1939, Frank Sinatra made his first recording, a song called ‘Our Love’, with the Frank Mane band.
1965, The Rolling Stones were each fined £5 ($8.50) for urinating in a public place, following an incident that had taken place at a petrol station after a gig at the ABC Theatre in Romford, Essex, England. This was after the last show on their fifth UK package tour with The Hollies, The Konrads, all girl-group Goldie and the Gingerbreads and Dave Berry and the Cruisers.
1965, The groundbreaking Motortown Revue landed at the Finsbury Park Astoria, London, England on the first night of a package tour that took them around the UK visiting 21 theatres for two shows a night, plus a live TV special. Topping the bill was Smokey Robinson and the Miracles, Supremes, Martha & The Vandellas, and 14 year-old Little Stevie Wonder all backed by the legendary Funk Brothers.
1967, The UK music magazine New Musical Express announced that former Spence Davis Group member Steve Winwood was planning to form a new group with Jim Capaldi, Chris Wood and Dave Mason. The ensemble would choose the name Traffic.
1967, The Beatles scored their 13th US No.1 single with ‘Penny Lane / Strawberry Fields Forever’. The song’s title is derived from the name of a street near Lennon’s house, in Liverpool. McCartney and Lennon would meet at Penny Lane junction in the Mossley Hill area to catch a bus into the centre of the city.
1972, Neil Young started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Heart Of Gold’. His only Top 20 hit as a solo artist reached No.10 on the UK chart.
1972, Paul Simon scored his first solo No.1 album when his self-titled debut went to the top on the UK charts. Featuring the singles ‘Mother And Child Reunion’ and ‘Me And Julio Down By The School Yard.’
1972, T Rex played the first of two sold out nights at Wembley’s Empire Pool; Ringo Starr filmed the shows for the ‘Born To Boogie’ Apple documentary.
1977, The Clash released their debut single ‘White Riot.’ It peaked at No.38 on the UK charts.
1978, The Bee Gees had the Top 3 on the US singles charts, ‘Night Fever’ at No.1, ‘(Love is) Thicker Than Water’, by brother Andy at No.2, co-written by Barry Gibb and ‘Emotion’ by Samantha Song written and produced by The Bee Gees at No.3.
1978, Aerosmith, Santana, Heart, Dave Mason, Ted Nugent and Mahogany Rush all appeared at the California Jam II festival, Ontario, California.
1989, A radio station in California arranged to have all it’s Cat Stevens Records destroyed by having a steamroller run over them in protest of the singer’s support of Ayatollah Khomeni.
1989, Stock, Aitken and Waterman had three singles in the UK Top 5: Jason Donovan’s ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’, Bananarama’s ‘Help’, and Donna Summer’s ‘This Time I Know Its For Real.’
1991, After attending an in-store promo appearance U2 were fined £500 ($850) after being found guilty of selling condoms illegally at the Virgin Megastore, Dublin.
2001, American singer, guitarist, and songwriter John Phillips of Mamas and The Papas died of heart failure aged 65. His first band, The Journeymen, were a folk trio, Mamas and The Papas had the US No.1 ‘Monday, Monday’. Phillips was married to Michelle Gilliam, they had one child together, Chynna Phillips, vocalist of the 1990’s pop trio Wilson Phillips. His second solo album was released on Rolling Stones records and featured Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Mick Taylor and Ronnie Wood.
2001, Tragedy struck at an in-store appearance by British boy band A1 in the Indonesian capital of Jakarta after a stampede amongst the fans. Four girls were killed and two others were seriously injured.
2002, Ramones were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame by Eddie Vedder, lead singer of Pearl Jam and close friend of the Ramones. The ceremony took place at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City.
2004, Courtney Love exposed her breasts during an appearance on David Letterman’s TV talk show. The singer who had her back to the audience flashed at the presenter while singing the song Danny Boy. After the show, she went on to perform a surprise gig at the Plaid night-club in Manhattan where she was alleged to have injured a man by throwing a microphone stand into the crowd. Ms Love was charged with assault and reckless endangerment.
2008, Heather Mills’ evidence in her divorce case with Sir Paul McCartney was “inconsistent, inaccurate” and “less than candid”, according to judge Mr Justice Bennett’s. His High Court ruling was revealed in full after Ms Mills was told she could not appeal against its publication. The full ruling was published a day after she was awarded £24.3m at the High Court in London. Mills was awarded £3.2m per year for herself and the couple’s daughter Beatrice, £8m for a home in London and £3m to purchase a home in New York. The judge found the total value of Sir Paul’s assets was about £400m. Ms Mills had sought £125m and been offered £15.8m.
2011, Organisers of an attempt to reunite 19 people who watched The Beatles play in a town hall in 1963 had claims from 24 people who said they were there. Billy Shanks was helping to lead the search for the audience members of the gig in Dingwall, Ross-shire, Scotland in 1963. He said some who turned up thought the music was rubbish and left to join an audience of 1,200 watching a local band in nearby Strathpeffer.
2011, Jet Harris, bass guitarist for The Shadows, died from throat cancer at the age of 71. Jet played on the hit ‘Apache’ and during their days as Cliff Richard’s backing band, performed on the chart-topper ‘Living Doll’. In 1962 he left the group and had solo hits with ‘Besame Mucho’ and ‘The Man With The Golden Arm’.
2013, David Bowie’s first album in a decade become the fastest-selling of the year, hitting the No.1 spot in the UK in its first week of release. The Next Day was the 66-year-old’s first No.1 since 1993’s ‘Black Tie White Noise’ and sold 94,000 copies in the first week.
2014, American musician, percussionist, actor and voice actor Joe Lala died from complications of lung cancer at the age of 66. As a drummer and percussionist, he worked with The Byrds, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Manassas, The Bee Gees, Whitney Houston, Joe Walsh, Andy Gibb and many others. He played the trademark congas that drove the Bee Gees’ 1976 US chart-topper ‘You Should Be Dancing’, subsequently included on the multi-million selling Saturday Night Fever soundtrack.
(This Day in Music)
