25 November Today in Music History Events

1924 Paul Desmond born Paul Emil Breitenfeld) in San Francisco, California. US Jazz Alto Saxophonist/Songwriter with the Dave Brubeck Quartet. He diedMay 30, 1977, not of his heavy alcohol habit but of lung cancer, the result of his longtime heavy smoking.
1940 Percy Sledge born in Leighton, Alabama. US Soul Singer. (1966 UK No.4 and US No.1 single ‘When A Man Loves A Woman’). Sledge died of liver cancer at his home in Baton Rouge on April 14, 2015, at the age of 74.
1944 Bob Lind born (Robert Neale Lind) in Baltimore, Maryland. US Singer. (1966 US & UK No.5 single ‘Elusive Butterfly’).
1944 Bev Bevan born in Sparkhill, Birmingham. UK Drummer and Founder member of The Move & ELO.
1950 Jocelyn Brown, singer, (1997 UK No.5 single ‘Something Goin’ On’, worked with John Lennon, Bob Dylan and Bruce Springsteen).
1958 Lord Rockinghams XI were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Hoot’s Mon’, (based on the traditional Scottish folk song ‘One Hundred Pipers’). Lord Rockingham’s XI were the house band on the UK Jack Good TV show ‘Oh Boy.’
1959 Steve Rothery – UK Guitarist with Marillion. (1985 UK No.2 single ‘Kayleigh’).
1960 Amy Grant born in Augusta, Georgia. US Singer, (1991 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Baby Baby’).
1961 James Darren went to No.1 on the Australian singles chart with “Goodbye Cruel World”. Staying at No.1 for two weeks in a row.
1961 The Everly Brothers started active service for the 8th Battalion Marine Corps Reserves, working as artillerymen.
1964 The Shrangri-Las went to No.1 on the Australian singles chart with “Leader Of The Pack”. Staying at No.1 for two weeks in a row.
1965 Harrods department store in London, England, closed to the public so The Beatles could do their Christmas shopping in private.
1965 The Seekers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Carnival Is Over’, the group’s second No.1. Originally a Russian folk song from 1883 with lyrics written by Tom Springfield (the brother of Dusty Springfield). At its peak, the song was selling 93,000 copies per day and is No.30 of the biggest selling singles of all time in the United Kingdom.
1966 The Jimi Hendrix Experience made their UK live debut at the Bag O’Nails Club, London, where they played using the clubs DJ booth. Eric Clapton, Pete Townshend, The Beatles, Mick Jagger, Brian Jones, Jeff Beck, Jimmy Page, The Hollies, and The Small Faces would all hang out at the club.
1966 Stacey Lattishaw – US Singer. (1980 US No.21 single ‘Let Me Be Your Angel’, 1980 UK No.3 single ‘Jump to The Beat’).
1967 Rodney Sheppard, Sugar Ray, (1999 UK No. 10 single ‘Every Morning’).
1968 Tunde, singer, Lighthouse Family, (1996 UK No.4 single ‘Lifted’).
1968 The Beatles (known as The White Album), was released in the US. Notable for the eclectic nature of its songs, the album has sold over 30 million copies worldwide, and was listed at No.10 on Rolling Stone’s “500 Greatest Albums of All Time” list. The album features: ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da’, ‘Dear Prudence’, ‘Helter Skelter’, ‘Blackbird’ ‘Back In The USSR’ and George Harrisons ‘While My Guitar Gently Weeps’. The album spent 101 weeks on the US chart peaking at No.1.
1969 John Lennon returned his MBE to The Queen on the grounds of the UK’s involvement in the Nigeria Biafra war, America in Vietnam, and against his latest single ‘Cold Turkey’ slipping down the charts.
1971 Rod Stewart went to No.1 on the Australian singles chart with “Maggie May/Reason To Believe”. Staying at the top spot for 4 weeks in a row.
1972 Chuck Berry was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘My Ding a-Ling’, his only UK No.1. The song was originally recorded by Dave Bartholomew in 1952. Berry’s version was from a concert recorded at the Locarno ballroom in Coventry, England, on 3 February 1972. Boston radio station WMEX disc jockey Jim Connors was credited with a gold record for discovering the song and pushing it to No.1 over the airwaves and amongst his peers in the United States.
1974 UK singer, songwriter Nick Drake died in his sleep aged 26 of an overdose of tryptasol an anti-depressant drug. Drake signed to Island Records when he was twenty years old, recorded the classic 1972 album Pink Moon. In 2000, Volkswagen featured the title track from Pink Moon in a television advertisement, and within a month Drake had sold more records than he had in the previous thirty years.
1976 The Band made their final performance; ‘The Last Waltz’ held on American Thanksgiving Day, at Winterland Ballroom in San Francisco. The show also featured Joni Mitchell, Dr John, Neil Young, Van Morrison, Neil Diamond, Eric Clapton and others. The event was filmed by director Martin Scorsese and made into a documentary of the same name, released in 1978.
1978 Appearing at The Electric Ballroom, London, The Police, admission £1.50.
1982 The Jam started their final UK tour at Glasgow’s Apollo Theatre.
1984 The cream of the British pop world gathered at S.A.R.M. Studios, London to record the historic ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ The single, which was written by Bob Geldof and Midge Ure, featured Paul Young, Bono, Boy George, Sting and George Michael. It went on to sell over three million copies in the UK, becoming the bestselling record ever, and raised over £8 million ($13.6 million) worldwide.
1987 Appearing at London’s Town and Country Club, Hothouse Flowers promoting their new single ‘Don’t Go.’
1988 Appearing at the Irish centre, Birmingham, James supported by the Happy Mondays, tickets £5. Also tonight appearing at Manchester University The La’s, tickets £3.
1989 Milli Vanilli started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Blame It On The Rain’, their third US No.1 of the year, a No.53 hit in the UK.
1989 New Kids On The Block had their first UK No.1 single with ‘You Got It’ (The Right Stuff)’.
1991 Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the Australian singles chart with “Black Or White”. Staying at No.1 for a massive 8 weeks in a row.
1992 The Bodyguard, opened nation-wide featuring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner. The film which was Houston’s acting debut was written by Lawrence Kasdan in the 1970s, originally as a vehicle for Steve McQueen and Diana Ross. It became the second-highest-grossing film worldwide in 1992 with the soundtrack becoming the best-selling soundtrack of all time, selling more than 42 million copies worldwide.
1995 Radiohead singer Thom Yorke blacked out halfway through a show in Munich, Germany, suffering from exhaustion.
1995 Whitney Houston went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Exhale (Shoop Shoop)’, written by Babyface and taken from the film ‘Waiting To Exhale’, it gave Whitney her 11th US No.1.
1996 A statue in Montreux, Switzerland by sculptor Irena Sedlecka was erected as a tribute to Freddie Mercury. Standing almost 10 feet (3 metres) high overlooking Lake Geneva it was unveiled by Freddie’s father and Montserrat Caballé, with bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor also in attendance.
1997 The original lineup of the Zombies – Colin Blunstone, Rod Argent, Chris White, Hugh Grundy, and Paul Atkinson – play onstage for the first time in 30 years. The reunited members perform their hits “She’s Not There” and “Time Of The Season” to a cheering c
1999 Creation records boss Alan McGee announced that he was leaving the label. McGee had signed Oasis to the label after seeing them play a gig in Glasgow, Scotland. The label was also the home to other acts including Primal Scream and Teenage Fanclub.
2000 A burglar broke into Alice Cooper’s home and made off with over $6000 worth of clothes, shoes and cameras belonging to the singers daughter. The good’s were all lifted from Cooper’s house in Paradise Valley, along with four of the star’s gold discs.
2001 American country music artist Garth Brooks went to No.1 on the US album chart with his ninth studio album ‘Scarecrow’, the last album by Brooks before his ten-year hiatus.
2001 Robbie Williams started an eight-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Swing When You’re Winning’. The album spent 57 weeks on the UK Albums Chart, certified 7x Platinum, and became the 49th best-selling album of all-time in the UK.
2001 S Club 7 scored their fourth UK No.1 single with ‘Have You Ever.’
2002 Delta Goodrem went to No.1 on the Australian singles chart with “Born To Try”. Staying at No.1 for two weeks.
2003 Glen Campbell was arrested in Phoenix Arizona with a blood alcohol level of .20 after his BMW struck a Toyota Camry. He was charged with ‘extreme’ drunk driving, hit and run, and assaulting a police officer. A police officer reported that while in custody, Campbell hummed his hit ‘Rhinestone Cowboy’ repeatedly.
2003 Michael Jackson launched a website to defend himself following allegations of sexual abuse of a 12-year old boy. The singer posted a message saying the charges were based on ‘a big lie’ and he wanted to end ‘this horrible time’ by proving they were false in court.
2003 Meat Loaf underwent heart surgery in a London hospital after being diagnosed with a condition that causes an irregular heartbeat. The 52-year-old singer had collapsed on November 17 as he performed at London’s Wembley Arena.
2005 Take That announced that they were to reform for a tour, 10 years after they split up. At a press conference in London, Gary Barlow, Jason Orange, Mark Owen and Howard Donald said they would go back on tour in April 2006, but without Robbie Williams.
2005 Authorities in Vietnam extended Gary Glitter’s detention by four months, while claims that he had sex with under-age girls were examined. Glitter was held under suspicion of committing lewd acts with children. The ex-singer denied accusations of having sex with two under-age girls, one aged 12.
2005 Madonna achieved her sixth number one on the US album charts with ‘Confessions on a Dance Floor’ her third consecutive US album chart topper. The album went to No.1 in 40 countries setting a new record. The Beatles previously held this record when The Beatles 1 went to No.1 in 36 countries in 2000.
2007 Kevin Dubrow, the frontman with metal band Quiet Riot, was found dead in his Las Vegas home at the age of 52. Their 1983 release Metal Health was the first metal album to top the US charts. The band’s biggest hit was ‘Cum on Feel the Noize’, a cover of the Slade song which they are said to have grudgingly recorded in just one take.
2009 Brian May joined Freddie Mercury’s 87-year-old mother Jer Bulsara in Feltham town centre, at a ceremony to unveil a plaque to the late singers memory. They were joined by over 2,000 fans from as far as Japan and Australia who descended on the Centre, in Feltham High Street in England. The plague reads: “Freddie Mercury – musician, singer and songwriter” along with the dates he lived in Feltham, between 1964 and 1968.
2010 A restaurant fell victim to a prankster who had them make 178 pizzas by claiming they were for singer Bob Dylan and his crew. An imposter wearing a fake pass for a Dylan concert called in an Antonio’s restaurant and placed the huge order worth more than $3,900. He told the owner the pizzas were for Dylan and his crew who had appeared in concert in Amherst, Massachusetts. Staff at Antonios worked until 5.30am to make the pizzas – but were left stunned when no one returned to collect the order.
2011 Don DeVito, a longtime Columbia Records executive who produced the key Bob Dylan albums Blood on the Tracks and Desire died aged 72 after a 16-year battle with prostate cancer. DeVito had also worked with artists including Bruce Springsteen, Billy Joel and Aerosmith. DeVito started off as a guitarist touring for Al Kooper, and had his own band, The Sabres, which later broke up mid-tour. According to Columbia, DeVito was stranded in Fort Smith, Ark., when he happened to meet Johnny Cash and developed what would become a lifelong friendship; Cash would later introduce DeVito to Dylan.
2015 Defamation lawsuits filed by Tom Scholz, the founder of the Rock group Boston, against the ex-wife of the band’s late lead singer, Brad Delp and the Boston Herald were dismissed by the highest court in Massachusetts. Scholz sued after the Herald published articles in which Micki Delp made remarks that Scholz claimed could be construed as blaming him for Delp’s 2007 suicide.