March 24th

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist Byron Janis (91), session guitarist Carol Kaye (84), harmonica player & designer Lee Oskar (71), former April Wine bassist Steve Lang (70), Nick Lowe (70), ex-Supertramp bassist Dougie Thomson (68), Gabriele Kerner AKA Nena (59), and Sharon Corr (49). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for hymn composer Fanny Crosby [best remembered for 'Blessed Assurance' and 'To God Be the Glory'], born on this day in 1820... for Russian popular singer Klavdiya Shulzhenko, born in 1906... for scat singer & pianist Billy Stewart, who would have been 81 today... for former Kraftwerk guitarist Klaus Dinger, who would have been 73... for jazz pianist & bandleader Jean Goldkette, who died on this date in 1962... for ex-Brooklyn Bridge lead singer Johnny Maestro, who passed away in 2010... and for Motown writer & producer Deke Richards, who left us today in 2013. 

Also on March 24th: J.S. Bach completes the last of a group of six chamber orchestra pieces and dedicates them to Christian Ludwig, Margrave of Brandenburg-Schwedt. The compositions have since become popularly known as the Brandenburg Concertos (1721)... Billboard Magazine publishes its first US LP chart ~ Nat King Cole is at №  1 with A Collection of Favorites (1945)...  Elvis Presley reports to the Memphis draft board for induction into the US Army. He and 12 other recruits are taken by bus to the Kennedy Veterans Memorial Hospital for their physical, after which the singer is assigned serial number 53310761 (1958)... The Beatles continue filming 'Help!' at Twickenham Studios near London. They shoot the interior temple scenes, including one in which they 'dive through a hollow sacrificial altar and into water'. That scene is then edited into the swimming pool sequence filmed in the Bahamas on February 23 (1965)... Simon and Garfunkel make their UK singles chart debut with 'Homeward Bound.' Simon is said to have written the song at Farnworth railway station in Widnes, Cheshire while stranded overnight waiting for a train. A plaque is displayed in the station to commemorate this, although memorabilia hunters have stolen it repeatedly. The song describes Simon's longing to return home, both to his then girlfriend Kathy Chitty in Brentwood, Essex, and to the United States (1966)... Alice Cooper has the №  1 album on both sides of the Atlantic with Billion Dollar Babies... During a Lou Reed concert in Buffalo, NY, a man jumps on stage and bites the singer on the left buttock. The attacker is thrown out of the theatre, and Reed completes the show before being examined at a local hospital (1973)... Lionel Richie tops the singles charts in both America and Britain with 'Hello' (1984)... The Black Crowes are fired as the opening act on ZZ Top's current US tour after repeatedly criticising tour sponsor Miller Beer (1991)...  A Chicago court settles the Milli Vanilli class action suit by approving cash rebates of up to $3 to anyone who can prove that they bought the group’s music before November 27 1990, the date the lip synching scandal broke. Milli Vanilli won the 1989 best new artist Grammy after hits like 'Blame it on the Rain' and 'Girl, You Know It's True,' sold 30 million singles and 14 million albums. But in late 1990, the performers were stripped of the award after it was revealed that neither actually sang on the Milli Vanilli album (1992)... Sir Elton John's latter-day version of Aida opens on Broadway (2000)... A stretch of road on Highway 19 in Macon, GA is named Duane Allman Boulevard, as it includes the spot where the Allman Brothers guitarist died aged 24 in a motorcycle crash on October 29, 1971 (2001)... The prosecutor in the Phil Spector murder retrial tells the jury that the defendant is a "demonic maniac" when he drinks and "a very dangerous man" around women. Deputy District Attorney Truc Do urges jurors to find the music producer guilty of murdering Hollywood actress Lana Clarkson in 2003. During her closing argument, she also accuses Mr Spector of demonstrating a "conscious disregard for human life" (2009)... Pictures of The Beatles' 1965 Shea Stadium concert taken by an amateur photographer who bluffed his way backstage sell at auction in London. Marc Weinstein used a fake press pass to get next to the stage for the historic New York show. His 61 black and white images with copyright fetch £30,680; the successful bidder is a South American businessman currently living in Washington, D.C. who is an avid collector of Beatles memorabilia (2013).