April 10th, 2019

1962 – The Beatles former bass player Stuart Sutcliffe died, (original bassist for eighteen months – January 1960 – June 1961). Sutcliff had stayed in Hamburg Germany after leaving the group. He died of a brain haemorrhage in an ambulance on the way to hospital, aged 22.

1965 – A British school in Wrexham, North Wales, asked parents to please keep children in school uniform and not to send them to school in ‘corduroy trousers’, like the ones worn by The Rolling Stones.

1965 – British acts started a run of seven weeks at the top of the US charts when Freddie and the Dreamers went to No.1 with ‘I’m Telling You Now’, followed by Wayne Fontana’s ‘Game Of Love’, Herman’s Hermits ‘Mr’s Brown’ and The Beatles ‘Ticket To Ride.’

1967 – Marvin Gaye recorded his version of ‘I Heard It Through The Grapevine’. The song was first recorded by The Miracles and had also been a million seller in 1967 for Gladys Knight and the Pips.

1970 – Doors singer Jim Morrison was dragged off stage by keyboardist Ray Manzarek during a concert in Boston, after Morrison asked the audience, ‘Would you like to see my genitals?’. Theater management quickly switched off the power. Morrison had been arrested in Miami a year earlier for “lewd and lascivious behavior” during a performance.

1970 – 27 year-old Paul McCartney issued a press statement, announcing that The Beatles had split, (one week before the release of his solo album). McCartney said, “I have no future plans to record or appear with The Beatles again, or to write any music with John”. John Lennon, who had kept his much-earlier decision to leave The Beatles quiet for the sake of the others, was furious. When a reporter called Lennon to comment upon McCartney’s resignation, Lennon said, “Paul hasn’t left. I sacked him.”

1976 – Peter Frampton went to No.1 on the US album chart with ‘Frampton Comes Alive’, one of the biggest selling ‘live’ albums in rock history. It was the best-selling album of 1976, selling over 6 million copies in the US. Frampton Comes Alive! was voted “Album of the year” in the 1976 Rolling Stone readers poll. It stayed on the chart for 97 weeks.

1982 – Iron Maiden scored their first UK No.1 album with The Number Of The Beast. The bands third studio album saw the debut of vocalist Bruce Dickinson and the final appearance of the late drummer Clive Burr. This was their first album to reach No. 1 in the UK Albums Chart, and be certified platinum in the US.

1984 – Nate Nelson, lead vocalist for The Flamingos on their 1959 hit ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, died of heart disease aged 52, a day after his wife had made a plea to his fans to find a heart for her ailing husband.

1985 – Madonna kicked off her very first North American tour by playing the first of three nights at the Paramount Theatre in Seattle, Washington. The Beastie Boys opened for Madonna on this 40-date Virgin Tour.

1990 – Tom Waits took Doritos Chips to court for using a ‘Waits’, sound-alike on radio ads. The jury awarded him $2.475 million in punitive damages, Waits comments after the case, ‘now by law I have what I always felt I had…a distinctive voice.’

1994 – Over 5,000 fans attended a US public memorial service for Kurt Cobain at Seattle Flag Pavilion.

1999 – A charity tribute concert for the late Linda McCartney was held at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Among the performers were Paul McCartney, Chrissie Hynde, George Michael, Elvis Costello and Sinead O’Connor.

2001 – Bruce Springsteen won a court battle to keep the rights to his early songs. Ronald Winter of Masquerade Music had released the album ‘Before The Fame’ was found to be in breach of copyright. Springsteen was awarded more than £2m damages.

2001 – Sean Puffy Combs was stopped by police in Golden Beach, Miami who informed him that his driving license was suspended. Combs was not arrested because he claimed he was unaware of the suspension, but he was cited for the traffic violation.

2001 – Eminem was given 2 years probation and fined £1,800 and £3,600 costs after admitting carrying a concealed weapon. The charges followed an incident outside a club in Warren, Michigan last June when Eminem ‘pistol whipped’ John Guerra after he saw him kissing his wife.

2003 – American singer Little Eva died in Kinston, North Carolina, aged 59. She had the 1962 US No.1 & UK No.2 single ‘The Loco-Motion’. Eva was working as a babysitter for songwriters Carole King and Gerry Goffin who asked her to record the song they’d just written. ‘The Loco-Motion’ was also a hit for Grand Funk Railroad in 1974 (US No.1) and for Kylie Minogue in 1988 (US No.3).

2003 – Former Oak Ridge Boys member Noel Fox died at a Nashville hospital following a series of strokes aged 63. Fox sang with the Oak Ridge boys until 1972, and later became a music business executive.

2005 – The final episode of The Osbournes was aired on MTV in the UK. The show reached a peak audience of eight million at it’s height during a three year run. Ozzy Osbourne was at a loss to explain its popularity, saying, “I suppose Americans get a kick out of watching a crazy Brit family like us make complete fools of ourselves every week.”

2006 – Actress Gwyneth Paltrow and Coldplay singer Chris Martin announced they had named their second child, a boy, Moses Martin. The couple also had a daughter named Apple.

2013 – Kate Bush received her CBE for services to music from the Queen at an investiture ceremony at Windsor Castle, England. The singer-songwriter, who was catapulted to fame in 1978 when Wuthering Heights topped the charts, said she was “incredibly thrilled”. The 54-year-old dedicated the award to her family and joked that it would have pride of place at the top of her Christmas tree.

(This Day in Music)