadcast in the UK on May 10th (1973)... David Soul, one half of the TV duo Starsky & Hutch, makes his only hit as a singer a big one, topping the charts in both the US and the UK with 'Don't Give up on Us' (1977)... The soundtrack to Martin Scorsese's film of The Band's final concert in 1976 'The Last Waltz is released (1978)... Bonnie Tyler's debut album Faster Than the Speed of Light gives the Welsh singer her only UK № 1 LP (1983)... David Lee Roth is arrested in Washington Square Park in NYC for allegedly buying a $10 bag of marijuana from an undercover police officer (1993)... The Artist Formerly Known as Prince has his first UK № 1 single with 'The Most Beautiful Girl in the World.' It is the singer's first release since changing his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol (1994)... Jerry Lee Lewis files for divorce from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver Lewis. They had been married since 1984 (2003)... OK Computer by Radiohead is voted the best album of all time in a national phone-in poll by UK TV station Channel 4. U2 are in second place with The Joshua Tree and Nirvana in third with Nevermind (2005).

April 15th

Musical birthdays today include pioneering English rocker Marty Wilde (87), Dave Edmunds (82), former Barclay James Harvest keyboardist Stuart 'Wooly' Wolstenholme (79), Russian pop singer Alla Pugacheva (77)... Ex-Four Non Blondes lead singer Linda Perry (61), Samantha Fox (60), Radiohead guitarist Ed O'Brien (58), All That Remains lead singer Philip Labonte (51), Black Keys drummer Patrick Carney (46), and singer-songwriter Matt Cardle (423. 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Bessie Smith, born on this day in 1894... for conductor Neville Marriner, born in 1924... for Roy Clark, born in 1935... for country & rockabilly singer Bob Luman, who would have been 89... for arranger & film score composer Michael Kamen, who would have been 78... for Joey Ramone, who died on this date in 2001... and for former Game Theory frontman Scott Miller, who left us today in 2014. 

Also on April 15th: Serse, Handel's first opera with an Italian libretto, has its premiere performance at the King's Theatre, London (1738)... 'The Music Man' closes on Broadway after 1,375 performances (1961)... Bob Dylan has his first meeting with Tom Wilson, nominated by Dylan's manager Albert Grossman to replace John Hammond, whose removal from the producer's chair at his client's recording sessions Grossman insisted on (1963)... The Beatles film exterior shots at the Scala Theatre in London for 'A Hard Day's Night' (1964)... Decca Records release The Rolling Stones' album Aftermath (1966)... Roberta Flack starts a 6-week run at № 1 on the Billboard singles chart with 'The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face' (1972)... MCA release Lynyrd Skynyrd's second album Second Helping, featuring 'Sweet Home Alabama' (1974)... Billy Joel breaks his left arm in a motorcycle accident near his home on Long Island (1982)... Queen are presented with an award for Outstanding Contribution to British Music at the 32nd annual Ivor Novello Awards held in London (1987)... The Bangles have the № 1 single in Britain  and Australia with 'Eternal Flame.' It will top the US chart next week, dethroning 'She Drives Me Crazy' by Fine Young Cannibals (1989)...  Aerosmith, Velvet Revolver, Placebo, Keane and Evanescence all appear at a festival sponsored by the Quilmes Brewing Co. at the River Football Stadium in Buenos Aires (2007)... After receiving bad reviews and even enduring boos during her performance, Whitney Houston brushes off criticism of her first show in the UK in over eleven years by insisting she had been playing to a "tough crowd." She had recently been hospitalized with chronic rhinopharyngitis, i.e. a bad cold (2010).

April 14th

Musical birthdays today Ritchie Blackmore (81), cellist Julian Lloyd Webber (75), session bassist Kenny Aaronson (74), Crowbar lead guitarist Kirk Windstein (61), former Screaming Trees drummer Barrett Martin (61), ex-Porno for Pyros bassist Martyn LeNoble (61), and Arcade Fire lead singer Win Butler (46). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter Milton 'Shorty' Rogers, born on this day in 1924... for saxophonist Gene Ammons, born in 1925... for gospel singer Inez Andrews, born in 1929... for Loretta Lynn, born in 1932... for Adán Sánchez, who would have been 42... for composer Georg Frideric Handel, who died on this date in 1759... for original Pretenders bassist Pete Farndon, who died on this day in 1983 from a drug overdose at the age of 30... for Burl Ives, who passed away in 1995... for Don Ho, who died in 2007... for Type O Negative lead singer Peter Steele, who died in 2010... and for Percy Sledge, who left us today in 2016.

Also on April 14th: In the first radio concert broadcast from an airplane, Metropolitan Opera Company soprano Jeanette Vreeland sings selections from Verdi and Meyerbeer as she flies over the city of New York (1922)... Still in search of a record deal, The Rolling Stones begin a Sunday afternoon residency at the Crawdaddy Club in Richmond, London. All four Beatles are in the audience (1963)... David Bowie's novelty single 'The Laughing Gnome' is released in the UK... At the Palace of Culture in Warsaw, police battle 2,000 rampaging fans with tear gas when a riot breaks out at the Stones' first concert behind the Iron Curtain (1967)... Phil Spector marries Ronettes singer Veronica Bennett (1968)... Paul McCartney and John Lennon record 'The Ballad of John and Yoko' by themselves. Paul plays bass, drums and piano, with John on guitars and lead vocals. The song will be banned from many radio stations as being blasphemous. On some stations, the word 'Christ' was edited in backwards to avoid the ban (1969)... Creedence Clearwater Revival make their live UK debut, playing the first of two nights at the Royal Albert Hall (1970)... Led Zeppelin are at № 1 on both the US and UK album charts with Houses Of The Holy. The young girl featured on the cover of the LP climbing naked up Giants Causeway in Northern Ireland is Samantha Gates, who was 6 years old at the time of the photo shoot (1973)... Art Garfunkel goes to № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Bright Eyes' the theme from the film 'Watership Down' (1975)... Motown Records announce that they have renewed Stevie Wonder's contract for a record $13 million (1976)... Kurt Cobain is cremated at the Bleitz Funeral Home, in Seattle, WA. The death certificate lists Cobain's occupation as 'Poet/Musician' and his type of business as 'Punk rock' (1994)... Sean 'Puffy' Combs, AKA P. Diddy, is arrested in Miami for riding a Vespa near South Beach on a suspended driver's license. He is released 20 minutes later after signing a promise to appear in court (2001)... George Harrison is honoured with a posthumous star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles. Sir Paul McCartney attends the unveiling outside the landmark Capitol Records building, joining Harrison's widow Olivia and son Dhani. Eric Idle, Tom Hanks and Tom Petty are also present for the ceremony (2009)... In Amsterdam for a stop on his current European tour, Justin Bieber sparks outrage after writing a message in a guestbook at the Anne Frank Museum which states he hopes the Holocaust victim would have been a fan. The 19-year-old writes: "Truly inspiring to be able to come here. Anne was a great girl. Hopefully she would have been a belieber" (2013).

April 13th

Musical birthdays today include Chambers Brothers vocalist Lester Chambers (86), former Jefferson Airplane bassist Jack Casady (82), Rev. Al Green (80), Peabo Bryson (75), E Street Band drummer Max Weinberg (75), Blondie keyboardist Jimmy Destri (72), Brothers Johnson bassist Louis Johnson 71), original Soundgarden bassist Hiro Yamamoto (65), ex-Black Crowes lead guitarist Marc Ford (60), and Staind frontman Aaron Lewis (54). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for saxophonist & band leader Bud Freeman, born on this day in 1906... for director & choreographer Stanley Donen, born in 1924... for Little Feat founder & former frontman Lowell George, who would have been 81 today... for original Red Hot Chili Peppers guitarist Hillel Slovak, who would have been 64... and for pianist & longtime Chuck Berry sideman Johnnie Johnson, who left us today in 2005. 

Also on April 13th: In Dublin's Fishamble Street Music Hall, Handel's Messiah is performed for the first time. The charity event raises £400 for debtor relief (1742)... American pianist Van Cliburn wins the inaugural Tchaikovsky Piano Competition in Moscow (1958)... The Beatles record 'Help!' during an evening session at Abbey Road (1965)... Nancy and Frank Sinatra are at № 1 in both the US and the UK with 'Something Stupid', making them the only father-daughter duo ever to top the charts in either country (1967)... The Rolling Stones release their first record on their own label, the single 'Brown Sugar.' The 45 RPM's packaging introduces the famous lips-and-tongue logo (1971)... David Bowie's Aladdin Sane is released (1973)... Elton John has a US № 1 with 'Bennie and the Jets', though the single will barely crack the Top 40 at home in Britain... Paul McCartney has the top album stateside with Band on the Run (1974)...David Crosby is arrested backstage at  a CSN concert in Dallas after police catch him in the act of freebasing cocaine (1982)... IRS Records release R.E.M.'s debut album Murmur (1983)... Madonna kicks off her 57-date Blonde Ambition world tour with the  first of three shows at Tokyo's Chiba Marine Stadium (1990)... Aerosmith Day is observed in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for the first time (1993)... Rage Against the Machine appear on Saturday Night Live. The band's second scheduled song is cancelled after they play  their opening number with inverted American flags hanging from their amplifiers (1996)... Madonna strikes back at web sites offering illegal downloads of her new album, 'American Life' by flooding P2P networks with decoy files. Users who open them are greeted by the voice of Madonna asking, "What the fuck do you think you're doing?" The latest Madonna album has been kept under tight wraps to avoid piracy, with promotional copies being held back from journalists until just before the official release (2003)... 

Julian Lennon sells a 'significant' stake of his share in his father's songs to US music publishing company Primary Wave. The firm will now receive payments when any Lennon compositions are sold on CD, performed live or played on the radio. The company, who are about to market Julian Lennon's new music project, decline to reveal precisely how much the deal is worth (2007)... Phil Spector is convicted of murdering actress Lana Clarkson after a five-month retrial. He had pleaded not guilty to the second degree murder of the 40-year-old Ms Clarkson, who was shot in the head at Spector's home in Los Angeles. During the five-month retrial, five female acquaintances testified that Spector threatened them at gunpoint in incidents dating back to the 1970s. An earlier trial was abandoned in 2007 after a jury failed to reach a unanimous decision. Spector  is remanded to custody until sentencing next month (2009).

April 12th

Musical birthdays today include Herbie Hancock (86), Steppenwolf frontman John Kay (82), Village People vocalist Alex 'G.I.' Briley (79), former Martha & the Vandellas vocalist Lois Reeves (78), Pat Travers (72), Vince Gill (69), Echo & the Bunnymen lead guitarist Will Sergeant (68), Dead Can Dance lead singer Lisa Gerrard (65), Everclear frontman Art Elaxakis (64), Indigo Girl Amy Ray (62), Cypress Hill rapper Ulpiano Reyes AKA Mellowman Ace (59), 311 frontman Nick Hexum (56), Coldplay bassist Guy Berryman (48), ex-Westlife vocalist Brian McFadden (46), country singer Easton Corbin (44), and Panic! at the Disco frontman Brendan Urie (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for New Orleans clarinetist Johnny Dodds, born on this day in 1892... for operatic soprano Lily Pons, born in 1898... for bluesman Theodore 'Hound Dog' Taylor, born in 1915... for orchestra leader & multi-instrumentalist Billy Vaughn, born in 1919... for country singer Ned Miller, born in 1925... for Herbert Khaury AKA Tiny Tim, born in 1932... for David Cassidy, who would have been 76... for violin maker Nicola Amati, who died on this date in 1684... for operatic bass Feodor Chaliapin, who died in 1937... for pianist and Miles Davis sideman Wynton Kelly, who passed away in 1971... for Lecil Martin AKA Boxcar Willie, who died in 1999.... and for operatic soprano Montserrat Caballé, who left us today in 2019. 

Also on April 12th: Bill Haley & His Comets record 'Rock around the Clock' at Pythian Temple Studios in NYC (1954)... Thelonious Monk goes into the studio to begin recording his first solo album, Thelonious Himself (1957)... Bob Dylan performs his first major solo show as headliner, at the Town Hall in NYC (1963)... Motown releases Martha and the Vandellas' Dance Party, the group's third and biggest selling album (1965)...  Jan Berry of Jan & Dean is almost killed when he crashes his car into a parked truck a short distance from Dead Man's Curve in Los Angeles. Berry is partially paralysed and suffers brain damage, but will walk again after extensive therapy (1966)... Mick Jagger is punched in the face by an airport official during a row at Le Bourget Airport outside Paris. Jagger lost his temper after The Stones were searched for drugs at such length that they missed their flight  (1967)... The 5th Dimension hit № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Aquarius/Let the Sun Shine in' (1969)... David Bowie announces his second career retirement, saying "I've rocked my roll. It's a boring dead end, there will be no more rock 'n' roll records from me" (1975)... After two DJs at KLOS in Los Angeles ask "What ever happened to David Cassidy?" on the air on the occasion of the one-time idol's 39th birthday, the singer calls the station up and the presenters invite him onto the show. David plays three songs live on air and is subsequently signed by a new record label... Garth Brooks releases his self-titled debut album, which will prove both a critical and a chart success (1989)... Two weeks after her death, Governor George W. Bush declares today 'Selena Day' in Texas (1995)... The Astronomical Union's Minor Planet Centre announces that recently identified Asteroids 4147-4150 will be named Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr (1990)... Metallica file a lawsuit against Napster for copyright infringement (2000)... The Vatican's official newspaper L'Osservatore Romano publishes a story praising The Beatles and saying that it forgives John Lennon for his 1966 comment that the group was "bigger than Jesus" (2010)... A study published in the journal Science states that listening to new music is rewarding for the brain. Using MRI scans, a Canadian team of scientists found that areas in the reward centre of the brain became active when people heard a song for the first time. The more the listener enjoyed what they were hearing, the stronger the connections were in the region of the brain called the nucleus accumbens (2013).

April 11th

Musical birthdays today include Joel Grey (94), operatic bass Kurt Moll (88), bluesman Luther 'Guitar Jr.' Johnson (86),Art rock multi-instrumentalist Francis Lickerish (72), Geordie bassist Tom Ford (63), former Catatonia lead singer Cerys Matthews (57), Marcy Playground bassist Dylan Keefe (56), Rammstein bassist Oliver Riedel (55), Sum 41 lead guitarist Tom Thacker (49), and Joss Stone (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for early Dixieland trumpeter Nick LaRocca, born on this day in 1889... for jazz double-bassist John Levy, born in 1912... for former Ruts guitarist Paul Fox, who would have been 75 today... for Flirtations vocalist Michael Callen, who would have been 71... for Big Country frontman Stuart Adamson, who would have been 68... for Gin Blossoms lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who would have been 65... for ragtime singer Eddie Morton, who died on this date in 1938... for folk guitarist Sandy Bull, who died in 2001... for June Pointer, who passed away in 2006... and for jazz-funk keyboardist & producer Don Blackman, who left us today in 2013. 

Also on April 11th: The first performance of Beethoven's Archduke chamber trio is given in Vienna, with the composer at the piano. His contemporary and manuscript editor Louis Spohr, who was present, wrote later that the piano was badly out of tune but that Beethoven was too deaf to notice (1815)... Amsterdam's Concertgebouw is inaugurated (1888)... Travelling from Amarillo to Nashville, the plane that Elvis Presley is flying on develops engine trouble and is forced to make an emergency landing. The incident instills a fear of flying in Presley that will last the rest of his life (1956)... Bob Dylan gives his first billed performance in NYC, opening for John Lee Hooker at Gerde's Folk City (1961)... Buffalo Springfield make their live debut at the Troubador in Los Angeles (1966)... While Fleetwood Mac are on tour in Germany, Peter Green informs his bandmates that he is leaving the group. He agrees to stay on until the end of the tour to avoid a breach of contract lawsuit (1970)... Fantasy Records release Mardi Gras, Creedence Clearwater Revival's final studio album (1972)... The Beach Boys appear at the Omni Coliseum in Atlanta, GA. The group are at a very low ebb in popularity in America, and this show proves a financial disaster for the promoter, with fewer than 3,000 tickets sold for the 16,000 capacity venue. The opening act is Mothers Finest, followed by a recently signed CBS act named Bruce Springsteen who plays a 60-minute solo set (1973)... Eddie Van Halen marries Valerie Bertinelli (1981)... Cher wins the Best Actress Oscar for her work in 'Moonstruck' (1988)... Pearl Jam are the musical guests on Saturday Night Live (1992)...  Robbie Williams raises £165,000 at a charity auction with the money going to his old school in Stoke to build a performing arts wing. Items sold are Robbie's personal possessions, including a toilet from a stage show, a Union Jack bikini, tiger's head briefs, a Millennium jet pack and the hand written lyrics to 'Angels', which fetch £27,000 (2001)... The government of Malawi accuses Madonna of "bullying state officials" after she reportedly complained about her treatment on a visit to the country. Madonna - who has adopted two Malawian-born children, recently visited 10 primary schools funded by her charity. Madonna's manager accuses local governmental officials of having a "grudge" against the singer's charity, Raising Malawi (2013).