March 15th

Musical birthdays today include jazz clarinetist and band leader Bob Wilber (91), drummer & former Elvis sideman D.J. Fontana (88), ex-Grateful Dead bassist Phil Lesh (79), Mike Love (78), Sly Stone (76), Ry Cooder (72), Howard Devoto (67), former Twisted Sister frontman Dee Snider (64), Terence Trent D'Arby (57), Poison lead singer Bret Michaels (56), Kennedy Gordy AKA Rockwell (55), Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath (51), producer & Black Eyed Peas singer William Adams AKA will.i.am (44), Linkin Park DJ & sampler Joe Hahn (42), and rapper & Ca$hville Records president David Darnell Brown AKA Young Buck (38). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Lightnin' Hopkins, born on this day in 1912... for Harry James, born in 1916... for Brill Building songwriter Howard Green [best remembered for 'Breaking up Is Hard to Do' and 'Everybody's Somebody's Fool'), who would have been 83 today... for Lester 'Prez' Young, who died on this date in 1959... for saxophonist and band leader Bud Freeman, who passed away in 1991... and for rapper Nathaniel Hale AKA Nate Dogg, who left us in 2011. 

Also on March 15th: Beethoven himself conducts the premiere performance of his 4th Symphony at a charity benefit in Vienna (1807)... 22-year-old Enrico Caruso makes his debut, singing the lead tenor role in Domenico Morelli's comic opera L'Amico francesco at the Teatro Nuovo in Naples (1895)...Elvis Presley signs his first management contract with Colonel Tom Parker... Atlantic Records release the Ray Charles single 'I Got a Woman', often considered the first modern soul music track (1955)... 'My Fair Lady' premieres on Broadway at the Mark Hellinger Theater (1956)... Coleman Hawkins' The Hawk Flies High is released (1957)... In Palermo, Luciano Pavarotti sings his first lead role, as the Duke in Rigoletto (1962)... The first session for the recording of George Harrison's new song ‘Within You Without You’ takes place at Abbey Road. George is the only Beatle to perform on this song, which still does not have a title. Harrison played the swordmandel and tamboura, Natver Soni plays tabla, Amrat Gajjar played dilruba, P.D. Joshi plays swordmandel, and Rashna Pranamawath plays the droning tamboura (1967)... Cream's final original album Goodbye goes to № 1 in the UK... Janis Joplin gets her first Rolling Stone cover (1969)... DJ Robert Morgan at radio KHJ in Los Angeles plays the Donny Osmond single 'Puppy Love' for 90 minutes straight until police, alerted by listeners that something might be wrong at the station, burst into the studio. The officers leave without making any arrests, but urge Morgan to change the record (1972)... Roberta Flack has the № 1 single in the US with 'Killing Me Softly with His Song', while Elton John has the top album with Don't Shoot Me, I'm Only the Piano Player (1973)... The five original members of The Band release their final studio album Islands (1977)... Bob Dylan is inducted into the Songwriter's Hall of Fame at the 13th annual dinner held at the Hilton Hotel in NYC. After the ceremony, Dylan gives a short interview to Jane Hansen which is broadcast by NBC-TV (1982)... The Bangles are at № 2 on the singles charts in both the US and the UK with 'Manic Monday' ~ ironically, the song fails to reach the top spot on either side of the Atlantic because of 'Kiss' by Prince, who wrote the Bangles' hit under the pseudonym 'Christopher' (1986)... Mick Jagger kicks off his first ever solo tour with three shows in Osaka, Japan. The show is mostly made up of Rolling Stones songs, including some that Jagger has not performed live in years, e.g. 'Bitch', 'Gimme Shelter', 'Ruby Tuesday' and 'Sympathy for the Devil', as well as the Jimi Hendrix song 'Foxy Lady' (1988)... The Stones sign a $70 million deal to play 50 North American dates later in the year. It is the most lucrative tour contract in rock history to date (1989)... Bruce Springsteen is inducted into the Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame by Bono (1999)... Sir Paul McCartney confirms that he and Heather Mills have now become an 'item' (2000)... Yoko Ono unveils a seven foot bronze statue of John Lennon overlooking the check-in hall of the newly renamed Liverpool John Lennon airport. The hall also receives the addition of a mural of the former Beatle's face that includes the words 'Above Us Only Skies' (2002).