3rd March Today in Music History Events

1927 Junior Parker born in West Memphis, Arizona. US blues singer/songwriter who wrote ‘Mystery Train’, which was covered by Elvis Presley. He also worked with BB King and Howlin’ Wolf. Parker died on November 18th 1971. 
1928 Dave Dudley born in Spencer, Wisconsin. US Country singer. He recorded the truckie’s favourite ‘Six Days On The Road’ a hit in 1963. Dudley died on December 22, 2003, aged 75, after suffering a heart attack at his home on Staples Lake, near Danbury, Wisconsin.
1942 Mike Pender (Michael Prendergast) born in Liverpool, England. Vocalist & Lead Guitarist with theSearchers. (1964 UK No.1 & US No.13 single ‘Needles And Pins’). 
1944 Jance Garfat born in California. US Bass Player/Singer with the Sir Douglas Quintet & Dr Hook from1972-1985. (1972 US No.5 & UK No.2 single ‘Sylvia’s Mother’ plus 9 other US Top 40 hits). He died on November 6, 2006, age 62 in San Francisco, California. 
1947 Dave Mount – UK Drummer with Mud, (1974 UK No.1 single ‘Tiger Feet’ plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles). 
1947 Jennifer Warnes born in Seattle Washington. US Singer (1982 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Up Where We Belong’ with Joe Cocker). 
1948 Terence ‘Snowy’ White, guitarist, who worked with Thin Lizzy, Pink Floyd and Roger Waters. As a solo artist, he had a 1983 UK Top 10 hit single ‘Bird Of Paradise’. 
1949 Derek (Blue) Weaver – UK keyboard player with Amen Corner, (1969 UK No.1 single ‘If Paradise Is Half As Nice’). Strawbs, (1973 UK No.2 single with ‘Part Of The Union’). Also worked with The Bee Gees, (1975 US No.1 ‘Jive Talking’).
1954 Chris Hughes – UK Drummer with Adam & The Ants. (1981 UK No.1 single ‘Stand And Deliver’ plus 15 other UK Top 40 singles). 
1962 Bobby Darin went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Multiplication’. Staying at No.1 for 3wks. 
1963 The Beatles played the last show on a UK tour supporting Helen Shapiro at The Gaumont Cinema, Hanley, Stoke. 
1966 Tone- Loc born in Los Angeles, California. (Anthony Terrell Smith), US rapper, (1989 UK No. 13 single,’Funky Cold Medina’). 
1966 Neil Young, Stephen Stills and Richie Furay formed Buffalo Springfield in Los Angeles. Among the first wave of American bands to become popular in the wake of the British invasion, the group combined rock, folk, and country music into a sound all its own. Its million-selling song ‘For What It’s Worth’ became a political anthem for the turbulent late 1960s. 
1967 A twice-nightly tour kicked off in the UK at The ABC in Romford Essex featuring, The Small Faces, Jeff Beck, Roy Orbison and Paul and Barry Ryan. 
1968 This week’s UK Top 5 singles: No.5, Don Partridge, ‘Rosie’, No.4, Manfred Mann, ‘Mighty Quinn’, No.3, The Move, ‘Fire Brigade’, No.2, ‘Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich, ‘Legend Of Xanadu’, No.1, Esther and Abi Ofarim, ‘Cinderella Rockefella.’ 
1969 Led Zeppelin recorded their first BBC Radio 1 ‘Top Gear’ session during the afternoon at the Playhouse Theatre in London, England. Songs recorded were ‘Dazed And Confused’, ‘Communication Breakdown’, ‘You Shook Me’ and ‘I Can’t Quit You Baby’. Free, The Moody Blues and Deep Purple were also in session on the show. 
1973 Slade’s ‘Com On Feel The Noize’, entered the UK at No.1, making Slade the first act to achieve this since The Beatles. 
1973 Winners at this year’s Grammy Awards included, Roberta Flack who won Song of the year and Record of the year with ‘The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face’ and Harry Nilsson won Best pop vocal performance for ‘Without You.’ 
1977 Ronan Keating born in Dublin, Ireland. Irish Singer – Boyzone, (1996 UK No.1 single ‘Words’ plus over 15 other UK Top 10 singles and 4 UK No.1 albums). Solo, (1999 UK No.1 single ‘When You Say Nothing At All’, 2000 UK No.1 album ‘Ronan’ spent over a year 
1977 The first night of an UK tour with Johnny Thunders and the Heartbreakers, Cherry Vanilla and The Police kicked off at the Roxy Club, London. John Otway and Wild Willie Barratt played at The Speakeasy, London and Iggy Pop supported by The Vibrators appeared at Huddersfield Poly. 
1979 Mike Patto singer with Patto and Boxer died of throat cancer aged 36. 
1979 The Bee Gees scored their fourth UK No.1 single with ‘Tragedy.’ Also today The Bee Gees went to No.1 on the US album chat with ‘Spirits Having Flown’, the brother’s second US No.1 album. 
1982 Michael Jackson went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘One Day In Your Life’. Staying at No.1 for 2wks. 
1984 Nena started a three week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ’99 Red Balloons.’ Originally sung in German, ’99 Luftballons’ was re-recorded in English as ’99 Red Balloons’. The song was a No.2 hit in the US and the only UK hit for Nena making her a One-hit wonder. 
1985 Michael Jackson visited Madame Tussauds Waxworks in London to unveil his waxwork look-alike. 
1990 Janet Jackson started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Escapade’, her third US No.1, a No.17 hit in the UK. 
1990 Lindy Layton and Beats International were at No.1 in the UK with the single ‘Dub Be Good To Me.’ Formed by ex-Housemartins Norman Cook, the song was based on the SOS Band’s 1984 hit ‘Just Be Good To Me’ and The Clash’s ‘Guns of Brixton’. 
1990 During a world tour Paul McCartney played the first of 6 sold-out nights at the Tokyo Dome, Tokyo, Japan. The final night was broadcast live to venues in 10 other Japanese cities; Fukuoka, Hiroshima, Kumamoto, Matsuyama, Nagoya, Niigata, Osaka, Sapporp, Sendai and Takamatsu. 
1994 The Smashing Pumpkins were banned from appearing on BBC TV’s ‘Top Of The Pops’, due to the content of the song’s lyrics. The bands single ‘Disarm’ was this week’s highest new entry. 
1995 Foo Fighters made their live debut during a benefit show at The Satyricon in Portland, Oregon. 
1996 The final single from Take That, ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK chart. 
1999 Dusty Springfield died after a long battle against cancer, aged 59. The British singer had her first UK hit single in 1963 with ‘I Only Want To Be With You’, which reached No.4, a 1966 UK No.1 & US No.4 single with ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’ plus
1999 Oasis agreed to pay their former drummer Tony McCarroll a one-off sum of £550,000 ($935,000) after he sued the Manchester band for millions in unpaid royalties. McCarroll had been sacked from the band in 1995. 
1999 US music professor Peter Jeffrey went to court to sue The Smashing Pumpkins, their promoters and a company who make ear plugs after claiming his hearing was damaged at a concert in Connecticut. 
2000 Tom Jones won the Best male artist at this year’s Brit Awards. Other winners included Travis for Best band and Best album ‘The Man Who.’ Best single went to Robbie Williams for ‘She’s The One’, Five won Best pop act, TLC won Best International group, Beck won Best International Male, Macy Gray won Best newcomer and Outstanding Contribution went to The Spice Girls. 
2000 Former Bay City Roller, Derek Longmuir was released on bail on charges of downloading child pornographic images from the internet and keeping indecent videos in his home. 
2001 Stereophonics were forced to change the title of their new album after car manufacturer Daimler Chrysler objected to their use of the copyrighted word ‘Jeep’. The UK title became ‘Just Enough Education To Perform.’ 
2002 James Blackwood of gospel group The Blackwoods died following a stroke. 
2002 TV show ‘Pop Idol’ winner Will Young scored his first UK No.1 single with ‘Anything Is Possible / Evergreen.’ Young set a new sales record for a debut artist with over 1 million in the first week. Biggest selling single of 2002. 
2002 Jennifer Lopez started a six week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Ain’t It Funny.’ 
2003 Ray Jackson who found fame with Lindisfarne took out legal action against Rod Stewart over his 1970s hit song ‘Maggie May.’ Jackson claimed he came up with the worldwide hit’s classic mandolin melody and claimed he may have lost at least ‘1m because he was not credited for the track’s distinctive “hook.” Jackson was paid just £15 for the recording session by Stewart in 1971. 
2004 Elton John announced he was planning to marry his long-term partner David Furnish if new UK laws allowed it. A Civil Partnership bill was being passed through Parliament which would give gay couple’s greater rights. 
2005 50 Cent released The Massacre, the follow-up to his 6x platinum debut ‘Get Rich or Die Tryin’. The album sold over 1 million copies in its first week, going 4x platinum in two months. The success of the album gave 50 Cent five top-five singles in 2005. 
2008 The Beatles’ engineer Norman Smith died at the age of 85. Smith who worked on every studio recording the band made between 1962 and 1965 was nicknamed “Normal Norman” by John Lennon. As a producer in 1966, he signed Pink Floyd and produced their early albums including Saucerful of Secrets and as Hurricane Smith had the 1971 UK No.2 hit ‘Don’t Let It Die’. 
2009 A £1m Ferrari owned by Jamiroquai singer Jay Kay was damaged outside a Suffolk hotel when the driver’s side window and windscreen of the Ferrari Enzo were smashed. A 21-year-old man was arrested after the incident. 
2009 To celebrate the release of U2’s twelfth studio album and their appearance every night for a week on The Late Show with David Letterman, New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg temporarily renamed part of 53rd street in Midtown Manhattan U2 Way. 
2010 A woman claiming to be the wife of Sean ‘P Diddy’ Combs was freed on $5,000 (£3,326) bail after being arrested near the rappers home on Long Island, New York. Cemelia Green claimed to be married to the rapper and producer who was said to be worth around $350m (£233m). There was no official comment from Combs, who was unmarried. 
2012 American rock guitarist Ronnie Montrose died from a self-inflicted gunshot wound aged 64. The guitarist who led the bands Montrose and Gamma had been ill suffering from prostate cancer. Montrose had also worked with Edgar Winter, Van Morrison, Dan Hartman, Sammy Hagar and many other artists. 
2015 Keith Richards objected to a planned £1.5million cafe being built on a beachfront near his country mansion. The guitarist lodged an objection against the new development which is near his Redlands estate where he was famously arrested with band mate Mick Jagger in 1967 in a drugs raid. Richards is opposed to the planned restaurant which was earmarked for West Wittering beach in West Sussex. 
2017 American guitarist Jim Fuller from The Surfaris died aged 69. The Surfaris had the 1963 US No.2 & UK No.3 single ‘Wipe Out’ and Fuller was known as the “Godfather” of surf music, a Californian instrumental music. With his Fender guitar he contributed to the popularity of Leo Fender’s instruments. 
2017 American jazz ukulele musician Lyle Ritz died at the age of 87. As a session musician on the bass guitar he joined the Wrecking Crew a popular group of studio musicians in the Los Angeles recording industry. Ritz compiled over 5,000 recording credits including such notable tracks as Herb Alpert’s ‘A Taste of Honey’, The Righteous Brothers’ ‘You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin”, and the Beach Boys’ ‘Good Vibrations.’