January 5 – Today in Music History
1923 Sam Phillips born in Florence, Alabama. US founder of Sun Records, the first label of Elvis Presley’s recordings. Recorded Carl Perkins, Ike Turner, B.B. King, Jerry Lee Lewis. Died 30/8/03.
1940 Athol Guy born in Colac, Victoria. Double Bass Player/Vocalist with The Seekers, (1965 UK No.1 single ‘I’ll Never Find Another You’).
1941 Grady Thomas born in Newark, New Jersey. A former member of the bands Parliament and Funkadelic., (1978 US No.16 album ‘One Nation Under A Groove’).
1949 George Brown born in Jersey City, New Jersey. Drummer with Kool & The Gang, (1981 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Celebration’, plus over 15 other UK Top 40 hits).
1950 Chris Stein born in New York City, New York. Guitarist & Songwriter with US band Blondie which featured his long-tome girlfriend Debbie Harry. (Five UK No.1 singles including 1979 UK & US No.1 single ‘Heart Of Glass’ and 1978 world-wide No.1 album ‘Parallel Lines’).
1951 Biff Byford, vocals, Saxon, (1980 UK No.5 album ‘Wheels Of Steel’).
1961 The Beatles played at Litherland Town Hall, Liverpool. In the audience are two members from Rory Storm & the Hurricanes: Johnny Guitar and Ringo Starr who have just returned from Hamburg, Germany.
1963 The Four Seasons went to No.1 on the Australain Singles Chart with ‘Big Girls Don’t Cry’. Staying at the top spot for 1 wk.
1964 Grant Young born in Iowa City, Iowa. Drummer with Soul Asylum from 1984 – 1995. (1993 US No.5 and UK No.7 single ‘Runaway Train’).
1964 Phil Thornalley, songwriter, vocals, Bass Guitarist with The Cure. Writer of Natalie Imbruglia word- wide hit ‘Torn’. He joined Johnny Hates Jazz in 1988.
1964 The Rolling Stones performed at the Ricky Tick club at the Olympia Ballroom in Reading, England. During the 1960s, the club was host to many important acts such as The Who, Jimi Hendrix, Pink Floyd and Cream. The Yardbirds were filmed performing in a recreation of the club built at MGM Studios in Borehamwood for Michelangelo Antonioni’s 1966 film Blow-Up.
1965 The Supremes recorded ‘Stop In The Name Of Love’.
1966 Kate Schellenbach, singer, Luscious Jackson, (1997 UK No.25 single ‘Naked Eye’).
1966 The Who appeared on a new BBC TV programme ‘The Whole Scene Going.’
1966 The Beatles went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘We Can Work It Out/Day Tripper’. Staying at the top spot for 8wks.
1967 During The Beatles Sgt Pepper sessions at Abbey Road in London, Paul McCartney recorded his vocal track on ‘Penny Lane.’
1967 Pink Floyd and Eyes of Blue appeared at The Marquee Club, London, England. A review in Queen magazine said: ‘The two guitarists looked moody, the drummer thrashed wildly about and the lights kept flashing. After about twenty minutes it became very boring and after half an hour I left.’
1968 Jimi Hendrix was jailed for one day in Stockholm, Sweden on drink charges after going berserk and destroying everything in his room at the Goteberg Hotel.
1969 Brian Warner, (Marilyn Manson), 1998 US No.1 album, ‘Mechanical Animals’, UK No. 12 single, ‘The Dope Show’. His stage name was formed from juxtaposing the names of two 1960s American cultural icons, Marilyn Monroe and convicted multiple murder Charles Manson.
1969 During the band’s first North American tour, Led Zeppelin played the last of four nights at the Whisky A Go-Go, Los Angeles, with Alice Cooper as the opening act. Zeppelin were billed as ‘Led Zeppelin featuring Jimmy Page, formerly of the Yardbirds’.
1970 Jeffrey Jey, singer, Italian group Eiffel 65, (1999 UK No.1 single ‘Blue (Da Ba Dee’). The single was also No.1 in Norway, Austria, Finland, Germany and Denmark.
1970 Troy Van Leeuwen, American guitarist, Queens of the Stone Age and A Perfect Circle, (their debut album ‘Mer De Noms’ became the highest ever debut for a rock band, with 188,000 copies sold in its first week). Also has a side project, Sweethead.
1972 David Bowie played two shows at Green’s Playhouse, Glasgow, Scotland.
1973 Bruce Springsteen released his debut album ‘Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J.’ Recorded in a single week the album only sold about 25,000 copies in the first year of its release. Both ‘Blinded By The Light’ and ‘Spirit In The Night’ were released as singles but neither made a dent in the charts. Manfred Mann’s Earth Band later released a version of ‘Blinded By The Light’ on their album ‘The Roaring Silence,’ which reached #1 on the US charts in 1977.
1974 The Carpenters went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Singles 1969-1973’.
1976 Matthew Walter “Matt” Wachter born in Pottsville, Pennsylvania. bassist, keyboardist, and the backing vocalist in the rock band Angels & Airwaves. He was the former bassist for alternative rock group Thirty Seconds to Mars from 2001 to 2007.
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. Friends later said that Evans was depressed about his separation from his wife Lil Evans — who had asked for a divorce before Christmas.
1978 The Sex Pistols started a US tour in Atlanta, Georgia before an estimated audience of 500 people.
1979 Jazz musician and bandleader Charles Mingus died aged 56. His final project was ‘Mingus’ a collaboration with Joni Mitchell.
1979 Prince made his live debut at the Capri Theatre, Minneapolis.
1980 Donna Summer scored her third US No.1 album with ‘On The Radio- Greatest Hits, Vol. 1 & II.’
1980 KC and the Sunshine Band had their 5th US No.1 single and scored the first No.1 of the 80’s when ‘Please Don’t Go’ went to No.1 in the UK.
1983 Everything But The Girl made their live debut at the ICA in London. (They took their name from a second-hand furniture store in Hull).
1987 Alied Jones the young Welsh chorister announced his retirement from pop music at the age of 16, to study for his O level exams.
1989 Winners in music weekly Melody Makers Readers Poll results, The Mission won best band, best live act, best single and best album. Morrissey won best male singer, Julianne Regan from All About Eve best female singer, worst LP went to Bros with ‘Push’ and best new band was won by House Of Love.
1990 Appearing at The NEC Birmingham, England, Paul McCartney.
1991 Madonna went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Justify My Love’, a song co-written with Lenny Kravitz and No.2 hit in the UK.
1991 Iron Maiden went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bring Your Daughter To The Slaughter.’ It became the lowest selling No.1 since 1960, with just over 42,000 copies sold in its first week.
1997 No Doubt went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Tragic Kingdom.’
1998 Sonny Bono was killed in a skiing accident at a resort near Lake Tahoe, aged 62. Bono who was one half on Sonny and Cher scored the 1965 UK & US No.1 single ‘I Got You Babe’ and had become a US Congressman.
1998 Ken Forssi bassist with Love died of brain cancer aged 55. Love scored the 1966 US No.33 single ‘7 And 7 Is’, 1968 UK No.24 album ‘Forever Changes.’
2001 Kirsty MacColl was laid to rest at a private funeral ceremony, ahead of a public memorial to pay tribute to her life. The singer songwriter was killed in a boating accident on 18th Dec 2000.
2002 UK Pop magazine Smash Hits listed the Best singles Of 2001 had Kylie Minogue at No.3 with ‘Can’t Get You Out Of My Head’, No.2, Shaggy, ‘It Wasn’t Me’ and at No.1 S Club 7 ‘Don’t Stop Movin.’
2003 Canadian singer Avril Lavigne went to No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut release ‘Let Go’.
2003 Green Day’s lead singer Billie Joe Armstrong was arrested on suspicion of drink driving after being stopped in California speeding in a black BMW convertible. He failed a breath test and was taken to Berkeley county jail and was later released on $1,053 (£657) bail.
2004 Kinks singer Ray Davies was shot in the leg while on holiday in New Orleans. The 59-year-old singer-songwriter was shot when running after two men who stole his girlfriend’s purse at gunpoint. Davies was admitted to the Medical Centre of Louisiana but his injuries were not considered serious. New Orleans police said one person had been arrested, and police were still searching for the second.
2004 Shannon Noll released his revival of ‘What About Me’.
2005 New York group Scissor Sisters had the UK’s best-selling album of 2004 after overtaking Keane’s sales on the last day of the year. Scissor Sisters’ self-titled debut CD sold 1,594,259 copies in 2004 – 582 more than Keane’s ‘Hopes and Fears.’ Robbie Williams’ ‘Greatest Hits’ was the year’s third biggest-seller, followed by Maroon 5, Katie Melua and Anastacia.
2008 Josh Groban was at No.1 on the US album chart with his Christmas album ‘Noel’. The best selling US album of 2007 selling over 3.5 million copies in 10 weeks.
2010 American trumpeter, bandleader and producer Willie Mitchell died from a cardiac arrest age 81. He was best known for his Hi Records label of the 1970s, which released albums by a large stable of popular Memphis soul artists, including Mitchell himself, Al Green, O. V. Wright, Syl Johnson and Ann Peebles.
2015 Taylor Swift was at No.1 on the US album chart with her fifth studio album 1989 which was the best selling album of 2014 in the US market with over 5.5 million copies sold.
2016 Donald Fagen, lead singer and founder of Steely Dan, was arrested by New York police and charged with assaulting his wife at their home. Fagen, was accused of pushing Libby Titus into a marble window frame, knocking her to the ground, at their Manhattan apartment.