ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC

1917 Jazz standard "Dark Town Strutters Ball" by Shelton Brooks recorded by the Original Dixieland Jazz Band



1968 - The Beatles

The Beatles began recording what became known as The White Album. The double-LP whose official title was simply ‘The Beatles’ became the first Beatles album released with the Apple label. The first track they recorded was ‘Revolution’. With Paul's strong social interests and links to the art world (Robert Fraser et al) they approached Richard Hamilton, the father of 'Pop' in Britain, to design the sleeve and between them they worked on it being a pastiche of limited edition art works being a plain white sleeve but embossed with the name and printed consecutive numbers a la limited edition art works. Inside the sleeve consisted of a number of free gifts as it were including portrait photos by John Kelly and a poster designed by Hamilton who had been given access to the Beatles personal snapshots

1970 - Ray Stevens

Ray Stevens went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Everything Is Beautiful'. The former DJ had a string of novelty hits, including 'Jeremiah Peabody's Poly Unsaturated Quick Dissolving Fast Acting Pleasant Tasting Green & Purple Pill'.

1987 - David Bowie

David Bowie kicked off his 87-date Glass Spider world tour at the Feyenoord Stadium, Rotterdam, Holland. The tour's set, described at the time as "the largest touring set ever," was designed to look like a giant spider. It was 60 feet (18.3m) high, 64 feet (19.5m) wide and included giant vacuumed tube legs that were lit from the inside with 20,000' (6,096m) of color-changing lights. A single set took 43 trucks to move.

Rolling Stone article on Bowie faces heat on the Glass Spider Tour here

2002 - Diana Ross

Diana Ross voluntarily entered a Malibu drug and alcohol rehabilitation center called Promises to "clear up some personal issues" before setting out on a summer concert tour. 

and of course there were reasons . . . . . . . 
BBC On this day . . . Diana Ross stopped for DUI

2005 - Coldplay

Coldplay's new album 'X&Y' was illegally put on the internet a week before its UK and US release. The leak took place on the day copies were sent to UK radio stations and the day before it went on sale in Japan. Security measures around the release included hosting album playbacks at Abbey Road studios for journalists instead of sending them copies of the album, any CDs that were sent out were labelled with a false name - The Fir Trees - to throw would-be pirates off the scent.

2007 - The White Stripes

A leaked copy of the new White Stripes album 'Icky Thump' was played completely on Chicago's radio station Q101-WKQX. Jack White personally called the US radio station from Spain, where he was touring, to voice his displeasure.

2007 - Phil Spector

A coroner told the murder trial of music producer Phil Spector that US actress Lana Clarkson's death was a homicide. Dr Louis Pena said bruising suggested the barrel of a gun may have been forced into Ms Clarkson's mouth before she was fatally shot in 2003. Spector was accused of murdering Clarkson on 3 February 2003 at his home in California.

2009 - Black Sabbath

Ozzy Osbourne was suing the band's guitarist Tony Iommi over royalty payments. The 60-year-old had accused Iommi of falsely claiming to have sole rights to the band's name which has cost him royalties from merchandise sales. Osbourne was seeking unspecified damages, lost profits and a declaration he is a half-owner of the trademark. Iommi claims Osbourne legally relinquished rights to the band's name in the 1980s. Osbourne said he believed all four original members of the band should share Black Sabbath's name equally.

2016 - Kraftwerk

Germany's highest court ruled in favour of a hip-hop artist who used a two-second sample of music from the pioneering electro-pop band Kraftwerk. Kraftwerk's Ralf Hutter sued Moses Pelham, alleging that his use of the clip, without asking, infringed the band's intellectual property rights. But the German Constitutional Court decided that the impact on Kraftwerk did not outweigh "artistic freedom".

BIRTHDAYS

1960 - Stephen Duffy

Stephen Duffy, singer, songwriter, guitarist, founding member of Duran Duran with John Taylor and Nick Rhodes (left in 1979). Member of Lilac Time, Me Me Me, (1996 UK No.19 singe 'Hanging Around'), solo, (1985 UK No.4 single 'Kiss Me').

1968 - Tim Burgess

Tim Burgess, singer, songwriter with English indie rock band The Charlatans who had the 1990 UK No.9 single 'The Only One I Know'. In the UK, all of the band's thirteen studio albums have charted in the Top 40 of the UK Albums Chart, three of them being No.1s.