August 17th

 

Musical birthdays today include Box Tops guitarist Gary Talley (79), Dexys Midnight Runners frontman Kevin Rowland (73), Belinda Carlisle (68), ex-Lone Justice lead singer Maria McKee (62), Black Crowes drummer Steve Gorman (60), jazz singer Maysa Leak (58), Donnie Wahlberg (56), and Cage the Elephant lead singer Matthew Shultz (42). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz and popular singer Georgia Gibbs, born on this day in 1919... for bossa nova pianist & composer João Donato, born in 1934... for Native American activist and country singer Floyd Red Crow Westerman, and Bahamian calypso singer Ronnie Butler, both of whom would have been 90 today... for guitarist and longtime Howlin' Wolf sideman Luther Allison, who would have been 86... for Boston drummer Sib Hashian, who would have been 77... for lyricist Ira Gershwin, who died on this date in 1983... and for Pearl Bailey, who left us today in 1990. 

Also on August 17: The London newspaper The General Advertiser reports that Handel is now blind (1752)... In Bayreuth, the first complete performance of Wagner's Ring concludes with Die Götterdämmerung [Twilight of the Gods] (1876)...  Elvis Presley releases his first № 1 hit, 'I Forgot to Remember to Forget', with a version of Mystery Train on the B side (1955)... Columbia releases Miles Davis' Kind of Blue (1959)... The Beatles begin their first Hamburg engagement, at the Indra Club, where they are booked for 48 nights (1960)... Glasgow council in Scotland announces that all men with Beatles moptops will be required to wear bathing caps in public swimming pools henceforth, as hair from 'Beatle-cuts' is clogging the filters (1964)... The Byrds are forced to cancel a concert on their UK tour when only 250 out of 4,000 tickets to their show at The Guildhall, Portsmouth are sold (1965)... The Doors have the № 1 album in the US with Waiting for the Sun. The top spot on the singles chart is held by the Rascals with 'People Got to Be Free' (1968)... The final day of the Woodstock Festival is held on Max Yasgur's farm (1969)... Eric Clapton starts a four week-run at № 1 on the US album chart with 461 Ocean Boulevard. The house featured on the album cover is 461 Ocean Blvd. in the Miami, FL suburb of Golden Beach, where Clapton lived while making the record (1974)... Bob Dylan is interviewed by Neil Hickey of TV Guide for a cover story the magazine is doing to promote the singer's upcoming 'Hard Rain' television special. Dylan is generally forthcoming, though he bristles slightly when the journalist asks him how he imagines God, replying "How come no one ever asks Kris Kristofferson questions like that?" (1976)... A Run DMC concert in Long Beach, CA becomes a battleground for two rival gangs, with 42 injuries resulting (1986)... Nirvana shoot the video for 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' in a Culver City, CA studio for under $50,000, and using Nirvana fans recruited through classified ads as audience members (1991)... Jackson Browne files a copyright infringement lawsuit against Republican Party US presidential candidate John McCain for using the song 'Running on Empty' in a campaign ad without the singer's permission. Browne is seeking $75,000 in damages (2008)... Three members of the Russian punk group Pussy Riot are sentenced to two years' imprisonment after they staged a performance inside Moscow's Cathedral of Christ the Savior in a protest directed at the open support of the Orthodox Church patriarchate for Vladimir Putin during his recent election campaign (2012).  

August 16th

 

Musical birthdays today include outlaw country singer Billy Joe Shaver (88), Golden Earring frontman Barry Hay (79), Stooges drummer Scott 'Rock Action' Asheton (77), Tubes founding member Bill Spooner (77), INXS guitarist Tim Farriss (69), Madonna (68), The Chicks multi-instrumentalist Emily Strayer (54), and singer-songwriter Vanessa Carlton (46).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Nadia Boulanger, the first woman to conduct a major metropolitan orchestra [the Boston Symphony], born on this date in 1887... for jazz pianist Bill Evans, born in 1930... for Soft Machine guitarist Kevin Ayers, who would have been 82... for bluesman Robert Johnson, who died today in 1938 at the age of 28... for Elvis Presley, who died in 1977... and for Alan Caddy, lead guitarist of The Tornadoes [their 1962 hit 'Telstar' was the first single by a British act to hit the top 5 on the US Billboard chart], who passed away today in 2000... and for Aretha Franklin, who left us four years ago today.

Also on August 16: Beethoven completes his Piano sonata in e minor, op. 90 (1814)... At the Van Gelder Studio in Hackensack, NJ, John Coltrane and sideman record the tracks that the Prestige label will release as the album Lush Life after the saxophonist's departure for Atlantic in 1961 (1957)...  12-year-old Little Stevie Wonder releases his first Motown single, entitled 'I Call It Pretty Music (But the Old People Call It the Blues)'. The session musicians include Marvin Gaye on drums... Brian Epstein informs Pete Best of his firing, but still asks the drummer to play with the Beatles tonight at the Riverpark Ballroom in Chester. When Best refuses, Johnny Hutchinson of local act The Big Three takes his place in the drummer's chair (1962)... The Byrds play the Fillmore Auditorium in San Francisco for the first time... The Monkees release their first single, 'Last Train to Clarksville' (1966)... The Jackson Five make their debut before the general public, opening for The Supremes at the Great Western Forum in Los Angeles... The Beatles spend most of the day in the studio working on 'While My Guitar Gently Weeps', going through 14 takes... Bruce Springsteen's new band Earth make their debut at the Off Broad Street Coffee House in Red Bank, NJ ~ admission is 75 cents. The group will last for six months before breaking up (1968)... On day two of Woodstock, Hippie leader Abbie Hoffmann is bodily thrown offstage by Pete Townshend during The Who's set. Townshend will later say that he didn't recognize the activist at the time (1969)... 'Lola' by The Kinks reaches № 2 on the UK singles chart, its peak position. It is kept out of the top spot only by Elvis Presley's 'The Wonder of You', the singer 16th British № 1 (1970)...  The Ramones play their first public gig, at a recently opened club on the Bowery called CBGB (1974)... Peter Gabriel announces that he is leaving Genesis. The group will audition more than 400 singers over the next 18 months before promoting from within, deciding that long-time drummer Phil Collins could front the band (1975)... The Knack's 'My Sharona' is awarded a gold record (1979)... Paul Simon marries Carrie Fisher (1983)... Madonna marries Sean Penn (1985)... On the 20th anniversary of Elvis Presley's death, over 30,000 fans descend on Memphis, TN to complete a 10-minute mourning circuit circling the King's grave. A poll shows that approximately a third of those present are keeping an eye out for Elvis in the crowd (1997)... Madonna's 47th birthday turns less than happy when the singer suffers three cracked ribs, a broken collarbone and a fractured hand in a horse-riding accident on her country estate in Wiltshire. The singer is treated at hospital in Salisbury (2005).  

 

August 15th

 

Musical birthdays today include ex-Spencer Davis Group drummer Pete York (84), Sylvie Vartan (82), songwriter Jimmy Webb [who gave us 'Up, up and away' and 'MacArthur Park' among many others] (80), former Powderfinger frontman Bernard Fanning (57), and Jonas Brother Joe (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Leon Theremin, inventor of the eerie-sounding instrument that bears his name, and who was born on this date in 1896... for Joe Garland, composer of the standards 'In the Mood' and 'Leapfrog', born in 1907...  for Rose Marie, born in 1923... for jazz pianist Oscar Peterson, born in 1925... for Bill Pinkney, the last surviving member of the original Drifters, born on the same day... for Bobby Helms of 'Jingle Bell Rock' fame, born in 1934... for coloratura soprano Rita Shane, who would have been 90... for legendary producer Jerry Wexler, who died on this date in 2008... and for the great Brazilian choro flautist Altamiro Carrilho, who left us today in 2014.

Also on August 15: Elvis Presley attends a meeting in Memphis with his current manager Bob Neal, his father Vernon and Colonel Tom Parker [not a real colonel at all, but rather a Dutch immigrant named Andreas Cornelius van Kujik, whose honorary title was given to him in 1948 by the governor of Louisiana]. Elvis signs a contract naming the latter a 'special advisor' and giving him control over virtually every aspect of the singer's career (1955)... Elvis scores his first post-US Army US № 1 with 'It's Now or Never' (1960)... The Kinks go to № 1 in the UK for the first time with 'You Really Got Me'; topping the US  chart is Dean Martin's 'Everybody Loves Somebody' (1964)... The Beatles set  new world record for largest attendance at a pop concert when they play before 55,600 screaming fans at Shea Stadium. Bob Dylan visits them at their hotel after the show (1965)... Five members of the Ku Klux Klan led by the Grand Wizard of Maryland picket the Beatles concert at DC Stadium (1966)... The three-day Woodstock Music & Art Fair ['3 Days of Peace & Music'] opens on Max Yasgur's farm near Bethel, NY (1969)... George Harrison publishes his first book, 'I Me Mine', a collection of song lyrics and spiritual reflections (1980)... Diana Ross & Lionel Richie begin a nine-week run at the top of the US singles chart with 'Endless Love' (1981)... Paul Simon plays a free concert in NYC's Central Park for an estimated audience of three-quarters of a million (1991)... Boyz II Men begin their record-setting 13-week run at the top of the US charts with 'End of the Road' (1992)... Boyzone become the first Irish act to have four no. 1 singles in the UK, as 'No Matter What' tops the charts. They also become the first band in British chart history to hit the top 5 with their first 12 releases (1998)... David Bowie and his wife Iman welcome their first child, a daughter named Alexandria Zahra Jones (2000)... A memorial to John Lennon is unveiled in the remote Scottish village of Durness, where the future Beatle spent his summer holidays from the ages of 7 to 15. The lyrics to 'In My Life' are engraved on three stones (2002)... George Michael/Wham! superfan Brian Turner of Newcastle is ordered by a judge to pay a fine of £200 and further court costs of £215 for disturbing the peace. Neighbours brought the action against him, calling the police after Turner played 'Last Christmas' more than a hundred times in a row in the middle of the night at peak volume (2007)... U2's first gig on their current tour breaks the attendance record for a concert at Wembley Stadium, as more than 88,000 attend the show (2009).

 

August 14th

 

Musical birthdays today include country singer Connie Smith (85), former Sly and the Family Stone bassist Larry Graham (80), ex-Steeleye Span lead singer Maddy Prior (79), Replacements guitarist Slim Dunlap (75), Sarah Brightman (66), Charlatans guitarist Mark Collins (60), Scissor Sisters lead singer Ana Matronic (52), and rapper & producer Black Milk [né Curtis Cross] (43). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for pioneering American jazz violinist Stuff Smith, born on this date in 1900...  for avant-garde composer & acoustician Pierre Schaeffer, born in 1910... for  jazz singer & pianist Buddy Greco, born in 1926... for David Crosby, who would have been 85 today... for Augustus Montague Toplady, composer of the hymn 'Rock of Ages', who died on this day in 1778... for bluesman Big Bill Broonzy, who passed away in 1958... for singer Johnny Burnette (best known for the top 10 hit 'You're Sixteen'), who was killed in a boating accident in California at the age of 30 today in 1964... for guitarist Roy Buchanan, who hanged himself in his cell in the Fairfax Co., VA jail with his own shirt on this day after being arrested for public drunkenness. Buchanan released 15 solo albums and was a sometime collaborator with Jeff Beck (1988)... for The Platters' lead singer Tony Williams, who died in 1992... and for Lita Roza, the first woman to have a № 1 single in the UK [with a version of 'How Much Is That Doggie in the Window' in 1953] who left us today in 2009.

Also on August 14: The first performance of Wagner's Ring Cycle in its entirety in one location begins at the Bayreuth Festival (1876)... Unhappy with Pete Best's role in The Beatles, Brian Epstein and the other three members of the group decide to sack him. John Lennon places a call to Ringo Starr, nearing the end of a 3-month engagement with Rory Storm & the Hurricanes at a Butlin's Holiday Camp in north Wales, to offer him the job. Best will play his final show with the group at the Cavern tomorrow night (1962)... Sonny and Cher top the US charts with 'I Got You, Babe'. Bono is said to have been inspired to write the song by Bob Dylan's use of the term of endearment in 'It Ain't Me, Babe' (1965)... 16-year-old Bruce Springsteen plays his first public show, as lead singer of The Castiles at a gig at the Surf 'n' See Club in Seaside, NJ. Also on the bill are Little Anthony and the Imperials, with lead guitarist Steve van Zandt (1966)... The № 1 song in the UK today is 'Fire' by The Crazy World of Arthur Brown. Brown frequently performs the number live whilst wearing a top hat set alight (1968)... The 3-day Yorkshire Folk, Blues and Jazz festival opens in Calderton, W. Yorks. Atomic Rooster, Yes, The Kinks and Elton John are among those performing. Headliners Pink Floyd will miss their spot on the first day because they are fogbound at Orly Airport in Paris, and will not appear (1970)... In a peculiar case of life imitating art, a woman calling herself Billie jean Jackson files a $150 million paternity suit in a Los Angeles court, naming Michael Jackson (1987)... Foo Fighters make their US network television debut, performing 'This Is a Call' on the Late Show with David Letterman (1995)... An oil-stained pizza menu signed by John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison goes for $48,000 to an anonymous collector bidding by phone at an auction in Melbourne, Australia. Ringo Starr, suffering from laryngitis, was not on the tour (2001)... Rolling Stones drummer Charlie Watts announces that he is being treated for throat cancer (2004)... Boy George is spotted sweeping streets on the Lower East Side of Manhattan as part of a five-day community service sentence. He will be moved into a fenced-off area only 30 minutes later after being mobbed by the media and fans. The 45-year-old former Culture Club frontman was found guilty earlier in the year of cocaine possession and filing a false burglary report (2006).

August 13th

 

Musical birthdays today include R&B keyboardist Dave 'Baby' Cortez (88), operatic soprano Sheila Armstrong (84), Sha Na Na vocalist Scott Powell (78), former Undertones lead singer Feargal Sharkey (68), his bandmate, bassist Michael Bradley (67), Danny Bonaduce [of the Partridge Family] (67), Tal Bachman (58), The Bravery guitarist Sam Endicott (52), and singer-songwriter James Morrison (42). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer John Ireland, born on this date in 1879... for Anna Mae Winburn, leader of the Sweethearts of Rhythm, the first known racially integrated all-female orchestra in jazz history, and who was born today in 1914... for British jazz pioneer George Shearing, born in 1919... for Don Ho, born in 1930... for Dan Fogelberg, who would have been 75... for French composer Jules Massenet, who died on this date in 1912... for saxophonist Curtis Ousley AKA King Curtis [who played on the Coasters' 'Yakety Yak' as well as sessions for John Lennon], fatally stabbed by a vagrant on the steps of his Harlem brownstone today in 1971... and for singer and electric guitar pioneer Les Paul, who left us today in 2009.

Also on August 13: Handel departs Dublin for England to organize the London premiere of The Messiah (1742)... The original version of 'Hound Dog' is recorded by Willie Mae 'Big Mama' Thornton (1952)... Gerry Mulligan plays his first session with Thelonious Monk (1957)... Manfred Mann hits № 1 in the UK with 'Do Wah Diddy Diddy'. The song was originally recorded in 1963 by the American girl group The Exciters... The Supremes release 'Baby Love'. The song will go on to be the group's first UK № 1, and the second of five straight chart-toppers stateside [where it would be the № 1 song the day I was born - editor's note] (1964)... Jefferson Airplane make their live debut at San Francisco's Matrix Club. The cover shot of the group's biggest selling album, Surrealistic Pillow, was taken at the Matrix after a 1967 show there... The Beatles arrive at JFK airport for their second extended US visit. John Lennon, who has already grown disenchanted with the touring process, will take to screaming off-mike obscenities at the audiences (1965)... Starting a 3-week run at the top of the US charts today: 'Summer in the City' by the Lovin' Spoonful (1966)... Fleetwood Mac make their live debut at the British National Jazz and Blues Festival at Windsor. Also on the bill are Jeff Beck, Cream, Donovan and Pink Floyd (1967)... Buffalo Springfield release their final album, Last Time around (1968)... John Lennon flies from Heathrow to JFK ~ the former Beatle will never set foot on British soil again (1971)... Pink Floyd play their first ever Australian date when they appear at Melbourne's Festival Hall. The group, who just completed an Asian tour, conclude their only visit Down Under with a show in Sydney two days later (1971)... Two years after his death, Duke Ellington's bllet Three Black Kings has its premiere at Lincoln Center, with the Duke's son Mercer conducting the orchestra (1976)... Yes score their second UK № 1 album with Going for the One, which also marks the return of keyboard virtuoso Rick Wakeman, who had quit the band in 1974 because of creative differences.. Bachman Turner Overdrive announce that they are disbanding (1977)... On the 25th anniversary of the original festival, Woodstock '94 is held in Saugerties, New York. Headliners include Green Day, Nine Inch Nails, Aerosmith and the Red Hot Chili Peppers (1994)... Mick Jagger and Jerry Hall's marriage is annulled by the High Court in London, forestalling what had been expected to be a lengthy court battle (1999)... Adam Ant pleads guilty to endangering patrons at the Prince of Wales pub in London earlier this year. The former '80s pop star returned to the establishment with a starter's pistol and discharged it after being refused entry. He also threw the alternator from his car engine through a window, showering several customers with broken glass (2002). 

August 12th

 

Musical birthdays today include Mark Knopfler (77), August Darnell, AKA Kid Creole (76), Pat Metheny (72), Culture Club multi-instrumentalist Roy Hay (65), Felt and Go Kart Mozart frontman Lawrence Hawyward (64), Anthony 'Sir Mix-a-Lot' Ray (63), Tanita Tikaram (57), hip hop MC Del the Funky Homosapien [né Terence Delvon Jones] (54), ex-Murderdolls frontman Wednesday 13 [né Joseph Poole] (50), and former Sweetbox lead singer Jade Villalon (45). 

Shoutouts to the Great Beyond for country legend Porter Waggoner, born on this day in 1928... for Buck Owens, born in 1930... for Czech composer Leoš Janáček, who died on this date in 1928... and for American avant-garde composer John Cage, who left us today in 1992.


Also on August 12: Thomas Edison receives the patent for the phonograph (1877)... A live concert is broadcast on radio for the first time, as WJZ in NYC transmits the New York Philharmonic playing a program of Mendelssohn, Brahms, Gluck and Saint-Saens from the Lewisohn Stadium as part of the orchestra's summer series (1922)... Art Kane photographs 57 notable jazz musicians in the black and white group portrait 'A Great Day in Harlem' in front of a brownstone at 17 E. 126th St. in Manhattan (1958)... Pete Best auditions to become the Silver Beatles drummer. He passes and is asked if he would be available to accompany the band to Hamburg for its next set of dates. Before departing, the group will shorten its name to The Beatles (1960)... A Hard Day's Night opens in America on general release to rave reviews (1964)... Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham play together for the first time when they rehearse at a Gerrard Street studio in London's West End. The first song they play is 'The Train Kept A-rollin'. They also work up an early version of Dazed and Confused called 'I'm Confused'. At this point, the group are still known as The New Yardbirds, a name which they will keep through the first few live dates before changing to Led Zeppelin next month (1968)... No. 1 on the UK singles chart today is Alice Cooper's School's out for the Summer (1972)... Joni Mitchell, Neil Young and The Eagles are on the bill at the Corral Club in Topanga Canyon (1973)... The Commodores hit no. 1 on the US and UK singles charts simultaneously with Three Times a Lady. Reportedly, Lionel Ritchie came up with the tune first, and then was unable to decide whether he wanted to write a lyric to his wife, his mother or his grandmother ~ hence the 'Once, twice, three times a lady' written to one unnamed woman (1978)...  The two day Moscow Music Peace Festival is held at the city's Lenin Stadium. Western headliners include Motley Crue, Ozzy Osbourne, The Scorpions and Bon Jovi. For the first time, fans are permitted to stand up and dance at a stadium rock concert in the USSR ~ previously, all concertgoers were required to remain seated (1989)... A mass wake is held for Jerry Garcia in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park (1995)... Alanis Morissette plays the Darien Lake Performing Arts center in Buffalo, NY with Radiohead as her opening act (1996)... Members of the NY state chapter of the National Organization for Women demonstrate outside the office of Woodstock '99 promoter John Scher to protest the violence against women that allegedly occurred at the July 23-25 event. Several rapes and numerous incidents of sexual harassment and assault were reported after the event... A record-setting 15-night sold out stand by Bruce Springsteen and the E-Street Band at the Continental Airlines Arena in E. Rutherford, NJ comes to a close (1999)... eBay auctioneer Anthony DeFontes says that he will sell one of Elvis' teeth separately, after the molar combined with a lock of the King's hair fails to attract a high enough initial bid (2003). 

August 11th

 

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist Támas Vásáry (93), Manfred Mann drummer Mike Hugg (84), The Guess Who bassist Jim Kale (83), Eric Carmen (77), Devo lead guitarist Bob Mothersbaugh (74), Joe Jackson (72), original PiL bassist Jah Wobble [né John Wardle] (68), Death Cab for Cutie frontman Ben Gibbard (50), and singer-songwriter Sandi Thom (45).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Russell Procope, one of the longest-serving members of the Duke Ellington orchestra [alto sax from 1946 until Ellington's death in 1974], born on this date in 1908... for rockabilly singer Ronnie Dawson, who would have been 87 today... for original Iron Butterfly lead guitarist Erik Brann, who would have been 76... and for Ventures drummer Mel Taylor, who left us today in 1996. 

Also on August 11: Hank Williams is fired by the Grand Ole Opry for habitual drunkenness. Since being shot in a hunting accident early this year, the singer has been ingesting opiates and drinking heavily to dull the ongoing pain (1952)... Elvis releases the Don't Be Cruel/Hound Dog double A-side single. The 45 will reach № 1 on the US charts and stay there for 11 weeks, setting a record that will last 36 years (1956)... Paul Hindemith's opera Harmonie der Welt has its world premiere in Munich (1957)... Neil Sedaka goes to № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Breaking up Is Hard to Do' (1962)... The Beatles begin recording their as yet untitled fourth album ~ it will eventually become Beatles for Sale ~ at EMI Studios (1964)... The High Numbers [who will soon change their name to The Who] play at the Railway Hotel in Harrow, NW London. Just before the band are to go on, Roger Daltrey's father-in-law arrives backstage and drags the singer outside, punching him several times before bouncers separate the pair. The group begin their opening number and Daltrey joins them on stage just in time for the first verse (1964)... The Beatles land at O'Hare Airport. At a press conference at the Astor Towers Hotel in Chicago preceding the opening show of what will turn out to be his band's final US tour, John Lennon apologizes for his remarks to the effect 'the Beatles are more popular than Jesus'. Lennon tells reporters "Look, I wasn't saying the Beatles are better than God or Jesus. I said 'Beatles' because it's easy for me to talk about the Beatles. I could have said 'TV' or 'cinema' or 'motorcars' or anything popular and I would have got away with it" (1966)... The Small Faces, The Move, Marmalade, Pink Floyd, Amen Corner, Donovan, Cream, Jeff Beck, John Mayall, Fleetwood Mac and The Crazy World of Arthur Brown are all on the bill as the 3-day Reading Festival gets underway in England. During his performance, Arthur Brown's trademark flaming helmet burns out of control, and organiser Harold Pendleton's father-in-law has to douse the flames with a pitcher of beer (1967)... 350 guests personally invited by Berry Gordy come to the Daisy Club in Beverly Hills, CA to hear the debut performance of Motown's latest signing, the Jackson Five (1968)... At Knebworth House, Herts., Led Zeppelin play what proves to be their last UK show (1979)... Ray Parker Jr. has the № 1 song in the US with the 'Theme from Ghostbusters'. On this day, Huey Lewis files suit against him, alleging that Parker plagiarised the melody from his [Lewis'] hit 'I Want a New Drug'. The two will settle out of court in 1985 (1984)... At Cedars-Sinai Hospital in Los Angeles, Madonna gives birth to a son, Rocco (2000)... Steve Earle marries Allison Moorer at the Hermitage Hotel in downtown Nashville, TN (2005).