Wednesday 5 March 2014

March 5th

Musical birthdays today include early rocker Paul Evans (76), Irish pop singer Clodagh Rogers (67), Eddy Grant (66), former Dire Straits keyboardist Alan Clark (62), The Fall frontman Mark E. Smith (57), Current 93 lead singer David Tibet (54), Proclaimers frontmen Charlie & Craig Reid (52), former Noir Désir lead singer Bertrand Cantat (50), rapper MC Solaar (45), ex-Red Hot Chili Peppers lead guitarist John Frusciante (44), and classical pianist Daniil Trifonov (23). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Heitor Villa-Lobos, born on this day in 1887... for French horn virtuoso Philip Farkas, born in 1914... for bluesman J.B. Lenoir, who would have been 85 today... for singer-songwriter Tommy Tucker, who would have been 81... for pianist and former Janis Joplin sideman Richard Bell, who would have been 68... for Teena Marie, ' the Ivory Queen of Soul', who would have been 58... for Andy Gibb, who would have been 56... for composer Sergei Prokofiev, who died on this date in 1953... for Patsy Cline, killed in a plane crash today in 1963 at the age of 30 along with fellow musicians Lloyd 'Cowboy' Copas and Harold 'Hawkshaw' Hawkins... for Blues Brother John Belushi, who died of a drug overdose today in 1982 at the age of 33... and for Disney songwriter Robert B. Sherman [best remembered for 'It's a Small Word (after All)], who left us two years ago today. 

Also on March 5th: Beethoven's 4th Symphony receives its premiere in Vienna (1807)... The Covent Garden opera house is destroyed in a fire (1856)... The first known transmission of music by radio occurs at Graz University in Austria when Dr. Siegfried Nussbaumer yodels a folk song from his native region into a transmitter whose signal is received in a neighbouring room and heard by his colleagues in the physics department (1904)... Elvis makes his debut television appearance when he performs on the weekend show 'Louisiana Hayride' on KWKH-TV in Shreveport, LA (1955)... The Beatles record their third single 'From Me to You' (1963)... Staff Sgt. Barry Sadler goes to no. 1 on the Billboard singles chart with 'The Ballad of the Green Berets' (1966)... Bob Dylan concludes the sessions at Columbia Studio B in NYC that will yield the Self Portrait album (1970)... Led Zeppelin launch a 12-date 'Thank you' tour, appearing at the same clubs that they played in their early days and charging the same admission prices as 1968. Opening night is at the Ulster Hall in Belfast, where the group play most of the songs from their forthcoming officially untitled album, including 'Stairway to Heaven' and 'Going to California' (1971)... Rod Stewart meets Britt Ekland at a party in Los Angeles, sparking one of the most high-profile celebrity love affairs of the '70s (1975)... Michael Jackson's 'Billie Jean' is the no. 1 single in the US, whilst the Thriller album tops the UK album chart for the first time... Wham! make their US television debut on American Bandstand (1983)... R.E.M. sweep the Rolling Stone Music Awards, winning Album of the Year for Out of Time, Best single for 'Losing My Religion' and best band (1992)... Grace Slick is arrested for pointing a loaded 12-gauge shotgun at Marin Co. sheriffs' deputies in her home in Tiburon, CA, just north of San Francisco (1994)... MC Hammer is ordained as a preacher at the Jubilee Christian Center in San Jose, CA (2000)... 'The Osbournes' premieres on MTV (2002)... Records by the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon are chosen for preservation by the US Library of Congress. The '(I Can't Get No) Satisfaction' single and the Graceland LP enter the National Recordings Registry, which preserves historic recordings for posterity. Other recordings chosen this year include Carl Perkins' 'Blue Suede Shoes', The Ronettes' 'Be My Baby', 'A Change Is Gonna Come' by Sam Cooke, and the eponymous The Velvet Underground and Nico album (2007). 

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