1963, The Beatles played at The Cavern Club at lunchtime and in the evening played at the Majestic Ballroom, Birkenhead. At the Majestic, every ticket had been sold in advance, leaving 500 disappointed fans waiting outside.
1964, The Rolling Stones released their first EP, which included, ‘You Better Move On’, ‘Poison Ivy’, ‘Bye Bye Johnny’ and ‘Money’. It peaked at No.15 on the UK chart.
1966, NBC-TV in the US bought The Monkees series, placing it on their 1966 autumn schedule. The series centered on the adventures of The Monkees, a struggling rock band from Los Angeles, California and introduced a number of innovative new-wave film techniques to television.
1967, The Daily Mail ran the story about a local council survey finding 4,000 holes in the road in Lancashire inspiring John Lennon’s contribution to The Beatles song ‘A Day In The Life’.
1967, The Jimi Hendrix Experience recorded a session for Radio Luxembourg’s Ready Steady Radio. The band ran up a bar bill of £2.5 shillings, ($6.21), which they were unable to pay.
1967, 40-year-old David Mason recorded the piccolo trumpet solo for The Beatle’s ‘Penny Lane’ at Abbey Road Studios in London. He was paid £27, 10 shillings ($42) for his performance. In August, 1987, the trumpet he used was sold at a Sotheby’s auction for $10,846.
1969, Led Zeppelin I the band’s debut album, was released in the US, coinciding with the band’s first headlining US concert tour. It was to peak at No. 10 in the US chart, and at No. 6 in the UK. The RIAA in the US has now certified it as having sold over 10 million copies in the US alone.
1970, R&B singer Billy Stewart and three of his band were killed when the car they’re traveling in crashed off a bridge. Had the 1966 US No.10 single ‘Summertime’.
1970, The Doors played the first of four shows at the Felt Forum in New York City. The shows were recorded for the bands forthcoming ‘Absolutely Live’ album.
1972, A section of Bellevue Boulevard in Memphis was renamed Elvis Presley Boulevard. The remaining length of road kept its original name after protests from the Bellevue Baptist Church.
1976, Barry Manilow scored his second US No.1 single with ‘I Write The Songs’, which was written by The Beach Boys Bruce Johnson.
1981, Motley Crue formed when bass guitarist Nikki Sixx left the band London and began rehearsing with drummer Tommy Lee and vocalist, guitarist Greg Leon, (who later left). Sixx and Lee then added guitarist Bob “Mick Mars” Deal. Vince Neil accepted an offer to join (after turning them down) in April of this year.
1982, Tommy Tucker died, aged 48, after being overcome by poisonous fumes while he was renovating the floors of his New York City home. Tucker wrote the 1964 US No.11 hit ‘Hi Heel Sneakers’.
1987, Kate Bush started a two-week run at No.1 on the UK album chart with ‘The Whole Story’. The compilation album was Bush’s third UK number one album as well as her best selling release.
1996, David Bowie Tom Donahue, The Jefferson Airplane, Gladys Knight And The Pips, Little Willie John, Pink Floyd, Pete Seeger, The Shirelles and The Velvet Underground were all inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
1998, All Saints scored their first UK No.1 single with ‘Never Ever’. The track spent a total of twenty-four weeks on the UK chart and was the first of five No.1 singles for the London based girl group.
2003, A long-lost recording featuring John Lennon and Mick Jagger was set to spark a biding war at a London auction. The acetate record was recorded in 1974 with Jagger singing the blues song ‘Too Many Cooks’ and Lennon playing guitar. The track had never been released because the two artists were both signed to different record companies.
2003, Singer Lou Rawls was arrested at Albuquerque Airport, New Mexico after an incident with his companion, Nina Inman. Officers reported that she and Rawls had been talking about their relationship when the conversation escalated into a shoving match resulting in Rawls being booked on one count of battery on a household member.
2011, Don Kirshner, the songwriter, manager, publisher and music executive who helped launch the careers of Neil Diamond, Bobby Darin, Carole King, Neil Sedaka, The Monkees, The Archies and Kansas, died of heart failure at the age of 76.
2014, Madonna apologised for using a racial slur to refer to her son on an Instagram post, after she uploaded a snapshot of 13-year-old Rocco Ritchie boxing with the offensive epithet used in a hashtag accompanying the photo. Madonna’s comment was swiftly deleted from her Instagram account after some of her 1.1 million followers berated her for using the hashtag “#disnigga”
2016, David Bowie reached No.1 in the American album charts for the first time with Blackstar, released two days before his death on 10 January. His highest-charting US album previously had been The Next Day, which peaked at No.2 in 2013.
2016, Dale Griffin, drummer for rock group Mott The Hoople died aged 67. He was a founder member of the group, best known for classic tracks ‘Roll Away The Stone’ and ‘All The Young Dudes’. The band, who made eight albums during their five-and-a-half year existence, reformed to mark their 40th anniversary in 2009 – but Griffin was too ill to take part.
2016, American brass player Mic Gillette died of a heart attack. A child prodigy, Gillette picked up the trumpet and was reading music by age four. He was a member of soul band Tower of Power.
(This Day in Music)
