ON THIS DAY IN MUSIC

January 13th

1963 - The Beatles

The Beatles recorded a TV appearance on the ABC Television program "Thank Your Lucky Stars" in Birmingham playing their new single, 'Please Please Me' The show was broadcast on January 19.

1965 - Bob Dylan

The first day of recording sessions for Bob Dylan's Bringing It All Back Home album were held at Studio A, Columbia Recording Studios in New York City. Dylan recorded Subterranean Homesick Blues and 'It's All Over Now, Baby Blue'.

Bob Dylan at Studio A Columbia Studio NYC with John Sebastian

1967 - Jimi Hendrix

Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr both went to the Bag O'Nails Club, London, England to see the Jimi Hendrix Experience. 

1968 - Johnny Cash

Johnny Cash played a show, which was recorded, for his forthcoming live album at Folsom Prison, near Sacramento, California in front of 2,000 inmates. When released, the lead single, 'Folsom Prison Blues' (an update of his 1956 hit) became one of the most famous recordings of his career.

1969 - Elvis Presley

Elvis Presley began a ten day recording session that would produce his final US number one record, 'Suspicious Minds'. The tracks were laid down at American Sound Studios in Memphis and marked the first time Presley had recorded in his hometown since his Sun Records days in 1956.

Great song . . . . . . 

1973 - Eric Clapton

Eric Clapton made his stage comeback at the Rainbow Theatre, London, with Pete Townsend, Ronnie Wood, Stevie Winwood, Rebop Kwaku Baah, Jim Capaldi and support from The Average White Band. The night's two shows were recorded for the 'Rainbow Concert' album. Pete Townshend from The Who had organised the concert to help Clapton kick his heroin addiction. 

1978 - The Police

With a budget of only £1,500 borrowed from Stewart Copeland's brother Miles Copeland III, The Police started recording their debut album at Surrey Sound Studios, Surrey, England with producer Nigel Gray. The album 'Outlandos d'Amour' which was released in November of this year featured the hits 'So Lonely', 'Roxanne' and 'Can't Stand Losing You'.

1979 - Donny Hathaway

American soul and gospel singer, songwriter Donny Hathaway committed suicide falling from a 15th floor New York hotel window. At the height of his career Hathaway was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia and was known to not take his prescribed medication regularly enough to properly control his symptoms. He scored the 1972 UK No.29 single with Roberta Flack 'Where Is The Love', (which won the Grammy Award for Best Pop Performance by a Duo in 1973) and the 1978 US No.2 single 'The Closer I Get’, also with Roberta Flack.

1984 - Mike Read

BBC Radio 1 announced a ban on 'Relax' by Frankie Goes To Hollywood, after right wing ridiculous DJ Mike Read called it 'obscene', a BBC TV ban also followed. The song went on to become a UK No.1 and spent a total of 48 weeks on the UK chart.

1986 - Sex Pistols

Sex Pistols members John Lydon, Steve Jones and Paul Cook, as well as the mother of Sid Vicious, sued former manager Malcom McClaren for £1 million ($1.7 million). They later settled out of court.

1990 - New Kids On The Block

New Kids On The Block had their second and last No.1 UK single with 'Hangin' Tough.' They had a further 7 Top 10 hits by the end of 1991. They broke up after that, but set the scene for numerous boy bands throughout the 90s.

2003 - Diana Ross

Diana Ross appeared in a US court charged with driving while twice over the drink driving limit. Police in Tucson reported that Miss Ross could not walk in a straight line, touch her nose or count to 30 after she had been stopped for swerving across the road.

2003 - Pete Townshend

Who guitarist Pete Townshend was arrested on suspicion of child porn offences. Police officers impounded seven computers from his £15 million ($25.5 million) home in Richmond, Surrey.

2005 - Elvis Presley

A report showed that more songs had been written about Elvis Presley than any other artist. It listed over 220 songs including: ‘Graceland’ by Paul Simon, ‘A Room At The Heartbreakhotel’ by U2, ‘Calling Elvis’, Dire Straits, ‘Happy Birthday Elvis’, Loudon Wainwright III, ‘There's A Guy Works Down The Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis’, Kirsty MacColl, ‘I Saw Elvis in a UFO’, Ray Stevens. ‘Elvis Has Left the Building’ by Frank Zappa and 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis' by Ray Herndon. Most of them seemingly taking the mickey! 'My Dog Thinks I'm Elvis'!??

2010 - Teddy Pendergrass

Soul singer Teddy Pendergrass died at the age of 59 following a difficult recovery from colon cancer surgery. Pendergrass enjoyed early success with Harold Melvin and the Blue Notes, whose hits included If You Don't Know Me By Now, before going solo in 1976. He was the first black male singer to record five consecutive multi-platinum albums in the US.


2010 - The Beatles

A plaque of The Beatles iconic yellow submarine, which was stolen six months ago from Liverpool's Albert Dock, was set to be replaced by a new creation. The 5ft (1.5m) design featured the faces of John Lennon, Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr and George Harrison peering through its portholes. The new submarine would hang outside the museum dedicated to the band, The Beatles Story.

2016 - The Rolling Stones

The Rolling Stones first manager, Giorgio Gomelsky, passed away at the age of 82. He owned the Crawdaddy Club in London where The Rolling Stones were the house band. After he was replaced by Andrew Loog Oldham in May, 1963, Gomelsky went on to manage The Yardbirds, Julie Driscoll and Brian Auger before moving to New York in 1978 and opening The Green Door nightclub.

2016 - Ed Sheeran

Ed Sheeran's new singles 'Shape of You' and 'Castle On The Hill' entered the UK singles chart at No.1 and No.2 respectively. The Official Charts Company said it was the first time in history an artist had taken the top two chart positions with brand new songs.

2017 - Magic Alex

Magic Alex (Alexis Mardas) a Greek electronics engineer died aged 74. He is best known for his close association with the Beatles. His nickname was given to him by John Lennon when he was involved with the group between 1965 and 1969, during which time he became head of Apple Electronics. Mardas often said that the Abbey Road studio was "no good", much to producer George Martin's annoyance. He allegedly said that he could build a 72-track tape machine and was then given the job of designing the new Apple Studio in Savile Row, London. His schemes lost Apple at least £300,000 (£3 million in 2017). Check George's comments here . . . . . . . 

John & Yoko with Magic Alex

BIRTHDAYS

1961 - Suggs

Graham McPherson, (Suggs), singer from English ska band Madness. They have had 15 singles reach the UK top ten, hits include 'One Step Beyond', 'Baggy Trousers', 'Our House' and 'It Must Be Love'. As a solo artist he had the 1995 UK No.7 single with a cover of The Beatles 'I'm Only Sleeping'. I didn't;'t really appreciate how close Suggs was to Ian Dury and only after Ian died did I take this more seriously. Essentially a humorist of British ska I think I underestimated his importance. I DID really enjoy Madness and purchased many singles but didn't take them too seriously . . . . . . . . 

1961 - Wayne Coyne

American musician Wayne Coyne, guitarist and singer with Flaming Lips. Their 1999 release The Soft Bulletin was NME magazine's Album of the Year and the group has won three Grammy Awards.

1938 - Daevid Allen

Australian poet, guitarist, singer, composer and performance artist Daevid Allen. He was co-founder of progressive rock groups Soft Machine (in the UK, 1966) and Gong. Allen died on 13th March 2015.

1929 - Joe Pass

American virtuoso jazz guitarist Joe Pass ( Joseph Anthony Jacobi Passalaqua) who worked with Frank Sinatra, Oscar Peterson, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Mathis, Duke Ellington, Louis Belson,  Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald and worked on TV shows including The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson and The Steve Allen Show. Later he worked with Benny Carter, Milt Jackson, Herb Ellis, Zoot Sims, Duke Ellington, Dizzy Gillespie, Ella Fitzgerald, and Count Basie. Largely considered to be one of the greatest guitarists of all time. Pass died on May 23 1994. My dear brother Steve was a big fan but the smooth jazz sound, whilst I appreciated it, did nothing for me really. More virtuosity for virtuosity's sake as with so much jazz. 

with thanks to 'On This Day in Music' as ever . . . .