March 11th, 2018

1956, The Dream Weavers were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Its Almost Tomorrow’. The Miami based studio band’s only chart hit in the UK, thus condemning The Dream Weavers to the One Hit Wonder tag.

1964, The Beatles spent the day filming at Twickenham Studios for A Hard Day’s Night. Filming on a stage set made to look like a train guard’s cage, where the Beatles played cards and mimed to ‘I Should Have Known Better’.

1965, Tom Jones was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘It’s Not Unusual.’ The Welsh singer’s first of 16 UK Top 40 hits during the 60’s.

1966, This week’s ITV music show ‘Ready Steady Go’, was entirely devoted to the music of ‘The Godfather Of Soul – James Brown.

1967, Music publisher, Dick James, announced that 446 different versions of the Paul McCartney song ‘Yesterday’ had been recorded so far.

1968, The Otis Redding single ‘(Sittin’ On) The Dock Of The Bay’ went gold in the US three months after the singer was killed in a plane crash.

1970, Deja Vu, the first album by Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, (and the second by the trio configuration of Crosby, Stills, and Nash), was released. It topped the pop album chart for one week and spawned three US Top 40 singles: ‘Teach Your Children’, ‘Our House’, and ‘Woodstock’.

1971, Jim Morrison of The Doors arrived in Paris booking into The Hotel George’s, the following week he moved into an apartment at 17 Rue Beautreillis in Paris. Morrison lived in Paris until his death on July 3rd 1971.

1972, Neil Young went to No.1 on the US & UK album chart with ‘Harvest.’ The album featured the hit single ‘Heart Of Gold.’

1972, Harry Nilsson was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with his version of The Peter Ham and Tom Evans song ‘Without You’. First recorded by Badfinger in 1970, the song was also a No.1 for Mariah Carey in 1994.

1975, The Original Soundtrack, the third album by 10cc was released. It featured the world wide, multi million selling single ‘I’m Not in Love’ notable for its innovative and distinctive backing track, composed mostly of the band’s multitracked vocals. The song was the band’s breakthrough hit worldwide, reaching No.1 in Ireland and Canada and No.2 in the US, as well as reaching the top ten in Australia, New Zealand and several European countries.

1977, The Clash appeared at The Roxy Club, London, supported by The Slits, the first all-female punk group who were making their live debut.

1978, French singer Claude Francois was electrocuted changing a light bulb while standing in his bathtub. He had the 1976 UK hit, ‘Tears On The Telephone’.

1978, Meat Loaf’s Bat Out Of Hell album began a 416-week run on the UK chart. The album went on to become one of the most influential and iconic albums of all time and its songs have remained classic rock staples.

1978, The debut single from Kate Bush, ‘Wuthering Heights’ a song inspired by the Emily Bronte novel, started a four-week run at No.1 on the UK singles chart. Record company, EMI had originally chosen another track, ‘James and the Cold Gun’ as the lead single, but Bush was determined that ‘Wuthering Heights’ would be the first release from the album.

1989, Australian actor turned singer Jason Donovan scored his first UK No.1 single with ‘Too Many Broken Hearts’ which was written and produced by Stock, Aitken and Waterman.

1993, Oasis recorded their first demos at The Real People’s studio in Liverpool. The set included ‘Rock ‘n’ Roll Star’, ‘Columbia’ and ‘Fade Away.’

1996, Pulp singer Jarvis Cocker walked free from Kensington police station after police failed to charge him with any criminal offence following his ‘stage invasion’, during Michael Jackson’s performance at the Brit Awards on 19th February 1996.

2005, The front door of Ozzy Osbourne’s childhood home in Birmingham went up for sale because the current owner was fed up with fans defacing it. Ali Mubarrat, who now owned the house in Lodge Road, Aston, said over the years it had become a pilgrimage destination. He was now auctioning the door on eBay and giving the money to charity.

2008, Madonna was inducted into the US Rock and Roll Hall of Fame at a star-studded ceremony in New York City, she received her honour at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel from singer Justin Timberlake. The 49-year-old thanked her detractors in an acceptance speech, including those who “said I couldn’t sing, that I was a One Hit Wonder. Rock star John Mellencamp, Leonard Cohen, The Ventures and The Dave Clark Five were also among the inductees.

2009, Iron Maiden’s tour manager criticised people who were arrested for trying to gatecrash a concert in Bogota. Colombian police arrested more than 100 people after stones were thrown hours before the group were due to perform. In a statement posted on the band’s website, Rod Smallwood said: “We abhor the inane behaviour of a small minority of people outside.” Riot police fired tear gas canisters at those who tried to enter the concert without tickets.

2010, Pete Doherty was banned from driving for 12 months after admitting allowing his manager to use his Daimler car without insurance. Doherty’s manager Andrew Boyd, admitted dangerous driving and failing to stop at the scene of an accident and was jailed for 12 months. The court was told how the victim Chris Corder suffered “catastrophic” brain injuries and was left in a coma after the crash, the court heard.

2011, The former singer with Iron Maiden was jailed for nine months for fraudulently claiming benefits. Paul Andrews, fronted the band between 1978 and 1981, under the stage name Paul Di’Anno. Andrews, 52, was jailed at the city’s crown court after earlier admitting falsely claiming more than £45,000. Fraud investigators had viewed online videos and read about gigs on the performer’s website.

2015, A jury in the United States ruled that the writers of ‘Blurred Lines’, copied a Marvin Gaye track. Jurors in Los Angeles decided that the 2013 single by Pharrell Williams and Robin Thicke breached the copyright of Gaye’s 1977 hit ‘Got To Give It Up’. The family of the late soul singer were awarded $7.3m in damages. Thicke and Williams denied copying the hit, and their lawyer said the ruling set a “horrible precedent”.

2015, Jimmy Greenspoon, keyboardist with Three Dog Knight died after a long battle with cancer at the age of 67. During the course of their career, Three Dog Knight had 21 top 40 hits, including three No.1 singles.

2016, English musician Keith Emerson died in Santa Monica, California, of a self-inflicted gunshot wound to the head after he had become “depressed, nervous and anxious” because nerve damage in his hands had hampered his playing. Emerson found his first commercial success with the Nice, in the late 1960s and was a founding member of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (ELP), one of the early progressive rock supergroups.

(This Day in Music)