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On This Day In Music 18th March

1936 Robert Lee Smith – US Sould Singer with The Tams, (1964 US No.9 single ‘What Kind Of Fool Do you Think I Am’, 1971 UK No.1 single ‘Hey Girl Don’t Bother Me’). 
1938 Charlie Pride born in Sledge, Mississippi. US Country Singer, scored over 50 country Top ten hits, including 29 No.1’s. Most successful Black Country artist of all time. 
1941 Wilson Pickett born in Prattville, Alabama. US soul singer, (1965 UK No.12 & US No. 21 single ‘In The Midnight Hour’ plus 15 other US Top 40 ngles). Pickett died of a heart attack on 19th Jan 2006 aged 64. 
1943 Dennis Linde, best known for writing the 1972 Elvis Presley hit, ‘Burning Love’. Linde wrote numerous hit songs for mainly country music singers, In 2000, his song for the Dixie Chicks, ‘Goodbye Earl’, stirred some controversy for its take on spousal abuse. He died at Vanderbilt University Medical Center on December 22, 2006 aged 63. 
1947 Barry J Wilson – UK Drummer who joined Procol Harum in July 1967. (1967 UK No.1 & US No.5 single ‘Whiter Shade Of Pale’). Wilson died on October 8th 1990.
1950 John Hartman born in Falls Church, Virginia – US Drummer with The Doobie Brothers, (1979 US No.1 single ‘What A Fool Believes’, 1993 UK No.7 single ‘Long Train Runnin’). 
1959 Irene Cara born in New York, New York. US singer, actress, (1982 UK No.1 & US No. 4 single, ‘Fame’ & 1983 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘Flashdance…What A Feeling’). Cara played Coco Hernandez in Fame.
1960 The Everly Brothers recorded ‘Cathy’s Clown’. Cathy was Don Everly’s high school girlfriend in Tennessee. 
1961 Grant Hart, Husker Du, (1987 album ‘Warehouse Songs And Stories’). 
1961 Elvis Presley went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Wooden Heart’. Staying at the top spot for 5wks in a row. 
1962 Taja Sevelle born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. US singer/Songwriter (1988 UK No.7 single ‘Love Is Contagious’). 
1963 Vanessa Williams born in Millwood, New York. US Singer/Model/Actress. US singer, former model and beauty queen, (1992 US No.1 & UK No.3 single ‘Save The Best To Last’). 
1964 Courtney Pine, jazz musician, worked with Charlie Watts, Mica Paris, composer of film and TV music. 
1966 Jerry Controlled born in Tacoma, Washington. Llead guitarist, co-lead vocalist and main songwriter for the rock band Alice in Chains. (1993 UK No.19 single ‘Would’). 
1967 Miki Berenyi, guitar & vocals, Lush, (1996 UK No.21 single ‘Single Girl’). 
1967 The Beatles scored their 13th US No.1 single with ‘Penny Lane.’ 
1970 Queen Latifah, female US rapper, (1990 UK No. 14 single with De La Soul, ‘Mama Give Birth To The Soul Children’). 
1970 Hank B. Marvin went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Sacha’. Staying at No.1 for 2wks. 
1972 Neil Young started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Heart Of Gold’. His only Top 20 hit as a solo artist reached No.10 on the UK chart. 
1972 Paul Simon scored his first solo No.1 album when his self-titled debut went to the top on the UK charts. Featuring the singles ‘Mother And Child Reunion’ and ‘Me And Julio Down By The School Yard.’ 
1974 Stuart Zender, bass, Jamiroquai, (1996 UK No.3 single ‘Virtual Insanity’. 1998 UK No.1 & US No.2 album ‘Godzilla’). 
1976 Queen went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody. Staying at the No.1 spot for 2wks. 
1977 Devin Lima, UK male singer, LFO, (1990 UK No.10 single ‘LFO’). 
1978 The Bee Gees had the Top 3 on the US singles charts, ‘Night Fever’ at No.1, ‘(Love is) Thicker Than Water’, by brother Andy at No.2, co written by Barry Gibb and ‘Emotion’ by Samantha Song written and produced by The Bee Gees at No.3. 
1978 Blondie were at No.2 in the UK with their version of Randy & The Rainbows 1963 US hit, ‘Denis.’ 
1979 Shola Ama, singer, (1997 UK No.3 single ‘You’re The One I Love’). 
1979 Adam Levine born inLos Angeles, California. Lead Guitarist & Lead Singer with Maroon 5, (2004 UK No.1 album ‘Songs About Jane’, 2004 US No.1 & UK No.4 single ‘She Will Be Loved’). 
1981 The Swingers went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart for the second time with ‘Counting The Beat’. Staying at No.2 for 1wk. It also went to No.1 on 25th Feb’81 for 2wks. 
1985 Marvin Humes, singer, JLS, runners-up of the fifth series of The X Factor. 
1986 Lykke Li, Swedish indie pop singer-songwriter. She also worked with Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp on their 2009 album Junior and Kanye West, David Lynch and others. 
1987 Boris Gardiner went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘I Wanna Wake Up With You’. Staying at the top spot for 2wks. 
1989 Stock, Aitken and Waterman had three singles in the UK Top 5: Jason Donovan’s ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’, Bananarama’s ‘Help’, and Donna Summer’s ‘This Time I Know It’s For Real.’ 
1991 Dimples D went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Sucker DJ’. Staying at No.1 for 5wks. 
1992 Singer Donna Summer receives a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.
2001 The Mamas and The Papas singer songwriter John Phillips died of heart failure aged 65. As a drummer and percussionist, he worked with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, Andy Gibb and many others. He played the trademark congas that drove the Bee Gees’ 1976 US chart-topper You Should Be Dancing, subsequently included on the multi-million selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Lala provided the wide selection of percussive effects on Barbra Streisand’s 1980 worldwide No. 1 album Guilty, and contributed to Whitney Houston’s eponymous 1985 debut album.[1] Throughout his career, Lala accumulated 32 gold records and 28 platinum records. He played on the movie soundtracks of Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, D.C. Cab, Streets of Fire, All the Right Moves, Breathless, Defiance, The Lonely Guy and Airplane!. 
2001 Crazytown went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Butterfly’. 
2001 Eva Cassidy started a two week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Songbird’, the album went on to become the third biggest seller of 2001.
2001 Hear’Say started a three-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Pure And Simple.’ 
2001 Tragedy struck at an in-store appearance by British boy band A1 in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta after a stampede amongst the fans. Four girls were killed and two others were seriously injured. 
2002 Kasey Chambers went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Not Pretty Enough’. Staying at No.1 for 1wk. 
2002 The Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam and close friend of the Ramones. The ceremony took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. 
2004 Courtney Love exposed her breasts during an appearance on David Letterman’s TV talk show. The singer who had her back to the audience flashed at the presenter while singing the song Danny Boy. After the show, she went on to perform a surprise gig at the Plaid night-club in Manhattan where she was alleged to have injured a man by throwing a microphone stand into the crowd. Ms Love was charged with assault and reckless endangerment. 
2008 Heather Mills’ evidence in her divorce case with Sir Paul McCartney was “inconsistent, inaccurate” and “less than candid”, according to judge Mr Justice Bennett’s. His High Court ruling was revealed in full after Ms Mills was told she could not appeal against its publication. The full ruling was published a day after she was awarded £24.3m at the High Court in London. Mills was awarded £3.2m per year for herself and the couple’s daughter Beatrice, £8m for a home in London and £3m to purchase a home in New York. The judge found the total value of Sir Paul’s assets was about £400m. Ms Mills had sought £125m and been offered £15.8m. 
2011 Organisers of an attempt to reunite 19 people who watched The Beatles play in a town hall in 1963 had claims from 24 people who said they were there. Billy Shanks was helping to lead the search for the audience members of the gig in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland in 1963. He said some who turned up thought the music was rubbish and left to join an audience of 1,200 watching a local band in nearby Strathpeffer. 
2011 Jet Harris, bass guitarist for The Shadows, died from throat cancer at the age of 71. Jet played on the hit ‘Apache’ and during their days as Cliff Richard’s backing band, performed on the chart-topper ‘Living Doll’. In 1962 he left the group and had solo hits with ‘Besame Mucho’ and ‘The Man With The Golden Arm’. 
2013 David Bowie’s first album in a decade become the fastest-selling of the year, hitting the No.1 spot in the UK in its first week of release. ‘The Next Day’ was the 66-year-old’s first No.1 since 1993’s ‘Black Tie White Noise’ and sold 94,000 copies in the first week. 
2014 Joe Lala died suddenly from complications of lung cancer on March 18, 2014, at approximately 7:00 AM, at the age of 66. He was a percussionist/vocalist with Blues Image from 1966-1970. As a drummer and percussionist, he worked with Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, Andy Gibb and many others. He played the trademark congas that drove the Bee Gees’ 1976 US chart-topper You Should Be Dancing, subsequently included on the multi-million selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack. Lala provided the wide selection of percussive effects on Barbra Streisand’s 1980 worldwide No. 1 album Guilty, and contributed to Whitney Houston’s eponymous 1985 debut album.Throughout his career, Lala accumulated 32 gold records and 28 platinum records. He played on the movie soundtracks of Saturday Night Fever, Staying Alive, D.C. Cab, Streets of Fire, All the Right Moves, Breathless, Defiance, The Lonely Guy and Airplane!.
2017 Chuck Berry died aged 90. The American guitarist, singer and songwriter was one of the pioneers of rock and roll music. With songs such as ‘Maybellene’ (1955), ‘Roll Over Beethoven’ (1956), ‘Rock and Roll Music’ (1957) and ‘Johnny B. Goode’ (1958), Berry refined and developed rhythm and blues into the major elements that made rock and roll distinctive.

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