9th March Today in Music History Events

1925 Billy Ford born in Bloomfield, New Jersey. US singer in duets with Lillie Bryant as Billy & Lillie. He died in 1985. 
1928 Keely Smith (Dorothy Jacqueline Keely) born in Norfolk, Virginia. US Singer in the Louis Prima Band. On December 16, 2017, Smith died of apparent heart failure in Palm Springs, California, at the age of 89.
1934 Lloyd Price born in Kenner, Louisiana. US singer, songwriter, (1959 US No.1 & UK No.7 single ‘Stagger Lee’). 
1936 Mickey Gilley born in Natchez, Mississippi. US Country Singer. (1980 US No. 22 single ‘Stand By Me’ from the soundtrack ‘Urban Cowboy’). 
1944 Mark Lindsay born in Eugene, Oregon. US Singer/Songwriter/Saxophonist with Paul Revere & The Raiders, (1971 US No.1 single with ‘Indian Reservation’ plus 14 other US Top 30 hit singles). He went solo and had a hit with Arizona in 1969. 
1944 Trevor Burton born in Birmingham (W. Midlands), England.UKGuitarist with The Move, (1969 UK No.1 single ‘Blackberry Way’). 
1944 Laurie Allen born in Melbourne, Victoria. Bobby (Bright) & Laurie had 60’s hit with I Belong With You & Hitch Hiker. 
1944 John Lee – Australian singer with New World. 
1945 Robert Calvert born in Pretoria, South Africa. was a South African writer, poet, and musician. He is principally known for his role as lyricist and member of the rock band Hawkwind. (1972 UK No.3 single ‘Silver Machine’). Aged 43, Calvert died of a heart attack in Ramsgate, England on the 14th August 1988. 
1945 Robin Trower born in London. Guitarist with Procol Harum from 1967 – 1971. (1967 UK No.1 single & US No.5 ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ & three top 20 solo albums). 
1946 Jim Cregan born in Yeovil, Somerset, England. UK Guitarist/Vocals with Family, Cockney Rebel from 1975-1977. (1975 UK No.1 single ‘Make Me Smile’, Come Up And See Me), also works with Rod Stewart. 
1948 Chris Thompson born in New Zealand. Lead Singer for Manfred Mann’s Earth Band, (1976 UK No.6 single ‘Blinded By The Light’, a US No.1 in 1977). 
1948 Jeffrey Osborne born in Providence, Rhode Island. US Soul singer with LTD and solo, (1984 UK No.11 & US No. 29 single ‘On The Wings Of Love’). 
1949 Trevor Burton born in Birmingham (W. Midlands), England.UKGuitarist with The Move, (1969 UK No.1 single ‘Blackberry Way’). 
1949 Jimmy Fadden born in Long Beach, California. Guitarist.Harmonica/Washtub Bass with The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, (1971 US No.9 single ‘Mr Bojangles’). 
1951 Frank Rodriguez, ? & The Mysterians, (1966 US No. 1 & UK No.37 single 96 Tears). UK No.17 hit for The Stranglers in 1990. 
1952 Alan Caswell is born in Chester, UK, before migrating to Australia in 1966. English/Australian singer/songwriter and performer, author, record producer, freelance journalist and teacher. He has had over 1200 songs published and over 650 recordings of his songs worldwide in a career lasting over 40 years.He wrote ‘On The Inside’ from The TV Series Prisoner.
1957 Guy Mitchell went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Singing The Blues’. Staying at No.1 for 6wks in a row. 
1958 Martin Fry born in Manchester, England. Vocalist with English group ABC, (1982 UK No.4 & 1983 US No.18 ‘The Look Of Love’ plus nine other UK Top 40 singles). 
1960 Adam Faith was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Poor Me’ The singers second and final No.1. 
1963 Tommy Roe, Chris Montez and The Beatles (who were bottom of the bill), appeared at the East Ham Granada in London. 
1964 The Beatles filmed the last day of train scenes for the movie A Hard Day’s Night. During their six days of filming aboard a moving train, The Beatles travelled a total of 2,500 miles on the rails. 
1964 Capitol Records releases a song called ‘Letter To The Beatles’ by The Four Preps. The lyrics describe a boy lamenting the fact that he’s lost his girlfriend to The Fab Four. On its first day, the record shot to No.85 on the charts and it looked like The Preps were going to have another hit on their hands. Unfortunately they had included a few bars from ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ without permission and Capitol was forced to withdraw the single to avoid a lawsuit. 
1966 The Beach Boys started recording ‘God Only Knows’. It became a UK No.2 single in 1966 and the B-side of ‘Wouldn’t It Be Nice’ in the US. 
1966 Nancy Sinatra went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘These Boots Are Made For Walking. Staying at No.1 for 8wks in a row. 
1967 Pink Floyd and The Thoughts appeared at the Marquee, London, England. The Marquee club has often been defined as ‘the most important venue in the history of pop music’, not only for having been the scene of the development of modern music culture in London, but also for having been an essential meeting point for some of the most important artists in rock music. 
1968 Robert Sledge, drums, Ben Folds Five, (1997 UK No.26 single ‘Battle Of Who Could Care Less’). 
1968 Bob Dylan started a ten week run at No.1 on the UK chart with John Wesley Harding. The album marked Dylan’s return to acoustic music after three albums of electric rock music and was exceptionally well received by critics, also reaching No.2 on the US charts. The commercial performance was considered remarkable, considering that Dylan had made Columbia Records release the album without much publicity. 
1969 Adam Siegel, American rock guitarist and producer. Founding member of the Los Angeles punk band Excel, and subsequently became the lead guitarist for the Suicidal Tendencies side project Infectious Grooves. 
1970 Having recently changed their name from Earth to Black Sabbath, Ozzy Osbourne, Tony Iommi, Geezer Butler and Bill Ward made their concert debut at The Roundhouse, London. 
1971 Led Zeppelin appeared at Leeds University, Leeds, England, during their ‘Back To The Clubs’ tour. This was the first tour which saw Zeppelin performing ‘Stairway To Heaven’, ‘Black Dog’ and ‘Going To California.’ 
1972 Don McLean went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘American Pie’. Staying at the top spot for 4wks. 
1974 Alvin Stardust was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Jealous Mind’. Know as Shane Fenton in the 1960s, it was the singer’s only UK chart topper. 
1974 Bad Company played their first gig in Newcastle, England. 
1975 Actor Telly Savalas was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the David Gates (from Bread) song ‘If’. Savalas was currently high in the TV ratings playing the policeman Kojak. 
1977 The Jacksons CBS show was aired for the last time on US TV finishing at the bottom of the ratings. 
1980 Chingy born Howard Bailey, Jr. in St. Louis, Missouri. US rapper, (2003 US No.2 album ‘Jackpot’, 2003 US No.2 & UK No.17 single ‘Right Thurr’). 
1981 Robert Plant played a secret gig at Keele University, England with his new band The Honey Drippers. 
1985 Dead Or Alive were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘You Spin Me Round (Like A Record). It was the first No.1 for the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman who went on to produce over 100 UK Top 40 hits. 
1985 Mick Jagger released his solo single ‘Just Another Night’ a No. 12 hit in the US and No. 32 on the UK charts. 
1985 REO Speedwagon started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Can’t Fight This Feeling’, it made No.16 in the UK. 
1987 Lil Bow Wow, (Shad Moss), US rapper, (2001 UK No. 6 single ‘Bow Wow, That’s My Name’). 
1988 Kylie Minogue went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘I Should Be So Lucky’. Staying at the top spot for 6wks. 
1991 Chris Rea scored his second UK No.1 album with ‘Auberge’ the follow up to ‘The Road To Hell’, his 11th LP release. 
1991 Mariah Carey started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Someday’, her third US No.1 & No.38 hit in the UK. 
1991 Should I Stay Or Should I Go’ gave The Clash their only UK No.1 single after the track was used for a Levi’s TV advertisement. The track was first released in 1982 from their album Combat Rock album. 
1992 Julian Lennon went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Salt Water’. Staying at the top spot for 4wks. 
1996 Take That scored their eighth and last UK No.1 single (until re-forming in 2006) with their version of The Bee Gees 1977 song ‘How Deep Is Your Love’, (originally intended for US singer Yvonne Elliman), and used as part of the soundtrack to the film Saturday Night Fever. 
1996 Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher walked off stage during a gig at the Vernon Valley Gorge ski resort in New Jersey because his hands were too cold to play. 
1997 Notorious BIG was gunned down and killed as he left a party at the Petersen Automotive Museum in Los Angeles. Born Christopher Wallace the rapper was pronounced dead on arrival at Cedars Sinai Hospital. He was 24 years old. 
1997 The Spice Girls went back to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Spice Girls.’ 
1999 Guitarist Mike Anthony died from a heart attack aged 68. He worked with Harry Nilsson, The 5th Dimension, and Screamin’ Jay Hawkins. 
2004 Tom Jones was banned from wearing tight leather pants by his own son and manager Mark Jones. His son said it was time to ‘dress his age’ as he was in danger of becoming a laughing stock at 63. 
2005 53-year-old Danny Joe Brown, the original lead singer of Molly Hatchet, died from renal failure due to complications from diabetes. Brown was the front man for the band’s self-titled album in 1978, which went Platinum. 
2007 Brad Delp lead singer of US rock band Boston committed suicide by carbon monoxide poisoning in at his home in the New Hampshire town of Atkinson. He died from the smoke of two charcoal grills he’d lit inside his sealed master bathroom. He was found by police lying on a pillow on his bathroom floor with a note paper-clipped to his shirt which read: “Mr. Brad Delp. I am a lonely soul.” Boston had the 1977 UK No.22 single ‘More Than A Feeling’ and the 1986 US No.1 single ‘Amanda.’ 
2008 Duffy started a five-week run at No.1 on the UK album charts with ‘Rockferry’ the Welsh singer’s debut album. 
2010 Lil Wayne was sentenced to a year in prison at New York City’s Rikers Island jail complex after pleading guilty to gun possession. The charges were linked to his arrest in 2007 when a gun was found on his tour bus. His sentencing came after several delays; the first date was postponed to allow the rapper to have dental work and the second had to be rearranged after a fire broke out in the New York court complex. 
2012 76-year-old Jerry Lee Lewis married for the seventh time when he wed his caregiver Judith Brown. Lewis split from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver, in 2004 after twenty years of marriage. Brown, who was 14 years younger than Lewis, was previously married to the star’s cousin Rusty. 
2016 Jon English – English-born Australian singer, songwriter, musician and actor died due to planned surgery for an aortic aneurysm. He died following post-operative complications late in the evening of 9 March 2016. 
2016 A study by The Journal of Advanced Nursing reported that pop records set a bad example by portraying ageing and old people in a negative light, focusing on dying and physical decline. Researchers trawled the musical archives from the 1930s to the present day for any tracks mentioning old age. The majority, 55 out of 76 songs, focused on “bad” aspects of ageing. The Beatles and Elton John featured on the “negative list”, along with Pulp and The Who.