On This Day In Music 3rd April
1924 Doris Day born in Cincinnati, Ohio. Singer/Actress, (1956 US No.2 & UK No.1 single ‘Whatever Will Be, Will Be, (Que Sera, Sera, plus 17 other UK Top 40 singles).
1928 Don Gibson born in Shelby, North Carolina. US Country Singer/Songwriter. (1958 US No.7 single ‘Oh Lonesome Me’, 1961 UK No.14 single ‘Sea Of Heartbreak.)’ Neil Young covered ‘Oh Lonesome Me’ on ‘After The Gold Rush’ album. Died on 17th November 2003 of natural causes.
1938 Jeff Barry born in Los Angeles, California. US Songwriter/Record Producer. He & his wife Ellie Greenwich wrote ‘Tell Laura I Love Her’, ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’, ‘Be My Baby’, ‘Baby I Love You’, ‘Do Wah Diddy Diddy, ‘Chapel Of Love’, ‘Leader Of The Pack’, ‘River Deep Mountain High’, ‘Hanky Panky’ & numerous others. The couple also charted as artists as teh Raindrops ‘The Kind Of Boy You Can’t Forget’ in 1963.
1938 Phillip Wynne born in Detroit, Michigan. US Leadsinger with The Detroit Spinners, (1980 UK No.1 & US No.2 single ‘Working My Way Back To You’). He died 14th July 1984 from a heart attack.
1941 Jan Berry born in Los Angeles, California. One half of Jan and Dean, (1963 US No.1 & UK No.26 single ‘Surf City’, co-written by Beach Boy Brian Wilson). Berry died on 26th March 2004 after being in poor health from the lingering effects of brain damage after a 1966 car crash.
1942 Wayne Newton (Carson Wayne Newton) born in Norfolk, Virginia. US Singer.
1942 Billy Joe Royal born in Valdosta, Georgia. US Singer with one hit ‘Down In The Boondocks’ Royal died in his sleep on October 6, 2015 in Morehead City, North Carolina aged 73.
1943 Richard Manuel born in Stratford, Ontario, Canada. Singer/Pianist with The Band, (1969 US No.25 single ‘Up On Cripple Creek’, 1970 UK No.16 single ‘Rag Mama Rag’). Manuel committed suicide by hanging on 6th March 1986 in Winter Park, Florida.
1944 Barry Pritchard born in Birmingham, England. UK Lead Guitarist with the fortunes. (1965 UK No.2 & US No.7 single ‘You’ve Got Your Troubles’). He died 11 January 1999, Swindon, Wiltshire.
1944 Tony Orlando (Michael Anthony Orlando Cassavitis) born in New York. US Lead Singer with Dawn, (1971 UK & US No.1 single ‘Knock Three Times’, 1973 US & UK No.1 single ‘Tie A Yellow Ribbon Round The Old Oak Tree’).
1946 Dee Murray born in Gillingham, Kent, England. UK Bass Player with the Spencer Davis Group from October 1968 to July 1969, then in Elton John’s backing band and, then as a session musician. Battling skin cancer for a number of years, Murray died on the 15th January 1992 at the age of 45, in Nashville, Tennessee, after suffering a stroke.
1949 Richard Thompson born in Notting Hill Gate, London, England. UK Guitarist/Songwriter/Vocalst with Fairport Convention & solo, (1991 UK No.32 album, ‘Rumour And Sigh’).
1951 Mel Schacher born in Owosso, Michigan. US Bass Player/Singer with Grand Funk Railroad, (1974 US No.1 single ‘The Locomotion’). Most successful US Heavy Metal band of the 70’s selling over 20m albums.
1956 Elvis Presley appeared on ABC-TV’s ‘The Milton Berle Show’ live from the flight deck of the USS Hancock in San Diego, California. He performed ‘Heartbreak Hotel’, ‘Shake Rattle And Roll’ and ‘Blue Suede Shoes.’ It was estimated that one out of every four Americans saw the show.
1959 The Coasters hit ‘Charlie Brown’ was banned by the BBC because it contained the word ‘spitball’. The record ban was lifted two weeks later and it became their biggest hit in the UK.
1960 Nick Richards – UK Singer/Songwriter and founder member of the band Boys Don’t Cry who had one hit with ‘I Wanna Be A Cowboy’ in 1986.
1960 Elvis Presley recorded ‘It’s Now Or Never’. It was based on O Sole Mio an Italian song written in 1901!
1960 During recording sessions at RCA studios in Nashville, Tennessee, Elvis Presley recorded ‘It’s Now Or Never’, ‘Fever’ and ‘Are You Lonesome Tonight’.
1961 Eddie Murphy (Edward Murphy) born in Hempstead, New York. US Actor. (1986 US No.3 single, ‘Party All The Time’).
1961 The Marcels started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with the Rodgers and Heart song ‘Blue Moon’, also a No.1 in the UK.
1962 Simon Raymonde born in Grangemouth, Scotland. English musician and record producer. He is the son of the late arranger and composer Ivor Raymonde. He is best known as the bass guitarist and keyboard player with the Scottish band Cocteau Twins from 1983 to 1997.(1984 UK No.29 single ‘Pearly Dewdrops’ Drops’).
1963 Elvis Presley’s It Happened At The World’s Fair movie opens in Los Angeles (it opens nationally a week later).
1964 Bob Dylan made his first appearance on the UK charts with The Times They Are A-Changin’. In 2004 the song was ranked #59 on Rolling Stone’s list of the ‘500 Greatest Songs of All Time’.
1966 Peter Tork opened a solo stint in Hollywood at The Troubadour. Tork had already auditioned for ‘The Monkees,’ who he will join later in the year.
1966 Pink Floyd appeared at The Marquee Club in Wardour Street, London, England. During the early 1960s a new generation of British rhythm and blues bands such as The Rolling Stones, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, The Yardbirds, and The Animals forged a new era in rock music at the Marquee.
1967 Working on The Beatles Sgt Pepper album at Abbey Road studios in London, George Harrison recorded his lead vocal on his song ‘Within You Without You’. as well as a sitar part, and some acoustic guitar parts.
1968 Sebastian Bach born in Freeport, Bahamas. Canadian singer-songwriter who achieved mainstream success as frontman of Skid Row from 1987 to 1996. He continues a solo career, acted on Broadway, and has made appearances in film and television. Skid Row, (1989 US No.4 & 1990 UK No.12 single ’18 and Life’).
1969 The Doors’ Jim Morrison turned himself in to the FBI in Los Angeles. He was charged on six charges of lewd behavior and public exposure at a concert in Miami on March 2nd, 1969. He was later released on $2000 bail.
1970 Matthew Priest born in Birmingham. Drummer with Dodgy, (1996 UK No.4 single ‘Good Enough’).
1971 The Temptations scored their second US No.1 with ‘Just My Imagination (Running Away With Me)’ a No.8 hit in the UK.
1974 Drew Shirley born in San Diego. American rock guitarist, formerly of All Together Separate, and since 2005 of the Grammy Award winning alternative rock band Switchfoot.
1975 Steve Miller was charged with setting fire to the clothes of a friend, Benita Diorio. When police arrived at Miller’s house, Diorio was putting out the flames, Miller then got into a fight with some of the policemen and was charged with resisting arrest.
1976 Johnnie Taylor started a four week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Disco Lady’, his 10th US Top 40 and a No.25 hit in the UK.
1976 A then-unknown Sex Pistols opened for The 101’ers at The Nashville Rooms in London. The 101ers were a pub rock band, notable as being the band that Joe Strummer left to join The Clash.
1979 Kate Bush kicked off the 28-date ‘Tour Of Life’ trek making her concert debut at Liverpool’s Empire Theatre, England. Bush never set out on another tour again.
1980 In Memphis on their first US tour, Chrissie Hynde of The Pretenders gets in an altercation at a bar and is arrested. She kicks out the window of the police cruiser sent to take her away and spends the night in jail. Her group performs the next night at Poet’s Music Hall.
1982 Burt Bacharach and Carole Bayer Sagermarry. Five days earlier, the songwriters took home Oscars for Best Original Song for their work on “Arthur’s Theme (The Best That You Can Do)” from the movie Arthur.
1983 Danny Rapp (of Danny & the Juniors) dies at age 41 from a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head. He’s discovered in a hotel room in Quartzsite, Arizona.
1983 After completing a 29-date UK tour, U2 appeared on BBC TV Top Of The Pops performing their latest single Two Hearts Beat As One’.
1985 British singer, songwriter Leona Lewis, singer, winner of the third UK series of the The X Factor who had the 2006 UK No.1 single ‘A Moment Like This’. The download single set a world record, by being downloaded over 50,000 times within 30 minutes of being available online.
1989 23 people were arrested after several thousand fans without tickets tried to gate-crash a Grateful Dead concert at the Pittsburgh Civic Arena, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
1990 American jazz singer Sarah Vaughan died of lung cancer. She had the 1954 US No.6 single ‘Make Yourself Comfortable’ and released over 50 albums. March 27, is “Sarah Lois Vaughan Day” in both San Francisco and Berkeley, California in honour of the singer.
1993 10 years after It’s first release, The Bluebells had a UK No.1 single with ‘Young At Heart’ after the track was featured on a Volkswagen TV commercial, (the song was co- written by Bananarama member Siobhan Fahey).
1993 Depeche Mode went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Songs Of Faith And Devotion’ their first UK No.1 and their 10th album release.
1994 A forthcoming tour by Nirvana and Hole was cancelled amid continuing speculation about Kurt Cobain’s drug problems.
1998 Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris Michael Katherine Jackson was born.
1998 Rob Pilatus (Milli Vanilli) died aged 33 or a lethal cocktail of cocaine, medication and alcohol.
1999 English composer Lionel Bart died from cancer aged 69. Wrote ‘Living Doll’ for Cliff Richard, ‘Little White Bull’ for Tommy Steele, composed the musical, ‘Oliver’ And wrote the theme song for the 1963 James Bond film From Russia With Love.
1999 Alanis Morissette and Garbage appeared at the Cox Arena, San Diego, California.
2000 Mariah Carey was admitted to Massachusetts General Hospital suffering from dehydration and complications from food poisoning after eating raw oysters.
2001 Robbie Williams won the award for the most radio plays in the UK for the third year running. The singer picked up the award at the Radio Academy awards in London.
2002 Influential British avant-garde electronic musician Frank Tovey of Fad Gadget died of heart failure aged 45. Was infamous for spreading his naked body in shaving cream onstage and would play various instruments with his head.
2003 Stax records songwriter Homer Banks died aged 61. Wrote ‘I Can’t Stand Up for Falling Down’, recorded by Sam & Dave and a UK hit for Elvis Costello. Rod Stewart, The Emotions, Isaac Hayes, Millie Jackson and Johnny Taylor all covered his songs.
2006 Founder member and original drummer for The Wonder Stuff, Martin Gilks died aged 41, after losing control of his motorbike in London. Gilks was voted the best drummer on the planet in an NME poll in 1989.
2007 Rolling Stones guitarist Keith Richards denied that he snorted the ashes of his late father during a drugs binge. Jane Rose, Richards’ manager, told MTV News the remarks were made ‘in jest’, and she could not believe they had been taken seriously. Richards had said in an interview with the NME: ‘He was cremated and I couldn’t resist grinding him up with a little bit of blow.’ But NME interviewer Mark Beaumont was convinced that Richards was not joking when speaking to him about the alleged incident. ‘He did seem to be quite honest about it. There were too many details for him to be making it up,’ he later told BBC news.
2007 During a Season 6 episode of American Idol, Ryan Seacrest announces the American Idol Songwriter Competition. The entry fee is $10, and the winning song gets to be the winner’s first single. After judges cull the 25,000 entries to 20 finalists, it’s put to an online vote and the winner is “This is My Now.”
2008 Morrissey accepted a public apology in court from Word Magazine after it suggested he was a racist and a hypocrite. The singer took Word to court after an article concerning his political views appeared in its March edition. His solicitor said the magazine now accepted that it was “absurd to accuse Mr Morrissey of being a racist” and that he was “not a hypocrite”. The former Smiths frontman did not appear at London’s High Court.
2008 Mariah Carey smashed Elvis Presley’s US chart record by scoring the 18th number one of her career with ‘Touch My Body’, from her new album E=MC2. Carey had now surpassed Elvis Presley’s 17 number ones, The Beatles still held the record with 20 US No.1 hit singles.
2008 Jay-Z joins Madonna and U2 in signing a huge contract with Live Nation; he scores a 360 deal that includes his own label.
2011 Adele broke the record for the longest time at No.1 in the UK album chart by a female solo artist after her second album, 21 spent 10 consecutive weeks at the top of the chart. The previous record was held by Madonna with her first greatest hits record, The Immaculate Collection, in 1990.
2015 Bob Burns, the American drummer who was in the original line-up of the Southern rock band Lynyrd Skynyrd died in a car crash in Georgia when his car struck a mailbox and a tree with the front of the vehicle. Burns was the only occupant of the car and was not wearing a seat belt at the time of the crash. He appeared on the band’s ‘Sweet Home Alabama,’ ‘Gimme Three Steps’ and ‘Free Bird.’