February 14th

Musical birthdays today include conductor Michel Corboz (90), folk singer Erik Andersen (81), former James Brown sideman & Parliament-Funkadelic saxophonist Maceo Parker (81), ex-Heart guitarist Roger Fisher (74), operatic soprano Soile Isokoski (67), Matchbox 20 lead singer Rob Thomas (52), and soul singer Andwele 'Dwele' Gardner (46) *** *** Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Phyllis McGuire [of the McGuire Sisters], born on this day in 1931... for Chicago bluesman Samuel 'Magic Sam' Maghett, who would have been 85 today... for Clarence 'Blowfly' Reid, who would have been 84... for English session guitarist Big Jim Sullivan, who would have been 83... for song and dance man Gregory Hines, who would have been 78... for Tim Buckley, who would have been 77... for jazz drummer Warren 'Baby' Dodds, who died on this date in 1959... for composer Dmitri Kabalevsky, who died in 1987... for jazz drummer Louie Bellson, who passed away in 2009... for ex-The Knack lead singer Doug Fieger, who died in 2010... and for jazz pianist George Shearing, who left us today in 2011 *** *** Also on February 14th: The Beatles perform at the Casanova Club and at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool, where they play a special Valentine's Day show. Paul sings Elvis Presley's 'Wooden Heart' wearing a wooden heart pinned to his coat, covered with satin and embroidered with the names John, Paul, George, and Pete. The heart is raffled off, and the winner also wins a kiss from Paul (1961)... Manfred Mann go to the top of the UK singles chart and crack the US top 10 with Bob Dylan's 'Quinn the Eskimo' (1968)... The Who appear at Leeds University. The show is recorded for the bands forthcoming 'Live At Leeds' album. Since its initial reception, Live at Leeds has been cited by many music critics as the best live rock recording of all time. The venue, the university refectory, has been named a national landmark in the UK, commemorated with a blue plaque (1970)... John Lennon and Yoko Ono begin a week-long run as the guest co-hosts of The Michael Douglas Show in NYC (1972)... Daryl Dragon and Toni Tenille take time out from a Captain & Tenille tour to get married in Virginia City, NV (1974)... Janis Ian receives over 500 valentines in care of her record label, Columbia, after reporting in the lyrics of her song 'At Seventeen' that she never received any... The B-52s give their first public performance at a party at the University of Georgia in Athens (1977)... The Smiths release Meat is Murder (1985)... Frank Zappa guest stars on an episode of NBC's 'Miami Vice', playing a crime boss named Mr. Frankie (1986)... Bon Jovi have the № 1 song in America with 'Livin' on a Prayer' (1987)... The film 'Wayne's World', featuring appearances by Meat Loaf and Alice Cooper, has its world premiere in Los Angeles. The use of Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody' in the film propels the song to № 2 on the US singles chart nearly 20 years after its first release (1992)... Jerry Garcia marries documentary filmmaker Deborah Koons (1994)... Celine Dion's 'My Heart Will Go On' sets a new record for radio exposure in the US with 116 million plays over the last week (1998)... Elton John voices himself in an appearance on The Simpsons (1999)...Stolen reel-to-reel studio recordings by The Beatles are found in Australia. Police recovered the tapes of the band's White album and Abbey Road sessions after they were advertised for sale in a Sydney newspaper. Australian police had been tipped off by British detectives from Operation Acetone, an investigation into thefts of original Beatles music from Abbey Road studios in London in the late '60s (2003)... Bruce Springsteen tops the US album charts with Working on a Dream, his 16th studio release (2009).