1961, Pat Boone went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘Moody River’, the single reached No.18 in the UK. A tongue-in-cheek, heavy metal “comeback” was attempted by Boone in 1997 with an album called ‘In a Metal Mood (No More Mr. Nice Guy)’.
1965, The Who, Solomon Burke, Zoot Money, Cliff Bennett & The Rebel Rousers, John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers, Spencer Davis Group, Marianne Faithful, Long John Baldry, The Birds, (featuring a young Ronnie Wood), Dave Witting and the Ray Martin Group all appeared at Uxbridge Blues Festival, England. Tickets cost from 7/6 to 10/6.
1965, The Four Tops went to No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘I Can’t Help Myself’. Lead singer Levi Stubbs had not been satisfied with the recording session and was promised that he could do it again the following day, but no other session ever took place. The track that became a hit was just the second take of the song.
1967, Having admitted to taking LSD four times during an interview with Life Magazine, Beatle Paul McCartney told The Daily Mirror that he didn’t regret that he’d spoken out and hoped that his fans would understand.
1968, The Rolling Stones scored their seventh UK No.1 single when ‘Jumpin Jack Flash’ hit the top of the charts. Keith Richards has stated that he and Jagger wrote the lyrics while staying at Richards’ country house, where they were awoken one morning by the sound of gardener Jack Dyer walking past the window. When Jagger asked what the noise was, Richards responded: “Oh, that’s Jack – that’s jumpin’ Jack.”
1971, Carole King started a five week run at No.1 on the US singles chart with ‘It’s Too Late / I Feel The Earth Move’. Both songs were from her ‘Tapestry’ album.
1973, Edgar Winter’s US No.1 hit ‘Frankenstein’ was awarded a Gold record. Winter named the song because of how many cuts and patches were contained in the original studio tape.
1974, The Delinquents a band featuring Mick Jones (later of The Clash) made their debut at the Students union bar, Queen Elizabeth College, Kensington.
1976, Future Smiths singer Steve Morrissey had a letter published in this weeks music magazine Record Mirror and Disc asking the editor why the paper had not included any stories on The Sex Pistols.
1977, Six men wielding knives and iron bars outside Shepherd’s Bush underground station beat up Paul Cook from the Sex Pistols. Cook required 15 stitches to a head wound.
1980, US singer Donna Summer became the first act to be signed by David Geffen to his new Geffen record label.
1987, Guns N’ Roses made their UK live debut at a sold out The Marquee Club in London.
1990, Prince played the first of 12 sold-out nights at Wembley Arena in London, England on his current Nude European tour.
1992, The Greenpeace Stop Sellafield, campaign concert took place at G-Mex in Manchester, England with U2, Big Audio Dynamite II, Public Enemy and Kraftwerk.
2000, Eminem was to be immortalised in animation, with a new cartoon series, which would be hosted on a new web site. 26 weekly ‘webisodes’ would be broadcast on the site, featuring Eminem providing all the voices.
2003, G-Man from So Solid Crew was jailed for four years for possessing a loaded handgun. The 24 year-old dumped a loaded gun during a police chase in London last November. He’d always denied it, as well as denying knowing anything about 11 other bullets that were found in a flat in south London. The jury in London’s Southwark Crown Court heard evidence that DNA found on the weapon matched his, and found him guilty.
2007, Darren Hayes, formerly of Australian pop duo Savage Garden, married his boyfriend Richard Cullen in a civil partnership ceremony in London. Hayes was previously married to make-up artist Colby Taylor between 1997 and 1999.
2007, Lawyers for Britney Spears demanded a Florida radio station remove “offensive” advertisements, which featured her with a shaved head. The WFLZ billboards included the slogans “Total nut jobs”, “Shock Therapy” and “Certifiable”, which ran across pictures of a bald Spears. Law firm Lavely and Singer demanded the “immediate removal” of the banners in a letter to the station. Spears was photographed shaving her own head in a Californian hair salon earlier this year.
2011, Amy Winehouse was booed by crowds in Serbia’s capital Belgrade after appearing to be too drunk to perform. The concert – the first on the singers 12-day European tour, saw Winehouse mumble her way through parts of songs, leave the stage altogether and at one point she threw her microphone to the floor. She was frequently booed by the crowd, who had paid up to £45 to see her in a country in which wages are some of the lowest in Europe.
2012, The former chief financial officer for Pearl Jam was charged with 33 counts of theft for allegedly stealing at least $380,000 from the Seattle band’s management company. According to the King County Prosecuting Attorney’s Office, Rickey Goodrich allegedly stole hundreds of thousands of dollars over the course of several years, spending the money on lavish family vacations, spa treatments, life insurance and pricey California wines.
2013, Slim Whitman the American country music and western music singer/songwriter and instrumentalist died aged 90. Known for his yodeling abilities and his smooth high octave falsetto, he sold in excess of 120 million records during his career. Michael Jackson cited Whitman as one of his ten favorite vocalists and Beatle George Harrison cited Whitman as an early influence. Paul McCartney credited a poster of Whitman with giving him the idea of playing his guitar left-handed with his guitar strung the opposite way to a right-handed player’s.
2014, Gerry Goffin, who penned chart-topping songs with his then-wife Carole King died at the age of 75 in Los Angeles. He wrote dozens of hits over two decades, including ‘The Loco-Motion’, ‘Will You Love Me Tomorrow’ and ‘(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman’. After their divorce in 1968, Goffin continued writing songs, including a hit for Whitney Houston ‘Saving All My Love for You’ in 1985.
2015, Blues musician Wendell Holmes died aged 71. He released 12 albums as part of The Holmes Brothers, a family band that included his siblings Sherman and Willie. During their career, the brothers played with many artists including Van Morrison, Peter Gabriel, Rosanne Cash, Levon Helm and Willie Nelson.
2016, Artists including Taylor Swift, Maroon 5, Pearl Jam, U2 and Sir Paul McCartney called for online copyright laws to be reformed. More than 180 artists signed an open letter criticising the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA). They claimed the law benefits companies that “exploit music for their financial enrichment”, but not artists.
(This Day in Music)
