June 8th, 2018

1963, The Crystals’ ‘Da Doo Ron Ron’ peaked at No.3 on the US singles chart. Produced by Phil Spector, who used a multi-track recording system to build the song layer upon layer to achieve a result that become known as a “wall of sound”. Backing musicians include Glen Campbell on guitar, Leon Russell on piano, Hal Blain on drums and Nino Tempo on sax.

1967, Procol Harum were at No.1 on the UK singles chart with ‘A Whiter Shade Of Pale’ the group’s only UK No.1. In 2004 the song was named the most played record of the past 70 years. More than 900 recorded versions by other artists are known.

1967, The Beatles Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band went to No.1 in the UK. Costing £25,000 ($42,500) to produce the album was recorded over 700 hours of studio time. It was also the first album to print the lyrics on the sleeve. The album spent 27 weeks at No.1 on the UK chart.

1969, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards and Charlie Watts visited Brian Jones at his home in Cotchford Farm to discuss his future in the group. The Stones later issued a press statement saying that Brian was leaving The Rolling Stones.

1970, Deep Purple had their van and equipment impounded by East German police while on an European tour, after mistakenly driving too close to the border.

1974, Bill Wyman became the first Rolling Stone to release a solo album with Monkey Grip, (it peaked at No.39 in the UK and No.99 in the US). The album featured guest appearances by, Dr John, Leon Russell and Lowell George.

1974, David Bowie started a four-week run at the top of the UK charts with his third No.1 album ‘Diamond Dogs’. The cover art features Bowie as a striking half-man, half-dog grotesque painted by Belgian artist Guy Peellaert. It was controversial as the full painting clearly showed the hybrid’s genitalia. Very few copies of this original cover made their way into circulation at the time of the album’s release.

1974, Dolly Parton was at No.1 on the US country chart with ‘I Will Always Love You’. Elvis Presley indicated that he wanted to cover the song. Parton was interested until Presley’s manager, Colonel Tom Parker, told her that it was standard procedure for the songwriter to sign over half of the publishing rights to any song Elvis recorded. Parton refused. ‘I Will Always Love You’ later became a worldwide No.1 hit for Whitney Houston in 1992 when featured in The Bodyguard.

1974, Paul McCartney and Wings went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Band On The Run’ his third solo US No.1, a No.3 hit in the UK. McCartney later stated that George Harrison unwittingly contributed the first line of one part of the song: “If we ever get out of here” when he said it during one of the many Beatles’ business meetings.

1985, Tears For Fears started a two-week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Everybody Wants To Rule The World’, the group’s first US No.1. In 1986, the song won Best Single at the Brit Awards. Band member and co-writer Roland Orzabal argued that the song deserved to win the Ivor Novello International Hit of the Year award, claiming that the winner, ’19’ by Paul Hardcastle – was not an actual song, but only a “dialogue collage.”

1987, Yogi Horton a session drummer with Luther Vandross, jumped to his death from a 17th floor hotel window, having told his wife he was tired of Living in the shadow of Vandross Also worked with The B-52’s, Diana Ross and Debbie Harry.

1989, At a Greenpeace Rainbow Warrior’s press conference, vegetarian Chrissie Hynde claimed that she once firebombed a McDonalds restaurant. The following day a McDonalds in Milton Keynes, England was firebombed and Hynde was threatened with legal action.

1991, Color Me Bad had their only UK No.1 single with ‘I Wanna Sex You Up’. The song was a No.2 hit in the US where some radio stations edited out the word “sex” with disc jockeys announcing the song ‘I Wanna Love You Up’.

1996, The Fugees scored their first UK No.1 single with their version of the Roberta Flack 1973 hit ‘Killing Me Softly’. The song composed by Charles Fox
and Norman Gimbel in 1971 was inspired by Lori Lieberman’s poem ‘Killing Me Softly with His Blues’, written having seen a performance by US singer, songwriter Don McLean.

1998, Oasis guitarist Noel Gallagher, Paul Weller and Martin Carr from The Boo Radleys were all involved in a fight at Dingwalls, Camden in London.

2002, Months of secrecy surrounding Paul McCartney’s wedding plans were blown when John Leslie the owner of the 17th century Castle Leslie in Co Monaghan, let slip to reporters that Sir Paul had booked the Castle for the wedding.

2003, Led Zeppelin were at No.1 on the US album chart with their triple live album How The West Was Won, the band’s seventh US No.1 album. The performances were from the band’s 1972 tour of the United States, recorded at the LA Forum on 25 June 1972 and Long Beach Arena on 27 June 1972.

2007, George Michael was sentenced to 100 hours of community service and banned from driving for two years at Brent Magistrates court, north London. The 43-year-old who was arrested last October after being found slumped at the steering wheel of his car pleaded guilty to driving while unfit, blaming “tiredness and prescribed drugs” for the offence.

2008, Rolling Stone magazine published a list of the Top 50 guitar songs of all time. No.5 was ‘Brown Sugar’ by The Rolling Stones, No.4 , ‘You Really Got Me’ by The Kinks, No.3, ‘Crossroads’, by Cream, No.2 ‘Purple Haze’, by Jimi Hendrix and No.1 ‘Johnny B Goode’, Chuck Berry.

2012, Lauryn Hill was charged with willfully failing to file income tax returns in the US. Authorities said the singer earned more than $1.6m during the three years that she failed to file returns. US prosecutors said her main source of income during the period 2005 – 2007 was royalties from her music and films. According to court papers, the 37-year-old owned four corporations – Creations Music, Boogie Tours, LH Productions 2001 and Studio 22.

2016, Two US musicians were suing Ed Sheeran for $20m over his single ‘Photograph’. Martin Harrington and American Thomas Leonard claimed it had a similar structure to their song, ‘Amazing’. Martin Harrington and Thomas Leonard said they penned Amazing in 2009 and in documents, that include musical note comparison and chord breakdowns of the two songs, the pair claimed the chorus of ‘Photograph’ shares 39 identical notes with their track.

(This Day in Music)