On This Day In Music 21st March Events
1940 Solomon Burke born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. US singer, the king of rock & soul, (1961 US No.24 single ‘Just Out Of Reach Of My Open Arms’, 1963 US No.1 R&B hit, ‘Got To Get You Off My Mind’). He died on October 10, 2010 aged 70.
1941 Keith Potger born in Columbo, Sri Lanka. Vocalist/Guitarist with The Seekers.
1943 Viv Stanshall born in Oxford, England. UK Singer with The Bonzo Dog Doo Dah Band, (1968 UK No.5 single ‘I’m The Urban Spaceman’).Stanshall 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
1945 Rosemary Stone born in Dallas, Texas. US Keyboard Player with Sly and The Family Stone, (1971 US No.1 & 1972 UK No.15 single ‘Family Affair’).
1946 Ray Dorset born in Middlesex, England. Lead Singer for Mungo Jerry, (1970 UK No.1 & US No.3 single ‘In The Summertime’).
1949 Eddie Money (Edward Mahoney) born in Brooklyn, New York. US singer, (1978 US No.11 single ‘Baby Hold On’).
1949 David Green born in Adelaide, South Australia. Bass Guitrist with the Hot City Bump Band from 1973-1976
1950 Roger Hodgson born in Portsmouth, England. UK Singer/Guitarist/Bass Player with Supertramp, (1979 US No.6 & UK No.7 single ‘The Logical Song’).
1951 Conrad Lozano born in Los Angeles. Bass/Guitarron/Vocals with Los Lobos, (1987 UK & US No.1 single ‘La Bamba’).
1951 Russell Thompkins Jr born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Lead Vocalist for The Stylistics, (1975 US No.1 single ‘You Make Me Feel Brand New’, 1975 UK No.1 single ‘Can’t Give You Anything But My Love’ plus 15 other UK top 40 singles).
1953 Robert Johnson born in Miami, Florida. Drummer with KC and the Sunshine Band, (1975 US No.1 single ‘That’s The Way, I Like It’, 1983 UK No.1 single ‘Give It Up’).
1955 the film “Blackboard Jungle” premiered; the motion picture heralded the “teen era” as it featured the first rock song ever to pulse behind the film’s credits — “Rock Around the Clock,” performed by Bill Haley and the Comets.
1956 Carl Perkins broke four ribs and his shoulder in a car accident that killed his brother, Jay, and his manager on their way to appear on “The Ed Sullivan Show”. Perkins spent nine months in the hospital. By the time he recovered, Elvis Presley had covered his hit “Blue Suede Shoes” and his career was never the same again
1956 Elvis Presley appeared at the 4,000 seated YMCA Gymnasium in Lexington, North Carolina. Also on the bill, Mother Maybelle and the Carter Sisters, featuring June Carter, Rod Brasfield, Hal and Ginger. Tickets cost $1 for general admission and $1.50 for reserved seats.
1957 John Reddington, King Kurt, (1983 UK No.36 single ‘Destination Zululand’).
1957 Paul ‘pixie’ Jenkins – Australian Musician. He’s played Country Violin with Bullamakanka, The Bushwhackers and John Williamson. Pixie who is just over 150 cm tall, has also recorded a number of successful albums and also headlines his own shows.
1960 “Baby (You’ve Got What It Takes)” by Dinah Washington & Brook Benton peaked at #5 on the US singles chart.
1961 The Beatles played their first ever evening show at The Cavern Club in Liverpool, supporting The Swinging Bluegenes, (later to become The Swinging Blue Jeans).
1964 “Hi-Heel Sneakers” by Tommy Tucker peaked at #11 on the pop singles chart.
1964 The #1 SONG IN ENGLAND was BILLY J. KRAMER & THE DAKOTAS with “LITTLE CHILDREN”.. which would soon become their first American hit
1964 “Fun, Fun, Fun” by The Beach Boys peaked at #5 on the US singles chart.
1964 “I Saw Her Standing There” by The Beatles peaked at #14 on the US singles chart.
1964 “I Want To Hold Your Hand” by The Beatles peaked at #1 on the U.K. pop singles chart.
1964 “Kissin’ Cousins” by Elvis Presley peaked at #12 on the US singles chart.
1965 The #1 SONG IN ENGLAND was TOM JONES and “IT’S NOT UNUSUAL”, which’ll become his first hit in the US a couple of months later
1965 After ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ had held the No.1 position on the US singles chart for seven weeks, The Beatles started a two-week run at No.1 with ‘She Loves You’.
1965 After ‘I Want To Hold Your Hand’ had held the No.1 position on the US singles chart for seven weeks, The Beatles started a two-week run at No.1 with ‘She Loves You’.
1966 READING ABOUT THE BEATLES “NEWSWEEK”, noting the diversity and maturity shown in their recent “RUBBER SOUL” album, in an article titled “THE BARDS OF POP”.. The report also pointed that the foursome had already written 88 songs, of which over 2900 versions had been recorded, selling in excess of 200 Million copies!
1967 Jonas Berggren – guitar and keyboards & founding member of Ace Of Base. Jonas has written all of their biggest hits, including All That She Wants, The Sign, and Beautiful Life.The female members of Ace of Base, Linn and Jenny Berggren, are his sisters.
1967 Born on this day, Sean Dickson, The Soup Dragons, (1990 UK No.5 single ‘I’m Free’).
1969 one day after their wedding, newlyweds John Lennon and Yoko Ono left Paris on their way to Amsterdam, as chronicled in the Beatles’ “The Ballad of John and Yoko.” They couple spent the next eight days in a “bed-in” for peace.
1970 “Give Me Just A Little More Time” by Chairmen Of The Board peaked at #3 on the US singles chart.
1970 “The Rapper” by Jaggerz peaked at #2 on the US singles chart.
1970 Santana peaked at #9 on the US singles chart.
1970 “He Ain’t Heavy, He’s My Brother” by Hollies peaked at #7 on the US singles chart.
1970 The Beatles single “Let It Be” set a never-beaten record for highest first-time entry on a U.S. singles chart, debuting at #6.
1970 “Kentucky Rain” by Elvis Presley peaked at #16 on the US singles chart.
1970 “Didn’t I (Blow Your Mind This Time)” by Delfonics peaked at #10 on the US singles chart.
1971 Led Zeppelin appeared at the Boat Club, Nottingham, England on their ‘Back To The Clubs’ tour. This was the first tour which saw Zeppelin performing Stairway To Heaven, Black Dog and Going To California. Zeppelin opened the set with Immigrant Song and Heartbreaker. This small club on the banks of the River Trent had also seen performances by Elton John, Black Sabbath, Sex Pistols and Rod Stewart.
1972 The Grateful Dead played the first of seven nights at the Academy of Music in New York City, New York.
1973 The BBC banned all teenybopper acts appearing on UK TV show, ‘Top Of The Pops’ after a riot following a David Cassidy performance.
1974 Johnny Bristol – US Singer who had a hit in 1974 with Hang In There Baby, died aged 65.
1976 Iggy Pop and David Bowie were involved in a drug bust at their hotel room in Rochester, New York.
1977 “I Like Dreamin'” single by Kenny Nolan was certified Gold by the RIAA
1977 “New Kid In Town” single by Eagles was certified Gold by the RIAA
1977 Mark Hamilton, Ash, (1995 UK No.11 single ‘Girl From Mars’).
1978 Dire Straits played at The Marquee Club in London, England. Tickets priced at 70p.
1979 Born on this day, Simon, Blue, (2001 UK No.1 single ‘Too Close’).
1979 Ian Dury & The Blockheads went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Hit Me With Your Rhythm Stick’. Staying at No.1 for 1wk.
1980 Deryck ‘Bizzy D’ Whibley, Sum 41, (2001 UK No 13 single ‘In Too Deep’).
1980 “Yes, I’m Ready” single by Teri De Sario & KC was certified Gold by the RIAA
1980 Hugh Cornwell of The Stranglers was sent to Pentonville Prison after losing his appeal against a drugs conviction.
1981 New wave pop rockers, Blondie, enter the soul LPs chart with “Autoamerican,” which peaks at #7 in 25 weeks on the chart. It has climed to #7 on the USchart. One song off the album, “Rapture” is one of the first big crossover raps hits. It’s goes to Number One for two weeks and another tune “The Tide is High” makes to the head of the class as well.
1981 REO Speedwagon went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Keep On Loving You’, the groups first top 40 hit and first No.1, a No.7 hit in the UK.
1981 “Crying” by Don McLean peaked at #5 on the US singles chart.
1981 “What Kind Of Fool” by Barbara Streisand & Barry Gibb peaked at #10 on the US singles chart.
1981 The Best Of Times” by Styx peaked at #3 on the pop singles chart.
1981 “Woman” by John Lennon peaked at #2 on the pop singles chart.
1984 Strawberry Fields, an area in Central Park bought by Yoko Ono in memory of her late husband was opened.
1985 Tears For Fears went to No.1 in the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Shout’. Staying at the top spot for 1wk.
1985 Bruce Springsteen kicked off the second leg of his Born in the USA world tour at the Sydney Entertainment Centre, Sydney, Australia.
1987 Club Nouveau started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with their version of Bill Withers ‘Lean On Me’, a No.3 hit in the UK.
1987 U2 scored their third UK No.1 album with ‘The Joshua Tree’, featuring the singles ‘Where The Streets Have No Name’, & ‘I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For’. The album became the fastest selling in UK history and the first album to sell over a million CDs, spending a total of 156 weeks on the UK chart. Also a US No.1.
1987 “Mandolin Rain” by Bruce Hornsby & The Range peaked at #4 on the US singles chart.
1987 “Let’s Wait A While” by Janet Jackson peaked at #2 on the US singles chart.
1989 Rochelle Humes, best known for being a member of girl group The Saturdays who scored the 2013 UK No.1 hit single ‘What About Us’ featuring Sean Paul.
1991 Leo Fender, the inventor of The Telecaster and Stratocaster guitars died from Parkinson’s disease. He started mass producing solid body electric guitars in the late 40s and when he sold his guitar company in 1965, sales were in excess of $40 million a year.
1992 “Good For Me” by Amy Grant peaked at #8 on the pop singles chart.
1992 Former nude model Vanessa Williams started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Save The Best To Last’, a No.3 hit in the UK.
1992 “Justified & Ancient” by The KLF Featuring Tammy Wynette peaked at #11 on the pop singles chart. This is the oddest pairing since The Pet Shop Boys featured Dusty Springfield on another pop-dance tune five years before.
1994 Bruce Springsteen won an Oscar for the song ‘Streets of Philadelphia.’
1996 John Squire guitarist with The Stone Roses quit the band. He broke the news to the other three members over the phone.
1997 Snoop Doggy Dog was sentenced to three years probation and fined $1,000 (£588) for a firearms violation after a handgun was found in his car when he was stopped for a traffic violation.
1998 Run-DMC VS Jason Nevins started a six week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘It’s Like That.’
1999 Irish girl group B*Witched scored their fourth consecutive UK No.1 single with ‘Blame It On The Weatherman.’ The girls set a new chart record with their first four singles all entering the chart at No.1.
1999 Blur went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ’13’, the bands fourth consecutive No.1 and making them only the third act to have four No.1’s in the 90’s, Simply Red and REM being the other two.
2000 Kurt Cobain and Happy Monday’s singer Shaun Ryder both beat older stars such as Keith Richards and Keith Moon in a league of rock ‘n’ roll excess compiled by UK music weekly Melody Maker. Liam Gallagher, Robbie Williams, Courtney Love and Marilyn Manson all featured in the Top 10.
2001 Eminem was ordered to pay $476,000 (£280,000) as part of his divorce agreement with his ex-wife Kim. Also as part of the agreement Eminem would keep the US mansion and they would share custody of their five-year-old daughter, Hailie Jade.
2001 Michael Jackson’s interior decorator told The Times newspaper that the singer kept 17 life size dolls, adult and child sizes, all fully dressed in his bedroom for ‘company.’
2001 A survey revealed that the music of older, established bands was being distributed illegally over the internet much more than that of their younger, chart-topping counterparts. Queen had the highest number of bootleg websites, with 12,225.
2004 George Michael scored his fifth UK No.1 album with ‘Patience.’
2004 Usher feat L’ll Jon started a two week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Yeah.’ Also a US No.1. Released as the lead single from Usher’s fourth studio album, Confessions.
2004 Ozzy Osbourne was named the nation’s favourite ambassador to welcome aliens to planet earth. The 55-year-old singer came top of a poll as the face people want to represent them to alien life. The poll of internet users was carried out following the discovery of signs of water on Mars. Ozzy won 26 per cent of the vote, Simon Cowell, came last on the list, with just three per cent of the vote, A spokesman for Yahoo! News said: “As the world waits desperately for signs of alien life, we decided to ask our users who they thought was best suited for this most auspicious of roles. Ozzy is a great choice but I’m not sure what the Martians would make of his individual approach to the English language.”
2006 Three South African women whose father, Solomon Linda, wrote ‘The Lion Sleeps Tonight’ in 1939, won a six-year court battle that gave them 25 per cent of all past and future royalties from the song. Linda who was a cleaner at a Johannesburg record company when he wrote the song, received virtually nothing for his work and died in 1962 with $25 in his bank account. The song had been recorded by Pete Seeger (as ‘Wimoweh’), The Kingston Trio, The Tokens, Karl Denver and R.E.M. and was featured in the Disney film The Lion King. It was estimated that the song had earned $15 million for its use in The Lion King alone.
2008 A five-year legal row over the use of the Beach Boys’ name was settled by two former members of the group. Mike Love had argued he was the only person allowed to perform under the name of the band and sued Al Jardine, whom he claimed was appearing as an unlicensed Beach Boys act. Mr Jardine’s lawyer said “a friendly settlement” had been reached that allowed them to focus on the talent and future of this American iconic band.’
2009 U2 went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘No Line on the Horizon’, the bands twelfth studio album.
2013 Pink Floyd’s ‘The Dark Side of the Moon’ was set to seal its place in history at the US Library of Congress as part of its National Recording Registry.The recording that received the highest number of public nominations for this year’s registry was Dark Side, Floyd’s groundbreaking 1973 album.
2015 English singer-songwriter, and actress Jackie Trent died in hospital, aged 74, in Minorca, Spain, after a long illness. Her 1966 hit, ‘I Couldn’t Live Without Your Love’ was inspired by the ongoing affair between Trent and record producer Tony Hatch, who she later married. The couple went on to write songs for Scott Walker,Frank Sinatra, Nancy Wilson, Des O’Connor, Val Doonican, Shirley Bassey, Vikki Carr, and Dean Martin.
2016 A rare Beatles record found in the loft of Les Maguire – the keyboardist in fellow Liverpool act, Gerry and the Pacemakers sold for £77,500 at auction. The 10-inch acetate of ‘Till There Was You’ and ‘Hello Little Girl’ from 1962 was described as “a Holy Grail item”. It was the first Beatles disc to be cut before the band broke into the national charts.