On This Day In Music 5th March

1938 Paul Evans born in Queens, New York. US Singer/Songwriter. As a performer, he had hits with the songs “Seven Little Girls Sitting in the Backseat” (his biggest hit, recorded with The Curls), reaching No.9 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 1959), “Midnight Special” and “Happy-Go-Lucky Me”. Evans had a sizeable hit in the UK and Australia in 1978-79 with the morbid country song “Hello, This is Joanie” (as it was entitled on the New Zealand pressing released by Polydor Records) or, as it was known on a Spring Records release, “Hello, This is Joannie (The Telephone Answering Machine Song)”
1944 Derek Skinner born in London, England. UK Drummer who joined the Swedish group the Spotnicks in 1963 and two years later he was replaced by Jimmie Nicol.
1945 Clodagh Rodgers born in Ballymena, County Antrim, Northern Ireland. Irish Pop singer. 
1947 Eddie Hodges (Edward Montague) born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi. US Singer. In 1961 at age 14, he had his only hit with ‘I’m Gonna Knock On Your Door’. 
1948 Eddy Grant (Edmond Grant) born in Plaisance, Guyana. Reggae Singer/Songwriter with The Equals, (1968 UK No.1 single ‘Baby Come Back’,) and solo (1982 UK No.1 single ‘I Don’t Wanna Dance’). 
1951 Elaine Paige born in Barnet, London, England. English singer/Actress. She had a hit with Barbara Dickson (1985 UK No.1 single ‘I Know Him So Well’). 
1952 Alan Clark – He joined Dire straits in 1982 on Keyboards & Left in 1985. (1985 US No.1 single ‘Money For Nothing’, 1986 UK No.2 single ‘Walk Of Life’). 
1953 America learns of Soviet dictator Joseph Stalin’s death when Air Force Staff Sergeant Johnny Cash intercepts a coded message from Russia. Cash enlisted in 1950 after he turned 18 and was assigned to the 12th Radio Squadron Mobile of the US Air Force Security Service at Landsberg, West Germany, where he proved his skill as a Morse Code operator. 
1954 Steven William Prestwich was born in Liverpool, England. Drummer with Cold Chisel. His family relocated to Adelaide, South Australia in 1971 when he was 17. Prestwich died onary 2011at the Macquarie University Hospital in Sydney after not regaining consciousness following brain surgery to remove a tumour diagnosed less than two weeks before. the 16 Janu
1956 Teena Marie(Mary Christine Brockert) born in Santa Monica,California. US singer, 1980 UK No. 6 single ‘Behind The Groove’). 
1956 Murray Head born in England. UK singer/Actor. He had a hit in 1970 with Superstar and further chart success in 1985 with One Night In Bangkok. It made No.1 in Australia. (1984 UK No.1 & 1985 US No.3 single, ‘One Night In Bangkok’). 
1957 Born on this day, Mark E Smith, singer, The Fall, (1987 UK No.30 single ‘There’s A Ghost In My House’). 
1958 Andy Gibb born in Manchester, England. Younger brother of The Bee Gees. He had a 1978 UK No.10 single with ‘An Everlasting Love’ and a 1978 US No.1 single with ‘Shadow Dancing’, which spent seven weeks at the top, plus two other US No.1 singles. 
1962 Craig and Charlie Reid born in Scotland. The Reid twins better known as The Proclaimers, (1987 UK No.3 single ‘Letter From America’, 1988 UK No.6 album ‘Sunshine Over Leith’). 
1963 The Beatles recorded what would be their third single ‘From Me to You’ just five days after John Lennon and Paul McCartney wrote the song. Originally planned as the B-side of the record, it was switched to the A-side during the recording session, with ‘Thank You Girl’ demoted to the B-side. 
1963 Country singers Patsy Cline, Cowboy Copas and Hawkshaw Hawkins were killed in a plane crash near Camden, Tennessee. They were travelling to Nashville after appearing at a benefit concert for the widow of Kansas City disc jockey ‘Cactus’ Jack Call, who had died in a car crash. On 7 March, country singer Jack Anglin was killed in a car crash on his way to Cline’s funeral. Cline was the first country singer to cross over as a pop artist. More on Patsy: 
1963 The Beatles recorded ‘From Me To You’. 
1966 Herb Alpert And The Tijuana Brass went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Going Places.’ Including ‘Tijuana Taxi’, ‘Spanish Flea’ & ‘Zorba The Greek’. 
1966 Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Ballad Of The Green Berets’, it made No.24 in the UK. 
1969 The Beatles went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Ob-La-Di, Ob-La-Da/While My Guitar Gently Weeps. Staying at the top spot for 5wks in a row. 
1970 John Frusciante born in Queens, New York. Guitarist with Red Hot Chili Peppers, (1992 UK No.26 single with ‘Under The Bridge’, 1991 US No.3 album Blood Sugar Sex Magik and a 2002 UK No.1 album ‘By The Way’). 
1975 Rod Stewart meets the Swedish actress Britt Ekland when she comes backstage after his concert at the Los Angeles Forum, kicking off an affair that results in a famous song and a nasty lawsuit. 
1977 Barbra Streisand started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Love Theme From A Star Is Born’, her second US No.1. It made No.3 in the UK. The Eagles were at No.2 with ‘New Kid In Town’ and The Steve Miller Band was at No.3 with ‘Fly Like An Eagle’. 
1982 Russell Leetch, bassist with English rock band The Editors, who had the 2007 UK No.1 album An End Has a Start and earned the band a Brit Awards nomination for best British Band. 
1982 Actor and singer John Belushi died from an overdose of cocaine and heroin. Belushi was one of the original cast members on US TV’s Saturday Night Live, played Joliet ‘Jake’ Blues in The Blues Brothers and also appeared in the film Animal House. His tombstone reads “I may be gone, but rock n roll lives on.” 
1983 Michael Jackson started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Billie Jean’, his fourth solo US No.1, also No.1 in the UK. And on this day Jacksons album ‘Thriller’ went to No.1 for the first time on the UK album chart, it went on to become the biggest selling album of all time with sales over 50 million. 
1986 Billy Ocean went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘When The Going Gets Tough The Tough Get Going’. 
1992 R.E.M. cleaned up in The Rolling Stone Music Awards winning Album of the year, for ‘Out Of Time’, Artist of the year, Best single for ‘Losing My Religion’, Best video for ‘Losing My Religion’ and Best band, Best guitarist and Best songwriter awards. 
1995 Viv Stanshall of The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band was found dead on the morning of 6 March 1995, after an electrical fire had broken out as he slept in his top floor flat in Muswell Hill, North London.
2000 Madonna went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with her version of the Don McLean Hit ‘American Pie’. It was her 50th UK hit and the singers ninth UK No.1.
2000 Oasis went to No.1 on the UK chart with their fourth album ‘Standing On The Shoulders Of Giants.’ 
2002 The first episode of ‘The Osbournes’ TV show was aired on MTV in the US. Focusing on the madman and his family (his wife Sharon, and two of their three children). Oblivious to the camera, they bicker, squabble, curse and hang out backstage at Ozzy shows. 
2004 Magazine Guitarist John McGeoch died in his sleep aged 49, member of Magazine, (1978 UK No.41 single ‘Shot By Both Sides’). Also worked with Siouxsie And The Banshees, Armoury Show, Public Image Ltd. 
2004 UK guitarist John McGeoch died in his sleep aged 49. He had been a member of Magazine, who had the 1978 UK No.41 single ‘Shot By Both Sides’, and also worked with Siouxsie And The Banshees, Armoury Show and Public Image Ltd. 
2005 A commemorative plaque for the The Jimi Hendrix Experience was unveiled in Loisin-sous-Lens. Hendrix had appeared at The Twenty Club when it opened in 1967. It was his first European tour where he was totally unknown. Club owner Rikki Stein stated: “The place was packed and at the end of ’Wild Thing’, his first number, there was total silence. The entire audience just stood there, open-mouthed. They’d never seen or heard anything like it in their life.” 
2006 Corinne Bailey Rae went to No.1 on the UK album chart with her debut album ‘Corinne Bailey Rae.’ Rae became only the fourth female British act in history to have her first album debut at No.1 on the UK chart. 
2006 Chico scored his only UK No.1 single with ‘It’s Chico Time’. Chico had reached the semi-finals of the UK 2005 series of The X Factor. 
2007 Records by the Rolling Stones and Paul Simon were chosen for preservation by the US Library of Congress. The Stones’ ‘Satisfaction’ and Paul Simon’s Graceland album entered the National Recordings Registry, which preserves historic works for future generations. Other recordings chosen this year included Carl Perkins’ ‘Blue Suede Shoes’, ‘Be My Baby’ by The Ronettes, ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’ by Sam Cooke and the eponymous album The Velvet Underground and Nico. 
2008 Lou Pearlman, the man behind boy bands ‘N Sync and the Backstreet Boys was set to plead guilty to a $300m (£152m) fraud scheme. The music mogul admitted to a court in Florida of running scams that defrauded investors and major banks for more than 20 years. The charges carried a maximum of 25 years in prison and a $1m (£506,000) fine. 
2009 Michael Jackson announces his “This Is It” series of concerts to be held at the O2 Arena in London. The shows quickly sell out, but Jackson dies before they begin. 
2011 61 year-old Charles Mulchrone’s teenage love for the Beatles paid dividends when he sold his old autograph book at Sheppard’s auction house, Durrow, for 1,300 euros. It contained the signatures of John Lennon and Yoko Ono when the couple stayed at a hotel in Mulranny in the summer of 1968. Charles plucked up the courage to approach them and got their signatures, he said they were “sweet as pie” to him. John Lennon had bought Dorinish island in Clew Bay, Ireland and it was said that he had wanted to build a house there. But that never happened. The autograph album was bought by an Irishman living in Berlin. 
2012 Sony admitted that a number of Michael Jackson tracks had been stolen after its website was hacked. The singer, who died in June 2009 at the age of 50, had recorded unreleased duets with artists ranging from the late Freddie Mercury and Black Eyed Peas singer will.i.am. 
2013 Sugar Ray frontman Mark McGrath and rapper Coolio appear on Celebrity Wife Swap, where they send their respective partners to each others’ homes. McGrath’s wife, Carin, struggles with all the chores she has to do at Coolio’s house, while Coolio’s girlfriend Mimi – who leaves him just weeks after the episode is taped – squirms under the watchful eye of helicopter parent McGrath. 
2017 Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK album chart with his third studio album ÷ (pronounced ‘divide’). All the tracks on the album reached the top 20 of the UK Singles Chart in the week of the album’s release, due to heavy streaming. The dominance of its tracks on the UK chart led to calls for change on how the singles chart was compiled. The album won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Vocal Album at the 60th Annual Grammy Awards.