March 28th

Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Elizabeth Bainbridge (90), former Jethro Tull keyboardist John Evan (72), Reba McIntire (65), Cheryl 'Salt' James (54), country singer Rodney Atkins (51), Lost Boyz rapper Terrence 'Mr. Cheeks' Kelly (49), The Killers lead guitarist Dave Keuning (44), cigar-chomping music blogger, white supremacist scourge & Guinness minority shareholder William Ruben Helms (41), and Stefani Germanotta AKA Lady Gaga (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for bandleader Paul Whiteman, born on this day in 1890... for classical pianist Rudolf Serkin, born in 1903... for jazz trumpeter Thad Jones, born in 1923... for Commodores keyboardist Milan Williams, who would have been 72 today... for original Feeder drummer Jon Lee, who would have been 52... for composer Modest Mussorgsky, who died on this date in 1881... for Sergei Rachmaninoff, who passed away in 1943... for W.C. Handy, the 'Father of the Blues', who died in 1958... for bluesman Arthur 'Big Boy' Crudup, who died in 1974... for film score composer Maurice Jarre, who passed away in 2009... and for bluegrass banjo legend Earl Scruggs, who left us today in 2012.  

Also on March 28th: The Vienna Philharmonic plays its first concert, with founder Otto Nicolai conducting (1842)... Classical music-formatted WQXR in NYC, owned by The New York Times, bans all singing commercials from its airwaves as of this day (1944)... Art Pepper records Art Pepper + 11, his only album as a leader in the big band format (1959)... Madame Tussaud's unveils the waxwork images of The Beatles, making them the first pop stars ever to be so honoured... Pirate Radio Caroline begins broadcasting from the former Danish ferry 'Fredericia' in the North Sea off the English coast (1964)... Working on the Sgt. Pepper sessions at Abbey Road studios in London, John Lennon records his lead vocal for ‘Good Morning Good Morning’, and Paul McCartney added a lead guitar solo to the track. Lennon has decided he wants to end the song with animal sound effects, and asks that they be sequenced in such a way that each successive animal be capable of scaring or eating the preceding one (1967)... Simon & Garfunkel have their only UK № 1 with 'Bridge over Troubled Water' (1970)... Led Zeppelin's Houses of the Holy is released. The album title is a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed 'Houses of the Holy' (1973)... In Buffalo, NY, Genesis kick off their first North American tour since Peter Gabriel's departure as lead singer. Phil Collins now takes over the position (1976)... Blondie hit № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Rapture', the group's fourth stateside chart-topper (1981)... David Crosby is arrested after crashing his car on the San Diego Freeway. Police also find cocaine and a pistol in the CS&N star's car. When the police ask Crosby why he carries the gun, he replies, "John Lennon" (1982)... Run DMC release their self-titled debut album (1984)... Over $100,000 worth of damage is caused to the Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre in Orange Co., CA when Ozzy Osbourne invites the first two rows of the audience to come on stage. Several others take up the offer and the band are forced to flee (1992)... Wilco release their debut album A.M. (1995)... Jimmy Page accepts substantial undisclosed libel damages from a magazine which claimed he caused or contributed to the death of his Led Zeppelin bandmate John Bonham. Page's solicitor Norman Chapman told High Court Judge Mr Justice Morland that the feature in Ministry magazine printed in 1999 claimed Page was more concerned with keeping vomit off his bed than with saving his friend's life, and that he stood over Bonham wearing Satanist robes and performing a useless spell (2000).