January 19th

 

Musical birthdays today include filmmaker Richard Lester [who directed the Beatles in 'A Hard Day's Night' and Help!] (89), former Audience bassist Trevor Williams (76), Dolly Parton (75), original Deep Purple lead singer Rod Evans (74), producer and songwriter Tony Mansfield (66), conductor Simon Rattle (66), Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson (62), Ugly Kid Joe lead singer Whit Crane (53), Trey Lorenz (52), Marcy Playground frontman John Wozniak (50), and Japanese pop singer Risha Ishikawa (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Broadway musical performer John Raitt, born on this day in 1917... for Phil Everly, who would have been 82 today... for Janis Joplin, who would have been 78... for Robert Palmer, who would have been 71... for Carl Perkins, who died on this date in 1998... for Wilson Pickett, who passed away in 2006... for Denny Doherty, who died in 2007... and for jazzman Jimmy Heath, who left us one year ago today. 

Also on January 19th: Verdi's Il Trovatore premieres in Rome (1853)... The Platters' 'Smoke gets in Your Eyes' goes to № 1 on the US charts (1959)... The Beatles make their first national TV appearance in the UK, performing 'Please Please Me' on the variety show Thank Your Lucky Stars (1963)... The Monkees are at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'I'm  Believer', the group's only British № 1... The Beatles begin recording 'A Day In The Life' at Abbey Road Studios, recording four takes of the new song. According to John Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune who ran a red light and crashed his Lotus Elan on the 18th of December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, London (1967)... 

Tracks from the White Album (including 'Helter Skelter') are played in the courtroom at the Sharon Tate murder trial to determine if any of the songs could have influenced Charles Manson and his followers to commit murder (1971)... Johnny Rotten is fired from the Sex Pistols for 'not being weird enough anymore' (1978)... Pink Floyd's The Wall becomes the № 1 album in the US ~ it will occupy the top spot for the next 4 months... The Pretenders self-titled debut album is released (1980)... Fleetwood Mac reunite to rehearse for their performance at Bill Clinton's first inaugural tomorrow. 'Don't Stop Dreaming about Tomorrow' was the Clinton campaign's principal theme song (1993)... The New Musical Express  reports that Paul McCartney is set to become the world's first English pop star billionaire in pounds. The NME estimates that McCartney is worth £725 million and is expected to become a Sterling billionaire thanks to sales from the forthcoming Beatles compilation hits album (2001).