November 5th

 

Musical birthdays today include Art Garfunkel (82), former Herman's Hermits lead singer Peter Noone (76), former Van der Graaf Generator frontman Peter Hammill (75), ex-Flock of Seagulls lead singer Mike Score (66), composer/producer Don Falcone (65), Bryan Adams (64), Tesla bassist Brian Wheat (60), music history blogger and all-around public nuisance Chris Morris (59), Radiohead lead guitarist Jonny Greenwood (52), Ryan Adams (49), Steps vocalist Lisa Scott-Lee (46), Pendulum lead singer Rob Swire (41) and Kevin Jonas (36). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical pianist Paul Wittgenstein, born on this date in 1887... for singing cowboy Roy Rogers, born in 1911... for Ike Turner, born in 1931... for Gram Parsons, who would have been 77... for singer-songwriter Jimmie Spheeris, who would have been 74... for songwriter George M. Cohan, who died on this date in 1942... for Art Tatum, who passed away in 1956... for bandleader Guy Lombardo, who died in 1977... for Vladimir Horowitz, who died in 1989.... for former Righteous Brother Bobby Hatfield, found dead in his hotel room on this day in 2003 half an hour before he was to perform at a show in Detroit. The cause of death was later determined to be a cocaine overdose... and for guitarist Link Wray, who left us today in 2005. In 1956, his song 'Rumble' had the unusual distinction of being banned for encouraging juvenile delinquency even though it was an instrumental.

Also on November 5: In Leipzig, J.S. Bach's sacred cantata № 115 Mache dich, mein Geist, bereit is performed for the first time (1724)...Richard Strauss' tone poem Till Eulenspiegels lustige Streiche [Till Eulenspiegel's Merry Pranks] has its premiere in Cologne (1905)... After being destroyed in WWII, the rebuilt Vienna State Opera opens with a performance of Beethoven's Fidelio (1955)... The Nat 'King' Cole Show debuts on NBC-TV. It is the first television variety program in America with a black host (1956)... The Monkees are at the top of the Billboard singles chart with ‘Last Train To Clarksville’, the group’s first № 1. It was later revealed that due to filming commitments on their TV series, none of the group had played on this or most of the group’s early recordings (1966)... Bee Gee Robin Gibb is a passenger on a train which crashes in Hithering Green, S.E. London, killing 49 people and injuring 78. Robin is treated for shock after the accident (1967)... Elvis Presley kicks off a 15-date North American tour at the Metropolitan Sports Center in Minneapolis. Announcer Al Dvorin utters the now famous phrase "Elvis has left the building" at the end of the show. He was asked to make the announcement in an effort to quiet the fans who continued to call for an encore (1971)... The manager of the Virgin record store in Nottingham, England is arrested for displaying a large poster advertising the new Sex Pistols album Never Mind The Bollocks, Here's The Sex Pistols. Many high street stores ban the album after police warn they could be fined under the 1898 indecent advertising act (1977)... Billy Joel is at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Uptown Girl' (1983)... 'The Locomotion' becomes the first song to reach the US Top 5 in three different versions, when Kylie Minogue's arrives at № 3 on the Billboard chart. Written by Gerry Goffin and Carole King, the song is also notable for appearing in the US Top 5 in 3 different decades, previously for Little Eva in 1962 and for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 (1988)... Queen release Made in Heaven, their first studio album since the death of Freddie Mercury. The collection includes the late lead singer's final vocal track, 'Mother Love'. Keith Richards' autobiography 'Life' is at No. 1 on the New York Times Hardcover Nonfiction Bestseller list. The book will go on to be a million seller... At the White House, Aretha Franklin is awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom along with historian Robert Conquest and economist Alan Greenspan (2005).