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03 January – Today in Music History

1941 Van Dyke Parks, US songwriter, producer. Worked with Brian Wilson on the ‘Smile’ album, played keyboards on The Byrds ‘Eight Miles High’, produced Ry Cooder, Randy Newman, Judy Collins. 
1943 Michael Zager born in Passaic, New Jersey. US Keyboard Player/Songwrter with the Michael Zager Band. 
1945 Stephen Stills born in Dallas, Texas. US Singer. Guitarist/Vocals, Buffalo Springfield, in 1968 he joined with David Crosby & ex-Hollies member Graham Nash to form the trio Crosby Stills Nash. 1969 UK No.17 single ‘Marrakesh Express’ & 1970 US No.1 album 
1946 John Paul Jones (John Baldwin) – UK Bass Player, Keyboard Player/Songwriter with Led Zeppelin
1955 Denis Walter born in Geelong, Victoria. Australian Radio Host, TV Newsreader & Singer. 
1955 Elvis Presley appeared in Boonesville, Virginia. The 20 year-old singer was still a regional star, but by the end of 56′ he had become a national sensation, recording two albums, (which included ‘Heartbreak Hotel’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes’), appeared on national television 11 times, played over 100 concerts and signed a seven year contract with Paramount Pictures. 
1957 Guy Mitchell was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Singing The Blues.’ (Tommy Steele and Marty Robbins had also released versions and Steele would replace this version at No.1). Also a US No.1. 
1957 Dave Dobbyn born in Auckland, NZ, Vocalist. He had a No.1 hit in Australian in 1987 with Slice Of Heaven from the Footrot Flats Soundtrack. 
1957 Fats Domino records “I’m Walking.” 
1963 Cliff Richard was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Next Time / Bachelor Boy,’ both songs were from the film Summer Holiday. His sixth UK No.1. 
1963 The Beatles began their first headlining tour with four nights in Scotland appearing at the Two Red Shoes Ballroom, Elgin. Two of the dates were cancelled due to bad weather. 
1964 Raymond McGinley, guitar & vocals, Teenage Fanclub, 1992 UK No.31 single ‘What You Do To Me.’ 
1964 The Beatles were seen for the first time on US TV when a clip from the BBC’s ‘The Mersey Sound’ showing the group playing ‘She Loves You’ was shown on The Jack Paar Show. 
1964 The Rolling Stones appeared at Glenlyn Ballroom in Forest Hill, England, supported by The Detours (later to become The Who). 
1967 Having received a US army draft notice, Beach Boy Carl Wilson refused to be sworn in, saying he was a conscientious objector. 
1967 The Bee Gees were at No.1 in the Australian singles chart with the single ‘Spickes and Speckes.’ 
1967 Carl Wilson of the Beach Boys refuses to be sworn in after receiving a U.S. Army draft notice, saying he is a conscientious objector.
1969 Appearing live on The Lulu show on UK TV, Jimi Hendrix was booked to perform two songs, Voodoo Child, (which is performed in full), then he stopped performing his new single ‘Hey Joe’ after a verse and chorus and instead launched into a version of the Cream song ‘Sunshine Of Your Love’ as a tribute to the band who had split a few days earlier. Hendrix then proceeded to continuing jamming, running over their allocated time slot on the live show, preventing the show’s host Lulu from closing the show properly. 
1970 B J Thomas started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Raindrops Keep Falling On My Head.’ The song was featured in the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. 
1970 Working on the Get Back sessions at Studio Two of EMI Studios, London, three Beatles (Paul, George, and Ringo) record 16 takes of the George Harrison song ‘I Me Mine’. John Lennon was away in Denmark at the time. A decade later it became the title of George Harrison’s auto-biography. 
1970 Four days after learning that their movie Let It Be will be released in theaters, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr meet at Abbey Road Studios and record “I Me Mine” for the film and soundtrack.
1971 Jack Jones (Irwin Thomas) born in New York. Australian Vocalist and Guitarist with Southern Sons. 
1972 Two weeks of rehearsals for Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ tour began at the Bermondsey in London, England, (the venue was owned by The Rolling Stones). 
1972 Don McLean’s “American Pie” is certified gold. 
1973 Two thousand international fashion editors and experts voted Mick and Bianca Jagger two of the top dozen best-dressed men and women of 1972. 
1973 Bruce Springsteen played the first of a 4 night run at The Main Point, Bryn Mawr, Pennsylvania, opening for the comedy rock duo Travis Shook & The Club Wow. 
1974 Bob Dylan and The Band started a 39-date US tour, Dylan’s first live appearance for over 7 years. There were more than 5 million applications for the 660,000 tickets. 
1974 Jim Croce’s “Time In A Bottle” is certified gold. 
1975 Thomas Bangaltier, Daft Punk, 1997 UK No.5 single ‘Around The World’, remixed Gabrielle, Chemical Brothers. Scored the 2013 UK No.1 hit ‘Get Lucky’ featuring Pharrell Williams. 
1976 The Bay City Rollers went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Saturday Night.’ At the height of their US success, the Scottish group signed a deal to promote breakfast cereal. 
1976 Bob Dylan’s song, ‘Hurricane’, peaked at No.33 on the Billboard singles chart, helping to cause enough publicity to eventually get former boxer Rubin ‘Hurricane’ Carter released from jail. The song promoted Carter’s innocence and a movie about Carter’s life, starring Denzel Washington, was released in 2000. 
1979 U2 Appearing at McGonagils, Dublin, The Hype. Later to be known as U2. 
1979 The Hype, (later to be known as U2) appeared at McGonagils in Dublin, Ireland. 
1980 American rhythm and blues singer Amos Milburn died aged 52. Famous for his drinking songs including, ‘Let Me Go Home, Whiskey’ and ‘One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer.’ 
1981 David Bowie made his final appearance as the Elephant Man in the Broadway show in New York City. 
1982 Adam and the Ants Appearing at The Apollo, Manchester, England, Adam and the Ants. 
1987 Aretha Franklin became the first woman inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. 
1987 The second class of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is announced, and it includes the first woman: Aretha Franklin. The Coasters, Eddie Cochran, Bo Diddley, Marvin Gaye,Bill Haley, Clyde McPhatter, Rick Nelson, Roy Orbison, Carl Perkins, Smokey Robinson, andJackie Wilson also enter. 
1992 Simple Minds singer Jim Kerr married actress Patsy Kensit at Chelsea register office. 
1999 Steps scored their first UK No.1 single with their version of The Bee Gees song ‘Tragedy.’ 
2000 Luciano Pavarotti agreed to pay the Italian authorities £1.6 million ($2.72 million) after losing an appeal against tax evasion charges. It was reported that the singer was worth £300 million ($510 million) at the time. 
2002 Zak Foley bassist with EMF died aged 31. The group had the 1990 world-wide hit single ‘Unbelievable.’ 
2002 Liam and Noel Gallagher topped a poll of celebrities you would least like to live next to, getting 40% of the vote. Readers of Your Home magazine voted the brothers from Oasis as ‘Neighbours From Hell’. 
2004 It was reported that UK record companies were about to ditch up to 30 big names in the pop world due to poor record sales in the previous year. Gareth Gates, The Cheeky Girls, Mark Owen, Mel C and Samantha Mumber were among those listed. 
2009 Commercial radio show Hit 40 UK announced that it would no longer use CD sales for its official figures. The networked Top 40 chart program, which broadcast across 130 stations in the UK, would now base its weekly charts solely on digital downloads. 
2014 Phil Everly, one half of the Everly Brothers, died of complications from lung disease aged 74, in California. In their heyday between 1957 and 1962, the Everly Brothers had 19 Top 40 hits, including ‘Bye Bye Love’, ‘Wake Up Little Susie’ and ‘All I Have to Do Is Dream’ and influenced acts such as The Beatles and The Beach Boys. The Everly Brothers had 35 Billboard Top-100 singles, 26 in the top 40. They hold the record for the most Top-100 singles by any duo. In the UK, they had 30 chart singles, 29 in the top 40, 13 top 10, and 4 at No. 1 between 1957 and 1984 
2017 Vinyl sales topped three million last year, the highest UK total in 25 years. More than 3.2 million records were sold in 2016, a rise of 53% on the previous year, according to the BPI, which represents the music industry. David Bowie’sBlackstar was the most popular album on vinyl, selling more than double the number of copies of 2015’s biggest-seller, Adele’s 25.

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02 January – Today in Music History

04 January – Today in Music History