Musical birthdays today include Edgar Winter (73), Shangri-Las vocalist Mary Weiss (71), Bon Jovi bassist Hugh McDonald (69), pianist Richard Clayderman (66), Christian singer-songwriter Twila Paris (61), jazz pianist Rachel Z (51), John Legend (41), Möngöl Hörde lead singer Frank Turner (38), and singer-songwriter/drummer Florence 'Florrie' Arnold (31).
Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz pianist Earl 'Fatha' Hines, born on this day in 1903... for Billy Williams, former lead singer of The Charioteers, born in 1910... for Staples Singers patriarch Roebuck 'Pops' Staples, born today in 1914... for Johnny Otis, AKA 'The Godfather of Rhythm and Blues', born in 1922... for Donna Hightower, born in 1927... for pioneering rockabilly singer Dorsey Burnette, who would have been 86... for jazz trumpeter Dick Sudhalter, who would have been 80... for Alex Chilton, who would have been 67... for composer Maurice Ravel, who died on this date in 1937... for composer Paul Hindemith, who passed away 50 years ago today... for former Beach Boy Dennis Wilson, who was drowned in a diving accident today in 1983 at the age of 39... for James 'The Rev' Sullivan, who died of a drug overdose today in 2009 at the age of 28... and for jazz pianist Billy Taylor, who left us in 2011.
Also on December 28: Ma Rainey makes her final recordings at the Paramount Studio in Grafton, WI (1928)... Leonard Bernstein's musical 'On the Town' premieres on Broadway (1944)... The Tokens are at № 1 on the US singles chart with 'The Lion Sleeps Tonight' (1961)... Merle Haggard enters the Billboard country chart for the first time with 'Sing a Sad Song' (1963)... The Beatles top the US album chart for the 12th time with their eponymous double LP AKA The White Album... The three day Miami Pop festival opens ~ it is the first major rock festival held on the East Coast of the US, with Chuck Berry, The McCoys, Joni Mitchell, Fleetwood Mac, Marvin Gaye, The Turtles, The Box Tops, Steppenwolf, Three Dog Night, Pacific Gas and Electric, Procol Harum, Canned Heat, Iron Butterfly and The Grateful Dead all on the bill (1968)... Rolling Stone magazine votes 'Some Girls' by The Rolling Stones 'Album of the Year.' The cover, designed by Peter Corriston, features the Stones in garish drag alongside select female celebrities and lingerie ads. The cover immediately ran into trouble when Lucille Ball, Farrah Fawcett, Liza Minnelli (representing her mother Judy Garland), Raquel Welch, and the estate of Marilyn Monroe all threatened legal action (1978)... BBC Radio 1 airs their '100 National Anthems', songs voted by listeners as those they would like to see replace 'God Save the Queen' one day. The top 5 are 'Creep' by Radiohead, 'Born Slippy' by Underworld, 'Bitter Sweet Symphony' by the Verve, 'Smells Like Teen Spirit' by Nirvana, and 'Unfinished Sympathy' by Massive Attack (1998)... 50 Cent's debut album Get Rich Or Die Tryin' is named the biggest selling album in the US in 2003, the CD having gone platinum six times over. Outkast comes in second with Speakerboxxx / The Love Below and Linkin Park's Meteora was the third biggest seller. The Top 10 albums of 2003 in the USA account for around 30 million in sales (2003).
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