04 January – Today in Music History
1926 Songwriter Irving Berlin marries Ellin Mackay.
1932 NBC begins airing The Carnation Contented Hour (named for the sponsor, Carnation Milk), which features performances by top musical acts. The show runs for 19 years.
1936 Billboard magazine publishes their first “Hit Parade,” which ranks songs based on sales and airplay. The first #1: “Stop! Look! Listen!” by Joe Venuti & his Orchestra.
1936 John Gorman born in Birkenhead, Cheshire. UK Singer/Percussionist with The Scaffold, (1968 Christmas UK No.1 single ‘Lily The Pink’).
1942 John McLaughlin born in Doncaster, England. Who formed the Mahavishnu Orchestra and has also worked with Carlos Santana, Stanley Clark and Jaco Pastorius. Prior to the Mahavishnu Orchestra, in the 1960s, he played with Alexis Korner, Georgie Fame and the Blue Flames, the Graham Bond Organisation and Brian Auger. In 1969 he moved to New York to join Tony Williams’ Lifetime. On March 25th of that year he jammed with Jimi Hendrix at the Record Plant, recalling ‘we played from 2 until 8 in the morning. I was playing an acoustic guitar with a pick-up, a flat-top guitar, and Jimi was playing an electric. I thought it was a wonderful experience!’ In 2010, Jeff Beck called McLaughlin ‘the best guitarist alive’.
1947 Doc Neeson (Bernard Neeson) born in Belfast, Ireland. Australian Lead Singer with The Angels. Neeson died on 4 June 2014, aged 67, from his glioblastoma multiforme (brain tumour). His funeral was held on 11 June at Sydney’s St Michael’s Church, Lane Cove. Neeson was survived by partner Anne Souter and his three sons.
1950 Two years after Columbia Records introduces the long-playing record, RCA announces its intention to follow suit.
1954 Elvis Presley made his second visit to the Memphis recording service and cut two songs onto a 10 acetate, ‘Casual Love Affair ‘and ‘I’ll Never Stand In Your Way’. Studio boss Sam Phillips asked Presley to leave his phone number.
1954 Les Gock born in St. Leonards, NSW. Australian Musician & Composer. He played guitar with 70’s rock band Hush.
1955 Clive Gregson born inAshton-under-Lyne, Tameside. Singer, songwriter, and leader of late 70’s Stiff Records band Any Trouble, one half of Gregson & Collister folk duo.
1955 American session musician, guitarist, bassist, singer–songwriter and musical director, Brian Ray, best known for his work as a rhythm guitarist and bassist with Paul McCartney.
1956 Bernard Sumner, guitar, vocals, Warsaw, Joy Division, (1980 UK No.13 single ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’), New Order, (1983 UK No.9 single ‘Blue Monday’), Electronic, (1991 UK No.8 single ‘Get The Message’),
1956 Nels Cline, guitarist, songwriter, Wilco, (2004 album ‘A Ghost Is Born’).
1957 Elvis Presley had his pre-induction medical check up at Kennedy Veterans Hospital, a preliminary to his call up from the US Army.
1957 Louis Jordan recorded “Nobody Knows You When You’re Down And Out” on this day.
1958 Macel King – UK Singer with the group , singer, Sweet Sensation, (1974 UK No.1 single ‘Sad Sweet Dreamer’).
1960 Michael Stipe (John Michael Stipe) born in Decatur, Georgia. Lead Vocalist with R.E.M. (1991 UK No.6 & US No.10 single ‘Shiny Happy People’ plus over 20 Top 40 UK singles. 1992 UK No.1 & US No.2 album ‘Automatic For The People’).
1960 Marty Robbins started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘El Paso’. A No.19 in the UK.
1962 Martin Mcaloon, bass, Prefab Sprout, (1988 UK No.7 single ‘The King Of Rock ‘N’ Roll’).
1962 Robin Guthrie born in Grangemouth, Scotland. guitar, keyboards, programming with Cocteau Twins, (1984 UK No.29 single ‘Pearly- dewdrops’ Drops’).
1962 Gene McDaniels recorded “Point Of No Return” on this day.
1962 Liverpool’s Mersey Beat published its first popularity poll, with The Beatles coming in first place and Gerry and the Pacemakers voted second.
1962 Till Lindemann poet, lead vocalist for the German rock band Rammstein.
1962 Gene McDaniels recorded ‘Point Of No Return’.
1964 Bobby Vinton started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘There I’ve Said It Again’, a No.34 hit on the UK chart.
1965 Cait O’Riordan born in Nigeria to Irish and Scottish parents who moved to London in 1967. She played bass guitar for the London-Irish punk/folk band The Pogues from 1983 to 1986. She later played with Elvis Costello, her husband from 1986 to 2002, as well as several other projects.
1965 David Glasper born in Cardigan, Mid Wales. Vocalist with Breathe, (1988 US No.2 & UK No.4 single ‘Hands To Heaven’).
1965 Beth Gibbons born in Exeter, Devon, England . singer and lyricist for the English band Portishead. (1995 UK No.13 single ‘Glory Box’).
1965 The Fender guitar company was bought by CBS for $13 million (£7.6 million).
1967 Ben Darvill born in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada. Harmonica, Mandolin and Guitar player with the Crash Test Dummies from 1988-2000 (1994 UK No.2 & US No.4 single ‘MMM MMM MMM MMM’).
1967 The Doors released their self-titled debut album The Doors. Unique packaging of the album included each band members bio.
1967 The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of what would be over 240 gigs in this year when they appeared at the Bromel Club, Bromley. (Many of the concerts were two shows per night).
1968 Jimi Hendrix spends the night in a Swedish jail after trashing a hotel room, reportedly during a fight with his bandmate Noel Redding.
1968 The University of California, Los Angeles announced that students taking music degrees would have to study the music of The Rolling Stones saying they had made such an important contribution to modern music.
1969 UK music weekly Disc and Music Echo reported that The Beatles were to release five new albums. One would be their first ever live album plus four separate LP’s, each one the choice of Lennon, McCartney, Harrison and Starr.
1970 The Who’s Keith Moon accidentally runs over his chauffeur, Neil Boland, killing him. Apparently, Moon’s car was under attack from some unruly teenagers, and when Boland jumped out to get them to move, Moon, in a panic, got behind the wheel to drive the car away himself. Unfortunately, the crowd had since pushed Boland under the car.
1970 The Beatles (without John Lennon) re-record vocals and a new guitar solo on the Paul McCartney song ‘Let It Be’ at Studio Two, EMI Studios, London. This session will be the final studio appearance for The Beatles, as a group. (The final date that all four of The Beatles were in the studio together is August 20, 1969).
1973 The Allman Brothers Band publicly announce Lamar Williams as their replacement for recently deceased bassist Berry Oakley.
1974 Bruce Springsteen played the first of a three night run at Joes’ Place in Cambridge Massachusetts. Supported by Peter Johnson & The Manic Depressives. On the ticket it stated: Because of the energy crisis all our outside lights except for one will be shut off.
1975 Elton John started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with his version of The Beatles ‘Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds’. His third US No.1, the song featured John Lennon on guitar.
1976 Procol Harum Appearing at The Cardiff Capitol, England, Procol Harum.
1976 Former Beatles roadie Mal Evans was shot dead by police at his Los Angeles apartment. His girlfriend called police when she found Evans upset with a rifle in his hand; he pointed the gun at the police who opened fire.
1977 Timothy Wheelerm born in Downpatrick, Northern Ireland. Guitarist/Vocalist with Ash, (1995 UK No.11 single ‘Girl From Mars’).
1977 The Sex Pistols shocked passengers and airline staff at Heathrow Airport when they spat and vomited boarding a plane to Amsterdam.
1978 Fleetwood Mac guitarist Peter Green married Jane Samuel in Los Angeles.
1979 Due to renewed interest in The Beatles, the Star Club in Hamburg, Germany reopens to the public. The club had been an important stepping stone for the band. The Beatles do not attend.
1981 The Boomtown Rats kicked off a UK tour at The Gaumount Theatre in Southampton.
1986 Irish singer, songwriter and bassist Phil Lynott of Thin Lizzy died of heart failure and pneumonia after being in a coma for eight days following a drug overdose. Had the 1973 hit ‘Whiskey in the Jar’, (their version of the traditional Irish song), 1978 album ‘Live and Dangerous’ spent 62 weeks on the UK chart. A life-size bronze statue of Phil Lynott was unveiled on Harry Street in Dublin in 2005.
1991 Nirvana signs with Geffen Records. In September, their album Nevermind is released.
1992 Simply Red went back to No.1 on the UK album chart for a five week run with ‘Stars’ making it the third time it had been at the top of the charts.
1993 Paul Simon became a father when his wife Edie Brickell gave birth to a son.
1998 Balladeer John Gary dies in Richardson, Texas, following a long battle with cancer. He is 65. Gary’s biggest hit was the album “The Nearness Of You,” which reached No. 11 in 1965.
2000 Carlos Santana’s remarkable 1999 comeback receives further validation when the veteran Latin rocker is nominated for 10 Grammy Awards, including album of the year for his Arista set “Supernatural.”
2001 Courtney Love filed a lawsuit against her alleged stalker claiming that Lesley Barber, the ex-wife of her current boyfriend Jim Barber, drove over her foot. This had forced her to forfeit her role in a forthcoming film and lost her the £200,000, ($340,000) fee that went with it.
2001 Madame Tussaud’s waxworks in London revealed that Oasis singer Liam Gallagher had come third in ‘The Most Hated Characters’ list of exhibits, behind Adolf Hitler and Slobodan Milosevic.
2001 US rapper Vanilla Ice spent the night in jail after allegedly ripping out some of his wife’s hair. Ice (born Robert Van Winkle) told police he pulled out some of his wife’s hair to prevent her from jumping out of their truck’s window. He was released the following morning from Broward County Jail in Fort Lauderdale on $3,500 bail.
2004 Britney Spears had her surprise marriage annulled less than 55 hours after tying the knot at the Little White Wedding Chapel in Las Vegas with childhood friend Jason Alexander. They couple married on Saturday morning, during a night out in Las Vegas, but immediately her lawyers filed for an annulment, saying Spears ‘lacked understanding of her actions to the extent that she was incapable of agreeing to the marriage.’
2004 Will Young had the UK No.1 album with ‘Friday’s Child’.
2005 The owner of a recording studio where Eminem recorded his ‘Slim Shady’ LP was found shot dead. AJ Abdallah, who was 36, was discovered by a business colleague at the Detroit studio, it was thought he had been dead for at least two days. Police suggested that a robbery may also have taken place. Mr Abdallah had lived in a apartment above the studio on Eight Mile Road, the Detroit street which inspired the title of Eminem’s 2002 film ‘8 Mile.’
2006 The house where Johnny Cash lived for 35 years was bought by Bee Gees singer Barry Gibb. The rustic house near Nashville, Tennessee went on the market in June 2005 with an asking price of $2.9m (£1.7m). Gibb said he planned to preserve the house to honour the Cash memory. Unfortunately Gibb’s ownership of the house was short-lived. In April 2007, the house burned to the ground. Gibb was having the house renovated when a flammable spray sealer caused fire to break out during construction.
2007 Nikki Bacharach the daughter of songwriter Burt Bacharach and actress Angie Dickinson committed suicide by suffocation using a plastic bag and helium. She had suffered from Asperger’s disorder. 40 year old Nickki who was the couple’s only child died at her home in California.
2008 Beyonce won a long-running legal wrangle over claims her hit song ‘Baby Boy’ infringed the copyright of another artist’s work. The appeals court in Houston, Texas upheld a 2006 decision which dismissed musician Jennifer Armour’s claims that its lyrics were based on her work. Ms Armour claimed she had posted ‘I Got A Little Bit Of Love For You’ to Beyonce’s manager and record company in early 2003.
2008 Britney Spears was carried out of her home on a stretcher and taken into custody after police were called in a dispute involving her children. Police were called to Spears’ home over a family custodial dispute that they tried to resolve, after nearly three hours, Spears handed over her children, two-year-old Sean Preston and one-year-old Jayden James, to her ex-husband Kevin Federline.
2009 Led Zeppelin singer Robert Plant was voted the Greatest Voice In Rock by listeners of radio station Planet Rock. Plant beat Queen’s Freddie Mercury, Free’s Paul Rodgers and Deep Purple’s Ian Gillan to the top spot in the UK poll.
2010 Scottish singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty died aged 63 after a long illness. Rafferty had been a member of Stealers Wheel, who had the 1973 US No.3 & UK No.8 single ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ and had the solo 1978 UK No.3 and US No.2 single ‘Baker Street.’
2011 Scottish singer songwriter Gerry Rafferty died aged 63 after a long illness. Rafferty had been a member of Stealers Wheel, who had the 1973 US No.3 & UK No.8 single ‘Stuck In The Middle With You’ and had the solo 1978 UK No.3 and US No.2 single ‘Baker Street.’
2012 Bryan Ferry, 66, marries Amanda Sheppard, 29. Sheppard dated Ferry’s son Isaac for a short time.
2013 Rob Caggiano, longtime lead guitarist for the band Anthrax, announces he’s quitting the band. The split was affirmed by all members to be amicable, with Caggiano hinting that he’d like to work on other projects.
2016 Australian-born British-resident music entrepreneur, film producer and impresario, Robert Stigwood died aged 81. He was best known for managing Cream and the Bee Gees, theatrical productions like Hair and Jesus Christ Superstar and film productions including the hugely successful Grease and Saturday Night Fever.