On This Day In Music 28th March
1941 Charlie McCoy born in Oak Hill, West Virginia. Area Code 615, 1970 theme for UK BBC TV Music show ‘The Old Grey Whistle Test’, ‘Stone Fox Chase.’ In his career, McCoy has backed several notable musicians including Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Tom Astor, Elvis Presley, Chet Atkins and Ween. He has also recorded thirty-seven studio albums, including fourteen for Monument Records.
1945 Chuck Portz born in Santa Monica, California. US Bass Player with The Turtles, (1967 US No.1 single ‘Happy Together’, 1967 UK No.4 single ‘She’d Rather Be With Me’).
1948 John Evans born in Blackpool, Lancashire, England. UK Keyboard Player with Jethro Tull from April 1970 to June 1980. (1969 UK No.3 & US No.11 single ‘Living In The Past’).
1948 Milan Williams – US Pianist/Singer/Guitarist/Songwriter with The Commodores, (1978 UK & US No.1 single ‘Three Times A Lady’).
1948 Sally Carr – UK Singer with Middle Of The Road, (1971 UK No.1 single ‘Chirpy Chirpy Cheep Cheep’).
1954 Reba McEntire born in McAlester, Oklahoma. US Country singer. , country singer, sold over 30 million albums during her career.
1958 Eddie Cochran recorded ‘Summertime Blues’.
1958 Buddy Holly kicked off the first night of a 43 date tour at Brooklyn Paramount Theatre in Brooklyn, New York. The Alan Freed’s Big Beat Show also featured Jerry Lee Lewis, Chuck Berry, Frankie Lymon, The Diamonds, Billy Ford, Danny & The Juniors, The Chantels, Larry Williams, Screaming Jay Hawkins, The Pastels, Jo-Ann Campbell and Ed Townsend. On most days the acts played two shows.
1960 “Wild One” by Bobby Rydell peaked at #2 on the US singles chart.
1960 “Harbor Lights” by The Platters peaked at #8 on the US singles chart.
1960 “This Magic Moment” by The Drifters peaked at #16 on the US singles chart
1960 “Wild One” by Bobby Rydell peaked at #2 on the US singles chart.
1962 Geo Grimes, Danny Wilson, (1988 UK No.3 single ‘Mary’s Prayer’).
1964 Madame Tussauds, London unveiled the wax works images of The Beatles, the first pop stars to be honoured.
1964 Radio Caroline started broadcasting from the former Danish ferry ‘Fredericia’ in the North Sea off the coast of England.
1965 Steve Turner, guitar, Mudhoney, (1991 UK No.60 single ‘Let It Slide’).
1965 The #1 Song In England is The Rolling Stones and “The Last Time”
1967 Working on sessions for the new Beatles album Sgt Pepper at Abbey Road studios in London, John Lennon recorded his lead vocal for ‘Good Morning Good Morning’, and Paul McCartney added a lead guitar solo to the track. Lennon had decided he wanted to end the song with animal sound effects, and asked that they be sequenced in such a way that each successive animal was capable of scaring or eating the preceding one.
1967 Van Morrison stars a Recording Session At A&R Studios in New York, he works on “BROWN EYED GIRL”. He and producer BERT BERNS would choose take #22 for the single.
1968 Pink Floyd recorded a performance for the BBC 2 TV Omnibus – The Sound of Change show from Barnes Common, London, England. The special, which was produced by Tony Palmer, also featured performances by The Who, Cream and Jimi Hendrix. The show was later broadcast in September of this year.
1969 Cheryl James (Salt) Salt-n-Pepa, (1991 UK No.2 single ‘Let’s Talk About Sex’).
1969 James Atkin, EMF, (1990 UK No.3 & 1991 US No.1 single ‘Unbelievable’).
1970 Simon and Garfunkel were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water’, the duo’s only UK No.1. Only Art Garfunkel sang on the track.
1970 “Woodstock” by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young is released in the US today. Written by fellow folkie Joni Mitchell, the single captures the euphoria of the recent rock fest.
1970 “Love Grows (Where My Rosemary Goes)” by Edison Lighthouse peaked at #5 on the US singles chart.
1970 “Celebrate” by Three Dog Night” by Three Dog Night peaked at #15 on the US singles chart.
1970 “Instant Karma (We All Shine On)” by John Ono Lennon peaked at #3 on the US singles chart.
1973 Led Zeppelin released Houses Of The Holy in the UK. The album title was a dedication by the band to their fans who appeared at venues they dubbed ‘Houses of the Holy’.
1974 Delta blues singer and guitarist Arthur ‘Big Boy’ Crudup died of a stroke at the age of 69. He wrote ‘That’s All Right (Mama)’ covered by Elvis Presley and ‘My Baby Left Me’.
1974 “Hooked On A Feeling” single by Blue Swede was certified Gold by the RIAA. The band’s novel version of the BJ Thomas’ 1968 song went to #1 in the US the following month.
1974 “Sunshine On My Shoulder” single by John Denver was certified Gold by the RIAA
1974 The Raspberries broke up and lead singer Eric Carmen pursued a solo career.
1974 “Hooked On A Feeling” single by Blue Swede was certified Gold by the RIAA. The band’s novel version of the BJ Thomas’ 1968 song went to #1 the following month.
1976 Dave Keuning, guitarist, The Killers, (2005 UK No.1 with their debut album ‘Hot Fuss’).
1976 Francis Rossi, Rick Parfitt and Alan Lancaster from Status Quo were arrested after an incident at Vienna Airport, all three were released on bail.
1976 Genesis began their first North American tour since Peter Gabriel left the band, appearing in Buffalo, New York, with Phil Collins taking over as lead singer.
1977 During a UK tour, Pink Floyd played the first of four sold out nights at New Bingley Hall, Staffordshire County Showground, Stafford.
1977 Kiss played the first of five sold-out nights on their Alive II world Tour at the Budokan in Tokyo, Japan.
1978 “Emotion” album by Samantha Sang was certified Gold by the RIAA
1979 “2 Hot” album by Peaches & Herb was certified Platinum by the RIAA. Including ‘Shake Your Groove Thing’ & ‘Reunited’.
1979 Blondie went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘Heart Of Glass’. Staying at the top for 4wks in a row.
1981 Blondie started a two week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Rapture’, the group’s fourth US No.1, a No.5 hit in the UK.
1981 Elton John’s version of The Beatles ‘I Saw Her Standing There’ was released as a tribute to John Lennon.
1981 “Hello Again” by Neil Diamond peaked at #6 on the US singles chart.
1982 David Crosby was arrested after crashing his car on the San Diego Highway. Police also found cocaine and a pistol in the Crosby Stills & Nash stars car. When the police asked Crosby why he carried the gun, his reply was, “John Lennon.”
1983 “Dirty Laundry” single by Don Henley was certified Gold by the RIAA
1985 USA For Africa went to No.1 on the Australian Singles Chart with ‘We Are The World’. Staying at the top of the Australian Charts for 10wks in a row.
1986 Lady Gaga, (Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta) born in New York City American singer, songwriter. 2008 single US & UK No.1 single ‘Just Dance’, 2008 single ‘Poker Face’, reached No.1 in twenty countries. In 2012, Gaga was ranked at No.4 on Billboard’s list of top moneymakers of 2011, grossing more than 25 million dollars.
1987 Mel and Kim were at No.1 on the UK singles chart ‘Respectable’, giving the production team of Stock, Aitken and Waterman their second UK No.1.
1987 “The Final Countdown” by Europe peaked at #8 on the US singles chart.
1988 “Good Morning Vietnam” album (soundtrack) was certified Gold
1992 “Tears In Heaven” by Eric Clapton peaked at #2 on the US singles chart.
1992 Over a $100,000 (£58,800) worth of damage was caused at The Irvine Meadows Amphitheatre, California, when Ozzy Osbourne invited the first two rows of the audience on stage. Several others took up the offer and the band was forced to exit the stage.
1992 During a North American tour Pearl Jam appeared at the Cabaret Metro in Chicago with Smashing Pumpkins as the support act.
1995 Singer Jimmy McShane died of Aids. He had the 1985 UK No.3 single and European hit ‘Tarzan Boy with Italian dance outfit Baltimora.
1995 “Tuesday Night Music Club” album by Sheryl Crow was certified Multi Platinum 4.00 by the RIAA. It included ‘Run Baby Run’, ‘All I Wanna Do’, ‘Strong Enough’ & ‘I Can’t Cry Anymore’.
1997 “Love Songs” a compiltation album by Elton John was certified Platinum by the RIAA
1999 French act Mr Oizo went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Flat Beat.’ The tune was used in a Levis jeans ad.
2000 “On How Life Is” album by Macy Gray was certified Multi Platinum 2.0 by the RIAA
2000 Jimmy Page accepted substantial undisclosed libel damages from a magazine which claimed he had caused or contributed to the death of his Led Zeppelin bandmate John Bonham. Page’s solicitor, Norman Chapman, told High Court Judge Mr Justice Morland that the feature in Ministry magazine printed in 1999 claimed Page was more concerned with keeping vomit off his bed than saving his friend’s life, and that he stood over him wearing Satanist robes and performing a useless spell.
2001 The artist formerly known as both Puffy and Puff Daddy said in an interview on MTV he now wanted to be known as P. Diddy. In August 2005, he changed his stage name to simply “Diddy.”
2001 It was reported that singer songwriter James Taylor and his wife Caroline Smedvig were expecting twin boys, carried by a surrogate mother who was a family friend.
2005 After playing a warm-up date the night before at the Los Angeles Sports Arena, U2 kicked off their Vertigo tour at the iPay One Center in San Diego, California. The 131 date world tour would see the band playing in North America, Europe, South America and Japan. By the time it finished, the Vertigo Tour had sold 4,619,021 tickets, grossing $389 million; the second-highest figure ever for a world tour.
2006 Tina Brown the sister-in-law of Whitney Houston sold pictures taken in her bathroom to the National Enquirer claiming Whitney Houston had been taking crack cocaine. The pictures showed drug paraphernalia including a crack-smoking pipe, rolling papers, cocaine-caked spoons and cigarette ends strewn across the surface tops of the bathroom.
2009 Kelly Clarkson started a two-week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘All I Ever Wanted’, the singer’s fourth studio album.
2013 Justin Bieber ran into some trouble at Munich airport when customs officials detained and quarantined his monkey. Bieber had recently been given the capuchin monkey as a pet by record producer Mally Mall. Bieber apparently brought the monkey along to join him on the Austrian and German leg of his European tour, but he didn’t have the documentation required to bring his new friend into Germany. Bieber went on to perform in Munich while the monkey was kept in the custody of authorities.
2013 American rock guitarist and session musician Hugh McCracken died of leukemia in New York City at the age of 70. He appeared on many recordings by Steely Dan, Donald Fagen, Billy Joel, Roland Kirk, Roberta Flack, B. B. King, John Lennon, Paul McCartney, The Monkees, Paul Simon, Art Garfunkel, James Taylor, Phoebe Snow, Bob Dylan, Carly Simon, Graham Parker, Eric Carmen, Loudon Wainwright III, Aretha Franklin, Van Morrison, The Four Seasons, Daryl Hall & John Oates, Gary Wright and Andy Gibb. Because of such high demand for his work, McCracken declined Paul McCartney’s invitation to help form his new band, Wings after appearing on his 1971 album Ram.
2014 Tickets for Kate Bush first live shows in 35 years sold out in less than 15 minutes. The Before the Dawn concerts, which were booked to take place this August and September, marked the singer’s first return to the stage since The Tour Of Life in 1979. Demand was so high that the singer’s own website, as well as some ticket-selling sites, crashed as people tried to log on.