December 8th

Musical birthdays today include former Impressions lead singer Jerry Butler (79), flautist James Galway (79), Hollies drummer Bobby Elliott (77), ex-Gentle Giant multi-instrumentalist Ray Shulman (69), former Utopia bassist Kasim Sulton (63), Duran Duran guitarist Warren Cuccurullo (62), Def Leppard co-lead guitarist Phil Collen (61), former Megadeath guitarist Marty Friedman (56), Sinéad O'Connor (52), Slipknot lead singer Corey Taylor (45), Yeah Yeah Yeahs guitarist Nick Zinner (44), Ingrid Michaelson (39), Chrisette Michele (36), and Nicki Minaj (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Jean Sibelius, born on this day in 1865... for composer Bohuslav Martinů, born in 1890... for folk singer Jean Ritchie, born in 1922... for Sammy Davis, Jr., born in 1925... for former John Mayall and Ike & Tina Turner drummer Soko Richardson, who would have been 79 today... for Jim Morrison, who would have been 75... for  Gregg Allman, who would have been 71... for former Edgar Winter Group lead singer Dan Hartman, who would have been 68... for former Uriah Heep bassist Gary Thain, who died of a drug overdose at the age of 27 today in 1975... for country singer Marty Robbins, who died in 1982... for John Lennon, who was murdered today in 1980... for bossa nova composer and performer Antônio Carlos Jobim, who passed away in 1994... for Buena Vista Social Club pianist Rubén González, who died in 2003... for guitarist 'Dimebag Darrell' Abbott, shot to death along with 4 others while performing live with Damageplan at the age of 38 today in 2004... and for big band singer Martha Tilton, who left us in 2006. 

Also on December 8: In Vienna, Beethoven's 7th Symphony is performed for the first time (1813)...  The Beach Boys' first single 'Surfin' is released on Candix Records, a small label based in Los Angeles. On the strength of the song’s performance in the Southern California market, Capitol Records will sign the group the following July (1961)... Frank Sinatra Jr is kidnapped at gunpoint from a hotel in Lake Tahoe. He is released two days later after his father pays out the $240,000 ransom demanded by the kidnappers, who are later captured, and sentenced to long prison terms. In order to communicate with the kidnappers via a payphone, Sinatra Sr. carried a roll of dimes with him throughout the ordeal; it became a lifetime habit, and the singer is said to have been buried with a roll of dimes (1963)... Working at Abbey Road Studios, Paul McCartney overdubs his lead vocal for ‘When I'm Sixty-Four’. The Beatles then return to work on John Lennon's song ‘Strawberry Fields Forever', which had earlier been set side when progress on it stalled (1966)... The Rolling Stones release Their Satanic Majesties Request (1967)... Graham Nash announces that he has left The Hollies to start work with David Crosby and Stephen Stills (1968)...  Mick Jagger is quoted by Melody Maker as saying "I don't really like singing very much. I enjoy playing the guitar more than I enjoy singing, and I can't play the guitar either" (1969)... This week's Top selling 8-Track cartridges in America are: 5) Frank Sinatra's Greatest Hits Vol 2 4) Tapestry by Carole King 3) Bridge Over Troubled Water by Simon & Garfunkel 2) Motown Chartbusters Vol. 6 and 1) Imagine by John Lennon (1971)... Lou Reed releases Transformer (1972)... Roxy Music have their first UK № 1 album when Stranded goes to the top, where it will stay for one week (1973)... Bob Dylan's Rolling Thunder Revue plays its last night at Madison Square Garden. 'The Night of the Hurricane' raises $100,000 for the defense fund of imprisoned boxer Rubin 'Hurricane' Carter (1975)... A year after John Lennon's death, Rolling Stone publishes a letter from Yoko Ono in which she says 'I think of John's death as a battlefield casualty in the war between the sane and the insane' (1981)... Courtney Love appears on the ABC TV show '10 Most Fascinating People', telling the presenter that she wishes she had done 'eight thousand million things differently' to have prevented the death of her late husband Kurt Cobain... The Grateful Dead officially announce that they are disbanding, four months after the death of Jerry Garcia (1995)... Sting's star is unveiled on the Walk of Fame in Hollywood (2000)... The US Supreme Court upholds a ruling saying that Rosa Parks can sue OutKast for using her name as the title to a song (2005).