ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC

1966 - Georgie Fame

Georgie Fame was at No.1 on the UK singles chart with 'Get Away'. The song started life as a TV jingle for a petrol advert. I loved Georgie Fame and had his singles 'Yeh, Yeh' and 'High heeled Sneakers' amongst others and he introduced me early on to the music of New Orleans in that he covered 'Rockin' Pneumonia and The Boogie BoogieFlu' which I still love. A keyboard maestro bar none it came as no surprise to find him later in Van Morrison's various incarnations of his backing band

1967 - Jimi Hendrix

The Jimi Hendrix Experience played the first of three nights at the Cafe-a-Go-Go in New York City. The club featured many well known acts including: Grateful Dead, Tim Buckley, Joni Mitchell, Howlin' Wolf, Muddy Waters, John Lee Hooker, The Paul Butterfield Blues Band, Jefferson Airplane, and Cream who all appeared at the club.

1969 - The Beatles

The Beatles started work on the John Lennon song 'Come Together' at Abbey Road studios in London. The track became the opening song on The Beatles Abbey Road album and was later released as a double A-sided single with 'Something', their twenty-first single in the UK and twenty-sixth in the US where it reached the top of the charts.

1973 - Buxton Festival

Canned Heat, Nazareth, Edgar Broughton Band, Groundhogs, Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Medicine Head, all appeared at Buxton Festival in Derbyshire, England. Hell's Angels arrived in force and proceeded to drink the site dry. Initially they paid for the booze, but when the money ran out a deputation was sent into the audience to collect donations of 10p per person. About 20 minutes into his set Chuck Berry was showing one of the Angels how to do his duck-walk properly. He did one from one end of the stage to the other and disappeared into the wings. The band played on, the Angels bopped, and Chuck legged it to his car and drove off at high speed, never to return.

1977 - Sex Pistols

Despite protests, The Sex Pistols made their first appearance on the UK music show Top Of The Pops, where they lip-synched to their third single, 'Pretty Vacant'. The performance helped push the song up the charts to No.7.

1979 - Tubeway Army

Tubeway Army scored their first UK No.1 album with 'Replicas'. The band led by lead singer Gary Numan were the first band of the post-punk era to have a synthesizer-based hit, with their single 'Are 'Friends' Electric?'

1990 - Roger Waters

Roger Waters' The Wall took place at the Berlin Wall in Potzdamer Platz, Berlin to commemorate the fall of the Berlin Wall eight months earlier. Over 350,000 people attended and the event was broadcast live throughout the world, Van Morrison, Bryan Adams, Joni Mitchell, The Scorpions, Cyndi Lauper, Sinead O’Connor and others took part. Blimey wonder what gave him the idea for that?! He could sell that idea to Donald Trump . . . . . . 

1995 - Michael Jackson -  Uh-Oh!

A judge in Los Angeles threw out a lawsuit against Michael Jackson by five of his former security guards. The guards had claimed they were fired for knowing too much about night-time visits by young boys to Jackson's estate. The singer denied any improprieties.

2002 - Gus Dudgeon

Producer Gus Dudgeon, who worked with artists including Elton John, David Bowie, The Beach Boys, Kiki Dee, The Bonzo Dog Doo-Dah Band, The Strawbs, XTC, and Joan Armatrading, was killed aged 59 in a car accident near Reading, together with his wife Sheila. They had been driving along the M4 motorway on their way home from a party when Gus fell asleep at the wheel of the Jaguar XK8 convertible, crashing down an embankment at speed and ending up in a ditch. The man was a giant amongst producers and a legend. 

Gus Dudgeon

Elton, Gus and Bernie

Gus and Sheila Dudgeon

2003 - Chris Martin

Coldplay singer Chris Martin was charged with malicious damage in Australia after he allegedly attacked a photographer's car after he had taken pictures of him surfing at Seven Mile Beach. Martin admitted he had lost his temper due to the constant harassment by that journalist, and consequently smashed his windscreen and let the air out of his tyres. The case was dropped . . . . . . 

2005 - Long John Baldry

UK singer Long John Baldry died of a chest infection. He was one of the founding fathers of British Rock 'n' Roll in the 1960s performing with Blues Incorporated and Cyril Davies' R&B All Stars. He later fronted the Hoochie Coochie Men, with Rod Stewart and then Steam Packet with Brian Auger and Julie Driscoll. Also a member of Bluesology with Elton John. He also narrated on Winnie The Pooh recordings for Disney and was the voice for Robotnik on the Sonic The Hedgehog computer game. I always liked him and thought he had a wonderful soulful blues voice

2008 - Amy Winehouse

Amy Winehouse's husband was jailed for 27 months for attacking a pub landlord and perverting the course of justice. Blake Fielder-Civil, 26, of Camden, north London, admitted assaulting James King, 36, at the Macbeths pub in Hoxton, east London, in June 2006. He also admitted at Snaresbrook Crown Court trying to make Mr King withdraw his complaint using a £200,000 bribe. A new tv programme was shown this and was heart wrenching as you would imagine . . . . . .so sad. Terrible loss. . . . . .what might have been

2014 - Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran was at No.1 on the UK album chart with X (pronounced multiply), his second studio album. The album peaked at No. 1 in fifteen countries, and the lead single, 'Sing', became Sheeran's first UK No.1 song. By the end of 2014 Spotify named X the most-streamed album in the world for 2014, racking up more than 430 million streams for the year.

2017 - Justin Bieber

Justin Bieber was banned from performing in China, according to Beijing's Culture Bureau. In a statement, the ministry said it was not appropriate to allow in entertainers who have engaged in "bad behaviour." The pop star, who was allowed to tour China in 2013, joined a long list of musicians who have found themselves similarly blacklisted. Most though, like the British band Oasis and the US group Maroon 5, because of perceived political statements, rather than on the grounds of bad behaviour.

BIRTHDAYS

1981 - Paloma Faith

Paloma Faith, British singer-songwriter and actress. Her 2009 debut album Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful?, featured the top twenty singles 'Stone Cold Sober' and 'New York'. I like Paloma . . . . she is a mercurial force of nature as well as been deeply rooted in her origins and no-nonsense approach to, well, pretty much everything. Refreshingly honest it would seem and yet musically she can astonish and becomes like a chameleon who can ring the changes on her appearance seemingly mid show! This song is a Mama Cass cover and was used in an advert but I love it! I believe in it's sentiment too 'make your own kind of music . . . '

Paloma's Top 7

1948 - Cat Stevens

Cat Stevens, singer, songwriter, who had the 1967 UK No.2 single 'Matthew And Son', and the 1972 UK No.9 & US No.6 single, 'Morning Has Broken'. He wrote 'The First Cut Is The Deepest' covered by many artists including PP Arnold, Rod Stewart and Sheryl Crow. Stevens converted to the Muslim religion in 1977 changing his name to Yusef Islam.

1943 - Henry McCullough

Northern Ireland rock guitarist, Henry McCullough. He recorded with Paul McCartney and Wings, featuring on the hit James Bond theme, 'Live and Let Die' and 'My Love', the solo which he made up on the spot in front of a live orchestra. He was also a member of Spooky Tooth and The Grease Band. McCullough died on 14th June 2016 aged 72.

1939 - Kim Fowley

Kim Fowley, US singer, producer, worked with The Murmaids, PJ Proby, The Beach Boys, The Runaways, Frank Zappa, Slade, Family. Produced the 1962, B Bumble And The Stingers UK No.1 'Nut Rocker.' Fowley died of bladder cancer in Hollywood, California on January 15, 2015 at the age of 75.

with thanks to On This Day In Music