Week In Review
October 15, 2009
Jose, Can’t You Sing? … Ricky and Sinead’s Garden Memories … Green Hit With Grits …
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1908, Columbia runs an ad in The Saturday Evening Post touting its new two-sided records …
1949, future Dead Boys leader Stiv Bators is born Stivan John Bator in Youngstown, Ohio …
1954, The Penguins record the doo-wop classic "Earth Angel" … the song will choreograph a million back seat couplings …
1956, "Love Me Tender" is the first single to enter the pop charts at #1 … Elvis’ recording, based on the sentimental Civil War ballad "Aura Lee," also appears on the Country and Western and R&B charts …
1957, Paul McCartney makes his live debut with the Quarry Men at New Clubmoor Hall Conservative Club in Liverpool …
1958, Tommy Facenda, a backup vocalist for Gene Vincent, charts with a single called "High School U.S.A." … the tune is released in 28 versions, each name-dropping a different major high school across the country … the combined sales get the single to #28 on the pop chart …
1961, 20-year-old Bob Dylan records his eponymous debut album accompanied only by his guitar and harmonica … studio cost is a whopping $400 … filling out the studio’s tax reporting form, he lists his name as "Blind Boy Grunt" … the young folkie goes on to become one of the most important musical figures of the 20th century … meanwhile in Britain, the Beatles join forces with Gerry & The Pacemakers for a one-off show … the combine is billed as The Beatmakers …
1962, "Monster Mash" by Bobby Pickett & the Crypt-Kickers is the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit … cannily released to coincide with Halloween, the novelty tune with a Boris Karloff-like spoken vocal reappears on the charts in 1970 and 1973 … James Brown records a live show in the face of objections from his record label—an in-concert soul album has never been done before … Live at the Apollo turns out to be among the Godfather of Soul’s most brilliant performances and the album goes on to sell millions …
1965, a San Francisco collective calling itself The Family Dog presents a rock ’n’ roll dance and concert at the Longshoremen’s Hall … on the bill for "A Tribute to Dr. Strange" are The Jefferson Airplane, The Charlatans, The Marbles, and The Great Society …
1966, Joan Baez is arrested along with 124 others at an anti-draft demonstration outside an induction center in Oakland, California …
1967, the "tribal rock" musical Hair opens off-Broadway … Jimi Hendrix sits in with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers at a club in northwest London … Jimi borrows Mick Taylor’s Les Paul Sunburst and manages to burn some incredible blues even while playing lefty with a guitar strung for a right-handed guitarist, that is, upside-down with low E string nearest the floor …
1968, RCA releases Jose Feliciano’s groundbreaking, bluesy rendition of "The Star Spangled Banner" … the blind singer had been roundly booed for his performance of the song at a World Series game earlier that month … Led Zeppelin make their live debut appearing at University of Surrey, England … John and Yoko are busted for possessing pot at their London apartment … a month later, they plead guilty and are fined $150 … this would later cause problems with the U.S. immigration office and the FBI …
1969, with about a year’s worth of practice, practice, practice, under their belts, Led Zeppelin kicks off their third U.S. tour at New York’s Carnegie Hall … also in The Big Apple, The Who start a six-night stand at the Fillmore East with a two-hour show featuring their new rock opera Tommy … Leonard Chess, the founder of Chess Records, dies of a heart attack at age 52 … one-hit-wonders the Crazy World of Arthur Brown reach #2 on the pop charts with "Fire" co-written by lead singer Brown and organist Vincent Crane … Brown’s stage act is highlighted by his wearing a crown that’s on—wait for it—fire …
1971, a crowd expecting ’50s teen idol Rick Nelson to play all his old hits at a Madison Square Garden show turns surly when he insists on performing new material … the hostile reception is later memorialized in his song "Garden Party" that becomes a hit the following year … a line from the song goes, "If memories are all I’d sing, I’d rather drive a truck"…
1972, in the wake of weak sales of their latest album Mardi Gras, and dissension by band members over John Fogerty's lock on writing and publishing of Creedence Clearwater Revival's music, the band calls it quits … leader Fogerty goes on to a robust solo career while rhythm section Stu Cook and Doug Clifford eventually form Creedence Clearwater Revisited over the opposition of Fogerty … Chuck Berry scores his first and only #1 Pop Chart hit with "My Ding-a-Ling," an ever-so-slightly salacious bit of silliness …
1973, John Lennon files suit against the U.S. government alleging that the FBI tapped his phone in an effort to deport him … The Stones’ "Angie" is the No. 1 Billboard Pop Hit … supposedly a paean to David Bowie’s missus, the song is covered by Tori Amos in the ’90s … the Supreme Court refuses to review a Federal Communications Commission directive ordering broadcasters to censor songs with drug-oriented lyrics before airing them … it will be another three decades before the FCC becomes concerned over breasts…
1974, soul singer Al Green is seriously burned when a disturbed girlfriend tosses a pot of boiling grits on him … the incident results in Green becoming a minister … it will be 2003 before he releases another recording of secular music …
1976, Ike and Tina Turner split up their act … the Sex Pistols sign to EMI records for $68,000 … Rick Dees and His Cast of Idiots reach #1 on the U.S. hit parade with "Disco Duck" …
1977, Lynyrd Skynyrd fans are stunned this week when they learn that band members Steve Gaines, Cassie Gaines, and Ronnie Van Zant have died along with three members of their entourage in a plane crash in a swamp near Gillsburg, Mississippi … The Jam’s new single is "This Is The Modern World" …
1978, Keith Richards receives a suspended one-year sentence after pleading guilty to heroin possession in Toronto … he’s also ordered to play a charity concert for the blind … at CBGB’s in NYC, The Police make their U.S. debut … the tour consists of 23 gigs in 27 days across the U.S. in a station wagon packed with their gear …
1979, Swedish popsters ABBA appear in Vancouver for their first North American concert … The Buggles top the UK pop chart with "Video Killed The Radio Star" …
1980, The Dead Kennedys unleash their latest 45rpm vinyl assault "Kill The Poor" … the picture sleeve shows a bulldozer with a scoop full of dead bodies …
1985, A-Ha becomes the first Norwegian group to score a #1 U.S. hit with "Take On Me" …
1986, Eric Clapton and Keith Richards rock out at an affair honoring Chuck Berry on his 60th birthday captured on film for the movie Hail, Hail, Rock ’n’ Roll … former Tubes singer Jane Dornacker, who had gone on to a new career as a traffic reporter, dies in a New York helicopter crash … this week also marks the first time ever that three femme popsters hold down the first three positions on the pop chart … in order they are: Janet Jackson with her "When I Think of You," "Typical Male" by Tina Turner, and Cyndi Lauper with "True Colors" …
1988, Fantasy Records, after more than a decade of rancorous relations with John Fogerty, files a suit claiming he plagiarized his own song, "Run Through the Jungle," during the composition of "The Old Man Down the Road" … it will be 1995 before the court finally rules that Fantasy is fantasizing …
1991, John Mellencamp is hospitalized in Seattle after suffering a dizzy spell … a doctor later attributes his malady to "too much coffee, stress, and not enough breakfast" …
1992, the Bob Dylan 30th Anniversary Tribute concert in Madison Square Garden includes guest George Harrison, Neil Young, Eric Clapton, Roger McGuinn, and Tom Petty … Sinead O’Connor is booed off the stage by the hostile crowd reacting to the singer’s appearance two weeks earlier on Saturday Night Live when she tore up a picture of the Pope …
1995, Generation X loses another distinctive voice when Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon is found dead of a cocaine overdose on the band’s tour bus in New Orleans … Pretenders frontwoman Chrissie Hynde makes a return trip to her hometown of Cleveland to sing the national anthem at game three of the World Series …
1997, Elton John’s loving tribute to Princess Diana, a remix of "Candle In The Wind," is declared by the Guinness Book of Records to have become the biggest-selling single of all time, having sold 31.8 million copies in less than 40 days and raising $34 million for charity …
1998, the publisher of Alice Cooper’s "Eighteen" files suit against Cooper’s primary makeup-rock competitors KISS, claiming they ripped off his song "Eighteen" for their song, "Dreamin’" … Cooper has nothing to do with it and hasn’t even heard the KISS tune … asked about the outcome years later, Cooper says, "I think we all forgot to show up at court. Paul Stanley bought me a cheeseburger to make up for the whole thing" …
2001, VH1 hosts its Concert for New York, which raises over $30 million for victims of 9/11 with performances by such heavy hitters as The Who, David Bowie, Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Elton John, and Bon Jovi …
2003, singer-songwriter Elliot Smith takes his life in Los Angeles … a hero of the Portland, Oregon, indie-rock scene in the ’90s, Smith gained national prominence after director Gus Van Sant tapped him for the soundtrack to the 1997 film Good Will Hunting … Smith’s song "Miss Misery" was nominated for an Oscar the following year … a posthumous release, From A Basement On A Hill, includes material the singer was working on when he died …
2005, Jamaican reggae star Buju Banton is arrested in connection with the beating of six gay men in June 2004 … Banton had a hit with the song "Boom Bye Bye," whose lyrics refer to burning and shooting gays … Rivers Cuomo, frontman for Weezer, announces he’ll return to Harvard University to complete his last semester for a bachelor’s degree … Cuomo’s higher education had been interrupted a couple of times by touring and recording in the College of Musical Knowledge …
2006, New Zealand country singer Keith Urban checks into rehab to deal with an alcohol addiction, causing him to miss the Country Music Association Awards show where he is nominated in four categories … Neil Young’s 20th Bridge School acoustic concerts host an array of unusual performances including Trent Reznor playing unplugged in front of a string quartet … other headliners include Dave Matthews Band, Death Cab for Cutie, and Brian Wilson … Young sits in with, and energizes, many of the sets … after completing the first leg of a North American tour, Who leader Pete Townshend reveals a new, curmudgeonly persona in an interview with Rolling Stone … the aging rocker disses aging rockers proclaiming that he doesn’t want to witness "old guys in their self-congratulatory mode" … rambling on, he says, "I don't want to go out and see Bob Dylan. I don't want to go out and see The Stones. I wouldn't pay money to go see The Who, not even with new songs." … leading some old-time Who fans to wonder if going out to see the latest incarnation of the Moon-less, Entwistle-less band could result in their being fooled again …
2007, former member of The Smiths and current Modest Mouse multi-instrumentalist Johnny Marr is appointed visiting professor at Salford University, near Marr’s home town of Manchester, England … he’ll teach classes about recording and pop music … this same week, Kid Rock is busted for misdemeanor battery following a scuffle in a Waffle House outside Atlanta … the Kid got into it with a male customer who engaged in a verbal exchange with one of the women in Rock’s entourage … he’s released on $1,000 bail after spending the night in lockup … on a more peaceful note, Graham Nash, Jackson Browne, and David Crosby sing a rousing rendition of CSN’s "Teach Your Children" and other peace-oriented songs at the Pray for Peace concert held in Washington D.C.’s National Cathedral …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals:
October 15: blues singer Victoria Spivey (1906), orchestra leader Bobby Gimby (1918), R&B singer Marv Johnson (1938), Richard Carpenter of The Carpenters (1946), Chris De Burgh of "Lady in Red" fame (1948), Tito Jackson of The Jackson Five (1953), R&B singer Ginuwine, born Elgin Baylor Lumpkin (1970)
October 16: Mississippi bluesman Big Joe Williams (1899), songwriter-producer Burt Kaempfert (1923), Nico of the Velvet Underground (1938), Fred Turner of BTO (1943), Bob Weir (1947), Gary Kemp of Spandau Ballet (1959), Michael Balzary, better known as Flea of Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962), Wendy Wilson of Wilson Phillips (1969), Chad Gray, lead vocalist for Mudvayne and Hellyeah (1971), pop/blues-rock singer-songwriter-guitarist John Mayer (1977)
October 17: jazz drummer Cozy Cole (1909), recording expert John Mosley (1914), British record executive Louis Benjamin (1922), trombonist Rico Rodriguez of The Specials (1934), Jim Seals of Seals and Crofts (1941), pop singer Gary Puckett (1942), James Tucker of The Turtles (1946), Mike Hossack of the Doobie Bros. (1948), country singer Allen Jackson (1958), Rene Dif of Aqua (1967), reggae singer Ziggy Marley, son of Bob Marley (1968), Chris Kirkpatrick of ’N Sync (1971), Eminem born Marshall Bruce Mathers (1972), hip hop/reggae musician Wyclef Jean (1972)
October 18: Chuck Berry (1926), Ronnie Bright of the Coasters (1938), The Association’s Russ Giguere (1943), singer-songwriter Laura Nyro (1947), Joe Egan of Steeler’s Wheel (1949), Gary Richrath of REO Speedwagon (1949), Doobie Brother Keith Knudson (1952), trumpeter Wynton Marsalis (1961), Dan Lilker, bassist for Anthrax, S.O.D., Nuclear Assault, and Brutal Truth (1964), Peter Svensson of The Cardigans (1974)
October 19: Piano Red born William Lee Perryman (1911), Kings of Rhythm drummer Billy Gayles (1931), Dave Guard of The Kingston Trio (1934), Peter Tosh of The Wailers (1944), soul singer George McCrae who had the hit "Rock Your Baby" (1944), Jeannie C. Riley "Harper Valley P.T.A." (1945), Procol Harum lyricist Keith Reid (1946), Wilbert Hart of The Delfonics (1947), Patrick Simmons of the Doobie Brothers (1948), Nino DeFranco, singer and guitarist with The DeFranco Family (1956), Karl Wallinger of World Party (1957), singer/Broadway actress Jennifer Holliday (1960), Dan "Woody" Woodgate of Madness (1960), Pras Michel of The Fugees (1972)
October 20: jazz innovator Jellyroll Morton born Ferdinand Joseph Lamothe (1890), Johnny Moore of The Blazers (1906), master producer Tom Dowd (1925), electric sax man Eddie Harris (1934), rockabilly-ette Wanda Jackson (1937), Jay Siegel of The Tokens (1939), Ric Lee of Ten Years After (1945), Al Greenwood of Foreigner (1951), rocker Tom Petty (1953), Mark King of Level 42 (1958), James George "Soni" Sonefeld of Hootie and The Blowfish (1964), rapper Snoop Dogg born Cordazar Calvin Broadus (1971)
October 21: bop trumpeter Dizzy Gillespie (1917), salsa queen Celia Cruz (1924), manager Jo Lustig (1925), Manfred Mann AKA Michael Lubowitz (1940), Memphis guitarist and producer Steve Cropper (1941), blues guitarist Elvin Bishop (1942), Kathy Young of Kathy Young & The Innnocents (1945), Lee Loughnane of Chicago (1946), Brent Mydland of the Grateful Dead (1952), Go-Go’s guitarist Charlotte Caffey (1953), Eric Faulkner of Bay City Rollers (1955), Julian Cope of Teardrop Explodes (1957), six-string slinger Steve Lukather (1957), early rapper Harold "Whiz Kid" McGuire (1961)
Departures:
October 15: Canadian punk rocker Frank Kerr (2008), songwriter Terry Gilkyson (1999), Tasha Thomas (1984), singer-songwriter Jud Strunk "Daisy A Day" (1981), Bobby Lester of The Moonglows (1980), pop songwriting giant Cole Porter (1974) October 16: jazz vocalist Etta Jones (2001), singer Ella Mae Morse of "Cow Cow Boogie" fame (1999), Santana keyboardist Rich Kermode (1996), jazz drummer Art Blakey (1990), jazz drummer Gene Krupa (1973), Leonard Chess, co-founder of Chess Records (1969)
October 17: pop songstress Teresa Brewer (2007), composer Berthold Goldschmidt (1996), Chris Acland of Lush (1996), Criss Oliva of Savatage (1993), country-pop singer Tennessee Ernie Ford (1991), blues woman Alberta Hunter (1984), New Orleans guitarist Edgar V. Blanchard (1972)
October 18: soul singer Dee Dee Warwick (2008), reggae star Lucky Dube (2007), singer-actress Julie London (2000), Broadway singer-dancer Gwen Verdon (2000), New Orleans sax man Lee Allen (1994), songwriter Ed Labunski (1980), Houston bluesman L.C. Williams (1960)
October 19: New Orleans drummer Earl Palmer (2008), actor-singer-comedian Rudy Ray Moore (2008), harmonica great James "Snooky" Prior (2006), rock journalist Greg Shaw (2004), Alice Cooper lead guitarist Glen Buxton (1997), soul singer Wade Flemons (1993), Level 42 guitarist Alan Murphy (1989), Delta bluesman Son House (1988)
October 20: bassist Paul Raven of Killing Joke and Ministry (2007), jazz pianist and vocalist Shirley Horn (2005), Merle Travis (1983), Ronnie Van Zant, Steve Gaines, and Cassie Gaines—all of Lynyrd Skynyrd (1977)
October 21: jazz trumpeter David Ayler, younger brother of saxophonist Albert Ayler (2001), J Church frontman Lance (2007), singer-songwriter Elliot Smith (2003), Henry Vestine of Canned Heat (1997), Blind Melon singer Shannon Hoon (1995), Elvis’ bassman Bill Black (1965), Jay Perkins, brother of Carl and Luther (1958)
Re:Chas's Music Column - Bumber December Issue W/E 15th, 22nd & 29thr
Week In Review
October 22, 2009
Old Fogerty … Abashed Ashlee Bashed … Think, McPike, Think!
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1883, New York sees the grand opening of its Metropolitan Opera House …
1956, R&B singer Clarence Henry’s "Ain’t Got No Home" is released on the Argo Records label … because he sings like a frog on the record, he is nicknamed "Frogman," and for the rest of his career is known as Clarence "Frogman" Henry … on a lesser note, an oddly gyrating singer with an equally unusual name makes his second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show … he’s called "Elvis" something or other …
1960, Ben E. King, former lead singer for The Drifters, records his first solo numbers, "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand by Me" …
1962, Steveland Morris Judkins makes his first recording … instant success eludes him with this first record, but the accolades are not far away for the artist eventually known as Stevie Wonder … James Brown records a live show in the face of objections from his record label … an in-concert soul album has never been done before … Live at the Apollo, financed by Brown himself, turns out to be among the Godfather of Soul’s most brilliant performances … the album goes on to sell millions …
1964, after an audition with EMI, a London band known as The High Numbers is rejected … who? … exactly … formerly known as The Who, the name change is imposed by manager Pete Meaden, who, adding further insult, dresses the boys in mod suits … not to worry, the kids turn out alright … they resume their name and climb to fame … Buddy Holly sound-alike David Box who worked briefly with The Crickets following Holly’s death, ironically dies in a plane crash coming back from a gig …
1966, The Beach Boys’ "Good Vibrations" charts for the first time on its way to #1 … the single is the result of six months work and 17 sessions in four different studios at an unprecedented cost of $16,000 …
1972, Philly soul singer Billy Paul gets on the soul charts with "Me and Mrs. Jones" … the song holds the top position for three weeks and later becomes a soul classic …
1973, John Lennon files suit against the U.S. government alleging that the FBI tapped his phone in an effort to deport the former Beatle …
1975, justifying his title The Boss, Bruce Springsteen makes both the cover of Time and Newsweek …
1978, Sid Vicious attempts to off himself at Rikers Island, where he's awaiting trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen … the misfiring Pistol will get out and O.D. before he can be prosecuted for the crime …
1980, Jefferson Starship bassist Paul Kantner's brain starts bleeding during a recording session … he recovers fully after a few weeks in the hospital …
1988, after more than a decade of rancorous relations with John Fogerty, the aptly named Fantasy Records launches a suit claiming he plagiarized his own song, "Run Through the Jungle" with his solo effort "The Old Man Down the Road" … despite the fact that John Fogerty apparently sounds alike, this is one Fantasy that will not be fulfilled … the court rules in Fogerty’s favor six years later …
1995, business manager Yolanda Saldivar is sentenced to life for the murder of Tejano singing star Selena … she murdered the singer upon being confronted about embezzled funds … and let that be a lesson to all those contemplating a life of crime as hedge fund managers … never try to cover up embezzlement with murder … it doesn’t play well in court …
1999, an animated debut of Korn’s new single "Falling Away From Me" debuts on the season premiere of South Park … Tina Turner announces plans for her final stadium concert tour …
2001, in the midst of flagging computer sales, Apple announces its new MP3 player, the iPod … the immensely popular portable player signifies a new beginning for Apple and new company mantra, "iPod, therefore I am" (financially solvent, that is) …
2004, Ashlee Simpson is busted lip-synching on Saturday Night Live when the backing tracks with vocals from the song Simpson had performed earlier in the evening begin to play just as she is about to perform her second number … always a woman of integrity, Simpson takes the heat explaining, "My band started playing the wrong song." … earlier in her career, in an interview with Lucky Magazine, Simpson talked about lip-synching: "I'm totally against it and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me" … crusading New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announces that he has launched an investigation of payola practices in the music business … EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony-BMG, and Universal receive subpoenas demanding that they produce communications with independent record promoters—the middlemen paid by record companies to get airplay … during a call-in talk show on San Francisco radio station KGO shockjock Howard Stern tears into FCC Commission Chairman Michael Powell, whose agency had previously issued big fines against Stern for indecent on-air remarks … Stern accuses Powell of getting his government gig by virtue of his father Colin Powell’s heft as U.S. Secretary of State …
2005, U2 guitarist The Edge, producer Bob Ezrin, Gibson Guitar, and Guitar Center join forces under The Edge’s Music Rising banner to supply instruments to Gulf Coast musicians devastated by Hurricane Katrina … the two corporate partners pledge a minimum of $1 million … after taking heat for a copy-protection system that buried software deep in computers making them susceptible to viruses, Sony BMG announces it will stop embedding the anti-piracy software on its CDs … aarrgh, mateys … no friggin’ with the riggin’ … aargh, aargh, aargh …
2006, in an odd case of life imitating art, Paul McPike, a 32-year-old grocery store employee from Medford, OR, files a lawsuit charging that Green Day's American Idiot album is entirely made up of songs that he wrote 12 years earlier when he was in high school … McPike says that he used to regale his high school pals with the original versions of "Jesus of Suburbia" and other classics back in 1992 … he believes that someone must have surreptitiously recorded one of his performances and leaked them to Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong … McPike, who has not recorded or performed since high school, offered Green Day’s album itself as evidence, claiming that Billie Joe didn’t sing the lyrics exactly as written on the album’s insert … we’d make the obvious Paul McPike/American Idiot joke, but it’s far too easy, and American Psycho is already taken … damn you Christian Bale, you stole our idea before we were able to think of it … we smell a lawsuit …
2007, Wu-Tang rapper RZA comes out on top in the Hip-Hop Chess Federation tournament in San Francisco … commenting on his strategy, RZA intones, "When my queen comes out, she’s comin’ out to shake her ass" …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals
October 22: Bobby Fuller of "I Fought The Law" fame (1943), punk rocker Stiv Bator, born Stivin Bator (1949)
October 23: rockabilly artist Johnny Carroll (1937), Freddie Marsden of Gerry & The Pacemakers (1940), Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich (1940), rock parodist Weird Al Yankovic (1959)
October 24: harmonica player Sonny Terry (1911), 1950s R&B singer and pianist Willie Mabon (1925), Santo Farina of Santo and Johnny (1937), record producer Ted Templeman (1944), Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton (1946), R&B singer-songwriter Monica, born Monica Denise Arnold (1980)
October 25: Jon Anderson of Yes (1944), Arrested Development rapper Speech, born Todd Thomas (1968)
October 26: country singer Keith Urban (1967)
October 27: Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer (1933), session guitarist Kermit Chandler (1945)
October 28: country fiddler Charlie Daniels (1936), gravel-voiced singer Ted Hawkins (1936), British blues-rock legend Graham Bond (1937), Hank Marvin of The Shadows (1941), Wayne Fontana, of Wayne Fontana and the Mind Benders (1945), Rickie Reynolds of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Thelma Hopkins of Tony Orlando & Dawn (1948), Stephen Morris of New Order (1957), singer-songwriter-guitarist Ben Harper (1969), singer Justin Guarini (1978)
Departures
October 22: Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller (1994), folk singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl (1989), Jane Dornacker, singer and dancer with The Tubes (1986), ’50s pop crooner Tommy Edwards (1969), barrelhouse pianist Walter Davis (1963)
October 23: R&B singer Ted Taylor (1988), Leonard Lee of the pop duo Shirley and Lee (1976), Buddy Holly sound-alike David Box (1964), Al Jolson (1950)
October 24: keyboardist Merle Saunders (2008), Sandy West, drummer and cofounder of The Runaways (2006), album cover illustrator Phil Hays (2005), gospel-trained crooner Joe Henderson (1964)
October 25: BBC DJ John Peel (2004), R&B keyboard player and singer Jon Thomas (1995), singer George Lee of Ruby and the Romantics (1994), Howard Blauvelt, bassist with Billy Joel (1993), country crossover singer Roger "King of the Road" Miller (1992), legendary rock promoter Bill Graham, born Wolfgang Grajonca (1991), singer Margo Sylvia of The Tune Weavers (1991), Johnnie Richardson, female half of the R&B duo Johnnie & Joe (1988), R&B/jazz saxophonist Willis "Gator" Jackson (1987), Gary Holton, lead singer of The Heavy Metal Kids (1985)
October 26: U.K. pop star Alma Cogan (1966), singer Wilbert Harrison (1994)
October 27: legendary producer Tom Dowd (2002), rockabilly artist Donnie Owens (1994), founding T-Rex member Steve Peregrine-Took, born Steven Ross Porter (1980)
October 28: Dolly’s partner, country singer Porter Wagoner (2007), R&B singer Billy Wright (1991), jazz arranger Oliver Nelson (1975), R&B reedman Earl Bostic (1965)
October 22, 2009
Old Fogerty … Abashed Ashlee Bashed … Think, McPike, Think!
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1883, New York sees the grand opening of its Metropolitan Opera House …
1956, R&B singer Clarence Henry’s "Ain’t Got No Home" is released on the Argo Records label … because he sings like a frog on the record, he is nicknamed "Frogman," and for the rest of his career is known as Clarence "Frogman" Henry … on a lesser note, an oddly gyrating singer with an equally unusual name makes his second appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show … he’s called "Elvis" something or other …
1960, Ben E. King, former lead singer for The Drifters, records his first solo numbers, "Spanish Harlem" and "Stand by Me" …
1962, Steveland Morris Judkins makes his first recording … instant success eludes him with this first record, but the accolades are not far away for the artist eventually known as Stevie Wonder … James Brown records a live show in the face of objections from his record label … an in-concert soul album has never been done before … Live at the Apollo, financed by Brown himself, turns out to be among the Godfather of Soul’s most brilliant performances … the album goes on to sell millions …
1964, after an audition with EMI, a London band known as The High Numbers is rejected … who? … exactly … formerly known as The Who, the name change is imposed by manager Pete Meaden, who, adding further insult, dresses the boys in mod suits … not to worry, the kids turn out alright … they resume their name and climb to fame … Buddy Holly sound-alike David Box who worked briefly with The Crickets following Holly’s death, ironically dies in a plane crash coming back from a gig …
1966, The Beach Boys’ "Good Vibrations" charts for the first time on its way to #1 … the single is the result of six months work and 17 sessions in four different studios at an unprecedented cost of $16,000 …
1972, Philly soul singer Billy Paul gets on the soul charts with "Me and Mrs. Jones" … the song holds the top position for three weeks and later becomes a soul classic …
1973, John Lennon files suit against the U.S. government alleging that the FBI tapped his phone in an effort to deport the former Beatle …
1975, justifying his title The Boss, Bruce Springsteen makes both the cover of Time and Newsweek …
1978, Sid Vicious attempts to off himself at Rikers Island, where he's awaiting trial for the murder of Nancy Spungen … the misfiring Pistol will get out and O.D. before he can be prosecuted for the crime …
1980, Jefferson Starship bassist Paul Kantner's brain starts bleeding during a recording session … he recovers fully after a few weeks in the hospital …
1988, after more than a decade of rancorous relations with John Fogerty, the aptly named Fantasy Records launches a suit claiming he plagiarized his own song, "Run Through the Jungle" with his solo effort "The Old Man Down the Road" … despite the fact that John Fogerty apparently sounds alike, this is one Fantasy that will not be fulfilled … the court rules in Fogerty’s favor six years later …
1995, business manager Yolanda Saldivar is sentenced to life for the murder of Tejano singing star Selena … she murdered the singer upon being confronted about embezzled funds … and let that be a lesson to all those contemplating a life of crime as hedge fund managers … never try to cover up embezzlement with murder … it doesn’t play well in court …
1999, an animated debut of Korn’s new single "Falling Away From Me" debuts on the season premiere of South Park … Tina Turner announces plans for her final stadium concert tour …
2001, in the midst of flagging computer sales, Apple announces its new MP3 player, the iPod … the immensely popular portable player signifies a new beginning for Apple and new company mantra, "iPod, therefore I am" (financially solvent, that is) …
2004, Ashlee Simpson is busted lip-synching on Saturday Night Live when the backing tracks with vocals from the song Simpson had performed earlier in the evening begin to play just as she is about to perform her second number … always a woman of integrity, Simpson takes the heat explaining, "My band started playing the wrong song." … earlier in her career, in an interview with Lucky Magazine, Simpson talked about lip-synching: "I'm totally against it and offended by it. I'm going out to let my real talent show, not to just stand there and dance around. Personally, I'd never lip-synch. It's just not me" … crusading New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer announces that he has launched an investigation of payola practices in the music business … EMI, Warner Music Group, Sony-BMG, and Universal receive subpoenas demanding that they produce communications with independent record promoters—the middlemen paid by record companies to get airplay … during a call-in talk show on San Francisco radio station KGO shockjock Howard Stern tears into FCC Commission Chairman Michael Powell, whose agency had previously issued big fines against Stern for indecent on-air remarks … Stern accuses Powell of getting his government gig by virtue of his father Colin Powell’s heft as U.S. Secretary of State …
2005, U2 guitarist The Edge, producer Bob Ezrin, Gibson Guitar, and Guitar Center join forces under The Edge’s Music Rising banner to supply instruments to Gulf Coast musicians devastated by Hurricane Katrina … the two corporate partners pledge a minimum of $1 million … after taking heat for a copy-protection system that buried software deep in computers making them susceptible to viruses, Sony BMG announces it will stop embedding the anti-piracy software on its CDs … aarrgh, mateys … no friggin’ with the riggin’ … aargh, aargh, aargh …
2006, in an odd case of life imitating art, Paul McPike, a 32-year-old grocery store employee from Medford, OR, files a lawsuit charging that Green Day's American Idiot album is entirely made up of songs that he wrote 12 years earlier when he was in high school … McPike says that he used to regale his high school pals with the original versions of "Jesus of Suburbia" and other classics back in 1992 … he believes that someone must have surreptitiously recorded one of his performances and leaked them to Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong … McPike, who has not recorded or performed since high school, offered Green Day’s album itself as evidence, claiming that Billie Joe didn’t sing the lyrics exactly as written on the album’s insert … we’d make the obvious Paul McPike/American Idiot joke, but it’s far too easy, and American Psycho is already taken … damn you Christian Bale, you stole our idea before we were able to think of it … we smell a lawsuit …
2007, Wu-Tang rapper RZA comes out on top in the Hip-Hop Chess Federation tournament in San Francisco … commenting on his strategy, RZA intones, "When my queen comes out, she’s comin’ out to shake her ass" …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals
October 22: Bobby Fuller of "I Fought The Law" fame (1943), punk rocker Stiv Bator, born Stivin Bator (1949)
October 23: rockabilly artist Johnny Carroll (1937), Freddie Marsden of Gerry & The Pacemakers (1940), Brill Building songwriter Ellie Greenwich (1940), rock parodist Weird Al Yankovic (1959)
October 24: harmonica player Sonny Terry (1911), 1950s R&B singer and pianist Willie Mabon (1925), Santo Farina of Santo and Johnny (1937), record producer Ted Templeman (1944), Steppenwolf drummer Jerry Edmonton (1946), R&B singer-songwriter Monica, born Monica Denise Arnold (1980)
October 25: Jon Anderson of Yes (1944), Arrested Development rapper Speech, born Todd Thomas (1968)
October 26: country singer Keith Urban (1967)
October 27: Nashville pianist Floyd Cramer (1933), session guitarist Kermit Chandler (1945)
October 28: country fiddler Charlie Daniels (1936), gravel-voiced singer Ted Hawkins (1936), British blues-rock legend Graham Bond (1937), Hank Marvin of The Shadows (1941), Wayne Fontana, of Wayne Fontana and the Mind Benders (1945), Rickie Reynolds of Black Oak Arkansas (1948), Thelma Hopkins of Tony Orlando & Dawn (1948), Stephen Morris of New Order (1957), singer-songwriter-guitarist Ben Harper (1969), singer Justin Guarini (1978)
Departures
October 22: Rolling Stones producer Jimmy Miller (1994), folk singer-songwriter Ewan MacColl (1989), Jane Dornacker, singer and dancer with The Tubes (1986), ’50s pop crooner Tommy Edwards (1969), barrelhouse pianist Walter Davis (1963)
October 23: R&B singer Ted Taylor (1988), Leonard Lee of the pop duo Shirley and Lee (1976), Buddy Holly sound-alike David Box (1964), Al Jolson (1950)
October 24: keyboardist Merle Saunders (2008), Sandy West, drummer and cofounder of The Runaways (2006), album cover illustrator Phil Hays (2005), gospel-trained crooner Joe Henderson (1964)
October 25: BBC DJ John Peel (2004), R&B keyboard player and singer Jon Thomas (1995), singer George Lee of Ruby and the Romantics (1994), Howard Blauvelt, bassist with Billy Joel (1993), country crossover singer Roger "King of the Road" Miller (1992), legendary rock promoter Bill Graham, born Wolfgang Grajonca (1991), singer Margo Sylvia of The Tune Weavers (1991), Johnnie Richardson, female half of the R&B duo Johnnie & Joe (1988), R&B/jazz saxophonist Willis "Gator" Jackson (1987), Gary Holton, lead singer of The Heavy Metal Kids (1985)
October 26: U.K. pop star Alma Cogan (1966), singer Wilbert Harrison (1994)
October 27: legendary producer Tom Dowd (2002), rockabilly artist Donnie Owens (1994), founding T-Rex member Steve Peregrine-Took, born Steven Ross Porter (1980)
October 28: Dolly’s partner, country singer Porter Wagoner (2007), R&B singer Billy Wright (1991), jazz arranger Oliver Nelson (1975), R&B reedman Earl Bostic (1965)
Week In Review
October 29, 2009
Elton Retires … Kurt's First Smash … Clapton Becomes A Commander
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1900, Len Spencer, believed to be the first nationally known recording star, releases his biggest hit "Arkansaw Traveler" … his other hits include "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom De Ay," "A Hot Time In The Old Town," and "Hello! Ma Baby" …
1928, a candle starts a fire in a French Gypsy caravan … the left hand of 18-year-old guitarist Django Reinhardt is badly burned, leaving two fingers useless … with his right leg also injured, Django is bedridden for 18 months and uses that time for therapy, rebuilding his guitar chops so that by the mid-1930s he is a master of swing guitar and ultimately one of the best guitarists in any genre …
1964, "Oh Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison turns gold … it is his ninth and last Top Ten single …
1970, Jim Morrison gets six months in the slammer for exposing his privates in Miami … Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas marries actor Dennis Hopper … proving wrong those who said the marriage wouldn't last a week, they divorce eight days later … Bob Dylan records "George Jackson," a tribute to the black militant leader killed in a California prison shootout …
1971, while The Allman Brothers are on a break from touring and recording, guitarist Duane Allman loses control of his Harley-Davidson and is killed … Allman was trying to avoid a construction vehicle that abruptly stopped midway through a turn …
1972, James Taylor and Carly Simon tie the knot in her Manhattan apartment … they will separate ten years later …
1975, Queen releases "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single … with three and-a-half minutes being the standard time limit for a single, the band and producer Roy Thomas Baker have to convince EMI executives to release the six-minute recording without any edits … the single tops the U.K. chart for nine weeks and goes to #2 in the U.S … it will go to #1 again in the U.K. in 1991 after lead singer Freddie Mercury's AIDS-related death …
1977, during a London concert Elton John announces that he is retiring from live performance … as with most rock 'n' roll retirements this one is short-lived … The Bitch is back by February of 1979 … Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz, commemorating The Band's last concert at Winterland in San Francisco, opens to rave reviews in New York … Ozzy Osbourne quits Black Sabbath but returns a few weeks later …
1983, Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon becomes the longest-running album ever on the Billboard chart at 491 continuous weeks …
1986, The Beastie Boys release their debut License To Ill … it will become the first rap album to reach #1 …
1988, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain smashes his guitar onstage for the first time at the Evergreen State Dorm Room Party in Olympia, Washington …
1991, a crowd of more than 300,000 attend a free show in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park called "A Benefit for Laughter, Love & Music" to commemorate the death of rock promoter Bill Graham … the bill includes The Grateful Dead; Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young; Joan Baez; Santana; and Journey who reunite for the memorial show … Graham died on October 25 when his helicopter hit a utility tower … blues, soul, rock, and country are all well represented when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Bobby "Blue" Bland, Booker T & The MGs, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, The Isley Brothers, The Yardbirds, and Sam and Dave …
1992, Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin sign a $39 million publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music …
1995, Hootie and the Blowfish and Bob Dylan reach an out-of-court settlement over the band's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song, "Only Want To Be With You" …
1996, Michael Jackson announces that he and friend Debbie Rowe are expecting a child … the King of Pop denies tabloid reports that the baby had been conceived using artificial insemination and that Rowe was paid to bear the child … the pair will marry two weeks later …
1998, Kiss launches its Psycho Circus tour on Halloween in Los Angeles … thousands attend in costume and The Smashing Pumpkins are the opener … Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu Tang Clan is arrested for threatening to kill his former girlfriend … he is apprehended while climbing over a security gate at the woman's place of employment …
1999, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle, the surviving members of The Who, reunite for the first time in two years for a concert in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand … KISS, Tony Bennett, and the Dixie Chicks also are on the bill … the webcast concert marks the launch of Internet video company Pixelon …
2002, hip-hop giant Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is shot dead in his Jamaica, Queens recording studio … police pursue many leads and theories as to motive: unpaid drug bills, rival rappers, armed robbery, insurance scams, a rivalry with Murder, Inc. over 50 Cent, and more … the crime remains unsolved …
2004, Eric Clapton is made a commander of the Order of the British Empire in a Buckingham palace ceremony … Commander Clapton also announces that he and his wife Melia McEnery are expecting a child in January …
2006, a mere five months after settling to the tune of $12 million with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over payola charges, Universal Music Group is back in hot water on charges that two of its labels engaged in pay-to-play practices that boosted the chart positions of CDs by JoJo and Nickelback … L.A.-area boy scout troops have begun offering a patch to scouts who learn about copyright laws and pledge not to pirate movies and music … scout's honor …
… and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
October 29: composer Vivian Ellis (1904), jazz arranger-composer Neal Hefti (1922), The Big Bopper J.P. Richardson (1930), Mickey Gallagher of Frampton's Camel (1940), Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and Wings (1944), Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac (1946), Roger O'Donnell of The Cure (1955), Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot (1955), Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5 (1961), Einar Orn Benediktsson of The Sugarcubes (1962), Peter Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1965), Douglas "SA" Vincent Martinez of 311 (1970), Toby Smith of Jamiroquai (1970)
October 30: trumpeter Clifford Brown (1930), rockabilly star Ray Smith (1934), Grace Slick born Grace Wing (1939), Timothy Schmidt of The Eagles (1947), Jim Messina (1947), David Green of Air Supply (1949), Otis Williams of the Temptations (1949), Joey BellaDonna of Anthrax (1960), Gavin Rossdale of Bush (1967)
October 31: Dale Evans (1912), Bernard Edwards of Chic (1952), South African rocker Johnny Clegg (1953), U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. (1961), Adam Horovitz a.k.a. King Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys (1966), Vanilla Ice born Robert Van Winkle (1967), Linn Berggren of Ace Of Base (1970)
November 1: blues songstress Sippie Wallace (1898), Peacock Records founder Don Robey (1903), Barry "Ballad of Green Berets" Sadler (1940), Rick Grech, bass player for Blind Faith and Traffic (1946), Dan Peek of America (1950), Ronald Bell of Kool and the Gang (1951), Lyle Lovett (1956), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962), Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen (1963), Willie D of The Geto Boys (1966), LaTavia Roberson of Destiny's Child (1981)
November 2: trumpet legend Bunny Berigan (1908), Keith Emerson (1944), J.D. Souther (1945), Dave Pegg of Jethro Tull (1947), Maxine Nightingale (1952), Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band (1957), Bobby Dall of Poison (1958), Matt Sorum of Cult, Guns N' Roses, and Velvet Revolver (1960), k.d. lang born Katherine Dawn Lang (1961), Alex James of Blur (1968), Reginald Arvizu of Korn (1969), John Hampson of Nine Days (1971), Nelly (1978)
November 3: Brian Poole of The Tremeloes (1941), Marie McDonald Lawrie a.k.a. Lulu (1948), Adam Ant born Stuart Leslie Goddard (1954)
November 4: Four Vagabonds singer John Jordan (1913), Delbert McClinton (1940), Dan Hartman (1951), Squeeze singer-guitarist Chris Difford (1954), pianist Yanni born Yiannis Hrysomallis (1954), James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for the Pretenders (1957), Puff Daddy (1970)
Departures:
October 29: saxophonist Henry Berthold "Spike" Robinson (2001), jazz bandleader Woody Herman (1987), King Harvest drummer Wells Kelly (1984), guitar master Duane Allman (1971)
October 30: crooner Robert Goulet (2007), Ramones co-manager Linda Stein (2007), Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC (2002), TV host and musician Steve Allen (2000), British blues diva Jo-Ann Kelly (1990), hard swingin' sax man Chu Berry (1941)
October 31: John Holohan, drummer for Bayside (2005), record exec Lester Sill (1994), A Chorus Line producer Joseph Papp (1991), Procol Harum drummer B.J. Wilson (1990), guitarist Malcolm Hale of Spanky and Our Gang (1968)
November 1: Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black (2008), hip-hop record exec Shakir Sweet (2008), Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac (2008), Grand Funk Railroad manager Terry Knight (2004), classic blues singer and pianist Sippie Wallace (1986), pioneer Delta blues singer Tommy Johnson (1956)
November 2: Sammy Kaye Band singer Wandra Merrell (1994), Mississippi John Hurt (1966)
November 3: singer Art Wood (2006), Lonnie Donegan (2002), blues harmonica player William Clarke (1996), songwriter Mort Shuman (1991)
November 4: Shonen Knife drummer Mana "China" Nishiura (2005), Bobby Nunn of the Coasters (1987), Hi-Lites singer Ronnie Goodson (1980)
October 29, 2009
Elton Retires … Kurt's First Smash … Clapton Becomes A Commander
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1900, Len Spencer, believed to be the first nationally known recording star, releases his biggest hit "Arkansaw Traveler" … his other hits include "Ta-Ra-Ra-Boom De Ay," "A Hot Time In The Old Town," and "Hello! Ma Baby" …
1928, a candle starts a fire in a French Gypsy caravan … the left hand of 18-year-old guitarist Django Reinhardt is badly burned, leaving two fingers useless … with his right leg also injured, Django is bedridden for 18 months and uses that time for therapy, rebuilding his guitar chops so that by the mid-1930s he is a master of swing guitar and ultimately one of the best guitarists in any genre …
1964, "Oh Pretty Woman" by Roy Orbison turns gold … it is his ninth and last Top Ten single …
1970, Jim Morrison gets six months in the slammer for exposing his privates in Miami … Michelle Phillips of the Mamas and the Papas marries actor Dennis Hopper … proving wrong those who said the marriage wouldn't last a week, they divorce eight days later … Bob Dylan records "George Jackson," a tribute to the black militant leader killed in a California prison shootout …
1971, while The Allman Brothers are on a break from touring and recording, guitarist Duane Allman loses control of his Harley-Davidson and is killed … Allman was trying to avoid a construction vehicle that abruptly stopped midway through a turn …
1972, James Taylor and Carly Simon tie the knot in her Manhattan apartment … they will separate ten years later …
1975, Queen releases "Bohemian Rhapsody" as a single … with three and-a-half minutes being the standard time limit for a single, the band and producer Roy Thomas Baker have to convince EMI executives to release the six-minute recording without any edits … the single tops the U.K. chart for nine weeks and goes to #2 in the U.S … it will go to #1 again in the U.K. in 1991 after lead singer Freddie Mercury's AIDS-related death …
1977, during a London concert Elton John announces that he is retiring from live performance … as with most rock 'n' roll retirements this one is short-lived … The Bitch is back by February of 1979 … Martin Scorsese's film The Last Waltz, commemorating The Band's last concert at Winterland in San Francisco, opens to rave reviews in New York … Ozzy Osbourne quits Black Sabbath but returns a few weeks later …
1983, Pink Floyd's Dark Side Of The Moon becomes the longest-running album ever on the Billboard chart at 491 continuous weeks …
1986, The Beastie Boys release their debut License To Ill … it will become the first rap album to reach #1 …
1988, Nirvana lead singer Kurt Cobain smashes his guitar onstage for the first time at the Evergreen State Dorm Room Party in Olympia, Washington …
1991, a crowd of more than 300,000 attend a free show in San Francisco's Golden Gate Park called "A Benefit for Laughter, Love & Music" to commemorate the death of rock promoter Bill Graham … the bill includes The Grateful Dead; Crosby, Stills, Nash, & Young; Joan Baez; Santana; and Journey who reunite for the memorial show … Graham died on October 25 when his helicopter hit a utility tower … blues, soul, rock, and country are all well represented when the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inducts Bobby "Blue" Bland, Booker T & The MGs, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, The Isley Brothers, The Yardbirds, and Sam and Dave …
1992, Elton John and his lyricist Bernie Taupin sign a $39 million publishing deal with Warner Chappell Music …
1995, Hootie and the Blowfish and Bob Dylan reach an out-of-court settlement over the band's unauthorized use of Dylan's lyrics in their song, "Only Want To Be With You" …
1996, Michael Jackson announces that he and friend Debbie Rowe are expecting a child … the King of Pop denies tabloid reports that the baby had been conceived using artificial insemination and that Rowe was paid to bear the child … the pair will marry two weeks later …
1998, Kiss launches its Psycho Circus tour on Halloween in Los Angeles … thousands attend in costume and The Smashing Pumpkins are the opener … Ol' Dirty Bastard of Wu Tang Clan is arrested for threatening to kill his former girlfriend … he is apprehended while climbing over a security gate at the woman's place of employment …
1999, Pete Townshend, Roger Daltrey, and John Entwistle, the surviving members of The Who, reunite for the first time in two years for a concert in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand … KISS, Tony Bennett, and the Dixie Chicks also are on the bill … the webcast concert marks the launch of Internet video company Pixelon …
2002, hip-hop giant Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC is shot dead in his Jamaica, Queens recording studio … police pursue many leads and theories as to motive: unpaid drug bills, rival rappers, armed robbery, insurance scams, a rivalry with Murder, Inc. over 50 Cent, and more … the crime remains unsolved …
2004, Eric Clapton is made a commander of the Order of the British Empire in a Buckingham palace ceremony … Commander Clapton also announces that he and his wife Melia McEnery are expecting a child in January …
2006, a mere five months after settling to the tune of $12 million with New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer over payola charges, Universal Music Group is back in hot water on charges that two of its labels engaged in pay-to-play practices that boosted the chart positions of CDs by JoJo and Nickelback … L.A.-area boy scout troops have begun offering a patch to scouts who learn about copyright laws and pledge not to pirate movies and music … scout's honor …
… and that was the week that was.
Arrivals:
October 29: composer Vivian Ellis (1904), jazz arranger-composer Neal Hefti (1922), The Big Bopper J.P. Richardson (1930), Mickey Gallagher of Frampton's Camel (1940), Denny Laine of the Moody Blues and Wings (1944), Peter Green, founder of Fleetwood Mac (1946), Roger O'Donnell of The Cure (1955), Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot (1955), Randy Jackson of the Jackson 5 (1961), Einar Orn Benediktsson of The Sugarcubes (1962), Peter Timmins of the Cowboy Junkies (1965), Douglas "SA" Vincent Martinez of 311 (1970), Toby Smith of Jamiroquai (1970)
October 30: trumpeter Clifford Brown (1930), rockabilly star Ray Smith (1934), Grace Slick born Grace Wing (1939), Timothy Schmidt of The Eagles (1947), Jim Messina (1947), David Green of Air Supply (1949), Otis Williams of the Temptations (1949), Joey BellaDonna of Anthrax (1960), Gavin Rossdale of Bush (1967)
October 31: Dale Evans (1912), Bernard Edwards of Chic (1952), South African rocker Johnny Clegg (1953), U2 drummer Larry Mullen Jr. (1961), Adam Horovitz a.k.a. King Ad Rock of the Beastie Boys (1966), Vanilla Ice born Robert Van Winkle (1967), Linn Berggren of Ace Of Base (1970)
November 1: blues songstress Sippie Wallace (1898), Peacock Records founder Don Robey (1903), Barry "Ballad of Green Berets" Sadler (1940), Rick Grech, bass player for Blind Faith and Traffic (1946), Dan Peek of America (1950), Ronald Bell of Kool and the Gang (1951), Lyle Lovett (1956), Anthony Kiedis of Red Hot Chili Peppers (1962), Def Leppard drummer Rick Allen (1963), Willie D of The Geto Boys (1966), LaTavia Roberson of Destiny's Child (1981)
November 2: trumpet legend Bunny Berigan (1908), Keith Emerson (1944), J.D. Souther (1945), Dave Pegg of Jethro Tull (1947), Maxine Nightingale (1952), Carter Beauford of the Dave Matthews Band (1957), Bobby Dall of Poison (1958), Matt Sorum of Cult, Guns N' Roses, and Velvet Revolver (1960), k.d. lang born Katherine Dawn Lang (1961), Alex James of Blur (1968), Reginald Arvizu of Korn (1969), John Hampson of Nine Days (1971), Nelly (1978)
November 3: Brian Poole of The Tremeloes (1941), Marie McDonald Lawrie a.k.a. Lulu (1948), Adam Ant born Stuart Leslie Goddard (1954)
November 4: Four Vagabonds singer John Jordan (1913), Delbert McClinton (1940), Dan Hartman (1951), Squeeze singer-guitarist Chris Difford (1954), pianist Yanni born Yiannis Hrysomallis (1954), James Honeyman-Scott, guitarist for the Pretenders (1957), Puff Daddy (1970)
Departures:
October 29: saxophonist Henry Berthold "Spike" Robinson (2001), jazz bandleader Woody Herman (1987), King Harvest drummer Wells Kelly (1984), guitar master Duane Allman (1971)
October 30: crooner Robert Goulet (2007), Ramones co-manager Linda Stein (2007), Jam Master Jay of Run-DMC (2002), TV host and musician Steve Allen (2000), British blues diva Jo-Ann Kelly (1990), hard swingin' sax man Chu Berry (1941)
October 31: John Holohan, drummer for Bayside (2005), record exec Lester Sill (1994), A Chorus Line producer Joseph Papp (1991), Procol Harum drummer B.J. Wilson (1990), guitarist Malcolm Hale of Spanky and Our Gang (1968)
November 1: Mothers of Invention drummer Jimmy Carl Black (2008), hip-hop record exec Shakir Sweet (2008), Peruvian soprano Yma Sumac (2008), Grand Funk Railroad manager Terry Knight (2004), classic blues singer and pianist Sippie Wallace (1986), pioneer Delta blues singer Tommy Johnson (1956)
November 2: Sammy Kaye Band singer Wandra Merrell (1994), Mississippi John Hurt (1966)
November 3: singer Art Wood (2006), Lonnie Donegan (2002), blues harmonica player William Clarke (1996), songwriter Mort Shuman (1991)
November 4: Shonen Knife drummer Mana "China" Nishiura (2005), Bobby Nunn of the Coasters (1987), Hi-Lites singer Ronnie Goodson (1980)
stratman3 wrote:
You gotta love that bit abhout the LA Boy Scouts getting a patch for learning Copyright and pledging not to Pirate movies and Music
Thanks, I enjoy doing this kinda stuffGood stuff,very imformative,keep it coming.
Thanks for taking the time. B)
You gotta love that bit abhout the LA Boy Scouts getting a patch for learning Copyright and pledging not to Pirate movies and Music
I echo the others Chas, this is really interesting stuff and thanks for the effort to put it together. I was looking back on previous ones and saw that you had listed Keith Urban as a Kiwi. (I thought in order to get a rise out of the Aussies) but when I checked, blow me down he IS a Kiwi! Starting to wonder about us!! 
Anyway, thanks again for posting these summaries.
Anyway, thanks again for posting these summaries.
Week In Review
November 05, 2009
Lennon Wins War … Morrison Misbehaves … Willie Plays Bad Cop
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1958, Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke are both injured in an Arkansas auto wreck that kills their chauffeur …
1960, Greg Allman turns 13 and gets a guitar for his birthday … 14-year-old brother Duane eclipses him quickly on that instrument while Greg excels at organ and vocals … they'll play together in the Kings, the Al&lman Joys, and Hourglass, before they rule southern rock with the Allman Brothers Band, which they'll form in 1969 …
1961, Jimmy Dean starts a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with his song "Big Bad John" … Dean will go on to host a TV variety show and success in the sausage trade …
1963, The Kingsmen release "Louie Louie" … one of the most-covered songs of all time, it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene … the song is banned on some radio stations, and especially in Indiana, where Governor Matthew Welch determines the ditty is dirty, despite the fact that after a 31-month investigation, the FBI states that they are "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record"
1965, promoter Bill Graham rents the building destined to become the Fillmore East for a staggering $60 … his first rock show bill features The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead
…
1967, the Richard Lester film How I Won the War starring John Lennon opens in the U.S. … it’s the first film to feature a solo performance by a Beatle … Rolling Stone magazine hits the newstands for the first time …
1969, Jim Morrison gets blotto on a plane trip from L.A. to Phoenix to see The Stones … he’s such a royal pain that he’s arrested on arrival and charged with interfering with the flight and public drunkenness, having harassed a stewardess who apparently didn’t appreciate a drunk Morrison jumping in her game … the charges are eventually dropped …
1971, Led Zeppelin releases their unnamed fourth album, leaving fans and Zep members alike to find a name that suits them … the record is variously referred to as: The Runes Album, ZoSo, and Led Zeppelin IV, the name actually referenced by Jimmy Page …
1972, living up to his last name, Johnny Paycheck starts pulling down a regular salary when he officially joins the cast of the Grand Ole Opry … Johnny makes an even bigger financial splash when he advises legions of disgruntled employees everywhere to "Take This Job And Shove It" … a word of advice Johnny: out-of-work fans can’t buy albums … just something to consider if you don’t want to have to change your stage name to Johnny Unemployment … featuring fiery guitarist Jan Akkerman, the album Moving Waves by Dutch prog-rock band Focus arrives on the LP chart in the U.K. … riding his motorcycle in Macon, Georgia, Allman Brothers bass man Berry Oakley crashes into the side of a city bus only three blocks from where Duane met his demise in a motorcycle accident the previous year" … Oakley refuses treatment at the scene and goes home only to die of a brain hemorrhage later that night in the hospital …
1977, Ozzy Osbourne quits Black Sabbath then rejoins the proto-metalists a few weeks later …
1978, Donna Summer’s cover of "MacArthur Park" becomes a #1 pop hit … a decade earlier, actor Richard Harris had taken his bombastic reading of the lyrically incomprehensible Jimmy Webb tune to #2 …
1979, Fleetwood Mac's album Tusk hits #1 in the U.K. … after its 37-week rise to that spot …
1985, the theme from the TV show Miami Vice rides the top of the Billboard Hot 100 … the soundtrack LP also goes to #1 in the album chart where it will reside for 11 weeks, beating the former TV-theme record-holder, The Music from Peter Gunn …
1986, reinforcing the Miami Vice-music connection, Willie Nelson plays a corrupt cop in a guest appearance …
1988, Whitney Houston's debut album goes multiplatinum with nine million copies sold … only Boston has matched this performance with a debut LP …
1992, Boyz II Men’s "End of the Road" reaches the end of the #1 road when it makes its 13th and final appearance in the Billboard Hot 100 chart’s top slot … Axl Rose is convicted of property damage in the wake of a Guns N’ Roses show in Missouri … the concert was aborted as Rose threw his microphone down and walked off stage saying, "Thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!" … the other band members followed and the house lights came on, sparking an intense riot that caused significant damage to the newly constructed arena … Rose gets two years’ probation and is ordered to pay $50,000 in fines to community groups …
1995, Michael Jackson’s ATV Music catalog and Sony merge to form the world’s third-largest music publishing company worth an estimated $300 million … among the goodies Jackson brings to the table are a raft of classic Beatles tunes that Jackson snaked out from former friend Paul McCartney after Macca had advised the King of Pop to invest in publishing … here’s a little free advice: never tell people with more money than you about something valuable that you want to buy …
1998, Little Jimmy Dickens’ appearance at the Grand Ole Opry marks his 50th year as a member of the cast … Dickens is best-remembered for his 1965 hit, "May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" … Rick James has a stroke when a blood vessel in his neck ruptures during a head-banging performance in Denver … Michael Jackson settles his suit against London’s Daily Mirror over pictures and stories run by the scandal sheet claiming that the star’s face has been disfigured by plastic surgery … a lawyer representing the Mirror says, "The photographs were taken honestly and were not tampered with, but the Mirror has since met with the plaintiff in person and acknowledges that the photographs do not accurately represent the plaintiff’s true appearance." … Ahmet Ertegun and Bobby "Blue" Bland are honored with lifetime achievement awards from The Blues Foundation …
1999, proving the old adage, "all that glitters is not golden," Gary Glitter pleads guilty in a British court to charges of taking and possessing indecent pictures of underage children … he receives a four-month jail sentence …
2003, Kid Rock announces plans for a continuing creative collaboration with Sheryl Crow … the collaboration has thus far resulted in the hit duet "Picture," and they plan more writing and recording together in the future … looks like the Kid is growing up … perhaps a name-change to Man Rock is in order …
2004, Apple introduces a special black U2 version of the iPod with the band members’ names laser-etched on the case … the unit is launched with an ad that has the band performing its new single "Vertigo" … finally jumping on the bandwagon of mega-rockers who’ve cashed in on cross-promotion, it’s the first time in the band’s 25-year career that it has licensed music for commercial purposes … Bill Wyman, the 68-year-old former Rolling Stones bassman, announces he will retire from touring with the Rhythm Kings, his current band …
2005, following an unfriendly Supreme Court decision about its file-sharing software and website, Grokster shuts down … it is reported that it will pay the music and movie industries $50 million in settlement of lawsuits … unfounded rumors abound that in order to be first in line ahead of the pirates, the major labels are considering their own file-sharing site called Huckster … Elton John and partner David Furnish set a date to wed … Mike Love of The Beach Boys files suit against his cousin Brian Wilson … Love claims that a British promotion for Wilson’s 2004 album Smile that gave away 2.6 million Beach Boys compilations discs, cut into the band’s sales … this marks the seventh time that Beach Boys have sued one another, but apparently there is no Love lost between them … in previous legal contests between Love and Wilson, both parties said in interviews that there was no malice between them; they simply couldn't come up with an agreeable settlement by themselves … it’s like the old saying goes, "the family who cruise together, sues together" …
2006, former singer and guitarist John Hall of the band Orleans is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 19th New York congressional district … at his celebration party he elects to skip playing his signature tune "Still the One" in favor of Steven Van Zandt’s "I Am a Patriot" … Yoko Ono observes John Lennon’s 66th birthday in Reykjavik, Iceland … she dedicates the site of a planned Imagine Peace Tower, a 100-foot beam of light that will shine around the clock …
2007, The Eagles’ first studio album in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden, debuts at #1 with sales of 710,000 copies … this despite its only being available at Wal-Mart stores and the band’s website … Donovan announces plans to open a Transcendental Meditation college in Scotland … it will be called the Invincible Donovan University … rumor has it that the original name was to be Invincible University of Donovan until deep meditation revealed to the former ’60s flower child that its college sweatshirts would bear the initials, IUD … so much for free love …
2008, Van Morrison reprises his 1968 critically revered LP Astral Weeks live at the Hollywood Bowl, supported by a full string section as well as Richard Davis on bass and Jay Berliner on guitar who both performed on the original studio release … a man accused of illegally posting songs on the Internet from an unreleased Guns N' Roses album agrees to plead guilty … The New York Times announces that Bono will become an op-ed columnist for the paper in the coming year …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals:
November 5: Roy Rogers born Leonard Slye (1911), blues and R&B innovator Ike Turner (1931), Art Garfunkel (1941), Gram Parsons (1946), Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits (1947), Don McDougall of Guess Who (1948), Mike Score of A Flock Of Seagulls (1957), Bryan Adams (1959), David Bryson of Counting Crows (1961), singer-actress Andrea McArdle (1963), Jon Greenwood of Radiohead (1971), Ryan Adams (1974)
November 6: Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone (1814), John Philip Sousa, inventor of the sousaphone (1854), composer-pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860), musician, songwriter, lyricist Gus Kahn, born Gustav Gerson Kahn, who penned songs such as "It Had To Be You" and "Dream a Little Dream Of Me" (1886), musician-arranger Ray Conniff, who founded The Ray Conniff Singers (1927), Joseph Pope, lead singer of The Tams (1933), singer P.J. Proby (1938), Guy Clark (1941), Glenn Frey of The Eagles (1948), Corey Glover of Living Colour (1964)
November 7: New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt (1922), Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), soul singer Dee Clark, whose biggest single was "Raindrops" (1938), Johnny Rivers, rock-and-roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, born John Henry Ramistella (1942), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell born Roberta Joan Anderson (1943), Liam O Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers (1964), Russell Barrett of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 8: Bert Burns, R&B producer of The Drifters and Van Morrison (1929), Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie (1944), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1945), Roy Wood of The Move and ELO (1946), Minnie Riperton, singer-songwriter noted for her five-and-a-half octave vocal range (1947), blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt (1949), Gerald Alston, lead singer of The Manhattans (1951), singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones (1954), singer-actor-teen idol Leif Garrett born Leif Per Nervik (1961), Stephen Patman of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 9: big band leader Tommy Dorsey (1905), bass singer Leroy Fann of Ruby & The Romantics (1936), Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (1941), Phil May of The Pretty Things (1944), Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon (1948), Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult (1948), Tommy Caldwell, bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band (1949), Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa born Sandra Denton (1961), Brad "Scarface" Jordan of the Geto Boys (1969), singer-songwriter Diana King (1970), Susan Tedeschi, blues and roots-music singer and guitarist married to Derek Trucks (1970), Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees (1973), rock-country-rap-rock musician Uncle Kracker born Matthew Shafer (1974), Sisq", lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, born Mark Althavan Andrews (1978)
November 10: singer-songwriter-musician Dave Loggins, cousin of Kenny Loggins (1947), country singer-songwriter Donna Fargo born Yvonne Vaughan (1947), Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1948), Ronnie Hammond of The Atlanta Rhythm Section (1950), Mario Cipollina of Huey Lewis and The News (1954), Frank Maudsley of A Flock of Seagulls (1959), West Coast rapper Warren G, born Warren Griffin III (1970), Eve, rapper-singer-actress-musician (1978)
November 11: jazz singer Ernestine Allen (1920), jazz pianist-singer Mose Allison (1927), R&B singer LaVern Baker (1929), David Lastle, New Orleans session sax man (1934), pop singer Brian Hyland of "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" fame (1943), The Youngbloods' Jesse Colin Young, born Perry Miller (1944), godfather of grunge Neil Young (1945), Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds (1945), Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge (1945), Arthur Tavares of disco singing group Tavares (1946), Andy Partridge of XTC (1953), singer-songwriter-guitarist Marshall Crenshaw (1953), Ian Craig Marsh of Heaven 17 (1956), LeToya Luckett formerly of Destiny's Child (1980)
Departures:
November 5: Link Wray (2005), Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers (2003), saxophonist Eddie Harris (1996), jazz pianist Bobby Scott (1990), Barry Sadler (1989), Vladimir Horowitz (1989), Bobby Nunn (1986), Guy Lombardo (1977), Robert "Nighthawk" McCollum (1967), Johnny Horton (1960), piano magician Art Tatum (1956), Orioles singer Tommy Gaither (1950)
November 6: Hank Thompson, Texas honky-tonk and western swing pioneer (2007), George Osmond, patriarch of the singing Osmond Family (2007), jazz pianist Pete Jolly (2004), Don Julian, leader of The Meadowlarks (1998), novelty artist Dickie Goodman (1989), New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia (1972)
November 7: rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds (2008), jazz drummer Vernel Fournier (2000), Jimmy Jones, studio bassist who worked with Wilson Pickett (1995), Carter Cornelius, leader of The Cornelius Brothers with Sister Rose (1991)
November 8: trumpeter Lester Bowie (1999), Dr. Tommy Comeaux of Beausoleil, voted best Cajun guitarist (1997), Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers (1995), R&B pianist James Booker (1983), R&B singer Ivory Joe Hunter (1974), pioneering blues guitarist Kokomo Arnold (1968)
November 9: English movie composer Stanley Myers (1993), Egon Wellesz, composer-teacher-musicologist and student of Arnold Schoenberg (1974), Swedish jazz composer Jan Johansson (1968), composer Frederick Preston Search (1957), Broadway and film composer Sigmund Romberg, best known for "Lover Come Back to Me" performed by Billie Holliday (1951), ragtime pianist and composer Ole Olsen born John Siguard Olsen, of the vaudeville act Olsen and Johnson, who hit the big time with the Broadway show and movie Hellzapoppin (1927), Mannheim composer Carl Philipp Stamitz, son of famous composer Johann Stamitz (1801)
November 10: Miriam Makeba (2008), Kanye West’s mother and manager, Donde West (2007), R&B singer Gerald Levert (2006), pop and jazz session guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1997), jazz singer-pianist-composer-actress Carmen McRae (1994), blueswoman Ida Cox (1967)
November 11: Beau Brummels drummer John Peterson (2007), Motown Records executive Gwen Gordy Fuqua (1999), R&B singer Ronnie Dyson (1990), Don Addrisi of the Addrisi Brothers, who wrote the hit "Never My Love" for The Association (1984), Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley (1972)
November 05, 2009
Lennon Wins War … Morrison Misbehaves … Willie Plays Bad Cop
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1958, Lou Rawls and Sam Cooke are both injured in an Arkansas auto wreck that kills their chauffeur …
1960, Greg Allman turns 13 and gets a guitar for his birthday … 14-year-old brother Duane eclipses him quickly on that instrument while Greg excels at organ and vocals … they'll play together in the Kings, the Al&lman Joys, and Hourglass, before they rule southern rock with the Allman Brothers Band, which they'll form in 1969 …
1961, Jimmy Dean starts a five-week run at No. 1 on the U.S. singles chart with his song "Big Bad John" … Dean will go on to host a TV variety show and success in the sausage trade …
1963, The Kingsmen release "Louie Louie" … one of the most-covered songs of all time, it is charged that the slurred lyrics are obscene … the song is banned on some radio stations, and especially in Indiana, where Governor Matthew Welch determines the ditty is dirty, despite the fact that after a 31-month investigation, the FBI states that they are "unable to interpret any of the wording in the record"
1965, promoter Bill Graham rents the building destined to become the Fillmore East for a staggering $60 … his first rock show bill features The Jefferson Airplane and The Grateful Dead
…
1967, the Richard Lester film How I Won the War starring John Lennon opens in the U.S. … it’s the first film to feature a solo performance by a Beatle … Rolling Stone magazine hits the newstands for the first time …
1969, Jim Morrison gets blotto on a plane trip from L.A. to Phoenix to see The Stones … he’s such a royal pain that he’s arrested on arrival and charged with interfering with the flight and public drunkenness, having harassed a stewardess who apparently didn’t appreciate a drunk Morrison jumping in her game … the charges are eventually dropped …
1971, Led Zeppelin releases their unnamed fourth album, leaving fans and Zep members alike to find a name that suits them … the record is variously referred to as: The Runes Album, ZoSo, and Led Zeppelin IV, the name actually referenced by Jimmy Page …
1972, living up to his last name, Johnny Paycheck starts pulling down a regular salary when he officially joins the cast of the Grand Ole Opry … Johnny makes an even bigger financial splash when he advises legions of disgruntled employees everywhere to "Take This Job And Shove It" … a word of advice Johnny: out-of-work fans can’t buy albums … just something to consider if you don’t want to have to change your stage name to Johnny Unemployment … featuring fiery guitarist Jan Akkerman, the album Moving Waves by Dutch prog-rock band Focus arrives on the LP chart in the U.K. … riding his motorcycle in Macon, Georgia, Allman Brothers bass man Berry Oakley crashes into the side of a city bus only three blocks from where Duane met his demise in a motorcycle accident the previous year" … Oakley refuses treatment at the scene and goes home only to die of a brain hemorrhage later that night in the hospital …
1977, Ozzy Osbourne quits Black Sabbath then rejoins the proto-metalists a few weeks later …
1978, Donna Summer’s cover of "MacArthur Park" becomes a #1 pop hit … a decade earlier, actor Richard Harris had taken his bombastic reading of the lyrically incomprehensible Jimmy Webb tune to #2 …
1979, Fleetwood Mac's album Tusk hits #1 in the U.K. … after its 37-week rise to that spot …
1985, the theme from the TV show Miami Vice rides the top of the Billboard Hot 100 … the soundtrack LP also goes to #1 in the album chart where it will reside for 11 weeks, beating the former TV-theme record-holder, The Music from Peter Gunn …
1986, reinforcing the Miami Vice-music connection, Willie Nelson plays a corrupt cop in a guest appearance …
1988, Whitney Houston's debut album goes multiplatinum with nine million copies sold … only Boston has matched this performance with a debut LP …
1992, Boyz II Men’s "End of the Road" reaches the end of the #1 road when it makes its 13th and final appearance in the Billboard Hot 100 chart’s top slot … Axl Rose is convicted of property damage in the wake of a Guns N’ Roses show in Missouri … the concert was aborted as Rose threw his microphone down and walked off stage saying, "Thanks to the lame-ass security, I'm going home!" … the other band members followed and the house lights came on, sparking an intense riot that caused significant damage to the newly constructed arena … Rose gets two years’ probation and is ordered to pay $50,000 in fines to community groups …
1995, Michael Jackson’s ATV Music catalog and Sony merge to form the world’s third-largest music publishing company worth an estimated $300 million … among the goodies Jackson brings to the table are a raft of classic Beatles tunes that Jackson snaked out from former friend Paul McCartney after Macca had advised the King of Pop to invest in publishing … here’s a little free advice: never tell people with more money than you about something valuable that you want to buy …
1998, Little Jimmy Dickens’ appearance at the Grand Ole Opry marks his 50th year as a member of the cast … Dickens is best-remembered for his 1965 hit, "May The Bird Of Paradise Fly Up Your Nose" … Rick James has a stroke when a blood vessel in his neck ruptures during a head-banging performance in Denver … Michael Jackson settles his suit against London’s Daily Mirror over pictures and stories run by the scandal sheet claiming that the star’s face has been disfigured by plastic surgery … a lawyer representing the Mirror says, "The photographs were taken honestly and were not tampered with, but the Mirror has since met with the plaintiff in person and acknowledges that the photographs do not accurately represent the plaintiff’s true appearance." … Ahmet Ertegun and Bobby "Blue" Bland are honored with lifetime achievement awards from The Blues Foundation …
1999, proving the old adage, "all that glitters is not golden," Gary Glitter pleads guilty in a British court to charges of taking and possessing indecent pictures of underage children … he receives a four-month jail sentence …
2003, Kid Rock announces plans for a continuing creative collaboration with Sheryl Crow … the collaboration has thus far resulted in the hit duet "Picture," and they plan more writing and recording together in the future … looks like the Kid is growing up … perhaps a name-change to Man Rock is in order …
2004, Apple introduces a special black U2 version of the iPod with the band members’ names laser-etched on the case … the unit is launched with an ad that has the band performing its new single "Vertigo" … finally jumping on the bandwagon of mega-rockers who’ve cashed in on cross-promotion, it’s the first time in the band’s 25-year career that it has licensed music for commercial purposes … Bill Wyman, the 68-year-old former Rolling Stones bassman, announces he will retire from touring with the Rhythm Kings, his current band …
2005, following an unfriendly Supreme Court decision about its file-sharing software and website, Grokster shuts down … it is reported that it will pay the music and movie industries $50 million in settlement of lawsuits … unfounded rumors abound that in order to be first in line ahead of the pirates, the major labels are considering their own file-sharing site called Huckster … Elton John and partner David Furnish set a date to wed … Mike Love of The Beach Boys files suit against his cousin Brian Wilson … Love claims that a British promotion for Wilson’s 2004 album Smile that gave away 2.6 million Beach Boys compilations discs, cut into the band’s sales … this marks the seventh time that Beach Boys have sued one another, but apparently there is no Love lost between them … in previous legal contests between Love and Wilson, both parties said in interviews that there was no malice between them; they simply couldn't come up with an agreeable settlement by themselves … it’s like the old saying goes, "the family who cruise together, sues together" …
2006, former singer and guitarist John Hall of the band Orleans is elected to the U.S. House of Representatives representing the 19th New York congressional district … at his celebration party he elects to skip playing his signature tune "Still the One" in favor of Steven Van Zandt’s "I Am a Patriot" … Yoko Ono observes John Lennon’s 66th birthday in Reykjavik, Iceland … she dedicates the site of a planned Imagine Peace Tower, a 100-foot beam of light that will shine around the clock …
2007, The Eagles’ first studio album in 28 years, Long Road Out of Eden, debuts at #1 with sales of 710,000 copies … this despite its only being available at Wal-Mart stores and the band’s website … Donovan announces plans to open a Transcendental Meditation college in Scotland … it will be called the Invincible Donovan University … rumor has it that the original name was to be Invincible University of Donovan until deep meditation revealed to the former ’60s flower child that its college sweatshirts would bear the initials, IUD … so much for free love …
2008, Van Morrison reprises his 1968 critically revered LP Astral Weeks live at the Hollywood Bowl, supported by a full string section as well as Richard Davis on bass and Jay Berliner on guitar who both performed on the original studio release … a man accused of illegally posting songs on the Internet from an unreleased Guns N' Roses album agrees to plead guilty … The New York Times announces that Bono will become an op-ed columnist for the paper in the coming year …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals:
November 5: Roy Rogers born Leonard Slye (1911), blues and R&B innovator Ike Turner (1931), Art Garfunkel (1941), Gram Parsons (1946), Peter Noone of Herman's Hermits (1947), Don McDougall of Guess Who (1948), Mike Score of A Flock Of Seagulls (1957), Bryan Adams (1959), David Bryson of Counting Crows (1961), singer-actress Andrea McArdle (1963), Jon Greenwood of Radiohead (1971), Ryan Adams (1974)
November 6: Adolphe Sax, inventor of the saxophone (1814), John Philip Sousa, inventor of the sousaphone (1854), composer-pianist Ignace Jan Paderewski (1860), musician, songwriter, lyricist Gus Kahn, born Gustav Gerson Kahn, who penned songs such as "It Had To Be You" and "Dream a Little Dream Of Me" (1886), musician-arranger Ray Conniff, who founded The Ray Conniff Singers (1927), Joseph Pope, lead singer of The Tams (1933), singer P.J. Proby (1938), Guy Clark (1941), Glenn Frey of The Eagles (1948), Corey Glover of Living Colour (1964)
November 7: New Orleans trumpeter Al Hirt (1922), Mary Travers of Peter, Paul and Mary (1937), soul singer Dee Clark, whose biggest single was "Raindrops" (1938), Johnny Rivers, rock-and-roll singer, songwriter, guitarist, and record producer, born John Henry Ramistella (1942), singer-songwriter Joni Mitchell born Roberta Joan Anderson (1943), Liam O Maonlai of Hothouse Flowers (1964), Russell Barrett of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 8: Bert Burns, R&B producer of The Drifters and Van Morrison (1929), Bonnie Bramlett of Delaney and Bonnie (1944), Don Murray, drummer for The Turtles (1945), Roy Wood of The Move and ELO (1946), Minnie Riperton, singer-songwriter noted for her five-and-a-half octave vocal range (1947), blues singer-songwriter Bonnie Raitt (1949), Gerald Alston, lead singer of The Manhattans (1951), singer-songwriter Rickie Lee Jones (1954), singer-actor-teen idol Leif Garrett born Leif Per Nervik (1961), Stephen Patman of Chapterhouse (1968)
November 9: big band leader Tommy Dorsey (1905), bass singer Leroy Fann of Ruby & The Romantics (1936), Tom Fogerty of Creedence Clearwater Revival (1941), Phil May of The Pretty Things (1944), Alan Gratzer of REO Speedwagon (1948), Joe Bouchard of Blue Oyster Cult (1948), Tommy Caldwell, bassist for the Marshall Tucker Band (1949), Pepa of Salt-N-Pepa born Sandra Denton (1961), Brad "Scarface" Jordan of the Geto Boys (1969), singer-songwriter Diana King (1970), Susan Tedeschi, blues and roots-music singer and guitarist married to Derek Trucks (1970), Nick Lachey of 98 Degrees (1973), rock-country-rap-rock musician Uncle Kracker born Matthew Shafer (1974), Sisq", lead singer of R&B group Dru Hill, born Mark Althavan Andrews (1978)
November 10: singer-songwriter-musician Dave Loggins, cousin of Kenny Loggins (1947), country singer-songwriter Donna Fargo born Yvonne Vaughan (1947), Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & Palmer (1948), Ronnie Hammond of The Atlanta Rhythm Section (1950), Mario Cipollina of Huey Lewis and The News (1954), Frank Maudsley of A Flock of Seagulls (1959), West Coast rapper Warren G, born Warren Griffin III (1970), Eve, rapper-singer-actress-musician (1978)
November 11: jazz singer Ernestine Allen (1920), jazz pianist-singer Mose Allison (1927), R&B singer LaVern Baker (1929), David Lastle, New Orleans session sax man (1934), pop singer Brian Hyland of "Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polka Dot Bikini" fame (1943), The Youngbloods' Jesse Colin Young, born Perry Miller (1944), godfather of grunge Neil Young (1945), Chris Dreja of The Yardbirds (1945), Vince Martell of Vanilla Fudge (1945), Arthur Tavares of disco singing group Tavares (1946), Andy Partridge of XTC (1953), singer-songwriter-guitarist Marshall Crenshaw (1953), Ian Craig Marsh of Heaven 17 (1956), LeToya Luckett formerly of Destiny's Child (1980)
Departures:
November 5: Link Wray (2005), Robert Lee "Bobby" Hatfield of The Righteous Brothers (2003), saxophonist Eddie Harris (1996), jazz pianist Bobby Scott (1990), Barry Sadler (1989), Vladimir Horowitz (1989), Bobby Nunn (1986), Guy Lombardo (1977), Robert "Nighthawk" McCollum (1967), Johnny Horton (1960), piano magician Art Tatum (1956), Orioles singer Tommy Gaither (1950)
November 6: Hank Thompson, Texas honky-tonk and western swing pioneer (2007), George Osmond, patriarch of the singing Osmond Family (2007), jazz pianist Pete Jolly (2004), Don Julian, leader of The Meadowlarks (1998), novelty artist Dickie Goodman (1989), New York Dolls drummer Billy Murcia (1972)
November 7: rockabilly singer Jody Reynolds (2008), jazz drummer Vernel Fournier (2000), Jimmy Jones, studio bassist who worked with Wilson Pickett (1995), Carter Cornelius, leader of The Cornelius Brothers with Sister Rose (1991)
November 8: trumpeter Lester Bowie (1999), Dr. Tommy Comeaux of Beausoleil, voted best Cajun guitarist (1997), Country Dick Montana of The Beat Farmers (1995), R&B pianist James Booker (1983), R&B singer Ivory Joe Hunter (1974), pioneering blues guitarist Kokomo Arnold (1968)
November 9: English movie composer Stanley Myers (1993), Egon Wellesz, composer-teacher-musicologist and student of Arnold Schoenberg (1974), Swedish jazz composer Jan Johansson (1968), composer Frederick Preston Search (1957), Broadway and film composer Sigmund Romberg, best known for "Lover Come Back to Me" performed by Billie Holliday (1951), ragtime pianist and composer Ole Olsen born John Siguard Olsen, of the vaudeville act Olsen and Johnson, who hit the big time with the Broadway show and movie Hellzapoppin (1927), Mannheim composer Carl Philipp Stamitz, son of famous composer Johann Stamitz (1801)
November 10: Miriam Makeba (2008), Kanye West’s mother and manager, Donde West (2007), R&B singer Gerald Levert (2006), pop and jazz session guitarist Tommy Tedesco (1997), jazz singer-pianist-composer-actress Carmen McRae (1994), blueswoman Ida Cox (1967)
November 11: Beau Brummels drummer John Peterson (2007), Motown Records executive Gwen Gordy Fuqua (1999), R&B singer Ronnie Dyson (1990), Don Addrisi of the Addrisi Brothers, who wrote the hit "Never My Love" for The Association (1984), Allman Brothers bassist Berry Oakley (1972)
November 12, 2009
Oz Pop Invasion … Woody Whacked …
Young’s Foil Burns Out
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1877, Ernst Siemens patents the first loudspeaker … little could he know …
1933, R&B vocalist Clyde McPhatter is born … his melodic tenor will become a signature part of The Dominos’ and The Drifters’ hits of the 1950s … the latter group’s reading of "I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas" with McPhatter’s lilting lead vocal has become a holiday favorite … tragically, McPhatter will die at age 39, ravaged by years of drug and alcohol abuse …
1955, Elvis Presley is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in Billboard ’s annual poll of disc jockeys …
1957, Harry Belafonte enjoys a #1 British pop chart hit with his "Mary’s Boy Child" … it’s the first English single to move over a million records …
1959, Johnny & The Moondogs compete in the final elimination round held in Manchester for British television’s TV Star Search … because the band hasn’t the money to cover a hotel room for the night, they catch the last train back to Liverpool before the audience registers its votes … it’s the next day before the lads who will later morph into The Beatles learn that they didn’t make the cut, having failed to move the needle on the "clapometer" far enough …
1960, The Shirelles release "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with songwriter Carole King on drums … "Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs holds down the #1 slot on the Billboard Pop Chart … the song is notable for being the shortest hit single in the rock era, running a mere one minute and 37 seconds … a number of covers later reach the chart, including Jackson Browne's 1978 rendition …
1966, proving that audiences are not necessarily any smarter than critics, a made-for-TV make-believe pop band hits #1 with their debut album, The Monkees … to be fair, the band includes a couple of actual musicians—Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork—and some serious talent is employed to write their tunes including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Bobby Hart, and Tommy Boyce … Nesmith will get a few of his tunes on Monkees records and has a hard time swallowing the vocals-only rule imposed by Monkees producers … by their third album, the Monkees will start playing their own instruments and Leon Russell will begin producing some of their biggest hits …
1968, U.K. book and record chain WH Smith refuses to display the Hendrix Electric Ladyland album because its sleeve bears a photo of a bevy of nude women … later editions sold in the U.S. and the rest of the world feature a head shot of Hendrix instead …
1969, Janis Joplin is arrested in her dressing room at a concert in Tampa on profanity charges … earlier, in the auditorium, when a cop screamed at fans through a bullhorn demanding they sit down, she told him "Don’t @#&* with these people. Hey mister, what are you so uptight about? Did you buy a five-dollar ticket?" … she similarly disses police backstage when they insist that SHE tell the audience to sit down … Joplin gets out on a $50 bond and the charges are eventually dropped …
1972, Danny Whitten, guitarist in Crazy Horse, Neil Young's backup band, dies of a heroin overdose … the talented axeman and songwriter provided a sympathetic foil for Young, trading licks with him on the extended guitar jams on the long-form rockers "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" … Whitten's OD will loom large on Young's dark album Tonight's The Night and the somber "Needle and the Damage Done" …
1973, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., son of "The Killer," meets his demise in a car wreck on a rural highway near Hernando, Mississippi. … at 19 he's taken over the drum throne in his dad’s band and just played on TV's Midnight Special … it's the second time Lewis has lost a son; 11 years earlier his son Steve drowned in the family swimming pool …
1974, while Deep Purple's Richie Blackmore plays a concert in San Francisco, someone impersonating the smokin' guitar man smashes up a borrowed Porsche in Iowa City … John Lennon’s "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" lodges in the #1 pop chart slot … Elton John contributes piano, organ, and backing vocals to the single …
1978, Queen plays Madison Square Garden … during their hit number "Fat Bottomed Girls," they are accompanied by semi-nude women riding bicycles …
1981, the U.S. pop chart experiences an invasion from Oz this week when Olivia Newton-John, Little River Band, Air Supply, and Rick Springfield all register hit singles …
1984, Madonna’s album Like a Virgin comes out, leaving listeners to wonder in what way she is …
1987, Sly Stone turns up an hour late for an L.A. comeback concert and is promptly arrested for failing to pay child support … adopting the guise of a country-rock band called The Dalton Brothers, U2 opens for themselves at the L.A. Coliseum … the band developed the collective alter ego during the third leg of the Joshua Tree tour … the Daltons consist of Betty Dalton (Adam Clayton), Luke Dalton (The Edge), Alton Dalton (Bono), and Duke Dalton (Larry Mullen, Jr.) … the band wears wigs, sunglasses, and C&W clothing, plays just a few songs, and goes unrecognized by the majority of fans … former Clash drummer Topper Headon receives a 15-month prison sentence for supplying heroin to a man who later OD’d …
1988, Whitney Houston's debut album goes multiplatinum with nine million copies sold … only Boston has ever matched this performance with a debut LP … Steve Love, former Beach Boys manager and brother of lead singer Mike Love, gets five years probation for embezzling nearly a million bucks from the group …
1990, German producer Frank Farian reveals that Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, collectively known as Milli Vanilli, never sang on their debut single, "Girl You Know It's True" … the producer acknowledges the duo lip-synced during personal appearances … eventually Milli Vanilli will give back their Grammys and lapse into obscurity … Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood suffers two broken legs when he is hit by a passing car … Wood’s vehicle has broken down on the busy M4 motorway near Marlborough and he is trying to wave traffic past … singer Rod Stewart is sued by a soccer fan who charges that a ball he booted into the stands damaged a tendon in her middle finger, making sex with her husband difficult … one can only speculate about the mating habits of British football fans …
1992, two members of the former doo-wop act, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, are awarded a judgment for nearly $4 million in payment of overdue royalties on their 1956 hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" …
1993, Nirvana nails an MTV Unplugged session in one continuous take … the show is aired, warts and all, one month later …
1997, "Fifth Beatle" keyboardist Billy Preston is sentenced to three years in prison on cocaine-related charges …
1998, Kmart launches its MusicFavorites.com website offering 100,000 songs for download … despite its early entry into the electronic commerce arena, the site soon is eclipsed by competitors … Mötley Crüe fans have cause for celebration when the S'Crue, a store stuffed with Crüe-related merch, opens on L.A.'s trendy Melrose Boulevard …
1999, Texas musician Doug Sahm dies … a child prodigy, he played dozens of instruments and gained national attention in the 1960s leading The Sir Douglas Quintet … in 1990 he helped form the Tex-Mex supergroup, Texas Tornados, that included Flaco Jimenez, Freddy Fender, and Sahm’s long-time keyboard man Augie Meyers on the wheezy Farfisa …
2000, Michael Abram, the man who a year earlier broke into George Harrison’s home and stabbed him before being subdued by the ex-Beatle and his wife, is found guilty by reason of insanity and ordered confined to a mental hospital for an indefinite stay … record retailer HMV says it will not stock The Offspring’s new single because the band is offering it as a free download at its website …
2002, Texas billionaire David Bonderman hires the Rolling Stones to play his 60th birthday bash … the fee? a mere $7.5 million …
2004, Wu-Tang Clan founding member Russell Jones, better known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard, dies in a Manhattan recording studio after complaining of chest pains … constantly in trouble with the law, ODB was one of the most colorful performers on the hip-hop scene … the cause of death is later pinned to a lethal mixture of cocaine and the prescription drug Tramadol, a synthetic opiate … The New York Post reports that former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth is training to become an emergency medical technician … the story recounts how Roth, while riding with an ambulance crew, saved the life of a Bronx heart-attack victim using a defibrillator … according to his tutor Linda Reissman, "You would never know you were dealing with a rock ‘n’ roll guy. His commitment is really touching. He wants to help people" …
2006, Microsoft launches its Zune MP3 player to lackluster reviews … the company, desperate to forge an alliance with record labels, cuts a deal with Universal Music Group that not only pays Universal a piece of the action on each download but also gives UMG an extra dollar per Zune sold … a heavy marketing effort with lots of hype on blogs that target indie music fans fails to ignite a significant response … former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher sues former bandmate Gary Brooker claiming that his distinctive organ work played an important role in the success of the smash hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and that he is overdue a payday (there is no word as to whether J.S. Bach whose melody was appropriated for the song will also be in line for payment) … Fisher is later awarded a 40% share in the copyright and is entitled to royalties going back to 2005 when he filed suit …
2007, in a Rolling Stone interview, much-arrested Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty talks about his new-found sobriety … "I can honestly say that the reason I do drugs is not because of my childhood, or because I have self-esteem issues or resentments. It’s purely because I enjoy it." … press reports say Michael Jackson is struggling to avoid foreclosure on his Neverland Ranch … the trustee of the 2,800-acre California estate has given Jacko 90 days to catch up his house note or get evicted … to compound Jackson’s problems, he is also the target of a $7 million suit by Prince Abdullah of Bahrain who says the singer flaked out on a deal to create a joint record label … meanwhile, MTV Arabia begins broadcasting across the Middle East with a mix of regional and Western artists as well as cleaned-up versions of shows such as Punk’d and Pimp My Ride …
And that was the week in music.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend writing staff.]
Arrivals
November 12: Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & The Romantics (1939), Arthur Tavares (1946), Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser of Blue Oyster Cult (1947), Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate (1948), Leslie McKeown of The Bay City Rollers (1955), David Ellefson of Megadeth (1964), R&B singer Tevin Campbell (1976), The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture (1979)
November 13: John Novarese, owner of Hi Records (1923), R&B singer Justine "Baby" Washington (1940), Annette Kleinbard of The Teddy Bears (1941), R&B singer and producer Timmy Thomas (1944), Bill Gibson of Huey Lewis and the News (1951), Pogues drummer Andrew Ranken (1953), Walter Kibby of Fishbone (1964)
November 14: composer Aaron Copland (1900), Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI Records (1904), Gene Krupa Band vocalist Johnny Desmond (1921), composer Joonas Kokkonen (1921), Chicago harp man Carey Bell (1936), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1938), Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers (1940), Memphis producer and musician Jim Dickinson (1941), accordionist-zydeco performer Buckwheat Zydeco (1947), James Young of Styx (1948), singer and guitarist Stephen Bishop (1951), Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot (1953), Alec John Such of Bon Jovi (1956), rapper Joe "Run" Simmons of Run-D.M.C. (1964), Brian Yale of matchbox twenty (1968), Travis Barker of blink-182 (1975), R&B singer Adina Howard (1975)
November 15: elevator-music maestro Mantovani (1905), Ike Turner's pianist Clayton Love (1927), R&B singer Clyde McPhatter (1932), pop singer Petula Clark (1932), vocalist Little Willie John born William J. Woods (1937), Frida of ABBA (1945), bassist Steve Fossen of Heart (1949), Michael Cooper of Con Funk Shun (1952), R&B singer Alexander O'Neal (1953), Tony Thompson of Chic (1954), Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks (1957), Joe Leeway of Thompson Twins (1957), Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (1968)
November 16: "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy (1873), Atlantic Records artist-producer-arranger Jesse Stone (1901), Atlantic Records cofounder and producer Herb Abramson (1916), Toni Brown of Joy of Cooking (1928), folksinger Bob Gibson (1931), long-time Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin (1931), Nashville producer Felton Jarvis (1934), R&B singer Garnett Mimms (1937), James Brown band guitarist Troy Seals (1938), John Ryanes of The Monotones (1940), Winfred "Blue" Lovett of The Manhattans (1943), acoustic guitarist-composer Will Ackerman (1949), Patti Santos of It's a Beautiful Day (1949), Mani of The Stone Roses (1962), jazz singer Diana Krall (1964), Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd (1969), Trevor Penick of O-Town (1979)
November 17: folksinger Gordon Lightfoot (1938), novelty songster Jimmy Cross (1939), Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons (1942), Gene Clark of The Byrds (1944), Martin Barre of Jethro Tull (1946), Jim Babjak of The Smithereens (1957), Harry Rushakoff of Concrete Blonde (1959), drag performer-singer RuPaul (1960), singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeff Buckley (1966), Ben Wilson of Blues Traveler (1967), Ronnie DeVoe of Bell Biv DeVoe (1967), Isaac Hanson of Hanson (1980)
November 18: Sir William Gilbert of the Gilbert and Sullivan songwriting team (1836), conductor Eugene Ormandy (1899), Cuban singer Compay Segundo (1907), comedian-singer Imogene Coca (1908), R&B singer-bandleader Hank Ballard (1927), Bob Sanderson of The Royaltones (1935), Herman Rarebell of The Scorpions (1949), rock singer-songwriter-guitarist Graham Parker (1950), Whitesnake bassist Rudy Sarzo (1950), John McFee of The Doobie Brothers (1953), singer and two-hit wonder John Parr (1954), Michael Ramos of The BoDeans (1958), British pop singer Kim Wilde (1960), Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett (1962), singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik (1969), rapper Fabolous (1979)
Departures
November 12: former Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (2008), drummer Tony Thompson of Chic (2003), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1998), slide guitar and dobro player Rainer Ptacek (1997) Cause and Effect keyboard player and vocalist Sean Rowley (1992)
November 13: Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (2004), Donald Mills of The Mills Brothers (1999), R.J. Vealey of the Atlanta Rhythm Section (1999), R&B pianist Bill Doggett (1996), Ronnie Bond of The Troggs (1992), drummer Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1973)
November 14: John Mellencamp keyboardist John Cascella (1992), singer Dallas Taylor of The Danderliers and The Dells (1986), dub pioneer Keith Hudson (1984), country bluesman Rube Lacey (1969)
November 15: composer-arranger Saul Chaplin (1997), disco producer Jacques Morali (1991)
November 16: British pop pianist Russ Conway (2000), Kid Rock sideman Joe C. AKA Joseph Calleja (2000), Gospel Music Hall of Fame member J.D. Sumner (1998), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1994), Francis Donia of Tavares (1984), raw-voiced soulman O.V. Wright (1980), music journalist Mike Leadbitter (1974)
November 17: Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops (2008), R&B belter Ruth Brown (2006), Stax soul singer Arthur Conley (2003), singer-songwriter Terry Stafford (1996), blues scholar, producer, and label owner Pete Welding (1995), cofounder of RPM Records Jules Bihari (1984), bassist John Glascock of Jethro Tull (1979)
November 18: singer-songwriter Jim Ford (2007), jazz pianist Cy Coleman (2004), composer-arranger Michael Kamen (2003), Tex-Mex and rock bandleader Doug Sahm (1999), Alan Hull of Lindisfarne (1995), swing bandleader and dancer Cab Calloway (1994), prolific session drummer Freddie Waites (1989), Tom Evans of Badfinger (1983), Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs drummer Doug Roberts (1981), jazz singer Teddi King (1977), Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse (1972), Memphis bluesman "Little" Junior Parker (1971)
Oz Pop Invasion … Woody Whacked …
Young’s Foil Burns Out
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1877, Ernst Siemens patents the first loudspeaker … little could he know …
1933, R&B vocalist Clyde McPhatter is born … his melodic tenor will become a signature part of The Dominos’ and The Drifters’ hits of the 1950s … the latter group’s reading of "I’m Dreaming of a White Christmas" with McPhatter’s lilting lead vocal has become a holiday favorite … tragically, McPhatter will die at age 39, ravaged by years of drug and alcohol abuse …
1955, Elvis Presley is named Most Promising Country & Western Artist in Billboard ’s annual poll of disc jockeys …
1957, Harry Belafonte enjoys a #1 British pop chart hit with his "Mary’s Boy Child" … it’s the first English single to move over a million records …
1959, Johnny & The Moondogs compete in the final elimination round held in Manchester for British television’s TV Star Search … because the band hasn’t the money to cover a hotel room for the night, they catch the last train back to Liverpool before the audience registers its votes … it’s the next day before the lads who will later morph into The Beatles learn that they didn’t make the cut, having failed to move the needle on the "clapometer" far enough …
1960, The Shirelles release "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow" with songwriter Carole King on drums … "Stay" by Maurice Williams and the Zodiacs holds down the #1 slot on the Billboard Pop Chart … the song is notable for being the shortest hit single in the rock era, running a mere one minute and 37 seconds … a number of covers later reach the chart, including Jackson Browne's 1978 rendition …
1966, proving that audiences are not necessarily any smarter than critics, a made-for-TV make-believe pop band hits #1 with their debut album, The Monkees … to be fair, the band includes a couple of actual musicians—Michael Nesmith and Peter Tork—and some serious talent is employed to write their tunes including Carole King, Gerry Goffin, Neil Diamond, Bobby Hart, and Tommy Boyce … Nesmith will get a few of his tunes on Monkees records and has a hard time swallowing the vocals-only rule imposed by Monkees producers … by their third album, the Monkees will start playing their own instruments and Leon Russell will begin producing some of their biggest hits …
1968, U.K. book and record chain WH Smith refuses to display the Hendrix Electric Ladyland album because its sleeve bears a photo of a bevy of nude women … later editions sold in the U.S. and the rest of the world feature a head shot of Hendrix instead …
1969, Janis Joplin is arrested in her dressing room at a concert in Tampa on profanity charges … earlier, in the auditorium, when a cop screamed at fans through a bullhorn demanding they sit down, she told him "Don’t @#&* with these people. Hey mister, what are you so uptight about? Did you buy a five-dollar ticket?" … she similarly disses police backstage when they insist that SHE tell the audience to sit down … Joplin gets out on a $50 bond and the charges are eventually dropped …
1972, Danny Whitten, guitarist in Crazy Horse, Neil Young's backup band, dies of a heroin overdose … the talented axeman and songwriter provided a sympathetic foil for Young, trading licks with him on the extended guitar jams on the long-form rockers "Down by the River" and "Cowgirl in the Sand" … Whitten's OD will loom large on Young's dark album Tonight's The Night and the somber "Needle and the Damage Done" …
1973, Jerry Lee Lewis, Jr., son of "The Killer," meets his demise in a car wreck on a rural highway near Hernando, Mississippi. … at 19 he's taken over the drum throne in his dad’s band and just played on TV's Midnight Special … it's the second time Lewis has lost a son; 11 years earlier his son Steve drowned in the family swimming pool …
1974, while Deep Purple's Richie Blackmore plays a concert in San Francisco, someone impersonating the smokin' guitar man smashes up a borrowed Porsche in Iowa City … John Lennon’s "Whatever Gets You Through the Night" lodges in the #1 pop chart slot … Elton John contributes piano, organ, and backing vocals to the single …
1978, Queen plays Madison Square Garden … during their hit number "Fat Bottomed Girls," they are accompanied by semi-nude women riding bicycles …
1981, the U.S. pop chart experiences an invasion from Oz this week when Olivia Newton-John, Little River Band, Air Supply, and Rick Springfield all register hit singles …
1984, Madonna’s album Like a Virgin comes out, leaving listeners to wonder in what way she is …
1987, Sly Stone turns up an hour late for an L.A. comeback concert and is promptly arrested for failing to pay child support … adopting the guise of a country-rock band called The Dalton Brothers, U2 opens for themselves at the L.A. Coliseum … the band developed the collective alter ego during the third leg of the Joshua Tree tour … the Daltons consist of Betty Dalton (Adam Clayton), Luke Dalton (The Edge), Alton Dalton (Bono), and Duke Dalton (Larry Mullen, Jr.) … the band wears wigs, sunglasses, and C&W clothing, plays just a few songs, and goes unrecognized by the majority of fans … former Clash drummer Topper Headon receives a 15-month prison sentence for supplying heroin to a man who later OD’d …
1988, Whitney Houston's debut album goes multiplatinum with nine million copies sold … only Boston has ever matched this performance with a debut LP … Steve Love, former Beach Boys manager and brother of lead singer Mike Love, gets five years probation for embezzling nearly a million bucks from the group …
1990, German producer Frank Farian reveals that Robert Pilatus and Fabrice Morvan, collectively known as Milli Vanilli, never sang on their debut single, "Girl You Know It's True" … the producer acknowledges the duo lip-synced during personal appearances … eventually Milli Vanilli will give back their Grammys and lapse into obscurity … Rolling Stones guitarist Ron Wood suffers two broken legs when he is hit by a passing car … Wood’s vehicle has broken down on the busy M4 motorway near Marlborough and he is trying to wave traffic past … singer Rod Stewart is sued by a soccer fan who charges that a ball he booted into the stands damaged a tendon in her middle finger, making sex with her husband difficult … one can only speculate about the mating habits of British football fans …
1992, two members of the former doo-wop act, Frankie Lymon & the Teenagers, are awarded a judgment for nearly $4 million in payment of overdue royalties on their 1956 hit "Why Do Fools Fall in Love?" …
1993, Nirvana nails an MTV Unplugged session in one continuous take … the show is aired, warts and all, one month later …
1997, "Fifth Beatle" keyboardist Billy Preston is sentenced to three years in prison on cocaine-related charges …
1998, Kmart launches its MusicFavorites.com website offering 100,000 songs for download … despite its early entry into the electronic commerce arena, the site soon is eclipsed by competitors … Mötley Crüe fans have cause for celebration when the S'Crue, a store stuffed with Crüe-related merch, opens on L.A.'s trendy Melrose Boulevard …
1999, Texas musician Doug Sahm dies … a child prodigy, he played dozens of instruments and gained national attention in the 1960s leading The Sir Douglas Quintet … in 1990 he helped form the Tex-Mex supergroup, Texas Tornados, that included Flaco Jimenez, Freddy Fender, and Sahm’s long-time keyboard man Augie Meyers on the wheezy Farfisa …
2000, Michael Abram, the man who a year earlier broke into George Harrison’s home and stabbed him before being subdued by the ex-Beatle and his wife, is found guilty by reason of insanity and ordered confined to a mental hospital for an indefinite stay … record retailer HMV says it will not stock The Offspring’s new single because the band is offering it as a free download at its website …
2002, Texas billionaire David Bonderman hires the Rolling Stones to play his 60th birthday bash … the fee? a mere $7.5 million …
2004, Wu-Tang Clan founding member Russell Jones, better known as Ol’ Dirty Bastard, dies in a Manhattan recording studio after complaining of chest pains … constantly in trouble with the law, ODB was one of the most colorful performers on the hip-hop scene … the cause of death is later pinned to a lethal mixture of cocaine and the prescription drug Tramadol, a synthetic opiate … The New York Post reports that former Van Halen vocalist David Lee Roth is training to become an emergency medical technician … the story recounts how Roth, while riding with an ambulance crew, saved the life of a Bronx heart-attack victim using a defibrillator … according to his tutor Linda Reissman, "You would never know you were dealing with a rock ‘n’ roll guy. His commitment is really touching. He wants to help people" …
2006, Microsoft launches its Zune MP3 player to lackluster reviews … the company, desperate to forge an alliance with record labels, cuts a deal with Universal Music Group that not only pays Universal a piece of the action on each download but also gives UMG an extra dollar per Zune sold … a heavy marketing effort with lots of hype on blogs that target indie music fans fails to ignite a significant response … former Procol Harum organist Matthew Fisher sues former bandmate Gary Brooker claiming that his distinctive organ work played an important role in the success of the smash hit "A Whiter Shade of Pale" and that he is overdue a payday (there is no word as to whether J.S. Bach whose melody was appropriated for the song will also be in line for payment) … Fisher is later awarded a 40% share in the copyright and is entitled to royalties going back to 2005 when he filed suit …
2007, in a Rolling Stone interview, much-arrested Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty talks about his new-found sobriety … "I can honestly say that the reason I do drugs is not because of my childhood, or because I have self-esteem issues or resentments. It’s purely because I enjoy it." … press reports say Michael Jackson is struggling to avoid foreclosure on his Neverland Ranch … the trustee of the 2,800-acre California estate has given Jacko 90 days to catch up his house note or get evicted … to compound Jackson’s problems, he is also the target of a $7 million suit by Prince Abdullah of Bahrain who says the singer flaked out on a deal to create a joint record label … meanwhile, MTV Arabia begins broadcasting across the Middle East with a mix of regional and Western artists as well as cleaned-up versions of shows such as Punk’d and Pimp My Ride …
And that was the week in music.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend writing staff.]
Arrivals
November 12: Ruby Nash Curtis of Ruby & The Romantics (1939), Arthur Tavares (1946), Donald "Buck Dharma" Roeser of Blue Oyster Cult (1947), Errol Brown of Hot Chocolate (1948), Leslie McKeown of The Bay City Rollers (1955), David Ellefson of Megadeth (1964), R&B singer Tevin Campbell (1976), The Strokes bassist Nikolai Fraiture (1979)
November 13: John Novarese, owner of Hi Records (1923), R&B singer Justine "Baby" Washington (1940), Annette Kleinbard of The Teddy Bears (1941), R&B singer and producer Timmy Thomas (1944), Bill Gibson of Huey Lewis and the News (1951), Pogues drummer Andrew Ranken (1953), Walter Kibby of Fishbone (1964)
November 14: composer Aaron Copland (1900), Sir Joseph Lockwood of EMI Records (1904), Gene Krupa Band vocalist Johnny Desmond (1921), composer Joonas Kokkonen (1921), Chicago harp man Carey Bell (1936), Cornell Gunter of The Coasters (1938), Freddie Garrity of Freddie and the Dreamers (1940), Memphis producer and musician Jim Dickinson (1941), accordionist-zydeco performer Buckwheat Zydeco (1947), James Young of Styx (1948), singer and guitarist Stephen Bishop (1951), Frankie Banali of Quiet Riot (1953), Alec John Such of Bon Jovi (1956), rapper Joe "Run" Simmons of Run-D.M.C. (1964), Brian Yale of matchbox twenty (1968), Travis Barker of blink-182 (1975), R&B singer Adina Howard (1975)
November 15: elevator-music maestro Mantovani (1905), Ike Turner's pianist Clayton Love (1927), R&B singer Clyde McPhatter (1932), pop singer Petula Clark (1932), vocalist Little Willie John born William J. Woods (1937), Frida of ABBA (1945), bassist Steve Fossen of Heart (1949), Michael Cooper of Con Funk Shun (1952), R&B singer Alexander O'Neal (1953), Tony Thompson of Chic (1954), Tonight Show bandleader Kevin Eubanks (1957), Joe Leeway of Thompson Twins (1957), Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (1968)
November 16: "Father of the Blues" W.C. Handy (1873), Atlantic Records artist-producer-arranger Jesse Stone (1901), Atlantic Records cofounder and producer Herb Abramson (1916), Toni Brown of Joy of Cooking (1928), folksinger Bob Gibson (1931), long-time Howlin' Wolf guitarist Hubert Sumlin (1931), Nashville producer Felton Jarvis (1934), R&B singer Garnett Mimms (1937), James Brown band guitarist Troy Seals (1938), John Ryanes of The Monotones (1940), Winfred "Blue" Lovett of The Manhattans (1943), acoustic guitarist-composer Will Ackerman (1949), Patti Santos of It's a Beautiful Day (1949), Mani of The Stone Roses (1962), jazz singer Diana Krall (1964), Bryan Abrams of Color Me Badd (1969), Trevor Penick of O-Town (1979)
November 17: folksinger Gordon Lightfoot (1938), novelty songster Jimmy Cross (1939), Bob Gaudio of The Four Seasons (1942), Gene Clark of The Byrds (1944), Martin Barre of Jethro Tull (1946), Jim Babjak of The Smithereens (1957), Harry Rushakoff of Concrete Blonde (1959), drag performer-singer RuPaul (1960), singer-songwriter-guitarist Jeff Buckley (1966), Ben Wilson of Blues Traveler (1967), Ronnie DeVoe of Bell Biv DeVoe (1967), Isaac Hanson of Hanson (1980)
November 18: Sir William Gilbert of the Gilbert and Sullivan songwriting team (1836), conductor Eugene Ormandy (1899), Cuban singer Compay Segundo (1907), comedian-singer Imogene Coca (1908), R&B singer-bandleader Hank Ballard (1927), Bob Sanderson of The Royaltones (1935), Herman Rarebell of The Scorpions (1949), rock singer-songwriter-guitarist Graham Parker (1950), Whitesnake bassist Rudy Sarzo (1950), John McFee of The Doobie Brothers (1953), singer and two-hit wonder John Parr (1954), Michael Ramos of The BoDeans (1958), British pop singer Kim Wilde (1960), Metallica guitarist Kirk Hammett (1962), singer-songwriter Duncan Sheik (1969), rapper Fabolous (1979)
Departures
November 12: former Jimi Hendrix Experience drummer Mitch Mitchell (2008), drummer Tony Thompson of Chic (2003), jazz pianist Kenny Kirkland (1998), slide guitar and dobro player Rainer Ptacek (1997) Cause and Effect keyboard player and vocalist Sean Rowley (1992)
November 13: Ol' Dirty Bastard AKA Russell Jones of Wu-Tang Clan (2004), Donald Mills of The Mills Brothers (1999), R.J. Vealey of the Atlanta Rhythm Section (1999), R&B pianist Bill Doggett (1996), Ronnie Bond of The Troggs (1992), drummer Jerry Lee Lewis Jr. (1973)
November 14: John Mellencamp keyboardist John Cascella (1992), singer Dallas Taylor of The Danderliers and The Dells (1986), dub pioneer Keith Hudson (1984), country bluesman Rube Lacey (1969)
November 15: composer-arranger Saul Chaplin (1997), disco producer Jacques Morali (1991)
November 16: British pop pianist Russ Conway (2000), Kid Rock sideman Joe C. AKA Joseph Calleja (2000), Gospel Music Hall of Fame member J.D. Sumner (1998), Dino Valenti of Quicksilver Messenger Service (1994), Francis Donia of Tavares (1984), raw-voiced soulman O.V. Wright (1980), music journalist Mike Leadbitter (1974)
November 17: Levi Stubbs of The Four Tops (2008), R&B belter Ruth Brown (2006), Stax soul singer Arthur Conley (2003), singer-songwriter Terry Stafford (1996), blues scholar, producer, and label owner Pete Welding (1995), cofounder of RPM Records Jules Bihari (1984), bassist John Glascock of Jethro Tull (1979)
November 18: singer-songwriter Jim Ford (2007), jazz pianist Cy Coleman (2004), composer-arranger Michael Kamen (2003), Tex-Mex and rock bandleader Doug Sahm (1999), Alan Hull of Lindisfarne (1995), swing bandleader and dancer Cab Calloway (1994), prolific session drummer Freddie Waites (1989), Tom Evans of Badfinger (1983), Jimmy Gilmer and the Fireballs drummer Doug Roberts (1981), jazz singer Teddi King (1977), Danny Whitten of Crazy Horse (1972), Memphis bluesman "Little" Junior Parker (1971)
Week In Review
November 19, 2009
Sitting In For Moonie … Bollocks Are A-OK …
Democracy Flops…
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1954, the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers, the pocket-sized Regency TR-1, is mass-marketed at $49.95 …
1955, Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes" at Sun Studios in Memphis …
1957, Elvis drops in at the mansion of Tennessee governor Frank Clement and after a little coaxing starts vocalizing along with fellow guests the Prisonaires, a quartet of Tennessee State Prison inmates who recently enjoyed an R&B chart hit with their rendition of "Just Walking in the Rain" … lead Prisonaire singer Johnny Bragg and Elvis know each other from Sun Studios sessions … the party doesn’t break up until the wee hours …
1960, U.S. patent #2,960,900 is granted to Fender for the "off-set waist" design of its Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars … Gibson’s introduction of the Firebird with it’s asymmetrical "reverse" body shape led to a dispute between the two guitar makers … avoiding a court battle, Gibson redesigned the Firebird in 1965 with a "non-reverse" body style …
1961, blues shouter Howlin’ Wolf arrives in London as part of a lineup of American blues musicians who take Britain, and later, the continent by storm … a series of annual American Folk Blues Festivals follow leading to a generation of Brits such as Clapton, Page, Watts, and Richards becoming blues devotees who during the mid-’60s introduce white America to its own roots-music heritage …
1965, Bob Dylan marries Sara Lowndes but holds off telling just about everybody until February 1966 … Mr. and Mrs. Dylan move to Woodstock, New York … the Blonde On Blonde song "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is one of many songs Mr. D would write about Sara—the title obliquely refers to her name … in 1977, Sara Dylan files for divorce and custody of their five children …
1966, The Monkees’ eponymous first album is the number one LP in the U.S … after 12 weeks at the top it is replaced by More of The Monkees …
1967, The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s single "Incense and Peppermints," from the album of the same name, reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 …
1968, Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience reaches #1 on the U.S. album charts … the gatefold double album features "Crosstown Traffic," "Voodoo Child," and the JHE’s only U.S. hit single, their dramatic re-working of Bob Dylan’s "All Along The Watchtower" … The Monkees film Head opens in six cities … Frank Zappa makes a cameo appearance … the script was co-written by Jack Nicholson, who also compiled the movie soundtrack album … one song "As We Go Along" has guitar work supplied by Neil Young, Ry Cooder, Carole King (co-writer), and Danny Kortchmar, who avoid stepping on each others parts … The Beatles, better known as The White Album, is released in the UK … the 30 tracks on the double LP span styles and genres including country, blues, folkish strummery, whimsical singalong ditties, flat-out rockers, and just plain weirdness … producer George Martin recommended picking the best tunes for a single LP … what songs would you have thrown out and included? …
1971, following the death of The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, the surviving members tell Rolling Stone that the band will continue … it officially disbands two years later after releasing two lackluster albums with keyboardist Ray Manzarek supplying the vocals … Isaac Hayes’ "Theme From Shaft" tops the single charts …
1974, 70 minutes into The Who concert at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Keith Moon collapses behind the drums … Pete Townshend asks if there’s anyone in the audience who not only can play drums but, as he puts it "I meant somebody good" … 19-year Scot Halpin is recruited from the throng by promoter Bill Graham to fill in … despite not having played drums for a year, Halpin manages to keep up with The Who for three songs to close the concert …
1975, reviewers with advance copies of Patti Smith’s debut album Horses give it rave reviews …
1976, a Jerry Lee Lewis two-fer this week: … first, he’s busted for drunk driving after plunging his Rolls Royce into a ditch at 9 a.m… . the next day he’s arrested again for showing up at Graceland and demanding to see Elvis while brandishing a loaded derringer … The Band bids adieu to its fans at San Francisco’s Winterland with a star-studded show that includes their former boss Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, The Staple Singers, Dr. John, Eric Clapton, and many more … Martin Scorsese is on hand to film the proceedings resulting in the movie, The Last Waltz, widely regarded as one of the best rock movies ever … in 2002, the film is reissued on DVD with remixed 5.1 sound and lots of additional performances not seen in the theatrical release … one of the extras is an extended jam with Morrison, Clapton, Wood, et al, during which the motors in Scorsese’s cinema cameras melted down as they were not designed to handle the continuous shooting … hence the final part of the jam is an audio-only affair …
1977, The Sex Pistols are in British court coming to the defense of a shopkeeper who displayed their debut album Never Mind The Bollocks in his front window … prosecutors say the word "bollocks" is offensive and violates the Indecent Advertising Act … historians testify the word "bollocks" goes back 1,000 years and was used to describe a ball and is also included in present-day English place names … after 20 minutes of deliberation the charges are dropped …
1979, Chuck Berry is released from the slammer following a four-month stretch on tax evasion charges … new wave group Pearl Harbor & The Explosions from San Francisco release their debut 45 "Drivin’" … it sells well locally and picks up college radio airplay … enough to lead to a record deal with Warner Brothers …
1980, Don Henley of The Eagles is arrested after paramedics are called to treat a nude 16-year-old girl suffering from the effects of illicit drugs at his Los Angeles home … he is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of an array of drugs … the new single from The Police is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" …
1981, Human League’s new single is "Don’t You Want Me Baby" …
1983, Michael Jackson’s 14-minute "Thriller" video premieres in Los Angeles …
1984, Bono, Boy George, Sting, George Michael, and other British pop artists record the single "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia …
1985, pre-bad Bobby Brown announces he is leaving New Edition to begin a solo career …
1988, Bon Jovi’s "Bad Medicine" starts a two-week run at number one …
1994, after extensive alcohol and drug abuse as well as hepatitis C, David Crosby gets a healthy new liver via transplant …
1995, The Ghost of Tom Joad, Bruce Springsteen's 13th album, is released … the title refers to a character in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, about the 1930s Dust Bowl emigration …
1997, ex-Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten appears on Judge Judy when a drummer sues him for $5,000 in lost wages and claims Rotten hit him … Johnny maintains the guy quit days before the tour was to begin … Judy rules for Johnny … Garth Brooks’ much-delayed seventh album, Sevens, is finally released … a day after its release, the album sets a record by placing 12 of its 14 tracks in the Hot Country 100 Singles and Tracks chart, eclipsing the former record of eight tracks also set by Brooks with his album Fresh Horses … the Zombies’ original lineup including Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Chris White, Paul Atkinson, and Hugh Grundy reunite to play a gig at London’s Jazz Café …
1999, country star Patty Loveless rides a train across Appalachia distributing 15 tons of Christmas gifts to poor families in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia …
2004, U2 surprises New York City with a 45-minute concert at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge before a crowd of 3,000 who were alerted to the concert via fan websites …
2006, Eddie Van Halen fires original bass player Michael Anthony replacing him with Eddie’s 15-year-old son Wolfgang … talking up his progeny’s skills, Van Halen says, "This kid is f***ing dangerous. If I excel at the speed of sound, he excels at the speed of light." … the Eagles of Death Metal are summarily fired onstage by Axl Rose after playing the first of 15 planned opening sets on the Guns n’ Roses North American tour … following the Eagles set, Rose asks the crowd, "How’d you like the Pigeons of Sh*t Metal? Don’t worry, that’s the last show they’re playing with us." … responding to the firing, Eagles leader Jesse Hughes reflects, "When [Axl] goes off his meds, [he’s] not Paxil Rose anymore." … Guitar Center sells out its entire allotment of 185 reproductions of Eric Clapton’s mid-’60s Strat affectionately known as "Blackie" in seven hours … the original axe that Clapton pieced together from several Stratocasters was bought by Guitar Center at auction and was torn down by Fender luthiers in the process of creating the specially aged replicas … The Doors—minus Jim Morrison of course—reunite for a one-off show at Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go … it’s been four decades since the band has played the legendary club … Slash and Perry Farrell are on hand to flesh out the lineup …
2007, The Red Hot Chili Peppers file suit against Showtime claiming that the cable network’s use of the name Californication—also the title of the RHCP’s 1999 album—was a misuse of the band’s intellectual property … Nirvana’s celebrated MTV Unplugged show from November, 1993 is released on DVD … Nirvana: Unplugged In New York includes rehearsal footage and two songs that weren’t broadcast … My Morning Jacket leader Jim James reveals that the songs he has written for the band’s forthcoming 2008 album release were mightily influenced by listening to Sam Cooke—both the singer’s pop songs as well as his earlier gospel work with the Soul Stirrers … "hearing the gospel he did before blew my f***ing mind. No guitars, no bullsh*t" … Bob Dylan, Jack White, Lucinda Willliams, and Alan Jackson are reported to be working on renditions of 35 songs written by country pioneer Hank Williams but never recorded before … the project began years earlier when Acuff-Rose, Williams’ music publisher approached Dylan with a briefcase containing the songs … Dylan then moved into the role of project coordinator engaging the artists and arranging the recording sessions … the music, originally said to be due out "in a year or two" on Egyptian Records, Dylan’s Columbia label, as of today is still not released … wildfires in Malibu torch Flea’s $4.8 million mansion … the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist had rented out the home to producer Butch Walker who lost everything including a collection of vintage studio gear in the blaze … Axl Rose’s home avoids a similar fate when the G N’ R frontman wields a hose to wet down his roof … apparently the Chinese Democracy tapes were not damaged, and if they were, what’s another delay? …
2008, still bearing a grudge against Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker says in a Rhythm magazine interview that there will be no more Cream reunions … Baker says the bassist played too loudly at concerts at Madison Square Garden in 2005 … 13 years after they began writing and recording their follow-up to 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and II, Gun N’ Roses finally release the long-anticipated Chinese Democracy with 14 tracks, all written by Axl Rose with various co-composers … according to a New York Time article, the production costs exceed $13 million … China dismisses the album as a "venomous attack" on the nation and bans sale of the album … and after all the rumor, hype, and expense, the album sells well below expectations … meanwhile, Atlantic Records becomes the first major record label to report that its digital sales have finally outsold the sale of its physical CDs …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals:
November 19: bandleader Tommy Dorsey (1905), gospel singer J.D. Sumner (1914), Funk Brothers pianist Joe Hunter (1927), singer Ray Collins of The Mothers of Invention (1937), Hank Medress of The Tokens (1938), Pete Moore of The Miracles (1939), Blood, Sweat & Tears piano and sax man Fred Lipsius (1943), Paul Revere & The Raiders drummer Joe Correro, Jr. (1946), drummer Matt Sorum of Guns N' Roses (1960), Travis McNabb of Better Than Ezra (1969), Justin Chancellor, bass player for Peach and Tool (1971), Tamika Scott of Xscape (1975)
November 20: Dick Smothers (1939), Tony Butala of The Lettermen (1940), Norman Greenbaum, writer-performer of "Spirit in the Sky" (1942), Duane Allman (1946), Joe Walsh (1947), drummer George Grantham of Poco (1947), guitarist Steve Ferguson of NRBQ (1949), Jim Brown of UB40 (1957), Todd Nance of Widespread Panic (1962), Mike "D" Diamond of The Beastie Boys (1965), Sen Dog of Cypress Hill (1965), songwriter Kevin Gilbert (1966), Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest (1970)
November 21: tenor sax giant Coleman Hawkins (1904), R&B producer-manager Buck Ram (1907), blues and jazz pianist Lloyd Glenn (1909), vocalist-saxophonist "Big" John Greer (1923), Malcolm John Rebennack AKA Dr. John (1941), Lonnie Jordan of War (1948), Steve Ferguson of NRBQ (1949), Livingston Taylor (1950), Peter Koppes of The Church (1955), Stacy Guess of Squirrel Nut Zippers (1964), singer-songwriter Björk (1965), Blur's Alex James (1968), Pretty Lou of Lost Boyz (1974), Kelsi Osborn of SHeDAISY (1984)
November 22: composer-conductor Benjamin Britten (1913), Rod Price of Foghat (1940), composer-pianist Hoagy Carmichael (1940), Elvis imitator Terry Stafford (1941), drummer Steve Wahrer of The Trashmen, one-hit-wonders with "Surfin’ Bird" (1941), Jamie Troy of The Classics (1942), drummer Floyd Sneed of Three Dog Night (1943), reggae musician Aston "Family Man" Barrett (1946), "Little" Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band (1950), bassist Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads (1950), Craig Hundley, pianist-composer and inventor of the Blaster Beam instrument used in Star Trek soundtracks (1954), Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers (1958), James Morrison aka Jim Bob, singer with Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (1960), Rasa Don of Arrested Development (1968)
November 23: Chicago blues producer and bassist Al Smith (1923), Johnny Kidd, of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, who wrote "Shakin’ All Over," later covered by The Who (1939), "The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)" vocalist Betty Everett (1939), John Hunter, drummer for Memphis psychedelic band The Hombres (1941), Alan Paul of Manhattan Transfer (1949), keyboardist-vocalist Bruce Hornsby (1954)
November 24: ragtime pianist Scott Joplin (1868), Jim Yester, guitarist-vocalist with The Association (1939), pre-Ringo Beatles drummer Pete Best (1941), Booker T. and the MGs and Blues Brothers bassist, Donald "Duck" Dunn (1941), singer-actor-comedian Billy Connolly of The Humblebums with Gerry Rafferty (1942), session pianist Richard Tee, born Richard Ten Ryk (1943), Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band (1943), organist-singer Lee Michaels (1945), Bev Bevan of The Move and ELO (1946), drummer Clem Burke of Blondie, and briefly, The Ramones (1955), Chris Hayes of Huey Lewis & The News (1957), John Squire of Stone Roses (1962), Chad Taylor of Live (1970)
November 25: Eddie Boyd, Chicago blues pianist whose big hit was "Five Long Years" (1914), singer Percy Sledge (1940), Bob "Elusive Butterfly" Lind (1942), country crossover artist Amy Grant (1960), singer Stacy Lattisaw (1966), Rodney Sheppard of Sugar Ray (1967)
Departures:
November 19: The Byrds, The Beach Boys, and Paul Revere & The Raiders producer Terry Melcher (2004), songwriter Bobby Russell (1992), songwriter Carolyn Leigh (1983), Claude Feaster of The Chords (1975)
November 20: washtub bassist and jug player Fritz Richmond (2006), singer-songwriter Chris Whitley (2005), album cover artist Gene Greif (2004), Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites (1998), rock critic and blues producer Robert Palmer (1997), Chess and Vee-Jay Records session drummer Earl Phillips (1990)
November 21: blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. (2006), singer Alvin Cash (1999), Matthew Ashman of Adam & the Ants and Bow Wow Wow (1995), Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant (1995)
November 22: Alan Gordon, wrote "Happy Together" and "Celebrate" (2008), rapper MC Breed (2008), jazz impresario Norman Ganz (2001), Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS (1997), Epick Soundtracks of The Swell Maps (1997), June Abbit AKA Joe Abbit Sr. of The 5 Royales (1995)
November 23: Anita O’Day, jazz singer with Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton (2006), Michael Stewart, co-founder of We Five and producer of Billy Joel (2002), jazz saxophonist Art Porter (1996), Junior Walker of Junior Walker and the Allstars (1995), Badfinger bassist Tom Evans (1983)
November 24: Michael Lee, drummer for Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (2008), Casey Calvert of Hawthorne Heights (2007), Melanie Thornton of La Bouche (2001), songwriter Tommy Boyce (1994), blues guitarist Albert Collins (1993), KISS drummer Eric Carr (1991), Freddie Mercury (1991), Big Joe Turner (1985), Chicago sax player J.T. Brown (1969)
November 25: Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot (2007), Artie Mogull, record exec who signed Bob Dylan to his publishing deal (2004), underappreciated blues guitar player and singer Fenton Robinson (1997), French chanteuse Barbara (1997), British dance-pop artist Wildchild, born Roger McKenzie (1995), lead singer with techno band Mi-Sex, Steve Gilpin (1991), Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter who has achieved posthumous popularity (1974), free-jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler (1970)
November 19, 2009
Sitting In For Moonie … Bollocks Are A-OK …
Democracy Flops…
This is the week that was in matters musical…
1954, the first practical transistor radio made in any significant numbers, the pocket-sized Regency TR-1, is mass-marketed at $49.95 …
1955, Carl Perkins records "Blue Suede Shoes" at Sun Studios in Memphis …
1957, Elvis drops in at the mansion of Tennessee governor Frank Clement and after a little coaxing starts vocalizing along with fellow guests the Prisonaires, a quartet of Tennessee State Prison inmates who recently enjoyed an R&B chart hit with their rendition of "Just Walking in the Rain" … lead Prisonaire singer Johnny Bragg and Elvis know each other from Sun Studios sessions … the party doesn’t break up until the wee hours …
1960, U.S. patent #2,960,900 is granted to Fender for the "off-set waist" design of its Jazzmaster and Jaguar guitars … Gibson’s introduction of the Firebird with it’s asymmetrical "reverse" body shape led to a dispute between the two guitar makers … avoiding a court battle, Gibson redesigned the Firebird in 1965 with a "non-reverse" body style …
1961, blues shouter Howlin’ Wolf arrives in London as part of a lineup of American blues musicians who take Britain, and later, the continent by storm … a series of annual American Folk Blues Festivals follow leading to a generation of Brits such as Clapton, Page, Watts, and Richards becoming blues devotees who during the mid-’60s introduce white America to its own roots-music heritage …
1965, Bob Dylan marries Sara Lowndes but holds off telling just about everybody until February 1966 … Mr. and Mrs. Dylan move to Woodstock, New York … the Blonde On Blonde song "Sad Eyed Lady of the Lowlands" is one of many songs Mr. D would write about Sara—the title obliquely refers to her name … in 1977, Sara Dylan files for divorce and custody of their five children …
1966, The Monkees’ eponymous first album is the number one LP in the U.S … after 12 weeks at the top it is replaced by More of The Monkees …
1967, The Strawberry Alarm Clock’s single "Incense and Peppermints," from the album of the same name, reaches #1 on the Billboard Hot 100 …
1968, Electric Ladyland by the Jimi Hendrix Experience reaches #1 on the U.S. album charts … the gatefold double album features "Crosstown Traffic," "Voodoo Child," and the JHE’s only U.S. hit single, their dramatic re-working of Bob Dylan’s "All Along The Watchtower" … The Monkees film Head opens in six cities … Frank Zappa makes a cameo appearance … the script was co-written by Jack Nicholson, who also compiled the movie soundtrack album … one song "As We Go Along" has guitar work supplied by Neil Young, Ry Cooder, Carole King (co-writer), and Danny Kortchmar, who avoid stepping on each others parts … The Beatles, better known as The White Album, is released in the UK … the 30 tracks on the double LP span styles and genres including country, blues, folkish strummery, whimsical singalong ditties, flat-out rockers, and just plain weirdness … producer George Martin recommended picking the best tunes for a single LP … what songs would you have thrown out and included? …
1971, following the death of The Doors lead singer Jim Morrison, the surviving members tell Rolling Stone that the band will continue … it officially disbands two years later after releasing two lackluster albums with keyboardist Ray Manzarek supplying the vocals … Isaac Hayes’ "Theme From Shaft" tops the single charts …
1974, 70 minutes into The Who concert at the Cow Palace in Daly City, Keith Moon collapses behind the drums … Pete Townshend asks if there’s anyone in the audience who not only can play drums but, as he puts it "I meant somebody good" … 19-year Scot Halpin is recruited from the throng by promoter Bill Graham to fill in … despite not having played drums for a year, Halpin manages to keep up with The Who for three songs to close the concert …
1975, reviewers with advance copies of Patti Smith’s debut album Horses give it rave reviews …
1976, a Jerry Lee Lewis two-fer this week: … first, he’s busted for drunk driving after plunging his Rolls Royce into a ditch at 9 a.m… . the next day he’s arrested again for showing up at Graceland and demanding to see Elvis while brandishing a loaded derringer … The Band bids adieu to its fans at San Francisco’s Winterland with a star-studded show that includes their former boss Ronnie Hawkins, Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, Van Morrison, Muddy Waters, The Staple Singers, Dr. John, Eric Clapton, and many more … Martin Scorsese is on hand to film the proceedings resulting in the movie, The Last Waltz, widely regarded as one of the best rock movies ever … in 2002, the film is reissued on DVD with remixed 5.1 sound and lots of additional performances not seen in the theatrical release … one of the extras is an extended jam with Morrison, Clapton, Wood, et al, during which the motors in Scorsese’s cinema cameras melted down as they were not designed to handle the continuous shooting … hence the final part of the jam is an audio-only affair …
1977, The Sex Pistols are in British court coming to the defense of a shopkeeper who displayed their debut album Never Mind The Bollocks in his front window … prosecutors say the word "bollocks" is offensive and violates the Indecent Advertising Act … historians testify the word "bollocks" goes back 1,000 years and was used to describe a ball and is also included in present-day English place names … after 20 minutes of deliberation the charges are dropped …
1979, Chuck Berry is released from the slammer following a four-month stretch on tax evasion charges … new wave group Pearl Harbor & The Explosions from San Francisco release their debut 45 "Drivin’" … it sells well locally and picks up college radio airplay … enough to lead to a record deal with Warner Brothers …
1980, Don Henley of The Eagles is arrested after paramedics are called to treat a nude 16-year-old girl suffering from the effects of illicit drugs at his Los Angeles home … he is charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor and possession of an array of drugs … the new single from The Police is "De Do Do Do, De Da Da Da" …
1981, Human League’s new single is "Don’t You Want Me Baby" …
1983, Michael Jackson’s 14-minute "Thriller" video premieres in Los Angeles …
1984, Bono, Boy George, Sting, George Michael, and other British pop artists record the single "Do They Know It’s Christmas?" to raise money for famine relief in Ethiopia …
1985, pre-bad Bobby Brown announces he is leaving New Edition to begin a solo career …
1988, Bon Jovi’s "Bad Medicine" starts a two-week run at number one …
1994, after extensive alcohol and drug abuse as well as hepatitis C, David Crosby gets a healthy new liver via transplant …
1995, The Ghost of Tom Joad, Bruce Springsteen's 13th album, is released … the title refers to a character in John Steinbeck's novel The Grapes of Wrath, about the 1930s Dust Bowl emigration …
1997, ex-Sex Pistol Johnny Rotten appears on Judge Judy when a drummer sues him for $5,000 in lost wages and claims Rotten hit him … Johnny maintains the guy quit days before the tour was to begin … Judy rules for Johnny … Garth Brooks’ much-delayed seventh album, Sevens, is finally released … a day after its release, the album sets a record by placing 12 of its 14 tracks in the Hot Country 100 Singles and Tracks chart, eclipsing the former record of eight tracks also set by Brooks with his album Fresh Horses … the Zombies’ original lineup including Rod Argent, Colin Blunstone, Chris White, Paul Atkinson, and Hugh Grundy reunite to play a gig at London’s Jazz Café …
1999, country star Patty Loveless rides a train across Appalachia distributing 15 tons of Christmas gifts to poor families in Kentucky, Tennessee, and Virginia …
2004, U2 surprises New York City with a 45-minute concert at the base of the Brooklyn Bridge before a crowd of 3,000 who were alerted to the concert via fan websites …
2006, Eddie Van Halen fires original bass player Michael Anthony replacing him with Eddie’s 15-year-old son Wolfgang … talking up his progeny’s skills, Van Halen says, "This kid is f***ing dangerous. If I excel at the speed of sound, he excels at the speed of light." … the Eagles of Death Metal are summarily fired onstage by Axl Rose after playing the first of 15 planned opening sets on the Guns n’ Roses North American tour … following the Eagles set, Rose asks the crowd, "How’d you like the Pigeons of Sh*t Metal? Don’t worry, that’s the last show they’re playing with us." … responding to the firing, Eagles leader Jesse Hughes reflects, "When [Axl] goes off his meds, [he’s] not Paxil Rose anymore." … Guitar Center sells out its entire allotment of 185 reproductions of Eric Clapton’s mid-’60s Strat affectionately known as "Blackie" in seven hours … the original axe that Clapton pieced together from several Stratocasters was bought by Guitar Center at auction and was torn down by Fender luthiers in the process of creating the specially aged replicas … The Doors—minus Jim Morrison of course—reunite for a one-off show at Hollywood’s Whisky a Go Go … it’s been four decades since the band has played the legendary club … Slash and Perry Farrell are on hand to flesh out the lineup …
2007, The Red Hot Chili Peppers file suit against Showtime claiming that the cable network’s use of the name Californication—also the title of the RHCP’s 1999 album—was a misuse of the band’s intellectual property … Nirvana’s celebrated MTV Unplugged show from November, 1993 is released on DVD … Nirvana: Unplugged In New York includes rehearsal footage and two songs that weren’t broadcast … My Morning Jacket leader Jim James reveals that the songs he has written for the band’s forthcoming 2008 album release were mightily influenced by listening to Sam Cooke—both the singer’s pop songs as well as his earlier gospel work with the Soul Stirrers … "hearing the gospel he did before blew my f***ing mind. No guitars, no bullsh*t" … Bob Dylan, Jack White, Lucinda Willliams, and Alan Jackson are reported to be working on renditions of 35 songs written by country pioneer Hank Williams but never recorded before … the project began years earlier when Acuff-Rose, Williams’ music publisher approached Dylan with a briefcase containing the songs … Dylan then moved into the role of project coordinator engaging the artists and arranging the recording sessions … the music, originally said to be due out "in a year or two" on Egyptian Records, Dylan’s Columbia label, as of today is still not released … wildfires in Malibu torch Flea’s $4.8 million mansion … the Red Hot Chili Peppers bassist had rented out the home to producer Butch Walker who lost everything including a collection of vintage studio gear in the blaze … Axl Rose’s home avoids a similar fate when the G N’ R frontman wields a hose to wet down his roof … apparently the Chinese Democracy tapes were not damaged, and if they were, what’s another delay? …
2008, still bearing a grudge against Jack Bruce, drummer Ginger Baker says in a Rhythm magazine interview that there will be no more Cream reunions … Baker says the bassist played too loudly at concerts at Madison Square Garden in 2005 … 13 years after they began writing and recording their follow-up to 1991’s Use Your Illusion I and II, Gun N’ Roses finally release the long-anticipated Chinese Democracy with 14 tracks, all written by Axl Rose with various co-composers … according to a New York Time article, the production costs exceed $13 million … China dismisses the album as a "venomous attack" on the nation and bans sale of the album … and after all the rumor, hype, and expense, the album sells well below expectations … meanwhile, Atlantic Records becomes the first major record label to report that its digital sales have finally outsold the sale of its physical CDs …
… and that was the week that was in matters musical.
[Compiled by the Musician’s Friend copywriting staff]
Arrivals:
November 19: bandleader Tommy Dorsey (1905), gospel singer J.D. Sumner (1914), Funk Brothers pianist Joe Hunter (1927), singer Ray Collins of The Mothers of Invention (1937), Hank Medress of The Tokens (1938), Pete Moore of The Miracles (1939), Blood, Sweat & Tears piano and sax man Fred Lipsius (1943), Paul Revere & The Raiders drummer Joe Correro, Jr. (1946), drummer Matt Sorum of Guns N' Roses (1960), Travis McNabb of Better Than Ezra (1969), Justin Chancellor, bass player for Peach and Tool (1971), Tamika Scott of Xscape (1975)
November 20: Dick Smothers (1939), Tony Butala of The Lettermen (1940), Norman Greenbaum, writer-performer of "Spirit in the Sky" (1942), Duane Allman (1946), Joe Walsh (1947), drummer George Grantham of Poco (1947), guitarist Steve Ferguson of NRBQ (1949), Jim Brown of UB40 (1957), Todd Nance of Widespread Panic (1962), Mike "D" Diamond of The Beastie Boys (1965), Sen Dog of Cypress Hill (1965), songwriter Kevin Gilbert (1966), Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest (1970)
November 21: tenor sax giant Coleman Hawkins (1904), R&B producer-manager Buck Ram (1907), blues and jazz pianist Lloyd Glenn (1909), vocalist-saxophonist "Big" John Greer (1923), Malcolm John Rebennack AKA Dr. John (1941), Lonnie Jordan of War (1948), Steve Ferguson of NRBQ (1949), Livingston Taylor (1950), Peter Koppes of The Church (1955), Stacy Guess of Squirrel Nut Zippers (1964), singer-songwriter Björk (1965), Blur's Alex James (1968), Pretty Lou of Lost Boyz (1974), Kelsi Osborn of SHeDAISY (1984)
November 22: composer-conductor Benjamin Britten (1913), Rod Price of Foghat (1940), composer-pianist Hoagy Carmichael (1940), Elvis imitator Terry Stafford (1941), drummer Steve Wahrer of The Trashmen, one-hit-wonders with "Surfin’ Bird" (1941), Jamie Troy of The Classics (1942), drummer Floyd Sneed of Three Dog Night (1943), reggae musician Aston "Family Man" Barrett (1946), "Little" Steven Van Zandt of the E Street Band (1950), bassist Tina Weymouth of Talking Heads (1950), Craig Hundley, pianist-composer and inventor of the Blaster Beam instrument used in Star Trek soundtracks (1954), Jason Ringenberg of Jason and the Scorchers (1958), James Morrison aka Jim Bob, singer with Carter The Unstoppable Sex Machine (1960), Rasa Don of Arrested Development (1968)
November 23: Chicago blues producer and bassist Al Smith (1923), Johnny Kidd, of Johnny Kidd and the Pirates, who wrote "Shakin’ All Over," later covered by The Who (1939), "The Shoop Shoop Song (It’s In His Kiss)" vocalist Betty Everett (1939), John Hunter, drummer for Memphis psychedelic band The Hombres (1941), Alan Paul of Manhattan Transfer (1949), keyboardist-vocalist Bruce Hornsby (1954)
November 24: ragtime pianist Scott Joplin (1868), Jim Yester, guitarist-vocalist with The Association (1939), pre-Ringo Beatles drummer Pete Best (1941), Booker T. and the MGs and Blues Brothers bassist, Donald "Duck" Dunn (1941), singer-actor-comedian Billy Connolly of The Humblebums with Gerry Rafferty (1942), session pianist Richard Tee, born Richard Ten Ryk (1943), Robin Williamson of The Incredible String Band (1943), organist-singer Lee Michaels (1945), Bev Bevan of The Move and ELO (1946), drummer Clem Burke of Blondie, and briefly, The Ramones (1955), Chris Hayes of Huey Lewis & The News (1957), John Squire of Stone Roses (1962), Chad Taylor of Live (1970)
November 25: Eddie Boyd, Chicago blues pianist whose big hit was "Five Long Years" (1914), singer Percy Sledge (1940), Bob "Elusive Butterfly" Lind (1942), country crossover artist Amy Grant (1960), singer Stacy Lattisaw (1966), Rodney Sheppard of Sugar Ray (1967)
Departures:
November 19: The Byrds, The Beach Boys, and Paul Revere & The Raiders producer Terry Melcher (2004), songwriter Bobby Russell (1992), songwriter Carolyn Leigh (1983), Claude Feaster of The Chords (1975)
November 20: washtub bassist and jug player Fritz Richmond (2006), singer-songwriter Chris Whitley (2005), album cover artist Gene Greif (2004), Roland Alphonso of the Skatalites (1998), rock critic and blues producer Robert Palmer (1997), Chess and Vee-Jay Records session drummer Earl Phillips (1990)
November 21: blues guitarist Robert Lockwood Jr. (2006), singer Alvin Cash (1999), Matthew Ashman of Adam & the Ants and Bow Wow Wow (1995), Led Zeppelin manager Peter Grant (1995)
November 22: Alan Gordon, wrote "Happy Together" and "Celebrate" (2008), rapper MC Breed (2008), jazz impresario Norman Ganz (2001), Michael Hutchence, lead singer of INXS (1997), Epick Soundtracks of The Swell Maps (1997), June Abbit AKA Joe Abbit Sr. of The 5 Royales (1995)
November 23: Anita O’Day, jazz singer with Gene Krupa and Stan Kenton (2006), Michael Stewart, co-founder of We Five and producer of Billy Joel (2002), jazz saxophonist Art Porter (1996), Junior Walker of Junior Walker and the Allstars (1995), Badfinger bassist Tom Evans (1983)
November 24: Michael Lee, drummer for Jimmy Page and Robert Plant (2008), Casey Calvert of Hawthorne Heights (2007), Melanie Thornton of La Bouche (2001), songwriter Tommy Boyce (1994), blues guitarist Albert Collins (1993), KISS drummer Eric Carr (1991), Freddie Mercury (1991), Big Joe Turner (1985), Chicago sax player J.T. Brown (1969)
November 25: Kevin DuBrow of Quiet Riot (2007), Artie Mogull, record exec who signed Bob Dylan to his publishing deal (2004), underappreciated blues guitar player and singer Fenton Robinson (1997), French chanteuse Barbara (1997), British dance-pop artist Wildchild, born Roger McKenzie (1995), lead singer with techno band Mi-Sex, Steve Gilpin (1991), Nick Drake, English singer-songwriter who has achieved posthumous popularity (1974), free-jazz saxophonist Albert Ayler (1970)