December 2 – Today in Music History Events

1906 Dr Peter Carl Goldmark, invented the long-playing microgroove record in 1945. The invention went on to revolutionise the way people listened to music. Goldmark was Killed in a car crash on 7th December 1977.
1941 Tom McGuinness born in Wimbledon, South London, England. UK Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Manfred Mann until June 1966. (1964 UK & US No.1 single ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy’). McGiness Flint (1970 UK No.2 single ‘When I’m Dead And Gone’). Also a member of The Blues Band.
1942 Ted Bluechel Jr born in Pedro, California. Drums/Vocals/Songwriter with The Association, (1967 US No.1 single ‘Windy’).
1943 David Munden born in Dagenham, Essex. UK Drummer with the Tremeloes
1950 Ross Hannaford born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Australian musician, active in numerous local bands. He was often referred to by his nickname “Hanna”. Widely regarded as one of the country’s finest rock guitarists, he was best known for his long collaboration with singer-songwriter Ross Wilson, which began as teenagers, with The Pink Finks and forming the seminal early ’70s Australian rock band Daddy Cool. Hw died on 8 March 2016 aged 65 from cancer; he had been diagnosed with the condition a year earlier.
1952 Michael McDonald born in St Louis, Missouri. Keyboard player/Vocalist with the Doobie Brothers, he joined the group in 1976.He sang lead on ‘What A Fool Believes’, in 1986 he recorded ‘On My Own’ with Patti La Belle. It mad No.1 in the US.
1952 Peter Kingsbery born in Phoenix, Arizona. US Bassist/Singer/Songwriter with Cock Robin.
1960 Rick Savage born in Sheffield, England. UK Bass Player with Def Leppard, (1987 UK No.6 single ‘Animal’ 1987 world wide No.1 album ‘Hysteria’, 1988 US No.1 single ‘Love Bites’).
1960 Sydney Youngblood born in San Antonio, Texas. US Singer, (1989 UK No.3 single ‘If Only I Could’).
1963 The Beatles recorded an appearance on the UK TV comedy program The Morecambe and Wise Show. The Beatles played ‘This Boy’, ‘All My Loving’, and ‘I Want to Hold Your Hand’ and also participate in comedy sketches with Eric Morecambe and Ernie Wise. The program was broadcast on April 18, 1964.
1967 The Monkees album, ‘Pisces, Aquarius, Capricorn and Jones Ltd’ went to number one on the US album chart. It was their fourth album to sell over a million copies, following ‘The Monkees’, ‘More Of The Monkees’ and ‘Headquarters’.
1968 Nate Mendel born in Richland, Washington. Bass Guitarist with The Foo Fighters, The Jealous Sound, Sunny Day Real Estate, and The Fire Theft. Mendel was also a member of Diddly Squat, and punk bands Christ On A Crutch.
1969 The Archies ‘Sugar Sugar’ started it’s second week as the UK number 1 single.
1969 Cindy Birdsong of the Supremes was kidnapped at knifepoint by a maintenance man who worked in the building she lived in. She later escaped unharmed by jumping out of his car on the San Diego freeway. The kidnapper was arrested in Las Vegas four days later.
1971 Led Zeppelin Appearing at The Royal Ballroom, Bournemouth, England, Led Zeppelin.
1973 The Who spent the night in a Montreal Jail after causing $6, 000 worth of damage to a hotel room.
1975 Skyhooks released the single ‘Horror Movie’ on this day.
1976 The first day of the photo shoot for the forthcoming Pink Floyd Animals album cover took place at Battersea Power Station in London, England with a giant inflatable pig lashed between two of the structure’s tall towers. A trained marksman was hired ready to fire if the inflatable escaped, but was not needed on this, the first day. Unfortunately the following day the marksman hadn’t been rebooked, so when the inflatable broke free from its moorings, it was able to float away, eventually landing in Kent where it was recovered by a local farmer, reportedly furious that it had ‘scared his cows.’
1978 Nelly Furtado born in Victoria, British Columbia. Canadian Singer (2001 UK No. 5 single ‘I’m Like A Bird’).
1978 Rod Stewart was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Da Ya Think I’m Sexy’, the singers fifth UK chart topper. A plagiarism lawsuit by Brazilian musician Jorge Ben Jor confirmed that the song had been derived from his composition ‘Taj Mahal’. Stewart agreed to donate all his royalties from the song to United Nations Children’s Fund.
1978 Brian Chase, drummer, Yeah Yeah Yeahs, (2006 UK No. 18 single ‘Gold Lion’).
1979 Neil Diamond and Barbra Streisand’s ‘You Don’t Bring Me Flowers’ was at No.1 on the US singles chart. A radio station engineer had spliced together Neil’s version with Barbra’s version and got such good response, the station added it to their play list. When Neil Diamond was told about it, he decided to re-record the song with Streisand herself, and within weeks of its release, the single went to No.1 in the US and No.5 in the UK.
1981 Britney Spears born in Kentwood, Los Angeles. US Singer, (1999 US & UK No.1 single ”Baby One More Time’, 1999 album ”Baby One More Time’, spent 82 weeks on the UK chart. Biggest selling teenage act in the world with album sales over 40m.
1981 Cliff Richard went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Wired For Sound’, it stayed at No.1 for 2wks in a row.
1982 US folk singer David Blue died of a heart attack aged 41 while jogging in New York’s Washington Square Park. Member of Bob Dylan’s Rolling Thunder Revue during the late 70’s. He wrote ‘Outlaw Man’ covered by The Eagles on their 1973 Desperado album.
1983 MTV aired the full 14-minute version of Michael Jackson’s ‘Thriller’ video for the first time. Now regarded as the most influential pop music video of all time, in 2009, the video was inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress, the first music video to ever receive this honor, for being “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant
1986 Tal Wilkenfeld, Australian bass guitarist who has gained worldwide attention performing alongside some of rock and jazz music’s most notable artists including Jeff Beck.
1986 Jerry Lee Lewis checked into the Betty Ford Clinic to overcome his addiction to painkillers.
1987 Appearing at Newcastle City Hall, INXS supported by Sinead O’Connor
1991 American singer and songwriter Charlie Puth best known for writing and singing on Wiz Khalifa’s US No.1 single ‘See You Again’, taken from the Furious 7 soundtrack.
1995 Mariah Carey went to No.1 on the US singles chart with her duet with Boyz II Men ‘One Sweet Day’. It made Carey the first artist in history to have two consecutive single debut at No.1, ‘Fantasy’ being her first.
1997 A man died after falling from a balcony during a Rolling Stones concert at Pontiac Silverdome, Michigan.
1997 Whitney Houston pulled out of a concert sponsored by the Moonies two hours before she was due on stage. The religious group said they had no intention of suing providing the singer returned the $1m fee she had received.
1999 It was reported that Stevie Wonder was to undergo an operation to regain his sight. The breakthrough by top eye specialists involved inserting a microchip in the retina.
2000 Thieves broke into the London home Madonna shares with Guy Ritchie. The raiders forced their way in through a basement door then took a set of car keys before loading up Guy Ritchie’s car with some of the couple’s possessions and driving off.
2000 The Smashing Pumpkins played their final concert when they appeared at the Metro Club in Chicago.
2001 Singer Valerie Jones died aged 45. One-third of the sister group The Jones Girls, who sang back-up vocals with Lou Reed, Diana Ross, Aretha Franklin, Lou Rawls, Teddy Pendergrass and Betty Everett.
2001 Creed started an eight-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Weathered’.
2001 Daniel Bedingfield scored his first UK No.1 single with ‘Gotta Get Thru This’, the single went back to No.1 in January 2002. The track was recorded in Bedingfield’s bedroom with his PC and a microphone, using music software.
2002 Oasis singer Liam Gallagher was arrested and charged with assault after he Kung-Fu kicked a police officer. The incident happened at the Bayerischer hotel in Munich, the singer lost his two front teeth in the brawl and an Oasis minder was knocked out cold
2003 Darkness singer Justin Hawkins was held for two hours at JFK Airport, New York after police mistook him for a wanted man with the same name and looks. The police only agreed to let him go after Justin’s fiance and manager Sue Whitehouse produced a tour schedule to prove that he was in England on July 4th when the crime was committed.
2006 David Mount the drummer with Mud died in London. They had the 1974 UK No.1 single ‘Tiger Feet’ (best-selling single of 1974). Plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles.
2006 25 year old singer and actress Beyonce was set to earn more money than any other black actress for her performance in her latest film ‘Dreamgirls’. The musical based on the history of Diana Ross and the Supremes would earn the singer a £5m fee.
2006 Dutch singer Mariska Veres from Shocking Blue died of cancer at the age of 59. Had the 1970 US No.1 & UK No.8 single ‘Venus’, (later covered by girl group of Bananarama).
2007 Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne made more than $800,000 (£389,032) for charity after they sold off some of their possessions from their former US home. Items sold included the family’s custom pool table for $11,250 (£5,470) and a pair of Ozzy’s trademark round glasses went for $5,250 (£2,553). The beaded wire model of the Eiffel Tower that adorned the kitchen fetched $10,000 (£4,862), while skull-adorned trainers worn by Ozzy sold for $2,625 (£1,276).
2009 Eric Woolfson died of from kidney cancer in London aged 64. Keyboards, vocals, composition, lyrics, executive production with the Alan Parsons Project
2012 Led Zeppelin received a prestigious award from Barack Obama for their significant contribution to American culture and the arts. Dressed in black suits and bow ties, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and Jimmy Page were among a group of artists who received Kennedy Centre Honours at a dinner event at the White House. In his tribute to the band, Mr Obama said: “When Jimmy Page, Robert Plant, John Paul Jones and John Bonham burst onto the musical scene in the late 1960s, the world never saw it coming. The president drew laughter from guests when he thanked the former band members for behaving themselves at the White House given their history of “hotel rooms being trashed and mayhem all around”.
2013 Reggae singer Junior Murvin, best known for the 1976 hit song ‘Police and Thieves’, died in Jamaica aged 67. ‘Police and Thieves’ (produced by Lee “Scratch” Perry), was a hit in Jamaica and also took off in the UK where it found an audience with punk rock aficionados.
2014 Roger Taylor and Brian May opened the Queen Studio Experience – Montreux, an exhibition of Queen memorabilia at Mountain Studios in Switzerland, where they had recorded many classic tracks spanning seven albums and where Freddie Mercury recorded his last vocal. The exhibition would open to the public a day later.
2014 American saxophone player Bobby Keys died as a result of cirrhosis at his home in Franklin, Tennessee. Keys started touring at age fifteen with Bobby Vee and fellow Texan Buddy Holly and was best known as being the main saxophone player for The Rolling Stones. When on tour with the Stones, according to legend Keys filled a bathtub with Dom Perignon champagne and drank most of it. Keys appeared on albums by Lynyrd Skynyrd, Harry Nilsson, Delaney & Bonnie and Friends, George Harrison, John Lennon, Eric Clapton, Joe Cocker and other prominent musicians.
2016 Duran Duran said they were “outraged and saddened” at losing a High Court fight to reclaim US rights to some of their most famous songs. The group had argued that US copyright laws gave them the right to call for a reversion of copyright after 35 years. ‘Girls on Film’, ‘Rio’ and ‘A View to a Kill” were among the disputed tracks.