On This Day In Music 2nd April

1917 Lou Monte born in Pompano Beach, Florida. Italian American singer best known for a number of best-selling, Italian-themed novelty records which he recorded for both RCA Records and Reprise Records in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He died June 12, 1989 (aged 72)
1928 Serge Gainsbourg (Lucien Ginzberg) born in Paris, France. French Actor/Singer/Pianist/Guitarist/Songwriter who had a 1969 UK No.1 single with Jane Birkin ‘Je T’aime…Moi Non’, the only French language chart topper. Gainsbourg died of a heart attack on March 2nd 1991. 
1939 Marvin Gaye born in Washington, DC. US Soul Singer/Songwriter who had a 1968 US No.1 & 1969 UK No.1 single with ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’ and a 1982 US No.3 & UK No.4 single with ‘Sexual Healing’. He was shot dead by his father on April 1st 1984.
1941 Leon Russell born in Oklahoma. US Musician/Singer/Songwriter/Mult-instumentalist. Worked with Phil Spector, Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, Glenn Campbell, wrote ‘Delta Lady’ a hit for Joe Cocker, ‘Superstar’ – Carpenters/Colleen Hewett & ‘This Masquerade’ for Geroge Benson. . Played on The Byrds ‘Mr Tambourine Man. Russell died in his sleep at his suburban Nashville home in Mt. Juliet, Tennessee, on November 13, 2016, at the age of 74, his wife said in a statement on his website. In 2010, he had undergone surgery, and in July 2016 he suffered a heart attack. He was recovering from heart surgery.
1942 Phil Castrodale born in Detroit, Michigan. US Singer (First Tenor) with the Reflections. 
1943 Glen Dale born Richard Garfort in Deal, Kent, England. UK guitarist with The Fortunes, (1965 UK No.2 & US No.7 single ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles’). He died 13 January 2019, Chesterfield, Derbyshire.
1946 Kurt Winter born in Winnipeg, Manitoba.Canadian guitarist and songwriter, best known as a member of The Guess Who. He joined them in June 1970. (1970 US No.1 & UK No.19 single ‘American Woman’). He died on 15th December 1997. 
1947 Emmylou Harris born in Birmingham, Alabama. US Country Singer. two albums with Gram Parsons, (1976 UK No.30 single ‘Here There And Everywhere’, US No. 37 single ‘Mr Sandman’). Six times Grammy award winner. 
1952 Leon Wilkeson born in Jacksonville, Florida. US Bass Player with Lynyrd Skynyrd, (1974 US No. 8 single, ‘Sweet Home Alabama’, 1982 UK No.21 single ‘Freebird’). He died on 27th July 2001. 
1953 David Robinson born in Boston, Massachusetts. US Drummer with Jonathan Richman & Modern Lovers & a founder member of The Cars, (1978 UK No.3 & US No.35 single ‘My Best Friend’s Girl’, 1984 US No.3 & 1985 UK No.4 single ‘Drive’).
1955 Elvis Presley, (with Scotty Moore and Bill Black), Slim Whitman, Hoot and Curley, Johnny Horton, Tibby Edwards and Floyd Cramer all appeared at the Louisiana Hayride broadcast from Shreveport Auditorium in Shreveport, Louisiana, and shown on KWKH Television. 
1956 Gregory Abbott born in New York. US Singer/Songwriter, (1986 UK No.6 single ‘Shake You Down’). 
1961 Keren Woodward born in Bristol, England. US Singer with Bananarama, (1984 UK No.3 single ‘Robert De Niro’s Waiting’, plus over 20 other UK Top 40 singles, 1986 US No.1 single ‘Venus’).
1964 The Beach Boys recorded ‘I Get Around’. 
1964 The Beatles had their fourth UK No.1 single with ‘Can’t Buy Me Love.’ With advanced sales of over 2.1 million, holds the record for the greatest advanced orders in the UK. 
1965 The first edition of new music show ‘Ready Steady Goes Live!’ was shown on UK TV, featuring presenters Cathy McGowan and Keith Fordyce. 
1965 The Who made their first radio appearance on the UK BBC’s ‘Joe Loss Pop Show.’ 
1967 Greg Camp born in West Covina, California. US Guitarist//Songwriter with Smash Mouth, (1997 UK No.19 single ‘Walkin’ On The Sun’). 
1966 A charity concert at The Hollywood Bowl, Hollywood, California, took place featuring, Jan and Dean, Sonny & Cher, The Mamas And The Papas, The Turtles, Otis Redding, Donovan and Bob Lind. 
1967 154 Austrian Rolling Stones fans were arrested when a riot broke out at a 14,000-seated Town Hall gig; a smoke bomb was thrown on the stage. 
1967 Greg Camp, Smash Mouth, (1997 UK No.19 single ‘Walkin’ On The Sun’). 
1969 Frank Sinatra’s hit ‘My Way’ entered the UK Singles chart and stayed 127 weks!. 
1969 Bruce Springsteen’s new group Child made their live debut at the Pandemonium Club in Wanamassa, New Jersey. 
1970 Phil Spector completed final editing and mixing for The Beatles Let It Be album, 16 months after the ‘Get Back project had begun. 
1971 Janis Joplin was at No.1 on the US album charts with ‘Pearl.’ 
1971 Chico, (Yousseph Slimani), singer, reached the semi-finals of the UK 2005 series of The X Factor, (2006 UK No.1 single, ‘It’s Chico Time’). 
1975 The Bay City Rollers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their version of The Four Seasons song ‘Bye Bye Baby.’ It gave the Scottish group the best selling single of 1975. 
1977 Abba were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with their fifth No.1 ‘Knowing Me, Knowing You.’ The song was also a Top 10 hit in over 15 countries. 
1977 Fleetwood Mac went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Rumours.’ The album is Fleetwood Mac’s most successful release; along with winning the Grammy Award for Album of the Year in 1978, the record has sold over 45 million copies worldwide. 
1977 Frank Sinatra scored his first ever UK No.1 album with ‘Portrait Of Sinatra’, his 46th album release. 
1979 Jesse Carmichael, keyboards, Maroon 5, (2004 UK No.1 album ‘Songs About Jane’, 2004 US No.1 & UK No.4 single ‘She Will Be Loved’). 
1981 CBS records launched the ‘Nice Price’ series of back catalogue albums in the UK. The first batch priced at £2.99 included early albums by Bob Dylan, Santana, Billy Joel, Abba, Janis Joplin and Simon and Garfunkel. 
1981 Scott Cain, Australian singer and winner of the third Australian Popstars competition. (2002 Australian No.1 single ‘I’m Moving On’). 
1983 Pink Floyd scored their third UK No.1 album with ‘The Final Cut.’ 
1983 Jasiel A. Robinson, (Yung Joc), 2007 US No.1 with T-Pain, ‘Buy U a Drank, Shawty Snappin’. 
1987 Bandleader and drummer Buddy Rich died aged 69 due to complications caused by a brain tumour. Worked with Frank Sinatra, had his own US TV show. 
1987 One of the greatest jazz drummers of all time, Buddy Rich died aged 69 due to complications caused by a brain tumour. Rich worked with many acts including, Frank Sinatra, Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Tommy Dorsey’s band, Dizzy Gillespie and Oscar Peterson. Rush’s Neil Peart organized a pair of 90s tribute albums (titled Burning for Buddy), which also featured the work of Kenny Aronoff, Dave Weckl, Steve Gadd, Max Roach, Steve Smith and Matt Sorum. 
1987 U2 kicked off their 29-date North American Joshua Tree tour at Arizona State Activity Centre. 
1990 Eric Clapton was fined £300 with £10 costs by Walton-on- Thames Magistrates court, after being booked for speeding at 105mph; Clapton was also banned from driving for three months. 
1990 Nirvana went into Smart Studios in Madison, Wisconsin and started work on demo versions of ‘In Bloom’, ‘Dive’, ‘Lithium’, ‘Pay To Play’, ‘Imodium’, ‘Sappy’ and ‘Polly’ with Butch Vig producing. 
1991 American hip hop recording artist Quavo best known as a member of the southern hip hop group Migos. Their second album, Culture, released in January 2017 debuted atop the Billboard 200 chart. 
1991 LL Cool J gave a pair of sneakers to every student and teacher at The Thompson Middle School in Dorchester, to celebrate them winning the ‘foot locker cool school video’ contest. 
1994 Ace Of Base went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘The Sign.’ Also Including ‘All That She Wants’ & ‘Don’t Turn Around’
1997 Joni Mitchell was reunited with Kilauren Gibb, the daughter she gave up for adoption 32 years earlier. 
1998 Rob Pilatus, one half of pop duo Milli Vanilli was found dead in a Frankfurt Hotel room after taking a lethal combination of drugs and alcohol. 
1999 The Black Crowes played a concert in Knoxville, Tennessee. Joshua Harmon, a teenager sitting in the second row sued the band a year later for $5,000 claiming significant hearing loss. 
2000 Westlife went to No. 1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Fool Again’. It made the Irish group the first in chart history to debut at No.1 with their first five releases. 
2001 Mariah Carey signed the richest recording deal in history. The 31-year old singer signed a deal with Virgin for three albums worth £60m. The singer had sold over 120 million records worldwide, scoring 14 US No.1 singles. 
2003 US soul singer Edwin Starr died at his British home in Nottingham aged 61. Formed The Future Tones in 1957, had the 1970 US No.1 and UK No.3 anti-Vietnam War protest song ‘War’, (which according to Starr was recorded in one take). 
2004 Coldplay singer Chris Martin was accused of attacking a photographer after leaving a London restaurant with his wife Gwyneth Paltrow. A Coldplay spokesman said photographer Alessandro Copetti had been running after Paltrow’s taxi and tripped. Mr Copetti said he had been taking pictures of the singer and his wife outside a restaurant when Martin kicked him from behind. 
2005 Kanye West had to abandon a signing appearance in Fresno, California, after a fight broke out between a fan and a security guard. West was taken out of the back door of the new FTK urban boutique, while the owners locked all the doors and cleared around 1,000 fans from the store’s parking area. 
2006 A John Lennon schoolbook containing the 12-year-old’s drawing of Lewis Carroll’s poem The Walrus and the Carpenter was sold at auction for £126,500, ($239,733). The poem inspired Lennon to write The Beatles’ 1967 song ‘I Am the Walrus’. Also sold for £12,000, ($22,741) was a ship’s log book written by Lennon during a stormy trip to Bermuda in 1980, and a letter from Paul McCartney to his bandmates Lennon, George Harrison and Ringo Starr failed to reach its £50,000, ($94,742) reserve price. 
2006 Gnarls Barkley started an eight-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Crazy.’ The American duo made chart history by becoming the first act ever to reach No.1 through computer downloads only. The single was not available to buy in shops until the following week. 
2013 A grand piano used in the Motown Records studios was fully restored and put on display at a museum dedicated to the legendary record label in Detroit. Sir Paul McCartney helped fund the restoration of the 1877 Steinway, which was originally in Motown’s Studio B. and was used to create hits for names including Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder and Edwin Starr. 
2013 Coldplay beat the likes of Pink Floyd and The Beatles to the top of a BBC Radio 2 poll to find listeners’ favourite album of all time. ‘A Rush Of Blood To The Head’, Coldplay’s second album, which was released in 2002, came top of the list. Keane’s ‘Hopes And Fears’ took second place, with Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ in third. Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ came fourth, while The Beatles’ 1967 classic ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ could only manage eighth place. The poll was held to tie in with the recent BBC season The Golden Age of the Album. 
2013 Coldplay beat the likes of Pink Floyd and The Beatles to the top of a BBC Radio 2 poll to find listeners’ favourite album of all time. A Rush Of Blood To The Head, came top of the list. Keane’s ‘Hopes And Fears’ took second place, with Duran Duran’s ‘Rio’ in third. Pink Floyd’s ‘Dark Side Of The Moon’ came fourth, while The Beatles’ 1967 classic ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’ could only manage eighth place. The poll was held to tie in with the recent BBC season The Golden Age of the Album. 
2014 Recordings by U2, (The Joshua Tree), the Everly Brothers, (‘Cathy’s Clown’), Jeff Buckley, (‘Hallelujah’), Linda Ronstadt, (Heart Like a Wheel) and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s(‘Fortunate Son’) were among those newly selected for induction into the Library of Congress National Recording Registry.