April 25th

Musical birthdays today include folk singer Ronnie Gilbert (88), CCR bassist Stu Cook (69), ABBA vocalist Björn Ulvaeus (69), The Left Banke keyboardist & songwriter Michael Brown (65), session drummer Steve Ferrone (64), former Marilion lead singer Derek 'Fish' Dick (56), Erasure lead singer Andy Bell (50), ex-Jane's Addiction bassist Eric Avery (49), Ocean Colour Scene lead singer Simon Fowler (49), and for Ben and James Johnston, drummer and bassist respectively for Biffy Clyro (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for early R&B saxophonist Earl Bostic, born on this day in 1912... for Ella Fitzgerald, born in 1917... for Albert King, born in 1923... for bluegrass fiddler Vassar Clements, who would have been 86 today... for songwriter & producer Jerry Lieber, who would have been 81... for Dexter Gordon, who died on this day in 1990... for Ginger Rogers, who passed away in 1995... for pop singer Bobby Pickett, who died in 2007... and for British jazzman Humprey Lyttleton, who left us today in 2008. 

Also on April 25th: Puccini's opera 'Turandot' has its premiere at La Scala in Milan, with Toscanini conducting (1926)... Johnnie Ray is at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Such a Night', one of his three British chart-toppers. Dexy's Midnight Runners would later reference the singer in 'Come on Eileen' with the line "Poor old Johnnie Ray sounded so sad on the radio/He moved a million hearts in mono" (1954)... Just days after the completion of Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band, The Beatles embark on their next project, recording the theme to 'Magical Mystery Tour' at Abbey Road studios (1967)... Deram Records release The Moody Blues' On the Threshold of a Dream (1969)... The Jackson Five hit № 1 in the USA with 'ABC' (1970)... Pamela Courson, the long-term companion of the late Jim Morrison, dies of a drug overdose. It was Courson who found the Doors singer dead on July 3, 1971 in the bathtub of their apartment in Paris (1974)... Elvis Presley makes the last recordings of his life during a concert at the Saginaw, MI Civic Center. Three songs from the show will appear the posthumously released Presley album Moody Blue (1977)... Ornette Coleman records the album Of Human Feeling, his first attempt to combine free jazz principles with elements of funk... The Police make their British TV debut, performing 'Roxanne' on the BBC's 'Top of the Pops' (1979)... 

Paul McCartney and Stevie Wonder are at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Ebony And Ivory.'  The title was inspired by McCartney hearing Spike Milligan say "Black notes, white notes, and you need to play the two to make harmony, folks!". It was later listed as the tenth worst song of all time by Blender magazine, and in 2007 was named the worst duet in history in a BBC 6 Music listeners poll (1982)... U2 top the American album chart with The Joshua Tree (1987)... The Fender Stratocaster that Jimi Hendrix played at Woodstock is auctioned off in San Francisco for a record $295,000. Hendrix's two-hour set at the 1969 festival was the longest of his career (1990)... In Los Angeles, The Eagles play the first of two shows where they record their 'Hell Freezes Over' album. Don Henley, Glenn Frey, Joe Walsh, Don Felder and Timothy B. Schmit first reunited the previous December for the making of a Travis Tritt video of their song 'Take It Easy' The name of the album was a quote from Glen Frey, who used the expression to respond to a journalist who asked "When will the Eagles get back together?" (1994)...  Bruce Springsteen plays the opening show on his Devils & Dust North American solo tour at the Fox Theater in Detroit, MI (2005)... During The Rolling Stones' current world tour, aides to George W. Bush are told they cannot book a luxury five star hotel suite because Mick Jagger has already reserved it. Jagger had splashed out £3,600 a night for the suite at the five-star Imperial Hotel in Vienna, Austria, in advance of the band's appearance there. Prior to the attempted booking, US Secret Service agents had already vetted the hotel, but to no avail (2007). The Empire State Building is lit up in Mariah Carey's signature colours of lavender, pink, and white in celebration of her achievements in the world of music. Carey is the first person in the history of the structure to be so honoured (2008).