February 26th

Musical birthdays today include Mitch Ryder (78), Sandie Shaw (76), soprano soloist Emma Kirkby (74), Journey keyboardist Jonathan Cain (74), Michael Bolton (70), Killing Joke lead singer Jaz Coleman (63), Rage against the Machine bassist Tim Commerford (55), Erykah Badu AKA 'Th First Lady of Neo-soul' (52), Snow Patrol drummer Johnny Quinn (51), Dispatch guitarist & singer Brad Corrigan (49), Corinne Bailey Rae (44), Sharon van Etten (42), Fun lead singer Nate Ruess, Natalia Lafourcade (39) and Automatic Loveletter vocalist Juliet Simms (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Fats Domino, born on this day in 1928... for classical pianist Lazar Berman, born in 1929... for Johnny Cash, who would have been 90... for Canned Heat lead singer Bob Hite, who would have been 79... for trumpeter Roy 'Little Jazz' Eldridge, who died on this day in 1989... for former Platters and Coasters vocalist Cornell Gunter, who died in 1990... and for former Band of Gypsies and Electric Flag drummer Buddy Miles, who left us today in 2008. 

Also on February 26th: Franz Schubert's Symphony no. 4 in c minor, commonly known as the 'Tragic', receives its premiere in Leipzig more than 50 years after its composition, and nearly 40 years after the composer's death (1869)...  The Original Dixieland Jass Band [the spelling 'jazz' would not become definitive until the early '20s] records the first jazz record, for the Victor Talking Machine Co. in NYC (1917)... Billboard Magazine reports that for the first time since their introduction in 1949, 45 RPM records are outselling 78s (1955)... Jimmy Page releases a solo single in the UK called 'She Just Satisfies', which he produced and played all the instruments on with the exception of the drums (1965)... Nancy Sinatra is at № 1 on both sides of the Atlantic with 'These Boots Were Made for Walking'. Meanwhile, Rubber Soul reigns atop the album charts (1966)... The Beatles collection of non-album singles and B-sides Hey Jude is released in the US (1970)... During a court case between The Sex Pistols and their former manager Malcom McLaren, it is revealed that only £30,000 of the £800,000 that the band earned can be accounted for (1979)... After seeing U2 play at Dublin's National Boxing Stadium in front of 2,400 people, Rob Partridge and Bill Stewart of Island Records offer the band a recording contract (1980)... At Bob Dylan's Rundown Studios in Santa Monica, CA, Allen Ginsberg records two songs ('Do the Meditation' and 'Airplane Blues'), with Dylan on bass, Jim Keltner on drums, and Steve Taylor on guitar... Thriller arrives at № 1 on the Billboard album chart, a position that it will occupy for the next 37 weeks (1983)... A 10-minute version of The Beatles' 'Revolution 1' is leaked onto the Internet, giving fans a never-before-heard idea of what the White Album sessions were like. Only two copies of the take were made when the song was completed on June 4, 1968. One copy left the studio that day with John Lennon, and the other remained behind. Which copy was leaked and by whom remains a mystery (2009).