April 8th, 2018

1964, The Supremes record ‘Where Did Our Love Go’ at Motown Studios in Detroit. The song would become their first US No.1 single. Originally founded as the Primettes in Detroit, Michigan, in 1959, the Supremes were the most commercially successful of Motown’s acts and are, to date, America’s most successful vocal group with 12 No.1 singles on the Billboard Hot 100.

1965, Unit Four Plus Two were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘Concrete And Clay’, the English group’s only No.1 hit.

1967, Otis Redding, Sam & Dave, Eddie Floyd, Arthur Conley and Booker T And The MG’s all appeared at London’s Hammersmith Odeon, England.

1967, Sandie Shaw won the Eurovision Song Contest held in Vienna representing Britain with the song ‘Puppet On A String’. She became the first UK female artist to win the contest.

1967, John Lennon took his Rolls Royce to coachbuilders J.P. Fallon Ltd in Surrey to enquire if they could paint his car in psychedelic colours. This was based on an idea by Marijke Koger (“The Fool” who was a member of Dutch team of gypsy artists). J.P. Fallon commissioned Steve Weaver’s pattern of scroll and flowers for the Phantom V. The cost for having the work done came in at £2,000. A custom interior/exterior sound system was also installed as well as a Sony television; telephone (WEYBRIDGE 46676) and a portable refrigerator.

1972, Written after the ‘Bloody Sunday Massacre’, in Northern Ireland Paul McCartney and Wings released ‘Give Ireland Back To The Irish.’ The song was banned by the BBC and the IBA. It peaked at No.16 in the UK and No.21 in the US.

1973, During his Ziggy Stardust world tour, David Bowie played the first of three sold out nights at Shinjuku Koseinenkin, Kaikan, Tokyo, Japan.

1975, Aerosmith released their third studio album Toys In The Attic. The album is their most commercially successful in the US, with eight million copies sold and features the hit ‘Walk This Way’ which peaked at No.10 on the Billboard Hot 100 in early 1977 when re-released and was one of the songs that helped break Aerosmith into the mainstream in the seventies.

1977, The Damned played at the home of the New York punk scene CBGBS, the first UK Punk group to play live dates in the USA.

1977, CBS released the self- titled first album by The Clash in the UK. The album is widely celebrated as one of the greatest punk albums of all time. CBS in the US refused to release it until 1979 and Americans bought over 100,000 imported copies of the record making it one of the biggest- selling import records of all time.

1978, Brian and Michael (Kevin Parrott and Michael Coleman), were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with a song inspired by painter LS Lowery ‘Matchstalk Men And Matchstalk Cats And Dogs.’ The backing vocals are by the St Winifred’s School Choir, who had a No.1 in 1980.

1985, American songwriter J Fred Coots died aged 87. Co-wrote, ‘Santa Claus Is Coming To Town’ and the Pat Boone US No.1 hit ‘Love Letters In The Sand.’ He wrote over 700 songs.

1991, English trip hop group Massive Attack released their debut studio album Blue Lines. In 1997, Blue Lines was named the 21st greatest album of all time in a “Music of the Millennium” poll conducted by HMV, Channel 4, The Guardian and Classic FM. The album was also included in the book 1001 Albums You Must Hear Before You Die.

1994, Electrician Gary Smith who was working at Kurt Cobain’s house in Seattle discovered Cobain’s body lying on the floor in the greenhouse. Local radio station KXRX broke the news at 9.40am that the Nirvana singer and guitarist was dead. A shotgun was found next to Cobain’s body. A suicide note was found that said, “I haven’t felt the excitement of listening to as well as creating music, along with really writing . . . for too many years now”. A high concentration of heroin and traces of Valium were also found in Cobain’s body.

1994, The Recording Industry Association of America announced that Pink Floyd’s 1973 album The Dark Side of The Moon had become the fourth biggest-selling album in US history and had passed the 13 million mark in sales. The album has sold more than 25 million copies worldwide.

1995, Take That had their sixth UK No.1 single when the Gary Barlow penned ‘Back For Good’ went to the top of the UK charts. The song sold over 300,000 copies in its first week and was also a US Top 10 hit. The song won Best British Single at the 1996 Brit Awards.

1997, American singer, songwriter Laura Nyro died from ovarian cancer. Suzanne Vega, Phoebe Snow, Roseane Cash, Frank Sinatra and Linda
Ronstadt all covered her songs. She wrote ‘And When I Die’ a hit for Blood, Sweat & Tears and ‘Stoney End’ which was covered by Barbra Streisand.

1998, Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood was rescued, along with 11 other passengers, in the nick of time, from a boat when an engine caught fire. The boat was exploring the islands near Angra Dos Reis, south of Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, when one of the boat’s engines caught fire. Passengers were rescued by nearby journalists, just before the boat exploded.

2001, Former Spice Girl Emma Bunton scored her first UK No.1 single with ‘What Took You So Long.’ She became the fourth Spice Girl to have a solo No 1. Written by Richard Stannard who wrote six of the Spice Girls’ UK No.1 hits.

2002, Marilyn Manson denied claims that he was responsible for the death of a woman after a party at his mansion in 2001. Jennifer Syme, a former girlfriend of actor Keanu Reeves, died when her Jeep Cherokee hit three parked cars. Her mother, Maria St John, was suing the singer for wrongful death, claiming Manson was negligent in “instructing the woman to operate a motor vehicle in her incapacitated condition”.

2006, Following 2003’s false starts, The Rolling Stones finally performed for the first time in mainland China, at Shanghai’s Grand Stage Theatre. The Stones were banned from performing three songs (Brown Sugar, Honky Tonk Women, Rough Justice). Chinese rock star Cui Jian joined the band on stage for a duet with Mick Jagger on Wild Horses.

2008, Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty was jailed for 14 weeks for violating his probation and for using drugs. Doherty had been given a suspended jail sentence for possession of drugs and driving illegally in October 2007. The singer’s supervision order had required him to make regular visits to court for progress reports, as well as take part in a drug rehabilitation programme but he missed one appointment with his probation team and had been late for another. The sentence forced Doherty to cancel his biggest gig to date at the Royal Albert Hall scheduled for later this month.

2010, Malcolm McLaren former manager of the Sex Pistols, the New York Dolls and Bow Wow Wow died from cancer aged 64. As a solo artist he scored the 1983 UK No.3 single ‘Double Dutch’. He set up the fashion store Let It Rock in the late 60’s with Vivienne Westwood selling rubber and fetish gear.

2012, It was reported that organizers for the 2012 ceremony had recently asked the manager of The Who if legendary drummer Keith Moon would be able to perform at the forthcoming London Olympics Games. Who manager Bill Curbishley, told The Times how he responded to the request. “I emailed back saying Keith now resides in Golders Green crematorium, having lived up to The Who’s anthemic line ‘I hope I die before I get old,'” he said. “If they have a round table, some glasses and candles, we might contact him.”

2016, Alex Turner secured his seventh consecutive UK No.1 album with The Last Shadow Puppets’ Everything You’ve Come To Expect. It was the second time the band had debuted at the top of the album chart and Turner’s five albums with Arctic Monkeys also all debuted at No.1 in the UK.

2017, The late rapper Tupac Shakur, singer, songwriter Joan Baez and Pearl Jam were all entered into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. They were inducted alongside the Electric Light Orchestra (ELO), Journey and Yes during a concert in New York City.

(This Day in Music)