Thursday, January 26, 2012

January 26


Births
1948: Corky Laing (Drummer for Mountain)
1951: David Briggs (Guitar for The Little River Band)
1951: Andy Hummell (Bass for Big Star)
1953: Lucinda Williams (Singer)
1955: Eddie Van Halen (Guitar for Van Halen)
1958: Anita Baker (R&B Singer)
1960: Charlie Gillingham (Keyboards for Counting Crows)
1961: Tom Keifer (Singer for Cinderella)
1963: Andrew Ridgeley (Singer & Guitarist for Wham)
1963: Jazzie B (Soul II Soul)
1970: Kirk Franklin (Gospel Singer)
1976: Willie Adler (Rhythm Guitar for Lamb Of God)
1986: Matt Heafy (Lead Vocal & Lead Guitar for Trivium)

Events

1934: The Apollo Theatre opens in Harlem, New York City, as a vaudeville theatre.

1957: Buddy Holly and the Crickets make their second appearance on CBS' Ed Sullivan Show. Before the show Sullivan, who considered Holly's hit "Oh, Boy!" too "raunchy," forbids him from singing it on tonight's show. Holly refuses, causing Sullivan to limit Buddy to one song instead of two, sabotage him with bad lighting and sound, and mispronounce his name. Holly is visibly upset on the stage.

1962: Buffalo, New York Catholic Church Bishop Joseph A. Burke bans the Twist from being heard or danced in any area Catholic school or event.

1965: 'Downtown' by Petula Clark was at No. 1 on the US singles chart. A young Jimmy Page had played as a session guitarist on the track, giving him his first US No.1 hit at 21 years old.

1970: John Lennon writes "Instant Karma!" in the morning and records it the same afternoon with producer Phil Spector and a backing "choir" assembled from pubcrawlers at London's Hatchetts Club. The single is mixed the same day and released just ten days later (hence the song's name). It ranks as one of the fastest-released songs in pop music history.

1972: Elvis Presley begins wearing one-piece jumpsuits during his gigs at the International Hotel, Las Vegas.

1972: Sean Combs (Puff Daddy) father Melvin was shot dead in his car in a Manhattan park aged thirty-three. Sean was aged 2 at the time.

1977: Original Fleetwood Mac lead guitarist Peter Green is committed to a psychiatric facility in his native England for firing a pistol at a delivery boy who was attempting to deliver a royalty check.

1977: After removing the diamond from his famous "TCB" ring, Elvis Presley has it placed in an engagement ring for girlfriend Ginger Alden. Elvis proposes to her in the bathroom at Graceland.

1980: Prince made his TV debut on the US show American Bandstand.

1999: The National Transportation Safety Board determines the cause of John Denver's fatal 1997 airplane crash: Denver neglected to fill his main tank with enough fuel, and in the process of switching over to his backup tank inadvertently put the plane into a deadly roll.