On This Day In Music 8th July

1932 Jerry Vale (Genaro Louis Vitaliano) born in The Bronx, New York. US Singer. He died of natural causes in his sleep on May 18, 2014 at his home in Palm Desert, California.[5] His death is mired in controversy, as he was suffering a kidney infection and brought home to die, with many alleged family members visiting to say goodbye, while conspiring not to notify his son and long-time producer, Robert Vale, who was at his summer home in Vaitaoe, Bora Bira, he was contacted by the State Department and couldn’t get back, even in his own plane until after the funeral. “The classiest man in showbiz”, said Steve Lawrence. Vale was 83 years old.
1935 Steve Lawrence (Sidney Leibowitz) born in Brooklyn, New York. US Singer. 
1944 Jai Johanny Johanson (John Lee Johnson) born in Ocean Springs, Mississippi. Drummer with the Allman Brothers Band, (1973 US No.12 single ‘Ramblin Man’). 
1945 Ricky Wolf – UK Guitarist with The Flowerpot Men & White Plains. (1967 UK No.4 single ‘Let’s Go To San Francisco’). 
1954 Producer Sam Phillips took an acetate recording of Elvis Presley singing ‘That’s All Right’ to Memphis radio station WHBQ DJ Dewey Phillips. He played the song just after 9.30 that evening, the phone lines lit up asking the DJ to play the song again. 
1956 Russell Christian – (keyboards, saxophone, vocals) with The Christians. (1988 UK No.8 single ‘Harvest For The World’).
1958 The first Gold record album presented by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) was awarded to the soundtrack LP, ‘Oklahoma’. The honor signified that the album had reached one million dollars in sales. The first Gold single issued by the RIAA was ‘Catch a Falling Star’ by Perry Como in March of 1958. A Gold single represented sales of one million records. 
1961 Andy Fletcher born in Nottingham, England). UK Synthesizer Player with Depeche Mode, (1984 UK No.4 single ‘People Are People’, plus over 25 other UK Top 40 singles). 
1960 US singer Jimmy Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Good Timin’ his only UK No.1. 
1961 Graham Jones born in Bridlington, East Yorkshire. UK Guitarist with Haircut 100, (1982 UK No.3 single ‘Love Plus One’). 
1961 Toby Keith born in Clinton, OKLAHOMA. US country singer, (2002 US No.1 album ‘Unleashed’). 
1962 Joan Osborne born in Anchorage, Kentucky. US/Singer/Songwriter/Guitarist. (1996 UK No.6 single ‘One Of Us’.) 
1963 Freddie & The Dreamers recorded ‘I’m Tellin’ You Now’. 
1965 The Hollies ‘I’m Alive’ went back to the UK No.1 position for the second time. 
1965 The Dave Clark Five had their movie, Catch Us If You Can, premiere in London. The film was renamed to Having a Wild Weekend for its US release. Songs featured by the group in the movie included ‘Catch Us If You Can,’ ‘Having a Wild Weekend’ and ‘I Can’t Stand It.’ 
1966 The Beatles released the ‘Nowhere Man’ 4-track EP in the UK, which included: ‘Drive My Car’, ‘Michelle’ and ‘You Won’t See Me’. All four tracks were taken from The Beatles sixth UK studio album, Rubber Soul. 
1967 The Melody Maker ran a front-page comment condemning the 3-month jail sentence given to Rolling Stone Mick Jagger for possession of Benzedrine tablets. 
1967 UK music weekly the Melody Maker ran a front-page comment condemning the 3-month jail sentence given to Rolling Stone Mick Jagger for possession of Benzedrine tablets. Jagger was later given a conditional discharge. 
1967 The Monkees began a 29-date tour with The Jimi Hendrix Experience as support act. Hendrix was dropped after six shows after being told his act was not suitable for their teenybopper audience. 
1968 The Seekers split up. Judith Durham left to pursue a solo career, Keith Potger remained in London & formed the New Seekers, Bruce Woodley continued songwriting & Athol Guy eventually entered politics. They all reunited in 1993. 
1968 Pink Floyd kicked off their first 20-date North American tour at the Kinetic Playground in Chicago. The club became a driving force in the music business, hosting famous rock acts such as The Doors, Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, The Who, The Byrds, Janis Joplin, The Mothers of Invention, The Grateful Dead, MC5, Jethro Tull, Deep Purple, Iron Butterfly, Fleetwood, Vanilla Fudge, Muddy Waters and Jefferson Airplane. 
1969 Marianne Faithfull collapsed on the set of ‘Ned Kelly’ after taking a drug overdose. She was admitted to a Sydney Hospital, (she was later dropped from the movie). 
1970 Beck Hansen (born Bek David Campbell is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck. (1994 UK No.15 single ‘Loser’, 1994 album ‘Mellow Gold’). 
1970 The Everly Brothers Show, started an eleven-week prime time slot on ABC- TV in the US. It began as a summer replacement in 1970 for The Johnny Cash Show. 
1971 A minor riot occurred during a Mott The Hoople gig at the Royal Albert Hall, London, England. Some fans were injured and two boxes were damaged causing a temporary ban on rock gigs at the venue. The group paid £1,467 for damages to property. 
1971 Neil Mavers – Drummer with The La’s, (1990 UK No.13 single ‘There She Goes’). 
1971 A minor riot occurred during a Mott The Hoople gig at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Some fans were injured and two boxes were damaged causing a temporary ban on rock gigs. The group paid £1,467 for damages to property. 
1972 Bill Withers started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Lean On Me’, his only No.1 hit, it made No.18 in the UK. 
1972 Donny Osmond was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of the Paul Anka song ‘Puppy Love.’ The first of three solo No.1’s for Donny. 
1972 The Concert 10 Festival was held at Pocono International Raceway in Long Pond, Pennsylvania. Acts performing included, Claire Hamill, The Groundhogs, Edgar Winter, Emerson, Lake & Palmer, Faces with Rod Stewart, Humble Pie, The J. Geils Band and Three Dog Night. 
1978 Gerry Rafferty’s album ‘City To City’ went to No.1 on the US chart, knocking off ‘Saturday Night Fever’, which had been at the top of the charts for almost six months. 
1978 Joe Strummer and Paul Simonon from The Clash were arrested for being drunk and disorderly after a gig at the Apollo in Glasgow, both were fined. 
1979 The B-52’s made their UK live debut at London’s Lyceum Ballroom, supported by The Tourists. 
1985 Jamie Cook, guitarist, Arctic Monkeys, (2005, UK No.1 single ‘I Bet You Look Good On The Dancefloor’, ‘2006 UK No.1 album ‘Whatever People Say I Am That’s What I’m Not’). 
1989 The Fine Young Cannibals scored their second US No.1 with ‘Good Thing’. 
1989 Transvision Vamp scored their only UK No.1 album with ‘Velveteen’. 
1995 Outhere Brothers scored their second UK No.1 hit single with ‘Boom Boom Boom’. It stayed at the top for four weeks. The original version of the song contained sexually explicit lyrics which were removed for the radio edit. 
1995 TLC started a seven week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Waterfalls’, the group’s second US No.1, a No.4 hit in the UK. 
1999 Take That’s former manager Nigel Martin Smith started a new business, as an undertaker. It was reported that he was unhappy with a service he had used so he decided to buy a local funeral firm in Manchester. 
2001 Alicia Keys went to No.1 on the US chart with her debut album ‘Songs In A Minor’. 
2002 Michael Jackson spoke out against the music industry’s treatment of artists, alleging that the business was rife with racism. Speaking at a civil rights meeting in New York, Jackson claimed there was a ‘conspiracy’ among record companies, especially towards black artists. A spokesman for Jackson’s record label said the remarks were ‘ludicrous, spiteful and hurtful.’ 
2004 Mark Purseglove known as the world’s ‘biggest bootlegger’ was sentenced to 3 years 6 months jail by Blackfriars Crown Court. Purseglove had built up a £15 million pirate CD empire by bootlegging live concerts of some of the world’s biggest stars including The Beatles, David Bowie and Pink Floyd
2006 Queen guitarist Brian May made a “substantial” donation to save hedgehogs from slaughter in the Outer Hebrides. Although the exact amount was not revealed it was said to be enough to pay for the rescue of hundreds of hedgehogs from the Uists, where Scottish Natural Heritage has been culling the animals for the past four years. May’s money would go towards funding cash rewards for islanders so hundreds more hedgehogs can be saved.
2007 Prince was forced off stage by police halfway through his set at the First Avenue nightclub during a late-night gig in his home town of Minneapolis. The club was only allowed to stay open until 3.am but Prince took to the stage at 2.45am. Prince had already played two concerts in Minneapolis before his late-night club appearance; His first performance was at a department store, where he promoted his new cologne with a nine-song, 45-minute set.
2007 Chemical Brothers went to No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘We Are The Night’ the duo’s sixth studio album.
2015 Ernie Maresca died at his home in South Florida, after a brief illness at the age of 76. He was an American singer, songwriter and record company executive, best known for writing or co-writing some of Dion’s biggest hits, including “Runaround Sue” and “The Wanderer”.