January 21st

 

Musical birthdays today include Plácido Domingo (85), Troggs lead guitarist Chris Britton (82), Caravan frontman Pye Hastings (79), Billy Ocean (76), Massive Attack  founding member Robert Del Naja (61), Charlene 'Tweet' Keys (55), Cat Power (54), Emma 'Baby Spice' Bunton (50), and Dru Hill producer Tamir 'Nokio the N-Tity' Ruffin (47). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for singer & Flamenco dancer Lola Flores, born on this day in 1923... for DJ Robert 'Wolfman Jack' Smith, who would have been 88 today... for Ritchie Havens, who would have been 85... for Edwin Starr and Mac Davis, both of whom would have been 84.. for Jason 'Jam Master Jay' Mizell, who would have been 61... for Québecois composer Calixa Lavallée [best remembered for 'O Canada'], who died on this date in 1891... for soul singer Jackie 'Mr. Excitement' Wilson, who passed away in 1984... for Colonel Tom Parker, who died in 1997... for Peggy Lee, passed away in 2002... and for Garth Hudson, who left us today. 

Also on January 21st: A performance of  Gounod's opera Faust at the Auditorium Building in Chicago is transmitted over the Westinghouse Network for the first nationwide broadcast of a musical event in American history (1927)... Over 3,000 screaming fans meet The Rolling Stones and Roy Orbison at Sydney Airport when they arrive for a 16-date tour of Australia and New Zealand (1965)... George Harrison marries Patti Boyd at Leatherhead Register Office in Surrey with Paul McCartney as best man. George first met Patti on the set of  'A Hard Day's Night' when she had a small part as  schoolgirl on a train... Bob Dylan goes back into Columbia Studios in NYC to begin work on his next album. The Hawks, who are currently backing him on his world tour, are with him (1966)... Jimi Hendrix records his version of the Dylan's 'All Along the Watchtower' at Olympic Studios in London. Brian Jones and Dave Mason from Traffic both play on the session... Simon & Garfunkel's soundtrack to The Graduate is released (1968)... Pink Floyd appear at the Guildhall in Portsmouth on the Dark Side of the Moon tour. This time they are able to perform the entire album without a hitch (1972)... The soundtrack to Saturday Night Fever goes to № 1 on the US album chart ~ it will occupy the top spot for the next 24 weeks (1978)... B.B. King donates his entire record collection of over 20,000 discs to the Center for the Study of Southern Culture at the University of Mississippi (1982)... Yes have the № 1 single in the USA with 'Owner of a Lonely Heart'... The Pretenders release the Learning to Crawl album (1984)... Keith Richards inducts Aretha Franklin at the 2nd annual Rock & Roll Hall of Fame Awards, held at the Waldorf Astoria in NYC. Keith later takes part in a jam with Bruce Springsteen, Chuck Berry, Bo Diddley, Roy Orbison, Sting and Daryl Hall (1987)... David Palmer, former keyboard  player for Jethro Tull changes his name to Dee Palmer after a successful sex change operation. Palmer was the keyboardist for Tull between 1969 and 1980, played on all the group's classics including 'Thick As A Brick' and 'Aqualung' (2003).

 

January 20th

Musical birthdays today include jazz trumpeter and bandleader Ray Anthony (104), Zager and Evans co-member Rick Evans (83), former 10cc guitarist Eric Stewart (81), ex-Poco drummer George Grantham (79), Judas Priest bassist Ian Hill (75), Paul Stanley (74), ex-Fear bassist Scott Thunes (66), country singer John Michael Montgomery (61), M People lead singer Heather Small (60), L.A. Guns founder Tracy 'Tracii Guns' Ulrich (59), Manic Street Preachers bassist Nicky Wire (57), Edwin McCain (56), Gary Barlow (55), Slipknot turntablist Sid Wilson (49), Bullet for My Valentine lead singer Matthew Tuck (49), Cobra Starship keytarist Victoria Asher (42), Tame Impala frontman Kevin Parker (40), and rapper Jo-Vaughn 'Joey Badass' Scott (31). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Huddie Ledbetter AKA Lead Belly, born on this day in 1888... for Slim Whitman, born in 1923... for jazz drummer Jimmy Cobb, born in 1928... for 5th Dimension founding member Ron Townson, born in 1933... for Barclay James Harvest drummer Mel Pritchard, who would have been 78... for pioneering rock 'n' roll DJ Alan Freed, who died on this date in 1965... for former Lemon Pipers drummer Bill Albaugh, who passed away in 1999... for Etta James, who died in 2012... and for Tangerine Dream founder Edgar Froese, who left us today in 2017.

Also on January 20th: The Kolisch Quartet premiere Bartók's 6th string quartet ~ his last ~ in NYC (1941)... Meet the Beatles! is released in the USA (1964)... The Byrds go into the  studio in Los Angeles to record 'Mr. Tambourine Man', their first single for Columbia Records (1965)... The Monkees TV show airs in Britain for the first time... The Rolling Stones release the Between the Buttons album in the UK (1967)... Bob Dylan makes his first public appearance in more than a year and a half, playing a 3-song set with the Band [billing themselves as 'The Crackers'] at the Woody Guthrie Memorial Concert at Carnegie Hall (1968)... One hit wonders John Fred and the Playboys are at № 1 in the US with 'Judy in Disguise' (1968)... Led Zeppelin play the Wheaton Youth Center in Wheaton, MD on their first US tour before a reported audience of 55 people. The turnout, the smallest of the band's career, is blamed on the weather, Richard Nixon's inaugural, and the fact that it is Monday night. Zeppelin take home $250 for the gig... Bruce Springsteen has two of his poems published in the Ocean County College Literary Yearbook 'Seascapes'. Springsteen is in his second semester at the Toms River, NJ community college (1969)... Pink Floyd kick off their UK 'Dark Side of the Moon' tour at the Dome in Brighton, but are forced to abandon the show after 'Money' because of technical problems (1972)... Bob Dylan releases Blood on the Tracks (1975)... During an Ozzy Osbourne concert in Des Moines, IA, a member of the audience throws a bat onto the stage. Stunned by the lights, the bat lies motionless; the singer, thinking it is a rubber fake, picks it up and attempts to bite its head off. As he does so, the bat starts to flap its wings and Ozzy soon realizes it is not fake but in fact a living thing. After the show, the former Black Sabbath frontman is immediately rushed to the nearest hospital for rabies shots (1982)... Def Leppard release Pyromania (1983)... Bob Dylan and Stevie Wonder headline a concert in Washington, DC to celebrate America's first nationwide Martin Luther King Day (1986)... The Beatles are inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. George Harrison, Ringo Starr, and Yoko, Sean, and Julian Lennon all attend. Paul McCartney absents himself, sending instead a letter stating that continuing business differences with the other ex-Beatles are the reason for his failure to show (1988)... The first № 1 single of the '90s in the US is Michael Bolton's 'How Am I Supposed to Live without You' (1990)... Ben and Jerry's introduce 'Phish food', a new flavour of ice cream named after the rock group Phish. The ingredients are chocolate ice cream, marshmallows, caramel and fish-shaped fudge (1997)... Tourism operators in Liverpool are banned from putting up motorway signs saying 'Liverpool, the Birthplace Of The Beatles', because the Highways Division of the Ministry of Transport is concerned that the signs will distract motorists (2000)... George Harrison has a posthumous UK  № 1 single with the re-release of his 1971 chart-topper 'My Sweet Lord'. Harrison's single replaces Aaliyah's 'More Than A Woman', the only time  in chart history that one deceased artist has taken over from another at No. 1 (2002).

January 19th

 

Musical birthdays today include filmmaker Richard Lester [who directed the Beatles in 'A Hard Day's Night' and Help!] (94), former Audience bassist Trevor Williams (81), Dolly Parton (80), original Deep Purple lead singer Rod Evans (79), producer and songwriter Tony Mansfield (71), conductor Simon Rattle (71), Foreigner bassist Jeff Pilson (67), Ugly Kid Joe lead singer Whit Crane (58), Trey Lorenz (57), Marcy Playground frontman John Wozniak (55), and Japanese pop singer Risha Ishikawa (41). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Broadway musical performer John Raitt, born on this day in 1917... for Phil Everly, who would have been 87 today... for Janis Joplin, who would have been 83... for Robert Palmer, who would have been 76... for Carl Perkins, who died on this date in 1999... for Wilson Pickett, who passed away in 2006... for Denny Doherty, who died in 2007... and for jazzman Jimmy Heath, who left us today in 2020. 

Also on January 19th: Verdi's Il Trovatore premieres in Rome (1853)... The Platters' 'Smoke gets in Your Eyes' goes to № 1 on the US charts (1959)... The Beatles make their first national TV appearance in the UK, performing 'Please Please Me' on the variety show Thank Your Lucky Stars (1963)... The Monkees are at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'I'm  Believer', the group's only British № 1... The Beatles begin recording 'A Day In The Life' at Abbey Road Studios, recording four takes of the new song. According to John Lennon, the inspiration for the first two verses was the death of Tara Browne, the 21-year-old heir to the Guinness fortune who ran a red light and crashed his Lotus Elan on the 18th of December 1966 in Redcliffe Gardens, London (1967)... 

Tracks from the White Album (including 'Helter Skelter') are played in the courtroom at the Sharon Tate murder trial to determine if any of the songs could have influenced Charles Manson and his followers to commit murder (1971)... Johnny Rotten is fired from the Sex Pistols for 'not being weird enough anymore' (1978)... Pink Floyd's The Wall becomes the № 1 album in the US ~ it will occupy the top spot for the next 4 months... The Pretenders self-titled debut album is released (1980)... Fleetwood Mac reunite to rehearse for their performance at Bill Clinton's first inaugural tomorrow. 'Don't Stop Dreaming about Tomorrow' was the Clinton campaign's principal theme song (1993)... The New Musical Express  reports that Paul McCartney is set to become the world's first English pop star billionaire in pounds. The NME estimates that McCartney is worth £725 million and is expected to become a Sterling billionaire thanks to sales from the forthcoming Beatles compilation hits album (2001).

 

January 18th

Musical birthdays today include Bobby Goldsboro (85), English session keyboardist Dave Greenslade (83), singer-songwriter & Nashville session man R. Stevie Moore (74), Hudson Brothers vocalist Brett Hudson (73), former Thompson Twins frontman Tom Bailey (72), producer and guitarist Jim O'Rourke (57), ex-Black Crowes lead guitarist Luther Dickinson (53), former BBMak vocalist Christian Burns (52), Hard-Fi frontman Richard Archer (49), R&B singer Estelle (46), and Joanna Newsom (44). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for sound engineer Ray Dolby, born on this day in 1934... for former Temptations lead singer David Ruffin, who would have been 85... for Greek bouzouki virtuoso & Rebetika pioneer Vassilis Tsitsanis, who died on this date in 1984... for former Agent Orange bassist Brent Liles, who passed away in 2007... and for Kate McGarrigle, who left us today in 2010. 

Also on January 18th: The Metropolitan Opera House in NYC hosts its first jazz concert. On the bill are Louis Armstrong, Benny Goodman, Lionel Hampton, Artie Shaw, Roy Eldridge and Jack Teagarden (1944)... The Beatles break into the American Top 40 for the first time, as 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' enters the upper reaches of the Billboard chart at № 35. The song will go on to spend 7 weeks at № 1  (1964)... The Rolling Stones record 'The Last Time' and 'Play with Fire' at RCA Studios in Los Angeles, with Phil Spector contributing the memorable acoustic guitar figure on the latter track (1965)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience tape a performance of 'Purple Haze' for broadcast on Top of the Pops (1967)... Former members of Free (Paul Rodgers & Simon Kirke), Mott The Hoople (Mick Ralphs), and King Crimson (Boz Burrell) form Bad Company. The band goes on to score a US № 1 album with their debut release (1974)... Barry Manilow is at № 1 on the US charts with 'Mandy'. In Britain, the top spot is occupied by Status Quo with 'Down Down', the group's only № 1 of their 52 UK chart hits between 1968 and 1996 (1975)... Warren Zevon's album Excitable Boy is released (1978)... Wendy O. Williams of The Plasmatics is arrested on stage in Milwaukee and charged with the offence of public lewdness for simulating sex with a sledgehammer. Williams later files a multimillion dollar civil suit against the Milwaukee Police, claiming they sexually assaulted and beat her during the arrest, but a jury rejects her claims (1981)... Van Halen launch their aptly named 103-date '1984' tour with a show in Jacksonville, FL (1984)... Dionne Warwick's 'That's What Friends Are for' goes to № 1 in the US. All profits from the single will go to AIDS charities (1986)... At the age of 38, Stevie Wonder becomes the youngest living person to be inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. At a ceremony held at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in NYC, other inductees include The Rolling Stones, The Temptations, Otis Redding and Dion DiMucci (1989)... Lisa Marie Presley and Michael Jackson are divorced after less than two years of marriage (1996)... Tori Amos has the № 1 single in the UK with 'Professional Widow',  a song which has widely been interpreted as an attack on Kurt Cobain's widow Courtney Love (1997)... Animals in Michael Jackson's private zoo are declared to be in good health after officials pay a surprise visit to the singer's Neverland ranch. A medical officer from the US Department of Agriculture inspects the property following concerns voiced by the animal rights group, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Jackson earlier moved out of Neverland and took up residence in Bahrain (2006)... An extensive collection of Beatles memorabilia goes on display in a new museum in Buenos Aires. Rodolfo Vazquez, a 53-year-old accountant, turned his mammoth Beatles collection into a museum with more than 8,500 objects, setting the new world record for the largest collection of Beatles memorabilia. Some of the items include a box of condoms bearing the names of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, a brick from the Cavern Club, a chunk of the stage from the Star Club in Hamburg, and certified copies of the band members' birth certificates. Among his favorite items were 64 boxes of chewing gum in the form of Beatles records (2011).

January 17th

 

Musical birthdays today include classical violinist Ulf Hoelscher (84), Chris Montez (83), former Rolling Stones lead guitarist Mick Taylor (77), Yellow Magic Orchestra co-founder Ryuichi Sakamoto (74), jazz fusion bassist Jeff Berlin (73), Steve Earle (71), Paul Young (70), Susanna Hoffs (67), former Berlin guitarist John Crawford (66), Magnetic Fields lead singer Stephin Merritt (61), Richard Hawley (59), Kid Rock (55), and Kaiser Chiefs lead singer Ricky Wilson (48). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Betty White [she sang, too!], born on this day in 1923... for Eartha Kitt, born in 1928... for Dalida, born in 1933... for Françoise Hardy, who would have been 82 today... for for Slits lead singer Ariane 'Ari Up' Forster, who would have been 64... for composer Tomaso Albinoni, who died on this date in 1751... for early country fiddler Blind Alfred Reed, who died in 1956... for scat singer Billy Stewart, who was killed in a road accident on this day in 1970 at the age of 32... for rock impresario & TV presenter Don Kirshner, who passed away in 2011... and for Johnny Otis, 'The Godfather of Rhythm and Blues', who left us today in 2012. 

Also on January 17th: Massenet's opera Manon premieres at the Opéra Comique in Paris (1884)...  The Beatles play at the Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead. The latter show sells out completely, leaving 500 disappointed fans waiting outside... The Rolling Stones are the first of two opening acts for The Velvets at London's Marquee Club ~ tickets at the door are 4 shillings [$0.56] (1963)... The Rolling Stones release their first EP, which includes ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’ (1964)... Simon & Garfunkel release the Sounds of Silence album... NBC buys The Monkees series, placing it on the autumn schedule (1966)... The Daily Mail runs a story about a local council survey in Blackburn, Lancashire that has found 4,000 potholes in the local roads ~ the article catches John Lennon's eye...  40-year-old London Symphony Orchestra member David Mason records the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatles' 'Penny Lane' at Abbey Road Studios. He is paid £27, 10 shillings ($42) for his performance. In August, 1987, the trumpet he used sold at a Sotheby's auction for $10,846...  The Jimi Hendrix Experience record a session for Radio Luxembourg's program  'Ready Steady Radio'. The band run up a bar bill of £2.5 shillings, ($6.21), which they were unable to pay (1967)... The Beatles release the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album in Britain, and Led Zeppelin I comes out in America (1969)... A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis is renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road keeps its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church (1972)... Bob Dylan & the Band release Planet Waves... Joni Mitchell releases Court and Spark... Dean Martin's son Dino is arrested after attempting to sell two AK-47 assault rifles to an undercover FBI agent (1974)... Barry Manilow has the № 1 single in the US with 'I Write the Songs' (1976)... Donny Osmond takes part in a charity boxing match held in Chicago against former Partridge Family member Danny Bonaduce ~ Donny is knocked out in the third round (1994)... A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger is set to spark a bidding war at a forthcoming London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song 'Too Many Cooks' and Lennon playing guitar. The track had never been released because the two artists were signed to different record companies (2003).

January 16th

 Musical birthdays today include operatic soprano Marilyn Horne (92), Ronnie Milsap (80), Sade Adu (67), former Talk Talk bassist Paul Webb (64), ex-En Vogue vocalist Maxine Jones (61), Fozzy lead guitarist Rich Ward (57), former Teenage Fanclub drummer Brendan O'Hare (55), Mastodon guitarist Brent Hinds (52), Strokes lead guitarist Nick Valensi (45), Ordinary Boys lead singer Samuel Preston (44), Front Line Assembly guitarist Jared Slingerland (42), A Lot Like Birds led singer Kurt Travis (42), and Slovenian pop singer Maja Keuc (34). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Ethel Merman, born on this day in 1908... for rockabilly singer Mac Curtis, who would have been 87 today... for Aaliyah, who would have been 44... for conductor Arturo Toscanini, who died on this date in 1957... for Alvin and the Chipmunks creator and producer Ross Bagdasarian, who passed away in 1972... for former Coasters bass singer Will 'Dub' Jones, who died in 2000... and for Van der Graaf Generator bassist Nic Potter, who passed away in 2013... and for Phil Spector, who left us three years ago today.

Also on January 16th: With John Hammond as organizer and producer, the inaugural 'From Spirituals to Swing' evening takes place at Carnegie Hall, the first time that the venue hosts a jazz concert (1938)... Tennessee Ernie Ford has the № 1 single in the UK with 'Sixteen Tons' (1956)... The Cavern Club opens in Liverpool (1957)... The Beatles play two shows at the Olympia Theatre in Paris, the first of an 18-show engagement. Opening night is attended mostly by members of Parisian 'high society' dressed in formal evening attire. The French press has little good to say about The Beatles in the next day's papers, but the Fab Four don't care, since they have just received the news that their single 'I Want to Hold Your Hand' has hit № 1 in the US, selling 10,000 copies an hour in New York City alone (1964)... Fleetwood Mac, Creedence Clearwater Revival and Albert Collins all appear on the bill at the Fillmore West (1969)... Two days after it opened, the Bag One Gallery in London, England is raided by Scotland Yard. The police remove eight John Lennon lithographs under the Obscene Publications Act (1970)... ZZ Top's debut album, the ingeniously named ZZ Top's First Album, is released (1971)... Blue Öyster Cult's eponymous debut album is released... (1972)... Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band appear at Villanova University, Philadelphia before an audience of 25 people. Due to a strike at the time by the campus newspaper The Villanovan, the concert had gone unadvertised ~ as far as is known, it is the smallest paying crowd Springsteen has played in front of since signing a Columbia Records contract in 1972 (1973)... Bob Dylan releases the album Desire (1976)... Sid Vicious ODs on heroin, falls through a ground floor window at the Sex Pistols' San Francisco hotel, and is rushed to hospital (1978)... Paul McCartney is jailed for nine days in Tokyo for marijuana possession after being found with 219g on his arrival at Narita Airport (1980)... David Bowie's schizophrenic half-brother Terry Burnes commits suicide by lying down on the railway lines at the Coulsdon South station in the London network. He is killed instantly by a passing train ~ he was 47 (1985)...  Presenter Jools Holland is suspended from UK Channel 4's music show The Tube for 6 weeks after using the phrase 'groovy fuckers' during a live trailer broadcast in a children's hour (1987)... 24 years after The Beatles first topped the chart, George Harrison goes to № 1 on the US singles chart with 'Got My Mind Set On You' an old favourite of George's that was originally recorded by James Ray in 1962. In the UK, Belinda Carlisle is at № 1 
with 'Heaven Is a Place on Earth'... Tina Turner earns herself a place in the record books when she performs in Rio de Janeiro before an audience of 182,000, the largest crowd ever to gather in South America to hear a single artist (1988)... Eric Clapton records his Unplugged session for MTV (1992)... Reports appear in the British press that Mick Jagger has lost the chance of a knighthood because of his philandering ways, British Prime Minister Tony Blair having doubts about the message it would send with regard to family values (2000)... Michael Jackson appears in court and pleads not guilty to seven charges of child molestation. The singer, who arrived 20 minutes late, is told off by the Santa Barbara judge, who says 'Mr Jackson, you have started out on the wrong foot here ~it is an insult to the court' (2004)... Bob Dylan and his brother David Zimmerman buy Aultmore House, a mansion in the Scottish Cairngorms National Park, near Nethybridge, Invernessshire (2007).

January 15th

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist Ruth Slenczynska (101), Louisiana Creole accordionist Queen Ida (97), producer & DJ Pete Waterman (79), reggae singer Sister Carol (67), Marillion bassist Pete Trawavas (67), Venom lead singer Conrad Lant AKA Cronos (63), Tool guitarist Adam Jones (61), Cult Jam leader Lisa Velez AKA Lisa Lisa (59), rapper Patrick '9th Wonder' Douthit (51), rapper D'Juan 'Young Dro' Hart (46), singer-songwriter Howie Day (45), rapper Armando 'Pitbull' Pérez (45), and singer-songwriter & electronic musician Sonny John Moore AKA Skrillex (38). Shoutout to the Great Beyond for British song & dance man Ivor Novello, born on this day in 1893... for jazz drummer Gene Krupa, born on this day in 1909... for Don van Vliet AKA Captain Beefheart, who would have been 84 today... for Lynyrd Skynyrd co-founder Ronnie van Zant, who would have been 78... for jazz trombonist Jack Teagarden, who died on this date in 1964... for song & dance man Ray 'The Scarecrow' Bolger, who passed away in 1987... for bassist and longtime Elton John sideman Dee Murray, who died on this day in 1992... for songwriter Sammy Cahn, who died in 1993... for Harry Nilsson, who passed away in 1994... for pianist and songwriter Les Baxter, died in 1996... for Kim Fowley, who died in 2016... for Cranberries lead singer Dolores O'Riordan, who passed away in 2018... and for Carol Channing, who left us today in 2019. Also on January 15th: Smetana's first opera Braniboři v Čechách [The Brandenburgers in Bohemia] premieres in Prague (1863)... The Everly Brothers make their US television debut on The Perry Como Show (1958)... At Berry Gordy's insistence, The Primettes change their name to The Supremes before signing their first Motown contract (1961)... Before an audience of around 2,000, The Beatles make their French live debut at the Cinema Cyrano in Versailles as a warm-up for their three week run at the Olympia in Paris beginning tomorrow (1964)... The Who release their first single, 'I Can't Explain'. Session man Jimmy Page accompanied Pete Townshend on the recording (1965)... Having returned to the studio, George Harrison has a five-hour meeting with John, Paul and Ringo in which he makes it clear that he is fully prepared to quit The Beatles for good. Harrison is unhappy with plans for live performances and with the current Let It Be film project (1969)... The MC 5's Back in the USA, today considered one of the watershed proto-punk albums, is released (1970)... Don McLean's 'American Pie' goes to № 1 in the USA. Meanwhile, Led Zeppelin's 'Black Dog' make its debut on the singles chart. The group's third stateside 45, it will peak at No.15. The song's title is a reference to a nameless black Labrador retriever that was wandering around the Headley Grange studio during recording (1972)... The Police kick off the North American leg of their 119-date Ghost In The Machine world tour at Boston Garden, with The Go-Go's as their opening act (1982)... Sean Lennon's updated version of his father's 'Give Peace A Chance' is released to coincide with the United Nation's midnight deadline for Iraq to withdraw from Kuwait (1991)... Benjamin Brafman, the lawyer who defended P Diddy against weapons possession charges, joins the legal team of Michael Jackson. The King of Pop is accused of several counts of child molestation (2004).

January 14th

 Musical birthdays today include T-Bone Burnett (78), French rocker Étienne Daho (70), former Queensrÿche lead singer Geoff Tate (67), White Lion frontman Mike Tramp (65), singer-songwriter Ellis Paul (61), LL Cool J (60), Black Label Society frontman Zakk Wylde (59), Dave Grohl (57), and The Saturdays vocalist Frankie Sanford (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for jazz trumpeter & bandleader Billy Butterfield, born on this day in 1917... for harpsichordist Zuzana Růžičková, born in 1926... for jazz trumpeter Kenny Wheeler, born in 1930... for producer Allen Toussaint, who would have been 88...  for former Be-Bop Deluxe bassist Charlie Tumahai, and former Allman Brothers Band bassist Lamar Williams, both of whom would have been 77... for film musical actress Jeanette MacDonald, who passed away in 1965... and for New York Dolls drummer Jerry Nolan, who left us today in 1992. 

Also on January 14th: Mozart completes his String Quartet No. 19 in C Major, commonly known as the 'Dissonance Quartet' because of its unusually slow introductory movement (1785)... Puccini's opera Tosca premieres in Rome (1900)... Alban Berg's atonal opera Wozzeck premieres in Berlin (1925)... Charlie Watts makes his live debut with The Rolling Stones at the Flamingo Club in Soho, London (1963)... The Beatles make their French debut, arriving in Paris to begin an 18-night stand at the Olympia (1964)... Bob Dylan continues work on what will become the Bringing It All Back Home album; among other songs, he finally records 'Mr Tambourine Man', which he has been performing live since the Newport Festival of the previous July (1965)... David Jones legally changes his name to David Bowie in order to avoid confusion with Davy Jones of the Monkees, just in time for the release of his single 'Can't Help Thinking about Me'. He would later say that he chose the name because he liked "That big American bear-killin' knife" (1966)... Over 25,000 people attend 'The Human Be-In: A Gathering Of The Tribes' at San Francisco's Golden Gate Park. The event is a harbinger of the Summer of Love, as well as of major outdoor rock concerts to come, and features The Grateful Dead, Jefferson Airplane, Quicksilver Messenger Service and Big Brother And The Holding Company (1967)... At the Frontier Hotel in Las Vegas, Diana Ross makes her final appearance with The Supremes. During the show, Diana introduces her replacement, Jean Terrell, who will lead the group to seven more Top 40 hits, including the Top 10 entries 'Up The Ladder To The Roof' and 'Stoned Love' later in the year (1970)... Paul Simon releases his self-titled debut solo album (1972)... Elvis Presley's concert 'Aloha from Hawaii' is transmitted live via satellite, and sets a record for the most watched broadcast by an individual entertainer in television history (1973)... David Bowie releases Low, the first of the Berlin Trilogy albums (1977)... The Sex Pistols play their last live gig, at the Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco (1978)... Paul McCartney is at № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Pipes Of Peace.' With this release, Macca makes chart history by becoming the first artist to have a № 1 as a solo artist, in a duo [with Stevie Wonder], in a trio [with Wings], and in a quartet [with The Beatles] (1984)... Bob Dylan gives the first public performance of his new song 'Wiggle Wiggle' to a bemused audience in State College, PA (1990)... Garth Brooks appears on Sesame Street, performing 'Together We Make Music' with a chorus of Muppets (1999)... A $100,000 statue honouring the late Johnny Ramone is unveiled by his widow Linda at the Hollywood Forever Cemetery. Johnny died from prostate cancer in September 2004 at the age of 55. Hundreds turn out for the ceremony, including Tommy Ramone, the only surviving band member. Dee Dee died of a drugs overdose in 2002, and Joey succumbed in 2001 to lymphatic cancer (2005).

January 13th

 

Musical birthdays today include operatic baritone Renato Bruson (90), santoor virtuoso Shivkumar Sharma (88), Yes vocalist Trevor Rabin (72), Megadeath bassist James LoMenzo (67), Flaming Lips lead singer Wayne Coyne (65), Madness frontman Graham 'Suggs' McPherson (65), Trace Adkins (64), 3OH!3 singer Nathaniel Motte (42), and ex-Vanilla Ninja vocalist Triinu Kivilaan (37). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for classical violinist Nathan Milstein, born on this day in 1904... for jazz guitarist Joe Pass, born in 1929... for Stephen Foster, who died on this date in 1864... for Donny Hathaway, who took his own life today in 1979 at the age of 33... for Michael Brecker, who passed away in 2007... and for Teddy Pendergrass, who left us today in 2011.   

Also on January 13th: Wagner completes his final opera Parsifal (1882)... The first public radio broadcast takes place when a performance of Mascagni's Cavalleria rusticana is sent out over the airwaves from the Metropolitan Opera House in NYC (1910)... The first country music television show, 'Midwestern Hayride', goes on the air at WLW in Cincinnati, OH (1948)... Chubby Checker takes 'The Twist' to № 1 for the second time [the first was in September, 1960], a unique feat in the history of the Billboard chart (1962)... Bob Dylan releases the album The Times They Are A-Changin' (1964)... Dylan begins recording the landmark album Bringing It All Back Home at Columbia Studio A in NYC. Accompanied by just producer Tom Wilson and John Sebastian on bass, he spends most of the day laying down acoustic tracks (1965)... The Rolling Stones appear on The Ed Sullivan Show to perform their new single 'Let's Spend the Night Together'. The producers insist that Mick Jagger sing the words 'Let's spend some time together' instead... Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are both in the audience for a Jimi Hendrix Experience gig at the Bag O'Nails club in London (1967)... Johnny Cash records the Live at Folsom Prison album (1968)... The Beatles release the Yellow Submarine soundtrack album... Elvis Presley goes into American Sound Studios in Memphis to begin the sessions that will produce 'Suspicious Minds', his final US № 1. It is the first time that Elvis has recorded in his adopted hometown since his Sun Records debut in 1956 (1969)... Steel Mill featuring Bruce Springsteen become the unplanned headliners at the Matrix in San Francisco when scheduled lead act Boz Scaggs falls ill. Philip Elwood, rock critic for the SF Examiner who came to review Scaggs, writes a rave review of Steel Mill instead (1970)... Sarah Caldwell takes up the baton and becomes the first woman to conduct the NY Metropolitan Opera orchestra, leading the musicians in a performance of La Traviata (1976)... With a budget of only £1,500 borrowed from Stewart Copeland's brother Miles, The Police begin recording their debut album at Surrey Sound Studios outside of London with producer Nigel Gray (1978)... BBC Radio 1 announce a ban on 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after DJ Mike Read calls it 'obscene'; a BBC TV ban also follows. The song will go on to become a UK № 1 and spends a total of 48 weeks on the national singles chart (1984)... The off-Broadway musical 'The Fantasticks' closes after a run of 17,162 performances over nearly 42 years (2002)... An article in the New Musical Express says that more songs have been written about Elvis Presley than any other recording artist. It lists over 220 songs including: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon, ‘A Room at the Heartbreak Hotel’ by U2, ‘Calling Elvis’ by Dire Straits, ‘Happy Birthday Elvis’, by Loudon Wainwright III, ‘There's a Guy Works down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis’ by Kirsty MacColl, ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’ by Ray Stevens, ‘Elvis Has Left the Building’ by Frank Zappa, and 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis' by Ray Herndon (2005).

January 12th

Musical birthdays today include classical pianist & composer Raimonds Pauls (90), Oak Ridge Boys vocalist William Lee Golden (87), former Stone the Crows lead singer Maggie Bell (81), ex-Sly & the Family Stone trumpeter Cynthia Robinson (80), jazz guitarist John Etheridge (78), former Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds guitarist Blixa Bargeld (67), Os Infernais frontman Nando Reis (63), former White Zombie lead singer Robert 'Rob Zombie' Cummings (61), former Rage against the Machine frontman Zack de la Rocha (56), Raekwon (56), ex-Reel Big Fish bassist Matthew Wong (53), Melanie 'Mel C' Chisholm (52), producer & session multi-instrumentalist Jason Freese (51), and ex-One Direction vocalist Zayne Malik (33). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Delta bluesman Mississippi Fred McDowell, born on this day in 1904... for country singer Tex Ritter, born in 1905... for jazz pianist & singer Jay McShann, born in 1916... for country singer Ray Price, born in 1926... for folk singer & former Limeliter Glenn Yarbrough, born in 1930... for jazz drummer Ronald Shannon Jackson, who would have been 86... for fusion keyboardist George Duke, who would have been 80... for NRBQ drummer Tom Ardolino, who would have been 71... for Traffic percussionist Rebop Kwaaku Baah, who died on this date in 1983... for Maurice Gibb, who passed away in 2003... for singer-songwriter Randy Van Warmer, who died in 2004... and for Alice Coltrane, who died in 2007... and for Ronnie Spector, who left us four years ago today. 

Also on January 12: Georg Friedrich Händel's opera Ottone premieres at the King's Theatre in London (1723)... Berry Gordy, Jr. founds Tamla Records in Detroit. When the label is incorporated in April, 1960, the name will be changed to Motown Records, Inc. (1959)... Led Zeppelin's debut album is released in the UK. Recorded at Olympic Studios in Barnes, London, the album took only about 36 hours of studio time to complete at a cost of just £1,782, most of the tracks being recorded 'live' in the studio with almost no overdubs (1969)... The Steve Miller Band have the № 1 single in the USA with 'The Joker' (1974)... EMI Records issue a statement saying that they feel unable to promote The Sex Pistols records in view of the adverse publicity the group has generated over the last two months... Keith Richards is fined £750 for possession of cocaine found in his car after he was involved in an automobile collision the previous November... The Police have their first rehearsal at the London flat of drummer Stewart Copeland, with Henry Padovani on guitar (1977)... The Washington Post reports that the outgoing Carter administration has added albums by Bob Dylan, Kiss and The Sex Pistols to the official White House record library (1981)... Van Morrison fails to turn up at the Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame induction dinner, making him the first living honoree not to attend (1993)... British Airways staff file a formal complaint against Oasis singer Liam Gallagher after he had grabbed a flight attendant's bottom, refused to stop smoking and thrown food around the 1st Class cabin during a flight from London to Rio De Janeiro (2001)... It is announced by the City of Liverpool that the Strawberry Field Children's Home immortalised by The Beatles is to close. The  establishment in Woolton  was made famous when John Lennon wrote 'Strawberry Fields Forever' from his memories of playing there as a child (2005).

January 11th

 

Musical birthdays today include former Yes keyboardist Tony Kaye (80), ex-Dire Straits drummer Terry Williams (78), jazz guitarist Lee Ritenour (74), Americana singer-songwriter Robert Earl Keen (70), former Bangle Vicki Peterson (68), deathrock singer Eva O (65), No Doubt guitarist Tom Dumont (58), Chemical Brother Tom Rowlands (55), Bus Station Loonies lead singer Chris Willsher (55), Aquabats lead singer Christian 'The MC Bat Commander' Jacobs (53), Kasabian lead singer Tom Meighan (44), singer-songwriter Newton Faulkner (41), and pop singer Cody Simpson (29).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Laurens Hammond, inventor of the organ that bears his name, born on this date in 1895... for composer Maurice Duruflé, born in 1902... for blues harmonica virtuoso Slim Harpo and cabaret singer Don Cherry, both born in 1924... for former Willie Nelson sideman Jody Payne, who would have been 90 today... for Clarence Clemons, who would have been 84... for Naomi Judd, who would have been 80... for Francis Scott Key, author of the Star Spangled Banner, who died on this date in 1843... for former T Rex drummer Mickey Finn, who died in 2003... and for songwriter and Bread guitarist Jimmy Griffin, who left us in 2005. 

Also on January 11th: German composer Paul Hindemith becomes a US citizen (1946)... The release date for the Elvis Presley single 'Jailhouse Rock' is put back a week after the Decca Records pressing plant in the UK is unable to meet the advance orders of 250,000 copies (1958)... Howlin' Wolf's eponymous second album is released (1962)...The Beatles record their first British national TV appearance, on 'Thank Your Lucky Stars'. They lip-synch to their new single 'Please Please Me' which is released on this day (1963)... Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash becomes the first country album to go to № 1 on the Billboard album chart. The № 1 single is 'Louie Louie' by The Kingsmen  (1964)...Bob Dylan makes a surprise appearance at The Playhouse on MacDougall Street, performing some of the material that will appear on the album Bringing It All Back Home... The Righteous Brothers arrive in Britain for a promotional visit. They are slated to appear on three TV shows, 'Ready Steady Go!',  'Scene At 6.30',and 'Discs A Go-Go' (1965)... The Jimi Hendrix Experience record 'Purple Haze' at London's De Lane Lea Studios (1967)... Janis Joplin's final album Pearl is released posthumously (1971)... DJ Alan Freeman of BBC Radio 1 broadcasts a Pink Floyd show recorded at the Empire Pool, Wembley the previous 16th of November. The band played four nights at Wembley on their Dark Side Of The Moon tour, and tapes from these shows have been remixed... Led Zeppelin play their first concert in 18 months, appearing at the Ahoy, Rotterdam, Holland, in one of two warm-up shows for their forthcoming North American tour. The set list included the as yet unheard songs 'Sick Again', 'The Rain Song', 'Kashmir', 'No Quarter' and 'Trampled Under Foot' (1975)... Frankie Goes to Hollywood kick off what will prove to be their final UK tour with a show at the G-Mex in Manchester (1987)... On the same day that their album Nevermind goes to № 1 on the US charts, Nirvana appear on Saturday Night Live, performing 'Smells like Teen Spirit' and 'Territorial Pissings' (1992)... Pete Townshend issues a public statement denying that he is a paedophile after his name is linked with a police Internet porn inquiry. But The Who guitarist admits studying child pornography for research into a campaign against it (2003)... Ringo Starr helps launch the celebrations for Liverpool's year as European Capital of Culture. He is joined by acrobats who dangle on wires from cranes as the opening party kicks off a year-long programme of more than 350 events. Organisers hope the Capital of Culture tag will attract an extra two million visitors to Liverpool and £100 million into the local economy (2008).

January 10th

 Musical birthdays today include Rod Stewart (81), drummer Aynsley Dunbar (80), Steely Dan co-founder Donald Fagen (78), Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers guitarist Scott Thurston (74), Pat Benatar (73), heavy metal guitarist Michael Schenker (71), Shawn Colvin (70), Crash Test Dummies frontman Brad Roberts (62), Flight of the Conchords co-member Jemaine Clement (52), and Shinedown lead singer Brent Smith (48).

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for producer Jerry Wexler, born in this day in 1917... for jazz drummer Max Roach, born in 1924... for Johnnie Ray, born in 1927... for Ronnie 'The Hawk' Hawkins, born in 1935... for Scott McKenzie, who would have been 87 today... for Jim Croce, who would have been 83... for Frank Sinatra, Jr., who would have been 82... for Howlin' Wolf, who died on this date in 1976... for Anton Karas [composer and performer of the zither score in the film The Third Man], who passed away in 1985... for former Jefferson Airplane and New Riders of the Purple Sage drummer Spencer Dryden, who died in 2005... for Claude Nobs, the founder and general manager of the Montreux Jazz Festival, who died in 2012. During a 1971 Frank Zappa concert, at the Montreux Casino the venue caught fire. Nobs saved several young people who had hidden in the casino, thinking they would be sheltered from the flames. This act earned him a mention as Funky Claude in the  line 'Funky Claude was running in and out pulling kids out the ground' in the Deep Purple song 'Smoke on the Water', which is about the incident... and for David Bowie, who left us five years ago today.

Also on January 10th: In her first Columbia session, Bessie Smith records 'Easy Come, Easy Go Blues' (1924)... Big band singer Jo Stafford becomes the first woman to have a № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'You Belong to Me' (1953)... Elvis Presley makes his first recordings for RCA, including 'Heartbreak Hotel', at Methodist Studios in Memphis (1956)... The first US Beatles album, Introducing The Beatles, is released on Vee-Jay Records. The album cover shows John, Paul and George with their now famous 'mop top' haircuts, with Ringo yet to convert. Vee-Jay will be forced to stop selling the disc by the end of the year because of legal complications, but by then over 1.3 million copies will have been sold (1964)... Having grown tired of Paul's hectoring and instructions on how to play, George storms out of the recording sessions for the album that will become Let It Be and announces that he is quitting the Beatles (1969)... The Ramones release Leave Home, their second studio album (1977)... The Sex Pistols make their US TV debut on the show Variety (1978)... Just over a month after his murder, John Lennon dominates the charts on both sides of the Atlantic. In the UK , the re-release of 'Imagine' is the country's № 1 single. Double Fantasy is tops with both British and American album buyers, and 'Just Like Starting over' is the № 1 single in the USA (1981)... Cyndi Lauper becomes the first female artist since Bobbie Gentry in 1967 to be nominated for 5 Grammys in the same year (1984)... James Brown receives his star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame (1997)... Singer Melissa Etheridge reveals that David Crosby was the sperm donor of her two children with girlfriend Julie Cypher (2000)... An Australian woman appears in court in Melbourne charged with repeatedly stabbing her partner with a pair of scissors in the back, shoulder and thigh because he played Elvis Presley's song 'Burning Love' more than 20 times in a row (2006).

January 9th

 

Musical birthdays today include Joan Baez (85), former Walker Brothers bassist Scott Walker (83), Lovin' Spoonful pianist Jerry Yester (83), Jimmy Page (82), former New York Dolls lead singer David Johansen (76), country singer Crystal Gayle (75), L.A. Guns lead singer Phil Lewis (69), ex-Hole lead guitarist Eric Erlandson (63), Smash Mouth lead singer Steve Hardwell (59), Dave Matthews (59), moe Guitarist Al Schnier (58), rapper MF Doom (55), and Backstreet Boy A.J. McLean (47). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for opera impresario Sir Rudolf Bing, born on this day in 1902... for former Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Kenny Clarke, born in 1914... for Cowsills frontman Bill Cowsill, and Lynyrd Skynyrd vocalist Cassie Gaines, both of whom would have been 77... and for Carter Family vocalist and autoharpist Sara Carter, who left us today in 1979. 

Also on January 9th: Richard Strauss' tone poem Tod und Verklärung (Death and Transfiguration) is given its first performance by the NY Philharmonic (1892)... Rosemary Clooney has the № 1 single in the UK with her 'Mambo Italiano'. The song performed poorly in the US after it was widely banned by radio stations for being 'below the standards of good taste', in the words of one network spokesman (1955)... Charlie Watts officially joins The Rolling Stones after leaving Blues Incorporated (1963)... Led Zeppelin play the Royal Albert Hall on the night of Jimmy Page's 26th birthday. Among the spectators are John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck. The 2 1/4 hr. set is both recorded and filmed, but will not receive an official release until 2003 (1970)... Mick Jagger is refused a visa for Japan because of his record of drug offences, forcing the Stones to cancel the Japanese leg of their upcoming world tour (1973)... Yes release Tales from Topographic Oceans (1974)... Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers of The Specials are fined £400 each for using 'obscene and threatening language' at a gig in Cambridge the previous week (1981)... David Bowie gives a 50th Birthday Bash concert [the day after his birthday] at Madison Square Garden with guests Frank Black, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, The Foo Fighters, Lou Reed, and Billy Corgan and Placebo. Proceeds from the concert are going to the Save The Children fund (1997).. Apple Computer Inc. unveils its iTunes music management software at the MacWorld Expo in San Francisco (2001)... The Phantom of the Opera becomes the longest-running musical in Broadway history, surpassing 'Cats', which ran for 7,485 performances (2006)... Spice Girl Victoria Beckham is named the world's worst dressed celebrity in an annual list of fashion disasters. Critic Richard Blackwell, who has compiled the poll every year since 1960, says Beckham stepped out during the previous year in "one skinny-mini monstrosity after another". Amy Winehouse's trademark beehive hairdo and tattoos helped earn her second  place on the list (2008).

January 8th

 Musical birthdays today include conductor Zdeněk Mácal (90), Dame Shirley Bassey (89), Doors guitarist Robby Krieger (80), former Hollies guitarist Terry Sylvester (79), classical pianist Vladimir Feltsman (74), Loverboy lead singer Mike Reno (71), Little River Band keyboardist Chris Marion (64), R. Kelly (58), Sean Paul (52), rapper DJ Clue? (51), former Rilo Kiley lead singer Jenny Lewis (50), and ex-Donnas drummer Torry Castellano (47). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for Chicago bluesman Tampa Red, born on this day in 1904... for operatic soprano Evelyn Lear, born in 1926... for jazz double-bassist Chuck Metcalf and concert promoter Bill Graham, both born in 1931... for Elvis Presley, born in 1935 for David Bowie, who would have been 79... for Crowded House  drummer Paul Hester, who would have been 67... for former Mother Love Bone lead singer Andrew Wood, who would have been 59... for Def Leppard guitarist Steve Clark, who died today in 1991 at the age of 30... and for composer Michael Tippett, who left us today in 1998. 

Also on January 9th: The Boston Academy of Music, the first institution of tertiary musical education in America, opens its doors (1833)... Bill Haley and His Comets land in Sydney to start Australia's first ever Rock 'n Roll tour (1957)... The Beatles hit № 1 on the US album chart with Rubber Soul, and have the top single with 'We Can Work It Out' as well (1966)... Mick Jagger and Keith Richards are both barred from the exclusive Crillen Hotel in Lima, Peru when they return from a night on the town wearing 'op art' pants and nothing else (1969)... The Canadian government names Rush the country's 'Official Ambassadors of Music' (1979)... A 29-cent U.S. postage stamp bearing the likeness of a '50s era Elvis Presley is issued at a post office near the King's Graceland mansion in Memphis, TN (1993)... A woman who claims that Axl Rose is communicating with her via telepathy is arrested for the second time for stalking the Guns N' Roses singer. Police detain Karen Jane McNeil after she is spotted loitering outside Rose's Los Angeles house (2001)... In a ceremony at a post office in Central London, Jimmy Page launches a new set of British stamps which feature classic album covers from the last 40 years including Led Zeppelin IV, Mike Oldfield's Tubular Bells, The Division Bell by Pink Floyd, A Rush Of Blood To The Head by Coldplay, Power, Corruption And Lies by New Order, Let It Bleed, London Calling, Screamadelica by Primal Scream, The Rise And Fall Of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars, and Parklife by Blur (2010).

January 7th

 

Musical birthdays today include Covent Garden orchestral conductor Richard Armstrong (83), Rolling Stone magazine co-founder Jann Wenner (80), Kenny Loggins (78), country singer-songwriter Marshall Chapman (77), film score composer José María Vitier (72), former Go-Go's bassist Kathy Valentine (67), ex-Pop Will Eat Itself frontman Clint Mansell (63), singer-songwriter Vladimir Ondrasik AKA Five for Fighting (61), trumpeter & pop singer David Longoria (55), and Black Veil Brides guitarist Jeremy 'Jinxx' Ferguson (39). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Francis Poulenc, born on this day in 1899... for jazz trumpeter Red Allen, born in 1906... for country singer Jack Greene, born in 1929... for classical violinist Iona Brown, who would have been 85... for pioneering British blues harmonica player Cyril Davies, who died at the age of 31 today in 1964... for New Orleans R&B singer Larry Williams, who took his own life in 1980 at age 44... for L.A. session drummer John Guerin, who died in 2004... and for Rush drummer Neil Peart, who left us five years ago today. 

Also on January 7th: Marian Anderson makes her debut with the Metropolitan Opera in New York in Verdi's Un Ballo in Maschera, becoming the first black person to perform there as a company member... 'Rock around the Clock' by Bill Haley & His Comets enters the UK charts for the first time (1955)... Black Sabbath release Paranoid, their second studio album in the US. The collection features the band's best-known signature songs, including the title track, 'Iron Man' and 'War Pigs'. The LP was originally titled War Pigs, but the record company allegedly changed it to Paranoid, fearing backlash from supporters of the ongoing Vietnam War (1971)... James Taylor and Carly Simon and James Taylor become parents when their daughter Sarah Maria is born... Aerosmith kick off their 56-date North American 'Get Your Wings' tour with a show at the Michigan Theater in Detroit (1974)... Pink Floyd release the single 'Another Brick in the Wall (part 2) in the US (1980)... R.E.M. play a Greenpeace Benefit show at the 40 Watt Club in Athens, GA for 500 people. The gig is recorded with a solar powered mobile recording studio (1993)... 'The Beatles Book Monthly' ceases publication after 40 years. Author Sean O'Mahony, who set up the magazine in 1963, says that with only two of the Fab Four left alive, the round number of four decades is a good point to stop (2003).

January 6th

 Musical birthdays today include singer & pianist Paolo Conte (89), Fabulous Thunderbirds frontman Kim Wilson (75), ex-Frankie Goes to Hollywood bassist Mark O'Toole (62), Bowling for Soup drummer Gary Wiseman (55), Uh Huh Her lead singer Camila Grey (45), and Arctic Monkeys frontman Alex Turner (40). 
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Shoutout to the Great Beyond for composer Alexander Scriabin, born on this day in 1872... for bluegrass banjo player Earl Scruggs, born in 1924... for R&B singer-songwriter Doris Troy, who would have been 87... for Syd Barrett, who would have been 80... for Sandy Denny, who would have been 79... for original Widespread Panic guitarist Michael Houser, who would have been 64... for composer and violinist Rodolphe Kreutzer, who died on this date in 1831... for Dizzy Gillespie, who passed away in 1993... for Lou Rawls, who died today in 2006... and for Flying Burrito Brothers pedal steel guitarist Sneaky Pete Kleinow, who left us in 2007. 

Also on January 6th: Elvis Presley performs in the gymnasium of Randolph High School in Randolph, MS. It is the last concert that he will give in a venue that can hold fewer than 5,000 spectators (1956)... Gibson launches the 'Flying V' electric guitar (1958)... Magical Mystery Tour becomes the Beatles' 11th US № 1 album (1968)... Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young make their European live debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London (1970)... Bob Dylan has his first telephone conversation with A.J. Weberman, the obsessive fan and self-styled 'Dylanologist' who has been rummaging through the garbage cans outside the singer's Greenwich Village home for the past several weeks (1971)... Carly Simon's 'You're So Vain' goes to № 1 on the US singles chart (1973)... Pink Floyd begin recording Wish You Were Here at Abbey Road Studios... After waiting overnight in the lobby of the Boston Garden for tickets for Led Zeppelin's February 3rd concert at the venue to go on sale, over a thousand of the group's fans riot when they are informed that the sale will be delayed for several days, and do some $30,000 worth of damage (1975)... Peter Frampton releases Frampton Comes Alive! (1976)... EMI drop the Sex Pistols, paying the band £40,000 and releasing them from their contract (1977)... The Village People score their only UK № 1 single with 'YMCA' (1979)... Bill Wyman announces that he is leaving the Rolling Stones (1994)... Two bronze busts worth £50,000 are stolen from a garden at George Harrison's estate in Henley-on- Thames, Oxfordshire. Thieves climbed a 10- foot-wall and cut the figures of two monks from their stone plinths (1997).

January 5th

 

Musical birthdays today include former Seekers bassist Athol Guy (86), jazz guitarist Louis Stewart (82), Blondie guitarist Chris Stein (76), producer & former Cure bassist Phil Thornalley (66), country singer Iris DeMent (65), ex-Soul Asylum drummer Grant Young (63), Marilyn Manson (57), and Angels & Airwaves bassist Matt Wachter (50). 

Shoutout to the Great Beyond for blueswoman Elizabeth Cotton, born on this day in 1893... for Sun Records founder & owner Sam Phillips, born in 1923... for R&B singer Wilbert Harrison, born in 1929... for blues singer Jo Ann Kelly, who would have been 82... for former Beatles road manager Mal Evans, who was shot by officers of the Los Angeles Police Department today in 1976 at the age of 40. The police were summoned by Evans' girlfriend, who had come home to find him in a distraught state and holding a rifle. When Evans pointed the weapon at the police, they opened fire, killing him instantly...  for Charles Mingus, who left us in 1979... for Sonny Bono, killed in a skiing accident today in 1998... and for Ken Forssi, the original bassist for Love, who left us that same day. 

Also on January 5th: Charles Garnier's new opera house opens in Paris (1875)... Patsy Cline goes into the studio in Nashville to begin recording her debut album (1957)... Decca A&R man Dick Rowe calls Brian Epstein to tell him that the label has decided to turn down the Beatles for a recording contract. The manager will later quote Rowe as saying "Frankly, Mr. Epstein, we don't like your boys' sound. We think that groups of guitarists are on their way out" (1962)... Pink Floyd appear at The Marquee Club, in London. A review in Queen Magazine later says: 'The two guitarists looked moody, the drummer thrashed wildly about and the lights kept flashing. After about twenty minutes it became very boring, and after half an hour I left' ... At Abbey Road Studios, Paul records his vocal track for 'Penny Lane' (1967)... Jimi Hendrix is jailed for one day in Stockholm on charges of being drunk & disorderly after going berserk and destroying everything in his room at the Göteberg Hotel (1968)... Bruce Springsteen releases his debut album Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. Recorded in a single week, the album will sell fewer than 25,000 copies in the first year of its release. Both 'Blinded By The Light' and 'Spirit In The Night' are released as singles but neither makes a dent in the charts (1973)... Bob Dylan releases Desire (1976)... The Sex Pistols open their maiden US tour with a gig in Atlanta, GA before an estimated audience of 500 people (1978)... Prince makes his live debut at the Capri Theater in Minneapolis, MN  (1979)... Kenny Rogers becomes the last country singer to date to hit № 1 on the singles chart in Britain with 'Coward of the County' (1980)... Iron Maiden go to № 1 on the UK singles chart with 'Bring Your Daughter to the Slaughter', even though the record sold only 42,000 copies in its first week of release, the lowest initial sales figure for a № 1 song since 1960 (1991)... Kirsty MacColl is laid to rest at a private funeral ceremony, ahead of a public memorial to pay tribute to her life. The singer songwriter was killed in a boating accident on the 18th of December (2001).