Thursday, November 3, 2011

November 3


Births
1948: Lulu (Lulu Kennedy-Cairns) (Pop Singer)
1954: Adam Ant (Stuart Goddard) (Singer)
1960: Ian McNabb (Guitar & Vocals for Icicle Works)

Events
1957: CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show accidentally cuts off Sam Cooke mid-song when "You Send Me" isn't given enough time at the end of tonight's show. Sullivan invites the singer back the next month to make up for it.

1960: Merle Haggard is released from San Quentin Prison and allowed to complete the more than two years remaining on his sentence on parole.

1964: Mayor Ralph Locker of Cleveland, OH, bans the Rolling Stones from playing the city ever again after a teenager falls from a balcony during the group's concert. Locker is quoted as commenting, "Such groups do not add to the community's culture or entertainment."

1967: The Beatles complete filming on their movie Magical Mystery Tour.

1972: Carly Simon and James Taylor, icons of the Seventies singer-songwriter movement and the highest-paid couple in entertainment, are married at Simon's apartment in Manhattan. Later, at a celebratory concert at Radio City Music Hall, Taylor quips: "I don't know whether to be more nervous about the concert or the marriage." The union lasts eleven years.

1977: Elton John announces his retirement during a concert at London's Empire Pool. He would return to the music business within a year and a half.

1983: RCA records signed Latin teen sensations Menudo for $30m. The line up of five young boys all had to sign a contract agreeing to leave the group when they reached 16, (when too old for the group). Ricky Martin was once a member.

1990: After being featured prominently in the smash hit film Ghost, the Righteous Brothers' version of "Unchained Melody" returns to the top of the charts after 25 years.

1990: 'Ice Ice Baby', by Vanilla Ice became the first rap record to top the US singles chart. The track was initially released as the B-side to the rapper's cover of 'Play That Funky Music', and became the A-side after US DJ's started playing the track.

1991: Legendary rock promoter Bill Graham's funeral in San Francisco is attended by over 300,000 people, though the many musical acts that perform -- the Grateful Dead, Crosby Stills, Nash and Young, Santana, Journey and Joan Baez -- may have helped the turnout.

1995: Hootie and the Blowfish reach an out-of-court settlement with Bob Dylan for an undisclosed amount after courts rule group lifted lyrics from Dylan's "Tangled Up In Blue" for their recent hit "Only Wanna Be With You."

1997: In Santa Monica, CA, Billy Preston is sentenced to three years in prison for cocaine possession and violating parole.

2004: Eric Clapton is made a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire) by Princess Anne at Buckingham Palace.

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

November 2


Births
1944: Keith Emerson (Keyboards for The Nice & Emerson, Lake and Palmer)
1957: Carter Beauford (Drummer for Dave Matthews Band)
1961: K.D. Lang (Kathryn Dawn Lang) (Singer/Songwriter)
1963: Bobby Dall (Bass for Poison)
1969: Reginald Arvizu (Bass for Korn)
1974: Nelly (Cornell Haynes Jr) (Rapper)
1975: Chris Walla (Guitarist for Death Cab for Cutie)

Events
1956: A riot breaks out at Fats Domino's show in Fayetteville, NC, with police resorting to tear gas to break up the unruly crowd. Fats jumps out of a window to avoid the melee; he and two other band members are slightly injured.

1963: Dion angrily walks off the set of the British ITV television program Ready Steady Go! in the middle of performing his hit "Donna The Prima Donna," claiming the go-go dancers surrounding him during the song are distracting.

1966: Paul Revere and the Raiders appear on tonight's "Dizzoner the Penguin" episode of ABC-TV's Batman.

1973: CBS airs the Barbra Streisand television special Barbra Streisand And Other Musical Instruments, featuring special guest Ray Charles.

1974: George Harrison begins the first-ever solo tour by a Beatle when he performs the first night of his "Dark Horse" tour in Vancouver, BC. The tour, which is plagued by Harrison's laryngitis, is a disaster.

1979: The Who's musical film Quadrophenia, featuring a small part played by Sting, opens in US theaters.

1978: David Cassidy's infamous flop cop TV drama David Cassidy: Man Undercover debuts on NBC, the first of only ten episodes.

1984: Marvin Gay Sr., father of singer Marvin Gaye (who added the e when he joined Motown) is found guilty of manslaughter in the shooting death of his son, but courts rule the action was taken in self-defense, and the elder Gay is given five years' probation.

1985: With his new single, "Part-Time Lover," topping the charts, Stevie Wonder becomes the artist with the longest period between Number Ones: 22 years. (This song also sets a record by going to #1 on five different Billboard charts.)

1994: Ruth Tyrangiel, former girlfriend of Bob Dylan, sues for $5 million palimony, claiming the singer reneged on his promise to marry her after she helped with his business affairs and also with his songwriting.

1994: Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young's David Crosby is hospitalized after suffering liver failure; he's fortunate enough to find a donor for a transplant.

1995: The syndicated R&B dance show Soul Train celebrates its 25th year on the air with guest appearances by Al Green, Diana Ross, Bill Withers, and Patti Labelle.

2002: Armed police arrested an international gang who were planning to kidnap former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham and her two young children. The gang had planned to ransom Victoria for $10M.

2003: Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs ran in the New York City Marathon. He finished in 4 hours, 14 minutes and 54 seconds. He raised $2 million dollars for children.

2007: Led Zeppelin's latest reunion concert is postponed when guitarist Jimmy Page breaks his pinky finger.

Tuesday, November 1, 2011

November 1


Births
1945: Ric Grech (Bass for Blind Faith & Traffic)
1949: David Foster (Producer)
1950: Dan Peek (Guitar and vocals for America)
1957: Lyle Lovett (Country Artist)
1959: Eddie Macdonald (Bass for The Alarm)
1962: Anthony Kiedis (Singer for Red Hot Chili Peppers)
1962: Mags Furuholmen (Guitar & Keyboards for A-Ha)
1963: Rick Allen (Drums for Def Leppard)
1972: Jenny McCarthy (Just because)
1981: LaTavia Roberson (Original member of Destiny's Child)

Events
1955: Macon, GA R&B favorites The Famous Flames enter local radio station WIBB to record a demo of their first song, "Please, Please, Please." The primitive scorcher, featuring lead singer James Brown pleading into a single microphone while standing on a Coca-Cola carton, would be rejected by several record labels before finally being picked up by Federal Records in Cincinnati.

1959: Ray Charles leaves his old label, Atlantic, for ABC-Paramount Records.

1959: Elvis Presley's current stint in the Army means that for the first time in nearly five years, no Elvis single resides on the Billboard charts.

1964: Yet another British Invasion band makes its US television debut on CBS' Ed Sullivan Show: The Dave Clark Five, whose clean-cut image visibly relieves the host, who is still suffering from the Stones riot of a few days' earlier. After the band plays "Glad All Over," Ed goes out of his way to tag them as "nice, neat boys."

1965: The Rolling Stones' concert in Rochester, NY, ends abruptly when 3,000 rabid fans storm the stage after just seven minutes. After three more attempts to resume the show, it's cancelled by police, with only six songs having been played.

1968: George Harrison released his first solo album, 'Wonderwall Music' on the Apple label. The songs which were mostly Harrison instrumentals, featured Eric Clapton, Ringo Starr and an unaccredited banjo contribution by Peter Tork of The Monkees.

1970: ABBA, then known as the Festfolk Quartet, play their first-ever concert at a Gothenburg, Sweden restaurant.

1975: Due to lead singer Karen Carpenter's struggle with anorexia, the Carpenters are forced to cancel their upcoming European tour.

1979: Bob Dylan debuts the songs from his new album, a Christian polemic called Slow Train Coming, on the first night of his new tour in San Francisco, CA. A shocked audience boos the new material throughout the set.

1980: Bruce Springsteen scored his first No.1 US album with 'The River', featuring the US No.5 single 'Hungry Heart.'

1993: Flavor Flav (William Drayton )from Public Enemy was arrested charged with attempted murder of his neighbor. Flav claimed he had sex with his girlfriend.

Monday, October 31, 2011

October 31


Births
1952: Bernard Edwards (Bass for Chic)
1961: Larry Mullen (Drummer for U2)
1963: Johnny Marr (Guitarist for The Smiths & Modest Mouse)
1963: Mikkey Dee (Drummer for Motorhead)
1964: Colm O'Ciosoig (Drummer for My Bloody Valentine)
1966: Ad-Rock (Adam Horovitz) (Rapper in The Beastie Boys)
1981: Frank Anthony Iero (Rhythm Guitarist for My Chemical Romance)
2000: Willow Smith (Singer?)

Events
1952: When his original guitarist has a stroke just before a New Year's Eve gig, popular St. Louis boogie-woogie pianist Johnnie Johnson hires for his group The Sir John's Trio a 26-year old hairdresser named Chuck Berry.

1963: The Beatles return from a tour of Sweden to find 50,000 screaming fans waiting for them at London's Heathrow Airport, the surest proof yet that Beatlemania is a national phenomenon. Waiting at the airport is American TV host Ed Sullivan, who notices the furor. "Who are those guys?" he asks a bystander, who tells him they are "England's foremost singing group." Having never heard them, Sullivan nevertheless immediately contacts manager Brian Epstein to book the band for three appearances on his CBS show early in 1964.

1964: Ray Charles is arrested at Boston's Logan Airport for possession of heroin, his third drug since 1958. The singer is ordered to rehab in order to avoid jail time.

1967: The Rolling Stones' Brian Jones is released on $1500 bail from Wormwood Scrubs prison in London after being charged with marijuana possession. Seven fans are arrested for demonstrating outside the prison gates.

1967: The Stooges make their live debut at a Detroit, MI, Halloween party.

1968: Paul McCartney's new girlfriend, Linda Eastman, moves into his London home.

1970: Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas marries actor Dennis Hopper, a marriage that is annulled seven days later.

1974: Members of Led Zeppelin launch their new artist-owned label, Swan Song, at the Chislehurst Caves in England, with the Pretty Things, Bill Wyman, and Groucho Marx -- not to mention several dozen naked models -- attending.

1976: Elvis Presley makes his last recording, singing Jim Reeves' "He'll Have To Go" over a pre-recorded backing track in the Jungle Room of his Graceland home.

1988: Singer Debbie Gibson held a seance at her Halloween party to contact the spirits of Liberace and Sid Vicious.

1989: The very first MTV unplugged show was recorded in New York, featuring UK band Squeeze, the program was aired on 26th Nov 1989.

1990: During a gig in Seattle, Washington, Billy Idol dumped 600 dead fish in Faith No More's dressing room. They responded by walking on stage, naked during Idol's set.

1993: Tupac Shakur was arrested for allegedly shooting two off-duty Atlanta policemen.

1995: James Brown is charged with assault at his home in Aiken, SC, after allegedly striking his wife Adrienne with a mirror.

1996: Slash announced he was no longer in Guns N' Roses. The guitarist said that Axl Rose and he had only been civil to each other on two occasions since 1994.

2005: The Isley Brothers' Ron Isley is sentenced to 26 years in federal prison on tax evasion charges.

2005: The white suit John Lennon wore on the cover of the Beatles' Abbey Road sells at a Las Vegas Amnesty International charity auction for $118,000.

Sunday, October 30, 2011

October 30


Births
1939: Grace Slick (Singer for Jefferson Airplane & Starship)
1941: Otis Williams (Baritone in The Temptations)
1947: Timothy B. Schmidt (Bass for Poco & The Eagles)
1965: Gavin Rossdale (Lead Singer & Rhythm Guitar for Bush)
1969: Snow (Darrin O'Brien) (Rapper)

Events
1967: Rolling Stones leader Brian Jones, already deep in drug addiction, pleads guilty in a London court to possession of cannabis and not guilty to possession of cocaine and methedrine. He spends the night in Wormwood Scrubs prison and is released on bail the next day after being sentenced to nine months, a sentence which will eventually be suspended.

1970: A Miami court sentences Doors leader Jim Morrison to six months in prison and a fine of $500 for allegedly exposing himself during a concert there in March of the previous year. The case is still on appeal when Morrison dies the following July.

1970: Davy Jones guest-stars as himself in tonight's "The Teen Idol" episode of ABC-TV's Make Room For Granddaddy.

1973: On their first visit to the UK, The Osmonds are mobbed by 10,000 fans at London's Heathrow Airport.

1974: Upon learning that her husband, funk-rocker Sly Stone, has abducted their 14-month-old son Sylvester Bubb Ali Stewart, wife Kathy Silvia files for divorce.

1978: KISS' ill-advised live-action kiddie movie KISS Meet The Phantom Of The Park premieres on NBC-TV. Their career would never fully recover.

1979: Bianca Jagger, Mick's first wife, is granted a divorce after eight years of marriage.

1982: Australian band Men At Work went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Who Can It Be Now'' the group's first US No.1.

1990: Guns N' Roses singer Axl Rose was released on $10,000 bail, after being arrested for allegedly hitting a neighbour over the head with a bottle. The incident happened after a complaint to the police about loud music coming from the singers house.

1991: Singer Clint Black (34) weds actress Lisa Hartman (29).

1995: The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announces its upcoming induction of David Bowie, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Pink Floyd, The Shirelles, Jefferson Airplane, Little Willie John, and the Velvet Underground.

1997: All three of the Bee Gees walk off the set of Clive Anderson's BBC-TV talk show All Talk after Anderson disparages their disco era and refers to them as "tossers."

1998: All four original members of Black Sabbath reunited momentarily to play ‘Paranoid’ on US TV’s David Letterman Show.

1998: KISS, both with their signature makeup and without, appear on tonight's "...Thirteen Years Later" episode of Fox-TV's Millennium.

2002: Jam Master Jay from Run-DMC was murdered by an assassin's single bullet at his recording studio in Queens, New York.

2003: Paul McCartney becomes the proud parent of his first child with second wife Heather Mills, a daughter named Beatrice Milly.

2003: Lionel Richie divorces his second wife, Diane Alexander.

2004: An arrest warrant was issued for Motley Crue singer Vince Neil after he allegedly knocked a soundman unconscious during a concert. Neil was said to have punched Michael Talbert in the face at Gilley's nightclub in Dallas after he asked the soundman for more volume on his guitar but attacked Talbert as he adjusted it, leaving him unconscious for 45 seconds.

2007: After losing the top spot to Nirvana's Kurt Cobain the year before, Elvis Presley once again tops Forbes Magazine's list of highest-earning dead celebrities. John Lennon is second on the list; fellow ex-Beatle George Harrison is fourth.

Saturday, October 29, 2011

October 29


Births
1944: Denny Laine (Guitar for The Moody Blues & Wings)
1946: Peter Green (Original Guitarist for Fleetwood Mac)
1955: Kevin DuBrow (Singer for Quiet Rio)
1955: Roger O'Donnell (Keyboards for The Cure)

Events
1971: Guitarist Duane Allman of The Allman Brothers Band was killed when he lost control of his motorcycle on a Macon, Georgia street while trying to swerve to avoid a tractor-trailer. He was three weeks shy of his 25th birthday.

1987: Rolling Stones guitarist and sometime painter Ron Wood gets his first public presentation, Decades, in London, featuring mostly portraits of Wood's famous friends over the past two decades.

1990: The inductees for the sixth annual Rock and Roll Hall of Fame are announced, a list which includes Wilson Pickett, Ike and Tina Turner, The Byrds, The Impressions, LaVern Baker, Jimmy Reed, and John Lee Hooker.

1991: Memphis City Council named interstate 55 through Jackson, The B.B. King Freeway.

1991: Three members of Pink Floyd were injured in an auto race in Mexico.

1995: Paul Anka guest stars on tonight's "Treehouse of Horror VI" episode of Fox-TV's The Simpsons.

1996: Manchester band The Stone Roses split up. Singer Ian Brown said 'having spent the last ten years in the filthiest business in the universe, it's a pleasure to announce the end of The Stone Roses.'

1996: In Pasadena, California, a judge drops drug possession charges against Scott Weiland, the singer for the Stone Temple Pilots. The judge concluded that Weiland had made significant progress in rehab.

1998: Guns ‘N’ Roses Drummer Steven Adler surrendered to authorities to begin serving a sentence of 150 days for two counts of battery and violation of probation.  

2002: Palm Springs, CA, dedicates a portion of its airport as the Sonny Bono Memorial Concourse, in honor of the famous singer who also served as the town's mayor in the late Eighties.

2003: A study by the Neilsen ratings people finds that a full third the sales of Beatles 1 were to new fans between the ages of 19 and 24, skewing the fan base even younger than it had been previously.

2005: The wax figures of the younger Beatles used in the cover of the band's Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band album are auctioned off for $160,000 in London after being discovered languishing in the backroom of Madame Tussauds' famous wax museum.

Friday, October 28, 2011

October 28


Births
1936: Charlie Daniels (Country Singer & Fiddle player)
1957: Stephen Morris (Drums for Joy Division & New Order)
1958: William Reid (Guitar for The Jesus and Mary Chain)
1972: Brad Paisley (Country Artist)

Events
1939: Bill Monroe makes his first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry, performing "Foggy Mountain Top" and "Mule Skinner Blues" at Nashville's War Memorial Auditorium.
1948: In St. Louis, MO, Chuck Berry marries his first and only wife, Themetta "Toddy" Suggs.

1955: As part of the duo Buddy and Bob, Buddy Holly opens for Marty Robbins at a concert in Lubbock, TX.

1956: Elvis Presley makes his second appearance on CBS-TV's Ed Sullivan Show, and unlike the first appearance, Sullivan himself is hosting. Elvis sings "Don’t Be Cruel," "Love Me Tender," "Hound Dog," and "Love Me," and Ed presents Presley with a gold record for "Love Me Tender."

1958: Buddy Holly makes what would be his last major television appearance, lip-synching "It's So Easy" and "Heartbeat" on ABC's American Bandstand.

1968: Cynthia Lennon is granted a divorce from her husband John.

1972: Diana Ross becomes the proud parent of her second daughter, Tracee, her first from husband Robert Ellis Silberstein.

1982: The Jam announced they were splitting up at the end of their current UK tour.

1989: Janet Jackson started a four week run at No.1 on the US album chart with 'Janet Jackson's Rhythm Nation 1814'. Only one of three albums to produce seven Top-ten US singles, (the other two being Thriller by Michael Jackson and Bruce Springsteen's Born In The USA).

1997: R.E.M. drummer Bill Berry announced that he was leaving the group after 17 years, becoming a farmer.

1999: During a Kenny Rogers show in Dallas, TX, a fan is injured by a frisbee Kenny throws randomly into the audience. According to the fan's subsequent two-million-dollar lawsuit, the "accident" has left him impotent.

2003: David Bowie and his wife, the supermodel Iman, sign up as the new spokesmodels for Tommy Hilfiger.