May 20th

Musical birthdays today include former Paul & Paula vocalist Jill Jackson (81), Cher (77), former Violent Femmes drummer Guy Hoffman (69), film score composer Zbigniew Preisner (68), Go-Go's guitarist Jane Wiedlin (65), Susan Cowsill (64), ex-Haircut 100 frontman Nick Heyward (62), Busta Rhymes (51), ex-3LW vocalist Naturi Naughton (39), and Starting Line lead singer Kenny Vasoli (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz arranger & pianist Bob Florence, born on this day in 1932... for Motown producer Fred 'Shorty' Long, who would have been 83... for Joe Cocker, who would have been 79... for producer Andy Johns, who would have been 73... for composer & pianist Clara Schumann, who died on this date in 1896... for original Drifters vocalist Rudy Lewis, who died of a probable drug overdose today in 1964 at the age of 27... for flautist Jean-Pierre Rampal, who passed away in 2000... for Robin Gibb, who died in 2012... and for Ray Manzarek, who left us today in 2014. 

Also on May 20th: As an event to raise funds for a permanent home, the NY Philarmonic gives the first performance of Beethoven's 9th Symphony in the US, in Battery Park's Castle Gardens. The chorus was sung in translation, making it the first time it was performed in English anywhere (1846)... Cliff Richard makes his TV debut on the UK show 'Thank Your Lucky Stars' (1961)... Pete Townshend and Roger Daltrey grow tired of waiting for John Entwistle and Keith Moon to arrive for The Who's  gig at the Ricky Tick Club in Windsor, UK, so they take to the stage with the bass player and drummer of the local band that opened the show. When Moon and Entwistle finally arrive in the middle of the set, a fight breaks out on stage, with Townshend clubbing Moon over the head with his guitar. Moon and Entwistle announce that they are quitting the band [and rejoin a week later]... Yet another one of the shows on Bob Dylan's current UK tour turns raucous, as members of the audience at the ABC Theatre in Edinburgh unhappy with the electric portion of the concert boo and slow-clap between numbers, and blast on their own harmonicas (1966)... The Beatles new album Sgt Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band receives its first radio airplay anywhere, with a special preview on the Kenny Everett BBC Light program 'Where It's At'. The DJ plays every track from the album except 'A Day In The Life', which the BBC has banned saying it could promote drug use... The Young Rascals go to № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Groovin'' (1967)... The Beatles, armed with a batch of new songs after their visit to India, convene at George Harrison's home in Esher, Surrey. They tape 23 new songs on George's 4-track recorder, many of which will end up on the group's next two albums, the White Album and Abbey Road. The demos include ‘Cry Baby Cry’, Revolution’, ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’, ‘Blackbird’ and ‘Child of Nature’ [a Lennon song that will later become ‘Jealous Guy’] (1968)... While watching a baseball game in Dodger Stadium, Los Angeles, Peter Cetera gets into an altercation with four Marines who object to the length of his hair. The Chicago lead singer ends up with a broken jaw and will spend two days in intensive care... Led Zeppelin begin three days of recording and mixing sessions at A&R Studios in NYC,  laying down 'Heartbreaker' and various other parts for new tracks for the group's forthcoming second album. The band are under pressure to finish the sessions so the album can be released in time for the autumn market (1969)... The Beatles' final film 'Let It Be' opens simultaneously in London and Liverpool one week after its world premiere in NYC (1970)... Polydor Records release In the City, the debut album from The Jam (1977)... Paul McCartney & Wings' 'With a Little Luck' is the № 1 single in the US... 'The Buddy Holly Story', a biopic with Gary Busey in the title role, has its world premiere in the late singer's hometown of Lubbock, TX (1978)... U2 cause traffic chaos in Kansas City, MO after they pay for traffic control to close down five lanes of a downtown thoroughfare so that they can shoot the video for 'Last Night On Earth'. Apart from major traffic jams, a Cadillac crashes into a plate glass window trying to avoid a cameraman... Foo Fighters release their second album The Colour And The Shape. Even though the band are American, they chose the alternative spelling of 'colour' as a nod to the record's British producer Gil Norton (1997)... Frank Sinatra's funeral, with numerous celebrities in attendance, is held at the Church of the Good Shepherd in Beverly Hills (1998)... R.E.M. have their final US № 1 album with Reveal (2001)... James Brown is pardoned for his past crimes in South Carolina. Brown served a two-and-a-half-year prison term after an arrest on drug and assault charges in 1988, and is now granted a full pardon by the State Department of Probation, Parole and Pardon Services. The Godfather of Soul, who appears before the board, sings 'God Bless America' to them after the decision (2003).