11th March Today in Music History Events
1903 Lawrence Welk born in Strasberg, North Dakota. US Band Leader. Died of Pneumonia on May 17, 1992 in Santa Monica, California aged 89.
1942 Bob Lander (Bob Strander) born in Sweden. Swedish guitarist/songwriter with the Spotnicks.
1944 Ric Rothwell born in 4, Stockport, Cheshire, England. Drummer with The Mindbenders, (1965 US No.1 single with ‘Game Of Love’ and a 1966 UK No.2 single with ‘Groovy Kind Of Love’).
1945 Harvey Mandel born in Detroit, Michigan. US Guitarist with Canned Heat. He joined in 1968.
1947 Mark Stein born in Bayonne, New Jersey. US Vocalist/Keyboard Player with Vanilla Fudge, (1968 US No.6 single ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’).
1948 George Kooymans born in The Hague, Netherlands. Dutch Guitarist/Songwriter/Leader & Co-Founder of Golden Earring (named after a Peggy Lee hit release ‘Golden Earrings’) Golden Earring, (1974 UK No.7 & US No.13 single ‘Radar Love’).
1950 Bobby McFerrin born in New York, New York. US singer. (1988 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Don’t Worry Be Happy’).
1951 Katie Kissoon born in Trinidad – UK Singer with her brother as Mac & Katie Kissoon, (1971 US No.20 single ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’, 1975 UK No.3 single ‘Sugar Candy Kisses’).
1955 Flinto Chandia – Bass Guitarist with Jimmy The Hoover, (1983 UK No.18 single ‘Tantalise, (Wo Wo Ee Yeh Yeh’).
1955 Nina Hagen, German singer, songwriter, The Nina Hagen Band.
1956 The Dreamweavers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Its Almost Tomorrow’.
1961 Bruce Watson born in Timmins, Ontario, Canada. Guitarist with Big Country, (1983 UK No.10 single ‘Fields Of Fire’ plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles’, 1983 US No.17 single ‘In A Big Country’).
1961 Mike Percy – UK Bass Player with Dead Or Alive, (1985 UK No.1 single ‘You Spin Me Round, Like A Record’).
1961 Crash Craddock/Bobby Vee went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘One Last Kiss’. Staying at the top spot for 2wks.
1964 Vinnie Paul, heavy metal drummer and producer and co-founder of Pantera. He co-founded the heavy metal band Damageplan in 2003 with his late brother, Dimebag Darrell.
1965 Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with It’s Not Unusual.’ The Welsh singers first of 16 UK Top 40 hits during the 60’s.
1967 The Supremes had their ninth US No.1 single with ‘Love Is Here And Now Your Gone’ a No.17 hit in the UK.
1967 Beatles Music publisher, Dick James, announced that 446 different versions of the Paul McCartney song ‘Yesterday’ had been recorded so far.
1968 Lisa Loeb born in Bethesda, Maryland. US singer, (1994 US No.1 & UK No.6 single ‘Stay, I Missed You’, from the film ‘Reality Bites’)
1968 The Otis Redding single ‘Dock Of The Bay’, went gold in the US three months after the singer was killed in a plane crash.
1969 Rami Jaffee born in The Fairfax District of Los Angeles – US Keyboard Player with The Wallflowers, (1997 US No.3 album, ‘Bringing Down The Horse’).
1970 Winners at this years Grammy awards included Joe South for song of the year with ‘Games People Play’, Crosby Stills and Nash won best new artist, The Fifth Dimension won Record of the year with ‘Aquarius / Let The Sun Shine In.’
1970 Rolf Harris went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Two Little Boys’. Staying at No.1 for 1wk.
1972 Neil Young went to No.1 on the US & UK album chart with ‘Harvest.’ The album featured the hit single ‘Heart Of Gold’ & ‘Old Man’.
1978 French singer Claude Francois was electrocuted changing a light bulb while standing in his bathtub. (1976 UK hit, ‘Tears On The Telephone’).
1978 Meat Loaf’s ‘Bat Out Of Hell’, album began a 416-week run on the UK chart, going on to sell over 2 million copies.
1978 The debut single from Kate Bush, ‘Wuthering Heights’ a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart.
1979 Joel Madden, vocals and Benji Madden, Good Charlotte, (2002 US No.7 album, ‘The Young And The Hopeless’, 2003 UK No.6 single ‘Girls and Boys’).
1981 LeToya Nicole Luckett, American singer, Destiny’s Child (2000 US No.1 and worldwide hit single ‘Independent Woman Part 1’). Quit the group in 2000, had the 2006 US No.1 self-titled debut solo album.
1981 Paul Wall, US rapper, features on the US No.1 single ‘Grillz’ by Nelly with Ali & Gipp.
1981 Adam Ant went to No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Ant Music’. Staying at No.1 for 2kws.
1987 Kim Wilde went to No.1 on the singles chart with ‘You Keep Me Hangin’ On’. Staying at No.1 for 1wk.
1989 Debbie Gibson started a five-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Electric Youth.’
1989 Too Many Broken Hearts’ gave Australian actor turned singer Jason Donovan his first solo UK No.1 single.
1996 Everything But The Girl went to No.1 on the singles chart with ‘Missing’. Staying at the top spot for 2kws.
1997 Paul McCartney was knighted by the Queen.
2000 Destiny’s Child Destiny’s Child went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Say My Name’.
2001 Westlife went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of the 1983 Billy Joel song, ‘Uptown Girl.’ It was a fund-raising record for Comic Relief, and gave the Irish group their 8th UK No.1.
2005 The front door of Ozzy Osbourne’s childhood home in Birmingham went up for sale because the current owner was fed up with fans defacing it. Ali Mubarrat, who now owned the house in Lodge Road, Aston, said over the years it had become a pilgrimage destination. He was now auctioning the door on eBay and giving the money to charity.
2006 The Disney Channel Original Movie, ‘High School Musical’ was at No.1 on the US album chart. The album went on to break all records for a soundtrack selling over 7 million copies worldwide. A No.1 album In Australia, New Zealand, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
2008 Madonna was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded ceremony in New York City, she received her honour at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel from singer Justin Timberlake. The 49-year-old thanked her detractors in an acceptance speech, including those who “said I couldn’t sing, that I was a one hit wonder”. Rock star John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five were also among the inductees.
2009 Heavy metal group Iron Maiden’s tour manager criticised people who were arrested for trying to gatecrash a concert in Bogota. Colombian police arrested more than 100 people after stones were thrown hours before the group were due to perform. In a statement posted on the band’s website, Rod Smallwood said: “We abhor the inane behaviour of a small minority of people outside.” Riot police fired tear gas canisters at those who tried to enter the concert without tickets.
2010 Pete Doherty was banned from driving for 12 months after admitting allowing his manager to use his Daimler car without insurance. Doherty’s manager Andrew Boyd, admitted dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident and was jailed for 12 months. The court was told how the victim Chris Corder suffered “catastrophic” brain injuries and was left in a coma after the crash, the court heard.
2011 The former singer with Iron Maiden was jailed for nine months for fraudulently claiming benefits. Paul Andrews, fronted the band between 1978 and 1981, under the stage name Paul Di’Anno. Andrews, 52, was jailed at the city’s crown court after earlier admitting falsely claiming more than £45,000. Fraud investigators had viewed online videos and read about gigs on the performer’s website.
2015 A jury in the United States ruled that the writers of ‘Blurred Lines’, copied a Marvin Gaye track. Jurors in Los Angeles decided that the 2013 single by Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke breached the copyright of Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got To Give It Up’. The family of the late soul singer were awarded $7.3m (£4.8m) in damages. Thicke and Williams denied copying the hit, and their lawyer said the ruling set a “horrible precedent”.
2015 Jimmy Greenspoon, keyboardist with Three Dog Knight died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 67 in North Potomac, Maryland. During the course of their career, Three Dog Knight had 21 top 40 hits, including three No.1 singles. Greenspoon has performed and recorded with Linda Ronstadt, Eric Clapton, Jimi Hendrix, America, The Beach Boys, Beck, Bogert & Appice, Nils Lofgren, Lowell George, Kim Fowley, Donovan, Buddy Miles, Stephen Stills, Jeff Beck, Chris Hillman, Steve Cropper, Duck Dunn, James Burton, Hal Blaine, Leon Russell, The Wrecking Crew, Osibisa, Shaun Cassidy, Cheech & Chong, and Redbone.
2016 English musician Keith Emerson died in Santa Monica, California, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after he had become “depressed, nervous and anxious” because nerve damage in his hands had hampered his playing. Emerson found his first commercial success with the Nice, in the late 1960s and was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early progressive rock supergroups.