On This Day In Music 17th June
1930 Cliff Gallup born in Norfolk, Virginia. Guitarist with Gene Vincent And The Blue Caps, died of a heart attack 9/10/88, (1956 US No. 7 & UK No. 16 single ‘Be-Bop-A-Lula
1942 Norman Kuhlke born in Liverpool. UK Drummer with the original lineup of The Swinging Blue Jeans, (1964 UK No.2 and US No.24 single ‘Hippy Hippy Shake’).
1943 Jade Hurley (John Hurley) born in Sydney. Australian Entertainer.
1944 Chris Spedding born in Staveley, Derbyshire, England. UK Guitarist, Singer & Songwriter. One of the most active sessions guitarists in the UK. Worked with Donovan, David Essex, Lulu, Dusty Springfield, Jack Bruce, Eno, Bryan Ferry, The Wombles. Solo, (1975 UK No.14 single ‘Motor Biking’). Also a member of The Sharks.
1944 Barry Manilow (Barry Alan Pinkus) is born in Brooklyn, N.Y. He studies at Juliard. Manilow becomes Bette Midler’s accompanist in 1972, later producing her first two albums. He writes and sings jingles for Dr Pepper, Pepsi and McDonalds before releasing his first single in 1974, “Mandy,” a million-selling No. 1 song.(1975 US No.1 & UK No.11 single ‘Mandy’, also wrote ‘Could It Be Magic’, & ‘Copacabana’, scored over 25 US Top 40 singles).
1947 Paul Young born in Manchester, England, Singer & Leader of Sad Cafe. Also a vocalist with Mike & The Mechanics.died 15/7/2000 in Cheshire England. Sad Cafe, (1979 UK No.3 single ‘Every Day Hurts’), Mike and the Mechanics, (1989 UK No.2 single ‘The Living Years’).
1954 Guitarist Danny Cedrone died following a freak accident; 10 days after he had recorded the lead guitar break on ‘Rock Around The Clock’ with Bill Haley and His Comets. Session player Cedrone was paid $21 for his work on the session, as at that time Haley chose not to hire a full-time guitarist for his group. He died of a broken neck after falling down a staircase.
1955 After a month of booking gigs in larger venues in Dallas and Houston, Colonel Tom Parker arranged a meeting with Elvis Presley’s manager, Bob Neal, resulting in an agreement that saw the Colonel handle Presley’s gigs and career strategy from now on.
1957 Philip Chevron born in Irish singer-songwriter and guitarist the Pogues, (1987 UK No.8 single ‘The Irish Rover’). Chevron died on 8 October 2013 in Dublin at age 56 of cancer.
1958 Jello Biafralead born in Boulder, Colorado. singer and songwriter for San Francisco punk rock band Dead Kennedys,(1981 UK No.36 single ‘Too Drunk To F**k’).
1962 Michael Monroe, vocals, Hanoi Rocks, (1984 UK No.61 single ‘Up Around The Bend’).
1963 The Rolling Stones released their first UK single, ‘Come On’, it peaked at No.21 on the UK chart.
1964 Jay & The Americans recorded “Come A Little Bit Closer”.
1965 Richard Hynd, drums, Texas, (1997 UK No.3 single ‘Say What You Want’, 1997 UK No.1 album ‘White On Blonde’).
1965 Elvis Presley was at No.1 in the UK with ‘Crying In The Chapel’ his 15th UK No.1 single.
1965 Working at Abbey Road studios in London The Beatles completed work on the new Paul McCartney song ‘Yesterday’ with the overdubbing of an additional vocal track by McCartney and a string quartet. They also recorded ‘Act Naturally’ for Ringo’s vocal contribution on the ‘Help!’ album and the song ‘Wait’, in four takes. ‘Wait’ will not be included on ‘Help!’, it was included on the following LP, ‘Rubber Soul’.
1965 The Kinks and the Moody Blues made their US concert debut at the Academy of Music in New York City.
1966 Guitarist Peter Green joined John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers.
1969 Kevin Thornton – US Singer with Color Me Bad, (1991 UK No.1 single ‘I Wanna Sex You Up’, 1991 US No.1 single ‘I Adore Mi Amor’).
1972 Rikrot, UK singer, (2000 UK and US No.1 single with Shaggy ‘It Wasn’t Me’).
1971 Carole King went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Tapestry’ for the first of 15 consecutive weeks. The album contained ‘It’s Too Late’, ‘I Feel the Earth Move’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’’ and ‘You’ve Got a Friend’.
1972 Don McLean had his first UK No.1 single with ‘Vincent.’ The song was written about the 19th century artist Vincent Van Gogh. The song is played daily at the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam.
1972 The Rolling Stones album Exile On Main Street started a four-week run at the top of the US charts. The double album, regularly regarded as one of the band’s best, features Rocks Off, Rip This Joint, Happy and Tumbling Dice.
1972 Paul McCartney releases “Mary Had a Little Lamb.” The musical version of the nursery rhyme reaches No. 28 on Billboard’s Hot 100 and No. 9 in Great Britain.
1973 Dolly Parton recorded ‘I Will Always Love You’ in RCA’s Studio “B” in Nashville. Written for her one-time partner and mentor, Porter Wagoner (the two were splitting professionally at the time). The song was later a world-wide hit for Whitney Houston.
1976 Ian Dury played his last gig with Kilburn and the High Roads before starting his solo career. The show at The Assembly Hall, Walthamstow also had The Sex Pistols and The Stranglers on the bill.
1977 After Jimmy Helms pulled out of a gig at Shoreditch College, the members of the social committee decided to call upon famous local, Elton John who lived up the road and ask if he would perform. Elton did the gig for two bottles of wine.
1978 Andy Gibb became the first solo artist in the history of the US charts to have his first three releases reach No.1, when ‘Shadow Dancing’ hit the top of the chart. Spending seven weeks at No.1 it became the best selling single in the US in 1978.
1978 You’re The One That I Want’ by John Travolta and Olivia Newton-John started a nine week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart. The song was from the film Grease.
1979 Anita Ward was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Ring My Bell’. The only hit for the gospel singer from Memphis, making her a One-hit Wonder.
1983 Lee Ryan born in Chatham, Kent, England. UK Singer with Blue, (2002 UK No.1 single ‘If You Come Back’).
1983 This week’s Top 5 UK singles: No.5, Bob Marley, ‘Buffalo Soldier’, No.4, Yazoo, ‘Nobody’s Diary’, No.3, David Bowie, ‘China Girl’, No.2, Wham! ‘Bad Boys’, No.1, The Police, ‘Every Breath You Take.’
1983 James Brown, UB40, Fun Boy Three, The Beat, Curtis Mayfield, Jimmy Cliff, Marillion and Melanie all appeared at this years Glastonbury CND Festival, Shepton Mallet, England.
1985 The Crowd were at No.1 in the UK with a remake of the 1963 hit ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone.’ The single was recorded to raise funds for The Bradford City Football disaster that killed over 50 people. The song featuring Gerry Marsden, Paul McCartney and Rolf Harris, among others.
1987 Kendrick Lamar American hip hop artist. Lamar is also known as a member of the West Coast hip hop supergroup Black Hippy. At the 57th Annual Grammy Awards (2015), Lamar won Best Rap Performance and Best Rap Song for his single, “i”.
1987 Florida real estate agent Vittoria Holman sued Motley Crue and their concert promoter for hearing loss allegedly incurred at a concert in December 1985. Holman and her daughter had front row seats less than 10 feet (3 meters) from the speakers. The case was settled out of court with the band’s insurance company paying Holman over $30,000. (£18,200).
1989 New Kids On The Block went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I’ll Be Loving You Forever’, the group’s first US No.1, a No.5 hit in the UK.
1995 Cliff Richard became a “Sir” when he was knighted for his services to charity.
1997 Fans rioted at an Ozzfest concert in Columbus Ohio, after Ozzy Osbourne couldn’t perform due to throat problems. Angry fans broke windows, uprooted trees, and turned over a parked car.
1999 A teenage girl was crushed to death during a gig by Hole at the Hultsfred Festival, Sweden.
2001 Travis started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Invisible Band’.
2005 Pete Doherty was thrown of a yacht after being found smoking crack cocaine. The Babyshambles singer had been invited onto the yacht with his girlfriend Kate Moss by Davinia Taylor, they were asked to leave the party and were dropped off in Porto Cervo.
2007 The Traveling Wilburys went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘Collection.’ The line of the Wilburys was: George Harrison, (Nelson Wilbury), Jeff Lynne, (Otis Wilbury), Roy Orbison, (Lefty Wilbury), Tom Petty, (Charlie T. Wilbury Jr.) and Bob Dylan, (Lucky Wilbury).
2008 Welsh singer Duffy’s single Mercy was named song of the year at the Mojo magazine awards held in London. Best breakthrough act went to The Last Shadow Puppets – the side project of Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner. Other acts honoured at the reader-voted Mojo Honours included Led Zeppelin, Paul Weller, the Sex Pistols and Genesis. Ska band the Specials were welcomed into the Mojo Hall of Fame and former Creedence Clearwater Revival frontman John Fogerty, won the inspiration award for his contribution to rock music.
2009 60-year-old Billy Joel and his third wife, 27-year-old Katie Lee Joel announced that were splitting up after nearly five years of marriage. Joel’s nine-year union with model Christie Brinkley ended in 1994. His nine-year marriage to Elizabeth Weber, for whom he wrote ‘Just The Way You Are’, ended in 1982. It’s believed that Billy had a prenuptial agreement to protect the millions his many hits have earned.
2011 A computer hacker who stole songs from Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Leona Lewis, Kesha and Mariah Carey during 2009 and 2010 was sentenced to 18 months detention in Germany. A court heard how the teenager, who called himself DJ Stolen, earned more than 15,000 euros (£13,260) by breaking copyright laws and hacking personal information from a number of singers. The 18-year-old used software to steal unpublished songs and then offer them for sale on the internet. Anti-piracy teams in the UK and Germany noticed a growing number of pre-release tracks being leaked much earlier than normal. The teen was also ordered to have therapy for an addiction to the internet.
2012 Bruce Springsteen played his longest show when he turned in a three-hour-and-48-minute, 32-song, set at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid. (This surpassed the previously longest show, Dec. 31, 1980 at the Nassau Coliseum, Long Island, New York, which clocked in at 3:43).
2016 Prince Be one half of P.M. Dawn died of renal disease at the age of 46 at a New Jersey hospital. Their biggest hit was the early 90s hit ‘Set Adrift on Memory Bliss’ which reached No.1 on Billboard’s Hot 100.