December 5th

 

Musical birthdays today include Jim Messina (75), ex-Foreigner bassist Rick Wills (75), Great White lead singer Jack Russell (62), Skinny Puppy keyboardist Nivek Ogre (60), country singer Ty England (59), Goo Goo Dolls frontman Johnny Rzeznik (57), French chanteuse Patricia Kaas (56), country singer Gary Allan (55), and jazz trumpeter Ibrahim Maalouf (42).  

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical pianist Władysław Szpilman [the subject of Roman Polanski's film 'The Pianist'], born on this day in 1911... For Sonny Boy Williamson II, born in 1912... for Little Richard, who would have been 88 today... for J.J. Cale, and for Motown songwriter & producer Frank Wilson, both of whom would have been 83... for Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, who died on this date in 1791... for original Gin Blossoms lead guitarist Doug Hopkins, who took his own life at the age of 32 today in  1993... for avant-garde composer Karlheinz Stockhausen, who passed away in 2007... and for Dave Brubeck, who left us today in 2012.

Also on December 5:  In Karlsruhe, Germany, Berlioz's opera Les Troyens is performed in its entirety for the first time, 21 years after the composer's death (1890)... The Beatles play their last ever show in their hometown when they appear at the Liverpool Empire during the group's final UK tour. Only 5,100 tickets were available to the 40,000 applicants for tickets. The group also has the UK № 1 single with 'We Can Work It Out / Day Tripper' (1965)... Buffalo Springfield release their eponymous debut album (1966)... The Rolling Stones release Beggar's Banquet. An ailing Keith Richards will miss the album's Connaught Hotel launch party, during which a custard pie fight breaks out (1968)... Judy Collins' version of the hymn 'Amazing Grace' enters the UK singles chart for the first of eight times; it will spend a total of 67 weeks on the chart without ever reaching the № 1 position (1970)... Paul McCartney & Wings release Band on the Run (1973)... A New Musical Express review says of the Sex Pistols debut single 'Anarchy In The UK' that 'Johnny Rotten sings flat, the song is laughably naive, and the overall feeling is of a third-rate Who imitation' (1976)... Belinda Carlisle is at № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Heaven in a Place on Earth' (1987)... U2 top the album charts on both sides of the Atlantic with How to Dismantle an Atomic Bomb (2004)... Phish play the final show of their US fall tour at the University of Virginia's John Paul Jones Arena. As the band's first set opens, a fully nude male fan runs on stage, hugs guitarist Trey Anastasio and kisses him on the cheek. He then completes three laps around the stage before finally being tackled by security (2009)... After spending 45 weeks in the top 10 of the UK album charts, Adele’s second collection, 21, becomes the biggest selling LP in Britain this century, surpassing the late Amy Winehouse’s 2006 LP Back to Black (2009).