1968, Working at Abbey Road studios on new songs for their forthcoming album, The Beatles recorded 20 takes of ‘Birthday.’ Roadie Mal Evans added handclaps, and Yoko Ono and Pattie Harrison contributed backing vocals on the track.
1970, Jimi Hendrix was pronounced dead on arrival at St. Mary Abbot’s Hospital in London at the age of 27 after choking on his own vomit. Hendrix left the message ‘I need help bad man’, on his managers answer phone earlier that night. Rumors and conspiracy theories grew up around Hendrix’s death. Eric Burdon claimed Jimi had committed suicide, but that’s contradicted by reports that he was in a good frame of mind. In 2009, a former Animals roadie published a book claiming that Jimi’s manager had admitted to him that he arranged the murder of Hendrix, since the guitarist wanted out of his contract.
1971, The Who scored their first and only UK No.1 album with Who’s Next, the bands sixth LP release, featuring ‘Won’t Get Fooled Again’. Cover artwork shows a photograph, taken at Easington Colliery, of the band apparently having just urinated on a large concrete piling. According to photographer Ethan Russell, most of the members were unable to urinate, so rainwater was tipped from an empty film canister to achieve the desired effect.
1976, One Hit Wonders Wild Cherry started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Play That Funky Music’. The song started life as a B-side. It was the group’s only hit in the UK which peaked at No.7.
1981, Gary Numan took off on a round the world trip in a single engine Cessna plane. The attempt ended after he was forced to land in India, where local police arrested him.
1982, The seven-minute epic by Dire Straits ‘Private Investigations’ went to No.2 on the UK singles chart, held off No.1 by survivors ‘Eye Of The Tiger’.
1983, KISS appeared without their ‘make-up’ for the first time during an interview on MTV promoting the release of their newest album, Lick It Up.
1993, Garth Brooks went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘In Pieces’. The album spent 25 weeks on the chart and sold over 6m copies. The album peaked at No.2 on the UK chart.
1993, Meat Loaf went to No.1 on the UK album chart for the first of five times with ‘Bat Out Of Hell II’.
1996, At Sotheby’s in London, Julian Lennon successfully bid just over $39,000, for the recording notes for the song Paul McCartney wrote for him, ‘Hey Jude’. At the same event, John Lennon’s scribbled lyrics to ‘Being For The Benefit Of Mr. Kite’ sold for $103,500.
2004, Britney Spears married dancer Kevin Federline during a private ceremony in Los Angeles. Federline had two daughters from his previous relationship with actress Shar Jackson.
2006, 73 year old country singer Willie Nelson and four members from his band were charged with drug possession after marijuana and magic mushrooms were found by police on his tour bus. Police had stopped the tour bus near Lafayette, Louisiana.
2006, Echo And The Bunnymen singer Ian McCulloch was convicted of committing a breach of the peace by shouting, swearing and threatening Gary Duncan and his girlfriend Juliet Sebley backstage at Glasgow Barrowlands in Scotland. A court was told that McCulloch had lost his temper when he discovered the two fans in a toilet cubicle inside his private dressing room.
2006, Sir Cliff Richard unveiled a plaque to mark a tiny basement said to be the birthplace of British rock and roll, fifty years after the “2 i’s” coffee bar opened in London’s Old Compton Street. The Tornados, Tommy Steele, The Shadows and Adam Faith were among stars who started out at the club.
2007, Britney Spears was dropped by her management company, one month after employing their services. Los Angeles-based The Firm said: “We have terminated our professional relationship with Britney Spears. “We believe she is enormously talented, but current circumstances have prevented us from properly doing our job.”
2009, Leonard Cohen collapsed on stage during a concert in Valencia in Spain and was taken to hospital. He was later discharged after doctors told him he had food poisoning. Cohen was in the middle of singing his song Bird On The Wire when he fainted, prompting the band to stop playing and rush to help him.
2012, In a survey of more than 160,000 readers, British music magazine NME named John Lennon as Rock’s ultimate icon. Former Oasis frontman Liam Gallagher was placed second, followed by David Bowie, Arctic Monkeys singer Alex Turner and late Nirvana icon Kurt Cobain.
2014, American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift was at no.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Shake It Off’.
(This Day in Music)
