September 29th

 

Musical birthdays today include bluegrass flatpicker Dan Crary (87), jazz-rock violinist Jean-Luc Ponty (84), television theme composer Mike Post [best remembered for 'The Rockford Files' and 'Law & Order'] (82), ex-Grand Funk Railroad frontman Mark Farner (78), Suzzy Roche (70), record label owner & impresario Alan McGee [manager of Oasis and The Jesus and Mary Chain, among others] (66), Primus lead singer & bassist Les Claypool (63), Suede lead singer Brett Anderson (59), jazz and metal guitarist Alex Skolnick (58), rapper AMG (56), and former Much the Same frontman Chris 'Gunner' McGrath (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Gene Autry, born on this date in 1907... for Czech conductor and violinist Václav Neumann, born in 1920... for Jerry Lee Lewis, born in 1935... for Tommy Boyce [of the songwriting duo Boyce & Hart), who would have been 87 today... for session player and King Crimson drummer Ian Wallace, who would have been 80... and for songwriter Paul Jabara [best known for Donna Summer's 'Last Dance' and 'It's Raining Men' for the Weather Girls], who left us today in 1992.  

Also on September 29: Handel finished his Concerto Grosso in G, Op. 6, no. 1 (1739)... Gustav Holst's The Planets has its premiere at Queen's Hall, London. It was noted that during rehearsals, custodians would stop work and listen in awe to the work that would bring Holst lasting fame (1918)... Berry Gordy's new label Motown Records release their first single, 'Bad Girl' by The Miracles (1959)... Robert Shelton's glowing review of Bob Dylan's support slot at Gerde's Folk City is published in the New York Times. On the same day, Dylan has his first audition with legendary CBS Records scout John Hammond (1961)... At Abbey Road Studios, the Beatles do the final mix of 'I Am the Walrus', which includes the sound of a radio being tuned through numerous stations and coming to rest on a BBC production of King Lear. John Lennon composed the song by combining three separate fragments that he had been working on, and reportedly made the words as nonsensical as possible when he learnt that a former English teacher of his was giving students Beatles lyrics to analyse... The Rolling Stones officially part ways with their manager Andrew Loog Oldham (1967)... Capitol Records releases Merle Haggard's 'Okie from Muskogee' (1969)... Led Zeppelin close their triumphant first Japanese tour with a show at Osaka's Festival Hall (1971)... Celebrating his birthday somewhat excessively, Jerry Lee Lewis nearly lives up to his nickname of 'the Killer' when he accidentally shoots his bass player Norman Owens in the chest. The piano-pounder was using an office door for target practice. Owens survives, but sues his boss (1976)... Prince has his second US № 1 with 'Let's Go Crazy' (1984)... The Smiths release Strangeways, Here We Come, their final studio album (1987)... While travelling cross country on his motorbike from Los Angeles, Bruce Springsteen calls in at Matt's Saloon in Prescott, AZ and jams with the house band. He also writes a cheque for $10,000 to pay the medical expenses of one of the barmaids who has just returned to work after a long stay in hospital (1989)... Keith Moon's five-piece drum kit, custom made for him in 1968, sells for £125,000 at auction in London to an American collector (1992)... Alanis Morissette plays the final show of her first US tour in Houston, TX (1996)... Ozzy Osbourne announces that he is writing a Broadway musical based on the life of Rasputin (2003).

September 28th

 

Musical birthdays today include guitarist Emmett Chapman [inventor of the Chapman Stick] (90), original Steppenwolf bassist Nick St. Nicolas (83), pop singer Helen Shapiro (80), guitarist George Lynch (72), Jennifer Rush (66), Moon Zappa (59), singer-songwriter Joseph Arthur (55), A.J. Croce (55), Pussycat Dolls vocalist Melody Thornton (42), Hilary Duff (39), and classical violinist Chloë Hanslip (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for variety show host Ed Sullivan, born on this date in 1901... for Fugs co-founder Naphtali 'Tuli' Kupferberg, born in 1923... for bluesman Koko Taylor, born in 1929... for Johnny Mathis, born in 1934... for Ben E. King, who would have been 88... for Temptations vocalist Elbridge Bryant, who would have been 87... for harmonica virtuoso Phillip 'Norton Buffalo' Jackson, who would have been 74... for jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland, who would have been 71... for Miles Davis, who left us today in 1991... and for Lucy Vodden, the childhood friend of Julian Lennon who was the subject of his drawing that inspired one of his father to write 'Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds', and who lost a long battle with lupus today in 2009 at the age of 46. 

Also on September 28: The British national anthem God Save the King is performed for the first time at the Drury Lane Theatre in London (1745)... Placido Domingo makes his American debut at the Met in NYC, performing in Cilea's Adriana Lecouvreur... The Beatles start a 9-week run at № 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 with 'Hey Jude' (1968)... David Bowie sells out his first performance in NYC at Carnegie Hall (1972)... Bad Company's eponymous debut is the № 1 album in the US (1974)... A&M Records sue George Harrison for $6 million for being two months late in delivering a new album... Stevie Wonder releases Songs in the Key of Life (1976)... U2 play the first of two sold out nights at Madison Square Garden on the Joshua Tree tour... Gladys Knight and Smokey Robinson are guests on the game show 'The $10,000 Pyramid' (1987)... The 103rd convention of the Audio Engineering Society [AES], feturing the official US debut of the DVD audio format, opens in NYC (1997)... Tina Turner's hometown, made famous in her song 'Nutbush City Limits', names a section of Tennessee State Highway 19 the Tina Turner Highway. Turner was born in Nutbush, a small town some 50 miles northeast of Memphis, and lived there until she was 17 (2002)... In an editorial published in the Los Angeles Times, Yusuf Islam blasts the U.S. government's policy of screening airline passenger manifests for potential terrorists as 'indiscriminate and unjust'. The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens was barred from entering the country last week because his name appeared on a Homeland Security watch list (2004)... The first John Lennon Northern Lights Festival is held in Durness, Scotland, one of the most northwesterly and remote villages in mainland Britain. Lennon spent his childhood holidays between the ages of 9 in 13 in the village, and also returned there in 1969 with Yoko and Julian (2007).

September 27th

 Musical birthdays today include Austrian balladeer Freddy Quinn (95), Stax session player Don Nix (85), Randy Bachman (83), classical guitarist David Starobin (75), session bassist Robbie Shakespeare (73), Shaun Cassidy (68), Third Eye Blind lead singer Stephan Jenkins (62), Wild Flag guitarist & singer Carrie Brownstein (52), rapper Lil Wayne [né Dwayne Carter, Jr.] (44), Avril Lavigne (42), and Of Mice & Men lead singer Austin Carlile (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist Bud Powell, born on this day in 1924... for bop trumpeter Red Rodney, born in 1929... for Soul Train host and producer Don Cornelius, who would have been 89... for Meat Loaf [né Marvin Lee Aday], who would have been 79... for Men at Work multi-instrumentalist Greg Ham, who would have been 73... for Wings guitarist Jimmy McCullough, who died of a drug overdose on this date in 1979 at the age of 26... for Metallica bassist Cliff Burton, who was killed in an accident involving the band's tour bus in 1986... and for Johnny Mathis, who left us today in 2011. 

Also on September 27: Dvořák arrives in NYC to take up the position of director of the National Conservatory (1892)... The Beach Boys make their debut appearance on the Ed Sullivan Show, performing 'I Get around' and 'Wendy'... Bob Dylan is among the guests at a party at Miles Davis' home in Manhattan given for Robert Kennedy, candidate for the US Senate from NY (1964)... The Beatles complete work on 'Fool on the Hill' and begin recording 'I Am the Walrus' (1967)... Pink Floyd appear at Queen's Hall on the Isle of Dunoon in Scotland. All regularly scheduled ferry services to the island having been cancelled because of bad weather, the group hire a small boat on their own and risk the rough seas to make the crossing. They eventually appear in front of 400 fans (1968)... Creedence Clearwater Revival are among the guests on Johnny Cash's ABC-TV weekly variety show (1969)... Carlos Santana announces that he has become a disciple of Sri Chinmoy and that he has legally added the middle name 'Devadip' [meaning 'the Light of the Lamp Supreme'] to his own (1973)... Blondie release the album Eat to the Beat, while Regatta de Blanc by The Police also appears in shops (1979)...  The № 1 album in Britain today is David Bowie's Scary Monsters (and Super Creeps) (1980)... R.E.M. release Monster (1994)... Bob Dylan performs before Pope John Paul II at the World Eucharistic Conference in Bologna, Italy. The two chat briefly after the singer's concluding number, 'A Hard Rain's A-Gonna Fall' (1997)... In NYC, Placido Domingo breaks Enrico Caruso's record when he headlines his 18th season opening performance at the Met (1999)... U2 play a show from the rooftop of Dublin's Clarence Hotel [which they own] to more than 4,000 listeners in the streets below (2000)... Phil Spector is formally charged with murder in the February 3, 2003 shooting death of actress Lana Clarkson (2004)... Metallica have the № 1 album in the US with Death Magnetic, the group's ninth studio release (2008)... At the age of 85, Tony Bennett becomes the oldest living person to top the US album chart, with Duets II. Featuring collaborations with Amy Winehouse and Lady Gaga, among others, it is also the singer's first US № 1 (2011).

September 26th

 

Musical birthdays today include R&B singer and keyboardist Georgie Fame (83), Brian Ferry (81),cex-10cc drummer Stuart Tosh (75), ex-Jefferson Starship guitarist Craig Chaquico (72), Carlene Carter (71), former Everything But the Girl lead singer Tracey Thorn (64), heavy metal guitarist Al Pitrelli (64), Boyz II Men vocalist Shawn Stockman (54), Good Charlotte drummer Dean Butterworth (49), and British composer & clarinet virtuoso Mark Simpson (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for George Gershwin, born on this day in 1898... for country singer Marty Robbins, born in 1925... for cabaret singer Julie London, born in 1926... for country singer Lynn Anderson, who would have been 79 today... for Olivia Newton-John, who would have been 78... for punk rocker Darby Crash [né Jan Beahm], who would have been 67... for former Blind Melon frontman Shannon Hoon, who would have been 58... for Bessie Smith, who died in an road accident on this date in 1937 at the age of 43... and for Robert Palmer, who left us today in 2003. 

Also on September 26: Donizetti's opera Lucia di Lammermoor premieres at La Scala (1835)... West Side Story premieres on Broadway (1957)... The Greenbriar Boys begin  2 week residency at Gerde's Folk City in Greenwich Village. Their opening act, Bob Dylan, receives a rave review from New York Times music critic Robert Shelton ~ the piece will be instrumental in bringing the virtually unknown Dylan to prominence on the Village scene (1961)... Buckingham palace announces that The Beatles are to receive the OBE (1965)... Pink Floyd play their first live show in the US, at the Fillmore West in San Francisco (1967)... The Beatles release Abbey Road (1969)... John Lennon begins the recording sessions for what will become the Plastic Ono Band album (1970)... Paul McCartney, wife Linda and Denny Laine return to London from Nigeria, where they recorded Band on the Run (1973)...  The Clash release their first American single, their version of 'I Fought the Law' ~ it fails to chart (1979)... The Go-Gos have the № 1 album in the US today with Beauty and the Beat (1981)... Michael Jackson's Bad tops the American album chart. It will eventually yield five Stateside № 1 singles, the first album ever to do so (1987)... Paul McCartney kicks off his first major tour in 10 years in Drammen, Norway. The world tour that follows will also include the former Beatle's first US dates since 1976 (1989)... The initial 300,000 unit shipment of Elton John's 'Candle in the Wind 1997' single to Japan sells out within 90 minutes of its delivery to shops throughout the country (1997)... MTV Russia launches at midnight with a broadcast of 'Prodigy Live in Moscow', which was taped the previous year (1998)... Green Day's American Idiot is the № 1 album on both sides of the Atlantic (2004).

September 25th

 

Musical birthdays today include ex-Iron Butterfly bassist Jerry Penrod (80), Siouxie and the Banshees bassist Steven Severin (71), heavy metal guitarist Chris Impellitteri (62), Commitments singer Maria Doyle Kennedy (62), Guns N' Roses lead guitarist Ron 'Bumblefoot' Thal (57), singer-songwriter Douglas September (53), Interpol guitarist Daniel Kessler (53) and Dolour founder Shane Tutmarc (45).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Jean-Philippe Rameau, born on this day in 1683... for Dmitri Shostakovich, born in 1906... for classical pianist Glenn Gould, born in 1932... for folksinger Ian Tyson, born in 1933... for Cecil Womack, who would have been 79... for Johann Strauss the Elder [composer of 'The Radetzky March'], who died today in 1809... for Bela Bartok, who died in 1945... for John 'Bonzo' Bonham, who passed away in 1980... and for Andy Williams, who left us today in 2015. 

Also on September 25: Elvis releases his second single on Sun Records, 'Good Rockin' Tonight' (1954)... The Temptations go into the studio to record 'My Girl' (1964)... The Beatles cartoon series premieres on the ABC Network. The first adventure is entitled 'I Want to Hold Your Hands', and has the group in a diving bell exploring the ocean floor, where they meet a lovesick octopus (1965)... The Beatles begin recording Paul's new song 'Fool on the Hill' (1967)... Welsh singer Mary Hopkin is at № 1 on the UK charts with 'Those Were the Days'. Hopkin was one of the first acts signed by The Beatles to their new Apple label (1968)... John Lennon records 'Cold Turkey' with Yoko, Eric Clapton, Klaus Voormann and Ringo. Paul vetoed the tune as a potential Beatles track, and John's name alone will be listed as writer on the single, the first time that either of the duo takes sole credit for authorship of a song (1969)... The Partridge Family premieres on ABC (1970)... Larry Mullen Jr., a 14-year-old student at Mount Temple Comprehensive in Dublin, posts a note on the school's notice board announcing that he is searching for musicians to form a new band. Three of the six students who turn up for the audition ~ Paul Hewson, David Evans, and Adam Clayton ~ will become long-term members of the group, who initially call themselves Feedback. It will not be until March 1978 that they settle on the name U2 (1976)... Queen perform 'Crazy Little Thing Called Love' and 'Under Pressure' on Saturday night Live (1982)... Dave Grohl auditions for Nirvana and is offered the drummer's chair on the spot (1990)... Courtney Love is sentenced to a year in prison with two years suspended and ordered to take an anger management course as  result of her assault on Bikini Kill lead singer Kathleen Hanna (1995)... Former Rolling Stone Bill Wyman is the first major artist to release an album on his own personalised digital MP3 player. The matchbox-sized device with no moving parts is one of the smallest of its kind in the world, and has encryption software designed to prevent piracy (1999)... Ozzy Osbourne formally requests that Black Sabbath be removed from the nomination list for the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, calling the inclusion "meaningless" (2000)... The New York Post reports that Sly Stone is living in a van parked in the notorious South Central L.A. district of Crenshaw. "I like my small camper. I just do not want to return to a fixed home. I cannot stand being in one place. I must keep moving", the singer is quoted as saying (2011).  

September 24th

 

Musical birthdays today include choral composer John Rutter (81), ex-Fairport Convention guitarist Jerry Donahue (80), jazz guitarist Bill Connors (77), Dokken bassist Sean McNabb (61), former Sleater-Kinney drummer Janet Weiss (61), Slipknot percussionist Shawn 'Clown' Crahan (57), Verve drummer Peter Salisbury (55), singer-songwriter & multi-instrumentalist Liam Finn (43), and Foxy Shazam drummer Joseph Allen Halberstadt (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Blind Lemon Jefferson, born on this date in 1893... for songwriter and film score composer Ben Oakland, born in 1907... for jazz singer Herb Jeffries, born in 1913... for jazz percussionist Jack Costanzo, born in 1919... for jazz trumpeter Fats Navarro, born in 1923... for Ventures drummer Mel Taylor, born in 1933... for L.A. session saxophonist Steve Douglas [played on The Beach Boys' Pet Sounds and Bob Dylan's Street Legal, among many other albums], who would have been 88... for Crusaders trombonist Wayne Henderson, who would have been 87... for Linda McCartney, who would have been 85...  for Gerry & the Pacemakers frontman Gerry Marsden, who would have been 83... and for singer-songwriter Matthew Jay [a collaborator with The Doves, The Stereophonics and Dido] who fell to his death from a 7th storey window in London at the age of 24 today in 2003. 

Also on September 24: Elvis Presley releases 'Jailhouse Rock' (1957)... Elvis receives an invitation to appear at the Royal Variety Command Performance in London, but Colonel Tom Parker graciously declines, citing motion picture commitments. The real reason for his refusal, however, is that the Colonel is a Dutch immigrant residing in the US illegally, and fears that he might not be allowed to return if he leaves the country (1962)... Jimi Hendrix arrives in England for the first time with manager Chas Chandler. The guitarist has with him only the clothes he is wearing, having sold all of his other belongings to pay his hotel bill in New York. One of the first things he does in London is to legally change his name from James to Jimi... The № 1 single in the US is 'Cherish' by The Association (1966)... Traffic make their live debut at the Saville Theatre in London... Filming of the Magical Mystery Tour continues, in a hangar at the RAF West Malling Air Station in Maidstone, Kent. The cavernous indoor space is needed to shoot the 'Your Mother Should Know' ballroom finale. With the Beatles dressed in white suits and shoes, they glide down a glittery staircase as 160 members of the Peggy Spencer Dance Company swirl round about (1967)... John and Yoko move the mixing of the Double Fantasy album from the Hit Factory in NYC to the Record Plant. After the session, Lennon gives one of his final recorded interviews, to Lisa Robinson of 97-FM in Buffalo, NY (1980)... Culture Club score their second UK chart-topping hit with 'Karma Chameleon', the biggest selling single of the year (1983)... Bobby McFerrin's 'Don't Worry' Be Happy' becomes the first a capella song to reach № 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 (1988)... Nirvana's album Nevermind is released in the US, entering the chart at № 144 (1991)... Eric Clapton is the musical guest on the season premiere of Saturday Night Live (1994)... Hank Williams is the subject of the first ever country music symposium at the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC (1999)... The Dave Matthews Band play a free concert for over 100,000 in NYC's Central park (2003)

September 23rd

 

Musical birthdays today include jazz singer Norma Winstone (85), Julio Iglesias (83), Iron Butterfly drummer Ron Bushy (81), original Alice Cooper drummer Neal Smith (79), Bruce Springsteen (77), former Lemon Kitten and experimental musician Danielle Dax (68), session bassist and songwriter Martin Page (66), industrial metal rocker Lucia Cifarelli (56) Ani DiFranco (56), rapper Layzie Bone (51), and Cascada lead singer Natalie Horler (45).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for folk song collector and ethnomusicologist John Lomax, born on this day in 1870... for early R&B singer Tiny Bradshaw, born on this day in 1907... for John Coltrane, born in 1926... for bluesman Mighty Joe Young, born in 1927... for choreographer Bob Fosse, who died on this date in 1987... and for blueswoman Etta Baker, who left us today in 2006. 

Also on September 23: Wagner's opera Das Rheingold has its world premiere in Frankfurt (1869)... Bob Wills & the Texas Playboys make their first recordings in Dallas (1935)... Buddy Holly & the Crickets hit № 1 in the US with 'That'll Be the Day' (1957)... The Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts opens in NYC (1962)... The Beatles record 'Happiness is a Warm Gun' at Abbey Road. John Lennon took the title for the song from an advertisement in an American gun magazine that George Martin had showed him. Jim Morrison drops by the studio and watches the Fab Four at work for just over an hour (1968)... Mick Jagger meets Bianca Macias for the first time, backstage after a Stones concert at L'Olympia in Paris (1970)... Blondie release their commercial breakthrough album Parallel Lines (1978)... Against his doctors' advice, Bob Marley goes ahead with a scheduled concert at the Stanley Theater in Pittsburgh two days after collapsing in Central Park in NYC. The singer passes out in mid-performance and is rushed to the University of Pittsburgh Hospital. It is Marley's last public show before his death from cancer the following May... David Bowie makes his Broadway debut in the title role of 'The Elephant Man' (1980)... James Browne, Melba Moore, and Freddie Jackson headline an anti-crack benefit concert in the ballroom at the Plaza Hotel in NYC (1986)... The first Lilith Fair concert outside of North America takes place at the Royal Albert Hall (1998)... CBS is fined $550,000 by the FCC for airing Janet Jackson's 'wardrobe malfunction' during the Super Bowl halftime show earlier this year (2004)... Neil Young is named artist of the year at the annual Americana Honors and Awards in Nashville (2006)... Grand Canyon State natives Linda Ronstadt, Stevie Nicks and Buck Owens are inducted into the Arizona Music &am