December 01 Events – On This Day In Music

1930 Matt Monroe born in London, England. UK Singer (1964 UK No.4 & US No.23 single ‘Walk Away’ plus 10 other UK Top 40 hits). He died on 7th February 1985 in Ealing, London, England, UK. (cancer). né: Terry Parsons
1934 Billy Paul (Paul Williams) born in Philadelphia, Pennylvania. US Singer (1972 US No.1 & 1973 UK No.12 single ‘Me and Mrs Jones’). Paul died on the afternoon of April 24, 2016, at his home in the Blackwood section of Gloucester Township, New Jersey, from pancreatic cancer at the age of 81.
1935 Lou Rawls born in born in Chicago, IIIinois. US Singer. (1976 US No.2 & UK No.10 single ‘You’ll Never Find Another Love Like Mine’). In December 2005, it was announced that Rawls was being treated for lung cancer that spread to his brain. With his wife of two years by his side, Lou Rawls died from his illness on January 6, 2006, at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles, Californi
1938 Sandy Nelson (Sander Nelson) born in Santa Monica, California. US Drummer, (1962 UK No.3 & US No.7 single ‘Let There Be Drums’). Worked with The Teddy Bears, Gene Vincent. At end of 1963, Nelson was in a motorcycle accident. The injuries necessitated amputation of his right foot and part of that leg, nonetheless, Nelson continued to record and play drums.
1945 Bette Midler born in Honolulu, Hawaii. US Singer/Actress, (1989 US No.1 & UK No.5 single ‘Wind Beneath my Wings’). Worked with Barry Manilow, starred in the film ‘The Rose’ based on the life of Janis Joplin.
1944 John Densmore born in Santa Monica, California. US Drummer/Songwriter & Founder Member of The Doors.
1944 Charlie Grima – UK Drummer with Wizzard, (1973 UK No.1 single ‘See My Baby Jive’).
1944 Eric Bloom born in New York City. US Singer/Guitarist/Pianist/Songwriter with Blue Oyster Cult, (1976 US No.12 & 1978 UK No.16 single ‘Don’t Fear The Reaper’).
1944 John Densmore born In Los Angeles. Drummer with The Doors, (1967 US No.1 & UK No.49 single ‘Light My Fire’ & 1971 single ‘Riders On The Storm’).
1946 Gilbert O’Sullivan (Raymond O’Sullivan) born in Waterford, Ireland. Irish Singer/Songwriter, (1972 UK No.1 single ‘Clair’, 1972 US No.1 single ‘Alone Again Naturally’, plus 13 other UK Top 40 singles).
1949 Klaaseje Van der Wal – Dutch bassist with Shocking Blue.
1950 Ross Hannaford born in Newcastle, NSW. Australian Musician. He was lead Guitarist with Daddy Cool. Hannaford died on 8 March 2016 aged 65 from cancer; he had been diagnosed with the condition a year earlier.
1951 Jaco Pastorius, jazz bass player, (1976 hit with Weather Report, ‘Birdland’). Also worked with Joni Mitchell and Pat Metheny. Died on 21st September 1987 aged 35. He suffered irreversible brain damage after being beaten into a coma after an altercation with a bouncer at the Midnight Club in Fort Lauderdale.
1956 Julee Cruise born in Creston, Lowa. US Singer, (1990 UK No. 7 single ‘Falling’).
1957 Buddy Holly and the Crickets appeared on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show’, performing ‘That’ll Be The Day’ and ‘Peggy Sue’. Sam Cooke was also a guest on the same show performing ‘You Send Me’.
1959 Steve Janson (Stephen Batt) – UK Drummer/Percussionist with Japan, (1982 UK No.5 single ‘Ghosts’).
1960 Singer Bobby Darin married actress Sandra Dee.
1963 Sam Reid born in Toronto, Canada. Canadian Keyboard Player/Songwriter with Glass Tiger, (1986 UK No.29 single ‘Don’t Forget Me, When I’m Gone’).
1966 Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Green Green Grass Of Home.’ It stayed at No.1 for seven weeks giving Decca records its first million selling single by a British artist. A No.11 hit in the US.
1971 Greg Upchurch, drummer, joined in 2005, 3 Doors Down, (2003 US No.4 single ‘When I’m Gone’, 2005 US No.1 album ‘Seventeen Days’).
1973 Appearing at The Odeon, Birmingham, England, The O’Jays, Billy Paul and The Intruders.
1973 The Carpenters went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Top Of The World’, their second US No.1, a No.5 hit in the UK.
1976 The Sex Pistols appeared on ITV’s live early evening ‘Today’ programme (in place of Queen who had pulled out following a trip to the dentists by Freddie Mercury). Taunted by interviewer Bill Grundy who asked the band to say something outrageous, guitarist
1977 Brad Delson, guitar, Linkin Park, (2002 US No.2 & UK No.4 single ‘In The End’, 2002 US No.2 & 2001 UK No.4 album ‘Hybrid Theory’).
1980 Appearing at London’s Hammersmith Palais, London, Talking Heads supported by U2.
1981 Vince Clarke announced he was quitting Depeche Mode to form Yazoo with Alison Moyet.
1982 Michael Jacksons ‘Thriller’ album was released. It spent 190 weeks on the UK album chart became the biggest selling pop album of all time, with sales over 51 million.
1984 Jim Diamond was at No.1 in the UK singles chart with ‘I Should Of Known Better’.
1986 Lee Sorsey – US Singer/Songwriter. Died of emphysema. Born 24th Dec, 1924.
1987 A Kentucky teacher lost her appeal in the US Supreme Court over her sacking after showing Pink Floyd’s film ‘The Wall’ to her class. The court decided that the film was not suitable for minors with its bad language and sexual content.
1987 Brothers Phil and Boon Gould quit Level 42.
1988 Tyler Joseph American singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, record producer, and rapper and lead vocalist for the musical duo Twenty One Pilots. Their second album the 2015 Blurryface peaked at No.1 on the US chart.
1989 Sly Stone was sentenced to 55 days after pleading guilty to a charge of driving under the influence of cocaine, (two weeks later he also pleaded guilty to possession of cocaine and was sentenced to spend 9-14 months in rehab).
1990 Vanilla Ice started a four-week run at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Ice Ice Baby’. The track sampled the bass intro to the Queen and David Bowie No.1 ‘Under Pressure’. ‘Ice Ice Baby’ was initially released as the B-side to the rapper’s cover of ‘Play That Funky Music’, and became the A-side after US DJ’s started playing it.
1990 Vanilla Ice started a four-week run at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Ice Ice Baby’. The track sampled the bass intro to the Queen and David Bowie No.1 ‘Under Pressure’. ‘Ice Ice Baby’ was initially released as the B-side to the rapper’s cover of ‘Play That Funky Music’, and became the A-side after US DJ’s started playing it.
1990 Whitney Houston went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I’m Your Baby Tonight’, her 8th US No.1 and the first for writers and producers Reid and Babyface.
1997 Chumbawamba went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Tubthumping’. It was at No.1 for 6 weeks.
1997 Kenny G set a new world record when he held a note on his saxophone for 45 minutes and 47 seconds. (The record has since been broken by Geovanny Escalante, who held a note for 1 hour, 30 minutes and 45 seconds, using a technique that allows him to blow and breathe at the same time).
1998 The first night of a US tour with *NSYNC, Britney Spears and B*Witched opened in Columbus, Ohio.
2002 Daniel Bedingfield scored his second UK No.1 single with ‘If You’re Not The One.’
2002 Shania Twain started a five week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Up!’ a No.4 hit in the UK.
2003 Guy Sebastian made No.1 in one week with his debut single ‘Angels Brought Me Here’. It became the fastest selling in Australian chart history. Sold 128, 000 in 7 days. Also the highest first wek singles sales for a debut artist.
2006 An Oasis fan enjoyed “the best day of his life” when Noel Gallagher popped round to his house in Poynton, Cheshire to play an intimate gig. Ben Hayes had won a BBC Radio 1 competition to have the star play in his front room as part of a week of gigs compered by DJ Jo Whiley. 15 people packed into his lounge for the tiny gig – with his mother on hand making cups of tea for the crew.
2008 Wham’s Last Christmas was the most played festive track of the last five years. The Performing Right Society put the 1984 hit at the top of their chart of seasonal songs, just ahead of Band Aid’s Do They Know It’s Christmas. The Pogues came third with Fairytale of New York, recorded with the late Kirsty MacColl and first released in 1987. Other featured artists include Slade, Mariah Carey and Bruce Springsteen.
2012 Shakira was being sued for $100m (£62.4m) by a former boyfriend who acted as her business manager for six years. Antonio de la Rua claimed he was the “principal architect” of a business plan that turned the singer into a global superstar. He was seeking to “recover his share of past and future partnership profits,” according to papers filed in New York.
2013 Bob Dylan was placed under judicial investigation in France for allegedly provoking ethnic hatred of Croats. It followed a legal complaint lodged by a Croat association in France over a 2012 interview Dylan gave to Rolling Stone magazine. In the interview Dylan allegedly compared the relationship between Jews and Nazis to that of Serbs and Croats.
2014 ,Phil Rudd the drummer of rock band AC/DC pleaded not guilty to charges of threatening to kill and possession of drugs. Phil Rudd was excused from appearing in New Zealand’s Tauranga District Court, with his lawyer entering his plea. The 60-year-old Australian-born musician was originally charged with attempting to procure the murder of two men.
2016 Drake was named Spotify’s most-streamed artist of 2016, with his single ‘One Dance’ the site’s biggest song of the year. The Canadian had 4.7 billion streams in this year, more than half of which were for his album Views. ‘One Dance’ alone was streamed 960 million times. Played consecutively, that would take more than 5,200 years.