January 25th

 

Musical birthdays today include jazzman Benny Golson (92), former Fleetwood Mac guitarist Dave Walker (76), ex-Fine Young Cannibals guitarist Andy Cox (65), Bollywood singer Kavita Krishnamurthy (63), former Brownstone vocalist Kina Cosper (52), Broken Social Scene keyboardist Emily Haines (47), Alicia Keys (40), and French pop singer Sheryfa Luna (32). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for conductor Wilhelm Furtwängler, born on this day in 1886... For bluesman Sleepy John Estes, born in 1899... for folksinger Ewan MacColl, born  in 1915... for bossa nova singer & songwriter Antônio Carlos Jobim, born in 1927... ... for Etta James, and Russian singer-songwriter Vladimir Vysotsky, both of whom would have been 83... and for  Albert Grossman, the first manager of Bob Dylan and later of Janis Joplin and The Band, among others, who left us today in 1986.

Also on January 25th: The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn from the Midsummer Night's Dream overture is played at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter Victoria and Friedrich of Prussia, launching the tradition of the tune as a wedding recessional (1858)... Richard Strauss' opera Elektra receives its premiere at the Dresden State Opera (1909)... Bob Dylan travels out to Greystone Hospital in Morristown, NJ and visits Woody Guthrie for the first time (1961)... The Beatles do a last-minute remix of 'Penny Lane' before the pressing of their next double A sided single 'Strawberry Fields Forever / Penny Lane'. Both songs were originally intended for the forthcoming album Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band (1967)... Pink Floyd appear at the Sixty Nine Club in the Royal York Hotel on the Isle of Wight, England. Their opening act is The Cherokees, who had had a minor hit single in 1964 with 'Seven Golden Daffodils'. They later change their name to New York Public Library (1969)... David Bowie finishes a week of rehearsals at the Royal Ballroom, Tottenham, London, for the forthcoming UK leg of his Ziggy Stardust tour (1973)... The Carpenters go to № 1 on the US singles chart with their version of The Marvelettes' 1961 hit 'Please Mr. Postman... The last Sunbury Rock Festival in Victoria, Australia is held. The promoters, who have made heavy losses, can only pay penultimate act Deep Purple, and come up with no cash for closers AC/DC. A brawl ensues on stage between road crews after Purple's set when they begin packing up the lights and PA and deny use of them to AC/DC, who then leave the festival site without playing at all (1975)... Joy Division make their live debut in Manchester (1978)... Yoko Ono donates £250,000 to the Strawberry Fields Home in Liverpool (1984)... Madonna begins divorce proceedings against Sean Penn for the second time (1989)... A former Miss Canada finalist becomes the first person in the world to graduate with an M.A. in The Beatles. Canadian singer Mary-Lu Zahalan-Kennedy, 53, was one of the first students to sign up for the course on the Fab Four when it launched at Liverpool Hope University in March 2009. The ground-breaking course looked at the studio sound and composition of The Beatles and how Liverpool helped to shape their music as well as examining the significance of the music of The Beatles and their impact on Western culture (2011).