January 9th, 2018

1955, Rosemary Clooney was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Mambo Italiano’ the singers second No.1. The song was banned by all ABC owned stations in the US because it “did not reach standards of good taste”.

1961, Bert Kaempfert started a three week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Wonderland By Night’. Kaempfert produced The Beatles first recording session when they were in Hamburg.

1963, Drummer Charlie Watts joined The Rolling Stones after leaving Blues Incorporated and his job working as a graphic designer.

1965, The Beatles started a nine week run at No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Beatles 65’, the group’s fourth No.1. Beatles ’65 includes eight of the fourteen songs from Beatles for Sale and also includes ‘I’ll Be Back’ from A Hard Day’s Night and the single ‘I Feel Fine’/’She’s a Woman’.

1970, During a UK tour Led Zeppelin appeared at The Royal Albert Hall, London, the night of Jimmy Page’s 26th birthday. (John Lennon, Eric Clapton and Jeff Beck were all in the audience). The two and a quarter hour set was recorded and filmed but shelved for several decades, eventually seeing a release on a 2003 official DVD.

1973, Mick Jagger was refused a Japanese visa on an account of a 1969 drug conviction causing The Rolling Stones to cancel a forthcoming tour.

1976, Queen were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Bohemian Rhapsody’. The single enjoyed a nine week run on the chart selling more than a million copies by the end of the month. It reached No.1 again in 1991 for five weeks following Mercury’s death, eventually becoming the UK’s third best selling single of all time.

1981, Terry Hall and Jerry Dammers from The Specials were both fined £400 ($680) after being found guilty of using threatening words during a gig in Cambridge, England.

1988, Whitney Houston scored her sixth consecutive No.1 in the US with ‘So Emotional’. The song became her sixth consecutive No.1 in the US.

1997, David Bowie performed his 50th Birthday Bash concert (the day after his birthday) at Madison Square Garden, New York with guests Frank Black, Sonic Youth, Robert Smith of The Cure, The Foo Fighters, Lou Reed, and Billy Corgan and Placebo. Proceeds from the concert went to the Save The Children fund.

2000, The chauffeur who drove Puff Daddy and his girlfriend Jennifer Lopez from a night-club after a shooting was reported to be co-operating with prosecutors. Puff Daddy faced up to 15 years in jail for allegedly pulling a gun in a New York club.

2002, Irish singer, songwriter David McWilliams died of a heart attack at his home in Ballycastle, County Antrim aged of 56. Released over 10 solo albums and wrote ‘The Days Of Pearly Spencer,’ 1992 UK No.4 for Marc Almond.

2003, A grand piano once owned by Elvis Presley was sold for $685,000. Music producer Robert Johnson and partner Larry Moss sold the piano to the chairman of the Blue Moon Group, Michael Muzio who was planning to take the piano on a casino-sponsored promotional tour. He was then planning for the piano to be shown at the proposed rock museum at Walt Disney World.

2005, Elvis Presley went to No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Jailhouse Rock.’ The single sold just 21,262 copies to reach No.1, the lowest sales ever for a UK chart topper since data began in 1969. The single was released to celebrate the 70th anniversary of his birth, a previous Elvis chart topper was re-released each week.

2005, The Scissor Sisters went to No.1 on the UK album chart with their self-titled album. They went on to win Best International Album as well as best international Group and International Breakthrough act at the 2005 Brit awards.

2008, Spice Girl Victoria Beckham was named the worst dressed celebrity in an annual list of fashion disasters. Fashion critic Richard Blackwell, who had compiled the poll every year since 1960, said Beckham stepped out in “one skinny-mini monstrosity after another”. Amy Winehouse’s trademark beehive and tattoos helped earn her second place in the list.

2009, Dave Dee died at the age of 65, following a three-year battle with cancer. The UK singer had eight top 10 hits, with Dave Dee, Dozy, Beaky, Mick and Tich including a UK number one single in 1968 with ‘The Legend of Xanadu’, in which Dee famously cracked a whip. The singer, whose real name was David Harman, was originally a police officer and as a police cadet was called to the scene of the car crash that killed Eddie Cochrane during a UK tour in 1960.

2014, Rolling Stone magazine published their Readers Poll: The 10 Greatest Double Albums of All Time. The top 5 were: 5. Led Zeppelin – Physical Graffiti, 4. Bruce Springsteen – The River, 3. The Rolling Stones – Exile On Main Street, 2. Pink Floyd – The Wall, and winning the poll was The Beatles – The White Album.

2015, Darren Partington, a member of 1980s and ’90s acid house pioneers 808 State, was jailed for 18 months for dealing heroin and crack cocaine. The court was told how Partington was pressured into dealing drugs after getting into debt with his own dealer.

2016, Stars paid tribute to Motorhead frontman Lemmy at his funeral at Forest Lawn Memorial Cemetery. Motorhead drummer Mikkey Dee, Foo Fighters’ Dave Grohl, Slash from Guns N’ Roses, Robert Trujillo and Lars Ulrich from Metallica, Judas Priest singer Rob Halford and Anthrax frontman Scott Ian. all spoke at the service. Lemmy’s bass guitar was plugged in to a stack of amplifiers and the volume turned up, with the congregation applauding as feedback from the speakers filled the chapel.

(This Day in Music)