ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC

1962 - Tommy Roe

Tommy Roe went to No.1 on the US singles chart with 'Sheila', a No.3 hit in the UK. The record was a re-recorded version of a song that was first released in 1960 when Roe was part of a group called The Satins.


1966 - The Who

The Who single ‘I’m A Boy’ entered the UK chart peaking at No.2 giving the band their second No.2 hit. The song was originally intended to be a part of a rock opera called 'Quads' which was to be set in the future where parents can choose the sex of their children.


1966 - The Byrds 
The Byrds played the first of an 11-night run at the Whisky-a-go-go, Hollywood, California. The Whisky a Go-Go opened in 1964 with a live band led by Johnny Rivers and a short-skirted female DJ spinning records between sets from a suspended cage. When the girl began to dance during River's sets the audience thought it was part of the act – and the concept of Go-Go dancers in cages was born.
if you've got the time check this . . . . . . 


Taster if you have a short attention span . . . . . sound bite people

1967 - The Beatles

The four Beatles held a meeting at Paul McCartney's house in London to decide upon their next course of action following the death of manager Brian Epstein. They decide to postpone their planned trip to India and to begin the already-delayed production of the Magical Mystery Tour movie. They have two songs already recorded for the movie, ‘Magical Mystery Tour’ and ‘Your Mother Should Know’. It never really struck me that Brian had died before Magical Mystery Tour was completed. I have said how much I loved MMT and the music therein. It was pretty much universally panned by critics but the fans tended to love it. Broadcast twice within 24 hours around Christmas (it had been shown in black & white on BBC 1 in error it seems so the tv schedulers decided to just put it on again on BBC2 a couple of days later and press the colour button!) it was a revelation to me and made me laugh and thrilled me at the same time. I had a lifelong admiration for Ivor Cutler who appeared in it and saw him live a couple of times and collected his albums and books. 

1976 - Pink Floyd

'Wish You Were Here' was close to spending one year on the UK chart. Pink Floyd’s ninth studio album had been premiered at Knebworth in July 1975, and was released in September that year. It was an instant success, with record company EMI unable to press enough copies to satisfy demand. The artwork for the album package was once again created by the Hipgnosis team, who created a series of tableaux based on ‘absence’, including the empty gesture of a handshake between two US business men (one of whom is on fire), a diver that causes no ripples, and a piece of gauze floating in the wind, photographed somewhere in Norfolk, UK. I must admit Wish You Were Here did make me sit up and take note after Syd's disappearance from the band and my not really enjoying their work based on Roger's more obvious writing (to me) but I 'got' the reference and thought it might be more of a homage or dedicated to Syd more than listening to it confirmed.

 Remember when you were young, you shone like the sun

Shine on you crazy diamond
Now there's a look in your eyes, like black holes in the sky
Shine on you crazy diamond
You were caught on the crossfire of childhood and stardom
Blown on the steel breeze

Come on you target for faraway laughter
Come on you stranger, you legend, you martyr, and shine

You reached for the secret too soon, you cried for the moon
Shine on you crazy diamond
Threatened by shadows at night, and exposed in the light
Shine on you crazy diamond
Well you wore out your welcome with random precision
Rode on the steel breeze

Come on you raver, you seer of visions
Come on you painter, you piper, you prisoner, and shine

Pink Floyd - the Later Years, 16 disc set released with Waters!

1977 - Blondie

Blondie featuring former Playboy Bunny Debra Harry, signed their first major record company contract with Chrysalis Records.

1983 - Mick Jones

Mick Jones, lead guitarist with The Clash was fired by the other three members who claimed he'd 'drifted apart' from the original idea of the group.

1984 - Tina Turner

After a 25-year career, Tina Turner had her first solo No.1 single in the US with 'What's Love Got To Do With It'. This song was originally written for Cliff Richard, however the song was rejected. It was then offered to Donna Summer, who has stated she sat with it for a couple of years but never recorded it.

2002 - Coldplay

Coldplay scored their second UK No.1 album with A Rush Of Blood To The Head. The album won the band the 2003 Grammy for Best Alternative Album for the second time in a row, successive to their previous win in the same category, and the 2004 Grammy for Record of the Year for the song 'Clocks'.

2004 - Pete Doherty

Former Libertines frontman Pete Doherty was given a suspended four month jail sentence after admitting possession of a flick knife. The singer was found with the weapon by police as he drove to his home in London on 18 June.

2005 - The Cowsills

Barry Cowsill, keyboard player and then bass guitarist for American family singing group (inspiration for The Partridge Family) The Cowsills, died from injuries caused by Hurricane Katrina. His body was not recovered until December 28th, 2005, from the Chartres Street Wharf, New Orleans. He was 51.

2007 - Supergrass

Supergrass were forced to put all plans on hold after band member Mick Quinn broke his back. The bass player and vocalist sleepwalked out of a first floor window of a villa where he was staying in the South of France; he was rushed to a specialist spinal unit in Toulouse where surgeons operated to repair two broken vertebrae as well as a smashed heel.

2009 - Echo and the Bunnymen

Jake Brockman, former keyboard player with Echo and the Bunnymen was killed when his motorbike was in collision with a converted ambulance on the Isle of Man. In 1989 the band's first drummer Pete De Freitas died in a similar crash.

Jake Brockman - The Fifth Bunnymen

Remembering Pete De Freitas

2012 - Hal David

US songwriter Hal David, who wrote dozens of hits with collaborator Burt Bacharach, died in Los Angeles at the age of 91 from complications from a stroke. With Bacharach he wrote a string of hits for Dionne Warwick, including 'Walk On By' and 'I Say a Little Prayer', as well as other artists including Tom Jones and Dusty Springfield.

Bacharach & David

2013 - The Beatles

Classic Beatles albums finally went platinum after the British Phonographic Industry (BPI) changed its sales award rules. Gold or platinum status has become synonymous with record success but the system has only been in place since 1973. This made Sgt. Pepper's a triple-platinum album, having sold more than 900,000 copies since 1994. In total, the album is estimated to have sold 5.1 million units in the UK since its 1967 release. The albums Revolver, Help, Rubber Soul and The White Album also now had platinum status.

2016 - Freddie Mercury

A Blue Plaque marking the first home Freddie Mercury lived in when he arrived in England has been unveiled. The Queen frontman moved to the semi-detached home in Feltham, west London, after his family left Zanzibar in 1964 when Mercury was 17.

BIRTHDAYS

1955 - Bruce Foxton

Bruce Foxton, bass, vocals, The Jam (1980 UK No.1 single 'Going Underground' plus 14 other UK Top 40 singles). I was shocked when Weller split The Jam and always rated Butler and Foxton as the best rhythm section and Bruce stands as a favourite 

bass player without equal in some respects a signature bass player he was deserved of more success

1957 - Gloria Estefan

Gloria Estefan, singer, (1984 UK No.6 single 'Dr Beat', plus over 20 other UK top 40 hits, 1988 US No.1 single 'Anything For You').