On This Day In Music 16th April
1924 Henry Mancini (Enrico Mancini) born in Cleavand, Ohio. US composer and conductor. Mancini died of pancreatic cancer in Los Angeles on June 14, 1994. (1964 UK No.10 single ‘How Soon’, 1969 US No.1 single ‘Love Theme From Romeo and Juliet’).
1924 Rudy Pompilli born in Chester, Pennsylvania. Ssaxophonist with Bill Haley and his Comets. Pompilli died from lung cancer on February 5, 1976, in Philadelphia, aged 51. 1955 UK & US No.1 single ‘Rock Around The Clock’.
1929 Roy Hamilton born in Leesburg, Georgia. US singer. He died of a stroke on 20/7/69 aged 40. Had the 1955 US No.6 single ‘Unchained Melody.’
1935 Bobby Vinton (Stanley Vinton) born in Canonsburg, Pennsylvania. US Singer. (1963 US No.1 single & 1990 UK No.2 single ‘Blue Velvet’, plus 29 other US Top 40 hits).
1939 Dusty Springfield (Mary O’Brien) born in London, England. UK singer, died 3/3/99, (first UK hit single 1963 UK No.4 ‘I Only Want To Be With You’, 1966 UK No.1 & US No.4 single ‘You Don’t Have To Say You Love Me’, plus over 15 other UK Top 40 singles). She died in Henley-on-Thames, Oxfordshire on 2 March 1999 of breast cancer.
1947 Gerry Rafferty born in Paisley, Scotland. Scottish Singer/Songwriter, Stealers Wheel & as a solo performer. (1973 US No.3 & UK No.8 single ‘Stuck In Te Middle With You’), solo, (1978 UK No.3 and US No.2 single ‘Baker Street.’ He was also a member of the late 1960’s group the Humblebums alongside Billy Connolly. In November 2010, Rafferty was admitted to the Royal Bournemouth Hospital where he was put on a life-support machine and treated for multiple organ failure. After being taken off life support, Rafferty rallied for a short time, and doctors thought that he might recover. Rafferty died of liver failure at the home of his daughter Martha in Stroud, Gloucestershire, on 4 January 2011 aged 63.
1950 Coleen Hewett born in Bendigo, Victoria. Australia Singer & actress.
1951 John Bentley born in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England. English bass guitarist, who is perhaps best known as the bassist for the band Squeeze. (1979 UK No.2 single ‘Up The Junction’).
1952 Jerry Knight born in Los Angeles California . Bassist and founding member of Raydio and remained with them until 1980. He sang lead vocals on their first hit “Jack & Jill”. In 1984 He recorded as half of a duo billed as Ollie And Jerry.
1953 Peter Garrett is born in Sydney, NSW. Lead Singer for Australian rock band Midnight Oil.
1955 Elvis Presley (with Scotty Moore and Bill Black), performed at the Jamboree at the Sportatorium in Dallas, Texas. Also on the bill, Sonny James, Hank Locklin, Charline Arthur, tickets were $.60 for adults, $.30 for children.
1956 Buddy Holly’s first single ‘Blue Days, Black Nights’, was released. The track was later featured on That’ll Be The Day the third album from Buddy Holly. Decca, Holly’s first major record label, after failing to produce a hit single from Holly’s early recordings, packaged these 1956 tunes after he had some success with recordings from the Brunswick and Coral labels.
1956 Paul Buchanan born in Edinburgh, Scotland. Vocalist/Guitarist with The Blue Nile, (1991 UK No.50 single ‘Saturday Night’, 1989 UK No.12 album, ‘Hats’, had songs covered by Annie Lennox and Rod Stewart.
1959 Stephen Singleton born in Sheffield, Yorkshire, England. A Saxophone player with ABC , (1982 UK No.4 and US No.18 single ‘The Look Of Love’, plus nine other UK Top 40 singles).
1961 Richard Pleasance is born. Guitarist with Australian Band Boom Crash opera.
1963 Little Jimmy Osmond born in Canoga Park, California. Youngest member of the Osmonds. (1972 UK No.1 and US No.38 single ‘Long Haired Lover From Liverpool’).
1963 Nick Berry born in Woodford, Essex, England. English actor. He starred as Nick Rowan in Heartbeat. He made the UK Charts with “Every Loser Wins” (’86) (No.11) & the theme from Hearbeat (’92).
1964 Dave Pirne born in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Vocalist/Guitarist with Soul Asylum (1993 US No.5 and UK No.7 single ‘Runaway Train’).
1964 The Rolling Stones first album was released in the UK, it went to No.1 two weeks later and stayed on the chart for 40 weeks, with 11 weeks at No.1.
1964 The Beatles filmed the “chase scenes” for A Hard Day’s Night with actors dressed as policemen in the Notting Hill Gate area of London. In the evening they recorded the title track for the film, ‘A Hard Day’s Night’ at Abbey Road. John and Paul had the title first, and had to write a song to order, completing the track in nine takes.
1967 Cream appeared at the ‘Daily Express Record Star Show’ at The Empire Pool, Wembley, England.
1969 Desmond Dekker and the Aces were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘The Israelites’, making Dekker the first Jamaican artist to have an UK No.1 single.
1969 Sean Cook – Bass Guitarist with Spiritualized, (1995 UK No.30 single ‘Let It Flow’).
1969 Elektra Records dropped Detroit’s MC5 from their label after the band took out an advertisement in a local paper that included the company logo and said; “Fuck Hudsons.” The band were protesting at the Michigan department store’s refusal to stock their albums.
1970 Gabrielle (Louise Gabrielle Bobb) is born. British Singer. (1993 UK No.1 single ‘Dreams’ and over 10 other UK Top 20 singles, 2000 UK No.1 album ‘Rise’).
1970 The Led Zeppelin single Whole Lotta Love was certified Gold in the US after selling over a million copies. The single had peaked at No. 4 on the US singles chart. In the UK Atlantic Records had expected to issue the edited version themselves, and pressed initial copies for release on 5th December 1969. However, band manager Peter Grant was adamant that the band maintain a ‘no-singles’ approach to marketing their recorded music in the UK, and he halted the release.
1971 Selena Quintanilla-P’rez, born in Lake Jackson, Texas. Best known as Selena, Mexican American singer “the queen of Tejano music.’ Her album Selena Live! won a Grammy Award for Best Mexican-American Album at the 36th Grammy Awards. Yolanda Sald’var the president of her fan club, murdered her on March 31, 1995. Warner Brothers made a film based on her life starring Jennifer Lopez in 1997.
1972 The Electric Light Orchestra made their debut at The Fox and Greyhound in Croydon, London. ELO were formed to accommodate former Move members Roy Wood and Jeff Lynne’s desire to create modern rock and pop songs with classical overtones. Wood departed following the band’s debut record, Lynne wrote and arranged all of the group’s original compositions and produced every album.
1972 Pink Floyd appeared at the Township Auditorium, Columbia, South Carolina, USA. A typical set list on this the Dark Side of The Moon tour was: The Dark Side of the Moon (entire album), One of These Days, Careful with that Axe Eugene, Echoes, Set The Controls For The Heart Of The Sun.
1973 Akon, (Aliaune Thiam), US singer, (2005 UK No.1 album ‘Trouble’, 2005 UK No.1 and US No.4 single ‘Lonely’, (which samples Bobby Vinton’s ‘Mr. Lonely’). Akon is the first solo artist to hold both the No.1 and No.2 spots simultaneously on the Billboard Hot 100 charts twice. He was listed by the Guinness Book of World Records as the No.1 selling artist for master ringtones in the world.
1973 During his Ziggy Stardust World tour, David Bowie appeared at the Kobe, Kobe Kokusai Kaikan, Japan.
1973 Paul McCartney’s first television special, James Paul McCartney, was aired in America on the ABC network. The show, which includes performances by McCartney and Wings, would be broadcast in the UK on May 10th.
1976 Aerosmith played at the Kiel Auditorium in St. Louis, the first date on their 76 date North American Rocks Tour.
1977 Actor from TV’s ‘Starsky & Hutch’ David Soul went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’, his only US hit. Also No.1 in the UK.
1977 “Free” by Deniece Williams peaked at #25 on the pop singles chart IN The US; this song led to the arrests of some couple thousand shoplifters nationwide who claim that the 45 single was … FREE.
1977 David Soul one half of TV cop show “Starsky & Hutch”, went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Don’t Give Up On Us’, his only US hit. Also No.1 in the UK.
1983 Mr. Roboto” by Styx peaked at #3 on the US singles chart in the US.
1983 Bonnie Tyler went to No.1 on the UK chart with her debut album and only chart topper ‘Faster Than The Speed Of Night.’
1985 During the North American leg of their Unforgettable Fire tour U2 played the first of three nights at The Centrum, in Worcester, Massachusetts.
1993 American recording artist Chance the Rapper. His third mixtape Coloring Book earned him three Grammy awards, including Best Rap Album. He featured on the 2017 US No.1 hit single ‘I’m The One’ by DJ Khaled with Justin Bieber.
1993 David Lee Roth was arrested in New York’s Washington Square Park for allegedly buying a $10 bag of marijuana.
1993 Paul McCartney headlined a concert at the Hollywood Bowl to celebrate ‘Earth Day’ along with Ringo Starr, Don Henley and Steve Miller. McCartney had last performed there as a member of the Beatles in 1965.
1994 On his 37th single release Prince had his first UK No.1 with ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World.’
1994 “Mmm Mmm Mmm Mmm” by Crash Test Dummies peaked at #4 on the pop singles chart in the US.
1994 Prince had his first UK No.1 with ‘The Most Beautiful Girl In The World’, (his 37th single release). It was his first release since changing his stage name to an unpronounceable symbol.
1996 Kiss appeared in full make-up at the 38th Grammy Awards, where they announced a reunion tour. It would mark the first time all four members had appeared together in over fifteen years.
1997 Mark Morrison was convicted with threatening a police officer with an illegal 23,000-volt electric stun gun. The singer left Maryebone Magistrates’ Court in tears after being warned he was likely to be sent to prison.
1998 Janet Jackson played the first night on her third world tour at The Ahoy in Rotterdam, Netherlands. Support acts on her Velvet Rope Tour included Usher, N Sync and Boyz II Men.
1999 Skip Spence, an original member of Jefferson Airplane and founding member of Moby Grape, died of lung cancer in a San Francisco hospital aged 52. He had battled schizophrenia and alcoholism.
2000 Fragma went to No. 1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Toca’s Miracle.’
2000 German eurohouse group Fragma went to No. 1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Toca’s Miracle.’
2003 Jerry Lee Lewis filed for divorce from his sixth wife, Kerrie McCarver Lewis. The 67-year-old singer married Kerrie in 1984 who was the president of Lewis Enterprises Inc. fan club.
2005 OK Computer by Radiohead was voted the best album of all time in a poll by UK TV station Channel 4. U2 were in second place with The Joshua Tree and Nirvana in third with Nevermind.
2006 The Streets went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Hardest Way To Make An Easy Living.’
2013 Edwin Shirley the co-founded Edwin Shirley Trucking, which became one of the largest music transport companies in Europe died of cancer. Brian May noted Shirley’s importance to their touring operation: “Edwin was at the head of Queen’s vehicle convoy for so many years I can’t begin to remember how many… He was a great pal of Gerry Stickells, our illustrious Tour Manager and the two of them wrote the book on how to party on tour.”
2015 An auction of part of the model railway collection owned by record producer Pete Waterman raised more than £600,000. Waterman said he was selling the collection, which included 56 Gauge 1 steam models, to fund apprenticeships at the heritage trust he runs.